1 50 763 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/b3f4e5263ce41309f048807e8d9ccfee.pdf 284f076f8b0d44613883b79dce9beb5a PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA Published quarter ly by the S lovak League of Ame r ica VOL. V DECEMBER, 1955 NO. 4 ( 17) ??? "TRUTH DOLLARS" ??? Wa:nt to fight Communism? You don 't know how? Well, here's the answer, according to CRUSADE FOR FREEDOM: Fight it with "TRJUTH DOLJLARS" that's how! American "Truth Dollars," we are told, " send words of truth a nd hop e to the 70 million freedom loving people behind the Iron Curtain." But have you ever read or ·heard those "words of truth and hope" which bombard the Iron Curtain countries? Neither have most Americans! Take the case of ,Slovakia, which was wantonly destroyed by the victorious ,United Nations ,a fter the war in total d'isregard o.f the will of the Slovak nation, what have your "Truth Dollars" done for the unfortunate people of that country? The iORUSADE F10 R FREEDOM collects the "TRUTH DOLLA•RS" and hands them over to the FRIDE EUROPE COMMITTEE, which oper,a tes RA'DIO FRIDE IDUROBE. But the latter has not been •s ending words of truth and hope to the Slovak people. The "Czechoslovak" division or unit of RFE is completely under the influence of persons who collaborated with Moscow .and the Communists for many years. They are Benes Czechs - Czech Soci'alists and Red collabomtors former members of the ·Communist-dominated National Front ,g overnment of the Benes-Gottwald coalition (19451948). The Slovaks (/Lettrich "democrats") in their service are regarded ,as Judases by all patriotic Slovaks, because they are and have been opposed to freedom and poli- tical independence for their own nation. Both these groups have a ctively supported the anWS'.ovak, anti°Chri'Stian, and pro-Soviet policies of Dr. Edward Benes before, during and after the laist war. And we have not heard that they have publicly repudiated those policies. American "TRUTH DOLLARS" are used to pay t.he Benes Czechs and S lovak J udases in the service of RADIO F,RJEE EIUIROPE. And yet, the CRUSA DE F OR FIREEJDOM tells you that your TRUTH DOLLARS fight Communism "by exposing Red lies ... reveallng news suppressed by Moscow and by unmasking Communist collaborators." Patriotic Slovaks have · been ener,g etically trying to unmask the Co m munist collaborators in the_ "Czechoslovak" (really CZ ECH) unit of RFE ever sin<:e it was founded, ,but with little success. The SLOVAK NlEWSLETTER and the SLOVA~Ii.A have been sent regularly to V'arious leading lights of the Free Europe Committee ,a nd the Am,e rican Heritaige Foundation (which sponsors CRUS•A'DE F10R FREEDOM); both periodicals exposed the Benes Czechs and Lettrich "democrats," but the situation in RFE remains practicall y unchanged. Personal visits to the New York Office of RFE have not helped much either. It seem s that the Fnee Europe Committee people themseJ.ves are not interested in knowing the truth about what happened in Czecho Slovakia ,b efore, during and. after the war. In fact, they have 1 0 �2 SLOVAKIA made it quite obvious that they do not know the difference between a Czech and a Slovak and have adopted a "so what?" attitude in the matter. This attitude is not helping the cause of freedom or the cause of justice. Patriotic Slovaks in exile and in Slova,kia are confused by this behavior of the FEC and even now find it hard. to believe that it reflects the policy of our Government and the sentiments of the American public. I know definitely that it does not. And yet, RFE began operations with the blessing of our State Department! When the Slov·a ks fought the Communists and pro-Soviet policy, they were beaten down by the Be,. nes Czechs ('Ripka, Zenk!, Majer, Vanek, Tigrid,Schoenfeld, Firt, Stransky, Peroutka, etc.) and the Judas Slovaks (Dr. Joseph Lettrich, Mudry-::§ebik, Kvetko, Belus, Viboch, Belak-Berger, etc.). These Red collaborators did not know how to fight Communism at home, but we are supposed to !)elieve they can now show Americans and patriotic Slovaks and .Czechs how to fight it. Of course, for American "TRUTH DOLAIRS" ! The idea behind IRAIDIO FRE'E EUROPE is, we believe, a good idea, but the way it is being put a.cross by the "Czechoslovak" unit or division is defeating its purpose. The contents of the broadcasts ,are not the things the Slo• va,ks at ho.me want to hear. The peopl,e preparing them certainly must know that by now. But they ~e not in their jobs to tell that Slovaks are entitled to freedom ,a nd independence, or what Amerlcans of Slovak descent a.re doing or thinking ,about various matters. They were instructed by the .persons who got them the jobs, so they are not impartial. And those persons are the Benes Czechs. If we wene to judge the entire venture of •ThFE by the "Cz.echoslovak" unit, then we would have to say that it is strictly a socialistic enterpris·e. Since we are not sufficiently informed on the other sections of ThFE, we desist from saying so at this time. But we do insist that the ",Cz-echoslovak" unit is under the influence of .Czec•h socialists. "Every doU.ar 'buys 100 words of truth; that's how hard 'Truth Dollars' work. Your dollars will .hel,2 70 million people resist the Kremlin . . . . The broadcasts are by exiles in the native tongue of the people to whom they a,re beamed." All this, from a recent advertisement of the Crusa,de for Freedom, sounds n~ce, but Slovaks at home ,a nd in exile, as well as Ame1icans of •S lovak descent say bluntly: We don't believe it as long as the "Czechoslovak" unit exists, because it denies our existence, our right to 'freedom and independence, distorts facts of the past and favors enemies of the Slov,a k nation, the enemies of America, as well! The Benes Czechs and •t heir hirelings, the Lettrich "democrats," have deceived and embarrassed Americans entirely too tong. Their own people at home have discredited them, so why should we load them with American "TRUTH DOI,LARS"? The Czechs are not and do not want to be Slovaks, and the Slovaks are not and do not want to be Czechs. That's all there 'is to it. And not even "T1RUTH iDO'LLARS" can alter that fact. There ·are plenty of non-Benes Czechs and. non-Lettrich "democrat!!" all good characters, loved ,a nd esteemed by their people at ·home who can do the job the Free Europe Committee and its Radio Free Europe are supposed to do. Why not let them do it? � SLOVAKIA Published quarter ly by the S lovak League of Ame r ica VOL. V DECEMBER, 1955 NO. 4 ( 17) ??? "TRUTH DOLLARS" ??? Wa:nt to fight Communism? You don 't know how? Well, here's the answer, according to CRUSADE FOR FREEDOM: Fight it with "TRJUTH DOLJLARS" that's how! American "Truth Dollars," we are told, " send words of truth a nd hop e to the 70 million freedom loving people behind the Iron Curtain." But have you ever read or ·heard those "words of truth and hope" which bombard the Iron Curtain countries? Neither have most Americans! Take the case of ,Slovakia, which was wantonly destroyed by the victorious ,United Nations ,a fter the war in total d'isregard o.f the will of the Slovak nation, what have your "Truth Dollars" done for the unfortunate people of that country? The iORUSADE F10 R FREEDOM collects the "TRUTH DOLLA•RS" and hands them over to the FRIDE EUROPE COMMITTEE, which oper,a tes RA'DIO FRIDE IDUROBE. But the latter has not been •s ending words of truth and hope to the Slovak people. The "Czechoslovak" division or unit of RFE is completely under the influence of persons who collaborated with Moscow .and the Communists for many years. They are Benes Czechs - Czech Soci'alists and Red collabomtors former members of the ·Communist-dominated National Front ,g overnment of the Benes-Gottwald coalition (19451948). The Slovaks (/Lettrich "democrats") in their service are regarded ,as Judases by all patriotic Slovaks, because they are and have been opposed to freedom and poli- tical independence for their own nation. Both these groups have a ctively supported the anWS'.ovak, anti°Chri'Stian, and pro-Soviet policies of Dr. Edward Benes before, during and after the laist war. And we have not heard that they have publicly repudiated those policies. American "TRUTH DOLLARS" are used to pay t.he Benes Czechs and S lovak J udases in the service of RADIO F,RJEE EIUIROPE. And yet, the CRUSA DE F OR FIREEJDOM tells you that your TRUTH DOLLARS fight Communism "by exposing Red lies ... reveallng news suppressed by Moscow and by unmasking Communist collaborators." Patriotic Slovaks have · been ener,g etically trying to unmask the Co m munist collaborators in the_ "Czechoslovak" (really CZ ECH) unit of RFE ever sin<:e it was founded, ,but with little success. The SLOVAK NlEWSLETTER and the SLOVA~Ii.A have been sent regularly to V'arious leading lights of the Free Europe Committee ,a nd the Am,e rican Heritaige Foundation (which sponsors CRUS•A'DE F10R FREEDOM); both periodicals exposed the Benes Czechs and Lettrich "democrats," but the situation in RFE remains practicall y unchanged. Personal visits to the New York Office of RFE have not helped much either. It seem s that the Fnee Europe Committee people themseJ.ves are not interested in knowing the truth about what happened in Czecho Slovakia ,b efore, during and. after the war. In fact, they have 1 0 �2 SLOVAKIA made it quite obvious that they do not know the difference between a Czech and a Slovak and have adopted a "so what?" attitude in the matter. This attitude is not helping the cause of freedom or the cause of justice. Patriotic Slovaks in exile and in Slova,kia are confused by this behavior of the FEC and even now find it hard. to believe that it reflects the policy of our Government and the sentiments of the American public. I know definitely that it does not. And yet, RFE began operations with the blessing of our State Department! When the Slov·a ks fought the Communists and pro-Soviet policy, they were beaten down by the Be,. nes Czechs ('Ripka, Zenk!, Majer, Vanek, Tigrid,Schoenfeld, Firt, Stransky, Peroutka, etc.) and the Judas Slovaks (Dr. Joseph Lettrich, Mudry-::§ebik, Kvetko, Belus, Viboch, Belak-Berger, etc.). These Red collaborators did not know how to fight Communism at home, but we are supposed to !)elieve they can now show Americans and patriotic Slovaks and .Czechs how to fight it. Of course, for American "TRUTH DOLAIRS" ! The idea behind IRAIDIO FRE'E EUROPE is, we believe, a good idea, but the way it is being put a.cross by the "Czechoslovak" unit or division is defeating its purpose. The contents of the broadcasts ,are not the things the Slo• va,ks at ho.me want to hear. The peopl,e preparing them certainly must know that by now. But they ~e not in their jobs to tell that Slovaks are entitled to freedom ,a nd independence, or what Amerlcans of Slovak descent a.re doing or thinking ,about various matters. They were instructed by the .persons who got them the jobs, so they are not impartial. And those persons are the Benes Czechs. If we wene to judge the entire venture of •ThFE by the "Cz.echoslovak" unit, then we would have to say that it is strictly a socialistic enterpris·e. Since we are not sufficiently informed on the other sections of ThFE, we desist from saying so at this time. But we do insist that the ",Cz-echoslovak" unit is under the influence of .Czec•h socialists. "Every doU.ar 'buys 100 words of truth; that's how hard 'Truth Dollars' work. Your dollars will .hel,2 70 million people resist the Kremlin . . . . The broadcasts are by exiles in the native tongue of the people to whom they a,re beamed." All this, from a recent advertisement of the Crusa,de for Freedom, sounds n~ce, but Slovaks at home ,a nd in exile, as well as Ame1icans of •S lovak descent say bluntly: We don't believe it as long as the "Czechoslovak" unit exists, because it denies our existence, our right to 'freedom and independence, distorts facts of the past and favors enemies of the Slov,a k nation, the enemies of America, as well! The Benes Czechs and •t heir hirelings, the Lettrich "democrats," have deceived and embarrassed Americans entirely too tong. Their own people at home have discredited them, so why should we load them with American "TRUTH DOI,LARS"? The Czechs are not and do not want to be Slovaks, and the Slovaks are not and do not want to be Czechs. That's all there 'is to it. And not even "T1RUTH iDO'LLARS" can alter that fact. There ·are plenty of non-Benes Czechs and. non-Lettrich "democrat!!" all good characters, loved ,a nd esteemed by their people at ·home who can do the job the Free Europe Committee and its Radio Free Europe are supposed to do. Why not let them do it? � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1955, Vol. 5 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 14), March 1955.</li> <li>Issue 2-3 (No. 15-16), June-September 1955.</li> <li>Issue 4 (No. 17), December 1955.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1955 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA Published quarter ly by the S lovak League of Ame r ica VOL. V DECEMBER, 1955 NO. 4 ( 17) ??? "TRUTH DOLLARS" ??? Wa:nt to fight Communism? You don 't know how? Well, here's the answer, according to CRUSADE FOR FREEDOM: Fight it with "TRJUTH DOLJLARS" that's how! American "Truth Dollars," we are told, " send words of truth a nd hop e to the 70 million freedom loving people behind the Iron Curtain." But have you ever read or ·heard those "words of truth and hope" which bombard the Iron Curtain countries? Neither have most Americans! Take the case of ,Slovakia, which was wantonly destroyed by the victorious ,United Nations ,a fter the war in total d'isregard o.f the will of the Slovak nation, what have your "Truth Dollars" done for the unfortunate people of that country? The iORUSADE F10 R FREEDOM collects the "TRUTH DOLLA•RS" and hands them over to the FRIDE EUROPE COMMITTEE, which oper,a tes RA'DIO FRIDE IDUROBE. But the latter has not been •s ending words of truth and hope to the Slovak people. The "Czechoslovak" division or unit of RFE is completely under the influence of persons who collaborated with Moscow .and the Communists for many years. They are Benes Czechs - Czech Soci'alists and Red collabomtors former members of the ·Communist-dominated National Front ,g overnment of the Benes-Gottwald coalition (19451948). The Slovaks (/Lettrich "democrats") in their service are regarded ,as Judases by all patriotic Slovaks, because they are and have been opposed to freedom and poli- tical independence for their own nation. Both these groups have a ctively supported the anWS'.ovak, anti°Chri'Stian, and pro-Soviet policies of Dr. Edward Benes before, during and after the laist war. And we have not heard that they have publicly repudiated those policies. American "TRUTH DOLLARS" are used to pay t.he Benes Czechs and S lovak J udases in the service of RADIO F,RJEE EIUIROPE. And yet, the CRUSA DE F OR FIREEJDOM tells you that your TRUTH DOLLARS fight Communism "by exposing Red lies ... reveallng news suppressed by Moscow and by unmasking Communist collaborators." Patriotic Slovaks have · been ener,g etically trying to unmask the Co m munist collaborators in the_ "Czechoslovak" (really CZ ECH) unit of RFE ever sin<:e it was founded, ,but with little success. The SLOVAK NlEWSLETTER and the SLOVA~Ii.A have been sent regularly to V'arious leading lights of the Free Europe Committee ,a nd the Am,e rican Heritaige Foundation (which sponsors CRUS•A'DE F10R FREEDOM); both periodicals exposed the Benes Czechs and Lettrich "democrats," but the situation in RFE remains practicall y unchanged. Personal visits to the New York Office of RFE have not helped much either. It seem s that the Fnee Europe Committee people themseJ.ves are not interested in knowing the truth about what happened in Czecho Slovakia ,b efore, during and. after the war. In fact, they have 1 0 2 SLOVAKIA made it quite obvious that they do not know the difference between a Czech and a Slovak and have adopted a "so what?" attitude in the matter. This attitude is not helping the cause of freedom or the cause of justice. Patriotic Slovaks in exile and in Slova,kia are confused by this behavior of the FEC and even now find it hard. to believe that it reflects the policy of our Government and the sentiments of the American public. I know definitely that it does not. And yet, RFE began operations with the blessing of our State Department! When the Slov·a ks fought the Communists and pro-Soviet policy, they were beaten down by the Be,. nes Czechs ('Ripka, Zenk!, Majer, Vanek, Tigrid,Schoenfeld, Firt, Stransky, Peroutka, etc.) and the Judas Slovaks (Dr. Joseph Lettrich, Mudry-::§ebik, Kvetko, Belus, Viboch, Belak-Berger, etc.). These Red collaborators did not know how to fight Communism at home, but we are supposed to !)elieve they can now show Americans and patriotic Slovaks and .Czechs how to fight it. Of course, for American "TRUTH DOLAIRS" ! The idea behind IRAIDIO FRE'E EUROPE is, we believe, a good idea, but the way it is being put a.cross by the "Czechoslovak" unit or division is defeating its purpose. The contents of the broadcasts ,are not the things the Slo• va,ks at ho.me want to hear. The peopl,e preparing them certainly must know that by now. But they ~e not in their jobs to tell that Slovaks are entitled to freedom ,a nd independence, or what Amerlcans of Slovak descent a.re doing or thinking ,about various matters. They were instructed by the .persons who got them the jobs, so they are not impartial. And those persons are the Benes Czechs. If we wene to judge the entire venture of •ThFE by the "Cz.echoslovak" unit, then we would have to say that it is strictly a socialistic enterpris·e. Since we are not sufficiently informed on the other sections of ThFE, we desist from saying so at this time. But we do insist that the ",Cz-echoslovak" unit is under the influence of .Czec•h socialists. "Every doU.ar 'buys 100 words of truth; that's how hard 'Truth Dollars' work. Your dollars will .hel,2 70 million people resist the Kremlin . . . . The broadcasts are by exiles in the native tongue of the people to whom they a,re beamed." All this, from a recent advertisement of the Crusa,de for Freedom, sounds n~ce, but Slovaks at home ,a nd in exile, as well as Ame1icans of •S lovak descent say bluntly: We don't believe it as long as the "Czechoslovak" unit exists, because it denies our existence, our right to 'freedom and independence, distorts facts of the past and favors enemies of the Slov,a k nation, the enemies of America, as well! The Benes Czechs and •t heir hirelings, the Lettrich "democrats," have deceived and embarrassed Americans entirely too tong. Their own people at home have discredited them, so why should we load them with American "TRUTH DOI,LARS"? The Czechs are not and do not want to be Slovaks, and the Slovaks are not and do not want to be Czechs. That's all there 'is to it. And not even "T1RUTH iDO'LLARS" can alter that fact. There ·are plenty of non-Benes Czechs and. non-Lettrich "democrat!!" all good characters, loved ,a nd esteemed by their people at ·home who can do the job the Free Europe Committee and its Radio Free Europe are supposed to do. Why not let them do it?  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource ??? "Truth Dollars" ??? Description An account of the resource Slovakia, Vol. 5, No. 4 (17), December 1955 pp. 1-2 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource December 1955 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/f4534c5c55ca7eeded195ef90f4bd3eb.pdf d8cb7f8c71034ded72ea4f91239ea526 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 11 3 Review Article THEODORIC J . ZUBEK , O.F.M. AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM Eva Slavkovska. " Vzt'ah statu k cirkvam v prvych rokoch vystavby socializmu na Slovensku ," Historick y casopis, XXX, 2 (1982), 223-49. In her article Eva Slavkovska attempts to give a comple te account of the mo st important events in the worsening relations between the Czechoslovak government and the Catholic Church in Slovakia during the two critical years following the Communist coup d'etat of February 1948 . She b ases he r work most! y on the official records of the Slovak Commissariat for Schools, Sciences, and Arts prese rved in the Central State Archives of the Slovak Socialist Republic. Furthermore, she quotes from the works of seve ral Communist authors who wrote about the same subject matter , as well as articles from the so-called Catholic press, which soon after the coup was subjected to complete Communist control. As a result , her evaluation of the religious situation in Slovakia is one-sided and biased by he r Communist perception . Slavkovska begins h er article with a falsely precon ce ived idea tha t the deep reli giou s co nvictions of the Slovak people stemmed from econom ic, social, a nd cultural backwardness , supported in great part b y the Catholic hie rarchy a nd the tradition al political clericalism which until the Communist ta keover in 1948 affected Slova k Catholics. Although quite frequently Slavkovska looks back to the years before the Comm uni st coup d'e tat in February , 1948, she n eglects to m ention that immed iately after the war ( 1945) the Catholic Church suffered much more in Slovakia than it did in Bohemia and Moravia (Czech territories). Wh ereas in the Czech lands Catholi cs were represe nted b y th eir own politi cal party (Msgr. J a n Sramek's Czech P eople's P arty), Slovak Catholi cs were branded as "cle ri co -fascists" a nd h ad no political representation. The decrees of the Slovak National Council, which was dominated by Communists, h ad the aut hority of law in th e territory �114 SLOVAKIA of Slovakia . By these decrees all Catholic schools, publications , and societies were suppressed immediately after the war, while during the same period their counterparts in Bohemia and Moravia remained untouched. Only the elections of May 25, 1946 (the last free elections) brought some relief to Slovak Catholics. In April, 1946, the representatives of Slovak Catholics who had showed some opposition to Dr. Jozef Tiso's regime and were acceptable in the new political situation made an agreement with the representatives of the Slovak Democratic Party, previously completely dominated by Lutherans. With the help of Slovak Catholics, the Democratic Party won in Slovakia 62 % of the votes, while the Communist Party of Slovakia received less than half of that amount (30 % ). As a result of these elections, Slovak Catholics gained some political influence . Several of their periodical publications and some of the strictly religious societies were restored . But no Catholic schools, except the nine theologates, were allowed. It was only after the Communist takeover that the restrictions against the Catholic Church were conducted on a national basis and applied in the same way to Catholics in the whole country. Not surprisingly, Slavkovska omits these important facts and distinctions. She then proceeds by chronologically describing protracted and frustrating negotiations between the government and Church representatives. The bishops asked for a guarantee of freedom in the admin istration of the dioceses and parishes, for the preservation of the remaining Catholic schools in Bohemia and Moravia and for their restoration in Slovakia , for the existence of a free Catholic press and religious societies - rights that graduall y had been restricted after the Communist coup d'etat. The government pressed the bishops for a public proclamation of their loyalty to the new regime , for a renewal of their loyalty oath to the Communist government, and for influencing pries ts and Catholic people in promoting a pro-governm ent spirit. At thi s stage the Catholic bishops of the Czech territories a nd Slovakia acted together for the defense of the basic rights of the Catholic Church. The State-Church negotiations ended in failure in March , 1949 . Slavkovska blames the bishops for this failure, accusing them of a n un yieldin g a nd insin cere stand toward the Communist regime. Actually, the Communist regime was interes ted only in subjugating the Church and not in a ny workable agreement. While the nego ti a tions were still �SLOVAKIA 11 5 going on, the Central Action Committee of the National Front in Prague and its branches throughout the whole country , together with other government agencies, systematically en croach ed ever m o re d eeply on the rights of the Church . In 1949 , under various pretex ts , the regime suppressed several monasteries and convents, confiscated man y church buildings , and imprisoned a number of Catholic priests, both diocesan and religious , and Catholic laymen . Secret agents spied on all Catholic priests and members of religious orders and congregations . On the basis of h er research , Slavkovska - perhaps unwittingly - gives an interesting report on this matter. She states that this surveillance of the priests by the state agencies resulted in putting the priests into four categories: reliable to the regime (13.21 % ); those with a positive stand toward the regime , but not unequivocally (15.65 % ); apolitical (28 .65%); and unreliable (42.41 %). According to Slavkovska, the Communist agents worked with the reliable priests and tried to influence those in the second a nd third categories . The main part of the article is devoted to the so-called P eople's Catholic Action . Since the pontificate of Pius XI Catholic Action was an important m eans used by the Church to activate the faithful toward a deeper Christian life and to help priests bring Christian principles into family life and the whole of society . There was a well-organized Catholic Action in the Slovak dioceses and parishes under the supervision of the bishops and priests . In their effort to destroy the Church organization in Czechoslovakia, the Communist agencies attempted to alienate the priests from their bishops and the lay people from the uncompromising pries ts . Since Catholic Action was basically a laymen' s organization, the Communists con voked on June 10 , 1949 a meeting of n ominally Catholic lay people and several " reliable" priests in Pragu e. They establish ed their own '' P eople's Catholic A ct ion.' ' I ts purported aim was to promote moral life in the family , support constru ct ive efforts of the Czechoslovak governm ent , prevent the persecuti on of priests loyal to the re gim e by their bishops , a nd elimin ate all foreign interfe ren ce in the Church m a tters of Czechoslovakia. In this vein they issu ed a M a nifesto which was publi shed in all n ewspap ers and b roadcast on the state radio . An inten sive campa ign for the signin g of the M a nifesto was cond u cted throughout the whole country. The bishops of Czechoslovakia were still able secretl y �116 SLOVAKIA to meet and to issue a pastoral letter warning the people of the schismatic character of this spurious organization . On June 20, 1949, the Holy Office in Rome published a declaration by which all organizers and active members of the schismatic "Catholic Action" were automatically penalized with the highest ecclesiastical censure ( excommunication reserved in a special way to the Holy See). Despite the frantic efforts of the Communist regime to win supporters for this anti-Church campaign, the "Catholic Action" movement soon became a complete fiasco . It caused a great turmoil throughout the whole country and in Slovakia strikes in several factories and confrontations with the state police . The Communist government had to retreat. It even called on the maligned bishops to send a letter to the faithful to calm them down and exhort them to return to their work. Slavkovska describes in detail the organizational structure of the "Catholic Action" and various meetings of its organizers, but fails to mention that almost from the beginning it was only a paper organization doomed to an early demise. Still, the Communist government was not ready and willing to stop its efforts to subjugate the Church. With the failure of its ''Catholic Action" it took a new approach in this direction. It decided to legalize its attempts to enslave the Church . In a Communist country the parliament is a rubber-stamp assembly which can be counted on to pass all legislation unanimously put before it by the Communist Party. On October 14, 1949 , the Czechoslovak parliament enacted two laws which put the Church under the complete control of the state: Law No . 217/1949, which set up a State Agency for Ecclesiastical Affairs, and Law No. 218/1949 on the economic safeguarding of churches and religious bodies by the state. The State Agency for Ecclesiastical Affairs (and in Slovakia the Slovak Agency for Ecclesiastical Affairs) took control over all religious activities in the country. The second law gave the government all buildings of the churches and religious denominations and the exclusive right to grant ( or take away) licenses to clergymen for performing their ministry after they had taken an oath of loyalty to the government, and to pay them salaries according to their rank, seniority, and efficiency. The bishops first vehemently protested against this legalized enslavement of the Church. In the chaotic situation resulting from this new situation , they finally permitted their priests to take the prescribed oath with the mental reservation that they did not intend thereby to act against �SLOVAKIA 117 the laws of God, the Church, and the legitimate ecclesiastical authorities. In that sense, several bishops in March and April of 1950 also took the oath of loyalty. In that year ( 1950) of crude pressure on and persecution of the Church, the Communists rapidly proceeded in their efforts completely to subjugate the Church . They imprisoned or interned on trumped-up charges, or without any charges, several bishops Uosef Beran, Stepan Trochta, Jan Vojtassak, Stanislav Zela, Stefan Barnas, Michal Buzalka, Pavel Gojdic, and Basil Hopko). In public trials in the national courts they condemned to long prison terms Bishops V ojtassak, Gojdic, Buzalka, and Zela. Several representatives of larger religious orders and prominent prelates of Czechoslovakia were also publicly tried and condemned during this reign of terror. Still others were imprisoned and tried secretly. In the same year all monasteries, convents, and houses of religious orders and congregations were suppressed, and their members were confined to concentration houses . The Greek Catholic diocese of Presov was fraudulently and forcibly taken over by Orthodox bishops .The legitimate bishops of the diocese, Pavel Gojdic and Basil Hopko, were imprisoned, and Greek Catholic priests, loyal to Rome, were dispersed throughout the country as manual workers. Meanwhile, the Communists intensively worked on priests who showed an inclination to collaborate with the regime. First they established the organization of so-called patriotic priests , which later changed its name to ''Peace Movement of the Catholic Priests .'' In the dioceses whose bishops were imprisoned they forced the elections of vicars capitular as heads of the dioceses. The remaining bishops were confined to their residences and were under the surveillance of government agents who controlled all the activities of ligitimate ordinaries. Priestcollaborators intruded into the administration of the dioceses as vicars general, chancellors, and similar high officials. Slavkovska hardly mentions these rude encroachments on the administration and the life of the Catholic Church in Slovakia. But she does try to justify all these cruel interferences of the Communist regime in the very structure of the Catholic Church and in the field of human rights of the Catholic clergy and people. In her evaluation, there was no persecution of the Church, only legitimate steps for eliminating political clericalism in Slovakia. She praises the anti-Church laws of 1949 because they granted adequate financial remuneration to the priests for �118 SLOVAKIA their work as state employees . Furthermore, she wantonly states that all these provisions were welcomed by the "lower clergy" and the Catholic people. Slavkovska does not realize, or does not want to admit, that the governmental mingling with the innermost Church affairs and the erection of the pro-Communist priestly organizations, established under government pressure and protected by it, brought about the grossest form of caesaropapism, incomparably more destructive to the Church than the purported political clericalism during the previous regimes. In her article Slavkovska does not go as far as to the late sixties, to the Dubcek era. As soon as the cruel pressure on the Church was lifted in 1968, the Catholics, led by their remaining bishops and priests loyal to the Church, publicly denounced the persecution of the past decades and demanded abolition of all the previous abuses against the Church. They were supported even by many high ranking Communists of that era (Ladislav Holdos, Daniel Okali, Erika Kadlecova, and others). They achieved the restoration of the Greek Catholic diocese of Presov, the only seemingly permanent correction of the anti-Church abuses of the early fifties. Unfortunately , the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August, 1968 , and Husak 's process of so-called normalization destroyed all other rights which the Church had regained during the short-lived period of the "Prague-Spring." � SLOVAKIA 11 3 Review Article THEODORIC J . ZUBEK , O.F.M. AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM Eva Slavkovska. " Vzt'ah statu k cirkvam v prvych rokoch vystavby socializmu na Slovensku ," Historick y casopis, XXX, 2 (1982), 223-49. In her article Eva Slavkovska attempts to give a comple te account of the mo st important events in the worsening relations between the Czechoslovak government and the Catholic Church in Slovakia during the two critical years following the Communist coup d'etat of February 1948 . She b ases he r work most! y on the official records of the Slovak Commissariat for Schools, Sciences, and Arts prese rved in the Central State Archives of the Slovak Socialist Republic. Furthermore, she quotes from the works of seve ral Communist authors who wrote about the same subject matter , as well as articles from the so-called Catholic press, which soon after the coup was subjected to complete Communist control. As a result , her evaluation of the religious situation in Slovakia is one-sided and biased by he r Communist perception . Slavkovska begins h er article with a falsely precon ce ived idea tha t the deep reli giou s co nvictions of the Slovak people stemmed from econom ic, social, a nd cultural backwardness , supported in great part b y the Catholic hie rarchy a nd the tradition al political clericalism which until the Communist ta keover in 1948 affected Slova k Catholics. Although quite frequently Slavkovska looks back to the years before the Comm uni st coup d'e tat in February , 1948, she n eglects to m ention that immed iately after the war ( 1945) the Catholic Church suffered much more in Slovakia than it did in Bohemia and Moravia (Czech territories). Wh ereas in the Czech lands Catholi cs were represe nted b y th eir own politi cal party (Msgr. J a n Sramek's Czech P eople's P arty), Slovak Catholi cs were branded as "cle ri co -fascists" a nd h ad no political representation. The decrees of the Slovak National Council, which was dominated by Communists, h ad the aut hority of law in th e territory �114 SLOVAKIA of Slovakia . By these decrees all Catholic schools, publications , and societies were suppressed immediately after the war, while during the same period their counterparts in Bohemia and Moravia remained untouched. Only the elections of May 25, 1946 (the last free elections) brought some relief to Slovak Catholics. In April, 1946, the representatives of Slovak Catholics who had showed some opposition to Dr. Jozef Tiso's regime and were acceptable in the new political situation made an agreement with the representatives of the Slovak Democratic Party, previously completely dominated by Lutherans. With the help of Slovak Catholics, the Democratic Party won in Slovakia 62 % of the votes, while the Communist Party of Slovakia received less than half of that amount (30 % ). As a result of these elections, Slovak Catholics gained some political influence . Several of their periodical publications and some of the strictly religious societies were restored . But no Catholic schools, except the nine theologates, were allowed. It was only after the Communist takeover that the restrictions against the Catholic Church were conducted on a national basis and applied in the same way to Catholics in the whole country. Not surprisingly, Slavkovska omits these important facts and distinctions. She then proceeds by chronologically describing protracted and frustrating negotiations between the government and Church representatives. The bishops asked for a guarantee of freedom in the admin istration of the dioceses and parishes, for the preservation of the remaining Catholic schools in Bohemia and Moravia and for their restoration in Slovakia , for the existence of a free Catholic press and religious societies - rights that graduall y had been restricted after the Communist coup d'etat. The government pressed the bishops for a public proclamation of their loyalty to the new regime , for a renewal of their loyalty oath to the Communist government, and for influencing pries ts and Catholic people in promoting a pro-governm ent spirit. At thi s stage the Catholic bishops of the Czech territories a nd Slovakia acted together for the defense of the basic rights of the Catholic Church. The State-Church negotiations ended in failure in March , 1949 . Slavkovska blames the bishops for this failure, accusing them of a n un yieldin g a nd insin cere stand toward the Communist regime. Actually, the Communist regime was interes ted only in subjugating the Church and not in a ny workable agreement. While the nego ti a tions were still �SLOVAKIA 11 5 going on, the Central Action Committee of the National Front in Prague and its branches throughout the whole country , together with other government agencies, systematically en croach ed ever m o re d eeply on the rights of the Church . In 1949 , under various pretex ts , the regime suppressed several monasteries and convents, confiscated man y church buildings , and imprisoned a number of Catholic priests, both diocesan and religious , and Catholic laymen . Secret agents spied on all Catholic priests and members of religious orders and congregations . On the basis of h er research , Slavkovska - perhaps unwittingly - gives an interesting report on this matter. She states that this surveillance of the priests by the state agencies resulted in putting the priests into four categories: reliable to the regime (13.21 % ); those with a positive stand toward the regime , but not unequivocally (15.65 % ); apolitical (28 .65%); and unreliable (42.41 %). According to Slavkovska, the Communist agents worked with the reliable priests and tried to influence those in the second a nd third categories . The main part of the article is devoted to the so-called P eople's Catholic Action . Since the pontificate of Pius XI Catholic Action was an important m eans used by the Church to activate the faithful toward a deeper Christian life and to help priests bring Christian principles into family life and the whole of society . There was a well-organized Catholic Action in the Slovak dioceses and parishes under the supervision of the bishops and priests . In their effort to destroy the Church organization in Czechoslovakia, the Communist agencies attempted to alienate the priests from their bishops and the lay people from the uncompromising pries ts . Since Catholic Action was basically a laymen' s organization, the Communists con voked on June 10 , 1949 a meeting of n ominally Catholic lay people and several " reliable" priests in Pragu e. They establish ed their own '' P eople's Catholic A ct ion.' ' I ts purported aim was to promote moral life in the family , support constru ct ive efforts of the Czechoslovak governm ent , prevent the persecuti on of priests loyal to the re gim e by their bishops , a nd elimin ate all foreign interfe ren ce in the Church m a tters of Czechoslovakia. In this vein they issu ed a M a nifesto which was publi shed in all n ewspap ers and b roadcast on the state radio . An inten sive campa ign for the signin g of the M a nifesto was cond u cted throughout the whole country. The bishops of Czechoslovakia were still able secretl y �116 SLOVAKIA to meet and to issue a pastoral letter warning the people of the schismatic character of this spurious organization . On June 20, 1949, the Holy Office in Rome published a declaration by which all organizers and active members of the schismatic "Catholic Action" were automatically penalized with the highest ecclesiastical censure ( excommunication reserved in a special way to the Holy See). Despite the frantic efforts of the Communist regime to win supporters for this anti-Church campaign, the "Catholic Action" movement soon became a complete fiasco . It caused a great turmoil throughout the whole country and in Slovakia strikes in several factories and confrontations with the state police . The Communist government had to retreat. It even called on the maligned bishops to send a letter to the faithful to calm them down and exhort them to return to their work. Slavkovska describes in detail the organizational structure of the "Catholic Action" and various meetings of its organizers, but fails to mention that almost from the beginning it was only a paper organization doomed to an early demise. Still, the Communist government was not ready and willing to stop its efforts to subjugate the Church. With the failure of its ''Catholic Action" it took a new approach in this direction. It decided to legalize its attempts to enslave the Church . In a Communist country the parliament is a rubber-stamp assembly which can be counted on to pass all legislation unanimously put before it by the Communist Party. On October 14, 1949 , the Czechoslovak parliament enacted two laws which put the Church under the complete control of the state: Law No . 217/1949, which set up a State Agency for Ecclesiastical Affairs, and Law No. 218/1949 on the economic safeguarding of churches and religious bodies by the state. The State Agency for Ecclesiastical Affairs (and in Slovakia the Slovak Agency for Ecclesiastical Affairs) took control over all religious activities in the country. The second law gave the government all buildings of the churches and religious denominations and the exclusive right to grant ( or take away) licenses to clergymen for performing their ministry after they had taken an oath of loyalty to the government, and to pay them salaries according to their rank, seniority, and efficiency. The bishops first vehemently protested against this legalized enslavement of the Church. In the chaotic situation resulting from this new situation , they finally permitted their priests to take the prescribed oath with the mental reservation that they did not intend thereby to act against �SLOVAKIA 117 the laws of God, the Church, and the legitimate ecclesiastical authorities. In that sense, several bishops in March and April of 1950 also took the oath of loyalty. In that year ( 1950) of crude pressure on and persecution of the Church, the Communists rapidly proceeded in their efforts completely to subjugate the Church . They imprisoned or interned on trumped-up charges, or without any charges, several bishops Uosef Beran, Stepan Trochta, Jan Vojtassak, Stanislav Zela, Stefan Barnas, Michal Buzalka, Pavel Gojdic, and Basil Hopko). In public trials in the national courts they condemned to long prison terms Bishops V ojtassak, Gojdic, Buzalka, and Zela. Several representatives of larger religious orders and prominent prelates of Czechoslovakia were also publicly tried and condemned during this reign of terror. Still others were imprisoned and tried secretly. In the same year all monasteries, convents, and houses of religious orders and congregations were suppressed, and their members were confined to concentration houses . The Greek Catholic diocese of Presov was fraudulently and forcibly taken over by Orthodox bishops .The legitimate bishops of the diocese, Pavel Gojdic and Basil Hopko, were imprisoned, and Greek Catholic priests, loyal to Rome, were dispersed throughout the country as manual workers. Meanwhile, the Communists intensively worked on priests who showed an inclination to collaborate with the regime. First they established the organization of so-called patriotic priests , which later changed its name to ''Peace Movement of the Catholic Priests .'' In the dioceses whose bishops were imprisoned they forced the elections of vicars capitular as heads of the dioceses. The remaining bishops were confined to their residences and were under the surveillance of government agents who controlled all the activities of ligitimate ordinaries. Priestcollaborators intruded into the administration of the dioceses as vicars general, chancellors, and similar high officials. Slavkovska hardly mentions these rude encroachments on the administration and the life of the Catholic Church in Slovakia. But she does try to justify all these cruel interferences of the Communist regime in the very structure of the Catholic Church and in the field of human rights of the Catholic clergy and people. In her evaluation, there was no persecution of the Church, only legitimate steps for eliminating political clericalism in Slovakia. She praises the anti-Church laws of 1949 because they granted adequate financial remuneration to the priests for �118 SLOVAKIA their work as state employees . Furthermore, she wantonly states that all these provisions were welcomed by the "lower clergy" and the Catholic people. Slavkovska does not realize, or does not want to admit, that the governmental mingling with the innermost Church affairs and the erection of the pro-Communist priestly organizations, established under government pressure and protected by it, brought about the grossest form of caesaropapism, incomparably more destructive to the Church than the purported political clericalism during the previous regimes. In her article Slavkovska does not go as far as to the late sixties, to the Dubcek era. As soon as the cruel pressure on the Church was lifted in 1968, the Catholics, led by their remaining bishops and priests loyal to the Church, publicly denounced the persecution of the past decades and demanded abolition of all the previous abuses against the Church. They were supported even by many high ranking Communists of that era (Ladislav Holdos, Daniel Okali, Erika Kadlecova, and others). They achieved the restoration of the Greek Catholic diocese of Presov, the only seemingly permanent correction of the anti-Church abuses of the early fifties. Unfortunately , the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August, 1968 , and Husak 's process of so-called normalization destroyed all other rights which the Church had regained during the short-lived period of the "Prague-Spring." � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1984, Vol. 31 Description An account of the resource Vol. 31 (No. 57), 1984. 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 1984 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 11 3 Review Article THEODORIC J . ZUBEK , O.F.M. AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM Eva Slavkovska. " Vzt'ah statu k cirkvam v prvych rokoch vystavby socializmu na Slovensku ," Historick y casopis, XXX, 2 (1982), 223-49. In her article Eva Slavkovska attempts to give a comple te account of the mo st important events in the worsening relations between the Czechoslovak government and the Catholic Church in Slovakia during the two critical years following the Communist coup d'etat of February 1948 . She b ases he r work most! y on the official records of the Slovak Commissariat for Schools, Sciences, and Arts prese rved in the Central State Archives of the Slovak Socialist Republic. Furthermore, she quotes from the works of seve ral Communist authors who wrote about the same subject matter , as well as articles from the so-called Catholic press, which soon after the coup was subjected to complete Communist control. As a result , her evaluation of the religious situation in Slovakia is one-sided and biased by he r Communist perception . Slavkovska begins h er article with a falsely precon ce ived idea tha t the deep reli giou s co nvictions of the Slovak people stemmed from econom ic, social, a nd cultural backwardness , supported in great part b y the Catholic hie rarchy a nd the tradition al political clericalism which until the Communist ta keover in 1948 affected Slova k Catholics. Although quite frequently Slavkovska looks back to the years before the Comm uni st coup d'e tat in February , 1948, she n eglects to m ention that immed iately after the war ( 1945) the Catholic Church suffered much more in Slovakia than it did in Bohemia and Moravia (Czech territories). Wh ereas in the Czech lands Catholi cs were represe nted b y th eir own politi cal party (Msgr. J a n Sramek's Czech P eople's P arty), Slovak Catholi cs were branded as "cle ri co -fascists" a nd h ad no political representation. The decrees of the Slovak National Council, which was dominated by Communists, h ad the aut hority of law in th e territory 114 SLOVAKIA of Slovakia . By these decrees all Catholic schools, publications , and societies were suppressed immediately after the war, while during the same period their counterparts in Bohemia and Moravia remained untouched. Only the elections of May 25, 1946 (the last free elections) brought some relief to Slovak Catholics. In April, 1946, the representatives of Slovak Catholics who had showed some opposition to Dr. Jozef Tiso's regime and were acceptable in the new political situation made an agreement with the representatives of the Slovak Democratic Party, previously completely dominated by Lutherans. With the help of Slovak Catholics, the Democratic Party won in Slovakia 62 % of the votes, while the Communist Party of Slovakia received less than half of that amount (30 % ). As a result of these elections, Slovak Catholics gained some political influence . Several of their periodical publications and some of the strictly religious societies were restored . But no Catholic schools, except the nine theologates, were allowed. It was only after the Communist takeover that the restrictions against the Catholic Church were conducted on a national basis and applied in the same way to Catholics in the whole country. Not surprisingly, Slavkovska omits these important facts and distinctions. She then proceeds by chronologically describing protracted and frustrating negotiations between the government and Church representatives. The bishops asked for a guarantee of freedom in the admin istration of the dioceses and parishes, for the preservation of the remaining Catholic schools in Bohemia and Moravia and for their restoration in Slovakia , for the existence of a free Catholic press and religious societies - rights that graduall y had been restricted after the Communist coup d'etat. The government pressed the bishops for a public proclamation of their loyalty to the new regime , for a renewal of their loyalty oath to the Communist government, and for influencing pries ts and Catholic people in promoting a pro-governm ent spirit. At thi s stage the Catholic bishops of the Czech territories a nd Slovakia acted together for the defense of the basic rights of the Catholic Church. The State-Church negotiations ended in failure in March , 1949 . Slavkovska blames the bishops for this failure, accusing them of a n un yieldin g a nd insin cere stand toward the Communist regime. Actually, the Communist regime was interes ted only in subjugating the Church and not in a ny workable agreement. While the nego ti a tions were still SLOVAKIA 11 5 going on, the Central Action Committee of the National Front in Prague and its branches throughout the whole country , together with other government agencies, systematically en croach ed ever m o re d eeply on the rights of the Church . In 1949 , under various pretex ts , the regime suppressed several monasteries and convents, confiscated man y church buildings , and imprisoned a number of Catholic priests, both diocesan and religious , and Catholic laymen . Secret agents spied on all Catholic priests and members of religious orders and congregations . On the basis of h er research , Slavkovska - perhaps unwittingly - gives an interesting report on this matter. She states that this surveillance of the priests by the state agencies resulted in putting the priests into four categories: reliable to the regime (13.21 % ); those with a positive stand toward the regime , but not unequivocally (15.65 % ); apolitical (28 .65%); and unreliable (42.41 %). According to Slavkovska, the Communist agents worked with the reliable priests and tried to influence those in the second a nd third categories . The main part of the article is devoted to the so-called P eople's Catholic Action . Since the pontificate of Pius XI Catholic Action was an important m eans used by the Church to activate the faithful toward a deeper Christian life and to help priests bring Christian principles into family life and the whole of society . There was a well-organized Catholic Action in the Slovak dioceses and parishes under the supervision of the bishops and priests . In their effort to destroy the Church organization in Czechoslovakia, the Communist agencies attempted to alienate the priests from their bishops and the lay people from the uncompromising pries ts . Since Catholic Action was basically a laymen' s organization, the Communists con voked on June 10 , 1949 a meeting of n ominally Catholic lay people and several " reliable" priests in Pragu e. They establish ed their own '' P eople's Catholic A ct ion.' ' I ts purported aim was to promote moral life in the family , support constru ct ive efforts of the Czechoslovak governm ent , prevent the persecuti on of priests loyal to the re gim e by their bishops , a nd elimin ate all foreign interfe ren ce in the Church m a tters of Czechoslovakia. In this vein they issu ed a M a nifesto which was publi shed in all n ewspap ers and b roadcast on the state radio . An inten sive campa ign for the signin g of the M a nifesto was cond u cted throughout the whole country. The bishops of Czechoslovakia were still able secretl y 116 SLOVAKIA to meet and to issue a pastoral letter warning the people of the schismatic character of this spurious organization . On June 20, 1949, the Holy Office in Rome published a declaration by which all organizers and active members of the schismatic "Catholic Action" were automatically penalized with the highest ecclesiastical censure ( excommunication reserved in a special way to the Holy See). Despite the frantic efforts of the Communist regime to win supporters for this anti-Church campaign, the "Catholic Action" movement soon became a complete fiasco . It caused a great turmoil throughout the whole country and in Slovakia strikes in several factories and confrontations with the state police . The Communist government had to retreat. It even called on the maligned bishops to send a letter to the faithful to calm them down and exhort them to return to their work. Slavkovska describes in detail the organizational structure of the "Catholic Action" and various meetings of its organizers, but fails to mention that almost from the beginning it was only a paper organization doomed to an early demise. Still, the Communist government was not ready and willing to stop its efforts to subjugate the Church. With the failure of its ''Catholic Action" it took a new approach in this direction. It decided to legalize its attempts to enslave the Church . In a Communist country the parliament is a rubber-stamp assembly which can be counted on to pass all legislation unanimously put before it by the Communist Party. On October 14, 1949 , the Czechoslovak parliament enacted two laws which put the Church under the complete control of the state: Law No . 217/1949, which set up a State Agency for Ecclesiastical Affairs, and Law No. 218/1949 on the economic safeguarding of churches and religious bodies by the state. The State Agency for Ecclesiastical Affairs (and in Slovakia the Slovak Agency for Ecclesiastical Affairs) took control over all religious activities in the country. The second law gave the government all buildings of the churches and religious denominations and the exclusive right to grant ( or take away) licenses to clergymen for performing their ministry after they had taken an oath of loyalty to the government, and to pay them salaries according to their rank, seniority, and efficiency. The bishops first vehemently protested against this legalized enslavement of the Church. In the chaotic situation resulting from this new situation , they finally permitted their priests to take the prescribed oath with the mental reservation that they did not intend thereby to act against SLOVAKIA 117 the laws of God, the Church, and the legitimate ecclesiastical authorities. In that sense, several bishops in March and April of 1950 also took the oath of loyalty. In that year ( 1950) of crude pressure on and persecution of the Church, the Communists rapidly proceeded in their efforts completely to subjugate the Church . They imprisoned or interned on trumped-up charges, or without any charges, several bishops Uosef Beran, Stepan Trochta, Jan Vojtassak, Stanislav Zela, Stefan Barnas, Michal Buzalka, Pavel Gojdic, and Basil Hopko). In public trials in the national courts they condemned to long prison terms Bishops V ojtassak, Gojdic, Buzalka, and Zela. Several representatives of larger religious orders and prominent prelates of Czechoslovakia were also publicly tried and condemned during this reign of terror. Still others were imprisoned and tried secretly. In the same year all monasteries, convents, and houses of religious orders and congregations were suppressed, and their members were confined to concentration houses . The Greek Catholic diocese of Presov was fraudulently and forcibly taken over by Orthodox bishops .The legitimate bishops of the diocese, Pavel Gojdic and Basil Hopko, were imprisoned, and Greek Catholic priests, loyal to Rome, were dispersed throughout the country as manual workers. Meanwhile, the Communists intensively worked on priests who showed an inclination to collaborate with the regime. First they established the organization of so-called patriotic priests , which later changed its name to ''Peace Movement of the Catholic Priests .'' In the dioceses whose bishops were imprisoned they forced the elections of vicars capitular as heads of the dioceses. The remaining bishops were confined to their residences and were under the surveillance of government agents who controlled all the activities of ligitimate ordinaries. Priestcollaborators intruded into the administration of the dioceses as vicars general, chancellors, and similar high officials. Slavkovska hardly mentions these rude encroachments on the administration and the life of the Catholic Church in Slovakia. But she does try to justify all these cruel interferences of the Communist regime in the very structure of the Catholic Church and in the field of human rights of the Catholic clergy and people. In her evaluation, there was no persecution of the Church, only legitimate steps for eliminating political clericalism in Slovakia. She praises the anti-Church laws of 1949 because they granted adequate financial remuneration to the priests for 118 SLOVAKIA their work as state employees . Furthermore, she wantonly states that all these provisions were welcomed by the "lower clergy" and the Catholic people. Slavkovska does not realize, or does not want to admit, that the governmental mingling with the innermost Church affairs and the erection of the pro-Communist priestly organizations, established under government pressure and protected by it, brought about the grossest form of caesaropapism, incomparably more destructive to the Church than the purported political clericalism during the previous regimes. In her article Slavkovska does not go as far as to the late sixties, to the Dubcek era. As soon as the cruel pressure on the Church was lifted in 1968, the Catholics, led by their remaining bishops and priests loyal to the Church, publicly denounced the persecution of the past decades and demanded abolition of all the previous abuses against the Church. They were supported even by many high ranking Communists of that era (Ladislav Holdos, Daniel Okali, Erika Kadlecova, and others). They achieved the restoration of the Greek Catholic diocese of Presov, the only seemingly permanent correction of the anti-Church abuses of the early fifties. Unfortunately , the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August, 1968 , and Husak 's process of so-called normalization destroyed all other rights which the Church had regained during the short-lived period of the "Prague-Spring."  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 'Audi Alteram Partem': Eva Slavkovská, "Vzťah štátu k cirkvám v prvých rokoch výstavby socializmu na Slovensku" Description An account of the resource Theodoric J. Zubek Slovakia, Vol. 31 (No. 57), 1984 pp. 113-118 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Zúbek, Teodorik J., 1914-1988 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Historickvý časopis, XXX, 2 (1982), 223-49 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/5820cfa6b5d526b8e40d1774450f18f1.pdf 95fb31338013ee80a4c4852b0b160e6d PDF Text Text 28 SLOVAKJA 'Slovak som a Slovak budem ... 'l Explaining Nationalism in Post-Communist Slovakia Paal Sigurd Hilde The question of the position of Slovakia within the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (CSFR), the official name as of April 1990, was among the most divisive issues in Slovak and Czech politics in the post-communist era. As is well known, the conflict over the future basis and structure of the federation eventually led to the division of the state on 1 January 1993. Despite the impression given by many press reports at the time, the break-up was not the result of Slovak secession. With the exception of the Slovak National Party (SNS), representing about 10 per cent of the votes in Slovakia, all Slovak political parties successful in the decisive June 1992 elections were in favor of some kind of common state with the Czechs. This included the winner, Vladimir Meciar's Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS). There were, however, near irreconcilable policy differences between the left-populist HZDS and the right wing coalition victorious in the Czech Republic. Given the minority veto in the Federal assembly, whereby a minority of representatives from either Republic could block important legislation in the House of Nations, only a carefully crafted compromise could save the Federation from political deadlock. Rather than seeking a compromise, however, the Czech 1 The title is taken from Miroslav Kusfs 1981 samizdat essay. Reprinted in Miroslav Kusy: Eseje (Bratislava: Archa, 1991 ), pp. 88 -96 . �SLOVAKlA 29 right wing coalition led by Vaclav Klaus of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) pushed for the division of the state if a 'functional federation' was not possible. Unwilling and politically unable to accept Klaus 's vision of a strong federal government, Meciar reluctantly followed the Czech Prime Minister's lead towards a break-up. 2 The political phenomenon generally referred to as Slovak nationalisn was thus not the decisive force behind the break-up of the CSFR. 3 It was, however, Slovak nationalism that after the collapse of communism started the process that eventuallly led to the rejection of the common state by right-wing Czech parties. As all nationalisms, Slovak post-communist nationalism was a complex phenomenon. It came in moderate and more radical forms, focus sing on several political issues. In its most basic expression, it held that Slovakia and the Slovaks deserved a more equal and visible position within a state seen as unfairly dominated by the Czech part. 4 Basically all Slovak political parties, including the 2 On the process preceding the break-up see Eric Stein : Czecho/Slovakia: Ethnic Conflict, Constitutional Fiss ure, Negotiated Breakup (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997). 3 Nationalism is fo r the purpose of th is study defined as a world view, which holds that the pop ulation of the world is divided into nations. A nation, claim nationalists, consists of a grou p of people identifiable and identifying according to cultural, religious, historical and/or territorial criteria. Nationalists see nations as constituting natural social units and seek to promote the po litical, cultural, economic or other kind of status, in symbolical or more material terms, of the nation they claim to represent. The nationalist discourse, common to a ll forms of nationalism, is used thro ughout the world, most often to oppose or defe nd existing political units. See Craig Calhoun: Nationalism (Buckin gham : Open University Press, 1997). •Foran examination of mainstream Slovak national ism see Paal Sigurd Hil de: 'Slovak Nationalism and the Break-Up of Czechoslovakia', Europe-Asia Stu die s, vol. 51 (1999), no. 4, pp. 64 7-665. �30 SLOVAKIA most pro-federal, shared this demand. More radical expressions called not only for more radical solutions to the question of the Federation, but focussed also negatively on the position of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia and the perceived threat from Hungarian irredentism. In its exteme, which was promoted only by small, popular unrepresentative groups, Slovak · nationalism promoted radically anti-Czech, anti-Hungarian and sometimes also anti-Semitic views. This article will analyse another complexity of nationalism in post-communist Slovakia. 5 As with all nationalisms, the popular success of the Slovak form can be seen as a result of several, intricate causes. These include historical, political, social and econ omic determinants. The aim of this study is not to reach a final decision on what caused the apperance and success of post-communist nationalism. Rather, the article offers an overview of a range of possible explanations and the strengths and weaknesses of these. This might be a combination of all, some, just one or none . Ultimately, it was Slovak6 politicians and other political actors that gave nationalism the political significance it had after the collapse of communism. Without nationalists, there is no nationalism. Focusing merely on the role of actors, however, leaves many unanswered questions. The most important of these is why the demands and rhetoric of the nationalists gained such a favourable response from the population. Certain political factors in the postcommunist period can be seen to have facilitated the success of the nationalist agenda among Slovaks. One such factor was the 5 For the sake of simplifying the analysis the multi-issue complexity of Slovak nationalism will be not discussed in detail. • The word Slovak will in this article denote a person of Slovak culture and identity. Similarly, a Czechoslovak is a person of Czech or Slovak ethnicity with a Czechoslovak identity . �SLOVAK1A 31 institutional legacy of the socialist federation (more on this below). A second factor was the changing international environment after the Cold War, with the secession of the Baltic states, Slovenia and Croatia as examples of the new stress on national self-determination. Interaction with the two major 'others', the Hungarians and Czechs, was also important. The upsurge of post-communist nationalism in the Hungarian speaking minority in Slovakia and in Hungary, and the increasingly hostile attacks on Slovak nationalism, particularly in the Czech press, both served to spur Slovak nationalists into action. 7 Even more important in increasing support for nationalist de mands in post-communist Slovakia was the issue of economic reform. The generally harder impact of the Federal economic programme on the Slovak than on the Czech economy was by many taken as a sign of the disadvantaged position of Slovaks within the common state.8 The call for a greater Slovak control over economic policy thus became the one of the most important and substantial claims of Slovak nationalists . Yet, even given the activities of nationalists and the political factors conducive to the appeal of the nationalist discourse, to understand post-communist nationalism one must understand the historical developments that formed the basis for the appeal of the ethnic nationalism in Slovakia. Several historical precondition s can be identified . These are the topic of this study . 7 For examples of this see (H ungarian) Andrej Ferko: Stredna Europa - Eseje (Bratislava: VSSS, 1998) and (Czech) Dusan Sl obodnfk: Proti sedemhlavemu drakovi : Z dejin zapasu za Sia vensko (Bratislava: VSSS, 1998 ). ' In a January 1992 poll , for example. 53 % of respondents in Slovakia antici pated that the Czech economy wou ld grow at the expense of the Slovak. Cen trum pre social nu analyzu: Aktualne problemy Cesko-S/ovensk a, januar 1992 (Bratislava: CSA, 1992), p. 29. �32 SLOVAKIA Preconditions for the Success of Post-Communist Nationalism. To clarify the analysis of the historical preconditions of postcommunist nationalism, it is useful to divide the examination into two stages. The first stage focuses on the generally different impact nationalist ideas have had in the Eastern and Western parts of Europe. Whereas the civic, territorial version of nationalism became dominant in the West, ethnic, especially linguistically centred nationalism prevailed in Central and Eastern Europe (hereafter CEE)9. In the twentieth century, this ethnic nationalism be came the underlying ideal for the political reorganisations of CEE in two world wars. The first half of the twentieth century thus served to establish ethnic nationalism as a dominant political ideology and ethnic ties as primary lines of political identification. An example of the causes of the success of ethnic nationalism thus forms what one might call the 'deep ' historic background for understanding post-communist nationalism. The second stage in the analysis focuses on the impact of the socialist era. For the majority of the population of post-commu nist Slovakia, the just over forty years of communist indoctrination through education, mass media and other means, had formed their primary so urce of fo rmal socialisation. Moreover, Soviet Communism brought one of the most dramatic periods of social and economic change in Slovak history. The analysis below outlines the different assessments scholars have made of the impact the social, economic and political devel opments of the las t halfcentury before 1989 had on the strength of nationalism in Slovakia. • Central and Eastern Europe will in this article denote roughly the area of the fonner Habsburg Empire as well as the European parts of the Romanov and Ottoman em pires. �SLOVAKIA 33 The Success of Ethnic Nationalism. In his celebrated 1882 lecture, Ernest Rennan started by making a distinction 'between the fusion of "races" in the nations of Western Europe, and the retention of ethnic distinctiveness in Eastern Europe .' 10 In 1944, Hans Kohn developed this theme when he introduced the concepts of 'Western' and 'Eastern' nationalisms. 11 While challenged by several authors, this typology has survived the test of time and is used in various forms by scholars today. As most nationalisms contain both civic (Western) and ethnic (Eastern) elements, the distinction is, as Anthony D. Smith points out, analytical and not normative. 12 Czechoslovak nationalism in the interwar years, for example, was clearly ethnic m relations with Germans and Hungarians, but civic m its merger of Slovaks and Czechs into one nation. On the whole, scholars agree on the basic causes why civic nationalism was more successful in Western Europe and ethnic nationalism in the Eastern part of the continent. The main factors are generally identified as the socio-economic and, partly linked, cultural differences between the two regions at the time of the dissemination of nationalist ideas. 13 From about the fifteenth century, Western Europe saw the beginning of the development of the modem state. The new economy saw the abolition of serfdom , the weakening of the feudal-agricultural economy and the strengthening of trade and manufacture centred in cities. The develop0 Anthony D. Smith: Nationalism and Modernism (London: Routledge, 1998), p. 9 ' '' Hans Kohn : The Idea of Nationalism (New York : Collier, 1967), pp. 329-331. 12 Smith: Nationalism and Modernism, p. 126 '-' For a good analysis of East-West historical differences see Robert Bideleux and Ian Jeffries: A Hi/story of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change (Lo ndon, Routledge, I 998), pp. 15-25. �34 SLOVAKlA ment of centralised, strong states, yet with an increasingly urbanised and literate population capable of challenging the authority of the ruler, had important social, economic and political effects. Western, civic nationalism grew gradually out of the socio-economic developments and changes in political thought of pre-nineteenth century Europe. 14 This nationalism was state centred and focused on gaining the loyality of and homogenising the population of a territory. Crucially, nationalist ideas were promoted in societies whose elites, if not populations, were already quite homogenous culturally. This was particularly the case in Protestant, North-Western Europe. In important respects, Central and Eastern Europe was relatively 'backward' when nationalist ideas spread through the intellectual life of the region in the early nineteenth century. 15 The relative backwardness had both external and internal causes. The centuries of warfare with the Ottomans had weakened the states in the region and led to their inclusion into large empires. Hungary, which then included today's Slovakia, came under Habsburg rule after the battle of Mohacs in 1526. At the eve of the French Revolution, the Ottoman, Habsburg and Romanov empires dominated Central and Eastern Europe. Compared with rapidly developing Western states, the three Eastern empires remained despotic. As the feudal-agricultural economic structure retained its dominance, no strong middle class developed . In Slovakia, or Felvidek (Upper Hungary) as the Hungarian rulers called it, the development of mining in Eastern Slovakia, for instance, led to the growth of some smaller towns. Generally, these were dominated by ethnic 14 See Liah Greenfeld: Nationalism : Five Roads to Modernity (Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 1992 ) ,s The concept of Central and East European 'backwardness' is obviously very general and simplifying, also given the large differences within the region . �SLOVAKJA 35 Germans or Jews. The majority of the population of Slovakia remained rural and often illiterate. The socio-econonic conditions for cultural homogenisation were, therefore, not present. The ethnically very heterogeneous dynasties of Central and Eastern Europe were initially not interested in trying to turn their empires into nation-states on the Western model. 16 Only in the final decades of the nineteenth century did Tsarist Russia attempt to Russify the Western Borderlands and the Hungarian leadership promote its policy of Magyarisation (Hungarianisation). 17 Given its lack of an ethnic nobility and being an integral part of Hungary proper, the Slav population of Felvidek was particularly exposed. Yet even here the Hungarian nation-bulding project did not succeed. History was soon to take a surprising turn. Ultimately more successful than the civic nation builders in CEE were elites opposed to central rule and integration. State centred, civic nationalism had no advantages for such elites. When they adopted nationalist discourse as a political tool , they were inspired by German romanticism rather than Western liberalism . Nationalists in Central and Eastern Europe looked not to Locke and Stuart Mill, but to Herder and Fichte. In German romantic thought, it was not political boundaries that determined the extent of a nation , but culture and particularly language. In the ethnically diverse empires of CEE such ideas were to have a dramatic impact. It was no coincidence that two leading Slovak (Pan-Slav) nationalists, Jan Kollar and Pavo) Jozef Safarik, both studied at "' Charles Ingrao: ' Forum: Understanding Ethnic Conflict in Central Europe: An Historical Perspective', Nationalities Papers, vol. 27 ( 1999), no. 2, p. 293 . 17 See Edward C. Thaden (ed.): Russification in the Baltic Provinces and Fin land, J855 - 19 14 (Princenton: Princenton University Press, 198 I ) and Tibor Frank: 'Hungary and the Dual Monarchy, 1867- 1890' , in Peter F. Sugar, Peter Hanak and Tibor Frank (eds.): A History of Hungary (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994). �36 SLOVAKJA the University of Jena in the early nineteenth century. 18 The 'father of Slovak nationalism', Cudovit Stur, like Kollar and Safarik, a Protestant, also studied in Germany, in Halle. 19 By the outbreak of World War One, ethnic nationalism had emerged as one of the leading political ideologies in Central and Eastern Europe. In Austria-Hungary, leaders claiming to represent various ethnically defined nations, such as Slovak nationalists in the Slovak National Party, promoted their rights within the Empire. World War I was to bring victory to such nationalist programmes. Towards the end of the war, when the Entente Powers started supporting the programmes of Central and Eastern Europe (mainly exile) nationalists , their support was limited to the de mand for an administrative reorganisation of Austria-Hungary . By 1918, however, the right to self-determination had come to mean the right for independence. Allied victory in World War I thus resulted in a reorganisation of the Central European region according to the principle of the 'self-determination of nations', that is, the self-determination of ethnically defined nations. This right was by no means allowed for all , particularly not for the 'defeated nations'. All the new and old, expanded states of the region contained sizeable ethnic minority groups . While political life in Austria-Hungary had increasingly taken the form of a struggle between the central authorities and nationalist leaders, inter-war Central and Eastern Europe took this to a new level. In the new Czechoslovak Republic as well, ethnic belonging became the main dividing line in politics. Ethnic Ger- "Victor S. Mamatey : 'The Establishment of the Republic' . in Victor S. Mamatey and Radomir Luz.a (eds.): A History of the Czechoslovak Republic: l 9 l 81948 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973), p. 6. 19 Peter Petro: A History of Slovak Literature (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press), p. 65 . �SLOVAKIA 37 mans and Hungarians (Magyars) voted overwhelmingly for ethnically based parties . The Slovaks, according to official ideology part of the Czechoslovak nation, were divided. As in the late Habsburg period, one part of the Slovak political elite was Czechoslovak nationalist, another, strongly connected to the Catholic clergy, was more sceptical to the Czechoslovak idea. Loyal to the Czechoslovak state until pushed into declaring independence inl939, the Slovak nationalist movement promoted Slovak, as opposed to Czechoslovak, national awareness and nationalism throughout the inter-war period . While it is impossible to get an accurate picture of the popular support for Slovak nationalism after World War II, it seems safe to agree with Carol Skalnik Leff's claim that when taking power in 1948, the communists faced a 'full-blown' Slovak nationalism. 20 If the creation of a Slovak education system, the flowering of Slovak culture and promotion of Slovak nationalism in politics was not sufficient to cement the importance of ethnic belonging and nationalism in people's thinking in the inter-war years, the Second War War was .2 1 With the rise towards authoritarian rule by the Slovak People ' s Party from the autumn of 1938, ethnic nationalism became a central part of official ideology. In the region as a whole, ethnicity became a supreme organizing principle increasing or limiting chances for employment, economic prosperity and even survival. Supported by the Catholic clergy, the Slovak state sought to educate the Slovaks into becoming good nationalists. Nationalism was promoted in schools, the mass media and 10 Carol Skalnik Leff: National Conflict in Czech oslovakia (Princeton: Prince- ton University Press. 1987), p. 281. 11 On national identity in the inter-war period see Owen V. Johnson: Slovakia 191 8- 1938: Education and the Making of a Nati on (Boulder: Co lumbia Uni versity Press, 1985). �38 SLOVAKIA official and religious life in general. 22 For many groups among ethnic Slovaks, the war-time state was a positive experience. The relative economic prosperity, the ease of employment (especially for the young intelligentsia) and the elevated position of the Catholic faith and church were aspects of the state that for some Slovaks compared favourably with pre-war Czechoslovakia. Obviously, for parts of the population, the experience had been clearly negative. For Jews and Romanies it was one of inhuman crimes. Yet, despite the horrors and injustices, the experience of independence under German influence strengthened the position of nationalism in Slovak society. While the leaders of the 1944 Slovak National Uprising had called for the reestablishment of Czechoslovakia, they did not want to return to the centralist system of the First Republic (1918-1938). The extent to which Slovakia had been changed by the war became evident in the 1946 election. Whereas the Slovak political scene had been split on the issue of Slovakia's position within the common state before the war, all parties standing in 1946 supported Slovak self-rule within Czechoslovakia in their programmes. 23 The Impact of the Socialist Period. In the intersection between empirical studies that directly or indirectly offer an explanation for the success of nationalism in post-communist Slovakia and general theoretical works on nationalism, it is possible to identify three main approaches to the question of the impact of the communist era. The first focuses 22 See e.g. Yeshayahu Jelinek : The Parish Republic: H/inka 's Slovak People's Party 1939- 1945 (Boulder: Columbia University Press, 1976). lJ Jan Ryc hlik : Cesi a Slovaci ve 20.stoleti: Cesko-slovenske vztahy 19451992 (Bratislava: Academic Electronic Press, 1998), pp.40-42. �SLOVAKIA 39 mainly on the way in which nationalism survived despite the forty years of communism. Given the strength of Slovak nationalism before Communism and the resilience of ethnic and cultural ties, nationalism would, according to this approach, have survived whatever policy the Communist Party had chosen. Scholars taking this approach would put the greatest emphasis on the 'deep' historic background outlined above. The second approach, where scholars stress the continuation of nationalism through the socialist period, could be considered the mainstream historical view . This approach focuses on the way Slovak national identity and support for nationalism survived the socialist era not only because of their pre-1948 strength, but also due to certain policies during Communism that served to strenghten their basis of support. According to the final approach, the success of post-communist nationalism was mainly due to the policies adopted by the Communist Party. Putting much less emphasis on the strength of precommunist national identity and nationalism (and thus the •deep' historical explanation), the 'due to' approach takes two main forms . One focuses on the effects of the socio-economic development of Slovakia during Communism, the other on the impact of the construction of nationally based institutional structures. These three analytical categories form a continuum rather than three clearly identifiable positions. Differences between studies falling into the different categories are generally one of focus or degree. Few scholars argue the extreme positions: that postcommunist nationalism was purely a revival of suppressed nationalism, or that it was a result of developments in the communist period only. Most would note the continued expressions of Slovak nationalism during the communist era, and then stress the degree to which the socialist period suppressed , maintained or actually strengthened the appeal of nationalism. �40 SLOVAKIA Nationalism Despite Communism. Particulary in the first years after the collapse of Communism, the 'retum-of-history'argument was commonly used to explain the success of nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe. Precommunist nationalism, merely suppressed by the communist regimes, re-emerged to become the political factor it had been forty years earlier. As one historian put it: Communism may have temporarily relieved Central Europe's ethnic tensions for nearly half a century. But if religion was the opiate of the people, Communism proved no more effective than methadone (sic) in suspending their craving for ethnically whole nation states, without providing a cure. 24 In the literature on nationalism in Slovakia, Jacques Rupnik supported this view when he argued that Slovak nationalism had been in the 'communist refrigerator' for most of the period after 1948. 25 Of the monographs in English discussing Slovak nationalism, Stanislav Kirschaum's A History of Slovakia: The Struggle for Survival is, arguably, one of those that leans most toward the 'despite ' approach. 26 While describing in detail the persistence of nationalism during Communism and the radical changes Slovak society went through, Kirschbaum notes no positive effect of the communist regime on the strength of Slovak national identity and nationalism. Rather, he highlights the attempts the communist lea- 1 ' Ingrano: 'Forum ... ' , p. 307 . 15 Jaques Rupnik, quoted in Martin Butora and Zora Butorova: 'Slovakia after the Split ' ,Joumal o[Democracy,vol. 4(1993), no. 2,p. 75 . 16 Stanislav Kirschbaum : A History of Slovakia: The Struggle for Survival (London : Macmillian, 1995). �SLOVAKIA 41 dership made at suppressing national identity.27 If Slovak nationalism gained strength during the communist period , it was more a reaction to the 'Czechoslovakism' favoured by the regime .2 8 The primordialist theories of nationalism would be the most obvious theoretical basis for the works in this approach. Stressing the ' ineffable, and at times overpowering' strength of the ' cultural givens' in a society, Clifford Geertz, for example, points to how ethnic ties in some societies come to be seen as a 'natural some would say spiritual affinity' .29 Given the strong emphasis put on cultural belonging in Slovak history, at least since the late nineteeth century, one could argue that ethnicity had gained a primordial character in Slovak society by the end of World War II. Consequently, the communist regime would not have been able to suppress Slovak identity, and therefore neither the potential for Slovak nationalism. While not going as far as the primordialist in stressing the naturalness of central ties, the so-called ethno-sym- bolist theories of nationalism could also be interpreted as lending support to the 'despite' approach. According to Anthony D. Smith, post-communist nationalism confirms the resilience and strength of ehnic myths, symbols and popular memory. He writes:' Though the timing of the current ethnic revival is a function of social and geopolitical changes, their contents and intensities are largely determined resources,' by pre-existing ethno-sy mbolic 30 27 Note e.g. ibid., pp. 228, 245, 252. Kirschbaum ta.lees a very favo urable view of Slovak nationalism and a more negative one of the common Czech and Slovak state . " Ibid., p. 24 7. 19 Clifford Geertz: The Interpretation of Cultures (London : Fontana, 1973). pp . 259-260 . 0 ' Anthony D. Smith : 'LSE Centennial Lecture: The Resurgence of Nationalism ? Myth and memory in the renewal of nations ', British Journal of Sociology, vo l. �42 SLOVAKIA Empirical support for the 'despite' argument can be found in post-communist Slovakia. In a study of regional patterns of political culture, a group of Slovak sociologists found strong similarities between the inter-war and post-communist era. 31 In both periods, nationalist and populist parties gained most support in northwest and central Slovakia. The persistence of this regional pattern seems to suggest that at least elements of pre-communist political culture had been preserved. Moreover, studies from other post-communist countries show that national minorities that were actively discouraged from maintaining their separate identity and culture, still emerged to voice nationalist demands after Communism. In Poland, this was the case with the German minority .32 While counter-factual history necessarily amounts to speculation, it does seem likely that regardless of what the policy the Communists had adopted, also the separate Slovak identity, in both its cultural and political expression, would have survived. The relatively short period of communist rule would clearly have facilitated this. As can be seen from the above, focusing on links to pre-communist nationalism and the preservation of popular myths and memory has some advantages. Firstly, it points to the strength of ethnic nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe after the Second World War. The conviction that ethnically defined nations formed natural bases for political legitimacy, be it in a separate state or as 47 (1996), no. 4, p. 573. Elsewhere, Smith does stress the role of communi st policies in preserving these myths and memories. See e.g. Smith: Nationalism and Modernism, 237, endnote 9. 31 Vladimir Krivy , Viera Fialova and Daniel Balko: Slovensko a jeho regi6ny: sociokultume suvislosti volebneho spravania (Bratislava: Nadacia Media, 1996). 12 Janusz Mucha: 'Democratisation and Cultural Minorities: The Polish Case of the 1980s/90s', East European Quarterly, vol. 25 (1992), no. 4. �SLOVAKIA 43 an autonomous region within a larger entity, had by 1948 been deeply ingrained in CEE. This was not only the case with most of the Slovak political elite, but also, many historians would agree, large parts of the population. Secondly, stressing the preservation of political culture is perhaps the only way to explain the continued regional pattern of support for nationalism. In its pure form, the 'despite' argument rejects any important effect of the socialist period on national identity and the popular view of nationalism. If one accepts that national identity is a social construct, that nations are not some kind of natural social unit, this jump across forty years of history is difficult to defend. As shall be discussed in more detail below, 1948-1989 was probably the most dramatic period of social and economic change in Slovak history. It was also a period of an intense policy of officially managed, public socialisation. Given the impact this period had on people' s lives, it seems difficult to assume that popular views on national identity and nationalism would not also change. One example that it had is that before 1948 Slovakia was a deeply religious society and mainstream nationalism was strongly connected to the Catholic Church. In the post-communist period, however, the leading nationalists parties HZDS and SNS were both secular. Catholic nationalism, as represented by the Christian Democratic Party (KDH), was much less successful. Explanations focusing more on the way the communist period served to change Slovak national identity and thereby the bases for nationalism during that period, thus seemingly provide a more convincing explanation for the widespread appeal of nationalism in the postcommunist era. Finallly, the 'despite' argument cannot explain the emergence of 'new' nationalisms in the post-communist period . Some groups without a history of common national identity and nationalism formed nationalist parties after 1989. Most im- �44 SLOVAKIA portantly, this included the Roma community. Also the emergence of a relatively strong nationalism in Moravia and Silesia was a sign of the increased importance of cultural identity. 33 Traditionally a regional identity and before Communism never a major political issue, the Moravian-Silesian autonomy party became the largest party in the Czech National Council in 1990. Nationalism Through the Communist Era. The 'through' approach makes up the middle ground between stressing the resilience of pre-communist nationalism and the strengthening of national identity during the communist period. Studies falling into this category would seek to explain the perpetuation of national conflict due to the persistence of support for nationalism built up before the communist period and to certain factors that served to strengthen Slovak national identity during the 1948-1989 era. Most historical studies tend to be in this category. Carol Skalnik Leff' s 1987 seminal book on national conflict in Czechoslovakia is probably the best study in English in this category. 34 In Leff's analysis, the deep social, economic and cultural differences between the Czech Lands and Slovakia were politicised during the inter-was republic. A triangular pattern of support and opposition was created, whereby the central leadership in Prague relied on the pro-Czechoslovak section of the Slovak political elite to help neutralise the demands of Slovak nationalists. In the communist period , this pattern persisted until it was displaced JJ Jaroslav Krejci and Pavel Machonin: Czechoslovakia 1918- 1992: A Laboratory for Social Change (Oxford: Macmill an and St. Anthony ' s, 1996), p. 51 . 14 Leff: National Conflict. Ryc hlik: Cesi a Slovaci .. . 1945-1992 is a later, eve n more detailed work of this approcah. �SLOVAKIA 45 with the ascent of Gustav Husak to power in 1969. Both the interwar and the socialist regimes failed in their attempts to modernize away the problem of Slovak nationalism (culturally and educationaly in the inter-war period, economically during socialism). These failures, combined with the unwillingness of both regimes to adequately accommodate the Slovak nationalist's demands, led to a growing sense of antagonism (mutual antagonism, as Czechs resented that Slovaks used times of international crisis to force through their demands). Leff concludes: 'Given the persistence of Slovak national feeling, on the one hand, and Czech power, on the other, the result has been persistent national conflict'. 35 While Leff notes that Slovak nationalism was strong in the post-war period, much due to the experience of statehood during the war, she also identifies several factors during the communist era that served to strengthen its basis. The existence of separate Slovak political institutions, for instance, was important. Leff writes: 'Week as the KSS (Slovak Communist Party) and the SNR (Slovak National Council) were in the years following 1948, both would retain the capacity to serve as nationalist time bombs. ' 36 One important reason for this was that the system of separate Slovak institutions created a Slovak elite separate from Prague-based Czechoslovak one. 37 Also other aspects of the regime 's policy proved counter-productive to its official aim of promoting the 'coming together' (zblfienie) of Czechs and Slovaks. The mass media, for instance, was 'segmented and not adapted to the integrative intentions of the policy-making elite. 38 Thus , by the late 1980, 'the Slovak question ' had become 'deeply, perhaps 35 Leff: National Conflict, p. 282. Ibid ., p. 112 . 37 Ibid ., p.294 . " Ibid., p. 297 . 36 �46 SLOVAKlA irreversibly, woven into the fabric of Czechoslovak politics as usual'. This statement carries with it the implication that the Slovak question wi1l continue to assert itself as a political force in the future .39 Three years after Leff published her study, her prediction came true . Theoretically, the 'through' approach occupies the middle ground between the primoridalists emphasis on the strength of cultural ties and the stress put on social processes by the modernist and institutional views outlined below. With more emphasis on the way myths, symbols, values and memories are preserved in societies, ethno-symbolist theories would come closest to forming a theoretical basis for this approach. From the ethno-symbolist perspective, the communists ' attempt to defuse nationalism in Slovakia by flagging symbols of self-determination could only serve to strengthen the feeling of national identity. The reason for this was that the only symbols that would evoke a positive response from the population would be symbols that had a basis in popular tradition . For example, while the communists did try to reframe the historical image of r.udovft Stur as a social revolutionary, they could not eradicate the view of Stur as a champion of Slovak rights so strongly ingrained in popular tradition and myths . As Smith writes : "Ethno-history is no sweetshop in which nationalists may ' pick and mix'; it sets limits to any appropriation by providing a distinctive context and patterns of events, personages and ,, 4 0 processes ... . The most obvious strength of the 'through' approach is that by stressing both the strong social basis of pre-communist nationalism and the way it was maintained and changed during the 1948-1989 period , it can account more or less convincingly for 39 ' 0 Ibid. , pp. 281 -282 . Smith: Nationalism and Modernism, p. 45 �SLOVAKIA 47 nationalism in both periods. It points to the continuity of not only political conflict over the status of Slovakia, but also that of popular symbols and myths. Noting how the communist period maintained and strengthened preexisting national identity and traditions also allows for an explanation of the persistent regional differences in support for nationalism. Despite these important strengths, however, the 'through' approach does have some weak points. Some will argue that the most important of these is that it does not go far enough in emphasising how dramatically the communist period changed Slovak society. As with the 'despite' approach, the focus on the continuation of national conflict through the communist period also faces problems in explaining the 'new' nationalisms of the post-communist era. The political organisation and activism of the Romany community after 1989, for example, is difficult to explain without stressing the way the communist period served to strengthen the importance of ethnic belonging. Nationalism Due to Communism. Studies focusing on the way the communist period . served to strengthen national identity and nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe are generally more theoretically grounded than the two approaches above. The presentation of these will therefore have to be a bit different. Two main theoretical starting points can be identified. 