9 50 763 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/72ae2df1d1cdf5152db9c5f89f2ed7a7.pdf d9c4a0a36a86f95851b02290cdc71713 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 83 PRAGUE BETWEEN MOSOOW AND BERLIN By Heinrich Kuhn Politically speaking, Czecho-Slovakia is a product of World War I. At its very creation the State was handicapped by the German problem: internally by more than three and a half million Germans who were incorporated into it against their will by the peace treaty of St. Germain, and foreign politically as well as geopolitically by the fact that it was born of decisions made by the Great Powers and directed against Germany. Between the two world wars Czecho-Slovakia was a strategic spearhead aimed at Germany even long before Hitler became head of the German State. It was of strategic importance to France, and the foreign-political conception Czecho-Slovakia, linked for all time with the name of Benes, was based on the irrelevant idea that it could amount to anything if it played the role of mediator between East and West, between Paris and Moscow. As a result of the second world war, Czecho-Slovakia was divested of the internal problem of "its Germans." They were ruthlessly expelled from their native homes. Czecho-Slovakia's geopolitical situation had likewise undergone a critical change. The "strategic spearhead," until then encircled by the German language area as if by a pincers, had lost its original significance as a foreign-political factor. Germany had been completely defeated. Soviet Army troops stood at the Elbe, the Danube, in the north and in the south, troops of a State to which CzechoSlovakia had sold its-:!lf lock, stock and barrel. Sold out primarily in the sense that the Soviet Union had not only "liberated" Czecho-Slovakia but, by its resolute attitude, had made possible the "cleansing of the State of its German minority." With that move the switches were set, from the standpoint of foreign policy, for the future. No longer was there a road open to Paris, to the West, but only to Moscow. This fact makes it possible to understand the tactical attitude of Czecho-Slovak foreign policy within recent years as regards the German question. Czecho-Slovakia and tnbricht's State, the Soviet Zone of Germany, are the only �84 SLOVAKIA countries of the East Block that border on the free part of Germany. No amount of barbed-wire is capable of relieving the Czechs of the danger that - despite the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans - the German people are still their immediate neighbor. The psychological factor of guilt has become the main driving force behind Prague's foreign policy. Since 1945, fear has been the primary factor involved. For approximately ten years the "fight against German revengism" has really been at the bottom of Prague's policy toward Germany. As long as Moscow could still hope to win the population of West Germany in some form or other for the East (as has happened in the "solution of the Ulbricht State"), or at least to neutralize the German Federal Republic as a political power, these trends in Czecho-Slovak policy toward Germany remained chiefly in the background. To the degree, however, to which the Ulbricht State became an important card in Moscow's foreign-political game, Moscow's and Prague's foreign~political goals grew closer and closer. Ulbricht's State became, just as Prague's former ambassador to Pankov, Dr. Ota Klicka, described on television, a bastion of Czecho-Slovak security. As long as the "GDR" (German Democratic Republic) existed, no aggression against Czecho-Slovakia would be possible. State President Antonin Novotny stated in similar terms, at his very first international appearance before the General Assembly of the UN, in the fall of 1960, that GDR was a guarantee of Czecho-Slovak security. Paralleling the deeping bond between Prague and Pankov was a common incitement of both Satellite States against the German Federal Republic. Some 400,000 foreignlanguage propaganda pamphlets have been sent from Prague to Western countries within the past years in order to spread abroad a frightful picture of German militarism coupled with anti-Czech revengism. When Khrushchev triggered the German question last year with his Berlin ultimatum, the CSSR warmly welcomed his initiative. At the time the Czech Communist Party politicians, in keeping with Khrushchev's political line, were still talking of the two German States with equal �SLOVAKIA 85 rights. The world at large ha.s scarcely noticed· that Prague and Pankov have meanwhile reached beyond this political line. Even during the visit to Prague of Ulbricht's president of the People's Chamber, Dr. Dieckmann, in April 1961, an attempt was made to forge a new policy according to which the "GDR would be the only legally valid German State because, in conformance with the Potsdam Agreement, the roots of German militarism" have been removed. This new tactic as to Prague's policy on Germany, which has become more pronounced ever since April of last year, dovetails nicely with Khrushchev's strategic concept a.s to policy on Germany. It enables him now and again to appear before the international public a.s a moderating factor, meanwhile pursuing with even greater intensity his immediate goal in the German issue: Making a free city of West Berlin, concluding a peace treaty between "all interested States" and Ulbricht's State in order to bring about the de facto recognition of the conditions established within Central Europe by World War II. In the coming weeks and months it will be left to Prague to make new tactical moves with roles assigned to different players in the drama that is directed from Moscow, thus reaching out beyond the issues that are important to Moscow and Ulbricht. Details as to Prague's new tactical role within Moscow's broader strategic plan as to Germany were revealed at an international press conference in July of last year by Vaclav Kathy, head of the department of Socialist States in Prague's Institute for International Politics and Economy. The tenor of this role is, that since the German Federal Government is virtually the main source of "political revengism," the "change in the social and economic structure of the German Federal Republic by the signing of a German peace treaty," would be a timely move. This, it claimed, is the only possibility for peaceful coexistence in Europe, since these changes alone would guarantee the liquidation of "German militarism and revengism." This alone would be the actual and ultimate aim of CzechoSlovakia's foreign-political endeavors. Indeed, one can hardly describe that country's foreignpolicy aims more clearly. � SLOVAKIA 83 PRAGUE BETWEEN MOSOOW AND BERLIN By Heinrich Kuhn Politically speaking, Czecho-Slovakia is a product of World War I. At its very creation the State was handicapped by the German problem: internally by more than three and a half million Germans who were incorporated into it against their will by the peace treaty of St. Germain, and foreign politically as well as geopolitically by the fact that it was born of decisions made by the Great Powers and directed against Germany. Between the two world wars Czecho-Slovakia was a strategic spearhead aimed at Germany even long before Hitler became head of the German State. It was of strategic importance to France, and the foreign-political conception Czecho-Slovakia, linked for all time with the name of Benes, was based on the irrelevant idea that it could amount to anything if it played the role of mediator between East and West, between Paris and Moscow. As a result of the second world war, Czecho-Slovakia was divested of the internal problem of "its Germans." They were ruthlessly expelled from their native homes. Czecho-Slovakia's geopolitical situation had likewise undergone a critical change. The "strategic spearhead," until then encircled by the German language area as if by a pincers, had lost its original significance as a foreign-political factor. Germany had been completely defeated. Soviet Army troops stood at the Elbe, the Danube, in the north and in the south, troops of a State to which CzechoSlovakia had sold its-:!lf lock, stock and barrel. Sold out primarily in the sense that the Soviet Union had not only "liberated" Czecho-Slovakia but, by its resolute attitude, had made possible the "cleansing of the State of its German minority." With that move the switches were set, from the standpoint of foreign policy, for the future. No longer was there a road open to Paris, to the West, but only to Moscow. This fact makes it possible to understand the tactical attitude of Czecho-Slovak foreign policy within recent years as regards the German question. Czecho-Slovakia and tnbricht's State, the Soviet Zone of Germany, are the only �84 SLOVAKIA countries of the East Block that border on the free part of Germany. No amount of barbed-wire is capable of relieving the Czechs of the danger that - despite the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans - the German people are still their immediate neighbor. The psychological factor of guilt has become the main driving force behind Prague's foreign policy. Since 1945, fear has been the primary factor involved. For approximately ten years the "fight against German revengism" has really been at the bottom of Prague's policy toward Germany. As long as Moscow could still hope to win the population of West Germany in some form or other for the East (as has happened in the "solution of the Ulbricht State"), or at least to neutralize the German Federal Republic as a political power, these trends in Czecho-Slovak policy toward Germany remained chiefly in the background. To the degree, however, to which the Ulbricht State became an important card in Moscow's foreign-political game, Moscow's and Prague's foreign~political goals grew closer and closer. Ulbricht's State became, just as Prague's former ambassador to Pankov, Dr. Ota Klicka, described on television, a bastion of Czecho-Slovak security. As long as the "GDR" (German Democratic Republic) existed, no aggression against Czecho-Slovakia would be possible. State President Antonin Novotny stated in similar terms, at his very first international appearance before the General Assembly of the UN, in the fall of 1960, that GDR was a guarantee of Czecho-Slovak security. Paralleling the deeping bond between Prague and Pankov was a common incitement of both Satellite States against the German Federal Republic. Some 400,000 foreignlanguage propaganda pamphlets have been sent from Prague to Western countries within the past years in order to spread abroad a frightful picture of German militarism coupled with anti-Czech revengism. When Khrushchev triggered the German question last year with his Berlin ultimatum, the CSSR warmly welcomed his initiative. At the time the Czech Communist Party politicians, in keeping with Khrushchev's political line, were still talking of the two German States with equal �SLOVAKIA 85 rights. The world at large ha.s scarcely noticed· that Prague and Pankov have meanwhile reached beyond this political line. Even during the visit to Prague of Ulbricht's president of the People's Chamber, Dr. Dieckmann, in April 1961, an attempt was made to forge a new policy according to which the "GDR would be the only legally valid German State because, in conformance with the Potsdam Agreement, the roots of German militarism" have been removed. This new tactic as to Prague's policy on Germany, which has become more pronounced ever since April of last year, dovetails nicely with Khrushchev's strategic concept a.s to policy on Germany. It enables him now and again to appear before the international public a.s a moderating factor, meanwhile pursuing with even greater intensity his immediate goal in the German issue: Making a free city of West Berlin, concluding a peace treaty between "all interested States" and Ulbricht's State in order to bring about the de facto recognition of the conditions established within Central Europe by World War II. In the coming weeks and months it will be left to Prague to make new tactical moves with roles assigned to different players in the drama that is directed from Moscow, thus reaching out beyond the issues that are important to Moscow and Ulbricht. Details as to Prague's new tactical role within Moscow's broader strategic plan as to Germany were revealed at an international press conference in July of last year by Vaclav Kathy, head of the department of Socialist States in Prague's Institute for International Politics and Economy. The tenor of this role is, that since the German Federal Government is virtually the main source of "political revengism," the "change in the social and economic structure of the German Federal Republic by the signing of a German peace treaty," would be a timely move. This, it claimed, is the only possibility for peaceful coexistence in Europe, since these changes alone would guarantee the liquidation of "German militarism and revengism." This alone would be the actual and ultimate aim of CzechoSlovakia's foreign-political endeavors. Indeed, one can hardly describe that country's foreignpolicy aims more clearly. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 83 PRAGUE BETWEEN MOSOOW AND BERLIN By Heinrich Kuhn Politically speaking, Czecho-Slovakia is a product of World War I. At its very creation the State was handicapped by the German problem: internally by more than three and a half million Germans who were incorporated into it against their will by the peace treaty of St. Germain, and foreign politically as well as geopolitically by the fact that it was born of decisions made by the Great Powers and directed against Germany. Between the two world wars Czecho-Slovakia was a strategic spearhead aimed at Germany even long before Hitler became head of the German State. It was of strategic importance to France, and the foreign-political conception Czecho-Slovakia, linked for all time with the name of Benes, was based on the irrelevant idea that it could amount to anything if it played the role of mediator between East and West, between Paris and Moscow. As a result of the second world war, Czecho-Slovakia was divested of the internal problem of "its Germans." They were ruthlessly expelled from their native homes. Czecho-Slovakia's geopolitical situation had likewise undergone a critical change. The "strategic spearhead," until then encircled by the German language area as if by a pincers, had lost its original significance as a foreign-political factor. Germany had been completely defeated. Soviet Army troops stood at the Elbe, the Danube, in the north and in the south, troops of a State to which CzechoSlovakia had sold its-:!lf lock, stock and barrel. Sold out primarily in the sense that the Soviet Union had not only "liberated" Czecho-Slovakia but, by its resolute attitude, had made possible the "cleansing of the State of its German minority." With that move the switches were set, from the standpoint of foreign policy, for the future. No longer was there a road open to Paris, to the West, but only to Moscow. This fact makes it possible to understand the tactical attitude of Czecho-Slovak foreign policy within recent years as regards the German question. Czecho-Slovakia and tnbricht's State, the Soviet Zone of Germany, are the only 84 SLOVAKIA countries of the East Block that border on the free part of Germany. No amount of barbed-wire is capable of relieving the Czechs of the danger that - despite the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans - the German people are still their immediate neighbor. The psychological factor of guilt has become the main driving force behind Prague's foreign policy. Since 1945, fear has been the primary factor involved. For approximately ten years the "fight against German revengism" has really been at the bottom of Prague's policy toward Germany. As long as Moscow could still hope to win the population of West Germany in some form or other for the East (as has happened in the "solution of the Ulbricht State"), or at least to neutralize the German Federal Republic as a political power, these trends in Czecho-Slovak policy toward Germany remained chiefly in the background. To the degree, however, to which the Ulbricht State became an important card in Moscow's foreign-political game, Moscow's and Prague's foreign~political goals grew closer and closer. Ulbricht's State became, just as Prague's former ambassador to Pankov, Dr. Ota Klicka, described on television, a bastion of Czecho-Slovak security. As long as the "GDR" (German Democratic Republic) existed, no aggression against Czecho-Slovakia would be possible. State President Antonin Novotny stated in similar terms, at his very first international appearance before the General Assembly of the UN, in the fall of 1960, that GDR was a guarantee of Czecho-Slovak security. Paralleling the deeping bond between Prague and Pankov was a common incitement of both Satellite States against the German Federal Republic. Some 400,000 foreignlanguage propaganda pamphlets have been sent from Prague to Western countries within the past years in order to spread abroad a frightful picture of German militarism coupled with anti-Czech revengism. When Khrushchev triggered the German question last year with his Berlin ultimatum, the CSSR warmly welcomed his initiative. At the time the Czech Communist Party politicians, in keeping with Khrushchev's political line, were still talking of the two German States with equal SLOVAKIA 85 rights. The world at large ha.s scarcely noticed· that Prague and Pankov have meanwhile reached beyond this political line. Even during the visit to Prague of Ulbricht's president of the People's Chamber, Dr. Dieckmann, in April 1961, an attempt was made to forge a new policy according to which the "GDR would be the only legally valid German State because, in conformance with the Potsdam Agreement, the roots of German militarism" have been removed. This new tactic as to Prague's policy on Germany, which has become more pronounced ever since April of last year, dovetails nicely with Khrushchev's strategic concept a.s to policy on Germany. It enables him now and again to appear before the international public a.s a moderating factor, meanwhile pursuing with even greater intensity his immediate goal in the German issue: Making a free city of West Berlin, concluding a peace treaty between "all interested States" and Ulbricht's State in order to bring about the de facto recognition of the conditions established within Central Europe by World War II. In the coming weeks and months it will be left to Prague to make new tactical moves with roles assigned to different players in the drama that is directed from Moscow, thus reaching out beyond the issues that are important to Moscow and Ulbricht. Details as to Prague's new tactical role within Moscow's broader strategic plan as to Germany were revealed at an international press conference in July of last year by Vaclav Kathy, head of the department of Socialist States in Prague's Institute for International Politics and Economy. The tenor of this role is, that since the German Federal Government is virtually the main source of "political revengism," the "change in the social and economic structure of the German Federal Republic by the signing of a German peace treaty," would be a timely move. This, it claimed, is the only possibility for peaceful coexistence in Europe, since these changes alone would guarantee the liquidation of "German militarism and revengism." This alone would be the actual and ultimate aim of CzechoSlovakia's foreign-political endeavors. Indeed, one can hardly describe that country's foreignpolicy aims more clearly.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Prague Between Moscow and Berlin Description An account of the resource Heinrich Kuhn Slovakia, Vol. 13, No. 1 (36), March 1963 pp. 83-85 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kuhn, Heinrich, 1922-1997 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1963 LCNAF+dates https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/caa18326ad68641c46264df5abeb4dda.pdf ab8f40392e290d1e1bbdf4e113b22dcc PDF Text Text 86 SLOVAKIA C'LECH REDS HAVE SCHOOL TROUBLE By Eberhard Mahnert "Red Justice," official Communist Party mouthpiece for Czecho-Slovakia, recently reported that thirty per cent of the students enrolled in Czech and Slovak colleges and universities had to drop out. Only last September, however, the same paper had lauded the socialist school system as the most efficacious and progressive, giving the individual citizen the widest possible benefits by systematic development of his abilities. One month later the same news sheet had to admit the downright failure of the educational setup it had so lavishly praised. Who is at fault? The teachers, of course, especially those not yet imbued with the "new spirit." A series of political purges is soon to be launched, despite the conspicuous shortage of teachers in Czecho-Slovakia, a situation likewise due to the "cleansing" that followed the Communist power grab. At that time an educational framework which had proved workable for a century and a half was jettisoned in favor of a Soviet-styled imitation. Until 1948, the Czecho-Slovak school system was based on principles developed during the reign of Empress Maria Theresia of Austria and her son Joseph II and found acceptance in the territories of the Danubian Monarchy. The First Czecho~lovak Republic was careful not to alter this well established structure, which was the very foundation of the high educational level of the Czech nation. The case was different with the Slovaks whom the Czechs did not allow to maintain their own schools of higher learning. With the L;ommunist putsch the "reactionary" school -;;ystem was swept aside; so-called reform measures were introduced. The entire structure was radically transformed to duplicate its Soviet original, regardless of whether or not it suited the educational needs of the Czech and Slovak peoples. The new measures abolished the former system of five years of primary school, eight years of high school and four to five years of college. They introduced a new system \vith an eight-grade primary school plus an additional three years of secondary school that were ap- �SLOVAKIA 87 proved as an adequate basis for college entrance. Courses in• certain subjects were reduced to half their former number, making it possible for a pupil to get a degree in engineering at the age of 19 or 20, where he was previously not ready for ~aduation until 22 or 23. Subjects that formerly had been given priority were replaced under the new setup by intensive courses in political propaganda that stressed Party ideology. During the years 1952 to 1953 a number of schools of technology were founded - today there are seventeen such colleges - many of them with but little more than the crudest types of laboratories, technical libraries and the like. SeJdom does one find a text!book available; for the most part the students work f.rom so-called scripts which they themselves have compiled. In selecting aspirants for college preparatory schools and universities, the authorities show preference for children from proletarian homes, a tactic that envisages the complete annihilation of the Czech middle class with its high standards of education. Some years ago it became evident that students educated under these new conditions, whose time was also taken up by pairamilitary training, Communist Youth Association commitments and Party organization duties, lagged behind in their studies. Furthermore, several weeks of the year are taken up in so-called "polytechnical training" at unpaid jobs in industry. Small wonder, then, that students who lack ability due to their "proletarian" origins, fail to stand the pace. They make up the bulk of the thirty per cent forced to throw in the sponge. In 1959, the Czech Communist regime, following the lead of the Soviet school reform of 1959, also introduced new educational measures, the first stage of which took effect in 1961 at the beginning of the scholastic year. To raise the educational standards of the general public, primary school will be extended from eight to nine years. "Polytechnical training," thus far encouraged only by the Czech Communist Party, will become obligatory, with intensification of paramilitary training. This shake-up of the school system to conform to Communist aims will certainly not raise the over-all edu- �88 SLOVAKIA cational level. Today industries that employ "engineers" with such limited training are already beginning to complain of their lack of ability. These young men report for work without . knowing the most elementary techniques in their field nor is there much likelihood of improvement in the future. If unchanged, however, such conditions will reduce a population with a higher than ·. average educational potential to a generation of robots. A POLICY OF GENOCIDE By Anton F. Wuschek After the expulsion of the Sudeten G€rmans there remained approximately 200,000 Germans in the area that now embraces Czecho-Slovakia. Many of them are still residing in their old homes in the Sudetenland, others have been transferred to original Czech areas. Along with the Hungarian, Ukrainian and Polish minorities in the CSR, the German element is one of the largest ethnic groups that do not belong to the official nation of the State of Czechs and Slovaks. Little has been said of the existence of this German group within the past years. Not until two years ago did they become the subject of considerable discussion within Czecho-Slovak Communist Party circles, when, in connection . with the introduction of the new Socialist constitution in the CSR the new status of the ethnic minorities was decided on. Whereas the new constitution gives a minimum of cultural rights to the Ukrainian, Hungarian and Polish minorities, it -deprives the German minority every right to an autonomous group life. State President Antonin Novotny justified this fact with the statement that the German question was settled by the expulsion from their homes of some three million Sudeten G€rmans. The remaining Germans would thus no longer be considered as a minority. The logic of this statement was by no means given unanimous aproval. Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czecho-Slovakia (CPC), Bruno Kohler, took the . opportunity to discuss the Sudeten G€rman issue in detail in. the official 9rgan of the C:PC � 86 SLOVAKIA C'LECH REDS HAVE SCHOOL TROUBLE By Eberhard Mahnert "Red Justice," official Communist Party mouthpiece for Czecho-Slovakia, recently reported that thirty per cent of the students enrolled in Czech and Slovak colleges and universities had to drop out. Only last September, however, the same paper had lauded the socialist school system as the most efficacious and progressive, giving the individual citizen the widest possible benefits by systematic development of his abilities. One month later the same news sheet had to admit the downright failure of the educational setup it had so lavishly praised. Who is at fault? The teachers, of course, especially those not yet imbued with the "new spirit." A series of political purges is soon to be launched, despite the conspicuous shortage of teachers in Czecho-Slovakia, a situation likewise due to the "cleansing" that followed the Communist power grab. At that time an educational framework which had proved workable for a century and a half was jettisoned in favor of a Soviet-styled imitation. Until 1948, the Czecho-Slovak school system was based on principles developed during the reign of Empress Maria Theresia of Austria and her son Joseph II and found acceptance in the territories of the Danubian Monarchy. The First Czecho~lovak Republic was careful not to alter this well established structure, which was the very foundation of the high educational level of the Czech nation. The case was different with the Slovaks whom the Czechs did not allow to maintain their own schools of higher learning. With the L;ommunist putsch the "reactionary" school -;;ystem was swept aside; so-called reform measures were introduced. The entire structure was radically transformed to duplicate its Soviet original, regardless of whether or not it suited the educational needs of the Czech and Slovak peoples. The new measures abolished the former system of five years of primary school, eight years of high school and four to five years of college. They introduced a new system \vith an eight-grade primary school plus an additional three years of secondary school that were ap- �SLOVAKIA 87 proved as an adequate basis for college entrance. Courses in• certain subjects were reduced to half their former number, making it possible for a pupil to get a degree in engineering at the age of 19 or 20, where he was previously not ready for ~aduation until 22 or 23. Subjects that formerly had been given priority were replaced under the new setup by intensive courses in political propaganda that stressed Party ideology. During the years 1952 to 1953 a number of schools of technology were founded - today there are seventeen such colleges - many of them with but little more than the crudest types of laboratories, technical libraries and the like. SeJdom does one find a text!book available; for the most part the students work f.rom so-called scripts which they themselves have compiled. In selecting aspirants for college preparatory schools and universities, the authorities show preference for children from proletarian homes, a tactic that envisages the complete annihilation of the Czech middle class with its high standards of education. Some years ago it became evident that students educated under these new conditions, whose time was also taken up by pairamilitary training, Communist Youth Association commitments and Party organization duties, lagged behind in their studies. Furthermore, several weeks of the year are taken up in so-called "polytechnical training" at unpaid jobs in industry. Small wonder, then, that students who lack ability due to their "proletarian" origins, fail to stand the pace. They make up the bulk of the thirty per cent forced to throw in the sponge. In 1959, the Czech Communist regime, following the lead of the Soviet school reform of 1959, also introduced new educational measures, the first stage of which took effect in 1961 at the beginning of the scholastic year. To raise the educational standards of the general public, primary school will be extended from eight to nine years. "Polytechnical training," thus far encouraged only by the Czech Communist Party, will become obligatory, with intensification of paramilitary training. This shake-up of the school system to conform to Communist aims will certainly not raise the over-all edu- �88 SLOVAKIA cational level. Today industries that employ "engineers" with such limited training are already beginning to complain of their lack of ability. These young men report for work without . knowing the most elementary techniques in their field nor is there much likelihood of improvement in the future. If unchanged, however, such conditions will reduce a population with a higher than ·. average educational potential to a generation of robots. A POLICY OF GENOCIDE By Anton F. Wuschek After the expulsion of the Sudeten G€rmans there remained approximately 200,000 Germans in the area that now embraces Czecho-Slovakia. Many of them are still residing in their old homes in the Sudetenland, others have been transferred to original Czech areas. Along with the Hungarian, Ukrainian and Polish minorities in the CSR, the German element is one of the largest ethnic groups that do not belong to the official nation of the State of Czechs and Slovaks. Little has been said of the existence of this German group within the past years. Not until two years ago did they become the subject of considerable discussion within Czecho-Slovak Communist Party circles, when, in connection . with the introduction of the new Socialist constitution in the CSR the new status of the ethnic minorities was decided on. Whereas the new constitution gives a minimum of cultural rights to the Ukrainian, Hungarian and Polish minorities, it -deprives the German minority every right to an autonomous group life. State President Antonin Novotny justified this fact with the statement that the German question was settled by the expulsion from their homes of some three million Sudeten G€rmans. The remaining Germans would thus no longer be considered as a minority. The logic of this statement was by no means given unanimous aproval. Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czecho-Slovakia (CPC), Bruno Kohler, took the . opportunity to discuss the Sudeten G€rman issue in detail in. the official 9rgan of the C:PC � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 86 SLOVAKIA C'LECH REDS HAVE SCHOOL TROUBLE By Eberhard Mahnert "Red Justice," official Communist Party mouthpiece for Czecho-Slovakia, recently reported that thirty per cent of the students enrolled in Czech and Slovak colleges and universities had to drop out. Only last September, however, the same paper had lauded the socialist school system as the most efficacious and progressive, giving the individual citizen the widest possible benefits by systematic development of his abilities. One month later the same news sheet had to admit the downright failure of the educational setup it had so lavishly praised. Who is at fault? The teachers, of course, especially those not yet imbued with the "new spirit." A series of political purges is soon to be launched, despite the conspicuous shortage of teachers in Czecho-Slovakia, a situation likewise due to the "cleansing" that followed the Communist power grab. At that time an educational framework which had proved workable for a century and a half was jettisoned in favor of a Soviet-styled imitation. Until 1948, the Czecho-Slovak school system was based on principles developed during the reign of Empress Maria Theresia of Austria and her son Joseph II and found acceptance in the territories of the Danubian Monarchy. The First Czecho~lovak Republic was careful not to alter this well established structure, which was the very foundation of the high educational level of the Czech nation. The case was different with the Slovaks whom the Czechs did not allow to maintain their own schools of higher learning. With the L;ommunist putsch the "reactionary" school -;;ystem was swept aside; so-called reform measures were introduced. The entire structure was radically transformed to duplicate its Soviet original, regardless of whether or not it suited the educational needs of the Czech and Slovak peoples. The new measures abolished the former system of five years of primary school, eight years of high school and four to five years of college. They introduced a new system \vith an eight-grade primary school plus an additional three years of secondary school that were ap- SLOVAKIA 87 proved as an adequate basis for college entrance. Courses in• certain subjects were reduced to half their former number, making it possible for a pupil to get a degree in engineering at the age of 19 or 20, where he was previously not ready for ~aduation until 22 or 23. Subjects that formerly had been given priority were replaced under the new setup by intensive courses in political propaganda that stressed Party ideology. During the years 1952 to 1953 a number of schools of technology were founded - today there are seventeen such colleges - many of them with but little more than the crudest types of laboratories, technical libraries and the like. SeJdom does one find a text!book available; for the most part the students work f.rom so-called scripts which they themselves have compiled. In selecting aspirants for college preparatory schools and universities, the authorities show preference for children from proletarian homes, a tactic that envisages the complete annihilation of the Czech middle class with its high standards of education. Some years ago it became evident that students educated under these new conditions, whose time was also taken up by pairamilitary training, Communist Youth Association commitments and Party organization duties, lagged behind in their studies. Furthermore, several weeks of the year are taken up in so-called "polytechnical training" at unpaid jobs in industry. Small wonder, then, that students who lack ability due to their "proletarian" origins, fail to stand the pace. They make up the bulk of the thirty per cent forced to throw in the sponge. In 1959, the Czech Communist regime, following the lead of the Soviet school reform of 1959, also introduced new educational measures, the first stage of which took effect in 1961 at the beginning of the scholastic year. To raise the educational standards of the general public, primary school will be extended from eight to nine years. "Polytechnical training," thus far encouraged only by the Czech Communist Party, will become obligatory, with intensification of paramilitary training. This shake-up of the school system to conform to Communist aims will certainly not raise the over-all edu- 88 SLOVAKIA cational level. Today industries that employ "engineers" with such limited training are already beginning to complain of their lack of ability. These young men report for work without . knowing the most elementary techniques in their field nor is there much likelihood of improvement in the future. If unchanged, however, such conditions will reduce a population with a higher than ·. average educational potential to a generation of robots. A POLICY OF GENOCIDE By Anton F. Wuschek After the expulsion of the Sudeten G€rmans there remained approximately 200,000 Germans in the area that now embraces Czecho-Slovakia. Many of them are still residing in their old homes in the Sudetenland, others have been transferred to original Czech areas. Along with the Hungarian, Ukrainian and Polish minorities in the CSR, the German element is one of the largest ethnic groups that do not belong to the official nation of the State of Czechs and Slovaks. Little has been said of the existence of this German group within the past years. Not until two years ago did they become the subject of considerable discussion within Czecho-Slovak Communist Party circles, when, in connection . with the introduction of the new Socialist constitution in the CSR the new status of the ethnic minorities was decided on. Whereas the new constitution gives a minimum of cultural rights to the Ukrainian, Hungarian and Polish minorities, it -deprives the German minority every right to an autonomous group life. State President Antonin Novotny justified this fact with the statement that the German question was settled by the expulsion from their homes of some three million Sudeten G€rmans. The remaining Germans would thus no longer be considered as a minority. The logic of this statement was by no means given unanimous aproval. Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czecho-Slovakia (CPC), Bruno Kohler, took the . opportunity to discuss the Sudeten G€rman issue in detail in. the official 9rgan of the C:PC  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Czech Reds Have School Trouble Description An account of the resource Eberhard Mahnert Slovakia, Vol. 13, No. 1 (36), March 1963 pp. 86-88 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mahnert, Eberhard Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1963 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/2f05dc90d4670bd83739e6cc827e0a01.pdf 5134be387299ef85e300009574512554 PDF Text Text 88 SLOVAKIA cational level. Today industries that employ "engineers" with such limited training are already beginning to complain of their lack of ability. These young men report for work without . knowing the most elementary techniques in their field nor is there much likelihood of improvement in the future. If unchanged, however, such conditions will reduce a population with a higher than ·. average educational potential to a generation of robots. A POLICY OF GENOCIDE By Anton F. Wuschek After the expulsion of the Sudeten G€rmans there remained approximately 200,000 Germans in the area that now embraces Czecho-Slovakia. Many of them are still residing in their old homes in the Sudetenland, others have been transferred to original Czech areas. Along with the Hungarian, Ukrainian and Polish minorities in the CSR, the German element is one of the largest ethnic groups that do not belong to the official nation of the State of Czechs and Slovaks. Little has been said of the existence of this German group within the past years. Not until two years ago did they become the subject of considerable discussion within Czecho-Slovak Communist Party circles, when, in connection . with the introduction of the new Socialist constitution in the CSR the new status of the ethnic minorities was decided on. Whereas the new constitution gives a minimum of cultural rights to the Ukrainian, Hungarian and Polish minorities, it -deprives the German minority every right to an autonomous group life. State President Antonin Novotny justified this fact with the statement that the German question was settled by the expulsion from their homes of some three million Sudeten G€rmans. The remaining Germans would thus no longer be considered as a minority. The logic of this statement was by no means given unanimous aproval. Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czecho-Slovakia (CPC), Bruno Kohler, took the . opportunity to discuss the Sudeten G€rman issue in detail in. the official 9rgan of the C:PC �SLOVAKIA 89 Zivot strany (No. 16, 1960). Kohler justified the discrepancy in the minorities policy of the CPC with the remark that, according to the teachings of Leninism, a correct solution of the nationalities issue called for application of the principle of adjustment to the current political situations while giving consideration to the interests of Communism. During ·the first Czecho-Slovak Republic under Thomas Masaryk (1918~38) the Communists were the greatest proponents of a radical nationalities policy in the CSR, aimed at the · destruction of the Czecho-Slovak State: The Communists with Kohler as their spokesman vehemently condemned the attitude of the German parties in the CSR that were seeking a federative solution of the nationalities question within the scope of the existing State. Kohler criticized this stand on February 1, 1931 in an article in R-Oter Vonvarts (Red Forward), which reads as follows: " . . . The national demagog,y cxf adl these Qbourgeois German) parties climaxes in the demand for 'national selif-d-etermination aind cultural autonomy' for the German people wtiltfuin the CzoohoSlovak State . . . National autonomy means the recOinition of the (::zecho-Slovak State .. . it means rejection a priori cxf the sellf-determi<nati>on ri-ght <Yf the Germw people." Just how much Communist policy sought at that time to make itself an advocate of the interests of the non-Czech ethnic groups in the CSR becomes evident from the address of the secretary of the Communist International, Dimitri Z. Manuilskij, before the second regular congress of the CPC: "Silnce the OPC recognizes the r ight of natii.onal self-determination, includilllg sepantion from the State, and combats all attempts to kwp national minorities within the framework of the present state structure by means of foree, it is obligated to support tJhe demainds posed by national mimorities against national swppress,ion . by every poss~ble means." But times have changed in the meanwhile and the interests of the Communist rulers in the CSR are other than they were in Czecho-Slovakia during the period between the two world wars. The expulsion of the Sudeten Gennahs and the confiscation of their property were welcome conditions for complete communization of CzechoSlovakia. Bruno K3hler even admits this himself when he writes, in the above-mentioned issue of Zivot strany: �90 SLOVAKIA ''The tnnsfer of the German minority, totalin<g millions, did not take place witihout dffli.cU!lty, particularly for those atffeoted by the shilft ... The consistent and timel,y solution of the proolem of the German minority proved to be especiallly advantageous during the .glorious days of Februaey 19418 when the workers conoontirated all th~ir energies on aehieving victory over the rea'dt.ion, on a victory tha/1: fina1Uy made -the rdad ifree for the esta!blishment of Sociahism in our country_" Today the CPC openly declares that the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans was a prerequisite for the victory of Communism in the CSR. In order to retain the fruits of this victory, the Red regime in Prague resists with all its might every attempt of the Sudeten Germans and the West to revise the expulsion of the rightful inhabitants of the Sudetenland. In trying to make permanent the injustice, the small minority of Germans still living in the CSR today - because the authorities deny them permission to emigrate - are disregarded entirely. Not only are they disregarded, but systematic attempts are being made to do away with them altogether. At this point there begins a policy of genocide, a crime against international law. By conscious and deliberate action the Czech State leaders are trying to uproot an entire ethnic group by surrounding them by conditions that make it impossible for them to cultivate and perpetuate their native tongue and cultural attributes. Although international jurists may differ as to whether the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans as such, which took place in 1945-46, may be classified as genocide although expulsion measures were aimed at destruction of the entire Sudeten group - there may well be unanimity of opinion as to the new measures in the CSR with regard to the total extirpation of the German minority in the CSR, that this is planned and systematically organized genocide. Bruno Kohler already anticipates the outcome of this policy when, in the above-cited article, he writes: "Due to the entirely different siituation, tlhe question Olf the German .minority had to be solved enitirel,y differently from that of the Ma,gyar, Ukrainian and Polish minorities in the CSR. This di1flf.erence is also evident >in the formulation of the repulblic's new consti.tution which legaUy orystaili1izes all the bmportant social changes we liave a:fireicted. The constitutional text can, contain no stipulation as to sometihing which no longer exists, a German minority in the CSR." � 88 SLOVAKIA cational level. Today industries that employ "engineers" with such limited training are already beginning to complain of their lack of ability. These young men report for work without . knowing the most elementary techniques in their field nor is there much likelihood of improvement in the future. If unchanged, however, such conditions will reduce a population with a higher than ·. average educational potential to a generation of robots. A POLICY OF GENOCIDE By Anton F. Wuschek After the expulsion of the Sudeten G€rmans there remained approximately 200,000 Germans in the area that now embraces Czecho-Slovakia. Many of them are still residing in their old homes in the Sudetenland, others have been transferred to original Czech areas. Along with the Hungarian, Ukrainian and Polish minorities in the CSR, the German element is one of the largest ethnic groups that do not belong to the official nation of the State of Czechs and Slovaks. Little has been said of the existence of this German group within the past years. Not until two years ago did they become the subject of considerable discussion within Czecho-Slovak Communist Party circles, when, in connection . with the introduction of the new Socialist constitution in the CSR the new status of the ethnic minorities was decided on. Whereas the new constitution gives a minimum of cultural rights to the Ukrainian, Hungarian and Polish minorities, it -deprives the German minority every right to an autonomous group life. State President Antonin Novotny justified this fact with the statement that the German question was settled by the expulsion from their homes of some three million Sudeten G€rmans. The remaining Germans would thus no longer be considered as a minority. The logic of this statement was by no means given unanimous aproval. Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czecho-Slovakia (CPC), Bruno Kohler, took the . opportunity to discuss the Sudeten G€rman issue in detail in. the official 9rgan of the C:PC �SLOVAKIA 89 Zivot strany (No. 16, 1960). Kohler justified the discrepancy in the minorities policy of the CPC with the remark that, according to the teachings of Leninism, a correct solution of the nationalities issue called for application of the principle of adjustment to the current political situations while giving consideration to the interests of Communism. During ·the first Czecho-Slovak Republic under Thomas Masaryk (1918~38) the Communists were the greatest proponents of a radical nationalities policy in the CSR, aimed at the · destruction of the Czecho-Slovak State: The Communists with Kohler as their spokesman vehemently condemned the attitude of the German parties in the CSR that were seeking a federative solution of the nationalities question within the scope of the existing State. Kohler criticized this stand on February 1, 1931 in an article in R-Oter Vonvarts (Red Forward), which reads as follows: " . . . The national demagog,y cxf adl these Qbourgeois German) parties climaxes in the demand for 'national selif-d-etermination aind cultural autonomy' for the German people wtiltfuin the CzoohoSlovak State . . . National autonomy means the recOinition of the (::zecho-Slovak State .. . it means rejection a priori cxf the sellf-determi<nati>on ri-ght <Yf the Germw people." Just how much Communist policy sought at that time to make itself an advocate of the interests of the non-Czech ethnic groups in the CSR becomes evident from the address of the secretary of the Communist International, Dimitri Z. Manuilskij, before the second regular congress of the CPC: "Silnce the OPC recognizes the r ight of natii.onal self-determination, includilllg sepantion from the State, and combats all attempts to kwp national minorities within the framework of the present state structure by means of foree, it is obligated to support tJhe demainds posed by national mimorities against national swppress,ion . by every poss~ble means." But times have changed in the meanwhile and the interests of the Communist rulers in the CSR are other than they were in Czecho-Slovakia during the period between the two world wars. The expulsion of the Sudeten Gennahs and the confiscation of their property were welcome conditions for complete communization of CzechoSlovakia. Bruno K3hler even admits this himself when he writes, in the above-mentioned issue of Zivot strany: �90 SLOVAKIA ''The tnnsfer of the German minority, totalin<g millions, did not take place witihout dffli.cU!lty, particularly for those atffeoted by the shilft ... The consistent and timel,y solution of the proolem of the German minority proved to be especiallly advantageous during the .glorious days of Februaey 19418 when the workers conoontirated all th~ir energies on aehieving victory over the rea'dt.ion, on a victory tha/1: fina1Uy made -the rdad ifree for the esta!blishment of Sociahism in our country_" Today the CPC openly declares that the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans was a prerequisite for the victory of Communism in the CSR. In order to retain the fruits of this victory, the Red regime in Prague resists with all its might every attempt of the Sudeten Germans and the West to revise the expulsion of the rightful inhabitants of the Sudetenland. In trying to make permanent the injustice, the small minority of Germans still living in the CSR today - because the authorities deny them permission to emigrate - are disregarded entirely. Not only are they disregarded, but systematic attempts are being made to do away with them altogether. At this point there begins a policy of genocide, a crime against international law. By conscious and deliberate action the Czech State leaders are trying to uproot an entire ethnic group by surrounding them by conditions that make it impossible for them to cultivate and perpetuate their native tongue and cultural attributes. Although international jurists may differ as to whether the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans as such, which took place in 1945-46, may be classified as genocide although expulsion measures were aimed at destruction of the entire Sudeten group - there may well be unanimity of opinion as to the new measures in the CSR with regard to the total extirpation of the German minority in the CSR, that this is planned and systematically organized genocide. Bruno Kohler already anticipates the outcome of this policy when, in the above-cited article, he writes: "Due to the entirely different siituation, tlhe question Olf the German .minority had to be solved enitirel,y differently from that of the Ma,gyar, Ukrainian and Polish minorities in the CSR. This di1flf.erence is also evident >in the formulation of the repulblic's new consti.tution which legaUy orystaili1izes all the bmportant social changes we liave a:fireicted. The constitutional text can, contain no stipulation as to sometihing which no longer exists, a German minority in the CSR." � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 88 SLOVAKIA cational level. Today industries that employ "engineers" with such limited training are already beginning to complain of their lack of ability. These young men report for work without . knowing the most elementary techniques in their field nor is there much likelihood of improvement in the future. If unchanged, however, such conditions will reduce a population with a higher than ·. average educational potential to a generation of robots. A POLICY OF GENOCIDE By Anton F. Wuschek After the expulsion of the Sudeten G€rmans there remained approximately 200,000 Germans in the area that now embraces Czecho-Slovakia. Many of them are still residing in their old homes in the Sudetenland, others have been transferred to original Czech areas. Along with the Hungarian, Ukrainian and Polish minorities in the CSR, the German element is one of the largest ethnic groups that do not belong to the official nation of the State of Czechs and Slovaks. Little has been said of the existence of this German group within the past years. Not until two years ago did they become the subject of considerable discussion within Czecho-Slovak Communist Party circles, when, in connection . with the introduction of the new Socialist constitution in the CSR the new status of the ethnic minorities was decided on. Whereas the new constitution gives a minimum of cultural rights to the Ukrainian, Hungarian and Polish minorities, it -deprives the German minority every right to an autonomous group life. State President Antonin Novotny justified this fact with the statement that the German question was settled by the expulsion from their homes of some three million Sudeten G€rmans. The remaining Germans would thus no longer be considered as a minority. The logic of this statement was by no means given unanimous aproval. Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czecho-Slovakia (CPC), Bruno Kohler, took the . opportunity to discuss the Sudeten G€rman issue in detail in. the official 9rgan of the C:PC SLOVAKIA 89 Zivot strany (No. 16, 1960). Kohler justified the discrepancy in the minorities policy of the CPC with the remark that, according to the teachings of Leninism, a correct solution of the nationalities issue called for application of the principle of adjustment to the current political situations while giving consideration to the interests of Communism. During ·the first Czecho-Slovak Republic under Thomas Masaryk (1918~38) the Communists were the greatest proponents of a radical nationalities policy in the CSR, aimed at the · destruction of the Czecho-Slovak State: The Communists with Kohler as their spokesman vehemently condemned the attitude of the German parties in the CSR that were seeking a federative solution of the nationalities question within the scope of the existing State. Kohler criticized this stand on February 1, 1931 in an article in R-Oter Vonvarts (Red Forward), which reads as follows: " . . . The national demagog,y cxf adl these Qbourgeois German) parties climaxes in the demand for 'national selif-d-etermination aind cultural autonomy' for the German people wtiltfuin the CzoohoSlovak State . . . National autonomy means the recOinition of the (::zecho-Slovak State .. . it means rejection a priori cxf the sellf-determi<nati>on ri-ght <Yf the Germw people." Just how much Communist policy sought at that time to make itself an advocate of the interests of the non-Czech ethnic groups in the CSR becomes evident from the address of the secretary of the Communist International, Dimitri Z. Manuilskij, before the second regular congress of the CPC: "Silnce the OPC recognizes the r ight of natii.onal self-determination, includilllg sepantion from the State, and combats all attempts to kwp national minorities within the framework of the present state structure by means of foree, it is obligated to support tJhe demainds posed by national mimorities against national swppress,ion . by every poss~ble means." But times have changed in the meanwhile and the interests of the Communist rulers in the CSR are other than they were in Czecho-Slovakia during the period between the two world wars. The expulsion of the Sudeten Gennahs and the confiscation of their property were welcome conditions for complete communization of CzechoSlovakia. Bruno K3hler even admits this himself when he writes, in the above-mentioned issue of Zivot strany: 90 SLOVAKIA ''The tnnsfer of the German minority, totalin<g millions, did not take place witihout dffli.cU!lty, particularly for those atffeoted by the shilft ... The consistent and timel,y solution of the proolem of the German minority proved to be especiallly advantageous during the .glorious days of Februaey 19418 when the workers conoontirated all th~ir energies on aehieving victory over the rea'dt.ion, on a victory tha/1: fina1Uy made -the rdad ifree for the esta!blishment of Sociahism in our country_" Today the CPC openly declares that the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans was a prerequisite for the victory of Communism in the CSR. In order to retain the fruits of this victory, the Red regime in Prague resists with all its might every attempt of the Sudeten Germans and the West to revise the expulsion of the rightful inhabitants of the Sudetenland. In trying to make permanent the injustice, the small minority of Germans still living in the CSR today - because the authorities deny them permission to emigrate - are disregarded entirely. Not only are they disregarded, but systematic attempts are being made to do away with them altogether. At this point there begins a policy of genocide, a crime against international law. By conscious and deliberate action the Czech State leaders are trying to uproot an entire ethnic group by surrounding them by conditions that make it impossible for them to cultivate and perpetuate their native tongue and cultural attributes. Although international jurists may differ as to whether the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans as such, which took place in 1945-46, may be classified as genocide although expulsion measures were aimed at destruction of the entire Sudeten group - there may well be unanimity of opinion as to the new measures in the CSR with regard to the total extirpation of the German minority in the CSR, that this is planned and systematically organized genocide. Bruno Kohler already anticipates the outcome of this policy when, in the above-cited article, he writes: "Due to the entirely different siituation, tlhe question Olf the German .minority had to be solved enitirel,y differently from that of the Ma,gyar, Ukrainian and Polish minorities in the CSR. This di1flf.erence is also evident >in the formulation of the repulblic's new consti.tution which legaUy orystaili1izes all the bmportant social changes we liave a:fireicted. The constitutional text can, contain no stipulation as to sometihing which no longer exists, a German minority in the CSR."  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A Policy of Genocide Description An account of the resource Anton F. Wuschek Slovakia, Vol. 13, No. 1 (36), March 1963 pp. 88-90 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Wuschek, Anton F. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1963 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/6588459817e56258aac0fa3c887ef501.pdf 9948f8cbe996bd48112c43a072ff5208 PDF Text Text SWVAKIA 91 CZECH COMMUNISM AND SWVAK RESENTMENT Impressions from Czecho-Slovakia From a Correspondent Travelling in Czecho-Slovakia, I found a good deal altered in a year: that Czecho-Slovakia in 1961 was more relaxed than in 1960; that people were paying less attention to official pronouncements; that they were venturing some timid criticism; that they were more ready to exchange views with visitors from the West. They still dislike Poles, considering them "dangerous rebels," but again it seems that in Czecho-Polish relations there is more ease than a few years ago, and that some of the thorny problems of traffic across the frontiers ( especially in the region of the Tatra Mountains) have been solved. The ferocity of Czech press announcements about Berlin is really astounding. Even the E . German press eannot be surpassed in the force of their artifically con,cocted chauvinism. Czech papers are full to the brim of stol"ies about Berlin and an atmosphere of crisis is worked up by those preposterous Czech papers, which offer a strong contrast with Polish papers, still rather restrained in their comments. The Czech official policy demands a " quick solution" of the problem; they are all for an immediate signing of the Peace Treaty with DDR.. For the first time in years one discovers in those papers a really warlike attitude: almost a Martian one, if it were not ordered from above. For the average Czech is not at all inclined to risk any adventure. Berlin or no Berlin: they are not for sabre rattling. They are quite happy in selling guns, and very good guns at that, to Cuba and Egypt, and Iraq, and many countries around the globe ( China included). But they abhor war. Czech arms seem to be produced at overtime speed and in enormous quantities. I was told by an engineer in Brno that the Skoda works are producing more now than during the German rule in Bohemia. "The quality is probably lower," he explained, "but the quantity is huge. We send arms to China on an enormous scale. We supply Cuba and Egypt and the whole of the Middle East. And Africa. This is our chief export today." Czech cars - Skoda and �92 SLOVAKIA Tatra - are exported not only to the satellite countries and to Russia but also to the Middle East. So are Czech aircraft, or, rather, Russian aircraft manufactured or assembled in Czecho-Slovakia. Bohemia is a huge milit.ary fact,ory, a schooling centre for foreign communists, and . an assembly place for Communists from Asia and Africa. In Prague one is always meeting delegations from Asia and Africa, from South America and from Cuba; there are young Communists who attend special schools and courses. Czecho-Slovakia more particularly Bohemia - knows how to exploit its central position and the fact that long before the war there was a well-established Communist Party; the present-day officiai' organ, Rude .Pri.,·o, has been appearing for many years and Czech Communists survived much better than the Polish variety: Most of them escaped purges; actually, purges before the war were extremely mild and did not touch the core of the Party ( as they did in Poland and in other East European countries). So the Czechs are selling their arms and their ideology to foreign countries with great zeal and ingenuity. They want to export, they want to trade, they want to receive tourists. Marianske Lazne and Karlove Vary, the former Marienbad and Karsbad, are almost flourishing again, together with that wonderful Slovak spa, Piest:any, probably the watering place most effective against rheumatism and arthritis Europe can offer. In Karlove Vary thousands of French, German, English, Russian and Belgian tourists are much in evidence. And the Czechs are willing to do anything to attract foreigners. They are doing this much better than the Poles: but they have more to offer to the outside world - a string of world-famous spas, lovely mountains (the Tatra range) and one of the finest towns in Europe, Prague, untouched by the ravages of war. But what strikes an observt,r who has been to Slovakia after a long absence is the steady dislike, through so many political changes, the Slovaks have for the Czechs. The enmity of the Slovaks vis-a-vis the C7.echs is now great.er than before the war. They openly accuse the Czechs of a "policy of grab and plunder" which does not seem entirely to tally with facts as Slovakia appears to �SLOVAKIA 93 be a much more prosperous country than before the war. Factories and workshops pop up in most unlikely places, some of them hidden among the forests and in the picturesque valleys. Slovakia reminds one of the Tyrol and the mountainous provinces of Austria which, after the war, have been subjected to industrialization with the result that Austria has now achieved a much better balance between industry and agriculture. But a rider should be added here: while in the Western provinces of Austria the newly created industries - some built to make post-war Austria independent of the Eastern provinces then under Russian occupation - belonged to the domain of light industries, the same is not true of Slovakia. In the Vah Valley and in other places Slovak industries belong without doubt to the heavy category. In the over-all Russian plan for industrialization of satellites, Slovakia was assigned a quite important place. Some of the factories work for war industry, some of the heavy industry plants are well hidden in forests and woods or among the undulating slopes of the Fatra and other mountain ranges. They are thoroughly camouflaged in case of war, and their importance must not be underrated. There are, I learned, several aircraft factories in the Fatra rerion, and the country is dotted - that one can tell even during a car journey across Slovakia - with airfields and runways. Slovakia has been made into a military camp. This Slovakia resents bitterly. "As if they had not enough in their Skoda works and what-not," I heard in Banska Bystrica. "Why did they come to us and make our lovely countryside hateful and ugly! Our mountains and hills, our valleys and forests, are changing beyond .recognition. Smoke, and din and noise everywhere." The Slovaks feel they are being exploited both by Russians and by Czechs. ''The Czechs want to take from us all the food and best positions," I was told in Lubochna, the lovely watering place on the River Vah. ''They haven't leamed anything from the past. They are at their tricks again. We hate them like poison." The feeling of intense dislike towards the "oppressor Czechs" and "exploiting Russians" prevails in the toWDS, villages and hamlets of Slovakia. The Slovak Communists are as vociferous in their criticism of their <n.ech comrades �94 SLOVAKIA as any peasant in a village inn. They resent the "omnipresence of the Czech element" and the "arrogant attitude of those people from Prague." Before the war this dislikewas not so strongly colored; it was toned down in places like Bratislava and in the region of the Tatra. In the Tatra region, in the Tatranska Lomnica and other places ( where the Hungarians have left their pre-first World War splendid sanatoria and residences), the enmity towards the "Czech overlords" speaks in an undisguised voice. It is a tragedy, but the new Czecho-Slovakia (a twopartite country, for it has lost its third "canton," Subcarpathian Ruthenia, as well as its unofficial fourth, Sudetenland, as the Germans were driven from there almost to a man) has not succeeded in satisfactorily reshaping the country and uniting it with bonds of loyalty and genuine collaboration. The differences between Slovaks and Czechs have become accentuated; in all problems where the Czechs say "white," the Slovaks say "black." And so, for instance, in the matter of the Berlin crisis the Czechs are more or less behind their official policy: They are voicing very stridently the view that "West Berlin should be liquidated." The Slovaks assert that there is no reason for such a move and that East Germans are oppressed by their regime ... - THE TABLET, London, Sept. 23, 1961. Learn Slova!k, the key language to all Slav languages, the easy way. You can do it in several months if you use the newest book by P. A. Hrobak. LET'S LEARN SWVAK Recomended for ·b oth the young and the old. The book contains 64 lessons on 200 pages and is bound in a hard ,p aper cover. You can get a copy by sending Two Dollars ($2.00) to: P.A.HROBAK Jednota Printery Middletown, PA . • � SWVAKIA 91 CZECH COMMUNISM AND SWVAK RESENTMENT Impressions from Czecho-Slovakia From a Correspondent Travelling in Czecho-Slovakia, I found a good deal altered in a year: that Czecho-Slovakia in 1961 was more relaxed than in 1960; that people were paying less attention to official pronouncements; that they were venturing some timid criticism; that they were more ready to exchange views with visitors from the West. They still dislike Poles, considering them "dangerous rebels," but again it seems that in Czecho-Polish relations there is more ease than a few years ago, and that some of the thorny problems of traffic across the frontiers ( especially in the region of the Tatra Mountains) have been solved. The ferocity of Czech press announcements about Berlin is really astounding. Even the E . German press eannot be surpassed in the force of their artifically con,cocted chauvinism. Czech papers are full to the brim of stol"ies about Berlin and an atmosphere of crisis is worked up by those preposterous Czech papers, which offer a strong contrast with Polish papers, still rather restrained in their comments. The Czech official policy demands a " quick solution" of the problem; they are all for an immediate signing of the Peace Treaty with DDR.. For the first time in years one discovers in those papers a really warlike attitude: almost a Martian one, if it were not ordered from above. For the average Czech is not at all inclined to risk any adventure. Berlin or no Berlin: they are not for sabre rattling. They are quite happy in selling guns, and very good guns at that, to Cuba and Egypt, and Iraq, and many countries around the globe ( China included). But they abhor war. Czech arms seem to be produced at overtime speed and in enormous quantities. I was told by an engineer in Brno that the Skoda works are producing more now than during the German rule in Bohemia. "The quality is probably lower," he explained, "but the quantity is huge. We send arms to China on an enormous scale. We supply Cuba and Egypt and the whole of the Middle East. And Africa. This is our chief export today." Czech cars - Skoda and �92 SLOVAKIA Tatra - are exported not only to the satellite countries and to Russia but also to the Middle East. So are Czech aircraft, or, rather, Russian aircraft manufactured or assembled in Czecho-Slovakia. Bohemia is a huge milit.ary fact,ory, a schooling centre for foreign communists, and . an assembly place for Communists from Asia and Africa. In Prague one is always meeting delegations from Asia and Africa, from South America and from Cuba; there are young Communists who attend special schools and courses. Czecho-Slovakia more particularly Bohemia - knows how to exploit its central position and the fact that long before the war there was a well-established Communist Party; the present-day officiai' organ, Rude .Pri.,·o, has been appearing for many years and Czech Communists survived much better than the Polish variety: Most of them escaped purges; actually, purges before the war were extremely mild and did not touch the core of the Party ( as they did in Poland and in other East European countries). So the Czechs are selling their arms and their ideology to foreign countries with great zeal and ingenuity. They want to export, they want to trade, they want to receive tourists. Marianske Lazne and Karlove Vary, the former Marienbad and Karsbad, are almost flourishing again, together with that wonderful Slovak spa, Piest:any, probably the watering place most effective against rheumatism and arthritis Europe can offer. In Karlove Vary thousands of French, German, English, Russian and Belgian tourists are much in evidence. And the Czechs are willing to do anything to attract foreigners. They are doing this much better than the Poles: but they have more to offer to the outside world - a string of world-famous spas, lovely mountains (the Tatra range) and one of the finest towns in Europe, Prague, untouched by the ravages of war. But what strikes an observt,r who has been to Slovakia after a long absence is the steady dislike, through so many political changes, the Slovaks have for the Czechs. The enmity of the Slovaks vis-a-vis the C7.echs is now great.er than before the war. They openly accuse the Czechs of a "policy of grab and plunder" which does not seem entirely to tally with facts as Slovakia appears to �SLOVAKIA 93 be a much more prosperous country than before the war. Factories and workshops pop up in most unlikely places, some of them hidden among the forests and in the picturesque valleys. Slovakia reminds one of the Tyrol and the mountainous provinces of Austria which, after the war, have been subjected to industrialization with the result that Austria has now achieved a much better balance between industry and agriculture. But a rider should be added here: while in the Western provinces of Austria the newly created industries - some built to make post-war Austria independent of the Eastern provinces then under Russian occupation - belonged to the domain of light industries, the same is not true of Slovakia. In the Vah Valley and in other places Slovak industries belong without doubt to the heavy category. In the over-all Russian plan for industrialization of satellites, Slovakia was assigned a quite important place. Some of the factories work for war industry, some of the heavy industry plants are well hidden in forests and woods or among the undulating slopes of the Fatra and other mountain ranges. They are thoroughly camouflaged in case of war, and their importance must not be underrated. There are, I learned, several aircraft factories in the Fatra rerion, and the country is dotted - that one can tell even during a car journey across Slovakia - with airfields and runways. Slovakia has been made into a military camp. This Slovakia resents bitterly. "As if they had not enough in their Skoda works and what-not," I heard in Banska Bystrica. "Why did they come to us and make our lovely countryside hateful and ugly! Our mountains and hills, our valleys and forests, are changing beyond .recognition. Smoke, and din and noise everywhere." The Slovaks feel they are being exploited both by Russians and by Czechs. ''The Czechs want to take from us all the food and best positions," I was told in Lubochna, the lovely watering place on the River Vah. ''They haven't leamed anything from the past. They are at their tricks again. We hate them like poison." The feeling of intense dislike towards the "oppressor Czechs" and "exploiting Russians" prevails in the toWDS, villages and hamlets of Slovakia. The Slovak Communists are as vociferous in their criticism of their <n.ech comrades �94 SLOVAKIA as any peasant in a village inn. They resent the "omnipresence of the Czech element" and the "arrogant attitude of those people from Prague." Before the war this dislikewas not so strongly colored; it was toned down in places like Bratislava and in the region of the Tatra. In the Tatra region, in the Tatranska Lomnica and other places ( where the Hungarians have left their pre-first World War splendid sanatoria and residences), the enmity towards the "Czech overlords" speaks in an undisguised voice. It is a tragedy, but the new Czecho-Slovakia (a twopartite country, for it has lost its third "canton," Subcarpathian Ruthenia, as well as its unofficial fourth, Sudetenland, as the Germans were driven from there almost to a man) has not succeeded in satisfactorily reshaping the country and uniting it with bonds of loyalty and genuine collaboration. The differences between Slovaks and Czechs have become accentuated; in all problems where the Czechs say "white," the Slovaks say "black." And so, for instance, in the matter of the Berlin crisis the Czechs are more or less behind their official policy: They are voicing very stridently the view that "West Berlin should be liquidated." The Slovaks assert that there is no reason for such a move and that East Germans are oppressed by their regime ... - THE TABLET, London, Sept. 23, 1961. Learn Slova!k, the key language to all Slav languages, the easy way. You can do it in several months if you use the newest book by P. A. Hrobak. LET'S LEARN SWVAK Recomended for ·b oth the young and the old. The book contains 64 lessons on 200 pages and is bound in a hard ,p aper cover. You can get a copy by sending Two Dollars ($2.00) to: P.A.HROBAK Jednota Printery Middletown, PA . • � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 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 SWVAKIA 91 CZECH COMMUNISM AND SWVAK RESENTMENT Impressions from Czecho-Slovakia From a Correspondent Travelling in Czecho-Slovakia, I found a good deal altered in a year: that Czecho-Slovakia in 1961 was more relaxed than in 1960; that people were paying less attention to official pronouncements; that they were venturing some timid criticism; that they were more ready to exchange views with visitors from the West. They still dislike Poles, considering them "dangerous rebels," but again it seems that in Czecho-Polish relations there is more ease than a few years ago, and that some of the thorny problems of traffic across the frontiers ( especially in the region of the Tatra Mountains) have been solved. The ferocity of Czech press announcements about Berlin is really astounding. Even the E . German press eannot be surpassed in the force of their artifically con,cocted chauvinism. Czech papers are full to the brim of stol"ies about Berlin and an atmosphere of crisis is worked up by those preposterous Czech papers, which offer a strong contrast with Polish papers, still rather restrained in their comments. The Czech official policy demands a " quick solution" of the problem; they are all for an immediate signing of the Peace Treaty with DDR.. For the first time in years one discovers in those papers a really warlike attitude: almost a Martian one, if it were not ordered from above. For the average Czech is not at all inclined to risk any adventure. Berlin or no Berlin: they are not for sabre rattling. They are quite happy in selling guns, and very good guns at that, to Cuba and Egypt, and Iraq, and many countries around the globe ( China included). But they abhor war. Czech arms seem to be produced at overtime speed and in enormous quantities. I was told by an engineer in Brno that the Skoda works are producing more now than during the German rule in Bohemia. "The quality is probably lower," he explained, "but the quantity is huge. We send arms to China on an enormous scale. We supply Cuba and Egypt and the whole of the Middle East. And Africa. This is our chief export today." Czech cars - Skoda and 92 SLOVAKIA Tatra - are exported not only to the satellite countries and to Russia but also to the Middle East. So are Czech aircraft, or, rather, Russian aircraft manufactured or assembled in Czecho-Slovakia. Bohemia is a huge milit.ary fact,ory, a schooling centre for foreign communists, and . an assembly place for Communists from Asia and Africa. In Prague one is always meeting delegations from Asia and Africa, from South America and from Cuba; there are young Communists who attend special schools and courses. Czecho-Slovakia more particularly Bohemia - knows how to exploit its central position and the fact that long before the war there was a well-established Communist Party; the present-day officiai' organ, Rude .Pri.,·o, has been appearing for many years and Czech Communists survived much better than the Polish variety: Most of them escaped purges; actually, purges before the war were extremely mild and did not touch the core of the Party ( as they did in Poland and in other East European countries). So the Czechs are selling their arms and their ideology to foreign countries with great zeal and ingenuity. They want to export, they want to trade, they want to receive tourists. Marianske Lazne and Karlove Vary, the former Marienbad and Karsbad, are almost flourishing again, together with that wonderful Slovak spa, Piest:any, probably the watering place most effective against rheumatism and arthritis Europe can offer. In Karlove Vary thousands of French, German, English, Russian and Belgian tourists are much in evidence. And the Czechs are willing to do anything to attract foreigners. They are doing this much better than the Poles: but they have more to offer to the outside world - a string of world-famous spas, lovely mountains (the Tatra range) and one of the finest towns in Europe, Prague, untouched by the ravages of war. But what strikes an observt,r who has been to Slovakia after a long absence is the steady dislike, through so many political changes, the Slovaks have for the Czechs. The enmity of the Slovaks vis-a-vis the C7.echs is now great.er than before the war. They openly accuse the Czechs of a "policy of grab and plunder" which does not seem entirely to tally with facts as Slovakia appears to SLOVAKIA 93 be a much more prosperous country than before the war. Factories and workshops pop up in most unlikely places, some of them hidden among the forests and in the picturesque valleys. Slovakia reminds one of the Tyrol and the mountainous provinces of Austria which, after the war, have been subjected to industrialization with the result that Austria has now achieved a much better balance between industry and agriculture. But a rider should be added here: while in the Western provinces of Austria the newly created industries - some built to make post-war Austria independent of the Eastern provinces then under Russian occupation - belonged to the domain of light industries, the same is not true of Slovakia. In the Vah Valley and in other places Slovak industries belong without doubt to the heavy category. In the over-all Russian plan for industrialization of satellites, Slovakia was assigned a quite important place. Some of the factories work for war industry, some of the heavy industry plants are well hidden in forests and woods or among the undulating slopes of the Fatra and other mountain ranges. They are thoroughly camouflaged in case of war, and their importance must not be underrated. There are, I learned, several aircraft factories in the Fatra rerion, and the country is dotted - that one can tell even during a car journey across Slovakia - with airfields and runways. Slovakia has been made into a military camp. This Slovakia resents bitterly. "As if they had not enough in their Skoda works and what-not," I heard in Banska Bystrica. "Why did they come to us and make our lovely countryside hateful and ugly! Our mountains and hills, our valleys and forests, are changing beyond .recognition. Smoke, and din and noise everywhere." The Slovaks feel they are being exploited both by Russians and by Czechs. ''The Czechs want to take from us all the food and best positions," I was told in Lubochna, the lovely watering place on the River Vah. ''They haven't leamed anything from the past. They are at their tricks again. We hate them like poison." The feeling of intense dislike towards the "oppressor Czechs" and "exploiting Russians" prevails in the toWDS, villages and hamlets of Slovakia. The Slovak Communists are as vociferous in their criticism of their <n.ech comrades 94 SLOVAKIA as any peasant in a village inn. They resent the "omnipresence of the Czech element" and the "arrogant attitude of those people from Prague." Before the war this dislikewas not so strongly colored; it was toned down in places like Bratislava and in the region of the Tatra. In the Tatra region, in the Tatranska Lomnica and other places ( where the Hungarians have left their pre-first World War splendid sanatoria and residences), the enmity towards the "Czech overlords" speaks in an undisguised voice. It is a tragedy, but the new Czecho-Slovakia (a twopartite country, for it has lost its third "canton," Subcarpathian Ruthenia, as well as its unofficial fourth, Sudetenland, as the Germans were driven from there almost to a man) has not succeeded in satisfactorily reshaping the country and uniting it with bonds of loyalty and genuine collaboration. The differences between Slovaks and Czechs have become accentuated; in all problems where the Czechs say "white," the Slovaks say "black." And so, for instance, in the matter of the Berlin crisis the Czechs are more or less behind their official policy: They are voicing very stridently the view that "West Berlin should be liquidated." The Slovaks assert that there is no reason for such a move and that East Germans are oppressed by their regime ... - THE TABLET, London, Sept. 23, 1961. Learn Slova!k, the key language to all Slav languages, the easy way. You can do it in several months if you use the newest book by P. A. Hrobak. LET'S LEARN SWVAK Recomended for ·b oth the young and the old. The book contains 64 lessons on 200 pages and is bound in a hard ,p aper cover. You can get a copy by sending Two Dollars ($2.00) to: P.A.HROBAK Jednota Printery Middletown, PA . •  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Czech Communism and Slovak Resentment: Impressions from Czecho-Slovakia Description An account of the resource From a Correspondent Slovakia, Vol. 13, No. 1 (36), March 1963 pp. 91-94 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1963 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/6975baf9fc6c254775c22bb4a9bff5dc.pdf 868807e15e6bf8bb2249ce732d4d2b80 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA BOOK REVIEWS Kurt Glaser: Czecho-Slovakia, a Critical History, published by tlhe Caxton Printers Ltd., Ca,ldwell, Idaho, 1961.. Tm-ee maps, U photogra,phic plates, 275 pp., $5.50. Visitors to NA'l10 headquarters in Paris are shown a moving picture od: the "oolfapse O!f democra11ic Czecho-Slov,ak~a" under president Dr. Edward Bene§ in FebI'luary 1948, as one o'f the impeiti toward crea.ting ain, Atlantic def8llse organizartion. Indeed, there are many contemporaries, whose opinions are moulded 3Jfter superficial or slanted reports, who hold that Communism came suddenly to Czecho-Siovakia in 194'8, overthrowirug whalt was previously a "\little island of Westernbrand democracy in a sea of totallitarian-ruled States" in Central Europe. This pulblication has ()({ten poiin,t ed out that such a concept does not jibe with the historrc facts. Professor Glaser of Soothem Illinois Univ-er.silty, prQlbes deep1y into the matter. By collecting proliifiic facts from Czech, Slovak, ~11man and American sources (not anicy from those who staged the February cowp d'etat), he has gathered ample material for his ·thoroug;h-goinig, schola-r1¥ and objective evaluation of developments in and around Czecho-Slovakia from the birth of that State iin, 1918 to the present. Frequent quotations from documents and other source materiall in the text make Glaser's book not on[y interesting reading but give the reader a,n opportunity to dr,a,w conclusi.lOns of his own from the facts and judge the aptitude or i,naiptitude with which histoo-ic situaltion1S were handled at the time by decisive (WeS'tEf!'n and Eastern) policymaking bodies and leaders. 'J.1his reviewer, who lived i-n Czecho-Slov,a!ldia for maniy years and eXJperienced first-hand llhe naHonality, economic, and political pl"o'blems of that State was astonished at Professor GU~ser's keen _sense O!f o~rvation, understandmg, and Judlgment of the historic facts. Caxton pri,nters are to be cong,ratulated on pulblisrhing this excellent piece of scholarly research and objective evaluation. Dr. Glaser, American-born, a Harv,ard graduate, served with the U. S. Mill.itary Governmenlt im, occupied Germa,n y in 19416. While serving overseas he saw at first hand Communist encroachment in Centraa Europe. This proximate exiperience prompted him to adopt, as one O!f his pri111Ci,pal interests, t-he development oo a dynamiic anti-Oommun,ilSt policy. With this in mind, he searched for the reason for the Bolshevizafaon oo East-Oentral Europe, a•n d of Czecho-Slovaki-a in particular. The author's findings are o;f value to the student of histocy, to contemiporacy writers on international alffairs, and to fore~ policy makers. The sulbject he deals with is not a dead topic. It is of timely concern and holds a lesson for future behavior in dealing with the Soviets and in ma-naging effective](y psycliologicall war strategy. Glaser aJ.so warns against misj udig-ing advke and pro,pagamda activities of Czech politidans in eX'ile who before 19418 had kowtowed to Staliin, and, consciously or unconscioosly, paved tlhe w~ for Communi-st rule in OzechoSlovakia. He spotlights otbjection- �96 SLOVAKIA able policy and personnel management of R!adio ftee Europe and in the c-0oo1udi.n•g chapter shows ways for an effective anti-Commuru.st Western policy with regard t-0 Czooho-SloV'altia and EastCentral Europe. Summing up: He, who woulld know a•n d understand happenings in Czecho-Slovakia during the past decades, wil11 find Plrofessor Glaser's book a valuable guide. American Slovaks this yewr are commemorating their "Grand Jubilee" - the 1,lOOth a:nniversary of the advent of SS. Cyrll and Methodius to t he land of the ancient Slova~, Great Moravia - under tlhe SJ)onwrs hi/I) of the Slovak League of America. A conterence of Ame·rican S 1 o v a k s is scheduled far Waishington, D. C., April 15-6, 1963; '1 ater a pilgritmage to Slov,a,kla aind Rome, •I taly, where the ,p ilgrimage will end with the dedication of the Institute of .SS. Cyril and Methodius on Sept. 15. X X Ill! The Slovak Catholic Federation of America 1s sponsoring the ddve 'for $600,00-0 to ·b uild and equip the new Institute of SS. Cy'lil and Metihodiuis in Ro m e. The drive is headed by the Most Rev. Andrew G. Grutka, Bishop of Gary, Indiana, who will also hea<l rthe Americain delegation to Rome for the dedioo.tion of the Institute on •S ept. 16. Clevela,nd and Youngs-toW1J1, 0 ., have already held their celebrations of the 1,lOOth anniversary of SS. Cyril and Methodius; so have Scra'llton and Wi.1.kes-BaTre, Pa. , an<l Brl<lg•eport, Conn. Other Slovak centel'B in America and Gamada will keep the celebrations going to the end of 1963. Almost ha!lf the goal had been rnached by tJhe end of Mareh. X !JC !JC Tido J. Gaipar, Slov·a k jour:nalist and novelist, was 70 years obd on MaTch 7. He "cel~brate<l" the event ,in jail, where he was placed "for life" by the Czech Reos after W. W . II. His "crimes" : Mlti-State activities (In his articles he ~efended the f.nd,e,pendence o·r S!o-yl),'kia, con- demned Stalin's mass murderis in Katyn an<l Vinica, and opposed the pro-Moscow policy of Prague). Gaspar, one of the most cha•mcteristic and most expressive personalities of Slova'k >life ,si'llce W. W. I, was described by his colleagues a,s Slovakia's best stylist and di!plomat. At his trial, no witnesses were allowe<l to testMy •i n his beha.lf. X X !JC Father Vojtech Trizna wa,s given a three-year jail .term in Kosice, Slovakia, because he allegedly "attaoked the athe.fstis, opposed coliectiviza.tdon and mass poliiticall organizaitlons," accordi'llg to a report from Vienna.. Anton F. · Wuschttk. YOU CAN LEARN SLOVAK - IF YOU WANT TO The New, Revised "SLOVAK LESSONS" Will do the trick! • 400 PAGES • 92 LESSONS . Bound in . Cloth - $8.50 ORDER TODAY! • Jednota Printery Middletown. Pa. �Officers of the Slovak League of America (Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio) President Joseph G. Prusa Dr. Peter P. H letko 205 Madison Street, Passaic, N. J. Batavia Rd., Box 48 Warrensville, Ill. John A. Sabol Vice-Presidents 140 First Avenue, Phoenixville, Pa. John Horecky 2264 Walton Ave. New York 63, N. Y. ADVISORY COUNCIL Julia Krajcovlc John 1648 W. 18th Street Chicago 8, Ill. A. Sabol National President First Catholic Slovak Union Secretary Helen Kocan Joseph Pauco National President Fir11t Catholic Slovak Ladies Union 107 Bradford Avenue Middletown, Pa. Treasurer Paul Paul C. Kazimer Fallat National President Slovak Catholic Sokol 1122 Sylvan Avenue Homes tead, Pa. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Stephen J. Tkach National President Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union Msgr. F. J. Dubosh, P.A. 12608 Madison Avenue Lakewood 7, Ohio Anna Sotak National President Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union Paul P. Jamriska 536 Marie Ave. Pittsburgh 2, Pa. Philip A. Hrobak Emrich Valko P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. National President SloV'ak Catholic Cadet Union (Affiliated JEDNOTA Middletown, Pa. BRATSTVO Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Middletown, KATOLiCKY SOKOL SVORNOST Pas.sale, N. J. Whitaker, Pa. �• ~ry:,,.---¾ .. . 55. CYRIL AN·O METHODIU S - ~.i,-..,, ~ ··- SLOVAK APOSTLES � SLOVAKIA BOOK REVIEWS Kurt Glaser: Czecho-Slovakia, a Critical History, published by tlhe Caxton Printers Ltd., Ca,ldwell, Idaho, 1961.. Tm-ee maps, U photogra,phic plates, 275 pp., $5.50. Visitors to NA'l10 headquarters in Paris are shown a moving picture od: the "oolfapse O!f democra11ic Czecho-Slov,ak~a" under president Dr. Edward Bene§ in FebI'luary 1948, as one o'f the impeiti toward crea.ting ain, Atlantic def8llse organizartion. Indeed, there are many contemporaries, whose opinions are moulded 3Jfter superficial or slanted reports, who hold that Communism came suddenly to Czecho-Siovakia in 194'8, overthrowirug whalt was previously a "\little island of Westernbrand democracy in a sea of totallitarian-ruled States" in Central Europe. This pulblication has ()({ten poiin,t ed out that such a concept does not jibe with the historrc facts. Professor Glaser of Soothem Illinois Univ-er.silty, prQlbes deep1y into the matter. By collecting proliifiic facts from Czech, Slovak, ~11man and American sources (not anicy from those who staged the February cowp d'etat), he has gathered ample material for his ·thoroug;h-goinig, schola-r1¥ and objective evaluation of developments in and around Czecho-Slovakia from the birth of that State iin, 1918 to the present. Frequent quotations from documents and other source materiall in the text make Glaser's book not on[y interesting reading but give the reader a,n opportunity to dr,a,w conclusi.lOns of his own from the facts and judge the aptitude or i,naiptitude with which histoo-ic situaltion1S were handled at the time by decisive (WeS'tEf!'n and Eastern) policymaking bodies and leaders. 'J.1his reviewer, who lived i-n Czecho-Slov,a!ldia for maniy years and eXJperienced first-hand llhe naHonality, economic, and political pl"o'blems of that State was astonished at Professor GU~ser's keen _sense O!f o~rvation, understandmg, and Judlgment of the historic facts. Caxton pri,nters are to be cong,ratulated on pulblisrhing this excellent piece of scholarly research and objective evaluation. Dr. Glaser, American-born, a Harv,ard graduate, served with the U. S. Mill.itary Governmenlt im, occupied Germa,n y in 19416. While serving overseas he saw at first hand Communist encroachment in Centraa Europe. This proximate exiperience prompted him to adopt, as one O!f his pri111Ci,pal interests, t-he development oo a dynamiic anti-Oommun,ilSt policy. With this in mind, he searched for the reason for the Bolshevizafaon oo East-Oentral Europe, a•n d of Czecho-Slovaki-a in particular. The author's findings are o;f value to the student of histocy, to contemiporacy writers on international alffairs, and to fore~ policy makers. The sulbject he deals with is not a dead topic. It is of timely concern and holds a lesson for future behavior in dealing with the Soviets and in ma-naging effective](y psycliologicall war strategy. Glaser aJ.so warns against misj udig-ing advke and pro,pagamda activities of Czech politidans in eX'ile who before 19418 had kowtowed to Staliin, and, consciously or unconscioosly, paved tlhe w~ for Communi-st rule in OzechoSlovakia. He spotlights otbjection- �96 SLOVAKIA able policy and personnel management of R!adio ftee Europe and in the c-0oo1udi.n•g chapter shows ways for an effective anti-Commuru.st Western policy with regard t-0 Czooho-SloV'altia and EastCentral Europe. Summing up: He, who woulld know a•n d understand happenings in Czecho-Slovakia during the past decades, wil11 find Plrofessor Glaser's book a valuable guide. American Slovaks this yewr are commemorating their "Grand Jubilee" - the 1,lOOth a:nniversary of the advent of SS. Cyrll and Methodius to t he land of the ancient Slova~, Great Moravia - under tlhe SJ)onwrs hi/I) of the Slovak League of America. A conterence of Ame·rican S 1 o v a k s is scheduled far Waishington, D. C., April 15-6, 1963; '1 ater a pilgritmage to Slov,a,kla aind Rome, •I taly, where the ,p ilgrimage will end with the dedication of the Institute of .SS. Cyril and Methodius on Sept. 15. X X Ill! The Slovak Catholic Federation of America 1s sponsoring the ddve 'for $600,00-0 to ·b uild and equip the new Institute of SS. Cy'lil and Metihodiuis in Ro m e. The drive is headed by the Most Rev. Andrew G. Grutka, Bishop of Gary, Indiana, who will also hea<l rthe Americain delegation to Rome for the dedioo.tion of the Institute on •S ept. 16. Clevela,nd and Youngs-toW1J1, 0 ., have already held their celebrations of the 1,lOOth anniversary of SS. Cyril and Methodius; so have Scra'llton and Wi.1.kes-BaTre, Pa. , an<l Brl<lg•eport, Conn. Other Slovak centel'B in America and Gamada will keep the celebrations going to the end of 1963. Almost ha!lf the goal had been rnached by tJhe end of Mareh. X !JC !JC Tido J. Gaipar, Slov·a k jour:nalist and novelist, was 70 years obd on MaTch 7. He "cel~brate<l" the event ,in jail, where he was placed "for life" by the Czech Reos after W. W . II. His "crimes" : Mlti-State activities (In his articles he ~efended the f.nd,e,pendence o·r S!o-yl),'kia, con- demned Stalin's mass murderis in Katyn an<l Vinica, and opposed the pro-Moscow policy of Prague). Gaspar, one of the most cha•mcteristic and most expressive personalities of Slova'k >life ,si'llce W. W. I, was described by his colleagues a,s Slovakia's best stylist and di!plomat. At his trial, no witnesses were allowe<l to testMy •i n his beha.lf. X X !JC Father Vojtech Trizna wa,s given a three-year jail .term in Kosice, Slovakia, because he allegedly "attaoked the athe.fstis, opposed coliectiviza.tdon and mass poliiticall organizaitlons," accordi'llg to a report from Vienna.. Anton F. · Wuschttk. YOU CAN LEARN SLOVAK - IF YOU WANT TO The New, Revised "SLOVAK LESSONS" Will do the trick! • 400 PAGES • 92 LESSONS . Bound in . Cloth - $8.50 ORDER TODAY! • Jednota Printery Middletown. Pa. �Officers of the Slovak League of America (Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio) President Joseph G. Prusa Dr. Peter P. H letko 205 Madison Street, Passaic, N. J. Batavia Rd., Box 48 Warrensville, Ill. John A. Sabol Vice-Presidents 140 First Avenue, Phoenixville, Pa. John Horecky 2264 Walton Ave. New York 63, N. Y. ADVISORY COUNCIL Julia Krajcovlc John 1648 W. 18th Street Chicago 8, Ill. A. Sabol National President First Catholic Slovak Union Secretary Helen Kocan Joseph Pauco National President Fir11t Catholic Slovak Ladies Union 107 Bradford Avenue Middletown, Pa. Treasurer Paul Paul C. Kazimer Fallat National President Slovak Catholic Sokol 1122 Sylvan Avenue Homes tead, Pa. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Stephen J. Tkach National President Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union Msgr. F. J. Dubosh, P.A. 12608 Madison Avenue Lakewood 7, Ohio Anna Sotak National President Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union Paul P. Jamriska 536 Marie Ave. Pittsburgh 2, Pa. Philip A. Hrobak Emrich Valko P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. National President SloV'ak Catholic Cadet Union (Affiliated JEDNOTA Middletown, Pa. BRATSTVO Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Middletown, KATOLiCKY SOKOL SVORNOST Pas.sale, N. J. Whitaker, Pa. �• ~ry:,,.---¾ .. . 55. CYRIL AN·O METHODIU S - ~.i,-..,, ~ ··- SLOVAK APOSTLES � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 BOOK REVIEWS Kurt Glaser: Czecho-Slovakia, a Critical History, published by tlhe Caxton Printers Ltd., Ca,ldwell, Idaho, 1961.. Tm-ee maps, U photogra,phic plates, 275 pp., $5.50. Visitors to NA'l10 headquarters in Paris are shown a moving picture od: the "oolfapse O!f democra11ic Czecho-Slov,ak~a" under president Dr. Edward Bene§ in FebI'luary 1948, as one o'f the impeiti toward crea.ting ain, Atlantic def8llse organizartion. Indeed, there are many contemporaries, whose opinions are moulded 3Jfter superficial or slanted reports, who hold that Communism came suddenly to Czecho-Siovakia in 194'8, overthrowirug whalt was previously a "\little island of Westernbrand democracy in a sea of totallitarian-ruled States" in Central Europe. This pulblication has ()({ten poiin,t ed out that such a concept does not jibe with the historrc facts. Professor Glaser of Soothem Illinois Univ-er.silty, prQlbes deep1y into the matter. By collecting proliifiic facts from Czech, Slovak, ~11man and American sources (not anicy from those who staged the February cowp d'etat), he has gathered ample material for his ·thoroug;h-goinig, schola-r1¥ and objective evaluation of developments in and around Czecho-Slovakia from the birth of that State iin, 1918 to the present. Frequent quotations from documents and other source materiall in the text make Glaser's book not on[y interesting reading but give the reader a,n opportunity to dr,a,w conclusi.lOns of his own from the facts and judge the aptitude or i,naiptitude with which histoo-ic situaltion1S were handled at the time by decisive (WeS'tEf!'n and Eastern) policymaking bodies and leaders. 'J.1his reviewer, who lived i-n Czecho-Slov,a!ldia for maniy years and eXJperienced first-hand llhe naHonality, economic, and political pl"o'blems of that State was astonished at Professor GU~ser's keen _sense O!f o~rvation, understandmg, and Judlgment of the historic facts. Caxton pri,nters are to be cong,ratulated on pulblisrhing this excellent piece of scholarly research and objective evaluation. Dr. Glaser, American-born, a Harv,ard graduate, served with the U. S. Mill.itary Governmenlt im, occupied Germa,n y in 19416. While serving overseas he saw at first hand Communist encroachment in Centraa Europe. This proximate exiperience prompted him to adopt, as one O!f his pri111Ci,pal interests, t-he development oo a dynamiic anti-Oommun,ilSt policy. With this in mind, he searched for the reason for the Bolshevizafaon oo East-Oentral Europe, a•n d of Czecho-Slovaki-a in particular. The author's findings are o;f value to the student of histocy, to contemiporacy writers on international alffairs, and to fore~ policy makers. The sulbject he deals with is not a dead topic. It is of timely concern and holds a lesson for future behavior in dealing with the Soviets and in ma-naging effective](y psycliologicall war strategy. Glaser aJ.so warns against misj udig-ing advke and pro,pagamda activities of Czech politidans in eX'ile who before 19418 had kowtowed to Staliin, and, consciously or unconscioosly, paved tlhe w~ for Communi-st rule in OzechoSlovakia. He spotlights otbjection- 96 SLOVAKIA able policy and personnel management of R!adio ftee Europe and in the c-0oo1udi.n•g chapter shows ways for an effective anti-Commuru.st Western policy with regard t-0 Czooho-SloV'altia and EastCentral Europe. Summing up: He, who woulld know a•n d understand happenings in Czecho-Slovakia during the past decades, wil11 find Plrofessor Glaser's book a valuable guide. American Slovaks this yewr are commemorating their "Grand Jubilee" - the 1,lOOth a:nniversary of the advent of SS. Cyrll and Methodius to t he land of the ancient Slova~, Great Moravia - under tlhe SJ)onwrs hi/I) of the Slovak League of America. A conterence of Ame·rican S 1 o v a k s is scheduled far Waishington, D. C., April 15-6, 1963; '1 ater a pilgritmage to Slov,a,kla aind Rome, •I taly, where the ,p ilgrimage will end with the dedication of the Institute of .SS. Cyril and Methodius on Sept. 15. X X Ill! The Slovak Catholic Federation of America 1s sponsoring the ddve 'for $600,00-0 to ·b uild and equip the new Institute of SS. Cy'lil and Metihodiuis in Ro m e. The drive is headed by the Most Rev. Andrew G. Grutka, Bishop of Gary, Indiana, who will also hea<l rthe Americain delegation to Rome for the dedioo.tion of the Institute on •S ept. 16. Clevela,nd and Youngs-toW1J1, 0 ., have already held their celebrations of the 1,lOOth anniversary of SS. Cyril and Methodius; so have Scra'llton and Wi.1.kes-BaTre, Pa. , an<l Brl<lg•eport, Conn. Other Slovak centel'B in America and Gamada will keep the celebrations going to the end of 1963. Almost ha!lf the goal had been rnached by tJhe end of Mareh. X !JC !JC Tido J. Gaipar, Slov·a k jour:nalist and novelist, was 70 years obd on MaTch 7. He "cel~brate<l" the event ,in jail, where he was placed "for life" by the Czech Reos after W. W . II. His "crimes" : Mlti-State activities (In his articles he ~efended the f.nd,e,pendence o·r S!o-yl),'kia, con- demned Stalin's mass murderis in Katyn an<l Vinica, and opposed the pro-Moscow policy of Prague). Gaspar, one of the most cha•mcteristic and most expressive personalities of Slova'k >life ,si'llce W. W. I, was described by his colleagues a,s Slovakia's best stylist and di!plomat. At his trial, no witnesses were allowe<l to testMy •i n his beha.lf. X X !JC Father Vojtech Trizna wa,s given a three-year jail .term in Kosice, Slovakia, because he allegedly "attaoked the athe.fstis, opposed coliectiviza.tdon and mass poliiticall organizaitlons," accordi'llg to a report from Vienna.. Anton F. · Wuschttk. YOU CAN LEARN SLOVAK - IF YOU WANT TO The New, Revised "SLOVAK LESSONS" Will do the trick! • 400 PAGES • 92 LESSONS . Bound in . Cloth - $8.50 ORDER TODAY! • Jednota Printery Middletown. Pa. Officers of the Slovak League of America (Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio) President Joseph G. Prusa Dr. Peter P. H letko 205 Madison Street, Passaic, N. J. Batavia Rd., Box 48 Warrensville, Ill. John A. Sabol Vice-Presidents 140 First Avenue, Phoenixville, Pa. John Horecky 2264 Walton Ave. New York 63, N. Y. ADVISORY COUNCIL Julia Krajcovlc John 1648 W. 18th Street Chicago 8, Ill. A. Sabol National President First Catholic Slovak Union Secretary Helen Kocan Joseph Pauco National President Fir11t Catholic Slovak Ladies Union 107 Bradford Avenue Middletown, Pa. Treasurer Paul Paul C. Kazimer Fallat National President Slovak Catholic Sokol 1122 Sylvan Avenue Homes tead, Pa. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Stephen J. Tkach National President Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union Msgr. F. J. Dubosh, P.A. 12608 Madison Avenue Lakewood 7, Ohio Anna Sotak National President Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union Paul P. Jamriska 536 Marie Ave. Pittsburgh 2, Pa. Philip A. Hrobak Emrich Valko P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. National President SloV'ak Catholic Cadet Union (Affiliated JEDNOTA Middletown, Pa. BRATSTVO Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Middletown, KATOLiCKY SOKOL SVORNOST Pas.sale, N. J. Whitaker, Pa. • ~ry:,,.---¾ .. . 55. CYRIL AN·O METHODIU S - ~.i,-..,, ~ ··- SLOVAK APOSTLES  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Back Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 13, No. 1 (36) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1963 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/f26f3c89543bf66337a858600f069c2e.pdf 5afc7753ccac4537f81e723c1d19e869 PDF Text Text VOL. XII MARCH-JUNE, 1962 NO. 1 (35) IN TIDS ISSUE: THE ORilGIN AN1D DEVE1LOPMENT OF THE SLOVAK LANGUAGE EXPELLEE,S AND THE EUROPEAN IDIEA MISCON,CEPTIONS OF AMERICAN S,LAVISTS ON THE SLOVAK LANGUAGE DEFENSE ALON,E IS NOT ENOUGH CZECH GROUPS IN EXILE EXIT CZiECHO-S1LOVAKIA'S "BERIA" A "LUMUMBA UNIVERSITY" IN ~RAGUE MAJORHY QUITS "COUNCIL OF FRE1E CZECHOSLOVAKIA" CZ/BCH RE,DS BOOST RED AIMS IN CUBA BOOK REVIEWS NEWS ITE!MS: 17, 24, 49, 64, 67, 80 • • • Edited and compiled by PHILIP A . HROBAK SLOV _AKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown. Pa • • • • Pwblished by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA �RECOMMENDED BOOKS: SLOVAKIA AND ITS PEOPLE, Oddo; $6.00. SLOVAKIA - NATION AT THE CRiOSS!ROADS OF CENTRAL EUROPE, Kirschbaum; $5.00. THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVA.KS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper); $2.00 (cloth cover). THE CHURCH OF SILENCE IN SLOVAKIA, Zubek; $3.50. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD, Woytko; $1.50. "CZECHOSLOVAKIA" - History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. lJNIOONQUERABLES, Pauco; $2.00 UUDOVlT STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD, Prof. J. Kirschbaum; 25c. ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.00. ♦ ♦ ♦ SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The main purpose of SLOVAKIA is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long, hard struggle for freedom and independence. $1.00 per annum in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. SLOVAKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Prm ted in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Middletown, Pa. � VOL. XII MARCH-JUNE, 1962 NO. 1 (35) IN TIDS ISSUE: THE ORilGIN AN1D DEVE1LOPMENT OF THE SLOVAK LANGUAGE EXPELLEE,S AND THE EUROPEAN IDIEA MISCON,CEPTIONS OF AMERICAN S,LAVISTS ON THE SLOVAK LANGUAGE DEFENSE ALON,E IS NOT ENOUGH CZECH GROUPS IN EXILE EXIT CZiECHO-S1LOVAKIA'S "BERIA" A "LUMUMBA UNIVERSITY" IN ~RAGUE MAJORHY QUITS "COUNCIL OF FRE1E CZECHOSLOVAKIA" CZ/BCH RE,DS BOOST RED AIMS IN CUBA BOOK REVIEWS NEWS ITE!MS: 17, 24, 49, 64, 67, 80 • • • Edited and compiled by PHILIP A . HROBAK SLOV _AKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown. Pa • • • • Pwblished by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA �RECOMMENDED BOOKS: SLOVAKIA AND ITS PEOPLE, Oddo; $6.00. SLOVAKIA - NATION AT THE CRiOSS!ROADS OF CENTRAL EUROPE, Kirschbaum; $5.00. THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVA.KS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper); $2.00 (cloth cover). THE CHURCH OF SILENCE IN SLOVAKIA, Zubek; $3.50. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD, Woytko; $1.50. "CZECHOSLOVAKIA" - History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. lJNIOONQUERABLES, Pauco; $2.00 UUDOVlT STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD, Prof. J. Kirschbaum; 25c. ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.00. ♦ ♦ ♦ SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The main purpose of SLOVAKIA is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long, hard struggle for freedom and independence. $1.00 per annum in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. SLOVAKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Prm ted in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Middletown, Pa. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 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 VOL. XII MARCH-JUNE, 1962 NO. 1 (35) IN TIDS ISSUE: THE ORilGIN AN1D DEVE1LOPMENT OF THE SLOVAK LANGUAGE EXPELLEE,S AND THE EUROPEAN IDIEA MISCON,CEPTIONS OF AMERICAN S,LAVISTS ON THE SLOVAK LANGUAGE DEFENSE ALON,E IS NOT ENOUGH CZECH GROUPS IN EXILE EXIT CZiECHO-S1LOVAKIA'S "BERIA" A "LUMUMBA UNIVERSITY" IN ~RAGUE MAJORHY QUITS "COUNCIL OF FRE1E CZECHOSLOVAKIA" CZ/BCH RE,DS BOOST RED AIMS IN CUBA BOOK REVIEWS NEWS ITE!MS: 17, 24, 49, 64, 67, 80 • • • Edited and compiled by PHILIP A . HROBAK SLOV _AKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown. Pa • • • • Pwblished by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA RECOMMENDED BOOKS: SLOVAKIA AND ITS PEOPLE, Oddo; $6.00. SLOVAKIA - NATION AT THE CRiOSS!ROADS OF CENTRAL EUROPE, Kirschbaum; $5.00. THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVA.KS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper); $2.00 (cloth cover). THE CHURCH OF SILENCE IN SLOVAKIA, Zubek; $3.50. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD, Woytko; $1.50. "CZECHOSLOVAKIA" - History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. lJNIOONQUERABLES, Pauco; $2.00 UUDOVlT STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD, Prof. J. Kirschbaum; 25c. ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.00. ♦ ♦ ♦ SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The main purpose of SLOVAKIA is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long, hard struggle for freedom and independence. $1.00 per annum in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. SLOVAKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Prm ted in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Middletown, Pa.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Front Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 12, No. 1 (35) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1962 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/4fdb5b8a3698d657769feb8089d33775.pdf ae6040e523fce94e9f61c6090ba446d6 PDF Text Text 18 SLOVAKIA EXPELLEES AND THE EUROPEAN IDEA BY OTTO VON HAIB,SBUiRG When Joseph Stalin seized upon the plan of Edward Benes to expel the Germans from the Bohemian lands, and when Communism expanded the idea to include the entire "Intermare" area between the Baltic and the Adriatic, his intention was not only to do his faithful vassals a favor. All political measures adopted by Communist politicians have their place in the great plan of world revolution. The expulsion of German ethnic groups from CzechoSlovakia, Poland, Hungary, Rumania, and Yugoslavia, which is continued in the indirect but uninterrupted flight of Germans from the German Soviet Zone, was supposed to render more difficult the stabi1ization of West Germany and that of all Europe, if not hinder it altogether. It was supposed, furthermore, to pave the way for Communism. Moscow expected, as a consequence of the flooding of West Germany with expellees, that an "imminent revolutionary situation" would develop. It is perhaps Stalin's biggest disappointment after Potsdam that the hopes he pinned on the masses of pauperized and expropriated expellees were never realized. It is in fact the greatest "miracle" that has happened in West Germany - far greater and more meaningful than the "economic miracle" - that the expeHees did not become the reserve army of communism but, on the contrary, a constructive force and the bearers of constructive thinking for all of Europe. Moscow counted on it becoming impossible to integrate the expellees into the economy and society of West Germany. The West German State, it figured, or West German society would perhaps be incapable of adequately caring for the masses of expellees housed in vast barracks. Filled with resentment and bitterness, doubtful of a chance for return as well as of a new means of livelihood, overcome by camp psychoses and the will to destroy, the millions of expellees were expected in the eyes of the general staff of the world revolution, to become partisans and outriders of the Red offensive. �SLOVAKIA 19 While the West Germans were being bled white on the modest attempt to provide for these homeless persons or at least keeip them from starving to death, the victims themselves were expected, as social outcasts and expellees, to undermine legal security, prevent every form of political sta;bilization, burden the economy unendurably and thus succumb to the whi.sperings of Communist agents. The "solution" of the refugee problem in the Soviet occupied zone, where they wanted to create an example of Marxist social policy by "land reform" and the settling of expellees as "new settlers," was supposed to entice those expellees residing in the West likewise to become champions of Communism. Hatred of the Americans, who by their "betrayal of humanity" were the alleged cause of all the trouble, the rupture of national solidarity of the German people by an unbridgeaJble gap between old and new citizens, the hopelessness of a situation from which revolution seemed but the only way out, and the classic union of national or nationalist passions with social-revolutionary impulses to national Bolshevism - all that appeared i.n 1945 to be a guarantee that the Communist revolution would advance to the Rhine within a very short time, and soon would go beyond the Rhine. It seemed, too, that irts strongest pillars would be those who had caused their own misery. There was a catchword that e:xipressed everything the Communists expected from the expellees at thait time : Macedonians. Just as pro-Bulgarian elements within Macedonia, which had become Sel'lbian in 1913, not only fought against Serbian rule in the old homeland but became a constant revolutionary danger in their host counfu'y of Bulgaria, too, overthrowing governments, forming conspiracies, stirring up the people and trying to implicate the State in a policy fraught with risks, so the East Germans, the Sudetens, the Carpait·hians, Hungarian and Banat Germans were to have formed the e:x:plosive, with its fuse in Moscow, that would completely destroy Europe. Many are the reasons for things haviing turned out differently, motives that coincided to give developments a turn �20 SLOVAKIA unforeseen by Moscow. First of all was the lack of caution by Stalin, wh.o prematurely took off his mask in the Greek civil war; tJhen the Czech putsch of February 1948, followed by the blockade of Berlin, the Bolshevization CYf China, and, finally, with the invasion of Korea, in this way touching off America's reaction to his policy of permanent revolution by the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the German currency reform and the re-estaiblishment of a German State. Nor should we forget either, the sober attitude of the American nation, which was prepared to revise dangerous mistakes just as radically as it had once succumbed to them, or the talents of the German people in the organizational, technical and economic field. The rapidly widening gap in the standard of living between people this side and the other side of the iron curtain was also important. All this and still more combined to cause Stalin's hopes to wither toward the end of his life, leading to a serious crisis of Communism between 1952 and 1956, which the West, however, did not know how to take proper advantage of. The ohief merit in the failure of the Benes-Stalin concept is to be attriibuted to the eX:pellees themselves, who, by remarkable self-discipline, moderation and objectivity, refrained from any policy of daring and revenge and, with minor exceptions, remained completely immune to Communist attempts at infiltration. They did not succumb for a minute to the danger of becoming the "Macedonians" of West Germany, but, instead, became the supporters of constructive European ideas. It is one of the most significant achievements of the expellees that t'hey have whetted the conscience of the free peoples and continually exhorted them to self-examination. International law, ever since the first world war, has increasingly fallen into decay, the concepts of riight and wrong have become confused ever since they were turned over to the propaganda apparatuses and the whim of mass passions to interpret them according to their own discretion and misuse them for the interests of power. In particular the motto of self-determination of peo- �SLOVAKIA ples, even during the interpretation of the Fourteen Points of Woodrow Wilson, was distorted beyond recognition and actually twisted to the opposite. 'Dhe expellees have not simply stanted at the po,i nt at which the concept was perverted and hence d~based. They related the demand for the right of self-determination to a large extent to a critical examination of German poLicy and to the political attitude of ethnic groups in the period prior to the first world war and in the thirties. They have seriously and in a thoroughgoing manner concerned themselves with the ethical motivation of the right to the homeland and have encouraged not only the experts on international and constitutional law in the free world, but, to an ever-growing degree, the t heologians to explore the right to the homeland in conjunction with the right to self-determination, self-government and self- administration, and to acquire, by so-doing, guiding principles for a new order in Europe. In the Charter of the Expellees we find the first results of that process of examination of conscience, of historic study, and of practical political consideraJt.ion of the possible and attainable. That was but the beginning. With the renouncing of revenge and retaliation, an ethical principle was anchored >in politics which had never before appeared with such clarity in the realm of international-legal considerations and in political aims. Today we can see in the Algerian issue that it was not just a question of problems touohing on East Germany and the Danubian area. It is a -suriprising fact, and may well fill with satisfaction those expellees W\ho come from old Austria, to know tihat the plans and proposals that were introduced by the French government toward a solut ion of the Algerian problem, approach those ideas that matured on Austrian soil between 1848 and 1918 and which were furtiher developed by the Sudeten Germans and could be matured in the struggle for the recognition of the right to the homeland. What formerly was a matter thaJt. concerned or appeared to concern only the Austrians and was understood by the peoples and ethnic groups of the Danubian Monarchy and of the German-Polish bovder area or the Baltic �22 SLOVAKIA States, today has become a question of the destiny of the free world and of Europe in particular. Africa, the Near East, India, and in Europe the regions in which there are still national issues this side of the iron curtain (South Tyrol), all need certain binding international-legal and constitutional-legal ideas and principles for solution and a new order, for satisfaobion and settlement. German e~pellees were the first to turn the attention of the free world to this vital problem and produced the first fruitful stimu~i. The contri'butions to thoughts on solving the nationalities problem made by Karl Renner and Ritter von Lodgman, Ignaz Seipel and Josef Redlich, Adolf Fisohhof and Franz Palacky, Aurel Popovici and Heinrich Lammasch, and, a:bove all, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his "workshop," are today acqui:r,ing world-wide importance. It was tJhe expellees who bridged the gap between past and present, between a territorially limited e:x!perimental station of co-living of various peoples in a State Community and the present global aspects of the question. As Minister of Defense, Franz Josef Strauss, stated at the Sudeten German Day in Munich, 1960, it is important not only to proclaim a right but to examine within wihat framework and within what higher legal order it can most ideally be reaHzed. At this very juncture the moderated conduct of the expellees proved a valua;ble maxim for all Europe. There are those who never tire of painting the expellee associations ·in Germany as disturber.s of the peace, "revengists," and nationalists. Only the reverse, however, is true. 'Dhe expellees were the first sizeable groups among the German people who displayed understanding for the integration policy of Adenauer and Sohuman, who supported it and ciharacterized the formation of supra-naJtional European arrangements as a condition for a new peaceful order for all Europe, in particular for East Central Europe. In the Eichstatt Declaration of 1949, in the Detmold Declaration, and in the rapidly ensuing resolutions and decisions of numerous associations - particularly the Wiesbaden Agreement between the Sudeten Germans and the Czechs in exile - there appeared for the first time propo- �SLOVAKIA 23 sals for a new European legal and State order within the framework of supra-State and supra-national organizations. And that is quite natural, too. The expellees bring from their homeland a rich storehouse of experiences and traditions which are directed to the necessity of international and supra-national agreements and organizations, to the dovetailing of autonomous, State and supra.:state faci'lities, to a common destiny and inseparability of vital communities in which different languages are spoken, with the right to linguistic and cultural autonomy, minority rights, and the complemenlting of territorial with personal selfadministration. In the areas where once the expellees had lived for centuries, the national.,State idea early proved to be problematical. The principal West European peoples looked upon the integral national State as an ideal ever since 1789, and retained their views into the 191:Jh Century. Whereas in France, Germany, and Italy tJhe ideas of the great Europeans met with tough opposition, since people simply could not imagine that portions of national sovereignty could and must be yielded, the expellees very quickly realized that this was a viltal condition for the realizaition of their claims to recognition of the right to the homeland and they unreservedly offered their services to the Europe of tomorrow. For them federalism was never a mere substrat-ificaition of the over-all State into bureaucratically administered areas of sovereignty, but was always linked to a maximum measure of self-administration and responsibility of the lower strata. From this treasury of experience they could and still can give Europe very much. In addition thereto are the temperament, spirit of enterprise, and economic adaptability of old pioneer and colonizing races. The German "economic miracle," particularly in its incipiency, needed certain attributes which the Germans from the East possessed to a high degree. Plus the fact, that they had nothing to lose and a new live1ihood to gain. Henice they were courageous enough to build a new economy from the ruins. The ambition to dispel the prejudices against those who arrived as "beggars," to �24 SLOVAKIA prove their ability, and not just to acquire formal political equality but the respeot of their fellow citizens as well all this contributed to the expellees' becoming a constructive European force in the economic sphere. Finally, one may point to their importance as conoisseurs of the Eastern peoples and political conditions of East European life. Thus in a certain sense one can speak of a re-colonizaJtion. IDight centuries ago the big trek began: Germans and Dutch colonists bore European civilizat ion eastwards. The progeny of these colonists came back to the West after 1945 as ex;pellees. They did not come as beneficiaries but brought with them as working people, politically active leaders and the bearers of a culture, tihe readiness to rebuild a new ·Europe. Tihey brought experience, skills, courage, and the concept of surpra..national legal order. One hundred years ago on Decemlber 12, 1861 - Btshop Stephen Moyses cxf Slovakia led a delegation, of Slovaks to Emperor Franois Jloseph to protest against Magyarization and the oppression of his Slovak people. The Memorandum presented the Emperor requested equa'l rights for the Slovaks and that the territory of the Slovaks becoone a separate adminisitrative unit, that is, tihalt it become autonoonous. anested again in 1950, and in the beginning of 11951 placed on trial with Bishops Vojtassak and Gojdic. The kalllgaroo court sentenced him to life imprisonment as ail• "enemy of the State." With amnesty in 1'961, Bi.shop Buzalka left prison to live under surveillance of the police at all times. Tihey found him dead, kneeling by his bed, hands clasped in prayer. Significant it is that even the "Katolicke Noviny" (The• Catholic ~ :IC :IC News) did not report the death Bishop Michael Buzalka, Auxili- of Bishop Buzal!ka, patriot amd ary of the Trnava Apostolic Ad- martyr for the cause of his Church ministrature, died on Dec. 7, 'liOOl, and his Slovak people. :IC :IC :IC according to a very belated report. Born in Sviity Anton, Slov,aBishop Joseph t arsky, Titular kia, Sept. 18, 11885, Bishop Buzal- Bishop of Tagora and apostolic adka was ordained priest July 14, ministr-ator for t he diocese of Ko1908, and consecrated Bishop in sice, Slovakia, died March 1•2, Riome on May '1'5, 1938. He was 1962, and was buried four days rector of the Bratislava Seminariy Iat,e r in the cathedral cr,yipt after and, during the war, Militazy Oir- appropriate religious servwes. Bidiir.iary for the Slovak Republic. shoip Carsky was born in G!bely, In 1•945, Bishop Buzalka was im- Slovakia, May 9, 1886, ordained prisoned, with two other Bishops priest Jiu}y 26, 1909, and named and many Slovak priests by ,t he bishop by the Vatican July 14, Reds, but later released. He was 1925. � 18 SLOVAKIA EXPELLEES AND THE EUROPEAN IDEA BY OTTO VON HAIB,SBUiRG When Joseph Stalin seized upon the plan of Edward Benes to expel the Germans from the Bohemian lands, and when Communism expanded the idea to include the entire "Intermare" area between the Baltic and the Adriatic, his intention was not only to do his faithful vassals a favor. All political measures adopted by Communist politicians have their place in the great plan of world revolution. The expulsion of German ethnic groups from CzechoSlovakia, Poland, Hungary, Rumania, and Yugoslavia, which is continued in the indirect but uninterrupted flight of Germans from the German Soviet Zone, was supposed to render more difficult the stabi1ization of West Germany and that of all Europe, if not hinder it altogether. It was supposed, furthermore, to pave the way for Communism. Moscow expected, as a consequence of the flooding of West Germany with expellees, that an "imminent revolutionary situation" would develop. It is perhaps Stalin's biggest disappointment after Potsdam that the hopes he pinned on the masses of pauperized and expropriated expellees were never realized. It is in fact the greatest "miracle" that has happened in West Germany - far greater and more meaningful than the "economic miracle" - that the expeHees did not become the reserve army of communism but, on the contrary, a constructive force and the bearers of constructive thinking for all of Europe. Moscow counted on it becoming impossible to integrate the expellees into the economy and society of West Germany. The West German State, it figured, or West German society would perhaps be incapable of adequately caring for the masses of expellees housed in vast barracks. Filled with resentment and bitterness, doubtful of a chance for return as well as of a new means of livelihood, overcome by camp psychoses and the will to destroy, the millions of expellees were expected in the eyes of the general staff of the world revolution, to become partisans and outriders of the Red offensive. �SLOVAKIA 19 While the West Germans were being bled white on the modest attempt to provide for these homeless persons or at least keeip them from starving to death, the victims themselves were expected, as social outcasts and expellees, to undermine legal security, prevent every form of political sta;bilization, burden the economy unendurably and thus succumb to the whi.sperings of Communist agents. The "solution" of the refugee problem in the Soviet occupied zone, where they wanted to create an example of Marxist social policy by "land reform" and the settling of expellees as "new settlers," was supposed to entice those expellees residing in the West likewise to become champions of Communism. Hatred of the Americans, who by their "betrayal of humanity" were the alleged cause of all the trouble, the rupture of national solidarity of the German people by an unbridgeaJble gap between old and new citizens, the hopelessness of a situation from which revolution seemed but the only way out, and the classic union of national or nationalist passions with social-revolutionary impulses to national Bolshevism - all that appeared i.n 1945 to be a guarantee that the Communist revolution would advance to the Rhine within a very short time, and soon would go beyond the Rhine. It seemed, too, that irts strongest pillars would be those who had caused their own misery. There was a catchword that e:xipressed everything the Communists expected from the expellees at thait time : Macedonians. Just as pro-Bulgarian elements within Macedonia, which had become Sel'lbian in 1913, not only fought against Serbian rule in the old homeland but became a constant revolutionary danger in their host counfu'y of Bulgaria, too, overthrowing governments, forming conspiracies, stirring up the people and trying to implicate the State in a policy fraught with risks, so the East Germans, the Sudetens, the Carpait·hians, Hungarian and Banat Germans were to have formed the e:x:plosive, with its fuse in Moscow, that would completely destroy Europe. Many are the reasons for things haviing turned out differently, motives that coincided to give developments a turn �20 SLOVAKIA unforeseen by Moscow. First of all was the lack of caution by Stalin, wh.o prematurely took off his mask in the Greek civil war; tJhen the Czech putsch of February 1948, followed by the blockade of Berlin, the Bolshevization CYf China, and, finally, with the invasion of Korea, in this way touching off America's reaction to his policy of permanent revolution by the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the German currency reform and the re-estaiblishment of a German State. Nor should we forget either, the sober attitude of the American nation, which was prepared to revise dangerous mistakes just as radically as it had once succumbed to them, or the talents of the German people in the organizational, technical and economic field. The rapidly widening gap in the standard of living between people this side and the other side of the iron curtain was also important. All this and still more combined to cause Stalin's hopes to wither toward the end of his life, leading to a serious crisis of Communism between 1952 and 1956, which the West, however, did not know how to take proper advantage of. The ohief merit in the failure of the Benes-Stalin concept is to be attriibuted to the eX:pellees themselves, who, by remarkable self-discipline, moderation and objectivity, refrained from any policy of daring and revenge and, with minor exceptions, remained completely immune to Communist attempts at infiltration. They did not succumb for a minute to the danger of becoming the "Macedonians" of West Germany, but, instead, became the supporters of constructive European ideas. It is one of the most significant achievements of the expellees that t'hey have whetted the conscience of the free peoples and continually exhorted them to self-examination. International law, ever since the first world war, has increasingly fallen into decay, the concepts of riight and wrong have become confused ever since they were turned over to the propaganda apparatuses and the whim of mass passions to interpret them according to their own discretion and misuse them for the interests of power. In particular the motto of self-determination of peo- �SLOVAKIA ples, even during the interpretation of the Fourteen Points of Woodrow Wilson, was distorted beyond recognition and actually twisted to the opposite. 'Dhe expellees have not simply stanted at the po,i nt at which the concept was perverted and hence d~based. They related the demand for the right of self-determination to a large extent to a critical examination of German poLicy and to the political attitude of ethnic groups in the period prior to the first world war and in the thirties. They have seriously and in a thoroughgoing manner concerned themselves with the ethical motivation of the right to the homeland and have encouraged not only the experts on international and constitutional law in the free world, but, to an ever-growing degree, the t heologians to explore the right to the homeland in conjunction with the right to self-determination, self-government and self- administration, and to acquire, by so-doing, guiding principles for a new order in Europe. In the Charter of the Expellees we find the first results of that process of examination of conscience, of historic study, and of practical political consideraJt.ion of the possible and attainable. That was but the beginning. With the renouncing of revenge and retaliation, an ethical principle was anchored >in politics which had never before appeared with such clarity in the realm of international-legal considerations and in political aims. Today we can see in the Algerian issue that it was not just a question of problems touohing on East Germany and the Danubian area. It is a -suriprising fact, and may well fill with satisfaction those expellees W\ho come from old Austria, to know tihat the plans and proposals that were introduced by the French government toward a solut ion of the Algerian problem, approach those ideas that matured on Austrian soil between 1848 and 1918 and which were furtiher developed by the Sudeten Germans and could be matured in the struggle for the recognition of the right to the homeland. What formerly was a matter thaJt. concerned or appeared to concern only the Austrians and was understood by the peoples and ethnic groups of the Danubian Monarchy and of the German-Polish bovder area or the Baltic �22 SLOVAKIA States, today has become a question of the destiny of the free world and of Europe in particular. Africa, the Near East, India, and in Europe the regions in which there are still national issues this side of the iron curtain (South Tyrol), all need certain binding international-legal and constitutional-legal ideas and principles for solution and a new order, for satisfaobion and settlement. German e~pellees were the first to turn the attention of the free world to this vital problem and produced the first fruitful stimu~i. The contri'butions to thoughts on solving the nationalities problem made by Karl Renner and Ritter von Lodgman, Ignaz Seipel and Josef Redlich, Adolf Fisohhof and Franz Palacky, Aurel Popovici and Heinrich Lammasch, and, a:bove all, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his "workshop," are today acqui:r,ing world-wide importance. It was tJhe expellees who bridged the gap between past and present, between a territorially limited e:x!perimental station of co-living of various peoples in a State Community and the present global aspects of the question. As Minister of Defense, Franz Josef Strauss, stated at the Sudeten German Day in Munich, 1960, it is important not only to proclaim a right but to examine within wihat framework and within what higher legal order it can most ideally be reaHzed. At this very juncture the moderated conduct of the expellees proved a valua;ble maxim for all Europe. There are those who never tire of painting the expellee associations ·in Germany as disturber.s of the peace, "revengists," and nationalists. Only the reverse, however, is true. 'Dhe expellees were the first sizeable groups among the German people who displayed understanding for the integration policy of Adenauer and Sohuman, who supported it and ciharacterized the formation of supra-naJtional European arrangements as a condition for a new peaceful order for all Europe, in particular for East Central Europe. In the Eichstatt Declaration of 1949, in the Detmold Declaration, and in the rapidly ensuing resolutions and decisions of numerous associations - particularly the Wiesbaden Agreement between the Sudeten Germans and the Czechs in exile - there appeared for the first time propo- �SLOVAKIA 23 sals for a new European legal and State order within the framework of supra-State and supra-national organizations. And that is quite natural, too. The expellees bring from their homeland a rich storehouse of experiences and traditions which are directed to the necessity of international and supra-national agreements and organizations, to the dovetailing of autonomous, State and supra.:state faci'lities, to a common destiny and inseparability of vital communities in which different languages are spoken, with the right to linguistic and cultural autonomy, minority rights, and the complemenlting of territorial with personal selfadministration. In the areas where once the expellees had lived for centuries, the national.,State idea early proved to be problematical. The principal West European peoples looked upon the integral national State as an ideal ever since 1789, and retained their views into the 191:Jh Century. Whereas in France, Germany, and Italy tJhe ideas of the great Europeans met with tough opposition, since people simply could not imagine that portions of national sovereignty could and must be yielded, the expellees very quickly realized that this was a viltal condition for the realizaition of their claims to recognition of the right to the homeland and they unreservedly offered their services to the Europe of tomorrow. For them federalism was never a mere substrat-ificaition of the over-all State into bureaucratically administered areas of sovereignty, but was always linked to a maximum measure of self-administration and responsibility of the lower strata. From this treasury of experience they could and still can give Europe very much. In addition thereto are the temperament, spirit of enterprise, and economic adaptability of old pioneer and colonizing races. The German "economic miracle," particularly in its incipiency, needed certain attributes which the Germans from the East possessed to a high degree. Plus the fact, that they had nothing to lose and a new live1ihood to gain. Henice they were courageous enough to build a new economy from the ruins. The ambition to dispel the prejudices against those who arrived as "beggars," to �24 SLOVAKIA prove their ability, and not just to acquire formal political equality but the respeot of their fellow citizens as well all this contributed to the expellees' becoming a constructive European force in the economic sphere. Finally, one may point to their importance as conoisseurs of the Eastern peoples and political conditions of East European life. Thus in a certain sense one can speak of a re-colonizaJtion. IDight centuries ago the big trek began: Germans and Dutch colonists bore European civilizat ion eastwards. The progeny of these colonists came back to the West after 1945 as ex;pellees. They did not come as beneficiaries but brought with them as working people, politically active leaders and the bearers of a culture, tihe readiness to rebuild a new ·Europe. Tihey brought experience, skills, courage, and the concept of surpra..national legal order. One hundred years ago on Decemlber 12, 1861 - Btshop Stephen Moyses cxf Slovakia led a delegation, of Slovaks to Emperor Franois Jloseph to protest against Magyarization and the oppression of his Slovak people. The Memorandum presented the Emperor requested equa'l rights for the Slovaks and that the territory of the Slovaks becoone a separate adminisitrative unit, that is, tihalt it become autonoonous. anested again in 1950, and in the beginning of 11951 placed on trial with Bishops Vojtassak and Gojdic. The kalllgaroo court sentenced him to life imprisonment as ail• "enemy of the State." With amnesty in 1'961, Bi.shop Buzalka left prison to live under surveillance of the police at all times. Tihey found him dead, kneeling by his bed, hands clasped in prayer. Significant it is that even the "Katolicke Noviny" (The• Catholic ~ :IC :IC News) did not report the death Bishop Michael Buzalka, Auxili- of Bishop Buzal!ka, patriot amd ary of the Trnava Apostolic Ad- martyr for the cause of his Church ministrature, died on Dec. 7, 'liOOl, and his Slovak people. :IC :IC :IC according to a very belated report. Born in Sviity Anton, Slov,aBishop Joseph t arsky, Titular kia, Sept. 18, 11885, Bishop Buzal- Bishop of Tagora and apostolic adka was ordained priest July 14, ministr-ator for t he diocese of Ko1908, and consecrated Bishop in sice, Slovakia, died March 1•2, Riome on May '1'5, 1938. He was 1962, and was buried four days rector of the Bratislava Seminariy Iat,e r in the cathedral cr,yipt after and, during the war, Militazy Oir- appropriate religious servwes. Bidiir.iary for the Slovak Republic. shoip Carsky was born in G!bely, In 1•945, Bishop Buzalka was im- Slovakia, May 9, 1886, ordained prisoned, with two other Bishops priest Jiu}y 26, 1909, and named and many Slovak priests by ,t he bishop by the Vatican July 14, Reds, but later released. He was 1925. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 18 SLOVAKIA EXPELLEES AND THE EUROPEAN IDEA BY OTTO VON HAIB,SBUiRG When Joseph Stalin seized upon the plan of Edward Benes to expel the Germans from the Bohemian lands, and when Communism expanded the idea to include the entire "Intermare" area between the Baltic and the Adriatic, his intention was not only to do his faithful vassals a favor. All political measures adopted by Communist politicians have their place in the great plan of world revolution. The expulsion of German ethnic groups from CzechoSlovakia, Poland, Hungary, Rumania, and Yugoslavia, which is continued in the indirect but uninterrupted flight of Germans from the German Soviet Zone, was supposed to render more difficult the stabi1ization of West Germany and that of all Europe, if not hinder it altogether. It was supposed, furthermore, to pave the way for Communism. Moscow expected, as a consequence of the flooding of West Germany with expellees, that an "imminent revolutionary situation" would develop. It is perhaps Stalin's biggest disappointment after Potsdam that the hopes he pinned on the masses of pauperized and expropriated expellees were never realized. It is in fact the greatest "miracle" that has happened in West Germany - far greater and more meaningful than the "economic miracle" - that the expeHees did not become the reserve army of communism but, on the contrary, a constructive force and the bearers of constructive thinking for all of Europe. Moscow counted on it becoming impossible to integrate the expellees into the economy and society of West Germany. The West German State, it figured, or West German society would perhaps be incapable of adequately caring for the masses of expellees housed in vast barracks. Filled with resentment and bitterness, doubtful of a chance for return as well as of a new means of livelihood, overcome by camp psychoses and the will to destroy, the millions of expellees were expected in the eyes of the general staff of the world revolution, to become partisans and outriders of the Red offensive. SLOVAKIA 19 While the West Germans were being bled white on the modest attempt to provide for these homeless persons or at least keeip them from starving to death, the victims themselves were expected, as social outcasts and expellees, to undermine legal security, prevent every form of political sta;bilization, burden the economy unendurably and thus succumb to the whi.sperings of Communist agents. The "solution" of the refugee problem in the Soviet occupied zone, where they wanted to create an example of Marxist social policy by "land reform" and the settling of expellees as "new settlers," was supposed to entice those expellees residing in the West likewise to become champions of Communism. Hatred of the Americans, who by their "betrayal of humanity" were the alleged cause of all the trouble, the rupture of national solidarity of the German people by an unbridgeaJble gap between old and new citizens, the hopelessness of a situation from which revolution seemed but the only way out, and the classic union of national or nationalist passions with social-revolutionary impulses to national Bolshevism - all that appeared i.n 1945 to be a guarantee that the Communist revolution would advance to the Rhine within a very short time, and soon would go beyond the Rhine. It seemed, too, that irts strongest pillars would be those who had caused their own misery. There was a catchword that e:xipressed everything the Communists expected from the expellees at thait time : Macedonians. Just as pro-Bulgarian elements within Macedonia, which had become Sel'lbian in 1913, not only fought against Serbian rule in the old homeland but became a constant revolutionary danger in their host counfu'y of Bulgaria, too, overthrowing governments, forming conspiracies, stirring up the people and trying to implicate the State in a policy fraught with risks, so the East Germans, the Sudetens, the Carpait·hians, Hungarian and Banat Germans were to have formed the e:x:plosive, with its fuse in Moscow, that would completely destroy Europe. Many are the reasons for things haviing turned out differently, motives that coincided to give developments a turn 20 SLOVAKIA unforeseen by Moscow. First of all was the lack of caution by Stalin, wh.o prematurely took off his mask in the Greek civil war; tJhen the Czech putsch of February 1948, followed by the blockade of Berlin, the Bolshevization CYf China, and, finally, with the invasion of Korea, in this way touching off America's reaction to his policy of permanent revolution by the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the German currency reform and the re-estaiblishment of a German State. Nor should we forget either, the sober attitude of the American nation, which was prepared to revise dangerous mistakes just as radically as it had once succumbed to them, or the talents of the German people in the organizational, technical and economic field. The rapidly widening gap in the standard of living between people this side and the other side of the iron curtain was also important. All this and still more combined to cause Stalin's hopes to wither toward the end of his life, leading to a serious crisis of Communism between 1952 and 1956, which the West, however, did not know how to take proper advantage of. The ohief merit in the failure of the Benes-Stalin concept is to be attriibuted to the eX:pellees themselves, who, by remarkable self-discipline, moderation and objectivity, refrained from any policy of daring and revenge and, with minor exceptions, remained completely immune to Communist attempts at infiltration. They did not succumb for a minute to the danger of becoming the "Macedonians" of West Germany, but, instead, became the supporters of constructive European ideas. It is one of the most significant achievements of the expellees that t'hey have whetted the conscience of the free peoples and continually exhorted them to self-examination. International law, ever since the first world war, has increasingly fallen into decay, the concepts of riight and wrong have become confused ever since they were turned over to the propaganda apparatuses and the whim of mass passions to interpret them according to their own discretion and misuse them for the interests of power. In particular the motto of self-determination of peo- SLOVAKIA ples, even during the interpretation of the Fourteen Points of Woodrow Wilson, was distorted beyond recognition and actually twisted to the opposite. 'Dhe expellees have not simply stanted at the po,i nt at which the concept was perverted and hence d~based. They related the demand for the right of self-determination to a large extent to a critical examination of German poLicy and to the political attitude of ethnic groups in the period prior to the first world war and in the thirties. They have seriously and in a thoroughgoing manner concerned themselves with the ethical motivation of the right to the homeland and have encouraged not only the experts on international and constitutional law in the free world, but, to an ever-growing degree, the t heologians to explore the right to the homeland in conjunction with the right to self-determination, self-government and self- administration, and to acquire, by so-doing, guiding principles for a new order in Europe. In the Charter of the Expellees we find the first results of that process of examination of conscience, of historic study, and of practical political consideraJt.ion of the possible and attainable. That was but the beginning. With the renouncing of revenge and retaliation, an ethical principle was anchored >in politics which had never before appeared with such clarity in the realm of international-legal considerations and in political aims. Today we can see in the Algerian issue that it was not just a question of problems touohing on East Germany and the Danubian area. It is a -suriprising fact, and may well fill with satisfaction those expellees W\ho come from old Austria, to know tihat the plans and proposals that were introduced by the French government toward a solut ion of the Algerian problem, approach those ideas that matured on Austrian soil between 1848 and 1918 and which were furtiher developed by the Sudeten Germans and could be matured in the struggle for the recognition of the right to the homeland. What formerly was a matter thaJt. concerned or appeared to concern only the Austrians and was understood by the peoples and ethnic groups of the Danubian Monarchy and of the German-Polish bovder area or the Baltic 22 SLOVAKIA States, today has become a question of the destiny of the free world and of Europe in particular. Africa, the Near East, India, and in Europe the regions in which there are still national issues this side of the iron curtain (South Tyrol), all need certain binding international-legal and constitutional-legal ideas and principles for solution and a new order, for satisfaobion and settlement. German e~pellees were the first to turn the attention of the free world to this vital problem and produced the first fruitful stimu~i. The contri'butions to thoughts on solving the nationalities problem made by Karl Renner and Ritter von Lodgman, Ignaz Seipel and Josef Redlich, Adolf Fisohhof and Franz Palacky, Aurel Popovici and Heinrich Lammasch, and, a:bove all, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his "workshop," are today acqui:r,ing world-wide importance. It was tJhe expellees who bridged the gap between past and present, between a territorially limited e:x!perimental station of co-living of various peoples in a State Community and the present global aspects of the question. As Minister of Defense, Franz Josef Strauss, stated at the Sudeten German Day in Munich, 1960, it is important not only to proclaim a right but to examine within wihat framework and within what higher legal order it can most ideally be reaHzed. At this very juncture the moderated conduct of the expellees proved a valua;ble maxim for all Europe. There are those who never tire of painting the expellee associations ·in Germany as disturber.s of the peace, "revengists," and nationalists. Only the reverse, however, is true. 'Dhe expellees were the first sizeable groups among the German people who displayed understanding for the integration policy of Adenauer and Sohuman, who supported it and ciharacterized the formation of supra-naJtional European arrangements as a condition for a new peaceful order for all Europe, in particular for East Central Europe. In the Eichstatt Declaration of 1949, in the Detmold Declaration, and in the rapidly ensuing resolutions and decisions of numerous associations - particularly the Wiesbaden Agreement between the Sudeten Germans and the Czechs in exile - there appeared for the first time propo- SLOVAKIA 23 sals for a new European legal and State order within the framework of supra-State and supra-national organizations. And that is quite natural, too. The expellees bring from their homeland a rich storehouse of experiences and traditions which are directed to the necessity of international and supra-national agreements and organizations, to the dovetailing of autonomous, State and supra.:state faci'lities, to a common destiny and inseparability of vital communities in which different languages are spoken, with the right to linguistic and cultural autonomy, minority rights, and the complemenlting of territorial with personal selfadministration. In the areas where once the expellees had lived for centuries, the national.,State idea early proved to be problematical. The principal West European peoples looked upon the integral national State as an ideal ever since 1789, and retained their views into the 191:Jh Century. Whereas in France, Germany, and Italy tJhe ideas of the great Europeans met with tough opposition, since people simply could not imagine that portions of national sovereignty could and must be yielded, the expellees very quickly realized that this was a viltal condition for the realizaition of their claims to recognition of the right to the homeland and they unreservedly offered their services to the Europe of tomorrow. For them federalism was never a mere substrat-ificaition of the over-all State into bureaucratically administered areas of sovereignty, but was always linked to a maximum measure of self-administration and responsibility of the lower strata. From this treasury of experience they could and still can give Europe very much. In addition thereto are the temperament, spirit of enterprise, and economic adaptability of old pioneer and colonizing races. The German "economic miracle," particularly in its incipiency, needed certain attributes which the Germans from the East possessed to a high degree. Plus the fact, that they had nothing to lose and a new live1ihood to gain. Henice they were courageous enough to build a new economy from the ruins. The ambition to dispel the prejudices against those who arrived as "beggars," to 24 SLOVAKIA prove their ability, and not just to acquire formal political equality but the respeot of their fellow citizens as well all this contributed to the expellees' becoming a constructive European force in the economic sphere. Finally, one may point to their importance as conoisseurs of the Eastern peoples and political conditions of East European life. Thus in a certain sense one can speak of a re-colonizaJtion. IDight centuries ago the big trek began: Germans and Dutch colonists bore European civilizat ion eastwards. The progeny of these colonists came back to the West after 1945 as ex;pellees. They did not come as beneficiaries but brought with them as working people, politically active leaders and the bearers of a culture, tihe readiness to rebuild a new ·Europe. Tihey brought experience, skills, courage, and the concept of surpra..national legal order. One hundred years ago on Decemlber 12, 1861 - Btshop Stephen Moyses cxf Slovakia led a delegation, of Slovaks to Emperor Franois Jloseph to protest against Magyarization and the oppression of his Slovak people. The Memorandum presented the Emperor requested equa'l rights for the Slovaks and that the territory of the Slovaks becoone a separate adminisitrative unit, that is, tihalt it become autonoonous. anested again in 1950, and in the beginning of 11951 placed on trial with Bishops Vojtassak and Gojdic. The kalllgaroo court sentenced him to life imprisonment as ail• "enemy of the State." With amnesty in 1'961, Bi.shop Buzalka left prison to live under surveillance of the police at all times. Tihey found him dead, kneeling by his bed, hands clasped in prayer. Significant it is that even the "Katolicke Noviny" (The• Catholic ~ :IC :IC News) did not report the death Bishop Michael Buzalka, Auxili- of Bishop Buzal!ka, patriot amd ary of the Trnava Apostolic Ad- martyr for the cause of his Church ministrature, died on Dec. 7, 'liOOl, and his Slovak people. :IC :IC :IC according to a very belated report. Born in Sviity Anton, Slov,aBishop Joseph t arsky, Titular kia, Sept. 18, 11885, Bishop Buzal- Bishop of Tagora and apostolic adka was ordained priest July 14, ministr-ator for t he diocese of Ko1908, and consecrated Bishop in sice, Slovakia, died March 1•2, Riome on May '1'5, 1938. He was 1962, and was buried four days rector of the Bratislava Seminariy Iat,e r in the cathedral cr,yipt after and, during the war, Militazy Oir- appropriate religious servwes. Bidiir.iary for the Slovak Republic. shoip Carsky was born in G!bely, In 1•945, Bishop Buzalka was im- Slovakia, May 9, 1886, ordained prisoned, with two other Bishops priest Jiu}y 26, 1909, and named and many Slovak priests by ,t he bishop by the Vatican July 14, Reds, but later released. He was 1925.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Expellees and the European Idea Description An account of the resource Otto von Habsburg Slovakia, Vol. 12, No. 1 (35), March-June 1962 pp. 18-24 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Habsburg, Otto von, 1912-2011 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/ebc83039c98c623e2ca1b8866838a176.pdf 2ba2ac3809f4d9acc9d737f9f01a7379 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 25 MISCONCEPTIONS OF AMERICAN SLAVISTS ON THE SLOVAK LANGUAGE Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Ph.D. I Misconceptions of American Slavists on Slovak literature which have been discussed here previously <1 > had been caused to a great extent by the confusion of views regarding the Slovak language. The confusion was created, on the one hand, by Slavists and literary historians who failed to draw a proper distinction between the native or spoken language of the Slovaks and their written or literary language, which, as we have seen, was first the Old Church Slovanic, afterwards t he Latin language, then Biblical Czech, used mainly by the Slovak Protestant minority, and then the literary Slovak based on Slovak western dialects, and finally the revised present form, based on central Slovak dialects. On the other hand, the misconceptions have been intentionally spread by some Czech Philologists and literary historians who were influenced by political views and aspirations, which the American Slavists accepted without the necessary caution required in scholarly works. As a result, we find in many American symposia on the Slavic peoples or in works on philology and Slavic languages either the Czech thesis that the Slovak language is merely a dialect of the Czech, or that Slovak became a literary language only at the beginning or in the second half of the nineteenth century. We also find that the sources of information or reference used by American Slavists are rather scarce and obsolete and that the subject has been treated by scholars who hardly had an opportunity to be thoroughly acquainted with the history and development of the Slovak literary language and its position among Sla-wc languages. Before pointing out the misconceptions in American symposia and surveys of Slavic languages, we may perhaps say that the claim that Slovak is but a dialect of the �26 SLOVAKIA 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 rest also the origins of the erroneous thesis that Slovak began to be used a·s a literary language only from the second half of the nineteenth century. In the views of European Slavists, including the Russian and Czech philologists, it is clear, as we shall see, tha't the Slovak language is by every right of its origin and development an independent tongue, having its rightful place of equality among Slavic languages. And it has also been accepted that Slovak has been used as the language of literature from the sixteenth century, and was codified before the end of the eighteenth century. Slovak philologists and linguists (Bernolak, Safarik, Czambel, Skultety, Bartek, Stanislav, Novak, Pauliny) rejected, during the last two centuries, Czech 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 they arrived at conclusions which were ultimately accepted by the present-day Czech as well as other Slavic philologists and linguists. Misconceptions of American Slavists refer, as we have said, to the relation of the Slovak and Czech, to the history of the Slovak literary language and to the role of foreign languages in Slovak literature. In this respect we -read not without surprise that even the well-known Roman Jakobson helped to spread the erroneous views. In his study Slavic Languages, he writes: ''Toward the middle of the same (i.e., the 19th) century, the Slo¥aks, 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" <2>. We shall also see that even Czech philologists recognize today that Slovaks "-inaugurated" their own literary language long before the middle of the 19th century, and �SLOVAKIA 27 that we can speak only about a reform of the Slovak literary language in the nineteenth century <3 >. Secondly, the 19th century reform, linked with the name of r..udovit Stur, was "not based on the dialect of any single area, but represented a kind of "koine" ('Cultural Slovak), based on the central Slovak dialects, eschewing features from both the eastern and western dialects <4 >. As for the usage of the Czech language, "Czech was sporadically used (with certain local modification) for administrative and still more occasionally, literary purposes," says correctly R. Auty <5 >. The reasons for this will be explained later. Prof. Alfred Senn, in Strakhovsky's Handbook of Slavic Studies, gives a more detailed and more ela:borate description of the Slovak literary language. His classification of Slovak is certainly correct, but we could hardly agree with all parts of his definition. Prof. Senn says: "Slovak ... forms a connecting link with the South Slavic Slovenian and is more archa,ic than Czech. Otherwise differen:ces between Czec.h and Slovak are not very great. Slovak became a literary language at the beginning of the nineteenth century .. . Czec.h and Slovak form the Czechoslovak group" <s>. 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 states that it was only in 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 ·m ovement 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 thir own distinctive written language based on dialects spoken in western Slovakia" <7 >. A similar version can be found in Prof. S. Harrison Thomson'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 Grammatica slavica. However, �28 SLOVAKIA Prof. Thomson asserts, that " about the only followers Ber nolak 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 Thomson, "as the date of the rise of written Slovak, although strictly speaking, Stur did not make his first formal declaration until 1856" ( R ) . In Prof. Robert J. K erner's symposium Czechoslovakia and in V. Busek-N. Spulber's Czechoslovakia Under Communism, we find only slightly modified or re-worded versions of the theses mentioned above. "Catholic Slovaks under Bernolak tried to create with indifferent success a written Slovak dialect," we read in Kerner's symposium <9 >, and Busek-Spulber's symposium gives the following genesis of the Slovak literary language: ... "the firs,t 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 elaborate linguistically, did not take permanent hold. "The decisive step towards the establishment of a Slovak litera.ry language was undertaken through the initiative of the Protestants. tudovit Shir selected the central Slovak dialect for the Slovak literary medium. Beginning in the 1840's, several poets followed Shir and usEd the new literary language with great skill" r 10 J. This version admits "sporadic ventures to establish a distinct Slovak literary language" before the last decade of the 18th century, but considers Bernolak's "suggestions not elaborated linguistically" and credits the Protestants with the merits, while Radl says the opposite! All these misconceptions seem to be due, as we have mentioned before, in the first place to the uncritical acceptance of the politically motivated thesee of Czech or at the Prague University educated Slavists. In the second place, the use of sources either long before superseded by new works or unilaterally selected, might have misled those Slavists who were trying to be scholarly objective. In this respect even Prof. R. Jakobson's bibliography leaves much to be desired. We find in his bibliography only four works, two written by Slovaks and two by Czechs, �SLOVAKIA 29 but none of them dealing with the history of Slovak language or with the problem of its relation to the Czech language. To a Slavist of Jako'bson's renome the fact could not be unknown that already Paul. J. Safarik in 1826 wrote on the Slovak language and Slovak literature as being distinct from the Czech or other Slavic languages and literatures. Consequen tly the Slovaks could not "inaugurat e" their own literary language "toward the middle of the 19th century." Sources used by Prof. Senn, who undoubtedl y tried to be objective, were better selected, but three of them favor the Czech thesis of "one Czechoslov ak unit." He shows in his literature and references the following books: J. Victorin: Gramatik der Slowakisch en Sprache, 4th edition, Budapest, 1878; K. Meznik: Die Slowakisch e Spaltung, Euphorion, 1927; R. J ak~bson: Sur fhistoire et sur Jes relations mutuelles du tcheque et du slovaque, Le Monde Slave, XIV, 1937, 353-366; V. Vazny: Slovak Dialects, Ceskoslovens ka vlastiveda, Vol. III, 1934. Otto Radl, who contributed to Strakhovsk y's Handbook of Slavic Studies a chapter on Slovak literature, did not show in his bibliograph y any work in Slovak or in foreign languages which he used or in which the reader could check Rad-l's opinions or complete his knowledge. Closing our remarks we perhaps may say that not many American Slavists who wrote during the post 40 years on the Slovak language and literature speak or write Slovak or ever read Slovak literary works in the original. Some of them merely rephrased mistaken views published by Czech scholars and politicians; and several contributio ns to American symposia on Slovaks were written by Czechs. Reviewing the names of the Czech contriibutor s we could not, however, say that any of them made his name as as expert on Slovak language or literature before coming to the United States. II LITERARY SLOVAK AND THE SLAVIC LANGUAG ES Scholarly studies of phonology, etymology, lexicology and grammar show that the Slovak language is distinct �30 SLOVAKIA from any other Slavic tongue. Even though this was not so clear and evident to Slavists of the 19th century when philology was in its infancy and used primitive methods, Slovak philologists and linguists always maintained this point of view. After a century of clashes and discussions between the Czech linguists and - first the Slovak Catholic erudites who began to replace the Latin with Slovak already in the seventeenth century, and from the 1840's a-lso with the Protestant leaders - the Slovak language has been properly classified as the real and original national tongue of the inhabitants of Slovakia since the dawn of history. The historical development of Slovakia and geographical factors account for the fact that the Slovak language not only conserved many archaic forms and expressions common to all Slavs, but, remaining for centuries only a spoken vernacular of the people, it was affected merely by the influence of neighboring Slavic peoples. When it was codified, this happened in the era of the revival of Slovanic peoples, and the Slovak cultural and political leaders saw to it that the 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, the central position of the Slovak language, geographically or linguistically, is accepted to a great extent even by modern philology. Slovak is more archaic than Czech, which in turn is more archaic than Polish. Since Russian is considered the least removed from the primitive Slavic prototype, both Slovak and Russian are the most archaic and nearest to the common primitive Slavic. In fact, the Slovaks - either educated or common _people ..:..:_ do not experience much difficulty in communicating in Slovak with Poles, Ukrainians, Czechs, Russians, or Slovenes and Croats, as has been proven on the American. Con- �SLOVAKIA 31 tinent, since basica:lily there are no great dif.ferences among the Slavic languages, and, in the case of the Slovak language, history and geography made it close not only to Pole and Czech, but also to Ukrainian and South Sfavic Slovenian and Croat. Slovak intellectuals of the nineteenth century read not only Polish or Czech poets and writers in the original, but also in Russian and Ukrainian, Croat and Slovenian. Modern scientific and literary development drifts the twelve Slavic langua,ges apart. Nevertheless, even if we cannot agree with the nineteenth century poet that, . "with the Slovak language you may the earth's four corne;rs travel," the fact remains that Slovaks are able to communicate in their own vernacular with the majority of Slavic peoples. Linguistic analysis of the fundamental roots of the Czech and Slovak languages and a comparative study of their developments showed that the Slovak language never was a part of the Czech or so-cailled "Czechoslovak" language. If we accept the thesis, supported by Trubecko <m, that in the ninth century the Old Sfavonic still was the common tongue of the Slavs with a unified phonology, and that from the ninrth century different dialects _· developed into distinct Slavic languages, 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. This thesis is strengthened also by the fact that the Slovak territory was annexed by Hungary after the collapse of Great Moravia, and, hence the only contact the Slovaks had with Czechs, was through Moravians who have continued to speak a Slovak dialect <12 > in spite of the pressure of the Czechs from the West, and to the present time they have retained their own phonological structure. The relation between the Czech and Slovak languages became a matter of controversy because of political a:·s pirations of some Czech politiciap.s and scholars and not because of philological reasons. As early as the 16th century, �32 SLOVAKIA Vavrinec Benedikti of Nedozery (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 ( l 3 >. From the si:x;teenth century on, there are numerous proofs that Slovak erudites, with a few exceptions, considered the Slovaks as one of the "tribes" of the 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 writings but also in scholarly works and poetry especially since the middle of the 17th century around the University of Trnava (founded 1635). At the end of the 18th century, Anton Bernolak only codified, in his linguistic works Dissertatio Orthographia, Gramatica slavica, and in his huge pentalingual Dictionary, a language in use for more than a century <14>. The well-known Slavist P. J. Safarik, and initiailly also Jan Kollar, were aware of the fact that there had been a Slovak language 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 alien Mundarten (1826), and when some Czech leaders reproached Nm for his s·cholavly objectivity, Safarik indignantly announced that he would go even farther in stressing the differences than he did in his book <15 >. Jan Kollar was origina:lly also instrumental in preparing Stur's reform and later changed his mind and became an advocate of a common literary lamguage with the Czechs (which he called "old Slovak") because of reasons which Slovak literary historians avoid to discuss. The great poet of Pan-Slavism had also some human deficiencies like very high personal pride and a 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 ( lG>. This "crimen lesae majestatis" moved Kollar to oppose Stur's reform and the final acceptance of the Slovak �SLOVAKIA 33 literary language also by Slovak Protestants. 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 the 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 <17 >, and Stu.r's reform was victorious over Kollar's protests and Safarik's advices, because it was in line with the linguistic facts and centuries long Slovak national development. The reasons for the sporadic use of the Czech language for administrative and partly a:lso for literary purposes (mainly by the Slovak Protestants) have been recently reconsidered by several "Marxist" philologists and literary historians. There are at least three theories on the penetration of the Czech language into the Slovak territory. One refers to the continuation of relations between Slovaks and Moravians (who adopted the Czech language) from the time of Great Moravia, which relations survived the collapse of that state and developed between the Moravian cultural center Olomouc and Slovak religious centers. More acceptable and also more elaborated is the theory ascribing the use of the Czech language to the fact that Czech was a sort of diplomatic language and that Czech clerks were used at certain periods (the XV-XVIth century) not only in Slovak territory but also in Hungary and Poland, in state and city administration na>. In Slovakia, the use of Czech, adapted to local dialects, survived because of the Reformation which penetrated among Slovaks from Bohemia with the Bible and religious books written 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" <19 >. Settled in Slovakia, the Czech refugees tried to keep all Slovak Protestants linked to Bohemia by language also in s ecular writings. Being a minority, the Protestants looked �34 SLOVAKIA to the Czechs first for he1p in religious and later also in literary and political matters <20 >. Around 1840, it became clear, however, 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 the Slovak population and for reasons which r... Stur explained in his Narecia slovenskuo and other writings, they agreed with Catholics, on the reform, which based the literary language on the central Slovak dialects, and on the exclusive use of Slovak in Slovak literature. Stur's reform, by which the Slovak language was finally esta·b lished as a literary medium of all Slovaks, "has been accepted by the Slovak intelligentsia within a very short space of time" as correctly stated by Auty. By this reform, which received its final linguistic form in the grammar of a Catholic priest, Martin Hattala, the peculiar situation of bi-lingualism in modern Slovak literature was changed. As it is accepted now also by foreign Slavists, the first literary language (or language of literature) used by Slovaks was the Old Church Slavonic <21 >, and the Slovaks rightly claim the writings of the Great Moravian period as a part of their cultural heritage. Then for centuries Slovaks used Latin also in secular writings; and from the 16th century Slovak Catholics began to replace Latin with the Slovak vernacular, which Slovak Protestants replaced with Czech, adapted to local use. During all these centuries, the Slovak people spoke, of course, their own Slovak dialects which developed from the Old Slavonk after its disintegration into the modern Slovak language. History of the Slovak language and history of Slovak literature began at the same time, in the IXth century, but in literature Slovaks used various media (Church Slavonic, Latin, Czech and Slovak), while their native tongue was used in daily life until it was lifted to the position of a literary medium, which happened more or less at the same time at which other central European peoples began to use vernacular for literary purposes. On the position of Slovak among Slavic languages: foreign and Slovak philologists expressed various opinions .. �SLOVAKIA 35 V. J agic in his book Entstehungsgeschichte der Kirchenslawischen Sprache wrote: "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 <22 >; and S. Czamlbel el~borated linguistic~lly a theory to prove that the questions as to whether Slovak is closer to western Slavic or to the southern Slavic group of languages deserved 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 similarities 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 <23 >. III VIEWS OF CANADIAN AND EUROPEAN SLAVISTS Among European Slavists, including present-day Czech philologists, the erroneous views regarding the relation between Slovak and Czech, and the origin of the Slovak literary language, have been mostly corrected. Modern techniques in linguistics have thrown new light on the subject and have been instrumental in giving us modified views that are advanced far beyond the htasty unwarranted conclusions of the amateur philologists or linguists influenced by political aspirations. For truth's sake we have to point out that also on the American continent we find Slavists who expressed correct views, and some of them did that before Slavic studies acquired the 'prominence which they enjoy now in the United States and in Canada. The well-known Canadian Slavist, Prof. W. Kirkconnell, wrote, for example, already in 1940, that the differences between Czech and Slovak are about as great as those between the similarly related languages, Dutch and German. "I have," says Kirkconnell, "on my shelves Miroslav KaJal's Slovak-Czech Dictionary (published in 1924), in which there are 35,000 Slovak words that were �36 SLOVAKIA apparently unintelligible to a Czech and hence required definition" <24 >. Prof. Roman Smal-Stocki in his paper Discrimination and Bias in Two UNESCO Publications raised his voice against treating Slovak ,a nd Czech "as one unit." "From the linguistic point of view," says Prof. Sma.'l-Stocki, "it is 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" <25 >. Among European Slavists, the Polish scholar T. LehrSplawinski came with a new approach to the history of the Slovak literary language. He dates back the beginnings of the Slovak literary language to the IXth century which view has been held also by some other Slavists in recent years. "The beginnings of the literary language in Slovakia are connected with the period of activities of ConstantineCyril and Methodius in the Moravian state," says LehrSplawinski. "As the whole of Slovakia was, without any doUJbt, a part of that state, and the important centres of its political and cultural life were situated on the Slovak territory, writings in the old Church-Slavonic language must have been undoubtedly developed among the Slovaks in the last quarter of the IX th century" <26 >. R. Auty, from the University of Cambridge, in the pahe presented to the VIIIth Congress of the Inwhich per ternational Federation of Modern Languages and 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, and urrlike the American S1avists who minimized Bernolak's importance, Auty writes that "in the following fifty or sixty years a considera:ble number of literary and other works were published or written in this (Bernolak's) form of Slovak. The remarkable extent of the literature published in Bernolak's language has recently been revealed," says Auty, " by I. Kotvan, Bibliografia bernolakovcov, Martin, 1957"<27 >. The Czech language was, according to Auty, "spora- �SLOVAKIA 37 dically used in Slovakia (with certain local modification) for administrative and, still more occasionally, literary purposes." The reasons for this sporadic usage of Czech for administrative and "more occasionally" also for literary purposes, were explained by Auty only indirectly. He mentions that "since the Reformation the Czech had been the language of the Lutheran scriptures and Church Services in Slovakia," but he didn't say that as a result of this situation t he biblical Czech was used by the Slovak Protestant minority also in secular writings in the same way as the Catholics used the Latin, and that Czech was used for administrative purposes also in Hungary and Poland, the reason being the Monarchy, in which all those countries were included. Stur, Protestant though he was, acted against what he regarded as an unnatural linguistic situation which had been brought about by the hazards orf 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 bi-lingualism 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 research. .A!ccording to him "Catholic and Protestant Slovaks agreed to accept a new written form of their language for all purposes; this had been worked out by r... Stur in discussion with other Slovak intetlectual leaders in the period 1842-44 and was somewhat modified by M. M. Hodza and M. Hattala in subsequent years." 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 survival" <28 >. The contri-butors to the Encyclopedia Britannica published some correct and some incorrect views, but they �38 SLOVAKIA grasped the essential points of difference between the Czech and Slovak. "The Czech, as spoken and written today in Bohemia, diverges consideraibly from Slovak," says the Encyclopedia. "The disagreement is least marked in vocwbulary but ap• pears prominently in the phonetics; in particular the itacism so distinct a characteristic of Czech, is non-existant in Slovak, which has preserved the fuller diphthongs (ia, ie, iu, etc.) of the Slavonic languages; a further smaller 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; S1ovak has not developed the f, 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 aifter e, which does not occur in modern literary Czech, is a further point of disagreement, although this woU'.ld not be o:bvious from Slovak spelling which does not find it necessary to distinguish by diacritics; consonants are always softened in this position." The main contriibutor to the Encyclopedia, Prof. C. A. Macartney, refers also to a better selected bibliography than American Slavists and points out to the relation of Slovak with other Slavie languages as follows: "The dialectical development," says Macartney, "shows some characteristics identical with those in South Slavonic and Russian. Not everywhere, for example, have C.S. u and i been confused, and instead of the e, which is the norma:l 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"' 29 >. On Slovak literature Macartney says: "Slovak literature, which previously had only a local importance, bid fair to take a worthy place alongside that of its better known partner. The Survey of Modern Slovak Literature, by S. �SLOVAKIA 39 Krcmery, in Vol. vii, No. 19, pp. 160-170, of the Slavonic Review (London), gives useful literature statistics and a good account of the literature of the present century." His Bibliography shows the following works: Dictionaries J. Loos: Worterbuch der Slovakischen, Ungarischen and Magyarischen Sprache (Budapest, 1871) ; M. Kalal, Slovensky Slovnik, etc (1924), written for Czechs, is most valuable as dialect words are included. Grammar - S. Czambel: Rukovat spisovnej reci slovenskej (1919). This Handbook of Literary Slovak is the standard work. Czambel's other works, e.g.,Slovaci a ich rec, (Buda:pest 1903) and Slovenska rec a jej miesto v rodine slovanskych jazykov (1906) are important for the dialects, but are ,biased; C. Dixon has written a Slovak Grammar For English Speaking Students (Pittsburgh, 1896). IV "MARXIST" CONCEPTIONS ON LITERARY SLOVAK AND THE ORIGINS OF THE SLOVAK LANGUAGE From the published works of the "Marxist" philologists and literary historians it is obvious that the Czech theses on the Slovak language, on the history of the Slovak literary language, and on the function of some foreign languages (Czech, "Czechoslovak") in Slovak literature, which theses were intended to support the political theory of a single "Czechoslovak" nation, have been definitely buried <30 >. In this respect, some contemporary works of Czech philologists helped to support the scholarly conclusions which have long been defended by the Slovak philologists. Particularly noteworthy of the Czech school is the work of the University Professor A. Dostal, and of the Slovak school, Professor Eugene Pauliny's Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny (History of Literary Slovak, Bratislava, 1948) , and Andrew Mra.z's Dejiny slovenskej literatury (History of Slovak Literature, Bratislava, 1948), as well as the pa'pers read at the Moscow Fourth International Congress of Slavists in 1958. In this respect, the paper of Professor Pauliny on bilingualism in the history of the Slovak literary language de- �40 SLOVAKIA serves particular attention. Pauliny tries to explain the function of the Czech language in Slovakia in the XVth and following centuries on the basis of social and economic phenomena and changes. He has arrived, nevertheless, at the same conclusions as the philologists who d'id not apply "Marxist criteria" in phi'lology, i.e., that the Czech language was a foreign language in Slovakia and could not withstand competition of the Slovak vernacu1ar when the Slovak ethnicum evolved in its national consciousness. Literary Slovak won out despite the fact that the Protestant minority, predominantly of Czech origin, 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 bilingua'lism. In his contribution to a volume "0 vzajomnych vzt:ahoch Cechov a Slovakov," published in 1956 by the S1lovak Academy of Sciences, Pauliny states: "Bernolak codified a language which can be traced in the writings of the middleclass, the lower nobility and educaited Slovaks back to the 15th century, and this in both Catholic and Protestant writings." As for the connection of Bernolak's school with Stur's group, Pauliny agrees with the other Marxi,s t literary historians and philologists. Stur's reform, which is erroneously presented by some American Slavists as the beginning of the Siovak literary language (in this respect even Jakdbson is mistaken), in Pauliny's view, is but a "younger branch of Bernolak's school." In the opinion of Professor A. Mraz, who still remains the main authority in Marxist literary history in Slovakia, Anton Bernolak reformed and codified the Slovak literary language and its orthography. Mraz regards the activity which originated 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 the Cantus Catholici by Benedict Szolossi in 1655. �SLOVAKIA 41 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 (1635-1777), progressed so far in accordance w'ith the spoken language in Western Slovakia that, when Bernolak and his followers came, at the end of the 18th century, with the idea 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 ' 31 l . In the introduction to his 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 languages which were used by the Slovaks as literary languages in addition to the spoken vernacular from the time of Greater Moravia. H e writes: "Although, in this case, the period of the actua~ Slov.ak literary language can <begiin only wi'th Bernolak, or with the period shortly before Bern1-0lak, nevertheless it is not possible to !begin the hi&tocy of the literary language of t he Slovaks either with Bernolaik or Stoc, lbult ilt is netessa~y to go deep 'into the past, aM the way -to the vecy beginnings oif the •h istorical period of our nation in the Great Moravian epoch, nay, 1in certain imat:ters, it is necessary to go eiven further, into the prehistoric pe;riod, when- our ancestQil's were not yet bapti:z,ed and did not participate in the European culture which was introduced to us 1by Ohristianity"< 32). Professor A. Dostal, in his work "Nastin dejin ceskeho a slovenskeho jazyka," published in Prague in 1954, developed the following thesis on the Slovak literary language: "The Slovak language, whose development goes iback to ancienlt times, was ,estaf!Jlished as a literary language 'in connection with the formation of the Slovaks into a nation .. . the estalbH-s.hment oif the literary Slovak language can in no way be viewed as a sepa·r ation from ,t he literary Cze ch lang,uage, 1but ,only as a long, slow d evelopment towards a literairy language . .. " C33 l . Prof. Dostal goes even farther and says that the attempts to impose the Czech language upon Slovaks as a �42 SLOVAKIA literary medium must be considered "as a negation of hundreds of years long developmen t which in the 1840's was already a historical fact in Slovakia ... " A century-lon g debate, as to whether Slovak is a dialect of the older 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 inha:bitants of Slovakia. By a careful anaiysis of the fundament al roots of both languages, Slovak and Czech, as well as through a comparativ e study of their later developmen ts, even the "Marxist" scholars, trained in philology have properly classified the Slovak language as one of the distinct Slavonic languages which developed after the disappearan ce of the Old Slavonic language. As a result of this developmen t 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. Czech poetry and prose are translated into Slovak and vice versa, as the Polish and Russian have always 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. NOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Slovakia, Vol. XI, No. 1, (33), 1'961; pp. 22-42. 2. Roman J,ako'bson: Slavic Languages, Columbia Utn,iversity, De- partment oo Slavic Studies, 1~; p. 10. 3 . .See relference to the wol.1k oo Prof. A. Dostal: Nastin dejin ceskeho a slovenskeho jazyka, P!laha, 11954. 4. Eug.eni Pauliny: Dej iny spisovnej slovenciny, Bra'tislava, 1948; p. 7'2; and Robert Auty: Dialect, Koine and Tradition in the Fo.rmation of Literary Slovak, in T.he Slavonic and East European R-eview, Vol. 39, No. 93, London, 1961. 5. ]bidem: p . 34'2. 6. L. I. Strll!khovsky: Handbook of Slavic Studies; pp. 51-52. 7. ]bidem: p . 4194. 8. S. H. Thomson: Czechoslovakia in European History; pp. 258, 263. 9. ,pp. 36-3'9. l'O. V. Bu§ek•N. Spulber: Czechoslovakia Under Communism; pp. 173-197. �SLOVAKIA 43 11. Grundzuge der Phonologie, Pr'aigue, 1939. 12. J. Dolbrovsky and P. J. Saif{u:,ik dTew the dialectical l1ine sep•araitin,g SlQlVa'k and Czech d'i.al-ects in the middle cxf Moravm. Of. J. Skultety: SketchH From Slovak History, and his book S,todvadsat'pat' rokov zo slovenskeho iivota. 13. E. Pauliiniy: Dej iny spisovnej slovenciny, p. 41. Benedicti wro•te: "Neque tamen ego hie •e os ·ad Bohemicam linguam cogo, sed ad exeroitatJionem et cwltur-am iipsocum i<liiomatis i'llvito: presertim cum '110n tantum in eivitaiti:bus et oppidis, se<l etim in pagis scholis albundenlt." (GTammaticae Bohemicae lilbri duo. 1603). 141. E. Pauliny, Op. cit, p. 57 and 1'13; and A . Mraz: Dejiny slo• venskej literatury, p. 108. Flirst transratioo, of tfhe Bible dates from 1763, and -also the fir!lt dilctionaey was compiled at that time. 15. J. Skulitety, Op. cit.; and J,a roslav Vlceik : Medzi Vahom a Vltavou, pp. 228-234. 116. J. Skultety, Op. cit., pp. 20-30. 17. Op. cit., pp. 494-495. 18. E. Palllliny, Op. cit. , pp. 30-36. 19. 0. Radrr in Handbook of Slavic Studies, p. 491. 20. E. Pawliny, Op. cit., pp. 36-3,71 and '53. Pauliny is Off the opiniion that the occupation cxf Hungacy •b y the Turks (1526) he·bped the penetTation cxf the Cz,ech la1mguage since there was a sort of common border between Slova:kia and Moravia in the Habsburg Monarchy. 2r. T. LehraSlpla,winski: Przeglad i charakterystyka jaykow slo• wianskych, p. 71. 22. J . Dolbrovsky in 1875 wrote that Slovak is close to the Croat and Slovene languages in several respects. Zd. Stieber considers certain charaidteristics cxf tfhe S1'ovalk langua:g e as southerm- Slaivic e>lements (juhoslavizmy). Clf. Jan Starnislav: Dejiny slovenskeho jazyka, p. 387. 23. J. M. Wirschlbaum : l!udovit Stur and His Place in the Slavic World, pp. 13°17; and S. Czamlbel: Slovenska rec a jej miesto v rodine slova.nskych jazykov, '!iurc. Sv. Martin, '1'906. 24. Watson Kirk'co nnel: Canada, E•urope, and Hitler, pp. 43-4.14. 25. •P•roif. R!om'a,n Sm al-Oto•c ki: Papers Dopovidi, Sevcenko Slcienbific Society,, Ne,w York, 1961. .26. Op. cit., p. 71. 27. iR01bert Aulty: Dialect, Koi•ne, and Tradition in the Formation of Literary Slovak, The Slavoni:c and East European Review, Vol. 39, No. 93, Lo.ndon, 1'961. 28. ]bidem, .p p. 3'42-346. 29. Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 20, 1959, pp. 799-800. 30. J. M. Ki.r,schlbaum: Cont&mporary Tendencies in Slovak Philology, Slavic and Ea·st European Studies, Vol. W, No. 3-4, Monitrea,l , 11960; also in Offiprilrut. 31. Op. cit., pp. 46-108. 32. Op. cit., p. 5. ~- Op. cit., pp. 200-201. �44 SLOVAKIA BIBLIOGRAPHY of select.ed works in English, French, German, and Italian AUlty, Robert: The Evolution of Literary Slovak, Oambr'idlge, 1953. Reprinlt fr()IIIl Transadioru; of the P.hilologilcal Society, pp. 143-1:60. Dialect, Koine and Tradition in the Formation of Literary Slovak. Waper preseir.:ted to the V]]lth Congress of the International Federa1Ji,on of Modern Languages and Literatures at Liege, August 1,960, published in the Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 39, No. 93, London, 19611). Berndlak, A1nton: Slowakische Grammatik, Aus dem Lateinischein, ins Deutsche iibers·etzt, ,gedr. mit konigl. ung. Universitatsschriiten, O.lifen, 1817. Bok•es, Frantisek: Literarische iibersicht des geschichtlichen Schaffens in der Slowakei, Leipziger Viertelja,hrsohr.iift fiir Siidost•europa 4, Leipzig, 1940. Cizevsky, Dmitr,y: Outline of Compara,t ive Slavic Literatures, American Academy of Arts and Scier.,ces, Boston, Mass., 1952. On Romanticism in Slavic Literatures, Gravenhage, Monton a.nd Co ., 1957. Aus Zwei Welten, Beitrage zur Geschieht-e der Slaiwischwes·thchen literarisohen Bezi•e hungen, 1956 Mickiewicz, Stur and Kral', in W. Lednicki's Adam Mickiewicz in World Literature, Be:r,keley, 1'9516. A Bibliography of the Publica,t ions of' Dr. Dmitry Ciievsky in the Fields of Literature, Language, Philosophy and Culture, Gamlbridg·e, Mass., 1952. De Bray, R. G. A.:Guide to the Slavonic Languages, J. M. Denlt and Sons, Ltd., London, 1S31. ,Denis, Ernest: La question d'Autriche - Les Slovaques, Parus, 191'7, Ubrairie Delagrave. One of the best books on Slovaks before the •e nd of the Firrst Wo-11ld War. His views on. Bernolak, Stur, etc., are s1igh'Uy distorted by the id•e a olf the na,t ional and cultural unity of Czechs a nd Slovaks. Dixon, Oharlton: Slovak Grammar for English Speaking Students, 'Middll.etown, Pa., Jednota Printery, 11935. Fischel, Alfred: Pansl•avismus bis zum Weltkrieg, Stuttgart and BerJin, 19119. One of the best documented works on Pan-SlaviS'm in the German languag,e. Giusti, Wolrfgango: II Panslavismo, Mhlano, 194'1!, InstitUlto per gli studi di politica internazional-e. More a politi1Cal than scholarly :r,eview of the idea of Pan-Slavli-sm among Slavic peoples. Gross, Felix (•ed.): European Ideologies, New York, 194!8, Philosophicail. Lilbrary, W. Lednicki:'s chapter on Pan,Slavi·s m. Schola,rl(Y wriitten ltfleatise from the Polish point of view. Hrobak, Philip A.: Hrobak's English-Slovak Dictionary, Jednota Priintecry, MiiddleitC1wn, Pa., 1944. Slovak Lessons, Lakewood, Ohio, Middletown, Pa., Jednota Printeriy, 1'935, 1•94'9. Slovak For Beginners, Books, I, H, Ifil, Middletown, Pa., Jednota Printery, 1952. ·Let's Learn Slovak, Mrddlletown, Pa., 1'959. 1 �SLOVAKIA 45 Hrusovsky, Frantisek: Geschichte der Slowakei, Brati>sla'V'a, 1'942. This Is Slovakia, Scranton, Pa., 1953. J•akofbson, Roman: Sur l'histoire et sur les .re•lations mu,t uelles du· tcheque et du slovaque, Le Monde Slave, xmv, '19317, 3·5 3-366. Slavic Langu•a ges, Columbia Univ,ersity Press, 1949. ~fo:sch1baum, J. M.: Slovakia - N·a tion At the Crossroads of Central Europe, New York, Speller and Sons, 1960. Slovak Literature Under the Soviet lmpaGt, The Slaivic and East-(Euroipean Studi·es, Monltr,eail, 1956, Part 1, pp. 45{}4, l!udovit Stur and His Place in the Slavic World, Sla'Vli~tica No. 3•2, Winnipeg-Cleveland, 1'956. Contemporary Tendencies in Slovak Philology, An Offiprint from Slavic a.n d East~ropean Studies, Vol. liV, No. 3-4, Montreal, 1960. A Note On Two Slowak Translators of Mickiewicz in W. Led1J1;icki's Adam Mickiewicz in World Litertaure, Berkeley, Ca.Jiif., lt956. La Grand,Moravie et son heritage culture(, Etud,es slaves et est-europeeL-:•nes, Montreal, Viol. fil. 1957 pp. 694M>. Le centen•a ire d'un grand slaviste: P. J. ~afarik, Etudes slaves et est-eurorp eennes, Montreal, Vol. V, 1960, prp. 189-!1'99. Kni,ezsa, Stefan: Zur Geschichte der Jugoslawismen im Mittelslowakischen, Budapest, 1948, uire a part d~ Etudes slaves ·e t roumaines, V01l. 1, Fasc. 3. Kohn, Hans: Pan-Slavism, Its History and Ideology, University of Notre Dame Press. 1953. One of th,e most Olbjective books on Pa.n-Slavism . Konus, Joseph: Practical Slovak Grammar. A te!Xtbook; for hi,gh s.chooils, colleges and adult ,private students, Pirotsburgh, Pa., 1939. Slovak-English Dictionary, Mi·ddletOWIJJ,, Pa., 1930. New English-Slovak Dictionary, Pitts<burg,h, Pa., 1941. Kramoris, Iva•n J.: An Anthology of Slovak Poetry, Scranton, 194'7,. A selection of lJyric and narrative poems indludimrg some member~ rnf stur's group. Slovakia and Slovak Litera,t ure. Reprinted :firoon the Caltholic Encydopedia, New Yo,rk, 1960. A Chronological Outline of Slovak Literature and History, Pass.air::, N. J ., 1S4~. Krcmery, Stefan: A Survey of Modern Slovak Literature, Of,fiprint from The Slavonic ReVliew, Viol. v.m:, N~. 19, 1-928"1929. Lednicki, Waiclaiw (ed.): Adam Mickiewicz in Wo.rld Literature, University of Calilfornia Press, 1956. Articles by D. Cirevsky aind J . M. Kirschbaum. Leger, Louis: Le panslavisme et l'interet francais, Parris, 1917', Ernest F1lammarion. A rellatJively Olbjec'tiv,e study of Pan.Slavism and Slovak contribution. French ipoint of view. Locher, T. J.: Die nationale Differenzierung und lntegrierunrg der Slowaken und Tschechen in ihrem geschichtlichen Verlauf bis 1848, Harlem, 1931. Macartney, C. A.: Hungary and Her Successors, London-<Nerw York- T-0ronito, 1937. �SLOVAKIA 46 Maruniim,g, Claren'Ce A. (ed.): An Anthology of Czech and Slovak Poetry, New York, 11929, Oolumbia Uniiversity Press. Oontains translaibions by Prof. Ktln-kccmnell, Kramoris, Gallik, Manning, Slaibey, Ifotouc, etc. Merrigi,, Bruno: Storia delle letterature ceca e slovacca.~Univ,ersity of Florence, 1,959. Mikus, Joseph: La Slovaquie dans le drame de !'Europe, P.aris, Les Iles d'Or. 11955. La Slovaquie, lndividualite politi11ue de l'Europe Centrale, Paris, 11952. Mraz, Amdreas: Die Literatur der Slowaken, Wien-stu'ttgart, 194!3. A History olf Slovak lJiteralture by a contemporary scholar and professor at the Un1iviersity cif Bratislava. The work, comple'ted and edited in the Slova,k language in 11Hl8 by The S'lovak Academy df Sci1ences and All"ts, presents one oif the best works on the histo11y of Slovak liiterarture. Pastrnek, Fr.: Beitrage zur Lautlehre der Slowakischen Sprache in Ungarn (Aus d,eri, Sitzurugsberichten der philos.-hist. KJ.asse der K. Akademie der Wi.ssenschalften), Wien, 1888. Petrowch, Michael! B.: The Emergence of Russian Panslavism, Oolumbia Univ,ersity Press, 11956. Scotus, Viator (IR. W. Seton-WaJtson): Racial Problems in Hungary, Archilbaild Oonsta:ble and Oo., Ltd., London, 1908. Seton-Watson, R. W.: A History of the Czechs and Slovaks, London, 119413'.A schola1rl<y written history by one of the best de:t:enders of tlhe Slovak people at rthe beg~n,nimg of this centpcy (see his Racial Problems in Hungary) who later turned .i,gainst the Slovak mo•v,ement for autonomy and independence, being influenced by his Czedh friends. Slovak Studies 1, Hiistorica 11, Slovak InstiJtute, 'Rome, 1961. Salfarik, P. J .: Geschichte der Slawischen Sprache und Liter&tur nach alien Mundarten, Mit koni~l. ung. Universitatsschrid'ten, Ofifen, 1826. Sku!Jt:ety, Joseph: Sketches From Slovak History, Middletown, Pa., 1930, J 1ednota Press. Translation from the Slovak by 0. D. Koreff. Skluitety was professor at the University of Bratishwa and on,e of the m06t outstanding figures in the Slovak cultl.l['al lilfe Jn the first ha1f of tlhe 20th cen!tur,y. Stefanek, Anton: Zur Soziograph,ie der geistigen Kultur in der Slowakei, Bratislava, 11944. Strakihovsky, L. I. (ed.): A Ha,ndbook of Slavic Studies, Harv,a rd University Rriess, 1949, dhaipters by A. Senn and Otto Radl. Both artidles re.fleldt reicent research, though Radl's contnilbution is strongly pl'lo-Czech. Tourtzer, H.: Louis Stur et l'idee de !'independence slovaque, Cahors et Al-ehcon, Pari,s, 11913. Trobetzkoy, N. S.: Grundzuge der Phonolo9ie, Prag, 1939, (.on Slov.aik language, pp. 1117-UB, 1'36, 14!1, 1143, 16lt, 167, 170, 175, 208, 245). Vajda, Jiaroslav: Bloody Sonnets, transl. irom Hviezdoslav, P . 0 ., Scra1nton, Pa., 1900. Viktorin, J. K.: Grammatik de.r Slowakischen Sprache. Zurn Schul.:.. und SelJbst,untilvricht, Budapest, 1002. �SLOVAKIA 47 Yurchak, P,eiter P.: The Slovaks, Wh'iting, Ind., 1947, Lach editions, c,h,apters fu-om Slovak History and litemture for Americam·s Olf Slovak ortgin. BIBLIOGRAPHY IN SLAVIC LANGUAGES iBartek, Heinrich: Anton Bernolak, Trnarva, 1,937. l!udovit Shir a slovencina, Turc. Sv. Martin, 194i3. Krest'anstvo a slovencin,a, Nad,ej vit'azna, Scranton, Pa., 1947. Slovensky pravopis s gramatickymi pouckami a slovnikom, Whiting, Ind., Lach Publications, 1956. Spravn,a vyslovnost' slovenska, Braltislava, 194J. Blanar, Vincerut: Bibliografia jazykovedy na, Slovensku v rokoch 19391947. Slovenska akademia vied a umeni, Bratislava, 1950. Bolbek, W.: Prehl'adne dejiny slovenskej literatury, Bratislava, 1939. Mickiewicz v literaturze slowackiej, Praha, lJ93il. Dzieje literatury slowackiej w arysie. A'Il annprint firom Slowacja i Sl'owlicy, Edit. W. Semkoiwica;, Krakow, 1008. Czamlbel, Samo: Prfspevky k dejinam jazyka slovenskeho, Budapest, 1887. Slovenska rec a jej miesto v rodine slovanskych ja:z:ykov, '!1urc. Sv. MartLn,, 1906. Slovensky pravopis. Historiok-OJkriticky nmes. Bud,a pest, 1890. [)vonc, Ladislav: Bibliografia slovenskej ja:z:ykovedy :z:a roky 19481952, Matilca Slov-enska, 1'957. Gajdo§, V. J .: Slovenske glosy v latinskom missa,li zo XVI. storoci'a, Historica slovacca I-11, BratisJ.ava, 1'940-lMt pp. 241-24'3. Gralbowski, T. S. : Dwaja Slowaccy pioner:z:y oswiecenia i post&pu, Bernolak a Fandly, 195ll. Hl"'ltta!1a, Martin: Kratka mluvnica slovenska, Bratislava, 1:852. Grammatica linguae slovenicae, Schemnicii, 1850. Hodza, Michal M.: Vetin o slovencine, Levoca, 164!8. ,Isaceniko, A. V.: Zaciatky vzdelanosti vo Vel'komoravskej rili, Jazykovedny sbornik, I.JI, 1947', 137-17'8. Jia,gic, I. V.: lstorija slavianskoj filologii, S. Petersburg, 1910, Jlankovic, V.: Prvy slovensky preklad celeho Pisma svateho, Ver.bum I, 19416-1947. Kondra§ov, N. A.: Kategoriia licnosti i nelicnosti v slovackom ja:z:yku, MGU, 11949. Programma po istoriji slovackogo jazyka. Programma po sovremennom slovackom ja:z:yku, Izdatelstvo Moskovsko,go univerziite'ta, '1001'. Slavinaskaja filologia, Stafi i monogrrufiji, Izdaltelstvo Mostkovskogo univerzfteta, 1951. Kotvam,, rmrich: Jozef lgnac Baiza a slovenska rec, Linguistica slovaca Ilil, 1'9411. Ju.l"aj Fandly, Trnava, 1946. Juraj Fandly a slovensky ja:z:yk, Linguistiea slovaca I-m, 1939. Be,rnolakovci, T\rnarva, 19418. Bibliografia bernolakovcov, Miati'&! Slovenska, Martin, 1957·_ Lehr-Sp}aiwin ski, T.: Pr:z:eglad i eharakterystyka je:z:ykow slowianskich, Warszaiwa, li9154·. 1 �48 SLOVAKIA Magnuszewski, J.: Mickiewicz wsrod Slowakow, Wir,oclaJW, 1956. Magiera, J.: Literatul"a czeska i slowacka, Obraz pismienniictwa. Warszawa, 1929. Misianik, Jan: Dejiny starsej slovenskei lite.ratury, SAN, Bratislava, 1958; Marxiisticky vy,kla,d st,arsej slov. litera'tury. Stran 320. Mraz, Andrej: Gavlovicova skola krest'anska. Prispev,ok k slov,enskemu literarnemu barolm, Bratislava, 11940. Dejiny slovenskej literatury, Slov. akad. v1ed a umeni, Bratislava, 194<8. Novak, I.!udovit: Cestina na Slovensku a vznik spisovnej slovenciny, Odtlafok zo Slovenskych pohl'adov, LEV, 193!8. Jazykovedne glosy k ceskoslovenskej otazke, Turc. Sv. Martin,, 11935. l!udovit Stur ako jazykovedec, Slovenske ipohl'ady, LiiI, 1936. Pastrnek, Fr.: Stara jazykova pamatka slovenska, Slbornik :liilologicky, ViIII, 1922. Pauliny, Eugen: Na okrai kama•ldulskeho Pisma, Vetibwm I, 1946-1947. Kulturnohistoricke podmienky a spolocenske funkcie biling.uizmu y dej inach spisovnej slovenciny, C-sl. prednaslcy pro sjezd slavistu v Mioskve, 11958. Glosy k pomeru: bernolactina a sturovcina, Kultura, XiJlV, 1942. Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny, Slovenska akademia vied a umeni, Bratislava, 1948. Pisut, Miilan (ed.): Dej iny slovenskej literatury, Osveta, Bratislava, 1960, p. 680. ContrilbUltors J . Miisiia-niik, P. Petrus, J. Gregor~, P . Stevc,ek, (A Mairxist evaluation). Litera,tura narodneho obrodenia, SAY, Bratisla,V'a, 1'960, p. 490. Slovensky literarny romantizmus, C-sl. prednaslcy pro mezinarodni sj-ezd slavistu v Moslwe, 1'958. Sobolevskij, A. I.: Cerkovno-slavianskije texty moravskogo proischozd,e nija, Ruskij filoloigicesk!j vestnik, 1•900. Stanislav, Jan: K jazykovednemu dielu A. Bernolaka, Bratislava, 194/1. Pribinovi vel'moii, Linguistica slovaca I-II, 193·9-11940. Slovanski apostoli Cyril a Metod a ich cinnost' vo Vel'komoravskej risi, Bratislava, 1945. Spisovny jazyk slovensky, v sborir.,i ku Slovanske jazy,ky v dobe pfitomne, Praha, 1937. Dejiny slovenskeho jazyka, Slovenska akademia wed, Bratislava, 1958. Stitibr, Zdisl'aiw: Zarys dialektologii jezykow zachodnio-slowanskich, W,arszarwa, 1'956. Skultety, Jozef: Stodvadsat'pat' rokov zo slovenskeho iivota 17901•914, Turc. Sv. Ma-rtin, 1920. 0 Slovakoch, Turc. Sv. M!a.rtin, 1928. Stur, I.!udovit: Nauka reci slovenskej, Bratislava, 1,846. Narecia slovenskuo, Bratislava, 1846. Slovo na case, (V uprav,e J . AIIIlibriusa), Bratislava, 1943. 'I1i!bensky, Jan: J. Papanek-J. Sklenar: Obr.incovia slovenskej narodnosti v XVlm. storoci, Osveta, Martin, 19.58. K problemu hodnotenia bernolactiny a bernolakovskeho IYm.,tia, Histod'C'ky casopis, Vfil, 4, 1959. �49 SLOVAKIA Vznik, vyvoj a vyznam vel'komoraV5kej trad icie v s lovenskom narodnom obrodeni, Sbornik O vzajomnych vzt'ahodh Cechov a Slov:ikov, SAV, 1956. Vairsik, BranisJav: Slovaci na praiskej univerzite do konca stredoveku, 1Bratislava, 1926. Kulturne vzt'ahy Cechov a Slovakov v 16. a 17. storoc: i, Bratislava, 1956. Narodnostny problem trnavskej univerzity, Bratislava, 1,9 38. VH~ovsky, Jan : Cantus Catholici, Biratislava IX, 193'5. Vilcek, J·aToslav: Dejiny literatury slovenske j, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1923. Medzi Vahom a Vl tavou, Slov. vyd .. krasnej literatury, Brabislava, 11957. Weingart, Milos: 0 nej starsich jazykovych pamatkach slovenskych, OMF, 1935. Rev. Milan Durica, SIXB, partici- j who made the arrangements. T\he pated in the sessions of the prepa- prayer was purblished in the Conrator,y commission for discipline gressiona1l Record of March 14. llt! llt! llt! of the ole11gy and fait,hiful for the I n. Vatican, Ecdlesiastical Assemlbly. I Bishop Andrew G. Grutka of Father Durica, a native Olf S1()1Va- 1 bhe diocese of Gary, Indiana, ackia, acts in an advisory capacito/. 1companied by the Rt. Rev. Msgr. M .K. Mlynarovic, president of the The meeting was early in Slovak Callholic Federation of ruary. Amenica, traveled to Rome early :!€! llt! :!€! Dr. John Novotny, a native Olf , in April (6-15) to review the plans Slovakia now res•idin,g im, London, : for the Slovak Institute which will successfully passed the medical be bui11t there. Plans were also examinations to !become a Memlber made for the celebration of the of the Royal College of Physi- l'lOOth anniversary of the advent of the saintly brothers Cyril an,d cians. Methodius to the ancient homeland llt! llt! llt! According to Radio Bratislava of the Slovaks, Slovakia, in 1963, (Feb:mary 3', '1962), the exposition by Slovaks in the free world. Biof Czech~ovak bodks in Rome shop Grutka had an audience with was a great success. Our friends Pope John XXIIil!I on Aipril 14. The in Rome, however, inform us that Slovak Institute will cost rubout a it was far from being successful. halif million dollars, most of which And Slovak books were conspicu- is exipected to be donated by the ous by their albsence, only a/bout Slovaks in America. Almost half the amount is already pledged. te·n being displayed. Feb-I' I )lg )lg )lg )lg )lg )lg Rev. John E. ~englar, pastor of The Holy See, early in Apr:I, Sacred Heart Church, Phoenixville, Pa., opened bhe session of bhe U. S. Senate on 'March 14, 1962' - the -23'rd anniv,ersacy of the .pro>clamation rnf S1ov•aik Independence - with a special prayer. He was atccompanied to Washington by P . A. Hl.'obak, president o'f the Slovak League of America, 1962, appointed the Rev. Rudolph KOibela, C.,M., miss,i onary for t,he Slovaks in England, parUoolarly for the several hundred who reside in London and viiicinity. F,ather Kdbela had been attending to the spiritual needs of the Slova'ks in London, for several years prior to that time. � SLOVAKIA 25 MISCONCEPTIONS OF AMERICAN SLAVISTS ON THE SLOVAK LANGUAGE Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Ph.D. I Misconceptions of American Slavists on Slovak literature which have been discussed here previously <1 > had been caused to a great extent by the confusion of views regarding the Slovak language. The confusion was created, on the one hand, by Slavists and literary historians who failed to draw a proper distinction between the native or spoken language of the Slovaks and their written or literary language, which, as we have seen, was first the Old Church Slovanic, afterwards t he Latin language, then Biblical Czech, used mainly by the Slovak Protestant minority, and then the literary Slovak based on Slovak western dialects, and finally the revised present form, based on central Slovak dialects. On the other hand, the misconceptions have been intentionally spread by some Czech Philologists and literary historians who were influenced by political views and aspirations, which the American Slavists accepted without the necessary caution required in scholarly works. As a result, we find in many American symposia on the Slavic peoples or in works on philology and Slavic languages either the Czech thesis that the Slovak language is merely a dialect of the Czech, or that Slovak became a literary language only at the beginning or in the second half of the nineteenth century. We also find that the sources of information or reference used by American Slavists are rather scarce and obsolete and that the subject has been treated by scholars who hardly had an opportunity to be thoroughly acquainted with the history and development of the Slovak literary language and its position among Sla-wc languages. Before pointing out the misconceptions in American symposia and surveys of Slavic languages, we may perhaps say that the claim that Slovak is but a dialect of the �26 SLOVAKIA 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 rest also the origins of the erroneous thesis that Slovak began to be used a·s a literary language only from the second half of the nineteenth century. In the views of European Slavists, including the Russian and Czech philologists, it is clear, as we shall see, tha't the Slovak language is by every right of its origin and development an independent tongue, having its rightful place of equality among Slavic languages. And it has also been accepted that Slovak has been used as the language of literature from the sixteenth century, and was codified before the end of the eighteenth century. Slovak philologists and linguists (Bernolak, Safarik, Czambel, Skultety, Bartek, Stanislav, Novak, Pauliny) rejected, during the last two centuries, Czech 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 they arrived at conclusions which were ultimately accepted by the present-day Czech as well as other Slavic philologists and linguists. Misconceptions of American Slavists refer, as we have said, to the relation of the Slovak and Czech, to the history of the Slovak literary language and to the role of foreign languages in Slovak literature. In this respect we -read not without surprise that even the well-known Roman Jakobson helped to spread the erroneous views. In his study Slavic Languages, he writes: ''Toward the middle of the same (i.e., the 19th) century, the Slo¥aks, 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" <2>. We shall also see that even Czech philologists recognize today that Slovaks "-inaugurated" their own literary language long before the middle of the 19th century, and �SLOVAKIA 27 that we can speak only about a reform of the Slovak literary language in the nineteenth century <3 >. Secondly, the 19th century reform, linked with the name of r..udovit Stur, was "not based on the dialect of any single area, but represented a kind of "koine" ('Cultural Slovak), based on the central Slovak dialects, eschewing features from both the eastern and western dialects <4 >. As for the usage of the Czech language, "Czech was sporadically used (with certain local modification) for administrative and still more occasionally, literary purposes," says correctly R. Auty <5 >. The reasons for this will be explained later. Prof. Alfred Senn, in Strakhovsky's Handbook of Slavic Studies, gives a more detailed and more ela:borate description of the Slovak literary language. His classification of Slovak is certainly correct, but we could hardly agree with all parts of his definition. Prof. Senn says: "Slovak ... forms a connecting link with the South Slavic Slovenian and is more archa,ic than Czech. Otherwise differen:ces between Czec.h and Slovak are not very great. Slovak became a literary language at the beginning of the nineteenth century .. . Czec.h and Slovak form the Czechoslovak group" <s>. 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 states that it was only in 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 ·m ovement 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 thir own distinctive written language based on dialects spoken in western Slovakia" <7 >. A similar version can be found in Prof. S. Harrison Thomson'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 Grammatica slavica. However, �28 SLOVAKIA Prof. Thomson asserts, that " about the only followers Ber nolak 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 Thomson, "as the date of the rise of written Slovak, although strictly speaking, Stur did not make his first formal declaration until 1856" ( R ) . In Prof. Robert J. K erner's symposium Czechoslovakia and in V. Busek-N. Spulber's Czechoslovakia Under Communism, we find only slightly modified or re-worded versions of the theses mentioned above. "Catholic Slovaks under Bernolak tried to create with indifferent success a written Slovak dialect," we read in Kerner's symposium <9 >, and Busek-Spulber's symposium gives the following genesis of the Slovak literary language: ... "the firs,t 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 elaborate linguistically, did not take permanent hold. "The decisive step towards the establishment of a Slovak litera.ry language was undertaken through the initiative of the Protestants. tudovit Shir selected the central Slovak dialect for the Slovak literary medium. Beginning in the 1840's, several poets followed Shir and usEd the new literary language with great skill" r 10 J. This version admits "sporadic ventures to establish a distinct Slovak literary language" before the last decade of the 18th century, but considers Bernolak's "suggestions not elaborated linguistically" and credits the Protestants with the merits, while Radl says the opposite! All these misconceptions seem to be due, as we have mentioned before, in the first place to the uncritical acceptance of the politically motivated thesee of Czech or at the Prague University educated Slavists. In the second place, the use of sources either long before superseded by new works or unilaterally selected, might have misled those Slavists who were trying to be scholarly objective. In this respect even Prof. R. Jakobson's bibliography leaves much to be desired. We find in his bibliography only four works, two written by Slovaks and two by Czechs, �SLOVAKIA 29 but none of them dealing with the history of Slovak language or with the problem of its relation to the Czech language. To a Slavist of Jako'bson's renome the fact could not be unknown that already Paul. J. Safarik in 1826 wrote on the Slovak language and Slovak literature as being distinct from the Czech or other Slavic languages and literatures. Consequen tly the Slovaks could not "inaugurat e" their own literary language "toward the middle of the 19th century." Sources used by Prof. Senn, who undoubtedl y tried to be objective, were better selected, but three of them favor the Czech thesis of "one Czechoslov ak unit." He shows in his literature and references the following books: J. Victorin: Gramatik der Slowakisch en Sprache, 4th edition, Budapest, 1878; K. Meznik: Die Slowakisch e Spaltung, Euphorion, 1927; R. J ak~bson: Sur fhistoire et sur Jes relations mutuelles du tcheque et du slovaque, Le Monde Slave, XIV, 1937, 353-366; V. Vazny: Slovak Dialects, Ceskoslovens ka vlastiveda, Vol. III, 1934. Otto Radl, who contributed to Strakhovsk y's Handbook of Slavic Studies a chapter on Slovak literature, did not show in his bibliograph y any work in Slovak or in foreign languages which he used or in which the reader could check Rad-l's opinions or complete his knowledge. Closing our remarks we perhaps may say that not many American Slavists who wrote during the post 40 years on the Slovak language and literature speak or write Slovak or ever read Slovak literary works in the original. Some of them merely rephrased mistaken views published by Czech scholars and politicians; and several contributio ns to American symposia on Slovaks were written by Czechs. Reviewing the names of the Czech contriibutor s we could not, however, say that any of them made his name as as expert on Slovak language or literature before coming to the United States. II LITERARY SLOVAK AND THE SLAVIC LANGUAG ES Scholarly studies of phonology, etymology, lexicology and grammar show that the Slovak language is distinct �30 SLOVAKIA from any other Slavic tongue. Even though this was not so clear and evident to Slavists of the 19th century when philology was in its infancy and used primitive methods, Slovak philologists and linguists always maintained this point of view. After a century of clashes and discussions between the Czech linguists and - first the Slovak Catholic erudites who began to replace the Latin with Slovak already in the seventeenth century, and from the 1840's a-lso with the Protestant leaders - the Slovak language has been properly classified as the real and original national tongue of the inhabitants of Slovakia since the dawn of history. The historical development of Slovakia and geographical factors account for the fact that the Slovak language not only conserved many archaic forms and expressions common to all Slavs, but, remaining for centuries only a spoken vernacular of the people, it was affected merely by the influence of neighboring Slavic peoples. When it was codified, this happened in the era of the revival of Slovanic peoples, and the Slovak cultural and political leaders saw to it that the 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, the central position of the Slovak language, geographically or linguistically, is accepted to a great extent even by modern philology. Slovak is more archaic than Czech, which in turn is more archaic than Polish. Since Russian is considered the least removed from the primitive Slavic prototype, both Slovak and Russian are the most archaic and nearest to the common primitive Slavic. In fact, the Slovaks - either educated or common _people ..:..:_ do not experience much difficulty in communicating in Slovak with Poles, Ukrainians, Czechs, Russians, or Slovenes and Croats, as has been proven on the American. Con- �SLOVAKIA 31 tinent, since basica:lily there are no great dif.ferences among the Slavic languages, and, in the case of the Slovak language, history and geography made it close not only to Pole and Czech, but also to Ukrainian and South Sfavic Slovenian and Croat. Slovak intellectuals of the nineteenth century read not only Polish or Czech poets and writers in the original, but also in Russian and Ukrainian, Croat and Slovenian. Modern scientific and literary development drifts the twelve Slavic langua,ges apart. Nevertheless, even if we cannot agree with the nineteenth century poet that, . "with the Slovak language you may the earth's four corne;rs travel," the fact remains that Slovaks are able to communicate in their own vernacular with the majority of Slavic peoples. Linguistic analysis of the fundamental roots of the Czech and Slovak languages and a comparative study of their developments showed that the Slovak language never was a part of the Czech or so-cailled "Czechoslovak" language. If we accept the thesis, supported by Trubecko <m, that in the ninth century the Old Sfavonic still was the common tongue of the Slavs with a unified phonology, and that from the ninrth century different dialects _· developed into distinct Slavic languages, 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. This thesis is strengthened also by the fact that the Slovak territory was annexed by Hungary after the collapse of Great Moravia, and, hence the only contact the Slovaks had with Czechs, was through Moravians who have continued to speak a Slovak dialect <12 > in spite of the pressure of the Czechs from the West, and to the present time they have retained their own phonological structure. The relation between the Czech and Slovak languages became a matter of controversy because of political a:·s pirations of some Czech politiciap.s and scholars and not because of philological reasons. As early as the 16th century, �32 SLOVAKIA Vavrinec Benedikti of Nedozery (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 ( l 3 >. From the si:x;teenth century on, there are numerous proofs that Slovak erudites, with a few exceptions, considered the Slovaks as one of the "tribes" of the 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 writings but also in scholarly works and poetry especially since the middle of the 17th century around the University of Trnava (founded 1635). At the end of the 18th century, Anton Bernolak only codified, in his linguistic works Dissertatio Orthographia, Gramatica slavica, and in his huge pentalingual Dictionary, a language in use for more than a century <14>. The well-known Slavist P. J. Safarik, and initiailly also Jan Kollar, were aware of the fact that there had been a Slovak language 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 alien Mundarten (1826), and when some Czech leaders reproached Nm for his s·cholavly objectivity, Safarik indignantly announced that he would go even farther in stressing the differences than he did in his book <15 >. Jan Kollar was origina:lly also instrumental in preparing Stur's reform and later changed his mind and became an advocate of a common literary lamguage with the Czechs (which he called "old Slovak") because of reasons which Slovak literary historians avoid to discuss. The great poet of Pan-Slavism had also some human deficiencies like very high personal pride and a 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 ( lG>. This "crimen lesae majestatis" moved Kollar to oppose Stur's reform and the final acceptance of the Slovak �SLOVAKIA 33 literary language also by Slovak Protestants. 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 the 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 <17 >, and Stu.r's reform was victorious over Kollar's protests and Safarik's advices, because it was in line with the linguistic facts and centuries long Slovak national development. The reasons for the sporadic use of the Czech language for administrative and partly a:lso for literary purposes (mainly by the Slovak Protestants) have been recently reconsidered by several "Marxist" philologists and literary historians. There are at least three theories on the penetration of the Czech language into the Slovak territory. One refers to the continuation of relations between Slovaks and Moravians (who adopted the Czech language) from the time of Great Moravia, which relations survived the collapse of that state and developed between the Moravian cultural center Olomouc and Slovak religious centers. More acceptable and also more elaborated is the theory ascribing the use of the Czech language to the fact that Czech was a sort of diplomatic language and that Czech clerks were used at certain periods (the XV-XVIth century) not only in Slovak territory but also in Hungary and Poland, in state and city administration na>. In Slovakia, the use of Czech, adapted to local dialects, survived because of the Reformation which penetrated among Slovaks from Bohemia with the Bible and religious books written 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" <19 >. Settled in Slovakia, the Czech refugees tried to keep all Slovak Protestants linked to Bohemia by language also in s ecular writings. Being a minority, the Protestants looked �34 SLOVAKIA to the Czechs first for he1p in religious and later also in literary and political matters <20 >. Around 1840, it became clear, however, 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 the Slovak population and for reasons which r... Stur explained in his Narecia slovenskuo and other writings, they agreed with Catholics, on the reform, which based the literary language on the central Slovak dialects, and on the exclusive use of Slovak in Slovak literature. Stur's reform, by which the Slovak language was finally esta·b lished as a literary medium of all Slovaks, "has been accepted by the Slovak intelligentsia within a very short space of time" as correctly stated by Auty. By this reform, which received its final linguistic form in the grammar of a Catholic priest, Martin Hattala, the peculiar situation of bi-lingualism in modern Slovak literature was changed. As it is accepted now also by foreign Slavists, the first literary language (or language of literature) used by Slovaks was the Old Church Slavonic <21 >, and the Slovaks rightly claim the writings of the Great Moravian period as a part of their cultural heritage. Then for centuries Slovaks used Latin also in secular writings; and from the 16th century Slovak Catholics began to replace Latin with the Slovak vernacular, which Slovak Protestants replaced with Czech, adapted to local use. During all these centuries, the Slovak people spoke, of course, their own Slovak dialects which developed from the Old Slavonk after its disintegration into the modern Slovak language. History of the Slovak language and history of Slovak literature began at the same time, in the IXth century, but in literature Slovaks used various media (Church Slavonic, Latin, Czech and Slovak), while their native tongue was used in daily life until it was lifted to the position of a literary medium, which happened more or less at the same time at which other central European peoples began to use vernacular for literary purposes. On the position of Slovak among Slavic languages: foreign and Slovak philologists expressed various opinions .. �SLOVAKIA 35 V. J agic in his book Entstehungsgeschichte der Kirchenslawischen Sprache wrote: "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 <22 >; and S. Czamlbel el~borated linguistic~lly a theory to prove that the questions as to whether Slovak is closer to western Slavic or to the southern Slavic group of languages deserved 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 similarities 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 <23 >. III VIEWS OF CANADIAN AND EUROPEAN SLAVISTS Among European Slavists, including present-day Czech philologists, the erroneous views regarding the relation between Slovak and Czech, and the origin of the Slovak literary language, have been mostly corrected. Modern techniques in linguistics have thrown new light on the subject and have been instrumental in giving us modified views that are advanced far beyond the htasty unwarranted conclusions of the amateur philologists or linguists influenced by political aspirations. For truth's sake we have to point out that also on the American continent we find Slavists who expressed correct views, and some of them did that before Slavic studies acquired the 'prominence which they enjoy now in the United States and in Canada. The well-known Canadian Slavist, Prof. W. Kirkconnell, wrote, for example, already in 1940, that the differences between Czech and Slovak are about as great as those between the similarly related languages, Dutch and German. "I have," says Kirkconnell, "on my shelves Miroslav KaJal's Slovak-Czech Dictionary (published in 1924), in which there are 35,000 Slovak words that were �36 SLOVAKIA apparently unintelligible to a Czech and hence required definition" <24 >. Prof. Roman Smal-Stocki in his paper Discrimination and Bias in Two UNESCO Publications raised his voice against treating Slovak ,a nd Czech "as one unit." "From the linguistic point of view," says Prof. Sma.'l-Stocki, "it is 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" <25 >. Among European Slavists, the Polish scholar T. LehrSplawinski came with a new approach to the history of the Slovak literary language. He dates back the beginnings of the Slovak literary language to the IXth century which view has been held also by some other Slavists in recent years. "The beginnings of the literary language in Slovakia are connected with the period of activities of ConstantineCyril and Methodius in the Moravian state," says LehrSplawinski. "As the whole of Slovakia was, without any doUJbt, a part of that state, and the important centres of its political and cultural life were situated on the Slovak territory, writings in the old Church-Slavonic language must have been undoubtedly developed among the Slovaks in the last quarter of the IX th century" <26 >. R. Auty, from the University of Cambridge, in the pahe presented to the VIIIth Congress of the Inwhich per ternational Federation of Modern Languages and 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, and urrlike the American S1avists who minimized Bernolak's importance, Auty writes that "in the following fifty or sixty years a considera:ble number of literary and other works were published or written in this (Bernolak's) form of Slovak. The remarkable extent of the literature published in Bernolak's language has recently been revealed," says Auty, " by I. Kotvan, Bibliografia bernolakovcov, Martin, 1957"<27 >. The Czech language was, according to Auty, "spora- �SLOVAKIA 37 dically used in Slovakia (with certain local modification) for administrative and, still more occasionally, literary purposes." The reasons for this sporadic usage of Czech for administrative and "more occasionally" also for literary purposes, were explained by Auty only indirectly. He mentions that "since the Reformation the Czech had been the language of the Lutheran scriptures and Church Services in Slovakia," but he didn't say that as a result of this situation t he biblical Czech was used by the Slovak Protestant minority also in secular writings in the same way as the Catholics used the Latin, and that Czech was used for administrative purposes also in Hungary and Poland, the reason being the Monarchy, in which all those countries were included. Stur, Protestant though he was, acted against what he regarded as an unnatural linguistic situation which had been brought about by the hazards orf 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 bi-lingualism 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 research. .A!ccording to him "Catholic and Protestant Slovaks agreed to accept a new written form of their language for all purposes; this had been worked out by r... Stur in discussion with other Slovak intetlectual leaders in the period 1842-44 and was somewhat modified by M. M. Hodza and M. Hattala in subsequent years." 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 survival" <28 >. The contri-butors to the Encyclopedia Britannica published some correct and some incorrect views, but they �38 SLOVAKIA grasped the essential points of difference between the Czech and Slovak. "The Czech, as spoken and written today in Bohemia, diverges consideraibly from Slovak," says the Encyclopedia. "The disagreement is least marked in vocwbulary but ap• pears prominently in the phonetics; in particular the itacism so distinct a characteristic of Czech, is non-existant in Slovak, which has preserved the fuller diphthongs (ia, ie, iu, etc.) of the Slavonic languages; a further smaller 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; S1ovak has not developed the f, 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 aifter e, which does not occur in modern literary Czech, is a further point of disagreement, although this woU'.ld not be o:bvious from Slovak spelling which does not find it necessary to distinguish by diacritics; consonants are always softened in this position." The main contriibutor to the Encyclopedia, Prof. C. A. Macartney, refers also to a better selected bibliography than American Slavists and points out to the relation of Slovak with other Slavie languages as follows: "The dialectical development," says Macartney, "shows some characteristics identical with those in South Slavonic and Russian. Not everywhere, for example, have C.S. u and i been confused, and instead of the e, which is the norma:l 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"' 29 >. On Slovak literature Macartney says: "Slovak literature, which previously had only a local importance, bid fair to take a worthy place alongside that of its better known partner. The Survey of Modern Slovak Literature, by S. �SLOVAKIA 39 Krcmery, in Vol. vii, No. 19, pp. 160-170, of the Slavonic Review (London), gives useful literature statistics and a good account of the literature of the present century." His Bibliography shows the following works: Dictionaries J. Loos: Worterbuch der Slovakischen, Ungarischen and Magyarischen Sprache (Budapest, 1871) ; M. Kalal, Slovensky Slovnik, etc (1924), written for Czechs, is most valuable as dialect words are included. Grammar - S. Czambel: Rukovat spisovnej reci slovenskej (1919). This Handbook of Literary Slovak is the standard work. Czambel's other works, e.g.,Slovaci a ich rec, (Buda:pest 1903) and Slovenska rec a jej miesto v rodine slovanskych jazykov (1906) are important for the dialects, but are ,biased; C. Dixon has written a Slovak Grammar For English Speaking Students (Pittsburgh, 1896). IV "MARXIST" CONCEPTIONS ON LITERARY SLOVAK AND THE ORIGINS OF THE SLOVAK LANGUAGE From the published works of the "Marxist" philologists and literary historians it is obvious that the Czech theses on the Slovak language, on the history of the Slovak literary language, and on the function of some foreign languages (Czech, "Czechoslovak") in Slovak literature, which theses were intended to support the political theory of a single "Czechoslovak" nation, have been definitely buried <30 >. In this respect, some contemporary works of Czech philologists helped to support the scholarly conclusions which have long been defended by the Slovak philologists. Particularly noteworthy of the Czech school is the work of the University Professor A. Dostal, and of the Slovak school, Professor Eugene Pauliny's Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny (History of Literary Slovak, Bratislava, 1948) , and Andrew Mra.z's Dejiny slovenskej literatury (History of Slovak Literature, Bratislava, 1948), as well as the pa'pers read at the Moscow Fourth International Congress of Slavists in 1958. In this respect, the paper of Professor Pauliny on bilingualism in the history of the Slovak literary language de- �40 SLOVAKIA serves particular attention. Pauliny tries to explain the function of the Czech language in Slovakia in the XVth and following centuries on the basis of social and economic phenomena and changes. He has arrived, nevertheless, at the same conclusions as the philologists who d'id not apply "Marxist criteria" in phi'lology, i.e., that the Czech language was a foreign language in Slovakia and could not withstand competition of the Slovak vernacu1ar when the Slovak ethnicum evolved in its national consciousness. Literary Slovak won out despite the fact that the Protestant minority, predominantly of Czech origin, 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 bilingua'lism. In his contribution to a volume "0 vzajomnych vzt:ahoch Cechov a Slovakov," published in 1956 by the S1lovak Academy of Sciences, Pauliny states: "Bernolak codified a language which can be traced in the writings of the middleclass, the lower nobility and educaited Slovaks back to the 15th century, and this in both Catholic and Protestant writings." As for the connection of Bernolak's school with Stur's group, Pauliny agrees with the other Marxi,s t literary historians and philologists. Stur's reform, which is erroneously presented by some American Slavists as the beginning of the Siovak literary language (in this respect even Jakdbson is mistaken), in Pauliny's view, is but a "younger branch of Bernolak's school." In the opinion of Professor A. Mraz, who still remains the main authority in Marxist literary history in Slovakia, Anton Bernolak reformed and codified the Slovak literary language and its orthography. Mraz regards the activity which originated 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 the Cantus Catholici by Benedict Szolossi in 1655. �SLOVAKIA 41 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 (1635-1777), progressed so far in accordance w'ith the spoken language in Western Slovakia that, when Bernolak and his followers came, at the end of the 18th century, with the idea 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 ' 31 l . In the introduction to his 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 languages which were used by the Slovaks as literary languages in addition to the spoken vernacular from the time of Greater Moravia. H e writes: "Although, in this case, the period of the actua~ Slov.ak literary language can <begiin only wi'th Bernolak, or with the period shortly before Bern1-0lak, nevertheless it is not possible to !begin the hi&tocy of the literary language of t he Slovaks either with Bernolaik or Stoc, lbult ilt is netessa~y to go deep 'into the past, aM the way -to the vecy beginnings oif the •h istorical period of our nation in the Great Moravian epoch, nay, 1in certain imat:ters, it is necessary to go eiven further, into the prehistoric pe;riod, when- our ancestQil's were not yet bapti:z,ed and did not participate in the European culture which was introduced to us 1by Ohristianity"< 32). Professor A. Dostal, in his work "Nastin dejin ceskeho a slovenskeho jazyka," published in Prague in 1954, developed the following thesis on the Slovak literary language: "The Slovak language, whose development goes iback to ancienlt times, was ,estaf!Jlished as a literary language 'in connection with the formation of the Slovaks into a nation .. . the estalbH-s.hment oif the literary Slovak language can in no way be viewed as a sepa·r ation from ,t he literary Cze ch lang,uage, 1but ,only as a long, slow d evelopment towards a literairy language . .. " C33 l . Prof. Dostal goes even farther and says that the attempts to impose the Czech language upon Slovaks as a �42 SLOVAKIA literary medium must be considered "as a negation of hundreds of years long developmen t which in the 1840's was already a historical fact in Slovakia ... " A century-lon g debate, as to whether Slovak is a dialect of the older 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 inha:bitants of Slovakia. By a careful anaiysis of the fundament al roots of both languages, Slovak and Czech, as well as through a comparativ e study of their later developmen ts, even the "Marxist" scholars, trained in philology have properly classified the Slovak language as one of the distinct Slavonic languages which developed after the disappearan ce of the Old Slavonic language. As a result of this developmen t 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. Czech poetry and prose are translated into Slovak and vice versa, as the Polish and Russian have always 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. NOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Slovakia, Vol. XI, No. 1, (33), 1'961; pp. 22-42. 2. Roman J,ako'bson: Slavic Languages, Columbia Utn,iversity, De- partment oo Slavic Studies, 1~; p. 10. 3 . .See relference to the wol.1k oo Prof. A. Dostal: Nastin dejin ceskeho a slovenskeho jazyka, P!laha, 11954. 4. Eug.eni Pauliny: Dej iny spisovnej slovenciny, Bra'tislava, 1948; p. 7'2; and Robert Auty: Dialect, Koine and Tradition in the Fo.rmation of Literary Slovak, in T.he Slavonic and East European R-eview, Vol. 39, No. 93, London, 1961. 5. ]bidem: p . 34'2. 6. L. I. Strll!khovsky: Handbook of Slavic Studies; pp. 51-52. 7. ]bidem: p . 4194. 8. S. H. Thomson: Czechoslovakia in European History; pp. 258, 263. 9. ,pp. 36-3'9. l'O. V. Bu§ek•N. Spulber: Czechoslovakia Under Communism; pp. 173-197. �SLOVAKIA 43 11. Grundzuge der Phonologie, Pr'aigue, 1939. 12. J. Dolbrovsky and P. J. Saif{u:,ik dTew the dialectical l1ine sep•araitin,g SlQlVa'k and Czech d'i.al-ects in the middle cxf Moravm. Of. J. Skultety: SketchH From Slovak History, and his book S,todvadsat'pat' rokov zo slovenskeho iivota. 13. E. Pauliiniy: Dej iny spisovnej slovenciny, p. 41. Benedicti wro•te: "Neque tamen ego hie •e os ·ad Bohemicam linguam cogo, sed ad exeroitatJionem et cwltur-am iipsocum i<liiomatis i'llvito: presertim cum '110n tantum in eivitaiti:bus et oppidis, se<l etim in pagis scholis albundenlt." (GTammaticae Bohemicae lilbri duo. 1603). 141. E. Pauliny, Op. cit, p. 57 and 1'13; and A . Mraz: Dejiny slo• venskej literatury, p. 108. Flirst transratioo, of tfhe Bible dates from 1763, and -also the fir!lt dilctionaey was compiled at that time. 15. J. Skulitety, Op. cit.; and J,a roslav Vlceik : Medzi Vahom a Vltavou, pp. 228-234. 116. J. Skultety, Op. cit., pp. 20-30. 17. Op. cit., pp. 494-495. 18. E. Palllliny, Op. cit. , pp. 30-36. 19. 0. Radrr in Handbook of Slavic Studies, p. 491. 20. E. Pawliny, Op. cit., pp. 36-3,71 and '53. Pauliny is Off the opiniion that the occupation cxf Hungacy •b y the Turks (1526) he·bped the penetTation cxf the Cz,ech la1mguage since there was a sort of common border between Slova:kia and Moravia in the Habsburg Monarchy. 2r. T. LehraSlpla,winski: Przeglad i charakterystyka jaykow slo• wianskych, p. 71. 22. J . Dolbrovsky in 1875 wrote that Slovak is close to the Croat and Slovene languages in several respects. Zd. Stieber considers certain charaidteristics cxf tfhe S1'ovalk langua:g e as southerm- Slaivic e>lements (juhoslavizmy). Clf. Jan Starnislav: Dejiny slovenskeho jazyka, p. 387. 23. J. M. Wirschlbaum : l!udovit Stur and His Place in the Slavic World, pp. 13°17; and S. Czamlbel: Slovenska rec a jej miesto v rodine slova.nskych jazykov, '!iurc. Sv. Martin, '1'906. 24. Watson Kirk'co nnel: Canada, E•urope, and Hitler, pp. 43-4.14. 25. •P•roif. R!om'a,n Sm al-Oto•c ki: Papers Dopovidi, Sevcenko Slcienbific Society,, Ne,w York, 1961. .26. Op. cit., p. 71. 27. iR01bert Aulty: Dialect, Koi•ne, and Tradition in the Formation of Literary Slovak, The Slavoni:c and East European Review, Vol. 39, No. 93, Lo.ndon, 1'961. 28. ]bidem, .p p. 3'42-346. 29. Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 20, 1959, pp. 799-800. 30. J. M. Ki.r,schlbaum: Cont&mporary Tendencies in Slovak Philology, Slavic and Ea·st European Studies, Vol. W, No. 3-4, Monitrea,l , 11960; also in Offiprilrut. 31. Op. cit., pp. 46-108. 32. Op. cit., p. 5. ~- Op. cit., pp. 200-201. �44 SLOVAKIA BIBLIOGRAPHY of select.ed works in English, French, German, and Italian AUlty, Robert: The Evolution of Literary Slovak, Oambr'idlge, 1953. Reprinlt fr()IIIl Transadioru; of the P.hilologilcal Society, pp. 143-1:60. Dialect, Koine and Tradition in the Formation of Literary Slovak. Waper preseir.:ted to the V]]lth Congress of the International Federa1Ji,on of Modern Languages and Literatures at Liege, August 1,960, published in the Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 39, No. 93, London, 19611). Berndlak, A1nton: Slowakische Grammatik, Aus dem Lateinischein, ins Deutsche iibers·etzt, ,gedr. mit konigl. ung. Universitatsschriiten, O.lifen, 1817. Bok•es, Frantisek: Literarische iibersicht des geschichtlichen Schaffens in der Slowakei, Leipziger Viertelja,hrsohr.iift fiir Siidost•europa 4, Leipzig, 1940. Cizevsky, Dmitr,y: Outline of Compara,t ive Slavic Literatures, American Academy of Arts and Scier.,ces, Boston, Mass., 1952. On Romanticism in Slavic Literatures, Gravenhage, Monton a.nd Co ., 1957. Aus Zwei Welten, Beitrage zur Geschieht-e der Slaiwischwes·thchen literarisohen Bezi•e hungen, 1956 Mickiewicz, Stur and Kral', in W. Lednicki's Adam Mickiewicz in World Literature, Be:r,keley, 1'9516. A Bibliography of the Publica,t ions of' Dr. Dmitry Ciievsky in the Fields of Literature, Language, Philosophy and Culture, Gamlbridg·e, Mass., 1952. De Bray, R. G. A.:Guide to the Slavonic Languages, J. M. Denlt and Sons, Ltd., London, 1S31. ,Denis, Ernest: La question d'Autriche - Les Slovaques, Parus, 191'7, Ubrairie Delagrave. One of the best books on Slovaks before the •e nd of the Firrst Wo-11ld War. His views on. Bernolak, Stur, etc., are s1igh'Uy distorted by the id•e a olf the na,t ional and cultural unity of Czechs a nd Slovaks. Dixon, Oharlton: Slovak Grammar for English Speaking Students, 'Middll.etown, Pa., Jednota Printery, 11935. Fischel, Alfred: Pansl•avismus bis zum Weltkrieg, Stuttgart and BerJin, 19119. One of the best documented works on Pan-SlaviS'm in the German languag,e. Giusti, Wolrfgango: II Panslavismo, Mhlano, 194'1!, InstitUlto per gli studi di politica internazional-e. More a politi1Cal than scholarly :r,eview of the idea of Pan-Slavli-sm among Slavic peoples. Gross, Felix (•ed.): European Ideologies, New York, 194!8, Philosophicail. Lilbrary, W. Lednicki:'s chapter on Pan,Slavi·s m. Schola,rl(Y wriitten ltfleatise from the Polish point of view. Hrobak, Philip A.: Hrobak's English-Slovak Dictionary, Jednota Priintecry, MiiddleitC1wn, Pa., 1944. Slovak Lessons, Lakewood, Ohio, Middletown, Pa., Jednota Printeriy, 1'935, 1•94'9. Slovak For Beginners, Books, I, H, Ifil, Middletown, Pa., Jednota Printery, 1952. ·Let's Learn Slovak, Mrddlletown, Pa., 1'959. 1 �SLOVAKIA 45 Hrusovsky, Frantisek: Geschichte der Slowakei, Brati>sla'V'a, 1'942. This Is Slovakia, Scranton, Pa., 1953. J•akofbson, Roman: Sur l'histoire et sur les .re•lations mu,t uelles du· tcheque et du slovaque, Le Monde Slave, xmv, '19317, 3·5 3-366. Slavic Langu•a ges, Columbia Univ,ersity Press, 1949. ~fo:sch1baum, J. M.: Slovakia - N·a tion At the Crossroads of Central Europe, New York, Speller and Sons, 1960. Slovak Literature Under the Soviet lmpaGt, The Slaivic and East-(Euroipean Studi·es, Monltr,eail, 1956, Part 1, pp. 45{}4, l!udovit Stur and His Place in the Slavic World, Sla'Vli~tica No. 3•2, Winnipeg-Cleveland, 1'956. Contemporary Tendencies in Slovak Philology, An Offiprint from Slavic a.n d East~ropean Studies, Vol. liV, No. 3-4, Montreal, 1960. A Note On Two Slowak Translators of Mickiewicz in W. Led1J1;icki's Adam Mickiewicz in World Litertaure, Berkeley, Ca.Jiif., lt956. La Grand,Moravie et son heritage culture(, Etud,es slaves et est-europeeL-:•nes, Montreal, Viol. fil. 1957 pp. 694M>. Le centen•a ire d'un grand slaviste: P. J. ~afarik, Etudes slaves et est-eurorp eennes, Montreal, Vol. V, 1960, prp. 189-!1'99. Kni,ezsa, Stefan: Zur Geschichte der Jugoslawismen im Mittelslowakischen, Budapest, 1948, uire a part d~ Etudes slaves ·e t roumaines, V01l. 1, Fasc. 3. Kohn, Hans: Pan-Slavism, Its History and Ideology, University of Notre Dame Press. 1953. One of th,e most Olbjective books on Pa.n-Slavism . Konus, Joseph: Practical Slovak Grammar. A te!Xtbook; for hi,gh s.chooils, colleges and adult ,private students, Pirotsburgh, Pa., 1939. Slovak-English Dictionary, Mi·ddletOWIJJ,, Pa., 1930. New English-Slovak Dictionary, Pitts<burg,h, Pa., 1941. Kramoris, Iva•n J.: An Anthology of Slovak Poetry, Scranton, 194'7,. A selection of lJyric and narrative poems indludimrg some member~ rnf stur's group. Slovakia and Slovak Litera,t ure. Reprinted :firoon the Caltholic Encydopedia, New Yo,rk, 1960. A Chronological Outline of Slovak Literature and History, Pass.air::, N. J ., 1S4~. Krcmery, Stefan: A Survey of Modern Slovak Literature, Of,fiprint from The Slavonic ReVliew, Viol. v.m:, N~. 19, 1-928"1929. Lednicki, Waiclaiw (ed.): Adam Mickiewicz in Wo.rld Literature, University of Calilfornia Press, 1956. Articles by D. Cirevsky aind J . M. Kirschbaum. Leger, Louis: Le panslavisme et l'interet francais, Parris, 1917', Ernest F1lammarion. A rellatJively Olbjec'tiv,e study of Pan.Slavism and Slovak contribution. French ipoint of view. Locher, T. J.: Die nationale Differenzierung und lntegrierunrg der Slowaken und Tschechen in ihrem geschichtlichen Verlauf bis 1848, Harlem, 1931. Macartney, C. A.: Hungary and Her Successors, London-<Nerw York- T-0ronito, 1937. �SLOVAKIA 46 Maruniim,g, Claren'Ce A. (ed.): An Anthology of Czech and Slovak Poetry, New York, 11929, Oolumbia Uniiversity Press. Oontains translaibions by Prof. Ktln-kccmnell, Kramoris, Gallik, Manning, Slaibey, Ifotouc, etc. Merrigi,, Bruno: Storia delle letterature ceca e slovacca.~Univ,ersity of Florence, 1,959. Mikus, Joseph: La Slovaquie dans le drame de !'Europe, P.aris, Les Iles d'Or. 11955. La Slovaquie, lndividualite politi11ue de l'Europe Centrale, Paris, 11952. Mraz, Amdreas: Die Literatur der Slowaken, Wien-stu'ttgart, 194!3. A History olf Slovak lJiteralture by a contemporary scholar and professor at the Un1iviersity cif Bratislava. The work, comple'ted and edited in the Slova,k language in 11Hl8 by The S'lovak Academy df Sci1ences and All"ts, presents one oif the best works on the histo11y of Slovak liiterarture. Pastrnek, Fr.: Beitrage zur Lautlehre der Slowakischen Sprache in Ungarn (Aus d,eri, Sitzurugsberichten der philos.-hist. KJ.asse der K. Akademie der Wi.ssenschalften), Wien, 1888. Petrowch, Michael! B.: The Emergence of Russian Panslavism, Oolumbia Univ,ersity Press, 11956. Scotus, Viator (IR. W. Seton-WaJtson): Racial Problems in Hungary, Archilbaild Oonsta:ble and Oo., Ltd., London, 1908. Seton-Watson, R. W.: A History of the Czechs and Slovaks, London, 119413'.A schola1rl<y written history by one of the best de:t:enders of tlhe Slovak people at rthe beg~n,nimg of this centpcy (see his Racial Problems in Hungary) who later turned .i,gainst the Slovak mo•v,ement for autonomy and independence, being influenced by his Czedh friends. Slovak Studies 1, Hiistorica 11, Slovak InstiJtute, 'Rome, 1961. Salfarik, P. J .: Geschichte der Slawischen Sprache und Liter&tur nach alien Mundarten, Mit koni~l. ung. Universitatsschrid'ten, Ofifen, 1826. Sku!Jt:ety, Joseph: Sketches From Slovak History, Middletown, Pa., 1930, J 1ednota Press. Translation from the Slovak by 0. D. Koreff. Skluitety was professor at the University of Bratishwa and on,e of the m06t outstanding figures in the Slovak cultl.l['al lilfe Jn the first ha1f of tlhe 20th cen!tur,y. Stefanek, Anton: Zur Soziograph,ie der geistigen Kultur in der Slowakei, Bratislava, 11944. Strakihovsky, L. I. (ed.): A Ha,ndbook of Slavic Studies, Harv,a rd University Rriess, 1949, dhaipters by A. Senn and Otto Radl. Both artidles re.fleldt reicent research, though Radl's contnilbution is strongly pl'lo-Czech. Tourtzer, H.: Louis Stur et l'idee de !'independence slovaque, Cahors et Al-ehcon, Pari,s, 11913. Trobetzkoy, N. S.: Grundzuge der Phonolo9ie, Prag, 1939, (.on Slov.aik language, pp. 1117-UB, 1'36, 14!1, 1143, 16lt, 167, 170, 175, 208, 245). Vajda, Jiaroslav: Bloody Sonnets, transl. irom Hviezdoslav, P . 0 ., Scra1nton, Pa., 1900. Viktorin, J. K.: Grammatik de.r Slowakischen Sprache. Zurn Schul.:.. und SelJbst,untilvricht, Budapest, 1002. �SLOVAKIA 47 Yurchak, P,eiter P.: The Slovaks, Wh'iting, Ind., 1947, Lach editions, c,h,apters fu-om Slovak History and litemture for Americam·s Olf Slovak ortgin. BIBLIOGRAPHY IN SLAVIC LANGUAGES iBartek, Heinrich: Anton Bernolak, Trnarva, 1,937. l!udovit Shir a slovencina, Turc. Sv. Martin, 194i3. Krest'anstvo a slovencin,a, Nad,ej vit'azna, Scranton, Pa., 1947. Slovensky pravopis s gramatickymi pouckami a slovnikom, Whiting, Ind., Lach Publications, 1956. Spravn,a vyslovnost' slovenska, Braltislava, 194J. Blanar, Vincerut: Bibliografia jazykovedy na, Slovensku v rokoch 19391947. Slovenska akademia vied a umeni, Bratislava, 1950. Bolbek, W.: Prehl'adne dejiny slovenskej literatury, Bratislava, 1939. Mickiewicz v literaturze slowackiej, Praha, lJ93il. Dzieje literatury slowackiej w arysie. A'Il annprint firom Slowacja i Sl'owlicy, Edit. W. Semkoiwica;, Krakow, 1008. Czamlbel, Samo: Prfspevky k dejinam jazyka slovenskeho, Budapest, 1887. Slovenska rec a jej miesto v rodine slovanskych ja:z:ykov, '!1urc. Sv. MartLn,, 1906. Slovensky pravopis. Historiok-OJkriticky nmes. Bud,a pest, 1890. [)vonc, Ladislav: Bibliografia slovenskej ja:z:ykovedy :z:a roky 19481952, Matilca Slov-enska, 1'957. Gajdo§, V. J .: Slovenske glosy v latinskom missa,li zo XVI. storoci'a, Historica slovacca I-11, BratisJ.ava, 1'940-lMt pp. 241-24'3. Gralbowski, T. S. : Dwaja Slowaccy pioner:z:y oswiecenia i post&pu, Bernolak a Fandly, 195ll. Hl"'ltta!1a, Martin: Kratka mluvnica slovenska, Bratislava, 1:852. Grammatica linguae slovenicae, Schemnicii, 1850. Hodza, Michal M.: Vetin o slovencine, Levoca, 164!8. ,Isaceniko, A. V.: Zaciatky vzdelanosti vo Vel'komoravskej rili, Jazykovedny sbornik, I.JI, 1947', 137-17'8. Jia,gic, I. V.: lstorija slavianskoj filologii, S. Petersburg, 1910, Jlankovic, V.: Prvy slovensky preklad celeho Pisma svateho, Ver.bum I, 19416-1947. Kondra§ov, N. A.: Kategoriia licnosti i nelicnosti v slovackom ja:z:yku, MGU, 11949. Programma po istoriji slovackogo jazyka. Programma po sovremennom slovackom ja:z:yku, Izdatelstvo Moskovsko,go univerziite'ta, '1001'. Slavinaskaja filologia, Stafi i monogrrufiji, Izdaltelstvo Mostkovskogo univerzfteta, 1951. Kotvam,, rmrich: Jozef lgnac Baiza a slovenska rec, Linguistica slovaca Ilil, 1'9411. Ju.l"aj Fandly, Trnava, 1946. Juraj Fandly a slovensky ja:z:yk, Linguistiea slovaca I-m, 1939. Be,rnolakovci, T\rnarva, 19418. Bibliografia bernolakovcov, Miati'&! Slovenska, Martin, 1957·_ Lehr-Sp}aiwin ski, T.: Pr:z:eglad i eharakterystyka je:z:ykow slowianskich, Warszaiwa, li9154·. 1 �48 SLOVAKIA Magnuszewski, J.: Mickiewicz wsrod Slowakow, Wir,oclaJW, 1956. Magiera, J.: Literatul"a czeska i slowacka, Obraz pismienniictwa. Warszawa, 1929. Misianik, Jan: Dejiny starsej slovenskei lite.ratury, SAN, Bratislava, 1958; Marxiisticky vy,kla,d st,arsej slov. litera'tury. Stran 320. Mraz, Andrej: Gavlovicova skola krest'anska. Prispev,ok k slov,enskemu literarnemu barolm, Bratislava, 11940. Dejiny slovenskej literatury, Slov. akad. v1ed a umeni, Bratislava, 194<8. Novak, I.!udovit: Cestina na Slovensku a vznik spisovnej slovenciny, Odtlafok zo Slovenskych pohl'adov, LEV, 193!8. Jazykovedne glosy k ceskoslovenskej otazke, Turc. Sv. Martin,, 11935. l!udovit Stur ako jazykovedec, Slovenske ipohl'ady, LiiI, 1936. Pastrnek, Fr.: Stara jazykova pamatka slovenska, Slbornik :liilologicky, ViIII, 1922. Pauliny, Eugen: Na okrai kama•ldulskeho Pisma, Vetibwm I, 1946-1947. Kulturnohistoricke podmienky a spolocenske funkcie biling.uizmu y dej inach spisovnej slovenciny, C-sl. prednaslcy pro sjezd slavistu v Mioskve, 11958. Glosy k pomeru: bernolactina a sturovcina, Kultura, XiJlV, 1942. Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny, Slovenska akademia vied a umeni, Bratislava, 1948. Pisut, Miilan (ed.): Dej iny slovenskej literatury, Osveta, Bratislava, 1960, p. 680. ContrilbUltors J . Miisiia-niik, P. Petrus, J. Gregor~, P . Stevc,ek, (A Mairxist evaluation). Litera,tura narodneho obrodenia, SAY, Bratisla,V'a, 1'960, p. 490. Slovensky literarny romantizmus, C-sl. prednaslcy pro mezinarodni sj-ezd slavistu v Moslwe, 1'958. Sobolevskij, A. I.: Cerkovno-slavianskije texty moravskogo proischozd,e nija, Ruskij filoloigicesk!j vestnik, 1•900. Stanislav, Jan: K jazykovednemu dielu A. Bernolaka, Bratislava, 194/1. Pribinovi vel'moii, Linguistica slovaca I-II, 193·9-11940. Slovanski apostoli Cyril a Metod a ich cinnost' vo Vel'komoravskej risi, Bratislava, 1945. Spisovny jazyk slovensky, v sborir.,i ku Slovanske jazy,ky v dobe pfitomne, Praha, 1937. Dejiny slovenskeho jazyka, Slovenska akademia wed, Bratislava, 1958. Stitibr, Zdisl'aiw: Zarys dialektologii jezykow zachodnio-slowanskich, W,arszarwa, 1'956. Skultety, Jozef: Stodvadsat'pat' rokov zo slovenskeho iivota 17901•914, Turc. Sv. Ma-rtin, 1920. 0 Slovakoch, Turc. Sv. M!a.rtin, 1928. Stur, I.!udovit: Nauka reci slovenskej, Bratislava, 1,846. Narecia slovenskuo, Bratislava, 1846. Slovo na case, (V uprav,e J . AIIIlibriusa), Bratislava, 1943. 'I1i!bensky, Jan: J. Papanek-J. Sklenar: Obr.incovia slovenskej narodnosti v XVlm. storoci, Osveta, Martin, 19.58. K problemu hodnotenia bernolactiny a bernolakovskeho IYm.,tia, Histod'C'ky casopis, Vfil, 4, 1959. �49 SLOVAKIA Vznik, vyvoj a vyznam vel'komoraV5kej trad icie v s lovenskom narodnom obrodeni, Sbornik O vzajomnych vzt'ahodh Cechov a Slov:ikov, SAV, 1956. Vairsik, BranisJav: Slovaci na praiskej univerzite do konca stredoveku, 1Bratislava, 1926. Kulturne vzt'ahy Cechov a Slovakov v 16. a 17. storoc: i, Bratislava, 1956. Narodnostny problem trnavskej univerzity, Bratislava, 1,9 38. VH~ovsky, Jan : Cantus Catholici, Biratislava IX, 193'5. Vilcek, J·aToslav: Dejiny literatury slovenske j, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1923. Medzi Vahom a Vl tavou, Slov. vyd .. krasnej literatury, Brabislava, 11957. Weingart, Milos: 0 nej starsich jazykovych pamatkach slovenskych, OMF, 1935. Rev. Milan Durica, SIXB, partici- j who made the arrangements. T\he pated in the sessions of the prepa- prayer was purblished in the Conrator,y commission for discipline gressiona1l Record of March 14. llt! llt! llt! of the ole11gy and fait,hiful for the I n. Vatican, Ecdlesiastical Assemlbly. I Bishop Andrew G. Grutka of Father Durica, a native Olf S1()1Va- 1 bhe diocese of Gary, Indiana, ackia, acts in an advisory capacito/. 1companied by the Rt. Rev. Msgr. M .K. Mlynarovic, president of the The meeting was early in Slovak Callholic Federation of ruary. Amenica, traveled to Rome early :!€! llt! :!€! Dr. John Novotny, a native Olf , in April (6-15) to review the plans Slovakia now res•idin,g im, London, : for the Slovak Institute which will successfully passed the medical be bui11t there. Plans were also examinations to !become a Memlber made for the celebration of the of the Royal College of Physi- l'lOOth anniversary of the advent of the saintly brothers Cyril an,d cians. Methodius to the ancient homeland llt! llt! llt! According to Radio Bratislava of the Slovaks, Slovakia, in 1963, (Feb:mary 3', '1962), the exposition by Slovaks in the free world. Biof Czech~ovak bodks in Rome shop Grutka had an audience with was a great success. Our friends Pope John XXIIil!I on Aipril 14. The in Rome, however, inform us that Slovak Institute will cost rubout a it was far from being successful. halif million dollars, most of which And Slovak books were conspicu- is exipected to be donated by the ous by their albsence, only a/bout Slovaks in America. Almost half the amount is already pledged. te·n being displayed. Feb-I' I )lg )lg )lg )lg )lg )lg Rev. John E. ~englar, pastor of The Holy See, early in Apr:I, Sacred Heart Church, Phoenixville, Pa., opened bhe session of bhe U. S. Senate on 'March 14, 1962' - the -23'rd anniv,ersacy of the .pro>clamation rnf S1ov•aik Independence - with a special prayer. He was atccompanied to Washington by P . A. Hl.'obak, president o'f the Slovak League of America, 1962, appointed the Rev. Rudolph KOibela, C.,M., miss,i onary for t,he Slovaks in England, parUoolarly for the several hundred who reside in London and viiicinity. F,ather Kdbela had been attending to the spiritual needs of the Slova'ks in London, for several years prior to that 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 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 SLOVAKIA 25 MISCONCEPTIONS OF AMERICAN SLAVISTS ON THE SLOVAK LANGUAGE Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Ph.D. I Misconceptions of American Slavists on Slovak literature which have been discussed here previously <1 > had been caused to a great extent by the confusion of views regarding the Slovak language. The confusion was created, on the one hand, by Slavists and literary historians who failed to draw a proper distinction between the native or spoken language of the Slovaks and their written or literary language, which, as we have seen, was first the Old Church Slovanic, afterwards t he Latin language, then Biblical Czech, used mainly by the Slovak Protestant minority, and then the literary Slovak based on Slovak western dialects, and finally the revised present form, based on central Slovak dialects. On the other hand, the misconceptions have been intentionally spread by some Czech Philologists and literary historians who were influenced by political views and aspirations, which the American Slavists accepted without the necessary caution required in scholarly works. As a result, we find in many American symposia on the Slavic peoples or in works on philology and Slavic languages either the Czech thesis that the Slovak language is merely a dialect of the Czech, or that Slovak became a literary language only at the beginning or in the second half of the nineteenth century. We also find that the sources of information or reference used by American Slavists are rather scarce and obsolete and that the subject has been treated by scholars who hardly had an opportunity to be thoroughly acquainted with the history and development of the Slovak literary language and its position among Sla-wc languages. Before pointing out the misconceptions in American symposia and surveys of Slavic languages, we may perhaps say that the claim that Slovak is but a dialect of the 26 SLOVAKIA 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 rest also the origins of the erroneous thesis that Slovak began to be used a·s a literary language only from the second half of the nineteenth century. In the views of European Slavists, including the Russian and Czech philologists, it is clear, as we shall see, tha't the Slovak language is by every right of its origin and development an independent tongue, having its rightful place of equality among Slavic languages. And it has also been accepted that Slovak has been used as the language of literature from the sixteenth century, and was codified before the end of the eighteenth century. Slovak philologists and linguists (Bernolak, Safarik, Czambel, Skultety, Bartek, Stanislav, Novak, Pauliny) rejected, during the last two centuries, Czech 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 they arrived at conclusions which were ultimately accepted by the present-day Czech as well as other Slavic philologists and linguists. Misconceptions of American Slavists refer, as we have said, to the relation of the Slovak and Czech, to the history of the Slovak literary language and to the role of foreign languages in Slovak literature. In this respect we -read not without surprise that even the well-known Roman Jakobson helped to spread the erroneous views. In his study Slavic Languages, he writes: ''Toward the middle of the same (i.e., the 19th) century, the Slo¥aks, 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" <2>. We shall also see that even Czech philologists recognize today that Slovaks "-inaugurated" their own literary language long before the middle of the 19th century, and SLOVAKIA 27 that we can speak only about a reform of the Slovak literary language in the nineteenth century <3 >. Secondly, the 19th century reform, linked with the name of r..udovit Stur, was "not based on the dialect of any single area, but represented a kind of "koine" ('Cultural Slovak), based on the central Slovak dialects, eschewing features from both the eastern and western dialects <4 >. As for the usage of the Czech language, "Czech was sporadically used (with certain local modification) for administrative and still more occasionally, literary purposes," says correctly R. Auty <5 >. The reasons for this will be explained later. Prof. Alfred Senn, in Strakhovsky's Handbook of Slavic Studies, gives a more detailed and more ela:borate description of the Slovak literary language. His classification of Slovak is certainly correct, but we could hardly agree with all parts of his definition. Prof. Senn says: "Slovak ... forms a connecting link with the South Slavic Slovenian and is more archa,ic than Czech. Otherwise differen:ces between Czec.h and Slovak are not very great. Slovak became a literary language at the beginning of the nineteenth century .. . Czec.h and Slovak form the Czechoslovak group" <s>. 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 states that it was only in 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 ·m ovement 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 thir own distinctive written language based on dialects spoken in western Slovakia" <7 >. A similar version can be found in Prof. S. Harrison Thomson'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 Grammatica slavica. However, 28 SLOVAKIA Prof. Thomson asserts, that " about the only followers Ber nolak 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 Thomson, "as the date of the rise of written Slovak, although strictly speaking, Stur did not make his first formal declaration until 1856" ( R ) . In Prof. Robert J. K erner's symposium Czechoslovakia and in V. Busek-N. Spulber's Czechoslovakia Under Communism, we find only slightly modified or re-worded versions of the theses mentioned above. "Catholic Slovaks under Bernolak tried to create with indifferent success a written Slovak dialect," we read in Kerner's symposium <9 >, and Busek-Spulber's symposium gives the following genesis of the Slovak literary language: ... "the firs,t 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 elaborate linguistically, did not take permanent hold. "The decisive step towards the establishment of a Slovak litera.ry language was undertaken through the initiative of the Protestants. tudovit Shir selected the central Slovak dialect for the Slovak literary medium. Beginning in the 1840's, several poets followed Shir and usEd the new literary language with great skill" r 10 J. This version admits "sporadic ventures to establish a distinct Slovak literary language" before the last decade of the 18th century, but considers Bernolak's "suggestions not elaborated linguistically" and credits the Protestants with the merits, while Radl says the opposite! All these misconceptions seem to be due, as we have mentioned before, in the first place to the uncritical acceptance of the politically motivated thesee of Czech or at the Prague University educated Slavists. In the second place, the use of sources either long before superseded by new works or unilaterally selected, might have misled those Slavists who were trying to be scholarly objective. In this respect even Prof. R. Jakobson's bibliography leaves much to be desired. We find in his bibliography only four works, two written by Slovaks and two by Czechs, SLOVAKIA 29 but none of them dealing with the history of Slovak language or with the problem of its relation to the Czech language. To a Slavist of Jako'bson's renome the fact could not be unknown that already Paul. J. Safarik in 1826 wrote on the Slovak language and Slovak literature as being distinct from the Czech or other Slavic languages and literatures. Consequen tly the Slovaks could not "inaugurat e" their own literary language "toward the middle of the 19th century." Sources used by Prof. Senn, who undoubtedl y tried to be objective, were better selected, but three of them favor the Czech thesis of "one Czechoslov ak unit." He shows in his literature and references the following books: J. Victorin: Gramatik der Slowakisch en Sprache, 4th edition, Budapest, 1878; K. Meznik: Die Slowakisch e Spaltung, Euphorion, 1927; R. J ak~bson: Sur fhistoire et sur Jes relations mutuelles du tcheque et du slovaque, Le Monde Slave, XIV, 1937, 353-366; V. Vazny: Slovak Dialects, Ceskoslovens ka vlastiveda, Vol. III, 1934. Otto Radl, who contributed to Strakhovsk y's Handbook of Slavic Studies a chapter on Slovak literature, did not show in his bibliograph y any work in Slovak or in foreign languages which he used or in which the reader could check Rad-l's opinions or complete his knowledge. Closing our remarks we perhaps may say that not many American Slavists who wrote during the post 40 years on the Slovak language and literature speak or write Slovak or ever read Slovak literary works in the original. Some of them merely rephrased mistaken views published by Czech scholars and politicians; and several contributio ns to American symposia on Slovaks were written by Czechs. Reviewing the names of the Czech contriibutor s we could not, however, say that any of them made his name as as expert on Slovak language or literature before coming to the United States. II LITERARY SLOVAK AND THE SLAVIC LANGUAG ES Scholarly studies of phonology, etymology, lexicology and grammar show that the Slovak language is distinct 30 SLOVAKIA from any other Slavic tongue. Even though this was not so clear and evident to Slavists of the 19th century when philology was in its infancy and used primitive methods, Slovak philologists and linguists always maintained this point of view. After a century of clashes and discussions between the Czech linguists and - first the Slovak Catholic erudites who began to replace the Latin with Slovak already in the seventeenth century, and from the 1840's a-lso with the Protestant leaders - the Slovak language has been properly classified as the real and original national tongue of the inhabitants of Slovakia since the dawn of history. The historical development of Slovakia and geographical factors account for the fact that the Slovak language not only conserved many archaic forms and expressions common to all Slavs, but, remaining for centuries only a spoken vernacular of the people, it was affected merely by the influence of neighboring Slavic peoples. When it was codified, this happened in the era of the revival of Slovanic peoples, and the Slovak cultural and political leaders saw to it that the 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, the central position of the Slovak language, geographically or linguistically, is accepted to a great extent even by modern philology. Slovak is more archaic than Czech, which in turn is more archaic than Polish. Since Russian is considered the least removed from the primitive Slavic prototype, both Slovak and Russian are the most archaic and nearest to the common primitive Slavic. In fact, the Slovaks - either educated or common _people ..:..:_ do not experience much difficulty in communicating in Slovak with Poles, Ukrainians, Czechs, Russians, or Slovenes and Croats, as has been proven on the American. Con- SLOVAKIA 31 tinent, since basica:lily there are no great dif.ferences among the Slavic languages, and, in the case of the Slovak language, history and geography made it close not only to Pole and Czech, but also to Ukrainian and South Sfavic Slovenian and Croat. Slovak intellectuals of the nineteenth century read not only Polish or Czech poets and writers in the original, but also in Russian and Ukrainian, Croat and Slovenian. Modern scientific and literary development drifts the twelve Slavic langua,ges apart. Nevertheless, even if we cannot agree with the nineteenth century poet that, . "with the Slovak language you may the earth's four corne;rs travel," the fact remains that Slovaks are able to communicate in their own vernacular with the majority of Slavic peoples. Linguistic analysis of the fundamental roots of the Czech and Slovak languages and a comparative study of their developments showed that the Slovak language never was a part of the Czech or so-cailled "Czechoslovak" language. If we accept the thesis, supported by Trubecko <m, that in the ninth century the Old Sfavonic still was the common tongue of the Slavs with a unified phonology, and that from the ninrth century different dialects _· developed into distinct Slavic languages, 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. This thesis is strengthened also by the fact that the Slovak territory was annexed by Hungary after the collapse of Great Moravia, and, hence the only contact the Slovaks had with Czechs, was through Moravians who have continued to speak a Slovak dialect <12 > in spite of the pressure of the Czechs from the West, and to the present time they have retained their own phonological structure. The relation between the Czech and Slovak languages became a matter of controversy because of political a:·s pirations of some Czech politiciap.s and scholars and not because of philological reasons. As early as the 16th century, 32 SLOVAKIA Vavrinec Benedikti of Nedozery (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 ( l 3 >. From the si:x;teenth century on, there are numerous proofs that Slovak erudites, with a few exceptions, considered the Slovaks as one of the "tribes" of the 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 writings but also in scholarly works and poetry especially since the middle of the 17th century around the University of Trnava (founded 1635). At the end of the 18th century, Anton Bernolak only codified, in his linguistic works Dissertatio Orthographia, Gramatica slavica, and in his huge pentalingual Dictionary, a language in use for more than a century <14>. The well-known Slavist P. J. Safarik, and initiailly also Jan Kollar, were aware of the fact that there had been a Slovak language 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 alien Mundarten (1826), and when some Czech leaders reproached Nm for his s·cholavly objectivity, Safarik indignantly announced that he would go even farther in stressing the differences than he did in his book <15 >. Jan Kollar was origina:lly also instrumental in preparing Stur's reform and later changed his mind and became an advocate of a common literary lamguage with the Czechs (which he called "old Slovak") because of reasons which Slovak literary historians avoid to discuss. The great poet of Pan-Slavism had also some human deficiencies like very high personal pride and a 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 ( lG>. This "crimen lesae majestatis" moved Kollar to oppose Stur's reform and the final acceptance of the Slovak SLOVAKIA 33 literary language also by Slovak Protestants. 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 the 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 <17 >, and Stu.r's reform was victorious over Kollar's protests and Safarik's advices, because it was in line with the linguistic facts and centuries long Slovak national development. The reasons for the sporadic use of the Czech language for administrative and partly a:lso for literary purposes (mainly by the Slovak Protestants) have been recently reconsidered by several "Marxist" philologists and literary historians. There are at least three theories on the penetration of the Czech language into the Slovak territory. One refers to the continuation of relations between Slovaks and Moravians (who adopted the Czech language) from the time of Great Moravia, which relations survived the collapse of that state and developed between the Moravian cultural center Olomouc and Slovak religious centers. More acceptable and also more elaborated is the theory ascribing the use of the Czech language to the fact that Czech was a sort of diplomatic language and that Czech clerks were used at certain periods (the XV-XVIth century) not only in Slovak territory but also in Hungary and Poland, in state and city administration na>. In Slovakia, the use of Czech, adapted to local dialects, survived because of the Reformation which penetrated among Slovaks from Bohemia with the Bible and religious books written 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" <19 >. Settled in Slovakia, the Czech refugees tried to keep all Slovak Protestants linked to Bohemia by language also in s ecular writings. Being a minority, the Protestants looked 34 SLOVAKIA to the Czechs first for he1p in religious and later also in literary and political matters <20 >. Around 1840, it became clear, however, 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 the Slovak population and for reasons which r... Stur explained in his Narecia slovenskuo and other writings, they agreed with Catholics, on the reform, which based the literary language on the central Slovak dialects, and on the exclusive use of Slovak in Slovak literature. Stur's reform, by which the Slovak language was finally esta·b lished as a literary medium of all Slovaks, "has been accepted by the Slovak intelligentsia within a very short space of time" as correctly stated by Auty. By this reform, which received its final linguistic form in the grammar of a Catholic priest, Martin Hattala, the peculiar situation of bi-lingualism in modern Slovak literature was changed. As it is accepted now also by foreign Slavists, the first literary language (or language of literature) used by Slovaks was the Old Church Slavonic <21 >, and the Slovaks rightly claim the writings of the Great Moravian period as a part of their cultural heritage. Then for centuries Slovaks used Latin also in secular writings; and from the 16th century Slovak Catholics began to replace Latin with the Slovak vernacular, which Slovak Protestants replaced with Czech, adapted to local use. During all these centuries, the Slovak people spoke, of course, their own Slovak dialects which developed from the Old Slavonk after its disintegration into the modern Slovak language. History of the Slovak language and history of Slovak literature began at the same time, in the IXth century, but in literature Slovaks used various media (Church Slavonic, Latin, Czech and Slovak), while their native tongue was used in daily life until it was lifted to the position of a literary medium, which happened more or less at the same time at which other central European peoples began to use vernacular for literary purposes. On the position of Slovak among Slavic languages: foreign and Slovak philologists expressed various opinions .. SLOVAKIA 35 V. J agic in his book Entstehungsgeschichte der Kirchenslawischen Sprache wrote: "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 <22 >; and S. Czamlbel el~borated linguistic~lly a theory to prove that the questions as to whether Slovak is closer to western Slavic or to the southern Slavic group of languages deserved 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 similarities 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 <23 >. III VIEWS OF CANADIAN AND EUROPEAN SLAVISTS Among European Slavists, including present-day Czech philologists, the erroneous views regarding the relation between Slovak and Czech, and the origin of the Slovak literary language, have been mostly corrected. Modern techniques in linguistics have thrown new light on the subject and have been instrumental in giving us modified views that are advanced far beyond the htasty unwarranted conclusions of the amateur philologists or linguists influenced by political aspirations. For truth's sake we have to point out that also on the American continent we find Slavists who expressed correct views, and some of them did that before Slavic studies acquired the 'prominence which they enjoy now in the United States and in Canada. The well-known Canadian Slavist, Prof. W. Kirkconnell, wrote, for example, already in 1940, that the differences between Czech and Slovak are about as great as those between the similarly related languages, Dutch and German. "I have," says Kirkconnell, "on my shelves Miroslav KaJal's Slovak-Czech Dictionary (published in 1924), in which there are 35,000 Slovak words that were 36 SLOVAKIA apparently unintelligible to a Czech and hence required definition" <24 >. Prof. Roman Smal-Stocki in his paper Discrimination and Bias in Two UNESCO Publications raised his voice against treating Slovak ,a nd Czech "as one unit." "From the linguistic point of view," says Prof. Sma.'l-Stocki, "it is 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" <25 >. Among European Slavists, the Polish scholar T. LehrSplawinski came with a new approach to the history of the Slovak literary language. He dates back the beginnings of the Slovak literary language to the IXth century which view has been held also by some other Slavists in recent years. "The beginnings of the literary language in Slovakia are connected with the period of activities of ConstantineCyril and Methodius in the Moravian state," says LehrSplawinski. "As the whole of Slovakia was, without any doUJbt, a part of that state, and the important centres of its political and cultural life were situated on the Slovak territory, writings in the old Church-Slavonic language must have been undoubtedly developed among the Slovaks in the last quarter of the IX th century" <26 >. R. Auty, from the University of Cambridge, in the pahe presented to the VIIIth Congress of the Inwhich per ternational Federation of Modern Languages and 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, and urrlike the American S1avists who minimized Bernolak's importance, Auty writes that "in the following fifty or sixty years a considera:ble number of literary and other works were published or written in this (Bernolak's) form of Slovak. The remarkable extent of the literature published in Bernolak's language has recently been revealed," says Auty, " by I. Kotvan, Bibliografia bernolakovcov, Martin, 1957"<27 >. The Czech language was, according to Auty, "spora- SLOVAKIA 37 dically used in Slovakia (with certain local modification) for administrative and, still more occasionally, literary purposes." The reasons for this sporadic usage of Czech for administrative and "more occasionally" also for literary purposes, were explained by Auty only indirectly. He mentions that "since the Reformation the Czech had been the language of the Lutheran scriptures and Church Services in Slovakia," but he didn't say that as a result of this situation t he biblical Czech was used by the Slovak Protestant minority also in secular writings in the same way as the Catholics used the Latin, and that Czech was used for administrative purposes also in Hungary and Poland, the reason being the Monarchy, in which all those countries were included. Stur, Protestant though he was, acted against what he regarded as an unnatural linguistic situation which had been brought about by the hazards orf 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 bi-lingualism 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 research. .A!ccording to him "Catholic and Protestant Slovaks agreed to accept a new written form of their language for all purposes; this had been worked out by r... Stur in discussion with other Slovak intetlectual leaders in the period 1842-44 and was somewhat modified by M. M. Hodza and M. Hattala in subsequent years." 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 survival" <28 >. The contri-butors to the Encyclopedia Britannica published some correct and some incorrect views, but they 38 SLOVAKIA grasped the essential points of difference between the Czech and Slovak. "The Czech, as spoken and written today in Bohemia, diverges consideraibly from Slovak," says the Encyclopedia. "The disagreement is least marked in vocwbulary but ap• pears prominently in the phonetics; in particular the itacism so distinct a characteristic of Czech, is non-existant in Slovak, which has preserved the fuller diphthongs (ia, ie, iu, etc.) of the Slavonic languages; a further smaller 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; S1ovak has not developed the f, 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 aifter e, which does not occur in modern literary Czech, is a further point of disagreement, although this woU'.ld not be o:bvious from Slovak spelling which does not find it necessary to distinguish by diacritics; consonants are always softened in this position." The main contriibutor to the Encyclopedia, Prof. C. A. Macartney, refers also to a better selected bibliography than American Slavists and points out to the relation of Slovak with other Slavie languages as follows: "The dialectical development," says Macartney, "shows some characteristics identical with those in South Slavonic and Russian. Not everywhere, for example, have C.S. u and i been confused, and instead of the e, which is the norma:l 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"' 29 >. On Slovak literature Macartney says: "Slovak literature, which previously had only a local importance, bid fair to take a worthy place alongside that of its better known partner. The Survey of Modern Slovak Literature, by S. SLOVAKIA 39 Krcmery, in Vol. vii, No. 19, pp. 160-170, of the Slavonic Review (London), gives useful literature statistics and a good account of the literature of the present century." His Bibliography shows the following works: Dictionaries J. Loos: Worterbuch der Slovakischen, Ungarischen and Magyarischen Sprache (Budapest, 1871) ; M. Kalal, Slovensky Slovnik, etc (1924), written for Czechs, is most valuable as dialect words are included. Grammar - S. Czambel: Rukovat spisovnej reci slovenskej (1919). This Handbook of Literary Slovak is the standard work. Czambel's other works, e.g.,Slovaci a ich rec, (Buda:pest 1903) and Slovenska rec a jej miesto v rodine slovanskych jazykov (1906) are important for the dialects, but are ,biased; C. Dixon has written a Slovak Grammar For English Speaking Students (Pittsburgh, 1896). IV "MARXIST" CONCEPTIONS ON LITERARY SLOVAK AND THE ORIGINS OF THE SLOVAK LANGUAGE From the published works of the "Marxist" philologists and literary historians it is obvious that the Czech theses on the Slovak language, on the history of the Slovak literary language, and on the function of some foreign languages (Czech, "Czechoslovak") in Slovak literature, which theses were intended to support the political theory of a single "Czechoslovak" nation, have been definitely buried <30 >. In this respect, some contemporary works of Czech philologists helped to support the scholarly conclusions which have long been defended by the Slovak philologists. Particularly noteworthy of the Czech school is the work of the University Professor A. Dostal, and of the Slovak school, Professor Eugene Pauliny's Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny (History of Literary Slovak, Bratislava, 1948) , and Andrew Mra.z's Dejiny slovenskej literatury (History of Slovak Literature, Bratislava, 1948), as well as the pa'pers read at the Moscow Fourth International Congress of Slavists in 1958. In this respect, the paper of Professor Pauliny on bilingualism in the history of the Slovak literary language de- 40 SLOVAKIA serves particular attention. Pauliny tries to explain the function of the Czech language in Slovakia in the XVth and following centuries on the basis of social and economic phenomena and changes. He has arrived, nevertheless, at the same conclusions as the philologists who d'id not apply "Marxist criteria" in phi'lology, i.e., that the Czech language was a foreign language in Slovakia and could not withstand competition of the Slovak vernacu1ar when the Slovak ethnicum evolved in its national consciousness. Literary Slovak won out despite the fact that the Protestant minority, predominantly of Czech origin, 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 bilingua'lism. In his contribution to a volume "0 vzajomnych vzt:ahoch Cechov a Slovakov," published in 1956 by the S1lovak Academy of Sciences, Pauliny states: "Bernolak codified a language which can be traced in the writings of the middleclass, the lower nobility and educaited Slovaks back to the 15th century, and this in both Catholic and Protestant writings." As for the connection of Bernolak's school with Stur's group, Pauliny agrees with the other Marxi,s t literary historians and philologists. Stur's reform, which is erroneously presented by some American Slavists as the beginning of the Siovak literary language (in this respect even Jakdbson is mistaken), in Pauliny's view, is but a "younger branch of Bernolak's school." In the opinion of Professor A. Mraz, who still remains the main authority in Marxist literary history in Slovakia, Anton Bernolak reformed and codified the Slovak literary language and its orthography. Mraz regards the activity which originated 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 the Cantus Catholici by Benedict Szolossi in 1655. SLOVAKIA 41 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 (1635-1777), progressed so far in accordance w'ith the spoken language in Western Slovakia that, when Bernolak and his followers came, at the end of the 18th century, with the idea 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 ' 31 l . In the introduction to his 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 languages which were used by the Slovaks as literary languages in addition to the spoken vernacular from the time of Greater Moravia. H e writes: "Although, in this case, the period of the actua~ Slov.ak literary language can <begiin only wi'th Bernolak, or with the period shortly before Bern1-0lak, nevertheless it is not possible to !begin the hi&tocy of the literary language of t he Slovaks either with Bernolaik or Stoc, lbult ilt is netessa~y to go deep 'into the past, aM the way -to the vecy beginnings oif the •h istorical period of our nation in the Great Moravian epoch, nay, 1in certain imat:ters, it is necessary to go eiven further, into the prehistoric pe;riod, when- our ancestQil's were not yet bapti:z,ed and did not participate in the European culture which was introduced to us 1by Ohristianity"< 32). Professor A. Dostal, in his work "Nastin dejin ceskeho a slovenskeho jazyka," published in Prague in 1954, developed the following thesis on the Slovak literary language: "The Slovak language, whose development goes iback to ancienlt times, was ,estaf!Jlished as a literary language 'in connection with the formation of the Slovaks into a nation .. . the estalbH-s.hment oif the literary Slovak language can in no way be viewed as a sepa·r ation from ,t he literary Cze ch lang,uage, 1but ,only as a long, slow d evelopment towards a literairy language . .. " C33 l . Prof. Dostal goes even farther and says that the attempts to impose the Czech language upon Slovaks as a 42 SLOVAKIA literary medium must be considered "as a negation of hundreds of years long developmen t which in the 1840's was already a historical fact in Slovakia ... " A century-lon g debate, as to whether Slovak is a dialect of the older 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 inha:bitants of Slovakia. By a careful anaiysis of the fundament al roots of both languages, Slovak and Czech, as well as through a comparativ e study of their later developmen ts, even the "Marxist" scholars, trained in philology have properly classified the Slovak language as one of the distinct Slavonic languages which developed after the disappearan ce of the Old Slavonic language. As a result of this developmen t 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. Czech poetry and prose are translated into Slovak and vice versa, as the Polish and Russian have always 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. NOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Slovakia, Vol. XI, No. 1, (33), 1'961; pp. 22-42. 2. Roman J,ako'bson: Slavic Languages, Columbia Utn,iversity, De- partment oo Slavic Studies, 1~; p. 10. 3 . .See relference to the wol.1k oo Prof. A. Dostal: Nastin dejin ceskeho a slovenskeho jazyka, P!laha, 11954. 4. Eug.eni Pauliny: Dej iny spisovnej slovenciny, Bra'tislava, 1948; p. 7'2; and Robert Auty: Dialect, Koine and Tradition in the Fo.rmation of Literary Slovak, in T.he Slavonic and East European R-eview, Vol. 39, No. 93, London, 1961. 5. ]bidem: p . 34'2. 6. L. I. Strll!khovsky: Handbook of Slavic Studies; pp. 51-52. 7. ]bidem: p . 4194. 8. S. H. Thomson: Czechoslovakia in European History; pp. 258, 263. 9. ,pp. 36-3'9. l'O. V. Bu§ek•N. Spulber: Czechoslovakia Under Communism; pp. 173-197. SLOVAKIA 43 11. Grundzuge der Phonologie, Pr'aigue, 1939. 12. J. Dolbrovsky and P. J. Saif{u:,ik dTew the dialectical l1ine sep•araitin,g SlQlVa'k and Czech d'i.al-ects in the middle cxf Moravm. Of. J. Skultety: SketchH From Slovak History, and his book S,todvadsat'pat' rokov zo slovenskeho iivota. 13. E. Pauliiniy: Dej iny spisovnej slovenciny, p. 41. Benedicti wro•te: "Neque tamen ego hie •e os ·ad Bohemicam linguam cogo, sed ad exeroitatJionem et cwltur-am iipsocum i<liiomatis i'llvito: presertim cum '110n tantum in eivitaiti:bus et oppidis, se<l etim in pagis scholis albundenlt." (GTammaticae Bohemicae lilbri duo. 1603). 141. E. Pauliny, Op. cit, p. 57 and 1'13; and A . Mraz: Dejiny slo• venskej literatury, p. 108. Flirst transratioo, of tfhe Bible dates from 1763, and -also the fir!lt dilctionaey was compiled at that time. 15. J. Skulitety, Op. cit.; and J,a roslav Vlceik : Medzi Vahom a Vltavou, pp. 228-234. 116. J. Skultety, Op. cit., pp. 20-30. 17. Op. cit., pp. 494-495. 18. E. Palllliny, Op. cit. , pp. 30-36. 19. 0. Radrr in Handbook of Slavic Studies, p. 491. 20. E. Pawliny, Op. cit., pp. 36-3,71 and '53. Pauliny is Off the opiniion that the occupation cxf Hungacy •b y the Turks (1526) he·bped the penetTation cxf the Cz,ech la1mguage since there was a sort of common border between Slova:kia and Moravia in the Habsburg Monarchy. 2r. T. LehraSlpla,winski: Przeglad i charakterystyka jaykow slo• wianskych, p. 71. 22. J . Dolbrovsky in 1875 wrote that Slovak is close to the Croat and Slovene languages in several respects. Zd. Stieber considers certain charaidteristics cxf tfhe S1'ovalk langua:g e as southerm- Slaivic e>lements (juhoslavizmy). Clf. Jan Starnislav: Dejiny slovenskeho jazyka, p. 387. 23. J. M. Wirschlbaum : l!udovit Stur and His Place in the Slavic World, pp. 13°17; and S. Czamlbel: Slovenska rec a jej miesto v rodine slova.nskych jazykov, '!iurc. Sv. Martin, '1'906. 24. Watson Kirk'co nnel: Canada, E•urope, and Hitler, pp. 43-4.14. 25. •P•roif. R!om'a,n Sm al-Oto•c ki: Papers Dopovidi, Sevcenko Slcienbific Society,, Ne,w York, 1961. .26. Op. cit., p. 71. 27. iR01bert Aulty: Dialect, Koi•ne, and Tradition in the Formation of Literary Slovak, The Slavoni:c and East European Review, Vol. 39, No. 93, Lo.ndon, 1'961. 28. ]bidem, .p p. 3'42-346. 29. Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 20, 1959, pp. 799-800. 30. J. M. Ki.r,schlbaum: Cont&mporary Tendencies in Slovak Philology, Slavic and Ea·st European Studies, Vol. W, No. 3-4, Monitrea,l , 11960; also in Offiprilrut. 31. Op. cit., pp. 46-108. 32. Op. cit., p. 5. ~- Op. cit., pp. 200-201. 44 SLOVAKIA BIBLIOGRAPHY of select.ed works in English, French, German, and Italian AUlty, Robert: The Evolution of Literary Slovak, Oambr'idlge, 1953. Reprinlt fr()IIIl Transadioru; of the P.hilologilcal Society, pp. 143-1:60. Dialect, Koine and Tradition in the Formation of Literary Slovak. Waper preseir.:ted to the V]]lth Congress of the International Federa1Ji,on of Modern Languages and Literatures at Liege, August 1,960, published in the Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 39, No. 93, London, 19611). Berndlak, A1nton: Slowakische Grammatik, Aus dem Lateinischein, ins Deutsche iibers·etzt, ,gedr. mit konigl. ung. Universitatsschriiten, O.lifen, 1817. Bok•es, Frantisek: Literarische iibersicht des geschichtlichen Schaffens in der Slowakei, Leipziger Viertelja,hrsohr.iift fiir Siidost•europa 4, Leipzig, 1940. Cizevsky, Dmitr,y: Outline of Compara,t ive Slavic Literatures, American Academy of Arts and Scier.,ces, Boston, Mass., 1952. On Romanticism in Slavic Literatures, Gravenhage, Monton a.nd Co ., 1957. Aus Zwei Welten, Beitrage zur Geschieht-e der Slaiwischwes·thchen literarisohen Bezi•e hungen, 1956 Mickiewicz, Stur and Kral', in W. Lednicki's Adam Mickiewicz in World Literature, Be:r,keley, 1'9516. A Bibliography of the Publica,t ions of' Dr. Dmitry Ciievsky in the Fields of Literature, Language, Philosophy and Culture, Gamlbridg·e, Mass., 1952. De Bray, R. G. A.:Guide to the Slavonic Languages, J. M. Denlt and Sons, Ltd., London, 1S31. ,Denis, Ernest: La question d'Autriche - Les Slovaques, Parus, 191'7, Ubrairie Delagrave. One of the best books on Slovaks before the •e nd of the Firrst Wo-11ld War. His views on. Bernolak, Stur, etc., are s1igh'Uy distorted by the id•e a olf the na,t ional and cultural unity of Czechs a nd Slovaks. Dixon, Oharlton: Slovak Grammar for English Speaking Students, 'Middll.etown, Pa., Jednota Printery, 11935. Fischel, Alfred: Pansl•avismus bis zum Weltkrieg, Stuttgart and BerJin, 19119. One of the best documented works on Pan-SlaviS'm in the German languag,e. Giusti, Wolrfgango: II Panslavismo, Mhlano, 194'1!, InstitUlto per gli studi di politica internazional-e. More a politi1Cal than scholarly :r,eview of the idea of Pan-Slavli-sm among Slavic peoples. Gross, Felix (•ed.): European Ideologies, New York, 194!8, Philosophicail. Lilbrary, W. Lednicki:'s chapter on Pan,Slavi·s m. Schola,rl(Y wriitten ltfleatise from the Polish point of view. Hrobak, Philip A.: Hrobak's English-Slovak Dictionary, Jednota Priintecry, MiiddleitC1wn, Pa., 1944. Slovak Lessons, Lakewood, Ohio, Middletown, Pa., Jednota Printeriy, 1'935, 1•94'9. Slovak For Beginners, Books, I, H, Ifil, Middletown, Pa., Jednota Printery, 1952. ·Let's Learn Slovak, Mrddlletown, Pa., 1'959. 1 SLOVAKIA 45 Hrusovsky, Frantisek: Geschichte der Slowakei, Brati>sla'V'a, 1'942. This Is Slovakia, Scranton, Pa., 1953. J•akofbson, Roman: Sur l'histoire et sur les .re•lations mu,t uelles du· tcheque et du slovaque, Le Monde Slave, xmv, '19317, 3·5 3-366. Slavic Langu•a ges, Columbia Univ,ersity Press, 1949. ~fo:sch1baum, J. M.: Slovakia - N·a tion At the Crossroads of Central Europe, New York, Speller and Sons, 1960. Slovak Literature Under the Soviet lmpaGt, The Slaivic and East-(Euroipean Studi·es, Monltr,eail, 1956, Part 1, pp. 45{}4, l!udovit Stur and His Place in the Slavic World, Sla'Vli~tica No. 3•2, Winnipeg-Cleveland, 1'956. Contemporary Tendencies in Slovak Philology, An Offiprint from Slavic a.n d East~ropean Studies, Vol. liV, No. 3-4, Montreal, 1960. A Note On Two Slowak Translators of Mickiewicz in W. Led1J1;icki's Adam Mickiewicz in World Litertaure, Berkeley, Ca.Jiif., lt956. La Grand,Moravie et son heritage culture(, Etud,es slaves et est-europeeL-:•nes, Montreal, Viol. fil. 1957 pp. 694M>. Le centen•a ire d'un grand slaviste: P. J. ~afarik, Etudes slaves et est-eurorp eennes, Montreal, Vol. V, 1960, prp. 189-!1'99. Kni,ezsa, Stefan: Zur Geschichte der Jugoslawismen im Mittelslowakischen, Budapest, 1948, uire a part d~ Etudes slaves ·e t roumaines, V01l. 1, Fasc. 3. Kohn, Hans: Pan-Slavism, Its History and Ideology, University of Notre Dame Press. 1953. One of th,e most Olbjective books on Pa.n-Slavism . Konus, Joseph: Practical Slovak Grammar. A te!Xtbook; for hi,gh s.chooils, colleges and adult ,private students, Pirotsburgh, Pa., 1939. Slovak-English Dictionary, Mi·ddletOWIJJ,, Pa., 1930. New English-Slovak Dictionary, Pitts<burg,h, Pa., 1941. Kramoris, Iva•n J.: An Anthology of Slovak Poetry, Scranton, 194'7,. A selection of lJyric and narrative poems indludimrg some member~ rnf stur's group. Slovakia and Slovak Litera,t ure. Reprinted :firoon the Caltholic Encydopedia, New Yo,rk, 1960. A Chronological Outline of Slovak Literature and History, Pass.air::, N. J ., 1S4~. Krcmery, Stefan: A Survey of Modern Slovak Literature, Of,fiprint from The Slavonic ReVliew, Viol. v.m:, N~. 19, 1-928"1929. Lednicki, Waiclaiw (ed.): Adam Mickiewicz in Wo.rld Literature, University of Calilfornia Press, 1956. Articles by D. Cirevsky aind J . M. Kirschbaum. Leger, Louis: Le panslavisme et l'interet francais, Parris, 1917', Ernest F1lammarion. A rellatJively Olbjec'tiv,e study of Pan.Slavism and Slovak contribution. French ipoint of view. Locher, T. J.: Die nationale Differenzierung und lntegrierunrg der Slowaken und Tschechen in ihrem geschichtlichen Verlauf bis 1848, Harlem, 1931. Macartney, C. A.: Hungary and Her Successors, London-<Nerw York- T-0ronito, 1937. SLOVAKIA 46 Maruniim,g, Claren'Ce A. (ed.): An Anthology of Czech and Slovak Poetry, New York, 11929, Oolumbia Uniiversity Press. Oontains translaibions by Prof. Ktln-kccmnell, Kramoris, Gallik, Manning, Slaibey, Ifotouc, etc. Merrigi,, Bruno: Storia delle letterature ceca e slovacca.~Univ,ersity of Florence, 1,959. Mikus, Joseph: La Slovaquie dans le drame de !'Europe, P.aris, Les Iles d'Or. 11955. La Slovaquie, lndividualite politi11ue de l'Europe Centrale, Paris, 11952. Mraz, Amdreas: Die Literatur der Slowaken, Wien-stu'ttgart, 194!3. A History olf Slovak lJiteralture by a contemporary scholar and professor at the Un1iviersity cif Bratislava. The work, comple'ted and edited in the Slova,k language in 11Hl8 by The S'lovak Academy df Sci1ences and All"ts, presents one oif the best works on the histo11y of Slovak liiterarture. Pastrnek, Fr.: Beitrage zur Lautlehre der Slowakischen Sprache in Ungarn (Aus d,eri, Sitzurugsberichten der philos.-hist. KJ.asse der K. Akademie der Wi.ssenschalften), Wien, 1888. Petrowch, Michael! B.: The Emergence of Russian Panslavism, Oolumbia Univ,ersity Press, 11956. Scotus, Viator (IR. W. Seton-WaJtson): Racial Problems in Hungary, Archilbaild Oonsta:ble and Oo., Ltd., London, 1908. Seton-Watson, R. W.: A History of the Czechs and Slovaks, London, 119413'.A schola1rl<y written history by one of the best de:t:enders of tlhe Slovak people at rthe beg~n,nimg of this centpcy (see his Racial Problems in Hungary) who later turned .i,gainst the Slovak mo•v,ement for autonomy and independence, being influenced by his Czedh friends. Slovak Studies 1, Hiistorica 11, Slovak InstiJtute, 'Rome, 1961. Salfarik, P. J .: Geschichte der Slawischen Sprache und Liter&tur nach alien Mundarten, Mit koni~l. ung. Universitatsschrid'ten, Ofifen, 1826. Sku!Jt:ety, Joseph: Sketches From Slovak History, Middletown, Pa., 1930, J 1ednota Press. Translation from the Slovak by 0. D. Koreff. Skluitety was professor at the University of Bratishwa and on,e of the m06t outstanding figures in the Slovak cultl.l['al lilfe Jn the first ha1f of tlhe 20th cen!tur,y. Stefanek, Anton: Zur Soziograph,ie der geistigen Kultur in der Slowakei, Bratislava, 11944. Strakihovsky, L. I. (ed.): A Ha,ndbook of Slavic Studies, Harv,a rd University Rriess, 1949, dhaipters by A. Senn and Otto Radl. Both artidles re.fleldt reicent research, though Radl's contnilbution is strongly pl'lo-Czech. Tourtzer, H.: Louis Stur et l'idee de !'independence slovaque, Cahors et Al-ehcon, Pari,s, 11913. Trobetzkoy, N. S.: Grundzuge der Phonolo9ie, Prag, 1939, (.on Slov.aik language, pp. 1117-UB, 1'36, 14!1, 1143, 16lt, 167, 170, 175, 208, 245). Vajda, Jiaroslav: Bloody Sonnets, transl. irom Hviezdoslav, P . 0 ., Scra1nton, Pa., 1900. Viktorin, J. K.: Grammatik de.r Slowakischen Sprache. Zurn Schul.:.. und SelJbst,untilvricht, Budapest, 1002. SLOVAKIA 47 Yurchak, P,eiter P.: The Slovaks, Wh'iting, Ind., 1947, Lach editions, c,h,apters fu-om Slovak History and litemture for Americam·s Olf Slovak ortgin. BIBLIOGRAPHY IN SLAVIC LANGUAGES iBartek, Heinrich: Anton Bernolak, Trnarva, 1,937. l!udovit Shir a slovencina, Turc. Sv. Martin, 194i3. Krest'anstvo a slovencin,a, Nad,ej vit'azna, Scranton, Pa., 1947. Slovensky pravopis s gramatickymi pouckami a slovnikom, Whiting, Ind., Lach Publications, 1956. Spravn,a vyslovnost' slovenska, Braltislava, 194J. Blanar, Vincerut: Bibliografia jazykovedy na, Slovensku v rokoch 19391947. Slovenska akademia vied a umeni, Bratislava, 1950. Bolbek, W.: Prehl'adne dejiny slovenskej literatury, Bratislava, 1939. Mickiewicz v literaturze slowackiej, Praha, lJ93il. Dzieje literatury slowackiej w arysie. A'Il annprint firom Slowacja i Sl'owlicy, Edit. W. Semkoiwica;, Krakow, 1008. Czamlbel, Samo: Prfspevky k dejinam jazyka slovenskeho, Budapest, 1887. Slovenska rec a jej miesto v rodine slovanskych ja:z:ykov, '!1urc. Sv. MartLn,, 1906. Slovensky pravopis. Historiok-OJkriticky nmes. Bud,a pest, 1890. [)vonc, Ladislav: Bibliografia slovenskej ja:z:ykovedy :z:a roky 19481952, Matilca Slov-enska, 1'957. Gajdo§, V. J .: Slovenske glosy v latinskom missa,li zo XVI. storoci'a, Historica slovacca I-11, BratisJ.ava, 1'940-lMt pp. 241-24'3. Gralbowski, T. S. : Dwaja Slowaccy pioner:z:y oswiecenia i post&pu, Bernolak a Fandly, 195ll. Hl"'ltta!1a, Martin: Kratka mluvnica slovenska, Bratislava, 1:852. Grammatica linguae slovenicae, Schemnicii, 1850. Hodza, Michal M.: Vetin o slovencine, Levoca, 164!8. ,Isaceniko, A. V.: Zaciatky vzdelanosti vo Vel'komoravskej rili, Jazykovedny sbornik, I.JI, 1947', 137-17'8. Jia,gic, I. V.: lstorija slavianskoj filologii, S. Petersburg, 1910, Jlankovic, V.: Prvy slovensky preklad celeho Pisma svateho, Ver.bum I, 19416-1947. Kondra§ov, N. A.: Kategoriia licnosti i nelicnosti v slovackom ja:z:yku, MGU, 11949. Programma po istoriji slovackogo jazyka. Programma po sovremennom slovackom ja:z:yku, Izdatelstvo Moskovsko,go univerziite'ta, '1001'. Slavinaskaja filologia, Stafi i monogrrufiji, Izdaltelstvo Mostkovskogo univerzfteta, 1951. Kotvam,, rmrich: Jozef lgnac Baiza a slovenska rec, Linguistica slovaca Ilil, 1'9411. Ju.l"aj Fandly, Trnava, 1946. Juraj Fandly a slovensky ja:z:yk, Linguistiea slovaca I-m, 1939. Be,rnolakovci, T\rnarva, 19418. Bibliografia bernolakovcov, Miati'&! Slovenska, Martin, 1957·_ Lehr-Sp}aiwin ski, T.: Pr:z:eglad i eharakterystyka je:z:ykow slowianskich, Warszaiwa, li9154·. 1 48 SLOVAKIA Magnuszewski, J.: Mickiewicz wsrod Slowakow, Wir,oclaJW, 1956. Magiera, J.: Literatul"a czeska i slowacka, Obraz pismienniictwa. Warszawa, 1929. Misianik, Jan: Dejiny starsej slovenskei lite.ratury, SAN, Bratislava, 1958; Marxiisticky vy,kla,d st,arsej slov. litera'tury. Stran 320. Mraz, Andrej: Gavlovicova skola krest'anska. Prispev,ok k slov,enskemu literarnemu barolm, Bratislava, 11940. Dejiny slovenskej literatury, Slov. akad. v1ed a umeni, Bratislava, 194<8. Novak, I.!udovit: Cestina na Slovensku a vznik spisovnej slovenciny, Odtlafok zo Slovenskych pohl'adov, LEV, 193!8. Jazykovedne glosy k ceskoslovenskej otazke, Turc. Sv. Martin,, 11935. l!udovit Stur ako jazykovedec, Slovenske ipohl'ady, LiiI, 1936. Pastrnek, Fr.: Stara jazykova pamatka slovenska, Slbornik :liilologicky, ViIII, 1922. Pauliny, Eugen: Na okrai kama•ldulskeho Pisma, Vetibwm I, 1946-1947. Kulturnohistoricke podmienky a spolocenske funkcie biling.uizmu y dej inach spisovnej slovenciny, C-sl. prednaslcy pro sjezd slavistu v Mioskve, 11958. Glosy k pomeru: bernolactina a sturovcina, Kultura, XiJlV, 1942. Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny, Slovenska akademia vied a umeni, Bratislava, 1948. Pisut, Miilan (ed.): Dej iny slovenskej literatury, Osveta, Bratislava, 1960, p. 680. ContrilbUltors J . Miisiia-niik, P. Petrus, J. Gregor~, P . Stevc,ek, (A Mairxist evaluation). Litera,tura narodneho obrodenia, SAY, Bratisla,V'a, 1'960, p. 490. Slovensky literarny romantizmus, C-sl. prednaslcy pro mezinarodni sj-ezd slavistu v Moslwe, 1'958. Sobolevskij, A. I.: Cerkovno-slavianskije texty moravskogo proischozd,e nija, Ruskij filoloigicesk!j vestnik, 1•900. Stanislav, Jan: K jazykovednemu dielu A. Bernolaka, Bratislava, 194/1. Pribinovi vel'moii, Linguistica slovaca I-II, 193·9-11940. Slovanski apostoli Cyril a Metod a ich cinnost' vo Vel'komoravskej risi, Bratislava, 1945. Spisovny jazyk slovensky, v sborir.,i ku Slovanske jazy,ky v dobe pfitomne, Praha, 1937. Dejiny slovenskeho jazyka, Slovenska akademia wed, Bratislava, 1958. Stitibr, Zdisl'aiw: Zarys dialektologii jezykow zachodnio-slowanskich, W,arszarwa, 1'956. Skultety, Jozef: Stodvadsat'pat' rokov zo slovenskeho iivota 17901•914, Turc. Sv. Ma-rtin, 1920. 0 Slovakoch, Turc. Sv. M!a.rtin, 1928. Stur, I.!udovit: Nauka reci slovenskej, Bratislava, 1,846. Narecia slovenskuo, Bratislava, 1846. Slovo na case, (V uprav,e J . AIIIlibriusa), Bratislava, 1943. 'I1i!bensky, Jan: J. Papanek-J. Sklenar: Obr.incovia slovenskej narodnosti v XVlm. storoci, Osveta, Martin, 19.58. K problemu hodnotenia bernolactiny a bernolakovskeho IYm.,tia, Histod'C'ky casopis, Vfil, 4, 1959. 49 SLOVAKIA Vznik, vyvoj a vyznam vel'komoraV5kej trad icie v s lovenskom narodnom obrodeni, Sbornik O vzajomnych vzt'ahodh Cechov a Slov:ikov, SAV, 1956. Vairsik, BranisJav: Slovaci na praiskej univerzite do konca stredoveku, 1Bratislava, 1926. Kulturne vzt'ahy Cechov a Slovakov v 16. a 17. storoc: i, Bratislava, 1956. Narodnostny problem trnavskej univerzity, Bratislava, 1,9 38. VH~ovsky, Jan : Cantus Catholici, Biratislava IX, 193'5. Vilcek, J·aToslav: Dejiny literatury slovenske j, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1923. Medzi Vahom a Vl tavou, Slov. vyd .. krasnej literatury, Brabislava, 11957. Weingart, Milos: 0 nej starsich jazykovych pamatkach slovenskych, OMF, 1935. Rev. Milan Durica, SIXB, partici- j who made the arrangements. T\he pated in the sessions of the prepa- prayer was purblished in the Conrator,y commission for discipline gressiona1l Record of March 14. llt! llt! llt! of the ole11gy and fait,hiful for the I n. Vatican, Ecdlesiastical Assemlbly. I Bishop Andrew G. Grutka of Father Durica, a native Olf S1()1Va- 1 bhe diocese of Gary, Indiana, ackia, acts in an advisory capacito/. 1companied by the Rt. Rev. Msgr. M .K. Mlynarovic, president of the The meeting was early in Slovak Callholic Federation of ruary. Amenica, traveled to Rome early :!€! llt! :!€! Dr. John Novotny, a native Olf , in April (6-15) to review the plans Slovakia now res•idin,g im, London, : for the Slovak Institute which will successfully passed the medical be bui11t there. Plans were also examinations to !become a Memlber made for the celebration of the of the Royal College of Physi- l'lOOth anniversary of the advent of the saintly brothers Cyril an,d cians. Methodius to the ancient homeland llt! llt! llt! According to Radio Bratislava of the Slovaks, Slovakia, in 1963, (Feb:mary 3', '1962), the exposition by Slovaks in the free world. Biof Czech~ovak bodks in Rome shop Grutka had an audience with was a great success. Our friends Pope John XXIIil!I on Aipril 14. The in Rome, however, inform us that Slovak Institute will cost rubout a it was far from being successful. halif million dollars, most of which And Slovak books were conspicu- is exipected to be donated by the ous by their albsence, only a/bout Slovaks in America. Almost half the amount is already pledged. te·n being displayed. Feb-I' I )lg )lg )lg )lg )lg )lg Rev. John E. ~englar, pastor of The Holy See, early in Apr:I, Sacred Heart Church, Phoenixville, Pa., opened bhe session of bhe U. S. Senate on 'March 14, 1962' - the -23'rd anniv,ersacy of the .pro>clamation rnf S1ov•aik Independence - with a special prayer. He was atccompanied to Washington by P . A. Hl.'obak, president o'f the Slovak League of America, 1962, appointed the Rev. Rudolph KOibela, C.,M., miss,i onary for t,he Slovaks in England, parUoolarly for the several hundred who reside in London and viiicinity. F,ather Kdbela had been attending to the spiritual needs of the Slova'ks in London, for several years prior to that 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 Misconceptions of American Slavists on the Slovak Language Description An account of the resource Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Ph.D. Slovakia, Vol. 12, No. 1 (35), March-June 1962 pp. 25-49 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 March-June 1962 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/092da258dd8160b010134cbdf02ee22f.pdf 8cf90adf07b58aab37e5d3e0e3a71bcc PDF Text Text 50 SLOVAKIA DEFENSE AWNE IS NOT ENOUGH By Ferdinand Durcansky It is a historical fact that the Soviet Imperium would have collapsed in the course of the second world war, without the military and economic support of America. At the end of the war the USA was still in a position - due to this active support - to emphasize America's political designs and put them into effect. Proof thereto lies in Stalin's having to withdraw his troops from Iran in 1946 at America's behest, although such a move by no means tallied with Communist strategy. U. S. political, economic and, a:bove all, military superiority was so impressive and was so highly regarded by Soviet leaders that even at the 1955 Geneva Conference they dared not show their real hand on the question of Germany's partition. To a certain extent this power relationship seems to have changed in favor of the Soviet Imperium. Russia, formerly one of the seven Great Powers, has meanwhile become one of the two World Powers, and now controls the eastern half of Europe, plus the most important areas of the Euro-Asiatic sphere. At the moment the great European Powers alone would hardly be in a position effectively to resist the Kremlin's political pressure. Even America, despite its costly system of defense, feels itself threatened. This e~lains why Khrushchev today feels he can simply refuse to discuss German reunification if it does not ta:ke place the way he thinks it should. The power complex of the Soviet Union has become so mighty that Khrushchev periodically threatens, hoping he will intimidate the allies of the United States and thereby weaken Western unity. This potential strength harbors the temptation to superimpose, even on the peoples of the still free world, the political will of the Kremlin. In any case we must reckon with the fact, that the men in the saddle in Moscow have made preparations for achieving world domination as called for by the Commu- �SLOVAKIA 51 nist ideology. The Russians have reached this position in less than twenty years, a status that is not only the expression of their own endeavors of military or economic strength, but for the most part the outcome of faulty Western policy. A continuation of such policy would stabilize the failures of the West and bring aJbout additional failures, a fact that should serve as a cogent warning to all Europe. Just how did this political and ideological Soviet Russian gain come about? Is it possible that Communist ideology and, above all, its practical application, is much more progressive than our economic and social order? Is it perhaps more in keeping with over-all human developments than ours, as the Kremlin rulers maintain? Is State capitalism more enriching and better for the people in the East than the freedom-loving order of the Western world? Facts refute the Communist theses. The basis of our social order is freedom with its ensuing initiative of the individual in all realms of human existence. The West is certainly not poor in ideas. We have both ideas and principles to offer Communism, which are effective not only in the West but even in the East. The suppressed peoples affirm these values. But our methods are wrong. Western policy refuses to look upon the ideological and political offensive of world Communism as something whole and indivisible, and preoccupies itself with only partial problems and partial aspects. Tension Is Mainly Political Too little attention is given to the fact that almost all the moral and ethical values that form the vital basis of the civilized nations of Europe are rejected by the Soviets. The leaders of the Soviet Union even regard, among other factors, the principles of international law as non-<binding for themselves. Every treaty concluded with the Kremlin is thus made suspect by a "Clausula rebus sic stantibus." An international treaty is only considered valid as long as it does not contra- �52 SLOVAKIA diet the interests of the class struggle. Nor is it an exaggeration to state that the agreements made with · the Kremlin are scarcely worth more than the paper they are printed on. Every treaty signed with the Soviets constitutes a disadvantage for the free world, which it excludes from certain actions and possibilities and does not obligate the Russians since they feel themselves dispensed from all erstwhile, generally valid, moral-legal maxims. Such principles, emanating from Western culture, contradict Marxist-Leninist teachings. The Soviets behave as if they had never assumed an obligation, a circumstance proven by t heir disregard for the treaties of Teheran, Yalta, Potsdam, and London. Relations between the free world and the east cannot, therefore, be regarded as a normal nationally-binding relationship based on the principles of international law, because the main concern is a question of power. The behavior of the West toward the East Block has, nevertheless, been based at all times on the principles: and forms of classical foreign policy and diplomacy. In all differences of opinion and artifically trumped up crises, measures and methods are applied that scarcely differ from those employed during the periods of the Vienna Congress. The results of this conservative force behind Communist hunger for power are judged solely from the aspect of momentary security and military potential. To be sure, a number of Western political leaders have realized that the conflict is an ideological one, but they believe the controversy can be resolved by competing in the field of propaganda. Even these far-sighted statesmen, politicians, and publicists fail to see that the tension between East and West represents a political struggle. Cer tainly it has an iedological character with which it is inextricably bound. The Communists on the other hand leave no doubt that they are concerned with a whole. When they speak of a socialist society valid for the world of today they mean not only production patterns, State order and insti- �SLOVAKIA 53 tutions, but the intention of annihilating all values that we possess and that form the basis of our Christian-Western culture, and of replacing them by their ideas and patterns. We are actually witnesses of a great historical attempt to replace fre edom throughout the world with slavery. Millions of independent people are to be reduced to dependence and coercion. In this very century a decision will be made as to whether Russia is ruble to realize its plan - World Communism - and destroy the Christian"\Vestern culture, for, without crushing it, Bolshevism cannot get a foothold in these countries. It is thus a question, whether we value our culture highly enough ourselves and are resolved to fight for its preservation, or whether we want to yield to despotism step by step to make room for a false culture that levels off and nullifies the personality. Soviet Russia has forced this alternative upon us and it would be sheer suicide to evade the struggle. The ensuing political consequences would be of immeasurable importance and decisive for our future destiny. If it were only a question of distribution of power between Moscow and Washington, each of us - each nation, each people, each stratum of society - would have the right and the possibility to decide freely and, after consideration of individual interests, either to choose the friendship and alliance of the one or the other, or to remain neutral. Basic Values Are At Stake In our century, however, the matter is quite different. The traditional political struggle, which dealt with the acquisition of foreign territories, colonies and trade and customs was, with linguistically dependent national cultural propaganda, and, with competition toward the opening up of world markets, is a thing of the past. It means that if people today demand the reunification of Germany, the freedom of the Slovaks, Hungarians, Rumanians, of the Baltic or other oppressed peoples, this is not done in the interest of the United States of America, �54 SLOVAKIA and does not foresee therein the recognition of any claim to U. S. leadership and to strengthening U. S. policy, but that the people concerned become a simple co-combatant in a struggle for the preservation of our values, which are to remain the basis of human coexistence even in the future. When we fight against Communism and, hence, against the Soviet Union, we do not do so in the interest of so-called capitalists, but in the interest of our indivisible social order and in the struggle against the enslavement of our progeny. The fact has been cited in the September 1960 issue of Der Europaische Osten that World War III has already begun. For the time being it will be carried out on the not insignificant level of propaganda. To be sure the means employed, such as radio, television, press cinema, and literature, are less frightening than those of military, yet they are powerful and effective. Since the Soviets are resolved to impose their system on the entire world, it would be dangerous shortsightedness to believe that in the current tussle between the West and the East - in which all peoples are involved willy-nilly - the West can succeed by ,p urely defensive measures only. So far, however, the political leadership of the West has limited itself to defensive tactics. The outcome of this behavior which has been alarming for many millons, was the de facto recognition of the Iron Curtain, an abandonment of the moral and cultural mission and obligation to defend the freedom of all people and, if need be, to fight for it. By giving up the right of political control psychological prerequisites were estalblished for the ideological and political integration of East and Southeast Europe and the Soviets were given the chance to integrate more than one hundred millions of human beings into their sphere of power. Western Doors Always Open Much worse, however, is he fact that this Bolshevization of the Eastern half of Europe, effectuated in four to five years, has given the Kremlin the opportunity of �SLOVAKIA 55 unfolding a general political and ideological offensive against the free world without the West having a chance to look Jnto the darkness behind the wings of the Communist stage. At the same time the doors of the West remained open to agents and spies from all over the Communist world, thus enabling ~he Kremlin to cause unrest on a global scale under the motto of the class struggle and to allow a fabulous measure of propaganda to take effect that has brought whole peoples to ruin. The initiation of the so-called containment policy meant the indirect and de facto -r ecognition of the status quo resulting from Communist violence. Western leadership at the time believed that by sacrificing the European East and South it was possible to buy genuine peaceful cooperation with Russia and that it would put a stop to further spread of Communist power. Was it not sheer delusion to believe in a change in the European status quo? A change did take place, year after year, but always in favor of the Soviet Union. It is utopia to think that coexistence with the Communist world can go on permanently and that the Russians would be ready without any compelling reason to change the current status quo by the reunification of Germany or by free elections within the Satellite countries. This is dangerous wishful thinking which contradicts the facts as we see them happening in Asia and Africa. A Western policy that is prepared to recognize the status quo is not only a betrayal of hundreds of millions of people hungering for fredom, but a threat to the entire world. The final phase of colonialism that we are going through today, gave the Russians a golden opportunity for action. They demanded freedom and independence for nations that already enjoyed them without benefit of Soviet propaganda. Although Russia is subjugation incarnate, it claims the role of freedom fighter and liberator. This boastful sham of Soviet policy and the political naivete and inexperi,mce of the non-white peoples paved the way for it. �56 SLOVAKIA If an opportunistically-minded person observes the fanaticism with which the Soviet Russians work toward greater domination, it is no wonder if he begins to waver. If today the colored man - treated roughly in past centuries by many a European - falls prey to Communism, his attitude for the most part is the result of the West's own attitude of defense. The peoples of the East, then, often gain the impression that the political leaders of the West repeatedly fail, because the will and resolve to effectively combat the Communist world is simply lacking. Even on the West the opinion is winning ground that our culture and the nations and peoples who sustain this culture are doomed to extinction. Why, then, should a colored man choose the cultrue that limits itself to defense and, hence, can have no prospects for the future? Although this opinion stems from an optical illusion it can, nevertheless, have fateful consequences. Active Western St.and Is Imperative The Russians are everywhere engaged in a ruthless class struggle. Thus far the West has only been able to prevent Soviet world domination by non-military power, by recourse to costly armaments and military preparedness. As events in Asia and Africa prove, military preparedness and even superiority alone will not prevent Russia from spreading its influence and political control to other territories. The fact that the West has no voice and, hence, no control in the Soviet-dominated areas, while Soviet Russia, on the other hand, together with the West, decides all important affairs of the West, has unduly strengthened Communist self-confidence and the USSR's aggressive attitude. The Communists are more than ever convinced of the progr:essive nature of their ideology and of the correctness of their theses. It has merely heightened their fanaticism. This development is very disquieting because it intensifies instead of diminishing the danger of war. We should apply the principle of mutuality and draw the necessary conclusions from the fact that the Soviet �SLOVAKIA 57 Russians disregard the principles of international law and automatically exclude themselves from the community of nations. The West dare not limit itself to being ready to fight for the preservation of freedom in the still free world as, for example, in Berlin or South Korea. Whenever Khrushchev says that he will never cease to encourage Communist victory throughout the entire world, the Western answer should ring out bold and clear, that we shall never cease to fight for the liberation of the oppressed peoples behind the Iron Curtain and shall do everything we can to make freedom and Christian-Western culture apply on a world~wide basis. This should not be confused with a "crusade" against the Soviet Union or the enkindling of a third world war. On the contrary, conditions must be created that will prevent war. Psychological means must be applied to drive home to the Kremlin oppressors that their ideological fanaticism cannot intimidate the whole world and perpetuate a condition of slavery ad infinitum. 'l'he free world is still in a position to take political, economic, and diplomatic measures which can strengthen the actual political desires of millions of enslaved people behind the Iron Curtain and make it possible some day to see them realized It is not enough, however, to support the right of self-determination of peoples merely for tactical reasons. It is of no use as long as the men in the Kremlin notice that behind such speeches, declarations, and assertions there is no serious resolve to take political measures as well. Balance Can Be Restored The United States of America has created various anti~Communist institutions. They have been seriously weakened, however, by political compromise so that they could not live up to expectations. It is impossible to hope to carry out the struggle for freedom and at the same time divide the oppressed peoples into two categories. If one promises the Czechs, Poles, Hungarians, Russians, �58 SLOVAKIA and Baltic Peoples freedom, independence, and the right of self-determination, one cannot withhold it from the Slovaks, Croats, Ukrainians, Georgians, and others . . The West sporadically fostered the hope that the Russians, in the course of time, would make certain political concessions · by easing terror and by liberalization. The fifteen years that lie immediately behind us prove that such expectations are illusory. Instead of allowing the dominated countries more freedom and self-determination, Russia has ruthlessly incorporated these peoples into its sphere of power. When one enters the large libraries of the West and leafs through the tables of contents, one finds numerous publications on American, German, English, French, Japanese, and even Soviet imperialism. But one seldom finds, and then but recently, references to a Russian imperialism although the Russians for centuries have ruled more non-Russians than Russians. Is this sheer coincidence? Moscow tries to exploit the dissatisfaction of five or ten per cent of the population of the West for purposes of propaganda. The West could use the dissatisfaction of at least 80 per cent of the people behind the Iron Curtain as a political weapon. This would be in the interest of freedom and Western culture. Yet it has not been done. Such a program should be adopted. If the Western Powers would decide to demand freedom for the peoples under Moscow's oppression and if appropriate political measures would be taken, they could again take the initiative in world politics and force the Kremlin to go on the defensive. Only in this way will it be possible to guarantee the existence and the continued development of our culture and social order. Only in this way can we restore ':he balance and create the conditions for a lasting peace. HROBAK'S E:NGLISH-SLOV AK DICTION ARY there is none better on the market today - can be yours for only $4.00. � 50 SLOVAKIA DEFENSE AWNE IS NOT ENOUGH By Ferdinand Durcansky It is a historical fact that the Soviet Imperium would have collapsed in the course of the second world war, without the military and economic support of America. At the end of the war the USA was still in a position - due to this active support - to emphasize America's political designs and put them into effect. Proof thereto lies in Stalin's having to withdraw his troops from Iran in 1946 at America's behest, although such a move by no means tallied with Communist strategy. U. S. political, economic and, a:bove all, military superiority was so impressive and was so highly regarded by Soviet leaders that even at the 1955 Geneva Conference they dared not show their real hand on the question of Germany's partition. To a certain extent this power relationship seems to have changed in favor of the Soviet Imperium. Russia, formerly one of the seven Great Powers, has meanwhile become one of the two World Powers, and now controls the eastern half of Europe, plus the most important areas of the Euro-Asiatic sphere. At the moment the great European Powers alone would hardly be in a position effectively to resist the Kremlin's political pressure. Even America, despite its costly system of defense, feels itself threatened. This e~lains why Khrushchev today feels he can simply refuse to discuss German reunification if it does not ta:ke place the way he thinks it should. The power complex of the Soviet Union has become so mighty that Khrushchev periodically threatens, hoping he will intimidate the allies of the United States and thereby weaken Western unity. This potential strength harbors the temptation to superimpose, even on the peoples of the still free world, the political will of the Kremlin. In any case we must reckon with the fact, that the men in the saddle in Moscow have made preparations for achieving world domination as called for by the Commu- �SLOVAKIA 51 nist ideology. The Russians have reached this position in less than twenty years, a status that is not only the expression of their own endeavors of military or economic strength, but for the most part the outcome of faulty Western policy. A continuation of such policy would stabilize the failures of the West and bring aJbout additional failures, a fact that should serve as a cogent warning to all Europe. Just how did this political and ideological Soviet Russian gain come about? Is it possible that Communist ideology and, above all, its practical application, is much more progressive than our economic and social order? Is it perhaps more in keeping with over-all human developments than ours, as the Kremlin rulers maintain? Is State capitalism more enriching and better for the people in the East than the freedom-loving order of the Western world? Facts refute the Communist theses. The basis of our social order is freedom with its ensuing initiative of the individual in all realms of human existence. The West is certainly not poor in ideas. We have both ideas and principles to offer Communism, which are effective not only in the West but even in the East. The suppressed peoples affirm these values. But our methods are wrong. Western policy refuses to look upon the ideological and political offensive of world Communism as something whole and indivisible, and preoccupies itself with only partial problems and partial aspects. Tension Is Mainly Political Too little attention is given to the fact that almost all the moral and ethical values that form the vital basis of the civilized nations of Europe are rejected by the Soviets. The leaders of the Soviet Union even regard, among other factors, the principles of international law as non-<binding for themselves. Every treaty concluded with the Kremlin is thus made suspect by a "Clausula rebus sic stantibus." An international treaty is only considered valid as long as it does not contra- �52 SLOVAKIA diet the interests of the class struggle. Nor is it an exaggeration to state that the agreements made with · the Kremlin are scarcely worth more than the paper they are printed on. Every treaty signed with the Soviets constitutes a disadvantage for the free world, which it excludes from certain actions and possibilities and does not obligate the Russians since they feel themselves dispensed from all erstwhile, generally valid, moral-legal maxims. Such principles, emanating from Western culture, contradict Marxist-Leninist teachings. The Soviets behave as if they had never assumed an obligation, a circumstance proven by t heir disregard for the treaties of Teheran, Yalta, Potsdam, and London. Relations between the free world and the east cannot, therefore, be regarded as a normal nationally-binding relationship based on the principles of international law, because the main concern is a question of power. The behavior of the West toward the East Block has, nevertheless, been based at all times on the principles: and forms of classical foreign policy and diplomacy. In all differences of opinion and artifically trumped up crises, measures and methods are applied that scarcely differ from those employed during the periods of the Vienna Congress. The results of this conservative force behind Communist hunger for power are judged solely from the aspect of momentary security and military potential. To be sure, a number of Western political leaders have realized that the conflict is an ideological one, but they believe the controversy can be resolved by competing in the field of propaganda. Even these far-sighted statesmen, politicians, and publicists fail to see that the tension between East and West represents a political struggle. Cer tainly it has an iedological character with which it is inextricably bound. The Communists on the other hand leave no doubt that they are concerned with a whole. When they speak of a socialist society valid for the world of today they mean not only production patterns, State order and insti- �SLOVAKIA 53 tutions, but the intention of annihilating all values that we possess and that form the basis of our Christian-Western culture, and of replacing them by their ideas and patterns. We are actually witnesses of a great historical attempt to replace fre edom throughout the world with slavery. Millions of independent people are to be reduced to dependence and coercion. In this very century a decision will be made as to whether Russia is ruble to realize its plan - World Communism - and destroy the Christian"\Vestern culture, for, without crushing it, Bolshevism cannot get a foothold in these countries. It is thus a question, whether we value our culture highly enough ourselves and are resolved to fight for its preservation, or whether we want to yield to despotism step by step to make room for a false culture that levels off and nullifies the personality. Soviet Russia has forced this alternative upon us and it would be sheer suicide to evade the struggle. The ensuing political consequences would be of immeasurable importance and decisive for our future destiny. If it were only a question of distribution of power between Moscow and Washington, each of us - each nation, each people, each stratum of society - would have the right and the possibility to decide freely and, after consideration of individual interests, either to choose the friendship and alliance of the one or the other, or to remain neutral. Basic Values Are At Stake In our century, however, the matter is quite different. The traditional political struggle, which dealt with the acquisition of foreign territories, colonies and trade and customs was, with linguistically dependent national cultural propaganda, and, with competition toward the opening up of world markets, is a thing of the past. It means that if people today demand the reunification of Germany, the freedom of the Slovaks, Hungarians, Rumanians, of the Baltic or other oppressed peoples, this is not done in the interest of the United States of America, �54 SLOVAKIA and does not foresee therein the recognition of any claim to U. S. leadership and to strengthening U. S. policy, but that the people concerned become a simple co-combatant in a struggle for the preservation of our values, which are to remain the basis of human coexistence even in the future. When we fight against Communism and, hence, against the Soviet Union, we do not do so in the interest of so-called capitalists, but in the interest of our indivisible social order and in the struggle against the enslavement of our progeny. The fact has been cited in the September 1960 issue of Der Europaische Osten that World War III has already begun. For the time being it will be carried out on the not insignificant level of propaganda. To be sure the means employed, such as radio, television, press cinema, and literature, are less frightening than those of military, yet they are powerful and effective. Since the Soviets are resolved to impose their system on the entire world, it would be dangerous shortsightedness to believe that in the current tussle between the West and the East - in which all peoples are involved willy-nilly - the West can succeed by ,p urely defensive measures only. So far, however, the political leadership of the West has limited itself to defensive tactics. The outcome of this behavior which has been alarming for many millons, was the de facto recognition of the Iron Curtain, an abandonment of the moral and cultural mission and obligation to defend the freedom of all people and, if need be, to fight for it. By giving up the right of political control psychological prerequisites were estalblished for the ideological and political integration of East and Southeast Europe and the Soviets were given the chance to integrate more than one hundred millions of human beings into their sphere of power. Western Doors Always Open Much worse, however, is he fact that this Bolshevization of the Eastern half of Europe, effectuated in four to five years, has given the Kremlin the opportunity of �SLOVAKIA 55 unfolding a general political and ideological offensive against the free world without the West having a chance to look Jnto the darkness behind the wings of the Communist stage. At the same time the doors of the West remained open to agents and spies from all over the Communist world, thus enabling ~he Kremlin to cause unrest on a global scale under the motto of the class struggle and to allow a fabulous measure of propaganda to take effect that has brought whole peoples to ruin. The initiation of the so-called containment policy meant the indirect and de facto -r ecognition of the status quo resulting from Communist violence. Western leadership at the time believed that by sacrificing the European East and South it was possible to buy genuine peaceful cooperation with Russia and that it would put a stop to further spread of Communist power. Was it not sheer delusion to believe in a change in the European status quo? A change did take place, year after year, but always in favor of the Soviet Union. It is utopia to think that coexistence with the Communist world can go on permanently and that the Russians would be ready without any compelling reason to change the current status quo by the reunification of Germany or by free elections within the Satellite countries. This is dangerous wishful thinking which contradicts the facts as we see them happening in Asia and Africa. A Western policy that is prepared to recognize the status quo is not only a betrayal of hundreds of millions of people hungering for fredom, but a threat to the entire world. The final phase of colonialism that we are going through today, gave the Russians a golden opportunity for action. They demanded freedom and independence for nations that already enjoyed them without benefit of Soviet propaganda. Although Russia is subjugation incarnate, it claims the role of freedom fighter and liberator. This boastful sham of Soviet policy and the political naivete and inexperi,mce of the non-white peoples paved the way for it. �56 SLOVAKIA If an opportunistically-minded person observes the fanaticism with which the Soviet Russians work toward greater domination, it is no wonder if he begins to waver. If today the colored man - treated roughly in past centuries by many a European - falls prey to Communism, his attitude for the most part is the result of the West's own attitude of defense. The peoples of the East, then, often gain the impression that the political leaders of the West repeatedly fail, because the will and resolve to effectively combat the Communist world is simply lacking. Even on the West the opinion is winning ground that our culture and the nations and peoples who sustain this culture are doomed to extinction. Why, then, should a colored man choose the cultrue that limits itself to defense and, hence, can have no prospects for the future? Although this opinion stems from an optical illusion it can, nevertheless, have fateful consequences. Active Western St.and Is Imperative The Russians are everywhere engaged in a ruthless class struggle. Thus far the West has only been able to prevent Soviet world domination by non-military power, by recourse to costly armaments and military preparedness. As events in Asia and Africa prove, military preparedness and even superiority alone will not prevent Russia from spreading its influence and political control to other territories. The fact that the West has no voice and, hence, no control in the Soviet-dominated areas, while Soviet Russia, on the other hand, together with the West, decides all important affairs of the West, has unduly strengthened Communist self-confidence and the USSR's aggressive attitude. The Communists are more than ever convinced of the progr:essive nature of their ideology and of the correctness of their theses. It has merely heightened their fanaticism. This development is very disquieting because it intensifies instead of diminishing the danger of war. We should apply the principle of mutuality and draw the necessary conclusions from the fact that the Soviet �SLOVAKIA 57 Russians disregard the principles of international law and automatically exclude themselves from the community of nations. The West dare not limit itself to being ready to fight for the preservation of freedom in the still free world as, for example, in Berlin or South Korea. Whenever Khrushchev says that he will never cease to encourage Communist victory throughout the entire world, the Western answer should ring out bold and clear, that we shall never cease to fight for the liberation of the oppressed peoples behind the Iron Curtain and shall do everything we can to make freedom and Christian-Western culture apply on a world~wide basis. This should not be confused with a "crusade" against the Soviet Union or the enkindling of a third world war. On the contrary, conditions must be created that will prevent war. Psychological means must be applied to drive home to the Kremlin oppressors that their ideological fanaticism cannot intimidate the whole world and perpetuate a condition of slavery ad infinitum. 'l'he free world is still in a position to take political, economic, and diplomatic measures which can strengthen the actual political desires of millions of enslaved people behind the Iron Curtain and make it possible some day to see them realized It is not enough, however, to support the right of self-determination of peoples merely for tactical reasons. It is of no use as long as the men in the Kremlin notice that behind such speeches, declarations, and assertions there is no serious resolve to take political measures as well. Balance Can Be Restored The United States of America has created various anti~Communist institutions. They have been seriously weakened, however, by political compromise so that they could not live up to expectations. It is impossible to hope to carry out the struggle for freedom and at the same time divide the oppressed peoples into two categories. If one promises the Czechs, Poles, Hungarians, Russians, �58 SLOVAKIA and Baltic Peoples freedom, independence, and the right of self-determination, one cannot withhold it from the Slovaks, Croats, Ukrainians, Georgians, and others . . The West sporadically fostered the hope that the Russians, in the course of time, would make certain political concessions · by easing terror and by liberalization. The fifteen years that lie immediately behind us prove that such expectations are illusory. Instead of allowing the dominated countries more freedom and self-determination, Russia has ruthlessly incorporated these peoples into its sphere of power. When one enters the large libraries of the West and leafs through the tables of contents, one finds numerous publications on American, German, English, French, Japanese, and even Soviet imperialism. But one seldom finds, and then but recently, references to a Russian imperialism although the Russians for centuries have ruled more non-Russians than Russians. Is this sheer coincidence? Moscow tries to exploit the dissatisfaction of five or ten per cent of the population of the West for purposes of propaganda. The West could use the dissatisfaction of at least 80 per cent of the people behind the Iron Curtain as a political weapon. This would be in the interest of freedom and Western culture. Yet it has not been done. Such a program should be adopted. If the Western Powers would decide to demand freedom for the peoples under Moscow's oppression and if appropriate political measures would be taken, they could again take the initiative in world politics and force the Kremlin to go on the defensive. Only in this way will it be possible to guarantee the existence and the continued development of our culture and social order. Only in this way can we restore ':he balance and create the conditions for a lasting peace. HROBAK'S E:NGLISH-SLOV AK DICTION ARY there is none better on the market today - can be yours for only $4.00. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 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 50 SLOVAKIA DEFENSE AWNE IS NOT ENOUGH By Ferdinand Durcansky It is a historical fact that the Soviet Imperium would have collapsed in the course of the second world war, without the military and economic support of America. At the end of the war the USA was still in a position - due to this active support - to emphasize America's political designs and put them into effect. Proof thereto lies in Stalin's having to withdraw his troops from Iran in 1946 at America's behest, although such a move by no means tallied with Communist strategy. U. S. political, economic and, a:bove all, military superiority was so impressive and was so highly regarded by Soviet leaders that even at the 1955 Geneva Conference they dared not show their real hand on the question of Germany's partition. To a certain extent this power relationship seems to have changed in favor of the Soviet Imperium. Russia, formerly one of the seven Great Powers, has meanwhile become one of the two World Powers, and now controls the eastern half of Europe, plus the most important areas of the Euro-Asiatic sphere. At the moment the great European Powers alone would hardly be in a position effectively to resist the Kremlin's political pressure. Even America, despite its costly system of defense, feels itself threatened. This e~lains why Khrushchev today feels he can simply refuse to discuss German reunification if it does not ta:ke place the way he thinks it should. The power complex of the Soviet Union has become so mighty that Khrushchev periodically threatens, hoping he will intimidate the allies of the United States and thereby weaken Western unity. This potential strength harbors the temptation to superimpose, even on the peoples of the still free world, the political will of the Kremlin. In any case we must reckon with the fact, that the men in the saddle in Moscow have made preparations for achieving world domination as called for by the Commu- SLOVAKIA 51 nist ideology. The Russians have reached this position in less than twenty years, a status that is not only the expression of their own endeavors of military or economic strength, but for the most part the outcome of faulty Western policy. A continuation of such policy would stabilize the failures of the West and bring aJbout additional failures, a fact that should serve as a cogent warning to all Europe. Just how did this political and ideological Soviet Russian gain come about? Is it possible that Communist ideology and, above all, its practical application, is much more progressive than our economic and social order? Is it perhaps more in keeping with over-all human developments than ours, as the Kremlin rulers maintain? Is State capitalism more enriching and better for the people in the East than the freedom-loving order of the Western world? Facts refute the Communist theses. The basis of our social order is freedom with its ensuing initiative of the individual in all realms of human existence. The West is certainly not poor in ideas. We have both ideas and principles to offer Communism, which are effective not only in the West but even in the East. The suppressed peoples affirm these values. But our methods are wrong. Western policy refuses to look upon the ideological and political offensive of world Communism as something whole and indivisible, and preoccupies itself with only partial problems and partial aspects. Tension Is Mainly Political Too little attention is given to the fact that almost all the moral and ethical values that form the vital basis of the civilized nations of Europe are rejected by the Soviets. The leaders of the Soviet Union even regard, among other factors, the principles of international law as non-<binding for themselves. Every treaty concluded with the Kremlin is thus made suspect by a "Clausula rebus sic stantibus." An international treaty is only considered valid as long as it does not contra- 52 SLOVAKIA diet the interests of the class struggle. Nor is it an exaggeration to state that the agreements made with · the Kremlin are scarcely worth more than the paper they are printed on. Every treaty signed with the Soviets constitutes a disadvantage for the free world, which it excludes from certain actions and possibilities and does not obligate the Russians since they feel themselves dispensed from all erstwhile, generally valid, moral-legal maxims. Such principles, emanating from Western culture, contradict Marxist-Leninist teachings. The Soviets behave as if they had never assumed an obligation, a circumstance proven by t heir disregard for the treaties of Teheran, Yalta, Potsdam, and London. Relations between the free world and the east cannot, therefore, be regarded as a normal nationally-binding relationship based on the principles of international law, because the main concern is a question of power. The behavior of the West toward the East Block has, nevertheless, been based at all times on the principles: and forms of classical foreign policy and diplomacy. In all differences of opinion and artifically trumped up crises, measures and methods are applied that scarcely differ from those employed during the periods of the Vienna Congress. The results of this conservative force behind Communist hunger for power are judged solely from the aspect of momentary security and military potential. To be sure, a number of Western political leaders have realized that the conflict is an ideological one, but they believe the controversy can be resolved by competing in the field of propaganda. Even these far-sighted statesmen, politicians, and publicists fail to see that the tension between East and West represents a political struggle. Cer tainly it has an iedological character with which it is inextricably bound. The Communists on the other hand leave no doubt that they are concerned with a whole. When they speak of a socialist society valid for the world of today they mean not only production patterns, State order and insti- SLOVAKIA 53 tutions, but the intention of annihilating all values that we possess and that form the basis of our Christian-Western culture, and of replacing them by their ideas and patterns. We are actually witnesses of a great historical attempt to replace fre edom throughout the world with slavery. Millions of independent people are to be reduced to dependence and coercion. In this very century a decision will be made as to whether Russia is ruble to realize its plan - World Communism - and destroy the Christian"\Vestern culture, for, without crushing it, Bolshevism cannot get a foothold in these countries. It is thus a question, whether we value our culture highly enough ourselves and are resolved to fight for its preservation, or whether we want to yield to despotism step by step to make room for a false culture that levels off and nullifies the personality. Soviet Russia has forced this alternative upon us and it would be sheer suicide to evade the struggle. The ensuing political consequences would be of immeasurable importance and decisive for our future destiny. If it were only a question of distribution of power between Moscow and Washington, each of us - each nation, each people, each stratum of society - would have the right and the possibility to decide freely and, after consideration of individual interests, either to choose the friendship and alliance of the one or the other, or to remain neutral. Basic Values Are At Stake In our century, however, the matter is quite different. The traditional political struggle, which dealt with the acquisition of foreign territories, colonies and trade and customs was, with linguistically dependent national cultural propaganda, and, with competition toward the opening up of world markets, is a thing of the past. It means that if people today demand the reunification of Germany, the freedom of the Slovaks, Hungarians, Rumanians, of the Baltic or other oppressed peoples, this is not done in the interest of the United States of America, 54 SLOVAKIA and does not foresee therein the recognition of any claim to U. S. leadership and to strengthening U. S. policy, but that the people concerned become a simple co-combatant in a struggle for the preservation of our values, which are to remain the basis of human coexistence even in the future. When we fight against Communism and, hence, against the Soviet Union, we do not do so in the interest of so-called capitalists, but in the interest of our indivisible social order and in the struggle against the enslavement of our progeny. The fact has been cited in the September 1960 issue of Der Europaische Osten that World War III has already begun. For the time being it will be carried out on the not insignificant level of propaganda. To be sure the means employed, such as radio, television, press cinema, and literature, are less frightening than those of military, yet they are powerful and effective. Since the Soviets are resolved to impose their system on the entire world, it would be dangerous shortsightedness to believe that in the current tussle between the West and the East - in which all peoples are involved willy-nilly - the West can succeed by ,p urely defensive measures only. So far, however, the political leadership of the West has limited itself to defensive tactics. The outcome of this behavior which has been alarming for many millons, was the de facto recognition of the Iron Curtain, an abandonment of the moral and cultural mission and obligation to defend the freedom of all people and, if need be, to fight for it. By giving up the right of political control psychological prerequisites were estalblished for the ideological and political integration of East and Southeast Europe and the Soviets were given the chance to integrate more than one hundred millions of human beings into their sphere of power. Western Doors Always Open Much worse, however, is he fact that this Bolshevization of the Eastern half of Europe, effectuated in four to five years, has given the Kremlin the opportunity of SLOVAKIA 55 unfolding a general political and ideological offensive against the free world without the West having a chance to look Jnto the darkness behind the wings of the Communist stage. At the same time the doors of the West remained open to agents and spies from all over the Communist world, thus enabling ~he Kremlin to cause unrest on a global scale under the motto of the class struggle and to allow a fabulous measure of propaganda to take effect that has brought whole peoples to ruin. The initiation of the so-called containment policy meant the indirect and de facto -r ecognition of the status quo resulting from Communist violence. Western leadership at the time believed that by sacrificing the European East and South it was possible to buy genuine peaceful cooperation with Russia and that it would put a stop to further spread of Communist power. Was it not sheer delusion to believe in a change in the European status quo? A change did take place, year after year, but always in favor of the Soviet Union. It is utopia to think that coexistence with the Communist world can go on permanently and that the Russians would be ready without any compelling reason to change the current status quo by the reunification of Germany or by free elections within the Satellite countries. This is dangerous wishful thinking which contradicts the facts as we see them happening in Asia and Africa. A Western policy that is prepared to recognize the status quo is not only a betrayal of hundreds of millions of people hungering for fredom, but a threat to the entire world. The final phase of colonialism that we are going through today, gave the Russians a golden opportunity for action. They demanded freedom and independence for nations that already enjoyed them without benefit of Soviet propaganda. Although Russia is subjugation incarnate, it claims the role of freedom fighter and liberator. This boastful sham of Soviet policy and the political naivete and inexperi,mce of the non-white peoples paved the way for it. 56 SLOVAKIA If an opportunistically-minded person observes the fanaticism with which the Soviet Russians work toward greater domination, it is no wonder if he begins to waver. If today the colored man - treated roughly in past centuries by many a European - falls prey to Communism, his attitude for the most part is the result of the West's own attitude of defense. The peoples of the East, then, often gain the impression that the political leaders of the West repeatedly fail, because the will and resolve to effectively combat the Communist world is simply lacking. Even on the West the opinion is winning ground that our culture and the nations and peoples who sustain this culture are doomed to extinction. Why, then, should a colored man choose the cultrue that limits itself to defense and, hence, can have no prospects for the future? Although this opinion stems from an optical illusion it can, nevertheless, have fateful consequences. Active Western St.and Is Imperative The Russians are everywhere engaged in a ruthless class struggle. Thus far the West has only been able to prevent Soviet world domination by non-military power, by recourse to costly armaments and military preparedness. As events in Asia and Africa prove, military preparedness and even superiority alone will not prevent Russia from spreading its influence and political control to other territories. The fact that the West has no voice and, hence, no control in the Soviet-dominated areas, while Soviet Russia, on the other hand, together with the West, decides all important affairs of the West, has unduly strengthened Communist self-confidence and the USSR's aggressive attitude. The Communists are more than ever convinced of the progr:essive nature of their ideology and of the correctness of their theses. It has merely heightened their fanaticism. This development is very disquieting because it intensifies instead of diminishing the danger of war. We should apply the principle of mutuality and draw the necessary conclusions from the fact that the Soviet SLOVAKIA 57 Russians disregard the principles of international law and automatically exclude themselves from the community of nations. The West dare not limit itself to being ready to fight for the preservation of freedom in the still free world as, for example, in Berlin or South Korea. Whenever Khrushchev says that he will never cease to encourage Communist victory throughout the entire world, the Western answer should ring out bold and clear, that we shall never cease to fight for the liberation of the oppressed peoples behind the Iron Curtain and shall do everything we can to make freedom and Christian-Western culture apply on a world~wide basis. This should not be confused with a "crusade" against the Soviet Union or the enkindling of a third world war. On the contrary, conditions must be created that will prevent war. Psychological means must be applied to drive home to the Kremlin oppressors that their ideological fanaticism cannot intimidate the whole world and perpetuate a condition of slavery ad infinitum. 'l'he free world is still in a position to take political, economic, and diplomatic measures which can strengthen the actual political desires of millions of enslaved people behind the Iron Curtain and make it possible some day to see them realized It is not enough, however, to support the right of self-determination of peoples merely for tactical reasons. It is of no use as long as the men in the Kremlin notice that behind such speeches, declarations, and assertions there is no serious resolve to take political measures as well. Balance Can Be Restored The United States of America has created various anti~Communist institutions. They have been seriously weakened, however, by political compromise so that they could not live up to expectations. It is impossible to hope to carry out the struggle for freedom and at the same time divide the oppressed peoples into two categories. If one promises the Czechs, Poles, Hungarians, Russians, 58 SLOVAKIA and Baltic Peoples freedom, independence, and the right of self-determination, one cannot withhold it from the Slovaks, Croats, Ukrainians, Georgians, and others . . The West sporadically fostered the hope that the Russians, in the course of time, would make certain political concessions · by easing terror and by liberalization. The fifteen years that lie immediately behind us prove that such expectations are illusory. Instead of allowing the dominated countries more freedom and self-determination, Russia has ruthlessly incorporated these peoples into its sphere of power. When one enters the large libraries of the West and leafs through the tables of contents, one finds numerous publications on American, German, English, French, Japanese, and even Soviet imperialism. But one seldom finds, and then but recently, references to a Russian imperialism although the Russians for centuries have ruled more non-Russians than Russians. Is this sheer coincidence? Moscow tries to exploit the dissatisfaction of five or ten per cent of the population of the West for purposes of propaganda. The West could use the dissatisfaction of at least 80 per cent of the people behind the Iron Curtain as a political weapon. This would be in the interest of freedom and Western culture. Yet it has not been done. Such a program should be adopted. If the Western Powers would decide to demand freedom for the peoples under Moscow's oppression and if appropriate political measures would be taken, they could again take the initiative in world politics and force the Kremlin to go on the defensive. Only in this way will it be possible to guarantee the existence and the continued development of our culture and social order. Only in this way can we restore ':he balance and create the conditions for a lasting peace. HROBAK'S E:NGLISH-SLOV AK DICTION ARY there is none better on the market today - can be yours for only $4.00.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Defense Alone is Not Enough Description An account of the resource Ferdinand Ďurčanský Slovakia, Vol. 12, No. 1 (35), March-June 1962 pp. 50-58 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ďurčanský, Ferdinand 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/586cf8c56d88961f6a577dd62da5e0dc.pdf 11b2a87de41d7130d931b67c883c09b4 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 59 CZEOH GROUPS IN EXIl,E Fritz Peter Babel The history of Czecho-Slovak political groups in exile has unfortunately not yet been written. It would offer the world at large a fascinating story with the suspense and thrill of a good novel. There are actually three periods of exile: the first one from 1914 to 1918; the second and third periods between 1938 and 1945, and from 1945 to 1948. These latter periods are harder to delineate since they partially overlap. Two aspects, often mutually independent, monopolize the foreground: the actors in the drama, and the results attained. Who, in 1914, would have dreamed that four years later a Czecho~Slovak Republic would be among the vi.ctorious powers of the first world war? The titanic external political success was attributable to the exploitation by a few men of a number of favorable circumstances. At their head stood Thomas G. Masaryk, professor of philosophy, who - rightly or wrongly - is still today regarded as a wise statesman, benevolent philosopher and outstanding humanist. In the background, only known to the initiated, was a versatile actor on the political stage, playing a vital role. His name was Dr. Edward Benes. Twenty years later, due to circumstances that cannot be treated within the limited scope of this paper, the Czecho-Slovak Republic collapsed. This collapse appeared to be final, for the world at that time looked most critically upon the constructional defects of that State. Many reports have been preserved from which it is clearly evident that in 1938 Czecho-Slovakia was regarded as impossible of reconstruction in its pre-Munich status, even if Germany should lose the war. The second period of Czecho-Slovak exile began at this moral zero. At its head stood Dr. Benes, regarded by many as politically bankrupt but, at the same time, regarded by an ever-growing number of followers as a tragic and the first victim of Adolf Hitler. In any event Dr. �60 SLOVAKIA Benes succeeded, by taking advantage of favorable circumstances, not only in restoring Czecho-Slovakia, but also in making it an essentially Slavic State by the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans and Hungarians (Magyars). The accoucheur of this "new" restored State was primarily Josef Stalin, who let his bailiff Klement Gottwald, present the bill in February 1948. Once again a Czecho-Slovak group , in exile seemingly succeeded in performing the impossible; once again the existence of a single widely recognized person was a prerequisite for this development. The third order of exile at no time couJd boast of a person of such caliber, and for this reason it could book no success at all. In fact, it remained to a large extent unknown. To be sure all the Czech, Slovak, and "Czechoslovak" politicians desire a Bohemian-Moravian-Slovakian region !~berated from Communism, and to this end various constitutional solutions have been proposed. At the same time any uniformity of their political thinking is virtually impossi'ble due to the Sudeten German question. More and more Czechs and Slovaks have with the passage of time , come to the conclusion that this problem was not "settled" by the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans, but that it is still awaiting a real solution. Nevertheless, again and again voices may be heard to the contrary. A so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovakia," with headquarters in the USA, which has been dissolved several times only to be refounded again, advocates as part of its official policy not only the approval of the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans and Hungarians (Magyars), but it has demanded of the Federal Republic of Germany that the act of expulsion be recognized as "a definitively settled matter." That was the situation as expressed in a memorandum issued by the Council in the summer of 1960. It is not within the scope and purpose of this paper to refer to the numerous half truths and untruths the memorandum contains. It is likewise not the purpose to call attention to the dangerous relationship between many of its theses and Communist slogans. Since it is an important condition of every fruitful controversy clearly to be aware �SLOVAKIA 61 of the viewpoint of the philosophical and political opponent, a question from the above-mentioned memorandum seems appropriate. After historic declarations and arguments in favor of the expulsion which is always referred to as the "transfer" it says: " ... The transfer was not considered to be an act of retaliation but a contdbution to the security of CzechoSlovakia from the German Drang nach Ost.en and a contribution to the protection of European peace . . . In their fight for return, the Sudeten Germans plead for recognition as a unique ethnic group. They forward this claim, although in 1938 they coined the slogan 'Heim ins Reich~ inasmuch as they declared themselves to be an ethnic segment of the larger German nation. No doubt considerable influence was lent to this Sudeten German claim by the thought that the peace conference acceded the right of self-determination solely to ethnic entirities and not to fragments of a people living on the territory of forei,gn States. By the demand for recognition as a special ethnic group, they hope to acquire the right of self-determination. This demand differs in no way from those which the Sudeten Germans pleaded for prior to the war. At that time when the advice and complete support of Hitler was granted them, the Sudeten Germans transferred the demand from that of autonomy and confederative reconstruction of Czecho-'Slovakia to one of separation of the border regions from Czecho-Slovakia and annexation to the German Reich. Today they understand by self-determination expressly the right to and power of disposition over that portion of the Czechoslovak territory in which they, intermingled with the Czech population, were settled up to the time of their deportation. After the experiences of 1938 that necessarily means, in the eyes of every "Czechoslovak," renewed destruction of Czecho-Slovakfa and the annihilation of the Republic ... " Thereupon follows a prediction for the future: " ... In case it should come to annexing the Czecho-Slovak border territory to Germany, Czecho-Slovakia would be economically and commercially just as mutilated as was the case �62 SLOVAKIA after Munich. The country's capacity to exist would be retarded and instead of being a contribution to free Europe it would be ballast, should it be a!ble to maintain itself as a State at all. Should the Sudeten Germans be allowed to return and to constitute themselves in a federative union in Czecho-Slovakia, 'lew nationality struggles, inseparable from heavy social and especially internatnonal repercus- , sions, would flare up anew. The Sudeten Germans would once again seek the aid of Germany against the Czechs and the Slovaks, thus disturbing Czecho-Slovak relations and becoming within Germany itself the support and lever of undemocratic, pan-Germaniically oriented elements. The troubled relations would mean a new threat to Czecho-Slovak independence. The satisfying of Sudeten German demands in this or that form would therefore be possible, in the final analysis, only at the price of Czecho-Slovakia's annihilation. One must also consider that in light of their historical development and their experiences, State independence is an indispensa'ble prerequisite for the CzechoSlovaks' national existence and growth. "For this very basic :reason it is a,bsolutely necessary that the West make no further change in its approval of the transfer and that it consider the Sudeten question settled. But for tactical reasons, too, the free world should resist the demands of the Sudeten Germans. Any manner of concessions would be interpreted by the Communist government as a sacrifice of Czecho-Slovak national interests in favor of German interests and would be regarded as a new threat to the national eX!istence of the Czech and Slovak peoples and would surely have a catastrophic effect on the spirit of resistance to and fight a·g ainst Communism in Czecho-Slovakia. It would compel the masses of Czechs and Slovaks to identify themselves with the Communist government against which they now stand resolutely opposed. "It is of no less importance to free Czecho-Slovaks than it is to the free world that Germany become a permanent member of the community of free peoples. This affiliation can only become effective and reliruble if Ger- �SLOVAKIA 63 many recognizes the rights of other peoples, especially of the peoples of Central Europe, to national independence and sovereignty, and does not allow different groups be they from the ranks of the original population or from the ranks of the expelled minorities - to impose a policy on Germany which would, in its consequences, lead to a negation of these rights. For then Germany would cut itself off from the community of free peoples and instead of being a co-determinant, would be a destroyer of the Europe of the future. Since the return of the expellees would have just such consequences, this means, in the case of Czecho-Slovakia, that Germany should recognize the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans as a definitive settlement. "Such recognition will also serve as the firmest foundation for truly friendly relations between free Germany and free Czechoslovakia. Czecho.JSlovakia desires nothing more than to be an island of <!reative peace which introduces no tensions into the international order and gives no occasion for quarrels but contributes to a non-violent organization of the world." There are also other opinions with regard to GermanCzech relations. They can, for obvious reasons, be worded much more concisely. Here is the answer of the "Czech Christian Democratic Movement in Exile" to the above memorandum: "It is our opinion that ,i t should be the highest political principle of the various refugee groups that they resolve their own problems in a spirit of Christian understanding. The step taken by the 'Council of Free Czechoslovakia' seems to us to be determined by the opposite of that principle. To defend the eX'pulsion of the Sudeten Germans from the western provinces of Czecho-Slovakia a measure which a self-aJppointed government of that country executed in the year of 1945 - appears to us to spell approval of the reprehensible deeds of the Bolshevists; it proves a lack of desire to subordinate one's own petty feelings to the concept of a united and peaceful Europe ... No European nation - above all no small na- �SLOVAKIA 64 tion like ours - can find lasting peace in a divided Europe. Federalization is the only way to peace in Europe. The Czechs could scarcely participate in such a federation if they refused their German-speaking fellow-countrymen the right to their homeland, thus bringing about lasting tension between themselves and their big neighbor ... " In conclusion the Czech Christian Democrats renewed their approval of the Wiesbaden Agrement of Augus: 1950. Deriving from the spirit of this fairly well-known agreement, there has appeared in recent years a personality that may prove the dominant figure in the third period of Czechs and Slovaks in exile. On May 29, 1955, Army General Lev Prchala stated before the participants in _the mighty demonstration of Sudeten Germans at the 6th Sudeten Day in Nuremberg: "As a human being and as a European I condemn the crime that was committed against the Sudeten Germans in 1945. As a Czech and a Christian I feel myself obligated to ask the Sudeten German men and women for pardon." It is to be hoped that this seed will ripen. It is a good, fresh seed. Although an old man sowed it, it needs the cultivation of all true humanists who, from the mistakes of yesterday, via the adversities of today, believe in the dawning of a new tomorrow. P . Hletko, M.D., hooiorary president and former president of the League, was elected president. Philip A. Hrobak, president of the Lea,gue sin,ce Ma~, 1950, who favored the election Olf Dr. Hletk-0, now serves on the Executive Commitbce together with Monsignor Francis J. DlllboSlh, P.A. , Lakewood, Ohio, honorary president and former president of the League; Paul Jamrislm, Pittsburgh, Pa .; John A. ScJJ'bol, president of the First Catlho[ic Slovak Uinoion , Phoenixville, Pa., and Joseph G. 3€ 3€ 3€ Prusa, secretary of the Slov-a k CaThe Slovak League of America tholic Sokol. The next Oongress held its 36th Congress in Detroit, will be in Philadelphia, Pa. , in Mich., May 27-29, 1962. Dr. Peter 1-964. F.rano Stefunka, Slowik academic scu]Jptor, is working on, a memorial to Ja•n Kollar who was among the initiators of the cultural Pan-Slaivist'ic movement in S1<r vakia. 'Dhe Kollar creation is to be unveiled in Mosovce, Slovakia, on July 29, 1963, t'he 1'7oth anniversary of Kollar's birth. He is known particularly, for his ly,ric-e,pic poem "Slavy dcera" and his collection (4 volumes) of Slovak folksongs (Narodnie Zpievanky"). Kollar was born in Mosoivce, Slov.akia, on Jiuly 29, 1'7 93. 1 � SLOVAKIA 59 CZEOH GROUPS IN EXIl,E Fritz Peter Babel The history of Czecho-Slovak political groups in exile has unfortunately not yet been written. It would offer the world at large a fascinating story with the suspense and thrill of a good novel. There are actually three periods of exile: the first one from 1914 to 1918; the second and third periods between 1938 and 1945, and from 1945 to 1948. These latter periods are harder to delineate since they partially overlap. Two aspects, often mutually independent, monopolize the foreground: the actors in the drama, and the results attained. Who, in 1914, would have dreamed that four years later a Czecho~Slovak Republic would be among the vi.ctorious powers of the first world war? The titanic external political success was attributable to the exploitation by a few men of a number of favorable circumstances. At their head stood Thomas G. Masaryk, professor of philosophy, who - rightly or wrongly - is still today regarded as a wise statesman, benevolent philosopher and outstanding humanist. In the background, only known to the initiated, was a versatile actor on the political stage, playing a vital role. His name was Dr. Edward Benes. Twenty years later, due to circumstances that cannot be treated within the limited scope of this paper, the Czecho-Slovak Republic collapsed. This collapse appeared to be final, for the world at that time looked most critically upon the constructional defects of that State. Many reports have been preserved from which it is clearly evident that in 1938 Czecho-Slovakia was regarded as impossible of reconstruction in its pre-Munich status, even if Germany should lose the war. The second period of Czecho-Slovak exile began at this moral zero. At its head stood Dr. Benes, regarded by many as politically bankrupt but, at the same time, regarded by an ever-growing number of followers as a tragic and the first victim of Adolf Hitler. In any event Dr. �60 SLOVAKIA Benes succeeded, by taking advantage of favorable circumstances, not only in restoring Czecho-Slovakia, but also in making it an essentially Slavic State by the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans and Hungarians (Magyars). The accoucheur of this "new" restored State was primarily Josef Stalin, who let his bailiff Klement Gottwald, present the bill in February 1948. Once again a Czecho-Slovak group , in exile seemingly succeeded in performing the impossible; once again the existence of a single widely recognized person was a prerequisite for this development. The third order of exile at no time couJd boast of a person of such caliber, and for this reason it could book no success at all. In fact, it remained to a large extent unknown. To be sure all the Czech, Slovak, and "Czechoslovak" politicians desire a Bohemian-Moravian-Slovakian region !~berated from Communism, and to this end various constitutional solutions have been proposed. At the same time any uniformity of their political thinking is virtually impossi'ble due to the Sudeten German question. More and more Czechs and Slovaks have with the passage of time , come to the conclusion that this problem was not "settled" by the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans, but that it is still awaiting a real solution. Nevertheless, again and again voices may be heard to the contrary. A so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovakia," with headquarters in the USA, which has been dissolved several times only to be refounded again, advocates as part of its official policy not only the approval of the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans and Hungarians (Magyars), but it has demanded of the Federal Republic of Germany that the act of expulsion be recognized as "a definitively settled matter." That was the situation as expressed in a memorandum issued by the Council in the summer of 1960. It is not within the scope and purpose of this paper to refer to the numerous half truths and untruths the memorandum contains. It is likewise not the purpose to call attention to the dangerous relationship between many of its theses and Communist slogans. Since it is an important condition of every fruitful controversy clearly to be aware �SLOVAKIA 61 of the viewpoint of the philosophical and political opponent, a question from the above-mentioned memorandum seems appropriate. After historic declarations and arguments in favor of the expulsion which is always referred to as the "transfer" it says: " ... The transfer was not considered to be an act of retaliation but a contdbution to the security of CzechoSlovakia from the German Drang nach Ost.en and a contribution to the protection of European peace . . . In their fight for return, the Sudeten Germans plead for recognition as a unique ethnic group. They forward this claim, although in 1938 they coined the slogan 'Heim ins Reich~ inasmuch as they declared themselves to be an ethnic segment of the larger German nation. No doubt considerable influence was lent to this Sudeten German claim by the thought that the peace conference acceded the right of self-determination solely to ethnic entirities and not to fragments of a people living on the territory of forei,gn States. By the demand for recognition as a special ethnic group, they hope to acquire the right of self-determination. This demand differs in no way from those which the Sudeten Germans pleaded for prior to the war. At that time when the advice and complete support of Hitler was granted them, the Sudeten Germans transferred the demand from that of autonomy and confederative reconstruction of Czecho-'Slovakia to one of separation of the border regions from Czecho-Slovakia and annexation to the German Reich. Today they understand by self-determination expressly the right to and power of disposition over that portion of the Czechoslovak territory in which they, intermingled with the Czech population, were settled up to the time of their deportation. After the experiences of 1938 that necessarily means, in the eyes of every "Czechoslovak," renewed destruction of Czecho-Slovakfa and the annihilation of the Republic ... " Thereupon follows a prediction for the future: " ... In case it should come to annexing the Czecho-Slovak border territory to Germany, Czecho-Slovakia would be economically and commercially just as mutilated as was the case �62 SLOVAKIA after Munich. The country's capacity to exist would be retarded and instead of being a contribution to free Europe it would be ballast, should it be a!ble to maintain itself as a State at all. Should the Sudeten Germans be allowed to return and to constitute themselves in a federative union in Czecho-Slovakia, 'lew nationality struggles, inseparable from heavy social and especially internatnonal repercus- , sions, would flare up anew. The Sudeten Germans would once again seek the aid of Germany against the Czechs and the Slovaks, thus disturbing Czecho-Slovak relations and becoming within Germany itself the support and lever of undemocratic, pan-Germaniically oriented elements. The troubled relations would mean a new threat to Czecho-Slovak independence. The satisfying of Sudeten German demands in this or that form would therefore be possible, in the final analysis, only at the price of Czecho-Slovakia's annihilation. One must also consider that in light of their historical development and their experiences, State independence is an indispensa'ble prerequisite for the CzechoSlovaks' national existence and growth. "For this very basic :reason it is a,bsolutely necessary that the West make no further change in its approval of the transfer and that it consider the Sudeten question settled. But for tactical reasons, too, the free world should resist the demands of the Sudeten Germans. Any manner of concessions would be interpreted by the Communist government as a sacrifice of Czecho-Slovak national interests in favor of German interests and would be regarded as a new threat to the national eX!istence of the Czech and Slovak peoples and would surely have a catastrophic effect on the spirit of resistance to and fight a·g ainst Communism in Czecho-Slovakia. It would compel the masses of Czechs and Slovaks to identify themselves with the Communist government against which they now stand resolutely opposed. "It is of no less importance to free Czecho-Slovaks than it is to the free world that Germany become a permanent member of the community of free peoples. This affiliation can only become effective and reliruble if Ger- �SLOVAKIA 63 many recognizes the rights of other peoples, especially of the peoples of Central Europe, to national independence and sovereignty, and does not allow different groups be they from the ranks of the original population or from the ranks of the expelled minorities - to impose a policy on Germany which would, in its consequences, lead to a negation of these rights. For then Germany would cut itself off from the community of free peoples and instead of being a co-determinant, would be a destroyer of the Europe of the future. Since the return of the expellees would have just such consequences, this means, in the case of Czecho-Slovakia, that Germany should recognize the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans as a definitive settlement. "Such recognition will also serve as the firmest foundation for truly friendly relations between free Germany and free Czechoslovakia. Czecho.JSlovakia desires nothing more than to be an island of <!reative peace which introduces no tensions into the international order and gives no occasion for quarrels but contributes to a non-violent organization of the world." There are also other opinions with regard to GermanCzech relations. They can, for obvious reasons, be worded much more concisely. Here is the answer of the "Czech Christian Democratic Movement in Exile" to the above memorandum: "It is our opinion that ,i t should be the highest political principle of the various refugee groups that they resolve their own problems in a spirit of Christian understanding. The step taken by the 'Council of Free Czechoslovakia' seems to us to be determined by the opposite of that principle. To defend the eX'pulsion of the Sudeten Germans from the western provinces of Czecho-Slovakia a measure which a self-aJppointed government of that country executed in the year of 1945 - appears to us to spell approval of the reprehensible deeds of the Bolshevists; it proves a lack of desire to subordinate one's own petty feelings to the concept of a united and peaceful Europe ... No European nation - above all no small na- �SLOVAKIA 64 tion like ours - can find lasting peace in a divided Europe. Federalization is the only way to peace in Europe. The Czechs could scarcely participate in such a federation if they refused their German-speaking fellow-countrymen the right to their homeland, thus bringing about lasting tension between themselves and their big neighbor ... " In conclusion the Czech Christian Democrats renewed their approval of the Wiesbaden Agrement of Augus: 1950. Deriving from the spirit of this fairly well-known agreement, there has appeared in recent years a personality that may prove the dominant figure in the third period of Czechs and Slovaks in exile. On May 29, 1955, Army General Lev Prchala stated before the participants in _the mighty demonstration of Sudeten Germans at the 6th Sudeten Day in Nuremberg: "As a human being and as a European I condemn the crime that was committed against the Sudeten Germans in 1945. As a Czech and a Christian I feel myself obligated to ask the Sudeten German men and women for pardon." It is to be hoped that this seed will ripen. It is a good, fresh seed. Although an old man sowed it, it needs the cultivation of all true humanists who, from the mistakes of yesterday, via the adversities of today, believe in the dawning of a new tomorrow. P . Hletko, M.D., hooiorary president and former president of the League, was elected president. Philip A. Hrobak, president of the Lea,gue sin,ce Ma~, 1950, who favored the election Olf Dr. Hletk-0, now serves on the Executive Commitbce together with Monsignor Francis J. DlllboSlh, P.A. , Lakewood, Ohio, honorary president and former president of the League; Paul Jamrislm, Pittsburgh, Pa .; John A. ScJJ'bol, president of the First Catlho[ic Slovak Uinoion , Phoenixville, Pa., and Joseph G. 3€ 3€ 3€ Prusa, secretary of the Slov-a k CaThe Slovak League of America tholic Sokol. The next Oongress held its 36th Congress in Detroit, will be in Philadelphia, Pa. , in Mich., May 27-29, 1962. Dr. Peter 1-964. F.rano Stefunka, Slowik academic scu]Jptor, is working on, a memorial to Ja•n Kollar who was among the initiators of the cultural Pan-Slaivist'ic movement in S1<r vakia. 'Dhe Kollar creation is to be unveiled in Mosovce, Slovakia, on July 29, 1963, t'he 1'7oth anniversary of Kollar's birth. He is known particularly, for his ly,ric-e,pic poem "Slavy dcera" and his collection (4 volumes) of Slovak folksongs (Narodnie Zpievanky"). Kollar was born in Mosoivce, Slov.akia, on Jiuly 29, 1'7 93. 1 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 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 SLOVAKIA 59 CZEOH GROUPS IN EXIl,E Fritz Peter Babel The history of Czecho-Slovak political groups in exile has unfortunately not yet been written. It would offer the world at large a fascinating story with the suspense and thrill of a good novel. There are actually three periods of exile: the first one from 1914 to 1918; the second and third periods between 1938 and 1945, and from 1945 to 1948. These latter periods are harder to delineate since they partially overlap. Two aspects, often mutually independent, monopolize the foreground: the actors in the drama, and the results attained. Who, in 1914, would have dreamed that four years later a Czecho~Slovak Republic would be among the vi.ctorious powers of the first world war? The titanic external political success was attributable to the exploitation by a few men of a number of favorable circumstances. At their head stood Thomas G. Masaryk, professor of philosophy, who - rightly or wrongly - is still today regarded as a wise statesman, benevolent philosopher and outstanding humanist. In the background, only known to the initiated, was a versatile actor on the political stage, playing a vital role. His name was Dr. Edward Benes. Twenty years later, due to circumstances that cannot be treated within the limited scope of this paper, the Czecho-Slovak Republic collapsed. This collapse appeared to be final, for the world at that time looked most critically upon the constructional defects of that State. Many reports have been preserved from which it is clearly evident that in 1938 Czecho-Slovakia was regarded as impossible of reconstruction in its pre-Munich status, even if Germany should lose the war. The second period of Czecho-Slovak exile began at this moral zero. At its head stood Dr. Benes, regarded by many as politically bankrupt but, at the same time, regarded by an ever-growing number of followers as a tragic and the first victim of Adolf Hitler. In any event Dr. 60 SLOVAKIA Benes succeeded, by taking advantage of favorable circumstances, not only in restoring Czecho-Slovakia, but also in making it an essentially Slavic State by the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans and Hungarians (Magyars). The accoucheur of this "new" restored State was primarily Josef Stalin, who let his bailiff Klement Gottwald, present the bill in February 1948. Once again a Czecho-Slovak group , in exile seemingly succeeded in performing the impossible; once again the existence of a single widely recognized person was a prerequisite for this development. The third order of exile at no time couJd boast of a person of such caliber, and for this reason it could book no success at all. In fact, it remained to a large extent unknown. To be sure all the Czech, Slovak, and "Czechoslovak" politicians desire a Bohemian-Moravian-Slovakian region !~berated from Communism, and to this end various constitutional solutions have been proposed. At the same time any uniformity of their political thinking is virtually impossi'ble due to the Sudeten German question. More and more Czechs and Slovaks have with the passage of time , come to the conclusion that this problem was not "settled" by the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans, but that it is still awaiting a real solution. Nevertheless, again and again voices may be heard to the contrary. A so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovakia," with headquarters in the USA, which has been dissolved several times only to be refounded again, advocates as part of its official policy not only the approval of the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans and Hungarians (Magyars), but it has demanded of the Federal Republic of Germany that the act of expulsion be recognized as "a definitively settled matter." That was the situation as expressed in a memorandum issued by the Council in the summer of 1960. It is not within the scope and purpose of this paper to refer to the numerous half truths and untruths the memorandum contains. It is likewise not the purpose to call attention to the dangerous relationship between many of its theses and Communist slogans. Since it is an important condition of every fruitful controversy clearly to be aware SLOVAKIA 61 of the viewpoint of the philosophical and political opponent, a question from the above-mentioned memorandum seems appropriate. After historic declarations and arguments in favor of the expulsion which is always referred to as the "transfer" it says: " ... The transfer was not considered to be an act of retaliation but a contdbution to the security of CzechoSlovakia from the German Drang nach Ost.en and a contribution to the protection of European peace . . . In their fight for return, the Sudeten Germans plead for recognition as a unique ethnic group. They forward this claim, although in 1938 they coined the slogan 'Heim ins Reich~ inasmuch as they declared themselves to be an ethnic segment of the larger German nation. No doubt considerable influence was lent to this Sudeten German claim by the thought that the peace conference acceded the right of self-determination solely to ethnic entirities and not to fragments of a people living on the territory of forei,gn States. By the demand for recognition as a special ethnic group, they hope to acquire the right of self-determination. This demand differs in no way from those which the Sudeten Germans pleaded for prior to the war. At that time when the advice and complete support of Hitler was granted them, the Sudeten Germans transferred the demand from that of autonomy and confederative reconstruction of Czecho-'Slovakia to one of separation of the border regions from Czecho-Slovakia and annexation to the German Reich. Today they understand by self-determination expressly the right to and power of disposition over that portion of the Czechoslovak territory in which they, intermingled with the Czech population, were settled up to the time of their deportation. After the experiences of 1938 that necessarily means, in the eyes of every "Czechoslovak," renewed destruction of Czecho-Slovakfa and the annihilation of the Republic ... " Thereupon follows a prediction for the future: " ... In case it should come to annexing the Czecho-Slovak border territory to Germany, Czecho-Slovakia would be economically and commercially just as mutilated as was the case 62 SLOVAKIA after Munich. The country's capacity to exist would be retarded and instead of being a contribution to free Europe it would be ballast, should it be a!ble to maintain itself as a State at all. Should the Sudeten Germans be allowed to return and to constitute themselves in a federative union in Czecho-Slovakia, 'lew nationality struggles, inseparable from heavy social and especially internatnonal repercus- , sions, would flare up anew. The Sudeten Germans would once again seek the aid of Germany against the Czechs and the Slovaks, thus disturbing Czecho-Slovak relations and becoming within Germany itself the support and lever of undemocratic, pan-Germaniically oriented elements. The troubled relations would mean a new threat to Czecho-Slovak independence. The satisfying of Sudeten German demands in this or that form would therefore be possible, in the final analysis, only at the price of Czecho-Slovakia's annihilation. One must also consider that in light of their historical development and their experiences, State independence is an indispensa'ble prerequisite for the CzechoSlovaks' national existence and growth. "For this very basic :reason it is a,bsolutely necessary that the West make no further change in its approval of the transfer and that it consider the Sudeten question settled. But for tactical reasons, too, the free world should resist the demands of the Sudeten Germans. Any manner of concessions would be interpreted by the Communist government as a sacrifice of Czecho-Slovak national interests in favor of German interests and would be regarded as a new threat to the national eX!istence of the Czech and Slovak peoples and would surely have a catastrophic effect on the spirit of resistance to and fight a·g ainst Communism in Czecho-Slovakia. It would compel the masses of Czechs and Slovaks to identify themselves with the Communist government against which they now stand resolutely opposed. "It is of no less importance to free Czecho-Slovaks than it is to the free world that Germany become a permanent member of the community of free peoples. This affiliation can only become effective and reliruble if Ger- SLOVAKIA 63 many recognizes the rights of other peoples, especially of the peoples of Central Europe, to national independence and sovereignty, and does not allow different groups be they from the ranks of the original population or from the ranks of the expelled minorities - to impose a policy on Germany which would, in its consequences, lead to a negation of these rights. For then Germany would cut itself off from the community of free peoples and instead of being a co-determinant, would be a destroyer of the Europe of the future. Since the return of the expellees would have just such consequences, this means, in the case of Czecho-Slovakia, that Germany should recognize the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans as a definitive settlement. "Such recognition will also serve as the firmest foundation for truly friendly relations between free Germany and free Czechoslovakia. Czecho.JSlovakia desires nothing more than to be an island of <!reative peace which introduces no tensions into the international order and gives no occasion for quarrels but contributes to a non-violent organization of the world." There are also other opinions with regard to GermanCzech relations. They can, for obvious reasons, be worded much more concisely. Here is the answer of the "Czech Christian Democratic Movement in Exile" to the above memorandum: "It is our opinion that ,i t should be the highest political principle of the various refugee groups that they resolve their own problems in a spirit of Christian understanding. The step taken by the 'Council of Free Czechoslovakia' seems to us to be determined by the opposite of that principle. To defend the eX'pulsion of the Sudeten Germans from the western provinces of Czecho-Slovakia a measure which a self-aJppointed government of that country executed in the year of 1945 - appears to us to spell approval of the reprehensible deeds of the Bolshevists; it proves a lack of desire to subordinate one's own petty feelings to the concept of a united and peaceful Europe ... No European nation - above all no small na- SLOVAKIA 64 tion like ours - can find lasting peace in a divided Europe. Federalization is the only way to peace in Europe. The Czechs could scarcely participate in such a federation if they refused their German-speaking fellow-countrymen the right to their homeland, thus bringing about lasting tension between themselves and their big neighbor ... " In conclusion the Czech Christian Democrats renewed their approval of the Wiesbaden Agrement of Augus: 1950. Deriving from the spirit of this fairly well-known agreement, there has appeared in recent years a personality that may prove the dominant figure in the third period of Czechs and Slovaks in exile. On May 29, 1955, Army General Lev Prchala stated before the participants in _the mighty demonstration of Sudeten Germans at the 6th Sudeten Day in Nuremberg: "As a human being and as a European I condemn the crime that was committed against the Sudeten Germans in 1945. As a Czech and a Christian I feel myself obligated to ask the Sudeten German men and women for pardon." It is to be hoped that this seed will ripen. It is a good, fresh seed. Although an old man sowed it, it needs the cultivation of all true humanists who, from the mistakes of yesterday, via the adversities of today, believe in the dawning of a new tomorrow. P . Hletko, M.D., hooiorary president and former president of the League, was elected president. Philip A. Hrobak, president of the Lea,gue sin,ce Ma~, 1950, who favored the election Olf Dr. Hletk-0, now serves on the Executive Commitbce together with Monsignor Francis J. DlllboSlh, P.A. , Lakewood, Ohio, honorary president and former president of the League; Paul Jamrislm, Pittsburgh, Pa .; John A. ScJJ'bol, president of the First Catlho[ic Slovak Uinoion , Phoenixville, Pa., and Joseph G. 3€ 3€ 3€ Prusa, secretary of the Slov-a k CaThe Slovak League of America tholic Sokol. The next Oongress held its 36th Congress in Detroit, will be in Philadelphia, Pa. , in Mich., May 27-29, 1962. Dr. Peter 1-964. F.rano Stefunka, Slowik academic scu]Jptor, is working on, a memorial to Ja•n Kollar who was among the initiators of the cultural Pan-Slaivist'ic movement in S1<r vakia. 'Dhe Kollar creation is to be unveiled in Mosovce, Slovakia, on July 29, 1963, t'he 1'7oth anniversary of Kollar's birth. He is known particularly, for his ly,ric-e,pic poem "Slavy dcera" and his collection (4 volumes) of Slovak folksongs (Narodnie Zpievanky"). Kollar was born in Mosoivce, Slov.akia, on Jiuly 29, 1'7 93. 1  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Czech Groups in Exile Description An account of the resource Fritz Peter Habel Slovakia, Vol. 12, No. 1 (35), March-June 1962 pp. 59-64 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Habel, Fritz Peter, 1931-2011 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1962 LCNAF+dates https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/5122f120baea7fd9398a1b9cfe3e3e6d.pdf 8a89012ad1d7dbff82f8306a3b8ec037 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 65 EXIT CZECHO-SLOVAKIA'S "BERIA" By Wolfgang E. Oberleitner Czecho-Slovakia has so far appeared to be the most stable of the "People's Democracies," more so than the Soviet Union, where Khrushchev's battles with his adversaries have been going on for years and are still not settled. In Czecho-Slovakia, however, the ruling clique has so far managed to face the public as a monolithic block, welded together by the awareness of the liability of dictatorial regimes, even if they do come off with 98 per cent of the votes at every election. Ever since the major crisis of 1952 that ended in the denunciation of Deputy Minister President Slansky and his cosmopolitan entourage, there have been no further symptoms of internal tension in the CSR. That explains Moscow's ability to rely at all times on its Czech ally and to point him out to other satellites as an example of what communist regime consolidation is like. This optimistic picture of the situation in CzechoSlovakia is actually deceptive. The case of erstwhile Deputy Minister President Barak, dubbed by State President and First Party Secretary Antonin Novotny as a "political adventurer and criminal" points to chinks that cannot easily be puttied up. Novotny's accusations are all the more surprising since Barak is a man who for eight years was in control of the entire State and Party apparatus and knew, as hardly anyone else, just what was going on and would perhaps have been in a position to take over the reins of power himself. His meteoric rise from a simple worker to one of the big ten in the Czech Politburo may have caused him to believe that the moment had come to reach for the top party position first secretary - which Novotny, a man ten years his senior (60), was naturally unwilling to yield. Barak was clever enough to stay in the background and seldom made a speech lest one day, when the wind blew the other way, it be held against him. To be sure, he �66 SLOVAKIA could point to achievements, but these proved to be more of a burden to the department of justice than to himself. Right after he took over the Ministry of the Interior in September 1953, Barak began to weed out communist opposition. First on the agenda was the trial of Bishop Trochta, whom he had sentenced to 25 years imprisonment. He then turned the .guns on the Catholic People's Party - it had already been put out of commission and the leaders were given heavy terms in the penitentiary. That same year the Social Democrats were brought • before the tribunal; 24 of their functionaries were given long prison terms. The full storm of hatred of the police minister, whose methods strongly resembled those of his Soviet colleague Beria, was directed against the Slovak "separatists," four of whom he sentenced to death as late as 1958 and many others got long prison terms. It was not the terrorist methods, however, employed by Barak's henchmen, that proved fateful, but the calumniations of the People's Councils subordinate to · him. Novotny, who of course, knew about all this, now brought charges against his one-time colleague for "broadly plotted violations of the laiw." The president of the State who the year before had seen how Barak was trying to wangle himself into a position from which he could outmaneuver Novotny, a man who spoke much of de.:Stalinization but did nothing about it - repeated the same game th'a t had been used against Slansky in 1951, namely, removal from office while giving the incumbent the decorative post of Deputy Minister President, only to arrest him a few months later and have him executed. In June, 1961, Barak was forced to give up the Ministry of the Interior in exchange for a government commission for the People's Councils. As early as September, 1960, the dark clouds started to form over Barak's head when remarks were made in parliament by Novotny's representative Vavra about "socialist legality" being violated by members of the People's Councils "whose functionaries are only too little acquainted with the legal regulations." A few days later the communist Rude Pravo pre- �SLOVAKIA 67 sented examples to shed more light on scandals which, though not begun under Barak, continued under his administration. It was learned that strange business was being conducted at the machinery and tractor stations in Znaim. Instead of repairing the mowers, trade was booming in ladies lingerie. Pullovers, coats and silk stockings were being bought up from large firms and immediately r esold to their industrial enterprisers with a boost in price of 10 per cent. The profit of 226,000 crowns was divided up. Since the district "People's Council" was proba:bly bribed, there was, it was thought, small likelihood of being caught. In the fall of 1961, the National Assembly even passed a resolution in which it indirectly invited Barak to clean up the thievings and damage to socialist property and to put a stop to the plethora of "unjustified local interests" wherever it was taking place at the expense of the overall economy. Even with the best of intentions Barak could not possibly have righted the situation in such a short time, partly because many of his people were among the People's Councils and he did not want to or could not. be too rough with th0m, since they knew too much. While in office, Barak spoke of many existent abuses that ought to be corrected. The "people's " court wanted to know why he did practically nothing to solve the problems he so frequently spoke of ... and then sentenced him to 16 years in jail. Communism devours its own children! Simon Jurovsky, head o'f the S:1o- thr-0wn out of bhe Czech Red Parvak National Theater opera pro- ty, and condemned to 15 years i'Il ductions, celebrated h is 50th birth- jail. According to t'he Pr:a,gue r adaty in Bratislava. He was born dio broadcast of February 8, Bain Ul'anlka, near Banska Bystri<:a, rak had misused and abused :his I power amid hel<P'ed himselif to moFebruaror 8, 1'912. ney th,at belonged to the socialisill! ill! il!! Rudolph Barak, Czech COIIllmu- tic state. l!(! l!(! l!(! nist and sadist, who served the SLOVA:IGIA, according to statisPra,gue re~me as Minister Olf the Interior before he was kiiclced "up- tics recentliy released, had a popustairs" t-0 become Deputy Premier, lation, of 4',220,000 art the end of was arrested eady in 1lhe year, December, '11961. � SLOVAKIA 65 EXIT CZECHO-SLOVAKIA'S "BERIA" By Wolfgang E. Oberleitner Czecho-Slovakia has so far appeared to be the most stable of the "People's Democracies," more so than the Soviet Union, where Khrushchev's battles with his adversaries have been going on for years and are still not settled. In Czecho-Slovakia, however, the ruling clique has so far managed to face the public as a monolithic block, welded together by the awareness of the liability of dictatorial regimes, even if they do come off with 98 per cent of the votes at every election. Ever since the major crisis of 1952 that ended in the denunciation of Deputy Minister President Slansky and his cosmopolitan entourage, there have been no further symptoms of internal tension in the CSR. That explains Moscow's ability to rely at all times on its Czech ally and to point him out to other satellites as an example of what communist regime consolidation is like. This optimistic picture of the situation in CzechoSlovakia is actually deceptive. The case of erstwhile Deputy Minister President Barak, dubbed by State President and First Party Secretary Antonin Novotny as a "political adventurer and criminal" points to chinks that cannot easily be puttied up. Novotny's accusations are all the more surprising since Barak is a man who for eight years was in control of the entire State and Party apparatus and knew, as hardly anyone else, just what was going on and would perhaps have been in a position to take over the reins of power himself. His meteoric rise from a simple worker to one of the big ten in the Czech Politburo may have caused him to believe that the moment had come to reach for the top party position first secretary - which Novotny, a man ten years his senior (60), was naturally unwilling to yield. Barak was clever enough to stay in the background and seldom made a speech lest one day, when the wind blew the other way, it be held against him. To be sure, he �66 SLOVAKIA could point to achievements, but these proved to be more of a burden to the department of justice than to himself. Right after he took over the Ministry of the Interior in September 1953, Barak began to weed out communist opposition. First on the agenda was the trial of Bishop Trochta, whom he had sentenced to 25 years imprisonment. He then turned the .guns on the Catholic People's Party - it had already been put out of commission and the leaders were given heavy terms in the penitentiary. That same year the Social Democrats were brought • before the tribunal; 24 of their functionaries were given long prison terms. The full storm of hatred of the police minister, whose methods strongly resembled those of his Soviet colleague Beria, was directed against the Slovak "separatists," four of whom he sentenced to death as late as 1958 and many others got long prison terms. It was not the terrorist methods, however, employed by Barak's henchmen, that proved fateful, but the calumniations of the People's Councils subordinate to · him. Novotny, who of course, knew about all this, now brought charges against his one-time colleague for "broadly plotted violations of the laiw." The president of the State who the year before had seen how Barak was trying to wangle himself into a position from which he could outmaneuver Novotny, a man who spoke much of de.:Stalinization but did nothing about it - repeated the same game th'a t had been used against Slansky in 1951, namely, removal from office while giving the incumbent the decorative post of Deputy Minister President, only to arrest him a few months later and have him executed. In June, 1961, Barak was forced to give up the Ministry of the Interior in exchange for a government commission for the People's Councils. As early as September, 1960, the dark clouds started to form over Barak's head when remarks were made in parliament by Novotny's representative Vavra about "socialist legality" being violated by members of the People's Councils "whose functionaries are only too little acquainted with the legal regulations." A few days later the communist Rude Pravo pre- �SLOVAKIA 67 sented examples to shed more light on scandals which, though not begun under Barak, continued under his administration. It was learned that strange business was being conducted at the machinery and tractor stations in Znaim. Instead of repairing the mowers, trade was booming in ladies lingerie. Pullovers, coats and silk stockings were being bought up from large firms and immediately r esold to their industrial enterprisers with a boost in price of 10 per cent. The profit of 226,000 crowns was divided up. Since the district "People's Council" was proba:bly bribed, there was, it was thought, small likelihood of being caught. In the fall of 1961, the National Assembly even passed a resolution in which it indirectly invited Barak to clean up the thievings and damage to socialist property and to put a stop to the plethora of "unjustified local interests" wherever it was taking place at the expense of the overall economy. Even with the best of intentions Barak could not possibly have righted the situation in such a short time, partly because many of his people were among the People's Councils and he did not want to or could not. be too rough with th0m, since they knew too much. While in office, Barak spoke of many existent abuses that ought to be corrected. The "people's " court wanted to know why he did practically nothing to solve the problems he so frequently spoke of ... and then sentenced him to 16 years in jail. Communism devours its own children! Simon Jurovsky, head o'f the S:1o- thr-0wn out of bhe Czech Red Parvak National Theater opera pro- ty, and condemned to 15 years i'Il ductions, celebrated h is 50th birth- jail. According to t'he Pr:a,gue r adaty in Bratislava. He was born dio broadcast of February 8, Bain Ul'anlka, near Banska Bystri<:a, rak had misused and abused :his I power amid hel<P'ed himselif to moFebruaror 8, 1'912. ney th,at belonged to the socialisill! ill! il!! Rudolph Barak, Czech COIIllmu- tic state. l!(! l!(! l!(! nist and sadist, who served the SLOVA:IGIA, according to statisPra,gue re~me as Minister Olf the Interior before he was kiiclced "up- tics recentliy released, had a popustairs" t-0 become Deputy Premier, lation, of 4',220,000 art the end of was arrested eady in 1lhe year, December, '11961. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 SLOVAKIA 65 EXIT CZECHO-SLOVAKIA'S "BERIA" By Wolfgang E. Oberleitner Czecho-Slovakia has so far appeared to be the most stable of the "People's Democracies," more so than the Soviet Union, where Khrushchev's battles with his adversaries have been going on for years and are still not settled. In Czecho-Slovakia, however, the ruling clique has so far managed to face the public as a monolithic block, welded together by the awareness of the liability of dictatorial regimes, even if they do come off with 98 per cent of the votes at every election. Ever since the major crisis of 1952 that ended in the denunciation of Deputy Minister President Slansky and his cosmopolitan entourage, there have been no further symptoms of internal tension in the CSR. That explains Moscow's ability to rely at all times on its Czech ally and to point him out to other satellites as an example of what communist regime consolidation is like. This optimistic picture of the situation in CzechoSlovakia is actually deceptive. The case of erstwhile Deputy Minister President Barak, dubbed by State President and First Party Secretary Antonin Novotny as a "political adventurer and criminal" points to chinks that cannot easily be puttied up. Novotny's accusations are all the more surprising since Barak is a man who for eight years was in control of the entire State and Party apparatus and knew, as hardly anyone else, just what was going on and would perhaps have been in a position to take over the reins of power himself. His meteoric rise from a simple worker to one of the big ten in the Czech Politburo may have caused him to believe that the moment had come to reach for the top party position first secretary - which Novotny, a man ten years his senior (60), was naturally unwilling to yield. Barak was clever enough to stay in the background and seldom made a speech lest one day, when the wind blew the other way, it be held against him. To be sure, he 66 SLOVAKIA could point to achievements, but these proved to be more of a burden to the department of justice than to himself. Right after he took over the Ministry of the Interior in September 1953, Barak began to weed out communist opposition. First on the agenda was the trial of Bishop Trochta, whom he had sentenced to 25 years imprisonment. He then turned the .guns on the Catholic People's Party - it had already been put out of commission and the leaders were given heavy terms in the penitentiary. That same year the Social Democrats were brought • before the tribunal; 24 of their functionaries were given long prison terms. The full storm of hatred of the police minister, whose methods strongly resembled those of his Soviet colleague Beria, was directed against the Slovak "separatists," four of whom he sentenced to death as late as 1958 and many others got long prison terms. It was not the terrorist methods, however, employed by Barak's henchmen, that proved fateful, but the calumniations of the People's Councils subordinate to · him. Novotny, who of course, knew about all this, now brought charges against his one-time colleague for "broadly plotted violations of the laiw." The president of the State who the year before had seen how Barak was trying to wangle himself into a position from which he could outmaneuver Novotny, a man who spoke much of de.:Stalinization but did nothing about it - repeated the same game th'a t had been used against Slansky in 1951, namely, removal from office while giving the incumbent the decorative post of Deputy Minister President, only to arrest him a few months later and have him executed. In June, 1961, Barak was forced to give up the Ministry of the Interior in exchange for a government commission for the People's Councils. As early as September, 1960, the dark clouds started to form over Barak's head when remarks were made in parliament by Novotny's representative Vavra about "socialist legality" being violated by members of the People's Councils "whose functionaries are only too little acquainted with the legal regulations." A few days later the communist Rude Pravo pre- SLOVAKIA 67 sented examples to shed more light on scandals which, though not begun under Barak, continued under his administration. It was learned that strange business was being conducted at the machinery and tractor stations in Znaim. Instead of repairing the mowers, trade was booming in ladies lingerie. Pullovers, coats and silk stockings were being bought up from large firms and immediately r esold to their industrial enterprisers with a boost in price of 10 per cent. The profit of 226,000 crowns was divided up. Since the district "People's Council" was proba:bly bribed, there was, it was thought, small likelihood of being caught. In the fall of 1961, the National Assembly even passed a resolution in which it indirectly invited Barak to clean up the thievings and damage to socialist property and to put a stop to the plethora of "unjustified local interests" wherever it was taking place at the expense of the overall economy. Even with the best of intentions Barak could not possibly have righted the situation in such a short time, partly because many of his people were among the People's Councils and he did not want to or could not. be too rough with th0m, since they knew too much. While in office, Barak spoke of many existent abuses that ought to be corrected. The "people's " court wanted to know why he did practically nothing to solve the problems he so frequently spoke of ... and then sentenced him to 16 years in jail. Communism devours its own children! Simon Jurovsky, head o'f the S:1o- thr-0wn out of bhe Czech Red Parvak National Theater opera pro- ty, and condemned to 15 years i'Il ductions, celebrated h is 50th birth- jail. According to t'he Pr:a,gue r adaty in Bratislava. He was born dio broadcast of February 8, Bain Ul'anlka, near Banska Bystri<:a, rak had misused and abused :his I power amid hel<P'ed himselif to moFebruaror 8, 1'912. ney th,at belonged to the socialisill! ill! il!! Rudolph Barak, Czech COIIllmu- tic state. l!(! l!(! l!(! nist and sadist, who served the SLOVA:IGIA, according to statisPra,gue re~me as Minister Olf the Interior before he was kiiclced "up- tics recentliy released, had a popustairs" t-0 become Deputy Premier, lation, of 4',220,000 art the end of was arrested eady in 1lhe year, December, '11961.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Exit Czecho-Slovakia's "Beria" Description An account of the resource Wolfgang E. Oberleitner Slovakia, Vol. 12, No. 1 (35), March-June 1962 pp. 65-67 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Oberleitner, Wolfgang, 1918-2006 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/a11c37fb481196f1ad5d26d821390ff2.pdf 82adf1a4320c33f596dc00d8ff6c963e PDF Text Text 68 SLOVAKIA A "LUMUMBA UNIVERSITY" IN PRAGUE By Adolf Tosch Approximately one year ago a university was foun- • ded in Moscow to accomodate several thousand students. from the underdeveloped countries. Obviousiy it is in-· tended that education be given along communist lines .. The name of the murdered Congolese communist sympathizer, Patrice Lumumba, is supposed to attract all the· people previously or still under colonial rule in such man-· ner as to convince them of the benevolence and unselfishness of the first socialist world State and to win for Prague trustworthy and grateful supporters who will co-· operate, together with their respective nations, with the communist States. This new school of higher learning, equipped to hand out an abundance of scholarships, hopes. to draw promising young folk to its halls, serve as a central training center for specialists and radiate like a lighthouse of Soviet scientific and cultural achievement into, all four corners of the globe. A similar university has now opened its doors in Czecho-Slovakia, the new "University of November 17." Its first students were the high school graduates of the class of 1962. By no means a competitor to the Soviet Russian Lumumba University, this new Czech institu-• tion does hope to improve international and political relations by peaceful means. Economic factors play an important role, too, since the CSR, with its growing industrial potential, is seeking to dispose of its products in new markets as they open up. To this end it has need of" native experts in the various foreign countries concerned. The very name of this new school confirms this surmise; after all, its purpose is to strike a blow at the German Federal Republic, presently a serious bar to Czech eco-· nomic expansion. Actually there is no connection between the closing of the Czech univ•~rsities on November 17, 1939 by the National Socialists and this new school. The name has been chosen strictly to serve domestic and foreign propaganda. · �SLOVAKIA 69 At present there are 1,800 foreign students in the CSR from 70 different countries. The Africans are the largest group, welded together in the Union of African Students (Ucitelske noviny, Novem'b er 17, 1961). Fifty per cent of them are students of medicine, thirty per cent technology and about twenty per cent are enrolled in economics courses. The remainder are pursuing other specialized fields. All foreign - for the most part colored students are registered at the School of Economics in Prague. (Tvorba 47-1961). A new regulation has gone into effect, however, stipulating that new arrivals shall belong to the new university, be registered there and put into strict camps where they will be briefed in preparation for their studies and groomed for contact and association with the native population. In October 1961, for example, 44 students arrived from Cambodia, Mexico, Cameroun, Angola, Chile, Columbia, and Argentina to enroll in a one-year course in the Czech language. They were quartered in a former court house building in Dobruschka in northern Bohemia.. In November, 1961, 120 Cuban students of a total of 200 were sent to Senec and Topolcianky for a course in Slovak, while the rest presumably went to Dobruschka. It would seem that so far the foreign students have caused the universities quite a headache, partly because of the varying types of college preparatory training and also because of difficulties with the language. A variety of political reasons are also involved. These problems have led the a.uthorities to formulate new regulations for foreign students which include, as far as the University 17th of November is concerned, courses in the Czech and Slovak languages, plus a technical knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and descriptive geometry. The language courses given at the Slovak centers of Senec and Topolcianky are part of preparatory schooling for as many as 100 students (Praca 298-61). The first group of freshmen were registered with great ceremony on December 12, 1961, by the rector of the new university, Dr. Jaroslav Martinie. The �70 SLOVAKIA group consists of students from Iraq, Iran, Cameroun, Jordania, Mali, Sudan and several dozen other African, Asian, Latin American and European States, as well as students from Bulgaria and even the Soviet sector of Germany. The student in this age group may enroll at one of the other Czech or Slovak schools of higher learning or may continue his studies at the two other schools of the University 17th of November, i.e., the School of Natural Sciences and Technology and/or the School of Social Sciences, which are to open their doors at the beginning of the 1962-63 school year. The difference between the two kinds of university education lies in the fact that schooling at the regular Czech universities applies to Czecho ..Slovak conditions and is very heavily specialized, even where curricula have been altered to meet the needs of individual forei·g n students, especially from the underdeveloped countries. On the other hand, courses at the University 17th of November are much broader and not as thorough. At the School of Natural Sciences and Technology, for example, teacher training courses will be introduced plus construction engineering. This decision was made, according to Rector Martinie, because political economy in the underdeveloped , countries is still in its infancy. It will take time for it to reach a point where special training in that field becomes requisite. For the present a student interested, for example, in bridge construction must attend one of the other universities. In the School of Social Sciences, teacher training courses will be given for those desiring to teach in the elementary and secondary schols and a course in social sciences, combined with the training of political functionaries, will also be added. The regular schools (faculties) within the University of November 17 are counting of complete or partial instruction in one of the world languages (English, French, Spanish), to facilitate communication between instructors and students. One year's instruction in Czech or Slovak alone will not suffice. Five or six years are required for a student to com- �SLOVAKIA 71 plete his university education in a specialized field such as technology. This period is one year longer for foreign students requiring language training. Curriculum planners have proposed shortening the length of study for .foreigners in certain subjects while keeping the quality at university level, a step that would speed up the training -0f national specialists for the countries concerned. The .subject matter would be highly concentrated and much more practical than theoretical. The University of November 17, with its three schools, is intended to become a uniform, State center for the training of foreign students in the CSR. It seems quite likely that study at this university will become more and more .strict, new curricula will be worked out and rigid controls put into operation. Its status is to be raised by granting it authority to issue diplomas and by setting certain standards of achievement. Those of the School of Social Sciences are of particular interest as this school trains teachers for elementary and secondary schools and offers courses in the particular field of social sciences which is combined with the training of political functionaries. This fact seems to characterize most acurately the purpose behind the founding of this new university. Czecho-Slovak teachers are also assigned to tasks abroad. They assist, for example, in the African school system where they not only teach but also "organize the school system" (Mlada Fronta 285/61). An exhibition of polytechnical teaching in Conakry is designed to popularize Czecho-Slovak experiences, although this type of teaching has been introdueed in Czecho-Slovakia itself only a short time ago for experimental reasons. Furthermore the inhabitants of Africa are shown pictures of the education and culture of the CSR, a culture to which the Communists themselves have contributed but very little, for the culture of Czecho-Slovakia is still minted by an older, Occidental past. SLOVAK LESSONS - a two year course for adults is still available. Bound in cloth - $3.50. � 68 SLOVAKIA A "LUMUMBA UNIVERSITY" IN PRAGUE By Adolf Tosch Approximately one year ago a university was foun- • ded in Moscow to accomodate several thousand students. from the underdeveloped countries. Obviousiy it is in-· tended that education be given along communist lines .. The name of the murdered Congolese communist sympathizer, Patrice Lumumba, is supposed to attract all the· people previously or still under colonial rule in such man-· ner as to convince them of the benevolence and unselfishness of the first socialist world State and to win for Prague trustworthy and grateful supporters who will co-· operate, together with their respective nations, with the communist States. This new school of higher learning, equipped to hand out an abundance of scholarships, hopes. to draw promising young folk to its halls, serve as a central training center for specialists and radiate like a lighthouse of Soviet scientific and cultural achievement into, all four corners of the globe. A similar university has now opened its doors in Czecho-Slovakia, the new "University of November 17." Its first students were the high school graduates of the class of 1962. By no means a competitor to the Soviet Russian Lumumba University, this new Czech institu-• tion does hope to improve international and political relations by peaceful means. Economic factors play an important role, too, since the CSR, with its growing industrial potential, is seeking to dispose of its products in new markets as they open up. To this end it has need of" native experts in the various foreign countries concerned. The very name of this new school confirms this surmise; after all, its purpose is to strike a blow at the German Federal Republic, presently a serious bar to Czech eco-· nomic expansion. Actually there is no connection between the closing of the Czech univ•~rsities on November 17, 1939 by the National Socialists and this new school. The name has been chosen strictly to serve domestic and foreign propaganda. · �SLOVAKIA 69 At present there are 1,800 foreign students in the CSR from 70 different countries. The Africans are the largest group, welded together in the Union of African Students (Ucitelske noviny, Novem'b er 17, 1961). Fifty per cent of them are students of medicine, thirty per cent technology and about twenty per cent are enrolled in economics courses. The remainder are pursuing other specialized fields. All foreign - for the most part colored students are registered at the School of Economics in Prague. (Tvorba 47-1961). A new regulation has gone into effect, however, stipulating that new arrivals shall belong to the new university, be registered there and put into strict camps where they will be briefed in preparation for their studies and groomed for contact and association with the native population. In October 1961, for example, 44 students arrived from Cambodia, Mexico, Cameroun, Angola, Chile, Columbia, and Argentina to enroll in a one-year course in the Czech language. They were quartered in a former court house building in Dobruschka in northern Bohemia.. In November, 1961, 120 Cuban students of a total of 200 were sent to Senec and Topolcianky for a course in Slovak, while the rest presumably went to Dobruschka. It would seem that so far the foreign students have caused the universities quite a headache, partly because of the varying types of college preparatory training and also because of difficulties with the language. A variety of political reasons are also involved. These problems have led the a.uthorities to formulate new regulations for foreign students which include, as far as the University 17th of November is concerned, courses in the Czech and Slovak languages, plus a technical knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and descriptive geometry. The language courses given at the Slovak centers of Senec and Topolcianky are part of preparatory schooling for as many as 100 students (Praca 298-61). The first group of freshmen were registered with great ceremony on December 12, 1961, by the rector of the new university, Dr. Jaroslav Martinie. The �70 SLOVAKIA group consists of students from Iraq, Iran, Cameroun, Jordania, Mali, Sudan and several dozen other African, Asian, Latin American and European States, as well as students from Bulgaria and even the Soviet sector of Germany. The student in this age group may enroll at one of the other Czech or Slovak schools of higher learning or may continue his studies at the two other schools of the University 17th of November, i.e., the School of Natural Sciences and Technology and/or the School of Social Sciences, which are to open their doors at the beginning of the 1962-63 school year. The difference between the two kinds of university education lies in the fact that schooling at the regular Czech universities applies to Czecho ..Slovak conditions and is very heavily specialized, even where curricula have been altered to meet the needs of individual forei·g n students, especially from the underdeveloped countries. On the other hand, courses at the University 17th of November are much broader and not as thorough. At the School of Natural Sciences and Technology, for example, teacher training courses will be introduced plus construction engineering. This decision was made, according to Rector Martinie, because political economy in the underdeveloped , countries is still in its infancy. It will take time for it to reach a point where special training in that field becomes requisite. For the present a student interested, for example, in bridge construction must attend one of the other universities. In the School of Social Sciences, teacher training courses will be given for those desiring to teach in the elementary and secondary schols and a course in social sciences, combined with the training of political functionaries, will also be added. The regular schools (faculties) within the University of November 17 are counting of complete or partial instruction in one of the world languages (English, French, Spanish), to facilitate communication between instructors and students. One year's instruction in Czech or Slovak alone will not suffice. Five or six years are required for a student to com- �SLOVAKIA 71 plete his university education in a specialized field such as technology. This period is one year longer for foreign students requiring language training. Curriculum planners have proposed shortening the length of study for .foreigners in certain subjects while keeping the quality at university level, a step that would speed up the training -0f national specialists for the countries concerned. The .subject matter would be highly concentrated and much more practical than theoretical. The University of November 17, with its three schools, is intended to become a uniform, State center for the training of foreign students in the CSR. It seems quite likely that study at this university will become more and more .strict, new curricula will be worked out and rigid controls put into operation. Its status is to be raised by granting it authority to issue diplomas and by setting certain standards of achievement. Those of the School of Social Sciences are of particular interest as this school trains teachers for elementary and secondary schools and offers courses in the particular field of social sciences which is combined with the training of political functionaries. This fact seems to characterize most acurately the purpose behind the founding of this new university. Czecho-Slovak teachers are also assigned to tasks abroad. They assist, for example, in the African school system where they not only teach but also "organize the school system" (Mlada Fronta 285/61). An exhibition of polytechnical teaching in Conakry is designed to popularize Czecho-Slovak experiences, although this type of teaching has been introdueed in Czecho-Slovakia itself only a short time ago for experimental reasons. Furthermore the inhabitants of Africa are shown pictures of the education and culture of the CSR, a culture to which the Communists themselves have contributed but very little, for the culture of Czecho-Slovakia is still minted by an older, Occidental past. SLOVAK LESSONS - a two year course for adults is still available. Bound in cloth - $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 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 68 SLOVAKIA A "LUMUMBA UNIVERSITY" IN PRAGUE By Adolf Tosch Approximately one year ago a university was foun- • ded in Moscow to accomodate several thousand students. from the underdeveloped countries. Obviousiy it is in-· tended that education be given along communist lines .. The name of the murdered Congolese communist sympathizer, Patrice Lumumba, is supposed to attract all the· people previously or still under colonial rule in such man-· ner as to convince them of the benevolence and unselfishness of the first socialist world State and to win for Prague trustworthy and grateful supporters who will co-· operate, together with their respective nations, with the communist States. This new school of higher learning, equipped to hand out an abundance of scholarships, hopes. to draw promising young folk to its halls, serve as a central training center for specialists and radiate like a lighthouse of Soviet scientific and cultural achievement into, all four corners of the globe. A similar university has now opened its doors in Czecho-Slovakia, the new "University of November 17." Its first students were the high school graduates of the class of 1962. By no means a competitor to the Soviet Russian Lumumba University, this new Czech institu-• tion does hope to improve international and political relations by peaceful means. Economic factors play an important role, too, since the CSR, with its growing industrial potential, is seeking to dispose of its products in new markets as they open up. To this end it has need of" native experts in the various foreign countries concerned. The very name of this new school confirms this surmise; after all, its purpose is to strike a blow at the German Federal Republic, presently a serious bar to Czech eco-· nomic expansion. Actually there is no connection between the closing of the Czech univ•~rsities on November 17, 1939 by the National Socialists and this new school. The name has been chosen strictly to serve domestic and foreign propaganda. · SLOVAKIA 69 At present there are 1,800 foreign students in the CSR from 70 different countries. The Africans are the largest group, welded together in the Union of African Students (Ucitelske noviny, Novem'b er 17, 1961). Fifty per cent of them are students of medicine, thirty per cent technology and about twenty per cent are enrolled in economics courses. The remainder are pursuing other specialized fields. All foreign - for the most part colored students are registered at the School of Economics in Prague. (Tvorba 47-1961). A new regulation has gone into effect, however, stipulating that new arrivals shall belong to the new university, be registered there and put into strict camps where they will be briefed in preparation for their studies and groomed for contact and association with the native population. In October 1961, for example, 44 students arrived from Cambodia, Mexico, Cameroun, Angola, Chile, Columbia, and Argentina to enroll in a one-year course in the Czech language. They were quartered in a former court house building in Dobruschka in northern Bohemia.. In November, 1961, 120 Cuban students of a total of 200 were sent to Senec and Topolcianky for a course in Slovak, while the rest presumably went to Dobruschka. It would seem that so far the foreign students have caused the universities quite a headache, partly because of the varying types of college preparatory training and also because of difficulties with the language. A variety of political reasons are also involved. These problems have led the a.uthorities to formulate new regulations for foreign students which include, as far as the University 17th of November is concerned, courses in the Czech and Slovak languages, plus a technical knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and descriptive geometry. The language courses given at the Slovak centers of Senec and Topolcianky are part of preparatory schooling for as many as 100 students (Praca 298-61). The first group of freshmen were registered with great ceremony on December 12, 1961, by the rector of the new university, Dr. Jaroslav Martinie. The 70 SLOVAKIA group consists of students from Iraq, Iran, Cameroun, Jordania, Mali, Sudan and several dozen other African, Asian, Latin American and European States, as well as students from Bulgaria and even the Soviet sector of Germany. The student in this age group may enroll at one of the other Czech or Slovak schools of higher learning or may continue his studies at the two other schools of the University 17th of November, i.e., the School of Natural Sciences and Technology and/or the School of Social Sciences, which are to open their doors at the beginning of the 1962-63 school year. The difference between the two kinds of university education lies in the fact that schooling at the regular Czech universities applies to Czecho ..Slovak conditions and is very heavily specialized, even where curricula have been altered to meet the needs of individual forei·g n students, especially from the underdeveloped countries. On the other hand, courses at the University 17th of November are much broader and not as thorough. At the School of Natural Sciences and Technology, for example, teacher training courses will be introduced plus construction engineering. This decision was made, according to Rector Martinie, because political economy in the underdeveloped , countries is still in its infancy. It will take time for it to reach a point where special training in that field becomes requisite. For the present a student interested, for example, in bridge construction must attend one of the other universities. In the School of Social Sciences, teacher training courses will be given for those desiring to teach in the elementary and secondary schols and a course in social sciences, combined with the training of political functionaries, will also be added. The regular schools (faculties) within the University of November 17 are counting of complete or partial instruction in one of the world languages (English, French, Spanish), to facilitate communication between instructors and students. One year's instruction in Czech or Slovak alone will not suffice. Five or six years are required for a student to com- SLOVAKIA 71 plete his university education in a specialized field such as technology. This period is one year longer for foreign students requiring language training. Curriculum planners have proposed shortening the length of study for .foreigners in certain subjects while keeping the quality at university level, a step that would speed up the training -0f national specialists for the countries concerned. The .subject matter would be highly concentrated and much more practical than theoretical. The University of November 17, with its three schools, is intended to become a uniform, State center for the training of foreign students in the CSR. It seems quite likely that study at this university will become more and more .strict, new curricula will be worked out and rigid controls put into operation. Its status is to be raised by granting it authority to issue diplomas and by setting certain standards of achievement. Those of the School of Social Sciences are of particular interest as this school trains teachers for elementary and secondary schools and offers courses in the particular field of social sciences which is combined with the training of political functionaries. This fact seems to characterize most acurately the purpose behind the founding of this new university. Czecho-Slovak teachers are also assigned to tasks abroad. They assist, for example, in the African school system where they not only teach but also "organize the school system" (Mlada Fronta 285/61). An exhibition of polytechnical teaching in Conakry is designed to popularize Czecho-Slovak experiences, although this type of teaching has been introdueed in Czecho-Slovakia itself only a short time ago for experimental reasons. Furthermore the inhabitants of Africa are shown pictures of the education and culture of the CSR, a culture to which the Communists themselves have contributed but very little, for the culture of Czecho-Slovakia is still minted by an older, Occidental past. SLOVAK LESSONS - a two year course for adults is still available. Bound in cloth - $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 A "Lumumba University" in Prague Description An account of the resource Adolf Tosch Slovakia, Vol. 12, No. 1 (35), March-June 1962 pp. 68-71 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Tosch, Adolf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1962 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/a390369a47f2ec6a9d55d5165a7b6612.pdf af8032c28cfccc20c42200d15af957f1 PDF Text Text 72 SLOVAKIA MAJORITY QUITS "COUNCIL OF FREE CZECHOSLOVAKIA" A recent statement of the so-called Council of Free Czechoslovakia revealed the break-up of that organization. Leading members left the US-subsidized Council and founded a new organization in exile calling it "Committee of Free Czechoslovakia." The Committe's secretaries, Arnost Heidrich and Jozef Lettrich, claimed that the Council was composed "only of National Socialists and satellites of Dr. Peter Zenkl" and that the members of free democratic Czech parties had no seat and say in it. The new Committee is said to represent the Catholic Czech P eoples Party, the Czech Agrarian Republican Party, the Slovak Democratic Party and the Social Democratic Party, as well as Czech, Slovak and Carpatho-Ukrainian personages of no party affiliation. Proponents of self-determination and independence for Slovakia are excluded. Among those who quit the Council of Free Czechoslovakia were: V. Bernard, Josef Cerny, V. Fedinec, A. Heidrich, Fedor Hod.fa (son of the late Czech premier), Holub, M. Kvetko , J . L ettrich, T . Lipcik, V. Majer, J. Mrazek, Stefan Osusky, Adolf Prochazka, L. Sliva, and M. Tumlifova. Dr. V. Brdlik, who was also named among the dissenters, did not confirm the news that he, too, had left the Council, saying that he did not know anything about it. The present quarrels among Czechs and Slovaks in exile are mainly caused by the questions of citizenship and membership in the Assembly of Captive European Nations (ACEN). Regarding the question of citizenship, the dissenters claim, the Council officers violated the constitution by admitting members who no longer were Czecho-Slovak citizens. The Council on the other hand, holds that Czech citizenship is not a prerequisite for membership in the Council. More serious is the dispute about the Council's membership in ACEN. The Assembly of Captive European Nations accepts as members only persons who have main- �SLOVAKIA 73 tained their former citizenship in East European States. According to the Council of Free Czechoslovakia, this regulation does not affect membership in the member organizations who send their representatives to ACEN. The Assembly of Captive European Nations is, indeed, intended as an organization for exiled politicians. It was launched and financed with U. S. help. Its members receive a modest salary. Some of the older exiled politicians have only this to live on. Besides there is a parallel organization, the "Ameri<!an Friends of Captive European Nations," which is <!omposed of American citizens only. The members of the Committee of Free Czechoslovakia, including some of the most prominent Czech and Slovak politicians in exile, managed to receive recognition as representatives of Czecho.1Slovakia by the Assembly of Captive European Nations. Later the ACEN main executive committee revised its opinion and reserved six seats of the Czecho-Slovak delegation to the Council of Free Czechoslovakia. The Council, however, is claiming all seats for itself. From the news thus far received it seems as if most prominent Czech and Slovak exile leaders have joined the dissenting Committee of Free Czechoslovakia, leaving behind in the Council only Dr. Peter Zenkl (who after the war served under Communist Party boss Klement Gottwald as deputy prime minister), Dr. Juraj Slavik (a prewar Czecho-Slovak ambassador to Warsaw and native Slovak), and Dr. Jifi Horak. - S. B. "CZEOHOSLOVAKISM VERSUS AMERICANISM" an e:x;pose of ,the pr()-!Soviet "National Froniters" in the socalled Council of Free Czechoslovakia - is a 48 page booklet pU!blished by the SlovaJk League of Ameiiica, which should be read by every one seeking the answer to the question o:f how "Ozecho ...Slovruk democracy" conrverted to a "people's democ!l"a;cy." Send 25 cents (coin or stamps) to the SDOVA.Ki_IA for your copy today. � 72 SLOVAKIA MAJORITY QUITS "COUNCIL OF FREE CZECHOSLOVAKIA" A recent statement of the so-called Council of Free Czechoslovakia revealed the break-up of that organization. Leading members left the US-subsidized Council and founded a new organization in exile calling it "Committee of Free Czechoslovakia." The Committe's secretaries, Arnost Heidrich and Jozef Lettrich, claimed that the Council was composed "only of National Socialists and satellites of Dr. Peter Zenkl" and that the members of free democratic Czech parties had no seat and say in it. The new Committee is said to represent the Catholic Czech P eoples Party, the Czech Agrarian Republican Party, the Slovak Democratic Party and the Social Democratic Party, as well as Czech, Slovak and Carpatho-Ukrainian personages of no party affiliation. Proponents of self-determination and independence for Slovakia are excluded. Among those who quit the Council of Free Czechoslovakia were: V. Bernard, Josef Cerny, V. Fedinec, A. Heidrich, Fedor Hod.fa (son of the late Czech premier), Holub, M. Kvetko , J . L ettrich, T . Lipcik, V. Majer, J. Mrazek, Stefan Osusky, Adolf Prochazka, L. Sliva, and M. Tumlifova. Dr. V. Brdlik, who was also named among the dissenters, did not confirm the news that he, too, had left the Council, saying that he did not know anything about it. The present quarrels among Czechs and Slovaks in exile are mainly caused by the questions of citizenship and membership in the Assembly of Captive European Nations (ACEN). Regarding the question of citizenship, the dissenters claim, the Council officers violated the constitution by admitting members who no longer were Czecho-Slovak citizens. The Council on the other hand, holds that Czech citizenship is not a prerequisite for membership in the Council. More serious is the dispute about the Council's membership in ACEN. The Assembly of Captive European Nations accepts as members only persons who have main- �SLOVAKIA 73 tained their former citizenship in East European States. According to the Council of Free Czechoslovakia, this regulation does not affect membership in the member organizations who send their representatives to ACEN. The Assembly of Captive European Nations is, indeed, intended as an organization for exiled politicians. It was launched and financed with U. S. help. Its members receive a modest salary. Some of the older exiled politicians have only this to live on. Besides there is a parallel organization, the "Ameri<!an Friends of Captive European Nations," which is <!omposed of American citizens only. The members of the Committee of Free Czechoslovakia, including some of the most prominent Czech and Slovak politicians in exile, managed to receive recognition as representatives of Czecho.1Slovakia by the Assembly of Captive European Nations. Later the ACEN main executive committee revised its opinion and reserved six seats of the Czecho-Slovak delegation to the Council of Free Czechoslovakia. The Council, however, is claiming all seats for itself. From the news thus far received it seems as if most prominent Czech and Slovak exile leaders have joined the dissenting Committee of Free Czechoslovakia, leaving behind in the Council only Dr. Peter Zenkl (who after the war served under Communist Party boss Klement Gottwald as deputy prime minister), Dr. Juraj Slavik (a prewar Czecho-Slovak ambassador to Warsaw and native Slovak), and Dr. Jifi Horak. - S. B. "CZEOHOSLOVAKISM VERSUS AMERICANISM" an e:x;pose of ,the pr()-!Soviet "National Froniters" in the socalled Council of Free Czechoslovakia - is a 48 page booklet pU!blished by the SlovaJk League of Ameiiica, which should be read by every one seeking the answer to the question o:f how "Ozecho ...Slovruk democracy" conrverted to a "people's democ!l"a;cy." Send 25 cents (coin or stamps) to the SDOVA.Ki_IA for your copy today. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 72 SLOVAKIA MAJORITY QUITS "COUNCIL OF FREE CZECHOSLOVAKIA" A recent statement of the so-called Council of Free Czechoslovakia revealed the break-up of that organization. Leading members left the US-subsidized Council and founded a new organization in exile calling it "Committee of Free Czechoslovakia." The Committe's secretaries, Arnost Heidrich and Jozef Lettrich, claimed that the Council was composed "only of National Socialists and satellites of Dr. Peter Zenkl" and that the members of free democratic Czech parties had no seat and say in it. The new Committee is said to represent the Catholic Czech P eoples Party, the Czech Agrarian Republican Party, the Slovak Democratic Party and the Social Democratic Party, as well as Czech, Slovak and Carpatho-Ukrainian personages of no party affiliation. Proponents of self-determination and independence for Slovakia are excluded. Among those who quit the Council of Free Czechoslovakia were: V. Bernard, Josef Cerny, V. Fedinec, A. Heidrich, Fedor Hod.fa (son of the late Czech premier), Holub, M. Kvetko , J . L ettrich, T . Lipcik, V. Majer, J. Mrazek, Stefan Osusky, Adolf Prochazka, L. Sliva, and M. Tumlifova. Dr. V. Brdlik, who was also named among the dissenters, did not confirm the news that he, too, had left the Council, saying that he did not know anything about it. The present quarrels among Czechs and Slovaks in exile are mainly caused by the questions of citizenship and membership in the Assembly of Captive European Nations (ACEN). Regarding the question of citizenship, the dissenters claim, the Council officers violated the constitution by admitting members who no longer were Czecho-Slovak citizens. The Council on the other hand, holds that Czech citizenship is not a prerequisite for membership in the Council. More serious is the dispute about the Council's membership in ACEN. The Assembly of Captive European Nations accepts as members only persons who have main- SLOVAKIA 73 tained their former citizenship in East European States. According to the Council of Free Czechoslovakia, this regulation does not affect membership in the member organizations who send their representatives to ACEN. The Assembly of Captive European Nations is, indeed, intended as an organization for exiled politicians. It was launched and financed with U. S. help. Its members receive a modest salary. Some of the older exiled politicians have only this to live on. Besides there is a parallel organization, the "Ameri<!an Friends of Captive European Nations," which is <!omposed of American citizens only. The members of the Committee of Free Czechoslovakia, including some of the most prominent Czech and Slovak politicians in exile, managed to receive recognition as representatives of Czecho.1Slovakia by the Assembly of Captive European Nations. Later the ACEN main executive committee revised its opinion and reserved six seats of the Czecho-Slovak delegation to the Council of Free Czechoslovakia. The Council, however, is claiming all seats for itself. From the news thus far received it seems as if most prominent Czech and Slovak exile leaders have joined the dissenting Committee of Free Czechoslovakia, leaving behind in the Council only Dr. Peter Zenkl (who after the war served under Communist Party boss Klement Gottwald as deputy prime minister), Dr. Juraj Slavik (a prewar Czecho-Slovak ambassador to Warsaw and native Slovak), and Dr. Jifi Horak. - S. B. "CZEOHOSLOVAKISM VERSUS AMERICANISM" an e:x;pose of ,the pr()-!Soviet "National Froniters" in the socalled Council of Free Czechoslovakia - is a 48 page booklet pU!blished by the SlovaJk League of Ameiiica, which should be read by every one seeking the answer to the question o:f how "Ozecho ...Slovruk democracy" conrverted to a "people's democ!l"a;cy." Send 25 cents (coin or stamps) to the SDOVA.Ki_IA for your copy today.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Majority Quits "Council of Free Czechoslovakia" Description An account of the resource Slovakia, Vol. 12, No. 1 (35), March-June 1962 pp. 72-73 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1962 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/18568cf87072b2d0c785fb1de512d85a.pdf fee1e957cbc49432acfcc6df3a2354d6 PDF Text Text 74 SLOVAKIA CZECH REDS ROOST RED AIMS IN CUBA For over a year transports have been rolling from Polish and former German eastern ports, loaded with war material for Castro's Cuba. Czech weapons depots and barracks have been combed over and practically all German rifles and heavy artillery left from World War II were prepared for shipment, some of which were still being used by Czech soldiers. The Czech general staff readily dispensed with tanks of the T-34 type, however, and the Skoda anti-aircraft guns, since they are being regularly replaced by the latest T-54 tanks and anti-aircraft missiles. The Cuban crisis gave the Czechs an opportunity to discard some of their old supplies and pocket a pretty penny on the deal. The tanks and heavy guns were shipped without munition, which was allegedly "forgotten." More than 500 Czech officers and non-coms are said to have entered Cuban barracks along with the aforementioned supplies, where they immediately set to work to train Cuban men and women in their use. During the big military parade on J anue.ry 4, 1961 - celebrating the second 3jnniversary of the Cuban revolutionaries - there were even Czech officers and noncoms seated in the tanks that filed past Fidel Castro. It may be assumed that the natives were still not adept enough at running them to take over the controls themselves. They may be now. While all this is going on in Cuba, Prague is turning out tons of propaganda for Cuban consumption. Castro and his henchmen can rely on their Czech helpers whose methods and measures have been tried out successfully in other countries. Prague credit to Castro to the tune of $20 million was cited in Novotny's propaganda organ in small print. This sum does not seem to have been exhausted, for at the close of 1960 president of the Cuban National Bank, Commandant Dr. Ernesto Guevaro was reported in Prague �SLOVAKIA 75 to arrange not only additional arms allotments but munition for the tanks and artillery guns and the exchange of more officers and specialists. At the beginning of 1961, at least 200 Cubans went to Czecho-Slovakia to get practical experience in larger industries there. While the Czechs are doing everything they can to aid material ends, they are also trying to ,p ut a peaceful foot forward by sponsoring expositions in Havana. Plans for these shows were prepared by the Brno architects Denk and Pospisil. The Czechs want to show the Cubans just what socialism looks like. They will display all kinds of Czech export goods including Prague hams, Pilsner beer, all kinds of machinery and, of course, their brand of plum brandy (Slivovice). BOOK REVIEWS Gilbert L. Oddo: Slovakia and Its ' the form of yet unpublished ma,People, New York, Speller ' nuSC'l'lipts. and Sons, Inc., 1960, xi-361 IReviewirug the end results, one pp., $6.00. can, be grateful fur Prof. Oddo's Prolfessor Oddo, a native-fuoirn limit_a~o.ns, whitc'h forced him to Amerkan, undertook a dilflficult , a di.iif1~~lt process of research and demanding task in copinlg . and w:iiiltmg, as they wo:iik t~ !he with a phase of the history of a I a~va•nt~ge of t?~ reader, proVId~ng country whose la!llguage he lh'as I him with a cri~ical_ Slovak version the country s h1s'toriy from the no't mastered and to whose na- / tional arehives and otJher insti- n,mbh centu,r y to the present day. tuti«ms he has never had access. ,• ~ddo's version, m~ed~y ?1>jectConseq,uenrtly, in an olbje'ctive a,p- 1ve and compreh~~s1ve rn its asproa'Oh, he had to rely on sources s~s;1111e~_t ai:id critique of Slo~,a(scarce as they are) pulbHshed in k1a s Justoncal mov~ents, ~ill, English and French. In am,a,1,yzing I ~ c?urse, .con-trast w1'tlh previous Professors works in the Slovak la•n,guage, or 1nteripre'tahons lby studying documents in the airch- T,homson, Busek-sipullber, K~rner, ives o,f S,lova•k cultural assolcia- etc., w.ho were markedly mflutions in America, (there are over eniced hY C~ech sources. bwo million Americans of Slovak 1 '.Ilhe history of Slovakia is a suiboru,gin, wiitJh a scor,e of associa- ject which, in languages other tions, newspaiperis and period'ica1's), than Slovak, was until recen'tly he was aided, arccordi,ng to his given the silent treaJtrrnent; and severa'l the little that was reported was by aclcnO'Wlledgeimenlts, Slov,ak intellectua,ls, professors done so i.nicompetently and withand linguists, teachiong at Canadian out adequate rese'areh, and - in not and American universities, and by I Professor Oddo's views their English language works in without unnecessary pa-ejudice. '°~ I � 74 SLOVAKIA CZECH REDS ROOST RED AIMS IN CUBA For over a year transports have been rolling from Polish and former German eastern ports, loaded with war material for Castro's Cuba. Czech weapons depots and barracks have been combed over and practically all German rifles and heavy artillery left from World War II were prepared for shipment, some of which were still being used by Czech soldiers. The Czech general staff readily dispensed with tanks of the T-34 type, however, and the Skoda anti-aircraft guns, since they are being regularly replaced by the latest T-54 tanks and anti-aircraft missiles. The Cuban crisis gave the Czechs an opportunity to discard some of their old supplies and pocket a pretty penny on the deal. The tanks and heavy guns were shipped without munition, which was allegedly "forgotten." More than 500 Czech officers and non-coms are said to have entered Cuban barracks along with the aforementioned supplies, where they immediately set to work to train Cuban men and women in their use. During the big military parade on J anue.ry 4, 1961 - celebrating the second 3jnniversary of the Cuban revolutionaries - there were even Czech officers and noncoms seated in the tanks that filed past Fidel Castro. It may be assumed that the natives were still not adept enough at running them to take over the controls themselves. They may be now. While all this is going on in Cuba, Prague is turning out tons of propaganda for Cuban consumption. Castro and his henchmen can rely on their Czech helpers whose methods and measures have been tried out successfully in other countries. Prague credit to Castro to the tune of $20 million was cited in Novotny's propaganda organ in small print. This sum does not seem to have been exhausted, for at the close of 1960 president of the Cuban National Bank, Commandant Dr. Ernesto Guevaro was reported in Prague �SLOVAKIA 75 to arrange not only additional arms allotments but munition for the tanks and artillery guns and the exchange of more officers and specialists. At the beginning of 1961, at least 200 Cubans went to Czecho-Slovakia to get practical experience in larger industries there. While the Czechs are doing everything they can to aid material ends, they are also trying to ,p ut a peaceful foot forward by sponsoring expositions in Havana. Plans for these shows were prepared by the Brno architects Denk and Pospisil. The Czechs want to show the Cubans just what socialism looks like. They will display all kinds of Czech export goods including Prague hams, Pilsner beer, all kinds of machinery and, of course, their brand of plum brandy (Slivovice). BOOK REVIEWS Gilbert L. Oddo: Slovakia and Its ' the form of yet unpublished ma,People, New York, Speller ' nuSC'l'lipts. and Sons, Inc., 1960, xi-361 IReviewirug the end results, one pp., $6.00. can, be grateful fur Prof. Oddo's Prolfessor Oddo, a native-fuoirn limit_a~o.ns, whitc'h forced him to Amerkan, undertook a dilflficult , a di.iif1~~lt process of research and demanding task in copinlg . and w:iiiltmg, as they wo:iik t~ !he with a phase of the history of a I a~va•nt~ge of t?~ reader, proVId~ng country whose la!llguage he lh'as I him with a cri~ical_ Slovak version the country s h1s'toriy from the no't mastered and to whose na- / tional arehives and otJher insti- n,mbh centu,r y to the present day. tuti«ms he has never had access. ,• ~ddo's version, m~ed~y ?1>jectConseq,uenrtly, in an olbje'ctive a,p- 1ve and compreh~~s1ve rn its asproa'Oh, he had to rely on sources s~s;1111e~_t ai:id critique of Slo~,a(scarce as they are) pulbHshed in k1a s Justoncal mov~ents, ~ill, English and French. In am,a,1,yzing I ~ c?urse, .con-trast w1'tlh previous Professors works in the Slovak la•n,guage, or 1nteripre'tahons lby studying documents in the airch- T,homson, Busek-sipullber, K~rner, ives o,f S,lova•k cultural assolcia- etc., w.ho were markedly mflutions in America, (there are over eniced hY C~ech sources. bwo million Americans of Slovak 1 '.Ilhe history of Slovakia is a suiboru,gin, wiitJh a scor,e of associa- ject which, in languages other tions, newspaiperis and period'ica1's), than Slovak, was until recen'tly he was aided, arccordi,ng to his given the silent treaJtrrnent; and severa'l the little that was reported was by aclcnO'Wlledgeimenlts, Slov,ak intellectua,ls, professors done so i.nicompetently and withand linguists, teachiong at Canadian out adequate rese'areh, and - in not and American universities, and by I Professor Oddo's views their English language works in without unnecessary pa-ejudice. '°~ I � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 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 74 SLOVAKIA CZECH REDS ROOST RED AIMS IN CUBA For over a year transports have been rolling from Polish and former German eastern ports, loaded with war material for Castro's Cuba. Czech weapons depots and barracks have been combed over and practically all German rifles and heavy artillery left from World War II were prepared for shipment, some of which were still being used by Czech soldiers. The Czech general staff readily dispensed with tanks of the T-34 type, however, and the Skoda anti-aircraft guns, since they are being regularly replaced by the latest T-54 tanks and anti-aircraft missiles. The Cuban crisis gave the Czechs an opportunity to discard some of their old supplies and pocket a pretty penny on the deal. The tanks and heavy guns were shipped without munition, which was allegedly "forgotten." More than 500 Czech officers and non-coms are said to have entered Cuban barracks along with the aforementioned supplies, where they immediately set to work to train Cuban men and women in their use. During the big military parade on J anue.ry 4, 1961 - celebrating the second 3jnniversary of the Cuban revolutionaries - there were even Czech officers and noncoms seated in the tanks that filed past Fidel Castro. It may be assumed that the natives were still not adept enough at running them to take over the controls themselves. They may be now. While all this is going on in Cuba, Prague is turning out tons of propaganda for Cuban consumption. Castro and his henchmen can rely on their Czech helpers whose methods and measures have been tried out successfully in other countries. Prague credit to Castro to the tune of $20 million was cited in Novotny's propaganda organ in small print. This sum does not seem to have been exhausted, for at the close of 1960 president of the Cuban National Bank, Commandant Dr. Ernesto Guevaro was reported in Prague SLOVAKIA 75 to arrange not only additional arms allotments but munition for the tanks and artillery guns and the exchange of more officers and specialists. At the beginning of 1961, at least 200 Cubans went to Czecho-Slovakia to get practical experience in larger industries there. While the Czechs are doing everything they can to aid material ends, they are also trying to ,p ut a peaceful foot forward by sponsoring expositions in Havana. Plans for these shows were prepared by the Brno architects Denk and Pospisil. The Czechs want to show the Cubans just what socialism looks like. They will display all kinds of Czech export goods including Prague hams, Pilsner beer, all kinds of machinery and, of course, their brand of plum brandy (Slivovice). BOOK REVIEWS Gilbert L. Oddo: Slovakia and Its ' the form of yet unpublished ma,People, New York, Speller ' nuSC'l'lipts. and Sons, Inc., 1960, xi-361 IReviewirug the end results, one pp., $6.00. can, be grateful fur Prof. Oddo's Prolfessor Oddo, a native-fuoirn limit_a~o.ns, whitc'h forced him to Amerkan, undertook a dilflficult , a di.iif1~~lt process of research and demanding task in copinlg . and w:iiiltmg, as they wo:iik t~ !he with a phase of the history of a I a~va•nt~ge of t?~ reader, proVId~ng country whose la!llguage he lh'as I him with a cri~ical_ Slovak version the country s h1s'toriy from the no't mastered and to whose na- / tional arehives and otJher insti- n,mbh centu,r y to the present day. tuti«ms he has never had access. ,• ~ddo's version, m~ed~y ?1>jectConseq,uenrtly, in an olbje'ctive a,p- 1ve and compreh~~s1ve rn its asproa'Oh, he had to rely on sources s~s;1111e~_t ai:id critique of Slo~,a(scarce as they are) pulbHshed in k1a s Justoncal mov~ents, ~ill, English and French. In am,a,1,yzing I ~ c?urse, .con-trast w1'tlh previous Professors works in the Slovak la•n,guage, or 1nteripre'tahons lby studying documents in the airch- T,homson, Busek-sipullber, K~rner, ives o,f S,lova•k cultural assolcia- etc., w.ho were markedly mflutions in America, (there are over eniced hY C~ech sources. bwo million Americans of Slovak 1 '.Ilhe history of Slovakia is a suiboru,gin, wiitJh a scor,e of associa- ject which, in languages other tions, newspaiperis and period'ica1's), than Slovak, was until recen'tly he was aided, arccordi,ng to his given the silent treaJtrrnent; and severa'l the little that was reported was by aclcnO'Wlledgeimenlts, Slov,ak intellectua,ls, professors done so i.nicompetently and withand linguists, teachiong at Canadian out adequate rese'areh, and - in not and American universities, and by I Professor Oddo's views their English language works in without unnecessary pa-ejudice. '°~ I  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Czech Reds Boost Red Aims in Cuba Description An account of the resource Slovakia, Vol. 12, No. 1 (35), March-June 1962 pp. 74-75 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1962 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/ca7006fb5736f99986eeaa5048b17003.pdf 409b536755270fbf3f251b1d95f3bbb9 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 75 to arrange not only additional arms allotments but munition for the tanks and artillery guns and the exchange of more officers and specialists. At the beginning of 1961, at least 200 Cubans went to Czecho-Slovakia to get practical experience in larger industries there. While the Czechs are doing everything they can to aid material ends, they are also trying to ,p ut a peaceful foot forward by sponsoring expositions in Havana. Plans for these shows were prepared by the Brno architects Denk and Pospisil. The Czechs want to show the Cubans just what socialism looks like. They will display all kinds of Czech export goods including Prague hams, Pilsner beer, all kinds of machinery and, of course, their brand of plum brandy (Slivovice). BOOK REVIEWS Gilbert L. Oddo: Slovakia and Its ' the form of yet unpublished ma,People, New York, Speller ' nuSC'l'lipts. and Sons, Inc., 1960, xi-361 IReviewirug the end results, one pp., $6.00. can, be grateful fur Prof. Oddo's Prolfessor Oddo, a native-fuoirn limit_a~o.ns, whitc'h forced him to Amerkan, undertook a dilflficult , a di.iif1~~lt process of research and demanding task in copinlg . and w:iiiltmg, as they wo:iik t~ !he with a phase of the history of a I a~va•nt~ge of t?~ reader, proVId~ng country whose la!llguage he lh'as I him with a cri~ical_ Slovak version the country s h1s'toriy from the no't mastered and to whose na- / tional arehives and otJher insti- n,mbh centu,r y to the present day. tuti«ms he has never had access. ,• ~ddo's version, m~ed~y ?1>jectConseq,uenrtly, in an olbje'ctive a,p- 1ve and compreh~~s1ve rn its asproa'Oh, he had to rely on sources s~s;1111e~_t ai:id critique of Slo~,a(scarce as they are) pulbHshed in k1a s Justoncal mov~ents, ~ill, English and French. In am,a,1,yzing I ~ c?urse, .con-trast w1'tlh previous Professors works in the Slovak la•n,guage, or 1nteripre'tahons lby studying documents in the airch- T,homson, Busek-sipullber, K~rner, ives o,f S,lova•k cultural assolcia- etc., w.ho were markedly mflutions in America, (there are over eniced hY C~ech sources. bwo million Americans of Slovak 1 '.Ilhe history of Slovakia is a suiboru,gin, wiitJh a scor,e of associa- ject which, in languages other tions, newspaiperis and period'ica1's), than Slovak, was until recen'tly he was aided, arccordi,ng to his given the silent treaJtrrnent; and severa'l the little that was reported was by aclcnO'Wlledgeimenlts, Slov,ak intellectua,ls, professors done so i.nicompetently and withand linguists, teachiong at Canadian out adequate rese'areh, and - in not and American universities, and by I Professor Oddo's views their English language works in without unnecessary pa-ejudice. '°~ I �76 SLOVAKIA His book will, theirefore, nalburally stimllllate controversies. By his own ad'mi!ssfon in the Introduction to his wock, Prof.essor Oddo saw tlhat part o:f his task lay in hrupintg to "exipos·e and exiped myths which, for ooe r•eason or other, have fownd their way into the long and poi,gnarut history of the Slovak people." Basically, the author attempts to expo.se the myths that (1) the Czechs a•nd tlhe Slovaks are now and always have been a cultural, linguishc and nationau uniity; (2) that Czedh◊'"Slova!lda was the "picture demdcracy" of the post-Versailles Europe; and (3,) that the S1'ovak Repu[Jjlilc was not a natural d·e vclopment in the histocy of the Slovak people. The author gaithered many availalb le s-ources and inv,e stigated arguments pro and con to prove his points and draw his conclusions, and they .ire mostly correct. His scy1e is clear and plain. Studenlts di history, un.fiortunatel,y, may be inconivenienced in the a["rangement of ref.erences, which the allllthor mentions at the end of tJhe book a<nd will mi1Ss footnotes. Since the thesis of a distinct national, cultural and linguistic Slo\'ak enrtity has been generally aooepted in recent years, the autho,r will! not encouIJ1ter much objection on this point from the students od' Central European history. HoweveT, as for t'he ''<pictmre democracy" olf pre,wair Czecho.:slo"'1kia, many readers, aocustome'd •to the sta·ndardized picture presented for over fourr decades in so milillY wofiks, may hesi'taite to accept P,rof. Oddo's ,n,ewcypresented ve·r sion, ev,e n though it has been corrolborated by the views of C. A. Ma1Cartney, H. A. Gilbbons, F . Lee Benns, and some Slovak historians or by suich "Czechoslovak" politicians a,s the for- mer Premier MiJ.a,n Rodi.a (in his. Federation of Central Europe). The most di'Dfiicult task for American readers and students. of modern hiistoriY will be, of course, to· accept Prod'. Oddo's inte11pretation of the origin and politkal organization od' the Slowik Repulblic which emerged in Central Eui-o,pe on Mairch 14, 1009,. aifter Olecho-JS1'oviakia had been abandCl'Iled art; Muni!ch by the Eu,ro,pean Great P-O<Wers, a,nd thus. left rut the mercy of Hitler's Germany. The war pl'opag•a nda and several symposia, inspired mostlry by eimLgre poli'ticians and intellectuals, injected into the minds .of millions who fought German exipansion am adverse image oif Sloviaki,a and her wartime existe,nice as a Repulblic. ]t cannot be assumed ,t hat Rr.of. Oddo's book will su:fifice to exipel aH the mtYths aioorut the or~g,m, interna<tional recogruition and war pooicy of the Slovak Repulbli'c, which had allre,ady penetm<ted into the Ameirican hi:storiograiphy, before several seri•ous and comprehensive wor-ks were written on the ba,s is of scholariLy r,e search and 1nlteirnaitio,n,al ddcwments. The diidlf<i:culty ror Canadian and Amerilcan readei-s in aclcepting P<raf. Oddo's inter,pretation od' ·t he Slovalk Repu:blic will perh'<!.lps be greatly reduced in li:ght af present-day Aaneri<ean policy and heav.y responsihility tn prevenrtJ1ng newly •i ndependent small artd buffer countries fir,o m either being eX1¢0Jted by orr seeking proteotion in a/Jiliance or aid from adrvers.a,ries attemptin:g to upset the bal:mce of power. Slovakia and Its People com- prises twelve chayters and, in addition to outl<ines cxf historical events, it deals also with the oultul"al and elconomilc liife of Slo~ v,aikia. One charpter deals with SLovak emtg,r ation and its role in Slovaik naltionail lilre. Severall mlllPS, �SLOVAKIA bi'bliogl'arpbiy and index add to the value of the book which, conitain·i.n,g the basic in,formation about Sloviakia and the Slovaks in a popular rather bhan scholarlry style, is a new contr~bution to English written literatul'e on Sfovailcia and has its va1ue for Oil"· diina[1y re•a ders as well as for scholars. J. M. Kirschbaum, Unw,er,silty of Montreall. (A re!pcint from Sfavic and East Eurropeam, Etudies, Vol. V'I, Part I-TI, Montreal, 1'962). )Jg H. )Jg )Jg G. Adler: Die Jude n in Deutschland. From the Enlightenment to Nationa,l SoMucialism. Kosel-Verlag, nich, 1960; 1718 pp., DM 6.80. Nationial Socialism produced no, thing rea:&liy new, particularly antiSemitism, alth-0ug,h it remained for said regiime to exercise it in tihe modern age in a•n arpocaty.ptic way. H. G. Adler is a Jew .fu--0m Pra,gue, survivor of the concentration camps oif 'l\h&esienstadt and Auschwitz, who has arua:yq;ed the origins oi anti-Semitism, the Emancipation, and the plight of the Jews in Germany. The results af the author's e.ndea,v-0r are procu,r,a ble in a small book proli,filc with quotes and sources. Adler candidly acknowledges tha't durin1g the Middle A,g.es a Jewish prdblem was possilble only in Gernnany because the European naJtionrul States, ruf. ter a period of severe oppression "divested themselves of their Jews" by means of expu]sio,n,, England in 1200, France in li306, (,a,n d after ,temrpora,r,y readmitta'Ilce, a.g ain in moo), Spain in 1492 and Portugal in 1497." IHa'tred of tihe Jews was due for centuries to their belonging to a dilfifer-elllt religion,; the sol u- 77 tion laiY ther,e fore in conversion to Christianity or by remedying their "otherness." Heine spoke of his rbaiptism as the "ticket of adm[ssion to EUI'O'Pean cul'twre." Yet the position of the Jews in German,y was as varied as the ver,y diirversilfied nature of the First Reich itsellf. As lalte as 18'17. for example, the English prov:ince of Haillil<)lVer quite firmly resisted the proposed emancipation oif the Jews which had been souwht by Ohristians and Jews alilke ever since the Enlightenment. Amter the founding of the Second Reich re!Lgious dimference was, to be su'l"e, no longer the tr-ue cause of anti-semitism, fur i.n, the Bismarclci-an constitution one's religious alffiliation wa-s irrelevant. Adler ciites in addiltion to the long-standing religious aspect of the Jewish question German anH-Semites like the BexHn cour't preacher StockeQ", the Viennese Btirgermeister Lueger, Richa,r d Wa-gner, Lagarde, and FrLtsch. Accord!ing to these a pe,rsom.'s race and not reliigion was the cause of anti.Jewish feclilnlg. One noites a breach in devclopm~nts that is not bridged by any explanation and one wonders wlh,y this sooprising ohange. Was it due to the rapid increase aifrer 187'1 of Jeiwi9h ba,nki,n,g and trading firms, the en:tirance of Jewish laiw,y ers, doctors and teaichers .into 1Pr-01fessions ,t hat had been barred to them hrither.to? Was ilt due to envy of their quick so-cial climb? Even ducing the period of rcli,gious anlti.Jiewish hatred the C'll!rse 'IJ!is blood be on us and on our chi'ldren" was not the sole reason for tJhe pogiroms, bult a'lso the desire to be rid of the annoyi111g oreditors. A similar trend developed i.n many large German cities in the "golden twenties." German anti-Semitism, in the �78 SLOVAKIA final! anal'Ysis, has come to be a stain not only on the name dI Germany for years to coone but has actually estram,g ed one of the most M'dent German prataigonists thrnughO'Ut the world, the German speaking J ews. Adler's book sh01Ws •primariliy, too, th•e zeal with which the Gerunan Jews all o·v er the world were read1Y to serve t!h•eir people, a fact whioh is seldom reim.embered toda'Y. 1 L. Rainalter. 31: 31: 31: Robert Kee: Refugee World, Oxford University Press, London., 11961-; '1531 pag,es. " ... to h-av•e been a refugee over a lo'lllg period of years is to hav-e built up an inner world cxf feelirug and experience dI which the outsider ca,n often have liittle idea. " Dt is this inner woI"ld, as ~hl as tihe outer world, that Mr. Kee brings to the r,e ader in a s·eries of peI"sonal visits to refugees in German'Y aind Al\lS'tlria, in camps, in private huts, in aibandoned buses, wherever th•ey happen to be. One irnimediateliy feels one is chatting with Ulmcinia•ns, Slo:viaks,, Ju,goslaivs, Boles, Riumanians, wi1fh •ex,pe1lees, displaced persons, aind with escapees. Possessed oif a rare power of descrifption, aruthor Eee makes every new contact with his c·haracters a unique experience. Unfortunat,e is Mr. Kee's relferenJc,e to an elder,ly couple he visited in TI"aiskirchen, Austr\i•a, as "Czech Volksdellltscbe." The designation "Czech Volksdeutsche" is a misnomer, for the very word "V:olkdsd·eultoohie" means ethnic Germa,ns, and, in this case, Volilcsdeutsche from Czecho-&lovakia coulld only be ei'1lher S.udeten Germans or the German e11hnic peop1e from one of the v•airious "language islands" withirn Czecho- Slovalcia, e .g., Spisska Nova Ves or the (Spls) Mountain region. SHgh'tl'Y painful is th-e second incorr.e!ct r,eference ,to the s-aane couple as "the old Czech cou~le who had wailk•e d out dI Communist Czecho.,S}ov-akia because the aruthorities had tried to suggest that they should do heaV1Y work to keep a'1iive." Painlful because tlhe VoLksdeutsche, Sude'ten Germans, and a.11 other "expellees od' German ethnic origin" were expressly denied any of the ands a1lotted to other displ,aced pffsons (.DPs) under the IIRIO (lnternahonal Refugee Or.ganization) character, for the sole reason that they wer,e German. '11he clause that stipulated thei,r exolus1on, pla,ced them in the same bracket with ''Nazis and criminals." The outstanding featur.e of Mr. Kee's book is its drive,home power which acqualints the reader not with viague and shad'O'W(Y forms but wit,h flesh a,n d blood men, women and children. Graitifyi111g is the fair ev>a,luation of Germany's part in ha1n,dling the refugee prdlllem that the CO'Untry w:as •coruiironted with in its own p!"ostra·t e post,war condition when rougMy nine mil11lion German eXJpellees from the Gocman East were shum,ted into the country to be housed, alothed, £ed and employed. Mr. Kee says: "It is poinUess to say tha.t the Germans had themselv,es inflicted :liar more terr.ilble sulflferirug on even more people or, wlhat is also true, thalt the vast majority ru the GeI"mans on whom this suif£ering was now infilicted had tacitly approved dI such things being done to other people im, the daiys when to be •a good German was to be a good Nlazi. Hoth mass deportations were crimes against humanity pei,pe'tr.i.'ted for selfish politicall interes'ts." A point one might take ex.cep- �SLOVAKIA tion to the statement tha,t "the crime against the e~e11ed Germa,ns ... was one moo:-,e of indiilferenx:e rather tlham, caliculatiion, as the Nia:lli-s' crimes had been." These inlfCJII'lmed, know too well that Edlwar<l Bene!'; and his accompilii:ces planned meticulously the ex,pulsion Olf three and a hailif mil]ion, Sudeten Germarus and sa-i<l aJt& ordering their expuJS'ion: ''!Leave th-em om,Ly a han<lk.e:rchief to shed their tears in." The aulthor is an En,glishman wri'tling for Englli!sh r-eaders l)rimairily. This fact need not disturib other English-i1anguage readers for anyone whose interest runs froon simple humam, curiosity and corrupassion to social service field work an<l other refugee a,n d expellee exiperience in theory an<l pira:ctice wi1ll :filnd Mr. Kee's book arlive an<l iruformati:ve. Alppendix "A" giv-es a nut-shell aicqua,inltance with r,ediugee situ1aWlorl<l War El, lllnd Alppen,dix "B" with a few of the or.gan~zations workiing for refugees. M. E.W. li(! li(! li(! William L. Shirer: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A !History of Nazi Germany, Simon and Schuster, N. Y. , 1960; 124'5 pp., $10.00. In the guise of olbjective histocy this volume presents a harTowim,g, massiv,e but one-sided record of unrelieved Gernnan crimes an'd blunders. WilU.am L. Shirer, foreign correspon<lent and news commentator, is also on the boa,r d of diireotors of the "Society for the PI"evention of Wo·rl<l War m, Inc." of Wlhich Dorothy Thompson wrote (May 31, 11950) that it "has conduclted a systematic campaign a1gaimst any constructive peace with Gernianiy ... land vilifi.ed every person iln pulblic life who 79 tried to warn that procedure alon,g MorgenJthau lines wouild encomipa-ss the ruiTI olf Eur()ll)'e." Shirer does n:ot allow that the Versailles Treacy was unjust (p. 58). He states that "Nazism -a nd the Third Reic-h, in fiact were but a lo.g ica,l conltinuation otf German history" (p. 90). His piling up otf Nia7li crimes, faLling to put them iin, perspective with the crimes otf the opponents, never in fad!; a•lludin,g to the worst Soviet crimes, such as their brutal population transfers and their mass ra,ping otf not only German but -a lso Hungarian and Austrian woonen, seem calculated to· make any wruwacy rea'd er hate more than ever the Gemna-n people - now our allies who tOilerated the monstrous Nazis, and to think of the equally monstrous Bolsheviks, now ou<r cold war enemies, as reaHy not so bad! [n pa1ges on the Nazi abuse of SOIV'iet and Poli&h prisoners of wair he does not once al1ude to the Soviet mass murder of Poli-sh odificers at Kllltyn. He never mantions General Vlassov an<l his insurgent Russi·a ns who preferred fighting for the Germans to Living under the Soviets. IHe gives good information on sev,era,l German attempts to remove Hit-Ioer, three even before '11941, but he maikes no r-etfeir.e nce to the Morgenthau plan, Communist-inspired, which was oalcu4ated to d!'i'Ve the Germans to desperate resistance instead of revo:llt. F<o,r the rest, d-e spite distorti-ons and some cuea,r fa~sehoods, there is much interesiting inlformart,ion in the book. Hitler is depicted as an uncanrny genius, almoslt purirtan, fa,niatical<Ly warped on loyalty and honoir, pathologica.U,y anti.iBolshevik and anti-JewiSl'h, aibsolute.cy a.g ainst war with the West, but certaionl,y plotting it ag,a'inst Poland and Russia. �SLOVAKIA Readirug of Hitler's crimes •a nd tilunders in d,etail, deducting firom facts that truly morail statesmaill• s'hiiip anywhere .from .l ,91\8 on could have prevenlted the colossal miseey of World War IiI and aft:er, makes on,e feel aibout the human raJCe as Sw.ilflt did. 'In sum: more .harmful than good e,ocept for trained historians. A. J. App. ~ )lg )lg Ernst Bil'ke and Kurit Oberdorifer: Das bohmische Staatsrecht in chischen gen des hunderts, den deu,t sch-tscheAuseinandersetzu n• 19. und 20. Jahrpulblished 1960 by N. D. Elwert Verla.g, Mia,rburg-Lahn; 147 pp. The book a.fifers four a51Pects on the question otf historic Boh•emian State Ri<glhts. While Richaro P1aschkia presents the Cz.ooh point of view, Helmut Slalmicka deals with the German side of the question. EU/gen LemJberg writes on the Ozeich corucepts of n,ation and State ideology. Kurt Riabl searehes into t:he legal aspects and co.ruf.r onts the "histock State rights" wilth the r1ghts otf seLfdetermination at the time when Czecho-Sllovalk<ia was created. One k•e y to understamding Cz.ech--German rel-ations, accords and discords, is to stud:y the concept od' Bo'h emian State rights. Bohemia, a const1tutional erntity within the dld Haibsbur,g Empire was partly inhalbited by Czechs and partly by Germans. One of the debated questions wi.thin thre two nation.s wa.s whether the country should be divlided into two administrative regions, a Czech and a German one, or wthether it should be ~ept as an administrativ,e u n i try. Althoog'h opinions w-ere diivided in both the Czech aind the German camps, it can be said that, as a general rule, the Czechs tri,ed to maintain the feudailist concept of "orownJ:and Bohemia" as a consUtutional entity, while the Gernnans found that nat ional and politicail developments in bhe niineteenth century made obsolete the oo.d conoopts of State r.iights. They striived for an administrative division of Bohemia into Geriman and Czec!h districts. lt ma,y be safe1y said todary in retr,ospeict that an administrative diivision otf Bohemia into a German and a Ozech part mright havre saved the country aind both nations from m11.uneroos nationa[ r,i valries and fruitless struggles. 11he historry of Bohemi'a and with it ,t he history otf Czecho-Slovakia might haive taken a different course, if the old feudal1st concept od' historic Bohemian State riglhts would have been replaced in time by a reailistirc arnd liibera,l ooncept of national equality amd administrative separation. People who give thought to a reorg,a nization of EuirO'l)e on t,he basis od' sellf-.deternnination ,md justice wilil find the contr~butions of th·e aforementioned a,u thors irn "Das bohmische Sta-atsre<:ht" most informative aind a rich soorce for historic or interna,tional studies. In add~tion, copious footnotes provide a fine bi'bliograiphiy on the tOlpiC. - A. W. Kozarovcie im, Slovakia has a farm cooperative that is not doJng so wel[. According to Stefan Hano of Nitra (iPravda, Jian. 1:5, 1962), the young peopJ.e have run otff to the faotory in TlmaCJie arnd bhose over fifty spend more time as musicians, playing at weddings, birtbdays, anniiversarires, etc., than as farm workers. Thek favorite tum,e: "Neorem, nesejem, vsetko samo sa mi rodi" (I plOIW not, I sow not, everything g,r ,ows by itself for me)! �Officers of the Slovak League of America (Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio) Honorary Presiden ts I 4, Michael S-as Msgr. F. J. Dubosh, P.A. 3803 Cresson Street Philadelphia 27, Pa. 12608 Madison Avenue Lakewood 7, hio Joseph Dr. Peter P. H letko "' George Kantor President Ph i lip A. Hrobak i. Klucar 1617 Alameda Avenu e Lakewood 7, Ohio Batavia R d., Box 48 Warrensville, Ill. 281 Hollywood Ave. New York ol, N. Y. P. 0 . Box 150 Midd letown, P a. ADVISORY COUNCIL Vice-P resi dents Joseph Bendik John P. 0. Box 230 Uniontown, Pa. A. Sabo l National President First Catholic Slovak Un ion Ju l ia Krajcovic Helen Kocan 1648 W . 18th S t r eet Chicago 8, Ill. National P resident First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union Recording Secretary John Horecky Paul 2264 Walton Ave. New York 53, N. Y. Fallat National President Slovak Catholic Sokol Secretary-T reas ur er Paul C. Kazimer Stephen J, Tkach 1122 Sylvan Avenue Homestead, Pa. National President Pa. Catholic Slovak Union EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE An,na Sotak National President Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union Paul P. Jamriska 536 Mari e Ave. Pitts burgh 2, Pa. Emrich Valko Andrew Hudak National President SloV'ak Catholic Cad e t Union 15701 Bennett Rd. No. Royalton 33, Ohio SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS (Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) JEDNOTA SLOVENSKA OBRANA ZENSKA JEDNOTA Mid dletown , Pa. Scran ton , P a. Cleveland, Ohio BRATSTVO SLOVENSKE NOVINY ZORNlCKA Cleveland, Oh io Scranton, Pa. KATOLiCKY SOKOL SVORNOST OSADNE HLASY Passaic, N. J. Whita ker. Pa . Chicago, Ill. Wilkes-Barr e, Pa. SLOVAK V AMERIKE Mi ddletown , P a. �SLOVAKIA: The city of Kremnica, famous for its gold and silver mines, minted money for cenh•ries. Castle and City Hall in the foreground. � SLOVAKIA 75 to arrange not only additional arms allotments but munition for the tanks and artillery guns and the exchange of more officers and specialists. At the beginning of 1961, at least 200 Cubans went to Czecho-Slovakia to get practical experience in larger industries there. While the Czechs are doing everything they can to aid material ends, they are also trying to ,p ut a peaceful foot forward by sponsoring expositions in Havana. Plans for these shows were prepared by the Brno architects Denk and Pospisil. The Czechs want to show the Cubans just what socialism looks like. They will display all kinds of Czech export goods including Prague hams, Pilsner beer, all kinds of machinery and, of course, their brand of plum brandy (Slivovice). BOOK REVIEWS Gilbert L. Oddo: Slovakia and Its ' the form of yet unpublished ma,People, New York, Speller ' nuSC'l'lipts. and Sons, Inc., 1960, xi-361 IReviewirug the end results, one pp., $6.00. can, be grateful fur Prof. Oddo's Prolfessor Oddo, a native-fuoirn limit_a~o.ns, whitc'h forced him to Amerkan, undertook a dilflficult , a di.iif1~~lt process of research and demanding task in copinlg . and w:iiiltmg, as they wo:iik t~ !he with a phase of the history of a I a~va•nt~ge of t?~ reader, proVId~ng country whose la!llguage he lh'as I him with a cri~ical_ Slovak version the country s h1s'toriy from the no't mastered and to whose na- / tional arehives and otJher insti- n,mbh centu,r y to the present day. tuti«ms he has never had access. ,• ~ddo's version, m~ed~y ?1>jectConseq,uenrtly, in an olbje'ctive a,p- 1ve and compreh~~s1ve rn its asproa'Oh, he had to rely on sources s~s;1111e~_t ai:id critique of Slo~,a(scarce as they are) pulbHshed in k1a s Justoncal mov~ents, ~ill, English and French. In am,a,1,yzing I ~ c?urse, .con-trast w1'tlh previous Professors works in the Slovak la•n,guage, or 1nteripre'tahons lby studying documents in the airch- T,homson, Busek-sipullber, K~rner, ives o,f S,lova•k cultural assolcia- etc., w.ho were markedly mflutions in America, (there are over eniced hY C~ech sources. bwo million Americans of Slovak 1 '.Ilhe history of Slovakia is a suiboru,gin, wiitJh a scor,e of associa- ject which, in languages other tions, newspaiperis and period'ica1's), than Slovak, was until recen'tly he was aided, arccordi,ng to his given the silent treaJtrrnent; and severa'l the little that was reported was by aclcnO'Wlledgeimenlts, Slov,ak intellectua,ls, professors done so i.nicompetently and withand linguists, teachiong at Canadian out adequate rese'areh, and - in not and American universities, and by I Professor Oddo's views their English language works in without unnecessary pa-ejudice. '°~ I �76 SLOVAKIA His book will, theirefore, nalburally stimllllate controversies. By his own ad'mi!ssfon in the Introduction to his wock, Prof.essor Oddo saw tlhat part o:f his task lay in hrupintg to "exipos·e and exiped myths which, for ooe r•eason or other, have fownd their way into the long and poi,gnarut history of the Slovak people." Basically, the author attempts to expo.se the myths that (1) the Czechs a•nd tlhe Slovaks are now and always have been a cultural, linguishc and nationau uniity; (2) that Czedh◊'"Slova!lda was the "picture demdcracy" of the post-Versailles Europe; and (3,) that the S1'ovak Repu[Jjlilc was not a natural d·e vclopment in the histocy of the Slovak people. The author gaithered many availalb le s-ources and inv,e stigated arguments pro and con to prove his points and draw his conclusions, and they .ire mostly correct. His scy1e is clear and plain. Studenlts di history, un.fiortunatel,y, may be inconivenienced in the a["rangement of ref.erences, which the allllthor mentions at the end of tJhe book a<nd will mi1Ss footnotes. Since the thesis of a distinct national, cultural and linguistic Slo\'ak enrtity has been generally aooepted in recent years, the autho,r will! not encouIJ1ter much objection on this point from the students od' Central European history. HoweveT, as for t'he ''<pictmre democracy" olf pre,wair Czecho.:slo"'1kia, many readers, aocustome'd •to the sta·ndardized picture presented for over fourr decades in so milillY wofiks, may hesi'taite to accept P,rof. Oddo's ,n,ewcypresented ve·r sion, ev,e n though it has been corrolborated by the views of C. A. Ma1Cartney, H. A. Gilbbons, F . Lee Benns, and some Slovak historians or by suich "Czechoslovak" politicians a,s the for- mer Premier MiJ.a,n Rodi.a (in his. Federation of Central Europe). The most di'Dfiicult task for American readers and students. of modern hiistoriY will be, of course, to· accept Prod'. Oddo's inte11pretation of the origin and politkal organization od' the Slowik Repulblic which emerged in Central Eui-o,pe on Mairch 14, 1009,. aifter Olecho-JS1'oviakia had been abandCl'Iled art; Muni!ch by the Eu,ro,pean Great P-O<Wers, a,nd thus. left rut the mercy of Hitler's Germany. The war pl'opag•a nda and several symposia, inspired mostlry by eimLgre poli'ticians and intellectuals, injected into the minds .of millions who fought German exipansion am adverse image oif Sloviaki,a and her wartime existe,nice as a Repulblic. ]t cannot be assumed ,t hat Rr.of. Oddo's book will su:fifice to exipel aH the mtYths aioorut the or~g,m, interna<tional recogruition and war pooicy of the Slovak Repulbli'c, which had allre,ady penetm<ted into the Ameirican hi:storiograiphy, before several seri•ous and comprehensive wor-ks were written on the ba,s is of scholariLy r,e search and 1nlteirnaitio,n,al ddcwments. The diidlf<i:culty ror Canadian and Amerilcan readei-s in aclcepting P<raf. Oddo's inter,pretation od' ·t he Slovalk Repu:blic will perh'<!.lps be greatly reduced in li:ght af present-day Aaneri<ean policy and heav.y responsihility tn prevenrtJ1ng newly •i ndependent small artd buffer countries fir,o m either being eX1¢0Jted by orr seeking proteotion in a/Jiliance or aid from adrvers.a,ries attemptin:g to upset the bal:mce of power. Slovakia and Its People com- prises twelve chayters and, in addition to outl<ines cxf historical events, it deals also with the oultul"al and elconomilc liife of Slo~ v,aikia. One charpter deals with SLovak emtg,r ation and its role in Slovaik naltionail lilre. Severall mlllPS, �SLOVAKIA bi'bliogl'arpbiy and index add to the value of the book which, conitain·i.n,g the basic in,formation about Sloviakia and the Slovaks in a popular rather bhan scholarlry style, is a new contr~bution to English written literatul'e on Sfovailcia and has its va1ue for Oil"· diina[1y re•a ders as well as for scholars. J. M. Kirschbaum, Unw,er,silty of Montreall. (A re!pcint from Sfavic and East Eurropeam, Etudies, Vol. V'I, Part I-TI, Montreal, 1'962). )Jg H. )Jg )Jg G. Adler: Die Jude n in Deutschland. From the Enlightenment to Nationa,l SoMucialism. Kosel-Verlag, nich, 1960; 1718 pp., DM 6.80. Nationial Socialism produced no, thing rea:&liy new, particularly antiSemitism, alth-0ug,h it remained for said regiime to exercise it in tihe modern age in a•n arpocaty.ptic way. H. G. Adler is a Jew .fu--0m Pra,gue, survivor of the concentration camps oif 'l\h&esienstadt and Auschwitz, who has arua:yq;ed the origins oi anti-Semitism, the Emancipation, and the plight of the Jews in Germany. The results af the author's e.ndea,v-0r are procu,r,a ble in a small book proli,filc with quotes and sources. Adler candidly acknowledges tha't durin1g the Middle A,g.es a Jewish prdblem was possilble only in Gernnany because the European naJtionrul States, ruf. ter a period of severe oppression "divested themselves of their Jews" by means of expu]sio,n,, England in 1200, France in li306, (,a,n d after ,temrpora,r,y readmitta'Ilce, a.g ain in moo), Spain in 1492 and Portugal in 1497." IHa'tred of tihe Jews was due for centuries to their belonging to a dilfifer-elllt religion,; the sol u- 77 tion laiY ther,e fore in conversion to Christianity or by remedying their "otherness." Heine spoke of his rbaiptism as the "ticket of adm[ssion to EUI'O'Pean cul'twre." Yet the position of the Jews in German,y was as varied as the ver,y diirversilfied nature of the First Reich itsellf. As lalte as 18'17. for example, the English prov:ince of Haillil<)lVer quite firmly resisted the proposed emancipation oif the Jews which had been souwht by Ohristians and Jews alilke ever since the Enlightenment. Amter the founding of the Second Reich re!Lgious dimference was, to be su'l"e, no longer the tr-ue cause of anti-semitism, fur i.n, the Bismarclci-an constitution one's religious alffiliation wa-s irrelevant. Adler ciites in addiltion to the long-standing religious aspect of the Jewish question German anH-Semites like the BexHn cour't preacher StockeQ", the Viennese Btirgermeister Lueger, Richa,r d Wa-gner, Lagarde, and FrLtsch. Accord!ing to these a pe,rsom.'s race and not reliigion was the cause of anti.Jewish feclilnlg. One noites a breach in devclopm~nts that is not bridged by any explanation and one wonders wlh,y this sooprising ohange. Was it due to the rapid increase aifrer 187'1 of Jeiwi9h ba,nki,n,g and trading firms, the en:tirance of Jewish laiw,y ers, doctors and teaichers .into 1Pr-01fessions ,t hat had been barred to them hrither.to? Was ilt due to envy of their quick so-cial climb? Even ducing the period of rcli,gious anlti.Jiewish hatred the C'll!rse 'IJ!is blood be on us and on our chi'ldren" was not the sole reason for tJhe pogiroms, bult a'lso the desire to be rid of the annoyi111g oreditors. A similar trend developed i.n many large German cities in the "golden twenties." German anti-Semitism, in the �78 SLOVAKIA final! anal'Ysis, has come to be a stain not only on the name dI Germany for years to coone but has actually estram,g ed one of the most M'dent German prataigonists thrnughO'Ut the world, the German speaking J ews. Adler's book sh01Ws •primariliy, too, th•e zeal with which the Gerunan Jews all o·v er the world were read1Y to serve t!h•eir people, a fact whioh is seldom reim.embered toda'Y. 1 L. Rainalter. 31: 31: 31: Robert Kee: Refugee World, Oxford University Press, London., 11961-; '1531 pag,es. " ... to h-av•e been a refugee over a lo'lllg period of years is to hav-e built up an inner world cxf feelirug and experience dI which the outsider ca,n often have liittle idea. " Dt is this inner woI"ld, as ~hl as tihe outer world, that Mr. Kee brings to the r,e ader in a s·eries of peI"sonal visits to refugees in German'Y aind Al\lS'tlria, in camps, in private huts, in aibandoned buses, wherever th•ey happen to be. One irnimediateliy feels one is chatting with Ulmcinia•ns, Slo:viaks,, Ju,goslaivs, Boles, Riumanians, wi1fh •ex,pe1lees, displaced persons, aind with escapees. Possessed oif a rare power of descrifption, aruthor Eee makes every new contact with his c·haracters a unique experience. Unfortunat,e is Mr. Kee's relferenJc,e to an elder,ly couple he visited in TI"aiskirchen, Austr\i•a, as "Czech Volksdellltscbe." The designation "Czech Volksdeutsche" is a misnomer, for the very word "V:olkdsd·eultoohie" means ethnic Germa,ns, and, in this case, Volilcsdeutsche from Czecho-&lovakia coulld only be ei'1lher S.udeten Germans or the German e11hnic peop1e from one of the v•airious "language islands" withirn Czecho- Slovalcia, e .g., Spisska Nova Ves or the (Spls) Mountain region. SHgh'tl'Y painful is th-e second incorr.e!ct r,eference ,to the s-aane couple as "the old Czech cou~le who had wailk•e d out dI Communist Czecho.,S}ov-akia because the aruthorities had tried to suggest that they should do heaV1Y work to keep a'1iive." Painlful because tlhe VoLksdeutsche, Sude'ten Germans, and a.11 other "expellees od' German ethnic origin" were expressly denied any of the ands a1lotted to other displ,aced pffsons (.DPs) under the IIRIO (lnternahonal Refugee Or.ganization) character, for the sole reason that they wer,e German. '11he clause that stipulated thei,r exolus1on, pla,ced them in the same bracket with ''Nazis and criminals." The outstanding featur.e of Mr. Kee's book is its drive,home power which acqualints the reader not with viague and shad'O'W(Y forms but wit,h flesh a,n d blood men, women and children. Graitifyi111g is the fair ev>a,luation of Germany's part in ha1n,dling the refugee prdlllem that the CO'Untry w:as •coruiironted with in its own p!"ostra·t e post,war condition when rougMy nine mil11lion German eXJpellees from the Gocman East were shum,ted into the country to be housed, alothed, £ed and employed. Mr. Kee says: "It is poinUess to say tha.t the Germans had themselv,es inflicted :liar more terr.ilble sulflferirug on even more people or, wlhat is also true, thalt the vast majority ru the GeI"mans on whom this suif£ering was now infilicted had tacitly approved dI such things being done to other people im, the daiys when to be •a good German was to be a good Nlazi. Hoth mass deportations were crimes against humanity pei,pe'tr.i.'ted for selfish politicall interes'ts." A point one might take ex.cep- �SLOVAKIA tion to the statement tha,t "the crime against the e~e11ed Germa,ns ... was one moo:-,e of indiilferenx:e rather tlham, caliculatiion, as the Nia:lli-s' crimes had been." These inlfCJII'lmed, know too well that Edlwar<l Bene!'; and his accompilii:ces planned meticulously the ex,pulsion Olf three and a hailif mil]ion, Sudeten Germarus and sa-i<l aJt& ordering their expuJS'ion: ''!Leave th-em om,Ly a han<lk.e:rchief to shed their tears in." The aulthor is an En,glishman wri'tling for Englli!sh r-eaders l)rimairily. This fact need not disturib other English-i1anguage readers for anyone whose interest runs froon simple humam, curiosity and corrupassion to social service field work an<l other refugee a,n d expellee exiperience in theory an<l pira:ctice wi1ll :filnd Mr. Kee's book arlive an<l iruformati:ve. Alppendix "A" giv-es a nut-shell aicqua,inltance with r,ediugee situ1aWlorl<l War El, lllnd Alppen,dix "B" with a few of the or.gan~zations workiing for refugees. M. E.W. li(! li(! li(! William L. Shirer: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A !History of Nazi Germany, Simon and Schuster, N. Y. , 1960; 124'5 pp., $10.00. In the guise of olbjective histocy this volume presents a harTowim,g, massiv,e but one-sided record of unrelieved Gernnan crimes an'd blunders. WilU.am L. Shirer, foreign correspon<lent and news commentator, is also on the boa,r d of diireotors of the "Society for the PI"evention of Wo·rl<l War m, Inc." of Wlhich Dorothy Thompson wrote (May 31, 11950) that it "has conduclted a systematic campaign a1gaimst any constructive peace with Gernianiy ... land vilifi.ed every person iln pulblic life who 79 tried to warn that procedure alon,g MorgenJthau lines wouild encomipa-ss the ruiTI olf Eur()ll)'e." Shirer does n:ot allow that the Versailles Treacy was unjust (p. 58). He states that "Nazism -a nd the Third Reic-h, in fiact were but a lo.g ica,l conltinuation otf German history" (p. 90). His piling up otf Nia7li crimes, faLling to put them iin, perspective with the crimes otf the opponents, never in fad!; a•lludin,g to the worst Soviet crimes, such as their brutal population transfers and their mass ra,ping otf not only German but -a lso Hungarian and Austrian woonen, seem calculated to· make any wruwacy rea'd er hate more than ever the Gemna-n people - now our allies who tOilerated the monstrous Nazis, and to think of the equally monstrous Bolsheviks, now ou<r cold war enemies, as reaHy not so bad! [n pa1ges on the Nazi abuse of SOIV'iet and Poli&h prisoners of wair he does not once al1ude to the Soviet mass murder of Poli-sh odificers at Kllltyn. He never mantions General Vlassov an<l his insurgent Russi·a ns who preferred fighting for the Germans to Living under the Soviets. IHe gives good information on sev,era,l German attempts to remove Hit-Ioer, three even before '11941, but he maikes no r-etfeir.e nce to the Morgenthau plan, Communist-inspired, which was oalcu4ated to d!'i'Ve the Germans to desperate resistance instead of revo:llt. F<o,r the rest, d-e spite distorti-ons and some cuea,r fa~sehoods, there is much interesiting inlformart,ion in the book. Hitler is depicted as an uncanrny genius, almoslt purirtan, fa,niatical<Ly warped on loyalty and honoir, pathologica.U,y anti.iBolshevik and anti-JewiSl'h, aibsolute.cy a.g ainst war with the West, but certaionl,y plotting it ag,a'inst Poland and Russia. �SLOVAKIA Readirug of Hitler's crimes •a nd tilunders in d,etail, deducting firom facts that truly morail statesmaill• s'hiiip anywhere .from .l ,91\8 on could have prevenlted the colossal miseey of World War IiI and aft:er, makes on,e feel aibout the human raJCe as Sw.ilflt did. 'In sum: more .harmful than good e,ocept for trained historians. A. J. App. ~ )lg )lg Ernst Bil'ke and Kurit Oberdorifer: Das bohmische Staatsrecht in chischen gen des hunderts, den deu,t sch-tscheAuseinandersetzu n• 19. und 20. Jahrpulblished 1960 by N. D. Elwert Verla.g, Mia,rburg-Lahn; 147 pp. The book a.fifers four a51Pects on the question otf historic Boh•emian State Ri<glhts. While Richaro P1aschkia presents the Cz.ooh point of view, Helmut Slalmicka deals with the German side of the question. EU/gen LemJberg writes on the Ozeich corucepts of n,ation and State ideology. Kurt Riabl searehes into t:he legal aspects and co.ruf.r onts the "histock State rights" wilth the r1ghts otf seLfdetermination at the time when Czecho-Sllovalk<ia was created. One k•e y to understamding Cz.ech--German rel-ations, accords and discords, is to stud:y the concept od' Bo'h emian State rights. Bohemia, a const1tutional erntity within the dld Haibsbur,g Empire was partly inhalbited by Czechs and partly by Germans. One of the debated questions wi.thin thre two nation.s wa.s whether the country should be divlided into two administrative regions, a Czech and a German one, or wthether it should be ~ept as an administrativ,e u n i try. Althoog'h opinions w-ere diivided in both the Czech aind the German camps, it can be said that, as a general rule, the Czechs tri,ed to maintain the feudailist concept of "orownJ:and Bohemia" as a consUtutional entity, while the Gernnans found that nat ional and politicail developments in bhe niineteenth century made obsolete the oo.d conoopts of State r.iights. They striived for an administrative division of Bohemia into Geriman and Czec!h districts. lt ma,y be safe1y said todary in retr,ospeict that an administrative diivision otf Bohemia into a German and a Ozech part mright havre saved the country aind both nations from m11.uneroos nationa[ r,i valries and fruitless struggles. 11he historry of Bohemi'a and with it ,t he history otf Czecho-Slovakia might haive taken a different course, if the old feudal1st concept od' historic Bohemian State riglhts would have been replaced in time by a reailistirc arnd liibera,l ooncept of national equality amd administrative separation. People who give thought to a reorg,a nization of EuirO'l)e on t,he basis od' sellf-.deternnination ,md justice wilil find the contr~butions of th·e aforementioned a,u thors irn "Das bohmische Sta-atsre<:ht" most informative aind a rich soorce for historic or interna,tional studies. In add~tion, copious footnotes provide a fine bi'bliograiphiy on the tOlpiC. - A. W. Kozarovcie im, Slovakia has a farm cooperative that is not doJng so wel[. According to Stefan Hano of Nitra (iPravda, Jian. 1:5, 1962), the young peopJ.e have run otff to the faotory in TlmaCJie arnd bhose over fifty spend more time as musicians, playing at weddings, birtbdays, anniiversarires, etc., than as farm workers. Thek favorite tum,e: "Neorem, nesejem, vsetko samo sa mi rodi" (I plOIW not, I sow not, everything g,r ,ows by itself for me)! �Officers of the Slovak League of America (Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio) Honorary Presiden ts I 4, Michael S-as Msgr. F. J. Dubosh, P.A. 3803 Cresson Street Philadelphia 27, Pa. 12608 Madison Avenue Lakewood 7, hio Joseph Dr. Peter P. H letko "' George Kantor President Ph i lip A. Hrobak i. Klucar 1617 Alameda Avenu e Lakewood 7, Ohio Batavia R d., Box 48 Warrensville, Ill. 281 Hollywood Ave. New York ol, N. Y. P. 0 . Box 150 Midd letown, P a. ADVISORY COUNCIL Vice-P resi dents Joseph Bendik John P. 0. Box 230 Uniontown, Pa. A. Sabo l National President First Catholic Slovak Un ion Ju l ia Krajcovic Helen Kocan 1648 W . 18th S t r eet Chicago 8, Ill. National P resident First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union Recording Secretary John Horecky Paul 2264 Walton Ave. New York 53, N. Y. Fallat National President Slovak Catholic Sokol Secretary-T reas ur er Paul C. Kazimer Stephen J, Tkach 1122 Sylvan Avenue Homestead, Pa. National President Pa. Catholic Slovak Union EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE An,na Sotak National President Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union Paul P. Jamriska 536 Mari e Ave. Pitts burgh 2, Pa. Emrich Valko Andrew Hudak National President SloV'ak Catholic Cad e t Union 15701 Bennett Rd. No. Royalton 33, Ohio SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS (Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) JEDNOTA SLOVENSKA OBRANA ZENSKA JEDNOTA Mid dletown , Pa. Scran ton , P a. Cleveland, Ohio BRATSTVO SLOVENSKE NOVINY ZORNlCKA Cleveland, Oh io Scranton, Pa. KATOLiCKY SOKOL SVORNOST OSADNE HLASY Passaic, N. J. Whita ker. Pa . Chicago, Ill. Wilkes-Barr e, Pa. SLOVAK V AMERIKE Mi ddletown , P a. �SLOVAKIA: The city of Kremnica, famous for its gold and silver mines, minted money for cenh•ries. Castle and City Hall in the foreground. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 SLOVAKIA 75 to arrange not only additional arms allotments but munition for the tanks and artillery guns and the exchange of more officers and specialists. At the beginning of 1961, at least 200 Cubans went to Czecho-Slovakia to get practical experience in larger industries there. While the Czechs are doing everything they can to aid material ends, they are also trying to ,p ut a peaceful foot forward by sponsoring expositions in Havana. Plans for these shows were prepared by the Brno architects Denk and Pospisil. The Czechs want to show the Cubans just what socialism looks like. They will display all kinds of Czech export goods including Prague hams, Pilsner beer, all kinds of machinery and, of course, their brand of plum brandy (Slivovice). BOOK REVIEWS Gilbert L. Oddo: Slovakia and Its ' the form of yet unpublished ma,People, New York, Speller ' nuSC'l'lipts. and Sons, Inc., 1960, xi-361 IReviewirug the end results, one pp., $6.00. can, be grateful fur Prof. Oddo's Prolfessor Oddo, a native-fuoirn limit_a~o.ns, whitc'h forced him to Amerkan, undertook a dilflficult , a di.iif1~~lt process of research and demanding task in copinlg . and w:iiiltmg, as they wo:iik t~ !he with a phase of the history of a I a~va•nt~ge of t?~ reader, proVId~ng country whose la!llguage he lh'as I him with a cri~ical_ Slovak version the country s h1s'toriy from the no't mastered and to whose na- / tional arehives and otJher insti- n,mbh centu,r y to the present day. tuti«ms he has never had access. ,• ~ddo's version, m~ed~y ?1>jectConseq,uenrtly, in an olbje'ctive a,p- 1ve and compreh~~s1ve rn its asproa'Oh, he had to rely on sources s~s;1111e~_t ai:id critique of Slo~,a(scarce as they are) pulbHshed in k1a s Justoncal mov~ents, ~ill, English and French. In am,a,1,yzing I ~ c?urse, .con-trast w1'tlh previous Professors works in the Slovak la•n,guage, or 1nteripre'tahons lby studying documents in the airch- T,homson, Busek-sipullber, K~rner, ives o,f S,lova•k cultural assolcia- etc., w.ho were markedly mflutions in America, (there are over eniced hY C~ech sources. bwo million Americans of Slovak 1 '.Ilhe history of Slovakia is a suiboru,gin, wiitJh a scor,e of associa- ject which, in languages other tions, newspaiperis and period'ica1's), than Slovak, was until recen'tly he was aided, arccordi,ng to his given the silent treaJtrrnent; and severa'l the little that was reported was by aclcnO'Wlledgeimenlts, Slov,ak intellectua,ls, professors done so i.nicompetently and withand linguists, teachiong at Canadian out adequate rese'areh, and - in not and American universities, and by I Professor Oddo's views their English language works in without unnecessary pa-ejudice. '°~ I 76 SLOVAKIA His book will, theirefore, nalburally stimllllate controversies. By his own ad'mi!ssfon in the Introduction to his wock, Prof.essor Oddo saw tlhat part o:f his task lay in hrupintg to "exipos·e and exiped myths which, for ooe r•eason or other, have fownd their way into the long and poi,gnarut history of the Slovak people." Basically, the author attempts to expo.se the myths that (1) the Czechs a•nd tlhe Slovaks are now and always have been a cultural, linguishc and nationau uniity; (2) that Czedh◊'"Slova!lda was the "picture demdcracy" of the post-Versailles Europe; and (3,) that the S1'ovak Repu[Jjlilc was not a natural d·e vclopment in the histocy of the Slovak people. The author gaithered many availalb le s-ources and inv,e stigated arguments pro and con to prove his points and draw his conclusions, and they .ire mostly correct. His scy1e is clear and plain. Studenlts di history, un.fiortunatel,y, may be inconivenienced in the a["rangement of ref.erences, which the allllthor mentions at the end of tJhe book a<nd will mi1Ss footnotes. Since the thesis of a distinct national, cultural and linguistic Slo\'ak enrtity has been generally aooepted in recent years, the autho,r will! not encouIJ1ter much objection on this point from the students od' Central European history. HoweveT, as for t'he ''<pictmre democracy" olf pre,wair Czecho.:slo"'1kia, many readers, aocustome'd •to the sta·ndardized picture presented for over fourr decades in so milillY wofiks, may hesi'taite to accept P,rof. Oddo's ,n,ewcypresented ve·r sion, ev,e n though it has been corrolborated by the views of C. A. Ma1Cartney, H. A. Gilbbons, F . Lee Benns, and some Slovak historians or by suich "Czechoslovak" politicians a,s the for- mer Premier MiJ.a,n Rodi.a (in his. Federation of Central Europe). The most di'Dfiicult task for American readers and students. of modern hiistoriY will be, of course, to· accept Prod'. Oddo's inte11pretation of the origin and politkal organization od' the Slowik Repulblic which emerged in Central Eui-o,pe on Mairch 14, 1009,. aifter Olecho-JS1'oviakia had been abandCl'Iled art; Muni!ch by the Eu,ro,pean Great P-O<Wers, a,nd thus. left rut the mercy of Hitler's Germany. The war pl'opag•a nda and several symposia, inspired mostlry by eimLgre poli'ticians and intellectuals, injected into the minds .of millions who fought German exipansion am adverse image oif Sloviaki,a and her wartime existe,nice as a Repulblic. ]t cannot be assumed ,t hat Rr.of. Oddo's book will su:fifice to exipel aH the mtYths aioorut the or~g,m, interna<tional recogruition and war pooicy of the Slovak Repulbli'c, which had allre,ady penetm<ted into the Ameirican hi:storiograiphy, before several seri•ous and comprehensive wor-ks were written on the ba,s is of scholariLy r,e search and 1nlteirnaitio,n,al ddcwments. The diidlf<i:culty ror Canadian and Amerilcan readei-s in aclcepting P<raf. Oddo's inter,pretation od' ·t he Slovalk Repu:blic will perh'<!.lps be greatly reduced in li:ght af present-day Aaneri<ean policy and heav.y responsihility tn prevenrtJ1ng newly •i ndependent small artd buffer countries fir,o m either being eX1¢0Jted by orr seeking proteotion in a/Jiliance or aid from adrvers.a,ries attemptin:g to upset the bal:mce of power. Slovakia and Its People com- prises twelve chayters and, in addition to outl<ines cxf historical events, it deals also with the oultul"al and elconomilc liife of Slo~ v,aikia. One charpter deals with SLovak emtg,r ation and its role in Slovaik naltionail lilre. Severall mlllPS, SLOVAKIA bi'bliogl'arpbiy and index add to the value of the book which, conitain·i.n,g the basic in,formation about Sloviakia and the Slovaks in a popular rather bhan scholarlry style, is a new contr~bution to English written literatul'e on Sfovailcia and has its va1ue for Oil"· diina[1y re•a ders as well as for scholars. J. M. Kirschbaum, Unw,er,silty of Montreall. (A re!pcint from Sfavic and East Eurropeam, Etudies, Vol. V'I, Part I-TI, Montreal, 1'962). )Jg H. )Jg )Jg G. Adler: Die Jude n in Deutschland. From the Enlightenment to Nationa,l SoMucialism. Kosel-Verlag, nich, 1960; 1718 pp., DM 6.80. Nationial Socialism produced no, thing rea:&liy new, particularly antiSemitism, alth-0ug,h it remained for said regiime to exercise it in tihe modern age in a•n arpocaty.ptic way. H. G. Adler is a Jew .fu--0m Pra,gue, survivor of the concentration camps oif 'l\h&esienstadt and Auschwitz, who has arua:yq;ed the origins oi anti-Semitism, the Emancipation, and the plight of the Jews in Germany. The results af the author's e.ndea,v-0r are procu,r,a ble in a small book proli,filc with quotes and sources. Adler candidly acknowledges tha't durin1g the Middle A,g.es a Jewish prdblem was possilble only in Gernnany because the European naJtionrul States, ruf. ter a period of severe oppression "divested themselves of their Jews" by means of expu]sio,n,, England in 1200, France in li306, (,a,n d after ,temrpora,r,y readmitta'Ilce, a.g ain in moo), Spain in 1492 and Portugal in 1497." IHa'tred of tihe Jews was due for centuries to their belonging to a dilfifer-elllt religion,; the sol u- 77 tion laiY ther,e fore in conversion to Christianity or by remedying their "otherness." Heine spoke of his rbaiptism as the "ticket of adm[ssion to EUI'O'Pean cul'twre." Yet the position of the Jews in German,y was as varied as the ver,y diirversilfied nature of the First Reich itsellf. As lalte as 18'17. for example, the English prov:ince of Haillil<)lVer quite firmly resisted the proposed emancipation oif the Jews which had been souwht by Ohristians and Jews alilke ever since the Enlightenment. Amter the founding of the Second Reich re!Lgious dimference was, to be su'l"e, no longer the tr-ue cause of anti-semitism, fur i.n, the Bismarclci-an constitution one's religious alffiliation wa-s irrelevant. Adler ciites in addiltion to the long-standing religious aspect of the Jewish question German anH-Semites like the BexHn cour't preacher StockeQ", the Viennese Btirgermeister Lueger, Richa,r d Wa-gner, Lagarde, and FrLtsch. Accord!ing to these a pe,rsom.'s race and not reliigion was the cause of anti.Jewish feclilnlg. One noites a breach in devclopm~nts that is not bridged by any explanation and one wonders wlh,y this sooprising ohange. Was it due to the rapid increase aifrer 187'1 of Jeiwi9h ba,nki,n,g and trading firms, the en:tirance of Jewish laiw,y ers, doctors and teaichers .into 1Pr-01fessions ,t hat had been barred to them hrither.to? Was ilt due to envy of their quick so-cial climb? Even ducing the period of rcli,gious anlti.Jiewish hatred the C'll!rse 'IJ!is blood be on us and on our chi'ldren" was not the sole reason for tJhe pogiroms, bult a'lso the desire to be rid of the annoyi111g oreditors. A similar trend developed i.n many large German cities in the "golden twenties." German anti-Semitism, in the 78 SLOVAKIA final! anal'Ysis, has come to be a stain not only on the name dI Germany for years to coone but has actually estram,g ed one of the most M'dent German prataigonists thrnughO'Ut the world, the German speaking J ews. Adler's book sh01Ws •primariliy, too, th•e zeal with which the Gerunan Jews all o·v er the world were read1Y to serve t!h•eir people, a fact whioh is seldom reim.embered toda'Y. 1 L. Rainalter. 31: 31: 31: Robert Kee: Refugee World, Oxford University Press, London., 11961-; '1531 pag,es. " ... to h-av•e been a refugee over a lo'lllg period of years is to hav-e built up an inner world cxf feelirug and experience dI which the outsider ca,n often have liittle idea. " Dt is this inner woI"ld, as ~hl as tihe outer world, that Mr. Kee brings to the r,e ader in a s·eries of peI"sonal visits to refugees in German'Y aind Al\lS'tlria, in camps, in private huts, in aibandoned buses, wherever th•ey happen to be. One irnimediateliy feels one is chatting with Ulmcinia•ns, Slo:viaks,, Ju,goslaivs, Boles, Riumanians, wi1fh •ex,pe1lees, displaced persons, aind with escapees. Possessed oif a rare power of descrifption, aruthor Eee makes every new contact with his c·haracters a unique experience. Unfortunat,e is Mr. Kee's relferenJc,e to an elder,ly couple he visited in TI"aiskirchen, Austr\i•a, as "Czech Volksdellltscbe." The designation "Czech Volksdeutsche" is a misnomer, for the very word "V:olkdsd·eultoohie" means ethnic Germa,ns, and, in this case, Volilcsdeutsche from Czecho-&lovakia coulld only be ei'1lher S.udeten Germans or the German e11hnic peop1e from one of the v•airious "language islands" withirn Czecho- Slovalcia, e .g., Spisska Nova Ves or the (Spls) Mountain region. SHgh'tl'Y painful is th-e second incorr.e!ct r,eference ,to the s-aane couple as "the old Czech cou~le who had wailk•e d out dI Communist Czecho.,S}ov-akia because the aruthorities had tried to suggest that they should do heaV1Y work to keep a'1iive." Painlful because tlhe VoLksdeutsche, Sude'ten Germans, and a.11 other "expellees od' German ethnic origin" were expressly denied any of the ands a1lotted to other displ,aced pffsons (.DPs) under the IIRIO (lnternahonal Refugee Or.ganization) character, for the sole reason that they wer,e German. '11he clause that stipulated thei,r exolus1on, pla,ced them in the same bracket with ''Nazis and criminals." The outstanding featur.e of Mr. Kee's book is its drive,home power which acqualints the reader not with viague and shad'O'W(Y forms but wit,h flesh a,n d blood men, women and children. Graitifyi111g is the fair ev>a,luation of Germany's part in ha1n,dling the refugee prdlllem that the CO'Untry w:as •coruiironted with in its own p!"ostra·t e post,war condition when rougMy nine mil11lion German eXJpellees from the Gocman East were shum,ted into the country to be housed, alothed, £ed and employed. Mr. Kee says: "It is poinUess to say tha.t the Germans had themselv,es inflicted :liar more terr.ilble sulflferirug on even more people or, wlhat is also true, thalt the vast majority ru the GeI"mans on whom this suif£ering was now infilicted had tacitly approved dI such things being done to other people im, the daiys when to be •a good German was to be a good Nlazi. Hoth mass deportations were crimes against humanity pei,pe'tr.i.'ted for selfish politicall interes'ts." A point one might take ex.cep- SLOVAKIA tion to the statement tha,t "the crime against the e~e11ed Germa,ns ... was one moo:-,e of indiilferenx:e rather tlham, caliculatiion, as the Nia:lli-s' crimes had been." These inlfCJII'lmed, know too well that Edlwar<l Bene!'; and his accompilii:ces planned meticulously the ex,pulsion Olf three and a hailif mil]ion, Sudeten Germarus and sa-i<l aJt& ordering their expuJS'ion: ''!Leave th-em om,Ly a han<lk.e:rchief to shed their tears in." The aulthor is an En,glishman wri'tling for Englli!sh r-eaders l)rimairily. This fact need not disturib other English-i1anguage readers for anyone whose interest runs froon simple humam, curiosity and corrupassion to social service field work an<l other refugee a,n d expellee exiperience in theory an<l pira:ctice wi1ll :filnd Mr. Kee's book arlive an<l iruformati:ve. Alppendix "A" giv-es a nut-shell aicqua,inltance with r,ediugee situ1aWlorl<l War El, lllnd Alppen,dix "B" with a few of the or.gan~zations workiing for refugees. M. E.W. li(! li(! li(! William L. Shirer: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A !History of Nazi Germany, Simon and Schuster, N. Y. , 1960; 124'5 pp., $10.00. In the guise of olbjective histocy this volume presents a harTowim,g, massiv,e but one-sided record of unrelieved Gernnan crimes an'd blunders. WilU.am L. Shirer, foreign correspon<lent and news commentator, is also on the boa,r d of diireotors of the "Society for the PI"evention of Wo·rl<l War m, Inc." of Wlhich Dorothy Thompson wrote (May 31, 11950) that it "has conduclted a systematic campaign a1gaimst any constructive peace with Gernianiy ... land vilifi.ed every person iln pulblic life who 79 tried to warn that procedure alon,g MorgenJthau lines wouild encomipa-ss the ruiTI olf Eur()ll)'e." Shirer does n:ot allow that the Versailles Treacy was unjust (p. 58). He states that "Nazism -a nd the Third Reic-h, in fiact were but a lo.g ica,l conltinuation otf German history" (p. 90). His piling up otf Nia7li crimes, faLling to put them iin, perspective with the crimes otf the opponents, never in fad!; a•lludin,g to the worst Soviet crimes, such as their brutal population transfers and their mass ra,ping otf not only German but -a lso Hungarian and Austrian woonen, seem calculated to· make any wruwacy rea'd er hate more than ever the Gemna-n people - now our allies who tOilerated the monstrous Nazis, and to think of the equally monstrous Bolsheviks, now ou<r cold war enemies, as reaHy not so bad! [n pa1ges on the Nazi abuse of SOIV'iet and Poli&h prisoners of wair he does not once al1ude to the Soviet mass murder of Poli-sh odificers at Kllltyn. He never mantions General Vlassov an<l his insurgent Russi·a ns who preferred fighting for the Germans to Living under the Soviets. IHe gives good information on sev,era,l German attempts to remove Hit-Ioer, three even before '11941, but he maikes no r-etfeir.e nce to the Morgenthau plan, Communist-inspired, which was oalcu4ated to d!'i'Ve the Germans to desperate resistance instead of revo:llt. F<o,r the rest, d-e spite distorti-ons and some cuea,r fa~sehoods, there is much interesiting inlformart,ion in the book. Hitler is depicted as an uncanrny genius, almoslt purirtan, fa,niatical<Ly warped on loyalty and honoir, pathologica.U,y anti.iBolshevik and anti-JewiSl'h, aibsolute.cy a.g ainst war with the West, but certaionl,y plotting it ag,a'inst Poland and Russia. SLOVAKIA Readirug of Hitler's crimes •a nd tilunders in d,etail, deducting firom facts that truly morail statesmaill• s'hiiip anywhere .from .l ,91\8 on could have prevenlted the colossal miseey of World War IiI and aft:er, makes on,e feel aibout the human raJCe as Sw.ilflt did. 'In sum: more .harmful than good e,ocept for trained historians. A. J. App. ~ )lg )lg Ernst Bil'ke and Kurit Oberdorifer: Das bohmische Staatsrecht in chischen gen des hunderts, den deu,t sch-tscheAuseinandersetzu n• 19. und 20. Jahrpulblished 1960 by N. D. Elwert Verla.g, Mia,rburg-Lahn; 147 pp. The book a.fifers four a51Pects on the question otf historic Boh•emian State Ri<glhts. While Richaro P1aschkia presents the Cz.ooh point of view, Helmut Slalmicka deals with the German side of the question. EU/gen LemJberg writes on the Ozeich corucepts of n,ation and State ideology. Kurt Riabl searehes into t:he legal aspects and co.ruf.r onts the "histock State rights" wilth the r1ghts otf seLfdetermination at the time when Czecho-Sllovalk<ia was created. One k•e y to understamding Cz.ech--German rel-ations, accords and discords, is to stud:y the concept od' Bo'h emian State rights. Bohemia, a const1tutional erntity within the dld Haibsbur,g Empire was partly inhalbited by Czechs and partly by Germans. One of the debated questions wi.thin thre two nation.s wa.s whether the country should be divlided into two administrative regions, a Czech and a German one, or wthether it should be ~ept as an administrativ,e u n i try. Althoog'h opinions w-ere diivided in both the Czech aind the German camps, it can be said that, as a general rule, the Czechs tri,ed to maintain the feudailist concept of "orownJ:and Bohemia" as a consUtutional entity, while the Gernnans found that nat ional and politicail developments in bhe niineteenth century made obsolete the oo.d conoopts of State r.iights. They striived for an administrative division of Bohemia into Geriman and Czec!h districts. lt ma,y be safe1y said todary in retr,ospeict that an administrative diivision otf Bohemia into a German and a Ozech part mright havre saved the country aind both nations from m11.uneroos nationa[ r,i valries and fruitless struggles. 11he historry of Bohemi'a and with it ,t he history otf Czecho-Slovakia might haive taken a different course, if the old feudal1st concept od' historic Bohemian State riglhts would have been replaced in time by a reailistirc arnd liibera,l ooncept of national equality amd administrative separation. People who give thought to a reorg,a nization of EuirO'l)e on t,he basis od' sellf-.deternnination ,md justice wilil find the contr~butions of th·e aforementioned a,u thors irn "Das bohmische Sta-atsre<:ht" most informative aind a rich soorce for historic or interna,tional studies. In add~tion, copious footnotes provide a fine bi'bliograiphiy on the tOlpiC. - A. W. Kozarovcie im, Slovakia has a farm cooperative that is not doJng so wel[. According to Stefan Hano of Nitra (iPravda, Jian. 1:5, 1962), the young peopJ.e have run otff to the faotory in TlmaCJie arnd bhose over fifty spend more time as musicians, playing at weddings, birtbdays, anniiversarires, etc., than as farm workers. Thek favorite tum,e: "Neorem, nesejem, vsetko samo sa mi rodi" (I plOIW not, I sow not, everything g,r ,ows by itself for me)! Officers of the Slovak League of America (Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio) Honorary Presiden ts I 4, Michael S-as Msgr. F. J. Dubosh, P.A. 3803 Cresson Street Philadelphia 27, Pa. 12608 Madison Avenue Lakewood 7, hio Joseph Dr. Peter P. H letko "' George Kantor President Ph i lip A. Hrobak i. Klucar 1617 Alameda Avenu e Lakewood 7, Ohio Batavia R d., Box 48 Warrensville, Ill. 281 Hollywood Ave. New York ol, N. Y. P. 0 . Box 150 Midd letown, P a. ADVISORY COUNCIL Vice-P resi dents Joseph Bendik John P. 0. Box 230 Uniontown, Pa. A. Sabo l National President First Catholic Slovak Un ion Ju l ia Krajcovic Helen Kocan 1648 W . 18th S t r eet Chicago 8, Ill. National P resident First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union Recording Secretary John Horecky Paul 2264 Walton Ave. New York 53, N. Y. Fallat National President Slovak Catholic Sokol Secretary-T reas ur er Paul C. Kazimer Stephen J, Tkach 1122 Sylvan Avenue Homestead, Pa. National President Pa. Catholic Slovak Union EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE An,na Sotak National President Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union Paul P. Jamriska 536 Mari e Ave. Pitts burgh 2, Pa. Emrich Valko Andrew Hudak National President SloV'ak Catholic Cad e t Union 15701 Bennett Rd. No. Royalton 33, Ohio SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS (Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) JEDNOTA SLOVENSKA OBRANA ZENSKA JEDNOTA Mid dletown , Pa. Scran ton , P a. Cleveland, Ohio BRATSTVO SLOVENSKE NOVINY ZORNlCKA Cleveland, Oh io Scranton, Pa. KATOLiCKY SOKOL SVORNOST OSADNE HLASY Passaic, N. J. Whita ker. Pa . Chicago, Ill. Wilkes-Barr e, Pa. SLOVAK V AMERIKE Mi ddletown , P a. SLOVAKIA: The city of Kremnica, famous for its gold and silver mines, minted money for cenh•ries. Castle and City Hall in the foreground.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Back Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 12, No. 1 (35) Description An account of the resource includes book reviews, 75-80, and photo of Kremnica Castle and City Hall Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1962 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/666209bbbd04fcb300b59526ef1a4c71.pdf 86c23180fa7426083e3e79db147a35fe PDF Text Text MARCH-JUNE, 1961 VOL. XI NO . 1 (33 ) IN THIS ISSUE: P.RAGUE: RED ES-Pl'ONAGE CIDNffER SLOV,AKIA UNDER CO,YIM U NI-S-M MISCONClDPTIONS OF AMERI CA.:>! SLAVISTS ABOUT SLOVAK Ll'TER,A T U,RE CO.M1MUN-LST ILLUSION AND DElMOCRATIC REALITY SOVIET RUSSIA~ PUP.PETS 'l' HE I◄'A1ILURE OF OOYIM'UNLST SCHOO,L S A POLI-CY OF GENOC1'DE A STUDY I~ SLAVIC- IRA.:--:IA,N ARCHITECTURAL TRADITIO>,T BOOK REVIEVl·S • • • Edited and compiled by PHIL·IP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA P. 0 . Box 150 Middletown. Pa . • • • Published by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA �RECOMMENDED BOOKS: SLOVAKIA AND ITS PEOPLE, Oddo; $6.00. SLOVAKIA NATION AT THE CROSSROADS OF CENTRAL EUROPE, Kirschb,mm; $5.00. THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVAKS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper); $2.00 (cloth cover). THE DELIVERANCE OF SISTER CECILIA, $3.75. THE CHURCH OF SILENCE IN SLOVAKIA, Zubek; $3.50. FALSE FREEDOM, Delaney; $2.00. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD, Woytko; $1.50. "CZECHOSLOVAKIA'' - History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. UiNIOONQUIDRAiBI.JES, Pauco; $2.00 I;UDOViT STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD, Prof. J. Kirschbaum; 25c. ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.00 . • • • SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The main purpose of SLOVAKIA is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long, hard struggle for freedom and independence. Sl.00 per annum in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. SLOVAKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Middletown, Pa. � MARCH-JUNE, 1961 VOL. XI NO . 1 (33 ) IN THIS ISSUE: P.RAGUE: RED ES-Pl'ONAGE CIDNffER SLOV,AKIA UNDER CO,YIM U NI-S-M MISCONClDPTIONS OF AMERI CA.:>! SLAVISTS ABOUT SLOVAK Ll'TER,A T U,RE CO.M1MUN-LST ILLUSION AND DElMOCRATIC REALITY SOVIET RUSSIA~ PUP.PETS 'l' HE I◄'A1ILURE OF OOYIM'UNLST SCHOO,L S A POLI-CY OF GENOC1'DE A STUDY I~ SLAVIC- IRA.:--:IA,N ARCHITECTURAL TRADITIO>,T BOOK REVIEVl·S • • • Edited and compiled by PHIL·IP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA P. 0 . Box 150 Middletown. Pa . • • • Published by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA �RECOMMENDED BOOKS: SLOVAKIA AND ITS PEOPLE, Oddo; $6.00. SLOVAKIA NATION AT THE CROSSROADS OF CENTRAL EUROPE, Kirschb,mm; $5.00. THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVAKS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper); $2.00 (cloth cover). THE DELIVERANCE OF SISTER CECILIA, $3.75. THE CHURCH OF SILENCE IN SLOVAKIA, Zubek; $3.50. FALSE FREEDOM, Delaney; $2.00. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD, Woytko; $1.50. "CZECHOSLOVAKIA'' - History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. UiNIOONQUIDRAiBI.JES, Pauco; $2.00 I;UDOViT STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD, Prof. J. Kirschbaum; 25c. ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.00 . • • • SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The main purpose of SLOVAKIA is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long, hard struggle for freedom and independence. Sl.00 per annum in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. SLOVAKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Middletown, Pa. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document MARCH-JUNE, 1961 VOL. XI NO . 1 (33 ) IN THIS ISSUE: P.RAGUE: RED ES-Pl'ONAGE CIDNffER SLOV,AKIA UNDER CO,YIM U NI-S-M MISCONClDPTIONS OF AMERI CA.:>! SLAVISTS ABOUT SLOVAK Ll'TER,A T U,RE CO.M1MUN-LST ILLUSION AND DElMOCRATIC REALITY SOVIET RUSSIA~ PUP.PETS 'l' HE I◄'A1ILURE OF OOYIM'UNLST SCHOO,L S A POLI-CY OF GENOC1'DE A STUDY I~ SLAVIC- IRA.:--:IA,N ARCHITECTURAL TRADITIO>,T BOOK REVIEVl·S • • • Edited and compiled by PHIL·IP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA P. 0 . Box 150 Middletown. Pa . • • • Published by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA RECOMMENDED BOOKS: SLOVAKIA AND ITS PEOPLE, Oddo; $6.00. SLOVAKIA NATION AT THE CROSSROADS OF CENTRAL EUROPE, Kirschb,mm; $5.00. THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVAKS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper); $2.00 (cloth cover). THE DELIVERANCE OF SISTER CECILIA, $3.75. THE CHURCH OF SILENCE IN SLOVAKIA, Zubek; $3.50. FALSE FREEDOM, Delaney; $2.00. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD, Woytko; $1.50. "CZECHOSLOVAKIA'' - History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. UiNIOONQUIDRAiBI.JES, Pauco; $2.00 I;UDOViT STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD, Prof. J. Kirschbaum; 25c. ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.00 . • • • SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The main purpose of SLOVAKIA is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long, hard struggle for freedom and independence. Sl.00 per annum in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. SLOVAKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Middletown, Pa.