41 The first, based on modernisation theories of 41 Shari Cohen supposes a third, unconventional, approach in her Politics without a Past: The Absence of History in Postcommunist Nationalism (Lon- don: Duke University Press, 1999). It was not the strength of national identity in Slovakia that formed the basis for the success of post-communist nationalism, Cohen claims, but rather the lack of a clear historical consciousness. By �48 SLOVAKJA nationalism, focus on the massive socio-economic changes in the CEE countries during the fourty years of communist rule. As many other countries and areas of the region, Slovakia underwent a rapid transformation from an agricultural to an industrial society. Such a process of social modernization, scholars such as Ernest Gellner claim, is the basis for the strength of post-communist nationalism. The second starting point is based on the so called 'new institutionalism' in social science. According to its proponents, the communist regimes honoured their Leninist commitment to national self-determination by building nationally defined institutions and stressing national identities. Rather than, as intended, weakening the social basis for nationalism, however, their policy served to strengthen it. Put otherwise: the Soviet type nationality policy was to be 'nationalist in form, socialist in content ' . When the socialist content disappeared, only the nationalist form remained . Modernisation. It is the erosion of traditional society and its values with urbanisation and the growth of the state that, in Gellner's view, is responsible for the emergence of nationalism.42 In an agricultural society, where mobility is low and socialisation within the family and local community is sufficient, a person's language and culture is of little consequence. Urban life, particularly in the industrial age, exercises different pressures on the population. Industrial society, requiring formal socialisation through an education preventing the emergence of a collective memory of World War II, the communist regime made Slovak society susceptible to elite manipulation after the collapse of communism. 42 Ernest Gellner: Nations and Nationalism (Oxford: Blackwell, 1983). �SLOVAKIA 49 system, thus makes an individual's culture and especially language important. Particularly when cultural differences overlapped with an actual or perceived pattern of social and economic discrimination, nationalism is a likely outcome. In socialist societies, as they suppressed civil society, class identities and other social lines of identification , the importance of cultural identities became particularly strong. When the regimes collapsed, there existed no 'serious rival ideology ' or any 'serious rival institutions' capable of providing alternatives to identification along national lines. 43 In the resulting 'double vacuum', nationalism, the 'culture of industrialism ', was 'the most plausible and easily available candidate for filling this emptiness. ' 44 After the Communists came to power in Czechoslovakia in 1948, Slovakia entered its most important period of socio-economic development. Over a period of seventeen years, the share of agricultural workers in the total workforce more than halved: from 62.2% in 1948 to30.1% in 1965. 4 5 By 1989 it has reached 14.5%. Similarly, the percentage of the population living in cities with more than 20,000 inhabitants increased from 11.5% in 1950 to 40.8% in 1991 .46 In the space of a few decades, Slovakia was transformed from an agricultural to an industrial society. That the industrial structure of Slovakia was accordingly based on the socialist idealisation of heavy industry, matters little in this context. Territorial and social mobility increased, as did the general level of education. The steadily increasing availability and reach 43 Ernest Gellner: ' Nationalism in the Vacuum', in Alexander J. Motyl (ed .): Thinking Theoretically about Soviet Nationalities: History and Comparison in the Study of the USSR(New York: Columbia University Press, 1992), p. 250. 44 Ernest Gellner: 'Homeland of the Unrevolution' , Daedalus, vol. 122 (1993) , no. 3, p. 152. 45 See Krejci and Machonin : Czechoslovakia, p. 120. 46 Ibid., p. 126. �50 SLOVAKIA of mass communication, such as radio and television, also served to promote a standardised ('high') culture. Combined, these factors served to increase cultural homogeneity in the Slovak population and put focus on the differences between the Slovaks and other cultural groups in society. An individual's cultural-cumnational identity was therefore highlighted . The main strength of the modernist approach is that it brings our attention to the massive social and economic changes in the region during Communism. Slovak society was fundamentally changed through industrialisation and urbanisation . Most theories of nationalism hold that modernisation (towards a Western type society) is at least conducive to the formation of national consciousness and emergence of nationalism. If one accepts this , the socialist period is likely to have strengthened the appeal of nationalism in Slovakia. Furthemore, the modernisation approach offers an explanation for why new ethnic conflicts arose once Communism released its grip. Even the communities without the history of nationalism can be seen to have been mobilised as a result of industrialisation. There are, however, several weaknesses with this modernist view. First, in its pure form it is very functional and does not accredit much importance to ideas. This is problematic particularly because the massive transformation and uprooting of Slovak society took place under heavy pressure from socialist socialisation. Second, if urbanisation and industrialisation were the main causes of post-communist nationalism, then one should expect to find the strongest nationalism where the effects of these processes was strongest. Before 1948 eastern Slovakia was the most 'backward' and multi-cultural region of Slovakia. Consequently, it was one of the regions that went through the most dramatic socio-economic development during Communism. Despite this , after 1989, sup- �SLOVAKIA 51 port for nationalist parties in the region was well below the Slovak average. 47 Indeed, inhabitants of Kosice, the 'capital' of eastern Slovakia and the second largest city in the country, were among those most vocally opposed to the break-up of the CSFR in the autumn of 1992.48 The Institutional Approach. The institutional approach places the cause of the strength of post-communist nationalism in the policies and structure, the institutions, of the communist regimes. The stress Leninism put on the right of national self-determination led most Soviet-style socialist regimes to not only promote national self-identification, but also build institutional frameworks along national lines. This served to institutionalise national identity as the key identity and thus create the nationalist bias of politics after the collapse of Communism. In its most basic form , the institutional approach stresses the way in which members of political institutions tend to promote the interests of their institutions in competition with others . Throughout the socialist period, Slovakia had cultural, academic , administrative and political institutions separate from the all-Czechoslovak ones. Due to the policy of stressing the Slovakness of these institutions, recruitment was conducted almost exclusively in Slovakia, and sometimes among Slovaks only. The separate poli tical institutions consisted most importantly of a branch of the Communist Party (KSS), a parliamentary assembly (SNR), and 47 See Krivy, Fialova and Balko: Slovensko ajeho regi6ny, pp.29 1-342 . •• For a more humorous expression of this see Peter Holub: 'At' uz to nestes tf piijde: Kosice se branf mirodnfmu sjednocenf', Respect, 24-30, August 1992, pp. 5-6. �52 SLOVAKIA ( except for the period 1960-69) an executive branch. While limited in their political importance during Communism, these institutions gained a dramatically different role with democratisation . Not long after the collapse of Communism, the Slovak government and legislature started calling for an increase in their competencies. Using nationalist rhetoric to mobilise the population was an obvious way to gain support for strengthening the authority and power of the Slovak institutions at the expense of federal ones. On a more complex level, the institutional approach examines the wider impact institutional structures had on creating certain attitudes and beliefs in the population. One leading institutional theoretician , Rogers Brubaker, explained the strength of postcommunist nationalism in the Soviet Union as a result of the ' dual institutionalisation ' of what he termed ' territorial nationhood ' and 'ethnic nationality ' .49 Territorial nationhood refers to the linkin g of a specific territory to national identity through the admi nistrative division of the country according to nationality. As with most administrative components in the Soviet Union, Slovakia was a clearly defined territorial unit interpreted as the homeland of the Slovaks. While this was made explicit after the federalisation of Czechoslovakia in 1968, it was implicit already from the end of World War IL The principle of equality (rovny s rovnym) introduced during the war and maintained in the 1948 Constitution •• Rogers Brubaker: Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the national question in the New Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp 23-54. The nationality and, particularly after 1969, the institutional stru cture of socialist Czechoslovakia was almost identical to that of the Soviet Unio n. �SLOVAKIA 53 was clearly interpreted as a principle of equality of nations. 50 Hungarians, Ruthenes, Romanies and other national groups in Slovakia were national minorities; the Slovaks were the statotvorny (literally: state forming) nation. Along with officially pronouncing Czechoslovakia a country of two nations, the regime built institutions to create the appearance of national self-determination. While Czechoslovakia did not go as far as the Soviet Union in awarding the constituent republics symbols of statehood, the Czech and Slovak Socialist Republics were in the 1968 Law on Federalisation declared to have the status of independent legal subjects that surrendered part of their sovereignty to the Federation. The Republics were also awarded the 'inalienable right of self-determination even to the point of separation'. 51 The Law on Federalization thus 'rehabilitated and restored the idea of a national state as an attribute of a fully developed nation'. 52 The effect of this policy was to encourage Slovaks to think of themselves as a separate nation with wide-ranging political rights. The second aspect of Brubaker's institutional approach focuses on the way the communist regime made ethnic identification compulsory. In common English usage, the concepts of 'nationality' and 'citizenship' are synonymous. In the socialist federations, however, the distinction was important. All who held Czechoslovak passports were Czechoslovak citizens. Their nationality, however, would be Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Ruthene, Romany, Polish, Ukrainian or some other. A person's nationality 5 ° Katarina Zavacka: "Metamorf6zy statopravneho postavenia Slovenska v Ceskoslovensku v rokoch 1948-1967" in Vladimir Gonec (ed. ): Cesko-s/oven ska historicka rocenka I 998 (Brno: Masarykova Universita, 1998), pp. 17-29. 51 See ' Ustavnf zakon 143/ 1968 Sb.' at http://www.psp. czldocs/textslconstitution. 1968.html. 52 Kusy: Eseje,p. 69 . �54 SLOVAKIA was ascertained at birth according to that of her of his parents and could generally not be changed. As in inter-war Czechoslovakia, the communist regime did promote a Czechoslovak political identity. Avoiding the word narod, nation, which has clear ethnic connotations, the communists called for the creation of a 'Czec hoslovak working people ' (ceskoslovensky pracujlici J'ud). The identity was not, even in relation to the Czechs and Slovaks, intended as a Czechoslovak cultural identity. On the contrary, the Communist Party put great stress on promoting the cultures of the various national groups, particularly the Slovak. Generous reso urces were devoted to building cultural institutions and supporting the cultural life of all official nationalities. 53 For most children primary and sometimes secondary and higher education was available in their mother tongue. While all culture was to be socialist, the art forms favored by the regime, those that were seen to form the basis of national culture (s uch as folk dancing and traditional artisan-and craftsmanship), were not particularly affected . The Centre for the Production of Folk Art (UI:UV) and the folk-dancing and folk-mu sic group the Slovak People' s Artistic Collective (SI:UK) were presented as the best of centuries-old , traditional Slovak culture, thus reminding all of not only the cultural , but also historical separateness of the Slovaks. Combined, these two processes of institutionalisation made nations and nationality into basic units of people' s world-view. When the communist regime collapsed and democratisation started, nationally based institutions and their elites became centres of 51 See Elena Londakova: ' Slovcnske predjarie: Myty a realita slovenskej inte li gcncic v Ceskoslovensku pred rokom 1956 (a po iiom)', in Vladimir Gonec (ed .): Cesko-s/ovensk;i historick;i rocenka I 998 (Brno: Masarykova Universita, 1998), p. 2 10 and Dusan Kovac: Dejiny Slovenska (Prague: NLN, 1998), pp. 275-276 . �SLOVAKIA 55 political activity. 54 National identity became the basic organising. principle in politics. The nationally defined elites in the separate national institutions could gain popular support among a population identified and identifying according to their nationality by claiming to defend the interest of that nation. The system of compulsory national identification thus became the basis for new political constituencies. The main strength of the institutional approach is that it offers a very powerfull explanation of the near universal succes of national identity and nationalism as political principles after Communism. It does so by placing the cause of this succes in the very world-view engendered by the communist regime. As Brubaker writes: the communist nationality policy 'created a political field supremely conductive to nationalism' .55 The 'new' nationalism of the post-communist period can therefore be explained. Due to its explanatory strength, the institutional approach has emerged as one of the most popular among scholars trying to explain postcommunist nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe. However, the institutional approach, like the other presented above, has its shortcomings. Like the modernist approach it cannot alone explain the regionalised support for nationalism in Slovakia, nor does it account for the impact of pre-communist nationalism. 54 This was also the case for minorities that did not have explicitly political institutions. For example, the Slovak Hungarian cultural organization CSEMADOK became the centre of Hungarian political activity in the first period after 1989. ss Brubaker: Nationalism Reframed, p. I 7 �56 SLOVAKIA Conclusion While the process thc1· 1ed to the break-up of the common Czech and Slovak stat:· after communissm has received a fair amount of attention, few scholars have attempted to comprehensively explain why nationalism had such succes in postcommunist Slovakia.56 The above is only an overview of the possible explanations for the success of post-communist nationalism that would meet with the most support among scholars today. In fact, it is doubtful there will ever be single generally accepted explanation, be it theoretical or historical. As Katherine Verdery noted, nationalism in the post-communist region 'has many causes, ranging from the macro-social to matters of personal identity. It is, in other words, overdetermined, and the relevant causes vary from one county to another. 5 7 What is needed to approach a consensus on what factors were most important in the Slovak case, is a series of studies that evaluate the explanatory power of various approaches, such as those above. If this article serves to encourage someone to write such a study, it has served its purpose. ,. To this author's knowledge, the only monograph that explicitly does so is Cohen: Politics without a Past. 57 Katherine Verdery: 'Nationalism and National Sentiment in Post-socialist Romania' , Slavic Review, vol. 52 (1993), no. 2, p. 180. � 28 SLOVAKJA 'Slovak som a Slovak budem ... 'l Explaining Nationalism in Post-Communist Slovakia Paal Sigurd Hilde The question of the position of Slovakia within the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (CSFR), the official name as of April 1990, was among the most divisive issues in Slovak and Czech politics in the post-communist era. As is well known, the conflict over the future basis and structure of the federation eventually led to the division of the state on 1 January 1993. Despite the impression given by many press reports at the time, the break-up was not the result of Slovak secession. With the exception of the Slovak National Party (SNS), representing about 10 per cent of the votes in Slovakia, all Slovak political parties successful in the decisive June 1992 elections were in favor of some kind of common state with the Czechs. This included the winner, Vladimir Meciar's Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS). There were, however, near irreconcilable policy differences between the left-populist HZDS and the right wing coalition victorious in the Czech Republic. Given the minority veto in the Federal assembly, whereby a minority of representatives from either Republic could block important legislation in the House of Nations, only a carefully crafted compromise could save the Federation from political deadlock. Rather than seeking a compromise, however, the Czech 1 The title is taken from Miroslav Kusfs 1981 samizdat essay. Reprinted in Miroslav Kusy: Eseje (Bratislava: Archa, 1991 ), pp. 88 -96 . �SLOVAKlA 29 right wing coalition led by Vaclav Klaus of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) pushed for the division of the state if a 'functional federation' was not possible. Unwilling and politically unable to accept Klaus 's vision of a strong federal government, Meciar reluctantly followed the Czech Prime Minister's lead towards a break-up. 2 The political phenomenon generally referred to as Slovak nationalisn was thus not the decisive force behind the break-up of the CSFR. 3 It was, however, Slovak nationalism that after the collapse of communism started the process that eventuallly led to the rejection of the common state by right-wing Czech parties. As all nationalisms, Slovak post-communist nationalism was a complex phenomenon. It came in moderate and more radical forms, focus sing on several political issues. In its most basic expression, it held that Slovakia and the Slovaks deserved a more equal and visible position within a state seen as unfairly dominated by the Czech part. 4 Basically all Slovak political parties, including the 2 On the process preceding the break-up see Eric Stein : Czecho/Slovakia: Ethnic Conflict, Constitutional Fiss ure, Negotiated Breakup (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997). 3 Nationalism is fo r the purpose of th is study defined as a world view, which holds that the pop ulation of the world is divided into nations. A nation, claim nationalists, consists of a grou p of people identifiable and identifying according to cultural, religious, historical and/or territorial criteria. Nationalists see nations as constituting natural social units and seek to promote the po litical, cultural, economic or other kind of status, in symbolical or more material terms, of the nation they claim to represent. The nationalist discourse, common to a ll forms of nationalism, is used thro ughout the world, most often to oppose or defe nd existing political units. See Craig Calhoun: Nationalism (Buckin gham : Open University Press, 1997). •Foran examination of mainstream Slovak national ism see Paal Sigurd Hil de: 'Slovak Nationalism and the Break-Up of Czechoslovakia', Europe-Asia Stu die s, vol. 51 (1999), no. 4, pp. 64 7-665. �30 SLOVAKIA most pro-federal, shared this demand. More radical expressions called not only for more radical solutions to the question of the Federation, but focussed also negatively on the position of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia and the perceived threat from Hungarian irredentism. In its exteme, which was promoted only by small, popular unrepresentative groups, Slovak · nationalism promoted radically anti-Czech, anti-Hungarian and sometimes also anti-Semitic views. This article will analyse another complexity of nationalism in post-communist Slovakia. 5 As with all nationalisms, the popular success of the Slovak form can be seen as a result of several, intricate causes. These include historical, political, social and econ omic determinants. The aim of this study is not to reach a final decision on what caused the apperance and success of post-communist nationalism. Rather, the article offers an overview of a range of possible explanations and the strengths and weaknesses of these. This might be a combination of all, some, just one or none . Ultimately, it was Slovak6 politicians and other political actors that gave nationalism the political significance it had after the collapse of communism. Without nationalists, there is no nationalism. Focusing merely on the role of actors, however, leaves many unanswered questions. The most important of these is why the demands and rhetoric of the nationalists gained such a favourable response from the population. Certain political factors in the postcommunist period can be seen to have facilitated the success of the nationalist agenda among Slovaks. One such factor was the 5 For the sake of simplifying the analysis the multi-issue complexity of Slovak nationalism will be not discussed in detail. • The word Slovak will in this article denote a person of Slovak culture and identity. Similarly, a Czechoslovak is a person of Czech or Slovak ethnicity with a Czechoslovak identity . �SLOVAK1A 31 institutional legacy of the socialist federation (more on this below). A second factor was the changing international environment after the Cold War, with the secession of the Baltic states, Slovenia and Croatia as examples of the new stress on national self-determination. Interaction with the two major 'others', the Hungarians and Czechs, was also important. The upsurge of post-communist nationalism in the Hungarian speaking minority in Slovakia and in Hungary, and the increasingly hostile attacks on Slovak nationalism, particularly in the Czech press, both served to spur Slovak nationalists into action. 7 Even more important in increasing support for nationalist de mands in post-communist Slovakia was the issue of economic reform. The generally harder impact of the Federal economic programme on the Slovak than on the Czech economy was by many taken as a sign of the disadvantaged position of Slovaks within the common state.8 The call for a greater Slovak control over economic policy thus became the one of the most important and substantial claims of Slovak nationalists . Yet, even given the activities of nationalists and the political factors conducive to the appeal of the nationalist discourse, to understand post-communist nationalism one must understand the historical developments that formed the basis for the appeal of the ethnic nationalism in Slovakia. Several historical precondition s can be identified . These are the topic of this study . 7 For examples of this see (H ungarian) Andrej Ferko: Stredna Europa - Eseje (Bratislava: VSSS, 1998) and (Czech) Dusan Sl obodnfk: Proti sedemhlavemu drakovi : Z dejin zapasu za Sia vensko (Bratislava: VSSS, 1998 ). ' In a January 1992 poll , for example. 53 % of respondents in Slovakia antici pated that the Czech economy wou ld grow at the expense of the Slovak. Cen trum pre social nu analyzu: Aktualne problemy Cesko-S/ovensk a, januar 1992 (Bratislava: CSA, 1992), p. 29. �32 SLOVAKIA Preconditions for the Success of Post-Communist Nationalism. To clarify the analysis of the historical preconditions of postcommunist nationalism, it is useful to divide the examination into two stages. The first stage focuses on the generally different impact nationalist ideas have had in the Eastern and Western parts of Europe. Whereas the civic, territorial version of nationalism became dominant in the West, ethnic, especially linguistically centred nationalism prevailed in Central and Eastern Europe (hereafter CEE)9. In the twentieth century, this ethnic nationalism be came the underlying ideal for the political reorganisations of CEE in two world wars. The first half of the twentieth century thus served to establish ethnic nationalism as a dominant political ideology and ethnic ties as primary lines of political identification. An example of the causes of the success of ethnic nationalism thus forms what one might call the 'deep ' historic background for understanding post-communist nationalism. The second stage in the analysis focuses on the impact of the socialist era. For the majority of the population of post-commu nist Slovakia, the just over forty years of communist indoctrination through education, mass media and other means, had formed their primary so urce of fo rmal socialisation. Moreover, Soviet Communism brought one of the most dramatic periods of social and economic change in Slovak history. The analysis below outlines the different assessments scholars have made of the impact the social, economic and political devel opments of the las t halfcentury before 1989 had on the strength of nationalism in Slovakia. • Central and Eastern Europe will in this article denote roughly the area of the fonner Habsburg Empire as well as the European parts of the Romanov and Ottoman em pires. �SLOVAKIA 33 The Success of Ethnic Nationalism. In his celebrated 1882 lecture, Ernest Rennan started by making a distinction 'between the fusion of "races" in the nations of Western Europe, and the retention of ethnic distinctiveness in Eastern Europe .' 10 In 1944, Hans Kohn developed this theme when he introduced the concepts of 'Western' and 'Eastern' nationalisms. 11 While challenged by several authors, this typology has survived the test of time and is used in various forms by scholars today. As most nationalisms contain both civic (Western) and ethnic (Eastern) elements, the distinction is, as Anthony D. Smith points out, analytical and not normative. 12 Czechoslovak nationalism in the interwar years, for example, was clearly ethnic m relations with Germans and Hungarians, but civic m its merger of Slovaks and Czechs into one nation. On the whole, scholars agree on the basic causes why civic nationalism was more successful in Western Europe and ethnic nationalism in the Eastern part of the continent. The main factors are generally identified as the socio-economic and, partly linked, cultural differences between the two regions at the time of the dissemination of nationalist ideas. 13 From about the fifteenth century, Western Europe saw the beginning of the development of the modem state. The new economy saw the abolition of serfdom , the weakening of the feudal-agricultural economy and the strengthening of trade and manufacture centred in cities. The develop0 Anthony D. Smith: Nationalism and Modernism (London: Routledge, 1998), p. 9 ' '' Hans Kohn : The Idea of Nationalism (New York : Collier, 1967), pp. 329-331. 12 Smith: Nationalism and Modernism, p. 126 '-' For a good analysis of East-West historical differences see Robert Bideleux and Ian Jeffries: A Hi/story of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change (Lo ndon, Routledge, I 998), pp. 15-25. �34 SLOVAKlA ment of centralised, strong states, yet with an increasingly urbanised and literate population capable of challenging the authority of the ruler, had important social, economic and political effects. Western, civic nationalism grew gradually out of the socio-economic developments and changes in political thought of pre-nineteenth century Europe. 14 This nationalism was state centred and focused on gaining the loyality of and homogenising the population of a territory. Crucially, nationalist ideas were promoted in societies whose elites, if not populations, were already quite homogenous culturally. This was particularly the case in Protestant, North-Western Europe. In important respects, Central and Eastern Europe was relatively 'backward' when nationalist ideas spread through the intellectual life of the region in the early nineteenth century. 15 The relative backwardness had both external and internal causes. The centuries of warfare with the Ottomans had weakened the states in the region and led to their inclusion into large empires. Hungary, which then included today's Slovakia, came under Habsburg rule after the battle of Mohacs in 1526. At the eve of the French Revolution, the Ottoman, Habsburg and Romanov empires dominated Central and Eastern Europe. Compared with rapidly developing Western states, the three Eastern empires remained despotic. As the feudal-agricultural economic structure retained its dominance, no strong middle class developed . In Slovakia, or Felvidek (Upper Hungary) as the Hungarian rulers called it, the development of mining in Eastern Slovakia, for instance, led to the growth of some smaller towns. Generally, these were dominated by ethnic 14 See Liah Greenfeld: Nationalism : Five Roads to Modernity (Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 1992 ) ,s The concept of Central and East European 'backwardness' is obviously very general and simplifying, also given the large differences within the region . �SLOVAKJA 35 Germans or Jews. The majority of the population of Slovakia remained rural and often illiterate. The socio-econonic conditions for cultural homogenisation were, therefore, not present. The ethnically very heterogeneous dynasties of Central and Eastern Europe were initially not interested in trying to turn their empires into nation-states on the Western model. 16 Only in the final decades of the nineteenth century did Tsarist Russia attempt to Russify the Western Borderlands and the Hungarian leadership promote its policy of Magyarisation (Hungarianisation). 17 Given its lack of an ethnic nobility and being an integral part of Hungary proper, the Slav population of Felvidek was particularly exposed. Yet even here the Hungarian nation-bulding project did not succeed. History was soon to take a surprising turn. Ultimately more successful than the civic nation builders in CEE were elites opposed to central rule and integration. State centred, civic nationalism had no advantages for such elites. When they adopted nationalist discourse as a political tool , they were inspired by German romanticism rather than Western liberalism . Nationalists in Central and Eastern Europe looked not to Locke and Stuart Mill, but to Herder and Fichte. In German romantic thought, it was not political boundaries that determined the extent of a nation , but culture and particularly language. In the ethnically diverse empires of CEE such ideas were to have a dramatic impact. It was no coincidence that two leading Slovak (Pan-Slav) nationalists, Jan Kollar and Pavo) Jozef Safarik, both studied at "' Charles Ingrao: ' Forum: Understanding Ethnic Conflict in Central Europe: An Historical Perspective', Nationalities Papers, vol. 27 ( 1999), no. 2, p. 293 . 17 See Edward C. Thaden (ed.): Russification in the Baltic Provinces and Fin land, J855 - 19 14 (Princenton: Princenton University Press, 198 I ) and Tibor Frank: 'Hungary and the Dual Monarchy, 1867- 1890' , in Peter F. Sugar, Peter Hanak and Tibor Frank (eds.): A History of Hungary (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994). �36 SLOVAKJA the University of Jena in the early nineteenth century. 18 The 'father of Slovak nationalism', Cudovit Stur, like Kollar and Safarik, a Protestant, also studied in Germany, in Halle. 19 By the outbreak of World War One, ethnic nationalism had emerged as one of the leading political ideologies in Central and Eastern Europe. In Austria-Hungary, leaders claiming to represent various ethnically defined nations, such as Slovak nationalists in the Slovak National Party, promoted their rights within the Empire. World War I was to bring victory to such nationalist programmes. Towards the end of the war, when the Entente Powers started supporting the programmes of Central and Eastern Europe (mainly exile) nationalists , their support was limited to the de mand for an administrative reorganisation of Austria-Hungary . By 1918, however, the right to self-determination had come to mean the right for independence. Allied victory in World War I thus resulted in a reorganisation of the Central European region according to the principle of the 'self-determination of nations', that is, the self-determination of ethnically defined nations. This right was by no means allowed for all , particularly not for the 'defeated nations'. All the new and old, expanded states of the region contained sizeable ethnic minority groups . While political life in Austria-Hungary had increasingly taken the form of a struggle between the central authorities and nationalist leaders, inter-war Central and Eastern Europe took this to a new level. In the new Czechoslovak Republic as well, ethnic belonging became the main dividing line in politics. Ethnic Ger- "Victor S. Mamatey : 'The Establishment of the Republic' . in Victor S. Mamatey and Radomir Luz.a (eds.): A History of the Czechoslovak Republic: l 9 l 81948 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973), p. 6. 19 Peter Petro: A History of Slovak Literature (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press), p. 65 . �SLOVAKIA 37 mans and Hungarians (Magyars) voted overwhelmingly for ethnically based parties . The Slovaks, according to official ideology part of the Czechoslovak nation, were divided. As in the late Habsburg period, one part of the Slovak political elite was Czechoslovak nationalist, another, strongly connected to the Catholic clergy, was more sceptical to the Czechoslovak idea. Loyal to the Czechoslovak state until pushed into declaring independence inl939, the Slovak nationalist movement promoted Slovak, as opposed to Czechoslovak, national awareness and nationalism throughout the inter-war period . While it is impossible to get an accurate picture of the popular support for Slovak nationalism after World War II, it seems safe to agree with Carol Skalnik Leff's claim that when taking power in 1948, the communists faced a 'full-blown' Slovak nationalism. 20 If the creation of a Slovak education system, the flowering of Slovak culture and promotion of Slovak nationalism in politics was not sufficient to cement the importance of ethnic belonging and nationalism in people's thinking in the inter-war years, the Second War War was .2 1 With the rise towards authoritarian rule by the Slovak People ' s Party from the autumn of 1938, ethnic nationalism became a central part of official ideology. In the region as a whole, ethnicity became a supreme organizing principle increasing or limiting chances for employment, economic prosperity and even survival. Supported by the Catholic clergy, the Slovak state sought to educate the Slovaks into becoming good nationalists. Nationalism was promoted in schools, the mass media and 10 Carol Skalnik Leff: National Conflict in Czech oslovakia (Princeton: Prince- ton University Press. 1987), p. 281. 11 On national identity in the inter-war period see Owen V. Johnson: Slovakia 191 8- 1938: Education and the Making of a Nati on (Boulder: Co lumbia Uni versity Press, 1985). �38 SLOVAKIA official and religious life in general. 22 For many groups among ethnic Slovaks, the war-time state was a positive experience. The relative economic prosperity, the ease of employment (especially for the young intelligentsia) and the elevated position of the Catholic faith and church were aspects of the state that for some Slovaks compared favourably with pre-war Czechoslovakia. Obviously, for parts of the population, the experience had been clearly negative. For Jews and Romanies it was one of inhuman crimes. Yet, despite the horrors and injustices, the experience of independence under German influence strengthened the position of nationalism in Slovak society. While the leaders of the 1944 Slovak National Uprising had called for the reestablishment of Czechoslovakia, they did not want to return to the centralist system of the First Republic (1918-1938). The extent to which Slovakia had been changed by the war became evident in the 1946 election. Whereas the Slovak political scene had been split on the issue of Slovakia's position within the common state before the war, all parties standing in 1946 supported Slovak self-rule within Czechoslovakia in their programmes. 23 The Impact of the Socialist Period. In the intersection between empirical studies that directly or indirectly offer an explanation for the success of nationalism in post-communist Slovakia and general theoretical works on nationalism, it is possible to identify three main approaches to the question of the impact of the communist era. The first focuses 22 See e.g. Yeshayahu Jelinek : The Parish Republic: H/inka 's Slovak People's Party 1939- 1945 (Boulder: Columbia University Press, 1976). lJ Jan Ryc hlik : Cesi a Slovaci ve 20.stoleti: Cesko-slovenske vztahy 19451992 (Bratislava: Academic Electronic Press, 1998), pp.40-42. �SLOVAKIA 39 mainly on the way in which nationalism survived despite the forty years of communism. Given the strength of Slovak nationalism before Communism and the resilience of ethnic and cultural ties, nationalism would, according to this approach, have survived whatever policy the Communist Party had chosen. Scholars taking this approach would put the greatest emphasis on the 'deep' historic background outlined above. The second approach, where scholars stress the continuation of nationalism through the socialist period, could be considered the mainstream historical view . This approach focuses on the way Slovak national identity and support for nationalism survived the socialist era not only because of their pre-1948 strength, but also due to certain policies during Communism that served to strenghten their basis of support. According to the final approach, the success of post-communist nationalism was mainly due to the policies adopted by the Communist Party. Putting much less emphasis on the strength of precommunist national identity and nationalism (and thus the •deep' historical explanation), the 'due to' approach takes two main forms . One focuses on the effects of the socio-economic development of Slovakia during Communism, the other on the impact of the construction of nationally based institutional structures. These three analytical categories form a continuum rather than three clearly identifiable positions. Differences between studies falling into the different categories are generally one of focus or degree. Few scholars argue the extreme positions: that postcommunist nationalism was purely a revival of suppressed nationalism, or that it was a result of developments in the communist period only. Most would note the continued expressions of Slovak nationalism during the communist era, and then stress the degree to which the socialist period suppressed , maintained or actually strengthened the appeal of nationalism. �40 SLOVAKIA Nationalism Despite Communism. Particulary in the first years after the collapse of Communism, the 'retum-of-history'argument was commonly used to explain the success of nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe. Precommunist nationalism, merely suppressed by the communist regimes, re-emerged to become the political factor it had been forty years earlier. As one historian put it: Communism may have temporarily relieved Central Europe's ethnic tensions for nearly half a century. But if religion was the opiate of the people, Communism proved no more effective than methadone (sic) in suspending their craving for ethnically whole nation states, without providing a cure. 24 In the literature on nationalism in Slovakia, Jacques Rupnik supported this view when he argued that Slovak nationalism had been in the 'communist refrigerator' for most of the period after 1948. 25 Of the monographs in English discussing Slovak nationalism, Stanislav Kirschaum's A History of Slovakia: The Struggle for Survival is, arguably, one of those that leans most toward the 'despite ' approach. 26 While describing in detail the persistence of nationalism during Communism and the radical changes Slovak society went through, Kirschbaum notes no positive effect of the communist regime on the strength of Slovak national identity and nationalism. Rather, he highlights the attempts the communist lea- 1 ' Ingrano: 'Forum ... ' , p. 307 . 15 Jaques Rupnik, quoted in Martin Butora and Zora Butorova: 'Slovakia after the Split ' ,Joumal o[Democracy,vol. 4(1993), no. 2,p. 75 . 16 Stanislav Kirschbaum : A History of Slovakia: The Struggle for Survival (London : Macmillian, 1995). �SLOVAKIA 41 dership made at suppressing national identity.27 If Slovak nationalism gained strength during the communist period , it was more a reaction to the 'Czechoslovakism' favoured by the regime .2 8 The primordialist theories of nationalism would be the most obvious theoretical basis for the works in this approach. Stressing the ' ineffable, and at times overpowering' strength of the ' cultural givens' in a society, Clifford Geertz, for example, points to how ethnic ties in some societies come to be seen as a 'natural some would say spiritual affinity' .29 Given the strong emphasis put on cultural belonging in Slovak history, at least since the late nineteeth century, one could argue that ethnicity had gained a primordial character in Slovak society by the end of World War II. Consequently, the communist regime would not have been able to suppress Slovak identity, and therefore neither the potential for Slovak nationalism. While not going as far as the primordialist in stressing the naturalness of central ties, the so-called ethno-sym- bolist theories of nationalism could also be interpreted as lending support to the 'despite' approach. According to Anthony D. Smith, post-communist nationalism confirms the resilience and strength of ehnic myths, symbols and popular memory. He writes:' Though the timing of the current ethnic revival is a function of social and geopolitical changes, their contents and intensities are largely determined resources,' by pre-existing ethno-sy mbolic 30 27 Note e.g. ibid., pp. 228, 245, 252. Kirschbaum ta.lees a very favo urable view of Slovak nationalism and a more negative one of the common Czech and Slovak state . " Ibid., p. 24 7. 19 Clifford Geertz: The Interpretation of Cultures (London : Fontana, 1973). pp . 259-260 . 0 ' Anthony D. Smith : 'LSE Centennial Lecture: The Resurgence of Nationalism ? Myth and memory in the renewal of nations ', British Journal of Sociology, vo l. �42 SLOVAKIA Empirical support for the 'despite' argument can be found in post-communist Slovakia. In a study of regional patterns of political culture, a group of Slovak sociologists found strong similarities between the inter-war and post-communist era. 31 In both periods, nationalist and populist parties gained most support in northwest and central Slovakia. The persistence of this regional pattern seems to suggest that at least elements of pre-communist political culture had been preserved. Moreover, studies from other post-communist countries show that national minorities that were actively discouraged from maintaining their separate identity and culture, still emerged to voice nationalist demands after Communism. In Poland, this was the case with the German minority .32 While counter-factual history necessarily amounts to speculation, it does seem likely that regardless of what the policy the Communists had adopted, also the separate Slovak identity, in both its cultural and political expression, would have survived. The relatively short period of communist rule would clearly have facilitated this. As can be seen from the above, focusing on links to pre-communist nationalism and the preservation of popular myths and memory has some advantages. Firstly, it points to the strength of ethnic nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe after the Second World War. The conviction that ethnically defined nations formed natural bases for political legitimacy, be it in a separate state or as 47 (1996), no. 4, p. 573. Elsewhere, Smith does stress the role of communi st policies in preserving these myths and memories. See e.g. Smith: Nationalism and Modernism, 237, endnote 9. 31 Vladimir Krivy , Viera Fialova and Daniel Balko: Slovensko a jeho regi6ny: sociokultume suvislosti volebneho spravania (Bratislava: Nadacia Media, 1996). 12 Janusz Mucha: 'Democratisation and Cultural Minorities: The Polish Case of the 1980s/90s', East European Quarterly, vol. 25 (1992), no. 4. �SLOVAKIA 43 an autonomous region within a larger entity, had by 1948 been deeply ingrained in CEE. This was not only the case with most of the Slovak political elite, but also, many historians would agree, large parts of the population. Secondly, stressing the preservation of political culture is perhaps the only way to explain the continued regional pattern of support for nationalism. In its pure form, the 'despite' argument rejects any important effect of the socialist period on national identity and the popular view of nationalism. If one accepts that national identity is a social construct, that nations are not some kind of natural social unit, this jump across forty years of history is difficult to defend. As shall be discussed in more detail below, 1948-1989 was probably the most dramatic period of social and economic change in Slovak history. It was also a period of an intense policy of officially managed, public socialisation. Given the impact this period had on people' s lives, it seems difficult to assume that popular views on national identity and nationalism would not also change. One example that it had is that before 1948 Slovakia was a deeply religious society and mainstream nationalism was strongly connected to the Catholic Church. In the post-communist period, however, the leading nationalists parties HZDS and SNS were both secular. Catholic nationalism, as represented by the Christian Democratic Party (KDH), was much less successful. Explanations focusing more on the way the communist period served to change Slovak national identity and thereby the bases for nationalism during that period, thus seemingly provide a more convincing explanation for the widespread appeal of nationalism in the postcommunist era. Finallly, the 'despite' argument cannot explain the emergence of 'new' nationalisms in the post-communist period . Some groups without a history of common national identity and nationalism formed nationalist parties after 1989. Most im- �44 SLOVAKIA portantly, this included the Roma community. Also the emergence of a relatively strong nationalism in Moravia and Silesia was a sign of the increased importance of cultural identity. 33 Traditionally a regional identity and before Communism never a major political issue, the Moravian-Silesian autonomy party became the largest party in the Czech National Council in 1990. Nationalism Through the Communist Era. The 'through' approach makes up the middle ground between stressing the resilience of pre-communist nationalism and the strengthening of national identity during the communist period. Studies falling into this category would seek to explain the perpetuation of national conflict due to the persistence of support for nationalism built up before the communist period and to certain factors that served to strengthen Slovak national identity during the 1948-1989 era. Most historical studies tend to be in this category. Carol Skalnik Leff' s 1987 seminal book on national conflict in Czechoslovakia is probably the best study in English in this category. 34 In Leff's analysis, the deep social, economic and cultural differences between the Czech Lands and Slovakia were politicised during the inter-was republic. A triangular pattern of support and opposition was created, whereby the central leadership in Prague relied on the pro-Czechoslovak section of the Slovak political elite to help neutralise the demands of Slovak nationalists. In the communist period , this pattern persisted until it was displaced JJ Jaroslav Krejci and Pavel Machonin: Czechoslovakia 1918- 1992: A Laboratory for Social Change (Oxford: Macmill an and St. Anthony ' s, 1996), p. 51 . 14 Leff: National Conflict. Ryc hlik: Cesi a Slovaci .. . 1945-1992 is a later, eve n more detailed work of this approcah. �SLOVAKIA 45 with the ascent of Gustav Husak to power in 1969. Both the interwar and the socialist regimes failed in their attempts to modernize away the problem of Slovak nationalism (culturally and educationaly in the inter-war period, economically during socialism). These failures, combined with the unwillingness of both regimes to adequately accommodate the Slovak nationalist's demands, led to a growing sense of antagonism (mutual antagonism, as Czechs resented that Slovaks used times of international crisis to force through their demands). Leff concludes: 'Given the persistence of Slovak national feeling, on the one hand, and Czech power, on the other, the result has been persistent national conflict'. 35 While Leff notes that Slovak nationalism was strong in the post-war period, much due to the experience of statehood during the war, she also identifies several factors during the communist era that served to strengthen its basis. The existence of separate Slovak political institutions, for instance, was important. Leff writes: 'Week as the KSS (Slovak Communist Party) and the SNR (Slovak National Council) were in the years following 1948, both would retain the capacity to serve as nationalist time bombs. ' 36 One important reason for this was that the system of separate Slovak institutions created a Slovak elite separate from Prague-based Czechoslovak one. 37 Also other aspects of the regime 's policy proved counter-productive to its official aim of promoting the 'coming together' (zblfienie) of Czechs and Slovaks. The mass media, for instance, was 'segmented and not adapted to the integrative intentions of the policy-making elite. 38 Thus , by the late 1980, 'the Slovak question ' had become 'deeply, perhaps 35 Leff: National Conflict, p. 282. Ibid ., p. 112 . 37 Ibid ., p.294 . " Ibid., p. 297 . 36 �46 SLOVAKlA irreversibly, woven into the fabric of Czechoslovak politics as usual'. This statement carries with it the implication that the Slovak question wi1l continue to assert itself as a political force in the future .39 Three years after Leff published her study, her prediction came true . Theoretically, the 'through' approach occupies the middle ground between the primoridalists emphasis on the strength of cultural ties and the stress put on social processes by the modernist and institutional views outlined below. With more emphasis on the way myths, symbols, values and memories are preserved in societies, ethno-symbolist theories would come closest to forming a theoretical basis for this approach. From the ethno-symbolist perspective, the communists ' attempt to defuse nationalism in Slovakia by flagging symbols of self-determination could only serve to strengthen the feeling of national identity. The reason for this was that the only symbols that would evoke a positive response from the population would be symbols that had a basis in popular tradition . For example, while the communists did try to reframe the historical image of r.udovft Stur as a social revolutionary, they could not eradicate the view of Stur as a champion of Slovak rights so strongly ingrained in popular tradition and myths . As Smith writes : "Ethno-history is no sweetshop in which nationalists may ' pick and mix'; it sets limits to any appropriation by providing a distinctive context and patterns of events, personages and ,, 4 0 processes ... . The most obvious strength of the 'through' approach is that by stressing both the strong social basis of pre-communist nationalism and the way it was maintained and changed during the 1948-1989 period , it can account more or less convincingly for 39 ' 0 Ibid. , pp. 281 -282 . Smith: Nationalism and Modernism, p. 45 �SLOVAKIA 47 nationalism in both periods. It points to the continuity of not only political conflict over the status of Slovakia, but also that of popular symbols and myths. Noting how the communist period maintained and strengthened preexisting national identity and traditions also allows for an explanation of the persistent regional differences in support for nationalism. Despite these important strengths, however, the 'through' approach does have some weak points. Some will argue that the most important of these is that it does not go far enough in emphasising how dramatically the communist period changed Slovak society. As with the 'despite' approach, the focus on the continuation of national conflict through the communist period also faces problems in explaining the 'new' nationalisms of the post-communist era. The political organisation and activism of the Romany community after 1989, for example, is difficult to explain without stressing the way the communist period served to strengthen the importance of ethnic belonging. Nationalism Due to Communism. Studies focusing on the way the communist period . served to strengthen national identity and nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe are generally more theoretically grounded than the two approaches above. The presentation of these will therefore have to be a bit different. Two main theoretical starting points can be identified. 41 The first, based on modernisation theories of 41 Shari Cohen supposes a third, unconventional, approach in her Politics without a Past: The Absence of History in Postcommunist Nationalism (Lon- don: Duke University Press, 1999). It was not the strength of national identity in Slovakia that formed the basis for the success of post-communist nationalism, Cohen claims, but rather the lack of a clear historical consciousness. By �48 SLOVAKJA nationalism, focus on the massive socio-economic changes in the CEE countries during the fourty years of communist rule. As many other countries and areas of the region, Slovakia underwent a rapid transformation from an agricultural to an industrial society. Such a process of social modernization, scholars such as Ernest Gellner claim, is the basis for the strength of post-communist nationalism. The second starting point is based on the so called 'new institutionalism' in social science. According to its proponents, the communist regimes honoured their Leninist commitment to national self-determination by building nationally defined institutions and stressing national identities. Rather than, as intended, weakening the social basis for nationalism, however, their policy served to strengthen it. Put otherwise: the Soviet type nationality policy was to be 'nationalist in form, socialist in content ' . When the socialist content disappeared, only the nationalist form remained . Modernisation. It is the erosion of traditional society and its values with urbanisation and the growth of the state that, in Gellner's view, is responsible for the emergence of nationalism.42 In an agricultural society, where mobility is low and socialisation within the family and local community is sufficient, a person's language and culture is of little consequence. Urban life, particularly in the industrial age, exercises different pressures on the population. Industrial society, requiring formal socialisation through an education preventing the emergence of a collective memory of World War II, the communist regime made Slovak society susceptible to elite manipulation after the collapse of communism. 42 Ernest Gellner: Nations and Nationalism (Oxford: Blackwell, 1983). �SLOVAKIA 49 system, thus makes an individual's culture and especially language important. Particularly when cultural differences overlapped with an actual or perceived pattern of social and economic discrimination, nationalism is a likely outcome. In socialist societies, as they suppressed civil society, class identities and other social lines of identification , the importance of cultural identities became particularly strong. When the regimes collapsed, there existed no 'serious rival ideology ' or any 'serious rival institutions' capable of providing alternatives to identification along national lines. 43 In the resulting 'double vacuum', nationalism, the 'culture of industrialism ', was 'the most plausible and easily available candidate for filling this emptiness. ' 44 After the Communists came to power in Czechoslovakia in 1948, Slovakia entered its most important period of socio-economic development. Over a period of seventeen years, the share of agricultural workers in the total workforce more than halved: from 62.2% in 1948 to30.1% in 1965. 4 5 By 1989 it has reached 14.5%. Similarly, the percentage of the population living in cities with more than 20,000 inhabitants increased from 11.5% in 1950 to 40.8% in 1991 .46 In the space of a few decades, Slovakia was transformed from an agricultural to an industrial society. That the industrial structure of Slovakia was accordingly based on the socialist idealisation of heavy industry, matters little in this context. Territorial and social mobility increased, as did the general level of education. The steadily increasing availability and reach 43 Ernest Gellner: ' Nationalism in the Vacuum', in Alexander J. Motyl (ed .): Thinking Theoretically about Soviet Nationalities: History and Comparison in the Study of the USSR(New York: Columbia University Press, 1992), p. 250. 44 Ernest Gellner: 'Homeland of the Unrevolution' , Daedalus, vol. 122 (1993) , no. 3, p. 152. 45 See Krejci and Machonin : Czechoslovakia, p. 120. 46 Ibid., p. 126. �50 SLOVAKIA of mass communication, such as radio and television, also served to promote a standardised ('high') culture. Combined, these factors served to increase cultural homogeneity in the Slovak population and put focus on the differences between the Slovaks and other cultural groups in society. An individual's cultural-cumnational identity was therefore highlighted . The main strength of the modernist approach is that it brings our attention to the massive social and economic changes in the region during Communism. Slovak society was fundamentally changed through industrialisation and urbanisation . Most theories of nationalism hold that modernisation (towards a Western type society) is at least conducive to the formation of national consciousness and emergence of nationalism. If one accepts this , the socialist period is likely to have strengthened the appeal of nationalism in Slovakia. Furthemore, the modernisation approach offers an explanation for why new ethnic conflicts arose once Communism released its grip. Even the communities without the history of nationalism can be seen to have been mobilised as a result of industrialisation. There are, however, several weaknesses with this modernist view. First, in its pure form it is very functional and does not accredit much importance to ideas. This is problematic particularly because the massive transformation and uprooting of Slovak society took place under heavy pressure from socialist socialisation. Second, if urbanisation and industrialisation were the main causes of post-communist nationalism, then one should expect to find the strongest nationalism where the effects of these processes was strongest. Before 1948 eastern Slovakia was the most 'backward' and multi-cultural region of Slovakia. Consequently, it was one of the regions that went through the most dramatic socio-economic development during Communism. Despite this , after 1989, sup- �SLOVAKIA 51 port for nationalist parties in the region was well below the Slovak average. 47 Indeed, inhabitants of Kosice, the 'capital' of eastern Slovakia and the second largest city in the country, were among those most vocally opposed to the break-up of the CSFR in the autumn of 1992.48 The Institutional Approach. The institutional approach places the cause of the strength of post-communist nationalism in the policies and structure, the institutions, of the communist regimes. The stress Leninism put on the right of national self-determination led most Soviet-style socialist regimes to not only promote national self-identification, but also build institutional frameworks along national lines. This served to institutionalise national identity as the key identity and thus create the nationalist bias of politics after the collapse of Communism. In its most basic form , the institutional approach stresses the way in which members of political institutions tend to promote the interests of their institutions in competition with others . Throughout the socialist period, Slovakia had cultural, academic , administrative and political institutions separate from the all-Czechoslovak ones. Due to the policy of stressing the Slovakness of these institutions, recruitment was conducted almost exclusively in Slovakia, and sometimes among Slovaks only. The separate poli tical institutions consisted most importantly of a branch of the Communist Party (KSS), a parliamentary assembly (SNR), and 47 See Krivy, Fialova and Balko: Slovensko ajeho regi6ny, pp.29 1-342 . •• For a more humorous expression of this see Peter Holub: 'At' uz to nestes tf piijde: Kosice se branf mirodnfmu sjednocenf', Respect, 24-30, August 1992, pp. 5-6. �52 SLOVAKIA ( except for the period 1960-69) an executive branch. While limited in their political importance during Communism, these institutions gained a dramatically different role with democratisation . Not long after the collapse of Communism, the Slovak government and legislature started calling for an increase in their competencies. Using nationalist rhetoric to mobilise the population was an obvious way to gain support for strengthening the authority and power of the Slovak institutions at the expense of federal ones. On a more complex level, the institutional approach examines the wider impact institutional structures had on creating certain attitudes and beliefs in the population. One leading institutional theoretician , Rogers Brubaker, explained the strength of postcommunist nationalism in the Soviet Union as a result of the ' dual institutionalisation ' of what he termed ' territorial nationhood ' and 'ethnic nationality ' .49 Territorial nationhood refers to the linkin g of a specific territory to national identity through the admi nistrative division of the country according to nationality. As with most administrative components in the Soviet Union, Slovakia was a clearly defined territorial unit interpreted as the homeland of the Slovaks. While this was made explicit after the federalisation of Czechoslovakia in 1968, it was implicit already from the end of World War IL The principle of equality (rovny s rovnym) introduced during the war and maintained in the 1948 Constitution •• Rogers Brubaker: Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the national question in the New Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp 23-54. The nationality and, particularly after 1969, the institutional stru cture of socialist Czechoslovakia was almost identical to that of the Soviet Unio n. �SLOVAKIA 53 was clearly interpreted as a principle of equality of nations. 50 Hungarians, Ruthenes, Romanies and other national groups in Slovakia were national minorities; the Slovaks were the statotvorny (literally: state forming) nation. Along with officially pronouncing Czechoslovakia a country of two nations, the regime built institutions to create the appearance of national self-determination. While Czechoslovakia did not go as far as the Soviet Union in awarding the constituent republics symbols of statehood, the Czech and Slovak Socialist Republics were in the 1968 Law on Federalisation declared to have the status of independent legal subjects that surrendered part of their sovereignty to the Federation. The Republics were also awarded the 'inalienable right of self-determination even to the point of separation'. 51 The Law on Federalization thus 'rehabilitated and restored the idea of a national state as an attribute of a fully developed nation'. 52 The effect of this policy was to encourage Slovaks to think of themselves as a separate nation with wide-ranging political rights. The second aspect of Brubaker's institutional approach focuses on the way the communist regime made ethnic identification compulsory. In common English usage, the concepts of 'nationality' and 'citizenship' are synonymous. In the socialist federations, however, the distinction was important. All who held Czechoslovak passports were Czechoslovak citizens. Their nationality, however, would be Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Ruthene, Romany, Polish, Ukrainian or some other. A person's nationality 5 ° Katarina Zavacka: "Metamorf6zy statopravneho postavenia Slovenska v Ceskoslovensku v rokoch 1948-1967" in Vladimir Gonec (ed. ): Cesko-s/oven ska historicka rocenka I 998 (Brno: Masarykova Universita, 1998), pp. 17-29. 51 See ' Ustavnf zakon 143/ 1968 Sb.' at http://www.psp. czldocs/textslconstitution. 1968.html. 52 Kusy: Eseje,p. 69 . �54 SLOVAKIA was ascertained at birth according to that of her of his parents and could generally not be changed. As in inter-war Czechoslovakia, the communist regime did promote a Czechoslovak political identity. Avoiding the word narod, nation, which has clear ethnic connotations, the communists called for the creation of a 'Czec hoslovak working people ' (ceskoslovensky pracujlici J'ud). The identity was not, even in relation to the Czechs and Slovaks, intended as a Czechoslovak cultural identity. On the contrary, the Communist Party put great stress on promoting the cultures of the various national groups, particularly the Slovak. Generous reso urces were devoted to building cultural institutions and supporting the cultural life of all official nationalities. 53 For most children primary and sometimes secondary and higher education was available in their mother tongue. While all culture was to be socialist, the art forms favored by the regime, those that were seen to form the basis of national culture (s uch as folk dancing and traditional artisan-and craftsmanship), were not particularly affected . The Centre for the Production of Folk Art (UI:UV) and the folk-dancing and folk-mu sic group the Slovak People' s Artistic Collective (SI:UK) were presented as the best of centuries-old , traditional Slovak culture, thus reminding all of not only the cultural , but also historical separateness of the Slovaks. Combined, these two processes of institutionalisation made nations and nationality into basic units of people' s world-view. When the communist regime collapsed and democratisation started, nationally based institutions and their elites became centres of 51 See Elena Londakova: ' Slovcnske predjarie: Myty a realita slovenskej inte li gcncic v Ceskoslovensku pred rokom 1956 (a po iiom)', in Vladimir Gonec (ed .): Cesko-s/ovensk;i historick;i rocenka I 998 (Brno: Masarykova Universita, 1998), p. 2 10 and Dusan Kovac: Dejiny Slovenska (Prague: NLN, 1998), pp. 275-276 . �SLOVAKIA 55 political activity. 54 National identity became the basic organising. principle in politics. The nationally defined elites in the separate national institutions could gain popular support among a population identified and identifying according to their nationality by claiming to defend the interest of that nation. The system of compulsory national identification thus became the basis for new political constituencies. The main strength of the institutional approach is that it offers a very powerfull explanation of the near universal succes of national identity and nationalism as political principles after Communism. It does so by placing the cause of this succes in the very world-view engendered by the communist regime. As Brubaker writes: the communist nationality policy 'created a political field supremely conductive to nationalism' .55 The 'new' nationalism of the post-communist period can therefore be explained. Due to its explanatory strength, the institutional approach has emerged as one of the most popular among scholars trying to explain postcommunist nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe. However, the institutional approach, like the other presented above, has its shortcomings. Like the modernist approach it cannot alone explain the regionalised support for nationalism in Slovakia, nor does it account for the impact of pre-communist nationalism. 54 This was also the case for minorities that did not have explicitly political institutions. For example, the Slovak Hungarian cultural organization CSEMADOK became the centre of Hungarian political activity in the first period after 1989. ss Brubaker: Nationalism Reframed, p. I 7 �56 SLOVAKIA Conclusion While the process thc1· 1ed to the break-up of the common Czech and Slovak stat:· after communissm has received a fair amount of attention, few scholars have attempted to comprehensively explain why nationalism had such succes in postcommunist Slovakia.56 The above is only an overview of the possible explanations for the success of post-communist nationalism that would meet with the most support among scholars today. In fact, it is doubtful there will ever be single generally accepted explanation, be it theoretical or historical. As Katherine Verdery noted, nationalism in the post-communist region 'has many causes, ranging from the macro-social to matters of personal identity. It is, in other words, overdetermined, and the relevant causes vary from one county to another. 5 7 What is needed to approach a consensus on what factors were most important in the Slovak case, is a series of studies that evaluate the explanatory power of various approaches, such as those above. If this article serves to encourage someone to write such a study, it has served its purpose. ,. To this author's knowledge, the only monograph that explicitly does so is Cohen: Politics without a Past. 57 Katherine Verdery: 'Nationalism and National Sentiment in Post-socialist Romania' , Slavic Review, vol. 52 (1993), no. 2, p. 180. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2003, Vol. 37 Description An account of the resource Vol. 37 (No. 68-69), 2003. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2003 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 28 SLOVAKJA 'Slovak som a Slovak budem ... 'l Explaining Nationalism in Post-Communist Slovakia Paal Sigurd Hilde The question of the position of Slovakia within the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (CSFR), the official name as of April 1990, was among the most divisive issues in Slovak and Czech politics in the post-communist era. As is well known, the conflict over the future basis and structure of the federation eventually led to the division of the state on 1 January 1993. Despite the impression given by many press reports at the time, the break-up was not the result of Slovak secession. With the exception of the Slovak National Party (SNS), representing about 10 per cent of the votes in Slovakia, all Slovak political parties successful in the decisive June 1992 elections were in favor of some kind of common state with the Czechs. This included the winner, Vladimir Meciar's Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS). There were, however, near irreconcilable policy differences between the left-populist HZDS and the right wing coalition victorious in the Czech Republic. Given the minority veto in the Federal assembly, whereby a minority of representatives from either Republic could block important legislation in the House of Nations, only a carefully crafted compromise could save the Federation from political deadlock. Rather than seeking a compromise, however, the Czech 1 The title is taken from Miroslav Kusfs 1981 samizdat essay. Reprinted in Miroslav Kusy: Eseje (Bratislava: Archa, 1991 ), pp. 88 -96 . SLOVAKlA 29 right wing coalition led by Vaclav Klaus of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) pushed for the division of the state if a 'functional federation' was not possible. Unwilling and politically unable to accept Klaus 's vision of a strong federal government, Meciar reluctantly followed the Czech Prime Minister's lead towards a break-up. 2 The political phenomenon generally referred to as Slovak nationalisn was thus not the decisive force behind the break-up of the CSFR. 3 It was, however, Slovak nationalism that after the collapse of communism started the process that eventuallly led to the rejection of the common state by right-wing Czech parties. As all nationalisms, Slovak post-communist nationalism was a complex phenomenon. It came in moderate and more radical forms, focus sing on several political issues. In its most basic expression, it held that Slovakia and the Slovaks deserved a more equal and visible position within a state seen as unfairly dominated by the Czech part. 4 Basically all Slovak political parties, including the 2 On the process preceding the break-up see Eric Stein : Czecho/Slovakia: Ethnic Conflict, Constitutional Fiss ure, Negotiated Breakup (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997). 3 Nationalism is fo r the purpose of th is study defined as a world view, which holds that the pop ulation of the world is divided into nations. A nation, claim nationalists, consists of a grou p of people identifiable and identifying according to cultural, religious, historical and/or territorial criteria. Nationalists see nations as constituting natural social units and seek to promote the po litical, cultural, economic or other kind of status, in symbolical or more material terms, of the nation they claim to represent. The nationalist discourse, common to a ll forms of nationalism, is used thro ughout the world, most often to oppose or defe nd existing political units. See Craig Calhoun: Nationalism (Buckin gham : Open University Press, 1997). •Foran examination of mainstream Slovak national ism see Paal Sigurd Hil de: 'Slovak Nationalism and the Break-Up of Czechoslovakia', Europe-Asia Stu die s, vol. 51 (1999), no. 4, pp. 64 7-665. 30 SLOVAKIA most pro-federal, shared this demand. More radical expressions called not only for more radical solutions to the question of the Federation, but focussed also negatively on the position of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia and the perceived threat from Hungarian irredentism. In its exteme, which was promoted only by small, popular unrepresentative groups, Slovak · nationalism promoted radically anti-Czech, anti-Hungarian and sometimes also anti-Semitic views. This article will analyse another complexity of nationalism in post-communist Slovakia. 5 As with all nationalisms, the popular success of the Slovak form can be seen as a result of several, intricate causes. These include historical, political, social and econ omic determinants. The aim of this study is not to reach a final decision on what caused the apperance and success of post-communist nationalism. Rather, the article offers an overview of a range of possible explanations and the strengths and weaknesses of these. This might be a combination of all, some, just one or none . Ultimately, it was Slovak6 politicians and other political actors that gave nationalism the political significance it had after the collapse of communism. Without nationalists, there is no nationalism. Focusing merely on the role of actors, however, leaves many unanswered questions. The most important of these is why the demands and rhetoric of the nationalists gained such a favourable response from the population. Certain political factors in the postcommunist period can be seen to have facilitated the success of the nationalist agenda among Slovaks. One such factor was the 5 For the sake of simplifying the analysis the multi-issue complexity of Slovak nationalism will be not discussed in detail. • The word Slovak will in this article denote a person of Slovak culture and identity. Similarly, a Czechoslovak is a person of Czech or Slovak ethnicity with a Czechoslovak identity . SLOVAK1A 31 institutional legacy of the socialist federation (more on this below). A second factor was the changing international environment after the Cold War, with the secession of the Baltic states, Slovenia and Croatia as examples of the new stress on national self-determination. Interaction with the two major 'others', the Hungarians and Czechs, was also important. The upsurge of post-communist nationalism in the Hungarian speaking minority in Slovakia and in Hungary, and the increasingly hostile attacks on Slovak nationalism, particularly in the Czech press, both served to spur Slovak nationalists into action. 7 Even more important in increasing support for nationalist de mands in post-communist Slovakia was the issue of economic reform. The generally harder impact of the Federal economic programme on the Slovak than on the Czech economy was by many taken as a sign of the disadvantaged position of Slovaks within the common state.8 The call for a greater Slovak control over economic policy thus became the one of the most important and substantial claims of Slovak nationalists . Yet, even given the activities of nationalists and the political factors conducive to the appeal of the nationalist discourse, to understand post-communist nationalism one must understand the historical developments that formed the basis for the appeal of the ethnic nationalism in Slovakia. Several historical precondition s can be identified . These are the topic of this study . 7 For examples of this see (H ungarian) Andrej Ferko: Stredna Europa - Eseje (Bratislava: VSSS, 1998) and (Czech) Dusan Sl obodnfk: Proti sedemhlavemu drakovi : Z dejin zapasu za Sia vensko (Bratislava: VSSS, 1998 ). ' In a January 1992 poll , for example. 53 % of respondents in Slovakia antici pated that the Czech economy wou ld grow at the expense of the Slovak. Cen trum pre social nu analyzu: Aktualne problemy Cesko-S/ovensk a, januar 1992 (Bratislava: CSA, 1992), p. 29. 32 SLOVAKIA Preconditions for the Success of Post-Communist Nationalism. To clarify the analysis of the historical preconditions of postcommunist nationalism, it is useful to divide the examination into two stages. The first stage focuses on the generally different impact nationalist ideas have had in the Eastern and Western parts of Europe. Whereas the civic, territorial version of nationalism became dominant in the West, ethnic, especially linguistically centred nationalism prevailed in Central and Eastern Europe (hereafter CEE)9. In the twentieth century, this ethnic nationalism be came the underlying ideal for the political reorganisations of CEE in two world wars. The first half of the twentieth century thus served to establish ethnic nationalism as a dominant political ideology and ethnic ties as primary lines of political identification. An example of the causes of the success of ethnic nationalism thus forms what one might call the 'deep ' historic background for understanding post-communist nationalism. The second stage in the analysis focuses on the impact of the socialist era. For the majority of the population of post-commu nist Slovakia, the just over forty years of communist indoctrination through education, mass media and other means, had formed their primary so urce of fo rmal socialisation. Moreover, Soviet Communism brought one of the most dramatic periods of social and economic change in Slovak history. The analysis below outlines the different assessments scholars have made of the impact the social, economic and political devel opments of the las t halfcentury before 1989 had on the strength of nationalism in Slovakia. • Central and Eastern Europe will in this article denote roughly the area of the fonner Habsburg Empire as well as the European parts of the Romanov and Ottoman em pires. SLOVAKIA 33 The Success of Ethnic Nationalism. In his celebrated 1882 lecture, Ernest Rennan started by making a distinction 'between the fusion of "races" in the nations of Western Europe, and the retention of ethnic distinctiveness in Eastern Europe .' 10 In 1944, Hans Kohn developed this theme when he introduced the concepts of 'Western' and 'Eastern' nationalisms. 11 While challenged by several authors, this typology has survived the test of time and is used in various forms by scholars today. As most nationalisms contain both civic (Western) and ethnic (Eastern) elements, the distinction is, as Anthony D. Smith points out, analytical and not normative. 12 Czechoslovak nationalism in the interwar years, for example, was clearly ethnic m relations with Germans and Hungarians, but civic m its merger of Slovaks and Czechs into one nation. On the whole, scholars agree on the basic causes why civic nationalism was more successful in Western Europe and ethnic nationalism in the Eastern part of the continent. The main factors are generally identified as the socio-economic and, partly linked, cultural differences between the two regions at the time of the dissemination of nationalist ideas. 13 From about the fifteenth century, Western Europe saw the beginning of the development of the modem state. The new economy saw the abolition of serfdom , the weakening of the feudal-agricultural economy and the strengthening of trade and manufacture centred in cities. The develop0 Anthony D. Smith: Nationalism and Modernism (London: Routledge, 1998), p. 9 ' '' Hans Kohn : The Idea of Nationalism (New York : Collier, 1967), pp. 329-331. 12 Smith: Nationalism and Modernism, p. 126 '-' For a good analysis of East-West historical differences see Robert Bideleux and Ian Jeffries: A Hi/story of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change (Lo ndon, Routledge, I 998), pp. 15-25. 34 SLOVAKlA ment of centralised, strong states, yet with an increasingly urbanised and literate population capable of challenging the authority of the ruler, had important social, economic and political effects. Western, civic nationalism grew gradually out of the socio-economic developments and changes in political thought of pre-nineteenth century Europe. 14 This nationalism was state centred and focused on gaining the loyality of and homogenising the population of a territory. Crucially, nationalist ideas were promoted in societies whose elites, if not populations, were already quite homogenous culturally. This was particularly the case in Protestant, North-Western Europe. In important respects, Central and Eastern Europe was relatively 'backward' when nationalist ideas spread through the intellectual life of the region in the early nineteenth century. 15 The relative backwardness had both external and internal causes. The centuries of warfare with the Ottomans had weakened the states in the region and led to their inclusion into large empires. Hungary, which then included today's Slovakia, came under Habsburg rule after the battle of Mohacs in 1526. At the eve of the French Revolution, the Ottoman, Habsburg and Romanov empires dominated Central and Eastern Europe. Compared with rapidly developing Western states, the three Eastern empires remained despotic. As the feudal-agricultural economic structure retained its dominance, no strong middle class developed . In Slovakia, or Felvidek (Upper Hungary) as the Hungarian rulers called it, the development of mining in Eastern Slovakia, for instance, led to the growth of some smaller towns. Generally, these were dominated by ethnic 14 See Liah Greenfeld: Nationalism : Five Roads to Modernity (Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 1992 ) ,s The concept of Central and East European 'backwardness' is obviously very general and simplifying, also given the large differences within the region . SLOVAKJA 35 Germans or Jews. The majority of the population of Slovakia remained rural and often illiterate. The socio-econonic conditions for cultural homogenisation were, therefore, not present. The ethnically very heterogeneous dynasties of Central and Eastern Europe were initially not interested in trying to turn their empires into nation-states on the Western model. 16 Only in the final decades of the nineteenth century did Tsarist Russia attempt to Russify the Western Borderlands and the Hungarian leadership promote its policy of Magyarisation (Hungarianisation). 17 Given its lack of an ethnic nobility and being an integral part of Hungary proper, the Slav population of Felvidek was particularly exposed. Yet even here the Hungarian nation-bulding project did not succeed. History was soon to take a surprising turn. Ultimately more successful than the civic nation builders in CEE were elites opposed to central rule and integration. State centred, civic nationalism had no advantages for such elites. When they adopted nationalist discourse as a political tool , they were inspired by German romanticism rather than Western liberalism . Nationalists in Central and Eastern Europe looked not to Locke and Stuart Mill, but to Herder and Fichte. In German romantic thought, it was not political boundaries that determined the extent of a nation , but culture and particularly language. In the ethnically diverse empires of CEE such ideas were to have a dramatic impact. It was no coincidence that two leading Slovak (Pan-Slav) nationalists, Jan Kollar and Pavo) Jozef Safarik, both studied at "' Charles Ingrao: ' Forum: Understanding Ethnic Conflict in Central Europe: An Historical Perspective', Nationalities Papers, vol. 27 ( 1999), no. 2, p. 293 . 17 See Edward C. Thaden (ed.): Russification in the Baltic Provinces and Fin land, J855 - 19 14 (Princenton: Princenton University Press, 198 I ) and Tibor Frank: 'Hungary and the Dual Monarchy, 1867- 1890' , in Peter F. Sugar, Peter Hanak and Tibor Frank (eds.): A History of Hungary (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994). 36 SLOVAKJA the University of Jena in the early nineteenth century. 18 The 'father of Slovak nationalism', Cudovit Stur, like Kollar and Safarik, a Protestant, also studied in Germany, in Halle. 19 By the outbreak of World War One, ethnic nationalism had emerged as one of the leading political ideologies in Central and Eastern Europe. In Austria-Hungary, leaders claiming to represent various ethnically defined nations, such as Slovak nationalists in the Slovak National Party, promoted their rights within the Empire. World War I was to bring victory to such nationalist programmes. Towards the end of the war, when the Entente Powers started supporting the programmes of Central and Eastern Europe (mainly exile) nationalists , their support was limited to the de mand for an administrative reorganisation of Austria-Hungary . By 1918, however, the right to self-determination had come to mean the right for independence. Allied victory in World War I thus resulted in a reorganisation of the Central European region according to the principle of the 'self-determination of nations', that is, the self-determination of ethnically defined nations. This right was by no means allowed for all , particularly not for the 'defeated nations'. All the new and old, expanded states of the region contained sizeable ethnic minority groups . While political life in Austria-Hungary had increasingly taken the form of a struggle between the central authorities and nationalist leaders, inter-war Central and Eastern Europe took this to a new level. In the new Czechoslovak Republic as well, ethnic belonging became the main dividing line in politics. Ethnic Ger- "Victor S. Mamatey : 'The Establishment of the Republic' . in Victor S. Mamatey and Radomir Luz.a (eds.): A History of the Czechoslovak Republic: l 9 l 81948 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973), p. 6. 19 Peter Petro: A History of Slovak Literature (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press), p. 65 . SLOVAKIA 37 mans and Hungarians (Magyars) voted overwhelmingly for ethnically based parties . The Slovaks, according to official ideology part of the Czechoslovak nation, were divided. As in the late Habsburg period, one part of the Slovak political elite was Czechoslovak nationalist, another, strongly connected to the Catholic clergy, was more sceptical to the Czechoslovak idea. Loyal to the Czechoslovak state until pushed into declaring independence inl939, the Slovak nationalist movement promoted Slovak, as opposed to Czechoslovak, national awareness and nationalism throughout the inter-war period . While it is impossible to get an accurate picture of the popular support for Slovak nationalism after World War II, it seems safe to agree with Carol Skalnik Leff's claim that when taking power in 1948, the communists faced a 'full-blown' Slovak nationalism. 20 If the creation of a Slovak education system, the flowering of Slovak culture and promotion of Slovak nationalism in politics was not sufficient to cement the importance of ethnic belonging and nationalism in people's thinking in the inter-war years, the Second War War was .2 1 With the rise towards authoritarian rule by the Slovak People ' s Party from the autumn of 1938, ethnic nationalism became a central part of official ideology. In the region as a whole, ethnicity became a supreme organizing principle increasing or limiting chances for employment, economic prosperity and even survival. Supported by the Catholic clergy, the Slovak state sought to educate the Slovaks into becoming good nationalists. Nationalism was promoted in schools, the mass media and 10 Carol Skalnik Leff: National Conflict in Czech oslovakia (Princeton: Prince- ton University Press. 1987), p. 281. 11 On national identity in the inter-war period see Owen V. Johnson: Slovakia 191 8- 1938: Education and the Making of a Nati on (Boulder: Co lumbia Uni versity Press, 1985). 38 SLOVAKIA official and religious life in general. 22 For many groups among ethnic Slovaks, the war-time state was a positive experience. The relative economic prosperity, the ease of employment (especially for the young intelligentsia) and the elevated position of the Catholic faith and church were aspects of the state that for some Slovaks compared favourably with pre-war Czechoslovakia. Obviously, for parts of the population, the experience had been clearly negative. For Jews and Romanies it was one of inhuman crimes. Yet, despite the horrors and injustices, the experience of independence under German influence strengthened the position of nationalism in Slovak society. While the leaders of the 1944 Slovak National Uprising had called for the reestablishment of Czechoslovakia, they did not want to return to the centralist system of the First Republic (1918-1938). The extent to which Slovakia had been changed by the war became evident in the 1946 election. Whereas the Slovak political scene had been split on the issue of Slovakia's position within the common state before the war, all parties standing in 1946 supported Slovak self-rule within Czechoslovakia in their programmes. 23 The Impact of the Socialist Period. In the intersection between empirical studies that directly or indirectly offer an explanation for the success of nationalism in post-communist Slovakia and general theoretical works on nationalism, it is possible to identify three main approaches to the question of the impact of the communist era. The first focuses 22 See e.g. Yeshayahu Jelinek : The Parish Republic: H/inka 's Slovak People's Party 1939- 1945 (Boulder: Columbia University Press, 1976). lJ Jan Ryc hlik : Cesi a Slovaci ve 20.stoleti: Cesko-slovenske vztahy 19451992 (Bratislava: Academic Electronic Press, 1998), pp.40-42. SLOVAKIA 39 mainly on the way in which nationalism survived despite the forty years of communism. Given the strength of Slovak nationalism before Communism and the resilience of ethnic and cultural ties, nationalism would, according to this approach, have survived whatever policy the Communist Party had chosen. Scholars taking this approach would put the greatest emphasis on the 'deep' historic background outlined above. The second approach, where scholars stress the continuation of nationalism through the socialist period, could be considered the mainstream historical view . This approach focuses on the way Slovak national identity and support for nationalism survived the socialist era not only because of their pre-1948 strength, but also due to certain policies during Communism that served to strenghten their basis of support. According to the final approach, the success of post-communist nationalism was mainly due to the policies adopted by the Communist Party. Putting much less emphasis on the strength of precommunist national identity and nationalism (and thus the •deep' historical explanation), the 'due to' approach takes two main forms . One focuses on the effects of the socio-economic development of Slovakia during Communism, the other on the impact of the construction of nationally based institutional structures. These three analytical categories form a continuum rather than three clearly identifiable positions. Differences between studies falling into the different categories are generally one of focus or degree. Few scholars argue the extreme positions: that postcommunist nationalism was purely a revival of suppressed nationalism, or that it was a result of developments in the communist period only. Most would note the continued expressions of Slovak nationalism during the communist era, and then stress the degree to which the socialist period suppressed , maintained or actually strengthened the appeal of nationalism. 40 SLOVAKIA Nationalism Despite Communism. Particulary in the first years after the collapse of Communism, the 'retum-of-history'argument was commonly used to explain the success of nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe. Precommunist nationalism, merely suppressed by the communist regimes, re-emerged to become the political factor it had been forty years earlier. As one historian put it: Communism may have temporarily relieved Central Europe's ethnic tensions for nearly half a century. But if religion was the opiate of the people, Communism proved no more effective than methadone (sic) in suspending their craving for ethnically whole nation states, without providing a cure. 24 In the literature on nationalism in Slovakia, Jacques Rupnik supported this view when he argued that Slovak nationalism had been in the 'communist refrigerator' for most of the period after 1948. 25 Of the monographs in English discussing Slovak nationalism, Stanislav Kirschaum's A History of Slovakia: The Struggle for Survival is, arguably, one of those that leans most toward the 'despite ' approach. 26 While describing in detail the persistence of nationalism during Communism and the radical changes Slovak society went through, Kirschbaum notes no positive effect of the communist regime on the strength of Slovak national identity and nationalism. Rather, he highlights the attempts the communist lea- 1 ' Ingrano: 'Forum ... ' , p. 307 . 15 Jaques Rupnik, quoted in Martin Butora and Zora Butorova: 'Slovakia after the Split ' ,Joumal o[Democracy,vol. 4(1993), no. 2,p. 75 . 16 Stanislav Kirschbaum : A History of Slovakia: The Struggle for Survival (London : Macmillian, 1995). SLOVAKIA 41 dership made at suppressing national identity.27 If Slovak nationalism gained strength during the communist period , it was more a reaction to the 'Czechoslovakism' favoured by the regime .2 8 The primordialist theories of nationalism would be the most obvious theoretical basis for the works in this approach. Stressing the ' ineffable, and at times overpowering' strength of the ' cultural givens' in a society, Clifford Geertz, for example, points to how ethnic ties in some societies come to be seen as a 'natural some would say spiritual affinity' .29 Given the strong emphasis put on cultural belonging in Slovak history, at least since the late nineteeth century, one could argue that ethnicity had gained a primordial character in Slovak society by the end of World War II. Consequently, the communist regime would not have been able to suppress Slovak identity, and therefore neither the potential for Slovak nationalism. While not going as far as the primordialist in stressing the naturalness of central ties, the so-called ethno-sym- bolist theories of nationalism could also be interpreted as lending support to the 'despite' approach. According to Anthony D. Smith, post-communist nationalism confirms the resilience and strength of ehnic myths, symbols and popular memory. He writes:' Though the timing of the current ethnic revival is a function of social and geopolitical changes, their contents and intensities are largely determined resources,' by pre-existing ethno-sy mbolic 30 27 Note e.g. ibid., pp. 228, 245, 252. Kirschbaum ta.lees a very favo urable view of Slovak nationalism and a more negative one of the common Czech and Slovak state . " Ibid., p. 24 7. 19 Clifford Geertz: The Interpretation of Cultures (London : Fontana, 1973). pp . 259-260 . 