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Front Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 1 (33) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1961 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/acec2c5db69f47b46d0909a1d21b118e.pdf 30516e1e999cb239056f61180e379ec0 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA Published by the Slovak League of America VOL. XI MARCH-J,UNE, 1961 NO. 1 (33) PRAGUE: RED ESPIONAGE CENTER By Philip A. Hrobak (Among the Slwaik esoarpees snaitched by the Czech Reds in Austria, alild West Germany is one Jioserph Bla-skovic. Shortly before his aibducti-on, this Slovak pa-tr,i ot sent ain a11ticle to his friend, alil escapee from .Slovailcia ruow residing in New York. T.hiis stor,y is based on tha,t article whicll was wri1bt,e n in Slovak.) The Czecho-Slovakia the American public is acquainted with is not the real Czecho-Slovakia of Thomas Guarrigue Masaryk and Dr. Edward Benes. This glorified "·isle of democracy in Europe," painted in such roseate color-s to deceive the West, particularly the United States of America, was destined to become the European beachhead for communism from its very inception. Believe it or not, the simple fact is that the Russian OGPU (Secret Police) was organized in the propaganda state of Masaryk and Benes already in 1918, after Dr. Benes had concluded a secret agreement with Moscow. The OGPU was directed by the notorious agent Skoblin, who personally bossed the group in Prague whose task it was to kidna:p White Russians and ship them to Russia. Skoblin's outfit organized the Red Cells of volunteers, which were approved by Benes and his intimates, and also made all the arrangements for political murders in Poland. Prague thus became a center of the Cominform, second only to Moscow. The Prague Cominform set up an espionage office under the name of the Central European Bureau (1Stredo-Europska Kancelaria - SEK). This office directed the organized Cells and paid off underground espionage groups in the Central European states for services rendered, which included sabotage, kidnapping, and murder. Skoblin's group also organized the West~European Bureau (Zaipado-Eu- �2 SLOVAKIA ropska Kancelaria - ZEK) in Prague to promote communist interests in the Wes't European States. To organize the communists in the Balkan States, a bureau was set up in Vienna under the supervision of the Prague Bureau. The Vienna office at that time was headed by Dimitrov, the Secretary-General of the Cominform who had gained favor in the W esit. The Prague Bureau was made up of such Red worthies as Dimitrov, Gottwald, Manuilsky, Pakosta, Florin, and Ercoli - all graduates of the Moscow School of Red Leaders. Gottwald and Pakosta, both Czechs were ordered by Moscow to work in Slovakia. Pakosta came to the Turiec province and soon got a jeib in the Tatra furniture enterprise a t Turciansky Svaty Martin. Several months later he was elected an official of the local Sick-Benefit Insurance Association; and six months later he became manager of the branch office at Trnava. Pakosta didn't do too bad for himself in Slovakia: within a year he bought himself a large tract of land in the vicinity of Trnava, even though he kept on bellowing "down with the bourgeoisie"! Gottwald was sent to Vrutky in Slovakia where he was employed by the State railway system as a caibinet-maker. After Gottwald became a "master" of his trade, he began to publish a Red periodical in Banska Bystrica. Gottwald and Pakosta had the task of selecting the "right" people for the Red School in Moscow. Among the first selectees were Stephen Hadera, Vlado Clemen'tis, and Gustav Husak. After this trio completed its schooling in Moscow, it formed a "triangle" in Slovakia. Later on Moscow made Gottwa:ld a liaison officer to relay orders of the Cominform to States that had an organized underground. Orders were sentt from Turkey to the Gibraltar and Copenhagen. Gottwald was assisted by Hlozknecht and Prochniak and, later, also by the Polish Reds of Galicia Krumlov, Berend, Doppler, and Ackermann. The Prague Central Bureau directed the Red organizations in Germany, Poland, Hungary, Rumania, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria, where the communists engaged in -s ubversive activities as "Social Democrats." As in Czecho-Slovakia, so �SLOVAKIA 3 here too, only "reliable" communists were selected for schooling in Moscow. After graduation, the Reds returned to their respective countries as "socialists" of one shade or another to form "triangles." Whenever things would get too hot for them, they would resort to the tactic of uncovering and repor~ing ordinary laborers as "dangerous communists." It so happened that while innocent people sweated it out in jails, the real subversives, parading as Social Democrats, were free to continue in their nefarious work. In March, 1933, Moscow had prepared detailed plans for the Prague Central Bureau to initiate revolutions in C::echo-Slovakia and Austria. German intelligence, however, uncovered the plot and rushed into action, occupying Austria on March 13. The Reds were lucky to save the incriminating documents of the Vienna office. Otto Katz, alias Andrei Simone, a member of the Zionist and communist organizations, brought them to Bratislava where he personally handed them over to Sankoff-Rappaport, a Zionist, and ·::. o Kreschner, a leader of the German Reds. The latter collaborated closely with the Prague Central Bureau in preparing a revolt in Germany. You may not find it easy to believe, but the fact is that the Russian Revolution of 1917 was organized in Prague. The story was published by the Czech press of Prague in June, 1946, when Lenin's Hall in the "Peoples Home" (Lidovy dum) on Hybernska Street in Prague was ceremoniously opened to the public. It was in this hall that Vladimir Iljic Lenin presided at a meeting of the Russian Social Democratic Party, January 19-30, 1912. And it was at this meeting that J osip Visarionovich Dzhugashvili, later known as Stalin, was eleoted a member of the Central Committee of the party. At that time Lenin used the name of "Majer." The dedication ceremony in 1946 was attended by Soviet Ambassador Zarin, who thanked the government of Benes-Gottwald for honoring the memory of Lenin in such a noble fashion. �4 SLOVAKIA After Hitler came to power and ordered a general round-up of Reds in Germany, the Reds moved their office from Vienna to Paris where they operated under the title "Auslandskomite" (Foreign Committee). Dr. Benes, however, concurred secretly with Litvinov-Finkelste in that it would be more advantageous to transfer the Red German outfit to Prague, making it an adjunct of the Central European Bureau (CIDB). In Prague this group operated under the label "Komunistische Deutsche Partein (KDP). It was assigned the task of organizing Red movements, espionage, sabotage, and political murders in Silesia, central Germany, the Saar, Berlin, Brandenburg, and Bavaria. The Prague Central Bureau of the Reds was charged with the responsibility of promoting communism in twothirds of Europe. Dr. Edward Benes, highly trusted and favored by the West, was well aware of this activity. He had his agents in the KDP and other ReJd groups: and he had them in England, America, and Mexico, as well. He knew that Reds operaJted from the Czecho-Slovak embassy in Washington, because he placed them there himself. Nevertheless the West regarded Benes as a non-Marxist socialist and the "greatest democrat" of Europe. The entire CzechoSlovak State propaganda apparatus was controlled by Benes and his political henchmen: the West knew Benes as Benes wanted it to know him. But the West is gradually waking up to the fact that it did not know the real Benes, Benes, the Marxist socialist, Benes, the servant of Moscow. (Edwaird B. Hiitchcook, who had the privilege of knowing Dr. Benes iruttmateI,y, wrote the only complete biography oif Benes. Nevertheless, the author teHs ,u s thalt Benes, ear]Jy in life, "d•eveloped iiruto a believer of brute materia11ilsm, anarch1is,m, socialism. He was aga.inst <religion. He was opposed to almost every estalblished order in bhe world of that day.") The Prague Central Bureau also had to care for Red refugees from Germany; together with the "Zentral Fraktionsleitung" (Central Group Leadership), the Prague Bureau had to train the most capaible Reds in espionage and underground work. The "Rote Hilfe" (Red Aid), a communist banking institution, and the organiza!Uon called "Union flir Freiheit und Recht" (Union for Freedom and Justice) were connected with the Prague Bureau of the �SLOVAKIA 5 Reds. When this motley outfit stamped one as unfit for espionage and subversive work in Germany, it would report him to the Czech police, who in turn would be ordered to surrender him to Germany as a communist. In the eyes of the world this made Dr. Benes and his intimates appear very "anti-communistic" - indeed, the cleanest of all socialists. Duplicity was the hallmark of Benes and his colleagues. Prior to February 25, 1948, when the Reds took over complete power in Czecho-Slovakia, they could not find enough words of prnise for Stalin and the Soviet Union. Then suddenly they were "expelled" from the country and became "anti-communists"! As followers of Benes, Peter Zenkl, Hubert Ripka, Ferdinand Peroutka, and others, nevertheless, had little difficulty in being employed by Radio Free Europe to broadcast "words of truth" to those whom they had helped to betray to the Moloch of Moscow. The Prague Bureau established "Homes For Escapees" in Prague, Strasnice, Kosice, Brno, Msec, and several other cities. The Prague home was managed by a former deputy of the German Reich, one Mrs. Hana Sandtner, a confidante of Karl Schwab who was in charge of the organization called "Vereinigung zur Unterstutzung deutscher Emigranten" (The Alliance for the Aid of German Emigrants), the outfit that cared for Red refugees from Germany. One of the largest homes for Red escapees, the Salda Home, was situated in Msec, Bohemia; it was named after the eminent Israelite warrior who was a Red. In this home escapees were given six-month courses in Marxism, espionage, sabotage, and underground activities. The graduates were then sent out to battle for universal communism (the "International Brigades," for example, in Spain). Military training was in charge of Leon Schnittmann, whose real name was Adol,ph Lejba, one of the best the Soviet had in the business. Officers from the Czech General Staff, selected by Lejba himself, helped with the training of recruits; so dii:l French officers who spoke Russian fluently. Lejba at one time had served as military attache in Prague. After Moscow announced that it had removed Lejba :from his position, he did not return to Russia but remained in Prague, where he opened a private business office. As a �6 SLOVAKIA businessman Lejba was free to travel; and he was in constant touch with the authorities, the ministries and political personalities. It was thus that Lej1ba succeeded in building up a "Czechoslovak-Russian" army. When Schnittman-Lejba visited neighboring States, he called on cryptocommunists in the Social Democratic parties to gather information and give orders. His reports were delivered in person to the Central European Bureau in Prague. Thanks to Lejba and the collaboration of Dr. Benes, Moscow had, in 1938, over 2,000 trained spies in Prague who were dispatched to aH countries of Europe and the West. While the press, the diplomats, and the statesmen of the West referred to the republic of Masairyk and Benes as a "model democracy" and an "isle of democracy in Europe," in reality Czecho~Slovakia was a state in which the Reds ruled under the guise of socialists. Financial help for these Red spies and saboteurs also came from the United States. The president of the "Friends of Nature" (3911 Greenview Avenue, Chicago, Ill.) sent money to the Red Bureau in Prague from the account of the "Ocean Travel Bureau" (2233 N. Ashland Avenue). The money was sent to Karl Schwab of the "Vereinigung zur Unterstutzung deutscher Emigranten." Comrade Dr. Goldschneidt, a "persecuted" Jew, was in charge of the office in Prague (Jachymov Street, 3), which busied itself with espionage under the label of "Zentral Hilfstelle flir Deutsche Fllichtlingskinder" (Central Office to Help Children of German Escapees). With the outbreak of the civil war in Spain, spies were sent there by these Red training centers. During the first weeks of the revolution more than a thousand men were dispatched to Spain by the Prague Bureau. Karl Schwab took care of all the arrangements: with the Czech police he prepared false passes and provided for the transportation of Reds to Spain. After a time, however, Moscow ordered the leading Reds to quit Spain and return to the haven of the Reds, Benes's Czecho-S'1ovakia. After the Slovak Republic was establi,shed on March 14, 1939, by the proclaimation of independence of the autonomous parliament · of Slovakia, the Prague-trained Reds �SLOVAKIA 7 presented quite a problem. Communism and Freemasonry had been outlawed already in 1938 by autonomous Slovakia while it was still witthin the framework of Czecho-Slovalda. The Reds went underground, but most of their leaders fled from Prague and Bratislava to Moscow. To ferret out the Reds and disarm them, the Slovak Sta.te ordered Imrich (Henry) Sudsky of the State Security Police to organize a special security uni!t of 100 mem!bers. Sudsky was a brilliant police official, having served under the Masaryk-Bene s regimes. Slovak authorities, however, did not know that Sudsky was also a secret agent of the Czech Reds. Charged with the task of rounding up the Reds in Slovakia, Sudsky applied himself diligently and eventually caught up with Stephen Hadera. The latter exposed the Red movement in Slovakia under questioning and the Red "triangle" was disrupted. This was followed by mass arrests of Reds and communist activities practically ceased in Slovakia until the last year of the war. When the Red armies overran the Slovak Republic in May, 1945, and Stalin made Benes "presiden!t" of Czecho-Slovak ia again, Sudsky was immediately placed into service by the Czech Reds. In 1957 he was held res,ponsible for the abduction of several Slovak patriots from Austria. The Czecho-Slovak Republic of Masaryk and Benes which western powers regarded as the most exemplary democratic country in Europe, was in fact the beachhead of Communism in Europe, as Stojadinovich , Yugoslav Minister of the Interior, had declared to newsmen on April 24, 1936, adding that "the Yugoslav communists are financially supported by Benes's Czecho-Slovak Republic." About an hour after he made this statement, Stojadinovich was a dead man, murdered by an agent of the Reds. His assailant escaped to Czecho-Slovakia through Hungary. The Prague Central Bureau of the Reds fixed him up with a new set of forged papers so that he might conltinue in his dastardly trade. In the free western world, there are thousands of agents roaming about, promoting the program of Moscow. After the great massacre of World War II, some of them were employed by Radio Free Europe in Munich. I knew them from �8 SLOVAKIA back home. There was, for example, Robert Valuch of Salzburg, an adjutant of a Brigade Commissioner during the Red putsch in Slovakia in August, 1944; then, Mi.so (Michael) Sagat, whose last known address was Etst Delast Marcheprime girange, France, who issued orders to murder people and murdered many himself; also one Joseph Micudik, a captain of the paritsans who was schooled in Moscow; and then, Joseph Antl, and so many others employed by Radio Free Europe and moving aJbout freely in the service of the Reds. In the light of the above, it is surprising indeed that responsi'ble people of western governments do not see, or pretend not to see or know what is going on in their countries to promote the scourge of communism and enslave the remaining free peoples of the earth. Thus far goes the story of the Slovak patriot, Joseph Bla,skovic, written a ,s hort time before he was abducted !from Austria and imprisoned in Prague by the Czech Reds. The people and governments of the West know that Moscow has its trained agents everywhere. But apparently they do not know thaJt Prague is second only to Mo·s oow as a Red espionage center. Governments of the West, if they do know about it, are loathe to divulge information. CzechoSlovakia and its builders, Thomas G. Masaryk and Dr. Edward Benes, are still regarded highly, and their followers are still the favored "experts" of government ,people. They still .are the "unltoucha1bles" of the political West. Blaskovic' s story is highly plausi-ble, because it is backed by events past and present. Lausman, B. Cerny, Kucera, Folta, Machacek, Ka;las, Sychrava, Haulik, Molin, Marie Dvorak, and other Czechs, posing a,s "esca,pees" and employed by Radio Free Europe, returned to Prague to broadcast to the world how "stupid" Americans were. These agents received Amer.ican "trnth dollars" for their dastardly work. Back in the days of the Office of War Information (OWI), headman Elmer Davis assured Congress that he could spot Communists by a simple rule of thumb: if he was against Polish.iBritish-French resistance to dictator- �SLOVAKIA 9 ship aggression in the days of the Stalin-Hitler , pact • and then howled for war against Germany when Russia was attacked, then he was a Commie. N :, the very time Davis was speaking, and even afterwards, the chief of the Czech division of the OWI, was a Red Czech, Adolph Hoffmeister, an agent of Dr. Edward Benes, who was not only a card carrying Communist, but later the ambassador to Paris for the first Red Czech government. During the trial of one Emil Swiertina, a Red spy caught and sentenced to 12 years by American authori!ties in Munich, the names of several politicians of Benes's socialistic entourage were mentioned. The matter was treated as hush-hush, getting practkally no publicity here. It was known that Swiertina worked wit h a Czech Colonel, Dr. Springer, a subordinate of Colonel Koenig. After his imprisonment, Swiertina's correspondence was handled by Dr. Patek. On orders .from Col. Koenig, these letters were not turned over to American authorities, because it was feared that ,they would incriminate some of Benes's followers, members of the so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovakia," an organization highly favored by our State Department and the Radio Free Europe people. Otto Katz (alias Andre Simone, alias Kofatko), liquidated in the 1952 Red purge trial in Prague, was an intimate of Dr. Hubert Ripka who was regarded as the righthand man of Dr. Edward Benes. Katz, a Red spy who at one time edi!:ed the Rude Pravo (Red Justice), the official organ of the Czech Communists, spent the war years in Mexico and returned to Prague in 1946. Guenther Reinhardt, author af "Crime Without Punishment," links Katz with the 1943 murder of Ca-rlo Tresca in New York. At his trial Katz declared that he once was hired to work for the Overseas News Agency (ONA) which was affiliated with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency untH 1949. Katz had contacts with Adolph Hoffmeister of the OWI; also with Dezider Benau, wartJi.me editor of the New Y orksky Dennik, a newspaper published in Slovak, and with Karel Leitner, editor of the New Yorkske Listy, published in Czech - both papers at that time being owned by one �SLOVAKIA 10 Richard Vogel who did big business with Czecho-Slovalri'a. Katz was also in touch with Dr. Erwin Munk, Otto Biheller, and T. Florin-Hrkel, Czech agents who worked out of the Czech Embassy in Washington when Dr. Juraj Slavik was Benes's ambassador there. It is signif.icant that Miss Pavlina Svoboda, testifying before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Feb. 5, 1952, was not even asked the names of the newspapers which Benau and Leitner edited. Both newspapers published many editorials by leading Communists. After his escape from the United States, Gerhard t Eisler ended up in Prague, haven of the Reds. When Communist Albert S. Stern, whose wife is the Red Martha Dodd Stern, was wanted to testify in the Jack Soble-Soviet spy case, both made off for Prague via Mexico. There they were joined by Maurice Halpern, a former Boston University teacher. In his testimony before the HUAC (released May 10, 1960), Frantisek Tisler, former Military and Air Attache of Cziecho-Slovakia at the embassy in Washington, declared that "one of the main reasons for the maintenance of a Czechoslovak Embassy in Washington, D. C., is to conduct espionage against the United Sfates." It is a matter of record tha:t most of .the politicians of Dr. Edward Benes's official family were active supporters of his pro-Sovi et poHcy. They were members of CzechoSlovakia's communist-dominated National Front government which eliminated all anti-communist elements from the political life of the country. Now, posing as "democratic" exiles and "an/ti-communist" fighters, they would have the West believe that they alway,s were on our side against the diabolic forces of communism. Incredible as it may sound, the fact is that these Red collaborators were accepted immediately by our Staite Department (under Acheson) as "democratic exiles," and their organiza:tion in America, the Council of Free Czechoslovakia, was recognized as "the supreme political body of the Czech and Slovak exile." With the _b lessing of the State Department, the fellow-1ravelers from Czecho-,Slovakia had no trouble at all in finding employment with Radio Free Europe, The Voice of America , 1 �SLOVAKIA 11 the CIC, the Library of Congress, and other agencies of U. S. Government, as well as our universities. More incredi'ble yet is the fact that some of these people are still holding their jobs. Red Prague is paying off to Red Moscow: with the help of the Czechs, who were "remade" under the regimes of T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Edward Benes, Soviet Russia 's campaign of penetration is proceeding successfully in Africa, South America, Mexico, and Nol'lth America, in a word, everywhere! Czech and Soviet officers are instructing Castro's men in tactics and use of Czech arms at Gramma, Baracoa Beach and Managua - the three major bases of Castro's Army. A Czech officer commands the Cuban troops fighting the rebels i-n the Escambray Mountains. Anti-Castro forces in Cuba are trying to speed up the time for civil war there, because Castro, as of now, still does not have much of an air force. But he has about 1000 young Cubans in Czecho-Slovakia learning to fly jets. When they are ready, the Red Russians can create a Cuban air force in less than a day. In the new nations of Africa, you see few Russians, but plenty of Czech salesmen and diplomats. Not Russians, but Czechs are doing the groundwork for Moscow. According to U. S. News and World Report (April 3, 1961) : "Cairo is the Center of Czech operartions i-n, Africa. From Cairo, Czech goods are f11oiwin,g - art twice the 1950 level - to bobh North and West Aifrioa. A Czech airline operates from Praigu:e tlhrowgth Cairo to po'ints in West Afri~. "Am,e,ricans fo Gui•n ea h1ave notioed how fast the Czechs have moved in Wlhen French pulled out. Now, pro-Moscow Guinea is headquarters £or Czech opera,tions in au West Africa. A Czech shoe factory was shipped to Giha;na via Conakry, Gu~•nea. Czech machine to'o1s, preci£·ion instruments for Glhaina and Mali c-ame the same way. "Tirade is jus;t a part of i,t. A total of 270 Czech experts - military advisers, poUce adviisers, teachers - were counted in Cornaik,r,y at one time recently. "To date, this· Sorvi>et-Czech arran,gement has wol'ked smoothly. The Czec1hs are seUing Czech ,goods in Africa for themselves and Commundsm for Moscow." When the Slovaks, over thirty years ago, told America and the world that Benes and his Czech National Socialists were peddling Communism for Moscow, they were ignored �12 SLOVAKIA and scorned. The socialistic state created by Masaryk and Benes came into being in 1918 because of America's intervention. Now we are gradually learning the truth about the poli:tical monstrosity we not only made possible, but nurtured and enriched for over forty years. Imagine, American know-how and doUars are in a large mea·s ure responsible for the fact that Czech Prague has become a Red espion • age training center, second only to Moscow! SLOVAK PEASANT ART: a kitchen in Vinicne � SLOVAKIA Published by the Slovak League of America VOL. XI MARCH-J,UNE, 1961 NO. 1 (33) PRAGUE: RED ESPIONAGE CENTER By Philip A. Hrobak (Among the Slwaik esoarpees snaitched by the Czech Reds in Austria, alild West Germany is one Jioserph Bla-skovic. Shortly before his aibducti-on, this Slovak pa-tr,i ot sent ain a11ticle to his friend, alil escapee from .Slovailcia ruow residing in New York. T.hiis stor,y is based on tha,t article whicll was wri1bt,e n in Slovak.) The Czecho-Slovakia the American public is acquainted with is not the real Czecho-Slovakia of Thomas Guarrigue Masaryk and Dr. Edward Benes. This glorified "·isle of democracy in Europe," painted in such roseate color-s to deceive the West, particularly the United States of America, was destined to become the European beachhead for communism from its very inception. Believe it or not, the simple fact is that the Russian OGPU (Secret Police) was organized in the propaganda state of Masaryk and Benes already in 1918, after Dr. Benes had concluded a secret agreement with Moscow. The OGPU was directed by the notorious agent Skoblin, who personally bossed the group in Prague whose task it was to kidna:p White Russians and ship them to Russia. Skoblin's outfit organized the Red Cells of volunteers, which were approved by Benes and his intimates, and also made all the arrangements for political murders in Poland. Prague thus became a center of the Cominform, second only to Moscow. The Prague Cominform set up an espionage office under the name of the Central European Bureau (1Stredo-Europska Kancelaria - SEK). This office directed the organized Cells and paid off underground espionage groups in the Central European states for services rendered, which included sabotage, kidnapping, and murder. Skoblin's group also organized the West~European Bureau (Zaipado-Eu- �2 SLOVAKIA ropska Kancelaria - ZEK) in Prague to promote communist interests in the Wes't European States. To organize the communists in the Balkan States, a bureau was set up in Vienna under the supervision of the Prague Bureau. The Vienna office at that time was headed by Dimitrov, the Secretary-General of the Cominform who had gained favor in the W esit. The Prague Bureau was made up of such Red worthies as Dimitrov, Gottwald, Manuilsky, Pakosta, Florin, and Ercoli - all graduates of the Moscow School of Red Leaders. Gottwald and Pakosta, both Czechs were ordered by Moscow to work in Slovakia. Pakosta came to the Turiec province and soon got a jeib in the Tatra furniture enterprise a t Turciansky Svaty Martin. Several months later he was elected an official of the local Sick-Benefit Insurance Association; and six months later he became manager of the branch office at Trnava. Pakosta didn't do too bad for himself in Slovakia: within a year he bought himself a large tract of land in the vicinity of Trnava, even though he kept on bellowing "down with the bourgeoisie"! Gottwald was sent to Vrutky in Slovakia where he was employed by the State railway system as a caibinet-maker. After Gottwald became a "master" of his trade, he began to publish a Red periodical in Banska Bystrica. Gottwald and Pakosta had the task of selecting the "right" people for the Red School in Moscow. Among the first selectees were Stephen Hadera, Vlado Clemen'tis, and Gustav Husak. After this trio completed its schooling in Moscow, it formed a "triangle" in Slovakia. Later on Moscow made Gottwa:ld a liaison officer to relay orders of the Cominform to States that had an organized underground. Orders were sentt from Turkey to the Gibraltar and Copenhagen. Gottwald was assisted by Hlozknecht and Prochniak and, later, also by the Polish Reds of Galicia Krumlov, Berend, Doppler, and Ackermann. The Prague Central Bureau directed the Red organizations in Germany, Poland, Hungary, Rumania, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria, where the communists engaged in -s ubversive activities as "Social Democrats." As in Czecho-Slovakia, so �SLOVAKIA 3 here too, only "reliable" communists were selected for schooling in Moscow. After graduation, the Reds returned to their respective countries as "socialists" of one shade or another to form "triangles." Whenever things would get too hot for them, they would resort to the tactic of uncovering and repor~ing ordinary laborers as "dangerous communists." It so happened that while innocent people sweated it out in jails, the real subversives, parading as Social Democrats, were free to continue in their nefarious work. In March, 1933, Moscow had prepared detailed plans for the Prague Central Bureau to initiate revolutions in C::echo-Slovakia and Austria. German intelligence, however, uncovered the plot and rushed into action, occupying Austria on March 13. The Reds were lucky to save the incriminating documents of the Vienna office. Otto Katz, alias Andrei Simone, a member of the Zionist and communist organizations, brought them to Bratislava where he personally handed them over to Sankoff-Rappaport, a Zionist, and ·::. o Kreschner, a leader of the German Reds. The latter collaborated closely with the Prague Central Bureau in preparing a revolt in Germany. You may not find it easy to believe, but the fact is that the Russian Revolution of 1917 was organized in Prague. The story was published by the Czech press of Prague in June, 1946, when Lenin's Hall in the "Peoples Home" (Lidovy dum) on Hybernska Street in Prague was ceremoniously opened to the public. It was in this hall that Vladimir Iljic Lenin presided at a meeting of the Russian Social Democratic Party, January 19-30, 1912. And it was at this meeting that J osip Visarionovich Dzhugashvili, later known as Stalin, was eleoted a member of the Central Committee of the party. At that time Lenin used the name of "Majer." The dedication ceremony in 1946 was attended by Soviet Ambassador Zarin, who thanked the government of Benes-Gottwald for honoring the memory of Lenin in such a noble fashion. �4 SLOVAKIA After Hitler came to power and ordered a general round-up of Reds in Germany, the Reds moved their office from Vienna to Paris where they operated under the title "Auslandskomite" (Foreign Committee). Dr. Benes, however, concurred secretly with Litvinov-Finkelste in that it would be more advantageous to transfer the Red German outfit to Prague, making it an adjunct of the Central European Bureau (CIDB). In Prague this group operated under the label "Komunistische Deutsche Partein (KDP). It was assigned the task of organizing Red movements, espionage, sabotage, and political murders in Silesia, central Germany, the Saar, Berlin, Brandenburg, and Bavaria. The Prague Central Bureau of the Reds was charged with the responsibility of promoting communism in twothirds of Europe. Dr. Edward Benes, highly trusted and favored by the West, was well aware of this activity. He had his agents in the KDP and other ReJd groups: and he had them in England, America, and Mexico, as well. He knew that Reds operaJted from the Czecho-Slovak embassy in Washington, because he placed them there himself. Nevertheless the West regarded Benes as a non-Marxist socialist and the "greatest democrat" of Europe. The entire CzechoSlovak State propaganda apparatus was controlled by Benes and his political henchmen: the West knew Benes as Benes wanted it to know him. But the West is gradually waking up to the fact that it did not know the real Benes, Benes, the Marxist socialist, Benes, the servant of Moscow. (Edwaird B. Hiitchcook, who had the privilege of knowing Dr. Benes iruttmateI,y, wrote the only complete biography oif Benes. Nevertheless, the author teHs ,u s thalt Benes, ear]Jy in life, "d•eveloped iiruto a believer of brute materia11ilsm, anarch1is,m, socialism. He was aga.inst <religion. He was opposed to almost every estalblished order in bhe world of that day.") The Prague Central Bureau also had to care for Red refugees from Germany; together with the "Zentral Fraktionsleitung" (Central Group Leadership), the Prague Bureau had to train the most capaible Reds in espionage and underground work. The "Rote Hilfe" (Red Aid), a communist banking institution, and the organiza!Uon called "Union flir Freiheit und Recht" (Union for Freedom and Justice) were connected with the Prague Bureau of the �SLOVAKIA 5 Reds. When this motley outfit stamped one as unfit for espionage and subversive work in Germany, it would report him to the Czech police, who in turn would be ordered to surrender him to Germany as a communist. In the eyes of the world this made Dr. Benes and his intimates appear very "anti-communistic" - indeed, the cleanest of all socialists. Duplicity was the hallmark of Benes and his colleagues. Prior to February 25, 1948, when the Reds took over complete power in Czecho-Slovakia, they could not find enough words of prnise for Stalin and the Soviet Union. Then suddenly they were "expelled" from the country and became "anti-communists"! As followers of Benes, Peter Zenkl, Hubert Ripka, Ferdinand Peroutka, and others, nevertheless, had little difficulty in being employed by Radio Free Europe to broadcast "words of truth" to those whom they had helped to betray to the Moloch of Moscow. The Prague Bureau established "Homes For Escapees" in Prague, Strasnice, Kosice, Brno, Msec, and several other cities. The Prague home was managed by a former deputy of the German Reich, one Mrs. Hana Sandtner, a confidante of Karl Schwab who was in charge of the organization called "Vereinigung zur Unterstutzung deutscher Emigranten" (The Alliance for the Aid of German Emigrants), the outfit that cared for Red refugees from Germany. One of the largest homes for Red escapees, the Salda Home, was situated in Msec, Bohemia; it was named after the eminent Israelite warrior who was a Red. In this home escapees were given six-month courses in Marxism, espionage, sabotage, and underground activities. The graduates were then sent out to battle for universal communism (the "International Brigades," for example, in Spain). Military training was in charge of Leon Schnittmann, whose real name was Adol,ph Lejba, one of the best the Soviet had in the business. Officers from the Czech General Staff, selected by Lejba himself, helped with the training of recruits; so dii:l French officers who spoke Russian fluently. Lejba at one time had served as military attache in Prague. After Moscow announced that it had removed Lejba :from his position, he did not return to Russia but remained in Prague, where he opened a private business office. As a �6 SLOVAKIA businessman Lejba was free to travel; and he was in constant touch with the authorities, the ministries and political personalities. It was thus that Lej1ba succeeded in building up a "Czechoslovak-Russian" army. When Schnittman-Lejba visited neighboring States, he called on cryptocommunists in the Social Democratic parties to gather information and give orders. His reports were delivered in person to the Central European Bureau in Prague. Thanks to Lejba and the collaboration of Dr. Benes, Moscow had, in 1938, over 2,000 trained spies in Prague who were dispatched to aH countries of Europe and the West. While the press, the diplomats, and the statesmen of the West referred to the republic of Masairyk and Benes as a "model democracy" and an "isle of democracy in Europe," in reality Czecho~Slovakia was a state in which the Reds ruled under the guise of socialists. Financial help for these Red spies and saboteurs also came from the United States. The president of the "Friends of Nature" (3911 Greenview Avenue, Chicago, Ill.) sent money to the Red Bureau in Prague from the account of the "Ocean Travel Bureau" (2233 N. Ashland Avenue). The money was sent to Karl Schwab of the "Vereinigung zur Unterstutzung deutscher Emigranten." Comrade Dr. Goldschneidt, a "persecuted" Jew, was in charge of the office in Prague (Jachymov Street, 3), which busied itself with espionage under the label of "Zentral Hilfstelle flir Deutsche Fllichtlingskinder" (Central Office to Help Children of German Escapees). With the outbreak of the civil war in Spain, spies were sent there by these Red training centers. During the first weeks of the revolution more than a thousand men were dispatched to Spain by the Prague Bureau. Karl Schwab took care of all the arrangements: with the Czech police he prepared false passes and provided for the transportation of Reds to Spain. After a time, however, Moscow ordered the leading Reds to quit Spain and return to the haven of the Reds, Benes's Czecho-S'1ovakia. After the Slovak Republic was establi,shed on March 14, 1939, by the proclaimation of independence of the autonomous parliament · of Slovakia, the Prague-trained Reds �SLOVAKIA 7 presented quite a problem. Communism and Freemasonry had been outlawed already in 1938 by autonomous Slovakia while it was still witthin the framework of Czecho-Slovalda. The Reds went underground, but most of their leaders fled from Prague and Bratislava to Moscow. To ferret out the Reds and disarm them, the Slovak Sta.te ordered Imrich (Henry) Sudsky of the State Security Police to organize a special security uni!t of 100 mem!bers. Sudsky was a brilliant police official, having served under the Masaryk-Bene s regimes. Slovak authorities, however, did not know that Sudsky was also a secret agent of the Czech Reds. Charged with the task of rounding up the Reds in Slovakia, Sudsky applied himself diligently and eventually caught up with Stephen Hadera. The latter exposed the Red movement in Slovakia under questioning and the Red "triangle" was disrupted. This was followed by mass arrests of Reds and communist activities practically ceased in Slovakia until the last year of the war. When the Red armies overran the Slovak Republic in May, 1945, and Stalin made Benes "presiden!t" of Czecho-Slovak ia again, Sudsky was immediately placed into service by the Czech Reds. In 1957 he was held res,ponsible for the abduction of several Slovak patriots from Austria. The Czecho-Slovak Republic of Masaryk and Benes which western powers regarded as the most exemplary democratic country in Europe, was in fact the beachhead of Communism in Europe, as Stojadinovich , Yugoslav Minister of the Interior, had declared to newsmen on April 24, 1936, adding that "the Yugoslav communists are financially supported by Benes's Czecho-Slovak Republic." About an hour after he made this statement, Stojadinovich was a dead man, murdered by an agent of the Reds. His assailant escaped to Czecho-Slovakia through Hungary. The Prague Central Bureau of the Reds fixed him up with a new set of forged papers so that he might conltinue in his dastardly trade. In the free western world, there are thousands of agents roaming about, promoting the program of Moscow. After the great massacre of World War II, some of them were employed by Radio Free Europe in Munich. I knew them from �8 SLOVAKIA back home. There was, for example, Robert Valuch of Salzburg, an adjutant of a Brigade Commissioner during the Red putsch in Slovakia in August, 1944; then, Mi.so (Michael) Sagat, whose last known address was Etst Delast Marcheprime girange, France, who issued orders to murder people and murdered many himself; also one Joseph Micudik, a captain of the paritsans who was schooled in Moscow; and then, Joseph Antl, and so many others employed by Radio Free Europe and moving aJbout freely in the service of the Reds. In the light of the above, it is surprising indeed that responsi'ble people of western governments do not see, or pretend not to see or know what is going on in their countries to promote the scourge of communism and enslave the remaining free peoples of the earth. Thus far goes the story of the Slovak patriot, Joseph Bla,skovic, written a ,s hort time before he was abducted !from Austria and imprisoned in Prague by the Czech Reds. The people and governments of the West know that Moscow has its trained agents everywhere. But apparently they do not know thaJt Prague is second only to Mo·s oow as a Red espionage center. Governments of the West, if they do know about it, are loathe to divulge information. CzechoSlovakia and its builders, Thomas G. Masaryk and Dr. Edward Benes, are still regarded highly, and their followers are still the favored "experts" of government ,people. They still .are the "unltoucha1bles" of the political West. Blaskovic' s story is highly plausi-ble, because it is backed by events past and present. Lausman, B. Cerny, Kucera, Folta, Machacek, Ka;las, Sychrava, Haulik, Molin, Marie Dvorak, and other Czechs, posing a,s "esca,pees" and employed by Radio Free Europe, returned to Prague to broadcast to the world how "stupid" Americans were. These agents received Amer.ican "trnth dollars" for their dastardly work. Back in the days of the Office of War Information (OWI), headman Elmer Davis assured Congress that he could spot Communists by a simple rule of thumb: if he was against Polish.iBritish-French resistance to dictator- �SLOVAKIA 9 ship aggression in the days of the Stalin-Hitler , pact • and then howled for war against Germany when Russia was attacked, then he was a Commie. N :, the very time Davis was speaking, and even afterwards, the chief of the Czech division of the OWI, was a Red Czech, Adolph Hoffmeister, an agent of Dr. Edward Benes, who was not only a card carrying Communist, but later the ambassador to Paris for the first Red Czech government. During the trial of one Emil Swiertina, a Red spy caught and sentenced to 12 years by American authori!ties in Munich, the names of several politicians of Benes's socialistic entourage were mentioned. The matter was treated as hush-hush, getting practkally no publicity here. It was known that Swiertina worked wit h a Czech Colonel, Dr. Springer, a subordinate of Colonel Koenig. After his imprisonment, Swiertina's correspondence was handled by Dr. Patek. On orders .from Col. Koenig, these letters were not turned over to American authorities, because it was feared that ,they would incriminate some of Benes's followers, members of the so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovakia," an organization highly favored by our State Department and the Radio Free Europe people. Otto Katz (alias Andre Simone, alias Kofatko), liquidated in the 1952 Red purge trial in Prague, was an intimate of Dr. Hubert Ripka who was regarded as the righthand man of Dr. Edward Benes. Katz, a Red spy who at one time edi!:ed the Rude Pravo (Red Justice), the official organ of the Czech Communists, spent the war years in Mexico and returned to Prague in 1946. Guenther Reinhardt, author af "Crime Without Punishment," links Katz with the 1943 murder of Ca-rlo Tresca in New York. At his trial Katz declared that he once was hired to work for the Overseas News Agency (ONA) which was affiliated with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency untH 1949. Katz had contacts with Adolph Hoffmeister of the OWI; also with Dezider Benau, wartJi.me editor of the New Y orksky Dennik, a newspaper published in Slovak, and with Karel Leitner, editor of the New Yorkske Listy, published in Czech - both papers at that time being owned by one �SLOVAKIA 10 Richard Vogel who did big business with Czecho-Slovalri'a. Katz was also in touch with Dr. Erwin Munk, Otto Biheller, and T. Florin-Hrkel, Czech agents who worked out of the Czech Embassy in Washington when Dr. Juraj Slavik was Benes's ambassador there. It is signif.icant that Miss Pavlina Svoboda, testifying before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Feb. 5, 1952, was not even asked the names of the newspapers which Benau and Leitner edited. Both newspapers published many editorials by leading Communists. After his escape from the United States, Gerhard t Eisler ended up in Prague, haven of the Reds. When Communist Albert S. Stern, whose wife is the Red Martha Dodd Stern, was wanted to testify in the Jack Soble-Soviet spy case, both made off for Prague via Mexico. There they were joined by Maurice Halpern, a former Boston University teacher. In his testimony before the HUAC (released May 10, 1960), Frantisek Tisler, former Military and Air Attache of Cziecho-Slovakia at the embassy in Washington, declared that "one of the main reasons for the maintenance of a Czechoslovak Embassy in Washington, D. C., is to conduct espionage against the United Sfates." It is a matter of record tha:t most of .the politicians of Dr. Edward Benes's official family were active supporters of his pro-Sovi et poHcy. They were members of CzechoSlovakia's communist-dominated National Front government which eliminated all anti-communist elements from the political life of the country. Now, posing as "democratic" exiles and "an/ti-communist" fighters, they would have the West believe that they alway,s were on our side against the diabolic forces of communism. Incredible as it may sound, the fact is that these Red collaborators were accepted immediately by our Staite Department (under Acheson) as "democratic exiles," and their organiza:tion in America, the Council of Free Czechoslovakia, was recognized as "the supreme political body of the Czech and Slovak exile." With the _b lessing of the State Department, the fellow-1ravelers from Czecho-,Slovakia had no trouble at all in finding employment with Radio Free Europe, The Voice of America , 1 �SLOVAKIA 11 the CIC, the Library of Congress, and other agencies of U. S. Government, as well as our universities. More incredi'ble yet is the fact that some of these people are still holding their jobs. Red Prague is paying off to Red Moscow: with the help of the Czechs, who were "remade" under the regimes of T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Edward Benes, Soviet Russia 's campaign of penetration is proceeding successfully in Africa, South America, Mexico, and Nol'lth America, in a word, everywhere! Czech and Soviet officers are instructing Castro's men in tactics and use of Czech arms at Gramma, Baracoa Beach and Managua - the three major bases of Castro's Army. A Czech officer commands the Cuban troops fighting the rebels i-n the Escambray Mountains. Anti-Castro forces in Cuba are trying to speed up the time for civil war there, because Castro, as of now, still does not have much of an air force. But he has about 1000 young Cubans in Czecho-Slovakia learning to fly jets. When they are ready, the Red Russians can create a Cuban air force in less than a day. In the new nations of Africa, you see few Russians, but plenty of Czech salesmen and diplomats. Not Russians, but Czechs are doing the groundwork for Moscow. According to U. S. News and World Report (April 3, 1961) : "Cairo is the Center of Czech operartions i-n, Africa. From Cairo, Czech goods are f11oiwin,g - art twice the 1950 level - to bobh North and West Aifrioa. A Czech airline operates from Praigu:e tlhrowgth Cairo to po'ints in West Afri~. "Am,e,ricans fo Gui•n ea h1ave notioed how fast the Czechs have moved in Wlhen French pulled out. Now, pro-Moscow Guinea is headquarters £or Czech opera,tions in au West Africa. A Czech shoe factory was shipped to Giha;na via Conakry, Gu~•nea. Czech machine to'o1s, preci£·ion instruments for Glhaina and Mali c-ame the same way. "Tirade is jus;t a part of i,t. A total of 270 Czech experts - military advisers, poUce adviisers, teachers - were counted in Cornaik,r,y at one time recently. "To date, this· Sorvi>et-Czech arran,gement has wol'ked smoothly. The Czec1hs are seUing Czech ,goods in Africa for themselves and Commundsm for Moscow." When the Slovaks, over thirty years ago, told America and the world that Benes and his Czech National Socialists were peddling Communism for Moscow, they were ignored �12 SLOVAKIA and scorned. The socialistic state created by Masaryk and Benes came into being in 1918 because of America's intervention. Now we are gradually learning the truth about the poli:tical monstrosity we not only made possible, but nurtured and enriched for over forty years. Imagine, American know-how and doUars are in a large mea·s ure responsible for the fact that Czech Prague has become a Red espion • age training center, second only to Moscow! SLOVAK PEASANT ART: a kitchen in Vinicne � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA Published by the Slovak League of America VOL. XI MARCH-J,UNE, 1961 NO. 1 (33) PRAGUE: RED ESPIONAGE CENTER By Philip A. Hrobak (Among the Slwaik esoarpees snaitched by the Czech Reds in Austria, alild West Germany is one Jioserph Bla-skovic. Shortly before his aibducti-on, this Slovak pa-tr,i ot sent ain a11ticle to his friend, alil escapee from .Slovailcia ruow residing in New York. T.hiis stor,y is based on tha,t article whicll was wri1bt,e n in Slovak.) The Czecho-Slovakia the American public is acquainted with is not the real Czecho-Slovakia of Thomas Guarrigue Masaryk and Dr. Edward Benes. This glorified "·isle of democracy in Europe," painted in such roseate color-s to deceive the West, particularly the United States of America, was destined to become the European beachhead for communism from its very inception. Believe it or not, the simple fact is that the Russian OGPU (Secret Police) was organized in the propaganda state of Masaryk and Benes already in 1918, after Dr. Benes had concluded a secret agreement with Moscow. The OGPU was directed by the notorious agent Skoblin, who personally bossed the group in Prague whose task it was to kidna:p White Russians and ship them to Russia. Skoblin's outfit organized the Red Cells of volunteers, which were approved by Benes and his intimates, and also made all the arrangements for political murders in Poland. Prague thus became a center of the Cominform, second only to Moscow. The Prague Cominform set up an espionage office under the name of the Central European Bureau (1Stredo-Europska Kancelaria - SEK). This office directed the organized Cells and paid off underground espionage groups in the Central European states for services rendered, which included sabotage, kidnapping, and murder. Skoblin's group also organized the West~European Bureau (Zaipado-Eu- 2 SLOVAKIA ropska Kancelaria - ZEK) in Prague to promote communist interests in the Wes't European States. To organize the communists in the Balkan States, a bureau was set up in Vienna under the supervision of the Prague Bureau. The Vienna office at that time was headed by Dimitrov, the Secretary-General of the Cominform who had gained favor in the W esit. The Prague Bureau was made up of such Red worthies as Dimitrov, Gottwald, Manuilsky, Pakosta, Florin, and Ercoli - all graduates of the Moscow School of Red Leaders. Gottwald and Pakosta, both Czechs were ordered by Moscow to work in Slovakia. Pakosta came to the Turiec province and soon got a jeib in the Tatra furniture enterprise a t Turciansky Svaty Martin. Several months later he was elected an official of the local Sick-Benefit Insurance Association; and six months later he became manager of the branch office at Trnava. Pakosta didn't do too bad for himself in Slovakia: within a year he bought himself a large tract of land in the vicinity of Trnava, even though he kept on bellowing "down with the bourgeoisie"! Gottwald was sent to Vrutky in Slovakia where he was employed by the State railway system as a caibinet-maker. After Gottwald became a "master" of his trade, he began to publish a Red periodical in Banska Bystrica. Gottwald and Pakosta had the task of selecting the "right" people for the Red School in Moscow. Among the first selectees were Stephen Hadera, Vlado Clemen'tis, and Gustav Husak. After this trio completed its schooling in Moscow, it formed a "triangle" in Slovakia. Later on Moscow made Gottwa:ld a liaison officer to relay orders of the Cominform to States that had an organized underground. Orders were sentt from Turkey to the Gibraltar and Copenhagen. Gottwald was assisted by Hlozknecht and Prochniak and, later, also by the Polish Reds of Galicia Krumlov, Berend, Doppler, and Ackermann. The Prague Central Bureau directed the Red organizations in Germany, Poland, Hungary, Rumania, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria, where the communists engaged in -s ubversive activities as "Social Democrats." As in Czecho-Slovakia, so SLOVAKIA 3 here too, only "reliable" communists were selected for schooling in Moscow. After graduation, the Reds returned to their respective countries as "socialists" of one shade or another to form "triangles." Whenever things would get too hot for them, they would resort to the tactic of uncovering and repor~ing ordinary laborers as "dangerous communists." It so happened that while innocent people sweated it out in jails, the real subversives, parading as Social Democrats, were free to continue in their nefarious work. In March, 1933, Moscow had prepared detailed plans for the Prague Central Bureau to initiate revolutions in C::echo-Slovakia and Austria. German intelligence, however, uncovered the plot and rushed into action, occupying Austria on March 13. The Reds were lucky to save the incriminating documents of the Vienna office. Otto Katz, alias Andrei Simone, a member of the Zionist and communist organizations, brought them to Bratislava where he personally handed them over to Sankoff-Rappaport, a Zionist, and ·::. o Kreschner, a leader of the German Reds. The latter collaborated closely with the Prague Central Bureau in preparing a revolt in Germany. You may not find it easy to believe, but the fact is that the Russian Revolution of 1917 was organized in Prague. The story was published by the Czech press of Prague in June, 1946, when Lenin's Hall in the "Peoples Home" (Lidovy dum) on Hybernska Street in Prague was ceremoniously opened to the public. It was in this hall that Vladimir Iljic Lenin presided at a meeting of the Russian Social Democratic Party, January 19-30, 1912. And it was at this meeting that J osip Visarionovich Dzhugashvili, later known as Stalin, was eleoted a member of the Central Committee of the party. At that time Lenin used the name of "Majer." The dedication ceremony in 1946 was attended by Soviet Ambassador Zarin, who thanked the government of Benes-Gottwald for honoring the memory of Lenin in such a noble fashion. 4 SLOVAKIA After Hitler came to power and ordered a general round-up of Reds in Germany, the Reds moved their office from Vienna to Paris where they operated under the title "Auslandskomite" (Foreign Committee). Dr. Benes, however, concurred secretly with Litvinov-Finkelste in that it would be more advantageous to transfer the Red German outfit to Prague, making it an adjunct of the Central European Bureau (CIDB). In Prague this group operated under the label "Komunistische Deutsche Partein (KDP). It was assigned the task of organizing Red movements, espionage, sabotage, and political murders in Silesia, central Germany, the Saar, Berlin, Brandenburg, and Bavaria. The Prague Central Bureau of the Reds was charged with the responsibility of promoting communism in twothirds of Europe. Dr. Edward Benes, highly trusted and favored by the West, was well aware of this activity. He had his agents in the KDP and other ReJd groups: and he had them in England, America, and Mexico, as well. He knew that Reds operaJted from the Czecho-Slovak embassy in Washington, because he placed them there himself. Nevertheless the West regarded Benes as a non-Marxist socialist and the "greatest democrat" of Europe. The entire CzechoSlovak State propaganda apparatus was controlled by Benes and his political henchmen: the West knew Benes as Benes wanted it to know him. But the West is gradually waking up to the fact that it did not know the real Benes, Benes, the Marxist socialist, Benes, the servant of Moscow. (Edwaird B. Hiitchcook, who had the privilege of knowing Dr. Benes iruttmateI,y, wrote the only complete biography oif Benes. Nevertheless, the author teHs ,u s thalt Benes, ear]Jy in life, "d•eveloped iiruto a believer of brute materia11ilsm, anarch1is,m, socialism. He was aga.inst <religion. He was opposed to almost every estalblished order in bhe world of that day.") The Prague Central Bureau also had to care for Red refugees from Germany; together with the "Zentral Fraktionsleitung" (Central Group Leadership), the Prague Bureau had to train the most capaible Reds in espionage and underground work. The "Rote Hilfe" (Red Aid), a communist banking institution, and the organiza!Uon called "Union flir Freiheit und Recht" (Union for Freedom and Justice) were connected with the Prague Bureau of the SLOVAKIA 5 Reds. When this motley outfit stamped one as unfit for espionage and subversive work in Germany, it would report him to the Czech police, who in turn would be ordered to surrender him to Germany as a communist. In the eyes of the world this made Dr. Benes and his intimates appear very "anti-communistic" - indeed, the cleanest of all socialists. Duplicity was the hallmark of Benes and his colleagues. Prior to February 25, 1948, when the Reds took over complete power in Czecho-Slovakia, they could not find enough words of prnise for Stalin and the Soviet Union. Then suddenly they were "expelled" from the country and became "anti-communists"! As followers of Benes, Peter Zenkl, Hubert Ripka, Ferdinand Peroutka, and others, nevertheless, had little difficulty in being employed by Radio Free Europe to broadcast "words of truth" to those whom they had helped to betray to the Moloch of Moscow. The Prague Bureau established "Homes For Escapees" in Prague, Strasnice, Kosice, Brno, Msec, and several other cities. The Prague home was managed by a former deputy of the German Reich, one Mrs. Hana Sandtner, a confidante of Karl Schwab who was in charge of the organization called "Vereinigung zur Unterstutzung deutscher Emigranten" (The Alliance for the Aid of German Emigrants), the outfit that cared for Red refugees from Germany. One of the largest homes for Red escapees, the Salda Home, was situated in Msec, Bohemia; it was named after the eminent Israelite warrior who was a Red. In this home escapees were given six-month courses in Marxism, espionage, sabotage, and underground activities. The graduates were then sent out to battle for universal communism (the "International Brigades," for example, in Spain). Military training was in charge of Leon Schnittmann, whose real name was Adol,ph Lejba, one of the best the Soviet had in the business. Officers from the Czech General Staff, selected by Lejba himself, helped with the training of recruits; so dii:l French officers who spoke Russian fluently. Lejba at one time had served as military attache in Prague. After Moscow announced that it had removed Lejba :from his position, he did not return to Russia but remained in Prague, where he opened a private business office. As a 6 SLOVAKIA businessman Lejba was free to travel; and he was in constant touch with the authorities, the ministries and political personalities. It was thus that Lej1ba succeeded in building up a "Czechoslovak-Russian" army. When Schnittman-Lejba visited neighboring States, he called on cryptocommunists in the Social Democratic parties to gather information and give orders. His reports were delivered in person to the Central European Bureau in Prague. Thanks to Lejba and the collaboration of Dr. Benes, Moscow had, in 1938, over 2,000 trained spies in Prague who were dispatched to aH countries of Europe and the West. While the press, the diplomats, and the statesmen of the West referred to the republic of Masairyk and Benes as a "model democracy" and an "isle of democracy in Europe," in reality Czecho~Slovakia was a state in which the Reds ruled under the guise of socialists. Financial help for these Red spies and saboteurs also came from the United States. The president of the "Friends of Nature" (3911 Greenview Avenue, Chicago, Ill.) sent money to the Red Bureau in Prague from the account of the "Ocean Travel Bureau" (2233 N. Ashland Avenue). The money was sent to Karl Schwab of the "Vereinigung zur Unterstutzung deutscher Emigranten." Comrade Dr. Goldschneidt, a "persecuted" Jew, was in charge of the office in Prague (Jachymov Street, 3), which busied itself with espionage under the label of "Zentral Hilfstelle flir Deutsche Fllichtlingskinder" (Central Office to Help Children of German Escapees). With the outbreak of the civil war in Spain, spies were sent there by these Red training centers. During the first weeks of the revolution more than a thousand men were dispatched to Spain by the Prague Bureau. Karl Schwab took care of all the arrangements: with the Czech police he prepared false passes and provided for the transportation of Reds to Spain. After a time, however, Moscow ordered the leading Reds to quit Spain and return to the haven of the Reds, Benes's Czecho-S'1ovakia. After the Slovak Republic was establi,shed on March 14, 1939, by the proclaimation of independence of the autonomous parliament · of Slovakia, the Prague-trained Reds SLOVAKIA 7 presented quite a problem. Communism and Freemasonry had been outlawed already in 1938 by autonomous Slovakia while it was still witthin the framework of Czecho-Slovalda. The Reds went underground, but most of their leaders fled from Prague and Bratislava to Moscow. To ferret out the Reds and disarm them, the Slovak Sta.te ordered Imrich (Henry) Sudsky of the State Security Police to organize a special security uni!t of 100 mem!bers. Sudsky was a brilliant police official, having served under the Masaryk-Bene s regimes. Slovak authorities, however, did not know that Sudsky was also a secret agent of the Czech Reds. Charged with the task of rounding up the Reds in Slovakia, Sudsky applied himself diligently and eventually caught up with Stephen Hadera. The latter exposed the Red movement in Slovakia under questioning and the Red "triangle" was disrupted. This was followed by mass arrests of Reds and communist activities practically ceased in Slovakia until the last year of the war. When the Red armies overran the Slovak Republic in May, 1945, and Stalin made Benes "presiden!t" of Czecho-Slovak ia again, Sudsky was immediately placed into service by the Czech Reds. In 1957 he was held res,ponsible for the abduction of several Slovak patriots from Austria. The Czecho-Slovak Republic of Masaryk and Benes which western powers regarded as the most exemplary democratic country in Europe, was in fact the beachhead of Communism in Europe, as Stojadinovich , Yugoslav Minister of the Interior, had declared to newsmen on April 24, 1936, adding that "the Yugoslav communists are financially supported by Benes's Czecho-Slovak Republic." About an hour after he made this statement, Stojadinovich was a dead man, murdered by an agent of the Reds. His assailant escaped to Czecho-Slovakia through Hungary. The Prague Central Bureau of the Reds fixed him up with a new set of forged papers so that he might conltinue in his dastardly trade. In the free western world, there are thousands of agents roaming about, promoting the program of Moscow. After the great massacre of World War II, some of them were employed by Radio Free Europe in Munich. I knew them from 8 SLOVAKIA back home. There was, for example, Robert Valuch of Salzburg, an adjutant of a Brigade Commissioner during the Red putsch in Slovakia in August, 1944; then, Mi.so (Michael) Sagat, whose last known address was Etst Delast Marcheprime girange, France, who issued orders to murder people and murdered many himself; also one Joseph Micudik, a captain of the paritsans who was schooled in Moscow; and then, Joseph Antl, and so many others employed by Radio Free Europe and moving aJbout freely in the service of the Reds. In the light of the above, it is surprising indeed that responsi'ble people of western governments do not see, or pretend not to see or know what is going on in their countries to promote the scourge of communism and enslave the remaining free peoples of the earth. Thus far goes the story of the Slovak patriot, Joseph Bla,skovic, written a ,s hort time before he was abducted !from Austria and imprisoned in Prague by the Czech Reds. The people and governments of the West know that Moscow has its trained agents everywhere. But apparently they do not know thaJt Prague is second only to Mo·s oow as a Red espionage center. Governments of the West, if they do know about it, are loathe to divulge information. CzechoSlovakia and its builders, Thomas G. Masaryk and Dr. Edward Benes, are still regarded highly, and their followers are still the favored "experts" of government ,people. They still .are the "unltoucha1bles" of the political West. Blaskovic' s story is highly plausi-ble, because it is backed by events past and present. Lausman, B. Cerny, Kucera, Folta, Machacek, Ka;las, Sychrava, Haulik, Molin, Marie Dvorak, and other Czechs, posing a,s "esca,pees" and employed by Radio Free Europe, returned to Prague to broadcast to the world how "stupid" Americans were. These agents received Amer.ican "trnth dollars" for their dastardly work. Back in the days of the Office of War Information (OWI), headman Elmer Davis assured Congress that he could spot Communists by a simple rule of thumb: if he was against Polish.iBritish-French resistance to dictator- SLOVAKIA 9 ship aggression in the days of the Stalin-Hitler , pact • and then howled for war against Germany when Russia was attacked, then he was a Commie. N :, the very time Davis was speaking, and even afterwards, the chief of the Czech division of the OWI, was a Red Czech, Adolph Hoffmeister, an agent of Dr. Edward Benes, who was not only a card carrying Communist, but later the ambassador to Paris for the first Red Czech government. During the trial of one Emil Swiertina, a Red spy caught and sentenced to 12 years by American authori!ties in Munich, the names of several politicians of Benes's socialistic entourage were mentioned. The matter was treated as hush-hush, getting practkally no publicity here. It was known that Swiertina worked wit h a Czech Colonel, Dr. Springer, a subordinate of Colonel Koenig. After his imprisonment, Swiertina's correspondence was handled by Dr. Patek. On orders .from Col. Koenig, these letters were not turned over to American authorities, because it was feared that ,they would incriminate some of Benes's followers, members of the so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovakia," an organization highly favored by our State Department and the Radio Free Europe people. Otto Katz (alias Andre Simone, alias Kofatko), liquidated in the 1952 Red purge trial in Prague, was an intimate of Dr. Hubert Ripka who was regarded as the righthand man of Dr. Edward Benes. Katz, a Red spy who at one time edi!:ed the Rude Pravo (Red Justice), the official organ of the Czech Communists, spent the war years in Mexico and returned to Prague in 1946. Guenther Reinhardt, author af "Crime Without Punishment," links Katz with the 1943 murder of Ca-rlo Tresca in New York. At his trial Katz declared that he once was hired to work for the Overseas News Agency (ONA) which was affiliated with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency untH 1949. Katz had contacts with Adolph Hoffmeister of the OWI; also with Dezider Benau, wartJi.me editor of the New Y orksky Dennik, a newspaper published in Slovak, and with Karel Leitner, editor of the New Yorkske Listy, published in Czech - both papers at that time being owned by one SLOVAKIA 10 Richard Vogel who did big business with Czecho-Slovalri'a. Katz was also in touch with Dr. Erwin Munk, Otto Biheller, and T. Florin-Hrkel, Czech agents who worked out of the Czech Embassy in Washington when Dr. Juraj Slavik was Benes's ambassador there. It is signif.icant that Miss Pavlina Svoboda, testifying before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Feb. 5, 1952, was not even asked the names of the newspapers which Benau and Leitner edited. Both newspapers published many editorials by leading Communists. After his escape from the United States, Gerhard t Eisler ended up in Prague, haven of the Reds. When Communist Albert S. Stern, whose wife is the Red Martha Dodd Stern, was wanted to testify in the Jack Soble-Soviet spy case, both made off for Prague via Mexico. There they were joined by Maurice Halpern, a former Boston University teacher. In his testimony before the HUAC (released May 10, 1960), Frantisek Tisler, former Military and Air Attache of Cziecho-Slovakia at the embassy in Washington, declared that "one of the main reasons for the maintenance of a Czechoslovak Embassy in Washington, D. C., is to conduct espionage against the United Sfates." It is a matter of record tha:t most of .the politicians of Dr. Edward Benes's official family were active supporters of his pro-Sovi et poHcy. They were members of CzechoSlovakia's communist-dominated National Front government which eliminated all anti-communist elements from the political life of the country. Now, posing as "democratic" exiles and "an/ti-communist" fighters, they would have the West believe that they alway,s were on our side against the diabolic forces of communism. Incredible as it may sound, the fact is that these Red collaborators were accepted immediately by our Staite Department (under Acheson) as "democratic exiles," and their organiza:tion in America, the Council of Free Czechoslovakia, was recognized as "the supreme political body of the Czech and Slovak exile." With the _b lessing of the State Department, the fellow-1ravelers from Czecho-,Slovakia had no trouble at all in finding employment with Radio Free Europe, The Voice of America , 1 SLOVAKIA 11 the CIC, the Library of Congress, and other agencies of U. S. Government, as well as our universities. More incredi'ble yet is the fact that some of these people are still holding their jobs. Red Prague is paying off to Red Moscow: with the help of the Czechs, who were "remade" under the regimes of T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Edward Benes, Soviet Russia 's campaign of penetration is proceeding successfully in Africa, South America, Mexico, and Nol'lth America, in a word, everywhere! Czech and Soviet officers are instructing Castro's men in tactics and use of Czech arms at Gramma, Baracoa Beach and Managua - the three major bases of Castro's Army. A Czech officer commands the Cuban troops fighting the rebels i-n the Escambray Mountains. Anti-Castro forces in Cuba are trying to speed up the time for civil war there, because Castro, as of now, still does not have much of an air force. But he has about 1000 young Cubans in Czecho-Slovakia learning to fly jets. When they are ready, the Red Russians can create a Cuban air force in less than a day. In the new nations of Africa, you see few Russians, but plenty of Czech salesmen and diplomats. Not Russians, but Czechs are doing the groundwork for Moscow. According to U. S. News and World Report (April 3, 1961) : "Cairo is the Center of Czech operartions i-n, Africa. From Cairo, Czech goods are f11oiwin,g - art twice the 1950 level - to bobh North and West Aifrioa. A Czech airline operates from Praigu:e tlhrowgth Cairo to po'ints in West Afri~. "Am,e,ricans fo Gui•n ea h1ave notioed how fast the Czechs have moved in Wlhen French pulled out. Now, pro-Moscow Guinea is headquarters £or Czech opera,tions in au West Africa. A Czech shoe factory was shipped to Giha;na via Conakry, Gu~•nea. Czech machine to'o1s, preci£·ion instruments for Glhaina and Mali c-ame the same way. "Tirade is jus;t a part of i,t. A total of 270 Czech experts - military advisers, poUce adviisers, teachers - were counted in Cornaik,r,y at one time recently. "To date, this· Sorvi>et-Czech arran,gement has wol'ked smoothly. The Czec1hs are seUing Czech ,goods in Africa for themselves and Commundsm for Moscow." When the Slovaks, over thirty years ago, told America and the world that Benes and his Czech National Socialists were peddling Communism for Moscow, they were ignored 12 SLOVAKIA and scorned. The socialistic state created by Masaryk and Benes came into being in 1918 because of America's intervention. Now we are gradually learning the truth about the poli:tical monstrosity we not only made possible, but nurtured and enriched for over forty years. Imagine, American know-how and doUars are in a large mea·s ure responsible for the fact that Czech Prague has become a Red espion • age training center, second only to Moscow! SLOVAK PEASANT ART: a kitchen in Vinicne  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Prague: Red Espionage Center Description An account of the resource Philip A. Hrobak Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 1 (33), March-June 1961 pp. 1-12 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hrobak, Philip Anthony, 1904-1964 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1961 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/e023c3484c4b5dd82617765ba4f434bc.pdf b570148a0978c0eba0cbabb3cac8a3d1 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 13 SLOVAK.IA UNDER COMMUNISM By Joseph Pauco During the past three months I met several Americams of Slovak descent who had visiited Slovakia. All were Amevican citizens. Since none played any active role in politics, they had no difficulty in obtainling visas from Red Prague. "They know I am not a politician," said my friend , "but they also know that I am bringing American dollars to P,r ague and Brati'slava, so the Reds do not hesitate to place their signa:ture to my viisa. But my spivitua;l director, t he pastor of my parish, could not get a visa, even though he, too, does no politioing. Being a priest apparently is reason enough not to allow him entry on Slovak soil, which today is washed by streams of innocent blood of martyrs fighting for the freedom of Slovakia. Communism Destroying All Hope One of the visitors told me this: "My brother-fa-law is a teacher. I talked with him for two hours; •but, except for his deploring the communist regime, I learned nothing new from him. He did, however, stress that there are very few active teachers from the old school, that is, those who taught during the Slovak Republic (1939-1945), and that the communist regime carefully supervises even the new school or generation of teachers, brought up and trained by the communists themselves, makes them renounce their religious convictions, and prohibits them even to mention religion except to ridicule, vilify, and condemn it. "This, of course, shocked me. My brother-in-law, alt hough 15 years younger, looked muoh older .than I. Indeed, he was unable to believe that there could be such a difference. "Communism," he would say, "brings no good to anyone; and when one does not approve of it, even though one does not actively oppose it, it destroys one s·p iritually and this in its turn reacts physically and one's body succumbs and slowly deteriorates. "Lt is even worse among the Slovak intellectuals, who �14 SLOVAKIA are desperate and have given up all hope. And this isn' t only among those who are years in prison or who, instead of having their regular office or teaching position, are working in the uranium mines, but also among those who still are at large, undetected. Despair is stalking them everywhere because they cannot tell when they also will be ,s eized and shipped to unlmown regions. "In a word, today in Slovakia, as perhaps in other communist countries, people are losing all hope. My brother-in-law specifically reiterated: "What can we now await, when for 15 years there was no undoing, no overturning and no possibility for such an undoing or overturning? Those of us who have been hoping for this transformation are aging and cannot live long enough to see any reversal or change-over so long as the West continues ,to ignore or to pay little attention to us . "And our ,c hildren and grandchildren? I'm dreadfully afraid most of them will be thoroughly brainwashed and trained in godless marxist ideology. And th~s will be disastrous for our nation and for all of central Europe." Take Us To America "Take us to Amer.ica !" is the pleading cry of a young man, bidding rfarewell to his American uncle, who was returning to America after visiting Slovakia. "Immediately, but immediately I'd leave with you even though I'd have to live on dry bread and water in your trunk the whole trip half-unconscious!" Those words express ,p ractically everything the communized and oppressed Slovaks feel. They long above all to escape and shake off the slavery of communism; and the only way to do this now is, it seems to them, to come to America. Even -though some Slovaks lost all hope and feel that the USA will come to terms with the Soviet Union, nevertheless the vast majority of them is still of the opinion that America will not abandon the nations behind the Iron Curtain and that it, therefore, will not abandon Slovaki,a either. "It is most unfortunate," remarked a Slovak native to our visitor in Slovakia, "that the USA did not act more energetically in 1956 when the Hungarians rebelled against communism. We were ready to rise up also. So would have the Poles, the Rumanians, the Croatians, �SLOVAKIA 15 and Slovenfans, and the whole of Central Europe would have been on the maroh to freedom." Even the communists at the time were apprehensive that the time had come for a change and were preparing for it. For instance, t:hey treated their prisoners wi th a:. healthy respect. The Slovaks often mention their relatives in America anld relay to them, as our informant tells us, that "If the American Slovaks do no-t help us out of communism's diabolical clui:ches, we have lived and struggled in vain. It is useless to continue to live as we do. Tell our Slovak Americans that never did a people so need assistance as we need it now. Tell them to knock daily at the White House in Washington and under the leadersh,ip of the Slovak League of America to rise up •:ogether in behalf of our Slovak Nation and its independent State. We want to be free and independent of communism, Czech imperialism, and every outside pressure." Slovaks in Slovakia have confidence in Amerka even though communist propaganda tells them that hunger and poverty prevail in Amer.ica, that children are barefooted and one third of its people unemployed. Slovaks, knowing that, like every country, America a:lso has its· economic problems, smile at this propaganda. But they also know, as they told v1sitovs from the USA, .that nowhere in the world are people as well off and free as in. America. Godless Communist Schools In Slovakia religion is still taught as an unprescr.i-bed subject; but only where the parents demand it. The communist press and administration are viciously opposed to religious instruction and training in any school. We read in a rather comprehensive article in the Bratisfava "Praca," dated September 28, 1960, and titled "Does Religion Belong In A Socialist School?": " ... religion, for i ts unscientific · character which emanates wholly from fantastic supersitions and not from real facts , is harmful. One of its basic principles is: Not to undermine or rebel against the gods created by a profit and exploiting system and not to destroy them and their plundering system if an eternal and blissful hereafter is to be successfully attained. It is difficult to visualize in-. �16 SLOVAKIA spired builders of a communistic future, builders belabored and burdened with such falise and silly concepts and ideals. Hence the socialistic school is and must basically and solely imbue and train the young from the scientific base - the materialistic Marxist world-wide view, the cor,r ectness of which not only does science confirm but also more often even practice. Therefore, in CzechoSlovak schools religion, even as an elective, is really never taught." "Praca" then further anailyzes the reasons of the communist regime as to why religion must not be taught. It alleges that "even our constitution ... guarantees freeeven though dom of worship and religious service truly only if this is not contrary to (communist) law." Who, however makes the laws in Slova:kia? The communists. And if they do not care to have religion taught or promulgated, then they pass such laws which will not permit religion to be .taught. "Praca" continues: "No religion, no religious concept is permitted in the educational program or its text books ; it is neither named nor alluded to, and the person who might dare teach it is not considered a teacher or a member of .t he teaching staff. And hence it is not a part of the course of education." Communists are convinced that "from the pedagogical viewpoint it is not only improper and incorrect but also confusing and unhealthy for a child to be placed into periods of conflict and contradiction between religion and science ; for instance, between the theories of divine creation and the scientific origin of the world." " ... there is no room for useless obstructions and burdening of young minds into lethargic religious imaginings which have no concrete value to a child.... "In a socialist state, religion, a:s an outlived form of socia'l science, loses the nm1bur.ing soil humus for its existence and inevitably dies. This is very obvious even in our schools where the number of children registered for religious instructions is constantly decreasing, and even this year is substantially lower than la,st year. This dying out of religion, however, must not be lerft to elementals. �SLOVAKIA 17 We feel that with purposeful work, after a definite time, interest ,i n the teaching of religion in Slovakia will decrease to such an extent, for example, as it hras in Mostecko and Karlovarski, where practically no religion is taug.ht." Rather it appears that the reason for this demise is its own inherent invia,b ility and destructive uselessness; and hence in the course of time t he designed purposeful training and education that youth will get ,in the socia1ist state will deminish and eliminate the ,i nterest in religion and its upbringing ait least to the tiny degree thaJt it is alveady eliminated for instance in Mostec or .in Karlovar where practica:l'ly no religion is given. Then the hours or periods for religious instruction will become wholly useless in all of our schools and religion and religious instructions wiU have outlived usefulness." "Praca" is organizing heckling units to instigate and incite opposition against the teaching of religion. Thus on October 10th of this year, it published a rep'l y to its article. The letter is significant for two things: (1) communism has already trained atheists in Slov,a kia; and (2) resistance against communism's a.ibolishment of ·r eligious education in schools continues. We quote the letter literaHy: "Everything which you write is true. We also are atheists and give priority to science over the tales of the clergy. But we see that difficulties do arise in the families when they must decide whether the child is to study religion. One of our fel'low-workers, for instance, did not register his daughter for religious instruction, and now he has great misunderstandings with his wife. In our own families we, too, have little children - and we expect complications when the children become of school age and bring their applications to register for religious instruction. How can quarrels in the families be avoided? We think that religion should not be taug,ht at all in our schools. - Rudolf Skolkay and Ludovit Vaverika, Hlohovec." 1 Communists Destroyed Hundreds of Thousands of Books An a,cquaintance, who spent two months in Slovakia, tells us how the communist authorities had confiscated and destroyed all the religious and cultural books they found in �16 SLOVAKIA the Matica Slovenska (Slovak Insti:tute), the Spolok Sv. Vojteoha (St. Adalbert's Society) and other publishing houses, and which tihe communist reg.ime regarded as not acceptable from the Marxist-Leninist viewpoint. Our acquaintance ascertained that one iday trucks pulled up to the publishing houses with the police, who ordered the confiscation of all books they had on prepared lists. Seven truckloads were taken from St. Adalbert's Society a:lone. At the head of the list were the religious books prayerbooks, catechisms, lives of the saints, entire volumes of religious periodicals, and everything with an imprimatur in it. Then they took all the books published during the existence Olf the Republic of Slovia:kia, the authors of which are either in exile or in prison. "When we learned this," sa:id the acquaintance, "we were shocked .... we just couldn't believe it. People had hoped that the communist regime would not go to this extreme and that somehow or other the books would still be saved at least in the stockrooms of the publishers since bookstores and book-sellers were not allowed to buy or sell them. Instead, however, the books - hundreds of thousands of good books - were destroyed." The books were ground up to a pulp to make new paper which is to serve the communist press. Paper that once carried the Word of God, religious thoughts and literature, is now being used against God, religion, democracy and humanity. Communism destroys everything that stands in its way. Tension Between Slovak and Czech Writers . We know an American whose relative in Slovakia is a wri:ter. Returning from Slovakia, this man told us of some of the problems of writers. The communists, he related, hesitated for a long time to permit a new edition of the novel, "Tri Gastanove Kone" (Three Chestnut Horses) which Margita Figuli wrote and published long before the communists came into control. The reason for this was nolt that the author or the novel was political or anti-communistic. Not at all; for it is a novel with many love affairs. Nor was the author on any �SLOVAKIA 19 political index. She had never been in politics, and if she ever was incHned or orienta,ted to any political view it was towards Prague, the Czech viewpoint. Nevertheless she had .to wait a full six years till the communist regime of Prague permitted her to put out a new edition of her novel. The reason for this delay? The vinain of the novel, the tyrant, the torturer of women and horses, is a man na:med Zapotocny. 'Dhe Czech communists feared that the readers would confuse this name with the name of the communist president of Czecho-Slovakia whose name was Zapotocky. So the party waited until Za.potocky di'ed and then aMowed a new edition af Figuli's novel. The consent of the Slovak .communists was not enough. The Slovak communists had first to consult and get the approval of .bhe Czech communists. This, however, is how things go in Slovakia in all things- politics, economics, literary works, justice, in a word, in everything, the Red Czechs of Prag,ue must first be consulted and their approval or decision must first be obtained, or else My friend mentioned other problems that Slovak }VI'iters have. For instance, there is a tremendous amount of tension and antagonism between .the Czech and Slovak writers. For the communist party is trying to fuse or merge the two groups of writers - the Czech and the Slov,ak into one, the Czecho-Slovak writers, as the Academy of Science previously attempted. The Slovak writers, whether communist or not, adamantly refuse to give up their Slovak aHiance and submit to the Czech or Czech-Slovak Alliance. They told WiHiam Siroky, who pressured them: "A united alliance can be achieved only through the medium of our lorn up communist idenitification cards!" Low Wages and High Prices Another Slovak American who visited Slovakia, related how much Slovaks can earn anid how much they pay for the things they need. Today most of the Slovaks have to work in groups or collectives. In the .rural areas - and Slovakia is predominantly agricultural - to work they must belong to single farm collectives or · "kokhozes". The farmers' fields or �20 SLOVAKIA farms were .taken away and nationalized; now they must work on them for the state. The collective worker however, does not make more than seven crowns ($1.00) a day. Sometimes only six crowns, depending on the way his unit of work is estimated. A woman, working in a poultry-house 14 hours a day, gets almost 10 crowns. Likewise a dairy-maid, but she must milk by hand 18 cows twice daily. A construction worker receives only 6.50 crowns a day. Stoneworkers are better off; they get 1,000 crowns a month. But let us see how this compa,,res with the price of things. The American visitor expla,ineld it this way: If only one person works in the collective, two people cannot live on his income. Simply because: A kilogram (2.2 l'b s.) of the blackest bread costs 8 crowns; a better bread 10 crowns; and a half-white bread costs 12 crowns. It is obvious that a laborer cannot make enough a day to buy a kilogram of good bread. And if he wants to buy a little cheese-cake, or a little poppy-seed roll or jelly-bun (roll), which in America would cost about 40 cents, in Slovakia he won•rt be able to obtain it for less than 6 crowns. Hence a construction worker labors almost all day for a ro'll or good bun which won't be enough to go with one cup of coffee. Wi,th meat it's the same business. Beef and pork cost 48 crowns a kilogram. Women stand in front of butcher shops in lines blocks long from 5 in the morning sometimes until noon; but the last ones usually get no meat at all. For a kilogram of meat a collective worker must work seven days. Average oloth or material fior men's clothing costs 750 crowns. A well paid worker then must toil 3 weeks just for the material for a suit of clothes. In Slovakia common summer-shoes or sa,,ndals cost 500 crowns a pair; and a well paid worker must work a good 15 days for a pair of these shoes. A commune worker has to work over two months to be able to buy a good pair of sanidals. My friend also visited the Czech lands, where his relatives from Slovakia work in Bohemia and Moravia. From �SLOVAKIA 21 them he learned of the dis<!rimination and inequality in the wages paid in the Czech lands as compared w.ith those in Slovakia. It is unbelievingly shocking inequa:lity, injustice and discrimination. Every worker in the Czech lands receives dowble the amount he would receive for the same work in Slovakia. This inequality and discrimination gives rise to serious misunderstandings . The Czechs have not learned the lessons of history; little has changed since the days of T. G. Masaryk and Benes : the Slovaks are still regarded as servants of the Czechs, to be exploited solely for Czech interests. 'NIE SLOVA.KS by Peter P. Yurchak, should be in every pwblk library, in every college and university, in the home of every American of Slovak descent. Get your copy NOW. Paper bound copy-· $2.00; in cloth $3.00. SLOVAKl,A: the women of Rejdova, Gerner Province, once wore this type of headdress. � SLOVAKIA 13 SLOVAK.IA UNDER COMMUNISM By Joseph Pauco During the past three months I met several Americams of Slovak descent who had visiited Slovakia. All were Amevican citizens. Since none played any active role in politics, they had no difficulty in obtainling visas from Red Prague. "They know I am not a politician," said my friend , "but they also know that I am bringing American dollars to P,r ague and Brati'slava, so the Reds do not hesitate to place their signa:ture to my viisa. But my spivitua;l director, t he pastor of my parish, could not get a visa, even though he, too, does no politioing. Being a priest apparently is reason enough not to allow him entry on Slovak soil, which today is washed by streams of innocent blood of martyrs fighting for the freedom of Slovakia. Communism Destroying All Hope One of the visitors told me this: "My brother-fa-law is a teacher. I talked with him for two hours; •but, except for his deploring the communist regime, I learned nothing new from him. He did, however, stress that there are very few active teachers from the old school, that is, those who taught during the Slovak Republic (1939-1945), and that the communist regime carefully supervises even the new school or generation of teachers, brought up and trained by the communists themselves, makes them renounce their religious convictions, and prohibits them even to mention religion except to ridicule, vilify, and condemn it. "This, of course, shocked me. My brother-in-law, alt hough 15 years younger, looked muoh older .than I. Indeed, he was unable to believe that there could be such a difference. "Communism," he would say, "brings no good to anyone; and when one does not approve of it, even though one does not actively oppose it, it destroys one s·p iritually and this in its turn reacts physically and one's body succumbs and slowly deteriorates. "Lt is even worse among the Slovak intellectuals, who �14 SLOVAKIA are desperate and have given up all hope. And this isn' t only among those who are years in prison or who, instead of having their regular office or teaching position, are working in the uranium mines, but also among those who still are at large, undetected. Despair is stalking them everywhere because they cannot tell when they also will be ,s eized and shipped to unlmown regions. "In a word, today in Slovakia, as perhaps in other communist countries, people are losing all hope. My brother-in-law specifically reiterated: "What can we now await, when for 15 years there was no undoing, no overturning and no possibility for such an undoing or overturning? Those of us who have been hoping for this transformation are aging and cannot live long enough to see any reversal or change-over so long as the West continues ,to ignore or to pay little attention to us . "And our ,c hildren and grandchildren? I'm dreadfully afraid most of them will be thoroughly brainwashed and trained in godless marxist ideology. And th~s will be disastrous for our nation and for all of central Europe." Take Us To America "Take us to Amer.ica !" is the pleading cry of a young man, bidding rfarewell to his American uncle, who was returning to America after visiting Slovakia. "Immediately, but immediately I'd leave with you even though I'd have to live on dry bread and water in your trunk the whole trip half-unconscious!" Those words express ,p ractically everything the communized and oppressed Slovaks feel. They long above all to escape and shake off the slavery of communism; and the only way to do this now is, it seems to them, to come to America. Even -though some Slovaks lost all hope and feel that the USA will come to terms with the Soviet Union, nevertheless the vast majority of them is still of the opinion that America will not abandon the nations behind the Iron Curtain and that it, therefore, will not abandon Slovaki,a either. "It is most unfortunate," remarked a Slovak native to our visitor in Slovakia, "that the USA did not act more energetically in 1956 when the Hungarians rebelled against communism. We were ready to rise up also. So would have the Poles, the Rumanians, the Croatians, �SLOVAKIA 15 and Slovenfans, and the whole of Central Europe would have been on the maroh to freedom." Even the communists at the time were apprehensive that the time had come for a change and were preparing for it. For instance, t:hey treated their prisoners wi th a:. healthy respect. The Slovaks often mention their relatives in America anld relay to them, as our informant tells us, that "If the American Slovaks do no-t help us out of communism's diabolical clui:ches, we have lived and struggled in vain. It is useless to continue to live as we do. Tell our Slovak Americans that never did a people so need assistance as we need it now. Tell them to knock daily at the White House in Washington and under the leadersh,ip of the Slovak League of America to rise up •:ogether in behalf of our Slovak Nation and its independent State. We want to be free and independent of communism, Czech imperialism, and every outside pressure." Slovaks in Slovakia have confidence in Amerka even though communist propaganda tells them that hunger and poverty prevail in Amer.ica, that children are barefooted and one third of its people unemployed. Slovaks, knowing that, like every country, America a:lso has its· economic problems, smile at this propaganda. But they also know, as they told v1sitovs from the USA, .that nowhere in the world are people as well off and free as in. America. Godless Communist Schools In Slovakia religion is still taught as an unprescr.i-bed subject; but only where the parents demand it. The communist press and administration are viciously opposed to religious instruction and training in any school. We read in a rather comprehensive article in the Bratisfava "Praca," dated September 28, 1960, and titled "Does Religion Belong In A Socialist School?": " ... religion, for i ts unscientific · character which emanates wholly from fantastic supersitions and not from real facts , is harmful. One of its basic principles is: Not to undermine or rebel against the gods created by a profit and exploiting system and not to destroy them and their plundering system if an eternal and blissful hereafter is to be successfully attained. It is difficult to visualize in-. �16 SLOVAKIA spired builders of a communistic future, builders belabored and burdened with such falise and silly concepts and ideals. Hence the socialistic school is and must basically and solely imbue and train the young from the scientific base - the materialistic Marxist world-wide view, the cor,r ectness of which not only does science confirm but also more often even practice. Therefore, in CzechoSlovak schools religion, even as an elective, is really never taught." "Praca" then further anailyzes the reasons of the communist regime as to why religion must not be taught. It alleges that "even our constitution ... guarantees freeeven though dom of worship and religious service truly only if this is not contrary to (communist) law." Who, however makes the laws in Slova:kia? The communists. And if they do not care to have religion taught or promulgated, then they pass such laws which will not permit religion to be .taught. "Praca" continues: "No religion, no religious concept is permitted in the educational program or its text books ; it is neither named nor alluded to, and the person who might dare teach it is not considered a teacher or a member of .t he teaching staff. And hence it is not a part of the course of education." Communists are convinced that "from the pedagogical viewpoint it is not only improper and incorrect but also confusing and unhealthy for a child to be placed into periods of conflict and contradiction between religion and science ; for instance, between the theories of divine creation and the scientific origin of the world." " ... there is no room for useless obstructions and burdening of young minds into lethargic religious imaginings which have no concrete value to a child.... "In a socialist state, religion, a:s an outlived form of socia'l science, loses the nm1bur.ing soil humus for its existence and inevitably dies. This is very obvious even in our schools where the number of children registered for religious instructions is constantly decreasing, and even this year is substantially lower than la,st year. This dying out of religion, however, must not be lerft to elementals. �SLOVAKIA 17 We feel that with purposeful work, after a definite time, interest ,i n the teaching of religion in Slovakia will decrease to such an extent, for example, as it hras in Mostecko and Karlovarski, where practically no religion is taug.ht." Rather it appears that the reason for this demise is its own inherent invia,b ility and destructive uselessness; and hence in the course of time t he designed purposeful training and education that youth will get ,in the socia1ist state will deminish and eliminate the ,i nterest in religion and its upbringing ait least to the tiny degree thaJt it is alveady eliminated for instance in Mostec or .in Karlovar where practica:l'ly no religion is given. Then the hours or periods for religious instruction will become wholly useless in all of our schools and religion and religious instructions wiU have outlived usefulness." "Praca" is organizing heckling units to instigate and incite opposition against the teaching of religion. Thus on October 10th of this year, it published a rep'l y to its article. The letter is significant for two things: (1) communism has already trained atheists in Slov,a kia; and (2) resistance against communism's a.ibolishment of ·r eligious education in schools continues. We quote the letter literaHy: "Everything which you write is true. We also are atheists and give priority to science over the tales of the clergy. But we see that difficulties do arise in the families when they must decide whether the child is to study religion. One of our fel'low-workers, for instance, did not register his daughter for religious instruction, and now he has great misunderstandings with his wife. In our own families we, too, have little children - and we expect complications when the children become of school age and bring their applications to register for religious instruction. How can quarrels in the families be avoided? We think that religion should not be taug,ht at all in our schools. - Rudolf Skolkay and Ludovit Vaverika, Hlohovec." 1 Communists Destroyed Hundreds of Thousands of Books An a,cquaintance, who spent two months in Slovakia, tells us how the communist authorities had confiscated and destroyed all the religious and cultural books they found in �16 SLOVAKIA the Matica Slovenska (Slovak Insti:tute), the Spolok Sv. Vojteoha (St. Adalbert's Society) and other publishing houses, and which tihe communist reg.ime regarded as not acceptable from the Marxist-Leninist viewpoint. Our acquaintance ascertained that one iday trucks pulled up to the publishing houses with the police, who ordered the confiscation of all books they had on prepared lists. Seven truckloads were taken from St. Adalbert's Society a:lone. At the head of the list were the religious books prayerbooks, catechisms, lives of the saints, entire volumes of religious periodicals, and everything with an imprimatur in it. Then they took all the books published during the existence Olf the Republic of Slovia:kia, the authors of which are either in exile or in prison. "When we learned this," sa:id the acquaintance, "we were shocked .... we just couldn't believe it. People had hoped that the communist regime would not go to this extreme and that somehow or other the books would still be saved at least in the stockrooms of the publishers since bookstores and book-sellers were not allowed to buy or sell them. Instead, however, the books - hundreds of thousands of good books - were destroyed." The books were ground up to a pulp to make new paper which is to serve the communist press. Paper that once carried the Word of God, religious thoughts and literature, is now being used against God, religion, democracy and humanity. Communism destroys everything that stands in its way. Tension Between Slovak and Czech Writers . We know an American whose relative in Slovakia is a wri:ter. Returning from Slovakia, this man told us of some of the problems of writers. The communists, he related, hesitated for a long time to permit a new edition of the novel, "Tri Gastanove Kone" (Three Chestnut Horses) which Margita Figuli wrote and published long before the communists came into control. The reason for this was nolt that the author or the novel was political or anti-communistic. Not at all; for it is a novel with many love affairs. Nor was the author on any �SLOVAKIA 19 political index. She had never been in politics, and if she ever was incHned or orienta,ted to any political view it was towards Prague, the Czech viewpoint. Nevertheless she had .to wait a full six years till the communist regime of Prague permitted her to put out a new edition of her novel. The reason for this delay? The vinain of the novel, the tyrant, the torturer of women and horses, is a man na:med Zapotocny. 'Dhe Czech communists feared that the readers would confuse this name with the name of the communist president of Czecho-Slovakia whose name was Zapotocky. So the party waited until Za.potocky di'ed and then aMowed a new edition af Figuli's novel. The consent of the Slovak .communists was not enough. The Slovak communists had first to consult and get the approval of .bhe Czech communists. This, however, is how things go in Slovakia in all things- politics, economics, literary works, justice, in a word, in everything, the Red Czechs of Prag,ue must first be consulted and their approval or decision must first be obtained, or else My friend mentioned other problems that Slovak }VI'iters have. For instance, there is a tremendous amount of tension and antagonism between .the Czech and Slovak writers. For the communist party is trying to fuse or merge the two groups of writers - the Czech and the Slov,ak into one, the Czecho-Slovak writers, as the Academy of Science previously attempted. The Slovak writers, whether communist or not, adamantly refuse to give up their Slovak aHiance and submit to the Czech or Czech-Slovak Alliance. They told WiHiam Siroky, who pressured them: "A united alliance can be achieved only through the medium of our lorn up communist idenitification cards!" Low Wages and High Prices Another Slovak American who visited Slovakia, related how much Slovaks can earn anid how much they pay for the things they need. Today most of the Slovaks have to work in groups or collectives. In the .rural areas - and Slovakia is predominantly agricultural - to work they must belong to single farm collectives or · "kokhozes". The farmers' fields or �20 SLOVAKIA farms were .taken away and nationalized; now they must work on them for the state. The collective worker however, does not make more than seven crowns ($1.00) a day. Sometimes only six crowns, depending on the way his unit of work is estimated. A woman, working in a poultry-house 14 hours a day, gets almost 10 crowns. Likewise a dairy-maid, but she must milk by hand 18 cows twice daily. A construction worker receives only 6.50 crowns a day. Stoneworkers are better off; they get 1,000 crowns a month. But let us see how this compa,,res with the price of things. The American visitor expla,ineld it this way: If only one person works in the collective, two people cannot live on his income. Simply because: A kilogram (2.2 l'b s.) of the blackest bread costs 8 crowns; a better bread 10 crowns; and a half-white bread costs 12 crowns. It is obvious that a laborer cannot make enough a day to buy a kilogram of good bread. And if he wants to buy a little cheese-cake, or a little poppy-seed roll or jelly-bun (roll), which in America would cost about 40 cents, in Slovakia he won•rt be able to obtain it for less than 6 crowns. Hence a construction worker labors almost all day for a ro'll or good bun which won't be enough to go with one cup of coffee. Wi,th meat it's the same business. Beef and pork cost 48 crowns a kilogram. Women stand in front of butcher shops in lines blocks long from 5 in the morning sometimes until noon; but the last ones usually get no meat at all. For a kilogram of meat a collective worker must work seven days. Average oloth or material fior men's clothing costs 750 crowns. A well paid worker then must toil 3 weeks just for the material for a suit of clothes. In Slovakia common summer-shoes or sa,,ndals cost 500 crowns a pair; and a well paid worker must work a good 15 days for a pair of these shoes. A commune worker has to work over two months to be able to buy a good pair of sanidals. My friend also visited the Czech lands, where his relatives from Slovakia work in Bohemia and Moravia. From �SLOVAKIA 21 them he learned of the dis<!rimination and inequality in the wages paid in the Czech lands as compared w.ith those in Slovakia. It is unbelievingly shocking inequa:lity, injustice and discrimination. Every worker in the Czech lands receives dowble the amount he would receive for the same work in Slovakia. This inequality and discrimination gives rise to serious misunderstandings . The Czechs have not learned the lessons of history; little has changed since the days of T. G. Masaryk and Benes : the Slovaks are still regarded as servants of the Czechs, to be exploited solely for Czech interests. 'NIE SLOVA.KS by Peter P. Yurchak, should be in every pwblk library, in every college and university, in the home of every American of Slovak descent. Get your copy NOW. Paper bound copy-· $2.00; in cloth $3.00. SLOVAKl,A: the women of Rejdova, Gerner Province, once wore this type of headdress. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 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 SLOVAK.IA UNDER COMMUNISM By Joseph Pauco During the past three months I met several Americams of Slovak descent who had visiited Slovakia. All were Amevican citizens. Since none played any active role in politics, they had no difficulty in obtainling visas from Red Prague. "They know I am not a politician," said my friend , "but they also know that I am bringing American dollars to P,r ague and Brati'slava, so the Reds do not hesitate to place their signa:ture to my viisa. But my spivitua;l director, t he pastor of my parish, could not get a visa, even though he, too, does no politioing. Being a priest apparently is reason enough not to allow him entry on Slovak soil, which today is washed by streams of innocent blood of martyrs fighting for the freedom of Slovakia. Communism Destroying All Hope One of the visitors told me this: "My brother-fa-law is a teacher. I talked with him for two hours; •but, except for his deploring the communist regime, I learned nothing new from him. He did, however, stress that there are very few active teachers from the old school, that is, those who taught during the Slovak Republic (1939-1945), and that the communist regime carefully supervises even the new school or generation of teachers, brought up and trained by the communists themselves, makes them renounce their religious convictions, and prohibits them even to mention religion except to ridicule, vilify, and condemn it. "This, of course, shocked me. My brother-in-law, alt hough 15 years younger, looked muoh older .than I. Indeed, he was unable to believe that there could be such a difference. "Communism," he would say, "brings no good to anyone; and when one does not approve of it, even though one does not actively oppose it, it destroys one s·p iritually and this in its turn reacts physically and one's body succumbs and slowly deteriorates. "Lt is even worse among the Slovak intellectuals, who 14 SLOVAKIA are desperate and have given up all hope. And this isn' t only among those who are years in prison or who, instead of having their regular office or teaching position, are working in the uranium mines, but also among those who still are at large, undetected. Despair is stalking them everywhere because they cannot tell when they also will be ,s eized and shipped to unlmown regions. "In a word, today in Slovakia, as perhaps in other communist countries, people are losing all hope. My brother-in-law specifically reiterated: "What can we now await, when for 15 years there was no undoing, no overturning and no possibility for such an undoing or overturning? Those of us who have been hoping for this transformation are aging and cannot live long enough to see any reversal or change-over so long as the West continues ,to ignore or to pay little attention to us . "And our ,c hildren and grandchildren? I'm dreadfully afraid most of them will be thoroughly brainwashed and trained in godless marxist ideology. And th~s will be disastrous for our nation and for all of central Europe." Take Us To America "Take us to Amer.ica !" is the pleading cry of a young man, bidding rfarewell to his American uncle, who was returning to America after visiting Slovakia. "Immediately, but immediately I'd leave with you even though I'd have to live on dry bread and water in your trunk the whole trip half-unconscious!" Those words express ,p ractically everything the communized and oppressed Slovaks feel. They long above all to escape and shake off the slavery of communism; and the only way to do this now is, it seems to them, to come to America. Even -though some Slovaks lost all hope and feel that the USA will come to terms with the Soviet Union, nevertheless the vast majority of them is still of the opinion that America will not abandon the nations behind the Iron Curtain and that it, therefore, will not abandon Slovaki,a either. "It is most unfortunate," remarked a Slovak native to our visitor in Slovakia, "that the USA did not act more energetically in 1956 when the Hungarians rebelled against communism. We were ready to rise up also. So would have the Poles, the Rumanians, the Croatians, SLOVAKIA 15 and Slovenfans, and the whole of Central Europe would have been on the maroh to freedom." Even the communists at the time were apprehensive that the time had come for a change and were preparing for it. For instance, t:hey treated their prisoners wi th a:. healthy respect. The Slovaks often mention their relatives in America anld relay to them, as our informant tells us, that "If the American Slovaks do no-t help us out of communism's diabolical clui:ches, we have lived and struggled in vain. It is useless to continue to live as we do. Tell our Slovak Americans that never did a people so need assistance as we need it now. Tell them to knock daily at the White House in Washington and under the leadersh,ip of the Slovak League of America to rise up •:ogether in behalf of our Slovak Nation and its independent State. We want to be free and independent of communism, Czech imperialism, and every outside pressure." Slovaks in Slovakia have confidence in Amerka even though communist propaganda tells them that hunger and poverty prevail in Amer.ica, that children are barefooted and one third of its people unemployed. Slovaks, knowing that, like every country, America a:lso has its· economic problems, smile at this propaganda. But they also know, as they told v1sitovs from the USA, .that nowhere in the world are people as well off and free as in. America. Godless Communist Schools In Slovakia religion is still taught as an unprescr.i-bed subject; but only where the parents demand it. The communist press and administration are viciously opposed to religious instruction and training in any school. We read in a rather comprehensive article in the Bratisfava "Praca," dated September 28, 1960, and titled "Does Religion Belong In A Socialist School?": " ... religion, for i ts unscientific · character which emanates wholly from fantastic supersitions and not from real facts , is harmful. One of its basic principles is: Not to undermine or rebel against the gods created by a profit and exploiting system and not to destroy them and their plundering system if an eternal and blissful hereafter is to be successfully attained. It is difficult to visualize in-. 16 SLOVAKIA spired builders of a communistic future, builders belabored and burdened with such falise and silly concepts and ideals. Hence the socialistic school is and must basically and solely imbue and train the young from the scientific base - the materialistic Marxist world-wide view, the cor,r ectness of which not only does science confirm but also more often even practice. Therefore, in CzechoSlovak schools religion, even as an elective, is really never taught." "Praca" then further anailyzes the reasons of the communist regime as to why religion must not be taught. It alleges that "even our constitution ... guarantees freeeven though dom of worship and religious service truly only if this is not contrary to (communist) law." Who, however makes the laws in Slova:kia? The communists. And if they do not care to have religion taught or promulgated, then they pass such laws which will not permit religion to be .taught. "Praca" continues: "No religion, no religious concept is permitted in the educational program or its text books ; it is neither named nor alluded to, and the person who might dare teach it is not considered a teacher or a member of .t he teaching staff. And hence it is not a part of the course of education." Communists are convinced that "from the pedagogical viewpoint it is not only improper and incorrect but also confusing and unhealthy for a child to be placed into periods of conflict and contradiction between religion and science ; for instance, between the theories of divine creation and the scientific origin of the world." " ... there is no room for useless obstructions and burdening of young minds into lethargic religious imaginings which have no concrete value to a child.... "In a socialist state, religion, a:s an outlived form of socia'l science, loses the nm1bur.ing soil humus for its existence and inevitably dies. This is very obvious even in our schools where the number of children registered for religious instructions is constantly decreasing, and even this year is substantially lower than la,st year. This dying out of religion, however, must not be lerft to elementals. SLOVAKIA 17 We feel that with purposeful work, after a definite time, interest ,i n the teaching of religion in Slovakia will decrease to such an extent, for example, as it hras in Mostecko and Karlovarski, where practically no religion is taug.ht." Rather it appears that the reason for this demise is its own inherent invia,b ility and destructive uselessness; and hence in the course of time t he designed purposeful training and education that youth will get ,in the socia1ist state will deminish and eliminate the ,i nterest in religion and its upbringing ait least to the tiny degree thaJt it is alveady eliminated for instance in Mostec or .in Karlovar where practica:l'ly no religion is given. Then the hours or periods for religious instruction will become wholly useless in all of our schools and religion and religious instructions wiU have outlived usefulness." "Praca" is organizing heckling units to instigate and incite opposition against the teaching of religion. Thus on October 10th of this year, it published a rep'l y to its article. The letter is significant for two things: (1) communism has already trained atheists in Slov,a kia; and (2) resistance against communism's a.ibolishment of ·r eligious education in schools continues. We quote the letter literaHy: "Everything which you write is true. We also are atheists and give priority to science over the tales of the clergy. But we see that difficulties do arise in the families when they must decide whether the child is to study religion. One of our fel'low-workers, for instance, did not register his daughter for religious instruction, and now he has great misunderstandings with his wife. In our own families we, too, have little children - and we expect complications when the children become of school age and bring their applications to register for religious instruction. How can quarrels in the families be avoided? We think that religion should not be taug,ht at all in our schools. - Rudolf Skolkay and Ludovit Vaverika, Hlohovec." 1 Communists Destroyed Hundreds of Thousands of Books An a,cquaintance, who spent two months in Slovakia, tells us how the communist authorities had confiscated and destroyed all the religious and cultural books they found in 16 SLOVAKIA the Matica Slovenska (Slovak Insti:tute), the Spolok Sv. Vojteoha (St. Adalbert's Society) and other publishing houses, and which tihe communist reg.ime regarded as not acceptable from the Marxist-Leninist viewpoint. Our acquaintance ascertained that one iday trucks pulled up to the publishing houses with the police, who ordered the confiscation of all books they had on prepared lists. Seven truckloads were taken from St. Adalbert's Society a:lone. At the head of the list were the religious books prayerbooks, catechisms, lives of the saints, entire volumes of religious periodicals, and everything with an imprimatur in it. Then they took all the books published during the existence Olf the Republic of Slovia:kia, the authors of which are either in exile or in prison. "When we learned this," sa:id the acquaintance, "we were shocked .... we just couldn't believe it. People had hoped that the communist regime would not go to this extreme and that somehow or other the books would still be saved at least in the stockrooms of the publishers since bookstores and book-sellers were not allowed to buy or sell them. Instead, however, the books - hundreds of thousands of good books - were destroyed." The books were ground up to a pulp to make new paper which is to serve the communist press. Paper that once carried the Word of God, religious thoughts and literature, is now being used against God, religion, democracy and humanity. Communism destroys everything that stands in its way. Tension Between Slovak and Czech Writers . We know an American whose relative in Slovakia is a wri:ter. Returning from Slovakia, this man told us of some of the problems of writers. The communists, he related, hesitated for a long time to permit a new edition of the novel, "Tri Gastanove Kone" (Three Chestnut Horses) which Margita Figuli wrote and published long before the communists came into control. The reason for this was nolt that the author or the novel was political or anti-communistic. Not at all; for it is a novel with many love affairs. Nor was the author on any SLOVAKIA 19 political index. She had never been in politics, and if she ever was incHned or orienta,ted to any political view it was towards Prague, the Czech viewpoint. Nevertheless she had .to wait a full six years till the communist regime of Prague permitted her to put out a new edition of her novel. The reason for this delay? The vinain of the novel, the tyrant, the torturer of women and horses, is a man na:med Zapotocny. 'Dhe Czech communists feared that the readers would confuse this name with the name of the communist president of Czecho-Slovakia whose name was Zapotocky. So the party waited until Za.potocky di'ed and then aMowed a new edition af Figuli's novel. The consent of the Slovak .communists was not enough. The Slovak communists had first to consult and get the approval of .bhe Czech communists. This, however, is how things go in Slovakia in all things- politics, economics, literary works, justice, in a word, in everything, the Red Czechs of Prag,ue must first be consulted and their approval or decision must first be obtained, or else My friend mentioned other problems that Slovak }VI'iters have. For instance, there is a tremendous amount of tension and antagonism between .the Czech and Slovak writers. For the communist party is trying to fuse or merge the two groups of writers - the Czech and the Slov,ak into one, the Czecho-Slovak writers, as the Academy of Science previously attempted. The Slovak writers, whether communist or not, adamantly refuse to give up their Slovak aHiance and submit to the Czech or Czech-Slovak Alliance. They told WiHiam Siroky, who pressured them: "A united alliance can be achieved only through the medium of our lorn up communist idenitification cards!" Low Wages and High Prices Another Slovak American who visited Slovakia, related how much Slovaks can earn anid how much they pay for the things they need. Today most of the Slovaks have to work in groups or collectives. In the .rural areas - and Slovakia is predominantly agricultural - to work they must belong to single farm collectives or · "kokhozes". The farmers' fields or 20 SLOVAKIA farms were .taken away and nationalized; now they must work on them for the state. The collective worker however, does not make more than seven crowns ($1.00) a day. Sometimes only six crowns, depending on the way his unit of work is estimated. A woman, working in a poultry-house 14 hours a day, gets almost 10 crowns. Likewise a dairy-maid, but she must milk by hand 18 cows twice daily. A construction worker receives only 6.50 crowns a day. Stoneworkers are better off; they get 1,000 crowns a month. But let us see how this compa,,res with the price of things. The American visitor expla,ineld it this way: If only one person works in the collective, two people cannot live on his income. Simply because: A kilogram (2.2 l'b s.) of the blackest bread costs 8 crowns; a better bread 10 crowns; and a half-white bread costs 12 crowns. It is obvious that a laborer cannot make enough a day to buy a kilogram of good bread. And if he wants to buy a little cheese-cake, or a little poppy-seed roll or jelly-bun (roll), which in America would cost about 40 cents, in Slovakia he won•rt be able to obtain it for less than 6 crowns. Hence a construction worker labors almost all day for a ro'll or good bun which won't be enough to go with one cup of coffee. Wi,th meat it's the same business. Beef and pork cost 48 crowns a kilogram. Women stand in front of butcher shops in lines blocks long from 5 in the morning sometimes until noon; but the last ones usually get no meat at all. For a kilogram of meat a collective worker must work seven days. Average oloth or material fior men's clothing costs 750 crowns. A well paid worker then must toil 3 weeks just for the material for a suit of clothes. In Slovakia common summer-shoes or sa,,ndals cost 500 crowns a pair; and a well paid worker must work a good 15 days for a pair of these shoes. A commune worker has to work over two months to be able to buy a good pair of sanidals. My friend also visited the Czech lands, where his relatives from Slovakia work in Bohemia and Moravia. From SLOVAKIA 21 them he learned of the dis<!rimination and inequality in the wages paid in the Czech lands as compared w.ith those in Slovakia. It is unbelievingly shocking inequa:lity, injustice and discrimination. Every worker in the Czech lands receives dowble the amount he would receive for the same work in Slovakia. This inequality and discrimination gives rise to serious misunderstandings . The Czechs have not learned the lessons of history; little has changed since the days of T. G. Masaryk and Benes : the Slovaks are still regarded as servants of the Czechs, to be exploited solely for Czech interests. 'NIE SLOVA.KS by Peter P. Yurchak, should be in every pwblk library, in every college and university, in the home of every American of Slovak descent. Get your copy NOW. Paper bound copy-· $2.00; in cloth $3.00. SLOVAKl,A: the women of Rejdova, Gerner Province, once wore this type of headdress.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Slovakia Under Communism Description An account of the resource Joseph Paučo Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 1 (33), March-June 1961 pp. 13-21 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Paučo, Jozef, 1914-1975 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1961 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/91bb2073abb8b07e12abe6e46955f225.pdf c706ea730e4f553db7404252c785bb38 PDF Text Text 22 SLOVAKIA MISCONCEPTIONS OF AMERICAN SLAVISTS ABOUT SLOVAK LITERATURE J. M. Kirschbaum, Ph.D. I American Slavists and Slovak Literature For the past two decades we have witnessed in America a fast growing interest in the Slavic world and Slavic culture. There is hardly a reputaJble American Uniiversi:ty which would not have organired a department of Slavic Studies, and the number of books published on Slavic subjects, as well as the number of periodicals('l) which deal entirely or pa:r,tly with the problems of East Centrial Europe, is without precedent in any other country. '.Dhere are, however, severa'l phenomena in this vast and fast development of Slavic Studies and in books and symposia about the Slavs, which indicate that American Slavic Studies may easily be pushed on a wrong track. American scholarship in this field of Slavic S:udies is predominantly in the hands of scholars, teachers or writers, who came from Europe during or after the Second World War, and who brought with them not only knowledge and a;bi-lities for academic work, but some of them brought also their prejudices, old rivalries, national prides and the nationa,l aspirations of their countries of origin. This is especially true with regard to some former politicians, diplomats, an!d civil servants from Eastern European countries who became teachers, lecturers, and professors at American universities or contrilbutors to periodicals and symposia published by universities. Institutions, books and periodicals deal1ing with Slavic Studies became for some of them new arenas for fighting lost cultural or political battles, for fostering cultural naitionalism or even poHtical chauvinism. They often use university positions or academic periodicals not for spreading objective scholarly knowledge about a very important area of the globe and about several vigorous peoples which represent the Slavic world, but rather try to prevent the �SLOVAKIA 23 truth to be known or ignorance and false propaganda to be exposed. This politkal element, though it is less apparent during the last yea-rs, certainly did some harm to American scholarshi,p in the field of Slavic Studies. How far unobjective and unscholarly some writers on Slavic subjeots can become, we can see best by anailyzing the contributions on Slovakia and on Slowk literature to the American symposia and books on Czecho-Slovakia(2). It is true that Slovak Hterature did not achieve a prominence such as some other Slavic literature did, but from various points of view it is an intereslting field for academic research. The history of Slovak literature did not begin in 1844, as some American symposia emphasize, but goes back to the ninth century to the Great Moravian Empire(3). After the collapse of the Great Moravian Empire in the ten'bh century, Slovakia became a part of the Central European cultura,l area in which a:11 peoples (Poles, Slovaks, Magyars, Czechs, Croats, etc.) used the Latin language as their literary medium and began to develop their cultures and literatures in their own vernacular only from the 17th or 18th century, if not later. And so did also the Slovaks, though we can find some literary writings or documents in the Slovak vernacular a long time before, and a Slovak professor at the University of Prague, Vavrinec Benedikti of Nedozery, reproached his Slovak countrymen for neglecting their Slovak language as early as in 1603. We can safely say that Slovakia and Silovak culture developed along the same pattern as the cultures and literatures of a!ll other Cenltra,l European peoples, mainly the Western Slavs, from Humanism to Olassi:cism, Romantism, Realism, and modern literary currents{4). Humanism found an early entry into Slovakia through the University of Bratislava (Academia Istropolitana, founlded in 1645), and through numerous students and professora studying or 'teaching abroad (Bologna, Padova, Prague, Cracow). It giave a meaningful impulse to 'literary production, especiaUy in. homiletic writings. The second university on the Slovak territory, the University of Trnava, founded in 1635, gave a strong impulse to the �24 SLOVAKIA cultural life in Slovakia both in the Latin and Slovak languages, but literary activities were mostly restrided to religion, history, geogrnphy, ma!thematics and jurisprudence(5). It was not before 1750 that a volume of original verses in the Slovak vernacufar was composed and published by Hugolin Gavlovic (1712-1787)). The first translation of the Bible was accomplished in 1756; the first LatinSlovak dictionary appeared in 1763; religious hymns were com posed by Jan Silvan in 1536 ; amd the first collection of religious songs, containing 227 iitems in the Slovak vernacu'lar, was published in the Cantus Catholici in 1655. Between this period and the date when the first novel in Slovak language appeared in 1783, there was more than a score of Slova,k scho'lars and writers who wrote grammars (V. Benedicti, D. Kriman), historical and apologetic works (D. Jacobeaus, D. Synapius Horcicka, J. Piscatoris Fischer, M. Szentivany, J. B. Magin, Samuel Timon, M. Bel, J. Severini, J. Fandly A. F. Kollar, etc) anld who defended in Latin 'the Slovak people,. its right to its own national life and nationail language, and developed also several theories on the past and origin of Slavs, on Slovak culture and the continuity of Slovakia with Great Moravia. The era of Enlightenment brought a general revival of national culture in Slovakia. The Protestants still used t he btblical Czech language also in secu[ar writings (besides German), but the Catholic Slovaks, abandoning Latin since the beginning of the Counter-Reformation, passed to 1:Jhe exclusive use of the Slovak vernacular, codified befor the end of the 18th century by Anton Bernolak in several scholarly works. Thus literature in the Slovak language was created continuously from the 17th century and produced, before the period of Romanticism, over 100 writers in Bernolak's school alone, among them the poet Jan Holly, whose genius according to many literary historians, was not surpassed by any Slovak poet except P. 0. Hviezdoslav in the 20th century. From the 18th century, Classicism, Romanticism, Realism, Symbolism, and aM dther literary currents which appeared in the European literatures, were represented also �SLOVAKIA 23 in Slovakia more or less in the same way as in other Slavic countrie s. Similar to other Slavic literatur es is also the dErvelopment under the impact of Soviet literatur e and Marxist theories on literary history(6 ). Despite the fact that this develop ment was for a long time scholarl y explored and support ed by a score of works in Slovak, as well as in foreign languag es, the history of Slovak literatur e has been an object of confuse d nad controversial interpre tations in books and symposi a publishe d by America n Slavis'~s . The best known America n and Canadia n symposi a are in basic disagree ment with this outline of Slovak literary history as we can see from the followin g: 1. Accordi ng to S. H. Thomso n, who in his book "Czechoslova kia in Europea n History" (?) attempt ed to give a fair picture of the Slovak past but was apparen tly misled by his sources, "The Slovaks had no opportu ity to develop (after the disappearance of the Great Moravian Empire in the 10th century ) their own culture, written languag e, political instituti ons or social concepts in any indepen dent way." This situation lasted for nine cen'turie s, accordin g to Prof. Thomso n's views. "A deli-bera te effort to substitute for the written Czech then in use in Slovakia a language based upon a local diailect came from the Ca-tholire camp only in 1790, when Anton Bernola k publishe d a Gramati ca Slavica. " But "about the onlly follower s Bernolak had were Catholic writers, and even among them the vogue for his gramma r and dictiona ry soon died out," writes Prof. Thomso n, stating that the year 1834-1835 is usually given as the date of the rise of written Slovak, although s':rictly speaking , ~tur did not make his first formal declarat ion until 1846." 2. The contribu ,~or to L. I. Strakho vsky's "Handbook of Slavic Studies"(B), the Czech writer Otto Radl, gives even a more inaccura te and incompl ete piicture of Slovak literature. On page 491 he writes that "As early as 1635 in Trnava books were still printed in differen t Slovak dialects, more than two hundred years before the introduc tion of Slovak as a separate literary languag e," but three pages. further he sta,tes: �26 SLOVAKIA "While the quantity of Roma,rutrc literature in the Czech lang uage •was growing in Bohemia and Morarvia,, an illllPoritant ch•a nge was taking place in Slovakia. The heretofore common written langua:ge, the Czech, was being replaced by a newly originated Slovak literary la,ruguage. This movement had begun a,t the end of the 1.S'th century ,by the learned Slovak p'hilologist Antonin Bernolak who pufblished sever-al woi,ks in Latin in which he tried to show that the Slovaks were a separate nation and that they should therefor•e use their own distinctive written la,ruguage based on dia'lect spoken in Western Slov>alkia. "Some of the mo·s t important writers• of Slo:vak origin, such as Kollar and Saifariik, were strong1y oppos·ed to this change. . . Opposing them stood siUICh S'lovak writers -as Stur and Hurban .. ... SlOIVak as a ·written language wa·s first introduced Ln, J r8 44." Slovak literatu~e begins for Ra-dl with I'... Stur in 1844, and no literary work or Slovak writer, except Bernonak, Kol,lar and Safarik (the :two later indluded by him in Czech literature) is mentioned in his study dea.Jing with Slovak literature for the periods preceeding Romanticism and Stu.r's reform of the Slovak literary language. 3. According to R. J. Kerner's "Czechoslovakia"(9) Slovak literature began only in 1845 anld that Slovak renaissance was linked with "what was going on in Bohemia and with the philosophy of Enlightenmen t and the Romanticism of Herder" and "had its center in Bratislava." "Catholic Slovaks under Bernolak tried to create, with indifferent success at the time, a written Slovak dialect," says the book. Trnava is not at all mentioned. KoNar and Safarik are mentioned as Slovaks, hurt placed among the Czech writers. Altogether three S1ovak poets are mentioned (Samo Chaluka, J anko Krar, and Jan Botto) in the whole chapter dealing with the period from the battle of White Mountain (1620) to World War I, and three others (A. Sladkovic (1820-1872), P. 0. Hv:ie~doselav (1849-1921) and Hurban Vajansky (1847-1916) - in the chapter on "Czechoslovak" literature. For the after-war period the book gives four names: Ivan Krasko, Martin Razus, E. B. Lukac, and J. Gregor-Tajov sky. 4. The most recent symposium, V. Busek-N. SpuJber's "Czechoslovakia" Cl-0), did not try to dispel confusion and complete the knowledge on Slovak literature, although the work was published in 1957 by the Mid-European Studies Center and one of the editors, Professor V. Busek, spent many years in Slovakia. �SLOVAKIA 27 While the Marxist literary historians produced a book of 320 pages on the older Slovak literature and a bibliography on Bernolak's movement ( 410 pages) shows over 100 writers, Busek-Spulber's symposium has only the fo1lowing to say in the chapter on Czech and Slovak literature: ... "the first attempts were made ~asid,e from earlier sporad'ic venrtures' to esta1blish a distinct Slovak literary language in the last decade of the 1'8th century by Anton Bernolak Cl 76Vlt81t3) who selected the Westenn, Slovak dialects as a basis of the new literary me• dium : his suggestions, not elaJborated Hn-guistically, did not taike permanent hold. "The decisiN"e step towards the estatbHshment of a Sl'orvak lite,rary language was undertaken through the initJiative of the ProteSlttants. Uudovit Stur selected the centra.l Slovak dialect for the Sl.ovak literary medium. Beginning in the 1840's, severa,l poets followed Stur a,n,d used the new literary language with great skHl." Jlt would appear from the above quotations that Amer- ican Slavists will have to revise many of their views and complete their knowledge{l l). It is evident that they generally regarid Slovak literature of the cen'turies preceding Sh'.ir's reform of the S'lovak literary language as not worth much attention. Outstanding figures of Slovak cultural life are eibher unknown or treated as quantite negligea'ble (Bernolak) by contributors to American or Canadian symposia. The periods of Baroque and Enlightenment, in whi~h erudite Slovaks wrote in their mother tongue besides Latin and biblical "Czech", were undoU'bted!ly important s tages in Slovak cultural life and national development. And yet, even the leading fitgures of the Slovak renaissance around Anton Bernolak and the poet Jan Ho'11y are either unknown or greatly underestimated if at all mentioned. Such is also the case with regard to writers and scholars who in previous periods published high:ly interesting works on the origin of Slavs in genera,1, and on the past of 'the Slovaks in particular, as well as on Slavic languages, Slavic culture, and the significance of the Sfavs in European civHization. It has been more or less generally accepted that, for instance, Paul J. Safarik's or John Kollar's Slavic consciousness were awakened by German philosophers during their studies in Jena and that t:he idea of Slavic unity and greatness became known mostly by the merits of Safarik and Kol'lar. In fact, Safarik and Kollar had several pre1 �28 SLOVAKIA decessors among Slovak writers and scholars who developed their theories on the origin of the Slavs, on Slavic linguistic and racial unity and the "glorious past" in voluminous Latin works in the 17th and 18th centuries(12), and Jan Holly described the "glorious past" of the Slavs in his great epic works, written in Slovak, much better and with greater poetic talent than Jan Kollar. Safarik wrote his volume of poetry "Muza Tatranska s lyrou slovanskou" (The Tatrean Muse With Slavic Lyra) also a long time before he went to Jena, because the Slovak writers of the 17th and 18th centuries created an a'tmosphere of Slavic patriotism and mutuaiJ.ity in S'lovakia. This will certainly be new to many American Slavists although it is not new .in Slovakia or in some S:lavic and West European works on Slavic literatures. Not only the so-called "nationalist" Slovak scholars published many works and st udies in which they outlined the continuous development of Slovak culture and literature, but also some Americans of Slovak descent tried to acqua..int American scholars with the true picture of Srl ovakia's literary development,(13). Most recently the "Marxist" Slovak literary historians published severa'1 comprehensive works which besides 'their "Marxist interpretation" make an interesting contribution to Slavic studies(14). In aH American symposia from which we have quoted, it is, however, Bernolak's movement which has been presented most superficially and most unobjectively. Contributors to these symposia are in this regard even far behind the "Marxist" literary historians who, forgetting their customary prejudices against Catlholic clergymen, present Bernolak's scho()l and his movement as "the largest organized movement of cultural and national character which existed in Slovakia before the end of the 18th cent ury," and expressed no doubts about the scholarly merits of Bernolak's linguistic works or Holly's poetic greatness. For this reason we feel that Bernolak's movement dzserves a more detailed ana'lysis in a separate chapter. �SLOVAKIA 29 II Bernolak's Movement and Its Importance In Slovak Literature Bernolak's movement is concurrent with the period of Enlightenmen't and represents a final phase of Slovak literary and national renaissance whfoh began in the seventeenth century. This has been recognized even by the Marxist literary historians who state that "the process of linguistic Slovakization in Slovak literature was on the upgrade mainly since the seventeenth century" and that the "nation-forming tendencies in the Slovak language and culture were best expressed in the movement led by Anton Bernolak (1763-1813) especially in his endeavor to raise to the status of a literary language the Western Slovak dialect"(l\5). Berno'lak's movement lasted over 60 years and comprised three genera1tions of writers who in their Slovak or Latin writings expressed comparatively strong Slovak and Slovanic (Slaviic) national consciousness. According to Jaroslav Vlcek, professor at the University of Prague, the literature of Bernolak's school "developed in al'l directions: it had scholarly and popular writers in the field of theology, it had linguists an!d aiuthors of diclJionaries, translators and editors of antiquities, successful popular writers and generous supporters. In Jan Holly the Bernolak school got also its poeta laureatus"(16). And it had also its historians. Vlcek wrote these lines on Bernolak's movement in 1890 and contemporary research proves that he was not overestimating its importance. According to Marxist histori'a ns, ,~he Slovak Learned Society, founded in Trnava in 1792 with numerous branches in Central and Eastern Slovakia, and even outside Slovakia, numlbered in Slovakia alone about 500 registered members, mainly Catholic clergymen, of whom about 100 were active authors and writers(l 7). Among its members and generous supporters was .Mexander Cardinal Rudnay, Primate of Hungary, who besides writing many sermons and translating Cicero into Slovak assisted the Society financially. Professor of theology Canon Jur Palkovic translated the Bible into Slo- �30 SLOVAKIA vak and financed Bernola.k's and Holly's works. Professors of theologic faculties from Ostrihom, Trnava, Nitra, also were members of the Learned Society. P. J. Safa.rik, who later favored a sort of a Slo,v ak lite,r ary language based on a Czech grammar, wrote in his first work, published in 1826~118), regarding Bernola.k's school: "their growing zeal for the development and advancement of Slovak literature cannot be praised enough." And Professor Vlcek wrote in 1890 that "what in literatures of all Slavic peoples appeared as an expression of an awakened national consciousness and nationail indivilduality, it logically appeared also aimong Slovaks. The firslt to express that as a firm literary principle was A. Bernola.k." Bernola.k "was not a literary revolutionary," continues Prof. Vlcek, "but a consequent codifier of what grew and ripened before him over one hundred years in the writings of Catholic Slovaks as a linguistic fact",('19). Of course, Prof. Vlcek does not share the opinion of American symposia stating that "Bernola.k's attempts to est31blish a distinct Slovak literary language were not elaiborated linguistically," or that he tried "with indif.ferent success to create a written Slovak dia~ec't." On the contrary, in his Dejiny literatiiry slovenskej, Prof. Vlcek states that Bernola.k was well acquainted with the work done in the field of linguistics by predecessors such as Matej Bel and Pavel Dolefal, both from the first half of the 18th century, as well as wiith the tendencies of Catholic writers associated with the University of Trnava. There can ha11dly be any doubt that Bernola.k's movement means an important stage in Sfovak cultural and national development. The first manifestation of this new era in the Slovak national life was the publication of Bernola.k's work Disser'tation Philologic<rCritica de Literis Slavorum (1787) in which Bernola.k formulated the principles of the Slovak literary language. His formal directives for the introduction of the Slovak language into literature Bernola.k gave in the same yeair in his work Linguae Slavonicae per Regnum Hungariae Usitatae Compendiosa simul et facilis Orthographia. In 1790 he published in Latin his grammar of the new Slovak Literary language, Gramatica �31 SLOVAKIA Slavica, which later appeared in two German translations; and in 1791 was published his work on the etymology of Slovak words, Ethymologia Vocum Slavicarum. Bernolak's main work Slowar Slovenski, Cesko-Latinsko..:Nemecko-Uherski, was published (1825-1827) after Bernolak's death by Canon Jur Palkovic in six volumes, 530 pp. The work, which reads in English translation "A Dictionary of the Slovak, Czech, Latin, German and Hungarian Tongues," contained also phraseology, etymology and synonyms of the new Slovak literary language. Bernolak's works "gave a stimulus to the development of modern Slovak literature growing up directly from the living sources of the Slovak people," as admitte'd even by Marxist critics, and his movement "was, on the whole, in agreement with similar contemporary trends current among the Ukrainians, the Bulgarians, the Serbs, the Croats and the Slovenes." His "Dissertatio" caused "a revolution in the development of Slovak language," says I. Kotvan, "and at the same time led to a desirable national advancement in the ideo1ogical development of Slovak nationa I consciousness; it also hastened the foundation of the Slovak Learned Society in 1792 which grouped in its ranks all ardent Slovaks, en'l:!husiastic for Slovak culture, social and economic progress and for the political and national fate of Slovakia"(20). 1 Bernolak and the members of hi's Slovak Learned Society, among whom most prominent were Juraj Fandly (1754-1811), Jozef Ignac Bajza (1755-1836), Jan Holly (1785-1849), Juraj Papanek (1738-1802), Juraj Sklenar (1746-1790), .A!lexander Cardinal Rudnay, Canon Jur Palkovic, were faithful adherents of Enlightenment, sincerely attached to the Slovak people and working for its progress. Juraj Fandly was the leading organizer of the Society, author of popular educational writings and editor of a miscellany dealing with the history of the Slovaks (Compendiata Historiae Gentis Slavae - 1793) . J. I. Bajza wrote the first Slovak novel and a col'leotion of Slovak epigrams; J. Papanek is the author of Historia Gentis Slavae - DeRegno Regibusque Slavorum (1780) ; Juraj Sklenar is the �32 SLOVAKIA author of Vetustissimus Magnae Moraviae Situs (1784); Jan Holly is until now the greatest of Slovak poets who alone "created nearly all poetic genres: the epos, the elegy, the ode and the song, and in whose hanlds the cold form of antique poetry had warmth enough to express strongly the modern idea of national consciousness," as stated Prof. Vlcek in 1890. Actually, all writers of Bernolak's school expressed in their works strong national feelings and their views regarding Slavs, Slavic languages and the plaice of the Slavs in the world; this makes of them precursors of Kollar's and Safarik's ideas of Slavdom. Berno1ak himself regarded the Slavs as one nation with one language divided into "dia~ects" which conception was developed by P. J. Safarik in Geschichte der Slawischen Sprache und Literatur nearly 40 years later. In the introdu~tion to his Gramatica Slavica, published in 1790, Bernolak regarded the Slovak vernacular as one of the Sfavic dialects and urged his countrymen to use it as a literary medium in the same way as the Czechs, the Russians, the Croats and Poles used t heir respective vernaculars. Juraj Papanek in his Historia Gentis Slavae, Fandly in his Compendiata Historiae Slavae an'd in his other writings, and Holly in his poetic works, manirfested also fiery Slovak and Slavic consciousness and national feelings, so that we may see in Bernolak's movement not only a connecting link between his school and Safarik's and Kollar's conceptions of Slavdom, but also an organic and close relation with Stu.r's reform of the Slovak literary language and his nationalist movement. In this respect we can fully agree with the Marxist literc1ry historians that both movements "grew up from the same process, 1'rom the process of formaJtion of the Slovak nation and are but two different phases of Slovak cultural and national development:Q21). Wh:ile Bernolak's linguistic works substantially influenced the final form of Stu.r's reform of the Slovak literary language which accepted many 'linguistic elements, used in all parts of Slovakia only because there existed Bernolak's literary language before, ideologically Stu.r's group was influenced mainly by the epics of Jan Holly, poet laureate of Bernolak's school. �SLOVAKIA 33 Stu,r himself acknowledged Holly's dominant influence on the formation of Slovak national ideology and so did until now the " nationalist" as well as the "Marxist" Slovak literary historians(22). Accordtng to Jaroslav Vlcek: "Holly means many things in Slovak literature. He achieved alone wha;t the Czech and the Hungarian poets of classicism worked on a'H togetherC23). For another literary historian "Holly has not been surpassed by any S,l ovak poet, and nowhere else is there to be found such depth of national consciousness and such glory. In crystallized form Holly vigorously enounced the modern idea of nationalism, and this already in the 1800's, and his unsurpassable expression of the national soul has made him and will continue t o make him the grea;test of the Slovak poets"(24). And he is so judged also by contemporary Marxist historians. "Holly is a great poet," says prof. A. Mraz, the main Marxist authority on Slovak literary history, " an:d a cultivated and excellent translator of antique poetry, who synthetized in his works an'tique influences with European Classicism and philosophy of Enlightenmen t. He awakened nationa1 consciousness of his countrymen combining Slavic and Slovak elements in his conception of the Slovak nation. His works prove that even in Bernolak's movement Slavic components were strongly represented. Slovak and Slav unite in harmoneous accord in Holly's ideology"~25). Holly deserves this praise and recognition not only for his own works but also for his masterful transiaJtions from practically all renowned poets from Virgil, Ovid, Theocritus, Horace to Homer. The first volume of his translations was published in 1824, the translation of Virgiil's Aeneid in 1828; these were highly commended even of Jungmann, Safarik and Niederle. After having enriched Slovak literatures by his translations, Holly composed in cfa:ssic mold anld with many overtones of 'bhe antique poetry his three epics in which he proved that his talent and erudition were outstanding and that the new Slovak literary language was rioh and flexible enough for complex poetic creations. At the same time he also demonstrated to the Slovaks and to the out side world thait the Slovak past was great and glorious and that there is, therefore, also a future for the Slovak people. �34 SLOVAKIA To achieve this, Holly created in his poetic works a new national ideology, anchored in the traditions of the Great Moravian Empire and in the cultural achievements of SS. Cyril and Methddius, the founders of Slovanic letters. In 1833 he published his Svatopluk, a heroic epic about the life and glory of the powerf.Ull ruler of Great Moravia, in twelve cantos. In 1835 his Cyrilo-Methodiada, a poetic account of the achievements of the Apostles of Slovaks, was published in Budapest in six cantos, and to complete the ima:ge of a heroic past of his people, Holly crea1~ed also an epic in seven cantos about a mythical forefather of the Slovaks, Slav, and in his Elegies he 'lamented over the desb-uction of the Great Moravian Empire, 'bhe first kingdom of the Slovaks, ruined by treachery, villainy, and perfidy. The national and ideological components of Holly's poetry are strong also in his Odes and Idylles (1835), which, together with his epics, a,wakened to life a new generation that broke with the past not only in linguistic division of Slovaks but also in cultural and political orientation. "At a time," says Mraz, "when the Slovaks mostly felt the need to strengthen their national ideology by historic consciousness, Holly came in a monumenta,1 way with his support." He created by his works not only a Slovak national poetry and ideology, but urging the Slovaks to regard their past with pride he revived the present and encouraged the Slovaks to look to the future with hope. Holly achieved this "w~t:h nothing more than a nonliterary, formless dialect at his disposa[ which he molded and shaped into a rich poetic language." His poetry was not much influenced by European pseudo-Classicism and contemporary Romanticism. He g.r ew up f<rom an antique culture and poetry, and ideologically only he interpreted . the feelings and aspirations of the Slovak people of the period oif Enlightenment and t he f.irst decades of Romanticism. While his contemporary Jan KoHar "wandered on the expansive meadows of Slavdom," Holly devoted his talents to building Slovak national consciousness, culture and ideology which made him a precursor anld: a spiritual leader also for the coming generation of C. Stt'.ir's na- �SLOVAKIA 35 tionalist and romantic school. "HoHy's message lived also in the generation to come which refused his classicist forms but creatively clung to his ideological heritage," admits the Marxist literary historian A. Mraz, and adds that "Bernolak's movement triumphed in Holly's achievements and greatness; it found in his works the most creative and ideological culmination"(26). III Marxist Evaluation of Bernolak's Movement Unlike the contributors to American symposia who be1ittled A. Bernolak and his movement, Marxist literary historians write about Bernolak and his followers with high esteem. Although the works of the members of Bernolak's school and his Learned Societies clearly indica!te the tendency to reflect the national struggle and the awakening of a national consciousness among Slovaks - which is in conflict with the "Czechoslovak" tendencies of the Communist party - the Marxist literary historians were allowed to publish scores of books and studies on Bernolak and his movement. Among the first works which dealt with this period in a suvprisingly tolerant way was "A History of Slovak Literature" (Dejiny sfovenskej literatury) by Prof. A. Mraz, who for his services to the present regime in Slovakia was promoted to the rank of an "akademik" (academician). Other valuable works and studies were published by Dr. Imrich Kotvan and Jan Tiibensky, who apparently specializes in this period "ex offo." Kotvan's work Bernolakovci (1948) and Bibliografia Bernolakovcov (Bibliography of Bernolak's School) published in 1957, together with T. Ti'bensky's book J. Papanek-J. SklenarC27), also published in 1957, as well as a series of his stu!dies in periodi'caJs, give the impression that Marxist literary historians try to evaluate Bernolak's movement without the customary prejudice against Catholic writers, and that in many respects :they agree with the views expressed before by the "bourgeois and nationalist" scholars and literary historians (J. Vlcek, J. �36 SLOVAKIA Skultety, S. Krcmery, J. Kacka, A. A . Banik, C. Lepacek, S. Jurovsky, etc.) . This is evident especiaHy in Ti'bensky's controversy with Prof. Wollmann's uncritical deprecation of Bernolak's movement(28), but also in some recen :: studies of Mraz and in the new History of Slovak Literature, compiled by a " coHective" of younger historians under the direction of Prof. M. Pisut. In a comprehensive explanatory note to Kotvan's Bibliography, which on 400 pages gives an interesting picture of Bernolak's movement, we can read that the Marxist scholars "consider the second half of :the eighteenth and the first half od: the nineteenth century, which is the period of Bernolak's activities, "one of the interesting , not yet thoroughly investigated periods forming a milestone in Sfovak history"{29). In the opinion of Prof. A. Mraz, who still remains the main authority in Marxist literary history in Slovakia, Anton Bernolak not only reformed and cddiified the Sfovak literary language and its orthography, but also started a vast national and cultural movement based on a t radition m,ore tJhan a hundred years old. Mraz regards the activity which originated 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 Szollossi in 1655. "The book Cantus Catholid," says Mraz, "laid the foundation on whioh the language used by Slovak Catholic writers, was formed into an in\dependent Slovak literary language. CrystallizaJtion of the language, which Slovak Catholic writers used during the period of the University of Trnava (1635-1777) , progressed so far in accordance with the spoken language in Western Slovakia that, when Bernolak and his foHowers came, at the end of the 18th century, with the idea of an independent literary language, t hey merely codified, in many respects, a language used and domesticated among the Catholic Slovak writers of the preceding period"(30). Mraz also recognizes Bernolak's merits in the whole �SLOVAKIA 37 of Slovak cultural life. "Bernolak did not stop at writing his s,c holarly works," says Mraz. "He used them to push ahead Slovak national and cultural life on new tracks, which he attained by his cu]tural and organizatory activities." According to Tibensky, who made some original research into this period, Bernolak's movement was "the largest organized movement of cultural and national character which existed in Slovakia before the end of the 18th century, and it undoubtedly played a progressive role in the Slovak naJtional development"1(®L). "There is no doubt whatsover," says Tibensky, "that Bernolak's literary language and his movement played a very important role in the Slovak national development. Their importance is far from being sufficiently explored and evaluated. Works published until now are merely the first step to the accomplishment of an imporitant task of Slovak scholarship." There is ndt, so far, much new in the Marxist writings on Bernolak's movement. The Marxist Academy of Sciences is merely compiling the scholaI"ly research which was going on for the last 25-30 years and in which scholars like A. A. Banik, C. Lepacek, S. Jurovsky, V. Gajdos and others, brought to light new manuscripts or additional information. 'Dhe Marxist literary historians, of course, at·tempt to give a new interpretation to what the "bourgeois" scholars said on Slovak literature, language, national consciousness and Slovak national aspirations. "While in the past !the researchers into the origin of Bernolak's movement and especialtly into its literary language considered in the first place ideological elements, for instance, the influence of the Counter-Reformation, the Marxist scholarship," says Ti1bensky, "endeavors to explain the origin of Bernolak's movement and of its literary medium in the context of the entire Slovak social and economic development in given centuries: it takes into account, in the first place, economic and pomico-cultural factors"(32). Ideological influences are considered by Marxist historians as seconldary in the formation of Bernolak's move- �38 SLOVAKIA ment. "The movement is an outstanding manifestation of 'the process of transformation of a feudal Slovak nationality into a modern bourgeois nation," conclu'des Tibensky. In view of this, Bernolak's movement is credited by Marxist historians also with the fact that, as a result of Bernolak's activities, "the process of the formation of the Slovak nation and cu~ture was entering a new stage, determined by the activities of r.. Stur (1815-1856), and by the creation, on the basis of a Central Slovak dialect, of the modern Slovak literary language"{G3). Prof. Eugen Pauliny, who apparently is regarded among contemporary Marxist Slovak phHologists as an authority on the history of the Slovak language, regards Bernolak's period as an important stage in the development of Slovak national life. "Bernolak's language and his conceptions of Slovak national life, conceptions in which his reform originated, mean an important milestone in Slovak nrubional development," says Pauliny in his "Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny" (A History of the Slovak Literary Language). "Bernolak's movement, even if represenlted only by Slovak Catholics, takes Slovak national individuality, in a clear and understandable formulation, as a fact and connects it with the whole of Slavdom in its contemporary as weH as historical context. As a tool of this ideology Bernolak brought his theoretically elaborated and practically tested Slovak literary language," continues Pauliny. According to Pauliny, Bernolak's language was not used only for religious purposes, as some Slavists assert. "There were in Bernolak's school also religious writings, but not of a polemic char8!Cter; they were didactic and, besides them, 'there was religious poetry and theological writings. However, the center of gravity of Bernolak's school lays in vafoable writings for the education of the large masses, and in poetry. Bernolak's language was a well elaborated literary language which the Catholic Slovaks useid for more than a ha:lf century, in fact, officially up to 1851, when unity was achieved in the literary language" (among CaJtholics and Protestants). From the philological point of view, Bernolak's re- �SLOVAKIA 39 form was based not only on the language, written and spoken by the educated Slovak strata in Western Slovakia and created in the cultural center of Trnava, but also on the dia'l ect of Bernolak's native province Orava, which belongs to the cenltral Slovak dialectical areas('36). In his contribution to a volume "0 vzajomnych vz€ahov Oechov a Slovakov," published in 1956 by the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Pauliny states: "Bernola:k 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 Ca!bholic an!d. Protestant writings" (3r7). As for the connection of Bernolak'is school with Stiir's group, Pauliny agrees with the other Marxist literary historians and philologists. Stu.r's reform, which is erroneously presented by some American Slavists as the beginilling of tJhe Slovak literary language (in this respect even Jakobson is wrong), in Pauliny's view, is but a "younger branch of Bernolak's school," and he adds: "In Bernolak's school c,ulminates the older phase of Slovak natio nal diwelopment, but simultaneously it means also the beginning of a new epoch a,nd is very closely connected with the develo;pmen,t of nrutional consciousness of Stur's period. Bernolak''s movement tbuilds upon the feudail Slwak national con\Sdousness of the li8th century, but at the same time this movement enounces and consciously fo11mulates , for the first time, the modem Slovak nation,alism. "We find in the writings of the most important members oif Bernolak's Learned Society, Bernolak, Fandly, J HoMy, a compl~tely different ideology from that of the clergy of t he Gouniter-Uleformation of the 1"7:th and 18th century. It is an ideology of Slowk ,n,ationalism as derined and 11.mderstood by the Enlightenment, and it evci.1ved in bhe writings of the most out.Sitanding members of this group, Fan.dly an'd Jlolly, into the ideology of a modern Slovak nation. Stu.r's group used it as a foundation and developed it int o a mor•e modem conception in accordance with contemporary Euro·p ean ideological trends." 1 • Stur himself admitted this in his "Narecia slovenskuo," writing: "Our Catholic brothers did exactly what we are doing now and intend to do; they desired to a,chieve what we are desiring to achieve; they were concerned in their hearts a:bout the same matter that we cherish in our hearts''(3-8). �40 SLOVAKIA We hardly need any more convincing proof that Sb1r's group considered Bernolak's group as "older co-fighters on the same ideological battlefield," concludes Pauliny. To sum up, we can safely say that Bernolak's work and his school were an important factor in Slovak cultural and lilterary development and as such they deserve more attention and more objective anlaysis by scholars in the field of American Slavic studies. On the other hand, Slovak scholars in the free world have a moral duty to correct the mi,sconceptions which crept into Slavic studies largely because of a lack of English written studies on Slovak culture other than those supplied by Slavists of Czech origin and the works by Slovaks mentioned below. REFERENCE NOTES: '1. Journal of Central European Affairs, University of Colorado, The American Slavic and East European Review, Columbia University Press, The Slavic and East European Journal, Ln<liana UnLversity, Slavic and East European Studies, Un1versity of Montreal, Canadian Slavonic Pape.rs, University of Toronto Press. 2. Besides books edited· by Kerner, Strakhovsky, Busek-Spul1ber, and S. H. Thomson-, there are many misconceptions al-so in works w,rit-ten or edited by Prof. J. S. Rloucek, namely in his Cemral Entern Europe, or Slavonic Encyclopedi·a, by Felix Gross and C. E. BJ.ack. 3. The thesis that Great l\furarvian writings and culture belong to the cu1tural heritage of Slovaks has been sUJpported by both ,n.ationalist and Marxist Slovak literary ,h istorians. Cf. in English Jioseph Skultety: Sketches From Slovak History, Middletown, Pa., 1930, p. 229; J. M. Kirschbaum: Slovakia - Nation At the Crossroads of Cerwtral E·urope; and in the Slovak la,n guage: Dej iny star sei slovenskej literatury by M,axxist historfans (JI. MisianLk, J. Minarik, M. Mich'aloova, A. Melichercilk), Bratislava,, 1008, p. 3120. ,4. Cf. Dmitry Cizevsky: Outline of Comparative Slavic Literatures, AmerLcan Academy of Arts and Scienees, Boston, Mass., 1952; Lvalil J. Krarnoris: Chrono1ogic.al Outline of Slovak Literature and History, Passaic, 1946; Peter P. Yurchak : The SloYaks, J . J. Lach, Pulblications, Whiting, Indiiana•, 1947; J'. M. Kirschlbaum: Slovakia: Nation At the Crossroads of Central E-u rope, p. 35-00. 5. See University Traditions in Slovakia in J. M. · Kirsch:baUJm's op. cit.; and Stephen J. Palickar's Slovakian Culture in the Light of History, The Hampshire Press, Cambrid·ge, Mass., 1954. 6. Cf. Slovak Literature Under the Soviet Impact in The Slavic and East EuT.opean Sltudies, Montreal, 1956, Part I, p. 4>:x54. 7. Published by Princeton University Press, 1943, 390 pp. A critical review from the Slovak poi.n-t of view see in Slovak Review, Vol. I, Nio. 2., by Ivan, J. Kra,rnoris. 8. Published by HarvaTd University Press, Cambridge, Mas•s .• �SLOVAKIA 41 1949. Chapter on Slovak linguistics by A. Senn is more in line with scholarly research. 9. Published by University of Oalifornia Press, 1949. A critical review froon the Slovak point df view in quarterly Slovakiia, Middletown, Pa .. , Vol. v,v,r, by Philiip A. Hrobak. 10. P;u!blished by Mid,,European Stu<lies Ce,n,t er of the Free Europe Commi>ttee, Inc., New Yol'k, 1957. The chapter on Slovaik literaiture was wz,iflten by Czech writers H. Kucera and E. lfovtun, who are unknown in Slovak literary history. 'lil. American presentation of Slovak literature is strangely d<iffererut also from European evaluation as ev,i denced in the works: Ernest Denis: Le probleme de l'Autriche-Les Slovaques, Piaris, 1917; A. Fischel: Pa,nslavismus bis zum Weltkrieg, Stuttgart and• Berlin, 191•9; Bruno Meriggi, Storia delle letterature ceca e Slovacca, University of Florence, 195'9. 112. Of. J. J:~obeus: Vii:a Gentis Slavicae, published in '164Q; introduction to B. Szollossi's Cantus Catholici, pu1b li5hed in 16>55; D. Sinapius Horcicka, Neoforum Latino-Slovenicum, 1679; J. Piscatori-sFischer: De origine, inre ac utilitatae linguae slavonicae, pulblished in 1697; J . B. Magin: ·Murices .. sive Apologia, pulblished in 1728; S. Timon: Imago an,t ique Hunga,riae, 11735; J. Papanek: Historia gen•: is slavae, '1'7•80; J. Fandly: Compendiata Historiae Slavae, 17193. 13. See op. cit. by P. P. Yurt:hak, S. J. Palickar, I. J . Kramoris, as well as articles by C. Piotocek ifil; Slovak Review, by Philip A. Hro\bak in Slovakia, by E. Podikrivac!Jcy in Slovakia, Vol. m, 3, a,n d J. Pombsky's book K stemu vyrociu literarnej slovenciny (One Hundred Years of Literary Slovak), abrana Press, Scranlton, 1945, 290 pp. 'l><t. Cf. Prof. A. MTaz: Dejiny slovenskej literatury, S'1ovenska aikademia vied a umeni, Bratisla,va, 1948, Dejin.y star-lei slovenskej litel'a:u,ry, SA V, 1-959, Dejiny slovenskej Literatury, Osveta, Bratislava, 1960; as well as works by I. Kotvan, Jlan 'J1i1bens'ky, etc., quoted farther. 16. Cf. Dr. :Emrich Kotvan: Biblografia Bernolakovcov, Ma·tica sl-ovensika, Martin, 195'7', p. 403-404. 16. Cf. Jarosla;v Vlcek: Dejiny litera,t ury slovenskej, 1st edition, 1,890, second edition by .Miatica slovenska, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1923, p. 27-39, e tc. Prof. V'lcek's work is the first aicademic history of Slo;vak liternture and as such was incomplete. His views were, nevertheless, accepted by ma•n y contemporary histori-ans. Prof. V'lceik was born in Slovakia, but his main work is A History of Czech Literature. As a professor at the University of Prague he changed some of his views in favor of the official "Czechoslovak" thesis. 17. Cf. Dr. Imrich Kotvan, op. cit. p. 403-404. ·1.8. Geschichte der Slaiwischen Sprache und Literatur nach alien Mundar-ten, Offen, 1826, p. 373-300. ·w. Qp. cit. p 32-34. 20. Cf. limrich Kotvan: Bernol·a kovci, Spolok sv. Vojtecha, Trnaiva, 1'948, p. 4. '21. Cf. J·a n T~bensky's inrtrod-uc-tion to I. K,otvan's mbliografia Bernolaklovcov, p. 7-9. 22. Of. J. M. Kirschlbaum: l!udovit Stiur and His Place in the Sliavic World, Slavistica No. 32, Winnipeg, 1956. Alccordfog to M. Pisut, a Marxist expert on Sttir's period, the fina-1 sta•ge of Slovak eMorts to build an independent national culture had its roots in t,he wol'ks· of �42 SLOVAKIA P. J. Safm-ik, Jan Holly, Kollar, a1nd Kuzmar..y. Mraz stresses Holly's significan:Ce in connection wLth Stur's movement. Cf. Ceskoslovenske prednasky pro IV. Medzinarodni sjezd slavisitu v Moskve, Priaha, 1958, p. 3313-345 and 4l2:l-46~. 23. Op. cit. p. 80. 124. Cf. Jioz,ef ~acka: Dejin,y literatury slovenskej, Rufomberok, li92L, pUJblished in English translation by the Nation·al News, Pittsburgh, Pa., '119441, quoted from P. P. Yurchak, op. cit. p. 103Jl.04. '25. Of. his artfole in Ceskoslovenske prednasky pro IV. sjezd sla• vistu v Moskve. 26. ]bidem ,27. Cf. Jian T,ilbensky, J. Papanek-J. Sklenar: Obrancovia slovenskej narodnOS11i v 18. sitoroci, Osveta, Martin, 1958. 28. Of. K problemu hodnotenia bernolactiny a bernolakovskeho hnutia, Historicky cas()fpis, ViJ!I, 4, 1'959, p. 557~576. Tilbensky proves thia,t many views of Prof. WoUma,n n, in his Slovanstvi v ja11:ykovelite• rarnim obro11:eni Slovanu, Praha, 1'!)58, are prejudilced against S<Iovaiks and particularly a•g ainst Catho1ics. 29. Op. cit., p. 403-405. 3'0. Op. cit., p, 416-1108. :n. Historicky casqpis, ViII, 4, 574. 32. B~bUograd'ia bernolakoVICOV, p. 8. 3'3. ]bidem, p. 404. 34. Published: in '19418. 35. Eug,e n Paulin:y: Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny, p . 65. 3·6. ]bLdem, p. 63. 37. p. 111'3. 38. Eugen Pawliny: 0 vzajomnych vzt'ahov Cechov a Slovakov, Slovenska AkadiemLa Vied, Bra1t;islav,a, 1956; pp. 1)1.3, 11115. 3•9. Among periodicals pulblished •b y Universities it is only the Slavic and Ea·Slt European Studies (University of Miontreal, Quebec, Canada) which sy,steana:tically comments Slovalk literary and cultur,al topics in an objective mar.iner. ANONYMOUS LETTERS, wri.tten, to Red leader,s in Slo,vak,ia, are causing some concern to tihe regime. 'I1he Bra1tiislav,a RJadii,o recently reminded its listeners that writers of .s uch le•uters, if revealed, ar,e in for stiff filnes and long jail sentences. T·he reaction: more and still more anonymous letters to worry the collaborators of Red Prague. • • • IN THIE WOR<KERS' PAR.4.DISE, according to Radio Bratisfava: SI,ovakiia is behind in its milk quota 6,600,666 liiters (4'18-61,); the Trebisov district owes !!he S<tate 1,0815,000 lirter,s of milk this year (,3Jl0,6l'; Dolny Kubin, Cadca, Prievidza, and Zilina did n-Olt produce even a deciliter per COIW (3-9-61); in Braltislav,a (S.tiree't of the Defenders of Peace) women waited for meat from 2:00 to 6:3,0 p. m. (3~20.,61); there is a· great abUJnd'ance o:f feed for cattle and calves, 'but it's all r,ot,ten; the people work the ·farms, but ste,al over haif the prodootion (~20-GL); we have no tires, 'i>ut why,? I heard the explanation that t he reason, for this is the war in Lao-s (2-0.11,61 1) . � 22 SLOVAKIA MISCONCEPTIONS OF AMERICAN SLAVISTS ABOUT SLOVAK LITERATURE J. M. Kirschbaum, Ph.D. I American Slavists and Slovak Literature For the past two decades we have witnessed in America a fast growing interest in the Slavic world and Slavic culture. There is hardly a reputaJble American Uniiversi:ty which would not have organired a department of Slavic Studies, and the number of books published on Slavic subjects, as well as the number of periodicals('l) which deal entirely or pa:r,tly with the problems of East Centrial Europe, is without precedent in any other country. '.Dhere are, however, severa'l phenomena in this vast and fast development of Slavic Studies and in books and symposia about the Slavs, which indicate that American Slavic Studies may easily be pushed on a wrong track. American scholarship in this field of Slavic S:udies is predominantly in the hands of scholars, teachers or writers, who came from Europe during or after the Second World War, and who brought with them not only knowledge and a;bi-lities for academic work, but some of them brought also their prejudices, old rivalries, national prides and the nationa,l aspirations of their countries of origin. This is especially true with regard to some former politicians, diplomats, an!d civil servants from Eastern European countries who became teachers, lecturers, and professors at American universities or contrilbutors to periodicals and symposia published by universities. Institutions, books and periodicals deal1ing with Slavic Studies became for some of them new arenas for fighting lost cultural or political battles, for fostering cultural naitionalism or even poHtical chauvinism. They often use university positions or academic periodicals not for spreading objective scholarly knowledge about a very important area of the globe and about several vigorous peoples which represent the Slavic world, but rather try to prevent the �SLOVAKIA 23 truth to be known or ignorance and false propaganda to be exposed. This politkal element, though it is less apparent during the last yea-rs, certainly did some harm to American scholarshi,p in the field of Slavic Studies. How far unobjective and unscholarly some writers on Slavic subjeots can become, we can see best by anailyzing the contributions on Slovakia and on Slowk literature to the American symposia and books on Czecho-Slovakia(2). It is true that Slovak Hterature did not achieve a prominence such as some other Slavic literature did, but from various points of view it is an intereslting field for academic research. The history of Slovak literature did not begin in 1844, as some American symposia emphasize, but goes back to the ninth century to the Great Moravian Empire(3). After the collapse of the Great Moravian Empire in the ten'bh century, Slovakia became a part of the Central European cultura,l area in which a:11 peoples (Poles, Slovaks, Magyars, Czechs, Croats, etc.) used the Latin language as their literary medium and began to develop their cultures and literatures in their own vernacular only from the 17th or 18th century, if not later. And so did also the Slovaks, though we can find some literary writings or documents in the Slovak vernacular a long time before, and a Slovak professor at the University of Prague, Vavrinec Benedikti of Nedozery, reproached his Slovak countrymen for neglecting their Slovak language as early as in 1603. We can safely say that Slovakia and Silovak culture developed along the same pattern as the cultures and literatures of a!ll other Cenltra,l European peoples, mainly the Western Slavs, from Humanism to Olassi:cism, Romantism, Realism, and modern literary currents{4). Humanism found an early entry into Slovakia through the University of Bratislava (Academia Istropolitana, founlded in 1645), and through numerous students and professora studying or 'teaching abroad (Bologna, Padova, Prague, Cracow). It giave a meaningful impulse to 'literary production, especiaUy in. homiletic writings. The second university on the Slovak territory, the University of Trnava, founded in 1635, gave a strong impulse to the �24 SLOVAKIA cultural life in Slovakia both in the Latin and Slovak languages, but literary activities were mostly restrided to religion, history, geogrnphy, ma!thematics and jurisprudence(5). It was not before 1750 that a volume of original verses in the Slovak vernacufar was composed and published by Hugolin Gavlovic (1712-1787)). The first translation of the Bible was accomplished in 1756; the first LatinSlovak dictionary appeared in 1763; religious hymns were com posed by Jan Silvan in 1536 ; amd the first collection of religious songs, containing 227 iitems in the Slovak vernacu'lar, was published in the Cantus Catholici in 1655. Between this period and the date when the first novel in Slovak language appeared in 1783, there was more than a score of Slova,k scho'lars and writers who wrote grammars (V. Benedicti, D. Kriman), historical and apologetic works (D. Jacobeaus, D. Synapius Horcicka, J. Piscatoris Fischer, M. Szentivany, J. B. Magin, Samuel Timon, M. Bel, J. Severini, J. Fandly A. F. Kollar, etc) anld who defended in Latin 'the Slovak people,. its right to its own national life and nationail language, and developed also several theories on the past and origin of Slavs, on Slovak culture and the continuity of Slovakia with Great Moravia. The era of Enlightenment brought a general revival of national culture in Slovakia. The Protestants still used t he btblical Czech language also in secu[ar writings (besides German), but the Catholic Slovaks, abandoning Latin since the beginning of the Counter-Reformation, passed to 1:Jhe exclusive use of the Slovak vernacular, codified befor the end of the 18th century by Anton Bernolak in several scholarly works. Thus literature in the Slovak language was created continuously from the 17th century and produced, before the period of Romanticism, over 100 writers in Bernolak's school alone, among them the poet Jan Holly, whose genius according to many literary historians, was not surpassed by any Slovak poet except P. 0. Hviezdoslav in the 20th century. From the 18th century, Classicism, Romanticism, Realism, Symbolism, and aM dther literary currents which appeared in the European literatures, were represented also �SLOVAKIA 23 in Slovakia more or less in the same way as in other Slavic countrie s. Similar to other Slavic literatur es is also the dErvelopment under the impact of Soviet literatur e and Marxist theories on literary history(6 ). Despite the fact that this develop ment was for a long time scholarl y explored and support ed by a score of works in Slovak, as well as in foreign languag es, the history of Slovak literatur e has been an object of confuse d nad controversial interpre tations in books and symposi a publishe d by America n Slavis'~s . The best known America n and Canadia n symposi a are in basic disagree ment with this outline of Slovak literary history as we can see from the followin g: 1. Accordi ng to S. H. Thomso n, who in his book "Czechoslova kia in Europea n History" (?) attempt ed to give a fair picture of the Slovak past but was apparen tly misled by his sources, "The Slovaks had no opportu ity to develop (after the disappearance of the Great Moravian Empire in the 10th century ) their own culture, written languag e, political instituti ons or social concepts in any indepen dent way." This situation lasted for nine cen'turie s, accordin g to Prof. Thomso n's views. "A deli-bera te effort to substitute for the written Czech then in use in Slovakia a language based upon a local diailect came from the Ca-tholire camp only in 1790, when Anton Bernola k publishe d a Gramati ca Slavica. " But "about the onlly follower s Bernolak had were Catholic writers, and even among them the vogue for his gramma r and dictiona ry soon died out," writes Prof. Thomso n, stating that the year 1834-1835 is usually given as the date of the rise of written Slovak, although s':rictly speaking , ~tur did not make his first formal declarat ion until 1846." 2. The contribu ,~or to L. I. Strakho vsky's "Handbook of Slavic Studies"(B), the Czech writer Otto Radl, gives even a more inaccura te and incompl ete piicture of Slovak literature. On page 491 he writes that "As early as 1635 in Trnava books were still printed in differen t Slovak dialects, more than two hundred years before the introduc tion of Slovak as a separate literary languag e," but three pages. further he sta,tes: �26 SLOVAKIA "While the quantity of Roma,rutrc literature in the Czech lang uage •was growing in Bohemia and Morarvia,, an illllPoritant ch•a nge was taking place in Slovakia. The heretofore common written langua:ge, the Czech, was being replaced by a newly originated Slovak literary la,ruguage. This movement had begun a,t the end of the 1.S'th century ,by the learned Slovak p'hilologist Antonin Bernolak who pufblished sever-al woi,ks in Latin in which he tried to show that the Slovaks were a separate nation and that they should therefor•e use their own distinctive written la,ruguage based on dia'lect spoken in Western Slov>alkia. "Some of the mo·s t important writers• of Slo:vak origin, such as Kollar and Saifariik, were strong1y oppos·ed to this change. . . Opposing them stood siUICh S'lovak writers -as Stur and Hurban .. ... SlOIVak as a ·written language wa·s first introduced Ln, J r8 44." Slovak literatu~e begins for Ra-dl with I'... Stur in 1844, and no literary work or Slovak writer, except Bernonak, Kol,lar and Safarik (the :two later indluded by him in Czech literature) is mentioned in his study dea.Jing with Slovak literature for the periods preceeding Romanticism and Stu.r's reform of the Slovak literary language. 3. According to R. J. Kerner's "Czechoslovakia"(9) Slovak literature began only in 1845 anld that Slovak renaissance was linked with "what was going on in Bohemia and with the philosophy of Enlightenmen t and the Romanticism of Herder" and "had its center in Bratislava." "Catholic Slovaks under Bernolak tried to create, with indifferent success at the time, a written Slovak dialect," says the book. Trnava is not at all mentioned. KoNar and Safarik are mentioned as Slovaks, hurt placed among the Czech writers. Altogether three S1ovak poets are mentioned (Samo Chaluka, J anko Krar, and Jan Botto) in the whole chapter dealing with the period from the battle of White Mountain (1620) to World War I, and three others (A. Sladkovic (1820-1872), P. 0. Hv:ie~doselav (1849-1921) and Hurban Vajansky (1847-1916) - in the chapter on "Czechoslovak" literature. For the after-war period the book gives four names: Ivan Krasko, Martin Razus, E. B. Lukac, and J. Gregor-Tajov sky. 4. The most recent symposium, V. Busek-N. SpuJber's "Czechoslovakia" Cl-0), did not try to dispel confusion and complete the knowledge on Slovak literature, although the work was published in 1957 by the Mid-European Studies Center and one of the editors, Professor V. Busek, spent many years in Slovakia. �SLOVAKIA 27 While the Marxist literary historians produced a book of 320 pages on the older Slovak literature and a bibliography on Bernolak's movement ( 410 pages) shows over 100 writers, Busek-Spulber's symposium has only the fo1lowing to say in the chapter on Czech and Slovak literature: ... "the first attempts were made ~asid,e from earlier sporad'ic venrtures' to esta1blish a distinct Slovak literary language in the last decade of the 1'8th century by Anton Bernolak Cl 76Vlt81t3) who selected the Westenn, Slovak dialects as a basis of the new literary me• dium : his suggestions, not elaJborated Hn-guistically, did not taike permanent hold. "The decisiN"e step towards the estatbHshment of a Sl'orvak lite,rary language was undertaken through the initJiative of the ProteSlttants. Uudovit Stur selected the centra.l Slovak dialect for the Sl.ovak literary medium. Beginning in the 1840's, severa,l poets followed Stur a,n,d used the new literary language with great skHl." Jlt would appear from the above quotations that Amer- ican Slavists will have to revise many of their views and complete their knowledge{l l). It is evident that they generally regarid Slovak literature of the cen'turies preceding Sh'.ir's reform of the S'lovak literary language as not worth much attention. Outstanding figures of Slovak cultural life are eibher unknown or treated as quantite negligea'ble (Bernolak) by contributors to American or Canadian symposia. The periods of Baroque and Enlightenment, in whi~h erudite Slovaks wrote in their mother tongue besides Latin and biblical "Czech", were undoU'bted!ly important s tages in Slovak cultural life and national development. And yet, even the leading fitgures of the Slovak renaissance around Anton Bernolak and the poet Jan Ho'11y are either unknown or greatly underestimated if at all mentioned. Such is also the case with regard to writers and scholars who in previous periods published high:ly interesting works on the origin of Slavs in genera,1, and on the past of 'the Slovaks in particular, as well as on Slavic languages, Slavic culture, and the significance of the Sfavs in European civHization. It has been more or less generally accepted that, for instance, Paul J. Safarik's or John Kollar's Slavic consciousness were awakened by German philosophers during their studies in Jena and that t:he idea of Slavic unity and greatness became known mostly by the merits of Safarik and Kol'lar. In fact, Safarik and Kollar had several pre1 �28 SLOVAKIA decessors among Slovak writers and scholars who developed their theories on the origin of the Slavs, on Slavic linguistic and racial unity and the "glorious past" in voluminous Latin works in the 17th and 18th centuries(12), and Jan Holly described the "glorious past" of the Slavs in his great epic works, written in Slovak, much better and with greater poetic talent than Jan Kollar. Safarik wrote his volume of poetry "Muza Tatranska s lyrou slovanskou" (The Tatrean Muse With Slavic Lyra) also a long time before he went to Jena, because the Slovak writers of the 17th and 18th centuries created an a'tmosphere of Slavic patriotism and mutuaiJ.ity in S'lovakia. This will certainly be new to many American Slavists although it is not new .in Slovakia or in some S:lavic and West European works on Slavic literatures. Not only the so-called "nationalist" Slovak scholars published many works and st udies in which they outlined the continuous development of Slovak culture and literature, but also some Americans of Slovak descent tried to acqua..int American scholars with the true picture of Srl ovakia's literary development,(13). Most recently the "Marxist" Slovak literary historians published severa'1 comprehensive works which besides 'their "Marxist interpretation" make an interesting contribution to Slavic studies(14). In aH American symposia from which we have quoted, it is, however, Bernolak's movement which has been presented most superficially and most unobjectively. Contributors to these symposia are in this regard even far behind the "Marxist" literary historians who, forgetting their customary prejudices against Catlholic clergymen, present Bernolak's scho()l and his movement as "the largest organized movement of cultural and national character which existed in Slovakia before the end of the 18th cent ury," and expressed no doubts about the scholarly merits of Bernolak's linguistic works or Holly's poetic greatness. For this reason we feel that Bernolak's movement dzserves a more detailed ana'lysis in a separate chapter. �SLOVAKIA 29 II Bernolak's Movement and Its Importance In Slovak Literature Bernolak's movement is concurrent with the period of Enlightenmen't and represents a final phase of Slovak literary and national renaissance whfoh began in the seventeenth century. This has been recognized even by the Marxist literary historians who state that "the process of linguistic Slovakization in Slovak literature was on the upgrade mainly since the seventeenth century" and that the "nation-forming tendencies in the Slovak language and culture were best expressed in the movement led by Anton Bernolak (1763-1813) especially in his endeavor to raise to the status of a literary language the Western Slovak dialect"(l\5). Berno'lak's movement lasted over 60 years and comprised three genera1tions of writers who in their Slovak or Latin writings expressed comparatively strong Slovak and Slovanic (Slaviic) national consciousness. According to Jaroslav Vlcek, professor at the University of Prague, the literature of Bernolak's school "developed in al'l directions: it had scholarly and popular writers in the field of theology, it had linguists an!d aiuthors of diclJionaries, translators and editors of antiquities, successful popular writers and generous supporters. In Jan Holly the Bernolak school got also its poeta laureatus"(16). And it had also its historians. Vlcek wrote these lines on Bernolak's movement in 1890 and contemporary research proves that he was not overestimating its importance. According to Marxist histori'a ns, ,~he Slovak Learned Society, founded in Trnava in 1792 with numerous branches in Central and Eastern Slovakia, and even outside Slovakia, numlbered in Slovakia alone about 500 registered members, mainly Catholic clergymen, of whom about 100 were active authors and writers(l 7). Among its members and generous supporters was .Mexander Cardinal Rudnay, Primate of Hungary, who besides writing many sermons and translating Cicero into Slovak assisted the Society financially. Professor of theology Canon Jur Palkovic translated the Bible into Slo- �30 SLOVAKIA vak and financed Bernola.k's and Holly's works. Professors of theologic faculties from Ostrihom, Trnava, Nitra, also were members of the Learned Society. P. J. Safa.rik, who later favored a sort of a Slo,v ak lite,r ary language based on a Czech grammar, wrote in his first work, published in 1826~118), regarding Bernola.k's school: "their growing zeal for the development and advancement of Slovak literature cannot be praised enough." And Professor Vlcek wrote in 1890 that "what in literatures of all Slavic peoples appeared as an expression of an awakened national consciousness and nationail indivilduality, it logically appeared also aimong Slovaks. The firslt to express that as a firm literary principle was A. Bernola.k." Bernola.k "was not a literary revolutionary," continues Prof. Vlcek, "but a consequent codifier of what grew and ripened before him over one hundred years in the writings of Catholic Slovaks as a linguistic fact",('19). Of course, Prof. Vlcek does not share the opinion of American symposia stating that "Bernola.k's attempts to est31blish a distinct Slovak literary language were not elaiborated linguistically," or that he tried "with indif.ferent success to create a written Slovak dia~ec't." On the contrary, in his Dejiny literatiiry slovenskej, Prof. Vlcek states that Bernola.k was well acquainted with the work done in the field of linguistics by predecessors such as Matej Bel and Pavel Dolefal, both from the first half of the 18th century, as well as wiith the tendencies of Catholic writers associated with the University of Trnava. There can ha11dly be any doubt that Bernola.k's movement means an important stage in Sfovak cultural and national development. The first manifestation of this new era in the Slovak national life was the publication of Bernola.k's work Disser'tation Philologic<rCritica de Literis Slavorum (1787) in which Bernola.k formulated the principles of the Slovak literary language. His formal directives for the introduction of the Slovak language into literature Bernola.k gave in the same yeair in his work Linguae Slavonicae per Regnum Hungariae Usitatae Compendiosa simul et facilis Orthographia. In 1790 he published in Latin his grammar of the new Slovak Literary language, Gramatica �31 SLOVAKIA Slavica, which later appeared in two German translations; and in 1791 was published his work on the etymology of Slovak words, Ethymologia Vocum Slavicarum. Bernolak's main work Slowar Slovenski, Cesko-Latinsko..:Nemecko-Uherski, was published (1825-1827) after Bernolak's death by Canon Jur Palkovic in six volumes, 530 pp. The work, which reads in English translation "A Dictionary of the Slovak, Czech, Latin, German and Hungarian Tongues," contained also phraseology, etymology and synonyms of the new Slovak literary language. Bernolak's works "gave a stimulus to the development of modern Slovak literature growing up directly from the living sources of the Slovak people," as admitte'd even by Marxist critics, and his movement "was, on the whole, in agreement with similar contemporary trends current among the Ukrainians, the Bulgarians, the Serbs, the Croats and the Slovenes." His "Dissertatio" caused "a revolution in the development of Slovak language," says I. Kotvan, "and at the same time led to a desirable national advancement in the ideo1ogical development of Slovak nationa I consciousness; it also hastened the foundation of the Slovak Learned Society in 1792 which grouped in its ranks all ardent Slovaks, en'l:!husiastic for Slovak culture, social and economic progress and for the political and national fate of Slovakia"(20). 1 Bernolak and the members of hi's Slovak Learned Society, among whom most prominent were Juraj Fandly (1754-1811), Jozef Ignac Bajza (1755-1836), Jan Holly (1785-1849), Juraj Papanek (1738-1802), Juraj Sklenar (1746-1790), .A!lexander Cardinal Rudnay, Canon Jur Palkovic, were faithful adherents of Enlightenment, sincerely attached to the Slovak people and working for its progress. Juraj Fandly was the leading organizer of the Society, author of popular educational writings and editor of a miscellany dealing with the history of the Slovaks (Compendiata Historiae Gentis Slavae - 1793) . J. I. Bajza wrote the first Slovak novel and a col'leotion of Slovak epigrams; J. Papanek is the author of Historia Gentis Slavae - DeRegno Regibusque Slavorum (1780) ; Juraj Sklenar is the �32 SLOVAKIA author of Vetustissimus Magnae Moraviae Situs (1784); Jan Holly is until now the greatest of Slovak poets who alone "created nearly all poetic genres: the epos, the elegy, the ode and the song, and in whose hanlds the cold form of antique poetry had warmth enough to express strongly the modern idea of national consciousness," as stated Prof. Vlcek in 1890. Actually, all writers of Bernolak's school expressed in their works strong national feelings and their views regarding Slavs, Slavic languages and the plaice of the Slavs in the world; this makes of them precursors of Kollar's and Safarik's ideas of Slavdom. Berno1ak himself regarded the Slavs as one nation with one language divided into "dia~ects" which conception was developed by P. J. Safarik in Geschichte der Slawischen Sprache und Literatur nearly 40 years later. In the introdu~tion to his Gramatica Slavica, published in 1790, Bernolak regarded the Slovak vernacular as one of the Sfavic dialects and urged his countrymen to use it as a literary medium in the same way as the Czechs, the Russians, the Croats and Poles used t heir respective vernaculars. Juraj Papanek in his Historia Gentis Slavae, Fandly in his Compendiata Historiae Slavae an'd in his other writings, and Holly in his poetic works, manirfested also fiery Slovak and Slavic consciousness and national feelings, so that we may see in Bernolak's movement not only a connecting link between his school and Safarik's and Kollar's conceptions of Slavdom, but also an organic and close relation with Stu.r's reform of the Slovak literary language and his nationalist movement. In this respect we can fully agree with the Marxist literc1ry historians that both movements "grew up from the same process, 1'rom the process of formaJtion of the Slovak nation and are but two different phases of Slovak cultural and national development:Q21). Wh:ile Bernolak's linguistic works substantially influenced the final form of Stu.r's reform of the Slovak literary language which accepted many 'linguistic elements, used in all parts of Slovakia only because there existed Bernolak's literary language before, ideologically Stu.r's group was influenced mainly by the epics of Jan Holly, poet laureate of Bernolak's school. �SLOVAKIA 33 Stu,r himself acknowledged Holly's dominant influence on the formation of Slovak national ideology and so did until now the " nationalist" as well as the "Marxist" Slovak literary historians(22). Accordtng to Jaroslav Vlcek: "Holly means many things in Slovak literature. He achieved alone wha;t the Czech and the Hungarian poets of classicism worked on a'H togetherC23). For another literary historian "Holly has not been surpassed by any S,l ovak poet, and nowhere else is there to be found such depth of national consciousness and such glory. In crystallized form Holly vigorously enounced the modern idea of nationalism, and this already in the 1800's, and his unsurpassable expression of the national soul has made him and will continue t o make him the grea;test of the Slovak poets"(24). And he is so judged also by contemporary Marxist historians. "Holly is a great poet," says prof. A. Mraz, the main Marxist authority on Slovak literary history, " an:d a cultivated and excellent translator of antique poetry, who synthetized in his works an'tique influences with European Classicism and philosophy of Enlightenmen t. He awakened nationa1 consciousness of his countrymen combining Slavic and Slovak elements in his conception of the Slovak nation. His works prove that even in Bernolak's movement Slavic components were strongly represented. Slovak and Slav unite in harmoneous accord in Holly's ideology"~25). Holly deserves this praise and recognition not only for his own works but also for his masterful transiaJtions from practically all renowned poets from Virgil, Ovid, Theocritus, Horace to Homer. The first volume of his translations was published in 1824, the translation of Virgiil's Aeneid in 1828; these were highly commended even of Jungmann, Safarik and Niederle. After having enriched Slovak literatures by his translations, Holly composed in cfa:ssic mold anld with many overtones of 'bhe antique poetry his three epics in which he proved that his talent and erudition were outstanding and that the new Slovak literary language was rioh and flexible enough for complex poetic creations. At the same time he also demonstrated to the Slovaks and to the out side world thait the Slovak past was great and glorious and that there is, therefore, also a future for the Slovak people. �34 SLOVAKIA To achieve this, Holly created in his poetic works a new national ideology, anchored in the traditions of the Great Moravian Empire and in the cultural achievements of SS. Cyril and Methddius, the founders of Slovanic letters. In 1833 he published his Svatopluk, a heroic epic about the life and glory of the powerf.Ull ruler of Great Moravia, in twelve cantos. In 1835 his Cyrilo-Methodiada, a poetic account of the achievements of the Apostles of Slovaks, was published in Budapest in six cantos, and to complete the ima:ge of a heroic past of his people, Holly crea1~ed also an epic in seven cantos about a mythical forefather of the Slovaks, Slav, and in his Elegies he 'lamented over the desb-uction of the Great Moravian Empire, 'bhe first kingdom of the Slovaks, ruined by treachery, villainy, and perfidy. The national and ideological components of Holly's poetry are strong also in his Odes and Idylles (1835), which, together with his epics, a,wakened to life a new generation that broke with the past not only in linguistic division of Slovaks but also in cultural and political orientation. "At a time," says Mraz, "when the Slovaks mostly felt the need to strengthen their national ideology by historic consciousness, Holly came in a monumenta,1 way with his support." He created by his works not only a Slovak national poetry and ideology, but urging the Slovaks to regard their past with pride he revived the present and encouraged the Slovaks to look to the future with hope. Holly achieved this "w~t:h nothing more than a nonliterary, formless dialect at his disposa[ which he molded and shaped into a rich poetic language." His poetry was not much influenced by European pseudo-Classicism and contemporary Romanticism. He g.r ew up f<rom an antique culture and poetry, and ideologically only he interpreted . the feelings and aspirations of the Slovak people of the period oif Enlightenment and t he f.irst decades of Romanticism. While his contemporary Jan KoHar "wandered on the expansive meadows of Slavdom," Holly devoted his talents to building Slovak national consciousness, culture and ideology which made him a precursor anld: a spiritual leader also for the coming generation of C. Stt'.ir's na- �SLOVAKIA 35 tionalist and romantic school. "HoHy's message lived also in the generation to come which refused his classicist forms but creatively clung to his ideological heritage," admits the Marxist literary historian A. Mraz, and adds that "Bernolak's movement triumphed in Holly's achievements and greatness; it found in his works the most creative and ideological culmination"(26). III Marxist Evaluation of Bernolak's Movement Unlike the contributors to American symposia who be1ittled A. Bernolak and his movement, Marxist literary historians write about Bernolak and his followers with high esteem. Although the works of the members of Bernolak's school and his Learned Societies clearly indica!te the tendency to reflect the national struggle and the awakening of a national consciousness among Slovaks - which is in conflict with the "Czechoslovak" tendencies of the Communist party - the Marxist literary historians were allowed to publish scores of books and studies on Bernolak and his movement. Among the first works which dealt with this period in a suvprisingly tolerant way was "A History of Slovak Literature" (Dejiny sfovenskej literatury) by Prof. A. Mraz, who for his services to the present regime in Slovakia was promoted to the rank of an "akademik" (academician). Other valuable works and studies were published by Dr. Imrich Kotvan and Jan Tiibensky, who apparently specializes in this period "ex offo." Kotvan's work Bernolakovci (1948) and Bibliografia Bernolakovcov (Bibliography of Bernolak's School) published in 1957, together with T. Ti'bensky's book J. Papanek-J. SklenarC27), also published in 1957, as well as a series of his stu!dies in periodi'caJs, give the impression that Marxist literary historians try to evaluate Bernolak's movement without the customary prejudice against Catholic writers, and that in many respects :they agree with the views expressed before by the "bourgeois and nationalist" scholars and literary historians (J. Vlcek, J. �36 SLOVAKIA Skultety, S. Krcmery, J. Kacka, A. A . Banik, C. Lepacek, S. Jurovsky, etc.) . This is evident especiaHy in Ti'bensky's controversy with Prof. Wollmann's uncritical deprecation of Bernolak's movement(28), but also in some recen :: studies of Mraz and in the new History of Slovak Literature, compiled by a " coHective" of younger historians under the direction of Prof. M. Pisut. In a comprehensive explanatory note to Kotvan's Bibliography, which on 400 pages gives an interesting picture of Bernolak's movement, we can read that the Marxist scholars "consider the second half of :the eighteenth and the first half od: the nineteenth century, which is the period of Bernolak's activities, "one of the interesting , not yet thoroughly investigated periods forming a milestone in Sfovak history"{29). In the opinion of Prof. A. Mraz, who still remains the main authority in Marxist literary history in Slovakia, Anton Bernolak not only reformed and cddiified the Sfovak literary language and its orthography, but also started a vast national and cultural movement based on a t radition m,ore tJhan a hundred years old. Mraz regards the activity which originated 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 Szollossi in 1655. "The book Cantus Catholid," says Mraz, "laid the foundation on whioh the language used by Slovak Catholic writers, was formed into an in\dependent Slovak literary language. CrystallizaJtion of the language, which Slovak Catholic writers used during the period of the University of Trnava (1635-1777) , progressed so far in accordance with the spoken language in Western Slovakia that, when Bernolak and his foHowers came, at the end of the 18th century, with the idea of an independent literary language, t hey merely codified, in many respects, a language used and domesticated among the Catholic Slovak writers of the preceding period"(30). Mraz also recognizes Bernolak's merits in the whole �SLOVAKIA 37 of Slovak cultural life. "Bernolak did not stop at writing his s,c holarly works," says Mraz. "He used them to push ahead Slovak national and cultural life on new tracks, which he attained by his cu]tural and organizatory activities." According to Tibensky, who made some original research into this period, Bernolak's movement was "the largest organized movement of cultural and national character which existed in Slovakia before the end of the 18th century, and it undoubtedly played a progressive role in the Slovak naJtional development"1(®L). "There is no doubt whatsover," says Tibensky, "that Bernolak's literary language and his movement played a very important role in the Slovak national development. Their importance is far from being sufficiently explored and evaluated. Works published until now are merely the first step to the accomplishment of an imporitant task of Slovak scholarship." There is ndt, so far, much new in the Marxist writings on Bernolak's movement. The Marxist Academy of Sciences is merely compiling the scholaI"ly research which was going on for the last 25-30 years and in which scholars like A. A. Banik, C. Lepacek, S. Jurovsky, V. Gajdos and others, brought to light new manuscripts or additional information. 'Dhe Marxist literary historians, of course, at·tempt to give a new interpretation to what the "bourgeois" scholars said on Slovak literature, language, national consciousness and Slovak national aspirations. "While in the past !the researchers into the origin of Bernolak's movement and especialtly into its literary language considered in the first place ideological elements, for instance, the influence of the Counter-Reformation, the Marxist scholarship," says Ti1bensky, "endeavors to explain the origin of Bernolak's movement and of its literary medium in the context of the entire Slovak social and economic development in given centuries: it takes into account, in the first place, economic and pomico-cultural factors"(32). Ideological influences are considered by Marxist historians as seconldary in the formation of Bernolak's move- �38 SLOVAKIA ment. "The movement is an outstanding manifestation of 'the process of transformation of a feudal Slovak nationality into a modern bourgeois nation," conclu'des Tibensky. In view of this, Bernolak's movement is credited by Marxist historians also with the fact that, as a result of Bernolak's activities, "the process of the formation of the Slovak nation and cu~ture was entering a new stage, determined by the activities of r.. Stur (1815-1856), and by the creation, on the basis of a Central Slovak dialect, of the modern Slovak literary language"{G3). Prof. Eugen Pauliny, who apparently is regarded among contemporary Marxist Slovak phHologists as an authority on the history of the Slovak language, regards Bernolak's period as an important stage in the development of Slovak national life. "Bernolak's language and his conceptions of Slovak national life, conceptions in which his reform originated, mean an important milestone in Slovak nrubional development," says Pauliny in his "Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny" (A History of the Slovak Literary Language). "Bernolak's movement, even if represenlted only by Slovak Catholics, takes Slovak national individuality, in a clear and understandable formulation, as a fact and connects it with the whole of Slavdom in its contemporary as weH as historical context. As a tool of this ideology Bernolak brought his theoretically elaborated and practically tested Slovak literary language," continues Pauliny. According to Pauliny, Bernolak's language was not used only for religious purposes, as some Slavists assert. "There were in Bernolak's school also religious writings, but not of a polemic char8!Cter; they were didactic and, besides them, 'there was religious poetry and theological writings. However, the center of gravity of Bernolak's school lays in vafoable writings for the education of the large masses, and in poetry. Bernolak's language was a well elaborated literary language which the Catholic Slovaks useid for more than a ha:lf century, in fact, officially up to 1851, when unity was achieved in the literary language" (among CaJtholics and Protestants). From the philological point of view, Bernolak's re- �SLOVAKIA 39 form was based not only on the language, written and spoken by the educated Slovak strata in Western Slovakia and created in the cultural center of Trnava, but also on the dia'l ect of Bernolak's native province Orava, which belongs to the cenltral Slovak dialectical areas('36). In his contribution to a volume "0 vzajomnych vz€ahov Oechov a Slovakov," published in 1956 by the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Pauliny states: "Bernola:k 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 Ca!bholic an!d. Protestant writings" (3r7). As for the connection of Bernolak'is school with Stiir's group, Pauliny agrees with the other Marxist literary historians and philologists. Stu.r's reform, which is erroneously presented by some American Slavists as the beginilling of tJhe Slovak literary language (in this respect even Jakobson is wrong), in Pauliny's view, is but a "younger branch of Bernolak's school," and he adds: "In Bernolak's school c,ulminates the older phase of Slovak natio nal diwelopment, but simultaneously it means also the beginning of a new epoch a,nd is very closely connected with the develo;pmen,t of nrutional consciousness of Stur's period. Bernolak''s movement tbuilds upon the feudail Slwak national con\Sdousness of the li8th century, but at the same time this movement enounces and consciously fo11mulates , for the first time, the modem Slovak nation,alism. "We find in the writings of the most important members oif Bernolak's Learned Society, Bernolak, Fandly, J HoMy, a compl~tely different ideology from that of the clergy of t he Gouniter-Uleformation of the 1"7:th and 18th century. It is an ideology of Slowk ,n,ationalism as derined and 11.mderstood by the Enlightenment, and it evci.1ved in bhe writings of the most out.Sitanding members of this group, Fan.dly an'd Jlolly, into the ideology of a modern Slovak nation. Stu.r's group used it as a foundation and developed it int o a mor•e modem conception in accordance with contemporary Euro·p ean ideological trends." 1 • Stur himself admitted this in his "Narecia slovenskuo," writing: "Our Catholic brothers did exactly what we are doing now and intend to do; they desired to a,chieve what we are desiring to achieve; they were concerned in their hearts a:bout the same matter that we cherish in our hearts''(3-8). �40 SLOVAKIA We hardly need any more convincing proof that Sb1r's group considered Bernolak's group as "older co-fighters on the same ideological battlefield," concludes Pauliny. To sum up, we can safely say that Bernolak's work and his school were an important factor in Slovak cultural and lilterary development and as such they deserve more attention and more objective anlaysis by scholars in the field of American Slavic studies. On the other hand, Slovak scholars in the free world have a moral duty to correct the mi,sconceptions which crept into Slavic studies largely because of a lack of English written studies on Slovak culture other than those supplied by Slavists of Czech origin and the works by Slovaks mentioned below. REFERENCE NOTES: '1. Journal of Central European Affairs, University of Colorado, The American Slavic and East European Review, Columbia University Press, The Slavic and East European Journal, Ln<liana UnLversity, Slavic and East European Studies, Un1versity of Montreal, Canadian Slavonic Pape.rs, University of Toronto Press. 2. Besides books edited· by Kerner, Strakhovsky, Busek-Spul1ber, and S. H. Thomson-, there are many misconceptions al-so in works w,rit-ten or edited by Prof. J. S. Rloucek, namely in his Cemral Entern Europe, or Slavonic Encyclopedi·a, by Felix Gross and C. E. BJ.ack. 3. The thesis that Great l\furarvian writings and culture belong to the cu1tural heritage of Slovaks has been sUJpported by both ,n.ationalist and Marxist Slovak literary ,h istorians. Cf. in English Jioseph Skultety: Sketches From Slovak History, Middletown, Pa., 1930, p. 229; J. M. Kirschbaum: Slovakia - Nation At the Crossroads of Cerwtral E·urope; and in the Slovak la,n guage: Dej iny star sei slovenskej literatury by M,axxist historfans (JI. MisianLk, J. Minarik, M. Mich'aloova, A. Melichercilk), Bratislava,, 1008, p. 3120. ,4. Cf. Dmitry Cizevsky: Outline of Comparative Slavic Literatures, AmerLcan Academy of Arts and Scienees, Boston, Mass., 1952; Lvalil J. Krarnoris: Chrono1ogic.al Outline of Slovak Literature and History, Passaic, 1946; Peter P. Yurchak : The SloYaks, J . J. Lach, Pulblications, Whiting, Indiiana•, 1947; J'. M. Kirschlbaum: Slovakia: Nation At the Crossroads of Central E-u rope, p. 35-00. 5. See University Traditions in Slovakia in J. M. · Kirsch:baUJm's op. cit.; and Stephen J. Palickar's Slovakian Culture in the Light of History, The Hampshire Press, Cambrid·ge, Mass., 1954. 6. Cf. Slovak Literature Under the Soviet Impact in The Slavic and East EuT.opean Sltudies, Montreal, 1956, Part I, p. 4>:x54. 7. Published by Princeton University Press, 1943, 390 pp. A critical review from the Slovak poi.n-t of view see in Slovak Review, Vol. I, Nio. 2., by Ivan, J. Kra,rnoris. 8. Published by HarvaTd University Press, Cambridge, Mas•s .• �SLOVAKIA 41 1949. Chapter on Slovak linguistics by A. Senn is more in line with scholarly research. 9. Published by University of Oalifornia Press, 1949. A critical review froon the Slovak point df view in quarterly Slovakiia, Middletown, Pa .. , Vol. v,v,r, by Philiip A. Hrobak. 10. P;u!blished by Mid,,European Stu<lies Ce,n,t er of the Free Europe Commi>ttee, Inc., New Yol'k, 1957. The chapter on Slovaik literaiture was wz,iflten by Czech writers H. Kucera and E. lfovtun, who are unknown in Slovak literary history. 'lil. American presentation of Slovak literature is strangely d<iffererut also from European evaluation as ev,i denced in the works: Ernest Denis: Le probleme de l'Autriche-Les Slovaques, Piaris, 1917; A. Fischel: Pa,nslavismus bis zum Weltkrieg, Stuttgart and• Berlin, 191•9; Bruno Meriggi, Storia delle letterature ceca e Slovacca, University of Florence, 195'9. 112. Of. J. J:~obeus: Vii:a Gentis Slavicae, published in '164Q; introduction to B. Szollossi's Cantus Catholici, pu1b li5hed in 16>55; D. Sinapius Horcicka, Neoforum Latino-Slovenicum, 1679; J. Piscatori-sFischer: De origine, inre ac utilitatae linguae slavonicae, pulblished in 1697; J . B. Magin: ·Murices .. sive Apologia, pulblished in 1728; S. Timon: Imago an,t ique Hunga,riae, 11735; J. Papanek: Historia gen•: is slavae, '1'7•80; J. Fandly: Compendiata Historiae Slavae, 17193. 13. See op. cit. by P. P. Yurt:hak, S. J. Palickar, I. J . Kramoris, as well as articles by C. Piotocek ifil; Slovak Review, by Philip A. Hro\bak in Slovakia, by E. Podikrivac!Jcy in Slovakia, Vol. m, 3, a,n d J. Pombsky's book K stemu vyrociu literarnej slovenciny (One Hundred Years of Literary Slovak), abrana Press, Scranlton, 1945, 290 pp. 'l><t. Cf. Prof. A. MTaz: Dejiny slovenskej literatury, S'1ovenska aikademia vied a umeni, Bratisla,va, 1948, Dejin.y star-lei slovenskej litel'a:u,ry, SA V, 1-959, Dejiny slovenskej Literatury, Osveta, Bratislava, 1960; as well as works by I. Kotvan, Jlan 'J1i1bens'ky, etc., quoted farther. 16. Cf. Dr. :Emrich Kotvan: Biblografia Bernolakovcov, Ma·tica sl-ovensika, Martin, 195'7', p. 403-404. 16. Cf. Jarosla;v Vlcek: Dejiny litera,t ury slovenskej, 1st edition, 1,890, second edition by .Miatica slovenska, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1923, p. 27-39, e tc. Prof. V'lcek's work is the first aicademic history of Slo;vak liternture and as such was incomplete. His views were, nevertheless, accepted by ma•n y contemporary histori-ans. Prof. V'lceik was born in Slovakia, but his main work is A History of Czech Literature. As a professor at the University of Prague he changed some of his views in favor of the official "Czechoslovak" thesis. 17. Cf. Dr. Imrich Kotvan, op. cit. p. 403-404. ·1.8. Geschichte der Slaiwischen Sprache und Literatur nach alien Mundar-ten, Offen, 1826, p. 373-300. ·w. Qp. cit. p 32-34. 20. Cf. limrich Kotvan: Bernol·a kovci, Spolok sv. Vojtecha, Trnaiva, 1'948, p. 4. '21. Cf. J·a n T~bensky's inrtrod-uc-tion to I. K,otvan's mbliografia Bernolaklovcov, p. 7-9. 22. Of. J. M. Kirschlbaum: l!udovit Stiur and His Place in the Sliavic World, Slavistica No. 32, Winnipeg, 1956. Alccordfog to M. Pisut, a Marxist expert on Sttir's period, the fina-1 sta•ge of Slovak eMorts to build an independent national culture had its roots in t,he wol'ks· of �42 SLOVAKIA P. J. Safm-ik, Jan Holly, Kollar, a1nd Kuzmar..y. Mraz stresses Holly's significan:Ce in connection wLth Stur's movement. Cf. Ceskoslovenske prednasky pro IV. Medzinarodni sjezd slavisitu v Moskve, Priaha, 1958, p. 3313-345 and 4l2:l-46~. 23. Op. cit. p. 80. 124. Cf. Jioz,ef ~acka: Dejin,y literatury slovenskej, Rufomberok, li92L, pUJblished in English translation by the Nation·al News, Pittsburgh, Pa., '119441, quoted from P. P. Yurchak, op. cit. p. 103Jl.04. '25. Of. his artfole in Ceskoslovenske prednasky pro IV. sjezd sla• vistu v Moskve. 26. ]bidem ,27. Cf. Jian T,ilbensky, J. Papanek-J. Sklenar: Obrancovia slovenskej narodnOS11i v 18. sitoroci, Osveta, Martin, 1958. 28. Of. K problemu hodnotenia bernolactiny a bernolakovskeho hnutia, Historicky cas()fpis, ViJ!I, 4, 1'959, p. 557~576. Tilbensky proves thia,t many views of Prof. WoUma,n n, in his Slovanstvi v ja11:ykovelite• rarnim obro11:eni Slovanu, Praha, 1'!)58, are prejudilced against S<Iovaiks and particularly a•g ainst Catho1ics. 29. Op. cit., p. 403-405. 3'0. Op. cit., p, 416-1108. :n. Historicky casqpis, ViII, 4, 574. 32. B~bUograd'ia bernolakoVICOV, p. 8. 3'3. ]bidem, p. 404. 34. Published: in '19418. 35. Eug,e n Paulin:y: Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny, p . 65. 3·6. ]bLdem, p. 63. 37. p. 111'3. 38. Eugen Pawliny: 0 vzajomnych vzt'ahov Cechov a Slovakov, Slovenska AkadiemLa Vied, Bra1t;islav,a, 1956; pp. 1)1.3, 11115. 3•9. Among periodicals pulblished •b y Universities it is only the Slavic and Ea·Slt European Studies (University of Miontreal, Quebec, Canada) which sy,steana:tically comments Slovalk literary and cultur,al topics in an objective mar.iner. ANONYMOUS LETTERS, wri.tten, to Red leader,s in Slo,vak,ia, are causing some concern to tihe regime. 'I1he Bra1tiislav,a RJadii,o recently reminded its listeners that writers of .s uch le•uters, if revealed, ar,e in for stiff filnes and long jail sentences. T·he reaction: more and still more anonymous letters to worry the collaborators of Red Prague. • • • IN THIE WOR<KERS' PAR.4.DISE, according to Radio Bratisfava: SI,ovakiia is behind in its milk quota 6,600,666 liiters (4'18-61,); the Trebisov district owes !!he S<tate 1,0815,000 lirter,s of milk this year (,3Jl0,6l'; Dolny Kubin, Cadca, Prievidza, and Zilina did n-Olt produce even a deciliter per COIW (3-9-61); in Braltislav,a (S.tiree't of the Defenders of Peace) women waited for meat from 2:00 to 6:3,0 p. m. (3~20.,61); there is a· great abUJnd'ance o:f feed for cattle and calves, 'but it's all r,ot,ten; the people work the ·farms, but ste,al over haif the prodootion (~20-GL); we have no tires, 'i>ut why,? I heard the explanation that t he reason, for this is the war in Lao-s (2-0.11,61 1) . � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 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 MISCONCEPTIONS OF AMERICAN SLAVISTS ABOUT SLOVAK LITERATURE J. M. Kirschbaum, Ph.D. I American Slavists and Slovak Literature For the past two decades we have witnessed in America a fast growing interest in the Slavic world and Slavic culture. There is hardly a reputaJble American Uniiversi:ty which would not have organired a department of Slavic Studies, and the number of books published on Slavic subjects, as well as the number of periodicals('l) which deal entirely or pa:r,tly with the problems of East Centrial Europe, is without precedent in any other country. '.Dhere are, however, severa'l phenomena in this vast and fast development of Slavic Studies and in books and symposia about the Slavs, which indicate that American Slavic Studies may easily be pushed on a wrong track. American scholarship in this field of Slavic S:udies is predominantly in the hands of scholars, teachers or writers, who came from Europe during or after the Second World War, and who brought with them not only knowledge and a;bi-lities for academic work, but some of them brought also their prejudices, old rivalries, national prides and the nationa,l aspirations of their countries of origin. This is especially true with regard to some former politicians, diplomats, an!d civil servants from Eastern European countries who became teachers, lecturers, and professors at American universities or contrilbutors to periodicals and symposia published by universities. Institutions, books and periodicals deal1ing with Slavic Studies became for some of them new arenas for fighting lost cultural or political battles, for fostering cultural naitionalism or even poHtical chauvinism. They often use university positions or academic periodicals not for spreading objective scholarly knowledge about a very important area of the globe and about several vigorous peoples which represent the Slavic world, but rather try to prevent the SLOVAKIA 23 truth to be known or ignorance and false propaganda to be exposed. This politkal element, though it is less apparent during the last yea-rs, certainly did some harm to American scholarshi,p in the field of Slavic Studies. How far unobjective and unscholarly some writers on Slavic subjeots can become, we can see best by anailyzing the contributions on Slovakia and on Slowk literature to the American symposia and books on Czecho-Slovakia(2). It is true that Slovak Hterature did not achieve a prominence such as some other Slavic literature did, but from various points of view it is an intereslting field for academic research. The history of Slovak literature did not begin in 1844, as some American symposia emphasize, but goes back to the ninth century to the Great Moravian Empire(3). After the collapse of the Great Moravian Empire in the ten'bh century, Slovakia became a part of the Central European cultura,l area in which a:11 peoples (Poles, Slovaks, Magyars, Czechs, Croats, etc.) used the Latin language as their literary medium and began to develop their cultures and literatures in their own vernacular only from the 17th or 18th century, if not later. And so did also the Slovaks, though we can find some literary writings or documents in the Slovak vernacular a long time before, and a Slovak professor at the University of Prague, Vavrinec Benedikti of Nedozery, reproached his Slovak countrymen for neglecting their Slovak language as early as in 1603. We can safely say that Slovakia and Silovak culture developed along the same pattern as the cultures and literatures of a!ll other Cenltra,l European peoples, mainly the Western Slavs, from Humanism to Olassi:cism, Romantism, Realism, and modern literary currents{4). Humanism found an early entry into Slovakia through the University of Bratislava (Academia Istropolitana, founlded in 1645), and through numerous students and professora studying or 'teaching abroad (Bologna, Padova, Prague, Cracow). It giave a meaningful impulse to 'literary production, especiaUy in. homiletic writings. The second university on the Slovak territory, the University of Trnava, founded in 1635, gave a strong impulse to the 24 SLOVAKIA cultural life in Slovakia both in the Latin and Slovak languages, but literary activities were mostly restrided to religion, history, geogrnphy, ma!thematics and jurisprudence(5). It was not before 1750 that a volume of original verses in the Slovak vernacufar was composed and published by Hugolin Gavlovic (1712-1787)). The first translation of the Bible was accomplished in 1756; the first LatinSlovak dictionary appeared in 1763; religious hymns were com posed by Jan Silvan in 1536 ; amd the first collection of religious songs, containing 227 iitems in the Slovak vernacu'lar, was published in the Cantus Catholici in 1655. Between this period and the date when the first novel in Slovak language appeared in 1783, there was more than a score of Slova,k scho'lars and writers who wrote grammars (V. Benedicti, D. Kriman), historical and apologetic works (D. Jacobeaus, D. Synapius Horcicka, J. Piscatoris Fischer, M. Szentivany, J. B. Magin, Samuel Timon, M. Bel, J. Severini, J. Fandly A. F. Kollar, etc) anld who defended in Latin 'the Slovak people,. its right to its own national life and nationail language, and developed also several theories on the past and origin of Slavs, on Slovak culture and the continuity of Slovakia with Great Moravia. The era of Enlightenment brought a general revival of national culture in Slovakia. The Protestants still used t he btblical Czech language also in secu[ar writings (besides German), but the Catholic Slovaks, abandoning Latin since the beginning of the Counter-Reformation, passed to 1:Jhe exclusive use of the Slovak vernacular, codified befor the end of the 18th century by Anton Bernolak in several scholarly works. Thus literature in the Slovak language was created continuously from the 17th century and produced, before the period of Romanticism, over 100 writers in Bernolak's school alone, among them the poet Jan Holly, whose genius according to many literary historians, was not surpassed by any Slovak poet except P. 0. Hviezdoslav in the 20th century. From the 18th century, Classicism, Romanticism, Realism, Symbolism, and aM dther literary currents which appeared in the European literatures, were represented also SLOVAKIA 23 in Slovakia more or less in the same way as in other Slavic countrie s. Similar to other Slavic literatur es is also the dErvelopment under the impact of Soviet literatur e and Marxist theories on literary history(6 ). Despite the fact that this develop ment was for a long time scholarl y explored and support ed by a score of works in Slovak, as well as in foreign languag es, the history of Slovak literatur e has been an object of confuse d nad controversial interpre tations in books and symposi a publishe d by America n Slavis'~s . The best known America n and Canadia n symposi a are in basic disagree ment with this outline of Slovak literary history as we can see from the followin g: 1. Accordi ng to S. H. Thomso n, who in his book "Czechoslova kia in Europea n History" (?) attempt ed to give a fair picture of the Slovak past but was apparen tly misled by his sources, "The Slovaks had no opportu ity to develop (after the disappearance of the Great Moravian Empire in the 10th century ) their own culture, written languag e, political instituti ons or social concepts in any indepen dent way." This situation lasted for nine cen'turie s, accordin g to Prof. Thomso n's views. "A deli-bera te effort to substitute for the written Czech then in use in Slovakia a language based upon a local diailect came from the Ca-tholire camp only in 1790, when Anton Bernola k publishe d a Gramati ca Slavica. " But "about the onlly follower s Bernolak had were Catholic writers, and even among them the vogue for his gramma r and dictiona ry soon died out," writes Prof. Thomso n, stating that the year 1834-1835 is usually given as the date of the rise of written Slovak, although s':rictly speaking , ~tur did not make his first formal declarat ion until 1846." 2. The contribu ,~or to L. I. Strakho vsky's "Handbook of Slavic Studies"(B), the Czech writer Otto Radl, gives even a more inaccura te and incompl ete piicture of Slovak literature. On page 491 he writes that "As early as 1635 in Trnava books were still printed in differen t Slovak dialects, more than two hundred years before the introduc tion of Slovak as a separate literary languag e," but three pages. further he sta,tes: 26 SLOVAKIA "While the quantity of Roma,rutrc literature in the Czech lang uage •was growing in Bohemia and Morarvia,, an illllPoritant ch•a nge was taking place in Slovakia. The heretofore common written langua:ge, the Czech, was being replaced by a newly originated Slovak literary la,ruguage. This movement had begun a,t the end of the 1.S'th century ,by the learned Slovak p'hilologist Antonin Bernolak who pufblished sever-al woi,ks in Latin in which he tried to show that the Slovaks were a separate nation and that they should therefor•e use their own distinctive written la,ruguage based on dia'lect spoken in Western Slov>alkia. "Some of the mo·s t important writers• of Slo:vak origin, such as Kollar and Saifariik, were strong1y oppos·ed to this change. . . Opposing them stood siUICh S'lovak writers -as Stur and Hurban .. ... SlOIVak as a ·written language wa·s first introduced Ln, J r8 44." Slovak literatu~e begins for Ra-dl with I'... Stur in 1844, and no literary work or Slovak writer, except Bernonak, Kol,lar and Safarik (the :two later indluded by him in Czech literature) is mentioned in his study dea.Jing with Slovak literature for the periods preceeding Romanticism and Stu.r's reform of the Slovak literary language. 3. According to R. J. Kerner's "Czechoslovakia"(9) Slovak literature began only in 1845 anld that Slovak renaissance was linked with "what was going on in Bohemia and with the philosophy of Enlightenmen t and the Romanticism of Herder" and "had its center in Bratislava." "Catholic Slovaks under Bernolak tried to create, with indifferent success at the time, a written Slovak dialect," says the book. Trnava is not at all mentioned. KoNar and Safarik are mentioned as Slovaks, hurt placed among the Czech writers. Altogether three S1ovak poets are mentioned (Samo Chaluka, J anko Krar, and Jan Botto) in the whole chapter dealing with the period from the battle of White Mountain (1620) to World War I, and three others (A. Sladkovic (1820-1872), P. 0. Hv:ie~doselav (1849-1921) and Hurban Vajansky (1847-1916) - in the chapter on "Czechoslovak" literature. For the after-war period the book gives four names: Ivan Krasko, Martin Razus, E. B. Lukac, and J. Gregor-Tajov sky. 4. The most recent symposium, V. Busek-N. SpuJber's "Czechoslovakia" Cl-0), did not try to dispel confusion and complete the knowledge on Slovak literature, although the work was published in 1957 by the Mid-European Studies Center and one of the editors, Professor V. Busek, spent many years in Slovakia. SLOVAKIA 27 While the Marxist literary historians produced a book of 320 pages on the older Slovak literature and a bibliography on Bernolak's movement ( 410 pages) shows over 100 writers, Busek-Spulber's symposium has only the fo1lowing to say in the chapter on Czech and Slovak literature: ... "the first attempts were made ~asid,e from earlier sporad'ic venrtures' to esta1blish a distinct Slovak literary language in the last decade of the 1'8th century by Anton Bernolak Cl 76Vlt81t3) who selected the Westenn, Slovak dialects as a basis of the new literary me• dium : his suggestions, not elaJborated Hn-guistically, did not taike permanent hold. "The decisiN"e step towards the estatbHshment of a Sl'orvak lite,rary language was undertaken through the initJiative of the ProteSlttants. Uudovit Stur selected the centra.l Slovak dialect for the Sl.ovak literary medium. Beginning in the 1840's, severa,l poets followed Stur a,n,d used the new literary language with great skHl." Jlt would appear from the above quotations that Amer- ican Slavists will have to revise many of their views and complete their knowledge{l l). It is evident that they generally regarid Slovak literature of the cen'turies preceding Sh'.ir's reform of the S'lovak literary language as not worth much attention. Outstanding figures of Slovak cultural life are eibher unknown or treated as quantite negligea'ble (Bernolak) by contributors to American or Canadian symposia. The periods of Baroque and Enlightenment, in whi~h erudite Slovaks wrote in their mother tongue besides Latin and biblical "Czech", were undoU'bted!ly important s tages in Slovak cultural life and national development. And yet, even the leading fitgures of the Slovak renaissance around Anton Bernolak and the poet Jan Ho'11y are either unknown or greatly underestimated if at all mentioned. Such is also the case with regard to writers and scholars who in previous periods published high:ly interesting works on the origin of Slavs in genera,1, and on the past of 'the Slovaks in particular, as well as on Slavic languages, Slavic culture, and the significance of the Sfavs in European civHization. It has been more or less generally accepted that, for instance, Paul J. Safarik's or John Kollar's Slavic consciousness were awakened by German philosophers during their studies in Jena and that t:he idea of Slavic unity and greatness became known mostly by the merits of Safarik and Kol'lar. In fact, Safarik and Kollar had several pre1 28 SLOVAKIA decessors among Slovak writers and scholars who developed their theories on the origin of the Slavs, on Slavic linguistic and racial unity and the "glorious past" in voluminous Latin works in the 17th and 18th centuries(12), and Jan Holly described the "glorious past" of the Slavs in his great epic works, written in Slovak, much better and with greater poetic talent than Jan Kollar. Safarik wrote his volume of poetry "Muza Tatranska s lyrou slovanskou" (The Tatrean Muse With Slavic Lyra) also a long time before he went to Jena, because the Slovak writers of the 17th and 18th centuries created an a'tmosphere of Slavic patriotism and mutuaiJ.ity in S'lovakia. This will certainly be new to many American Slavists although it is not new .in Slovakia or in some S:lavic and West European works on Slavic literatures. Not only the so-called "nationalist" Slovak scholars published many works and st udies in which they outlined the continuous development of Slovak culture and literature, but also some Americans of Slovak descent tried to acqua..int American scholars with the true picture of Srl ovakia's literary development,(13). Most recently the "Marxist" Slovak literary historians published severa'1 comprehensive works which besides 'their "Marxist interpretation" make an interesting contribution to Slavic studies(14). In aH American symposia from which we have quoted, it is, however, Bernolak's movement which has been presented most superficially and most unobjectively. Contributors to these symposia are in this regard even far behind the "Marxist" literary historians who, forgetting their customary prejudices against Catlholic clergymen, present Bernolak's scho()l and his movement as "the largest organized movement of cultural and national character which existed in Slovakia before the end of the 18th cent ury," and expressed no doubts about the scholarly merits of Bernolak's linguistic works or Holly's poetic greatness. For this reason we feel that Bernolak's movement dzserves a more detailed ana'lysis in a separate chapter. SLOVAKIA 29 II Bernolak's Movement and Its Importance In Slovak Literature Bernolak's movement is concurrent with the period of Enlightenmen't and represents a final phase of Slovak literary and national renaissance whfoh began in the seventeenth century. This has been recognized even by the Marxist literary historians who state that "the process of linguistic Slovakization in Slovak literature was on the upgrade mainly since the seventeenth century" and that the "nation-forming tendencies in the Slovak language and culture were best expressed in the movement led by Anton Bernolak (1763-1813) especially in his endeavor to raise to the status of a literary language the Western Slovak dialect"(l\5). Berno'lak's movement lasted over 60 years and comprised three genera1tions of writers who in their Slovak or Latin writings expressed comparatively strong Slovak and Slovanic (Slaviic) national consciousness. According to Jaroslav Vlcek, professor at the University of Prague, the literature of Bernolak's school "developed in al'l directions: it had scholarly and popular writers in the field of theology, it had linguists an!d aiuthors of diclJionaries, translators and editors of antiquities, successful popular writers and generous supporters. In Jan Holly the Bernolak school got also its poeta laureatus"(16). And it had also its historians. Vlcek wrote these lines on Bernolak's movement in 1890 and contemporary research proves that he was not overestimating its importance. According to Marxist histori'a ns, ,~he Slovak Learned Society, founded in Trnava in 1792 with numerous branches in Central and Eastern Slovakia, and even outside Slovakia, numlbered in Slovakia alone about 500 registered members, mainly Catholic clergymen, of whom about 100 were active authors and writers(l 7). Among its members and generous supporters was .Mexander Cardinal Rudnay, Primate of Hungary, who besides writing many sermons and translating Cicero into Slovak assisted the Society financially. Professor of theology Canon Jur Palkovic translated the Bible into Slo- 30 SLOVAKIA vak and financed Bernola.k's and Holly's works. Professors of theologic faculties from Ostrihom, Trnava, Nitra, also were members of the Learned Society. P. J. Safa.rik, who later favored a sort of a Slo,v ak lite,r ary language based on a Czech grammar, wrote in his first work, published in 1826~118), regarding Bernola.k's school: "their growing zeal for the development and advancement of Slovak literature cannot be praised enough." And Professor Vlcek wrote in 1890 that "what in literatures of all Slavic peoples appeared as an expression of an awakened national consciousness and nationail indivilduality, it logically appeared also aimong Slovaks. The firslt to express that as a firm literary principle was A. Bernola.k." Bernola.k "was not a literary revolutionary," continues Prof. Vlcek, "but a consequent codifier of what grew and ripened before him over one hundred years in the writings of Catholic Slovaks as a linguistic fact",('19). Of course, Prof. Vlcek does not share the opinion of American symposia stating that "Bernola.k's attempts to est31blish a distinct Slovak literary language were not elaiborated linguistically," or that he tried "with indif.ferent success to create a written Slovak dia~ec't." On the contrary, in his Dejiny literatiiry slovenskej, Prof. Vlcek states that Bernola.k was well acquainted with the work done in the field of linguistics by predecessors such as Matej Bel and Pavel Dolefal, both from the first half of the 18th century, as well as wiith the tendencies of Catholic writers associated with the University of Trnava. There can ha11dly be any doubt that Bernola.k's movement means an important stage in Sfovak cultural and national development. The first manifestation of this new era in the Slovak national life was the publication of Bernola.k's work Disser'tation Philologic<rCritica de Literis Slavorum (1787) in which Bernola.k formulated the principles of the Slovak literary language. His formal directives for the introduction of the Slovak language into literature Bernola.k gave in the same yeair in his work Linguae Slavonicae per Regnum Hungariae Usitatae Compendiosa simul et facilis Orthographia. In 1790 he published in Latin his grammar of the new Slovak Literary language, Gramatica 31 SLOVAKIA Slavica, which later appeared in two German translations; and in 1791 was published his work on the etymology of Slovak words, Ethymologia Vocum Slavicarum. Bernolak's main work Slowar Slovenski, Cesko-Latinsko..:Nemecko-Uherski, was published (1825-1827) after Bernolak's death by Canon Jur Palkovic in six volumes, 530 pp. The work, which reads in English translation "A Dictionary of the Slovak, Czech, Latin, German and Hungarian Tongues," contained also phraseology, etymology and synonyms of the new Slovak literary language. Bernolak's works "gave a stimulus to the development of modern Slovak literature growing up directly from the living sources of the Slovak people," as admitte'd even by Marxist critics, and his movement "was, on the whole, in agreement with similar contemporary trends current among the Ukrainians, the Bulgarians, the Serbs, the Croats and the Slovenes." His "Dissertatio" caused "a revolution in the development of Slovak language," says I. Kotvan, "and at the same time led to a desirable national advancement in the ideo1ogical development of Slovak nationa I consciousness; it also hastened the foundation of the Slovak Learned Society in 1792 which grouped in its ranks all ardent Slovaks, en'l:!husiastic for Slovak culture, social and economic progress and for the political and national fate of Slovakia"(20). 1 Bernolak and the members of hi's Slovak Learned Society, among whom most prominent were Juraj Fandly (1754-1811), Jozef Ignac Bajza (1755-1836), Jan Holly (1785-1849), Juraj Papanek (1738-1802), Juraj Sklenar (1746-1790), .A!lexander Cardinal Rudnay, Canon Jur Palkovic, were faithful adherents of Enlightenment, sincerely attached to the Slovak people and working for its progress. Juraj Fandly was the leading organizer of the Society, author of popular educational writings and editor of a miscellany dealing with the history of the Slovaks (Compendiata Historiae Gentis Slavae - 1793) . J. I. Bajza wrote the first Slovak novel and a col'leotion of Slovak epigrams; J. Papanek is the author of Historia Gentis Slavae - DeRegno Regibusque Slavorum (1780) ; Juraj Sklenar is the 32 SLOVAKIA author of Vetustissimus Magnae Moraviae Situs (1784); Jan Holly is until now the greatest of Slovak poets who alone "created nearly all poetic genres: the epos, the elegy, the ode and the song, and in whose hanlds the cold form of antique poetry had warmth enough to express strongly the modern idea of national consciousness," as stated Prof. Vlcek in 1890. Actually, all writers of Bernolak's school expressed in their works strong national feelings and their views regarding Slavs, Slavic languages and the plaice of the Slavs in the world; this makes of them precursors of Kollar's and Safarik's ideas of Slavdom. Berno1ak himself regarded the Slavs as one nation with one language divided into "dia~ects" which conception was developed by P. J. Safarik in Geschichte der Slawischen Sprache und Literatur nearly 40 years later. In the introdu~tion to his Gramatica Slavica, published in 1790, Bernolak regarded the Slovak vernacular as one of the Sfavic dialects and urged his countrymen to use it as a literary medium in the same way as the Czechs, the Russians, the Croats and Poles used t heir respective vernaculars. Juraj Papanek in his Historia Gentis Slavae, Fandly in his Compendiata Historiae Slavae an'd in his other writings, and Holly in his poetic works, manirfested also fiery Slovak and Slavic consciousness and national feelings, so that we may see in Bernolak's movement not only a connecting link between his school and Safarik's and Kollar's conceptions of Slavdom, but also an organic and close relation with Stu.r's reform of the Slovak literary language and his nationalist movement. In this respect we can fully agree with the Marxist literc1ry historians that both movements "grew up from the same process, 1'rom the process of formaJtion of the Slovak nation and are but two different phases of Slovak cultural and national development:Q21). Wh:ile Bernolak's linguistic works substantially influenced the final form of Stu.r's reform of the Slovak literary language which accepted many 'linguistic elements, used in all parts of Slovakia only because there existed Bernolak's literary language before, ideologically Stu.r's group was influenced mainly by the epics of Jan Holly, poet laureate of Bernolak's school. SLOVAKIA 33 Stu,r himself acknowledged Holly's dominant influence on the formation of Slovak national ideology and so did until now the " nationalist" as well as the "Marxist" Slovak literary historians(22). Accordtng to Jaroslav Vlcek: "Holly means many things in Slovak literature. He achieved alone wha;t the Czech and the Hungarian poets of classicism worked on a'H togetherC23). For another literary historian "Holly has not been surpassed by any S,l ovak poet, and nowhere else is there to be found such depth of national consciousness and such glory. In crystallized form Holly vigorously enounced the modern idea of nationalism, and this already in the 1800's, and his unsurpassable expression of the national soul has made him and will continue t o make him the grea;test of the Slovak poets"(24). And he is so judged also by contemporary Marxist historians. "Holly is a great poet," says prof. A. Mraz, the main Marxist authority on Slovak literary history, " an:d a cultivated and excellent translator of antique poetry, who synthetized in his works an'tique influences with European Classicism and philosophy of Enlightenmen t. He awakened nationa1 consciousness of his countrymen combining Slavic and Slovak elements in his conception of the Slovak nation. His works prove that even in Bernolak's movement Slavic components were strongly represented. Slovak and Slav unite in harmoneous accord in Holly's ideology"~25). Holly deserves this praise and recognition not only for his own works but also for his masterful transiaJtions from practically all renowned poets from Virgil, Ovid, Theocritus, Horace to Homer. The first volume of his translations was published in 1824, the translation of Virgiil's Aeneid in 1828; these were highly commended even of Jungmann, Safarik and Niederle. After having enriched Slovak literatures by his translations, Holly composed in cfa:ssic mold anld with many overtones of 'bhe antique poetry his three epics in which he proved that his talent and erudition were outstanding and that the new Slovak literary language was rioh and flexible enough for complex poetic creations. At the same time he also demonstrated to the Slovaks and to the out side world thait the Slovak past was great and glorious and that there is, therefore, also a future for the Slovak people. 34 SLOVAKIA To achieve this, Holly created in his poetic works a new national ideology, anchored in the traditions of the Great Moravian Empire and in the cultural achievements of SS. Cyril and Methddius, the founders of Slovanic letters. In 1833 he published his Svatopluk, a heroic epic about the life and glory of the powerf.Ull ruler of Great Moravia, in twelve cantos. In 1835 his Cyrilo-Methodiada, a poetic account of the achievements of the Apostles of Slovaks, was published in Budapest in six cantos, and to complete the ima:ge of a heroic past of his people, Holly crea1~ed also an epic in seven cantos about a mythical forefather of the Slovaks, Slav, and in his Elegies he 'lamented over the desb-uction of the Great Moravian Empire, 'bhe first kingdom of the Slovaks, ruined by treachery, villainy, and perfidy. The national and ideological components of Holly's poetry are strong also in his Odes and Idylles (1835), which, together with his epics, a,wakened to life a new generation that broke with the past not only in linguistic division of Slovaks but also in cultural and political orientation. "At a time," says Mraz, "when the Slovaks mostly felt the need to strengthen their national ideology by historic consciousness, Holly came in a monumenta,1 way with his support." He created by his works not only a Slovak national poetry and ideology, but urging the Slovaks to regard their past with pride he revived the present and encouraged the Slovaks to look to the future with hope. Holly achieved this "w~t:h nothing more than a nonliterary, formless dialect at his disposa[ which he molded and shaped into a rich poetic language." His poetry was not much influenced by European pseudo-Classicism and contemporary Romanticism. He g.r ew up f<rom an antique culture and poetry, and ideologically only he interpreted . the feelings and aspirations of the Slovak people of the period oif Enlightenment and t he f.irst decades of Romanticism. While his contemporary Jan KoHar "wandered on the expansive meadows of Slavdom," Holly devoted his talents to building Slovak national consciousness, culture and ideology which made him a precursor anld: a spiritual leader also for the coming generation of C. Stt'.ir's na- SLOVAKIA 35 tionalist and romantic school. "HoHy's message lived also in the generation to come which refused his classicist forms but creatively clung to his ideological heritage," admits the Marxist literary historian A. Mraz, and adds that "Bernolak's movement triumphed in Holly's achievements and greatness; it found in his works the most creative and ideological culmination"(26). III Marxist Evaluation of Bernolak's Movement Unlike the contributors to American symposia who be1ittled A. Bernolak and his movement, Marxist literary historians write about Bernolak and his followers with high esteem. Although the works of the members of Bernolak's school and his Learned Societies clearly indica!te the tendency to reflect the national struggle and the awakening of a national consciousness among Slovaks - which is in conflict with the "Czechoslovak" tendencies of the Communist party - the Marxist literary historians were allowed to publish scores of books and studies on Bernolak and his movement. Among the first works which dealt with this period in a suvprisingly tolerant way was "A History of Slovak Literature" (Dejiny sfovenskej literatury) by Prof. A. Mraz, who for his services to the present regime in Slovakia was promoted to the rank of an "akademik" (academician). Other valuable works and studies were published by Dr. Imrich Kotvan and Jan Tiibensky, who apparently specializes in this period "ex offo." Kotvan's work Bernolakovci (1948) and Bibliografia Bernolakovcov (Bibliography of Bernolak's School) published in 1957, together with T. Ti'bensky's book J. Papanek-J. SklenarC27), also published in 1957, as well as a series of his stu!dies in periodi'caJs, give the impression that Marxist literary historians try to evaluate Bernolak's movement without the customary prejudice against Catholic writers, and that in many respects :they agree with the views expressed before by the "bourgeois and nationalist" scholars and literary historians (J. Vlcek, J. 36 SLOVAKIA Skultety, S. Krcmery, J. Kacka, A. A . Banik, C. Lepacek, S. Jurovsky, etc.) . This is evident especiaHy in Ti'bensky's controversy with Prof. Wollmann's uncritical deprecation of Bernolak's movement(28), but also in some recen :: studies of Mraz and in the new History of Slovak Literature, compiled by a " coHective" of younger historians under the direction of Prof. M. Pisut. In a comprehensive explanatory note to Kotvan's Bibliography, which on 400 pages gives an interesting picture of Bernolak's movement, we can read that the Marxist scholars "consider the second half of :the eighteenth and the first half od: the nineteenth century, which is the period of Bernolak's activities, "one of the interesting , not yet thoroughly investigated periods forming a milestone in Sfovak history"{29). In the opinion of Prof. A. Mraz, who still remains the main authority in Marxist literary history in Slovakia, Anton Bernolak not only reformed and cddiified the Sfovak literary language and its orthography, but also started a vast national and cultural movement based on a t radition m,ore tJhan a hundred years old. Mraz regards the activity which originated 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 Szollossi in 1655. "The book Cantus Catholid," says Mraz, "laid the foundation on whioh the language used by Slovak Catholic writers, was formed into an in\dependent Slovak literary language. CrystallizaJtion of the language, which Slovak Catholic writers used during the period of the University of Trnava (1635-1777) , progressed so far in accordance with the spoken language in Western Slovakia that, when Bernolak and his foHowers came, at the end of the 18th century, with the idea of an independent literary language, t hey merely codified, in many respects, a language used and domesticated among the Catholic Slovak writers of the preceding period"(30). Mraz also recognizes Bernolak's merits in the whole SLOVAKIA 37 of Slovak cultural life. "Bernolak did not stop at writing his s,c holarly works," says Mraz. "He used them to push ahead Slovak national and cultural life on new tracks, which he attained by his cu]tural and organizatory activities." According to Tibensky, who made some original research into this period, Bernolak's movement was "the largest organized movement of cultural and national character which existed in Slovakia before the end of the 18th century, and it undoubtedly played a progressive role in the Slovak naJtional development"1(®L). "There is no doubt whatsover," says Tibensky, "that Bernolak's literary language and his movement played a very important role in the Slovak national development. Their importance is far from being sufficiently explored and evaluated. Works published until now are merely the first step to the accomplishment of an imporitant task of Slovak scholarship." There is ndt, so far, much new in the Marxist writings on Bernolak's movement. The Marxist Academy of Sciences is merely compiling the scholaI"ly research which was going on for the last 25-30 years and in which scholars like A. A. Banik, C. Lepacek, S. Jurovsky, V. Gajdos and others, brought to light new manuscripts or additional information. 'Dhe Marxist literary historians, of course, at·tempt to give a new interpretation to what the "bourgeois" scholars said on Slovak literature, language, national consciousness and Slovak national aspirations. "While in the past !the researchers into the origin of Bernolak's movement and especialtly into its literary language considered in the first place ideological elements, for instance, the influence of the Counter-Reformation, the Marxist scholarship," says Ti1bensky, "endeavors to explain the origin of Bernolak's movement and of its literary medium in the context of the entire Slovak social and economic development in given centuries: it takes into account, in the first place, economic and pomico-cultural factors"(32). Ideological influences are considered by Marxist historians as seconldary in the formation of Bernolak's move- 38 SLOVAKIA ment. "The movement is an outstanding manifestation of 'the process of transformation of a feudal Slovak nationality into a modern bourgeois nation," conclu'des Tibensky. In view of this, Bernolak's movement is credited by Marxist historians also with the fact that, as a result of Bernolak's activities, "the process of the formation of the Slovak nation and cu~ture was entering a new stage, determined by the activities of r.. Stur (1815-1856), and by the creation, on the basis of a Central Slovak dialect, of the modern Slovak literary language"{G3). Prof. Eugen Pauliny, who apparently is regarded among contemporary Marxist Slovak phHologists as an authority on the history of the Slovak language, regards Bernolak's period as an important stage in the development of Slovak national life. "Bernolak's language and his conceptions of Slovak national life, conceptions in which his reform originated, mean an important milestone in Slovak nrubional development," says Pauliny in his "Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny" (A History of the Slovak Literary Language). "Bernolak's movement, even if represenlted only by Slovak Catholics, takes Slovak national individuality, in a clear and understandable formulation, as a fact and connects it with the whole of Slavdom in its contemporary as weH as historical context. As a tool of this ideology Bernolak brought his theoretically elaborated and practically tested Slovak literary language," continues Pauliny. According to Pauliny, Bernolak's language was not used only for religious purposes, as some Slavists assert. "There were in Bernolak's school also religious writings, but not of a polemic char8!Cter; they were didactic and, besides them, 'there was religious poetry and theological writings. However, the center of gravity of Bernolak's school lays in vafoable writings for the education of the large masses, and in poetry. Bernolak's language was a well elaborated literary language which the Catholic Slovaks useid for more than a ha:lf century, in fact, officially up to 1851, when unity was achieved in the literary language" (among CaJtholics and Protestants). From the philological point of view, Bernolak's re- SLOVAKIA 39 form was based not only on the language, written and spoken by the educated Slovak strata in Western Slovakia and created in the cultural center of Trnava, but also on the dia'l ect of Bernolak's native province Orava, which belongs to the cenltral Slovak dialectical areas('36). In his contribution to a volume "0 vzajomnych vz€ahov Oechov a Slovakov," published in 1956 by the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Pauliny states: "Bernola:k 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 Ca!bholic an!d. Protestant writings" (3r7). As for the connection of Bernolak'is school with Stiir's group, Pauliny agrees with the other Marxist literary historians and philologists. Stu.r's reform, which is erroneously presented by some American Slavists as the beginilling of tJhe Slovak literary language (in this respect even Jakobson is wrong), in Pauliny's view, is but a "younger branch of Bernolak's school," and he adds: "In Bernolak's school c,ulminates the older phase of Slovak natio nal diwelopment, but simultaneously it means also the beginning of a new epoch a,nd is very closely connected with the develo;pmen,t of nrutional consciousness of Stur's period. Bernolak''s movement tbuilds upon the feudail Slwak national con\Sdousness of the li8th century, but at the same time this movement enounces and consciously fo11mulates , for the first time, the modem Slovak nation,alism. "We find in the writings of the most important members oif Bernolak's Learned Society, Bernolak, Fandly, J HoMy, a compl~tely different ideology from that of the clergy of t he Gouniter-Uleformation of the 1"7:th and 18th century. It is an ideology of Slowk ,n,ationalism as derined and 11.mderstood by the Enlightenment, and it evci.1ved in bhe writings of the most out.Sitanding members of this group, Fan.dly an'd Jlolly, into the ideology of a modern Slovak nation. Stu.r's group used it as a foundation and developed it int o a mor•e modem conception in accordance with contemporary Euro·p ean ideological trends." 1 • Stur himself admitted this in his "Narecia slovenskuo," writing: "Our Catholic brothers did exactly what we are doing now and intend to do; they desired to a,chieve what we are desiring to achieve; they were concerned in their hearts a:bout the same matter that we cherish in our hearts''(3-8). 40 SLOVAKIA We hardly need any more convincing proof that Sb1r's group considered Bernolak's group as "older co-fighters on the same ideological battlefield," concludes Pauliny. To sum up, we can safely say that Bernolak's work and his school were an important factor in Slovak cultural and lilterary development and as such they deserve more attention and more objective anlaysis by scholars in the field of American Slavic studies. On the other hand, Slovak scholars in the free world have a moral duty to correct the mi,sconceptions which crept into Slavic studies largely because of a lack of English written studies on Slovak culture other than those supplied by Slavists of Czech origin and the works by Slovaks mentioned below. REFERENCE NOTES: '1. Journal of Central European Affairs, University of Colorado, The American Slavic and East European Review, Columbia University Press, The Slavic and East European Journal, Ln<liana UnLversity, Slavic and East European Studies, Un1versity of Montreal, Canadian Slavonic Pape.rs, University of Toronto Press. 2. Besides books edited· by Kerner, Strakhovsky, Busek-Spul1ber, and S. H. Thomson-, there are many misconceptions al-so in works w,rit-ten or edited by Prof. J. S. Rloucek, namely in his Cemral Entern Europe, or Slavonic Encyclopedi·a, by Felix Gross and C. E. BJ.ack. 3. The thesis that Great l\furarvian writings and culture belong to the cu1tural heritage of Slovaks has been sUJpported by both ,n.ationalist and Marxist Slovak literary ,h istorians. Cf. in English Jioseph Skultety: Sketches From Slovak History, Middletown, Pa., 1930, p. 229; J. M. Kirschbaum: Slovakia - Nation At the Crossroads of Cerwtral E·urope; and in the Slovak la,n guage: Dej iny star sei slovenskej literatury by M,axxist historfans (JI. MisianLk, J. Minarik, M. Mich'aloova, A. Melichercilk), Bratislava,, 1008, p. 3120. ,4. Cf. Dmitry Cizevsky: Outline of Comparative Slavic Literatures, AmerLcan Academy of Arts and Scienees, Boston, Mass., 1952; Lvalil J. Krarnoris: Chrono1ogic.al Outline of Slovak Literature and History, Passaic, 1946; Peter P. Yurchak : The SloYaks, J . J. Lach, Pulblications, Whiting, Indiiana•, 1947; J'. M. Kirschlbaum: Slovakia: Nation At the Crossroads of Central E-u rope, p. 35-00. 5. See University Traditions in Slovakia in J. M. · Kirsch:baUJm's op. cit.; and Stephen J. Palickar's Slovakian Culture in the Light of History, The Hampshire Press, Cambrid·ge, Mass., 1954. 6. Cf. Slovak Literature Under the Soviet Impact in The Slavic and East EuT.opean Sltudies, Montreal, 1956, Part I, p. 4>:x54. 7. Published by Princeton University Press, 1943, 390 pp. A critical review from the Slovak poi.n-t of view see in Slovak Review, Vol. I, Nio. 2., by Ivan, J. Kra,rnoris. 8. Published by HarvaTd University Press, Cambridge, Mas•s .• SLOVAKIA 41 1949. Chapter on Slovak linguistics by A. Senn is more in line with scholarly research. 9. Published by University of Oalifornia Press, 1949. A critical review froon the Slovak point df view in quarterly Slovakiia, Middletown, Pa .. , Vol. v,v,r, by Philiip A. Hrobak. 10. P;u!blished by Mid,,European Stu<lies Ce,n,t er of the Free Europe Commi>ttee, Inc., New Yol'k, 1957. The chapter on Slovaik literaiture was wz,iflten by Czech writers H. Kucera and E. lfovtun, who are unknown in Slovak literary history. 'lil. American presentation of Slovak literature is strangely d<iffererut also from European evaluation as ev,i denced in the works: Ernest Denis: Le probleme de l'Autriche-Les Slovaques, Piaris, 1917; A. Fischel: Pa,nslavismus bis zum Weltkrieg, Stuttgart and• Berlin, 191•9; Bruno Meriggi, Storia delle letterature ceca e Slovacca, University of Florence, 195'9. 112. Of. J. J:~obeus: Vii:a Gentis Slavicae, published in '164Q; introduction to B. Szollossi's Cantus Catholici, pu1b li5hed in 16>55; D. Sinapius Horcicka, Neoforum Latino-Slovenicum, 1679; J. Piscatori-sFischer: De origine, inre ac utilitatae linguae slavonicae, pulblished in 1697; J . B. Magin: ·Murices .. sive Apologia, pulblished in 1728; S. Timon: Imago an,t ique Hunga,riae, 11735; J. Papanek: Historia gen•: is slavae, '1'7•80; J. Fandly: Compendiata Historiae Slavae, 17193. 13. See op. cit. by P. P. Yurt:hak, S. J. Palickar, I. J . Kramoris, as well as articles by C. Piotocek ifil; Slovak Review, by Philip A. Hro\bak in Slovakia, by E. Podikrivac!Jcy in Slovakia, Vol. m, 3, a,n d J. Pombsky's book K stemu vyrociu literarnej slovenciny (One Hundred Years of Literary Slovak), abrana Press, Scranlton, 1945, 290 pp. 'l><t. Cf. Prof. A. MTaz: Dejiny slovenskej literatury, S'1ovenska aikademia vied a umeni, Bratisla,va, 1948, Dejin.y star-lei slovenskej litel'a:u,ry, SA V, 1-959, Dejiny slovenskej Literatury, Osveta, Bratislava, 1960; as well as works by I. Kotvan, Jlan 'J1i1bens'ky, etc., quoted farther. 16. Cf. Dr. :Emrich Kotvan: Biblografia Bernolakovcov, Ma·tica sl-ovensika, Martin, 195'7', p. 403-404. 16. Cf. Jarosla;v Vlcek: Dejiny litera,t ury slovenskej, 1st edition, 1,890, second edition by .Miatica slovenska, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1923, p. 27-39, e tc. Prof. V'lcek's work is the first aicademic history of Slo;vak liternture and as such was incomplete. His views were, nevertheless, accepted by ma•n y contemporary histori-ans. Prof. V'lceik was born in Slovakia, but his main work is A History of Czech Literature. As a professor at the University of Prague he changed some of his views in favor of the official "Czechoslovak" thesis. 17. Cf. Dr. Imrich Kotvan, op. cit. p. 403-404. ·1.8. Geschichte der Slaiwischen Sprache und Literatur nach alien Mundar-ten, Offen, 1826, p. 373-300. ·w. Qp. cit. p 32-34. 20. Cf. limrich Kotvan: Bernol·a kovci, Spolok sv. Vojtecha, Trnaiva, 1'948, p. 4. '21. Cf. J·a n T~bensky's inrtrod-uc-tion to I. K,otvan's mbliografia Bernolaklovcov, p. 7-9. 22. Of. J. M. Kirschlbaum: l!udovit Stiur and His Place in the Sliavic World, Slavistica No. 32, Winnipeg, 1956. Alccordfog to M. Pisut, a Marxist expert on Sttir's period, the fina-1 sta•ge of Slovak eMorts to build an independent national culture had its roots in t,he wol'ks· of 42 SLOVAKIA P. J. Safm-ik, Jan Holly, Kollar, a1nd Kuzmar..y. Mraz stresses Holly's significan:Ce in connection wLth Stur's movement. Cf. Ceskoslovenske prednasky pro IV. Medzinarodni sjezd slavisitu v Moskve, Priaha, 1958, p. 3313-345 and 4l2:l-46~. 23. Op. cit. p. 80. 124. Cf. Jioz,ef ~acka: Dejin,y literatury slovenskej, Rufomberok, li92L, pUJblished in English translation by the Nation·al News, Pittsburgh, Pa., '119441, quoted from P. P. Yurchak, op. cit. p. 103Jl.04. '25. Of. his artfole in Ceskoslovenske prednasky pro IV. sjezd sla• vistu v Moskve. 26. ]bidem ,27. Cf. Jian T,ilbensky, J. Papanek-J. Sklenar: Obrancovia slovenskej narodnOS11i v 18. sitoroci, Osveta, Martin, 1958. 28. Of. K problemu hodnotenia bernolactiny a bernolakovskeho hnutia, Historicky cas()fpis, ViJ!I, 4, 1'959, p. 557~576. Tilbensky proves thia,t many views of Prof. WoUma,n n, in his Slovanstvi v ja11:ykovelite• rarnim obro11:eni Slovanu, Praha, 1'!)58, are prejudilced against S<Iovaiks and particularly a•g ainst Catho1ics. 29. Op. cit., p. 403-405. 3'0. Op. cit., p, 416-1108. :n. Historicky casqpis, ViII, 4, 574. 32. B~bUograd'ia bernolakoVICOV, p. 8. 3'3. ]bidem, p. 404. 34. Published: in '19418. 35. Eug,e n Paulin:y: Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny, p . 65. 3·6. ]bLdem, p. 63. 37. p. 111'3. 38. Eugen Pawliny: 0 vzajomnych vzt'ahov Cechov a Slovakov, Slovenska AkadiemLa Vied, Bra1t;islav,a, 1956; pp. 1)1.3, 11115. 3•9. Among periodicals pulblished •b y Universities it is only the Slavic and Ea·Slt European Studies (University of Miontreal, Quebec, Canada) which sy,steana:tically comments Slovalk literary and cultur,al topics in an objective mar.iner. ANONYMOUS LETTERS, wri.tten, to Red leader,s in Slo,vak,ia, are causing some concern to tihe regime. 'I1he Bra1tiislav,a RJadii,o recently reminded its listeners that writers of .s uch le•uters, if revealed, ar,e in for stiff filnes and long jail sentences. T·he reaction: more and still more anonymous letters to worry the collaborators of Red Prague. • • • IN THIE WOR<KERS' PAR.4.DISE, according to Radio Bratisfava: SI,ovakiia is behind in its milk quota 6,600,666 liiters (4'18-61,); the Trebisov district owes !!he S<tate 1,0815,000 lirter,s of milk this year (,3Jl0,6l'; Dolny Kubin, Cadca, Prievidza, and Zilina did n-Olt produce even a deciliter per COIW (3-9-61); in Braltislav,a (S.tiree't of the Defenders of Peace) women waited for meat from 2:00 to 6:3,0 p. m. (3~20.,61); there is a· great abUJnd'ance o:f feed for cattle and calves, 'but it's all r,ot,ten; the people work the ·farms, but ste,al over haif the prodootion (~20-GL); we have no tires, 'i>ut why,? I heard the explanation that t he reason, for this is the war in Lao-s (2-0.11,61 1) .  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Misconceptions of American Slavists About Slovak Literature Description An account of the resource J. M. Kirschbaum, Ph.D.<br />Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 1 (33), March-June 1961<br />pp. 22-42<br /><ol type="I"><li>American Slavists and Slovak Literature</li> <li>Bernolák's Movement and Its Importance In Slovak Literature</li> <li>Marxist Evaluation of Bernolák's Movement</li> </ol> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kirschbaum, Jozef M., 1913-2001 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1961 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/d0717493be238a53b22dc7f7aadb9f1e.pdf 3cfaf5353813059bf95df6f02af62153 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 43 COMMUNIST ILLUSION AND DEMOCRATIC REALITY By J. Edgar Hoover, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation (tAd•a pted from article preipared for memibers of the National Strategy S•eminar) A five-year study of the conduct of American prisoners of war during the Korean conflict was made by the United States Army. This study disclosed that there was, in the morale of American prisoners of war, a breakdown which reached disturbing proportions. Almost one out of every three American prisoners of war collaborated to some degree with the communists. This colla'boration included broadcasting anti-American propaganda, writing articles praising life under communism, "con.fessing" to the use of germ warfare, an\d signing peace appeals and other communist petitions. Our soldiers informed on one andther and fraternized with the enemy. The death of some American prisoners could have been prevented if they had not been completely neglected by their fellow captives. Not one American prisoner of war succeeded in escaping. Some even chose to remain in Communist China rather than return to the United States. That American military personnel collaborated alt aH is difficult to understand. Even more disturbing are the extent of the collaboration and the casual attitude of those who were guilty. As a result of the study, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in August, 1955, promulgalteld for members of the Armed Forces a Code of Conduct specifying the duties and obligations of our fighting men. The report of the special committee which had recommended the adoption of tih!s .code pointedly noted: "The uninformed P.0.W.'s were up against it. They couldn't answer arguments in favor of communism with arguments in favor of Americanism because they knew very little a<bout their America ... " The report concluded that our Armed Forces had not adequately prepared their men for the rigors of commu • nist indoctrination. It lookeld behind this failure, however, and stressed that our homes, schools, churches, and pa- �44 SLOVAKIA triotic organizations must also assume greater responsibility in educating Americans in the principles which un, derlie our way of life. The importance of such an affirr;.a.tive long-range educational program is borne out by the special committee's finding that, in many cases, our fighting men were at a disadvantage because they knew less about the ideals and traditions of their own country, than did their communist interrogators. The behavior of these prisoners of war was less an individual failure than it was an indictment of our entire society which had not prepared them adequately for their head-on collision with communist indoctrination. All Americans must share some responsibility for the conduct of these prisoners of war. More important, we must not ignore this forceful example of the impact of communist psychological pressures. Our continued survival may well depend upon the action we take now to insure that all citizens, not only military personnel, are fortified against the continuous communist ideological assault. We can defeat communist ideology and - at the same time - reinforce the structure of our own form of government by the combined process of exposure and education. The illusions of communism cannot withstand the penetrating light of truth. For a number of years, congressional and state investigations of communism, essential for the consideration of legislation, have focused the pitiless glare of publicity on many phases of communis t activity. The reports of these investigative bodies are readily availaJble and include detailed information regarding the activities of the Communist Party, USA, throughout the country . The Committee on Un-American Activi·ties United States House of Representatives, has issued a conveniern~ "Guide to Sulbversive Organizations and Publications." This is a listing of the various organizations cited by the Attorney General of the United Sta:tes, as well as other organiza:tions and publications found by congressional or state investigative committees to be communist dominated. The introduction to this publication consists of a brief historical review of communist front group activity, an ex- �SLOVAKIA 45 1Planation of the methods by which communist front groups are established, and a set of cniteria to assist in detecting them. Some measures of the effectiveness of these investigative committees in exposing the aims, principles, and methods of communism is indicated by the bitterness and the intensity of communist attacks upon them, as well as by the continuous communist campaigns to abolish them. Former communisbs are a:lso victims of communist vituperation because of the important role they play in exposing the true nature of communism. Many of these persons, after renouncing communism, have testified before courts, administrativ e hearings, and investigative committees. Through books, articles, and lectures based on their firsthand knowledge, they have helped to alert the public. In addition, their testimony has provided valuable evidence which has enabled the Government to prosecute communists who violate our laws. By these actions, many former communists have not only rehabilitated themselves but have, in the process, made a substantial contribution to the security of all Americans. Every exposure of communism's false premises, inherent contradictions , deceitful tactics, and empty promises he'lps to shatter its ideologiical appeal and to fortify aga:inst its psychological pressures. But, in this struggle for men's minds, exposure alone is not enough. Exposure must be complemented by a long-range educational program with a dual purpose. This program must encompass, not only a penetrating study of communism, but also a thorough grounding in ,the basic prindples of our individual freedom under law. This educational program must be designed to train people to think and to distinguish between truth and error. Each year, more colleges are offering courses which present a critical ana:lysis of tJhe theory and practice of communism. In at least one college, a course of this type is compulsory. Books contrasting communism with our form of government are now being published for our use in our high schools. This academic instruction can be supplemented by individual study of the wealth of anti-com- �46 SLOVAKIA munist material available as well as by participation in group discussions and public forums. This program of education in communism must not, of course, constitute or be confused with the advocacy of communist doctrine. It can and should be limited to a critical study of communist strategy and tactics and the materialistic philosophy underlying them. Knowing what communism really is and how it operates will also help us to avoid tJhe danger of confusing ;Communism with legitimate dissent on controversial issues. Communism feeds on social ferment. On both the local and national levels, the Communist Parity, USA, is continually -e ~ploiting social, economic, and political grievances for its own tadical purposes. For this reason, the "Party line" will frequently coincide with the views of many non-communists on speci£ic issues. We must not, therefore, indiscriminately la:bel as communists those whose opinions on a particular question may, on occasion, parallel the official Party position. We must also guard against the tendency to characterize as communists those who merely disagree with us or who advocate unorthodox or unpopular beliefs. When anyone is erroneously branded a communist, it not only constitutes an injustice to the individual, but also helps communism by diffusing the strength of anti-communist forces. In combatting communism, we must be aware of vigilante action. The responsibilities of citizens are to be certain of the facts and to report these facts to the proper authorities. Knowledge of communism is only the first phase of the battle. This knowledge must be augmented by a continuous revitalization of our own inherently superior strength through the prac tical, daily exercise and development of our American principles. Too frequently, emphasis is placed on acquiring an understanding only of the me~haniical functions of our Government, such as elections, the enactment of legislation, or judicial review. ':Dhis knowledge, important as it is, becomes a mere collection of sterile •facts without a deep appreciation and a continuing awareness of the reason for the very existence of our form of Government - the freedom of the individual under law. �47 SLOVAKIA ------------- - - Without the realization of this f.undamental phJlosophy of freedom, such basic individual rights as freedom of s,peech, the press, anld religion are taken for granted. Forgoitten is man's bitter fight through the centuries to wrest these freedoms from tyranny. The exel'cise of these individual freedoms, which we often take for granted, is largely responsi'ble for our Nation's reputation for getting things done. Many of us have seen, or have even participated in, programs for community improvement promoted by private organizations and civic groups. Recognizing a specific problem which required cooperative action, and sparkled by individual initiative, whole communities have organized, for example, to attract new industry, to eradicate blighted slum areas, to eliminate racial tensions, or to improve educational opportunities. Public officials, religious leaders, and representatives of business, labor, and the professions, realizing a common interest, have fused their energies and in many cases, have literally transformed their commuruties. Signif,i cantly, however, while many of tJhe problems these communities faced were similar, there was no set pattern in the solutions which were devised. Just as specific local problems and resources have determined the nature of the response, so too any organized program to immunize a community against communist penetration must be tailored to prevailing local conditions. All that is required is imagination, resourcefulness, and some personal sacrifice coupled with the wi'll to inspire positive action to combat communism and to strengthen democracy at the community level. In the State of Florida, for example, the Bar Association developed a lecture program on the theme of the advantages of our system over communism. These lectures are ,g iven to high school students throug,hout the state by specially trained practicing attorneys. The speakers explain how our Government operates, what must be done to keep it functioning effectively, and why it is superior to the Soviet system. All of the lectures given under this program stress the duty of each citizen to interest himself actively in publi-c affairs. The American Bar Association, 1 �48 SLOVAKIA in cooperation with the American Heritage Foundation, annually observes Law Day with ceremonies which contrast the Rule of Law in our country with the rule of fear in communist nations. To offset the Communist Party's celebration of May Day, the Veterans of Foreign Wars sponsor an annual Loyalty Day parade in New York City. At its Indianapolis headquarters, The American Legion maintains an Americanism Commission, which provides information about communism to the public. Individual religious faiths have held training classes for members of trade-unions who are actively opposing communist attempts to infiltrate the labor movement. The interdenominational Foundation for Religious Action in the Social and Civil Order, of Washington, D. C., has been organized to stress the importance of religious truth in the preservation and development of our way of life. Its goal is to unite all who believe in God in the struggle against atheistic communism. 'Dhe Assembly of Captive European Nations prepaired a large photographic exhibit featuring scenes of communist domestic terror and Soviet imperialism. Sponsored by various organizations, this dramatic exhibition was sown in a number of our large cities, as well as in cities abroad. The Freedom Train, which toured the United States with such documents as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, gave many of our citizens, who would not ordinarily have had the opportunity, a chance to view these hallowed symbo'1s of American freedom. As a public service, many individuals and private organizations prepare, or reprint, and distribute anti-communist literature. In Pennsylvania, the Department of Public Instruction had the Library of Congress prepare a selected annotated bibliography on communism for use by teachers and students. Local activity can have far-reaching effects. A group and undergraduate students decided to capigraduate of communist-inspired Seventh World You!th the on talize in Vienna in 1959. For a year prior to held be to Festival college campuses searching for visited they festival, the �SLOVAKIA 49 students who could effectively represent the United States and who were wining to atJtend. They di,s tri'buted pamphlets outlining the communist background of this and previous festivals, as weH as booklets of facts and figures on issues which communist propaganda has been exploiting. ·This group also conducted briefing sessions for the anticommunists who planned to attend. News accounts of the festival highlighted how the anti-communist American delegates stole the communists' thunder as a result of their ability to correct the misconceptions and distortions of American society which have always characterized these festivals. Americans, both military and civilian, who are working in or visiting foreign na,tions can play a,n important role in the struggle against communism. Every citizen abroad is, in a very real sense, a full-time "ambassador" not only of our Nation but also of t:he American way of life. An understanding of and a respect for the rights of others are fundamental to our concept of individual freedom. This also applies in our dealings with citirens of other nations regardless of their educational attainments, social status, or economic level. By exercising his individual freedom in a responsible manner without violating ,the rights of others, every American traveling abroad can serve as a forceful example of how our system of government works. The American aJbroad, by his conduct, can sow positive and constructive ideas which one day may help to produce a harvest on which the Free World can grow stronger. Individual initiative and originality, geared to local action, are the wellsprings by which our system of government is continuously nourished. These examples illustrate how the moral strength of our Nation is constantly replenished. Programs such as these, infused with a renewed sense of dedication, should be expanded, coordinated, and continued on a long-range basis. The importance of local communiities cannot be overemphasized. It is there that social understanding and growth take root. It is there that education, business, labor, and reHgion take on form and substance to influence, nourish, vitalize, and give direction to our national life. Lt �50 SLOVAKIA is in our local communities that cogent, penetrative thinking should be done now to re-evaluate the position of this Nation in the present worM crisis. From this constructive effort can come a decisive contribution to formulating and carrying out a coordinated, comprehensive, affirmative global strategy which will insure the supremacy of freedom over a'll types of totalitarianism. Communism has hurled us a moral challenge. Our response, and the response of free men everywhere, will de-· .termine whether or not freedom itself survives. It is no longer suf.ficient for us to adopt the negative approach of merely reacting defensively to every shift in communist tactics. We must place greater emphasis on the positive role which our American way of life can perform in this struggle. A CREMATORY is being planned in Braitislava, SloV'akia, according to the d'aily PRAOA. ]t should be ready by the end of 1,963; the cost: 9 million Crowns; and location: near Vhe present Bratislava cemetery. 11he Reds are happy that finally consideraition has beer: given "to this modern and scienitific way of burying tihe dead ." e • • urgent assignments of the oow FiveYear Pla.n 01961,1005) of the Czec'h Communist Party's Cenitral Committee is t!he coimpletion of the huge ]r.ornworks in Kosice, Slovakia. Blueprints for this "second steel heart" as it is termed by Praue Reds - was drawn up in the USSR It will be the largest four.,dry in all Europe and one ·of the ten, largesit works of tts kind in the world. Et will cost an estimated 10.5 billions Crown,s. Soviet experts are in charge of construction and operation. ONIE OF THIE MOST RECOMMENDED BOOKS: "CZECHOSWVAKISM VERSUS AMERICANISM" an expose of the pro-Soviet "National Fronters" in the socalled Council af Free Czechoslovakia - is a 48 page booklet published by the Slovaik League of America, which should be read by every one seeking the answer to the question of how "Czecho-Slovak democracy" converted to a "people's democracy." Send 25 cents (coin or stamps) to the SLOVAKIA for your copy today. � SLOVAKIA 43 COMMUNIST ILLUSION AND DEMOCRATIC REALITY By J. Edgar Hoover, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation (tAd•a pted from article preipared for memibers of the National Strategy S•eminar) A five-year study of the conduct of American prisoners of war during the Korean conflict was made by the United States Army. This study disclosed that there was, in the morale of American prisoners of war, a breakdown which reached disturbing proportions. Almost one out of every three American prisoners of war collaborated to some degree with the communists. This colla'boration included broadcasting anti-American propaganda, writing articles praising life under communism, "con.fessing" to the use of germ warfare, an\d signing peace appeals and other communist petitions. Our soldiers informed on one andther and fraternized with the enemy. The death of some American prisoners could have been prevented if they had not been completely neglected by their fellow captives. Not one American prisoner of war succeeded in escaping. Some even chose to remain in Communist China rather than return to the United States. That American military personnel collaborated alt aH is difficult to understand. Even more disturbing are the extent of the collaboration and the casual attitude of those who were guilty. As a result of the study, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in August, 1955, promulgalteld for members of the Armed Forces a Code of Conduct specifying the duties and obligations of our fighting men. The report of the special committee which had recommended the adoption of tih!s .code pointedly noted: "The uninformed P.0.W.'s were up against it. They couldn't answer arguments in favor of communism with arguments in favor of Americanism because they knew very little a<bout their America ... " The report concluded that our Armed Forces had not adequately prepared their men for the rigors of commu • nist indoctrination. It lookeld behind this failure, however, and stressed that our homes, schools, churches, and pa- �44 SLOVAKIA triotic organizations must also assume greater responsibility in educating Americans in the principles which un, derlie our way of life. The importance of such an affirr;.a.tive long-range educational program is borne out by the special committee's finding that, in many cases, our fighting men were at a disadvantage because they knew less about the ideals and traditions of their own country, than did their communist interrogators. The behavior of these prisoners of war was less an individual failure than it was an indictment of our entire society which had not prepared them adequately for their head-on collision with communist indoctrination. All Americans must share some responsibility for the conduct of these prisoners of war. More important, we must not ignore this forceful example of the impact of communist psychological pressures. Our continued survival may well depend upon the action we take now to insure that all citizens, not only military personnel, are fortified against the continuous communist ideological assault. We can defeat communist ideology and - at the same time - reinforce the structure of our own form of government by the combined process of exposure and education. The illusions of communism cannot withstand the penetrating light of truth. For a number of years, congressional and state investigations of communism, essential for the consideration of legislation, have focused the pitiless glare of publicity on many phases of communis t activity. The reports of these investigative bodies are readily availaJble and include detailed information regarding the activities of the Communist Party, USA, throughout the country . The Committee on Un-American Activi·ties United States House of Representatives, has issued a conveniern~ "Guide to Sulbversive Organizations and Publications." This is a listing of the various organizations cited by the Attorney General of the United Sta:tes, as well as other organiza:tions and publications found by congressional or state investigative committees to be communist dominated. The introduction to this publication consists of a brief historical review of communist front group activity, an ex- �SLOVAKIA 45 1Planation of the methods by which communist front groups are established, and a set of cniteria to assist in detecting them. Some measures of the effectiveness of these investigative committees in exposing the aims, principles, and methods of communism is indicated by the bitterness and the intensity of communist attacks upon them, as well as by the continuous communist campaigns to abolish them. Former communisbs are a:lso victims of communist vituperation because of the important role they play in exposing the true nature of communism. Many of these persons, after renouncing communism, have testified before courts, administrativ e hearings, and investigative committees. Through books, articles, and lectures based on their firsthand knowledge, they have helped to alert the public. In addition, their testimony has provided valuable evidence which has enabled the Government to prosecute communists who violate our laws. By these actions, many former communists have not only rehabilitated themselves but have, in the process, made a substantial contribution to the security of all Americans. Every exposure of communism's false premises, inherent contradictions , deceitful tactics, and empty promises he'lps to shatter its ideologiical appeal and to fortify aga:inst its psychological pressures. But, in this struggle for men's minds, exposure alone is not enough. Exposure must be complemented by a long-range educational program with a dual purpose. This program must encompass, not only a penetrating study of communism, but also a thorough grounding in ,the basic prindples of our individual freedom under law. This educational program must be designed to train people to think and to distinguish between truth and error. Each year, more colleges are offering courses which present a critical ana:lysis of tJhe theory and practice of communism. In at least one college, a course of this type is compulsory. Books contrasting communism with our form of government are now being published for our use in our high schools. This academic instruction can be supplemented by individual study of the wealth of anti-com- �46 SLOVAKIA munist material available as well as by participation in group discussions and public forums. This program of education in communism must not, of course, constitute or be confused with the advocacy of communist doctrine. It can and should be limited to a critical study of communist strategy and tactics and the materialistic philosophy underlying them. Knowing what communism really is and how it operates will also help us to avoid tJhe danger of confusing ;Communism with legitimate dissent on controversial issues. Communism feeds on social ferment. On both the local and national levels, the Communist Parity, USA, is continually -e ~ploiting social, economic, and political grievances for its own tadical purposes. For this reason, the "Party line" will frequently coincide with the views of many non-communists on speci£ic issues. We must not, therefore, indiscriminately la:bel as communists those whose opinions on a particular question may, on occasion, parallel the official Party position. We must also guard against the tendency to characterize as communists those who merely disagree with us or who advocate unorthodox or unpopular beliefs. When anyone is erroneously branded a communist, it not only constitutes an injustice to the individual, but also helps communism by diffusing the strength of anti-communist forces. In combatting communism, we must be aware of vigilante action. The responsibilities of citizens are to be certain of the facts and to report these facts to the proper authorities. Knowledge of communism is only the first phase of the battle. This knowledge must be augmented by a continuous revitalization of our own inherently superior strength through the prac tical, daily exercise and development of our American principles. Too frequently, emphasis is placed on acquiring an understanding only of the me~haniical functions of our Government, such as elections, the enactment of legislation, or judicial review. ':Dhis knowledge, important as it is, becomes a mere collection of sterile •facts without a deep appreciation and a continuing awareness of the reason for the very existence of our form of Government - the freedom of the individual under law. �47 SLOVAKIA ------------- - - Without the realization of this f.undamental phJlosophy of freedom, such basic individual rights as freedom of s,peech, the press, anld religion are taken for granted. Forgoitten is man's bitter fight through the centuries to wrest these freedoms from tyranny. The exel'cise of these individual freedoms, which we often take for granted, is largely responsi'ble for our Nation's reputation for getting things done. Many of us have seen, or have even participated in, programs for community improvement promoted by private organizations and civic groups. Recognizing a specific problem which required cooperative action, and sparkled by individual initiative, whole communities have organized, for example, to attract new industry, to eradicate blighted slum areas, to eliminate racial tensions, or to improve educational opportunities. Public officials, religious leaders, and representatives of business, labor, and the professions, realizing a common interest, have fused their energies and in many cases, have literally transformed their commuruties. Signif,i cantly, however, while many of tJhe problems these communities faced were similar, there was no set pattern in the solutions which were devised. Just as specific local problems and resources have determined the nature of the response, so too any organized program to immunize a community against communist penetration must be tailored to prevailing local conditions. All that is required is imagination, resourcefulness, and some personal sacrifice coupled with the wi'll to inspire positive action to combat communism and to strengthen democracy at the community level. In the State of Florida, for example, the Bar Association developed a lecture program on the theme of the advantages of our system over communism. These lectures are ,g iven to high school students throug,hout the state by specially trained practicing attorneys. The speakers explain how our Government operates, what must be done to keep it functioning effectively, and why it is superior to the Soviet system. All of the lectures given under this program stress the duty of each citizen to interest himself actively in publi-c affairs. The American Bar Association, 1 �48 SLOVAKIA in cooperation with the American Heritage Foundation, annually observes Law Day with ceremonies which contrast the Rule of Law in our country with the rule of fear in communist nations. To offset the Communist Party's celebration of May Day, the Veterans of Foreign Wars sponsor an annual Loyalty Day parade in New York City. At its Indianapolis headquarters, The American Legion maintains an Americanism Commission, which provides information about communism to the public. Individual religious faiths have held training classes for members of trade-unions who are actively opposing communist attempts to infiltrate the labor movement. The interdenominational Foundation for Religious Action in the Social and Civil Order, of Washington, D. C., has been organized to stress the importance of religious truth in the preservation and development of our way of life. Its goal is to unite all who believe in God in the struggle against atheistic communism. 'Dhe Assembly of Captive European Nations prepaired a large photographic exhibit featuring scenes of communist domestic terror and Soviet imperialism. Sponsored by various organizations, this dramatic exhibition was sown in a number of our large cities, as well as in cities abroad. The Freedom Train, which toured the United States with such documents as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, gave many of our citizens, who would not ordinarily have had the opportunity, a chance to view these hallowed symbo'1s of American freedom. As a public service, many individuals and private organizations prepare, or reprint, and distribute anti-communist literature. In Pennsylvania, the Department of Public Instruction had the Library of Congress prepare a selected annotated bibliography on communism for use by teachers and students. Local activity can have far-reaching effects. A group and undergraduate students decided to capigraduate of communist-inspired Seventh World You!th the on talize in Vienna in 1959. For a year prior to held be to Festival college campuses searching for visited they festival, the �SLOVAKIA 49 students who could effectively represent the United States and who were wining to atJtend. They di,s tri'buted pamphlets outlining the communist background of this and previous festivals, as weH as booklets of facts and figures on issues which communist propaganda has been exploiting. ·This group also conducted briefing sessions for the anticommunists who planned to attend. News accounts of the festival highlighted how the anti-communist American delegates stole the communists' thunder as a result of their ability to correct the misconceptions and distortions of American society which have always characterized these festivals. Americans, both military and civilian, who are working in or visiting foreign na,tions can play a,n important role in the struggle against communism. Every citizen abroad is, in a very real sense, a full-time "ambassador" not only of our Nation but also of t:he American way of life. An understanding of and a respect for the rights of others are fundamental to our concept of individual freedom. This also applies in our dealings with citirens of other nations regardless of their educational attainments, social status, or economic level. By exercising his individual freedom in a responsible manner without violating ,the rights of others, every American traveling abroad can serve as a forceful example of how our system of government works. The American aJbroad, by his conduct, can sow positive and constructive ideas which one day may help to produce a harvest on which the Free World can grow stronger. Individual initiative and originality, geared to local action, are the wellsprings by which our system of government is continuously nourished. These examples illustrate how the moral strength of our Nation is constantly replenished. Programs such as these, infused with a renewed sense of dedication, should be expanded, coordinated, and continued on a long-range basis. The importance of local communiities cannot be overemphasized. It is there that social understanding and growth take root. It is there that education, business, labor, and reHgion take on form and substance to influence, nourish, vitalize, and give direction to our national life. Lt �50 SLOVAKIA is in our local communities that cogent, penetrative thinking should be done now to re-evaluate the position of this Nation in the present worM crisis. From this constructive effort can come a decisive contribution to formulating and carrying out a coordinated, comprehensive, affirmative global strategy which will insure the supremacy of freedom over a'll types of totalitarianism. Communism has hurled us a moral challenge. Our response, and the response of free men everywhere, will de-· .termine whether or not freedom itself survives. It is no longer suf.ficient for us to adopt the negative approach of merely reacting defensively to every shift in communist tactics. We must place greater emphasis on the positive role which our American way of life can perform in this struggle. A CREMATORY is being planned in Braitislava, SloV'akia, according to the d'aily PRAOA. ]t should be ready by the end of 1,963; the cost: 9 million Crowns; and location: near Vhe present Bratislava cemetery. 11he Reds are happy that finally consideraition has beer: given "to this modern and scienitific way of burying tihe dead ." e • • urgent assignments of the oow FiveYear Pla.n 01961,1005) of the Czec'h Communist Party's Cenitral Committee is t!he coimpletion of the huge ]r.ornworks in Kosice, Slovakia. Blueprints for this "second steel heart" as it is termed by Praue Reds - was drawn up in the USSR It will be the largest four.,dry in all Europe and one ·of the ten, largesit works of tts kind in the world. Et will cost an estimated 10.5 billions Crown,s. Soviet experts are in charge of construction and operation. ONIE OF THIE MOST RECOMMENDED BOOKS: "CZECHOSWVAKISM VERSUS AMERICANISM" an expose of the pro-Soviet "National Fronters" in the socalled Council af Free Czechoslovakia - is a 48 page booklet published by the Slovaik League of America, which should be read by every one seeking the answer to the question of how "Czecho-Slovak democracy" converted to a "people's democracy." Send 25 cents (coin or stamps) to the SLOVAKIA for your copy today. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 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 COMMUNIST ILLUSION AND DEMOCRATIC REALITY By J. Edgar Hoover, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation (tAd•a pted from article preipared for memibers of the National Strategy S•eminar) A five-year study of the conduct of American prisoners of war during the Korean conflict was made by the United States Army. This study disclosed that there was, in the morale of American prisoners of war, a breakdown which reached disturbing proportions. Almost one out of every three American prisoners of war collaborated to some degree with the communists. This colla'boration included broadcasting anti-American propaganda, writing articles praising life under communism, "con.fessing" to the use of germ warfare, an\d signing peace appeals and other communist petitions. Our soldiers informed on one andther and fraternized with the enemy. The death of some American prisoners could have been prevented if they had not been completely neglected by their fellow captives. Not one American prisoner of war succeeded in escaping. Some even chose to remain in Communist China rather than return to the United States. That American military personnel collaborated alt aH is difficult to understand. Even more disturbing are the extent of the collaboration and the casual attitude of those who were guilty. As a result of the study, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in August, 1955, promulgalteld for members of the Armed Forces a Code of Conduct specifying the duties and obligations of our fighting men. The report of the special committee which had recommended the adoption of tih!s .code pointedly noted: "The uninformed P.0.W.'s were up against it. They couldn't answer arguments in favor of communism with arguments in favor of Americanism because they knew very little a<bout their America ... " The report concluded that our Armed Forces had not adequately prepared their men for the rigors of commu • nist indoctrination. It lookeld behind this failure, however, and stressed that our homes, schools, churches, and pa- 44 SLOVAKIA triotic organizations must also assume greater responsibility in educating Americans in the principles which un, derlie our way of life. The importance of such an affirr;.a.tive long-range educational program is borne out by the special committee's finding that, in many cases, our fighting men were at a disadvantage because they knew less about the ideals and traditions of their own country, than did their communist interrogators. The behavior of these prisoners of war was less an individual failure than it was an indictment of our entire society which had not prepared them adequately for their head-on collision with communist indoctrination. All Americans must share some responsibility for the conduct of these prisoners of war. More important, we must not ignore this forceful example of the impact of communist psychological pressures. Our continued survival may well depend upon the action we take now to insure that all citizens, not only military personnel, are fortified against the continuous communist ideological assault. We can defeat communist ideology and - at the same time - reinforce the structure of our own form of government by the combined process of exposure and education. The illusions of communism cannot withstand the penetrating light of truth. For a number of years, congressional and state investigations of communism, essential for the consideration of legislation, have focused the pitiless glare of publicity on many phases of communis t activity. The reports of these investigative bodies are readily availaJble and include detailed information regarding the activities of the Communist Party, USA, throughout the country . The Committee on Un-American Activi·ties United States House of Representatives, has issued a conveniern~ "Guide to Sulbversive Organizations and Publications." This is a listing of the various organizations cited by the Attorney General of the United Sta:tes, as well as other organiza:tions and publications found by congressional or state investigative committees to be communist dominated. The introduction to this publication consists of a brief historical review of communist front group activity, an ex- SLOVAKIA 45 1Planation of the methods by which communist front groups are established, and a set of cniteria to assist in detecting them. Some measures of the effectiveness of these investigative committees in exposing the aims, principles, and methods of communism is indicated by the bitterness and the intensity of communist attacks upon them, as well as by the continuous communist campaigns to abolish them. Former communisbs are a:lso victims of communist vituperation because of the important role they play in exposing the true nature of communism. Many of these persons, after renouncing communism, have testified before courts, administrativ e hearings, and investigative committees. Through books, articles, and lectures based on their firsthand knowledge, they have helped to alert the public. In addition, their testimony has provided valuable evidence which has enabled the Government to prosecute communists who violate our laws. By these actions, many former communists have not only rehabilitated themselves but have, in the process, made a substantial contribution to the security of all Americans. Every exposure of communism's false premises, inherent contradictions , deceitful tactics, and empty promises he'lps to shatter its ideologiical appeal and to fortify aga:inst its psychological pressures. But, in this struggle for men's minds, exposure alone is not enough. Exposure must be complemented by a long-range educational program with a dual purpose. This program must encompass, not only a penetrating study of communism, but also a thorough grounding in ,the basic prindples of our individual freedom under law. This educational program must be designed to train people to think and to distinguish between truth and error. Each year, more colleges are offering courses which present a critical ana:lysis of tJhe theory and practice of communism. In at least one college, a course of this type is compulsory. Books contrasting communism with our form of government are now being published for our use in our high schools. This academic instruction can be supplemented by individual study of the wealth of anti-com- 46 SLOVAKIA munist material available as well as by participation in group discussions and public forums. This program of education in communism must not, of course, constitute or be confused with the advocacy of communist doctrine. It can and should be limited to a critical study of communist strategy and tactics and the materialistic philosophy underlying them. Knowing what communism really is and how it operates will also help us to avoid tJhe danger of confusing ;Communism with legitimate dissent on controversial issues. Communism feeds on social ferment. On both the local and national levels, the Communist Parity, USA, is continually -e ~ploiting social, economic, and political grievances for its own tadical purposes. For this reason, the "Party line" will frequently coincide with the views of many non-communists on speci£ic issues. We must not, therefore, indiscriminately la:bel as communists those whose opinions on a particular question may, on occasion, parallel the official Party position. We must also guard against the tendency to characterize as communists those who merely disagree with us or who advocate unorthodox or unpopular beliefs. When anyone is erroneously branded a communist, it not only constitutes an injustice to the individual, but also helps communism by diffusing the strength of anti-communist forces. In combatting communism, we must be aware of vigilante action. The responsibilities of citizens are to be certain of the facts and to report these facts to the proper authorities. Knowledge of communism is only the first phase of the battle. This knowledge must be augmented by a continuous revitalization of our own inherently superior strength through the prac tical, daily exercise and development of our American principles. Too frequently, emphasis is placed on acquiring an understanding only of the me~haniical functions of our Government, such as elections, the enactment of legislation, or judicial review. ':Dhis knowledge, important as it is, becomes a mere collection of sterile •facts without a deep appreciation and a continuing awareness of the reason for the very existence of our form of Government - the freedom of the individual under law. 47 SLOVAKIA ------------- - - Without the realization of this f.undamental phJlosophy of freedom, such basic individual rights as freedom of s,peech, the press, anld religion are taken for granted. Forgoitten is man's bitter fight through the centuries to wrest these freedoms from tyranny. The exel'cise of these individual freedoms, which we often take for granted, is largely responsi'ble for our Nation's reputation for getting things done. Many of us have seen, or have even participated in, programs for community improvement promoted by private organizations and civic groups. Recognizing a specific problem which required cooperative action, and sparkled by individual initiative, whole communities have organized, for example, to attract new industry, to eradicate blighted slum areas, to eliminate racial tensions, or to improve educational opportunities. Public officials, religious leaders, and representatives of business, labor, and the professions, realizing a common interest, have fused their energies and in many cases, have literally transformed their commuruties. Signif,i cantly, however, while many of tJhe problems these communities faced were similar, there was no set pattern in the solutions which were devised. Just as specific local problems and resources have determined the nature of the response, so too any organized program to immunize a community against communist penetration must be tailored to prevailing local conditions. All that is required is imagination, resourcefulness, and some personal sacrifice coupled with the wi'll to inspire positive action to combat communism and to strengthen democracy at the community level. In the State of Florida, for example, the Bar Association developed a lecture program on the theme of the advantages of our system over communism. These lectures are ,g iven to high school students throug,hout the state by specially trained practicing attorneys. The speakers explain how our Government operates, what must be done to keep it functioning effectively, and why it is superior to the Soviet system. All of the lectures given under this program stress the duty of each citizen to interest himself actively in publi-c affairs. The American Bar Association, 1 48 SLOVAKIA in cooperation with the American Heritage Foundation, annually observes Law Day with ceremonies which contrast the Rule of Law in our country with the rule of fear in communist nations. To offset the Communist Party's celebration of May Day, the Veterans of Foreign Wars sponsor an annual Loyalty Day parade in New York City. At its Indianapolis headquarters, The American Legion maintains an Americanism Commission, which provides information about communism to the public. Individual religious faiths have held training classes for members of trade-unions who are actively opposing communist attempts to infiltrate the labor movement. The interdenominational Foundation for Religious Action in the Social and Civil Order, of Washington, D. C., has been organized to stress the importance of religious truth in the preservation and development of our way of life. Its goal is to unite all who believe in God in the struggle against atheistic communism. 'Dhe Assembly of Captive European Nations prepaired a large photographic exhibit featuring scenes of communist domestic terror and Soviet imperialism. Sponsored by various organizations, this dramatic exhibition was sown in a number of our large cities, as well as in cities abroad. The Freedom Train, which toured the United States with such documents as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, gave many of our citizens, who would not ordinarily have had the opportunity, a chance to view these hallowed symbo'1s of American freedom. As a public service, many individuals and private organizations prepare, or reprint, and distribute anti-communist literature. In Pennsylvania, the Department of Public Instruction had the Library of Congress prepare a selected annotated bibliography on communism for use by teachers and students. Local activity can have far-reaching effects. A group and undergraduate students decided to capigraduate of communist-inspired Seventh World You!th the on talize in Vienna in 1959. For a year prior to held be to Festival college campuses searching for visited they festival, the SLOVAKIA 49 students who could effectively represent the United States and who were wining to atJtend. They di,s tri'buted pamphlets outlining the communist background of this and previous festivals, as weH as booklets of facts and figures on issues which communist propaganda has been exploiting. ·This group also conducted briefing sessions for the anticommunists who planned to attend. News accounts of the festival highlighted how the anti-communist American delegates stole the communists' thunder as a result of their ability to correct the misconceptions and distortions of American society which have always characterized these festivals. Americans, both military and civilian, who are working in or visiting foreign na,tions can play a,n important role in the struggle against communism. Every citizen abroad is, in a very real sense, a full-time "ambassador" not only of our Nation but also of t:he American way of life. An understanding of and a respect for the rights of others are fundamental to our concept of individual freedom. This also applies in our dealings with citirens of other nations regardless of their educational attainments, social status, or economic level. By exercising his individual freedom in a responsible manner without violating ,the rights of others, every American traveling abroad can serve as a forceful example of how our system of government works. The American aJbroad, by his conduct, can sow positive and constructive ideas which one day may help to produce a harvest on which the Free World can grow stronger. Individual initiative and originality, geared to local action, are the wellsprings by which our system of government is continuously nourished. These examples illustrate how the moral strength of our Nation is constantly replenished. Programs such as these, infused with a renewed sense of dedication, should be expanded, coordinated, and continued on a long-range basis. The importance of local communiities cannot be overemphasized. It is there that social understanding and growth take root. It is there that education, business, labor, and reHgion take on form and substance to influence, nourish, vitalize, and give direction to our national life. Lt 50 SLOVAKIA is in our local communities that cogent, penetrative thinking should be done now to re-evaluate the position of this Nation in the present worM crisis. From this constructive effort can come a decisive contribution to formulating and carrying out a coordinated, comprehensive, affirmative global strategy which will insure the supremacy of freedom over a'll types of totalitarianism. Communism has hurled us a moral challenge. Our response, and the response of free men everywhere, will de-· .termine whether or not freedom itself survives. It is no longer suf.ficient for us to adopt the negative approach of merely reacting defensively to every shift in communist tactics. We must place greater emphasis on the positive role which our American way of life can perform in this struggle. A CREMATORY is being planned in Braitislava, SloV'akia, according to the d'aily PRAOA. ]t should be ready by the end of 1,963; the cost: 9 million Crowns; and location: near Vhe present Bratislava cemetery. 11he Reds are happy that finally consideraition has beer: given "to this modern and scienitific way of burying tihe dead ." e • • urgent assignments of the oow FiveYear Pla.n 01961,1005) of the Czec'h Communist Party's Cenitral Committee is t!he coimpletion of the huge ]r.ornworks in Kosice, Slovakia. Blueprints for this "second steel heart" as it is termed by Praue Reds - was drawn up in the USSR It will be the largest four.,dry in all Europe and one ·of the ten, largesit works of tts kind in the world. Et will cost an estimated 10.5 billions Crown,s. Soviet experts are in charge of construction and operation. ONIE OF THIE MOST RECOMMENDED BOOKS: "CZECHOSWVAKISM VERSUS AMERICANISM" an expose of the pro-Soviet "National Fronters" in the socalled Council af Free Czechoslovakia - is a 48 page booklet published by the Slovaik League of America, which should be read by every one seeking the answer to the question of how "Czecho-Slovak democracy" converted to a "people's democracy." Send 25 cents (coin or stamps) to the SLOVAKIA for your copy today.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Communist Illusion and Democratic Reality Description An account of the resource J. Edgar Hoover Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 1 (33), March-June 1961 pp. 43-50 Adapted from article prepared for members of the National Strategy Seminar Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1961 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/2459d0887b7c2d09ce8339baaf28b113.pdf cd98f5cf7cc4c1791d3ad267c8c81987 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 51 SOVIET RUSSIAN PUPPETS By Edward Delaney No better example can today than the oft repeated .seizure of Czecho-Slovakia, column in the Congressional A-4447. be spotlighted for the record lie concerning the Communist which is the heading on a Record of May 25, 1960, page In that column is the text of a letter written to the "'New York Times" by Dr. Peter Zenkl. The letter makes reference to the demand by the Czecho-Slovak government that our Secretary of State, Christian Herter, apologize for a remark recen:tly malde, to the effect that Communists seized power in that country by force in February 1948. It certainly is a brazen attempt to rewrite history, because the Communists seized power in Czecho-Slovakia in May 1945 and not in February 1948. Moreover, it was not necessary to use force. Communist control was accomplished months before, when .the former president of Czecho-Slovakia, Dr. Eduard Benes, went to Moscow and there signed an agreement with Josef Stalin, in which he betrayed his country and his people to Communist serfdom. As a reward for that gesture and aid to Soviet de.signs, Stalin permitted him to return to Prague in the guise of a "liberator." He was the "front" for the Soviet Union, contrary to volumes of words from his sychophants in an unsuccessful effort to show that he was not a willing collaborator with Moscow. In the Prague government headed by the Communist leader Klement Gottwald, was Peter Zenkl as his deputy or vice premier. Anti-Communists were either liquidated or imprisoned. So when Zenkl returned to Prague to begin his close association with the perfidious Benes he certainly was not one of the anti-Communists, or he would have been jailed wi1:h the genuine patriots who refused to be subservient to Moscow. It was reported that some thirty thousand anti-Com- �52 SLOVAKIA munists were rounded up and jailed. I cannot assert thaJ: number is correct, but I can declare that BartholomewStreet prison, one of the three largest in the city, was filled to severa:l times its capacity, for I was among the an:i-Communists incarcerated in that prison for a'bout six weeks. In the large cell in which I was confined, with prisoners being brought in or taken out all hours of the day and night, were, at various times, the former Mayor of Prague, leading bankers, industrialists, a colonel, a capt ain and two lieutenants of the local militia, who refused t o bow to the Reds, professional athletes, musicians, merchants and other genuine patriots. Zenkl was not among those freedom fighters. Most of the prisoners were Czechs. While Zenk! was vice-premier the most barbarous. terrorism and atrocities were inflicted on the anti-Commu-nists. Special inhumanities were imposed on the Slovaks who were and still are fiercely anti-Communist and on the Sudeten Germans. Zenk! cannot wash his hands of the blood that was. shed by the real patriots during the long period when he was deputy premier for the Communist dictator, Gottwald. He was a reliruble colh1:borator and vassal of Moscow ag. long as the Communists needeid his services. There is a striking contrast between Zenkl and other political leaders in that country who were and are unplacable and militant foes of Communists, whether they be Soviet or of any other nationality. Proposals were made by Moscow to the President, the Foreign Minister and Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovakia - the independent state that existed from March 1939 to May 1945 - to re-· main in their respective offices and "front" for the Soviet Union, precisely as Benes had agreed to do in Prague. Because those leaders refused to betray their God and their people by collaborating with atheistic Communists of the Kremlin, they were marked for liquidation. It is a disgraceful chapter in the recorded events of those days, but it is indelliibly written on those pages that 1those Slovak pa:riots, those defiant anti-Communists, were delivered to Stalin and Benes by American military and civilian autho- �SLOVAKIA 53 rities- some to be executed and others for lifelong imprisonment. Dr. Peter Zenkl was high in the Communist councils of Czecho-Slovakia at that time. There is no record of him working for the freedom of those valiant antiCommunists. On .the contrary - he - now referred to as a leading Czech patriot - by his silence, gave tacit approval to the destruction of those genuine patriots. For the past fifteen years those of us who witnessed or are familiar with the incidents connected wilth the so-called seizure of Czecho~Slovakia, have stated in print and in public that it became a Soviet satellite in May 1945. The so~called "coup" said to have taken place in February 1948, was merely the consummation of a Soviet design for complete control of thaJt country. It is also a matter of record that the delivery of that country to the Soviet Union, in 1945, was with the approval of the hierar,c hy of our elect in Washington. Deny that charge though they will - they cannot erase the disgraceful reco11d. Those like Zenkl and certain other co-collaborationists with the Communists in that oppressed country, who through devious means and through the influence of certain elements gained admission to this country would like to perpetuate the fiction of a "coup" in 1948, which they say resulted in the seizure of Czecho-Slovakia by the Communists. It will then appear easier for them to whitewash themselves of the guilt they shared in the Communist crimes for the three years 1945 to 1948. Singularly enough, a coterie of those Communist collaborators from Prague has long been identified with the twin frauds , Radio Free Europe and Crusade for Freedom, where they carried on their proselyting for what they preferred to call the "socialist" State of Czecho-Slovakia - which is their verbal camouflage for a Communist state. For that reason we spotlight that column of the Congressional Record - at this time. THE SLOVAKS - their history and traditions - by Peter P. Yurchak; 312 pages, hard cover, bound In cloth - $3.00; paper cover - $2.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY - by Joseph Skultety; 229 pages, well documented; hard cover, bound in cloth $2.00; paper cover - $1.00. � SLOVAKIA 51 SOVIET RUSSIAN PUPPETS By Edward Delaney No better example can today than the oft repeated .seizure of Czecho-Slovakia, column in the Congressional A-4447. be spotlighted for the record lie concerning the Communist which is the heading on a Record of May 25, 1960, page In that column is the text of a letter written to the "'New York Times" by Dr. Peter Zenkl. The letter makes reference to the demand by the Czecho-Slovak government that our Secretary of State, Christian Herter, apologize for a remark recen:tly malde, to the effect that Communists seized power in that country by force in February 1948. It certainly is a brazen attempt to rewrite history, because the Communists seized power in Czecho-Slovakia in May 1945 and not in February 1948. Moreover, it was not necessary to use force. Communist control was accomplished months before, when .the former president of Czecho-Slovakia, Dr. Eduard Benes, went to Moscow and there signed an agreement with Josef Stalin, in which he betrayed his country and his people to Communist serfdom. As a reward for that gesture and aid to Soviet de.signs, Stalin permitted him to return to Prague in the guise of a "liberator." He was the "front" for the Soviet Union, contrary to volumes of words from his sychophants in an unsuccessful effort to show that he was not a willing collaborator with Moscow. In the Prague government headed by the Communist leader Klement Gottwald, was Peter Zenkl as his deputy or vice premier. Anti-Communists were either liquidated or imprisoned. So when Zenkl returned to Prague to begin his close association with the perfidious Benes he certainly was not one of the anti-Communists, or he would have been jailed wi1:h the genuine patriots who refused to be subservient to Moscow. It was reported that some thirty thousand anti-Com- �52 SLOVAKIA munists were rounded up and jailed. I cannot assert thaJ: number is correct, but I can declare that BartholomewStreet prison, one of the three largest in the city, was filled to severa:l times its capacity, for I was among the an:i-Communists incarcerated in that prison for a'bout six weeks. In the large cell in which I was confined, with prisoners being brought in or taken out all hours of the day and night, were, at various times, the former Mayor of Prague, leading bankers, industrialists, a colonel, a capt ain and two lieutenants of the local militia, who refused t o bow to the Reds, professional athletes, musicians, merchants and other genuine patriots. Zenkl was not among those freedom fighters. Most of the prisoners were Czechs. While Zenk! was vice-premier the most barbarous. terrorism and atrocities were inflicted on the anti-Commu-nists. Special inhumanities were imposed on the Slovaks who were and still are fiercely anti-Communist and on the Sudeten Germans. Zenk! cannot wash his hands of the blood that was. shed by the real patriots during the long period when he was deputy premier for the Communist dictator, Gottwald. He was a reliruble colh1:borator and vassal of Moscow ag. long as the Communists needeid his services. There is a striking contrast between Zenkl and other political leaders in that country who were and are unplacable and militant foes of Communists, whether they be Soviet or of any other nationality. Proposals were made by Moscow to the President, the Foreign Minister and Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovakia - the independent state that existed from March 1939 to May 1945 - to re-· main in their respective offices and "front" for the Soviet Union, precisely as Benes had agreed to do in Prague. Because those leaders refused to betray their God and their people by collaborating with atheistic Communists of the Kremlin, they were marked for liquidation. It is a disgraceful chapter in the recorded events of those days, but it is indelliibly written on those pages that 1those Slovak pa:riots, those defiant anti-Communists, were delivered to Stalin and Benes by American military and civilian autho- �SLOVAKIA 53 rities- some to be executed and others for lifelong imprisonment. Dr. Peter Zenkl was high in the Communist councils of Czecho-Slovakia at that time. There is no record of him working for the freedom of those valiant antiCommunists. On .the contrary - he - now referred to as a leading Czech patriot - by his silence, gave tacit approval to the destruction of those genuine patriots. For the past fifteen years those of us who witnessed or are familiar with the incidents connected wilth the so-called seizure of Czecho~Slovakia, have stated in print and in public that it became a Soviet satellite in May 1945. The so~called "coup" said to have taken place in February 1948, was merely the consummation of a Soviet design for complete control of thaJt country. It is also a matter of record that the delivery of that country to the Soviet Union, in 1945, was with the approval of the hierar,c hy of our elect in Washington. Deny that charge though they will - they cannot erase the disgraceful reco11d. Those like Zenkl and certain other co-collaborationists with the Communists in that oppressed country, who through devious means and through the influence of certain elements gained admission to this country would like to perpetuate the fiction of a "coup" in 1948, which they say resulted in the seizure of Czecho-Slovakia by the Communists. It will then appear easier for them to whitewash themselves of the guilt they shared in the Communist crimes for the three years 1945 to 1948. Singularly enough, a coterie of those Communist collaborators from Prague has long been identified with the twin frauds , Radio Free Europe and Crusade for Freedom, where they carried on their proselyting for what they preferred to call the "socialist" State of Czecho-Slovakia - which is their verbal camouflage for a Communist state. For that reason we spotlight that column of the Congressional Record - at this time. THE SLOVAKS - their history and traditions - by Peter P. Yurchak; 312 pages, hard cover, bound In cloth - $3.00; paper cover - $2.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY - by Joseph Skultety; 229 pages, well documented; hard cover, bound in cloth $2.00; paper cover - $1.00. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 51 SOVIET RUSSIAN PUPPETS By Edward Delaney No better example can today than the oft repeated .seizure of Czecho-Slovakia, column in the Congressional A-4447. be spotlighted for the record lie concerning the Communist which is the heading on a Record of May 25, 1960, page In that column is the text of a letter written to the "'New York Times" by Dr. Peter Zenkl. The letter makes reference to the demand by the Czecho-Slovak government that our Secretary of State, Christian Herter, apologize for a remark recen:tly malde, to the effect that Communists seized power in that country by force in February 1948. It certainly is a brazen attempt to rewrite history, because the Communists seized power in Czecho-Slovakia in May 1945 and not in February 1948. Moreover, it was not necessary to use force. Communist control was accomplished months before, when .the former president of Czecho-Slovakia, Dr. Eduard Benes, went to Moscow and there signed an agreement with Josef Stalin, in which he betrayed his country and his people to Communist serfdom. As a reward for that gesture and aid to Soviet de.signs, Stalin permitted him to return to Prague in the guise of a "liberator." He was the "front" for the Soviet Union, contrary to volumes of words from his sychophants in an unsuccessful effort to show that he was not a willing collaborator with Moscow. In the Prague government headed by the Communist leader Klement Gottwald, was Peter Zenkl as his deputy or vice premier. Anti-Communists were either liquidated or imprisoned. So when Zenkl returned to Prague to begin his close association with the perfidious Benes he certainly was not one of the anti-Communists, or he would have been jailed wi1:h the genuine patriots who refused to be subservient to Moscow. It was reported that some thirty thousand anti-Com- 52 SLOVAKIA munists were rounded up and jailed. I cannot assert thaJ: number is correct, but I can declare that BartholomewStreet prison, one of the three largest in the city, was filled to severa:l times its capacity, for I was among the an:i-Communists incarcerated in that prison for a'bout six weeks. In the large cell in which I was confined, with prisoners being brought in or taken out all hours of the day and night, were, at various times, the former Mayor of Prague, leading bankers, industrialists, a colonel, a capt ain and two lieutenants of the local militia, who refused t o bow to the Reds, professional athletes, musicians, merchants and other genuine patriots. Zenkl was not among those freedom fighters. Most of the prisoners were Czechs. While Zenk! was vice-premier the most barbarous. terrorism and atrocities were inflicted on the anti-Commu-nists. Special inhumanities were imposed on the Slovaks who were and still are fiercely anti-Communist and on the Sudeten Germans. Zenk! cannot wash his hands of the blood that was. shed by the real patriots during the long period when he was deputy premier for the Communist dictator, Gottwald. He was a reliruble colh1:borator and vassal of Moscow ag. long as the Communists needeid his services. There is a striking contrast between Zenkl and other political leaders in that country who were and are unplacable and militant foes of Communists, whether they be Soviet or of any other nationality. Proposals were made by Moscow to the President, the Foreign Minister and Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovakia - the independent state that existed from March 1939 to May 1945 - to re-· main in their respective offices and "front" for the Soviet Union, precisely as Benes had agreed to do in Prague. Because those leaders refused to betray their God and their people by collaborating with atheistic Communists of the Kremlin, they were marked for liquidation. It is a disgraceful chapter in the recorded events of those days, but it is indelliibly written on those pages that 1those Slovak pa:riots, those defiant anti-Communists, were delivered to Stalin and Benes by American military and civilian autho- SLOVAKIA 53 rities- some to be executed and others for lifelong imprisonment. Dr. Peter Zenkl was high in the Communist councils of Czecho-Slovakia at that time. There is no record of him working for the freedom of those valiant antiCommunists. On .the contrary - he - now referred to as a leading Czech patriot - by his silence, gave tacit approval to the destruction of those genuine patriots. For the past fifteen years those of us who witnessed or are familiar with the incidents connected wilth the so-called seizure of Czecho~Slovakia, have stated in print and in public that it became a Soviet satellite in May 1945. The so~called "coup" said to have taken place in February 1948, was merely the consummation of a Soviet design for complete control of thaJt country. It is also a matter of record that the delivery of that country to the Soviet Union, in 1945, was with the approval of the hierar,c hy of our elect in Washington. Deny that charge though they will - they cannot erase the disgraceful reco11d. Those like Zenkl and certain other co-collaborationists with the Communists in that oppressed country, who through devious means and through the influence of certain elements gained admission to this country would like to perpetuate the fiction of a "coup" in 1948, which they say resulted in the seizure of Czecho-Slovakia by the Communists. It will then appear easier for them to whitewash themselves of the guilt they shared in the Communist crimes for the three years 1945 to 1948. Singularly enough, a coterie of those Communist collaborators from Prague has long been identified with the twin frauds , Radio Free Europe and Crusade for Freedom, where they carried on their proselyting for what they preferred to call the "socialist" State of Czecho-Slovakia - which is their verbal camouflage for a Communist state. For that reason we spotlight that column of the Congressional Record - at this time. THE SLOVAKS - their history and traditions - by Peter P. Yurchak; 312 pages, hard cover, bound In cloth - $3.00; paper cover - $2.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY - by Joseph Skultety; 229 pages, well documented; hard cover, bound in cloth $2.00; paper cover - $1.00.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Soviet Russian Puppets Description An account of the resource Edward Delaney Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 1 (33), March-June 1961 pp. 51-53 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Delaney, Edward L. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1961 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/6cb2f9b2986ac84da51e30d62bea6a32.pdf fc5cf8e5db9e8902cfcca6529f847537 PDF Text Text 54 SLOVAKIA THE FAILURE OF COMMUNIST SCHOOLS By Eberhart Mahnert Red Justice ("Rude Pravo"), official Communist Party mouthpiece for Czecho-Slovakia, recently reported that thirty percent of the students enrolled in Czech and Slovak colleges and universities had to drop out. Only last Septem!ber, however, the same paper had lauded the socialist school system as the most efficacious an1d progressive, giving ,the indiviidual citizen the widest possible benefits by systematic development of his abilities. One month later the same news sheet had to admit the downright failure of the educational set-up it had so lavishly praised. Who is at fault? The teachers, of course, especially those not yet imbued with the "new spirit." A series of political purges is soon to be launched, despite the conspicuous shortage of teachers in Czecho-Slovakia, a situation likewise due to the "cleansing" that followed the Communist power grab. At that time an educational framework which had proved workable for a century and a half was jettisoned in favor of a Soviet-styled imitation. Until 1948 the Czecho-Slova:k school system was based on principles developed during the reign of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and her son Joseph II and found acceptance in the territories of the Danubian Monarchy. The first Czecho-Slovak Republic was careful not to alter this well esta:blished structure, which was the very foundation of the high educational level of the Czech nation. The case was different with the Slovaiks whom the Czechs did not allow to maintain their own schools of higher learning. With the communist putsch the " reactionary" school system was swept aside ; so-called reform measures were inJ:roduced. The entire structure was radically transformed to •duplicate its Soviet original, regardless of whether or not it suited the educational needs of the Czech and Slovak peoples. The new measures a:bolished the former system of five years of primary school, eight years of high school and four to five years of college. They introduced a new system with an eight-gra:de primary school plus an additional three years of secondary school .that were ap- �SLOVAKIA 55 proved as an adequate basis for college entrance. Courses in certain subjects were reduced to half their former number, making it possible for a pupil to get a degree in engineering at the age of 19 or 20, where he was previously not ready for graduation until 22 or 23. Subjects that formerly had been given priority were placed un!der the new set-up by intensive courses in political propaganda that stressed Party ideology. During the years 1952 to 1953 a number of schools of technology were founded - today there are seventeen such colleges - many of them with but little more than the -crudest types of la:boratories, technical libraries and the like. Seldom does one find a textbook available; for the most part the students work from so-called scripts which they themselves have compiled. In selecting aspirants for -college preparatory schools and universities, the authorities show preference for children from proletarian homes, a tactic ,that envisages the complete annihilation of the Czech middle class with its high standar!ds of education. Some years ago it became evident that students educated under these new conditions, whose time was also taken up by paramilitary training, Communist Youth Association commitments and Party organization duties, Jagged behind in their studies. Furthermore, several weeks of the year are taken up in so-called "polytechnical training" at unpaid jobs in industry. Small wonder, then, thrut students who lack ability due to their "proletarian" origins, fail to stand the pace. They make up the bulk of the thirty percent forced to throw in the sponge. In 1959 the Czech Communist regime, following the lead of the Soviet school reform of 1959, also introduced new educational measures, the first stage of which will take effect in 1961 at the beginning of the scholastic year. To raise the educational standards of the general public, primary school will be extended from eight to nine years. "Polytechnical training," thus far encouraged only by the Czech Communist Party, will become obligatory, with intensification of paramilitary training. This shake-up of the school system to conform to Communist aims will certainly not· raise the over-all educational level. Today industries that employ "engineers" with �56 SLOVAKIA such limited training are already beginning to complain of their lack of ability. These young men report for work without knowing the most elementary techniques in their field nor is there much likelihood of improvement in the future. If unchanged, however, such conditions will reduce a population with a higher than average educrutional pot.e n-U-al to a generation of robots . • • • A POLICY OF GENOCIDE Anton F. Wuschek After the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans there remained approximately 170,000 to 200,000 Germans in the area that now embraces Czecho~Slovakia. Many of them are still residing in their old homes in ,the Sudetenland, others have been transferred to original Czech areas. Along with the Hungarian, Ukrainian and Polish minorities in the CSSR, the German element is one of the largest ethnic groups that do not belong to the official nation of the S,:ate of Czechs and Slovaks. Little has been said of the existence of this German group within the past years. Not unti'l last year did they become the subject of considera,ble discussion within Czecho~lovak Communist Party circles, when, in connection with the ini:roduction of the new Socialist constitution in the CSSR the new status of the ethnic minorities was decided on. Whereas the new constitution gives a minimum of cultural rights to the Ukrainian, Hungarian and Polish minorities, it deprives the German minority every right to an autonomous group life. State President Antonin Novotny justified this fact with the statement that ,the German question was settled by the expulsion from their homes of some three million Sudeten Germans. The remaining Germans would thus no longer be considered as a minority. The logic of this s tatement was by no means given unanimous approval. Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czec'ho-Slovakia (CPC), Bruno Koh'ler, took the opportunity to discuss the Sudeten German issue in detail in the official organ of the CPC tivot Strany (Par:y Life, No. 16, 1960). Kohler justified the � 54 SLOVAKIA THE FAILURE OF COMMUNIST SCHOOLS By Eberhart Mahnert Red Justice ("Rude Pravo"), official Communist Party mouthpiece for Czecho-Slovakia, recently reported that thirty percent of the students enrolled in Czech and Slovak colleges and universities had to drop out. Only last Septem!ber, however, the same paper had lauded the socialist school system as the most efficacious an1d progressive, giving ,the indiviidual citizen the widest possible benefits by systematic development of his abilities. One month later the same news sheet had to admit the downright failure of the educational set-up it had so lavishly praised. Who is at fault? The teachers, of course, especially those not yet imbued with the "new spirit." A series of political purges is soon to be launched, despite the conspicuous shortage of teachers in Czecho-Slovakia, a situation likewise due to the "cleansing" that followed the Communist power grab. At that time an educational framework which had proved workable for a century and a half was jettisoned in favor of a Soviet-styled imitation. Until 1948 the Czecho-Slova:k school system was based on principles developed during the reign of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and her son Joseph II and found acceptance in the territories of the Danubian Monarchy. The first Czecho-Slovak Republic was careful not to alter this well esta:blished structure, which was the very foundation of the high educational level of the Czech nation. The case was different with the Slovaiks whom the Czechs did not allow to maintain their own schools of higher learning. With the communist putsch the " reactionary" school system was swept aside ; so-called reform measures were inJ:roduced. The entire structure was radically transformed to •duplicate its Soviet original, regardless of whether or not it suited the educational needs of the Czech and Slovak peoples. The new measures a:bolished the former system of five years of primary school, eight years of high school and four to five years of college. They introduced a new system with an eight-gra:de primary school plus an additional three years of secondary school .that were ap- �SLOVAKIA 55 proved as an adequate basis for college entrance. Courses in certain subjects were reduced to half their former number, making it possible for a pupil to get a degree in engineering at the age of 19 or 20, where he was previously not ready for graduation until 22 or 23. Subjects that formerly had been given priority were placed un!der the new set-up by intensive courses in political propaganda that stressed Party ideology. During the years 1952 to 1953 a number of schools of technology were founded - today there are seventeen such colleges - many of them with but little more than the -crudest types of la:boratories, technical libraries and the like. Seldom does one find a textbook available; for the most part the students work from so-called scripts which they themselves have compiled. In selecting aspirants for -college preparatory schools and universities, the authorities show preference for children from proletarian homes, a tactic ,that envisages the complete annihilation of the Czech middle class with its high standar!ds of education. Some years ago it became evident that students educated under these new conditions, whose time was also taken up by paramilitary training, Communist Youth Association commitments and Party organization duties, Jagged behind in their studies. Furthermore, several weeks of the year are taken up in so-called "polytechnical training" at unpaid jobs in industry. Small wonder, then, thrut students who lack ability due to their "proletarian" origins, fail to stand the pace. They make up the bulk of the thirty percent forced to throw in the sponge. In 1959 the Czech Communist regime, following the lead of the Soviet school reform of 1959, also introduced new educational measures, the first stage of which will take effect in 1961 at the beginning of the scholastic year. To raise the educational standards of the general public, primary school will be extended from eight to nine years. "Polytechnical training," thus far encouraged only by the Czech Communist Party, will become obligatory, with intensification of paramilitary training. This shake-up of the school system to conform to Communist aims will certainly not· raise the over-all educational level. Today industries that employ "engineers" with �56 SLOVAKIA such limited training are already beginning to complain of their lack of ability. These young men report for work without knowing the most elementary techniques in their field nor is there much likelihood of improvement in the future. If unchanged, however, such conditions will reduce a population with a higher than average educrutional pot.e n-U-al to a generation of robots . • • • A POLICY OF GENOCIDE Anton F. Wuschek After the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans there remained approximately 170,000 to 200,000 Germans in the area that now embraces Czecho~Slovakia. Many of them are still residing in their old homes in ,the Sudetenland, others have been transferred to original Czech areas. Along with the Hungarian, Ukrainian and Polish minorities in the CSSR, the German element is one of the largest ethnic groups that do not belong to the official nation of the S,:ate of Czechs and Slovaks. Little has been said of the existence of this German group within the past years. Not unti'l last year did they become the subject of considera,ble discussion within Czecho~lovak Communist Party circles, when, in connection with the ini:roduction of the new Socialist constitution in the CSSR the new status of the ethnic minorities was decided on. Whereas the new constitution gives a minimum of cultural rights to the Ukrainian, Hungarian and Polish minorities, it deprives the German minority every right to an autonomous group life. State President Antonin Novotny justified this fact with the statement that ,the German question was settled by the expulsion from their homes of some three million Sudeten Germans. The remaining Germans would thus no longer be considered as a minority. The logic of this s tatement was by no means given unanimous approval. Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czec'ho-Slovakia (CPC), Bruno Koh'ler, took the opportunity to discuss the Sudeten German issue in detail in the official organ of the CPC tivot Strany (Par:y Life, No. 16, 1960). Kohler justified 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 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 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 54 SLOVAKIA THE FAILURE OF COMMUNIST SCHOOLS By Eberhart Mahnert Red Justice ("Rude Pravo"), official Communist Party mouthpiece for Czecho-Slovakia, recently reported that thirty percent of the students enrolled in Czech and Slovak colleges and universities had to drop out. Only last Septem!ber, however, the same paper had lauded the socialist school system as the most efficacious an1d progressive, giving ,the indiviidual citizen the widest possible benefits by systematic development of his abilities. One month later the same news sheet had to admit the downright failure of the educational set-up it had so lavishly praised. Who is at fault? The teachers, of course, especially those not yet imbued with the "new spirit." A series of political purges is soon to be launched, despite the conspicuous shortage of teachers in Czecho-Slovakia, a situation likewise due to the "cleansing" that followed the Communist power grab. At that time an educational framework which had proved workable for a century and a half was jettisoned in favor of a Soviet-styled imitation. Until 1948 the Czecho-Slova:k school system was based on principles developed during the reign of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and her son Joseph II and found acceptance in the territories of the Danubian Monarchy. The first Czecho-Slovak Republic was careful not to alter this well esta:blished structure, which was the very foundation of the high educational level of the Czech nation. The case was different with the Slovaiks whom the Czechs did not allow to maintain their own schools of higher learning. With the communist putsch the " reactionary" school system was swept aside ; so-called reform measures were inJ:roduced. The entire structure was radically transformed to •duplicate its Soviet original, regardless of whether or not it suited the educational needs of the Czech and Slovak peoples. The new measures a:bolished the former system of five years of primary school, eight years of high school and four to five years of college. They introduced a new system with an eight-gra:de primary school plus an additional three years of secondary school .that were ap- SLOVAKIA 55 proved as an adequate basis for college entrance. Courses in certain subjects were reduced to half their former number, making it possible for a pupil to get a degree in engineering at the age of 19 or 20, where he was previously not ready for graduation until 22 or 23. Subjects that formerly had been given priority were placed un!der the new set-up by intensive courses in political propaganda that stressed Party ideology. During the years 1952 to 1953 a number of schools of technology were founded - today there are seventeen such colleges - many of them with but little more than the -crudest types of la:boratories, technical libraries and the like. Seldom does one find a textbook available; for the most part the students work from so-called scripts which they themselves have compiled. In selecting aspirants for -college preparatory schools and universities, the authorities show preference for children from proletarian homes, a tactic ,that envisages the complete annihilation of the Czech middle class with its high standar!ds of education. Some years ago it became evident that students educated under these new conditions, whose time was also taken up by paramilitary training, Communist Youth Association commitments and Party organization duties, Jagged behind in their studies. Furthermore, several weeks of the year are taken up in so-called "polytechnical training" at unpaid jobs in industry. Small wonder, then, thrut students who lack ability due to their "proletarian" origins, fail to stand the pace. They make up the bulk of the thirty percent forced to throw in the sponge. In 1959 the Czech Communist regime, following the lead of the Soviet school reform of 1959, also introduced new educational measures, the first stage of which will take effect in 1961 at the beginning of the scholastic year. To raise the educational standards of the general public, primary school will be extended from eight to nine years. "Polytechnical training," thus far encouraged only by the Czech Communist Party, will become obligatory, with intensification of paramilitary training. This shake-up of the school system to conform to Communist aims will certainly not· raise the over-all educational level. Today industries that employ "engineers" with 56 SLOVAKIA such limited training are already beginning to complain of their lack of ability. These young men report for work without knowing the most elementary techniques in their field nor is there much likelihood of improvement in the future. If unchanged, however, such conditions will reduce a population with a higher than average educrutional pot.e n-U-al to a generation of robots . • • • A POLICY OF GENOCIDE Anton F. Wuschek After the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans there remained approximately 170,000 to 200,000 Germans in the area that now embraces Czecho~Slovakia. Many of them are still residing in their old homes in ,the Sudetenland, others have been transferred to original Czech areas. Along with the Hungarian, Ukrainian and Polish minorities in the CSSR, the German element is one of the largest ethnic groups that do not belong to the official nation of the S,:ate of Czechs and Slovaks. Little has been said of the existence of this German group within the past years. Not unti'l last year did they become the subject of considera,ble discussion within Czecho~lovak Communist Party circles, when, in connection with the ini:roduction of the new Socialist constitution in the CSSR the new status of the ethnic minorities was decided on. Whereas the new constitution gives a minimum of cultural rights to the Ukrainian, Hungarian and Polish minorities, it deprives the German minority every right to an autonomous group life. State President Antonin Novotny justified this fact with the statement that ,the German question was settled by the expulsion from their homes of some three million Sudeten Germans. The remaining Germans would thus no longer be considered as a minority. The logic of this s tatement was by no means given unanimous approval. Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czec'ho-Slovakia (CPC), Bruno Koh'ler, took the opportunity to discuss the Sudeten German issue in detail in the official organ of the CPC tivot Strany (Par:y Life, No. 16, 1960). Kohler justified 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 Failure of Communist Schools Description An account of the resource Eberhart Mahnert Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 1 (33), March-June 1961 pp. 54-56 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mahnert, Eberhard Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1961 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/7faee7d435be46044f656ffd9b992786.pdf 76d70870c601eca9b12c18063bd56be0 PDF Text Text 56 SLOVAKIA such limited training are already beginning to complain of their lack of ability. These young men report for work without knowing the most elementary techniques in their field nor is there much likelihood of improvement in the future. If unchanged, however, such conditions will reduce a population with a higher than average educrutional pot.e n-U-al to a generation of robots . • • • A POLICY OF GENOCIDE Anton F. Wuschek After the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans there remained approximately 170,000 to 200,000 Germans in the area that now embraces Czecho~Slovakia. Many of them are still residing in their old homes in ,the Sudetenland, others have been transferred to original Czech areas. Along with the Hungarian, Ukrainian and Polish minorities in the CSSR, the German element is one of the largest ethnic groups that do not belong to the official nation of the S,:ate of Czechs and Slovaks. Little has been said of the existence of this German group within the past years. Not unti'l last year did they become the subject of considera,ble discussion within Czecho~lovak Communist Party circles, when, in connection with the ini:roduction of the new Socialist constitution in the CSSR the new status of the ethnic minorities was decided on. Whereas the new constitution gives a minimum of cultural rights to the Ukrainian, Hungarian and Polish minorities, it deprives the German minority every right to an autonomous group life. State President Antonin Novotny justified this fact with the statement that ,the German question was settled by the expulsion from their homes of some three million Sudeten Germans. The remaining Germans would thus no longer be considered as a minority. The logic of this s tatement was by no means given unanimous approval. Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czec'ho-Slovakia (CPC), Bruno Koh'ler, took the opportunity to discuss the Sudeten German issue in detail in the official organ of the CPC tivot Strany (Par:y Life, No. 16, 1960). Kohler justified the �SLOVAKIA 57 discrepancy in the minorities policy of the CPC with the remark, that according to the teachings of Leninism, a correct solution of the nationalities issue called for application of the principle of adjustment to ,the current political situations while giving consideration to the interests of Communism. During the first Czecho-Slovak Republic under Thomas Masaryk (1918-38) the Communists were the greatest proponents of a radical nationaliUes poli-cy in the CSR, aimed at the destruction of the Czecho-Slovak State. The Communists with KoMer as their spokesman vehemently condemned the attitude of the German parties in the CSR that were seeking a federative solwtion of the nationalities question within the scope of the existing State. Kohler criticized this stand on February 1, 1931, in an article in Roter Vorwarts (Red Forward), which reads as follows: " . .. The nat ional demagogy o.f au these Obour,g.eois German) parties climaxes in the demand for national self-administration and cultural autonomy' for the Ger1rnan ,people wi.thim, the Czooho-Slovak Stiate. . . . Na1tiona,l autonomy meanis, the recognition of ,t he CzechoSlo\naik State . .. means rejedion a priori of the self-determinat'ion right of the German ,people." Just how much Communist policy sought at that time ,~o make itse1f an advocate of the interests of the nonCzech ethnic groups in the OSR becomes evident from the address of the secretary of the Communist International, Dimitri Z. Manuilskij, before the second regular congress of the CPC : "Since the OPC recognizes the rig.hit of ,n ational seltfdetwminati,on, in'Cluding se•p ara,tion from the State, and combalts to keep nationa,l minorities wHhlin the fu-amework o;f State structure by means of force, it is obligated to demand·s posed ·by national minorities ag,ainst national ,by every possi'ble means." al~ attempts the pre-sent support the suppression But times have changed in the meanwhile and the interests of the Communist rulers in ,the CSSR are other than they were in Czecho-Slovakia during the period between the two world wars. The expulsion of the Su'Cleten Germans and the confiscation of their property were welcome conditions for complete communization of CzechoSlovakia. Bruno Kohler even admits this himself when he wriites, in the above-mentioned issue of Zivot strany: "The transfer of the Gernnan minority, t otalling mmions, did �58 SLOVAKIA not take plaice without difficulty, pa;rticul-arly for those a1ffocted ;b y the shidJt. . . . The consistent and timely solution of the problem of the Germain, minortiy proved to be especially advantageous dur.ing the glorious dayis of February 1'948 when the workers conJCentrated all their energies on achievling v,ictory over t-he reaction, on a victory tha1t finally made the road free for the estalblishment of SociaiJ.ism in our country." Today the CPC openly declares that the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans was a prerequisite for the victory -of Communism in the CSSR. In order to retain the fruits of this victory, the Red regime in Prague resists with all its might every ruttempt of the Sudeten Germans and the West to revise the expulsion of the rightful inhabitants of the Sudetenland. In trying to make permanent the injustice, the small minority of Germans still living in the CSSR today - because ,the authorities deny them permission to emigrate - are disregarded entirely. Not only are they disregarded, but systematic attempts are being made to do away with them altogether. At this point there begins a policy of genocide, a crime against international law. By conscious and deliberate action the Czech State leaders are trying to uproot an entire ethnic group by surrounding them by conditions that make it impossible for them to cultivate and perpetuate their native tongue and cultural attributes. Although international jurists may differ as to whether the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans as such, which took place in 1945-46, may be classified as genocide although expulsion measures were aimed at destruction of the entire Sudeten group - there may weH be unanimity of opinion as to the new measures in the CSSR with regard to the total extirpation of the German minority in the CSSR, thaJt this is planned anld systematicalfy organized genocide. Bruno Kohler already anticipates the outcome of this policy when, in the a:bove-cited article, he writes: "Due to the entirely different situation, the quesbion of the German minority had to be solved entirely differenltly from that of the Mlagyar, Ukrainian -and Po1ish minor,i<ty in the CSSR. This diltlference ,i s also evi'dent in the formulation of the republic's new constitution which legally crystallires an the important social changes we hav-e a!Mected. The constitutional text can con.tarn no stipulation as to something which no longer exiists, namely, a German minomty 1n, the CSSR." � 56 SLOVAKIA such limited training are already beginning to complain of their lack of ability. These young men report for work without knowing the most elementary techniques in their field nor is there much likelihood of improvement in the future. If unchanged, however, such conditions will reduce a population with a higher than average educrutional pot.e n-U-al to a generation of robots . • • • A POLICY OF GENOCIDE Anton F. Wuschek After the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans there remained approximately 170,000 to 200,000 Germans in the area that now embraces Czecho~Slovakia. Many of them are still residing in their old homes in ,the Sudetenland, others have been transferred to original Czech areas. Along with the Hungarian, Ukrainian and Polish minorities in the CSSR, the German element is one of the largest ethnic groups that do not belong to the official nation of the S,:ate of Czechs and Slovaks. Little has been said of the existence of this German group within the past years. Not unti'l last year did they become the subject of considera,ble discussion within Czecho~lovak Communist Party circles, when, in connection with the ini:roduction of the new Socialist constitution in the CSSR the new status of the ethnic minorities was decided on. Whereas the new constitution gives a minimum of cultural rights to the Ukrainian, Hungarian and Polish minorities, it deprives the German minority every right to an autonomous group life. State President Antonin Novotny justified this fact with the statement that ,the German question was settled by the expulsion from their homes of some three million Sudeten Germans. The remaining Germans would thus no longer be considered as a minority. The logic of this s tatement was by no means given unanimous approval. Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czec'ho-Slovakia (CPC), Bruno Koh'ler, took the opportunity to discuss the Sudeten German issue in detail in the official organ of the CPC tivot Strany (Par:y Life, No. 16, 1960). Kohler justified the �SLOVAKIA 57 discrepancy in the minorities policy of the CPC with the remark, that according to the teachings of Leninism, a correct solution of the nationalities issue called for application of the principle of adjustment to ,the current political situations while giving consideration to the interests of Communism. During the first Czecho-Slovak Republic under Thomas Masaryk (1918-38) the Communists were the greatest proponents of a radical nationaliUes poli-cy in the CSR, aimed at the destruction of the Czecho-Slovak State. The Communists with KoMer as their spokesman vehemently condemned the attitude of the German parties in the CSR that were seeking a federative solwtion of the nationalities question within the scope of the existing State. Kohler criticized this stand on February 1, 1931, in an article in Roter Vorwarts (Red Forward), which reads as follows: " . .. The nat ional demagogy o.f au these Obour,g.eois German) parties climaxes in the demand for national self-administration and cultural autonomy' for the Ger1rnan ,people wi.thim, the Czooho-Slovak Stiate. . . . Na1tiona,l autonomy meanis, the recognition of ,t he CzechoSlo\naik State . .. means rejedion a priori of the self-determinat'ion right of the German ,people." Just how much Communist policy sought at that time ,~o make itse1f an advocate of the interests of the nonCzech ethnic groups in the OSR becomes evident from the address of the secretary of the Communist International, Dimitri Z. Manuilskij, before the second regular congress of the CPC : "Since the OPC recognizes the rig.hit of ,n ational seltfdetwminati,on, in'Cluding se•p ara,tion from the State, and combalts to keep nationa,l minorities wHhlin the fu-amework o;f State structure by means of force, it is obligated to demand·s posed ·by national minorities ag,ainst national ,by every possi'ble means." al~ attempts the pre-sent support the suppression But times have changed in the meanwhile and the interests of the Communist rulers in ,the CSSR are other than they were in Czecho-Slovakia during the period between the two world wars. The expulsion of the Su'Cleten Germans and the confiscation of their property were welcome conditions for complete communization of CzechoSlovakia. Bruno Kohler even admits this himself when he wriites, in the above-mentioned issue of Zivot strany: "The transfer of the Gernnan minority, t otalling mmions, did �58 SLOVAKIA not take plaice without difficulty, pa;rticul-arly for those a1ffocted ;b y the shidJt. . . . The consistent and timely solution of the problem of the Germain, minortiy proved to be especially advantageous dur.ing the glorious dayis of February 1'948 when the workers conJCentrated all their energies on achievling v,ictory over t-he reaction, on a victory tha1t finally made the road free for the estalblishment of SociaiJ.ism in our country." Today the CPC openly declares that the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans was a prerequisite for the victory -of Communism in the CSSR. In order to retain the fruits of this victory, the Red regime in Prague resists with all its might every ruttempt of the Sudeten Germans and the West to revise the expulsion of the rightful inhabitants of the Sudetenland. In trying to make permanent the injustice, the small minority of Germans still living in the CSSR today - because ,the authorities deny them permission to emigrate - are disregarded entirely. Not only are they disregarded, but systematic attempts are being made to do away with them altogether. At this point there begins a policy of genocide, a crime against international law. By conscious and deliberate action the Czech State leaders are trying to uproot an entire ethnic group by surrounding them by conditions that make it impossible for them to cultivate and perpetuate their native tongue and cultural attributes. Although international jurists may differ as to whether the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans as such, which took place in 1945-46, may be classified as genocide although expulsion measures were aimed at destruction of the entire Sudeten group - there may weH be unanimity of opinion as to the new measures in the CSSR with regard to the total extirpation of the German minority in the CSSR, thaJt this is planned anld systematicalfy organized genocide. Bruno Kohler already anticipates the outcome of this policy when, in the a:bove-cited article, he writes: "Due to the entirely different situation, the quesbion of the German minority had to be solved entirely differenltly from that of the Mlagyar, Ukrainian -and Po1ish minor,i<ty in the CSSR. This diltlference ,i s also evi'dent in the formulation of the republic's new constitution which legally crystallires an the important social changes we hav-e a!Mected. The constitutional text can con.tarn no stipulation as to something which no longer exiists, namely, a German minomty 1n, the CSSR." � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 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 such limited training are already beginning to complain of their lack of ability. These young men report for work without knowing the most elementary techniques in their field nor is there much likelihood of improvement in the future. If unchanged, however, such conditions will reduce a population with a higher than average educrutional pot.e n-U-al to a generation of robots . • • • A POLICY OF GENOCIDE Anton F. Wuschek After the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans there remained approximately 170,000 to 200,000 Germans in the area that now embraces Czecho~Slovakia. Many of them are still residing in their old homes in ,the Sudetenland, others have been transferred to original Czech areas. Along with the Hungarian, Ukrainian and Polish minorities in the CSSR, the German element is one of the largest ethnic groups that do not belong to the official nation of the S,:ate of Czechs and Slovaks. Little has been said of the existence of this German group within the past years. Not unti'l last year did they become the subject of considera,ble discussion within Czecho~lovak Communist Party circles, when, in connection with the ini:roduction of the new Socialist constitution in the CSSR the new status of the ethnic minorities was decided on. Whereas the new constitution gives a minimum of cultural rights to the Ukrainian, Hungarian and Polish minorities, it deprives the German minority every right to an autonomous group life. State President Antonin Novotny justified this fact with the statement that ,the German question was settled by the expulsion from their homes of some three million Sudeten Germans. The remaining Germans would thus no longer be considered as a minority. The logic of this s tatement was by no means given unanimous approval. Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czec'ho-Slovakia (CPC), Bruno Koh'ler, took the opportunity to discuss the Sudeten German issue in detail in the official organ of the CPC tivot Strany (Par:y Life, No. 16, 1960). Kohler justified the SLOVAKIA 57 discrepancy in the minorities policy of the CPC with the remark, that according to the teachings of Leninism, a correct solution of the nationalities issue called for application of the principle of adjustment to ,the current political situations while giving consideration to the interests of Communism. During the first Czecho-Slovak Republic under Thomas Masaryk (1918-38) the Communists were the greatest proponents of a radical nationaliUes poli-cy in the CSR, aimed at the destruction of the Czecho-Slovak State. The Communists with KoMer as their spokesman vehemently condemned the attitude of the German parties in the CSR that were seeking a federative solwtion of the nationalities question within the scope of the existing State. Kohler criticized this stand on February 1, 1931, in an article in Roter Vorwarts (Red Forward), which reads as follows: " . .. The nat ional demagogy o.f au these Obour,g.eois German) parties climaxes in the demand for national self-administration and cultural autonomy' for the Ger1rnan ,people wi.thim, the Czooho-Slovak Stiate. . . . Na1tiona,l autonomy meanis, the recognition of ,t he CzechoSlo\naik State . .. means rejedion a priori of the self-determinat'ion right of the German ,people." Just how much Communist policy sought at that time ,~o make itse1f an advocate of the interests of the nonCzech ethnic groups in the OSR becomes evident from the address of the secretary of the Communist International, Dimitri Z. Manuilskij, before the second regular congress of the CPC : "Since the OPC recognizes the rig.hit of ,n ational seltfdetwminati,on, in'Cluding se•p ara,tion from the State, and combalts to keep nationa,l minorities wHhlin the fu-amework o;f State structure by means of force, it is obligated to demand·s posed ·by national minorities ag,ainst national ,by every possi'ble means." al~ attempts the pre-sent support the suppression But times have changed in the meanwhile and the interests of the Communist rulers in ,the CSSR are other than they were in Czecho-Slovakia during the period between the two world wars. The expulsion of the Su'Cleten Germans and the confiscation of their property were welcome conditions for complete communization of CzechoSlovakia. Bruno Kohler even admits this himself when he wriites, in the above-mentioned issue of Zivot strany: "The transfer of the Gernnan minority, t otalling mmions, did 58 SLOVAKIA not take plaice without difficulty, pa;rticul-arly for those a1ffocted ;b y the shidJt. . . . The consistent and timely solution of the problem of the Germain, minortiy proved to be especially advantageous dur.ing the glorious dayis of February 1'948 when the workers conJCentrated all their energies on achievling v,ictory over t-he reaction, on a victory tha1t finally made the road free for the estalblishment of SociaiJ.ism in our country." Today the CPC openly declares that the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans was a prerequisite for the victory -of Communism in the CSSR. In order to retain the fruits of this victory, the Red regime in Prague resists with all its might every ruttempt of the Sudeten Germans and the West to revise the expulsion of the rightful inhabitants of the Sudetenland. In trying to make permanent the injustice, the small minority of Germans still living in the CSSR today - because ,the authorities deny them permission to emigrate - are disregarded entirely. Not only are they disregarded, but systematic attempts are being made to do away with them altogether. At this point there begins a policy of genocide, a crime against international law. By conscious and deliberate action the Czech State leaders are trying to uproot an entire ethnic group by surrounding them by conditions that make it impossible for them to cultivate and perpetuate their native tongue and cultural attributes. Although international jurists may differ as to whether the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans as such, which took place in 1945-46, may be classified as genocide although expulsion measures were aimed at destruction of the entire Sudeten group - there may weH be unanimity of opinion as to the new measures in the CSSR with regard to the total extirpation of the German minority in the CSSR, thaJt this is planned anld systematicalfy organized genocide. Bruno Kohler already anticipates the outcome of this policy when, in the a:bove-cited article, he writes: "Due to the entirely different situation, the quesbion of the German minority had to be solved entirely differenltly from that of the Mlagyar, Ukrainian -and Po1ish minor,i<ty in the CSSR. This diltlference ,i s also evi'dent in the formulation of the republic's new constitution which legally crystallires an the important social changes we hav-e a!Mected. The constitutional text can con.tarn no stipulation as to something which no longer exiists, namely, a German minomty 1n, the CSSR."  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A Policy of Genocide Description An account of the resource Anton F. Wuschek Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 1 (33), March-June 1961 pp. 56-58 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Wuschek, Anton F. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1961 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/ccecf2d6faecb47803f7601dd89193b4.pdf 623fc71d8803f7c39c3278872b1bd716 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 59 * EAR!L Y SLOVAK ORATORIES: A STUDY IN SLAVIC-IRANIAN ARCIDTECTURAL TRADITION Joseph G. Cincik The group of medieval churches discovered in the past few decades at Stare Mesto and Mikulcice, Moravia, has not failed to elicit the attention of archeologists (1). It has already given rise to a series of scholarly studies, monographs, articles, and critical notes (2), ye: the original interest in the find is not likely to subside within the near future. And rightly so, for the find may throw a new light on architectural perplexities of the early Middle Ages in Central Europe. It is an established fact that the above churches to be exact, oratories and presbyteries, all of them being of rather small dimensions - were erected in the first, at the latest in the second third of the ninth century, i.e., during the pre-Roman Carolingian period of architec::ure. They stood on what seems to have been both ethnically and historically Slovak soil, a surprisingly large territory consisting of a major part of the present.Jday Moravia and of a major part of the present-day Slovakia, the area covering both banks of the Morava River. It is a well-known fad t that in the early Middle Ages the inhabitants of central and eastern Mora via were known as the Slovieni (Sclavini), and only later were they referred to as the Moravians, obviously after the Morava River(3) . From an ethnic point of view they were actually ancient Slovaks, a fact attested to beyond · a doubt by their dialecrts. The large-scale evangelization of the Slovieni began in the first half of the ninth century(4). At this time a new alignment of political, economic, and social forces emerged on both sides of the Morava River. Various Slovien families, clans, and 1triibes tended to unite under the leadership of their elders and chieftans. This tendency was especially *"MOST," quarterly for Slov:ak culture, Vol. VII, No. 3-4, 1960, Slovaik ,I nstitute. Cleveland, Ohio. �60 SLOVAKIA strong in the region of the Danube an1d the central area, the latter extending for West to the very Zdan Hills. The growth and unification of the ancient Slovak tribes was a phenomenon of considerable importance wilthout which the establishment of the first Slovak principalities would hardly be understandaible. The first principality to arise was organized by the Priibina dynasty (cca 830) in the N.iltra region, in the territory of present-day Slovakia. Members of the dynasty ruled the principality of Pannonia and chose Blatnohrad as their cap1tal (5). The Mojmir dynasty gained power under Mojmir I (from 836 on) in the lanlds of the present-day southwestern Moravia. As this dynasty controlled the so-called "Amber Route" the main commercial artery between the Baltic and Adriatic seas, - it appeared to be economically superior and, as a result, became the only dynasty to assume power in both the Slovak domains (6). It formed the nucleus of a superstructure that was to emerge as lthe Great Moravian Empire under the rule of Svatopluk I (the Great) around 870. Once esta:blished, the Great Moravian Empire - so called first by Constantine Po11phyrogen1tes, the Emperor of Byzantium - pursued a decisively expansive foreign policy(7). Soon it annexed the Slovien principality of Pannonia and gained, for a ltime at least, complete control thereof (8) . This former Roman province (Pannonia Superior) deserves our serious attention. Prince Pribina (830-861) and Prince Kocel (861-874; from 869 an independent sovereign ruler) became prominent by their zeal in spreading the Gospel and by building new churches and renovating old ones (9). Their activity created a period of Christian revival in Pannonia, a true renascence. It should be noted that only thus the survival of earlier Roman paleo-Christian arch.iltectural forms was made poss~ble (10). Nowhere is it more apparent than in the cities. There the ancient Roman tradition of stone and brick masonry did not die out entirely and could again be put to a constructive use. Builders commissioned by Pribina an!d Kocel had, besides, the opportunity Ito study and �SLOVAKIA 61 imitate earlier Roman structures, e.g., the antique Sophiana, ad Quinque Basilicas, in Pees (11). That they did not fail to do so is proven not only by the fact that recent findings pertaining to !~he Pribina-Kocel period were made in the proximity of a Roman sanctuary built according to the clover-leaf plan, but also by churches they themselves built or renova1ted, such as the trinave church of Pribina at Blatnohrad (12). 1 In comparison, the Christian architecture no1t h of the Danube, in both Slovakia and adjoining Moravia, and generally in the regions beyond the ·b oundaries of the Roman provincial tradition, was of a different nature. There the construction techniques and pa,tterns, space arrangements and space divisions developed to a degree independen1tly of the Roman traditions: a situation revealed to us unmistaka!bly by the group of oratories at Stare Mesto, Mikulcice, and lately Pohansko, near Breclav. The building materj.als used in this area consisted of irregularly quarried stone (opus incertum) and pressed and baked clay; wooden posts and ·b eams were quite common, willowreeds were equally frequent. The space division tended to be more simple, the dimensions were much smaller, very much unlike in some churches erected ( or patterned) on Roman foundaJtions in Pannonia ( 13) . The Pannonian needs called for large edifices to accomodate larger congregations; around these the faithful settled 1to live in the proximity of the early feudal and patronal manor to form thereby a large parish of the Carolingian type. Now, while the Slovieni in Moravia and Slovakia certainly did not fail later 1to re-use abandoned Roman fortifications and camps - and there are in these lands remnants of solid Roman edifices - a direct Roman influence on the ancient Slovak architecture was, to say the least, improbable (14). The dearth of stone block structures (opus certum) and brick masonry is, in this respect, revelatory. Yet 1the Roman military forts and observation towers on the northern border of the Roman Empire, formed between Vindobona (Vienna) and Aquincuum (Budapest), a rather long and impressive chain ; they did not, nevertheless, affect the basic architectural tendencies of the regions further North �62 SLOVAKIA from the Danube River. There an o1der, less elaborated type of structure, better suited for forest areas, retained its hold. Even an occasional presence there of solid structures, destined evidently to serve military purposes, should be interpreted with caution; it does not imply more than sporadic re-use of the Roman brick and stone masonry by the Slovieni ( 15) . Roman fortifications in this area have recently been searched with minute attention for eventual evidence of a Roman-Slovien relationship. As a result, the presence of the Slovieni in the forts, their use of !the abandoned Roman towers (e.g., Vysehrad) as shelters, can no longer be questioned (16). The enigma is, however, far from completely .solved. There still remains the hard problem of exact dating of the Slovien finds and, consequently, of the Slovien arrival to this part of Central Europe. At the presen!t, our only reliable criterion in this respect is the presence of the tyrpical wavy pattern on Slavic ceramics, a fashion, unfortunately, not older than the sixth century(17). On the other hand, no remnants are extant to show a previous direct Roman influence on pagan or Christian architectural 1trends north of the Danube, just as there are no finds to suggest such an immediate cultural continuity before the sixth century. Yet the Slovieni - and the Slavs in general - do appear in Central Europe as early as the fourth century A.D. We see them exerting pressure on rthe Danubian boundary together with the Sarmatians and Venedi ; they can be traced to adjoining Dacia. This we will try to prove in the near future, in a separate study, basing our conclusions on grey ceramics, not yet marked by wavy patJterns and frequent especially around the Tisa River(18). According to our thesis the Slovieni first entered Central Europe by way of eastern Slovakia and settled in the northern valley of the Tisa River as well as in present-day northern Transylvania (19). It is worthy of note, that, already at 1the time of Emperor Trajan (98-117), the toponymy of northern Dacia is in part of Slav character and thus reveals traces of Sarmatian, Dacian, and Slav co-settlements on both northeastern sides of the Carpathian mountain ridges (20). Recent archeological finds continue �SLOVAKIA 63 to support our view in this maJtter and, at the same time, attest to a considerable exchange in material culture (21). We believe that the architectural situation in the Siovien territories north of the Danube shoultd be studied against this larger background. As we have observed above, all Slavic material culture develops in the forest-covered Carpathian area where wood, clay, and woven reeds are used as the most convenient material. This occurred in the very shadow of the walled Roman castella and observation towers, streJ:ching from Vindobona through Aquincuum far to the north, to the Dacian, Sarmatian, and Slav cosettlements in northern Docia ( 22). It is of common knowledge that the Romans continued to build in masonry edifices of this type up to 1their evacuation of the territory ( cca 270 A.D.). It is necessary, however, to point out that the presence of Christian churches or oratories in Dacia at this period has not yet been proven ( 23) . Pannonia had Christian churches already in the fourth century (24). It was there that the Slav settlers became acquainted with Christianity, unless they had already known the Gospel in its Arian form during an earlier coexistence with the Goths ( 25). Ye:, the Pannonian Slovieni were the first to call their churches "kostoly," a word coined from the Latin Castellum (26). Protected by the strong walls of the Roman castella that lend themselves easily 1to new functions, the Pannonian Slovieni assembled in fortified castella to celebrate their liturgy with such Roman Christians as survived the Pannonian catastrophes. Nor were they alone doing so. It is more than proba·b le that the Arian Goths also used the same edifices during their migrations ,through Pannonia for purposes of worship. Soon the castellum became a synonym for Slavic oratories and churches, and eventually for all solid structures s8rving Christian liturgical needs in Pannonia and Noricum. In the second renascence of Christianity that took place, as we have seen, during the rule of the Slovak princes, the castellum - kostol was again used as a meeting place for worshi:p(27). This new period was marked by the progressive disappearance of the pagan Slovien liturgical terminology. The church was no longer terebliste or �64 SLOVAKIA zertvovisko, terms used formerly to describe a wide, fenceprotected yard around a Slavic and pagan shrine quasimegaron ( 28) . It was, first of all, a kosfiol. Words are symbols of reality, and it is hardly a mere flight of fancy to consider the new term of church, the kostol, as a symbolic culmination point of early fruitful contacts between the Roman civilization and the Slovieni in their original homelands beyond the Cal'pathians ( 29) . The architectural development in Pannonia enaibles us to study the early medieval ecclesiastical edifices in Moravia, so to say, by contrast. We have already pointed out their small dimensions and hinted at some of their characteristic particularities. At this moment we would like to follow Dr. F. Graus and call the reader's attention to the fact 1that their space arrangements are, in a certain degree, a mere conjecture based on negative traces of foundations and patterns discovered during the excavations. We believe that they offer us, nevertheless, important clues to the peculiar religious and social evolution of the Slovien territory aJt the beginning of the ninth century(30). As far as can be ascertained by the present state of the finds, early builders in this area were not just servile imitators of Roman Christian architectural tra!ditions. Yet they did continue tthem to a certain extent, since they separate the presbytery from the narrow apse, the latter often of quadrangular shape. It is equally worthy of note that the church at Modra, near Velehrad, follows the so-called Anglo-Saxon ("Irish") pattern (31). The relatively small dimensions of tthese churches suggest that they were meant to serve single clans, each of them individually. The new Christian community, actually members of the same clan, led by their elder or chieftain, would assemble around the church in the open yard. They would remain standing on the mounds ( valy) or behind them, as they were wont to during the pagan period when the place of worship was still a terebliste. '!'his custom bears a striking similarity with very ancient Iranian traditions (32). (It can be likensd also to Greece, for did not the ancient Greeks worship standing beneath tthe open skies, or, as it sometimes happened, under the cover of a �SLOVAKIA 65 peript.eros, on a plateau, t.emenos, outside the megaron?) The unusual number of oratories at Mikulcice and Stare Mesto, erected apparently within a short time one a.1lter the other, would present an insolvable enigma, were this ageold practice not taken in consideration. And let us point out that, to date, already five oratories (wi1th overall dimensions of 5 x 9-10 meters and 7% x 13¼ meters) were discovered on a small area fifty hectares (33) . The manner of burying the dead (particularly deceased chieftains) and the d ate of origin of these edifices indicate that ithere were no mass conversions (by pressure), but rather a gradual and free acceptance of the Gospel by the leaders of the clans and their families (34). That this occurred mainly in the first and second third of the ninth century is proved by 1the finds beyond any doubt. This impression is strengthened by architectural and architectonic features of the edifices. Their small dimensions in structure is of a pagan-Christian planning and, as far as the space and its use are concerned, reveals a functional duality. The edifice i1tself was traditionally reserved for the priest and his assistants while the courtyard was for the congregation. 1'his type of church architecture reflects both the gradual breaking-away of the Slovieni from paganism in the era of transiJtion from the family control over property held in common, or a distinctly tribal con1trol. It does not as yet reflect, however, the centralized management of civic and religious affairs that is to emerge only under Rastislav's and Svatopluk's reigns, (church patronate), at the time of St. Methodius. The churches at Stare Mesto and Mikulcice were not patronal churches, nor did they serve large parishes, as in Pannonia, or such as existed during the feudalistic period which followed (35) . By their square and rectangular forms, and Jtheir modest dimensions, they remain akin to small roofed edifices of the pagan times. Even the pagan outdoor treblist,e (the gathering place for worship and for the consumption of the offerings of the community) is preserved as i1t was probably in Pannonia, where the large courtyards of the former Roman cast.ella - kostoly needed no special adaptations for a similar use. Thus conceived, the Slovien churches �66 SLOVAKIA required neither the large roof-covered naves nor the spaciousness of the Pannonian city ,b asilicas. (The small rural density of population in Moravia and Slovakia aJt the time should also be taken into consideration). Let us note briefly that in all these open-space places of worship, the natural surroundings of the oratories remained unchanged, unless it was necessary to protecit them by mounds to assure privacy for the faithful present at the Mass, or, inn pagan times, at the sacrifice and consumption of animals ( 36). Mounds, rising above rivers and sloughs, were frequent already in the original Slavic homeland beyond the Carpathians; they wbound wherever the shrines were not protected by swamps. Later ramparts and mounds, erected around the rural shrines of Svantovit in Rujana, of Radgost (Svarozhich) in Rethra, Ptuj (Slovenia), of Perun in Kijev (Ukrainia), etc., manifest the same 1traditional pattern (37). In all these shrines the space division (a small roofed edifice with an a!djoining courtyard) is equally traditional. That this appears to be also the ancient Iranian pattern should cause no surprise, since trwces of a strong Iranian impact on Slavic culture have already been proved in the field of linguistics and mylthology(38). As far as the Slovien Christian churches in Moravia are concerned, we may, certainly, admit a gradual Roman influence, but only as a concomitant factor in their architectural plans. The question is, however, whether this influence has been imposed only on Anglo-Saxon ("Irish") architectural patterns, as claimed by J. Cibulka (39). The writer believes that this type of architectonic space arrangement of sanctuary and yard to be much older and, in territories of Slavs, also of Iranian origin. Considerations of the ethnogenetic nature make our view highly probable. The beginnings of the Slavic family of nations are closely linked, we believe, not only to their Baltic-Slavic linguistic substratum, but also to a common Scythian and Sarmatian civilizaJtion of Iranian origin ( 40). The Slavs were e:iqiosed :to a continuous migration of Iranian mythocreative elements in their original trans-Carpathian homeland and there is no reason to doubt that this impact gave �SLOVAKIA 67 birth to common Slavic architectural concepts and usages ( 41) This cultic and cultural situation must have reached its highest point in the first centuries A.D., at the time when the neo-Iranian ethnic waves began to exer\': considerable pressure on Slavic settlements, penetrating the regions both on the Antes and the eastern Slavic tribes. As these usages were 1the result of cultic requirements which, as far as we can judge, did not change essentially, it must be supposed that they follow the Slavs on their migrations. They spread, in fact, as far as ,~he Baltic (Rujana-Rugen) and the Adriatic and Alpine regions (PitujPettovo) and offered serious resistance to architectonic determinants prevalent in those lands prior to Slav occupation. Wherever the Slavic tribes escaped contact with the architectural heritage of Roman provinces, or, wherever they appeared en masse in depopulated areas, they preserved their own building traditions intact. In this connection we would like to stress the importance of a surprisingly "Slavic" adaptation of the then already existing pagan shrine at Ptuj (Pettovio, Slovenia). We are aware of the fact tha:t Christianity was making inroads above ,~he Danube already in the reign of King Samo (623-360) and that there exist Christian remnants of an even earlier period, such as ivory pyxes from the fifth and sixth centuries, found at Zuran (near Brno, Moravia), or stone caps from church pillars discovered in Seitenstnerhof, in the Merovingian borough of Vienna. We are equally aware of Roman building traditions prevailing in the provinces south of the Danube as well as of their renascence in Pannonia at the time of Pribina and Kocel. Nevertheless, we deem it our duty to link the architectural finds at Stare Mesta and Mikulcice with the older pagan, Slavic and Iranian, culture. We claim these edifices, in view of their space divisions and functional aspects, must also be inter,preted in connection wi!th such Slavic architectural trends as there existed between the fourth and ninth centuries and, among the Baltic Slavs and the Slavs of the Kijev region, up to the tenth cenicury. Their distinctly two-fold pattern which combines a rather tiny shrine with a large open-space courtyard, does not seem to admit �68 SLOVAKIA any other interpretation. For ;that reason, tentative comparisons with contemporaneous Christian churches in the near-by regions, while always useful and sometimes quite revealing, should be made with extreme prudence. Even where space seems to be almost centrally arranged (e.g., at Modra where four pillars probably supported a baldachino over the church altar, and not a narrow oratory ceiling as J. Ci'bulka claims), conclusions should be all but one-sided. The locale as well as the dimensions, arrangement, and the space function should always be taken as primary factors in all evaluations. We can only hope that such attention combined with useful analysis of all additional aspects of the finds will not fail to support also our· thesis concerning the preservaJtion of the Slav-Iranian elements or traces in the building patterns of that period. This we hum'bly submit for consideration to all who devote their talents to the study of the early medieval CentralEuropean arch~tecture among the Slavs. REFERENCES: 1. The discovel'y of a small church ,a1t IM odra (near Velehrad) was first reported lby J. Neveril in Naiinec (Ol-0mouc, '19111, Vol. 47, No. 295). By the same author: "Velehrad v olbraz'Cich" in SborniJc: velehradsky, Nova Rada, '1940, p.p. 76-80. I. L. Cervinka, Slovane na Morave a rile Velkomoravska, B11n:o, 1928. V. lli•ulby: Pruvodce vysta,v• kou z moravskych archeologickych vyzkumu, 1948, pp. 112-'14. Archeologicke rozhledy, Vol. 'l'-'2, Praha ,1949, pp. 3{H36; Vol. 3, p. 50, 109 sp. J. Poulik, "Jizni :Morav,a, zeme davnych Slovanu," Pravos,av• ny sbornlk na rok 1950, p. IJ112 sq.; same author, "Objev druheho k<ostela ve Starem Meste," Archeoligicke ro:zhlecly, Vol. 2, Praha, 1950, p. 12-22. 2. J. ctbuI:ka: "Velkomoravske kostely, objevene 1949 vo St,arem Meste," Praha, 1'950 (a mul,tigrap1hed lec,ture). V. Hruby: Stlare Mesto, Velkomoravske pohrebi~:e na Valach," Praha, 195 5, in Monumenta archeologica, tom. 3, edit. Ceskoslovenska akad.e mia ved (Dr. J. Bohm); a detailed monogr,a,p h of the finds, rich Mbliography. Hruby, Hochmanova, Pavelcilk: ''IKostel a pohrelbiste z dolby Velkomoravske na Modre v V·elehradu," Casopis Moravskeho Muse-a (Acta Musei Mo .raviae), V-01. Jill, Brno, 1955, pp. 412Jl26. J. Poulik: "Vysledky VY· zkumu na velkioon,or,avskem hradisti '"V•al:Y" u Mdikulcic," Pamatky ar· cheologicke, XI.JVl1IIII, Praha, '1957; sepa,rat-um; pp. 214-3116. J. Oilbulka: Velkomoravsky kostel v Modre u Velehradu a zacatky krest'anstvf na Morave, Praha, 1958, in Monumen,ta archeologica, tom. vm, ed'it. Ceskoslovens:ka akademia ved. J. Poulik: Velkomoravske hradilte Mikulcice: Pruvodce po archeoligickych vyzkumech:, Gottwaldow: Kr,ajElke niaklad'a-telsitvi, 1959; contains a good survey of four oratories found up to 1959 and indications of the tra:ces showing the 1 �SLOVAKIA 69 possilbility of the fift'h church on the location. F. Kalousek: "Velkomoravske hradiste Po'hans'ko u Breclave, in Archeologicke rozhledy, XillI, Pr.aha, 11960, pp. 496-530. 3. F. Trav,nicek: Moravska nareci, Praha, 1926, PIP- 14,118; and a geographilcal card showing the boundaries of the Slovak dialects in medie,v al and co111tempora11y Morarvia. J. :Po·ulik: Staroslovanska Moirava, Pra,h a, 1'!}418, pp. 107.ilOB, p. 111'2; see also PmtliJk's card (No.:H) illus1tra1ting the exten,srion of the Slovak dialects in Mmavia, based or. t'he research made by F. Tra¥nicek. J . Stanislav: Dejiny slovenskeho jazyka, Y.ol. 1, Bratislava, 11958; c'ha,pt. X. "'Sbr·e doveke sloven~ke jazy,k<ove uzemie, 1<. Moraivska dblast'," pp. 14'7·1'55; a good survey of ·opin,i,ons defended by V. Jagic, P. J. Safarik, 0 . ~aemmel J. L. Cervirrk<a, F. 'Dravnicek, J . V. Dekan, S. Schl\Vlaritz et al. P . .J. §a,f arik: SloYanske staroiitnosti, Praha, 11837, p. 7941: ''I think that a l ong time ago, i.e., before the political separation e.f.1fected bebween Hungary and Moravia, the line of di'Vision between the Ozelch and Slovak d<ialects ran somewhere through the center o'f Moravia, and not on t1he mountains dividing the prerent-day Hunga ry from Mo· ravia." 4. Cf. Libellus de conversione Bagaoriorum et Carantanorum ( cca. 87Q.J87,l,), and Epistola episcoporum BaNariensium ad Jo·ha nnem P. IX . .scripta a. 900. (In Monumenf\a Germaniae histol"ica Scriptores XI. pp. 1~115). Of. Migne, P. L. Y,ol. 113'1, col. 34138. F. Dvornik' The Slavs, Their Early History and Civilization, Boston, 1·956, pp. 7 6-81. J. G. Cirrci:k: Anglo-Saxon and Slovak-Avar Patterns of the Cuthbert Gospel, Slovak Ir.sti1tute, R:ome,Oleveland, 11958, pp. 7'1.f74 and pp. 83-88. ·5_ D. Rlapant: Pribinov nitriansky kostolik, 11941142, separa,tum from Elan, Vol. XII, No. 2-3. F. Hrusov:Sky: Sfovenski vladari, Scranton, P.a., 1'!~418; see chapt. on PriJbina , Kocel, and M,o.jmir I. 1 6. F. Bokes: Slovensky iivotny pr'ie5rtor v min.u<losti a dnes, Bra tislav,a : Cas, 1'943, p. 34. A. S1pe11ke: The Andent Amber ~ou,t es and -the Geog.raphical Discovery of the Eastern Baltic, Stoe'kholm: M. Goppers ('ZeUa A!bele). p. 60 s.p . J . G. Oincik: AncierJ Slovak Fibulas .and Pseudo.iFibulas, Ohic:igo-Whi:ting, 11957·; see caird Nlo. 1 for "the AIJlllber Rowt,e " and card N10. 2 showing the eX!tension of the s :ovak influenice in Central Europe in the sixth-tenth centuries A.D. K. Miajewctki: lmporty nymskie n'a ziemiac,h Slowanskic,h, Wro.claw: Wroclaiws:kie T•ow.arzystwo Nauk,o,we, 1949; see mau> No. 2, "Szlaky i ,rnk>ty burs2ltynowe ." 1 7. Constantinus Poriphyrogenitus : De administl'lando lmperio; in •Corpus scrip.t orum historiae Byzantinae, Bonn, 1,949, Edit. G. Morav,c:;;ik, Bud,a·p est, 11949; English v,ersion, by R. J. H. J,enkins. F. Dvornik: The Slavs, op. cit. p. 94. 18. The temporary ar.nex,a tion of Pannonia occurred after the death of Kocel, 87•5. F. Drvornik: op. cit. , pp. 95"9,6; see also the card " The Mioravi,an Empire c:ca 890," p. 99. :9, M. K:os: Conversio Bagaoriorum et Carantanorum, Ljuibljana, 1.93·6, p. 1136, chaipt. 111 sq. J. Ci.Jbulka : Vaclavske rotunda svateho Vf,ta, Praha, 1933; separatum of the Svatovaclavsky sbornik, pp. 1-li7:8; see pages 36 sq. "Kost-ely podunajsky•c h Slovan,u, je,j1ich stavelbnici a po1 �70 SLOVAKIA sveceni"; Cilbulka enumerates 312 churches consecrated in Pannonia at the time of Pribina and Kocel, t;wel,ve of bhern corusecratied personally by the A['chibislhop of Sa17Jburg. 10. L. Galdi: "Le Romanisrne transdanllibien.,'' Studi e documenti italo-ungheresi della Reale Accademia d'Ungheria di Roma, Vol. 1, Rome, 1936, pp. 3·9-40; note ·53: "Quant a l'irufluence slave qui apparut a une date relati'Vernent tardive, eUe laissa pro,'balblernent aussi des traices . .. II faut envisager aussi des contacts plus ou rnoins durables entre les Sla'Ves et les Pannoniens romanises." A. Alfoldi: "Tracee d'el Cristian•esirno dell'~poca delle grandi rnigrazioni in- Ungheria," Quaderni dell'llmpero, Rome, 1938, pp. 17-21. L. Nagy: "Pannonia sacra," Szem Istvan kiraly .Emlekkon,y v (ed. J. Seredi). Bud,apest , 11938, Vol. 1·, pp. 29-al48. T. von Nagiy: Die Geschichte des Chris, entums in Pannonia bis zu dem Zusammenbruch des romischen Grenzschutzes, in Dissertationes Pannonicae, series m. 112; a1nd. same author : "A pann6niai 6kerestzeny egyhazkozsegi bazilikak," Szepmiiveszet, Vol. :El, Budapest, 1,94!1, pp. 144Jll48; and' same author: "Zuim Problem der Kontinuti1tiiJt in Pannonien," Das Bildwerk (ed. F. Kup!feriberg), Berlin, 194'2, p. 3-'6. 11. Dercseny,i, Poganyi, Szentikiraly,i; Pees, Budaipest, 19,56, in Varoskepek, miiemlekek (ed. J. Paipp)), see ,p p. 7..S, 1'7"19 on Slavic 'b uilding activiby in the area of the paleo-Ohdsti-an cemetery and around the basilica; lso fig. 2, 3t, 3d about the renovation of aticient Christian buildings under Priibina and Kocel, p. 20. F . Fiiller: "Neuere Ausgralbungen in der cella trichora von Pees Wtin'fkirc hen)," Acta archeol ig ica, torn. X,I, fasc. 1-4, Bud apest, 1959, pp. 399-417. 1 '12. A. Von Radn6ti: "'Une Eglise du haut rnoyen age a Zalavar," E1: udes Slaves et Roumaines, Vol. 1', pp. 2'1•31•. T. von Bogyay: "Izkopavanja v Zalavaru in r..jihov-a zgodovinska razlag,a " Umetnostnozgodinski zbornik, N. S. 2, Ljubljana, pp. 2Ll-24S; s•a me author: Die Kunst und kirchengeshichtliche Bedeutung der Ausgrabungen von Mosapurz-Zalavar, Baden-Baden, '1956, in Forschungen zur Kunstgeschichtlichen und Christlichen Archeologie; same author: "Mios,a purc und Zala'Var: eine Auswertung der archeiligischen Funde und schrift.lichen Quellen," Siidost Forschungen, 1955, Vol. XiIIV, 2, pip. 349-406. D. DercsenyJ: "Uiabb regeszeti k11tatlasok es a pannoniai kontinu i" as kwrdese',, Szazadok, 1947, pp. 203-21Jl; same author: "l!Eglise de Pribina a Zalavar, Etudes slaves et rouma i•nes, Vol. I, 1•9418, pp. 85--100; same author: A magyar miiveszet tortenete, Vol. I, Budapest, 1956, pp. 12~18. L. Kararnan: "A propos de l'eglise a Blatnograd, ville de Baleton," Arc·heologia Jugos lavica, '1, 1954, pp. 91'96. Kararnan is persuaded that the tri-naved church of Pr~bin-a found in the locality of Receskut at Blatnograd (Zalavar, Mos,al)ruc) is of Romar. origin. G. Feher: "Les Fouilles de Zalawar (li9511..i195G)," Acta archeologica, Budaipest, li9514, V•ol. 4, pp. 201'-26Q. Feher claims that tJhe church (see note 10, p. 206J207) was erected, i n the time of Prince Kocel. 13. See the plans of Pannonian churches in L. Nagy and T. von Nagy, op. cil:. (Our note No. ,10). 14. L. Nlagiy: Azeskii teri r6mai erod, Pest, varos ose, Budlaipest, 1946; concerning the settlementJs of the Slav potter y producers in the old Roman cubiculae and their use of t'he niches for kilns. S. �SLOVAKIA 71 Soproni: "A visegradi r6ma,l taibor es kozepkori var," Archeo·l ogiai ertesito, Vol. 81, Budapest, 1,954, pp. 49-'.'13. The re,use of Rloman bricks in the early SLavic a['chilteoture in the proximity oif the DaJmbe River has been studied of.ten and repeatedly. For the latest da,ta peritaining to our field see Vera HoclrmainovaJV!avrova, "Sysitema,ticky archeologicky vy21kum u STS ve Starem Meste," Pravek vychodni Moravy, ed. Krajsky vlastivedny ustav, Gottiwald10v, 11959, pp. 73-7\5. 11,5 . J,. Dekan: "Stand und Aufgalben der Limesforschung in der Slowakei," in Vhe volume of lectures Limes Romanus Konferenrz, Nitra, ed. Slovenska akademia vied, .Alrcheologicky ustav v Nitre (A. Tocik, ed.), Bratislava, 195,9, pp. 111-48; a concise survey of the Roman proviillCial finds architectural structures in the river valleys of the Morava, Vah, Nitra, and Hron; es·pecially valualb le for the description of the castrum Milanovce (near Nitra) built in the second or third century A.iD. ,1,6. B. Svolboda: "Uebeir das Nachleiben der romischen Kultur in mibtleren DonaUlbecken," Limes Romanus Kon,f erenz, Nitl'a, p;p. 1072 1116. S. Soproni: "Der spatromische Limes wJsche•r.. Visegrad und Eszter~om," ibid., pp. 'lr.3•1~143. M. Hegy: Visegrad, Budarpest, series Mfremlekeiruk, 1'956, ,p. 10; see also t'he plan of the Roman castrum, fig. 3. 1'7. For the daita,tion, of the Slavic pottery previous to the sixth cerntury,, the so-called Prague type of ceramics (a simple urn wilth str,a igM mouth, made on a potter',s wheel or simp ly by hand's) is of a great value. Of. J. Borarkovsky's: Slovanska keremika ve stredni ,Evrope, Pr,a ha, 1940; same author: "Nejstarsi slov,ar.s'ka k•e remika ze stredni'ch Cech," Pamatky archeologicke, Praha, 1936-3-8. For the evoluti'on of the Slavic pottery patterns in Morava, cf the s:chemes based on th•e Velatice stratas and collected by J . Poulik and W. Hensel. See illustrations (No. ,276-2.'76) in Hensel: Slowianczyzna wczesnorednowieczna: Zarys kultury materialnej, Wai;szarwa: Pols:k,a akiademia nauk, 11956, pp. 281.;300; nd Josip Korosec: Uvod v ma• terialno kulturo Slovanov zgodnjega srednega veka, Ljulbl1ana, 1'9512, p. 1180 sq. 11,8. J. G. Oincik: Ancient Slovak Fibulas, etc., ip. 12, card 2 following p. 3-8. Our views hav•e found a new con'f irmation in t he the• sis of V. Ondrouch: '"Hist-odsche Vio r,a ussetzungen fiir die Limes· forsc'hwng in der Tschechoslowakei," Limes Romanus Kon,fe.renz, pip . 63Jl06, see also card No. L "•E thnigraphische Entw,ilcklung der Tschechoslowakei vom Ende des 1. J,a hrhundeints vor u. Z. bis zur Ankunft der ersten Slawen." 1'9. I. T. Kruglik!ov,a: Dakiya v epokhu .rimskoy okkupasiyi, Mos• cow: Akademia Nauk SSSIR, ]nmituit istorii i inst. istor. material. kultury, 11955, V,ol. 8, p. 163 sq. "Pri102ihenye: 0 svyazakh Daik iyi so Slavyanami." A. Tocik: "Vyznam poslednych archeologicikych vy2ikumov na Slov,e nsku pre dejiny najs,tarsich S'1ovanov a Vel'komoravskej rise," Historicky casopis S·A V, E!I, Bratislava, 1955, p. 4l12. Tocik believes thaJt the ar,cheoiogical finds made in eastern Slovak vall-eys of the ·Hornad and Torysa are from the fourth century A.D. and belong in. the sphere o.f the so-icalled Lipicka Culture; same author: "Prvi Slo·v ania na r.asom uzemi," Praca, 195 8, No. 1,96. 1 1 1 1 1 �72 SLOVAKIA 20. N. Iorga: Histoire des Roumains at de la Romanite oriemale, Bucuresti: Aeademie Roumaine, 19317, Vol 2, La Synthese slave, p. 296. E . Moor : "Die Slawischen Ortsnannes der Theisselbene," Zeitschrift fur Ortsnamen Forschung, VoL W , 1930, pp. 1-'317 and 105-ll40. The S1'avic toponomy of northern Dacia has been s,tudied by proif. SeVler Pop; 1his study published in the symposium Trans,y lvan1ia during the ]I_ W. W. was no t accessible to me. P . Olteunu: ' Wumiri slave in Trans,i•!Jvanie de nord," Limba li Literaturia, 11957, Vol. VIT!llI, pp. 195'214; same author : "Aux origines de la culture sl.ave dans la Tuansylvani e du Nord at le Maramures," Romanoslavica, 11958, Vol. 1, pp. 169-1'97. J . Stanislav: Dejiny slovenskeho jazyka, Bratislava : SAV, 1958, par. 4', "Slovenske sidla v hornom a strednom Po~isi," pp. 1180..164. 21. M. J . Bmjcevskij : Starodavni schidni Sloviani, Kijiv: Akad . Nauk Ukrailli>koy RSR, lnstirtwt Archeologiy;i, 19'59, erupt. 8, pp. 316-315'5, card on page 317. Of. the ediforiial introduction to SlovansJc:a archeologia, 1'960, Vlll.J, rpage 6; here a thesis is made concerning t'he Presov type i1111heren,t to the Przewoc,skio-Llrpicka Culture. 22. Structure reipresentatfons on the well-known Trnian a,i d Marcus Aurelius columns ir: Rome reveal the 'basic di.fference bet.iween the barbarian log-sty;le arohiteoture and the masonry-style of the Roman builc:Liin,gs in the Car,pa,thian Basin. In thi,s respect the analyitical p·hotograip'h ic study of the M. Aurelius colUJmn by G. Recatti seem s quite corwi n\cin.g. (Colonna di Marco Aurelio, Milano, Roma, 1957; for comparison see fig. 2, 14; for t he an t·hropological features of the Slavs or Sarimaitians see fig. 42). Via n der Heyden : Scullard·: Allas of the Classical World, Nelson and Sons, 1959, card 511 , p. 127, pp. 109-1'111. 23 . Except for the Christian inscriiption from cca 107...270 A.D., found in Napoca (Cluj), north of the Miaros River. See Var. de Meer, Miohr.mar:n: Atlas of the Early Christian World, Nelson and Sons, 1<958, card No. 8, "Churches founded before the per,secu1ion by Diocletian (304)." 24. See T. von Nagy : Die Geschichte des Christentums in Pannonien,, etc., our nlO'tle No. 10. 25. The Arian heresy spread among the Goths around the yea~ :t40, at the time of Slav-Gothic co-existence. 126. H . Bartek: "Krest'anstvo a slovencina," Nadej vit'azna, Sc-r anton, 1947, pp. 253. The Czech kostel and the ~olish kosci~I are derivatives of this Slavic pannonism. Of. also tJhe toponymic Keszthely ir: the matnohud district. D. Pais: "A r6mai castellum szlavimagyar folyrtat asa," Magyar nyelv, 1049, pp. 107~1,15. Amon.g the eastern and southern Slavic g,r oup, the term oiric:ev, crkva is a deriv,a-tio,n, of t'he Greek kuriakon.; it refers both to the Ohristian communtty and to the place o.f worship. AngI-crS'ax-0n kirchun, kirchen, kirk is of an Eastern Gerimani'c influence. 27. A . .Alfody: "Tracee . . . " (our note No. 10), p. 10, pp. 14•17. 28. B. A. R'y!balrov: Die Kunst der alten Slawen. Dresden, 1,957, in Geschi0hte der russic'1en ku~, Vol. 1, pp. 54-517, .All:fu. 5()-iSl. ,29.M. Szmiszko: Kultury wczesnego okresu epoki cenrstwa rzymskie go w Malopolsce Wschodniej, Lwow, 1932. M. B. Braj1 �SLOVAKIA 73 cevsskij: Rimska moneta na teritorii Ukrajlini, Kijiv, 1959, edit. Akademia nau:k Ukraijinsikoy RISR, Inst. Archeolog-ii. K. Miajews'l~i: lmporty rzymskie na zemiach slowianskich, Wroclaiw, .194'9, edit. Pra'Ce WrocI,aw. Toiwarzy&twa Naukovego; series A NlR li3. 30. F. Graus: ''K pofatkum krest'answi na Morave, Cs. casopis historicky, Vol. Vff-.3, Praha, 1959, pp. 4178-4813. A critical review of Oilbulka's monograph abowt the oratory at Mro dra. Graus stresses the importance of addit,i onal hell!l"istic work and comparahve material from the Bavarian and Austrian area. 31. K. Va,v rinek: "K otazce pocatku christianisace Vel'ke Moravy," Listy filologicke, Praha, 1'959, pp. 2117-224. Crirtircal r..otes to Cilbulk-a'•s thesis: The reotangular pattern of the edifice at Miodra is hardly saitis:liaotory proof of its "Irish" character. Vavrinek admits, however, that around 800 there were ''I.ri'Sh" missions in Slova!k ia and Moravia. 3'2. Of. Rylbalrov: op. cit., loco cit. J. Strzygow.~ i: Altslawische Kunst, Augsburg, 1929, FiSlclher Verlag, pp. 26-413. 33. J. Paulik: Velkomoravske hradiUe eltc. (our niote No. 2), fig. 3. ·3 4.The Christianization of the Slovieni in Moravia and Slovakia was not due to typical Oarolingian methods. The moderation used in. this respiect came prolbaibly from hchlbishop .A!lcuin of York. 3i5. Dvornik is right in say-ing that the beginnings of the early feudalistic patronage over the Church are to be looked• fior in Mroravia. T,h e sad oonlfNct 'b etween Svartoplu:k and St. Met hodius is a "prelude to the gigantic investiture struggle whic'h was to end so tragic•aUy in the disrupiton of Western Christiar.ity art; the Reformation" (The Slavs, etc., p. 95). 3•6. R!y,bnik<JIV: op. cit., p. 5'2, p. 54, note 1. 37. For the most com-plete survey of these shrines see Korosec, op. cit., pp. 1170;176. 38. '11he "Iranian" approarch in linguistics is represented by M. V-asmer, in my,thology by R. Jacobson (see his "Slavic Miy,thology" in Funk and w ,a gnall's Standard Diction~ry of Fofklore Myfhol09y and Legend, New Yock, N. Y., 1950, pp. 1025-1028). Adexinsiky: "Slavon-re My,thology" in Larousse .Eycyclopedia of Mythology, New York, N. Y., 11959. F. Dvor,n,i k: The Slavs ertc, pp. 46{iil; see also G. Vernadsky: The Origins of Russia, Oicford: Olarendon Press, 1959, pp. 1-08-117'3. 39. See the opinion of K. Y.avrinek, our nort No. 31. 40. J. ~boril: "Herodotova Skythie a sousede," Slovenska archeo• logia, Vol. Vl!I, 2, 1959, p. 363. Zboril tries to rehaibi'lirtart:e Safarik's theory of a S'cyitr<rSamnart:ian and Sfavic conrtinui,ey, attacked at the begiin,ning of our century by Niederle and- other overzealous ·posiitirvists. >fl. '11he Iranian influence on Sla,vic architectur,e is the thesis of J. Strzy.g01Wsk,i; uhe same influence on Slavic my.thology has been proved by R. Jlacobs,on. Our studies ("Slovak Ruler's Sword,," Scra,nton, 1947, a-nd Anglo-Saxon and Slovak-Avar Patterns of the Cuthbert Gospel, Rome-Oleveland, 1957) try to prove !:his influence, in tihe be exact, the neo-[ranian (Sassanid and A'bassid) influence, in the field o·f fine arts. � SLOVAKIA 59 * EAR!L Y SLOVAK ORATORIES: A STUDY IN SLAVIC-IRANIAN ARCIDTECTURAL TRADITION Joseph G. Cincik The group of medieval churches discovered in the past few decades at Stare Mesto and Mikulcice, Moravia, has not failed to elicit the attention of archeologists (1). It has already given rise to a series of scholarly studies, monographs, articles, and critical notes (2), ye: the original interest in the find is not likely to subside within the near future. And rightly so, for the find may throw a new light on architectural perplexities of the early Middle Ages in Central Europe. It is an established fact that the above churches to be exact, oratories and presbyteries, all of them being of rather small dimensions - were erected in the first, at the latest in the second third of the ninth century, i.e., during the pre-Roman Carolingian period of architec::ure. They stood on what seems to have been both ethnically and historically Slovak soil, a surprisingly large territory consisting of a major part of the present.Jday Moravia and of a major part of the present-day Slovakia, the area covering both banks of the Morava River. It is a well-known fad t that in the early Middle Ages the inhabitants of central and eastern Mora via were known as the Slovieni (Sclavini), and only later were they referred to as the Moravians, obviously after the Morava River(3) . From an ethnic point of view they were actually ancient Slovaks, a fact attested to beyond · a doubt by their dialecrts. The large-scale evangelization of the Slovieni began in the first half of the ninth century(4). At this time a new alignment of political, economic, and social forces emerged on both sides of the Morava River. Various Slovien families, clans, and 1triibes tended to unite under the leadership of their elders and chieftans. This tendency was especially *"MOST," quarterly for Slov:ak culture, Vol. VII, No. 3-4, 1960, Slovaik ,I nstitute. Cleveland, Ohio. �60 SLOVAKIA strong in the region of the Danube an1d the central area, the latter extending for West to the very Zdan Hills. The growth and unification of the ancient Slovak tribes was a phenomenon of considerable importance wilthout which the establishment of the first Slovak principalities would hardly be understandaible. The first principality to arise was organized by the Priibina dynasty (cca 830) in the N.iltra region, in the territory of present-day Slovakia. Members of the dynasty ruled the principality of Pannonia and chose Blatnohrad as their cap1tal (5). The Mojmir dynasty gained power under Mojmir I (from 836 on) in the lanlds of the present-day southwestern Moravia. As this dynasty controlled the so-called "Amber Route" the main commercial artery between the Baltic and Adriatic seas, - it appeared to be economically superior and, as a result, became the only dynasty to assume power in both the Slovak domains (6). It formed the nucleus of a superstructure that was to emerge as lthe Great Moravian Empire under the rule of Svatopluk I (the Great) around 870. Once esta:blished, the Great Moravian Empire - so called first by Constantine Po11phyrogen1tes, the Emperor of Byzantium - pursued a decisively expansive foreign policy(7). Soon it annexed the Slovien principality of Pannonia and gained, for a ltime at least, complete control thereof (8) . This former Roman province (Pannonia Superior) deserves our serious attention. Prince Pribina (830-861) and Prince Kocel (861-874; from 869 an independent sovereign ruler) became prominent by their zeal in spreading the Gospel and by building new churches and renovating old ones (9). Their activity created a period of Christian revival in Pannonia, a true renascence. It should be noted that only thus the survival of earlier Roman paleo-Christian arch.iltectural forms was made poss~ble (10). Nowhere is it more apparent than in the cities. There the ancient Roman tradition of stone and brick masonry did not die out entirely and could again be put to a constructive use. Builders commissioned by Pribina an!d Kocel had, besides, the opportunity Ito study and �SLOVAKIA 61 imitate earlier Roman structures, e.g., the antique Sophiana, ad Quinque Basilicas, in Pees (11). That they did not fail to do so is proven not only by the fact that recent findings pertaining to !~he Pribina-Kocel period were made in the proximity of a Roman sanctuary built according to the clover-leaf plan, but also by churches they themselves built or renova1ted, such as the trinave church of Pribina at Blatnohrad (12). 1 In comparison, the Christian architecture no1t h of the Danube, in both Slovakia and adjoining Moravia, and generally in the regions beyond the ·b oundaries of the Roman provincial tradition, was of a different nature. There the construction techniques and pa,tterns, space arrangements and space divisions developed to a degree independen1tly of the Roman traditions: a situation revealed to us unmistaka!bly by the group of oratories at Stare Mesto, Mikulcice, and lately Pohansko, near Breclav. The building materj.als used in this area consisted of irregularly quarried stone (opus incertum) and pressed and baked clay; wooden posts and ·b eams were quite common, willowreeds were equally frequent. The space division tended to be more simple, the dimensions were much smaller, very much unlike in some churches erected ( or patterned) on Roman foundaJtions in Pannonia ( 13) . The Pannonian needs called for large edifices to accomodate larger congregations; around these the faithful settled 1to live in the proximity of the early feudal and patronal manor to form thereby a large parish of the Carolingian type. Now, while the Slovieni in Moravia and Slovakia certainly did not fail later 1to re-use abandoned Roman fortifications and camps - and there are in these lands remnants of solid Roman edifices - a direct Roman influence on the ancient Slovak architecture was, to say the least, improbable (14). The dearth of stone block structures (opus certum) and brick masonry is, in this respect, revelatory. Yet 1the Roman military forts and observation towers on the northern border of the Roman Empire, formed between Vindobona (Vienna) and Aquincuum (Budapest), a rather long and impressive chain ; they did not, nevertheless, affect the basic architectural tendencies of the regions further North �62 SLOVAKIA from the Danube River. There an o1der, less elaborated type of structure, better suited for forest areas, retained its hold. Even an occasional presence there of solid structures, destined evidently to serve military purposes, should be interpreted with caution; it does not imply more than sporadic re-use of the Roman brick and stone masonry by the Slovieni ( 15) . Roman fortifications in this area have recently been searched with minute attention for eventual evidence of a Roman-Slovien relationship. As a result, the presence of the Slovieni in the forts, their use of !the abandoned Roman towers (e.g., Vysehrad) as shelters, can no longer be questioned (16). The enigma is, however, far from completely .solved. There still remains the hard problem of exact dating of the Slovien finds and, consequently, of the Slovien arrival to this part of Central Europe. At the presen!t, our only reliable criterion in this respect is the presence of the tyrpical wavy pattern on Slavic ceramics, a fashion, unfortunately, not older than the sixth century(17). On the other hand, no remnants are extant to show a previous direct Roman influence on pagan or Christian architectural 1trends north of the Danube, just as there are no finds to suggest such an immediate cultural continuity before the sixth century. Yet the Slovieni - and the Slavs in general - do appear in Central Europe as early as the fourth century A.D. We see them exerting pressure on rthe Danubian boundary together with the Sarmatians and Venedi ; they can be traced to adjoining Dacia. This we will try to prove in the near future, in a separate study, basing our conclusions on grey ceramics, not yet marked by wavy patJterns and frequent especially around the Tisa River(18). According to our thesis the Slovieni first entered Central Europe by way of eastern Slovakia and settled in the northern valley of the Tisa River as well as in present-day northern Transylvania (19). It is worthy of note, that, already at 1the time of Emperor Trajan (98-117), the toponymy of northern Dacia is in part of Slav character and thus reveals traces of Sarmatian, Dacian, and Slav co-settlements on both northeastern sides of the Carpathian mountain ridges (20). Recent archeological finds continue �SLOVAKIA 63 to support our view in this maJtter and, at the same time, attest to a considerable exchange in material culture (21). We believe that the architectural situation in the Siovien territories north of the Danube shoultd be studied against this larger background. As we have observed above, all Slavic material culture develops in the forest-covered Carpathian area where wood, clay, and woven reeds are used as the most convenient material. This occurred in the very shadow of the walled Roman castella and observation towers, streJ:ching from Vindobona through Aquincuum far to the north, to the Dacian, Sarmatian, and Slav cosettlements in northern Docia ( 22). It is of common knowledge that the Romans continued to build in masonry edifices of this type up to 1their evacuation of the territory ( cca 270 A.D.). It is necessary, however, to point out that the presence of Christian churches or oratories in Dacia at this period has not yet been proven ( 23) . Pannonia had Christian churches already in the fourth century (24). It was there that the Slav settlers became acquainted with Christianity, unless they had already known the Gospel in its Arian form during an earlier coexistence with the Goths ( 25). Ye:, the Pannonian Slovieni were the first to call their churches "kostoly," a word coined from the Latin Castellum (26). Protected by the strong walls of the Roman castella that lend themselves easily 1to new functions, the Pannonian Slovieni assembled in fortified castella to celebrate their liturgy with such Roman Christians as survived the Pannonian catastrophes. Nor were they alone doing so. It is more than proba·b le that the Arian Goths also used the same edifices during their migrations ,through Pannonia for purposes of worship. Soon the castellum became a synonym for Slavic oratories and churches, and eventually for all solid structures s8rving Christian liturgical needs in Pannonia and Noricum. In the second renascence of Christianity that took place, as we have seen, during the rule of the Slovak princes, the castellum - kostol was again used as a meeting place for worshi:p(27). This new period was marked by the progressive disappearance of the pagan Slovien liturgical terminology. The church was no longer terebliste or �64 SLOVAKIA zertvovisko, terms used formerly to describe a wide, fenceprotected yard around a Slavic and pagan shrine quasimegaron ( 28) . It was, first of all, a kosfiol. Words are symbols of reality, and it is hardly a mere flight of fancy to consider the new term of church, the kostol, as a symbolic culmination point of early fruitful contacts between the Roman civilization and the Slovieni in their original homelands beyond the Cal'pathians ( 29) . The architectural development in Pannonia enaibles us to study the early medieval ecclesiastical edifices in Moravia, so to say, by contrast. We have already pointed out their small dimensions and hinted at some of their characteristic particularities. At this moment we would like to follow Dr. F. Graus and call the reader's attention to the fact 1that their space arrangements are, in a certain degree, a mere conjecture based on negative traces of foundations and patterns discovered during the excavations. We believe that they offer us, nevertheless, important clues to the peculiar religious and social evolution of the Slovien territory aJt the beginning of the ninth century(30). As far as can be ascertained by the present state of the finds, early builders in this area were not just servile imitators of Roman Christian architectural tra!ditions. Yet they did continue tthem to a certain extent, since they separate the presbytery from the narrow apse, the latter often of quadrangular shape. It is equally worthy of note that the church at Modra, near Velehrad, follows the so-called Anglo-Saxon ("Irish") pattern (31). The relatively small dimensions of tthese churches suggest that they were meant to serve single clans, each of them individually. The new Christian community, actually members of the same clan, led by their elder or chieftain, would assemble around the church in the open yard. They would remain standing on the mounds ( valy) or behind them, as they were wont to during the pagan period when the place of worship was still a terebliste. '!'his custom bears a striking similarity with very ancient Iranian traditions (32). (It can be likensd also to Greece, for did not the ancient Greeks worship standing beneath tthe open skies, or, as it sometimes happened, under the cover of a �SLOVAKIA 65 peript.eros, on a plateau, t.emenos, outside the megaron?) The unusual number of oratories at Mikulcice and Stare Mesto, erected apparently within a short time one a.1lter the other, would present an insolvable enigma, were this ageold practice not taken in consideration. And let us point out that, to date, already five oratories (wi1th overall dimensions of 5 x 9-10 meters and 7% x 13¼ meters) were discovered on a small area fifty hectares (33) . The manner of burying the dead (particularly deceased chieftains) and the d ate of origin of these edifices indicate that ithere were no mass conversions (by pressure), but rather a gradual and free acceptance of the Gospel by the leaders of the clans and their families (34). That this occurred mainly in the first and second third of the ninth century is proved by 1the finds beyond any doubt. This impression is strengthened by architectural and architectonic features of the edifices. Their small dimensions in structure is of a pagan-Christian planning and, as far as the space and its use are concerned, reveals a functional duality. The edifice i1tself was traditionally reserved for the priest and his assistants while the courtyard was for the congregation. 1'his type of church architecture reflects both the gradual breaking-away of the Slovieni from paganism in the era of transiJtion from the family control over property held in common, or a distinctly tribal con1trol. It does not as yet reflect, however, the centralized management of civic and religious affairs that is to emerge only under Rastislav's and Svatopluk's reigns, (church patronate), at the time of St. Methodius. The churches at Stare Mesto and Mikulcice were not patronal churches, nor did they serve large parishes, as in Pannonia, or such as existed during the feudalistic period which followed (35) . By their square and rectangular forms, and Jtheir modest dimensions, they remain akin to small roofed edifices of the pagan times. Even the pagan outdoor treblist,e (the gathering place for worship and for the consumption of the offerings of the community) is preserved as i1t was probably in Pannonia, where the large courtyards of the former Roman cast.ella - kostoly needed no special adaptations for a similar use. Thus conceived, the Slovien churches �66 SLOVAKIA required neither the large roof-covered naves nor the spaciousness of the Pannonian city ,b asilicas. (The small rural density of population in Moravia and Slovakia aJt the time should also be taken into consideration). Let us note briefly that in all these open-space places of worship, the natural surroundings of the oratories remained unchanged, unless it was necessary to protecit them by mounds to assure privacy for the faithful present at the Mass, or, inn pagan times, at the sacrifice and consumption of animals ( 36). Mounds, rising above rivers and sloughs, were frequent already in the original Slavic homeland beyond the Carpathians; they wbound wherever the shrines were not protected by swamps. Later ramparts and mounds, erected around the rural shrines of Svantovit in Rujana, of Radgost (Svarozhich) in Rethra, Ptuj (Slovenia), of Perun in Kijev (Ukrainia), etc., manifest the same 1traditional pattern (37). In all these shrines the space division (a small roofed edifice with an a!djoining courtyard) is equally traditional. That this appears to be also the ancient Iranian pattern should cause no surprise, since trwces of a strong Iranian impact on Slavic culture have already been proved in the field of linguistics and mylthology(38). As far as the Slovien Christian churches in Moravia are concerned, we may, certainly, admit a gradual Roman influence, but only as a concomitant factor in their architectural plans. The question is, however, whether this influence has been imposed only on Anglo-Saxon ("Irish") architectural patterns, as claimed by J. Cibulka (39). The writer believes that this type of architectonic space arrangement of sanctuary and yard to be much older and, in territories of Slavs, also of Iranian origin. Considerations of the ethnogenetic nature make our view highly probable. The beginnings of the Slavic family of nations are closely linked, we believe, not only to their Baltic-Slavic linguistic substratum, but also to a common Scythian and Sarmatian civilizaJtion of Iranian origin ( 40). The Slavs were e:iqiosed :to a continuous migration of Iranian mythocreative elements in their original trans-Carpathian homeland and there is no reason to doubt that this impact gave �SLOVAKIA 67 birth to common Slavic architectural concepts and usages ( 41) This cultic and cultural situation must have reached its highest point in the first centuries A.D., at the time when the neo-Iranian ethnic waves began to exer\': considerable pressure on Slavic settlements, penetrating the regions both on the Antes and the eastern Slavic tribes. As these usages were 1the result of cultic requirements which, as far as we can judge, did not change essentially, it must be supposed that they follow the Slavs on their migrations. They spread, in fact, as far as ,~he Baltic (Rujana-Rugen) and the Adriatic and Alpine regions (PitujPettovo) and offered serious resistance to architectonic determinants prevalent in those lands prior to Slav occupation. Wherever the Slavic tribes escaped contact with the architectural heritage of Roman provinces, or, wherever they appeared en masse in depopulated areas, they preserved their own building traditions intact. In this connection we would like to stress the importance of a surprisingly "Slavic" adaptation of the then already existing pagan shrine at Ptuj (Pettovio, Slovenia). We are aware of the fact tha:t Christianity was making inroads above ,~he Danube already in the reign of King Samo (623-360) and that there exist Christian remnants of an even earlier period, such as ivory pyxes from the fifth and sixth centuries, found at Zuran (near Brno, Moravia), or stone caps from church pillars discovered in Seitenstnerhof, in the Merovingian borough of Vienna. We are equally aware of Roman building traditions prevailing in the provinces south of the Danube as well as of their renascence in Pannonia at the time of Pribina and Kocel. Nevertheless, we deem it our duty to link the architectural finds at Stare Mesta and Mikulcice with the older pagan, Slavic and Iranian, culture. We claim these edifices, in view of their space divisions and functional aspects, must also be inter,preted in connection wi!th such Slavic architectural trends as there existed between the fourth and ninth centuries and, among the Baltic Slavs and the Slavs of the Kijev region, up to the tenth cenicury. Their distinctly two-fold pattern which combines a rather tiny shrine with a large open-space courtyard, does not seem to admit �68 SLOVAKIA any other interpretation. For ;that reason, tentative comparisons with contemporaneous Christian churches in the near-by regions, while always useful and sometimes quite revealing, should be made with extreme prudence. Even where space seems to be almost centrally arranged (e.g., at Modra where four pillars probably supported a baldachino over the church altar, and not a narrow oratory ceiling as J. Ci'bulka claims), conclusions should be all but one-sided. The locale as well as the dimensions, arrangement, and the space function should always be taken as primary factors in all evaluations. We can only hope that such attention combined with useful analysis of all additional aspects of the finds will not fail to support also our· thesis concerning the preservaJtion of the Slav-Iranian elements or traces in the building patterns of that period. This we hum'bly submit for consideration to all who devote their talents to the study of the early medieval CentralEuropean arch~tecture among the Slavs. REFERENCES: 1. The discovel'y of a small church ,a1t IM odra (near Velehrad) was first reported lby J. Neveril in Naiinec (Ol-0mouc, '19111, Vol. 47, No. 295). By the same author: "Velehrad v olbraz'Cich" in SborniJc: velehradsky, Nova Rada, '1940, p.p. 76-80. I. L. Cervinka, Slovane na Morave a rile Velkomoravska, B11n:o, 1928. V. lli•ulby: Pruvodce vysta,v• kou z moravskych archeologickych vyzkumu, 1948, pp. 112-'14. Archeologicke rozhledy, Vol. 'l'-'2, Praha ,1949, pp. 3{H36; Vol. 3, p. 50, 109 sp. J. Poulik, "Jizni :Morav,a, zeme davnych Slovanu," Pravos,av• ny sbornlk na rok 1950, p. IJ112 sq.; same author, "Objev druheho k<ostela ve Starem Meste," Archeoligicke ro:zhlecly, Vol. 2, Praha, 1950, p. 12-22. 2. J. ctbuI:ka: "Velkomoravske kostely, objevene 1949 vo St,arem Meste," Praha, 1'950 (a mul,tigrap1hed lec,ture). V. Hruby: Stlare Mesto, Velkomoravske pohrebi~:e na Valach," Praha, 195 5, in Monumenta archeologica, tom. 3, edit. Ceskoslovenska akad.e mia ved (Dr. J. Bohm); a detailed monogr,a,p h of the finds, rich Mbliography. Hruby, Hochmanova, Pavelcilk: ''IKostel a pohrelbiste z dolby Velkomoravske na Modre v V·elehradu," Casopis Moravskeho Muse-a (Acta Musei Mo .raviae), V-01. Jill, Brno, 1955, pp. 412Jl26. J. Poulik: "Vysledky VY· zkumu na velkioon,or,avskem hradisti '"V•al:Y" u Mdikulcic," Pamatky ar· cheologicke, XI.JVl1IIII, Praha, '1957; sepa,rat-um; pp. 214-3116. J. Oilbulka: Velkomoravsky kostel v Modre u Velehradu a zacatky krest'anstvf na Morave, Praha, 1958, in Monumen,ta archeologica, tom. vm, ed'it. Ceskoslovens:ka akademia ved. J. Poulik: Velkomoravske hradilte Mikulcice: Pruvodce po archeoligickych vyzkumech:, Gottwaldow: Kr,ajElke niaklad'a-telsitvi, 1959; contains a good survey of four oratories found up to 1959 and indications of the tra:ces showing the 1 �SLOVAKIA 69 possilbility of the fift'h church on the location. F. Kalousek: "Velkomoravske hradiste Po'hans'ko u Breclave, in Archeologicke rozhledy, XillI, Pr.aha, 11960, pp. 496-530. 3. F. Trav,nicek: Moravska nareci, Praha, 1926, PIP- 14,118; and a geographilcal card showing the boundaries of the Slovak dialects in medie,v al and co111tempora11y Morarvia. J. :Po·ulik: Staroslovanska Moirava, Pra,h a, 1'!}418, pp. 107.ilOB, p. 111'2; see also PmtliJk's card (No.:H) illus1tra1ting the exten,srion of the Slovak dialects in Mmavia, based or. t'he research made by F. Tra¥nicek. J . Stanislav: Dejiny slovenskeho jazyka, Y.ol. 1, Bratislava, 11958; c'ha,pt. X. "'Sbr·e doveke sloven~ke jazy,k<ove uzemie, 1<. Moraivska dblast'," pp. 14'7·1'55; a good survey of ·opin,i,ons defended by V. Jagic, P. J. Safarik, 0 . ~aemmel J. L. Cervirrk<a, F. 'Dravnicek, J . V. Dekan, S. Schl\Vlaritz et al. P . .J. §a,f arik: SloYanske staroiitnosti, Praha, 11837, p. 7941: ''I think that a l ong time ago, i.e., before the political separation e.f.1fected bebween Hungary and Moravia, the line of di'Vision between the Ozelch and Slovak d<ialects ran somewhere through the center o'f Moravia, and not on t1he mountains dividing the prerent-day Hunga ry from Mo· ravia." 4. Cf. Libellus de conversione Bagaoriorum et Carantanorum ( cca. 87Q.J87,l,), and Epistola episcoporum BaNariensium ad Jo·ha nnem P. IX . .scripta a. 900. (In Monumenf\a Germaniae histol"ica Scriptores XI. pp. 1~115). Of. Migne, P. L. Y,ol. 113'1, col. 34138. F. Dvornik' The Slavs, Their Early History and Civilization, Boston, 1·956, pp. 7 6-81. J. G. Cirrci:k: Anglo-Saxon and Slovak-Avar Patterns of the Cuthbert Gospel, Slovak Ir.sti1tute, R:ome,Oleveland, 11958, pp. 7'1.f74 and pp. 83-88. ·5_ D. Rlapant: Pribinov nitriansky kostolik, 11941142, separa,tum from Elan, Vol. XII, No. 2-3. F. Hrusov:Sky: Sfovenski vladari, Scranton, P.a., 1'!~418; see chapt. on PriJbina , Kocel, and M,o.jmir I. 1 6. F. Bokes: Slovensky iivotny pr'ie5rtor v min.u<losti a dnes, Bra tislav,a : Cas, 1'943, p. 34. A. S1pe11ke: The Andent Amber ~ou,t es and -the Geog.raphical Discovery of the Eastern Baltic, Stoe'kholm: M. Goppers ('ZeUa A!bele). p. 60 s.p . J . G. Oincik: AncierJ Slovak Fibulas .and Pseudo.iFibulas, Ohic:igo-Whi:ting, 11957·; see caird Nlo. 1 for "the AIJlllber Rowt,e " and card N10. 2 showing the eX!tension of the s :ovak influenice in Central Europe in the sixth-tenth centuries A.D. K. Miajewctki: lmporty nymskie n'a ziemiac,h Slowanskic,h, Wro.claw: Wroclaiws:kie T•ow.arzystwo Nauk,o,we, 1949; see mau> No. 2, "Szlaky i ,rnk>ty burs2ltynowe ." 1 7. Constantinus Poriphyrogenitus : De administl'lando lmperio; in •Corpus scrip.t orum historiae Byzantinae, Bonn, 1,949, Edit. G. Morav,c:;;ik, Bud,a·p est, 11949; English v,ersion, by R. J. H. J,enkins. F. Dvornik: The Slavs, op. cit. p. 94. 18. The temporary ar.nex,a tion of Pannonia occurred after the death of Kocel, 87•5. F. Drvornik: op. cit. , pp. 95"9,6; see also the card " The Mioravi,an Empire c:ca 890," p. 99. :9, M. K:os: Conversio Bagaoriorum et Carantanorum, Ljuibljana, 1.93·6, p. 1136, chaipt. 111 sq. J. Ci.Jbulka : Vaclavske rotunda svateho Vf,ta, Praha, 1933; separatum of the Svatovaclavsky sbornik, pp. 1-li7:8; see pages 36 sq. "Kost-ely podunajsky•c h Slovan,u, je,j1ich stavelbnici a po1 �70 SLOVAKIA sveceni"; Cilbulka enumerates 312 churches consecrated in Pannonia at the time of Pribina and Kocel, t;wel,ve of bhern corusecratied personally by the A['chibislhop of Sa17Jburg. 10. L. Galdi: "Le Romanisrne transdanllibien.,'' Studi e documenti italo-ungheresi della Reale Accademia d'Ungheria di Roma, Vol. 1, Rome, 1936, pp. 3·9-40; note ·53: "Quant a l'irufluence slave qui apparut a une date relati'Vernent tardive, eUe laissa pro,'balblernent aussi des traices . .. II faut envisager aussi des contacts plus ou rnoins durables entre les Sla'Ves et les Pannoniens romanises." A. Alfoldi: "Tracee d'el Cristian•esirno dell'~poca delle grandi rnigrazioni in- Ungheria," Quaderni dell'llmpero, Rome, 1938, pp. 17-21. L. Nagy: "Pannonia sacra," Szem Istvan kiraly .Emlekkon,y v (ed. J. Seredi). Bud,apest , 11938, Vol. 1·, pp. 29-al48. T. von Nagiy: Die Geschichte des Chris, entums in Pannonia bis zu dem Zusammenbruch des romischen Grenzschutzes, in Dissertationes Pannonicae, series m. 112; a1nd. same author : "A pann6niai 6kerestzeny egyhazkozsegi bazilikak," Szepmiiveszet, Vol. :El, Budapest, 1,94!1, pp. 144Jll48; and' same author: "Zuim Problem der Kontinuti1tiiJt in Pannonien," Das Bildwerk (ed. F. Kup!feriberg), Berlin, 194'2, p. 3-'6. 11. Dercseny,i, Poganyi, Szentikiraly,i; Pees, Budaipest, 19,56, in Varoskepek, miiemlekek (ed. J. Paipp)), see ,p p. 7..S, 1'7"19 on Slavic 'b uilding activiby in the area of the paleo-Ohdsti-an cemetery and around the basilica; lso fig. 2, 3t, 3d about the renovation of aticient Christian buildings under Priibina and Kocel, p. 20. F . Fiiller: "Neuere Ausgralbungen in der cella trichora von Pees Wtin'fkirc hen)," Acta archeol ig ica, torn. X,I, fasc. 1-4, Bud apest, 1959, pp. 399-417. 1 '12. A. Von Radn6ti: "'Une Eglise du haut rnoyen age a Zalavar," E1: udes Slaves et Roumaines, Vol. 1', pp. 2'1•31•. T. von Bogyay: "Izkopavanja v Zalavaru in r..jihov-a zgodovinska razlag,a " Umetnostnozgodinski zbornik, N. S. 2, Ljubljana, pp. 2Ll-24S; s•a me author: Die Kunst und kirchengeshichtliche Bedeutung der Ausgrabungen von Mosapurz-Zalavar, Baden-Baden, '1956, in Forschungen zur Kunstgeschichtlichen und Christlichen Archeologie; same author: "Mios,a purc und Zala'Var: eine Auswertung der archeiligischen Funde und schrift.lichen Quellen," Siidost Forschungen, 1955, Vol. XiIIV, 2, pip. 349-406. D. DercsenyJ: "Uiabb regeszeti k11tatlasok es a pannoniai kontinu i" as kwrdese',, Szazadok, 1947, pp. 203-21Jl; same author: "l!Eglise de Pribina a Zalavar, Etudes slaves et rouma i•nes, Vol. I, 1•9418, pp. 85--100; same author: A magyar miiveszet tortenete, Vol. I, Budapest, 1956, pp. 12~18. L. Kararnan: "A propos de l'eglise a Blatnograd, ville de Baleton," Arc·heologia Jugos lavica, '1, 1954, pp. 91'96. Kararnan is persuaded that the tri-naved church of Pr~bin-a found in the locality of Receskut at Blatnograd (Zalavar, Mos,al)ruc) is of Romar. origin. G. Feher: "Les Fouilles de Zalawar (li9511..i195G)," Acta archeologica, Budaipest, li9514, V•ol. 4, pp. 201'-26Q. Feher claims that tJhe church (see note 10, p. 206J207) was erected, i n the time of Prince Kocel. 13. See the plans of Pannonian churches in L. Nagy and T. von Nagy, op. cil:. (Our note No. ,10). 14. L. Nlagiy: Azeskii teri r6mai erod, Pest, varos ose, Budlaipest, 1946; concerning the settlementJs of the Slav potter y producers in the old Roman cubiculae and their use of t'he niches for kilns. S. �SLOVAKIA 71 Soproni: "A visegradi r6ma,l taibor es kozepkori var," Archeo·l ogiai ertesito, Vol. 81, Budapest, 1,954, pp. 49-'.'13. The re,use of Rloman bricks in the early SLavic a['chilteoture in the proximity oif the DaJmbe River has been studied of.ten and repeatedly. For the latest da,ta peritaining to our field see Vera HoclrmainovaJV!avrova, "Sysitema,ticky archeologicky vy21kum u STS ve Starem Meste," Pravek vychodni Moravy, ed. Krajsky vlastivedny ustav, Gottiwald10v, 11959, pp. 73-7\5. 11,5 . J,. Dekan: "Stand und Aufgalben der Limesforschung in der Slowakei," in Vhe volume of lectures Limes Romanus Konferenrz, Nitra, ed. Slovenska akademia vied, .Alrcheologicky ustav v Nitre (A. Tocik, ed.), Bratislava, 195,9, pp. 111-48; a concise survey of the Roman proviillCial finds architectural structures in the river valleys of the Morava, Vah, Nitra, and Hron; es·pecially valualb le for the description of the castrum Milanovce (near Nitra) built in the second or third century A.iD. ,1,6. B. Svolboda: "Uebeir das Nachleiben der romischen Kultur in mibtleren DonaUlbecken," Limes Romanus Kon,f erenz, Nitl'a, p;p. 1072 1116. S. Soproni: "Der spatromische Limes wJsche•r.. Visegrad und Eszter~om," ibid., pp. 'lr.3•1~143. M. Hegy: Visegrad, Budarpest, series Mfremlekeiruk, 1'956, ,p. 10; see also t'he plan of the Roman castrum, fig. 3. 1'7. For the daita,tion, of the Slavic pottery previous to the sixth cerntury,, the so-called Prague type of ceramics (a simple urn wilth str,a igM mouth, made on a potter',s wheel or simp ly by hand's) is of a great value. Of. J. Borarkovsky's: Slovanska keremika ve stredni ,Evrope, Pr,a ha, 1940; same author: "Nejstarsi slov,ar.s'ka k•e remika ze stredni'ch Cech," Pamatky archeologicke, Praha, 1936-3-8. For the evoluti'on of the Slavic pottery patterns in Morava, cf the s:chemes based on th•e Velatice stratas and collected by J . Poulik and W. Hensel. See illustrations (No. ,276-2.'76) in Hensel: Slowianczyzna wczesnorednowieczna: Zarys kultury materialnej, Wai;szarwa: Pols:k,a akiademia nauk, 11956, pp. 281.;300; nd Josip Korosec: Uvod v ma• terialno kulturo Slovanov zgodnjega srednega veka, Ljulbl1ana, 1'9512, p. 1180 sq. 11,8. J. G. Oincik: Ancient Slovak Fibulas, etc., ip. 12, card 2 following p. 3-8. Our views hav•e found a new con'f irmation in t he the• sis of V. Ondrouch: '"Hist-odsche Vio r,a ussetzungen fiir die Limes· forsc'hwng in der Tschechoslowakei," Limes Romanus Kon,fe.renz, pip . 63Jl06, see also card No. L "•E thnigraphische Entw,ilcklung der Tschechoslowakei vom Ende des 1. J,a hrhundeints vor u. Z. bis zur Ankunft der ersten Slawen." 1'9. I. T. Kruglik!ov,a: Dakiya v epokhu .rimskoy okkupasiyi, Mos• cow: Akademia Nauk SSSIR, ]nmituit istorii i inst. istor. material. kultury, 11955, V,ol. 8, p. 163 sq. "Pri102ihenye: 0 svyazakh Daik iyi so Slavyanami." A. Tocik: "Vyznam poslednych archeologicikych vy2ikumov na Slov,e nsku pre dejiny najs,tarsich S'1ovanov a Vel'komoravskej rise," Historicky casopis S·A V, E!I, Bratislava, 1955, p. 4l12. Tocik believes thaJt the ar,cheoiogical finds made in eastern Slovak vall-eys of the ·Hornad and Torysa are from the fourth century A.D. and belong in. the sphere o.f the so-icalled Lipicka Culture; same author: "Prvi Slo·v ania na r.asom uzemi," Praca, 195 8, No. 1,96. 1 1 1 1 1 �72 SLOVAKIA 20. N. Iorga: Histoire des Roumains at de la Romanite oriemale, Bucuresti: Aeademie Roumaine, 19317, Vol 2, La Synthese slave, p. 296. E . Moor : "Die Slawischen Ortsnannes der Theisselbene," Zeitschrift fur Ortsnamen Forschung, VoL W , 1930, pp. 1-'317 and 105-ll40. The S1'avic toponomy of northern Dacia has been s,tudied by proif. SeVler Pop; 1his study published in the symposium Trans,y lvan1ia during the ]I_ W. W. was no t accessible to me. P . Olteunu: ' Wumiri slave in Trans,i•!Jvanie de nord," Limba li Literaturia, 11957, Vol. VIT!llI, pp. 195'214; same author : "Aux origines de la culture sl.ave dans la Tuansylvani e du Nord at le Maramures," Romanoslavica, 11958, Vol. 1, pp. 169-1'97. J . Stanislav: Dejiny slovenskeho jazyka, Bratislava : SAV, 1958, par. 4', "Slovenske sidla v hornom a strednom Po~isi," pp. 1180..164. 21. M. J . Bmjcevskij : Starodavni schidni Sloviani, Kijiv: Akad . Nauk Ukrailli>koy RSR, lnstirtwt Archeologiy;i, 19'59, erupt. 8, pp. 316-315'5, card on page 317. Of. the ediforiial introduction to SlovansJc:a archeologia, 1'960, Vlll.J, rpage 6; here a thesis is made concerning t'he Presov type i1111heren,t to the Przewoc,skio-Llrpicka Culture. 22. Structure reipresentatfons on the well-known Trnian a,i d Marcus Aurelius columns ir: Rome reveal the 'basic di.fference bet.iween the barbarian log-sty;le arohiteoture and the masonry-style of the Roman builc:Liin,gs in the Car,pa,thian Basin. In thi,s respect the analyitical p·hotograip'h ic study of the M. Aurelius colUJmn by G. Recatti seem s quite corwi n\cin.g. (Colonna di Marco Aurelio, Milano, Roma, 1957; for comparison see fig. 2, 14; for t he an t·hropological features of the Slavs or Sarimaitians see fig. 42). Via n der Heyden : Scullard·: Allas of the Classical World, Nelson and Sons, 1959, card 511 , p. 127, pp. 109-1'111. 23 . Except for the Christian inscriiption from cca 107...270 A.D., found in Napoca (Cluj), north of the Miaros River. See Var. de Meer, Miohr.mar:n: Atlas of the Early Christian World, Nelson and Sons, 1<958, card No. 8, "Churches founded before the per,secu1ion by Diocletian (304)." 24. See T. von Nagy : Die Geschichte des Christentums in Pannonien,, etc., our nlO'tle No. 10. 25. The Arian heresy spread among the Goths around the yea~ :t40, at the time of Slav-Gothic co-existence. 126. H . Bartek: "Krest'anstvo a slovencina," Nadej vit'azna, Sc-r anton, 1947, pp. 253. The Czech kostel and the ~olish kosci~I are derivatives of this Slavic pannonism. Of. also tJhe toponymic Keszthely ir: the matnohud district. D. Pais: "A r6mai castellum szlavimagyar folyrtat asa," Magyar nyelv, 1049, pp. 107~1,15. Amon.g the eastern and southern Slavic g,r oup, the term oiric:ev, crkva is a deriv,a-tio,n, of t'he Greek kuriakon.; it refers both to the Ohristian communtty and to the place o.f worship. AngI-crS'ax-0n kirchun, kirchen, kirk is of an Eastern Gerimani'c influence. 27. A . .Alfody: "Tracee . . . " (our note No. 10), p. 10, pp. 14•17. 28. B. A. R'y!balrov: Die Kunst der alten Slawen. Dresden, 1,957, in Geschi0hte der russic'1en ku~, Vol. 1, pp. 54-517, .All:fu. 5()-iSl. ,29.M. Szmiszko: Kultury wczesnego okresu epoki cenrstwa rzymskie go w Malopolsce Wschodniej, Lwow, 1932. M. B. Braj1 �SLOVAKIA 73 cevsskij: Rimska moneta na teritorii Ukrajlini, Kijiv, 1959, edit. Akademia nau:k Ukraijinsikoy RISR, Inst. Archeolog-ii. K. Miajews'l~i: lmporty rzymskie na zemiach slowianskich, Wroclaiw, .194'9, edit. Pra'Ce WrocI,aw. Toiwarzy&twa Naukovego; series A NlR li3. 30. F. Graus: ''K pofatkum krest'answi na Morave, Cs. casopis historicky, Vol. Vff-.3, Praha, 1959, pp. 4178-4813. A critical review of Oilbulka's monograph abowt the oratory at Mro dra. Graus stresses the importance of addit,i onal hell!l"istic work and comparahve material from the Bavarian and Austrian area. 31. K. Va,v rinek: "K otazce pocatku christianisace Vel'ke Moravy," Listy filologicke, Praha, 1'959, pp. 2117-224. Crirtircal r..otes to Cilbulk-a'•s thesis: The reotangular pattern of the edifice at Miodra is hardly saitis:liaotory proof of its "Irish" character. Vavrinek admits, however, that around 800 there were ''I.ri'Sh" missions in Slova!k ia and Moravia. 3'2. Of. Rylbalrov: op. cit., loco cit. J. Strzygow.~ i: Altslawische Kunst, Augsburg, 1929, FiSlclher Verlag, pp. 26-413. 33. J. Paulik: Velkomoravske hradiUe eltc. (our niote No. 2), fig. 3. ·3 4.The Christianization of the Slovieni in Moravia and Slovakia was not due to typical Oarolingian methods. The moderation used in. this respiect came prolbaibly from hchlbishop .A!lcuin of York. 3i5. Dvornik is right in say-ing that the beginnings of the early feudalistic patronage over the Church are to be looked• fior in Mroravia. T,h e sad oonlfNct 'b etween Svartoplu:k and St. Met hodius is a "prelude to the gigantic investiture struggle whic'h was to end so tragic•aUy in the disrupiton of Western Christiar.ity art; the Reformation" (The Slavs, etc., p. 95). 3•6. R!y,bnik<JIV: op. cit., p. 5'2, p. 54, note 1. 37. For the most com-plete survey of these shrines see Korosec, op. cit., pp. 1170;176. 38. '11he "Iranian" approarch in linguistics is represented by M. V-asmer, in my,thology by R. Jacobson (see his "Slavic Miy,thology" in Funk and w ,a gnall's Standard Diction~ry of Fofklore Myfhol09y and Legend, New Yock, N. Y., 1950, pp. 1025-1028). Adexinsiky: "Slavon-re My,thology" in Larousse .Eycyclopedia of Mythology, New York, N. Y., 11959. F. Dvor,n,i k: The Slavs ertc, pp. 46{iil; see also G. Vernadsky: The Origins of Russia, Oicford: Olarendon Press, 1959, pp. 1-08-117'3. 39. See the opinion of K. Y.avrinek, our nort No. 31. 40. J. ~boril: "Herodotova Skythie a sousede," Slovenska archeo• logia, Vol. Vl!I, 2, 1959, p. 363. Zboril tries to rehaibi'lirtart:e Safarik's theory of a S'cyitr<rSamnart:ian and Sfavic conrtinui,ey, attacked at the begiin,ning of our century by Niederle and- other overzealous ·posiitirvists. >fl. '11he Iranian influence on Sla,vic architectur,e is the thesis of J. Strzy.g01Wsk,i; uhe same influence on Slavic my.thology has been proved by R. Jlacobs,on. Our studies ("Slovak Ruler's Sword,," Scra,nton, 1947, a-nd Anglo-Saxon and Slovak-Avar Patterns of the Cuthbert Gospel, Rome-Oleveland, 1957) try to prove !:his influence, in tihe be exact, the neo-[ranian (Sassanid and A'bassid) influence, in the field o·f fine arts. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 59 * EAR!L Y SLOVAK ORATORIES: A STUDY IN SLAVIC-IRANIAN ARCIDTECTURAL TRADITION Joseph G. Cincik The group of medieval churches discovered in the past few decades at Stare Mesto and Mikulcice, Moravia, has not failed to elicit the attention of archeologists (1). It has already given rise to a series of scholarly studies, monographs, articles, and critical notes (2), ye: the original interest in the find is not likely to subside within the near future. And rightly so, for the find may throw a new light on architectural perplexities of the early Middle Ages in Central Europe. It is an established fact that the above churches to be exact, oratories and presbyteries, all of them being of rather small dimensions - were erected in the first, at the latest in the second third of the ninth century, i.e., during the pre-Roman Carolingian period of architec::ure. They stood on what seems to have been both ethnically and historically Slovak soil, a surprisingly large territory consisting of a major part of the present.Jday Moravia and of a major part of the present-day Slovakia, the area covering both banks of the Morava River. It is a well-known fad t that in the early Middle Ages the inhabitants of central and eastern Mora via were known as the Slovieni (Sclavini), and only later were they referred to as the Moravians, obviously after the Morava River(3) . From an ethnic point of view they were actually ancient Slovaks, a fact attested to beyond · a doubt by their dialecrts. The large-scale evangelization of the Slovieni began in the first half of the ninth century(4). At this time a new alignment of political, economic, and social forces emerged on both sides of the Morava River. Various Slovien families, clans, and 1triibes tended to unite under the leadership of their elders and chieftans. This tendency was especially *"MOST," quarterly for Slov:ak culture, Vol. VII, No. 3-4, 1960, Slovaik ,I nstitute. Cleveland, Ohio. 60 SLOVAKIA strong in the region of the Danube an1d the central area, the latter extending for West to the very Zdan Hills. The growth and unification of the ancient Slovak tribes was a phenomenon of considerable importance wilthout which the establishment of the first Slovak principalities would hardly be understandaible. The first principality to arise was organized by the Priibina dynasty (cca 830) in the N.iltra region, in the territory of present-day Slovakia. Members of the dynasty ruled the principality of Pannonia and chose Blatnohrad as their cap1tal (5). The Mojmir dynasty gained power under Mojmir I (from 836 on) in the lanlds of the present-day southwestern Moravia. As this dynasty controlled the so-called "Amber Route" the main commercial artery between the Baltic and Adriatic seas, - it appeared to be economically superior and, as a result, became the only dynasty to assume power in both the Slovak domains (6). It formed the nucleus of a superstructure that was to emerge as lthe Great Moravian Empire under the rule of Svatopluk I (the Great) around 870. Once esta:blished, the Great Moravian Empire - so called first by Constantine Po11phyrogen1tes, the Emperor of Byzantium - pursued a decisively expansive foreign policy(7). Soon it annexed the Slovien principality of Pannonia and gained, for a ltime at least, complete control thereof (8) . This former Roman province (Pannonia Superior) deserves our serious attention. Prince Pribina (830-861) and Prince Kocel (861-874; from 869 an independent sovereign ruler) became prominent by their zeal in spreading the Gospel and by building new churches and renovating old ones (9). Their activity created a period of Christian revival in Pannonia, a true renascence. It should be noted that only thus the survival of earlier Roman paleo-Christian arch.iltectural forms was made poss~ble (10). Nowhere is it more apparent than in the cities. There the ancient Roman tradition of stone and brick masonry did not die out entirely and could again be put to a constructive use. Builders commissioned by Pribina an!d Kocel had, besides, the opportunity Ito study and SLOVAKIA 61 imitate earlier Roman structures, e.g., the antique Sophiana, ad Quinque Basilicas, in Pees (11). That they did not fail to do so is proven not only by the fact that recent findings pertaining to !~he Pribina-Kocel period were made in the proximity of a Roman sanctuary built according to the clover-leaf plan, but also by churches they themselves built or renova1ted, such as the trinave church of Pribina at Blatnohrad (12). 1 In comparison, the Christian architecture no1t h of the Danube, in both Slovakia and adjoining Moravia, and generally in the regions beyond the ·b oundaries of the Roman provincial tradition, was of a different nature. There the construction techniques and pa,tterns, space arrangements and space divisions developed to a degree independen1tly of the Roman traditions: a situation revealed to us unmistaka!bly by the group of oratories at Stare Mesto, Mikulcice, and lately Pohansko, near Breclav. The building materj.als used in this area consisted of irregularly quarried stone (opus incertum) and pressed and baked clay; wooden posts and ·b eams were quite common, willowreeds were equally frequent. The space division tended to be more simple, the dimensions were much smaller, very much unlike in some churches erected ( or patterned) on Roman foundaJtions in Pannonia ( 13) . The Pannonian needs called for large edifices to accomodate larger congregations; around these the faithful settled 1to live in the proximity of the early feudal and patronal manor to form thereby a large parish of the Carolingian type. Now, while the Slovieni in Moravia and Slovakia certainly did not fail later 1to re-use abandoned Roman fortifications and camps - and there are in these lands remnants of solid Roman edifices - a direct Roman influence on the ancient Slovak architecture was, to say the least, improbable (14). The dearth of stone block structures (opus certum) and brick masonry is, in this respect, revelatory. Yet 1the Roman military forts and observation towers on the northern border of the Roman Empire, formed between Vindobona (Vienna) and Aquincuum (Budapest), a rather long and impressive chain ; they did not, nevertheless, affect the basic architectural tendencies of the regions further North 62 SLOVAKIA from the Danube River. There an o1der, less elaborated type of structure, better suited for forest areas, retained its hold. Even an occasional presence there of solid structures, destined evidently to serve military purposes, should be interpreted with caution; it does not imply more than sporadic re-use of the Roman brick and stone masonry by the Slovieni ( 15) . Roman fortifications in this area have recently been searched with minute attention for eventual evidence of a Roman-Slovien relationship. As a result, the presence of the Slovieni in the forts, their use of !the abandoned Roman towers (e.g., Vysehrad) as shelters, can no longer be questioned (16). The enigma is, however, far from completely .solved. There still remains the hard problem of exact dating of the Slovien finds and, consequently, of the Slovien arrival to this part of Central Europe. At the presen!t, our only reliable criterion in this respect is the presence of the tyrpical wavy pattern on Slavic ceramics, a fashion, unfortunately, not older than the sixth century(17). On the other hand, no remnants are extant to show a previous direct Roman influence on pagan or Christian architectural 1trends north of the Danube, just as there are no finds to suggest such an immediate cultural continuity before the sixth century. Yet the Slovieni - and the Slavs in general - do appear in Central Europe as early as the fourth century A.D. We see them exerting pressure on rthe Danubian boundary together with the Sarmatians and Venedi ; they can be traced to adjoining Dacia. This we will try to prove in the near future, in a separate study, basing our conclusions on grey ceramics, not yet marked by wavy patJterns and frequent especially around the Tisa River(18). According to our thesis the Slovieni first entered Central Europe by way of eastern Slovakia and settled in the northern valley of the Tisa River as well as in present-day northern Transylvania (19). It is worthy of note, that, already at 1the time of Emperor Trajan (98-117), the toponymy of northern Dacia is in part of Slav character and thus reveals traces of Sarmatian, Dacian, and Slav co-settlements on both northeastern sides of the Carpathian mountain ridges (20). Recent archeological finds continue SLOVAKIA 63 to support our view in this maJtter and, at the same time, attest to a considerable exchange in material culture (21). We believe that the architectural situation in the Siovien territories north of the Danube shoultd be studied against this larger background. As we have observed above, all Slavic material culture develops in the forest-covered Carpathian area where wood, clay, and woven reeds are used as the most convenient material. This occurred in the very shadow of the walled Roman castella and observation towers, streJ:ching from Vindobona through Aquincuum far to the north, to the Dacian, Sarmatian, and Slav cosettlements in northern Docia ( 22). It is of common knowledge that the Romans continued to build in masonry edifices of this type up to 1their evacuation of the territory ( cca 270 A.D.). It is necessary, however, to point out that the presence of Christian churches or oratories in Dacia at this period has not yet been proven ( 23) . Pannonia had Christian churches already in the fourth century (24). It was there that the Slav settlers became acquainted with Christianity, unless they had already known the Gospel in its Arian form during an earlier coexistence with the Goths ( 25). Ye:, the Pannonian Slovieni were the first to call their churches "kostoly," a word coined from the Latin Castellum (26). Protected by the strong walls of the Roman castella that lend themselves easily 1to new functions, the Pannonian Slovieni assembled in fortified castella to celebrate their liturgy with such Roman Christians as survived the Pannonian catastrophes. Nor were they alone doing so. It is more than proba·b le that the Arian Goths also used the same edifices during their migrations ,through Pannonia for purposes of worship. Soon the castellum became a synonym for Slavic oratories and churches, and eventually for all solid structures s8rving Christian liturgical needs in Pannonia and Noricum. In the second renascence of Christianity that took place, as we have seen, during the rule of the Slovak princes, the castellum - kostol was again used as a meeting place for worshi:p(27). This new period was marked by the progressive disappearance of the pagan Slovien liturgical terminology. The church was no longer terebliste or 64 SLOVAKIA zertvovisko, terms used formerly to describe a wide, fenceprotected yard around a Slavic and pagan shrine quasimegaron ( 28) . It was, first of all, a kosfiol. Words are symbols of reality, and it is hardly a mere flight of fancy to consider the new term of church, the kostol, as a symbolic culmination point of early fruitful contacts between the Roman civilization and the Slovieni in their original homelands beyond the Cal'pathians ( 29) . The architectural development in Pannonia enaibles us to study the early medieval ecclesiastical edifices in Moravia, so to say, by contrast. We have already pointed out their small dimensions and hinted at some of their characteristic particularities. At this moment we would like to follow Dr. F. Graus and call the reader's attention to the fact 1that their space arrangements are, in a certain degree, a mere conjecture based on negative traces of foundations and patterns discovered during the excavations. We believe that they offer us, nevertheless, important clues to the peculiar religious and social evolution of the Slovien territory aJt the beginning of the ninth century(30). As far as can be ascertained by the present state of the finds, early builders in this area were not just servile imitators of Roman Christian architectural tra!ditions. Yet they did continue tthem to a certain extent, since they separate the presbytery from the narrow apse, the latter often of quadrangular shape. It is equally worthy of note that the church at Modra, near Velehrad, follows the so-called Anglo-Saxon ("Irish") pattern (31). The relatively small dimensions of tthese churches suggest that they were meant to serve single clans, each of them individually. The new Christian community, actually members of the same clan, led by their elder or chieftain, would assemble around the church in the open yard. They would remain standing on the mounds ( valy) or behind them, as they were wont to during the pagan period when the place of worship was still a terebliste. '!'his custom bears a striking similarity with very ancient Iranian traditions (32). (It can be likensd also to Greece, for did not the ancient Greeks worship standing beneath tthe open skies, or, as it sometimes happened, under the cover of a SLOVAKIA 65 peript.eros, on a plateau, t.emenos, outside the megaron?) The unusual number of oratories at Mikulcice and Stare Mesto, erected apparently within a short time one a.1lter the other, would present an insolvable enigma, were this ageold practice not taken in consideration. And let us point out that, to date, already five oratories (wi1th overall dimensions of 5 x 9-10 meters and 7% x 13¼ meters) were discovered on a small area fifty hectares (33) . The manner of burying the dead (particularly deceased chieftains) and the d ate of origin of these edifices indicate that ithere were no mass conversions (by pressure), but rather a gradual and free acceptance of the Gospel by the leaders of the clans and their families (34). That this occurred mainly in the first and second third of the ninth century is proved by 1the finds beyond any doubt. This impression is strengthened by architectural and architectonic features of the edifices. Their small dimensions in structure is of a pagan-Christian planning and, as far as the space and its use are concerned, reveals a functional duality. The edifice i1tself was traditionally reserved for the priest and his assistants while the courtyard was for the congregation. 1'his type of church architecture reflects both the gradual breaking-away of the Slovieni from paganism in the era of transiJtion from the family control over property held in common, or a distinctly tribal con1trol. It does not as yet reflect, however, the centralized management of civic and religious affairs that is to emerge only under Rastislav's and Svatopluk's reigns, (church patronate), at the time of St. Methodius. The churches at Stare Mesto and Mikulcice were not patronal churches, nor did they serve large parishes, as in Pannonia, or such as existed during the feudalistic period which followed (35) . By their square and rectangular forms, and Jtheir modest dimensions, they remain akin to small roofed edifices of the pagan times. Even the pagan outdoor treblist,e (the gathering place for worship and for the consumption of the offerings of the community) is preserved as i1t was probably in Pannonia, where the large courtyards of the former Roman cast.ella - kostoly needed no special adaptations for a similar use. Thus conceived, the Slovien churches 66 SLOVAKIA required neither the large roof-covered naves nor the spaciousness of the Pannonian city ,b asilicas. (The small rural density of population in Moravia and Slovakia aJt the time should also be taken into consideration). Let us note briefly that in all these open-space places of worship, the natural surroundings of the oratories remained unchanged, unless it was necessary to protecit them by mounds to assure privacy for the faithful present at the Mass, or, inn pagan times, at the sacrifice and consumption of animals ( 36). Mounds, rising above rivers and sloughs, were frequent already in the original Slavic homeland beyond the Carpathians; they wbound wherever the shrines were not protected by swamps. Later ramparts and mounds, erected around the rural shrines of Svantovit in Rujana, of Radgost (Svarozhich) in Rethra, Ptuj (Slovenia), of Perun in Kijev (Ukrainia), etc., manifest the same 1traditional pattern (37). In all these shrines the space division (a small roofed edifice with an a!djoining courtyard) is equally traditional. That this appears to be also the ancient Iranian pattern should cause no surprise, since trwces of a strong Iranian impact on Slavic culture have already been proved in the field of linguistics and mylthology(38). As far as the Slovien Christian churches in Moravia are concerned, we may, certainly, admit a gradual Roman influence, but only as a concomitant factor in their architectural plans. The question is, however, whether this influence has been imposed only on Anglo-Saxon ("Irish") architectural patterns, as claimed by J. Cibulka (39). The writer believes that this type of architectonic space arrangement of sanctuary and yard to be much older and, in territories of Slavs, also of Iranian origin. Considerations of the ethnogenetic nature make our view highly probable. The beginnings of the Slavic family of nations are closely linked, we believe, not only to their Baltic-Slavic linguistic substratum, but also to a common Scythian and Sarmatian civilizaJtion of Iranian origin ( 40). The Slavs were e:iqiosed :to a continuous migration of Iranian mythocreative elements in their original trans-Carpathian homeland and there is no reason to doubt that this impact gave SLOVAKIA 67 birth to common Slavic architectural concepts and usages ( 41) This cultic and cultural situation must have reached its highest point in the first centuries A.D., at the time when the neo-Iranian ethnic waves began to exer\': considerable pressure on Slavic settlements, penetrating the regions both on the Antes and the eastern Slavic tribes. As these usages were 1the result of cultic requirements which, as far as we can judge, did not change essentially, it must be supposed that they follow the Slavs on their migrations. They spread, in fact, as far as ,~he Baltic (Rujana-Rugen) and the Adriatic and Alpine regions (PitujPettovo) and offered serious resistance to architectonic determinants prevalent in those lands prior to Slav occupation. Wherever the Slavic tribes escaped contact with the architectural heritage of Roman provinces, or, wherever they appeared en masse in depopulated areas, they preserved their own building traditions intact. In this connection we would like to stress the importance of a surprisingly "Slavic" adaptation of the then already existing pagan shrine at Ptuj (Pettovio, Slovenia). We are aware of the fact tha:t Christianity was making inroads above ,~he Danube already in the reign of King Samo (623-360) and that there exist Christian remnants of an even earlier period, such as ivory pyxes from the fifth and sixth centuries, found at Zuran (near Brno, Moravia), or stone caps from church pillars discovered in Seitenstnerhof, in the Merovingian borough of Vienna. We are equally aware of Roman building traditions prevailing in the provinces south of the Danube as well as of their renascence in Pannonia at the time of Pribina and Kocel. Nevertheless, we deem it our duty to link the architectural finds at Stare Mesta and Mikulcice with the older pagan, Slavic and Iranian, culture. We claim these edifices, in view of their space divisions and functional aspects, must also be inter,preted in connection wi!th such Slavic architectural trends as there existed between the fourth and ninth centuries and, among the Baltic Slavs and the Slavs of the Kijev region, up to the tenth cenicury. Their distinctly two-fold pattern which combines a rather tiny shrine with a large open-space courtyard, does not seem to admit 68 SLOVAKIA any other interpretation. For ;that reason, tentative comparisons with contemporaneous Christian churches in the near-by regions, while always useful and sometimes quite revealing, should be made with extreme prudence. Even where space seems to be almost centrally arranged (e.g., at Modra where four pillars probably supported a baldachino over the church altar, and not a narrow oratory ceiling as J. Ci'bulka claims), conclusions should be all but one-sided. The locale as well as the dimensions, arrangement, and the space function should always be taken as primary factors in all evaluations. We can only hope that such attention combined with useful analysis of all additional aspects of the finds will not fail to support also our· thesis concerning the preservaJtion of the Slav-Iranian elements or traces in the building patterns of that period. This we hum'bly submit for consideration to all who devote their talents to the study of the early medieval CentralEuropean arch~tecture among the Slavs. REFERENCES: 1. The discovel'y of a small church ,a1t IM odra (near Velehrad) was first reported lby J. Neveril in Naiinec (Ol-0mouc, '19111, Vol. 47, No. 295). By the same author: "Velehrad v olbraz'Cich" in SborniJc: velehradsky, Nova Rada, '1940, p.p. 76-80. I. L. Cervinka, Slovane na Morave a rile Velkomoravska, B11n:o, 1928. V. lli•ulby: Pruvodce vysta,v• kou z moravskych archeologickych vyzkumu, 1948, pp. 112-'14. Archeologicke rozhledy, Vol. 'l'-'2, Praha ,1949, pp. 3{H36; Vol. 3, p. 50, 109 sp. J. Poulik, "Jizni :Morav,a, zeme davnych Slovanu," Pravos,av• ny sbornlk na rok 1950, p. IJ112 sq.; same author, "Objev druheho k<ostela ve Starem Meste," Archeoligicke ro:zhlecly, Vol. 2, Praha, 1950, p. 12-22. 2. J. ctbuI:ka: "Velkomoravske kostely, objevene 1949 vo St,arem Meste," Praha, 1'950 (a mul,tigrap1hed lec,ture). V. Hruby: Stlare Mesto, Velkomoravske pohrebi~:e na Valach," Praha, 195 5, in Monumenta archeologica, tom. 3, edit. Ceskoslovenska akad.e mia ved (Dr. J. Bohm); a detailed monogr,a,p h of the finds, rich Mbliography. Hruby, Hochmanova, Pavelcilk: ''IKostel a pohrelbiste z dolby Velkomoravske na Modre v V·elehradu," Casopis Moravskeho Muse-a (Acta Musei Mo .raviae), V-01. Jill, Brno, 1955, pp. 412Jl26. J. Poulik: "Vysledky VY· zkumu na velkioon,or,avskem hradisti '"V•al:Y" u Mdikulcic," Pamatky ar· cheologicke, XI.JVl1IIII, Praha, '1957; sepa,rat-um; pp. 214-3116. J. Oilbulka: Velkomoravsky kostel v Modre u Velehradu a zacatky krest'anstvf na Morave, Praha, 1958, in Monumen,ta archeologica, tom. vm, ed'it. Ceskoslovens:ka akademia ved. J. Poulik: Velkomoravske hradilte Mikulcice: Pruvodce po archeoligickych vyzkumech:, Gottwaldow: Kr,ajElke niaklad'a-telsitvi, 1959; contains a good survey of four oratories found up to 1959 and indications of the tra:ces showing the 1 SLOVAKIA 69 possilbility of the fift'h church on the location. F. Kalousek: "Velkomoravske hradiste Po'hans'ko u Breclave, in Archeologicke rozhledy, XillI, Pr.aha, 11960, pp. 496-530. 3. F. Trav,nicek: Moravska nareci, Praha, 1926, PIP- 14,118; and a geographilcal card showing the boundaries of the Slovak dialects in medie,v al and co111tempora11y Morarvia. J. :Po·ulik: Staroslovanska Moirava, Pra,h a, 1'!}418, pp. 107.ilOB, p. 111'2; see also PmtliJk's card (No.:H) illus1tra1ting the exten,srion of the Slovak dialects in Mmavia, based or. t'he research made by F. Tra¥nicek. J . Stanislav: Dejiny slovenskeho jazyka, Y.ol. 1, Bratislava, 11958; c'ha,pt. X. "'Sbr·e doveke sloven~ke jazy,k<ove uzemie, 1<. Moraivska dblast'," pp. 14'7·1'55; a good survey of ·opin,i,ons defended by V. Jagic, P. J. Safarik, 0 . ~aemmel J. L. Cervirrk<a, F. 'Dravnicek, J . V. Dekan, S. Schl\Vlaritz et al. P . .J. §a,f arik: SloYanske staroiitnosti, Praha, 11837, p. 7941: ''I think that a l ong time ago, i.e., before the political separation e.f.1fected bebween Hungary and Moravia, the line of di'Vision between the Ozelch and Slovak d<ialects ran somewhere through the center o'f Moravia, and not on t1he mountains dividing the prerent-day Hunga ry from Mo· ravia." 4. Cf. Libellus de conversione Bagaoriorum et Carantanorum ( cca. 87Q.J87,l,), and Epistola episcoporum BaNariensium ad Jo·ha nnem P. IX . .scripta a. 900. (In Monumenf\a Germaniae histol"ica Scriptores XI. pp. 1~115). Of. Migne, P. L. Y,ol. 113'1, col. 34138. F. Dvornik' The Slavs, Their Early History and Civilization, Boston, 1·956, pp. 7 6-81. J. G. Cirrci:k: Anglo-Saxon and Slovak-Avar Patterns of the Cuthbert Gospel, Slovak Ir.sti1tute, R:ome,Oleveland, 11958, pp. 7'1.f74 and pp. 83-88. ·5_ D. Rlapant: Pribinov nitriansky kostolik, 11941142, separa,tum from Elan, Vol. XII, No. 2-3. F. Hrusov:Sky: Sfovenski vladari, Scranton, P.a., 1'!~418; see chapt. on PriJbina , Kocel, and M,o.jmir I. 1 6. F. Bokes: Slovensky iivotny pr'ie5rtor v min.u<losti a dnes, Bra tislav,a : Cas, 1'943, p. 34. A. S1pe11ke: The Andent Amber ~ou,t es and -the Geog.raphical Discovery of the Eastern Baltic, Stoe'kholm: M. Goppers ('ZeUa A!bele). p. 60 s.p . J . G. Oincik: AncierJ Slovak Fibulas .and Pseudo.iFibulas, Ohic:igo-Whi:ting, 11957·; see caird Nlo. 1 for "the AIJlllber Rowt,e " and card N10. 2 showing the eX!tension of the s :ovak influenice in Central Europe in the sixth-tenth centuries A.D. K. Miajewctki: lmporty nymskie n'a ziemiac,h Slowanskic,h, Wro.claw: Wroclaiws:kie T•ow.arzystwo Nauk,o,we, 1949; see mau> No. 2, "Szlaky i ,rnk>ty burs2ltynowe ." 1 7. Constantinus Poriphyrogenitus : De administl'lando lmperio; in •Corpus scrip.t orum historiae Byzantinae, Bonn, 1,949, Edit. G. Morav,c:;;ik, Bud,a·p est, 11949; English v,ersion, by R. J. H. J,enkins. F. Dvornik: The Slavs, op. cit. p. 94. 18. The temporary ar.nex,a tion of Pannonia occurred after the death of Kocel, 87•5. F. Drvornik: op. cit. , pp. 95"9,6; see also the card " The Mioravi,an Empire c:ca 890," p. 99. :9, M. K:os: Conversio Bagaoriorum et Carantanorum, Ljuibljana, 1.93·6, p. 1136, chaipt. 111 sq. J. Ci.Jbulka : Vaclavske rotunda svateho Vf,ta, Praha, 1933; separatum of the Svatovaclavsky sbornik, pp. 1-li7:8; see pages 36 sq. "Kost-ely podunajsky•c h Slovan,u, je,j1ich stavelbnici a po1 70 SLOVAKIA sveceni"; Cilbulka enumerates 312 churches consecrated in Pannonia at the time of Pribina and Kocel, t;wel,ve of bhern corusecratied personally by the A['chibislhop of Sa17Jburg. 10. L. Galdi: "Le Romanisrne transdanllibien.,'' Studi e documenti italo-ungheresi della Reale Accademia d'Ungheria di Roma, Vol. 1, Rome, 1936, pp. 3·9-40; note ·53: "Quant a l'irufluence slave qui apparut a une date relati'Vernent tardive, eUe laissa pro,'balblernent aussi des traices . .. II faut envisager aussi des contacts plus ou rnoins durables entre les Sla'Ves et les Pannoniens romanises." A. Alfoldi: "Tracee d'el Cristian•esirno dell'~poca delle grandi rnigrazioni in- Ungheria," Quaderni dell'llmpero, Rome, 1938, pp. 17-21. L. Nagy: "Pannonia sacra," Szem Istvan kiraly .Emlekkon,y v (ed. J. Seredi). Bud,apest , 11938, Vol. 1·, pp. 29-al48. T. von Nagiy: Die Geschichte des Chris, entums in Pannonia bis zu dem Zusammenbruch des romischen Grenzschutzes, in Dissertationes Pannonicae, series m. 112; a1nd. same author : "A pann6niai 6kerestzeny egyhazkozsegi bazilikak," Szepmiiveszet, Vol. :El, Budapest, 1,94!1, pp. 144Jll48; and' same author: "Zuim Problem der Kontinuti1tiiJt in Pannonien," Das Bildwerk (ed. F. Kup!feriberg), Berlin, 194'2, p. 3-'6. 11. Dercseny,i, Poganyi, Szentikiraly,i; Pees, Budaipest, 19,56, in Varoskepek, miiemlekek (ed. J. Paipp)), see ,p p. 7..S, 1'7"19 on Slavic 'b uilding activiby in the area of the paleo-Ohdsti-an cemetery and around the basilica; lso fig. 2, 3t, 3d about the renovation of aticient Christian buildings under Priibina and Kocel, p. 20. F . Fiiller: "Neuere Ausgralbungen in der cella trichora von Pees Wtin'fkirc hen)," Acta archeol ig ica, torn. X,I, fasc. 1-4, Bud apest, 1959, pp. 399-417. 1 '12. A. Von Radn6ti: "'Une Eglise du haut rnoyen age a Zalavar," E1: udes Slaves et Roumaines, Vol. 1', pp. 2'1•31•. T. von Bogyay: "Izkopavanja v Zalavaru in r..jihov-a zgodovinska razlag,a " Umetnostnozgodinski zbornik, N. S. 2, Ljubljana, pp. 2Ll-24S; s•a me author: Die Kunst und kirchengeshichtliche Bedeutung der Ausgrabungen von Mosapurz-Zalavar, Baden-Baden, '1956, in Forschungen zur Kunstgeschichtlichen und Christlichen Archeologie; same author: "Mios,a purc und Zala'Var: eine Auswertung der archeiligischen Funde und schrift.lichen Quellen," Siidost Forschungen, 1955, Vol. XiIIV, 2, pip. 349-406. D. DercsenyJ: "Uiabb regeszeti k11tatlasok es a pannoniai kontinu i" as kwrdese',, Szazadok, 1947, pp. 203-21Jl; same author: "l!Eglise de Pribina a Zalavar, Etudes slaves et rouma i•nes, Vol. I, 1•9418, pp. 85--100; same author: A magyar miiveszet tortenete, Vol. I, Budapest, 1956, pp. 12~18. L. Kararnan: "A propos de l'eglise a Blatnograd, ville de Baleton," Arc·heologia Jugos lavica, '1, 1954, pp. 91'96. Kararnan is persuaded that the tri-naved church of Pr~bin-a found in the locality of Receskut at Blatnograd (Zalavar, Mos,al)ruc) is of Romar. origin. G. Feher: "Les Fouilles de Zalawar (li9511..i195G)," Acta archeologica, Budaipest, li9514, V•ol. 4, pp. 201'-26Q. Feher claims that tJhe church (see note 10, p. 206J207) was erected, i n the time of Prince Kocel. 13. See the plans of Pannonian churches in L. Nagy and T. von Nagy, op. cil:. (Our note No. ,10). 14. L. Nlagiy: Azeskii teri r6mai erod, Pest, varos ose, Budlaipest, 1946; concerning the settlementJs of the Slav potter y producers in the old Roman cubiculae and their use of t'he niches for kilns. S. SLOVAKIA 71 Soproni: "A visegradi r6ma,l taibor es kozepkori var," Archeo·l ogiai ertesito, Vol. 81, Budapest, 1,954, pp. 49-'.'13. The re,use of Rloman bricks in the early SLavic a['chilteoture in the proximity oif the DaJmbe River has been studied of.ten and repeatedly. For the latest da,ta peritaining to our field see Vera HoclrmainovaJV!avrova, "Sysitema,ticky archeologicky vy21kum u STS ve Starem Meste," Pravek vychodni Moravy, ed. Krajsky vlastivedny ustav, Gottiwald10v, 11959, pp. 73-7\5. 11,5 . J,. Dekan: "Stand und Aufgalben der Limesforschung in der Slowakei," in Vhe volume of lectures Limes Romanus Konferenrz, Nitra, ed. Slovenska akademia vied, .Alrcheologicky ustav v Nitre (A. Tocik, ed.), Bratislava, 195,9, pp. 111-48; a concise survey of the Roman proviillCial finds architectural structures in the river valleys of the Morava, Vah, Nitra, and Hron; es·pecially valualb le for the description of the castrum Milanovce (near Nitra) built in the second or third century A.iD. ,1,6. B. Svolboda: "Uebeir das Nachleiben der romischen Kultur in mibtleren DonaUlbecken," Limes Romanus Kon,f erenz, Nitl'a, p;p. 1072 1116. S. Soproni: "Der spatromische Limes wJsche•r.. Visegrad und Eszter~om," ibid., pp. 'lr.3•1~143. M. Hegy: Visegrad, Budarpest, series Mfremlekeiruk, 1'956, ,p. 10; see also t'he plan of the Roman castrum, fig. 3. 1'7. For the daita,tion, of the Slavic pottery previous to the sixth cerntury,, the so-called Prague type of ceramics (a simple urn wilth str,a igM mouth, made on a potter',s wheel or simp ly by hand's) is of a great value. Of. J. Borarkovsky's: Slovanska keremika ve stredni ,Evrope, Pr,a ha, 1940; same author: "Nejstarsi slov,ar.s'ka k•e remika ze stredni'ch Cech," Pamatky archeologicke, Praha, 1936-3-8. For the evoluti'on of the Slavic pottery patterns in Morava, cf the s:chemes based on th•e Velatice stratas and collected by J . Poulik and W. Hensel. See illustrations (No. ,276-2.'76) in Hensel: Slowianczyzna wczesnorednowieczna: Zarys kultury materialnej, Wai;szarwa: Pols:k,a akiademia nauk, 11956, pp. 281.;300; nd Josip Korosec: Uvod v ma• terialno kulturo Slovanov zgodnjega srednega veka, Ljulbl1ana, 1'9512, p. 1180 sq. 11,8. J. G. Oincik: Ancient Slovak Fibulas, etc., ip. 12, card 2 following p. 3-8. Our views hav•e found a new con'f irmation in t he the• sis of V. Ondrouch: '"Hist-odsche Vio r,a ussetzungen fiir die Limes· forsc'hwng in der Tschechoslowakei," Limes Romanus Kon,fe.renz, pip . 63Jl06, see also card No. L "•E thnigraphische Entw,ilcklung der Tschechoslowakei vom Ende des 1. J,a hrhundeints vor u. Z. bis zur Ankunft der ersten Slawen." 1'9. I. T. Kruglik!ov,a: Dakiya v epokhu .rimskoy okkupasiyi, Mos• cow: Akademia Nauk SSSIR, ]nmituit istorii i inst. istor. material. kultury, 11955, V,ol. 8, p. 163 sq. "Pri102ihenye: 0 svyazakh Daik iyi so Slavyanami." A. Tocik: "Vyznam poslednych archeologicikych vy2ikumov na Slov,e nsku pre dejiny najs,tarsich S'1ovanov a Vel'komoravskej rise," Historicky casopis S·A V, E!I, Bratislava, 1955, p. 4l12. Tocik believes thaJt the ar,cheoiogical finds made in eastern Slovak vall-eys of the ·Hornad and Torysa are from the fourth century A.D. and belong in. the sphere o.f the so-icalled Lipicka Culture; same author: "Prvi Slo·v ania na r.asom uzemi," Praca, 195 8, No. 1,96. 1 1 1 1 1 72 SLOVAKIA 20. N. Iorga: Histoire des Roumains at de la Romanite oriemale, Bucuresti: Aeademie Roumaine, 19317, Vol 2, La Synthese slave, p. 296. E . Moor : "Die Slawischen Ortsnannes der Theisselbene," Zeitschrift fur Ortsnamen Forschung, VoL W , 1930, pp. 1-'317 and 105-ll40. The S1'avic toponomy of northern Dacia has been s,tudied by proif. SeVler Pop; 1his study published in the symposium Trans,y lvan1ia during the ]I_ W. W. was no t accessible to me. P . Olteunu: ' Wumiri slave in Trans,i•!Jvanie de nord," Limba li Literaturia, 11957, Vol. VIT!llI, pp. 195'214; same author : "Aux origines de la culture sl.ave dans la Tuansylvani e du Nord at le Maramures," Romanoslavica, 11958, Vol. 1, pp. 169-1'97. J . Stanislav: Dejiny slovenskeho jazyka, Bratislava : SAV, 1958, par. 4', "Slovenske sidla v hornom a strednom Po~isi," pp. 1180..164. 21. M. J . Bmjcevskij : Starodavni schidni Sloviani, Kijiv: Akad . Nauk Ukrailli>koy RSR, lnstirtwt Archeologiy;i, 19'59, erupt. 8, pp. 316-315'5, card on page 317. Of. the ediforiial introduction to SlovansJc:a archeologia, 1'960, Vlll.J, rpage 6; here a thesis is made concerning t'he Presov type i1111heren,t to the Przewoc,skio-Llrpicka Culture. 22. Structure reipresentatfons on the well-known Trnian a,i d Marcus Aurelius columns ir: Rome reveal the 'basic di.fference bet.iween the barbarian log-sty;le arohiteoture and the masonry-style of the Roman builc:Liin,gs in the Car,pa,thian Basin. In thi,s respect the analyitical p·hotograip'h ic study of the M. Aurelius colUJmn by G. Recatti seem s quite corwi n\cin.g. (Colonna di Marco Aurelio, Milano, Roma, 1957; for comparison see fig. 2, 14; for t he an t·hropological features of the Slavs or Sarimaitians see fig. 42). Via n der Heyden : Scullard·: Allas of the Classical World, Nelson and Sons, 1959, card 511 , p. 127, pp. 109-1'111. 23 . Except for the Christian inscriiption from cca 107...270 A.D., found in Napoca (Cluj), north of the Miaros River. See Var. de Meer, Miohr.mar:n: Atlas of the Early Christian World, Nelson and Sons, 1<958, card No. 8, "Churches founded before the per,secu1ion by Diocletian (304)." 24. See T. von Nagy : Die Geschichte des Christentums in Pannonien,, etc., our nlO'tle No. 10. 25. The Arian heresy spread among the Goths around the yea~ :t40, at the time of Slav-Gothic co-existence. 126. H . Bartek: "Krest'anstvo a slovencina," Nadej vit'azna, Sc-r anton, 1947, pp. 253. The Czech kostel and the ~olish kosci~I are derivatives of this Slavic pannonism. Of. also tJhe toponymic Keszthely ir: the matnohud district. D. Pais: "A r6mai castellum szlavimagyar folyrtat asa," Magyar nyelv, 1049, pp. 107~1,15. Amon.g the eastern and southern Slavic g,r oup, the term oiric:ev, crkva is a deriv,a-tio,n, of t'he Greek kuriakon.; it refers both to the Ohristian communtty and to the place o.f worship. AngI-crS'ax-0n kirchun, kirchen, kirk is of an Eastern Gerimani'c influence. 27. A . .Alfody: "Tracee . . . " (our note No. 10), p. 10, pp. 14•17. 28. B. A. R'y!balrov: Die Kunst der alten Slawen. Dresden, 1,957, in Geschi0hte der russic'1en ku~, Vol. 1, pp. 54-517, .All:fu. 5()-iSl. ,29.M. Szmiszko: Kultury wczesnego okresu epoki cenrstwa rzymskie go w Malopolsce Wschodniej, Lwow, 1932. M. B. Braj1 SLOVAKIA 73 cevsskij: Rimska moneta na teritorii Ukrajlini, Kijiv, 1959, edit. Akademia nau:k Ukraijinsikoy RISR, Inst. Archeolog-ii. K. Miajews'l~i: lmporty rzymskie na zemiach slowianskich, Wroclaiw, .194'9, edit. Pra'Ce WrocI,aw. Toiwarzy&twa Naukovego; series A NlR li3. 30. F. Graus: ''K pofatkum krest'answi na Morave, Cs. casopis historicky, Vol. Vff-.3, Praha, 1959, pp. 4178-4813. A critical review of Oilbulka's monograph abowt the oratory at Mro dra. Graus stresses the importance of addit,i onal hell!l"istic work and comparahve material from the Bavarian and Austrian area. 31. K. Va,v rinek: "K otazce pocatku christianisace Vel'ke Moravy," Listy filologicke, Praha, 1'959, pp. 2117-224. Crirtircal r..otes to Cilbulk-a'•s thesis: The reotangular pattern of the edifice at Miodra is hardly saitis:liaotory proof of its "Irish" character. Vavrinek admits, however, that around 800 there were ''I.ri'Sh" missions in Slova!k ia and Moravia. 3'2. Of. Rylbalrov: op. cit., loco cit. J. Strzygow.~ i: Altslawische Kunst, Augsburg, 1929, FiSlclher Verlag, pp. 26-413. 33. J. Paulik: Velkomoravske hradiUe eltc. (our niote No. 2), fig. 3. ·3 4.The Christianization of the Slovieni in Moravia and Slovakia was not due to typical Oarolingian methods. The moderation used in. this respiect came prolbaibly from hchlbishop .A!lcuin of York. 3i5. Dvornik is right in say-ing that the beginnings of the early feudalistic patronage over the Church are to be looked• fior in Mroravia. T,h e sad oonlfNct 'b etween Svartoplu:k and St. Met hodius is a "prelude to the gigantic investiture struggle whic'h was to end so tragic•aUy in the disrupiton of Western Christiar.ity art; the Reformation" (The Slavs, etc., p. 95). 3•6. R!y,bnik<JIV: op. cit., p. 5'2, p. 54, note 1. 37. For the most com-plete survey of these shrines see Korosec, op. cit., pp. 1170;176. 38. '11he "Iranian" approarch in linguistics is represented by M. V-asmer, in my,thology by R. Jacobson (see his "Slavic Miy,thology" in Funk and w ,a gnall's Standard Diction~ry of Fofklore Myfhol09y and Legend, New Yock, N. Y., 1950, pp. 1025-1028). Adexinsiky: "Slavon-re My,thology" in Larousse .Eycyclopedia of Mythology, New York, N. Y., 11959. F. Dvor,n,i k: The Slavs ertc, pp. 46{iil; see also G. Vernadsky: The Origins of Russia, Oicford: Olarendon Press, 1959, pp. 1-08-117'3. 39. See the opinion of K. Y.avrinek, our nort No. 31. 40. J. ~boril: "Herodotova Skythie a sousede," Slovenska archeo• logia, Vol. Vl!I, 2, 1959, p. 363. Zboril tries to rehaibi'lirtart:e Safarik's theory of a S'cyitr<rSamnart:ian and Sfavic conrtinui,ey, attacked at the begiin,ning of our century by Niederle and- other overzealous ·posiitirvists. >fl. '11he Iranian influence on Sla,vic architectur,e is the thesis of J. Strzy.g01Wsk,i; uhe same influence on Slavic my.thology has been proved by R. Jlacobs,on. Our studies ("Slovak Ruler's Sword,," Scra,nton, 1947, a-nd Anglo-Saxon and Slovak-Avar Patterns of the Cuthbert Gospel, Rome-Oleveland, 1957) try to prove !:his influence, in tihe be exact, the neo-[ranian (Sassanid and A'bassid) influence, in the field o·f fine arts.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A Study in Slavic-Iranian Architectural Tradition Description An account of the resource Joseph G. Cincik Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 1 (33), March-June 1961 pp. 59-73 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-June 1961 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/be3851cca4aed3cb2b75cd1e507d9eab.pdf 58c0528665d3bb1f1afc697fe0b32fff PDF Text Text 74 SLOVAKIA BOOK REVIEWS Joseph G. Cincik, Anglo-Saxon and because the present book is a nd Slovak-Avar Paf!;erns of Cuth- written with the same sicholarly berth Gospels, Editions Slovak 'Ln- method and knowledge, his am.alystitute, Cleveland, Ohio, Rome, Italy, 1958, p. 1 24, XW pl. The kn01wn illuminated ma<nu• script called the Gospel of Cuthbert ha'S been, Jior a long time a favoriite olbject of scholarly research and analysis by several owtstanding hlstorians of medfoval art, such as (T. D. Kendrick, J. Zykan, J. Strzgowski, H. J. Hermann, G. Slwarzenski, and E. H. Zimmerman. The Gospel or Codex is preserved in the State Ubrary of Vienna', Austria,, and was originally included iin the rare illuminated Codices categorized by arthistories under the general title ''The Insular Book Illuminiations" wrich are believed to be of insular Anglo-Saxcm onigin. Some modern analysts (T. D. Kendrii'Ck, J. Zyikan) noted that non- Anglo,Sax:on ornaments in the Cuthbert Gospel predomina,te over other Codices iin quantity and they stressed that in case of the vegetal or,n aments the irufluence of AlpineDanubian ornamentation was more than casuaL They did not, however, undertake a more detailed analysis and did not arrive at any new conclusions as to the origin of the non~nglo.;saxon artistic in;fluen~s. Prof. Cinctk's w@k, his third book (See: S lovak Ru le r's Sword, Scranton, Pa., 1947, and Anc ient 1 Slovak Fibu las and Pseudo,Fibu • las, Chicago, 1,957), pulblished on the subject of medieval art in the Oarpathian and Danubian area w,ithin the last few years, sheds new Hght on all three prolblems: the origin, the date, and the nonAnglo,Saxon influences. Since both previous woriks by Professor Cincik were farvoraibly received by European as well as American critics sis and conclusions undou,btedly desel'Ve to be considered. A,s Cincilk states in the foreword to his work, he became interested in the similarity of the SlovakAivar omamental pa1tterns to those in the Cuthlbert Gospel duriin,g h1is studies of the Meroving,i,an and Oarolingian epoch at Vienna in 19351,936. During the turibulent years of the Second World War he interrwpted his work, but in exile, during his stay in Bavaria and Rome, between the years 194511947, he once again took up the work "on the complicated prolblem of solvJng the origin of the ornamental elements, the circumstances, and the time of the illuminations of Cuthbert's Gospel." The resuLts of the author's many years of study ba,sed on historicalgenetic, geograiphical, ethnic, and stylo-crJtical analyiSis, are now contained in his book, artistiicalily illustrated either by plates or original drawings made by the author •h imself. The book undoubtedly presents highly 'i nteresting scholarly readiin,g and like his previous works on medi'eval art of the Danulbian and Carpathian basin, it sheds new lig ht not only on the illuminations of the Go's pel in question aind their origin, but also on many rella ted artistic and ethnic probelms and histori'cal events. Cin'Cik's approach throughout the book is that of a highly qualified historian of medieval art with rare artistic intuition and solid knowledge of archeology, political history and literature on, the sulbj,ect in half a dozen a,nrcient and modern languages. To be assured of the accuracy of his conclusions, Cincik compared his a,nalysi:s and synthesis with work's amd docu1 �81.-0VAKIA 75 ments of numerous libra.ries air.,d of th-is illuiminated manuscript" museums suich as the Pontif.ica· (P. 10). Oriental Institute, the Va1tican 12. Piace of the Origin of the AJpostolit Library, and the Am,eri can Alcademy in Rome, the Insti' Gospel: tute of Medieval Studies of HarHavi,r.,g set the date, Prof. Cincik vard University, the Ubrary o.f the presents in his analysis a ne•w Cleve!:and Art Museum, the Art theory atbout the place. "The ornaMuseum Ln Chilca,go, the State Li- menta,t ions point to the ye,a rs of bracy and Museums in Vienna, Pa- the final destruction of the Avar ris, Lond·on, etc. supreml!K!y - says the author Wha,t are the new elements and over Slovak and Sliovenian tri/bes conclusions of Prof. Cincitk's re- in the A!Jpine a,n<l Danubian researeh and anaiysis? gion. " There ar,e in ,the Gospel, says '1. Date of Origin: Several scho • 1Cinicik, contri,bu,ti,ons from the Jars have dated the Go'spel, on the Slo,vak-Avaric patterns, and the basis of paleogra.phic evid-em:e, inspirational historical event for the hand-like and interlaced oma- the Slovak1Avar elements, found ments and the composiltional in the onniamental parts of the mascheme of illuminations as a pro- nuscript "can be traiced to the duct emanating from th•e South- grandiose loot of aTtistic ornamenEng,lish monastic scriptoria relat- tal creations hauled out from the ed to the Merr,cian-NorthJUmlbri'an Canpathian Basin aJfter the defea t scribaJ pr,a ctice, as being "circa of the Aivars by the armies of 770 A.D.". Cinlcik analysing in de- Chadamagne under his son Pepin taH the illuminations a,nd the or- and Dutke Erich of Friaulfa.." Acnamerntal elements of the Gospel cording to the judgment of the has advainiced its date of origin author, the artist 'lwas influenced "into more devieloped art-forms of during the illumi•n ation work on the pre•Carolingia,n and early Ca- the Codex by the artistic form-Ian rolingian art as circa 800 A.D." guage of the above J.oot" and "thus "Since the paleographical cha,r- from the cohalbit-a tion of the Sloacter of "lettering" in the Codex vaks a-nd Avars in Trans-Danulbia i.; unique for the date of its ori- we find ,i,r:, the Go,s,pel many ornagin, its iLlumi'nations - especially mentations which prove the Sarthe artistic elements a,n<l style ap- 1ma tian,Slavic arfo:tic continuity. 'Pear indicative of a later period •Pro.£. Cincik condudes that "Cuthsays Prof. Cin!cik. It postdates the 1bert's Gospel stands before us on Gospel into the last dooade o;f the the threshold of early medieval ar t eighth century, i,f not slightly pas , in Trans,Da.nubia as a miss,ionary ·heritage of the Ghristianiza.tio,r:. of 800 A.D." 'I1he author sta-tes that the pUlb the Slovaks and Avars during and lished works a,nd studies albout a±tter the rule of Charlamagne." Cuthlbert's Gospel initiated by G. He even suggests tha,t the autho r Swarzenski, H. J. Herman an E of the illumina:tions could als·o b e H. Zimmerman, together with si- a .r..ative of the Danulbfan and Carmilar findings in the books of E pathi,an region, and holds to the Herzfeld a,n d Smirnov, and finally view that "this rare Cod·ex played the keen insight of J. Zy,kan con- am, important role in the beginvinced him "albout the accura cy of ning of the Ohristiaruization of the his views concerning the historical Slova~s, A,l pine and Pannonic Sloand evoluti'onary appraisal aJbout ivenes and Avars in the period of the place and time of the mission the strong Omaiad and .A!bba.said 1 �76 SLOVAKIA inf.luem,ces in fine ar.t in the Danubian basin" (IP. 13). 3. Non-Anglo-Saxon Elements: While other scholars who analyzed the Gospel merely noted non-Anglo-Saxon elements and ornamental pa,tterns, Pro.f. Ci-ncik states emphatically that "the Alpine-Danubian character of the ilI,umination's with predominain1t Slovak and Av,aric ornamental elements or with sU'ch ornamentac local and animal figures in relationship to the contemporary New Persian Art of the Omaiad and first Albbaside Ca1ip-hs is indisputalble" ('P. 28). In his view the Cuthlbert Gospel "thus adorned predominantly with Slovak and Avaric elements, had a direct, distinct and psychological ef.fect on the acti,vity of the priest - missionaries coming from Sal:dburg region to the inhabita,n,ts whose ornamentation was used by the illuminator in the book illustrations of the Gospel." (p. 64'). Cincik builds this conclusion, which at first glance could seem nationalisti'c, on a thorough study of ornamenta~ elements which illustrate the book, as well as on, the histor,really proven presence of Irish missi:onaries among the Slovaks a,n d Slovenes during the reign of Ohadamagne. These missionaries must have been familiar not only with the local dialects o·f the Slovaks, Slovenes, Moravians, and Avars, but they also understood the local morphology of the pagian symlbolism. "Thus," ac• cording to Prof. Cincik, "the .illumin,ating p.'.llbterns brou•g ht to the Sal21burg area from the 'South EngLish Schools' even though insular, served as a sample to the illumina-tor of Outhlbert's GospeJ., OJ!, the basis of the relationship between VirgibA.l.cuin-iArno (the latter was arch/bishop of the area). Likewise, elements of the local artistic form and the symlbolic language of S'lovak and Avaric art were at his disposal after the defeat of the Avars." (ip. 86). Besides ornamental element's and patterns, the color schemes aJso are, aocording to 01nlcik's ana-lysis, "completel,y different." "The lively, fiery coioring,' 'says Cincik, "nowhere f.ades in the iUuminations of the Gospel and it thus testifies to the permanent and basic temper o;f the illuminator. It verifiles also that it was neither of Angl~axon nor perhaips e,v en Thankish or Italian origin. A continuous effort to mafotai'n a wide sca'1e of v,iviid colors sponta.neousJ.y points to the taste and· sen'se of priJIDa,r y colors used at that time by !:he local population" (p. 89). 'IH)a,v ing considered these facts," Prof. Oincik writes on, the last page o;f h<is work, "together with the Anglo,Saxon ornamental influence and the prevalent elemental trace's and colorisan, we condude that the art of Cuth!bel't's Gospel •is purposely that of the ancient Slovak and Arv.ari'c or,niamenrtal art sty,lization." "With many characteristics of Caroling-ian and local art style in the Middle~,anuJbia,n region, Cuthbert's Gospel sta.nds out as Romianesque Slovak art at the daJWn of the early medieval period. As such, i't is not only an imipol'tant histor,ical and cultural heritage of the Anglo.Saxon missions d-uring the time of Charlemagne in the Ela-stern Alps, but al,so a famous and outs~ding artisti•c relic testifying to the decorative art style develop•ed in the Slovak Christian pr,irncipalities, the ca,p itals of whi~h we r e Nitm and the !Bannoniain, Blatnohrad after the year 800 A.D. M: is an art remruant developed by signiifa:ant hii:s.torical events at the begi.nning o.f the filrst half of the ninth century which witnessed a gradual Christianrizaition of Slovakian pr,incipa,Mies in Slovakd:a pro- �SLOVAKIA per, Morarvia, and the Slavs in _general around the Carpa,t hian Ba.sin, a;nd terminated later in a Great Moravian Empire and in the .apostolic activity of SS. Cyril and Method1us ... " Pmf. Cincilk corrOlborates his conclusions and ·suggestions w~th 23 pages of illustraitions. He also refer,s to many works of outstandr ing EurQPean aind American scholars in the fileld oif the history of art, ar-cheology, paleography, and cu1tural history. Some scholars at Central European universities ha'Ve en<thusi>astilcaJ:ly accepted• Oincilk's study and its coniclusions. If generally accepted by exper,ts in mediev-al art history, Cincik's work will meain. for Slarvic studies a new important and: valualble contriibution. :Some of the conclusions are unnecessarily repeated in the book and the awthor is inconsistent when using the ,n;a,me Olf the Gospel (Curt!hlberts or Cuthlbert?) as well as the term Arvar or Avaric. Seveml chapters of the book do not directly refer to the Gospel but make the text and the author'o conclusions easi'er to understand and to aocept. The teX!t would indicate that i>t is a translation from Slovak or other European language and sometimes quite far from perfect English. An ilmpressive bibliogr,aiphy and a great number of references in footnotes prove that Prof. Oincik took his task seriously. J. M. Kirschbaum, Uni:Versilty oif Mlo-ntreaJ. Rev. B. S. Bue, OJF.IM., Ph.ID.: Slovak Nationalism; published by the Slovak League oif America, M1dd<letawn, Pa., 1960; pp. 67. This book is the aurthor's thesis for his Mlasber Degree in Political Science a,t the Uni'ver,s ity of Pittsburgh. The a~eptance of a thesfa by a University Falculty ilmplies that the swbm'itted work is 77 serious, well documented, and written in a solid way. '!1his work of the Rev. Bue has all these qualities. The author first discusses the history oif Slovak nationalism a,s it had developed under the influence of Enlightenmen1t and Roonanticism in the Aiustro-iHungarian Monarchy, until, in the middle -Orf the pa,s t century, it ac,q uired definite political fol"ms. In the old Monarchy the Slo,vak-s struggled f •o r nati'on,a,1 self.,presewa-tion a,g ain'st the offilcial trend of magy,arizati-on. J!l'om 19.1.8, when the FJrst Czecho-Slovak Republic was estalblished, until 1009 they had to defend their distinct national character against the so-called 'ICzecho-Slovruc i'dea," the offiicial trend of the Prague governmemrt to assimilate the Slov,aiks into the Czech ethnic growp. The proclamarti-on of the Slovak Rerpu'blic in M<arch, 19319, is considered· by the awthor as a logical conclusion of Slov-a!k national aspirati1ons. Rev. Bue defends Slovak nation.al aspiraUons ag,a inst the all•e· gations oif anti,Slcwak political enemies who claim that the Slovaks with their na1tionalism have been a des-trucfone elemenrt in the Danwbian Basin. He proves that the Slova'ks defended their un.al~ena1ble rights for their own nartional life wi'thiin the poli:tical entity in which they Hved, filr-s t in A'll'!>tro-,Hung,ary, and then in Czecho,Slovakia. OnJy when these political en• tities were destroyed in coniflicts of the great power block,s, the Slova!ks took the opportunity to improve their nartional position in a new un~t, namely in Czecho-Slovakia (19118), and then, ◊1939) in thefr indeipendent Slovak Repulblic. •I n the develQpment of Slovak national consciousness and in the struggle for th·e improV'e'IDem.t of the Sliovak politilcal position, a prominent role wa,s played by �SLOVAKIA 78 Slovak emigrants, particularly by those in the U. S. A. American Slovaks, toget her with American Czechs, took an active part in fighting against the Hapsburg Monarchy. To saifeguard Slovak .r.iational rights in the commoniwealt:i oi Czechs arnd Slovaks which was to come into ex.istence under the name of Czecho-Sl.ovakfa, Slovak political leaders concluded an agreement with Czech represem,tat,ives in P.ittsiburgh, May 30, MHS. By this agreement S1ovakia wa•s to dbtain an autonomous posit-ion in the Czecho-Slovalk Republic. La ter the Czechs under T. G. Masaryk and EdJWard Benes denownced this agreement as void and tried to assimilate the Slovak ethnic group in to the so-called "Czech-oslovak" nation. The Pilttsburg.h Agreement, howe~r, became the poJ.itical credo of the Slovak autonomists under the leadershiip orf iMsgr. Am,dr e<w Hlinka. Slovak emigrant s of the period after World War ]I are almost withoult a-n exception for complete independenc·e of Slovakia and work intensely for tha t goal. Very interesting is the last chapter of Rev. Buc's book which describes commu,n-islt tactics in re· lation to Slovak naitona1is,m. During the First Czecho-Slovak Rlepublic the Slovak communist s, though few in number, were more separatist than the Father IDinka (Catho lie) P>eople's Party or Rev. Razus' (Lu,theran) Nationa l P.arty. The Slovak communists propounded the idea of coonpl•e te separat ion of Slovakia from Czecho-Slova'kfa, while the other two Slovak parties had for their aim the autonomy of Slovakia wJthiin, the CzechO-Slo-vak Republic. During the Second World War the Slovak communisits, apparently with the approval of Moscow, continued to work their or,i ginal line. Bult when the idea of a reborn Czecho--SlCl'Vakia 1 preva,iJed in Moscow. the Slovak communists had to be satisfied with only a guarantee of autonomy for Slovakia, gramited under commuruist pressure by President Dr. Edlward Benes in the Slovak city of Kosice. Nevertheless, following the communis:t coup d'etat of 1948, the Ozech communists gradually liquidated Slovak nationalist commun~·sts branding them as national bourgeois deviationists aind rescinding all Slovak autonomous pr,erogatives . After 1'948, cenitralism, stricter than that of the First Czecho--Slovak Repulblic, was re-established. The book of Rev. Bue not only pro,j ects objective light over Slovak nationalism in its historical structure, but also gives a pr.aspec t for a sound solution of the Slovak question. This solution, in the conclusions of Rev. Bue, is no-thin,g less tha1n full independence for the Slovaks within their ethnographic Boundaries. - T. Z. Gj~bert L. Oddo: Slovakia and People, :Robert Speller and Sons, New York, 1960,. 370 pp. , $6.00. The eyes and ears of the world are focused as .never before on the African and! Asiat ic peoples in their frenzied attempt to !break encrusted •colonial political patterns and1 asser,t their right of pol i tic al self-determinatio n. That right is not som•et hing newly conceived iby the no,n .mhite world; the non -w-hite peoples, however, have newly disc01Vered it. The right of self-determinatio n of peoples was popularized for European peoples at the peace po,w-wows of 19r118-19. [n approaching [)r. Oddo's minute history of the Slovak nation, one should recall that the Slovaks, like their neighbors in Cen,t ral Eurape, ,t he Sudeter:: Germans, were among the "little" Il'atio·ns Wils·on had in mind when he ipropounded its �SLOVAKIA his aims of self-determinatoin, a worthy cause that was frustrated by C'hauv,i nis,t exploitation, later tossed' into the political waste-masket. iHere we find a long-needed presentation of 11:J.istoric 1b ac~ground events requisite to the underst1and ing of the formation ·a nd growth of Slovakia into a politically conscious ethnic group seeking independence from foreign overlords, even to the present dlay. Dr. Oddo shows the emergence of Great Miorarvia, starting with the d,3wn of history and moving into the Christian- era; he tells of the warring elements that, made tlhe Slovak country little more than a battleground for centuries, highlights t he age of !Maria Theresia, then o.f her son Jioseph I[ and the influence ·of the Slovak life of his reforms. One by one Oddo peels off the coats of legendary myt'h that have olbscured the true telling of the Slova,k story for de cades. Boldly the author daubs his canvas with vivid colors of historical truth, producing a series of coherent scenes that show a people tenacious, conscious of pur:pose, idealistic and proud, slowly bu t surely emerging from oppression ar.d imposed servitude into a cohesive political and ehhnic entity. The talblea ux take the reader on through tJhe 'Europeon revolution of '1848 jnto the era of the Dual Monal"chy, continuing• into the "tro1.11blous days o.f the '1~20's . . . and t,he more cha'Otic years of the 30's. We see Slovakia's saga as a never-ending, torment•ed striving for ethnic self-eX,pression an,d, poliWhat a tical se1f-determination. tragic coin:ciden'Ce that inde-p endence, however short-liv,ed , had to come -a t a time when National Socialism was to :form its political back-dro,p, casting unwarranted as- 79 persions on- the aims and methods of SlO'Vak statesmen. A£ter the short brea,tJhing s,pell of rnberty we see the light o.f truth and freedom quenched again, this time from the !East. The con'Cluding chapter on Slovak emigration deals prilJ'Ilarily with the Slovaks who emigrated to the USA and tells what they harve been a!ble to achieve from their new home on belhalf of their captive fellowcountrymen: "We ask for the Slovak nation ·c omp lete autonomy and freedom of self-determination both in the field of politi'cs as well as in the cultural and' economic !fields. 1 In completing the reading of Slovakia and its People the reader chances thes•e what won-der.s dreams h-aive of !fulfillment now that all unli.berated peoples are on the march. Will they be forgotten, over-slhadowed by the dark man's world,, or will the ,plea for selfdetermination be strengthend, now that other voi•c es have strengthened, now that other voices have joon-ed the chorus? - Frances McPoyne. The Origin of the Name "Slav," by J. B. Riudnyc:ky,j, Winnipeg; Ukrainian Free Acad'emy of S'Ciences (Box 3•597 S,tn. B, Winnipeg 4, Man .) (Onoonastica Series No. 21) Second revised edition, '1961, 24 pages 50c. 'Ilh.e origin of the namie "Slav" is a controversial swbject as this b~ief survey shows. In the eight pages devoted to the topic there are over a dozen possilble etymological d•erivations of "Slav" summarized. Pro.f. Rudnycky,j , head of the University of Manito1b a Slavic Dep:i,r tmen t, originally d,elivered this survey as a presidential address at an Annual Meeting of the American Name Society. It was firs t �80 SLOVAKIA printed in the June 11960 issue o,f the journal Names andr is pro'baliYl!Y the <first such syino,ptic survey in the 'Englislh language. All -the most important etyimological d'erivations are summarized. The first suggested is from trhe root of slava (,glory), lin which cas•e the Slavs -are •t he "glorious" people. The second possi!ble exipJ..anation de·r ives it fu-OIIll slovo (rword) in which case the Slavs were ,t hose people who spoke an understandable language. The tlhird explanation is the topographic or t01Ponyimic (geographic place-name) origin. Sug,gestions fur this source are from an anrcier..t Slavic capital Slauna, from a root meaning "hiill, mounliain," or another meaning "lowlands." Another interesting suggestion is that the common ending "-slav" in names such as Yarosiav, IMstislav and, My<roslav exipanded into the nlllIIle of the people. This is also sugg.ested as the origin of t,he Englislh word "s1'ave." The Slavic captives lby repeating their n.ames may 'hav,e clearly impressed the common 1atter part orf their captors. 'Ptrofessor iRudnyrckyj concludes that there is no unanimous agreement on the etymology of the word "SfaN" although the topographic ex;planation seems to be the most convincing. Howeiver, th,e derivation from slovo (rword) is sti-Il :possiible. It may be mentioned tha K. Mos7JYnski lin Original Extension of the Pre-Slavic !Language (Wroclaw: IPolrish Arcademy of S'Cienc.es, 1'957) S'llg,g ests yet another view not touched on in this survey. iHe derives a .torpogr,aiphic view from the name given by ,northerners "to the drwellers of 'orpen fields' " (page 145), implying "dear' 'or 'clean" 'from the sunny open steppe of Uikraine. He gives this etymology: from the "Lart in cluo ([ clean.), Greeik kluzo (I wash, purge) kludon (striking orf waves), Old !High German hl11t• tar (clean, clear), Old iNordiic hler (lake, sea.), Litlhuanfan slavu, sluoti (to rweep (originally to clean, compare the Slav wo,rd cistiti, which in Uikrainian, Bulgarian and Serbo..Croat asswmed a secondary meaning 'to sweep')" (from page 13·9.) In the English language the word "Slav" has been used i nm-any forms•. llt has finaUy distilled down to three interchangeaible forms : Slaiv, Sla'Vlic, and Slavonic. The (Proressor's consistent use of "Slavic" in ,t he text indicates his preference "Slavonic" is used 1Inostly in En,gl'and. A useful featUTe of Pro!essor Rudnyrckiyj's monograph is the extensive list of lbi!bliogrruphical footnotes. This will guide the situdent to a wealth o'f sourees on the s-wbject. Mso includ•e d in this Onoma-stica issue is an ar,ti:cle, "Ten Years of Onomastaica {100lel961i)'' by M. H. Scargill. It is a history of this toip'O and anthrorponyimic series edited, ·tiwice a ye•ar 1b y J. B. Rudn,yckyj . Although brief, this survey is a real contrilbution !bercause it makes avaiilaible to the !English read'er the !basic tlheories on the origin of the word "S1av." otherwise they would lbe inaccess1ble to him. -It is an important step in eliminating ,part of the prevailing ignoranrce, in -the western world, o,f the !Slavs. Andrew Gregorovich, IM!ClMiaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. ,(iEditor's Note: See rDr. Henrich Bartelk's "The Origin of 'Slovan' and 'Slovak'" in SWI\I\AlKlliA, June '1958.) �Officers of the Slovak League of America (Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio) Honorary Presicent3 Michael Msgr. F . J. Dubosh, P.A. Sas 3803 Cresson Street Philadelphia 27, Pa. 12608 Madison Avenue Lakewood 7, hio Joseph Dr. Peter P. H letko Klucar 1617 Alameda Avenue Lakewood 7, Ohio Batavia Rd ., Box 48 Warrensville, III. George Kantor President Philip A. Hrobak 281 Hollywood Ave. New York 61, N. Y. P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. ADVISORY COUNCIL Vice-Presidents Joseph Bendik John P. 0. Box 230 Uniontown, Pa. A. Sabol National President First Catholic Slovak Union Julia Krajcovic Helen Kocan 1648 \V. 18th Street Chicago 8. Ill. National President First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union Recording Secretary John Horecky Paul 2264 Walton Ave. New York 53, N. Y. Secretary-Treasurer Stephen J. Tkach Paul C. Kazim er 1122 Sy! van Avenue Homestead, Pa. :-.'atinnal President Pa. Catholic Slovak Union EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Paul Fallat :-.'alional Presiden: Slovak Catholic Sokol Anna Sotak National President Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union P. Jamriska 536 Marie Ave. Pittsburgh 2, Pa. Emrich Valko Andrew Hudak 15701 Bennett Rd. :-So. Royalton 33, Ohio National President Slovak Catholic Cadet Union SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS (Affiliated with the Slov;ik League of America) JEDNOTA SLOVENSKA OBRANA ZENSK.A. JEDNOTA Middletown. Pa. Sr-ranton. Pa. Cleveland, Ohio BRATSTVO Wilkes-Ilarre. Pa. SLOVENSKE NOVINY ClevPland. Ohio Scranton, Pa. KATOLiCKY SOKOL Pa,.salc. N . J . SVORNOST OSADNE. HLASY Whitaker. Pa. Chicago, Ill. SLOVAK V AMERIKE Middletown, Pa. ZORNICKA �SLOVAKIA: The Castle of Brunovce ( 17th Century) � 74 SLOVAKIA BOOK REVIEWS Joseph G. Cincik, Anglo-Saxon and because the present book is a nd Slovak-Avar Paf!;erns of Cuth- written with the same sicholarly berth Gospels, Editions Slovak 'Ln- method and knowledge, his am.alystitute, Cleveland, Ohio, Rome, Italy, 1958, p. 1 24, XW pl. The kn01wn illuminated ma<nu• script called the Gospel of Cuthbert ha'S been, Jior a long time a favoriite olbject of scholarly research and analysis by several owtstanding hlstorians of medfoval art, such as (T. D. Kendrick, J. Zykan, J. Strzgowski, H. J. Hermann, G. Slwarzenski, and E. H. Zimmerman. The Gospel or Codex is preserved in the State Ubrary of Vienna', Austria,, and was originally included iin the rare illuminated Codices categorized by arthistories under the general title ''The Insular Book Illuminiations" wrich are believed to be of insular Anglo-Saxcm onigin. Some modern analysts (T. D. Kendrii'Ck, J. Zyikan) noted that non- Anglo,Sax:on ornaments in the Cuthbert Gospel predomina,te over other Codices iin quantity and they stressed that in case of the vegetal or,n aments the irufluence of AlpineDanubian ornamentation was more than casuaL They did not, however, undertake a more detailed analysis and did not arrive at any new conclusions as to the origin of the non~nglo.;saxon artistic in;fluen~s. Prof. Cinctk's w@k, his third book (See: S lovak Ru le r's Sword, Scranton, Pa., 1947, and Anc ient 1 Slovak Fibu las and Pseudo,Fibu • las, Chicago, 1,957), pulblished on the subject of medieval art in the Oarpathian and Danubian area w,ithin the last few years, sheds new Hght on all three prolblems: the origin, the date, and the nonAnglo,Saxon influences. Since both previous woriks by Professor Cincik were farvoraibly received by European as well as American critics sis and conclusions undou,btedly desel'Ve to be considered. A,s Cincilk states in the foreword to his work, he became interested in the similarity of the SlovakAivar omamental pa1tterns to those in the Cuthlbert Gospel duriin,g h1is studies of the Meroving,i,an and Oarolingian epoch at Vienna in 19351,936. During the turibulent years of the Second World War he interrwpted his work, but in exile, during his stay in Bavaria and Rome, between the years 194511947, he once again took up the work "on the complicated prolblem of solvJng the origin of the ornamental elements, the circumstances, and the time of the illuminations of Cuthbert's Gospel." The resuLts of the author's many years of study ba,sed on historicalgenetic, geograiphical, ethnic, and stylo-crJtical analyiSis, are now contained in his book, artistiicalily illustrated either by plates or original drawings made by the author •h imself. The book undoubtedly presents highly 'i nteresting scholarly readiin,g and like his previous works on medi'eval art of the Danulbian and Carpathian basin, it sheds new lig ht not only on the illuminations of the Go's pel in question aind their origin, but also on many rella ted artistic and ethnic probelms and histori'cal events. Cin'Cik's approach throughout the book is that of a highly qualified historian of medieval art with rare artistic intuition and solid knowledge of archeology, political history and literature on, the sulbj,ect in half a dozen a,nrcient and modern languages. To be assured of the accuracy of his conclusions, Cincik compared his a,nalysi:s and synthesis with work's amd docu1 �81.-0VAKIA 75 ments of numerous libra.ries air.,d of th-is illuiminated manuscript" museums suich as the Pontif.ica· (P. 10). Oriental Institute, the Va1tican 12. Piace of the Origin of the AJpostolit Library, and the Am,eri can Alcademy in Rome, the Insti' Gospel: tute of Medieval Studies of HarHavi,r.,g set the date, Prof. Cincik vard University, the Ubrary o.f the presents in his analysis a ne•w Cleve!:and Art Museum, the Art theory atbout the place. "The ornaMuseum Ln Chilca,go, the State Li- menta,t ions point to the ye,a rs of bracy and Museums in Vienna, Pa- the final destruction of the Avar ris, Lond·on, etc. supreml!K!y - says the author Wha,t are the new elements and over Slovak and Sliovenian tri/bes conclusions of Prof. Cincitk's re- in the A!Jpine a,n<l Danubian researeh and anaiysis? gion. " There ar,e in ,the Gospel, says '1. Date of Origin: Several scho • 1Cinicik, contri,bu,ti,ons from the Jars have dated the Go'spel, on the Slo,vak-Avaric patterns, and the basis of paleogra.phic evid-em:e, inspirational historical event for the hand-like and interlaced oma- the Slovak1Avar elements, found ments and the composiltional in the onniamental parts of the mascheme of illuminations as a pro- nuscript "can be traiced to the duct emanating from th•e South- grandiose loot of aTtistic ornamenEng,lish monastic scriptoria relat- tal creations hauled out from the ed to the Merr,cian-NorthJUmlbri'an Canpathian Basin aJfter the defea t scribaJ pr,a ctice, as being "circa of the Aivars by the armies of 770 A.D.". Cinlcik analysing in de- Chadamagne under his son Pepin taH the illuminations a,nd the or- and Dutke Erich of Friaulfa.." Acnamerntal elements of the Gospel cording to the judgment of the has advainiced its date of origin author, the artist 'lwas influenced "into more devieloped art-forms of during the illumi•n ation work on the pre•Carolingia,n and early Ca- the Codex by the artistic form-Ian rolingian art as circa 800 A.D." guage of the above J.oot" and "thus "Since the paleographical cha,r- from the cohalbit-a tion of the Sloacter of "lettering" in the Codex vaks a-nd Avars in Trans-Danulbia i.; unique for the date of its ori- we find ,i,r:, the Go,s,pel many ornagin, its iLlumi'nations - especially mentations which prove the Sarthe artistic elements a,n<l style ap- 1ma tian,Slavic arfo:tic continuity. 'Pear indicative of a later period •Pro.£. Cincik condudes that "Cuthsays Prof. Cin!cik. It postdates the 1bert's Gospel stands before us on Gospel into the last dooade o;f the the threshold of early medieval ar t eighth century, i,f not slightly pas , in Trans,Da.nubia as a miss,ionary ·heritage of the Ghristianiza.tio,r:. of 800 A.D." 'I1he author sta-tes that the pUlb the Slovaks and Avars during and lished works a,nd studies albout a±tter the rule of Charlamagne." Cuthlbert's Gospel initiated by G. He even suggests tha,t the autho r Swarzenski, H. J. Herman an E of the illumina:tions could als·o b e H. Zimmerman, together with si- a .r..ative of the Danulbfan and Carmilar findings in the books of E pathi,an region, and holds to the Herzfeld a,n d Smirnov, and finally view that "this rare Cod·ex played the keen insight of J. Zy,kan con- am, important role in the beginvinced him "albout the accura cy of ning of the Ohristiaruization of the his views concerning the historical Slova~s, A,l pine and Pannonic Sloand evoluti'onary appraisal aJbout ivenes and Avars in the period of the place and time of the mission the strong Omaiad and .A!bba.said 1 �76 SLOVAKIA inf.luem,ces in fine ar.t in the Danubian basin" (IP. 13). 3. Non-Anglo-Saxon Elements: While other scholars who analyzed the Gospel merely noted non-Anglo-Saxon elements and ornamental pa,tterns, Pro.f. Ci-ncik states emphatically that "the Alpine-Danubian character of the ilI,umination's with predominain1t Slovak and Av,aric ornamental elements or with sU'ch ornamentac local and animal figures in relationship to the contemporary New Persian Art of the Omaiad and first Albbaside Ca1ip-hs is indisputalble" ('P. 28). In his view the Cuthlbert Gospel "thus adorned predominantly with Slovak and Avaric elements, had a direct, distinct and psychological ef.fect on the acti,vity of the priest - missionaries coming from Sal:dburg region to the inhabita,n,ts whose ornamentation was used by the illuminator in the book illustrations of the Gospel." (p. 64'). Cincik builds this conclusion, which at first glance could seem nationalisti'c, on a thorough study of ornamenta~ elements which illustrate the book, as well as on, the histor,really proven presence of Irish missi:onaries among the Slovaks a,n d Slovenes during the reign of Ohadamagne. These missionaries must have been familiar not only with the local dialects o·f the Slovaks, Slovenes, Moravians, and Avars, but they also understood the local morphology of the pagian symlbolism. "Thus," ac• cording to Prof. Cincik, "the .illumin,ating p.'.llbterns brou•g ht to the Sal21burg area from the 'South EngLish Schools' even though insular, served as a sample to the illumina-tor of Outhlbert's GospeJ., OJ!, the basis of the relationship between VirgibA.l.cuin-iArno (the latter was arch/bishop of the area). Likewise, elements of the local artistic form and the symlbolic language of S'lovak and Avaric art were at his disposal after the defeat of the Avars." (ip. 86). Besides ornamental element's and patterns, the color schemes aJso are, aocording to 01nlcik's ana-lysis, "completel,y different." "The lively, fiery coioring,' 'says Cincik, "nowhere f.ades in the iUuminations of the Gospel and it thus testifies to the permanent and basic temper o;f the illuminator. It verifiles also that it was neither of Angl~axon nor perhaips e,v en Thankish or Italian origin. A continuous effort to mafotai'n a wide sca'1e of v,iviid colors sponta.neousJ.y points to the taste and· sen'se of priJIDa,r y colors used at that time by !:he local population" (p. 89). 'IH)a,v ing considered these facts," Prof. Oincik writes on, the last page o;f h<is work, "together with the Anglo,Saxon ornamental influence and the prevalent elemental trace's and colorisan, we condude that the art of Cuth!bel't's Gospel •is purposely that of the ancient Slovak and Arv.ari'c or,niamenrtal art sty,lization." "With many characteristics of Caroling-ian and local art style in the Middle~,anuJbia,n region, Cuthbert's Gospel sta.nds out as Romianesque Slovak art at the daJWn of the early medieval period. As such, i't is not only an imipol'tant histor,ical and cultural heritage of the Anglo.Saxon missions d-uring the time of Charlemagne in the Ela-stern Alps, but al,so a famous and outs~ding artisti•c relic testifying to the decorative art style develop•ed in the Slovak Christian pr,irncipalities, the ca,p itals of whi~h we r e Nitm and the !Bannoniain, Blatnohrad after the year 800 A.D. M: is an art remruant developed by signiifa:ant hii:s.torical events at the begi.nning o.f the filrst half of the ninth century which witnessed a gradual Christianrizaition of Slovakian pr,incipa,Mies in Slovakd:a pro- �SLOVAKIA per, Morarvia, and the Slavs in _general around the Carpa,t hian Ba.sin, a;nd terminated later in a Great Moravian Empire and in the .apostolic activity of SS. Cyril and Method1us ... " Pmf. Cincilk corrOlborates his conclusions and ·suggestions w~th 23 pages of illustraitions. He also refer,s to many works of outstandr ing EurQPean aind American scholars in the fileld oif the history of art, ar-cheology, paleography, and cu1tural history. Some scholars at Central European universities ha'Ve en<thusi>astilcaJ:ly accepted• Oincilk's study and its coniclusions. If generally accepted by exper,ts in mediev-al art history, Cincik's work will meain. for Slarvic studies a new important and: valualble contriibution. :Some of the conclusions are unnecessarily repeated in the book and the awthor is inconsistent when using the ,n;a,me Olf the Gospel (Curt!hlberts or Cuthlbert?) as well as the term Arvar or Avaric. Seveml chapters of the book do not directly refer to the Gospel but make the text and the author'o conclusions easi'er to understand and to aocept. The teX!t would indicate that i>t is a translation from Slovak or other European language and sometimes quite far from perfect English. An ilmpressive bibliogr,aiphy and a great number of references in footnotes prove that Prof. Oincik took his task seriously. J. M. Kirschbaum, Uni:Versilty oif Mlo-ntreaJ. Rev. B. S. Bue, OJF.IM., Ph.ID.: Slovak Nationalism; published by the Slovak League oif America, M1dd<letawn, Pa., 1960; pp. 67. This book is the aurthor's thesis for his Mlasber Degree in Political Science a,t the Uni'ver,s ity of Pittsburgh. The a~eptance of a thesfa by a University Falculty ilmplies that the swbm'itted work is 77 serious, well documented, and written in a solid way. '!1his work of the Rev. Bue has all these qualities. The author first discusses the history oif Slovak nationalism a,s it had developed under the influence of Enlightenmen1t and Roonanticism in the Aiustro-iHungarian Monarchy, until, in the middle -Orf the pa,s t century, it ac,q uired definite political fol"ms. In the old Monarchy the Slo,vak-s struggled f •o r nati'on,a,1 self.,presewa-tion a,g ain'st the offilcial trend of magy,arizati-on. J!l'om 19.1.8, when the FJrst Czecho-Slovak Republic was estalblished, until 1009 they had to defend their distinct national character against the so-called 'ICzecho-Slovruc i'dea," the offiicial trend of the Prague governmemrt to assimilate the Slov,aiks into the Czech ethnic growp. The proclamarti-on of the Slovak Rerpu'blic in M<arch, 19319, is considered· by the awthor as a logical conclusion of Slov-a!k national aspirati1ons. Rev. Bue defends Slovak nation.al aspiraUons ag,a inst the all•e· gations oif anti,Slcwak political enemies who claim that the Slovaks with their na1tionalism have been a des-trucfone elemenrt in the Danwbian Basin. He proves that the Slova'ks defended their un.al~ena1ble rights for their own nartional life wi'thiin the poli:tical entity in which they Hved, filr-s t in A'll'!>tro-,Hung,ary, and then in Czecho,Slovakia. OnJy when these political en• tities were destroyed in coniflicts of the great power block,s, the Slova!ks took the opportunity to improve their nartional position in a new un~t, namely in Czecho-Slovakia (19118), and then, ◊1939) in thefr indeipendent Slovak Repulblic. •I n the develQpment of Slovak national consciousness and in the struggle for th·e improV'e'IDem.t of the Sliovak politilcal position, a prominent role wa,s played by �SLOVAKIA 78 Slovak emigrants, particularly by those in the U. S. A. American Slovaks, toget her with American Czechs, took an active part in fighting against the Hapsburg Monarchy. To saifeguard Slovak .r.iational rights in the commoniwealt:i oi Czechs arnd Slovaks which was to come into ex.istence under the name of Czecho-Sl.ovakfa, Slovak political leaders concluded an agreement with Czech represem,tat,ives in P.ittsiburgh, May 30, MHS. By this agreement S1ovakia wa•s to dbtain an autonomous posit-ion in the Czecho-Slovalk Republic. La ter the Czechs under T. G. Masaryk and EdJWard Benes denownced this agreement as void and tried to assimilate the Slovak ethnic group in to the so-called "Czech-oslovak" nation. The Pilttsburg.h Agreement, howe~r, became the poJ.itical credo of the Slovak autonomists under the leadershiip orf iMsgr. Am,dr e<w Hlinka. Slovak emigrant s of the period after World War ]I are almost withoult a-n exception for complete independenc·e of Slovakia and work intensely for tha t goal. Very interesting is the last chapter of Rev. Buc's book which describes commu,n-islt tactics in re· lation to Slovak naitona1is,m. During the First Czecho-Slovak Rlepublic the Slovak communist s, though few in number, were more separatist than the Father IDinka (Catho lie) P>eople's Party or Rev. Razus' (Lu,theran) Nationa l P.arty. The Slovak communists propounded the idea of coonpl•e te separat ion of Slovakia from Czecho-Slova'kfa, while the other two Slovak parties had for their aim the autonomy of Slovakia wJthiin, the CzechO-Slo-vak Republic. During the Second World War the Slovak communisits, apparently with the approval of Moscow, continued to work their or,i ginal line. Bult when the idea of a reborn Czecho--SlCl'Vakia 1 preva,iJed in Moscow. the Slovak communists had to be satisfied with only a guarantee of autonomy for Slovakia, gramited under commuruist pressure by President Dr. Edlward Benes in the Slovak city of Kosice. Nevertheless, following the communis:t coup d'etat of 1948, the Ozech communists gradually liquidated Slovak nationalist commun~·sts branding them as national bourgeois deviationists aind rescinding all Slovak autonomous pr,erogatives . After 1'948, cenitralism, stricter than that of the First Czecho--Slovak Repulblic, was re-established. The book of Rev. Bue not only pro,j ects objective light over Slovak nationalism in its historical structure, but also gives a pr.aspec t for a sound solution of the Slovak question. This solution, in the conclusions of Rev. Bue, is no-thin,g less tha1n full independence for the Slovaks within their ethnographic Boundaries. - T. Z. Gj~bert L. Oddo: Slovakia and People, :Robert Speller and Sons, New York, 1960,. 370 pp. , $6.00. The eyes and ears of the world are focused as .never before on the African and! Asiat ic peoples in their frenzied attempt to !break encrusted •colonial political patterns and1 asser,t their right of pol i tic al self-determinatio n. That right is not som•et hing newly conceived iby the no,n .mhite world; the non -w-hite peoples, however, have newly disc01Vered it. The right of self-determinatio n of peoples was popularized for European peoples at the peace po,w-wows of 19r118-19. [n approaching [)r. Oddo's minute history of the Slovak nation, one should recall that the Slovaks, like their neighbors in Cen,t ral Eurape, ,t he Sudeter:: Germans, were among the "little" Il'atio·ns Wils·on had in mind when he ipropounded its �SLOVAKIA his aims of self-determinatoin, a worthy cause that was frustrated by C'hauv,i nis,t exploitation, later tossed' into the political waste-masket. iHere we find a long-needed presentation of 11:J.istoric 1b ac~ground events requisite to the underst1and ing of the formation ·a nd growth of Slovakia into a politically conscious ethnic group seeking independence from foreign overlords, even to the present dlay. Dr. Oddo shows the emergence of Great Miorarvia, starting with the d,3wn of history and moving into the Christian- era; he tells of the warring elements that, made tlhe Slovak country little more than a battleground for centuries, highlights t he age of !Maria Theresia, then o.f her son Jioseph I[ and the influence ·of the Slovak life of his reforms. One by one Oddo peels off the coats of legendary myt'h that have olbscured the true telling of the Slova,k story for de cades. Boldly the author daubs his canvas with vivid colors of historical truth, producing a series of coherent scenes that show a people tenacious, conscious of pur:pose, idealistic and proud, slowly bu t surely emerging from oppression ar.d imposed servitude into a cohesive political and ehhnic entity. The talblea ux take the reader on through tJhe 'Europeon revolution of '1848 jnto the era of the Dual Monal"chy, continuing• into the "tro1.11blous days o.f the '1~20's . . . and t,he more cha'Otic years of the 30's. We see Slovakia's saga as a never-ending, torment•ed striving for ethnic self-eX,pression an,d, poliWhat a tical se1f-determination. tragic coin:ciden'Ce that inde-p endence, however short-liv,ed , had to come -a t a time when National Socialism was to :form its political back-dro,p, casting unwarranted as- 79 persions on- the aims and methods of SlO'Vak statesmen. A£ter the short brea,tJhing s,pell of rnberty we see the light o.f truth and freedom quenched again, this time from the !East. The con'Cluding chapter on Slovak emigration deals prilJ'Ilarily with the Slovaks who emigrated to the USA and tells what they harve been a!ble to achieve from their new home on belhalf of their captive fellowcountrymen: "We ask for the Slovak nation ·c omp lete autonomy and freedom of self-determination both in the field of politi'cs as well as in the cultural and' economic !fields. 1 In completing the reading of Slovakia and its People the reader chances thes•e what won-der.s dreams h-aive of !fulfillment now that all unli.berated peoples are on the march. Will they be forgotten, over-slhadowed by the dark man's world,, or will the ,plea for selfdetermination be strengthend, now that other voi•c es have strengthened, now that other voices have joon-ed the chorus? - Frances McPoyne. The Origin of the Name "Slav," by J. B. Riudnyc:ky,j, Winnipeg; Ukrainian Free Acad'emy of S'Ciences (Box 3•597 S,tn. B, Winnipeg 4, Man .) (Onoonastica Series No. 21) Second revised edition, '1961, 24 pages 50c. 'Ilh.e origin of the namie "Slav" is a controversial swbject as this b~ief survey shows. In the eight pages devoted to the topic there are over a dozen possilble etymological d•erivations of "Slav" summarized. Pro.f. Rudnycky,j , head of the University of Manito1b a Slavic Dep:i,r tmen t, originally d,elivered this survey as a presidential address at an Annual Meeting of the American Name Society. It was firs t �80 SLOVAKIA printed in the June 11960 issue o,f the journal Names andr is pro'baliYl!Y the <first such syino,ptic survey in the 'Englislh language. All -the most important etyimological d'erivations are summarized. The first suggested is from trhe root of slava (,glory), lin which cas•e the Slavs -are •t he "glorious" people. The second possi!ble exipJ..anation de·r ives it fu-OIIll slovo (rword) in which case the Slavs were ,t hose people who spoke an understandable language. The tlhird explanation is the topographic or t01Ponyimic (geographic place-name) origin. Sug,gestions fur this source are from an anrcier..t Slavic capital Slauna, from a root meaning "hiill, mounliain," or another meaning "lowlands." Another interesting suggestion is that the common ending "-slav" in names such as Yarosiav, IMstislav and, My<roslav exipanded into the nlllIIle of the people. This is also sugg.ested as the origin of t,he Englislh word "s1'ave." The Slavic captives lby repeating their n.ames may 'hav,e clearly impressed the common 1atter part orf their captors. 'Ptrofessor iRudnyrckyj concludes that there is no unanimous agreement on the etymology of the word "SfaN" although the topographic ex;planation seems to be the most convincing. Howeiver, th,e derivation from slovo (rword) is sti-Il :possiible. It may be mentioned tha K. Mos7JYnski lin Original Extension of the Pre-Slavic !Language (Wroclaw: IPolrish Arcademy of S'Cienc.es, 1'957) S'llg,g ests yet another view not touched on in this survey. iHe derives a .torpogr,aiphic view from the name given by ,northerners "to the drwellers of 'orpen fields' " (page 145), implying "dear' 'or 'clean" 'from the sunny open steppe of Uikraine. He gives this etymology: from the "Lart in cluo ([ clean.), Greeik kluzo (I wash, purge) kludon (striking orf waves), Old !High German hl11t• tar (clean, clear), Old iNordiic hler (lake, sea.), Litlhuanfan slavu, sluoti (to rweep (originally to clean, compare the Slav wo,rd cistiti, which in Uikrainian, Bulgarian and Serbo..Croat asswmed a secondary meaning 'to sweep')" (from page 13·9.) In the English language the word "Slav" has been used i nm-any forms•. llt has finaUy distilled down to three interchangeaible forms : Slaiv, Sla'Vlic, and Slavonic. The (Proressor's consistent use of "Slavic" in ,t he text indicates his preference "Slavonic" is used 1Inostly in En,gl'and. A useful featUTe of Pro!essor Rudnyrckiyj's monograph is the extensive list of lbi!bliogrruphical footnotes. This will guide the situdent to a wealth o'f sourees on the s-wbject. Mso includ•e d in this Onoma-stica issue is an ar,ti:cle, "Ten Years of Onomastaica {100lel961i)'' by M. H. Scargill. It is a history of this toip'O and anthrorponyimic series edited, ·tiwice a ye•ar 1b y J. B. Rudn,yckyj . Although brief, this survey is a real contrilbution !bercause it makes avaiilaible to the !English read'er the !basic tlheories on the origin of the word "S1av." otherwise they would lbe inaccess1ble to him. -It is an important step in eliminating ,part of the prevailing ignoranrce, in -the western world, o,f the !Slavs. Andrew Gregorovich, IM!ClMiaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. ,(iEditor's Note: See rDr. Henrich Bartelk's "The Origin of 'Slovan' and 'Slovak'" in SWI\I\AlKlliA, June '1958.) �Officers of the Slovak League of America (Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio) Honorary Presicent3 Michael Msgr. F . J. Dubosh, P.A. Sas 3803 Cresson Street Philadelphia 27, Pa. 12608 Madison Avenue Lakewood 7, hio Joseph Dr. Peter P. H letko Klucar 1617 Alameda Avenue Lakewood 7, Ohio Batavia Rd ., Box 48 Warrensville, III. George Kantor President Philip A. Hrobak 281 Hollywood Ave. New York 61, N. Y. P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. ADVISORY COUNCIL Vice-Presidents Joseph Bendik John P. 0. Box 230 Uniontown, Pa. A. Sabol National President First Catholic Slovak Union Julia Krajcovic Helen Kocan 1648 \V. 18th Street Chicago 8. Ill. National President First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union Recording Secretary John Horecky Paul 2264 Walton Ave. New York 53, N. Y. Secretary-Treasurer Stephen J. Tkach Paul C. Kazim er 1122 Sy! van Avenue Homestead, Pa. :-.'atinnal President Pa. Catholic Slovak Union EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Paul Fallat :-.'alional Presiden: Slovak Catholic Sokol Anna Sotak National President Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union P. Jamriska 536 Marie Ave. Pittsburgh 2, Pa. Emrich Valko Andrew Hudak 15701 Bennett Rd. :-So. Royalton 33, Ohio National President Slovak Catholic Cadet Union SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS (Affiliated with the Slov;ik League of America) JEDNOTA SLOVENSKA OBRANA ZENSK.A. JEDNOTA Middletown. Pa. Sr-ranton. Pa. Cleveland, Ohio BRATSTVO Wilkes-Ilarre. Pa. SLOVENSKE NOVINY ClevPland. Ohio Scranton, Pa. KATOLiCKY SOKOL Pa,.salc. N . J . SVORNOST OSADNE. HLASY Whitaker. Pa. Chicago, Ill. SLOVAK V AMERIKE Middletown, Pa. ZORNICKA �SLOVAKIA: The Castle of Brunovce ( 17th 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 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 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 74 SLOVAKIA BOOK REVIEWS Joseph G. Cincik, Anglo-Saxon and because the present book is a nd Slovak-Avar Paf!;erns of Cuth- written with the same sicholarly berth Gospels, Editions Slovak 'Ln- method and knowledge, his am.alystitute, Cleveland, Ohio, Rome, Italy, 1958, p. 1 24, XW pl. The kn01wn illuminated ma<nu• script called the Gospel of Cuthbert ha'S been, Jior a long time a favoriite olbject of scholarly research and analysis by several owtstanding hlstorians of medfoval art, such as (T. D. Kendrick, J. Zykan, J. Strzgowski, H. J. Hermann, G. Slwarzenski, and E. H. Zimmerman. The Gospel or Codex is preserved in the State Ubrary of Vienna', Austria,, and was originally included iin the rare illuminated Codices categorized by arthistories under the general title ''The Insular Book Illuminiations" wrich are believed to be of insular Anglo-Saxcm onigin. Some modern analysts (T. D. Kendrii'Ck, J. Zyikan) noted that non- Anglo,Sax:on ornaments in the Cuthbert Gospel predomina,te over other Codices iin quantity and they stressed that in case of the vegetal or,n aments the irufluence of AlpineDanubian ornamentation was more than casuaL They did not, however, undertake a more detailed analysis and did not arrive at any new conclusions as to the origin of the non~nglo.;saxon artistic in;fluen~s. Prof. Cinctk's w@k, his third book (See: S lovak Ru le r's Sword, Scranton, Pa., 1947, and Anc ient 1 Slovak Fibu las and Pseudo,Fibu • las, Chicago, 1,957), pulblished on the subject of medieval art in the Oarpathian and Danubian area w,ithin the last few years, sheds new Hght on all three prolblems: the origin, the date, and the nonAnglo,Saxon influences. Since both previous woriks by Professor Cincik were farvoraibly received by European as well as American critics sis and conclusions undou,btedly desel'Ve to be considered. A,s Cincilk states in the foreword to his work, he became interested in the similarity of the SlovakAivar omamental pa1tterns to those in the Cuthlbert Gospel duriin,g h1is studies of the Meroving,i,an and Oarolingian epoch at Vienna in 19351,936. During the turibulent years of the Second World War he interrwpted his work, but in exile, during his stay in Bavaria and Rome, between the years 194511947, he once again took up the work "on the complicated prolblem of solvJng the origin of the ornamental elements, the circumstances, and the time of the illuminations of Cuthbert's Gospel." The resuLts of the author's many years of study ba,sed on historicalgenetic, geograiphical, ethnic, and stylo-crJtical analyiSis, are now contained in his book, artistiicalily illustrated either by plates or original drawings made by the author •h imself. The book undoubtedly presents highly 'i nteresting scholarly readiin,g and like his previous works on medi'eval art of the Danulbian and Carpathian basin, it sheds new lig ht not only on the illuminations of the Go's pel in question aind their origin, but also on many rella ted artistic and ethnic probelms and histori'cal events. Cin'Cik's approach throughout the book is that of a highly qualified historian of medieval art with rare artistic intuition and solid knowledge of archeology, political history and literature on, the sulbj,ect in half a dozen a,nrcient and modern languages. To be assured of the accuracy of his conclusions, Cincik compared his a,nalysi:s and synthesis with work's amd docu1 81.-0VAKIA 75 ments of numerous libra.ries air.,d of th-is illuiminated manuscript" museums suich as the Pontif.ica· (P. 10). Oriental Institute, the Va1tican 12. Piace of the Origin of the AJpostolit Library, and the Am,eri can Alcademy in Rome, the Insti' Gospel: tute of Medieval Studies of HarHavi,r.,g set the date, Prof. Cincik vard University, the Ubrary o.f the presents in his analysis a ne•w Cleve!:and Art Museum, the Art theory atbout the place. "The ornaMuseum Ln Chilca,go, the State Li- menta,t ions point to the ye,a rs of bracy and Museums in Vienna, Pa- the final destruction of the Avar ris, Lond·on, etc. supreml!K!y - says the author Wha,t are the new elements and over Slovak and Sliovenian tri/bes conclusions of Prof. Cincitk's re- in the A!Jpine a,n<l Danubian researeh and anaiysis? gion. " There ar,e in ,the Gospel, says '1. Date of Origin: Several scho • 1Cinicik, contri,bu,ti,ons from the Jars have dated the Go'spel, on the Slo,vak-Avaric patterns, and the basis of paleogra.phic evid-em:e, inspirational historical event for the hand-like and interlaced oma- the Slovak1Avar elements, found ments and the composiltional in the onniamental parts of the mascheme of illuminations as a pro- nuscript "can be traiced to the duct emanating from th•e South- grandiose loot of aTtistic ornamenEng,lish monastic scriptoria relat- tal creations hauled out from the ed to the Merr,cian-NorthJUmlbri'an Canpathian Basin aJfter the defea t scribaJ pr,a ctice, as being "circa of the Aivars by the armies of 770 A.D.". Cinlcik analysing in de- Chadamagne under his son Pepin taH the illuminations a,nd the or- and Dutke Erich of Friaulfa.." Acnamerntal elements of the Gospel cording to the judgment of the has advainiced its date of origin author, the artist 'lwas influenced "into more devieloped art-forms of during the illumi•n ation work on the pre•Carolingia,n and early Ca- the Codex by the artistic form-Ian rolingian art as circa 800 A.D." guage of the above J.oot" and "thus "Since the paleographical cha,r- from the cohalbit-a tion of the Sloacter of "lettering" in the Codex vaks a-nd Avars in Trans-Danulbia i.; unique for the date of its ori- we find ,i,r:, the Go,s,pel many ornagin, its iLlumi'nations - especially mentations which prove the Sarthe artistic elements a,n<l style ap- 1ma tian,Slavic arfo:tic continuity. 'Pear indicative of a later period •Pro.£. Cincik condudes that "Cuthsays Prof. Cin!cik. It postdates the 1bert's Gospel stands before us on Gospel into the last dooade o;f the the threshold of early medieval ar t eighth century, i,f not slightly pas , in Trans,Da.nubia as a miss,ionary ·heritage of the Ghristianiza.tio,r:. of 800 A.D." 'I1he author sta-tes that the pUlb the Slovaks and Avars during and lished works a,nd studies albout a±tter the rule of Charlamagne." Cuthlbert's Gospel initiated by G. He even suggests tha,t the autho r Swarzenski, H. J. Herman an E of the illumina:tions could als·o b e H. Zimmerman, together with si- a .r..ative of the Danulbfan and Carmilar findings in the books of E pathi,an region, and holds to the Herzfeld a,n d Smirnov, and finally view that "this rare Cod·ex played the keen insight of J. Zy,kan con- am, important role in the beginvinced him "albout the accura cy of ning of the Ohristiaruization of the his views concerning the historical Slova~s, A,l pine and Pannonic Sloand evoluti'onary appraisal aJbout ivenes and Avars in the period of the place and time of the mission the strong Omaiad and .A!bba.said 1 76 SLOVAKIA inf.luem,ces in fine ar.t in the Danubian basin" (IP. 13). 3. Non-Anglo-Saxon Elements: While other scholars who analyzed the Gospel merely noted non-Anglo-Saxon elements and ornamental pa,tterns, Pro.f. Ci-ncik states emphatically that "the Alpine-Danubian character of the ilI,umination's with predominain1t Slovak and Av,aric ornamental elements or with sU'ch ornamentac local and animal figures in relationship to the contemporary New Persian Art of the Omaiad and first Albbaside Ca1ip-hs is indisputalble" ('P. 28). In his view the Cuthlbert Gospel "thus adorned predominantly with Slovak and Avaric elements, had a direct, distinct and psychological ef.fect on the acti,vity of the priest - missionaries coming from Sal:dburg region to the inhabita,n,ts whose ornamentation was used by the illuminator in the book illustrations of the Gospel." (p. 64'). Cincik builds this conclusion, which at first glance could seem nationalisti'c, on a thorough study of ornamenta~ elements which illustrate the book, as well as on, the histor,really proven presence of Irish missi:onaries among the Slovaks a,n d Slovenes during the reign of Ohadamagne. These missionaries must have been familiar not only with the local dialects o·f the Slovaks, Slovenes, Moravians, and Avars, but they also understood the local morphology of the pagian symlbolism. "Thus," ac• cording to Prof. Cincik, "the .illumin,ating p.'.llbterns brou•g ht to the Sal21burg area from the 'South EngLish Schools' even though insular, served as a sample to the illumina-tor of Outhlbert's GospeJ., OJ!, the basis of the relationship between VirgibA.l.cuin-iArno (the latter was arch/bishop of the area). Likewise, elements of the local artistic form and the symlbolic language of S'lovak and Avaric art were at his disposal after the defeat of the Avars." (ip. 86). Besides ornamental element's and patterns, the color schemes aJso are, aocording to 01nlcik's ana-lysis, "completel,y different." "The lively, fiery coioring,' 'says Cincik, "nowhere f.ades in the iUuminations of the Gospel and it thus testifies to the permanent and basic temper o;f the illuminator. It verifiles also that it was neither of Angl~axon nor perhaips e,v en Thankish or Italian origin. A continuous effort to mafotai'n a wide sca'1e of v,iviid colors sponta.neousJ.y points to the taste and· sen'se of priJIDa,r y colors used at that time by !:he local population" (p. 89). 'IH)a,v ing considered these facts," Prof. Oincik writes on, the last page o;f h<is work, "together with the Anglo,Saxon ornamental influence and the prevalent elemental trace's and colorisan, we condude that the art of Cuth!bel't's Gospel •is purposely that of the ancient Slovak and Arv.ari'c or,niamenrtal art sty,lization." "With many characteristics of Caroling-ian and local art style in the Middle~,anuJbia,n region, Cuthbert's Gospel sta.nds out as Romianesque Slovak art at the daJWn of the early medieval period. As such, i't is not only an imipol'tant histor,ical and cultural heritage of the Anglo.Saxon missions d-uring the time of Charlemagne in the Ela-stern Alps, but al,so a famous and outs~ding artisti•c relic testifying to the decorative art style develop•ed in the Slovak Christian pr,irncipalities, the ca,p itals of whi~h we r e Nitm and the !Bannoniain, Blatnohrad after the year 800 A.D. M: is an art remruant developed by signiifa:ant hii:s.torical events at the begi.nning o.f the filrst half of the ninth century which witnessed a gradual Christianrizaition of Slovakian pr,incipa,Mies in Slovakd:a pro- SLOVAKIA per, Morarvia, and the Slavs in _general around the Carpa,t hian Ba.sin, a;nd terminated later in a Great Moravian Empire and in the .apostolic activity of SS. Cyril and Method1us ... " Pmf. Cincilk corrOlborates his conclusions and ·suggestions w~th 23 pages of illustraitions. He also refer,s to many works of outstandr ing EurQPean aind American scholars in the fileld oif the history of art, ar-cheology, paleography, and cu1tural history. Some scholars at Central European universities ha'Ve en<thusi>astilcaJ:ly accepted• Oincilk's study and its coniclusions. If generally accepted by exper,ts in mediev-al art history, Cincik's work will meain. for Slarvic studies a new important and: valualble contriibution. :Some of the conclusions are unnecessarily repeated in the book and the awthor is inconsistent when using the ,n;a,me Olf the Gospel (Curt!hlberts or Cuthlbert?) as well as the term Arvar or Avaric. Seveml chapters of the book do not directly refer to the Gospel but make the text and the author'o conclusions easi'er to understand and to aocept. The teX!t would indicate that i>t is a translation from Slovak or other European language and sometimes quite far from perfect English. An ilmpressive bibliogr,aiphy and a great number of references in footnotes prove that Prof. Oincik took his task seriously. J. M. Kirschbaum, Uni:Versilty oif Mlo-ntreaJ. Rev. B. S. Bue, OJF.IM., Ph.ID.: Slovak Nationalism; published by the Slovak League oif America, M1dd<letawn, Pa., 1960; pp. 67. This book is the aurthor's thesis for his Mlasber Degree in Political Science a,t the Uni'ver,s ity of Pittsburgh. The a~eptance of a thesfa by a University Falculty ilmplies that the swbm'itted work is 77 serious, well documented, and written in a solid way. '!1his work of the Rev. Bue has all these qualities. The author first discusses the history oif Slovak nationalism a,s it had developed under the influence of Enlightenmen1t and Roonanticism in the Aiustro-iHungarian Monarchy, until, in the middle -Orf the pa,s t century, it ac,q uired definite political fol"ms. In the old Monarchy the Slo,vak-s struggled f •o r nati'on,a,1 self.,presewa-tion a,g ain'st the offilcial trend of magy,arizati-on. J!l'om 19.1.8, when the FJrst Czecho-Slovak Republic was estalblished, until 1009 they had to defend their distinct national character against the so-called 'ICzecho-Slovruc i'dea," the offiicial trend of the Prague governmemrt to assimilate the Slov,aiks into the Czech ethnic growp. The proclamarti-on of the Slovak Rerpu'blic in M<arch, 19319, is considered· by the awthor as a logical conclusion of Slov-a!k national aspirati1ons. Rev. Bue defends Slovak nation.al aspiraUons ag,a inst the all•e· gations oif anti,Slcwak political enemies who claim that the Slovaks with their na1tionalism have been a des-trucfone elemenrt in the Danwbian Basin. He proves that the Slova'ks defended their un.al~ena1ble rights for their own nartional life wi'thiin the poli:tical entity in which they Hved, filr-s t in A'll'!>tro-,Hung,ary, and then in Czecho,Slovakia. OnJy when these political en• tities were destroyed in coniflicts of the great power block,s, the Slova!ks took the opportunity to improve their nartional position in a new un~t, namely in Czecho-Slovakia (19118), and then, ◊1939) in thefr indeipendent Slovak Repulblic. •I n the develQpment of Slovak national consciousness and in the struggle for th·e improV'e'IDem.t of the Sliovak politilcal position, a prominent role wa,s played by SLOVAKIA 78 Slovak emigrants, particularly by those in the U. S. A. American Slovaks, toget her with American Czechs, took an active part in fighting against the Hapsburg Monarchy. To saifeguard Slovak .r.iational rights in the commoniwealt:i oi Czechs arnd Slovaks which was to come into ex.istence under the name of Czecho-Sl.ovakfa, Slovak political leaders concluded an agreement with Czech represem,tat,ives in P.ittsiburgh, May 30, MHS. By this agreement S1ovakia wa•s to dbtain an autonomous posit-ion in the Czecho-Slovalk Republic. La ter the Czechs under T. G. Masaryk and EdJWard Benes denownced this agreement as void and tried to assimilate the Slovak ethnic group in to the so-called "Czech-oslovak" nation. The Pilttsburg.h Agreement, howe~r, became the poJ.itical credo of the Slovak autonomists under the leadershiip orf iMsgr. Am,dr e<w Hlinka. Slovak emigrant s of the period after World War ]I are almost withoult a-n exception for complete independenc·e of Slovakia and work intensely for tha t goal. Very interesting is the last chapter of Rev. Buc's book which describes commu,n-islt tactics in re· lation to Slovak naitona1is,m. During the First Czecho-Slovak Rlepublic the Slovak communist s, though few in number, were more separatist than the Father IDinka (Catho lie) P>eople's Party or Rev. Razus' (Lu,theran) Nationa l P.arty. The Slovak communists propounded the idea of coonpl•e te separat ion of Slovakia from Czecho-Slova'kfa, while the other two Slovak parties had for their aim the autonomy of Slovakia wJthiin, the CzechO-Slo-vak Republic. During the Second World War the Slovak communisits, apparently with the approval of Moscow, continued to work their or,i ginal line. Bult when the idea of a reborn Czecho--SlCl'Vakia 1 preva,iJed in Moscow. the Slovak communists had to be satisfied with only a guarantee of autonomy for Slovakia, gramited under commuruist pressure by President Dr. Edlward Benes in the Slovak city of Kosice. Nevertheless, following the communis:t coup d'etat of 1948, the Ozech communists gradually liquidated Slovak nationalist commun~·sts branding them as national bourgeois deviationists aind rescinding all Slovak autonomous pr,erogatives . After 1'948, cenitralism, stricter than that of the First Czecho--Slovak Repulblic, was re-established. The book of Rev. Bue not only pro,j ects objective light over Slovak nationalism in its historical structure, but also gives a pr.aspec t for a sound solution of the Slovak question. This solution, in the conclusions of Rev. Bue, is no-thin,g less tha1n full independence for the Slovaks within their ethnographic Boundaries. - T. Z. Gj~bert L. Oddo: Slovakia and People, :Robert Speller and Sons, New York, 1960,. 370 pp. , $6.00. The eyes and ears of the world are focused as .never before on the African and! Asiat ic peoples in their frenzied attempt to !break encrusted •colonial political patterns and1 asser,t their right of pol i tic al self-determinatio n. That right is not som•et hing newly conceived iby the no,n .mhite world; the non -w-hite peoples, however, have newly disc01Vered it. The right of self-determinatio n of peoples was popularized for European peoples at the peace po,w-wows of 19r118-19. [n approaching [)r. Oddo's minute history of the Slovak nation, one should recall that the Slovaks, like their neighbors in Cen,t ral Eurape, ,t he Sudeter:: Germans, were among the "little" Il'atio·ns Wils·on had in mind when he ipropounded its SLOVAKIA his aims of self-determinatoin, a worthy cause that was frustrated by C'hauv,i nis,t exploitation, later tossed' into the political waste-masket. iHere we find a long-needed presentation of 11:J.istoric 1b ac~ground events requisite to the underst1and ing of the formation ·a nd growth of Slovakia into a politically conscious ethnic group seeking independence from foreign overlords, even to the present dlay. Dr. Oddo shows the emergence of Great Miorarvia, starting with the d,3wn of history and moving into the Christian- era; he tells of the warring elements that, made tlhe Slovak country little more than a battleground for centuries, highlights t he age of !Maria Theresia, then o.f her son Jioseph I[ and the influence ·of the Slovak life of his reforms. One by one Oddo peels off the coats of legendary myt'h that have olbscured the true telling of the Slova,k story for de cades. Boldly the author daubs his canvas with vivid colors of historical truth, producing a series of coherent scenes that show a people tenacious, conscious of pur:pose, idealistic and proud, slowly bu t surely emerging from oppression ar.d imposed servitude into a cohesive political and ehhnic entity. The talblea ux take the reader on through tJhe 'Europeon revolution of '1848 jnto the era of the Dual Monal"chy, continuing• into the "tro1.11blous days o.f the '1~20's . . . and t,he more cha'Otic years of the 30's. We see Slovakia's saga as a never-ending, torment•ed striving for ethnic self-eX,pression an,d, poliWhat a tical se1f-determination. tragic coin:ciden'Ce that inde-p endence, however short-liv,ed , had to come -a t a time when National Socialism was to :form its political back-dro,p, casting unwarranted as- 79 persions on- the aims and methods of SlO'Vak statesmen. A£ter the short brea,tJhing s,pell of rnberty we see the light o.f truth and freedom quenched again, this time from the !East. The con'Cluding chapter on Slovak emigration deals prilJ'Ilarily with the Slovaks who emigrated to the USA and tells what they harve been a!ble to achieve from their new home on belhalf of their captive fellowcountrymen: "We ask for the Slovak nation ·c omp lete autonomy and freedom of self-determination both in the field of politi'cs as well as in the cultural and' economic !fields. 1 In completing the reading of Slovakia and its People the reader chances thes•e what won-der.s dreams h-aive of !fulfillment now that all unli.berated peoples are on the march. Will they be forgotten, over-slhadowed by the dark man's world,, or will the ,plea for selfdetermination be strengthend, now that other voi•c es have strengthened, now that other voices have joon-ed the chorus? - Frances McPoyne. The Origin of the Name "Slav," by J. B. Riudnyc:ky,j, Winnipeg; Ukrainian Free Acad'emy of S'Ciences (Box 3•597 S,tn. B, Winnipeg 4, Man .) (Onoonastica Series No. 21) Second revised edition, '1961, 24 pages 50c. 'Ilh.e origin of the namie "Slav" is a controversial swbject as this b~ief survey shows. In the eight pages devoted to the topic there are over a dozen possilble etymological d•erivations of "Slav" summarized. Pro.f. Rudnycky,j , head of the University of Manito1b a Slavic Dep:i,r tmen t, originally d,elivered this survey as a presidential address at an Annual Meeting of the American Name Society. It was firs t 80 SLOVAKIA printed in the June 11960 issue o,f the journal Names andr is pro'baliYl!Y the <first such syino,ptic survey in the 'Englislh language. All -the most important etyimological d'erivations are summarized. The first suggested is from trhe root of slava (,glory), lin which cas•e the Slavs -are •t he "glorious" people. The second possi!ble exipJ..anation de·r ives it fu-OIIll slovo (rword) in which case the Slavs were ,t hose people who spoke an understandable language. The tlhird explanation is the topographic or t01Ponyimic (geographic place-name) origin. Sug,gestions fur this source are from an anrcier..t Slavic capital Slauna, from a root meaning "hiill, mounliain," or another meaning "lowlands." Another interesting suggestion is that the common ending "-slav" in names such as Yarosiav, IMstislav and, My<roslav exipanded into the nlllIIle of the people. This is also sugg.ested as the origin of t,he Englislh word "s1'ave." The Slavic captives lby repeating their n.ames may 'hav,e clearly impressed the common 1atter part orf their captors. 'Ptrofessor iRudnyrckyj concludes that there is no unanimous agreement on the etymology of the word "SfaN" although the topographic ex;planation seems to be the most convincing. Howeiver, th,e derivation from slovo (rword) is sti-Il :possiible. It may be mentioned tha K. Mos7JYnski lin Original Extension of the Pre-Slavic !Language (Wroclaw: IPolrish Arcademy of S'Cienc.es, 1'957) S'llg,g ests yet another view not touched on in this survey. iHe derives a .torpogr,aiphic view from the name given by ,northerners "to the drwellers of 'orpen fields' " (page 145), implying "dear' 'or 'clean" 'from the sunny open steppe of Uikraine. He gives this etymology: from the "Lart in cluo ([ clean.), Greeik kluzo (I wash, purge) kludon (striking orf waves), Old !High German hl11t• tar (clean, clear), Old iNordiic hler (lake, sea.), Litlhuanfan slavu, sluoti (to rweep (originally to clean, compare the Slav wo,rd cistiti, which in Uikrainian, Bulgarian and Serbo..Croat asswmed a secondary meaning 'to sweep')" (from page 13·9.) In the English language the word "Slav" has been used i nm-any forms•. llt has finaUy distilled down to three interchangeaible forms : Slaiv, Sla'Vlic, and Slavonic. The (Proressor's consistent use of "Slavic" in ,t he text indicates his preference "Slavonic" is used 1Inostly in En,gl'and. A useful featUTe of Pro!essor Rudnyrckiyj's monograph is the extensive list of lbi!bliogrruphical footnotes. This will guide the situdent to a wealth o'f sourees on the s-wbject. Mso includ•e d in this Onoma-stica issue is an ar,ti:cle, "Ten Years of Onomastaica {100lel961i)'' by M. H. Scargill. It is a history of this toip'O and anthrorponyimic series edited, ·tiwice a ye•ar 1b y J. B. Rudn,yckyj . Although brief, this survey is a real contrilbution !bercause it makes avaiilaible to the !English read'er the !basic tlheories on the origin of the word "S1av." otherwise they would lbe inaccess1ble to him. -It is an important step in eliminating ,part of the prevailing ignoranrce, in -the western world, o,f the !Slavs. Andrew Gregorovich, IM!ClMiaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. ,(iEditor's Note: See rDr. Henrich Bartelk's "The Origin of 'Slovan' and 'Slovak'" in SWI\I\AlKlliA, June '1958.) Officers of the Slovak League of America (Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio) Honorary Presicent3 Michael Msgr. F . J. Dubosh, P.A. Sas 3803 Cresson Street Philadelphia 27, Pa. 12608 Madison Avenue Lakewood 7, hio Joseph Dr. Peter P. H letko Klucar 1617 Alameda Avenue Lakewood 7, Ohio Batavia Rd ., Box 48 Warrensville, III. George Kantor President Philip A. Hrobak 281 Hollywood Ave. New York 61, N. Y. P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. ADVISORY COUNCIL Vice-Presidents Joseph Bendik John P. 0. Box 230 Uniontown, Pa. A. Sabol National President First Catholic Slovak Union Julia Krajcovic Helen Kocan 1648 \V. 18th Street Chicago 8. Ill. National President First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union Recording Secretary John Horecky Paul 2264 Walton Ave. New York 53, N. Y. Secretary-Treasurer Stephen J. Tkach Paul C. Kazim er 1122 Sy! van Avenue Homestead, Pa. :-.'atinnal President Pa. Catholic Slovak Union EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Paul Fallat :-.'alional Presiden: Slovak Catholic Sokol Anna Sotak National President Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union P. Jamriska 536 Marie Ave. Pittsburgh 2, Pa. Emrich Valko Andrew Hudak 15701 Bennett Rd. :-So. Royalton 33, Ohio National President Slovak Catholic Cadet Union SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS (Affiliated with the Slov;ik League of America) JEDNOTA SLOVENSKA OBRANA ZENSK.A. JEDNOTA Middletown. Pa. Sr-ranton. Pa. Cleveland, Ohio BRATSTVO Wilkes-Ilarre. Pa. SLOVENSKE NOVINY ClevPland. Ohio Scranton, Pa. KATOLiCKY SOKOL Pa,.salc. N . J . SVORNOST OSADNE. HLASY Whitaker. Pa. Chicago, Ill. SLOVAK V AMERIKE Middletown, Pa. ZORNICKA SLOVAKIA: The Castle of Brunovce ( 17th Century)  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Back Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 1 (33) Description An account of the resource includes book reviews, pp. 74-80, and photo of Castle of Brunovce, back cover Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1961 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/0d4a65c0fd5e264f1465f40f7fc98746.pdf fa37bec518cac491a7ef0ac45053a48b PDF Text Text VOL. XI SEPTEMBER- DECEMBER, 1961 NO. 2 (34) IN THIS ISSUE: DR. JOZEF TISO IN MEMORIAM ASSEMBLY OF CAP T IVE EUROPEAN NATIONS HUNGARIAN EXILES AND SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE BENES AND MOSCOW CZECHO-SLOVAKIA YESTERDAY AND TODAY SLOVAKIA AND CENTRAL EUROPE SELF-DETERMINATION FOR ALL THE TROUBLEMAK E R EURO PE AN FEDER A LISTS WELCOME KIRSCHBAUM ' S BOOK CASTL ES OF SLOV A KIA: KREMNICA SUDET E N GERMAN DAYS: MAY 19- 22, 1961 NEWS ITEMS: 26, 51, 57, 64, 80 • • • Edited and compiled by PHILIP A. I-IROBAK SLOVAKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa . • • • Publis hed by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA �RECOMMENDED BOOKS: SLOVAKIA AND ITS PEOPIJE, Oddo; $6.00. SLOVAKIA - NATION AT THE CROSSROADS OF OENTRAL EUROPE, K.irsehba-um; $5.00. THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVAKS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper); $2.00 (cloth cover). THE CHURCH OF SILENCE IN SLOVAKIA, Zubek; $3.50. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD, Woytko; $1.50. "CZECHOSLOVAKIA" - History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. UNOONQUERJAIBDES, Pauco; $2.00 L'UDOViT STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD, Prof. J. Kirschbaum; 25c. ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.00. ♦ ♦ ♦ SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The main purpose of SLOVAKIA is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long, hard struggle for freedom and independence. $1.00 per annum in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. SLOVAKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Middletown, Pa. � VOL. XI SEPTEMBER- DECEMBER, 1961 NO. 2 (34) IN THIS ISSUE: DR. JOZEF TISO IN MEMORIAM ASSEMBLY OF CAP T IVE EUROPEAN NATIONS HUNGARIAN EXILES AND SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE BENES AND MOSCOW CZECHO-SLOVAKIA YESTERDAY AND TODAY SLOVAKIA AND CENTRAL EUROPE SELF-DETERMINATION FOR ALL THE TROUBLEMAK E R EURO PE AN FEDER A LISTS WELCOME KIRSCHBAUM ' S BOOK CASTL ES OF SLOV A KIA: KREMNICA SUDET E N GERMAN DAYS: MAY 19- 22, 1961 NEWS ITEMS: 26, 51, 57, 64, 80 • • • Edited and compiled by PHILIP A. I-IROBAK SLOVAKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa . • • • Publis hed by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA �RECOMMENDED BOOKS: SLOVAKIA AND ITS PEOPIJE, Oddo; $6.00. SLOVAKIA - NATION AT THE CROSSROADS OF OENTRAL EUROPE, K.irsehba-um; $5.00. THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVAKS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper); $2.00 (cloth cover). THE CHURCH OF SILENCE IN SLOVAKIA, Zubek; $3.50. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD, Woytko; $1.50. "CZECHOSLOVAKIA" - History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. UNOONQUERJAIBDES, Pauco; $2.00 L'UDOViT STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD, Prof. J. Kirschbaum; 25c. ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.00. ♦ ♦ ♦ SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The main purpose of SLOVAKIA is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long, hard struggle for freedom and independence. $1.00 per annum in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. SLOVAKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Middletown, Pa. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document VOL. XI SEPTEMBER- DECEMBER, 1961 NO. 2 (34) IN THIS ISSUE: DR. JOZEF TISO IN MEMORIAM ASSEMBLY OF CAP T IVE EUROPEAN NATIONS HUNGARIAN EXILES AND SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE BENES AND MOSCOW CZECHO-SLOVAKIA YESTERDAY AND TODAY SLOVAKIA AND CENTRAL EUROPE SELF-DETERMINATION FOR ALL THE TROUBLEMAK E R EURO PE AN FEDER A LISTS WELCOME KIRSCHBAUM ' S BOOK CASTL ES OF SLOV A KIA: KREMNICA SUDET E N GERMAN DAYS: MAY 19- 22, 1961 NEWS ITEMS: 26, 51, 57, 64, 80 • • • Edited and compiled by PHILIP A. I-IROBAK SLOVAKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa . • • • Publis hed by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA RECOMMENDED BOOKS: SLOVAKIA AND ITS PEOPIJE, Oddo; $6.00. SLOVAKIA - NATION AT THE CROSSROADS OF OENTRAL EUROPE, K.irsehba-um; $5.00. THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVAKS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper); $2.00 (cloth cover). THE CHURCH OF SILENCE IN SLOVAKIA, Zubek; $3.50. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD, Woytko; $1.50. "CZECHOSLOVAKIA" - History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. UNOONQUERJAIBDES, Pauco; $2.00 L'UDOViT STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD, Prof. J. Kirschbaum; 25c. ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.00. ♦ ♦ ♦ SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The main purpose of SLOVAKIA is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long, hard struggle for freedom and independence. $1.00 per annum in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. SLOVAKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Middletown, Pa.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Front Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 2 (34) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1961 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/e0d1f2d53ba58b0615f7d1ba9f832aea.pdf 4c29783a5823eb3445e252bd4bbff483 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA Published by the Slovak League of America VOL. XI SEPTEMBE1R-'DECEMBER, 1961 NO. 2(34) DR. JOZEF TISO IN MEMORIAM April 18, 1961, marked the 14th anniversary of the death of Monsignor Dr. Jozef Tiso, President of the Slovak Republic, who died a martyr's death at the hands of Benes and the Soviets, a victim of a disastrous policy, the cornerstone of which was laid aJt Yalta in February, 1945. Instead of ushering in freedom, democracy and selfdetermination, it led to the subjugation of an additional 200 million Europeans. On their soil in Northern, Central and Southern Europe, there arose a new Soviet colonial system at a time when 100 millions of people in Asia and Africa began their march ,to independent statehood. It was a policy that destroyed Europe's individuality and enlarged the power of the Kremlin, a power that has kept all humanity under constant tension since 1945 and is a threat to the freedom of all the states it has not yet captured. The Slovak Republic was one of the vidtims of this policy. The invasion of Slovakia by the Red Army crushed its growing individuality and brutally incor-porated that little country into Czecho-Slovakia. A Communist regime was imposed upon Slovakia, supponted and represented by Czech Communists. This regime is able to maintain its power only by employing Czech-Communist commissars. Dr. Jozef Tiso constantly warned the free world of the dual danger inherent in the Soviet system: Moscow's imperialism on the one hand; the tyranny of godless Communism on the other. His warning words unfortunately fell on deaf ears. When Dr. Tiso refused to cooperate with Moscow in spreading the Communist dictatorship, he was treated like a criminal of the worst sort. U. S. Military units, operating against esta'blished international procedures, on order f.rom Washington surrendered Dr. Tiso and a number of Slovak opponents of Soviet Russia to lthe �2 SLOVAKIA Prague Communists. Much effort was expended to degrade Dr. Tiso in the eyes of the rest of the world for the frankness of his convictions and to place him in a bad light. His opponents succeeded in doing so by recourse 1to propaganda. At that time 1the USA lent its support to the policy of Dr. Edward Benes, a pioneer in cooperating with the Soviets, and an ideal representative of the policy of Yalta. The West helped the Communist system to ·e xpand its power and thus took ruthless measures against Dr. Tiso who warned of the consequences of this policy. Events after 1950 documented the correctness of the words of both the Slovak president and the Slovak people. At the same time they disclosed - as convincing arguments - the shont-sightedness, agoistic and immoral policy of Dr. Benes, which today is still erroneously referred to as "democratic." By murdering President Jozef Tiso the Czech-Communist regime hoped to break the anti.-Communist res,i stance of the Slovak people an<l crush their ambitions toward freedom and independence. It did not succeed in doing so and will never succeed. The Slovak people will hold fast to the idea of Slovak statehood throughout all the ruthlessness and terror to which they are submitted and will stand up to the Czech-Communist regime with every bit of resolve they can muster, regardless of the cost. The policy of Yalta spells misfortune not only for the Slovak people but for all mankind. The West dare not lose sight of the fact that tdday neither nazism nor fascism constitutes a danger - they are systems of the past - but Communism, to rid itself of which is the task of the hour. Bearing in mind !the countless martyrs, victims of an "historical error," of the policy of Yalta, the entire free world should resolve to take uncompromising and more energetic steps to oppose the Communist system and do so, as well, in the interest of the enslaved peoples behind the iron curtain. Freedom and independence belong not ,t o a privileged few but to all, including the Slovak people. - A. M. � SLOVAKIA Published by the Slovak League of America VOL. XI SEPTEMBE1R-'DECEMBER, 1961 NO. 2(34) DR. JOZEF TISO IN MEMORIAM April 18, 1961, marked the 14th anniversary of the death of Monsignor Dr. Jozef Tiso, President of the Slovak Republic, who died a martyr's death at the hands of Benes and the Soviets, a victim of a disastrous policy, the cornerstone of which was laid aJt Yalta in February, 1945. Instead of ushering in freedom, democracy and selfdetermination, it led to the subjugation of an additional 200 million Europeans. On their soil in Northern, Central and Southern Europe, there arose a new Soviet colonial system at a time when 100 millions of people in Asia and Africa began their march ,to independent statehood. It was a policy that destroyed Europe's individuality and enlarged the power of the Kremlin, a power that has kept all humanity under constant tension since 1945 and is a threat to the freedom of all the states it has not yet captured. The Slovak Republic was one of the vidtims of this policy. The invasion of Slovakia by the Red Army crushed its growing individuality and brutally incor-porated that little country into Czecho-Slovakia. A Communist regime was imposed upon Slovakia, supponted and represented by Czech Communists. This regime is able to maintain its power only by employing Czech-Communist commissars. Dr. Jozef Tiso constantly warned the free world of the dual danger inherent in the Soviet system: Moscow's imperialism on the one hand; the tyranny of godless Communism on the other. His warning words unfortunately fell on deaf ears. When Dr. Tiso refused to cooperate with Moscow in spreading the Communist dictatorship, he was treated like a criminal of the worst sort. U. S. Military units, operating against esta'blished international procedures, on order f.rom Washington surrendered Dr. Tiso and a number of Slovak opponents of Soviet Russia to lthe �2 SLOVAKIA Prague Communists. Much effort was expended to degrade Dr. Tiso in the eyes of the rest of the world for the frankness of his convictions and to place him in a bad light. His opponents succeeded in doing so by recourse 1to propaganda. At that time 1the USA lent its support to the policy of Dr. Edward Benes, a pioneer in cooperating with the Soviets, and an ideal representative of the policy of Yalta. The West helped the Communist system to ·e xpand its power and thus took ruthless measures against Dr. Tiso who warned of the consequences of this policy. Events after 1950 documented the correctness of the words of both the Slovak president and the Slovak people. At the same time they disclosed - as convincing arguments - the shont-sightedness, agoistic and immoral policy of Dr. Benes, which today is still erroneously referred to as "democratic." By murdering President Jozef Tiso the Czech-Communist regime hoped to break the anti.-Communist res,i stance of the Slovak people an<l crush their ambitions toward freedom and independence. It did not succeed in doing so and will never succeed. The Slovak people will hold fast to the idea of Slovak statehood throughout all the ruthlessness and terror to which they are submitted and will stand up to the Czech-Communist regime with every bit of resolve they can muster, regardless of the cost. The policy of Yalta spells misfortune not only for the Slovak people but for all mankind. The West dare not lose sight of the fact that tdday neither nazism nor fascism constitutes a danger - they are systems of the past - but Communism, to rid itself of which is the task of the hour. Bearing in mind !the countless martyrs, victims of an "historical error," of the policy of Yalta, the entire free world should resolve to take uncompromising and more energetic steps to oppose the Communist system and do so, as well, in the interest of the enslaved peoples behind the iron curtain. Freedom and independence belong not ,t o a privileged few but to all, including the Slovak people. - A. M. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA Published by the Slovak League of America VOL. XI SEPTEMBE1R-'DECEMBER, 1961 NO. 2(34) DR. JOZEF TISO IN MEMORIAM April 18, 1961, marked the 14th anniversary of the death of Monsignor Dr. Jozef Tiso, President of the Slovak Republic, who died a martyr's death at the hands of Benes and the Soviets, a victim of a disastrous policy, the cornerstone of which was laid aJt Yalta in February, 1945. Instead of ushering in freedom, democracy and selfdetermination, it led to the subjugation of an additional 200 million Europeans. On their soil in Northern, Central and Southern Europe, there arose a new Soviet colonial system at a time when 100 millions of people in Asia and Africa began their march ,to independent statehood. It was a policy that destroyed Europe's individuality and enlarged the power of the Kremlin, a power that has kept all humanity under constant tension since 1945 and is a threat to the freedom of all the states it has not yet captured. The Slovak Republic was one of the vidtims of this policy. The invasion of Slovakia by the Red Army crushed its growing individuality and brutally incor-porated that little country into Czecho-Slovakia. A Communist regime was imposed upon Slovakia, supponted and represented by Czech Communists. This regime is able to maintain its power only by employing Czech-Communist commissars. Dr. Jozef Tiso constantly warned the free world of the dual danger inherent in the Soviet system: Moscow's imperialism on the one hand; the tyranny of godless Communism on the other. His warning words unfortunately fell on deaf ears. When Dr. Tiso refused to cooperate with Moscow in spreading the Communist dictatorship, he was treated like a criminal of the worst sort. U. S. Military units, operating against esta'blished international procedures, on order f.rom Washington surrendered Dr. Tiso and a number of Slovak opponents of Soviet Russia to lthe 2 SLOVAKIA Prague Communists. Much effort was expended to degrade Dr. Tiso in the eyes of the rest of the world for the frankness of his convictions and to place him in a bad light. His opponents succeeded in doing so by recourse 1to propaganda. At that time 1the USA lent its support to the policy of Dr. Edward Benes, a pioneer in cooperating with the Soviets, and an ideal representative of the policy of Yalta. The West helped the Communist system to ·e xpand its power and thus took ruthless measures against Dr. Tiso who warned of the consequences of this policy. Events after 1950 documented the correctness of the words of both the Slovak president and the Slovak people. At the same time they disclosed - as convincing arguments - the shont-sightedness, agoistic and immoral policy of Dr. Benes, which today is still erroneously referred to as "democratic." By murdering President Jozef Tiso the Czech-Communist regime hoped to break the anti.-Communist res,i stance of the Slovak people an<l crush their ambitions toward freedom and independence. It did not succeed in doing so and will never succeed. The Slovak people will hold fast to the idea of Slovak statehood throughout all the ruthlessness and terror to which they are submitted and will stand up to the Czech-Communist regime with every bit of resolve they can muster, regardless of the cost. The policy of Yalta spells misfortune not only for the Slovak people but for all mankind. The West dare not lose sight of the fact that tdday neither nazism nor fascism constitutes a danger - they are systems of the past - but Communism, to rid itself of which is the task of the hour. Bearing in mind !the countless martyrs, victims of an "historical error," of the policy of Yalta, the entire free world should resolve to take uncompromising and more energetic steps to oppose the Communist system and do so, as well, in the interest of the enslaved peoples behind the iron curtain. Freedom and independence belong not ,t o a privileged few but to all, including the Slovak people. - A. M.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Dr. Jozef Tiso In Memoriam Description An account of the resource Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 2 (34), September-December 1961 pp. 1-2 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1961 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/e569ca39b248734e436889efd01f4eca.pdf f871f88f76f4deea3b0c30aed267baae PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 3 .6JSSEMBL Y OF CAPTIVE EUROPEAN N~TIONS: CONFLICT BETWEEN IDEA AND DEED JOSEPH CIEK·ER The politics of the non-Communi st world loses much of its aggressivenes s, attractiveness and snap because of the frequent conflict between thought and action, between an ideal and reality, between the height of the noblest values and the baseness of those money-change rs who have made a profession out of politics. If this frequent conflict in the politics of the non-Communi st world is judged benevolently, reasons will be found to explain it, even if not for justification. If, however, in the directing of this conflict politics is being made by people whose personal, moral and national obligation it should be to perseveringly make politics of principles, politics of spiritual and moral revival, politics of li-berating the nations fettered by the chains of communist violence, then this conflict even with the greatest benevolence cannot find neither explanation, nor justification. Undoubtedly great ideas and noble ideas inspired the organization of the Assembly of Captive Nations (ACEN) The "Czechoslovak" delegation or represenfation of the A•ssemlbly of Captive European Natioms is made up of persons who were - all of th€.m with the ,exce•p.tion of Dr. Stephen Osusky memlbel's o.f the po·s twar Communist-dom inated National Ff,(mt Government (1945°1948) of the Benes-<Gottwaild coaJitil()n, whi:ch CO'lla'borated fully wi'th the Soviet Union (Benes's ''Czechosl()IVaJk-S<wiet" tr·e aty of Dec. 112, 1'943, was the "cornerstone" of Pr,a gue's foreign policy). They are con'sidered responsilble in a large measure fo.r the present hapless plig,h t of the Slov,aks and Czechs. Osusky was chosen to head the delega,tion, ibecaus·e he was "cleane·r " tha~, the others. on September 20, 1954. The principal aim of this organization, as expressed on its shield, is: "Freedom and national independence for the nations of Central and Eastern Europe enslaved by the Soviets." The roster of the nations "enslaved by the Soviets'~ �4 SLOVAKIA should contain the names of all the nations (not only the names of the political formations they are enslaved in) which, from the day of their occupation by the Reds, are fighting, suffering and dying for the concept of freedom and independence. Europe and the entire non-Communist world would like to see in this Assembly of Captive Nations ALL of the nations that are held captive by the USSR. Elementary political honor and the most primitive political loyalty to the ideal of freedom and independence, to this truth and the political and national realities in Central and Eastern Europe, have demanded from the very beginning - and perseveringly demand even today - that this organization - which has pledged itself before the non--Communist world that it wishes to express the spiritual, moral, and political content of the enslaved nations - will keep its given word and shall in its own conduct be identified with the aim expressed on its shield. Unfortunately, this was not so. And it still is not so. This Assembly is not an assemly of ALL the nations held in captivity. Its beautifully expressed aim has been, and still "At a time when i,n the free part of the world, peoples who have never enjoy,ed self-government in the past are gradua'1ly attaining ruat ionhood and are assisted by the United NatilQlns in the aichievement of their rightful aspirations - the exact reverse process has been t·ailcirng place in Central a1nd :Ela,s tern Europe." (AIO:EJN statement, Sept. 20, 1·954). Adden<lum: Amid this "reverse pr,ocess" has been goin,g on in Ozeicho-Slov.akia {even under the leadership of T. G. Mia•s•aryik and Dr. Edward Benes) ever since the birth of that glorified "isle of democracy." The Slovaks never enjoyed self-govern'ment or home rule within the fr,a1m~ol'lk of Czech<H5lovakia - not eve n, after members of tlhe present "polibiical representations in exile," \\iho now olaillD. to 1b e ''the genuine voice of the peoples," were members of the Czecho.SlO'V,ak government. is, refuted by the actions of this organization. Its actions belie its noble words. From its very beginning, this organization has been in sharp and basic conflict not only with its own expressed noble ideals, but even with its very own substance. It has not become a dynamic force for the realization of the idea of freedom and independence, but only an instrument of obsolete political garnitures and politi- �SLOVAKIA 5 cal parties that have been crushed and cast off by Communism. Thinking in terms of their past functions, they want to bring back the past. The organization, which - under the given international circumstances, at this twelfth hour, in this amazing shake-up of continents, in this transformation of people and nations, on this cross-roads of universal history should have a great mission, has remained a paralyzed formation because it has renounced the magnanimity which its ideals had assured. Universally valid ideas and principles - being realized today in the jungles of Africa and Asiatic wastelands - have been scrapped by this organization when the same ideas and principles applied equally to all the nations of Central and Eastern Europe. The Assembly of Captive European Nations has, in fact, become an exclusive club of the privileged. Instead of being the interpreter of the will of the historical, organic and •live nations before the world public opinion, in the press, publications, in cultural, scientific and political institutions, in international organizations, in propaganda organs, in parliaments and congresses, in diplomatic and military circles, this organization has become the interpreter of select and dying political garnitures. After so many tragic experiences of the nations of Central and Eastern Europe, after so many disappointments and much suffering, after so many mistakes and catastrophies, Europe and the non-Communist world in general do have the right to learn the truth, the whole truth about the political and national realities of the area which today is primarily dependent on the Kremlin. The fact is that the people in responsible positions in the As~ sembly of Captive European Nations have not come out with the whole truth, and the Western world, making international politics, has not as yet made up its mind to press for the whole truth to find out what the nations in Soviet captivity really want and how they picture the reorganization of Central and Eastern Europe. Europe and the non-Communist world should not be expected to accept, in the name of freedom and independence, political products which time has made obsolete and �6 SLOVAKIA which the moths have eaten through. This Europe going forward with renovation, this Europe which in the interest of its own preservat-ion is on the road to unification on the basis of the positive Christian forces within it existing, as expressed in the national individualities, - this non-Communist world, which is being organized on the basis of freedom and independence of the Afr.ican and Asiatic tribes, cannot be permanently deceived as far as the will of the nations of Central and Eastern Europe is concerned. If on the strengbh of the idea freedom and independence, the Albanians, Bulgarians, Czechoslovakians, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Hungarians, Poles, and Rumanians are represented in the Assembly of Captive European Nations, why are not, on the strength of the same concept of freedom and independence, the Slovaks, Ukrainians, Czechs, Byelorussians, Croatians, Slovenians, Serbians, and the rest of the European national individualities, represented there by their interpreters, since they all suffer the same fate? This aJPparent conflict between idea and deed debases eV1en the positive things the organization has accomplished and can still accomplish. One cannot work constructively "We herewi.th d·e elare our solidarity and pledge our assis'ta'r.1Ce to all who are oppressed, to those who aire being wronged, to the exploited, to the down-trodden, to the ,b etrayed, wha1tev,e r their ina1tiionality, race or creed. The misuse of justified national and social aspira,tions by oppre-s-sive interniatiiona1l Communism must be stopped." - Statement of ACEN, Sept. 20, 1954). Words, words, words - sterHe words! The fa.ct is that tbe A&Sembly of Oapti,ve European Naitions ignores and repudiates the right of the Slovaks, Ukr.ainians, Croatia•ns, Slov-e nians, etc., to freedom, irudependence, and self-determination. Indeed, thoe "misuse of justified national and socia1l aspirati-ons" even of oppressive ''Ozechoslovakism" must be stopped! and successfully for the common good of Europe and the non-Communist world if he is burdened with basic ideological, political and moral conflicts. One cannot logically be for freedom and independence of A L L nations and, at the same time, against the freedom and independence of SOME nations. One cannot logically and honestly be for the freedom and independence of a political territory, but �SLOVAKIA 7 opposed to the freedom and independence of the peoples within that territory. People who always have their heads turned back to the past (the old order in which they functioned as officials) cannot move along with the development of Europe and the world. If the people of the Assembly of Captive European Nations can have recourse to any kind of legitimacy, the latter can have validity only as long as those "representatives" express the authentic will of their respective nations, and as long as by word and deed they are identified with the concept of freedom and independence of every nation. Furthermore, politically, morally, and legally it is not right to base the legitimacy of expressing the will of the national societies of today on the basis of the legitimacies of political parties and group interests of societies which today do not exist. The nations even in this bondage, in this captivity, have gone forward and new generations have come to the fore in the historical continuity of these nations. Now, what have the adherents of the old political garnitures to say, to these new generations that really means anything? Their political titles and functions are meaningless. And the political records of many, based on their political beliefs, are records of moclrery of the concept of freedom and independence. Some were promoters of the modern feudalistic state, the a:lmighty state based on materialistic socialism. To these new generations, which already have - and will - form ranks, one can approach only with the concept of genuine freedom and independence, only with principles of Christian world-outlook, only with aims that are in accord with their will and the attainment and realization of which will mean not only satisfying every nation that has been deprived of freedom and independence, but also making a substantial contribution to the common good of a united Europe. The Right of Self-Determination Is Indivisible The Parisian daily LE FIGARO of October 18, 1961, devoted its entire fifth page to the meeting of exiled politicians and diploma,ts who are members of the Assembly �8 SLOVAKIA of Captive Nations. The editress, Dominique Auclere, had an extensive interview with seven of them. The title, set up in large bold type, read: ONE HUNDRED M)LLION EUROPEANS DEMAND RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION." According to the editress, the Parisian Congress was called to discuss the ways that would enable the nations in captivity to attain the privilege - so generously granted others - to the right of self-determination. She presented the select group of seven as the "spokesmen" of the nations which could not freely express themselves. "This congress," she said, "is of great importance, because the subject to be discussed is very close to our hearts: the right to self-determination." Now, gentlemen, the first question: "What do you expect from Europe?" Reply: "Everything." Q. "Don't you think that the youth has joined Communism?" A. "No. We wanted to practice co-existence, but all our concessions and sacrifices were in vain. The Russians did Dr. Joseph Lettrich, chaiQ"man of the newly,baked postwar "Slovak Democratic Party" in Slova,lcia, headed the "Czechosfovak" delegation at AIOEN's conference in Paris, Oct. 18-20, 1961. He sig;rued two ag,r eements - the first i,n 1943, and the second i:n 1,945 - w~th the CoonmunLsts in Slovakta to collalborate fully with them . Of Slovak birth, he nevertheless has repud~ated the right of his people to fTeedom , inde'Pendenee, and sel'f-determinati-0n. not tolerate any governments, save those in which the Communists predominated." Q. What else should the West have done?" A. "We reproach the West and Europe, too, for not opposing the status as was demanded (incorporating the countries of Central and Eastern Europe within the Soviet sphere). A counterattack at the liberation of the captive nations, was very much desired .... In Czecho-Slovakia the elections in May, 1946, were only relatively free. The presence of the Red Army was felt ... nevertheless the majority voted democratfo. A putsch was made against this ma- �SLOVAKIA 9 jority in 1948. . . THE RIGHT TO SELF~DETERMINATION IS INDIVISIBLE whether we consider Berlin and Germany, or the captive nations. Africans and Asiatics are enjoying this right. Demand - (addressing the French and the West) - to place the question of self-determination for our countries on the agenda of the General Assembly of the United Nations." "The question of self-determination of our nations should not be the subject of discussion of only the General Assembly of the United Nations, but of every discussion between the West and the East... We agree with the right of self-determination which was granted to the countries, the races and tribes of Africa. BUT WHAT ABOUT US ARE WE INFECTED WITH THE PLAGUE?" "You did not know how to exploit the opportunity in 1949 when the USSR was forced to abandon the blockade of Berlin; at the time you had nuclear prevalance. Such an opportunity, which I evaluate as historical, will not come again. But the problem of Berlin is here again. Do not resolve it in an isolationist fashion. Do not say: to speak of the nations in captivity would provoke the Soviet Union .... The spirit of resistance in our countries is a condition of your security. You do not have to figure with that as long as you were not open to attack from the Soviet Union, but now you must think about it." "All our nations in prevailing majority are anti-Communistic. But if we, despite all disappointments, still preserve our faith in the will of Europe to grant us self-determination, our nations, because they are held in captivity, are more vulnerable than we in emigration are .... Europe is not divided and does not appear to be solidified with Europeans of the East .... You go to ,conferences and subjeot yourself to methods, which Hitler invented and which Stalin used, and now that Khrushchev is using. At these conferences you have nothing to gain ,a nd the others have nothing to lose. Take over the offensive! Demand the unification of Germany and self-determination for Eastern Europe, and say: If you want peace, then you shall have to remove all remnants and consequences which issued illegally out of the war .... How could the West allow Soviet Rus- �10 SLOVAKIA sia to become the champion of freedom, that Soviet Russia which has enslaved half of Europe? This is really scandalous! Why is it not said: Let us apply self-determina tion to ALL the nations of the world, including the countries of Eastern Europe! ... France has granted so many African countries independence that we have decided to formulate here our demand to the right of self-determina tion. THE MATTER OF FREEDOM IS INDIVISIBLE !" It must be admitted with satisfaction that the members of the congress expressed principles that are moving the world and without respecting which it is not possible to demolish the world of slavery and to build the foundations .for a new world of justice, equality and cooperation. However, it is easy to express great and noble ideas. Even leading Reds have resorted to them when it served their purpose. Many people keep on washing out their throats with the noblest ideas, but their minds and their deeds are far away from these ideas. It is in this moral conflict that the dissolution of society rests, the dissolution and decay of The Assembly of Captive European Nations requested the Generail Assemlbly of the Uirnited Nations to look into deportations and forced transfel'S of population "ca,r ried out 1by the Soviet Union" (!Resolution of 7th Plenary Meetinig, Nov. 7, 1954!, and Resolution of loth Plenary Meet~n:g, Dec. 18, 1954), but conveniently ignored the brutal transfer of the Sudeten a1nd other Germans from their home·lan:d by Czecho-Slovakia, Poland, etc. Why? 1 institutions and also of the best formulated programs. Words without actions are sterile. Clothes do not make the monk. "THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETER MINATION IS INDIVISIBLE .... THE MATTER OF FREJDDOM IS INDIVISIBLE" - said the members at the conference of European Captive Nations. In other words, in th'is matter of freedom and independence ALL nations must be considered - and none considered more privileged than others. On this we can heartily agree. Why then, we ask, is the Assembly of Captive European Nations limited to nine countries? Nine political territories or formations are members of the Assembly, and there are representative s to speak for these �SLOVAKIA 11 territories, but who is really authorized or entitled to speak for the nations within those territories? Who, for example, speaks for the Slovaks? And the Czechs? We know that the persons who presume to speak for "CZEOHOSLOVAKIA'' are definitely opposed to freedom and independence for the Slovaks and the Czechs, because they are working for the liberation of "Czechoslovakia" and not the liberation of the Slovak and Czech nations. People who could not break with the past, who have their minds and hearts burdened with weeds of fictions, cannot be the builders of a new and just order in Central and Eastern Europe. People who knowingly sin against the evident principles of the self-determination of nations, who in a concrete case deny this right of self-determination to the Slovak nation, demonstrate before the world public that they are not seriously concerned with the idea of selfdetermination. They are dishonest. Otherwise, how can they draw the just sword of self-determination against the Soviet Union and, at the same time, with the same sword, behead the freedom and independence of the Slovak nation? But here we are concerned not only with the Slovak nation, but also with many other nations that equally base their future on the validation of the right of self-determination. It is very significant, indeed, that the politicians and diplomats in the Assembly of Captive European Nations preferred and still prefer to ignore them. "We agree with the right of self-determination that was granted to the countries, races and tribes of Africa, but how about us, are we infected with the plague?" - one of the leading members of the Assembly of Captive European Nations said in just anger. In like manner, the Slovak nation asks the West, and particularly the Assembly of the Captive European Nations - which announced at its Paris Conference that it demands the validation of the right of self-determination for the nations of Central and Eastern Europe : "And how about us? Are we Slovaks infected with the plague?" Does not the right to self-determination apply to the Slovak nation - �12 SLOVAKIA the oldest Christian nation in Central Europe - to the extent that it applies to cannibals of the African jungle? An organization which violates, even partially, its own principles and universally valid principles, loses its political and moral right to reproach the Communist world for violating the right of self-determination - and to cast up to the West its inconsistencies and deficiencies in regard to the nations of Central and Eastern Europe. All Nations Are Entitled To Freedom When the editress of Le Figaro asked the members of the Assembly of Captive European Nations how many people demanded self-determination , they answered unanimously : ONE HUNDRED MILLION. This reply is in full accord with the idea which the organization would want to express, but which in practice it denies or repudiates. The name of the organization plainly speaks of NATIONS and not of STATES. Certainly it must be quite clear to the representatives of this organization that it is peoples, national associations, therefore, live and historic personalities that bear an idea, who express an idea, who defend an idea and fight for it. Therefore, the conflict between the "Our politica-1 representations in exile are the gen,uine v,oice of our peoples. They represent our nations' will and desire for independence, freedom, and the democratic form of governmemt. They repr-es-ent the demO'cratic SJpiTi.tuail, political, and socia,l convictions and aspirations which persist amon'g the peoples of Central ar.,d Easllern Europe." - Statement of AJOE)N, Sept. 20, 1954). Dr. Stephen Osusky, chairman of the "Czechoslovak" de'1egation or representation, was never elected to a,my office by his people. He does not represenlt the CZJEOH people, a,n d, even though a SLOVlA!K by birth, he does not represent the SJJOVAK people, and, hence, ca'l~<not be the "genuine voice" of these peoples. As chairman, he has never pwblicly coone out for freedom, ind-ependence, and self-determinatio,n for his peoiple - the SLOVIAK people. concept and reality is all the more apparent, since this organization established its status and structure on the basis of states and did not remain loyal to national individualities. The right of self-determination belongs to a person, to people, to nations. Only through this right of self-determin- �SLOVAKIA 13 ation do we get to the state, to national and state independence. But not conversely. What moral and political capital the organization of the Assembly of Captive European Nations could have enjoyed if it had remained loyal to itself and the principles which it undertook to defend and had demanded their validation to the fullest extent! The fact that in practice it bound itself up with the fate of state, therefore secondary, aims - subordinating nations to state formations - it has deprived itself of reality and, as a result of this, also o{ attractiveness for the nations that are waging their fight for freedom and independence in the name of the right of self-determination. But that is not all. Limiting itself only to the territorial part of Central and Eastern Europe and, therefore, rejecting a priori the benefits and positive effectiveness of the right of self-determination of the Slovaks, Byelorussians, Ukrainians, Croatians, Slovenes, Serbians, and other live organisms which consider themselves nations, the Assembly of Captive European Nations has unmasked the utter nakedness of its interior, in which there is entirely too much insincerity and very little dedication to the common good, in which prevails sectarian obstinacy and very little political wisdom, and in which decisions are made not according to the needs of great European and Christian aims, ,but according to the needs of small, indeed very small, needs of personal and group aims and interests. How is one to explain the fact that the Assembly sidetracked Yugoslavia where the Communist law governs no less than it does in the Soviet Union, Albania, China, Czecho-Slovakia, and Cuba? The Assembly had spoken: FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE OF THE NATIONS IS INDIVISIBLE! The right of self-determination is valid for ALL nations. If the Assembly of Captive European Nations repudiates this right for some nations or any one nation, it deserves to be repudiated by the West and cast out on the political rubbish heap. Its representatives are not truly interested in a new and just democratic order of Europe, but only in an exchange of political garnitures in the states �14 SLOVAKIA which they claim to represent, or, in effect, they are telling the West: we st.and for the old order, but not the present regimes. Of course, the representatives of the Assembly can claim - as they even do - that they cannot include ALL nations in their program, because the great powers recognize diplomatically the existing states in Central and Eastern Europe. The great powers have their reasons for such recognition, even though it is not consistent with their expressed policies and, for practical purposes, is even detrimental to the common good. Many informed observers believe it would have been better not to have granted recognition to states whose rulers are dedicated to the enslavement of their subjects and, in faot, to the destruction of the entire free world. But what reasons can an organization like the Assembly have for its conduct - an organization which should be nurtured with the revolutionary and creative spirit of reconstructing order in the sense of the principles which it proclaims and which should be concerned about, in the first place, with a permanent balance of this part of Europe - its Central and Eastern area? Even in politics it is not possible to serve two masters. The Assembly of Captive European Nations - as attested to by its record of action - serves not two masters, but all masters who want to permanently warm their soup on the nO'ble and clean fire of concept of freedom, independence, and the rig.ht of self-determination. One cannot therefore declare that, for example, the Albanians have a right to freedom, independence, and self-determination already today, but that the Slovaks, Croatians, Ukrainians, etc., will be granted that right tomorrow. Speaking and writing for the gallery, from which one expects not only applause, but political and material help as well, one cannot state that the business of freedom, independence, and self-determination of the Poles, Germans, Rumanians, etc., is a matter of validifying the principles of freedom, independence and self-determination, but that the matter of freedom , independence, and self-determination of the Slovaks is the business of the Czechs, that of the Croatians the business of �SLOVAKIA 15 the Ser,b ians, that of the Ukrainians the business of the Russians, etc. At a time when the nations in Communist captivity are demanding concrete expression of their own desires, when they are waiting for political motives that would be worthy of their sacrifices and resistance, it is not possible to approach them with the useless, dried-out and stripped branch, broken from the tree of freedom, independence, and self-determination by the careless hands of politicians who are obsessed with their past. From the fruit of this tree of freedom, independence and self-determination which has for long years been sprinkled with their own blood and sweat - the Slovaks, Ukrainians, Croatians, etc., want an equal share. And not tomorrow, but today. As long as the Assembly of Captive European Nations does not bring its own house in order, as long as it promotes self-determination , freedom, and independence only for SOME, but not ALL nations, it will remain in permanent conflict with those noble concepts and those nations to whom it denies the right of self-determination , freedom, and independence. And finally it will be in a paradoxical position: the nations ignored or avoided by it shall have to persistently fight against it in the name of the concept of freedom, independence, and self-determination , as they are now fighting and shall always fight against every violence and every falsehood. "SLOVAKIA AND ITS PEOPLE" by Professor Gilbert L. Oddo can now be sent on order. Get your copy rODA \:'. because the -.upply is limited. Over 2.100 copies have been -.old. rhe first real history of the Slovaks and their country in English. rhe book ha~ ~X4 pages and sells for $6.00 per copy postpaid. Order your copy fODA Y from: JED NOT A PRINTERY. P. 0. Box 150. Middletown. Pa. � SLOVAKIA 3 .6JSSEMBL Y OF CAPTIVE EUROPEAN N~TIONS: CONFLICT BETWEEN IDEA AND DEED JOSEPH CIEK·ER The politics of the non-Communi st world loses much of its aggressivenes s, attractiveness and snap because of the frequent conflict between thought and action, between an ideal and reality, between the height of the noblest values and the baseness of those money-change rs who have made a profession out of politics. If this frequent conflict in the politics of the non-Communi st world is judged benevolently, reasons will be found to explain it, even if not for justification. If, however, in the directing of this conflict politics is being made by people whose personal, moral and national obligation it should be to perseveringly make politics of principles, politics of spiritual and moral revival, politics of li-berating the nations fettered by the chains of communist violence, then this conflict even with the greatest benevolence cannot find neither explanation, nor justification. Undoubtedly great ideas and noble ideas inspired the organization of the Assembly of Captive Nations (ACEN) The "Czechoslovak" delegation or represenfation of the A•ssemlbly of Captive European Natioms is made up of persons who were - all of th€.m with the ,exce•p.tion of Dr. Stephen Osusky memlbel's o.f the po·s twar Communist-dom inated National Ff,(mt Government (1945°1948) of the Benes-<Gottwaild coaJitil()n, whi:ch CO'lla'borated fully wi'th the Soviet Union (Benes's ''Czechosl()IVaJk-S<wiet" tr·e aty of Dec. 112, 1'943, was the "cornerstone" of Pr,a gue's foreign policy). They are con'sidered responsilble in a large measure fo.r the present hapless plig,h t of the Slov,aks and Czechs. Osusky was chosen to head the delega,tion, ibecaus·e he was "cleane·r " tha~, the others. on September 20, 1954. The principal aim of this organization, as expressed on its shield, is: "Freedom and national independence for the nations of Central and Eastern Europe enslaved by the Soviets." The roster of the nations "enslaved by the Soviets'~ �4 SLOVAKIA should contain the names of all the nations (not only the names of the political formations they are enslaved in) which, from the day of their occupation by the Reds, are fighting, suffering and dying for the concept of freedom and independence. Europe and the entire non-Communist world would like to see in this Assembly of Captive Nations ALL of the nations that are held captive by the USSR. Elementary political honor and the most primitive political loyalty to the ideal of freedom and independence, to this truth and the political and national realities in Central and Eastern Europe, have demanded from the very beginning - and perseveringly demand even today - that this organization - which has pledged itself before the non--Communist world that it wishes to express the spiritual, moral, and political content of the enslaved nations - will keep its given word and shall in its own conduct be identified with the aim expressed on its shield. Unfortunately, this was not so. And it still is not so. This Assembly is not an assemly of ALL the nations held in captivity. Its beautifully expressed aim has been, and still "At a time when i,n the free part of the world, peoples who have never enjoy,ed self-government in the past are gradua'1ly attaining ruat ionhood and are assisted by the United NatilQlns in the aichievement of their rightful aspirations - the exact reverse process has been t·ailcirng place in Central a1nd :Ela,s tern Europe." (AIO:EJN statement, Sept. 20, 1·954). Adden<lum: Amid this "reverse pr,ocess" has been goin,g on in Ozeicho-Slov.akia {even under the leadership of T. G. Mia•s•aryik and Dr. Edward Benes) ever since the birth of that glorified "isle of democracy." The Slovaks never enjoyed self-govern'ment or home rule within the fr,a1m~ol'lk of Czech<H5lovakia - not eve n, after members of tlhe present "polibiical representations in exile," \\iho now olaillD. to 1b e ''the genuine voice of the peoples," were members of the Czecho.SlO'V,ak government. is, refuted by the actions of this organization. Its actions belie its noble words. From its very beginning, this organization has been in sharp and basic conflict not only with its own expressed noble ideals, but even with its very own substance. It has not become a dynamic force for the realization of the idea of freedom and independence, but only an instrument of obsolete political garnitures and politi- �SLOVAKIA 5 cal parties that have been crushed and cast off by Communism. Thinking in terms of their past functions, they want to bring back the past. The organization, which - under the given international circumstances, at this twelfth hour, in this amazing shake-up of continents, in this transformation of people and nations, on this cross-roads of universal history should have a great mission, has remained a paralyzed formation because it has renounced the magnanimity which its ideals had assured. Universally valid ideas and principles - being realized today in the jungles of Africa and Asiatic wastelands - have been scrapped by this organization when the same ideas and principles applied equally to all the nations of Central and Eastern Europe. The Assembly of Captive European Nations has, in fact, become an exclusive club of the privileged. Instead of being the interpreter of the will of the historical, organic and •live nations before the world public opinion, in the press, publications, in cultural, scientific and political institutions, in international organizations, in propaganda organs, in parliaments and congresses, in diplomatic and military circles, this organization has become the interpreter of select and dying political garnitures. After so many tragic experiences of the nations of Central and Eastern Europe, after so many disappointments and much suffering, after so many mistakes and catastrophies, Europe and the non-Communist world in general do have the right to learn the truth, the whole truth about the political and national realities of the area which today is primarily dependent on the Kremlin. The fact is that the people in responsible positions in the As~ sembly of Captive European Nations have not come out with the whole truth, and the Western world, making international politics, has not as yet made up its mind to press for the whole truth to find out what the nations in Soviet captivity really want and how they picture the reorganization of Central and Eastern Europe. Europe and the non-Communist world should not be expected to accept, in the name of freedom and independence, political products which time has made obsolete and �6 SLOVAKIA which the moths have eaten through. This Europe going forward with renovation, this Europe which in the interest of its own preservat-ion is on the road to unification on the basis of the positive Christian forces within it existing, as expressed in the national individualities, - this non-Communist world, which is being organized on the basis of freedom and independence of the Afr.ican and Asiatic tribes, cannot be permanently deceived as far as the will of the nations of Central and Eastern Europe is concerned. If on the strengbh of the idea freedom and independence, the Albanians, Bulgarians, Czechoslovakians, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Hungarians, Poles, and Rumanians are represented in the Assembly of Captive European Nations, why are not, on the strength of the same concept of freedom and independence, the Slovaks, Ukrainians, Czechs, Byelorussians, Croatians, Slovenians, Serbians, and the rest of the European national individualities, represented there by their interpreters, since they all suffer the same fate? This aJPparent conflict between idea and deed debases eV1en the positive things the organization has accomplished and can still accomplish. One cannot work constructively "We herewi.th d·e elare our solidarity and pledge our assis'ta'r.1Ce to all who are oppressed, to those who aire being wronged, to the exploited, to the down-trodden, to the ,b etrayed, wha1tev,e r their ina1tiionality, race or creed. The misuse of justified national and social aspira,tions by oppre-s-sive interniatiiona1l Communism must be stopped." - Statement of ACEN, Sept. 20, 1954). Words, words, words - sterHe words! The fa.ct is that tbe A&Sembly of Oapti,ve European Naitions ignores and repudiates the right of the Slovaks, Ukr.ainians, Croatia•ns, Slov-e nians, etc., to freedom, irudependence, and self-determination. Indeed, thoe "misuse of justified national and socia1l aspirati-ons" even of oppressive ''Ozechoslovakism" must be stopped! and successfully for the common good of Europe and the non-Communist world if he is burdened with basic ideological, political and moral conflicts. One cannot logically be for freedom and independence of A L L nations and, at the same time, against the freedom and independence of SOME nations. One cannot logically and honestly be for the freedom and independence of a political territory, but �SLOVAKIA 7 opposed to the freedom and independence of the peoples within that territory. People who always have their heads turned back to the past (the old order in which they functioned as officials) cannot move along with the development of Europe and the world. If the people of the Assembly of Captive European Nations can have recourse to any kind of legitimacy, the latter can have validity only as long as those "representatives" express the authentic will of their respective nations, and as long as by word and deed they are identified with the concept of freedom and independence of every nation. Furthermore, politically, morally, and legally it is not right to base the legitimacy of expressing the will of the national societies of today on the basis of the legitimacies of political parties and group interests of societies which today do not exist. The nations even in this bondage, in this captivity, have gone forward and new generations have come to the fore in the historical continuity of these nations. Now, what have the adherents of the old political garnitures to say, to these new generations that really means anything? Their political titles and functions are meaningless. And the political records of many, based on their political beliefs, are records of moclrery of the concept of freedom and independence. Some were promoters of the modern feudalistic state, the a:lmighty state based on materialistic socialism. To these new generations, which already have - and will - form ranks, one can approach only with the concept of genuine freedom and independence, only with principles of Christian world-outlook, only with aims that are in accord with their will and the attainment and realization of which will mean not only satisfying every nation that has been deprived of freedom and independence, but also making a substantial contribution to the common good of a united Europe. The Right of Self-Determination Is Indivisible The Parisian daily LE FIGARO of October 18, 1961, devoted its entire fifth page to the meeting of exiled politicians and diploma,ts who are members of the Assembly �8 SLOVAKIA of Captive Nations. The editress, Dominique Auclere, had an extensive interview with seven of them. The title, set up in large bold type, read: ONE HUNDRED M)LLION EUROPEANS DEMAND RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION." According to the editress, the Parisian Congress was called to discuss the ways that would enable the nations in captivity to attain the privilege - so generously granted others - to the right of self-determination. She presented the select group of seven as the "spokesmen" of the nations which could not freely express themselves. "This congress," she said, "is of great importance, because the subject to be discussed is very close to our hearts: the right to self-determination." Now, gentlemen, the first question: "What do you expect from Europe?" Reply: "Everything." Q. "Don't you think that the youth has joined Communism?" A. "No. We wanted to practice co-existence, but all our concessions and sacrifices were in vain. The Russians did Dr. Joseph Lettrich, chaiQ"man of the newly,baked postwar "Slovak Democratic Party" in Slova,lcia, headed the "Czechosfovak" delegation at AIOEN's conference in Paris, Oct. 18-20, 1961. He sig;rued two ag,r eements - the first i,n 1943, and the second i:n 1,945 - w~th the CoonmunLsts in Slovakta to collalborate fully with them . Of Slovak birth, he nevertheless has repud~ated the right of his people to fTeedom , inde'Pendenee, and sel'f-determinati-0n. not tolerate any governments, save those in which the Communists predominated." Q. What else should the West have done?" A. "We reproach the West and Europe, too, for not opposing the status as was demanded (incorporating the countries of Central and Eastern Europe within the Soviet sphere). A counterattack at the liberation of the captive nations, was very much desired .... In Czecho-Slovakia the elections in May, 1946, were only relatively free. The presence of the Red Army was felt ... nevertheless the majority voted democratfo. A putsch was made against this ma- �SLOVAKIA 9 jority in 1948. . . THE RIGHT TO SELF~DETERMINATION IS INDIVISIBLE whether we consider Berlin and Germany, or the captive nations. Africans and Asiatics are enjoying this right. Demand - (addressing the French and the West) - to place the question of self-determination for our countries on the agenda of the General Assembly of the United Nations." "The question of self-determination of our nations should not be the subject of discussion of only the General Assembly of the United Nations, but of every discussion between the West and the East... We agree with the right of self-determination which was granted to the countries, the races and tribes of Africa. BUT WHAT ABOUT US ARE WE INFECTED WITH THE PLAGUE?" "You did not know how to exploit the opportunity in 1949 when the USSR was forced to abandon the blockade of Berlin; at the time you had nuclear prevalance. Such an opportunity, which I evaluate as historical, will not come again. But the problem of Berlin is here again. Do not resolve it in an isolationist fashion. Do not say: to speak of the nations in captivity would provoke the Soviet Union .... The spirit of resistance in our countries is a condition of your security. You do not have to figure with that as long as you were not open to attack from the Soviet Union, but now you must think about it." "All our nations in prevailing majority are anti-Communistic. But if we, despite all disappointments, still preserve our faith in the will of Europe to grant us self-determination, our nations, because they are held in captivity, are more vulnerable than we in emigration are .... Europe is not divided and does not appear to be solidified with Europeans of the East .... You go to ,conferences and subjeot yourself to methods, which Hitler invented and which Stalin used, and now that Khrushchev is using. At these conferences you have nothing to gain ,a nd the others have nothing to lose. Take over the offensive! Demand the unification of Germany and self-determination for Eastern Europe, and say: If you want peace, then you shall have to remove all remnants and consequences which issued illegally out of the war .... How could the West allow Soviet Rus- �10 SLOVAKIA sia to become the champion of freedom, that Soviet Russia which has enslaved half of Europe? This is really scandalous! Why is it not said: Let us apply self-determina tion to ALL the nations of the world, including the countries of Eastern Europe! ... France has granted so many African countries independence that we have decided to formulate here our demand to the right of self-determina tion. THE MATTER OF FREEDOM IS INDIVISIBLE !" It must be admitted with satisfaction that the members of the congress expressed principles that are moving the world and without respecting which it is not possible to demolish the world of slavery and to build the foundations .for a new world of justice, equality and cooperation. However, it is easy to express great and noble ideas. Even leading Reds have resorted to them when it served their purpose. Many people keep on washing out their throats with the noblest ideas, but their minds and their deeds are far away from these ideas. It is in this moral conflict that the dissolution of society rests, the dissolution and decay of The Assembly of Captive European Nations requested the Generail Assemlbly of the Uirnited Nations to look into deportations and forced transfel'S of population "ca,r ried out 1by the Soviet Union" (!Resolution of 7th Plenary Meetinig, Nov. 7, 1954!, and Resolution of loth Plenary Meet~n:g, Dec. 18, 1954), but conveniently ignored the brutal transfer of the Sudeten a1nd other Germans from their home·lan:d by Czecho-Slovakia, Poland, etc. Why? 1 institutions and also of the best formulated programs. Words without actions are sterile. Clothes do not make the monk. "THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETER MINATION IS INDIVISIBLE .... THE MATTER OF FREJDDOM IS INDIVISIBLE" - said the members at the conference of European Captive Nations. In other words, in th'is matter of freedom and independence ALL nations must be considered - and none considered more privileged than others. On this we can heartily agree. Why then, we ask, is the Assembly of Captive European Nations limited to nine countries? Nine political territories or formations are members of the Assembly, and there are representative s to speak for these �SLOVAKIA 11 territories, but who is really authorized or entitled to speak for the nations within those territories? Who, for example, speaks for the Slovaks? And the Czechs? We know that the persons who presume to speak for "CZEOHOSLOVAKIA'' are definitely opposed to freedom and independence for the Slovaks and the Czechs, because they are working for the liberation of "Czechoslovakia" and not the liberation of the Slovak and Czech nations. People who could not break with the past, who have their minds and hearts burdened with weeds of fictions, cannot be the builders of a new and just order in Central and Eastern Europe. People who knowingly sin against the evident principles of the self-determination of nations, who in a concrete case deny this right of self-determination to the Slovak nation, demonstrate before the world public that they are not seriously concerned with the idea of selfdetermination. They are dishonest. Otherwise, how can they draw the just sword of self-determination against the Soviet Union and, at the same time, with the same sword, behead the freedom and independence of the Slovak nation? But here we are concerned not only with the Slovak nation, but also with many other nations that equally base their future on the validation of the right of self-determination. It is very significant, indeed, that the politicians and diplomats in the Assembly of Captive European Nations preferred and still prefer to ignore them. "We agree with the right of self-determination that was granted to the countries, races and tribes of Africa, but how about us, are we infected with the plague?" - one of the leading members of the Assembly of Captive European Nations said in just anger. In like manner, the Slovak nation asks the West, and particularly the Assembly of the Captive European Nations - which announced at its Paris Conference that it demands the validation of the right of self-determination for the nations of Central and Eastern Europe : "And how about us? Are we Slovaks infected with the plague?" Does not the right to self-determination apply to the Slovak nation - �12 SLOVAKIA the oldest Christian nation in Central Europe - to the extent that it applies to cannibals of the African jungle? An organization which violates, even partially, its own principles and universally valid principles, loses its political and moral right to reproach the Communist world for violating the right of self-determination - and to cast up to the West its inconsistencies and deficiencies in regard to the nations of Central and Eastern Europe. All Nations Are Entitled To Freedom When the editress of Le Figaro asked the members of the Assembly of Captive European Nations how many people demanded self-determination , they answered unanimously : ONE HUNDRED MILLION. This reply is in full accord with the idea which the organization would want to express, but which in practice it denies or repudiates. The name of the organization plainly speaks of NATIONS and not of STATES. Certainly it must be quite clear to the representatives of this organization that it is peoples, national associations, therefore, live and historic personalities that bear an idea, who express an idea, who defend an idea and fight for it. Therefore, the conflict between the "Our politica-1 representations in exile are the gen,uine v,oice of our peoples. They represent our nations' will and desire for independence, freedom, and the democratic form of governmemt. They repr-es-ent the demO'cratic SJpiTi.tuail, political, and socia,l convictions and aspirations which persist amon'g the peoples of Central ar.,d Easllern Europe." - Statement of AJOE)N, Sept. 20, 1954). Dr. Stephen Osusky, chairman of the "Czechoslovak" de'1egation or representation, was never elected to a,my office by his people. He does not represenlt the CZJEOH people, a,n d, even though a SLOVlA!K by birth, he does not represent the SJJOVAK people, and, hence, ca'l~<not be the "genuine voice" of these peoples. As chairman, he has never pwblicly coone out for freedom, ind-ependence, and self-determinatio,n for his peoiple - the SLOVIAK people. concept and reality is all the more apparent, since this organization established its status and structure on the basis of states and did not remain loyal to national individualities. The right of self-determination belongs to a person, to people, to nations. Only through this right of self-determin- �SLOVAKIA 13 ation do we get to the state, to national and state independence. But not conversely. What moral and political capital the organization of the Assembly of Captive European Nations could have enjoyed if it had remained loyal to itself and the principles which it undertook to defend and had demanded their validation to the fullest extent! The fact that in practice it bound itself up with the fate of state, therefore secondary, aims - subordinating nations to state formations - it has deprived itself of reality and, as a result of this, also o{ attractiveness for the nations that are waging their fight for freedom and independence in the name of the right of self-determination. But that is not all. Limiting itself only to the territorial part of Central and Eastern Europe and, therefore, rejecting a priori the benefits and positive effectiveness of the right of self-determination of the Slovaks, Byelorussians, Ukrainians, Croatians, Slovenes, Serbians, and other live organisms which consider themselves nations, the Assembly of Captive European Nations has unmasked the utter nakedness of its interior, in which there is entirely too much insincerity and very little dedication to the common good, in which prevails sectarian obstinacy and very little political wisdom, and in which decisions are made not according to the needs of great European and Christian aims, ,but according to the needs of small, indeed very small, needs of personal and group aims and interests. How is one to explain the fact that the Assembly sidetracked Yugoslavia where the Communist law governs no less than it does in the Soviet Union, Albania, China, Czecho-Slovakia, and Cuba? The Assembly had spoken: FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE OF THE NATIONS IS INDIVISIBLE! The right of self-determination is valid for ALL nations. If the Assembly of Captive European Nations repudiates this right for some nations or any one nation, it deserves to be repudiated by the West and cast out on the political rubbish heap. Its representatives are not truly interested in a new and just democratic order of Europe, but only in an exchange of political garnitures in the states �14 SLOVAKIA which they claim to represent, or, in effect, they are telling the West: we st.and for the old order, but not the present regimes. Of course, the representatives of the Assembly can claim - as they even do - that they cannot include ALL nations in their program, because the great powers recognize diplomatically the existing states in Central and Eastern Europe. The great powers have their reasons for such recognition, even though it is not consistent with their expressed policies and, for practical purposes, is even detrimental to the common good. Many informed observers believe it would have been better not to have granted recognition to states whose rulers are dedicated to the enslavement of their subjects and, in faot, to the destruction of the entire free world. But what reasons can an organization like the Assembly have for its conduct - an organization which should be nurtured with the revolutionary and creative spirit of reconstructing order in the sense of the principles which it proclaims and which should be concerned about, in the first place, with a permanent balance of this part of Europe - its Central and Eastern area? Even in politics it is not possible to serve two masters. The Assembly of Captive European Nations - as attested to by its record of action - serves not two masters, but all masters who want to permanently warm their soup on the nO'ble and clean fire of concept of freedom, independence, and the rig.ht of self-determination. One cannot therefore declare that, for example, the Albanians have a right to freedom, independence, and self-determination already today, but that the Slovaks, Croatians, Ukrainians, etc., will be granted that right tomorrow. Speaking and writing for the gallery, from which one expects not only applause, but political and material help as well, one cannot state that the business of freedom, independence, and self-determination of the Poles, Germans, Rumanians, etc., is a matter of validifying the principles of freedom, independence and self-determination, but that the matter of freedom , independence, and self-determination of the Slovaks is the business of the Czechs, that of the Croatians the business of �SLOVAKIA 15 the Ser,b ians, that of the Ukrainians the business of the Russians, etc. At a time when the nations in Communist captivity are demanding concrete expression of their own desires, when they are waiting for political motives that would be worthy of their sacrifices and resistance, it is not possible to approach them with the useless, dried-out and stripped branch, broken from the tree of freedom, independence, and self-determination by the careless hands of politicians who are obsessed with their past. From the fruit of this tree of freedom, independence and self-determination which has for long years been sprinkled with their own blood and sweat - the Slovaks, Ukrainians, Croatians, etc., want an equal share. And not tomorrow, but today. As long as the Assembly of Captive European Nations does not bring its own house in order, as long as it promotes self-determination , freedom, and independence only for SOME, but not ALL nations, it will remain in permanent conflict with those noble concepts and those nations to whom it denies the right of self-determination , freedom, and independence. And finally it will be in a paradoxical position: the nations ignored or avoided by it shall have to persistently fight against it in the name of the concept of freedom, independence, and self-determination , as they are now fighting and shall always fight against every violence and every falsehood. "SLOVAKIA AND ITS PEOPLE" by Professor Gilbert L. Oddo can now be sent on order. Get your copy rODA \:'. because the -.upply is limited. Over 2.100 copies have been -.old. rhe first real history of the Slovaks and their country in English. rhe book ha~ ~X4 pages and sells for $6.00 per copy postpaid. Order your copy fODA Y from: JED NOT A PRINTERY. P. 0. Box 150. Middletown. Pa. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 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 .6JSSEMBL Y OF CAPTIVE EUROPEAN N~TIONS: CONFLICT BETWEEN IDEA AND DEED JOSEPH CIEK·ER The politics of the non-Communi st world loses much of its aggressivenes s, attractiveness and snap because of the frequent conflict between thought and action, between an ideal and reality, between the height of the noblest values and the baseness of those money-change rs who have made a profession out of politics. If this frequent conflict in the politics of the non-Communi st world is judged benevolently, reasons will be found to explain it, even if not for justification. If, however, in the directing of this conflict politics is being made by people whose personal, moral and national obligation it should be to perseveringly make politics of principles, politics of spiritual and moral revival, politics of li-berating the nations fettered by the chains of communist violence, then this conflict even with the greatest benevolence cannot find neither explanation, nor justification. Undoubtedly great ideas and noble ideas inspired the organization of the Assembly of Captive Nations (ACEN) The "Czechoslovak" delegation or represenfation of the A•ssemlbly of Captive European Natioms is made up of persons who were - all of th€.m with the ,exce•p.tion of Dr. Stephen Osusky memlbel's o.f the po·s twar Communist-dom inated National Ff,(mt Government (1945°1948) of the Benes-<Gottwaild coaJitil()n, whi:ch CO'lla'borated fully wi'th the Soviet Union (Benes's ''Czechosl()IVaJk-S<wiet" tr·e aty of Dec. 112, 1'943, was the "cornerstone" of Pr,a gue's foreign policy). They are con'sidered responsilble in a large measure fo.r the present hapless plig,h t of the Slov,aks and Czechs. Osusky was chosen to head the delega,tion, ibecaus·e he was "cleane·r " tha~, the others. on September 20, 1954. The principal aim of this organization, as expressed on its shield, is: "Freedom and national independence for the nations of Central and Eastern Europe enslaved by the Soviets." The roster of the nations "enslaved by the Soviets'~ 4 SLOVAKIA should contain the names of all the nations (not only the names of the political formations they are enslaved in) which, from the day of their occupation by the Reds, are fighting, suffering and dying for the concept of freedom and independence. Europe and the entire non-Communist world would like to see in this Assembly of Captive Nations ALL of the nations that are held captive by the USSR. Elementary political honor and the most primitive political loyalty to the ideal of freedom and independence, to this truth and the political and national realities in Central and Eastern Europe, have demanded from the very beginning - and perseveringly demand even today - that this organization - which has pledged itself before the non--Communist world that it wishes to express the spiritual, moral, and political content of the enslaved nations - will keep its given word and shall in its own conduct be identified with the aim expressed on its shield. Unfortunately, this was not so. And it still is not so. This Assembly is not an assemly of ALL the nations held in captivity. Its beautifully expressed aim has been, and still "At a time when i,n the free part of the world, peoples who have never enjoy,ed self-government in the past are gradua'1ly attaining ruat ionhood and are assisted by the United NatilQlns in the aichievement of their rightful aspirations - the exact reverse process has been t·ailcirng place in Central a1nd :Ela,s tern Europe." (AIO:EJN statement, Sept. 20, 1·954). Adden<lum: Amid this "reverse pr,ocess" has been goin,g on in Ozeicho-Slov.akia {even under the leadership of T. G. Mia•s•aryik and Dr. Edward Benes) ever since the birth of that glorified "isle of democracy." The Slovaks never enjoyed self-govern'ment or home rule within the fr,a1m~ol'lk of Czech<H5lovakia - not eve n, after members of tlhe present "polibiical representations in exile," \\iho now olaillD. to 1b e ''the genuine voice of the peoples," were members of the Czecho.SlO'V,ak government. is, refuted by the actions of this organization. Its actions belie its noble words. From its very beginning, this organization has been in sharp and basic conflict not only with its own expressed noble ideals, but even with its very own substance. It has not become a dynamic force for the realization of the idea of freedom and independence, but only an instrument of obsolete political garnitures and politi- SLOVAKIA 5 cal parties that have been crushed and cast off by Communism. Thinking in terms of their past functions, they want to bring back the past. The organization, which - under the given international circumstances, at this twelfth hour, in this amazing shake-up of continents, in this transformation of people and nations, on this cross-roads of universal history should have a great mission, has remained a paralyzed formation because it has renounced the magnanimity which its ideals had assured. Universally valid ideas and principles - being realized today in the jungles of Africa and Asiatic wastelands - have been scrapped by this organization when the same ideas and principles applied equally to all the nations of Central and Eastern Europe. The Assembly of Captive European Nations has, in fact, become an exclusive club of the privileged. Instead of being the interpreter of the will of the historical, organic and •live nations before the world public opinion, in the press, publications, in cultural, scientific and political institutions, in international organizations, in propaganda organs, in parliaments and congresses, in diplomatic and military circles, this organization has become the interpreter of select and dying political garnitures. After so many tragic experiences of the nations of Central and Eastern Europe, after so many disappointments and much suffering, after so many mistakes and catastrophies, Europe and the non-Communist world in general do have the right to learn the truth, the whole truth about the political and national realities of the area which today is primarily dependent on the Kremlin. The fact is that the people in responsible positions in the As~ sembly of Captive European Nations have not come out with the whole truth, and the Western world, making international politics, has not as yet made up its mind to press for the whole truth to find out what the nations in Soviet captivity really want and how they picture the reorganization of Central and Eastern Europe. Europe and the non-Communist world should not be expected to accept, in the name of freedom and independence, political products which time has made obsolete and 6 SLOVAKIA which the moths have eaten through. This Europe going forward with renovation, this Europe which in the interest of its own preservat-ion is on the road to unification on the basis of the positive Christian forces within it existing, as expressed in the national individualities, - this non-Communist world, which is being organized on the basis of freedom and independence of the Afr.ican and Asiatic tribes, cannot be permanently deceived as far as the will of the nations of Central and Eastern Europe is concerned. If on the strengbh of the idea freedom and independence, the Albanians, Bulgarians, Czechoslovakians, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Hungarians, Poles, and Rumanians are represented in the Assembly of Captive European Nations, why are not, on the strength of the same concept of freedom and independence, the Slovaks, Ukrainians, Czechs, Byelorussians, Croatians, Slovenians, Serbians, and the rest of the European national individualities, represented there by their interpreters, since they all suffer the same fate? This aJPparent conflict between idea and deed debases eV1en the positive things the organization has accomplished and can still accomplish. One cannot work constructively "We herewi.th d·e elare our solidarity and pledge our assis'ta'r.1Ce to all who are oppressed, to those who aire being wronged, to the exploited, to the down-trodden, to the ,b etrayed, wha1tev,e r their ina1tiionality, race or creed. The misuse of justified national and social aspira,tions by oppre-s-sive interniatiiona1l Communism must be stopped." - Statement of ACEN, Sept. 20, 1954). Words, words, words - sterHe words! The fa.ct is that tbe A&Sembly of Oapti,ve European Naitions ignores and repudiates the right of the Slovaks, Ukr.ainians, Croatia•ns, Slov-e nians, etc., to freedom, irudependence, and self-determination. Indeed, thoe "misuse of justified national and socia1l aspirati-ons" even of oppressive ''Ozechoslovakism" must be stopped! and successfully for the common good of Europe and the non-Communist world if he is burdened with basic ideological, political and moral conflicts. One cannot logically be for freedom and independence of A L L nations and, at the same time, against the freedom and independence of SOME nations. One cannot logically and honestly be for the freedom and independence of a political territory, but SLOVAKIA 7 opposed to the freedom and independence of the peoples within that territory. People who always have their heads turned back to the past (the old order in which they functioned as officials) cannot move along with the development of Europe and the world. If the people of the Assembly of Captive European Nations can have recourse to any kind of legitimacy, the latter can have validity only as long as those "representatives" express the authentic will of their respective nations, and as long as by word and deed they are identified with the concept of freedom and independence of every nation. Furthermore, politically, morally, and legally it is not right to base the legitimacy of expressing the will of the national societies of today on the basis of the legitimacies of political parties and group interests of societies which today do not exist. The nations even in this bondage, in this captivity, have gone forward and new generations have come to the fore in the historical continuity of these nations. Now, what have the adherents of the old political garnitures to say, to these new generations that really means anything? Their political titles and functions are meaningless. And the political records of many, based on their political beliefs, are records of moclrery of the concept of freedom and independence. Some were promoters of the modern feudalistic state, the a:lmighty state based on materialistic socialism. To these new generations, which already have - and will - form ranks, one can approach only with the concept of genuine freedom and independence, only with principles of Christian world-outlook, only with aims that are in accord with their will and the attainment and realization of which will mean not only satisfying every nation that has been deprived of freedom and independence, but also making a substantial contribution to the common good of a united Europe. The Right of Self-Determination Is Indivisible The Parisian daily LE FIGARO of October 18, 1961, devoted its entire fifth page to the meeting of exiled politicians and diploma,ts who are members of the Assembly 8 SLOVAKIA of Captive Nations. The editress, Dominique Auclere, had an extensive interview with seven of them. The title, set up in large bold type, read: ONE HUNDRED M)LLION EUROPEANS DEMAND RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION." According to the editress, the Parisian Congress was called to discuss the ways that would enable the nations in captivity to attain the privilege - so generously granted others - to the right of self-determination. She presented the select group of seven as the "spokesmen" of the nations which could not freely express themselves. "This congress," she said, "is of great importance, because the subject to be discussed is very close to our hearts: the right to self-determination." Now, gentlemen, the first question: "What do you expect from Europe?" Reply: "Everything." Q. "Don't you think that the youth has joined Communism?" A. "No. We wanted to practice co-existence, but all our concessions and sacrifices were in vain. The Russians did Dr. Joseph Lettrich, chaiQ"man of the newly,baked postwar "Slovak Democratic Party" in Slova,lcia, headed the "Czechosfovak" delegation at AIOEN's conference in Paris, Oct. 18-20, 1961. He sig;rued two ag,r eements - the first i,n 1943, and the second i:n 1,945 - w~th the CoonmunLsts in Slovakta to collalborate fully with them . Of Slovak birth, he nevertheless has repud~ated the right of his people to fTeedom , inde'Pendenee, and sel'f-determinati-0n. not tolerate any governments, save those in which the Communists predominated." Q. What else should the West have done?" A. "We reproach the West and Europe, too, for not opposing the status as was demanded (incorporating the countries of Central and Eastern Europe within the Soviet sphere). A counterattack at the liberation of the captive nations, was very much desired .... In Czecho-Slovakia the elections in May, 1946, were only relatively free. The presence of the Red Army was felt ... nevertheless the majority voted democratfo. A putsch was made against this ma- SLOVAKIA 9 jority in 1948. . . THE RIGHT TO SELF~DETERMINATION IS INDIVISIBLE whether we consider Berlin and Germany, or the captive nations. Africans and Asiatics are enjoying this right. Demand - (addressing the French and the West) - to place the question of self-determination for our countries on the agenda of the General Assembly of the United Nations." "The question of self-determination of our nations should not be the subject of discussion of only the General Assembly of the United Nations, but of every discussion between the West and the East... We agree with the right of self-determination which was granted to the countries, the races and tribes of Africa. BUT WHAT ABOUT US ARE WE INFECTED WITH THE PLAGUE?" "You did not know how to exploit the opportunity in 1949 when the USSR was forced to abandon the blockade of Berlin; at the time you had nuclear prevalance. Such an opportunity, which I evaluate as historical, will not come again. But the problem of Berlin is here again. Do not resolve it in an isolationist fashion. Do not say: to speak of the nations in captivity would provoke the Soviet Union .... The spirit of resistance in our countries is a condition of your security. You do not have to figure with that as long as you were not open to attack from the Soviet Union, but now you must think about it." "All our nations in prevailing majority are anti-Communistic. But if we, despite all disappointments, still preserve our faith in the will of Europe to grant us self-determination, our nations, because they are held in captivity, are more vulnerable than we in emigration are .... Europe is not divided and does not appear to be solidified with Europeans of the East .... You go to ,conferences and subjeot yourself to methods, which Hitler invented and which Stalin used, and now that Khrushchev is using. At these conferences you have nothing to gain ,a nd the others have nothing to lose. Take over the offensive! Demand the unification of Germany and self-determination for Eastern Europe, and say: If you want peace, then you shall have to remove all remnants and consequences which issued illegally out of the war .... How could the West allow Soviet Rus- 10 SLOVAKIA sia to become the champion of freedom, that Soviet Russia which has enslaved half of Europe? This is really scandalous! Why is it not said: Let us apply self-determina tion to ALL the nations of the world, including the countries of Eastern Europe! ... France has granted so many African countries independence that we have decided to formulate here our demand to the right of self-determina tion. THE MATTER OF FREEDOM IS INDIVISIBLE !" It must be admitted with satisfaction that the members of the congress expressed principles that are moving the world and without respecting which it is not possible to demolish the world of slavery and to build the foundations .for a new world of justice, equality and cooperation. However, it is easy to express great and noble ideas. Even leading Reds have resorted to them when it served their purpose. Many people keep on washing out their throats with the noblest ideas, but their minds and their deeds are far away from these ideas. It is in this moral conflict that the dissolution of society rests, the dissolution and decay of The Assembly of Captive European Nations requested the Generail Assemlbly of the Uirnited Nations to look into deportations and forced transfel'S of population "ca,r ried out 1by the Soviet Union" (!Resolution of 7th Plenary Meetinig, Nov. 7, 1954!, and Resolution of loth Plenary Meet~n:g, Dec. 18, 1954), but conveniently ignored the brutal transfer of the Sudeten a1nd other Germans from their home·lan:d by Czecho-Slovakia, Poland, etc. Why? 1 institutions and also of the best formulated programs. Words without actions are sterile. Clothes do not make the monk. "THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETER MINATION IS INDIVISIBLE .... THE MATTER OF FREJDDOM IS INDIVISIBLE" - said the members at the conference of European Captive Nations. In other words, in th'is matter of freedom and independence ALL nations must be considered - and none considered more privileged than others. On this we can heartily agree. Why then, we ask, is the Assembly of Captive European Nations limited to nine countries? Nine political territories or formations are members of the Assembly, and there are representative s to speak for these SLOVAKIA 11 territories, but who is really authorized or entitled to speak for the nations within those territories? Who, for example, speaks for the Slovaks? And the Czechs? We know that the persons who presume to speak for "CZEOHOSLOVAKIA'' are definitely opposed to freedom and independence for the Slovaks and the Czechs, because they are working for the liberation of "Czechoslovakia" and not the liberation of the Slovak and Czech nations. People who could not break with the past, who have their minds and hearts burdened with weeds of fictions, cannot be the builders of a new and just order in Central and Eastern Europe. People who knowingly sin against the evident principles of the self-determination of nations, who in a concrete case deny this right of self-determination to the Slovak nation, demonstrate before the world public that they are not seriously concerned with the idea of selfdetermination. They are dishonest. Otherwise, how can they draw the just sword of self-determination against the Soviet Union and, at the same time, with the same sword, behead the freedom and independence of the Slovak nation? But here we are concerned not only with the Slovak nation, but also with many other nations that equally base their future on the validation of the right of self-determination. It is very significant, indeed, that the politicians and diplomats in the Assembly of Captive European Nations preferred and still prefer to ignore them. "We agree with the right of self-determination that was granted to the countries, races and tribes of Africa, but how about us, are we infected with the plague?" - one of the leading members of the Assembly of Captive European Nations said in just anger. In like manner, the Slovak nation asks the West, and particularly the Assembly of the Captive European Nations - which announced at its Paris Conference that it demands the validation of the right of self-determination for the nations of Central and Eastern Europe : "And how about us? Are we Slovaks infected with the plague?" Does not the right to self-determination apply to the Slovak nation - 12 SLOVAKIA the oldest Christian nation in Central Europe - to the extent that it applies to cannibals of the African jungle? An organization which violates, even partially, its own principles and universally valid principles, loses its political and moral right to reproach the Communist world for violating the right of self-determination - and to cast up to the West its inconsistencies and deficiencies in regard to the nations of Central and Eastern Europe. All Nations Are Entitled To Freedom When the editress of Le Figaro asked the members of the Assembly of Captive European Nations how many people demanded self-determination , they answered unanimously : ONE HUNDRED MILLION. This reply is in full accord with the idea which the organization would want to express, but which in practice it denies or repudiates. The name of the organization plainly speaks of NATIONS and not of STATES. Certainly it must be quite clear to the representatives of this organization that it is peoples, national associations, therefore, live and historic personalities that bear an idea, who express an idea, who defend an idea and fight for it. Therefore, the conflict between the "Our politica-1 representations in exile are the gen,uine v,oice of our peoples. They represent our nations' will and desire for independence, freedom, and the democratic form of governmemt. They repr-es-ent the demO'cratic SJpiTi.tuail, political, and socia,l convictions and aspirations which persist amon'g the peoples of Central ar.,d Easllern Europe." - Statement of AJOE)N, Sept. 20, 1954). Dr. Stephen Osusky, chairman of the "Czechoslovak" de'1egation or representation, was never elected to a,my office by his people. He does not represenlt the CZJEOH people, a,n d, even though a SLOVlA!K by birth, he does not represent the SJJOVAK people, and, hence, ca'l~<not be the "genuine voice" of these peoples. As chairman, he has never pwblicly coone out for freedom, ind-ependence, and self-determinatio,n for his peoiple - the SLOVIAK people. concept and reality is all the more apparent, since this organization established its status and structure on the basis of states and did not remain loyal to national individualities. The right of self-determination belongs to a person, to people, to nations. Only through this right of self-determin- SLOVAKIA 13 ation do we get to the state, to national and state independence. But not conversely. What moral and political capital the organization of the Assembly of Captive European Nations could have enjoyed if it had remained loyal to itself and the principles which it undertook to defend and had demanded their validation to the fullest extent! The fact that in practice it bound itself up with the fate of state, therefore secondary, aims - subordinating nations to state formations - it has deprived itself of reality and, as a result of this, also o{ attractiveness for the nations that are waging their fight for freedom and independence in the name of the right of self-determination. But that is not all. Limiting itself only to the territorial part of Central and Eastern Europe and, therefore, rejecting a priori the benefits and positive effectiveness of the right of self-determination of the Slovaks, Byelorussians, Ukrainians, Croatians, Slovenes, Serbians, and other live organisms which consider themselves nations, the Assembly of Captive European Nations has unmasked the utter nakedness of its interior, in which there is entirely too much insincerity and very little dedication to the common good, in which prevails sectarian obstinacy and very little political wisdom, and in which decisions are made not according to the needs of great European and Christian aims, ,but according to the needs of small, indeed very small, needs of personal and group aims and interests. How is one to explain the fact that the Assembly sidetracked Yugoslavia where the Communist law governs no less than it does in the Soviet Union, Albania, China, Czecho-Slovakia, and Cuba? The Assembly had spoken: FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE OF THE NATIONS IS INDIVISIBLE! The right of self-determination is valid for ALL nations. If the Assembly of Captive European Nations repudiates this right for some nations or any one nation, it deserves to be repudiated by the West and cast out on the political rubbish heap. Its representatives are not truly interested in a new and just democratic order of Europe, but only in an exchange of political garnitures in the states 14 SLOVAKIA which they claim to represent, or, in effect, they are telling the West: we st.and for the old order, but not the present regimes. Of course, the representatives of the Assembly can claim - as they even do - that they cannot include ALL nations in their program, because the great powers recognize diplomatically the existing states in Central and Eastern Europe. The great powers have their reasons for such recognition, even though it is not consistent with their expressed policies and, for practical purposes, is even detrimental to the common good. Many informed observers believe it would have been better not to have granted recognition to states whose rulers are dedicated to the enslavement of their subjects and, in faot, to the destruction of the entire free world. But what reasons can an organization like the Assembly have for its conduct - an organization which should be nurtured with the revolutionary and creative spirit of reconstructing order in the sense of the principles which it proclaims and which should be concerned about, in the first place, with a permanent balance of this part of Europe - its Central and Eastern area? Even in politics it is not possible to serve two masters. The Assembly of Captive European Nations - as attested to by its record of action - serves not two masters, but all masters who want to permanently warm their soup on the nO'ble and clean fire of concept of freedom, independence, and the rig.ht of self-determination. One cannot therefore declare that, for example, the Albanians have a right to freedom, independence, and self-determination already today, but that the Slovaks, Croatians, Ukrainians, etc., will be granted that right tomorrow. Speaking and writing for the gallery, from which one expects not only applause, but political and material help as well, one cannot state that the business of freedom, independence, and self-determination of the Poles, Germans, Rumanians, etc., is a matter of validifying the principles of freedom, independence and self-determination, but that the matter of freedom , independence, and self-determination of the Slovaks is the business of the Czechs, that of the Croatians the business of SLOVAKIA 15 the Ser,b ians, that of the Ukrainians the business of the Russians, etc. At a time when the nations in Communist captivity are demanding concrete expression of their own desires, when they are waiting for political motives that would be worthy of their sacrifices and resistance, it is not possible to approach them with the useless, dried-out and stripped branch, broken from the tree of freedom, independence, and self-determination by the careless hands of politicians who are obsessed with their past. From the fruit of this tree of freedom, independence and self-determination which has for long years been sprinkled with their own blood and sweat - the Slovaks, Ukrainians, Croatians, etc., want an equal share. And not tomorrow, but today. As long as the Assembly of Captive European Nations does not bring its own house in order, as long as it promotes self-determination , freedom, and independence only for SOME, but not ALL nations, it will remain in permanent conflict with those noble concepts and those nations to whom it denies the right of self-determination , freedom, and independence. And finally it will be in a paradoxical position: the nations ignored or avoided by it shall have to persistently fight against it in the name of the concept of freedom, independence, and self-determination , as they are now fighting and shall always fight against every violence and every falsehood. "SLOVAKIA AND ITS PEOPLE" by Professor Gilbert L. Oddo can now be sent on order. Get your copy rODA \:'. because the -.upply is limited. Over 2.100 copies have been -.old. rhe first real history of the Slovaks and their country in English. rhe book ha~ ~X4 pages and sells for $6.00 per copy postpaid. Order your copy fODA Y from: JED NOT A PRINTERY. P. 0. Box 150. Middletown. Pa.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Assembly of Captive European Nations: onflict Between Idea and Deed Description An account of the resource Joseph Cieker Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 2 (34), September-December 1961 pp. 3-15 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cieker, Jozef, 1907-1969 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1961 LCNAF+dates https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/765bc103ba58fb3af349d96c74fafee3.pdf 792c7e0706d68c7f49b1f660b2c03934 PDF Text Text 16 SLOVAKIA HUNGARIAN EXILES AND SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE BY GEORGE N,AGY In his article, which appeared in the September-Decem ber (1960) issue of "SLOVAKIA" entitled "Magyar Exiles and Slovakia," Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum brings up the question why official Hungarian exile circles, notably the Hungarian National Council of New York, are not cooperating w'ith the exiled Slovak independence movement and why several Hungarian "journalists and more or less known diplomats," notably Andrew Gyorgy, Stephen Kertesz, and Stephen Borsody, in their scientific works show a lack of objectively regarding Slovakia and the Slovaks. Before trying to clarify these questions, I have to object to Dr. Kirschbaum's constant use of the expression "Magyar" instead of "Hungarian." While, in the Hungarian language, the terms "Hungaria" and "Hungarian" are unknown, they are generally used throughout the Western world and can, therefore, not arbitrarily be replaced in English (French, German, etc.) by the expression "Magyar." To use the word "Hungary" as a geographical term - intending to indicate that historical Hungary against present-day Hungary has been inha!bited not by "Magyars" alone, but by Slovaks, Croatians, and other nationalities, too - might serve as an artificial justification for certain Slovak claims to parts of Hunga11ian history, coat-ofarms, etc., but is both historically wrong and linguistically mistaken, because originally the expression "Hungarian," derived from the words "Onogur," "Ungur," was the name by which the Hungarian tribes were called in Europe (mainly by the Germans) before entering the Danube Basin. Returning now to the questions brought up by Dr. Kirschbaum, I have to deal with the different aspects involved in this problem. First of all, up to now, due to an outdated political misconception supported by legalistic conservatism, the United States Government recognizes Czecho-Slovakia, and, consequently, the Czecho-Slovak, and not the Czech and �SLOVAKIA 17 Slovak exile groups and their organizations only. For this reason, all other exile groups which are recognized by the U. S. Administratio n, including the Hungarian National Council, have to deal with the "Council of Free Czechoslovakia" as the only officially recognized representative organization of both Czech and Slovak exile groups. Apart from this fact, it is undeniable that many Hungarian politicians, especially those of the elder generation, considered the Czechs and not the Slovaks as the ones with whom Hungary had to deal in questions regarding relations between Hungary and Czecho~Slovakia. The reason for this attitude is plausible, if we consider the historical developments of the past. Since medieval times, the Czechs played an important part in the history of Central Europe and their influence was often prominent, if not dominant, in directing both external and domestic affairs of the Habsburg Monarchy. Then, after the First World War, when Czecho-Slovak ia was born, Benes and Masaryk, who forged the new and unha,ppy order of Central Europe, became de facto dictators of the international affairs of that area. So great was their prestige and their influence in the chancelaries of Western Europe that there was hardly any chance to conduct successful political negotiations in the Danube Basin, and, of course, regarding Czecho-Slovakia, without their participation. In spite of the lessons taught to us by the history of the past forty years, and particularly since 1945, much of the false glory of Benes's political conception is still alive, especially in American official and intellectual circles. The influence of this spirit is felt strongly in many a scientific work written even in recent times and a clear indication of it can be found in the preface of Borsody's book, too. Another reason for the lack of understanding of the Slovak problem is the fact that Slovak national consciousness is of a rather recent or~gin. While Slovak intellectuals cherished the idea of Slovak autonomy long ago and fought later for independence, the broad masses of the people embraced these aspirations fully only after Slovakia did gain its independence in 1939 and made a success of it. There- �18 SLOVAKIA fore, any outsider, who did not follow closely the developments which led to Slovak independence and the astonishing achievements of the Slovak State during its short-lived existence, is naturally inclined to underestimate the effect that these events had on the minds of the Slovak people. Hungarian politicians of that time were mostly too preoccupied with the mounting pressure of international events upon the fate of Hungary itself to devote much of their attention to a thorough study of the developments in Slovakia. Few of them had a chance, as I did, to witness closely what went on beyond Hungary's northern border. It is the duty of the few of us who followed the Slovak independence movement closely to take the initiative and eliminate past misunderstandings. The differences between Slovaks and Hungarians have to be settled between Bratislava and Budapest, without outside interference by Czechs or anybody else. But, as our peoples in our homelands are at present prevented from expressing their free will, it is up to us, exile groups in the Free World, to join forces and to pave the way for a sincere understanding and friendship between our two peoples. I am convinced that our close cooperation in working together for the restoration of Slovak independence could become a key factor in creating a new and healthy political order in the Danube Basin after its liberation from Soviet domination. X X IX X MORE CLARl,FICA1110N N1E1EOEO I fuilly appreciate the effort of Mr. George Nagy, SecretaryGeneral of the Canadian.Jlungarian Federation, to clarify some questions relating to Hungaria1w ~agyar)'5lovak relations. He is, of course, entitled to his opinions. History, however, is - rather should lbe - based on facts. And the fact is that Mlagyar historians, politicians, statesmen, and even religious leaders have thus far preferred either to iglill().fll the Slovaks of both past and present Hungary or to humiliate and vHMy them when re!ferrincg to them rn their writings. Certainly it is a situation that should be corrected. In his attempt to clarify the question r,a,i sed by Dr. Joseph Kirscblbaum, '.Mr. Nagy malres several good points, but i,n several instances, unfortunately, on1y adds to the confusion whioh he attempts to dispel. He objects "to the constant use of the expression 'Magyar' i,nstead of 'Hung•arian', because," he says: "While, in the Hungarian language, the terms 'Hungaria' and 'Hungarian' are unknown, they �19 SLOVAKIA are generally used throughout the Western world and can, therefore, not ar:bitrarily 'be replaced in Engli'Sh, (French, German, etc.), by the expression 'M!a,gy1ar'." What is Mr. Nagy trying to sell? Now, why are those terms unknown in the HilliNG!A!RIDAlN language? Simply because there is no HUING.AlR!tAN language! But there is a MAGYIAiR la,ngua,ge. 11he terms, however, ar,e very well known - and have been for centuries - in the SrLOVAK language. Hum•gary is a ,p olitioal entity, a multi-national state. The official language of the c,o untry, since the Magyars domiinlaited it, hras ailiways been MAGIY'iAR - anld to tlhe Magyrars -tlhe land of Hungary has always been, MAGYARORSZAG - Magya1'land, present!~ Magyar Nepkozt.trsasag - People's Repulblic of Magyarland), and so they always ~n6isted on using the English HUNGARY fur the Magyar MAGYAR0RSZAG, even though the term IIDNGAlRY, as Nagy says, does not exis't in the HUiNGA!R!liAN (he means Malgyiar) l anguage. Therr-e is no Hungarian language, but p11actically all Magyar periodicals, writers, schoiars, scienltists and arti'Sts are lafbeled Hungarian. Gyufa von Zathure:czky, we read just recently (SUl)iET.IDN BUILlJEIDIN, Dec. 1961), now residling in Munich, Germany, is a freelamce writer, "formerly editor-in-chief of the Hungarian daily iELLElN~ElK and BerHn corresponldent for variolll.S Hungarian parpers." Furthermore, the Slovaks do not have to resort to "artificial justification" forr any claims they may ha,v e "to parts of Hungarian" histor,y. The hist-ori~al fact is that the forefathers of the Slovaks i.nhafbited the teru-itory of Hum•g,ariy long before the forebears of the Magyars invaded it. "It is both historicaUy wr.o ng and linguistically mistaken" to use the term Magyar instead of Hungary, declares Mr. Nagy, '"because originally the expression 'Hungarran' deri'Ved from the words '0nogur', 'Ungur' - was the name by which the Hungarian tribes were called in Europe (ma·ionly by the Ge!'lman,s) before entering the 1 Danube basin." This I cannot bu,y. 'I1he "Hun~r'ian trilbes," referred to by Nagy could hardly ha.ve beeru "Hungarian triib es" before they entered the Da,nwbian basin, the territory of Hungary. If the Germans or ,a ny other peorple called those tri!bes "Onogur" or "Ungur," as Nragy claims, they must harve had some reason for it. Nagy's attempt to ma•k e Hungary MAGYAR f.aills shol1t aga,in. Those terms, Nagy had told us, ai"e wniknown in the M-agy,ai- language. But they are kn()IWn in the Slovak language (uhor; uhorie; U:hor; Uhry; uhorsky). But there is no "uhorctna" - Hunlg arian language, just as there is no "ceskoslovencina" - Czechoslovak language. The ''Hum•gari,an trtbes" re'feNed to must ha,ve beem, the forebears of the Slovaks. What Mr. Na-gy has to say a/bout Ozecho-Slovakra (use the hyphen, pJease!), and T. G. Masarylk and Dr. Edlwarrd Bene§, is in a large sense true. But that is hardly sulfiicienit reaSOIIl! - iif it is real11Jy interested in truth and justice - that the Hungarian National Coundl should "HAVE TO" deal wi.1lh the so-called Ooun·cil ,o:f Fu-ee Cze~hoslovakia. I say th'at even though it still may be "the onLy offi.cia•Hy recognized repr,esentatirve organization of both Czech and Slo- = �20 SLOVAKIA vak exile groups" - recognized as such by the United States Government or a,ny other govexin,ment. Mr. Nagy a,n d the Hungarian National CounJCH know that the "Council of Free Czechosltov,aki,a " is completely dominated by the Benes Czechs, the Czech socialists who collalbor•a ted fully with the Czech Reds amd Moscow, especially stnce 11945. If Magyars or Hungadans prefer to dea'l with the people of the "Council of ftee Czechoslo,vakia" - who deny the right of self-determin•altion to the Slovak nab-on and aire in princi'p le opposed to Slovak freedom and i,n d•eipeliltdence - they do so at their own peril. To go along with such people because they still enjoy prestige a,nd recognition means to make a mockery of democralcy, justice and the right. Principles should not be saori'ficed for expediency. Slovak nationalism, Mr. Nagy i:ndticates, i'S of "rather rec•e nt origi,n ." HOIW receinit? When did national states· originate in Europe? How many were there before the 19th century? Wti.11 Mr. Na•gy deny that the Mag,y ars· considered themselves the "State-nation" and really became chauvinistic after the estalblishment of the Dual-Mor.iarchy tn 1867? Preoccupation with anything else but matters of State can make for the downlfaH of a political formation. The fa.te of Austria-<Hunigary was decidted by politicians who were "too preodcurpi·e d with mounting pressure of i,nterna'tional ev,e nts" to see what was happening inside the countriy. The Magyars of Huin,gary adamantl,y opposed Slovak autonoony ~ and 1ost Slovakia. The Masarytk-lBenes "democracy" of Ozecho-Slovatkiia - a bad copy of old Austria~unigary - also coUaipsed: the Czedhs, even tlhough T. G. Masaryk had guaranteed it im, writing (The Pittsburgh Pact, May 30, HHS), denied autonomy to the Slovaks - and lost them. Sure, Czecho.Slovatkia still exists on paper a·n d is recognized as the land of the Slovaks and the Czechs, but as far as the Slovaks are concerned, it is deader than the proverbi<al door naH. The time to work for Magyar-Hungarian and Slo,v ak independeinice is NOW - and not after Magya1".<ffungar~ans and S1ovatks a•r e li'bernted from Soviet domination. The Slovaks at home and albroad will continue to fight the plague of Communiism - as they have fought it for the past 100 y,e ars - even id' the Ma,g yars and Czechs, Hungariain-s and Czechosloval~s do collalborate with it or with its former collaiborators. They do not wairnt to be tofd that they MIUST join wiith the CZIDOHJS to f,i ght the Reds - and specifically with those Czechs who, after February 25, 1948, suddenly became "democratic, anti-Oommunist exiles froon Czecho-Sl-01Vakia." The Slovaks are in the same boat as the Magyar-<Hungarians, the Ozechs, the Senbo-Slovenia,nC:rtoat'iain Yu·goslavs, the Poles, Chinese, U1rnaiinians, Byelorussians, East Germans, Estonians, Latvians and L'ithuanfans, and others who were sacrificed to the Red Molo>ch of Moscow by the drun'k-'withvictory Uniited N~tions. All wainit to be :ftree and independent of alien ruile, no matter how benevolent it may appear to be; all want to be masters of their own destiny. Let us remember: expedients are for the hour; pr~niciples for the ages. Justice delayed, is justice denied. P. A. H!ROBtAJK. � 16 SLOVAKIA HUNGARIAN EXILES AND SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE BY GEORGE N,AGY In his article, which appeared in the September-Decem ber (1960) issue of "SLOVAKIA" entitled "Magyar Exiles and Slovakia," Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum brings up the question why official Hungarian exile circles, notably the Hungarian National Council of New York, are not cooperating w'ith the exiled Slovak independence movement and why several Hungarian "journalists and more or less known diplomats," notably Andrew Gyorgy, Stephen Kertesz, and Stephen Borsody, in their scientific works show a lack of objectively regarding Slovakia and the Slovaks. Before trying to clarify these questions, I have to object to Dr. Kirschbaum's constant use of the expression "Magyar" instead of "Hungarian." While, in the Hungarian language, the terms "Hungaria" and "Hungarian" are unknown, they are generally used throughout the Western world and can, therefore, not arbitrarily be replaced in English (French, German, etc.) by the expression "Magyar." To use the word "Hungary" as a geographical term - intending to indicate that historical Hungary against present-day Hungary has been inha!bited not by "Magyars" alone, but by Slovaks, Croatians, and other nationalities, too - might serve as an artificial justification for certain Slovak claims to parts of Hunga11ian history, coat-ofarms, etc., but is both historically wrong and linguistically mistaken, because originally the expression "Hungarian," derived from the words "Onogur," "Ungur," was the name by which the Hungarian tribes were called in Europe (mainly by the Germans) before entering the Danube Basin. Returning now to the questions brought up by Dr. Kirschbaum, I have to deal with the different aspects involved in this problem. First of all, up to now, due to an outdated political misconception supported by legalistic conservatism, the United States Government recognizes Czecho-Slovakia, and, consequently, the Czecho-Slovak, and not the Czech and �SLOVAKIA 17 Slovak exile groups and their organizations only. For this reason, all other exile groups which are recognized by the U. S. Administratio n, including the Hungarian National Council, have to deal with the "Council of Free Czechoslovakia" as the only officially recognized representative organization of both Czech and Slovak exile groups. Apart from this fact, it is undeniable that many Hungarian politicians, especially those of the elder generation, considered the Czechs and not the Slovaks as the ones with whom Hungary had to deal in questions regarding relations between Hungary and Czecho~Slovakia. The reason for this attitude is plausible, if we consider the historical developments of the past. Since medieval times, the Czechs played an important part in the history of Central Europe and their influence was often prominent, if not dominant, in directing both external and domestic affairs of the Habsburg Monarchy. Then, after the First World War, when Czecho-Slovak ia was born, Benes and Masaryk, who forged the new and unha,ppy order of Central Europe, became de facto dictators of the international affairs of that area. So great was their prestige and their influence in the chancelaries of Western Europe that there was hardly any chance to conduct successful political negotiations in the Danube Basin, and, of course, regarding Czecho-Slovakia, without their participation. In spite of the lessons taught to us by the history of the past forty years, and particularly since 1945, much of the false glory of Benes's political conception is still alive, especially in American official and intellectual circles. The influence of this spirit is felt strongly in many a scientific work written even in recent times and a clear indication of it can be found in the preface of Borsody's book, too. Another reason for the lack of understanding of the Slovak problem is the fact that Slovak national consciousness is of a rather recent or~gin. While Slovak intellectuals cherished the idea of Slovak autonomy long ago and fought later for independence, the broad masses of the people embraced these aspirations fully only after Slovakia did gain its independence in 1939 and made a success of it. There- �18 SLOVAKIA fore, any outsider, who did not follow closely the developments which led to Slovak independence and the astonishing achievements of the Slovak State during its short-lived existence, is naturally inclined to underestimate the effect that these events had on the minds of the Slovak people. Hungarian politicians of that time were mostly too preoccupied with the mounting pressure of international events upon the fate of Hungary itself to devote much of their attention to a thorough study of the developments in Slovakia. Few of them had a chance, as I did, to witness closely what went on beyond Hungary's northern border. It is the duty of the few of us who followed the Slovak independence movement closely to take the initiative and eliminate past misunderstandings. The differences between Slovaks and Hungarians have to be settled between Bratislava and Budapest, without outside interference by Czechs or anybody else. But, as our peoples in our homelands are at present prevented from expressing their free will, it is up to us, exile groups in the Free World, to join forces and to pave the way for a sincere understanding and friendship between our two peoples. I am convinced that our close cooperation in working together for the restoration of Slovak independence could become a key factor in creating a new and healthy political order in the Danube Basin after its liberation from Soviet domination. X X IX X MORE CLARl,FICA1110N N1E1EOEO I fuilly appreciate the effort of Mr. George Nagy, SecretaryGeneral of the Canadian.Jlungarian Federation, to clarify some questions relating to Hungaria1w ~agyar)'5lovak relations. He is, of course, entitled to his opinions. History, however, is - rather should lbe - based on facts. And the fact is that Mlagyar historians, politicians, statesmen, and even religious leaders have thus far preferred either to iglill().fll the Slovaks of both past and present Hungary or to humiliate and vHMy them when re!ferrincg to them rn their writings. Certainly it is a situation that should be corrected. In his attempt to clarify the question r,a,i sed by Dr. Joseph Kirscblbaum, '.Mr. Nagy malres several good points, but i,n several instances, unfortunately, on1y adds to the confusion whioh he attempts to dispel. He objects "to the constant use of the expression 'Magyar' i,nstead of 'Hung•arian', because," he says: "While, in the Hungarian language, the terms 'Hungaria' and 'Hungarian' are unknown, they �19 SLOVAKIA are generally used throughout the Western world and can, therefore, not ar:bitrarily 'be replaced in Engli'Sh, (French, German, etc.), by the expression 'M!a,gy1ar'." What is Mr. Nagy trying to sell? Now, why are those terms unknown in the HilliNG!A!RIDAlN language? Simply because there is no HUING.AlR!tAN language! But there is a MAGYIAiR la,ngua,ge. 11he terms, however, ar,e very well known - and have been for centuries - in the SrLOVAK language. Hum•gary is a ,p olitioal entity, a multi-national state. The official language of the c,o untry, since the Magyars domiinlaited it, hras ailiways been MAGIY'iAR - anld to tlhe Magyrars -tlhe land of Hungary has always been, MAGYARORSZAG - Magya1'land, present!~ Magyar Nepkozt.trsasag - People's Repulblic of Magyarland), and so they always ~n6isted on using the English HUNGARY fur the Magyar MAGYAR0RSZAG, even though the term IIDNGAlRY, as Nagy says, does not exis't in the HUiNGA!R!liAN (he means Malgyiar) l anguage. Therr-e is no Hungarian language, but p11actically all Magyar periodicals, writers, schoiars, scienltists and arti'Sts are lafbeled Hungarian. Gyufa von Zathure:czky, we read just recently (SUl)iET.IDN BUILlJEIDIN, Dec. 1961), now residling in Munich, Germany, is a freelamce writer, "formerly editor-in-chief of the Hungarian daily iELLElN~ElK and BerHn corresponldent for variolll.S Hungarian parpers." Furthermore, the Slovaks do not have to resort to "artificial justification" forr any claims they may ha,v e "to parts of Hungarian" histor,y. The hist-ori~al fact is that the forefathers of the Slovaks i.nhafbited the teru-itory of Hum•g,ariy long before the forebears of the Magyars invaded it. "It is both historicaUy wr.o ng and linguistically mistaken" to use the term Magyar instead of Hungary, declares Mr. Nagy, '"because originally the expression 'Hungarran' deri'Ved from the words '0nogur', 'Ungur' - was the name by which the Hungarian tribes were called in Europe (ma·ionly by the Ge!'lman,s) before entering the 1 Danube basin." This I cannot bu,y. 'I1he "Hun~r'ian trilbes," referred to by Nagy could hardly ha.ve beeru "Hungarian triib es" before they entered the Da,nwbian basin, the territory of Hungary. If the Germans or ,a ny other peorple called those tri!bes "Onogur" or "Ungur," as Nragy claims, they must harve had some reason for it. Nagy's attempt to ma•k e Hungary MAGYAR f.aills shol1t aga,in. Those terms, Nagy had told us, ai"e wniknown in the M-agy,ai- language. But they are kn()IWn in the Slovak language (uhor; uhorie; U:hor; Uhry; uhorsky). But there is no "uhorctna" - Hunlg arian language, just as there is no "ceskoslovencina" - Czechoslovak language. The ''Hum•gari,an trtbes" re'feNed to must ha,ve beem, the forebears of the Slovaks. What Mr. Na-gy has to say a/bout Ozecho-Slovakra (use the hyphen, pJease!), and T. G. Masarylk and Dr. Edlwarrd Bene§, is in a large sense true. But that is hardly sulfiicienit reaSOIIl! - iif it is real11Jy interested in truth and justice - that the Hungarian National Coundl should "HAVE TO" deal wi.1lh the so-called Ooun·cil ,o:f Fu-ee Cze~hoslovakia. I say th'at even though it still may be "the onLy offi.cia•Hy recognized repr,esentatirve organization of both Czech and Slo- = �20 SLOVAKIA vak exile groups" - recognized as such by the United States Government or a,ny other govexin,ment. Mr. Nagy a,n d the Hungarian National CounJCH know that the "Council of Free Czechosltov,aki,a " is completely dominated by the Benes Czechs, the Czech socialists who collalbor•a ted fully with the Czech Reds amd Moscow, especially stnce 11945. If Magyars or Hungadans prefer to dea'l with the people of the "Council of ftee Czechoslo,vakia" - who deny the right of self-determin•altion to the Slovak nab-on and aire in princi'p le opposed to Slovak freedom and i,n d•eipeliltdence - they do so at their own peril. To go along with such people because they still enjoy prestige a,nd recognition means to make a mockery of democralcy, justice and the right. Principles should not be saori'ficed for expediency. Slovak nationalism, Mr. Nagy i:ndticates, i'S of "rather rec•e nt origi,n ." HOIW receinit? When did national states· originate in Europe? How many were there before the 19th century? Wti.11 Mr. Na•gy deny that the Mag,y ars· considered themselves the "State-nation" and really became chauvinistic after the estalblishment of the Dual-Mor.iarchy tn 1867? Preoccupation with anything else but matters of State can make for the downlfaH of a political formation. The fa.te of Austria-<Hunigary was decidted by politicians who were "too preodcurpi·e d with mounting pressure of i,nterna'tional ev,e nts" to see what was happening inside the countriy. The Magyars of Huin,gary adamantl,y opposed Slovak autonoony ~ and 1ost Slovakia. The Masarytk-lBenes "democracy" of Ozecho-Slovatkiia - a bad copy of old Austria~unigary - also coUaipsed: the Czedhs, even tlhough T. G. Masaryk had guaranteed it im, writing (The Pittsburgh Pact, May 30, HHS), denied autonomy to the Slovaks - and lost them. Sure, Czecho.Slovatkia still exists on paper a·n d is recognized as the land of the Slovaks and the Czechs, but as far as the Slovaks are concerned, it is deader than the proverbi<al door naH. The time to work for Magyar-Hungarian and Slo,v ak independeinice is NOW - and not after Magya1".<ffungar~ans and S1ovatks a•r e li'bernted from Soviet domination. The Slovaks at home and albroad will continue to fight the plague of Communiism - as they have fought it for the past 100 y,e ars - even id' the Ma,g yars and Czechs, Hungariain-s and Czechosloval~s do collalborate with it or with its former collaiborators. They do not wairnt to be tofd that they MIUST join wiith the CZIDOHJS to f,i ght the Reds - and specifically with those Czechs who, after February 25, 1948, suddenly became "democratic, anti-Oommunist exiles froon Czecho-Sl-01Vakia." The Slovaks are in the same boat as the Magyar-<Hungarians, the Ozechs, the Senbo-Slovenia,nC:rtoat'iain Yu·goslavs, the Poles, Chinese, U1rnaiinians, Byelorussians, East Germans, Estonians, Latvians and L'ithuanfans, and others who were sacrificed to the Red Molo>ch of Moscow by the drun'k-'withvictory Uniited N~tions. All wainit to be :ftree and independent of alien ruile, no matter how benevolent it may appear to be; all want to be masters of their own destiny. Let us remember: expedients are for the hour; pr~niciples for the ages. Justice delayed, is justice denied. P. A. H!ROBtAJK. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 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 16 SLOVAKIA HUNGARIAN EXILES AND SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE BY GEORGE N,AGY In his article, which appeared in the September-Decem ber (1960) issue of "SLOVAKIA" entitled "Magyar Exiles and Slovakia," Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum brings up the question why official Hungarian exile circles, notably the Hungarian National Council of New York, are not cooperating w'ith the exiled Slovak independence movement and why several Hungarian "journalists and more or less known diplomats," notably Andrew Gyorgy, Stephen Kertesz, and Stephen Borsody, in their scientific works show a lack of objectively regarding Slovakia and the Slovaks. Before trying to clarify these questions, I have to object to Dr. Kirschbaum's constant use of the expression "Magyar" instead of "Hungarian." While, in the Hungarian language, the terms "Hungaria" and "Hungarian" are unknown, they are generally used throughout the Western world and can, therefore, not arbitrarily be replaced in English (French, German, etc.) by the expression "Magyar." To use the word "Hungary" as a geographical term - intending to indicate that historical Hungary against present-day Hungary has been inha!bited not by "Magyars" alone, but by Slovaks, Croatians, and other nationalities, too - might serve as an artificial justification for certain Slovak claims to parts of Hunga11ian history, coat-ofarms, etc., but is both historically wrong and linguistically mistaken, because originally the expression "Hungarian," derived from the words "Onogur," "Ungur," was the name by which the Hungarian tribes were called in Europe (mainly by the Germans) before entering the Danube Basin. Returning now to the questions brought up by Dr. Kirschbaum, I have to deal with the different aspects involved in this problem. First of all, up to now, due to an outdated political misconception supported by legalistic conservatism, the United States Government recognizes Czecho-Slovakia, and, consequently, the Czecho-Slovak, and not the Czech and SLOVAKIA 17 Slovak exile groups and their organizations only. For this reason, all other exile groups which are recognized by the U. S. Administratio n, including the Hungarian National Council, have to deal with the "Council of Free Czechoslovakia" as the only officially recognized representative organization of both Czech and Slovak exile groups. Apart from this fact, it is undeniable that many Hungarian politicians, especially those of the elder generation, considered the Czechs and not the Slovaks as the ones with whom Hungary had to deal in questions regarding relations between Hungary and Czecho~Slovakia. The reason for this attitude is plausible, if we consider the historical developments of the past. Since medieval times, the Czechs played an important part in the history of Central Europe and their influence was often prominent, if not dominant, in directing both external and domestic affairs of the Habsburg Monarchy. Then, after the First World War, when Czecho-Slovak ia was born, Benes and Masaryk, who forged the new and unha,ppy order of Central Europe, became de facto dictators of the international affairs of that area. So great was their prestige and their influence in the chancelaries of Western Europe that there was hardly any chance to conduct successful political negotiations in the Danube Basin, and, of course, regarding Czecho-Slovakia, without their participation. In spite of the lessons taught to us by the history of the past forty years, and particularly since 1945, much of the false glory of Benes's political conception is still alive, especially in American official and intellectual circles. The influence of this spirit is felt strongly in many a scientific work written even in recent times and a clear indication of it can be found in the preface of Borsody's book, too. Another reason for the lack of understanding of the Slovak problem is the fact that Slovak national consciousness is of a rather recent or~gin. While Slovak intellectuals cherished the idea of Slovak autonomy long ago and fought later for independence, the broad masses of the people embraced these aspirations fully only after Slovakia did gain its independence in 1939 and made a success of it. There- 18 SLOVAKIA fore, any outsider, who did not follow closely the developments which led to Slovak independence and the astonishing achievements of the Slovak State during its short-lived existence, is naturally inclined to underestimate the effect that these events had on the minds of the Slovak people. Hungarian politicians of that time were mostly too preoccupied with the mounting pressure of international events upon the fate of Hungary itself to devote much of their attention to a thorough study of the developments in Slovakia. Few of them had a chance, as I did, to witness closely what went on beyond Hungary's northern border. It is the duty of the few of us who followed the Slovak independence movement closely to take the initiative and eliminate past misunderstandings. The differences between Slovaks and Hungarians have to be settled between Bratislava and Budapest, without outside interference by Czechs or anybody else. But, as our peoples in our homelands are at present prevented from expressing their free will, it is up to us, exile groups in the Free World, to join forces and to pave the way for a sincere understanding and friendship between our two peoples. I am convinced that our close cooperation in working together for the restoration of Slovak independence could become a key factor in creating a new and healthy political order in the Danube Basin after its liberation from Soviet domination. X X IX X MORE CLARl,FICA1110N N1E1EOEO I fuilly appreciate the effort of Mr. George Nagy, SecretaryGeneral of the Canadian.Jlungarian Federation, to clarify some questions relating to Hungaria1w ~agyar)'5lovak relations. He is, of course, entitled to his opinions. History, however, is - rather should lbe - based on facts. And the fact is that Mlagyar historians, politicians, statesmen, and even religious leaders have thus far preferred either to iglill().fll the Slovaks of both past and present Hungary or to humiliate and vHMy them when re!ferrincg to them rn their writings. Certainly it is a situation that should be corrected. In his attempt to clarify the question r,a,i sed by Dr. Joseph Kirscblbaum, '.Mr. Nagy malres several good points, but i,n several instances, unfortunately, on1y adds to the confusion whioh he attempts to dispel. He objects "to the constant use of the expression 'Magyar' i,nstead of 'Hung•arian', because," he says: "While, in the Hungarian language, the terms 'Hungaria' and 'Hungarian' are unknown, they 19 SLOVAKIA are generally used throughout the Western world and can, therefore, not ar:bitrarily 'be replaced in Engli'Sh, (French, German, etc.), by the expression 'M!a,gy1ar'." What is Mr. Nagy trying to sell? Now, why are those terms unknown in the HilliNG!A!RIDAlN language? Simply because there is no HUING.AlR!tAN language! But there is a MAGYIAiR la,ngua,ge. 11he terms, however, ar,e very well known - and have been for centuries - in the SrLOVAK language. Hum•gary is a ,p olitioal entity, a multi-national state. The official language of the c,o untry, since the Magyars domiinlaited it, hras ailiways been MAGIY'iAR - anld to tlhe Magyrars -tlhe land of Hungary has always been, MAGYARORSZAG - Magya1'land, present!~ Magyar Nepkozt.trsasag - People's Repulblic of Magyarland), and so they always ~n6isted on using the English HUNGARY fur the Magyar MAGYAR0RSZAG, even though the term IIDNGAlRY, as Nagy says, does not exis't in the HUiNGA!R!liAN (he means Malgyiar) l anguage. Therr-e is no Hungarian language, but p11actically all Magyar periodicals, writers, schoiars, scienltists and arti'Sts are lafbeled Hungarian. Gyufa von Zathure:czky, we read just recently (SUl)iET.IDN BUILlJEIDIN, Dec. 1961), now residling in Munich, Germany, is a freelamce writer, "formerly editor-in-chief of the Hungarian daily iELLElN~ElK and BerHn corresponldent for variolll.S Hungarian parpers." Furthermore, the Slovaks do not have to resort to "artificial justification" forr any claims they may ha,v e "to parts of Hungarian" histor,y. The hist-ori~al fact is that the forefathers of the Slovaks i.nhafbited the teru-itory of Hum•g,ariy long before the forebears of the Magyars invaded it. "It is both historicaUy wr.o ng and linguistically mistaken" to use the term Magyar instead of Hungary, declares Mr. Nagy, '"because originally the expression 'Hungarran' deri'Ved from the words '0nogur', 'Ungur' - was the name by which the Hungarian tribes were called in Europe (ma·ionly by the Ge!'lman,s) before entering the 1 Danube basin." This I cannot bu,y. 'I1he "Hun~r'ian trilbes," referred to by Nagy could hardly ha.ve beeru "Hungarian triib es" before they entered the Da,nwbian basin, the territory of Hungary. If the Germans or ,a ny other peorple called those tri!bes "Onogur" or "Ungur," as Nragy claims, they must harve had some reason for it. Nagy's attempt to ma•k e Hungary MAGYAR f.aills shol1t aga,in. Those terms, Nagy had told us, ai"e wniknown in the M-agy,ai- language. But they are kn()IWn in the Slovak language (uhor; uhorie; U:hor; Uhry; uhorsky). But there is no "uhorctna" - Hunlg arian language, just as there is no "ceskoslovencina" - Czechoslovak language. The ''Hum•gari,an trtbes" re'feNed to must ha,ve beem, the forebears of the Slovaks. What Mr. Na-gy has to say a/bout Ozecho-Slovakra (use the hyphen, pJease!), and T. G. Masarylk and Dr. Edlwarrd Bene§, is in a large sense true. But that is hardly sulfiicienit reaSOIIl! - iif it is real11Jy interested in truth and justice - that the Hungarian National Coundl should "HAVE TO" deal wi.1lh the so-called Ooun·cil ,o:f Fu-ee Cze~hoslovakia. I say th'at even though it still may be "the onLy offi.cia•Hy recognized repr,esentatirve organization of both Czech and Slo- = 20 SLOVAKIA vak exile groups" - recognized as such by the United States Government or a,ny other govexin,ment. Mr. Nagy a,n d the Hungarian National CounJCH know that the "Council of Free Czechosltov,aki,a " is completely dominated by the Benes Czechs, the Czech socialists who collalbor•a ted fully with the Czech Reds amd Moscow, especially stnce 11945. If Magyars or Hungadans prefer to dea'l with the people of the "Council of ftee Czechoslo,vakia" - who deny the right of self-determin•altion to the Slovak nab-on and aire in princi'p le opposed to Slovak freedom and i,n d•eipeliltdence - they do so at their own peril. To go along with such people because they still enjoy prestige a,nd recognition means to make a mockery of democralcy, justice and the right. Principles should not be saori'ficed for expediency. Slovak nationalism, Mr. Nagy i:ndticates, i'S of "rather rec•e nt origi,n ." HOIW receinit? When did national states· originate in Europe? How many were there before the 19th century? Wti.11 Mr. Na•gy deny that the Mag,y ars· considered themselves the "State-nation" and really became chauvinistic after the estalblishment of the Dual-Mor.iarchy tn 1867? Preoccupation with anything else but matters of State can make for the downlfaH of a political formation. The fa.te of Austria-<Hunigary was decidted by politicians who were "too preodcurpi·e d with mounting pressure of i,nterna'tional ev,e nts" to see what was happening inside the countriy. The Magyars of Huin,gary adamantl,y opposed Slovak autonoony ~ and 1ost Slovakia. The Masarytk-lBenes "democracy" of Ozecho-Slovatkiia - a bad copy of old Austria~unigary - also coUaipsed: the Czedhs, even tlhough T. G. Masaryk had guaranteed it im, writing (The Pittsburgh Pact, May 30, HHS), denied autonomy to the Slovaks - and lost them. Sure, Czecho.Slovatkia still exists on paper a·n d is recognized as the land of the Slovaks and the Czechs, but as far as the Slovaks are concerned, it is deader than the proverbi<al door naH. The time to work for Magyar-Hungarian and Slo,v ak independeinice is NOW - and not after Magya1".<ffungar~ans and S1ovatks a•r e li'bernted from Soviet domination. The Slovaks at home and albroad will continue to fight the plague of Communiism - as they have fought it for the past 100 y,e ars - even id' the Ma,g yars and Czechs, Hungariain-s and Czechosloval~s do collalborate with it or with its former collaiborators. They do not wairnt to be tofd that they MIUST join wiith the CZIDOHJS to f,i ght the Reds - and specifically with those Czechs who, after February 25, 1948, suddenly became "democratic, anti-Oommunist exiles froon Czecho-Sl-01Vakia." The Slovaks are in the same boat as the Magyar-<Hungarians, the Ozechs, the Senbo-Slovenia,nC:rtoat'iain Yu·goslavs, the Poles, Chinese, U1rnaiinians, Byelorussians, East Germans, Estonians, Latvians and L'ithuanfans, and others who were sacrificed to the Red Molo>ch of Moscow by the drun'k-'withvictory Uniited N~tions. All wainit to be :ftree and independent of alien ruile, no matter how benevolent it may appear to be; all want to be masters of their own destiny. Let us remember: expedients are for the hour; pr~niciples for the ages. Justice delayed, is justice denied. P. A. H!ROBtAJK.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Hungarian Exiles and Slovak Independence Description An account of the resource George Nagy Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 2 (34), September-December 1961 pp. 16-20 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Nagy, George Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1961 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/d922dbae150a2019dbea52d6546773f4.pdf d435bd9f363ef6e34c7aefadab00c025 PDF Text Text :u SLOVAKIA BENES AND MOSCOW Prague and Moscow are wont to pompously celebrate December 12th of each year; it was on that day in 1943 that the ill-fated Soviet-Czechoslovak Treaty of friendship, mutual aid and postwar collaJboration was signed. In reality the name of the treaty is not correct; it should be titled the Benes-Soviet Treaty, because Czecho-<Slovak'ia, the duly elected representatives of that state, had nothing to do with it. The Siovaks certainly had no word in it. Furthermore, Benes - having resigned in 1938 - had aJbsolutely no authority to negotiate any treaties. 'Since December 12, 1943, when the treaty was signed in the presence of Dr. Edward Benes, much has changed in the world. The Second World War came to a close and the wartime united nations began to fall apart because of the Soviet Union. Dr. Benes stresses in his MEMOIRS (Pameti, p. 242) that the treaty came about at his request. In March, 1943, he asked Ambassador Bogomolov, among other things, whether Moscow was ready to conclude a treaty with Czecho-Slovakia. The reply was made on April 23rd, when Bogomolov "brought a positive answer in essential points" and said: "The Soviet Government therefore invites you to prepare a draft of the treaty and submit it to the Soviet Government." Dr. Edward Benes then prepared the draft of the treaty with John Masaryk and Dr. Hubert Ripka. This treaty was to dispel any mistrust of the West for the Soviet Union and demonstrate that the Soviet Union does not want to engulf Czecho-Slovakia or any other European states. Furthermore, the treaty could be pointed to "as an example, even in the U. S. A. , and that the Aflies, particularly the greater Powers, would thereby be fundamentally drawn closer together. All unfounded suspicions of the Soviet Union would be allayed or eliminated, and this would help to prepare the ground for what finally took place at both the Allied Conferences in Moscow and Teheran" (Benes's Message to the State Council, London, Feb. 3, 1944: EAST AND WEST, Hubect: Ripka, 1944; p. 135). 1 �22 SLOVAKIA According to Ripka, it is not only Czeoho-Slovakia that benefits by the Treaty, but also the Soviet Union: "But its value assuredly resides also in its very significant bearings on the interests of the Soviet Union; on the one hand it very effectively promotes the security of the Soviet Union against the aggressive designs of Germany, which, as far as Central Europe is concerned, are countered first and foremost by Czecho-Slovakia as a truly powerful bastion, and on the other hand it grants at the same time a definite guarantee that in this area there is no possibility for the creation of a sufficiently powerful bloc which could seriously menace Soviet secu.rity" ('Ri'Pkia: pp. l,Wl.25). Thereby, too, "an end had been made to all attempts, the folly of which might long ago have been clear, seeking to bring a-bout the isolation of the Soviet Union from the rest of Europe by some confederated middle zone, in which it was only too plain that the former anti-Soviet cordon sanitaire was to be restored to life. I may add in passing that all such scihemes were impossi•ble to put into effect for the sole reason that Czecho-Slovakia would never have participated in them" (Ripka: p. 113). There is no doubt that Czech politicians knowingly and intentionally worked to get the nations of central Europe within the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union. Benes's wish was fulfilled: the treaJty became a model for Moscow to attain this end. Accordingly similar treaties were concluded with the rest of the nations of this part of Europe : with Yugoslavia on April 11, 1945; with Poland on April 21, 1945; with Rumania on February 4, 1948; with Hungary on February 18, 1948; with Bulgaria on March 18, 1948, and with Finland on April 6, 1948. Within the framework of this allied system treaties were negotiated between the individual satellite states: between Poland and Yugoslavia on March 18, 1946; between Yugoslavia and Czecho-Slovakia on May 9, 1946; between Albania and Yugoslavia on July 9, 1946; between CzechoSlovakia and Poland on March 10, 1947; between Bulgaria and Yugoslavia on November 27, 1947; between Hungary and Yugoslavia on December 8, 1947; between Altb ania and Bulgaria on December 16, 1947; between Rumania and Yugoslavia on December 19, 1947; between Bulgaria and Rumania on January 16, 1948; between Hungary and Ru- �SLOVAKIA 23 mania on January 24, 1948; between Czecho-Slovakia and Bulgaria on April 23, 1948. Therefore Dr. Edward Benes and his collaborators not only tJheoretically but also practically to the very last moment did everything to strengthen the sphere of influence of Moscow in central Europe. The pro-Soviet policy of Benes was accepted by the Czechs without any reservations. This was the political line of the Czech leaders who directed the destiny of the Slovak and Czech nations after 1945. Dr. Ivo Duchacek expressed the mind of the Czech politicians on March 8, 1946, when he said in the Provisional National Parliament: "It is not, therefore, just a phrase when we say that our alliance with the Soviet Union is the pillar of our foreign policy. What other pillar, if it is not to be created ou,t of paper, could we possibly have? Our paGt with the Soviet Union, guarantees us immed,i ate help of the Red Army in case we are threatened. The pact with brotherly Russia, whiGh is the foundation of our foreign and military policy is, it is true, also an expression of our joilllt efforts and in,t erests. "Therefore the Czecho-Slovak People's Party {Sramek's CZECH Populist Party), whose chairman contributed in such a significant way to conclude the treaty with Russia even before the end of the war, even though certain elements of the West were against this, fully agrees with the theme th.it this alliance with Russia must not be a subject of partisan discussions, and must not be dragged into the pre-election campaign. The alliance with Russia is the affair of all the parties of the Na,tion~I Front, i,t is the result of their joint effort, it is the affair of the entire nation and not the affair of one party. If the treaty is a common affair, then the meri,ts for co~luding this trea,t y are also a joint matter. N'o party has the right to claim exclusive credit for it. This treaty was prepared after due discussion by Sramek's governmen,t in London. The Communists, we know, were not members of the governmen,t and, therefore, have no direct participation in, the treaty, nevertheless the Communists col• laborated with the government within the framework of the State Council; and the politicians who emigra,t ed to Moscow undoubtedly also helped the successful course of negotiations with their conversations with Soviet leaders. Therefore, even though the Communists were not in the London government, which discussed and cor-=luded the treaty, the credit for concluding this historic treaty reaUy belongs to all of us, to all the parties of the Na,t ional Front. Finally, this competition for the credit of concluding the treaty with the Soviet Union is not in substance a sickly sign. It really proves and again confirms that all the people of this country really stand behind this treaty." �24 SLOVAKIA According to Dr. V. Bernard, who also spoke in the Czech parliament on March 8, 1946, "the Czecho..Slova:kSoviet Treaty must continue to remain the nucleus of our foreign policy, because the alliance with the Soviet Union is the most reliable guarantee of the independence of our Republic and the assurance against any attack in the future. Our alliance with the Soviet Union in the end is not the object of any internal political quarrel, and everyone concerned with the security of the Republic, observing the development in the world with open eyes, must be a sincere adherent of this orientation in our foreign policy." It is assuredly noteworthy that Dr. Edward Benes and his co-workers, most of whom today are refugees in the West, saw in the treaty of alliance with Soviet Russia not only the means of attaining an international goal, but also envisioned the realization of Pan-Slavistic and socialistic goals. Dr. Benes himself expressed this clearly on various occasions. And Dr. V. Bernard, too, is concerned with ideological reasons, inasmuch as he said. "we cannot help but see the connection of international policy with the relationship between the forces of decadent capitalism and progressive socialism in universal extent." Czech politicians labored to attain their chauvinistic aims so that with the aid of this treaty they could assure for the Czech nation hegemony over Slovakia in their conflict with the Slovak people, and also so that they could realize the expulsion of .the Sudeten Germans and thus to Czechize the Sudetenland. This was stressed by both Dr. Hubert Ripka in his statement to the State Council in London on May 15, 1943, and also by Dr. Edward Benes in his Moscow broadcast of December 21, 1943. This treaty expresses the thinking of Czech politicians and their partners from Slovakia. On various occasions they consistently and in varied forms did not hesitate to remind us that, in the case of misunderstanding arising between the East and West, they would remain on the side of the East. At that time they ruled with Benes by the grace of Stalin. They (Kocvara, Zenkl, Lettrich, F. Hodfa, Duchacek, Taborsky, etc.) suddenly became "anti-commu- �SLOVAKIA 25 nist" after F~bruary 25, 1948. But up to that time they faithfully followed Benes's pro-Soviet line ad nuseam. ~hey were not the victims of a mistake, nor were they deceived. They knew what they were doing without regard to the development of world politics. And what about the eventuality of the West collaborating with the Germans as a defense against Soviet aggression? The Czechs also thought about that, as Ripka so clearly stated in 1944: "Some Centr'al and Eastern-European politicians ... assume that Britain and America will be unable to suffer Russia to be predominant on the con,tin.e n,t of Europe and that, although the Anglo-Saxon countries may not no•w be able to prevent Rus!.ia from realizing her territorial or other claims, they will strive, after the war, to curt&il her power and later to effect a 'reasonable adjustment' of the Soviet 'a nnexations.' Anyone cherishing hopes of this nature is simply speculating on a new world war; and the realization of such plans neces• sarily presupposes an alliance between the Anglo.Saxon coun,t ries and Germany, since without Germany they cannot be put into effect" (Hulbert Rip~a : EAST AND WEST, Lond'On, 1944; p. 62). It is obvious that between the aims of Soviet policy and the aims of the policy of Dr. Edward Benes and his followers, who today are in emigration, there were no basic differences. That they could not continue at home in their efforts is not because they changed their political line, but simply because Moscow no longer had any interest to collaborate with Peter Zenk!, Hube:r,t Ripka, Joseph Lettrich, Fedor Hodza, Adolph Prochazka, Vaclav Majer. It did nothing to prevent their departure to the West. In fact it facilitated it by making the necessary provisions so they could "escape" without any difficulty to promote their political line in the main cities of the West. They are still against the arming of West Germany and for the Russian Empire, discouraging the union of the West against Moscow imperialism. The people joined together in the "Council of Free Czecho-Slovakia" have consistently followed the line formulated by Dr. A. Klatkovsky: "We are united with the Soviet Union for life and unto death. ... Not ony because we have a common eastern boundary with our greatest ally, but more so because on our western border stands our greatest enemy. The guarantee of the greatest gain of our history _ �SLOVAKIA 26 the expulsion of the Germans - is the might of the Soviet Union, whose merit it also is that the expulsion was carried out so thoroughly. Our entire future is based on the expulsion of the Germans; ally change in this direction would be our ruin •..• If war would come between the East and the West, and the East would be defeated, we would be as its ally hit the hardest, nay even ruined because the Germans would return to us. However, if in such a conflict we should stand with the West - even though this is practically un· thinkable - we still would not escape the fate of the return of Germans. Therefo.re, the theme that we are united with the Soviet Union for life and unto death is a self-evident axiom of our foreign policy, whether anyone likes it or not. And, therefore, no government of ours can make anti-Soviet foreign policy. This would be suicidal politics and such a government would immediately be swept out by the people." The Czechs have not changed. They still act like Schweiks on occasions, but they are still allied with Moscow more than with the West and its interests. In a word, the Czechs are still promoting Benes's ruinous policy which made enemies of all non-Czech citizens in Czecho-Slovakia and enemiei:;, of all neighboring countries. Because of that the Czech Schweiks now tell the world: We are forced to hang with Russia! (a'he Slovak original of this article was published in the SLOVENiSKA REPUBLIKA, Orgrun of the Slovak Lilber'ation Committee, Vol. VI; No. 1, (60), J'anuary, 1954.) ALL LAND in Slova'kita, Moravia, and Bohemi!a haJS been nationa'1ized. However, in Slovakia (predominantly an agricultural region) the farmers have shown more stubborn resista,nee to the new order, parti'CulaTly in their fighlt to retain ownershiip of their cows. I.Jaitest availaible reports have it that abO'llt 50 per cent of all cows in Slovaki,a are still indi>Vlidually owned. Increased mechanlization and stricter Party con:t>rol is in evlidence eiverywhere. 3{l 3{l 3{l of Czecho~lovakia has produced the first four records of a s'ertl.es oa'lled "Musica Nova Bohemica et Slov,e nica." !included is the Balladic Suite (Su,a 10046) of ARTIA Eugen Suchoil., eminenlt Sl'ov•ak composer. Datling £rom 1936, it is a lengthy opus for a large orchestra, "foll of bri'lliant orehestral devices and strong melddirc ideas," according to Alan Rkh of The New York Tomes. Noting that Sachoil. is a composer well worth investigation, Mr. Rich adds that Suchon's Balladic Suite, "while its h•armonic sty;le is no more sitaTtling than that of the late Dvorak, Suchoii at least has the aibfil.ty to operate freely and quite soocess'fu'lly within the framework of a bygone la,ngu1age." SrUJchoil. also composed "The Whirlpool," -a powerlul tragi,c opera, and the "Psalm of the Carpa1lhian Country," a brtl.lliarn large sea-le choral work. � :u SLOVAKIA BENES AND MOSCOW Prague and Moscow are wont to pompously celebrate December 12th of each year; it was on that day in 1943 that the ill-fated Soviet-Czechoslovak Treaty of friendship, mutual aid and postwar collaJboration was signed. In reality the name of the treaty is not correct; it should be titled the Benes-Soviet Treaty, because Czecho-<Slovak'ia, the duly elected representatives of that state, had nothing to do with it. The Siovaks certainly had no word in it. Furthermore, Benes - having resigned in 1938 - had aJbsolutely no authority to negotiate any treaties. 'Since December 12, 1943, when the treaty was signed in the presence of Dr. Edward Benes, much has changed in the world. The Second World War came to a close and the wartime united nations began to fall apart because of the Soviet Union. Dr. Benes stresses in his MEMOIRS (Pameti, p. 242) that the treaty came about at his request. In March, 1943, he asked Ambassador Bogomolov, among other things, whether Moscow was ready to conclude a treaty with Czecho-Slovakia. The reply was made on April 23rd, when Bogomolov "brought a positive answer in essential points" and said: "The Soviet Government therefore invites you to prepare a draft of the treaty and submit it to the Soviet Government." Dr. Edward Benes then prepared the draft of the treaty with John Masaryk and Dr. Hubert Ripka. This treaty was to dispel any mistrust of the West for the Soviet Union and demonstrate that the Soviet Union does not want to engulf Czecho-Slovakia or any other European states. Furthermore, the treaty could be pointed to "as an example, even in the U. S. A. , and that the Aflies, particularly the greater Powers, would thereby be fundamentally drawn closer together. All unfounded suspicions of the Soviet Union would be allayed or eliminated, and this would help to prepare the ground for what finally took place at both the Allied Conferences in Moscow and Teheran" (Benes's Message to the State Council, London, Feb. 3, 1944: EAST AND WEST, Hubect: Ripka, 1944; p. 135). 1 �22 SLOVAKIA According to Ripka, it is not only Czeoho-Slovakia that benefits by the Treaty, but also the Soviet Union: "But its value assuredly resides also in its very significant bearings on the interests of the Soviet Union; on the one hand it very effectively promotes the security of the Soviet Union against the aggressive designs of Germany, which, as far as Central Europe is concerned, are countered first and foremost by Czecho-Slovakia as a truly powerful bastion, and on the other hand it grants at the same time a definite guarantee that in this area there is no possibility for the creation of a sufficiently powerful bloc which could seriously menace Soviet secu.rity" ('Ri'Pkia: pp. l,Wl.25). Thereby, too, "an end had been made to all attempts, the folly of which might long ago have been clear, seeking to bring a-bout the isolation of the Soviet Union from the rest of Europe by some confederated middle zone, in which it was only too plain that the former anti-Soviet cordon sanitaire was to be restored to life. I may add in passing that all such scihemes were impossi•ble to put into effect for the sole reason that Czecho-Slovakia would never have participated in them" (Ripka: p. 113). There is no doubt that Czech politicians knowingly and intentionally worked to get the nations of central Europe within the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union. Benes's wish was fulfilled: the treaJty became a model for Moscow to attain this end. Accordingly similar treaties were concluded with the rest of the nations of this part of Europe : with Yugoslavia on April 11, 1945; with Poland on April 21, 1945; with Rumania on February 4, 1948; with Hungary on February 18, 1948; with Bulgaria on March 18, 1948, and with Finland on April 6, 1948. Within the framework of this allied system treaties were negotiated between the individual satellite states: between Poland and Yugoslavia on March 18, 1946; between Yugoslavia and Czecho-Slovakia on May 9, 1946; between Albania and Yugoslavia on July 9, 1946; between CzechoSlovakia and Poland on March 10, 1947; between Bulgaria and Yugoslavia on November 27, 1947; between Hungary and Yugoslavia on December 8, 1947; between Altb ania and Bulgaria on December 16, 1947; between Rumania and Yugoslavia on December 19, 1947; between Bulgaria and Rumania on January 16, 1948; between Hungary and Ru- �SLOVAKIA 23 mania on January 24, 1948; between Czecho-Slovakia and Bulgaria on April 23, 1948. Therefore Dr. Edward Benes and his collaborators not only tJheoretically but also practically to the very last moment did everything to strengthen the sphere of influence of Moscow in central Europe. The pro-Soviet policy of Benes was accepted by the Czechs without any reservations. This was the political line of the Czech leaders who directed the destiny of the Slovak and Czech nations after 1945. Dr. Ivo Duchacek expressed the mind of the Czech politicians on March 8, 1946, when he said in the Provisional National Parliament: "It is not, therefore, just a phrase when we say that our alliance with the Soviet Union is the pillar of our foreign policy. What other pillar, if it is not to be created ou,t of paper, could we possibly have? Our paGt with the Soviet Union, guarantees us immed,i ate help of the Red Army in case we are threatened. The pact with brotherly Russia, whiGh is the foundation of our foreign and military policy is, it is true, also an expression of our joilllt efforts and in,t erests. "Therefore the Czecho-Slovak People's Party {Sramek's CZECH Populist Party), whose chairman contributed in such a significant way to conclude the treaty with Russia even before the end of the war, even though certain elements of the West were against this, fully agrees with the theme th.it this alliance with Russia must not be a subject of partisan discussions, and must not be dragged into the pre-election campaign. The alliance with Russia is the affair of all the parties of the Na,tion~I Front, i,t is the result of their joint effort, it is the affair of the entire nation and not the affair of one party. If the treaty is a common affair, then the meri,ts for co~luding this trea,t y are also a joint matter. N'o party has the right to claim exclusive credit for it. This treaty was prepared after due discussion by Sramek's governmen,t in London. The Communists, we know, were not members of the governmen,t and, therefore, have no direct participation in, the treaty, nevertheless the Communists col• laborated with the government within the framework of the State Council; and the politicians who emigra,t ed to Moscow undoubtedly also helped the successful course of negotiations with their conversations with Soviet leaders. Therefore, even though the Communists were not in the London government, which discussed and cor-=luded the treaty, the credit for concluding this historic treaty reaUy belongs to all of us, to all the parties of the Na,t ional Front. Finally, this competition for the credit of concluding the treaty with the Soviet Union is not in substance a sickly sign. It really proves and again confirms that all the people of this country really stand behind this treaty." �24 SLOVAKIA According to Dr. V. Bernard, who also spoke in the Czech parliament on March 8, 1946, "the Czecho..Slova:kSoviet Treaty must continue to remain the nucleus of our foreign policy, because the alliance with the Soviet Union is the most reliable guarantee of the independence of our Republic and the assurance against any attack in the future. Our alliance with the Soviet Union in the end is not the object of any internal political quarrel, and everyone concerned with the security of the Republic, observing the development in the world with open eyes, must be a sincere adherent of this orientation in our foreign policy." It is assuredly noteworthy that Dr. Edward Benes and his co-workers, most of whom today are refugees in the West, saw in the treaty of alliance with Soviet Russia not only the means of attaining an international goal, but also envisioned the realization of Pan-Slavistic and socialistic goals. Dr. Benes himself expressed this clearly on various occasions. And Dr. V. Bernard, too, is concerned with ideological reasons, inasmuch as he said. "we cannot help but see the connection of international policy with the relationship between the forces of decadent capitalism and progressive socialism in universal extent." Czech politicians labored to attain their chauvinistic aims so that with the aid of this treaty they could assure for the Czech nation hegemony over Slovakia in their conflict with the Slovak people, and also so that they could realize the expulsion of .the Sudeten Germans and thus to Czechize the Sudetenland. This was stressed by both Dr. Hubert Ripka in his statement to the State Council in London on May 15, 1943, and also by Dr. Edward Benes in his Moscow broadcast of December 21, 1943. This treaty expresses the thinking of Czech politicians and their partners from Slovakia. On various occasions they consistently and in varied forms did not hesitate to remind us that, in the case of misunderstanding arising between the East and West, they would remain on the side of the East. At that time they ruled with Benes by the grace of Stalin. They (Kocvara, Zenkl, Lettrich, F. Hodfa, Duchacek, Taborsky, etc.) suddenly became "anti-commu- �SLOVAKIA 25 nist" after F~bruary 25, 1948. But up to that time they faithfully followed Benes's pro-Soviet line ad nuseam. ~hey were not the victims of a mistake, nor were they deceived. They knew what they were doing without regard to the development of world politics. And what about the eventuality of the West collaborating with the Germans as a defense against Soviet aggression? The Czechs also thought about that, as Ripka so clearly stated in 1944: "Some Centr'al and Eastern-European politicians ... assume that Britain and America will be unable to suffer Russia to be predominant on the con,tin.e n,t of Europe and that, although the Anglo-Saxon countries may not no•w be able to prevent Rus!.ia from realizing her territorial or other claims, they will strive, after the war, to curt&il her power and later to effect a 'reasonable adjustment' of the Soviet 'a nnexations.' Anyone cherishing hopes of this nature is simply speculating on a new world war; and the realization of such plans neces• sarily presupposes an alliance between the Anglo.Saxon coun,t ries and Germany, since without Germany they cannot be put into effect" (Hulbert Rip~a : EAST AND WEST, Lond'On, 1944; p. 62). It is obvious that between the aims of Soviet policy and the aims of the policy of Dr. Edward Benes and his followers, who today are in emigration, there were no basic differences. That they could not continue at home in their efforts is not because they changed their political line, but simply because Moscow no longer had any interest to collaborate with Peter Zenk!, Hube:r,t Ripka, Joseph Lettrich, Fedor Hodza, Adolph Prochazka, Vaclav Majer. It did nothing to prevent their departure to the West. In fact it facilitated it by making the necessary provisions so they could "escape" without any difficulty to promote their political line in the main cities of the West. They are still against the arming of West Germany and for the Russian Empire, discouraging the union of the West against Moscow imperialism. The people joined together in the "Council of Free Czecho-Slovakia" have consistently followed the line formulated by Dr. A. Klatkovsky: "We are united with the Soviet Union for life and unto death. ... Not ony because we have a common eastern boundary with our greatest ally, but more so because on our western border stands our greatest enemy. The guarantee of the greatest gain of our history _ �SLOVAKIA 26 the expulsion of the Germans - is the might of the Soviet Union, whose merit it also is that the expulsion was carried out so thoroughly. Our entire future is based on the expulsion of the Germans; ally change in this direction would be our ruin •..• If war would come between the East and the West, and the East would be defeated, we would be as its ally hit the hardest, nay even ruined because the Germans would return to us. However, if in such a conflict we should stand with the West - even though this is practically un· thinkable - we still would not escape the fate of the return of Germans. Therefo.re, the theme that we are united with the Soviet Union for life and unto death is a self-evident axiom of our foreign policy, whether anyone likes it or not. And, therefore, no government of ours can make anti-Soviet foreign policy. This would be suicidal politics and such a government would immediately be swept out by the people." The Czechs have not changed. They still act like Schweiks on occasions, but they are still allied with Moscow more than with the West and its interests. In a word, the Czechs are still promoting Benes's ruinous policy which made enemies of all non-Czech citizens in Czecho-Slovakia and enemiei:;, of all neighboring countries. Because of that the Czech Schweiks now tell the world: We are forced to hang with Russia! (a'he Slovak original of this article was published in the SLOVENiSKA REPUBLIKA, Orgrun of the Slovak Lilber'ation Committee, Vol. VI; No. 1, (60), J'anuary, 1954.) ALL LAND in Slova'kita, Moravia, and Bohemi!a haJS been nationa'1ized. However, in Slovakia (predominantly an agricultural region) the farmers have shown more stubborn resista,nee to the new order, parti'CulaTly in their fighlt to retain ownershiip of their cows. I.Jaitest availaible reports have it that abO'llt 50 per cent of all cows in Slovaki,a are still indi>Vlidually owned. Increased mechanlization and stricter Party con:t>rol is in evlidence eiverywhere. 3{l 3{l 3{l of Czecho~lovakia has produced the first four records of a s'ertl.es oa'lled "Musica Nova Bohemica et Slov,e nica." !included is the Balladic Suite (Su,a 10046) of ARTIA Eugen Suchoil., eminenlt Sl'ov•ak composer. Datling £rom 1936, it is a lengthy opus for a large orchestra, "foll of bri'lliant orehestral devices and strong melddirc ideas," according to Alan Rkh of The New York Tomes. Noting that Sachoil. is a composer well worth investigation, Mr. Rich adds that Suchon's Balladic Suite, "while its h•armonic sty;le is no more sitaTtling than that of the late Dvorak, Suchoii at least has the aibfil.ty to operate freely and quite soocess'fu'lly within the framework of a bygone la,ngu1age." SrUJchoil. also composed "The Whirlpool," -a powerlul tragi,c opera, and the "Psalm of the Carpa1lhian Country," a brtl.lliarn large sea-le choral work. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 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 :u SLOVAKIA BENES AND MOSCOW Prague and Moscow are wont to pompously celebrate December 12th of each year; it was on that day in 1943 that the ill-fated Soviet-Czechoslovak Treaty of friendship, mutual aid and postwar collaJboration was signed. In reality the name of the treaty is not correct; it should be titled the Benes-Soviet Treaty, because Czecho-<Slovak'ia, the duly elected representatives of that state, had nothing to do with it. The Siovaks certainly had no word in it. Furthermore, Benes - having resigned in 1938 - had aJbsolutely no authority to negotiate any treaties. 'Since December 12, 1943, when the treaty was signed in the presence of Dr. Edward Benes, much has changed in the world. The Second World War came to a close and the wartime united nations began to fall apart because of the Soviet Union. Dr. Benes stresses in his MEMOIRS (Pameti, p. 242) that the treaty came about at his request. In March, 1943, he asked Ambassador Bogomolov, among other things, whether Moscow was ready to conclude a treaty with Czecho-Slovakia. The reply was made on April 23rd, when Bogomolov "brought a positive answer in essential points" and said: "The Soviet Government therefore invites you to prepare a draft of the treaty and submit it to the Soviet Government." Dr. Edward Benes then prepared the draft of the treaty with John Masaryk and Dr. Hubert Ripka. This treaty was to dispel any mistrust of the West for the Soviet Union and demonstrate that the Soviet Union does not want to engulf Czecho-Slovakia or any other European states. Furthermore, the treaty could be pointed to "as an example, even in the U. S. A. , and that the Aflies, particularly the greater Powers, would thereby be fundamentally drawn closer together. All unfounded suspicions of the Soviet Union would be allayed or eliminated, and this would help to prepare the ground for what finally took place at both the Allied Conferences in Moscow and Teheran" (Benes's Message to the State Council, London, Feb. 3, 1944: EAST AND WEST, Hubect: Ripka, 1944; p. 135). 1 22 SLOVAKIA According to Ripka, it is not only Czeoho-Slovakia that benefits by the Treaty, but also the Soviet Union: "But its value assuredly resides also in its very significant bearings on the interests of the Soviet Union; on the one hand it very effectively promotes the security of the Soviet Union against the aggressive designs of Germany, which, as far as Central Europe is concerned, are countered first and foremost by Czecho-Slovakia as a truly powerful bastion, and on the other hand it grants at the same time a definite guarantee that in this area there is no possibility for the creation of a sufficiently powerful bloc which could seriously menace Soviet secu.rity" ('Ri'Pkia: pp. l,Wl.25). Thereby, too, "an end had been made to all attempts, the folly of which might long ago have been clear, seeking to bring a-bout the isolation of the Soviet Union from the rest of Europe by some confederated middle zone, in which it was only too plain that the former anti-Soviet cordon sanitaire was to be restored to life. I may add in passing that all such scihemes were impossi•ble to put into effect for the sole reason that Czecho-Slovakia would never have participated in them" (Ripka: p. 113). There is no doubt that Czech politicians knowingly and intentionally worked to get the nations of central Europe within the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union. Benes's wish was fulfilled: the treaJty became a model for Moscow to attain this end. Accordingly similar treaties were concluded with the rest of the nations of this part of Europe : with Yugoslavia on April 11, 1945; with Poland on April 21, 1945; with Rumania on February 4, 1948; with Hungary on February 18, 1948; with Bulgaria on March 18, 1948, and with Finland on April 6, 1948. Within the framework of this allied system treaties were negotiated between the individual satellite states: between Poland and Yugoslavia on March 18, 1946; between Yugoslavia and Czecho-Slovakia on May 9, 1946; between Albania and Yugoslavia on July 9, 1946; between CzechoSlovakia and Poland on March 10, 1947; between Bulgaria and Yugoslavia on November 27, 1947; between Hungary and Yugoslavia on December 8, 1947; between Altb ania and Bulgaria on December 16, 1947; between Rumania and Yugoslavia on December 19, 1947; between Bulgaria and Rumania on January 16, 1948; between Hungary and Ru- SLOVAKIA 23 mania on January 24, 1948; between Czecho-Slovakia and Bulgaria on April 23, 1948. Therefore Dr. Edward Benes and his collaborators not only tJheoretically but also practically to the very last moment did everything to strengthen the sphere of influence of Moscow in central Europe. The pro-Soviet policy of Benes was accepted by the Czechs without any reservations. This was the political line of the Czech leaders who directed the destiny of the Slovak and Czech nations after 1945. Dr. Ivo Duchacek expressed the mind of the Czech politicians on March 8, 1946, when he said in the Provisional National Parliament: "It is not, therefore, just a phrase when we say that our alliance with the Soviet Union is the pillar of our foreign policy. What other pillar, if it is not to be created ou,t of paper, could we possibly have? Our paGt with the Soviet Union, guarantees us immed,i ate help of the Red Army in case we are threatened. The pact with brotherly Russia, whiGh is the foundation of our foreign and military policy is, it is true, also an expression of our joilllt efforts and in,t erests. "Therefore the Czecho-Slovak People's Party {Sramek's CZECH Populist Party), whose chairman contributed in such a significant way to conclude the treaty with Russia even before the end of the war, even though certain elements of the West were against this, fully agrees with the theme th.it this alliance with Russia must not be a subject of partisan discussions, and must not be dragged into the pre-election campaign. The alliance with Russia is the affair of all the parties of the Na,tion~I Front, i,t is the result of their joint effort, it is the affair of the entire nation and not the affair of one party. If the treaty is a common affair, then the meri,ts for co~luding this trea,t y are also a joint matter. N'o party has the right to claim exclusive credit for it. This treaty was prepared after due discussion by Sramek's governmen,t in London. The Communists, we know, were not members of the governmen,t and, therefore, have no direct participation in, the treaty, nevertheless the Communists col• laborated with the government within the framework of the State Council; and the politicians who emigra,t ed to Moscow undoubtedly also helped the successful course of negotiations with their conversations with Soviet leaders. Therefore, even though the Communists were not in the London government, which discussed and cor-=luded the treaty, the credit for concluding this historic treaty reaUy belongs to all of us, to all the parties of the Na,t ional Front. Finally, this competition for the credit of concluding the treaty with the Soviet Union is not in substance a sickly sign. It really proves and again confirms that all the people of this country really stand behind this treaty." 24 SLOVAKIA According to Dr. V. Bernard, who also spoke in the Czech parliament on March 8, 1946, "the Czecho..Slova:kSoviet Treaty must continue to remain the nucleus of our foreign policy, because the alliance with the Soviet Union is the most reliable guarantee of the independence of our Republic and the assurance against any attack in the future. Our alliance with the Soviet Union in the end is not the object of any internal political quarrel, and everyone concerned with the security of the Republic, observing the development in the world with open eyes, must be a sincere adherent of this orientation in our foreign policy." It is assuredly noteworthy that Dr. Edward Benes and his co-workers, most of whom today are refugees in the West, saw in the treaty of alliance with Soviet Russia not only the means of attaining an international goal, but also envisioned the realization of Pan-Slavistic and socialistic goals. Dr. Benes himself expressed this clearly on various occasions. And Dr. V. Bernard, too, is concerned with ideological reasons, inasmuch as he said. "we cannot help but see the connection of international policy with the relationship between the forces of decadent capitalism and progressive socialism in universal extent." Czech politicians labored to attain their chauvinistic aims so that with the aid of this treaty they could assure for the Czech nation hegemony over Slovakia in their conflict with the Slovak people, and also so that they could realize the expulsion of .the Sudeten Germans and thus to Czechize the Sudetenland. This was stressed by both Dr. Hubert Ripka in his statement to the State Council in London on May 15, 1943, and also by Dr. Edward Benes in his Moscow broadcast of December 21, 1943. This treaty expresses the thinking of Czech politicians and their partners from Slovakia. On various occasions they consistently and in varied forms did not hesitate to remind us that, in the case of misunderstanding arising between the East and West, they would remain on the side of the East. At that time they ruled with Benes by the grace of Stalin. They (Kocvara, Zenkl, Lettrich, F. Hodfa, Duchacek, Taborsky, etc.) suddenly became "anti-commu- SLOVAKIA 25 nist" after F~bruary 25, 1948. But up to that time they faithfully followed Benes's pro-Soviet line ad nuseam. ~hey were not the victims of a mistake, nor were they deceived. They knew what they were doing without regard to the development of world politics. And what about the eventuality of the West collaborating with the Germans as a defense against Soviet aggression? The Czechs also thought about that, as Ripka so clearly stated in 1944: "Some Centr'al and Eastern-European politicians ... assume that Britain and America will be unable to suffer Russia to be predominant on the con,tin.e n,t of Europe and that, although the Anglo-Saxon countries may not no•w be able to prevent Rus!.ia from realizing her territorial or other claims, they will strive, after the war, to curt&il her power and later to effect a 'reasonable adjustment' of the Soviet 'a nnexations.' Anyone cherishing hopes of this nature is simply speculating on a new world war; and the realization of such plans neces• sarily presupposes an alliance between the Anglo.Saxon coun,t ries and Germany, since without Germany they cannot be put into effect" (Hulbert Rip~a : EAST AND WEST, Lond'On, 1944; p. 62). It is obvious that between the aims of Soviet policy and the aims of the policy of Dr. Edward Benes and his followers, who today are in emigration, there were no basic differences. That they could not continue at home in their efforts is not because they changed their political line, but simply because Moscow no longer had any interest to collaborate with Peter Zenk!, Hube:r,t Ripka, Joseph Lettrich, Fedor Hodza, Adolph Prochazka, Vaclav Majer. It did nothing to prevent their departure to the West. In fact it facilitated it by making the necessary provisions so they could "escape" without any difficulty to promote their political line in the main cities of the West. They are still against the arming of West Germany and for the Russian Empire, discouraging the union of the West against Moscow imperialism. The people joined together in the "Council of Free Czecho-Slovakia" have consistently followed the line formulated by Dr. A. Klatkovsky: "We are united with the Soviet Union for life and unto death. ... Not ony because we have a common eastern boundary with our greatest ally, but more so because on our western border stands our greatest enemy. The guarantee of the greatest gain of our history _ SLOVAKIA 26 the expulsion of the Germans - is the might of the Soviet Union, whose merit it also is that the expulsion was carried out so thoroughly. Our entire future is based on the expulsion of the Germans; ally change in this direction would be our ruin •..• If war would come between the East and the West, and the East would be defeated, we would be as its ally hit the hardest, nay even ruined because the Germans would return to us. However, if in such a conflict we should stand with the West - even though this is practically un· thinkable - we still would not escape the fate of the return of Germans. Therefo.re, the theme that we are united with the Soviet Union for life and unto death is a self-evident axiom of our foreign policy, whether anyone likes it or not. And, therefore, no government of ours can make anti-Soviet foreign policy. This would be suicidal politics and such a government would immediately be swept out by the people." The Czechs have not changed. They still act like Schweiks on occasions, but they are still allied with Moscow more than with the West and its interests. In a word, the Czechs are still promoting Benes's ruinous policy which made enemies of all non-Czech citizens in Czecho-Slovakia and enemiei:;, of all neighboring countries. Because of that the Czech Schweiks now tell the world: We are forced to hang with Russia! (a'he Slovak original of this article was published in the SLOVENiSKA REPUBLIKA, Orgrun of the Slovak Lilber'ation Committee, Vol. VI; No. 1, (60), J'anuary, 1954.) ALL LAND in Slova'kita, Moravia, and Bohemi!a haJS been nationa'1ized. However, in Slovakia (predominantly an agricultural region) the farmers have shown more stubborn resista,nee to the new order, parti'CulaTly in their fighlt to retain ownershiip of their cows. I.Jaitest availaible reports have it that abO'llt 50 per cent of all cows in Slovaki,a are still indi>Vlidually owned. Increased mechanlization and stricter Party con:t>rol is in evlidence eiverywhere. 3{l 3{l 3{l of Czecho~lovakia has produced the first four records of a s'ertl.es oa'lled "Musica Nova Bohemica et Slov,e nica." !included is the Balladic Suite (Su,a 10046) of ARTIA Eugen Suchoil., eminenlt Sl'ov•ak composer. Datling £rom 1936, it is a lengthy opus for a large orchestra, "foll of bri'lliant orehestral devices and strong melddirc ideas," according to Alan Rkh of The New York Tomes. Noting that Sachoil. is a composer well worth investigation, Mr. Rich adds that Suchon's Balladic Suite, "while its h•armonic sty;le is no more sitaTtling than that of the late Dvorak, Suchoii at least has the aibfil.ty to operate freely and quite soocess'fu'lly within the framework of a bygone la,ngu1age." SrUJchoil. also composed "The Whirlpool," -a powerlul tragi,c opera, and the "Psalm of the Carpa1lhian Country," a brtl.lliarn large sea-le choral work.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Beneš and Moscow Description An account of the resource Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 2 (34), September-December 1961 pp. 21-26 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1961 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/8320014a1e675180cb66a4d5cd12571a.pdf 0492c598abeb6d567b20343bd0edda41 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 27 CZECHO-SWVAKIA YESTERDAY AND TODAY BY VLADIMiR PEKEILSKY In the past several years some writers of our Czech exile have attempted to diagnose the tragedy of us all at home and in foreign lands. But they have had little success with it. J. M. Kolar, for example, is today already forgotten and the more actual Dr. Radimsky has been elevated particularly by publishers and the Czech National Socialists. Both authors came out with much that was true, but they either did not want to or did not know how to express the whole truth. Perhaps they feared the consequences. And fear has big eyes. Nevertheless, many times it is not only fear, but opportunism and various other interests which prevent authors from writing about matters that might interest readers the most. It was just this that inspired me to touch upon problems which still are strictly taboo in most Czech exile publications. Czecho-Slovakia 1918-1938 Today very few of our people want to recall the whole truth about the first Czecho-Slovak Republic. Without regard to nationality and political affiliation, that is. The younger generation, born after 1925, did not know the first Repu blic and, therefore, cannot make any judgments of it from personal experiences. For us oldsters it meant much, though only 20 years in the thousand-year history of our Czech nation, and the judgment of history may arouse only criticism, because with the establishment of Czecho-Slovakia the road for modern dictatorships into Central Europe was facilitated. In exile we have become accustomed to read - from articles of former collaborators of Dr. Edward Benes - nothing but praise about the first republic. The writers deliberately fail to see the state bankruptcies of 1938-1939 and 1945-1948, the internal causes thereof. They blame everything on outside intervention. The first Republic was presented to the world as a model of democracy, freedom, state order and welfare, and, were it not - according to them - for the bad Germans 1 �28 SLOVAKIA and Russians, it still could have been the "perfection" it was. Not a word is said a'bout the patronage of France. Thus they continue to falsify the facts, just as they did during the time of Masaryk and Benes w'hen huge sums were paid out to foreign journals and journalists to sing nothing but praises aibout the first Republic. Of course, we can and we should recall the many good things about the first Czecho-Slovak Republic. Yet it would be irresponsible of us if we did not look into the causes of the bankruptcy and collapse of democratic Czecho-Slovakia within ourselves and in internal circumstances. Dr. Vaclav Boucek, principal defender of Masaryk and Benes, did not flatter the state system of Czecho-Slovakia when he described it as a "quasi-democracy with a quasiparliamentary system." A multitude of good people, financially well-founded groups, investors, state officers, but also political barterers were satisfied with the then Prague ·r egime. The propertyless groups of inhabitants, the indebted peasants and home owners, the unemployed and the adherents of nonCzech nationalities (e.g., the greater unemployment in the German sectors and the vain attempts of the new Slovak intelligentsia to fill positions in the public life of Slovakia) looked upon the state system with more or less criticism. And today very few of our people want to admit that comIJ11mism had a significant voice in our political life from the very first years of the Czecho-Slovak Republic. But the fact is that it did. The following statistics show the results of three elections, the mandates won by the respective parties: Politica•l Party cs Social Demo.c ratic (1) cs People's Party (2) c.s A1grarian ORepulblioam,) (3) C"'5 Na:ti,o nal Socialist (4) C-S Niattiona,l Democratic (5) C,S Tradesmen's C-S Progressive Socialist Slovak Na-tionail (6) (Hlinka's) Slovak People's (7) Czech Na,tcional Fascist 'Mand-at-es won by tihe Parties 1920 1925 1-935 33 29 3'1 28 415 24 28 113' 13 74 1,9 6 3 1~ 23 38 22 45 28 17 l:'7 22 6 �29 SLOVAKIA German Sociialist Democratic German Community German Nationalist German Nat'io.n1al So,ci,a iist German Agrariain German Christian Socialists German Democraili:c Sudeten Germ-run, Magyar Agrarian Miaigyar-Germain Soc. Dem. Magy,a r Christian Socia,Jist Ma,gyair Bloc GS Communist (8) Others Tota,] Number of Mandates 17 111 1-0 7 1,1 24 10 5 1,3 5 6 44 1 4 5 4 9 30 285 300 300 (1) The main worker's Gsocialist) party founded in 11878. (2) Hliruka's Slovak People's Party voted with this party in the 19!20 elec1Jiions and was allowed 12 manda:tes, 1while the resp. Czeoho,Slovak P,e ople's Pa,r ty (Sra1mek's) got 21. The largest Slovak politi'c al p,arty in Slovakia. (3) Founded by Amltonin Svehla in 1899. (4) Founded by Czeclh soci-a.Jists in 1896. Dr. Edward Benes later lbecame its leader. (5) Fiounded tby Dr. Kramar in 19118 ; comlbi·n ed witlh the Dle'c.h Nation/al Union Party (Strilbrny's) be!fo,r e the 19315 elections. (6) Founded be'fore fhe 1872 elections. In 19315 it voted wiith Hlinka's party as the Autonomist BJ.oc. (7) The Slovatk People's (Populist) :Party was founded by !Father Andrew Hlinika, Dec. 5, 1905. (8) The Czecho-'SJ,o,v ak (iread "Cm;)OH") Communist Party was fuunijed Nov. 2, 1920, after .brea~ing with the So'Ci-a•l Democrats; the deputies joining it: 23 Czeeho..Slovak S1oci1al Democraits, 3 German Social Democrats, aind 1· Ma,g;yar Soci,al Democrat. (The parties qualified as "Czecho-Slovak" were in fact Czech-dominated parties · with affiliates in Slovakia. There were only two genuine SLOVAK political parties: the IDinka Slovak People's Party and the Slovak National Party; both supported autonomy for Slovakia, the Pittsburgh Pact of May 30, 1918. - Ed. note). The municipal election in Prague, May 29, 1938, showed the following five parties. with the largest vote: Cze<:h National Socialists - 151,600; Communists - 99,900; Social Democrats - 75,809; National Unity - 68,007; Czech Populist - 37,749. In the 1925 parliamentary elections the Communist �30 SLOVAKIA Party received 933,711 votes; ten years later (1935) it got 849,0000 votes. Do the above statistics warrant the frequently used phrase "Masaryk's or Benes's Republic" and calling the citizens of Czecho-Slovakia "the children of Masaryk"? Would any Czech want to say that the communists, Henleinists, Magyars, Poles, and Slovaks considered themselves "children of Masaryk"? It is a fact that even the Czech rightists criticized or repudiated Masaryk in a large measure. Not only the extreme groups but even a large part of the Czech National Democrats, Agrarians, and adherents of the Czech People's Party in Moravia. We know that during the rule of Masaryk and Benes many things were done which were not honorable. For example, already in 1924 freedom of the press was limited by Law No. 124, and the freedom of the press in the "democratic Czecho-:Slovak Republic," so highly praised by Radio Free Europe even today, in reality looked much less free than in France, the United States and England. Various publications, not only those of the opposition, were frequently confiscated and censored and were issued with "white windows" or as "corrected" issues after censorship. At that time it was said that the journalists were thereby trained "to worship at the willows." ,' Corruption was extensive, but no law could be promulgated to wipe it out because political parties and many government people were against passing such a law. Hundreds of millions of crowns thus disappeared in bottomless pockets. We still remember the alcohol case, the gasoline affair, the corruption in the sugar business, in the construction of the electrical plant in Ervenice and the Fenix Insurance affair, and the corruption connected with the land reform, the parceling out of surplus estates. In tlhe first Republic even the elections cannot be called- truly democratic. The broad masses of the people were not satisfied with the electoral system, because: they were not allowed to choose candidates. The law, however, ordered all citizens .to take part in the elections and to vote for the political parties and their selected candidates. Ob- �SLOVAKIA 31 viously many incapable people thus became members of the parliament, interested not in the welfare of the people and the country, but in the first place in the welfare and power of their respective parties. Corruption flourished. Only the political key was used in forming a government and qualifications for a ministerial position meant practically nothing. The parties controlled all public service jobs in the State on the national and local levels. Since one had a large selection of political parties, quite a few citizens carried memib ership cards of several political parties. Thus was the first Czecho-Slovak Republic undermined, as well as confidence in the State and the democratic system which hypocritically bore the slogan "Truth prevails" on its escutcheon - which even the present communist regime has allowed to remain on the State insignia. The enthusiasm with which the Slovaks and Czechs welcomed the establishment of the Czecho-Slovak Republic in 1918 soon cooled and forced many hot heads into opposition. The am1bitious Dr. Benes, however, knew how to deal with the opposition: he liquidated it ruthlessly. To this end he used his secret archive which he had made up for opportune moments, even doctors' opinions, as in the case of Stnbrny. Democracy became limited during the lifetime of T. G. Masaryk, and more so during the presidency of Dr. Benes. Masaryk did not seek the support of political parties; he was above all parties. Benes, on the other hand, depended on the support of t!he National Socialists, who, in 1935 tried, though unsuccessfully, to promulgate a law to dissolve all political parties and to establish a new uniform State party with himself at its head. The National Socialists must be regard~d as the grave-diggers of CzechoSlovakia and democracy; their active collaboration with the communists during the war and after is still fresh in our memories. The parasites of Benes's political clique refuse to admit their guilt in the catastrophe. They still sing praises to Bene~ with the help of whose name they hope to find favor with Czech settlers in Canada and the United States. �32 SLOVAKIA Ruthenia illustrate s Benes's political character quite clearly. During a visit to that country in May, 1934, when he was still Foreign Minister, Benes said: "Czecho-S lovakia, having become the holder (trustee) of Sub-Carp athian Russia by the decision of the Peace Conferenc e, will never give up this land, it will never allow any revisionism in this question and shall defend this land with you to its last drop of blood" (Narodna Politika: May 6, 1924) . We know just how Benes defended Ruthenia : he negotiated with Soviet Ambassa dor Majsky in London, in 1941, to sell out that hapless country. On July 4, 1938, Dr. Benes prophesie d to a deputatio n of Sokols: "Nothing will happen tha,t might harm our State, our Republic and our democrat ic regime; in this jubilee year of our Republic, with our sincere effort for just colla:boratio n with all citizens of all nationalit ies, we shall demonstrat e anew to the world that our State is just, solid, ready to resist aggressio n, mature and peace-lov ing." The result: Munich! To complem ent the shameles s character of Benes in his statemen t, published in the "Wiedom osci polskie" (June 15, 1941): "And when a man thinks of it, we Czechs nevertheless did foresee actually everythin g!" When a Polish journalis t asked him whether he really meant everythin g, Benes replied: "Yes, I mean everythin g!" The Munich catastrop he, the capitulati on and flight of Dr. Benes into foreign lands did away for the time being with any remnants of sympafili y the Czech nation had for Benes (the Slovaks and others had none for him). In 1945, the Czech nation welcomed his return, but the enthusiasm displayed was not for him but rather an expressio n of joy that the war and Nazi occupatio n had ended. The Second Republic Post-Mun ich Czecho-S lovakia, the second Republic, was of short duration. It was still free, but betrayed by all its foreign friends; it was smaller in area and without great !hopes of preservat ion. It was also without Benes, who had voluntari ly resigned from the presidenc y and, after his �SLOVAKIA 33 flight from Czecho-Slovakia, had even wished much success to the new, constitutionally elected, President, Dr. Emil Ha.cha. With the voluntary joining of the parties of the right in the Party of National Unity and the parties of the left in the Labor Party, an effort was expressed to simplify and cure the ills of political life. The relations of the first Republic, particularly the person and environment of Dr. Benes, were the target of wide criticism, especially from the Party of National Unity which, surprisingly enough, even the National Socialists joined. The party renounced Benes and favored the right. Its chairman, J. V. Klofac, identifying Czech National Socialism with Hitler's National Socialism, said: "We must not only catch up with Germany and its National Socialism, but surpass it .... In Central Europe we must give a model example of coexistence of the Slovanic peoples and Germans, which is all the easier for us, since we are also connected by blood. My Father's mother was a full-blooded German." And referring to Benes quite obviously, Klofac proclaimed: "We must repudiate everyone who prattles like a child about the approaching moment that shall return to us everything we lost in October - and which is definitely lost." No Czech political party so completely reversed itself up to that time. The conflict with the Slovaks and Hitler's intervention liquidated the second Republic; the Czech lands became the "Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia." The Protectorat.e of Bohemia and Moravia The burden of the German occupation was felt not only in public life, but also by every society and family. German pressure was terrific; aJbout 300,000 Czechs proclaimed themselves Germans. Children were taught German and sang German songs. The attempt to unite the parties and groups of the right, which after March 15, 1939, formed the so-called "National Committee," failed and the party of the so-called "National Alliance" was formed. Various rightist and fascist groups existed too, illegally but tolerated, which had little or practically no influence with the Germans. Opportunistic servants and functionaries of �34 SLOVAKIA former political parties better served the purposes of the Germans than the nationalistic groups. Even though no one wants to admit it, the fact is that, after the arrival of the German Army in Pilsen, among the first to be arrested and liquidated, along with the students, on November 17, 1939, were also fascists and Vlajkists. Collaboration with the Germans was ratlher common; it was rather a question of the personal character of individuals without regard to political belief. Opportunism played a significant role until the defeat of the Germans at Stalingrad. Czech resistance against nazism grew with the approaching end of the war. One of the most notorious collaborators was Emanuel Moravec, Minister of Enlightenment, former co-worker of Stransky's "Lidove Noviny" and Benes's Military propagandist (alias Stanislav Yester). We remember, too, Arno Baise, former communist, who held the leading position in the trade organization NO-OZ; and Emanuel Slechta, designated in the Records of the London Department of the Interior as a collaborator, who nevertheless was given a place in the presidium of the Czech National Socialists and, in 1948, became the chairman of the communized Czech socialists. Benes's decrees, prepared by Dr. Jaroslav Stransky in London, often punishing with the tendency of personal vengeance (recall the cases of Stribrny, R. Beran, and others), created the possibility of settling personal accounts and were more or less a weapon for political blackmail. Benes often assured the world that the Constitution of 1920 was still valid during the war and after 1945, bu't he ruled by decrees, flaunting ther~by the highest law of the land, which he had sworn to uphold. The Foreign Activity of Dr. Benes . As an exile in London, Benes proclaimed himself president of Czecho-Slovakia, organized a government, proclaimed war against Hitler and all his allies, borrowed from Britain for his. activity over fifty million pounds Sterling, and covered with a veil of secrecy the fate of the gold treasure that was in foreign lands. Benes welcomed the defeat of France, wlhich showed him no sympathy, organized �SLOVAKIA 35 a foreign army of a!bout 4,000 men in England, and every year prophesied the aproaching end of Hitler. Churchill was criticized openly even during the war, but anyone who attempted to criticize Benes was ruthlessly denounced and liquidated. Benes's vanity and ambition knew no bounds; critics and opponents were arrested or politically isolated (Gen. Lev Prchala, Deputy Fr. Schwarz, Ambassador Osusky, former Prime Minister M. Hod.fa, Rudolph Be~hyne, leader of the Czech Social Democrats, Malim, president of the State Bank,and others). Benes had quite a bit of opposition not only among the exiles, but even among the old settlers in the United States and Canada. In 1940, Czech Catholics still backed Dr. Emil Ha.cha, the duly elected president of Czecho-Slovakia; Slovak emigration was for the most part for the Slovak State. While the freethinkers and socialists supported Benes at the outset, the Communists adopted a wait-and-see attitude. In the United States, the most outspoken against Benes was the Czech Monsignor F. Mikolasek, whose scorching articles appeared in the St. Louis "Hlas," and the "Katolicky Delnik." Many of us expected Dr. Charles Pergler to openly stand against Benes, since he was evicted from Czecho-Slovakia by Masaryk and Benes despite his many merits for the Czecho-Slovak Republic and his deputorial mandate. But he remained silent like so many others. In the London exile, Dr. Benes committed further treason against the principles of freedom and democracy: he prepared the liquidation of civic parties that were always strongly opposed to him. The National Socialists he had in the palm of his hand; to the Social Democrats and the Populists he sent his agents (B. Lausman, V. Majer, P. Tigrid, I. Duch.a.eek, and others). The only problem that Benes had, as far as the presidency of Czecho-Slovakia was concerned, were the communists toward whom, however, he had had no internal opposition. In 1939, Benes wrote in his "Democracy Today and Tomorrow": . "On the other hand, Communism in its philosophy and morality has a certain similarity with democracy. It also stands for equality ,of all peoples and nations. It is also humanitarian, : un.ivel"Salistiic, intellectu-alistic and rationalistic. It is also pacifist, intemationalistic �36 SLOVAKIA and stands for a policy of United Nations. From this standpoint its moral and phil050phical basis is the same as that of democracy." The main supposition of Benes's agreement with the Reds was the assurance that with their support he would again become President of the Czecho-Slovak Republic and be able to rule dictatorially by means of "revolutionary" decrees. He turned his back cooly on the anti-communist Polish exiles with whom, when he needed them to gain the support of the English, Benes concluded pacts of friendship and close political and economical cooperation in the future. The People's Democracy 1945-1948 The events of 1945-1948 are well known to us. Benes's decrees contributed to the socialization of Czecho-Slovakia, tJhe expulsion of the Sudeten Germans caused an economical vacuum for many years, and retributional decrees helped to liquidate the anti-communist opposition. The height of the immorality of Benes's regime was the issuance of his decree of October 27, 1945, which amnestied all crimes against humanity during the "punishment of Germans and collaborators" after May 5, 1945. In the history of justice this amnesty represents a singular document wher~by a government sanctioned murder, violence, and thievery - something that no dictatorship, not even the Nazi type, allowed itself up to that time. Benes, his government, and the non-communist parties indisputably helped to bolshevize Czecho~Slovakia. They tried to suripass the Reds in cruelty during the expulsion of Germans and Magyars and they out-trumped them in chauvinism. On June 25, 1945, the National Socialists formed the so-called socialistic bloc with the Social Democrats and Communists and then tried to create a common socialistic party - similar to the SED in East Germany - which, however, the Communists would not buy. In 1945 there was no freedom of the press, the government controlling everything. There were a few exceptional journalists who, from time to time, tried to criticize some of the existing conditions, but to no avail. The Kosice Program, approved by all the political parties permitted to ex- �SLOVAKIA 37 ist by Prague and united in the so-called National Front, clearly stated the limits of post-war freedom for everyone and was the program for the progressive bolshevization of Czecho-Slovakia. The first postwar elections, in May, 1946, brought victory for the Communists who received 38.1 per cent (in Slovakia only 30.4 per cent) of the votes cast. During the election campaign the solidarity of the National Front was not violated in the new government of Klement Gottwald. All political leaders vowed to remain loyal to the Soviet Union and unanimously approved the two-year economic plan which was on the order of the Soviet five-year..plan. Dr. Hubert Ripka, the National Socialist Minister, zealously propagated the Czecho-Slovak-Soviet Treaty of colla1boration (Dec. 13, 1943) and tied the economy of the country to that of the Soviet Union. When Stalin forced Prague not to participate in the Marshall Plan, in 1947, the non-Communist Ministers had more cause to resign then than they had in February 1948. At that time, however, the Ministers still speculated that they would be able to continue to share power with the Reds. They were not concerned about the principle of freedom, democracy, or western orientation; they simply wanted to remain in power. The resignation of twelve non-communist Ministers (out of a total of 26), headed by Dr. Peter Zenkl, on February 20, 1948, helped only the Communists to gain all positions which tJhey did not occupy up to that time. The Reds were completely prepared for t 1he events of February 1948, whereas the non-communist parties were not. In fact they played into the hands of the Reds. In the fall of 1947, several anti-Communist deputies had been liquidated by the National Front coalition of Benes-Gottwald. The Reds had no trouble in finding quislings and informers to oust the resigned ministers and their adherents from the parties and replacing them with "reliaible" people. Dr. Zenkl and company - after President Benes did what Gottwald asked him to do - then realized that they were through governing. Some were arrested but many of them departed to the West, the Reds doing practically nothing �38 SLOVAKIA to stop them. The blackguards had done their work, they were free to go. The Present Communist Czecho-Slovakia After February, 1948, political persecution had free reign, the decisions of the People's Courts from the years 1945-1948 were revised and new processes initiated. Tens of thousands citizens left the Republic. The Communist Party took over all positions; the Social Democrats united with the Communists on June 27, 1948; the National Socialists, changing their name to "Czech Socialists," recognized the leading role of the Communists and today are criticizing themselves for their "bourgeois past"; Sramek's Populists became the party of Catholic Socialism with the task of completing the collectivization of agriculture. 'Dhe Communist Party and its secret police ruthlessly liquidated all non-communist influence and practically all possibility of resistance, including that of the ecclesiastical hierachy, which could perhaps hinder their progress toward socialism and communism. Small industrial enterprises, up to 1948 not affected by Benes's decrees, were nationalized, as were gradually even the smaller businesses and trades. At the same time the industrialization of the Czech lands and Slovakia was increased, costing billions of crowns which lowered the living standard of the inhabitants to a minimum. The Communist party purged itself of "undesirable" elements, deviationists and nationalists, thus ridding itself of pre-war malcontents. In the end Rudolph Slansky, Secretary-General of the Czecho-Slovak Communist Party, and ten other leading Reds were executed November 27, 1952. They were charged with "anti-State activities, espionage, Zionism, and economic sa!botage." Gottwald's group within the party was victorious over the Slansky faction, •b ut Gottwald did not enjoy his victory very long. He died nine days after Stalin in 1953 (March 14). After a t!hree year purge the situation within the Communist Party became sta!bilized in 1953. The money reform of June 1, 1953, with which some dissatisfaction was displayed in various places, was sup- �SLOVAKIA 39 posed to raise the living standard of the people and improve the economical situation. The buying power of the Czecho-Slovak crown was restored and the quality of products became better. Prices of commodities and wages of workers were adjusted, swelling the ranks of the people who had little. From 1956 the Red regime has been using more refined methods of psychological persuasion with the peasants, so that by October 1, 1959, only 19 per cent of the land remained in private hands. All sectors of political and economical life have been patterned after the Soviet model. Industrial production, according to official statistics, was four times higher in 1959 than in 1938, and by 1965 it is supposed to be sixteen times higher. In Slovakia, industrial production increased seven times over that in 1937. The standard of living, however, has not been keeping up with increased production. Prices on many necessities are still rather higih. A large majority of the population is not communist, nor is it happy with the communist regime. Annually, however, people who knew better times are dying; their places are being taken over by the younger generation which knows little else than "people's democracy." The successes of the Red regimes with sputniks and luniks has influenced the thinking of many; as has also the policy of appeasement and containment of the West. Active resistance against the Reds is practically nil. To hold onto what people have and perhaps for more material advantage, many people are cooperating with the Reds. In 1960 we saw new changes and reorganization. Some 200,000 employees in the administration of the State were made available for industry and agriculture with the dissolution of the provincial system which was replaced by ten larger economic regions. Great changes took place also in the organization of work; gradually two shifts are being instituted in all the larger enterprises. A new Constitution has been adopted to replace the Constitution of 1920. If we criticize the "golden times" of the First Republic and do not mention the many positive deeds of that period, it is because the First Republic did not fulfill the promises of the Castle propaganda. Worse, however, is �40 SLOVAKIA the fact that the representative s of the First Republic could not strengthen the morale of the people which was shaken by the long hegemony of the Habsburgs, and Benes' s capitulation broke many a backbone. Neither was morale helped by the Protectorate; and it attained a new low after 1945 when the very people who were expected to possess so much morality willingly collaborated with the enemies of all morality. The Czech nation will live even after communism. Its tragedy was caused in 1918 by politicians who cared not about national interests, a better future , solidarity and moral strength, but in the first place sought to satisfy their own ambitions (Benes) and their own glorification (Masaryk), etc. Of course, indirectly our entire nation is responsible for the development that took place from 1918 to 1948. It allowed itself to be deceived by false slogans, legends, hypocritical propaganda, and failed to heed the warnings of really devoted politicians (Kramar, Dyk, Machar, etc.). Masaryk's slogan "evolution is going to the left" and Benes's collaboration with the Reds greatly facilitated the government of the Communists. Some of those responsi1ble for our national tragedy are still among us in exile; they have the brazen impertinence to organize circles of Czech interests (The Council of Free Czecho-Slovakia, the Czech National Socialist Party in exile, etc.) with feelers in American societies for exiles, such as Radio Free Europe (RFE), Assembly of Captive European Nations (ACEN), and American Czech societies. To the wide masses of our countrymen in exile they cannot serve as an exemplary model, and, therefore, we notice in our exile increasing influences of materialism, national callousness, egocentrism, chicanery and intrigue, hypocrisy and fraud. Of course, not in our entire exile, but in a good part of it. And it is the question of our morality that will decide whether our exile will be a,ble to live through the next several years which will be according to all indications, very tough and ruthless years. (Vladimir Pekelsky, a Crech in exile, is the editor ,an/cl pu/bli,s her o'f the CzOC'h peniodidal "Sbornik Bohemia" which is pulblislh~d in Koln,Ehrenfold, W. Germany.) � SLOVAKIA 27 CZECHO-SWVAKIA YESTERDAY AND TODAY BY VLADIMiR PEKEILSKY In the past several years some writers of our Czech exile have attempted to diagnose the tragedy of us all at home and in foreign lands. But they have had little success with it. J. M. Kolar, for example, is today already forgotten and the more actual Dr. Radimsky has been elevated particularly by publishers and the Czech National Socialists. Both authors came out with much that was true, but they either did not want to or did not know how to express the whole truth. Perhaps they feared the consequences. And fear has big eyes. Nevertheless, many times it is not only fear, but opportunism and various other interests which prevent authors from writing about matters that might interest readers the most. It was just this that inspired me to touch upon problems which still are strictly taboo in most Czech exile publications. Czecho-Slovakia 1918-1938 Today very few of our people want to recall the whole truth about the first Czecho-Slovak Republic. Without regard to nationality and political affiliation, that is. The younger generation, born after 1925, did not know the first Repu blic and, therefore, cannot make any judgments of it from personal experiences. For us oldsters it meant much, though only 20 years in the thousand-year history of our Czech nation, and the judgment of history may arouse only criticism, because with the establishment of Czecho-Slovakia the road for modern dictatorships into Central Europe was facilitated. In exile we have become accustomed to read - from articles of former collaborators of Dr. Edward Benes - nothing but praise about the first republic. The writers deliberately fail to see the state bankruptcies of 1938-1939 and 1945-1948, the internal causes thereof. They blame everything on outside intervention. The first Republic was presented to the world as a model of democracy, freedom, state order and welfare, and, were it not - according to them - for the bad Germans 1 �28 SLOVAKIA and Russians, it still could have been the "perfection" it was. Not a word is said a'bout the patronage of France. Thus they continue to falsify the facts, just as they did during the time of Masaryk and Benes w'hen huge sums were paid out to foreign journals and journalists to sing nothing but praises aibout the first Republic. Of course, we can and we should recall the many good things about the first Czecho-Slovak Republic. Yet it would be irresponsible of us if we did not look into the causes of the bankruptcy and collapse of democratic Czecho-Slovakia within ourselves and in internal circumstances. Dr. Vaclav Boucek, principal defender of Masaryk and Benes, did not flatter the state system of Czecho-Slovakia when he described it as a "quasi-democracy with a quasiparliamentary system." A multitude of good people, financially well-founded groups, investors, state officers, but also political barterers were satisfied with the then Prague ·r egime. The propertyless groups of inhabitants, the indebted peasants and home owners, the unemployed and the adherents of nonCzech nationalities (e.g., the greater unemployment in the German sectors and the vain attempts of the new Slovak intelligentsia to fill positions in the public life of Slovakia) looked upon the state system with more or less criticism. And today very few of our people want to admit that comIJ11mism had a significant voice in our political life from the very first years of the Czecho-Slovak Republic. But the fact is that it did. The following statistics show the results of three elections, the mandates won by the respective parties: Politica•l Party cs Social Demo.c ratic (1) cs People's Party (2) c.s A1grarian ORepulblioam,) (3) C"'5 Na:ti,o nal Socialist (4) C-S Niattiona,l Democratic (5) C,S Tradesmen's C-S Progressive Socialist Slovak Na-tionail (6) (Hlinka's) Slovak People's (7) Czech Na,tcional Fascist 'Mand-at-es won by tihe Parties 1920 1925 1-935 33 29 3'1 28 415 24 28 113' 13 74 1,9 6 3 1~ 23 38 22 45 28 17 l:'7 22 6 �29 SLOVAKIA German Sociialist Democratic German Community German Nationalist German Nat'io.n1al So,ci,a iist German Agrariain German Christian Socialists German Democraili:c Sudeten Germ-run, Magyar Agrarian Miaigyar-Germain Soc. Dem. Magy,a r Christian Socia,Jist Ma,gyair Bloc GS Communist (8) Others Tota,] Number of Mandates 17 111 1-0 7 1,1 24 10 5 1,3 5 6 44 1 4 5 4 9 30 285 300 300 (1) The main worker's Gsocialist) party founded in 11878. (2) Hliruka's Slovak People's Party voted with this party in the 19!20 elec1Jiions and was allowed 12 manda:tes, 1while the resp. Czeoho,Slovak P,e ople's Pa,r ty (Sra1mek's) got 21. The largest Slovak politi'c al p,arty in Slovakia. (3) Founded by Amltonin Svehla in 1899. (4) Founded by Czeclh soci-a.Jists in 1896. Dr. Edward Benes later lbecame its leader. (5) Fiounded tby Dr. Kramar in 19118 ; comlbi·n ed witlh the Dle'c.h Nation/al Union Party (Strilbrny's) be!fo,r e the 19315 elections. (6) Founded be'fore fhe 1872 elections. In 19315 it voted wiith Hlinka's party as the Autonomist BJ.oc. (7) The Slovatk People's (Populist) :Party was founded by !Father Andrew Hlinika, Dec. 5, 1905. (8) The Czecho-'SJ,o,v ak (iread "Cm;)OH") Communist Party was fuunijed Nov. 2, 1920, after .brea~ing with the So'Ci-a•l Democrats; the deputies joining it: 23 Czeeho..Slovak S1oci1al Democraits, 3 German Social Democrats, aind 1· Ma,g;yar Soci,al Democrat. (The parties qualified as "Czecho-Slovak" were in fact Czech-dominated parties · with affiliates in Slovakia. There were only two genuine SLOVAK political parties: the IDinka Slovak People's Party and the Slovak National Party; both supported autonomy for Slovakia, the Pittsburgh Pact of May 30, 1918. - Ed. note). The municipal election in Prague, May 29, 1938, showed the following five parties. with the largest vote: Cze<:h National Socialists - 151,600; Communists - 99,900; Social Democrats - 75,809; National Unity - 68,007; Czech Populist - 37,749. In the 1925 parliamentary elections the Communist �30 SLOVAKIA Party received 933,711 votes; ten years later (1935) it got 849,0000 votes. Do the above statistics warrant the frequently used phrase "Masaryk's or Benes's Republic" and calling the citizens of Czecho-Slovakia "the children of Masaryk"? Would any Czech want to say that the communists, Henleinists, Magyars, Poles, and Slovaks considered themselves "children of Masaryk"? It is a fact that even the Czech rightists criticized or repudiated Masaryk in a large measure. Not only the extreme groups but even a large part of the Czech National Democrats, Agrarians, and adherents of the Czech People's Party in Moravia. We know that during the rule of Masaryk and Benes many things were done which were not honorable. For example, already in 1924 freedom of the press was limited by Law No. 124, and the freedom of the press in the "democratic Czecho-:Slovak Republic," so highly praised by Radio Free Europe even today, in reality looked much less free than in France, the United States and England. Various publications, not only those of the opposition, were frequently confiscated and censored and were issued with "white windows" or as "corrected" issues after censorship. At that time it was said that the journalists were thereby trained "to worship at the willows." ,' Corruption was extensive, but no law could be promulgated to wipe it out because political parties and many government people were against passing such a law. Hundreds of millions of crowns thus disappeared in bottomless pockets. We still remember the alcohol case, the gasoline affair, the corruption in the sugar business, in the construction of the electrical plant in Ervenice and the Fenix Insurance affair, and the corruption connected with the land reform, the parceling out of surplus estates. In tlhe first Republic even the elections cannot be called- truly democratic. The broad masses of the people were not satisfied with the electoral system, because: they were not allowed to choose candidates. The law, however, ordered all citizens .to take part in the elections and to vote for the political parties and their selected candidates. Ob- �SLOVAKIA 31 viously many incapable people thus became members of the parliament, interested not in the welfare of the people and the country, but in the first place in the welfare and power of their respective parties. Corruption flourished. Only the political key was used in forming a government and qualifications for a ministerial position meant practically nothing. The parties controlled all public service jobs in the State on the national and local levels. Since one had a large selection of political parties, quite a few citizens carried memib ership cards of several political parties. Thus was the first Czecho-Slovak Republic undermined, as well as confidence in the State and the democratic system which hypocritically bore the slogan "Truth prevails" on its escutcheon - which even the present communist regime has allowed to remain on the State insignia. The enthusiasm with which the Slovaks and Czechs welcomed the establishment of the Czecho-Slovak Republic in 1918 soon cooled and forced many hot heads into opposition. The am1bitious Dr. Benes, however, knew how to deal with the opposition: he liquidated it ruthlessly. To this end he used his secret archive which he had made up for opportune moments, even doctors' opinions, as in the case of Stnbrny. Democracy became limited during the lifetime of T. G. Masaryk, and more so during the presidency of Dr. Benes. Masaryk did not seek the support of political parties; he was above all parties. Benes, on the other hand, depended on the support of t!he National Socialists, who, in 1935 tried, though unsuccessfully, to promulgate a law to dissolve all political parties and to establish a new uniform State party with himself at its head. The National Socialists must be regard~d as the grave-diggers of CzechoSlovakia and democracy; their active collaboration with the communists during the war and after is still fresh in our memories. The parasites of Benes's political clique refuse to admit their guilt in the catastrophe. They still sing praises to Bene~ with the help of whose name they hope to find favor with Czech settlers in Canada and the United States. �32 SLOVAKIA Ruthenia illustrate s Benes's political character quite clearly. During a visit to that country in May, 1934, when he was still Foreign Minister, Benes said: "Czecho-S lovakia, having become the holder (trustee) of Sub-Carp athian Russia by the decision of the Peace Conferenc e, will never give up this land, it will never allow any revisionism in this question and shall defend this land with you to its last drop of blood" (Narodna Politika: May 6, 1924) . We know just how Benes defended Ruthenia : he negotiated with Soviet Ambassa dor Majsky in London, in 1941, to sell out that hapless country. On July 4, 1938, Dr. Benes prophesie d to a deputatio n of Sokols: "Nothing will happen tha,t might harm our State, our Republic and our democrat ic regime; in this jubilee year of our Republic, with our sincere effort for just colla:boratio n with all citizens of all nationalit ies, we shall demonstrat e anew to the world that our State is just, solid, ready to resist aggressio n, mature and peace-lov ing." The result: Munich! To complem ent the shameles s character of Benes in his statemen t, published in the "Wiedom osci polskie" (June 15, 1941): "And when a man thinks of it, we Czechs nevertheless did foresee actually everythin g!" When a Polish journalis t asked him whether he really meant everythin g, Benes replied: "Yes, I mean everythin g!" The Munich catastrop he, the capitulati on and flight of Dr. Benes into foreign lands did away for the time being with any remnants of sympafili y the Czech nation had for Benes (the Slovaks and others had none for him). In 1945, the Czech nation welcomed his return, but the enthusiasm displayed was not for him but rather an expressio n of joy that the war and Nazi occupatio n had ended. The Second Republic Post-Mun ich Czecho-S lovakia, the second Republic, was of short duration. It was still free, but betrayed by all its foreign friends; it was smaller in area and without great !hopes of preservat ion. It was also without Benes, who had voluntari ly resigned from the presidenc y and, after his �SLOVAKIA 33 flight from Czecho-Slovakia, had even wished much success to the new, constitutionally elected, President, Dr. Emil Ha.cha. With the voluntary joining of the parties of the right in the Party of National Unity and the parties of the left in the Labor Party, an effort was expressed to simplify and cure the ills of political life. The relations of the first Republic, particularly the person and environment of Dr. Benes, were the target of wide criticism, especially from the Party of National Unity which, surprisingly enough, even the National Socialists joined. The party renounced Benes and favored the right. Its chairman, J. V. Klofac, identifying Czech National Socialism with Hitler's National Socialism, said: "We must not only catch up with Germany and its National Socialism, but surpass it .... In Central Europe we must give a model example of coexistence of the Slovanic peoples and Germans, which is all the easier for us, since we are also connected by blood. My Father's mother was a full-blooded German." And referring to Benes quite obviously, Klofac proclaimed: "We must repudiate everyone who prattles like a child about the approaching moment that shall return to us everything we lost in October - and which is definitely lost." No Czech political party so completely reversed itself up to that time. The conflict with the Slovaks and Hitler's intervention liquidated the second Republic; the Czech lands became the "Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia." The Protectorat.e of Bohemia and Moravia The burden of the German occupation was felt not only in public life, but also by every society and family. German pressure was terrific; aJbout 300,000 Czechs proclaimed themselves Germans. Children were taught German and sang German songs. The attempt to unite the parties and groups of the right, which after March 15, 1939, formed the so-called "National Committee," failed and the party of the so-called "National Alliance" was formed. Various rightist and fascist groups existed too, illegally but tolerated, which had little or practically no influence with the Germans. Opportunistic servants and functionaries of �34 SLOVAKIA former political parties better served the purposes of the Germans than the nationalistic groups. Even though no one wants to admit it, the fact is that, after the arrival of the German Army in Pilsen, among the first to be arrested and liquidated, along with the students, on November 17, 1939, were also fascists and Vlajkists. Collaboration with the Germans was ratlher common; it was rather a question of the personal character of individuals without regard to political belief. Opportunism played a significant role until the defeat of the Germans at Stalingrad. Czech resistance against nazism grew with the approaching end of the war. One of the most notorious collaborators was Emanuel Moravec, Minister of Enlightenment, former co-worker of Stransky's "Lidove Noviny" and Benes's Military propagandist (alias Stanislav Yester). We remember, too, Arno Baise, former communist, who held the leading position in the trade organization NO-OZ; and Emanuel Slechta, designated in the Records of the London Department of the Interior as a collaborator, who nevertheless was given a place in the presidium of the Czech National Socialists and, in 1948, became the chairman of the communized Czech socialists. Benes's decrees, prepared by Dr. Jaroslav Stransky in London, often punishing with the tendency of personal vengeance (recall the cases of Stribrny, R. Beran, and others), created the possibility of settling personal accounts and were more or less a weapon for political blackmail. Benes often assured the world that the Constitution of 1920 was still valid during the war and after 1945, bu't he ruled by decrees, flaunting ther~by the highest law of the land, which he had sworn to uphold. The Foreign Activity of Dr. Benes . As an exile in London, Benes proclaimed himself president of Czecho-Slovakia, organized a government, proclaimed war against Hitler and all his allies, borrowed from Britain for his. activity over fifty million pounds Sterling, and covered with a veil of secrecy the fate of the gold treasure that was in foreign lands. Benes welcomed the defeat of France, wlhich showed him no sympathy, organized �SLOVAKIA 35 a foreign army of a!bout 4,000 men in England, and every year prophesied the aproaching end of Hitler. Churchill was criticized openly even during the war, but anyone who attempted to criticize Benes was ruthlessly denounced and liquidated. Benes's vanity and ambition knew no bounds; critics and opponents were arrested or politically isolated (Gen. Lev Prchala, Deputy Fr. Schwarz, Ambassador Osusky, former Prime Minister M. Hod.fa, Rudolph Be~hyne, leader of the Czech Social Democrats, Malim, president of the State Bank,and others). Benes had quite a bit of opposition not only among the exiles, but even among the old settlers in the United States and Canada. In 1940, Czech Catholics still backed Dr. Emil Ha.cha, the duly elected president of Czecho-Slovakia; Slovak emigration was for the most part for the Slovak State. While the freethinkers and socialists supported Benes at the outset, the Communists adopted a wait-and-see attitude. In the United States, the most outspoken against Benes was the Czech Monsignor F. Mikolasek, whose scorching articles appeared in the St. Louis "Hlas," and the "Katolicky Delnik." Many of us expected Dr. Charles Pergler to openly stand against Benes, since he was evicted from Czecho-Slovakia by Masaryk and Benes despite his many merits for the Czecho-Slovak Republic and his deputorial mandate. But he remained silent like so many others. In the London exile, Dr. Benes committed further treason against the principles of freedom and democracy: he prepared the liquidation of civic parties that were always strongly opposed to him. The National Socialists he had in the palm of his hand; to the Social Democrats and the Populists he sent his agents (B. Lausman, V. Majer, P. Tigrid, I. Duch.a.eek, and others). The only problem that Benes had, as far as the presidency of Czecho-Slovakia was concerned, were the communists toward whom, however, he had had no internal opposition. In 1939, Benes wrote in his "Democracy Today and Tomorrow": . "On the other hand, Communism in its philosophy and morality has a certain similarity with democracy. It also stands for equality ,of all peoples and nations. It is also humanitarian, : un.ivel"Salistiic, intellectu-alistic and rationalistic. It is also pacifist, intemationalistic �36 SLOVAKIA and stands for a policy of United Nations. From this standpoint its moral and phil050phical basis is the same as that of democracy." The main supposition of Benes's agreement with the Reds was the assurance that with their support he would again become President of the Czecho-Slovak Republic and be able to rule dictatorially by means of "revolutionary" decrees. He turned his back cooly on the anti-communist Polish exiles with whom, when he needed them to gain the support of the English, Benes concluded pacts of friendship and close political and economical cooperation in the future. The People's Democracy 1945-1948 The events of 1945-1948 are well known to us. Benes's decrees contributed to the socialization of Czecho-Slovakia, tJhe expulsion of the Sudeten Germans caused an economical vacuum for many years, and retributional decrees helped to liquidate the anti-communist opposition. The height of the immorality of Benes's regime was the issuance of his decree of October 27, 1945, which amnestied all crimes against humanity during the "punishment of Germans and collaborators" after May 5, 1945. In the history of justice this amnesty represents a singular document wher~by a government sanctioned murder, violence, and thievery - something that no dictatorship, not even the Nazi type, allowed itself up to that time. Benes, his government, and the non-communist parties indisputably helped to bolshevize Czecho~Slovakia. They tried to suripass the Reds in cruelty during the expulsion of Germans and Magyars and they out-trumped them in chauvinism. On June 25, 1945, the National Socialists formed the so-called socialistic bloc with the Social Democrats and Communists and then tried to create a common socialistic party - similar to the SED in East Germany - which, however, the Communists would not buy. In 1945 there was no freedom of the press, the government controlling everything. There were a few exceptional journalists who, from time to time, tried to criticize some of the existing conditions, but to no avail. The Kosice Program, approved by all the political parties permitted to ex- �SLOVAKIA 37 ist by Prague and united in the so-called National Front, clearly stated the limits of post-war freedom for everyone and was the program for the progressive bolshevization of Czecho-Slovakia. The first postwar elections, in May, 1946, brought victory for the Communists who received 38.1 per cent (in Slovakia only 30.4 per cent) of the votes cast. During the election campaign the solidarity of the National Front was not violated in the new government of Klement Gottwald. All political leaders vowed to remain loyal to the Soviet Union and unanimously approved the two-year economic plan which was on the order of the Soviet five-year..plan. Dr. Hubert Ripka, the National Socialist Minister, zealously propagated the Czecho-Slovak-Soviet Treaty of colla1boration (Dec. 13, 1943) and tied the economy of the country to that of the Soviet Union. When Stalin forced Prague not to participate in the Marshall Plan, in 1947, the non-Communist Ministers had more cause to resign then than they had in February 1948. At that time, however, the Ministers still speculated that they would be able to continue to share power with the Reds. They were not concerned about the principle of freedom, democracy, or western orientation; they simply wanted to remain in power. The resignation of twelve non-communist Ministers (out of a total of 26), headed by Dr. Peter Zenkl, on February 20, 1948, helped only the Communists to gain all positions which tJhey did not occupy up to that time. The Reds were completely prepared for t 1he events of February 1948, whereas the non-communist parties were not. In fact they played into the hands of the Reds. In the fall of 1947, several anti-Communist deputies had been liquidated by the National Front coalition of Benes-Gottwald. The Reds had no trouble in finding quislings and informers to oust the resigned ministers and their adherents from the parties and replacing them with "reliaible" people. Dr. Zenkl and company - after President Benes did what Gottwald asked him to do - then realized that they were through governing. Some were arrested but many of them departed to the West, the Reds doing practically nothing �38 SLOVAKIA to stop them. The blackguards had done their work, they were free to go. The Present Communist Czecho-Slovakia After February, 1948, political persecution had free reign, the decisions of the People's Courts from the years 1945-1948 were revised and new processes initiated. Tens of thousands citizens left the Republic. The Communist Party took over all positions; the Social Democrats united with the Communists on June 27, 1948; the National Socialists, changing their name to "Czech Socialists," recognized the leading role of the Communists and today are criticizing themselves for their "bourgeois past"; Sramek's Populists became the party of Catholic Socialism with the task of completing the collectivization of agriculture. 'Dhe Communist Party and its secret police ruthlessly liquidated all non-communist influence and practically all possibility of resistance, including that of the ecclesiastical hierachy, which could perhaps hinder their progress toward socialism and communism. Small industrial enterprises, up to 1948 not affected by Benes's decrees, were nationalized, as were gradually even the smaller businesses and trades. At the same time the industrialization of the Czech lands and Slovakia was increased, costing billions of crowns which lowered the living standard of the inhabitants to a minimum. The Communist party purged itself of "undesirable" elements, deviationists and nationalists, thus ridding itself of pre-war malcontents. In the end Rudolph Slansky, Secretary-General of the Czecho-Slovak Communist Party, and ten other leading Reds were executed November 27, 1952. They were charged with "anti-State activities, espionage, Zionism, and economic sa!botage." Gottwald's group within the party was victorious over the Slansky faction, •b ut Gottwald did not enjoy his victory very long. He died nine days after Stalin in 1953 (March 14). After a t!hree year purge the situation within the Communist Party became sta!bilized in 1953. The money reform of June 1, 1953, with which some dissatisfaction was displayed in various places, was sup- �SLOVAKIA 39 posed to raise the living standard of the people and improve the economical situation. The buying power of the Czecho-Slovak crown was restored and the quality of products became better. Prices of commodities and wages of workers were adjusted, swelling the ranks of the people who had little. From 1956 the Red regime has been using more refined methods of psychological persuasion with the peasants, so that by October 1, 1959, only 19 per cent of the land remained in private hands. All sectors of political and economical life have been patterned after the Soviet model. Industrial production, according to official statistics, was four times higher in 1959 than in 1938, and by 1965 it is supposed to be sixteen times higher. In Slovakia, industrial production increased seven times over that in 1937. The standard of living, however, has not been keeping up with increased production. Prices on many necessities are still rather higih. A large majority of the population is not communist, nor is it happy with the communist regime. Annually, however, people who knew better times are dying; their places are being taken over by the younger generation which knows little else than "people's democracy." The successes of the Red regimes with sputniks and luniks has influenced the thinking of many; as has also the policy of appeasement and containment of the West. Active resistance against the Reds is practically nil. To hold onto what people have and perhaps for more material advantage, many people are cooperating with the Reds. In 1960 we saw new changes and reorganization. Some 200,000 employees in the administration of the State were made available for industry and agriculture with the dissolution of the provincial system which was replaced by ten larger economic regions. Great changes took place also in the organization of work; gradually two shifts are being instituted in all the larger enterprises. A new Constitution has been adopted to replace the Constitution of 1920. If we criticize the "golden times" of the First Republic and do not mention the many positive deeds of that period, it is because the First Republic did not fulfill the promises of the Castle propaganda. Worse, however, is �40 SLOVAKIA the fact that the representative s of the First Republic could not strengthen the morale of the people which was shaken by the long hegemony of the Habsburgs, and Benes' s capitulation broke many a backbone. Neither was morale helped by the Protectorate; and it attained a new low after 1945 when the very people who were expected to possess so much morality willingly collaborated with the enemies of all morality. The Czech nation will live even after communism. Its tragedy was caused in 1918 by politicians who cared not about national interests, a better future , solidarity and moral strength, but in the first place sought to satisfy their own ambitions (Benes) and their own glorification (Masaryk), etc. Of course, indirectly our entire nation is responsible for the development that took place from 1918 to 1948. It allowed itself to be deceived by false slogans, legends, hypocritical propaganda, and failed to heed the warnings of really devoted politicians (Kramar, Dyk, Machar, etc.). Masaryk's slogan "evolution is going to the left" and Benes's collaboration with the Reds greatly facilitated the government of the Communists. Some of those responsi1ble for our national tragedy are still among us in exile; they have the brazen impertinence to organize circles of Czech interests (The Council of Free Czecho-Slovakia, the Czech National Socialist Party in exile, etc.) with feelers in American societies for exiles, such as Radio Free Europe (RFE), Assembly of Captive European Nations (ACEN), and American Czech societies. To the wide masses of our countrymen in exile they cannot serve as an exemplary model, and, therefore, we notice in our exile increasing influences of materialism, national callousness, egocentrism, chicanery and intrigue, hypocrisy and fraud. Of course, not in our entire exile, but in a good part of it. And it is the question of our morality that will decide whether our exile will be a,ble to live through the next several years which will be according to all indications, very tough and ruthless years. (Vladimir Pekelsky, a Crech in exile, is the editor ,an/cl pu/bli,s her o'f the CzOC'h peniodidal "Sbornik Bohemia" which is pulblislh~d in Koln,Ehrenfold, W. Germany.) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 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 27 CZECHO-SWVAKIA YESTERDAY AND TODAY BY VLADIMiR PEKEILSKY In the past several years some writers of our Czech exile have attempted to diagnose the tragedy of us all at home and in foreign lands. But they have had little success with it. J. M. Kolar, for example, is today already forgotten and the more actual Dr. Radimsky has been elevated particularly by publishers and the Czech National Socialists. Both authors came out with much that was true, but they either did not want to or did not know how to express the whole truth. Perhaps they feared the consequences. And fear has big eyes. Nevertheless, many times it is not only fear, but opportunism and various other interests which prevent authors from writing about matters that might interest readers the most. It was just this that inspired me to touch upon problems which still are strictly taboo in most Czech exile publications. Czecho-Slovakia 1918-1938 Today very few of our people want to recall the whole truth about the first Czecho-Slovak Republic. Without regard to nationality and political affiliation, that is. The younger generation, born after 1925, did not know the first Repu blic and, therefore, cannot make any judgments of it from personal experiences. For us oldsters it meant much, though only 20 years in the thousand-year history of our Czech nation, and the judgment of history may arouse only criticism, because with the establishment of Czecho-Slovakia the road for modern dictatorships into Central Europe was facilitated. In exile we have become accustomed to read - from articles of former collaborators of Dr. Edward Benes - nothing but praise about the first republic. The writers deliberately fail to see the state bankruptcies of 1938-1939 and 1945-1948, the internal causes thereof. They blame everything on outside intervention. The first Republic was presented to the world as a model of democracy, freedom, state order and welfare, and, were it not - according to them - for the bad Germans 1 28 SLOVAKIA and Russians, it still could have been the "perfection" it was. Not a word is said a'bout the patronage of France. Thus they continue to falsify the facts, just as they did during the time of Masaryk and Benes w'hen huge sums were paid out to foreign journals and journalists to sing nothing but praises aibout the first Republic. Of course, we can and we should recall the many good things about the first Czecho-Slovak Republic. Yet it would be irresponsible of us if we did not look into the causes of the bankruptcy and collapse of democratic Czecho-Slovakia within ourselves and in internal circumstances. Dr. Vaclav Boucek, principal defender of Masaryk and Benes, did not flatter the state system of Czecho-Slovakia when he described it as a "quasi-democracy with a quasiparliamentary system." A multitude of good people, financially well-founded groups, investors, state officers, but also political barterers were satisfied with the then Prague ·r egime. The propertyless groups of inhabitants, the indebted peasants and home owners, the unemployed and the adherents of nonCzech nationalities (e.g., the greater unemployment in the German sectors and the vain attempts of the new Slovak intelligentsia to fill positions in the public life of Slovakia) looked upon the state system with more or less criticism. And today very few of our people want to admit that comIJ11mism had a significant voice in our political life from the very first years of the Czecho-Slovak Republic. But the fact is that it did. The following statistics show the results of three elections, the mandates won by the respective parties: Politica•l Party cs Social Demo.c ratic (1) cs People's Party (2) c.s A1grarian ORepulblioam,) (3) C"'5 Na:ti,o nal Socialist (4) C-S Niattiona,l Democratic (5) C,S Tradesmen's C-S Progressive Socialist Slovak Na-tionail (6) (Hlinka's) Slovak People's (7) Czech Na,tcional Fascist 'Mand-at-es won by tihe Parties 1920 1925 1-935 33 29 3'1 28 415 24 28 113' 13 74 1,9 6 3 1~ 23 38 22 45 28 17 l:'7 22 6 29 SLOVAKIA German Sociialist Democratic German Community German Nationalist German Nat'io.n1al So,ci,a iist German Agrariain German Christian Socialists German Democraili:c Sudeten Germ-run, Magyar Agrarian Miaigyar-Germain Soc. Dem. Magy,a r Christian Socia,Jist Ma,gyair Bloc GS Communist (8) Others Tota,] Number of Mandates 17 111 1-0 7 1,1 24 10 5 1,3 5 6 44 1 4 5 4 9 30 285 300 300 (1) The main worker's Gsocialist) party founded in 11878. (2) Hliruka's Slovak People's Party voted with this party in the 19!20 elec1Jiions and was allowed 12 manda:tes, 1while the resp. Czeoho,Slovak P,e ople's Pa,r ty (Sra1mek's) got 21. The largest Slovak politi'c al p,arty in Slovakia. (3) Founded by Amltonin Svehla in 1899. (4) Founded by Czeclh soci-a.Jists in 1896. Dr. Edward Benes later lbecame its leader. (5) Fiounded tby Dr. Kramar in 19118 ; comlbi·n ed witlh the Dle'c.h Nation/al Union Party (Strilbrny's) be!fo,r e the 19315 elections. (6) Founded be'fore fhe 1872 elections. In 19315 it voted wiith Hlinka's party as the Autonomist BJ.oc. (7) The Slovatk People's (Populist) :Party was founded by !Father Andrew Hlinika, Dec. 5, 1905. (8) The Czecho-'SJ,o,v ak (iread "Cm;)OH") Communist Party was fuunijed Nov. 2, 1920, after .brea~ing with the So'Ci-a•l Democrats; the deputies joining it: 23 Czeeho..Slovak S1oci1al Democraits, 3 German Social Democrats, aind 1· Ma,g;yar Soci,al Democrat. (The parties qualified as "Czecho-Slovak" were in fact Czech-dominated parties · with affiliates in Slovakia. There were only two genuine SLOVAK political parties: the IDinka Slovak People's Party and the Slovak National Party; both supported autonomy for Slovakia, the Pittsburgh Pact of May 30, 1918. - Ed. note). The municipal election in Prague, May 29, 1938, showed the following five parties. with the largest vote: Cze<:h National Socialists - 151,600; Communists - 99,900; Social Democrats - 75,809; National Unity - 68,007; Czech Populist - 37,749. In the 1925 parliamentary elections the Communist 30 SLOVAKIA Party received 933,711 votes; ten years later (1935) it got 849,0000 votes. Do the above statistics warrant the frequently used phrase "Masaryk's or Benes's Republic" and calling the citizens of Czecho-Slovakia "the children of Masaryk"? Would any Czech want to say that the communists, Henleinists, Magyars, Poles, and Slovaks considered themselves "children of Masaryk"? It is a fact that even the Czech rightists criticized or repudiated Masaryk in a large measure. Not only the extreme groups but even a large part of the Czech National Democrats, Agrarians, and adherents of the Czech People's Party in Moravia. We know that during the rule of Masaryk and Benes many things were done which were not honorable. For example, already in 1924 freedom of the press was limited by Law No. 124, and the freedom of the press in the "democratic Czecho-:Slovak Republic," so highly praised by Radio Free Europe even today, in reality looked much less free than in France, the United States and England. Various publications, not only those of the opposition, were frequently confiscated and censored and were issued with "white windows" or as "corrected" issues after censorship. At that time it was said that the journalists were thereby trained "to worship at the willows." ,' Corruption was extensive, but no law could be promulgated to wipe it out because political parties and many government people were against passing such a law. Hundreds of millions of crowns thus disappeared in bottomless pockets. We still remember the alcohol case, the gasoline affair, the corruption in the sugar business, in the construction of the electrical plant in Ervenice and the Fenix Insurance affair, and the corruption connected with the land reform, the parceling out of surplus estates. In tlhe first Republic even the elections cannot be called- truly democratic. The broad masses of the people were not satisfied with the electoral system, because: they were not allowed to choose candidates. The law, however, ordered all citizens .to take part in the elections and to vote for the political parties and their selected candidates. Ob- SLOVAKIA 31 viously many incapable people thus became members of the parliament, interested not in the welfare of the people and the country, but in the first place in the welfare and power of their respective parties. Corruption flourished. Only the political key was used in forming a government and qualifications for a ministerial position meant practically nothing. The parties controlled all public service jobs in the State on the national and local levels. Since one had a large selection of political parties, quite a few citizens carried memib ership cards of several political parties. Thus was the first Czecho-Slovak Republic undermined, as well as confidence in the State and the democratic system which hypocritically bore the slogan "Truth prevails" on its escutcheon - which even the present communist regime has allowed to remain on the State insignia. The enthusiasm with which the Slovaks and Czechs welcomed the establishment of the Czecho-Slovak Republic in 1918 soon cooled and forced many hot heads into opposition. The am1bitious Dr. Benes, however, knew how to deal with the opposition: he liquidated it ruthlessly. To this end he used his secret archive which he had made up for opportune moments, even doctors' opinions, as in the case of Stnbrny. Democracy became limited during the lifetime of T. G. Masaryk, and more so during the presidency of Dr. Benes. Masaryk did not seek the support of political parties; he was above all parties. Benes, on the other hand, depended on the support of t!he National Socialists, who, in 1935 tried, though unsuccessfully, to promulgate a law to dissolve all political parties and to establish a new uniform State party with himself at its head. The National Socialists must be regard~d as the grave-diggers of CzechoSlovakia and democracy; their active collaboration with the communists during the war and after is still fresh in our memories. The parasites of Benes's political clique refuse to admit their guilt in the catastrophe. They still sing praises to Bene~ with the help of whose name they hope to find favor with Czech settlers in Canada and the United States. 32 SLOVAKIA Ruthenia illustrate s Benes's political character quite clearly. During a visit to that country in May, 1934, when he was still Foreign Minister, Benes said: "Czecho-S lovakia, having become the holder (trustee) of Sub-Carp athian Russia by the decision of the Peace Conferenc e, will never give up this land, it will never allow any revisionism in this question and shall defend this land with you to its last drop of blood" (Narodna Politika: May 6, 1924) . We know just how Benes defended Ruthenia : he negotiated with Soviet Ambassa dor Majsky in London, in 1941, to sell out that hapless country. On July 4, 1938, Dr. Benes prophesie d to a deputatio n of Sokols: "Nothing will happen tha,t might harm our State, our Republic and our democrat ic regime; in this jubilee year of our Republic, with our sincere effort for just colla:boratio n with all citizens of all nationalit ies, we shall demonstrat e anew to the world that our State is just, solid, ready to resist aggressio n, mature and peace-lov ing." The result: Munich! To complem ent the shameles s character of Benes in his statemen t, published in the "Wiedom osci polskie" (June 15, 1941): "And when a man thinks of it, we Czechs nevertheless did foresee actually everythin g!" When a Polish journalis t asked him whether he really meant everythin g, Benes replied: "Yes, I mean everythin g!" The Munich catastrop he, the capitulati on and flight of Dr. Benes into foreign lands did away for the time being with any remnants of sympafili y the Czech nation had for Benes (the Slovaks and others had none for him). In 1945, the Czech nation welcomed his return, but the enthusiasm displayed was not for him but rather an expressio n of joy that the war and Nazi occupatio n had ended. The Second Republic Post-Mun ich Czecho-S lovakia, the second Republic, was of short duration. It was still free, but betrayed by all its foreign friends; it was smaller in area and without great !hopes of preservat ion. It was also without Benes, who had voluntari ly resigned from the presidenc y and, after his SLOVAKIA 33 flight from Czecho-Slovakia, had even wished much success to the new, constitutionally elected, President, Dr. Emil Ha.cha. With the voluntary joining of the parties of the right in the Party of National Unity and the parties of the left in the Labor Party, an effort was expressed to simplify and cure the ills of political life. The relations of the first Republic, particularly the person and environment of Dr. Benes, were the target of wide criticism, especially from the Party of National Unity which, surprisingly enough, even the National Socialists joined. The party renounced Benes and favored the right. Its chairman, J. V. Klofac, identifying Czech National Socialism with Hitler's National Socialism, said: "We must not only catch up with Germany and its National Socialism, but surpass it .... In Central Europe we must give a model example of coexistence of the Slovanic peoples and Germans, which is all the easier for us, since we are also connected by blood. My Father's mother was a full-blooded German." And referring to Benes quite obviously, Klofac proclaimed: "We must repudiate everyone who prattles like a child about the approaching moment that shall return to us everything we lost in October - and which is definitely lost." No Czech political party so completely reversed itself up to that time. The conflict with the Slovaks and Hitler's intervention liquidated the second Republic; the Czech lands became the "Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia." The Protectorat.e of Bohemia and Moravia The burden of the German occupation was felt not only in public life, but also by every society and family. German pressure was terrific; aJbout 300,000 Czechs proclaimed themselves Germans. Children were taught German and sang German songs. The attempt to unite the parties and groups of the right, which after March 15, 1939, formed the so-called "National Committee," failed and the party of the so-called "National Alliance" was formed. Various rightist and fascist groups existed too, illegally but tolerated, which had little or practically no influence with the Germans. Opportunistic servants and functionaries of 34 SLOVAKIA former political parties better served the purposes of the Germans than the nationalistic groups. Even though no one wants to admit it, the fact is that, after the arrival of the German Army in Pilsen, among the first to be arrested and liquidated, along with the students, on November 17, 1939, were also fascists and Vlajkists. Collaboration with the Germans was ratlher common; it was rather a question of the personal character of individuals without regard to political belief. Opportunism played a significant role until the defeat of the Germans at Stalingrad. Czech resistance against nazism grew with the approaching end of the war. One of the most notorious collaborators was Emanuel Moravec, Minister of Enlightenment, former co-worker of Stransky's "Lidove Noviny" and Benes's Military propagandist (alias Stanislav Yester). We remember, too, Arno Baise, former communist, who held the leading position in the trade organization NO-OZ; and Emanuel Slechta, designated in the Records of the London Department of the Interior as a collaborator, who nevertheless was given a place in the presidium of the Czech National Socialists and, in 1948, became the chairman of the communized Czech socialists. Benes's decrees, prepared by Dr. Jaroslav Stransky in London, often punishing with the tendency of personal vengeance (recall the cases of Stribrny, R. Beran, and others), created the possibility of settling personal accounts and were more or less a weapon for political blackmail. Benes often assured the world that the Constitution of 1920 was still valid during the war and after 1945, bu't he ruled by decrees, flaunting ther~by the highest law of the land, which he had sworn to uphold. The Foreign Activity of Dr. Benes . As an exile in London, Benes proclaimed himself president of Czecho-Slovakia, organized a government, proclaimed war against Hitler and all his allies, borrowed from Britain for his. activity over fifty million pounds Sterling, and covered with a veil of secrecy the fate of the gold treasure that was in foreign lands. Benes welcomed the defeat of France, wlhich showed him no sympathy, organized SLOVAKIA 35 a foreign army of a!bout 4,000 men in England, and every year prophesied the aproaching end of Hitler. Churchill was criticized openly even during the war, but anyone who attempted to criticize Benes was ruthlessly denounced and liquidated. Benes's vanity and ambition knew no bounds; critics and opponents were arrested or politically isolated (Gen. Lev Prchala, Deputy Fr. Schwarz, Ambassador Osusky, former Prime Minister M. Hod.fa, Rudolph Be~hyne, leader of the Czech Social Democrats, Malim, president of the State Bank,and others). Benes had quite a bit of opposition not only among the exiles, but even among the old settlers in the United States and Canada. In 1940, Czech Catholics still backed Dr. Emil Ha.cha, the duly elected president of Czecho-Slovakia; Slovak emigration was for the most part for the Slovak State. While the freethinkers and socialists supported Benes at the outset, the Communists adopted a wait-and-see attitude. In the United States, the most outspoken against Benes was the Czech Monsignor F. Mikolasek, whose scorching articles appeared in the St. Louis "Hlas," and the "Katolicky Delnik." Many of us expected Dr. Charles Pergler to openly stand against Benes, since he was evicted from Czecho-Slovakia by Masaryk and Benes despite his many merits for the Czecho-Slovak Republic and his deputorial mandate. But he remained silent like so many others. In the London exile, Dr. Benes committed further treason against the principles of freedom and democracy: he prepared the liquidation of civic parties that were always strongly opposed to him. The National Socialists he had in the palm of his hand; to the Social Democrats and the Populists he sent his agents (B. Lausman, V. Majer, P. Tigrid, I. Duch.a.eek, and others). The only problem that Benes had, as far as the presidency of Czecho-Slovakia was concerned, were the communists toward whom, however, he had had no internal opposition. In 1939, Benes wrote in his "Democracy Today and Tomorrow": . "On the other hand, Communism in its philosophy and morality has a certain similarity with democracy. It also stands for equality ,of all peoples and nations. It is also humanitarian, : un.ivel"Salistiic, intellectu-alistic and rationalistic. It is also pacifist, intemationalistic 36 SLOVAKIA and stands for a policy of United Nations. From this standpoint its moral and phil050phical basis is the same as that of democracy." The main supposition of Benes's agreement with the Reds was the assurance that with their support he would again become President of the Czecho-Slovak Republic and be able to rule dictatorially by means of "revolutionary" decrees. He turned his back cooly on the anti-communist Polish exiles with whom, when he needed them to gain the support of the English, Benes concluded pacts of friendship and close political and economical cooperation in the future. The People's Democracy 1945-1948 The events of 1945-1948 are well known to us. Benes's decrees contributed to the socialization of Czecho-Slovakia, tJhe expulsion of the Sudeten Germans caused an economical vacuum for many years, and retributional decrees helped to liquidate the anti-communist opposition. The height of the immorality of Benes's regime was the issuance of his decree of October 27, 1945, which amnestied all crimes against humanity during the "punishment of Germans and collaborators" after May 5, 1945. In the history of justice this amnesty represents a singular document wher~by a government sanctioned murder, violence, and thievery - something that no dictatorship, not even the Nazi type, allowed itself up to that time. Benes, his government, and the non-communist parties indisputably helped to bolshevize Czecho~Slovakia. They tried to suripass the Reds in cruelty during the expulsion of Germans and Magyars and they out-trumped them in chauvinism. On June 25, 1945, the National Socialists formed the so-called socialistic bloc with the Social Democrats and Communists and then tried to create a common socialistic party - similar to the SED in East Germany - which, however, the Communists would not buy. In 1945 there was no freedom of the press, the government controlling everything. There were a few exceptional journalists who, from time to time, tried to criticize some of the existing conditions, but to no avail. The Kosice Program, approved by all the political parties permitted to ex- SLOVAKIA 37 ist by Prague and united in the so-called National Front, clearly stated the limits of post-war freedom for everyone and was the program for the progressive bolshevization of Czecho-Slovakia. The first postwar elections, in May, 1946, brought victory for the Communists who received 38.1 per cent (in Slovakia only 30.4 per cent) of the votes cast. During the election campaign the solidarity of the National Front was not violated in the new government of Klement Gottwald. All political leaders vowed to remain loyal to the Soviet Union and unanimously approved the two-year economic plan which was on the order of the Soviet five-year..plan. Dr. Hubert Ripka, the National Socialist Minister, zealously propagated the Czecho-Slovak-Soviet Treaty of colla1boration (Dec. 13, 1943) and tied the economy of the country to that of the Soviet Union. When Stalin forced Prague not to participate in the Marshall Plan, in 1947, the non-Communist Ministers had more cause to resign then than they had in February 1948. At that time, however, the Ministers still speculated that they would be able to continue to share power with the Reds. They were not concerned about the principle of freedom, democracy, or western orientation; they simply wanted to remain in power. The resignation of twelve non-communist Ministers (out of a total of 26), headed by Dr. Peter Zenkl, on February 20, 1948, helped only the Communists to gain all positions which tJhey did not occupy up to that time. The Reds were completely prepared for t 1he events of February 1948, whereas the non-communist parties were not. In fact they played into the hands of the Reds. In the fall of 1947, several anti-Communist deputies had been liquidated by the National Front coalition of Benes-Gottwald. The Reds had no trouble in finding quislings and informers to oust the resigned ministers and their adherents from the parties and replacing them with "reliaible" people. Dr. Zenkl and company - after President Benes did what Gottwald asked him to do - then realized that they were through governing. Some were arrested but many of them departed to the West, the Reds doing practically nothing 38 SLOVAKIA to stop them. The blackguards had done their work, they were free to go. The Present Communist Czecho-Slovakia After February, 1948, political persecution had free reign, the decisions of the People's Courts from the years 1945-1948 were revised and new processes initiated. Tens of thousands citizens left the Republic. The Communist Party took over all positions; the Social Democrats united with the Communists on June 27, 1948; the National Socialists, changing their name to "Czech Socialists," recognized the leading role of the Communists and today are criticizing themselves for their "bourgeois past"; Sramek's Populists became the party of Catholic Socialism with the task of completing the collectivization of agriculture. 'Dhe Communist Party and its secret police ruthlessly liquidated all non-communist influence and practically all possibility of resistance, including that of the ecclesiastical hierachy, which could perhaps hinder their progress toward socialism and communism. Small industrial enterprises, up to 1948 not affected by Benes's decrees, were nationalized, as were gradually even the smaller businesses and trades. At the same time the industrialization of the Czech lands and Slovakia was increased, costing billions of crowns which lowered the living standard of the inhabitants to a minimum. The Communist party purged itself of "undesirable" elements, deviationists and nationalists, thus ridding itself of pre-war malcontents. In the end Rudolph Slansky, Secretary-General of the Czecho-Slovak Communist Party, and ten other leading Reds were executed November 27, 1952. They were charged with "anti-State activities, espionage, Zionism, and economic sa!botage." Gottwald's group within the party was victorious over the Slansky faction, •b ut Gottwald did not enjoy his victory very long. He died nine days after Stalin in 1953 (March 14). After a t!hree year purge the situation within the Communist Party became sta!bilized in 1953. The money reform of June 1, 1953, with which some dissatisfaction was displayed in various places, was sup- SLOVAKIA 39 posed to raise the living standard of the people and improve the economical situation. The buying power of the Czecho-Slovak crown was restored and the quality of products became better. Prices of commodities and wages of workers were adjusted, swelling the ranks of the people who had little. From 1956 the Red regime has been using more refined methods of psychological persuasion with the peasants, so that by October 1, 1959, only 19 per cent of the land remained in private hands. All sectors of political and economical life have been patterned after the Soviet model. Industrial production, according to official statistics, was four times higher in 1959 than in 1938, and by 1965 it is supposed to be sixteen times higher. In Slovakia, industrial production increased seven times over that in 1937. The standard of living, however, has not been keeping up with increased production. Prices on many necessities are still rather higih. A large majority of the population is not communist, nor is it happy with the communist regime. Annually, however, people who knew better times are dying; their places are being taken over by the younger generation which knows little else than "people's democracy." The successes of the Red regimes with sputniks and luniks has influenced the thinking of many; as has also the policy of appeasement and containment of the West. Active resistance against the Reds is practically nil. To hold onto what people have and perhaps for more material advantage, many people are cooperating with the Reds. In 1960 we saw new changes and reorganization. Some 200,000 employees in the administration of the State were made available for industry and agriculture with the dissolution of the provincial system which was replaced by ten larger economic regions. Great changes took place also in the organization of work; gradually two shifts are being instituted in all the larger enterprises. A new Constitution has been adopted to replace the Constitution of 1920. If we criticize the "golden times" of the First Republic and do not mention the many positive deeds of that period, it is because the First Republic did not fulfill the promises of the Castle propaganda. Worse, however, is 40 SLOVAKIA the fact that the representative s of the First Republic could not strengthen the morale of the people which was shaken by the long hegemony of the Habsburgs, and Benes' s capitulation broke many a backbone. Neither was morale helped by the Protectorate; and it attained a new low after 1945 when the very people who were expected to possess so much morality willingly collaborated with the enemies of all morality. The Czech nation will live even after communism. Its tragedy was caused in 1918 by politicians who cared not about national interests, a better future , solidarity and moral strength, but in the first place sought to satisfy their own ambitions (Benes) and their own glorification (Masaryk), etc. Of course, indirectly our entire nation is responsible for the development that took place from 1918 to 1948. It allowed itself to be deceived by false slogans, legends, hypocritical propaganda, and failed to heed the warnings of really devoted politicians (Kramar, Dyk, Machar, etc.). Masaryk's slogan "evolution is going to the left" and Benes's collaboration with the Reds greatly facilitated the government of the Communists. Some of those responsi1ble for our national tragedy are still among us in exile; they have the brazen impertinence to organize circles of Czech interests (The Council of Free Czecho-Slovakia, the Czech National Socialist Party in exile, etc.) with feelers in American societies for exiles, such as Radio Free Europe (RFE), Assembly of Captive European Nations (ACEN), and American Czech societies. To the wide masses of our countrymen in exile they cannot serve as an exemplary model, and, therefore, we notice in our exile increasing influences of materialism, national callousness, egocentrism, chicanery and intrigue, hypocrisy and fraud. Of course, not in our entire exile, but in a good part of it. And it is the question of our morality that will decide whether our exile will be a,ble to live through the next several years which will be according to all indications, very tough and ruthless years. (Vladimir Pekelsky, a Crech in exile, is the editor ,an/cl pu/bli,s her o'f the CzOC'h peniodidal "Sbornik Bohemia" which is pulblislh~d in Koln,Ehrenfold, W. Germany.)  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Czecho-Slovakia Yesterday and Today Description An account of the resource Vladimír Pekelský Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 2 (34), September-December 1961 pp. 27-40 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Pekelský, Vladimír Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1961 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/2c017a6896daf026af8d5ac438d38ef0.pdf f8dbb8f2841770df75e3a36c27f9d70c PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 41 SLOVAK.IA AND CENTRAL EUROPE CHARLES MURilN, LL.D., Ph.D. "Slovakia Nation. at the Crossroads of Central Europe" by Jioseph M. Kirs·ch'baum, l.JL.D., Ph.D., 1proif.eS1Soc at the Univ•e rsity of 'Montreal, iDeipartment of Sl<avic Studies. Preif,a ce by U. S. Congressma•n Alvin M. Bentley, Member of the Committee olf Forei.gn A'llfo.irs. Pp. x~:x 3711,; 7'2 dlocumEmts, 2 maips, 22 p'ho,togr-a phs, bilbliography, index. Pulb · + lisher Robert S'pe!Ier and Sons, Inc., Ne<w Yol'k. $5.00. Can a book concerning a small nation of four million behind the Iron Curtain draw the attention of the American and Canadian public at a time when Khrushchev is explodin•g nuclear bombs, Castro is defying the powerful U. S., and the struggle between West and East in Asia, Africa, and Europe is intensifying? The American reader might sigh and say: let bygones be bygones, there are more pressing problems today than the fate of four million Slovaks in the immediate neighborhood of the Soviet Union. Actually this might be the reaction of the man in the street who restricts his interests to what is presented to his sight, to the sensational. Professor Kirschbaum's book is by no means sensational in this sense, since it is written for both the intelligent observer of the international politics and those whose task it is to participate in the shaping of the current international situation which seems to contain an amount of irrational elements to a degree probably never equaled in the period of modern history. Kirschbaum's book is a valuable contribution to the understanding of the premises and origins of the presentday situation, restricted to one of its sections: Central Europe. Genetically this seems to be the most important field though the quantitive aspects of the problems in Asia and Africa overshadow the European problems. The author relates the political history of Slovakia and of Central Europe. The period described, however, happens to be the one which preceded the Soviet hegemony over half of Europe. Thus the book contains excellent material offered to the English reader who wants to trace down the errors of the past and is willing both to learn from past errors and re- �42 SLOVAKIA think the categories of living ideas and for<:es which simultaneously are being shaped by and are shaping this world of ours. The basic service this book renders to the reader is that it shows him to what degree the conceptions of the West in regard to the political organization of one of the neuralgic spots in Europe were dominated by facts and to what degree by fancy. To show the interplay of reality and illusion, the genuine and the phony in the official views of the state departments of the West in regard to Central Europe seems to us to be the aim of the book. Further the author shows to what extent these conceptions contained inherent contradictions and were therefore doomed in the long run. Be it noted that some of the prejudfres discussed in the book represent an inheritance from the postW orld-War I arrangements. The book under discussion is divided in four parts : the first is concerned with the past; the second with the present-past; the third with the present-future; and the fourth contains documents, maps, bibliography, and index. Part I introduces the reader to the topic of the book 1by giving the historical background of the problem. The service rendered by the author in this part of the book is the presentation of the Czech and Magyar historians, who usually treat Slovak history as a peripheral phenomenon of the Czech or Magyar past respectively. The characteristics one can as a rule find in the works of Magyar and Czech writers are the following: (a) Functional approach: the Slovaks are simply denied ethnical, linguistic, cultural, social and political individuality and thus are made part of either the Czech or the Magyar nation; the intelligibility of the Slovak history, if they agree at least to take notice of the fact, comes from without, i.e., from Czech history for a Czech writer, and from Magyar history if the writer is a Magyar. The meaning of Slovak history is seen, still according to these views, in an orientation of Slovaks towards loosing their weak traces of identity and ultimately in melting together with the one or the other nation. �SLOVAKIA 43 (b) For the principle of interpretation of the history of Slovakia (some writers use this term exclusively in a geographical sense) they use concepts upon which the national aspirations and dreams of their own people are based. It is not unusual for them to project a modern concept of the nineteenth and twentieth century to the ninth and tenth century of Slovak history. An interesting observation follows from the use of this method. If a certain conception of man, society and reality is embraced as unconditionally and metaphysically true, this conception and the laws which constitute its explication can be used as the principle of interpretation of each and every man, society, event and situation. This is exactly what Marxists do. Therefore it was no surprise for those acquainted with Marxist philosophy that a book was recently published in Slovakia in which the Great Moravian Empire of the King Svatopluk of the tenth century is interpreted in terms of a class struggle. A similar method is used by some Czech and Magyar historical writers in their interpretation of Slovak history, however, with the difference that the supposedly universally valid laws of the dialectical and historical materialism are replaced by the concepts of the meaning of history (i.e., either Czech or Magyar history), of national destiny, of mission, of glory, of interests, etc. True, the validity of these concepts is not universal; it is restricted to the one or the other nation. But in relation to the Slovak history, they are purposefully given a universal character, because outside of these concepts the history of Slovakia becomes, in the view of these writers, unintelligible, an irrational collection of unrelated facts which might find their interpretation on the level of Nature but never on the level of Spirit. Many conclusions of the historians in question cannot be understood without knowing these tacit or openly avowed premises. Although Professor Kirschbaum raises no claim to be a professional historian, nevertheless, as the author of many historical essays and several biographies and monographies, he has mastered more than sufficiently the material he is dealing with and is in a solid position to give an accurate �SLOVAKIA 44 account on Slovak history, an account based on a sober relativistic character of historical events, thus avoiding the peculiar exclusivities not only of the Czech and Magyar writers, but also of their Slovak antipodes. In Part I , the author shows that the Slovaks belong to the group of the most ancient peoples in Central Europe, they were the first of the Slovanic peoples to adhere to Christianism, always belonged to the orbit .o f the Western world, never were willing to lose and never lost their individuality and ethnical identity. The meaning of all Slovak history can be found only within and never outside the events that make up the drama of the Slovak nation. Part II seems to us to be the central piece of the book. This is the author's proper domain containing the events .of founding the first Czecho-Slovak Republic, the causes of its disintegration, the period of the Slovak Republic, and, finally, the restoration of the Czecho-Slovak Republic .following World War IL By far the greatest attention is given to the period of the Slovak RepU'blic. This is under.standable since it is mainly in this period that the author was active in the political life of Slovakia until ousted from the political scene under pressure of Hitlerite Germans and the small number of Slovak-Nazi sympathizers. Both his 7-year-long stay in neutral Switzerland (for three years as diplomatic representative of the Slovak Republic) and a period of 15-20 years, from the events he describes, permit Professor Kirsch baum to reach a degree of objectivity seldom achieved in books in which the authors touch upon the problems they contributed intrinsically both to .shape and to solve. When a number of the pages is of an apologetic character, not a personal defense of the author is involved but a rejection of the distortions of historical facts and a reproach of not seeing events in their true .light. It is extremely difficult to summarize this part of the book without going into some details and without transgressing the material limits of this reflection. Therefore, we shall restrain ourselves to the essential points which might be of interest to intelligent observers of international politics. 