0 ' Anthony D. Smith : 'LSE Centennial Lecture: The Resurgence of Nationalism ? Myth and memory in the renewal of nations ', British Journal of Sociology, vo l. 42 SLOVAKIA Empirical support for the 'despite' argument can be found in post-communist Slovakia. In a study of regional patterns of political culture, a group of Slovak sociologists found strong similarities between the inter-war and post-communist era. 31 In both periods, nationalist and populist parties gained most support in northwest and central Slovakia. The persistence of this regional pattern seems to suggest that at least elements of pre-communist political culture had been preserved. Moreover, studies from other post-communist countries show that national minorities that were actively discouraged from maintaining their separate identity and culture, still emerged to voice nationalist demands after Communism. In Poland, this was the case with the German minority .32 While counter-factual history necessarily amounts to speculation, it does seem likely that regardless of what the policy the Communists had adopted, also the separate Slovak identity, in both its cultural and political expression, would have survived. The relatively short period of communist rule would clearly have facilitated this. As can be seen from the above, focusing on links to pre-communist nationalism and the preservation of popular myths and memory has some advantages. Firstly, it points to the strength of ethnic nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe after the Second World War. The conviction that ethnically defined nations formed natural bases for political legitimacy, be it in a separate state or as 47 (1996), no. 4, p. 573. Elsewhere, Smith does stress the role of communi st policies in preserving these myths and memories. See e.g. Smith: Nationalism and Modernism, 237, endnote 9. 31 Vladimir Krivy , Viera Fialova and Daniel Balko: Slovensko a jeho regi6ny: sociokultume suvislosti volebneho spravania (Bratislava: Nadacia Media, 1996). 12 Janusz Mucha: 'Democratisation and Cultural Minorities: The Polish Case of the 1980s/90s', East European Quarterly, vol. 25 (1992), no. 4. SLOVAKIA 43 an autonomous region within a larger entity, had by 1948 been deeply ingrained in CEE. This was not only the case with most of the Slovak political elite, but also, many historians would agree, large parts of the population. Secondly, stressing the preservation of political culture is perhaps the only way to explain the continued regional pattern of support for nationalism. In its pure form, the 'despite' argument rejects any important effect of the socialist period on national identity and the popular view of nationalism. If one accepts that national identity is a social construct, that nations are not some kind of natural social unit, this jump across forty years of history is difficult to defend. As shall be discussed in more detail below, 1948-1989 was probably the most dramatic period of social and economic change in Slovak history. It was also a period of an intense policy of officially managed, public socialisation. Given the impact this period had on people' s lives, it seems difficult to assume that popular views on national identity and nationalism would not also change. One example that it had is that before 1948 Slovakia was a deeply religious society and mainstream nationalism was strongly connected to the Catholic Church. In the post-communist period, however, the leading nationalists parties HZDS and SNS were both secular. Catholic nationalism, as represented by the Christian Democratic Party (KDH), was much less successful. Explanations focusing more on the way the communist period served to change Slovak national identity and thereby the bases for nationalism during that period, thus seemingly provide a more convincing explanation for the widespread appeal of nationalism in the postcommunist era. Finallly, the 'despite' argument cannot explain the emergence of 'new' nationalisms in the post-communist period . Some groups without a history of common national identity and nationalism formed nationalist parties after 1989. Most im- 44 SLOVAKIA portantly, this included the Roma community. Also the emergence of a relatively strong nationalism in Moravia and Silesia was a sign of the increased importance of cultural identity. 33 Traditionally a regional identity and before Communism never a major political issue, the Moravian-Silesian autonomy party became the largest party in the Czech National Council in 1990. Nationalism Through the Communist Era. The 'through' approach makes up the middle ground between stressing the resilience of pre-communist nationalism and the strengthening of national identity during the communist period. Studies falling into this category would seek to explain the perpetuation of national conflict due to the persistence of support for nationalism built up before the communist period and to certain factors that served to strengthen Slovak national identity during the 1948-1989 era. Most historical studies tend to be in this category. Carol Skalnik Leff' s 1987 seminal book on national conflict in Czechoslovakia is probably the best study in English in this category. 34 In Leff's analysis, the deep social, economic and cultural differences between the Czech Lands and Slovakia were politicised during the inter-was republic. A triangular pattern of support and opposition was created, whereby the central leadership in Prague relied on the pro-Czechoslovak section of the Slovak political elite to help neutralise the demands of Slovak nationalists. In the communist period , this pattern persisted until it was displaced JJ Jaroslav Krejci and Pavel Machonin: Czechoslovakia 1918- 1992: A Laboratory for Social Change (Oxford: Macmill an and St. Anthony ' s, 1996), p. 51 . 14 Leff: National Conflict. Ryc hlik: Cesi a Slovaci .. . 1945-1992 is a later, eve n more detailed work of this approcah. SLOVAKIA 45 with the ascent of Gustav Husak to power in 1969. Both the interwar and the socialist regimes failed in their attempts to modernize away the problem of Slovak nationalism (culturally and educationaly in the inter-war period, economically during socialism). These failures, combined with the unwillingness of both regimes to adequately accommodate the Slovak nationalist's demands, led to a growing sense of antagonism (mutual antagonism, as Czechs resented that Slovaks used times of international crisis to force through their demands). Leff concludes: 'Given the persistence of Slovak national feeling, on the one hand, and Czech power, on the other, the result has been persistent national conflict'. 35 While Leff notes that Slovak nationalism was strong in the post-war period, much due to the experience of statehood during the war, she also identifies several factors during the communist era that served to strengthen its basis. The existence of separate Slovak political institutions, for instance, was important. Leff writes: 'Week as the KSS (Slovak Communist Party) and the SNR (Slovak National Council) were in the years following 1948, both would retain the capacity to serve as nationalist time bombs. ' 36 One important reason for this was that the system of separate Slovak institutions created a Slovak elite separate from Prague-based Czechoslovak one. 37 Also other aspects of the regime 's policy proved counter-productive to its official aim of promoting the 'coming together' (zblfienie) of Czechs and Slovaks. The mass media, for instance, was 'segmented and not adapted to the integrative intentions of the policy-making elite. 38 Thus , by the late 1980, 'the Slovak question ' had become 'deeply, perhaps 35 Leff: National Conflict, p. 282. Ibid ., p. 112 . 37 Ibid ., p.294 . " Ibid., p. 297 . 36 46 SLOVAKlA irreversibly, woven into the fabric of Czechoslovak politics as usual'. This statement carries with it the implication that the Slovak question wi1l continue to assert itself as a political force in the future .39 Three years after Leff published her study, her prediction came true . Theoretically, the 'through' approach occupies the middle ground between the primoridalists emphasis on the strength of cultural ties and the stress put on social processes by the modernist and institutional views outlined below. With more emphasis on the way myths, symbols, values and memories are preserved in societies, ethno-symbolist theories would come closest to forming a theoretical basis for this approach. From the ethno-symbolist perspective, the communists ' attempt to defuse nationalism in Slovakia by flagging symbols of self-determination could only serve to strengthen the feeling of national identity. The reason for this was that the only symbols that would evoke a positive response from the population would be symbols that had a basis in popular tradition . For example, while the communists did try to reframe the historical image of r.udovft Stur as a social revolutionary, they could not eradicate the view of Stur as a champion of Slovak rights so strongly ingrained in popular tradition and myths . As Smith writes : "Ethno-history is no sweetshop in which nationalists may ' pick and mix'; it sets limits to any appropriation by providing a distinctive context and patterns of events, personages and ,, 4 0 processes ... . The most obvious strength of the 'through' approach is that by stressing both the strong social basis of pre-communist nationalism and the way it was maintained and changed during the 1948-1989 period , it can account more or less convincingly for 39 ' 0 Ibid. , pp. 281 -282 . Smith: Nationalism and Modernism, p. 45 SLOVAKIA 47 nationalism in both periods. It points to the continuity of not only political conflict over the status of Slovakia, but also that of popular symbols and myths. Noting how the communist period maintained and strengthened preexisting national identity and traditions also allows for an explanation of the persistent regional differences in support for nationalism. Despite these important strengths, however, the 'through' approach does have some weak points. Some will argue that the most important of these is that it does not go far enough in emphasising how dramatically the communist period changed Slovak society. As with the 'despite' approach, the focus on the continuation of national conflict through the communist period also faces problems in explaining the 'new' nationalisms of the post-communist era. The political organisation and activism of the Romany community after 1989, for example, is difficult to explain without stressing the way the communist period served to strengthen the importance of ethnic belonging. Nationalism Due to Communism. Studies focusing on the way the communist period . served to strengthen national identity and nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe are generally more theoretically grounded than the two approaches above. The presentation of these will therefore have to be a bit different. Two main theoretical starting points can be identified. 41 The first, based on modernisation theories of 41 Shari Cohen supposes a third, unconventional, approach in her Politics without a Past: The Absence of History in Postcommunist Nationalism (Lon- don: Duke University Press, 1999). It was not the strength of national identity in Slovakia that formed the basis for the success of post-communist nationalism, Cohen claims, but rather the lack of a clear historical consciousness. By 48 SLOVAKJA nationalism, focus on the massive socio-economic changes in the CEE countries during the fourty years of communist rule. As many other countries and areas of the region, Slovakia underwent a rapid transformation from an agricultural to an industrial society. Such a process of social modernization, scholars such as Ernest Gellner claim, is the basis for the strength of post-communist nationalism. The second starting point is based on the so called 'new institutionalism' in social science. According to its proponents, the communist regimes honoured their Leninist commitment to national self-determination by building nationally defined institutions and stressing national identities. Rather than, as intended, weakening the social basis for nationalism, however, their policy served to strengthen it. Put otherwise: the Soviet type nationality policy was to be 'nationalist in form, socialist in content ' . When the socialist content disappeared, only the nationalist form remained . Modernisation. It is the erosion of traditional society and its values with urbanisation and the growth of the state that, in Gellner's view, is responsible for the emergence of nationalism.42 In an agricultural society, where mobility is low and socialisation within the family and local community is sufficient, a person's language and culture is of little consequence. Urban life, particularly in the industrial age, exercises different pressures on the population. Industrial society, requiring formal socialisation through an education preventing the emergence of a collective memory of World War II, the communist regime made Slovak society susceptible to elite manipulation after the collapse of communism. 42 Ernest Gellner: Nations and Nationalism (Oxford: Blackwell, 1983). SLOVAKIA 49 system, thus makes an individual's culture and especially language important. Particularly when cultural differences overlapped with an actual or perceived pattern of social and economic discrimination, nationalism is a likely outcome. In socialist societies, as they suppressed civil society, class identities and other social lines of identification , the importance of cultural identities became particularly strong. When the regimes collapsed, there existed no 'serious rival ideology ' or any 'serious rival institutions' capable of providing alternatives to identification along national lines. 43 In the resulting 'double vacuum', nationalism, the 'culture of industrialism ', was 'the most plausible and easily available candidate for filling this emptiness. ' 44 After the Communists came to power in Czechoslovakia in 1948, Slovakia entered its most important period of socio-economic development. Over a period of seventeen years, the share of agricultural workers in the total workforce more than halved: from 62.2% in 1948 to30.1% in 1965. 4 5 By 1989 it has reached 14.5%. Similarly, the percentage of the population living in cities with more than 20,000 inhabitants increased from 11.5% in 1950 to 40.8% in 1991 .46 In the space of a few decades, Slovakia was transformed from an agricultural to an industrial society. That the industrial structure of Slovakia was accordingly based on the socialist idealisation of heavy industry, matters little in this context. Territorial and social mobility increased, as did the general level of education. The steadily increasing availability and reach 43 Ernest Gellner: ' Nationalism in the Vacuum', in Alexander J. Motyl (ed .): Thinking Theoretically about Soviet Nationalities: History and Comparison in the Study of the USSR(New York: Columbia University Press, 1992), p. 250. 44 Ernest Gellner: 'Homeland of the Unrevolution' , Daedalus, vol. 122 (1993) , no. 3, p. 152. 45 See Krejci and Machonin : Czechoslovakia, p. 120. 46 Ibid., p. 126. 50 SLOVAKIA of mass communication, such as radio and television, also served to promote a standardised ('high') culture. Combined, these factors served to increase cultural homogeneity in the Slovak population and put focus on the differences between the Slovaks and other cultural groups in society. An individual's cultural-cumnational identity was therefore highlighted . The main strength of the modernist approach is that it brings our attention to the massive social and economic changes in the region during Communism. Slovak society was fundamentally changed through industrialisation and urbanisation . Most theories of nationalism hold that modernisation (towards a Western type society) is at least conducive to the formation of national consciousness and emergence of nationalism. If one accepts this , the socialist period is likely to have strengthened the appeal of nationalism in Slovakia. Furthemore, the modernisation approach offers an explanation for why new ethnic conflicts arose once Communism released its grip. Even the communities without the history of nationalism can be seen to have been mobilised as a result of industrialisation. There are, however, several weaknesses with this modernist view. First, in its pure form it is very functional and does not accredit much importance to ideas. This is problematic particularly because the massive transformation and uprooting of Slovak society took place under heavy pressure from socialist socialisation. Second, if urbanisation and industrialisation were the main causes of post-communist nationalism, then one should expect to find the strongest nationalism where the effects of these processes was strongest. Before 1948 eastern Slovakia was the most 'backward' and multi-cultural region of Slovakia. Consequently, it was one of the regions that went through the most dramatic socio-economic development during Communism. Despite this , after 1989, sup- SLOVAKIA 51 port for nationalist parties in the region was well below the Slovak average. 47 Indeed, inhabitants of Kosice, the 'capital' of eastern Slovakia and the second largest city in the country, were among those most vocally opposed to the break-up of the CSFR in the autumn of 1992.48 The Institutional Approach. The institutional approach places the cause of the strength of post-communist nationalism in the policies and structure, the institutions, of the communist regimes. The stress Leninism put on the right of national self-determination led most Soviet-style socialist regimes to not only promote national self-identification, but also build institutional frameworks along national lines. This served to institutionalise national identity as the key identity and thus create the nationalist bias of politics after the collapse of Communism. In its most basic form , the institutional approach stresses the way in which members of political institutions tend to promote the interests of their institutions in competition with others . Throughout the socialist period, Slovakia had cultural, academic , administrative and political institutions separate from the all-Czechoslovak ones. Due to the policy of stressing the Slovakness of these institutions, recruitment was conducted almost exclusively in Slovakia, and sometimes among Slovaks only. The separate poli tical institutions consisted most importantly of a branch of the Communist Party (KSS), a parliamentary assembly (SNR), and 47 See Krivy, Fialova and Balko: Slovensko ajeho regi6ny, pp.29 1-342 . •• For a more humorous expression of this see Peter Holub: 'At' uz to nestes tf piijde: Kosice se branf mirodnfmu sjednocenf', Respect, 24-30, August 1992, pp. 5-6. 52 SLOVAKIA ( except for the period 1960-69) an executive branch. While limited in their political importance during Communism, these institutions gained a dramatically different role with democratisation . Not long after the collapse of Communism, the Slovak government and legislature started calling for an increase in their competencies. Using nationalist rhetoric to mobilise the population was an obvious way to gain support for strengthening the authority and power of the Slovak institutions at the expense of federal ones. On a more complex level, the institutional approach examines the wider impact institutional structures had on creating certain attitudes and beliefs in the population. One leading institutional theoretician , Rogers Brubaker, explained the strength of postcommunist nationalism in the Soviet Union as a result of the ' dual institutionalisation ' of what he termed ' territorial nationhood ' and 'ethnic nationality ' .49 Territorial nationhood refers to the linkin g of a specific territory to national identity through the admi nistrative division of the country according to nationality. As with most administrative components in the Soviet Union, Slovakia was a clearly defined territorial unit interpreted as the homeland of the Slovaks. While this was made explicit after the federalisation of Czechoslovakia in 1968, it was implicit already from the end of World War IL The principle of equality (rovny s rovnym) introduced during the war and maintained in the 1948 Constitution •• Rogers Brubaker: Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the national question in the New Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp 23-54. The nationality and, particularly after 1969, the institutional stru cture of socialist Czechoslovakia was almost identical to that of the Soviet Unio n. SLOVAKIA 53 was clearly interpreted as a principle of equality of nations. 50 Hungarians, Ruthenes, Romanies and other national groups in Slovakia were national minorities; the Slovaks were the statotvorny (literally: state forming) nation. Along with officially pronouncing Czechoslovakia a country of two nations, the regime built institutions to create the appearance of national self-determination. While Czechoslovakia did not go as far as the Soviet Union in awarding the constituent republics symbols of statehood, the Czech and Slovak Socialist Republics were in the 1968 Law on Federalisation declared to have the status of independent legal subjects that surrendered part of their sovereignty to the Federation. The Republics were also awarded the 'inalienable right of self-determination even to the point of separation'. 51 The Law on Federalization thus 'rehabilitated and restored the idea of a national state as an attribute of a fully developed nation'. 52 The effect of this policy was to encourage Slovaks to think of themselves as a separate nation with wide-ranging political rights. The second aspect of Brubaker's institutional approach focuses on the way the communist regime made ethnic identification compulsory. In common English usage, the concepts of 'nationality' and 'citizenship' are synonymous. In the socialist federations, however, the distinction was important. All who held Czechoslovak passports were Czechoslovak citizens. Their nationality, however, would be Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Ruthene, Romany, Polish, Ukrainian or some other. A person's nationality 5 ° Katarina Zavacka: "Metamorf6zy statopravneho postavenia Slovenska v Ceskoslovensku v rokoch 1948-1967" in Vladimir Gonec (ed. ): Cesko-s/oven ska historicka rocenka I 998 (Brno: Masarykova Universita, 1998), pp. 17-29. 51 See ' Ustavnf zakon 143/ 1968 Sb.' at http://www.psp. czldocs/textslconstitution. 1968.html. 52 Kusy: Eseje,p. 69 . 54 SLOVAKIA was ascertained at birth according to that of her of his parents and could generally not be changed. As in inter-war Czechoslovakia, the communist regime did promote a Czechoslovak political identity. Avoiding the word narod, nation, which has clear ethnic connotations, the communists called for the creation of a 'Czec hoslovak working people ' (ceskoslovensky pracujlici J'ud). The identity was not, even in relation to the Czechs and Slovaks, intended as a Czechoslovak cultural identity. On the contrary, the Communist Party put great stress on promoting the cultures of the various national groups, particularly the Slovak. Generous reso urces were devoted to building cultural institutions and supporting the cultural life of all official nationalities. 53 For most children primary and sometimes secondary and higher education was available in their mother tongue. While all culture was to be socialist, the art forms favored by the regime, those that were seen to form the basis of national culture (s uch as folk dancing and traditional artisan-and craftsmanship), were not particularly affected . The Centre for the Production of Folk Art (UI:UV) and the folk-dancing and folk-mu sic group the Slovak People' s Artistic Collective (SI:UK) were presented as the best of centuries-old , traditional Slovak culture, thus reminding all of not only the cultural , but also historical separateness of the Slovaks. Combined, these two processes of institutionalisation made nations and nationality into basic units of people' s world-view. When the communist regime collapsed and democratisation started, nationally based institutions and their elites became centres of 51 See Elena Londakova: ' Slovcnske predjarie: Myty a realita slovenskej inte li gcncic v Ceskoslovensku pred rokom 1956 (a po iiom)', in Vladimir Gonec (ed .): Cesko-s/ovensk;i historick;i rocenka I 998 (Brno: Masarykova Universita, 1998), p. 2 10 and Dusan Kovac: Dejiny Slovenska (Prague: NLN, 1998), pp. 275-276 . SLOVAKIA 55 political activity. 54 National identity became the basic organising. principle in politics. The nationally defined elites in the separate national institutions could gain popular support among a population identified and identifying according to their nationality by claiming to defend the interest of that nation. The system of compulsory national identification thus became the basis for new political constituencies. The main strength of the institutional approach is that it offers a very powerfull explanation of the near universal succes of national identity and nationalism as political principles after Communism. It does so by placing the cause of this succes in the very world-view engendered by the communist regime. As Brubaker writes: the communist nationality policy 'created a political field supremely conductive to nationalism' .55 The 'new' nationalism of the post-communist period can therefore be explained. Due to its explanatory strength, the institutional approach has emerged as one of the most popular among scholars trying to explain postcommunist nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe. However, the institutional approach, like the other presented above, has its shortcomings. Like the modernist approach it cannot alone explain the regionalised support for nationalism in Slovakia, nor does it account for the impact of pre-communist nationalism. 54 This was also the case for minorities that did not have explicitly political institutions. For example, the Slovak Hungarian cultural organization CSEMADOK became the centre of Hungarian political activity in the first period after 1989. ss Brubaker: Nationalism Reframed, p. I 7 56 SLOVAKIA Conclusion While the process thc1· 1ed to the break-up of the common Czech and Slovak stat:· after communissm has received a fair amount of attention, few scholars have attempted to comprehensively explain why nationalism had such succes in postcommunist Slovakia.56 The above is only an overview of the possible explanations for the success of post-communist nationalism that would meet with the most support among scholars today. In fact, it is doubtful there will ever be single generally accepted explanation, be it theoretical or historical. As Katherine Verdery noted, nationalism in the post-communist region 'has many causes, ranging from the macro-social to matters of personal identity. It is, in other words, overdetermined, and the relevant causes vary from one county to another. 5 7 What is needed to approach a consensus on what factors were most important in the Slovak case, is a series of studies that evaluate the explanatory power of various approaches, such as those above. If this article serves to encourage someone to write such a study, it has served its purpose. ,. To this author's knowledge, the only monograph that explicitly does so is Cohen: Politics without a Past. 57 Katherine Verdery: 'Nationalism and National Sentiment in Post-socialist Romania' , Slavic Review, vol. 52 (1993), no. 2, p. 180.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 'Slovák som a Slovák budem...': Explaining Nationalism in Post-Communist Slovakia Description An account of the resource Paal Sigurd Hilde Slovakia, Vol. 37 (No. 68-69), 2003 pp. 28-56 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hilde, Paal Sigurd, 1970- Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2003 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/e053232aaec8337193ecdbab999efecc.pdf 8df400c730f836773bf33452cb91075d PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 113 "Baked Blockheads" . (a fragment) \ FRANTISEK HECKO (1905-1960) In the morning, as soon as Michael Habdzha, a pudgy and stem peasant of Zelena Misa, stepped out of his house, his son Urban took his wife Christine (nee Svata) by the hand; and like children walking to school, they went hand-in-hand to the notary, signed a contract and a note , and bought a house with two vineyards in Wolfsvale . The entire transaction was very brief: Christine removed a linen pouch from the bosom of her dress, unwrapped the protective cover of the pouch, and took out twenty hundred-crown banknotes , part of which she earned through her own sweat and tears and part of which they had received after long supplication from the elders of Podhaj. Having placed the money on the desk in front of the notary, Christine and her husband signed the contract, and Theophil Hrzhic and Dominik Palkovic, the guarantors , vouched the draft with an additional fifteen-hundred crowns . The notary winked deliberately at the young woman and said, " So-o-o! Live in the house happily and use your property in good health! You-u-u made a go-o-od bargain. " The young couple left the notary office with pale faces, empty pockets, and shoulders slumping somewhat. It was hard to say what burdened their hearts the most; whether it was the property acquired in Wolfsvale , or the draft note for fifteen-hundred crowns, or the speed with which the transaction was performed. The notary put five of Christine's hundred-crown banknotes in his pocket, while the remaining fifteen bills he placed in his desk drawer for the former owner of the Wolfsvale property, Joseph Deograts, who, to the surprise of all, had emigrated with his family to America. The notary patted his pocket as if dusting his suit after contact with a hairy animal and mumbled, " Donkeys .. . both of you !" The young Habdzhas did not return home through the village. They walked through the barnyards, and even there they turned on purpose across Cabbage Fields and Hemp Fields towards Scabby Water. In Little Willows near the river, Christine's teeth began to rattle. She wept, while Urban, the vein on his forehead swollen, was angry because she regretted spending the money. They would have �114 SLOVAKIA walked this way and cried and been angry with each other, had the woman not grabbed the man in her arms . Tears in her eyes, she said with bluish lips , " Urban!" Her voice was like the cry of a drowning person. "Dear Christine!" She had never heard her name pronounced so tenderly . ' 'I'm scared, so scared that I'm shivering!'' Indeed, cold fever shuddered through her body. ' 'Don't be afraid and don't shiver! Do you realize, godly woman, the meaning of having one's own house?" The entire world turned around her. She knew, yes, and how well she knew it! But now she was glad because her Urban knew it, too. " I'm sorry if you think that I regret spending the money." And added still with tears in her eyes: ' 'But I'm afraid of the hell that will follow when those in the upper room learn what we did. I would rather take little Marc and fly directly over to Wolfsvale. Virgin Mary, help me!" It was not the money that worried her. She was concerned about the storm which would suddenly explode in the Habdzha's proud home • when papa and mama learned that the "baked blockheads" had once again challenged their absolute rule and played a stupid trick on them. Urban now knew for sure that his Christine was more dec~nt than he had ever thought her to be. He was very happy because of that, and his heart beat like a hammer. Laughing loudly, he lifted his wife up and tried to rock his longlegged girl in his arms while walking forward . But ~ime and time again she slipped in his hands. She did not know whether to slide down to the ground or to wind her arms around her husband's neck. She let him carry her for some distance, while a sweet indecision intoxicated her. But the moment was so great that it could not culminate in an ordinary embrace. He looked into her eyes and saw that her tears had seemingly dried: Christine 's shy girlishness retreated before a relentlessly onrushing womanly ripeness. \ Urban understood. And before she could,have opened her mouth, he let her touch the ground and outran her, calling to her, " Let' s go, Christine, let' s leave today! " " Yes , yes, yes! " The marks of feminine consent - her smile, the burning coals in her eyes , and fully expanded bosom - betrayed her thoughts clearly. Both found in their agreement a starting point, simple and direct, a stunning view of freedom craved by everything young and healthy in the world. �SLOVAKIA 115 Intoxicated spiritually, they sped up from Little Willows and ran across the Meadows to the bridge. The bridge, a formless stone structure thrown clumsily over the river bed of Scabby Water, connected Zelena Misa with Wolfsvale in the fields. A blackened statue of St. John Nepomucene haa stood on the bridge for long centuries, guarding the entrance to W olfsvale and looking with bulging, hateful eyes toward Zelena Misa. Both sat down on a low brick balustrade near the statue . St. John's eyes, from the Wolfsvale side, shone with goodness and won their approval. Urban and Christine looked down on troughlike W olfsvale , full of trees and grapevines, stakes and bushwood. The property which they acquired that day at the notary and which belonged to them was located beyond Goatshead, in Wolf Comers , now the wildest and deepest part of Wolfsvale. And perhaps because of the location and nature of their property, they felt twice as strongly that they aleady belonged there, among the grapevines and trees. When they walked down from the bridge toward Zelena Misa, a feeling of contempt toward the village took possession of them. The village seemed ugly, bare, and worn out. Sitting on a flat hill, the village was kneaded formlessly of brick clay and covered with fat straw. Even the church stuck upward like a fence post. Urban and Christine had acted wisely in drawing a good human being, their grandmother, into their secret plans . A less pious and more honest woman than her daughter Veronina, the devoted and servile wife of Michael Habdzha and the fierce mother of Urban, their grandmother Louise Kristova (nee Hrzhichova), proved to be very helpful to them. She advised then not to start before noon. Free as she was in all her actions , she did not need to account for her comings and goings . She ran to hire a wagoner with a long wagon and a cart, so they could take all their belongings . She also knew that her son-in-law, the farmer, would return only at sunset , for he had gone to Holy Hill from which one does not return quickly. Her daughter - as soon as she was rid of the morning cooking - grasped the opportunity provided by her husband 's absence , to " hit" the bottle, lie in the upper room , and tell the world to go to hell. Urban's brothers, Nicholas and Philip , and his sister Josephine , oppressed like Urban and Christine, were ready to assist in all the operations when they found the young couple was about to sneak out from the lower room . Joyfully anticipating their parents' anger, they danced in the yard. �116 SLOVAKIA In the Habdzha household, there had always been shouting and fighting ever since the house was built, with its four windows facing the square of Zelena Misa. The reins of the household had been held since time immemorial by the man, sharp as a razor, while the ladle had always been held in the hand of a woman as angry as a snake. If the Archangel Michael had established the man as the head of the household to beat all the others, the woman was certainly awarded by the Devil to the man to support him with anger and sly financial machinations. Only Urban, the " scoundrel," took it into his head to violate this age-old tradition. He had suddenly ceased to obey. He was, to be sure, more stubborn and sharper than his honorable ancestors. But at the same time , he had in his chest a greater heart and more mad handsomeness in his face. In the retinue of the Habdzhas , he might have been mistaken for a noble . Because of his rebellious character, he had not brought a respectible bride into the house , but a maidservant, almost with a child in her hands. He tore the Habdzhas' homespun customs to shreds. He turned the household upsidedown. And as if this were not enough , this ungrateful fellow took the side of a woman who sang non-peasant ballads about orphans and injustices above her son' s cradle. Because of these insults , the old Habdzhas bore an everlasting grudge against the beggarly lower room, and, except to give orders for work , they did not address Urban and Christine with a decent word. But Christine , like Urban before her, won the grandmother and her brothers- and sister-in-law to her side. No one could have endured the tears she shed in the corners. Even a beggar standing in the door took it upon himself to chide Veronica for mistreating her daughter-inlaw. Still nothing moved the old ones. It did not help that grandmother poured kitchen slop over Veronica, that Nicholas and Philip broke the chaff cutter in the barn , that Josephine stuck out her tongue at her father ; nor did the store room door chopped to pieces and other asininities committed by Urban affect his parents. It did not help either that the young people worked like dragons. They thought, the donkeys , that they might ~ ppease the old ones, and that peace would reign in the house . The oldsters were pleased, of course, with the output of the young. Because of that , they fed them, for the kitchen was open to all. But punishment - that was another matter! The old did not punish the young as workers , no - God forbid! - they could not find better hands. Yet the young deserved to suffer, to suffer greatly, for they were unworthy, for they had sinned against their ancestors , moldering, God knows how long, in the cemetery of �SLOVAKIA 117 Zelena Misa. In the opinion of the old ones, the young must suffer even more for Marc, who was born a month after the wedding. The child , having trespassed so vilely against tradition, was simply not considered a member of the family. He was a worm-eaten fruit. He was something that screeched aimlessly and would not be missed had he broken his neck. In such a case, there would at least be an empty comer for a more Christian apple. Yet the child, even in the midst of anger and hate , grew like a mushroom and was so dear that to harm him would have wrecked the entire house. And so the old had to shun the bastard. And for exactly the same reason, it was clear that Urban and Christine had no other choice than to disappear from the sight of the old ones . And so, as grandmother advised, that day when Michael Habdzha left for Holy Hill and his wife Veronica was digesting her extra quart of red wine and snorting in the upper room, the young Habdzhas loaded their few belongings safely onto the wagon and cart. Grandmother gave them their due portion of victuals and kitchen utensils from the common kitchen . Josephine brought grandmother's spotted cow from the stable. Nicholas and Philip tied together several bundles of clover and threw a sheaf of straw down from the hay loft. Christine took Marc in her knapsack. Veronica did not awake. Everything in the house was carried out without bangs or pangs. Yet, grandmother - God knows what kind of sorrow took hold of her eighty-year-old heart - was unable to part with Christine. The wagoner with his wagon and Urban with the cart and cow moved slowly down the street. Urban' s brothers and sister accompanied the fleeing couple. Everything was bundled together and dragged down the street. Only Christine and her grandmother-in-law , standing in the wide-open gate , wiped their eyes with the comers of their aprons. Even the lazy residents of Zelena Misa, crawling out of their clay holes to see what was going on, considered this long parting to be a stupid thing. It was fatal, indeed, to spend so much time taking leave. When the young woman finally set her foot outside the gate , old Habdzha , rather untimely, was about to enter at that very moment. Both the departing woman and the entering man stiffened in their positions. He changed from blue to black with anger ; she became pale with shame and dread. " Are you leaving? " He stood half-bent, supported by a walking stick. Yet his head was raised toward her. He confronted her menacingly. He looked hateful. Her heart pounded as she considered by-passing him. But she was unable to move from the spot. She only turned round and round . She felt as if she were nailed to the ground. Unable to hide her face , she �118 SLOVAKIA tried at least to avoid the recriminating look of her father-in-law. Luckily, sorrow overcame her, and the tears beclouded her eyes. This confused Habdzha. He bent to one side, by-passing her. He walked slowly, staring directly in her eyes. Then he spat and mumbled, "You pig!" What? Grandmother saw little Marc turn in the knapsack and look at her, spreading his little hands toward her. She blessed him, making the sign of the cross with her bony hand in the air. At the same time, the ugly word fell like cow's dung from the mouth of her son-in-law and hit her ears . With a hand weighted with anger, she slapped him across the mouth. There! Michael Habdzha stiffened. Blood sped into his face. He opened his mouth, gasping for air. He choked. Through a red fog, he saw and heard the onlookers of Zelena Misa laugh as they retreated into their doorways . He took his head in his hands. His heart, the wild Habdzha heart with thin walls, started its awful gallop. He mumbled something, something incomprehensible and disastrous, something lost in the sad moment when he slid down to the earth. (1946) '\ � SLOVAKIA 113 "Baked Blockheads" . (a fragment) \ FRANTISEK HECKO (1905-1960) In the morning, as soon as Michael Habdzha, a pudgy and stem peasant of Zelena Misa, stepped out of his house, his son Urban took his wife Christine (nee Svata) by the hand; and like children walking to school, they went hand-in-hand to the notary, signed a contract and a note , and bought a house with two vineyards in Wolfsvale . The entire transaction was very brief: Christine removed a linen pouch from the bosom of her dress, unwrapped the protective cover of the pouch, and took out twenty hundred-crown banknotes , part of which she earned through her own sweat and tears and part of which they had received after long supplication from the elders of Podhaj. Having placed the money on the desk in front of the notary, Christine and her husband signed the contract, and Theophil Hrzhic and Dominik Palkovic, the guarantors , vouched the draft with an additional fifteen-hundred crowns . The notary winked deliberately at the young woman and said, " So-o-o! Live in the house happily and use your property in good health! You-u-u made a go-o-od bargain. " The young couple left the notary office with pale faces, empty pockets, and shoulders slumping somewhat. It was hard to say what burdened their hearts the most; whether it was the property acquired in Wolfsvale , or the draft note for fifteen-hundred crowns, or the speed with which the transaction was performed. The notary put five of Christine's hundred-crown banknotes in his pocket, while the remaining fifteen bills he placed in his desk drawer for the former owner of the Wolfsvale property, Joseph Deograts, who, to the surprise of all, had emigrated with his family to America. The notary patted his pocket as if dusting his suit after contact with a hairy animal and mumbled, " Donkeys .. . both of you !" The young Habdzhas did not return home through the village. They walked through the barnyards, and even there they turned on purpose across Cabbage Fields and Hemp Fields towards Scabby Water. In Little Willows near the river, Christine's teeth began to rattle. She wept, while Urban, the vein on his forehead swollen, was angry because she regretted spending the money. They would have �114 SLOVAKIA walked this way and cried and been angry with each other, had the woman not grabbed the man in her arms . Tears in her eyes, she said with bluish lips , " Urban!" Her voice was like the cry of a drowning person. "Dear Christine!" She had never heard her name pronounced so tenderly . ' 'I'm scared, so scared that I'm shivering!'' Indeed, cold fever shuddered through her body. ' 'Don't be afraid and don't shiver! Do you realize, godly woman, the meaning of having one's own house?" The entire world turned around her. She knew, yes, and how well she knew it! But now she was glad because her Urban knew it, too. " I'm sorry if you think that I regret spending the money." And added still with tears in her eyes: ' 'But I'm afraid of the hell that will follow when those in the upper room learn what we did. I would rather take little Marc and fly directly over to Wolfsvale. Virgin Mary, help me!" It was not the money that worried her. She was concerned about the storm which would suddenly explode in the Habdzha's proud home • when papa and mama learned that the "baked blockheads" had once again challenged their absolute rule and played a stupid trick on them. Urban now knew for sure that his Christine was more dec~nt than he had ever thought her to be. He was very happy because of that, and his heart beat like a hammer. Laughing loudly, he lifted his wife up and tried to rock his longlegged girl in his arms while walking forward . But ~ime and time again she slipped in his hands. She did not know whether to slide down to the ground or to wind her arms around her husband's neck. She let him carry her for some distance, while a sweet indecision intoxicated her. But the moment was so great that it could not culminate in an ordinary embrace. He looked into her eyes and saw that her tears had seemingly dried: Christine 's shy girlishness retreated before a relentlessly onrushing womanly ripeness. \ Urban understood. And before she could,have opened her mouth, he let her touch the ground and outran her, calling to her, " Let' s go, Christine, let' s leave today! " " Yes , yes, yes! " The marks of feminine consent - her smile, the burning coals in her eyes , and fully expanded bosom - betrayed her thoughts clearly. Both found in their agreement a starting point, simple and direct, a stunning view of freedom craved by everything young and healthy in the world. �SLOVAKIA 115 Intoxicated spiritually, they sped up from Little Willows and ran across the Meadows to the bridge. The bridge, a formless stone structure thrown clumsily over the river bed of Scabby Water, connected Zelena Misa with Wolfsvale in the fields. A blackened statue of St. John Nepomucene haa stood on the bridge for long centuries, guarding the entrance to W olfsvale and looking with bulging, hateful eyes toward Zelena Misa. Both sat down on a low brick balustrade near the statue . St. John's eyes, from the Wolfsvale side, shone with goodness and won their approval. Urban and Christine looked down on troughlike W olfsvale , full of trees and grapevines, stakes and bushwood. The property which they acquired that day at the notary and which belonged to them was located beyond Goatshead, in Wolf Comers , now the wildest and deepest part of Wolfsvale. And perhaps because of the location and nature of their property, they felt twice as strongly that they aleady belonged there, among the grapevines and trees. When they walked down from the bridge toward Zelena Misa, a feeling of contempt toward the village took possession of them. The village seemed ugly, bare, and worn out. Sitting on a flat hill, the village was kneaded formlessly of brick clay and covered with fat straw. Even the church stuck upward like a fence post. Urban and Christine had acted wisely in drawing a good human being, their grandmother, into their secret plans . A less pious and more honest woman than her daughter Veronina, the devoted and servile wife of Michael Habdzha and the fierce mother of Urban, their grandmother Louise Kristova (nee Hrzhichova), proved to be very helpful to them. She advised then not to start before noon. Free as she was in all her actions , she did not need to account for her comings and goings . She ran to hire a wagoner with a long wagon and a cart, so they could take all their belongings . She also knew that her son-in-law, the farmer, would return only at sunset , for he had gone to Holy Hill from which one does not return quickly. Her daughter - as soon as she was rid of the morning cooking - grasped the opportunity provided by her husband 's absence , to " hit" the bottle, lie in the upper room , and tell the world to go to hell. Urban's brothers, Nicholas and Philip , and his sister Josephine , oppressed like Urban and Christine, were ready to assist in all the operations when they found the young couple was about to sneak out from the lower room . Joyfully anticipating their parents' anger, they danced in the yard. �116 SLOVAKIA In the Habdzha household, there had always been shouting and fighting ever since the house was built, with its four windows facing the square of Zelena Misa. The reins of the household had been held since time immemorial by the man, sharp as a razor, while the ladle had always been held in the hand of a woman as angry as a snake. If the Archangel Michael had established the man as the head of the household to beat all the others, the woman was certainly awarded by the Devil to the man to support him with anger and sly financial machinations. Only Urban, the " scoundrel," took it into his head to violate this age-old tradition. He had suddenly ceased to obey. He was, to be sure, more stubborn and sharper than his honorable ancestors. But at the same time , he had in his chest a greater heart and more mad handsomeness in his face. In the retinue of the Habdzhas , he might have been mistaken for a noble . Because of his rebellious character, he had not brought a respectible bride into the house , but a maidservant, almost with a child in her hands. He tore the Habdzhas' homespun customs to shreds. He turned the household upsidedown. And as if this were not enough , this ungrateful fellow took the side of a woman who sang non-peasant ballads about orphans and injustices above her son' s cradle. Because of these insults , the old Habdzhas bore an everlasting grudge against the beggarly lower room, and, except to give orders for work , they did not address Urban and Christine with a decent word. But Christine , like Urban before her, won the grandmother and her brothers- and sister-in-law to her side. No one could have endured the tears she shed in the corners. Even a beggar standing in the door took it upon himself to chide Veronica for mistreating her daughter-inlaw. Still nothing moved the old ones. It did not help that grandmother poured kitchen slop over Veronica, that Nicholas and Philip broke the chaff cutter in the barn , that Josephine stuck out her tongue at her father ; nor did the store room door chopped to pieces and other asininities committed by Urban affect his parents. It did not help either that the young people worked like dragons. They thought, the donkeys , that they might ~ ppease the old ones, and that peace would reign in the house . The oldsters were pleased, of course, with the output of the young. Because of that , they fed them, for the kitchen was open to all. But punishment - that was another matter! The old did not punish the young as workers , no - God forbid! - they could not find better hands. Yet the young deserved to suffer, to suffer greatly, for they were unworthy, for they had sinned against their ancestors , moldering, God knows how long, in the cemetery of �SLOVAKIA 117 Zelena Misa. In the opinion of the old ones, the young must suffer even more for Marc, who was born a month after the wedding. The child , having trespassed so vilely against tradition, was simply not considered a member of the family. He was a worm-eaten fruit. He was something that screeched aimlessly and would not be missed had he broken his neck. In such a case, there would at least be an empty comer for a more Christian apple. Yet the child, even in the midst of anger and hate , grew like a mushroom and was so dear that to harm him would have wrecked the entire house. And so the old had to shun the bastard. And for exactly the same reason, it was clear that Urban and Christine had no other choice than to disappear from the sight of the old ones . And so, as grandmother advised, that day when Michael Habdzha left for Holy Hill and his wife Veronica was digesting her extra quart of red wine and snorting in the upper room, the young Habdzhas loaded their few belongings safely onto the wagon and cart. Grandmother gave them their due portion of victuals and kitchen utensils from the common kitchen . Josephine brought grandmother's spotted cow from the stable. Nicholas and Philip tied together several bundles of clover and threw a sheaf of straw down from the hay loft. Christine took Marc in her knapsack. Veronica did not awake. Everything in the house was carried out without bangs or pangs. Yet, grandmother - God knows what kind of sorrow took hold of her eighty-year-old heart - was unable to part with Christine. The wagoner with his wagon and Urban with the cart and cow moved slowly down the street. Urban' s brothers and sister accompanied the fleeing couple. Everything was bundled together and dragged down the street. Only Christine and her grandmother-in-law , standing in the wide-open gate , wiped their eyes with the comers of their aprons. Even the lazy residents of Zelena Misa, crawling out of their clay holes to see what was going on, considered this long parting to be a stupid thing. It was fatal, indeed, to spend so much time taking leave. When the young woman finally set her foot outside the gate , old Habdzha , rather untimely, was about to enter at that very moment. Both the departing woman and the entering man stiffened in their positions. He changed from blue to black with anger ; she became pale with shame and dread. " Are you leaving? " He stood half-bent, supported by a walking stick. Yet his head was raised toward her. He confronted her menacingly. He looked hateful. Her heart pounded as she considered by-passing him. But she was unable to move from the spot. She only turned round and round . She felt as if she were nailed to the ground. Unable to hide her face , she �118 SLOVAKIA tried at least to avoid the recriminating look of her father-in-law. Luckily, sorrow overcame her, and the tears beclouded her eyes. This confused Habdzha. He bent to one side, by-passing her. He walked slowly, staring directly in her eyes. Then he spat and mumbled, "You pig!" What? Grandmother saw little Marc turn in the knapsack and look at her, spreading his little hands toward her. She blessed him, making the sign of the cross with her bony hand in the air. At the same time, the ugly word fell like cow's dung from the mouth of her son-in-law and hit her ears . With a hand weighted with anger, she slapped him across the mouth. There! Michael Habdzha stiffened. Blood sped into his face. He opened his mouth, gasping for air. He choked. Through a red fog, he saw and heard the onlookers of Zelena Misa laugh as they retreated into their doorways . He took his head in his hands. His heart, the wild Habdzha heart with thin walls, started its awful gallop. He mumbled something, something incomprehensible and disastrous, something lost in the sad moment when he slid down to the earth. (1946) '\ � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1978-79, Vol. 28 Description An account of the resource Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 113 "Baked Blockheads" . (a fragment) \ FRANTISEK HECKO (1905-1960) In the morning, as soon as Michael Habdzha, a pudgy and stem peasant of Zelena Misa, stepped out of his house, his son Urban took his wife Christine (nee Svata) by the hand; and like children walking to school, they went hand-in-hand to the notary, signed a contract and a note , and bought a house with two vineyards in Wolfsvale . The entire transaction was very brief: Christine removed a linen pouch from the bosom of her dress, unwrapped the protective cover of the pouch, and took out twenty hundred-crown banknotes , part of which she earned through her own sweat and tears and part of which they had received after long supplication from the elders of Podhaj. Having placed the money on the desk in front of the notary, Christine and her husband signed the contract, and Theophil Hrzhic and Dominik Palkovic, the guarantors , vouched the draft with an additional fifteen-hundred crowns . The notary winked deliberately at the young woman and said, " So-o-o! Live in the house happily and use your property in good health! You-u-u made a go-o-od bargain. " The young couple left the notary office with pale faces, empty pockets, and shoulders slumping somewhat. It was hard to say what burdened their hearts the most; whether it was the property acquired in Wolfsvale , or the draft note for fifteen-hundred crowns, or the speed with which the transaction was performed. The notary put five of Christine's hundred-crown banknotes in his pocket, while the remaining fifteen bills he placed in his desk drawer for the former owner of the Wolfsvale property, Joseph Deograts, who, to the surprise of all, had emigrated with his family to America. The notary patted his pocket as if dusting his suit after contact with a hairy animal and mumbled, " Donkeys .. . both of you !" The young Habdzhas did not return home through the village. They walked through the barnyards, and even there they turned on purpose across Cabbage Fields and Hemp Fields towards Scabby Water. In Little Willows near the river, Christine's teeth began to rattle. She wept, while Urban, the vein on his forehead swollen, was angry because she regretted spending the money. They would have 114 SLOVAKIA walked this way and cried and been angry with each other, had the woman not grabbed the man in her arms . Tears in her eyes, she said with bluish lips , " Urban!" Her voice was like the cry of a drowning person. "Dear Christine!" She had never heard her name pronounced so tenderly . ' 'I'm scared, so scared that I'm shivering!'' Indeed, cold fever shuddered through her body. ' 'Don't be afraid and don't shiver! Do you realize, godly woman, the meaning of having one's own house?" The entire world turned around her. She knew, yes, and how well she knew it! But now she was glad because her Urban knew it, too. " I'm sorry if you think that I regret spending the money." And added still with tears in her eyes: ' 'But I'm afraid of the hell that will follow when those in the upper room learn what we did. I would rather take little Marc and fly directly over to Wolfsvale. Virgin Mary, help me!" It was not the money that worried her. She was concerned about the storm which would suddenly explode in the Habdzha's proud home • when papa and mama learned that the "baked blockheads" had once again challenged their absolute rule and played a stupid trick on them. Urban now knew for sure that his Christine was more dec~nt than he had ever thought her to be. He was very happy because of that, and his heart beat like a hammer. Laughing loudly, he lifted his wife up and tried to rock his longlegged girl in his arms while walking forward . But ~ime and time again she slipped in his hands. She did not know whether to slide down to the ground or to wind her arms around her husband's neck. She let him carry her for some distance, while a sweet indecision intoxicated her. But the moment was so great that it could not culminate in an ordinary embrace. He looked into her eyes and saw that her tears had seemingly dried: Christine 's shy girlishness retreated before a relentlessly onrushing womanly ripeness. \ Urban understood. And before she could,have opened her mouth, he let her touch the ground and outran her, calling to her, " Let' s go, Christine, let' s leave today! " " Yes , yes, yes! " The marks of feminine consent - her smile, the burning coals in her eyes , and fully expanded bosom - betrayed her thoughts clearly. Both found in their agreement a starting point, simple and direct, a stunning view of freedom craved by everything young and healthy in the world. SLOVAKIA 115 Intoxicated spiritually, they sped up from Little Willows and ran across the Meadows to the bridge. The bridge, a formless stone structure thrown clumsily over the river bed of Scabby Water, connected Zelena Misa with Wolfsvale in the fields. A blackened statue of St. John Nepomucene haa stood on the bridge for long centuries, guarding the entrance to W olfsvale and looking with bulging, hateful eyes toward Zelena Misa. Both sat down on a low brick balustrade near the statue . St. John's eyes, from the Wolfsvale side, shone with goodness and won their approval. Urban and Christine looked down on troughlike W olfsvale , full of trees and grapevines, stakes and bushwood. The property which they acquired that day at the notary and which belonged to them was located beyond Goatshead, in Wolf Comers , now the wildest and deepest part of Wolfsvale. And perhaps because of the location and nature of their property, they felt twice as strongly that they aleady belonged there, among the grapevines and trees. When they walked down from the bridge toward Zelena Misa, a feeling of contempt toward the village took possession of them. The village seemed ugly, bare, and worn out. Sitting on a flat hill, the village was kneaded formlessly of brick clay and covered with fat straw. Even the church stuck upward like a fence post. Urban and Christine had acted wisely in drawing a good human being, their grandmother, into their secret plans . A less pious and more honest woman than her daughter Veronina, the devoted and servile wife of Michael Habdzha and the fierce mother of Urban, their grandmother Louise Kristova (nee Hrzhichova), proved to be very helpful to them. She advised then not to start before noon. Free as she was in all her actions , she did not need to account for her comings and goings . She ran to hire a wagoner with a long wagon and a cart, so they could take all their belongings . She also knew that her son-in-law, the farmer, would return only at sunset , for he had gone to Holy Hill from which one does not return quickly. Her daughter - as soon as she was rid of the morning cooking - grasped the opportunity provided by her husband 's absence , to " hit" the bottle, lie in the upper room , and tell the world to go to hell. Urban's brothers, Nicholas and Philip , and his sister Josephine , oppressed like Urban and Christine, were ready to assist in all the operations when they found the young couple was about to sneak out from the lower room . Joyfully anticipating their parents' anger, they danced in the yard. 116 SLOVAKIA In the Habdzha household, there had always been shouting and fighting ever since the house was built, with its four windows facing the square of Zelena Misa. The reins of the household had been held since time immemorial by the man, sharp as a razor, while the ladle had always been held in the hand of a woman as angry as a snake. If the Archangel Michael had established the man as the head of the household to beat all the others, the woman was certainly awarded by the Devil to the man to support him with anger and sly financial machinations. Only Urban, the " scoundrel," took it into his head to violate this age-old tradition. He had suddenly ceased to obey. He was, to be sure, more stubborn and sharper than his honorable ancestors. But at the same time , he had in his chest a greater heart and more mad handsomeness in his face. In the retinue of the Habdzhas , he might have been mistaken for a noble . Because of his rebellious character, he had not brought a respectible bride into the house , but a maidservant, almost with a child in her hands. He tore the Habdzhas' homespun customs to shreds. He turned the household upsidedown. And as if this were not enough , this ungrateful fellow took the side of a woman who sang non-peasant ballads about orphans and injustices above her son' s cradle. Because of these insults , the old Habdzhas bore an everlasting grudge against the beggarly lower room, and, except to give orders for work , they did not address Urban and Christine with a decent word. But Christine , like Urban before her, won the grandmother and her brothers- and sister-in-law to her side. No one could have endured the tears she shed in the corners. Even a beggar standing in the door took it upon himself to chide Veronica for mistreating her daughter-inlaw. Still nothing moved the old ones. It did not help that grandmother poured kitchen slop over Veronica, that Nicholas and Philip broke the chaff cutter in the barn , that Josephine stuck out her tongue at her father ; nor did the store room door chopped to pieces and other asininities committed by Urban affect his parents. It did not help either that the young people worked like dragons. They thought, the donkeys , that they might ~ ppease the old ones, and that peace would reign in the house . The oldsters were pleased, of course, with the output of the young. Because of that , they fed them, for the kitchen was open to all. But punishment - that was another matter! The old did not punish the young as workers , no - God forbid! - they could not find better hands. Yet the young deserved to suffer, to suffer greatly, for they were unworthy, for they had sinned against their ancestors , moldering, God knows how long, in the cemetery of SLOVAKIA 117 Zelena Misa. In the opinion of the old ones, the young must suffer even more for Marc, who was born a month after the wedding. The child , having trespassed so vilely against tradition, was simply not considered a member of the family. He was a worm-eaten fruit. He was something that screeched aimlessly and would not be missed had he broken his neck. In such a case, there would at least be an empty comer for a more Christian apple. Yet the child, even in the midst of anger and hate , grew like a mushroom and was so dear that to harm him would have wrecked the entire house. And so the old had to shun the bastard. And for exactly the same reason, it was clear that Urban and Christine had no other choice than to disappear from the sight of the old ones . And so, as grandmother advised, that day when Michael Habdzha left for Holy Hill and his wife Veronica was digesting her extra quart of red wine and snorting in the upper room, the young Habdzhas loaded their few belongings safely onto the wagon and cart. Grandmother gave them their due portion of victuals and kitchen utensils from the common kitchen . Josephine brought grandmother's spotted cow from the stable. Nicholas and Philip tied together several bundles of clover and threw a sheaf of straw down from the hay loft. Christine took Marc in her knapsack. Veronica did not awake. Everything in the house was carried out without bangs or pangs. Yet, grandmother - God knows what kind of sorrow took hold of her eighty-year-old heart - was unable to part with Christine. The wagoner with his wagon and Urban with the cart and cow moved slowly down the street. Urban' s brothers and sister accompanied the fleeing couple. Everything was bundled together and dragged down the street. Only Christine and her grandmother-in-law , standing in the wide-open gate , wiped their eyes with the comers of their aprons. Even the lazy residents of Zelena Misa, crawling out of their clay holes to see what was going on, considered this long parting to be a stupid thing. It was fatal, indeed, to spend so much time taking leave. When the young woman finally set her foot outside the gate , old Habdzha , rather untimely, was about to enter at that very moment. Both the departing woman and the entering man stiffened in their positions. He changed from blue to black with anger ; she became pale with shame and dread. " Are you leaving? " He stood half-bent, supported by a walking stick. Yet his head was raised toward her. He confronted her menacingly. He looked hateful. Her heart pounded as she considered by-passing him. But she was unable to move from the spot. She only turned round and round . She felt as if she were nailed to the ground. Unable to hide her face , she 118 SLOVAKIA tried at least to avoid the recriminating look of her father-in-law. Luckily, sorrow overcame her, and the tears beclouded her eyes. This confused Habdzha. He bent to one side, by-passing her. He walked slowly, staring directly in her eyes. Then he spat and mumbled, "You pig!" What? Grandmother saw little Marc turn in the knapsack and look at her, spreading his little hands toward her. She blessed him, making the sign of the cross with her bony hand in the air. At the same time, the ugly word fell like cow's dung from the mouth of her son-in-law and hit her ears . With a hand weighted with anger, she slapped him across the mouth. There! Michael Habdzha stiffened. Blood sped into his face. He opened his mouth, gasping for air. He choked. Through a red fog, he saw and heard the onlookers of Zelena Misa laugh as they retreated into their doorways . He took his head in his hands. His heart, the wild Habdzha heart with thin walls, started its awful gallop. He mumbled something, something incomprehensible and disastrous, something lost in the sad moment when he slid down to the earth. (1946) '\  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "Baked Blockheads" (a fragment) Description An account of the resource František Hečko Slovakia, Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79 pp. 113-118 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hečko, František, 1905-1960 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/91ad09c524a8a98dd3dbc8e5c9de1e88.pdf 11f84f34e13eda26f65190698bd9b2e7 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 35 "CZECHOSLOVAK" DEMOCRACY (SP) - No one in the world boasted as much about "people's democracy" as the Czechs and Slovak Czechs (the so-called "Czechoslovaks"). The Soviet fraud wlth people's democracy seemed to be made to order accordlng to the pattern of Zenkl, Beneš, Lettrich and cthers of the same pollt!cal camp. They ldentifled themselves wlth thls idea rlght after the war, because it expressed thelr stand toward the people, polltics and the management ot the state. The idea represented them; they were people's democrats before Soviet propaganda discovered the expression "people's democracy" ! How else can we explain what happened after an lnsigniflcant camariJJa, placed at the helm ot the shlp of state wlth the aid ot forelgners and really drunk wlth power, proclaimed a "people's democracy" and lts lmmense advantages? All we have to do !s take the newspapers and parllament records from 1945-1948 and we'll see that the Czechoslovaks used every occaslon to publlcly pralse the "people's democracy." Western powers could flnd a Jot of interestlng materlal there about the "democratic" sentiment of the people who today are golng from door to door In Washington and London clalming they are martyrs to the cause of democracy. Czechoslovaklsm (Czech lmperiallsm) was the hlstorlc vanguard and predecessor ot "people's democracy." Today we au know that "people's democracy" is a denlal ot democracy and slgnifles a polltlcal police system whlch prohlblts free expresslon ot an oplonlon and demands of all an uncondlt!onal acceptance of the ideas and platforms of the rullng ca.ste. "People's democracy" outrages the oplnlon of the majority and forces lt to adapť itself to the minority; lt 1s brutal in the means lt uses to force assent wlth lts ideas and program. The Czechoslovaks were péople's democrats already durlng the first Czecho-Slovak republic: because the Slovaks wanted to be free they persecuted them with ruthless police methods; they dld not respect the oplnlon of the vast majority of the Slovaks and forc1>d tbe wbole Slovak natlon to live In polltlcal, economlcal and cultural subjection; as good "people's democrats" they lntroduced In Slovakla methods ot economlc exploltatlon and by arttrlclal means kept the whole of Slovakla In a mlserable social posltlon; they were forclng the Slovak nat!on to regard Czecho-Slovakla as lts bome at a Ume when they were maklng that state a prlson for Slovaks. Of course, that dld not work out as planned. It was not strange at all that Czechoslovak circles accepted "people's democracy" with enthusiasm In 1945. That klnd ot democracy helped them to occupy Slovakla. In Slovakla lt gave them the power' 1. to murder, dlspossess, dlsfranchlse and exile au pol!t!cal opponents; 2. to persecute Slovak patrlotlsm as "tasclst"; 3. to abol!sh democratlc freedoms and install a government ot suppresslon and terror; 4. to suppress every free expresslon In Slovakia and persecute every effort of the Slovaks to free themselves trom a sltuatlon forced on them; 5. to estabUsh concentratlon ca.mps and present the Slovaks. f!ght!ng for the freedom of thelr natlon, as fascists and enemles of democracy; and, 6. to falslfy the actual condltlons prevaillng in Slovakla. After tbelr departure from the so-called "people's democracy'' of �36 SLOVAKIA Czecho-Slovakia, these "superdemocrats" continued in the work they were taught to do by Beneš. They are stlll propagating the !ie that the Slovaks do not want their own state, but prefer Czechoslovakia; they are vilifying the Slovaks and telling the west that the Slovaks are backward culturally, economically and politically and lacklng In democratlc traditions. The Slovaks, accordlng to them, are possessed by psychic complexes of an inferlor mass. According to the Czechoslovaks it is democratic to bave tbe Slovaks 1. the Czechs have the rlght to rule Slovakia; 2. Slovakia must be again annexed to Czech lands, because Czech interests - whlch is to them the supreme measure of democracy - demands it; 3. whatever harms Czech imperialism In its relationship to Slovakia is undemocratic, non-progressive and reactionary. Acordlng to the Czechoslovaks it is democratlc to have the Slovaks live under Czech rule and acoept the Czech concept that the Slovaks do not exist, that polltically the Slovak natlon is immature and incapable, and that lt should let itself be Jed on a leash which the Czechs thrust around its neck out of "love" and for "protection." According to the "people's democrats" it would be utterly undemocratlc to grant the Slovaks the right of self-determination, the right to their own state, the rlght to declde thelr own fate, and the rlght to live in their own fashion accordlng to thelr own means. These enemies of tbe Slovak natlon know that the S lovaks are almost to a man for an independent Slovak state, so they sound the alarm that the renewal of the Slovak Republic would be a threat to democracy. They are determined to carry on their propaganda of lles to deceive the western democracles just as Beneš had done so effectlvely for some 30 years. But the Slovaks are determined, too - especially now more than ever before - to expose and flght the Czechoslovak pseudodemo• crats. The Slovak nation rid itself of the Magyar cancer and it shall, with the help of God, also rid !tself of the Czecboslovak ulcer. The western powers are gradually beglnning to realize that Zenkl, Papánek, Ripka, Lettrich and company are masked enemles of democracles and are, in fact, responsible in a large measure for the conditions prevailing in Czechoslovakia today. And also, the world must soon realize that Czechoslovakism was the handmald of Communism and, as such, the enemy of true democracy. • • • • WHO SAI D IT? "Czeohoslovakia was THE ONLY COUNTRY in Europe tha4 had a hlgh consistent leadership of suob men as Masaryk an"d Benes. . . . Czechoalovakia could not trust the countriea wh ich betrayed her, Britain and F rance. She was compelled to cast her lot under t,he overpowering mlght of Russla. But I am not at all alarmed at the prospect. The Anglo-Saxon countrles wlll always stand for LIBERTY AND LOY ALTY to the prlnclples or rellgion. They alwaya fail, however, In the matter of economic justice and racia! brotherhood. RUSSIA STANDS ALWAYS FOR THESE TWO THINGS. 1 belleve that Czechoslovakla wlll play a Jarge part In helplng to keep Russla loyal to the Charter or the Unlted Nations." - (Dr. Sherwood Eddy, THE SLA VONJC MONTHLY, Sept. 1945). � SLOVAKIA 35 "CZECHOSLOVAK" DEMOCRACY (SP) - No one in the world boasted as much about "people's democracy" as the Czechs and Slovak Czechs (the so-called "Czechoslovaks"). The Soviet fraud wlth people's democracy seemed to be made to order accordlng to the pattern of Zenkl, Beneš, Lettrich and cthers of the same pollt!cal camp. They ldentifled themselves wlth thls idea rlght after the war, because it expressed thelr stand toward the people, polltics and the management ot the state. The idea represented them; they were people's democrats before Soviet propaganda discovered the expression "people's democracy" ! How else can we explain what happened after an lnsigniflcant camariJJa, placed at the helm ot the shlp of state wlth the aid ot forelgners and really drunk wlth power, proclaimed a "people's democracy" and lts lmmense advantages? All we have to do !s take the newspapers and parllament records from 1945-1948 and we'll see that the Czechoslovaks used every occaslon to publlcly pralse the "people's democracy." Western powers could flnd a Jot of interestlng materlal there about the "democratic" sentiment of the people who today are golng from door to door In Washington and London clalming they are martyrs to the cause of democracy. Czechoslovaklsm (Czech lmperiallsm) was the hlstorlc vanguard and predecessor ot "people's democracy." Today we au know that "people's democracy" is a denlal ot democracy and slgnifles a polltlcal police system whlch prohlblts free expresslon ot an oplonlon and demands of all an uncondlt!onal acceptance of the ideas and platforms of the rullng ca.ste. "People's democracy" outrages the oplnlon of the majority and forces lt to adapť itself to the minority; lt 1s brutal in the means lt uses to force assent wlth lts ideas and program. The Czechoslovaks were péople's democrats already durlng the first Czecho-Slovak republic: because the Slovaks wanted to be free they persecuted them with ruthless police methods; they dld not respect the oplnlon of the vast majority of the Slovaks and forc1>d tbe wbole Slovak natlon to live In polltlcal, economlcal and cultural subjection; as good "people's democrats" they lntroduced In Slovakla methods ot economlc exploltatlon and by arttrlclal means kept the whole of Slovakla In a mlserable social posltlon; they were forclng the Slovak nat!on to regard Czecho-Slovakla as lts bome at a Ume when they were maklng that state a prlson for Slovaks. Of course, that dld not work out as planned. It was not strange at all that Czechoslovak circles accepted "people's democracy" with enthusiasm In 1945. That klnd ot democracy helped them to occupy Slovakla. In Slovakla lt gave them the power' 1. to murder, dlspossess, dlsfranchlse and exile au pol!t!cal opponents; 2. to persecute Slovak patrlotlsm as "tasclst"; 3. to abol!sh democratlc freedoms and install a government ot suppresslon and terror; 4. to suppress every free expresslon In Slovakia and persecute every effort of the Slovaks to free themselves trom a sltuatlon forced on them; 5. to estabUsh concentratlon ca.mps and present the Slovaks. f!ght!ng for the freedom of thelr natlon, as fascists and enemles of democracy; and, 6. to falslfy the actual condltlons prevaillng in Slovakla. After tbelr departure from the so-called "people's democracy'' of �36 SLOVAKIA Czecho-Slovakia, these "superdemocrats" continued in the work they were taught to do by Beneš. They are stlll propagating the !ie that the Slovaks do not want their own state, but prefer Czechoslovakia; they are vilifying the Slovaks and telling the west that the Slovaks are backward culturally, economically and politically and lacklng In democratlc traditions. The Slovaks, accordlng to them, are possessed by psychic complexes of an inferlor mass. According to the Czechoslovaks it is democratic to bave tbe Slovaks 1. the Czechs have the rlght to rule Slovakia; 2. Slovakia must be again annexed to Czech lands, because Czech interests - whlch is to them the supreme measure of democracy - demands it; 3. whatever harms Czech imperialism In its relationship to Slovakia is undemocratic, non-progressive and reactionary. Acordlng to the Czechoslovaks it is democratlc to have the Slovaks live under Czech rule and acoept the Czech concept that the Slovaks do not exist, that polltically the Slovak natlon is immature and incapable, and that lt should let itself be Jed on a leash which the Czechs thrust around its neck out of "love" and for "protection." According to the "people's democrats" it would be utterly undemocratlc to grant the Slovaks the right of self-determination, the right to their own state, the rlght to declde thelr own fate, and the rlght to live in their own fashion accordlng to thelr own means. These enemies of tbe Slovak natlon know that the S lovaks are almost to a man for an independent Slovak state, so they sound the alarm that the renewal of the Slovak Republic would be a threat to democracy. They are determined to carry on their propaganda of lles to deceive the western democracles just as Beneš had done so effectlvely for some 30 years. But the Slovaks are determined, too - especially now more than ever before - to expose and flght the Czechoslovak pseudodemo• crats. The Slovak nation rid itself of the Magyar cancer and it shall, with the help of God, also rid !tself of the Czecboslovak ulcer. The western powers are gradually beglnning to realize that Zenkl, Papánek, Ripka, Lettrich and company are masked enemles of democracles and are, in fact, responsible in a large measure for the conditions prevailing in Czechoslovakia today. And also, the world must soon realize that Czechoslovakism was the handmald of Communism and, as such, the enemy of true democracy. • • • • WHO SAI D IT? "Czeohoslovakia was THE ONLY COUNTRY in Europe tha4 had a hlgh consistent leadership of suob men as Masaryk an"d Benes. . . . Czechoalovakia could not trust the countriea wh ich betrayed her, Britain and F rance. She was compelled to cast her lot under t,he overpowering mlght of Russla. But I am not at all alarmed at the prospect. The Anglo-Saxon countrles wlll always stand for LIBERTY AND LOY ALTY to the prlnclples or rellgion. They alwaya fail, however, In the matter of economic justice and racia! brotherhood. RUSSIA STANDS ALWAYS FOR THESE TWO THINGS. 1 belleve that Czechoslovakla wlll play a Jarge part In helplng to keep Russla loyal to the Charter or the Unlted Nations." - (Dr. Sherwood Eddy, THE SLA VONJC MONTHLY, Sept. 1945). � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1951, Vol. 1 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1951 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 1), May 1951.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 2), December 1951.</li> </ul> Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context <ul><li><a href="https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/s261hfmshm7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span>ark:/13960/s261hfmshm7</span></a></li> <li><a href="https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/s21tk2wkzj4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span>ark:/13960/s21tk2wkzj4</span></a></li> </ul> Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 35 "CZECHOSLOVAK" DEMOCRACY (SP) - No one in the world boasted as much about "people's democracy" as the Czechs and Slovak Czechs (the so-called "Czechoslovaks"). The Soviet fraud wlth people's democracy seemed to be made to order accordlng to the pattern of Zenkl, Beneš, Lettrich and cthers of the same pollt!cal camp. They ldentifled themselves wlth thls idea rlght after the war, because it expressed thelr stand toward the people, polltics and the management ot the state. The idea represented them; they were people's democrats before Soviet propaganda discovered the expression "people's democracy" ! How else can we explain what happened after an lnsigniflcant camariJJa, placed at the helm ot the shlp of state wlth the aid ot forelgners and really drunk wlth power, proclaimed a "people's democracy" and lts lmmense advantages? All we have to do !s take the newspapers and parllament records from 1945-1948 and we'll see that the Czechoslovaks used every occaslon to publlcly pralse the "people's democracy." Western powers could flnd a Jot of interestlng materlal there about the "democratic" sentiment of the people who today are golng from door to door In Washington and London clalming they are martyrs to the cause of democracy. Czechoslovaklsm (Czech lmperiallsm) was the hlstorlc vanguard and predecessor ot "people's democracy." Today we au know that "people's democracy" is a denlal ot democracy and slgnifles a polltlcal police system whlch prohlblts free expresslon ot an oplonlon and demands of all an uncondlt!onal acceptance of the ideas and platforms of the rullng ca.ste. "People's democracy" outrages the oplnlon of the majority and forces lt to adapť itself to the minority; lt 1s brutal in the means lt uses to force assent wlth lts ideas and program. The Czechoslovaks were péople's democrats already durlng the first Czecho-Slovak republic: because the Slovaks wanted to be free they persecuted them with ruthless police methods; they dld not respect the oplnlon of the vast majority of the Slovaks and forc1>d tbe wbole Slovak natlon to live In polltlcal, economlcal and cultural subjection; as good "people's democrats" they lntroduced In Slovakla methods ot economlc exploltatlon and by arttrlclal means kept the whole of Slovakla In a mlserable social posltlon; they were forclng the Slovak nat!on to regard Czecho-Slovakla as lts bome at a Ume when they were maklng that state a prlson for Slovaks. Of course, that dld not work out as planned. It was not strange at all that Czechoslovak circles accepted "people's democracy" with enthusiasm In 1945. That klnd ot democracy helped them to occupy Slovakla. In Slovakla lt gave them the power' 1. to murder, dlspossess, dlsfranchlse and exile au pol!t!cal opponents; 2. to persecute Slovak patrlotlsm as "tasclst"; 3. to abol!sh democratlc freedoms and install a government ot suppresslon and terror; 4. to suppress every free expresslon In Slovakia and persecute every effort of the Slovaks to free themselves trom a sltuatlon forced on them; 5. to estabUsh concentratlon ca.mps and present the Slovaks. f!ght!ng for the freedom of thelr natlon, as fascists and enemles of democracy; and, 6. to falslfy the actual condltlons prevaillng in Slovakla. After tbelr departure from the so-called "people's democracy'' of 36 SLOVAKIA Czecho-Slovakia, these "superdemocrats" continued in the work they were taught to do by Beneš. They are stlll propagating the !ie that the Slovaks do not want their own state, but prefer Czechoslovakia; they are vilifying the Slovaks and telling the west that the Slovaks are backward culturally, economically and politically and lacklng In democratlc traditions. The Slovaks, accordlng to them, are possessed by psychic complexes of an inferlor mass. According to the Czechoslovaks it is democratic to bave tbe Slovaks 1. the Czechs have the rlght to rule Slovakia; 2. Slovakia must be again annexed to Czech lands, because Czech interests - whlch is to them the supreme measure of democracy - demands it; 3. whatever harms Czech imperialism In its relationship to Slovakia is undemocratic, non-progressive and reactionary. Acordlng to the Czechoslovaks it is democratlc to have the Slovaks live under Czech rule and acoept the Czech concept that the Slovaks do not exist, that polltically the Slovak natlon is immature and incapable, and that lt should let itself be Jed on a leash which the Czechs thrust around its neck out of "love" and for "protection." According to the "people's democrats" it would be utterly undemocratlc to grant the Slovaks the right of self-determination, the right to their own state, the rlght to declde thelr own fate, and the rlght to live in their own fashion accordlng to thelr own means. These enemies of tbe Slovak natlon know that the S lovaks are almost to a man for an independent Slovak state, so they sound the alarm that the renewal of the Slovak Republic would be a threat to democracy. They are determined to carry on their propaganda of lles to deceive the western democracles just as Beneš had done so effectlvely for some 30 years. But the Slovaks are determined, too - especially now more than ever before - to expose and flght the Czechoslovak pseudodemo• crats. The Slovak nation rid itself of the Magyar cancer and it shall, with the help of God, also rid !tself of the Czecboslovak ulcer. The western powers are gradually beglnning to realize that Zenkl, Papánek, Ripka, Lettrich and company are masked enemles of democracles and are, in fact, responsible in a large measure for the conditions prevailing in Czechoslovakia today. And also, the world must soon realize that Czechoslovakism was the handmald of Communism and, as such, the enemy of true democracy. • • • • WHO SAI D IT? "Czeohoslovakia was THE ONLY COUNTRY in Europe tha4 had a hlgh consistent leadership of suob men as Masaryk an"d Benes. . . . Czechoalovakia could not trust the countriea wh ich betrayed her, Britain and F rance. She was compelled to cast her lot under t,he overpowering mlght of Russla. But I am not at all alarmed at the prospect. The Anglo-Saxon countrles wlll always stand for LIBERTY AND LOY ALTY to the prlnclples or rellgion. They alwaya fail, however, In the matter of economic justice and racia! brotherhood. RUSSIA STANDS ALWAYS FOR THESE TWO THINGS. 1 belleve that Czechoslovakla wlll play a Jarge part In helplng to keep Russla loyal to the Charter or the Unlted Nations." - (Dr. Sherwood Eddy, THE SLA VONJC MONTHLY, Sept. 1945).  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "Czechoslovak" Democracy Description An account of the resource Slovakia, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1), May 1951 pp. 35-36 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource May 1951 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/55a952cd0f0ec80384ad5eaa57ef3d6c.pdf 38b04017f5c4f1151050f6988208938b PDF Text Text 44 SLOVA.K:IA "FREE" AND "CZECHOSLOVAKIAN" DON'T RHYME ! Not all Czechs insist on the existencť' or Czec·boslovakla, the arti· !icial state establisbed by Czech imperialist,; to exploit the non-Czech nations of that territory wbich were in the majority. 'ľhe Czech National Committee in London, bť'aded by General Leľ Prchala, has been outspoken in this respect for many years. The (ollowing ·'Open Letter" by a member of tbat committee <'ame to us tbc latter part or February. We publish it in full Cor its exposé o[ the COUNCIL :>1<, FREE CZECHOSLOVAKIA whicb poses as a representative group •Jf "democratic" exiles from Czechoslovakla. AN OPEN LETTER From V. L. Borin, Editor of Pravda, and Member of the Czech National Committee, London England, to the Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Un-American Activities, Washington, D. C. SIR: To support the struggle of alt nations for freerlom became a historical misslon of the U. S. sinťe President Lincoln won his struggle against slavery. Freerlom of nations is tbe principal question in the struggle of Centra! and Southeastern Europeon natlons a!('alnst Bolshevik oppre!;· i,lon. To support their struggle means to repudiate imperialisiil ot any kind and to 1ecognize unconditionally the right to self-dterminatiou of a~l nations on the territory in their ethnographi<'al boundarles and to assist them in their endeavor to form a federation o[ free nations. Some prominent citizens of the U. S. and some officials of the U. S. State Department sup1>ort tbe so-called ·•czechoslc,vaks" and tbeir organizations, givlng them a monopoli!ltic position in the Grew Com· mlttee anrl in American broadcasting Cor Czechoslovakia. The top :lľ· ganization of thE> so-called "C1.ecboslovaks" was, until Jánuary 25, 1951, the Council of Free Cze<'hoslovakia. To say "FREE CZECHOSLOVAKIA'' means to manifest a pro. found hypocrisy, or ignorance. "Free Czechoslovakia" means not freedom for nations in Czechoslovakia, but freedom for Czech imperialists to oppress Sudeten Germans and Hungarians who, in 1919, were forced against their will to live in Czechoslovakia; and to deny the r ight of self-determlnation to Slovaks who joined Czechoslovakia because full autonomy was promised them a promise which was never kept. Tbere are undoubtedly many refugees ft'om Czechoslovakia who maintain that their country was a paradisf' and they are perfectly rigbt [rom tbeir persona] point of view, for tbese were Czechoslova• kian professlonal soldiers, state officials, and rullng pollticlans wbo lost their paradlse. But the nations of Czechoslovakia, including the Czecha, do not wish to have anything in common with the paradise of the Czech imperialista and their state, which brought them from Nazi to Bolshevik �SLOVAKIA 46 occupation, from one great to another, greater, disaster. The nations of Czechoslovakia wish to live freely, on equal terms and in a large federation which would be able to protect their fredeom. The leading political party of the Czech imperialists is the Czech National Socialist Party of the late Dr. Benes, which dif[ers from the German National Socialist Party of the late Adolf Hitler in its attitude to Russia. While the German National Socialista were violently anti-Russian, the Czech National Socialists were pro-Russian and consequently pro-Bolshevik, considering Russian Bolshevism (which for propaganda reasons i called Communim) as a new form of pan-Slavism. In thls belief the Czech National Socialists became agents of Russian Bolshevism and during the war their so-called "Czechoslovakian" exiled Government was a Trojan Horse - a Bolshevik Fiftn Column in Great Britain and in the U. S. One of the leaders of the Czech Nationa l Socialists, Mr. Hubert Ripka, broadcast through the B. B. C. on Novembe„ 7, 1942, as fol· lows: "The November revolution turned Russia into a modem state; technically, militarily and politically a powerful s overeign s tate. That revolution did nol only increase the strength of the Russlan Soviet State but it also raised to greater heights than ever before the standard of civilization, culture and living of the wide masses of the Soviet people." T))is !s not an accidental quotation. I can su pply you with a htmdred si milar. In this spirit Czech imperialists spoke and ac ted during the war, making pro-Bol■hevik propaganda among Ame ricans of Czech origin and among Czech people in their motherland. As a result of their activities 40 per cent of Czechs voted pro-Bolshevik in 1946. In February 1948 thP- Czech National Socialist Party split. Th~ Party itsel( still exists in Czechoslovakia. rollaborates with the Bol· sheviks and has its ministers in the present Czechoslovakian Govern ment. Some leaders of t his party emigrated abroad and their attitude changed apparently into an anti-Bolshevik one. Under the chairmans hip of the Czech National Socialist Peter Zenkl, they established In Washington t he so-called ·•councll ot Free Czechoslovaki a." They represent nobody and nothing but their past mismanagement of Czechoslovakia and their desire for the restoration of the ir lost paradise. They well know their real position and. therefore, try to keep tbeir power by political frauds and terror. They denoonce al\ Czech as well as Slovak democrats and Sudeten Germans as fascists. Confidential and false denunciations against their democratic opponents have been their principal political weapon slnce 1939. To give a concrete example of their a ctivities I would like to call your attention to a camp for refugees from Czecho~lovakia in Murnau. Germany, U. S. Zone. In this camp there were democratic Czechs. adherents of the Czech National Committee in London and democratic Slovaks, adherents of the Slovakian National Council Abroad. During one year the adberents of the so-called Council of Free Czechoslovakia in Washington made 241 denunciatlons against thelr democratlc Czech and Slovakian opponents In camp Murnau. The U . S. authorities investigated a ll these denun clatlons and they a ll pro,·ed to be fals"l. �SLOVAXIA Such is the situatlon in . ev~ry camp [or refugees trom Czechoslovakia in Germany. · r can glve you an example of thei·r activltles in the U. S. Lasi year there arrlved In the U. S. the Slovaklan leader Mr. Karol Sldor, who during the war was in clisgrace with tbe German Nazls and was shelterecl In the Vatlcan. An Amerlcan columnist, Mr. Walter Wlnchell, started a public campaign agalnst Sldor denouncing bim falsely as a Nazl. When Mr. WlnchelJ was compelled to say what he knew about Sldor, he <'Onfessed that he knew nothing whatsoever, and that he hati , eceived all his information frÔm Congressman Kleln. But Mr. Kleln also ronfessed to know notbing about Sidor ani! he received all hls informatlon from Mr. Andrew · Valushek. Who is thls gentleman? He ia the manager of the "New-Yorkské Listy", a· Czech newspaper published in New York, which durlng the war was edited by two internaitonal Bolsheviks, Bension Batt and Desider Benau, disguised as " Czechoslovakian democratic refugees."' Mr. Valushek is also the se<'retary of th e American Fund for Czechoslovak RP.fugees, lne.. 1775 Broadway, Room 607, ,'<ew York 19. Among the sponsors or this organlzatlon are Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, Senator H erbert Lehman, Governor Frank J . Lausche, Dorothy Thompson, and others. And Mr. Valushek is also in tbe Executlve Committee o! tbe Anti-Názi League wbose pro-Bolshveik cbaracter is certalnly well known to you. On August 25. 1950, tbe so-calJed "Councll of Free Czechoslovakit1" decided to make evldence or all refugees from Czechoslovakia in Germany'. Tbelr branob organizatlon In Germany i!ssued a circular N<l. 1010-201-Br. on August 31. 1950. in which they stated as follows: "The Council of Free Czechoslovakia ia the only recognized rep. resentative of political refugees from Czechoslovakia. ·. .• We need evidence of all refugees trom Czechoslovakla for their eventual transfer. The Government• requested to take our refugees ask that guarantee for every refugee concerning his politlcal reliability be given. "Please ke„p those who refuse to sign our evldence questionnaire under ca1·eful surveillance, and send us their names.•. .'' People do not want to sign tbe questlonnaires of the so-called Cruncll of Free Czechoslovakla, because they clo not wish to have anything in common wlth it. and they are afraid, conslderlng how ľlosely tbese gentlemen colJaborat!'d wlth the Russian Bolshevlks. 