1 �SLOVAKIA 45 Part II begins with a demyth!ing of the legends propagated rubout the foundation of the Czecho-Slovak Republic at the end of World War I. The principle which gave birth to the first Republic was self-determination. President Wilson consented to dismemberment of the ethnical mosaic of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the name of the principle of self-determination, and it was in the name of the same principle that another ethnical mosaic was created, i.e., the Czecho-Slovak Republic. No one of the six ethnical groups included in the new state constituted a simple majority of the population. Therefore, the only admissible structure of the state, even if one does not use anything more than common horse sense, was a federation. The leading statesmen of the Paris Peace Conference somehow sensed this, but did not know the facts clearly enough, and the whole problem became in their eyes one of minor importance. In order that at least one of the ethnical nations might constitute a simple majority in the state, a fusion of the two nations into one was needed. This tour de force on the diplomatic level was achieved by the presentation of the one ethnic "Czechoslovak" nation by Masaryk and Benes. Concerning this illusion of a "Czechoslovak" nation, one can find two contradictory legends. According to the one, the Slovaks joined the first republic willingly, over-eagerly, renouncing their own ethnical identity, and adherence to the new state equaled to merging with the Czech ethnical nation (this is the Czech version). In terms of the second version, the Slovaks were forced, duped or tricked into joining the Czech state (the Magyar version). Now, the truth is that the Slovaks were willing cofounders of the Czecho-Slovak Republic and much, possibly too much hope had been placed in the new state. At the same time, however, they were cautious and did not enter the partnership with the Czechs without a written guaranty of their rights which were supposed to secure free and democratic development of their national life (see document No. 2, p. 235-236). The refusal to implement the au- �46 SLOVAKIA tonomy of Slovakia, promised by the Agreement of Pittsburgh of May 30, 1918, and signed by T. G. Masaryk, dominated the relations between the Slovaks and Czechs fer 20 years of the first Republic. Although this unsolved problem of the Republic reflected unfavorably on the military value and strength of the state integrated in a system of alliances headed by France, neither the latter nor any other western government ddsplayed any wisdom to exerting a friendly influence in favor of a solution of this basic problem until it was far too late. When the Sudeten~German problem was used by Hitler as an excuse of attacking Czecho-Slovakia, the lack of internal coherence of the Republic brought an end to the illusion of strength both abroad and within the Republic itself. The Second Czecho-Slovak (post-Munich) Republic, territorially mutilated, vanished from the Central European scene after a brief period of six months. The State was doomed by the very treaties by which it was founded and the Constitution of the Republic of 1920. They were based on too much fantasy and too little facts, too many political illusions and not enough sociological reality. Most of the attention is given by the author to the period of the Slovak Republic, 1939-1945, apparently this being the crux of the problem exposed by Professor Kirschbaum. His thesis, supported by many documents, can be shortly yet fairly resumed as follows: Slovakia, since the dawn of its history, went Westward. The central ideal of modern Slovak political history was and remains the idea of freedom as developed in the West. The right of self-determination of nations is but an insepara•ble aspect of the Western concept of freedom. However, when it comes to the concrete application of the concept of freedom, more than one of the great Western Powers simply ignore or even deny this right to the nations which are unable to support their claim to a free and independent life by physical force. The reasons for this virtual condemnation of some nations to third or fourth grade national existence are �SLOVAKIA 47 usually several: economic interests of powerful friends or weak friends who are to be made powerful; lack of information or much bad information, etc. The claims of Slovaks to a free life hit upon deaf ears. More than that. When the Slovaks made the best of a bad situation which they did not create, objections were raised and they were told: if you keep your freedom ( a difficult freedom in an extremely tense situation, it is true), we shall have to use force to put you back where you were in 1938, or even in 1920 ; but if you renounce your will to a free life, be.have as a good child, we shall spare you. Freedom is something you fight for - and this the Slovaks did. But freedom is also what you legitimately expect to be respected for in a community whose distinctive mark is respect for freedom - and this the Slovaks did not receive. There is no doubt that the West takes freedom seriously, as a mission to mankind, yet when it comes to putting into reality the ideal of freedom, the West remains somehow hesitantly in the abstract and condones situations which make the Western concept of freedom look vague and restricted in its application to some nations only, or even to only a segment of the nations. As a result, the cornerstone of Western society, the gospel of freedom and dignity of man assumes a verbal character that can be ultimately argued away by skillful dialectics even of the materialistic brand. This is the reason why the nations on the verge of making their choice between West and East do not easily recognize the difference between the concrete articulation of the freedom of the West and the steps taken to a systematic enslavement of man and nations by the Communist Marxists. The Slovaks do not have to make their decision, this they have done over eleven hundred years ago. No matter what treatment they receive from the Western Powers, they will remain West.Jbound because they cannot deny their own identity. At this point, the somehow apologetic character of the book turns out to be both a silent and delicate rebuke �48 SLOVAKIA to the Western Powers and an eloquent wavning to present and future policy-ma kers of the West no matter which area of the world they are dealing with. An air of tragedy surround s both the reproach and the warning as the nations enslaved by the Soviets might foreshado w the future destiny of those who still use or a,buse their freedom. In this light the mistakes committe d during the period of the Slovak Republic (some of them bearing the fatality of a natural force) become more understan dable. The author does not confine himself to pointing out the errors to be avoided. He proposes a formula for the future arrangem ent of the Central European area which offers the best chance to secure a sound developm ent of the crossroad s between Eastern and Wes tern Europe. Part III of the book, under the section entitled "For a New Democracy in Central Europe," contains the author's views concernin g the future, shared, we believe, by many. The geopolitical location of the nations in question between Germany and Russia, demands a federalist solution, no matter what the political ideologies of the two great neighbori ng powers happen to be. Only by uniting their forces can the Central European nations secure their freedom. This is beyond the point of discussion and, furthermore, being the only logical solution, it receives a conffrmatur by recent and remote history. The question of internal structure of the Central European Federatio n is a much more delicate and less evident one than its necessity in the field of inter-play of powers. The principle on which the author suggests to reconstruct the Central European area can be called, we think, without being unfair to the author who does not use this term, the principle of regional balance of power. This represent s a realistic implemen tation of the moral claim for freedom, the other point beyond discussion. The principle of regional balance of power takes into considera tion the political and economical deve}opment in the direction to greater units, with the ultimate result of a wo~ld (federated) governme nt to be establishe d in the future. At the same time the principle takes into account, human nature being what it is, that the organizat ion of �SLOVAKIA 49 greater units (e.g., Western Europe, Central Europe, etc.) must be such that they could safeguard the freedom of concerned nations more on the lowest level of the administration than on the level of the Central government, be the latter of regional, continental, or of world-wide character. The strength and efficiency of the Federal Central Government rests ultimately upon the concrete human persons at the bottom (lack of this was the greaitest weakness of the Czecho-Slovak Republic) who are at the same time the foundation and the aim of any government. There always will ar,ise problems among the nations, as there always will be problems among individuals. The point is that the structure of institutions and organizations must be such that it permits to give an adequate and just answer both to the existing problems and to those which may arise. In this regard again the Czecho-Slovak Republic did not meet these requirements, and the political status of 1918, 1938, or of 1945 stands for the Wes tern concept of the Centra1 European area, in that case, this is a desperately backward concept which lags well behind the development. The visible signs of a change in this concept are represented by some very vague promises and semi-official declarations, but on the whole it is rather hard to guess to what extent there really is a change. What Professor Kirschbaum proposes is this: there is and proba1bly there will remain in the foreseeable future a certa1in antagonism ( call it: problem) among the Central European nations, the outcome of a centuries-long historical developement of this area which will not be eliminated over night (even if the night is as dark as the night under Commuruism). In defense of their national ideal some writers and orators resort at times to real living forces shaped by history, but sometimes to political fossils whose symbolic force and imaginative attraction is a matter of the past because they are without any meaning for the man of the second half of the twentieth century. Let us speak a more concrete language. The Masaryk and Benes governments molded their national aspirations to the image of the former Bohemian kings who in a certain period of time happened to be Roman-Germanic em- �50 SLOVAKIA perors who ruled the Central European area. The Hungarian government, on the other hand, claJimed the title of makers and organizers of Central Europe in the restricted sense of the word, because there was a period in which the nations of "Hungaria" actively participated together with the Magyars in constructive work for the common good. The two nations, i.e., the Czechs and the Magyars, possessing roughly an equal potential force, set themselves on a search for a surplus of power which would give them an edge over the power of the respective partner-opponent. Both agreed that Slovakia could represent this hoped for surplus, and, to no one's surprise, political writers "uncovered historical facts which favored either the one or the other conception of Slovak history, with the result of what we called a:bove the functional approach to the past of Slovakia. As a matter of fact, the theory of the surplus value of Slovakia for the Czechs and for the Magyars seemed to have received a confirmation by the political events of the twentieth century. PTior to World War I, when Slovakia was a part of Hungary, the Magyars held a wide edge over the Czechs. When, however , Slovakia joined forces with the Czechs, the latter emerged as the stronger power in the valley of the Danube. The only trouble with these two solutions was that besides being radically unjust, they led to a catastrophy of all the involved nations. There are other theoretical possibilities, i.e., Slovakia as a part of Poland, or as part of the Ukraine or Russia, yet we think that they would not yield better results since they seem to us to be even of a more violent nature than those just mentioned. It follows that the only realistic way to secure a regional balance of power and to safeguard the freedom of all nations in this erea is to recognize Slovakia as one of the national units in the Central Europeon Federation. The more so that only this solution renders justice to the ideal of freedom of nations. Fo:vtunately, the CentTal European nations are begiinning to realize the imperative character of this solution, and there is more than one confirmation of the development in the political thinking of nations under the Communist yoke towards this solution. �SLOVAKIA 51 What is lagging in the most unfortunate way behind this evolution is, e.g., Radio Free Europe and the Voice of America (Canadian and British, Rome and Madrid broadcasts have their Slovak sections) and, it would seem, since these are related to some officials of the U. S. State Department in an unofficial way, that these officials of the State Department are behind recent developments. The fact that the "statesmen," who substantially contributed to the present predicament of Central Europe, find not only willing ears to listen and, but also active support from some official circles of the U. S. is in support of our opinion. Part IV of the book contains a valuable collection of documents, many of them available for the first time to the English reader. This ensemble of documents control the author's affirmation and let the reader see the other side of the medal which, up to now, has been presented to the Western public in a purely functional way. The weakest part of the book is the bibliography. It is extremely summary - some 150 books referred to in the book not being listed. We learned that this regrettable shortcoming in Professor Kirschbaum's book was due to an error with the printers and that it will be corrected in the second edition of the book. RADIO FREIE EUROPE continues its policy of ignoring the rightful demands of the Slovak people a,n d ignoring Americans o,£ Slovak des·c ent and the'ir organizations. Its "Czedhoslovak" desk is sti11 dominated by former Czech National F1ronters, Czech socialists of all shades who co11ialborated with the Czech Reds and Moscow dJUring the Benes-Gottwa~d coalition (1945-lMS). Accordi,n,g to them freedom is for evieryibody except the Slovaks; Czecho.Sl·o vakia and the Czechs must be liberated, but not the Sfovaks. The latter are supposed to be doomed to Czeclh domination eternaUy! What a moclcery of the fundamenml pr,inciples of d,emocracy! IN THE WORKERS' PARADISE, a~ording to Radio Bratislava: Sllova'kia is be-hind in dts milk quota 6,600,000 Lite-rs (4-Jli&-61); thus far the Trelbisov tlistrict owes the State 1,,085,000 liters of milk this year (3-10-61); Dolny Kulbi,n, Cadca, Prievidza, and Zilina did not produce even a deci'liiter per cow (3-9-61); -i n Bratisllava (Street of the De>fende-rs of Peace) women waitetl for meat from 2:00 to 6:30 P. M. (3'-20-61); there is a great albundan:ce of feed for cattle and calves, but it's all rotten-; t!he people work tlhe farim:s, but steal over hallf the production (3-2().,61•); we have no tires, but why? I heard the exiplanlation that the reason for this is the war in Laos (2-U-61.) � SLOVAKIA 41 SLOVAK.IA AND CENTRAL EUROPE CHARLES MURilN, LL.D., Ph.D. "Slovakia Nation. at the Crossroads of Central Europe" by Jioseph M. Kirs·ch'baum, l.JL.D., Ph.D., 1proif.eS1Soc at the Univ•e rsity of 'Montreal, iDeipartment of Sl<avic Studies. Preif,a ce by U. S. Congressma•n Alvin M. Bentley, Member of the Committee olf Forei.gn A'llfo.irs. Pp. x~:x 3711,; 7'2 dlocumEmts, 2 maips, 22 p'ho,togr-a phs, bilbliography, index. Pulb · + lisher Robert S'pe!Ier and Sons, Inc., Ne<w Yol'k. $5.00. Can a book concerning a small nation of four million behind the Iron Curtain draw the attention of the American and Canadian public at a time when Khrushchev is explodin•g nuclear bombs, Castro is defying the powerful U. S., and the struggle between West and East in Asia, Africa, and Europe is intensifying? The American reader might sigh and say: let bygones be bygones, there are more pressing problems today than the fate of four million Slovaks in the immediate neighborhood of the Soviet Union. Actually this might be the reaction of the man in the street who restricts his interests to what is presented to his sight, to the sensational. Professor Kirschbaum's book is by no means sensational in this sense, since it is written for both the intelligent observer of the international politics and those whose task it is to participate in the shaping of the current international situation which seems to contain an amount of irrational elements to a degree probably never equaled in the period of modern history. Kirschbaum's book is a valuable contribution to the understanding of the premises and origins of the presentday situation, restricted to one of its sections: Central Europe. Genetically this seems to be the most important field though the quantitive aspects of the problems in Asia and Africa overshadow the European problems. The author relates the political history of Slovakia and of Central Europe. The period described, however, happens to be the one which preceded the Soviet hegemony over half of Europe. Thus the book contains excellent material offered to the English reader who wants to trace down the errors of the past and is willing both to learn from past errors and re- �42 SLOVAKIA think the categories of living ideas and for<:es which simultaneously are being shaped by and are shaping this world of ours. The basic service this book renders to the reader is that it shows him to what degree the conceptions of the West in regard to the political organization of one of the neuralgic spots in Europe were dominated by facts and to what degree by fancy. To show the interplay of reality and illusion, the genuine and the phony in the official views of the state departments of the West in regard to Central Europe seems to us to be the aim of the book. Further the author shows to what extent these conceptions contained inherent contradictions and were therefore doomed in the long run. Be it noted that some of the prejudfres discussed in the book represent an inheritance from the postW orld-War I arrangements. The book under discussion is divided in four parts : the first is concerned with the past; the second with the present-past; the third with the present-future; and the fourth contains documents, maps, bibliography, and index. Part I introduces the reader to the topic of the book 1by giving the historical background of the problem. The service rendered by the author in this part of the book is the presentation of the Czech and Magyar historians, who usually treat Slovak history as a peripheral phenomenon of the Czech or Magyar past respectively. The characteristics one can as a rule find in the works of Magyar and Czech writers are the following: (a) Functional approach: the Slovaks are simply denied ethnical, linguistic, cultural, social and political individuality and thus are made part of either the Czech or the Magyar nation; the intelligibility of the Slovak history, if they agree at least to take notice of the fact, comes from without, i.e., from Czech history for a Czech writer, and from Magyar history if the writer is a Magyar. The meaning of Slovak history is seen, still according to these views, in an orientation of Slovaks towards loosing their weak traces of identity and ultimately in melting together with the one or the other nation. �SLOVAKIA 43 (b) For the principle of interpretation of the history of Slovakia (some writers use this term exclusively in a geographical sense) they use concepts upon which the national aspirations and dreams of their own people are based. It is not unusual for them to project a modern concept of the nineteenth and twentieth century to the ninth and tenth century of Slovak history. An interesting observation follows from the use of this method. If a certain conception of man, society and reality is embraced as unconditionally and metaphysically true, this conception and the laws which constitute its explication can be used as the principle of interpretation of each and every man, society, event and situation. This is exactly what Marxists do. Therefore it was no surprise for those acquainted with Marxist philosophy that a book was recently published in Slovakia in which the Great Moravian Empire of the King Svatopluk of the tenth century is interpreted in terms of a class struggle. A similar method is used by some Czech and Magyar historical writers in their interpretation of Slovak history, however, with the difference that the supposedly universally valid laws of the dialectical and historical materialism are replaced by the concepts of the meaning of history (i.e., either Czech or Magyar history), of national destiny, of mission, of glory, of interests, etc. True, the validity of these concepts is not universal; it is restricted to the one or the other nation. But in relation to the Slovak history, they are purposefully given a universal character, because outside of these concepts the history of Slovakia becomes, in the view of these writers, unintelligible, an irrational collection of unrelated facts which might find their interpretation on the level of Nature but never on the level of Spirit. Many conclusions of the historians in question cannot be understood without knowing these tacit or openly avowed premises. Although Professor Kirschbaum raises no claim to be a professional historian, nevertheless, as the author of many historical essays and several biographies and monographies, he has mastered more than sufficiently the material he is dealing with and is in a solid position to give an accurate �SLOVAKIA 44 account on Slovak history, an account based on a sober relativistic character of historical events, thus avoiding the peculiar exclusivities not only of the Czech and Magyar writers, but also of their Slovak antipodes. In Part I , the author shows that the Slovaks belong to the group of the most ancient peoples in Central Europe, they were the first of the Slovanic peoples to adhere to Christianism, always belonged to the orbit .o f the Western world, never were willing to lose and never lost their individuality and ethnical identity. The meaning of all Slovak history can be found only within and never outside the events that make up the drama of the Slovak nation. Part II seems to us to be the central piece of the book. This is the author's proper domain containing the events .of founding the first Czecho-Slovak Republic, the causes of its disintegration, the period of the Slovak Republic, and, finally, the restoration of the Czecho-Slovak Republic .following World War IL By far the greatest attention is given to the period of the Slovak RepU'blic. This is under.standable since it is mainly in this period that the author was active in the political life of Slovakia until ousted from the political scene under pressure of Hitlerite Germans and the small number of Slovak-Nazi sympathizers. Both his 7-year-long stay in neutral Switzerland (for three years as diplomatic representative of the Slovak Republic) and a period of 15-20 years, from the events he describes, permit Professor Kirsch baum to reach a degree of objectivity seldom achieved in books in which the authors touch upon the problems they contributed intrinsically both to .shape and to solve. When a number of the pages is of an apologetic character, not a personal defense of the author is involved but a rejection of the distortions of historical facts and a reproach of not seeing events in their true .light. It is extremely difficult to summarize this part of the book without going into some details and without transgressing the material limits of this reflection. Therefore, we shall restrain ourselves to the essential points which might be of interest to intelligent observers of international politics. 1 �SLOVAKIA 45 Part II begins with a demyth!ing of the legends propagated rubout the foundation of the Czecho-Slovak Republic at the end of World War I. The principle which gave birth to the first Republic was self-determination. President Wilson consented to dismemberment of the ethnical mosaic of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the name of the principle of self-determination, and it was in the name of the same principle that another ethnical mosaic was created, i.e., the Czecho-Slovak Republic. No one of the six ethnical groups included in the new state constituted a simple majority of the population. Therefore, the only admissible structure of the state, even if one does not use anything more than common horse sense, was a federation. The leading statesmen of the Paris Peace Conference somehow sensed this, but did not know the facts clearly enough, and the whole problem became in their eyes one of minor importance. In order that at least one of the ethnical nations might constitute a simple majority in the state, a fusion of the two nations into one was needed. This tour de force on the diplomatic level was achieved by the presentation of the one ethnic "Czechoslovak" nation by Masaryk and Benes. Concerning this illusion of a "Czechoslovak" nation, one can find two contradictory legends. According to the one, the Slovaks joined the first republic willingly, over-eagerly, renouncing their own ethnical identity, and adherence to the new state equaled to merging with the Czech ethnical nation (this is the Czech version). In terms of the second version, the Slovaks were forced, duped or tricked into joining the Czech state (the Magyar version). Now, the truth is that the Slovaks were willing cofounders of the Czecho-Slovak Republic and much, possibly too much hope had been placed in the new state. At the same time, however, they were cautious and did not enter the partnership with the Czechs without a written guaranty of their rights which were supposed to secure free and democratic development of their national life (see document No. 2, p. 235-236). The refusal to implement the au- �46 SLOVAKIA tonomy of Slovakia, promised by the Agreement of Pittsburgh of May 30, 1918, and signed by T. G. Masaryk, dominated the relations between the Slovaks and Czechs fer 20 years of the first Republic. Although this unsolved problem of the Republic reflected unfavorably on the military value and strength of the state integrated in a system of alliances headed by France, neither the latter nor any other western government ddsplayed any wisdom to exerting a friendly influence in favor of a solution of this basic problem until it was far too late. When the Sudeten~German problem was used by Hitler as an excuse of attacking Czecho-Slovakia, the lack of internal coherence of the Republic brought an end to the illusion of strength both abroad and within the Republic itself. The Second Czecho-Slovak (post-Munich) Republic, territorially mutilated, vanished from the Central European scene after a brief period of six months. The State was doomed by the very treaties by which it was founded and the Constitution of the Republic of 1920. They were based on too much fantasy and too little facts, too many political illusions and not enough sociological reality. Most of the attention is given by the author to the period of the Slovak Republic, 1939-1945, apparently this being the crux of the problem exposed by Professor Kirschbaum. His thesis, supported by many documents, can be shortly yet fairly resumed as follows: Slovakia, since the dawn of its history, went Westward. The central ideal of modern Slovak political history was and remains the idea of freedom as developed in the West. The right of self-determination of nations is but an insepara•ble aspect of the Western concept of freedom. However, when it comes to the concrete application of the concept of freedom, more than one of the great Western Powers simply ignore or even deny this right to the nations which are unable to support their claim to a free and independent life by physical force. The reasons for this virtual condemnation of some nations to third or fourth grade national existence are �SLOVAKIA 47 usually several: economic interests of powerful friends or weak friends who are to be made powerful; lack of information or much bad information, etc. The claims of Slovaks to a free life hit upon deaf ears. More than that. When the Slovaks made the best of a bad situation which they did not create, objections were raised and they were told: if you keep your freedom ( a difficult freedom in an extremely tense situation, it is true), we shall have to use force to put you back where you were in 1938, or even in 1920 ; but if you renounce your will to a free life, be.have as a good child, we shall spare you. Freedom is something you fight for - and this the Slovaks did. But freedom is also what you legitimately expect to be respected for in a community whose distinctive mark is respect for freedom - and this the Slovaks did not receive. There is no doubt that the West takes freedom seriously, as a mission to mankind, yet when it comes to putting into reality the ideal of freedom, the West remains somehow hesitantly in the abstract and condones situations which make the Western concept of freedom look vague and restricted in its application to some nations only, or even to only a segment of the nations. As a result, the cornerstone of Western society, the gospel of freedom and dignity of man assumes a verbal character that can be ultimately argued away by skillful dialectics even of the materialistic brand. This is the reason why the nations on the verge of making their choice between West and East do not easily recognize the difference between the concrete articulation of the freedom of the West and the steps taken to a systematic enslavement of man and nations by the Communist Marxists. The Slovaks do not have to make their decision, this they have done over eleven hundred years ago. No matter what treatment they receive from the Western Powers, they will remain West.Jbound because they cannot deny their own identity. At this point, the somehow apologetic character of the book turns out to be both a silent and delicate rebuke �48 SLOVAKIA to the Western Powers and an eloquent wavning to present and future policy-ma kers of the West no matter which area of the world they are dealing with. An air of tragedy surround s both the reproach and the warning as the nations enslaved by the Soviets might foreshado w the future destiny of those who still use or a,buse their freedom. In this light the mistakes committe d during the period of the Slovak Republic (some of them bearing the fatality of a natural force) become more understan dable. The author does not confine himself to pointing out the errors to be avoided. He proposes a formula for the future arrangem ent of the Central European area which offers the best chance to secure a sound developm ent of the crossroad s between Eastern and Wes tern Europe. Part III of the book, under the section entitled "For a New Democracy in Central Europe," contains the author's views concernin g the future, shared, we believe, by many. The geopolitical location of the nations in question between Germany and Russia, demands a federalist solution, no matter what the political ideologies of the two great neighbori ng powers happen to be. Only by uniting their forces can the Central European nations secure their freedom. This is beyond the point of discussion and, furthermore, being the only logical solution, it receives a conffrmatur by recent and remote history. The question of internal structure of the Central European Federatio n is a much more delicate and less evident one than its necessity in the field of inter-play of powers. The principle on which the author suggests to reconstruct the Central European area can be called, we think, without being unfair to the author who does not use this term, the principle of regional balance of power. This represent s a realistic implemen tation of the moral claim for freedom, the other point beyond discussion. The principle of regional balance of power takes into considera tion the political and economical deve}opment in the direction to greater units, with the ultimate result of a wo~ld (federated) governme nt to be establishe d in the future. At the same time the principle takes into account, human nature being what it is, that the organizat ion of �SLOVAKIA 49 greater units (e.g., Western Europe, Central Europe, etc.) must be such that they could safeguard the freedom of concerned nations more on the lowest level of the administration than on the level of the Central government, be the latter of regional, continental, or of world-wide character. The strength and efficiency of the Federal Central Government rests ultimately upon the concrete human persons at the bottom (lack of this was the greaitest weakness of the Czecho-Slovak Republic) who are at the same time the foundation and the aim of any government. There always will ar,ise problems among the nations, as there always will be problems among individuals. The point is that the structure of institutions and organizations must be such that it permits to give an adequate and just answer both to the existing problems and to those which may arise. In this regard again the Czecho-Slovak Republic did not meet these requirements, and the political status of 1918, 1938, or of 1945 stands for the Wes tern concept of the Centra1 European area, in that case, this is a desperately backward concept which lags well behind the development. The visible signs of a change in this concept are represented by some very vague promises and semi-official declarations, but on the whole it is rather hard to guess to what extent there really is a change. What Professor Kirschbaum proposes is this: there is and proba1bly there will remain in the foreseeable future a certa1in antagonism ( call it: problem) among the Central European nations, the outcome of a centuries-long historical developement of this area which will not be eliminated over night (even if the night is as dark as the night under Commuruism). In defense of their national ideal some writers and orators resort at times to real living forces shaped by history, but sometimes to political fossils whose symbolic force and imaginative attraction is a matter of the past because they are without any meaning for the man of the second half of the twentieth century. Let us speak a more concrete language. The Masaryk and Benes governments molded their national aspirations to the image of the former Bohemian kings who in a certain period of time happened to be Roman-Germanic em- �50 SLOVAKIA perors who ruled the Central European area. The Hungarian government, on the other hand, claJimed the title of makers and organizers of Central Europe in the restricted sense of the word, because there was a period in which the nations of "Hungaria" actively participated together with the Magyars in constructive work for the common good. The two nations, i.e., the Czechs and the Magyars, possessing roughly an equal potential force, set themselves on a search for a surplus of power which would give them an edge over the power of the respective partner-opponent. Both agreed that Slovakia could represent this hoped for surplus, and, to no one's surprise, political writers "uncovered historical facts which favored either the one or the other conception of Slovak history, with the result of what we called a:bove the functional approach to the past of Slovakia. As a matter of fact, the theory of the surplus value of Slovakia for the Czechs and for the Magyars seemed to have received a confirmation by the political events of the twentieth century. PTior to World War I, when Slovakia was a part of Hungary, the Magyars held a wide edge over the Czechs. When, however , Slovakia joined forces with the Czechs, the latter emerged as the stronger power in the valley of the Danube. The only trouble with these two solutions was that besides being radically unjust, they led to a catastrophy of all the involved nations. There are other theoretical possibilities, i.e., Slovakia as a part of Poland, or as part of the Ukraine or Russia, yet we think that they would not yield better results since they seem to us to be even of a more violent nature than those just mentioned. It follows that the only realistic way to secure a regional balance of power and to safeguard the freedom of all nations in this erea is to recognize Slovakia as one of the national units in the Central Europeon Federation. The more so that only this solution renders justice to the ideal of freedom of nations. Fo:vtunately, the CentTal European nations are begiinning to realize the imperative character of this solution, and there is more than one confirmation of the development in the political thinking of nations under the Communist yoke towards this solution. �SLOVAKIA 51 What is lagging in the most unfortunate way behind this evolution is, e.g., Radio Free Europe and the Voice of America (Canadian and British, Rome and Madrid broadcasts have their Slovak sections) and, it would seem, since these are related to some officials of the U. S. State Department in an unofficial way, that these officials of the State Department are behind recent developments. The fact that the "statesmen," who substantially contributed to the present predicament of Central Europe, find not only willing ears to listen and, but also active support from some official circles of the U. S. is in support of our opinion. Part IV of the book contains a valuable collection of documents, many of them available for the first time to the English reader. This ensemble of documents control the author's affirmation and let the reader see the other side of the medal which, up to now, has been presented to the Western public in a purely functional way. The weakest part of the book is the bibliography. It is extremely summary - some 150 books referred to in the book not being listed. We learned that this regrettable shortcoming in Professor Kirschbaum's book was due to an error with the printers and that it will be corrected in the second edition of the book. RADIO FREIE EUROPE continues its policy of ignoring the rightful demands of the Slovak people a,n d ignoring Americans o,£ Slovak des·c ent and the'ir organizations. Its "Czedhoslovak" desk is sti11 dominated by former Czech National F1ronters, Czech socialists of all shades who co11ialborated with the Czech Reds and Moscow dJUring the Benes-Gottwa~d coalition (1945-lMS). Accordi,n,g to them freedom is for evieryibody except the Slovaks; Czecho.Sl·o vakia and the Czechs must be liberated, but not the Sfovaks. The latter are supposed to be doomed to Czeclh domination eternaUy! What a moclcery of the fundamenml pr,inciples of d,emocracy! IN THE WORKERS' PARADISE, a~ording to Radio Bratislava: Sllova'kia is be-hind in dts milk quota 6,600,000 Lite-rs (4-Jli&-61); thus far the Trelbisov tlistrict owes the State 1,,085,000 liters of milk this year (3-10-61); Dolny Kulbi,n, Cadca, Prievidza, and Zilina did not produce even a deci'liiter per cow (3-9-61); -i n Bratisllava (Street of the De>fende-rs of Peace) women waitetl for meat from 2:00 to 6:30 P. M. (3'-20-61); there is a great albundan:ce of feed for cattle and calves, but it's all rotten-; t!he people work tlhe farim:s, but steal over hallf the production (3-2().,61•); we have no tires, but why? I heard the exiplanlation that the reason for this is the war in Laos (2-U-61.) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 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 41 SLOVAK.IA AND CENTRAL EUROPE CHARLES MURilN, LL.D., Ph.D. "Slovakia Nation. at the Crossroads of Central Europe" by Jioseph M. Kirs·ch'baum, l.JL.D., Ph.D., 1proif.eS1Soc at the Univ•e rsity of 'Montreal, iDeipartment of Sl<avic Studies. Preif,a ce by U. S. Congressma•n Alvin M. Bentley, Member of the Committee olf Forei.gn A'llfo.irs. Pp. x~:x 3711,; 7'2 dlocumEmts, 2 maips, 22 p'ho,togr-a phs, bilbliography, index. Pulb · + lisher Robert S'pe!Ier and Sons, Inc., Ne<w Yol'k. $5.00. Can a book concerning a small nation of four million behind the Iron Curtain draw the attention of the American and Canadian public at a time when Khrushchev is explodin•g nuclear bombs, Castro is defying the powerful U. S., and the struggle between West and East in Asia, Africa, and Europe is intensifying? The American reader might sigh and say: let bygones be bygones, there are more pressing problems today than the fate of four million Slovaks in the immediate neighborhood of the Soviet Union. Actually this might be the reaction of the man in the street who restricts his interests to what is presented to his sight, to the sensational. Professor Kirschbaum's book is by no means sensational in this sense, since it is written for both the intelligent observer of the international politics and those whose task it is to participate in the shaping of the current international situation which seems to contain an amount of irrational elements to a degree probably never equaled in the period of modern history. Kirschbaum's book is a valuable contribution to the understanding of the premises and origins of the presentday situation, restricted to one of its sections: Central Europe. Genetically this seems to be the most important field though the quantitive aspects of the problems in Asia and Africa overshadow the European problems. The author relates the political history of Slovakia and of Central Europe. The period described, however, happens to be the one which preceded the Soviet hegemony over half of Europe. Thus the book contains excellent material offered to the English reader who wants to trace down the errors of the past and is willing both to learn from past errors and re- 42 SLOVAKIA think the categories of living ideas and for<:es which simultaneously are being shaped by and are shaping this world of ours. The basic service this book renders to the reader is that it shows him to what degree the conceptions of the West in regard to the political organization of one of the neuralgic spots in Europe were dominated by facts and to what degree by fancy. To show the interplay of reality and illusion, the genuine and the phony in the official views of the state departments of the West in regard to Central Europe seems to us to be the aim of the book. Further the author shows to what extent these conceptions contained inherent contradictions and were therefore doomed in the long run. Be it noted that some of the prejudfres discussed in the book represent an inheritance from the postW orld-War I arrangements. The book under discussion is divided in four parts : the first is concerned with the past; the second with the present-past; the third with the present-future; and the fourth contains documents, maps, bibliography, and index. Part I introduces the reader to the topic of the book 1by giving the historical background of the problem. The service rendered by the author in this part of the book is the presentation of the Czech and Magyar historians, who usually treat Slovak history as a peripheral phenomenon of the Czech or Magyar past respectively. The characteristics one can as a rule find in the works of Magyar and Czech writers are the following: (a) Functional approach: the Slovaks are simply denied ethnical, linguistic, cultural, social and political individuality and thus are made part of either the Czech or the Magyar nation; the intelligibility of the Slovak history, if they agree at least to take notice of the fact, comes from without, i.e., from Czech history for a Czech writer, and from Magyar history if the writer is a Magyar. The meaning of Slovak history is seen, still according to these views, in an orientation of Slovaks towards loosing their weak traces of identity and ultimately in melting together with the one or the other nation. SLOVAKIA 43 (b) For the principle of interpretation of the history of Slovakia (some writers use this term exclusively in a geographical sense) they use concepts upon which the national aspirations and dreams of their own people are based. It is not unusual for them to project a modern concept of the nineteenth and twentieth century to the ninth and tenth century of Slovak history. An interesting observation follows from the use of this method. If a certain conception of man, society and reality is embraced as unconditionally and metaphysically true, this conception and the laws which constitute its explication can be used as the principle of interpretation of each and every man, society, event and situation. This is exactly what Marxists do. Therefore it was no surprise for those acquainted with Marxist philosophy that a book was recently published in Slovakia in which the Great Moravian Empire of the King Svatopluk of the tenth century is interpreted in terms of a class struggle. A similar method is used by some Czech and Magyar historical writers in their interpretation of Slovak history, however, with the difference that the supposedly universally valid laws of the dialectical and historical materialism are replaced by the concepts of the meaning of history (i.e., either Czech or Magyar history), of national destiny, of mission, of glory, of interests, etc. True, the validity of these concepts is not universal; it is restricted to the one or the other nation. But in relation to the Slovak history, they are purposefully given a universal character, because outside of these concepts the history of Slovakia becomes, in the view of these writers, unintelligible, an irrational collection of unrelated facts which might find their interpretation on the level of Nature but never on the level of Spirit. Many conclusions of the historians in question cannot be understood without knowing these tacit or openly avowed premises. Although Professor Kirschbaum raises no claim to be a professional historian, nevertheless, as the author of many historical essays and several biographies and monographies, he has mastered more than sufficiently the material he is dealing with and is in a solid position to give an accurate SLOVAKIA 44 account on Slovak history, an account based on a sober relativistic character of historical events, thus avoiding the peculiar exclusivities not only of the Czech and Magyar writers, but also of their Slovak antipodes. In Part I , the author shows that the Slovaks belong to the group of the most ancient peoples in Central Europe, they were the first of the Slovanic peoples to adhere to Christianism, always belonged to the orbit .o f the Western world, never were willing to lose and never lost their individuality and ethnical identity. The meaning of all Slovak history can be found only within and never outside the events that make up the drama of the Slovak nation. Part II seems to us to be the central piece of the book. This is the author's proper domain containing the events .of founding the first Czecho-Slovak Republic, the causes of its disintegration, the period of the Slovak Republic, and, finally, the restoration of the Czecho-Slovak Republic .following World War IL By far the greatest attention is given to the period of the Slovak RepU'blic. This is under.standable since it is mainly in this period that the author was active in the political life of Slovakia until ousted from the political scene under pressure of Hitlerite Germans and the small number of Slovak-Nazi sympathizers. Both his 7-year-long stay in neutral Switzerland (for three years as diplomatic representative of the Slovak Republic) and a period of 15-20 years, from the events he describes, permit Professor Kirsch baum to reach a degree of objectivity seldom achieved in books in which the authors touch upon the problems they contributed intrinsically both to .shape and to solve. When a number of the pages is of an apologetic character, not a personal defense of the author is involved but a rejection of the distortions of historical facts and a reproach of not seeing events in their true .light. It is extremely difficult to summarize this part of the book without going into some details and without transgressing the material limits of this reflection. Therefore, we shall restrain ourselves to the essential points which might be of interest to intelligent observers of international politics. 1 SLOVAKIA 45 Part II begins with a demyth!ing of the legends propagated rubout the foundation of the Czecho-Slovak Republic at the end of World War I. The principle which gave birth to the first Republic was self-determination. President Wilson consented to dismemberment of the ethnical mosaic of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the name of the principle of self-determination, and it was in the name of the same principle that another ethnical mosaic was created, i.e., the Czecho-Slovak Republic. No one of the six ethnical groups included in the new state constituted a simple majority of the population. Therefore, the only admissible structure of the state, even if one does not use anything more than common horse sense, was a federation. The leading statesmen of the Paris Peace Conference somehow sensed this, but did not know the facts clearly enough, and the whole problem became in their eyes one of minor importance. In order that at least one of the ethnical nations might constitute a simple majority in the state, a fusion of the two nations into one was needed. This tour de force on the diplomatic level was achieved by the presentation of the one ethnic "Czechoslovak" nation by Masaryk and Benes. Concerning this illusion of a "Czechoslovak" nation, one can find two contradictory legends. According to the one, the Slovaks joined the first republic willingly, over-eagerly, renouncing their own ethnical identity, and adherence to the new state equaled to merging with the Czech ethnical nation (this is the Czech version). In terms of the second version, the Slovaks were forced, duped or tricked into joining the Czech state (the Magyar version). Now, the truth is that the Slovaks were willing cofounders of the Czecho-Slovak Republic and much, possibly too much hope had been placed in the new state. At the same time, however, they were cautious and did not enter the partnership with the Czechs without a written guaranty of their rights which were supposed to secure free and democratic development of their national life (see document No. 2, p. 235-236). The refusal to implement the au- 46 SLOVAKIA tonomy of Slovakia, promised by the Agreement of Pittsburgh of May 30, 1918, and signed by T. G. Masaryk, dominated the relations between the Slovaks and Czechs fer 20 years of the first Republic. Although this unsolved problem of the Republic reflected unfavorably on the military value and strength of the state integrated in a system of alliances headed by France, neither the latter nor any other western government ddsplayed any wisdom to exerting a friendly influence in favor of a solution of this basic problem until it was far too late. When the Sudeten~German problem was used by Hitler as an excuse of attacking Czecho-Slovakia, the lack of internal coherence of the Republic brought an end to the illusion of strength both abroad and within the Republic itself. The Second Czecho-Slovak (post-Munich) Republic, territorially mutilated, vanished from the Central European scene after a brief period of six months. The State was doomed by the very treaties by which it was founded and the Constitution of the Republic of 1920. They were based on too much fantasy and too little facts, too many political illusions and not enough sociological reality. Most of the attention is given by the author to the period of the Slovak Republic, 1939-1945, apparently this being the crux of the problem exposed by Professor Kirschbaum. His thesis, supported by many documents, can be shortly yet fairly resumed as follows: Slovakia, since the dawn of its history, went Westward. The central ideal of modern Slovak political history was and remains the idea of freedom as developed in the West. The right of self-determination of nations is but an insepara•ble aspect of the Western concept of freedom. However, when it comes to the concrete application of the concept of freedom, more than one of the great Western Powers simply ignore or even deny this right to the nations which are unable to support their claim to a free and independent life by physical force. The reasons for this virtual condemnation of some nations to third or fourth grade national existence are SLOVAKIA 47 usually several: economic interests of powerful friends or weak friends who are to be made powerful; lack of information or much bad information, etc. The claims of Slovaks to a free life hit upon deaf ears. More than that. When the Slovaks made the best of a bad situation which they did not create, objections were raised and they were told: if you keep your freedom ( a difficult freedom in an extremely tense situation, it is true), we shall have to use force to put you back where you were in 1938, or even in 1920 ; but if you renounce your will to a free life, be.have as a good child, we shall spare you. Freedom is something you fight for - and this the Slovaks did. But freedom is also what you legitimately expect to be respected for in a community whose distinctive mark is respect for freedom - and this the Slovaks did not receive. There is no doubt that the West takes freedom seriously, as a mission to mankind, yet when it comes to putting into reality the ideal of freedom, the West remains somehow hesitantly in the abstract and condones situations which make the Western concept of freedom look vague and restricted in its application to some nations only, or even to only a segment of the nations. As a result, the cornerstone of Western society, the gospel of freedom and dignity of man assumes a verbal character that can be ultimately argued away by skillful dialectics even of the materialistic brand. This is the reason why the nations on the verge of making their choice between West and East do not easily recognize the difference between the concrete articulation of the freedom of the West and the steps taken to a systematic enslavement of man and nations by the Communist Marxists. The Slovaks do not have to make their decision, this they have done over eleven hundred years ago. No matter what treatment they receive from the Western Powers, they will remain West.Jbound because they cannot deny their own identity. At this point, the somehow apologetic character of the book turns out to be both a silent and delicate rebuke 48 SLOVAKIA to the Western Powers and an eloquent wavning to present and future policy-ma kers of the West no matter which area of the world they are dealing with. An air of tragedy surround s both the reproach and the warning as the nations enslaved by the Soviets might foreshado w the future destiny of those who still use or a,buse their freedom. In this light the mistakes committe d during the period of the Slovak Republic (some of them bearing the fatality of a natural force) become more understan dable. The author does not confine himself to pointing out the errors to be avoided. He proposes a formula for the future arrangem ent of the Central European area which offers the best chance to secure a sound developm ent of the crossroad s between Eastern and Wes tern Europe. Part III of the book, under the section entitled "For a New Democracy in Central Europe," contains the author's views concernin g the future, shared, we believe, by many. The geopolitical location of the nations in question between Germany and Russia, demands a federalist solution, no matter what the political ideologies of the two great neighbori ng powers happen to be. Only by uniting their forces can the Central European nations secure their freedom. This is beyond the point of discussion and, furthermore, being the only logical solution, it receives a conffrmatur by recent and remote history. The question of internal structure of the Central European Federatio n is a much more delicate and less evident one than its necessity in the field of inter-play of powers. The principle on which the author suggests to reconstruct the Central European area can be called, we think, without being unfair to the author who does not use this term, the principle of regional balance of power. This represent s a realistic implemen tation of the moral claim for freedom, the other point beyond discussion. The principle of regional balance of power takes into considera tion the political and economical deve}opment in the direction to greater units, with the ultimate result of a wo~ld (federated) governme nt to be establishe d in the future. At the same time the principle takes into account, human nature being what it is, that the organizat ion of SLOVAKIA 49 greater units (e.g., Western Europe, Central Europe, etc.) must be such that they could safeguard the freedom of concerned nations more on the lowest level of the administration than on the level of the Central government, be the latter of regional, continental, or of world-wide character. The strength and efficiency of the Federal Central Government rests ultimately upon the concrete human persons at the bottom (lack of this was the greaitest weakness of the Czecho-Slovak Republic) who are at the same time the foundation and the aim of any government. There always will ar,ise problems among the nations, as there always will be problems among individuals. The point is that the structure of institutions and organizations must be such that it permits to give an adequate and just answer both to the existing problems and to those which may arise. In this regard again the Czecho-Slovak Republic did not meet these requirements, and the political status of 1918, 1938, or of 1945 stands for the Wes tern concept of the Centra1 European area, in that case, this is a desperately backward concept which lags well behind the development. The visible signs of a change in this concept are represented by some very vague promises and semi-official declarations, but on the whole it is rather hard to guess to what extent there really is a change. What Professor Kirschbaum proposes is this: there is and proba1bly there will remain in the foreseeable future a certa1in antagonism ( call it: problem) among the Central European nations, the outcome of a centuries-long historical developement of this area which will not be eliminated over night (even if the night is as dark as the night under Commuruism). In defense of their national ideal some writers and orators resort at times to real living forces shaped by history, but sometimes to political fossils whose symbolic force and imaginative attraction is a matter of the past because they are without any meaning for the man of the second half of the twentieth century. Let us speak a more concrete language. The Masaryk and Benes governments molded their national aspirations to the image of the former Bohemian kings who in a certain period of time happened to be Roman-Germanic em- 50 SLOVAKIA perors who ruled the Central European area. The Hungarian government, on the other hand, claJimed the title of makers and organizers of Central Europe in the restricted sense of the word, because there was a period in which the nations of "Hungaria" actively participated together with the Magyars in constructive work for the common good. The two nations, i.e., the Czechs and the Magyars, possessing roughly an equal potential force, set themselves on a search for a surplus of power which would give them an edge over the power of the respective partner-opponent. Both agreed that Slovakia could represent this hoped for surplus, and, to no one's surprise, political writers "uncovered historical facts which favored either the one or the other conception of Slovak history, with the result of what we called a:bove the functional approach to the past of Slovakia. As a matter of fact, the theory of the surplus value of Slovakia for the Czechs and for the Magyars seemed to have received a confirmation by the political events of the twentieth century. PTior to World War I, when Slovakia was a part of Hungary, the Magyars held a wide edge over the Czechs. When, however , Slovakia joined forces with the Czechs, the latter emerged as the stronger power in the valley of the Danube. The only trouble with these two solutions was that besides being radically unjust, they led to a catastrophy of all the involved nations. There are other theoretical possibilities, i.e., Slovakia as a part of Poland, or as part of the Ukraine or Russia, yet we think that they would not yield better results since they seem to us to be even of a more violent nature than those just mentioned. It follows that the only realistic way to secure a regional balance of power and to safeguard the freedom of all nations in this erea is to recognize Slovakia as one of the national units in the Central Europeon Federation. The more so that only this solution renders justice to the ideal of freedom of nations. Fo:vtunately, the CentTal European nations are begiinning to realize the imperative character of this solution, and there is more than one confirmation of the development in the political thinking of nations under the Communist yoke towards this solution. SLOVAKIA 51 What is lagging in the most unfortunate way behind this evolution is, e.g., Radio Free Europe and the Voice of America (Canadian and British, Rome and Madrid broadcasts have their Slovak sections) and, it would seem, since these are related to some officials of the U. S. State Department in an unofficial way, that these officials of the State Department are behind recent developments. The fact that the "statesmen," who substantially contributed to the present predicament of Central Europe, find not only willing ears to listen and, but also active support from some official circles of the U. S. is in support of our opinion. Part IV of the book contains a valuable collection of documents, many of them available for the first time to the English reader. This ensemble of documents control the author's affirmation and let the reader see the other side of the medal which, up to now, has been presented to the Western public in a purely functional way. The weakest part of the book is the bibliography. It is extremely summary - some 150 books referred to in the book not being listed. We learned that this regrettable shortcoming in Professor Kirschbaum's book was due to an error with the printers and that it will be corrected in the second edition of the book. RADIO FREIE EUROPE continues its policy of ignoring the rightful demands of the Slovak people a,n d ignoring Americans o,£ Slovak des·c ent and the'ir organizations. Its "Czedhoslovak" desk is sti11 dominated by former Czech National F1ronters, Czech socialists of all shades who co11ialborated with the Czech Reds and Moscow dJUring the Benes-Gottwa~d coalition (1945-lMS). Accordi,n,g to them freedom is for evieryibody except the Slovaks; Czecho.Sl·o vakia and the Czechs must be liberated, but not the Sfovaks. The latter are supposed to be doomed to Czeclh domination eternaUy! What a moclcery of the fundamenml pr,inciples of d,emocracy! IN THE WORKERS' PARADISE, a~ording to Radio Bratislava: Sllova'kia is be-hind in dts milk quota 6,600,000 Lite-rs (4-Jli&-61); thus far the Trelbisov tlistrict owes the State 1,,085,000 liters of milk this year (3-10-61); Dolny Kulbi,n, Cadca, Prievidza, and Zilina did not produce even a deci'liiter per cow (3-9-61); -i n Bratisllava (Street of the De>fende-rs of Peace) women waitetl for meat from 2:00 to 6:30 P. M. (3'-20-61); there is a great albundan:ce of feed for cattle and calves, but it's all rotten-; t!he people work tlhe farim:s, but steal over hallf the production (3-2().,61•); we have no tires, but why? I heard the exiplanlation that the reason for this is the war in Laos (2-U-61.)  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Slovakia and Central Europe Description An account of the resource Charles Murin, LL.D., Ph.D. Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 2 (34), September-December 1961 pp. 41-51 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Murín, Karol, 1913-1998 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1961 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/10e68fbdd8ce87e96ba2f99b53a79fbd.pdf 3d17297cd173f1813d92dbf10fef63f3 PDF Text Text 52 SLOVAKIA SELF-DETERMINATION FOR ALL (Address of P. A. Hrobak in Cologne, Germany, on the occasion of Su• deten German Day, May 20, 1961. The Charles IV Award was given Mr. Hrobak in 1961 by the Sudeten German Council of West Germany.) I feel highly honored, privileged and extremely happy to be with you here today for this "'Sudeten German Day" to voice together with you our rededication to the fundamental principles which are the foundation of every genuine democracy, the principles of justice and liberty. At the very outset, from the bottom of my heart, I thank the Sudeten German Council for the honor of bestowing on me the Award of Charles IV, particularly Herr Minister HansChristoph Seebohm and Herr Dr. Walter Becher. In the name of the Slovak League of America, the outstanding and most representative civic and cultural organization of American of Slovak descent, I greet you sincerely and pray that God hastens the day of your return to your ancestral homeland where you shall be able to fully enjoy the exercise of your God-given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We commend you wholeheartedly for your patience and, particularly, for the great courage displayed throughout the years under most trydng circumstances to uphold the right of all peoples to self-determina'tion, the right of nations to freely govern themselves as they best see fit. The Slovaks of America are grateful to the West German Government and to the German people for offering asylum to Slovaks who fled the terror and violence which enveloped their homeland in 1945. By the practical application of the Go'lden Rule (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you), you have earned the admiration and respect of the entire free world. The hristory of the Sudetenland is very much like the history of Slovakia. The people of both territories were faced with a "fait accompli" in 1918, with their demand to exercise the right of self-determinaiton completely ignored. This happened after a war which was fought for the rights of nationality and of national self-determina- �SLOVAKIA 53 tion and "a territorial settlement ... ibased on the right of self-determination or the consent of the governed" was one of three fundamental conditions of a permanent peace. With the creation of Czecho-Slovakia under the leadership of T. G. Masaryk and Edward Benes both the Sudeten Germans and the Slovaks were exploited and treated like second-class citizens. The Sudeten Germans, like the Slovaks, wanted nothing that belonged to the Czech people; they did not seek Czech territory, nor the spiritual or material wealth of the Czechs. And they did not want special treatment, but only that they, too, be able to exercise the prerogative of self-determination. Because this right of self-determination was denied the Sudetenland Germans and the Slovaks, amd others, a grave injustice was done them. The vio1ation of the principle of self-determination at that time led to the crisis of democracy in Central Europe and eventually to the horrible holocaust of World War Two. There was and still is nothing wrong with the great democratic principle of self-determination. Objective observers, I am sure, will agree that the disintegration of large political and economic units following the First World War and the creation of incoherent smaller units at a time when strategic and economic fa:ctors demanded more integration was the result of applying the principle of self-determination avbitrarily. At that time, the notion to build national states in East Central Europe, where many nationalities or ethnic groups had lived intermingled for many centuries had gained the favor of the peacemakers. Unfortunately, experienced and able statesmen and political experts allowed themselves to be persuaded by politically inexperienced, shortsighted and morally unbalanced men, particularly by T. G. Masaryk and Edward Benes, to accept the idea of creating political units which had no basis in the history of the peoples concerned. Tearing asunder large multi-national political units to esta:blish smaller multi-national units under the guise of the great democratic principle of self-determination could only result in political monstrosities. And that, in my con- �54 SLOVAKIA sidered opm1on, is exactly what, for example, Czecho-Slovakia was - and still is. This violation of the Wilsonian principle presaged only more trouble not only for Central Europe but also for the whole world. The attempt to build a national state in traditionally ,a nd historically multi-national areas failed - and failed miserably. It is a matter of historical record that the violation of the great democratic principle of self-determination led first to discontent and prevented wholesome and peaceful cooperation. As the years rolled by it engendered and fomented hatred of those who ruled high and mighty, utterly disregarding the Creator-endowed rights of the other nations within the state, particularly, in the case of Czecho~Slovakia, the rights of millions of Sudeten Germans and Slovaks. The arbitrary and unjust reorganization of East Central Europe between the wars, characterized as it was by chauvinism, contributed largely to the outbreak of the most horrible slaughter in the history of mankind, and, by a strange and distorted logic, resulted in vengeance and retri~ bution not against those who violated the principle of selfdetermination, but against the victims of chauvinism and oppression in the interwar period. Certainly it must be crystal clear today that the policy of vengeance and unlbridled retribution, depriving millions of Central Europeans of their homes without any compensation and expelling them on the grounds of "collective guilt" can never be justified in the minds of men who are truly interested in justice and the right. The charge of collective guilt, so hastily accepted by some governments against the defeated nations and their nationals in other countries, was and still is, in my humble opinion, as absurd as the label of collective innocence t:o which the victors laid claim. History shall never b'e able to reconcile and justify the brutal mass expulsions of the Sudeten Germans and others which took place after 1945. It is not my intention to resort to recriminations. I believe that peoples of the free democratic world should be more concerned with remedying the injustices of the past �SLOVAKIA 55 - and then pushing on in earnest with the task of establishing a just and lasting peace. First of all, it seems to me, restitution must be made by allowing all expellees to return to their homelands and returning to them all their possessions. Then the East Central European peoples should return to the great democratic principle of the right of self-determination and use it as a basis of a new and more just organization of the area, applying the principle to all nations without exception, with due consideration for the pressing demands of the time. I am greatly inclined to believe the claim or proposition that there is only one answer to the problem of the reorganization of East Central Europe: a federation of free peoples or free states - a United States of East Central Europe or a United States encompassing the whole of Europe proper - guaranteeing the several states composing it full states' rights so that they might freely cultivate and develop their own national traditions, their languages and cultures, not only in their own interest, but also in the highest interest of the welfare and security of the federation. With the passage of time, I am sure, a situation similar to that in the United States of America would develop, where citizens of all ethnic origins and religious persuasions are not only free, but even encouraged, to preserve and enhance the national traditions and customs of their ancestors. History has taught us this one great lesson: no nation can have, or presume to have, a monopoly on freedom; and certainly no nation or state has the right to enslave other nations or states. Freedom is the greatest of God's gifts and blessings to mankind; it is the universal heritage of all the ages. The more we develop and share it, the more abundant are its fruits, and the more secure is our own freedom. History has also taught us that evil, unprincipled men cannot make good citizens and so much the less good public servants and honest advocates of lasting peace. It is impossible that a nation of infidels and idolaters should be a nation · of freemen. It is when people forget God - the ultimate Truth and Prince of Peace - that tyrants forge their �56 SLOVAKIA chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. In America "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain un:alienaJble righ'ts, and that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." But we do not hold that life is so dear and peace so sweet that it must be purchased at the price of chains and slavery! The people of the democratic republic of the United States of America believe that all men should be free; that all nations without exception have an inherent, God-given right to establish their own political units in their ancestral homelands and to determine their form of government. If at times in the past the impression was given that this is not so, that is the fault not of the American people, but the fault of those in authority who as their representatives yielded to the force of expediency, forgetting that expedients are but of the hour - principles for the ages. The time has come, I believe, that we must do more than just pay lip service to the nolJle principles which are the foundation of genuine democracy and liberty. The time has come for all men to seek the things that unite them and not divide them; the time has come for all free nations to demand a stop to the shadow-boxing in the United Nations and more real action in support of the noble aims of its charter; the time has come to deal justly with all, not just some, crimes against humanity no matter by whom they were perpetrated: the time is here to supplement words for peace with concrete actions for a genuine and lasting peace. But how can we possibly expect a just peace and a lasting settlement, as long as the great democratic principle of self-determination is denied the Sudeten Germans and the Slovaks and other nations, and as long as the right of expellees and forcibly departed ethnic groups to freely return to their ancestral homelands is not recognized and respected? Indeed, as long as some earthly power is seriously dedicated to the enslavement of mankind? We in the Slovak League of America still regard the brutal expulsion of the Germans from their centuries-old �57 SLOVAKIA homeland as immoral and criminal. The expulsion of any people from their rightful homeland cannot be justified by or reconciled with the expressed political beliefs of any civilized, genuinely democratic country. And certainly not with the political beliefs of the United States of America. In the land of my parents - the land inhabited by the Slovak people since time immemorial - the Slovaks have lived with the Germans in peace and friendship for many long years. Here is a shining example of the cohabitation of a nation with a minority. Indeed, a cohabitation much like that of many ethnic groups of America. There is nothing better I could wish for the whole of Europe, for the entire world. God bless you and all of Germany! God bless America and the rest of the free world! And may God hasten the day of liberation of my hapless Slovak people! LONG-RANGE m1i:ssile ramps are bei,n,g constructed by the Red Czechs of Prague i,n, Slova'kia. 'Dhey are locla'ted near the town, Olf Spi.s• ska Nova Vres a·nd are the first Communist intercon:tinental missile siltes located outside the bordrers of the Soviet Union. Medilum-range siites harvre been operationia1 i,n, Czecho-Slovakiia at bases near Uzhorod, Kosice, RufomlbeTok, Frydek (all in Slovaki-a) and Moravska Ostrava siruce Jruly 1959. The Czech Reds together with the Kremlin preferred to sel~ct Slovakia foc most of these sites, since they know tha't they will.I be the prdmary targets in the event of a nuclear war. The Slovaks are expendaible, accOTdi,n-g to the Czech Red bosses. lJ(l lJ(l lJ(l helart" as it is teruned by Prague R-eds, were draJWn up lin the USSR. It wiU be the largest foundry in alll. Europe and one of the ten largest works of its kind in the world. It will cost an esti• mated 10.5 binions Crow,ns. S·o viet experts are in charge Olf construction and operation. lJ(l )l{l )l{l IN C2lECiHO-S·L OVAKIA pension- ers were recalled to work in October and women were recruited to make up for ma,n,poiwer lost in the -emergency bulild-up of the armed forces, a'Ccord'ing to offiloilal Prague sources. Forty per cent of the adult women in Czecho-Sllovakiia already held jobs in the paradise of the Red Czechs. )l{l )l{l )l{l "CRUCIFIXE•S must go" - ac- ONIE OF THE MOST urgent as· cordling to tlhe Czech Reds under ,si:gnimenrt:s of the new Five-Year Plan (1001-'1965) Olf the Czech Oommunist Party's Oen'.tTal Committee is the completion ·o f the huge Ironwoiics ini K!osice, Slovakia. Blueprinrt:s for 1Jhis "second steel Anton,ini Novotny. NotMng has changed ffilllCh sin'Ce the birth of Czecho-Slovaklia. Novotny is contin udng the policy of Masaryk and Benes: in 1918, c,rucif.ixes were hauled in wagons to manure pill.es! � 52 SLOVAKIA SELF-DETERMINATION FOR ALL (Address of P. A. Hrobak in Cologne, Germany, on the occasion of Su• deten German Day, May 20, 1961. The Charles IV Award was given Mr. Hrobak in 1961 by the Sudeten German Council of West Germany.) I feel highly honored, privileged and extremely happy to be with you here today for this "'Sudeten German Day" to voice together with you our rededication to the fundamental principles which are the foundation of every genuine democracy, the principles of justice and liberty. At the very outset, from the bottom of my heart, I thank the Sudeten German Council for the honor of bestowing on me the Award of Charles IV, particularly Herr Minister HansChristoph Seebohm and Herr Dr. Walter Becher. In the name of the Slovak League of America, the outstanding and most representative civic and cultural organization of American of Slovak descent, I greet you sincerely and pray that God hastens the day of your return to your ancestral homeland where you shall be able to fully enjoy the exercise of your God-given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We commend you wholeheartedly for your patience and, particularly, for the great courage displayed throughout the years under most trydng circumstances to uphold the right of all peoples to self-determina'tion, the right of nations to freely govern themselves as they best see fit. The Slovaks of America are grateful to the West German Government and to the German people for offering asylum to Slovaks who fled the terror and violence which enveloped their homeland in 1945. By the practical application of the Go'lden Rule (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you), you have earned the admiration and respect of the entire free world. The hristory of the Sudetenland is very much like the history of Slovakia. The people of both territories were faced with a "fait accompli" in 1918, with their demand to exercise the right of self-determinaiton completely ignored. This happened after a war which was fought for the rights of nationality and of national self-determina- �SLOVAKIA 53 tion and "a territorial settlement ... ibased on the right of self-determination or the consent of the governed" was one of three fundamental conditions of a permanent peace. With the creation of Czecho-Slovakia under the leadership of T. G. Masaryk and Edward Benes both the Sudeten Germans and the Slovaks were exploited and treated like second-class citizens. The Sudeten Germans, like the Slovaks, wanted nothing that belonged to the Czech people; they did not seek Czech territory, nor the spiritual or material wealth of the Czechs. And they did not want special treatment, but only that they, too, be able to exercise the prerogative of self-determination. Because this right of self-determination was denied the Sudetenland Germans and the Slovaks, amd others, a grave injustice was done them. The vio1ation of the principle of self-determination at that time led to the crisis of democracy in Central Europe and eventually to the horrible holocaust of World War Two. There was and still is nothing wrong with the great democratic principle of self-determination. Objective observers, I am sure, will agree that the disintegration of large political and economic units following the First World War and the creation of incoherent smaller units at a time when strategic and economic fa:ctors demanded more integration was the result of applying the principle of self-determination avbitrarily. At that time, the notion to build national states in East Central Europe, where many nationalities or ethnic groups had lived intermingled for many centuries had gained the favor of the peacemakers. Unfortunately, experienced and able statesmen and political experts allowed themselves to be persuaded by politically inexperienced, shortsighted and morally unbalanced men, particularly by T. G. Masaryk and Edward Benes, to accept the idea of creating political units which had no basis in the history of the peoples concerned. Tearing asunder large multi-national political units to esta:blish smaller multi-national units under the guise of the great democratic principle of self-determination could only result in political monstrosities. And that, in my con- �54 SLOVAKIA sidered opm1on, is exactly what, for example, Czecho-Slovakia was - and still is. This violation of the Wilsonian principle presaged only more trouble not only for Central Europe but also for the whole world. The attempt to build a national state in traditionally ,a nd historically multi-national areas failed - and failed miserably. It is a matter of historical record that the violation of the great democratic principle of self-determination led first to discontent and prevented wholesome and peaceful cooperation. As the years rolled by it engendered and fomented hatred of those who ruled high and mighty, utterly disregarding the Creator-endowed rights of the other nations within the state, particularly, in the case of Czecho~Slovakia, the rights of millions of Sudeten Germans and Slovaks. The arbitrary and unjust reorganization of East Central Europe between the wars, characterized as it was by chauvinism, contributed largely to the outbreak of the most horrible slaughter in the history of mankind, and, by a strange and distorted logic, resulted in vengeance and retri~ bution not against those who violated the principle of selfdetermination, but against the victims of chauvinism and oppression in the interwar period. Certainly it must be crystal clear today that the policy of vengeance and unlbridled retribution, depriving millions of Central Europeans of their homes without any compensation and expelling them on the grounds of "collective guilt" can never be justified in the minds of men who are truly interested in justice and the right. The charge of collective guilt, so hastily accepted by some governments against the defeated nations and their nationals in other countries, was and still is, in my humble opinion, as absurd as the label of collective innocence t:o which the victors laid claim. History shall never b'e able to reconcile and justify the brutal mass expulsions of the Sudeten Germans and others which took place after 1945. It is not my intention to resort to recriminations. I believe that peoples of the free democratic world should be more concerned with remedying the injustices of the past �SLOVAKIA 55 - and then pushing on in earnest with the task of establishing a just and lasting peace. First of all, it seems to me, restitution must be made by allowing all expellees to return to their homelands and returning to them all their possessions. Then the East Central European peoples should return to the great democratic principle of the right of self-determination and use it as a basis of a new and more just organization of the area, applying the principle to all nations without exception, with due consideration for the pressing demands of the time. I am greatly inclined to believe the claim or proposition that there is only one answer to the problem of the reorganization of East Central Europe: a federation of free peoples or free states - a United States of East Central Europe or a United States encompassing the whole of Europe proper - guaranteeing the several states composing it full states' rights so that they might freely cultivate and develop their own national traditions, their languages and cultures, not only in their own interest, but also in the highest interest of the welfare and security of the federation. With the passage of time, I am sure, a situation similar to that in the United States of America would develop, where citizens of all ethnic origins and religious persuasions are not only free, but even encouraged, to preserve and enhance the national traditions and customs of their ancestors. History has taught us this one great lesson: no nation can have, or presume to have, a monopoly on freedom; and certainly no nation or state has the right to enslave other nations or states. Freedom is the greatest of God's gifts and blessings to mankind; it is the universal heritage of all the ages. The more we develop and share it, the more abundant are its fruits, and the more secure is our own freedom. History has also taught us that evil, unprincipled men cannot make good citizens and so much the less good public servants and honest advocates of lasting peace. It is impossible that a nation of infidels and idolaters should be a nation · of freemen. It is when people forget God - the ultimate Truth and Prince of Peace - that tyrants forge their �56 SLOVAKIA chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. In America "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain un:alienaJble righ'ts, and that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." But we do not hold that life is so dear and peace so sweet that it must be purchased at the price of chains and slavery! The people of the democratic republic of the United States of America believe that all men should be free; that all nations without exception have an inherent, God-given right to establish their own political units in their ancestral homelands and to determine their form of government. If at times in the past the impression was given that this is not so, that is the fault not of the American people, but the fault of those in authority who as their representatives yielded to the force of expediency, forgetting that expedients are but of the hour - principles for the ages. The time has come, I believe, that we must do more than just pay lip service to the nolJle principles which are the foundation of genuine democracy and liberty. The time has come for all men to seek the things that unite them and not divide them; the time has come for all free nations to demand a stop to the shadow-boxing in the United Nations and more real action in support of the noble aims of its charter; the time has come to deal justly with all, not just some, crimes against humanity no matter by whom they were perpetrated: the time is here to supplement words for peace with concrete actions for a genuine and lasting peace. But how can we possibly expect a just peace and a lasting settlement, as long as the great democratic principle of self-determination is denied the Sudeten Germans and the Slovaks and other nations, and as long as the right of expellees and forcibly departed ethnic groups to freely return to their ancestral homelands is not recognized and respected? Indeed, as long as some earthly power is seriously dedicated to the enslavement of mankind? We in the Slovak League of America still regard the brutal expulsion of the Germans from their centuries-old �57 SLOVAKIA homeland as immoral and criminal. The expulsion of any people from their rightful homeland cannot be justified by or reconciled with the expressed political beliefs of any civilized, genuinely democratic country. And certainly not with the political beliefs of the United States of America. In the land of my parents - the land inhabited by the Slovak people since time immemorial - the Slovaks have lived with the Germans in peace and friendship for many long years. Here is a shining example of the cohabitation of a nation with a minority. Indeed, a cohabitation much like that of many ethnic groups of America. There is nothing better I could wish for the whole of Europe, for the entire world. God bless you and all of Germany! God bless America and the rest of the free world! And may God hasten the day of liberation of my hapless Slovak people! LONG-RANGE m1i:ssile ramps are bei,n,g constructed by the Red Czechs of Prague i,n, Slova'kia. 'Dhey are locla'ted near the town, Olf Spi.s• ska Nova Vres a·nd are the first Communist intercon:tinental missile siltes located outside the bordrers of the Soviet Union. Medilum-range siites harvre been operationia1 i,n, Czecho-Slovakiia at bases near Uzhorod, Kosice, RufomlbeTok, Frydek (all in Slovaki-a) and Moravska Ostrava siruce Jruly 1959. The Czech Reds together with the Kremlin preferred to sel~ct Slovakia foc most of these sites, since they know tha't they will.I be the prdmary targets in the event of a nuclear war. The Slovaks are expendaible, accOTdi,n-g to the Czech Red bosses. lJ(l lJ(l lJ(l helart" as it is teruned by Prague R-eds, were draJWn up lin the USSR. It wiU be the largest foundry in alll. Europe and one of the ten largest works of its kind in the world. It will cost an esti• mated 10.5 binions Crow,ns. S·o viet experts are in charge Olf construction and operation. lJ(l )l{l )l{l IN C2lECiHO-S·L OVAKIA pension- ers were recalled to work in October and women were recruited to make up for ma,n,poiwer lost in the -emergency bulild-up of the armed forces, a'Ccord'ing to offiloilal Prague sources. Forty per cent of the adult women in Czecho-Sllovakiia already held jobs in the paradise of the Red Czechs. )l{l )l{l )l{l "CRUCIFIXE•S must go" - ac- ONIE OF THE MOST urgent as· cordling to tlhe Czech Reds under ,si:gnimenrt:s of the new Five-Year Plan (1001-'1965) Olf the Czech Oommunist Party's Oen'.tTal Committee is the completion ·o f the huge Ironwoiics ini K!osice, Slovakia. Blueprinrt:s for 1Jhis "second steel Anton,ini Novotny. NotMng has changed ffilllCh sin'Ce the birth of Czecho-Slovaklia. Novotny is contin udng the policy of Masaryk and Benes: in 1918, c,rucif.ixes were hauled in wagons to manure pill.es! � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 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 SELF-DETERMINATION FOR ALL (Address of P. A. Hrobak in Cologne, Germany, on the occasion of Su• deten German Day, May 20, 1961. The Charles IV Award was given Mr. Hrobak in 1961 by the Sudeten German Council of West Germany.) I feel highly honored, privileged and extremely happy to be with you here today for this "'Sudeten German Day" to voice together with you our rededication to the fundamental principles which are the foundation of every genuine democracy, the principles of justice and liberty. At the very outset, from the bottom of my heart, I thank the Sudeten German Council for the honor of bestowing on me the Award of Charles IV, particularly Herr Minister HansChristoph Seebohm and Herr Dr. Walter Becher. In the name of the Slovak League of America, the outstanding and most representative civic and cultural organization of American of Slovak descent, I greet you sincerely and pray that God hastens the day of your return to your ancestral homeland where you shall be able to fully enjoy the exercise of your God-given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We commend you wholeheartedly for your patience and, particularly, for the great courage displayed throughout the years under most trydng circumstances to uphold the right of all peoples to self-determina'tion, the right of nations to freely govern themselves as they best see fit. The Slovaks of America are grateful to the West German Government and to the German people for offering asylum to Slovaks who fled the terror and violence which enveloped their homeland in 1945. By the practical application of the Go'lden Rule (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you), you have earned the admiration and respect of the entire free world. The hristory of the Sudetenland is very much like the history of Slovakia. The people of both territories were faced with a "fait accompli" in 1918, with their demand to exercise the right of self-determinaiton completely ignored. This happened after a war which was fought for the rights of nationality and of national self-determina- SLOVAKIA 53 tion and "a territorial settlement ... ibased on the right of self-determination or the consent of the governed" was one of three fundamental conditions of a permanent peace. With the creation of Czecho-Slovakia under the leadership of T. G. Masaryk and Edward Benes both the Sudeten Germans and the Slovaks were exploited and treated like second-class citizens. The Sudeten Germans, like the Slovaks, wanted nothing that belonged to the Czech people; they did not seek Czech territory, nor the spiritual or material wealth of the Czechs. And they did not want special treatment, but only that they, too, be able to exercise the prerogative of self-determination. Because this right of self-determination was denied the Sudetenland Germans and the Slovaks, amd others, a grave injustice was done them. The vio1ation of the principle of self-determination at that time led to the crisis of democracy in Central Europe and eventually to the horrible holocaust of World War Two. There was and still is nothing wrong with the great democratic principle of self-determination. Objective observers, I am sure, will agree that the disintegration of large political and economic units following the First World War and the creation of incoherent smaller units at a time when strategic and economic fa:ctors demanded more integration was the result of applying the principle of self-determination avbitrarily. At that time, the notion to build national states in East Central Europe, where many nationalities or ethnic groups had lived intermingled for many centuries had gained the favor of the peacemakers. Unfortunately, experienced and able statesmen and political experts allowed themselves to be persuaded by politically inexperienced, shortsighted and morally unbalanced men, particularly by T. G. Masaryk and Edward Benes, to accept the idea of creating political units which had no basis in the history of the peoples concerned. Tearing asunder large multi-national political units to esta:blish smaller multi-national units under the guise of the great democratic principle of self-determination could only result in political monstrosities. And that, in my con- 54 SLOVAKIA sidered opm1on, is exactly what, for example, Czecho-Slovakia was - and still is. This violation of the Wilsonian principle presaged only more trouble not only for Central Europe but also for the whole world. The attempt to build a national state in traditionally ,a nd historically multi-national areas failed - and failed miserably. It is a matter of historical record that the violation of the great democratic principle of self-determination led first to discontent and prevented wholesome and peaceful cooperation. As the years rolled by it engendered and fomented hatred of those who ruled high and mighty, utterly disregarding the Creator-endowed rights of the other nations within the state, particularly, in the case of Czecho~Slovakia, the rights of millions of Sudeten Germans and Slovaks. The arbitrary and unjust reorganization of East Central Europe between the wars, characterized as it was by chauvinism, contributed largely to the outbreak of the most horrible slaughter in the history of mankind, and, by a strange and distorted logic, resulted in vengeance and retri~ bution not against those who violated the principle of selfdetermination, but against the victims of chauvinism and oppression in the interwar period. Certainly it must be crystal clear today that the policy of vengeance and unlbridled retribution, depriving millions of Central Europeans of their homes without any compensation and expelling them on the grounds of "collective guilt" can never be justified in the minds of men who are truly interested in justice and the right. The charge of collective guilt, so hastily accepted by some governments against the defeated nations and their nationals in other countries, was and still is, in my humble opinion, as absurd as the label of collective innocence t:o which the victors laid claim. History shall never b'e able to reconcile and justify the brutal mass expulsions of the Sudeten Germans and others which took place after 1945. It is not my intention to resort to recriminations. I believe that peoples of the free democratic world should be more concerned with remedying the injustices of the past SLOVAKIA 55 - and then pushing on in earnest with the task of establishing a just and lasting peace. First of all, it seems to me, restitution must be made by allowing all expellees to return to their homelands and returning to them all their possessions. Then the East Central European peoples should return to the great democratic principle of the right of self-determination and use it as a basis of a new and more just organization of the area, applying the principle to all nations without exception, with due consideration for the pressing demands of the time. I am greatly inclined to believe the claim or proposition that there is only one answer to the problem of the reorganization of East Central Europe: a federation of free peoples or free states - a United States of East Central Europe or a United States encompassing the whole of Europe proper - guaranteeing the several states composing it full states' rights so that they might freely cultivate and develop their own national traditions, their languages and cultures, not only in their own interest, but also in the highest interest of the welfare and security of the federation. With the passage of time, I am sure, a situation similar to that in the United States of America would develop, where citizens of all ethnic origins and religious persuasions are not only free, but even encouraged, to preserve and enhance the national traditions and customs of their ancestors. History has taught us this one great lesson: no nation can have, or presume to have, a monopoly on freedom; and certainly no nation or state has the right to enslave other nations or states. Freedom is the greatest of God's gifts and blessings to mankind; it is the universal heritage of all the ages. The more we develop and share it, the more abundant are its fruits, and the more secure is our own freedom. History has also taught us that evil, unprincipled men cannot make good citizens and so much the less good public servants and honest advocates of lasting peace. It is impossible that a nation of infidels and idolaters should be a nation · of freemen. It is when people forget God - the ultimate Truth and Prince of Peace - that tyrants forge their 56 SLOVAKIA chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. In America "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain un:alienaJble righ'ts, and that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." But we do not hold that life is so dear and peace so sweet that it must be purchased at the price of chains and slavery! The people of the democratic republic of the United States of America believe that all men should be free; that all nations without exception have an inherent, God-given right to establish their own political units in their ancestral homelands and to determine their form of government. If at times in the past the impression was given that this is not so, that is the fault not of the American people, but the fault of those in authority who as their representatives yielded to the force of expediency, forgetting that expedients are but of the hour - principles for the ages. The time has come, I believe, that we must do more than just pay lip service to the nolJle principles which are the foundation of genuine democracy and liberty. The time has come for all men to seek the things that unite them and not divide them; the time has come for all free nations to demand a stop to the shadow-boxing in the United Nations and more real action in support of the noble aims of its charter; the time has come to deal justly with all, not just some, crimes against humanity no matter by whom they were perpetrated: the time is here to supplement words for peace with concrete actions for a genuine and lasting peace. But how can we possibly expect a just peace and a lasting settlement, as long as the great democratic principle of self-determination is denied the Sudeten Germans and the Slovaks and other nations, and as long as the right of expellees and forcibly departed ethnic groups to freely return to their ancestral homelands is not recognized and respected? Indeed, as long as some earthly power is seriously dedicated to the enslavement of mankind? We in the Slovak League of America still regard the brutal expulsion of the Germans from their centuries-old 57 SLOVAKIA homeland as immoral and criminal. The expulsion of any people from their rightful homeland cannot be justified by or reconciled with the expressed political beliefs of any civilized, genuinely democratic country. And certainly not with the political beliefs of the United States of America. In the land of my parents - the land inhabited by the Slovak people since time immemorial - the Slovaks have lived with the Germans in peace and friendship for many long years. Here is a shining example of the cohabitation of a nation with a minority. Indeed, a cohabitation much like that of many ethnic groups of America. There is nothing better I could wish for the whole of Europe, for the entire world. God bless you and all of Germany! God bless America and the rest of the free world! And may God hasten the day of liberation of my hapless Slovak people! LONG-RANGE m1i:ssile ramps are bei,n,g constructed by the Red Czechs of Prague i,n, Slova'kia. 'Dhey are locla'ted near the town, Olf Spi.s• ska Nova Vres a·nd are the first Communist intercon:tinental missile siltes located outside the bordrers of the Soviet Union. Medilum-range siites harvre been operationia1 i,n, Czecho-Slovakiia at bases near Uzhorod, Kosice, RufomlbeTok, Frydek (all in Slovaki-a) and Moravska Ostrava siruce Jruly 1959. The Czech Reds together with the Kremlin preferred to sel~ct Slovakia foc most of these sites, since they know tha't they will.I be the prdmary targets in the event of a nuclear war. The Slovaks are expendaible, accOTdi,n-g to the Czech Red bosses. lJ(l lJ(l lJ(l helart" as it is teruned by Prague R-eds, were draJWn up lin the USSR. It wiU be the largest foundry in alll. Europe and one of the ten largest works of its kind in the world. It will cost an esti• mated 10.5 binions Crow,ns. S·o viet experts are in charge Olf construction and operation. lJ(l )l{l )l{l IN C2lECiHO-S·L OVAKIA pension- ers were recalled to work in October and women were recruited to make up for ma,n,poiwer lost in the -emergency bulild-up of the armed forces, a'Ccord'ing to offiloilal Prague sources. Forty per cent of the adult women in Czecho-Sllovakiia already held jobs in the paradise of the Red Czechs. )l{l )l{l )l{l "CRUCIFIXE•S must go" - ac- ONIE OF THE MOST urgent as· cordling to tlhe Czech Reds under ,si:gnimenrt:s of the new Five-Year Plan (1001-'1965) Olf the Czech Oommunist Party's Oen'.tTal Committee is the completion ·o f the huge Ironwoiics ini K!osice, Slovakia. Blueprinrt:s for 1Jhis "second steel Anton,ini Novotny. NotMng has changed ffilllCh sin'Ce the birth of Czecho-Slovaklia. Novotny is contin udng the policy of Masaryk and Benes: in 1918, c,rucif.ixes were hauled in wagons to manure pill.es!  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Self-Determination for All Description An account of the resource Address of P. A. Hrobak in Cologne, Germany, on the occasion of Sudeten German Day, May 20, 1961 Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 2 (34), September-December 1961 pp. 52-57 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hrobak, Philip Anthony, 1904-1964 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1961 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/ad5ad6569148152357724a975663bcdc.pdf 85e08313d02b14b2643eec56feb18bbf PDF Text Text 58:.__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _...::S:.:L:.;:O...::V..:..AKIA,..:.._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ PRESIDENT TISO AND AMERICA BY KONSTO CULE1N During the war, the propaganda of Dr. Edward Benes, headquarters London, prevailed. The little man, who always had a plan, had surrendered Czecho-Slovakia and its peoples to Hitler at Munich, in 1938, without even consulting parliament. Benes then resigned and fled the country. He fled the country not only to escape capture by the Nazis, but also to escape the wrath of his own people, the Czechs, who felt that he had betrayed them. Of course, after he settled in London and had time to think a-bout his cowardly flight from responsibility, he left no stone unturned to justify his actions. Secretly he swore vengeance on the Slovaks and the Sudeten Germans - and even the Czechs who dared to tell the truth about what had happened in Czecho-Slovakia while Benes was top man. And that was Dr. Benes's postwar policy. For official circles in London and Washington, only Benes was the accepted authority. Benes could do no wrong. His word was the gospel truth. That is, until he told London and Washington off, too, as Stalin's stooge - the pay-off for his being "appointed" president of Czecho-610vakia by Moscow. Benes's London propaganda apparatus attacked the Slovaks and their leaders viciously and maliciously: the Slovaks declared war on the United States; President Tiso sold out to Hitler; the Slovaks mistreated and murdered American flyers; the Slovaks had surrendered Americans to the Nazis, etc. Lies that made Goe'bbels look like an amateur! The fact is that President Tiso and the Slovaks were well aware of their hapless situation - a situation they had not created or asked for. Bombs fell on Slovakia, not on the Czech Skoda Works that worked for Hitler, but the Slovaks understood, because they figured it was not America bombing them, but Dr. Benes whose military advice prevailed with Washington. Of course, the Slovaks were �SLOVAKIA 59 hurt, but they suffered without blasting off against America. When Tiso learned that American flyers of Slovak origin were captured by the Germans, he requested that they be transferred to Slovakia. The president wanted to set up a detention camp for them in Central Slovakia where they might spend the rest of the war. "If we coUJld only get them here," Tiso told me on one occasion, we could be sure they would be safe and we could show them all of our Slovakia." When several Americans were taken in Slovakia ( after their mission for Benes had failed), they were treated royally by the Slovaks. They were housed in one of the summer resorts in the Tatras and were practically on their own, with all their needs taken care of. When I visited them, one of them told me outright: "This reaMy is something. I could never have imagined that being captured could be so pleasant. Everybody treats us so kindly and we have just about everything we want." The American prisoners were free to move about, to go to town, have their teeth repaired, to bathe in the spa, etc. And they played tennis with Slovak officers. The only complaint I had heard from them was that they were getting too much meat and not enough vegetables! One of them was of Slovak origin. "How fortunate," he said, "that I had learned at least some Slovak from my mother and now can ad as interpreter for my buddies!" Tiso was very much concerned about their fate and about their comfort. I was present when he ordered our people to give the best possible care to "our American friends" - the sons of our brethren in America. Things went along fine, until one day the Germans demanded the surrender of the American flyers in Slovakia. I happened to be with Tiso when t he order was received. "This is a terriible situation. We shall have to fight for them," he said. "I have already told Mracna of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to do what he can to forestall the execution of the order." It was plainly evident that President Tiso was really worried. I suggested that Mracna use the argument that �60 SLOVAKIA surrendering our American friends could be used propaganda-wise against the independence of Slovakia; our adversaries could say: what kind of an independence does Slovakia enjoy if she has to surrender her own prisoners? Tiso listened nervously and then said: "Go to Mracna at once and talk the matter over with him. We must find a way of keeping the Americans here." It so happened that the Americans were not surrendered to the Germans. We prepared a note, telling just how much harm would come to the Slovak Republic from such a surrender, especially since one of the prisoners was of Slovak origin. If we are forced to surrender the Americans, our American Slovaks would then certainly be led to believe that we ourselves do not control the internal affairs of our country. Furthermore, that it is President Tiso's personal wish that the Americans remain in Slovakia. The result surprised even us : The Germans no longer presented demands to surrender our Americans to them. They spent the rest of the war in comparative comfort. President Tiso was a real friend of America during the most trying times, when the war was on, when the allies were bombing Slovakia according to the strategy planned by Dr. Benes. The Slovaks did not hate America, and never could. Too many of them had been to America and tasted of the fruits of liberty and freedom. They knew America. America was not at war with Slovakia - Benes was. And, unfortunately, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was gullible enough to trust Benes, the errand boy of Stalin! THE TROUBLEMAKER He is the silent one. He never speiak,s up on issues. He never sounlds off in the letter column O'f his looa'l newspaiper. He never writes his Oon,gressman or the Sllaite Deipartment. He is quiet as a clam. How could Democracy succeed if all of us, lilk,e 1!his one, wi1!hheld our opiniions, our idea.s, our cr'i'hcisms? Vo'tiing on election day is only part of a citizen!s duty. Active, day-lby-diay ,parl.iciipation in gov,e rnment, in society, in, busJness associations is a responsilb'ility for each and every one of us. The silent troull:ilemaker foils to understand this. In his worship df " law and order," he never dares to question an oppressive law, never distin·g uishes "o·r der" from stagna'tli'on. He is the aipostle of social deCla-y, not Democracy. In his Wiish t,o offend nobody, he oofends Democracy. And forget it ndt: Democracy, like Charity, begins at home. � 58:.__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _...::S:.:L:.;:O...::V..:..AKIA,..:.._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ PRESIDENT TISO AND AMERICA BY KONSTO CULE1N During the war, the propaganda of Dr. Edward Benes, headquarters London, prevailed. The little man, who always had a plan, had surrendered Czecho-Slovakia and its peoples to Hitler at Munich, in 1938, without even consulting parliament. Benes then resigned and fled the country. He fled the country not only to escape capture by the Nazis, but also to escape the wrath of his own people, the Czechs, who felt that he had betrayed them. Of course, after he settled in London and had time to think a-bout his cowardly flight from responsibility, he left no stone unturned to justify his actions. Secretly he swore vengeance on the Slovaks and the Sudeten Germans - and even the Czechs who dared to tell the truth about what had happened in Czecho-Slovakia while Benes was top man. And that was Dr. Benes's postwar policy. For official circles in London and Washington, only Benes was the accepted authority. Benes could do no wrong. His word was the gospel truth. That is, until he told London and Washington off, too, as Stalin's stooge - the pay-off for his being "appointed" president of Czecho-610vakia by Moscow. Benes's London propaganda apparatus attacked the Slovaks and their leaders viciously and maliciously: the Slovaks declared war on the United States; President Tiso sold out to Hitler; the Slovaks mistreated and murdered American flyers; the Slovaks had surrendered Americans to the Nazis, etc. Lies that made Goe'bbels look like an amateur! The fact is that President Tiso and the Slovaks were well aware of their hapless situation - a situation they had not created or asked for. Bombs fell on Slovakia, not on the Czech Skoda Works that worked for Hitler, but the Slovaks understood, because they figured it was not America bombing them, but Dr. Benes whose military advice prevailed with Washington. Of course, the Slovaks were �SLOVAKIA 59 hurt, but they suffered without blasting off against America. When Tiso learned that American flyers of Slovak origin were captured by the Germans, he requested that they be transferred to Slovakia. The president wanted to set up a detention camp for them in Central Slovakia where they might spend the rest of the war. "If we coUJld only get them here," Tiso told me on one occasion, we could be sure they would be safe and we could show them all of our Slovakia." When several Americans were taken in Slovakia ( after their mission for Benes had failed), they were treated royally by the Slovaks. They were housed in one of the summer resorts in the Tatras and were practically on their own, with all their needs taken care of. When I visited them, one of them told me outright: "This reaMy is something. I could never have imagined that being captured could be so pleasant. Everybody treats us so kindly and we have just about everything we want." The American prisoners were free to move about, to go to town, have their teeth repaired, to bathe in the spa, etc. And they played tennis with Slovak officers. The only complaint I had heard from them was that they were getting too much meat and not enough vegetables! One of them was of Slovak origin. "How fortunate," he said, "that I had learned at least some Slovak from my mother and now can ad as interpreter for my buddies!" Tiso was very much concerned about their fate and about their comfort. I was present when he ordered our people to give the best possible care to "our American friends" - the sons of our brethren in America. Things went along fine, until one day the Germans demanded the surrender of the American flyers in Slovakia. I happened to be with Tiso when t he order was received. "This is a terriible situation. We shall have to fight for them," he said. "I have already told Mracna of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to do what he can to forestall the execution of the order." It was plainly evident that President Tiso was really worried. I suggested that Mracna use the argument that �60 SLOVAKIA surrendering our American friends could be used propaganda-wise against the independence of Slovakia; our adversaries could say: what kind of an independence does Slovakia enjoy if she has to surrender her own prisoners? Tiso listened nervously and then said: "Go to Mracna at once and talk the matter over with him. We must find a way of keeping the Americans here." It so happened that the Americans were not surrendered to the Germans. We prepared a note, telling just how much harm would come to the Slovak Republic from such a surrender, especially since one of the prisoners was of Slovak origin. If we are forced to surrender the Americans, our American Slovaks would then certainly be led to believe that we ourselves do not control the internal affairs of our country. Furthermore, that it is President Tiso's personal wish that the Americans remain in Slovakia. The result surprised even us : The Germans no longer presented demands to surrender our Americans to them. They spent the rest of the war in comparative comfort. President Tiso was a real friend of America during the most trying times, when the war was on, when the allies were bombing Slovakia according to the strategy planned by Dr. Benes. The Slovaks did not hate America, and never could. Too many of them had been to America and tasted of the fruits of liberty and freedom. They knew America. America was not at war with Slovakia - Benes was. And, unfortunately, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was gullible enough to trust Benes, the errand boy of Stalin! THE TROUBLEMAKER He is the silent one. He never speiak,s up on issues. He never sounlds off in the letter column O'f his looa'l newspaiper. He never writes his Oon,gressman or the Sllaite Deipartment. He is quiet as a clam. How could Democracy succeed if all of us, lilk,e 1!his one, wi1!hheld our opiniions, our idea.s, our cr'i'hcisms? Vo'tiing on election day is only part of a citizen!s duty. Active, day-lby-diay ,parl.iciipation in gov,e rnment, in society, in, busJness associations is a responsilb'ility for each and every one of us. The silent troull:ilemaker foils to understand this. In his worship df " law and order," he never dares to question an oppressive law, never distin·g uishes "o·r der" from stagna'tli'on. He is the aipostle of social deCla-y, not Democracy. In his Wiish t,o offend nobody, he oofends Democracy. And forget it ndt: Democracy, like Charity, begins at home. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 58:.__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _...::S:.:L:.;:O...::V..:..AKIA,..:.._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ PRESIDENT TISO AND AMERICA BY KONSTO CULE1N During the war, the propaganda of Dr. Edward Benes, headquarters London, prevailed. The little man, who always had a plan, had surrendered Czecho-Slovakia and its peoples to Hitler at Munich, in 1938, without even consulting parliament. Benes then resigned and fled the country. He fled the country not only to escape capture by the Nazis, but also to escape the wrath of his own people, the Czechs, who felt that he had betrayed them. Of course, after he settled in London and had time to think a-bout his cowardly flight from responsibility, he left no stone unturned to justify his actions. Secretly he swore vengeance on the Slovaks and the Sudeten Germans - and even the Czechs who dared to tell the truth about what had happened in Czecho-Slovakia while Benes was top man. And that was Dr. Benes's postwar policy. For official circles in London and Washington, only Benes was the accepted authority. Benes could do no wrong. His word was the gospel truth. That is, until he told London and Washington off, too, as Stalin's stooge - the pay-off for his being "appointed" president of Czecho-610vakia by Moscow. Benes's London propaganda apparatus attacked the Slovaks and their leaders viciously and maliciously: the Slovaks declared war on the United States; President Tiso sold out to Hitler; the Slovaks mistreated and murdered American flyers; the Slovaks had surrendered Americans to the Nazis, etc. Lies that made Goe'bbels look like an amateur! The fact is that President Tiso and the Slovaks were well aware of their hapless situation - a situation they had not created or asked for. Bombs fell on Slovakia, not on the Czech Skoda Works that worked for Hitler, but the Slovaks understood, because they figured it was not America bombing them, but Dr. Benes whose military advice prevailed with Washington. Of course, the Slovaks were SLOVAKIA 59 hurt, but they suffered without blasting off against America. When Tiso learned that American flyers of Slovak origin were captured by the Germans, he requested that they be transferred to Slovakia. The president wanted to set up a detention camp for them in Central Slovakia where they might spend the rest of the war. "If we coUJld only get them here," Tiso told me on one occasion, we could be sure they would be safe and we could show them all of our Slovakia." When several Americans were taken in Slovakia ( after their mission for Benes had failed), they were treated royally by the Slovaks. They were housed in one of the summer resorts in the Tatras and were practically on their own, with all their needs taken care of. When I visited them, one of them told me outright: "This reaMy is something. I could never have imagined that being captured could be so pleasant. Everybody treats us so kindly and we have just about everything we want." The American prisoners were free to move about, to go to town, have their teeth repaired, to bathe in the spa, etc. And they played tennis with Slovak officers. The only complaint I had heard from them was that they were getting too much meat and not enough vegetables! One of them was of Slovak origin. "How fortunate," he said, "that I had learned at least some Slovak from my mother and now can ad as interpreter for my buddies!" Tiso was very much concerned about their fate and about their comfort. I was present when he ordered our people to give the best possible care to "our American friends" - the sons of our brethren in America. Things went along fine, until one day the Germans demanded the surrender of the American flyers in Slovakia. I happened to be with Tiso when t he order was received. "This is a terriible situation. We shall have to fight for them," he said. "I have already told Mracna of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to do what he can to forestall the execution of the order." It was plainly evident that President Tiso was really worried. I suggested that Mracna use the argument that 60 SLOVAKIA surrendering our American friends could be used propaganda-wise against the independence of Slovakia; our adversaries could say: what kind of an independence does Slovakia enjoy if she has to surrender her own prisoners? Tiso listened nervously and then said: "Go to Mracna at once and talk the matter over with him. We must find a way of keeping the Americans here." It so happened that the Americans were not surrendered to the Germans. We prepared a note, telling just how much harm would come to the Slovak Republic from such a surrender, especially since one of the prisoners was of Slovak origin. If we are forced to surrender the Americans, our American Slovaks would then certainly be led to believe that we ourselves do not control the internal affairs of our country. Furthermore, that it is President Tiso's personal wish that the Americans remain in Slovakia. The result surprised even us : The Germans no longer presented demands to surrender our Americans to them. They spent the rest of the war in comparative comfort. President Tiso was a real friend of America during the most trying times, when the war was on, when the allies were bombing Slovakia according to the strategy planned by Dr. Benes. The Slovaks did not hate America, and never could. Too many of them had been to America and tasted of the fruits of liberty and freedom. They knew America. America was not at war with Slovakia - Benes was. And, unfortunately, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was gullible enough to trust Benes, the errand boy of Stalin! THE TROUBLEMAKER He is the silent one. He never speiak,s up on issues. He never sounlds off in the letter column O'f his looa'l newspaiper. He never writes his Oon,gressman or the Sllaite Deipartment. He is quiet as a clam. How could Democracy succeed if all of us, lilk,e 1!his one, wi1!hheld our opiniions, our idea.s, our cr'i'hcisms? Vo'tiing on election day is only part of a citizen!s duty. Active, day-lby-diay ,parl.iciipation in gov,e rnment, in society, in, busJness associations is a responsilb'ility for each and every one of us. The silent troull:ilemaker foils to understand this. In his worship df " law and order," he never dares to question an oppressive law, never distin·g uishes "o·r der" from stagna'tli'on. He is the aipostle of social deCla-y, not Democracy. In his Wiish t,o offend nobody, he oofends Democracy. And forget it ndt: Democracy, like Charity, begins at home.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource President Tiso and America Description An account of the resource Konšto Čulen Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 2 (34), September-December 1961 pp. 58-60 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Čulen, Konštantín, 1904-1964 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1961 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/381bb0784bfd37eebcd96837261c4b13.pdf d1ccaf0725964245ee605b85153fc161 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 61 EUROPEAN FEDERALISTS WELCOME DR. KIRSCIIBAUM'S BOOK {We are pleased to publish for the benefit of our readers -and of the Slovak cause a translation of an article wh'ich appeared in French in the Europea"' Bulletfn (Jian.-Feb. 1001'), the official organ of Euro• pean Federalists, puiblished in Blome. Kirschlbawm's ,book was received 'by critics in the UnHed States, Canad:a, Germany, Spain and! ]taly, as a brilliant defer.se o.f the Slo• vak cause and an overdue scholarly wol.'k on Slovalkia. The European, Federalists welcome the book as an excellent de· .f ense of the idea of Central Ewope,a n Federation. This is the transla· tion of the French article in the Bulletin Euro-peen, J-anuary-Felbruary issue, .19611.) A DIFFICULT BUT HOPEFUL FEDERATION By Georges Kallay A!lmost a century ago, on March 1, 1871, before the French National Assembly, during a sitting held at Bordeaux, Victor Hugo delivered a speech. Mainly he said: "and one shall hear France cry out: my turn has come. Am I your enemy? No, I am your sister. I took everything back from you and I return you everything on one condiftion: that we shall be nothing else but one people, one family, and one repU!blic. I shall demolish my fortresses, you shall demolish yours. Fraternity is my vengeance. No more frontiers, the Rhine belongs to all. Let us be the same repU!blic, let us be the United States of Europe. Let us be the Continental federation, let us be European liberty." These words for a public opinion of a century ago must have lbeen as non-contemporary as they were visionary. France had just been vanquished by Germany. Circumstances were hardly favorable for such ideas. However, the speaker had the courage to formulate them and the audience had the cou~age to hear them. Today Europe has the courage to realize them. However there is still a part of Europe where one seeks to unite the states by an entirely different method than the one Victor Hugo was thinking of, with the West behind him. It is a question of the states uf Central and Oriental Europe. Of these states, lbhose turned to the West �62 SLOVAKIA have always tried to defend Europe against the advance of Oriental Powers. The greatest confusion reigns in these countries with regards to a federal idea, because of con/tradictory directions which originate from the central power, It.he Kremlin. A federal idea exists in this sense that these countries must unite, willy nilly, around the Soviet Union. Yet, or just because of this, the federal idea is not popular. There is proof in the fact ,that all material prepared and published on the occasion of the Congress of 'Stockholm ignored or even sought to refute the federal idea. The Czech historian Zdenek Jindra, for example, in his work "Contributions a FHistoire Contemporaine des Peuples de FEurope Centrale," edited in Prague, hazards to say that a federation of Central Europe is bU!t the expression of the German spirit of domination because a German, Friedrich Neumann, dared to say forty years ago that a federation of Central Europe would be a good thing. By such reasoning one concludes that to prevent the realization of German ideas of domination, there is only one remedy: to turn to the Soviet Union for aid. One of the most eminent representatives of the federal thesis among his advocates in Central Europe, is a historian who now lives in Canada, Joseph Kirschbaum. Born at the time of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, he was only six years old when it ·Collapsed and, ·consequently, officially he became a "Czechoslovak." When Slovakia gained its independence, Kirschbaum, 23 years of age, •b ecame one of the most prominent representatives in Slovak politics. Slovak national politics condemned Czech domination as well as German domination which equally sought to subjugate the Slovak people. In many of his political works, Kirschbaum affirms the necessity of a Central European Federation. His most recent work, "Slovakia, Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe," is but the e~pression of his federal thesis. He points out that ithe countries of Central and Oriental Europe must come to understand that they must unite if they do not wish to play the role of satellites of a foreign power. A full chapter of the book 'b y Kirschbaum is dedicated �SLOVAKIA 63 to the necessity of an integration of Central Europe. The author speaks mainly of the dangers which threaten the countries of Central Europe. Two forces want to dominate these territories at all costs: Pan-Germanism and PanSlavism. The first wants German domination, and the second, Russian domination. But Kirschbaum points out that it is not a question of Hitler's Germany, nor a Stalinist Russia, but a general historical tendency of these two states toward expansion. To conquer or put these tendencies to sleep, there would be no better remedy than a union of the peoples of Central Europe even under a simple federal form. Wilth regards to this •p oint of view, the peace treaties which followed the second World War were particularly injurious in the sense that they served no other purpose but to put the peoples against one another. One single example which was particulaTly marked: Czecho-Slovakia was reconstructed while the major part of the population, t he Czechs and the Slovaks did not wish it. If these two peoples had ·b een united in 1918 by a federation, this union would have been sanctioned, in the years which followed, the defense of liberty and democracy. But the corutrary was achieved so as to throw them as prey to dictatorial ambitions. The powers which dictated the peace treaties had followed the principle: divide et impera. But another power made profit of rt:he division. According to Kirschbaum, the states of Central Europe were opposed to dictatorial ideas as much in 1938 as in 1945. But ·b eing divided, they were unable to press their opinions and oppose dictatorships. I must refer once more to Kirschbaum when I affirm that the union of 1the peoples of Central Europe would have been profifable not only to themselves, but also to all of Europe and to the peace of the world. One must not forget that iboth World Wars originated in Central Eu.rope. Kirschbaum affirms (and he seems 1to be right not only in appearance but when studying reality closely) that as long as an impregnable wall shall exist ,b etween Germany and Russia, there shall be neither order nor peace in Central Europe. This troubled situation in that corner of �64 SLOVAKIA the world means trouble for the entire world. According to Kirschbaum the only way ,to prevent a new aggression is to realize a federation of these territories. And the way matters stand presently, peace shall not reign in Europe as long as half of its people are suffering under the Soviet yoke. Even though I am not in full accord wi!th all of the author's views, in panticular with the project of the federation to be realized, I must say that I agree with him fully on the principle. At the moment the rest is unimportant. What is now important is to communicate to the peoples on the other side of the Iron Curtain, the faith of their union. It is a difficult but necessary task, because from an ideological point of view they find themselves under a complete anarchy: on one side 1they see the complete unification imposed by the Kremlin and, on the other, they have a tendency to reject any federal idea because they are unable to see how to realize it. Evirdently refugees from the countries behind the Iron Curtain are persuaded by the necessity of a federation perhaps more easily than men who have always known freedom. But the refugees represen/t only a small fraction of the population of Central and Oriental Europe. Behind the Iron Curtain chaos and confusion still reign: there nationalism has lost a great part of its prestige, most certainly. Bwt one cannot conclude and say that supernationalization has gained all the votes. cho-6lovakia by Antonin Novotny, Red Czeeh president. And the a,n.1Ji-stalinist bloc annauniced in Prague that the body of former Ozech President Klement Gottwald will 1:J,e moved ifrom ilts mausoleum in Prague. The body of Gottwald, an old Stallirui:st wlho died ·1ni 1953, will be interred "in the same manner as those of the ot'her leading fighters in the Party," NCJ1Votny decla'I'ed. The Czech Reds are also l!C ll!: ll!: reconsidering ~ e names of streets THE COMIC OPE ~ of "d~ta- antl enter.prises whidh bear the l'inization" bias ·b een staged in Oze- names of Stalin and Gottw•ald. SLOVAKS everywhere in the free world are making preparations to celebrate the 1100th airmiversary of the adrvent of SS. Cyril and Methodlius to Slav•akia, the homeliand of the Slovaks. T•h e Slovalk apostles began their mission in SlCJ1Vakiia in 863. The year 1963 will fo·c us the limelight of hlistory on the Christian character of the Slovak nation. The first Ohristilan church was bu't'Dt 1oi Nitra in 830. 1 � SLOVAKIA 61 EUROPEAN FEDERALISTS WELCOME DR. KIRSCIIBAUM'S BOOK {We are pleased to publish for the benefit of our readers -and of the Slovak cause a translation of an article wh'ich appeared in French in the Europea"' Bulletfn (Jian.-Feb. 1001'), the official organ of Euro• pean Federalists, puiblished in Blome. Kirschlbawm's ,book was received 'by critics in the UnHed States, Canad:a, Germany, Spain and! ]taly, as a brilliant defer.se o.f the Slo• vak cause and an overdue scholarly wol.'k on Slovalkia. The European, Federalists welcome the book as an excellent de· .f ense of the idea of Central Ewope,a n Federation. This is the transla· tion of the French article in the Bulletin Euro-peen, J-anuary-Felbruary issue, .19611.) A DIFFICULT BUT HOPEFUL FEDERATION By Georges Kallay A!lmost a century ago, on March 1, 1871, before the French National Assembly, during a sitting held at Bordeaux, Victor Hugo delivered a speech. Mainly he said: "and one shall hear France cry out: my turn has come. Am I your enemy? No, I am your sister. I took everything back from you and I return you everything on one condiftion: that we shall be nothing else but one people, one family, and one repU!blic. I shall demolish my fortresses, you shall demolish yours. Fraternity is my vengeance. No more frontiers, the Rhine belongs to all. Let us be the same repU!blic, let us be the United States of Europe. Let us be the Continental federation, let us be European liberty." These words for a public opinion of a century ago must have lbeen as non-contemporary as they were visionary. France had just been vanquished by Germany. Circumstances were hardly favorable for such ideas. However, the speaker had the courage to formulate them and the audience had the cou~age to hear them. Today Europe has the courage to realize them. However there is still a part of Europe where one seeks to unite the states by an entirely different method than the one Victor Hugo was thinking of, with the West behind him. It is a question of the states uf Central and Oriental Europe. Of these states, lbhose turned to the West �62 SLOVAKIA have always tried to defend Europe against the advance of Oriental Powers. The greatest confusion reigns in these countries with regards to a federal idea, because of con/tradictory directions which originate from the central power, It.he Kremlin. A federal idea exists in this sense that these countries must unite, willy nilly, around the Soviet Union. Yet, or just because of this, the federal idea is not popular. There is proof in the fact ,that all material prepared and published on the occasion of the Congress of 'Stockholm ignored or even sought to refute the federal idea. The Czech historian Zdenek Jindra, for example, in his work "Contributions a FHistoire Contemporaine des Peuples de FEurope Centrale," edited in Prague, hazards to say that a federation of Central Europe is bU!t the expression of the German spirit of domination because a German, Friedrich Neumann, dared to say forty years ago that a federation of Central Europe would be a good thing. By such reasoning one concludes that to prevent the realization of German ideas of domination, there is only one remedy: to turn to the Soviet Union for aid. One of the most eminent representatives of the federal thesis among his advocates in Central Europe, is a historian who now lives in Canada, Joseph Kirschbaum. Born at the time of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, he was only six years old when it ·Collapsed and, ·consequently, officially he became a "Czechoslovak." When Slovakia gained its independence, Kirschbaum, 23 years of age, •b ecame one of the most prominent representatives in Slovak politics. Slovak national politics condemned Czech domination as well as German domination which equally sought to subjugate the Slovak people. In many of his political works, Kirschbaum affirms the necessity of a Central European Federation. His most recent work, "Slovakia, Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe," is but the e~pression of his federal thesis. He points out that ithe countries of Central and Oriental Europe must come to understand that they must unite if they do not wish to play the role of satellites of a foreign power. A full chapter of the book 'b y Kirschbaum is dedicated �SLOVAKIA 63 to the necessity of an integration of Central Europe. The author speaks mainly of the dangers which threaten the countries of Central Europe. Two forces want to dominate these territories at all costs: Pan-Germanism and PanSlavism. The first wants German domination, and the second, Russian domination. But Kirschbaum points out that it is not a question of Hitler's Germany, nor a Stalinist Russia, but a general historical tendency of these two states toward expansion. To conquer or put these tendencies to sleep, there would be no better remedy than a union of the peoples of Central Europe even under a simple federal form. Wilth regards to this •p oint of view, the peace treaties which followed the second World War were particularly injurious in the sense that they served no other purpose but to put the peoples against one another. One single example which was particulaTly marked: Czecho-Slovakia was reconstructed while the major part of the population, t he Czechs and the Slovaks did not wish it. If these two peoples had ·b een united in 1918 by a federation, this union would have been sanctioned, in the years which followed, the defense of liberty and democracy. But the corutrary was achieved so as to throw them as prey to dictatorial ambitions. The powers which dictated the peace treaties had followed the principle: divide et impera. But another power made profit of rt:he division. According to Kirschbaum, the states of Central Europe were opposed to dictatorial ideas as much in 1938 as in 1945. But ·b eing divided, they were unable to press their opinions and oppose dictatorships. I must refer once more to Kirschbaum when I affirm that the union of 1the peoples of Central Europe would have been profifable not only to themselves, but also to all of Europe and to the peace of the world. One must not forget that iboth World Wars originated in Central Eu.rope. Kirschbaum affirms (and he seems 1to be right not only in appearance but when studying reality closely) that as long as an impregnable wall shall exist ,b etween Germany and Russia, there shall be neither order nor peace in Central Europe. This troubled situation in that corner of �64 SLOVAKIA the world means trouble for the entire world. According to Kirschbaum the only way ,to prevent a new aggression is to realize a federation of these territories. And the way matters stand presently, peace shall not reign in Europe as long as half of its people are suffering under the Soviet yoke. Even though I am not in full accord wi!th all of the author's views, in panticular with the project of the federation to be realized, I must say that I agree with him fully on the principle. At the moment the rest is unimportant. What is now important is to communicate to the peoples on the other side of the Iron Curtain, the faith of their union. It is a difficult but necessary task, because from an ideological point of view they find themselves under a complete anarchy: on one side 1they see the complete unification imposed by the Kremlin and, on the other, they have a tendency to reject any federal idea because they are unable to see how to realize it. Evirdently refugees from the countries behind the Iron Curtain are persuaded by the necessity of a federation perhaps more easily than men who have always known freedom. But the refugees represen/t only a small fraction of the population of Central and Oriental Europe. Behind the Iron Curtain chaos and confusion still reign: there nationalism has lost a great part of its prestige, most certainly. Bwt one cannot conclude and say that supernationalization has gained all the votes. cho-6lovakia by Antonin Novotny, Red Czeeh president. And the a,n.1Ji-stalinist bloc annauniced in Prague that the body of former Ozech President Klement Gottwald will 1:J,e moved ifrom ilts mausoleum in Prague. The body of Gottwald, an old Stallirui:st wlho died ·1ni 1953, will be interred "in the same manner as those of the ot'her leading fighters in the Party," NCJ1Votny decla'I'ed. The Czech Reds are also l!C ll!: ll!: reconsidering ~ e names of streets THE COMIC OPE ~ of "d~ta- antl enter.prises whidh bear the l'inization" bias ·b een staged in Oze- names of Stalin and Gottw•ald. SLOVAKS everywhere in the free world are making preparations to celebrate the 1100th airmiversary of the adrvent of SS. Cyril and Methodlius to Slav•akia, the homeliand of the Slovaks. T•h e Slovalk apostles began their mission in SlCJ1Vakiia in 863. The year 1963 will fo·c us the limelight of hlistory on the Christian character of the Slovak nation. The first Ohristilan church was bu't'Dt 1oi Nitra in 830. 1 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 61 EUROPEAN FEDERALISTS WELCOME DR. KIRSCIIBAUM'S BOOK {We are pleased to publish for the benefit of our readers -and of the Slovak cause a translation of an article wh'ich appeared in French in the Europea"' Bulletfn (Jian.-Feb. 1001'), the official organ of Euro• pean Federalists, puiblished in Blome. Kirschlbawm's ,book was received 'by critics in the UnHed States, Canad:a, Germany, Spain and! ]taly, as a brilliant defer.se o.f the Slo• vak cause and an overdue scholarly wol.'k on Slovalkia. The European, Federalists welcome the book as an excellent de· .f ense of the idea of Central Ewope,a n Federation. This is the transla· tion of the French article in the Bulletin Euro-peen, J-anuary-Felbruary issue, .19611.) A DIFFICULT BUT HOPEFUL FEDERATION By Georges Kallay A!lmost a century ago, on March 1, 1871, before the French National Assembly, during a sitting held at Bordeaux, Victor Hugo delivered a speech. Mainly he said: "and one shall hear France cry out: my turn has come. Am I your enemy? No, I am your sister. I took everything back from you and I return you everything on one condiftion: that we shall be nothing else but one people, one family, and one repU!blic. I shall demolish my fortresses, you shall demolish yours. Fraternity is my vengeance. No more frontiers, the Rhine belongs to all. Let us be the same repU!blic, let us be the United States of Europe. Let us be the Continental federation, let us be European liberty." These words for a public opinion of a century ago must have lbeen as non-contemporary as they were visionary. France had just been vanquished by Germany. Circumstances were hardly favorable for such ideas. However, the speaker had the courage to formulate them and the audience had the cou~age to hear them. Today Europe has the courage to realize them. However there is still a part of Europe where one seeks to unite the states by an entirely different method than the one Victor Hugo was thinking of, with the West behind him. It is a question of the states uf Central and Oriental Europe. Of these states, lbhose turned to the West 62 SLOVAKIA have always tried to defend Europe against the advance of Oriental Powers. The greatest confusion reigns in these countries with regards to a federal idea, because of con/tradictory directions which originate from the central power, It.he Kremlin. A federal idea exists in this sense that these countries must unite, willy nilly, around the Soviet Union. Yet, or just because of this, the federal idea is not popular. There is proof in the fact ,that all material prepared and published on the occasion of the Congress of 'Stockholm ignored or even sought to refute the federal idea. The Czech historian Zdenek Jindra, for example, in his work "Contributions a FHistoire Contemporaine des Peuples de FEurope Centrale," edited in Prague, hazards to say that a federation of Central Europe is bU!t the expression of the German spirit of domination because a German, Friedrich Neumann, dared to say forty years ago that a federation of Central Europe would be a good thing. By such reasoning one concludes that to prevent the realization of German ideas of domination, there is only one remedy: to turn to the Soviet Union for aid. One of the most eminent representatives of the federal thesis among his advocates in Central Europe, is a historian who now lives in Canada, Joseph Kirschbaum. Born at the time of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, he was only six years old when it ·Collapsed and, ·consequently, officially he became a "Czechoslovak." When Slovakia gained its independence, Kirschbaum, 23 years of age, •b ecame one of the most prominent representatives in Slovak politics. Slovak national politics condemned Czech domination as well as German domination which equally sought to subjugate the Slovak people. In many of his political works, Kirschbaum affirms the necessity of a Central European Federation. His most recent work, "Slovakia, Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe," is but the e~pression of his federal thesis. He points out that ithe countries of Central and Oriental Europe must come to understand that they must unite if they do not wish to play the role of satellites of a foreign power. A full chapter of the book 'b y Kirschbaum is dedicated SLOVAKIA 63 to the necessity of an integration of Central Europe. The author speaks mainly of the dangers which threaten the countries of Central Europe. Two forces want to dominate these territories at all costs: Pan-Germanism and PanSlavism. The first wants German domination, and the second, Russian domination. But Kirschbaum points out that it is not a question of Hitler's Germany, nor a Stalinist Russia, but a general historical tendency of these two states toward expansion. To conquer or put these tendencies to sleep, there would be no better remedy than a union of the peoples of Central Europe even under a simple federal form. Wilth regards to this •p oint of view, the peace treaties which followed the second World War were particularly injurious in the sense that they served no other purpose but to put the peoples against one another. One single example which was particulaTly marked: Czecho-Slovakia was reconstructed while the major part of the population, t he Czechs and the Slovaks did not wish it. If these two peoples had ·b een united in 1918 by a federation, this union would have been sanctioned, in the years which followed, the defense of liberty and democracy. But the corutrary was achieved so as to throw them as prey to dictatorial ambitions. The powers which dictated the peace treaties had followed the principle: divide et impera. But another power made profit of rt:he division. According to Kirschbaum, the states of Central Europe were opposed to dictatorial ideas as much in 1938 as in 1945. But ·b eing divided, they were unable to press their opinions and oppose dictatorships. I must refer once more to Kirschbaum when I affirm that the union of 1the peoples of Central Europe would have been profifable not only to themselves, but also to all of Europe and to the peace of the world. One must not forget that iboth World Wars originated in Central Eu.rope. Kirschbaum affirms (and he seems 1to be right not only in appearance but when studying reality closely) that as long as an impregnable wall shall exist ,b etween Germany and Russia, there shall be neither order nor peace in Central Europe. This troubled situation in that corner of 64 SLOVAKIA the world means trouble for the entire world. According to Kirschbaum the only way ,to prevent a new aggression is to realize a federation of these territories. And the way matters stand presently, peace shall not reign in Europe as long as half of its people are suffering under the Soviet yoke. Even though I am not in full accord wi!th all of the author's views, in panticular with the project of the federation to be realized, I must say that I agree with him fully on the principle. At the moment the rest is unimportant. What is now important is to communicate to the peoples on the other side of the Iron Curtain, the faith of their union. It is a difficult but necessary task, because from an ideological point of view they find themselves under a complete anarchy: on one side 1they see the complete unification imposed by the Kremlin and, on the other, they have a tendency to reject any federal idea because they are unable to see how to realize it. Evirdently refugees from the countries behind the Iron Curtain are persuaded by the necessity of a federation perhaps more easily than men who have always known freedom. But the refugees represen/t only a small fraction of the population of Central and Oriental Europe. Behind the Iron Curtain chaos and confusion still reign: there nationalism has lost a great part of its prestige, most certainly. Bwt one cannot conclude and say that supernationalization has gained all the votes. cho-6lovakia by Antonin Novotny, Red Czeeh president. And the a,n.1Ji-stalinist bloc annauniced in Prague that the body of former Ozech President Klement Gottwald will 1:J,e moved ifrom ilts mausoleum in Prague. The body of Gottwald, an old Stallirui:st wlho died ·1ni 1953, will be interred "in the same manner as those of the ot'her leading fighters in the Party," NCJ1Votny decla'I'ed. The Czech Reds are also l!C ll!: ll!: reconsidering ~ e names of streets THE COMIC OPE ~ of "d~ta- antl enter.prises whidh bear the l'inization" bias ·b een staged in Oze- names of Stalin and Gottw•ald. SLOVAKS everywhere in the free world are making preparations to celebrate the 1100th airmiversary of the adrvent of SS. Cyril and Methodlius to Slav•akia, the homeliand of the Slovaks. T•h e Slovalk apostles began their mission in SlCJ1Vakiia in 863. The year 1963 will fo·c us the limelight of hlistory on the Christian character of the Slovak nation. The first Ohristilan church was bu't'Dt 1oi Nitra in 830. 1  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A Difficult But Hopeful Federation Description An account of the resource Georges Kallay Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 2 (34), September-December 1961 pp. 61-64 editor explains in introduction titled "European Federalists Welcome Kirschbaum's Book" that article is a translation from French originally printed in Bulletin Européen (European Bulletin), Jan.-Feb. 1961 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kallay, Georges Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1961 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/15031c10663fc3f090a16d5383329955.pdf 031657d391a1e38901fafc0f4f842c2a PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 65 Castles of Slovakia: KREMNICA BY HUBERT MACKO, O.S.B. Rome was built on ,seive:n hiHs. Kremnica is situated in a valley surrounded by seiven hills and is cal•led .t he "queen of the mining cities," 1because of its gold and silver mines. The city has a mint, a Franciscan monastery, dating ba:clk to. the 1'7th century, and the famous fortress which is still in fair state of preservation. The history of the fortress is the history of the town of Kxemnica. It was built to jprotect the town and its gold and si!Jver mines. When the fortress was bui1lrt, no one can say. Some historians claim that the fortress dates from the time of the Romans, others say the Goths built it. But this we do know: in the time of King Charles Robert, in the year 1328, the fortress was important. Some historians claim that Kremnica was of Slovalk origin, built therefoTe in the 9th or 10th century. They ·b ase theiT claim on the name itself, whkh is deri1ved from the word "kremeii," meaning .flint or quartz. ln old documents, Kremnica is designated by V1arious names: Cremnychlbana, Cremnyc'Z, Kremnica, Cremnich, Cremic, Keormeocz and Cremnicha. The fortress, aside from protecting the town and the gold mines, also contained the mint, which made the money for twelve countries. It is difficult to believe, but there are no records either albout the town of Kremnioa or the fortress for about a hundred years, from about 1339 to the death of King ALbert in 1439. It has been estalblished, hoM1e1Ver, that at the dawn of the 15th century, after the death of Jan ~izka, Hussite armies began their depradations in Slovalkia. One :part of the army came through Poland as fa,r as Spis, thence through Liptov to Turciansky Svaty Martin, which was burned to the ground, thence toward Tekov and Kremnica. It i:s the opinion of many historians that Kremnioa was besieged •b y this arnny. However, there are no historical documents to support this claim. �66 SLOVAKIA After the death of King Albert (1439) his widow Elizaibeth, g3/Ve ibirth to a son, Ladislaiv V., caUed the ''Posthumous", whom only one part of the country acknowledged as king. He was crowned king, but the other faction acknowledged the Polish King Ladislav as king. Ladislav's chief supporter was Jan Hunady. It is understandalble that great confusion per:vaded the country with. two existing kings and two opposing armies. The widowed queen ElizaJbeth, to def'end the rights of her son, enlisted the support of the Hussite leader; John. Jiskra of Brandys. The importaint mining towns backed Elizalbeth's son; among these W8$ Kremnica. Jiskra was a great military leader and in a short time many towns and fortresses in Gerner county fell before his victorious army and pledged allegiance to young King Ladislav. Hasko of Schellendorf, the right hand man of Jislkra, became the caiptain in Kremnica. In the year 1442 the army orf Jan Hunady's •u nder the leadership of the hunter...bishop Simon Rozgon, laid siege to Kremnica. For four weeks the soldiers pillaged the neighiboring towns. When news reached Simon Rozgon that John Jiskra was hastening to help Kremnica, the hunter-bishop withdrew his army. Then in 1451, Hunady himself led an army against Kremnica, but he was no match for Jiskra and had to withdraw. In 1455 King Mathias Corvin made peace with Jiskra, and Kremnica beoome the property of the crown. After the death of King Louis IT. in the historic battle of Mohac, Kremnica became the property of Queen Mary. When she died Kremnica passed into the possession of her brother, Ferdinand I, exchequer of the king. Between the yeara 1528 and 1533 Kremnica was the scene of many 1battles. It was during those turbulent times that ibands of predatory ik,n ights were born. Raiphael Podmanicky and Mathias Baso attacked the gold city and stole much of its gold. To protect itself and its .gold, a meetin!g was called of the lords of all the suTTOunding fortresses, on October 4, 1537, where it was decided to outfit an army of 700 men. King Ferdinand I wais asked to .gilV'e his consent and to appoint a commander, 'but he �SLOVAKIA 67 saiw a threat to the cro!Wil from such a pooling of forces. He neither consented nor did he appoint a commander, leaving Kremnica to defend itself as best it could, which it prOm1ptly did by fortifying not only the fortress, but the town as well. H01Wever, in the year 1560 a fire destroyed much of the to1WI1 and the fortress. The fire was so hot that the very bells in the towers of the fortress and the canon on the walls melted like wax. The buHd.ing housing the airchi,ves ,w as destroyed completely. It took a long time and much effort to rebuild the town and the fortress. Du:rfag the Turkish invasion both the town and the fortress were besieged, but neiver taken. In 1604 Stefan Bockay besieged the town, succeeded in entering and burning pa;rt off it, but the fortre.ss proved impregnable. Since Bockay was a great menace to Kremnica, the town offered him 4000 pieces of gold to sign a treaty, which he accepted. In 1620 fortress Kremnica joined with Gabriel Bethlen, and in 1622 capitulated to King Ferdinand II. During Veselini's uprising in the neighboring fortress of Muran against King Leopold, the master of fortress Kremnica and the townspeople were accused by archbishop Juraj Szelepcsenyi of partisanship. Many were taken to Bratislava, tried, and convicted. Kremn!ica suffered much from fire.s. Besides the fires already mentioned, there were four other major fires: in 1690, 1707, 1716, and 1777. As the science of warfare became perfected fortress Kremnica lost much of its defense value foo- the town and consequently was left to the elements. However, even today a great deal of the fortress remains. It is one of the proud possessions of the town. Amidst its ruins there WatS until recently a chapel and a library of the Franciscan Fathers, connecting with the monastery itself. It is noteworthy to state that peacocks were a1ways raised in the fortress firom the time when one of them sounded the alwrm during the Turldsh invasion thus frustrating a sneak attack and :perh3lPS disaster, something akin to the geese of Rome, frustrating the attacks of the Gauls upon the capital of the Roman Empire. � SLOVAKIA 65 Castles of Slovakia: KREMNICA BY HUBERT MACKO, O.S.B. Rome was built on ,seive:n hiHs. Kremnica is situated in a valley surrounded by seiven hills and is cal•led .t he "queen of the mining cities," 1because of its gold and silver mines. The city has a mint, a Franciscan monastery, dating ba:clk to. the 1'7th century, and the famous fortress which is still in fair state of preservation. The history of the fortress is the history of the town of Kxemnica. It was built to jprotect the town and its gold and si!Jver mines. When the fortress was bui1lrt, no one can say. Some historians claim that the fortress dates from the time of the Romans, others say the Goths built it. But this we do know: in the time of King Charles Robert, in the year 1328, the fortress was important. Some historians claim that Kremnica was of Slovalk origin, built therefoTe in the 9th or 10th century. They ·b ase theiT claim on the name itself, whkh is deri1ved from the word "kremeii," meaning .flint or quartz. ln old documents, Kremnica is designated by V1arious names: Cremnychlbana, Cremnyc'Z, Kremnica, Cremnich, Cremic, Keormeocz and Cremnicha. The fortress, aside from protecting the town and the gold mines, also contained the mint, which made the money for twelve countries. It is difficult to believe, but there are no records either albout the town of Kremnioa or the fortress for about a hundred years, from about 1339 to the death of King ALbert in 1439. It has been estalblished, hoM1e1Ver, that at the dawn of the 15th century, after the death of Jan ~izka, Hussite armies began their depradations in Slovalkia. One :part of the army came through Poland as fa,r as Spis, thence through Liptov to Turciansky Svaty Martin, which was burned to the ground, thence toward Tekov and Kremnica. It i:s the opinion of many historians that Kremnioa was besieged •b y this arnny. However, there are no historical documents to support this claim. �66 SLOVAKIA After the death of King Albert (1439) his widow Elizaibeth, g3/Ve ibirth to a son, Ladislaiv V., caUed the ''Posthumous", whom only one part of the country acknowledged as king. He was crowned king, but the other faction acknowledged the Polish King Ladislav as king. Ladislav's chief supporter was Jan Hunady. It is understandalble that great confusion per:vaded the country with. two existing kings and two opposing armies. The widowed queen ElizaJbeth, to def'end the rights of her son, enlisted the support of the Hussite leader; John. Jiskra of Brandys. The importaint mining towns backed Elizalbeth's son; among these W8$ Kremnica. Jiskra was a great military leader and in a short time many towns and fortresses in Gerner county fell before his victorious army and pledged allegiance to young King Ladislav. Hasko of Schellendorf, the right hand man of Jislkra, became the caiptain in Kremnica. In the year 1442 the army orf Jan Hunady's •u nder the leadership of the hunter...bishop Simon Rozgon, laid siege to Kremnica. For four weeks the soldiers pillaged the neighiboring towns. When news reached Simon Rozgon that John Jiskra was hastening to help Kremnica, the hunter-bishop withdrew his army. Then in 1451, Hunady himself led an army against Kremnica, but he was no match for Jiskra and had to withdraw. In 1455 King Mathias Corvin made peace with Jiskra, and Kremnica beoome the property of the crown. After the death of King Louis IT. in the historic battle of Mohac, Kremnica became the property of Queen Mary. When she died Kremnica passed into the possession of her brother, Ferdinand I, exchequer of the king. Between the yeara 1528 and 1533 Kremnica was the scene of many 1battles. It was during those turbulent times that ibands of predatory ik,n ights were born. Raiphael Podmanicky and Mathias Baso attacked the gold city and stole much of its gold. To protect itself and its .gold, a meetin!g was called of the lords of all the suTTOunding fortresses, on October 4, 1537, where it was decided to outfit an army of 700 men. King Ferdinand I wais asked to .gilV'e his consent and to appoint a commander, 'but he �SLOVAKIA 67 saiw a threat to the cro!Wil from such a pooling of forces. He neither consented nor did he appoint a commander, leaving Kremnica to defend itself as best it could, which it prOm1ptly did by fortifying not only the fortress, but the town as well. H01Wever, in the year 1560 a fire destroyed much of the to1WI1 and the fortress. The fire was so hot that the very bells in the towers of the fortress and the canon on the walls melted like wax. The buHd.ing housing the airchi,ves ,w as destroyed completely. It took a long time and much effort to rebuild the town and the fortress. Du:rfag the Turkish invasion both the town and the fortress were besieged, but neiver taken. In 1604 Stefan Bockay besieged the town, succeeded in entering and burning pa;rt off it, but the fortre.ss proved impregnable. Since Bockay was a great menace to Kremnica, the town offered him 4000 pieces of gold to sign a treaty, which he accepted. In 1620 fortress Kremnica joined with Gabriel Bethlen, and in 1622 capitulated to King Ferdinand II. During Veselini's uprising in the neighboring fortress of Muran against King Leopold, the master of fortress Kremnica and the townspeople were accused by archbishop Juraj Szelepcsenyi of partisanship. Many were taken to Bratislava, tried, and convicted. Kremn!ica suffered much from fire.s. Besides the fires already mentioned, there were four other major fires: in 1690, 1707, 1716, and 1777. As the science of warfare became perfected fortress Kremnica lost much of its defense value foo- the town and consequently was left to the elements. However, even today a great deal of the fortress remains. It is one of the proud possessions of the town. Amidst its ruins there WatS until recently a chapel and a library of the Franciscan Fathers, connecting with the monastery itself. It is noteworthy to state that peacocks were a1ways raised in the fortress firom the time when one of them sounded the alwrm during the Turldsh invasion thus frustrating a sneak attack and :perh3lPS disaster, something akin to the geese of Rome, frustrating the attacks of the Gauls upon the capital of the Roman Empire. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 65 Castles of Slovakia: KREMNICA BY HUBERT MACKO, O.S.B. Rome was built on ,seive:n hiHs. Kremnica is situated in a valley surrounded by seiven hills and is cal•led .t he "queen of the mining cities," 1because of its gold and silver mines. The city has a mint, a Franciscan monastery, dating ba:clk to. the 1'7th century, and the famous fortress which is still in fair state of preservation. The history of the fortress is the history of the town of Kxemnica. It was built to jprotect the town and its gold and si!Jver mines. When the fortress was bui1lrt, no one can say. Some historians claim that the fortress dates from the time of the Romans, others say the Goths built it. But this we do know: in the time of King Charles Robert, in the year 1328, the fortress was important. Some historians claim that Kremnica was of Slovalk origin, built therefoTe in the 9th or 10th century. They ·b ase theiT claim on the name itself, whkh is deri1ved from the word "kremeii," meaning .flint or quartz. ln old documents, Kremnica is designated by V1arious names: Cremnychlbana, Cremnyc'Z, Kremnica, Cremnich, Cremic, Keormeocz and Cremnicha. The fortress, aside from protecting the town and the gold mines, also contained the mint, which made the money for twelve countries. It is difficult to believe, but there are no records either albout the town of Kremnioa or the fortress for about a hundred years, from about 1339 to the death of King ALbert in 1439. It has been estalblished, hoM1e1Ver, that at the dawn of the 15th century, after the death of Jan ~izka, Hussite armies began their depradations in Slovalkia. One :part of the army came through Poland as fa,r as Spis, thence through Liptov to Turciansky Svaty Martin, which was burned to the ground, thence toward Tekov and Kremnica. It i:s the opinion of many historians that Kremnioa was besieged •b y this arnny. However, there are no historical documents to support this claim. 66 SLOVAKIA After the death of King Albert (1439) his widow Elizaibeth, g3/Ve ibirth to a son, Ladislaiv V., caUed the ''Posthumous", whom only one part of the country acknowledged as king. He was crowned king, but the other faction acknowledged the Polish King Ladislav as king. Ladislav's chief supporter was Jan Hunady. It is understandalble that great confusion per:vaded the country with. two existing kings and two opposing armies. The widowed queen ElizaJbeth, to def'end the rights of her son, enlisted the support of the Hussite leader; John. Jiskra of Brandys. The importaint mining towns backed Elizalbeth's son; among these W8$ Kremnica. Jiskra was a great military leader and in a short time many towns and fortresses in Gerner county fell before his victorious army and pledged allegiance to young King Ladislav. Hasko of Schellendorf, the right hand man of Jislkra, became the caiptain in Kremnica. In the year 1442 the army orf Jan Hunady's •u nder the leadership of the hunter...bishop Simon Rozgon, laid siege to Kremnica. For four weeks the soldiers pillaged the neighiboring towns. When news reached Simon Rozgon that John Jiskra was hastening to help Kremnica, the hunter-bishop withdrew his army. Then in 1451, Hunady himself led an army against Kremnica, but he was no match for Jiskra and had to withdraw. In 1455 King Mathias Corvin made peace with Jiskra, and Kremnica beoome the property of the crown. After the death of King Louis IT. in the historic battle of Mohac, Kremnica became the property of Queen Mary. When she died Kremnica passed into the possession of her brother, Ferdinand I, exchequer of the king. Between the yeara 1528 and 1533 Kremnica was the scene of many 1battles. It was during those turbulent times that ibands of predatory ik,n ights were born. Raiphael Podmanicky and Mathias Baso attacked the gold city and stole much of its gold. To protect itself and its .gold, a meetin!g was called of the lords of all the suTTOunding fortresses, on October 4, 1537, where it was decided to outfit an army of 700 men. King Ferdinand I wais asked to .gilV'e his consent and to appoint a commander, 'but he SLOVAKIA 67 saiw a threat to the cro!Wil from such a pooling of forces. He neither consented nor did he appoint a commander, leaving Kremnica to defend itself as best it could, which it prOm1ptly did by fortifying not only the fortress, but the town as well. H01Wever, in the year 1560 a fire destroyed much of the to1WI1 and the fortress. The fire was so hot that the very bells in the towers of the fortress and the canon on the walls melted like wax. The buHd.ing housing the airchi,ves ,w as destroyed completely. It took a long time and much effort to rebuild the town and the fortress. Du:rfag the Turkish invasion both the town and the fortress were besieged, but neiver taken. In 1604 Stefan Bockay besieged the town, succeeded in entering and burning pa;rt off it, but the fortre.ss proved impregnable. Since Bockay was a great menace to Kremnica, the town offered him 4000 pieces of gold to sign a treaty, which he accepted. In 1620 fortress Kremnica joined with Gabriel Bethlen, and in 1622 capitulated to King Ferdinand II. During Veselini's uprising in the neighboring fortress of Muran against King Leopold, the master of fortress Kremnica and the townspeople were accused by archbishop Juraj Szelepcsenyi of partisanship. Many were taken to Bratislava, tried, and convicted. Kremn!ica suffered much from fire.s. Besides the fires already mentioned, there were four other major fires: in 1690, 1707, 1716, and 1777. As the science of warfare became perfected fortress Kremnica lost much of its defense value foo- the town and consequently was left to the elements. However, even today a great deal of the fortress remains. It is one of the proud possessions of the town. Amidst its ruins there WatS until recently a chapel and a library of the Franciscan Fathers, connecting with the monastery itself. It is noteworthy to state that peacocks were a1ways raised in the fortress firom the time when one of them sounded the alwrm during the Turldsh invasion thus frustrating a sneak attack and :perh3lPS disaster, something akin to the geese of Rome, frustrating the attacks of the Gauls upon the capital of the Roman Empire.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Castles of Slovakia: Kremnica Description An account of the resource Hubert Macko, O.S.B. Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 2 (34), September-December 1961 pp. 65-67 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Macko, Hubert Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1961 castles name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/109d7f19e362e41b2328ae36c9ec4019.pdf da2eb74c7748262fb494020a40361424 PDF Text Text 68 SLOVAKIA SUDETEN GERMAN DAYS: MAY 19-22, 1961 The month of May, 1961, saw more than 200,000 Sudeten German expellees again convene - this year in the Rhine metropolis of Cologne - to be counted among those refusing to relinquish claims to native lands now under Soviet rule. Events that extended over four days (May 19-22) were highlighted by messages by U. S. Congressmen Morgan M. Moulder (Dem., Mo.), Gordon H. Scherer (Rep., 0 .), Roy A. Taylor (Dem., N. C.), Henry C. Schadeberg (Rep., Wis.), who flew to Cologne expressly to participate in the Sudeten German rally. The United States was also represented in the person of Philip A. Hrobak, President of the Slovak League of America and editor of the Slovak publication Jednota, who was awarded the Sudeten German Karl's Prize for his untiring efforts toward harmony among the peoples of East Central Europe. The Karl's Prize, named for Karl IV, King of Bohemia and Emperor of Germany, of the House of Luxemburg (1346-1378), is awarded each year to a political leader, scientist or publicist who has made an outstanding contribution to the concept of a United Europe. Reminiscent of a Scout jamboree, 3,500 Sudeten German boys and girls pitched their tents on the Cologne city fair grounds and camped there during the rally. Although most of them are too young to remember their native homes in Sudetenland from which their families were expelled in 1945-46, they have pledged their allegiance to a Europe in which all peoples and ethnic groups shall live in peace, freedom and harmony and, like their parents, refuse to give up their just claim to their homes now behind the iron curtain. At the grand youth finale, ruling Burgomaster of Berlin, Willy Brandt, addressed 15,000 listeners, scoring a demand for "unity, justice and freedom." A voice-speaking choir of South Moravians intoned the tragedy of a divided Germany, eager for reunification but incapable of �SLOVAKIA 69 true unity unless it be achieved in freedom and not at the expense of freedom. Said Oskar Boese as spokesman of the Sudeten German Youth: The younger genera,tion o'f the Sudeten Germans, wants to contrilbute to the endeavors eventually leadin,g to a r-e al and long riange reconici'Hation between the peo,pl-es of Centra,l and East EurQPe and !Minister of Transportation Dr. Hans-Christoph Seebohm, congratulates recip,ient of European Charles Prize, Mr. Philip A. Hrobak, President of the Slovak League of America. �70 SLOVAKIA to help briidge the gaip between Germany aml her eastern neighbors, a gaip caused by war antl post-w,ar events. According to the speaker, the Sudeten German Youth considers it its task to strengthen among the young people the many spiritual and social duties towards the people of other continents. The principle emphasis of this work lies on the dignity and freedom of the human being. Concluded Mr. Boese: We fully recognize a,n d adhere to the basic huma,n, rughlts, the in,violalbii.ity of the legally acquired homeland, the right olf self-detel"!Jllin,ation, and the ideals and duties of deanocralcy. Dr. Hans-Christoph Seebohm, German Federal Minister and President of the Sudeten German Council, one of the main speakers of the Sudeten rally in Cologne, emphasized that Sudeten expellees are using solely peaceful means to achieve their goals of repatriation and self-determination. Addressing the many thousands gathered at the Cologne fair grounds he said: You have come here voluntariiLy and at great per-sonal sacrifice O!f time ,a nd m001ey to rededlioaite yourselves to our homelamd, the Sudetenlantl aind ito prove before the world that we Sudeten German-s exist as an ethnic group aoo are resolved to deanand that the r,i,ght to the h-0meiand and to selif-detemni,n,ation in our homelarud eventuaUy be re,alized. We do not claim this right merely for ourselves, but fur aill peolJ)le and for all nations and ethnic g,r oups all -0ver the world, beca use we know that only by the realization O!f these rig•h ts can a lasting peace, based on a recoI11Ciiliation and coo:peration, C1f peoples and eth111k groups, be ushered in as a genuiiine and equal partnership. We are working toward this goal with the peaceful means of the law. We rejelct force, booause force would lead to new injustices whkh would endanger the future of •posterity. We do not intend to peripetua,t e the irujusti.ce of the exipulsi10n by add'i•ng new expulsions. The ri'ght O!f seld'-d•etermin,ation, which cannot be exercised periodli,cally Hke an election, is inseparaUJly 11inked to the right of the individual to his homeland antl can on,ly be exe-rci,red iin c-0njunction with that righlt. The Bolshevist wo,r ld pays l!ip service to the right Olf self-determination and hlas only used it as an enticement. It believes that the rig,ht Olf selif-deter,mination ended with the expulsion. We say, h'owever, the dght to the home'La<rud can never be crushed 'by force . Only the indiividual can relinquish i,t by giving up his ties with his peOI)le and his homela,n<ii as an aict of free will and conscience. Conscience cannot ·be silenced by force; it cannot even be siilenced by deportation and enslla~emenit. A:s long as poople stand by their �SLOVAKIA 71 native land, as long ais they remain lo)'lal to their people or ethnic group, they will retain this right to their hoonetand and the right to sel.f-detemninati-0n within thalt homeland. We do not believe that the .£utur.e oo Europe cam, be made saife by the restoroitiion of oubwom forms of national States. In vi-ew of the overlapping aireas of se!Jtlement of Oenltral European peoples and ethnic groups which stJil'l. exist despite the eJOI)'lllsron oo the Germans, a new, supra-naUonal order is needled. Peace a,nd harmony can be assured to these peoples onily when all natioml'l ambttions and lust for hegemony are bra•nded as a vio1'ation o.f the coomnonly estalblished order. Tolerance a•nd partnership wiU ha'V'e to overcome eidstiing tensions. We Sudeten Germans have renounced all thought oif reverrge, retlalliia'tioon and force ,i n the Charrt;er of the Elcpellees and the Wiesbaden A1gree:ment (signed by General Lev Ptchala for the Czech nati-ooo:l Counicil in London; and Dr. Rudold' Lodgman von Auen, Hans Schiltz and Rii:chard Rteitznoer o!ll, behallf of the Association for the Protection of Sudeiten German Interests). Guests of honor a,t Sudeten German Day (left to l"i9ht): Mr. Mouser, U. S. Embassy; the Hon. Ray A. Taylor, Gordon H. Scherer, Henry C. Schadeberg, members of U. S. Congress; General Lev Prchala, Czech National Council, and Hon. Morgan M. Moulder, Member U. S. Congress. �72 SLOVAKIA We want the peOII)les living today m Mioraiviia, Si,lesia, and Slo• vakra to know: We recognize, Czechs and Slovaks, your right to the homeland and your right of self-determinatioin just as we expect you to recogn,ize our respective rights. We want freedom for you, we want justice for you. We want you to live in a democratic and supranationally organized European order. We want to serve as equal and conscientious partners, the great aim: Freedom, justice and peace for all of Central Eastern Europe. Dr. Hans-Joachim von Merkatz, West Ger m an Minister of E xpellee and Refugee Affairs, speaking fo r t h e F eder al Chancellor and t h e German F ederal Government , said: When you ask to be 3Jble to retur,n. to your homeland, to your free homeLand, it has nothing whatsoever to do w.ith [Plans ~md id€.as as expressed by the National Socialists. It is the nart:urail ex· -p ression of love .for on,e's native soil!. Your ethnic group is under fire by Eastern propaganda. How· ever , you are not in bad company if people accuse you oif being "revengists," •n,or is this accusation borne out me,re}y by constant repetitio•n. ]t simply shows how sensifaveliy the Eas,t reacts to our pledge of allegrian,c,e to your hiomeland and t he .right to thart 'homeland• - which is one of the most n,aitural cxf all rights. You are not seeking revenge. We who are the most recent victims of re· ven,ge ar e the first om~s ,to break its vicious circl.e. The expellees ha:ve fong srin•ce 3Jbandoned a•ny thought of revenge and retaliation ... The Gerunan Bumd·estaog, in a soleimn declaraltion made in 1,950, stated that the right to the homeland is an inalien-3Jble claim of man a1nd that irt raises protest agairnst tire su:nrender oif this right of the homeland belon ging to those Germans from Ozeicho-Slovakiia en,tr,usted to the caire of the West Ger.man Federal RepulblLc. Th~ Fed,eirail Government has repeatedly spoken out in this vein on behalif of the prinlciplie of the r1ght to the homeland and the rioght ad' selif-determination for all Ger,ma·ns. 1 The Hon. Gordon H. Scherer, member of t he U. S. House of Representatives, addressing t he Sudenten Germ an expellees, gathered at Cologne's fair grounds said : I brin•g you the warmest greetings od' the Congress a•nd the people of the United states of America. This meeting is imp ortant becaus·e you a·r e courageously facing up to the g,r e·a test issue oif thris generation, that .issue before which all oth1ers pass into ionsiogn,it.fioance. It is the fight w.ith the So·v iet Uniorn for survival, with the international Communist conspiracy 1by aill those people on borth sides of the ioron curtain who love and want lilberty and the right of se'hf-d•ete-run ination. I am cme of those, however, who does not beliieve that we a,r e going to have all-o ut nuclear war. Why? Simply because today the fire·pQlWer between the Eaist and the W es't is fairly well balanced and neither side is going to risk the total ,destruction of its cities. �SLOVAKIA 73 The Russians -are not dumb. Wh,y should they risk a1lmost total annihilation? As ·long as the Communist empire corutinues to move for,ward , how, as a practical matter, c,a n the Sudeten. Ge.rmans expect to have their lands -andi propertiies returned to 'them? Hoiw can you or any of the people behind the iron curtain ex,pe'Ct the right of selfdetenmin.ation as long as the despots in the KremHn continue cynica11,y to maniipuliare the strings thiat control theiJ- puppets in Czecho,Slov.a'kia, Pola•nd, Ru.mania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, China, Tibet and, yes, EJa,sit Germany? Onl,y aifter we in the .free world, with the help of millions cxf our secret a'llies behind the iron, and ballnfboo curtaiiin6, turn the tide of arthei,sti.c, godJ:ess Communism, will Su,d,e'ten Ge:rnnans be alble to realire their cheiriished goals of "restoraltion of their homelands" and "seltf-detel'trll1i:n,a,tion." Congressman Roy A. Taylor, praised the Sudeten Garmans as one of the greatest anti-Communist forces in the 1T he main speakers at Sudeten German Day. (Left to right): Wenzel Jaksch, President of Sudeten German Federal Assembly; Willy Brandt, Mayor of West Berlin; Ha.ns-Christoph Seebohm, President of the Sudeten German Council. �74 SLOVAKIA world, saying they had greatly contributed to the struggle for the preservation of freedom. The Sudetens know, he stated, what it means to suffer at the hands of Communism. "Through your actions you have won the admiration of all free people of the world. "We need to believe that right in the world will triumph over might, and that truth crushed to earth will rise again. We want you to know that we in America are anxious to help correct the injustices of the past and recover the world's greatest lost treasure, which is world peace." Representative Henry C. Schadeberg declared that: Sud>eten Germ~ms have the title to thei·r homeland as aM other people of the world arud Communist measures must be tolerated in no ease. be ,t hey directed ag,ainst the Po,!es or the Germans. Your magnificent way to demonstrate for cooperation with the Slovak people by awarding the Charles Prize to the President of the Slovak League of America is a manifestation for cooperation with all other nations of Eastern Europe. y;our attitud e is greatly ,a·ppreciated by keed01m-loving people in Amer,k!a a,nd <in al11 of the free world. We believe with you tha.t freedom will not oisappear from this world - that freedom and not Communist tyrianny is the "w.ave of the fut ure," and tha,t faiith !in God wHl str,e ngthen and :remain ,t he buliwark of tree men, in the West. Our work .and your work wiU be successful becaus e freedom is righ't and tyranny is wrong. 1 From Congressman Morgan M. Moulder the audience heard that the Communists were following quite clear aims by expelling the Sudeten Germans from their homelands. Said he: The Communists wanted to pus:h the borders of their ter,r itocy as fa:r west a<s possible. They br,iJbed followers by oistri'buting Germain, expellees' propel1ty; thereby they were able to colle1etivize Sudeten German and East German agriculture ,a nd industry, -and have tried to corrupt the morale of a-11 East Gernnan peoples and create ete11na1l hatred between the Germans on th·e one hand and the Czechs and the Poles on the other. Every Amerilcan who loves freedom should condemn these Communist aims. Every Almer,iican should support the rapprochement between n,ations that have become victims of Coonmunism. It Ls our belief that this ra'PProchement must be based on justice. We believe that aU people h<l!Ve a right to th•eir h'Omeland and that the inj,usti-ces committed since world Oommun,ism arose must be removed. We ,b elieve that the nations long for and deserve full freedom a,nd sellf-deternnin-ati'on. The Sudeten Germans shoUJ1d haive the r ~g,ht to return to their centuries-Old hoone1'and and to their sebf-determination. Wenzel Jaksch, member of the German Federal Par- �SLOVAKIA 75 1iament and President of the Sudeten German Federal Assembly, Wiesbaden, told the Cologne rally: ]f we look at the Sudeten problem as an isolated question, it becomes one rnf the most diif£icult ones Ln Europe todlay. Today, as in the past, it is our hilstoriic perseverance thait will decide the fUJture of our hooneland. A homeland' that is written o<flf the books is lost forever. We are ,c alled illusionists because we do not want to fonreit the old homela,n,d. Yet those who beHeve they can retain West Gerunainiy ,p ermanently, irf they yield East Germanry .and the Sudetenland, ar,e even greater illusionists. At this pOlint we a,r e faced wilth an in,n.er decision between political deifensi~ and political offensi:ve thinking. 'J.1he malking of that decision is a,n unesoa,paible ta.sk. An European democracy that thinks offensively should see in the loya,ty of Sudeten a•nd East Germans to their hooneJ,and its most va,l1U1aible aUies. Any over.all Euroipean pea'ce plan Olf the uniited democracies cannot a.Jif-Ord to ex!Clude the reparation of the expulJ,sions. This i-s no biased Germain, demand but a prerequ1si<te oo fr,eedom and self-d•eteriminaiion of the East European peoples. The price of freed om for all European peoples is their restriction to histm:iically confiruned bounda<ries Olf settlemerut and respect for the neighlbor's boundM-ies dra,wn by the plowsha•re and not by the sword. Willy Brandt, popular Burgomaster (Mayor) of Berlin, made a special trip to Cologne to address the Sudeten German rally. In his speech Brandt said: The citizens of Berlin today, even as the eX!pel:lees in the post,war era , are syim1bolica1ly shouldering the load for the entire niaition. Berlin is the brid•ge between the people -Orf our divided country. If the lights should go out iln, Berllin, darrkness would set in for the entire Gerunan Federail Repwblic. We in Berlin f.eel that we need no counter-ideology. The East Block ide·ology i1S not such a Herculean thing that we can or.Jy meet it on the deifensiive. The Ber>lin questi,on is not the cause but the result of tensions ,b etween East and West a1nd of Gerunany's partition. There is no isolated Berlin solution. What there may be, until the rees·talb1ishment of Ge11ma•ny's unity in freedom and in a·greemen,t with the ju,sitiJie-d securiity initerests of aU coruc,erned, is a sett:,ament of solely practilcal maitters. The following points rema·in essen,tia~: 1. The right of Berlin's citizens freely to decide their own matters. 2. The rights and d,uties of the A,llied Protecting Powers to prov,i de for access to Berlin a•nd for preparations for a peace treaty with an a1l-German governime.nt. 3. '!\he indissolUJble conneicti·on between West Berlin and the economic a•n.d legal system -0f the German F1ede-rall Repulblic. 4. The community of the population, of both sectors of Berlin, which must no't ,b e jeo,pa;rdfael by changing the d'emar>cation line of ,t he ci,ty into State boundaries. - "Sudeten Bulletin." � 68 SLOVAKIA SUDETEN GERMAN DAYS: MAY 19-22, 1961 The month of May, 1961, saw more than 200,000 Sudeten German expellees again convene - this year in the Rhine metropolis of Cologne - to be counted among those refusing to relinquish claims to native lands now under Soviet rule. Events that extended over four days (May 19-22) were highlighted by messages by U. S. Congressmen Morgan M. Moulder (Dem., Mo.), Gordon H. Scherer (Rep., 0 .), Roy A. Taylor (Dem., N. C.), Henry C. Schadeberg (Rep., Wis.), who flew to Cologne expressly to participate in the Sudeten German rally. The United States was also represented in the person of Philip A. Hrobak, President of the Slovak League of America and editor of the Slovak publication Jednota, who was awarded the Sudeten German Karl's Prize for his untiring efforts toward harmony among the peoples of East Central Europe. The Karl's Prize, named for Karl IV, King of Bohemia and Emperor of Germany, of the House of Luxemburg (1346-1378), is awarded each year to a political leader, scientist or publicist who has made an outstanding contribution to the concept of a United Europe. Reminiscent of a Scout jamboree, 3,500 Sudeten German boys and girls pitched their tents on the Cologne city fair grounds and camped there during the rally. Although most of them are too young to remember their native homes in Sudetenland from which their families were expelled in 1945-46, they have pledged their allegiance to a Europe in which all peoples and ethnic groups shall live in peace, freedom and harmony and, like their parents, refuse to give up their just claim to their homes now behind the iron curtain. At the grand youth finale, ruling Burgomaster of Berlin, Willy Brandt, addressed 15,000 listeners, scoring a demand for "unity, justice and freedom." A voice-speaking choir of South Moravians intoned the tragedy of a divided Germany, eager for reunification but incapable of �SLOVAKIA 69 true unity unless it be achieved in freedom and not at the expense of freedom. Said Oskar Boese as spokesman of the Sudeten German Youth: The younger genera,tion o'f the Sudeten Germans, wants to contrilbute to the endeavors eventually leadin,g to a r-e al and long riange reconici'Hation between the peo,pl-es of Centra,l and East EurQPe and !Minister of Transportation Dr. Hans-Christoph Seebohm, congratulates recip,ient of European Charles Prize, Mr. Philip A. Hrobak, President of the Slovak League of America. �70 SLOVAKIA to help briidge the gaip between Germany aml her eastern neighbors, a gaip caused by war antl post-w,ar events. According to the speaker, the Sudeten German Youth considers it its task to strengthen among the young people the many spiritual and social duties towards the people of other continents. The principle emphasis of this work lies on the dignity and freedom of the human being. Concluded Mr. Boese: We fully recognize a,n d adhere to the basic huma,n, rughlts, the in,violalbii.ity of the legally acquired homeland, the right olf self-detel"!Jllin,ation, and the ideals and duties of deanocralcy. Dr. Hans-Christoph Seebohm, German Federal Minister and President of the Sudeten German Council, one of the main speakers of the Sudeten rally in Cologne, emphasized that Sudeten expellees are using solely peaceful means to achieve their goals of repatriation and self-determination. Addressing the many thousands gathered at the Cologne fair grounds he said: You have come here voluntariiLy and at great per-sonal sacrifice O!f time ,a nd m001ey to rededlioaite yourselves to our homelamd, the Sudetenlantl aind ito prove before the world that we Sudeten German-s exist as an ethnic group aoo are resolved to deanand that the r,i,ght to the h-0meiand and to selif-detemni,n,ation in our homelarud eventuaUy be re,alized. We do not claim this right merely for ourselves, but fur aill peolJ)le and for all nations and ethnic g,r oups all -0ver the world, beca use we know that only by the realization O!f these rig•h ts can a lasting peace, based on a recoI11Ciiliation and coo:peration, C1f peoples and eth111k groups, be ushered in as a genuiiine and equal partnership. We are working toward this goal with the peaceful means of the law. We rejelct force, booause force would lead to new injustices whkh would endanger the future of •posterity. We do not intend to peripetua,t e the irujusti.ce of the exipulsi10n by add'i•ng new expulsions. The ri'ght O!f seld'-d•etermin,ation, which cannot be exercised periodli,cally Hke an election, is inseparaUJly 11inked to the right of the individual to his homeland antl can on,ly be exe-rci,red iin c-0njunction with that righlt. The Bolshevist wo,r ld pays l!ip service to the right Olf self-determination and hlas only used it as an enticement. It believes that the rig,ht Olf selif-deter,mination ended with the expulsion. We say, h'owever, the dght to the home'La<rud can never be crushed 'by force . Only the indiividual can relinquish i,t by giving up his ties with his peOI)le and his homela,n<ii as an aict of free will and conscience. Conscience cannot ·be silenced by force; it cannot even be siilenced by deportation and enslla~emenit. A:s long as poople stand by their �SLOVAKIA 71 native land, as long ais they remain lo)'lal to their people or ethnic group, they will retain this right to their hoonetand and the right to sel.f-detemninati-0n within thalt homeland. We do not believe that the .£utur.e oo Europe cam, be made saife by the restoroitiion of oubwom forms of national States. In vi-ew of the overlapping aireas of se!Jtlement of Oenltral European peoples and ethnic groups which stJil'l. exist despite the eJOI)'lllsron oo the Germans, a new, supra-naUonal order is needled. Peace a,nd harmony can be assured to these peoples onily when all natioml'l ambttions and lust for hegemony are bra•nded as a vio1'ation o.f the coomnonly estalblished order. Tolerance a•nd partnership wiU ha'V'e to overcome eidstiing tensions. We Sudeten Germans have renounced all thought oif reverrge, retlalliia'tioon and force ,i n the Charrt;er of the Elcpellees and the Wiesbaden A1gree:ment (signed by General Lev Ptchala for the Czech nati-ooo:l Counicil in London; and Dr. Rudold' Lodgman von Auen, Hans Schiltz and Rii:chard Rteitznoer o!ll, behallf of the Association for the Protection of Sudeiten German Interests). Guests of honor a,t Sudeten German Day (left to l"i9ht): Mr. Mouser, U. S. Embassy; the Hon. Ray A. Taylor, Gordon H. Scherer, Henry C. Schadeberg, members of U. S. Congress; General Lev Prchala, Czech National Council, and Hon. Morgan M. Moulder, Member U. S. Congress. �72 SLOVAKIA We want the peOII)les living today m Mioraiviia, Si,lesia, and Slo• vakra to know: We recognize, Czechs and Slovaks, your right to the homeland and your right of self-determinatioin just as we expect you to recogn,ize our respective rights. We want freedom for you, we want justice for you. We want you to live in a democratic and supranationally organized European order. We want to serve as equal and conscientious partners, the great aim: Freedom, justice and peace for all of Central Eastern Europe. Dr. Hans-Joachim von Merkatz, West Ger m an Minister of E xpellee and Refugee Affairs, speaking fo r t h e F eder al Chancellor and t h e German F ederal Government , said: When you ask to be 3Jble to retur,n. to your homeland, to your free homeLand, it has nothing whatsoever to do w.ith [Plans ~md id€.as as expressed by the National Socialists. It is the nart:urail ex· -p ression of love .for on,e's native soil!. Your ethnic group is under fire by Eastern propaganda. How· ever , you are not in bad company if people accuse you oif being "revengists," •n,or is this accusation borne out me,re}y by constant repetitio•n. ]t simply shows how sensifaveliy the Eas,t reacts to our pledge of allegrian,c,e to your hiomeland and t he .right to thart 'homeland• - which is one of the most n,aitural cxf all rights. You are not seeking revenge. We who are the most recent victims of re· ven,ge ar e the first om~s ,to break its vicious circl.e. The expellees ha:ve fong srin•ce 3Jbandoned a•ny thought of revenge and retaliation ... The Gerunan Bumd·estaog, in a soleimn declaraltion made in 1,950, stated that the right to the homeland is an inalien-3Jble claim of man a1nd that irt raises protest agairnst tire su:nrender oif this right of the homeland belon ging to those Germans from Ozeicho-Slovakiia en,tr,usted to the caire of the West Ger.man Federal RepulblLc. Th~ Fed,eirail Government has repeatedly spoken out in this vein on behalif of the prinlciplie of the r1ght to the homeland and the rioght ad' selif-determination for all Ger,ma·ns. 1 The Hon. Gordon H. Scherer, member of t he U. S. House of Representatives, addressing t he Sudenten Germ an expellees, gathered at Cologne's fair grounds said : I brin•g you the warmest greetings od' the Congress a•nd the people of the United states of America. This meeting is imp ortant becaus·e you a·r e courageously facing up to the g,r e·a test issue oif thris generation, that .issue before which all oth1ers pass into ionsiogn,it.fioance. It is the fight w.ith the So·v iet Uniorn for survival, with the international Communist conspiracy 1by aill those people on borth sides of the ioron curtain who love and want lilberty and the right of se'hf-d•ete-run ination. I am cme of those, however, who does not beliieve that we a,r e going to have all-o ut nuclear war. Why? Simply because today the fire·pQlWer between the Eaist and the W es't is fairly well balanced and neither side is going to risk the total ,destruction of its cities. �SLOVAKIA 73 The Russians -are not dumb. Wh,y should they risk a1lmost total annihilation? As ·long as the Communist empire corutinues to move for,ward , how, as a practical matter, c,a n the Sudeten. Ge.rmans expect to have their lands -andi propertiies returned to 'them? Hoiw can you or any of the people behind the iron curtain ex,pe'Ct the right of selfdetenmin.ation as long as the despots in the KremHn continue cynica11,y to maniipuliare the strings thiat control theiJ- puppets in Czecho,Slov.a'kia, Pola•nd, Ru.mania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, China, Tibet and, yes, EJa,sit Germany? Onl,y aifter we in the .free world, with the help of millions cxf our secret a'llies behind the iron, and ballnfboo curtaiiin6, turn the tide of arthei,sti.c, godJ:ess Communism, will Su,d,e'ten Ge:rnnans be alble to realire their cheiriished goals of "restoraltion of their homelands" and "seltf-detel'trll1i:n,a,tion." Congressman Roy A. Taylor, praised the Sudeten Garmans as one of the greatest anti-Communist forces in the 1T he main speakers at Sudeten German Day. (Left to right): Wenzel Jaksch, President of Sudeten German Federal Assembly; Willy Brandt, Mayor of West Berlin; Ha.ns-Christoph Seebohm, President of the Sudeten German Council. �74 SLOVAKIA world, saying they had greatly contributed to the struggle for the preservation of freedom. The Sudetens know, he stated, what it means to suffer at the hands of Communism. "Through your actions you have won the admiration of all free people of the world. "We need to believe that right in the world will triumph over might, and that truth crushed to earth will rise again. We want you to know that we in America are anxious to help correct the injustices of the past and recover the world's greatest lost treasure, which is world peace." Representative Henry C. Schadeberg declared that: Sud>eten Germ~ms have the title to thei·r homeland as aM other people of the world arud Communist measures must be tolerated in no ease. be ,t hey directed ag,ainst the Po,!es or the Germans. Your magnificent way to demonstrate for cooperation with the Slovak people by awarding the Charles Prize to the President of the Slovak League of America is a manifestation for cooperation with all other nations of Eastern Europe. y;our attitud e is greatly ,a·ppreciated by keed01m-loving people in Amer,k!a a,nd <in al11 of the free world. We believe with you tha.t freedom will not oisappear from this world - that freedom and not Communist tyrianny is the "w.ave of the fut ure," and tha,t faiith !in God wHl str,e ngthen and :remain ,t he buliwark of tree men, in the West. Our work .and your work wiU be successful becaus e freedom is righ't and tyranny is wrong. 1 From Congressman Morgan M. Moulder the audience heard that the Communists were following quite clear aims by expelling the Sudeten Germans from their homelands. Said he: The Communists wanted to pus:h the borders of their ter,r itocy as fa:r west a<s possible. They br,iJbed followers by oistri'buting Germain, expellees' propel1ty; thereby they were able to colle1etivize Sudeten German and East German agriculture ,a nd industry, -and have tried to corrupt the morale of a-11 East Gernnan peoples and create ete11na1l hatred between the Germans on th·e one hand and the Czechs and the Poles on the other. Every Amerilcan who loves freedom should condemn these Communist aims. Every Almer,iican should support the rapprochement between n,ations that have become victims of Coonmunism. It Ls our belief that this ra'PProchement must be based on justice. We believe that aU people h<l!Ve a right to th•eir h'Omeland and that the inj,usti-ces committed since world Oommun,ism arose must be removed. We ,b elieve that the nations long for and deserve full freedom a,nd sellf-deternnin-ati'on. The Sudeten Germans shoUJ1d haive the r ~g,ht to return to their centuries-Old hoone1'and and to their sebf-determination. Wenzel Jaksch, member of the German Federal Par- �SLOVAKIA 75 1iament and President of the Sudeten German Federal Assembly, Wiesbaden, told the Cologne rally: ]f we look at the Sudeten problem as an isolated question, it becomes one rnf the most diif£icult ones Ln Europe todlay. Today, as in the past, it is our hilstoriic perseverance thait will decide the fUJture of our hooneland. A homeland' that is written o<flf the books is lost forever. We are ,c alled illusionists because we do not want to fonreit the old homela,n,d. Yet those who beHeve they can retain West Gerunainiy ,p ermanently, irf they yield East Germanry .and the Sudetenland, ar,e even greater illusionists. At this pOlint we a,r e faced wilth an in,n.er decision between political deifensi~ and political offensi:ve thinking. 'J.1he malking of that decision is a,n unesoa,paible ta.sk. An European democracy that thinks offensively should see in the loya,ty of Sudeten a•nd East Germans to their hooneJ,and its most va,l1U1aible aUies. Any over.all Euroipean pea'ce plan Olf the uniited democracies cannot a.Jif-Ord to ex!Clude the reparation of the expulJ,sions. This i-s no biased Germain, demand but a prerequ1si<te oo fr,eedom and self-d•eteriminaiion of the East European peoples. The price of freed om for all European peoples is their restriction to histm:iically confiruned bounda<ries Olf settlemerut and respect for the neighlbor's boundM-ies dra,wn by the plowsha•re and not by the sword. Willy Brandt, popular Burgomaster (Mayor) of Berlin, made a special trip to Cologne to address the Sudeten German rally. In his speech Brandt said: The citizens of Berlin today, even as the eX!pel:lees in the post,war era , are syim1bolica1ly shouldering the load for the entire niaition. Berlin is the brid•ge between the people -Orf our divided country. If the lights should go out iln, Berllin, darrkness would set in for the entire Gerunan Federail Repwblic. We in Berlin f.eel that we need no counter-ideology. The East Block ide·ology i1S not such a Herculean thing that we can or.Jy meet it on the deifensiive. The Ber>lin questi,on is not the cause but the result of tensions ,b etween East and West a1nd of Gerunany's partition. There is no isolated Berlin solution. What there may be, until the rees·talb1ishment of Ge11ma•ny's unity in freedom and in a·greemen,t with the ju,sitiJie-d securiity initerests of aU coruc,erned, is a sett:,ament of solely practilcal maitters. The following points rema·in essen,tia~: 1. The right of Berlin's citizens freely to decide their own matters. 2. The rights and d,uties of the A,llied Protecting Powers to prov,i de for access to Berlin a•nd for preparations for a peace treaty with an a1l-German governime.nt. 3. '!\he indissolUJble conneicti·on between West Berlin and the economic a•n.d legal system -0f the German F1ede-rall Repulblic. 4. The community of the population, of both sectors of Berlin, which must no't ,b e jeo,pa;rdfael by changing the d'emar>cation line of ,t he ci,ty into State boundaries. - "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 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 68 SLOVAKIA SUDETEN GERMAN DAYS: MAY 19-22, 1961 The month of May, 1961, saw more than 200,000 Sudeten German expellees again convene - this year in the Rhine metropolis of Cologne - to be counted among those refusing to relinquish claims to native lands now under Soviet rule. Events that extended over four days (May 19-22) were highlighted by messages by U. S. Congressmen Morgan M. Moulder (Dem., Mo.), Gordon H. Scherer (Rep., 0 .), Roy A. Taylor (Dem., N. C.), Henry C. Schadeberg (Rep., Wis.), who flew to Cologne expressly to participate in the Sudeten German rally. The United States was also represented in the person of Philip A. Hrobak, President of the Slovak League of America and editor of the Slovak publication Jednota, who was awarded the Sudeten German Karl's Prize for his untiring efforts toward harmony among the peoples of East Central Europe. The Karl's Prize, named for Karl IV, King of Bohemia and Emperor of Germany, of the House of Luxemburg (1346-1378), is awarded each year to a political leader, scientist or publicist who has made an outstanding contribution to the concept of a United Europe. Reminiscent of a Scout jamboree, 3,500 Sudeten German boys and girls pitched their tents on the Cologne city fair grounds and camped there during the rally. Although most of them are too young to remember their native homes in Sudetenland from which their families were expelled in 1945-46, they have pledged their allegiance to a Europe in which all peoples and ethnic groups shall live in peace, freedom and harmony and, like their parents, refuse to give up their just claim to their homes now behind the iron curtain. At the grand youth finale, ruling Burgomaster of Berlin, Willy Brandt, addressed 15,000 listeners, scoring a demand for "unity, justice and freedom." A voice-speaking choir of South Moravians intoned the tragedy of a divided Germany, eager for reunification but incapable of SLOVAKIA 69 true unity unless it be achieved in freedom and not at the expense of freedom. Said Oskar Boese as spokesman of the Sudeten German Youth: The younger genera,tion o'f the Sudeten Germans, wants to contrilbute to the endeavors eventually leadin,g to a r-e al and long riange reconici'Hation between the peo,pl-es of Centra,l and East EurQPe and !Minister of Transportation Dr. Hans-Christoph Seebohm, congratulates recip,ient of European Charles Prize, Mr. Philip A. Hrobak, President of the Slovak League of America. 70 SLOVAKIA to help briidge the gaip between Germany aml her eastern neighbors, a gaip caused by war antl post-w,ar events. According to the speaker, the Sudeten German Youth considers it its task to strengthen among the young people the many spiritual and social duties towards the people of other continents. The principle emphasis of this work lies on the dignity and freedom of the human being. Concluded Mr. Boese: We fully recognize a,n d adhere to the basic huma,n, rughlts, the in,violalbii.ity of the legally acquired homeland, the right olf self-detel"!Jllin,ation, and the ideals and duties of deanocralcy. Dr. Hans-Christoph Seebohm, German Federal Minister and President of the Sudeten German Council, one of the main speakers of the Sudeten rally in Cologne, emphasized that Sudeten expellees are using solely peaceful means to achieve their goals of repatriation and self-determination. Addressing the many thousands gathered at the Cologne fair grounds he said: You have come here voluntariiLy and at great per-sonal sacrifice O!f time ,a nd m001ey to rededlioaite yourselves to our homelamd, the Sudetenlantl aind ito prove before the world that we Sudeten German-s exist as an ethnic group aoo are resolved to deanand that the r,i,ght to the h-0meiand and to selif-detemni,n,ation in our homelarud eventuaUy be re,alized. We do not claim this right merely for ourselves, but fur aill peolJ)le and for all nations and ethnic g,r oups all -0ver the world, beca use we know that only by the realization O!f these rig•h ts can a lasting peace, based on a recoI11Ciiliation and coo:peration, C1f peoples and eth111k groups, be ushered in as a genuiiine and equal partnership. We are working toward this goal with the peaceful means of the law. We rejelct force, booause force would lead to new injustices whkh would endanger the future of •posterity. We do not intend to peripetua,t e the irujusti.ce of the exipulsi10n by add'i•ng new expulsions. The ri'ght O!f seld'-d•etermin,ation, which cannot be exercised periodli,cally Hke an election, is inseparaUJly 11inked to the right of the individual to his homeland antl can on,ly be exe-rci,red iin c-0njunction with that righlt. The Bolshevist wo,r ld pays l!ip service to the right Olf self-determination and hlas only used it as an enticement. It believes that the rig,ht Olf selif-deter,mination ended with the expulsion. We say, h'owever, the dght to the home'La<rud can never be crushed 'by force . Only the indiividual can relinquish i,t by giving up his ties with his peOI)le and his homela,n<ii as an aict of free will and conscience. Conscience cannot ·be silenced by force; it cannot even be siilenced by deportation and enslla~emenit. A:s long as poople stand by their SLOVAKIA 71 native land, as long ais they remain lo)'lal to their people or ethnic group, they will retain this right to their hoonetand and the right to sel.f-detemninati-0n within thalt homeland. We do not believe that the .£utur.e oo Europe cam, be made saife by the restoroitiion of oubwom forms of national States. In vi-ew of the overlapping aireas of se!Jtlement of Oenltral European peoples and ethnic groups which stJil'l. exist despite the eJOI)'lllsron oo the Germans, a new, supra-naUonal order is needled. Peace a,nd harmony can be assured to these peoples onily when all natioml'l ambttions and lust for hegemony are bra•nded as a vio1'ation o.f the coomnonly estalblished order. Tolerance a•nd partnership wiU ha'V'e to overcome eidstiing tensions. We Sudeten Germans have renounced all thought oif reverrge, retlalliia'tioon and force ,i n the Charrt;er of the Elcpellees and the Wiesbaden A1gree:ment (signed by General Lev Ptchala for the Czech nati-ooo:l Counicil in London; and Dr. Rudold' Lodgman von Auen, Hans Schiltz and Rii:chard Rteitznoer o!ll, behallf of the Association for the Protection of Sudeiten German Interests). Guests of honor a,t Sudeten German Day (left to l"i9ht): Mr. Mouser, U. S. Embassy; the Hon. Ray A. Taylor, Gordon H. Scherer, Henry C. Schadeberg, members of U. S. Congress; General Lev Prchala, Czech National Council, and Hon. Morgan M. Moulder, Member U. S. Congress. 72 SLOVAKIA We want the peOII)les living today m Mioraiviia, Si,lesia, and Slo• vakra to know: We recognize, Czechs and Slovaks, your right to the homeland and your right of self-determinatioin just as we expect you to recogn,ize our respective rights. We want freedom for you, we want justice for you. We want you to live in a democratic and supranationally organized European order. We want to serve as equal and conscientious partners, the great aim: Freedom, justice and peace for all of Central Eastern Europe. Dr. Hans-Joachim von Merkatz, West Ger m an Minister of E xpellee and Refugee Affairs, speaking fo r t h e F eder al Chancellor and t h e German F ederal Government , said: When you ask to be 3Jble to retur,n. to your homeland, to your free homeLand, it has nothing whatsoever to do w.ith [Plans ~md id€.as as expressed by the National Socialists. It is the nart:urail ex· -p ression of love .for on,e's native soil!. Your ethnic group is under fire by Eastern propaganda. How· ever , you are not in bad company if people accuse you oif being "revengists," •n,or is this accusation borne out me,re}y by constant repetitio•n. ]t simply shows how sensifaveliy the Eas,t reacts to our pledge of allegrian,c,e to your hiomeland and t he .right to thart 'homeland• - which is one of the most n,aitural cxf all rights. You are not seeking revenge. We who are the most recent victims of re· ven,ge ar e the first om~s ,to break its vicious circl.e. The expellees ha:ve fong srin•ce 3Jbandoned a•ny thought of revenge and retaliation ... The Gerunan Bumd·estaog, in a soleimn declaraltion made in 1,950, stated that the right to the homeland is an inalien-3Jble claim of man a1nd that irt raises protest agairnst tire su:nrender oif this right of the homeland belon ging to those Germans from Ozeicho-Slovakiia en,tr,usted to the caire of the West Ger.man Federal RepulblLc. Th~ Fed,eirail Government has repeatedly spoken out in this vein on behalif of the prinlciplie of the r1ght to the homeland and the rioght ad' selif-determination for all Ger,ma·ns. 1 The Hon. Gordon H. Scherer, member of t he U. S. House of Representatives, addressing t he Sudenten Germ an expellees, gathered at Cologne's fair grounds said : I brin•g you the warmest greetings od' the Congress a•nd the people of the United states of America. This meeting is imp ortant becaus·e you a·r e courageously facing up to the g,r e·a test issue oif thris generation, that .issue before which all oth1ers pass into ionsiogn,it.fioance. It is the fight w.ith the So·v iet Uniorn for survival, with the international Communist conspiracy 1by aill those people on borth sides of the ioron curtain who love and want lilberty and the right of se'hf-d•ete-run ination. I am cme of those, however, who does not beliieve that we a,r e going to have all-o ut nuclear war. Why? Simply because today the fire·pQlWer between the Eaist and the W es't is fairly well balanced and neither side is going to risk the total ,destruction of its cities. SLOVAKIA 73 The Russians -are not dumb. Wh,y should they risk a1lmost total annihilation? As ·long as the Communist empire corutinues to move for,ward , how, as a practical matter, c,a n the Sudeten. Ge.rmans expect to have their lands -andi propertiies returned to 'them? Hoiw can you or any of the people behind the iron curtain ex,pe'Ct the right of selfdetenmin.ation as long as the despots in the KremHn continue cynica11,y to maniipuliare the strings thiat control theiJ- puppets in Czecho,Slov.a'kia, Pola•nd, Ru.mania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, China, Tibet and, yes, EJa,sit Germany? Onl,y aifter we in the .free world, with the help of millions cxf our secret a'llies behind the iron, and ballnfboo curtaiiin6, turn the tide of arthei,sti.c, godJ:ess Communism, will Su,d,e'ten Ge:rnnans be alble to realire their cheiriished goals of "restoraltion of their homelands" and "seltf-detel'trll1i:n,a,tion." Congressman Roy A. Taylor, praised the Sudeten Garmans as one of the greatest anti-Communist forces in the 1T he main speakers at Sudeten German Day. (Left to right): Wenzel Jaksch, President of Sudeten German Federal Assembly; Willy Brandt, Mayor of West Berlin; Ha.ns-Christoph Seebohm, President of the Sudeten German Council. 74 SLOVAKIA world, saying they had greatly contributed to the struggle for the preservation of freedom. The Sudetens know, he stated, what it means to suffer at the hands of Communism. "Through your actions you have won the admiration of all free people of the world. "We need to believe that right in the world will triumph over might, and that truth crushed to earth will rise again. We want you to know that we in America are anxious to help correct the injustices of the past and recover the world's greatest lost treasure, which is world peace." Representative Henry C. Schadeberg declared that: Sud>eten Germ~ms have the title to thei·r homeland as aM other people of the world arud Communist measures must be tolerated in no ease. be ,t hey directed ag,ainst the Po,!es or the Germans. Your magnificent way to demonstrate for cooperation with the Slovak people by awarding the Charles Prize to the President of the Slovak League of America is a manifestation for cooperation with all other nations of Eastern Europe. y;our attitud e is greatly ,a·ppreciated by keed01m-loving people in Amer,k!a a,nd <in al11 of the free world. We believe with you tha.t freedom will not oisappear from this world - that freedom and not Communist tyrianny is the "w.ave of the fut ure," and tha,t faiith !in God wHl str,e ngthen and :remain ,t he buliwark of tree men, in the West. Our work .and your work wiU be successful becaus e freedom is righ't and tyranny is wrong. 1 From Congressman Morgan M. Moulder the audience heard that the Communists were following quite clear aims by expelling the Sudeten Germans from their homelands. Said he: The Communists wanted to pus:h the borders of their ter,r itocy as fa:r west a<s possible. They br,iJbed followers by oistri'buting Germain, expellees' propel1ty; thereby they were able to colle1etivize Sudeten German and East German agriculture ,a nd industry, -and have tried to corrupt the morale of a-11 East Gernnan peoples and create ete11na1l hatred between the Germans on th·e one hand and the Czechs and the Poles on the other. Every Amerilcan who loves freedom should condemn these Communist aims. Every Almer,iican should support the rapprochement between n,ations that have become victims of Coonmunism. It Ls our belief that this ra'PProchement must be based on justice. We believe that aU people h<l!Ve a right to th•eir h'Omeland and that the inj,usti-ces committed since world Oommun,ism arose must be removed. We ,b elieve that the nations long for and deserve full freedom a,nd sellf-deternnin-ati'on. The Sudeten Germans shoUJ1d haive the r ~g,ht to return to their centuries-Old hoone1'and and to their sebf-determination. Wenzel Jaksch, member of the German Federal Par- SLOVAKIA 75 1iament and President of the Sudeten German Federal Assembly, Wiesbaden, told the Cologne rally: ]f we look at the Sudeten problem as an isolated question, it becomes one rnf the most diif£icult ones Ln Europe todlay. Today, as in the past, it is our hilstoriic perseverance thait will decide the fUJture of our hooneland. A homeland' that is written o<flf the books is lost forever. We are ,c alled illusionists because we do not want to fonreit the old homela,n,d. Yet those who beHeve they can retain West Gerunainiy ,p ermanently, irf they yield East Germanry .and the Sudetenland, ar,e even greater illusionists. At this pOlint we a,r e faced wilth an in,n.er decision between political deifensi~ and political offensi:ve thinking. 'J.1he malking of that decision is a,n unesoa,paible ta.sk. An European democracy that thinks offensively should see in the loya,ty of Sudeten a•nd East Germans to their hooneJ,and its most va,l1U1aible aUies. Any over.all Euroipean pea'ce plan Olf the uniited democracies cannot a.Jif-Ord to ex!Clude the reparation of the expulJ,sions. This i-s no biased Germain, demand but a prerequ1si<te oo fr,eedom and self-d•eteriminaiion of the East European peoples. The price of freed om for all European peoples is their restriction to histm:iically confiruned bounda<ries Olf settlemerut and respect for the neighlbor's boundM-ies dra,wn by the plowsha•re and not by the sword. Willy Brandt, popular Burgomaster (Mayor) of Berlin, made a special trip to Cologne to address the Sudeten German rally. In his speech Brandt said: The citizens of Berlin today, even as the eX!pel:lees in the post,war era , are syim1bolica1ly shouldering the load for the entire niaition. Berlin is the brid•ge between the people -Orf our divided country. If the lights should go out iln, Berllin, darrkness would set in for the entire Gerunan Federail Repwblic. We in Berlin f.eel that we need no counter-ideology. The East Block ide·ology i1S not such a Herculean thing that we can or.Jy meet it on the deifensiive. The Ber>lin questi,on is not the cause but the result of tensions ,b etween East and West a1nd of Gerunany's partition. There is no isolated Berlin solution. What there may be, until the rees·talb1ishment of Ge11ma•ny's unity in freedom and in a·greemen,t with the ju,sitiJie-d securiity initerests of aU coruc,erned, is a sett:,ament of solely practilcal maitters. The following points rema·in essen,tia~: 1. The right of Berlin's citizens freely to decide their own matters. 2. The rights and d,uties of the A,llied Protecting Powers to prov,i de for access to Berlin a•nd for preparations for a peace treaty with an a1l-German governime.nt. 3. '!\he indissolUJble conneicti·on between West Berlin and the economic a•n.d legal system -0f the German F1ede-rall Repulblic. 4. The community of the population, of both sectors of Berlin, which must no't ,b e jeo,pa;rdfael by changing the d'emar>cation line of ,t he ci,ty into State boundaries. - "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 Sudeten German Days: May 19-22, 1961 Description An account of the resource Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 2 (34), September-December 1961 pp. 68-75 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1961 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/b18108215852bc4a08f208666081e79b.pdf 9a4ab27d7e272cd3622a29d351930724 PDF Text Text 76 SLOVAKIA BOOK REVIEWS Dejiny sta.rlej slovenskej literatury (iHistory of the Older Slowrlc Literature) by J . Misia,n<iik, J. Minarik, M. Midhalcova, A. Me'llichercik; 11>ublished by Slovenska ~kademia vied (Slovak Academy of Sciences), Bratis]arva, 1'960; p. a20, iJll. 'During the past decade, The Slovalk Academy of Sciences published several workis which shed a new Hght on the history of Slovaik literature and basically contrast wtl.th the views otf American syIIlJPosia dealing wifa Slov,alkfa's past. The volume on older Slovaik literature, W1hkh d:ates the ·beginniings <ff the history oif Slovak l,i terature back to the ninth cenltiury, wi'll perhaps be one of the most unexpected surprises to foreign Sla,v,ists, accustomed a,s they are to regard Slovalk literature not oMer than a hundred years. The contrilbutors to L. I. Str•a'k hovsky's "Handbook of Slavic Studies," to R. J . Kero-er's "Czechoslovakia," or to the present volwme on "Czechoslovakia," ed•ited :b y V. Busek.JN. Spul'ber and pulblished by the Mid1European Studies Center, set the birtfrld•aite of SloVlak literature as the year 1844, minimizing or ignorJng prwious literary efforts in Slovak cwture. And their views have been accepted favoraibly by many scho~ars in the f\ield Olf Slavilc stud,ies. Mancist literary his'toriam<S, who prepared the volume under review, produced a volume of 320 pages on Slovak Hterary rustory which ends with 11he year 1•7 00, and a bibliography Olf 410 pages on the period 17,80-1844, indicating .tlrat only in Bernolak's movement there were albout 100 writers. There also were severa!l outstanding Slovak scholars ,be!foa-e, who emphasized as early as 1655. that Slovaldla was the heir of Great M!oravfa and that the Slavs in genera·! and the Slovaks in panticwar, had an old culture and were an old Europea1n ra-ce. rt should be stressed that neither Professor Strakhovsky nor R. J . Kerner can be held responsi!Jjle for the misrepresentatiorn; in their symposia because the ir contr~butors were the closest SiJiavic ki n to the Slovaks. Nor any lack of original s'tud'ies on, Sl10vak literature can be re!:lPOnsilble for the distorited .accounts, because there is not m'UCh new in the Marxtist ''Histor,y of 11he Older Slovak Literature" which so-caned ' 1bourgeiois nationalist" literary historians would not hlaive kn()IW,n, albout. In numerous monog:r,aphies and studies wri~n by A . A. Banik, J . Skultety, S. J:urovsky, C. F . Lepacek, V. Bobelk, S. Krcmery, J. Vlcek, A. Prazalk, A . Mraz, R. Brtan, etc., more or less all the pulblished material was made known a long t~e aigo . It was known to some extent even to Prdfessor Ernest Denis from t he So11bon,n e, as evidenced by his boOik La question d'Autriche Les Slovaques, pulblished in 1&17. Slovak Marxist liiterary historians merely compiled results of prevfous researches and gave to tlhe histocy of Slovak literature a new '"Mar~ist" interpretati10n and a new periodization. The older Slo'Vak li'terature is d'iv.ided by the Marxist historians in-to four periods: the epoch df Great Moravi,a (the ninth ,and tenth century); the Romanesque and Gothic per.i'Od (tenth- fifteenth cen- �77 SLOVAKIA tury); Renaissance (filfteen:th~seventeenth centucy); and Baroque (1Jhe first half of the seventeenlth century to 1'780). This periodization is new and it is based on the principles of .Miarxist philoso.ph!y of history rather than on, the ideoliogicai and literary currents of Western ciwlization which found an e'C'ho in .Slovakia. In their a•p praisal of older Slovak wniiters and Marxist literary his'torians are cliose to former "bourgeois aoo nationaHst" scholars wiho also i,n,dluded into the history of Slovak literature the Cyrifo~ethod'ian peniod and all literary works created by Slovaks in Latin, Gennan, Biblical Czech, or other languages. ]t is the "Czechosl<ovalk" intenpr,etation wh!iich the Marxist li17erary historians vehemently oppose, since the Czech scholars (A. Prazak, F . Wollman, J. Chaloupecky) re~rded Slovak literature before 11844 (Stur's reform cxf the Slovalk la,n,g.uage) as a part of Crec!h 1iterature (including even Satfarik, Kollar, e1Jc., Into it) and belittled its si:gn'ificance. While we may disagree with the critenia and aipproach of 17he Marxist literary historians, we ca·nnot disregard maniy positive aspects ocf this first comprehensi'Ve volwme on, the older Slovak literature. It wiH fiill a gap in the fieltl of Slaviic literatures, and to ma11y Slavists on this continenlt it will bring a new looik at the Slovak pa'St. The book unfortu,niately lac~ a resume in foreign languages whidh other recent Slovak ,publications usua.Uy conrtain. In form and cont ents tihe book is not without scho1ar1y values. J. M. Kirschbaum, Un i'Vers•i ty of Monit•r>ea'1. 1 R:oma,n Smal-Stocki: The Captive Nations: Nationalism of the NonRuss,ian Nations in the Soviet Union, Bookman Associates Nesw York, 1960; 118 pp. A popular fallacy is that smaU volumes have little to saiy, large ones much. As many scholars learn very early in their tra,ining, the reverse is often the case. The present slender volume is a distillate of the many years of study - alild of a of personal exiperience particularly vJtal asp·eict of the Soviet phenomenon by a distinguished scholar, Dr. Roman SmalStocki, for over ten ~ars on the faculty of Marquette University. It is because this is must reading for all America that we point out that brevity in -this study of naticma1ism in the Soviet orbit affords two advantages: a wide scope compressed such that the significance of the oppressed peoples may easily be gra,sped; and the relatively little reading required to grasp it. Dr. Smal-Stocki, witty as well as penetrating, is pro'balbly unrivallled for such an accoonp1ishment; and he has admiralb~ succeeded. Internationally !mown for his scholarship, he has also been acclaimed for his life-long struggle (conducted kom no Ivory Tower) for the right o'f self-detel'IJllination for all non4lussian nati ons in the S'o viet "m001olith." A'S president of the Promethe,m Lea~ue, representing all the nations oppressed by Russia, he effectua.ted a common front of all significant non.Jtussian emigre groups op.pressed by Soviet Russia. From 1924: to 1929 the champi!oned the victims of Russian aggression at the League of Nation,s. His importance was certified by Hitler, eager to aicqu.ire Ukraine without interference as an 1 �78 SLOVAKIA agricultural reservoir: Dr. SmalStocki was interned in Prague for the dur,ation of the war. '11he pres• ent W-Ol'lk is but one olf a ser,i es of brd:lliant studies conducted by this indivi'd ual, gifted both as a scholar and ais a main, during his years in America. This study of naitionalism, if disseminated properJy, should go f.ar to correct present tendencies in Amerkan thinking with regard to the importance of modern nationali'sm in modern times. Ir-0nically enough, "the principles for which Americans fought 1'heir own mother counitry" are ''the very principles whiich Amer,i cans h,ave been ignoriing in their foreign policy t01WaTd the new Re'd Russian Em· pire for 4-0 year-s." Especially in recent times, Wlilson's conlcept of "seLf-detel.'lffiiniation of small nations" wen,t to the way.side. It beicame fashionalble, in schoJ.,ar,ly cireles and elsewhere, to attack ,t he application, of th~s doctrJne for not emasculating itsel! in the mystical goal of inlternationalism. Even in ouT 01Wn day we oan hear the claii'm that -t he Russians, wha1:ever their failures in pr,aicvice so far, are continuing a revolutioo w,h ich is "a necessary successor" to the French a·n d the American Rievolutions. Such thinking is in no little wise responsilble for t he "r,apid and catastrophic deoliine from world leadershti;p as oiccurred to the United State's from 1946 to lt958 in world polit,ics." Defeatism ha-s been on the march - and shows no signs of flagging. Such schools of thought" as these have developed: (1) with giradual lilberalization, the Ru·ssian revolutoin wdll end with staibi1ization of a "democratic fede!"ated republic" ; (2) acbive support of national communiJSm , called Ti'toism, to speed up "1-tberolization" (disregarding the fact that "national" cOOll!Illunism i:s commun- ism and d,i ctatorship, nonetheles's) ; (3) status quo ad,voca,tes, on the premise that the communist revoluti'onary expansiM has ended; •this, goes the claim, would give the USSR "secuTity." Dr. Sma'1-Stocld points out tha t the non.JRuss,i,a,n nait-ions (which compose over half of the Russian" populatfon of the USSR) believe that the communist revolution is unfinished. "The begLn,niing of the last act of thi's revolution started Jn East Germany (BerJin), in Poland, and in Hungiary, but was stopped by the moral apathy and ,l etharg,y of the free w-0rl'Cl. (It) can be stopped and broken onJy by a democratic revolution of the victims of Russian imperda1ism, supported by the whole 'strengt-h of the democratic p01Wers for the c01Inmon cause." The alterinates are, to say -the least, dista'steful. H the free world tolerates the further conbinuation of Russ-ian expansion, in the ,n,ext 20 years or sooner, declares the all!thor, the Wlorld Sovi•e t Union wi11 be estaiblJshed. Or, ontce convinced its technical adva,n ces have outstriipped us gr e at 1 y enough, SoVliet Moscow can taike its chances with a gigantic ''Pearl Haribor" type of attack on the whole U. S. The Russian Communis,t dictatorship is a past master at ubiliiz.iln,g every mJstake or act olf magnanimity on the part of the free world, the author points out. "Only 1b y realizing the self-determination of the non.JRussi,an natfons, only by i'ntel'IIl,ational concert of the free nations, nationalities and· peoples, can re·al peatce be achieved," concludes Dr. Smal,Stocki. A highly recommended hooik to all, whfoh, going back in its study of natn:ona1ism in the nomri.Riu:ssian n'aitions, even before World War I, afil'ords us a perspective wh'ich leads, under the author's �SLOVAKIA cogent guidance, to a realization that our true weapon is the explosive force of ideas contained 1n, the national freedom aspirations of the non.JRussian nations. - W.D. William L. Shlirer: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. A History of Na2i Germany, Sim,o,n. and· Schusrter, New Yol'ik, 1960; 12415 pp., $10.00. <In the guise of objective hiistory this volume presents a harrow.ing, massive but one-sided record of unrelieved German crimes• and blunders. W.illiam L. Shirer, fored·g n correspondent and news commentator, is also on, the board Olf directors Olf the "Society for ~he Prevention Olf World War Ill, Inc." of which Dorothy Thompson wrote (Mary 311, 1,950) that it "has conducted a systematic campadgn ag1ainst any constructive peace with Germany ... and vilified every person in pulblilc life who tried to warn that procedure alon,g Morgenthau 1ines would encompass the rwin of Europe." Shirer does not allOIW that the Versailles Treaty was unjust (p. 58). He st,ates that "Nazism and the Third Reich, in fact, were but a Logical colilltinuafron of German histor,y" (p. 90). His piling up of Nazi crimes, failing to put them 1n, perspecllive with the crimes of the opp·onents, never in fact alludi'ng to the worst Soviet cr,imes, such as their brutal population transfers and their mass raping Olf not only German but also Hungarian, Slovak and Austrirun women, .seem calculated to make any unwary reader hate more than ever the German people - now our allies - who tolera,ted the monsti,ous Nazis, and to think of the equally monstrous Bol'shev~ks, no•w o.ur cold war enemies, as really not so bad! ln, pages on the Nazi aibuse of Soviet and Polish p:rtlsoners of war 79 he does not once allude to the Soviet mass murder of Polish of.f,ilcers at Katyn. He never mentions General Vilassov and hrs insur.ge'Illt Russians who preferred fiighti,ng for the Germans to livi,n,g under the Soviets. He gives good inlformation on several German attempts to remove Hitler, three even be:fore '194'1, but he makes no relference to the Miorgenthau plan, CommunistJinspired, which was calcul'a ted to dr,ive the Germans to desperate resistan1ee instead of revolt. For the rest, despite distoi,tions and some clear falsehoods, there is much interesting information in the book. Hitler is depicted as an uncanny genius, aJmost puriban, fanatically warped on Ioy;alitJy and honor, pathologica~ly airuti-IBolshev,i k and anti-Jewish, absolutely ag:a,i nst war w.ith the West, but certainly plotting 1t against Poland and Russia. Reading of Hitler's crimes and •b lunders in detail, deducing from the facts that truly moral st•atesmanship a,nyiwhere from 1918 on could· have prevented the colossal misery of World War II and aifter, makes one feel aibout the human ra,ce as Swiift dlid. ln sum: more harmful th-.in good except for trained histor,ians. A. J. A,pp. H. G. Adler: Die Judttn in Deutschland. From the Enlightenment to Natiorual Socialism. Ki:ise1Verlag, Munich, 1960; 17·8 pp., DM 6.80. National Socialism produced nothing really new, particularly antiSemLtism, although dt remained for sa-id regjme to exercise i1t in the modern age in an a1pocalyptic way. H. G. Adler is a Jew from Prague, sun~ivor of the concentration camps of Theresienstad•t and Auschwitz, who has anal~ed the origins of anti-semi1tism, the Eman- �80 SLOVAKIA cipation, and the plight of the J'Elws in Germany. 'l1he results cxf the author's endeavor are procuralble in a smaU book prolif.ic with quotes and sources. Adler candidJy acknowledges that dur1nlg the Middle Ages a Jewish prdblem was poss1ble only in Germany ·b ecause the Eur®ean na:!Ji,onal states, after a period cxf severe op,pression "divested themselves of their Jews" by means of expulsion, England in 1200, FIia.nee in li306 (a.nd, after temporary readmittance, again i.n, '1933), Spain in 1492 and Portug•al in 1497." Hatred of the Jews was due for cenwries to ,theh- belonging to a different religion; the sol'Utiion lay therefore i.n, conversion to Christianity, or by remedying their "otherness." Heine spoke of his baiptism as the "ticket O£f admission to European culture." Yet the position of the Jews in Germanry was as varied as the very diversilfied nature of the First Reioh itself. As fate as 1,81,7, for example, the English prov,ince of Hannover quite firmly resisted the ,proposed emanlci,pation of the Jews which had been sought by Christians and Jews alike ever since the Enlightenment. Mter the founding of the Second Reich religious dilfference was, to be sure, no longer the tme cause cxf anti-semitism, for 1n, the Bismarokian constitution one's religious affiliation was irreleivant. Adler cites in addition to the longstanding religious a$Pect of the Jewish question German aruti'-semites like the Berlin court preacher Stocker, the Viennese Biirgermeister Lueger, Richard Wagner, Lagarde, and Fritsch. Aocording to these persons race and not religion was the cause of anti-Jewish feeling. One notes a breach in developments that is not bri:dged· by any explanation and one wonders why this surprising change. Was it due to the l"apid increase after 18711 of Jewish banking a.nd trad- ing firms, the entranice of J·ewish lawyers, doctors, and teachers into prcxfessions that had been barred to them hitherto? Was it due to enviy cxf thei'r quiick social climb? Even during the period of religious anti-Jewish hatred the c-u rse "his blood be on us and on our chillren" was not the sole reason for the pogroms, but also the desire to be rid of the annoying creditors. A similar trend developed in many lia.r,ge German cities fo the "golden t,w,en,ties." Germ•an anti-semitism, in the final analysis, has come to be a stain not only on the name of Germany for years to coone bwt bas actually estranged one of the most ardent Ge Tm ,a n protagonists throughout the world, the German speaking J~s. Adler's book shows primarily, too, the zeal with which the German Jews all over the world were ready to serve their peopl'e, a fact whi'ch is seldom rememlbered today - L. Rainalter. ANONYMOUS LETTIERS, wriltten to Red leaders in Slovakia, are caiusing some conc,ern to th~ regiime. The Bra'tisla'Va Radio recently reminded its listeners that Wl'liters of such letters, ill: revealed, are in fur stiff fin~s and long jail sentences. The rea'ction: more and still more anonymous letters to worry the coHalborators of Red P11ague. :IE: :IE: )l(! is 1b e in g planned in Bratislava, Slovakia, according to the dlaiily PRA-OA. It should be ready by the end of 1!963; the cost: 9 million, Crowns; and location: near the present Bra,tislava cemeter.y. Thi! Reds are happy that finaUy consideratfon has been given "to this modern and scientiific way of buryi<11,g the dead." A CREMATORY �Officers of the Slovak League of America (Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio) Honorary Presidents Michael Msgr. F. J . Dubosh, P.A. 12608 Madison Avenue Lakewood 7, hio Joseph Dr. Pet er P. H letko Klucar 1617 Alameda Avenue Lakewood 7, Ohio Batavia Rd., Box 48 Warrensville, Ill. Ge-0rge Kantor P:·esident Philip A. Hrobak 281 Hollywood Ave. New York 61, N. Y. P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. ADVISORY COUNCIL Vice-Presi dents Joseph Bend i k John P. 0 . Box 230 Uniontown, P a . Ju l ia Sas 3803 Cresson Street Philadelphia 27, Pa. A. Sabol National President First Catholic Slovak Union Krajcovic Helen Ko can 1648 W. 18th Street Chi cago 8. Ill. National President First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union Recording Secretary John Horecky Paul 22 64 Walton Ave. New York 53, N. Y. Secretary-Treasurer Paul C. Kazimer St ephen J. Tkach 1122 Sylvan Avenue Homestead, Pa. Nationa l President Pa. Catholic Slovak Union EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Paul Fallat National President Slovak Catholic Sokol Anna Sotak National President Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union P. Jamriska 536 Marie Ave. Pittsburgh 2, Pa. Emrich Valko An.drew Hudak Nation.al President Slov,ak Catholic Cadet Union 15701 Bennett Rd. No. Royalton 33, Ohio SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS (Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) JEDNOTA SLOVENSKA OBRANA ZENSKA JEDNOTA Middletown, Pa. Scranton, Pa. Cleveland, Ohio BRATSTVO SLOVENSKE NOVINY ZORNICKA Cleve land, Ohio Scranton, Pa. KATOLiCKY SOKOL SVORNOST OSADNE HLASY Passaic, N . J. Whitaker. Pa. Chicago, Ill. Wilkes-Barre, Pa. SLOVAK V AMERIKE Middletown, Pa. �SLOVAKIA : The ruins of Strecno Castle above the Vah river in the Trencin Province (13th century). � 76 SLOVAKIA BOOK REVIEWS Dejiny sta.rlej slovenskej literatury (iHistory of the Older Slowrlc Literature) by J . Misia,n<iik, J. Minarik, M. Midhalcova, A. Me'llichercik; 11>ublished by Slovenska ~kademia vied (Slovak Academy of Sciences), Bratis]arva, 1'960; p. a20, iJll. 'During the past decade, The Slovalk Academy of Sciences published several workis which shed a new Hght on the history of Slovaik literature and basically contrast wtl.th the views otf American syIIlJPosia dealing wifa Slov,alkfa's past. The volume on older Slovaik literature, W1hkh d:ates the ·beginniings <ff the history oif Slovak l,i terature back to the ninth cenltiury, wi'll perhaps be one of the most unexpected surprises to foreign Sla,v,ists, accustomed a,s they are to regard Slovalk literature not oMer than a hundred years. The contrilbutors to L. I. Str•a'k hovsky's "Handbook of Slavic Studies," to R. J . Kero-er's "Czechoslovakia," or to the present volwme on "Czechoslovakia," ed•ited :b y V. Busek.JN. Spul'ber and pulblished by the Mid1European Studies Center, set the birtfrld•aite of SloVlak literature as the year 1844, minimizing or ignorJng prwious literary efforts in Slovak cwture. And their views have been accepted favoraibly by many scho~ars in the f\ield Olf Slavilc stud,ies. Mancist literary his'toriam<S, who prepared the volume under review, produced a volume of 320 pages on Slovak Hterary rustory which ends with 11he year 1•7 00, and a bibliography Olf 410 pages on the period 17,80-1844, indicating .tlrat only in Bernolak's movement there were albout 100 writers. There also were severa!l outstanding Slovak scholars ,be!foa-e, who emphasized as early as 1655. that Slovaldla was the heir of Great M!oravfa and that the Slavs in genera·! and the Slovaks in panticwar, had an old culture and were an old Europea1n ra-ce. rt should be stressed that neither Professor Strakhovsky nor R. J . Kerner can be held responsi!Jjle for the misrepresentatiorn; in their symposia because the ir contr~butors were the closest SiJiavic ki n to the Slovaks. Nor any lack of original s'tud'ies on, Sl10vak literature can be re!:lPOnsilble for the distorited .accounts, because there is not m'UCh new in the Marxtist ''Histor,y of 11he Older Slovak Literature" which so-caned ' 1bourgeiois nationalist" literary historians would not hlaive kn()IW,n, albout. In numerous monog:r,aphies and studies wri~n by A . A. Banik, J . Skultety, S. J:urovsky, C. F . Lepacek, V. Bobelk, S. Krcmery, J. Vlcek, A. Prazalk, A . Mraz, R. Brtan, etc., more or less all the pulblished material was made known a long t~e aigo . It was known to some extent even to Prdfessor Ernest Denis from t he So11bon,n e, as evidenced by his boOik La question d'Autriche Les Slovaques, pulblished in 1&17. Slovak Marxist liiterary historians merely compiled results of prevfous researches and gave to tlhe histocy of Slovak literature a new '"Mar~ist" interpretati10n and a new periodization. The older Slo'Vak li'terature is d'iv.ided by the Marxist historians in-to four periods: the epoch df Great Moravi,a (the ninth ,and tenth century); the Romanesque and Gothic per.i'Od (tenth- fifteenth cen- �77 SLOVAKIA tury); Renaissance (filfteen:th~seventeenth centucy); and Baroque (1Jhe first half of the seventeenlth century to 1'780). This periodization is new and it is based on the principles of .Miarxist philoso.ph!y of history rather than on, the ideoliogicai and literary currents of Western ciwlization which found an e'C'ho in .Slovakia. In their a•p praisal of older Slovak wniiters and Marxist literary his'torians are cliose to former "bourgeois aoo nationaHst" scholars wiho also i,n,dluded into the history of Slovak literature the Cyrifo~ethod'ian peniod and all literary works created by Slovaks in Latin, Gennan, Biblical Czech, or other languages. ]t is the "Czechosl<ovalk" intenpr,etation wh!iich the Marxist li17erary historians vehemently oppose, since the Czech scholars (A. Prazak, F . Wollman, J. Chaloupecky) re~rded Slovak literature before 11844 (Stur's reform cxf the Slovalk la,n,g.uage) as a part of Crec!h 1iterature (including even Satfarik, Kollar, e1Jc., Into it) and belittled its si:gn'ificance. While we may disagree with the critenia and aipproach of 17he Marxist literary historians, we ca·nnot disregard maniy positive aspects ocf this first comprehensi'Ve volwme on, the older Slovak literature. It wiH fiill a gap in the fieltl of Slaviic literatures, and to ma11y Slavists on this continenlt it will bring a new looik at the Slovak pa'St. The book unfortu,niately lac~ a resume in foreign languages whidh other recent Slovak ,publications usua.Uy conrtain. In form and cont ents tihe book is not without scho1ar1y values. J. M. Kirschbaum, Un i'Vers•i ty of Monit•r>ea'1. 1 R:oma,n Smal-Stocki: The Captive Nations: Nationalism of the NonRuss,ian Nations in the Soviet Union, Bookman Associates Nesw York, 1960; 118 pp. A popular fallacy is that smaU volumes have little to saiy, large ones much. As many scholars learn very early in their tra,ining, the reverse is often the case. The present slender volume is a distillate of the many years of study - alild of a of personal exiperience particularly vJtal asp·eict of the Soviet phenomenon by a distinguished scholar, Dr. Roman SmalStocki, for over ten ~ars on the faculty of Marquette University. It is because this is must reading for all America that we point out that brevity in -this study of naticma1ism in the Soviet orbit affords two advantages: a wide scope compressed such that the significance of the oppressed peoples may easily be gra,sped; and the relatively little reading required to grasp it. Dr. Smal-Stocki, witty as well as penetrating, is pro'balbly unrivallled for such an accoonp1ishment; and he has admiralb~ succeeded. Internationally !mown for his scholarship, he has also been acclaimed for his life-long struggle (conducted kom no Ivory Tower) for the right o'f self-detel'IJllination for all non4lussian nati ons in the S'o viet "m001olith." A'S president of the Promethe,m Lea~ue, representing all the nations oppressed by Russia, he effectua.ted a common front of all significant non.Jtussian emigre groups op.pressed by Soviet Russia. From 1924: to 1929 the champi!oned the victims of Russian aggression at the League of Nation,s. His importance was certified by Hitler, eager to aicqu.ire Ukraine without interference as an 1 �78 SLOVAKIA agricultural reservoir: Dr. SmalStocki was interned in Prague for the dur,ation of the war. '11he pres• ent W-Ol'lk is but one olf a ser,i es of brd:lliant studies conducted by this indivi'd ual, gifted both as a scholar and ais a main, during his years in America. This study of naitionalism, if disseminated properJy, should go f.ar to correct present tendencies in Amerkan thinking with regard to the importance of modern nationali'sm in modern times. Ir-0nically enough, "the principles for which Americans fought 1'heir own mother counitry" are ''the very principles whiich Amer,i cans h,ave been ignoriing in their foreign policy t01WaTd the new Re'd Russian Em· pire for 4-0 year-s." Especially in recent times, Wlilson's conlcept of "seLf-detel.'lffiiniation of small nations" wen,t to the way.side. It beicame fashionalble, in schoJ.,ar,ly cireles and elsewhere, to attack ,t he application, of th~s doctrJne for not emasculating itsel! in the mystical goal of inlternationalism. Even in ouT 01Wn day we oan hear the claii'm that -t he Russians, wha1:ever their failures in pr,aicvice so far, are continuing a revolutioo w,h ich is "a necessary successor" to the French a·n d the American Rievolutions. Such thinking is in no little wise responsilble for t he "r,apid and catastrophic deoliine from world leadershti;p as oiccurred to the United State's from 1946 to lt958 in world polit,ics." Defeatism ha-s been on the march - and shows no signs of flagging. Such schools of thought" as these have developed: (1) with giradual lilberalization, the Ru·ssian revolutoin wdll end with staibi1ization of a "democratic fede!"ated republic" ; (2) acbive support of national communiJSm , called Ti'toism, to speed up "1-tberolization" (disregarding the fact that "national" cOOll!Illunism i:s commun- ism and d,i ctatorship, nonetheles's) ; (3) status quo ad,voca,tes, on the premise that the communist revoluti'onary expansiM has ended; •this, goes the claim, would give the USSR "secuTity." Dr. Sma'1-Stocld points out tha t the non.JRuss,i,a,n nait-ions (which compose over half of the Russian" populatfon of the USSR) believe that the communist revolution is unfinished. "The begLn,niing of the last act of thi's revolution started Jn East Germany (BerJin), in Poland, and in Hungiary, but was stopped by the moral apathy and ,l etharg,y of the free w-0rl'Cl. (It) can be stopped and broken onJy by a democratic revolution of the victims of Russian imperda1ism, supported by the whole 'strengt-h of the democratic p01Wers for the c01Inmon cause." The alterinates are, to say -the least, dista'steful. H the free world tolerates the further conbinuation of Russ-ian expansion, in the ,n,ext 20 years or sooner, declares the all!thor, the Wlorld Sovi•e t Union wi11 be estaiblJshed. Or, ontce convinced its technical adva,n ces have outstriipped us gr e at 1 y enough, SoVliet Moscow can taike its chances with a gigantic ''Pearl Haribor" type of attack on the whole U. S. The Russian Communis,t dictatorship is a past master at ubiliiz.iln,g every mJstake or act olf magnanimity on the part of the free world, the author points out. "Only 1b y realizing the self-determination of the non.JRussi,an natfons, only by i'ntel'IIl,ational concert of the free nations, nationalities and· peoples, can re·al peatce be achieved," concludes Dr. Smal,Stocki. A highly recommended hooik to all, whfoh, going back in its study of natn:ona1ism in the nomri.Riu:ssian n'aitions, even before World War I, afil'ords us a perspective wh'ich leads, under the author's �SLOVAKIA cogent guidance, to a realization that our true weapon is the explosive force of ideas contained 1n, the national freedom aspirations of the non.JRussian nations. - W.D. William L. Shlirer: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. A History of Na2i Germany, Sim,o,n. and· Schusrter, New Yol'ik, 1960; 12415 pp., $10.00. <In the guise of objective hiistory this volume presents a harrow.ing, massive but one-sided record of unrelieved German crimes• and blunders. W.illiam L. Shirer, fored·g n correspondent and news commentator, is also on, the board Olf directors Olf the "Society for ~he Prevention Olf World War Ill, Inc." of which Dorothy Thompson wrote (Mary 311, 1,950) that it "has conducted a systematic campadgn ag1ainst any constructive peace with Germany ... and vilified every person in pulblilc life who tried to warn that procedure alon,g Morgenthau 1ines would encompass the rwin of Europe." Shirer does not allOIW that the Versailles Treaty was unjust (p. 58). He st,ates that "Nazism and the Third Reich, in fact, were but a Logical colilltinuafron of German histor,y" (p. 90). His piling up of Nazi crimes, failing to put them 1n, perspecllive with the crimes of the opp·onents, never in fact alludi'ng to the worst Soviet cr,imes, such as their brutal population transfers and their mass raping Olf not only German but also Hungarian, Slovak and Austrirun women, .seem calculated to make any unwary reader hate more than ever the German people - now our allies - who tolera,ted the monsti,ous Nazis, and to think of the equally monstrous Bol'shev~ks, no•w o.ur cold war enemies, as really not so bad! ln, pages on the Nazi aibuse of Soviet and Polish p:rtlsoners of war 79 he does not once allude to the Soviet mass murder of Polish of.f,ilcers at Katyn. He never mentions General Vilassov and hrs insur.ge'Illt Russians who preferred fiighti,ng for the Germans to livi,n,g under the Soviets. He gives good inlformation on several German attempts to remove Hitler, three even be:fore '194'1, but he makes no relference to the Miorgenthau plan, CommunistJinspired, which was calcul'a ted to dr,ive the Germans to desperate resistan1ee instead of revolt. For the rest, despite distoi,tions and some clear falsehoods, there is much interesting information in the book. Hitler is depicted as an uncanny genius, aJmost puriban, fanatically warped on Ioy;alitJy and honor, pathologica~ly airuti-IBolshev,i k and anti-Jewish, absolutely ag:a,i nst war w.ith the West, but certainly plotting 1t against Poland and Russia. Reading of Hitler's crimes and •b lunders in detail, deducing from the facts that truly moral st•atesmanship a,nyiwhere from 1918 on could· have prevented the colossal misery of World War II and aifter, makes one feel aibout the human ra,ce as Swiift dlid. ln sum: more harmful th-.in good except for trained histor,ians. A. J. A,pp. H. G. Adler: Die Judttn in Deutschland. From the Enlightenment to Natiorual Socialism. Ki:ise1Verlag, Munich, 1960; 17·8 pp., DM 6.80. National Socialism produced nothing really new, particularly antiSemLtism, although dt remained for sa-id regjme to exercise i1t in the modern age in an a1pocalyptic way. H. G. Adler is a Jew from Prague, sun~ivor of the concentration camps of Theresienstad•t and Auschwitz, who has anal~ed the origins of anti-semi1tism, the Eman- �80 SLOVAKIA cipation, and the plight of the J'Elws in Germany. 'l1he results cxf the author's endeavor are procuralble in a smaU book prolif.ic with quotes and sources. Adler candidJy acknowledges that dur1nlg the Middle Ages a Jewish prdblem was poss1ble only in Germany ·b ecause the Eur®ean na:!Ji,onal states, after a period cxf severe op,pression "divested themselves of their Jews" by means of expulsion, England in 1200, FIia.nee in li306 (a.nd, after temporary readmittance, again i.n, '1933), Spain in 1492 and Portug•al in 1497." Hatred of the Jews was due for cenwries to ,theh- belonging to a different religion; the sol'Utiion lay therefore i.n, conversion to Christianity, or by remedying their "otherness." Heine spoke of his baiptism as the "ticket O£f admission to European culture." Yet the position of the Jews in Germanry was as varied as the very diversilfied nature of the First Reioh itself. As fate as 1,81,7, for example, the English prov,ince of Hannover quite firmly resisted the ,proposed emanlci,pation of the Jews which had been sought by Christians and Jews alike ever since the Enlightenment. Mter the founding of the Second Reich religious dilfference was, to be sure, no longer the tme cause cxf anti-semitism, for 1n, the Bismarokian constitution one's religious affiliation was irreleivant. Adler cites in addition to the longstanding religious a$Pect of the Jewish question German aruti'-semites like the Berlin court preacher Stocker, the Viennese Biirgermeister Lueger, Richard Wagner, Lagarde, and Fritsch. Aocording to these persons race and not religion was the cause of anti-Jewish feeling. One notes a breach in developments that is not bri:dged· by any explanation and one wonders why this surprising change. Was it due to the l"apid increase after 18711 of Jewish banking a.nd trad- ing firms, the entranice of J·ewish lawyers, doctors, and teachers into prcxfessions that had been barred to them hitherto? Was it due to enviy cxf thei'r quiick social climb? Even during the period of religious anti-Jewish hatred the c-u rse "his blood be on us and on our chillren" was not the sole reason for the pogroms, but also the desire to be rid of the annoying creditors. A similar trend developed in many lia.r,ge German cities fo the "golden t,w,en,ties." Germ•an anti-semitism, in the final analysis, has come to be a stain not only on the name of Germany for years to coone bwt bas actually estranged one of the most ardent Ge Tm ,a n protagonists throughout the world, the German speaking J~s. Adler's book shows primarily, too, the zeal with which the German Jews all over the world were ready to serve their peopl'e, a fact whi'ch is seldom rememlbered today - L. Rainalter. ANONYMOUS LETTIERS, wriltten to Red leaders in Slovakia, are caiusing some conc,ern to th~ regiime. The Bra'tisla'Va Radio recently reminded its listeners that Wl'liters of such letters, ill: revealed, are in fur stiff fin~s and long jail sentences. The rea'ction: more and still more anonymous letters to worry the coHalborators of Red P11ague. :IE: :IE: )l(! is 1b e in g planned in Bratislava, Slovakia, according to the dlaiily PRA-OA. It should be ready by the end of 1!963; the cost: 9 million, Crowns; and location: near the present Bra,tislava cemeter.y. Thi! Reds are happy that finaUy consideratfon has been given "to this modern and scientiific way of buryi<11,g the dead." A CREMATORY �Officers of the Slovak League of America (Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio) Honorary Presidents Michael Msgr. F. J . Dubosh, P.A. 12608 Madison Avenue Lakewood 7, hio Joseph Dr. Pet er P. H letko Klucar 1617 Alameda Avenue Lakewood 7, Ohio Batavia Rd., Box 48 Warrensville, Ill. Ge-0rge Kantor P:·esident Philip A. Hrobak 281 Hollywood Ave. New York 61, N. Y. P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. ADVISORY COUNCIL Vice-Presi dents Joseph Bend i k John P. 0 . Box 230 Uniontown, P a . Ju l ia Sas 3803 Cresson Street Philadelphia 27, Pa. A. Sabol National President First Catholic Slovak Union Krajcovic Helen Ko can 1648 W. 18th Street Chi cago 8. Ill. National President First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union Recording Secretary John Horecky Paul 22 64 Walton Ave. New York 53, N. Y. Secretary-Treasurer Paul C. Kazimer St ephen J. Tkach 1122 Sylvan Avenue Homestead, Pa. Nationa l President Pa. Catholic Slovak Union EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Paul Fallat National President Slovak Catholic Sokol Anna Sotak National President Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union P. Jamriska 536 Marie Ave. Pittsburgh 2, Pa. Emrich Valko An.drew Hudak Nation.al President Slov,ak Catholic Cadet Union 15701 Bennett Rd. No. Royalton 33, Ohio SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS (Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) JEDNOTA SLOVENSKA OBRANA ZENSKA JEDNOTA Middletown, Pa. Scranton, Pa. Cleveland, Ohio BRATSTVO SLOVENSKE NOVINY ZORNICKA Cleve land, Ohio Scranton, Pa. KATOLiCKY SOKOL SVORNOST OSADNE HLASY Passaic, N . J. Whitaker. Pa. Chicago, Ill. Wilkes-Barre, Pa. SLOVAK V AMERIKE Middletown, Pa. �SLOVAKIA : The ruins of Strecno Castle above the Vah river in the Trencin Province (13th 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 1961, Vol. 11 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 33), March-June 1961.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 34), September-December June 1961.</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 1961 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 76 SLOVAKIA BOOK REVIEWS Dejiny sta.rlej slovenskej literatury (iHistory of the Older Slowrlc Literature) by J . Misia,n<iik, J. Minarik, M. Midhalcova, A. Me'llichercik; 11>ublished by Slovenska ~kademia vied (Slovak Academy of Sciences), Bratis]arva, 1'960; p. a20, iJll. 'During the past decade, The Slovalk Academy of Sciences published several workis which shed a new Hght on the history of Slovaik literature and basically contrast wtl.th the views otf American syIIlJPosia dealing wifa Slov,alkfa's past. The volume on older Slovaik literature, W1hkh d:ates the ·beginniings <ff the history oif Slovak l,i terature back to the ninth cenltiury, wi'll perhaps be one of the most unexpected surprises to foreign Sla,v,ists, accustomed a,s they are to regard Slovalk literature not oMer than a hundred years. The contrilbutors to L. I. Str•a'k hovsky's "Handbook of Slavic Studies," to R. J . Kero-er's "Czechoslovakia," or to the present volwme on "Czechoslovakia," ed•ited :b y V. Busek.JN. Spul'ber and pulblished by the Mid1European Studies Center, set the birtfrld•aite of SloVlak literature as the year 1844, minimizing or ignorJng prwious literary efforts in Slovak cwture. And their views have been accepted favoraibly by many scho~ars in the f\ield Olf Slavilc stud,ies. Mancist literary his'toriam<S, who prepared the volume under review, produced a volume of 320 pages on Slovak Hterary rustory which ends with 11he year 1•7 00, and a bibliography Olf 410 pages on the period 17,80-1844, indicating .tlrat only in Bernolak's movement there were albout 100 writers. There also were severa!l outstanding Slovak scholars ,be!foa-e, who emphasized as early as 1655. that Slovaldla was the heir of Great M!oravfa and that the Slavs in genera·! and the Slovaks in panticwar, had an old culture and were an old Europea1n ra-ce. rt should be stressed that neither Professor Strakhovsky nor R. J . Kerner can be held responsi!Jjle for the misrepresentatiorn; in their symposia because the ir contr~butors were the closest SiJiavic ki n to the Slovaks. Nor any lack of original s'tud'ies on, Sl10vak literature can be re!:lPOnsilble for the distorited .accounts, because there is not m'UCh new in the Marxtist ''Histor,y of 11he Older Slovak Literature" which so-caned ' 1bourgeiois nationalist" literary historians would not hlaive kn()IW,n, albout. In numerous monog:r,aphies and studies wri~n by A . A. Banik, J . Skultety, S. J:urovsky, C. F . Lepacek, V. Bobelk, S. Krcmery, J. Vlcek, A. Prazalk, A . Mraz, R. Brtan, etc., more or less all the pulblished material was made known a long t~e aigo . It was known to some extent even to Prdfessor Ernest Denis from t he So11bon,n e, as evidenced by his boOik La question d'Autriche Les Slovaques, pulblished in 1&17. Slovak Marxist liiterary historians merely compiled results of prevfous researches and gave to tlhe histocy of Slovak literature a new '"Mar~ist" interpretati10n and a new periodization. The older Slo'Vak li'terature is d'iv.ided by the Marxist historians in-to four periods: the epoch df Great Moravi,a (the ninth ,and tenth century); the Romanesque and Gothic per.i'Od (tenth- fifteenth cen- 77 SLOVAKIA tury); Renaissance (filfteen:th~seventeenth centucy); and Baroque (1Jhe first half of the seventeenlth century to 1'780). This periodization is new and it is based on the principles of .Miarxist philoso.ph!y of history rather than on, the ideoliogicai and literary currents of Western ciwlization which found an e'C'ho in .Slovakia. In their a•p praisal of older Slovak wniiters and Marxist literary his'torians are cliose to former "bourgeois aoo nationaHst" scholars wiho also i,n,dluded into the history of Slovak literature the Cyrifo~ethod'ian peniod and all literary works created by Slovaks in Latin, Gennan, Biblical Czech, or other languages. ]t is the "Czechosl<ovalk" intenpr,etation wh!iich the Marxist li17erary historians vehemently oppose, since the Czech scholars (A. Prazak, F . Wollman, J. Chaloupecky) re~rded Slovak literature before 11844 (Stur's reform cxf the Slovalk la,n,g.uage) as a part of Crec!h 1iterature (including even Satfarik, Kollar, e1Jc., Into it) and belittled its si:gn'ificance. While we may disagree with the critenia and aipproach of 17he Marxist literary historians, we ca·nnot disregard maniy positive aspects ocf this first comprehensi'Ve volwme on, the older Slovak literature. It wiH fiill a gap in the fieltl of Slaviic literatures, and to ma11y Slavists on this continenlt it will bring a new looik at the Slovak pa'St. The book unfortu,niately lac~ a resume in foreign languages whidh other recent Slovak ,publications usua.Uy conrtain. In form and cont ents tihe book is not without scho1ar1y values. J. M. Kirschbaum, Un i'Vers•i ty of Monit•r>ea'1. 1 R:oma,n Smal-Stocki: The Captive Nations: Nationalism of the NonRuss,ian Nations in the Soviet Union, Bookman Associates Nesw York, 1960; 118 pp. A popular fallacy is that smaU volumes have little to saiy, large ones much. As many scholars learn very early in their tra,ining, the reverse is often the case. The present slender volume is a distillate of the many years of study - alild of a of personal exiperience particularly vJtal asp·eict of the Soviet phenomenon by a distinguished scholar, Dr. Roman SmalStocki, for over ten ~ars on the faculty of Marquette University. It is because this is must reading for all America that we point out that brevity in -this study of naticma1ism in the Soviet orbit affords two advantages: a wide scope compressed such that the significance of the oppressed peoples may easily be gra,sped; and the relatively little reading required to grasp it. Dr. Smal-Stocki, witty as well as penetrating, is pro'balbly unrivallled for such an accoonp1ishment; and he has admiralb~ succeeded. Internationally !mown for his scholarship, he has also been acclaimed for his life-long struggle (conducted kom no Ivory Tower) for the right o'f self-detel'IJllination for all non4lussian nati ons in the S'o viet "m001olith." A'S president of the Promethe,m Lea~ue, representing all the nations oppressed by Russia, he effectua.ted a common front of all significant non.Jtussian emigre groups op.pressed by Soviet Russia. From 1924: to 1929 the champi!oned the victims of Russian aggression at the League of Nation,s. His importance was certified by Hitler, eager to aicqu.ire Ukraine without interference as an 1 78 SLOVAKIA agricultural reservoir: Dr. SmalStocki was interned in Prague for the dur,ation of the war. '11he pres• ent W-Ol'lk is but one olf a ser,i es of brd:lliant studies conducted by this indivi'd ual, gifted both as a scholar and ais a main, during his years in America. This study of naitionalism, if disseminated properJy, should go f.ar to correct present tendencies in Amerkan thinking with regard to the importance of modern nationali'sm in modern times. Ir-0nically enough, "the principles for which Americans fought 1'heir own mother counitry" are ''the very principles whiich Amer,i cans h,ave been ignoriing in their foreign policy t01WaTd the new Re'd Russian Em· pire for 4-0 year-s." Especially in recent times, Wlilson's conlcept of "seLf-detel.'lffiiniation of small nations" wen,t to the way.side. It beicame fashionalble, in schoJ.,ar,ly cireles and elsewhere, to attack ,t he application, of th~s doctrJne for not emasculating itsel! in the mystical goal of inlternationalism. Even in ouT 01Wn day we oan hear the claii'm that -t he Russians, wha1:ever their failures in pr,aicvice so far, are continuing a revolutioo w,h ich is "a necessary successor" to the French a·n d the American Rievolutions. Such thinking is in no little wise responsilble for t he "r,apid and catastrophic deoliine from world leadershti;p as oiccurred to the United State's from 1946 to lt958 in world polit,ics." Defeatism ha-s been on the march - and shows no signs of flagging. Such schools of thought" as these have developed: (1) with giradual lilberalization, the Ru·ssian revolutoin wdll end with staibi1ization of a "democratic fede!"ated republic" ; (2) acbive support of national communiJSm , called Ti'toism, to speed up "1-tberolization" (disregarding the fact that "national" cOOll!Illunism i:s commun- ism and d,i ctatorship, nonetheles's) ; (3) status quo ad,voca,tes, on the premise that the communist revoluti'onary expansiM has ended; •this, goes the claim, would give the USSR "secuTity." Dr. Sma'1-Stocld points out tha t the non.JRuss,i,a,n nait-ions (which compose over half of the Russian" populatfon of the USSR) believe that the communist revolution is unfinished. "The begLn,niing of the last act of thi's revolution started Jn East Germany (BerJin), in Poland, and in Hungiary, but was stopped by the moral apathy and ,l etharg,y of the free w-0rl'Cl. (It) can be stopped and broken onJy by a democratic revolution of the victims of Russian imperda1ism, supported by the whole 'strengt-h of the democratic p01Wers for the c01Inmon cause." The alterinates are, to say -the least, dista'steful. H the free world tolerates the further conbinuation of Russ-ian expansion, in the ,n,ext 20 years or sooner, declares the all!thor, the Wlorld Sovi•e t Union wi11 be estaiblJshed. Or, ontce convinced its technical adva,n ces have outstriipped us gr e at 1 y enough, SoVliet Moscow can taike its chances with a gigantic ''Pearl Haribor" type of attack on the whole U. S. The Russian Communis,t dictatorship is a past master at ubiliiz.iln,g every mJstake or act olf magnanimity on the part of the free world, the author points out. "Only 1b y realizing the self-determination of the non.JRussi,an natfons, only by i'ntel'IIl,ational concert of the free nations, nationalities and· peoples, can re·al peatce be achieved," concludes Dr. Smal,Stocki. A highly recommended hooik to all, whfoh, going back in its study of natn:ona1ism in the nomri.Riu:ssian n'aitions, even before World War I, afil'ords us a perspective wh'ich leads, under the author's SLOVAKIA cogent guidance, to a realization that our true weapon is the explosive force of ideas contained 1n, the national freedom aspirations of the non.JRussian nations. - W.D. William L. Shlirer: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. A History of Na2i Germany, Sim,o,n. and· Schusrter, New Yol'ik, 1960; 12415 pp., $10.00. <In the guise of objective hiistory this volume presents a harrow.ing, massive but one-sided record of unrelieved German crimes• and blunders. W.illiam L. Shirer, fored·g n correspondent and news commentator, is also on, the board Olf directors Olf the "Society for ~he Prevention Olf World War Ill, Inc." of which Dorothy Thompson wrote (Mary 311, 1,950) that it "has conducted a systematic campadgn ag1ainst any constructive peace with Germany ... and vilified every person in pulblilc life who tried to warn that procedure alon,g Morgenthau 1ines would encompass the rwin of Europe." Shirer does not allOIW that the Versailles Treaty was unjust (p. 58). He st,ates that "Nazism and the Third Reich, in fact, were but a Logical colilltinuafron of German histor,y" (p. 90). His piling up of Nazi crimes, failing to put them 1n, perspecllive with the crimes of the opp·onents, never in fact alludi'ng to the worst Soviet cr,imes, such as their brutal population transfers and their mass raping Olf not only German but also Hungarian, Slovak and Austrirun women, .seem calculated to make any unwary reader hate more than ever the German people - now our allies - who tolera,ted the monsti,ous Nazis, and to think of the equally monstrous Bol'shev~ks, no•w o.ur cold war enemies, as really not so bad! ln, pages on the Nazi aibuse of Soviet and Polish p:rtlsoners of war 79 he does not once allude to the Soviet mass murder of Polish of.f,ilcers at Katyn. He never mentions General Vilassov and hrs insur.ge'Illt Russians who preferred fiighti,ng for the Germans to livi,n,g under the Soviets. He gives good inlformation on several German attempts to remove Hitler, three even be:fore '194'1, but he makes no relference to the Miorgenthau plan, CommunistJinspired, which was calcul'a ted to dr,ive the Germans to desperate resistan1ee instead of revolt. For the rest, despite distoi,tions and some clear falsehoods, there is much interesting information in the book. Hitler is depicted as an uncanny genius, aJmost puriban, fanatically warped on Ioy;alitJy and honor, pathologica~ly airuti-IBolshev,i k and anti-Jewish, absolutely ag:a,i nst war w.ith the West, but certainly plotting 1t against Poland and Russia. Reading of Hitler's crimes and •b lunders in detail, deducing from the facts that truly moral st•atesmanship a,nyiwhere from 1918 on could· have prevented the colossal misery of World War II and aifter, makes one feel aibout the human ra,ce as Swiift dlid. ln sum: more harmful th-.in good except for trained histor,ians. A. J. A,pp. H. G. Adler: Die Judttn in Deutschland. From the Enlightenment to Natiorual Socialism. Ki:ise1Verlag, Munich, 1960; 17·8 pp., DM 6.80. National Socialism produced nothing really new, particularly antiSemLtism, although dt remained for sa-id regjme to exercise i1t in the modern age in an a1pocalyptic way. H. G. Adler is a Jew from Prague, sun~ivor of the concentration camps of Theresienstad•t and Auschwitz, who has anal~ed the origins of anti-semi1tism, the Eman- 80 SLOVAKIA cipation, and the plight of the J'Elws in Germany. 'l1he results cxf the author's endeavor are procuralble in a smaU book prolif.ic with quotes and sources. Adler candidJy acknowledges that dur1nlg the Middle Ages a Jewish prdblem was poss1ble only in Germany ·b ecause the Eur®ean na:!Ji,onal states, after a period cxf severe op,pression "divested themselves of their Jews" by means of expulsion, England in 1200, FIia.nee in li306 (a.nd, after temporary readmittance, again i.n, '1933), Spain in 1492 and Portug•al in 1497." Hatred of the Jews was due for cenwries to ,theh- belonging to a different religion; the sol'Utiion lay therefore i.n, conversion to Christianity, or by remedying their "otherness." Heine spoke of his baiptism as the "ticket O£f admission to European culture." Yet the position of the Jews in Germanry was as varied as the very diversilfied nature of the First Reioh itself. As fate as 1,81,7, for example, the English prov,ince of Hannover quite firmly resisted the ,proposed emanlci,pation of the Jews which had been sought by Christians and Jews alike ever since the Enlightenment. Mter the founding of the Second Reich religious dilfference was, to be sure, no longer the tme cause cxf anti-semitism, for 1n, the Bismarokian constitution one's religious affiliation was irreleivant. Adler cites in addition to the longstanding religious a$Pect of the Jewish question German aruti'-semites like the Berlin court preacher Stocker, the Viennese Biirgermeister Lueger, Richard Wagner, Lagarde, and Fritsch. Aocording to these persons race and not religion was the cause of anti-Jewish feeling. One notes a breach in developments that is not bri:dged· by any explanation and one wonders why this surprising change. Was it due to the l"apid increase after 18711 of Jewish banking a.nd trad- ing firms, the entranice of J·ewish lawyers, doctors, and teachers into prcxfessions that had been barred to them hitherto? Was it due to enviy cxf thei'r quiick social climb? Even during the period of religious anti-Jewish hatred the c-u rse "his blood be on us and on our chillren" was not the sole reason for the pogroms, but also the desire to be rid of the annoying creditors. A similar trend developed in many lia.r,ge German cities fo the "golden t,w,en,ties." Germ•an anti-semitism, in the final analysis, has come to be a stain not only on the name of Germany for years to coone bwt bas actually estranged one of the most ardent Ge Tm ,a n protagonists throughout the world, the German speaking J~s. Adler's book shows primarily, too, the zeal with which the German Jews all over the world were ready to serve their peopl'e, a fact whi'ch is seldom rememlbered today - L. Rainalter. ANONYMOUS LETTIERS, wriltten to Red leaders in Slovakia, are caiusing some conc,ern to th~ regiime. The Bra'tisla'Va Radio recently reminded its listeners that Wl'liters of such letters, ill: revealed, are in fur stiff fin~s and long jail sentences. The rea'ction: more and still more anonymous letters to worry the coHalborators of Red P11ague. :IE: :IE: )l(! is 1b e in g planned in Bratislava, Slovakia, according to the dlaiily PRA-OA. It should be ready by the end of 1!963; the cost: 9 million, Crowns; and location: near the present Bra,tislava cemeter.y. Thi! Reds are happy that finaUy consideratfon has been given "to this modern and scientiific way of buryi<11,g the dead." A CREMATORY Officers of the Slovak League of America (Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio) Honorary Presidents Michael Msgr. F. J . Dubosh, P.A. 12608 Madison Avenue Lakewood 7, hio Joseph Dr. Pet er P. H letko Klucar 1617 Alameda Avenue Lakewood 7, Ohio Batavia Rd., Box 48 Warrensville, Ill. Ge-0rge Kantor P:·esident Philip A. Hrobak 281 Hollywood Ave. New York 61, N. Y. P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. ADVISORY COUNCIL Vice-Presi dents Joseph Bend i k John P. 0 . Box 230 Uniontown, P a . Ju l ia Sas 3803 Cresson Street Philadelphia 27, Pa. A. Sabol National President First Catholic Slovak Union Krajcovic Helen Ko can 1648 W. 18th Street Chi cago 8. Ill. National President First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union Recording Secretary John Horecky Paul 22 64 Walton Ave. New York 53, N. Y. Secretary-Treasurer Paul C. Kazimer St ephen J. Tkach 1122 Sylvan Avenue Homestead, Pa. Nationa l President Pa. Catholic Slovak Union EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Paul Fallat National President Slovak Catholic Sokol Anna Sotak National President Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union P. Jamriska 536 Marie Ave. Pittsburgh 2, Pa. Emrich Valko An.drew Hudak Nation.al President Slov,ak Catholic Cadet Union 15701 Bennett Rd. No. Royalton 33, Ohio SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS (Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) JEDNOTA SLOVENSKA OBRANA ZENSKA JEDNOTA Middletown, Pa. Scranton, Pa. Cleveland, Ohio BRATSTVO SLOVENSKE NOVINY ZORNICKA Cleve land, Ohio Scranton, Pa. KATOLiCKY SOKOL SVORNOST OSADNE HLASY Passaic, N . J. Whitaker. Pa. Chicago, Ill. Wilkes-Barre, Pa. SLOVAK V AMERIKE Middletown, Pa. SLOVAKIA : The ruins of Strecno Castle above the Vah river in the Trencin Province (13th century).  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Back Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 11, No. 2 (34) Description An account of the resource includes book reviews, pp. 76-80, and photo of ruins of Strečno Castle above the Váh river in the Trenčin Province Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1961 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/564297e124c51acbf8146700e779245b.pdf c8902b44b3741b7f99478e086393dbdd PDF Text Text MARCH- JUNE, 1960 VOL. X IN THIS ISSUE: ST. GERMAIN AND MUNICH SLOV ANICS LN AMERICAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS THE BIRTH OF A SATELLITE MOSCOW'S SMOKE SCREEN IN SLOVAKIA STiA'illS'IIICS ANID POLITICS WELSON AND T. G. MASARYK WAS CZECH THE VEHICLE OF SLOVAK LITERATURE ? BRITISH POLICY AND SLOVAKIA - 1,939- 1945 SLOVAKIA UNDER COMMUNISM NEW BOOKS WHO SAID IT - 6, 17, 20, 49, 61 , 73 • • • Edited and compi led by PH ILIP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. • • • Published by TH E SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMER ICA �RECOMMENDED BOOKS: SLOVAKIA AND ITS PEOPLE, Oddo; $6.00. SLOVAKIA NATION AT THE CROSSROADS OF CENTRAL EUROPE, Kirschbaum: $5.00. THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVAKS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper): $2.00 (cloth cover). THE DELIVERANCE OF SISTER CECILIA, $3.75. THE CHURCH OF SILENCE IN SLOVAKIA, Zubek; $3.50. FALSE FREEDOM, Delaney; $2.00. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD, Woytko; $1.50. ''CZECHOSLOVAKIA'' - History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. UNCONQUERABLES, Pauco; $3.50 "CUDOViT STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD, Prof. J. Kirschbaum; 25c. ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.00. ♦ ♦ ♦ SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The main purpose of SLOVAKIA is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long, h::ird struggle for freedom and independence. $1.00 per annum in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. SLOVAKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Middletown, Pa. � MARCH- JUNE, 1960 VOL. X IN THIS ISSUE: ST. GERMAIN AND MUNICH SLOV ANICS LN AMERICAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS THE BIRTH OF A SATELLITE MOSCOW'S SMOKE SCREEN IN SLOVAKIA STiA'illS'IIICS ANID POLITICS WELSON AND T. G. MASARYK WAS CZECH THE VEHICLE OF SLOVAK LITERATURE ? BRITISH POLICY AND SLOVAKIA - 1,939- 1945 SLOVAKIA UNDER COMMUNISM NEW BOOKS WHO SAID IT - 6, 17, 20, 49, 61 , 73 • • • Edited and compi led by PH ILIP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. • • • Published by TH E SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMER ICA �RECOMMENDED BOOKS: SLOVAKIA AND ITS PEOPLE, Oddo; $6.00. SLOVAKIA NATION AT THE CROSSROADS OF CENTRAL EUROPE, Kirschbaum: $5.00. THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVAKS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper): $2.00 (cloth cover). THE DELIVERANCE OF SISTER CECILIA, $3.75. THE CHURCH OF SILENCE IN SLOVAKIA, Zubek; $3.50. FALSE FREEDOM, Delaney; $2.00. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD, Woytko; $1.50. ''CZECHOSLOVAKIA'' - History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. UNCONQUERABLES, Pauco; $3.50 "CUDOViT STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD, Prof. J. Kirschbaum; 25c. ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.00. ♦ ♦ ♦ SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The main purpose of SLOVAKIA is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long, h::ird struggle for freedom and independence. $1.00 per annum in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. SLOVAKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Middletown, Pa. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document MARCH- JUNE, 1960 VOL. X IN THIS ISSUE: ST. GERMAIN AND MUNICH SLOV ANICS LN AMERICAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS THE BIRTH OF A SATELLITE MOSCOW'S SMOKE SCREEN IN SLOVAKIA STiA'illS'IIICS ANID POLITICS WELSON AND T. G. MASARYK WAS CZECH THE VEHICLE OF SLOVAK LITERATURE ? BRITISH POLICY AND SLOVAKIA - 1,939- 1945 SLOVAKIA UNDER COMMUNISM NEW BOOKS WHO SAID IT - 6, 17, 20, 49, 61 , 73 • • • Edited and compi led by PH ILIP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. • • • Published by TH E SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMER ICA RECOMMENDED BOOKS: SLOVAKIA AND ITS PEOPLE, Oddo; $6.00. SLOVAKIA NATION AT THE CROSSROADS OF CENTRAL EUROPE, Kirschbaum: $5.00. THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVAKS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper): $2.00 (cloth cover). THE DELIVERANCE OF SISTER CECILIA, $3.75. THE CHURCH OF SILENCE IN SLOVAKIA, Zubek; $3.50. FALSE FREEDOM, Delaney; $2.00. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD, Woytko; $1.50. ''CZECHOSLOVAKIA'' - History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. UNCONQUERABLES, Pauco; $3.50 "CUDOViT STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD, Prof. J. Kirschbaum; 25c. ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.00. ♦ ♦ ♦ SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The main purpose of SLOVAKIA is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long, h::ird struggle for freedom and independence. $1.00 per annum in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. SLOVAKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Middletown, Pa.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Front Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 6 (31) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1960 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/db4fe92a0dc1d3e75eb069966e827948.pdf 680ad131f14bd4718b4eb7d84ce08d2e PDF Text Text SLOV AKIA Published by the Slovak League of America VOL. X MARCH-JUNE, 1960 NO. 6 (31) ST. GERMAIN AND MUNICH Two events, the anniversaries of which were celebrated in 1958,left deep marks on European and world history: the founding of Czecho-Slovakia 40 years ago on October 28, 1918, and its cession to Germany of the Sudeten lands, the execution of which was regulated between England, France, Italy and Germany 20 years ago in the Munich Agreement of September 29, 1938. Po1iticrul observers witlh but superficial knowledge of the domestic conditions in pre-war Czecho-Slovakia often see the Anschluss with Germany of the Sudetenland in the fall of 1938 solely as a consequence of Hitler's power policy and deny the existence of serious nationality pr,oblems in Masaryk's and Benes' little "model democracy." They therefore judge the material value of these events as results of dictatorial coercion, which they reject. It cannot be denied tha,t Hitler's interference affected the solution of the Sudeten German question in 1938. lt should not be overlooked, however, that Hitler neither creoced the Sudeten issue, nor did the Sudeten Germans ever form a fi:flth column within Czecho-Slovalria, as malevolenits sometimes maintain. The Sudeten issue had existed as an internal Czecho-Slovak problem ever since that country's very beginnings. Hitler, to be sure, raised this question to the level of international politics. Involuntarily h e was aided by the Cech governmenlt's rigid frustration of any fair agreement on the nationality issue with the Sudeten Germans from 1918 to 1938. The truth of this statement is proven by the debate in the Br1tish House of Oommons on October 3, 1938, where representatives of all parties expressed the convict ion that the Munich decision was but a .correction of a wrong inflicted upon the Sudeten Germans 20 years ago �2 SLOVAKIA at the peace conference of St. Germain. Neville Henderson, then British Ambassador to Berlin, summarized his judgment on the affuir in the words: Czecho-S[ovakia lost territories which better had not been inco~porated into the Czech State at the Versailles Peace Conference and which - except on the basis of a federation - could not have remained there forever. Moreover, it is necessary to distinguish carefully bet ween the Anschluss of the Sudeten region with Germany in September-October, 1938, and Hitler's occupation of the Czech-inhabited parts of Bohemia and Moravia in March, 1939, when the Reich .government established a protectorate over the Czech people. The Sudeten C'~rmans had nothing whatsoever to do with this aot of Hitler's. In fact, they disapproved of it because their experience during the first Czecho-Slovak Republic had taught them that a durable and peaceful settlement could not be reached within Central Europe u111less it was based on a strictJly equal treatment of both Czechs and Germans, and that any discriminatory policy of one of them toward the other would necessarily lead to unrest. The violation of this principle had caused the disruption of Czecho-S'lovakia; its neglect by Hirtler was also to have serious consequences. The physical and tempora:l proximity of Sudetenland's Anschluss with Germany in October, 1938, and Hitler's occupation of Prague in March, 1939, as well as his dmmaJtic pal'ticipation in both events, together with the anti-German war propaganda that shortly ensued, caused many persons to see in the Munich Agreement of September 29, 1938, a dishonest ·defeat of the democracies by Hitler's shrewd power politics. Even to<my there lingers an aftertaste of vacillating appeasemenrt when the Munich Agreement is mentioned. But "Munich" gained this ill repute unjustly. For the M'llllich Agreement did not contain a demand on CzechoSlovakia to cede to Germany the Sudeten territory, nor was Czecho-Slovakia forced by the agreement to such cession. The Czecho-Slovak governmenit had one week previously expressed to the ambassadors of France and �SLOVAKIA 3 Great Bdtai.n in Prague iJt.s willingness to band over to GeI'Illany the German-inhabited areas of western CzechoS'lovakia. Upon that declaration of cession the British and French heads of government had acted when they went to Munich to negotiate with Hitler on the procedure fur transferring the areas in question from Czech to German authority. (1) It is necessary to note in this context that t!he legaJlity of said cession was universally acknowledged at that time. Czecho-Slovakia Not Homogeneous In order to understand the internal causes of the 1938 Sudeten crisis it will be necessary to review briefly the conditions as they existed in pre-war -- Czecho-Slovakiia and to tra;ce the problem to its roots. Until 1918, the area known a-s Czecho-Slovakia was part of the Austro-Hungarian mum-national empire. At the Paris Peace Oonference Benes demanded the dissolution of Austriia-Hungary and .the founding of a Czech State on the ground of national self-determination and certain historic claims. By resorting to fallsified population statistics and erroneously drawn maps he caused the forceful inclusion of more than three million Sudeten Germ.ans into the Czech State, at the same time denying those Germans - at the point of a gun - the very right of selfdetermination he had requested and obtained from the peace conference for his own nation. (2) Czecho-Slovakia was by no means a nationally homogeneous StaJte. The census of 1930 (naturally, inc'lined to favor tihe Czechs) revealed that country's population to number 7.2 million Czechs, 3.3 million Germans, 2.3 mHlion Slovaks, 700,000 Magyars, 550,000 Ukrainians, 190,000 Jews (3) , and 130,000 Poles and others. Almost one-half the country's population was non-Czech - accoirding to official Czech figures. That the Slovaks and Czechs together do not constitute a unitary nation, is obvious to anyone conversant with the history and language of these two peoples. The need to seek a workable agreement between the Czech government and the 7 million non-Czech people in �4 SLOVAKIA the CSR was well conceived by the participants of the peace conference, especially by the representatives of the United States. The American delegates objected strenuously to the violation of the self-determination right with respect to the Sudeten Germans and the drawing of boundruries on strategic principles. ( 4) Even the Commission ron the new State at the peace conference warned in its final report that "the prosperity and perhaps almost the existence of the new State will depend upon the success with which it incorporates the Germans as wirling citizens." Czech Discriminatory Measures But instead of realistically accepting the multi-national character of the State as a factor State poliicy must reckon with, the Czech leaders used shrewd administrative tactics to advance into the areas in which the other national groups were settled. Benes' solemn promise at the peace conference of St. Germain in 1918, to make of Czecho-Slovakia a sort of Switzerland, in which the various nationalri ties could live side by side and share equal rights (5), remained but an empty promise. To what extent the official State policy was guided by discriminatory lines becomes obvious by citing but a few exiamples: In 1919 the nobility was deprived of land in accordance with the land expropriation act. Between 1921 and 1924 about 1,500 acres of this land were turned over to Germans, while over 600,000 acres were given to Czech settlers, although the land in question lay almost exclusively within German territory. Thus the land reform be, came in fact an instrument of Czech penetration into German land. After the founding of ,tJhe Czecho-Slovak State, 60,000 German public servants were dismissed from office and replaced by Czechs who worked in areas exclusively Germain though often they were unable to wnderstand a single word of Germ'a n. rr,he number of pupils per classroom was raised from 40 to 60, resulting in the dissolution of more than 1,000 German elementary school cla:sses between 1921 and 1935. �SLOVAKIA 5 Concurrently there were set up palatial schools for the children of Czech officialdom in the Sudetenland for whom the above-mention ed figures did not apply. To denationalize the German areas, attempts were made to make the schools atJtractive to German children; unemployed persons were urged to send their children the-re with promises of a warm noon meal and ariticles of clothing, features which ,the poorly equipped German schools could not afford. The government made the placing of State orders with German industries dependent on whether or not a certain percenitage of Czech workers were employed. This led to dismissals of German workmen with the result that when tlhe economic depression of the 1930's struck, 500,000 of the tota'l 800,000 jobless in Czecho-Slova kia were of German ethnic origin. This meant that every sixth Sudeten German in Czecho-Slovak ia was jobless, while of the more than 11 mil.Jion non-German members of the population, only every 36th person had to live on the meager unemployment compensation . As the Czech government refused to take any action on the complaints of the Sudeten Germans, however justified, tfue Sudeten leaders were constrruined to register 22 complaints with the League of Nations, hoping that Czecho-Slovakia would be urged by that organization to live up to its obligations as provided in the peace treaty and the international treaty on the protection of minorities, which was part of the pea(!e settlement. Sudeten German Loyalty Lovd Runcima:n, British investigator and mediator, confirmed the facts and summarized his findings in a report to the British Prime Minister of September, 1938. "It is a hard thing to be ruled by an alien race; and I have been left with the impression that the Czecho-Slovak rule in the Sudeten areas for the last twenty years ... has been marked by .tactlessness, lack of understanding , petty intolerance and discrimination , to a point where the resentment of the German population was inevitably moving in the direction of revolt." �6 SLOVAKIA Despite these grievances, the Sudeten Germans had loyally done their duty. Three major political parties tried to cooperate w1th the Czech government. Even Herillein's Sudeten German Party had soughit a solution for years on the basis of German-Czech reconciliation with the State. Up to the summer of 1938 its program called for Sudeten German "home rule." Before May 21, 1938, when Benes mobilized the Czecho-Slovak army, Hitler had not taken any conceivable interest in the Sudeten German grievances and it wou1d have been possible to solve the question on an internal 11ather than an international level, provided the Czech goviernment had shown "any readiness to remedy them on an adequate scale," as Lord Runciman put it. When Benes offered his so-caHed "Fourth Plan" which he later called a jest - fairly meeting the Sudeten German requests, the final decision was no longer his or Henlein's. The Sudeten question had already grown f.rom a domestic afifair into a serious international crisis. - S. B. (1) A detailed study wHh aimplle reiference to then conteimporary sources is to be found in Herman RaS:Ohh()lfer's "Die Sudetenfrage," Munich, 1953, and Wenzel Jaksch's "Europas Weg nach Potsdam," S'tuttgart, 1958. (2) On Maoch 4, 1<919, when Sudeten Gerlffians of all political affiliations protested pUiblicly a,gainst this denial of self-deterunir.,ation and foreed submission to Czech domination, the Cz<eeh army fired into the crowds causing 54 dead and man,y wounded. (3) In Czecho-Slovakia the Jews were considered as a separate nationality. (4) Of. H. Nicolsen, Peace Making, London, 1938. (5) 1Dr. Edward Benes in Aid Memoire m: ".Et is the intention of the Czecho-Slovak government ... to make of Czecho-Slovakia a sorit of Switzerland." • • • WHO SAID IT? "In Ozech ,politics, in Ozech national life, it is urgent that we COlffie to am understanding with the Communist Party . . . the COilnllllll.llllist party shahl remain the greatest force in our political scheme even after the elections are over, and socialism shall remain the foundation of our national life. . . . Oommg to terms with the Communists is the golden theme of our politi<!al philosophy." - (1F erdinan.d Peroutka, a Benes Czech employed by Radio Free Europe, DNE~IDK, 2-9-48). � SLOV AKIA Published by the Slovak League of America VOL. X MARCH-JUNE, 1960 NO. 6 (31) ST. GERMAIN AND MUNICH Two events, the anniversaries of which were celebrated in 1958,left deep marks on European and world history: the founding of Czecho-Slovakia 40 years ago on October 28, 1918, and its cession to Germany of the Sudeten lands, the execution of which was regulated between England, France, Italy and Germany 20 years ago in the Munich Agreement of September 29, 1938. Po1iticrul observers witlh but superficial knowledge of the domestic conditions in pre-war Czecho-Slovakia often see the Anschluss with Germany of the Sudetenland in the fall of 1938 solely as a consequence of Hitler's power policy and deny the existence of serious nationality pr,oblems in Masaryk's and Benes' little "model democracy." They therefore judge the material value of these events as results of dictatorial coercion, which they reject. It cannot be denied tha,t Hitler's interference affected the solution of the Sudeten German question in 1938. lt should not be overlooked, however, that Hitler neither creoced the Sudeten issue, nor did the Sudeten Germans ever form a fi:flth column within Czecho-Slovalria, as malevolenits sometimes maintain. The Sudeten issue had existed as an internal Czecho-Slovak problem ever since that country's very beginnings. Hitler, to be sure, raised this question to the level of international politics. Involuntarily h e was aided by the Cech governmenlt's rigid frustration of any fair agreement on the nationality issue with the Sudeten Germans from 1918 to 1938. The truth of this statement is proven by the debate in the Br1tish House of Oommons on October 3, 1938, where representatives of all parties expressed the convict ion that the Munich decision was but a .correction of a wrong inflicted upon the Sudeten Germans 20 years ago �2 SLOVAKIA at the peace conference of St. Germain. Neville Henderson, then British Ambassador to Berlin, summarized his judgment on the affuir in the words: Czecho-S[ovakia lost territories which better had not been inco~porated into the Czech State at the Versailles Peace Conference and which - except on the basis of a federation - could not have remained there forever. Moreover, it is necessary to distinguish carefully bet ween the Anschluss of the Sudeten region with Germany in September-October, 1938, and Hitler's occupation of the Czech-inhabited parts of Bohemia and Moravia in March, 1939, when the Reich .government established a protectorate over the Czech people. The Sudeten C'~rmans had nothing whatsoever to do with this aot of Hitler's. In fact, they disapproved of it because their experience during the first Czecho-Slovak Republic had taught them that a durable and peaceful settlement could not be reached within Central Europe u111less it was based on a strictJly equal treatment of both Czechs and Germans, and that any discriminatory policy of one of them toward the other would necessarily lead to unrest. The violation of this principle had caused the disruption of Czecho-S'lovakia; its neglect by Hirtler was also to have serious consequences. The physical and tempora:l proximity of Sudetenland's Anschluss with Germany in October, 1938, and Hitler's occupation of Prague in March, 1939, as well as his dmmaJtic pal'ticipation in both events, together with the anti-German war propaganda that shortly ensued, caused many persons to see in the Munich Agreement of September 29, 1938, a dishonest ·defeat of the democracies by Hitler's shrewd power politics. Even to<my there lingers an aftertaste of vacillating appeasemenrt when the Munich Agreement is mentioned. But "Munich" gained this ill repute unjustly. For the M'llllich Agreement did not contain a demand on CzechoSlovakia to cede to Germany the Sudeten territory, nor was Czecho-Slovakia forced by the agreement to such cession. The Czecho-Slovak governmenit had one week previously expressed to the ambassadors of France and �SLOVAKIA 3 Great Bdtai.n in Prague iJt.s willingness to band over to GeI'Illany the German-inhabited areas of western CzechoS'lovakia. Upon that declaration of cession the British and French heads of government had acted when they went to Munich to negotiate with Hitler on the procedure fur transferring the areas in question from Czech to German authority. (1) It is necessary to note in this context that t!he legaJlity of said cession was universally acknowledged at that time. Czecho-Slovakia Not Homogeneous In order to understand the internal causes of the 1938 Sudeten crisis it will be necessary to review briefly the conditions as they existed in pre-war -- Czecho-Slovakiia and to tra;ce the problem to its roots. Until 1918, the area known a-s Czecho-Slovakia was part of the Austro-Hungarian mum-national empire. At the Paris Peace Oonference Benes demanded the dissolution of Austriia-Hungary and .the founding of a Czech State on the ground of national self-determination and certain historic claims. By resorting to fallsified population statistics and erroneously drawn maps he caused the forceful inclusion of more than three million Sudeten Germ.ans into the Czech State, at the same time denying those Germans - at the point of a gun - the very right of selfdetermination he had requested and obtained from the peace conference for his own nation. (2) Czecho-Slovakia was by no means a nationally homogeneous StaJte. The census of 1930 (naturally, inc'lined to favor tihe Czechs) revealed that country's population to number 7.2 million Czechs, 3.3 million Germans, 2.3 mHlion Slovaks, 700,000 Magyars, 550,000 Ukrainians, 190,000 Jews (3) , and 130,000 Poles and others. Almost one-half the country's population was non-Czech - accoirding to official Czech figures. That the Slovaks and Czechs together do not constitute a unitary nation, is obvious to anyone conversant with the history and language of these two peoples. The need to seek a workable agreement between the Czech government and the 7 million non-Czech people in �4 SLOVAKIA the CSR was well conceived by the participants of the peace conference, especially by the representatives of the United States. The American delegates objected strenuously to the violation of the self-determination right with respect to the Sudeten Germans and the drawing of boundruries on strategic principles. ( 4) Even the Commission ron the new State at the peace conference warned in its final report that "the prosperity and perhaps almost the existence of the new State will depend upon the success with which it incorporates the Germans as wirling citizens." Czech Discriminatory Measures But instead of realistically accepting the multi-national character of the State as a factor State poliicy must reckon with, the Czech leaders used shrewd administrative tactics to advance into the areas in which the other national groups were settled. Benes' solemn promise at the peace conference of St. Germain in 1918, to make of Czecho-Slovakia a sort of Switzerland, in which the various nationalri ties could live side by side and share equal rights (5), remained but an empty promise. To what extent the official State policy was guided by discriminatory lines becomes obvious by citing but a few exiamples: In 1919 the nobility was deprived of land in accordance with the land expropriation act. Between 1921 and 1924 about 1,500 acres of this land were turned over to Germans, while over 600,000 acres were given to Czech settlers, although the land in question lay almost exclusively within German territory. Thus the land reform be, came in fact an instrument of Czech penetration into German land. After the founding of ,tJhe Czecho-Slovak State, 60,000 German public servants were dismissed from office and replaced by Czechs who worked in areas exclusively Germain though often they were unable to wnderstand a single word of Germ'a n. rr,he number of pupils per classroom was raised from 40 to 60, resulting in the dissolution of more than 1,000 German elementary school cla:sses between 1921 and 1935. �SLOVAKIA 5 Concurrently there were set up palatial schools for the children of Czech officialdom in the Sudetenland for whom the above-mention ed figures did not apply. To denationalize the German areas, attempts were made to make the schools atJtractive to German children; unemployed persons were urged to send their children the-re with promises of a warm noon meal and ariticles of clothing, features which ,the poorly equipped German schools could not afford. The government made the placing of State orders with German industries dependent on whether or not a certain percenitage of Czech workers were employed. This led to dismissals of German workmen with the result that when tlhe economic depression of the 1930's struck, 500,000 of the tota'l 800,000 jobless in Czecho-Slova kia were of German ethnic origin. This meant that every sixth Sudeten German in Czecho-Slovak ia was jobless, while of the more than 11 mil.Jion non-German members of the population, only every 36th person had to live on the meager unemployment compensation . As the Czech government refused to take any action on the complaints of the Sudeten Germans, however justified, tfue Sudeten leaders were constrruined to register 22 complaints with the League of Nations, hoping that Czecho-Slovakia would be urged by that organization to live up to its obligations as provided in the peace treaty and the international treaty on the protection of minorities, which was part of the pea(!e settlement. Sudeten German Loyalty Lovd Runcima:n, British investigator and mediator, confirmed the facts and summarized his findings in a report to the British Prime Minister of September, 1938. "It is a hard thing to be ruled by an alien race; and I have been left with the impression that the Czecho-Slovak rule in the Sudeten areas for the last twenty years ... has been marked by .tactlessness, lack of understanding , petty intolerance and discrimination , to a point where the resentment of the German population was inevitably moving in the direction of revolt." �6 SLOVAKIA Despite these grievances, the Sudeten Germans had loyally done their duty. Three major political parties tried to cooperate w1th the Czech government. Even Herillein's Sudeten German Party had soughit a solution for years on the basis of German-Czech reconciliation with the State. Up to the summer of 1938 its program called for Sudeten German "home rule." Before May 21, 1938, when Benes mobilized the Czecho-Slovak army, Hitler had not taken any conceivable interest in the Sudeten German grievances and it wou1d have been possible to solve the question on an internal 11ather than an international level, provided the Czech goviernment had shown "any readiness to remedy them on an adequate scale," as Lord Runciman put it. When Benes offered his so-caHed "Fourth Plan" which he later called a jest - fairly meeting the Sudeten German requests, the final decision was no longer his or Henlein's. The Sudeten question had already grown f.rom a domestic afifair into a serious international crisis. - S. B. (1) A detailed study wHh aimplle reiference to then conteimporary sources is to be found in Herman RaS:Ohh()lfer's "Die Sudetenfrage," Munich, 1953, and Wenzel Jaksch's "Europas Weg nach Potsdam," S'tuttgart, 1958. (2) On Maoch 4, 1<919, when Sudeten Gerlffians of all political affiliations protested pUiblicly a,gainst this denial of self-deterunir.,ation and foreed submission to Czech domination, the Cz<eeh army fired into the crowds causing 54 dead and man,y wounded. (3) In Czecho-Slovakia the Jews were considered as a separate nationality. (4) Of. H. Nicolsen, Peace Making, London, 1938. (5) 1Dr. Edward Benes in Aid Memoire m: ".Et is the intention of the Czecho-Slovak government ... to make of Czecho-Slovakia a sorit of Switzerland." • • • WHO SAID IT? "In Ozech ,politics, in Ozech national life, it is urgent that we COlffie to am understanding with the Communist Party . . . the COilnllllll.llllist party shahl remain the greatest force in our political scheme even after the elections are over, and socialism shall remain the foundation of our national life. . . . Oommg to terms with the Communists is the golden theme of our politi<!al philosophy." - (1F erdinan.d Peroutka, a Benes Czech employed by Radio Free Europe, DNE~IDK, 2-9-48). � 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 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOV AKIA Published by the Slovak League of America VOL. X MARCH-JUNE, 1960 NO. 6 (31) ST. GERMAIN AND MUNICH Two events, the anniversaries of which were celebrated in 1958,left deep marks on European and world history: the founding of Czecho-Slovakia 40 years ago on October 28, 1918, and its cession to Germany of the Sudeten lands, the execution of which was regulated between England, France, Italy and Germany 20 years ago in the Munich Agreement of September 29, 1938. Po1iticrul observers witlh but superficial knowledge of the domestic conditions in pre-war Czecho-Slovakia often see the Anschluss with Germany of the Sudetenland in the fall of 1938 solely as a consequence of Hitler's power policy and deny the existence of serious nationality pr,oblems in Masaryk's and Benes' little "model democracy." They therefore judge the material value of these events as results of dictatorial coercion, which they reject. It cannot be denied tha,t Hitler's interference affected the solution of the Sudeten German question in 1938. lt should not be overlooked, however, that Hitler neither creoced the Sudeten issue, nor did the Sudeten Germans ever form a fi:flth column within Czecho-Slovalria, as malevolenits sometimes maintain. The Sudeten issue had existed as an internal Czecho-Slovak problem ever since that country's very beginnings. Hitler, to be sure, raised this question to the level of international politics. Involuntarily h e was aided by the Cech governmenlt's rigid frustration of any fair agreement on the nationality issue with the Sudeten Germans from 1918 to 1938. The truth of this statement is proven by the debate in the Br1tish House of Oommons on October 3, 1938, where representatives of all parties expressed the convict ion that the Munich decision was but a .correction of a wrong inflicted upon the Sudeten Germans 20 years ago 2 SLOVAKIA at the peace conference of St. Germain. Neville Henderson, then British Ambassador to Berlin, summarized his judgment on the affuir in the words: Czecho-S[ovakia lost territories which better had not been inco~porated into the Czech State at the Versailles Peace Conference and which - except on the basis of a federation - could not have remained there forever. Moreover, it is necessary to distinguish carefully bet ween the Anschluss of the Sudeten region with Germany in September-October, 1938, and Hitler's occupation of the Czech-inhabited parts of Bohemia and Moravia in March, 1939, when the Reich .government established a protectorate over the Czech people. The Sudeten C'~rmans had nothing whatsoever to do with this aot of Hitler's. In fact, they disapproved of it because their experience during the first Czecho-Slovak Republic had taught them that a durable and peaceful settlement could not be reached within Central Europe u111less it was based on a strictJly equal treatment of both Czechs and Germans, and that any discriminatory policy of one of them toward the other would necessarily lead to unrest. The violation of this principle had caused the disruption of Czecho-S'lovakia; its neglect by Hirtler was also to have serious consequences. The physical and tempora:l proximity of Sudetenland's Anschluss with Germany in October, 1938, and Hitler's occupation of Prague in March, 1939, as well as his dmmaJtic pal'ticipation in both events, together with the anti-German war propaganda that shortly ensued, caused many persons to see in the Munich Agreement of September 29, 1938, a dishonest ·defeat of the democracies by Hitler's shrewd power politics. Even to<my there lingers an aftertaste of vacillating appeasemenrt when the Munich Agreement is mentioned. But "Munich" gained this ill repute unjustly. For the M'llllich Agreement did not contain a demand on CzechoSlovakia to cede to Germany the Sudeten territory, nor was Czecho-Slovakia forced by the agreement to such cession. The Czecho-Slovak governmenit had one week previously expressed to the ambassadors of France and SLOVAKIA 3 Great Bdtai.n in Prague iJt.s willingness to band over to GeI'Illany the German-inhabited areas of western CzechoS'lovakia. Upon that declaration of cession the British and French heads of government had acted when they went to Munich to negotiate with Hitler on the procedure fur transferring the areas in question from Czech to German authority. (1) It is necessary to note in this context that t!he legaJlity of said cession was universally acknowledged at that time. Czecho-Slovakia Not Homogeneous In order to understand the internal causes of the 1938 Sudeten crisis it will be necessary to review briefly the conditions as they existed in pre-war -- Czecho-Slovakiia and to tra;ce the problem to its roots. Until 1918, the area known a-s Czecho-Slovakia was part of the Austro-Hungarian mum-national empire. At the Paris Peace Oonference Benes demanded the dissolution of Austriia-Hungary and .the founding of a Czech State on the ground of national self-determination and certain historic claims. By resorting to fallsified population statistics and erroneously drawn maps he caused the forceful inclusion of more than three million Sudeten Germ.ans into the Czech State, at the same time denying those Germans - at the point of a gun - the very right of selfdetermination he had requested and obtained from the peace conference for his own nation. (2) Czecho-Slovakia was by no means a nationally homogeneous StaJte. The census of 1930 (naturally, inc'lined to favor tihe Czechs) revealed that country's population to number 7.2 million Czechs, 3.3 million Germans, 2.3 mHlion Slovaks, 700,000 Magyars, 550,000 Ukrainians, 190,000 Jews (3) , and 130,000 Poles and others. Almost one-half the country's population was non-Czech - accoirding to official Czech figures. That the Slovaks and Czechs together do not constitute a unitary nation, is obvious to anyone conversant with the history and language of these two peoples. The need to seek a workable agreement between the Czech government and the 7 million non-Czech people in 4 SLOVAKIA the CSR was well conceived by the participants of the peace conference, especially by the representatives of the United States. The American delegates objected strenuously to the violation of the self-determination right with respect to the Sudeten Germans and the drawing of boundruries on strategic principles. ( 4) Even the Commission ron the new State at the peace conference warned in its final report that "the prosperity and perhaps almost the existence of the new State will depend upon the success with which it incorporates the Germans as wirling citizens." Czech Discriminatory Measures But instead of realistically accepting the multi-national character of the State as a factor State poliicy must reckon with, the Czech leaders used shrewd administrative tactics to advance into the areas in which the other national groups were settled. Benes' solemn promise at the peace conference of St. Germain in 1918, to make of Czecho-Slovakia a sort of Switzerland, in which the various nationalri ties could live side by side and share equal rights (5), remained but an empty promise. To what extent the official State policy was guided by discriminatory lines becomes obvious by citing but a few exiamples: In 1919 the nobility was deprived of land in accordance with the land expropriation act. Between 1921 and 1924 about 1,500 acres of this land were turned over to Germans, while over 600,000 acres were given to Czech settlers, although the land in question lay almost exclusively within German territory. Thus the land reform be, came in fact an instrument of Czech penetration into German land. After the founding of ,tJhe Czecho-Slovak State, 60,000 German public servants were dismissed from office and replaced by Czechs who worked in areas exclusively Germain though often they were unable to wnderstand a single word of Germ'a n. rr,he number of pupils per classroom was raised from 40 to 60, resulting in the dissolution of more than 1,000 German elementary school cla:sses between 1921 and 1935. SLOVAKIA 5 Concurrently there were set up palatial schools for the children of Czech officialdom in the Sudetenland for whom the above-mention ed figures did not apply. To denationalize the German areas, attempts were made to make the schools atJtractive to German children; unemployed persons were urged to send their children the-re with promises of a warm noon meal and ariticles of clothing, features which ,the poorly equipped German schools could not afford. The government made the placing of State orders with German industries dependent on whether or not a certain percenitage of Czech workers were employed. This led to dismissals of German workmen with the result that when tlhe economic depression of the 1930's struck, 500,000 of the tota'l 800,000 jobless in Czecho-Slova kia were of German ethnic origin. This meant that every sixth Sudeten German in Czecho-Slovak ia was jobless, while of the more than 11 mil.Jion non-German members of the population, only every 36th person had to live on the meager unemployment compensation . As the Czech government refused to take any action on the complaints of the Sudeten Germans, however justified, tfue Sudeten leaders were constrruined to register 22 complaints with the League of Nations, hoping that Czecho-Slovakia would be urged by that organization to live up to its obligations as provided in the peace treaty and the international treaty on the protection of minorities, which was part of the pea(!e settlement. Sudeten German Loyalty Lovd Runcima:n, British investigator and mediator, confirmed the facts and summarized his findings in a report to the British Prime Minister of September, 1938. "It is a hard thing to be ruled by an alien race; and I have been left with the impression that the Czecho-Slovak rule in the Sudeten areas for the last twenty years ... has been marked by .tactlessness, lack of understanding , petty intolerance and discrimination , to a point where the resentment of the German population was inevitably moving in the direction of revolt." 6 SLOVAKIA Despite these grievances, the Sudeten Germans had loyally done their duty. Three major political parties tried to cooperate w1th the Czech government. Even Herillein's Sudeten German Party had soughit a solution for years on the basis of German-Czech reconciliation with the State. Up to the summer of 1938 its program called for Sudeten German "home rule." Before May 21, 1938, when Benes mobilized the Czecho-Slovak army, Hitler had not taken any conceivable interest in the Sudeten German grievances and it wou1d have been possible to solve the question on an internal 11ather than an international level, provided the Czech goviernment had shown "any readiness to remedy them on an adequate scale," as Lord Runciman put it. When Benes offered his so-caHed "Fourth Plan" which he later called a jest - fairly meeting the Sudeten German requests, the final decision was no longer his or Henlein's. The Sudeten question had already grown f.rom a domestic afifair into a serious international crisis. - S. B. (1) A detailed study wHh aimplle reiference to then conteimporary sources is to be found in Herman RaS:Ohh()lfer's "Die Sudetenfrage," Munich, 1953, and Wenzel Jaksch's "Europas Weg nach Potsdam," S'tuttgart, 1958. (2) On Maoch 4, 1<919, when Sudeten Gerlffians of all political affiliations protested pUiblicly a,gainst this denial of self-deterunir.,ation and foreed submission to Czech domination, the Cz<eeh army fired into the crowds causing 54 dead and man,y wounded. (3) In Czecho-Slovakia the Jews were considered as a separate nationality. (4) Of. H. Nicolsen, Peace Making, London, 1938. (5) 1Dr. Edward Benes in Aid Memoire m: ".Et is the intention of the Czecho-Slovak government ... to make of Czecho-Slovakia a sorit of Switzerland." • • • WHO SAID IT? "In Ozech ,politics, in Ozech national life, it is urgent that we COlffie to am understanding with the Communist Party . . . the COilnllllll.llllist party shahl remain the greatest force in our political scheme even after the elections are over, and socialism shall remain the foundation of our national life. . . . Oommg to terms with the Communists is the golden theme of our politi<!al philosophy." - (1F erdinan.d Peroutka, a Benes Czech employed by Radio Free Europe, DNE~IDK, 2-9-48).  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 St. Germain and Munich Description An account of the resource Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 6 (31), March-June 1960 pp. 1-6 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1960 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/1745346897ea3701aa89e1a6f33b4835.pdf 19a4811a83ce822f7acbcf2cfe8eac9d PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 7 SLOV ANICS IN AMERICAN SEOONDARY SCHOOLS William S. Patala That the Slavic languages are not taught in our American schools - in our high schools especially, but also in our colleges and even grade schools - is a sad fact which is lately coming around to admitting this deficiency, and the need for a remedy; public opinion is stirring in a similar vein; and some statesmen are speaking up for a new progra;m to rectify the absence of courses in the Slav languages in our educational system. These groups are moved by a realization not only of the world position in which communism puts the Slovanic nations it controls, but also by an awareness of the rising prominence of these nations in the 20th century irrespective of that totalitariain regime, and then too by a recognition of the ever-increasing volume of travel and tourism, which is making contact - and will make contact much more when the Iron Curtain rises - witih the eastern half of Europe, the Slav world, as never before. 'Dhese considerations and others, are pressing more and more for Americans to learn a Slavic tongue a-s their second language. Of course, all ethnic groups of rectn immigration, including the Slovaks to be sure, have a long time recognized the value of American youths learning foreign languages, although each nationality insisted, as might be expected, on their own as the first to be learned. And these peoples, especially the Catholics among them because of their private schools, have tried to teach their descendants in America the ancestral tongue - at least to the first and second generation, where there was still living contact with the spoken foreign language. But these efforts of national groups are on the wane, so that if American youths are to learn a European language, and especially a Slavic one, it will have to be through the instrumentality of the regular American high schools. These schools already have in .their curricula the other European vernaculars: German, French, Spanish, but they do not have Slavic. �8 SLOVAKIA What Slavic Language? If our high schools should decid~ to introduce the Siovanic languages into their courses, however - and rising pressure may wen move them to do so soon - they will have to solve one outstanding difficulity which presents itself immediately. This difficulty must be settled before the composition of a text book oon even be undertaken. And that problem is, namely, which Slav language shall be taught? For O'bviously they cannot aJII be taught, since ther are some nine prominent ones. So the question is which one should be singled out for this honorable use. The first answer that presents itself is Russian. This is by far the largest Slavic tongue in use, and Russia naturally seems to be the mother of all the Slovanic naitions. Bult Russia has never filled thus "natural" position of a mother: whether communist or czarist, her interest in the other Slav countries has always been selfish. Although all these nations would each raise an objection to the choice of every language except their own, nevertheless their strongest dbjection would be to the use of Russian, since their feeling for Russia extends in genera!l from mistrust to hatred, the latter especially by Poland and the Ukraine. Other dif:filculties also attend t:Jhe use of Russian, above all the strange alphabet, then borrowed and original words, and again the oriental and Orthodox culture of that country, etc. This writer would recommend as the basic language to be taughrt in a course of "High School Sfovanics" the use of the Slovak tongue. My choice of Slovak for this highly-representative position stands on three arguments of varying force : First, a negative argument, whfoh is equally valid for the use of any O'f the Stavic tongues (except a fringe language like Rumanian) ; this proof is intended to show why Slovak should not be excluded by a prior judgment; and it is this, that any Slavic tongue is a key to all of them. Consider how similar the viarious - we could almost call them dialects - of the Slav race are, from the following selections. If you know Slovak well, you will easily enough gather the thought of each quotiation: �SLOVAKIA 9 (1) (Ruthenian or Rusin): "0 Bohorodice D'ivo Marije, radujsja, raduj nebes lelije. Solncem pribranna, vkryta duhoju, Marije cista, Hospod's Toboju." (2) (Church or Old Slovanic, or Bulgarian): (InternationaJ alpha) : "Pri:z;ri na mja i pomilum mja. Da priblicitsja molitva moja pred fa Hospodi, po slovesi tvojemu vrazumi mja." (3) (Czech): "Za tri tisice roku, ach, co tu bude Zmen, a co tu bude skoku pres hroby slavnych jmen !" (4) (Polish): "Jezeli domu sam Pan nie zbuluje, Daremnie nad nim rzemieslnik pracuje. Jok od pocz~tku byla tak i ninie, I na wiek wiekow niechaj zawsze slynie." (5) (Slovenian: "Sedaj prosi ljubega Boga, naj Ti odpusti vse Tvoje grehe, ki si se jih spovedal, a tudi grehe vsega Tvojega zivljenja." (6) (Croatian and Serbian): (International script) : "Pricekajte jedan minut. Gde su vojnici? Drago mi je poznati vas. Molim vas pomozite mi." (7) (Ukrainian): (International alphabet): "V nasich cerkvach je zvicaj otvirati dveri na pocatku Bozestvennoji Liturgiji." (8) (White Rusian): "Kaznamu, chto hetak vyjavic usie svaje hrachii klo jon scyra za ich zaleje, mozna dac sakramentalnaje razihresennie." (9) (Russian): (International alphabet) : "So mnoju liudi bez imion." Secondly, a practical reason for my picking Slovak as the one language to be taught is a Slovanic grammar. Since I am doing the selecting, I naturally choose the lianguage most familiar and most dear to me. This is Slovak. But finally, the conclusive argument, that shows Slovak to be the ideal tongue for use in a text book of Slovanics is its unique position in connection with all the Slavic tongues. Slovak is the one language best understood by all the Slav peoples! This is so because it has the closest relations with all the other Slavic vernaculars as any of them has: most words in common, most letters and constructions in common, least foreign additions, least changes of its own. Note the words of Professor John D. Prince of Columbia University in the News Bulletin of the Amer- �10 SLOVAKIA ican Association of Teachers of Slovanic and East European Lianguages, Dec. 15, 1943: "Of the nine principal Slovanic variants (Rus., Wh. Rus., Ukr., Cz., Pol., Serb., Croat. and Bulg.) Slovak contains the greatest number of forms common to all ... . To apply the pragmatic test, Slovak is of all the Slovanic tongues the most readily understood by other Slavs." And H. L. Menchken says in The American Language: "A peasant from Sfovakia enjoying the benefit of a central position in the Slavonic territory, is understood by a Slav from any other country." Therefore, in the words of the great reformer of the Slovak language, I',udovit Stur (1814-1856): "Slovak appears to us as a distinct and separate language, without which it would be impracticable to formulate a comparative grammar of Slavic tongues, because it forms a connecting link between them all." The Integration of the Basic Language With Elements of the Other Slav Tongues Now, having settled this problem regaroing the choice of one basic language - be it Slovak or some other we should next consider all the various elements which would combine to make the text book reaMy a Slovanic grammar, and not a grammar only of the language it features. Besides teaching the student one language, which is ,a key to all thke Slavic tongues, the Slovanic grammar would acquaint him with the various languages in other ways also. While presenting only one tongue, it would also give knowledge of the other Slavic nations and cultures. Thus it would be a genuine (and feasible, we think) compromise between all the tongues, which, as we have said, is impracticable, and teaching only one, which is too limited and insufficient, by itself. The SloV'anic text book would present the basic language completely; its declensions, conjugations, syntax, vocabulary, but at the same time it would also present the history of the Slavic race, a description of the individual nations with their geography and statistics, the salient points of their literature, music, art, and even some excerpts from their poetry and prose. In this way, the student would have a working mastery of one Slav language, through it a key to all the Slav tongues, and an under- �SLOVAKIA 11 standing of the position, history and culture of each nation. What better acquaintance than this could a person hope to have with nine languages, without studying each one of the individually? Let us consider in detail how these two elements: the one language and the various cultures, would appear in our S'lovanics book. The basic language would be presented pretty much th€ way it is in any (Siovak) grammar. We might, for this purpose, take Hrobak's Slovak Lessons, which is recognized as the best text-book of Slovak, to cover the first elemenit. Hrobak's Lessons gradually teaches the language, by use of the following sections and titles: voca:bulary, expressions, grammar, exercises, reading lessons, reviews, et<:. The other element, the various cultures, would be integrated with the lessons, and be presented by means of verbal explanations, pi,otures, selected words and exipressions (where possible), exercises and reading lessons from their national literatures (transliterated into Slovak), etc. Successive lessons could introduce such topics as these: The Slav race, the Christianization of the Slavic peoples, the submerged Slavs, the Slavic nations; then individual countries: the Slovaks, Rusins, Czechs, Poles, etc.; even the fringe naJtions: the Rumanians, Lithuanians. Particular subjedts could also be presented, such as: the General Characteristics of Slav Art, Temperament, etc. Finally, to the book several appendices could be added: one giving the Russian (and Old Slovanic) alphabet(s) and the equivalent in western script; another showing the various letter marks, like r, z, I, u, and their SfoV'ak transliterations; and then, a very valuable appendix showing somE key differences between Slovak and the other Slovanic languages: v. g. stating the rule where Polish uses w or g for Slovak v or h, where Czech has v and r for Slovak 1 and r, and the like. This last appendix would be a crowning offering of the grammar, making it possible for the energet,ic pupil to master to some extent all the Slovanic languages at once by means of these differences. rn conclusion, I admit that I am not an expert in the Slavic tongues, but it appears to me that the "High-School �12 SLOVAKIA Slovanics" grammar is a real possibility. I believe that it could be drawn up along the lines presented in this article. Of course, it would require the careful, studious efforts of someone well acquainted with the Slovanic languages or at least with one of them. But I feel it can be done. At least the possibility should be explored and an attempt made in .that direction. Perhaps if we Slovaks ignore this project, some one of our kindred Slavs may take it up, using his tongue instead of ours as the basis. The Slav languages certainly should be taught in our schools. But if they are to be, a Slovanic grammar is needed. Slovak can offer itself as the key ingredient in such a book, since it possesses the qualirty of representatives among the Slavic vernaculars. What is requisite, therefore, is a recognition of the needs for and feasibility of a "High School Slovanics" book, and then the efforts of our Slovak-American intelligentsia to prepare it. In this way, the great culture of our tiny nation would make still another contribution to the advancement of world knowledge and culture. - (MOST," Vol. 5, No. 2) . • • • THE BIRTH OF A SATELLITE By Bohdan Chudoba (It is ofiten maintained that Czecho-Slovaikiia became a s·a tellite of Moscow in February, 1948, when the communists gained full power in Prague. In the following article Pr<Yfessor Bohdan Chudio'ba of New York, a noted historian and forimer leading Czech -politician, very clearly -i lluminates the Czecho-Slovaik situation after World War II and the disastrous role that Czecho~ovaikia's foruner President Edward Benes played when, long before '1'94'8, he paved the way for the commun,ist seizure o,f full power in '1948.) When leading statesmen of the Allied Powers met at Teheran in 1943 and President Roosevelt ha,d to decide whether or not to support ChurchiH's plan to invade the Balkans and keep the Red Army out of Central Europe, the conference had the spectacle of Edward Benes journeying solemnly from London to Moscow where, on December 12, he signed a new treaty between Czecho-Slovalda and the Soviet Union, binding himself and his (provisional) government to dissolve all "anti-communist organizations � SLOVAKIA 7 SLOV ANICS IN AMERICAN SEOONDARY SCHOOLS William S. Patala That the Slavic languages are not taught in our American schools - in our high schools especially, but also in our colleges and even grade schools - is a sad fact which is lately coming around to admitting this deficiency, and the need for a remedy; public opinion is stirring in a similar vein; and some statesmen are speaking up for a new progra;m to rectify the absence of courses in the Slav languages in our educational system. These groups are moved by a realization not only of the world position in which communism puts the Slovanic nations it controls, but also by an awareness of the rising prominence of these nations in the 20th century irrespective of that totalitariain regime, and then too by a recognition of the ever-increasing volume of travel and tourism, which is making contact - and will make contact much more when the Iron Curtain rises - witih the eastern half of Europe, the Slav world, as never before. 'Dhese considerations and others, are pressing more and more for Americans to learn a Slavic tongue a-s their second language. Of course, all ethnic groups of rectn immigration, including the Slovaks to be sure, have a long time recognized the value of American youths learning foreign languages, although each nationality insisted, as might be expected, on their own as the first to be learned. And these peoples, especially the Catholics among them because of their private schools, have tried to teach their descendants in America the ancestral tongue - at least to the first and second generation, where there was still living contact with the spoken foreign language. But these efforts of national groups are on the wane, so that if American youths are to learn a European language, and especially a Slavic one, it will have to be through the instrumentality of the regular American high schools. These schools already have in .their curricula the other European vernaculars: German, French, Spanish, but they do not have Slavic. �8 SLOVAKIA What Slavic Language? If our high schools should decid~ to introduce the Siovanic languages into their courses, however - and rising pressure may wen move them to do so soon - they will have to solve one outstanding difficulity which presents itself immediately. This difficulty must be settled before the composition of a text book oon even be undertaken. And that problem is, namely, which Slav language shall be taught? For O'bviously they cannot aJII be taught, since ther are some nine prominent ones. So the question is which one should be singled out for this honorable use. The first answer that presents itself is Russian. This is by far the largest Slavic tongue in use, and Russia naturally seems to be the mother of all the Slovanic naitions. Bult Russia has never filled thus "natural" position of a mother: whether communist or czarist, her interest in the other Slav countries has always been selfish. Although all these nations would each raise an objection to the choice of every language except their own, nevertheless their strongest dbjection would be to the use of Russian, since their feeling for Russia extends in genera!l from mistrust to hatred, the latter especially by Poland and the Ukraine. Other dif:filculties also attend t:Jhe use of Russian, above all the strange alphabet, then borrowed and original words, and again the oriental and Orthodox culture of that country, etc. This writer would recommend as the basic language to be taughrt in a course of "High School Sfovanics" the use of the Slovak tongue. My choice of Slovak for this highly-representative position stands on three arguments of varying force : First, a negative argument, whfoh is equally valid for the use of any O'f the Stavic tongues (except a fringe language like Rumanian) ; this proof is intended to show why Slovak should not be excluded by a prior judgment; and it is this, that any Slavic tongue is a key to all of them. Consider how similar the viarious - we could almost call them dialects - of the Slav race are, from the following selections. If you know Slovak well, you will easily enough gather the thought of each quotiation: �SLOVAKIA 9 (1) (Ruthenian or Rusin): "0 Bohorodice D'ivo Marije, radujsja, raduj nebes lelije. Solncem pribranna, vkryta duhoju, Marije cista, Hospod's Toboju." (2) (Church or Old Slovanic, or Bulgarian): (InternationaJ alpha) : "Pri:z;ri na mja i pomilum mja. Da priblicitsja molitva moja pred fa Hospodi, po slovesi tvojemu vrazumi mja." (3) (Czech): "Za tri tisice roku, ach, co tu bude Zmen, a co tu bude skoku pres hroby slavnych jmen !" (4) (Polish): "Jezeli domu sam Pan nie zbuluje, Daremnie nad nim rzemieslnik pracuje. Jok od pocz~tku byla tak i ninie, I na wiek wiekow niechaj zawsze slynie." (5) (Slovenian: "Sedaj prosi ljubega Boga, naj Ti odpusti vse Tvoje grehe, ki si se jih spovedal, a tudi grehe vsega Tvojega zivljenja." (6) (Croatian and Serbian): (International script) : "Pricekajte jedan minut. Gde su vojnici? Drago mi je poznati vas. Molim vas pomozite mi." (7) (Ukrainian): (International alphabet): "V nasich cerkvach je zvicaj otvirati dveri na pocatku Bozestvennoji Liturgiji." (8) (White Rusian): "Kaznamu, chto hetak vyjavic usie svaje hrachii klo jon scyra za ich zaleje, mozna dac sakramentalnaje razihresennie." (9) (Russian): (International alphabet) : "So mnoju liudi bez imion." Secondly, a practical reason for my picking Slovak as the one language to be taught is a Slovanic grammar. Since I am doing the selecting, I naturally choose the lianguage most familiar and most dear to me. This is Slovak. But finally, the conclusive argument, that shows Slovak to be the ideal tongue for use in a text book of Slovanics is its unique position in connection with all the Slavic tongues. Slovak is the one language best understood by all the Slav peoples! This is so because it has the closest relations with all the other Slavic vernaculars as any of them has: most words in common, most letters and constructions in common, least foreign additions, least changes of its own. Note the words of Professor John D. Prince of Columbia University in the News Bulletin of the Amer- �10 SLOVAKIA ican Association of Teachers of Slovanic and East European Lianguages, Dec. 15, 1943: "Of the nine principal Slovanic variants (Rus., Wh. Rus., Ukr., Cz., Pol., Serb., Croat. and Bulg.) Slovak contains the greatest number of forms common to all ... . To apply the pragmatic test, Slovak is of all the Slovanic tongues the most readily understood by other Slavs." And H. L. Menchken says in The American Language: "A peasant from Sfovakia enjoying the benefit of a central position in the Slavonic territory, is understood by a Slav from any other country." Therefore, in the words of the great reformer of the Slovak language, I',udovit Stur (1814-1856): "Slovak appears to us as a distinct and separate language, without which it would be impracticable to formulate a comparative grammar of Slavic tongues, because it forms a connecting link between them all." The Integration of the Basic Language With Elements of the Other Slav Tongues Now, having settled this problem regaroing the choice of one basic language - be it Slovak or some other we should next consider all the various elements which would combine to make the text book reaMy a Slovanic grammar, and not a grammar only of the language it features. Besides teaching the student one language, which is ,a key to all thke Slavic tongues, the Slovanic grammar would acquaint him with the various languages in other ways also. While presenting only one tongue, it would also give knowledge of the other Slavic nations and cultures. Thus it would be a genuine (and feasible, we think) compromise between all the tongues, which, as we have said, is impracticable, and teaching only one, which is too limited and insufficient, by itself. The SloV'anic text book would present the basic language completely; its declensions, conjugations, syntax, vocabulary, but at the same time it would also present the history of the Slavic race, a description of the individual nations with their geography and statistics, the salient points of their literature, music, art, and even some excerpts from their poetry and prose. In this way, the student would have a working mastery of one Slav language, through it a key to all the Slav tongues, and an under- �SLOVAKIA 11 standing of the position, history and culture of each nation. What better acquaintance than this could a person hope to have with nine languages, without studying each one of the individually? Let us consider in detail how these two elements: the one language and the various cultures, would appear in our S'lovanics book. The basic language would be presented pretty much th€ way it is in any (Siovak) grammar. We might, for this purpose, take Hrobak's Slovak Lessons, which is recognized as the best text-book of Slovak, to cover the first elemenit. Hrobak's Lessons gradually teaches the language, by use of the following sections and titles: voca:bulary, expressions, grammar, exercises, reading lessons, reviews, et<:. The other element, the various cultures, would be integrated with the lessons, and be presented by means of verbal explanations, pi,otures, selected words and exipressions (where possible), exercises and reading lessons from their national literatures (transliterated into Slovak), etc. Successive lessons could introduce such topics as these: The Slav race, the Christianization of the Slavic peoples, the submerged Slavs, the Slavic nations; then individual countries: the Slovaks, Rusins, Czechs, Poles, etc.; even the fringe naJtions: the Rumanians, Lithuanians. Particular subjedts could also be presented, such as: the General Characteristics of Slav Art, Temperament, etc. Finally, to the book several appendices could be added: one giving the Russian (and Old Slovanic) alphabet(s) and the equivalent in western script; another showing the various letter marks, like r, z, I, u, and their SfoV'ak transliterations; and then, a very valuable appendix showing somE key differences between Slovak and the other Slovanic languages: v. g. stating the rule where Polish uses w or g for Slovak v or h, where Czech has v and r for Slovak 1 and r, and the like. This last appendix would be a crowning offering of the grammar, making it possible for the energet,ic pupil to master to some extent all the Slovanic languages at once by means of these differences. rn conclusion, I admit that I am not an expert in the Slavic tongues, but it appears to me that the "High-School �12 SLOVAKIA Slovanics" grammar is a real possibility. I believe that it could be drawn up along the lines presented in this article. Of course, it would require the careful, studious efforts of someone well acquainted with the Slovanic languages or at least with one of them. But I feel it can be done. At least the possibility should be explored and an attempt made in .that direction. Perhaps if we Slovaks ignore this project, some one of our kindred Slavs may take it up, using his tongue instead of ours as the basis. The Slav languages certainly should be taught in our schools. But if they are to be, a Slovanic grammar is needed. Slovak can offer itself as the key ingredient in such a book, since it possesses the qualirty of representatives among the Slavic vernaculars. What is requisite, therefore, is a recognition of the needs for and feasibility of a "High School Slovanics" book, and then the efforts of our Slovak-American intelligentsia to prepare it. In this way, the great culture of our tiny nation would make still another contribution to the advancement of world knowledge and culture. - (MOST," Vol. 5, No. 2) . • • • THE BIRTH OF A SATELLITE By Bohdan Chudoba (It is ofiten maintained that Czecho-Slovaikiia became a s·a tellite of Moscow in February, 1948, when the communists gained full power in Prague. In the following article Pr<Yfessor Bohdan Chudio'ba of New York, a noted historian and forimer leading Czech -politician, very clearly -i lluminates the Czecho-Slovaik situation after World War II and the disastrous role that Czecho~ovaikia's foruner President Edward Benes played when, long before '1'94'8, he paved the way for the commun,ist seizure o,f full power in '1948.) When leading statesmen of the Allied Powers met at Teheran in 1943 and President Roosevelt ha,d to decide whether or not to support ChurchiH's plan to invade the Balkans and keep the Red Army out of Central Europe, the conference had the spectacle of Edward Benes journeying solemnly from London to Moscow where, on December 12, he signed a new treaty between Czecho-Slovalda and the Soviet Union, binding himself and his (provisional) government to dissolve all "anti-communist organizations � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 7 SLOV ANICS IN AMERICAN SEOONDARY SCHOOLS William S. Patala That the Slavic languages are not taught in our American schools - in our high schools especially, but also in our colleges and even grade schools - is a sad fact which is lately coming around to admitting this deficiency, and the need for a remedy; public opinion is stirring in a similar vein; and some statesmen are speaking up for a new progra;m to rectify the absence of courses in the Slav languages in our educational system. These groups are moved by a realization not only of the world position in which communism puts the Slovanic nations it controls, but also by an awareness of the rising prominence of these nations in the 20th century irrespective of that totalitariain regime, and then too by a recognition of the ever-increasing volume of travel and tourism, which is making contact - and will make contact much more when the Iron Curtain rises - witih the eastern half of Europe, the Slav world, as never before. 'Dhese considerations and others, are pressing more and more for Americans to learn a Slavic tongue a-s their second language. Of course, all ethnic groups of rectn immigration, including the Slovaks to be sure, have a long time recognized the value of American youths learning foreign languages, although each nationality insisted, as might be expected, on their own as the first to be learned. And these peoples, especially the Catholics among them because of their private schools, have tried to teach their descendants in America the ancestral tongue - at least to the first and second generation, where there was still living contact with the spoken foreign language. But these efforts of national groups are on the wane, so that if American youths are to learn a European language, and especially a Slavic one, it will have to be through the instrumentality of the regular American high schools. These schools already have in .their curricula the other European vernaculars: German, French, Spanish, but they do not have Slavic. 8 SLOVAKIA What Slavic Language? If our high schools should decid~ to introduce the Siovanic languages into their courses, however - and rising pressure may wen move them to do so soon - they will have to solve one outstanding difficulity which presents itself immediately. This difficulty must be settled before the composition of a text book oon even be undertaken. And that problem is, namely, which Slav language shall be taught? For O'bviously they cannot aJII be taught, since ther are some nine prominent ones. So the question is which one should be singled out for this honorable use. The first answer that presents itself is Russian. This is by far the largest Slavic tongue in use, and Russia naturally seems to be the mother of all the Slovanic naitions. Bult Russia has never filled thus "natural" position of a mother: whether communist or czarist, her interest in the other Slav countries has always been selfish. Although all these nations would each raise an objection to the choice of every language except their own, nevertheless their strongest dbjection would be to the use of Russian, since their feeling for Russia extends in genera!l from mistrust to hatred, the latter especially by Poland and the Ukraine. Other dif:filculties also attend t:Jhe use of Russian, above all the strange alphabet, then borrowed and original words, and again the oriental and Orthodox culture of that country, etc. This writer would recommend as the basic language to be taughrt in a course of "High School Sfovanics" the use of the Slovak tongue. My choice of Slovak for this highly-representative position stands on three arguments of varying force : First, a negative argument, whfoh is equally valid for the use of any O'f the Stavic tongues (except a fringe language like Rumanian) ; this proof is intended to show why Slovak should not be excluded by a prior judgment; and it is this, that any Slavic tongue is a key to all of them. Consider how similar the viarious - we could almost call them dialects - of the Slav race are, from the following selections. If you know Slovak well, you will easily enough gather the thought of each quotiation: SLOVAKIA 9 (1) (Ruthenian or Rusin): "0 Bohorodice D'ivo Marije, radujsja, raduj nebes lelije. Solncem pribranna, vkryta duhoju, Marije cista, Hospod's Toboju." (2) (Church or Old Slovanic, or Bulgarian): (InternationaJ alpha) : "Pri:z;ri na mja i pomilum mja. Da priblicitsja molitva moja pred fa Hospodi, po slovesi tvojemu vrazumi mja." (3) (Czech): "Za tri tisice roku, ach, co tu bude Zmen, a co tu bude skoku pres hroby slavnych jmen !" (4) (Polish): "Jezeli domu sam Pan nie zbuluje, Daremnie nad nim rzemieslnik pracuje. Jok od pocz~tku byla tak i ninie, I na wiek wiekow niechaj zawsze slynie." (5) (Slovenian: "Sedaj prosi ljubega Boga, naj Ti odpusti vse Tvoje grehe, ki si se jih spovedal, a tudi grehe vsega Tvojega zivljenja." (6) (Croatian and Serbian): (International script) : "Pricekajte jedan minut. Gde su vojnici? Drago mi je poznati vas. Molim vas pomozite mi." (7) (Ukrainian): (International alphabet): "V nasich cerkvach je zvicaj otvirati dveri na pocatku Bozestvennoji Liturgiji." (8) (White Rusian): "Kaznamu, chto hetak vyjavic usie svaje hrachii klo jon scyra za ich zaleje, mozna dac sakramentalnaje razihresennie." (9) (Russian): (International alphabet) : "So mnoju liudi bez imion." Secondly, a practical reason for my picking Slovak as the one language to be taught is a Slovanic grammar. Since I am doing the selecting, I naturally choose the lianguage most familiar and most dear to me. This is Slovak. But finally, the conclusive argument, that shows Slovak to be the ideal tongue for use in a text book of Slovanics is its unique position in connection with all the Slavic tongues. Slovak is the one language best understood by all the Slav peoples! This is so because it has the closest relations with all the other Slavic vernaculars as any of them has: most words in common, most letters and constructions in common, least foreign additions, least changes of its own. Note the words of Professor John D. Prince of Columbia University in the News Bulletin of the Amer- 10 SLOVAKIA ican Association of Teachers of Slovanic and East European Lianguages, Dec. 15, 1943: "Of the nine principal Slovanic variants (Rus., Wh. Rus., Ukr., Cz., Pol., Serb., Croat. and Bulg.) Slovak contains the greatest number of forms common to all ... . To apply the pragmatic test, Slovak is of all the Slovanic tongues the most readily understood by other Slavs." And H. L. Menchken says in The American Language: "A peasant from Sfovakia enjoying the benefit of a central position in the Slavonic territory, is understood by a Slav from any other country." Therefore, in the words of the great reformer of the Slovak language, I',udovit Stur (1814-1856): "Slovak appears to us as a distinct and separate language, without which it would be impracticable to formulate a comparative grammar of Slavic tongues, because it forms a connecting link between them all." The Integration of the Basic Language With Elements of the Other Slav Tongues Now, having settled this problem regaroing the choice of one basic language - be it Slovak or some other we should next consider all the various elements which would combine to make the text book reaMy a Slovanic grammar, and not a grammar only of the language it features. Besides teaching the student one language, which is ,a key to all thke Slavic tongues, the Slovanic grammar would acquaint him with the various languages in other ways also. While presenting only one tongue, it would also give knowledge of the other Slavic nations and cultures. Thus it would be a genuine (and feasible, we think) compromise between all the tongues, which, as we have said, is impracticable, and teaching only one, which is too limited and insufficient, by itself. The SloV'anic text book would present the basic language completely; its declensions, conjugations, syntax, vocabulary, but at the same time it would also present the history of the Slavic race, a description of the individual nations with their geography and statistics, the salient points of their literature, music, art, and even some excerpts from their poetry and prose. In this way, the student would have a working mastery of one Slav language, through it a key to all the Slav tongues, and an under- SLOVAKIA 11 standing of the position, history and culture of each nation. What better acquaintance than this could a person hope to have with nine languages, without studying each one of the individually? Let us consider in detail how these two elements: the one language and the various cultures, would appear in our S'lovanics book. The basic language would be presented pretty much th€ way it is in any (Siovak) grammar. We might, for this purpose, take Hrobak's Slovak Lessons, which is recognized as the best text-book of Slovak, to cover the first elemenit. Hrobak's Lessons gradually teaches the language, by use of the following sections and titles: voca:bulary, expressions, grammar, exercises, reading lessons, reviews, et<:. The other element, the various cultures, would be integrated with the lessons, and be presented by means of verbal explanations, pi,otures, selected words and exipressions (where possible), exercises and reading lessons from their national literatures (transliterated into Slovak), etc. Successive lessons could introduce such topics as these: The Slav race, the Christianization of the Slavic peoples, the submerged Slavs, the Slavic nations; then individual countries: the Slovaks, Rusins, Czechs, Poles, etc.; even the fringe naJtions: the Rumanians, Lithuanians. Particular subjedts could also be presented, such as: the General Characteristics of Slav Art, Temperament, etc. Finally, to the book several appendices could be added: one giving the Russian (and Old Slovanic) alphabet(s) and the equivalent in western script; another showing the various letter marks, like r, z, I, u, and their SfoV'ak transliterations; and then, a very valuable appendix showing somE key differences between Slovak and the other Slovanic languages: v. g. stating the rule where Polish uses w or g for Slovak v or h, where Czech has v and r for Slovak 1 and r, and the like. This last appendix would be a crowning offering of the grammar, making it possible for the energet,ic pupil to master to some extent all the Slovanic languages at once by means of these differences. rn conclusion, I admit that I am not an expert in the Slavic tongues, but it appears to me that the "High-School 12 SLOVAKIA Slovanics" grammar is a real possibility. I believe that it could be drawn up along the lines presented in this article. Of course, it would require the careful, studious efforts of someone well acquainted with the Slovanic languages or at least with one of them. But I feel it can be done. At least the possibility should be explored and an attempt made in .that direction. Perhaps if we Slovaks ignore this project, some one of our kindred Slavs may take it up, using his tongue instead of ours as the basis. The Slav languages certainly should be taught in our schools. But if they are to be, a Slovanic grammar is needed. Slovak can offer itself as the key ingredient in such a book, since it possesses the qualirty of representatives among the Slavic vernaculars. What is requisite, therefore, is a recognition of the needs for and feasibility of a "High School Slovanics" book, and then the efforts of our Slovak-American intelligentsia to prepare it. In this way, the great culture of our tiny nation would make still another contribution to the advancement of world knowledge and culture. - (MOST," Vol. 5, No. 2) . • • • THE BIRTH OF A SATELLITE By Bohdan Chudoba (It is ofiten maintained that Czecho-Slovaikiia became a s·a tellite of Moscow in February, 1948, when the communists gained full power in Prague. In the following article Pr<Yfessor Bohdan Chudio'ba of New York, a noted historian and forimer leading Czech -politician, very clearly -i lluminates the Czecho-Slovaik situation after World War II and the disastrous role that Czecho~ovaikia's foruner President Edward Benes played when, long before '1'94'8, he paved the way for the commun,ist seizure o,f full power in '1948.) When leading statesmen of the Allied Powers met at Teheran in 1943 and President Roosevelt ha,d to decide whether or not to support ChurchiH's plan to invade the Balkans and keep the Red Army out of Central Europe, the conference had the spectacle of Edward Benes journeying solemnly from London to Moscow where, on December 12, he signed a new treaty between Czecho-Slovalda and the Soviet Union, binding himself and his (provisional) government to dissolve all "anti-communist organizations  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Slovanics in American Secondary Schools Description An account of the resource William S. Patala Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 6 (31), March-June 1960 pp. 7-12 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Patala, William S. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1960 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/a969fe086d944834d00d86c394adb7d6.pdf 5a0f99039785ac20100e32fe7783d738 PDF Text Text 12 SLOVAKIA Slovanics" grammar is a real possibility. I believe that it could be drawn up along the lines presented in this article. Of course, it would require the careful, studious efforts of someone well acquainted with the Slovanic languages or at least with one of them. But I feel it can be done. At least the possibility should be explored and an attempt made in .that direction. Perhaps if we Slovaks ignore this project, some one of our kindred Slavs may take it up, using his tongue instead of ours as the basis. The Slav languages certainly should be taught in our schools. But if they are to be, a Slovanic grammar is needed. Slovak can offer itself as the key ingredient in such a book, since it possesses the qualirty of representatives among the Slavic vernaculars. What is requisite, therefore, is a recognition of the needs for and feasibility of a "High School Slovanics" book, and then the efforts of our Slovak-American intelligentsia to prepare it. In this way, the great culture of our tiny nation would make still another contribution to the advancement of world knowledge and culture. - (MOST," Vol. 5, No. 2) . • • • THE BIRTH OF A SATELLITE By Bohdan Chudoba (It is ofiten maintained that Czecho-Slovaikiia became a s·a tellite of Moscow in February, 1948, when the communists gained full power in Prague. In the following article Pr<Yfessor Bohdan Chudio'ba of New York, a noted historian and forimer leading Czech -politician, very clearly -i lluminates the Czecho-Slovaik situation after World War II and the disastrous role that Czecho~ovaikia's foruner President Edward Benes played when, long before '1'94'8, he paved the way for the commun,ist seizure o,f full power in '1948.) When leading statesmen of the Allied Powers met at Teheran in 1943 and President Roosevelt ha,d to decide whether or not to support ChurchiH's plan to invade the Balkans and keep the Red Army out of Central Europe, the conference had the spectacle of Edward Benes journeying solemnly from London to Moscow where, on December 12, he signed a new treaty between Czecho-Slovalda and the Soviet Union, binding himself and his (provisional) government to dissolve all "anti-communist organizations �SLOVAKIA 13 in his country. His voyage to Moscow had been prepared long before by his chief advisor, the late Hubert Ripka. Speaking over the Moscow broadcasting system on December 21, 1943, Dr. Benes declared: "In 1938 we were deserted by the Western Democracies and then subjugated by the Nazis; only the Soviet Union remained faithful to us." That was not true. Benes knew very well that in 1938 the Soviets had refused to give any precise answer to the Czecho-Slovak High Command's request for military aid in the eventuality of war with Hitler Germany. He also accompanied this false strutement by another declaration which can be regarded as the core of his policy. He said: "This journey of mine is the necessary result, the logical conclusion, and the final evolutionary achievement of the Czech policy of the last hundred years, a result made possible by the Russian revolution of the last war." Beware of ideologists who consider their achievements as final. Benes was not satisfied with placing himself in the service of the Krem1lin. Although perfectly aware of the mass graves of Polish officers murdered by the Bolshevists in Katyn in 1944, he persuaded Stanislaus Mikolajczyk to quit the legitimate Polish exile government in London and to join the puppet government set up by the Soviets in Lublin, Eastern Poland. This adventure ended in Mikolajczyk's flight to the West in 1947. Most of Benes' aides were enthusiastic members of the Socialist avant-garde. Hubert Ripka, the most cunning among them, had already developed a far-reaching program which he published in England in 1945 entitled "Czechoslovakia in the New Europe." "Our alliance with the Soviet Union," he declared, "requires a new orientation of our cultural policy; it is necessary that all anti-Soviet elements be eliminated from our schools, educational institutions, and from our literature." Ripka's best disciple, Ivo Duchacek, went even further, saying in his book "Along the Road to Moscow" (London 1944): "This immense conflagration is far more than a flickering flame on which people could warm their soup, people who, until yesterday, had made a career out of criticizing Lenin's interpretation of Marx." �14 SLOVAKIA Benes Moves to Moscow Early in H)45 Benes made his final decision. Accompanied by Jari Sramek and the other ministers of his ca:binet he moved from London to Moscow preferring to reenter his country with the Red Army rather than with the Western liberation troops. In Moscow Benes' star began to decline. He had to nominate a new cabinet in which staunch communists held the key positions. The Soviets were probably not quite sure yet of Czecho-Slovakia. They had freed General Prchala's troops from the concentration camps and sent them, under the command of a man named Svoboda, to the Dukla Pass in the Ca:r,pathians. There most of these young Czech soldiers found their death. But the Soviets still wanted Benes' help. They used the first stop t!he provisional Czecho~lovak Government had to make on Czecho-Slovak soil in the wake of the Red Army, to proclaim a political manifesto that bound Benes and his friends even closer to Moscow than the treaty of 1943. The Kosice Program The Kosice Program, as th:is manifesto is usually called, achieved two things with one stroke: It set the Communist P.arity on its way to final domination of Czecho-Slovakia and it committed the non-Communist members of the Government to help the Communists achieve this aim. It also enacted a decision which had been taken by the Benes group as early as 1943 in London: the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans as well as of the Magyarspeaking population of Czecho-Slovakia. Later we were to pay dearly for this blindness. One thing was o·bvious from the very beginning t o any reader of the Kosice program : it was directed against the Czecho-Slovak constitution of 1920. Everyone who had signed it could, according to the laws of the Republic, have been summoned before a court and condemned for high treason. The two parits of the document which were most obviously undemocratic were those concerned with the nationalization of basic industry and the ban of nonCommunist or non-Socialist political parties. �SLOVAKIA 15 The announcemen t of the program caused much anxiety throughout the country. But the note of triumph of Socialist propaganda became louder and louder as the President approached Prague and culminated in his message to the provisional Parliament whose members were all appointed by Dr. Benes, and which had .assembled in Prague on October 28, 1945. "Today," tlhe message read, "we are betaking ourselves along a path which is to lead to the socialization of modern society." The President wholehearted ly endorsed the Kosice program. Secret Police Early Established Immediately after liberation, poiice forces, the SNB, the STB, and the ZOB, organized throughout the country under the auspices of .the Red Army, were to solve thd problems. Any,body arrested by them could have been retained ind~inljtely. Those beaten to death in the prison cells or deported to Siberia have left no traces. Democratic politidans, such as Ivan Micura, a prominent Slovak who had constantly opposed the Nazi domina,tion of Central Europe~ were arrested in their homes, deported to Russia and never heard from a,gain. Gradually the immense police apparatus turned its energies to "prdblems of socialization." Afl persons who possessed some property were put on a list of suspicious persons. The following document gives a good illustration of this process: "Recorded on September 12, 1945, at 1100 hours in the office of the District National Committee in Novy Bydzov. "The Chairman of the District National Committee of Novy Bydzov, in accordance with orders received from the Minister of Food Supply, Mr. Vaclav Majer, and the Provincial National Committee, issues the following order to Ladislav Stulik, milrler in Hradisko: "I order you to revoke, at not later than 4 p. m. of this day, the complaints which you have submitted to the district· court of justice on behalf of the millers' union; if you should not comply with this order I shall have you arrested at 6 p. m. I also order you to refrain from any �16 SLOVAKIA participation in public life. The police measures mentioned above will also be applied to the members of your family, if you do not comply with this order." "Gestapoism" At the same time a wave of cruel hatred travelled from one individual to another. Perhaps the majority of the Czechs were suddenly ready to suspect, to denounce, to arrest, and to torture their neighbors. In a town in eastern Bohemia a group of local intellectuals used to assemble every night at a given hour and to pay a visit to the district jail where hundreds of people, suspected of · collaboration with the Nazis during the war, were imprisoned. There they amused themselves until the small hours by beating the prisoners with sticks and ropes. This willingness to do evil spread as an infectious disease. Someone called it "gestapoism." Its victims were in the first place the Sudeten Germans. Outrages were committed such as the tragic march of death of 60,000 German speaking inhabitants of Brno, the capital of Moravia, from that city to the Austrian border - a march during which about half of the victims miserably perished. But the same cruelties were committed by the Czechs also against other Czechs. In places such as the Pankrac prison in Prague or the Kounicovy Koleje in Brno, people who had been denounced by their neighbors were, without any investigation at all, machinegunned by hundreds every night and buried in common graves. It was on the dirty floor of a Pankrac prison cell that death came to Emil Ha.cha, former President of Czechoslovakia, a great scholar and gentleman whose only concern had been the welfare of his nation. One of the prisoners, who was lucky enough to endure the tortures and to stay alive, relates his memories: "I saw bodies with demolished faces and without eyes, heaps of bodies of men, women, and even children. I have heard jailors reading names from a list of those who were to be set free, but who had already died of starvation days before and whose bodies I myself was forced to remove from our crowded prison cells. Twice a week I had to help load �SLOVAKIA 17 trucks with such corpses, --corpses of those who were investigated but never reached a court of justice. I saw with my own eyes a prisoner who had been prepared for an investigation, have his legs pierced above the heels, a rope placed through the holes, and then suspended on a hook in the wall. This torture, it is true, did not last long, but when, after three years, the prisoner in question was set free, the investigators were still unable to define the charges a!;ainst him." No wonder that, when the weekly paper "0bzory" was started by the Czech People's Party in Prague, one of the first articles submitted to the editors by a young girl, Renata J., was a treatise on fear. "We are a generation of fear," she wrote in her manuscript, "we live in fear, we eat in fear, fear devours our thoughts, our words - words which we do no dare to utter... " Such was the real Czecho-Slovakia of 1945, when Dr. Benes was its President. People were ousted from their jobs, their lodgings. Their properties were confiscated. And they were unable to appeal to the law. Little wonder, then, that the Communists made easy game of Czecho-Slovakia . • • • WHO SAID IT? "We can only repeat ,t hat neither Austria nor Hungary, and prolba/bly not even Gerunany, nor even the Sfovaks, woulld a•cce,pt in the '.l10ng rlllil tlhe existence of Czechoslovakia. Therefore the grafting of Ozeohoslova!kia on to a Danubian federation is hardly possjlble. In such a framewwk she wou1.d si1mply continue to be what she was in her prevti.ous existence : an internaitiona:l oolamity. The position would ibe di,f. ferent in the case of Bohemia and Moravia being separated from Slovakia. The O!ften repeated argument that Czecihoslovakia',s 'breaking up into her natural components would cause an even greaiter dislocation in the Daruufbe Basin, fails to convince, if one realizes ,that such a parution is the essentia1l iprerequisilte of the •o reation of a greater State entity." - F. 0. Miiksche - a Czech - in UNC0NlDITIONAL SURRENDER, pp. 216-216; Falber and Faiber, Ltd., London). � 12 SLOVAKIA Slovanics" grammar is a real possibility. I believe that it could be drawn up along the lines presented in this article. Of course, it would require the careful, studious efforts of someone well acquainted with the Slovanic languages or at least with one of them. But I feel it can be done. At least the possibility should be explored and an attempt made in .that direction. Perhaps if we Slovaks ignore this project, some one of our kindred Slavs may take it up, using his tongue instead of ours as the basis. The Slav languages certainly should be taught in our schools. But if they are to be, a Slovanic grammar is needed. Slovak can offer itself as the key ingredient in such a book, since it possesses the qualirty of representatives among the Slavic vernaculars. What is requisite, therefore, is a recognition of the needs for and feasibility of a "High School Slovanics" book, and then the efforts of our Slovak-American intelligentsia to prepare it. In this way, the great culture of our tiny nation would make still another contribution to the advancement of world knowledge and culture. - (MOST," Vol. 5, No. 2) . • • • THE BIRTH OF A SATELLITE By Bohdan Chudoba (It is ofiten maintained that Czecho-Slovaikiia became a s·a tellite of Moscow in February, 1948, when the communists gained full power in Prague. In the following article Pr<Yfessor Bohdan Chudio'ba of New York, a noted historian and forimer leading Czech -politician, very clearly -i lluminates the Czecho-Slovaik situation after World War II and the disastrous role that Czecho~ovaikia's foruner President Edward Benes played when, long before '1'94'8, he paved the way for the commun,ist seizure o,f full power in '1948.) When leading statesmen of the Allied Powers met at Teheran in 1943 and President Roosevelt ha,d to decide whether or not to support ChurchiH's plan to invade the Balkans and keep the Red Army out of Central Europe, the conference had the spectacle of Edward Benes journeying solemnly from London to Moscow where, on December 12, he signed a new treaty between Czecho-Slovalda and the Soviet Union, binding himself and his (provisional) government to dissolve all "anti-communist organizations �SLOVAKIA 13 in his country. His voyage to Moscow had been prepared long before by his chief advisor, the late Hubert Ripka. Speaking over the Moscow broadcasting system on December 21, 1943, Dr. Benes declared: "In 1938 we were deserted by the Western Democracies and then subjugated by the Nazis; only the Soviet Union remained faithful to us." That was not true. Benes knew very well that in 1938 the Soviets had refused to give any precise answer to the Czecho-Slovak High Command's request for military aid in the eventuality of war with Hitler Germany. He also accompanied this false strutement by another declaration which can be regarded as the core of his policy. He said: "This journey of mine is the necessary result, the logical conclusion, and the final evolutionary achievement of the Czech policy of the last hundred years, a result made possible by the Russian revolution of the last war." Beware of ideologists who consider their achievements as final. Benes was not satisfied with placing himself in the service of the Krem1lin. Although perfectly aware of the mass graves of Polish officers murdered by the Bolshevists in Katyn in 1944, he persuaded Stanislaus Mikolajczyk to quit the legitimate Polish exile government in London and to join the puppet government set up by the Soviets in Lublin, Eastern Poland. This adventure ended in Mikolajczyk's flight to the West in 1947. Most of Benes' aides were enthusiastic members of the Socialist avant-garde. Hubert Ripka, the most cunning among them, had already developed a far-reaching program which he published in England in 1945 entitled "Czechoslovakia in the New Europe." "Our alliance with the Soviet Union," he declared, "requires a new orientation of our cultural policy; it is necessary that all anti-Soviet elements be eliminated from our schools, educational institutions, and from our literature." Ripka's best disciple, Ivo Duchacek, went even further, saying in his book "Along the Road to Moscow" (London 1944): "This immense conflagration is far more than a flickering flame on which people could warm their soup, people who, until yesterday, had made a career out of criticizing Lenin's interpretation of Marx." �14 SLOVAKIA Benes Moves to Moscow Early in H)45 Benes made his final decision. Accompanied by Jari Sramek and the other ministers of his ca:binet he moved from London to Moscow preferring to reenter his country with the Red Army rather than with the Western liberation troops. In Moscow Benes' star began to decline. He had to nominate a new cabinet in which staunch communists held the key positions. The Soviets were probably not quite sure yet of Czecho-Slovakia. They had freed General Prchala's troops from the concentration camps and sent them, under the command of a man named Svoboda, to the Dukla Pass in the Ca:r,pathians. There most of these young Czech soldiers found their death. But the Soviets still wanted Benes' help. They used the first stop t!he provisional Czecho~lovak Government had to make on Czecho-Slovak soil in the wake of the Red Army, to proclaim a political manifesto that bound Benes and his friends even closer to Moscow than the treaty of 1943. The Kosice Program The Kosice Program, as th:is manifesto is usually called, achieved two things with one stroke: It set the Communist P.arity on its way to final domination of Czecho-Slovakia and it committed the non-Communist members of the Government to help the Communists achieve this aim. It also enacted a decision which had been taken by the Benes group as early as 1943 in London: the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans as well as of the Magyarspeaking population of Czecho-Slovakia. Later we were to pay dearly for this blindness. One thing was o·bvious from the very beginning t o any reader of the Kosice program : it was directed against the Czecho-Slovak constitution of 1920. Everyone who had signed it could, according to the laws of the Republic, have been summoned before a court and condemned for high treason. The two parits of the document which were most obviously undemocratic were those concerned with the nationalization of basic industry and the ban of nonCommunist or non-Socialist political parties. �SLOVAKIA 15 The announcemen t of the program caused much anxiety throughout the country. But the note of triumph of Socialist propaganda became louder and louder as the President approached Prague and culminated in his message to the provisional Parliament whose members were all appointed by Dr. Benes, and which had .assembled in Prague on October 28, 1945. "Today," tlhe message read, "we are betaking ourselves along a path which is to lead to the socialization of modern society." The President wholehearted ly endorsed the Kosice program. Secret Police Early Established Immediately after liberation, poiice forces, the SNB, the STB, and the ZOB, organized throughout the country under the auspices of .the Red Army, were to solve thd problems. Any,body arrested by them could have been retained ind~inljtely. Those beaten to death in the prison cells or deported to Siberia have left no traces. Democratic politidans, such as Ivan Micura, a prominent Slovak who had constantly opposed the Nazi domina,tion of Central Europe~ were arrested in their homes, deported to Russia and never heard from a,gain. Gradually the immense police apparatus turned its energies to "prdblems of socialization." Afl persons who possessed some property were put on a list of suspicious persons. The following document gives a good illustration of this process: "Recorded on September 12, 1945, at 1100 hours in the office of the District National Committee in Novy Bydzov. "The Chairman of the District National Committee of Novy Bydzov, in accordance with orders received from the Minister of Food Supply, Mr. Vaclav Majer, and the Provincial National Committee, issues the following order to Ladislav Stulik, milrler in Hradisko: "I order you to revoke, at not later than 4 p. m. of this day, the complaints which you have submitted to the district· court of justice on behalf of the millers' union; if you should not comply with this order I shall have you arrested at 6 p. m. I also order you to refrain from any �16 SLOVAKIA participation in public life. The police measures mentioned above will also be applied to the members of your family, if you do not comply with this order." "Gestapoism" At the same time a wave of cruel hatred travelled from one individual to another. Perhaps the majority of the Czechs were suddenly ready to suspect, to denounce, to arrest, and to torture their neighbors. In a town in eastern Bohemia a group of local intellectuals used to assemble every night at a given hour and to pay a visit to the district jail where hundreds of people, suspected of · collaboration with the Nazis during the war, were imprisoned. There they amused themselves until the small hours by beating the prisoners with sticks and ropes. This willingness to do evil spread as an infectious disease. Someone called it "gestapoism." Its victims were in the first place the Sudeten Germans. Outrages were committed such as the tragic march of death of 60,000 German speaking inhabitants of Brno, the capital of Moravia, from that city to the Austrian border - a march during which about half of the victims miserably perished. But the same cruelties were committed by the Czechs also against other Czechs. In places such as the Pankrac prison in Prague or the Kounicovy Koleje in Brno, people who had been denounced by their neighbors were, without any investigation at all, machinegunned by hundreds every night and buried in common graves. It was on the dirty floor of a Pankrac prison cell that death came to Emil Ha.cha, former President of Czechoslovakia, a great scholar and gentleman whose only concern had been the welfare of his nation. One of the prisoners, who was lucky enough to endure the tortures and to stay alive, relates his memories: "I saw bodies with demolished faces and without eyes, heaps of bodies of men, women, and even children. I have heard jailors reading names from a list of those who were to be set free, but who had already died of starvation days before and whose bodies I myself was forced to remove from our crowded prison cells. Twice a week I had to help load �SLOVAKIA 17 trucks with such corpses, --corpses of those who were investigated but never reached a court of justice. I saw with my own eyes a prisoner who had been prepared for an investigation, have his legs pierced above the heels, a rope placed through the holes, and then suspended on a hook in the wall. This torture, it is true, did not last long, but when, after three years, the prisoner in question was set free, the investigators were still unable to define the charges a!;ainst him." No wonder that, when the weekly paper "0bzory" was started by the Czech People's Party in Prague, one of the first articles submitted to the editors by a young girl, Renata J., was a treatise on fear. "We are a generation of fear," she wrote in her manuscript, "we live in fear, we eat in fear, fear devours our thoughts, our words - words which we do no dare to utter... " Such was the real Czecho-Slovakia of 1945, when Dr. Benes was its President. People were ousted from their jobs, their lodgings. Their properties were confiscated. And they were unable to appeal to the law. Little wonder, then, that the Communists made easy game of Czecho-Slovakia . • • • WHO SAID IT? "We can only repeat ,t hat neither Austria nor Hungary, and prolba/bly not even Gerunany, nor even the Sfovaks, woulld a•cce,pt in the '.l10ng rlllil tlhe existence of Czechoslovakia. Therefore the grafting of Ozeohoslova!kia on to a Danubian federation is hardly possjlble. In such a framewwk she wou1.d si1mply continue to be what she was in her prevti.ous existence : an internaitiona:l oolamity. The position would ibe di,f. ferent in the case of Bohemia and Moravia being separated from Slovakia. The O!ften repeated argument that Czecihoslovakia',s 'breaking up into her natural components would cause an even greaiter dislocation in the Daruufbe Basin, fails to convince, if one realizes ,that such a parution is the essentia1l iprerequisilte of the •o reation of a greater State entity." - F. 0. Miiksche - a Czech - in UNC0NlDITIONAL SURRENDER, pp. 216-216; Falber and Faiber, Ltd., London). � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 12 SLOVAKIA Slovanics" grammar is a real possibility. I believe that it could be drawn up along the lines presented in this article. Of course, it would require the careful, studious efforts of someone well acquainted with the Slovanic languages or at least with one of them. But I feel it can be done. At least the possibility should be explored and an attempt made in .that direction. Perhaps if we Slovaks ignore this project, some one of our kindred Slavs may take it up, using his tongue instead of ours as the basis. The Slav languages certainly should be taught in our schools. But if they are to be, a Slovanic grammar is needed. Slovak can offer itself as the key ingredient in such a book, since it possesses the qualirty of representatives among the Slavic vernaculars. What is requisite, therefore, is a recognition of the needs for and feasibility of a "High School Slovanics" book, and then the efforts of our Slovak-American intelligentsia to prepare it. In this way, the great culture of our tiny nation would make still another contribution to the advancement of world knowledge and culture. - (MOST," Vol. 5, No. 2) . • • • THE BIRTH OF A SATELLITE By Bohdan Chudoba (It is ofiten maintained that Czecho-Slovaikiia became a s·a tellite of Moscow in February, 1948, when the communists gained full power in Prague. In the following article Pr<Yfessor Bohdan Chudio'ba of New York, a noted historian and forimer leading Czech -politician, very clearly -i lluminates the Czecho-Slovaik situation after World War II and the disastrous role that Czecho~ovaikia's foruner President Edward Benes played when, long before '1'94'8, he paved the way for the commun,ist seizure o,f full power in '1948.) When leading statesmen of the Allied Powers met at Teheran in 1943 and President Roosevelt ha,d to decide whether or not to support ChurchiH's plan to invade the Balkans and keep the Red Army out of Central Europe, the conference had the spectacle of Edward Benes journeying solemnly from London to Moscow where, on December 12, he signed a new treaty between Czecho-Slovalda and the Soviet Union, binding himself and his (provisional) government to dissolve all "anti-communist organizations SLOVAKIA 13 in his country. His voyage to Moscow had been prepared long before by his chief advisor, the late Hubert Ripka. Speaking over the Moscow broadcasting system on December 21, 1943, Dr. Benes declared: "In 1938 we were deserted by the Western Democracies and then subjugated by the Nazis; only the Soviet Union remained faithful to us." That was not true. Benes knew very well that in 1938 the Soviets had refused to give any precise answer to the Czecho-Slovak High Command's request for military aid in the eventuality of war with Hitler Germany. He also accompanied this false strutement by another declaration which can be regarded as the core of his policy. He said: "This journey of mine is the necessary result, the logical conclusion, and the final evolutionary achievement of the Czech policy of the last hundred years, a result made possible by the Russian revolution of the last war." Beware of ideologists who consider their achievements as final. Benes was not satisfied with placing himself in the service of the Krem1lin. Although perfectly aware of the mass graves of Polish officers murdered by the Bolshevists in Katyn in 1944, he persuaded Stanislaus Mikolajczyk to quit the legitimate Polish exile government in London and to join the puppet government set up by the Soviets in Lublin, Eastern Poland. This adventure ended in Mikolajczyk's flight to the West in 1947. Most of Benes' aides were enthusiastic members of the Socialist avant-garde. Hubert Ripka, the most cunning among them, had already developed a far-reaching program which he published in England in 1945 entitled "Czechoslovakia in the New Europe." "Our alliance with the Soviet Union," he declared, "requires a new orientation of our cultural policy; it is necessary that all anti-Soviet elements be eliminated from our schools, educational institutions, and from our literature." Ripka's best disciple, Ivo Duchacek, went even further, saying in his book "Along the Road to Moscow" (London 1944): "This immense conflagration is far more than a flickering flame on which people could warm their soup, people who, until yesterday, had made a career out of criticizing Lenin's interpretation of Marx." 14 SLOVAKIA Benes Moves to Moscow Early in H)45 Benes made his final decision. Accompanied by Jari Sramek and the other ministers of his ca:binet he moved from London to Moscow preferring to reenter his country with the Red Army rather than with the Western liberation troops. In Moscow Benes' star began to decline. He had to nominate a new cabinet in which staunch communists held the key positions. The Soviets were probably not quite sure yet of Czecho-Slovakia. They had freed General Prchala's troops from the concentration camps and sent them, under the command of a man named Svoboda, to the Dukla Pass in the Ca:r,pathians. There most of these young Czech soldiers found their death. But the Soviets still wanted Benes' help. They used the first stop t!he provisional Czecho~lovak Government had to make on Czecho-Slovak soil in the wake of the Red Army, to proclaim a political manifesto that bound Benes and his friends even closer to Moscow than the treaty of 1943. The Kosice Program The Kosice Program, as th:is manifesto is usually called, achieved two things with one stroke: It set the Communist P.arity on its way to final domination of Czecho-Slovakia and it committed the non-Communist members of the Government to help the Communists achieve this aim. It also enacted a decision which had been taken by the Benes group as early as 1943 in London: the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans as well as of the Magyarspeaking population of Czecho-Slovakia. Later we were to pay dearly for this blindness. One thing was o·bvious from the very beginning t o any reader of the Kosice program : it was directed against the Czecho-Slovak constitution of 1920. Everyone who had signed it could, according to the laws of the Republic, have been summoned before a court and condemned for high treason. The two parits of the document which were most obviously undemocratic were those concerned with the nationalization of basic industry and the ban of nonCommunist or non-Socialist political parties. SLOVAKIA 15 The announcemen t of the program caused much anxiety throughout the country. But the note of triumph of Socialist propaganda became louder and louder as the President approached Prague and culminated in his message to the provisional Parliament whose members were all appointed by Dr. Benes, and which had .assembled in Prague on October 28, 1945. "Today," tlhe message read, "we are betaking ourselves along a path which is to lead to the socialization of modern society." The President wholehearted ly endorsed the Kosice program. Secret Police Early Established Immediately after liberation, poiice forces, the SNB, the STB, and the ZOB, organized throughout the country under the auspices of .the Red Army, were to solve thd problems. Any,body arrested by them could have been retained ind~inljtely. Those beaten to death in the prison cells or deported to Siberia have left no traces. Democratic politidans, such as Ivan Micura, a prominent Slovak who had constantly opposed the Nazi domina,tion of Central Europe~ were arrested in their homes, deported to Russia and never heard from a,gain. Gradually the immense police apparatus turned its energies to "prdblems of socialization." Afl persons who possessed some property were put on a list of suspicious persons. The following document gives a good illustration of this process: "Recorded on September 12, 1945, at 1100 hours in the office of the District National Committee in Novy Bydzov. "The Chairman of the District National Committee of Novy Bydzov, in accordance with orders received from the Minister of Food Supply, Mr. Vaclav Majer, and the Provincial National Committee, issues the following order to Ladislav Stulik, milrler in Hradisko: "I order you to revoke, at not later than 4 p. m. of this day, the complaints which you have submitted to the district· court of justice on behalf of the millers' union; if you should not comply with this order I shall have you arrested at 6 p. m. I also order you to refrain from any 16 SLOVAKIA participation in public life. The police measures mentioned above will also be applied to the members of your family, if you do not comply with this order." "Gestapoism" At the same time a wave of cruel hatred travelled from one individual to another. Perhaps the majority of the Czechs were suddenly ready to suspect, to denounce, to arrest, and to torture their neighbors. In a town in eastern Bohemia a group of local intellectuals used to assemble every night at a given hour and to pay a visit to the district jail where hundreds of people, suspected of · collaboration with the Nazis during the war, were imprisoned. There they amused themselves until the small hours by beating the prisoners with sticks and ropes. This willingness to do evil spread as an infectious disease. Someone called it "gestapoism." Its victims were in the first place the Sudeten Germans. Outrages were committed such as the tragic march of death of 60,000 German speaking inhabitants of Brno, the capital of Moravia, from that city to the Austrian border - a march during which about half of the victims miserably perished. But the same cruelties were committed by the Czechs also against other Czechs. In places such as the Pankrac prison in Prague or the Kounicovy Koleje in Brno, people who had been denounced by their neighbors were, without any investigation at all, machinegunned by hundreds every night and buried in common graves. It was on the dirty floor of a Pankrac prison cell that death came to Emil Ha.cha, former President of Czechoslovakia, a great scholar and gentleman whose only concern had been the welfare of his nation. One of the prisoners, who was lucky enough to endure the tortures and to stay alive, relates his memories: "I saw bodies with demolished faces and without eyes, heaps of bodies of men, women, and even children. I have heard jailors reading names from a list of those who were to be set free, but who had already died of starvation days before and whose bodies I myself was forced to remove from our crowded prison cells. Twice a week I had to help load SLOVAKIA 17 trucks with such corpses, --corpses of those who were investigated but never reached a court of justice. I saw with my own eyes a prisoner who had been prepared for an investigation, have his legs pierced above the heels, a rope placed through the holes, and then suspended on a hook in the wall. This torture, it is true, did not last long, but when, after three years, the prisoner in question was set free, the investigators were still unable to define the charges a!;ainst him." No wonder that, when the weekly paper "0bzory" was started by the Czech People's Party in Prague, one of the first articles submitted to the editors by a young girl, Renata J., was a treatise on fear. "We are a generation of fear," she wrote in her manuscript, "we live in fear, we eat in fear, fear devours our thoughts, our words - words which we do no dare to utter... " Such was the real Czecho-Slovakia of 1945, when Dr. Benes was its President. People were ousted from their jobs, their lodgings. Their properties were confiscated. And they were unable to appeal to the law. Little wonder, then, that the Communists made easy game of Czecho-Slovakia . • • • WHO SAID IT? "We can only repeat ,t hat neither Austria nor Hungary, and prolba/bly not even Gerunany, nor even the Sfovaks, woulld a•cce,pt in the '.l10ng rlllil tlhe existence of Czechoslovakia. Therefore the grafting of Ozeohoslova!kia on to a Danubian federation is hardly possjlble. In such a framewwk she wou1.d si1mply continue to be what she was in her prevti.ous existence : an internaitiona:l oolamity. The position would ibe di,f. ferent in the case of Bohemia and Moravia being separated from Slovakia. The O!ften repeated argument that Czecihoslovakia',s 'breaking up into her natural components would cause an even greaiter dislocation in the Daruufbe Basin, fails to convince, if one realizes ,that such a parution is the essentia1l iprerequisilte of the •o reation of a greater State entity." - F. 0. Miiksche - a Czech - in UNC0NlDITIONAL SURRENDER, pp. 216-216; Falber and Faiber, Ltd., London).  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Birth of a Satellite Description An account of the resource Bohdan Chudoba Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 6 (31), March-June 1960 pp. 12-17 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Chudoba, Bohdan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1960 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/a5c6cc732827ec9522ab7d3b1d052402.pdf 68bf469ebbb26599233137aedddc8107 PDF Text Text 18 SLOVAKIA MOSOOW'S SMOKE SCREEN IN SWVAKIA Heinrich Kuhn Slovakia and .the Sudetenland were ever a thorn in the side of the Prague government. After the Sudeten German problem appeared to have been settled by the expulsions of 1945-46, Slovakia striving for autonomy remained the only threat to the integrity of a Communist-ruled CzechoSlovakia. It is obvious from the Soviet Union's plans for Slovakia for 1961 to 1965 that the question of a Slovak Soviet Republic is no utopian dream. Even prior to the implementation of this plan an industrial potential is supposed to arise in Slovakia, designed to overshadow the economic and industrial supremacy of the historic Bohemian countries as they relate to Slovakia. All this is at the express behest of Moscow. Dr. Henrick Kuhn is Secret,a,ry-General of the Sudeten German Archive in Munich and Associate Editor of the "Sudeten Bulletin," a monthly central European review. In East Slovakia a steel and iron coittbinate is planned, near Trnava an atomic energy plant, on the Vah River a large petroleum refinery, and a nitrogen plant based on natural gas in the south Slovakian town of Sara. It is noteworthy in this connection that natural gas is to be piped in from the gas field of Zwerndorf on the AustrianCzecho-Slovak border. It is a known fact that only 1/ 7 of the natural gas supplies lie within Czech territory. This means that the proposed nitrogen plant will of necessity draw on supplies of natural gas that are actually reserved for use by Austria. Of extreme economic importance is the iron and steel combinate in East Slovakia, known in the West as the Huko Project. Steel production here should reach - according to plan - more than three million tons by 1965. The struggle for this project has long been going on for ten long years. In 1948 under the first secretary of the Communist Party, Rudolf Slansky, work was begun on · �SLOVAKIA 19 this gigantic project with the setting up of a housing project completed in 1952. With Slansky's arrest in 1950 the work was suspended, Slansky was even accused in the course of a mock trial of a "utopian plan" namely, the erecting of the steel and iron combinate which was termed responsible for the disorganization of the Czecho-Slovak economy. Moscow instructions for forced economic development in Slovakia have led to violent discord within leading circles of the Communist Party in Prague. Moscow has officially justified these plans by saying it chose Slovakia for economic expansion because of that country's advantageous traffic connections with .the rest of the east block States, in particular with the Soviet Union, and because of a greater Slovak labor reservoir. The "Czechoslovak" wing within the Communist Party is very skeptical as to the Moscow proposition, fearing rightly that this intensive expansion of Slovakia will mean the beginning of the end of Czecho-Slovakia and the first step toward a Slovak Soviet Republic. Czecho-Slovakia is the only StaJte in the people's democratic sphere with two Communist parties - the Communist Party of Czecho-Slovakia and the Slovak Communist Party - which are united only at a top echelon level. There has been autonomist and separatist agitation Slovakia ever since ,t he founding of Czecho-Slovakia and these tendencies have not decreased. They have continued on through the Hlinka and Tiso era and "glorified memories of a Slovak uprising," down to the present. Not until very recent times has Prague voiced severe opposition to this Slovak agitation. During the Christmas season of 1957 a group of Slovak Communists, while calling on party general-secretary Antonin Novotny at the Hradcany in Prague, simply disappeared. No trace of them has been found to this very day. Even Karel Bacilek, a Czech, presently secretary of the Communist Party of Slovakia, let loose such a barrage of deprecatory remarks against his separatist compatriots that one might have thought Slovak revolution was imminent. Another sign of the Prague government's fear of Slovak popular opposi- �20 SLOVAKIA tion is reflected in the earlier mentioned mock trials against "Slovak fascists" accused of having murdered Communist partisans thiriteen years previously. To be sure Prague has accepted without visible opposition the economic instructions handed them by Moscow, but at the same time has intensified the developmenit of nuclear industries which serves at least as an economic coun:terpoise to a strongly growing Slovak industrial potential. A series of atomic energy plants are planned by 1967 with a capacity capable of pushing heavy industry to such a point that Czecho-Slovakia will become the second most important industrial factor within the Soviet sphere nexit to China. Evidence of the progress being made by Czecho-Slovak nuclear research is mirrored in the fact that Czech nuclear physicists have devised a new industrially practical method of isolating natural uranium. They make use of ionic exchange in highly molecular insoluble matter which was developed in the Institute for Synthetic Resins and Varnishes in Pardubice. The purity of the uranium derived by this method is said to be even greater. The uranium slated for use for the new atomic energy plants is derived from the native mines of St. Joachimsthal and Pfibram. First, however, it goes to the Soviet Union where Moscow decides how much shall stay there and how much shall go abroad, including Czecho-Slovakia. Thus Prague is kept under constant economic pressure, with Moscow's political plans becoming more and more obvious despite the smoke screen of economic camouflage . • • • WHO SAID IT? "Today more than ever before, I cannot stop believing that a free and independent Czecho-Slovakia CaJD exist only in Europe that is brought to balance, where the West and Russia find a proper agreement to collaborate. Even the evenis of February 1948 could not shake me from this conviction, which remains the basis of my whole conception of national politics." - (The late Dr. Hubert Ripka, right-hand man of Dr. Edward Benes, FIGARO, Paris, April 4, 1949.) � 18 SLOVAKIA MOSOOW'S SMOKE SCREEN IN SWVAKIA Heinrich Kuhn Slovakia and .the Sudetenland were ever a thorn in the side of the Prague government. After the Sudeten German problem appeared to have been settled by the expulsions of 1945-46, Slovakia striving for autonomy remained the only threat to the integrity of a Communist-ruled CzechoSlovakia. It is obvious from the Soviet Union's plans for Slovakia for 1961 to 1965 that the question of a Slovak Soviet Republic is no utopian dream. Even prior to the implementation of this plan an industrial potential is supposed to arise in Slovakia, designed to overshadow the economic and industrial supremacy of the historic Bohemian countries as they relate to Slovakia. All this is at the express behest of Moscow. Dr. Henrick Kuhn is Secret,a,ry-General of the Sudeten German Archive in Munich and Associate Editor of the "Sudeten Bulletin," a monthly central European review. In East Slovakia a steel and iron coittbinate is planned, near Trnava an atomic energy plant, on the Vah River a large petroleum refinery, and a nitrogen plant based on natural gas in the south Slovakian town of Sara. It is noteworthy in this connection that natural gas is to be piped in from the gas field of Zwerndorf on the AustrianCzecho-Slovak border. It is a known fact that only 1/ 7 of the natural gas supplies lie within Czech territory. This means that the proposed nitrogen plant will of necessity draw on supplies of natural gas that are actually reserved for use by Austria. Of extreme economic importance is the iron and steel combinate in East Slovakia, known in the West as the Huko Project. Steel production here should reach - according to plan - more than three million tons by 1965. The struggle for this project has long been going on for ten long years. In 1948 under the first secretary of the Communist Party, Rudolf Slansky, work was begun on · �SLOVAKIA 19 this gigantic project with the setting up of a housing project completed in 1952. With Slansky's arrest in 1950 the work was suspended, Slansky was even accused in the course of a mock trial of a "utopian plan" namely, the erecting of the steel and iron combinate which was termed responsible for the disorganization of the Czecho-Slovak economy. Moscow instructions for forced economic development in Slovakia have led to violent discord within leading circles of the Communist Party in Prague. Moscow has officially justified these plans by saying it chose Slovakia for economic expansion because of that country's advantageous traffic connections with .the rest of the east block States, in particular with the Soviet Union, and because of a greater Slovak labor reservoir. The "Czechoslovak" wing within the Communist Party is very skeptical as to the Moscow proposition, fearing rightly that this intensive expansion of Slovakia will mean the beginning of the end of Czecho-Slovakia and the first step toward a Slovak Soviet Republic. Czecho-Slovakia is the only StaJte in the people's democratic sphere with two Communist parties - the Communist Party of Czecho-Slovakia and the Slovak Communist Party - which are united only at a top echelon level. There has been autonomist and separatist agitation Slovakia ever since ,t he founding of Czecho-Slovakia and these tendencies have not decreased. They have continued on through the Hlinka and Tiso era and "glorified memories of a Slovak uprising," down to the present. Not until very recent times has Prague voiced severe opposition to this Slovak agitation. During the Christmas season of 1957 a group of Slovak Communists, while calling on party general-secretary Antonin Novotny at the Hradcany in Prague, simply disappeared. No trace of them has been found to this very day. Even Karel Bacilek, a Czech, presently secretary of the Communist Party of Slovakia, let loose such a barrage of deprecatory remarks against his separatist compatriots that one might have thought Slovak revolution was imminent. Another sign of the Prague government's fear of Slovak popular opposi- �20 SLOVAKIA tion is reflected in the earlier mentioned mock trials against "Slovak fascists" accused of having murdered Communist partisans thiriteen years previously. To be sure Prague has accepted without visible opposition the economic instructions handed them by Moscow, but at the same time has intensified the developmenit of nuclear industries which serves at least as an economic coun:terpoise to a strongly growing Slovak industrial potential. A series of atomic energy plants are planned by 1967 with a capacity capable of pushing heavy industry to such a point that Czecho-Slovakia will become the second most important industrial factor within the Soviet sphere nexit to China. Evidence of the progress being made by Czecho-Slovak nuclear research is mirrored in the fact that Czech nuclear physicists have devised a new industrially practical method of isolating natural uranium. They make use of ionic exchange in highly molecular insoluble matter which was developed in the Institute for Synthetic Resins and Varnishes in Pardubice. The purity of the uranium derived by this method is said to be even greater. The uranium slated for use for the new atomic energy plants is derived from the native mines of St. Joachimsthal and Pfibram. First, however, it goes to the Soviet Union where Moscow decides how much shall stay there and how much shall go abroad, including Czecho-Slovakia. Thus Prague is kept under constant economic pressure, with Moscow's political plans becoming more and more obvious despite the smoke screen of economic camouflage . • • • WHO SAID IT? "Today more than ever before, I cannot stop believing that a free and independent Czecho-Slovakia CaJD exist only in Europe that is brought to balance, where the West and Russia find a proper agreement to collaborate. Even the evenis of February 1948 could not shake me from this conviction, which remains the basis of my whole conception of national politics." - (The late Dr. Hubert Ripka, right-hand man of Dr. Edward Benes, FIGARO, Paris, April 4, 1949.) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 18 SLOVAKIA MOSOOW'S SMOKE SCREEN IN SWVAKIA Heinrich Kuhn Slovakia and .the Sudetenland were ever a thorn in the side of the Prague government. After the Sudeten German problem appeared to have been settled by the expulsions of 1945-46, Slovakia striving for autonomy remained the only threat to the integrity of a Communist-ruled CzechoSlovakia. It is obvious from the Soviet Union's plans for Slovakia for 1961 to 1965 that the question of a Slovak Soviet Republic is no utopian dream. Even prior to the implementation of this plan an industrial potential is supposed to arise in Slovakia, designed to overshadow the economic and industrial supremacy of the historic Bohemian countries as they relate to Slovakia. All this is at the express behest of Moscow. Dr. Henrick Kuhn is Secret,a,ry-General of the Sudeten German Archive in Munich and Associate Editor of the "Sudeten Bulletin," a monthly central European review. In East Slovakia a steel and iron coittbinate is planned, near Trnava an atomic energy plant, on the Vah River a large petroleum refinery, and a nitrogen plant based on natural gas in the south Slovakian town of Sara. It is noteworthy in this connection that natural gas is to be piped in from the gas field of Zwerndorf on the AustrianCzecho-Slovak border. It is a known fact that only 1/ 7 of the natural gas supplies lie within Czech territory. This means that the proposed nitrogen plant will of necessity draw on supplies of natural gas that are actually reserved for use by Austria. Of extreme economic importance is the iron and steel combinate in East Slovakia, known in the West as the Huko Project. Steel production here should reach - according to plan - more than three million tons by 1965. The struggle for this project has long been going on for ten long years. In 1948 under the first secretary of the Communist Party, Rudolf Slansky, work was begun on · SLOVAKIA 19 this gigantic project with the setting up of a housing project completed in 1952. With Slansky's arrest in 1950 the work was suspended, Slansky was even accused in the course of a mock trial of a "utopian plan" namely, the erecting of the steel and iron combinate which was termed responsible for the disorganization of the Czecho-Slovak economy. Moscow instructions for forced economic development in Slovakia have led to violent discord within leading circles of the Communist Party in Prague. Moscow has officially justified these plans by saying it chose Slovakia for economic expansion because of that country's advantageous traffic connections with .the rest of the east block States, in particular with the Soviet Union, and because of a greater Slovak labor reservoir. The "Czechoslovak" wing within the Communist Party is very skeptical as to the Moscow proposition, fearing rightly that this intensive expansion of Slovakia will mean the beginning of the end of Czecho-Slovakia and the first step toward a Slovak Soviet Republic. Czecho-Slovakia is the only StaJte in the people's democratic sphere with two Communist parties - the Communist Party of Czecho-Slovakia and the Slovak Communist Party - which are united only at a top echelon level. There has been autonomist and separatist agitation Slovakia ever since ,t he founding of Czecho-Slovakia and these tendencies have not decreased. They have continued on through the Hlinka and Tiso era and "glorified memories of a Slovak uprising," down to the present. Not until very recent times has Prague voiced severe opposition to this Slovak agitation. During the Christmas season of 1957 a group of Slovak Communists, while calling on party general-secretary Antonin Novotny at the Hradcany in Prague, simply disappeared. No trace of them has been found to this very day. Even Karel Bacilek, a Czech, presently secretary of the Communist Party of Slovakia, let loose such a barrage of deprecatory remarks against his separatist compatriots that one might have thought Slovak revolution was imminent. Another sign of the Prague government's fear of Slovak popular opposi- 20 SLOVAKIA tion is reflected in the earlier mentioned mock trials against "Slovak fascists" accused of having murdered Communist partisans thiriteen years previously. To be sure Prague has accepted without visible opposition the economic instructions handed them by Moscow, but at the same time has intensified the developmenit of nuclear industries which serves at least as an economic coun:terpoise to a strongly growing Slovak industrial potential. A series of atomic energy plants are planned by 1967 with a capacity capable of pushing heavy industry to such a point that Czecho-Slovakia will become the second most important industrial factor within the Soviet sphere nexit to China. Evidence of the progress being made by Czecho-Slovak nuclear research is mirrored in the fact that Czech nuclear physicists have devised a new industrially practical method of isolating natural uranium. They make use of ionic exchange in highly molecular insoluble matter which was developed in the Institute for Synthetic Resins and Varnishes in Pardubice. The purity of the uranium derived by this method is said to be even greater. The uranium slated for use for the new atomic energy plants is derived from the native mines of St. Joachimsthal and Pfibram. First, however, it goes to the Soviet Union where Moscow decides how much shall stay there and how much shall go abroad, including Czecho-Slovakia. Thus Prague is kept under constant economic pressure, with Moscow's political plans becoming more and more obvious despite the smoke screen of economic camouflage . • • • WHO SAID IT? "Today more than ever before, I cannot stop believing that a free and independent Czecho-Slovakia CaJD exist only in Europe that is brought to balance, where the West and Russia find a proper agreement to collaborate. Even the evenis of February 1948 could not shake me from this conviction, which remains the basis of my whole conception of national politics." - (The late Dr. Hubert Ripka, right-hand man of Dr. Edward Benes, FIGARO, Paris, April 4, 1949.)  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Moscow's Smoke Screen in Slovakia Description An account of the resource Heinrich Kuhn Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 6 (31), March-June 1960 pp. 18-20 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kuhn, Heinrich, 1922-1997 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1960 LCNAF+dates https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/2108696922e63094b9a5ce63d48e0a5d.pdf 5c904d52b3f1c6cfafcffbc7f3d73fe4 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 21 STATISTICS AND POLITICS Francis Vnuk I. On November 2, 1938, in Vienna, by an arbitrary award of Germany and Italy, Czecho-Slova kia was forced to cede to Hungary 10,432 km2 of Slovak territory in which there lived according to Slovak statistics: (1) 276,287 Slovaks, 505,808 Magyars, and 75,688 others (Germans, Jews, Ruthenes, etc.) and according to Magyar-Hung arian claims: (2) 727,297 Magyars, 121,890 Slovaks and 12,456 others (mostly Germans). The loss was considered by the Slovaks to be an utter disregard of justice and an improper application of ethnic principles. As such it was intensely resented and was a cause of constant friction between Slovakia and Hungary during the war period. Every student of modern European history must b struck by the tremendous discrepancies in statistical data claimed as correct by both contesting parties. It seems that in politica..l statistics even mathematics cease to be an "exact" science. In Vienna the Magyars had the advantage (which was a serious setback to the Slovaks) of demanding and then obtaining application of those rules which were used by the Germans in the solution of the Sudeten question. The Germans took the 1910 census as the guiding principle of "ethnic" r,atification of the "Versailles-Di ktait." Due to this most unfortunaite precedent the Magyars obtained at Vienna far more favorable treatment than they would have received if the actual ethnographic aspects were taken into account. The Slovaks contested the validity of the Hungarian statistics of 1910 on several grounds. They maintained that the statistics were not reliable since they did not consider nationality as such and that they were obtained by Magyar or pro-Magyar census takers at the peak of Magyarization to the subsequent detriment of the non-Ma- �22 SLOVAKIA gyar nationalities. (3) These arguments are worthy of a brief analysis. II. The concept of nationaUty in Magyar eyes had some puzzling and even contradictory features. The existence of nationality was admitted; its rights were legalized in one of the best nationality laws ever drafted.(4) Yet the law was an abysmal failure. It was never put into practice, but remained a dead letter. Normally where there is a nationality there is also a nation. But in Hungary, whi,le there was a Slovak nationality, according to S. Tisza "there was no such thing as the Slovak na:tion." In Magy,ar terminology one oould not be a Slovak, German or a Rumanian, but only a Slovak-, German-, or Rumani'an-speaking Hungarian. Consequently the census questionnaires did not inquire into one's nationality, but they wanted to know what language was used. (5) If a person spoke several languages and one of them was Magyar, that was a satisfactory qualificaition to classify him as a Magyar. It was left to Tiso to point out this unusual fact to the Hungarian negotiators in Komarno in Ootober 1938. When they ins1sted that the statistics of 1910 should be taken as a basis for discussion, Tiso told them bluntly: "That would be a blatant denial of justice. You know very we11 how these figures were arrived at. You never asked us what was our nationality. You simply said to us: 'You can speak Magyar, ergo you are Magyars.' In this manner I was counted as a Magyar 81gainst my wishes and feelings." (6) This is, in a nutshell, an eloquent example of "reliability" of the Hungarian statistics, but unfurtunately rut .that time such arguments did not carry much weight with the Germans whose opinion was to be decisive. (7) Bureaucratically trained German minds were still obsessed with the sanctity of written records and subconsciously sentimental about the Magyars as co-victims of a similar treatment to that imposed on the Germans in Versailles. Ill A close look at the official Hungarian statistics of the 1900-1910 decade reveals a very serious weakening of �SLOVAKIA 23 the Slov:ak element. Nowhere else in Hungary was the magyarization process making such inroads as in Slovakia (8) (which the Magyars preferred to call "Felvidek") 1-900 11910 Papula,tilOn Charuge I Total I % ·I 11dtal I % !Iner.ease !!Decrease I % Magyars 8,651,520j51.4 9,944,627•154.5111,293,'10711 + 14.9 GerJ'lj.ans 1,999,060111.9 11',903,357 )10.4 95.703 - 4.8 Srovaks 55,808- 2.8 12,002,16511.91,94'6,357,lll0.7 Rumanians 2,798,55916.6 2,>94!8,100 116.1 149,627 + 5.4 Yugoslaivs 629;169 3.7 656,324 3.6 39,496 + 6.3 R'll!thenes 4124,774 2.5 4164,270 2.5 27,155 + 6.4 Othe~s 33•3 ,308 2 .0 401,4'12 2.2 68,404 1+ 20.5 ------N ation,ality According to the above table the net population increase in 1900-1910 amounted to 1,426,278, which, however, included numerical decreases of two nationalities (Slovaks and Germans), small increases in other non-Magyar nationalities and an unpropor.tionaUy big increase in the dominant Magyar nationality. The figure becomes even more striking when one considers that out of each 1000 peI'sons in the 1900-1910 population increase 907 were Magyars and only 93 non-Magyars. The Magyar nationality increased by 14.9 per cent while the total increase of nonMagyar nationalities was only 1.6 per cent. The extent of the denationaHzation policy pursued by the Hungarian government becomes very revealing when the national increase, due to the difference between births and deaths and the migratory factors is considered. The number of births and the mortality figures .per 1,000 population are given in the following table for the years 1900 and 1910: YEAR 1900 Nati:onality Magyars Germans Slovaks Rumanians Ruthenes Yugoslavs - I •B om I Died 39.1 36.7 43.9 37.7 42.3 42.6 25.7 25.0 29.7 28.8 27.5 34.4 - -- YEAR 1910 ID.ised I Increase I Incre ase I !Bom I 13.4 11.7 14.2 8.9 14.8 8.2 -· I I 35.1 32.0 38.4 35.7 39.5 38.9 - ---- - I 22.0 I I 21.5 24.7 27.4 24.8 28.3 13.1 10.5 13.7 8.3 14.7 10.6 The table shows an even increase of various nationalities, and it is · interesting to note that on the birth and �SLOVAKIA 24 death basis the Ruthenes and Slovaks were the fastest growing nationalities of pre-war Hungary. There is, of course, another factor of significant importance which in the first decade of this century played an important part in the population structure of old Hungary, namely emigration. For simplicity's sake the year 1910 is taken as typical. The emigration figures per 1,000 population are as follows: Nationality I I Emigrat ion !balance Number •o f / Returned emigrants emigra,ruts -1.8 -6.8 -6.7 -4.1 -5.9 -2.5 0.8 2.0 2.5 1.0 2.3 1.3 2.6 8.8 9.3 5.1 8.2 3.8 Magyars Germans Slovaks Rumanians Ruthenes Yugoslavs The population increase per 1,000 population in the census year 1910 should, therefore, be: increa,se per i IINet 1000 (derived I from, death a•nd Nationality Magyars Germans Slovaks Rumanians Ruthenes Yugoslavs I emi,g ration data) I 11.3 3.7 7.0 4.2 8.8 8.1 . . Percentual mcrea:se As estimated Actual from statistrcs 1.13 0.37 0.70 0.42 0.88 0.81 I I + 1.49 -0.48 -0.28 + 0.54 + 0.64 + 0.63 For the Slovaks these figures have a tragic significance. It was no empty threat that the Slovak nation was faced with its own extinction. The statistics show this. The decline of the Slovak nationality was catastrophically rapid. In the decade 1900-19100 the SloV1ak population should have increased by about 160,000; instead it decreased by more than 55,000. This represents a loss of about 215,000, i.e., nearly 11 per cent. The figures are really staggering. (9) The Slovaks contested that this out-of-all-proporti ons decrease cannot be explained otherwise than by contribut- �SLOVAKIA ing it to the falsification of results by the Hungarian census takers and/or .s tatisticians. They argued that even the forcible and tempting means which the Mo-gyars a:s the dominant nationality had at their disposal could not account for this terrifying decrease. There is ample evidencrthat Slovak resistance to magyarization was at least as good as that of the Rumani1a ns and better than that of the Ruthenes. And yet the latter two nationalities recorded an increase where the Slovaks showed unparalleled losses. Assimilation and denationalization are responsible for some, fals-ifiers for the rest, so run the Slovak arguments. The Slovak,s requested that the arbitrators in the Slovak-Magyar di-spute should rely on the Czecho-Slovak statistics of 1930 which, being of more recent date, give a more realistic picture of the actua:1 state of affairs. The Magyars, however, refused most steadfastly to accept the official Czecho-Slovak statistics, giving very much the same reasons as advanced by the Sloveks against the Magyar statistics. Apparently what was sauce for the goose was not sauce for the gander. IV. It must be admitted that the Czecho-Slov,ak statistics were not favorable to the Magyar minority in Slovakia, or at least not as generous as the Magyars would have liked them to be. Census returns show a considerable drop in numerical strength of the Magy,ar minority: 634,827 in 1921, 571,988 in 1930, a decrease of 9.9 per cent. It must, however, be remembered that in the same time the Slovak minority in Trianon Hungary decreased from 142,000 to 104,000 which represents a decrease of 26.78 per cent. And finally one has to look for the cause of statisti<!al discrepancies also in the population. There the question of nationa:lity is quite frequently motivated by utilitarian and opportunist as much as national sentiments. This is especially so with the bilingual section of the population and such indigenous groups as Jews and Gypsies who would inva,r iably be loyal to the regime of the day. In the old Hungarian statistics Jews and Gypsies were never considered as separate ethnic groups. On t·h e other hand they �26 SLOVAKIA were treated as such by Czecho-Slovak authorities. According to some estimates, this fact alone accounts for a numerical "decrease" of the Magyar minority in Slovakia, before and after World War I, by about 80,000. The Vienna arbitration was carried out in the atmosphere of "the spirit of the Munich Agreement." Magyar wrongdoing faded away in the distant past, while Czech wrongdoings - alleged or real - were still the order of the day. All the paraphernalia of the Czech-German dispute formed the background against which the SlovakMagyar settlement was projected. Due to the ethnographical complex of the issue it would have been impossible to fix the Slovak-Magyar boundary to the satisfaction of both parties were the arbitrator Solomon himself. It was very much easier to draw it to the dissatisfaction of both sides. But the arbitra,tors decided to satisfy one and wrong the other. The fateful concentration of circumstances was unfavorable to the Slovaks. Tiso, in his broadcast on November 2, 1938, announcing the results of the Vienna Award, poured out his countrymen's sorrow and bitterness; "We have become the victims of injustice. . . Our people, through no fault of its own, has been treated as an object and has come into a situaition which disposed of it as a defeated enemy, without its participation and therefore against it, and often in contradiction to the ethnic principle. 'l'he "Great Powers" have decided, there is nothing else to do but to bow our heads and to work; but no one can prevent us from proclaiming to the whole world that a great injustice has been done to the Slovak people. Under the dictated peace of Trianon, hardly 6 per cent of the Magyar people had to live in Slovakia, whereas under the new settlement of the Slovak frontiers nearly 20 per cent of the Slovak people will have to live in Hungary." (10) APPENDIX In the tables given below the ethnical evolution of ten towns of the Slovak-Magyar linguistic boundary is recorded. In all cases the Magyar element was on the increase in the period 1880-1910, at the expense of the Slovak and �27 SLOVAKIA German component. After 1919 the process was reversen. The rapid increase of the Slovak popufation was mostly due to the influx of rural population to towns, the newcomers being mostly exclusively of Slovak nationality. :POPULATION STRJUCTU'RE Tow.n and c,e nsus year Slovaks Total % Magyars Total % Germans Total % Bratislava 1857 1880 1890 1900 1910 1930 4,600 7,273 a,709 10,7115 U,67G 60,013 14.5 15.7 17,2 16.7 15.3 5'8.7 2,500 7,270 10,4-S3 20;102 31,705 18,'890 7.8 15.7 20.6 31.4 41.7 16.9 .24!,732 30,440 311,404' 33,202 32,790 32,801 77.7 65.6 62.2 51.9 43.0 29.4 4,3719 10,3,1,1 9,7113 9,244 6,5417 42,24;5 39.2 40.9 40.4 23.9 15.4 74.0 2,500 10,007 10,4'21 25,996 33,350 111,504 22.5 3'9.8 43 .4 67.0 77.2 20.1 4,200 4,218 3•,891 3,'189 3,354 37.8 16.8 16.0 8.9 7.4 5.2 3,403' 5,538 4,929 Ul,462 40. 7 36.9 30.'l 92:.4 2,990 7,'2119 9,754 96'1 35. 7 47.8 59.7 4.8 1,969 2,3'12 1,636 5'1>'8 23.6 15.3 10.2 2.8 1,41'9 ·565 449 2,781 54.3 20.4 16.2 ·86.0 1;127 2,167 2:,289 255 43.3 78.5 82.3 7.9 55 3'1 4'2 197 2.4 1.1 1.5 6,1 3,403 3,381 2,181 6,027 89,2 73•,8 ~-0 97.0 200 l •,1 07 2,300 5.2 24.2 2:15 15'8 51.>1 2.5 4'2 32 T78 785 5,106 7,449 8,7512: 4,974 81'.0 88.3 91.7 44.6 423 688 5,956 12.3 9.3 7.2 53.5 856 1,000 1,,6 75 8,71•5 18.0 10.4 13Jl 64.L 3,,6 09 8,1'87 10,634: 4,007 75.0 87.0 83.6 29.4 333 249 428 889 ------------ Kol;ic,e ''' 1857 1880 1890 1900 1<910 1930 3,446 "Ruthenes omitted Nitra 1880 1900 1910 1930 Jelsava 1880 1900 1910 H~30 Trebisov 1880 1900 1910 11930 88 5.6 2.0 0.9 0.5 Levice 1880 1900 11910 1930 198 199 214 6.7 2.4 2.,1 1..9 Lucenec 1880 1900 1910 1930 7.0 2.6 3.3 6.5 �SLOVAKIA 28 Rimavska Sobota 1:880 1900 1910 1930 443 322 468 2,939 9.5 5.3 6.9 44.8 4,102 5,424' 6,1199 3,504 ,88.0 '93.5 91.8 53.4 124 Roznava lr880 1900 1910 1930 400 233 406 2,506 9.9 4.5 6.3 42.7 3,884' 4,7,68 5,886 3,211 83,.8 92.2 9lr.2 54.4 Nove Zamky 1880 1900 1'910 1930 1,466 822 964 9,561 14.3 6.2 6.1 47.8 7,189 12,1,97 14,838 10,193 77.7 91.3 91.6 51.0 1 69 2.5 .1.2 91 116 1.8 259 173 159 170 6.3 3.3 2.5 2.9 813 8.0 2.5 2.3 1.2 340 3'77 256 u REFERENCE S: 1 Documents British Foreign Policy, Third Series, Vol. III, p . 225. 2 Survey of International Afifairs rn38, Vol. Ill p. 105. 3 Cf. Tiso's conversation with Ribbentrop on October 19, 1~38, where Tiso said, "The Sl'ovarks hav,e determined and could pr,ove that the 1910 sta'tistks were incorrect a,n d t'hat they even had been falsified ." (Doc. Ger. F1or. Pol. D., Vol. IV, p. 87.) 4 The Law of Nati-onaiities (Act 44/ 1864) is rerpr:oduiced in R. W. Seton-Watson: Racial Problems in Hungary (Consrtahle, London, 1908), p. 4'299-4'33. Pr:ofessor Seton-Watson gives also a penetrating a,nd· scholarly a,na.lysis of this Act. poin'ting out the differences between lofty t,h eories a;nd l ow practices. 5 This practi,ce was followed till 1941, when for the first time in Magyar history the nationalirty of the inhaibi'tants otf Hurugary was ascertained. 6 A story was told in those days (most priolbalbly apocryiphal) that after th.is point,blank-Jired reminder of Tiso, a memlber c:,f the Hungarian delegation stood up an'd, instead of a long reply, answered in Magyar: "Igazad, s6g,or, de senrki sem .sLszi" (Y:ou are righit, brother, rbu't rnJlbody will believe you). 7 The litalians were eager to placarte the Magyars at somebody else's e~pense. The Slovaks knew v,e ry ,w ell tha t they could no t expect any und,erstanding for their point c:,f view fr:om the cynical Ciano. Jin their efforts to assure bett er terms they concenitr<ated exclusively on Ribbentrop. Unforituna-tely 'he had more will than skill to help them. 8 StaHstical data for this part oif the article come mostly from "Magyar s:zlta:tisztikai kozlemenyek" and "Annuaire statistique de la Repu blique Tchecoslorvaque." 9 The advance of magyarization in 1'880-1910 and the tur.n o,f the tide after 1'919 are best soon from the sta'tistical data taJbulated in .Aippen<lix. 10 "Prager Presse," November 4, 1938. - No need to say that Tiso was basing his statement on Czecho-Slovak ofific'ial statistics. 1 1 1 � SLOVAKIA 21 STATISTICS AND POLITICS Francis Vnuk I. On November 2, 1938, in Vienna, by an arbitrary award of Germany and Italy, Czecho-Slova kia was forced to cede to Hungary 10,432 km2 of Slovak territory in which there lived according to Slovak statistics: (1) 276,287 Slovaks, 505,808 Magyars, and 75,688 others (Germans, Jews, Ruthenes, etc.) and according to Magyar-Hung arian claims: (2) 727,297 Magyars, 121,890 Slovaks and 12,456 others (mostly Germans). The loss was considered by the Slovaks to be an utter disregard of justice and an improper application of ethnic principles. As such it was intensely resented and was a cause of constant friction between Slovakia and Hungary during the war period. Every student of modern European history must b struck by the tremendous discrepancies in statistical data claimed as correct by both contesting parties. It seems that in politica..l statistics even mathematics cease to be an "exact" science. In Vienna the Magyars had the advantage (which was a serious setback to the Slovaks) of demanding and then obtaining application of those rules which were used by the Germans in the solution of the Sudeten question. The Germans took the 1910 census as the guiding principle of "ethnic" r,atification of the "Versailles-Di ktait." Due to this most unfortunaite precedent the Magyars obtained at Vienna far more favorable treatment than they would have received if the actual ethnographic aspects were taken into account. The Slovaks contested the validity of the Hungarian statistics of 1910 on several grounds. They maintained that the statistics were not reliable since they did not consider nationality as such and that they were obtained by Magyar or pro-Magyar census takers at the peak of Magyarization to the subsequent detriment of the non-Ma- �22 SLOVAKIA gyar nationalities. (3) These arguments are worthy of a brief analysis. II. The concept of nationaUty in Magyar eyes had some puzzling and even contradictory features. The existence of nationality was admitted; its rights were legalized in one of the best nationality laws ever drafted.(4) Yet the law was an abysmal failure. It was never put into practice, but remained a dead letter. Normally where there is a nationality there is also a nation. But in Hungary, whi,le there was a Slovak nationality, according to S. Tisza "there was no such thing as the Slovak na:tion." In Magy,ar terminology one oould not be a Slovak, German or a Rumanian, but only a Slovak-, German-, or Rumani'an-speaking Hungarian. Consequently the census questionnaires did not inquire into one's nationality, but they wanted to know what language was used. (5) If a person spoke several languages and one of them was Magyar, that was a satisfactory qualificaition to classify him as a Magyar. It was left to Tiso to point out this unusual fact to the Hungarian negotiators in Komarno in Ootober 1938. When they ins1sted that the statistics of 1910 should be taken as a basis for discussion, Tiso told them bluntly: "That would be a blatant denial of justice. You know very we11 how these figures were arrived at. You never asked us what was our nationality. You simply said to us: 'You can speak Magyar, ergo you are Magyars.' In this manner I was counted as a Magyar 81gainst my wishes and feelings." (6) This is, in a nutshell, an eloquent example of "reliability" of the Hungarian statistics, but unfurtunately rut .that time such arguments did not carry much weight with the Germans whose opinion was to be decisive. (7) Bureaucratically trained German minds were still obsessed with the sanctity of written records and subconsciously sentimental about the Magyars as co-victims of a similar treatment to that imposed on the Germans in Versailles. Ill A close look at the official Hungarian statistics of the 1900-1910 decade reveals a very serious weakening of �SLOVAKIA 23 the Slov:ak element. Nowhere else in Hungary was the magyarization process making such inroads as in Slovakia (8) (which the Magyars preferred to call "Felvidek") 1-900 11910 Papula,tilOn Charuge I Total I % ·I 11dtal I % !Iner.ease !!Decrease I % Magyars 8,651,520j51.4 9,944,627•154.5111,293,'10711 + 14.9 GerJ'lj.ans 1,999,060111.9 11',903,357 )10.4 95.703 - 4.8 Srovaks 55,808- 2.8 12,002,16511.91,94'6,357,lll0.7 Rumanians 2,798,55916.6 2,>94!8,100 116.1 149,627 + 5.4 Yugoslaivs 629;169 3.7 656,324 3.6 39,496 + 6.3 R'll!thenes 4124,774 2.5 4164,270 2.5 27,155 + 6.4 Othe~s 33•3 ,308 2 .0 401,4'12 2.2 68,404 1+ 20.5 ------N ation,ality According to the above table the net population increase in 1900-1910 amounted to 1,426,278, which, however, included numerical decreases of two nationalities (Slovaks and Germans), small increases in other non-Magyar nationalities and an unpropor.tionaUy big increase in the dominant Magyar nationality. The figure becomes even more striking when one considers that out of each 1000 peI'sons in the 1900-1910 population increase 907 were Magyars and only 93 non-Magyars. The Magyar nationality increased by 14.9 per cent while the total increase of nonMagyar nationalities was only 1.6 per cent. The extent of the denationaHzation policy pursued by the Hungarian government becomes very revealing when the national increase, due to the difference between births and deaths and the migratory factors is considered. The number of births and the mortality figures .per 1,000 population are given in the following table for the years 1900 and 1910: YEAR 1900 Nati:onality Magyars Germans Slovaks Rumanians Ruthenes Yugoslavs - I •B om I Died 39.1 36.7 43.9 37.7 42.3 42.6 25.7 25.0 29.7 28.8 27.5 34.4 - -- YEAR 1910 ID.ised I Increase I Incre ase I !Bom I 13.4 11.7 14.2 8.9 14.8 8.2 -· I I 35.1 32.0 38.4 35.7 39.5 38.9 - ---- - I 22.0 I I 21.5 24.7 27.4 24.8 28.3 13.1 10.5 13.7 8.3 14.7 10.6 The table shows an even increase of various nationalities, and it is · interesting to note that on the birth and �SLOVAKIA 24 death basis the Ruthenes and Slovaks were the fastest growing nationalities of pre-war Hungary. There is, of course, another factor of significant importance which in the first decade of this century played an important part in the population structure of old Hungary, namely emigration. For simplicity's sake the year 1910 is taken as typical. The emigration figures per 1,000 population are as follows: Nationality I I Emigrat ion !balance Number •o f / Returned emigrants emigra,ruts -1.8 -6.8 -6.7 -4.1 -5.9 -2.5 0.8 2.0 2.5 1.0 2.3 1.3 2.6 8.8 9.3 5.1 8.2 3.8 Magyars Germans Slovaks Rumanians Ruthenes Yugoslavs The population increase per 1,000 population in the census year 1910 should, therefore, be: increa,se per i IINet 1000 (derived I from, death a•nd Nationality Magyars Germans Slovaks Rumanians Ruthenes Yugoslavs I emi,g ration data) I 11.3 3.7 7.0 4.2 8.8 8.1 . . Percentual mcrea:se As estimated Actual from statistrcs 1.13 0.37 0.70 0.42 0.88 0.81 I I + 1.49 -0.48 -0.28 + 0.54 + 0.64 + 0.63 For the Slovaks these figures have a tragic significance. It was no empty threat that the Slovak nation was faced with its own extinction. The statistics show this. The decline of the Slovak nationality was catastrophically rapid. In the decade 1900-19100 the SloV1ak population should have increased by about 160,000; instead it decreased by more than 55,000. This represents a loss of about 215,000, i.e., nearly 11 per cent. The figures are really staggering. (9) The Slovaks contested that this out-of-all-proporti ons decrease cannot be explained otherwise than by contribut- �SLOVAKIA ing it to the falsification of results by the Hungarian census takers and/or .s tatisticians. They argued that even the forcible and tempting means which the Mo-gyars a:s the dominant nationality had at their disposal could not account for this terrifying decrease. There is ample evidencrthat Slovak resistance to magyarization was at least as good as that of the Rumani1a ns and better than that of the Ruthenes. And yet the latter two nationalities recorded an increase where the Slovaks showed unparalleled losses. Assimilation and denationalization are responsible for some, fals-ifiers for the rest, so run the Slovak arguments. The Slovak,s requested that the arbitrators in the Slovak-Magyar di-spute should rely on the Czecho-Slovak statistics of 1930 which, being of more recent date, give a more realistic picture of the actua:1 state of affairs. The Magyars, however, refused most steadfastly to accept the official Czecho-Slovak statistics, giving very much the same reasons as advanced by the Sloveks against the Magyar statistics. Apparently what was sauce for the goose was not sauce for the gander. IV. It must be admitted that the Czecho-Slov,ak statistics were not favorable to the Magyar minority in Slovakia, or at least not as generous as the Magyars would have liked them to be. Census returns show a considerable drop in numerical strength of the Magy,ar minority: 634,827 in 1921, 571,988 in 1930, a decrease of 9.9 per cent. It must, however, be remembered that in the same time the Slovak minority in Trianon Hungary decreased from 142,000 to 104,000 which represents a decrease of 26.78 per cent. And finally one has to look for the cause of statisti<!al discrepancies also in the population. There the question of nationa:lity is quite frequently motivated by utilitarian and opportunist as much as national sentiments. This is especially so with the bilingual section of the population and such indigenous groups as Jews and Gypsies who would inva,r iably be loyal to the regime of the day. In the old Hungarian statistics Jews and Gypsies were never considered as separate ethnic groups. On t·h e other hand they �26 SLOVAKIA were treated as such by Czecho-Slovak authorities. According to some estimates, this fact alone accounts for a numerical "decrease" of the Magyar minority in Slovakia, before and after World War I, by about 80,000. The Vienna arbitration was carried out in the atmosphere of "the spirit of the Munich Agreement." Magyar wrongdoing faded away in the distant past, while Czech wrongdoings - alleged or real - were still the order of the day. All the paraphernalia of the Czech-German dispute formed the background against which the SlovakMagyar settlement was projected. Due to the ethnographical complex of the issue it would have been impossible to fix the Slovak-Magyar boundary to the satisfaction of both parties were the arbitrator Solomon himself. It was very much easier to draw it to the dissatisfaction of both sides. But the arbitra,tors decided to satisfy one and wrong the other. The fateful concentration of circumstances was unfavorable to the Slovaks. Tiso, in his broadcast on November 2, 1938, announcing the results of the Vienna Award, poured out his countrymen's sorrow and bitterness; "We have become the victims of injustice. . . Our people, through no fault of its own, has been treated as an object and has come into a situaition which disposed of it as a defeated enemy, without its participation and therefore against it, and often in contradiction to the ethnic principle. 'l'he "Great Powers" have decided, there is nothing else to do but to bow our heads and to work; but no one can prevent us from proclaiming to the whole world that a great injustice has been done to the Slovak people. Under the dictated peace of Trianon, hardly 6 per cent of the Magyar people had to live in Slovakia, whereas under the new settlement of the Slovak frontiers nearly 20 per cent of the Slovak people will have to live in Hungary." (10) APPENDIX In the tables given below the ethnical evolution of ten towns of the Slovak-Magyar linguistic boundary is recorded. In all cases the Magyar element was on the increase in the period 1880-1910, at the expense of the Slovak and �27 SLOVAKIA German component. After 1919 the process was reversen. The rapid increase of the Slovak popufation was mostly due to the influx of rural population to towns, the newcomers being mostly exclusively of Slovak nationality. :POPULATION STRJUCTU'RE Tow.n and c,e nsus year Slovaks Total % Magyars Total % Germans Total % Bratislava 1857 1880 1890 1900 1910 1930 4,600 7,273 a,709 10,7115 U,67G 60,013 14.5 15.7 17,2 16.7 15.3 5'8.7 2,500 7,270 10,4-S3 20;102 31,705 18,'890 7.8 15.7 20.6 31.4 41.7 16.9 .24!,732 30,440 311,404' 33,202 32,790 32,801 77.7 65.6 62.2 51.9 43.0 29.4 4,3719 10,3,1,1 9,7113 9,244 6,5417 42,24;5 39.2 40.9 40.4 23.9 15.4 74.0 2,500 10,007 10,4'21 25,996 33,350 111,504 22.5 3'9.8 43 .4 67.0 77.2 20.1 4,200 4,218 3•,891 3,'189 3,354 37.8 16.8 16.0 8.9 7.4 5.2 3,403' 5,538 4,929 Ul,462 40. 7 36.9 30.'l 92:.4 2,990 7,'2119 9,754 96'1 35. 7 47.8 59.7 4.8 1,969 2,3'12 1,636 5'1>'8 23.6 15.3 10.2 2.8 1,41'9 ·565 449 2,781 54.3 20.4 16.2 ·86.0 1;127 2,167 2:,289 255 43.3 78.5 82.3 7.9 55 3'1 4'2 197 2.4 1.1 1.5 6,1 3,403 3,381 2,181 6,027 89,2 73•,8 ~-0 97.0 200 l •,1 07 2,300 5.2 24.2 2:15 15'8 51.>1 2.5 4'2 32 T78 785 5,106 7,449 8,7512: 4,974 81'.0 88.3 91.7 44.6 423 688 5,956 12.3 9.3 7.2 53.5 856 1,000 1,,6 75 8,71•5 18.0 10.4 13Jl 64.L 3,,6 09 8,1'87 10,634: 4,007 75.0 87.0 83.6 29.4 333 249 428 889 ------------ Kol;ic,e ''' 1857 1880 1890 1900 1<910 1930 3,446 "Ruthenes omitted Nitra 1880 1900 1910 1930 Jelsava 1880 1900 1910 H~30 Trebisov 1880 1900 1910 11930 88 5.6 2.0 0.9 0.5 Levice 1880 1900 11910 1930 198 199 214 6.7 2.4 2.,1 1..9 Lucenec 1880 1900 1910 1930 7.0 2.6 3.3 6.5 �SLOVAKIA 28 Rimavska Sobota 1:880 1900 1910 1930 443 322 468 2,939 9.5 5.3 6.9 44.8 4,102 5,424' 6,1199 3,504 ,88.0 '93.5 91.8 53.4 124 Roznava lr880 1900 1910 1930 400 233 406 2,506 9.9 4.5 6.3 42.7 3,884' 4,7,68 5,886 3,211 83,.8 92.2 9lr.2 54.4 Nove Zamky 1880 1900 1'910 1930 1,466 822 964 9,561 14.3 6.2 6.1 47.8 7,189 12,1,97 14,838 10,193 77.7 91.3 91.6 51.0 1 69 2.5 .1.2 91 116 1.8 259 173 159 170 6.3 3.3 2.5 2.9 813 8.0 2.5 2.3 1.2 340 3'77 256 u REFERENCE S: 1 Documents British Foreign Policy, Third Series, Vol. III, p . 225. 2 Survey of International Afifairs rn38, Vol. Ill p. 105. 3 Cf. Tiso's conversation with Ribbentrop on October 19, 1~38, where Tiso said, "The Sl'ovarks hav,e determined and could pr,ove that the 1910 sta'tistks were incorrect a,n d t'hat they even had been falsified ." (Doc. Ger. F1or. Pol. D., Vol. IV, p. 87.) 4 The Law of Nati-onaiities (Act 44/ 1864) is rerpr:oduiced in R. W. Seton-Watson: Racial Problems in Hungary (Consrtahle, London, 1908), p. 4'299-4'33. Pr:ofessor Seton-Watson gives also a penetrating a,nd· scholarly a,na.lysis of this Act. poin'ting out the differences between lofty t,h eories a;nd l ow practices. 5 This practi,ce was followed till 1941, when for the first time in Magyar history the nationalirty of the inhaibi'tants otf Hurugary was ascertained. 6 A story was told in those days (most priolbalbly apocryiphal) that after th.is point,blank-Jired reminder of Tiso, a memlber c:,f the Hungarian delegation stood up an'd, instead of a long reply, answered in Magyar: "Igazad, s6g,or, de senrki sem .sLszi" (Y:ou are righit, brother, rbu't rnJlbody will believe you). 7 The litalians were eager to placarte the Magyars at somebody else's e~pense. The Slovaks knew v,e ry ,w ell tha t they could no t expect any und,erstanding for their point c:,f view fr:om the cynical Ciano. Jin their efforts to assure bett er terms they concenitr<ated exclusively on Ribbentrop. Unforituna-tely 'he had more will than skill to help them. 8 StaHstical data for this part oif the article come mostly from "Magyar s:zlta:tisztikai kozlemenyek" and "Annuaire statistique de la Repu blique Tchecoslorvaque." 9 The advance of magyarization in 1'880-1910 and the tur.n o,f the tide after 1'919 are best soon from the sta'tistical data taJbulated in .Aippen<lix. 10 "Prager Presse," November 4, 1938. - No need to say that Tiso was basing his statement on Czecho-Slovak ofific'ial statistics. 1 1 1 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 21 STATISTICS AND POLITICS Francis Vnuk I. On November 2, 1938, in Vienna, by an arbitrary award of Germany and Italy, Czecho-Slova kia was forced to cede to Hungary 10,432 km2 of Slovak territory in which there lived according to Slovak statistics: (1) 276,287 Slovaks, 505,808 Magyars, and 75,688 others (Germans, Jews, Ruthenes, etc.) and according to Magyar-Hung arian claims: (2) 727,297 Magyars, 121,890 Slovaks and 12,456 others (mostly Germans). The loss was considered by the Slovaks to be an utter disregard of justice and an improper application of ethnic principles. As such it was intensely resented and was a cause of constant friction between Slovakia and Hungary during the war period. Every student of modern European history must b struck by the tremendous discrepancies in statistical data claimed as correct by both contesting parties. It seems that in politica..l statistics even mathematics cease to be an "exact" science. In Vienna the Magyars had the advantage (which was a serious setback to the Slovaks) of demanding and then obtaining application of those rules which were used by the Germans in the solution of the Sudeten question. The Germans took the 1910 census as the guiding principle of "ethnic" r,atification of the "Versailles-Di ktait." Due to this most unfortunaite precedent the Magyars obtained at Vienna far more favorable treatment than they would have received if the actual ethnographic aspects were taken into account. The Slovaks contested the validity of the Hungarian statistics of 1910 on several grounds. They maintained that the statistics were not reliable since they did not consider nationality as such and that they were obtained by Magyar or pro-Magyar census takers at the peak of Magyarization to the subsequent detriment of the non-Ma- 22 SLOVAKIA gyar nationalities. (3) These arguments are worthy of a brief analysis. II. The concept of nationaUty in Magyar eyes had some puzzling and even contradictory features. The existence of nationality was admitted; its rights were legalized in one of the best nationality laws ever drafted.(4) Yet the law was an abysmal failure. It was never put into practice, but remained a dead letter. Normally where there is a nationality there is also a nation. But in Hungary, whi,le there was a Slovak nationality, according to S. Tisza "there was no such thing as the Slovak na:tion." In Magy,ar terminology one oould not be a Slovak, German or a Rumanian, but only a Slovak-, German-, or Rumani'an-speaking Hungarian. Consequently the census questionnaires did not inquire into one's nationality, but they wanted to know what language was used. (5) If a person spoke several languages and one of them was Magyar, that was a satisfactory qualificaition to classify him as a Magyar. It was left to Tiso to point out this unusual fact to the Hungarian negotiators in Komarno in Ootober 1938. When they ins1sted that the statistics of 1910 should be taken as a basis for discussion, Tiso told them bluntly: "That would be a blatant denial of justice. You know very we11 how these figures were arrived at. You never asked us what was our nationality. You simply said to us: 'You can speak Magyar, ergo you are Magyars.' In this manner I was counted as a Magyar 81gainst my wishes and feelings." (6) This is, in a nutshell, an eloquent example of "reliability" of the Hungarian statistics, but unfurtunately rut .that time such arguments did not carry much weight with the Germans whose opinion was to be decisive. (7) Bureaucratically trained German minds were still obsessed with the sanctity of written records and subconsciously sentimental about the Magyars as co-victims of a similar treatment to that imposed on the Germans in Versailles. Ill A close look at the official Hungarian statistics of the 1900-1910 decade reveals a very serious weakening of SLOVAKIA 23 the Slov:ak element. Nowhere else in Hungary was the magyarization process making such inroads as in Slovakia (8) (which the Magyars preferred to call "Felvidek") 1-900 11910 Papula,tilOn Charuge I Total I % ·I 11dtal I % !Iner.ease !!Decrease I % Magyars 8,651,520j51.4 9,944,627•154.5111,293,'10711 + 14.9 GerJ'lj.ans 1,999,060111.9 11',903,357 )10.4 95.703 - 4.8 Srovaks 55,808- 2.8 12,002,16511.91,94'6,357,lll0.7 Rumanians 2,798,55916.6 2,>94!8,100 116.1 149,627 + 5.4 Yugoslaivs 629;169 3.7 656,324 3.6 39,496 + 6.3 R'll!thenes 4124,774 2.5 4164,270 2.5 27,155 + 6.4 Othe~s 33•3 ,308 2 .0 401,4'12 2.2 68,404 1+ 20.5 ------N ation,ality According to the above table the net population increase in 1900-1910 amounted to 1,426,278, which, however, included numerical decreases of two nationalities (Slovaks and Germans), small increases in other non-Magyar nationalities and an unpropor.tionaUy big increase in the dominant Magyar nationality. The figure becomes even more striking when one considers that out of each 1000 peI'sons in the 1900-1910 population increase 907 were Magyars and only 93 non-Magyars. The Magyar nationality increased by 14.9 per cent while the total increase of nonMagyar nationalities was only 1.6 per cent. The extent of the denationaHzation policy pursued by the Hungarian government becomes very revealing when the national increase, due to the difference between births and deaths and the migratory factors is considered. The number of births and the mortality figures .per 1,000 population are given in the following table for the years 1900 and 1910: YEAR 1900 Nati:onality Magyars Germans Slovaks Rumanians Ruthenes Yugoslavs - I •B om I Died 39.1 36.7 43.9 37.7 42.3 42.6 25.7 25.0 29.7 28.8 27.5 34.4 - -- YEAR 1910 ID.ised I Increase I Incre ase I !Bom I 13.4 11.7 14.2 8.9 14.8 8.2 -· I I 35.1 32.0 38.4 35.7 39.5 38.9 - ---- - I 22.0 I I 21.5 24.7 27.4 24.8 28.3 13.1 10.5 13.7 8.3 14.7 10.6 The table shows an even increase of various nationalities, and it is · interesting to note that on the birth and SLOVAKIA 24 death basis the Ruthenes and Slovaks were the fastest growing nationalities of pre-war Hungary. There is, of course, another factor of significant importance which in the first decade of this century played an important part in the population structure of old Hungary, namely emigration. For simplicity's sake the year 1910 is taken as typical. The emigration figures per 1,000 population are as follows: Nationality I I Emigrat ion !balance Number •o f / Returned emigrants emigra,ruts -1.8 -6.8 -6.7 -4.1 -5.9 -2.5 0.8 2.0 2.5 1.0 2.3 1.3 2.6 8.8 9.3 5.1 8.2 3.8 Magyars Germans Slovaks Rumanians Ruthenes Yugoslavs The population increase per 1,000 population in the census year 1910 should, therefore, be: increa,se per i IINet 1000 (derived I from, death a•nd Nationality Magyars Germans Slovaks Rumanians Ruthenes Yugoslavs I emi,g ration data) I 11.3 3.7 7.0 4.2 8.8 8.1 . . Percentual mcrea:se As estimated Actual from statistrcs 1.13 0.37 0.70 0.42 0.88 0.81 I I + 1.49 -0.48 -0.28 + 0.54 + 0.64 + 0.63 For the Slovaks these figures have a tragic significance. It was no empty threat that the Slovak nation was faced with its own extinction. The statistics show this. The decline of the Slovak nationality was catastrophically rapid. In the decade 1900-19100 the SloV1ak population should have increased by about 160,000; instead it decreased by more than 55,000. This represents a loss of about 215,000, i.e., nearly 11 per cent. The figures are really staggering. (9) The Slovaks contested that this out-of-all-proporti ons decrease cannot be explained otherwise than by contribut- SLOVAKIA ing it to the falsification of results by the Hungarian census takers and/or .s tatisticians. They argued that even the forcible and tempting means which the Mo-gyars a:s the dominant nationality had at their disposal could not account for this terrifying decrease. There is ample evidencrthat Slovak resistance to magyarization was at least as good as that of the Rumani1a ns and better than that of the Ruthenes. And yet the latter two nationalities recorded an increase where the Slovaks showed unparalleled losses. Assimilation and denationalization are responsible for some, fals-ifiers for the rest, so run the Slovak arguments. The Slovak,s requested that the arbitrators in the Slovak-Magyar di-spute should rely on the Czecho-Slovak statistics of 1930 which, being of more recent date, give a more realistic picture of the actua:1 state of affairs. The Magyars, however, refused most steadfastly to accept the official Czecho-Slovak statistics, giving very much the same reasons as advanced by the Sloveks against the Magyar statistics. Apparently what was sauce for the goose was not sauce for the gander. IV. It must be admitted that the Czecho-Slov,ak statistics were not favorable to the Magyar minority in Slovakia, or at least not as generous as the Magyars would have liked them to be. Census returns show a considerable drop in numerical strength of the Magy,ar minority: 634,827 in 1921, 571,988 in 1930, a decrease of 9.9 per cent. It must, however, be remembered that in the same time the Slovak minority in Trianon Hungary decreased from 142,000 to 104,000 which represents a decrease of 26.78 per cent. And finally one has to look for the cause of statisti<!al discrepancies also in the population. There the question of nationa:lity is quite frequently motivated by utilitarian and opportunist as much as national sentiments. This is especially so with the bilingual section of the population and such indigenous groups as Jews and Gypsies who would inva,r iably be loyal to the regime of the day. In the old Hungarian statistics Jews and Gypsies were never considered as separate ethnic groups. On t·h e other hand they 26 SLOVAKIA were treated as such by Czecho-Slovak authorities. According to some estimates, this fact alone accounts for a numerical "decrease" of the Magyar minority in Slovakia, before and after World War I, by about 80,000. The Vienna arbitration was carried out in the atmosphere of "the spirit of the Munich Agreement." Magyar wrongdoing faded away in the distant past, while Czech wrongdoings - alleged or real - were still the order of the day. All the paraphernalia of the Czech-German dispute formed the background against which the SlovakMagyar settlement was projected. Due to the ethnographical complex of the issue it would have been impossible to fix the Slovak-Magyar boundary to the satisfaction of both parties were the arbitrator Solomon himself. It was very much easier to draw it to the dissatisfaction of both sides. But the arbitra,tors decided to satisfy one and wrong the other. The fateful concentration of circumstances was unfavorable to the Slovaks. Tiso, in his broadcast on November 2, 1938, announcing the results of the Vienna Award, poured out his countrymen's sorrow and bitterness; "We have become the victims of injustice. . . Our people, through no fault of its own, has been treated as an object and has come into a situaition which disposed of it as a defeated enemy, without its participation and therefore against it, and often in contradiction to the ethnic principle. 'l'he "Great Powers" have decided, there is nothing else to do but to bow our heads and to work; but no one can prevent us from proclaiming to the whole world that a great injustice has been done to the Slovak people. Under the dictated peace of Trianon, hardly 6 per cent of the Magyar people had to live in Slovakia, whereas under the new settlement of the Slovak frontiers nearly 20 per cent of the Slovak people will have to live in Hungary." (10) APPENDIX In the tables given below the ethnical evolution of ten towns of the Slovak-Magyar linguistic boundary is recorded. In all cases the Magyar element was on the increase in the period 1880-1910, at the expense of the Slovak and 27 SLOVAKIA German component. After 1919 the process was reversen. The rapid increase of the Slovak popufation was mostly due to the influx of rural population to towns, the newcomers being mostly exclusively of Slovak nationality. :POPULATION STRJUCTU'RE Tow.n and c,e nsus year Slovaks Total % Magyars Total % Germans Total % Bratislava 1857 1880 1890 1900 1910 1930 4,600 7,273 a,709 10,7115 U,67G 60,013 14.5 15.7 17,2 16.7 15.3 5'8.7 2,500 7,270 10,4-S3 20;102 31,705 18,'890 7.8 15.7 20.6 31.4 41.7 16.9 .24!,732 30,440 311,404' 33,202 32,790 32,801 77.7 65.6 62.2 51.9 43.0 29.4 4,3719 10,3,1,1 9,7113 9,244 6,5417 42,24;5 39.2 40.9 40.4 23.9 15.4 74.0 2,500 10,007 10,4'21 25,996 33,350 111,504 22.5 3'9.8 43 .4 67.0 77.2 20.1 4,200 4,218 3•,891 3,'189 3,354 37.8 16.8 16.0 8.9 7.4 5.2 3,403' 5,538 4,929 Ul,462 40. 7 36.9 30.'l 92:.4 2,990 7,'2119 9,754 96'1 35. 7 47.8 59.7 4.8 1,969 2,3'12 1,636 5'1>'8 23.6 15.3 10.2 2.8 1,41'9 ·565 449 2,781 54.3 20.4 16.2 ·86.0 1;127 2,167 2:,289 255 43.3 78.5 82.3 7.9 55 3'1 4'2 197 2.4 1.1 1.5 6,1 3,403 3,381 2,181 6,027 89,2 73•,8 ~-0 97.0 200 l •,1 07 2,300 5.2 24.2 2:15 15'8 51.>1 2.5 4'2 32 T78 785 5,106 7,449 8,7512: 4,974 81'.0 88.3 91.7 44.6 423 688 5,956 12.3 9.3 7.2 53.5 856 1,000 1,,6 75 8,71•5 18.0 10.4 13Jl 64.L 3,,6 09 8,1'87 10,634: 4,007 75.0 87.0 83.6 29.4 333 249 428 889 ------------ Kol;ic,e ''' 1857 1880 1890 1900 1<910 1930 3,446 "Ruthenes omitted Nitra 1880 1900 1910 1930 Jelsava 1880 1900 1910 H~30 Trebisov 1880 1900 1910 11930 88 5.6 2.0 0.9 0.5 Levice 1880 1900 11910 1930 198 199 214 6.7 2.4 2.,1 1..9 Lucenec 1880 1900 1910 1930 7.0 2.6 3.3 6.5 SLOVAKIA 28 Rimavska Sobota 1:880 1900 1910 1930 443 322 468 2,939 9.5 5.3 6.9 44.8 4,102 5,424' 6,1199 3,504 ,88.0 '93.5 91.8 53.4 124 Roznava lr880 1900 1910 1930 400 233 406 2,506 9.9 4.5 6.3 42.7 3,884' 4,7,68 5,886 3,211 83,.8 92.2 9lr.2 54.4 Nove Zamky 1880 1900 1'910 1930 1,466 822 964 9,561 14.3 6.2 6.1 47.8 7,189 12,1,97 14,838 10,193 77.7 91.3 91.6 51.0 1 69 2.5 .1.2 91 116 1.8 259 173 159 170 6.3 3.3 2.5 2.9 813 8.0 2.5 2.3 1.2 340 3'77 256 u REFERENCE S: 1 Documents British Foreign Policy, Third Series, Vol. III, p . 225. 2 Survey of International Afifairs rn38, Vol. Ill p. 105. 3 Cf. Tiso's conversation with Ribbentrop on October 19, 1~38, where Tiso said, "The Sl'ovarks hav,e determined and could pr,ove that the 1910 sta'tistks were incorrect a,n d t'hat they even had been falsified ." (Doc. Ger. F1or. Pol. D., Vol. IV, p. 87.) 4 The Law of Nati-onaiities (Act 44/ 1864) is rerpr:oduiced in R. W. Seton-Watson: Racial Problems in Hungary (Consrtahle, London, 1908), p. 4'299-4'33. Pr:ofessor Seton-Watson gives also a penetrating a,nd· scholarly a,na.lysis of this Act. poin'ting out the differences between lofty t,h eories a;nd l ow practices. 5 This practi,ce was followed till 1941, when for the first time in Magyar history the nationalirty of the inhaibi'tants otf Hurugary was ascertained. 6 A story was told in those days (most priolbalbly apocryiphal) that after th.is point,blank-Jired reminder of Tiso, a memlber c:,f the Hungarian delegation stood up an'd, instead of a long reply, answered in Magyar: "Igazad, s6g,or, de senrki sem .sLszi" (Y:ou are righit, brother, rbu't rnJlbody will believe you). 7 The litalians were eager to placarte the Magyars at somebody else's e~pense. The Slovaks knew v,e ry ,w ell tha t they could no t expect any und,erstanding for their point c:,f view fr:om the cynical Ciano. Jin their efforts to assure bett er terms they concenitr<ated exclusively on Ribbentrop. Unforituna-tely 'he had more will than skill to help them. 8 StaHstical data for this part oif the article come mostly from "Magyar s:zlta:tisztikai kozlemenyek" and "Annuaire statistique de la Repu blique Tchecoslorvaque." 9 The advance of magyarization in 1'880-1910 and the tur.n o,f the tide after 1'919 are best soon from the sta'tistical data taJbulated in .Aippen<lix. 10 "Prager Presse," November 4, 1938. - No need to say that Tiso was basing his statement on Czecho-Slovak ofific'ial statistics. 1 1 1  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Statistics and Politics Description An account of the resource Francis Vnuk Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 6 (31), March-June 1960 pp. 21-28 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Vnuk, František, 1926- Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1960 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/1811530be09d5420a61118cdcf74b327.pdf 889916433ca1d280bd2acb4f4cdcb461 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 29 WILSON AND T. G. MASARYK Joseph Bousa All who believe in the liberation activity of the untruthful "Liberator," Professor Masaryk, ought to read the documents of September 1918, pertaining to the American recognition of the Czecho-Slovak Army in Russia and in Siberia. These documents, taken from the National Archives in Washington, from ,t he archives of the American Department of State, are in the "Journal of Central European Affairs" (April 1953, pp. 47-60) which is published in Boulder, Colorado. After 1918, Masaryk and his paid "historians" told the nation at home just how Masaryk felt "at home" in the White House and how he convinced President Wilson and his advisers about the necessity of dismembering Austria-Hungary and creating the new state of Czecho-Slovakia. The historical facts were, of course, just the opposite of what Masaryk and his henchmen had always claimed. This is also evidenced in the documents published in the Journal. In the summer of 1918 Americans and President Wilson were not interested in Mr. Masaryk who recommended .that America give recognition to the bloody Bolshevik clique in Moscow as the actual government of Russia. The documents make it quite clear that America was for, while Masaryk was against intervention in Russia against the Bolsheviks. In the summer of 1918 American public opinion was very much influenced by the victorious fight of the Czecho-Slovak Legions against the Bolsheviks in Siberia and Russia. That is why President Wilson and the Government of the United States did exactly the opposite of what Masaryk wanted and recommended. Instead of recognizing the Red Soviet, as Masaryk had recommended, America recognized the opponents of the Soviet, the Czecho-Slovak Army in Siberia and in Eastern Russia as a belligerent Allied Army. Before our Czecho-Slovak Army in Siberia began .to fight on May 25, 1918, against the Bolsheviks, our soldiers had repudiated the leadership of Ma- �30 SLOVAKIA saryk's National Council and his orders to disarm and remain neutral. This much is quite clear from the documents published in the Journal by Professor Victor Mamatey. It was President Wilson himself who scratched out Masaryk's name in the document which recognized "the belligerency of the Czecho-Slovak revolutionists in view of their military organization operating in Siberia and Eastern Russia." I refer the readers to a unique literary work, written truthfully and without regard to the fables of Masaryk, Benes, and their companions, the book entitled "Krvi a zelezem" (With Blood and Iron). It is the first volume of a work about the Czecho-Slovak revolution of 1914-1918 and the foreign policy of the United States. It was published by Dr. Anthony S. Kalina to honor the memory of his father, an outstanding Czech politician and fighter for the recognition of the right of the Czechs to their own state, and also to honor the memory of our Siberian brothers and their immeasurable sacrifices and immortal merits. The book was first published in Prague, in 1938, and was, after Munich, a great encouragement to our people. It is perhaps the first historical work that sold as a "best seller;" it read like a gripping romance. Our people at home read it like the Bible so that within two months Dr. Kalina had it printed four times in many thousands of copies until further publication was made impossible by the Nazis. Dr. Mamatey's article in the Colorado "Journal" in 1953 complements the statements made by Kalina in his "Krvi a zelemem." What was Masaryk's policy towards Russia? In January, 1917, T. G. Masaryk published a sensational article in the Petersburg ''Ruskaja V olja" which he entitled: "Delenda est Austria" (Austria Must Be Destroyed). The publication "Ruskaja Volja" was the organ of the Minister of the Interior, A. D. Protopopov, who was hated by the Russian people. In his article, Masaryk said: "The form of the independent Czech kingdom could be any one of several. .. A dynasty of Russian origin would be e:rtremely popular." Two months later, however - after the Russian March �SLOVAKIA 31 Revolution, utterly disregarding neutrality in Russian internal affairs, he again villified the Romanoff dynasty. Arriving in Russia, in May 1917, Masaryk demagogically proclaimed as reactionaries and monarchists all those who since 1914 were creating an independent Czecho-Slovak Army in Russia. With the help of the socialists, Masaryk removed from the leadership of Czech affairs in Russia Dr. Vaclav Vondrak, a progressive democrat who had done much for the creation of Czech military units in Russia. When Kerensky refused to see Masaryk and negotiate with him, Masaryk began to favor a second revolution - the Bolshevik Revolution. Thus it was that Masaryk went from one extreme to the other within a year: from the Romanoffs to the Bolsheviks. On the very first day of the communist putsch, November 7, 1917, Masaryk issued an order of neutrality toward the Bolsheviks. In March, 1918, under the protection of Bolshevik guards, Masaryk departed from Moscow, embarking for America through Japan. The people who expected Masaryk to seek recognition from the American Government for the independence of the Slovaks and Czechs were disappointed. In the very first sentence of the memorandum to President Wilson (April 10, 1918), T. G. Masaryk asked America to recognize the Soviets in Russia. In his book "Krvi a zelezem," Dr. Kalina publishes the documents of American diplomats in which Masaryk is designated as a member of the Bolshevik government, who is coming to America in the interests of the Soviets. A:fiter his arrival in America, Masaryk continued to recommend the recognition of the Soviets as the government of Russia by the American Government in a series of articles and lectures. What was the policy of America and President Wilson towards Russia? Favorable at first to the democratic Russian Revolution and the Kerensky government, it supported the anti-Bolshevik movement and categorically refused to recognize the Bolsheviks as the government of Russia. The policy of America was, therefore, in direct conflict with the policy of Masaryk. It thus happened that Masaryk, after he came to Washington on May 9, 1918, �32 SLOVAKIA had to wait six weeks before he was received by the White House. And available documents tell us most clearly that President Wilson would not have received Masaryk even then had it not been for the intervention of the CzechoSlovak Legion against the Bolsheviks in Siberia and Eastern Russia. Except for this intervention, against the orders of T. G. Masaryk, it can be truthfully said, therefore, the movement for Czecho-Slovak independence would have collapsed. President Wilson and Secretary of State Lansing, aware of Masaryk's non-interventionist policy in Russia, called him in for a hearing on June 19, 1918. Lansing had a difficult time trying to convince Masaryk not .to intervene with the intervention of the Czecho-Sfovak Legion against the Bolsheviks. Lansing talked with Masaryk on June 2 and 25, but Masaryk would not give in. On June 25, 1918, Masaryk even sent a telegram to Soviet Foreign Minister Cicerin in which he bade him to disarm the Czecho.:Slovak Legion in Russia and Siberia. If Masaryk were in Siberia at that time, I strongly suspect that he would have met the same fate as his Commissar Skotak after the battle of Liptak with the Bolsheviks on June 4, 1918: he too would have been hanged for treason. Masaryk kept on going from one extreme to another until it became crystal clear to him that he would end in complete failure not only with the Czecho-Slovak Legionnaires, but also with America and the Allies, if he kept to his pro-Bolshevik policy. The Slovaks and Czechs were fighting two months with the Bolsheviks, conquering just about everything up to the Volga, when Masaryk suddenly decided (July 20, 1918) to drop his pro-Bolshevik attitude and support the Czecho-Slovak Legionnaires. It was on that day that Masaryk, as titular head of the Czecho-Slovak National Council (Paris), requested President Wilson to help the Czecho-Slovak Army in Siberia in its fight aigainst the Bolsheviks. This belated Masaryk's conversion and request had catastrophical results. American help came laite. Our brethren on the Volga waited for help in vain. The Bolsheviks reorganized and consolidated their ranks in the meantime. Thus it was that the Bolshe- �SLOVAKIA 33 viks in Russia were saved. Had Masaryk not played with the Bolsheviks at that time and caused dissension and confusion in our ranks, the Bolsheviks could have been beaten ... and the Red plague would not have spread throughout the world. But even with his speedy conversion on July 20, 1918, Masaryk did not gain the confidence of President Wilson and Secretary of State Lansing. American diplomatic documents show that even at the end of 1918, after the overthrow in Prague, President Wilson and Secretary Lansing were not convinced that Masaryk had the support of the Slovaks and Czechs at home. They still remembered that the Legions in Russia had revolted against his policy. Masaryk was saved only by the noblesse of the leaders of the domestic revolution, who made him President in 1918 and re-elected him again in 1927 when a majority of the nation began to oppose Masaryk's socialization. The American recognition of the Czecho-Slovak movement for freedom, without mentioning Masaryk's name, was published in Washington on September 3, 1918. This recognition was clearly the result of the fight of the Czecho-<Slovak Legions in Siberia and Eastern Russia. It came not only without Masaryk's help, but even directly against his unfortunate policy which favored the communists. Slowly but certainly historical science is revealing all the fraud and humbug perpetrated against the modern history of the Czechs and the Slovaks. Again and again history supports all those who had clearly warned against Masaryk's and Benes' policy of socialization. Thus are reha:bilitated such patriotic leaders of our nation as Dr. Charles Kramar, Dr. Vaclav Vondrak, Professor Francis Mares, Dr. Charles Pergler, Victor Dyk, J. S. Machar, and immortal merits of our great Generals, such as, M. R. Stefanik, Stanislaus Cecek, John Gajer, Radola Gajda, Edward Kadlec, Rudolph Medek, Joseph J. Svec, and many others. A study of our modern history has convinced me that also in the future our efforts to liberate our people at home from communism will be successful only if we return �SLOVAKIA 34 to the path pointed out to us by selfless men, men of vision, by our courageous sons of our nation. As has been said so many times over, I am also convinced that under the banner of false legends and liberation myths - whether they are Masaryk's and/or Benes' - we shall never succeed in consolidating our nation to fight against our sworn enemy - communism. 0 0 0 0 Joseph Bousa is a Czech associated with the group which publishes the periodical "Bohemia" under the leadership of Vladimir Pekelsky in Kolu-Ehrenfel d, West Germany. Professor Victor S. Mamatey (University of Florida) is the author of the "documents" article referred to by Bouska, who, for some reason or other, preferred . not to mention the author by name, though informed people know that Mamatey is of Slovak origin and the son of the late Albert Mamatey, President of the Slovak League of America during the period the above events transpired. It is true, as Mamatey states aJt the outset of his study, that "relatively little is known about precise circumstances and motives of recognition by the United States Government of the Czechoslovak National Council of Paris in September 1918." This is understandab le since most available studies on this matter ignore the documents that are at hand, the authors preferring to write panegyrics about Masaryk and Benes and their fiction of an ethnic "Czechoslovak " nation instead of true history. We cannot agree with Professor Mamatey that "Thomas G. Masaryk ... was a well-known political figure" at the time the above events happened, yet we cannot recommend his study .too highly to all scholars and students of history. Mamatey's study of fourteen pages suggests that available history books on Czecho-Slovakia (Roucek's, Kerner's, Odlozilik's, Bezdicek's, Thomson's among them) can become more complete for the edification of future historians, if the respective historians take note of it. The conclusions drawn by Professor Mamatey deserve to be published here for the edification of our readers: The conclusions that may be drawn from tJhe foregoing documents are several: le 11he recognit-ion of the Czechoslovak Nationial �35 SLOVAKIA Council was tbased neither on Bohemia's historical rights to independen,ce nor on the principle <Xf national seltf-determiruation, but on the fact of Czechoslovak belligerency. 2. The recognition committed the United States Government to uphold Czech0$lovak independ•enice from Austria.filung ary, and together with the recogniUon accorded the CzechoslO'Va'ks by other Allied Governments , it virtuaHy assured them a place as an Mlied belliigerent nation at the peace conforence. But it in no sense implied a recognition <Xf unlike exact territorial cla.imsQl). 3. Since the Czechoslovak s the Culban revolutionari es Wlhose beUi,gerency had been recognized by President Grant - were not in possession orf the territ oriy they claimed and thus lacked what had always been regarded as an essentia1 element of soviereignty, and since the lilffiits of this territory were at the time unknown to the American policy-maker s (2), Lansing thought it wise to dissociate the recognition of the Czechoslo\<ak National Council from any concep tion <Xf terflitory by following the British examp1'e of granting r~ognition to the Czecho-Slovaks - wherever they might be, in Siberia, France, or Italy rather than to Czechoslovak ia, a territorial unit then still of uncertain Hmits. 4. Jin preparing the recogn,it ion, St-.ite Department o.fificials carefiuHy studied it in the light of precedents. Lans-i ng also gave careful thought to its possible effoots on domest ic American politics and on the current internat ional situat ion. 1it does not appear, however, that any thought was given to its possible effect on post-war Europe. Neitoor President Wilson nor the State Department officials a,p,pear to have been concerned at the time with the 1mportant question otf the disposal of the German minority in Bohemia and Moravia. Generally speaking, President Wilson and his forei,gn...ipolicy advisors thought that all such detailed questions should be left to the peace coruference to decide (3). 5. Cont,r,ary to common belief, the recognition of the Czechoslovak Nationa l Council, like previous anti-Austrian measiur-es adopted by the United States GoverD1Inent, was not a res ult of direct, personal discussions between Wilson and Masaryk. The impetus to the adoption o.f this me·a sure came from the American publ ic, impresesd with the exploits of the Czechoslovak soldtiers in S~beria. Besrides th1e Silberian adventure, ~rtant elements of American pulblic opinion were, no doubt, influenced by Masaryk's skillful propa,gantla. But the State DepartJment oiificials, charged with the elaiboration of the recognition, paid little heed to his suggestions, and Presiden,t Wilson a,piproved the dec ~aration without discussing it with him (4). Ed itor. 0 ) It may be interesting to note in this connection tha t at the Paris :Pea'Ce Conference the American delegation advocated an ethnic boundary for Czechoslovakia until April 4, '1919, Wlhen druxing a period of the President's iHness, Edward M. House gave in to the French demand for the retention of the historical boundary of Bohemia and Moravia. (2) On Septemlber 27, 19118, as an, afterthought, th~ Department of State wired to London to inquire the views of the Foreign Office about the fuiture boundaries of the Czechoslovak State. The British �36 SLOVAKIA officials aip,pear to have been equally uncertain about this question at the time, for the Foreign, Office did not reply until November 13, 191'8, and even then did not take a clear stand. See, Foreign Relations, 1919. The Paris Peace Conference, 13 vols. (Washington, 19~1947), H, 3716°377. (3) "(Peace) cannot be pieced together out of individual understandings between p01Werful states. All the parties to this war must join in the settlemenit of every issue -anyiwhere invo'1ved in it .. . an"d every item oo it must be submi•tted to the cOOl111Tlon judgment .. ." Wilson's address. February '111, 19118, see Ray S. Baker and William E. Dodd (eds.); The Public Papers of Woodrow Wilson, War and Peace, 2 vols. (N~w York, 1927), L, 180. (4) !Before the recognition of the Czechoslovak National Council Wilson met Masaryk only once, on Jun,e 19, 19118, several weeks aifter he had first decided upon an antiJAUSltrian policy (see this author's article "The United States and the Dissolution oo AustriaJHunigary," Journal of Cent.ral European Affairs, X (Octolber, 1950), pp. 256-270, and two mon-ths before he suddenly considered recognition Olf the Czechoslovaks. The question was not broached in their correspondence . • • • WAS CZECH THE VEIDCLE OF SLOVAK LITERATURE? P.A. Hrobak Since the establishment of the Czecho-Slovak Republic in 1918, a concerted, deliberate attempt on the part of certain Czechs and pro-Czechs is being made to prove the antiquity of the fiction of a united "Czechoslovak" nation. The propaganda apparatus of the political state formed by the Slovaks and the Czechs has been constantly used, even at the expense of the Slovaks, to prove that there really is no Slovak nation, that the Slovaks are but a branch of the Czech nation and the Slovak language is but a dialect of the Czech language. In the memorandum which T. G. Masaryk sent to the U. S. State Department (Lansing), on August 31, 1918, he said: "Slovakia, the southern part of the nation, was occupied by the Magyars and separated early from Bohemia and Moravia; at times, even later, the Slovaks were independent." After over forty years of the Pan-Czech propaganda, we find that the Slovaks are still around and are more determined than ever to preserve and enhance their ethnic individuality. They have successfully resisted all attempts to be made over into Czechs, as prior to 1918 they successfuHy resisted all attempts to be made into Magyars. � SLOVAKIA 29 WILSON AND T. G. MASARYK Joseph Bousa All who believe in the liberation activity of the untruthful "Liberator," Professor Masaryk, ought to read the documents of September 1918, pertaining to the American recognition of the Czecho-Slovak Army in Russia and in Siberia. These documents, taken from the National Archives in Washington, from ,t he archives of the American Department of State, are in the "Journal of Central European Affairs" (April 1953, pp. 47-60) which is published in Boulder, Colorado. After 1918, Masaryk and his paid "historians" told the nation at home just how Masaryk felt "at home" in the White House and how he convinced President Wilson and his advisers about the necessity of dismembering Austria-Hungary and creating the new state of Czecho-Slovakia. The historical facts were, of course, just the opposite of what Masaryk and his henchmen had always claimed. This is also evidenced in the documents published in the Journal. In the summer of 1918 Americans and President Wilson were not interested in Mr. Masaryk who recommended .that America give recognition to the bloody Bolshevik clique in Moscow as the actual government of Russia. The documents make it quite clear that America was for, while Masaryk was against intervention in Russia against the Bolsheviks. In the summer of 1918 American public opinion was very much influenced by the victorious fight of the Czecho-Slovak Legions against the Bolsheviks in Siberia and Russia. That is why President Wilson and the Government of the United States did exactly the opposite of what Masaryk wanted and recommended. Instead of recognizing the Red Soviet, as Masaryk had recommended, America recognized the opponents of the Soviet, the Czecho-Slovak Army in Siberia and in Eastern Russia as a belligerent Allied Army. Before our Czecho-Slovak Army in Siberia began .to fight on May 25, 1918, against the Bolsheviks, our soldiers had repudiated the leadership of Ma- �30 SLOVAKIA saryk's National Council and his orders to disarm and remain neutral. This much is quite clear from the documents published in the Journal by Professor Victor Mamatey. It was President Wilson himself who scratched out Masaryk's name in the document which recognized "the belligerency of the Czecho-Slovak revolutionists in view of their military organization operating in Siberia and Eastern Russia." I refer the readers to a unique literary work, written truthfully and without regard to the fables of Masaryk, Benes, and their companions, the book entitled "Krvi a zelezem" (With Blood and Iron). It is the first volume of a work about the Czecho-Slovak revolution of 1914-1918 and the foreign policy of the United States. It was published by Dr. Anthony S. Kalina to honor the memory of his father, an outstanding Czech politician and fighter for the recognition of the right of the Czechs to their own state, and also to honor the memory of our Siberian brothers and their immeasurable sacrifices and immortal merits. The book was first published in Prague, in 1938, and was, after Munich, a great encouragement to our people. It is perhaps the first historical work that sold as a "best seller;" it read like a gripping romance. Our people at home read it like the Bible so that within two months Dr. Kalina had it printed four times in many thousands of copies until further publication was made impossible by the Nazis. Dr. Mamatey's article in the Colorado "Journal" in 1953 complements the statements made by Kalina in his "Krvi a zelemem." What was Masaryk's policy towards Russia? In January, 1917, T. G. Masaryk published a sensational article in the Petersburg ''Ruskaja V olja" which he entitled: "Delenda est Austria" (Austria Must Be Destroyed). The publication "Ruskaja Volja" was the organ of the Minister of the Interior, A. D. Protopopov, who was hated by the Russian people. In his article, Masaryk said: "The form of the independent Czech kingdom could be any one of several. .. A dynasty of Russian origin would be e:rtremely popular." Two months later, however - after the Russian March �SLOVAKIA 31 Revolution, utterly disregarding neutrality in Russian internal affairs, he again villified the Romanoff dynasty. Arriving in Russia, in May 1917, Masaryk demagogically proclaimed as reactionaries and monarchists all those who since 1914 were creating an independent Czecho-Slovak Army in Russia. With the help of the socialists, Masaryk removed from the leadership of Czech affairs in Russia Dr. Vaclav Vondrak, a progressive democrat who had done much for the creation of Czech military units in Russia. When Kerensky refused to see Masaryk and negotiate with him, Masaryk began to favor a second revolution - the Bolshevik Revolution. Thus it was that Masaryk went from one extreme to the other within a year: from the Romanoffs to the Bolsheviks. On the very first day of the communist putsch, November 7, 1917, Masaryk issued an order of neutrality toward the Bolsheviks. In March, 1918, under the protection of Bolshevik guards, Masaryk departed from Moscow, embarking for America through Japan. The people who expected Masaryk to seek recognition from the American Government for the independence of the Slovaks and Czechs were disappointed. In the very first sentence of the memorandum to President Wilson (April 10, 1918), T. G. Masaryk asked America to recognize the Soviets in Russia. In his book "Krvi a zelezem," Dr. Kalina publishes the documents of American diplomats in which Masaryk is designated as a member of the Bolshevik government, who is coming to America in the interests of the Soviets. A:fiter his arrival in America, Masaryk continued to recommend the recognition of the Soviets as the government of Russia by the American Government in a series of articles and lectures. What was the policy of America and President Wilson towards Russia? Favorable at first to the democratic Russian Revolution and the Kerensky government, it supported the anti-Bolshevik movement and categorically refused to recognize the Bolsheviks as the government of Russia. The policy of America was, therefore, in direct conflict with the policy of Masaryk. It thus happened that Masaryk, after he came to Washington on May 9, 1918, �32 SLOVAKIA had to wait six weeks before he was received by the White House. And available documents tell us most clearly that President Wilson would not have received Masaryk even then had it not been for the intervention of the CzechoSlovak Legion against the Bolsheviks in Siberia and Eastern Russia. Except for this intervention, against the orders of T. G. Masaryk, it can be truthfully said, therefore, the movement for Czecho-Slovak independence would have collapsed. President Wilson and Secretary of State Lansing, aware of Masaryk's non-interventionist policy in Russia, called him in for a hearing on June 19, 1918. Lansing had a difficult time trying to convince Masaryk not .to intervene with the intervention of the Czecho-Sfovak Legion against the Bolsheviks. Lansing talked with Masaryk on June 2 and 25, but Masaryk would not give in. On June 25, 1918, Masaryk even sent a telegram to Soviet Foreign Minister Cicerin in which he bade him to disarm the Czecho.:Slovak Legion in Russia and Siberia. If Masaryk were in Siberia at that time, I strongly suspect that he would have met the same fate as his Commissar Skotak after the battle of Liptak with the Bolsheviks on June 4, 1918: he too would have been hanged for treason. Masaryk kept on going from one extreme to another until it became crystal clear to him that he would end in complete failure not only with the Czecho-Slovak Legionnaires, but also with America and the Allies, if he kept to his pro-Bolshevik policy. The Slovaks and Czechs were fighting two months with the Bolsheviks, conquering just about everything up to the Volga, when Masaryk suddenly decided (July 20, 1918) to drop his pro-Bolshevik attitude and support the Czecho-Slovak Legionnaires. It was on that day that Masaryk, as titular head of the Czecho-Slovak National Council (Paris), requested President Wilson to help the Czecho-Slovak Army in Siberia in its fight aigainst the Bolsheviks. This belated Masaryk's conversion and request had catastrophical results. American help came laite. Our brethren on the Volga waited for help in vain. The Bolsheviks reorganized and consolidated their ranks in the meantime. Thus it was that the Bolshe- �SLOVAKIA 33 viks in Russia were saved. Had Masaryk not played with the Bolsheviks at that time and caused dissension and confusion in our ranks, the Bolsheviks could have been beaten ... and the Red plague would not have spread throughout the world. But even with his speedy conversion on July 20, 1918, Masaryk did not gain the confidence of President Wilson and Secretary of State Lansing. American diplomatic documents show that even at the end of 1918, after the overthrow in Prague, President Wilson and Secretary Lansing were not convinced that Masaryk had the support of the Slovaks and Czechs at home. They still remembered that the Legions in Russia had revolted against his policy. Masaryk was saved only by the noblesse of the leaders of the domestic revolution, who made him President in 1918 and re-elected him again in 1927 when a majority of the nation began to oppose Masaryk's socialization. The American recognition of the Czecho-Slovak movement for freedom, without mentioning Masaryk's name, was published in Washington on September 3, 1918. This recognition was clearly the result of the fight of the Czecho-<Slovak Legions in Siberia and Eastern Russia. It came not only without Masaryk's help, but even directly against his unfortunate policy which favored the communists. Slowly but certainly historical science is revealing all the fraud and humbug perpetrated against the modern history of the Czechs and the Slovaks. Again and again history supports all those who had clearly warned against Masaryk's and Benes' policy of socialization. Thus are reha:bilitated such patriotic leaders of our nation as Dr. Charles Kramar, Dr. Vaclav Vondrak, Professor Francis Mares, Dr. Charles Pergler, Victor Dyk, J. S. Machar, and immortal merits of our great Generals, such as, M. R. Stefanik, Stanislaus Cecek, John Gajer, Radola Gajda, Edward Kadlec, Rudolph Medek, Joseph J. Svec, and many others. A study of our modern history has convinced me that also in the future our efforts to liberate our people at home from communism will be successful only if we return �SLOVAKIA 34 to the path pointed out to us by selfless men, men of vision, by our courageous sons of our nation. As has been said so many times over, I am also convinced that under the banner of false legends and liberation myths - whether they are Masaryk's and/or Benes' - we shall never succeed in consolidating our nation to fight against our sworn enemy - communism. 0 0 0 0 Joseph Bousa is a Czech associated with the group which publishes the periodical "Bohemia" under the leadership of Vladimir Pekelsky in Kolu-Ehrenfel d, West Germany. Professor Victor S. Mamatey (University of Florida) is the author of the "documents" article referred to by Bouska, who, for some reason or other, preferred . not to mention the author by name, though informed people know that Mamatey is of Slovak origin and the son of the late Albert Mamatey, President of the Slovak League of America during the period the above events transpired. It is true, as Mamatey states aJt the outset of his study, that "relatively little is known about precise circumstances and motives of recognition by the United States Government of the Czechoslovak National Council of Paris in September 1918." This is understandab le since most available studies on this matter ignore the documents that are at hand, the authors preferring to write panegyrics about Masaryk and Benes and their fiction of an ethnic "Czechoslovak " nation instead of true history. We cannot agree with Professor Mamatey that "Thomas G. Masaryk ... was a well-known political figure" at the time the above events happened, yet we cannot recommend his study .too highly to all scholars and students of history. Mamatey's study of fourteen pages suggests that available history books on Czecho-Slovakia (Roucek's, Kerner's, Odlozilik's, Bezdicek's, Thomson's among them) can become more complete for the edification of future historians, if the respective historians take note of it. The conclusions drawn by Professor Mamatey deserve to be published here for the edification of our readers: The conclusions that may be drawn from tJhe foregoing documents are several: le 11he recognit-ion of the Czechoslovak Nationial �35 SLOVAKIA Council was tbased neither on Bohemia's historical rights to independen,ce nor on the principle <Xf national seltf-determiruation, but on the fact of Czechoslovak belligerency. 2. The recognition committed the United States Government to uphold Czech0$lovak independ•enice from Austria.filung ary, and together with the recogniUon accorded the CzechoslO'Va'ks by other Allied Governments , it virtuaHy assured them a place as an Mlied belliigerent nation at the peace conforence. But it in no sense implied a recognition <Xf unlike exact territorial cla.imsQl). 3. Since the Czechoslovak s the Culban revolutionari es Wlhose beUi,gerency had been recognized by President Grant - were not in possession orf the territ oriy they claimed and thus lacked what had always been regarded as an essentia1 element of soviereignty, and since the lilffiits of this territory were at the time unknown to the American policy-maker s (2), Lansing thought it wise to dissociate the recognition of the Czechoslo\<ak National Council from any concep tion <Xf terflitory by following the British examp1'e of granting r~ognition to the Czecho-Slovaks - wherever they might be, in Siberia, France, or Italy rather than to Czechoslovak ia, a territorial unit then still of uncertain Hmits. 4. Jin preparing the recogn,it ion, St-.ite Department o.fificials carefiuHy studied it in the light of precedents. Lans-i ng also gave careful thought to its possible effoots on domest ic American politics and on the current internat ional situat ion. 1it does not appear, however, that any thought was given to its possible effect on post-war Europe. Neitoor President Wilson nor the State Department officials a,p,pear to have been concerned at the time with the 1mportant question otf the disposal of the German minority in Bohemia and Moravia. Generally speaking, President Wilson and his forei,gn...ipolicy advisors thought that all such detailed questions should be left to the peace coruference to decide (3). 5. Cont,r,ary to common belief, the recognition of the Czechoslovak Nationa l Council, like previous anti-Austrian measiur-es adopted by the United States GoverD1Inent, was not a res ult of direct, personal discussions between Wilson and Masaryk. The impetus to the adoption o.f this me·a sure came from the American publ ic, impresesd with the exploits of the Czechoslovak soldtiers in S~beria. Besrides th1e Silberian adventure, ~rtant elements of American pulblic opinion were, no doubt, influenced by Masaryk's skillful propa,gantla. But the State DepartJment oiificials, charged with the elaiboration of the recognition, paid little heed to his suggestions, and Presiden,t Wilson a,piproved the dec ~aration without discussing it with him (4). Ed itor. 0 ) It may be interesting to note in this connection tha t at the Paris :Pea'Ce Conference the American delegation advocated an ethnic boundary for Czechoslovakia until April 4, '1919, Wlhen druxing a period of the President's iHness, Edward M. House gave in to the French demand for the retention of the historical boundary of Bohemia and Moravia. (2) On Septemlber 27, 19118, as an, afterthought, th~ Department of State wired to London to inquire the views of the Foreign Office about the fuiture boundaries of the Czechoslovak State. The British �36 SLOVAKIA officials aip,pear to have been equally uncertain about this question at the time, for the Foreign, Office did not reply until November 13, 191'8, and even then did not take a clear stand. See, Foreign Relations, 1919. The Paris Peace Conference, 13 vols. (Washington, 19~1947), H, 3716°377. (3) "(Peace) cannot be pieced together out of individual understandings between p01Werful states. All the parties to this war must join in the settlemenit of every issue -anyiwhere invo'1ved in it .. . an"d every item oo it must be submi•tted to the cOOl111Tlon judgment .. ." Wilson's address. February '111, 19118, see Ray S. Baker and William E. Dodd (eds.); The Public Papers of Woodrow Wilson, War and Peace, 2 vols. (N~w York, 1927), L, 180. (4) !Before the recognition of the Czechoslovak National Council Wilson met Masaryk only once, on Jun,e 19, 19118, several weeks aifter he had first decided upon an antiJAUSltrian policy (see this author's article "The United States and the Dissolution oo AustriaJHunigary," Journal of Cent.ral European Affairs, X (Octolber, 1950), pp. 256-270, and two mon-ths before he suddenly considered recognition Olf the Czechoslovaks. The question was not broached in their correspondence . • • • WAS CZECH THE VEIDCLE OF SLOVAK LITERATURE? P.A. Hrobak Since the establishment of the Czecho-Slovak Republic in 1918, a concerted, deliberate attempt on the part of certain Czechs and pro-Czechs is being made to prove the antiquity of the fiction of a united "Czechoslovak" nation. The propaganda apparatus of the political state formed by the Slovaks and the Czechs has been constantly used, even at the expense of the Slovaks, to prove that there really is no Slovak nation, that the Slovaks are but a branch of the Czech nation and the Slovak language is but a dialect of the Czech language. In the memorandum which T. G. Masaryk sent to the U. S. State Department (Lansing), on August 31, 1918, he said: "Slovakia, the southern part of the nation, was occupied by the Magyars and separated early from Bohemia and Moravia; at times, even later, the Slovaks were independent." After over forty years of the Pan-Czech propaganda, we find that the Slovaks are still around and are more determined than ever to preserve and enhance their ethnic individuality. They have successfully resisted all attempts to be made over into Czechs, as prior to 1918 they successfuHy resisted all attempts to be made into Magyars. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 29 WILSON AND T. G. MASARYK Joseph Bousa All who believe in the liberation activity of the untruthful "Liberator," Professor Masaryk, ought to read the documents of September 1918, pertaining to the American recognition of the Czecho-Slovak Army in Russia and in Siberia. These documents, taken from the National Archives in Washington, from ,t he archives of the American Department of State, are in the "Journal of Central European Affairs" (April 1953, pp. 47-60) which is published in Boulder, Colorado. After 1918, Masaryk and his paid "historians" told the nation at home just how Masaryk felt "at home" in the White House and how he convinced President Wilson and his advisers about the necessity of dismembering Austria-Hungary and creating the new state of Czecho-Slovakia. The historical facts were, of course, just the opposite of what Masaryk and his henchmen had always claimed. This is also evidenced in the documents published in the Journal. In the summer of 1918 Americans and President Wilson were not interested in Mr. Masaryk who recommended .that America give recognition to the bloody Bolshevik clique in Moscow as the actual government of Russia. The documents make it quite clear that America was for, while Masaryk was against intervention in Russia against the Bolsheviks. In the summer of 1918 American public opinion was very much influenced by the victorious fight of the Czecho-Slovak Legions against the Bolsheviks in Siberia and Russia. That is why President Wilson and the Government of the United States did exactly the opposite of what Masaryk wanted and recommended. Instead of recognizing the Red Soviet, as Masaryk had recommended, America recognized the opponents of the Soviet, the Czecho-Slovak Army in Siberia and in Eastern Russia as a belligerent Allied Army. Before our Czecho-Slovak Army in Siberia began .to fight on May 25, 1918, against the Bolsheviks, our soldiers had repudiated the leadership of Ma- 30 SLOVAKIA saryk's National Council and his orders to disarm and remain neutral. This much is quite clear from the documents published in the Journal by Professor Victor Mamatey. It was President Wilson himself who scratched out Masaryk's name in the document which recognized "the belligerency of the Czecho-Slovak revolutionists in view of their military organization operating in Siberia and Eastern Russia." I refer the readers to a unique literary work, written truthfully and without regard to the fables of Masaryk, Benes, and their companions, the book entitled "Krvi a zelezem" (With Blood and Iron). It is the first volume of a work about the Czecho-Slovak revolution of 1914-1918 and the foreign policy of the United States. It was published by Dr. Anthony S. Kalina to honor the memory of his father, an outstanding Czech politician and fighter for the recognition of the right of the Czechs to their own state, and also to honor the memory of our Siberian brothers and their immeasurable sacrifices and immortal merits. The book was first published in Prague, in 1938, and was, after Munich, a great encouragement to our people. It is perhaps the first historical work that sold as a "best seller;" it read like a gripping romance. Our people at home read it like the Bible so that within two months Dr. Kalina had it printed four times in many thousands of copies until further publication was made impossible by the Nazis. Dr. Mamatey's article in the Colorado "Journal" in 1953 complements the statements made by Kalina in his "Krvi a zelemem." What was Masaryk's policy towards Russia? In January, 1917, T. G. Masaryk published a sensational article in the Petersburg ''Ruskaja V olja" which he entitled: "Delenda est Austria" (Austria Must Be Destroyed). The publication "Ruskaja Volja" was the organ of the Minister of the Interior, A. D. Protopopov, who was hated by the Russian people. In his article, Masaryk said: "The form of the independent Czech kingdom could be any one of several. .. A dynasty of Russian origin would be e:rtremely popular." Two months later, however - after the Russian March SLOVAKIA 31 Revolution, utterly disregarding neutrality in Russian internal affairs, he again villified the Romanoff dynasty. Arriving in Russia, in May 1917, Masaryk demagogically proclaimed as reactionaries and monarchists all those who since 1914 were creating an independent Czecho-Slovak Army in Russia. With the help of the socialists, Masaryk removed from the leadership of Czech affairs in Russia Dr. Vaclav Vondrak, a progressive democrat who had done much for the creation of Czech military units in Russia. When Kerensky refused to see Masaryk and negotiate with him, Masaryk began to favor a second revolution - the Bolshevik Revolution. Thus it was that Masaryk went from one extreme to the other within a year: from the Romanoffs to the Bolsheviks. On the very first day of the communist putsch, November 7, 1917, Masaryk issued an order of neutrality toward the Bolsheviks. In March, 1918, under the protection of Bolshevik guards, Masaryk departed from Moscow, embarking for America through Japan. The people who expected Masaryk to seek recognition from the American Government for the independence of the Slovaks and Czechs were disappointed. In the very first sentence of the memorandum to President Wilson (April 10, 1918), T. G. Masaryk asked America to recognize the Soviets in Russia. In his book "Krvi a zelezem," Dr. Kalina publishes the documents of American diplomats in which Masaryk is designated as a member of the Bolshevik government, who is coming to America in the interests of the Soviets. A:fiter his arrival in America, Masaryk continued to recommend the recognition of the Soviets as the government of Russia by the American Government in a series of articles and lectures. What was the policy of America and President Wilson towards Russia? Favorable at first to the democratic Russian Revolution and the Kerensky government, it supported the anti-Bolshevik movement and categorically refused to recognize the Bolsheviks as the government of Russia. The policy of America was, therefore, in direct conflict with the policy of Masaryk. It thus happened that Masaryk, after he came to Washington on May 9, 1918, 32 SLOVAKIA had to wait six weeks before he was received by the White House. And available documents tell us most clearly that President Wilson would not have received Masaryk even then had it not been for the intervention of the CzechoSlovak Legion against the Bolsheviks in Siberia and Eastern Russia. Except for this intervention, against the orders of T. G. Masaryk, it can be truthfully said, therefore, the movement for Czecho-Slovak independence would have collapsed. President Wilson and Secretary of State Lansing, aware of Masaryk's non-interventionist policy in Russia, called him in for a hearing on June 19, 1918. Lansing had a difficult time trying to convince Masaryk not .to intervene with the intervention of the Czecho-Sfovak Legion against the Bolsheviks. Lansing talked with Masaryk on June 2 and 25, but Masaryk would not give in. On June 25, 1918, Masaryk even sent a telegram to Soviet Foreign Minister Cicerin in which he bade him to disarm the Czecho.:Slovak Legion in Russia and Siberia. If Masaryk were in Siberia at that time, I strongly suspect that he would have met the same fate as his Commissar Skotak after the battle of Liptak with the Bolsheviks on June 4, 1918: he too would have been hanged for treason. Masaryk kept on going from one extreme to another until it became crystal clear to him that he would end in complete failure not only with the Czecho-Slovak Legionnaires, but also with America and the Allies, if he kept to his pro-Bolshevik policy. The Slovaks and Czechs were fighting two months with the Bolsheviks, conquering just about everything up to the Volga, when Masaryk suddenly decided (July 20, 1918) to drop his pro-Bolshevik attitude and support the Czecho-Slovak Legionnaires. It was on that day that Masaryk, as titular head of the Czecho-Slovak National Council (Paris), requested President Wilson to help the Czecho-Slovak Army in Siberia in its fight aigainst the Bolsheviks. This belated Masaryk's conversion and request had catastrophical results. American help came laite. Our brethren on the Volga waited for help in vain. The Bolsheviks reorganized and consolidated their ranks in the meantime. Thus it was that the Bolshe- SLOVAKIA 33 viks in Russia were saved. Had Masaryk not played with the Bolsheviks at that time and caused dissension and confusion in our ranks, the Bolsheviks could have been beaten ... and the Red plague would not have spread throughout the world. But even with his speedy conversion on July 20, 1918, Masaryk did not gain the confidence of President Wilson and Secretary of State Lansing. American diplomatic documents show that even at the end of 1918, after the overthrow in Prague, President Wilson and Secretary Lansing were not convinced that Masaryk had the support of the Slovaks and Czechs at home. They still remembered that the Legions in Russia had revolted against his policy. Masaryk was saved only by the noblesse of the leaders of the domestic revolution, who made him President in 1918 and re-elected him again in 1927 when a majority of the nation began to oppose Masaryk's socialization. The American recognition of the Czecho-Slovak movement for freedom, without mentioning Masaryk's name, was published in Washington on September 3, 1918. This recognition was clearly the result of the fight of the Czecho-<Slovak Legions in Siberia and Eastern Russia. It came not only without Masaryk's help, but even directly against his unfortunate policy which favored the communists. Slowly but certainly historical science is revealing all the fraud and humbug perpetrated against the modern history of the Czechs and the Slovaks. Again and again history supports all those who had clearly warned against Masaryk's and Benes' policy of socialization. Thus are reha:bilitated such patriotic leaders of our nation as Dr. Charles Kramar, Dr. Vaclav Vondrak, Professor Francis Mares, Dr. Charles Pergler, Victor Dyk, J. S. Machar, and immortal merits of our great Generals, such as, M. R. Stefanik, Stanislaus Cecek, John Gajer, Radola Gajda, Edward Kadlec, Rudolph Medek, Joseph J. Svec, and many others. A study of our modern history has convinced me that also in the future our efforts to liberate our people at home from communism will be successful only if we return SLOVAKIA 34 to the path pointed out to us by selfless men, men of vision, by our courageous sons of our nation. As has been said so many times over, I am also convinced that under the banner of false legends and liberation myths - whether they are Masaryk's and/or Benes' - we shall never succeed in consolidating our nation to fight against our sworn enemy - communism. 0 0 0 0 Joseph Bousa is a Czech associated with the group which publishes the periodical "Bohemia" under the leadership of Vladimir Pekelsky in Kolu-Ehrenfel d, West Germany. Professor Victor S. Mamatey (University of Florida) is the author of the "documents" article referred to by Bouska, who, for some reason or other, preferred . not to mention the author by name, though informed people know that Mamatey is of Slovak origin and the son of the late Albert Mamatey, President of the Slovak League of America during the period the above events transpired. It is true, as Mamatey states aJt the outset of his study, that "relatively little is known about precise circumstances and motives of recognition by the United States Government of the Czechoslovak National Council of Paris in September 1918." This is understandab le since most available studies on this matter ignore the documents that are at hand, the authors preferring to write panegyrics about Masaryk and Benes and their fiction of an ethnic "Czechoslovak " nation instead of true history. We cannot agree with Professor Mamatey that "Thomas G. Masaryk ... was a well-known political figure" at the time the above events happened, yet we cannot recommend his study .too highly to all scholars and students of history. Mamatey's study of fourteen pages suggests that available history books on Czecho-Slovakia (Roucek's, Kerner's, Odlozilik's, Bezdicek's, Thomson's among them) can become more complete for the edification of future historians, if the respective historians take note of it. The conclusions drawn by Professor Mamatey deserve to be published here for the edification of our readers: The conclusions that may be drawn from tJhe foregoing documents are several: le 11he recognit-ion of the Czechoslovak Nationial 35 SLOVAKIA Council was tbased neither on Bohemia's historical rights to independen,ce nor on the principle <Xf national seltf-determiruation, but on the fact of Czechoslovak belligerency. 2. The recognition committed the United States Government to uphold Czech0$lovak independ•enice from Austria.filung ary, and together with the recogniUon accorded the CzechoslO'Va'ks by other Allied Governments , it virtuaHy assured them a place as an Mlied belliigerent nation at the peace conforence. But it in no sense implied a recognition <Xf unlike exact territorial cla.imsQl). 3. Since the Czechoslovak s the Culban revolutionari es Wlhose beUi,gerency had been recognized by President Grant - were not in possession orf the territ oriy they claimed and thus lacked what had always been regarded as an essentia1 element of soviereignty, and since the lilffiits of this territory were at the time unknown to the American policy-maker s (2), Lansing thought it wise to dissociate the recognition of the Czechoslo\<ak National Council from any concep tion <Xf terflitory by following the British examp1'e of granting r~ognition to the Czecho-Slovaks - wherever they might be, in Siberia, France, or Italy rather than to Czechoslovak ia, a territorial unit then still of uncertain Hmits. 4. Jin preparing the recogn,it ion, St-.ite Department o.fificials carefiuHy studied it in the light of precedents. Lans-i ng also gave careful thought to its possible effoots on domest ic American politics and on the current internat ional situat ion. 1it does not appear, however, that any thought was given to its possible effect on post-war Europe. Neitoor President Wilson nor the State Department officials a,p,pear to have been concerned at the time with the 1mportant question otf the disposal of the German minority in Bohemia and Moravia. Generally speaking, President Wilson and his forei,gn...ipolicy advisors thought that all such detailed questions should be left to the peace coruference to decide (3). 5. Cont,r,ary to common belief, the recognition of the Czechoslovak Nationa l Council, like previous anti-Austrian measiur-es adopted by the United States GoverD1Inent, was not a res ult of direct, personal discussions between Wilson and Masaryk. The impetus to the adoption o.f this me·a sure came from the American publ ic, impresesd with the exploits of the Czechoslovak soldtiers in S~beria. Besrides th1e Silberian adventure, ~rtant elements of American pulblic opinion were, no doubt, influenced by Masaryk's skillful propa,gantla. But the State DepartJment oiificials, charged with the elaiboration of the recognition, paid little heed to his suggestions, and Presiden,t Wilson a,piproved the dec ~aration without discussing it with him (4). Ed itor. 0 ) It may be interesting to note in this connection tha t at the Paris :Pea'Ce Conference the American delegation advocated an ethnic boundary for Czechoslovakia until April 4, '1919, Wlhen druxing a period of the President's iHness, Edward M. House gave in to the French demand for the retention of the historical boundary of Bohemia and Moravia. (2) On Septemlber 27, 19118, as an, afterthought, th~ Department of State wired to London to inquire the views of the Foreign Office about the fuiture boundaries of the Czechoslovak State. The British 36 SLOVAKIA officials aip,pear to have been equally uncertain about this question at the time, for the Foreign, Office did not reply until November 13, 191'8, and even then did not take a clear stand. See, Foreign Relations, 1919. The Paris Peace Conference, 13 vols. (Washington, 19~1947), H, 3716°377. (3) "(Peace) cannot be pieced together out of individual understandings between p01Werful states. All the parties to this war must join in the settlemenit of every issue -anyiwhere invo'1ved in it .. . an"d every item oo it must be submi•tted to the cOOl111Tlon judgment .. ." Wilson's address. February '111, 19118, see Ray S. Baker and William E. Dodd (eds.); The Public Papers of Woodrow Wilson, War and Peace, 2 vols. (N~w York, 1927), L, 180. (4) !Before the recognition of the Czechoslovak National Council Wilson met Masaryk only once, on Jun,e 19, 19118, several weeks aifter he had first decided upon an antiJAUSltrian policy (see this author's article "The United States and the Dissolution oo AustriaJHunigary," Journal of Cent.ral European Affairs, X (Octolber, 1950), pp. 256-270, and two mon-ths before he suddenly considered recognition Olf the Czechoslovaks. The question was not broached in their correspondence . • • • WAS CZECH THE VEIDCLE OF SLOVAK LITERATURE? P.A. Hrobak Since the establishment of the Czecho-Slovak Republic in 1918, a concerted, deliberate attempt on the part of certain Czechs and pro-Czechs is being made to prove the antiquity of the fiction of a united "Czechoslovak" nation. The propaganda apparatus of the political state formed by the Slovaks and the Czechs has been constantly used, even at the expense of the Slovaks, to prove that there really is no Slovak nation, that the Slovaks are but a branch of the Czech nation and the Slovak language is but a dialect of the Czech language. In the memorandum which T. G. Masaryk sent to the U. S. State Department (Lansing), on August 31, 1918, he said: "Slovakia, the southern part of the nation, was occupied by the Magyars and separated early from Bohemia and Moravia; at times, even later, the Slovaks were independent." After over forty years of the Pan-Czech propaganda, we find that the Slovaks are still around and are more determined than ever to preserve and enhance their ethnic individuality. They have successfully resisted all attempts to be made over into Czechs, as prior to 1918 they successfuHy resisted all attempts to be made into Magyars.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Wilson and T. G. Masaryk Description An account of the resource Joseph Bouša Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 6 (31), March-June 1960 pp. 29-36 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bouša, Joseph Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1960 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/0464996abeca82de4c8feeb05af912a5.pdf 4995937ff4152d7aa386146fa0962741 PDF Text Text 36 SLOVAKIA officials aip,pear to have been equally uncertain about this question at the time, for the Foreign, Office did not reply until November 13, 191'8, and even then did not take a clear stand. See, Foreign Relations, 1919. The Paris Peace Conference, 13 vols. (Washington, 19~1947), H, 3716°377. (3) "(Peace) cannot be pieced together out of individual understandings between p01Werful states. All the parties to this war must join in the settlemenit of every issue -anyiwhere invo'1ved in it .. . an"d every item oo it must be submi•tted to the cOOl111Tlon judgment .. ." Wilson's address. February '111, 19118, see Ray S. Baker and William E. Dodd (eds.); The Public Papers of Woodrow Wilson, War and Peace, 2 vols. (N~w York, 1927), L, 180. (4) !Before the recognition of the Czechoslovak National Council Wilson met Masaryk only once, on Jun,e 19, 19118, several weeks aifter he had first decided upon an antiJAUSltrian policy (see this author's article "The United States and the Dissolution oo AustriaJHunigary," Journal of Cent.ral European Affairs, X (Octolber, 1950), pp. 256-270, and two mon-ths before he suddenly considered recognition Olf the Czechoslovaks. The question was not broached in their correspondence . • • • WAS CZECH THE VEIDCLE OF SLOVAK LITERATURE? P.A. Hrobak Since the establishment of the Czecho-Slovak Republic in 1918, a concerted, deliberate attempt on the part of certain Czechs and pro-Czechs is being made to prove the antiquity of the fiction of a united "Czechoslovak" nation. The propaganda apparatus of the political state formed by the Slovaks and the Czechs has been constantly used, even at the expense of the Slovaks, to prove that there really is no Slovak nation, that the Slovaks are but a branch of the Czech nation and the Slovak language is but a dialect of the Czech language. In the memorandum which T. G. Masaryk sent to the U. S. State Department (Lansing), on August 31, 1918, he said: "Slovakia, the southern part of the nation, was occupied by the Magyars and separated early from Bohemia and Moravia; at times, even later, the Slovaks were independent." After over forty years of the Pan-Czech propaganda, we find that the Slovaks are still around and are more determined than ever to preserve and enhance their ethnic individuality. They have successfully resisted all attempts to be made over into Czechs, as prior to 1918 they successfuHy resisted all attempts to be made into Magyars. �SLOVAKIA 37 Over the years several "authorities" and "eminent" scholars and journalists have repeated the distortions, false claims, and deliberate untruths of the propagandists, perhaps harboring the thought that time will eventually transform them into truths. Citing the works of such "experts" another genera:tion of scholars and journalists and researchers will arise, quoting these highly questionable "eminent" historians. Thus are errors, distortions, halftruths, and outright falsehoods propagated, while their authors blatantly proclaim that "truth prevails" (pravda vitezi). According to Jaroslav Vlcek, accepted authority on Slovak and Czech literature, the Czech language was the medium of Slova:k literature for over 300 years. The claim is made in his "Dejiny Literatury Slovenskej" (History of Slovak literature) which was published by the Matica Slovenska (Slovak Institute) of Turciansky Svaty Martin in 1923. Vlcek came from a Czech family that had settled in Slova:kia. He was a follower of T. G. Masaryk and his socatlled Hlasists, the men associated with the periodical "Hlas" (Voice) which promoted the Czech fiction of a united ethnic "Czechoslovak" nation. This claim, which cannot stand up under historical criticism because it has no basis in historical fact, is a favorite of Prague regimes and Czech propagandists. Vlcek himself refutes the claim in his work, but this fact has strangely escaped the notice of practically all English writers of Czecho-Slovak or Czech-Slovak history. In Vlcek's "Dejiny" we read: ''The Hussites brought to u s not onty the din of savage battle, but also a new faith, a new communal language. . . . The Czech language made itsellf at home amo:rJJg the Slorvaks as their literary language ... The exclusive reign of the Czech language lasts for three hundred years from the first Hussite colonization" Cl). "From the fifteenth to the eighteenth cent ury, Hussitism and Pl'otestantism connect Slovak literary creations formaHy with Czech literature. It is not until the end of the eighteerrth century that Bernola!k, and in the middle of the nineteenth cent ury Stur, Hiodza, and Hurlban lay the origins and foundat ions of an independent Slovak literature" (2). "Material, which would clari£y the position of the Czech langua,ge in our midst in the fifteent h century, is thus far for �38 SLOVAKIA the most part laying in the dust of arohives. But even fr.om that bit that has been brought to light, it is safe to say that the Czech language from the second half of the fifteenth cenury is the Ian• guage of the autonomous Slovak authorities and later even the language of the counties and castles" (3). The "Dejiny" even proclaim Czech as the national language in Slovakia : "From the beginning of the sixteenth century to the beginning of the eighteenth century the national language in Slovakia flows in a threefold current: 1. Printed works, for the most part religious books, and here again for the most part Evangelical (Lutheran), hold to the language of the Kralice Bible; 2. Documents, records, municipal and private books, therefore the written word, more or less including native (Slovak) words and forms in place of the literary Czech forms; 3. The common uneducated people ait home, in the field and in their family circles, converse by means of the inherited, live language of their forefathers - in Slovak" ( 4). Now then, the first current of the "national language in Slovakia" - according to Vlcek's "Dejiny" - is the language of the Kra1ice Bible, i.e., pure Czech and nothing else; the second current is Czech again, interspersed with Slovak words and phrases; and only the third current of this national language is made up of the "live" language of the common people. Informed persons, Slovaks in particular, know that such statements and claims tend to serve especially the political interests of those who claim there is no Slovak nation and, consequently, no Slovak language. We know that they served the interests of T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Edward Benes at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, where they claimed that the Slovak nation was the invention of the Magyars and the Slovaks and the Czechs were the same. Vlcek, an authority on Slovak and Czech literature, was also a follower of Masaryk and his '" Hlasists." After the estaiblishment of the Czecho-Slovak Republic, Vlcek was named director of the Matica Slovenska. It was under his directorship that an attempt was made to remake the Slovak language into Czech. When he died, the Czech Anton Stefanek, Minister of Education, wrote these significant words about Vlcek: �SLOVAKIA 39 "Very few people knO!W, particularly fNlllll the young gener.ation, that along,side Ma-sacytk it wa,s he (Week) who was the spirit of the 'Hla,s' (the or,g,a n of the Slovak Pan-Czechists, 1008·1004. - ed. note) and molded, so to 51Peak, the young 'Hlasists' .... J . Vlcek is not an ordinary historiain, who mechanically collects scientific matertial to compile new 'boak,s. Into e·v ery one of his works he inserts a certain tendency to seriv,e his nation (the Czech nation - ed.). Along,side his strict s!Cien•tific dbjectiv1ty and his serious respect for Slovaik sentiments he al,ways knew h-OIW to include in his boo~ and h1s articles the eDfort to unite a'Ild not to further divide the Slovaks and Czechs" (5). Let us now research the period of 300 years during which the Czech language reigned exclusively in Slovakia. History teMs us that the Hussites came to Slovakia the first time in 1421; up to 1440 their visits were predatory excursions. They did not come to Slovakia to settle down. The power of the Hussites was broken with their defeat near Lipjariy in 1434. They remained in Slovakia a longer time when Jiskra came to power. On a mandate from Queen Elizarbeth, in the defense of Ladislaus the Posthumous, Jiskra ruled the greater pa:rt of Slovakia from the end of 1439 to the death of Ladislaus in 1457. Mathias, newly elected King of Hungary, began to wage war against Jiskra in 1458, defeating him in 1461. Jiskra was in power in Slovakia from 1440. Let us, then, begin our research of Vlcek's "three hundred years." Vlcek tells us in his "Dejiny" that "with the death of Matthew Cak of Trencin, called Dominus Vagi et Tatrae, at the begi,n ning of the fourteerrtJh century, falls even this monument of Slavalk independence. The g11ant priruc1pa-lity of Nitra (Matyas foldje") bl-end·s into a close po!Hical union with the kingdom ·of Hungary, and our natiorral life loses itself in the common diplomatic ton1gue, the organ of the Ghureh and state, literature ~md society .... "(6). It is generaHy known that Latin was the official language of the Church and state, literature and society, not only during Matthew Ca.k's time, not only during the 300 years of the imagined "exclusive reign of the Czech language in Slovakia," but even many years after those 300, when German and Magyar finally replaced it in the Bohemian and Hungarian kingdoms respectively. Joseph Dobrovsky, the "father of modern Czech literature," wrote his main work in Latin in 1822. In Trnava, Slovakia, records were kept in Latin up to 1848 (7). �40 SLOVAKIA According to Vlcek, it was not only in official and church circles that Czech took hold in S4ovakia, but even in popular literature of the fifteenth century: "In popular literature Czech is perhaps forcing its way with the same success, even though there exist no positive examples of this." But what kind of "exclusive reign of the Czech language" can that be when it "perhaps" was forcing its way in popular literature for which there exist "no positive examples"? The activities of the Hussites and the influence of Jiskra in Slovakia may have prompted Vlcek to say what he did. Then, however, we would have to assume that Vlcek was not very well informed on the Hussites. We know, as Vlcek must have known, that Jiskra's army, including only the "remnanits" of Hussites, was made up of for the most part of adventurers of many nationalities (8). Furthe:vmore, the Hussite expeditions into Slovakia could not have any influence on the literary language of the Slovaks because of their very nature. There were long intervals between expeditions and the Hussites held Trnava and Skalica only two years (9). The Hussites came to rob, and rob they did, leaving with their plunder. The Czech author Kulhanek adds that Jiskra's plunderers were a despicable lot which, six wears after Lipany, was composed of "those depredatory bands" which had plundered the Czech lands. Vlcek refutes his own statement about the "exclusive reign of Czech" when he tells us that "the sixteenth century extended the field of the Czech language still more. There came the Lutheran Reformation, the national churches and schools" (10). If the Czech language was the exclusive vehicle of Slovak literature in the fifteenth century, how could it possibly spread even more in the sixteenth? Vlcek would want us to believe that Czech even invaded the "national churches and schools" with Luther's Reformation and yet, on the same page, he tells us that these schools were "Latin-Slovak!" The fact is that they were not even Slovak, because, excepting religion, everything else was taught in Latin. Vlcek himself gives evidence of this (11). The Reformation of the sixteenth century did not help the "national churches and schools" in Bohemia and Slovakia. V. Flajshans, noted Czech author and professor of �SLOVAKIA 41 Czech literature at the Prague Charles University, deplored Luther's Reformation for the very fact that everywhere it took hold in Bohemia, the German language did too (12). At the beginning of the sixteenth century not Czech but German came to Slovakia; it took hold almost exclusively on~y in the German towns and only in the second half of the sixteenth century did it begin to spread to Slovak settlements. Vlcek himself names many authors who wrote in Latin in the seventeenth century, saying that Protestantism was "shattering the shackles of Latin" (13). Moreover, the end of the eighteenth century, he tells us, "brings to a close the era of religious intolerance and Latin erudition" (14). Since, according to Vlcek, Latin, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, had become the linguistic medium of "the Church and state, literature and society in Hungary," and then that "the end of the eighteeDlth century brought to a close the era of religious intolerance and Latin erudition," we must conclude that his statement in regard to the "e~clusive reign of the Czech language in Slovakia for 300 years" is irresponsible if not an outright fabrication. After the disastrous Battle of White Mountain (1620), the Czech language was dying in its own homeland, as stated by Vlcek(15). On the other hand, according to Skultety, Latin was dulling the Slovaks nationally from the sixteenth century for almost 200 years (16). "The Hussites brought us (the Slovaks) a new communal language," which became domesticated or was quickly adopted by the Silovaks as their literary medium, according to Vlcek. But the very fact that the Czech language was a "new" language, it must have been foreign to the .Slovaks and, hence, could not have become domesticated in the land of the Slovaks. H. Marczali tells us, for example, that very few land barons (magnates) could read and write at that time: "Of the Hungarian magnates only the Primate of Hungary, Thomas Bakac, knew how to sign his name to the Bratislava Peace Agreement (Nov. 7, 1491) with Maximilian, the German Emperor; Stephen Bathori, Ladisllaus Guthi, Ladislaus Rozgoni - all members of the higher nobility - could not write" (17). History tells us that Hun- �42 SLOVAKIA gary was in a chaotic, rebellious ferment during the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries - a condition which could not possibly favor the progress of literature and culture of the nationaJlities of Hungary. The fact is that there was no Slovak literature, and, under the circumstances, could not be during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Rebellions and wars usually disrupt literary activity and cultural life. Vlcek could not have reported the fact that at that time only priests and monks did any writing and even then only when they hadl no sword in hand. The fact that he did not leads us to the conclusion that Vlcek was interested in promoting the fable about "the exclusive reign of Czech as the literary medium of the Slovaks for 300 years." Chauvinistic Czechs and pro-Czech historians and journalists still propagate Vlcek's fable to "prove" that the Slovaks and Czechs at one time were ethnically one nation. In his "Dejiny" the author devotes the first 18 lines to record superficially the general history of the fifteenth century, and then a total of 27 lines to the entire literary activity of that period. This in itself ought to be sufficient for us to form an idea of the veracity of Vlcek's statement in regard to the "exdusive reign of the Czech language in Slovakia.'' The Prague University, founded by Charles IV in 1348, is credited by Vlcek for the "refreshening of Slovak spiritual life" (18). It had practically no effect on the spiritual or national life of the Czechs themselves, hence it is highly questionable that the university had any great influence on Slovak national life of the fourteenth century. The nationality concept at that time was entirely foreign, unknown(19). National consciousness is usually intimately connected with the fate of a language, and the fate of the Czech language in the fourteent h and previous centuries was indeed very; sad(20). History tells us that the last Premyslide rulers (1253i 1306) unified the Bohemian kingdom, but these very kings cared the least for the Czech language and for Czech na.1 tional consciousness (21). German dominated at the court of Otokar II (1253-1278); the nobility and towns, following �SLOVAKIA 43 Otokar's example, also used the German language. An old saying has it tha,t Otokar warned the Czechs: "one shall not be able to see a single Czech on the Prague bridge." In the sixteenth century this warning made the rounds in this form: "A Czech on the Prague bridge will be as rare as a deer with golden antlers"! Otokar, it is recorded, threatened the Czechs in this manner as he took off to fight Rudolph in 1278 (22). Wenceslaus II (1278-1305), son of Otokar II, of all things, became a German poet. Brought up in Germany, Wenceslaus followed in the footsteps of his father, Otokar II, and his grandfather Wenceslaus I, both of whom had forced Czechs out of several towns in favor of the Germans. He could not write "in the langua,ge of the despised men, the (Czech) language in which no one wrote up to that time" (23). Such was the condition of the Czech language up to of Hus. The Czechs, we know, indulge extravaadvent the gantly in the glory of Charles IV, "the father of our country" and the founder of the Prague University. The fact is that Charles IV was a German educated in France. When he was called to occupy the throne of Bohemia he did not know a single word of Czech (24). The teaching medium of the Prague University was Latin. If the University was founded in the Czech interest, the Czech language undoubtedly would have found its way into science before 1499, i.e., 120 years after Charles !V's death. There would then be no need for Hus to fight for the equality of the Czech language in the fifteenth century. Charles was succeeded by his son, Wenceslaus IV (1378-1419), who favored Latin and German. In 1394 the Union of Nobles had him arrested and forced him to issue documents also in Czech. Hus himself, until 1413, wrote in Latin (25). Under Charles IV, the Germans controlled the University. In the heat of the Hussite battle his son and successor, Wences'laus IV, sanctioned the reorganization of the University (Decree of Kutna Hora, Jan. 18, 1409), to give the Czechs "a ruling voice in their own university" (26). The result was disastrous for the University. Losing their influence, the Germans left the University of Prague, May 16, 1409, to found their own �44 SLOVAKIA university at Leipzig. With the exodus of the Germans the university lost its European significance and the Hussite era practically ruined it, reducing everything in the Czechsettled lands in Bohemia and a great part of Moravia to dust and ashes (27). As a result no examinations were held by the university from 1420 to 1428, a situation that happened frequently until 1526, so that Czech students had to continue their studies elsewhere. Flajshans tells us that as late as 1554 all twelve professors of the Prague University did not have together the salary of one professor of the University of Paris (28). The same author begins the chapter on the overglorified "Hussite Century" (15th) with these words: "All the higher schools are Latin; all offi~ cial records and public documents were written in Latin; and Latin united all scholars of the whole world" (29). Concluding the same chapter, Flajshans says: "The cry of Viktorin cal!ling for diligent work in the field of the Czech language remained for a long time the voice of one crying in the wilderness" (30). Viktorin, who in 1495 was opposed to Czech in the law books of Prague, died in 1520. The historical truth is that Czech Hussitism was above all else a religious movement which had practically nothing in common with the "national spirit" of the Czechs. Hussitism was not supported by the Prague University, but rather persecuted. That is why the adherents of Hus' teachings turned their hatred in the first instance against the univesity which they pillaged more than once, beating and throwing out the professors and bringing ruin upon it. The Czechs, the very people who should have nurtured and elevated the "Czech national and religious spirit," turned against the university ( 31) . They developed a new "national spirit" and strived to force it on their people. If the Prague University had practically no influence on the national life of the Czechs at that time, what influence could it possibly have on Slovak national life? The historical fact is that there is not a trace of Hussite literature in Slovakia from the fifteenth century(32). Like Jaroslav Vlcek, later historians, including S. Harrison Thomson of the University of Colorado, Robert J. Ker- �SLOVAKIA ner of the University of California, Joseph R. Roucek, of Hofstra College (1946), had the opportunity of writing objectively in regard to the matter at hand by seeking out available historical facts instead of relying on chauvinistic Czech propaganda. Professor S. Harrison Thomson, perhaps unable to see the forest for the trees, said this about the SloV'aks and Czechs and their respective languages: "The two peoples were originally so closely related as to be indistiruguishlalble, but geo,g,rap'lry and distance could easily have induced a separate political existence. The Magyar conquest made any such natural development illl!possible"(i33). ''The Slovaks therefore had no opporfonity to develop their own culture, written language, political institutions or social concepts in any independent way. Their relationship with the Ozechs, their brothers to the west, had, for all practical purposes, ceased to be a reality for them. This situation lasted nine centuries" (34). ''The great similarity of the vernacular lan.guages furnished an additional bond between the peoples of Bohemia and Slovakia" (35). "Political and military prestige combined with purely linguistic flexibility to make Czech rather than Slovak the lingua franca of a considera1b le region outside Bohemia. Written, Czec·h ,b ecame the language of the educated Slovaks, particularly if they had studied at Prague, and .remained such until the end of the 18th century(36). "It would be difficult to exaggerate the influence of this wide acceptance of Czech as the written langua-ge of the Slovaks during a period when Bohemia was free and Slovakia was ruled by Mag,y,ars. Tihe dialectical peculiarities that appear here and ther-e in Slovak document's did not alter the fundamental fact that Czech was accepted as the basic tongue of the tw;,. peoples(37). "The end result of the sojourn of the Hussite armies was not very considerable. In the first place their stay in Slovakia was relatively short, and in the second place we have incontrovertible evidence that the organization and powe1' of the Catholic Church in Slovakia was not noticeably disturbed at any time in the fifteenth century" (138). In his foreword, Professor Thomson warns the reader that the term "Czechoslovakia" has no political significance in his book; "it is used generally to designate the geographical entity lately known by that name." The professor may be coy and naive, but he is no fool. He knew what he was doing. Whether he likes it or not, the fact is that term, with or without the hyphen, is the name of a political entity. He warns the reader further that the �46 SLOVAKIA term "Bohemia" is also geographical "and in no wise an ethnic term." Nevertheless throughout his book he generally substitutes the term "CZECH kingdom"! What justification can there be for denying, ignoring, suppressing, or falsifying established historical facts? By the way, Thomson's "Czechoslovakia in European History" was awarded the "Czechoslovak State Prize" in December 1944, at a time when that state did not factually exist, the provisional (illegal) government of Dr. Edward Benes thus showing its appreciation to the professor. Indeed, the same professor who said in another "historical gem" edited by R. J. Kerner of the University of California: "But to Premysl Otokar I (]19741230) must be assigned the responsibility for inviting the Gerlll!an immigration. En,couraged by the court, many Czech nobles had married German women ; some of the best positionis of the Church in Bohemia and Moravia were occupied by German clerics; German minnesingers were in high favor t-0 the royal court and at the courts of the richer nobles"(39). Gerald Druce, "authority on Czech science," belongs in Thomson's category. In Kerner's "Czechoslovakia" he had this to say in regard to the matter at hand: "The University of Prague, the oldest in Central Europe, had been founded in 1348 by Charles IV and had been placed upon a secure footing by his successor, Vaclav IV, by the Kutna Hora decrees in 1409. During the Middle Ages the study of the natural sciences flourished in Bo'hemia, as is shown by the number of herbals and contemporary mineralogical and alchemical wol'ks in the Czech langua•ge. Indeed, toward the close of the sixteenth centry Prague was recogn,ized as an important center of learning"(40). The tendency is quite obvious. Significant it is, too, that Druce, like all other pro-Czech propagandists, finds it very convenient to offer no proof for his "historical" statements. Professor Joseph R. Roucek, being a Czech, could allow himself a bit more rope by raising the Czech banner "Pravda vitezi." Writing about the Slovaks and Czechs and their languages, he adds to the confusion ( emphasis here as elsewhere being mine. - P.A.H): "CZECH refers to the principal people or language found in Bohemia and Moravia. SL-OVAK is the name given to the eas• ternmost division of the Czech-speaking people. Protestant leaders and philologists have claimed that Slovak is merely Old �SLOVAKIA 47 Czech and have urged the use of Czech as the sole written Ian• guage"{ 41 ). "The difficulty of intercourse with the Czechs has produced a divergence in what was originally a common language. The Slovak and Czech :forms of the language dilffer in certain minor points to the present day, like two dialects of the same tongue spoken locally"(412). 'IH is eertain, at any rate, that toward the end of the Premyslid era (1'305) the Czech language was already being adQ1Pted by scholars, that it moved from the villages, towns, and castles into books, and that it even began to replace both Latin and German"(43) "The German language (in the time of Hus - the latter part of the 14th century and first quarter of lsth) was predominant both in pwblic offices and in the churches and schools throughout the country"(44). But - as a result oif the Hussrte movement - "the Czech language and literature began to predominate"(45). Nevertheless "The Slovaks remained a separate and distinct people, even though cut off from intercourse with other Slav peoples. They remained mainly Catholic and developed their language as a dialect of the Czech language"(46). Joseph Lettrich, author of a "History of Modern Slovakia," belongs in a category by himself. As a Slovak he is opposed to Slovak freedom and independence. The Slovaks, according to Lettrich, could not exist without the Czechs. Having collaborated with Benes and the Communists, Lettrich is now on vacation from politics in the United States, still serving the interests of the Czechs as a prominent member of the so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovakia" - the organization of former members of the Communistdominated National Front Government of Czecho-Slovakia (1945-1948). Blinded by his prejudices and ignorant of history, Lettrich had this to say about his own people and their language "When a university was founded in Pra•g ue by King Charle,s N in 11314!8, numerous Slovaks werut to study there, and several became prdfessors at that un,iversity. In this manner the cultural relations between Slovak'S and Czechs, which had been forcibly interrupted, were re-established. They were to play a vital role in the spiritual development of the tJwo peoples. The most powerful influence that united them was the written Czechoslovak language which continued to be common to both. In, the first half of the fi,fteenth century the armies o'f the Czech Hussite warriors penetrated into Slovakia .... The Hussite forces ... introduced a new spirit of independence from Rome. Above all, they once again strengthened the ties of a common language and culture between Czechs and Slovaks"(47). �48 SLOVAKIA Lettrich, like other Slovak renegades and pro-Czech scribes, tried to remake history in the image of "Masaryk's interpretation" of Czech history. The ancient Czechs had the motto: "The truth of God prevails" (pravda Bozi vitezi). Masaryk, following the example of the radical Hussites, threw out God and made the motto read "Truth prevai'ls." Waving Masaryk's banner high, his followers continue in his "interpretation" of the national spirit and the history of the Czechs, misrepresenting and distorting historical facts. Having abandoned Divinely imposed mandates of the moral law, they now seek refuge and justification in the counterfeit doctrine of unbridled liberalism. Whatever might be said to the contrary, the truth is that "Such phrases as 'Czechoslovak language' might be used for the benefit of the outside world and in constitutional and other state documents, but the fact remains that to the vast majority of both peoples (Czechs and Slovaks), the idea remained a pure fiction, and the languages, like the peoples, were, in solid fact, two and not one" (4'8). REFERENCES 1. Jaroslav Vlcek: DEJmY SLOVElNISKJEJ LITElRATURY, 192'3, 1pp. 5,6. 2. Vlcek - p. 2. 3. Vlcek - p. 6. 4. Vlcek - p. 25. 5. SLOVENSKY DENNiK, 1922, No. 17. 6. Vlcek - pp. 4-5 7. Jozef Skultety: O &LOV AKOOH, p. 59. 8. !Kulhanek: KRONIKA CESKOSILOVElNSiKA, pp. 001~62. 9. M. Misik: HUSITI NA SLOVL0NS~U, p. 37. 10. Vlcek - p . 8. t:111. Vlcek - p. 8. 1'2. V. Flajsha11s: NAS JAZYK MA'DERSKY, p. 283. '113. Vlcek - p. 1.2. 14. Vlcek - p,24 . .115. Vlcek - p. 23. 1'6. Jozef Skultety: NElHAN'DE L'UD MOJ! p. 82. 17. Henry Ma1.1czali: MAGYAIROR!SZAG TORTENIETE, Vol. l, p. 367. 18. Vlcek - pp. 5-6. 19. Skultety: 0 SLOVAKO OH, p. '170. 20. Karol Tri\.ovski: K RECOVIEJ OTAZKE SLOVArfroV, ;1.937, p. 23. 21. Flajshans, - i;>. ·1163. 22. IFlajshans - PJl,69. 23. IFlajshans - p. 170. '24. IFla,jshans - p. 209. '25. Flajshans - p. 220. '26. S. Harrison Thomson: CZEOHOSL0 VAKIA IN EUIRO!PEIA!N HliSTORY, 1M4; p. 116. 1 �SLOVAKIA 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 4Jl. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. iFlajshans - p. 259. ,F la,j shans - p. 260. [Flajshans - p. 217. Flajshans - p. 265. Flajshans - p. 259. Tri\.ovski - p. 47. Thomson p. 199. Thomson - p. 200. Thomson - p. 206. Thomson - p. 207. Thomson - p. 207. Thomson - p. 208. CZEJOHOSLOV.Ax;1iA, edited by Robert J. Kerner, 1'949; 02lEJOHOSLOVAK1iA, Kerner - p. 316. Joseph R. Roucek: CEJN'l1RAlrEAlSTEJRN EUROIPE, 1946; Roucek - p. 63. IRoucek - p. 64. IRoucek - p. 66. iRoucek - p. 69. Roucek - p. 81. Jozef Lettrich: HISTORY OF MOIDERN SLOVA!KIA, pp. 21,22. C. A. Macartney: HUNGARY ANiD HIE)R SUOOESSORS, 49 p . 13. p. 61. 