'ľbose who refuse to sign are talsely denounced to tbe U. S. and IRO Junctionaries and persecuted. On tbe ground of their false denunclatlon a Czecb Professor of Law from Prague University was recently d~prived of bis O.P.'s card. They are forcing refugees froro Czechoslova•kla to sign in order to have "evidence" tbat a majority ot retugees from Czecboslovakia are their adherents. I can glve you an example of how they deal with people wbo refuse to be their adherents. At Dijon. France, on September 7, 1950. Karol Vasak. a Czech lay student from Dijon University, was arrestecl by tbe Frencb Police as an alleged aRent of the Soviet Russlan NKVD. His arrest <'ausecl a sensation in Dijon because Vasak was known as an ardent Catbolle, very active in Catboliť organizatlons. Thernfore bis <'lise was publicized in tbe French press. Aťcording to titf> ' '. Aurore" of September 12. 1950, the <'Onstable wbo arreeted Vasak tol<I that n.ewspaper's ťorrespon~ent_: "Va.sak I!>. elther th!' viťtllll ot a tri\- �SLOVAKIA 41 glc mlstake, or he ls such a dlsslmulator as I have never met In roy long police servlce." Thanks to some doubts whlch the police had, Vasak was not transported to Czechoslovak ia, bu t was gtven the c hoice: Czechostovak la or Alglers. or course he chose Alglers, whlther he was deported. Tha nks to the lnterest of French Cathollc circles h ls case was thoroughly lnvestlgated and the "Le Monde" or September 16, 1950, published an article under the headlng: "Arrest ól .Karel Vasak was a result of rlvalry between Czech studenLs." In the meant ime, the French police discovered that Vasak was an ardent antlCommunlst, and that the accusatlon, made agalnst him by two other Cze chs, was talse. But falae alao waa the atatement in " Le Monde"; becauae Vaaak waa denoun ced by two ad herenta of the Councll of Free Czechoalovak la In Waahlngton. Were the Sureté Natlonale to go througb thelr flles, they would {Ind that a tready In 1939 the offlclals of the Czechoslovak la Natlonal Commlttee of Mr. Benes had denounced a ll Czech and Slovaklan antlCommunlsts In France to the French Police as "dangerous Communlst agents." Thls was at the tíme when thls Czechoslovak lan Commltttle was a cover-up organlzatlon for Bolshevlk agents a'n d Mr. RipJ<a, I n hia office at 52 Avenua Bourdonala, Paria, waa hiding an internatlonal Bolahevlk agent, Simon Katz, who was wanted by the F rel)ch police. After the cottapse of France, the same Czech s and Stovaks, who In France were falsely denounced as dangerous communiata, were later confldentlally denounced in Brltaln by tbe same Benes adherents a11 Nazi agents and were imprlsoned, without investlgatlon , by the British. The Vasak affalr in France ls _oi;ily a contlnuatlon o! the late Renes' pollcy: it la a policy of Czech · Ímperlalista who. allied themaelvea with the Ru11ian Bolsheviks, adopted their methoda of 'd~é:elving the enemy, and perfected them with typlcal Czech thoroughne11. On J anuary 25, 1951, there was In Washington a meeflng or th~ so-called Councll or Free Czecboslovak ia, at wblch 17 members out of ľo passed a vote of censure agalnst P eter Zenkt, th e Natlonal Soclali).IL chairman of the Council. Mr. Zenk.l, therefore, declare~ that "the Council of F ree Czechoalovak la had disaolved itaelf and ceased to exist" because " the party syatem proved unworkable and the de le gates of the political parties had been unrepresenta tive anyway." Thls is the way In wbich _Czech Natlonal . Soclallsts understand democracy. 'ľheir conťeption of democracy does 11ot dlffer ffOTU that of German National Socialists. Mr. Zenkl then formed a new organization, th~ Czechoslovak lan Natlonal Commlttee. In thls new Czechoslovak lan Committee, ~r. Zenkl is obvlously the chairman ä~'<f among hls pro• mlnent "Cezchoslova ks" are Messrs. Papanek, Fi'ŕl-Fuerth, General lngr, Felerbend and the brother or the late PťesicÍEľnt Benes. No matter what they call themselves they cannot but conttnue the pollcy, of the late I;lenes _in deceiving the Western public a~d terrorízing polltical refu geea from Czec hoa lovakia. They can do th ls oply because they are sponsored by some prominent Axnerlcans and by offlclals of the U. S. State Department who I am sure mean. well, but are not lnformed. And many <Usasters have happened becau\je or the policy of l!Ome Amerlcans wtio were -not lnformed about :Eu~o,P,e ap<! Russlan Bo)shevlsm. , . ' . ,1 • I would like to call your attention to \he .faci that the actlvlties or these ·•czecboslova ks" are In contradlctlon ' to the U. S. prlnclples �48 SLOVAKIA of democracy and the U. S. historical mlssion in the world. In spite of thls, they are supported by American flnanťes, they have monopoly in broadcasting from tbe IJ. S., and the effect on people in Czecboslovakia is an absolute failure. They have the as ~istance .of the U. $. authorities in Germany and also of the I RO authoritles. their organizations have the monopoly of informing the authorities of Western Governments about refugees from Czechos\ovakia and, wltb thelr a.ssistance, arranged the emigration to tbe U. S. (as well as to Australia, New Zealand and other coun tries) of people who have never been Czecboslovaklan citizens and refugees. Therefore, I tbink tbat tbeir activitles deserve the attention of the United States Sena.te Committee on Un-Amerlcan Activities. Yours faithfully, V. L. BORIN. • • • WH O SAID IT? " CZECHS bow east POLITICALLY but west INTELLECTUALLY . . · . Not behind "Iron Curtain" - Communist police state doubted . . . Soviet withdrawal s een . . . . Most observers bere {In Prague) are incllned to doubt that Russia ig going to try to de•,elop in Czechoslovakia, Austria and Germany the kind of Communist police state that prevalia in Rumania, Bulgaria and Poland. . . . One popular tboory in Prague is tbat the Russians a lways withdraw from the West sooner or later for fear of being contaminated. . . Maybe it ia all just a dream but it ia a pleasant one though anyway a nd the Czeehoslovaks nurse lt Jealously ." - {NEW YORK TIMES, 8-5-47) . • "We are neighbors or Russia. Our security policy depends upon Russla. We bave no choice. . . . But any statement to the effect that we are behlnd a curtain or occupied by the Ru ■sians is absolute nonsense. This country and its poople are ABSOLUTELY DEMOCRATIC and we will remaln so, come what may. . . . We are a typical non. Soviet regime w ith no intention of so becoming. We are sociali!ltic and we w!ll develop along those Unes by evolution. . . But our conception or d emocracy remains the same now as before. . . . 1 am eonvinced th at in two or three years ou r position w ill be ve ry healthy.'' (Dr. Edward Benes, NEW YORK TIMES, 5-7-47) . • " l am genuinely grieved when I see a country like Czechoslovakia lost to the democratic cause. Here is a republic MODELLED AFTER AMERICAN POLITJCAL TRADITIONS BY MEN WHO l,OVED FREEDOM - transformed into a totalitarian Russlan satelIite state. . . . Most of the CZECHS don't like it. but there is nothing they can do about it. Dr. Benes. the able President of the country, has d~cid~ that only c!ose political and economic rela.tlon.,; wltb Communlst Russ la CAN GUARANTEE Czechoslovakla's future . . . . Eaeb time we have stoO<l up against Russia on a matter of prlnciple, she has ma'de CONCESSIONS that, from her point of vie"\!, were generous. I AM CONVlNCED THAT STALIN WANTS FRIEND~1-HP AND COOPERATION WITH BRITAIN AND THE UNITED ~'ľA 'ľE>S." (H. W. Kaltenborn. Radlo Broa<lcast. 7-6-45). � 44 SLOVA.K:IA "FREE" AND "CZECHOSLOVAKIAN" DON'T RHYME ! Not all Czechs insist on the existencť' or Czec·boslovakla, the arti· !icial state establisbed by Czech imperialist,; to exploit the non-Czech nations of that territory wbich were in the majority. 'ľhe Czech National Committee in London, bť'aded by General Leľ Prchala, has been outspoken in this respect for many years. The (ollowing ·'Open Letter" by a member of tbat committee <'ame to us tbc latter part or February. We publish it in full Cor its exposé o[ the COUNCIL :>1<, FREE CZECHOSLOVAKIA whicb poses as a representative group •Jf "democratic" exiles from Czechoslovakla. AN OPEN LETTER From V. L. Borin, Editor of Pravda, and Member of the Czech National Committee, London England, to the Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Un-American Activities, Washington, D. C. SIR: To support the struggle of alt nations for freerlom became a historical misslon of the U. S. sinťe President Lincoln won his struggle against slavery. Freerlom of nations is tbe principal question in the struggle of Centra! and Southeastern Europeon natlons a!('alnst Bolshevik oppre!;· i,lon. To support their struggle means to repudiate imperialisiil ot any kind and to 1ecognize unconditionally the right to self-dterminatiou of a~l nations on the territory in their ethnographi<'al boundarles and to assist them in their endeavor to form a federation o[ free nations. Some prominent citizens of the U. S. and some officials of the U. S. State Department sup1>ort tbe so-called ·•czechoslc,vaks" and tbeir organizations, givlng them a monopoli!ltic position in the Grew Com· mlttee anrl in American broadcasting Cor Czechoslovakia. The top :lľ· ganization of thE> so-called "C1.ecboslovaks" was, until Jánuary 25, 1951, the Council of Free Cze<'hoslovakia. To say "FREE CZECHOSLOVAKIA'' means to manifest a pro. found hypocrisy, or ignorance. "Free Czechoslovakia" means not freedom for nations in Czechoslovakia, but freedom for Czech imperialists to oppress Sudeten Germans and Hungarians who, in 1919, were forced against their will to live in Czechoslovakia; and to deny the r ight of self-determlnation to Slovaks who joined Czechoslovakia because full autonomy was promised them a promise which was never kept. Tbere are undoubtedly many refugees ft'om Czechoslovakia who maintain that their country was a paradisf' and they are perfectly rigbt [rom tbeir persona] point of view, for tbese were Czechoslova• kian professlonal soldiers, state officials, and rullng pollticlans wbo lost their paradlse. But the nations of Czechoslovakia, including the Czecha, do not wish to have anything in common with the paradise of the Czech imperialista and their state, which brought them from Nazi to Bolshevik �SLOVAKIA 46 occupation, from one great to another, greater, disaster. The nations of Czechoslovakia wish to live freely, on equal terms and in a large federation which would be able to protect their fredeom. The leading political party of the Czech imperialists is the Czech National Socialist Party of the late Dr. Benes, which dif[ers from the German National Socialist Party of the late Adolf Hitler in its attitude to Russia. While the German National Socialista were violently anti-Russian, the Czech National Socialists were pro-Russian and consequently pro-Bolshevik, considering Russian Bolshevism (which for propaganda reasons i called Communim) as a new form of pan-Slavism. In thls belief the Czech National Socialists became agents of Russian Bolshevism and during the war their so-called "Czechoslovakian" exiled Government was a Trojan Horse - a Bolshevik Fiftn Column in Great Britain and in the U. S. One of the leaders of the Czech Nationa l Socialists, Mr. Hubert Ripka, broadcast through the B. B. C. on Novembe„ 7, 1942, as fol· lows: "The November revolution turned Russia into a modem state; technically, militarily and politically a powerful s overeign s tate. That revolution did nol only increase the strength of the Russlan Soviet State but it also raised to greater heights than ever before the standard of civilization, culture and living of the wide masses of the Soviet people." T))is !s not an accidental quotation. I can su pply you with a htmdred si milar. In this spirit Czech imperialists spoke and ac ted during the war, making pro-Bol■hevik propaganda among Ame ricans of Czech origin and among Czech people in their motherland. As a result of their activities 40 per cent of Czechs voted pro-Bolshevik in 1946. In February 1948 thP- Czech National Socialist Party split. Th~ Party itsel( still exists in Czechoslovakia. rollaborates with the Bol· sheviks and has its ministers in the present Czechoslovakian Govern ment. Some leaders of t his party emigrated abroad and their attitude changed apparently into an anti-Bolshevik one. Under the chairmans hip of the Czech National Socialist Peter Zenkl, they established In Washington t he so-called ·•councll ot Free Czechoslovaki a." They represent nobody and nothing but their past mismanagement of Czechoslovakia and their desire for the restoration of the ir lost paradise. They well know their real position and. therefore, try to keep tbeir power by political frauds and terror. They denoonce al\ Czech as well as Slovak democrats and Sudeten Germans as fascists. Confidential and false denunciations against their democratic opponents have been their principal political weapon slnce 1939. To give a concrete example of their a ctivities I would like to call your attention to a camp for refugees from Czecho~lovakia in Murnau. Germany, U. S. Zone. In this camp there were democratic Czechs. adherents of the Czech National Committee in London and democratic Slovaks, adherents of the Slovakian National Council Abroad. During one year the adberents of the so-called Council of Free Czechoslovakia in Washington made 241 denunciatlons against thelr democratlc Czech and Slovakian opponents In camp Murnau. The U . S. authorities investigated a ll these denun clatlons and they a ll pro,·ed to be fals"l. �SLOVAXIA Such is the situatlon in . ev~ry camp [or refugees trom Czechoslovakia in Germany. · r can glve you an example of thei·r activltles in the U. S. Lasi year there arrlved In the U. S. the Slovaklan leader Mr. Karol Sldor, who during the war was in clisgrace with tbe German Nazls and was shelterecl In the Vatlcan. An Amerlcan columnist, Mr. Walter Wlnchell, started a public campaign agalnst Sldor denouncing bim falsely as a Nazl. When Mr. WlnchelJ was compelled to say what he knew about Sldor, he <'Onfessed that he knew nothing whatsoever, and that he hati , eceived all his information frÔm Congressman Kleln. But Mr. Kleln also ronfessed to know notbing about Sidor ani! he received all hls informatlon from Mr. Andrew · Valushek. Who is thls gentleman? He ia the manager of the "New-Yorkské Listy", a· Czech newspaper published in New York, which durlng the war was edited by two internaitonal Bolsheviks, Bension Batt and Desider Benau, disguised as " Czechoslovakian democratic refugees."' Mr. Valushek is also the se<'retary of th e American Fund for Czechoslovak RP.fugees, lne.. 1775 Broadway, Room 607, ,'<ew York 19. Among the sponsors or this organlzatlon are Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, Senator H erbert Lehman, Governor Frank J . Lausche, Dorothy Thompson, and others. And Mr. Valushek is also in tbe Executlve Committee o! tbe Anti-Názi League wbose pro-Bolshveik cbaracter is certalnly well known to you. On August 25. 1950, tbe so-calJed "Councll of Free Czechoslovakit1" decided to make evldence or all refugees from Czechoslovakia in Germany'. Tbelr branob organizatlon In Germany i!ssued a circular N<l. 1010-201-Br. on August 31. 1950. in which they stated as follows: "The Council of Free Czechoslovakia ia the only recognized rep. resentative of political refugees from Czechoslovakia. ·. .• We need evidence of all refugees trom Czechoslovakla for their eventual transfer. The Government• requested to take our refugees ask that guarantee for every refugee concerning his politlcal reliability be given. "Please ke„p those who refuse to sign our evldence questionnaire under ca1·eful surveillance, and send us their names.•. .'' People do not want to sign tbe questlonnaires of the so-called Cruncll of Free Czechoslovakla, because they clo not wish to have anything in common wlth it. and they are afraid, conslderlng how ľlosely tbese gentlemen colJaborat!'d wlth the Russian Bolshevlks. 'ľbose who refuse to sign are talsely denounced to tbe U. S. and IRO Junctionaries and persecuted. On tbe ground of their false denunclatlon a Czecb Professor of Law from Prague University was recently d~prived of bis O.P.'s card. They are forcing refugees froro Czechoslova•kla to sign in order to have "evidence" tbat a majority ot retugees from Czecboslovakia are their adherents. I can glve you an example of how they deal with people wbo refuse to be their adherents. At Dijon. France, on September 7, 1950. Karol Vasak. a Czech lay student from Dijon University, was arrestecl by tbe Frencb Police as an alleged aRent of the Soviet Russlan NKVD. His arrest <'ausecl a sensation in Dijon because Vasak was known as an ardent Catbolle, very active in Catboliť organizatlons. Thernfore bis <'lise was publicized in tbe French press. Aťcording to titf> ' '. Aurore" of September 12. 1950, the <'Onstable wbo arreeted Vasak tol<I that n.ewspaper's ťorrespon~ent_: "Va.sak I!>. elther th!' viťtllll ot a tri\- �SLOVAKIA 41 glc mlstake, or he ls such a dlsslmulator as I have never met In roy long police servlce." Thanks to some doubts whlch the police had, Vasak was not transported to Czechoslovak ia, bu t was gtven the c hoice: Czechostovak la or Alglers. or course he chose Alglers, whlther he was deported. Tha nks to the lnterest of French Cathollc circles h ls case was thoroughly lnvestlgated and the "Le Monde" or September 16, 1950, published an article under the headlng: "Arrest ól .Karel Vasak was a result of rlvalry between Czech studenLs." In the meant ime, the French police discovered that Vasak was an ardent antlCommunlst, and that the accusatlon, made agalnst him by two other Cze chs, was talse. But falae alao waa the atatement in " Le Monde"; becauae Vaaak waa denoun ced by two ad herenta of the Councll of Free Czechoalovak la In Waahlngton. Were the Sureté Natlonale to go througb thelr flles, they would {Ind that a tready In 1939 the offlclals of the Czechoslovak la Natlonal Commlttee of Mr. Benes had denounced a ll Czech and Slovaklan antlCommunlsts In France to the French Police as "dangerous Communlst agents." Thls was at the tíme when thls Czechoslovak lan Commltttle was a cover-up organlzatlon for Bolshevlk agents a'n d Mr. RipJ<a, I n hia office at 52 Avenua Bourdonala, Paria, waa hiding an internatlonal Bolahevlk agent, Simon Katz, who was wanted by the F rel)ch police. After the cottapse of France, the same Czech s and Stovaks, who In France were falsely denounced as dangerous communiata, were later confldentlally denounced in Brltaln by tbe same Benes adherents a11 Nazi agents and were imprlsoned, without investlgatlon , by the British. The Vasak affalr in France ls _oi;ily a contlnuatlon o! the late Renes' pollcy: it la a policy of Czech · Ímperlalista who. allied themaelvea with the Ru11ian Bolsheviks, adopted their methoda of 'd~é:elving the enemy, and perfected them with typlcal Czech thoroughne11. On J anuary 25, 1951, there was In Washington a meeflng or th~ so-called Councll or Free Czecboslovak ia, at wblch 17 members out of ľo passed a vote of censure agalnst P eter Zenkt, th e Natlonal Soclali).IL chairman of the Council. Mr. Zenk.l, therefore, declare~ that "the Council of F ree Czechoalovak la had disaolved itaelf and ceased to exist" because " the party syatem proved unworkable and the de le gates of the political parties had been unrepresenta tive anyway." Thls is the way In wbich _Czech Natlonal . Soclallsts understand democracy. 'ľheir conťeption of democracy does 11ot dlffer ffOTU that of German National Socialists. Mr. Zenkl then formed a new organization, th~ Czechoslovak lan Natlonal Commlttee. In thls new Czechoslovak lan Committee, ~r. Zenkl is obvlously the chairman ä~'<f among hls pro• mlnent "Cezchoslova ks" are Messrs. Papanek, Fi'ŕl-Fuerth, General lngr, Felerbend and the brother or the late PťesicÍEľnt Benes. No matter what they call themselves they cannot but conttnue the pollcy, of the late I;lenes _in deceiving the Western public a~d terrorízing polltical refu geea from Czec hoa lovakia. They can do th ls oply because they are sponsored by some prominent Axnerlcans and by offlclals of the U. S. State Department who I am sure mean. well, but are not lnformed. And many <Usasters have happened becau\je or the policy of l!Ome Amerlcans wtio were -not lnformed about :Eu~o,P,e ap<! Russlan Bo)shevlsm. , . ' . ,1 • I would like to call your attention to \he .faci that the actlvlties or these ·•czecboslova ks" are In contradlctlon ' to the U. S. prlnclples �48 SLOVAKIA of democracy and the U. S. historical mlssion in the world. In spite of thls, they are supported by American flnanťes, they have monopoly in broadcasting from tbe IJ. S., and the effect on people in Czecboslovakia is an absolute failure. They have the as ~istance .of the U. $. authorities in Germany and also of the I RO authoritles. their organizations have the monopoly of informing the authorities of Western Governments about refugees from Czechos\ovakia and, wltb thelr a.ssistance, arranged the emigration to tbe U. S. (as well as to Australia, New Zealand and other coun tries) of people who have never been Czecboslovaklan citizens and refugees. Therefore, I tbink tbat tbeir activitles deserve the attention of the United States Sena.te Committee on Un-Amerlcan Activities. Yours faithfully, V. L. BORIN. • • • WH O SAID IT? " CZECHS bow east POLITICALLY but west INTELLECTUALLY . . · . Not behind "Iron Curtain" - Communist police state doubted . . . Soviet withdrawal s een . . . . Most observers bere {In Prague) are incllned to doubt that Russia ig going to try to de•,elop in Czechoslovakia, Austria and Germany the kind of Communist police state that prevalia in Rumania, Bulgaria and Poland. . . . One popular tboory in Prague is tbat the Russians a lways withdraw from the West sooner or later for fear of being contaminated. . . Maybe it ia all just a dream but it ia a pleasant one though anyway a nd the Czeehoslovaks nurse lt Jealously ." - {NEW YORK TIMES, 8-5-47) . • "We are neighbors or Russia. Our security policy depends upon Russla. We bave no choice. . . . But any statement to the effect that we are behlnd a curtain or occupied by the Ru ■sians is absolute nonsense. This country and its poople are ABSOLUTELY DEMOCRATIC and we will remaln so, come what may. . . . We are a typical non. Soviet regime w ith no intention of so becoming. We are sociali!ltic and we w!ll develop along those Unes by evolution. . . But our conception or d emocracy remains the same now as before. . . . 1 am eonvinced th at in two or three years ou r position w ill be ve ry healthy.'' (Dr. Edward Benes, NEW YORK TIMES, 5-7-47) . • " l am genuinely grieved when I see a country like Czechoslovakia lost to the democratic cause. Here is a republic MODELLED AFTER AMERICAN POLITJCAL TRADITIONS BY MEN WHO l,OVED FREEDOM - transformed into a totalitarian Russlan satelIite state. . . . Most of the CZECHS don't like it. but there is nothing they can do about it. Dr. Benes. the able President of the country, has d~cid~ that only c!ose political and economic rela.tlon.,; wltb Communlst Russ la CAN GUARANTEE Czechoslovakla's future . . . . Eaeb time we have stoO<l up against Russia on a matter of prlnciple, she has ma'de CONCESSIONS that, from her point of vie"\!, were generous. I AM CONVlNCED THAT STALIN WANTS FRIEND~1-HP AND COOPERATION WITH BRITAIN AND THE UNITED ~'ľA 'ľE>S." (H. W. Kaltenborn. Radlo Broa<lcast. 7-6-45). � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1952, Vol. 2 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1952 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 3), March 1952.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 4), August 1952.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 5), December 1952.</li> </ul> Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 44 SLOVA.K:IA "FREE" AND "CZECHOSLOVAKIAN" DON'T RHYME ! Not all Czechs insist on the existencť' or Czec·boslovakla, the arti· !icial state establisbed by Czech imperialist,; to exploit the non-Czech nations of that territory wbich were in the majority. 'ľhe Czech National Committee in London, bť'aded by General Leľ Prchala, has been outspoken in this respect for many years. The (ollowing ·'Open Letter" by a member of tbat committee <'ame to us tbc latter part or February. We publish it in full Cor its exposé o[ the COUNCIL :>1<, FREE CZECHOSLOVAKIA whicb poses as a representative group •Jf "democratic" exiles from Czechoslovakla. AN OPEN LETTER From V. L. Borin, Editor of Pravda, and Member of the Czech National Committee, London England, to the Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Un-American Activities, Washington, D. C. SIR: To support the struggle of alt nations for freerlom became a historical misslon of the U. S. sinťe President Lincoln won his struggle against slavery. Freerlom of nations is tbe principal question in the struggle of Centra! and Southeastern Europeon natlons a!('alnst Bolshevik oppre!;· i,lon. To support their struggle means to repudiate imperialisiil ot any kind and to 1ecognize unconditionally the right to self-dterminatiou of a~l nations on the territory in their ethnographi<'al boundarles and to assist them in their endeavor to form a federation o[ free nations. Some prominent citizens of the U. S. and some officials of the U. S. State Department sup1>ort tbe so-called ·•czechoslc,vaks" and tbeir organizations, givlng them a monopoli!ltic position in the Grew Com· mlttee anrl in American broadcasting Cor Czechoslovakia. The top :lľ· ganization of thE> so-called "C1.ecboslovaks" was, until Jánuary 25, 1951, the Council of Free Cze<'hoslovakia. To say "FREE CZECHOSLOVAKIA'' means to manifest a pro. found hypocrisy, or ignorance. "Free Czechoslovakia" means not freedom for nations in Czechoslovakia, but freedom for Czech imperialists to oppress Sudeten Germans and Hungarians who, in 1919, were forced against their will to live in Czechoslovakia; and to deny the r ight of self-determlnation to Slovaks who joined Czechoslovakia because full autonomy was promised them a promise which was never kept. Tbere are undoubtedly many refugees ft'om Czechoslovakia who maintain that their country was a paradisf' and they are perfectly rigbt [rom tbeir persona] point of view, for tbese were Czechoslova• kian professlonal soldiers, state officials, and rullng pollticlans wbo lost their paradlse. But the nations of Czechoslovakia, including the Czecha, do not wish to have anything in common with the paradise of the Czech imperialista and their state, which brought them from Nazi to Bolshevik SLOVAKIA 46 occupation, from one great to another, greater, disaster. The nations of Czechoslovakia wish to live freely, on equal terms and in a large federation which would be able to protect their fredeom. The leading political party of the Czech imperialists is the Czech National Socialist Party of the late Dr. Benes, which dif[ers from the German National Socialist Party of the late Adolf Hitler in its attitude to Russia. While the German National Socialista were violently anti-Russian, the Czech National Socialists were pro-Russian and consequently pro-Bolshevik, considering Russian Bolshevism (which for propaganda reasons i called Communim) as a new form of pan-Slavism. In thls belief the Czech National Socialists became agents of Russian Bolshevism and during the war their so-called "Czechoslovakian" exiled Government was a Trojan Horse - a Bolshevik Fiftn Column in Great Britain and in the U. S. One of the leaders of the Czech Nationa l Socialists, Mr. Hubert Ripka, broadcast through the B. B. C. on Novembe„ 7, 1942, as fol· lows: "The November revolution turned Russia into a modem state; technically, militarily and politically a powerful s overeign s tate. That revolution did nol only increase the strength of the Russlan Soviet State but it also raised to greater heights than ever before the standard of civilization, culture and living of the wide masses of the Soviet people." T))is !s not an accidental quotation. I can su pply you with a htmdred si milar. In this spirit Czech imperialists spoke and ac ted during the war, making pro-Bol■hevik propaganda among Ame ricans of Czech origin and among Czech people in their motherland. As a result of their activities 40 per cent of Czechs voted pro-Bolshevik in 1946. In February 1948 thP- Czech National Socialist Party split. Th~ Party itsel( still exists in Czechoslovakia. rollaborates with the Bol· sheviks and has its ministers in the present Czechoslovakian Govern ment. Some leaders of t his party emigrated abroad and their attitude changed apparently into an anti-Bolshevik one. Under the chairmans hip of the Czech National Socialist Peter Zenkl, they established In Washington t he so-called ·•councll ot Free Czechoslovaki a." They represent nobody and nothing but their past mismanagement of Czechoslovakia and their desire for the restoration of the ir lost paradise. They well know their real position and. therefore, try to keep tbeir power by political frauds and terror. They denoonce al\ Czech as well as Slovak democrats and Sudeten Germans as fascists. Confidential and false denunciations against their democratic opponents have been their principal political weapon slnce 1939. To give a concrete example of their a ctivities I would like to call your attention to a camp for refugees from Czecho~lovakia in Murnau. Germany, U. S. Zone. In this camp there were democratic Czechs. adherents of the Czech National Committee in London and democratic Slovaks, adherents of the Slovakian National Council Abroad. During one year the adberents of the so-called Council of Free Czechoslovakia in Washington made 241 denunciatlons against thelr democratlc Czech and Slovakian opponents In camp Murnau. The U . S. authorities investigated a ll these denun clatlons and they a ll pro,·ed to be fals"l. SLOVAXIA Such is the situatlon in . ev~ry camp [or refugees trom Czechoslovakia in Germany. · r can glve you an example of thei·r activltles in the U. S. Lasi year there arrlved In the U. S. the Slovaklan leader Mr. Karol Sldor, who during the war was in clisgrace with tbe German Nazls and was shelterecl In the Vatlcan. An Amerlcan columnist, Mr. Walter Wlnchell, started a public campaign agalnst Sldor denouncing bim falsely as a Nazl. When Mr. WlnchelJ was compelled to say what he knew about Sldor, he <'Onfessed that he knew nothing whatsoever, and that he hati , eceived all his information frÔm Congressman Kleln. But Mr. Kleln also ronfessed to know notbing about Sidor ani! he received all hls informatlon from Mr. Andrew · Valushek. Who is thls gentleman? He ia the manager of the "New-Yorkské Listy", a· Czech newspaper published in New York, which durlng the war was edited by two internaitonal Bolsheviks, Bension Batt and Desider Benau, disguised as " Czechoslovakian democratic refugees."' Mr. Valushek is also the se<'retary of th e American Fund for Czechoslovak RP.fugees, lne.. 1775 Broadway, Room 607, ,'<ew York 19. Among the sponsors or this organlzatlon are Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, Senator H erbert Lehman, Governor Frank J . Lausche, Dorothy Thompson, and others. And Mr. Valushek is also in tbe Executlve Committee o! tbe Anti-Názi League wbose pro-Bolshveik cbaracter is certalnly well known to you. On August 25. 1950, tbe so-calJed "Councll of Free Czechoslovakit1" decided to make evldence or all refugees from Czechoslovakia in Germany'. Tbelr branob organizatlon In Germany i!ssued a circular N<l. 1010-201-Br. on August 31. 1950. in which they stated as follows: "The Council of Free Czechoslovakia ia the only recognized rep. resentative of political refugees from Czechoslovakia. ·. .• We need evidence of all refugees trom Czechoslovakla for their eventual transfer. The Government• requested to take our refugees ask that guarantee for every refugee concerning his politlcal reliability be given. "Please ke„p those who refuse to sign our evldence questionnaire under ca1·eful surveillance, and send us their names.•. .'' People do not want to sign tbe questlonnaires of the so-called Cruncll of Free Czechoslovakla, because they clo not wish to have anything in common wlth it. and they are afraid, conslderlng how ľlosely tbese gentlemen colJaborat!'d wlth the Russian Bolshevlks. 'ľbose who refuse to sign are talsely denounced to tbe U. S. and IRO Junctionaries and persecuted. On tbe ground of their false denunclatlon a Czecb Professor of Law from Prague University was recently d~prived of bis O.P.'s card. They are forcing refugees froro Czechoslova•kla to sign in order to have "evidence" tbat a majority ot retugees from Czecboslovakia are their adherents. I can glve you an example of how they deal with people wbo refuse to be their adherents. At Dijon. France, on September 7, 1950. Karol Vasak. a Czech lay student from Dijon University, was arrestecl by tbe Frencb Police as an alleged aRent of the Soviet Russlan NKVD. His arrest <'ausecl a sensation in Dijon because Vasak was known as an ardent Catbolle, very active in Catboliť organizatlons. Thernfore bis <'lise was publicized in tbe French press. Aťcording to titf> ' '. Aurore" of September 12. 1950, the <'Onstable wbo arreeted Vasak tol<I that n.ewspaper's ťorrespon~ent_: "Va.sak I!>. elther th!' viťtllll ot a tri\- SLOVAKIA 41 glc mlstake, or he ls such a dlsslmulator as I have never met In roy long police servlce." Thanks to some doubts whlch the police had, Vasak was not transported to Czechoslovak ia, bu t was gtven the c hoice: Czechostovak la or Alglers. or course he chose Alglers, whlther he was deported. Tha nks to the lnterest of French Cathollc circles h ls case was thoroughly lnvestlgated and the "Le Monde" or September 16, 1950, published an article under the headlng: "Arrest ól .Karel Vasak was a result of rlvalry between Czech studenLs." In the meant ime, the French police discovered that Vasak was an ardent antlCommunlst, and that the accusatlon, made agalnst him by two other Cze chs, was talse. But falae alao waa the atatement in " Le Monde"; becauae Vaaak waa denoun ced by two ad herenta of the Councll of Free Czechoalovak la In Waahlngton. Were the Sureté Natlonale to go througb thelr flles, they would {Ind that a tready In 1939 the offlclals of the Czechoslovak la Natlonal Commlttee of Mr. Benes had denounced a ll Czech and Slovaklan antlCommunlsts In France to the French Police as "dangerous Communlst agents." Thls was at the tíme when thls Czechoslovak lan Commltttle was a cover-up organlzatlon for Bolshevlk agents a'n d Mr. RipJ<a, I n hia office at 52 Avenua Bourdonala, Paria, waa hiding an internatlonal Bolahevlk agent, Simon Katz, who was wanted by the F rel)ch police. After the cottapse of France, the same Czech s and Stovaks, who In France were falsely denounced as dangerous communiata, were later confldentlally denounced in Brltaln by tbe same Benes adherents a11 Nazi agents and were imprlsoned, without investlgatlon , by the British. The Vasak affalr in France ls _oi;ily a contlnuatlon o! the late Renes' pollcy: it la a policy of Czech · Ímperlalista who. allied themaelvea with the Ru11ian Bolsheviks, adopted their methoda of 'd~é:elving the enemy, and perfected them with typlcal Czech thoroughne11. On J anuary 25, 1951, there was In Washington a meeflng or th~ so-called Councll or Free Czecboslovak ia, at wblch 17 members out of ľo passed a vote of censure agalnst P eter Zenkt, th e Natlonal Soclali).IL chairman of the Council. Mr. Zenk.l, therefore, declare~ that "the Council of F ree Czechoalovak la had disaolved itaelf and ceased to exist" because " the party syatem proved unworkable and the de le gates of the political parties had been unrepresenta tive anyway." Thls is the way In wbich _Czech Natlonal . Soclallsts understand democracy. 'ľheir conťeption of democracy does 11ot dlffer ffOTU that of German National Socialists. Mr. Zenkl then formed a new organization, th~ Czechoslovak lan Natlonal Commlttee. In thls new Czechoslovak lan Committee, ~r. Zenkl is obvlously the chairman ä~'<f among hls pro• mlnent "Cezchoslova ks" are Messrs. Papanek, Fi'ŕl-Fuerth, General lngr, Felerbend and the brother or the late PťesicÍEľnt Benes. No matter what they call themselves they cannot but conttnue the pollcy, of the late I;lenes _in deceiving the Western public a~d terrorízing polltical refu geea from Czec hoa lovakia. They can do th ls oply because they are sponsored by some prominent Axnerlcans and by offlclals of the U. S. State Department who I am sure mean. well, but are not lnformed. And many <Usasters have happened becau\je or the policy of l!Ome Amerlcans wtio were -not lnformed about :Eu~o,P,e ap<! Russlan Bo)shevlsm. , . ' . ,1 • I would like to call your attention to \he .faci that the actlvlties or these ·•czecboslova ks" are In contradlctlon ' to the U. S. prlnclples 48 SLOVAKIA of democracy and the U. S. historical mlssion in the world. In spite of thls, they are supported by American flnanťes, they have monopoly in broadcasting from tbe IJ. S., and the effect on people in Czecboslovakia is an absolute failure. They have the as ~istance .of the U. $. authorities in Germany and also of the I RO authoritles. their organizations have the monopoly of informing the authorities of Western Governments about refugees from Czechos\ovakia and, wltb thelr a.ssistance, arranged the emigration to tbe U. S. (as well as to Australia, New Zealand and other coun tries) of people who have never been Czecboslovaklan citizens and refugees. Therefore, I tbink tbat tbeir activitles deserve the attention of the United States Sena.te Committee on Un-Amerlcan Activities. Yours faithfully, V. L. BORIN. • • • WH O SAID IT? " CZECHS bow east POLITICALLY but west INTELLECTUALLY . . · . Not behind "Iron Curtain" - Communist police state doubted . . . Soviet withdrawal s een . . . . Most observers bere {In Prague) are incllned to doubt that Russia ig going to try to de•,elop in Czechoslovakia, Austria and Germany the kind of Communist police state that prevalia in Rumania, Bulgaria and Poland. . . . One popular tboory in Prague is tbat the Russians a lways withdraw from the West sooner or later for fear of being contaminated. . . Maybe it ia all just a dream but it ia a pleasant one though anyway a nd the Czeehoslovaks nurse lt Jealously ." - {NEW YORK TIMES, 8-5-47) . • "We are neighbors or Russia. Our security policy depends upon Russla. We bave no choice. . . . But any statement to the effect that we are behlnd a curtain or occupied by the Ru ■sians is absolute nonsense. This country and its poople are ABSOLUTELY DEMOCRATIC and we will remaln so, come what may. . . . We are a typical non. Soviet regime w ith no intention of so becoming. We are sociali!ltic and we w!ll develop along those Unes by evolution. . . But our conception or d emocracy remains the same now as before. . . . 1 am eonvinced th at in two or three years ou r position w ill be ve ry healthy.'' (Dr. Edward Benes, NEW YORK TIMES, 5-7-47) . • " l am genuinely grieved when I see a country like Czechoslovakia lost to the democratic cause. Here is a republic MODELLED AFTER AMERICAN POLITJCAL TRADITIONS BY MEN WHO l,OVED FREEDOM - transformed into a totalitarian Russlan satelIite state. . . . Most of the CZECHS don't like it. but there is nothing they can do about it. Dr. Benes. the able President of the country, has d~cid~ that only c!ose political and economic rela.tlon.,; wltb Communlst Russ la CAN GUARANTEE Czechoslovakla's future . . . . Eaeb time we have stoO<l up against Russia on a matter of prlnciple, she has ma'de CONCESSIONS that, from her point of vie"\!, were generous. I AM CONVlNCED THAT STALIN WANTS FRIEND~1-HP AND COOPERATION WITH BRITAIN AND THE UNITED ~'ľA 'ľE>S." (H. W. Kaltenborn. Radlo Broa<lcast. 7-6-45).  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "Free" and "Czechoslovakian" Don't Rhyme! Description An account of the resource V. L. Borin Slovakia, Vol. 2, No. 2 (4), August 1952 pp. 44-48 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Borin, V. L. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource August 1952 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/029b05234f5a25049959a9fda8fc9c6b.pdf 230cc702cf86b348ecf193f160110b9a PDF Text Text 80 SLOVAKIA "SONS OF HUNKIES: MEN WITH A PAST?" A few years ago a book entitled The American Style appeared which attempted to analyze and define the cunent American temper. It was subtitled Essays in Value and Performance. Widely known scholars from a variety of fields, particularly history and anthropology, offered their impressions, or better, diagnoses of this nation's problems. While remedies varied, they all agreed that a general sickness had afflicted the American people. A feeling of uncertainty, loss of direction, and lack of purpose had controlled the behavior of the population for about the past decade. Agreeing in part with sociologist David Riesman, one of the participants, these students noted that the campaigns of old, the Armageddons of another day, the taming of the pioneer west, making the world safe for democracy in 1917, and the "Crusade in Europe", as General Eisenhower put it, had been won. In place of these challenges no new frontiers had appeared. America was trying to adjust to a new anxious era where old values were disappearing. Now the state was guaranteeing minimum security and abroad we were enduring a continual stalemate and compromise with our enemies. The exhilaration of clear victory was unattainable because there was no "solution" to our problems. Instead, as the discussants pointed to Korea and could well have done so later with Vietnam, our policy was not to vanquish our foes as before but merely contain them. The realization of this indecisive situation led to the present mood of confusion, frustration, and "drift." Even a commission begun to formulate and enunciate national goals under the Eisenhower administration was not able to dispell the agonizing transition; in fact, its ,e stablishment was evidence of it. Such a loss of commitment to ideals seems to apply particularly to descendants of this country's minority groups. Ethnic historians and sociologists can discern that same search for principles among our newer nationalities. As this writer sees it, present generation Slovak, Jewish, Italian and non-white Americans labor heavily not only under the general psychological malady but an additional, even more upsetting disability, an embarrassment over their past. Theirs is a history they are usually trying to dismiss, forget, and ignore. The few who do actively cultivate ethnic history really know �SLOVAKIA 81 only a small part, in any case a distorted and even fanciful version. The effect on the younger generation is unfortunate. Maturing East European Americans particularly are, as individuals, desperately striving to assimilate their way of life to the Anglo-American middle class stereotype. Such an overpowering acculturative urge is forcing far too rapid psychological changes for a well-balanced adjustment and instead has created a pervasive discomfort in the form of a massive inferiority. The feeling is entirely unwarranted as this paper will show. It is to this disturbed neurosis that trained nationality historians can supply a remedy-the needed measure of selfconfidence. While this therapeutic function of ethnic scholars will be stressed here, one should understand that the major task of historians of immigration and race is not sociological. They are not social workers. Immigration historians are generally concerned with analyzing American culture through its ,effects on its subgroups. Nevertheless, at the very same time that nationality group scholars are investigating our society, they will also assist in lifting the mental cross that minorities bear. By suggesting a sophisticated picture of subgroups' past, trained ethnic historians will offer a mo!'e comfortable position from which these people can base present life on past experience. Nevertheless, as of quite recently if history does not provide any foundation at all for what is, or supplies that very necessary continuity with the present, Catholics, Jews, Negroes, and especially Slovaks have not yet found it. Of course everyone of us has some idea of what has been as defective as our picture may be. No matter how much men try to forget yesterday, only the few amnesiacs can do it successfully and they, too, suffer psychologically. For the non-Anglo-American particularly the question of the past haunts his every activity. His recollections of foregoing generations are painful. To the modern descendant the status of the father or grandfather seems hardly one to ennoble progeny: the unskilled Slovak brutalized in the steel mill, coal mine, or slaughterhouse; the Italian ragpicker earning his bread by combing garbage dumps of our larger cities; the Jewish sweatshop worker slaving in an overcrowded, �82 SLOVAKIA filthy New York tenement fifteen hours a day; or the illiterate Negro sharecropper suffering from centuries of pellagra and persecution. Even if the present minority member has no first-hand contact with such figures, one can be sure that he knows them through images. Most Slovak Americans still live in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Gary, Chicago, Youngstown, Bridgeport, and Detroit where they can see the smokestack that ordered their for,ebears to their job. If by chance personal recollection does not create a sense of inadequacy, the little historical work that has been done on these groups will. Such written profiles for the most part make descendants extremely self-conscious of their heritage. The published studies are products either of well-meaning advocat,es who want to list the group's achievements in terms of "contributions" or of ingroup writers who concentrate their attention on pre-1800 American origins or the cultural connection with medieval Europe. In either case the result has been to intensify the inferiority. What does it mean to a grandson trying hard to obtain an education that his heritage stems from the grandeur of Rome or that he and Toscannini have something in common; or to a descendant of a Polish peasant that his countryman Kosciuszko helped Washington win the American Revolution; or to today's Negro that Phillis Wheatley was writing good poetry in 1760? Such "history" only reminds readers of the extraordinary distance which they have to travel to be accepted as just another American. In essence such nationality "personalities" have little real connection with or relevance to their own circumstance. In fact, many celebrities have not associated with their group at all although some have. Of all this country's minorities it is likely that the Slovak Americans have the greatest difficulty in orientation. For what is there available to dispel their ignorance and describe the aotivity of their father and grandfather when they left Spis to come to Pittsburgh? Unfortunately not a great deal of literature. Certainly with almost a million inhabitants tracing their heritage back to the foothills of the Carpathians, it is tragic that there is not one complete history of what the emigrants did which their descendants can read. Of course, there are publications on Slovaks in the United States but these ar,e usually inaccessible to the young as well as non- �SLOVAKIA 83 Slavs. The many parish histories give a part of the tale and most of the other works are either hidden away as university theses, like Rev. Zatlm's "Social History of the Slovaks in America" or Rev. Buc's "Slovak Nationalism" or they are in Slovak, as Rovnianek's autobiography, Dr. Hrusovsky's history of the Slovak religious orders, Culen's history of American Slovaks, Hrobak's edited notes of Furdek, or the most complete study of all, Dr. Pauco's jubilee history of Jednota. Thus the dilemma in having to live in two worlds remains. Minorities members are the "marginal men, " as E. V. Stonequist described them, attempting to adjust to a majority culture yet never able to divest themselves of what they believe a foreign, un-American family life. It is my point that such a transition need not be uncomfortable and irritating and in fact American historians are just now providing a solvent. Very recently scholarly interest in our sub-cultures has heightened. Starting in the 1920's among social workers and a rare professional historian and quickened by the recent pressure of non-whites for equality, investigators of our society have begun to recognize the necessity of including Catholics, Jews, and non-whites in any generalization about our past. Late publications on the Negroes, Greeks, and Jews; the formation of an Immigration History Group; and the success of an immigrant archival collection at the University of Minnesota are tangible manifestations of the growing recognition of the subject. If the trend continues, Americans of minority descent will be major beneficiaries. The tale of their own forebears, not Benovsky, Bernolak, or Stur as great as these men were, will take a place along side that of Anglo-American life as a fit subject for scholarship. The as yet literally unknown period of the recent, mass immigration after 1870 will be illuminated. And when it is, the insecurity of the minority member over his heritage will disappear. He need not cower at the imagined tale of the slum, poverty, ignorance, and demoralization. Such a tradition was his background but only a part of it. From preliminary research this writer has done on all Slavic Americans, he would emphasize rather the surprising viability and substance of their immigrant �84 SLOVAKIA community. These newcomers, so-called greenhorns, culturally deprived, largely unlettered masses traveled thousands of miles to a vastly different environment and fashioned a complete social life, including parishes, social centers, fraternals, newspapers, even dramatic and musical societies. Such institutions may not have equalled their American counterpart in support or quality but these associations certainly represented a significant economic and cultural advance from what they had in the Old Country. To help ease the lot of maturing Slovak Americans and assist students of American culture some steps have already been taken, as Jednota's scholarship awards and the agreements made with the University of Minnesota. This writer would like to make an additional proposal. Actually this suggestion is a renewal of an appeal made by Rev. Mlynarovic several decades ago, the formation of a Slovak American Historical Association. Such a cultural society would offer permanent encouragement to those interested in the history of Slovaks in America. At the start it could interest and assist students to gather, organize and publish materials on the nationality. Anyone who has visited the Institute, Middletown, Pittsburgh, and Chicago realizes the necessity of ordering and preserving annuals, newspapers and manuscript collections. The Association would also communicate with other nationality historical societies which have proven their own value and keep in contact with immigrant historians in general. The major drawback to such an organization is the same that has plagued Slovak Americans as a whole-factionalism. Slovaks are of many persuasions, from Protestants to Orthodox, and these subdivisions have confounded and retarded any all-inclusive body. But such an obstacle may well be overcome by including all Slovak groups in its formation and as a r,esult of the urgency of the situation. This writer would like to initiate action by suggesting a Slovak American Newsletter and he solicits advice from readers. This paper, has been both an analysis of the problem and a suggestion for solution. It sees a process whereby other minorities will grow in self-confidence but fears that Slovak Americans may not have a recognizable past for some time to come unless action is taken soon. The call, however, �SLOVAKIA 85 does not seek to instill ethnic pride in the hearts and minds of disillusioned descendants. This identity-attachment will result and expand when more of the entire past is exposed. Any research subject, whether sensitive or not, should be encouraged to help explain the reality of a group's adjustment. Certainly out of this academic pursuit, sons will sense a more substantial basis for knowing themselves. One need not guess at the profound satisfaction that all minorities will experience when they form societies that deal with academicians. The recognition of scholarship can do much to ease an inferiority. With such a relationship ethnic leaders must be cautioned that encouraging historical scholarship will not pr,e vent assimilation, "drowning in an Anglo-American sea," as some have termed it. Most sociologists agree that homogenization is inevitable and amalgamation appears as an American trend. But this process of change will be less demoralizing for group members who really are interested in honoring their past. Maria Mrazik will change her name to Mary More and even marry a Robert Smith but the transition will not necessarily indicate a rejection of her Slovak heritage. She still will likely support the examination of the internal and external problems which her forebears encountered in building their institutions. Nevertheless the minority member's trauma is still the order of the day. The pervasive and depressing syndrome can be observed most closely by first-hand testimony, the lament of a young Halian boy, named John Fante, who sought to erase his heritage. The nationality here is really irrelevant; he could just as well have been a Slovak or of any other minority. As he says, he takes solace in his name as he could be mistaken for a more American nationality. Yet he could not escape his family where conflict was constant and tragic. His confession appeared several decades ago in a 1933 article entitled, "The Odyssey of a Wop," but his discomfort typifies that of a Hunlde's son as well: I enter the . .. school with an awful fear that I a Wop. As soon as I find out why people have such names, I match my own against such typically ltalian Bianci, Borello, Pacelli-the names of other students. I relieved by the comparison. After all, I think, people French. will be called things as surcognomens as am pleasantly will say I am �86 SLOVAKIA Doesn't my name sound French? Sure! So thereafter, when people ask me my nationality, I tell them I am French. A few boys begin calling me Frenchy. I like that. It feels fine. Thus I begin to loathe my heritage. I avoid Italian boys and girls who try to be friendly. I thank God for · my light skin and hair, and I choose my companions by the Anglo-Saxon ring of their names. If a boy's name is Whitney, Browne, or Smythe, then he's my pal; but I'm always a little breathless when I am with him; he may find me out. At the lunch hour I huddle over my lunch pail, for my mother doesn't wrap my sandwiches in wax paper, ... she makes them too large and the lettuce leaves protrude. Worse, the bread is home-made; not bakery bread, not "American" bread. I make a great fuss because I can't have mayonnaise and other "American" things ... I am nervous when I bring friends to my house; the place looks so Italian. Here hangs a picture of Victor Emmanuel, and over there is one of the cathedral of Milan, and next to it, one of St. Peter's, and on the buffet stands a wine-pitcher of medieval design; it's forever brimming, forever red and brilliant with wine. These things are heirlooms belonging to my father, and no matter who may come to our house, he likes to stand under them and brag. So I begin to shout at him. I tell him to cut out being a Wop and to be an American once in a while . Immediately he gets his razor-strap and whales hell out of me, clouting me from room to room and finally out the back door. I go into the woodshed and puH down my pants and stretch my neck to examine the blue slices across my rump. A Wop! that's what my father is! Nowhere is there an American father who beats his son this way. Well, he's not going to get away with it; some day I'll get even with him ... My grandmother has taught me to speak her native tongue. By seven, I know it pretty well, and I always address her in it. But when friends are with me, when I am twelve and thirteen, I pretend to ignorance of what she says, and smirk stiffly; my friends daren't know that I can speak any language but English. Sometimes this infuriates her. She bristles, the loose skin at her throat knits hard, and she blasphemes with a mighty blasphemy.• As Fante said, he was always a little breathless for he may have been found out. With more professional attention given to his group's history, the time will come when he and all minority members will catch their breath and assume their composure. In the process both minority and majority may then discover a new sense of compatibility. The omnipresent "drift" and purposeless will vanish as together they strive to attain the so-called Amerioan Dream. Victor R. Greene Kansas State University Manhattan, Kansas • The American Mercury, XXX (September, 1939), 91-93, quoted in Maurice Davie, World Immigration (New York, 1936), 279-279. � 80 SLOVAKIA "SONS OF HUNKIES: MEN WITH A PAST?" A few years ago a book entitled The American Style appeared which attempted to analyze and define the cunent American temper. It was subtitled Essays in Value and Performance. Widely known scholars from a variety of fields, particularly history and anthropology, offered their impressions, or better, diagnoses of this nation's problems. While remedies varied, they all agreed that a general sickness had afflicted the American people. A feeling of uncertainty, loss of direction, and lack of purpose had controlled the behavior of the population for about the past decade. Agreeing in part with sociologist David Riesman, one of the participants, these students noted that the campaigns of old, the Armageddons of another day, the taming of the pioneer west, making the world safe for democracy in 1917, and the "Crusade in Europe", as General Eisenhower put it, had been won. In place of these challenges no new frontiers had appeared. America was trying to adjust to a new anxious era where old values were disappearing. Now the state was guaranteeing minimum security and abroad we were enduring a continual stalemate and compromise with our enemies. The exhilaration of clear victory was unattainable because there was no "solution" to our problems. Instead, as the discussants pointed to Korea and could well have done so later with Vietnam, our policy was not to vanquish our foes as before but merely contain them. The realization of this indecisive situation led to the present mood of confusion, frustration, and "drift." Even a commission begun to formulate and enunciate national goals under the Eisenhower administration was not able to dispell the agonizing transition; in fact, its ,e stablishment was evidence of it. Such a loss of commitment to ideals seems to apply particularly to descendants of this country's minority groups. Ethnic historians and sociologists can discern that same search for principles among our newer nationalities. As this writer sees it, present generation Slovak, Jewish, Italian and non-white Americans labor heavily not only under the general psychological malady but an additional, even more upsetting disability, an embarrassment over their past. Theirs is a history they are usually trying to dismiss, forget, and ignore. The few who do actively cultivate ethnic history really know �SLOVAKIA 81 only a small part, in any case a distorted and even fanciful version. The effect on the younger generation is unfortunate. Maturing East European Americans particularly are, as individuals, desperately striving to assimilate their way of life to the Anglo-American middle class stereotype. Such an overpowering acculturative urge is forcing far too rapid psychological changes for a well-balanced adjustment and instead has created a pervasive discomfort in the form of a massive inferiority. The feeling is entirely unwarranted as this paper will show. It is to this disturbed neurosis that trained nationality historians can supply a remedy-the needed measure of selfconfidence. While this therapeutic function of ethnic scholars will be stressed here, one should understand that the major task of historians of immigration and race is not sociological. They are not social workers. Immigration historians are generally concerned with analyzing American culture through its ,effects on its subgroups. Nevertheless, at the very same time that nationality group scholars are investigating our society, they will also assist in lifting the mental cross that minorities bear. By suggesting a sophisticated picture of subgroups' past, trained ethnic historians will offer a mo!'e comfortable position from which these people can base present life on past experience. Nevertheless, as of quite recently if history does not provide any foundation at all for what is, or supplies that very necessary continuity with the present, Catholics, Jews, Negroes, and especially Slovaks have not yet found it. Of course everyone of us has some idea of what has been as defective as our picture may be. No matter how much men try to forget yesterday, only the few amnesiacs can do it successfully and they, too, suffer psychologically. For the non-Anglo-American particularly the question of the past haunts his every activity. His recollections of foregoing generations are painful. To the modern descendant the status of the father or grandfather seems hardly one to ennoble progeny: the unskilled Slovak brutalized in the steel mill, coal mine, or slaughterhouse; the Italian ragpicker earning his bread by combing garbage dumps of our larger cities; the Jewish sweatshop worker slaving in an overcrowded, �82 SLOVAKIA filthy New York tenement fifteen hours a day; or the illiterate Negro sharecropper suffering from centuries of pellagra and persecution. Even if the present minority member has no first-hand contact with such figures, one can be sure that he knows them through images. Most Slovak Americans still live in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Gary, Chicago, Youngstown, Bridgeport, and Detroit where they can see the smokestack that ordered their for,ebears to their job. If by chance personal recollection does not create a sense of inadequacy, the little historical work that has been done on these groups will. Such written profiles for the most part make descendants extremely self-conscious of their heritage. The published studies are products either of well-meaning advocat,es who want to list the group's achievements in terms of "contributions" or of ingroup writers who concentrate their attention on pre-1800 American origins or the cultural connection with medieval Europe. In either case the result has been to intensify the inferiority. What does it mean to a grandson trying hard to obtain an education that his heritage stems from the grandeur of Rome or that he and Toscannini have something in common; or to a descendant of a Polish peasant that his countryman Kosciuszko helped Washington win the American Revolution; or to today's Negro that Phillis Wheatley was writing good poetry in 1760? Such "history" only reminds readers of the extraordinary distance which they have to travel to be accepted as just another American. In essence such nationality "personalities" have little real connection with or relevance to their own circumstance. In fact, many celebrities have not associated with their group at all although some have. Of all this country's minorities it is likely that the Slovak Americans have the greatest difficulty in orientation. For what is there available to dispel their ignorance and describe the aotivity of their father and grandfather when they left Spis to come to Pittsburgh? Unfortunately not a great deal of literature. Certainly with almost a million inhabitants tracing their heritage back to the foothills of the Carpathians, it is tragic that there is not one complete history of what the emigrants did which their descendants can read. Of course, there are publications on Slovaks in the United States but these ar,e usually inaccessible to the young as well as non- �SLOVAKIA 83 Slavs. The many parish histories give a part of the tale and most of the other works are either hidden away as university theses, like Rev. Zatlm's "Social History of the Slovaks in America" or Rev. Buc's "Slovak Nationalism" or they are in Slovak, as Rovnianek's autobiography, Dr. Hrusovsky's history of the Slovak religious orders, Culen's history of American Slovaks, Hrobak's edited notes of Furdek, or the most complete study of all, Dr. Pauco's jubilee history of Jednota. Thus the dilemma in having to live in two worlds remains. Minorities members are the "marginal men, " as E. V. Stonequist described them, attempting to adjust to a majority culture yet never able to divest themselves of what they believe a foreign, un-American family life. It is my point that such a transition need not be uncomfortable and irritating and in fact American historians are just now providing a solvent. Very recently scholarly interest in our sub-cultures has heightened. Starting in the 1920's among social workers and a rare professional historian and quickened by the recent pressure of non-whites for equality, investigators of our society have begun to recognize the necessity of including Catholics, Jews, and non-whites in any generalization about our past. Late publications on the Negroes, Greeks, and Jews; the formation of an Immigration History Group; and the success of an immigrant archival collection at the University of Minnesota are tangible manifestations of the growing recognition of the subject. If the trend continues, Americans of minority descent will be major beneficiaries. The tale of their own forebears, not Benovsky, Bernolak, or Stur as great as these men were, will take a place along side that of Anglo-American life as a fit subject for scholarship. The as yet literally unknown period of the recent, mass immigration after 1870 will be illuminated. And when it is, the insecurity of the minority member over his heritage will disappear. He need not cower at the imagined tale of the slum, poverty, ignorance, and demoralization. Such a tradition was his background but only a part of it. From preliminary research this writer has done on all Slavic Americans, he would emphasize rather the surprising viability and substance of their immigrant �84 SLOVAKIA community. These newcomers, so-called greenhorns, culturally deprived, largely unlettered masses traveled thousands of miles to a vastly different environment and fashioned a complete social life, including parishes, social centers, fraternals, newspapers, even dramatic and musical societies. Such institutions may not have equalled their American counterpart in support or quality but these associations certainly represented a significant economic and cultural advance from what they had in the Old Country. To help ease the lot of maturing Slovak Americans and assist students of American culture some steps have already been taken, as Jednota's scholarship awards and the agreements made with the University of Minnesota. This writer would like to make an additional proposal. Actually this suggestion is a renewal of an appeal made by Rev. Mlynarovic several decades ago, the formation of a Slovak American Historical Association. Such a cultural society would offer permanent encouragement to those interested in the history of Slovaks in America. At the start it could interest and assist students to gather, organize and publish materials on the nationality. Anyone who has visited the Institute, Middletown, Pittsburgh, and Chicago realizes the necessity of ordering and preserving annuals, newspapers and manuscript collections. The Association would also communicate with other nationality historical societies which have proven their own value and keep in contact with immigrant historians in general. The major drawback to such an organization is the same that has plagued Slovak Americans as a whole-factionalism. Slovaks are of many persuasions, from Protestants to Orthodox, and these subdivisions have confounded and retarded any all-inclusive body. But such an obstacle may well be overcome by including all Slovak groups in its formation and as a r,esult of the urgency of the situation. This writer would like to initiate action by suggesting a Slovak American Newsletter and he solicits advice from readers. This paper, has been both an analysis of the problem and a suggestion for solution. It sees a process whereby other minorities will grow in self-confidence but fears that Slovak Americans may not have a recognizable past for some time to come unless action is taken soon. The call, however, �SLOVAKIA 85 does not seek to instill ethnic pride in the hearts and minds of disillusioned descendants. This identity-attachment will result and expand when more of the entire past is exposed. Any research subject, whether sensitive or not, should be encouraged to help explain the reality of a group's adjustment. Certainly out of this academic pursuit, sons will sense a more substantial basis for knowing themselves. One need not guess at the profound satisfaction that all minorities will experience when they form societies that deal with academicians. The recognition of scholarship can do much to ease an inferiority. With such a relationship ethnic leaders must be cautioned that encouraging historical scholarship will not pr,e vent assimilation, "drowning in an Anglo-American sea," as some have termed it. Most sociologists agree that homogenization is inevitable and amalgamation appears as an American trend. But this process of change will be less demoralizing for group members who really are interested in honoring their past. Maria Mrazik will change her name to Mary More and even marry a Robert Smith but the transition will not necessarily indicate a rejection of her Slovak heritage. She still will likely support the examination of the internal and external problems which her forebears encountered in building their institutions. Nevertheless the minority member's trauma is still the order of the day. The pervasive and depressing syndrome can be observed most closely by first-hand testimony, the lament of a young Halian boy, named John Fante, who sought to erase his heritage. The nationality here is really irrelevant; he could just as well have been a Slovak or of any other minority. As he says, he takes solace in his name as he could be mistaken for a more American nationality. Yet he could not escape his family where conflict was constant and tragic. His confession appeared several decades ago in a 1933 article entitled, "The Odyssey of a Wop," but his discomfort typifies that of a Hunlde's son as well: I enter the . .. school with an awful fear that I a Wop. As soon as I find out why people have such names, I match my own against such typically ltalian Bianci, Borello, Pacelli-the names of other students. I relieved by the comparison. After all, I think, people French. will be called things as surcognomens as am pleasantly will say I am �86 SLOVAKIA Doesn't my name sound French? Sure! So thereafter, when people ask me my nationality, I tell them I am French. A few boys begin calling me Frenchy. I like that. It feels fine. Thus I begin to loathe my heritage. I avoid Italian boys and girls who try to be friendly. I thank God for · my light skin and hair, and I choose my companions by the Anglo-Saxon ring of their names. If a boy's name is Whitney, Browne, or Smythe, then he's my pal; but I'm always a little breathless when I am with him; he may find me out. At the lunch hour I huddle over my lunch pail, for my mother doesn't wrap my sandwiches in wax paper, ... she makes them too large and the lettuce leaves protrude. Worse, the bread is home-made; not bakery bread, not "American" bread. I make a great fuss because I can't have mayonnaise and other "American" things ... I am nervous when I bring friends to my house; the place looks so Italian. Here hangs a picture of Victor Emmanuel, and over there is one of the cathedral of Milan, and next to it, one of St. Peter's, and on the buffet stands a wine-pitcher of medieval design; it's forever brimming, forever red and brilliant with wine. These things are heirlooms belonging to my father, and no matter who may come to our house, he likes to stand under them and brag. So I begin to shout at him. I tell him to cut out being a Wop and to be an American once in a while . Immediately he gets his razor-strap and whales hell out of me, clouting me from room to room and finally out the back door. I go into the woodshed and puH down my pants and stretch my neck to examine the blue slices across my rump. A Wop! that's what my father is! Nowhere is there an American father who beats his son this way. Well, he's not going to get away with it; some day I'll get even with him ... My grandmother has taught me to speak her native tongue. By seven, I know it pretty well, and I always address her in it. But when friends are with me, when I am twelve and thirteen, I pretend to ignorance of what she says, and smirk stiffly; my friends daren't know that I can speak any language but English. Sometimes this infuriates her. She bristles, the loose skin at her throat knits hard, and she blasphemes with a mighty blasphemy.• As Fante said, he was always a little breathless for he may have been found out. With more professional attention given to his group's history, the time will come when he and all minority members will catch their breath and assume their composure. In the process both minority and majority may then discover a new sense of compatibility. The omnipresent "drift" and purposeless will vanish as together they strive to attain the so-called Amerioan Dream. Victor R. Greene Kansas State University Manhattan, Kansas • The American Mercury, XXX (September, 1939), 91-93, quoted in Maurice Davie, World Immigration (New York, 1936), 279-279. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1966, Vol. 16 Description An account of the resource Vol. 16 (No. 39), 1966. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1966 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 80 SLOVAKIA "SONS OF HUNKIES: MEN WITH A PAST?" A few years ago a book entitled The American Style appeared which attempted to analyze and define the cunent American temper. It was subtitled Essays in Value and Performance. Widely known scholars from a variety of fields, particularly history and anthropology, offered their impressions, or better, diagnoses of this nation's problems. While remedies varied, they all agreed that a general sickness had afflicted the American people. A feeling of uncertainty, loss of direction, and lack of purpose had controlled the behavior of the population for about the past decade. Agreeing in part with sociologist David Riesman, one of the participants, these students noted that the campaigns of old, the Armageddons of another day, the taming of the pioneer west, making the world safe for democracy in 1917, and the "Crusade in Europe", as General Eisenhower put it, had been won. In place of these challenges no new frontiers had appeared. America was trying to adjust to a new anxious era where old values were disappearing. Now the state was guaranteeing minimum security and abroad we were enduring a continual stalemate and compromise with our enemies. The exhilaration of clear victory was unattainable because there was no "solution" to our problems. Instead, as the discussants pointed to Korea and could well have done so later with Vietnam, our policy was not to vanquish our foes as before but merely contain them. The realization of this indecisive situation led to the present mood of confusion, frustration, and "drift." Even a commission begun to formulate and enunciate national goals under the Eisenhower administration was not able to dispell the agonizing transition; in fact, its ,e stablishment was evidence of it. Such a loss of commitment to ideals seems to apply particularly to descendants of this country's minority groups. Ethnic historians and sociologists can discern that same search for principles among our newer nationalities. As this writer sees it, present generation Slovak, Jewish, Italian and non-white Americans labor heavily not only under the general psychological malady but an additional, even more upsetting disability, an embarrassment over their past. Theirs is a history they are usually trying to dismiss, forget, and ignore. The few who do actively cultivate ethnic history really know SLOVAKIA 81 only a small part, in any case a distorted and even fanciful version. The effect on the younger generation is unfortunate. Maturing East European Americans particularly are, as individuals, desperately striving to assimilate their way of life to the Anglo-American middle class stereotype. Such an overpowering acculturative urge is forcing far too rapid psychological changes for a well-balanced adjustment and instead has created a pervasive discomfort in the form of a massive inferiority. The feeling is entirely unwarranted as this paper will show. It is to this disturbed neurosis that trained nationality historians can supply a remedy-the needed measure of selfconfidence. While this therapeutic function of ethnic scholars will be stressed here, one should understand that the major task of historians of immigration and race is not sociological. They are not social workers. Immigration historians are generally concerned with analyzing American culture through its ,effects on its subgroups. Nevertheless, at the very same time that nationality group scholars are investigating our society, they will also assist in lifting the mental cross that minorities bear. By suggesting a sophisticated picture of subgroups' past, trained ethnic historians will offer a mo!'e comfortable position from which these people can base present life on past experience. Nevertheless, as of quite recently if history does not provide any foundation at all for what is, or supplies that very necessary continuity with the present, Catholics, Jews, Negroes, and especially Slovaks have not yet found it. Of course everyone of us has some idea of what has been as defective as our picture may be. No matter how much men try to forget yesterday, only the few amnesiacs can do it successfully and they, too, suffer psychologically. For the non-Anglo-American particularly the question of the past haunts his every activity. His recollections of foregoing generations are painful. To the modern descendant the status of the father or grandfather seems hardly one to ennoble progeny: the unskilled Slovak brutalized in the steel mill, coal mine, or slaughterhouse; the Italian ragpicker earning his bread by combing garbage dumps of our larger cities; the Jewish sweatshop worker slaving in an overcrowded, 82 SLOVAKIA filthy New York tenement fifteen hours a day; or the illiterate Negro sharecropper suffering from centuries of pellagra and persecution. Even if the present minority member has no first-hand contact with such figures, one can be sure that he knows them through images. Most Slovak Americans still live in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Gary, Chicago, Youngstown, Bridgeport, and Detroit where they can see the smokestack that ordered their for,ebears to their job. If by chance personal recollection does not create a sense of inadequacy, the little historical work that has been done on these groups will. Such written profiles for the most part make descendants extremely self-conscious of their heritage. The published studies are products either of well-meaning advocat,es who want to list the group's achievements in terms of "contributions" or of ingroup writers who concentrate their attention on pre-1800 American origins or the cultural connection with medieval Europe. In either case the result has been to intensify the inferiority. What does it mean to a grandson trying hard to obtain an education that his heritage stems from the grandeur of Rome or that he and Toscannini have something in common; or to a descendant of a Polish peasant that his countryman Kosciuszko helped Washington win the American Revolution; or to today's Negro that Phillis Wheatley was writing good poetry in 1760? Such "history" only reminds readers of the extraordinary distance which they have to travel to be accepted as just another American. In essence such nationality "personalities" have little real connection with or relevance to their own circumstance. In fact, many celebrities have not associated with their group at all although some have. Of all this country's minorities it is likely that the Slovak Americans have the greatest difficulty in orientation. For what is there available to dispel their ignorance and describe the aotivity of their father and grandfather when they left Spis to come to Pittsburgh? Unfortunately not a great deal of literature. Certainly with almost a million inhabitants tracing their heritage back to the foothills of the Carpathians, it is tragic that there is not one complete history of what the emigrants did which their descendants can read. Of course, there are publications on Slovaks in the United States but these ar,e usually inaccessible to the young as well as non- SLOVAKIA 83 Slavs. The many parish histories give a part of the tale and most of the other works are either hidden away as university theses, like Rev. Zatlm's "Social History of the Slovaks in America" or Rev. Buc's "Slovak Nationalism" or they are in Slovak, as Rovnianek's autobiography, Dr. Hrusovsky's history of the Slovak religious orders, Culen's history of American Slovaks, Hrobak's edited notes of Furdek, or the most complete study of all, Dr. Pauco's jubilee history of Jednota. Thus the dilemma in having to live in two worlds remains. Minorities members are the "marginal men, " as E. V. Stonequist described them, attempting to adjust to a majority culture yet never able to divest themselves of what they believe a foreign, un-American family life. It is my point that such a transition need not be uncomfortable and irritating and in fact American historians are just now providing a solvent. Very recently scholarly interest in our sub-cultures has heightened. Starting in the 1920's among social workers and a rare professional historian and quickened by the recent pressure of non-whites for equality, investigators of our society have begun to recognize the necessity of including Catholics, Jews, and non-whites in any generalization about our past. Late publications on the Negroes, Greeks, and Jews; the formation of an Immigration History Group; and the success of an immigrant archival collection at the University of Minnesota are tangible manifestations of the growing recognition of the subject. If the trend continues, Americans of minority descent will be major beneficiaries. The tale of their own forebears, not Benovsky, Bernolak, or Stur as great as these men were, will take a place along side that of Anglo-American life as a fit subject for scholarship. The as yet literally unknown period of the recent, mass immigration after 1870 will be illuminated. And when it is, the insecurity of the minority member over his heritage will disappear. He need not cower at the imagined tale of the slum, poverty, ignorance, and demoralization. Such a tradition was his background but only a part of it. From preliminary research this writer has done on all Slavic Americans, he would emphasize rather the surprising viability and substance of their immigrant 84 SLOVAKIA community. These newcomers, so-called greenhorns, culturally deprived, largely unlettered masses traveled thousands of miles to a vastly different environment and fashioned a complete social life, including parishes, social centers, fraternals, newspapers, even dramatic and musical societies. Such institutions may not have equalled their American counterpart in support or quality but these associations certainly represented a significant economic and cultural advance from what they had in the Old Country. To help ease the lot of maturing Slovak Americans and assist students of American culture some steps have already been taken, as Jednota's scholarship awards and the agreements made with the University of Minnesota. This writer would like to make an additional proposal. Actually this suggestion is a renewal of an appeal made by Rev. Mlynarovic several decades ago, the formation of a Slovak American Historical Association. Such a cultural society would offer permanent encouragement to those interested in the history of Slovaks in America. At the start it could interest and assist students to gather, organize and publish materials on the nationality. Anyone who has visited the Institute, Middletown, Pittsburgh, and Chicago realizes the necessity of ordering and preserving annuals, newspapers and manuscript collections. The Association would also communicate with other nationality historical societies which have proven their own value and keep in contact with immigrant historians in general. The major drawback to such an organization is the same that has plagued Slovak Americans as a whole-factionalism. Slovaks are of many persuasions, from Protestants to Orthodox, and these subdivisions have confounded and retarded any all-inclusive body. But such an obstacle may well be overcome by including all Slovak groups in its formation and as a r,esult of the urgency of the situation. This writer would like to initiate action by suggesting a Slovak American Newsletter and he solicits advice from readers. This paper, has been both an analysis of the problem and a suggestion for solution. It sees a process whereby other minorities will grow in self-confidence but fears that Slovak Americans may not have a recognizable past for some time to come unless action is taken soon. The call, however, SLOVAKIA 85 does not seek to instill ethnic pride in the hearts and minds of disillusioned descendants. This identity-attachment will result and expand when more of the entire past is exposed. Any research subject, whether sensitive or not, should be encouraged to help explain the reality of a group's adjustment. Certainly out of this academic pursuit, sons will sense a more substantial basis for knowing themselves. One need not guess at the profound satisfaction that all minorities will experience when they form societies that deal with academicians. The recognition of scholarship can do much to ease an inferiority. With such a relationship ethnic leaders must be cautioned that encouraging historical scholarship will not pr,e vent assimilation, "drowning in an Anglo-American sea," as some have termed it. Most sociologists agree that homogenization is inevitable and amalgamation appears as an American trend. But this process of change will be less demoralizing for group members who really are interested in honoring their past. Maria Mrazik will change her name to Mary More and even marry a Robert Smith but the transition will not necessarily indicate a rejection of her Slovak heritage. She still will likely support the examination of the internal and external problems which her forebears encountered in building their institutions. Nevertheless the minority member's trauma is still the order of the day. The pervasive and depressing syndrome can be observed most closely by first-hand testimony, the lament of a young Halian boy, named John Fante, who sought to erase his heritage. The nationality here is really irrelevant; he could just as well have been a Slovak or of any other minority. As he says, he takes solace in his name as he could be mistaken for a more American nationality. Yet he could not escape his family where conflict was constant and tragic. His confession appeared several decades ago in a 1933 article entitled, "The Odyssey of a Wop," but his discomfort typifies that of a Hunlde's son as well: I enter the . .. school with an awful fear that I a Wop. As soon as I find out why people have such names, I match my own against such typically ltalian Bianci, Borello, Pacelli-the names of other students. I relieved by the comparison. After all, I think, people French. will be called things as surcognomens as am pleasantly will say I am 86 SLOVAKIA Doesn't my name sound French? Sure! So thereafter, when people ask me my nationality, I tell them I am French. A few boys begin calling me Frenchy. I like that. It feels fine. Thus I begin to loathe my heritage. I avoid Italian boys and girls who try to be friendly. I thank God for · my light skin and hair, and I choose my companions by the Anglo-Saxon ring of their names. If a boy's name is Whitney, Browne, or Smythe, then he's my pal; but I'm always a little breathless when I am with him; he may find me out. At the lunch hour I huddle over my lunch pail, for my mother doesn't wrap my sandwiches in wax paper, ... she makes them too large and the lettuce leaves protrude. Worse, the bread is home-made; not bakery bread, not "American" bread. I make a great fuss because I can't have mayonnaise and other "American" things ... I am nervous when I bring friends to my house; the place looks so Italian. Here hangs a picture of Victor Emmanuel, and over there is one of the cathedral of Milan, and next to it, one of St. Peter's, and on the buffet stands a wine-pitcher of medieval design; it's forever brimming, forever red and brilliant with wine. These things are heirlooms belonging to my father, and no matter who may come to our house, he likes to stand under them and brag. So I begin to shout at him. I tell him to cut out being a Wop and to be an American once in a while . Immediately he gets his razor-strap and whales hell out of me, clouting me from room to room and finally out the back door. I go into the woodshed and puH down my pants and stretch my neck to examine the blue slices across my rump. A Wop! that's what my father is! Nowhere is there an American father who beats his son this way. Well, he's not going to get away with it; some day I'll get even with him ... My grandmother has taught me to speak her native tongue. By seven, I know it pretty well, and I always address her in it. But when friends are with me, when I am twelve and thirteen, I pretend to ignorance of what she says, and smirk stiffly; my friends daren't know that I can speak any language but English. Sometimes this infuriates her. She bristles, the loose skin at her throat knits hard, and she blasphemes with a mighty blasphemy.• As Fante said, he was always a little breathless for he may have been found out. With more professional attention given to his group's history, the time will come when he and all minority members will catch their breath and assume their composure. In the process both minority and majority may then discover a new sense of compatibility. The omnipresent "drift" and purposeless will vanish as together they strive to attain the so-called Amerioan Dream. Victor R. Greene Kansas State University Manhattan, Kansas • The American Mercury, XXX (September, 1939), 91-93, quoted in Maurice Davie, World Immigration (New York, 1936), 279-279.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "Sons of Hunkies: Men with a Past?" Description An account of the resource Victor R. Greene Slovakia, Vol. 16 (No. 39), 1966 pp. 80-86 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Greene, Victor R. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1966 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/332785cff4f265ad3c4c359600dd8581.pdf 590394fa1a9f7d2f25e394b700d2c443 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 2021 121 "THE RUSSIANS ARE INVADING US!" PRESOV, 1968 M. Mark Stolarik In 1968 Anne and Mark Stolarik experienced two unforgettable events in their lives- they were married and later witnessed the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. Not many people can brag that their honeymoon was interrupted by Russian tanks! Meanwhile, they also experienced many culture shocks, as they toured Slovakia for the first time. For the newlyweds the summer of 1968 started quite auspiciously. On June 15, over 400 guests appeared at the wedding of Mark Stolarik and Anne fvanco in Oshawa, Ontario, the automobile capital of Canada. The ceremony was held in the packed Greek Catholic Church of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Ritson Road, and was presided over by the Reverend Stefan Adamiak. 1 Afterwards the guests walked to the nearby Slovak Hall ,2 ate a many-course meal in the basement and then proceeded upstairs where the dancing and drinking began . As was typical of Slovak weddings, two men got into a fight and were ejected by the bride 's father. By I 0:00 p.m. a crisis arose- there was no more liquor! Jan Jvanco, the bride 's father, quickly rounded up all of his friends, explained the situation, and they raced home to empty their liquor cabinets in order to keep the celebration going into the wee hours of the morning. After the tearful bridal dance at midnight, during which Mark was ejected from the building, Jan lvanco and his new son-in-law met in a back room and counted up all the monetary donations received, either during the wedding, or during the bridal dance. They totaled $4,000, which was more than enough to cover all of their planned-for honeymoon expenses to Europe, and their research-trip to Slovakia. At that time Mark was a Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota, where he was studying 1 For the history of this parish see "S lovak Greek Catholic Church of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada" (Xerox copy, Oshawa, 2002) . A copy can be found in the Slovak Arc hi ves, Arc hives and Special Collections, Unive rsity of Ottawa. 2 For a photo of this hall, see the front cover of Polyphony : The Bulletin of the Multicultural History Society of Ontario 2, No. I (Winter, 1979). �122 SLOVAKIA 2021 under the direction of Timothy L. Smith, who had recently founded the Immigrant Archives at the University. 3 As one of Smith's Research Assistants, Mark 's duties consisted of collecting archival materials in American and Canadian cities pertaining to Slovak immigration to North America and then writing his dissertation based upon these materials. The day after their wedding Mark and Anne fl ew from Toronto to Minneapolis and from there by a special charter plane for uni versity students to Paris. After touring Paris with student colleagues from the University of Minnesota, Mark and Anne took a train to Stuttgart, Germany, where they picked up a brand-new Volkswagen " Beetle" which Mark had purchased for $1,300. With their new car they drove to Munich and Salzburg, where they visited with friend s and then proceeded to Vienna. In this ancient capital of the former Habsburg Empire, which they first toured, they applied for and received visas from the Czechoslovak Consulate to visit the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. After a picturesque drive from Vienna through the towns of Hainburg and Wolfstahl, the newlyweds approached the Czechoslovak border. They could see the Little Carpathians looming in the di stance, and Bratislava castle overlooking the city. As they approached the border, they noticed that they were the only car entering the Republic. A lonely soldier, with a sub-machine gun slung over his back, lifted a heavy cantilevered iron gate, which opened only inwards, and allowed them in . Thereupon two surprised customs officers emerged from a little building off to the side and, under a covered roof asked the travelers for their passports and visas. 3 For the history of the Immigrant Archives, later renamed the Immigration History Research Center, see my " Building Ethnic Arch ives in the United States and Canada since the I 960 's," in Dominique Daniel and Amalia Levi eds., Identity Palimpsests: Archiving Ethnicity in the U.S. and Canada (Sacramento, CA: Litwin Books, 20 13), 59-6 1. �SLOVAKIA 2021 123 Petrfalka border crossing from Austria, 1993 . In 1968 there were no signs at this crossing except the large letters that read " Bratislava." Fortunately, Timothy Smith had arranged for Dr. 1:udovit Holotik, the Director of the Historical [nstitute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, to issue them, as we ll as his entire team of researchers, an official invitation, which made the granting of visas by the Czechoslovak authorities that much easier. After a two-hour wait at the border, while the customs officers awaited a telephone call from Prague confirming their visas as legitimate, the couple was cleared for entrance into the Republic. Before they departed they changed some American dollars for Czechoslovak crowns, because it was noon and their stomachs were growling. Because they had an official invitation , they did not have to exchange $12.00 (U.S.) for Czechoslovak crowns for each day of their stay at the official (and unrealistic) rate of seven crowns for a �124 SLOVAKIA 2021 dollar. The real (black market) rate of exchange was 35 crowns for a dollar. Once they had cleared customs, the two visitors proceeded in their little green Volkswagen along a narrow two-lane road towards the town of Petrzalka, a suburb of Bratislava. They noticed that the road was raised higher than the nearby empty fields , and soon they passed a tall guard-tower, with two more armed soldiers watching them. rt was clear that they had just passed through the "Iron Curtain" which separated the communist East from the democratic West. After the pair had crossed the "Stary most" (Old Bridge) across the Danube River from Petrzalka to Bratislava, and drove along Sturova Street into the heart of the city, they were disappointed by what they saw. The buildings were old and grey, with the plaster falling off. What a contrast with modem, clean and dynamic Vienna! The pedestrians were dressed in what looked like I 940's clothing. It seemed to the visitors that they had entered into the "Third World." As they drove along, they looked in vain for a sign that would advertise a restaurant. When the pair drove their Volkswagen up the hill through the Square of the Slovak National Uprising, past the Church of the Holy Trinity, they noticed a large sign at its base that read "Sovietska kniha" (Soviet Bookstore), which again reminded them that they were in the communist East. Finally, as they emerged into what is now known as " Hodo:fovo namestie" (Hodza Square), the hungry couple spied a sign on the left that read "Restauracia Stefanka." Elated, they parked their car on a side road and entered the restaurant with great anticipation. A friendly waiter in a tuxedo greeted them and sat them beside a window overlooking the square. He explained that the Stefanka did not provide individual service, but they could help themselves at the buffet table. Mark and Anne were delighted to see little open-faced sandwiches, with all sorts of delicacies on them, awaiting their hungry stomachs. They ate to their heart's content. Meanwhile, they noticed that the clientele consisted mostly of older gentlemen and young women. They made nothing of it. A little later, whi le visiting Mark 's cousin Jozef Mazur in nearby Trnava, Jozef asked the couple for their first impressions of Slovakia. When they recounted their lunch at the Stefanka, Jozef burst into laughter. When Mark inquired as to what was so funny, Jozef replied, "Don't you know what the Stefanka is?" To which Mark replied , "no," to which Jozef added, "The Stefanka is �SLOVAKIA 2021 125 notorious in Bratislava as the place where you go if you want to pick up a prostitute! " Upon reflection, Mark and Anne understood why they had seen so many older gentlemen and younger women at the Stefanka. They had a good laugh! After lunch on their first day in Slovakia, Mark and Anne proceeded to the offices of the Historicky ustav SAV (Historical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences) on Klemensova Street. Here a sheepish Dr. L:udovit Holotik welcomed them and explained that he was leaving shortly on a research trip to England . He failed to mention that he had just been fired as Director of the Institute, because in the l 950 ' s he had written a defamatory book about the Slovak national hero, General Milan R. Stefanik. During the liberali z ing " Dubcek era",4 such books were frowned upon and Holotik was attacked in the now-free press.5 Holotik then introduced Mark to his successor, Dr. Julius Mesaros. The latter was initially skeptical of Mark ' s motives, but when Mark explained that he was a student of Timothy Smith, and part of a team of researchers who were coming to Slovakia to study the emigration of various ethnic groups from the former Kingdom of Hungary, Mesaros mellowed. He offered Mark and Anne some Turkish coffee, made by his secretary, which consisted of one-third coffeegrounds and two-thirds thick, dark, coffee in a demi-tasse. The Canadian couple had never before seen or tasted such coffee and slowly sipped it in order not to insult their host. Mark and Anne were raised on "cafe au lait". Apparently, the Russians had introduced "Turkish coffee" to the Eastern Bloc. After this introduction, Mesaros brought to Mark dozens of articles and books written by himself and his colleagues at the Hi storical Institute on the social history of 19 th century Slovakia.6 Once he had read them, Mark would have a good back- 4 For the Dubce k era , popularl y kn own as the " Prague Spring," see The Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact In vasion of Czechoslovakia, / 968: Forty Years Later, ed. by M. Mark Sto larik (Munde lein, IL : Bo lchazy-Carducc i, 20 I 0). 