11955; 11937 ; p. 1·26. • • • WHO SAID IT? ''However close the original bonds between the Slovaks and the Czechs) imay have been, the ten, centuries dw:ing which the Slovaks formed a part of the kingdom of Hun:gary, w:hile the Czechs were subjected to German and Austrian influences, naturally brought about a marked dififerentation between the two peoples. Even the physical stocks cannot be so closely related today as they were a thousand years ago, for the Czeohs aTe todlay inextricalbly mingled with German elements, while the Slovak mountaineers have retained their racial purity to a larger degree .... There is, h01Wever, a noti.t:ealb le doifference both in physical appearance and in character between, the dour, efificient, but somewhiat ungainly Czech, and the airy, talkative, hwppy-go-lucky Slovak." - C. A. Macartney: HUNGAIRY AND HER SUOCEJSSORIS, London, L937) . • • • ' Iif a single dynasty had united both peoples ~Czechs and Slovaks) in a permanent, or at least an enduring union, a Czechoslovak nationality would assuredly have been formed and with a Czecho•slovak language - any minor dialectal diff.erences which existed would have been smoothed out. This did not happen; and while the Slavs of Bohemia developed the ,Czech nationality and language, to which the intermed,i ate dialects of Moravila gravitated, the Slovaks under Hungarian rule, not only developed along different lines from the Czechs, but were not even able to form a single literary language with them." - CC. A. Macartney: HUNGA!RY ANlD HiElR SUCOESSORS, London, 1937). � 36 SLOVAKIA officials aip,pear to have been equally uncertain about this question at the time, for the Foreign, Office did not reply until November 13, 191'8, and even then did not take a clear stand. See, Foreign Relations, 1919. The Paris Peace Conference, 13 vols. (Washington, 19~1947), H, 3716°377. (3) "(Peace) cannot be pieced together out of individual understandings between p01Werful states. All the parties to this war must join in the settlemenit of every issue -anyiwhere invo'1ved in it .. . an"d every item oo it must be submi•tted to the cOOl111Tlon judgment .. ." Wilson's address. February '111, 19118, see Ray S. Baker and William E. Dodd (eds.); The Public Papers of Woodrow Wilson, War and Peace, 2 vols. (N~w York, 1927), L, 180. (4) !Before the recognition of the Czechoslovak National Council Wilson met Masaryk only once, on Jun,e 19, 19118, several weeks aifter he had first decided upon an antiJAUSltrian policy (see this author's article "The United States and the Dissolution oo AustriaJHunigary," Journal of Cent.ral European Affairs, X (Octolber, 1950), pp. 256-270, and two mon-ths before he suddenly considered recognition Olf the Czechoslovaks. The question was not broached in their correspondence . • • • WAS CZECH THE VEIDCLE OF SLOVAK LITERATURE? P.A. Hrobak Since the establishment of the Czecho-Slovak Republic in 1918, a concerted, deliberate attempt on the part of certain Czechs and pro-Czechs is being made to prove the antiquity of the fiction of a united "Czechoslovak" nation. The propaganda apparatus of the political state formed by the Slovaks and the Czechs has been constantly used, even at the expense of the Slovaks, to prove that there really is no Slovak nation, that the Slovaks are but a branch of the Czech nation and the Slovak language is but a dialect of the Czech language. In the memorandum which T. G. Masaryk sent to the U. S. State Department (Lansing), on August 31, 1918, he said: "Slovakia, the southern part of the nation, was occupied by the Magyars and separated early from Bohemia and Moravia; at times, even later, the Slovaks were independent." After over forty years of the Pan-Czech propaganda, we find that the Slovaks are still around and are more determined than ever to preserve and enhance their ethnic individuality. They have successfully resisted all attempts to be made over into Czechs, as prior to 1918 they successfuHy resisted all attempts to be made into Magyars. �SLOVAKIA 37 Over the years several "authorities" and "eminent" scholars and journalists have repeated the distortions, false claims, and deliberate untruths of the propagandists, perhaps harboring the thought that time will eventually transform them into truths. Citing the works of such "experts" another genera:tion of scholars and journalists and researchers will arise, quoting these highly questionable "eminent" historians. Thus are errors, distortions, halftruths, and outright falsehoods propagated, while their authors blatantly proclaim that "truth prevails" (pravda vitezi). According to Jaroslav Vlcek, accepted authority on Slovak and Czech literature, the Czech language was the medium of Slova:k literature for over 300 years. The claim is made in his "Dejiny Literatury Slovenskej" (History of Slovak literature) which was published by the Matica Slovenska (Slovak Institute) of Turciansky Svaty Martin in 1923. Vlcek came from a Czech family that had settled in Slova:kia. He was a follower of T. G. Masaryk and his socatlled Hlasists, the men associated with the periodical "Hlas" (Voice) which promoted the Czech fiction of a united ethnic "Czechoslovak" nation. This claim, which cannot stand up under historical criticism because it has no basis in historical fact, is a favorite of Prague regimes and Czech propagandists. Vlcek himself refutes the claim in his work, but this fact has strangely escaped the notice of practically all English writers of Czecho-Slovak or Czech-Slovak history. In Vlcek's "Dejiny" we read: ''The Hussites brought to u s not onty the din of savage battle, but also a new faith, a new communal language. . . . The Czech language made itsellf at home amo:rJJg the Slorvaks as their literary language ... The exclusive reign of the Czech language lasts for three hundred years from the first Hussite colonization" Cl). "From the fifteenth to the eighteenth cent ury, Hussitism and Pl'otestantism connect Slovak literary creations formaHy with Czech literature. It is not until the end of the eighteerrth century that Bernola!k, and in the middle of the nineteenth cent ury Stur, Hiodza, and Hurlban lay the origins and foundat ions of an independent Slovak literature" (2). "Material, which would clari£y the position of the Czech langua,ge in our midst in the fifteent h century, is thus far for �38 SLOVAKIA the most part laying in the dust of arohives. But even fr.om that bit that has been brought to light, it is safe to say that the Czech language from the second half of the fifteenth cenury is the Ian• guage of the autonomous Slovak authorities and later even the language of the counties and castles" (3). The "Dejiny" even proclaim Czech as the national language in Slovakia : "From the beginning of the sixteenth century to the beginning of the eighteenth century the national language in Slovakia flows in a threefold current: 1. Printed works, for the most part religious books, and here again for the most part Evangelical (Lutheran), hold to the language of the Kralice Bible; 2. Documents, records, municipal and private books, therefore the written word, more or less including native (Slovak) words and forms in place of the literary Czech forms; 3. The common uneducated people ait home, in the field and in their family circles, converse by means of the inherited, live language of their forefathers - in Slovak" ( 4). Now then, the first current of the "national language in Slovakia" - according to Vlcek's "Dejiny" - is the language of the Kra1ice Bible, i.e., pure Czech and nothing else; the second current is Czech again, interspersed with Slovak words and phrases; and only the third current of this national language is made up of the "live" language of the common people. Informed persons, Slovaks in particular, know that such statements and claims tend to serve especially the political interests of those who claim there is no Slovak nation and, consequently, no Slovak language. We know that they served the interests of T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Edward Benes at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, where they claimed that the Slovak nation was the invention of the Magyars and the Slovaks and the Czechs were the same. Vlcek, an authority on Slovak and Czech literature, was also a follower of Masaryk and his '" Hlasists." After the estaiblishment of the Czecho-Slovak Republic, Vlcek was named director of the Matica Slovenska. It was under his directorship that an attempt was made to remake the Slovak language into Czech. When he died, the Czech Anton Stefanek, Minister of Education, wrote these significant words about Vlcek: �SLOVAKIA 39 "Very few people knO!W, particularly fNlllll the young gener.ation, that along,side Ma-sacytk it wa,s he (Week) who was the spirit of the 'Hla,s' (the or,g,a n of the Slovak Pan-Czechists, 1008·1004. - ed. note) and molded, so to 51Peak, the young 'Hlasists' .... J . Vlcek is not an ordinary historiain, who mechanically collects scientific matertial to compile new 'boak,s. Into e·v ery one of his works he inserts a certain tendency to seriv,e his nation (the Czech nation - ed.). Along,side his strict s!Cien•tific dbjectiv1ty and his serious respect for Slovaik sentiments he al,ways knew h-OIW to include in his boo~ and h1s articles the eDfort to unite a'Ild not to further divide the Slovaks and Czechs" (5). Let us now research the period of 300 years during which the Czech language reigned exclusively in Slovakia. History teMs us that the Hussites came to Slovakia the first time in 1421; up to 1440 their visits were predatory excursions. They did not come to Slovakia to settle down. The power of the Hussites was broken with their defeat near Lipjariy in 1434. They remained in Slovakia a longer time when Jiskra came to power. On a mandate from Queen Elizarbeth, in the defense of Ladislaus the Posthumous, Jiskra ruled the greater pa:rt of Slovakia from the end of 1439 to the death of Ladislaus in 1457. Mathias, newly elected King of Hungary, began to wage war against Jiskra in 1458, defeating him in 1461. Jiskra was in power in Slovakia from 1440. Let us, then, begin our research of Vlcek's "three hundred years." Vlcek tells us in his "Dejiny" that "with the death of Matthew Cak of Trencin, called Dominus Vagi et Tatrae, at the begi,n ning of the fourteerrtJh century, falls even this monument of Slavalk independence. The g11ant priruc1pa-lity of Nitra (Matyas foldje") bl-end·s into a close po!Hical union with the kingdom ·of Hungary, and our natiorral life loses itself in the common diplomatic ton1gue, the organ of the Ghureh and state, literature ~md society .... "(6). It is generaHy known that Latin was the official language of the Church and state, literature and society, not only during Matthew Ca.k's time, not only during the 300 years of the imagined "exclusive reign of the Czech language in Slovakia," but even many years after those 300, when German and Magyar finally replaced it in the Bohemian and Hungarian kingdoms respectively. Joseph Dobrovsky, the "father of modern Czech literature," wrote his main work in Latin in 1822. In Trnava, Slovakia, records were kept in Latin up to 1848 (7). �40 SLOVAKIA According to Vlcek, it was not only in official and church circles that Czech took hold in S4ovakia, but even in popular literature of the fifteenth century: "In popular literature Czech is perhaps forcing its way with the same success, even though there exist no positive examples of this." But what kind of "exclusive reign of the Czech language" can that be when it "perhaps" was forcing its way in popular literature for which there exist "no positive examples"? The activities of the Hussites and the influence of Jiskra in Slovakia may have prompted Vlcek to say what he did. Then, however, we would have to assume that Vlcek was not very well informed on the Hussites. We know, as Vlcek must have known, that Jiskra's army, including only the "remnanits" of Hussites, was made up of for the most part of adventurers of many nationalities (8). Furthe:vmore, the Hussite expeditions into Slovakia could not have any influence on the literary language of the Slovaks because of their very nature. There were long intervals between expeditions and the Hussites held Trnava and Skalica only two years (9). The Hussites came to rob, and rob they did, leaving with their plunder. The Czech author Kulhanek adds that Jiskra's plunderers were a despicable lot which, six wears after Lipany, was composed of "those depredatory bands" which had plundered the Czech lands. Vlcek refutes his own statement about the "exclusive reign of Czech" when he tells us that "the sixteenth century extended the field of the Czech language still more. There came the Lutheran Reformation, the national churches and schools" (10). If the Czech language was the exclusive vehicle of Slovak literature in the fifteenth century, how could it possibly spread even more in the sixteenth? Vlcek would want us to believe that Czech even invaded the "national churches and schools" with Luther's Reformation and yet, on the same page, he tells us that these schools were "Latin-Slovak!" The fact is that they were not even Slovak, because, excepting religion, everything else was taught in Latin. Vlcek himself gives evidence of this (11). The Reformation of the sixteenth century did not help the "national churches and schools" in Bohemia and Slovakia. V. Flajshans, noted Czech author and professor of �SLOVAKIA 41 Czech literature at the Prague Charles University, deplored Luther's Reformation for the very fact that everywhere it took hold in Bohemia, the German language did too (12). At the beginning of the sixteenth century not Czech but German came to Slovakia; it took hold almost exclusively on~y in the German towns and only in the second half of the sixteenth century did it begin to spread to Slovak settlements. Vlcek himself names many authors who wrote in Latin in the seventeenth century, saying that Protestantism was "shattering the shackles of Latin" (13). Moreover, the end of the eighteenth century, he tells us, "brings to a close the era of religious intolerance and Latin erudition" (14). Since, according to Vlcek, Latin, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, had become the linguistic medium of "the Church and state, literature and society in Hungary," and then that "the end of the eighteeDlth century brought to a close the era of religious intolerance and Latin erudition," we must conclude that his statement in regard to the "e~clusive reign of the Czech language in Slovakia for 300 years" is irresponsible if not an outright fabrication. After the disastrous Battle of White Mountain (1620), the Czech language was dying in its own homeland, as stated by Vlcek(15). On the other hand, according to Skultety, Latin was dulling the Slovaks nationally from the sixteenth century for almost 200 years (16). "The Hussites brought us (the Slovaks) a new communal language," which became domesticated or was quickly adopted by the Silovaks as their literary medium, according to Vlcek. But the very fact that the Czech language was a "new" language, it must have been foreign to the .Slovaks and, hence, could not have become domesticated in the land of the Slovaks. H. Marczali tells us, for example, that very few land barons (magnates) could read and write at that time: "Of the Hungarian magnates only the Primate of Hungary, Thomas Bakac, knew how to sign his name to the Bratislava Peace Agreement (Nov. 7, 1491) with Maximilian, the German Emperor; Stephen Bathori, Ladisllaus Guthi, Ladislaus Rozgoni - all members of the higher nobility - could not write" (17). History tells us that Hun- �42 SLOVAKIA gary was in a chaotic, rebellious ferment during the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries - a condition which could not possibly favor the progress of literature and culture of the nationaJlities of Hungary. The fact is that there was no Slovak literature, and, under the circumstances, could not be during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Rebellions and wars usually disrupt literary activity and cultural life. Vlcek could not have reported the fact that at that time only priests and monks did any writing and even then only when they hadl no sword in hand. The fact that he did not leads us to the conclusion that Vlcek was interested in promoting the fable about "the exclusive reign of Czech as the literary medium of the Slovaks for 300 years." Chauvinistic Czechs and pro-Czech historians and journalists still propagate Vlcek's fable to "prove" that the Slovaks and Czechs at one time were ethnically one nation. In his "Dejiny" the author devotes the first 18 lines to record superficially the general history of the fifteenth century, and then a total of 27 lines to the entire literary activity of that period. This in itself ought to be sufficient for us to form an idea of the veracity of Vlcek's statement in regard to the "exdusive reign of the Czech language in Slovakia.'' The Prague University, founded by Charles IV in 1348, is credited by Vlcek for the "refreshening of Slovak spiritual life" (18). It had practically no effect on the spiritual or national life of the Czechs themselves, hence it is highly questionable that the university had any great influence on Slovak national life of the fourteenth century. The nationality concept at that time was entirely foreign, unknown(19). National consciousness is usually intimately connected with the fate of a language, and the fate of the Czech language in the fourteent h and previous centuries was indeed very; sad(20). History tells us that the last Premyslide rulers (1253i 1306) unified the Bohemian kingdom, but these very kings cared the least for the Czech language and for Czech na.1 tional consciousness (21). German dominated at the court of Otokar II (1253-1278); the nobility and towns, following �SLOVAKIA 43 Otokar's example, also used the German language. An old saying has it tha,t Otokar warned the Czechs: "one shall not be able to see a single Czech on the Prague bridge." In the sixteenth century this warning made the rounds in this form: "A Czech on the Prague bridge will be as rare as a deer with golden antlers"! Otokar, it is recorded, threatened the Czechs in this manner as he took off to fight Rudolph in 1278 (22). Wenceslaus II (1278-1305), son of Otokar II, of all things, became a German poet. Brought up in Germany, Wenceslaus followed in the footsteps of his father, Otokar II, and his grandfather Wenceslaus I, both of whom had forced Czechs out of several towns in favor of the Germans. He could not write "in the langua,ge of the despised men, the (Czech) language in which no one wrote up to that time" (23). Such was the condition of the Czech language up to of Hus. The Czechs, we know, indulge extravaadvent the gantly in the glory of Charles IV, "the father of our country" and the founder of the Prague University. The fact is that Charles IV was a German educated in France. When he was called to occupy the throne of Bohemia he did not know a single word of Czech (24). The teaching medium of the Prague University was Latin. If the University was founded in the Czech interest, the Czech language undoubtedly would have found its way into science before 1499, i.e., 120 years after Charles !V's death. There would then be no need for Hus to fight for the equality of the Czech language in the fifteenth century. Charles was succeeded by his son, Wenceslaus IV (1378-1419), who favored Latin and German. In 1394 the Union of Nobles had him arrested and forced him to issue documents also in Czech. Hus himself, until 1413, wrote in Latin (25). Under Charles IV, the Germans controlled the University. In the heat of the Hussite battle his son and successor, Wences'laus IV, sanctioned the reorganization of the University (Decree of Kutna Hora, Jan. 18, 1409), to give the Czechs "a ruling voice in their own university" (26). The result was disastrous for the University. Losing their influence, the Germans left the University of Prague, May 16, 1409, to found their own �44 SLOVAKIA university at Leipzig. With the exodus of the Germans the university lost its European significance and the Hussite era practically ruined it, reducing everything in the Czechsettled lands in Bohemia and a great part of Moravia to dust and ashes (27). As a result no examinations were held by the university from 1420 to 1428, a situation that happened frequently until 1526, so that Czech students had to continue their studies elsewhere. Flajshans tells us that as late as 1554 all twelve professors of the Prague University did not have together the salary of one professor of the University of Paris (28). The same author begins the chapter on the overglorified "Hussite Century" (15th) with these words: "All the higher schools are Latin; all offi~ cial records and public documents were written in Latin; and Latin united all scholars of the whole world" (29). Concluding the same chapter, Flajshans says: "The cry of Viktorin cal!ling for diligent work in the field of the Czech language remained for a long time the voice of one crying in the wilderness" (30). Viktorin, who in 1495 was opposed to Czech in the law books of Prague, died in 1520. The historical truth is that Czech Hussitism was above all else a religious movement which had practically nothing in common with the "national spirit" of the Czechs. Hussitism was not supported by the Prague University, but rather persecuted. That is why the adherents of Hus' teachings turned their hatred in the first instance against the univesity which they pillaged more than once, beating and throwing out the professors and bringing ruin upon it. The Czechs, the very people who should have nurtured and elevated the "Czech national and religious spirit," turned against the university ( 31) . They developed a new "national spirit" and strived to force it on their people. If the Prague University had practically no influence on the national life of the Czechs at that time, what influence could it possibly have on Slovak national life? The historical fact is that there is not a trace of Hussite literature in Slovakia from the fifteenth century(32). Like Jaroslav Vlcek, later historians, including S. Harrison Thomson of the University of Colorado, Robert J. Ker- �SLOVAKIA ner of the University of California, Joseph R. Roucek, of Hofstra College (1946), had the opportunity of writing objectively in regard to the matter at hand by seeking out available historical facts instead of relying on chauvinistic Czech propaganda. Professor S. Harrison Thomson, perhaps unable to see the forest for the trees, said this about the SloV'aks and Czechs and their respective languages: "The two peoples were originally so closely related as to be indistiruguishlalble, but geo,g,rap'lry and distance could easily have induced a separate political existence. The Magyar conquest made any such natural development illl!possible"(i33). ''The Slovaks therefore had no opporfonity to develop their own culture, written language, political institutions or social concepts in any independent way. Their relationship with the Ozechs, their brothers to the west, had, for all practical purposes, ceased to be a reality for them. This situation lasted nine centuries" (34). ''The great similarity of the vernacular lan.guages furnished an additional bond between the peoples of Bohemia and Slovakia" (35). "Political and military prestige combined with purely linguistic flexibility to make Czech rather than Slovak the lingua franca of a considera1b le region outside Bohemia. Written, Czec·h ,b ecame the language of the educated Slovaks, particularly if they had studied at Prague, and .remained such until the end of the 18th century(36). "It would be difficult to exaggerate the influence of this wide acceptance of Czech as the written langua-ge of the Slovaks during a period when Bohemia was free and Slovakia was ruled by Mag,y,ars. Tihe dialectical peculiarities that appear here and ther-e in Slovak document's did not alter the fundamental fact that Czech was accepted as the basic tongue of the tw;,. peoples(37). "The end result of the sojourn of the Hussite armies was not very considerable. In the first place their stay in Slovakia was relatively short, and in the second place we have incontrovertible evidence that the organization and powe1' of the Catholic Church in Slovakia was not noticeably disturbed at any time in the fifteenth century" (138). In his foreword, Professor Thomson warns the reader that the term "Czechoslovakia" has no political significance in his book; "it is used generally to designate the geographical entity lately known by that name." The professor may be coy and naive, but he is no fool. He knew what he was doing. Whether he likes it or not, the fact is that term, with or without the hyphen, is the name of a political entity. He warns the reader further that the �46 SLOVAKIA term "Bohemia" is also geographical "and in no wise an ethnic term." Nevertheless throughout his book he generally substitutes the term "CZECH kingdom"! What justification can there be for denying, ignoring, suppressing, or falsifying established historical facts? By the way, Thomson's "Czechoslovakia in European History" was awarded the "Czechoslovak State Prize" in December 1944, at a time when that state did not factually exist, the provisional (illegal) government of Dr. Edward Benes thus showing its appreciation to the professor. Indeed, the same professor who said in another "historical gem" edited by R. J. Kerner of the University of California: "But to Premysl Otokar I (]19741230) must be assigned the responsibility for inviting the Gerlll!an immigration. En,couraged by the court, many Czech nobles had married German women ; some of the best positionis of the Church in Bohemia and Moravia were occupied by German clerics; German minnesingers were in high favor t-0 the royal court and at the courts of the richer nobles"(39). Gerald Druce, "authority on Czech science," belongs in Thomson's category. In Kerner's "Czechoslovakia" he had this to say in regard to the matter at hand: "The University of Prague, the oldest in Central Europe, had been founded in 1348 by Charles IV and had been placed upon a secure footing by his successor, Vaclav IV, by the Kutna Hora decrees in 1409. During the Middle Ages the study of the natural sciences flourished in Bo'hemia, as is shown by the number of herbals and contemporary mineralogical and alchemical wol'ks in the Czech langua•ge. Indeed, toward the close of the sixteenth centry Prague was recogn,ized as an important center of learning"(40). The tendency is quite obvious. Significant it is, too, that Druce, like all other pro-Czech propagandists, finds it very convenient to offer no proof for his "historical" statements. Professor Joseph R. Roucek, being a Czech, could allow himself a bit more rope by raising the Czech banner "Pravda vitezi." Writing about the Slovaks and Czechs and their languages, he adds to the confusion ( emphasis here as elsewhere being mine. - P.A.H): "CZECH refers to the principal people or language found in Bohemia and Moravia. SL-OVAK is the name given to the eas• ternmost division of the Czech-speaking people. Protestant leaders and philologists have claimed that Slovak is merely Old �SLOVAKIA 47 Czech and have urged the use of Czech as the sole written Ian• guage"{ 41 ). "The difficulty of intercourse with the Czechs has produced a divergence in what was originally a common language. The Slovak and Czech :forms of the language dilffer in certain minor points to the present day, like two dialects of the same tongue spoken locally"(412). 'IH is eertain, at any rate, that toward the end of the Premyslid era (1'305) the Czech language was already being adQ1Pted by scholars, that it moved from the villages, towns, and castles into books, and that it even began to replace both Latin and German"(43) "The German language (in the time of Hus - the latter part of the 14th century and first quarter of lsth) was predominant both in pwblic offices and in the churches and schools throughout the country"(44). But - as a result oif the Hussrte movement - "the Czech language and literature began to predominate"(45). Nevertheless "The Slovaks remained a separate and distinct people, even though cut off from intercourse with other Slav peoples. They remained mainly Catholic and developed their language as a dialect of the Czech language"(46). Joseph Lettrich, author of a "History of Modern Slovakia," belongs in a category by himself. As a Slovak he is opposed to Slovak freedom and independence. The Slovaks, according to Lettrich, could not exist without the Czechs. Having collaborated with Benes and the Communists, Lettrich is now on vacation from politics in the United States, still serving the interests of the Czechs as a prominent member of the so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovakia" - the organization of former members of the Communistdominated National Front Government of Czecho-Slovakia (1945-1948). Blinded by his prejudices and ignorant of history, Lettrich had this to say about his own people and their language "When a university was founded in Pra•g ue by King Charle,s N in 11314!8, numerous Slovaks werut to study there, and several became prdfessors at that un,iversity. In this manner the cultural relations between Slovak'S and Czechs, which had been forcibly interrupted, were re-established. They were to play a vital role in the spiritual development of the tJwo peoples. The most powerful influence that united them was the written Czechoslovak language which continued to be common to both. In, the first half of the fi,fteenth century the armies o'f the Czech Hussite warriors penetrated into Slovakia .... The Hussite forces ... introduced a new spirit of independence from Rome. Above all, they once again strengthened the ties of a common language and culture between Czechs and Slovaks"(47). �48 SLOVAKIA Lettrich, like other Slovak renegades and pro-Czech scribes, tried to remake history in the image of "Masaryk's interpretation" of Czech history. The ancient Czechs had the motto: "The truth of God prevails" (pravda Bozi vitezi). Masaryk, following the example of the radical Hussites, threw out God and made the motto read "Truth prevai'ls." Waving Masaryk's banner high, his followers continue in his "interpretation" of the national spirit and the history of the Czechs, misrepresenting and distorting historical facts. Having abandoned Divinely imposed mandates of the moral law, they now seek refuge and justification in the counterfeit doctrine of unbridled liberalism. Whatever might be said to the contrary, the truth is that "Such phrases as 'Czechoslovak language' might be used for the benefit of the outside world and in constitutional and other state documents, but the fact remains that to the vast majority of both peoples (Czechs and Slovaks), the idea remained a pure fiction, and the languages, like the peoples, were, in solid fact, two and not one" (4'8). REFERENCES 1. Jaroslav Vlcek: DEJmY SLOVElNISKJEJ LITElRATURY, 192'3, 1pp. 5,6. 2. Vlcek - p. 2. 3. Vlcek - p. 6. 4. Vlcek - p. 25. 5. SLOVENSKY DENNiK, 1922, No. 17. 6. Vlcek - pp. 4-5 7. Jozef Skultety: O &LOV AKOOH, p. 59. 8. !Kulhanek: KRONIKA CESKOSILOVElNSiKA, pp. 001~62. 9. M. Misik: HUSITI NA SLOVL0NS~U, p. 37. 10. Vlcek - p . 8. t:111. Vlcek - p. 8. 1'2. V. Flajsha11s: NAS JAZYK MA'DERSKY, p. 283. '113. Vlcek - p. 1.2. 14. Vlcek - p,24 . .115. Vlcek - p. 23. 1'6. Jozef Skultety: NElHAN'DE L'UD MOJ! p. 82. 17. Henry Ma1.1czali: MAGYAIROR!SZAG TORTENIETE, Vol. l, p. 367. 18. Vlcek - pp. 5-6. 19. Skultety: 0 SLOVAKO OH, p. '170. 20. Karol Tri\.ovski: K RECOVIEJ OTAZKE SLOVArfroV, ;1.937, p. 23. 21. Flajshans, - i;>. ·1163. 22. IFlajshans - PJl,69. 23. IFlajshans - p. 170. '24. IFla,jshans - p. 209. '25. Flajshans - p. 220. '26. S. Harrison Thomson: CZEOHOSL0 VAKIA IN EUIRO!PEIA!N HliSTORY, 1M4; p. 116. 1 �SLOVAKIA 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 4Jl. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. iFlajshans - p. 259. ,F la,j shans - p. 260. [Flajshans - p. 217. Flajshans - p. 265. Flajshans - p. 259. Tri\.ovski - p. 47. Thomson p. 199. Thomson - p. 200. Thomson - p. 206. Thomson - p. 207. Thomson - p. 207. Thomson - p. 208. CZEJOHOSLOV.Ax;1iA, edited by Robert J. Kerner, 1'949; 02lEJOHOSLOVAK1iA, Kerner - p. 316. Joseph R. Roucek: CEJN'l1RAlrEAlSTEJRN EUROIPE, 1946; Roucek - p. 63. IRoucek - p. 64. IRoucek - p. 66. iRoucek - p. 69. Roucek - p. 81. Jozef Lettrich: HISTORY OF MOIDERN SLOVA!KIA, pp. 21,22. C. A. Macartney: HUNGARY ANiD HIE)R SUOOESSORS, 49 p . 13. p. 61. 11955; 11937 ; p. 1·26. • • • WHO SAID IT? ''However close the original bonds between the Slovaks and the Czechs) imay have been, the ten, centuries dw:ing which the Slovaks formed a part of the kingdom of Hun:gary, w:hile the Czechs were subjected to German and Austrian influences, naturally brought about a marked dififerentation between the two peoples. Even the physical stocks cannot be so closely related today as they were a thousand years ago, for the Czeohs aTe todlay inextricalbly mingled with German elements, while the Slovak mountaineers have retained their racial purity to a larger degree .... There is, h01Wever, a noti.t:ealb le doifference both in physical appearance and in character between, the dour, efificient, but somewhiat ungainly Czech, and the airy, talkative, hwppy-go-lucky Slovak." - C. A. Macartney: HUNGAIRY AND HER SUOCEJSSORIS, London, L937) . • • • ' Iif a single dynasty had united both peoples ~Czechs and Slovaks) in a permanent, or at least an enduring union, a Czechoslovak nationality would assuredly have been formed and with a Czecho•slovak language - any minor dialectal diff.erences which existed would have been smoothed out. This did not happen; and while the Slavs of Bohemia developed the ,Czech nationality and language, to which the intermed,i ate dialects of Moravila gravitated, the Slovaks under Hungarian rule, not only developed along different lines from the Czechs, but were not even able to form a single literary language with them." - CC. A. Macartney: HUNGA!RY ANlD HiElR SUCOESSORS, London, 1937). � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 36 SLOVAKIA officials aip,pear to have been equally uncertain about this question at the time, for the Foreign, Office did not reply until November 13, 191'8, and even then did not take a clear stand. See, Foreign Relations, 1919. The Paris Peace Conference, 13 vols. (Washington, 19~1947), H, 3716°377. (3) "(Peace) cannot be pieced together out of individual understandings between p01Werful states. All the parties to this war must join in the settlemenit of every issue -anyiwhere invo'1ved in it .. . an"d every item oo it must be submi•tted to the cOOl111Tlon judgment .. ." Wilson's address. February '111, 19118, see Ray S. Baker and William E. Dodd (eds.); The Public Papers of Woodrow Wilson, War and Peace, 2 vols. (N~w York, 1927), L, 180. (4) !Before the recognition of the Czechoslovak National Council Wilson met Masaryk only once, on Jun,e 19, 19118, several weeks aifter he had first decided upon an antiJAUSltrian policy (see this author's article "The United States and the Dissolution oo AustriaJHunigary," Journal of Cent.ral European Affairs, X (Octolber, 1950), pp. 256-270, and two mon-ths before he suddenly considered recognition Olf the Czechoslovaks. The question was not broached in their correspondence . • • • WAS CZECH THE VEIDCLE OF SLOVAK LITERATURE? P.A. Hrobak Since the establishment of the Czecho-Slovak Republic in 1918, a concerted, deliberate attempt on the part of certain Czechs and pro-Czechs is being made to prove the antiquity of the fiction of a united "Czechoslovak" nation. The propaganda apparatus of the political state formed by the Slovaks and the Czechs has been constantly used, even at the expense of the Slovaks, to prove that there really is no Slovak nation, that the Slovaks are but a branch of the Czech nation and the Slovak language is but a dialect of the Czech language. In the memorandum which T. G. Masaryk sent to the U. S. State Department (Lansing), on August 31, 1918, he said: "Slovakia, the southern part of the nation, was occupied by the Magyars and separated early from Bohemia and Moravia; at times, even later, the Slovaks were independent." After over forty years of the Pan-Czech propaganda, we find that the Slovaks are still around and are more determined than ever to preserve and enhance their ethnic individuality. They have successfully resisted all attempts to be made over into Czechs, as prior to 1918 they successfuHy resisted all attempts to be made into Magyars. SLOVAKIA 37 Over the years several "authorities" and "eminent" scholars and journalists have repeated the distortions, false claims, and deliberate untruths of the propagandists, perhaps harboring the thought that time will eventually transform them into truths. Citing the works of such "experts" another genera:tion of scholars and journalists and researchers will arise, quoting these highly questionable "eminent" historians. Thus are errors, distortions, halftruths, and outright falsehoods propagated, while their authors blatantly proclaim that "truth prevails" (pravda vitezi). According to Jaroslav Vlcek, accepted authority on Slovak and Czech literature, the Czech language was the medium of Slova:k literature for over 300 years. The claim is made in his "Dejiny Literatury Slovenskej" (History of Slovak literature) which was published by the Matica Slovenska (Slovak Institute) of Turciansky Svaty Martin in 1923. Vlcek came from a Czech family that had settled in Slova:kia. He was a follower of T. G. Masaryk and his socatlled Hlasists, the men associated with the periodical "Hlas" (Voice) which promoted the Czech fiction of a united ethnic "Czechoslovak" nation. This claim, which cannot stand up under historical criticism because it has no basis in historical fact, is a favorite of Prague regimes and Czech propagandists. Vlcek himself refutes the claim in his work, but this fact has strangely escaped the notice of practically all English writers of Czecho-Slovak or Czech-Slovak history. In Vlcek's "Dejiny" we read: ''The Hussites brought to u s not onty the din of savage battle, but also a new faith, a new communal language. . . . The Czech language made itsellf at home amo:rJJg the Slorvaks as their literary language ... The exclusive reign of the Czech language lasts for three hundred years from the first Hussite colonization" Cl). "From the fifteenth to the eighteenth cent ury, Hussitism and Pl'otestantism connect Slovak literary creations formaHy with Czech literature. It is not until the end of the eighteerrth century that Bernola!k, and in the middle of the nineteenth cent ury Stur, Hiodza, and Hurlban lay the origins and foundat ions of an independent Slovak literature" (2). "Material, which would clari£y the position of the Czech langua,ge in our midst in the fifteent h century, is thus far for 38 SLOVAKIA the most part laying in the dust of arohives. But even fr.om that bit that has been brought to light, it is safe to say that the Czech language from the second half of the fifteenth cenury is the Ian• guage of the autonomous Slovak authorities and later even the language of the counties and castles" (3). The "Dejiny" even proclaim Czech as the national language in Slovakia : "From the beginning of the sixteenth century to the beginning of the eighteenth century the national language in Slovakia flows in a threefold current: 1. Printed works, for the most part religious books, and here again for the most part Evangelical (Lutheran), hold to the language of the Kralice Bible; 2. Documents, records, municipal and private books, therefore the written word, more or less including native (Slovak) words and forms in place of the literary Czech forms; 3. The common uneducated people ait home, in the field and in their family circles, converse by means of the inherited, live language of their forefathers - in Slovak" ( 4). Now then, the first current of the "national language in Slovakia" - according to Vlcek's "Dejiny" - is the language of the Kra1ice Bible, i.e., pure Czech and nothing else; the second current is Czech again, interspersed with Slovak words and phrases; and only the third current of this national language is made up of the "live" language of the common people. Informed persons, Slovaks in particular, know that such statements and claims tend to serve especially the political interests of those who claim there is no Slovak nation and, consequently, no Slovak language. We know that they served the interests of T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Edward Benes at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, where they claimed that the Slovak nation was the invention of the Magyars and the Slovaks and the Czechs were the same. Vlcek, an authority on Slovak and Czech literature, was also a follower of Masaryk and his '" Hlasists." After the estaiblishment of the Czecho-Slovak Republic, Vlcek was named director of the Matica Slovenska. It was under his directorship that an attempt was made to remake the Slovak language into Czech. When he died, the Czech Anton Stefanek, Minister of Education, wrote these significant words about Vlcek: SLOVAKIA 39 "Very few people knO!W, particularly fNlllll the young gener.ation, that along,side Ma-sacytk it wa,s he (Week) who was the spirit of the 'Hla,s' (the or,g,a n of the Slovak Pan-Czechists, 1008·1004. - ed. note) and molded, so to 51Peak, the young 'Hlasists' .... J . Vlcek is not an ordinary historiain, who mechanically collects scientific matertial to compile new 'boak,s. Into e·v ery one of his works he inserts a certain tendency to seriv,e his nation (the Czech nation - ed.). Along,side his strict s!Cien•tific dbjectiv1ty and his serious respect for Slovaik sentiments he al,ways knew h-OIW to include in his boo~ and h1s articles the eDfort to unite a'Ild not to further divide the Slovaks and Czechs" (5). Let us now research the period of 300 years during which the Czech language reigned exclusively in Slovakia. History teMs us that the Hussites came to Slovakia the first time in 1421; up to 1440 their visits were predatory excursions. They did not come to Slovakia to settle down. The power of the Hussites was broken with their defeat near Lipjariy in 1434. They remained in Slovakia a longer time when Jiskra came to power. On a mandate from Queen Elizarbeth, in the defense of Ladislaus the Posthumous, Jiskra ruled the greater pa:rt of Slovakia from the end of 1439 to the death of Ladislaus in 1457. Mathias, newly elected King of Hungary, began to wage war against Jiskra in 1458, defeating him in 1461. Jiskra was in power in Slovakia from 1440. Let us, then, begin our research of Vlcek's "three hundred years." Vlcek tells us in his "Dejiny" that "with the death of Matthew Cak of Trencin, called Dominus Vagi et Tatrae, at the begi,n ning of the fourteerrtJh century, falls even this monument of Slavalk independence. The g11ant priruc1pa-lity of Nitra (Matyas foldje") bl-end·s into a close po!Hical union with the kingdom ·of Hungary, and our natiorral life loses itself in the common diplomatic ton1gue, the organ of the Ghureh and state, literature ~md society .... "(6). It is generaHy known that Latin was the official language of the Church and state, literature and society, not only during Matthew Ca.k's time, not only during the 300 years of the imagined "exclusive reign of the Czech language in Slovakia," but even many years after those 300, when German and Magyar finally replaced it in the Bohemian and Hungarian kingdoms respectively. Joseph Dobrovsky, the "father of modern Czech literature," wrote his main work in Latin in 1822. In Trnava, Slovakia, records were kept in Latin up to 1848 (7). 40 SLOVAKIA According to Vlcek, it was not only in official and church circles that Czech took hold in S4ovakia, but even in popular literature of the fifteenth century: "In popular literature Czech is perhaps forcing its way with the same success, even though there exist no positive examples of this." But what kind of "exclusive reign of the Czech language" can that be when it "perhaps" was forcing its way in popular literature for which there exist "no positive examples"? The activities of the Hussites and the influence of Jiskra in Slovakia may have prompted Vlcek to say what he did. Then, however, we would have to assume that Vlcek was not very well informed on the Hussites. We know, as Vlcek must have known, that Jiskra's army, including only the "remnanits" of Hussites, was made up of for the most part of adventurers of many nationalities (8). Furthe:vmore, the Hussite expeditions into Slovakia could not have any influence on the literary language of the Slovaks because of their very nature. There were long intervals between expeditions and the Hussites held Trnava and Skalica only two years (9). The Hussites came to rob, and rob they did, leaving with their plunder. The Czech author Kulhanek adds that Jiskra's plunderers were a despicable lot which, six wears after Lipany, was composed of "those depredatory bands" which had plundered the Czech lands. Vlcek refutes his own statement about the "exclusive reign of Czech" when he tells us that "the sixteenth century extended the field of the Czech language still more. There came the Lutheran Reformation, the national churches and schools" (10). If the Czech language was the exclusive vehicle of Slovak literature in the fifteenth century, how could it possibly spread even more in the sixteenth? Vlcek would want us to believe that Czech even invaded the "national churches and schools" with Luther's Reformation and yet, on the same page, he tells us that these schools were "Latin-Slovak!" The fact is that they were not even Slovak, because, excepting religion, everything else was taught in Latin. Vlcek himself gives evidence of this (11). The Reformation of the sixteenth century did not help the "national churches and schools" in Bohemia and Slovakia. V. Flajshans, noted Czech author and professor of SLOVAKIA 41 Czech literature at the Prague Charles University, deplored Luther's Reformation for the very fact that everywhere it took hold in Bohemia, the German language did too (12). At the beginning of the sixteenth century not Czech but German came to Slovakia; it took hold almost exclusively on~y in the German towns and only in the second half of the sixteenth century did it begin to spread to Slovak settlements. Vlcek himself names many authors who wrote in Latin in the seventeenth century, saying that Protestantism was "shattering the shackles of Latin" (13). Moreover, the end of the eighteenth century, he tells us, "brings to a close the era of religious intolerance and Latin erudition" (14). Since, according to Vlcek, Latin, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, had become the linguistic medium of "the Church and state, literature and society in Hungary," and then that "the end of the eighteeDlth century brought to a close the era of religious intolerance and Latin erudition," we must conclude that his statement in regard to the "e~clusive reign of the Czech language in Slovakia for 300 years" is irresponsible if not an outright fabrication. After the disastrous Battle of White Mountain (1620), the Czech language was dying in its own homeland, as stated by Vlcek(15). On the other hand, according to Skultety, Latin was dulling the Slovaks nationally from the sixteenth century for almost 200 years (16). "The Hussites brought us (the Slovaks) a new communal language," which became domesticated or was quickly adopted by the Silovaks as their literary medium, according to Vlcek. But the very fact that the Czech language was a "new" language, it must have been foreign to the .Slovaks and, hence, could not have become domesticated in the land of the Slovaks. H. Marczali tells us, for example, that very few land barons (magnates) could read and write at that time: "Of the Hungarian magnates only the Primate of Hungary, Thomas Bakac, knew how to sign his name to the Bratislava Peace Agreement (Nov. 7, 1491) with Maximilian, the German Emperor; Stephen Bathori, Ladisllaus Guthi, Ladislaus Rozgoni - all members of the higher nobility - could not write" (17). History tells us that Hun- 42 SLOVAKIA gary was in a chaotic, rebellious ferment during the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries - a condition which could not possibly favor the progress of literature and culture of the nationaJlities of Hungary. The fact is that there was no Slovak literature, and, under the circumstances, could not be during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Rebellions and wars usually disrupt literary activity and cultural life. Vlcek could not have reported the fact that at that time only priests and monks did any writing and even then only when they hadl no sword in hand. The fact that he did not leads us to the conclusion that Vlcek was interested in promoting the fable about "the exclusive reign of Czech as the literary medium of the Slovaks for 300 years." Chauvinistic Czechs and pro-Czech historians and journalists still propagate Vlcek's fable to "prove" that the Slovaks and Czechs at one time were ethnically one nation. In his "Dejiny" the author devotes the first 18 lines to record superficially the general history of the fifteenth century, and then a total of 27 lines to the entire literary activity of that period. This in itself ought to be sufficient for us to form an idea of the veracity of Vlcek's statement in regard to the "exdusive reign of the Czech language in Slovakia.'' The Prague University, founded by Charles IV in 1348, is credited by Vlcek for the "refreshening of Slovak spiritual life" (18). It had practically no effect on the spiritual or national life of the Czechs themselves, hence it is highly questionable that the university had any great influence on Slovak national life of the fourteenth century. The nationality concept at that time was entirely foreign, unknown(19). National consciousness is usually intimately connected with the fate of a language, and the fate of the Czech language in the fourteent h and previous centuries was indeed very; sad(20). History tells us that the last Premyslide rulers (1253i 1306) unified the Bohemian kingdom, but these very kings cared the least for the Czech language and for Czech na.1 tional consciousness (21). German dominated at the court of Otokar II (1253-1278); the nobility and towns, following SLOVAKIA 43 Otokar's example, also used the German language. An old saying has it tha,t Otokar warned the Czechs: "one shall not be able to see a single Czech on the Prague bridge." In the sixteenth century this warning made the rounds in this form: "A Czech on the Prague bridge will be as rare as a deer with golden antlers"! Otokar, it is recorded, threatened the Czechs in this manner as he took off to fight Rudolph in 1278 (22). Wenceslaus II (1278-1305), son of Otokar II, of all things, became a German poet. Brought up in Germany, Wenceslaus followed in the footsteps of his father, Otokar II, and his grandfather Wenceslaus I, both of whom had forced Czechs out of several towns in favor of the Germans. He could not write "in the langua,ge of the despised men, the (Czech) language in which no one wrote up to that time" (23). Such was the condition of the Czech language up to of Hus. The Czechs, we know, indulge extravaadvent the gantly in the glory of Charles IV, "the father of our country" and the founder of the Prague University. The fact is that Charles IV was a German educated in France. When he was called to occupy the throne of Bohemia he did not know a single word of Czech (24). The teaching medium of the Prague University was Latin. If the University was founded in the Czech interest, the Czech language undoubtedly would have found its way into science before 1499, i.e., 120 years after Charles !V's death. There would then be no need for Hus to fight for the equality of the Czech language in the fifteenth century. Charles was succeeded by his son, Wenceslaus IV (1378-1419), who favored Latin and German. In 1394 the Union of Nobles had him arrested and forced him to issue documents also in Czech. Hus himself, until 1413, wrote in Latin (25). Under Charles IV, the Germans controlled the University. In the heat of the Hussite battle his son and successor, Wences'laus IV, sanctioned the reorganization of the University (Decree of Kutna Hora, Jan. 18, 1409), to give the Czechs "a ruling voice in their own university" (26). The result was disastrous for the University. Losing their influence, the Germans left the University of Prague, May 16, 1409, to found their own 44 SLOVAKIA university at Leipzig. With the exodus of the Germans the university lost its European significance and the Hussite era practically ruined it, reducing everything in the Czechsettled lands in Bohemia and a great part of Moravia to dust and ashes (27). As a result no examinations were held by the university from 1420 to 1428, a situation that happened frequently until 1526, so that Czech students had to continue their studies elsewhere. Flajshans tells us that as late as 1554 all twelve professors of the Prague University did not have together the salary of one professor of the University of Paris (28). The same author begins the chapter on the overglorified "Hussite Century" (15th) with these words: "All the higher schools are Latin; all offi~ cial records and public documents were written in Latin; and Latin united all scholars of the whole world" (29). Concluding the same chapter, Flajshans says: "The cry of Viktorin cal!ling for diligent work in the field of the Czech language remained for a long time the voice of one crying in the wilderness" (30). Viktorin, who in 1495 was opposed to Czech in the law books of Prague, died in 1520. The historical truth is that Czech Hussitism was above all else a religious movement which had practically nothing in common with the "national spirit" of the Czechs. Hussitism was not supported by the Prague University, but rather persecuted. That is why the adherents of Hus' teachings turned their hatred in the first instance against the univesity which they pillaged more than once, beating and throwing out the professors and bringing ruin upon it. The Czechs, the very people who should have nurtured and elevated the "Czech national and religious spirit," turned against the university ( 31) . They developed a new "national spirit" and strived to force it on their people. If the Prague University had practically no influence on the national life of the Czechs at that time, what influence could it possibly have on Slovak national life? The historical fact is that there is not a trace of Hussite literature in Slovakia from the fifteenth century(32). Like Jaroslav Vlcek, later historians, including S. Harrison Thomson of the University of Colorado, Robert J. Ker- SLOVAKIA ner of the University of California, Joseph R. Roucek, of Hofstra College (1946), had the opportunity of writing objectively in regard to the matter at hand by seeking out available historical facts instead of relying on chauvinistic Czech propaganda. Professor S. Harrison Thomson, perhaps unable to see the forest for the trees, said this about the SloV'aks and Czechs and their respective languages: "The two peoples were originally so closely related as to be indistiruguishlalble, but geo,g,rap'lry and distance could easily have induced a separate political existence. The Magyar conquest made any such natural development illl!possible"(i33). ''The Slovaks therefore had no opporfonity to develop their own culture, written language, political institutions or social concepts in any independent way. Their relationship with the Ozechs, their brothers to the west, had, for all practical purposes, ceased to be a reality for them. This situation lasted nine centuries" (34). ''The great similarity of the vernacular lan.guages furnished an additional bond between the peoples of Bohemia and Slovakia" (35). "Political and military prestige combined with purely linguistic flexibility to make Czech rather than Slovak the lingua franca of a considera1b le region outside Bohemia. Written, Czec·h ,b ecame the language of the educated Slovaks, particularly if they had studied at Prague, and .remained such until the end of the 18th century(36). "It would be difficult to exaggerate the influence of this wide acceptance of Czech as the written langua-ge of the Slovaks during a period when Bohemia was free and Slovakia was ruled by Mag,y,ars. Tihe dialectical peculiarities that appear here and ther-e in Slovak document's did not alter the fundamental fact that Czech was accepted as the basic tongue of the tw;,. peoples(37). "The end result of the sojourn of the Hussite armies was not very considerable. In the first place their stay in Slovakia was relatively short, and in the second place we have incontrovertible evidence that the organization and powe1' of the Catholic Church in Slovakia was not noticeably disturbed at any time in the fifteenth century" (138). In his foreword, Professor Thomson warns the reader that the term "Czechoslovakia" has no political significance in his book; "it is used generally to designate the geographical entity lately known by that name." The professor may be coy and naive, but he is no fool. He knew what he was doing. Whether he likes it or not, the fact is that term, with or without the hyphen, is the name of a political entity. He warns the reader further that the 46 SLOVAKIA term "Bohemia" is also geographical "and in no wise an ethnic term." Nevertheless throughout his book he generally substitutes the term "CZECH kingdom"! What justification can there be for denying, ignoring, suppressing, or falsifying established historical facts? By the way, Thomson's "Czechoslovakia in European History" was awarded the "Czechoslovak State Prize" in December 1944, at a time when that state did not factually exist, the provisional (illegal) government of Dr. Edward Benes thus showing its appreciation to the professor. Indeed, the same professor who said in another "historical gem" edited by R. J. Kerner of the University of California: "But to Premysl Otokar I (]19741230) must be assigned the responsibility for inviting the Gerlll!an immigration. En,couraged by the court, many Czech nobles had married German women ; some of the best positionis of the Church in Bohemia and Moravia were occupied by German clerics; German minnesingers were in high favor t-0 the royal court and at the courts of the richer nobles"(39). Gerald Druce, "authority on Czech science," belongs in Thomson's category. In Kerner's "Czechoslovakia" he had this to say in regard to the matter at hand: "The University of Prague, the oldest in Central Europe, had been founded in 1348 by Charles IV and had been placed upon a secure footing by his successor, Vaclav IV, by the Kutna Hora decrees in 1409. During the Middle Ages the study of the natural sciences flourished in Bo'hemia, as is shown by the number of herbals and contemporary mineralogical and alchemical wol'ks in the Czech langua•ge. Indeed, toward the close of the sixteenth centry Prague was recogn,ized as an important center of learning"(40). The tendency is quite obvious. Significant it is, too, that Druce, like all other pro-Czech propagandists, finds it very convenient to offer no proof for his "historical" statements. Professor Joseph R. Roucek, being a Czech, could allow himself a bit more rope by raising the Czech banner "Pravda vitezi." Writing about the Slovaks and Czechs and their languages, he adds to the confusion ( emphasis here as elsewhere being mine. - P.A.H): "CZECH refers to the principal people or language found in Bohemia and Moravia. SL-OVAK is the name given to the eas• ternmost division of the Czech-speaking people. Protestant leaders and philologists have claimed that Slovak is merely Old SLOVAKIA 47 Czech and have urged the use of Czech as the sole written Ian• guage"{ 41 ). "The difficulty of intercourse with the Czechs has produced a divergence in what was originally a common language. The Slovak and Czech :forms of the language dilffer in certain minor points to the present day, like two dialects of the same tongue spoken locally"(412). 'IH is eertain, at any rate, that toward the end of the Premyslid era (1'305) the Czech language was already being adQ1Pted by scholars, that it moved from the villages, towns, and castles into books, and that it even began to replace both Latin and German"(43) "The German language (in the time of Hus - the latter part of the 14th century and first quarter of lsth) was predominant both in pwblic offices and in the churches and schools throughout the country"(44). But - as a result oif the Hussrte movement - "the Czech language and literature began to predominate"(45). Nevertheless "The Slovaks remained a separate and distinct people, even though cut off from intercourse with other Slav peoples. They remained mainly Catholic and developed their language as a dialect of the Czech language"(46). Joseph Lettrich, author of a "History of Modern Slovakia," belongs in a category by himself. As a Slovak he is opposed to Slovak freedom and independence. The Slovaks, according to Lettrich, could not exist without the Czechs. Having collaborated with Benes and the Communists, Lettrich is now on vacation from politics in the United States, still serving the interests of the Czechs as a prominent member of the so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovakia" - the organization of former members of the Communistdominated National Front Government of Czecho-Slovakia (1945-1948). Blinded by his prejudices and ignorant of history, Lettrich had this to say about his own people and their language "When a university was founded in Pra•g ue by King Charle,s N in 11314!8, numerous Slovaks werut to study there, and several became prdfessors at that un,iversity. In this manner the cultural relations between Slovak'S and Czechs, which had been forcibly interrupted, were re-established. They were to play a vital role in the spiritual development of the tJwo peoples. The most powerful influence that united them was the written Czechoslovak language which continued to be common to both. In, the first half of the fi,fteenth century the armies o'f the Czech Hussite warriors penetrated into Slovakia .... The Hussite forces ... introduced a new spirit of independence from Rome. Above all, they once again strengthened the ties of a common language and culture between Czechs and Slovaks"(47). 48 SLOVAKIA Lettrich, like other Slovak renegades and pro-Czech scribes, tried to remake history in the image of "Masaryk's interpretation" of Czech history. The ancient Czechs had the motto: "The truth of God prevails" (pravda Bozi vitezi). Masaryk, following the example of the radical Hussites, threw out God and made the motto read "Truth prevai'ls." Waving Masaryk's banner high, his followers continue in his "interpretation" of the national spirit and the history of the Czechs, misrepresenting and distorting historical facts. Having abandoned Divinely imposed mandates of the moral law, they now seek refuge and justification in the counterfeit doctrine of unbridled liberalism. Whatever might be said to the contrary, the truth is that "Such phrases as 'Czechoslovak language' might be used for the benefit of the outside world and in constitutional and other state documents, but the fact remains that to the vast majority of both peoples (Czechs and Slovaks), the idea remained a pure fiction, and the languages, like the peoples, were, in solid fact, two and not one" (4'8). REFERENCES 1. Jaroslav Vlcek: DEJmY SLOVElNISKJEJ LITElRATURY, 192'3, 1pp. 5,6. 2. Vlcek - p. 2. 3. Vlcek - p. 6. 4. Vlcek - p. 25. 5. SLOVENSKY DENNiK, 1922, No. 17. 6. Vlcek - pp. 4-5 7. Jozef Skultety: O &LOV AKOOH, p. 59. 8. !Kulhanek: KRONIKA CESKOSILOVElNSiKA, pp. 001~62. 9. M. Misik: HUSITI NA SLOVL0NS~U, p. 37. 10. Vlcek - p . 8. t:111. Vlcek - p. 8. 1'2. V. Flajsha11s: NAS JAZYK MA'DERSKY, p. 283. '113. Vlcek - p. 1.2. 14. Vlcek - p,24 . .115. Vlcek - p. 23. 1'6. Jozef Skultety: NElHAN'DE L'UD MOJ! p. 82. 17. Henry Ma1.1czali: MAGYAIROR!SZAG TORTENIETE, Vol. l, p. 367. 18. Vlcek - pp. 5-6. 19. Skultety: 0 SLOVAKO OH, p. '170. 20. Karol Tri\.ovski: K RECOVIEJ OTAZKE SLOVArfroV, ;1.937, p. 23. 21. Flajshans, - i;>. ·1163. 22. IFlajshans - PJl,69. 23. IFlajshans - p. 170. '24. IFla,jshans - p. 209. '25. Flajshans - p. 220. '26. S. Harrison Thomson: CZEOHOSL0 VAKIA IN EUIRO!PEIA!N HliSTORY, 1M4; p. 116. 1 SLOVAKIA 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 4Jl. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. iFlajshans - p. 259. ,F la,j shans - p. 260. [Flajshans - p. 217. Flajshans - p. 265. Flajshans - p. 259. Tri\.ovski - p. 47. Thomson p. 199. Thomson - p. 200. Thomson - p. 206. Thomson - p. 207. Thomson - p. 207. Thomson - p. 208. CZEJOHOSLOV.Ax;1iA, edited by Robert J. Kerner, 1'949; 02lEJOHOSLOVAK1iA, Kerner - p. 316. Joseph R. Roucek: CEJN'l1RAlrEAlSTEJRN EUROIPE, 1946; Roucek - p. 63. IRoucek - p. 64. IRoucek - p. 66. iRoucek - p. 69. Roucek - p. 81. Jozef Lettrich: HISTORY OF MOIDERN SLOVA!KIA, pp. 21,22. C. A. Macartney: HUNGARY ANiD HIE)R SUOOESSORS, 49 p . 13. p. 61. 11955; 11937 ; p. 1·26. • • • WHO SAID IT? ''However close the original bonds between the Slovaks and the Czechs) imay have been, the ten, centuries dw:ing which the Slovaks formed a part of the kingdom of Hun:gary, w:hile the Czechs were subjected to German and Austrian influences, naturally brought about a marked dififerentation between the two peoples. Even the physical stocks cannot be so closely related today as they were a thousand years ago, for the Czeohs aTe todlay inextricalbly mingled with German elements, while the Slovak mountaineers have retained their racial purity to a larger degree .... There is, h01Wever, a noti.t:ealb le doifference both in physical appearance and in character between, the dour, efificient, but somewhiat ungainly Czech, and the airy, talkative, hwppy-go-lucky Slovak." - C. A. Macartney: HUNGAIRY AND HER SUOCEJSSORIS, London, L937) . • • • ' Iif a single dynasty had united both peoples ~Czechs and Slovaks) in a permanent, or at least an enduring union, a Czechoslovak nationality would assuredly have been formed and with a Czecho•slovak language - any minor dialectal diff.erences which existed would have been smoothed out. This did not happen; and while the Slavs of Bohemia developed the ,Czech nationality and language, to which the intermed,i ate dialects of Moravila gravitated, the Slovaks under Hungarian rule, not only developed along different lines from the Czechs, but were not even able to form a single literary language with them." - CC. A. Macartney: HUNGA!RY ANlD HiElR SUCOESSORS, London, 1937).  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Was Czech the Vehicle of Slovak Literature? Description An account of the resource P. A. Hrobak Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 6 (31), March-June 1960 pp. 36-49 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hrobak, Philip Anthony, 1904-1964 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1960 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/6e0e60bbf89ac23192966834393b8fe7.pdf 90f2698a568522dbb06c8615a60257e0 PDF Text Text 50 SLOVAKIA BRITISH POLICY AND SLOVAKIA - 1939-1945 J.M. Kirschbaum, LL.D., Ph.D. Diiploma,,tic recognition of the Slovak Republic by European Great Powers offers a student of modern political history an interesting field of research. In the official and semi-official memoranda and documents as well as in numerous works, published by political writers in America, we read that the Slovak Republic was recognized and established diplomatic or consular relations merely with "Germany and its satellites.; ' The fact that not only an European states, including the Vatican, Switzerland, Sweden, but also the Soviet Union, established regular diplomatic relations, and that Great Britain exchanged consuls with Slovakia, is as a rule overlooked (1). Why this glaring oversight on the part of practically all American writers on Czecho-Slovakia in the years 1939-1945, is a matter of an easy guess. Most of the information on Slovakia was supplied to the West by Czech exiles who under the leadership of Benes, labored for restoration of Czecho~Slovakia, and American historians and political writers did not question the reliability of their sources of information. A study of the international recognition of the Slovak Republic by European and non-European nations is, therefore, an interesting matter. It shows how easily world opinion can be fooled and how unreliable our "political science" can be even while dealing with current or contemporary events. Among the Great Powers, which never were mentioned in connection with Slovakia by American historians and writers on international events, is, in the first place, Great Britain. Readers of newspapers, periodicals, and books during the war, and later readers of modern history, were induced to believe that Great Britain firmly stood on the side of the Czech politicians who desired to rule Slovakia, and that the British Government never recognized the fact that the autonomous Slovak Diet within the framework of Czecho-Slovakia proclaimed Slovakia an independent State on March 14, 1939. �SLOVAKIA 51 The truth about Great Britain's attitude towards Slovakia is, of course, quite different. The British Government instructed its Consul, Peter Pares, to notify the Slovak Government that "His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom proposed to appoint him as Consul for Slovakia" on May 4, 1939, i.e., not later than six weeks after Slovakia's declaration of independence took place (2). The British Parliament accepted the proclamation of Slovakia's independence as a fait accompli against which Great Britain had no intention to protest, even sooner, on March 15, 1939, when Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced in the House of Commons that the British Government did not feel bound by the Agreement guaranteeing Czecho-Slovakia her frontiers "because, by the proclamation of the independence of Slovakia by the Slovak Diet, Czecho-Slovakia disintegrated from the inside." Lord Halifax expressed the attitude of the Foreign Office to the events, which took place in Slovakia, in diplomatic terms but did not leave any doubt that he agreed with his Prime Minister. On March 15, 1939, Lord Halifax instructed the British Ambassador in Berlin, Sir Neville Henderson, to inform the German Government that "His Majesty's Government has no desire to interfere unnecessarily in a matter with which other Govemments may be more directly concerned than His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom ... " (3). The German Ambassador to Great Britain, Dirksen, interpreted the above statements and reported to Berlin on March 14, 1939, that "aittitude of the British Government toward conflict between Czechia and Slovakia was clarified by Halifax's speech, statements by the new Department of the Foreign Office, as well as by attitudes of press itself" and that "British Government regarded constitutional settlement of relations between Slovakia and Czechia as an internal concern of the Czecho~lovak State in which Great Britain had no part." According to Dirksen ",the more the outward appearance of the right to selfdetermination of the people concerned was preserved, the greater would be the understanding among the public (in �52 SLOVAKIA Great Britain) for a new and stable settlement, especially as on all sides the desire existed to keep out of a remote affair which did not affeot British interests ... " ( 4). As a matter of fact, relations between Great Britain and the Slovak Republic developed so favorably that not later than July 4, 1939, the Slovak Government appointed, with the the consent of the British Government, the first Consul of Slovakia in Great Britain, Milan P. Harminc. The British Consul in Slovakia, Peter Pares, on July 6, 1939, handed a letter to Consul Harminc in which he asked the British authorities in Dover to grant the Slovak Consul "the usual facilities on landing which are customarily given to the consular representatives of a foreign state on their first arrival in the United Kingdom ... " (5). The Slovak Consul, who actually was in charge of the first Slovak Consulate General in the United Kingdom, notified the Foreign Office of his arrival and asked to be received on July 18, 1939. The Foreign Office in return advised him by letter of August 17, 1939, that there was "no objection on the part of His Majesty's Government to his entering forthwith upon his functions as Consul of Slovakia in London" (6). If we take into consideration the international situation in August 1939 and all possible demarches and intrigues of the former Czecho-Slovak politicians and diplomats, and especially of ex-president Dr. Edward Benes, who after March 14, 1939, addressed al'l governments and asked them not to recognize the Slovak Republic, the above attitude of Great Britain certainly allows to arrive at a conclusion that the British Government was certainly not on the side of the adversaries of Slovakia's aspirations for self~government and independence. International Law knows many forms of international recognition of new States, from de jure to de facto recognition, and to an exchange of diplomatic or consular representatives. Great Britain granted its recognition to the Slovak Republic by exchanging consuls within six weeks after proclamation of Slovakia's independence by the Slovak Diet. There hardly can be any doubt that an early normalization of diplomatic relations would have followed, if the Second World War �SLOVAKIA 53 had not started only six months after Slovakia decided to apply its right to self-determination. Great Britain's attitude towards Slovakia after the War broke out in Septem:ber 1939, offers according to some documents, even more conclusive proof of the British Government's inclination to maintain relations with the S'lovak Republic and not to commit itself prematurely to some other solution of the Slovak problem. Adversaries of Slovakia's independence were quite successful in spreading a general belief, when the Second World started, Great Britain ceased to recognize the existence of the Slovak Republic and that the Slovak Government simply took cognizance of that fact. Diplomatic documents, even those published from German archives, give some proof to the contrary. The first Slovak Consul, M. R. Harminc, received a telegram, on September 4, 1939, inviting him to Bratislava for consultation, but he understood that it was a move which the Slovak foreign minister had to make and, therefore, Harmine did not follow the instructions and remained in London, since he saw that the Government of Great Britain did not change its attitude towards Slovakia at the beginning or during the war against Poland. As a matter of fact, Great Britain did not change its stand towards Slovakia even after Poland was divided among her attackers - Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union. The Foreign Office formally notified the Slovak Consul on October 12, 1939, that he "will continue to be recognized as the Slovak Consul in London" (7). For the middle of October 1939, in view of the general situation in Europe, this atitude of the British Government certainly indicates that Great Britain still recognized the Slovak Republic and did not intend to break relations with it. Why this attitude of Great Britain was not efficiently used either by the Slovak Consul or the Slovak Government, would call for a lengthy explanation. Documents on German Foreign Policy offer some proof that there were some attempts, on the side of Slovak diplomats, to maintain neutrality and to present Slovakia as a neutral State with regard to Great Britain. This is evident especially from the �54 SLOVAKIA document No. 205, published by the American and British Governments in "Series D" of the Documents on German Foreign Policy 1918-1845, in which we read that the Slovak Minister to Italy, J. M. Zvrskovec, on March 28, 1940, submitted a note to the Italian Foreign Ministry in which he stated that Slovakia was a neutral country. He requested to convey this to His Majesty's Government "in order that England may recognize Slovakia's neutrality with all its consequences ... " (8). Any attempt of the Slovak Government to keep Slovakia neutral was, of course, more an expression of feelings and desires of the Slovak people and its politicians than a real possibility. Soon after Slovakia proclaimed its independence, the territory of eastern Slovakia was attacked by Hungary and there were indications that also some Polish circles were inclined to make a deal with Germany and Hungary at the expense of Slovakia. "Therefore, in order to discourage Hungary," says a Special Report of the U. S. House of Representatives, "in her armed attack launched against eastern Slovakia, the Slovak Government concluded with Germany a Treaty of Protection (Schllltzvertrag) on March 23, 1939." By this theaty Slovakia tried to protect her independence an-d the integrity of her territory since, according to Article I of the Treaty, the Reich "undertook to protect the political independence of the Slovak State and the integrity of its territory," and the Slovak Government agreed in turn "to conduct its foreign policy in close understanding with the German Government" (9). This obligation prevented Slovakia from being formally neutral, and the Slovak diplomat who sent the a:bove mentioned note on Slovakia's neutrality had to pay for his step. So did also his Minister, Ferdinand :Durcansky. Great Britain, however, remained cautious in dealing with the Slovak problem even later. The British Government remained for some time reluctant to recognize the Czech group of exiled politicians led by Benes, who claimed that they were the official representatives of Czecho-Slovakia even though some of them previously resigned from their positions, like Dr. E. Benes, for instance (on October 5, 1938), or never took part in any Prague governments. The �SLOVAKIA 55 British Government "showed great caution in its attitude towards the Czecho-Slovak question," says C. A. Macartney, the British expert on Central Europe in the Foreign Office during the war. "It did not even recognize the Czecho-Slovak Committee until January 6, 1940." On February 24, Mr. Chamberlain spoke of restoring Czech independence, but on March 7, 1940, the London correspondent of the Pester Lloyd was authorized to telegraph the .following message: "British war aims in fact include the restoration of the independen<:e of Czechs and Slovaks. The British Government has, however, in no way committed itself with regard to the constitutional form the extent and the frontiers of the new State. As regards Slovakia, Britain leaves entirely open the question whether the Slovak State shall enjoy its independence in union with a Czech state, or in another form. This question is to be decided by the Slovaks themselves. Beyond the declaration in principle of this war aim, the British Government has entered into no obligations which might give grounds to complaints ... " (10). The Czecho-Slovak Committee, according to Macartney, was "a wartime organization carrying out certain pragmatically necessary duties, and the recognition of it, in that capacity, carried no implication about a future Czecho-Slovak State" (11). Such a formulation of Great Britain's war aims allows undoubtedly to assume that the Bdtish Government considered, even in 1940, further existence of the Slovak State conforms with Great Britain's war aims. The Foreign Office was quite explicit in this regard even in letters addressed to Dr. Benes. When Dr. Benes, in his letter of July 18, 1940, to Lord Halifax, expressed his thanks to His Majesty's Government for the stand which Great Britain took with regard to the events of March 15, 1939, and implied that the British Government "by so doing have solemnly emphasized the political and legal continuity of the Czecho-Slovak Republic," the Foreign Of£ice did not fail to correct Dr. Benes' "li1beral" interpretation. Lord Halifax on behalf of His Majesty's Government wrote emphatically to Dr. Benes that "it cannot be presumed that His Majesty's Government �56 SLOVAKIA necessarily share your conclusion, drawn in your letter: namely, that by their attitude after the events of March 15, 1939, His Majesty's Government have taken any particular attitude concerning the legal continuity of the CzechoSlovak Republic. The acts of His Majesty's Government had the significance that they protested against the changes brought about in Czecho-Slovakia by German military action, and that they stressed that in their opinion these changes had no legal basis ... " (12). In the same letter signed by Lord Halifax on July 18, 1940, there are also some other interesting points regarding Slovakia. His Majesty's Government were, according to Halifax, in principle ready to recognize the Provisional Czecho-Slovak Government," but it was added that "this Provisional Government is to be a representative government of the Czech and Slovak peoples and that it is intended that also the Czecho-Slovak State Council will be of fully representative character and will include the recognized Czech and Slovak leaders abroad, as far as they have not been included in the Provisional Government" (13). We can say, therefore, that the British Government paid, in view of the circumstances, unexpected attention to the Slovak question by stressing that it was ready to recognize Benes' exiled Provisional Government only on the condition of full Slovak participation, and by making a clear distinction between the Czechs and the Slovaks. From Dr. Benes' acts against Slovaks who did not share his political views and ambitions, we can conclude that he was aware of possible dangers for his plans on account of the above British attitude towards Slovakia and the Slovaks. Benes used all means (denunciation, false accusations, etc) to get rid of not only Slovaks advocating Slovakia's right to self-determination (14), but also of Slovaks like Dr. Milan Hod.fa and Dr. Stephen Osusky. Dr. Benes did his utmost to discredit both in England and in the U. S. A. simply because they did not share his views as to the future of Slovakia. The first Consul of the Slovak Republic, Milan P. Harminc, saved himself from vengeance and trouble only by volunteering into the British Army overseas thus abandoning all political activity. �SLOVAKIA 57 All this allows us to believe, even on the basis of documents which are far from complete, that there was a fair possibility to give Central Europe, and in it to the Slovak question, quite a different organiZiation from that advocated by. Dr. Benes and imposed in the end by the Soviet Union, had the British view prevailed. No doubt it would also have required a much clearer stand and understanding of Slovak politicians in Great Britain (Hodza, Osusky, Pauliny-Toth, etc.) who did not agree with Dr. Benes or denounced his machinations, undemocratic procedures, and utter disregard for Slovakia's aspirations (15), but did little or nothing positively to influence the Western Powers and to obtain a recognition of a Slovak exiled Committee or a Provisional Government. The first Slovak Consul apparently failed to use, for his country's future, all the good will and inclination of the British Government to recognize him, even after Poland was defeated, as Consul of Slovakia in London, which he probably would have been able to do, had the Slovak politicians in London supported him. Favorable British attitude towards Slovakia found its expression again before the end of the war when Dr. Benes travelled, in spite of clear hints of the British Government and Parliament, to Moscow and signed a treaty with the Soviet Union, which treaty later helped the Soviet to penetrate into Central Europe and to establish there Communist rule and statellite governments. The British Government allowed, in 1943, Slovak exiles, headed by Peter Pridavok, to organize the Slovak National Council in London which opposed Dr. Benes' policy and advocated independence for Slovakia (16). Unfortunately, it was too late for a change in the fate of Slovakia. Not only did international events help Dr. Benes to accomplish his plans of subjugation of Slovakia but also some Slovak politicians in London and in Slovakia gave a hand to Dr. Benes and Stalin in order to enslave the Slovak people and to rob them of statehood and independence. A study of the British attitude towards Slovakia's aspirations for self-government is, nevertheless, quite an interesting chapter in Slovakia's history of the period 1938-1945 and deserves further research. �58 SLOVAKIA REFERENCES AND DOCUMENTS (1) F'or information on the international recognition of the Slovak Repwblic see: J . M. Kirschbaum: Slovakia - Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe, Speller and Sons, New Yoii{, 1960; J. A. !Mikus: /La Slavaquie dans le drame de l'Europe, Paris, '195.5; J. M. Kirschbaum: Nal boj j o samostatnost', Oleveland, :1958; Gi,]bert Oddo: Slovakia and its People, Speller and Sons, New Ywk, 1960. ~2) See attached Document No. 'l. (3) See Documents on German Foreign Policy, 119118-1941.5, Series D; Vol. W, Document No. 234, attached ias Document No. 2. {4) Jlbidem, Document No. 220, attached as Document No. 3. (5) See attaohed Document No. 4. (~ See attached Document No. 5. {7) See attached Document No. 6. {8) See Documents on German Foreign Policy, lJ!ll!M.945, Series D; Document No. 205 or J. M. Kirschlbaum: Slovakia - Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe, Part IV, p. 280.281. (9) !For full text see J . M. KiTschlbaum, QIP. cit., p. 265. { 10) C. A. Ma~rtney: October Fifteenth, A History of Modern Hungary, Edinburgh University Press, 1957, Parit I, p. 376. {ltl) ]bidem, p . 377. r~l.12) !For foll text see Memoirs of Edward Bene!, London, 19.54, p. •108. On March 15, 1939, the Germans occupied only BohemiaM<Yl'cWia and, therefore, the British protest could not refer to SlovaJcia's proclamation cxf •i ndependence. -0:IJ3) Memoirs of Edward Benes, ,p. 1110. ,Cl4) iPeter Pridavok and several other Slovak!s were confined or int erned in concentration camps on the denun:Cilation cxf Dr. Benes and his supporters of beiIJJg Nazi agents, which, of course, was a malicious and false accusat ion which later was d,ismi ssed by British authorities. 015) See Dr. Osusky's pamphlet "Bene! and Slovakia" and also J. M. Kirschlbaum, op. cit., p. ,286. q16) See memoranda of the Slovak National Council in J . M. Ki~schlbaum's op. cit., pp. 289, 296, 298, 304. 309, etc. DOOUIMENT NO. 1 His EX1Cellency Mr. Ferdinand Durcansky M!inister of Foreign Affairs Bratis}ava Your Excellency: On the instruction Orf the Secretacy of St ate for Foreign .Afifairs I have the honour to inform you that His Majesty's Governmen,t in the United Kin gdom propose to appoint me as Consul for Slov-aki!a with residence in Bratislava. Pending preparation of my Commission I have the honour to request promsional recognition •by the Slov.a!k Government as ms Majesty's Consul for Slovakia. I avail myself of thi s opporturuity to ex;press to yowr Excellency the assurance of my highest consideration. PE'IlER PAIR.ES, M. P., H. M. Con'sul. 1 �SLOVAKIA 59 DOOUIMEN.l' NO. 2 Documents on Ger,man Foreign Policy, 1918-J1945, Series D, Vol. IV No. 2314' 1'94!].i/4{3'5217 " Ambassador Henderson to Foreign Minister Rilbbenitrop Berlin, Marc'h 15, 11939 Pol. 11V 1700 My Dear Reichminii,ster: Lord Ibli1f.ax has instructed me to take the earliest 01PP<>rtunity to convey the following message to the German Government: His Majesty's G01Vernment have no desire to illlteinfere unnecessarily in a matter with which other Governments may be more dixe'c tly conlcerned than His Majesty's G01Vernrnelllt in the United Kingdom. They are, however, -a s the German Go,vernment will surely aippreciJate, deeply concerned for t'he success of ahl efforts to restore coillfidence and a relaxat-ion of tension in Europe. This seems to them more particularily des-iraible at a moment when a start is being made with discussfoonis Oif economic swbjects to which His Majesty's Government believe, the Gel'llllan Goverrnment attach not less importance than they do themselves, and the fruitful development of which depends so directly upon a genel'al sta-te of confidence. From tha-t po.init of view t'hey would deplore any action in Central Europe which would cause a setback to the growth of th-is generial coillf,i dence on which all impro:vemerut in the economdc situation depends and to whic_h such imrprovement might i-n its turn contribute. · Yours sincere-ly, NIEV'.l!LI.iE HlEN!DIE.RSON. DOOlJlMENTI' NO. 3 Documents on Foreign Policy 191'8-ll945, Series D, Vol. IV NO. 220 [40/76461: The Ambassador in Great Britain to the Foreign Ministry TELEGRAM London, March 14, 1009 Urgent No. fJ7 of Ma!I"ch 114 Attitude of British Government toward co•Illflict between Czeichia and Slovaki:a was further clarified yesterday by HaJifax's speech, statements 1by the new Department of the Foreign Office, as well as by attitudes of press itself. British Government regards constitutional settlement of relations between Slovakia and Czechii.a as an internal concern of the Czechoslovak state in which Great Britain has nio part. The guarantee of the frontier-s O!f the CzechoslOV1aik State envisaged by Great Britain at Munich is reg-a rded as not yet in force, as the uontier it's elf has not yet 'been 1finally fixed, and the prerequisite for the Brutish ,g uarantee is the unde.rtaking of a like guarantee by other signatories to the Munieh Agreemerut. However, even -iif such a guarantee already existed, it could come into force, according to statements in the press, only "in the event of an �60 SLOVAKIA Ulllprovoked atta·ck" ~1). The mo.re the outward appearance of the right to self-determination, of the people concerned is preserved, the greater will be the understanding among the public here for a new and stable s·e ttlement, especially as on aU sides the desire exri sts to keep out of a remote afifair which does not affect Br.itish interests. D]RKSEN. 1 •~1 This attitude is confia-med hy Chamlberlain 1s reply to a question by Attlee on the same day in the House of Common,s (quoted in the GeI"man White Book, Document No. 257): "I am not sure what the Right Honoralble Gentleman thinks that we should do. I might remind him that the proposed ,g uarantee is one against uniprovoked aggression on Czechoslov,akia. No such ,aggression has yet taken place." DOOUMJENT NO. 4 Letter of the British Consulate in Bratislarva to the Chief Customs Officer in Do,v er, Great Britain Bratislava Slovakia July 6, 1939 Sir: I have the honor to inform you that the 'b earer of this letter, Mr. M. Paul Harminc, who is ,arriving by packet-'boat next week, on Wednesday or Thursday, has been appointed Slovak Consul in London to take up his duties there. No facilities exist here for giving him a dipiomatic visa since there is no diplomatic representative at the capital of the Slovak State. But 'I am furnishing Mr. Harminc with this letter ,as proof of his officiaJ position and shall be most grateful if he caru be granted the usual facilities on landing which are customarily given to the consular representatives of a foreign state on thek fiir,s t arI"ival in the United Kingdom. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, :PARiES, H. M. Consul. The Chief Customs Officer Dover. 1) DOCUMIENrf NO. 5 A letter of the Foreign Office to the Slovak Cornsul, regarding his official status Foreign Oiifice, S.W.I. August 117, :1009 Sir: With reference to your letter of August 9, I am directed by ¥iscount Halifax to inforun you that there is no objection on the part of His Majesty's Government to your entering forthwith upon your functions as Consul of Slovakia in London. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, R. DUNBAR. M. P . Harminc, Esq. Consul of Slovakia. �61 SLOVAKIA DOCUMiENT NO. 6 Great Britain reco_gnized the Slovak Oonsul even after the Second World War started No. C 1'5393/ 2875/ 12 Foreign O!fifice, S. W. I. October J2, '1 009 Dear Monsieur Haruninc: With referenice to ou:r conversation on September 28 regarding y,o ur position in this countr y, I am no:w alble to inform you that you will continue to be recognized as the Slorvak Consul in London. Yours sincerely, I. KI!RKPATRICK. • • • WHO SAID IT? Czecho-Slovakia, as created by the Paris Peace Conference is then a land of mino.rities, a country in which, in fact, there is no majority. By one of the oldest and most ironical of necess ities, the statesmen of Pa r is, who undertook to resolve the Hapsburg Monarchy info its ethn ic fractions in accordance with the rights of peoples, found themselves in the end condemned to create a new state in which the racial elements were as diverse and as irreconci lable as either the Austrian or Hungarian states of the pre-war era." - ~Frank H. Simonds: Can Europe Keep the Peace? - New York, London, '19311; p. 99) . • • • " . .. the Czechoslovak Republic was the least natural state created afte.r world War I. Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia and Ruthenia fo r med the parts of a long, unnatural, composite area, with varied rel ief, peoples, communicat ions and economic development." - (Ge·o rge W. >Hoffman: A Geography of Eu rope, University oif Texas, [G53; p. 567) . • • • " If one considers the question of the viability of Czechoslovakia from the strict point of view of geography and ethnography, there would indeed seem to be little hope for the futur e of this curiously composite state." (Herbert Adam Gibbons: Europe Since 1008; p. 258). • • • " From the beginning of the Republic the more e xt remist rulers in Prague asserted that the Czech and Slovak languages we re identical ; they argued that, in reality, the Slovak was only a d ialect of the Czech. The Slovaks, however, rejected this theory, and declared that thefr language, wh ile closely resembl ing the Czech, was a separate idiom." - M. W. Fodor: Plot and Counterplot in Cen ral Eu rope, p. 36). � 50 SLOVAKIA BRITISH POLICY AND SLOVAKIA - 1939-1945 J.M. Kirschbaum, LL.D., Ph.D. Diiploma,,tic recognition of the Slovak Republic by European Great Powers offers a student of modern political history an interesting field of research. In the official and semi-official memoranda and documents as well as in numerous works, published by political writers in America, we read that the Slovak Republic was recognized and established diplomatic or consular relations merely with "Germany and its satellites.; ' The fact that not only an European states, including the Vatican, Switzerland, Sweden, but also the Soviet Union, established regular diplomatic relations, and that Great Britain exchanged consuls with Slovakia, is as a rule overlooked (1). Why this glaring oversight on the part of practically all American writers on Czecho-Slovakia in the years 1939-1945, is a matter of an easy guess. Most of the information on Slovakia was supplied to the West by Czech exiles who under the leadership of Benes, labored for restoration of Czecho~Slovakia, and American historians and political writers did not question the reliability of their sources of information. A study of the international recognition of the Slovak Republic by European and non-European nations is, therefore, an interesting matter. It shows how easily world opinion can be fooled and how unreliable our "political science" can be even while dealing with current or contemporary events. Among the Great Powers, which never were mentioned in connection with Slovakia by American historians and writers on international events, is, in the first place, Great Britain. Readers of newspapers, periodicals, and books during the war, and later readers of modern history, were induced to believe that Great Britain firmly stood on the side of the Czech politicians who desired to rule Slovakia, and that the British Government never recognized the fact that the autonomous Slovak Diet within the framework of Czecho-Slovakia proclaimed Slovakia an independent State on March 14, 1939. �SLOVAKIA 51 The truth about Great Britain's attitude towards Slovakia is, of course, quite different. The British Government instructed its Consul, Peter Pares, to notify the Slovak Government that "His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom proposed to appoint him as Consul for Slovakia" on May 4, 1939, i.e., not later than six weeks after Slovakia's declaration of independence took place (2). The British Parliament accepted the proclamation of Slovakia's independence as a fait accompli against which Great Britain had no intention to protest, even sooner, on March 15, 1939, when Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced in the House of Commons that the British Government did not feel bound by the Agreement guaranteeing Czecho-Slovakia her frontiers "because, by the proclamation of the independence of Slovakia by the Slovak Diet, Czecho-Slovakia disintegrated from the inside." Lord Halifax expressed the attitude of the Foreign Office to the events, which took place in Slovakia, in diplomatic terms but did not leave any doubt that he agreed with his Prime Minister. On March 15, 1939, Lord Halifax instructed the British Ambassador in Berlin, Sir Neville Henderson, to inform the German Government that "His Majesty's Government has no desire to interfere unnecessarily in a matter with which other Govemments may be more directly concerned than His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom ... " (3). The German Ambassador to Great Britain, Dirksen, interpreted the above statements and reported to Berlin on March 14, 1939, that "aittitude of the British Government toward conflict between Czechia and Slovakia was clarified by Halifax's speech, statements by the new Department of the Foreign Office, as well as by attitudes of press itself" and that "British Government regarded constitutional settlement of relations between Slovakia and Czechia as an internal concern of the Czecho~lovak State in which Great Britain had no part." According to Dirksen ",the more the outward appearance of the right to selfdetermination of the people concerned was preserved, the greater would be the understanding among the public (in �52 SLOVAKIA Great Britain) for a new and stable settlement, especially as on all sides the desire existed to keep out of a remote affair which did not affeot British interests ... " ( 4). As a matter of fact, relations between Great Britain and the Slovak Republic developed so favorably that not later than July 4, 1939, the Slovak Government appointed, with the the consent of the British Government, the first Consul of Slovakia in Great Britain, Milan P. Harminc. The British Consul in Slovakia, Peter Pares, on July 6, 1939, handed a letter to Consul Harminc in which he asked the British authorities in Dover to grant the Slovak Consul "the usual facilities on landing which are customarily given to the consular representatives of a foreign state on their first arrival in the United Kingdom ... " (5). The Slovak Consul, who actually was in charge of the first Slovak Consulate General in the United Kingdom, notified the Foreign Office of his arrival and asked to be received on July 18, 1939. The Foreign Office in return advised him by letter of August 17, 1939, that there was "no objection on the part of His Majesty's Government to his entering forthwith upon his functions as Consul of Slovakia in London" (6). If we take into consideration the international situation in August 1939 and all possible demarches and intrigues of the former Czecho-Slovak politicians and diplomats, and especially of ex-president Dr. Edward Benes, who after March 14, 1939, addressed al'l governments and asked them not to recognize the Slovak Republic, the above attitude of Great Britain certainly allows to arrive at a conclusion that the British Government was certainly not on the side of the adversaries of Slovakia's aspirations for self~government and independence. International Law knows many forms of international recognition of new States, from de jure to de facto recognition, and to an exchange of diplomatic or consular representatives. Great Britain granted its recognition to the Slovak Republic by exchanging consuls within six weeks after proclamation of Slovakia's independence by the Slovak Diet. There hardly can be any doubt that an early normalization of diplomatic relations would have followed, if the Second World War �SLOVAKIA 53 had not started only six months after Slovakia decided to apply its right to self-determination. Great Britain's attitude towards Slovakia after the War broke out in Septem:ber 1939, offers according to some documents, even more conclusive proof of the British Government's inclination to maintain relations with the S'lovak Republic and not to commit itself prematurely to some other solution of the Slovak problem. Adversaries of Slovakia's independence were quite successful in spreading a general belief, when the Second World started, Great Britain ceased to recognize the existence of the Slovak Republic and that the Slovak Government simply took cognizance of that fact. Diplomatic documents, even those published from German archives, give some proof to the contrary. The first Slovak Consul, M. R. Harminc, received a telegram, on September 4, 1939, inviting him to Bratislava for consultation, but he understood that it was a move which the Slovak foreign minister had to make and, therefore, Harmine did not follow the instructions and remained in London, since he saw that the Government of Great Britain did not change its attitude towards Slovakia at the beginning or during the war against Poland. As a matter of fact, Great Britain did not change its stand towards Slovakia even after Poland was divided among her attackers - Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union. The Foreign Office formally notified the Slovak Consul on October 12, 1939, that he "will continue to be recognized as the Slovak Consul in London" (7). For the middle of October 1939, in view of the general situation in Europe, this atitude of the British Government certainly indicates that Great Britain still recognized the Slovak Republic and did not intend to break relations with it. Why this attitude of Great Britain was not efficiently used either by the Slovak Consul or the Slovak Government, would call for a lengthy explanation. Documents on German Foreign Policy offer some proof that there were some attempts, on the side of Slovak diplomats, to maintain neutrality and to present Slovakia as a neutral State with regard to Great Britain. This is evident especially from the �54 SLOVAKIA document No. 205, published by the American and British Governments in "Series D" of the Documents on German Foreign Policy 1918-1845, in which we read that the Slovak Minister to Italy, J. M. Zvrskovec, on March 28, 1940, submitted a note to the Italian Foreign Ministry in which he stated that Slovakia was a neutral country. He requested to convey this to His Majesty's Government "in order that England may recognize Slovakia's neutrality with all its consequences ... " (8). Any attempt of the Slovak Government to keep Slovakia neutral was, of course, more an expression of feelings and desires of the Slovak people and its politicians than a real possibility. Soon after Slovakia proclaimed its independence, the territory of eastern Slovakia was attacked by Hungary and there were indications that also some Polish circles were inclined to make a deal with Germany and Hungary at the expense of Slovakia. "Therefore, in order to discourage Hungary," says a Special Report of the U. S. House of Representatives, "in her armed attack launched against eastern Slovakia, the Slovak Government concluded with Germany a Treaty of Protection (Schllltzvertrag) on March 23, 1939." By this theaty Slovakia tried to protect her independence an-d the integrity of her territory since, according to Article I of the Treaty, the Reich "undertook to protect the political independence of the Slovak State and the integrity of its territory," and the Slovak Government agreed in turn "to conduct its foreign policy in close understanding with the German Government" (9). This obligation prevented Slovakia from being formally neutral, and the Slovak diplomat who sent the a:bove mentioned note on Slovakia's neutrality had to pay for his step. So did also his Minister, Ferdinand :Durcansky. Great Britain, however, remained cautious in dealing with the Slovak problem even later. The British Government remained for some time reluctant to recognize the Czech group of exiled politicians led by Benes, who claimed that they were the official representatives of Czecho-Slovakia even though some of them previously resigned from their positions, like Dr. E. Benes, for instance (on October 5, 1938), or never took part in any Prague governments. The �SLOVAKIA 55 British Government "showed great caution in its attitude towards the Czecho-Slovak question," says C. A. Macartney, the British expert on Central Europe in the Foreign Office during the war. "It did not even recognize the Czecho-Slovak Committee until January 6, 1940." On February 24, Mr. Chamberlain spoke of restoring Czech independence, but on March 7, 1940, the London correspondent of the Pester Lloyd was authorized to telegraph the .following message: "British war aims in fact include the restoration of the independen<:e of Czechs and Slovaks. The British Government has, however, in no way committed itself with regard to the constitutional form the extent and the frontiers of the new State. As regards Slovakia, Britain leaves entirely open the question whether the Slovak State shall enjoy its independence in union with a Czech state, or in another form. This question is to be decided by the Slovaks themselves. Beyond the declaration in principle of this war aim, the British Government has entered into no obligations which might give grounds to complaints ... " (10). The Czecho-Slovak Committee, according to Macartney, was "a wartime organization carrying out certain pragmatically necessary duties, and the recognition of it, in that capacity, carried no implication about a future Czecho-Slovak State" (11). Such a formulation of Great Britain's war aims allows undoubtedly to assume that the Bdtish Government considered, even in 1940, further existence of the Slovak State conforms with Great Britain's war aims. The Foreign Office was quite explicit in this regard even in letters addressed to Dr. Benes. When Dr. Benes, in his letter of July 18, 1940, to Lord Halifax, expressed his thanks to His Majesty's Government for the stand which Great Britain took with regard to the events of March 15, 1939, and implied that the British Government "by so doing have solemnly emphasized the political and legal continuity of the Czecho-Slovak Republic," the Foreign Of£ice did not fail to correct Dr. Benes' "li1beral" interpretation. Lord Halifax on behalf of His Majesty's Government wrote emphatically to Dr. Benes that "it cannot be presumed that His Majesty's Government �56 SLOVAKIA necessarily share your conclusion, drawn in your letter: namely, that by their attitude after the events of March 15, 1939, His Majesty's Government have taken any particular attitude concerning the legal continuity of the CzechoSlovak Republic. The acts of His Majesty's Government had the significance that they protested against the changes brought about in Czecho-Slovakia by German military action, and that they stressed that in their opinion these changes had no legal basis ... " (12). In the same letter signed by Lord Halifax on July 18, 1940, there are also some other interesting points regarding Slovakia. His Majesty's Government were, according to Halifax, in principle ready to recognize the Provisional Czecho-Slovak Government," but it was added that "this Provisional Government is to be a representative government of the Czech and Slovak peoples and that it is intended that also the Czecho-Slovak State Council will be of fully representative character and will include the recognized Czech and Slovak leaders abroad, as far as they have not been included in the Provisional Government" (13). We can say, therefore, that the British Government paid, in view of the circumstances, unexpected attention to the Slovak question by stressing that it was ready to recognize Benes' exiled Provisional Government only on the condition of full Slovak participation, and by making a clear distinction between the Czechs and the Slovaks. From Dr. Benes' acts against Slovaks who did not share his political views and ambitions, we can conclude that he was aware of possible dangers for his plans on account of the above British attitude towards Slovakia and the Slovaks. Benes used all means (denunciation, false accusations, etc) to get rid of not only Slovaks advocating Slovakia's right to self-determination (14), but also of Slovaks like Dr. Milan Hod.fa and Dr. Stephen Osusky. Dr. Benes did his utmost to discredit both in England and in the U. S. A. simply because they did not share his views as to the future of Slovakia. The first Consul of the Slovak Republic, Milan P. Harminc, saved himself from vengeance and trouble only by volunteering into the British Army overseas thus abandoning all political activity. �SLOVAKIA 57 All this allows us to believe, even on the basis of documents which are far from complete, that there was a fair possibility to give Central Europe, and in it to the Slovak question, quite a different organiZiation from that advocated by. Dr. Benes and imposed in the end by the Soviet Union, had the British view prevailed. No doubt it would also have required a much clearer stand and understanding of Slovak politicians in Great Britain (Hodza, Osusky, Pauliny-Toth, etc.) who did not agree with Dr. Benes or denounced his machinations, undemocratic procedures, and utter disregard for Slovakia's aspirations (15), but did little or nothing positively to influence the Western Powers and to obtain a recognition of a Slovak exiled Committee or a Provisional Government. The first Slovak Consul apparently failed to use, for his country's future, all the good will and inclination of the British Government to recognize him, even after Poland was defeated, as Consul of Slovakia in London, which he probably would have been able to do, had the Slovak politicians in London supported him. Favorable British attitude towards Slovakia found its expression again before the end of the war when Dr. Benes travelled, in spite of clear hints of the British Government and Parliament, to Moscow and signed a treaty with the Soviet Union, which treaty later helped the Soviet to penetrate into Central Europe and to establish there Communist rule and statellite governments. The British Government allowed, in 1943, Slovak exiles, headed by Peter Pridavok, to organize the Slovak National Council in London which opposed Dr. Benes' policy and advocated independence for Slovakia (16). Unfortunately, it was too late for a change in the fate of Slovakia. Not only did international events help Dr. Benes to accomplish his plans of subjugation of Slovakia but also some Slovak politicians in London and in Slovakia gave a hand to Dr. Benes and Stalin in order to enslave the Slovak people and to rob them of statehood and independence. A study of the British attitude towards Slovakia's aspirations for self-government is, nevertheless, quite an interesting chapter in Slovakia's history of the period 1938-1945 and deserves further research. �58 SLOVAKIA REFERENCES AND DOCUMENTS (1) F'or information on the international recognition of the Slovak Repwblic see: J . M. Kirschbaum: Slovakia - Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe, Speller and Sons, New Yoii{, 1960; J. A. !Mikus: /La Slavaquie dans le drame de l'Europe, Paris, '195.5; J. M. Kirschbaum: Nal boj j o samostatnost', Oleveland, :1958; Gi,]bert Oddo: Slovakia and its People, Speller and Sons, New Ywk, 1960. ~2) See attached Document No. 'l. (3) See Documents on German Foreign Policy, 119118-1941.5, Series D; Vol. W, Document No. 234, attached ias Document No. 2. {4) Jlbidem, Document No. 220, attached as Document No. 3. (5) See attaohed Document No. 4. (~ See attached Document No. 5. {7) See attached Document No. 6. {8) See Documents on German Foreign Policy, lJ!ll!M.945, Series D; Document No. 205 or J. M. Kirschlbaum: Slovakia - Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe, Part IV, p. 280.281. (9) !For full text see J . M. KiTschlbaum, QIP. cit., p. 265. { 10) C. A. Ma~rtney: October Fifteenth, A History of Modern Hungary, Edinburgh University Press, 1957, Parit I, p. 376. {ltl) ]bidem, p . 377. r~l.12) !For foll text see Memoirs of Edward Bene!, London, 19.54, p. •108. On March 15, 1939, the Germans occupied only BohemiaM<Yl'cWia and, therefore, the British protest could not refer to SlovaJcia's proclamation cxf •i ndependence. -0:IJ3) Memoirs of Edward Benes, ,p. 1110. ,Cl4) iPeter Pridavok and several other Slovak!s were confined or int erned in concentration camps on the denun:Cilation cxf Dr. Benes and his supporters of beiIJJg Nazi agents, which, of course, was a malicious and false accusat ion which later was d,ismi ssed by British authorities. 015) See Dr. Osusky's pamphlet "Bene! and Slovakia" and also J. M. Kirschlbaum, op. cit., p. ,286. q16) See memoranda of the Slovak National Council in J . M. Ki~schlbaum's op. cit., pp. 289, 296, 298, 304. 309, etc. DOOUIMENT NO. 1 His EX1Cellency Mr. Ferdinand Durcansky M!inister of Foreign Affairs Bratis}ava Your Excellency: On the instruction Orf the Secretacy of St ate for Foreign .Afifairs I have the honour to inform you that His Majesty's Governmen,t in the United Kin gdom propose to appoint me as Consul for Slov-aki!a with residence in Bratislava. Pending preparation of my Commission I have the honour to request promsional recognition •by the Slov.a!k Government as ms Majesty's Consul for Slovakia. I avail myself of thi s opporturuity to ex;press to yowr Excellency the assurance of my highest consideration. PE'IlER PAIR.ES, M. P., H. M. Con'sul. 1 �SLOVAKIA 59 DOOUIMEN.l' NO. 2 Documents on Ger,man Foreign Policy, 1918-J1945, Series D, Vol. IV No. 2314' 1'94!].i/4{3'5217 " Ambassador Henderson to Foreign Minister Rilbbenitrop Berlin, Marc'h 15, 11939 Pol. 11V 1700 My Dear Reichminii,ster: Lord Ibli1f.ax has instructed me to take the earliest 01PP<>rtunity to convey the following message to the German Government: His Majesty's G01Vernment have no desire to illlteinfere unnecessarily in a matter with which other Governments may be more dixe'c tly conlcerned than His Majesty's G01Vernrnelllt in the United Kingdom. They are, however, -a s the German Go,vernment will surely aippreciJate, deeply concerned for t'he success of ahl efforts to restore coillfidence and a relaxat-ion of tension in Europe. This seems to them more particularily des-iraible at a moment when a start is being made with discussfoonis Oif economic swbjects to which His Majesty's Government believe, the Gel'llllan Goverrnment attach not less importance than they do themselves, and the fruitful development of which depends so directly upon a genel'al sta-te of confidence. From tha-t po.init of view t'hey would deplore any action in Central Europe which would cause a setback to the growth of th-is generial coillf,i dence on which all impro:vemerut in the economdc situation depends and to whic_h such imrprovement might i-n its turn contribute. · Yours sincere-ly, NIEV'.l!LI.iE HlEN!DIE.RSON. DOOlJlMENTI' NO. 3 Documents on Foreign Policy 191'8-ll945, Series D, Vol. IV NO. 220 [40/76461: The Ambassador in Great Britain to the Foreign Ministry TELEGRAM London, March 14, 1009 Urgent No. fJ7 of Ma!I"ch 114 Attitude of British Government toward co•Illflict between Czeichia and Slovaki:a was further clarified yesterday by HaJifax's speech, statements 1by the new Department of the Foreign Office, as well as by attitudes of press itself. British Government regards constitutional settlement of relations between Slovakia and Czechii.a as an internal concern of the Czechoslovak state in which Great Britain has nio part. The guarantee of the frontier-s O!f the CzechoslOV1aik State envisaged by Great Britain at Munich is reg-a rded as not yet in force, as the uontier it's elf has not yet 'been 1finally fixed, and the prerequisite for the Brutish ,g uarantee is the unde.rtaking of a like guarantee by other signatories to the Munieh Agreemerut. However, even -iif such a guarantee already existed, it could come into force, according to statements in the press, only "in the event of an �60 SLOVAKIA Ulllprovoked atta·ck" ~1). The mo.re the outward appearance of the right to self-determination, of the people concerned is preserved, the greater will be the understanding among the public here for a new and stable s·e ttlement, especially as on aU sides the desire exri sts to keep out of a remote afifair which does not affect Br.itish interests. D]RKSEN. 1 •~1 This attitude is confia-med hy Chamlberlain 1s reply to a question by Attlee on the same day in the House of Common,s (quoted in the GeI"man White Book, Document No. 257): "I am not sure what the Right Honoralble Gentleman thinks that we should do. I might remind him that the proposed ,g uarantee is one against uniprovoked aggression on Czechoslov,akia. No such ,aggression has yet taken place." DOOUMJENT NO. 4 Letter of the British Consulate in Bratislarva to the Chief Customs Officer in Do,v er, Great Britain Bratislava Slovakia July 6, 1939 Sir: I have the honor to inform you that the 'b earer of this letter, Mr. M. Paul Harminc, who is ,arriving by packet-'boat next week, on Wednesday or Thursday, has been appointed Slovak Consul in London to take up his duties there. No facilities exist here for giving him a dipiomatic visa since there is no diplomatic representative at the capital of the Slovak State. But 'I am furnishing Mr. Harminc with this letter ,as proof of his officiaJ position and shall be most grateful if he caru be granted the usual facilities on landing which are customarily given to the consular representatives of a foreign state on thek fiir,s t arI"ival in the United Kingdom. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, :PARiES, H. M. Consul. The Chief Customs Officer Dover. 1) DOCUMIENrf NO. 5 A letter of the Foreign Office to the Slovak Cornsul, regarding his official status Foreign Oiifice, S.W.I. August 117, :1009 Sir: With reference to your letter of August 9, I am directed by ¥iscount Halifax to inforun you that there is no objection on the part of His Majesty's Government to your entering forthwith upon your functions as Consul of Slovakia in London. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, R. DUNBAR. M. P . Harminc, Esq. Consul of Slovakia. �61 SLOVAKIA DOCUMiENT NO. 6 Great Britain reco_gnized the Slovak Oonsul even after the Second World War started No. C 1'5393/ 2875/ 12 Foreign O!fifice, S. W. I. October J2, '1 009 Dear Monsieur Haruninc: With referenice to ou:r conversation on September 28 regarding y,o ur position in this countr y, I am no:w alble to inform you that you will continue to be recognized as the Slorvak Consul in London. Yours sincerely, I. KI!RKPATRICK. • • • WHO SAID IT? Czecho-Slovakia, as created by the Paris Peace Conference is then a land of mino.rities, a country in which, in fact, there is no majority. By one of the oldest and most ironical of necess ities, the statesmen of Pa r is, who undertook to resolve the Hapsburg Monarchy info its ethn ic fractions in accordance with the rights of peoples, found themselves in the end condemned to create a new state in which the racial elements were as diverse and as irreconci lable as either the Austrian or Hungarian states of the pre-war era." - ~Frank H. Simonds: Can Europe Keep the Peace? - New York, London, '19311; p. 99) . • • • " . .. the Czechoslovak Republic was the least natural state created afte.r world War I. Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia and Ruthenia fo r med the parts of a long, unnatural, composite area, with varied rel ief, peoples, communicat ions and economic development." - (Ge·o rge W. >Hoffman: A Geography of Eu rope, University oif Texas, [G53; p. 567) . • • • " If one considers the question of the viability of Czechoslovakia from the strict point of view of geography and ethnography, there would indeed seem to be little hope for the futur e of this curiously composite state." (Herbert Adam Gibbons: Europe Since 1008; p. 258). • • • " From the beginning of the Republic the more e xt remist rulers in Prague asserted that the Czech and Slovak languages we re identical ; they argued that, in reality, the Slovak was only a d ialect of the Czech. The Slovaks, however, rejected this theory, and declared that thefr language, wh ile closely resembl ing the Czech, was a separate idiom." - M. W. Fodor: Plot and Counterplot in Cen ral Eu rope, p. 36). � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 50 SLOVAKIA BRITISH POLICY AND SLOVAKIA - 1939-1945 J.M. Kirschbaum, LL.D., Ph.D. Diiploma,,tic recognition of the Slovak Republic by European Great Powers offers a student of modern political history an interesting field of research. In the official and semi-official memoranda and documents as well as in numerous works, published by political writers in America, we read that the Slovak Republic was recognized and established diplomatic or consular relations merely with "Germany and its satellites.; ' The fact that not only an European states, including the Vatican, Switzerland, Sweden, but also the Soviet Union, established regular diplomatic relations, and that Great Britain exchanged consuls with Slovakia, is as a rule overlooked (1). Why this glaring oversight on the part of practically all American writers on Czecho-Slovakia in the years 1939-1945, is a matter of an easy guess. Most of the information on Slovakia was supplied to the West by Czech exiles who under the leadership of Benes, labored for restoration of Czecho~Slovakia, and American historians and political writers did not question the reliability of their sources of information. A study of the international recognition of the Slovak Republic by European and non-European nations is, therefore, an interesting matter. It shows how easily world opinion can be fooled and how unreliable our "political science" can be even while dealing with current or contemporary events. Among the Great Powers, which never were mentioned in connection with Slovakia by American historians and writers on international events, is, in the first place, Great Britain. Readers of newspapers, periodicals, and books during the war, and later readers of modern history, were induced to believe that Great Britain firmly stood on the side of the Czech politicians who desired to rule Slovakia, and that the British Government never recognized the fact that the autonomous Slovak Diet within the framework of Czecho-Slovakia proclaimed Slovakia an independent State on March 14, 1939. SLOVAKIA 51 The truth about Great Britain's attitude towards Slovakia is, of course, quite different. The British Government instructed its Consul, Peter Pares, to notify the Slovak Government that "His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom proposed to appoint him as Consul for Slovakia" on May 4, 1939, i.e., not later than six weeks after Slovakia's declaration of independence took place (2). The British Parliament accepted the proclamation of Slovakia's independence as a fait accompli against which Great Britain had no intention to protest, even sooner, on March 15, 1939, when Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced in the House of Commons that the British Government did not feel bound by the Agreement guaranteeing Czecho-Slovakia her frontiers "because, by the proclamation of the independence of Slovakia by the Slovak Diet, Czecho-Slovakia disintegrated from the inside." Lord Halifax expressed the attitude of the Foreign Office to the events, which took place in Slovakia, in diplomatic terms but did not leave any doubt that he agreed with his Prime Minister. On March 15, 1939, Lord Halifax instructed the British Ambassador in Berlin, Sir Neville Henderson, to inform the German Government that "His Majesty's Government has no desire to interfere unnecessarily in a matter with which other Govemments may be more directly concerned than His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom ... " (3). The German Ambassador to Great Britain, Dirksen, interpreted the above statements and reported to Berlin on March 14, 1939, that "aittitude of the British Government toward conflict between Czechia and Slovakia was clarified by Halifax's speech, statements by the new Department of the Foreign Office, as well as by attitudes of press itself" and that "British Government regarded constitutional settlement of relations between Slovakia and Czechia as an internal concern of the Czecho~lovak State in which Great Britain had no part." According to Dirksen ",the more the outward appearance of the right to selfdetermination of the people concerned was preserved, the greater would be the understanding among the public (in 52 SLOVAKIA Great Britain) for a new and stable settlement, especially as on all sides the desire existed to keep out of a remote affair which did not affeot British interests ... " ( 4). As a matter of fact, relations between Great Britain and the Slovak Republic developed so favorably that not later than July 4, 1939, the Slovak Government appointed, with the the consent of the British Government, the first Consul of Slovakia in Great Britain, Milan P. Harminc. The British Consul in Slovakia, Peter Pares, on July 6, 1939, handed a letter to Consul Harminc in which he asked the British authorities in Dover to grant the Slovak Consul "the usual facilities on landing which are customarily given to the consular representatives of a foreign state on their first arrival in the United Kingdom ... " (5). The Slovak Consul, who actually was in charge of the first Slovak Consulate General in the United Kingdom, notified the Foreign Office of his arrival and asked to be received on July 18, 1939. The Foreign Office in return advised him by letter of August 17, 1939, that there was "no objection on the part of His Majesty's Government to his entering forthwith upon his functions as Consul of Slovakia in London" (6). If we take into consideration the international situation in August 1939 and all possible demarches and intrigues of the former Czecho-Slovak politicians and diplomats, and especially of ex-president Dr. Edward Benes, who after March 14, 1939, addressed al'l governments and asked them not to recognize the Slovak Republic, the above attitude of Great Britain certainly allows to arrive at a conclusion that the British Government was certainly not on the side of the adversaries of Slovakia's aspirations for self~government and independence. International Law knows many forms of international recognition of new States, from de jure to de facto recognition, and to an exchange of diplomatic or consular representatives. Great Britain granted its recognition to the Slovak Republic by exchanging consuls within six weeks after proclamation of Slovakia's independence by the Slovak Diet. There hardly can be any doubt that an early normalization of diplomatic relations would have followed, if the Second World War SLOVAKIA 53 had not started only six months after Slovakia decided to apply its right to self-determination. Great Britain's attitude towards Slovakia after the War broke out in Septem:ber 1939, offers according to some documents, even more conclusive proof of the British Government's inclination to maintain relations with the S'lovak Republic and not to commit itself prematurely to some other solution of the Slovak problem. Adversaries of Slovakia's independence were quite successful in spreading a general belief, when the Second World started, Great Britain ceased to recognize the existence of the Slovak Republic and that the Slovak Government simply took cognizance of that fact. Diplomatic documents, even those published from German archives, give some proof to the contrary. The first Slovak Consul, M. R. Harminc, received a telegram, on September 4, 1939, inviting him to Bratislava for consultation, but he understood that it was a move which the Slovak foreign minister had to make and, therefore, Harmine did not follow the instructions and remained in London, since he saw that the Government of Great Britain did not change its attitude towards Slovakia at the beginning or during the war against Poland. As a matter of fact, Great Britain did not change its stand towards Slovakia even after Poland was divided among her attackers - Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union. The Foreign Office formally notified the Slovak Consul on October 12, 1939, that he "will continue to be recognized as the Slovak Consul in London" (7). For the middle of October 1939, in view of the general situation in Europe, this atitude of the British Government certainly indicates that Great Britain still recognized the Slovak Republic and did not intend to break relations with it. Why this attitude of Great Britain was not efficiently used either by the Slovak Consul or the Slovak Government, would call for a lengthy explanation. Documents on German Foreign Policy offer some proof that there were some attempts, on the side of Slovak diplomats, to maintain neutrality and to present Slovakia as a neutral State with regard to Great Britain. This is evident especially from the 54 SLOVAKIA document No. 205, published by the American and British Governments in "Series D" of the Documents on German Foreign Policy 1918-1845, in which we read that the Slovak Minister to Italy, J. M. Zvrskovec, on March 28, 1940, submitted a note to the Italian Foreign Ministry in which he stated that Slovakia was a neutral country. He requested to convey this to His Majesty's Government "in order that England may recognize Slovakia's neutrality with all its consequences ... " (8). Any attempt of the Slovak Government to keep Slovakia neutral was, of course, more an expression of feelings and desires of the Slovak people and its politicians than a real possibility. Soon after Slovakia proclaimed its independence, the territory of eastern Slovakia was attacked by Hungary and there were indications that also some Polish circles were inclined to make a deal with Germany and Hungary at the expense of Slovakia. "Therefore, in order to discourage Hungary," says a Special Report of the U. S. House of Representatives, "in her armed attack launched against eastern Slovakia, the Slovak Government concluded with Germany a Treaty of Protection (Schllltzvertrag) on March 23, 1939." By this theaty Slovakia tried to protect her independence an-d the integrity of her territory since, according to Article I of the Treaty, the Reich "undertook to protect the political independence of the Slovak State and the integrity of its territory," and the Slovak Government agreed in turn "to conduct its foreign policy in close understanding with the German Government" (9). This obligation prevented Slovakia from being formally neutral, and the Slovak diplomat who sent the a:bove mentioned note on Slovakia's neutrality had to pay for his step. So did also his Minister, Ferdinand :Durcansky. Great Britain, however, remained cautious in dealing with the Slovak problem even later. The British Government remained for some time reluctant to recognize the Czech group of exiled politicians led by Benes, who claimed that they were the official representatives of Czecho-Slovakia even though some of them previously resigned from their positions, like Dr. E. Benes, for instance (on October 5, 1938), or never took part in any Prague governments. The SLOVAKIA 55 British Government "showed great caution in its attitude towards the Czecho-Slovak question," says C. A. Macartney, the British expert on Central Europe in the Foreign Office during the war. "It did not even recognize the Czecho-Slovak Committee until January 6, 1940." On February 24, Mr. Chamberlain spoke of restoring Czech independence, but on March 7, 1940, the London correspondent of the Pester Lloyd was authorized to telegraph the .following message: "British war aims in fact include the restoration of the independen<:e of Czechs and Slovaks. The British Government has, however, in no way committed itself with regard to the constitutional form the extent and the frontiers of the new State. As regards Slovakia, Britain leaves entirely open the question whether the Slovak State shall enjoy its independence in union with a Czech state, or in another form. This question is to be decided by the Slovaks themselves. Beyond the declaration in principle of this war aim, the British Government has entered into no obligations which might give grounds to complaints ... " (10). The Czecho-Slovak Committee, according to Macartney, was "a wartime organization carrying out certain pragmatically necessary duties, and the recognition of it, in that capacity, carried no implication about a future Czecho-Slovak State" (11). Such a formulation of Great Britain's war aims allows undoubtedly to assume that the Bdtish Government considered, even in 1940, further existence of the Slovak State conforms with Great Britain's war aims. The Foreign Office was quite explicit in this regard even in letters addressed to Dr. Benes. When Dr. Benes, in his letter of July 18, 1940, to Lord Halifax, expressed his thanks to His Majesty's Government for the stand which Great Britain took with regard to the events of March 15, 1939, and implied that the British Government "by so doing have solemnly emphasized the political and legal continuity of the Czecho-Slovak Republic," the Foreign Of£ice did not fail to correct Dr. Benes' "li1beral" interpretation. Lord Halifax on behalf of His Majesty's Government wrote emphatically to Dr. Benes that "it cannot be presumed that His Majesty's Government 56 SLOVAKIA necessarily share your conclusion, drawn in your letter: namely, that by their attitude after the events of March 15, 1939, His Majesty's Government have taken any particular attitude concerning the legal continuity of the CzechoSlovak Republic. The acts of His Majesty's Government had the significance that they protested against the changes brought about in Czecho-Slovakia by German military action, and that they stressed that in their opinion these changes had no legal basis ... " (12). In the same letter signed by Lord Halifax on July 18, 1940, there are also some other interesting points regarding Slovakia. His Majesty's Government were, according to Halifax, in principle ready to recognize the Provisional Czecho-Slovak Government," but it was added that "this Provisional Government is to be a representative government of the Czech and Slovak peoples and that it is intended that also the Czecho-Slovak State Council will be of fully representative character and will include the recognized Czech and Slovak leaders abroad, as far as they have not been included in the Provisional Government" (13). We can say, therefore, that the British Government paid, in view of the circumstances, unexpected attention to the Slovak question by stressing that it was ready to recognize Benes' exiled Provisional Government only on the condition of full Slovak participation, and by making a clear distinction between the Czechs and the Slovaks. From Dr. Benes' acts against Slovaks who did not share his political views and ambitions, we can conclude that he was aware of possible dangers for his plans on account of the above British attitude towards Slovakia and the Slovaks. Benes used all means (denunciation, false accusations, etc) to get rid of not only Slovaks advocating Slovakia's right to self-determination (14), but also of Slovaks like Dr. Milan Hod.fa and Dr. Stephen Osusky. Dr. Benes did his utmost to discredit both in England and in the U. S. A. simply because they did not share his views as to the future of Slovakia. The first Consul of the Slovak Republic, Milan P. Harminc, saved himself from vengeance and trouble only by volunteering into the British Army overseas thus abandoning all political activity. SLOVAKIA 57 All this allows us to believe, even on the basis of documents which are far from complete, that there was a fair possibility to give Central Europe, and in it to the Slovak question, quite a different organiZiation from that advocated by. Dr. Benes and imposed in the end by the Soviet Union, had the British view prevailed. No doubt it would also have required a much clearer stand and understanding of Slovak politicians in Great Britain (Hodza, Osusky, Pauliny-Toth, etc.) who did not agree with Dr. Benes or denounced his machinations, undemocratic procedures, and utter disregard for Slovakia's aspirations (15), but did little or nothing positively to influence the Western Powers and to obtain a recognition of a Slovak exiled Committee or a Provisional Government. The first Slovak Consul apparently failed to use, for his country's future, all the good will and inclination of the British Government to recognize him, even after Poland was defeated, as Consul of Slovakia in London, which he probably would have been able to do, had the Slovak politicians in London supported him. Favorable British attitude towards Slovakia found its expression again before the end of the war when Dr. Benes travelled, in spite of clear hints of the British Government and Parliament, to Moscow and signed a treaty with the Soviet Union, which treaty later helped the Soviet to penetrate into Central Europe and to establish there Communist rule and statellite governments. The British Government allowed, in 1943, Slovak exiles, headed by Peter Pridavok, to organize the Slovak National Council in London which opposed Dr. Benes' policy and advocated independence for Slovakia (16). Unfortunately, it was too late for a change in the fate of Slovakia. Not only did international events help Dr. Benes to accomplish his plans of subjugation of Slovakia but also some Slovak politicians in London and in Slovakia gave a hand to Dr. Benes and Stalin in order to enslave the Slovak people and to rob them of statehood and independence. A study of the British attitude towards Slovakia's aspirations for self-government is, nevertheless, quite an interesting chapter in Slovakia's history of the period 1938-1945 and deserves further research. 58 SLOVAKIA REFERENCES AND DOCUMENTS (1) F'or information on the international recognition of the Slovak Repwblic see: J . M. Kirschbaum: Slovakia - Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe, Speller and Sons, New Yoii{, 1960; J. A. !Mikus: /La Slavaquie dans le drame de l'Europe, Paris, '195.5; J. M. Kirschbaum: Nal boj j o samostatnost', Oleveland, :1958; Gi,]bert Oddo: Slovakia and its People, Speller and Sons, New Ywk, 1960. ~2) See attached Document No. 'l. (3) See Documents on German Foreign Policy, 119118-1941.5, Series D; Vol. W, Document No. 234, attached ias Document No. 2. {4) Jlbidem, Document No. 220, attached as Document No. 3. (5) See attaohed Document No. 4. (~ See attached Document No. 5. {7) See attached Document No. 6. {8) See Documents on German Foreign Policy, lJ!ll!M.945, Series D; Document No. 205 or J. M. Kirschlbaum: Slovakia - Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe, Part IV, p. 280.281. (9) !For full text see J . M. KiTschlbaum, QIP. cit., p. 265. { 10) C. A. Ma~rtney: October Fifteenth, A History of Modern Hungary, Edinburgh University Press, 1957, Parit I, p. 376. {ltl) ]bidem, p . 377. r~l.12) !For foll text see Memoirs of Edward Bene!, London, 19.54, p. •108. On March 15, 1939, the Germans occupied only BohemiaM<Yl'cWia and, therefore, the British protest could not refer to SlovaJcia's proclamation cxf •i ndependence. -0:IJ3) Memoirs of Edward Benes, ,p. 1110. ,Cl4) iPeter Pridavok and several other Slovak!s were confined or int erned in concentration camps on the denun:Cilation cxf Dr. Benes and his supporters of beiIJJg Nazi agents, which, of course, was a malicious and false accusat ion which later was d,ismi ssed by British authorities. 015) See Dr. Osusky's pamphlet "Bene! and Slovakia" and also J. M. Kirschlbaum, op. cit., p. ,286. q16) See memoranda of the Slovak National Council in J . M. Ki~schlbaum's op. cit., pp. 289, 296, 298, 304. 309, etc. DOOUIMENT NO. 1 His EX1Cellency Mr. Ferdinand Durcansky M!inister of Foreign Affairs Bratis}ava Your Excellency: On the instruction Orf the Secretacy of St ate for Foreign .Afifairs I have the honour to inform you that His Majesty's Governmen,t in the United Kin gdom propose to appoint me as Consul for Slov-aki!a with residence in Bratislava. Pending preparation of my Commission I have the honour to request promsional recognition •by the Slov.a!k Government as ms Majesty's Consul for Slovakia. I avail myself of thi s opporturuity to ex;press to yowr Excellency the assurance of my highest consideration. PE'IlER PAIR.ES, M. P., H. M. Con'sul. 1 SLOVAKIA 59 DOOUIMEN.l' NO. 2 Documents on Ger,man Foreign Policy, 1918-J1945, Series D, Vol. IV No. 2314' 1'94!].i/4{3'5217 " Ambassador Henderson to Foreign Minister Rilbbenitrop Berlin, Marc'h 15, 11939 Pol. 11V 1700 My Dear Reichminii,ster: Lord Ibli1f.ax has instructed me to take the earliest 01PP<>rtunity to convey the following message to the German Government: His Majesty's G01Vernment have no desire to illlteinfere unnecessarily in a matter with which other Governments may be more dixe'c tly conlcerned than His Majesty's G01Vernrnelllt in the United Kingdom. They are, however, -a s the German Go,vernment will surely aippreciJate, deeply concerned for t'he success of ahl efforts to restore coillfidence and a relaxat-ion of tension in Europe. This seems to them more particularily des-iraible at a moment when a start is being made with discussfoonis Oif economic swbjects to which His Majesty's Government believe, the Gel'llllan Goverrnment attach not less importance than they do themselves, and the fruitful development of which depends so directly upon a genel'al sta-te of confidence. From tha-t po.init of view t'hey would deplore any action in Central Europe which would cause a setback to the growth of th-is generial coillf,i dence on which all impro:vemerut in the economdc situation depends and to whic_h such imrprovement might i-n its turn contribute. · Yours sincere-ly, NIEV'.l!LI.iE HlEN!DIE.RSON. DOOlJlMENTI' NO. 3 Documents on Foreign Policy 191'8-ll945, Series D, Vol. IV NO. 220 [40/76461: The Ambassador in Great Britain to the Foreign Ministry TELEGRAM London, March 14, 1009 Urgent No. fJ7 of Ma!I"ch 114 Attitude of British Government toward co•Illflict between Czeichia and Slovaki:a was further clarified yesterday by HaJifax's speech, statements 1by the new Department of the Foreign Office, as well as by attitudes of press itself. British Government regards constitutional settlement of relations between Slovakia and Czechii.a as an internal concern of the Czechoslovak state in which Great Britain has nio part. The guarantee of the frontier-s O!f the CzechoslOV1aik State envisaged by Great Britain at Munich is reg-a rded as not yet in force, as the uontier it's elf has not yet 'been 1finally fixed, and the prerequisite for the Brutish ,g uarantee is the unde.rtaking of a like guarantee by other signatories to the Munieh Agreemerut. However, even -iif such a guarantee already existed, it could come into force, according to statements in the press, only "in the event of an 60 SLOVAKIA Ulllprovoked atta·ck" ~1). The mo.re the outward appearance of the right to self-determination, of the people concerned is preserved, the greater will be the understanding among the public here for a new and stable s·e ttlement, especially as on aU sides the desire exri sts to keep out of a remote afifair which does not affect Br.itish interests. D]RKSEN. 1 •~1 This attitude is confia-med hy Chamlberlain 1s reply to a question by Attlee on the same day in the House of Common,s (quoted in the GeI"man White Book, Document No. 257): "I am not sure what the Right Honoralble Gentleman thinks that we should do. I might remind him that the proposed ,g uarantee is one against uniprovoked aggression on Czechoslov,akia. No such ,aggression has yet taken place." DOOUMJENT NO. 4 Letter of the British Consulate in Bratislarva to the Chief Customs Officer in Do,v er, Great Britain Bratislava Slovakia July 6, 1939 Sir: I have the honor to inform you that the 'b earer of this letter, Mr. M. Paul Harminc, who is ,arriving by packet-'boat next week, on Wednesday or Thursday, has been appointed Slovak Consul in London to take up his duties there. No facilities exist here for giving him a dipiomatic visa since there is no diplomatic representative at the capital of the Slovak State. But 'I am furnishing Mr. Harminc with this letter ,as proof of his officiaJ position and shall be most grateful if he caru be granted the usual facilities on landing which are customarily given to the consular representatives of a foreign state on thek fiir,s t arI"ival in the United Kingdom. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, :PARiES, H. M. Consul. The Chief Customs Officer Dover. 1) DOCUMIENrf NO. 5 A letter of the Foreign Office to the Slovak Cornsul, regarding his official status Foreign Oiifice, S.W.I. August 117, :1009 Sir: With reference to your letter of August 9, I am directed by ¥iscount Halifax to inforun you that there is no objection on the part of His Majesty's Government to your entering forthwith upon your functions as Consul of Slovakia in London. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, R. DUNBAR. M. P . Harminc, Esq. Consul of Slovakia. 61 SLOVAKIA DOCUMiENT NO. 6 Great Britain reco_gnized the Slovak Oonsul even after the Second World War started No. C 1'5393/ 2875/ 12 Foreign O!fifice, S. W. I. October J2, '1 009 Dear Monsieur Haruninc: With referenice to ou:r conversation on September 28 regarding y,o ur position in this countr y, I am no:w alble to inform you that you will continue to be recognized as the Slorvak Consul in London. Yours sincerely, I. KI!RKPATRICK. • • • WHO SAID IT? Czecho-Slovakia, as created by the Paris Peace Conference is then a land of mino.rities, a country in which, in fact, there is no majority. By one of the oldest and most ironical of necess ities, the statesmen of Pa r is, who undertook to resolve the Hapsburg Monarchy info its ethn ic fractions in accordance with the rights of peoples, found themselves in the end condemned to create a new state in which the racial elements were as diverse and as irreconci lable as either the Austrian or Hungarian states of the pre-war era." - ~Frank H. Simonds: Can Europe Keep the Peace? - New York, London, '19311; p. 99) . • • • " . .. the Czechoslovak Republic was the least natural state created afte.r world War I. Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia and Ruthenia fo r med the parts of a long, unnatural, composite area, with varied rel ief, peoples, communicat ions and economic development." - (Ge·o rge W. >Hoffman: A Geography of Eu rope, University oif Texas, [G53; p. 567) . • • • " If one considers the question of the viability of Czechoslovakia from the strict point of view of geography and ethnography, there would indeed seem to be little hope for the futur e of this curiously composite state." (Herbert Adam Gibbons: Europe Since 1008; p. 258). • • • " From the beginning of the Republic the more e xt remist rulers in Prague asserted that the Czech and Slovak languages we re identical ; they argued that, in reality, the Slovak was only a d ialect of the Czech. The Slovaks, however, rejected this theory, and declared that thefr language, wh ile closely resembl ing the Czech, was a separate idiom." - M. W. Fodor: Plot and Counterplot in Cen ral Eu rope, p. 36).  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource British Policy and Slovakia - 1939-1945 Description An account of the resource J. M. Kirschbaum, LL.D., Ph.D. Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 6 (31), March-June 1960 pp. 50-61 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kirschbaum, Jozef M., 1913-2001 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1960 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/45ef396945055687fcc826bbb6a33738.pdf d482228ad3a96993a77c403e5a7721dd PDF Text Text 62 SLOVAKIA SLOVAKIA UNDER COMMUNISM By Joseph Pauco Some Americans of Slovak ancestory who visit Slovakia keep in touch with me and keep me up to date as to what is or has recently transpired in our ancestoral homeland. From this I can faithfully present the following report about oppressed Slovakia under Czech Communism. The Scarcity of News Everyone who receives mail from Slovakia complains of the scarcity of news. In fact very little news is ever mentioned in personal letters. The only news we get and learn from the writer of any letter is that he is still living or that such and such are alive or that so and so of the family is dead. No one writing to America dare mention anything detrimental or in opposition to the regime. Most of our information about what is transpiring in Slovakia comes from the visitors. Last year's visitors to Slovakia disclosed the fact that a Slovak there, sending mail out of the country, must personally present every letter unsealed at the postal window and identify himself - for obvious reasons. One of our friends brought this message from his kin: Tell our relatives in America that they should not expect any details in our letters - because we may only praise our present regime. Whilst visiting there my friend learned of the cruel fate that happened to a young man whose father surprised him with an automobile from America. As soon as the communist authorities heard that he received the automobile they laid him off. When he inquired as to the reason for this, he was told that he has a wealthy American father who brought him a car; therefore let the father provide a living for him! A communist customs official directed a Slovak American lady to inform every one in America "not to bring or send clothes from America. We need American dollars �SLOVAKIA 63 with which to buy better things than those that you bring or send to us." Other visitor to Slovakia affirmed that: "The duty on new articles sent from the USA to Slovakia is several times higher than the value of the article. Hence the Slovak people there often beg and advise Americans not to send new clothing, shoes, etc." Communist Persecution of Slovak Peasants One of our countrymen who returned from Slovakia reports: "I was in Slovakia and I didn't recognize my own hometown. Much is changed. Since 1945 standards of living dropped and the people been living through nothing but woeful poverty, adversity and persecution. "Your Slovak-American press reports that everything is being communized," they told to my friend; "but you probably do not know that every farmer is resisting this as long as he possibly can. Not one wants to give up what he has; not one of them freely volunteers to be communized. "First the communist regime decreed that every farmer must turn over to the State a specific portion of the crop - so much grain, potatoes, sugar beets, vegetables, fruit, eggs, milk and other produce. If the farmer was unable the government got after him and asked him 'Will you sign?' If he declined to sign, he was taken a few days later to the police headquarters. "At the headquarters he was always investigated and intimidated - about his field, about his family, his work, where and who his kin is, where each member of the family works, with what girl does his son keep company, where his relatives live. "Whether he has any relatives in the United States of America, whether they write and send packages or money to him; and other similar questions. After all these always comes the persistent question: 'Will you sign?' If he declines again, the policeman grab his arms, twist them, stick a pen into his fingers and force him to sign. Some of the farmers are held at the police seven-ten days, �64 SLOVAKIA and tortured two or three times a day - to get them to give up their farms. "Those who were more determined would hold out longer, but even they would eventually yield. Indeed all those, whom I saw and whom I talked, the average American might be tempted to consider stupid or mental for they certainly talk peculiarly scared and nervous like, obviously because of the terror and beatings to which they were subjected. "Hence, they finally resign themselves to the hopeless fate and role to which the State subjects them. They thus in practice become utter slaves of the State. In enforcing the commune upon them, the State would dismiss the farmer's son or daughter from office work under the pretext that peasant and his family is sabotaging the commune. "My sister complained bitterly about this miserable situation. Her husband was persecuted and terrorized, her son was kicked out of the factory, and our priest-uncle was spirited away to the concentration camp. And last summer the state police came and ransacked her house and recorded all that she had in it. Every little item they checked and recorded - clothing, furniture, all her goods, stationary, toiletries, rags. Nothing is private to the communists." Slovaks Are Fleeing Into the Mountains Another visitor to Slovakia records: "As regards recruiting into the commune, this is done both by propaganda and terrorizing. In my hometown this was done even whilst I was there. Sixty communists poured out of a bus every morning to intimidate the farmers who resisted giving up their fields to the State. "My cousin was detained last spring by the regional national committee for investigation. He was beaten and locked up in a dark basement for two days. "My brother-in-law, who is on pension and who refused to turn over his property to the communist regime. had his pension taken away for good. "At the time of my visit to my hometown it was like �SLOVAKIA 65 doomsday. I wanted to visit with some of my friends with whom I used to chum around in my youth and who were still living, but they were afraid to talk to me. About twenty of the male friends fled before the police into the mountains. "Many of the other farmers of the country were likewise fleeing into the hills. "I am a rough coal miner. I never wept; but what I saw in my native town moved me to tears and I cried with many of the men there. They weep both out of just anger and out of bitter despair; for they are helpless and powerless to prevent their own plots of land from going to waste or to the communist regime. "I visited Slovakia when Khrushchev was preparing to visit America. Everyone who spoke of his visit, frowned on it, and prayed for the American leaders. "I'd love to visit again my native town in Slovakia; but not under communism, because my heart would break over the plight of my fellow countrymen." Whom Does Communism Permit to Attend the University Other Slovak American who visited Slovakia learned that: "I visited my native city - Kosice. My relatives have children whom they would like to send to the University. Out of five of them only one was able to send his son to a University. When I questioned them how such discrimination is possible, they answered: "'We are deeply worried when our children finish the required schooling. Besides, it is not easy to get permission to send one's child to a University; for 75 percent of the students must be of the so-called "proletariat families" - that is, of the already communized families. "'The growth of purely Slovak intelligentsia is thus restricted, indeed decreased.' "Another sad situation in Slovakia is this: "People live, so to speak, from hand to mouth. That is, they do not put away anything into the bank - either because they do not have anything to put in or because they do not trust communist banks or communist money. �66 SLOVAKIA "My cousin lives with her husband and children in a State home. It is a large home to house several families of workers - the privileged class which does not pay rent. The State leaves them in the apartments free of rent, because it does not wish to stir up scandal against those who are its privileged favorites. Hence, if these do not contribute to the support of the State, how can the State function - unless it discriminates against and takes from the majority of the Slovak populace? "It is obvious that the State does this deliberately both so that there would be no savings and so that all would live in State owned houses and apartments, where it is the easier for the State to check and control each family. Here and there, of course, a family will attempt to build its own home - but this is done under tremendous hardships. Nevertheless, though it is difficult to secure labor, unemployment is on the rise among the Slovak people - another reason why bitterness is increasing against communists." Slovak Youth lndoctrinat.ed and Educat.ed Against God The Communists in Slovakia concern themselves to turn Slovak youth against God and religion and to bring it up without religion is quite evident. Every visitor mentions this. We have first hand evidence of this policy even from the Communist daily "Praca"; for instance, under the date of December 6, 1959, under the heading "Circle of Young Atheists" we read: "In the schools of Slovakia Slovak youth is being organized and trained against God and the Church." The article mentions such an organized group or circle in a school on Dubova Street in Bratislava. The previous year the circle had 15 members; last year it had 73 members. Each circle, as then organized, the article claimed, was made up of eleventh graders. "What do these 'circles' do?" The article asks and answers this thus: "This year we read and discuss Lunacarsky's book 'Why It Is Impossible To Believe In God'" (Communists spell God with a small initial letter.) In Prague a so-called new "Broadcast University" �SLOVAKIA 67 was founded. The Chicago Daily News carried this short news-item on one of this "university's" lectures: CZE,CH RADIO ANAIL YZES Bl·BLE Bonn, Germany, Jan. 9 (1960) - Lectures in Czecho-Slovakia's "Radio University" have been at some pains recently to analyze sections of the Bible. The Bible, these Communist speakers argued, contains a good deal of brutality and immorality. As one example they cited the killing of the priests of Baal. The program was in reply to a listener who had written to defend Christianity, and to argue that the world would be a better place if everyone followed Christian principles. Religion, the lecturers said, had not been able to eliminate wars or to prevent fascism. Most of the good in religious ideas, the lecturers added, was of non-religious origin. This then is the way Czech Communists indoctrinate and poison the minds of the young and the faithful. Communist Destruction of Slovak Churches A visiting countryman reports: "In my native village, a few days prior to my arrival, the communist authorities closed the church and with my own eyes I saw posted on it the communists' official sign: 'STATE PROPERTY.' "My kinsfolks disclosed to me that their pastor was forced to preach most cautiously. He was unable to preach what he wished or as his heart and conscience dictated to him. Upon learning of this the faithful would crowd evenings after work into the church for prolonged periods of prayer - without their shepherd. So the civil authorities closed the church. "The parishioners then began to meet to pray at the outdoor on the outskirts of the village; but this was not for long, for not many days later heavily armed militia swooped down upon them and dispersed them. Terrorized people cried and defended themselves bare-handed as best they could. "From precedent Slovak citizenry now knows that communist authorities will turn any church into a granary or theatre or some propaganda house - as the communists did elsewhere and in Russia. "Terrorized peasants everywhere told me that: "'Everyone who is in the employment of the State �68 SLOVAKIA teachers, police, soldiers and the like - must renounce their faith and church. Students attending the University must likewise do so. Anyone who refuses to conform, looses his rights, his place and position. "I spoke with my cousin-priest who was held in prison for a very long time and who is now forced to work in a factory, and he revealed nervously how the Church situation is there: 'Worse,' he told me fearfully, 'than you or your American press realizes and reports; for only he who lived through it all can correctly tell of it. For instance, no priest can be sure in the evening when he retires that in the morning when he gets up he will be able to enter his own church again. He may have been dragged out of bed at night and spirited away to prison.' "Others again will tell you that the most tragic thing is that the seminaries were all closed down; only the State directed one in Bratislava is allowed to be opened, and it permits only a ridiculously small token number of seminarians. "It is public knowledge that the professors in this seminary are favorably disposed to the communist regime ; and even though they should not be, the seven or eight seminarians that are annually ordained are entirely too few for the 4 million inhabitants of Slovakia. More priests die annually in one diocese than that. Old priests are rapidly dying off - as they must; and there are none, or proportionately very few, to replace them. Such a situation is disastrous to the Church. In a generation or two there will scarcily be enough priests in the country to supply a town let alone the whole country. In the course of a few years Slovakia will be progressively without priests and churches. And not only for this reason. The State is trying to bring up an irreligious and churchless population. Tremendous pressure, for instance, is exerted upon the youth, especially in the Universities, to have nothing to do with religion. Students are mostly drawn from trusty communist circles or families ; and if one or the other of these is noticed to cling more to the Sacred Scriptures than to Karl Marx, he is immediately expelled. Communism wants only a communist intelligentsia. In key positions this in- �SLOVAKIA 69 telligentsia can control the world, the thoughts of men and have its own 'communist religion'." The Church Is the Greatest Opponent of Communism Though the press in Slovakia is completely controlled and carefully censored by the communists in order the more overtly and effectively to undermine religion and popularize communism, readers nevertheless can readily notice what and how this propaganda is doing and working against the Church and religion. No matter how careful the communist press is it cannot help but here and there expose and betray itself and its objectives. For example, the daily "PRACA" of November 3, 1959 treats of the "United Efforts of the Vatican." Among other things it writes: "Serfdom, feudalism and bourgeoisism - and bureaucracy - on the one side and the church on the other side needed each other in order to control the new, progressive and rapidly developing power of the revolutionary mass of serfs, non-farmers and workers, particularly after the laboring class proposed and obtained such a powerful ideological arsenal as is Marxism and such wonderful organizers as communism and its party are ... Religion and the Church remain practically the last and only ideological defenses and the only hope of the dying old world. . . Rapidly rising peaceful powers of the earth press the enemy to rely more and more on the ideological arsenal of religion and religion's organization. The defenders of darkness are seriously interested in the leadership of reli,gion. "The Vatican, as the supreme head and center of darkness and ideological warfare against progress, is preparing for total mobilization. For instance, the Vatican is preparing an ecumenical council, so that in the ensuing discussions with the 'separated brethren' the matter of political and ideological cooperation and mutual objectives against communism will be considered and achieved. "And if it should come to the union of Christians, this would be only so that the Vatican can the more successfully serve the disintegrating imperialistic colonial system and fight for the salvation of capitalism and strengthen the reactionary positions of the Church." �70 SLOVAKIA So the communist press alleges. This, however, is merely one instance of how the communistic press works. Those who accept such "revelations" of the communist press as a genuine contribution to the peace and concord of coexistence, must, in view of all this, be either deceived or stupid or mentally sick. The Chasm Between the Slovaks and Czechs I met another visitor from Slovakia and he expressed his impressions this way: "My brother works in an office there and he explained how things stand with him and what life is like in CzechoSlovakia. "'Everybody,' he said, 'is living in fear - scared; because in every office there sits a security agent, who records or notes for the police everything what he observes. "He is a common individual who works in the office like all of us; but he has this special personal assignment. Hence, wherever it is possible, Slovak officials, whether in the office or in the factory, sabotage the work. Sometimes Slovaks even go on strike; but Czechs have never gone on a strike. . "Czechs merely inquire of the Slovaks: 'What's happening in Slovakia?' - as if to say, they wish the Slovaks would begin a revolution in Slovakia. Then the Czech will sit back, observe and take credit for being a good and reliable citizens and deserving of better consideration, better positions and better treatment - in any kind of governmen, even foreign. "It's the same with listening to radio broadcasts. Most Slovaks listen to foreign broadcasts, watch Austrian TV programs, and the like. But not so the Czechs. They, allegedly, dislike Austrians and Germans. "Czechs would like the world to believe that Slovaks like to fraternalize with them (with Czechs); but this is untrue and absurd. S 1 o v a k s detest fraternalizing with Czechs - for obvious reasons. The true Slovak, because of the Czech persecution and exploitation of Slovakia and because of the common tendency amongst the Czechs to toy around sympathetically with communism and irreli- �SLOVAKIA 71 gion, is very wary of the Czech. If there was any fraternalizing between the Czech and Slovak before the First World War, there is none since the Czech attempt to Czechjze Slovakia after the formation of the Czecho-Slovak Republic. Slovaks are convinced that it is impossible to coexist let alone live with the Czechs in one State. "I experienced this myself in Praha. Czech youth wholly does not comprehend the Slovak or the Slovak attitude. Prague youths, when I addressed them, persistently asked me, 'What are you, a Polak?' And my brother, who lives in Slovakia, would try to comfort me and say: 'Don't be amazed at this. They do not care to understand the Slovak tongue, muchless the Slovak and his democratic views. They behold him with disdain and contempt.' "Let me mention what I learned of what happened in 1956 when the Hungarians revolted. The Slovak people were hoping for a general war to break out, with America rushing to aid free Hungary, but nothing like this happened. "The Czechs, instead, sent a whole armed division against the revolting Hungarians. By chance I met in New York City a Hungarian who fought in that revolt and he told me that the revolting Hungarians got aid only from two places - from Spain and from Slovakia. The Slovaks somehow or another spirited away to them 500 loaded machine guns, a great quantity of hand grenades and ammuniti9n and a lot of bandages, and the Spaniards sent over a planeload of bazookas." I asked my Slovak informant how the Slovaks in Slovakia viewed the liquidation of the Hungarian revolt and he answered me : "They were tremendously disappointed - and they are so even at present. Nevertheless they still hope that America will help liberate all of them. And, if America does not help them, they certainly will despair." A Message To American Statesmen A friend of mine brought this message from Slovakia: "Tell all American Slovaks to work tirelessly for a free Slovakia. Let them rest assured that we are praying for them. And we also pray that God might enlighten the �72 SLOVAKIA minds of your American statesmen so that they might not be naive and might not betray the nations behind the Iron Curtain, not even our Slovak nation, because we await our rescue and liberation from America, her President and Government. Indeed, there has been already enough suffering, misery, real and judicial murders. There is no greater punishment for us than this communist hell. The sooner America realizes this, the better for her." Need anything be added to the above? Americans of Slovak descent, joined together in the Slovak League of America, are expending every effort in this direction to liberate the Slovaks at home and secure for them the independence they have fought for so many hundreds of years. The adamant anti-communist stand of the League is well known. The Slovak League of America, an American institution, believes that it is in the highest interest of the security and welfare of the United States, that the Government of the United States fully recognize and respect the inherent right of the Slovak nation to freedom and independence. Conclusion This then is the situation in Slovakia today. In reporting this I presented only some incidents and facts. In these our own United States of America, many people are not aware of what is happening behind the Iron Curtain. In my opinion, the things that are happening in Slovakia, in Poland, in Lithuania, in Rumania, in Yugoslavia and other communist controlled countries, indeed in Russia and China themselves, is not only a concern of these people and nations but also of every other country that does not wish to succumb to communism. America is no exception. Indeed America is and will be most responsible and reprehensible, I believe, in the eyes of world historians - and of the world in years to come - if communism spreads. Only America can prevent or limit its spread and contain and isolate it. I personally do not think that to isolate it is to solve the problem of communism; on the contrary, world communism has assumed such proportions that it cannot be isolated anymore. Communism overtook China. It is influencing other �SLOVAKIA 73 Asiatic people and it is penetrating into Africa. Some Americans rejoice that shaking hands with Khrushchev is solving the problem; but to do so is a stab in the back of those who suffer under communism. To solve it, America and the whole world must not run away with the form of government established for us by our American founders . Freedom is the right of our 181 million American people; but this is also the right of every people. The threats of Kremlin ought not make Americans wince and submit to the dictates of Khrushchev as to how a Paris conference must end or whether our president should or should not go to Tokyo. Because after such a dictate will encourage Khrushchev to continue further. The aim of communism even now in 1960 is the proletariat's world rule. Khrushchev said this summer, "I'd love to see the red banner flying over the whole world in my lifetime." • • • WHO SAID IT? The Czechs . . . . are inclined to be both socialistic in politics and agnostic in religion. The Slovaks on the other ·hand ... as conservative peasantry are for the most part loyal and pious Roman Catholics. It is perhaps not surprising therefore that friction developed between them." - (F. Lee Benm;: Europe Since 1914, New Y:ork, 193:11; p. 556). • • • "The population question is further complicated by the ant'agonism of the Czechs and Slovaks themselves. The Czechs, who outnumber the Slovaks almost two to one ... are more inclined toward political liberalism and religious scepticism .... The Slovaks are among the most pious and conservative of peasant folks . .." - (Walter C. Langsam: The World Since 1914, New York, 1953; p. 453). • • • "Some of the .radica,ls and the nationalists in parliament demanded an absolute sep·a ration of church and state, and in January 1920, as part of the so-called 'Away From Rome' movement, there was established a Czechoslovak National Church which proclaimed its independence of the papacy and abolished the requirement of celibacy for the clergy. This church, however, gained almost no Slovak adherents and fewer than a million Czech members." - (Walter C. Langsam : The World since 1914, New York, '1•953; p. 45'1). � 62 SLOVAKIA SLOVAKIA UNDER COMMUNISM By Joseph Pauco Some Americans of Slovak ancestory who visit Slovakia keep in touch with me and keep me up to date as to what is or has recently transpired in our ancestoral homeland. From this I can faithfully present the following report about oppressed Slovakia under Czech Communism. The Scarcity of News Everyone who receives mail from Slovakia complains of the scarcity of news. In fact very little news is ever mentioned in personal letters. The only news we get and learn from the writer of any letter is that he is still living or that such and such are alive or that so and so of the family is dead. No one writing to America dare mention anything detrimental or in opposition to the regime. Most of our information about what is transpiring in Slovakia comes from the visitors. Last year's visitors to Slovakia disclosed the fact that a Slovak there, sending mail out of the country, must personally present every letter unsealed at the postal window and identify himself - for obvious reasons. One of our friends brought this message from his kin: Tell our relatives in America that they should not expect any details in our letters - because we may only praise our present regime. Whilst visiting there my friend learned of the cruel fate that happened to a young man whose father surprised him with an automobile from America. As soon as the communist authorities heard that he received the automobile they laid him off. When he inquired as to the reason for this, he was told that he has a wealthy American father who brought him a car; therefore let the father provide a living for him! A communist customs official directed a Slovak American lady to inform every one in America "not to bring or send clothes from America. We need American dollars �SLOVAKIA 63 with which to buy better things than those that you bring or send to us." Other visitor to Slovakia affirmed that: "The duty on new articles sent from the USA to Slovakia is several times higher than the value of the article. Hence the Slovak people there often beg and advise Americans not to send new clothing, shoes, etc." Communist Persecution of Slovak Peasants One of our countrymen who returned from Slovakia reports: "I was in Slovakia and I didn't recognize my own hometown. Much is changed. Since 1945 standards of living dropped and the people been living through nothing but woeful poverty, adversity and persecution. "Your Slovak-American press reports that everything is being communized," they told to my friend; "but you probably do not know that every farmer is resisting this as long as he possibly can. Not one wants to give up what he has; not one of them freely volunteers to be communized. "First the communist regime decreed that every farmer must turn over to the State a specific portion of the crop - so much grain, potatoes, sugar beets, vegetables, fruit, eggs, milk and other produce. If the farmer was unable the government got after him and asked him 'Will you sign?' If he declined to sign, he was taken a few days later to the police headquarters. "At the headquarters he was always investigated and intimidated - about his field, about his family, his work, where and who his kin is, where each member of the family works, with what girl does his son keep company, where his relatives live. "Whether he has any relatives in the United States of America, whether they write and send packages or money to him; and other similar questions. After all these always comes the persistent question: 'Will you sign?' If he declines again, the policeman grab his arms, twist them, stick a pen into his fingers and force him to sign. Some of the farmers are held at the police seven-ten days, �64 SLOVAKIA and tortured two or three times a day - to get them to give up their farms. "Those who were more determined would hold out longer, but even they would eventually yield. Indeed all those, whom I saw and whom I talked, the average American might be tempted to consider stupid or mental for they certainly talk peculiarly scared and nervous like, obviously because of the terror and beatings to which they were subjected. "Hence, they finally resign themselves to the hopeless fate and role to which the State subjects them. They thus in practice become utter slaves of the State. In enforcing the commune upon them, the State would dismiss the farmer's son or daughter from office work under the pretext that peasant and his family is sabotaging the commune. "My sister complained bitterly about this miserable situation. Her husband was persecuted and terrorized, her son was kicked out of the factory, and our priest-uncle was spirited away to the concentration camp. And last summer the state police came and ransacked her house and recorded all that she had in it. Every little item they checked and recorded - clothing, furniture, all her goods, stationary, toiletries, rags. Nothing is private to the communists." Slovaks Are Fleeing Into the Mountains Another visitor to Slovakia records: "As regards recruiting into the commune, this is done both by propaganda and terrorizing. In my hometown this was done even whilst I was there. Sixty communists poured out of a bus every morning to intimidate the farmers who resisted giving up their fields to the State. "My cousin was detained last spring by the regional national committee for investigation. He was beaten and locked up in a dark basement for two days. "My brother-in-law, who is on pension and who refused to turn over his property to the communist regime. had his pension taken away for good. "At the time of my visit to my hometown it was like �SLOVAKIA 65 doomsday. I wanted to visit with some of my friends with whom I used to chum around in my youth and who were still living, but they were afraid to talk to me. About twenty of the male friends fled before the police into the mountains. "Many of the other farmers of the country were likewise fleeing into the hills. "I am a rough coal miner. I never wept; but what I saw in my native town moved me to tears and I cried with many of the men there. They weep both out of just anger and out of bitter despair; for they are helpless and powerless to prevent their own plots of land from going to waste or to the communist regime. "I visited Slovakia when Khrushchev was preparing to visit America. Everyone who spoke of his visit, frowned on it, and prayed for the American leaders. "I'd love to visit again my native town in Slovakia; but not under communism, because my heart would break over the plight of my fellow countrymen." Whom Does Communism Permit to Attend the University Other Slovak American who visited Slovakia learned that: "I visited my native city - Kosice. My relatives have children whom they would like to send to the University. Out of five of them only one was able to send his son to a University. When I questioned them how such discrimination is possible, they answered: "'We are deeply worried when our children finish the required schooling. Besides, it is not easy to get permission to send one's child to a University; for 75 percent of the students must be of the so-called "proletariat families" - that is, of the already communized families. "'The growth of purely Slovak intelligentsia is thus restricted, indeed decreased.' "Another sad situation in Slovakia is this: "People live, so to speak, from hand to mouth. That is, they do not put away anything into the bank - either because they do not have anything to put in or because they do not trust communist banks or communist money. �66 SLOVAKIA "My cousin lives with her husband and children in a State home. It is a large home to house several families of workers - the privileged class which does not pay rent. The State leaves them in the apartments free of rent, because it does not wish to stir up scandal against those who are its privileged favorites. Hence, if these do not contribute to the support of the State, how can the State function - unless it discriminates against and takes from the majority of the Slovak populace? "It is obvious that the State does this deliberately both so that there would be no savings and so that all would live in State owned houses and apartments, where it is the easier for the State to check and control each family. Here and there, of course, a family will attempt to build its own home - but this is done under tremendous hardships. Nevertheless, though it is difficult to secure labor, unemployment is on the rise among the Slovak people - another reason why bitterness is increasing against communists." Slovak Youth lndoctrinat.ed and Educat.ed Against God The Communists in Slovakia concern themselves to turn Slovak youth against God and religion and to bring it up without religion is quite evident. Every visitor mentions this. We have first hand evidence of this policy even from the Communist daily "Praca"; for instance, under the date of December 6, 1959, under the heading "Circle of Young Atheists" we read: "In the schools of Slovakia Slovak youth is being organized and trained against God and the Church." The article mentions such an organized group or circle in a school on Dubova Street in Bratislava. The previous year the circle had 15 members; last year it had 73 members. Each circle, as then organized, the article claimed, was made up of eleventh graders. "What do these 'circles' do?" The article asks and answers this thus: "This year we read and discuss Lunacarsky's book 'Why It Is Impossible To Believe In God'" (Communists spell God with a small initial letter.) In Prague a so-called new "Broadcast University" �SLOVAKIA 67 was founded. The Chicago Daily News carried this short news-item on one of this "university's" lectures: CZE,CH RADIO ANAIL YZES Bl·BLE Bonn, Germany, Jan. 9 (1960) - Lectures in Czecho-Slovakia's "Radio University" have been at some pains recently to analyze sections of the Bible. The Bible, these Communist speakers argued, contains a good deal of brutality and immorality. As one example they cited the killing of the priests of Baal. The program was in reply to a listener who had written to defend Christianity, and to argue that the world would be a better place if everyone followed Christian principles. Religion, the lecturers said, had not been able to eliminate wars or to prevent fascism. Most of the good in religious ideas, the lecturers added, was of non-religious origin. This then is the way Czech Communists indoctrinate and poison the minds of the young and the faithful. Communist Destruction of Slovak Churches A visiting countryman reports: "In my native village, a few days prior to my arrival, the communist authorities closed the church and with my own eyes I saw posted on it the communists' official sign: 'STATE PROPERTY.' "My kinsfolks disclosed to me that their pastor was forced to preach most cautiously. He was unable to preach what he wished or as his heart and conscience dictated to him. Upon learning of this the faithful would crowd evenings after work into the church for prolonged periods of prayer - without their shepherd. So the civil authorities closed the church. "The parishioners then began to meet to pray at the outdoor on the outskirts of the village; but this was not for long, for not many days later heavily armed militia swooped down upon them and dispersed them. Terrorized people cried and defended themselves bare-handed as best they could. "From precedent Slovak citizenry now knows that communist authorities will turn any church into a granary or theatre or some propaganda house - as the communists did elsewhere and in Russia. "Terrorized peasants everywhere told me that: "'Everyone who is in the employment of the State �68 SLOVAKIA teachers, police, soldiers and the like - must renounce their faith and church. Students attending the University must likewise do so. Anyone who refuses to conform, looses his rights, his place and position. "I spoke with my cousin-priest who was held in prison for a very long time and who is now forced to work in a factory, and he revealed nervously how the Church situation is there: 'Worse,' he told me fearfully, 'than you or your American press realizes and reports; for only he who lived through it all can correctly tell of it. For instance, no priest can be sure in the evening when he retires that in the morning when he gets up he will be able to enter his own church again. He may have been dragged out of bed at night and spirited away to prison.' "Others again will tell you that the most tragic thing is that the seminaries were all closed down; only the State directed one in Bratislava is allowed to be opened, and it permits only a ridiculously small token number of seminarians. "It is public knowledge that the professors in this seminary are favorably disposed to the communist regime ; and even though they should not be, the seven or eight seminarians that are annually ordained are entirely too few for the 4 million inhabitants of Slovakia. More priests die annually in one diocese than that. Old priests are rapidly dying off - as they must; and there are none, or proportionately very few, to replace them. Such a situation is disastrous to the Church. In a generation or two there will scarcily be enough priests in the country to supply a town let alone the whole country. In the course of a few years Slovakia will be progressively without priests and churches. And not only for this reason. The State is trying to bring up an irreligious and churchless population. Tremendous pressure, for instance, is exerted upon the youth, especially in the Universities, to have nothing to do with religion. Students are mostly drawn from trusty communist circles or families ; and if one or the other of these is noticed to cling more to the Sacred Scriptures than to Karl Marx, he is immediately expelled. Communism wants only a communist intelligentsia. In key positions this in- �SLOVAKIA 69 telligentsia can control the world, the thoughts of men and have its own 'communist religion'." The Church Is the Greatest Opponent of Communism Though the press in Slovakia is completely controlled and carefully censored by the communists in order the more overtly and effectively to undermine religion and popularize communism, readers nevertheless can readily notice what and how this propaganda is doing and working against the Church and religion. No matter how careful the communist press is it cannot help but here and there expose and betray itself and its objectives. For example, the daily "PRACA" of November 3, 1959 treats of the "United Efforts of the Vatican." Among other things it writes: "Serfdom, feudalism and bourgeoisism - and bureaucracy - on the one side and the church on the other side needed each other in order to control the new, progressive and rapidly developing power of the revolutionary mass of serfs, non-farmers and workers, particularly after the laboring class proposed and obtained such a powerful ideological arsenal as is Marxism and such wonderful organizers as communism and its party are ... Religion and the Church remain practically the last and only ideological defenses and the only hope of the dying old world. . . Rapidly rising peaceful powers of the earth press the enemy to rely more and more on the ideological arsenal of religion and religion's organization. The defenders of darkness are seriously interested in the leadership of reli,gion. "The Vatican, as the supreme head and center of darkness and ideological warfare against progress, is preparing for total mobilization. For instance, the Vatican is preparing an ecumenical council, so that in the ensuing discussions with the 'separated brethren' the matter of political and ideological cooperation and mutual objectives against communism will be considered and achieved. "And if it should come to the union of Christians, this would be only so that the Vatican can the more successfully serve the disintegrating imperialistic colonial system and fight for the salvation of capitalism and strengthen the reactionary positions of the Church." �70 SLOVAKIA So the communist press alleges. This, however, is merely one instance of how the communistic press works. Those who accept such "revelations" of the communist press as a genuine contribution to the peace and concord of coexistence, must, in view of all this, be either deceived or stupid or mentally sick. The Chasm Between the Slovaks and Czechs I met another visitor from Slovakia and he expressed his impressions this way: "My brother works in an office there and he explained how things stand with him and what life is like in CzechoSlovakia. "'Everybody,' he said, 'is living in fear - scared; because in every office there sits a security agent, who records or notes for the police everything what he observes. "He is a common individual who works in the office like all of us; but he has this special personal assignment. Hence, wherever it is possible, Slovak officials, whether in the office or in the factory, sabotage the work. Sometimes Slovaks even go on strike; but Czechs have never gone on a strike. . "Czechs merely inquire of the Slovaks: 'What's happening in Slovakia?' - as if to say, they wish the Slovaks would begin a revolution in Slovakia. Then the Czech will sit back, observe and take credit for being a good and reliable citizens and deserving of better consideration, better positions and better treatment - in any kind of governmen, even foreign. "It's the same with listening to radio broadcasts. Most Slovaks listen to foreign broadcasts, watch Austrian TV programs, and the like. But not so the Czechs. They, allegedly, dislike Austrians and Germans. "Czechs would like the world to believe that Slovaks like to fraternalize with them (with Czechs); but this is untrue and absurd. S 1 o v a k s detest fraternalizing with Czechs - for obvious reasons. The true Slovak, because of the Czech persecution and exploitation of Slovakia and because of the common tendency amongst the Czechs to toy around sympathetically with communism and irreli- �SLOVAKIA 71 gion, is very wary of the Czech. If there was any fraternalizing between the Czech and Slovak before the First World War, there is none since the Czech attempt to Czechjze Slovakia after the formation of the Czecho-Slovak Republic. Slovaks are convinced that it is impossible to coexist let alone live with the Czechs in one State. "I experienced this myself in Praha. Czech youth wholly does not comprehend the Slovak or the Slovak attitude. Prague youths, when I addressed them, persistently asked me, 'What are you, a Polak?' And my brother, who lives in Slovakia, would try to comfort me and say: 'Don't be amazed at this. They do not care to understand the Slovak tongue, muchless the Slovak and his democratic views. They behold him with disdain and contempt.' "Let me mention what I learned of what happened in 1956 when the Hungarians revolted. The Slovak people were hoping for a general war to break out, with America rushing to aid free Hungary, but nothing like this happened. "The Czechs, instead, sent a whole armed division against the revolting Hungarians. By chance I met in New York City a Hungarian who fought in that revolt and he told me that the revolting Hungarians got aid only from two places - from Spain and from Slovakia. The Slovaks somehow or another spirited away to them 500 loaded machine guns, a great quantity of hand grenades and ammuniti9n and a lot of bandages, and the Spaniards sent over a planeload of bazookas." I asked my Slovak informant how the Slovaks in Slovakia viewed the liquidation of the Hungarian revolt and he answered me : "They were tremendously disappointed - and they are so even at present. Nevertheless they still hope that America will help liberate all of them. And, if America does not help them, they certainly will despair." A Message To American Statesmen A friend of mine brought this message from Slovakia: "Tell all American Slovaks to work tirelessly for a free Slovakia. Let them rest assured that we are praying for them. And we also pray that God might enlighten the �72 SLOVAKIA minds of your American statesmen so that they might not be naive and might not betray the nations behind the Iron Curtain, not even our Slovak nation, because we await our rescue and liberation from America, her President and Government. Indeed, there has been already enough suffering, misery, real and judicial murders. There is no greater punishment for us than this communist hell. The sooner America realizes this, the better for her." Need anything be added to the above? Americans of Slovak descent, joined together in the Slovak League of America, are expending every effort in this direction to liberate the Slovaks at home and secure for them the independence they have fought for so many hundreds of years. The adamant anti-communist stand of the League is well known. The Slovak League of America, an American institution, believes that it is in the highest interest of the security and welfare of the United States, that the Government of the United States fully recognize and respect the inherent right of the Slovak nation to freedom and independence. Conclusion This then is the situation in Slovakia today. In reporting this I presented only some incidents and facts. In these our own United States of America, many people are not aware of what is happening behind the Iron Curtain. In my opinion, the things that are happening in Slovakia, in Poland, in Lithuania, in Rumania, in Yugoslavia and other communist controlled countries, indeed in Russia and China themselves, is not only a concern of these people and nations but also of every other country that does not wish to succumb to communism. America is no exception. Indeed America is and will be most responsible and reprehensible, I believe, in the eyes of world historians - and of the world in years to come - if communism spreads. Only America can prevent or limit its spread and contain and isolate it. I personally do not think that to isolate it is to solve the problem of communism; on the contrary, world communism has assumed such proportions that it cannot be isolated anymore. Communism overtook China. It is influencing other �SLOVAKIA 73 Asiatic people and it is penetrating into Africa. Some Americans rejoice that shaking hands with Khrushchev is solving the problem; but to do so is a stab in the back of those who suffer under communism. To solve it, America and the whole world must not run away with the form of government established for us by our American founders . Freedom is the right of our 181 million American people; but this is also the right of every people. The threats of Kremlin ought not make Americans wince and submit to the dictates of Khrushchev as to how a Paris conference must end or whether our president should or should not go to Tokyo. Because after such a dictate will encourage Khrushchev to continue further. The aim of communism even now in 1960 is the proletariat's world rule. Khrushchev said this summer, "I'd love to see the red banner flying over the whole world in my lifetime." • • • WHO SAID IT? The Czechs . . . . are inclined to be both socialistic in politics and agnostic in religion. The Slovaks on the other ·hand ... as conservative peasantry are for the most part loyal and pious Roman Catholics. It is perhaps not surprising therefore that friction developed between them." - (F. Lee Benm;: Europe Since 1914, New Y:ork, 193:11; p. 556). • • • "The population question is further complicated by the ant'agonism of the Czechs and Slovaks themselves. The Czechs, who outnumber the Slovaks almost two to one ... are more inclined toward political liberalism and religious scepticism .... The Slovaks are among the most pious and conservative of peasant folks . .." - (Walter C. Langsam: The World Since 1914, New York, 1953; p. 453). • • • "Some of the .radica,ls and the nationalists in parliament demanded an absolute sep·a ration of church and state, and in January 1920, as part of the so-called 'Away From Rome' movement, there was established a Czechoslovak National Church which proclaimed its independence of the papacy and abolished the requirement of celibacy for the clergy. This church, however, gained almost no Slovak adherents and fewer than a million Czech members." - (Walter C. Langsam : The World since 1914, New York, '1•953; p. 45'1). � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 62 SLOVAKIA SLOVAKIA UNDER COMMUNISM By Joseph Pauco Some Americans of Slovak ancestory who visit Slovakia keep in touch with me and keep me up to date as to what is or has recently transpired in our ancestoral homeland. From this I can faithfully present the following report about oppressed Slovakia under Czech Communism. The Scarcity of News Everyone who receives mail from Slovakia complains of the scarcity of news. In fact very little news is ever mentioned in personal letters. The only news we get and learn from the writer of any letter is that he is still living or that such and such are alive or that so and so of the family is dead. No one writing to America dare mention anything detrimental or in opposition to the regime. Most of our information about what is transpiring in Slovakia comes from the visitors. Last year's visitors to Slovakia disclosed the fact that a Slovak there, sending mail out of the country, must personally present every letter unsealed at the postal window and identify himself - for obvious reasons. One of our friends brought this message from his kin: Tell our relatives in America that they should not expect any details in our letters - because we may only praise our present regime. Whilst visiting there my friend learned of the cruel fate that happened to a young man whose father surprised him with an automobile from America. As soon as the communist authorities heard that he received the automobile they laid him off. When he inquired as to the reason for this, he was told that he has a wealthy American father who brought him a car; therefore let the father provide a living for him! A communist customs official directed a Slovak American lady to inform every one in America "not to bring or send clothes from America. We need American dollars SLOVAKIA 63 with which to buy better things than those that you bring or send to us." Other visitor to Slovakia affirmed that: "The duty on new articles sent from the USA to Slovakia is several times higher than the value of the article. Hence the Slovak people there often beg and advise Americans not to send new clothing, shoes, etc." Communist Persecution of Slovak Peasants One of our countrymen who returned from Slovakia reports: "I was in Slovakia and I didn't recognize my own hometown. Much is changed. Since 1945 standards of living dropped and the people been living through nothing but woeful poverty, adversity and persecution. "Your Slovak-American press reports that everything is being communized," they told to my friend; "but you probably do not know that every farmer is resisting this as long as he possibly can. Not one wants to give up what he has; not one of them freely volunteers to be communized. "First the communist regime decreed that every farmer must turn over to the State a specific portion of the crop - so much grain, potatoes, sugar beets, vegetables, fruit, eggs, milk and other produce. If the farmer was unable the government got after him and asked him 'Will you sign?' If he declined to sign, he was taken a few days later to the police headquarters. "At the headquarters he was always investigated and intimidated - about his field, about his family, his work, where and who his kin is, where each member of the family works, with what girl does his son keep company, where his relatives live. "Whether he has any relatives in the United States of America, whether they write and send packages or money to him; and other similar questions. After all these always comes the persistent question: 'Will you sign?' If he declines again, the policeman grab his arms, twist them, stick a pen into his fingers and force him to sign. Some of the farmers are held at the police seven-ten days, 64 SLOVAKIA and tortured two or three times a day - to get them to give up their farms. "Those who were more determined would hold out longer, but even they would eventually yield. Indeed all those, whom I saw and whom I talked, the average American might be tempted to consider stupid or mental for they certainly talk peculiarly scared and nervous like, obviously because of the terror and beatings to which they were subjected. "Hence, they finally resign themselves to the hopeless fate and role to which the State subjects them. They thus in practice become utter slaves of the State. In enforcing the commune upon them, the State would dismiss the farmer's son or daughter from office work under the pretext that peasant and his family is sabotaging the commune. "My sister complained bitterly about this miserable situation. Her husband was persecuted and terrorized, her son was kicked out of the factory, and our priest-uncle was spirited away to the concentration camp. And last summer the state police came and ransacked her house and recorded all that she had in it. Every little item they checked and recorded - clothing, furniture, all her goods, stationary, toiletries, rags. Nothing is private to the communists." Slovaks Are Fleeing Into the Mountains Another visitor to Slovakia records: "As regards recruiting into the commune, this is done both by propaganda and terrorizing. In my hometown this was done even whilst I was there. Sixty communists poured out of a bus every morning to intimidate the farmers who resisted giving up their fields to the State. "My cousin was detained last spring by the regional national committee for investigation. He was beaten and locked up in a dark basement for two days. "My brother-in-law, who is on pension and who refused to turn over his property to the communist regime. had his pension taken away for good. "At the time of my visit to my hometown it was like SLOVAKIA 65 doomsday. I wanted to visit with some of my friends with whom I used to chum around in my youth and who were still living, but they were afraid to talk to me. About twenty of the male friends fled before the police into the mountains. "Many of the other farmers of the country were likewise fleeing into the hills. "I am a rough coal miner. I never wept; but what I saw in my native town moved me to tears and I cried with many of the men there. They weep both out of just anger and out of bitter despair; for they are helpless and powerless to prevent their own plots of land from going to waste or to the communist regime. "I visited Slovakia when Khrushchev was preparing to visit America. Everyone who spoke of his visit, frowned on it, and prayed for the American leaders. "I'd love to visit again my native town in Slovakia; but not under communism, because my heart would break over the plight of my fellow countrymen." Whom Does Communism Permit to Attend the University Other Slovak American who visited Slovakia learned that: "I visited my native city - Kosice. My relatives have children whom they would like to send to the University. Out of five of them only one was able to send his son to a University. When I questioned them how such discrimination is possible, they answered: "'We are deeply worried when our children finish the required schooling. Besides, it is not easy to get permission to send one's child to a University; for 75 percent of the students must be of the so-called "proletariat families" - that is, of the already communized families. "'The growth of purely Slovak intelligentsia is thus restricted, indeed decreased.' "Another sad situation in Slovakia is this: "People live, so to speak, from hand to mouth. That is, they do not put away anything into the bank - either because they do not have anything to put in or because they do not trust communist banks or communist money. 66 SLOVAKIA "My cousin lives with her husband and children in a State home. It is a large home to house several families of workers - the privileged class which does not pay rent. The State leaves them in the apartments free of rent, because it does not wish to stir up scandal against those who are its privileged favorites. Hence, if these do not contribute to the support of the State, how can the State function - unless it discriminates against and takes from the majority of the Slovak populace? "It is obvious that the State does this deliberately both so that there would be no savings and so that all would live in State owned houses and apartments, where it is the easier for the State to check and control each family. Here and there, of course, a family will attempt to build its own home - but this is done under tremendous hardships. Nevertheless, though it is difficult to secure labor, unemployment is on the rise among the Slovak people - another reason why bitterness is increasing against communists." Slovak Youth lndoctrinat.ed and Educat.ed Against God The Communists in Slovakia concern themselves to turn Slovak youth against God and religion and to bring it up without religion is quite evident. Every visitor mentions this. We have first hand evidence of this policy even from the Communist daily "Praca"; for instance, under the date of December 6, 1959, under the heading "Circle of Young Atheists" we read: "In the schools of Slovakia Slovak youth is being organized and trained against God and the Church." The article mentions such an organized group or circle in a school on Dubova Street in Bratislava. The previous year the circle had 15 members; last year it had 73 members. Each circle, as then organized, the article claimed, was made up of eleventh graders. "What do these 'circles' do?" The article asks and answers this thus: "This year we read and discuss Lunacarsky's book 'Why It Is Impossible To Believe In God'" (Communists spell God with a small initial letter.) In Prague a so-called new "Broadcast University" SLOVAKIA 67 was founded. The Chicago Daily News carried this short news-item on one of this "university's" lectures: CZE,CH RADIO ANAIL YZES Bl·BLE Bonn, Germany, Jan. 9 (1960) - Lectures in Czecho-Slovakia's "Radio University" have been at some pains recently to analyze sections of the Bible. The Bible, these Communist speakers argued, contains a good deal of brutality and immorality. As one example they cited the killing of the priests of Baal. The program was in reply to a listener who had written to defend Christianity, and to argue that the world would be a better place if everyone followed Christian principles. Religion, the lecturers said, had not been able to eliminate wars or to prevent fascism. Most of the good in religious ideas, the lecturers added, was of non-religious origin. This then is the way Czech Communists indoctrinate and poison the minds of the young and the faithful. Communist Destruction of Slovak Churches A visiting countryman reports: "In my native village, a few days prior to my arrival, the communist authorities closed the church and with my own eyes I saw posted on it the communists' official sign: 'STATE PROPERTY.' "My kinsfolks disclosed to me that their pastor was forced to preach most cautiously. He was unable to preach what he wished or as his heart and conscience dictated to him. Upon learning of this the faithful would crowd evenings after work into the church for prolonged periods of prayer - without their shepherd. So the civil authorities closed the church. "The parishioners then began to meet to pray at the outdoor on the outskirts of the village; but this was not for long, for not many days later heavily armed militia swooped down upon them and dispersed them. Terrorized people cried and defended themselves bare-handed as best they could. "From precedent Slovak citizenry now knows that communist authorities will turn any church into a granary or theatre or some propaganda house - as the communists did elsewhere and in Russia. "Terrorized peasants everywhere told me that: "'Everyone who is in the employment of the State 68 SLOVAKIA teachers, police, soldiers and the like - must renounce their faith and church. Students attending the University must likewise do so. Anyone who refuses to conform, looses his rights, his place and position. "I spoke with my cousin-priest who was held in prison for a very long time and who is now forced to work in a factory, and he revealed nervously how the Church situation is there: 'Worse,' he told me fearfully, 'than you or your American press realizes and reports; for only he who lived through it all can correctly tell of it. For instance, no priest can be sure in the evening when he retires that in the morning when he gets up he will be able to enter his own church again. He may have been dragged out of bed at night and spirited away to prison.' "Others again will tell you that the most tragic thing is that the seminaries were all closed down; only the State directed one in Bratislava is allowed to be opened, and it permits only a ridiculously small token number of seminarians. "It is public knowledge that the professors in this seminary are favorably disposed to the communist regime ; and even though they should not be, the seven or eight seminarians that are annually ordained are entirely too few for the 4 million inhabitants of Slovakia. More priests die annually in one diocese than that. Old priests are rapidly dying off - as they must; and there are none, or proportionately very few, to replace them. Such a situation is disastrous to the Church. In a generation or two there will scarcily be enough priests in the country to supply a town let alone the whole country. In the course of a few years Slovakia will be progressively without priests and churches. And not only for this reason. The State is trying to bring up an irreligious and churchless population. Tremendous pressure, for instance, is exerted upon the youth, especially in the Universities, to have nothing to do with religion. Students are mostly drawn from trusty communist circles or families ; and if one or the other of these is noticed to cling more to the Sacred Scriptures than to Karl Marx, he is immediately expelled. Communism wants only a communist intelligentsia. In key positions this in- SLOVAKIA 69 telligentsia can control the world, the thoughts of men and have its own 'communist religion'." The Church Is the Greatest Opponent of Communism Though the press in Slovakia is completely controlled and carefully censored by the communists in order the more overtly and effectively to undermine religion and popularize communism, readers nevertheless can readily notice what and how this propaganda is doing and working against the Church and religion. No matter how careful the communist press is it cannot help but here and there expose and betray itself and its objectives. For example, the daily "PRACA" of November 3, 1959 treats of the "United Efforts of the Vatican." Among other things it writes: "Serfdom, feudalism and bourgeoisism - and bureaucracy - on the one side and the church on the other side needed each other in order to control the new, progressive and rapidly developing power of the revolutionary mass of serfs, non-farmers and workers, particularly after the laboring class proposed and obtained such a powerful ideological arsenal as is Marxism and such wonderful organizers as communism and its party are ... Religion and the Church remain practically the last and only ideological defenses and the only hope of the dying old world. . . Rapidly rising peaceful powers of the earth press the enemy to rely more and more on the ideological arsenal of religion and religion's organization. The defenders of darkness are seriously interested in the leadership of reli,gion. "The Vatican, as the supreme head and center of darkness and ideological warfare against progress, is preparing for total mobilization. For instance, the Vatican is preparing an ecumenical council, so that in the ensuing discussions with the 'separated brethren' the matter of political and ideological cooperation and mutual objectives against communism will be considered and achieved. "And if it should come to the union of Christians, this would be only so that the Vatican can the more successfully serve the disintegrating imperialistic colonial system and fight for the salvation of capitalism and strengthen the reactionary positions of the Church." 70 SLOVAKIA So the communist press alleges. This, however, is merely one instance of how the communistic press works. Those who accept such "revelations" of the communist press as a genuine contribution to the peace and concord of coexistence, must, in view of all this, be either deceived or stupid or mentally sick. The Chasm Between the Slovaks and Czechs I met another visitor from Slovakia and he expressed his impressions this way: "My brother works in an office there and he explained how things stand with him and what life is like in CzechoSlovakia. "'Everybody,' he said, 'is living in fear - scared; because in every office there sits a security agent, who records or notes for the police everything what he observes. "He is a common individual who works in the office like all of us; but he has this special personal assignment. Hence, wherever it is possible, Slovak officials, whether in the office or in the factory, sabotage the work. Sometimes Slovaks even go on strike; but Czechs have never gone on a strike. . "Czechs merely inquire of the Slovaks: 'What's happening in Slovakia?' - as if to say, they wish the Slovaks would begin a revolution in Slovakia. Then the Czech will sit back, observe and take credit for being a good and reliable citizens and deserving of better consideration, better positions and better treatment - in any kind of governmen, even foreign. "It's the same with listening to radio broadcasts. Most Slovaks listen to foreign broadcasts, watch Austrian TV programs, and the like. But not so the Czechs. They, allegedly, dislike Austrians and Germans. "Czechs would like the world to believe that Slovaks like to fraternalize with them (with Czechs); but this is untrue and absurd. S 1 o v a k s detest fraternalizing with Czechs - for obvious reasons. The true Slovak, because of the Czech persecution and exploitation of Slovakia and because of the common tendency amongst the Czechs to toy around sympathetically with communism and irreli- SLOVAKIA 71 gion, is very wary of the Czech. If there was any fraternalizing between the Czech and Slovak before the First World War, there is none since the Czech attempt to Czechjze Slovakia after the formation of the Czecho-Slovak Republic. Slovaks are convinced that it is impossible to coexist let alone live with the Czechs in one State. "I experienced this myself in Praha. Czech youth wholly does not comprehend the Slovak or the Slovak attitude. Prague youths, when I addressed them, persistently asked me, 'What are you, a Polak?' And my brother, who lives in Slovakia, would try to comfort me and say: 'Don't be amazed at this. They do not care to understand the Slovak tongue, muchless the Slovak and his democratic views. They behold him with disdain and contempt.' "Let me mention what I learned of what happened in 1956 when the Hungarians revolted. The Slovak people were hoping for a general war to break out, with America rushing to aid free Hungary, but nothing like this happened. "The Czechs, instead, sent a whole armed division against the revolting Hungarians. By chance I met in New York City a Hungarian who fought in that revolt and he told me that the revolting Hungarians got aid only from two places - from Spain and from Slovakia. The Slovaks somehow or another spirited away to them 500 loaded machine guns, a great quantity of hand grenades and ammuniti9n and a lot of bandages, and the Spaniards sent over a planeload of bazookas." I asked my Slovak informant how the Slovaks in Slovakia viewed the liquidation of the Hungarian revolt and he answered me : "They were tremendously disappointed - and they are so even at present. Nevertheless they still hope that America will help liberate all of them. And, if America does not help them, they certainly will despair." A Message To American Statesmen A friend of mine brought this message from Slovakia: "Tell all American Slovaks to work tirelessly for a free Slovakia. Let them rest assured that we are praying for them. And we also pray that God might enlighten the 72 SLOVAKIA minds of your American statesmen so that they might not be naive and might not betray the nations behind the Iron Curtain, not even our Slovak nation, because we await our rescue and liberation from America, her President and Government. Indeed, there has been already enough suffering, misery, real and judicial murders. There is no greater punishment for us than this communist hell. The sooner America realizes this, the better for her." Need anything be added to the above? Americans of Slovak descent, joined together in the Slovak League of America, are expending every effort in this direction to liberate the Slovaks at home and secure for them the independence they have fought for so many hundreds of years. The adamant anti-communist stand of the League is well known. The Slovak League of America, an American institution, believes that it is in the highest interest of the security and welfare of the United States, that the Government of the United States fully recognize and respect the inherent right of the Slovak nation to freedom and independence. Conclusion This then is the situation in Slovakia today. In reporting this I presented only some incidents and facts. In these our own United States of America, many people are not aware of what is happening behind the Iron Curtain. In my opinion, the things that are happening in Slovakia, in Poland, in Lithuania, in Rumania, in Yugoslavia and other communist controlled countries, indeed in Russia and China themselves, is not only a concern of these people and nations but also of every other country that does not wish to succumb to communism. America is no exception. Indeed America is and will be most responsible and reprehensible, I believe, in the eyes of world historians - and of the world in years to come - if communism spreads. Only America can prevent or limit its spread and contain and isolate it. I personally do not think that to isolate it is to solve the problem of communism; on the contrary, world communism has assumed such proportions that it cannot be isolated anymore. Communism overtook China. It is influencing other SLOVAKIA 73 Asiatic people and it is penetrating into Africa. Some Americans rejoice that shaking hands with Khrushchev is solving the problem; but to do so is a stab in the back of those who suffer under communism. To solve it, America and the whole world must not run away with the form of government established for us by our American founders . Freedom is the right of our 181 million American people; but this is also the right of every people. The threats of Kremlin ought not make Americans wince and submit to the dictates of Khrushchev as to how a Paris conference must end or whether our president should or should not go to Tokyo. Because after such a dictate will encourage Khrushchev to continue further. The aim of communism even now in 1960 is the proletariat's world rule. Khrushchev said this summer, "I'd love to see the red banner flying over the whole world in my lifetime." • • • WHO SAID IT? The Czechs . . . . are inclined to be both socialistic in politics and agnostic in religion. The Slovaks on the other ·hand ... as conservative peasantry are for the most part loyal and pious Roman Catholics. It is perhaps not surprising therefore that friction developed between them." - (F. Lee Benm;: Europe Since 1914, New Y:ork, 193:11; p. 556). • • • "The population question is further complicated by the ant'agonism of the Czechs and Slovaks themselves. The Czechs, who outnumber the Slovaks almost two to one ... are more inclined toward political liberalism and religious scepticism .... The Slovaks are among the most pious and conservative of peasant folks . .." - (Walter C. Langsam: The World Since 1914, New York, 1953; p. 453). • • • "Some of the .radica,ls and the nationalists in parliament demanded an absolute sep·a ration of church and state, and in January 1920, as part of the so-called 'Away From Rome' movement, there was established a Czechoslovak National Church which proclaimed its independence of the papacy and abolished the requirement of celibacy for the clergy. This church, however, gained almost no Slovak adherents and fewer than a million Czech members." - (Walter C. Langsam : The World since 1914, New York, '1•953; p. 45'1).  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Slovakia Under Communism Description An account of the resource Joseph Paučo Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 6 (31), March-June 1960 pp. 62-73 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Paučo, Jozef, 1914-1975 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1960 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/473ad706ff2c43f97ebdfdc2a5ad6f19.pdf fa659454b30cf0e3b1fabeb9f7d22b50 PDF Text Text 74 SLOVAKIA NEW BOOKS Gilbe rt L. Oddo: Slova kia and by the ,p roper and wide circulation Its People, Robert Speller and <Yf this book. Sons, New York, 1960; 362 pp., $6.00. This scholarly work is a most fitting tri!bute to the pla<ce and stature of Francis Hrufovsky in the annals of Slovakian histoi,y. Offered in memory of that distinguished Slov-ak historian, it serves as the first systemati:c history Olf the S:lovak nation in the English language. The privilege that Professor Gilbert L. Oddo enjoys in this respect is more than justilfied by the sterling at triibutes of his product. By careful research,, detailed documentat-i<on and balanced interpretation he has filled a gap in knowledlge and underst-anding that has existed for too long in the English-speaking countries. U!ns tfil now has ,b een a serious gap which no amount Olf pamphlets, papers and other transient media could adequately narrow. An important, authoritative source on the Slovak nat•ion has haippily emerged in, an important and leadin1g language of the world. While today many eyes are centered on Catholic countries like Olllba and others, wondering how and by what means a communist takeover might be achieived, tomorrow, as a result of works of this kind, they wti.11 become more and more focused on a predominantly Catholic counti,y behind the Iron Curtain which by no means has recei'Ved is fair due in world attention, evaluation and signi!ficance. Purposely distorted propaganda has clouded Western, and particUJlarly American, unldierstandi.ng r,f reality and aspirations r,f over four million people making urp the Slovak nat ion. Much of this politically contrived propaganda will undoulbtedly be dissi,pated It is truly amazinig the extent to which our thinkiing albout other people and nations is seriously discolored by myths and failse• hoods that ha.ve g-a,i ned currency through calculated effort on the part of the politiically ambitious few and, more so, through habitual usage and mental inertia. In these times it is even iroruical to hear many Olf our pwblic and private leaders urge in one breath that lfor our long-term security interests it is utterly indispensaible for us to understand other peoples and nations and then, in, the very ne~t breath, deny the distinctive nattiional existence of a given people by parroting unfounded and mis leading nomer·s and cliches. This writer has witnessed many trying, in efifect, to squMe a ciTcle by speaking, on the one hand, ()ff the glorious fight of Slovak patriots for nation.al independence and th en, on the other hand, reiterating the myth of a "Czechoslovak nation." Fortun,ately, in most instances this self-<!ontl'adiction is the con'sequence of an in~irm grasp of basiic essentials albout Slovaikia for which now there can be no excuse. lli. Oddo clearly and vividly provides t,h ese essentials in this hi-ghil.y readaible and accessible work. Despite the open record of nat ional Slovak resistance again•st communiist domination, the story of Slov.akia is a story Olf a nation's fight for fu'eedom and survival goes back well beyond the conteimpor,ary period. In a real sense, the present subjugation otf this undyin·g nation is only another chapter in, its long and evenbful history. Its cumulative experience in alternating periods of 1 1 1 �SLOVAKIA 75 independence and capt-i<vity pre- tianirty, social justi'Ce, literature, pares and equips its people welll cuJture, and the freedom of Slofor the tasks and chaU,enges olf vak!ia. The role of Trnava Univerthe present struggle. As one readls sity, the Slovak role i 1n, the evoluwbout rthe many historic occaS:i.on-s tion of the Czechs, Slovak if.fieedom forming the distinctive history of and the 1848 Revolution, the St. this European nation, he cannot Martin Memorandum of '1001~ .the but feel doubly assured that here ::zech-0..Slovak Pact of May 30, 119118 erists one of the truest and most and many other events are events reliwble allies of the cause of that bespeak the vitality, growth, world freedom. This volume cov- ,persevernnK!e, and determinatio niof ers these occasions wrth moving •a strategica1liy situated nation. All an<l d~scr,iiptive force, an<l the in- 1 this and more spells out a vtbrant dis,pensalble persp~tri.ve gained by tradition whiich is the .living soul Olf the reader is insurance enough Slovakia, a permanent reaHrty that against the repetition of basic no amount ofmyt,h-mraking political errors concerning rthe right and propaganda can possilbly erase or property of an independent Slo- for .long conceal. With descriptive vak nation in the world fami1ly oil' 1 vividness· and factual proportion, IProfessor Ododo succeeds in tbringnations. .Asi<le from it.s naturcm. rJgoht of ing out this truth in all its luselif-deterunination - which really minous aspects. The pattern of events and tragic doesn't have rto •b e reasserted time and time again to es!Jalblish the development thwt characterizes the distinctive character and the sepa- long history of the Slovak nation rate national will of rthe Slorva!k is rem'barkalbly similar to that of people - the full creden,t ials of many other nations naw held in the Slovak nation for sovereignty captiv~ty in the Russian Coonmuanid independence are found in its nist Empini Ukraine, White RusliVt.ing history F1rom the earliest sia, Georgoia, Turkestan and other backgrounds to the pr,e sent, the subjugated nations in Eastern Eumovement of Slovakian existence rope and Central Asia have on difhas been toward e,opanded free- ferent stages of the historical dom or t-oward freedom itsellf. ! drama and at different times enFrom the ninth century, when the Icountered - indeed, still do share first Slovak ruler, Prince Prilbina, 1 - si:milar problems. Problems o!f reigned, to our century, when on identity and rightful. recogniti1on, Ma-rch '14, 1939, a new independ- ! of nationial survival and historical ent Slovakia emerged and was re- I truth, are problems foisted upon cognized by twenty-seven coun- I the Slovak nation by alien influI tries, this saga ·o f a people's iixed ences and powers as they are by dletermina1iion to be free and re- I simi1ar forces in these other areas. spocted a·s an equal among nations ! The nature and character of these abounds with heroes, events and j problems, whether arisin,g from achievements that would glorilfy / •b lind Western iniaipplicatfon of the the history of any nation, large . ,pri-nciple of national self-determin / ation, misinrter;pre,t,at.ion of the or small. The names of SS. Cyiril and Me- / Czecho-6lovak Pact, the Hitlerian thodius, Janosik, Anthony Beroo- 1episode arul the dtelimmas it posed laJc, Hlinka, Stefanik, Hurlban-V•a- to maniy peoples in Central and jansky, Dr. Joseph Tiso and numer- Easter.Ill Europe, are treated with ous other,s are historic names as- scholarly consideration and balsoci-aited with the advance o! Chni.s- ance in this work. They cannot be I �76 SLOVAKIA handled otherwise, for the strug-1 Slo,v ak culture, literature and the language of the oldest people gle of a people is involved. This struggle is today an in- in the Danube region, as well as tegral and important part of man- the democratic traditions of the krnd's struggle for freedom . The Slovak nation, are presented in so,mer many Amer,i cans realize an intiemgilble way. Moreover, the this, the better wm our position complex events that created and be in relation to all the eruptive shaped Czecho-Slovakia an'<i then. nations in the Russian Communi9t led to the declaration of Slovak Empire. The history of the free- 1 independence on March 14, 1939 dom-loving Slovak nation, as so (six months before the outbreak competently portrayed here, is a of the war, are so arranged sufficient guideline for our think- and exiplained as to give the ing, our policies, our actions and , reader a factual and mastierful survey of a hectic period in momost of all, for our conscience. dern history. Lev E. Dobriansky, Arrnerican Slovaks are credited Georgetown University. with the idea of Slovak independJoseph M. Kirschbaum: Slo- ence in the very frrst chaipter. vakia - Nation at the Cross- This trilbute is based upon the fact roads of Central Europe, Ro- that all during the present cenibel"'t Slpeller and Sons, Ne<w tury the Slova1ks here, inspired by York, 1960; 385 pp,, $5.00. the spir,it of American freedom, This latest work by the distin- have spared no effort to help their guished professor of Slavic Stu- fellow countrymen estalblish a free dies at the University of Montreal and self-governing state of their is a well balanced, coordinated and own. To this end they attempted weIJ.,calculated effort to give a forward step towards self-govthinking people a true picture of Iemment with the Czechs to be the Slovak nation struggling for equal partners in- the formation national freedom and survival since I of the first Republic of Czechothe dawn of western civilization. i Slovakra. (Cfr. the Cleveland In his introduction, Kirschbaum I Agreement of 1915 and the Pittsgives the reader a genuine histo- i burgh Pact of 19118). When the latrical prospective of the land and ter agreement with the Czech repits people in a few pages. In a ' resentatives (including Thomas G. concise sweep of centuries of -hi- Masal"'yk) was repudiated after the of the republic, story, the author traces the fate- establishment ful course of -this small but dy- the Slovaks, rea.Jizing they were namic nation from the sixth cen- denied the right to selrf-governI ment in, their home country, retury to the present. ever before has a reader of newed the struggle, and the moveSlovak histori'Cal development had ment towards a free state of their the opportunity to learn so quickly , own was accelerated by both the the real story of a countl"'y whose irresistible force of freedom and destiny has been and still is close- the sweep of external events, rely associated with the life of its , suiting in the declara1Uon of Sloneighbors, namely, Czechs,, Aits- vak ind'ependen'Ce on, Miarch 14, trians, Germans, Poles, Russians, 11939. and Magyars, for here, in a com- , The book is enhanced by more pact vollllffie, the author has com- than a score of pictures that iipressed centuries of history as it ' lustrate highlights in the history occurred in the heart of Eurnpe of the Slovak nation. A suitable ! �77 SLOVAKIA bibliography of s·o me sixty sources indicates the thorough scho1'arship that produced it. Documents and letters relati'Ilg to the struggle of the Slo;vaiks for their right t'O self-governmeITTit and a free stathood are quoited as far back as April 13, '11849, when a group of Slovak deputies submitted a petition to the Ministry in Vienna for national recognition. These, a total of 712, are up to 1005. Thus, not only is this book designated fur popular :reading but also for serious study by students of hi'story. It will serve to provide them with a basic historical knowledge of the S1ovak nation, and wi11 g~ve them a reliaible insight in'to the incredibly fascinating story of Slovakia on the Danube. Andrew Pie.r, O.S.B., Director, Slovak Jn.stirtute, Cleveland, 0. 1 Jozef Pauco: Unconquerables. Vanitage P,ress, N. Y., Washington, Chi~caglo, Holly,wood. 225 pp., $3.50. In this a•ge of the exiled, the tempest-rossed and the oppressed, many have been the men and women of diverse political, religious and ied'ologicall persuasi·ons whose fate has been sung and whose cause won through global sympathy and recognition,. No less dramatic but perhaps less sung and stiU not won is the cause of the Slovak heroes, the unconqueraibles behind, the iron curtain, souls who could not and would not leave, cornvinced that their mission, is to remain, to oppose the foe and defend the id•e als that externally have succumbed but in their hearr ts burn on. Ph.D. Jlozef Paufo, son of S!lov,akia, whose road has led him from the Slovaik University into the world of journalism via Austria and West Germany, New York, and now Pennsylvancita, has recor- ded true stories of Silova,k heroism as personified in the "Whtie Legionnaires." Slova~ia, whose fight against Czech chauvfoism was as little appreciated as that of the Sudeten Germans a,g;afo,s t Czech encroachment, has a tale of its own to tell in the 20th cen•tury battle aga,i nst satanic Coonmuni sm. Those familiar with the Slo,vak people know that no wedge has been or can be driven between them and their clergy. The Slovaks are devout, loyal Catholics almost ro a man. Any stor,y olf their bravery against Bolshevism is at the same tJime a document o.f the valor olf their priests, nuns, and o,ther religious who to this very h1our are traveling a path to Calvary that only a glowing faith i-n the Crucified could make possible. The pages of Pauco's "Unrcon• queraib!tes" offer the reader no paipier-mache dons but filesh and blood men and women like Sister Katarina, enduring personal insuit and humi!Jiation, foreed to witness the desecra'tion of what she ho1ds most sacred; like teacher Stach, dediicated to saving Slovak youth from the acids of Bolshevist ideology by fonning secret schools to lecture on religi•on, ins<tihl Slovak ideals in young folk and keep good literature alive. We read of the diabolical chticanery iruvented to prevent the people oi a Slovak village from going on a pilgrimage and we see that simple faith undaunted even in the face o,f outright deceit and force . We see the enemy systematically trying to wproot Christian prindples from the school's and Slovak way of life and see the Legionna,i res fig;hting hack. Simple s'traightforwaror books like Pauco's should be placed on required reading lists for schools I �SLOVAKIA 78 and in public li!braries all over I L. Niederle, e<tc.) and try to shed the coullltry. Irts message goes right a new light on this, period of Slavic history and civilization. And to the heart. while we may disagree with their Frances McPoyne. "marxist" methods, it will be difStephen Smriik, S.J.,: The .flicult to deny the conclusfons Glagolitic or Romano-S'lavonic reached whi<ch are supported by Liturgy, Series Cyrill()'Illethodi- research in archeofogy and p,hiana, Slovak Institute, Cleve- lology. a'and, Rome, 195'9, 1120 pp., ilThe author of The Glagolitic or Roman-Slavonic Liturgy wrote his lustraited; $2.50. The approachiing 1100th anni- I book on .this side of the Iron Curversary of the arrival of SS. Cyril , tain, in Rome, where und,oUlbtedly and Metiliodfos to Great Moravia, j many original sources, until now inspir-ed several Slovak Slavists to only partly or not at all used, publish a series of s,cholM"lY stu- ,I were at his disposal. Thi'S g,ives to dies in English called Cyrilome- his study on the introductii.on of thodiana. The first volume was the ancierut Slovak (Slovanic) Ianprepared by a Sloivak exipert in guage into the Christian, •l iturgy a medieval arts, Prolfessor J. G. Cin- value of original reaserch and cik. Allthougih its tiitle reads An- makes his book a contribution to glo-Saxon and Slovak-Avar Pat• the Slavis<tJics. Recognition of the terns of the Cuthbert Gospel, it re- Slovaniic language by ROlllle as one fers in its conclusions to the mis- of the liturgi.cal languages, at a sion of SS. Cyril and Meithodius. time when Slavs were lbut barba(See a rev-itew on, this in Slavic and rians, was an epoch-making eivent East European Studies, Vol. IIII, which laid the foundation for a F. 4, p. 240). The second volume I new Slav,i,c civilization that spread is the well,balanced and carefully ! from Great Moraivia and later d~ veloped among Southern and Eastedited study by Rev. Stephen zik, S.J., a learned Sllovak Jesuit, ern Slavs. The corutinuous interest study-Jng and teaching in Italy. 1 of Slavis'ts in this epooh is conGreat Moravia and the civiliza- ! sequently understandalble. tion which started in the t erri- 1 Father Sanrzik r,e-examined in tory of today's Sl 01Vakia, Moraivia, \ his scholarly treatise the views and Southern Poland, a,nd Slo-v enia I theories of several Slavi•s ts on• the (the comp'o nen:t parts of Greater IRoman-Slovanic liturgy, called also Moravia) with the missi'On of SS. the Glagolitic liturgy. In order to Cyril and Methodius, became in ! arrive at objective conclusions, the the past decades a favorite field of j author analyzed the theories which study and research of many S.la- j assert that the Roman Siova'lllic livis1ts of Polish, Slovak, Sloveni'an, I turgy was in't roduced already by Crech, and Hungartan origin. 1 the Slovak a,postles, CY["il and Scores of books have been, pulb- 1 Methodius, as well as the theories lis_hed b~hind the Iron Cm,tain on j whi~h assert that they _had no conthis subJect namely by Slovak and I nect110n whatsoever with the RoCzech archeologists and linguists mano.Slovanic liturgy. Writing his (Poul-&, Eisner, Tocik, Stanislav, : bO'ok in Rome, the author had an Isacenko, Dek>an, Pauliny, etc.) who : excellent opportunity for peru&ing challenge the vtiews and theories I all the principal works on the subof previous researche:rs (F. Dvor- ject. As a result, he gives us the nik, J . Skultety, P. Hrusovsky, V. views of Cherubi,n, Segivic, who exJagic, J. Dobrovsky, J. P. Safarik, pounded his theory on the origin Smr- 1 1 �SLOVAKIA on the ROl!Ilan-Slovanic liturrgy lin several puiblica'tions, denying the Cyrilo-Methodian origJn of the Roman-Slovanic liturgy, as weU as thie 1heories· of Orthodox authors Gorazd Pa,vlik and Jif.i Novak, on the one ha-nd, and recent pro-Cyrilomethodiian theories oif Ivan Bercic, F. Pasternak, S. Rittig, Anton Brtikner, and C. Mohlberg, on the otherr hand. The author g.ives a clear evaluation and a crlitique of all theories and presents a syn'thesis of the evolution and preserut status of the liturgy which, according to him, is western in its ceremonies and eastern in its· language. For Fiather Smrzik there is no douibt that the Roman-Slov~nic liturgy was introduced lby the Slovak apostles Cyril and Methodius in Gre-a t Moravia. Sinre he arri>ved at this coniclusion on the basis of a thorough study of so many eminent Slavists, whose works were predominenltly published in Slavic languages, his book is und'OUlbtedly a valualble contribution to the elucidation of the sulbject. The boolk also contains a chapter on history of the Roman-6110vanic liturgy which makes it an the more v,aluable for readers who are not acqua,i nted with the s·ubject. However, this chap'ter should have come, in this reviewer's opinion, -as Ohapter I. Chapter II, w,hich deals with t,h e oldest written record,s of the Rom,an-Siovanic liturgy, completes eff~ct-ively the picture of the origin and development of the ROl!Ilan-Slovanic liturgy. Scholars in Slaivic subje'cts will appreciate also the author's bilbliograiphy, but n1dt including an index is one of the shortcomings of this excellent and well-eddted stud!Y which is enr-ichied by several repro<lucti'Ons and illustrations. I 79 J. M. Kirschbaum: Contempo• rary Tendencies in Slovak Phi• lology, an offprint from the periodical SI:avk and East European Studies, Vol. IV, No. 3-4, Department Olf Slavic Stud:ies, University Olf Montreal; 114 pp. Though Professor Kirschlbaum's concise study is primair.iJy destinoo for scholars and teachers, it gives, neventheiess, a clear picture of Slovaik endeavors in the field of philology to all who -are interested in the Slovak languag,e and in its relation to other Slavic languages. Man!Y American and Canadian readers• will be sur,pci-sed to Jearn that the relation between the Czech and the Slovaik language is not onJy a relaitdon between two distinct Slavic languages, but ,t hat Czech poetry and prose are now tl"anslated !into rbhe Slovak and vice versa as the Polish or Russian have always been. There was much confusion albowt this relation even in academic circles. ,T he value of Kirschlbaum's ·new study !lies in its cleair elucida.bon of the sulbject and of the reasons which, for so many years w.ere res,ponsilble for the existing con/fusion. ,Divid-ed into three chapters, the s,tu,dy presents a short, ,b ut scholarly perusal of contemporary tendencies in Slovak philology which is sUJbject to Russian pressure in the same way as the whole Slovak cultural lilfe has been from [945. While the author of the s,tudy admits that Slovaik philology develops comparaitiv,e ly undisitUT1bed by the incluSlion of Slovaik:ia within the Soviet cultural and political s,p he,r e of influence, he points to the attempts o;f some young philologists to impose "iMarxlis,t" or "StaJin'·s" dir:ectives upon the J. M. Kirschbaum, aeti<vities o~ Slovak philologists. University of Montreal. An anialysis of two volumes olf 1 �SLOVAKIA 80 "Bilbl'iography of Slovak PhHolo gy" tional origin of these men, but Cfor the y,e ars 1'93•9,,119417 and 1'!)!4& especially the position and role 195'2) makes Kiirschlbaum's study of Sttir in forming m<Ydern literacy pa.r ticularly valuable, as it shows Slovak, in unifying the Slovak nahow th e indi,v idual £ields of Slo- tion, and ,l eading the Slov,aks in vak phi,1,ology de,v eloped during their fight for national survival the past 20 years. The fact, that and independence. The author c. i the study is based on a thorough ;•this 1booklet did not enumerate all resea11ch into original S1'ovalk ,t he availaibLe bilbliography, but works giv,es to this first English brought out the lit,e ratur,e based treatise of S1-0'Vak philology an •o n oriiginal manuscripts, which unadded va,Iue. fortuiniaitely are still little known A. 'D. . among the Sla,vists on ,this con1 . , , • , tinent, and a score of works in J. M. ~•rschbam: L'.udovit S t ~r several foreign 1'anguages. and His Pl~c! In the Slavic · Four condensed chapters which '-'."oiild, Sla,vistma No. 32, _if>uib- 1make up this booklet cannot exL1s_he~ by the Slovak In st itute, I haust the per,sonaliity of Iludlorvit Wmn11peg...JC1'erveland, 1 9 5 8; Stur as a philosopher of Prun.SlavG-4 PP' ism, as a linguist and philologist, il.ittle has !been written in Eng- ' as an aesthete and poet, and as a lish rubout Stur's ideas of Pan- ' Slovak naition1a,l leader. lt is our Slavism and about his •i deas con- hope that J. M. Kirschlbaum will cerning the stmgg,l e for indei)end- 1,e ventua•Lly enlarge this valuable ence of ,t he Slo;vaik nation, and study into a 11esource!ful book fulonoe he -exhausted all peac,efuil ly and thoroughly evaluating the ,parlJ.amentary and .political means, ; ~igan,ti,c personality of Iludovit his role ,in the Iieibellion against Stur. Magyar oppression in 11848. The John Rekem, Slovak natio•n, dly.ing a slow death ' Winniipeg. under Miagyar oppression, was 1 greatly l!eartened and strength- 1 AT LAST ened by Stur's new unifying liverary language and culitu~al pro- 'A HISTORY OF SLOVAK.IA grams •took on a new life. This I in En lish fina,lly led to Slovak independence : g in 193e. I SUPPLY IS LIMITED Even eminent scholars o.f Slavisti:cs did not look into the per- I Get your copy NOW. sonality of Iludovit Stur. Lack of 1 ,access to, the oriiginal works of i Cloth cover, 382 pages Stur led some Slavists t o accept I th•e judgment of ma,ny politica,Uy i $6.00 pr,ejuditced Czech authors. Some went so far as to laibel Stur with J. Kollar and Saifarik as Czechs 1 although they were SlovaJks. Stur's : by Gilbert L. Oddo greaitest achievement wa:s the codification of the new Slo:vak Ii- ' terary language. JEDNOTA PRINTERY Credit is due to Kirschbaum's P. 0. Bo,x 150 present booklet inasmuch as it Middletown, Pa. helps to clarify not only the na1 1 ============== 1 1 Slovakia And Its People � 74 SLOVAKIA NEW BOOKS Gilbe rt L. Oddo: Slova kia and by the ,p roper and wide circulation Its People, Robert Speller and <Yf this book. Sons, New York, 1960; 362 pp., $6.00. This scholarly work is a most fitting tri!bute to the pla<ce and stature of Francis Hrufovsky in the annals of Slovakian histoi,y. Offered in memory of that distinguished Slov-ak historian, it serves as the first systemati:c history Olf the S:lovak nation in the English language. The privilege that Professor Gilbert L. Oddo enjoys in this respect is more than justilfied by the sterling at triibutes of his product. By careful research,, detailed documentat-i<on and balanced interpretation he has filled a gap in knowledlge and underst-anding that has existed for too long in the English-speaking countries. U!ns tfil now has ,b een a serious gap which no amount Olf pamphlets, papers and other transient media could adequately narrow. An important, authoritative source on the Slovak nat•ion has haippily emerged in, an important and leadin1g language of the world. While today many eyes are centered on Catholic countries like Olllba and others, wondering how and by what means a communist takeover might be achieived, tomorrow, as a result of works of this kind, they wti.11 become more and more focused on a predominantly Catholic counti,y behind the Iron Curtain which by no means has recei'Ved is fair due in world attention, evaluation and signi!ficance. Purposely distorted propaganda has clouded Western, and particUJlarly American, unldierstandi.ng r,f reality and aspirations r,f over four million people making urp the Slovak nat ion. Much of this politically contrived propaganda will undoulbtedly be dissi,pated It is truly amazinig the extent to which our thinkiing albout other people and nations is seriously discolored by myths and failse• hoods that ha.ve g-a,i ned currency through calculated effort on the part of the politiically ambitious few and, more so, through habitual usage and mental inertia. In these times it is even iroruical to hear many Olf our pwblic and private leaders urge in one breath that lfor our long-term security interests it is utterly indispensaible for us to understand other peoples and nations and then, in, the very ne~t breath, deny the distinctive nattiional existence of a given people by parroting unfounded and mis leading nomer·s and cliches. This writer has witnessed many trying, in efifect, to squMe a ciTcle by speaking, on the one hand, ()ff the glorious fight of Slovak patriots for nation.al independence and th en, on the other hand, reiterating the myth of a "Czechoslovak nation." Fortun,ately, in most instances this self-<!ontl'adiction is the con'sequence of an in~irm grasp of basiic essentials albout Slovaikia for which now there can be no excuse. lli. Oddo clearly and vividly provides t,h ese essentials in this hi-ghil.y readaible and accessible work. Despite the open record of nat ional Slovak resistance again•st communiist domination, the story of Slov.akia is a story Olf a nation's fight for fu'eedom and survival goes back well beyond the conteimpor,ary period. In a real sense, the present subjugation otf this undyin·g nation is only another chapter in, its long and evenbful history. Its cumulative experience in alternating periods of 1 1 1 �SLOVAKIA 75 independence and capt-i<vity pre- tianirty, social justi'Ce, literature, pares and equips its people welll cuJture, and the freedom of Slofor the tasks and chaU,enges olf vak!ia. The role of Trnava Univerthe present struggle. As one readls sity, the Slovak role i 1n, the evoluwbout rthe many historic occaS:i.on-s tion of the Czechs, Slovak if.fieedom forming the distinctive history of and the 1848 Revolution, the St. this European nation, he cannot Martin Memorandum of '1001~ .the but feel doubly assured that here ::zech-0..Slovak Pact of May 30, 119118 erists one of the truest and most and many other events are events reliwble allies of the cause of that bespeak the vitality, growth, world freedom. This volume cov- ,persevernnK!e, and determinatio niof ers these occasions wrth moving •a strategica1liy situated nation. All an<l d~scr,iiptive force, an<l the in- 1 this and more spells out a vtbrant dis,pensalble persp~tri.ve gained by tradition whiich is the .living soul Olf the reader is insurance enough Slovakia, a permanent reaHrty that against the repetition of basic no amount ofmyt,h-mraking political errors concerning rthe right and propaganda can possilbly erase or property of an independent Slo- for .long conceal. With descriptive vak nation in the world fami1ly oil' 1 vividness· and factual proportion, IProfessor Ododo succeeds in tbringnations. .Asi<le from it.s naturcm. rJgoht of ing out this truth in all its luselif-deterunination - which really minous aspects. The pattern of events and tragic doesn't have rto •b e reasserted time and time again to es!Jalblish the development thwt characterizes the distinctive character and the sepa- long history of the Slovak nation rate national will of rthe Slorva!k is rem'barkalbly similar to that of people - the full creden,t ials of many other nations naw held in the Slovak nation for sovereignty captiv~ty in the Russian Coonmuanid independence are found in its nist Empini Ukraine, White RusliVt.ing history F1rom the earliest sia, Georgoia, Turkestan and other backgrounds to the pr,e sent, the subjugated nations in Eastern Eumovement of Slovakian existence rope and Central Asia have on difhas been toward e,opanded free- ferent stages of the historical dom or t-oward freedom itsellf. ! drama and at different times enFrom the ninth century, when the Icountered - indeed, still do share first Slovak ruler, Prince Prilbina, 1 - si:milar problems. Problems o!f reigned, to our century, when on identity and rightful. recogniti1on, Ma-rch '14, 1939, a new independ- ! of nationial survival and historical ent Slovakia emerged and was re- I truth, are problems foisted upon cognized by twenty-seven coun- I the Slovak nation by alien influI tries, this saga ·o f a people's iixed ences and powers as they are by dletermina1iion to be free and re- I simi1ar forces in these other areas. spocted a·s an equal among nations ! The nature and character of these abounds with heroes, events and j problems, whether arisin,g from achievements that would glorilfy / •b lind Western iniaipplicatfon of the the history of any nation, large . ,pri-nciple of national self-determin / ation, misinrter;pre,t,at.ion of the or small. The names of SS. Cyiril and Me- / Czecho-6lovak Pact, the Hitlerian thodius, Janosik, Anthony Beroo- 1episode arul the dtelimmas it posed laJc, Hlinka, Stefanik, Hurlban-V•a- to maniy peoples in Central and jansky, Dr. Joseph Tiso and numer- Easter.Ill Europe, are treated with ous other,s are historic names as- scholarly consideration and balsoci-aited with the advance o! Chni.s- ance in this work. They cannot be I �76 SLOVAKIA handled otherwise, for the strug-1 Slo,v ak culture, literature and the language of the oldest people gle of a people is involved. This struggle is today an in- in the Danube region, as well as tegral and important part of man- the democratic traditions of the krnd's struggle for freedom . The Slovak nation, are presented in so,mer many Amer,i cans realize an intiemgilble way. Moreover, the this, the better wm our position complex events that created and be in relation to all the eruptive shaped Czecho-Slovakia an'<i then. nations in the Russian Communi9t led to the declaration of Slovak Empire. The history of the free- 1 independence on March 14, 1939 dom-loving Slovak nation, as so (six months before the outbreak competently portrayed here, is a of the war, are so arranged sufficient guideline for our think- and exiplained as to give the ing, our policies, our actions and , reader a factual and mastierful survey of a hectic period in momost of all, for our conscience. dern history. Lev E. Dobriansky, Arrnerican Slovaks are credited Georgetown University. with the idea of Slovak independJoseph M. Kirschbaum: Slo- ence in the very frrst chaipter. vakia - Nation at the Cross- This trilbute is based upon the fact roads of Central Europe, Ro- that all during the present cenibel"'t Slpeller and Sons, Ne<w tury the Slova1ks here, inspired by York, 1960; 385 pp,, $5.00. the spir,it of American freedom, This latest work by the distin- have spared no effort to help their guished professor of Slavic Stu- fellow countrymen estalblish a free dies at the University of Montreal and self-governing state of their is a well balanced, coordinated and own. To this end they attempted weIJ.,calculated effort to give a forward step towards self-govthinking people a true picture of Iemment with the Czechs to be the Slovak nation struggling for equal partners in- the formation national freedom and survival since I of the first Republic of Czechothe dawn of western civilization. i Slovakra. (Cfr. the Cleveland In his introduction, Kirschbaum I Agreement of 1915 and the Pittsgives the reader a genuine histo- i burgh Pact of 19118). When the latrical prospective of the land and ter agreement with the Czech repits people in a few pages. In a ' resentatives (including Thomas G. concise sweep of centuries of -hi- Masal"'yk) was repudiated after the of the republic, story, the author traces the fate- establishment ful course of -this small but dy- the Slovaks, rea.Jizing they were namic nation from the sixth cen- denied the right to selrf-governI ment in, their home country, retury to the present. ever before has a reader of newed the struggle, and the moveSlovak histori'Cal development had ment towards a free state of their the opportunity to learn so quickly , own was accelerated by both the the real story of a countl"'y whose irresistible force of freedom and destiny has been and still is close- the sweep of external events, rely associated with the life of its , suiting in the declara1Uon of Sloneighbors, namely, Czechs,, Aits- vak ind'ependen'Ce on, Miarch 14, trians, Germans, Poles, Russians, 11939. and Magyars, for here, in a com- , The book is enhanced by more pact vollllffie, the author has com- than a score of pictures that iipressed centuries of history as it ' lustrate highlights in the history occurred in the heart of Eurnpe of the Slovak nation. A suitable ! �77 SLOVAKIA bibliography of s·o me sixty sources indicates the thorough scho1'arship that produced it. Documents and letters relati'Ilg to the struggle of the Slo;vaiks for their right t'O self-governmeITTit and a free stathood are quoited as far back as April 13, '11849, when a group of Slovak deputies submitted a petition to the Ministry in Vienna for national recognition. These, a total of 712, are up to 1005. Thus, not only is this book designated fur popular :reading but also for serious study by students of hi'story. It will serve to provide them with a basic historical knowledge of the S1ovak nation, and wi11 g~ve them a reliaible insight in'to the incredibly fascinating story of Slovakia on the Danube. Andrew Pie.r, O.S.B., Director, Slovak Jn.stirtute, Cleveland, 0. 1 Jozef Pauco: Unconquerables. Vanitage P,ress, N. Y., Washington, Chi~caglo, Holly,wood. 225 pp., $3.50. In this a•ge of the exiled, the tempest-rossed and the oppressed, many have been the men and women of diverse political, religious and ied'ologicall persuasi·ons whose fate has been sung and whose cause won through global sympathy and recognition,. No less dramatic but perhaps less sung and stiU not won is the cause of the Slovak heroes, the unconqueraibles behind, the iron curtain, souls who could not and would not leave, cornvinced that their mission, is to remain, to oppose the foe and defend the id•e als that externally have succumbed but in their hearr ts burn on. Ph.D. Jlozef Paufo, son of S!lov,akia, whose road has led him from the Slovaik University into the world of journalism via Austria and West Germany, New York, and now Pennsylvancita, has recor- ded true stories of Silova,k heroism as personified in the "Whtie Legionnaires." Slova~ia, whose fight against Czech chauvfoism was as little appreciated as that of the Sudeten Germans a,g;afo,s t Czech encroachment, has a tale of its own to tell in the 20th cen•tury battle aga,i nst satanic Coonmuni sm. Those familiar with the Slo,vak people know that no wedge has been or can be driven between them and their clergy. The Slovaks are devout, loyal Catholics almost ro a man. Any stor,y olf their bravery against Bolshevism is at the same tJime a document o.f the valor olf their priests, nuns, and o,ther religious who to this very h1our are traveling a path to Calvary that only a glowing faith i-n the Crucified could make possible. The pages of Pauco's "Unrcon• queraib!tes" offer the reader no paipier-mache dons but filesh and blood men and women like Sister Katarina, enduring personal insuit and humi!Jiation, foreed to witness the desecra'tion of what she ho1ds most sacred; like teacher Stach, dediicated to saving Slovak youth from the acids of Bolshevist ideology by fonning secret schools to lecture on religi•on, ins<tihl Slovak ideals in young folk and keep good literature alive. We read of the diabolical chticanery iruvented to prevent the people oi a Slovak village from going on a pilgrimage and we see that simple faith undaunted even in the face o,f outright deceit and force . We see the enemy systematically trying to wproot Christian prindples from the school's and Slovak way of life and see the Legionna,i res fig;hting hack. Simple s'traightforwaror books like Pauco's should be placed on required reading lists for schools I �SLOVAKIA 78 and in public li!braries all over I L. Niederle, e<tc.) and try to shed the coullltry. Irts message goes right a new light on this, period of Slavic history and civilization. And to the heart. while we may disagree with their Frances McPoyne. "marxist" methods, it will be difStephen Smriik, S.J.,: The .flicult to deny the conclusfons Glagolitic or Romano-S'lavonic reached whi<ch are supported by Liturgy, Series Cyrill()'Illethodi- research in archeofogy and p,hiana, Slovak Institute, Cleve- lology. a'and, Rome, 195'9, 1120 pp., ilThe author of The Glagolitic or Roman-Slavonic Liturgy wrote his lustraited; $2.50. The approachiing 1100th anni- I book on .this side of the Iron Curversary of the arrival of SS. Cyril , tain, in Rome, where und,oUlbtedly and Metiliodfos to Great Moravia, j many original sources, until now inspir-ed several Slovak Slavists to only partly or not at all used, publish a series of s,cholM"lY stu- ,I were at his disposal. Thi'S g,ives to dies in English called Cyrilome- his study on the introductii.on of thodiana. The first volume was the ancierut Slovak (Slovanic) Ianprepared by a Sloivak exipert in guage into the Christian, •l iturgy a medieval arts, Prolfessor J. G. Cin- value of original reaserch and cik. Allthougih its tiitle reads An- makes his book a contribution to glo-Saxon and Slovak-Avar Pat• the Slavis<tJics. Recognition of the terns of the Cuthbert Gospel, it re- Slovaniic language by ROlllle as one fers in its conclusions to the mis- of the liturgi.cal languages, at a sion of SS. Cyril and Meithodius. time when Slavs were lbut barba(See a rev-itew on, this in Slavic and rians, was an epoch-making eivent East European Studies, Vol. IIII, which laid the foundation for a F. 4, p. 240). The second volume I new Slav,i,c civilization that spread is the well,balanced and carefully ! from Great Moraivia and later d~ veloped among Southern and Eastedited study by Rev. Stephen zik, S.J., a learned Sllovak Jesuit, ern Slavs. The corutinuous interest study-Jng and teaching in Italy. 1 of Slavis'ts in this epooh is conGreat Moravia and the civiliza- ! sequently understandalble. tion which started in the t erri- 1 Father Sanrzik r,e-examined in tory of today's Sl 01Vakia, Moraivia, \ his scholarly treatise the views and Southern Poland, a,nd Slo-v enia I theories of several Slavi•s ts on• the (the comp'o nen:t parts of Greater IRoman-Slovanic liturgy, called also Moravia) with the missi'On of SS. the Glagolitic liturgy. In order to Cyril and Methodius, became in ! arrive at objective conclusions, the the past decades a favorite field of j author analyzed the theories which study and research of many S.la- j assert that the Roman Siova'lllic livis1ts of Polish, Slovak, Sloveni'an, I turgy was in't roduced already by Crech, and Hungartan origin. 1 the Slovak a,postles, CY["il and Scores of books have been, pulb- 1 Methodius, as well as the theories lis_hed b~hind the Iron Cm,tain on j whi~h assert that they _had no conthis subJect namely by Slovak and I nect110n whatsoever with the RoCzech archeologists and linguists mano.Slovanic liturgy. Writing his (Poul-&, Eisner, Tocik, Stanislav, : bO'ok in Rome, the author had an Isacenko, Dek>an, Pauliny, etc.) who : excellent opportunity for peru&ing challenge the vtiews and theories I all the principal works on the subof previous researche:rs (F. Dvor- ject. As a result, he gives us the nik, J . Skultety, P. Hrusovsky, V. views of Cherubi,n, Segivic, who exJagic, J. Dobrovsky, J. P. Safarik, pounded his theory on the origin Smr- 1 1 �SLOVAKIA on the ROl!Ilan-Slovanic liturrgy lin several puiblica'tions, denying the Cyrilo-Methodian origJn of the Roman-Slovanic liturgy, as weU as thie 1heories· of Orthodox authors Gorazd Pa,vlik and Jif.i Novak, on the one ha-nd, and recent pro-Cyrilomethodiian theories oif Ivan Bercic, F. Pasternak, S. Rittig, Anton Brtikner, and C. Mohlberg, on the otherr hand. The author g.ives a clear evaluation and a crlitique of all theories and presents a syn'thesis of the evolution and preserut status of the liturgy which, according to him, is western in its ceremonies and eastern in its· language. For Fiather Smrzik there is no douibt that the Roman-Slov~nic liturgy was introduced lby the Slovak apostles Cyril and Methodius in Gre-a t Moravia. Sinre he arri>ved at this coniclusion on the basis of a thorough study of so many eminent Slavists, whose works were predominenltly published in Slavic languages, his book is und'OUlbtedly a valualble contribution to the elucidation of the sulbject. The boolk also contains a chapter on history of the Roman-6110vanic liturgy which makes it an the more v,aluable for readers who are not acqua,i nted with the s·ubject. However, this chap'ter should have come, in this reviewer's opinion, -as Ohapter I. Chapter II, w,hich deals with t,h e oldest written record,s of the Rom,an-Siovanic liturgy, completes eff~ct-ively the picture of the origin and development of the ROl!Ilan-Slovanic liturgy. Scholars in Slaivic subje'cts will appreciate also the author's bilbliograiphy, but n1dt including an index is one of the shortcomings of this excellent and well-eddted stud!Y which is enr-ichied by several repro<lucti'Ons and illustrations. I 79 J. M. Kirschbaum: Contempo• rary Tendencies in Slovak Phi• lology, an offprint from the periodical SI:avk and East European Studies, Vol. IV, No. 3-4, Department Olf Slavic Stud:ies, University Olf Montreal; 114 pp. Though Professor Kirschlbaum's concise study is primair.iJy destinoo for scholars and teachers, it gives, neventheiess, a clear picture of Slovaik endeavors in the field of philology to all who -are interested in the Slovak languag,e and in its relation to other Slavic languages. Man!Y American and Canadian readers• will be sur,pci-sed to Jearn that the relation between the Czech and the Slovaik language is not onJy a relaitdon between two distinct Slavic languages, but ,t hat Czech poetry and prose are now tl"anslated !into rbhe Slovak and vice versa as the Polish or Russian have always been. There was much confusion albowt this relation even in academic circles. ,T he value of Kirschlbaum's ·new study !lies in its cleair elucida.bon of the sulbject and of the reasons which, for so many years w.ere res,ponsilble for the existing con/fusion. ,Divid-ed into three chapters, the s,tu,dy presents a short, ,b ut scholarly perusal of contemporary tendencies in Slovak philology which is sUJbject to Russian pressure in the same way as the whole Slovak cultural lilfe has been from [945. While the author of the s,tudy admits that Slovaik philology develops comparaitiv,e ly undisitUT1bed by the incluSlion of Slovaik:ia within the Soviet cultural and political s,p he,r e of influence, he points to the attempts o;f some young philologists to impose "iMarxlis,t" or "StaJin'·s" dir:ectives upon the J. M. Kirschbaum, aeti<vities o~ Slovak philologists. University of Montreal. An anialysis of two volumes olf 1 �SLOVAKIA 80 "Bilbl'iography of Slovak PhHolo gy" tional origin of these men, but Cfor the y,e ars 1'93•9,,119417 and 1'!)!4& especially the position and role 195'2) makes Kiirschlbaum's study of Sttir in forming m<Ydern literacy pa.r ticularly valuable, as it shows Slovak, in unifying the Slovak nahow th e indi,v idual £ields of Slo- tion, and ,l eading the Slov,aks in vak phi,1,ology de,v eloped during their fight for national survival the past 20 years. The fact, that and independence. The author c. i the study is based on a thorough ;•this 1booklet did not enumerate all resea11ch into original S1'ovalk ,t he availaibLe bilbliography, but works giv,es to this first English brought out the lit,e ratur,e based treatise of S1-0'Vak philology an •o n oriiginal manuscripts, which unadded va,Iue. fortuiniaitely are still little known A. 'D. . among the Sla,vists on ,this con1 . , , • , tinent, and a score of works in J. M. ~•rschbam: L'.udovit S t ~r several foreign 1'anguages. and His Pl~c! In the Slavic · Four condensed chapters which '-'."oiild, Sla,vistma No. 32, _if>uib- 1make up this booklet cannot exL1s_he~ by the Slovak In st itute, I haust the per,sonaliity of Iludlorvit Wmn11peg...JC1'erveland, 1 9 5 8; Stur as a philosopher of Prun.SlavG-4 PP' ism, as a linguist and philologist, il.ittle has !been written in Eng- ' as an aesthete and poet, and as a lish rubout Stur's ideas of Pan- ' Slovak naition1a,l leader. lt is our Slavism and about his •i deas con- hope that J. M. Kirschlbaum will cerning the stmgg,l e for indei)end- 1,e ventua•Lly enlarge this valuable ence of ,t he Slo;vaik nation, and study into a 11esource!ful book fulonoe he -exhausted all peac,efuil ly and thoroughly evaluating the ,parlJ.amentary and .political means, ; ~igan,ti,c personality of Iludovit his role ,in the Iieibellion against Stur. Magyar oppression in 11848. The John Rekem, Slovak natio•n, dly.ing a slow death ' Winniipeg. under Miagyar oppression, was 1 greatly l!eartened and strength- 1 AT LAST ened by Stur's new unifying liverary language and culitu~al pro- 'A HISTORY OF SLOVAK.IA grams •took on a new life. This I in En lish fina,lly led to Slovak independence : g in 193e. I SUPPLY IS LIMITED Even eminent scholars o.f Slavisti:cs did not look into the per- I Get your copy NOW. sonality of Iludovit Stur. Lack of 1 ,access to, the oriiginal works of i Cloth cover, 382 pages Stur led some Slavists t o accept I th•e judgment of ma,ny politica,Uy i $6.00 pr,ejuditced Czech authors. Some went so far as to laibel Stur with J. Kollar and Saifarik as Czechs 1 although they were SlovaJks. Stur's : by Gilbert L. Oddo greaitest achievement wa:s the codification of the new Slo:vak Ii- ' terary language. JEDNOTA PRINTERY Credit is due to Kirschbaum's P. 0. Bo,x 150 present booklet inasmuch as it Middletown, Pa. helps to clarify not only the na1 1 ============== 1 1 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 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 74 SLOVAKIA NEW BOOKS Gilbe rt L. Oddo: Slova kia and by the ,p roper and wide circulation Its People, Robert Speller and <Yf this book. Sons, New York, 1960; 362 pp., $6.00. This scholarly work is a most fitting tri!bute to the pla<ce and stature of Francis Hrufovsky in the annals of Slovakian histoi,y. Offered in memory of that distinguished Slov-ak historian, it serves as the first systemati:c history Olf the S:lovak nation in the English language. The privilege that Professor Gilbert L. Oddo enjoys in this respect is more than justilfied by the sterling at triibutes of his product. By careful research,, detailed documentat-i<on and balanced interpretation he has filled a gap in knowledlge and underst-anding that has existed for too long in the English-speaking countries. U!ns tfil now has ,b een a serious gap which no amount Olf pamphlets, papers and other transient media could adequately narrow. An important, authoritative source on the Slovak nat•ion has haippily emerged in, an important and leadin1g language of the world. While today many eyes are centered on Catholic countries like Olllba and others, wondering how and by what means a communist takeover might be achieived, tomorrow, as a result of works of this kind, they wti.11 become more and more focused on a predominantly Catholic counti,y behind the Iron Curtain which by no means has recei'Ved is fair due in world attention, evaluation and signi!ficance. Purposely distorted propaganda has clouded Western, and particUJlarly American, unldierstandi.ng r,f reality and aspirations r,f over four million people making urp the Slovak nat ion. Much of this politically contrived propaganda will undoulbtedly be dissi,pated It is truly amazinig the extent to which our thinkiing albout other people and nations is seriously discolored by myths and failse• hoods that ha.ve g-a,i ned currency through calculated effort on the part of the politiically ambitious few and, more so, through habitual usage and mental inertia. In these times it is even iroruical to hear many Olf our pwblic and private leaders urge in one breath that lfor our long-term security interests it is utterly indispensaible for us to understand other peoples and nations and then, in, the very ne~t breath, deny the distinctive nattiional existence of a given people by parroting unfounded and mis leading nomer·s and cliches. This writer has witnessed many trying, in efifect, to squMe a ciTcle by speaking, on the one hand, ()ff the glorious fight of Slovak patriots for nation.al independence and th en, on the other hand, reiterating the myth of a "Czechoslovak nation." Fortun,ately, in most instances this self-<!ontl'adiction is the con'sequence of an in~irm grasp of basiic essentials albout Slovaikia for which now there can be no excuse. lli. Oddo clearly and vividly provides t,h ese essentials in this hi-ghil.y readaible and accessible work. Despite the open record of nat ional Slovak resistance again•st communiist domination, the story of Slov.akia is a story Olf a nation's fight for fu'eedom and survival goes back well beyond the conteimpor,ary period. In a real sense, the present subjugation otf this undyin·g nation is only another chapter in, its long and evenbful history. Its cumulative experience in alternating periods of 1 1 1 SLOVAKIA 75 independence and capt-i<vity pre- tianirty, social justi'Ce, literature, pares and equips its people welll cuJture, and the freedom of Slofor the tasks and chaU,enges olf vak!ia. The role of Trnava Univerthe present struggle. As one readls sity, the Slovak role i 1n, the evoluwbout rthe many historic occaS:i.on-s tion of the Czechs, Slovak if.fieedom forming the distinctive history of and the 1848 Revolution, the St. this European nation, he cannot Martin Memorandum of '1001~ .the but feel doubly assured that here ::zech-0..Slovak Pact of May 30, 119118 erists one of the truest and most and many other events are events reliwble allies of the cause of that bespeak the vitality, growth, world freedom. This volume cov- ,persevernnK!e, and determinatio niof ers these occasions wrth moving •a strategica1liy situated nation. All an<l d~scr,iiptive force, an<l the in- 1 this and more spells out a vtbrant dis,pensalble persp~tri.ve gained by tradition whiich is the .living soul Olf the reader is insurance enough Slovakia, a permanent reaHrty that against the repetition of basic no amount ofmyt,h-mraking political errors concerning rthe right and propaganda can possilbly erase or property of an independent Slo- for .long conceal. With descriptive vak nation in the world fami1ly oil' 1 vividness· and factual proportion, IProfessor Ododo succeeds in tbringnations. .Asi<le from it.s naturcm. rJgoht of ing out this truth in all its luselif-deterunination - which really minous aspects. The pattern of events and tragic doesn't have rto •b e reasserted time and time again to es!Jalblish the development thwt characterizes the distinctive character and the sepa- long history of the Slovak nation rate national will of rthe Slorva!k is rem'barkalbly similar to that of people - the full creden,t ials of many other nations naw held in the Slovak nation for sovereignty captiv~ty in the Russian Coonmuanid independence are found in its nist Empini Ukraine, White RusliVt.ing history F1rom the earliest sia, Georgoia, Turkestan and other backgrounds to the pr,e sent, the subjugated nations in Eastern Eumovement of Slovakian existence rope and Central Asia have on difhas been toward e,opanded free- ferent stages of the historical dom or t-oward freedom itsellf. ! drama and at different times enFrom the ninth century, when the Icountered - indeed, still do share first Slovak ruler, Prince Prilbina, 1 - si:milar problems. Problems o!f reigned, to our century, when on identity and rightful. recogniti1on, Ma-rch '14, 1939, a new independ- ! of nationial survival and historical ent Slovakia emerged and was re- I truth, are problems foisted upon cognized by twenty-seven coun- I the Slovak nation by alien influI tries, this saga ·o f a people's iixed ences and powers as they are by dletermina1iion to be free and re- I simi1ar forces in these other areas. spocted a·s an equal among nations ! The nature and character of these abounds with heroes, events and j problems, whether arisin,g from achievements that would glorilfy / •b lind Western iniaipplicatfon of the the history of any nation, large . ,pri-nciple of national self-determin / ation, misinrter;pre,t,at.ion of the or small. The names of SS. Cyiril and Me- / Czecho-6lovak Pact, the Hitlerian thodius, Janosik, Anthony Beroo- 1episode arul the dtelimmas it posed laJc, Hlinka, Stefanik, Hurlban-V•a- to maniy peoples in Central and jansky, Dr. Joseph Tiso and numer- Easter.Ill Europe, are treated with ous other,s are historic names as- scholarly consideration and balsoci-aited with the advance o! Chni.s- ance in this work. They cannot be I 76 SLOVAKIA handled otherwise, for the strug-1 Slo,v ak culture, literature and the language of the oldest people gle of a people is involved. This struggle is today an in- in the Danube region, as well as tegral and important part of man- the democratic traditions of the krnd's struggle for freedom . The Slovak nation, are presented in so,mer many Amer,i cans realize an intiemgilble way. Moreover, the this, the better wm our position complex events that created and be in relation to all the eruptive shaped Czecho-Slovakia an'<i then. nations in the Russian Communi9t led to the declaration of Slovak Empire. The history of the free- 1 independence on March 14, 1939 dom-loving Slovak nation, as so (six months before the outbreak competently portrayed here, is a of the war, are so arranged sufficient guideline for our think- and exiplained as to give the ing, our policies, our actions and , reader a factual and mastierful survey of a hectic period in momost of all, for our conscience. dern history. Lev E. Dobriansky, Arrnerican Slovaks are credited Georgetown University. with the idea of Slovak independJoseph M. Kirschbaum: Slo- ence in the very frrst chaipter. vakia - Nation at the Cross- This trilbute is based upon the fact roads of Central Europe, Ro- that all during the present cenibel"'t Slpeller and Sons, Ne<w tury the Slova1ks here, inspired by York, 1960; 385 pp,, $5.00. the spir,it of American freedom, This latest work by the distin- have spared no effort to help their guished professor of Slavic Stu- fellow countrymen estalblish a free dies at the University of Montreal and self-governing state of their is a well balanced, coordinated and own. To this end they attempted weIJ.,calculated effort to give a forward step towards self-govthinking people a true picture of Iemment with the Czechs to be the Slovak nation struggling for equal partners in- the formation national freedom and survival since I of the first Republic of Czechothe dawn of western civilization. i Slovakra. (Cfr. the Cleveland In his introduction, Kirschbaum I Agreement of 1915 and the Pittsgives the reader a genuine histo- i burgh Pact of 19118). When the latrical prospective of the land and ter agreement with the Czech repits people in a few pages. In a ' resentatives (including Thomas G. concise sweep of centuries of -hi- Masal"'yk) was repudiated after the of the republic, story, the author traces the fate- establishment ful course of -this small but dy- the Slovaks, rea.Jizing they were namic nation from the sixth cen- denied the right to selrf-governI ment in, their home country, retury to the present. ever before has a reader of newed the struggle, and the moveSlovak histori'Cal development had ment towards a free state of their the opportunity to learn so quickly , own was accelerated by both the the real story of a countl"'y whose irresistible force of freedom and destiny has been and still is close- the sweep of external events, rely associated with the life of its , suiting in the declara1Uon of Sloneighbors, namely, Czechs,, Aits- vak ind'ependen'Ce on, Miarch 14, trians, Germans, Poles, Russians, 11939. and Magyars, for here, in a com- , The book is enhanced by more pact vollllffie, the author has com- than a score of pictures that iipressed centuries of history as it ' lustrate highlights in the history occurred in the heart of Eurnpe of the Slovak nation. A suitable ! 77 SLOVAKIA bibliography of s·o me sixty sources indicates the thorough scho1'arship that produced it. Documents and letters relati'Ilg to the struggle of the Slo;vaiks for their right t'O self-governmeITTit and a free stathood are quoited as far back as April 13, '11849, when a group of Slovak deputies submitted a petition to the Ministry in Vienna for national recognition. These, a total of 712, are up to 1005. Thus, not only is this book designated fur popular :reading but also for serious study by students of hi'story. It will serve to provide them with a basic historical knowledge of the S1ovak nation, and wi11 g~ve them a reliaible insight in'to the incredibly fascinating story of Slovakia on the Danube. Andrew Pie.r, O.S.B., Director, Slovak Jn.stirtute, Cleveland, 0. 1 Jozef Pauco: Unconquerables. Vanitage P,ress, N. Y., Washington, Chi~caglo, Holly,wood. 225 pp., $3.50. In this a•ge of the exiled, the tempest-rossed and the oppressed, many have been the men and women of diverse political, religious and ied'ologicall persuasi·ons whose fate has been sung and whose cause won through global sympathy and recognition,. No less dramatic but perhaps less sung and stiU not won is the cause of the Slovak heroes, the unconqueraibles behind, the iron curtain, souls who could not and would not leave, cornvinced that their mission, is to remain, to oppose the foe and defend the id•e als that externally have succumbed but in their hearr ts burn on. Ph.D. Jlozef Paufo, son of S!lov,akia, whose road has led him from the Slovaik University into the world of journalism via Austria and West Germany, New York, and now Pennsylvancita, has recor- ded true stories of Silova,k heroism as personified in the "Whtie Legionnaires." Slova~ia, whose fight against Czech chauvfoism was as little appreciated as that of the Sudeten Germans a,g;afo,s t Czech encroachment, has a tale of its own to tell in the 20th cen•tury battle aga,i nst satanic Coonmuni sm. Those familiar with the Slo,vak people know that no wedge has been or can be driven between them and their clergy. The Slovaks are devout, loyal Catholics almost ro a man. Any stor,y olf their bravery against Bolshevism is at the same tJime a document o.f the valor olf their priests, nuns, and o,ther religious who to this very h1our are traveling a path to Calvary that only a glowing faith i-n the Crucified could make possible. The pages of Pauco's "Unrcon• queraib!tes" offer the reader no paipier-mache dons but filesh and blood men and women like Sister Katarina, enduring personal insuit and humi!Jiation, foreed to witness the desecra'tion of what she ho1ds most sacred; like teacher Stach, dediicated to saving Slovak youth from the acids of Bolshevist ideology by fonning secret schools to lecture on religi•on, ins<tihl Slovak ideals in young folk and keep good literature alive. We read of the diabolical chticanery iruvented to prevent the people oi a Slovak village from going on a pilgrimage and we see that simple faith undaunted even in the face o,f outright deceit and force . We see the enemy systematically trying to wproot Christian prindples from the school's and Slovak way of life and see the Legionna,i res fig;hting hack. Simple s'traightforwaror books like Pauco's should be placed on required reading lists for schools I SLOVAKIA 78 and in public li!braries all over I L. Niederle, e<tc.) and try to shed the coullltry. Irts message goes right a new light on this, period of Slavic history and civilization. And to the heart. while we may disagree with their Frances McPoyne. "marxist" methods, it will be difStephen Smriik, S.J.,: The .flicult to deny the conclusfons Glagolitic or Romano-S'lavonic reached whi<ch are supported by Liturgy, Series Cyrill()'Illethodi- research in archeofogy and p,hiana, Slovak Institute, Cleve- lology. a'and, Rome, 195'9, 1120 pp., ilThe author of The Glagolitic or Roman-Slavonic Liturgy wrote his lustraited; $2.50. The approachiing 1100th anni- I book on .this side of the Iron Curversary of the arrival of SS. Cyril , tain, in Rome, where und,oUlbtedly and Metiliodfos to Great Moravia, j many original sources, until now inspir-ed several Slovak Slavists to only partly or not at all used, publish a series of s,cholM"lY stu- ,I were at his disposal. Thi'S g,ives to dies in English called Cyrilome- his study on the introductii.on of thodiana. The first volume was the ancierut Slovak (Slovanic) Ianprepared by a Sloivak exipert in guage into the Christian, •l iturgy a medieval arts, Prolfessor J. G. Cin- value of original reaserch and cik. Allthougih its tiitle reads An- makes his book a contribution to glo-Saxon and Slovak-Avar Pat• the Slavis<tJics. Recognition of the terns of the Cuthbert Gospel, it re- Slovaniic language by ROlllle as one fers in its conclusions to the mis- of the liturgi.cal languages, at a sion of SS. Cyril and Meithodius. time when Slavs were lbut barba(See a rev-itew on, this in Slavic and rians, was an epoch-making eivent East European Studies, Vol. IIII, which laid the foundation for a F. 4, p. 240). The second volume I new Slav,i,c civilization that spread is the well,balanced and carefully ! from Great Moraivia and later d~ veloped among Southern and Eastedited study by Rev. Stephen zik, S.J., a learned Sllovak Jesuit, ern Slavs. The corutinuous interest study-Jng and teaching in Italy. 1 of Slavis'ts in this epooh is conGreat Moravia and the civiliza- ! sequently understandalble. tion which started in the t erri- 1 Father Sanrzik r,e-examined in tory of today's Sl 01Vakia, Moraivia, \ his scholarly treatise the views and Southern Poland, a,nd Slo-v enia I theories of several Slavi•s ts on• the (the comp'o nen:t parts of Greater IRoman-Slovanic liturgy, called also Moravia) with the missi'On of SS. the Glagolitic liturgy. In order to Cyril and Methodius, became in ! arrive at objective conclusions, the the past decades a favorite field of j author analyzed the theories which study and research of many S.la- j assert that the Roman Siova'lllic livis1ts of Polish, Slovak, Sloveni'an, I turgy was in't roduced already by Crech, and Hungartan origin. 1 the Slovak a,postles, CY["il and Scores of books have been, pulb- 1 Methodius, as well as the theories lis_hed b~hind the Iron Cm,tain on j whi~h assert that they _had no conthis subJect namely by Slovak and I nect110n whatsoever with the RoCzech archeologists and linguists mano.Slovanic liturgy. Writing his (Poul-&, Eisner, Tocik, Stanislav, : bO'ok in Rome, the author had an Isacenko, Dek>an, Pauliny, etc.) who : excellent opportunity for peru&ing challenge the vtiews and theories I all the principal works on the subof previous researche:rs (F. Dvor- ject. As a result, he gives us the nik, J . Skultety, P. Hrusovsky, V. views of Cherubi,n, Segivic, who exJagic, J. Dobrovsky, J. P. Safarik, pounded his theory on the origin Smr- 1 1 SLOVAKIA on the ROl!Ilan-Slovanic liturrgy lin several puiblica'tions, denying the Cyrilo-Methodian origJn of the Roman-Slovanic liturgy, as weU as thie 1heories· of Orthodox authors Gorazd Pa,vlik and Jif.i Novak, on the one ha-nd, and recent pro-Cyrilomethodiian theories oif Ivan Bercic, F. Pasternak, S. Rittig, Anton Brtikner, and C. Mohlberg, on the otherr hand. The author g.ives a clear evaluation and a crlitique of all theories and presents a syn'thesis of the evolution and preserut status of the liturgy which, according to him, is western in its ceremonies and eastern in its· language. For Fiather Smrzik there is no douibt that the Roman-Slov~nic liturgy was introduced lby the Slovak apostles Cyril and Methodius in Gre-a t Moravia. Sinre he arri>ved at this coniclusion on the basis of a thorough study of so many eminent Slavists, whose works were predominenltly published in Slavic languages, his book is und'OUlbtedly a valualble contribution to the elucidation of the sulbject. The boolk also contains a chapter on history of the Roman-6110vanic liturgy which makes it an the more v,aluable for readers who are not acqua,i nted with the s·ubject. However, this chap'ter should have come, in this reviewer's opinion, -as Ohapter I. Chapter II, w,hich deals with t,h e oldest written record,s of the Rom,an-Siovanic liturgy, completes eff~ct-ively the picture of the origin and development of the ROl!Ilan-Slovanic liturgy. Scholars in Slaivic subje'cts will appreciate also the author's bilbliograiphy, but n1dt including an index is one of the shortcomings of this excellent and well-eddted stud!Y which is enr-ichied by several repro<lucti'Ons and illustrations. I 79 J. M. Kirschbaum: Contempo• rary Tendencies in Slovak Phi• lology, an offprint from the periodical SI:avk and East European Studies, Vol. IV, No. 3-4, Department Olf Slavic Stud:ies, University Olf Montreal; 114 pp. Though Professor Kirschlbaum's concise study is primair.iJy destinoo for scholars and teachers, it gives, neventheiess, a clear picture of Slovaik endeavors in the field of philology to all who -are interested in the Slovak languag,e and in its relation to other Slavic languages. Man!Y American and Canadian readers• will be sur,pci-sed to Jearn that the relation between the Czech and the Slovaik language is not onJy a relaitdon between two distinct Slavic languages, but ,t hat Czech poetry and prose are now tl"anslated !into rbhe Slovak and vice versa as the Polish or Russian have always been. There was much confusion albowt this relation even in academic circles. ,T he value of Kirschlbaum's ·new study !lies in its cleair elucida.bon of the sulbject and of the reasons which, for so many years w.ere res,ponsilble for the existing con/fusion. ,Divid-ed into three chapters, the s,tu,dy presents a short, ,b ut scholarly perusal of contemporary tendencies in Slovak philology which is sUJbject to Russian pressure in the same way as the whole Slovak cultural lilfe has been from [945. While the author of the s,tudy admits that Slovaik philology develops comparaitiv,e ly undisitUT1bed by the incluSlion of Slovaik:ia within the Soviet cultural and political s,p he,r e of influence, he points to the attempts o;f some young philologists to impose "iMarxlis,t" or "StaJin'·s" dir:ectives upon the J. M. Kirschbaum, aeti<vities o~ Slovak philologists. University of Montreal. An anialysis of two volumes olf 1 SLOVAKIA 80 "Bilbl'iography of Slovak PhHolo gy" tional origin of these men, but Cfor the y,e ars 1'93•9,,119417 and 1'!)!4& especially the position and role 195'2) makes Kiirschlbaum's study of Sttir in forming m<Ydern literacy pa.r ticularly valuable, as it shows Slovak, in unifying the Slovak nahow th e indi,v idual £ields of Slo- tion, and ,l eading the Slov,aks in vak phi,1,ology de,v eloped during their fight for national survival the past 20 years. The fact, that and independence. The author c. i the study is based on a thorough ;•this 1booklet did not enumerate all resea11ch into original S1'ovalk ,t he availaibLe bilbliography, but works giv,es to this first English brought out the lit,e ratur,e based treatise of S1-0'Vak philology an •o n oriiginal manuscripts, which unadded va,Iue. fortuiniaitely are still little known A. 'D. . among the Sla,vists on ,this con1 . , , • , tinent, and a score of works in J. M. ~•rschbam: L'.udovit S t ~r several foreign 1'anguages. and His Pl~c! In the Slavic · Four condensed chapters which '-'."oiild, Sla,vistma No. 32, _if>uib- 1make up this booklet cannot exL1s_he~ by the Slovak In st itute, I haust the per,sonaliity of Iludlorvit Wmn11peg...JC1'erveland, 1 9 5 8; Stur as a philosopher of Prun.SlavG-4 PP' ism, as a linguist and philologist, il.ittle has !been written in Eng- ' as an aesthete and poet, and as a lish rubout Stur's ideas of Pan- ' Slovak naition1a,l leader. lt is our Slavism and about his •i deas con- hope that J. M. Kirschlbaum will cerning the stmgg,l e for indei)end- 1,e ventua•Lly enlarge this valuable ence of ,t he Slo;vaik nation, and study into a 11esource!ful book fulonoe he -exhausted all peac,efuil ly and thoroughly evaluating the ,parlJ.amentary and .political means, ; ~igan,ti,c personality of Iludovit his role ,in the Iieibellion against Stur. Magyar oppression in 11848. The John Rekem, Slovak natio•n, dly.ing a slow death ' Winniipeg. under Miagyar oppression, was 1 greatly l!eartened and strength- 1 AT LAST ened by Stur's new unifying liverary language and culitu~al pro- 'A HISTORY OF SLOVAK.IA grams •took on a new life. This I in En lish fina,lly led to Slovak independence : g in 193e. I SUPPLY IS LIMITED Even eminent scholars o.f Slavisti:cs did not look into the per- I Get your copy NOW. sonality of Iludovit Stur. Lack of 1 ,access to, the oriiginal works of i Cloth cover, 382 pages Stur led some Slavists t o accept I th•e judgment of ma,ny politica,Uy i $6.00 pr,ejuditced Czech authors. Some went so far as to laibel Stur with J. Kollar and Saifarik as Czechs 1 although they were SlovaJks. Stur's : by Gilbert L. Oddo greaitest achievement wa:s the codification of the new Slo:vak Ii- ' terary language. JEDNOTA PRINTERY Credit is due to Kirschbaum's P. 0. Bo,x 150 present booklet inasmuch as it Middletown, Pa. helps to clarify not only the na1 1 ============== 1 1 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 Back Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 6 (31) Description An account of the resource includes book reviews, pp. 74-80 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1960