1..:udovit Holotik, Stefa nikovska legenda a vznik CSR (Brati slava: Slove nska academia vied. 1958); fo r th e attacks upon Holot ik see Jan Ml ynarik , " Hi stori ci v Enckylopedii Slovenska- bilanci a neostalinskeho kadrovani a (Studia k slovenskej histori ografii )" Premeny 25 (4, 1988), 147-8. 6 Mesaros's most important publication was Rolnicka a narodnostna otazka na Slovensku, 1848-1900; k problematikef eudalnych prei itkov (Bratislava : Slovenska academia vi ed, 1959). 5 �126 SLOVAKIA 2021 ground understanding of the archival sources which he would subsequently find in various Slovak state archives. After having spent their first night in the nearby Hotel Krym, Mark and Anne proceeded to the headquarters of the Slovak State Archives on the " Ulica obrancov mieru" (Street of the Defenders of Peace; today 's Stefanikova Street). There they met and befriended Dr. Frantisek Bielik, one of the archivists who was interested in the topic of Slovak immigration .7 He subsequently introduced the couple to Deputy Director Jozef Mazur who, it turned out, was Mark 's long-lost cousin on his mother's side. They had a joyful reunion during which Jozef Mazur showed Mark photos of himself visiting with Mark 's family in Turciansky Svaty Martin during the Second World War. Jozef then wrote Mark an official letter of introduction to all the Slovak State Archives scattered across the country, in which Jozef instructed the local archivists to help Mark in finding material s on Slovak emigration to North America. For the next two weeks Frantisek Bielik found such materials for Mark in the Bratislava State Archives. While Mark and Anne stayed at the nearby inexpensive Hotel Tatra, which was full of Russians, they had a curious experience. Every morning when they ate breakfast in the hotel 's dining room, they ordered the same things- ham and eggs with rolls and coffee. The total bill was always 28 crowns, which they rounded up to 30, much to the deli ght of their middle-aged waiter, who collected the money on the spot. They were not used to waiters doing this, because in North America waiters or waitresses usually submitted a bill , and the customers paid through a cashier, who controlled the amount requested and paid. One day, the middle-aged waiter took the day off and was replaced by a much younger colleague. Mark and Anne ordered the same breakfast, but the new waiter charged them 48 crowns! Not wishing to create a scene, they paid the 48 crowns and left. The next day, when the middle-aged waiter returned, they showed him the previous day's breakfast bill. He was furiou s, he apologized, did not charge them for their breakfast, and vowed that his younger colleague would never again repl ace him . Mark and Anne wondered how often waiters in 7 While Bielik started hi s career at the Slovak State Archives, he later switched to the Institute for Slovaks Abroad of the Matica slovenska and published, amon g many others things, the four- volume compendium of documents on Slovak immigrati on entitled Slovenske vystahovalectvo. Dokumenty / -4 (Bratislava: Slovenska academ ia vied, 1969- 1985). �SLOVAKIA 2021 127 Slovakia (and elsewhere in Europe) cheated their customers in this way. After their stay in Bratislava, Mark and Anne drove north to the city of Trnava, to do research in the archives of the Spolok Sv. Yojtecha (Society of St. Adalbert). They stayed with the family of Jozef Mazur, who introduced Mark to the Director of the Spolok, Msgr. Jan Postenyi . The latter was delighted to meet Mark, because Postenyi had been on a tour of the USA in 193 7, and had since not met with any American Slovaks. He gladly opened his rich archive to Mark, where the latter discovered many documents pertaining to the history of the Slovak League of America during and after World War I. These included a carbon-copy of the 1915 Cleveland Agreement. 8 After a week's stay in Trnava, Mark and Anne set out for northern Slovakia, where they met additional members of their family. In Cadca they stayed with Mark 's uncle Jozef Stolarik, who took Mark to see his grandmother Anna Stolarikova and her daughter Terezia Bosakova in the hilly settlement of Dlha, near the city of Turzovka. Anna had not seen her grandson since his Christening in 1943 . Since Anna was illiterate, she wondered how Mark had managed to find her. Mark took out a road map of Europe and showed her the roads they had driven from Stuttgart to Slovakia, but it was hard for her to comprehend what he was showing. Mark, meanwhile, was amused that she was wearing black Converse sneakers. Uncle Jozef explained that it was easier for her to climb up the hill to her house in sneakers than in leather shoes. There was no road up the hill from the one below. After having visited two more aunts and their families, in midJuly, Mark and Anne set out for the city of Martin, Mark's birthplace. While driving between the city of Zilina and the ruins of castle Strecno, Mark and Anne suddenly spotted a long column of Russian military vehicles parked on the old road beside the new one. They were engaged in war games called "operation Sumava" in order to intimidate the Czechoslovak government into stopping the transformation of Czech and Slovak society into "socialism with a human face," as the first Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, 8 For the history of the Spolok Sv. Vojtecha see Stefan Hanakovic, Dejiny Spolku sviiteho Vojtecha (Trnava : Spolok sv. Vojtecha, 2005), especia ll y pages 281-84 for Postenyi ' s trip to America. The Cleve land Agreement can be found in the Archiv Spolku Svateho Vojtecha, Politika, fasc. 235 , fol. A. c.2 �128 SLOVAKIA 2021 Alexander Dubcek, put it. As he made clear in hi s memo irs, he and hi s followers were trying to turn communist Czechoslovakia into a Social Democratic Czechoslovakia.9 His colleagues in the Warsaw Pact, particularly Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, Polish leader Wladyslaw Gomulka and East German leader Walter Ulbricht, vehemently disapproved of the path of the so-called Prague Spring, and "operation Sumava" was a prelude to the later in vas ion of Czechoslovakia. 10 Meanwhile, when Mark saw these Soviet military veh icles, he instantly shouted at Anne to start photographing them , because he was driving and was afraid to stop the car, lest the Russians arrest him. A terrified Anne grabbed hi s 35mi llimeter camera and took several color slides of these vehicles. Russ ian military vehicles parked on the old road between Z ilina and Strecno in northern Slovakia, Jul y, 1968 9 Hope Dies Last: The Autohiography of Alexander Dubcek, ed. and trans. by Jiri Hochman (New York: Kodansha International, 1993), 277. 10 For the views of Brezhnev, Gomulka and Ulbricht, see the chapters by Mikhail Latysh, Lukasz Kaminski and Riidi ger Wenzke in The Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact In vasion, 1-18, 95- 128 and 137-64. �SLOVAKIA 2021 129 Russian "Katyusha" rocket launchers on old road between Zilina and Strecno, July, 1969. Russian ambulance and military vehicles on old road between Zilina and Strecno, July 1968. After this harrowing experience, Mark and Anne kept driving around the Strecno pass until they reached the city of Martin. Here �130 SLOVAKIA 2021 they met Uncle Rudolf and hi s family and stayed with them for a week while Mark worked in the Literary Archive of the Matica slovenska. Here he met Dr. Jozef Telgarsky, the Director of the Slovak National Library of the Matica slovenska. The two of them agreed upon an exchange of books and other materials in the future , a promise which is still in effect. While in Martin, at the urging of Frantisek (Ferko) Bielik, Mark attended the 6th Congress of the Slovak Historical Society, where he heard Dr. Lubomir Liptak 's attack upon the "deformation" of Slovak hi story by Marxist hi storian s in the previous decades. 11 He also heard Prof. Milos Gosiorovsky' s plea for the federation of Czechoslovakia based upon the Cleveland Agreement of 1915. 12 Mark was amused by Ferko Bielik 's antics at this Congress- he lifted hi s hand in approval of various motions made, whi le shaking hi s head sideways in disapproval. He explained that the conference organizers only counted the raised hands, not the heads shaking sideways. This was a small gesture of disapproval of the conference proceedings. After their stay in Martin, at the beginning of August, the newlyweds set out for the city of Presov, to do research in the archives of the former county of Saris, from where the first immigrants had left for America. 13 In Presov they met and stayed with Anne's uncle Andrej Krasnay in the Sid lisko Dukelskych hrdinov (the Apartment Complex of the Heroes of the Duk la Pass). Shortly after their arrival , Andrej took Mark and Anne to visit her grandmother in her vi ll age for the first time, as well as other aunts and uncles. At Andrej 's condo Mark and Anne had to get used to the socialist way of life. For instance, sometimes the water flowed from the faucets in Andrej's apartment, sometimes not. Therefore, Andrej kept his tub full of water, so that he would not run out. Sometimes the water was hot. Sometimes it was not. Whenever the water flowed hot, Andrej called the couple to immediately take a bath. And, even though Presov had street li ghts, they were not turned on at night, in order to conserve electricity. When Mark went to do research in the Slovak State Archives in Presov, which was located on the Main Square, right beside the church of St. Nicholas, he had some interesting experiences. When he met 11 Cubomir Liptak, "U loha a postavenie historiografie v nasej spolocnosti, Hisloricky casopi.1· XVII , c. l , 1969, 98- 11 7. 12 Milos Gosiorovsky, "Slovaci za prvej svetovej vojny," in Slovaci a ich narodnv v;ivin, ed. Oto Takac (Brati slava: Slovenska academ ia vied, I969), 29 1-305 . 13 Slovak State Archives in Presov, county Saris, podzupan, 9809, VB, 1879. �SLOVAK.IA 2021 131 Andrej Lukac, the Director of the Archive, the latter was cool to Mark's visit. He claimed that the material Mark was searching for was not yet processed and suggested that Mark return sometime in the future, when it would become available. Mark then asked if Lukac knew Jozef Mazur, to which Lukac replied, "Hej , onje moj set1'' (Of course! He's my boss.) To which Mark replied, "Hej, on je moj bratranec." (Of course! He's my cousin.) As soon as Lukac heard Mark ' s reply, he jumped into action. Lukac suggested that, since Mark could not read Magyar, and most of the documents were in that language, he hire a translator. Mark agreed and the next day Lukac introduced Mark to Mr. Grant. The latter was the descendant of a Scottish soldier who had remained in Central Europe in the 17 th century. Mr. Grant was in his 80's, he had been educated in the old Austria-Hungary, and knew Slovak, Magyar, German and Latin. He was overly polite, as such gentlemen were trained to be and, whenever he found an interesting document to translate, he would say "No, prosim Vas pekne," which means "Now, if you please," and then would proceed to translate. Lukac suggested that Mark pay Mr. Grant I 00 crowns per day, which was the going rate for such services. Mark agreed, since on the black market that would come to only $3.00 (US) a day. Mr. Grant was so intelligent that, after he had translated some documents, he grasped what Mark was looking for, and then did his translating without any more superv1s1on. Mark and Anne also did research in Kosice. Once they had exhausted their sources in Presov, they drove south to Kosice, to work in the fonner archives of Abov and Zemplin counties, which were housed in the former Abov county headquarters on Orlia Street, one block from the Cathedral of St. Elizabeth. As they drove into Kosice and approached the main square, they noticed and photographed a bust of General Milan R. Stefanik on a pedestal that was obviously erected spontaneously and hurriedly by some local patriots on the exact spot where a much larger statue of Stefanik had been erected in the l 920's. The statue was removed by communist authorities in the I 950's. (See the photo on page 133) This bust testified to the rise of Slovak nationalism during the Dubcek era. At the Slovak State Archives in Kosice Mark and Anne �132 SLOVAKIA 2021 were welcomed by the Director, Ladislav Andrasi and his assistant, Anna Fedorjakova. The latter willingly and eagerly helped Mark to translate documents from Magyar into Slovak. Meanwhile, Mark and Anne were joined by Professor Timothy Smith and another one of his graduate students, Oksana Dragan, who had both just come down from Poland in Smith's brown Volkswagen. Smith was studying Slovak Lutheran immigration from eastern Slovakia while Oksana was researching Rusyn (Ukrainian) immigration to North America. Smith then suggested to Mark that he a lso consult the Roman Catholic bishop's archives, located on Lenin Street, opposite the Cathedral. Since Anne had studied Latin for five years in High School, she volunteered to do this and was assisted by the Rev. Alojs Tkac, who was in charge of the archives. After the collapse of Communism, the latter was e levated to the post of Bishop, and later, Archbishop of Kosice. 14 Meanwhile, Professor Smith arranged a meeting with an "Action Committee" of the newly-resurrected Greek Catholic Church, led by Msgr. Jan Hirka, who, once Communism collapsed, was e levated to Eparch (Bishop) of the Greek Catholic Diocese of Presov. 15 On the evening of August 20, 1968, Mark and Anne, together with Timothy Smith and Oksana Dragan, decided to dine together. They went to the Magyar Restaurant in Kosice , where they enjoyed an exotic meal and did some dancing to the tunes of a Gypsy (Roma) orchestra. 14 Alojz Tkac was persecuted by the Communi sts durin g the period of "Normalization" ( 1970- 1989) and penned hi s memoirs in Pohl'adv z kriiovatky (Kapusany: Bens, 2004). 15 For the hi story of the Greek Catholic Church in Slovakia from 1968 to 1980, see Martin Lupco, "Grec kokatolick a a pravoslavna cirkev na Slovensku v rokoch 19681980," in Jaroslav Corani c- Jana Koprivnakova- Peter Sturak eds. Grekokatolicka cirkev na Slovensku vo svetle vyroci II (Presov: Presovska univerzita v Presove, 2012), 165-77. Msgr. Jan H irka published hi s memoirs in Pod ochranou Marie: Pastier v zlui be cirkvi (Presov: Presovska univerzita v Presove, 20 13 ). �SLOVAKIA 2021 133 Bust of General M.R. Stefanik on the main square, Kosice, August, 1968. �134 SLOVAKIA 2021 Around 11 :00 p.m. all four researchers decided to drive back to their abodes in Presov. As Mark and Anne drove through the village of Drienov, just north of Kosice, a black cat ran in front of their car. Although they did not kill it, Mark wondered aloud if it signaled that they would have bad luck. "I hope not," Anne answered. Around 4:30 a.m. on August 21 , Mark and Anne were awakened by a very loud noise coming from the streets of Presov. At first they thought that it was the sound of jackhammers, and Mark began to curse the workers who could not wait until 8:00 a.m. to repair the streets. Then they heard a knocking on the door to the apartment. Andrej Krasnay gingerly approached the door and asked, "who ' s there?" Mark and Anne were afraid that the Secret Police had come for them, because they always came at night. Instead, it was the next-doorneighbor. He told Andrej something and Andrej then knocked on Mark and Anne's glass door, came in and announced that "The Russians, Poles, East Germans, Magyars and Bulgarians are occupying us!" 16 All three then understood that the noise from the street was not from jackhammers, but from tanks. Dazed, Mark and Anne decided to immediately dress and repair to the Hotel Dukla, where Professor Smith and Oksana Dragan were staying. It was sunrise by the time they arrived and Smith had just arisen. Mark knocked on his door and as Smith opened it, Mark blurted out "the Russians are invading us." Smith looked out his window at the tanks and remarked that he thought it was military maneuvers again . Mark assured him that it was not, that this was a real invasion . Smith then suggested that Mark go find Anne, who had gone upstairs to inform Oksana of the invasion , to come down to the dining room to discuss the situation. The four researchers, along with a young and lonely waiter, were the only customers in the dining room. While Smith ate a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs and rolls , the three students were too frightened to eat. Smith nonchalantly remarked, " We ' re Americans. This doesn ' t concern us." He cou ldn 't have been more wrong. Mark was born in Turciansky Svaty Martin in 1943 and Oksana in Berlin in 1942. Oksana was the daughter of the editor of the 16 The East Germans did not parti cipate in the invasion . For a detailed ex planati on sec Rildi gcr Wcnzkc, "The Rol e and Acti vities of the SEO, the East German State and Its Military During th e ' Prague Spring' of 1968," in The Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact Invasion, 137-64. �SLOVAKIA 2021 135 pro-independence Ukrainian weekly Svoboda, published in Jersey City, New Jersey. Both were post-war refugees who, with their families, had ended up in Canada and the USA after the war. Neither the Soviet Union, nor Czechoslovakia, recognized dual citizenship at that time. Either one of these students could be detained by the authorities, whether Czechoslovak or Russian . Smith, however, was so unconcerned about the invasion that he decided that all four researchers should carry on as if nothing had happened. Thus, he instructed Mark and Oksana to go to the state archives and continue with their research. Meanwhile, he took Anne with him to serve as a translator in the Presov city archives. When Smith met with the Mayor of Presov, who was clearly shattered by the invasion, Smith asked for permission to do research in the city archives. The Mayor replied, with Anne translating, that "due to the extraordinary circumstances," the city archives were closed. Smith would not take no for an answer. He repeated his request, and Anne repeated the translation that the archives were closed. After three tries, Smith gave up and told Anne to go join Mark in the state archives. When Mark and Oksana arrived at the Slovak State Archives, they noticed that the entire staff was looking out the windows at the tanks (T55 ' s) roaring by, except Mr. Grant. The latter was nonchalantly reading and translating Magyar documents, oblivious to the noise outside. After a while Mr. Grant's behavior puzzled Mark so much that he asked Mr. Grant, "how can you continue to work while we are being invaded?" Mr. Grant smiled and replied, "This is my fifth invasion ." When Mr. Grant saw the puzzled look on Mark ' s face , he explained that the Russians had broken through the Carpathians into Hungary in the fall and winter of 1914-1915, then Bela Kun's Hungarian Red Army occupied Presov in 1919, the Germans occupied Slovakia in 1944 and the Russians in 1945, and again in 1968. " So, what's new?" he asked. "But, don't you want to see the Russian tanks?" Mark asked. Mr. Grant gestured no with his hand. Then he added, "You should have seen a German Tiger. That was a tank!" Mr. Grant then reminisced that, shortly after the Second World War had ended, he took the train from Presov to Kos ice. About half way there he spotted four destroyed tanks in a nearby field . Three were Russian T34 ' s and one was a German Tiger with its treads blown off. It was obvious what had happened. �136 SLOVAKIA 2021 After these reassuring words from Mr. Grant, Mark and Anne cairned down and decided to return to Andrej's apartment, to get their camera, and take some pictures of the invasion. After having eaten some lunch, the intrepid pair set out on Uti ca cervenej arrnady [Red Army Street] (today's Levoca Street) towards the main intersection of Presov at Utica Slovenskej republiky rad [Street of the Slovak Socialist Republic] , today 's Hlavna ulica (Main Street), right in front of the Bosak Bank. 17 There the pair saw a burning Russian military vehicle, which some tank had previously rammed. Just as they were passing by the Bosak Bank, another tank roared by and hit the burning vehicle and it lunged towards the bank . Seeing the approaching truck out of the comer of his eye, Mark shoved Anne out of the way and prepared to be crushed. Fortunately, there was a very strong guard-rail at this location, and it stopped the burning vehicle. After Mark and Anne recovered from this near-fatal mishap, they crossed the street and, upon the urging of a local, climbed up the stairs of the Ukrainian Theater and emerged onto a balcony, where they had an unobstructed view of the invasion . They started to take color slides of the Russian tanks and other vehic les. Ru ss ian military vehicles on Dukla Street, Presov, August 21, 1968. Meanwhile, in the morning they had noticed that elderly citizens had lined up outside various food stores, to "stock up" in case the 17 This bui ldi ng was erected by the American Slovak millionaire Michal Bosak in the I 920 's. He also built a school in Okruhle, hi s village of origin. For more on Bosak see Michal Bosak & Rudolf Bosa k, Michal Bosak- americkj bankar zo Sarisa (Presov, Ibi s Publishin g, 1997). �SLOVAKIA 2021 137 Russian soldiers started looting, as they had done in 1945 . By noon, however, the dynamics had changed. Hundreds of students, who had been home for summer vacation, started to pour into Presov. Soon, they began marching up and down the main square, shouting " Ysetci l'udia na chodniku nemiluju republiku!" (People on the sidewalk do not love the Republic) an old communist slogan from May-day parades. Soon a few of the bravest students jumped onto the street, at the main crossing located at the Bosak Bank, and stopped the tanks! Students blocking Russian tanks at intersection of Dukla and Red Anny Streets, Presov, August 21, 1968. They held up the invasion for three hours. Finally, by mid-afternoon, a Russian military helicopter hovered overhead and must have given the driver of the lead tank orders to proceed because, at that moment, the lead tank lowered its gun and began swinging it from side-to-side, while simultaneously roaring its engine. (Photo next page). That had the desired effect, as the students jumped aside to avoid being hit by the barrel of its canon. After that the tanks proceeded closely and quickly, in order to not give the students a chance to once �138 SLOVAK.IA 2021 again jump in front and stop the tanks. On the first day of the invasion, the commander of occupation forces in Presov announced a state of Martial Law to begin at I 0:00 p.m. Instead of obeying him, the citizens of Presov hit the streets in large numbers and began to shout "Rusi domov! Rusi domov!" (Russians, go home! Russians, go home!). When an armored scout-car appeared, the people began to pelt it with bricks and bottles and it quickly fled the scene. Russian military helicopter hovering above Presov, August 21 , 1968. Russian scout car and tanks on a side street in Presov, August, 1968. �SLOVAKIA 2021 139 During the day individuals posted large anti-Russian posters and placards onto shop windows. One large cartoon was Mark's favorite: It depicted a Russian soldier, who had just had a bowl movement, rising from the toilet and the reactionary communist Vasil Bil'ak was licking his ass! Mark wanted to photograph it, but was afraid to do so, because it was rumored that agents of the Russian KGB were in town, and were arresting people taking such pictures. The citizens of Presov suspected that Vasil Bil'ak, a conservative member of the Czechoslovak Politburo, was one of the traitors who had urged the Russians to invade. The citizens were right. 18 For three days the Russians hurtled through Presov in the direction of Poprad. By the end of the week, when the city was fully occupied. (See the next 5 photographs) Russian soldier guarding tank in central Presov , August, 1968. 18 Six members of the Politburo, including Vasil Bil'ak , signed such a letter of invitation to the Ru ssians just before the invasion. For a copy of this letter see Otakar Korinek, Poz;vvaci list 1968 (Bratislava: Albert Marencin PT, 2006), 82-3. �140 SLOVAKIA 2021 Russ ian soldiers talking to civili ans, Presov, August, 1968. Russ ian vehicles bes ides Post Office in Presov, August 1968 �SLOVAKIA 2021 141 Russian soldiers and officers in a military vehicle, Presov, August, 1968. Russian tanks in front of Czechoslovak military barracks in Presov, August, 1968. �142 SLOVAKIA 2021 A certain professor of the Ukrainian language at the University of Presov, whom Timothy Smith knew, approached the research group from America and suggested that they leave as soon as possible, because he knew that Oksana had been born in Berlin in 1942 and was in danger of being picked up by agents of the KGB . Timothy Smith agreed and the four researchers set out in their respective Volkswagens towards Bratislava via Sabinov, Brezovicka and the Levoca forest in order to avoid the formidable Branisko Pass, where columns of Russian vehicles were moving very slowly. Between Spisske Podhradie and the city of Poprad they had to pass many slow-moving Russian vehicles. At one point, they drove by an entire column stopped by the side of the road, with Russian soldiers picking pears from the trees. Apparently the soldiers were hungry and their supply-wagons had not caught up with them. As the researchers approached the city of Poprad, they saw huge red letters that spelled DUBCEK painted vertically on the entire side of a tall apartment building. A nearby crane revealed how this was made possible. Mark would have photographed this sign, except that he had just passed a moving column of Russians. Meanwhile, Mark's Volkswagen rattled from the ruts in the road made by tank tracks, a ll the way to Bratislava. As they drove west, Mark and Anne noticed that the locals had changed all the directional signs, to try to confuse the Russians . It didn ' t work, since the Russians had good maps of Czechoslovakia, as did Mark and Anne. Meanwhile, Mark and Anne also noticed many pro-Dubcek and anti-Russian signs along the way. For instance, in the village of Brezovicka, past the city of Sabinov, someone had painted " The Whole World Supports Dubcek" on an abandoned log cabin. (First photo next page) On the meandering Vah river, between the cities of Ruzomberok and Martin, the locals had painted on the concrete abutment " DUBCEK JE NAS JANOSIK" (Dubcek is our Janosik), conjuring up Slovakia's I 8 th century social bandit. 19 On the way to Bratislava, the little caravan stopped in Martin, Cadca and Trnava, to bid farewell to family and friends . At the Matica slovenska the sympathetic workers gave Mark souvenir copies of the newly-resurrected daily Narodne noviny, which the communists had 19 For the story of Janosik see Jozef Kocis, Neznamy Jano.~ik (Marti n: Osveta, 1986). �SLOVAKIA 2021 143 shut down in the l 950's, but which now fully supported the Dubcekled government. (Second photo next page) As Mark was driving past the city of Trencin, he pulled out to pass a tractor dragging a wagon of hay and suddenly found himself confronted by a Russian truck barreling down on him. Fortunately, the driver of the truck slammed on his brakes and Mark narrowly avoided colliding with him. Anne upbraided Mark for this near-miss, to which he sourly replied, "The Russians don't belong here! " The American caravan stopped briefly in Trnava and Bratislava, to bid farewell to family and friends. While in Trnava at Jozef Mazur's apartment, where they had lunch, Oksana spied a piano in the living room. She started to play some tunes on it but, when she played the World War II German song "Lily Marl ene," Jozefs wife Lola, who was a schoolteacher and afra id for her job, sc reamed at Oksana to stop, because the communists had forbidden such songs from being played. Graffiti, "The Whole World Supports Dubcek" in Brezovicka, eastern Slovakia, August, 1968. �144 SLOVAKIA 2021 Narodne no viny (Martin, August 29, 1968): " We understand and support you, comrade Dubcek. You negoti ated outside of our homeland ." Thus, even though the Dubcek era had seen the abolition of censorship, self-censorship still prevailed. Meanwhile, as in most Slovak cities and villages, Trnava also had its share of pro-Dubcek and antiRussian posters. Graffiti in central Tmava: "Not what the occupiers demanded, but what we support with Dubcek and Svoboda," August, 1968. �SLOVAKIA 2021 145 The final stop of the caravan was in Bratislava. When the four researchers appeared at the Historicky ustav SA V, they were greeted by the furious but dispirited historians and their secretarial staff. After some discussion , both sides agreed that, in view of the invasion and the uncertainty of the future , it would be best to cancel the planned scholarly conference on Emigration from Eastern Europe to North America in the nearby castle of Smolen ice, which belonged to the Slovak Academy of Sciences. After they bade their farewells , the four researchers returned to their cars parked on Dostojevskeho rad (Dostojevsky Street). Fearing that The Russians would control the border, and search their car for photographs, Mark decided to photograph some more pro-Dubcek and anti-Russian graffiti painted on various buildings in the vicinity, then hide his film in a difficult-to-find spot in his car and hope the Ru ssians would not find it. (See the last 3 Photos) After thi s the American caravan approached the Old Bridge and drove past Russian tanks parked on both sides. Once they had crossed into Petrfalka they noticed what looked like a whole regiment of Russians camped in the park of Janko Kral' beside the Danube River. As they approached the border, however, they saw that Slovak soldiers were still in charge, complete with their sub-machine guns. Only one lonely Russian soldier, seated on a bench and staring at the ground, could be seen. When Mark asked the Slovak customs officers about the Russian soldier, they replied, "We're ignoring him . You should too." After perfunctorily checking their passports and visas, the customs officers bade the travelers farewell and, after the Slovak soldier lifted and pulled into Czechoslovakia the heavy cantilevered gate, the four researchers drove into Austria and freedom . August of 1968 will forever be etched into Mark 's and Anne's memories. What started out as a happy honeymoon in Europe and in Slovakia turned into the tragedy of the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. It was a brutal reminder of how superpowers can intimidate and subjugate their much smaller and weaker neighbors. �146 SLOVAKIA 2021 Graffiti in Bratislava : "Long Live Dubcek .. ." August, 1968. Graffiti in Bratislava: " ... and Svoboda" August, 1968 �SLOVAKIA 2021 Graffiti in Bratislava : " Moscow" (the other way), August, 1968. 147 �� SLOVAKIA 2021 121 "THE RUSSIANS ARE INVADING US!" PRESOV, 1968 M. Mark Stolarik In 1968 Anne and Mark Stolarik experienced two unforgettable events in their lives- they were married and later witnessed the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. Not many people can brag that their honeymoon was interrupted by Russian tanks! Meanwhile, they also experienced many culture shocks, as they toured Slovakia for the first time. For the newlyweds the summer of 1968 started quite auspiciously. On June 15, over 400 guests appeared at the wedding of Mark Stolarik and Anne fvanco in Oshawa, Ontario, the automobile capital of Canada. The ceremony was held in the packed Greek Catholic Church of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Ritson Road, and was presided over by the Reverend Stefan Adamiak. 1 Afterwards the guests walked to the nearby Slovak Hall ,2 ate a many-course meal in the basement and then proceeded upstairs where the dancing and drinking began . As was typical of Slovak weddings, two men got into a fight and were ejected by the bride 's father. By I 0:00 p.m. a crisis arose- there was no more liquor! Jan Jvanco, the bride 's father, quickly rounded up all of his friends, explained the situation, and they raced home to empty their liquor cabinets in order to keep the celebration going into the wee hours of the morning. After the tearful bridal dance at midnight, during which Mark was ejected from the building, Jan lvanco and his new son-in-law met in a back room and counted up all the monetary donations received, either during the wedding, or during the bridal dance. They totaled $4,000, which was more than enough to cover all of their planned-for honeymoon expenses to Europe, and their research-trip to Slovakia. At that time Mark was a Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota, where he was studying 1 For the history of this parish see "S lovak Greek Catholic Church of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada" (Xerox copy, Oshawa, 2002) . A copy can be found in the Slovak Arc hi ves, Arc hives and Special Collections, Unive rsity of Ottawa. 2 For a photo of this hall, see the front cover of Polyphony : The Bulletin of the Multicultural History Society of Ontario 2, No. I (Winter, 1979). �122 SLOVAKIA 2021 under the direction of Timothy L. Smith, who had recently founded the Immigrant Archives at the University. 3 As one of Smith's Research Assistants, Mark 's duties consisted of collecting archival materials in American and Canadian cities pertaining to Slovak immigration to North America and then writing his dissertation based upon these materials. The day after their wedding Mark and Anne fl ew from Toronto to Minneapolis and from there by a special charter plane for uni versity students to Paris. After touring Paris with student colleagues from the University of Minnesota, Mark and Anne took a train to Stuttgart, Germany, where they picked up a brand-new Volkswagen " Beetle" which Mark had purchased for $1,300. With their new car they drove to Munich and Salzburg, where they visited with friend s and then proceeded to Vienna. In this ancient capital of the former Habsburg Empire, which they first toured, they applied for and received visas from the Czechoslovak Consulate to visit the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. After a picturesque drive from Vienna through the towns of Hainburg and Wolfstahl, the newlyweds approached the Czechoslovak border. They could see the Little Carpathians looming in the di stance, and Bratislava castle overlooking the city. As they approached the border, they noticed that they were the only car entering the Republic. A lonely soldier, with a sub-machine gun slung over his back, lifted a heavy cantilevered iron gate, which opened only inwards, and allowed them in . Thereupon two surprised customs officers emerged from a little building off to the side and, under a covered roof asked the travelers for their passports and visas. 3 For the history of the Immigrant Archives, later renamed the Immigration History Research Center, see my " Building Ethnic Arch ives in the United States and Canada since the I 960 's," in Dominique Daniel and Amalia Levi eds., Identity Palimpsests: Archiving Ethnicity in the U.S. and Canada (Sacramento, CA: Litwin Books, 20 13), 59-6 1. �SLOVAKIA 2021 123 Petrfalka border crossing from Austria, 1993 . In 1968 there were no signs at this crossing except the large letters that read " Bratislava." Fortunately, Timothy Smith had arranged for Dr. 1:udovit Holotik, the Director of the Historical [nstitute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, to issue them, as we ll as his entire team of researchers, an official invitation, which made the granting of visas by the Czechoslovak authorities that much easier. After a two-hour wait at the border, while the customs officers awaited a telephone call from Prague confirming their visas as legitimate, the couple was cleared for entrance into the Republic. Before they departed they changed some American dollars for Czechoslovak crowns, because it was noon and their stomachs were growling. Because they had an official invitation , they did not have to exchange $12.00 (U.S.) for Czechoslovak crowns for each day of their stay at the official (and unrealistic) rate of seven crowns for a �124 SLOVAKIA 2021 dollar. The real (black market) rate of exchange was 35 crowns for a dollar. Once they had cleared customs, the two visitors proceeded in their little green Volkswagen along a narrow two-lane road towards the town of Petrzalka, a suburb of Bratislava. They noticed that the road was raised higher than the nearby empty fields , and soon they passed a tall guard-tower, with two more armed soldiers watching them. rt was clear that they had just passed through the "Iron Curtain" which separated the communist East from the democratic West. After the pair had crossed the "Stary most" (Old Bridge) across the Danube River from Petrzalka to Bratislava, and drove along Sturova Street into the heart of the city, they were disappointed by what they saw. The buildings were old and grey, with the plaster falling off. What a contrast with modem, clean and dynamic Vienna! The pedestrians were dressed in what looked like I 940's clothing. It seemed to the visitors that they had entered into the "Third World." As they drove along, they looked in vain for a sign that would advertise a restaurant. When the pair drove their Volkswagen up the hill through the Square of the Slovak National Uprising, past the Church of the Holy Trinity, they noticed a large sign at its base that read "Sovietska kniha" (Soviet Bookstore), which again reminded them that they were in the communist East. Finally, as they emerged into what is now known as " Hodo:fovo namestie" (Hodza Square), the hungry couple spied a sign on the left that read "Restauracia Stefanka." Elated, they parked their car on a side road and entered the restaurant with great anticipation. A friendly waiter in a tuxedo greeted them and sat them beside a window overlooking the square. He explained that the Stefanka did not provide individual service, but they could help themselves at the buffet table. Mark and Anne were delighted to see little open-faced sandwiches, with all sorts of delicacies on them, awaiting their hungry stomachs. They ate to their heart's content. Meanwhile, they noticed that the clientele consisted mostly of older gentlemen and young women. They made nothing of it. A little later, whi le visiting Mark 's cousin Jozef Mazur in nearby Trnava, Jozef asked the couple for their first impressions of Slovakia. When they recounted their lunch at the Stefanka, Jozef burst into laughter. When Mark inquired as to what was so funny, Jozef replied, "Don't you know what the Stefanka is?" To which Mark replied , "no," to which Jozef added, "The Stefanka is �SLOVAKIA 2021 125 notorious in Bratislava as the place where you go if you want to pick up a prostitute! " Upon reflection, Mark and Anne understood why they had seen so many older gentlemen and younger women at the Stefanka. They had a good laugh! After lunch on their first day in Slovakia, Mark and Anne proceeded to the offices of the Historicky ustav SAV (Historical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences) on Klemensova Street. Here a sheepish Dr. L:udovit Holotik welcomed them and explained that he was leaving shortly on a research trip to England . He failed to mention that he had just been fired as Director of the Institute, because in the l 950 ' s he had written a defamatory book about the Slovak national hero, General Milan R. Stefanik. During the liberali z ing " Dubcek era",4 such books were frowned upon and Holotik was attacked in the now-free press.5 Holotik then introduced Mark to his successor, Dr. Julius Mesaros. The latter was initially skeptical of Mark ' s motives, but when Mark explained that he was a student of Timothy Smith, and part of a team of researchers who were coming to Slovakia to study the emigration of various ethnic groups from the former Kingdom of Hungary, Mesaros mellowed. He offered Mark and Anne some Turkish coffee, made by his secretary, which consisted of one-third coffeegrounds and two-thirds thick, dark, coffee in a demi-tasse. The Canadian couple had never before seen or tasted such coffee and slowly sipped it in order not to insult their host. Mark and Anne were raised on "cafe au lait". Apparently, the Russians had introduced "Turkish coffee" to the Eastern Bloc. After this introduction, Mesaros brought to Mark dozens of articles and books written by himself and his colleagues at the Hi storical Institute on the social history of 19 th century Slovakia.6 Once he had read them, Mark would have a good back- 4 For the Dubce k era , popularl y kn own as the " Prague Spring," see The Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact In vasion of Czechoslovakia, / 968: Forty Years Later, ed. by M. Mark Sto larik (Munde lein, IL : Bo lchazy-Carducc i, 20 I 0). 1..:udovit Holotik, Stefa nikovska legenda a vznik CSR (Brati slava: Slove nska academia vied. 1958); fo r th e attacks upon Holot ik see Jan Ml ynarik , " Hi stori ci v Enckylopedii Slovenska- bilanci a neostalinskeho kadrovani a (Studia k slovenskej histori ografii )" Premeny 25 (4, 1988), 147-8. 6 Mesaros's most important publication was Rolnicka a narodnostna otazka na Slovensku, 1848-1900; k problematikef eudalnych prei itkov (Bratislava : Slovenska academia vi ed, 1959). 5 �126 SLOVAKIA 2021 ground understanding of the archival sources which he would subsequently find in various Slovak state archives. After having spent their first night in the nearby Hotel Krym, Mark and Anne proceeded to the headquarters of the Slovak State Archives on the " Ulica obrancov mieru" (Street of the Defenders of Peace; today 's Stefanikova Street). There they met and befriended Dr. Frantisek Bielik, one of the archivists who was interested in the topic of Slovak immigration .7 He subsequently introduced the couple to Deputy Director Jozef Mazur who, it turned out, was Mark 's long-lost cousin on his mother's side. They had a joyful reunion during which Jozef Mazur showed Mark photos of himself visiting with Mark 's family in Turciansky Svaty Martin during the Second World War. Jozef then wrote Mark an official letter of introduction to all the Slovak State Archives scattered across the country, in which Jozef instructed the local archivists to help Mark in finding material s on Slovak emigration to North America. For the next two weeks Frantisek Bielik found such materials for Mark in the Bratislava State Archives. While Mark and Anne stayed at the nearby inexpensive Hotel Tatra, which was full of Russians, they had a curious experience. Every morning when they ate breakfast in the hotel 's dining room, they ordered the same things- ham and eggs with rolls and coffee. The total bill was always 28 crowns, which they rounded up to 30, much to the deli ght of their middle-aged waiter, who collected the money on the spot. They were not used to waiters doing this, because in North America waiters or waitresses usually submitted a bill , and the customers paid through a cashier, who controlled the amount requested and paid. One day, the middle-aged waiter took the day off and was replaced by a much younger colleague. Mark and Anne ordered the same breakfast, but the new waiter charged them 48 crowns! Not wishing to create a scene, they paid the 48 crowns and left. The next day, when the middle-aged waiter returned, they showed him the previous day's breakfast bill. He was furiou s, he apologized, did not charge them for their breakfast, and vowed that his younger colleague would never again repl ace him . Mark and Anne wondered how often waiters in 7 While Bielik started hi s career at the Slovak State Archives, he later switched to the Institute for Slovaks Abroad of the Matica slovenska and published, amon g many others things, the four- volume compendium of documents on Slovak immigrati on entitled Slovenske vystahovalectvo. Dokumenty / -4 (Bratislava: Slovenska academ ia vied, 1969- 1985). �SLOVAKIA 2021 127 Slovakia (and elsewhere in Europe) cheated their customers in this way. After their stay in Bratislava, Mark and Anne drove north to the city of Trnava, to do research in the archives of the Spolok Sv. Yojtecha (Society of St. Adalbert). They stayed with the family of Jozef Mazur, who introduced Mark to the Director of the Spolok, Msgr. Jan Postenyi . The latter was delighted to meet Mark, because Postenyi had been on a tour of the USA in 193 7, and had since not met with any American Slovaks. He gladly opened his rich archive to Mark, where the latter discovered many documents pertaining to the history of the Slovak League of America during and after World War I. These included a carbon-copy of the 1915 Cleveland Agreement. 8 After a week's stay in Trnava, Mark and Anne set out for northern Slovakia, where they met additional members of their family. In Cadca they stayed with Mark 's uncle Jozef Stolarik, who took Mark to see his grandmother Anna Stolarikova and her daughter Terezia Bosakova in the hilly settlement of Dlha, near the city of Turzovka. Anna had not seen her grandson since his Christening in 1943 . Since Anna was illiterate, she wondered how Mark had managed to find her. Mark took out a road map of Europe and showed her the roads they had driven from Stuttgart to Slovakia, but it was hard for her to comprehend what he was showing. Mark, meanwhile, was amused that she was wearing black Converse sneakers. Uncle Jozef explained that it was easier for her to climb up the hill to her house in sneakers than in leather shoes. There was no road up the hill from the one below. After having visited two more aunts and their families, in midJuly, Mark and Anne set out for the city of Martin, Mark's birthplace. While driving between the city of Zilina and the ruins of castle Strecno, Mark and Anne suddenly spotted a long column of Russian military vehicles parked on the old road beside the new one. They were engaged in war games called "operation Sumava" in order to intimidate the Czechoslovak government into stopping the transformation of Czech and Slovak society into "socialism with a human face," as the first Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, 8 For the history of the Spolok Sv. Vojtecha see Stefan Hanakovic, Dejiny Spolku sviiteho Vojtecha (Trnava : Spolok sv. Vojtecha, 2005), especia ll y pages 281-84 for Postenyi ' s trip to America. The Cleve land Agreement can be found in the Archiv Spolku Svateho Vojtecha, Politika, fasc. 235 , fol. A. c.2 �128 SLOVAKIA 2021 Alexander Dubcek, put it. As he made clear in hi s memo irs, he and hi s followers were trying to turn communist Czechoslovakia into a Social Democratic Czechoslovakia.9 His colleagues in the Warsaw Pact, particularly Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, Polish leader Wladyslaw Gomulka and East German leader Walter Ulbricht, vehemently disapproved of the path of the so-called Prague Spring, and "operation Sumava" was a prelude to the later in vas ion of Czechoslovakia. 10 Meanwhile, when Mark saw these Soviet military veh icles, he instantly shouted at Anne to start photographing them , because he was driving and was afraid to stop the car, lest the Russians arrest him. A terrified Anne grabbed hi s 35mi llimeter camera and took several color slides of these vehicles. Russ ian military vehicles parked on the old road between Z ilina and Strecno in northern Slovakia, Jul y, 1968 9 Hope Dies Last: The Autohiography of Alexander Dubcek, ed. and trans. by Jiri Hochman (New York: Kodansha International, 1993), 277. 10 For the views of Brezhnev, Gomulka and Ulbricht, see the chapters by Mikhail Latysh, Lukasz Kaminski and Riidi ger Wenzke in The Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact In vasion, 1-18, 95- 128 and 137-64. �SLOVAKIA 2021 129 Russian "Katyusha" rocket launchers on old road between Zilina and Strecno, July, 1969. Russian ambulance and military vehicles on old road between Zilina and Strecno, July 1968. After this harrowing experience, Mark and Anne kept driving around the Strecno pass until they reached the city of Martin. Here �130 SLOVAKIA 2021 they met Uncle Rudolf and hi s family and stayed with them for a week while Mark worked in the Literary Archive of the Matica slovenska. Here he met Dr. Jozef Telgarsky, the Director of the Slovak National Library of the Matica slovenska. The two of them agreed upon an exchange of books and other materials in the future , a promise which is still in effect. While in Martin, at the urging of Frantisek (Ferko) Bielik, Mark attended the 6th Congress of the Slovak Historical Society, where he heard Dr. Lubomir Liptak 's attack upon the "deformation" of Slovak hi story by Marxist hi storian s in the previous decades. 11 He also heard Prof. Milos Gosiorovsky' s plea for the federation of Czechoslovakia based upon the Cleveland Agreement of 1915. 12 Mark was amused by Ferko Bielik 's antics at this Congress- he lifted hi s hand in approval of various motions made, whi le shaking hi s head sideways in disapproval. He explained that the conference organizers only counted the raised hands, not the heads shaking sideways. This was a small gesture of disapproval of the conference proceedings. After their stay in Martin, at the beginning of August, the newlyweds set out for the city of Presov, to do research in the archives of the former county of Saris, from where the first immigrants had left for America. 13 In Presov they met and stayed with Anne's uncle Andrej Krasnay in the Sid lisko Dukelskych hrdinov (the Apartment Complex of the Heroes of the Duk la Pass). Shortly after their arrival , Andrej took Mark and Anne to visit her grandmother in her vi ll age for the first time, as well as other aunts and uncles. At Andrej 's condo Mark and Anne had to get used to the socialist way of life. For instance, sometimes the water flowed from the faucets in Andrej's apartment, sometimes not. Therefore, Andrej kept his tub full of water, so that he would not run out. Sometimes the water was hot. Sometimes it was not. Whenever the water flowed hot, Andrej called the couple to immediately take a bath. And, even though Presov had street li ghts, they were not turned on at night, in order to conserve electricity. When Mark went to do research in the Slovak State Archives in Presov, which was located on the Main Square, right beside the church of St. Nicholas, he had some interesting experiences. When he met 11 Cubomir Liptak, "U loha a postavenie historiografie v nasej spolocnosti, Hisloricky casopi.1· XVII , c. l , 1969, 98- 11 7. 12 Milos Gosiorovsky, "Slovaci za prvej svetovej vojny," in Slovaci a ich narodnv v;ivin, ed. Oto Takac (Brati slava: Slovenska academ ia vied, I969), 29 1-305 . 13 Slovak State Archives in Presov, county Saris, podzupan, 9809, VB, 1879. �SLOVAK.IA 2021 131 Andrej Lukac, the Director of the Archive, the latter was cool to Mark's visit. He claimed that the material Mark was searching for was not yet processed and suggested that Mark return sometime in the future, when it would become available. Mark then asked if Lukac knew Jozef Mazur, to which Lukac replied, "Hej , onje moj set1'' (Of course! He's my boss.) To which Mark replied, "Hej, on je moj bratranec." (Of course! He's my cousin.) As soon as Lukac heard Mark ' s reply, he jumped into action. Lukac suggested that, since Mark could not read Magyar, and most of the documents were in that language, he hire a translator. Mark agreed and the next day Lukac introduced Mark to Mr. Grant. The latter was the descendant of a Scottish soldier who had remained in Central Europe in the 17 th century. Mr. Grant was in his 80's, he had been educated in the old Austria-Hungary, and knew Slovak, Magyar, German and Latin. He was overly polite, as such gentlemen were trained to be and, whenever he found an interesting document to translate, he would say "No, prosim Vas pekne," which means "Now, if you please," and then would proceed to translate. Lukac suggested that Mark pay Mr. Grant I 00 crowns per day, which was the going rate for such services. Mark agreed, since on the black market that would come to only $3.00 (US) a day. Mr. Grant was so intelligent that, after he had translated some documents, he grasped what Mark was looking for, and then did his translating without any more superv1s1on. Mark and Anne also did research in Kosice. Once they had exhausted their sources in Presov, they drove south to Kosice, to work in the fonner archives of Abov and Zemplin counties, which were housed in the former Abov county headquarters on Orlia Street, one block from the Cathedral of St. Elizabeth. As they drove into Kosice and approached the main square, they noticed and photographed a bust of General Milan R. Stefanik on a pedestal that was obviously erected spontaneously and hurriedly by some local patriots on the exact spot where a much larger statue of Stefanik had been erected in the l 920's. The statue was removed by communist authorities in the I 950's. (See the photo on page 133) This bust testified to the rise of Slovak nationalism during the Dubcek era. At the Slovak State Archives in Kosice Mark and Anne �132 SLOVAKIA 2021 were welcomed by the Director, Ladislav Andrasi and his assistant, Anna Fedorjakova. The latter willingly and eagerly helped Mark to translate documents from Magyar into Slovak. Meanwhile, Mark and Anne were joined by Professor Timothy Smith and another one of his graduate students, Oksana Dragan, who had both just come down from Poland in Smith's brown Volkswagen. Smith was studying Slovak Lutheran immigration from eastern Slovakia while Oksana was researching Rusyn (Ukrainian) immigration to North America. Smith then suggested to Mark that he a lso consult the Roman Catholic bishop's archives, located on Lenin Street, opposite the Cathedral. Since Anne had studied Latin for five years in High School, she volunteered to do this and was assisted by the Rev. Alojs Tkac, who was in charge of the archives. After the collapse of Communism, the latter was e levated to the post of Bishop, and later, Archbishop of Kosice. 14 Meanwhile, Professor Smith arranged a meeting with an "Action Committee" of the newly-resurrected Greek Catholic Church, led by Msgr. Jan Hirka, who, once Communism collapsed, was e levated to Eparch (Bishop) of the Greek Catholic Diocese of Presov. 15 On the evening of August 20, 1968, Mark and Anne, together with Timothy Smith and Oksana Dragan, decided to dine together. They went to the Magyar Restaurant in Kosice , where they enjoyed an exotic meal and did some dancing to the tunes of a Gypsy (Roma) orchestra. 14 Alojz Tkac was persecuted by the Communi sts durin g the period of "Normalization" ( 1970- 1989) and penned hi s memoirs in Pohl'adv z kriiovatky (Kapusany: Bens, 2004). 15 For the hi story of the Greek Catholic Church in Slovakia from 1968 to 1980, see Martin Lupco, "Grec kokatolick a a pravoslavna cirkev na Slovensku v rokoch 19681980," in Jaroslav Corani c- Jana Koprivnakova- Peter Sturak eds. Grekokatolicka cirkev na Slovensku vo svetle vyroci II (Presov: Presovska univerzita v Presove, 2012), 165-77. Msgr. Jan H irka published hi s memoirs in Pod ochranou Marie: Pastier v zlui be cirkvi (Presov: Presovska univerzita v Presove, 20 13 ). �SLOVAKIA 2021 133 Bust of General M.R. Stefanik on the main square, Kosice, August, 1968. �134 SLOVAKIA 2021 Around 11 :00 p.m. all four researchers decided to drive back to their abodes in Presov. As Mark and Anne drove through the village of Drienov, just north of Kosice, a black cat ran in front of their car. Although they did not kill it, Mark wondered aloud if it signaled that they would have bad luck. "I hope not," Anne answered. Around 4:30 a.m. on August 21 , Mark and Anne were awakened by a very loud noise coming from the streets of Presov. At first they thought that it was the sound of jackhammers, and Mark began to curse the workers who could not wait until 8:00 a.m. to repair the streets. Then they heard a knocking on the door to the apartment. Andrej Krasnay gingerly approached the door and asked, "who ' s there?" Mark and Anne were afraid that the Secret Police had come for them, because they always came at night. Instead, it was the next-doorneighbor. He told Andrej something and Andrej then knocked on Mark and Anne's glass door, came in and announced that "The Russians, Poles, East Germans, Magyars and Bulgarians are occupying us!" 16 All three then understood that the noise from the street was not from jackhammers, but from tanks. Dazed, Mark and Anne decided to immediately dress and repair to the Hotel Dukla, where Professor Smith and Oksana Dragan were staying. It was sunrise by the time they arrived and Smith had just arisen. Mark knocked on his door and as Smith opened it, Mark blurted out "the Russians are invading us." Smith looked out his window at the tanks and remarked that he thought it was military maneuvers again . Mark assured him that it was not, that this was a real invasion . Smith then suggested that Mark go find Anne, who had gone upstairs to inform Oksana of the invasion , to come down to the dining room to discuss the situation. The four researchers, along with a young and lonely waiter, were the only customers in the dining room. While Smith ate a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs and rolls , the three students were too frightened to eat. Smith nonchalantly remarked, " We ' re Americans. This doesn ' t concern us." He cou ldn 't have been more wrong. Mark was born in Turciansky Svaty Martin in 1943 and Oksana in Berlin in 1942. Oksana was the daughter of the editor of the 16 The East Germans did not parti cipate in the invasion . For a detailed ex planati on sec Rildi gcr Wcnzkc, "The Rol e and Acti vities of the SEO, the East German State and Its Military During th e ' Prague Spring' of 1968," in The Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact Invasion, 137-64. �SLOVAKIA 2021 135 pro-independence Ukrainian weekly Svoboda, published in Jersey City, New Jersey. Both were post-war refugees who, with their families, had ended up in Canada and the USA after the war. Neither the Soviet Union, nor Czechoslovakia, recognized dual citizenship at that time. Either one of these students could be detained by the authorities, whether Czechoslovak or Russian . Smith, however, was so unconcerned about the invasion that he decided that all four researchers should carry on as if nothing had happened. Thus, he instructed Mark and Oksana to go to the state archives and continue with their research. Meanwhile, he took Anne with him to serve as a translator in the Presov city archives. When Smith met with the Mayor of Presov, who was clearly shattered by the invasion, Smith asked for permission to do research in the city archives. The Mayor replied, with Anne translating, that "due to the extraordinary circumstances," the city archives were closed. Smith would not take no for an answer. He repeated his request, and Anne repeated the translation that the archives were closed. After three tries, Smith gave up and told Anne to go join Mark in the state archives. When Mark and Oksana arrived at the Slovak State Archives, they noticed that the entire staff was looking out the windows at the tanks (T55 ' s) roaring by, except Mr. Grant. The latter was nonchalantly reading and translating Magyar documents, oblivious to the noise outside. After a while Mr. Grant's behavior puzzled Mark so much that he asked Mr. Grant, "how can you continue to work while we are being invaded?" Mr. Grant smiled and replied, "This is my fifth invasion ." When Mr. Grant saw the puzzled look on Mark ' s face , he explained that the Russians had broken through the Carpathians into Hungary in the fall and winter of 1914-1915, then Bela Kun's Hungarian Red Army occupied Presov in 1919, the Germans occupied Slovakia in 1944 and the Russians in 1945, and again in 1968. " So, what's new?" he asked. "But, don't you want to see the Russian tanks?" Mark asked. Mr. Grant gestured no with his hand. Then he added, "You should have seen a German Tiger. That was a tank!" Mr. Grant then reminisced that, shortly after the Second World War had ended, he took the train from Presov to Kos ice. About half way there he spotted four destroyed tanks in a nearby field . Three were Russian T34 ' s and one was a German Tiger with its treads blown off. It was obvious what had happened. �136 SLOVAKIA 2021 After these reassuring words from Mr. Grant, Mark and Anne cairned down and decided to return to Andrej's apartment, to get their camera, and take some pictures of the invasion. After having eaten some lunch, the intrepid pair set out on Uti ca cervenej arrnady [Red Army Street] (today's Levoca Street) towards the main intersection of Presov at Utica Slovenskej republiky rad [Street of the Slovak Socialist Republic] , today 's Hlavna ulica (Main Street), right in front of the Bosak Bank. 17 There the pair saw a burning Russian military vehicle, which some tank had previously rammed. Just as they were passing by the Bosak Bank, another tank roared by and hit the burning vehicle and it lunged towards the bank . Seeing the approaching truck out of the comer of his eye, Mark shoved Anne out of the way and prepared to be crushed. Fortunately, there was a very strong guard-rail at this location, and it stopped the burning vehicle. After Mark and Anne recovered from this near-fatal mishap, they crossed the street and, upon the urging of a local, climbed up the stairs of the Ukrainian Theater and emerged onto a balcony, where they had an unobstructed view of the invasion . They started to take color slides of the Russian tanks and other vehic les. Ru ss ian military vehicles on Dukla Street, Presov, August 21, 1968. Meanwhile, in the morning they had noticed that elderly citizens had lined up outside various food stores, to "stock up" in case the 17 This bui ldi ng was erected by the American Slovak millionaire Michal Bosak in the I 920 's. He also built a school in Okruhle, hi s village of origin. For more on Bosak see Michal Bosak & Rudolf Bosa k, Michal Bosak- americkj bankar zo Sarisa (Presov, Ibi s Publishin g, 1997). �SLOVAKIA 2021 137 Russian soldiers started looting, as they had done in 1945 . By noon, however, the dynamics had changed. Hundreds of students, who had been home for summer vacation, started to pour into Presov. Soon, they began marching up and down the main square, shouting " Ysetci l'udia na chodniku nemiluju republiku!" (People on the sidewalk do not love the Republic) an old communist slogan from May-day parades. Soon a few of the bravest students jumped onto the street, at the main crossing located at the Bosak Bank, and stopped the tanks! Students blocking Russian tanks at intersection of Dukla and Red Anny Streets, Presov, August 21, 1968. They held up the invasion for three hours. Finally, by mid-afternoon, a Russian military helicopter hovered overhead and must have given the driver of the lead tank orders to proceed because, at that moment, the lead tank lowered its gun and began swinging it from side-to-side, while simultaneously roaring its engine. (Photo next page). That had the desired effect, as the students jumped aside to avoid being hit by the barrel of its canon. After that the tanks proceeded closely and quickly, in order to not give the students a chance to once �138 SLOVAK.IA 2021 again jump in front and stop the tanks. On the first day of the invasion, the commander of occupation forces in Presov announced a state of Martial Law to begin at I 0:00 p.m. Instead of obeying him, the citizens of Presov hit the streets in large numbers and began to shout "Rusi domov! Rusi domov!" (Russians, go home! Russians, go home!). When an armored scout-car appeared, the people began to pelt it with bricks and bottles and it quickly fled the scene. Russian military helicopter hovering above Presov, August 21 , 1968. Russian scout car and tanks on a side street in Presov, August, 1968. �SLOVAKIA 2021 139 During the day individuals posted large anti-Russian posters and placards onto shop windows. One large cartoon was Mark's favorite: It depicted a Russian soldier, who had just had a bowl movement, rising from the toilet and the reactionary communist Vasil Bil'ak was licking his ass! Mark wanted to photograph it, but was afraid to do so, because it was rumored that agents of the Russian KGB were in town, and were arresting people taking such pictures. The citizens of Presov suspected that Vasil Bil'ak, a conservative member of the Czechoslovak Politburo, was one of the traitors who had urged the Russians to invade. The citizens were right. 18 For three days the Russians hurtled through Presov in the direction of Poprad. By the end of the week, when the city was fully occupied. (See the next 5 photographs) Russian soldier guarding tank in central Presov , August, 1968. 18 Six members of the Politburo, including Vasil Bil'ak , signed such a letter of invitation to the Ru ssians just before the invasion. For a copy of this letter see Otakar Korinek, Poz;vvaci list 1968 (Bratislava: Albert Marencin PT, 2006), 82-3. �140 SLOVAKIA 2021 Russ ian soldiers talking to civili ans, Presov, August, 1968. Russ ian vehicles bes ides Post Office in Presov, August 1968 �SLOVAKIA 2021 141 Russian soldiers and officers in a military vehicle, Presov, August, 1968. Russian tanks in front of Czechoslovak military barracks in Presov, August, 1968. �142 SLOVAKIA 2021 A certain professor of the Ukrainian language at the University of Presov, whom Timothy Smith knew, approached the research group from America and suggested that they leave as soon as possible, because he knew that Oksana had been born in Berlin in 1942 and was in danger of being picked up by agents of the KGB . Timothy Smith agreed and the four researchers set out in their respective Volkswagens towards Bratislava via Sabinov, Brezovicka and the Levoca forest in order to avoid the formidable Branisko Pass, where columns of Russian vehicles were moving very slowly. Between Spisske Podhradie and the city of Poprad they had to pass many slow-moving Russian vehicles. At one point, they drove by an entire column stopped by the side of the road, with Russian soldiers picking pears from the trees. Apparently the soldiers were hungry and their supply-wagons had not caught up with them. As the researchers approached the city of Poprad, they saw huge red letters that spelled DUBCEK painted vertically on the entire side of a tall apartment building. A nearby crane revealed how this was made possible. Mark would have photographed this sign, except that he had just passed a moving column of Russians. Meanwhile, Mark's Volkswagen rattled from the ruts in the road made by tank tracks, a ll the way to Bratislava. As they drove west, Mark and Anne noticed that the locals had changed all the directional signs, to try to confuse the Russians . It didn ' t work, since the Russians had good maps of Czechoslovakia, as did Mark and Anne. Meanwhile, Mark and Anne also noticed many pro-Dubcek and anti-Russian signs along the way. For instance, in the village of Brezovicka, past the city of Sabinov, someone had painted " The Whole World Supports Dubcek" on an abandoned log cabin. (First photo next page) On the meandering Vah river, between the cities of Ruzomberok and Martin, the locals had painted on the concrete abutment " DUBCEK JE NAS JANOSIK" (Dubcek is our Janosik), conjuring up Slovakia's I 8 th century social bandit. 19 On the way to Bratislava, the little caravan stopped in Martin, Cadca and Trnava, to bid farewell to family and friends . At the Matica slovenska the sympathetic workers gave Mark souvenir copies of the newly-resurrected daily Narodne noviny, which the communists had 19 For the story of Janosik see Jozef Kocis, Neznamy Jano.~ik (Marti n: Osveta, 1986). �SLOVAKIA 2021 143 shut down in the l 950's, but which now fully supported the Dubcekled government. (Second photo next page) As Mark was driving past the city of Trencin, he pulled out to pass a tractor dragging a wagon of hay and suddenly found himself confronted by a Russian truck barreling down on him. Fortunately, the driver of the truck slammed on his brakes and Mark narrowly avoided colliding with him. Anne upbraided Mark for this near-miss, to which he sourly replied, "The Russians don't belong here! " The American caravan stopped briefly in Trnava and Bratislava, to bid farewell to family and friends. While in Trnava at Jozef Mazur's apartment, where they had lunch, Oksana spied a piano in the living room. She started to play some tunes on it but, when she played the World War II German song "Lily Marl ene," Jozefs wife Lola, who was a schoolteacher and afra id for her job, sc reamed at Oksana to stop, because the communists had forbidden such songs from being played. Graffiti, "The Whole World Supports Dubcek" in Brezovicka, eastern Slovakia, August, 1968. �144 SLOVAKIA 2021 Narodne no viny (Martin, August 29, 1968): " We understand and support you, comrade Dubcek. You negoti ated outside of our homeland ." Thus, even though the Dubcek era had seen the abolition of censorship, self-censorship still prevailed. Meanwhile, as in most Slovak cities and villages, Trnava also had its share of pro-Dubcek and antiRussian posters. Graffiti in central Tmava: "Not what the occupiers demanded, but what we support with Dubcek and Svoboda," August, 1968. �SLOVAKIA 2021 145 The final stop of the caravan was in Bratislava. When the four researchers appeared at the Historicky ustav SA V, they were greeted by the furious but dispirited historians and their secretarial staff. After some discussion , both sides agreed that, in view of the invasion and the uncertainty of the future , it would be best to cancel the planned scholarly conference on Emigration from Eastern Europe to North America in the nearby castle of Smolen ice, which belonged to the Slovak Academy of Sciences. After they bade their farewells , the four researchers returned to their cars parked on Dostojevskeho rad (Dostojevsky Street). Fearing that The Russians would control the border, and search their car for photographs, Mark decided to photograph some more pro-Dubcek and anti-Russian graffiti painted on various buildings in the vicinity, then hide his film in a difficult-to-find spot in his car and hope the Ru ssians would not find it. (See the last 3 Photos) After thi s the American caravan approached the Old Bridge and drove past Russian tanks parked on both sides. Once they had crossed into Petrfalka they noticed what looked like a whole regiment of Russians camped in the park of Janko Kral' beside the Danube River. As they approached the border, however, they saw that Slovak soldiers were still in charge, complete with their sub-machine guns. Only one lonely Russian soldier, seated on a bench and staring at the ground, could be seen. When Mark asked the Slovak customs officers about the Russian soldier, they replied, "We're ignoring him . You should too." After perfunctorily checking their passports and visas, the customs officers bade the travelers farewell and, after the Slovak soldier lifted and pulled into Czechoslovakia the heavy cantilevered gate, the four researchers drove into Austria and freedom . August of 1968 will forever be etched into Mark 's and Anne's memories. What started out as a happy honeymoon in Europe and in Slovakia turned into the tragedy of the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. It was a brutal reminder of how superpowers can intimidate and subjugate their much smaller and weaker neighbors. �146 SLOVAKIA 2021 Graffiti in Bratislava : "Long Live Dubcek .. ." August, 1968. Graffiti in Bratislava: " ... and Svoboda" August, 1968 �SLOVAKIA 2021 Graffiti in Bratislava : " Moscow" (the other way), August, 1968. 147 �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2021, Vol. 45 Description An account of the resource Vol. 45 (No. 84-85), 2021. 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 2021 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 2021 121 "THE RUSSIANS ARE INVADING US!" PRESOV, 1968 M. Mark Stolarik In 1968 Anne and Mark Stolarik experienced two unforgettable events in their lives- they were married and later witnessed the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. Not many people can brag that their honeymoon was interrupted by Russian tanks! Meanwhile, they also experienced many culture shocks, as they toured Slovakia for the first time. For the newlyweds the summer of 1968 started quite auspiciously. On June 15, over 400 guests appeared at the wedding of Mark Stolarik and Anne fvanco in Oshawa, Ontario, the automobile capital of Canada. The ceremony was held in the packed Greek Catholic Church of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Ritson Road, and was presided over by the Reverend Stefan Adamiak. 1 Afterwards the guests walked to the nearby Slovak Hall ,2 ate a many-course meal in the basement and then proceeded upstairs where the dancing and drinking began . As was typical of Slovak weddings, two men got into a fight and were ejected by the bride 's father. By I 0:00 p.m. a crisis arose- there was no more liquor! Jan Jvanco, the bride 's father, quickly rounded up all of his friends, explained the situation, and they raced home to empty their liquor cabinets in order to keep the celebration going into the wee hours of the morning. After the tearful bridal dance at midnight, during which Mark was ejected from the building, Jan lvanco and his new son-in-law met in a back room and counted up all the monetary donations received, either during the wedding, or during the bridal dance. They totaled $4,000, which was more than enough to cover all of their planned-for honeymoon expenses to Europe, and their research-trip to Slovakia. At that time Mark was a Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota, where he was studying 1 For the history of this parish see "S lovak Greek Catholic Church of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada" (Xerox copy, Oshawa, 2002) . A copy can be found in the Slovak Arc hi ves, Arc hives and Special Collections, Unive rsity of Ottawa. 2 For a photo of this hall, see the front cover of Polyphony : The Bulletin of the Multicultural History Society of Ontario 2, No. I (Winter, 1979). 122 SLOVAKIA 2021 under the direction of Timothy L. Smith, who had recently founded the Immigrant Archives at the University. 3 As one of Smith's Research Assistants, Mark 's duties consisted of collecting archival materials in American and Canadian cities pertaining to Slovak immigration to North America and then writing his dissertation based upon these materials. The day after their wedding Mark and Anne fl ew from Toronto to Minneapolis and from there by a special charter plane for uni versity students to Paris. After touring Paris with student colleagues from the University of Minnesota, Mark and Anne took a train to Stuttgart, Germany, where they picked up a brand-new Volkswagen " Beetle" which Mark had purchased for $1,300. With their new car they drove to Munich and Salzburg, where they visited with friend s and then proceeded to Vienna. In this ancient capital of the former Habsburg Empire, which they first toured, they applied for and received visas from the Czechoslovak Consulate to visit the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. After a picturesque drive from Vienna through the towns of Hainburg and Wolfstahl, the newlyweds approached the Czechoslovak border. They could see the Little Carpathians looming in the di stance, and Bratislava castle overlooking the city. As they approached the border, they noticed that they were the only car entering the Republic. A lonely soldier, with a sub-machine gun slung over his back, lifted a heavy cantilevered iron gate, which opened only inwards, and allowed them in . Thereupon two surprised customs officers emerged from a little building off to the side and, under a covered roof asked the travelers for their passports and visas. 3 For the history of the Immigrant Archives, later renamed the Immigration History Research Center, see my " Building Ethnic Arch ives in the United States and Canada since the I 960 's," in Dominique Daniel and Amalia Levi eds., Identity Palimpsests: Archiving Ethnicity in the U.S. and Canada (Sacramento, CA: Litwin Books, 20 13), 59-6 1. SLOVAKIA 2021 123 Petrfalka border crossing from Austria, 1993 . In 1968 there were no signs at this crossing except the large letters that read " Bratislava." Fortunately, Timothy Smith had arranged for Dr. 1:udovit Holotik, the Director of the Historical [nstitute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, to issue them, as we ll as his entire team of researchers, an official invitation, which made the granting of visas by the Czechoslovak authorities that much easier. After a two-hour wait at the border, while the customs officers awaited a telephone call from Prague confirming their visas as legitimate, the couple was cleared for entrance into the Republic. Before they departed they changed some American dollars for Czechoslovak crowns, because it was noon and their stomachs were growling. Because they had an official invitation , they did not have to exchange $12.00 (U.S.) for Czechoslovak crowns for each day of their stay at the official (and unrealistic) rate of seven crowns for a 124 SLOVAKIA 2021 dollar. The real (black market) rate of exchange was 35 crowns for a dollar. Once they had cleared customs, the two visitors proceeded in their little green Volkswagen along a narrow two-lane road towards the town of Petrzalka, a suburb of Bratislava. They noticed that the road was raised higher than the nearby empty fields , and soon they passed a tall guard-tower, with two more armed soldiers watching them. rt was clear that they had just passed through the "Iron Curtain" which separated the communist East from the democratic West. After the pair had crossed the "Stary most" (Old Bridge) across the Danube River from Petrzalka to Bratislava, and drove along Sturova Street into the heart of the city, they were disappointed by what they saw. The buildings were old and grey, with the plaster falling off. What a contrast with modem, clean and dynamic Vienna! The pedestrians were dressed in what looked like I 940's clothing. It seemed to the visitors that they had entered into the "Third World." As they drove along, they looked in vain for a sign that would advertise a restaurant. When the pair drove their Volkswagen up the hill through the Square of the Slovak National Uprising, past the Church of the Holy Trinity, they noticed a large sign at its base that read "Sovietska kniha" (Soviet Bookstore), which again reminded them that they were in the communist East. Finally, as they emerged into what is now known as " Hodo:fovo namestie" (Hodza Square), the hungry couple spied a sign on the left that read "Restauracia Stefanka." Elated, they parked their car on a side road and entered the restaurant with great anticipation. A friendly waiter in a tuxedo greeted them and sat them beside a window overlooking the square. He explained that the Stefanka did not provide individual service, but they could help themselves at the buffet table. Mark and Anne were delighted to see little open-faced sandwiches, with all sorts of delicacies on them, awaiting their hungry stomachs. They ate to their heart's content. Meanwhile, they noticed that the clientele consisted mostly of older gentlemen and young women. They made nothing of it. A little later, whi le visiting Mark 's cousin Jozef Mazur in nearby Trnava, Jozef asked the couple for their first impressions of Slovakia. When they recounted their lunch at the Stefanka, Jozef burst into laughter. When Mark inquired as to what was so funny, Jozef replied, "Don't you know what the Stefanka is?" To which Mark replied , "no," to which Jozef added, "The Stefanka is SLOVAKIA 2021 125 notorious in Bratislava as the place where you go if you want to pick up a prostitute! " Upon reflection, Mark and Anne understood why they had seen so many older gentlemen and younger women at the Stefanka. They had a good laugh! After lunch on their first day in Slovakia, Mark and Anne proceeded to the offices of the Historicky ustav SAV (Historical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences) on Klemensova Street. Here a sheepish Dr. L:udovit Holotik welcomed them and explained that he was leaving shortly on a research trip to England . He failed to mention that he had just been fired as Director of the Institute, because in the l 950 ' s he had written a defamatory book about the Slovak national hero, General Milan R. Stefanik. During the liberali z ing " Dubcek era",4 such books were frowned upon and Holotik was attacked in the now-free press.5 Holotik then introduced Mark to his successor, Dr. Julius Mesaros. The latter was initially skeptical of Mark ' s motives, but when Mark explained that he was a student of Timothy Smith, and part of a team of researchers who were coming to Slovakia to study the emigration of various ethnic groups from the former Kingdom of Hungary, Mesaros mellowed. He offered Mark and Anne some Turkish coffee, made by his secretary, which consisted of one-third coffeegrounds and two-thirds thick, dark, coffee in a demi-tasse. The Canadian couple had never before seen or tasted such coffee and slowly sipped it in order not to insult their host. Mark and Anne were raised on "cafe au lait". Apparently, the Russians had introduced "Turkish coffee" to the Eastern Bloc. After this introduction, Mesaros brought to Mark dozens of articles and books written by himself and his colleagues at the Hi storical Institute on the social history of 19 th century Slovakia.6 Once he had read them, Mark would have a good back- 4 For the Dubce k era , popularl y kn own as the " Prague Spring," see The Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact In vasion of Czechoslovakia, / 968: Forty Years Later, ed. by M. Mark Sto larik (Munde lein, IL : Bo lchazy-Carducc i, 20 I 0). 1..:udovit Holotik, Stefa nikovska legenda a vznik CSR (Brati slava: Slove nska academia vied. 1958); fo r th e attacks upon Holot ik see Jan Ml ynarik , " Hi stori ci v Enckylopedii Slovenska- bilanci a neostalinskeho kadrovani a (Studia k slovenskej histori ografii )" Premeny 25 (4, 1988), 147-8. 6 Mesaros's most important publication was Rolnicka a narodnostna otazka na Slovensku, 1848-1900; k problematikef eudalnych prei itkov (Bratislava : Slovenska academia vi ed, 1959). 5 126 SLOVAKIA 2021 ground understanding of the archival sources which he would subsequently find in various Slovak state archives. After having spent their first night in the nearby Hotel Krym, Mark and Anne proceeded to the headquarters of the Slovak State Archives on the " Ulica obrancov mieru" (Street of the Defenders of Peace; today 's Stefanikova Street). There they met and befriended Dr. Frantisek Bielik, one of the archivists who was interested in the topic of Slovak immigration .7 He subsequently introduced the couple to Deputy Director Jozef Mazur who, it turned out, was Mark 's long-lost cousin on his mother's side. They had a joyful reunion during which Jozef Mazur showed Mark photos of himself visiting with Mark 's family in Turciansky Svaty Martin during the Second World War. Jozef then wrote Mark an official letter of introduction to all the Slovak State Archives scattered across the country, in which Jozef instructed the local archivists to help Mark in finding material s on Slovak emigration to North America. For the next two weeks Frantisek Bielik found such materials for Mark in the Bratislava State Archives. While Mark and Anne stayed at the nearby inexpensive Hotel Tatra, which was full of Russians, they had a curious experience. Every morning when they ate breakfast in the hotel 's dining room, they ordered the same things- ham and eggs with rolls and coffee. The total bill was always 28 crowns, which they rounded up to 30, much to the deli ght of their middle-aged waiter, who collected the money on the spot. They were not used to waiters doing this, because in North America waiters or waitresses usually submitted a bill , and the customers paid through a cashier, who controlled the amount requested and paid. One day, the middle-aged waiter took the day off and was replaced by a much younger colleague. Mark and Anne ordered the same breakfast, but the new waiter charged them 48 crowns! Not wishing to create a scene, they paid the 48 crowns and left. The next day, when the middle-aged waiter returned, they showed him the previous day's breakfast bill. He was furiou s, he apologized, did not charge them for their breakfast, and vowed that his younger colleague would never again repl ace him . Mark and Anne wondered how often waiters in 7 While Bielik started hi s career at the Slovak State Archives, he later switched to the Institute for Slovaks Abroad of the Matica slovenska and published, amon g many others things, the four- volume compendium of documents on Slovak immigrati on entitled Slovenske vystahovalectvo. Dokumenty / -4 (Bratislava: Slovenska academ ia vied, 1969- 1985). SLOVAKIA 2021 127 Slovakia (and elsewhere in Europe) cheated their customers in this way. After their stay in Bratislava, Mark and Anne drove north to the city of Trnava, to do research in the archives of the Spolok Sv. Yojtecha (Society of St. Adalbert). They stayed with the family of Jozef Mazur, who introduced Mark to the Director of the Spolok, Msgr. Jan Postenyi . The latter was delighted to meet Mark, because Postenyi had been on a tour of the USA in 193 7, and had since not met with any American Slovaks. He gladly opened his rich archive to Mark, where the latter discovered many documents pertaining to the history of the Slovak League of America during and after World War I. These included a carbon-copy of the 1915 Cleveland Agreement. 8 After a week's stay in Trnava, Mark and Anne set out for northern Slovakia, where they met additional members of their family. In Cadca they stayed with Mark 's uncle Jozef Stolarik, who took Mark to see his grandmother Anna Stolarikova and her daughter Terezia Bosakova in the hilly settlement of Dlha, near the city of Turzovka. Anna had not seen her grandson since his Christening in 1943 . Since Anna was illiterate, she wondered how Mark had managed to find her. Mark took out a road map of Europe and showed her the roads they had driven from Stuttgart to Slovakia, but it was hard for her to comprehend what he was showing. Mark, meanwhile, was amused that she was wearing black Converse sneakers. Uncle Jozef explained that it was easier for her to climb up the hill to her house in sneakers than in leather shoes. There was no road up the hill from the one below. After having visited two more aunts and their families, in midJuly, Mark and Anne set out for the city of Martin, Mark's birthplace. While driving between the city of Zilina and the ruins of castle Strecno, Mark and Anne suddenly spotted a long column of Russian military vehicles parked on the old road beside the new one. They were engaged in war games called "operation Sumava" in order to intimidate the Czechoslovak government into stopping the transformation of Czech and Slovak society into "socialism with a human face," as the first Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, 8 For the history of the Spolok Sv. Vojtecha see Stefan Hanakovic, Dejiny Spolku sviiteho Vojtecha (Trnava : Spolok sv. Vojtecha, 2005), especia ll y pages 281-84 for Postenyi ' s trip to America. The Cleve land Agreement can be found in the Archiv Spolku Svateho Vojtecha, Politika, fasc. 235 , fol. A. c.2 128 SLOVAKIA 2021 Alexander Dubcek, put it. As he made clear in hi s memo irs, he and hi s followers were trying to turn communist Czechoslovakia into a Social Democratic Czechoslovakia.9 His colleagues in the Warsaw Pact, particularly Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, Polish leader Wladyslaw Gomulka and East German leader Walter Ulbricht, vehemently disapproved of the path of the so-called Prague Spring, and "operation Sumava" was a prelude to the later in vas ion of Czechoslovakia. 10 Meanwhile, when Mark saw these Soviet military veh icles, he instantly shouted at Anne to start photographing them , because he was driving and was afraid to stop the car, lest the Russians arrest him. A terrified Anne grabbed hi s 35mi llimeter camera and took several color slides of these vehicles. Russ ian military vehicles parked on the old road between Z ilina and Strecno in northern Slovakia, Jul y, 1968 9 Hope Dies Last: The Autohiography of Alexander Dubcek, ed. and trans. by Jiri Hochman (New York: Kodansha International, 1993), 277. 10 For the views of Brezhnev, Gomulka and Ulbricht, see the chapters by Mikhail Latysh, Lukasz Kaminski and Riidi ger Wenzke in The Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact In vasion, 1-18, 95- 128 and 137-64. SLOVAKIA 2021 129 Russian "Katyusha" rocket launchers on old road between Zilina and Strecno, July, 1969. Russian ambulance and military vehicles on old road between Zilina and Strecno, July 1968. After this harrowing experience, Mark and Anne kept driving around the Strecno pass until they reached the city of Martin. Here 130 SLOVAKIA 2021 they met Uncle Rudolf and hi s family and stayed with them for a week while Mark worked in the Literary Archive of the Matica slovenska. Here he met Dr. Jozef Telgarsky, the Director of the Slovak National Library of the Matica slovenska. The two of them agreed upon an exchange of books and other materials in the future , a promise which is still in effect. While in Martin, at the urging of Frantisek (Ferko) Bielik, Mark attended the 6th Congress of the Slovak Historical Society, where he heard Dr. Lubomir Liptak 's attack upon the "deformation" of Slovak hi story by Marxist hi storian s in the previous decades. 11 He also heard Prof. Milos Gosiorovsky' s plea for the federation of Czechoslovakia based upon the Cleveland Agreement of 1915. 12 Mark was amused by Ferko Bielik 's antics at this Congress- he lifted hi s hand in approval of various motions made, whi le shaking hi s head sideways in disapproval. He explained that the conference organizers only counted the raised hands, not the heads shaking sideways. This was a small gesture of disapproval of the conference proceedings. After their stay in Martin, at the beginning of August, the newlyweds set out for the city of Presov, to do research in the archives of the former county of Saris, from where the first immigrants had left for America. 13 In Presov they met and stayed with Anne's uncle Andrej Krasnay in the Sid lisko Dukelskych hrdinov (the Apartment Complex of the Heroes of the Duk la Pass). Shortly after their arrival , Andrej took Mark and Anne to visit her grandmother in her vi ll age for the first time, as well as other aunts and uncles. At Andrej 's condo Mark and Anne had to get used to the socialist way of life. For instance, sometimes the water flowed from the faucets in Andrej's apartment, sometimes not. Therefore, Andrej kept his tub full of water, so that he would not run out. Sometimes the water was hot. Sometimes it was not. Whenever the water flowed hot, Andrej called the couple to immediately take a bath. And, even though Presov had street li ghts, they were not turned on at night, in order to conserve electricity. When Mark went to do research in the Slovak State Archives in Presov, which was located on the Main Square, right beside the church of St. Nicholas, he had some interesting experiences. When he met 11 Cubomir Liptak, "U loha a postavenie historiografie v nasej spolocnosti, Hisloricky casopi.1· XVII , c. l , 1969, 98- 11 7. 12 Milos Gosiorovsky, "Slovaci za prvej svetovej vojny," in Slovaci a ich narodnv v;ivin, ed. Oto Takac (Brati slava: Slovenska academ ia vied, I969), 29 1-305 . 13 Slovak State Archives in Presov, county Saris, podzupan, 9809, VB, 1879. SLOVAK.IA 2021 131 Andrej Lukac, the Director of the Archive, the latter was cool to Mark's visit. He claimed that the material Mark was searching for was not yet processed and suggested that Mark return sometime in the future, when it would become available. Mark then asked if Lukac knew Jozef Mazur, to which Lukac replied, "Hej , onje moj set1'' (Of course! He's my boss.) To which Mark replied, "Hej, on je moj bratranec." (Of course! He's my cousin.) As soon as Lukac heard Mark ' s reply, he jumped into action. Lukac suggested that, since Mark could not read Magyar, and most of the documents were in that language, he hire a translator. Mark agreed and the next day Lukac introduced Mark to Mr. Grant. The latter was the descendant of a Scottish soldier who had remained in Central Europe in the 17 th century. Mr. Grant was in his 80's, he had been educated in the old Austria-Hungary, and knew Slovak, Magyar, German and Latin. He was overly polite, as such gentlemen were trained to be and, whenever he found an interesting document to translate, he would say "No, prosim Vas pekne," which means "Now, if you please," and then would proceed to translate. Lukac suggested that Mark pay Mr. Grant I 00 crowns per day, which was the going rate for such services. Mark agreed, since on the black market that would come to only $3.00 (US) a day. Mr. Grant was so intelligent that, after he had translated some documents, he grasped what Mark was looking for, and then did his translating without any more superv1s1on. Mark and Anne also did research in Kosice. Once they had exhausted their sources in Presov, they drove south to Kosice, to work in the fonner archives of Abov and Zemplin counties, which were housed in the former Abov county headquarters on Orlia Street, one block from the Cathedral of St. Elizabeth. As they drove into Kosice and approached the main square, they noticed and photographed a bust of General Milan R. Stefanik on a pedestal that was obviously erected spontaneously and hurriedly by some local patriots on the exact spot where a much larger statue of Stefanik had been erected in the l 920's. The statue was removed by communist authorities in the I 950's. (See the photo on page 133) This bust testified to the rise of Slovak nationalism during the Dubcek era. At the Slovak State Archives in Kosice Mark and Anne 132 SLOVAKIA 2021 were welcomed by the Director, Ladislav Andrasi and his assistant, Anna Fedorjakova. The latter willingly and eagerly helped Mark to translate documents from Magyar into Slovak. Meanwhile, Mark and Anne were joined by Professor Timothy Smith and another one of his graduate students, Oksana Dragan, who had both just come down from Poland in Smith's brown Volkswagen. Smith was studying Slovak Lutheran immigration from eastern Slovakia while Oksana was researching Rusyn (Ukrainian) immigration to North America. Smith then suggested to Mark that he a lso consult the Roman Catholic bishop's archives, located on Lenin Street, opposite the Cathedral. Since Anne had studied Latin for five years in High School, she volunteered to do this and was assisted by the Rev. Alojs Tkac, who was in charge of the archives. After the collapse of Communism, the latter was e levated to the post of Bishop, and later, Archbishop of Kosice. 14 Meanwhile, Professor Smith arranged a meeting with an "Action Committee" of the newly-resurrected Greek Catholic Church, led by Msgr. Jan Hirka, who, once Communism collapsed, was e levated to Eparch (Bishop) of the Greek Catholic Diocese of Presov. 15 On the evening of August 20, 1968, Mark and Anne, together with Timothy Smith and Oksana Dragan, decided to dine together. They went to the Magyar Restaurant in Kosice , where they enjoyed an exotic meal and did some dancing to the tunes of a Gypsy (Roma) orchestra. 14 Alojz Tkac was persecuted by the Communi sts durin g the period of "Normalization" ( 1970- 1989) and penned hi s memoirs in Pohl'adv z kriiovatky (Kapusany: Bens, 2004). 15 For the hi story of the Greek Catholic Church in Slovakia from 1968 to 1980, see Martin Lupco, "Grec kokatolick a a pravoslavna cirkev na Slovensku v rokoch 19681980," in Jaroslav Corani c- Jana Koprivnakova- Peter Sturak eds. Grekokatolicka cirkev na Slovensku vo svetle vyroci II (Presov: Presovska univerzita v Presove, 2012), 165-77. Msgr. Jan H irka published hi s memoirs in Pod ochranou Marie: Pastier v zlui be cirkvi (Presov: Presovska univerzita v Presove, 20 13 ). SLOVAKIA 2021 133 Bust of General M.R. Stefanik on the main square, Kosice, August, 1968. 134 SLOVAKIA 2021 Around 11 :00 p.m. all four researchers decided to drive back to their abodes in Presov. As Mark and Anne drove through the village of Drienov, just north of Kosice, a black cat ran in front of their car. Although they did not kill it, Mark wondered aloud if it signaled that they would have bad luck. "I hope not," Anne answered. Around 4:30 a.m. on August 21 , Mark and Anne were awakened by a very loud noise coming from the streets of Presov. At first they thought that it was the sound of jackhammers, and Mark began to curse the workers who could not wait until 8:00 a.m. to repair the streets. Then they heard a knocking on the door to the apartment. Andrej Krasnay gingerly approached the door and asked, "who ' s there?" Mark and Anne were afraid that the Secret Police had come for them, because they always came at night. Instead, it was the next-doorneighbor. He told Andrej something and Andrej then knocked on Mark and Anne's glass door, came in and announced that "The Russians, Poles, East Germans, Magyars and Bulgarians are occupying us!" 16 All three then understood that the noise from the street was not from jackhammers, but from tanks. Dazed, Mark and Anne decided to immediately dress and repair to the Hotel Dukla, where Professor Smith and Oksana Dragan were staying. It was sunrise by the time they arrived and Smith had just arisen. Mark knocked on his door and as Smith opened it, Mark blurted out "the Russians are invading us." Smith looked out his window at the tanks and remarked that he thought it was military maneuvers again . Mark assured him that it was not, that this was a real invasion . Smith then suggested that Mark go find Anne, who had gone upstairs to inform Oksana of the invasion , to come down to the dining room to discuss the situation. The four researchers, along with a young and lonely waiter, were the only customers in the dining room. While Smith ate a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs and rolls , the three students were too frightened to eat. Smith nonchalantly remarked, " We ' re Americans. This doesn ' t concern us." He cou ldn 't have been more wrong. Mark was born in Turciansky Svaty Martin in 1943 and Oksana in Berlin in 1942. Oksana was the daughter of the editor of the 16 The East Germans did not parti cipate in the invasion . For a detailed ex planati on sec Rildi gcr Wcnzkc, "The Rol e and Acti vities of the SEO, the East German State and Its Military During th e ' Prague Spring' of 1968," in The Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact Invasion, 137-64. SLOVAKIA 2021 135 pro-independence Ukrainian weekly Svoboda, published in Jersey City, New Jersey. Both were post-war refugees who, with their families, had ended up in Canada and the USA after the war. Neither the Soviet Union, nor Czechoslovakia, recognized dual citizenship at that time. Either one of these students could be detained by the authorities, whether Czechoslovak or Russian . Smith, however, was so unconcerned about the invasion that he decided that all four researchers should carry on as if nothing had happened. Thus, he instructed Mark and Oksana to go to the state archives and continue with their research. Meanwhile, he took Anne with him to serve as a translator in the Presov city archives. When Smith met with the Mayor of Presov, who was clearly shattered by the invasion, Smith asked for permission to do research in the city archives. The Mayor replied, with Anne translating, that "due to the extraordinary circumstances," the city archives were closed. Smith would not take no for an answer. He repeated his request, and Anne repeated the translation that the archives were closed. After three tries, Smith gave up and told Anne to go join Mark in the state archives. When Mark and Oksana arrived at the Slovak State Archives, they noticed that the entire staff was looking out the windows at the tanks (T55 ' s) roaring by, except Mr. Grant. The latter was nonchalantly reading and translating Magyar documents, oblivious to the noise outside. After a while Mr. Grant's behavior puzzled Mark so much that he asked Mr. Grant, "how can you continue to work while we are being invaded?" Mr. Grant smiled and replied, "This is my fifth invasion ." When Mr. Grant saw the puzzled look on Mark ' s face , he explained that the Russians had broken through the Carpathians into Hungary in the fall and winter of 1914-1915, then Bela Kun's Hungarian Red Army occupied Presov in 1919, the Germans occupied Slovakia in 1944 and the Russians in 1945, and again in 1968. " So, what's new?" he asked. "But, don't you want to see the Russian tanks?" Mark asked. Mr. Grant gestured no with his hand. Then he added, "You should have seen a German Tiger. That was a tank!" Mr. Grant then reminisced that, shortly after the Second World War had ended, he took the train from Presov to Kos ice. About half way there he spotted four destroyed tanks in a nearby field . Three were Russian T34 ' s and one was a German Tiger with its treads blown off. It was obvious what had happened. 136 SLOVAKIA 2021 After these reassuring words from Mr. Grant, Mark and Anne cairned down and decided to return to Andrej's apartment, to get their camera, and take some pictures of the invasion. After having eaten some lunch, the intrepid pair set out on Uti ca cervenej arrnady [Red Army Street] (today's Levoca Street) towards the main intersection of Presov at Utica Slovenskej republiky rad [Street of the Slovak Socialist Republic] , today 's Hlavna ulica (Main Street), right in front of the Bosak Bank. 17 There the pair saw a burning Russian military vehicle, which some tank had previously rammed. Just as they were passing by the Bosak Bank, another tank roared by and hit the burning vehicle and it lunged towards the bank . Seeing the approaching truck out of the comer of his eye, Mark shoved Anne out of the way and prepared to be crushed. Fortunately, there was a very strong guard-rail at this location, and it stopped the burning vehicle. After Mark and Anne recovered from this near-fatal mishap, they crossed the street and, upon the urging of a local, climbed up the stairs of the Ukrainian Theater and emerged onto a balcony, where they had an unobstructed view of the invasion . They started to take color slides of the Russian tanks and other vehic les. Ru ss ian military vehicles on Dukla Street, Presov, August 21, 1968. Meanwhile, in the morning they had noticed that elderly citizens had lined up outside various food stores, to "stock up" in case the 17 This bui ldi ng was erected by the American Slovak millionaire Michal Bosak in the I 920 's. He also built a school in Okruhle, hi s village of origin. For more on Bosak see Michal Bosak & Rudolf Bosa k, Michal Bosak- americkj bankar zo Sarisa (Presov, Ibi s Publishin g, 1997). SLOVAKIA 2021 137 Russian soldiers started looting, as they had done in 1945 . By noon, however, the dynamics had changed. Hundreds of students, who had been home for summer vacation, started to pour into Presov. Soon, they began marching up and down the main square, shouting " Ysetci l'udia na chodniku nemiluju republiku!" (People on the sidewalk do not love the Republic) an old communist slogan from May-day parades. Soon a few of the bravest students jumped onto the street, at the main crossing located at the Bosak Bank, and stopped the tanks! Students blocking Russian tanks at intersection of Dukla and Red Anny Streets, Presov, August 21, 1968. They held up the invasion for three hours. Finally, by mid-afternoon, a Russian military helicopter hovered overhead and must have given the driver of the lead tank orders to proceed because, at that moment, the lead tank lowered its gun and began swinging it from side-to-side, while simultaneously roaring its engine. (Photo next page). That had the desired effect, as the students jumped aside to avoid being hit by the barrel of its canon. After that the tanks proceeded closely and quickly, in order to not give the students a chance to once 138 SLOVAK.IA 2021 again jump in front and stop the tanks. On the first day of the invasion, the commander of occupation forces in Presov announced a state of Martial Law to begin at I 0:00 p.m. Instead of obeying him, the citizens of Presov hit the streets in large numbers and began to shout "Rusi domov! Rusi domov!" (Russians, go home! Russians, go home!). When an armored scout-car appeared, the people began to pelt it with bricks and bottles and it quickly fled the scene. Russian military helicopter hovering above Presov, August 21 , 1968. Russian scout car and tanks on a side street in Presov, August, 1968. SLOVAKIA 2021 139 During the day individuals posted large anti-Russian posters and placards onto shop windows. One large cartoon was Mark's favorite: It depicted a Russian soldier, who had just had a bowl movement, rising from the toilet and the reactionary communist Vasil Bil'ak was licking his ass! Mark wanted to photograph it, but was afraid to do so, because it was rumored that agents of the Russian KGB were in town, and were arresting people taking such pictures. The citizens of Presov suspected that Vasil Bil'ak, a conservative member of the Czechoslovak Politburo, was one of the traitors who had urged the Russians to invade. The citizens were right. 18 For three days the Russians hurtled through Presov in the direction of Poprad. By the end of the week, when the city was fully occupied. (See the next 5 photographs) Russian soldier guarding tank in central Presov , August, 1968. 18 Six members of the Politburo, including Vasil Bil'ak , signed such a letter of invitation to the Ru ssians just before the invasion. For a copy of this letter see Otakar Korinek, Poz;vvaci list 1968 (Bratislava: Albert Marencin PT, 2006), 82-3. 140 SLOVAKIA 2021 Russ ian soldiers talking to civili ans, Presov, August, 1968. Russ ian vehicles bes ides Post Office in Presov, August 1968 SLOVAKIA 2021 141 Russian soldiers and officers in a military vehicle, Presov, August, 1968. Russian tanks in front of Czechoslovak military barracks in Presov, August, 1968. 142 SLOVAKIA 2021 A certain professor of the Ukrainian language at the University of Presov, whom Timothy Smith knew, approached the research group from America and suggested that they leave as soon as possible, because he knew that Oksana had been born in Berlin in 1942 and was in danger of being picked up by agents of the KGB . Timothy Smith agreed and the four researchers set out in their respective Volkswagens towards Bratislava via Sabinov, Brezovicka and the Levoca forest in order to avoid the formidable Branisko Pass, where columns of Russian vehicles were moving very slowly. Between Spisske Podhradie and the city of Poprad they had to pass many slow-moving Russian vehicles. At one point, they drove by an entire column stopped by the side of the road, with Russian soldiers picking pears from the trees. Apparently the soldiers were hungry and their supply-wagons had not caught up with them. As the researchers approached the city of Poprad, they saw huge red letters that spelled DUBCEK painted vertically on the entire side of a tall apartment building. A nearby crane revealed how this was made possible. Mark would have photographed this sign, except that he had just passed a moving column of Russians. Meanwhile, Mark's Volkswagen rattled from the ruts in the road made by tank tracks, a ll the way to Bratislava. As they drove west, Mark and Anne noticed that the locals had changed all the directional signs, to try to confuse the Russians . It didn ' t work, since the Russians had good maps of Czechoslovakia, as did Mark and Anne. Meanwhile, Mark and Anne also noticed many pro-Dubcek and anti-Russian signs along the way. For instance, in the village of Brezovicka, past the city of Sabinov, someone had painted " The Whole World Supports Dubcek" on an abandoned log cabin. (First photo next page) On the meandering Vah river, between the cities of Ruzomberok and Martin, the locals had painted on the concrete abutment " DUBCEK JE NAS JANOSIK" (Dubcek is our Janosik), conjuring up Slovakia's I 8 th century social bandit. 19 On the way to Bratislava, the little caravan stopped in Martin, Cadca and Trnava, to bid farewell to family and friends . At the Matica slovenska the sympathetic workers gave Mark souvenir copies of the newly-resurrected daily Narodne noviny, which the communists had 19 For the story of Janosik see Jozef Kocis, Neznamy Jano.~ik (Marti n: Osveta, 1986). SLOVAKIA 2021 143 shut down in the l 950's, but which now fully supported the Dubcekled government. (Second photo next page) As Mark was driving past the city of Trencin, he pulled out to pass a tractor dragging a wagon of hay and suddenly found himself confronted by a Russian truck barreling down on him. Fortunately, the driver of the truck slammed on his brakes and Mark narrowly avoided colliding with him. Anne upbraided Mark for this near-miss, to which he sourly replied, "The Russians don't belong here! " The American caravan stopped briefly in Trnava and Bratislava, to bid farewell to family and friends. While in Trnava at Jozef Mazur's apartment, where they had lunch, Oksana spied a piano in the living room. She started to play some tunes on it but, when she played the World War II German song "Lily Marl ene," Jozefs wife Lola, who was a schoolteacher and afra id for her job, sc reamed at Oksana to stop, because the communists had forbidden such songs from being played. Graffiti, "The Whole World Supports Dubcek" in Brezovicka, eastern Slovakia, August, 1968. 144 SLOVAKIA 2021 Narodne no viny (Martin, August 29, 1968): " We understand and support you, comrade Dubcek. You negoti ated outside of our homeland ." Thus, even though the Dubcek era had seen the abolition of censorship, self-censorship still prevailed. Meanwhile, as in most Slovak cities and villages, Trnava also had its share of pro-Dubcek and antiRussian posters. Graffiti in central Tmava: "Not what the occupiers demanded, but what we support with Dubcek and Svoboda," August, 1968. SLOVAKIA 2021 145 The final stop of the caravan was in Bratislava. When the four researchers appeared at the Historicky ustav SA V, they were greeted by the furious but dispirited historians and their secretarial staff. After some discussion , both sides agreed that, in view of the invasion and the uncertainty of the future , it would be best to cancel the planned scholarly conference on Emigration from Eastern Europe to North America in the nearby castle of Smolen ice, which belonged to the Slovak Academy of Sciences. After they bade their farewells , the four researchers returned to their cars parked on Dostojevskeho rad (Dostojevsky Street). Fearing that The Russians would control the border, and search their car for photographs, Mark decided to photograph some more pro-Dubcek and anti-Russian graffiti painted on various buildings in the vicinity, then hide his film in a difficult-to-find spot in his car and hope the Ru ssians would not find it. (See the last 3 Photos) After thi s the American caravan approached the Old Bridge and drove past Russian tanks parked on both sides. Once they had crossed into Petrfalka they noticed what looked like a whole regiment of Russians camped in the park of Janko Kral' beside the Danube River. As they approached the border, however, they saw that Slovak soldiers were still in charge, complete with their sub-machine guns. Only one lonely Russian soldier, seated on a bench and staring at the ground, could be seen. When Mark asked the Slovak customs officers about the Russian soldier, they replied, "We're ignoring him . You should too." After perfunctorily checking their passports and visas, the customs officers bade the travelers farewell and, after the Slovak soldier lifted and pulled into Czechoslovakia the heavy cantilevered gate, the four researchers drove into Austria and freedom . August of 1968 will forever be etched into Mark 's and Anne's memories. What started out as a happy honeymoon in Europe and in Slovakia turned into the tragedy of the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. It was a brutal reminder of how superpowers can intimidate and subjugate their much smaller and weaker neighbors. 146 SLOVAKIA 2021 Graffiti in Bratislava : "Long Live Dubcek .. ." August, 1968. Graffiti in Bratislava: " ... and Svoboda" August, 1968 SLOVAKIA 2021 Graffiti in Bratislava : " Moscow" (the other way), August, 1968. 147  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 Russians are Invading Us!" Prešov, 1968 Description An account of the resource M. Mark Stolarik Slovakia, Vol. 45 (No. 84-85), 2021 pp. 121-147 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Stolarik, M. Mark, 1943- Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/d921c2674cb9cdd8b5f466434569a89d.pdf dbff8b3493ac8960d46e827c9a213670 PDF Text Text 104 SLOVAKIA "Ungrateful Younger Brothers" versus "Arrogant Atheists." Czech-Slovak Stereotypes in a Collective Memory Perspective. Lone Sarauw On January I , 1993 , Czechoslovakia was divided in a process that has been characterized as a "vel vet divorce. " 56 Compared to the ways in which other post-communi st states were fa lling apart at the time, thi s seems a va lid description . However , the split was ca used by severe confli cts betwee n the two parts of the state. Scholars have given a number of reasons for the di vo rce : I ) The Czech desire for democracy and a market economy clashed with Slovak insistence upon nati onal eq uality. 57 2) Despite grow ing macro-structu ra l simil ariti es, one Czechoslovak soc iety never managed to replace the Czech and Slovak soc ieti es that had been brought together in a com mon state. 58 3) Th e w inners of the parli amentary elec tion s in 1992, th e Sl ovak Vl adimfr Meciar and the Czech V aclav Kl aus, were unabl e to 56 See Otto U lc: "C zechos lovak ia' s ve l vet divorce. " East European Quarterly 30. September ( 1996). pp. 33 1-352. 57 5 " Ibid. Ji ff Mu sil : '"C zec h and Slovak Soc iety." in Jiff Mu sil (ed.): Th e End or Czechoslova kia (Budapest. L ondon, New York: Central European University Press 1995). 77-94. �SLOVAKIA 105 come to te rm s w ith the constitutional arrangement of Czechoslovakia, beca use they were unwillin g to put the interests of the common state before their own power ambi tions. 59 And more co uld be found. As a contrib uti on to the debate over the break-up, thi s artic le inte nd s to look at th e role of stereotypes and collective memory in it, the argument being that hi story was mobili zed in the media de bates prior to the partition , and that it happe ned in a way that en hanced the di ffere nces rather than the likenesses of the two peopl es.60 As a result of thi s th e population graduall y came to accept the partition of the common state, even if the majority of the population never supported it. 6 1 The concept "collective me mory" has been defi ned as "a soc iety 's co ll ected production of me mory," 62 whi ch suppli es the soc iety with a fee ling of belong ing together by sharing the same past. One of the probl e ms in Czec hoslovakia seems to have bee n the lack of such a feelin g of sharing the same past in both halves of the state. Despite the fact that, apart from World W ar II , Czechs and Slovaks lived together in one state between 19 18 and I 993 , their co ll ective me mories of this li fe together differ to a considerab le ex tent. 59 Abby Innes: ·'T he Breakup of Czechos lovakia: The Impac t of Party Development on the Separa ti on of the State," East European Politics and Societies (EEPS) , Vol. I I , No. 3, Fall ( 1997), 393-435 . 60 Si l via Mihali kova: •• arod ne symbo ly slovenskej statnosti", Politologicka revue 2, prosinec, ( 1996), 56. 61 An opi ni on poll from Jul y 1992 shows th at 53 % of the Czechs and 42 % of the Slovaks w ished lo maintain th e co mmon state. whi le respecti ve ly 24 % and 32 % w ished the slate to be divided (Sharon W olchi k : ·The Politics of Transition and th e Break-U p of Czec hos lova ki a," in Ji ff Musi l (ed .): Th e End of' Czechos lova kia. (Budapest : Centra l European Universi ty Press 1995 , 233). 62 Claus Bry ld and Anette Warrin g: Besaette/sestiden som kollektiv erindring. Histo- rie- og traditionsfor va llning at' krig og besaettelse 1945- 1997. (Rosk ilde: Rosk ilde Uni versitetsforlag 1998), 19-20. �106 SLOVAKIA In the medi a debates in the peri od leading up to the break-up of C zec hos lovakia hi story , or rather memory ,63 was mobi Ii zed as proof of the inevitability and desirability of the divorce. Because thi s was the aim of the partic ipants of the debate, chrono logy was irre levant and hi story became ' hori zontali zed ' so to speak. As Silvia Mi halikova has formulated it, "osten sible or rea l sins committed centuries ago merge with wrongs done in th e last decades and are at the same time th e reaso n for today 's mi sunderstandin gs and hatred."64 Thus, the mobilization of past conflicts e nabl ed the two nation s to blame eac h other for their current probl ems, which is wh at thi s article intend s to show using examples from the literary newspapers of th e Czech Land s and Slovakia, Literarnf noviny and Literarny tyi- dennik,65 prior to the break-up. Wh en looking for archetypical examp les of the Czech and S lovak stereotypes or images of each other, the "arroga nt atheists" and " ungrateful younger brothers" of the headlines were the first ideas about the Czech and S lovak images of each other that came to mind . Therefore, it came as a surprise that it was rather imposs ibl e to find any examples of the stereotype of the Czechs as dangerous atheists they are presented as being arrogant, though. The lack of proof of the idea that the Slovak image of the Czec hs would see them as atheists 0 -' Pierre Nora has formu lated thi s di st incti on be tween history and memory in terms of a fund amen tal opposi ti on . .. Memory is life [ ... ] a bond tying us to the etern al presen t[ ... ] it is affec ti ve and mag ica l l and] onl y accom modates th ose facts that suit it .'' whereas hi story is .. the reconstru cti on , al ways problematic and incomplete j ... I a representati on of the past I th at I ca ll s fo r analys is and criti cism' ' (Pierre Nora: "Between Memory and H istory: Les Lieux de M emoire" . Representations Vol 0, No. 26 Special Issue: M emory and Cou nter-M emory. Spring ( I 989) , 8-9). A less ri gid di stincti on has been pro posed by A nne Erikse n. who sees hi story and memory as being equally important aspec ts of the co llecti ve memory th at combine to create the entire co llec ti ve memory (A nne Eriksen: Del var nae annet under krigen. 2. verdenskrig i norsk kollektivtradisjon. (Oslo: Pax 1995). r,., Mihalikova: ·'Narodne symboly," 55. 65 In the literary newspapers the past was mobili zed more obviously and cru dely but not in a different way th an in mos t other newspapers. Thus, they serve well as illustrations of a process that was happening in the press in general. �SLOVAKIA 107 was fru strating , and it raised the question where thi s idea came from. It stemmed from the Christian Democratic Movement (Kresfansko De mokraticke Hnutie, KOH) , which, according to Miroslav Kusy , wanted to protect Slovakia from " des tructive liberal and freethinking influences from the Czech Lands." Besides, the stereotype had been used frequently in the interwar period , but the industrialization and urbanization of Slovakia since then had turned the mostly rural soc iety into one where Catholics did not necessarily consider their interests as Catholics to be more important than their economic and cultural conditions. 66 Also, as Petr Prfhod a has stated , the image of the Czechs as atheists was a well-known Czech stereotype of the Slovak view of them ,67 indirectly testifyin g to a Czech stereotype of the Slovaks as ' religiou s. ' 68 The image that eventually turned out to be the most pervasive was one of the Czechs as Czechoslovakist69 colonialists exploiting Slovakia. And as colonialists, they were described as arrogant in wanting to rule over Slovakia, even though they did not know it properly. It should be pointed out that the difficulty in having the stereo- '"' Miroslav Ku sy: ··S lovak Exceptionalism". in Musil (ed.): The End. 147- 149 . See also Martin Butora and Zora Butorova: " Slovakia: The Iden tit y Chal lenges of the Newly Born State". Socia l Research. Vol. 60. No. 4, Winter ( 1993). 7 13-7 14. and Sona Szomol anyi: UParadox kon zervativi zmu na Slovensku .'· Domino Efekt. Vol. 2. No. 15. ( 1993). 4. 67 Petr Prfhoda: '·Mutual Perceptions in Czech -Slovak Relationships•·, in: Musil (ed.) : The End. 134. "" Al so th e nationali sti c Slovak news paper ··s Jovak Nation·• (Slovensky mirod) was checked for the atheist image. but it could not be found even here . This probably reflects the fact that the image was propagated by the KDH . which was a quite unpopu lar part y those days among its non -ad herents. and whic h was often reproached in Slovensky mirod. 69 As a way of legitimising th e new Czechos lovak Republic in 19 18, the doctrine of one Czechoslovak nati on w ith two branche s. a Czech and a Slovak one. was propa gated to comp ly wi th the intention of president Woodrow Wilson to gi ve national self-determinat ion to the nations of Cen tral and Eastern Europe . The doctrine was officia ll y abandoned onl y afler World War II. �108 SLOVAKIA types co nfirmed did not co ncern the Czech newspaper, the se l fimage of the Czechs as 'rational' notwithstanding. 70 The most co mmonl y cited example of the Czech perception of the Slovaks as ungra tefu l yo unger brothers was an article by the writer Lud vfk Vaculfk in Literarnf noviny from 1990 entitled: " Our Slova k Questi on. " 7 1 The first thin g to be noticed about Vaculfk 's article is the co ndescending tone of the titl e: The Slovak questi on is ' our ' ques ti on, that is ' us' meaning the Czechs , not the Slovak s. 72 Vaculfk beg ins his arti cle by definin g himself as being Czech by nation ality, but Czechoslovak as a citi ze n, but he nevertheless repeatedl y speaks in the name of ' us, th e Czec hs,' whi ch substanti all y weakens hi s claim to being a truly Czechoslovak citizen. Throu ghout hi s tex t, Vaculfk uses exampl es from hi story to argue for a separati on from the Slo vaks. First, he bl ames the Slovaks for never having dealt with the fasc ism of their wartime state ( 19391945). They escaped thi s obligation by rejoining the Czechs in Czechos lovakia, and wh en, after a few yea rs, they were forced into a communi st regime, they did not reall y mind , si nce they ga ined a lot more economicall y from co mmuni sm than did the Czechs. There is no inner log ic between these two situati ons other th an th e fac t th at Vaculfk 's description of them makes the Slovaks look as if they have no principl es, going more or less direc tl y from accepting fascism to accepting co mmuni sm. He co ntinues by bl ami ng the Slovaks fo r prey ing on the Czech s' struggle for democracy in 1968, since th e only reform that survived the W arsaw Pac t in vas ion was the federali zation of the state, " When we in I 968 tri ed to free ourse lves from 70 L adis lav Holy : The Lillie Czech and the Gre<I/ Czech Na tion. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1996), 104. 71 72 " Nase slovenska otazka". Litenimf noviny (M ay 3, 1990). I +3 . Yacu l fk's titl e was in spired by the titl e of T.G. Masaryk ·s book ··The Czech Question" (C:eska otazka) from 1895 on the Czech rebirth in the 19th century and it outlined hi s po litica l progra mme for the Czech nati on. But where Masaryk treated his own nation. Yacu lfk by the use of the word ··our" implies th at the Czechs have a ri ght to objectify and defi ne the Slovaks. �SLOVAKIA 109 the dictatorship, the Slovaks regarded it as our business and went for autonomy. When we were then puni shed for the rebellion , they , because they had not compromised th emse lves very much with us, received a more gentle puni shment; and that their autonomy, which they gained from our rebellion , for us meant a sharpenin g of the punishment, does not cross their mind s." 73 When Vaculfk describes the Slovak ga in of autonomy as a sharpenin g of the puni shment for the Czechs , this testifies to hi s belief, not only in centralism , but also that the Czechs have the right to control Slovaki a. When employing these im ages he attempts to mobilize the Czech memory of the Slovaks as traitors both in 1938-39, when they ga ined their own state whereas the Czech lands were turned into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and in the Prague Spring of 1968. Later on Vaculfk contradicts his argument of th e Slovak sati sfaction with the communist regime by claiming that they left it to the Czechs to defeat the communists and then again brought up their claims for autonomy: "as if they thought: you brou ght us your communism, now you take it away again, Czechs! " 74 According to Vaculfk, the Slovaks, being objects rather than subjects of hi story, unlike the Czechs have always managed to escape the existential question: Who are we and what do we want? Thi s even counts for the Slovak National Uprising during World War II, which in Vaculfk 's view was too brief and too limited territoriall y to count as proof of Slovak pro-C zec hos lov ak ism. Vaculfk only mention s the anti-fascist element of the upri si ng and neg lects the fact that the leaders of the resistance movement clearly stated a wish to reunite with the Czechs after 73 " Kdyz jsme se v roce 1968 poku sili uvolnit se z diktatury , povazovali to Slovaci za nasi staro st a sli si za autonomif. K dyz my pak byli za vzpouru ztrestan i, oni , j elikoz se s nami moc nezkompromitovali, dostali mfrnejsf trest; a ze jejich autono- mie, kterou z nasf vzpoury vyzfska li , znamenala pro nas zostfenf trestu, to jim nenapada." 74 "jako by si mysleli: Privezli j ste nam sem v,is komuni smus, odvezte si ho zas, Cesi 1" - Many Slovaks after 1989 have pointed ou t that in 1946 40 % of th e Czechs voted com muni st, and only 30 % of the Slovaks, suggesting that comm uni sm was a predomi nantly Czech idea. �SLOVAKIA 110 th e wa r,75 whi c h was inco ns iste nt w ith hi s prev io us acc usati o ns aga inst the Slovak s fo r not hav ing co me to te rm s w ith the fasc ism of the ir wartime state . The first time Vaculfk mobili zes the " littl e brothe r" im age he c laims that the Slovak s, s ince they do not have a nybody else against whom to prove the ir adulthood , mi stake nl y tried it o ut on the Czechs. Later on he continues th at, afte r the fa ll of co mmuni sm, th e Sl ovak nation fin a ll y had the cha nce to start looking fo r its ow n happiness, by whi ch it would grow one more leve l. The most c rude exa mple of the im age comes w he n Vac ulfk re plies to Mil an Si mec ka, a Czec h write r li vin g in Slovaki a, who had w ritte n to the Czec hs th at the ir yo un ger brothe r had grow n up a nd now should ha ve hi s ow n bed. Vac ul fk 's repl y was as fo ll ows: "As we know our youn ger brothe r, he w ill want to have hi s bed by the window in the summer and by the ove n in the w inte r. No bed , littl e broth e r, ha ve yo ur o wn littl e ho use!" 76 And finall y, he li sts reaso ns why just now is the ri ght time to get rid of the Slovaks, one of whi c h is th at 70 years ago it wo uld have bee n interpreted as de ny ing he lp to the younger brother. Thus, Vac ulfk mobili zes the Czec h image of the ungrateful younger brother and the coll ective me mory of Slovak betrayal s to make hi s po int th at the Czec hs would be better off without the Slovaks. It is hard not to find Vac ulfk a bit patronizing, but hi s views we re not e xce pti onal a mong the Czec hs. In the articl e " Re lie f with a dec ision," 77 fo urteen intellectu als 78 agreed th at it was bette r to let the Slovaks go, if th at was what they wanted , so th at the Czec hs co uld stand as the true he irs of Czec hos lovaki a and thereby keep the name of the 75 See I.:.ubomir Liptak : S/ovensko v 20. storocf. (Brat islava : K all igram 2000), 25 1- 252. 76 ·'A le j ak mladsfho brat ffc ka zname, bude v lete chtft tu pos tylku u ok na a v zime u pece. Zadnou postylku, bra tfe. domecek mej si 1" 77 " Uleva z rozhodnutf" . L itenim f noviny June 18, 1992, I. 78 The article was signed by Ji ff K olar, K arel Siktanc, K arel Pecka, Lud vfk Yacul fk , V lad im ir K ar ffk , I van Werni sc h, Jan Lopatka, Sergej Mac honi n, Pfemys l Rut. Dusan K arpatsky, Yrati slav Farber, Ji ff Cies lar, Mi ros lav Kl omfnek, M ilan Jungmann, all men of literature. �SLOVAKIA 111 state. Se manti ca ll y, Czechoslovaki a w itho ut Slova ki a does not make muc h sense, but to the authors of the arti cle there was c learly anothe r aspect to Czechos lova ki a th an the territori al one. T he ir be li ef that Czechos lovak ia w ithout Slovaki a made sense indi cated that they pe rce ived th e Czech s as be in g in some undefin ed ma nner more trul y Czec hos lova k th an the Slovaks and that they reserved the ri ght to defin e the character of the co mmon state fo r the Czechs. Bes ides, they saw the diffe re nt res ults of the e lection s in June 1992 in the two parts of the country as an exampl e of the Czech desire fo r a free economy and po liti ca l de moc rac y on the o ne hand , and on the oth er of the Slovak longin g fo r a soc iety directed by the state a nd with e le me nts of nati onal soci ali sm. And they furth e rmore inte rpre ted the S lovak res ult as an ex press ion of a Slovak long ing fo r their own indepe nde nt state, in spite of the fac t th at th e onl y Slovak party with inde pe nde nce as part of its e lec ti on prog ramme was the Slova k Nati onal Party (Sl ovenska narodna strana, SNS), whi ch ga ined onl y 9.4 % of the votes in Slovakia.79 The arti cle was writte n in a tone th at sugges ted ne utrality and objecti vity, whil e the co nte nt was in fac t stron gly po le mi ca l. " If it is so that onl y e rectin g one's ow n state is the sign o f adulth ood and se lf-justifi cati on of a nation , we do not have reasons fo r counting it as a fa ilure a nd loss, what we since 19 18 have contributed to Slovaki a in that respect materi all y and mora ll y. The found ation of Czechos lova ki a co mpl eted the Czech nati o nal reawake nin g, and if the Slovaks today c ut the mse lves loose fro m us, it means th at they are still lac kin g somethin g to reac h the same pos iti on and consc iousness, and we do not have the ri ght to keep the m fro m that. " 80 In thi s argu- 79 K aren Henderson: T he Slovak Republic, in : Bogdan Szajkowsk i (ed.): Po litica l Parties of Eastern Europe. Russia & the Successor S tates. (Harlow: Longman In for- mati on and Reference 1994 ). 529. ' 0 ·'Je- li tom u tak, ze teprve ustave nf vlas tn fho statu je znamenfm dospe losti a sveprav nosti naroda, nemame duvod pocftat si za pro hru a ztratu , cfm jsme k tomu Slovensku od rok u 19 18 hmotne i moraine prispeli . Zalozenfm Ceskos lovenske republik y se dov rsilo ceske narodn f obroze nf, a j estli ze se Slovaci dnes od nas odpo- �SLOVAKIA 112 ment th e Slovaks are the ones cutting themselves loose because they want to 'g row up ' and become indepe ndent of the Czechs who have helped the m " materially and morally" ever s ince the foundation of the common state. "Let it be obvious that it is the Slovaks who step out of the federation, and that we the n are the successor state , which keeps its ob li gations, treaties and relation s to th e world around us. The Czech kingdom united hi storicall y with Moravia does not need to be confirmed once again by any Rome, Frankfurt or Vienna." 8 1 So, the Czech Lands are a hi storically natural unity , wh ich does not in any way need Slovakia. They cont inue: " Without artificia l nationalizing, all questions can be named and also so lved in a more rational way" 82 - again, they are suggesting that the Slovaks are irrational and nationalistic as opposed to the rational Czechs. The Slovak image of the Czechs was propagated no less directly . In a series of articles in Literarny tyidennfk entitled " If Slovakia wants to be Slovakia ... ,"83 the writer Mi lan Ferko treated severa l subjects concern ing Slovak autonomy or independence. He held that after th e parliamentary e lectio ns in June 1992 when Vl adimfr Meciar 's Movement for a Democratic S lovakia (Hnutie za demokraticke Slovensko, HZDS ) won in Slovakia, the Czechs finally began to understand that the Slovaks really wanted to be inde pendent, and stated, " Some Czech politicians are beg inning to abandon [ ... ] the pos ition of historical arrogance and eco nomic super iorit y." 84 He thereby confirmed the image of the arroga nt Czechs who wanted to jujf. znamena to, ze jim k tem uz stavu a vedomf jeste neco chybf. a my nemame pravo je od toho zdrfovat." 81 "At' se stane zrejmym, ze jsou to Slovaci. kdo vystupujf z federace. a my pak jsme nastupni cky stat. jen z zus tane ve svych zavazcfch , sm lou vach a vztazfch k okolnfmu svetu. Ceske kralovstvf spoj ene hi storick y s Moravou se nepotre buje davat zadnym Rfmem. Frankfurtem ci Vfdnf znovu potvrzovat. " 82 .. Bez 83 " Ak Slovensko chce byt'Slovenskom .. ... 84 " Niektorf cesk f politici zacfnaju opu stat' [ .. . J pozfcie historickej arogancie a ekono- umeleho nacionalizovanf dajf se vsechny otazky pojmenovat i resi t vecneji ." mickej nadradenost i." " Ak Slovensko chce byt' Slovenskom ..." Vil. Literarny dennik June 27. 1992, 12. tyz- �SLOVAKIA 113 keep the Slovaks in an inferior position and he continued, " With the help of international financial superpowers , Prague decided about the fate of Slovakia, which has to remain in a vassal relationship to the Czech Lands." 85 According to Ferko, the Slovak government had also become arrogant, and the politicians of Public Again st Violence (Verejnost' proti nasiliu , VPN) had become " slaves of Prague' s neocolonial relationship to Slovakia" 86 and sought " to continue to infiltrate into the Slovak political life ideas of Masaryki sm and cosmopolitani sm in the fra mework of which there is no place for the Slovak nation. " 87 T.G. Masaryk was the first president of Czechos lovakia , and Czech s and Slovaks have very di ss imilar view s of him . To the Czechs he epitomizes democracy , whereas many Slovaks see him as the representative of the state ideology of the First Republic ( 19181938), the Czechoslovakism, according to which Czec hs and Slovaks were two branches of the same Czechoslovak nation . Many Slovaks belie ve that Czechoslovaki sm suppressed their national identity, and their view of the First Republic and of Masaryk is influenced by thi s negative vie w of the state ideology. The Slovak view of Masaryk is also tainted by the fact that in 1918 he signed an agreement with a group of Czech and Slovak emigres in Pittsburgh , according to which Slovakia was promi sed some form of autonomy in the new Czechoslovak state. For variou s reason s thi s promise was never fulfill ed,88 and thi s has left an impression among some Slovaks that Masaryk and the Czechs delibe ratel y broke their promi ses becau se xs -- Pra ha pros tred nfctvom medzin arod nyc h fin ancnych ve l'mocf rozhod la o osude Sl ovenska, ktore ma zostat' vo vaza lskom pomere k Cecham." Ak Slovensko chce byt' Slovenskom ... VI. Literam y tyidennik M ay 23, 1992, 3. 86 " ''otrokmi prazs keho neokolonialisti ckeho vztahu k Slovensku. " Ibid. 7 " d'alej in f iltrovat' do slovenskeho politickeho zivota myslienk y masaryki zmu a kozmopoliti zmu , v ramci ktoryc h niet miesta pre slovensky narod."' Ibid. 88 Part of the reason why Sl ovaki a was not granted autonomy was th at in the new Czechos lovak state there was a Germ an mi nority of the same size as th e Slovak popul ati on. and if the Sl ovaks had gained autonomy it wo uld have been very di fficult to find a va lid argument why the Germ ans should not have autonomy, too. �SLOVAKJA 114 th ey wished to maintain the ir control ove r Slovakia. Furthermore, whe n Ferko attacked Masaryk it wen t to the very heart of the Czech se lf-understandin g and co uld serve as proof to the Czec hs that the Slovaks did not rea ll y understand what democracy was a ll about. Anoth er im age from hi story that Ferko mobilizes is the Slovak wartime state , whi c h he presents as hav in g raised ge nera l Slovak se lf-co nsc iou sness, the spirit of e nterpri se, a nd the will to be equa l with the rest of the world . 89 Thi s is a totally different im age of the Slovak State than the one propagated by Vac ul fk who saw it only as a sy mbol of fascism , with which the Slo va ks had still not dealt. To Ferko the fa sc ism of the state was less sig nificant than the fac t th at it was Slovak. According to him , the e lect io ns in Jun e 1992 showed that neo-fasc ist te nde nci es were growing in oth er parts of Czec hoslovak ia, but not in Slovakia - leavi ng o nl y the Czec h land s infected wi th it. 911 He re, Ferko turn s Vaculfk 's accusation of the Slovaks' lac k of se ttleme nt w ith the wart ime fascism aga in st the Czechs - poss ibl y beca use he was aware that hi s arg ume nt was not very solid. In the very last issue of Literarny tyidennfk before the partiti o n, Vladimfr Min ac (one of Slovakia 's lead in g writers) propagated hi s less than pos iti ve im age of the Czec hs: "God save us from learning from the Czec hs the e mpty ideo log ica l rhetoric , the spl e ndid mora1ity, whi ch is limited to word s, the Have l-like e mptiness, which hides in itse lf o nl y a mad dwarf. " 9 1 In ridi c ulin g Vaclav Have l, Min ac insulted anothe r icon of the Czec h se lf-unders tandin g: Have l as the successor to Masaryk as the good philosopher-pres ide nt. And he was co mpl ete ly aware of thi s w he n he mentioned the myth of Masaryk 's '" Ferko: "'Ak Slovensko .. . VII ". ° Ferko 9 wi th out doubt hints at th e amazing elec ti on results or the Czec h Miroslav Sl,1dek ' s neo-fasc ist Republi ca n Party, which gained over 6 % of the votes in the Czech lands (Peter Bugge : The Czech Republi c, in: Szajkowsk i (ed.): Politica l Parties. 158- 159). "' " Bozec hrai\ , aby sme sa naucil i od Cechov prazdnej idologickej retorike. onej skvelej moralke, ktora sa obm edzuje na slova. onej hav lovskej prazdnote. ktora utaj uje v sebe iba zuriveho trpas lfka."' " Odkiar a kam , Slovaci 'I" ("Wherefrom and whereto, Slovaks?") Literamy tyi dennfk Dec. 19, 1992 , 11 . �SLOVAKIA 115 model democracy and deemed it " shrieking Bohemian glass in the necklace of the legend" 92 - instead of being real jewels, that is. When dismi ss ing the first Czechoslovak Republic like this, Mimic reflected the views of one-third of the Slovak populace, which did not consider it democratic, but in opposition to the majority of the Czech population, 93 and so he , like Yaculfk, invoked the collective memory in order to create an impression of Czech-Slovak incompatibility. Furthermore, Mimic painted a picture of the First Republic as a time when many Czechs came to Slovakia allegedly to help build it, but when they taught in school s at all level s, they taught Czechos lovak instead of Slovak, and when they founded the Slovak National Theatre , it was in reality one more Czech National Theatre. So the Czechs did not help out of pure brotherly sacrifice, but out of a desire to turn the Slovaks into Czechs. Later, Mimic reproduced the stereotype of the Czechs as being arrogant enough to want to decide over Slovakia without the appropriate understanding: " Again and again they go into political battle with the Slovaks with the same reproaches and with the sa me lack of knowledge of the Slovak world. They still tutor, still look after and protect in the way that every coloniali st has protected hi s colony. " 94 He re , the image of the Czechs as malevolent colonialists was used to create the impress ion that a veritable war was being waged between the evil Czech politicians and the Slovak people-and not onl y this: 9 ' 93 skrfpajuce ces ke skl o v mi hrdelnfku legendy. 37 % of th e Slovaks and 70 % of the Czechs sa w th e First Republi c as a model democracy. whereas anoth er 33 % of th e Slovaks did not think it was democrati c at all. (Marian Timorack y : Yerejna mienka o ce sko-slovenskych vztahoch. in: Fedor Gal (ed. ): One.for krize cesko-slovenskych vztaht1. (Praha: SLON 1992), 8 1-82 . Thi s probabl y refl ec ts th e Sl ovak res istance aga inst M asaryk ·s Czechos lovaki sm. which Ferko attacked, too. "" ·· v zdy znovu a znov u tiahnu do politickeho zapasu so Slo vakmi s tymi istyrni vycitkami a s tou istou neznalostbu slovenskeho sveta. Stale tutorcia, stale opatruju a ochrai\uju tak, ako kazdy kol oni ali sta ochrai\ova l svoju kol 6niu. " '·Odki al' a karn , Slovac i?" Litenirny tyidennlk Dec. 19, 1992, 11. �116 SLOVAKIA betwee n the Czech and Slovak worlds. 95 By portraying Czechs and Slovaks as living in different worlds , Minac made the partition of the common state look natural and desirab le as it enabled the small Slovak nation to fulfil its destiny as an authentic small nation facing the threatening international consumer society. And he concluded, " Behind us stay the o ld enmities and mi sunderstandin gs, a serva nt 's conflicts and rebellion s. Before us is our new di gnity." 96 As thi s ana lysis has shown , the Czech and Slovak collective memories were used to explain the differences between Czechs and Slovaks and to legitimize the break-up. Thi s way of usin g the past was made poss ible by the hu ge soc ietal changes since the Ve lvet Revolution in 1989. When communism fe ll , there was a broadly felt need to rewrite history in order to get rid of the ideolog ica ll y deformed historical interpretation s of the communists and thi s led to two different phenomena. On the one hand , the new situ at ion led to an uncovering of 'wh ite spots ' in the hi story of the Czechs and Slovaks. On the other, thi s rewriting made room for new deformations of history. Silvia Mihalikova has described this phenome non , which was common for the entire post-communi st world, as a use of arguments from the past according to a principle of se lf-service: people simply chose the historical facts, persons, and conceptions that suited their momentary purposes. 97 95 Thi s image of the Czechs and Slovaks li ving in different worlds was shared by at least the Czech political weekly, Respekt, whose front page of the elect ion issue in 1992 read in large red letters 'Two civi li za ti ons" and conti nued in the main comment: "A lone into Europe or toge ther to the Balkans" ( Respekt June 8-14, I 992, I ). See Peter Bugge : The Use of the Middle: Mitteleuropa vs. Strednf Evropa. In : European Review of History , Vol. 6. No. I . 1999, 30-3 1 and Vladimir Macura: Masarykovy boty a jine semi(o) fejetony. (Praha: Prazska imagin ace 1993). 48-49 for a further elaborat ion of the Czech imaging of the Slovaks as belonging to the Balkans . % " Za nami ostavaju stare nepriatel'stva a nedorozumenia, sluhovs ke spory a vzbury . Pred nami je nasa nova d6stojnost'. " " Odkial' a kam . Slovaci ?" Literarny tj idennfk Dec. 19. 1992. 11. 97 Mihalikova: Narodne symboly, 54-56. �SLOVAKIA 117 The se lf-serv ice aspec t of the use of hi story was supported by the communist ideo logization of the culture, includin g the schools. The hi story that had been to ld by the regime and taught in sc hool s was perce ived as inh erentl y wrong , and therefore , as Tony Judt has argued, a plurality of memories was created when parents told their children what hi story was ' reall y' like. Every hi story that was told by the reg ime was by implication fa lse, which meant th at every hi story not to ld by the regime mu st by implication be true. 98 This was the reason, not onl y for the very different Czec h and Slovak collective memories, but also for the overa ll low level of knowl edge about and reflection on the nation al hi story. Key period s in Czechoslovak hi story co ncernin g the mutual Czech-Slovak relation ship can be li sted as follows : I) the First Republic 19 I 8- 1938, 2) the destruction of Czechoslovakia and th e creati on of the Slovak State durin g World War II, 3) the Slovak National Uprising against the fascists in 1944, 4) the Prague Spring in 1968, 5) the Normalization 1969-1 989. When lookin g at the articles that we have analysed here, it is c lear that Vaculfk employed al l of them. In hi s interpretation : the First Rep ublic was a time when the Czechs he lped the ir un grateful younger brothers; the Slovak State came into bein g when the Slovaks betrayed the Czechs; the Slovak National Upri sin g was not necessaril y for a renewal of Czechoslovakia; in the Prague Spring the Slovaks preyed on the Czech strugg le for democracy; and durin g Norma li zati on the Slovaks suffered less than the Czec hs. In the same vei n, Mil an Ferko and Vladimfr Mimic invoked the Slovak collective memory of the First Republic as a period of Czechoslovakism th at did not properly ack now ledge the character and needs of the Slovaks, and the Czechs did what they could to turn the Slovaks into Czec hs. The reason why Ferko and Mimic both used thi s period probabl y lay in the fact th at Czechoslovakism was the 'state ideo logy' of the First Rep ublic , which made it easy to attack 9 ' Tony Judt: The Past is Another Cou ntry : Myth and Memory in Postwar Europe , in: Dcedalus. Vol. 21. No. 4, 1992, I OI. �SLOVAK IA 118 Czech arrogance towards the Slovaks. As opposed to this , the legacy of all the other significant periods seemed in some way or another too ambiguous to be exp loited from Minac ' s and Ferko ' s points of view. 99 This reflects the fact that Czechs and Slovaks not on ly experienced the events differently at the time, but also that their memories of them today are very different. And this then shows us that the socia li zation of the population ' s memories since 1918 was not successful in providing the two nations with a common co ll ective memory of the past that they shared as parts of the same state. In stead, those who after 1989 wished to do otherwise were ab le, like Vaculfk, Minac , Ferko, and others, to mobilize conflicts from the past and link them together regardless of any inner logic and chrono logy. They painted a picture of a basic Czech-Slovak incompatibility and a common history consisting of conflicts, betrayals, and wrongdoings that made a divorce look c learly preferable to a continued malfunctionin g marriage. 100 In Slovakia, the discu ss ions about the common history of the Czechs and the Slovaks became polarized to the degree that two directly opposite interpretations were propagated. The relevant criterion for arguments became the question whether the common state had been favourable or disadvantageous to the Slovaks. 101 Slovak so99 The Slovak State was fascist: the National Uprising was directed aga in st the inde- pendent Slovak State; resu lting from th e Prague Spring was th e federalism that Ferko and Minac fo ught aga inst but which neverth eless meant progress in th e Czech-Slovak relationship; and Normalization was not see n as too bad a period for th e Slovaks . ' 00 The metaphor of the marriage was also frequently used in the debate, see e.g. Miroslav Ku sy : '·Konfederacnf k lam·• (""Confederation delusion'"). Literarnf no viny Aug. 6. 1992. 1+3. 0 ' ' Mihalikova: Narodne symboly, 58. An ex traordinary feature of th e Slovak contex t was the fact that very ac tive participants in the debate were exi les like Stefan Polakovic or Milan S. Durica. who either had been in ex ile ever since World War II beca use of their ro le in the Slovak State or they came from thi s environment. They saw as their greatest task res torin g Slovak independence from th e Czechs and seemed not to reali ze that Slovak society had changed since their heyday during the �SLOVAKIA 119 ciety was to a very large ex tent di vided over interpretations of hi story , the nature of Slovak nation al identity, and wishes for the future, and in fact the Slovaks who engaged in the de bates on the CzechSlovak past spent as much or even more energy blaming eac h other, rather than blaming the Czechs. 102 In contrast to thi s deep divi sion , the Czechs may have disagreed on many thing s, but by and large there was unanimity concerning subjects such as these. In the Czech debate, the efforts to create a separate Czech state grad uall y came to be seen as a way of guardin g Kl aus' rapid economic reform s from the " irrati o nal" Slovaks a nd Czech democracy from the alleged Slovak inclin ation to national soc iali sm and a stron g state, images which were mobili zed by the frequent use of exa mples from the Czech collective me mory. It is furthermore interesting that an opinion poll in October of 1990 showed that more than 50 % of the Czechs believed in the idea of one Czechoslovak nation . 1w While most Czechs and Slovaks perce ived of them se lves as be in g simultaneously Czechoslovaks and e ithe r Czechs or Slovaks, most Czechs, who unconsciously conceived of the two layers of the ir identification as being identical , had never paid much attention to the conce pt of a Czech identification as be in g different from their ide ntific ation as Czechoslovaks. Most Slovaks , on the other hand , were very much aware that there was a difference between their Slovak and their Czechoslovak identification . 104 Whe n the newspaper debates invoked the war. In co ntrast to the hi stori ans who had li ved throu gh the communi st period at home and those who had been in exile becau se of their di sagreements with the co mmuni st regime. thi s group of hi storians saw nothing but disadvantages for the Slovaks in the com mon Czechos lovak Republic. 102 According to Soiia Szomolanyi. different perceptions of key fi gures and events in Slovak history not onl y divided . but outri ght polari zed th e population (Szomo lany i 1994 : 76). '"' Timoracky : Yerejna mienka. 7 1-72. ' 04 Thi s was strengthened by th e asy mmetri ca l conditi ons after 19 I 8. e.g. when in school tex tbooks Czech hi story was made Czechos lovak simply by adding " slovak" to th e adjec ti ve (E li sabeth Bakke: Cechoslovak izmu s v skol skych uceb ni ciach ( 19 18- 1938). Historicky casopis. Vo l. 47. o 2. 1999: 242-243) or when on ly the �120 SLOVAKIA past, it happened in a way that mobili zed images that em phasized the differences rather than the s imil ariti es between th e tw o nation a l groups. In thi s way the Czech and Slovak layers of the Czec hoslovak population 's identifi cat ion were stre ngthened to the detriment of the Czechoslovak layer. And the di scre pancy that was mob ili zed between the Czech and Slovak images of themselves, the other, and the future of the common state is undoubted ly part of the answer to the question why the common Czechoslovak state eventually broke up. Slovaks had their own Communist Party (KSS) whereas the Czechos lovak Communist Party (KSC) served both as the Czech and the all-state party. � 104 SLOVAKIA "Ungrateful Younger Brothers" versus "Arrogant Atheists." Czech-Slovak Stereotypes in a Collective Memory Perspective. Lone Sarauw On January I , 1993 , Czechoslovakia was divided in a process that has been characterized as a "vel vet divorce. " 56 Compared to the ways in which other post-communi st states were fa lling apart at the time, thi s seems a va lid description . However , the split was ca used by severe confli cts betwee n the two parts of the state. Scholars have given a number of reasons for the di vo rce : I ) The Czech desire for democracy and a market economy clashed with Slovak insistence upon nati onal eq uality. 57 2) Despite grow ing macro-structu ra l simil ariti es, one Czechoslovak soc iety never managed to replace the Czech and Slovak soc ieti es that had been brought together in a com mon state. 58 3) Th e w inners of the parli amentary elec tion s in 1992, th e Sl ovak Vl adimfr Meciar and the Czech V aclav Kl aus, were unabl e to 56 See Otto U lc: "C zechos lovak ia' s ve l vet divorce. " East European Quarterly 30. September ( 1996). pp. 33 1-352. 57 5 " Ibid. Ji ff Mu sil : '"C zec h and Slovak Soc iety." in Jiff Mu sil (ed.): Th e End or Czechoslova kia (Budapest. L ondon, New York: Central European University Press 1995). 77-94. �SLOVAKIA 105 come to te rm s w ith the constitutional arrangement of Czechoslovakia, beca use they were unwillin g to put the interests of the common state before their own power ambi tions. 59 And more co uld be found. As a contrib uti on to the debate over the break-up, thi s artic le inte nd s to look at th e role of stereotypes and collective memory in it, the argument being that hi story was mobili zed in the media de bates prior to the partition , and that it happe ned in a way that en hanced the di ffere nces rather than the likenesses of the two peopl es.60 As a result of thi s th e population graduall y came to accept the partition of the common state, even if the majority of the population never supported it. 6 1 The concept "collective me mory" has been defi ned as "a soc iety 's co ll ected production of me mory," 62 whi ch suppli es the soc iety with a fee ling of belong ing together by sharing the same past. One of the probl e ms in Czec hoslovakia seems to have bee n the lack of such a feelin g of sharing the same past in both halves of the state. Despite the fact that, apart from World W ar II , Czechs and Slovaks lived together in one state between 19 18 and I 993 , their co ll ective me mories of this li fe together differ to a considerab le ex tent. 59 Abby Innes: ·'T he Breakup of Czechos lovakia: The Impac t of Party Development on the Separa ti on of the State," East European Politics and Societies (EEPS) , Vol. I I , No. 3, Fall ( 1997), 393-435 . 60 Si l via Mihali kova: •• arod ne symbo ly slovenskej statnosti", Politologicka revue 2, prosinec, ( 1996), 56. 61 An opi ni on poll from Jul y 1992 shows th at 53 % of the Czechs and 42 % of the Slovaks w ished lo maintain th e co mmon state. whi le respecti ve ly 24 % and 32 % w ished the slate to be divided (Sharon W olchi k : ·The Politics of Transition and th e Break-U p of Czec hos lova ki a," in Ji ff Musi l (ed .): Th e End of' Czechos lova kia. (Budapest : Centra l European Universi ty Press 1995 , 233). 62 Claus Bry ld and Anette Warrin g: Besaette/sestiden som kollektiv erindring. Histo- rie- og traditionsfor va llning at' krig og besaettelse 1945- 1997. (Rosk ilde: Rosk ilde Uni versitetsforlag 1998), 19-20. �106 SLOVAKIA In the medi a debates in the peri od leading up to the break-up of C zec hos lovakia hi story , or rather memory ,63 was mobi Ii zed as proof of the inevitability and desirability of the divorce. Because thi s was the aim of the partic ipants of the debate, chrono logy was irre levant and hi story became ' hori zontali zed ' so to speak. As Silvia Mi halikova has formulated it, "osten sible or rea l sins committed centuries ago merge with wrongs done in th e last decades and are at the same time th e reaso n for today 's mi sunderstandin gs and hatred."64 Thus, the mobilization of past conflicts e nabl ed the two nation s to blame eac h other for their current probl ems, which is wh at thi s article intend s to show using examples from the literary newspapers of th e Czech Land s and Slovakia, Literarnf noviny and Literarny tyi- dennik,65 prior to the break-up. Wh en looking for archetypical examp les of the Czech and S lovak stereotypes or images of each other, the "arroga nt atheists" and " ungrateful younger brothers" of the headlines were the first ideas about the Czech and S lovak images of each other that came to mind . Therefore, it came as a surprise that it was rather imposs ibl e to find any examples of the stereotype of the Czechs as dangerous atheists they are presented as being arrogant, though. The lack of proof of the idea that the Slovak image of the Czec hs would see them as atheists 0 -' Pierre Nora has formu lated thi s di st incti on be tween history and memory in terms of a fund amen tal opposi ti on . .. Memory is life [ ... ] a bond tying us to the etern al presen t[ ... ] it is affec ti ve and mag ica l l and] onl y accom modates th ose facts that suit it .'' whereas hi story is .. the reconstru cti on , al ways problematic and incomplete j ... I a representati on of the past I th at I ca ll s fo r analys is and criti cism' ' (Pierre Nora: "Between Memory and H istory: Les Lieux de M emoire" . Representations Vol 0, No. 26 Special Issue: M emory and Cou nter-M emory. Spring ( I 989) , 8-9). A less ri gid di stincti on has been pro posed by A nne Erikse n. who sees hi story and memory as being equally important aspec ts of the co llecti ve memory th at combine to create the entire co llec ti ve memory (A nne Eriksen: Del var nae annet under krigen. 2. verdenskrig i norsk kollektivtradisjon. (Oslo: Pax 1995). r,., Mihalikova: ·'Narodne symboly," 55. 65 In the literary newspapers the past was mobili zed more obviously and cru dely but not in a different way th an in mos t other newspapers. Thus, they serve well as illustrations of a process that was happening in the press in general. �SLOVAKIA 107 was fru strating , and it raised the question where thi s idea came from. It stemmed from the Christian Democratic Movement (Kresfansko De mokraticke Hnutie, KOH) , which, according to Miroslav Kusy , wanted to protect Slovakia from " des tructive liberal and freethinking influences from the Czech Lands." Besides, the stereotype had been used frequently in the interwar period , but the industrialization and urbanization of Slovakia since then had turned the mostly rural soc iety into one where Catholics did not necessarily consider their interests as Catholics to be more important than their economic and cultural conditions. 66 Also, as Petr Prfhod a has stated , the image of the Czechs as atheists was a well-known Czech stereotype of the Slovak view of them ,67 indirectly testifyin g to a Czech stereotype of the Slovaks as ' religiou s. ' 68 The image that eventually turned out to be the most pervasive was one of the Czechs as Czechoslovakist69 colonialists exploiting Slovakia. And as colonialists, they were described as arrogant in wanting to rule over Slovakia, even though they did not know it properly. It should be pointed out that the difficulty in having the stereo- '"' Miroslav Ku sy: ··S lovak Exceptionalism". in Musil (ed.): The End. 147- 149 . See also Martin Butora and Zora Butorova: " Slovakia: The Iden tit y Chal lenges of the Newly Born State". Socia l Research. Vol. 60. No. 4, Winter ( 1993). 7 13-7 14. and Sona Szomol anyi: UParadox kon zervativi zmu na Slovensku .'· Domino Efekt. Vol. 2. No. 15. ( 1993). 4. 67 Petr Prfhoda: '·Mutual Perceptions in Czech -Slovak Relationships•·, in: Musil (ed.) : The End. 134. "" Al so th e nationali sti c Slovak news paper ··s Jovak Nation·• (Slovensky mirod) was checked for the atheist image. but it could not be found even here . This probably reflects the fact that the image was propagated by the KDH . which was a quite unpopu lar part y those days among its non -ad herents. and whic h was often reproached in Slovensky mirod. 69 As a way of legitimising th e new Czechos lovak Republic in 19 18, the doctrine of one Czechoslovak nati on w ith two branche s. a Czech and a Slovak one. was propa gated to comp ly wi th the intention of president Woodrow Wilson to gi ve national self-determinat ion to the nations of Cen tral and Eastern Europe . The doctrine was officia ll y abandoned onl y afler World War II. �108 SLOVAKIA types co nfirmed did not co ncern the Czech newspaper, the se l fimage of the Czechs as 'rational' notwithstanding. 70 The most co mmonl y cited example of the Czech perception of the Slovaks as ungra tefu l yo unger brothers was an article by the writer Lud vfk Vaculfk in Literarnf noviny from 1990 entitled: " Our Slova k Questi on. " 7 1 The first thin g to be noticed about Vaculfk 's article is the co ndescending tone of the titl e: The Slovak questi on is ' our ' ques ti on, that is ' us' meaning the Czechs , not the Slovak s. 72 Vaculfk beg ins his arti cle by definin g himself as being Czech by nation ality, but Czechoslovak as a citi ze n, but he nevertheless repeatedl y speaks in the name of ' us, th e Czec hs,' whi ch substanti all y weakens hi s claim to being a truly Czechoslovak citizen. Throu ghout hi s tex t, Vaculfk uses exampl es from hi story to argue for a separati on from the Slo vaks. First, he bl ames the Slovaks for never having dealt with the fasc ism of their wartime state ( 19391945). They escaped thi s obligation by rejoining the Czechs in Czechos lovakia, and wh en, after a few yea rs, they were forced into a communi st regime, they did not reall y mind , si nce they ga ined a lot more economicall y from co mmuni sm than did the Czechs. There is no inner log ic between these two situati ons other th an th e fac t th at Vaculfk 's description of them makes the Slovaks look as if they have no principl es, going more or less direc tl y from accepting fascism to accepting co mmuni sm. He co ntinues by bl ami ng the Slovaks fo r prey ing on the Czech s' struggle for democracy in 1968, since th e only reform that survived the W arsaw Pac t in vas ion was the federali zation of the state, " When we in I 968 tri ed to free ourse lves from 70 L adis lav Holy : The Lillie Czech and the Gre<I/ Czech Na tion. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1996), 104. 71 72 " Nase slovenska otazka". Litenimf noviny (M ay 3, 1990). I +3 . Yacu l fk's titl e was in spired by the titl e of T.G. Masaryk ·s book ··The Czech Question" (C:eska otazka) from 1895 on the Czech rebirth in the 19th century and it outlined hi s po litica l progra mme for the Czech nati on. But where Masaryk treated his own nation. Yacu lfk by the use of the word ··our" implies th at the Czechs have a ri ght to objectify and defi ne the Slovaks. �SLOVAKIA 109 the dictatorship, the Slovaks regarded it as our business and went for autonomy. When we were then puni shed for the rebellion , they , because they had not compromised th emse lves very much with us, received a more gentle puni shment; and that their autonomy, which they gained from our rebellion , for us meant a sharpenin g of the punishment, does not cross their mind s." 73 When Vaculfk describes the Slovak ga in of autonomy as a sharpenin g of the puni shment for the Czechs , this testifies to hi s belief, not only in centralism , but also that the Czechs have the right to control Slovaki a. When employing these im ages he attempts to mobilize the Czech memory of the Slovaks as traitors both in 1938-39, when they ga ined their own state whereas the Czech lands were turned into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and in the Prague Spring of 1968. Later on Vaculfk contradicts his argument of th e Slovak sati sfaction with the communist regime by claiming that they left it to the Czechs to defeat the communists and then again brought up their claims for autonomy: "as if they thought: you brou ght us your communism, now you take it away again, Czechs! " 74 According to Vaculfk, the Slovaks, being objects rather than subjects of hi story, unlike the Czechs have always managed to escape the existential question: Who are we and what do we want? Thi s even counts for the Slovak National Uprising during World War II, which in Vaculfk 's view was too brief and too limited territoriall y to count as proof of Slovak pro-C zec hos lov ak ism. Vaculfk only mention s the anti-fascist element of the upri si ng and neg lects the fact that the leaders of the resistance movement clearly stated a wish to reunite with the Czechs after 73 " Kdyz jsme se v roce 1968 poku sili uvolnit se z diktatury , povazovali to Slovaci za nasi staro st a sli si za autonomif. K dyz my pak byli za vzpouru ztrestan i, oni , j elikoz se s nami moc nezkompromitovali, dostali mfrnejsf trest; a ze jejich autono- mie, kterou z nasf vzpoury vyzfska li , znamenala pro nas zostfenf trestu, to jim nenapada." 74 "jako by si mysleli: Privezli j ste nam sem v,is komuni smus, odvezte si ho zas, Cesi 1" - Many Slovaks after 1989 have pointed ou t that in 1946 40 % of th e Czechs voted com muni st, and only 30 % of the Slovaks, suggesting that comm uni sm was a predomi nantly Czech idea. �SLOVAKIA 110 th e wa r,75 whi c h was inco ns iste nt w ith hi s prev io us acc usati o ns aga inst the Slovak s fo r not hav ing co me to te rm s w ith the fasc ism of the ir wartime state . The first time Vaculfk mobili zes the " littl e brothe r" im age he c laims that the Slovak s, s ince they do not have a nybody else against whom to prove the ir adulthood , mi stake nl y tried it o ut on the Czechs. Later on he continues th at, afte r the fa ll of co mmuni sm, th e Sl ovak nation fin a ll y had the cha nce to start looking fo r its ow n happiness, by whi ch it would grow one more leve l. The most c rude exa mple of the im age comes w he n Vac ulfk re plies to Mil an Si mec ka, a Czec h write r li vin g in Slovaki a, who had w ritte n to the Czec hs th at the ir yo un ger brothe r had grow n up a nd now should ha ve hi s ow n bed. Vac ul fk 's repl y was as fo ll ows: "As we know our youn ger brothe r, he w ill want to have hi s bed by the window in the summer and by the ove n in the w inte r. No bed , littl e broth e r, ha ve yo ur o wn littl e ho use!" 76 And finall y, he li sts reaso ns why just now is the ri ght time to get rid of the Slovaks, one of whi c h is th at 70 years ago it wo uld have bee n interpreted as de ny ing he lp to the younger brother. Thus, Vac ulfk mobili zes the Czec h image of the ungrateful younger brother and the coll ective me mory of Slovak betrayal s to make hi s po int th at the Czec hs would be better off without the Slovaks. It is hard not to find Vac ulfk a bit patronizing, but hi s views we re not e xce pti onal a mong the Czec hs. In the articl e " Re lie f with a dec ision," 77 fo urteen intellectu als 78 agreed th at it was bette r to let the Slovaks go, if th at was what they wanted , so th at the Czec hs co uld stand as the true he irs of Czec hos lovaki a and thereby keep the name of the 75 See I.:.ubomir Liptak : S/ovensko v 20. storocf. (Brat islava : K all igram 2000), 25 1- 252. 76 ·'A le j ak mladsfho brat ffc ka zname, bude v lete chtft tu pos tylku u ok na a v zime u pece. Zadnou postylku, bra tfe. domecek mej si 1" 77 " Uleva z rozhodnutf" . L itenim f noviny June 18, 1992, I. 78 The article was signed by Ji ff K olar, K arel Siktanc, K arel Pecka, Lud vfk Yacul fk , V lad im ir K ar ffk , I van Werni sc h, Jan Lopatka, Sergej Mac honi n, Pfemys l Rut. Dusan K arpatsky, Yrati slav Farber, Ji ff Cies lar, Mi ros lav Kl omfnek, M ilan Jungmann, all men of literature. �SLOVAKIA 111 state. Se manti ca ll y, Czechoslovaki a w itho ut Slova ki a does not make muc h sense, but to the authors of the arti cle there was c learly anothe r aspect to Czechos lova ki a th an the territori al one. T he ir be li ef that Czechos lovak ia w ithout Slovaki a made sense indi cated that they pe rce ived th e Czech s as be in g in some undefin ed ma nner more trul y Czec hos lova k th an the Slovaks and that they reserved the ri ght to defin e the character of the co mmon state fo r the Czechs. Bes ides, they saw the diffe re nt res ults of the e lection s in June 1992 in the two parts of the country as an exampl e of the Czech desire fo r a free economy and po liti ca l de moc rac y on the o ne hand , and on the oth er of the Slovak longin g fo r a soc iety directed by the state a nd with e le me nts of nati onal soci ali sm. And they furth e rmore inte rpre ted the S lovak res ult as an ex press ion of a Slovak long ing fo r their own indepe nde nt state, in spite of the fac t th at th e onl y Slovak party with inde pe nde nce as part of its e lec ti on prog ramme was the Slova k Nati onal Party (Sl ovenska narodna strana, SNS), whi ch ga ined onl y 9.4 % of the votes in Slovakia.79 The arti cle was writte n in a tone th at sugges ted ne utrality and objecti vity, whil e the co nte nt was in fac t stron gly po le mi ca l. " If it is so that onl y e rectin g one's ow n state is the sign o f adulth ood and se lf-justifi cati on of a nation , we do not have reasons fo r counting it as a fa ilure a nd loss, what we since 19 18 have contributed to Slovaki a in that respect materi all y and mora ll y. The found ation of Czechos lova ki a co mpl eted the Czech nati o nal reawake nin g, and if the Slovaks today c ut the mse lves loose fro m us, it means th at they are still lac kin g somethin g to reac h the same pos iti on and consc iousness, and we do not have the ri ght to keep the m fro m that. " 80 In thi s argu- 79 K aren Henderson: T he Slovak Republic, in : Bogdan Szajkowsk i (ed.): Po litica l Parties of Eastern Europe. Russia & the Successor S tates. (Harlow: Longman In for- mati on and Reference 1994 ). 529. ' 0 ·'Je- li tom u tak, ze teprve ustave nf vlas tn fho statu je znamenfm dospe losti a sveprav nosti naroda, nemame duvod pocftat si za pro hru a ztratu , cfm jsme k tomu Slovensku od rok u 19 18 hmotne i moraine prispeli . Zalozenfm Ceskos lovenske republik y se dov rsilo ceske narodn f obroze nf, a j estli ze se Slovaci dnes od nas odpo- �SLOVAKIA 112 ment th e Slovaks are the ones cutting themselves loose because they want to 'g row up ' and become indepe ndent of the Czechs who have helped the m " materially and morally" ever s ince the foundation of the common state. "Let it be obvious that it is the Slovaks who step out of the federation, and that we the n are the successor state , which keeps its ob li gations, treaties and relation s to th e world around us. The Czech kingdom united hi storicall y with Moravia does not need to be confirmed once again by any Rome, Frankfurt or Vienna." 8 1 So, the Czech Lands are a hi storically natural unity , wh ich does not in any way need Slovakia. They cont inue: " Without artificia l nationalizing, all questions can be named and also so lved in a more rational way" 82 - again, they are suggesting that the Slovaks are irrational and nationalistic as opposed to the rational Czechs. The Slovak image of the Czechs was propagated no less directly . In a series of articles in Literarny tyidennfk entitled " If Slovakia wants to be Slovakia ... ,"83 the writer Mi lan Ferko treated severa l subjects concern ing Slovak autonomy or independence. He held that after th e parliamentary e lectio ns in June 1992 when Vl adimfr Meciar 's Movement for a Democratic S lovakia (Hnutie za demokraticke Slovensko, HZDS ) won in Slovakia, the Czechs finally began to understand that the Slovaks really wanted to be inde pendent, and stated, " Some Czech politicians are beg inning to abandon [ ... ] the pos ition of historical arrogance and eco nomic super iorit y." 84 He thereby confirmed the image of the arroga nt Czechs who wanted to jujf. znamena to, ze jim k tem uz stavu a vedomf jeste neco chybf. a my nemame pravo je od toho zdrfovat." 81 "At' se stane zrejmym, ze jsou to Slovaci. kdo vystupujf z federace. a my pak jsme nastupni cky stat. jen z zus tane ve svych zavazcfch , sm lou vach a vztazfch k okolnfmu svetu. Ceske kralovstvf spoj ene hi storick y s Moravou se nepotre buje davat zadnym Rfmem. Frankfurtem ci Vfdnf znovu potvrzovat. " 82 .. Bez 83 " Ak Slovensko chce byt'Slovenskom .. ... 84 " Niektorf cesk f politici zacfnaju opu stat' [ .. . J pozfcie historickej arogancie a ekono- umeleho nacionalizovanf dajf se vsechny otazky pojmenovat i resi t vecneji ." mickej nadradenost i." " Ak Slovensko chce byt' Slovenskom ..." Vil. Literarny dennik June 27. 1992, 12. tyz- �SLOVAKIA 113 keep the Slovaks in an inferior position and he continued, " With the help of international financial superpowers , Prague decided about the fate of Slovakia, which has to remain in a vassal relationship to the Czech Lands." 85 According to Ferko, the Slovak government had also become arrogant, and the politicians of Public Again st Violence (Verejnost' proti nasiliu , VPN) had become " slaves of Prague' s neocolonial relationship to Slovakia" 86 and sought " to continue to infiltrate into the Slovak political life ideas of Masaryki sm and cosmopolitani sm in the fra mework of which there is no place for the Slovak nation. " 87 T.G. Masaryk was the first president of Czechos lovakia , and Czech s and Slovaks have very di ss imilar view s of him . To the Czechs he epitomizes democracy , whereas many Slovaks see him as the representative of the state ideology of the First Republic ( 19181938), the Czechoslovakism, according to which Czec hs and Slovaks were two branches of the same Czechoslovak nation . Many Slovaks belie ve that Czechoslovaki sm suppressed their national identity, and their view of the First Republic and of Masaryk is influenced by thi s negative vie w of the state ideology. The Slovak view of Masaryk is also tainted by the fact that in 1918 he signed an agreement with a group of Czech and Slovak emigres in Pittsburgh , according to which Slovakia was promi sed some form of autonomy in the new Czechoslovak state. For variou s reason s thi s promise was never fulfill ed,88 and thi s has left an impression among some Slovaks that Masaryk and the Czechs delibe ratel y broke their promi ses becau se xs -- Pra ha pros tred nfctvom medzin arod nyc h fin ancnych ve l'mocf rozhod la o osude Sl ovenska, ktore ma zostat' vo vaza lskom pomere k Cecham." Ak Slovensko chce byt' Slovenskom ... VI. Literam y tyidennik M ay 23, 1992, 3. 86 " ''otrokmi prazs keho neokolonialisti ckeho vztahu k Slovensku. " Ibid. 7 " d'alej in f iltrovat' do slovenskeho politickeho zivota myslienk y masaryki zmu a kozmopoliti zmu , v ramci ktoryc h niet miesta pre slovensky narod."' Ibid. 88 Part of the reason why Sl ovaki a was not granted autonomy was th at in the new Czechos lovak state there was a Germ an mi nority of the same size as th e Slovak popul ati on. and if the Sl ovaks had gained autonomy it wo uld have been very di fficult to find a va lid argument why the Germ ans should not have autonomy, too. �SLOVAKJA 114 th ey wished to maintain the ir control ove r Slovakia. Furthermore, whe n Ferko attacked Masaryk it wen t to the very heart of the Czech se lf-understandin g and co uld serve as proof to the Czec hs that the Slovaks did not rea ll y understand what democracy was a ll about. Anoth er im age from hi story that Ferko mobilizes is the Slovak wartime state , whi c h he presents as hav in g raised ge nera l Slovak se lf-co nsc iou sness, the spirit of e nterpri se, a nd the will to be equa l with the rest of the world . 89 Thi s is a totally different im age of the Slovak State than the one propagated by Vac ul fk who saw it only as a sy mbol of fascism , with which the Slo va ks had still not dealt. To Ferko the fa sc ism of the state was less sig nificant than the fac t th at it was Slovak. According to him , the e lect io ns in Jun e 1992 showed that neo-fasc ist te nde nci es were growing in oth er parts of Czec hoslovak ia, but not in Slovakia - leavi ng o nl y the Czec h land s infected wi th it. 911 He re, Ferko turn s Vaculfk 's accusation of the Slovaks' lac k of se ttleme nt w ith the wart ime fascism aga in st the Czechs - poss ibl y beca use he was aware that hi s arg ume nt was not very solid. In the very last issue of Literarny tyidennfk before the partiti o n, Vladimfr Min ac (one of Slovakia 's lead in g writers) propagated hi s less than pos iti ve im age of the Czec hs: "God save us from learning from the Czec hs the e mpty ideo log ica l rhetoric , the spl e ndid mora1ity, whi ch is limited to word s, the Have l-like e mptiness, which hides in itse lf o nl y a mad dwarf. " 9 1 In ridi c ulin g Vaclav Have l, Min ac insulted anothe r icon of the Czec h se lf-unders tandin g: Have l as the successor to Masaryk as the good philosopher-pres ide nt. And he was co mpl ete ly aware of thi s w he n he mentioned the myth of Masaryk 's '" Ferko: "'Ak Slovensko .. . VII ". ° Ferko 9 wi th out doubt hints at th e amazing elec ti on results or the Czec h Miroslav Sl,1dek ' s neo-fasc ist Republi ca n Party, which gained over 6 % of the votes in the Czech lands (Peter Bugge : The Czech Republi c, in: Szajkowsk i (ed.): Politica l Parties. 158- 159). "' " Bozec hrai\ , aby sme sa naucil i od Cechov prazdnej idologickej retorike. onej skvelej moralke, ktora sa obm edzuje na slova. onej hav lovskej prazdnote. ktora utaj uje v sebe iba zuriveho trpas lfka."' " Odkiar a kam , Slovaci 'I" ("Wherefrom and whereto, Slovaks?") Literamy tyi dennfk Dec. 19, 1992 , 11 . �SLOVAKIA 115 model democracy and deemed it " shrieking Bohemian glass in the necklace of the legend" 92 - instead of being real jewels, that is. When dismi ss ing the first Czechoslovak Republic like this, Mimic reflected the views of one-third of the Slovak populace, which did not consider it democratic, but in opposition to the majority of the Czech population, 93 and so he , like Yaculfk, invoked the collective memory in order to create an impression of Czech-Slovak incompatibility. Furthermore, Mimic painted a picture of the First Republic as a time when many Czechs came to Slovakia allegedly to help build it, but when they taught in school s at all level s, they taught Czechos lovak instead of Slovak, and when they founded the Slovak National Theatre , it was in reality one more Czech National Theatre. So the Czechs did not help out of pure brotherly sacrifice, but out of a desire to turn the Slovaks into Czechs. Later, Mimic reproduced the stereotype of the Czechs as being arrogant enough to want to decide over Slovakia without the appropriate understanding: " Again and again they go into political battle with the Slovaks with the same reproaches and with the sa me lack of knowledge of the Slovak world. They still tutor, still look after and protect in the way that every coloniali st has protected hi s colony. " 94 He re , the image of the Czechs as malevolent colonialists was used to create the impress ion that a veritable war was being waged between the evil Czech politicians and the Slovak people-and not onl y this: 9 ' 93 skrfpajuce ces ke skl o v mi hrdelnfku legendy. 37 % of th e Slovaks and 70 % of the Czechs sa w th e First Republi c as a model democracy. whereas anoth er 33 % of th e Slovaks did not think it was democrati c at all. (Marian Timorack y : Yerejna mienka o ce sko-slovenskych vztahoch. in: Fedor Gal (ed. ): One.for krize cesko-slovenskych vztaht1. (Praha: SLON 1992), 8 1-82 . Thi s probabl y refl ec ts th e Sl ovak res istance aga inst M asaryk ·s Czechos lovaki sm. which Ferko attacked, too. "" ·· v zdy znovu a znov u tiahnu do politickeho zapasu so Slo vakmi s tymi istyrni vycitkami a s tou istou neznalostbu slovenskeho sveta. Stale tutorcia, stale opatruju a ochrai\uju tak, ako kazdy kol oni ali sta ochrai\ova l svoju kol 6niu. " '·Odki al' a karn , Slovac i?" Litenirny tyidennlk Dec. 19, 1992, 11. �116 SLOVAKIA betwee n the Czech and Slovak worlds. 95 By portraying Czechs and Slovaks as living in different worlds , Minac made the partition of the common state look natural and desirab le as it enabled the small Slovak nation to fulfil its destiny as an authentic small nation facing the threatening international consumer society. And he concluded, " Behind us stay the o ld enmities and mi sunderstandin gs, a serva nt 's conflicts and rebellion s. Before us is our new di gnity." 96 As thi s ana lysis has shown , the Czech and Slovak collective memories were used to explain the differences between Czechs and Slovaks and to legitimize the break-up. Thi s way of usin g the past was made poss ible by the hu ge soc ietal changes since the Ve lvet Revolution in 1989. When communism fe ll , there was a broadly felt need to rewrite history in order to get rid of the ideolog ica ll y deformed historical interpretation s of the communists and thi s led to two different phenomena. On the one hand , the new situ at ion led to an uncovering of 'wh ite spots ' in the hi story of the Czechs and Slovaks. On the other, thi s rewriting made room for new deformations of history. Silvia Mihalikova has described this phenome non , which was common for the entire post-communi st world, as a use of arguments from the past according to a principle of se lf-service: people simply chose the historical facts, persons, and conceptions that suited their momentary purposes. 97 95 Thi s image of the Czechs and Slovaks li ving in different worlds was shared by at least the Czech political weekly, Respekt, whose front page of the elect ion issue in 1992 read in large red letters 'Two civi li za ti ons" and conti nued in the main comment: "A lone into Europe or toge ther to the Balkans" ( Respekt June 8-14, I 992, I ). See Peter Bugge : The Use of the Middle: Mitteleuropa vs. Strednf Evropa. In : European Review of History , Vol. 6. No. I . 1999, 30-3 1 and Vladimir Macura: Masarykovy boty a jine semi(o) fejetony. (Praha: Prazska imagin ace 1993). 48-49 for a further elaborat ion of the Czech imaging of the Slovaks as belonging to the Balkans . % " Za nami ostavaju stare nepriatel'stva a nedorozumenia, sluhovs ke spory a vzbury . Pred nami je nasa nova d6stojnost'. " " Odkial' a kam . Slovaci ?" Literarny tj idennfk Dec. 19. 1992. 11. 97 Mihalikova: Narodne symboly, 54-56. �SLOVAKIA 117 The se lf-serv ice aspec t of the use of hi story was supported by the communist ideo logization of the culture, includin g the schools. The hi story that had been to ld by the regime and taught in sc hool s was perce ived as inh erentl y wrong , and therefore , as Tony Judt has argued, a plurality of memories was created when parents told their children what hi story was ' reall y' like. Every hi story that was told by the reg ime was by implication fa lse, which meant th at every hi story not to ld by the regime mu st by implication be true. 98 This was the reason, not onl y for the very different Czec h and Slovak collective memories, but also for the overa ll low level of knowl edge about and reflection on the nation al hi story. Key period s in Czechoslovak hi story co ncernin g the mutual Czech-Slovak relation ship can be li sted as follows : I) the First Republic 19 I 8- 1938, 2) the destruction of Czechoslovakia and th e creati on of the Slovak State durin g World War II, 3) the Slovak National Uprising against the fascists in 1944, 4) the Prague Spring in 1968, 5) the Normalization 1969-1 989. When lookin g at the articles that we have analysed here, it is c lear that Vaculfk employed al l of them. In hi s interpretation : the First Rep ublic was a time when the Czechs he lped the ir un grateful younger brothers; the Slovak State came into bein g when the Slovaks betrayed the Czechs; the Slovak National Upri sin g was not necessaril y for a renewal of Czechoslovakia; in the Prague Spring the Slovaks preyed on the Czech strugg le for democracy; and durin g Norma li zati on the Slovaks suffered less than the Czec hs. In the same vei n, Mil an Ferko and Vladimfr Mimic invoked the Slovak collective memory of the First Republic as a period of Czechoslovakism th at did not properly ack now ledge the character and needs of the Slovaks, and the Czechs did what they could to turn the Slovaks into Czec hs. The reason why Ferko and Mimic both used thi s period probabl y lay in the fact th at Czechoslovakism was the 'state ideo logy' of the First Rep ublic , which made it easy to attack 9 ' Tony Judt: The Past is Another Cou ntry : Myth and Memory in Postwar Europe , in: Dcedalus. Vol. 21. No. 4, 1992, I OI. �SLOVAK IA 118 Czech arrogance towards the Slovaks. As opposed to this , the legacy of all the other significant periods seemed in some way or another too ambiguous to be exp loited from Minac ' s and Ferko ' s points of view. 99 This reflects the fact that Czechs and Slovaks not on ly experienced the events differently at the time, but also that their memories of them today are very different. And this then shows us that the socia li zation of the population ' s memories since 1918 was not successful in providing the two nations with a common co ll ective memory of the past that they shared as parts of the same state. In stead, those who after 1989 wished to do otherwise were ab le, like Vaculfk, Minac , Ferko, and others, to mobilize conflicts from the past and link them together regardless of any inner logic and chrono logy. They painted a picture of a basic Czech-Slovak incompatibility and a common history consisting of conflicts, betrayals, and wrongdoings that made a divorce look c learly preferable to a continued malfunctionin g marriage. 100 In Slovakia, the discu ss ions about the common history of the Czechs and the Slovaks became polarized to the degree that two directly opposite interpretations were propagated. The relevant criterion for arguments became the question whether the common state had been favourable or disadvantageous to the Slovaks. 101 Slovak so99 The Slovak State was fascist: the National Uprising was directed aga in st the inde- pendent Slovak State; resu lting from th e Prague Spring was th e federalism that Ferko and Minac fo ught aga inst but which neverth eless meant progress in th e Czech-Slovak relationship; and Normalization was not see n as too bad a period for th e Slovaks . ' 00 The metaphor of the marriage was also frequently used in the debate, see e.g. Miroslav Ku sy : '·Konfederacnf k lam·• (""Confederation delusion'"). Literarnf no viny Aug. 6. 1992. 1+3. 0 ' ' Mihalikova: Narodne symboly, 58. An ex traordinary feature of th e Slovak contex t was the fact that very ac tive participants in the debate were exi les like Stefan Polakovic or Milan S. Durica. who either had been in ex ile ever since World War II beca use of their ro le in the Slovak State or they came from thi s environment. They saw as their greatest task res torin g Slovak independence from th e Czechs and seemed not to reali ze that Slovak society had changed since their heyday during the �SLOVAKIA 119 ciety was to a very large ex tent di vided over interpretations of hi story , the nature of Slovak nation al identity, and wishes for the future, and in fact the Slovaks who engaged in the de bates on the CzechSlovak past spent as much or even more energy blaming eac h other, rather than blaming the Czechs. 102 In contrast to thi s deep divi sion , the Czechs may have disagreed on many thing s, but by and large there was unanimity concerning subjects such as these. In the Czech debate, the efforts to create a separate Czech state grad uall y came to be seen as a way of guardin g Kl aus' rapid economic reform s from the " irrati o nal" Slovaks a nd Czech democracy from the alleged Slovak inclin ation to national soc iali sm and a stron g state, images which were mobili zed by the frequent use of exa mples from the Czech collective me mory. It is furthermore interesting that an opinion poll in October of 1990 showed that more than 50 % of the Czechs believed in the idea of one Czechoslovak nation . 1w While most Czechs and Slovaks perce ived of them se lves as be in g simultaneously Czechoslovaks and e ithe r Czechs or Slovaks, most Czechs, who unconsciously conceived of the two layers of the ir identification as being identical , had never paid much attention to the conce pt of a Czech identification as be in g different from their ide ntific ation as Czechoslovaks. Most Slovaks , on the other hand , were very much aware that there was a difference between their Slovak and their Czechoslovak identification . 104 Whe n the newspaper debates invoked the war. In co ntrast to the hi stori ans who had li ved throu gh the communi st period at home and those who had been in exile becau se of their di sagreements with the co mmuni st regime. thi s group of hi storians saw nothing but disadvantages for the Slovaks in the com mon Czechos lovak Republic. 102 According to Soiia Szomolanyi. different perceptions of key fi gures and events in Slovak history not onl y divided . but outri ght polari zed th e population (Szomo lany i 1994 : 76). '"' Timoracky : Yerejna mienka. 7 1-72. ' 04 Thi s was strengthened by th e asy mmetri ca l conditi ons after 19 I 8. e.g. when in school tex tbooks Czech hi story was made Czechos lovak simply by adding " slovak" to th e adjec ti ve (E li sabeth Bakke: Cechoslovak izmu s v skol skych uceb ni ciach ( 19 18- 1938). Historicky casopis. Vo l. 47. o 2. 1999: 242-243) or when on ly the �120 SLOVAKIA past, it happened in a way that mobili zed images that em phasized the differences rather than the s imil ariti es between th e tw o nation a l groups. In thi s way the Czech and Slovak layers of the Czec hoslovak population 's identifi cat ion were stre ngthened to the detriment of the Czechoslovak layer. And the di scre pancy that was mob ili zed between the Czech and Slovak images of themselves, the other, and the future of the common state is undoubted ly part of the answer to the question why the common Czechoslovak state eventually broke up. Slovaks had their own Communist Party (KSS) whereas the Czechos lovak Communist Party (KSC) served both as the Czech and the all-state party. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2005, Vol. 38 Description An account of the resource Vol. 38 (No. 70-71), 2005. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2005 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 104 SLOVAKIA "Ungrateful Younger Brothers" versus "Arrogant Atheists." Czech-Slovak Stereotypes in a Collective Memory Perspective. Lone Sarauw On January I , 1993 , Czechoslovakia was divided in a process that has been characterized as a "vel vet divorce. " 56 Compared to the ways in which other post-communi st states were fa lling apart at the time, thi s seems a va lid description . However , the split was ca used by severe confli cts betwee n the two parts of the state. Scholars have given a number of reasons for the di vo rce : I ) The Czech desire for democracy and a market economy clashed with Slovak insistence upon nati onal eq uality. 57 2) Despite grow ing macro-structu ra l simil ariti es, one Czechoslovak soc iety never managed to replace the Czech and Slovak soc ieti es that had been brought together in a com mon state. 58 3) Th e w inners of the parli amentary elec tion s in 1992, th e Sl ovak Vl adimfr Meciar and the Czech V aclav Kl aus, were unabl e to 56 See Otto U lc: "C zechos lovak ia' s ve l vet divorce. " East European Quarterly 30. September ( 1996). pp. 33 1-352. 57 5 " Ibid. Ji ff Mu sil : '"C zec h and Slovak Soc iety." in Jiff Mu sil (ed.): Th e End or Czechoslova kia (Budapest. L ondon, New York: Central European University Press 1995). 77-94. SLOVAKIA 105 come to te rm s w ith the constitutional arrangement of Czechoslovakia, beca use they were unwillin g to put the interests of the common state before their own power ambi tions. 59 And more co uld be found. As a contrib uti on to the debate over the break-up, thi s artic le inte nd s to look at th e role of stereotypes and collective memory in it, the argument being that hi story was mobili zed in the media de bates prior to the partition , and that it happe ned in a way that en hanced the di ffere nces rather than the likenesses of the two peopl es.60 As a result of thi s th e population graduall y came to accept the partition of the common state, even if the majority of the population never supported it. 6 1 The concept "collective me mory" has been defi ned as "a soc iety 's co ll ected production of me mory," 62 whi ch suppli es the soc iety with a fee ling of belong ing together by sharing the same past. One of the probl e ms in Czec hoslovakia seems to have bee n the lack of such a feelin g of sharing the same past in both halves of the state. Despite the fact that, apart from World W ar II , Czechs and Slovaks lived together in one state between 19 18 and I 993 , their co ll ective me mories of this li fe together differ to a considerab le ex tent. 59 Abby Innes: ·'T he Breakup of Czechos lovakia: The Impac t of Party Development on the Separa ti on of the State," East European Politics and Societies (EEPS) , Vol. I I , No. 3, Fall ( 1997), 393-435 . 60 Si l via Mihali kova: •• arod ne symbo ly slovenskej statnosti", Politologicka revue 2, prosinec, ( 1996), 56. 61 An opi ni on poll from Jul y 1992 shows th at 53 % of the Czechs and 42 % of the Slovaks w ished lo maintain th e co mmon state. whi le respecti ve ly 24 % and 32 % w ished the slate to be divided (Sharon W olchi k : ·The Politics of Transition and th e Break-U p of Czec hos lova ki a," in Ji ff Musi l (ed .): Th e End of' Czechos lova kia. (Budapest : Centra l European Universi ty Press 1995 , 233). 62 Claus Bry ld and Anette Warrin g: Besaette/sestiden som kollektiv erindring. Histo- rie- og traditionsfor va llning at' krig og besaettelse 1945- 1997. (Rosk ilde: Rosk ilde Uni versitetsforlag 1998), 19-20. 106 SLOVAKIA In the medi a debates in the peri od leading up to the break-up of C zec hos lovakia hi story , or rather memory ,63 was mobi Ii zed as proof of the inevitability and desirability of the divorce. Because thi s was the aim of the partic ipants of the debate, chrono logy was irre levant and hi story became ' hori zontali zed ' so to speak. As Silvia Mi halikova has formulated it, "osten sible or rea l sins committed centuries ago merge with wrongs done in th e last decades and are at the same time th e reaso n for today 's mi sunderstandin gs and hatred."64 Thus, the mobilization of past conflicts e nabl ed the two nation s to blame eac h other for their current probl ems, which is wh at thi s article intend s to show using examples from the literary newspapers of th e Czech Land s and Slovakia, Literarnf noviny and Literarny tyi- dennik,65 prior to the break-up. Wh en looking for archetypical examp les of the Czech and S lovak stereotypes or images of each other, the "arroga nt atheists" and " ungrateful younger brothers" of the headlines were the first ideas about the Czech and S lovak images of each other that came to mind . Therefore, it came as a surprise that it was rather imposs ibl e to find any examples of the stereotype of the Czechs as dangerous atheists they are presented as being arrogant, though. The lack of proof of the idea that the Slovak image of the Czec hs would see them as atheists 0 -' Pierre Nora has formu lated thi s di st incti on be tween history and memory in terms of a fund amen tal opposi ti on . .. Memory is life [ ... ] a bond tying us to the etern al presen t[ ... ] it is affec ti ve and mag ica l l and] onl y accom modates th ose facts that suit it .'' whereas hi story is .. the reconstru cti on , al ways problematic and incomplete j ... I a representati on of the past I th at I ca ll s fo r analys is and criti cism' ' (Pierre Nora: "Between Memory and H istory: Les Lieux de M emoire" . Representations Vol 0, No. 26 Special Issue: M emory and Cou nter-M emory. Spring ( I 989) , 8-9). A less ri gid di stincti on has been pro posed by A nne Erikse n. who sees hi story and memory as being equally important aspec ts of the co llecti ve memory th at combine to create the entire co llec ti ve memory (A nne Eriksen: Del var nae annet under krigen. 2. verdenskrig i norsk kollektivtradisjon. (Oslo: Pax 1995). r,., Mihalikova: ·'Narodne symboly," 55. 65 In the literary newspapers the past was mobili zed more obviously and cru dely but not in a different way th an in mos t other newspapers. Thus, they serve well as illustrations of a process that was happening in the press in general. SLOVAKIA 107 was fru strating , and it raised the question where thi s idea came from. It stemmed from the Christian Democratic Movement (Kresfansko De mokraticke Hnutie, KOH) , which, according to Miroslav Kusy , wanted to protect Slovakia from " des tructive liberal and freethinking influences from the Czech Lands." Besides, the stereotype had been used frequently in the interwar period , but the industrialization and urbanization of Slovakia since then had turned the mostly rural soc iety into one where Catholics did not necessarily consider their interests as Catholics to be more important than their economic and cultural conditions. 66 Also, as Petr Prfhod a has stated , the image of the Czechs as atheists was a well-known Czech stereotype of the Slovak view of them ,67 indirectly testifyin g to a Czech stereotype of the Slovaks as ' religiou s. ' 68 The image that eventually turned out to be the most pervasive was one of the Czechs as Czechoslovakist69 colonialists exploiting Slovakia. And as colonialists, they were described as arrogant in wanting to rule over Slovakia, even though they did not know it properly. It should be pointed out that the difficulty in having the stereo- '"' Miroslav Ku sy: ··S lovak Exceptionalism". in Musil (ed.): The End. 147- 149 . See also Martin Butora and Zora Butorova: " Slovakia: The Iden tit y Chal lenges of the Newly Born State". Socia l Research. Vol. 60. No. 4, Winter ( 1993). 7 13-7 14. and Sona Szomol anyi: UParadox kon zervativi zmu na Slovensku .'· Domino Efekt. Vol. 2. No. 15. ( 1993). 4. 67 Petr Prfhoda: '·Mutual Perceptions in Czech -Slovak Relationships•·, in: Musil (ed.) : The End. 134. "" Al so th e nationali sti c Slovak news paper ··s Jovak Nation·• (Slovensky mirod) was checked for the atheist image. but it could not be found even here . This probably reflects the fact that the image was propagated by the KDH . which was a quite unpopu lar part y those days among its non -ad herents. and whic h was often reproached in Slovensky mirod. 69 As a way of legitimising th e new Czechos lovak Republic in 19 18, the doctrine of one Czechoslovak nati on w ith two branche s. a Czech and a Slovak one. was propa gated to comp ly wi th the intention of president Woodrow Wilson to gi ve national self-determinat ion to the nations of Cen tral and Eastern Europe . The doctrine was officia ll y abandoned onl y afler World War II. 108 SLOVAKIA types co nfirmed did not co ncern the Czech newspaper, the se l fimage of the Czechs as 'rational' notwithstanding. 70 The most co mmonl y cited example of the Czech perception of the Slovaks as ungra tefu l yo unger brothers was an article by the writer Lud vfk Vaculfk in Literarnf noviny from 1990 entitled: " Our Slova k Questi on. " 7 1 The first thin g to be noticed about Vaculfk 's article is the co ndescending tone of the titl e: The Slovak questi on is ' our ' ques ti on, that is ' us' meaning the Czechs , not the Slovak s. 72 Vaculfk beg ins his arti cle by definin g himself as being Czech by nation ality, but Czechoslovak as a citi ze n, but he nevertheless repeatedl y speaks in the name of ' us, th e Czec hs,' whi ch substanti all y weakens hi s claim to being a truly Czechoslovak citizen. Throu ghout hi s tex t, Vaculfk uses exampl es from hi story to argue for a separati on from the Slo vaks. First, he bl ames the Slovaks for never having dealt with the fasc ism of their wartime state ( 19391945). They escaped thi s obligation by rejoining the Czechs in Czechos lovakia, and wh en, after a few yea rs, they were forced into a communi st regime, they did not reall y mind , si nce they ga ined a lot more economicall y from co mmuni sm than did the Czechs. There is no inner log ic between these two situati ons other th an th e fac t th at Vaculfk 's description of them makes the Slovaks look as if they have no principl es, going more or less direc tl y from accepting fascism to accepting co mmuni sm. He co ntinues by bl ami ng the Slovaks fo r prey ing on the Czech s' struggle for democracy in 1968, since th e only reform that survived the W arsaw Pac t in vas ion was the federali zation of the state, " When we in I 968 tri ed to free ourse lves from 70 L adis lav Holy : The Lillie Czech and the Gre<I/ Czech Na tion. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1996), 104. 71 72 " Nase slovenska otazka". Litenimf noviny (M ay 3, 1990). I +3 . Yacu l fk's titl e was in spired by the titl e of T.G. Masaryk ·s book ··The Czech Question" (C:eska otazka) from 1895 on the Czech rebirth in the 19th century and it outlined hi s po litica l progra mme for the Czech nati on. But where Masaryk treated his own nation. Yacu lfk by the use of the word ··our" implies th at the Czechs have a ri ght to objectify and defi ne the Slovaks. SLOVAKIA 109 the dictatorship, the Slovaks regarded it as our business and went for autonomy. When we were then puni shed for the rebellion , they , because they had not compromised th emse lves very much with us, received a more gentle puni shment; and that their autonomy, which they gained from our rebellion , for us meant a sharpenin g of the punishment, does not cross their mind s." 73 When Vaculfk describes the Slovak ga in of autonomy as a sharpenin g of the puni shment for the Czechs , this testifies to hi s belief, not only in centralism , but also that the Czechs have the right to control Slovaki a. When employing these im ages he attempts to mobilize the Czech memory of the Slovaks as traitors both in 1938-39, when they ga ined their own state whereas the Czech lands were turned into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and in the Prague Spring of 1968. Later on Vaculfk contradicts his argument of th e Slovak sati sfaction with the communist regime by claiming that they left it to the Czechs to defeat the communists and then again brought up their claims for autonomy: "as if they thought: you brou ght us your communism, now you take it away again, Czechs! " 74 According to Vaculfk, the Slovaks, being objects rather than subjects of hi story, unlike the Czechs have always managed to escape the existential question: Who are we and what do we want? Thi s even counts for the Slovak National Uprising during World War II, which in Vaculfk 's view was too brief and too limited territoriall y to count as proof of Slovak pro-C zec hos lov ak ism. Vaculfk only mention s the anti-fascist element of the upri si ng and neg lects the fact that the leaders of the resistance movement clearly stated a wish to reunite with the Czechs after 73 " Kdyz jsme se v roce 1968 poku sili uvolnit se z diktatury , povazovali to Slovaci za nasi staro st a sli si za autonomif. K dyz my pak byli za vzpouru ztrestan i, oni , j elikoz se s nami moc nezkompromitovali, dostali mfrnejsf trest; a ze jejich autono- mie, kterou z nasf vzpoury vyzfska li , znamenala pro nas zostfenf trestu, to jim nenapada." 74 "jako by si mysleli: Privezli j ste nam sem v,is komuni smus, odvezte si ho zas, Cesi 1" - Many Slovaks after 1989 have pointed ou t that in 1946 40 % of th e Czechs voted com muni st, and only 30 % of the Slovaks, suggesting that comm uni sm was a predomi nantly Czech idea. SLOVAKIA 110 th e wa r,75 whi c h was inco ns iste nt w ith hi s prev io us acc usati o ns aga inst the Slovak s fo r not hav ing co me to te rm s w ith the fasc ism of the ir wartime state . The first time Vaculfk mobili zes the " littl e brothe r" im age he c laims that the Slovak s, s ince they do not have a nybody else against whom to prove the ir adulthood , mi stake nl y tried it o ut on the Czechs. Later on he continues th at, afte r the fa ll of co mmuni sm, th e Sl ovak nation fin a ll y had the cha nce to start looking fo r its ow n happiness, by whi ch it would grow one more leve l. The most c rude exa mple of the im age comes w he n Vac ulfk re plies to Mil an Si mec ka, a Czec h write r li vin g in Slovaki a, who had w ritte n to the Czec hs th at the ir yo un ger brothe r had grow n up a nd now should ha ve hi s ow n bed. Vac ul fk 's repl y was as fo ll ows: "As we know our youn ger brothe r, he w ill want to have hi s bed by the window in the summer and by the ove n in the w inte r. No bed , littl e broth e r, ha ve yo ur o wn littl e ho use!" 76 And finall y, he li sts reaso ns why just now is the ri ght time to get rid of the Slovaks, one of whi c h is th at 70 years ago it wo uld have bee n interpreted as de ny ing he lp to the younger brother. Thus, Vac ulfk mobili zes the Czec h image of the ungrateful younger brother and the coll ective me mory of Slovak betrayal s to make hi s po int th at the Czec hs would be better off without the Slovaks. It is hard not to find Vac ulfk a bit patronizing, but hi s views we re not e xce pti onal a mong the Czec hs. In the articl e " Re lie f with a dec ision," 77 fo urteen intellectu als 78 agreed th at it was bette r to let the Slovaks go, if th at was what they wanted , so th at the Czec hs co uld stand as the true he irs of Czec hos lovaki a and thereby keep the name of the 75 See I.:.ubomir Liptak : S/ovensko v 20. storocf. (Brat islava : K all igram 2000), 25 1- 252. 76 ·'A le j ak mladsfho brat ffc ka zname, bude v lete chtft tu pos tylku u ok na a v zime u pece. Zadnou postylku, bra tfe. domecek mej si 1" 77 " Uleva z rozhodnutf" . L itenim f noviny June 18, 1992, I. 78 The article was signed by Ji ff K olar, K arel Siktanc, K arel Pecka, Lud vfk Yacul fk , V lad im ir K ar ffk , I van Werni sc h, Jan Lopatka, Sergej Mac honi n, Pfemys l Rut. Dusan K arpatsky, Yrati slav Farber, Ji ff Cies lar, Mi ros lav Kl omfnek, M ilan Jungmann, all men of literature. SLOVAKIA 111 state. Se manti ca ll y, Czechoslovaki a w itho ut Slova ki a does not make muc h sense, but to the authors of the arti cle there was c learly anothe r aspect to Czechos lova ki a th an the territori al one. T he ir be li ef that Czechos lovak ia w ithout Slovaki a made sense indi cated that they pe rce ived th e Czech s as be in g in some undefin ed ma nner more trul y Czec hos lova k th an the Slovaks and that they reserved the ri ght to defin e the character of the co mmon state fo r the Czechs. Bes ides, they saw the diffe re nt res ults of the e lection s in June 1992 in the two parts of the country as an exampl e of the Czech desire fo r a free economy and po liti ca l de moc rac y on the o ne hand , and on the oth er of the Slovak longin g fo r a soc iety directed by the state a nd with e le me nts of nati onal soci ali sm. And they furth e rmore inte rpre ted the S lovak res ult as an ex press ion of a Slovak long ing fo r their own indepe nde nt state, in spite of the fac t th at th e onl y Slovak party with inde pe nde nce as part of its e lec ti on prog ramme was the Slova k Nati onal Party (Sl ovenska narodna strana, SNS), whi ch ga ined onl y 9.4 % of the votes in Slovakia.79 The arti cle was writte n in a tone th at sugges ted ne utrality and objecti vity, whil e the co nte nt was in fac t stron gly po le mi ca l. " If it is so that onl y e rectin g one's ow n state is the sign o f adulth ood and se lf-justifi cati on of a nation , we do not have reasons fo r counting it as a fa ilure a nd loss, what we since 19 18 have contributed to Slovaki a in that respect materi all y and mora ll y. The found ation of Czechos lova ki a co mpl eted the Czech nati o nal reawake nin g, and if the Slovaks today c ut the mse lves loose fro m us, it means th at they are still lac kin g somethin g to reac h the same pos iti on and consc iousness, and we do not have the ri ght to keep the m fro m that. " 80 In thi s argu- 79 K aren Henderson: T he Slovak Republic, in : Bogdan Szajkowsk i (ed.): Po litica l Parties of Eastern Europe. Russia & the Successor S tates. (Harlow: Longman In for- mati on and Reference 1994 ). 529. ' 0 ·'Je- li tom u tak, ze teprve ustave nf vlas tn fho statu je znamenfm dospe losti a sveprav nosti naroda, nemame duvod pocftat si za pro hru a ztratu , cfm jsme k tomu Slovensku od rok u 19 18 hmotne i moraine prispeli . Zalozenfm Ceskos lovenske republik y se dov rsilo ceske narodn f obroze nf, a j estli ze se Slovaci dnes od nas odpo- SLOVAKIA 112 ment th e Slovaks are the ones cutting themselves loose because they want to 'g row up ' and become indepe ndent of the Czechs who have helped the m " materially and morally" ever s ince the foundation of the common state. "Let it be obvious that it is the Slovaks who step out of the federation, and that we the n are the successor state , which keeps its ob li gations, treaties and relation s to th e world around us. The Czech kingdom united hi storicall y with Moravia does not need to be confirmed once again by any Rome, Frankfurt or Vienna." 8 1 So, the Czech Lands are a hi storically natural unity , wh ich does not in any way need Slovakia. They cont inue: " Without artificia l nationalizing, all questions can be named and also so lved in a more rational way" 82 - again, they are suggesting that the Slovaks are irrational and nationalistic as opposed to the rational Czechs. The Slovak image of the Czechs was propagated no less directly . In a series of articles in Literarny tyidennfk entitled " If Slovakia wants to be Slovakia ... ,"83 the writer Mi lan Ferko treated severa l subjects concern ing Slovak autonomy or independence. He held that after th e parliamentary e lectio ns in June 1992 when Vl adimfr Meciar 's Movement for a Democratic S lovakia (Hnutie za demokraticke Slovensko, HZDS ) won in Slovakia, the Czechs finally began to understand that the Slovaks really wanted to be inde pendent, and stated, " Some Czech politicians are beg inning to abandon [ ... ] the pos ition of historical arrogance and eco nomic super iorit y." 84 He thereby confirmed the image of the arroga nt Czechs who wanted to jujf. znamena to, ze jim k tem uz stavu a vedomf jeste neco chybf. a my nemame pravo je od toho zdrfovat." 81 "At' se stane zrejmym, ze jsou to Slovaci. kdo vystupujf z federace. a my pak jsme nastupni cky stat. jen z zus tane ve svych zavazcfch , sm lou vach a vztazfch k okolnfmu svetu. Ceske kralovstvf spoj ene hi storick y s Moravou se nepotre buje davat zadnym Rfmem. Frankfurtem ci Vfdnf znovu potvrzovat. " 82 .. Bez 83 " Ak Slovensko chce byt'Slovenskom .. ... 84 " Niektorf cesk f politici zacfnaju opu stat' [ .. . J pozfcie historickej arogancie a ekono- umeleho nacionalizovanf dajf se vsechny otazky pojmenovat i resi t vecneji ." mickej nadradenost i." " Ak Slovensko chce byt' Slovenskom ..." Vil. Literarny dennik June 27. 1992, 12. tyz- SLOVAKIA 113 keep the Slovaks in an inferior position and he continued, " With the help of international financial superpowers , Prague decided about the fate of Slovakia, which has to remain in a vassal relationship to the Czech Lands." 85 According to Ferko, the Slovak government had also become arrogant, and the politicians of Public Again st Violence (Verejnost' proti nasiliu , VPN) had become " slaves of Prague' s neocolonial relationship to Slovakia" 86 and sought " to continue to infiltrate into the Slovak political life ideas of Masaryki sm and cosmopolitani sm in the fra mework of which there is no place for the Slovak nation. " 87 T.G. Masaryk was the first president of Czechos lovakia , and Czech s and Slovaks have very di ss imilar view s of him . To the Czechs he epitomizes democracy , whereas many Slovaks see him as the representative of the state ideology of the First Republic ( 19181938), the Czechoslovakism, according to which Czec hs and Slovaks were two branches of the same Czechoslovak nation . Many Slovaks belie ve that Czechoslovaki sm suppressed their national identity, and their view of the First Republic and of Masaryk is influenced by thi s negative vie w of the state ideology. The Slovak view of Masaryk is also tainted by the fact that in 1918 he signed an agreement with a group of Czech and Slovak emigres in Pittsburgh , according to which Slovakia was promi sed some form of autonomy in the new Czechoslovak state. For variou s reason s thi s promise was never fulfill ed,88 and thi s has left an impression among some Slovaks that Masaryk and the Czechs delibe ratel y broke their promi ses becau se xs -- Pra ha pros tred nfctvom medzin arod nyc h fin ancnych ve l'mocf rozhod la o osude Sl ovenska, ktore ma zostat' vo vaza lskom pomere k Cecham." Ak Slovensko chce byt' Slovenskom ... VI. Literam y tyidennik M ay 23, 1992, 3. 86 " ''otrokmi prazs keho neokolonialisti ckeho vztahu k Slovensku. " Ibid. 7 " d'alej in f iltrovat' do slovenskeho politickeho zivota myslienk y masaryki zmu a kozmopoliti zmu , v ramci ktoryc h niet miesta pre slovensky narod."' Ibid. 88 Part of the reason why Sl ovaki a was not granted autonomy was th at in the new Czechos lovak state there was a Germ an mi nority of the same size as th e Slovak popul ati on. and if the Sl ovaks had gained autonomy it wo uld have been very di fficult to find a va lid argument why the Germ ans should not have autonomy, too. SLOVAKJA 114 th ey wished to maintain the ir control ove r Slovakia. Furthermore, whe n Ferko attacked Masaryk it wen t to the very heart of the Czech se lf-understandin g and co uld serve as proof to the Czec hs that the Slovaks did not rea ll y understand what democracy was a ll about. Anoth er im age from hi story that Ferko mobilizes is the Slovak wartime state , whi c h he presents as hav in g raised ge nera l Slovak se lf-co nsc iou sness, the spirit of e nterpri se, a nd the will to be equa l with the rest of the world . 89 Thi s is a totally different im age of the Slovak State than the one propagated by Vac ul fk who saw it only as a sy mbol of fascism , with which the Slo va ks had still not dealt. To Ferko the fa sc ism of the state was less sig nificant than the fac t th at it was Slovak. According to him , the e lect io ns in Jun e 1992 showed that neo-fasc ist te nde nci es were growing in oth er parts of Czec hoslovak ia, but not in Slovakia - leavi ng o nl y the Czec h land s infected wi th it. 911 He re, Ferko turn s Vaculfk 's accusation of the Slovaks' lac k of se ttleme nt w ith the wart ime fascism aga in st the Czechs - poss ibl y beca use he was aware that hi s arg ume nt was not very solid. In the very last issue of Literarny tyidennfk before the partiti o n, Vladimfr Min ac (one of Slovakia 's lead in g writers) propagated hi s less than pos iti ve im age of the Czec hs: "God save us from learning from the Czec hs the e mpty ideo log ica l rhetoric , the spl e ndid mora1ity, whi ch is limited to word s, the Have l-like e mptiness, which hides in itse lf o nl y a mad dwarf. " 9 1 In ridi c ulin g Vaclav Have l, Min ac insulted anothe r icon of the Czec h se lf-unders tandin g: Have l as the successor to Masaryk as the good philosopher-pres ide nt. And he was co mpl ete ly aware of thi s w he n he mentioned the myth of Masaryk 's '" Ferko: "'Ak Slovensko .. . VII ". ° Ferko 9 wi th out doubt hints at th e amazing elec ti on results or the Czec h Miroslav Sl,1dek ' s neo-fasc ist Republi ca n Party, which gained over 6 % of the votes in the Czech lands (Peter Bugge : The Czech Republi c, in: Szajkowsk i (ed.): Politica l Parties. 158- 159). "' " Bozec hrai\ , aby sme sa naucil i od Cechov prazdnej idologickej retorike. onej skvelej moralke, ktora sa obm edzuje na slova. onej hav lovskej prazdnote. ktora utaj uje v sebe iba zuriveho trpas lfka."' " Odkiar a kam , Slovaci 'I" ("Wherefrom and whereto, Slovaks?") Literamy tyi dennfk Dec. 19, 1992 , 11 . SLOVAKIA 115 model democracy and deemed it " shrieking Bohemian glass in the necklace of the legend" 92 - instead of being real jewels, that is. When dismi ss ing the first Czechoslovak Republic like this, Mimic reflected the views of one-third of the Slovak populace, which did not consider it democratic, but in opposition to the majority of the Czech population, 93 and so he , like Yaculfk, invoked the collective memory in order to create an impression of Czech-Slovak incompatibility. Furthermore, Mimic painted a picture of the First Republic as a time when many Czechs came to Slovakia allegedly to help build it, but when they taught in school s at all level s, they taught Czechos lovak instead of Slovak, and when they founded the Slovak National Theatre , it was in reality one more Czech National Theatre. So the Czechs did not help out of pure brotherly sacrifice, but out of a desire to turn the Slovaks into Czechs. Later, Mimic reproduced the stereotype of the Czechs as being arrogant enough to want to decide over Slovakia without the appropriate understanding: " Again and again they go into political battle with the Slovaks with the same reproaches and with the sa me lack of knowledge of the Slovak world. They still tutor, still look after and protect in the way that every coloniali st has protected hi s colony. " 94 He re , the image of the Czechs as malevolent colonialists was used to create the impress ion that a veritable war was being waged between the evil Czech politicians and the Slovak people-and not onl y this: 9 ' 93 skrfpajuce ces ke skl o v mi hrdelnfku legendy. 37 % of th e Slovaks and 70 % of the Czechs sa w th e First Republi c as a model democracy. whereas anoth er 33 % of th e Slovaks did not think it was democrati c at all. (Marian Timorack y : Yerejna mienka o ce sko-slovenskych vztahoch. in: Fedor Gal (ed. ): One.for krize cesko-slovenskych vztaht1. (Praha: SLON 1992), 8 1-82 . Thi s probabl y refl ec ts th e Sl ovak res istance aga inst M asaryk ·s Czechos lovaki sm. which Ferko attacked, too. "" ·· v zdy znovu a znov u tiahnu do politickeho zapasu so Slo vakmi s tymi istyrni vycitkami a s tou istou neznalostbu slovenskeho sveta. Stale tutorcia, stale opatruju a ochrai\uju tak, ako kazdy kol oni ali sta ochrai\ova l svoju kol 6niu. " '·Odki al' a karn , Slovac i?" Litenirny tyidennlk Dec. 19, 1992, 11. 116 SLOVAKIA betwee n the Czech and Slovak worlds. 95 By portraying Czechs and Slovaks as living in different worlds , Minac made the partition of the common state look natural and desirab le as it enabled the small Slovak nation to fulfil its destiny as an authentic small nation facing the threatening international consumer society. And he concluded, " Behind us stay the o ld enmities and mi sunderstandin gs, a serva nt 's conflicts and rebellion s. Before us is our new di gnity." 96 As thi s ana lysis has shown , the Czech and Slovak collective memories were used to explain the differences between Czechs and Slovaks and to legitimize the break-up. Thi s way of usin g the past was made poss ible by the hu ge soc ietal changes since the Ve lvet Revolution in 1989. When communism fe ll , there was a broadly felt need to rewrite history in order to get rid of the ideolog ica ll y deformed historical interpretation s of the communists and thi s led to two different phenomena. On the one hand , the new situ at ion led to an uncovering of 'wh ite spots ' in the hi story of the Czechs and Slovaks. On the other, thi s rewriting made room for new deformations of history. Silvia Mihalikova has described this phenome non , which was common for the entire post-communi st world, as a use of arguments from the past according to a principle of se lf-service: people simply chose the historical facts, persons, and conceptions that suited their momentary purposes. 97 95 Thi s image of the Czechs and Slovaks li ving in different worlds was shared by at least the Czech political weekly, Respekt, whose front page of the elect ion issue in 1992 read in large red letters 'Two civi li za ti ons" and conti nued in the main comment: "A lone into Europe or toge ther to the Balkans" ( Respekt June 8-14, I 992, I ). See Peter Bugge : The Use of the Middle: Mitteleuropa vs. Strednf Evropa. In : European Review of History , Vol. 6. No. I . 1999, 30-3 1 and Vladimir Macura: Masarykovy boty a jine semi(o) fejetony. (Praha: Prazska imagin ace 1993). 48-49 for a further elaborat ion of the Czech imaging of the Slovaks as belonging to the Balkans . % " Za nami ostavaju stare nepriatel'stva a nedorozumenia, sluhovs ke spory a vzbury . Pred nami je nasa nova d6stojnost'. " " Odkial' a kam . Slovaci ?" Literarny tj idennfk Dec. 19. 1992. 11. 97 Mihalikova: Narodne symboly, 54-56. SLOVAKIA 117 The se lf-serv ice aspec t of the use of hi story was supported by the communist ideo logization of the culture, includin g the schools. The hi story that had been to ld by the regime and taught in sc hool s was perce ived as inh erentl y wrong , and therefore , as Tony Judt has argued, a plurality of memories was created when parents told their children what hi story was ' reall y' like. Every hi story that was told by the reg ime was by implication fa lse, which meant th at every hi story not to ld by the regime mu st by implication be true. 98 This was the reason, not onl y for the very different Czec h and Slovak collective memories, but also for the overa ll low level of knowl edge about and reflection on the nation al hi story. Key period s in Czechoslovak hi story co ncernin g the mutual Czech-Slovak relation ship can be li sted as follows : I) the First Republic 19 I 8- 1938, 2) the destruction of Czechoslovakia and th e creati on of the Slovak State durin g World War II, 3) the Slovak National Uprising against the fascists in 1944, 4) the Prague Spring in 1968, 5) the Normalization 1969-1 989. When lookin g at the articles that we have analysed here, it is c lear that Vaculfk employed al l of them. In hi s interpretation : the First Rep ublic was a time when the Czechs he lped the ir un grateful younger brothers; the Slovak State came into bein g when the Slovaks betrayed the Czechs; the Slovak National Upri sin g was not necessaril y for a renewal of Czechoslovakia; in the Prague Spring the Slovaks preyed on the Czech strugg le for democracy; and durin g Norma li zati on the Slovaks suffered less than the Czec hs. In the same vei n, Mil an Ferko and Vladimfr Mimic invoked the Slovak collective memory of the First Republic as a period of Czechoslovakism th at did not properly ack now ledge the character and needs of the Slovaks, and the Czechs did what they could to turn the Slovaks into Czec hs. The reason why Ferko and Mimic both used thi s period probabl y lay in the fact th at Czechoslovakism was the 'state ideo logy' of the First Rep ublic , which made it easy to attack 9 ' Tony Judt: The Past is Another Cou ntry : Myth and Memory in Postwar Europe , in: Dcedalus. Vol. 21. No. 4, 1992, I OI. SLOVAK IA 118 Czech arrogance towards the Slovaks. As opposed to this , the legacy of all the other significant periods seemed in some way or another too ambiguous to be exp loited from Minac ' s and Ferko ' s points of view. 99 This reflects the fact that Czechs and Slovaks not on ly experienced the events differently at the time, but also that their memories of them today are very different. And this then shows us that the socia li zation of the population ' s memories since 1918 was not successful in providing the two nations with a common co ll ective memory of the past that they shared as parts of the same state. In stead, those who after 1989 wished to do otherwise were ab le, like Vaculfk, Minac , Ferko, and others, to mobilize conflicts from the past and link them together regardless of any inner logic and chrono logy. They painted a picture of a basic Czech-Slovak incompatibility and a common history consisting of conflicts, betrayals, and wrongdoings that made a divorce look c learly preferable to a continued malfunctionin g marriage. 100 In Slovakia, the discu ss ions about the common history of the Czechs and the Slovaks became polarized to the degree that two directly opposite interpretations were propagated. The relevant criterion for arguments became the question whether the common state had been favourable or disadvantageous to the Slovaks. 101 Slovak so99 The Slovak State was fascist: the National Uprising was directed aga in st the inde- pendent Slovak State; resu lting from th e Prague Spring was th e federalism that Ferko and Minac fo ught aga inst but which neverth eless meant progress in th e Czech-Slovak relationship; and Normalization was not see n as too bad a period for th e Slovaks . ' 00 The metaphor of the marriage was also frequently used in the debate, see e.g. Miroslav Ku sy : '·Konfederacnf k lam·• (""Confederation delusion'"). Literarnf no viny Aug. 6. 1992. 1+3. 0 ' ' Mihalikova: Narodne symboly, 58. An ex traordinary feature of th e Slovak contex t was the fact that very ac tive participants in the debate were exi les like Stefan Polakovic or Milan S. Durica. who either had been in ex ile ever since World War II beca use of their ro le in the Slovak State or they came from thi s environment. They saw as their greatest task res torin g Slovak independence from th e Czechs and seemed not to reali ze that Slovak society had changed since their heyday during the SLOVAKIA 119 ciety was to a very large ex tent di vided over interpretations of hi story , the nature of Slovak nation al identity, and wishes for the future, and in fact the Slovaks who engaged in the de bates on the CzechSlovak past spent as much or even more energy blaming eac h other, rather than blaming the Czechs. 102 In contrast to thi s deep divi sion , the Czechs may have disagreed on many thing s, but by and large there was unanimity concerning subjects such as these. In the Czech debate, the efforts to create a separate Czech state grad uall y came to be seen as a way of guardin g Kl aus' rapid economic reform s from the " irrati o nal" Slovaks a nd Czech democracy from the alleged Slovak inclin ation to national soc iali sm and a stron g state, images which were mobili zed by the frequent use of exa mples from the Czech collective me mory. It is furthermore interesting that an opinion poll in October of 1990 showed that more than 50 % of the Czechs believed in the idea of one Czechoslovak nation . 1w While most Czechs and Slovaks perce ived of them se lves as be in g simultaneously Czechoslovaks and e ithe r Czechs or Slovaks, most Czechs, who unconsciously conceived of the two layers of the ir identification as being identical , had never paid much attention to the conce pt of a Czech identification as be in g different from their ide ntific ation as Czechoslovaks. Most Slovaks , on the other hand , were very much aware that there was a difference between their Slovak and their Czechoslovak identification . 104 Whe n the newspaper debates invoked the war. In co ntrast to the hi stori ans who had li ved throu gh the communi st period at home and those who had been in exile becau se of their di sagreements with the co mmuni st regime. thi s group of hi storians saw nothing but disadvantages for the Slovaks in the com mon Czechos lovak Republic. 102 According to Soiia Szomolanyi. different perceptions of key fi gures and events in Slovak history not onl y divided . but outri ght polari zed th e population (Szomo lany i 1994 : 76). '"' Timoracky : Yerejna mienka. 7 1-72. ' 04 Thi s was strengthened by th e asy mmetri ca l conditi ons after 19 I 8. e.g. when in school tex tbooks Czech hi story was made Czechos lovak simply by adding " slovak" to th e adjec ti ve (E li sabeth Bakke: Cechoslovak izmu s v skol skych uceb ni ciach ( 19 18- 1938). Historicky casopis. Vo l. 47. o 2. 1999: 242-243) or when on ly the 120 SLOVAKIA past, it happened in a way that mobili zed images that em phasized the differences rather than the s imil ariti es between th e tw o nation a l groups. In thi s way the Czech and Slovak layers of the Czec hoslovak population 's identifi cat ion were stre ngthened to the detriment of the Czechoslovak layer. And the di scre pancy that was mob ili zed between the Czech and Slovak images of themselves, the other, and the future of the common state is undoubted ly part of the answer to the question why the common Czechoslovak state eventually broke up. Slovaks had their own Communist Party (KSS) whereas the Czechos lovak Communist Party (KSC) served both as the Czech and the all-state party.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "Ungrateful Younger Brothers" versus "Arrogant Atheists": Czech-Slovak Stereotypes in a Collective Memory Perspective Description An account of the resource Lone Sarauw Slovakia, Vol. 38 (No. 70-71), 2005 pp. 104-120 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sarauw, Lone Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2005 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/8c8271043711a370d1b4805931454a70.pdf 6e7755d23ce59000907d2f5a4f0ddd75 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 83 successful. In 873 he defeated Carloman decisively. Carloman asked his father Louis for help to fight the Slovaks. When aid was not forthcoming, Carloman decided to seek a truce with Svatopluk. He signed a pact with Svatopluk at Forsheim in 874 and recognized the independence of the Great Moravian Empire. Svatopluk had reached the pinnacle of his ambitions: he was sole ruler of the Great Moravian Empire, with its crupital at Devin near Bratislava. (Continued) • • • 1856 - DR. SAMUEL CZAMBEL - 1956 P.A. HROBAK T.he year 1956 marks not only the centennial of the dea:th o:f the great Slovak fighter for freedom and democracy, Dr. Louis Sti1r, ,b ut it is a}so the centennial of the birth of the eminent SlovaJk philologist, Samuel Czam:bel. Czambel was born September 1, 1856, in the town of Slovenska Eupca, Zvolen County, 1Slova;kia. The ~tudy of his native Slovak language attracted him early in his life and he devoted much of his adult Hfe to it. He died in Buda.pest, December 18, 1909. In 1887, Czam'bel wrote his Contrioutions to the History of the Slovak Language (''Prispevlky k dejinam jazy.ka slovenskeho") ; he followed this with his Slovak Orthography ("Slovensky praivopis") in 1890; A Manual of the Literary Slovak Language ("Rukovaf spisovnej reci slovenskej") in 1902; The Slovaks and Their Language ("Slovaci a kh rec") in 1903; 8Jlld The Slovak Language and its Place in the Family of Slovanic Languages ("Slo-. venska rec a jej miesto v rodine slovenskych jazykov"), 624 pp., in 1906. Of course, Czambel contributed many other articles on Slovak subjects to Slovak newspapers, periodical reviiews and magazines. Czambel's "Rukovae (Slovak Grammar), revised and modified several times since its first edition by the late Dr. Joseph SkU!ltety, is a ,s tandard work with ,p hilologists, grammarians, and students of Slovak. In his "Slovaoi a ich rec," Czambel promoted the theory that the SlovaJks were every closely related to the Croatians, Slovenes and Serbs �84 SLOVAKIA (Yugoslavs) ; this, of course, was disproved by the studies of ,S kultety and Pastrnek. iin his last work, relating to the Slovak language and other Slovanic languages, Czambel systematically dealt with Slovak dialects, beginning with the eastern. He had intended to• add several volumes to show the relationship between the other Slovamic languages and the Slavak - to the preparation of which he had devoted years of study - but, unfortunately, illhealth and death overtook Czambel ,b efore he could com-. plete the planned monumental philological work. Because Samuel Czam:bel was employed as an official in a Magyar ministry, and because he had written a ibrochure in Magyar (1902) - even though in favor of the Slova!k language - he was accused by some writers of being a Magyarcme. The truth is, however, that those write:rs were more influenced by the fact that Czambel ref1Used to accept the "Czecho-Slo!Vak" theory a!bout the "unity" of the !Slovaks and Czechs than they were by his Magyar brochure. In regard to that Magyar brochure, Dr. Jo8e[)h Skul-i tety, the grand old defender of :Slovruk history, philology and culture, had this to say in the "'Slovenske Pohl'ady" (1923): "We saw no reason why we should write against this iMagyar brochure. Were we supposed to write agairnst its author because he wanted to. have a dean, ,g enuine Slovruk language? Or because he wanted to a.iid it wherever it needed it? That here 'in politics' he goes a bit too far, well, that is his business; Dr. Czambel al,w ays stood out so indiividually that we have no right to concern ourselves a-bout him." Objective observers will not deny that Czamlbel did serve the Slova;k caJUSe; he did not serve -Magyarism or Ma... gyarization as a jobholder in the Ma:gyar ministry, or with his linguistic theory and his patriotic Slovak verses. In spirit Czambel was Sloivak, even thoogh he did study in Vienna and P;r ague·. But a Slovak intellectual could not easily get the kind of work he ,prepared for in Hungary. Czambel's father, as a Justice of the Peace in Sloven.ska tU1pCa, was an acquaintance of Bela Griinwald, who w~ �SLOVAKIA 86 first the Vice-Commissa;r of Zvolen County and then a mem.. ber of the Hungarian Diet. It was Grunwald who placed young Czambel in the press bureau of the Premier at Budin. And Gri.inwald, we know, ,w as for some 25 years the greatest oppressor of the Slovaks in Hungary. We can imagine then what it meant to a young Slo;va!k ;patriot to hawe his protection. Because of that, however, young CZiambel did not become a Magyarone, but devoted himself to the study of his people and their language. In 1890, Czambel was persuaded to write for the "Slo-. venske Pohl'ady" (Slovak Review); of course, holding a job under the Magyars, he could not write under his own name. When he published his book, "Slovaci a ich rec" in 1903, iJ>resenting t'he theory that the Slovaks were a Yu"' goslav tribe, Czambel was severely criticized by the "Na:rodne Noviny" and the "Slovenske Pohl'ady," which proved mm wrong and condemned him. Informed ,p ersons, however, knew t'hat Czambel proposed the Yugoslav theory not because of convictions, lbut rather as a matter of tactics: it was only thus that he could keep his state job. :S amuel Czambel definitely proved that man does ,n ot live by lbreoo alone. Suspected as a Magyarone by some of his own people, and as a Pan-Slarv by the Magyars, Samuel Czambel nevertheless rendered a g,reat service to his people by his literary efforts. His grammar of the Slovak lan-. guage is, still the best, according to Slovak philologists . • • CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA STAROHRAD (THE OLD CASTLE) OF LIPTOV The village of Liptovska Tepla in Slovakia lies east of the ,city of Ruzomlberok. Not far from the village we find the mineral springs called Lucky. Traveling by train from Ruizomberok to Lucky we see the mighty roC'ky cliffs of the Sielinica fortress, which is almost as high as Sitno. On these rocky cliffs can still. be seen the remnants of the on~e mighty Old Castle (Starohroo). It is accessi1b le from the valley of Sestrca; at one time it served as a guard for the highway that led from Liptov to Ora:va. 'In the fourteenth century Starohrad wa:s the proper- � SLOVAKIA 83 successful. In 873 he defeated Carloman decisively. Carloman asked his father Louis for help to fight the Slovaks. When aid was not forthcoming, Carloman decided to seek a truce with Svatopluk. He signed a pact with Svatopluk at Forsheim in 874 and recognized the independence of the Great Moravian Empire. Svatopluk had reached the pinnacle of his ambitions: he was sole ruler of the Great Moravian Empire, with its crupital at Devin near Bratislava. (Continued) • • • 1856 - DR. SAMUEL CZAMBEL - 1956 P.A. HROBAK T.he year 1956 marks not only the centennial of the dea:th o:f the great Slovak fighter for freedom and democracy, Dr. Louis Sti1r, ,b ut it is a}so the centennial of the birth of the eminent SlovaJk philologist, Samuel Czam:bel. Czambel was born September 1, 1856, in the town of Slovenska Eupca, Zvolen County, 1Slova;kia. The ~tudy of his native Slovak language attracted him early in his life and he devoted much of his adult Hfe to it. He died in Buda.pest, December 18, 1909. In 1887, Czam'bel wrote his Contrioutions to the History of the Slovak Language (''Prispevlky k dejinam jazy.ka slovenskeho") ; he followed this with his Slovak Orthography ("Slovensky praivopis") in 1890; A Manual of the Literary Slovak Language ("Rukovaf spisovnej reci slovenskej") in 1902; The Slovaks and Their Language ("Slovaci a kh rec") in 1903; 8Jlld The Slovak Language and its Place in the Family of Slovanic Languages ("Slo-. venska rec a jej miesto v rodine slovenskych jazykov"), 624 pp., in 1906. Of course, Czambel contributed many other articles on Slovak subjects to Slovak newspapers, periodical reviiews and magazines. Czambel's "Rukovae (Slovak Grammar), revised and modified several times since its first edition by the late Dr. Joseph SkU!ltety, is a ,s tandard work with ,p hilologists, grammarians, and students of Slovak. In his "Slovaoi a ich rec," Czambel promoted the theory that the SlovaJks were every closely related to the Croatians, Slovenes and Serbs �84 SLOVAKIA (Yugoslavs) ; this, of course, was disproved by the studies of ,S kultety and Pastrnek. iin his last work, relating to the Slovak language and other Slovanic languages, Czambel systematically dealt with Slovak dialects, beginning with the eastern. He had intended to• add several volumes to show the relationship between the other Slovamic languages and the Slavak - to the preparation of which he had devoted years of study - but, unfortunately, illhealth and death overtook Czambel ,b efore he could com-. plete the planned monumental philological work. Because Samuel Czam:bel was employed as an official in a Magyar ministry, and because he had written a ibrochure in Magyar (1902) - even though in favor of the Slova!k language - he was accused by some writers of being a Magyarcme. The truth is, however, that those write:rs were more influenced by the fact that Czambel ref1Used to accept the "Czecho-Slo!Vak" theory a!bout the "unity" of the !Slovaks and Czechs than they were by his Magyar brochure. In regard to that Magyar brochure, Dr. Jo8e[)h Skul-i tety, the grand old defender of :Slovruk history, philology and culture, had this to say in the "'Slovenske Pohl'ady" (1923): "We saw no reason why we should write against this iMagyar brochure. Were we supposed to write agairnst its author because he wanted to. have a dean, ,g enuine Slovruk language? Or because he wanted to a.iid it wherever it needed it? That here 'in politics' he goes a bit too far, well, that is his business; Dr. Czambel al,w ays stood out so indiividually that we have no right to concern ourselves a-bout him." Objective observers will not deny that Czamlbel did serve the Slova;k caJUSe; he did not serve -Magyarism or Ma... gyarization as a jobholder in the Ma:gyar ministry, or with his linguistic theory and his patriotic Slovak verses. In spirit Czambel was Sloivak, even thoogh he did study in Vienna and P;r ague·. But a Slovak intellectual could not easily get the kind of work he ,prepared for in Hungary. Czambel's father, as a Justice of the Peace in Sloven.ska tU1pCa, was an acquaintance of Bela Griinwald, who w~ �SLOVAKIA 86 first the Vice-Commissa;r of Zvolen County and then a mem.. ber of the Hungarian Diet. It was Grunwald who placed young Czambel in the press bureau of the Premier at Budin. And Gri.inwald, we know, ,w as for some 25 years the greatest oppressor of the Slovaks in Hungary. We can imagine then what it meant to a young Slo;va!k ;patriot to hawe his protection. Because of that, however, young CZiambel did not become a Magyarone, but devoted himself to the study of his people and their language. In 1890, Czambel was persuaded to write for the "Slo-. venske Pohl'ady" (Slovak Review); of course, holding a job under the Magyars, he could not write under his own name. When he published his book, "Slovaci a ich rec" in 1903, iJ>resenting t'he theory that the Slovaks were a Yu"' goslav tribe, Czambel was severely criticized by the "Na:rodne Noviny" and the "Slovenske Pohl'ady," which proved mm wrong and condemned him. Informed ,p ersons, however, knew t'hat Czambel proposed the Yugoslav theory not because of convictions, lbut rather as a matter of tactics: it was only thus that he could keep his state job. :S amuel Czambel definitely proved that man does ,n ot live by lbreoo alone. Suspected as a Magyarone by some of his own people, and as a Pan-Slarv by the Magyars, Samuel Czambel nevertheless rendered a g,reat service to his people by his literary efforts. His grammar of the Slovak lan-. guage is, still the best, according to Slovak philologists . • • CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA STAROHRAD (THE OLD CASTLE) OF LIPTOV The village of Liptovska Tepla in Slovakia lies east of the ,city of Ruzomlberok. Not far from the village we find the mineral springs called Lucky. Traveling by train from Ruizomberok to Lucky we see the mighty roC'ky cliffs of the Sielinica fortress, which is almost as high as Sitno. On these rocky cliffs can still. be seen the remnants of the on~e mighty Old Castle (Starohroo). It is accessi1b le from the valley of Sestrca; at one time it served as a guard for the highway that led from Liptov to Ora:va. 'In the fourteenth century Starohrad wa:s the proper- � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1956, Vol. 6 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 18), March 1956.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 19), June 1956.</li> <li>Issue 3-4 (No. 20-21), September-December 1956.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1956 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 83 successful. In 873 he defeated Carloman decisively. Carloman asked his father Louis for help to fight the Slovaks. When aid was not forthcoming, Carloman decided to seek a truce with Svatopluk. He signed a pact with Svatopluk at Forsheim in 874 and recognized the independence of the Great Moravian Empire. Svatopluk had reached the pinnacle of his ambitions: he was sole ruler of the Great Moravian Empire, with its crupital at Devin near Bratislava. (Continued) • • • 1856 - DR. SAMUEL CZAMBEL - 1956 P.A. HROBAK T.he year 1956 marks not only the centennial of the dea:th o:f the great Slovak fighter for freedom and democracy, Dr. Louis Sti1r, ,b ut it is a}so the centennial of the birth of the eminent SlovaJk philologist, Samuel Czam:bel. Czambel was born September 1, 1856, in the town of Slovenska Eupca, Zvolen County, 1Slova;kia. The ~tudy of his native Slovak language attracted him early in his life and he devoted much of his adult Hfe to it. He died in Buda.pest, December 18, 1909. In 1887, Czam'bel wrote his Contrioutions to the History of the Slovak Language (''Prispevlky k dejinam jazy.ka slovenskeho") ; he followed this with his Slovak Orthography ("Slovensky praivopis") in 1890; A Manual of the Literary Slovak Language ("Rukovaf spisovnej reci slovenskej") in 1902; The Slovaks and Their Language ("Slovaci a kh rec") in 1903; 8Jlld The Slovak Language and its Place in the Family of Slovanic Languages ("Slo-. venska rec a jej miesto v rodine slovenskych jazykov"), 624 pp., in 1906. Of course, Czambel contributed many other articles on Slovak subjects to Slovak newspapers, periodical reviiews and magazines. Czambel's "Rukovae (Slovak Grammar), revised and modified several times since its first edition by the late Dr. Joseph SkU!ltety, is a ,s tandard work with ,p hilologists, grammarians, and students of Slovak. In his "Slovaoi a ich rec," Czambel promoted the theory that the SlovaJks were every closely related to the Croatians, Slovenes and Serbs 84 SLOVAKIA (Yugoslavs) ; this, of course, was disproved by the studies of ,S kultety and Pastrnek. iin his last work, relating to the Slovak language and other Slovanic languages, Czambel systematically dealt with Slovak dialects, beginning with the eastern. He had intended to• add several volumes to show the relationship between the other Slovamic languages and the Slavak - to the preparation of which he had devoted years of study - but, unfortunately, illhealth and death overtook Czambel ,b efore he could com-. plete the planned monumental philological work. Because Samuel Czam:bel was employed as an official in a Magyar ministry, and because he had written a ibrochure in Magyar (1902) - even though in favor of the Slova!k language - he was accused by some writers of being a Magyarcme. The truth is, however, that those write:rs were more influenced by the fact that Czambel ref1Used to accept the "Czecho-Slo!Vak" theory a!bout the "unity" of the !Slovaks and Czechs than they were by his Magyar brochure. In regard to that Magyar brochure, Dr. Jo8e[)h Skul-i tety, the grand old defender of :Slovruk history, philology and culture, had this to say in the "'Slovenske Pohl'ady" (1923): "We saw no reason why we should write against this iMagyar brochure. Were we supposed to write agairnst its author because he wanted to. have a dean, ,g enuine Slovruk language? Or because he wanted to a.iid it wherever it needed it? That here 'in politics' he goes a bit too far, well, that is his business; Dr. Czambel al,w ays stood out so indiividually that we have no right to concern ourselves a-bout him." Objective observers will not deny that Czamlbel did serve the Slova;k caJUSe; he did not serve -Magyarism or Ma... gyarization as a jobholder in the Ma:gyar ministry, or with his linguistic theory and his patriotic Slovak verses. In spirit Czambel was Sloivak, even thoogh he did study in Vienna and P;r ague·. But a Slovak intellectual could not easily get the kind of work he ,prepared for in Hungary. Czambel's father, as a Justice of the Peace in Sloven.ska tU1pCa, was an acquaintance of Bela Griinwald, who w~ SLOVAKIA 86 first the Vice-Commissa;r of Zvolen County and then a mem.. ber of the Hungarian Diet. It was Grunwald who placed young Czambel in the press bureau of the Premier at Budin. And Gri.inwald, we know, ,w as for some 25 years the greatest oppressor of the Slovaks in Hungary. We can imagine then what it meant to a young Slo;va!k ;patriot to hawe his protection. Because of that, however, young CZiambel did not become a Magyarone, but devoted himself to the study of his people and their language. In 1890, Czambel was persuaded to write for the "Slo-. venske Pohl'ady" (Slovak Review); of course, holding a job under the Magyars, he could not write under his own name. When he published his book, "Slovaci a ich rec" in 1903, iJ>resenting t'he theory that the Slovaks were a Yu"' goslav tribe, Czambel was severely criticized by the "Na:rodne Noviny" and the "Slovenske Pohl'ady," which proved mm wrong and condemned him. Informed ,p ersons, however, knew t'hat Czambel proposed the Yugoslav theory not because of convictions, lbut rather as a matter of tactics: it was only thus that he could keep his state job. :S amuel Czambel definitely proved that man does ,n ot live by lbreoo alone. Suspected as a Magyarone by some of his own people, and as a Pan-Slarv by the Magyars, Samuel Czambel nevertheless rendered a g,reat service to his people by his literary efforts. His grammar of the Slovak lan-. guage is, still the best, according to Slovak philologists . • • CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA STAROHRAD (THE OLD CASTLE) OF LIPTOV The village of Liptovska Tepla in Slovakia lies east of the ,city of Ruzomlberok. Not far from the village we find the mineral springs called Lucky. Traveling by train from Ruizomberok to Lucky we see the mighty roC'ky cliffs of the Sielinica fortress, which is almost as high as Sitno. On these rocky cliffs can still. be seen the remnants of the on~e mighty Old Castle (Starohroo). It is accessi1b le from the valley of Sestrca; at one time it served as a guard for the highway that led from Liptov to Ora:va. 'In the fourteenth century Starohrad wa:s the proper-  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1856 - Dr. Samuel Czambel - 1956 Description An account of the resource P. A. Hrobak Slovakia, Vol. 6, No. 3-4 (20-21), September-December 1956 pp. 83-85 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 1956 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/d0577842868b7d94615309287fb336e5.pdf 05d5ff1a6e3261b78b698b582b6de0f5 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 10 "FOR GOD AND NATION" 50 YEARS OF THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA PHILIP A. HROBAK After greater numbers of Slovaks had settled in the United States of America during the last quarter of the past century, Slovak newspapers, fraternal benefit societies, churches and schools soon came into being. The Slovaks took to American democracy like fish to water, enjoying fully every moment of their existence in their "new" homeland. In America they had the very thing that souls of men everywhere thirst for: freedom. The liberties and God-given rights so freely and thoroughly pursued and enjoyed in America electrified the minds and hearts of the Slovaks and inspired them to work for the freedom and independence of their own homeland, where natural rights had been denied their people for a thousand years. Of course, their interest in the "old" homeland was only natural. Political persecution and economic suppression were the daily lot of the Slovaks under the Magyars of Hungary. It was evident that the Magyars, after their settlement with Vienna in 1867, were determined to liquidate the Slovaks as a national entity. The Matica Slovenska (Slovak Institute) was taken over by Budapest and its assets confiscated, students were thrown out of secondary schools, professors were fired or transferred to Magyar regions for their Slovak convictions, and Slovak intellectuals and professionals were deprived of the opportunity of making a livelihood in their own homeland. "Extra Hungariam non est vita" ( outside Hungary there is no life), the Magyars used to say, but this applied only to them, while the Slovaks were forced to leave their homeland by the hundreds of thousands to keep their bodies and souls together. The incident that fired the Slovaks both at home and in America to do something about the unfortunate lot of their homeland was the Cernova Massacre of October 26, 1907. Cernova was the birthplace of Andrew Hlinka, beloved priest and ardent patriot, who had been sentenced to �SLOVAKIA 11 two years in jail in 1906 by the Magyars for his active opposition to Magyarizat ion. The good Slovaks of Cernova, in the meantime, having completed the building of their new church with funds collected by Hlinka, entreated the Ordinary of the diocese, Bishop Parvy, who had suspended Hlinka because of his political activity, to reinstate and allow 'our Father Hlinka' to perform the ceremonies of dedication. The bishop refused, appointing another priest for the task. The people resented this decision of the bishop On October 26, 1907, the date of the dedication, the Slovaks of Cernova blocked the priest's entrance to their new church; hard words led to turmoil; the Magyar gendarmes on hand for the occasion fired into the mass of the people. When the smoke cleared nine were dead, three were dying, twelve were seriously and 80 less seriously injured. Before the night was over five more succumbed to their injuries: fourteen dead, fourteen martyrs of Magyar chauvinism. And numerous Slovaks were jailed as "instigator s" of the Cernova incident. The Slovaks in America swung into action; mass meetings of protest organized by the Slovak clergy and Slovak newsmen followed; articles in Slovak and English flooded every Slovak center to spotlight the attention of the world on Magyar brutalities. Thousands of dollars were collected and sent to the homeland for the defense and support of patriotic Slovaks. Cernova, above all else, w1doubtedly motivated the Slovaks of America to join the Slovak League of America, to form a united front against Magyar tyranny. It was on April 4, 1907, at the invitation of the Rev. Stephen Furdek of Cleveland, Ohio, that representat ives of the Slovak Press in America met in Pittsburgh, Pa., to deliberate how they might best help their wretched brethren beneath the Tatras. All recognized the fact that the time was ripe to organize all Slovaks in America into one union for the defense of everything past Slovak generations had built and fought for in Slovakia. Adopting the slogan "For Our Slovak Heritage" (Za tu nasu Slovencinu ), the meeting adopted a two-plank program: 1. To care for and support Slovak cultural and political life at home (in Slovakia); 2. �12 SLOVAKIA To care for and support Slovak cultural and political life in America. Furthermore, it was decided that a mass meeting of American Slovaks would be held at Cleveland, Ohio, on May 26, 1907. Soon after the Pittsburgh meeting, all Slovak newspapers in America publicized the proposed mass rally in Cleveland, inviting all Slovaks interested in the righteous cause of the Slovak nation to attend the "Slovak Congress" on May 26, 1907. It was undersigned by representatives of all Slovak fraternal organizations and newspapers. "The purpose of the Congress," the announcement said, "is to unite all Slovak organizations in systematic national work. ... Our old country is turning to us, let us help it. We must present a united front." Over 7000 of them, representing all Slovak societies and newspapers, fraternal benefit organizations and parishes, clergy and laity of various religious and political convictions, met in Cleveland, Ohio, where they more than filled the spacious Gray's Armory. On that day the Slovak League of America was founded to unite all Slovaks in America to fight for the inherent, God-given rights of the Slovak nation which was doomed to national extinction by the Magyars of Hungary. On that day Americans of Slovak descent resolved in the spirit of America that the nation they are descended from shall be free and independent of alien rule, that it shall be the master of its own household and work out its own destiny as an equal among nations. Under the leadership of the great and immortal Rev. Stephen Furdek, the founder and first president of the Slovak League of America, the League made America known to the Slovaks at home, and Slovakia and her people known to Americans. The seed of freedom and independence, which had taken a solid hold in the fertile soil of America, was now planted by Americans of Slovak descent in the land of their forefathers, Slovakia. Throughout the past fifty years, the Slovak League of America has remained faithful to its mission. It united the Slovaks in America to work for a better America by becoming alert citizens and to work for the liberation of their brethren in Slovakia from hostile, alien domination. The �SLOVAKIA 13 League has made America and the rest of the world aware of the fact that the Slovak nation does exist and demands recognition of and respect for its natural rights. But the Slovak League of America also inspired and gave strength to the Slovaks at home not to abandon the uneven struggle for freedom and independence. It was, in fact, the Slovak League of America that made it possible for the Slovak nation to liberate itself from Magyar tyranny. The fatal shot that started the world conflagration and massacre in 1914 had not yet been fired in Sarajevo, when the Slovak League of America prepared a Memorandum addressed "to all just and truth-respecting nations," demanding complete autonomy for the Slovaks on the basis of the right of self-determination. After the Sarajevo incident, the Slovaks were faced with the question: We are through with the Magyars, but now with whom shall we join up to gain what is rightfully ours? With the Russians? The Czechs? The Poles? After due consideration, the Slovaks decided to go along with the Czechs. The decision was greatly influenced by the Slovak League of America. But it was only after T. G. Masaryk, first president and one of the founders of the Czecho-Slovak Republic, drafted and signed the Pittsburgh Agreement on May 30, 1918, that the Slovaks really joined with the Czechs to work for the establishment of a common political state. The Agreement guaranteed complete autonomy (states' rights) to Slovakia within the framework of Czecho-Slovakia, which was to be patterned after Switzerland and the United States. Unfortunately, T. G. Masaryk failed to keep his word. Advised by Dr. Edward Benes and other "progressive" chauvinistic Czech socialists, Masaryk repudiated the Pittsburgh Pact, calling it a "scrap of paper." The Slovaks, however, never let up in their clamor for the incorporation of the Pittsburgh Pact into the Constitution of the Czecho-Slovak Republic. But to no avail: the Masaryk-Benes Czechs in Prague subbornly refused to listen to reason. After twenty years of Czecho-Slovakia under Masaryk and Benes, the Slovaks were ready to break with the Czechs. After twenty years of Masaryk-Benes pro-Soviet and antiSlovak policies, the Slovaks and Czechs were farther apart �14 SLOVAKIA than they ever had been. Dr. Edward Benes pursued his ruinous policy to the very bitter end, refusing to recognize and respect the inherent right of the Slovak nation to have something to say about its own destiny. Within a week after accepting the Munich verdict, without consulting the parliament or the Slovak and Czech people, he simply resigned and later left the country. The day following Benes' resignation, the Prague Parliament belatedly and begrudgingly granted autonomy to Slovakia and later had the law incorporated into the Czecho-Slovak Constitution. Hitler and his Nazis started their mad race to destruction; there was no one to stop them at that time. And the Czechs, apparently regretting that they had granted autonomy to Slovakia, placed Slovakia under martial law on March 10, 1939, and occupied Slovakia. Hitler, of course, exploited the situation. Without mincing words, he told the Slovaks to proclaim their independence or else. Under the circumstances, the duly elected representatives of the Slovak people proclaimed the independnce of Slovakia on March 14, 1939. The independent Republic of Slovakia was soon recognized by twenty-seven countries. Slovakia was not too badly off during the war; as far as their internal affairs were concerned, the Slovaks managed their country well under President Joseph Tiso. They were better off than most neutral countries and enjoyed more freedom than they ever did under Masaryk and Benes. Why Hitler left them alone and did not bother to take them over completely, as he did the Czechs and so many other nations, still remains unexplained. But the fact is that the Slovaks were doing right well until the end of August 1944, when Moscow agents and the Benes proSoviet clique engineered the so-called "Slovak National Uprising." The story of Warsaw was repeated. Hitler's hordes poured into Slovakia "to restore order" - and the Slovaks were on the receiving end of both sides, the Reds and the Nazis. Over 70,000 Slovaks were killed in the slaughter. We know what happened at the end of World War IT. Benes sold out Czecho-Slovakia to Hitler in 1938 without firing a shot; he repeated the performance in 1943 by for- �SLOVAKIA 15 mally selling out the Slovaks and Czechs to Stalin with a treaty. Benes' pro-Soviet policy paid off temporarily: with Stalin's blessing he became president of Czecho-Slovakia again, this time the head man of the new "people's" Republic. To show his gratefulness, Dr. Benes and his Reddominated Prague government immediately began to liquidate all anti-Communist and anti-Socialistic elements in the "new" Czecho-Slovakia. But finally Benes himself was destroyed by the monster he had nurtured to prove again that Communism devours its own children! The Slovak nation was consistently vilified and misrepresented by the nations which dominated and exploited it. As far as the Magyars and Czechs were concerned, there was no Slovak nation, there was no Slovak language. T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Edward Benes told the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 that the Slovaks were but a branch of the Czech nation and their language was but a dialect of the Czech. In old Hungary, the Magyars boasted that they were the "natio hungarica" ; after 1918, the Czechs beat their chests that they were the "state-nation" - the "Czechoslovak" nation. The Magyars accused the Slovaks of being anti-State and pro-Slav; the Czechs under Masaryk and Benes accused them of being anti-State and pro-Magyar. Both Magyars and Czechs agreed that the Slovaks were "separatists." And their propaganda in America blasted the Slovaks who worked for the liberation of their old homeland from alien domination. The Slovak League of America was the prime target of both the Magyars and the Czechs. During the last war, the Slovak League of America was the main target of attack of Dr. Benes' smear and vilification campaign. Dr. Benes knew the right people in Washington, Paris, London, and Moscow. Americans of Slovak descent could not prevail on their own government to save the Republic of Slovakia for the West; official Washington, in 1945, brushed them off when they begged that Dr. Tiso and the members of the Slovak Government, who had surrendered to the American Army in Austria, be offered political asylum and not handed over to the vengeful Dr. Benes; and two million Americans of Slovak descent �16 SLOVAKIA could not prevail on the President and the Government of the United States to request Benes to spare Dr. Tiso from the gallows in 1947. And today, ten years later, we find that the Benes Czechs still carry some weight in official Washington circles. The Slovak League of America has lost several skirmishes and battles, but it still is carrying on the fight for the reeognition of the natural rights of the Slovak nation. It is only natural that the League is vitally interested in this all-important question, because the existence of the Slovak people is at stake. Since the Slovak nation has not been given an opportunity to speak freely for itself and never had been actually free and independent to work out its own destiny, the Slovak League of America has taken upon itself the obligation of pleading for the realization of the fundamental rights of the Slovak people. As loyal Americans, we are firmly convinced that those rights are predicated on the elementary principle that all peoples are morally entitled to speak in the United Nations, there to defend their rights to survival and self-fulfillment. Liberty cannot be exercised by proxy, and the Slovak people, like all other nations on the earth, must have a voice in the determination of their own destiny. Being American institutions, the Slovak League of America and the Slovak organizations affiliated with it are primarily interested in the welfare and security of the United States of America. They sincerely believe that it is in the highest interest of America and the rest of the free world that the Slovak nation be free and independent. Therefore, they cannot sit idly by while foreign political opportunists of the Benes stripe, discredited and cursed by their own people, exploit and compromise the good name of America, while given the opportunity to use American tax dollars to prolong the fiction of a united "Czechoslovak" nation and to promote the political, pseudo-democratic conceptions of Masaryk and Benes which led to the destruction of Czecho-Slovakia and the utter enslavement of the Slovak and Czech nations by the Communists. It is, the Slovaks believe, contrary to justice and morals to recognize and give moral and material aid to individuals and �SLOVAKIA 17 organizations that seek the destruction of the Slovak nation by promoting the big lie of a "united Czechoslovak nation." The truth is that the Slovaks never were, nor do they wish to be Czechs; and, on the other hand, the Czechs never were, nor do they desire to be Slovaki:i. Americans of Slovak descent, organized in the Slovak League of America, are loyal to America, because to them America is an ideal, a living symbol of freedom, tolerance, and justice. They seek no special favors for the nation they are descended from, but only recognition of and respect for the inherent, natural rights of the Slovak nation. The Slovaks learned about freedom and democracy from America. They know that they can best secure and safeguard their national existence only if they manage their own household. America has no cause to deny the Slovaks their rights to freedom and independence; this the American people as a whole understand well, but it seems that people making up our Government do not. This undoubtedly is due to the influence of the Benes Czechs who collaborated with the Reds and the Soviet Union until February 1948, when they suddenly became "democratic" exiles. As in the past, so in the future, the Slovak League must expend every effort to correct the situation. Administrations • of the United States Government, no matter what their political beliefs, must be convinced that the righteous cause of the Slovak nation deserves the support of all Americans. Americans of Slovak descent, we trust, are not overly presumptuous in assuming that they merit at least the same measure of favor and trust from their Government as does the bankrupt, pro-Soviet political clique of the late Dr. Edward Benes, which today is operating in America as the "Council of Free Czechoslovakia." Rebuffed and humbled on so many occasions, the Slovak League continues stubbornly and courageously in the work of liberating the Slovaks from all foreign domination. The existence of the Slovak nation can never be secured unless the Slovaks are masters of their own destiny. The Slovaks must not be denied the right to organize their own state, an independent Slovak Republic. The Slovaks are not against a federation or confederation of European �18 SLOVAKIA states, but rather for it. But into such a federation they want to enter not as an appendage of the Czech nation, but as a nation no less sovereign than the rest of the nations of any such proposed European federation. Today the Slovaks look to America for liberation and salvation more than they ever did; the Slovak nation needs encouragement and inspiration in this its darkest hour. After the great onslaught of World War II, the Slovaks were thrown to the Red wolves of the Kremlin and their stooges in Prague, and yet they have never let up in their fight against Communism. They fought against this scourge of humanity in and out of season for the past 100 years and are determined, with God's help, to keep fighting it until the Red plague is wiped off the face of the earth. The work of the Slovak League of America will never be finished until this happens and the Slovak nation at last takes its rightful place in the family of free nations, there to share the burdens and blessings of free men under God, all laboring toward one end: a just and lasting peace, based on the love of man for God and for his fellowman . • • . WHO SAID IT? ' ~Prague, Budapest, Zagreb, Brno, Bratislaiva were as German a'S Linz or Innsbruck, so much so they had German names: Brague (for Praha), Ofon, Agrrum, Brlinn, Pressburg. In Prague in 181'5 there were 50,000 Germam.s and only 15,000 Czechs; even in 1848 respectrubie people spoke only German in the streets, and to ask the way in Czech would provoke an offensive reply . . . . The smaller towns remained German far longer, ,some, such as Brno, until the twentieth century .... The German character of the towns (in the HaJbsbur,g Monarchy) had little or nothing to do with race . . . The enterp:r,ising son of a peasant, Czech, Roumaniian, or &rob, who entered a town, learned a German art and spoke Geiiman to his fellow shopkeepers; his children despised their father',s peasant dialect, am.d his grandcihildren, sa.fuly arrived in staJte j'dbs, forgot that they had ever been am.ytlling but German and town-dwellers." - (A. J. P. Taylor, THE HiABSBURG MONARJOHY, London, 1948; ,pp. 24-25). � SLOVAKIA 10 "FOR GOD AND NATION" 50 YEARS OF THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA PHILIP A. HROBAK After greater numbers of Slovaks had settled in the United States of America during the last quarter of the past century, Slovak newspapers, fraternal benefit societies, churches and schools soon came into being. The Slovaks took to American democracy like fish to water, enjoying fully every moment of their existence in their "new" homeland. In America they had the very thing that souls of men everywhere thirst for: freedom. The liberties and God-given rights so freely and thoroughly pursued and enjoyed in America electrified the minds and hearts of the Slovaks and inspired them to work for the freedom and independence of their own homeland, where natural rights had been denied their people for a thousand years. Of course, their interest in the "old" homeland was only natural. Political persecution and economic suppression were the daily lot of the Slovaks under the Magyars of Hungary. It was evident that the Magyars, after their settlement with Vienna in 1867, were determined to liquidate the Slovaks as a national entity. The Matica Slovenska (Slovak Institute) was taken over by Budapest and its assets confiscated, students were thrown out of secondary schools, professors were fired or transferred to Magyar regions for their Slovak convictions, and Slovak intellectuals and professionals were deprived of the opportunity of making a livelihood in their own homeland. "Extra Hungariam non est vita" ( outside Hungary there is no life), the Magyars used to say, but this applied only to them, while the Slovaks were forced to leave their homeland by the hundreds of thousands to keep their bodies and souls together. The incident that fired the Slovaks both at home and in America to do something about the unfortunate lot of their homeland was the Cernova Massacre of October 26, 1907. Cernova was the birthplace of Andrew Hlinka, beloved priest and ardent patriot, who had been sentenced to �SLOVAKIA 11 two years in jail in 1906 by the Magyars for his active opposition to Magyarizat ion. The good Slovaks of Cernova, in the meantime, having completed the building of their new church with funds collected by Hlinka, entreated the Ordinary of the diocese, Bishop Parvy, who had suspended Hlinka because of his political activity, to reinstate and allow 'our Father Hlinka' to perform the ceremonies of dedication. The bishop refused, appointing another priest for the task. The people resented this decision of the bishop On October 26, 1907, the date of the dedication, the Slovaks of Cernova blocked the priest's entrance to their new church; hard words led to turmoil; the Magyar gendarmes on hand for the occasion fired into the mass of the people. When the smoke cleared nine were dead, three were dying, twelve were seriously and 80 less seriously injured. Before the night was over five more succumbed to their injuries: fourteen dead, fourteen martyrs of Magyar chauvinism. And numerous Slovaks were jailed as "instigator s" of the Cernova incident. The Slovaks in America swung into action; mass meetings of protest organized by the Slovak clergy and Slovak newsmen followed; articles in Slovak and English flooded every Slovak center to spotlight the attention of the world on Magyar brutalities. Thousands of dollars were collected and sent to the homeland for the defense and support of patriotic Slovaks. Cernova, above all else, w1doubtedly motivated the Slovaks of America to join the Slovak League of America, to form a united front against Magyar tyranny. It was on April 4, 1907, at the invitation of the Rev. Stephen Furdek of Cleveland, Ohio, that representat ives of the Slovak Press in America met in Pittsburgh, Pa., to deliberate how they might best help their wretched brethren beneath the Tatras. All recognized the fact that the time was ripe to organize all Slovaks in America into one union for the defense of everything past Slovak generations had built and fought for in Slovakia. Adopting the slogan "For Our Slovak Heritage" (Za tu nasu Slovencinu ), the meeting adopted a two-plank program: 1. To care for and support Slovak cultural and political life at home (in Slovakia); 2. �12 SLOVAKIA To care for and support Slovak cultural and political life in America. Furthermore, it was decided that a mass meeting of American Slovaks would be held at Cleveland, Ohio, on May 26, 1907. Soon after the Pittsburgh meeting, all Slovak newspapers in America publicized the proposed mass rally in Cleveland, inviting all Slovaks interested in the righteous cause of the Slovak nation to attend the "Slovak Congress" on May 26, 1907. It was undersigned by representatives of all Slovak fraternal organizations and newspapers. "The purpose of the Congress," the announcement said, "is to unite all Slovak organizations in systematic national work. ... Our old country is turning to us, let us help it. We must present a united front." Over 7000 of them, representing all Slovak societies and newspapers, fraternal benefit organizations and parishes, clergy and laity of various religious and political convictions, met in Cleveland, Ohio, where they more than filled the spacious Gray's Armory. On that day the Slovak League of America was founded to unite all Slovaks in America to fight for the inherent, God-given rights of the Slovak nation which was doomed to national extinction by the Magyars of Hungary. On that day Americans of Slovak descent resolved in the spirit of America that the nation they are descended from shall be free and independent of alien rule, that it shall be the master of its own household and work out its own destiny as an equal among nations. Under the leadership of the great and immortal Rev. Stephen Furdek, the founder and first president of the Slovak League of America, the League made America known to the Slovaks at home, and Slovakia and her people known to Americans. The seed of freedom and independence, which had taken a solid hold in the fertile soil of America, was now planted by Americans of Slovak descent in the land of their forefathers, Slovakia. Throughout the past fifty years, the Slovak League of America has remained faithful to its mission. It united the Slovaks in America to work for a better America by becoming alert citizens and to work for the liberation of their brethren in Slovakia from hostile, alien domination. The �SLOVAKIA 13 League has made America and the rest of the world aware of the fact that the Slovak nation does exist and demands recognition of and respect for its natural rights. But the Slovak League of America also inspired and gave strength to the Slovaks at home not to abandon the uneven struggle for freedom and independence. It was, in fact, the Slovak League of America that made it possible for the Slovak nation to liberate itself from Magyar tyranny. The fatal shot that started the world conflagration and massacre in 1914 had not yet been fired in Sarajevo, when the Slovak League of America prepared a Memorandum addressed "to all just and truth-respecting nations," demanding complete autonomy for the Slovaks on the basis of the right of self-determination. After the Sarajevo incident, the Slovaks were faced with the question: We are through with the Magyars, but now with whom shall we join up to gain what is rightfully ours? With the Russians? The Czechs? The Poles? After due consideration, the Slovaks decided to go along with the Czechs. The decision was greatly influenced by the Slovak League of America. But it was only after T. G. Masaryk, first president and one of the founders of the Czecho-Slovak Republic, drafted and signed the Pittsburgh Agreement on May 30, 1918, that the Slovaks really joined with the Czechs to work for the establishment of a common political state. The Agreement guaranteed complete autonomy (states' rights) to Slovakia within the framework of Czecho-Slovakia, which was to be patterned after Switzerland and the United States. Unfortunately, T. G. Masaryk failed to keep his word. Advised by Dr. Edward Benes and other "progressive" chauvinistic Czech socialists, Masaryk repudiated the Pittsburgh Pact, calling it a "scrap of paper." The Slovaks, however, never let up in their clamor for the incorporation of the Pittsburgh Pact into the Constitution of the Czecho-Slovak Republic. But to no avail: the Masaryk-Benes Czechs in Prague subbornly refused to listen to reason. After twenty years of Czecho-Slovakia under Masaryk and Benes, the Slovaks were ready to break with the Czechs. After twenty years of Masaryk-Benes pro-Soviet and antiSlovak policies, the Slovaks and Czechs were farther apart �14 SLOVAKIA than they ever had been. Dr. Edward Benes pursued his ruinous policy to the very bitter end, refusing to recognize and respect the inherent right of the Slovak nation to have something to say about its own destiny. Within a week after accepting the Munich verdict, without consulting the parliament or the Slovak and Czech people, he simply resigned and later left the country. The day following Benes' resignation, the Prague Parliament belatedly and begrudgingly granted autonomy to Slovakia and later had the law incorporated into the Czecho-Slovak Constitution. Hitler and his Nazis started their mad race to destruction; there was no one to stop them at that time. And the Czechs, apparently regretting that they had granted autonomy to Slovakia, placed Slovakia under martial law on March 10, 1939, and occupied Slovakia. Hitler, of course, exploited the situation. Without mincing words, he told the Slovaks to proclaim their independence or else. Under the circumstances, the duly elected representatives of the Slovak people proclaimed the independnce of Slovakia on March 14, 1939. The independent Republic of Slovakia was soon recognized by twenty-seven countries. Slovakia was not too badly off during the war; as far as their internal affairs were concerned, the Slovaks managed their country well under President Joseph Tiso. They were better off than most neutral countries and enjoyed more freedom than they ever did under Masaryk and Benes. Why Hitler left them alone and did not bother to take them over completely, as he did the Czechs and so many other nations, still remains unexplained. But the fact is that the Slovaks were doing right well until the end of August 1944, when Moscow agents and the Benes proSoviet clique engineered the so-called "Slovak National Uprising." The story of Warsaw was repeated. Hitler's hordes poured into Slovakia "to restore order" - and the Slovaks were on the receiving end of both sides, the Reds and the Nazis. Over 70,000 Slovaks were killed in the slaughter. We know what happened at the end of World War IT. Benes sold out Czecho-Slovakia to Hitler in 1938 without firing a shot; he repeated the performance in 1943 by for- �SLOVAKIA 15 mally selling out the Slovaks and Czechs to Stalin with a treaty. Benes' pro-Soviet policy paid off temporarily: with Stalin's blessing he became president of Czecho-Slovakia again, this time the head man of the new "people's" Republic. To show his gratefulness, Dr. Benes and his Reddominated Prague government immediately began to liquidate all anti-Communist and anti-Socialistic elements in the "new" Czecho-Slovakia. But finally Benes himself was destroyed by the monster he had nurtured to prove again that Communism devours its own children! The Slovak nation was consistently vilified and misrepresented by the nations which dominated and exploited it. As far as the Magyars and Czechs were concerned, there was no Slovak nation, there was no Slovak language. T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Edward Benes told the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 that the Slovaks were but a branch of the Czech nation and their language was but a dialect of the Czech. In old Hungary, the Magyars boasted that they were the "natio hungarica" ; after 1918, the Czechs beat their chests that they were the "state-nation" - the "Czechoslovak" nation. The Magyars accused the Slovaks of being anti-State and pro-Slav; the Czechs under Masaryk and Benes accused them of being anti-State and pro-Magyar. Both Magyars and Czechs agreed that the Slovaks were "separatists." And their propaganda in America blasted the Slovaks who worked for the liberation of their old homeland from alien domination. The Slovak League of America was the prime target of both the Magyars and the Czechs. During the last war, the Slovak League of America was the main target of attack of Dr. Benes' smear and vilification campaign. Dr. Benes knew the right people in Washington, Paris, London, and Moscow. Americans of Slovak descent could not prevail on their own government to save the Republic of Slovakia for the West; official Washington, in 1945, brushed them off when they begged that Dr. Tiso and the members of the Slovak Government, who had surrendered to the American Army in Austria, be offered political asylum and not handed over to the vengeful Dr. Benes; and two million Americans of Slovak descent �16 SLOVAKIA could not prevail on the President and the Government of the United States to request Benes to spare Dr. Tiso from the gallows in 1947. And today, ten years later, we find that the Benes Czechs still carry some weight in official Washington circles. The Slovak League of America has lost several skirmishes and battles, but it still is carrying on the fight for the reeognition of the natural rights of the Slovak nation. It is only natural that the League is vitally interested in this all-important question, because the existence of the Slovak people is at stake. Since the Slovak nation has not been given an opportunity to speak freely for itself and never had been actually free and independent to work out its own destiny, the Slovak League of America has taken upon itself the obligation of pleading for the realization of the fundamental rights of the Slovak people. As loyal Americans, we are firmly convinced that those rights are predicated on the elementary principle that all peoples are morally entitled to speak in the United Nations, there to defend their rights to survival and self-fulfillment. Liberty cannot be exercised by proxy, and the Slovak people, like all other nations on the earth, must have a voice in the determination of their own destiny. Being American institutions, the Slovak League of America and the Slovak organizations affiliated with it are primarily interested in the welfare and security of the United States of America. They sincerely believe that it is in the highest interest of America and the rest of the free world that the Slovak nation be free and independent. Therefore, they cannot sit idly by while foreign political opportunists of the Benes stripe, discredited and cursed by their own people, exploit and compromise the good name of America, while given the opportunity to use American tax dollars to prolong the fiction of a united "Czechoslovak" nation and to promote the political, pseudo-democratic conceptions of Masaryk and Benes which led to the destruction of Czecho-Slovakia and the utter enslavement of the Slovak and Czech nations by the Communists. It is, the Slovaks believe, contrary to justice and morals to recognize and give moral and material aid to individuals and �SLOVAKIA 17 organizations that seek the destruction of the Slovak nation by promoting the big lie of a "united Czechoslovak nation." The truth is that the Slovaks never were, nor do they wish to be Czechs; and, on the other hand, the Czechs never were, nor do they desire to be Slovaki:i. Americans of Slovak descent, organized in the Slovak League of America, are loyal to America, because to them America is an ideal, a living symbol of freedom, tolerance, and justice. They seek no special favors for the nation they are descended from, but only recognition of and respect for the inherent, natural rights of the Slovak nation. The Slovaks learned about freedom and democracy from America. They know that they can best secure and safeguard their national existence only if they manage their own household. America has no cause to deny the Slovaks their rights to freedom and independence; this the American people as a whole understand well, but it seems that people making up our Government do not. This undoubtedly is due to the influence of the Benes Czechs who collaborated with the Reds and the Soviet Union until February 1948, when they suddenly became "democratic" exiles. As in the past, so in the future, the Slovak League must expend every effort to correct the situation. Administrations • of the United States Government, no matter what their political beliefs, must be convinced that the righteous cause of the Slovak nation deserves the support of all Americans. Americans of Slovak descent, we trust, are not overly presumptuous in assuming that they merit at least the same measure of favor and trust from their Government as does the bankrupt, pro-Soviet political clique of the late Dr. Edward Benes, which today is operating in America as the "Council of Free Czechoslovakia." Rebuffed and humbled on so many occasions, the Slovak League continues stubbornly and courageously in the work of liberating the Slovaks from all foreign domination. The existence of the Slovak nation can never be secured unless the Slovaks are masters of their own destiny. The Slovaks must not be denied the right to organize their own state, an independent Slovak Republic. The Slovaks are not against a federation or confederation of European �18 SLOVAKIA states, but rather for it. But into such a federation they want to enter not as an appendage of the Czech nation, but as a nation no less sovereign than the rest of the nations of any such proposed European federation. Today the Slovaks look to America for liberation and salvation more than they ever did; the Slovak nation needs encouragement and inspiration in this its darkest hour. After the great onslaught of World War II, the Slovaks were thrown to the Red wolves of the Kremlin and their stooges in Prague, and yet they have never let up in their fight against Communism. They fought against this scourge of humanity in and out of season for the past 100 years and are determined, with God's help, to keep fighting it until the Red plague is wiped off the face of the earth. The work of the Slovak League of America will never be finished until this happens and the Slovak nation at last takes its rightful place in the family of free nations, there to share the burdens and blessings of free men under God, all laboring toward one end: a just and lasting peace, based on the love of man for God and for his fellowman . • • . WHO SAID IT? ' ~Prague, Budapest, Zagreb, Brno, Bratislaiva were as German a'S Linz or Innsbruck, so much so they had German names: Brague (for Praha), Ofon, Agrrum, Brlinn, Pressburg. In Prague in 181'5 there were 50,000 Germam.s and only 15,000 Czechs; even in 1848 respectrubie people spoke only German in the streets, and to ask the way in Czech would provoke an offensive reply . . . . The smaller towns remained German far longer, ,some, such as Brno, until the twentieth century .... The German character of the towns (in the HaJbsbur,g Monarchy) had little or nothing to do with race . . . The enterp:r,ising son of a peasant, Czech, Roumaniian, or &rob, who entered a town, learned a German art and spoke Geiiman to his fellow shopkeepers; his children despised their father',s peasant dialect, am.d his grandcihildren, sa.fuly arrived in staJte j'dbs, forgot that they had ever been am.ytlling but German and town-dwellers." - (A. J. P. Taylor, THE HiABSBURG MONARJOHY, London, 1948; ,pp. 24-25). � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1957, Vol. 7 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 22), March 1957.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 23), June 1957.</li> <li>Issue 3-4 (No. 24-25), September-December 1957.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1957 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 10 "FOR GOD AND NATION" 50 YEARS OF THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA PHILIP A. HROBAK After greater numbers of Slovaks had settled in the United States of America during the last quarter of the past century, Slovak newspapers, fraternal benefit societies, churches and schools soon came into being. The Slovaks took to American democracy like fish to water, enjoying fully every moment of their existence in their "new" homeland. In America they had the very thing that souls of men everywhere thirst for: freedom. The liberties and God-given rights so freely and thoroughly pursued and enjoyed in America electrified the minds and hearts of the Slovaks and inspired them to work for the freedom and independence of their own homeland, where natural rights had been denied their people for a thousand years. Of course, their interest in the "old" homeland was only natural. Political persecution and economic suppression were the daily lot of the Slovaks under the Magyars of Hungary. It was evident that the Magyars, after their settlement with Vienna in 1867, were determined to liquidate the Slovaks as a national entity. The Matica Slovenska (Slovak Institute) was taken over by Budapest and its assets confiscated, students were thrown out of secondary schools, professors were fired or transferred to Magyar regions for their Slovak convictions, and Slovak intellectuals and professionals were deprived of the opportunity of making a livelihood in their own homeland. "Extra Hungariam non est vita" ( outside Hungary there is no life), the Magyars used to say, but this applied only to them, while the Slovaks were forced to leave their homeland by the hundreds of thousands to keep their bodies and souls together. The incident that fired the Slovaks both at home and in America to do something about the unfortunate lot of their homeland was the Cernova Massacre of October 26, 1907. Cernova was the birthplace of Andrew Hlinka, beloved priest and ardent patriot, who had been sentenced to SLOVAKIA 11 two years in jail in 1906 by the Magyars for his active opposition to Magyarizat ion. The good Slovaks of Cernova, in the meantime, having completed the building of their new church with funds collected by Hlinka, entreated the Ordinary of the diocese, Bishop Parvy, who had suspended Hlinka because of his political activity, to reinstate and allow 'our Father Hlinka' to perform the ceremonies of dedication. The bishop refused, appointing another priest for the task. The people resented this decision of the bishop On October 26, 1907, the date of the dedication, the Slovaks of Cernova blocked the priest's entrance to their new church; hard words led to turmoil; the Magyar gendarmes on hand for the occasion fired into the mass of the people. When the smoke cleared nine were dead, three were dying, twelve were seriously and 80 less seriously injured. Before the night was over five more succumbed to their injuries: fourteen dead, fourteen martyrs of Magyar chauvinism. And numerous Slovaks were jailed as "instigator s" of the Cernova incident. The Slovaks in America swung into action; mass meetings of protest organized by the Slovak clergy and Slovak newsmen followed; articles in Slovak and English flooded every Slovak center to spotlight the attention of the world on Magyar brutalities. Thousands of dollars were collected and sent to the homeland for the defense and support of patriotic Slovaks. Cernova, above all else, w1doubtedly motivated the Slovaks of America to join the Slovak League of America, to form a united front against Magyar tyranny. It was on April 4, 1907, at the invitation of the Rev. Stephen Furdek of Cleveland, Ohio, that representat ives of the Slovak Press in America met in Pittsburgh, Pa., to deliberate how they might best help their wretched brethren beneath the Tatras. All recognized the fact that the time was ripe to organize all Slovaks in America into one union for the defense of everything past Slovak generations had built and fought for in Slovakia. Adopting the slogan "For Our Slovak Heritage" (Za tu nasu Slovencinu ), the meeting adopted a two-plank program: 1. To care for and support Slovak cultural and political life at home (in Slovakia); 2. 12 SLOVAKIA To care for and support Slovak cultural and political life in America. Furthermore, it was decided that a mass meeting of American Slovaks would be held at Cleveland, Ohio, on May 26, 1907. Soon after the Pittsburgh meeting, all Slovak newspapers in America publicized the proposed mass rally in Cleveland, inviting all Slovaks interested in the righteous cause of the Slovak nation to attend the "Slovak Congress" on May 26, 1907. It was undersigned by representatives of all Slovak fraternal organizations and newspapers. "The purpose of the Congress," the announcement said, "is to unite all Slovak organizations in systematic national work. ... Our old country is turning to us, let us help it. We must present a united front." Over 7000 of them, representing all Slovak societies and newspapers, fraternal benefit organizations and parishes, clergy and laity of various religious and political convictions, met in Cleveland, Ohio, where they more than filled the spacious Gray's Armory. On that day the Slovak League of America was founded to unite all Slovaks in America to fight for the inherent, God-given rights of the Slovak nation which was doomed to national extinction by the Magyars of Hungary. On that day Americans of Slovak descent resolved in the spirit of America that the nation they are descended from shall be free and independent of alien rule, that it shall be the master of its own household and work out its own destiny as an equal among nations. Under the leadership of the great and immortal Rev. Stephen Furdek, the founder and first president of the Slovak League of America, the League made America known to the Slovaks at home, and Slovakia and her people known to Americans. The seed of freedom and independence, which had taken a solid hold in the fertile soil of America, was now planted by Americans of Slovak descent in the land of their forefathers, Slovakia. Throughout the past fifty years, the Slovak League of America has remained faithful to its mission. It united the Slovaks in America to work for a better America by becoming alert citizens and to work for the liberation of their brethren in Slovakia from hostile, alien domination. The SLOVAKIA 13 League has made America and the rest of the world aware of the fact that the Slovak nation does exist and demands recognition of and respect for its natural rights. But the Slovak League of America also inspired and gave strength to the Slovaks at home not to abandon the uneven struggle for freedom and independence. It was, in fact, the Slovak League of America that made it possible for the Slovak nation to liberate itself from Magyar tyranny. The fatal shot that started the world conflagration and massacre in 1914 had not yet been fired in Sarajevo, when the Slovak League of America prepared a Memorandum addressed "to all just and truth-respecting nations," demanding complete autonomy for the Slovaks on the basis of the right of self-determination. After the Sarajevo incident, the Slovaks were faced with the question: We are through with the Magyars, but now with whom shall we join up to gain what is rightfully ours? With the Russians? The Czechs? The Poles? After due consideration, the Slovaks decided to go along with the Czechs. The decision was greatly influenced by the Slovak League of America. But it was only after T. G. Masaryk, first president and one of the founders of the Czecho-Slovak Republic, drafted and signed the Pittsburgh Agreement on May 30, 1918, that the Slovaks really joined with the Czechs to work for the establishment of a common political state. The Agreement guaranteed complete autonomy (states' rights) to Slovakia within the framework of Czecho-Slovakia, which was to be patterned after Switzerland and the United States. Unfortunately, T. G. Masaryk failed to keep his word. Advised by Dr. Edward Benes and other "progressive" chauvinistic Czech socialists, Masaryk repudiated the Pittsburgh Pact, calling it a "scrap of paper." The Slovaks, however, never let up in their clamor for the incorporation of the Pittsburgh Pact into the Constitution of the Czecho-Slovak Republic. But to no avail: the Masaryk-Benes Czechs in Prague subbornly refused to listen to reason. After twenty years of Czecho-Slovakia under Masaryk and Benes, the Slovaks were ready to break with the Czechs. After twenty years of Masaryk-Benes pro-Soviet and antiSlovak policies, the Slovaks and Czechs were farther apart 14 SLOVAKIA than they ever had been. Dr. Edward Benes pursued his ruinous policy to the very bitter end, refusing to recognize and respect the inherent right of the Slovak nation to have something to say about its own destiny. Within a week after accepting the Munich verdict, without consulting the parliament or the Slovak and Czech people, he simply resigned and later left the country. The day following Benes' resignation, the Prague Parliament belatedly and begrudgingly granted autonomy to Slovakia and later had the law incorporated into the Czecho-Slovak Constitution. Hitler and his Nazis started their mad race to destruction; there was no one to stop them at that time. And the Czechs, apparently regretting that they had granted autonomy to Slovakia, placed Slovakia under martial law on March 10, 1939, and occupied Slovakia. Hitler, of course, exploited the situation. Without mincing words, he told the Slovaks to proclaim their independence or else. Under the circumstances, the duly elected representatives of the Slovak people proclaimed the independnce of Slovakia on March 14, 1939. The independent Republic of Slovakia was soon recognized by twenty-seven countries. Slovakia was not too badly off during the war; as far as their internal affairs were concerned, the Slovaks managed their country well under President Joseph Tiso. They were better off than most neutral countries and enjoyed more freedom than they ever did under Masaryk and Benes. Why Hitler left them alone and did not bother to take them over completely, as he did the Czechs and so many other nations, still remains unexplained. But the fact is that the Slovaks were doing right well until the end of August 1944, when Moscow agents and the Benes proSoviet clique engineered the so-called "Slovak National Uprising." The story of Warsaw was repeated. Hitler's hordes poured into Slovakia "to restore order" - and the Slovaks were on the receiving end of both sides, the Reds and the Nazis. Over 70,000 Slovaks were killed in the slaughter. We know what happened at the end of World War IT. Benes sold out Czecho-Slovakia to Hitler in 1938 without firing a shot; he repeated the performance in 1943 by for- SLOVAKIA 15 mally selling out the Slovaks and Czechs to Stalin with a treaty. Benes' pro-Soviet policy paid off temporarily: with Stalin's blessing he became president of Czecho-Slovakia again, this time the head man of the new "people's" Republic. To show his gratefulness, Dr. Benes and his Reddominated Prague government immediately began to liquidate all anti-Communist and anti-Socialistic elements in the "new" Czecho-Slovakia. But finally Benes himself was destroyed by the monster he had nurtured to prove again that Communism devours its own children! The Slovak nation was consistently vilified and misrepresented by the nations which dominated and exploited it. As far as the Magyars and Czechs were concerned, there was no Slovak nation, there was no Slovak language. T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Edward Benes told the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 that the Slovaks were but a branch of the Czech nation and their language was but a dialect of the Czech. In old Hungary, the Magyars boasted that they were the "natio hungarica" ; after 1918, the Czechs beat their chests that they were the "state-nation" - the "Czechoslovak" nation. The Magyars accused the Slovaks of being anti-State and pro-Slav; the Czechs under Masaryk and Benes accused them of being anti-State and pro-Magyar. Both Magyars and Czechs agreed that the Slovaks were "separatists." And their propaganda in America blasted the Slovaks who worked for the liberation of their old homeland from alien domination. The Slovak League of America was the prime target of both the Magyars and the Czechs. During the last war, the Slovak League of America was the main target of attack of Dr. Benes' smear and vilification campaign. Dr. Benes knew the right people in Washington, Paris, London, and Moscow. Americans of Slovak descent could not prevail on their own government to save the Republic of Slovakia for the West; official Washington, in 1945, brushed them off when they begged that Dr. Tiso and the members of the Slovak Government, who had surrendered to the American Army in Austria, be offered political asylum and not handed over to the vengeful Dr. Benes; and two million Americans of Slovak descent 16 SLOVAKIA could not prevail on the President and the Government of the United States to request Benes to spare Dr. Tiso from the gallows in 1947. And today, ten years later, we find that the Benes Czechs still carry some weight in official Washington circles. The Slovak League of America has lost several skirmishes and battles, but it still is carrying on the fight for the reeognition of the natural rights of the Slovak nation. It is only natural that the League is vitally interested in this all-important question, because the existence of the Slovak people is at stake. Since the Slovak nation has not been given an opportunity to speak freely for itself and never had been actually free and independent to work out its own destiny, the Slovak League of America has taken upon itself the obligation of pleading for the realization of the fundamental rights of the Slovak people. As loyal Americans, we are firmly convinced that those rights are predicated on the elementary principle that all peoples are morally entitled to speak in the United Nations, there to defend their rights to survival and self-fulfillment. Liberty cannot be exercised by proxy, and the Slovak people, like all other nations on the earth, must have a voice in the determination of their own destiny. Being American institutions, the Slovak League of America and the Slovak organizations affiliated with it are primarily interested in the welfare and security of the United States of America. They sincerely believe that it is in the highest interest of America and the rest of the free world that the Slovak nation be free and independent. Therefore, they cannot sit idly by while foreign political opportunists of the Benes stripe, discredited and cursed by their own people, exploit and compromise the good name of America, while given the opportunity to use American tax dollars to prolong the fiction of a united "Czechoslovak" nation and to promote the political, pseudo-democratic conceptions of Masaryk and Benes which led to the destruction of Czecho-Slovakia and the utter enslavement of the Slovak and Czech nations by the Communists. It is, the Slovaks believe, contrary to justice and morals to recognize and give moral and material aid to individuals and SLOVAKIA 17 organizations that seek the destruction of the Slovak nation by promoting the big lie of a "united Czechoslovak nation." The truth is that the Slovaks never were, nor do they wish to be Czechs; and, on the other hand, the Czechs never were, nor do they desire to be Slovaki:i. Americans of Slovak descent, organized in the Slovak League of America, are loyal to America, because to them America is an ideal, a living symbol of freedom, tolerance, and justice. They seek no special favors for the nation they are descended from, but only recognition of and respect for the inherent, natural rights of the Slovak nation. The Slovaks learned about freedom and democracy from America. They know that they can best secure and safeguard their national existence only if they manage their own household. America has no cause to deny the Slovaks their rights to freedom and independence; this the American people as a whole understand well, but it seems that people making up our Government do not. This undoubtedly is due to the influence of the Benes Czechs who collaborated with the Reds and the Soviet Union until February 1948, when they suddenly became "democratic" exiles. As in the past, so in the future, the Slovak League must expend every effort to correct the situation. Administrations • of the United States Government, no matter what their political beliefs, must be convinced that the righteous cause of the Slovak nation deserves the support of all Americans. Americans of Slovak descent, we trust, are not overly presumptuous in assuming that they merit at least the same measure of favor and trust from their Government as does the bankrupt, pro-Soviet political clique of the late Dr. Edward Benes, which today is operating in America as the "Council of Free Czechoslovakia." Rebuffed and humbled on so many occasions, the Slovak League continues stubbornly and courageously in the work of liberating the Slovaks from all foreign domination. The existence of the Slovak nation can never be secured unless the Slovaks are masters of their own destiny. The Slovaks must not be denied the right to organize their own state, an independent Slovak Republic. The Slovaks are not against a federation or confederation of European 18 SLOVAKIA states, but rather for it. But into such a federation they want to enter not as an appendage of the Czech nation, but as a nation no less sovereign than the rest of the nations of any such proposed European federation. Today the Slovaks look to America for liberation and salvation more than they ever did; the Slovak nation needs encouragement and inspiration in this its darkest hour. After the great onslaught of World War II, the Slovaks were thrown to the Red wolves of the Kremlin and their stooges in Prague, and yet they have never let up in their fight against Communism. They fought against this scourge of humanity in and out of season for the past 100 years and are determined, with God's help, to keep fighting it until the Red plague is wiped off the face of the earth. The work of the Slovak League of America will never be finished until this happens and the Slovak nation at last takes its rightful place in the family of free nations, there to share the burdens and blessings of free men under God, all laboring toward one end: a just and lasting peace, based on the love of man for God and for his fellowman . • • . WHO SAID IT? ' ~Prague, Budapest, Zagreb, Brno, Bratislaiva were as German a'S Linz or Innsbruck, so much so they had German names: Brague (for Praha), Ofon, Agrrum, Brlinn, Pressburg. In Prague in 181'5 there were 50,000 Germam.s and only 15,000 Czechs; even in 1848 respectrubie people spoke only German in the streets, and to ask the way in Czech would provoke an offensive reply . . . . The smaller towns remained German far longer, ,some, such as Brno, until the twentieth century .... The German character of the towns (in the HaJbsbur,g Monarchy) had little or nothing to do with race . . . The enterp:r,ising son of a peasant, Czech, Roumaniian, or &rob, who entered a town, learned a German art and spoke Geiiman to his fellow shopkeepers; his children despised their father',s peasant dialect, am.d his grandcihildren, sa.fuly arrived in staJte j'dbs, forgot that they had ever been am.ytlling but German and town-dwellers." - (A. J. P. Taylor, THE HiABSBURG MONARJOHY, London, 1948; ,pp. 24-25).  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 50 Years of the Slovak League of America Description An account of the resource Philip A. Hrobak Slovakia, Vol. 7, No. 2 (23), June 1957 pp. 10-18 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hrobak, Philip Anthony, 1904-1964 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 1957 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/6f9439fc83b357065608a09e9c3d34b7.pdf 6b14c62fdc51dbf80f29d47274b82007 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 49 624-659 A.D.: THE SLOVAKS AND KING SAMO'S EMPIRE Dr. Henrich Bartek The Great Morawian IDmpire, which had its greatest development during the reign of King Sivatoplwk (870---895), lasted Q/Ver one hundred years. It was the climax of the long struggle of the SlOIV~ trilbes for their own staite. The core or nucleus of the territory occU1pied by the forefathers of the Slovaik nation was the territory to the north of the coo.tool Danuibe. At the end of the eighth centwy and the beginning of the ninith, the SlovaJk trilbes succesSlf ully threw off the yoke of the A vars with the help of Chaxla;maigne. The history of the ninth century offers many possibilities to inquire into the various political and spiritual tendencies which chanced to meet in Great Moravia. But we must reimemlber that patrioti'c motives from the era of national rebinth strn play a significrunt role and visions of the mighty empire of our forefathers not only strengthened national lirfe, hurt also were a rich source of poetic and artistic creativeness. Overestimating the Cyrillo-Methodius episode, tJherefore, is quite common among the Slovaks. Digressions frOIIIl current views, for example, the Christianiwtion of the Slov,aJks by Saints Cyril and Methodius, are accepted with distrust, even though irt is quite obvious that the Slova;ks were Christians long before the adivent of Saints Cyril and Meithodius. F1unthermore, that t'he epochal work of the creators orf the nationa)l liturgy did not last long in Slovakia, but reached its climax outside the 1and od: the Slova;k,s among the southern and eastern SlolV'anic peoples. A thorough understanding of the cultural and political foundations of the development of the Great Moraivian Empire is unthinlkalble wirbhout -a knowledge of the period that preceded it, since Greait Morwia w,a;s neither the first state arrangement orf our forefathers, nor the beginning of their historical aotivti.1Jy, but the result and the c,limax of actions of seve·r al centuries. - -The meager sources before the ninth century do hot entice historiaJns, becaiuse they do not offer sufficient materia,1 �50 SLOVAKIA for the expression of more or less probable theories a:nd because the Slovruks, long /before the origin of the Great Moravian Empire, had oooupied a space in the Danuibi'clln region several times greater than that which they n:ow occupy. The fortunes of the Slov-aiks in the era before Great Moravia are veiled in mystery and will not become known U!Iltiil historical science shall be aJble to use the results of researches ()If those scientific departments w'hich could effeotwely CQl1lttibute to the solution of the problem of OUT oldest history. To date, however, a•r eheologicai finds were not sufficiently evaluated to let us know the pro,g ressi.ve penetraititon of the Slovaks into the Danulbian territory; and ethnography has not attempted to give an eociplanation of the origin of Slovak culture in comparison with the culture of its SlOIVIMlic •a nd nonSlovanic nei:gh!bors, saying rrothmg about our ,p hilology which neglected the history of our tongue by devoting 1tself ia11gely to registering dialects and the normalimtion of the· language of literature. Furthermore, comparative philology has such reliable methods that it often can with final validity solive even questions which historfans must leawe unnoticed for a laok of written memoirs, ,b ut which they possilbly could 'b uild farther if they had at hand some supporting poinJts gained through other departments. Philology itself could afford much valualble knowledge to clarify not only the era before Great Moravia in the Danubian area, but als'O the geographical position of the Slovak tri·bes in their ancient homeland because this oon 'b e done 'b y analysis of certain strata of the diotionary aind linguistic maI1ks, as well as by an am.alysis o!f geogmphical names of ancient origm. Of course, such resea:z,ches require exiceptional ca.111tion, but the fact that the ecclesiastica:l Slovanic language enaJbles us to reconst:rmct the arra111gement of vowels of Sl'OIV'lalk words used in the second haJ1f of the ninth century is a sufficient -basis so that we could, ac:cord!irng to single words prese:z,ved since before the ninth cen't;ucy, regressiive1y reconstruct the arrangement of vowels of words from the eighth to the fif,t h centuries, nay, even dooper into the past, whereby it win be shown at which sections of time certain foreign ~rds penetrated into our midst, which as dbjective proo1Js wi:ll enruble �S LOVAKIA 51 us to define the cuiturO-ipoliticaJ contacts of our forefathers in the era before Great MOTaviia. In this process of finding the dldest settlements of t'he Sio,V'a,ks, topograJphical names will have a speciaJJ. sig:niificance, a!boJVe al[ else the names of rivers aJnd settlements, as we shall see in examples presented below. So that we miig,ht arrive at positive results from the history before Great Moravia, we must accept a cert.a.in. working hypothesis, the aiutho,rlty of wlhfoh we shall inquire into, wherelby for the saJke of ancient histo11y we are uirged to issue out of Samo.' s emipire and assume that Great Moravria was not the first state formation of the Slova!k tribes, beca~ Fredegar's chronicles record a strong western-.Slovruric empire aJreadly in the sreiventh century; it was headed by King Samo and was strong enough to resist the pressure not only of the Avars, but esven of the Twktish kingdom of King Dagolmllrt. Fredega:r's report aibout the great defeat of the Franlks near the Wogastiburg Castle in 631, as well as several other notations 'by thtis same historian, are the only objective proof aibout Samn's empire, and on these records are based the most various theories about the ethnical composition and the territorial extent, as well as the principal city of Samo's state. As usua11y ha,pperns in such cases, when the som-ce does not a.icoorately define a territory, scho1a:rs of the individu.a1 SIOIValtlic nations striive to a:pip~iate unto themselves Samo's empire: some Czech scientists are seelkting Wogastibrn,g in the most western sections of Bohemia; the Slovenes would liike to find it in Coruta:nia; and foreign scholars lean to one or the other theory. For e}Cample, the Belgian histol'ian Pirenne was for Corutania, whiile Milk.kola, the F~itmish scholar on Slavistics, preferred Bohemia.. In the past recent years, Oze<!h, Polish, and Slov,ak scholars ha:d agreed that King Samo resided at DelVin near the Danube, which, therefore, must have been the center of his empire. We find the weak side of these theories in the lack of new objective proofs which could complement Fredegar's notations. Even. though many new staitemenrts aJbout Samo's empire are very reasonable and very pro!balble, they will re- �52 SLOVAKL<\. main only as suppositions until incontrovert1ble proofs aa-e offered to support them. These theories albout the center of Samo's empire were propagated in 1951 by Oettinger, well-Jmoiwn Viennese historian of arts and arrcheology, who teills us in his book "Das Warden Wiens" thait he regards Vienna as Samo's residence: He bases his b.elief on the fact that the construotion of the Berghof Castle in Vienna, jrUdging it according to prese1wed architectonic relics, can be traced only to Samo's era, because the Avam as a nomadic nation could not build such a great stooe citadel. Besides that, professor Oettinger produces a whole series of othea:- arguments to prove htis theory, one of which we might introduce at this time, that is, that the Slovenes use the name Danu~ for Vienna, namely, that they called the castle a:nd the city according to the rirver, which could hawe happened only during Samo's time, . when the Barghof in Vienna; was the seat of Samo's _, empire. 'I'he discovery of the castle is certainly a very weighty fact, which archeoilogy and history of the arts, th<l!Il!ks to the deductions of Professor Oettinger, presented to historians. Oettinger considers it sellf-evident that Sl0V1a:ks an~l_ other Slovanic peoples lived in the entire region of Vienna and far to the west :tlong the Danulbe territo;ry duriing Samo's time. Theories about the center of Samo's empire at Devin, and especially the proofs of Oeittinger are a suffidenit basis for philology to ask the question: What Slovanic peoples could have li'Ved during Samo.'s time in the Vienna region, near the Danube in present Austria:, and in the vicinity of Devin? Ilf it could be succeSSlf,u lly prorved that during Samo's time the Slovaks a!lrea:dy were settiled in the central Danwbian region, on both sides of this great river, that would mean a milestone in the most ancient history of the SllO!VaJk nation, because F'redegar wrote quite plainly that Samo came among the SlOIV'anic peoiples exactly at the time when they had successfully relbeHed against the Avars. Therefore, it was not Samo, a Frankish merchant by origin, who l~berated the Slovanic peoples who later elected him their king, because they had Uberated themselJves before his advent. Philological proofs of the Slovakness of the regions to �SLOVAKIA 53 the .south: of the central Danube in the seventh century could becomie the basis of extensive historical researches, which wouhl place the beginnings of the historical era of the political efforts of the Slo.vruks two centuries dooper into the past, t'herelby clarif~g eiven the origin of the Great Mom-wan Empire. As mentioned albO!ve, philology can throw light on even very runcient eras of nati:ons by ana>ly,z ing a>dopted foreign words and ancient names of ri'Vers and cities. At this time we shall attempt to girve at least a few examples to illustrate how this could be done. Several Ancient Geographical Names An ex,pl,a;n_ation of the origin of topographii.cal names is a useful aid of historians, be.<:ause quite frequentl;y it presents -a better picture orf an anoient settlement than fragmenta:r:y · reports orf chroniclers and, furthermore, vowel chamges,. to which geographical names succumbed, enaJbied us to determine the time of their origin and the period of their existence. In the past decades many wo;r,k,s were published a'bo.ut Slo'V'anic to,p ographical names, but most frequently they are rather conicerned with simply registering names than with explaining them, since the explanation of the oriigin of names encounters many diflficu[ties, especiaJ>ly i!Il the Danwbe territory, whe;re we meet with traces of the lllyrians, Celts, GeTmans and Romans, even the European aJbocygenes, whiHe t'he illyrian and Celtic languages arre not as yet suflficiently reasea.r ched. It is relatirvely very difficult to eociplain clearly to inexperts the origin orf some ancient name, ibecaiuse that requires considerable k!Ilowledge of comparative philology. Thus, for example, even at first glance it is abvious that the nam·e s Viede:ii and Wien (Vienna), which have a ,b asic importance for an.oient history of the Sloivalks, are somewhat related or conneicted togetherr, but maJking their relationship clear requires centain knowledge so that the explanation might 'be accessible to every one and, therefore, we shall ta'ke Ulp a few oth~ geog~aJphical names to show by what manner names of antique origin come to us. RfM___.ROMA (Rome) : The connooti10n of the terms is obvious, but the difficulty encountered is explaining the Slo- �5-1 SLOVAKIA vruk "i" for the Latin "o", as well as the masculine gender of the Slovak name. Quite some time ago, professor Skok of Zagreb University pointed out that on the Dalmatian coast the Latin Salona was cha:nged into Solin, Nona to Nin, Albona to Labin (lby changing position of V'OCals, like the Czech Labe from Albis, buit the German Elbe Wli,thout changing position; the ancient Serbian and Croatian name Jakin was derirved from Ancona). In these names, the Latin "o" was compensated for by the S1ovanic "ii" which then was changed to "y" and fmally to "i." At the same time t:he Latin femi'Illine gender of the names was changed to the masc'll'line in the Slovanic languages, be"Camse in unrefined Latin the Accusative ending "-m" disappeared' and "ad Roma" was used instead of "aid Roma:m" (to Rome). The Slovank peoples regarded the ending "-a" as a suffix of the genitive case of the mascU!line gender and from the forms "do Rima, z Rima, do Solina, zo Solina," etc., they made the maS:C'U'line nominative "Rim, Solin, Nin," etc. It cannot be said with cert.ainty whether the Slovaks got the word "Rim" through the southern Slova'l1S or directly from the Romans in Pamnon:ia, because the name of the princilpa:1 city of the Roman ffimpire may have become known to them when they already lirved in the Car,pathians, but as yet had not penetrated to the Danuibe. RABA-RABIOA-RAB: One of the important southern tributaries of the central Danulb,e in Pannorua is the river Raalb, which in t:he Roman era was ca.Heel Arabo. R is generaliliy ~cknowled'ged that the name is of Celtic origin, which in the S1orvanic was first aJbbrevfaJted into Arba and then later in the fi.mt half Oif the ninth century became Raba by transposition of letters. We find a river bea:ring the same name in Pol,and, which flows into the Visla alboive the Dunajec ; I :reg,ard the name of the Ra!ba of Polamd also of Celitic origin. The Polish Raba and the Pannonian Ra.ha a.re one Of the many proofs of the wandering Oif the Celts, after whom there are traces e:ven in Slovaikia in the names of rivers. Thus, for example, Orava is of Ce1tic origin,. as is Oravica in Rumania. 'Dhe Rabica (Ra.pea in Mayiga:r and Rabliltz �SLOVAKIA 55 in German) flows into the Danubian Raba. And Rabica means the SmaH Ralba, because in ancient Slovak diminlutiive names were formed- ~ the sulffix "-ica" - e.g. - NitraNitrica, Bystra-lBystrica, Tepla~Teplica, Lomna◄Lomnica, Byoca.,Bytx'!ica., Lovea◄Lovcioa, etc. One o.f the triburtaries of the Ralbica is named Repce in Magyar, which undoubtedly is am. older name than Ra.pea, because the Magyar Repce presupposes the older Slo'Va.k form Ratiica with an "-a" after a soft "c." In other words, the Magyar Repce was adopted bef<>i:re the thirteenth cen<bury, before the hardening of the soft "c," whife the Magyar Ra.pea is of later origin (afiter the "-a" changed into "-a" in Slovak). At the confluence of the Raba into the Danulbe is the city of RaJb (RaaJb), the Magyar Gyor, which used to be the site of a strong gianison to protect the Roman borders. In Slovll!k t'he name of the city is of the masculine gender in contrast to the name of the river. So, here again we meet with tilie same phenomenon as we did with the. name Rim (Rome). The SlovaJks ada,pted and preserved the ancient name of the river in the form oif Raba and out of it made the dimmuti<ve Rabica; but when they came to the name of the city, they changed the gender in the spirit of their language and, therefore, the form Rab proves a direct corm.ection with the Roman population. in Pannonia, from which the Slovaks tOOik the name of the r iver in the form of Arba, but in designating the city changed the form to Arb, from which at .t he end of the second half of the ninth century, by a trans.posiltion of vocals, the forms Raba and Rab originated. The German forms Raab, Rabnitz and the Magyar Raba (the riiveir) , Repce, Rapea coulld have been taJken onlry from the SlovaJk forms. Here the ancient Slov3'k continuity is quite clear. We must also mention that on the Adriatic, south of the ffihune River, lies the island of RaJb with a oity by that name. The IWian name of the island is Arbe, which also supports our etymology of the names Raba (in Poland), Raba, Rabica, Rab (beyond the Danu'be). When dealing with ancient geog,rruphica:l names, if we are concerned. with the afrooment of the name of a river with the name of a city or town, the name of the river, as a rule, is older. For example: Nitra is named according to �56 SLOVAKIA the river bearing that name, and not vice-versa. The same holds for the names Raba and Rab: the Celts first named the river and later the setrtJement by the same name, which became a Roman city or town. On the Polish Raba there is no town with a similiar name, 'b ut only the community Rabka, whose suffix is "-ka" shows that its origin came later, similarly liike Oravka is of a lateT date in comparison with the more ancient Oravica. In the period of migration of nations there were no great oo111flrcit:s in Panrnonia which could have destroyed ancient oities, because the Romans at the beginning of the fifth cenitury ceded Pann.onia to the H'l.l!Ils, who not only did not destroy A:q,uincum, near the present Budin, but not even the principal city of Upper Pannonia, SaJVaria (todaiy, the Magyar Szombathe ly and the German Stein am Anger). This wealthy city, the birthplace oif St. Ma,rtin, was Mstroyed oruy after the fall of the Tums, in 4!56, but by an earthquaJke. The Huns, similat1ly like the Arvara later, were not interested in destrnying the Pannonfam towns which had to pay them tribute. Therefore, eiven outsride oircumstain ces attest to the fact that the forefathers of the Slo:viaks were acquainted with Rab (Raab) during the time when it was a n important ancient town with a harbor on the Danube. RE~WEN NA-VIED EN-WIEN (Vienna): The official name of the southern tribuil:iary of the Danube in Vienna is Fluss Wien (1RiJver Vioona), even though in the ordinary German language, both in the City of Vienna and also in it.s vicmity, the ancient name Rekawenna is still qurite alive. The firsit part o!f the latter appelation cor.respond s to the SlovaJk "rieka" (rwhich happened to be "reka" in the tenth and eleventh centuries,). Near tJhe wpper part of this river is a community called Rekawinke l (A corner of the river). The second part of the com'I)O!U.Ild word with its "-wenna" reminds us of the names V!ienna (Viedeii) in Slov,ruk and Wien in German). The ending "-a" of the name Wenna tells us that we are concerned with a name that was taken o,ver into German at a relatively late date, s,i nce the "-a" ending ·· in old German disappeared . For exaJiniple: the ancient name of the river Ipusa �SLOVAKIA 57 changed into lps ( officially, Ybbs), of courrse thro1Ugh a Slovanic medil.llffi, as is proved by its. trilbutary, the Ipsitz, namely the Small ]jpsa, which in turn wa;s derived from the older term Ipsica. Similarly only thTou·g h a Slovanic medilllffi can be eXiplained the feminine gender of the name Enns, which professor E. Schwrurz noted correctly, according to which the ancient Anisus first gave the Slovams Anisa, from which then, b.y changing the "a" into an "e" and further changes in the German, the form Enns was created. The feminine gender of Enns points to its Slovanic origin against the masc'll!line gender of the class~ca·l name Anisus. This same phenomenon is noticed in t'he names Drava and Sava, which in Latin are Dravus and Savus (masclllline gender) . The change in gender in the Slovanic is given to the omitted or untleratood word "rieka" or probrubly "voda" (rirver and water, lbolth feminine gender). The form Rekawenna, wiith the irresevviation of the word "rieka" indicates not onliy the Sl{)!Varucity of the name, 'but also the necessity of disting1Uishing 'by means of this word t'he name of the ri;ver from another geographical name, so that ambiguity would not a-rise. The existence of the word "Rellmwenna" tells us that the name Wenna had to be. also• the name of a place. Rekawenna found its way into the common German language at the earliest by the end of the eleventh century, that is, aifter the disappearance orf the ending "-a," which otherwise agrees also with historical fact, because the Germans succeSSJfu[ly pushed out the Magyars from the Vienna region only as late as the eleiventh century. According to Much, the Celtic appelation for the Wien (Vienna) River was Vedunia, which means "mountain stream" ("Waldibach"). We thinlk that Much cor:rectly seeks the Ce1tic origin of the name of the river, but we cannot agree with him that we are here concerned with the suffix "-nia," beca:use the Romans wouJd have placed t'his word among the multitude of other names, which ended in "-ania, -onia, -inia, -unia, -enia" and all of which in common or vulgar Latin had a long, accented vowel before the "-n". Burt Vediinia with a long, accented "-ii" would not have become Vieden in Sl01Vak The Celtic V edona we regard as the same name which was preserved in the French name of the �58 SLOVAKIA river Vienne (a tributary of the Loire), as well as in the name of the City of V'ienne near Grenoble and in the regional name Haute Vienne. Here we are concerned with a similar ancient Celtic name as, for exarrniple, the French lsere, which corresponds to the Bava:rian lsar and the Czech Jizera, or the French Aube frrom the Celtic Albis (compaTe with Labe-Elbe, above). The French Vienne presuipposes the Celtic V oo.ona with a short aCJCented "-e-", w'hioh gave "-ie-," simila:rly as bene gaive bien. The change of Voo.ona to Vienne came aJbout according to t!he cmrent old..French vooal changes, which we cannot truke up here. We presuppose the Celto-Latin na,me of the riiver Vedona, in which the Latin short "-o-" gave the short "-u-" in the Sloivanic, w'hich later changed into a hard jer, like the Latin commater gaive kumatra and kmotra: like co:mlite(m) g,a,ve kumet and then kmef, and many others. In the same manner, Vedona first ga.ve Veduna, which after the disappeaora:nce of the weak jer (i.ei. the very short "-u") changed into Vedna, which the Germans adrupted in the form of Wenna, beoause they did not to[e,r ate the intervowel grollip "-dn-". In a word, Rekawenna got into the German lanigua:ge through a Sloviank medium ; not only because of the first part of the compound word, but also the second part. 'l'he glorious Vindobona of antiquity, which was situated rubove the river Vedona, lost its impomnce and a1read'Y in the beginning of tlhe fifth cenitury it is mentioned once as Vindomana, and at other tiimes as Vendomina or Vindomma. IDvidently we a:re concerned with a name of Celtic origin, which originaHy meant as much as "a white city" and whose name was being fu:rigotten by the ancient writers oif the fii.fith and sixth centuries. The SlO!V'aks could have known Vindobona--Vendomina already in the fifth century, and certainly not later than the beginning of the sixth; and sin(!e the names of rive:ris usually became the names of settlements, the settllement near the Vedona RiveT (today, the Rekawenna) was named after it. The name of the to:wn was of the mas<!uline gender, while the riiver remained feminine, like Rab (the river: Raba). �SLO \ .AK IA 59 Here the name of the river was Veduna and the town named after it bore the name Vedun (where the "-u-" later became a hard jer in a strong position, which was p~operly changed into an "-e-"). After the vocalimtion of the je:ra, therefore akeady in the tenth century, the foom Vedeii existed in SlowaJk; the genitive of this form wa.s Vediia (do Vedna - to Vienna) . The German na:me is not derived from the nominatirve, 'but from the SlO!Vlak geinitirve, as attested t-0 by the proof "Wenia" from 881. The attempt of pro!fessoc Liewehr, who preswpposes in this name a nasal vowel, CaJI1not be deduced in any manner, but even more incorrect is his claim that the Gerunans got the name "Wien" from the Czechs. Liehwehr obviously colllf,used Ol;ech with Slovak. When we consider that even today the Slovak ethnic border commences abo1Ut 35 !k ilometers northeast of Vienna, that during the entire ninth century the southern border of Great Moravia in Lower Austria was the Danube, and .tJhat durring the time of Ki'Il!g Sva.topllllk even the Vienna region belonged to his empire, it is altogether clear that the Slova,ks have ,preserved to the present time the ancient appelation o!f Viedeii (Viienna). 'f.he Czechs a;ccepted the name Viden from the Slorvaks, as they did the word "kost.el" (church) , rubout whic h we shall say something before we conclude this article. The German Rekawenna comes from the old Slovak form "reka Vedna" and from the ancient, indfrect cases: do Vediia (to Vienna, z Vedna (from Vienna) , in old German this was first Wena, and then later Wien. Llke the Germans along the Roman border on the Danulbe preserved the names Pata.via, Lentia, Lauriacum in the forms Pasau, Linz, Lorch, so the Slovaks in the names of Vied en and Rab ,preserved the names of V edona and Arabo along that ancient border. '.Ilhe Slo;venian Dunaj (iDanulbe) to designate Vienna supports the theory of professor Oettinger that the principal city of Samo's, empiTe was Vienna, rbecause only the constriuction of Benghof cOIUld haive girven the Slovenians the chance to name the new citadel according to the river, but �60 SLOVAKIA the irrediutaible oontinmty of the Sl01Vruk name wit'h the ancient one attests to the fact that during the time of King Samo, and even 1b efore him, the Slovenes did not live in the Vienna region, but the Slov8Jks did. Edtitz-Edlach-Edlbach: It is dbviol\.ls that the Slovruk population wais found not Ottl!ly in the immedliaite vii.cinity of Vienna, but extended fal'lt'her to the south, aJPpmx:imwte1y to the separation of the southern tributaries O!f the Danube in Lower Austria and partia,Uy in Upper AU1sitria, as is attested to by other to;pograiphica;l names, of which we might mention art 1€18JSt Edlitz and Eillach, which are east and north of Semmering. The consonant group "-di-" indicates its Slo!V'ruk origin. In Slovene "jela' comes from the older form "ela," as compared to the Slovruk "jedfa" (derived from the older fo:ran "edfa"). The grolllp "-di-" was also preseirved in the name of Modling (near Vienna) .f.rom the Sloviak "M:odlin" (another Modlin is near Wa:raaw). And south of Wind<ischg,a,rsten in Upper Austria we find the stream Edlbach. The very drcuimsitance that these names do not start with a "j-" proves their antiquity, that is, they must have penetrated into the Germian before the secondi half of the ninth century. In German names ta;ken over fr<>rr1 SIOIValk, we can ascertain three groups: 1. Edlitz (east of Semmering; another one is west of the Vienna Forest, near Wein1burg); here belong many other names, which we need not mention; Aflenz, a riiver in the SO'Utheastern region of Upper Austria; these and similar n8Jmes were taken over by t'he Germans when the Sloivak sit.HI used 'adfa, ablonica' instead of "jedfa, jablonica"; 2. the group with the initial "g" instead of the Slovak "j-" - e.g., Gaflenz (the nanie of the town above the river Aflertz W8JS ·adlapted later by the Germans, which means that the Sloiv,alk poipuiliaition preserwed itself there quite some time); 3. the ,groUJp with the presenved secondary "j-,r-" e.g. Jauerling (f,r om Javornik, a mountain ridge northw~ of MelO'k, a:bove the Danulbe; . the Gemnans adapted the word, just lirke they got "Moserling" from "MocamI'k"); Jas~tzbach, a trilburtal'y of the Erlaf, whfoh :filows into the Danu'be (Jasnitlz is from the SLO'V'ark Jasenica, naimed accordling to the tree "jasen" - ash). _ �SLOVAKIA 61 All this indicates the possi1bility which philology has to determine the time element of vowel changes, a,lso to ascertain the g.radual penetration of Gernnan colomzation and the period · of Gennanization of the Danube area in present-day Austria. Pregraten: Pro;fessor E. Pragarte Pregarten Schwartz correctly derives the name Pregarten from the word "pregarda," which later iby interposition of vocals, changed to "pregrada" (now priehrada in Slovak). We found over ten Pregartens in Upper AU/Stria alone, in the districts of Vociklalbruok, Perg, Gmunden, Freis,tadit, P,r egarten, Eferding, Ottens,tein, Raa>b, Schwanenstad t, which indicates that defense partitions are concerned, parts of the Slov.amic stronghold system which came from the sixth century and haippened to- be on the western border of Samo's empi-re. Designating territoria;l borders had a specia:l sig,rnifica:nce in the life o;f the ancient Slovans; even the German word "Grenze" comes from the Slo,vanic "granica." The Germans penetrated into easte•r n Tyrol after the change of ''gard-" to "grad-", because Pregraten was preser-v ed there. Of course., in some ,places they penetrated before this chamge took place, beca,use there we also find the settlement Aegarth (Oegarth) from the Sl01Va,k Ograda, similarly li!ke a sm~H plow in the German dialect used there is called "arl" from the ancient Slovene form "arlo" (today ralo a,nd, in Sloivruk, radio). The German form arl comes from the era before the interchange of vocals. Windisch garsten-Garsten: The first part of the na,me Windischgars ten indii'cates the Slovanidty of t'he seoon:d part, rubout which E. Schwartz claims that it comes from the Slovanic "chvorst-" ( chrasf in SloiVaik). We cannot, however, agree with him, beca,me in old German names taJken over from the Slov,8Jnic, "k" takes the place oif "ch"; e.g., in Austria, in the Damulbe region, there are several hills whi'C'h are called Kulm, Kulmitz; these are derived from the Slovak "chu!lm" (today, Chlmec, chlmok); therefore, the 'g" of Garsten ca,nnot come from "ch," but only from a word which began with .a "g". Besides that, Windischga-rs ten lies on the old, very im- �62 SLOVAKIA portant highway which already dUJring the Roman times corrected Noricum with the Danwbian region; therefore, already then this road was fortified with bast.rions. In the proximity Of Win<lischg•a rsten is Grad.au, whose. name is obvious1y connected or rel•a ted to the word "grad." A section of the city of Steyr is also called Garsten. We are here concerned with an elevation which hardly could halve been named after "chraist"' (thicket; s'lmufbbery), but l'ather after "brad" (castle; bastion). In our 01pilll.i.on, Garst.en is derived from "gardisce" - the accented "-i-" dlisappearing in the Geir,man, and the gl'OU'l) olf five consonants "rdsts-", because very difrficw.t to pronounce, was modified to "-rit-". Therefore,, we must derive "Garst.en" from "gardisce" and not from "chvorst" ( ohrasf, today). And since south of Windi-schg,a rsten we find the stream Edlbach, it is necesisary to assll!me that the Slovaks settled here very earJiy, because the Sioivenes along the Dra;v,a penetrated to the west in the sixt'h and serventh centuries and through Istria into northern J.truly. In a word, their goal was west and sourt'hiwest, but not north. Slovak tribes from the north also penetrated souith and so1.lfthwesit into the Danubian region. Inasmuoh as traces of Slovenian colonirzation have been ascertained recently around the central part of the Enns, they came from a 1a:ter ,period, when the penetration of the Slovenes to the west wais stopped by the Bavarians and in northern Italy by the Langobal'ds. The woros Garsten, Windischgarst.en, just lilke Pregart.en, are liiving testimony of the defense organization of the forefathers of the ~ovalks (.castles, bastions, citadels) ; other names in the Dainlllibian region of Austria will lead us to the sa:me conclusion. For example, Gairlen and Grat.en ( Garten berg ipresuipposes the name "Gradna), and many names conta•i ning "Strass", are for the most part related to the Slovak "straza" (guaro, and not to the German Strasse (street). Traces were even found after the name "brad.lo" (huge rock) , which the ancient SlovaJks used to designate a defensilve p1ace, usuiaaly a hill, on which defenses were set up (compare Brad.lo near Myjava and Domica; also Branisko, a hill between Saris and Spis) . �SLOVAKIA 63 By analyzing a large number of locail, river, borderline and other names in Lower and Upper AIUJStria and vicinity, as well as Austrian dia:leotic words of Slovak origin, we can define relatiively a;ccurateily just aibout what tme these areas were colonized, but also the 'beginnings, the bo,r ders and the fortunes of Slovak colonization. In summary, then: 1. The names Wien, Rekawenna, Raab, Rabnitz found their way into, German through a Slovak medium, and the Slovaks received the names Vieden, Raba, Rab directly from the Roman population wath whioh they came into contact after their advent into P,a nnonia. 2. The southern 1b ooodary of Slovak colonization in Lorwer and Upper Austria is coarsely indicated by the propagati001 of names of the Edlitz ty,pe, the Slo;va;kness of which cannot ibe questioned, and for the most par,t is c,overed with the waters of the southern tributaries of the central Danube and the northern tributaries of the Drava, besides the region of the centrai IDnns. 3. Names of the Pregarten--Garst,en type designate an ancient Slovak-Bavarian boundary line, which was sUJbjected to changes from the sixth to the eighth centuries. It is self-evident that the direct Slovak~Roman contact was not limited to topograiphicaJ names alone, but can be traced in a multitude of words which the forefathers of the Slovaks took 0 ver from the Pannonian Romams. Pressed for space here, let us mention at least a feiw exrumples. The Slo~ vaks could ha,ve received the word "cast.ellum" only in Pannonia, whose ecclesiastica.>l organization was clissolved thy the Acvars when they destroyed the archibishopris of Sirmium in 582. The Roman "cast,ella" (ca,s tles) served as places of worship long before that date. At that time, when the Slovaks became acquainted with the word castellum (lkostol" - church), they also came to know the word "t,ehla," which came from "tegla," and this word in turn from the Latin "tegula." The GeI1Illans changed "tegla" to "ziegel" in the first half of the sixth century. The Czec'hs got the word "kost.el' from the western-iSlovaJk "kostel," because on their ethnical territory there never wa,s 1 �64 SLOVAKIA a single Roman "castellum." The Czech "cihla" comes from the German, while the Slova;k "tehla" and the Moravian-Slovak "tihla" come directly from the Roman "teglartegula." Among other words the forefathers Olf the Slovaks took over directly from the Romans were also "marmor" (J1ater "mramor - ma:rible) and "ban.a (mine). This swpports our theory that the Slovaks had direct conitacts with the Romans in Pannon:ia. It is not the purpose of philology to analyize the political sitiuation in Europe of the first half of the seventh century and to point out the possibilities which were presented the ancient Slovaiks so that they became the core of the strong empire of King Samo. It shall be the task of ecclesiastical historiains to throw Hght on the reasons why St. Amandus, the apostle of the Belgians, was not suocessful with the Slovak tri!bes in the western Da;nUJbian area. Historians will perhaps tel,l us which Slovak tribes preserved their independence even after Samo's deat'h. Philology can simply state that the material culture of the Sl01Vak Tribes, just like their administrativ e organization, was the same during Samo's time as it was in the Great Moravian Empire and that differences in spiritual culture were only in religion. During Samo's time the ancient Slovaks held onto their pagan religion, whHe the creators of Great Moraivia were Christian Slovak princes . • • • WHO SAID IT? "The aHiiance with the USSR is the starting ,poirut of our new foreign policy and of our security system. This alliance will be complrumented by alhances with other Slav countries. It r epreseruts a mighty bulwairk ag,ainst iposs,i!bJe danger in the future Jirom German imperia:lisnn. In the spirit of these prino1ples, the Demooraitic Party aicted st!an.mchly at all forums. It put aH its weight behind this conception. This orientation is to be regarded as the invariable devise also for our future political life." - (Dr. Joseph Lettrich, Vi.ce-Chaimnan cxf the IDxecutive Committee of the "Council of Free Czechoslo.vakia," at session of Democratic Party, January 25, 194'8). � SLOVAKIA 49 624-659 A.D.: THE SLOVAKS AND KING SAMO'S EMPIRE Dr. Henrich Bartek The Great Morawian IDmpire, which had its greatest development during the reign of King Sivatoplwk (870---895), lasted Q/Ver one hundred years. It was the climax of the long struggle of the SlOIV~ trilbes for their own staite. The core or nucleus of the territory occU1pied by the forefathers of the Slovaik nation was the territory to the north of the coo.tool Danuibe. At the end of the eighth centwy and the beginning of the ninith, the SlovaJk trilbes succesSlf ully threw off the yoke of the A vars with the help of Chaxla;maigne. The history of the ninth century offers many possibilities to inquire into the various political and spiritual tendencies which chanced to meet in Great Moravia. But we must reimemlber that patrioti'c motives from the era of national rebinth strn play a significrunt role and visions of the mighty empire of our forefathers not only strengthened national lirfe, hurt also were a rich source of poetic and artistic creativeness. Overestimating the Cyrillo-Methodius episode, tJherefore, is quite common among the Slovaks. Digressions frOIIIl current views, for example, the Christianiwtion of the Slov,aJks by Saints Cyril and Methodius, are accepted with distrust, even though irt is quite obvious that the Slova;ks were Christians long before the adivent of Saints Cyril and Meithodius. F1unthermore, that t'he epochal work of the creators orf the nationa)l liturgy did not last long in Slovakia, but reached its climax outside the 1and od: the Slova;k,s among the southern and eastern SlolV'anic peoples. A thorough understanding of the cultural and political foundations of the development of the Great Moraivian Empire is unthinlkalble wirbhout -a knowledge of the period that preceded it, since Greait Morwia w,a;s neither the first state arrangement orf our forefathers, nor the beginning of their historical aotivti.1Jy, but the result and the c,limax of actions of seve·r al centuries. - -The meager sources before the ninth century do hot entice historiaJns, becaiuse they do not offer sufficient materia,1 �50 SLOVAKIA for the expression of more or less probable theories a:nd because the Slovruks, long /before the origin of the Great Moravian Empire, had oooupied a space in the Danuibi'clln region several times greater than that which they n:ow occupy. The fortunes of the Slov-aiks in the era before Great Moravia are veiled in mystery and will not become known U!Iltiil historical science shall be aJble to use the results of researches ()If those scientific departments w'hich could effeotwely CQl1lttibute to the solution of the problem of OUT oldest history. To date, however, a•r eheologicai finds were not sufficiently evaluated to let us know the pro,g ressi.ve penetraititon of the Slovaks into the Danulbian territory; and ethnography has not attempted to give an eociplanation of the origin of Slovak culture in comparison with the culture of its SlOIVIMlic •a nd nonSlovanic nei:gh!bors, saying rrothmg about our ,p hilology which neglected the history of our tongue by devoting 1tself ia11gely to registering dialects and the normalimtion of the· language of literature. Furthermore, comparative philology has such reliable methods that it often can with final validity solive even questions which historfans must leawe unnoticed for a laok of written memoirs, ,b ut which they possilbly could 'b uild farther if they had at hand some supporting poinJts gained through other departments. Philology itself could afford much valualble knowledge to clarify not only the era before Great Moravia in the Danubian area, but als'O the geographical position of the Slovak tri·bes in their ancient homeland because this oon 'b e done 'b y analysis of certain strata of the diotionary aind linguistic maI1ks, as well as by an am.alysis o!f geogmphical names of ancient origm. Of course, such resea:z,ches require exiceptional ca.111tion, but the fact that the ecclesiastica:l Slovanic language enaJbles us to reconst:rmct the arra111gement of vowels of Sl'OIV'lalk words used in the second haJ1f of the ninth century is a sufficient -basis so that we could, ac:cord!irng to single words prese:z,ved since before the ninth cen't;ucy, regressiive1y reconstruct the arrangement of vowels of words from the eighth to the fif,t h centuries, nay, even dooper into the past, whereby it win be shown at which sections of time certain foreign ~rds penetrated into our midst, which as dbjective proo1Js wi:ll enruble �S LOVAKIA 51 us to define the cuiturO-ipoliticaJ contacts of our forefathers in the era before Great MOTaviia. In this process of finding the dldest settlements of t'he Sio,V'a,ks, topograJphical names will have a speciaJJ. sig:niificance, a!boJVe al[ else the names of rivers aJnd settlements, as we shall see in examples presented below. So that we miig,ht arrive at positive results from the history before Great Moravia, we must accept a cert.a.in. working hypothesis, the aiutho,rlty of wlhfoh we shall inquire into, wherelby for the saJke of ancient histo11y we are uirged to issue out of Samo.' s emipire and assume that Great Moravria was not the first state formation of the Slova!k tribes, beca~ Fredegar's chronicles record a strong western-.Slovruric empire aJreadly in the sreiventh century; it was headed by King Samo and was strong enough to resist the pressure not only of the Avars, but esven of the Twktish kingdom of King Dagolmllrt. Fredega:r's report aibout the great defeat of the Franlks near the Wogastiburg Castle in 631, as well as several other notations 'by thtis same historian, are the only objective proof aibout Samn's empire, and on these records are based the most various theories about the ethnical composition and the territorial extent, as well as the principal city of Samo's state. As usua11y ha,pperns in such cases, when the som-ce does not a.icoorately define a territory, scho1a:rs of the individu.a1 SIOIValtlic nations striive to a:pip~iate unto themselves Samo's empire: some Czech scientists are seelkting Wogastibrn,g in the most western sections of Bohemia; the Slovenes would liike to find it in Coruta:nia; and foreign scholars lean to one or the other theory. For e}Cample, the Belgian histol'ian Pirenne was for Corutania, whiile Milk.kola, the F~itmish scholar on Slavistics, preferred Bohemia.. In the past recent years, Oze<!h, Polish, and Slov,ak scholars ha:d agreed that King Samo resided at DelVin near the Danube, which, therefore, must have been the center of his empire. We find the weak side of these theories in the lack of new objective proofs which could complement Fredegar's notations. Even. though many new staitemenrts aJbout Samo's empire are very reasonable and very pro!balble, they will re- �52 SLOVAKL<\. main only as suppositions until incontrovert1ble proofs aa-e offered to support them. These theories albout the center of Samo's empire were propagated in 1951 by Oettinger, well-Jmoiwn Viennese historian of arts and arrcheology, who teills us in his book "Das Warden Wiens" thait he regards Vienna as Samo's residence: He bases his b.elief on the fact that the construotion of the Berghof Castle in Vienna, jrUdging it according to prese1wed architectonic relics, can be traced only to Samo's era, because the Avam as a nomadic nation could not build such a great stooe citadel. Besides that, professor Oettinger produces a whole series of othea:- arguments to prove htis theory, one of which we might introduce at this time, that is, that the Slovenes use the name Danu~ for Vienna, namely, that they called the castle a:nd the city according to the rirver, which could hawe happened only during Samo's time, . when the Barghof in Vienna; was the seat of Samo's _, empire. 'I'he discovery of the castle is certainly a very weighty fact, which archeoilogy and history of the arts, th<l!Il!ks to the deductions of Professor Oettinger, presented to historians. Oettinger considers it sellf-evident that Sl0V1a:ks an~l_ other Slovanic peoples lived in the entire region of Vienna and far to the west :tlong the Danulbe territo;ry duriing Samo's time. Theories about the center of Samo's empire at Devin, and especially the proofs of Oeittinger are a suffidenit basis for philology to ask the question: What Slovanic peoples could have li'Ved during Samo.'s time in the Vienna region, near the Danube in present Austria:, and in the vicinity of Devin? Ilf it could be succeSSlf,u lly prorved that during Samo's time the Slovaks a!lrea:dy were settiled in the central Danwbian region, on both sides of this great river, that would mean a milestone in the most ancient history of the SllO!VaJk nation, because F'redegar wrote quite plainly that Samo came among the SlOIV'anic peoiples exactly at the time when they had successfully relbeHed against the Avars. Therefore, it was not Samo, a Frankish merchant by origin, who l~berated the Slovanic peoples who later elected him their king, because they had Uberated themselJves before his advent. Philological proofs of the Slovakness of the regions to �SLOVAKIA 53 the .south: of the central Danube in the seventh century could becomie the basis of extensive historical researches, which wouhl place the beginnings of the historical era of the political efforts of the Slo.vruks two centuries dooper into the past, t'herelby clarif~g eiven the origin of the Great Mom-wan Empire. As mentioned albO!ve, philology can throw light on even very runcient eras of nati:ons by ana>ly,z ing a>dopted foreign words and ancient names of ri'Vers and cities. At this time we shall attempt to girve at least a few examples to illustrate how this could be done. Several Ancient Geographical Names An ex,pl,a;n_ation of the origin of topographii.cal names is a useful aid of historians, be.<:ause quite frequentl;y it presents -a better picture orf an anoient settlement than fragmenta:r:y · reports orf chroniclers and, furthermore, vowel chamges,. to which geographical names succumbed, enaJbied us to determine the time of their origin and the period of their existence. In the past decades many wo;r,k,s were published a'bo.ut Slo'V'anic to,p ographical names, but most frequently they are rather conicerned with simply registering names than with explaining them, since the explanation of the oriigin of names encounters many diflficu[ties, especiaJ>ly i!Il the Danwbe territory, whe;re we meet with traces of the lllyrians, Celts, GeTmans and Romans, even the European aJbocygenes, whiHe t'he illyrian and Celtic languages arre not as yet suflficiently reasea.r ched. It is relatirvely very difficult to eociplain clearly to inexperts the origin orf some ancient name, ibecaiuse that requires considerable k!Ilowledge of comparative philology. Thus, for example, even at first glance it is abvious that the nam·e s Viede:ii and Wien (Vienna), which have a ,b asic importance for an.oient history of the Sloivalks, are somewhat related or conneicted togetherr, but maJking their relationship clear requires centain knowledge so that the explanation might 'be accessible to every one and, therefore, we shall ta'ke Ulp a few oth~ geog~aJphical names to show by what manner names of antique origin come to us. RfM___.ROMA (Rome) : The connooti10n of the terms is obvious, but the difficulty encountered is explaining the Slo- �5-1 SLOVAKIA vruk "i" for the Latin "o", as well as the masculine gender of the Slovak name. Quite some time ago, professor Skok of Zagreb University pointed out that on the Dalmatian coast the Latin Salona was cha:nged into Solin, Nona to Nin, Albona to Labin (lby changing position of V'OCals, like the Czech Labe from Albis, buit the German Elbe Wli,thout changing position; the ancient Serbian and Croatian name Jakin was derirved from Ancona). In these names, the Latin "o" was compensated for by the S1ovanic "ii" which then was changed to "y" and fmally to "i." At the same time t:he Latin femi'Illine gender of the names was changed to the masc'll'line in the Slovanic languages, be"Camse in unrefined Latin the Accusative ending "-m" disappeared' and "ad Roma" was used instead of "aid Roma:m" (to Rome). The Slovank peoples regarded the ending "-a" as a suffix of the genitive case of the mascU!line gender and from the forms "do Rima, z Rima, do Solina, zo Solina," etc., they made the maS:C'U'line nominative "Rim, Solin, Nin," etc. It cannot be said with cert.ainty whether the Slovaks got the word "Rim" through the southern Slova'l1S or directly from the Romans in Pamnon:ia, because the name of the princilpa:1 city of the Roman ffimpire may have become known to them when they already lirved in the Car,pathians, but as yet had not penetrated to the Danuibe. RABA-RABIOA-RAB: One of the important southern tributaries of the central Danulb,e in Pannorua is the river Raalb, which in t:he Roman era was ca.Heel Arabo. R is generaliliy ~cknowled'ged that the name is of Celtic origin, which in the S1orvanic was first aJbbrevfaJted into Arba and then later in the fi.mt half Oif the ninth century became Raba by transposition of letters. We find a river bea:ring the same name in Pol,and, which flows into the Visla alboive the Dunajec ; I :reg,ard the name of the Ra!ba of Polamd also of Celitic origin. The Polish Raba and the Pannonian Ra.ha a.re one Of the many proofs of the wandering Oif the Celts, after whom there are traces e:ven in Slovaikia in the names of rivers. Thus, for example, Orava is of Ce1tic origin,. as is Oravica in Rumania. 'Dhe Rabica (Ra.pea in Mayiga:r and Rabliltz �SLOVAKIA 55 in German) flows into the Danubian Raba. And Rabica means the SmaH Ralba, because in ancient Slovak diminlutiive names were formed- ~ the sulffix "-ica" - e.g. - NitraNitrica, Bystra-lBystrica, Tepla~Teplica, Lomna◄Lomnica, Byoca.,Bytx'!ica., Lovea◄Lovcioa, etc. One o.f the triburtaries of the Ralbica is named Repce in Magyar, which undoubtedly is am. older name than Ra.pea, because the Magyar Repce presupposes the older Slo'Va.k form Ratiica with an "-a" after a soft "c." In other words, the Magyar Repce was adopted bef<>i:re the thirteenth cen<bury, before the hardening of the soft "c," whife the Magyar Ra.pea is of later origin (afiter the "-a" changed into "-a" in Slovak). At the confluence of the Raba into the Danulbe is the city of RaJb (RaaJb), the Magyar Gyor, which used to be the site of a strong gianison to protect the Roman borders. In Slovll!k t'he name of the city is of the masculine gender in contrast to the name of the river. So, here again we meet with tilie same phenomenon as we did with the. name Rim (Rome). The SlovaJks ada,pted and preserved the ancient name of the river in the form oif Raba and out of it made the dimmuti<ve Rabica; but when they came to the name of the city, they changed the gender in the spirit of their language and, therefore, the form Rab proves a direct corm.ection with the Roman population. in Pannonia, from which the Slovaks tOOik the name of the r iver in the form of Arba, but in designating the city changed the form to Arb, from which at .t he end of the second half of the ninth century, by a trans.posiltion of vocals, the forms Raba and Rab originated. The German forms Raab, Rabnitz and the Magyar Raba (the riiveir) , Repce, Rapea coulld have been taJken onlry from the SlovaJk forms. Here the ancient Slov3'k continuity is quite clear. We must also mention that on the Adriatic, south of the ffihune River, lies the island of RaJb with a oity by that name. The IWian name of the island is Arbe, which also supports our etymology of the names Raba (in Poland), Raba, Rabica, Rab (beyond the Danu'be). When dealing with ancient geog,rruphica:l names, if we are concerned. with the afrooment of the name of a river with the name of a city or town, the name of the river, as a rule, is older. For example: Nitra is named according to �56 SLOVAKIA the river bearing that name, and not vice-versa. The same holds for the names Raba and Rab: the Celts first named the river and later the setrtJement by the same name, which became a Roman city or town. On the Polish Raba there is no town with a similiar name, 'b ut only the community Rabka, whose suffix is "-ka" shows that its origin came later, similarly liike Oravka is of a lateT date in comparison with the more ancient Oravica. In the period of migration of nations there were no great oo111flrcit:s in Panrnonia which could have destroyed ancient oities, because the Romans at the beginning of the fifth cenitury ceded Pann.onia to the H'l.l!Ils, who not only did not destroy A:q,uincum, near the present Budin, but not even the principal city of Upper Pannonia, SaJVaria (todaiy, the Magyar Szombathe ly and the German Stein am Anger). This wealthy city, the birthplace oif St. Ma,rtin, was Mstroyed oruy after the fall of the Tums, in 4!56, but by an earthquaJke. The Huns, similat1ly like the Arvara later, were not interested in destrnying the Pannonfam towns which had to pay them tribute. Therefore, eiven outsride oircumstain ces attest to the fact that the forefathers of the Slo:viaks were acquainted with Rab (Raab) during the time when it was a n important ancient town with a harbor on the Danube. RE~WEN NA-VIED EN-WIEN (Vienna): The official name of the southern tribuil:iary of the Danube in Vienna is Fluss Wien (1RiJver Vioona), even though in the ordinary German language, both in the City of Vienna and also in it.s vicmity, the ancient name Rekawenna is still qurite alive. The firsit part o!f the latter appelation cor.respond s to the SlovaJk "rieka" (rwhich happened to be "reka" in the tenth and eleventh centuries,). Near tJhe wpper part of this river is a community called Rekawinke l (A corner of the river). The second part of the com'I)O!U.Ild word with its "-wenna" reminds us of the names V!ienna (Viedeii) in Slov,ruk and Wien in German). The ending "-a" of the name Wenna tells us that we are concerned with a name that was taken o,ver into German at a relatively late date, s,i nce the "-a" ending ·· in old German disappeared . For exaJiniple: the ancient name of the river Ipusa �SLOVAKIA 57 changed into lps ( officially, Ybbs), of courrse thro1Ugh a Slovanic medil.llffi, as is proved by its. trilbutary, the Ipsitz, namely the Small ]jpsa, which in turn wa;s derived from the older term Ipsica. Similarly only thTou·g h a Slovanic medilllffi can be eXiplained the feminine gender of the name Enns, which professor E. Schwrurz noted correctly, according to which the ancient Anisus first gave the Slovams Anisa, from which then, b.y changing the "a" into an "e" and further changes in the German, the form Enns was created. The feminine gender of Enns points to its Slovanic origin against the masc'll!line gender of the class~ca·l name Anisus. This same phenomenon is noticed in t'he names Drava and Sava, which in Latin are Dravus and Savus (masclllline gender) . The change in gender in the Slovanic is given to the omitted or untleratood word "rieka" or probrubly "voda" (rirver and water, lbolth feminine gender). The form Rekawenna, wiith the irresevviation of the word "rieka" indicates not onliy the Sl{)!Varucity of the name, 'but also the necessity of disting1Uishing 'by means of this word t'he name of the ri;ver from another geographical name, so that ambiguity would not a-rise. The existence of the word "Rellmwenna" tells us that the name Wenna had to be. also• the name of a place. Rekawenna found its way into the common German language at the earliest by the end of the eleventh century, that is, aifter the disappearance orf the ending "-a," which otherwise agrees also with historical fact, because the Germans succeSSJfu[ly pushed out the Magyars from the Vienna region only as late as the eleiventh century. According to Much, the Celtic appelation for the Wien (Vienna) River was Vedunia, which means "mountain stream" ("Waldibach"). We thinlk that Much cor:rectly seeks the Ce1tic origin of the name of the river, but we cannot agree with him that we are here concerned with the suffix "-nia," beca:use the Romans wouJd have placed t'his word among the multitude of other names, which ended in "-ania, -onia, -inia, -unia, -enia" and all of which in common or vulgar Latin had a long, accented vowel before the "-n". Burt Vediinia with a long, accented "-ii" would not have become Vieden in Sl01Vak The Celtic V edona we regard as the same name which was preserved in the French name of the �58 SLOVAKIA river Vienne (a tributary of the Loire), as well as in the name of the City of V'ienne near Grenoble and in the regional name Haute Vienne. Here we are concerned with a similar ancient Celtic name as, for exarrniple, the French lsere, which corresponds to the Bava:rian lsar and the Czech Jizera, or the French Aube frrom the Celtic Albis (compaTe with Labe-Elbe, above). The French Vienne presuipposes the Celtic V oo.ona with a short aCJCented "-e-", w'hioh gave "-ie-," simila:rly as bene gaive bien. The change of Voo.ona to Vienne came aJbout according to t!he cmrent old..French vooal changes, which we cannot truke up here. We presuppose the Celto-Latin na,me of the riiver Vedona, in which the Latin short "-o-" gave the short "-u-" in the Sloivanic, w'hich later changed into a hard jer, like the Latin commater gaive kumatra and kmotra: like co:mlite(m) g,a,ve kumet and then kmef, and many others. In the same manner, Vedona first ga.ve Veduna, which after the disappeaora:nce of the weak jer (i.ei. the very short "-u") changed into Vedna, which the Germans adrupted in the form of Wenna, beoause they did not to[e,r ate the intervowel grollip "-dn-". In a word, Rekawenna got into the German lanigua:ge through a Sloviank medium ; not only because of the first part of the compound word, but also the second part. 'l'he glorious Vindobona of antiquity, which was situated rubove the river Vedona, lost its impomnce and a1read'Y in the beginning of tlhe fifth cenitury it is mentioned once as Vindomana, and at other tiimes as Vendomina or Vindomma. IDvidently we a:re concerned with a name of Celtic origin, which originaHy meant as much as "a white city" and whose name was being fu:rigotten by the ancient writers oif the fii.fith and sixth centuries. The SlO!V'aks could have known Vindobona--Vendomina already in the fifth century, and certainly not later than the beginning of the sixth; and sin(!e the names of rive:ris usually became the names of settlements, the settllement near the Vedona RiveT (today, the Rekawenna) was named after it. The name of the to:wn was of the mas<!uline gender, while the riiver remained feminine, like Rab (the river: Raba). �SLO \ .AK IA 59 Here the name of the river was Veduna and the town named after it bore the name Vedun (where the "-u-" later became a hard jer in a strong position, which was p~operly changed into an "-e-"). After the vocalimtion of the je:ra, therefore akeady in the tenth century, the foom Vedeii existed in SlowaJk; the genitive of this form wa.s Vediia (do Vedna - to Vienna) . The German na:me is not derived from the nominatirve, 'but from the SlO!Vlak geinitirve, as attested t-0 by the proof "Wenia" from 881. The attempt of pro!fessoc Liewehr, who preswpposes in this name a nasal vowel, CaJI1not be deduced in any manner, but even more incorrect is his claim that the Gerunans got the name "Wien" from the Czechs. Liehwehr obviously colllf,used Ol;ech with Slovak. When we consider that even today the Slovak ethnic border commences abo1Ut 35 !k ilometers northeast of Vienna, that during the entire ninth century the southern border of Great Moravia in Lower Austria was the Danube, and .tJhat durring the time of Ki'Il!g Sva.topllllk even the Vienna region belonged to his empire, it is altogether clear that the Slova,ks have ,preserved to the present time the ancient appelation o!f Viedeii (Viienna). 'f.he Czechs a;ccepted the name Viden from the Slorvaks, as they did the word "kost.el" (church) , rubout whic h we shall say something before we conclude this article. The German Rekawenna comes from the old Slovak form "reka Vedna" and from the ancient, indfrect cases: do Vediia (to Vienna, z Vedna (from Vienna) , in old German this was first Wena, and then later Wien. Llke the Germans along the Roman border on the Danulbe preserved the names Pata.via, Lentia, Lauriacum in the forms Pasau, Linz, Lorch, so the Slovaks in the names of Vied en and Rab ,preserved the names of V edona and Arabo along that ancient border. '.Ilhe Slo;venian Dunaj (iDanulbe) to designate Vienna supports the theory of professor Oettinger that the principal city of Samo's, empiTe was Vienna, rbecause only the constriuction of Benghof cOIUld haive girven the Slovenians the chance to name the new citadel according to the river, but �60 SLOVAKIA the irrediutaible oontinmty of the Sl01Vruk name wit'h the ancient one attests to the fact that during the time of King Samo, and even 1b efore him, the Slovenes did not live in the Vienna region, but the Slov8Jks did. Edtitz-Edlach-Edlbach: It is dbviol\.ls that the Slovruk population wais found not Ottl!ly in the immedliaite vii.cinity of Vienna, but extended fal'lt'her to the south, aJPpmx:imwte1y to the separation of the southern tributaries O!f the Danube in Lower Austria and partia,Uy in Upper AU1sitria, as is attested to by other to;pograiphica;l names, of which we might mention art 1€18JSt Edlitz and Eillach, which are east and north of Semmering. The consonant group "-di-" indicates its Slo!V'ruk origin. In Slovene "jela' comes from the older form "ela," as compared to the Slovruk "jedfa" (derived from the older fo:ran "edfa"). The grolllp "-di-" was also preseirved in the name of Modling (near Vienna) .f.rom the Sloviak "M:odlin" (another Modlin is near Wa:raaw). And south of Wind<ischg,a,rsten in Upper Austria we find the stream Edlbach. The very drcuimsitance that these names do not start with a "j-" proves their antiquity, that is, they must have penetrated into the Germian before the secondi half of the ninth century. In German names ta;ken over fr<>rr1 SIOIValk, we can ascertain three groups: 1. Edlitz (east of Semmering; another one is west of the Vienna Forest, near Wein1burg); here belong many other names, which we need not mention; Aflenz, a riiver in the SO'Utheastern region of Upper Austria; these and similar n8Jmes were taken over by t'he Germans when the Sloivak sit.HI used 'adfa, ablonica' instead of "jedfa, jablonica"; 2. the group with the initial "g" instead of the Slovak "j-" - e.g., Gaflenz (the nanie of the town above the river Aflertz W8JS ·adlapted later by the Germans, which means that the Sloiv,alk poipuiliaition preserwed itself there quite some time); 3. the ,groUJp with the presenved secondary "j-,r-" e.g. Jauerling (f,r om Javornik, a mountain ridge northw~ of MelO'k, a:bove the Danulbe; . the Gemnans adapted the word, just lirke they got "Moserling" from "MocamI'k"); Jas~tzbach, a trilburtal'y of the Erlaf, whfoh :filows into the Danu'be (Jasnitlz is from the SLO'V'ark Jasenica, naimed accordling to the tree "jasen" - ash). _ �SLOVAKIA 61 All this indicates the possi1bility which philology has to determine the time element of vowel changes, a,lso to ascertain the g.radual penetration of Gernnan colomzation and the period · of Gennanization of the Danube area in present-day Austria. Pregraten: Pro;fessor E. Pragarte Pregarten Schwartz correctly derives the name Pregarten from the word "pregarda," which later iby interposition of vocals, changed to "pregrada" (now priehrada in Slovak). We found over ten Pregartens in Upper AU/Stria alone, in the districts of Vociklalbruok, Perg, Gmunden, Freis,tadit, P,r egarten, Eferding, Ottens,tein, Raa>b, Schwanenstad t, which indicates that defense partitions are concerned, parts of the Slov.amic stronghold system which came from the sixth century and haippened to- be on the western border of Samo's empi-re. Designating territoria;l borders had a specia:l sig,rnifica:nce in the life o;f the ancient Slovans; even the German word "Grenze" comes from the Slo,vanic "granica." The Germans penetrated into easte•r n Tyrol after the change of ''gard-" to "grad-", because Pregraten was preser-v ed there. Of course., in some ,places they penetrated before this chamge took place, beca,use there we also find the settlement Aegarth (Oegarth) from the Sl01Va,k Ograda, similarly li!ke a sm~H plow in the German dialect used there is called "arl" from the ancient Slovene form "arlo" (today ralo a,nd, in Sloivruk, radio). The German form arl comes from the era before the interchange of vocals. Windisch garsten-Garsten: The first part of the na,me Windischgars ten indii'cates the Slovanidty of t'he seoon:d part, rubout which E. Schwartz claims that it comes from the Slovanic "chvorst-" ( chrasf in SloiVaik). We cannot, however, agree with him, beca,me in old German names taJken over from the Slov,8Jnic, "k" takes the place oif "ch"; e.g., in Austria, in the Damulbe region, there are several hills whi'C'h are called Kulm, Kulmitz; these are derived from the Slovak "chu!lm" (today, Chlmec, chlmok); therefore, the 'g" of Garsten ca,nnot come from "ch," but only from a word which began with .a "g". Besides that, Windischga-rs ten lies on the old, very im- �62 SLOVAKIA portant highway which already dUJring the Roman times corrected Noricum with the Danwbian region; therefore, already then this road was fortified with bast.rions. In the proximity Of Win<lischg•a rsten is Grad.au, whose. name is obvious1y connected or rel•a ted to the word "grad." A section of the city of Steyr is also called Garsten. We are here concerned with an elevation which hardly could halve been named after "chraist"' (thicket; s'lmufbbery), but l'ather after "brad" (castle; bastion). In our 01pilll.i.on, Garst.en is derived from "gardisce" - the accented "-i-" dlisappearing in the Geir,man, and the gl'OU'l) olf five consonants "rdsts-", because very difrficw.t to pronounce, was modified to "-rit-". Therefore,, we must derive "Garst.en" from "gardisce" and not from "chvorst" ( ohrasf, today). And since south of Windi-schg,a rsten we find the stream Edlbach, it is necesisary to assll!me that the Slovaks settled here very earJiy, because the Sioivenes along the Dra;v,a penetrated to the west in the sixt'h and serventh centuries and through Istria into northern J.truly. In a word, their goal was west and sourt'hiwest, but not north. Slovak tribes from the north also penetrated souith and so1.lfthwesit into the Danubian region. Inasmuoh as traces of Slovenian colonirzation have been ascertained recently around the central part of the Enns, they came from a 1a:ter ,period, when the penetration of the Slovenes to the west wais stopped by the Bavarians and in northern Italy by the Langobal'ds. The woros Garsten, Windischgarst.en, just lilke Pregart.en, are liiving testimony of the defense organization of the forefathers of the ~ovalks (.castles, bastions, citadels) ; other names in the Dainlllibian region of Austria will lead us to the sa:me conclusion. For example, Gairlen and Grat.en ( Garten berg ipresuipposes the name "Gradna), and many names conta•i ning "Strass", are for the most part related to the Slovak "straza" (guaro, and not to the German Strasse (street). Traces were even found after the name "brad.lo" (huge rock) , which the ancient SlovaJks used to designate a defensilve p1ace, usuiaaly a hill, on which defenses were set up (compare Brad.lo near Myjava and Domica; also Branisko, a hill between Saris and Spis) . �SLOVAKIA 63 By analyzing a large number of locail, river, borderline and other names in Lower and Upper AIUJStria and vicinity, as well as Austrian dia:leotic words of Slovak origin, we can define relatiively a;ccurateily just aibout what tme these areas were colonized, but also the 'beginnings, the bo,r ders and the fortunes of Slovak colonization. In summary, then: 1. The names Wien, Rekawenna, Raab, Rabnitz found their way into, German through a Slovak medium, and the Slovaks received the names Vieden, Raba, Rab directly from the Roman population wath whioh they came into contact after their advent into P,a nnonia. 2. The southern 1b ooodary of Slovak colonization in Lorwer and Upper Austria is coarsely indicated by the propagati001 of names of the Edlitz ty,pe, the Slo;va;kness of which cannot ibe questioned, and for the most par,t is c,overed with the waters of the southern tributaries of the central Danube and the northern tributaries of the Drava, besides the region of the centrai IDnns. 3. Names of the Pregarten--Garst,en type designate an ancient Slovak-Bavarian boundary line, which was sUJbjected to changes from the sixth to the eighth centuries. It is self-evident that the direct Slovak~Roman contact was not limited to topograiphicaJ names alone, but can be traced in a multitude of words which the forefathers of the Slovaks took 0 ver from the Pannonian Romams. Pressed for space here, let us mention at least a feiw exrumples. The Slo~ vaks could ha,ve received the word "cast.ellum" only in Pannonia, whose ecclesiastica.>l organization was clissolved thy the Acvars when they destroyed the archibishopris of Sirmium in 582. The Roman "cast,ella" (ca,s tles) served as places of worship long before that date. At that time, when the Slovaks became acquainted with the word castellum (lkostol" - church), they also came to know the word "t,ehla," which came from "tegla," and this word in turn from the Latin "tegula." The GeI1Illans changed "tegla" to "ziegel" in the first half of the sixth century. The Czec'hs got the word "kost.el' from the western-iSlovaJk "kostel," because on their ethnical territory there never wa,s 1 �64 SLOVAKIA a single Roman "castellum." The Czech "cihla" comes from the German, while the Slova;k "tehla" and the Moravian-Slovak "tihla" come directly from the Roman "teglartegula." Among other words the forefathers Olf the Slovaks took over directly from the Romans were also "marmor" (J1ater "mramor - ma:rible) and "ban.a (mine). This swpports our theory that the Slovaks had direct conitacts with the Romans in Pannon:ia. It is not the purpose of philology to analyize the political sitiuation in Europe of the first half of the seventh century and to point out the possibilities which were presented the ancient Slovaiks so that they became the core of the strong empire of King Samo. It shall be the task of ecclesiastical historiains to throw Hght on the reasons why St. Amandus, the apostle of the Belgians, was not suocessful with the Slovak tri!bes in the western Da;nUJbian area. Historians will perhaps tel,l us which Slovak tribes preserved their independence even after Samo's deat'h. Philology can simply state that the material culture of the Sl01Vak Tribes, just like their administrativ e organization, was the same during Samo's time as it was in the Great Moravian Empire and that differences in spiritual culture were only in religion. During Samo's time the ancient Slovaks held onto their pagan religion, whHe the creators of Great Moraivia were Christian Slovak princes . • • • WHO SAID IT? "The aHiiance with the USSR is the starting ,poirut of our new foreign policy and of our security system. This alliance will be complrumented by alhances with other Slav countries. It r epreseruts a mighty bulwairk ag,ainst iposs,i!bJe danger in the future Jirom German imperia:lisnn. In the spirit of these prino1ples, the Demooraitic Party aicted st!an.mchly at all forums. It put aH its weight behind this conception. This orientation is to be regarded as the invariable devise also for our future political life." - (Dr. Joseph Lettrich, Vi.ce-Chaimnan cxf the IDxecutive Committee of the "Council of Free Czechoslo.vakia," at session of Democratic Party, January 25, 194'8). � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1954, Vol. 4 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 10), March 1954.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 11), June 1954.</li> <li>Issue 3-4 (No. 12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1954 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 49 624-659 A.D.: THE SLOVAKS AND KING SAMO'S EMPIRE Dr. Henrich Bartek The Great Morawian IDmpire, which had its greatest development during the reign of King Sivatoplwk (870---895), lasted Q/Ver one hundred years. It was the climax of the long struggle of the SlOIV~ trilbes for their own staite. The core or nucleus of the territory occU1pied by the forefathers of the Slovaik nation was the territory to the north of the coo.tool Danuibe. At the end of the eighth centwy and the beginning of the ninith, the SlovaJk trilbes succesSlf ully threw off the yoke of the A vars with the help of Chaxla;maigne. The history of the ninth century offers many possibilities to inquire into the various political and spiritual tendencies which chanced to meet in Great Moravia. But we must reimemlber that patrioti'c motives from the era of national rebinth strn play a significrunt role and visions of the mighty empire of our forefathers not only strengthened national lirfe, hurt also were a rich source of poetic and artistic creativeness. Overestimating the Cyrillo-Methodius episode, tJherefore, is quite common among the Slovaks. Digressions frOIIIl current views, for example, the Christianiwtion of the Slov,aJks by Saints Cyril and Methodius, are accepted with distrust, even though irt is quite obvious that the Slova;ks were Christians long before the adivent of Saints Cyril and Meithodius. F1unthermore, that t'he epochal work of the creators orf the nationa)l liturgy did not last long in Slovakia, but reached its climax outside the 1and od: the Slova;k,s among the southern and eastern SlolV'anic peoples. A thorough understanding of the cultural and political foundations of the development of the Great Moraivian Empire is unthinlkalble wirbhout -a knowledge of the period that preceded it, since Greait Morwia w,a;s neither the first state arrangement orf our forefathers, nor the beginning of their historical aotivti.1Jy, but the result and the c,limax of actions of seve·r al centuries. - -The meager sources before the ninth century do hot entice historiaJns, becaiuse they do not offer sufficient materia,1 50 SLOVAKIA for the expression of more or less probable theories a:nd because the Slovruks, long /before the origin of the Great Moravian Empire, had oooupied a space in the Danuibi'clln region several times greater than that which they n:ow occupy. The fortunes of the Slov-aiks in the era before Great Moravia are veiled in mystery and will not become known U!Iltiil historical science shall be aJble to use the results of researches ()If those scientific departments w'hich could effeotwely CQl1lttibute to the solution of the problem of OUT oldest history. To date, however, a•r eheologicai finds were not sufficiently evaluated to let us know the pro,g ressi.ve penetraititon of the Slovaks into the Danulbian territory; and ethnography has not attempted to give an eociplanation of the origin of Slovak culture in comparison with the culture of its SlOIVIMlic •a nd nonSlovanic nei:gh!bors, saying rrothmg about our ,p hilology which neglected the history of our tongue by devoting 1tself ia11gely to registering dialects and the normalimtion of the· language of literature. Furthermore, comparative philology has such reliable methods that it often can with final validity solive even questions which historfans must leawe unnoticed for a laok of written memoirs, ,b ut which they possilbly could 'b uild farther if they had at hand some supporting poinJts gained through other departments. Philology itself could afford much valualble knowledge to clarify not only the era before Great Moravia in the Danubian area, but als'O the geographical position of the Slovak tri·bes in their ancient homeland because this oon 'b e done 'b y analysis of certain strata of the diotionary aind linguistic maI1ks, as well as by an am.alysis o!f geogmphical names of ancient origm. Of course, such resea:z,ches require exiceptional ca.111tion, but the fact that the ecclesiastica:l Slovanic language enaJbles us to reconst:rmct the arra111gement of vowels of Sl'OIV'lalk words used in the second haJ1f of the ninth century is a sufficient -basis so that we could, ac:cord!irng to single words prese:z,ved since before the ninth cen't;ucy, regressiive1y reconstruct the arrangement of vowels of words from the eighth to the fif,t h centuries, nay, even dooper into the past, whereby it win be shown at which sections of time certain foreign ~rds penetrated into our midst, which as dbjective proo1Js wi:ll enruble S LOVAKIA 51 us to define the cuiturO-ipoliticaJ contacts of our forefathers in the era before Great MOTaviia. In this process of finding the dldest settlements of t'he Sio,V'a,ks, topograJphical names will have a speciaJJ. sig:niificance, a!boJVe al[ else the names of rivers aJnd settlements, as we shall see in examples presented below. So that we miig,ht arrive at positive results from the history before Great Moravia, we must accept a cert.a.in. working hypothesis, the aiutho,rlty of wlhfoh we shall inquire into, wherelby for the saJke of ancient histo11y we are uirged to issue out of Samo.' s emipire and assume that Great Moravria was not the first state formation of the Slova!k tribes, beca~ Fredegar's chronicles record a strong western-.Slovruric empire aJreadly in the sreiventh century; it was headed by King Samo and was strong enough to resist the pressure not only of the Avars, but esven of the Twktish kingdom of King Dagolmllrt. Fredega:r's report aibout the great defeat of the Franlks near the Wogastiburg Castle in 631, as well as several other notations 'by thtis same historian, are the only objective proof aibout Samn's empire, and on these records are based the most various theories about the ethnical composition and the territorial extent, as well as the principal city of Samo's state. As usua11y ha,pperns in such cases, when the som-ce does not a.icoorately define a territory, scho1a:rs of the individu.a1 SIOIValtlic nations striive to a:pip~iate unto themselves Samo's empire: some Czech scientists are seelkting Wogastibrn,g in the most western sections of Bohemia; the Slovenes would liike to find it in Coruta:nia; and foreign scholars lean to one or the other theory. For e}Cample, the Belgian histol'ian Pirenne was for Corutania, whiile Milk.kola, the F~itmish scholar on Slavistics, preferred Bohemia.. In the past recent years, Oze<!h, Polish, and Slov,ak scholars ha:d agreed that King Samo resided at DelVin near the Danube, which, therefore, must have been the center of his empire. We find the weak side of these theories in the lack of new objective proofs which could complement Fredegar's notations. Even. though many new staitemenrts aJbout Samo's empire are very reasonable and very pro!balble, they will re- 52 SLOVAKL<\. main only as suppositions until incontrovert1ble proofs aa-e offered to support them. These theories albout the center of Samo's empire were propagated in 1951 by Oettinger, well-Jmoiwn Viennese historian of arts and arrcheology, who teills us in his book "Das Warden Wiens" thait he regards Vienna as Samo's residence: He bases his b.elief on the fact that the construotion of the Berghof Castle in Vienna, jrUdging it according to prese1wed architectonic relics, can be traced only to Samo's era, because the Avam as a nomadic nation could not build such a great stooe citadel. Besides that, professor Oettinger produces a whole series of othea:- arguments to prove htis theory, one of which we might introduce at this time, that is, that the Slovenes use the name Danu~ for Vienna, namely, that they called the castle a:nd the city according to the rirver, which could hawe happened only during Samo's time, . when the Barghof in Vienna; was the seat of Samo's _, empire. 'I'he discovery of the castle is certainly a very weighty fact, which archeoilogy and history of the arts, th<l!Il!ks to the deductions of Professor Oettinger, presented to historians. Oettinger considers it sellf-evident that Sl0V1a:ks an~l_ other Slovanic peoples lived in the entire region of Vienna and far to the west :tlong the Danulbe territo;ry duriing Samo's time. Theories about the center of Samo's empire at Devin, and especially the proofs of Oeittinger are a suffidenit basis for philology to ask the question: What Slovanic peoples could have li'Ved during Samo.'s time in the Vienna region, near the Danube in present Austria:, and in the vicinity of Devin? Ilf it could be succeSSlf,u lly prorved that during Samo's time the Slovaks a!lrea:dy were settiled in the central Danwbian region, on both sides of this great river, that would mean a milestone in the most ancient history of the SllO!VaJk nation, because F'redegar wrote quite plainly that Samo came among the SlOIV'anic peoiples exactly at the time when they had successfully relbeHed against the Avars. Therefore, it was not Samo, a Frankish merchant by origin, who l~berated the Slovanic peoples who later elected him their king, because they had Uberated themselJves before his advent. Philological proofs of the Slovakness of the regions to SLOVAKIA 53 the .south: of the central Danube in the seventh century could becomie the basis of extensive historical researches, which wouhl place the beginnings of the historical era of the political efforts of the Slo.vruks two centuries dooper into the past, t'herelby clarif~g eiven the origin of the Great Mom-wan Empire. As mentioned albO!ve, philology can throw light on even very runcient eras of nati:ons by ana>ly,z ing a>dopted foreign words and ancient names of ri'Vers and cities. At this time we shall attempt to girve at least a few examples to illustrate how this could be done. Several Ancient Geographical Names An ex,pl,a;n_ation of the origin of topographii.cal names is a useful aid of historians, be.<:ause quite frequentl;y it presents -a better picture orf an anoient settlement than fragmenta:r:y · reports orf chroniclers and, furthermore, vowel chamges,. to which geographical names succumbed, enaJbied us to determine the time of their origin and the period of their existence. In the past decades many wo;r,k,s were published a'bo.ut Slo'V'anic to,p ographical names, but most frequently they are rather conicerned with simply registering names than with explaining them, since the explanation of the oriigin of names encounters many diflficu[ties, especiaJ>ly i!Il the Danwbe territory, whe;re we meet with traces of the lllyrians, Celts, GeTmans and Romans, even the European aJbocygenes, whiHe t'he illyrian and Celtic languages arre not as yet suflficiently reasea.r ched. It is relatirvely very difficult to eociplain clearly to inexperts the origin orf some ancient name, ibecaiuse that requires considerable k!Ilowledge of comparative philology. Thus, for example, even at first glance it is abvious that the nam·e s Viede:ii and Wien (Vienna), which have a ,b asic importance for an.oient history of the Sloivalks, are somewhat related or conneicted togetherr, but maJking their relationship clear requires centain knowledge so that the explanation might 'be accessible to every one and, therefore, we shall ta'ke Ulp a few oth~ geog~aJphical names to show by what manner names of antique origin come to us. RfM___.ROMA (Rome) : The connooti10n of the terms is obvious, but the difficulty encountered is explaining the Slo- 5-1 SLOVAKIA vruk "i" for the Latin "o", as well as the masculine gender of the Slovak name. Quite some time ago, professor Skok of Zagreb University pointed out that on the Dalmatian coast the Latin Salona was cha:nged into Solin, Nona to Nin, Albona to Labin (lby changing position of V'OCals, like the Czech Labe from Albis, buit the German Elbe Wli,thout changing position; the ancient Serbian and Croatian name Jakin was derirved from Ancona). In these names, the Latin "o" was compensated for by the S1ovanic "ii" which then was changed to "y" and fmally to "i." At the same time t:he Latin femi'Illine gender of the names was changed to the masc'll'line in the Slovanic languages, be"Camse in unrefined Latin the Accusative ending "-m" disappeared' and "ad Roma" was used instead of "aid Roma:m" (to Rome). The Slovank peoples regarded the ending "-a" as a suffix of the genitive case of the mascU!line gender and from the forms "do Rima, z Rima, do Solina, zo Solina," etc., they made the maS:C'U'line nominative "Rim, Solin, Nin," etc. It cannot be said with cert.ainty whether the Slovaks got the word "Rim" through the southern Slova'l1S or directly from the Romans in Pamnon:ia, because the name of the princilpa:1 city of the Roman ffimpire may have become known to them when they already lirved in the Car,pathians, but as yet had not penetrated to the Danuibe. RABA-RABIOA-RAB: One of the important southern tributaries of the central Danulb,e in Pannorua is the river Raalb, which in t:he Roman era was ca.Heel Arabo. R is generaliliy ~cknowled'ged that the name is of Celtic origin, which in the S1orvanic was first aJbbrevfaJted into Arba and then later in the fi.mt half Oif the ninth century became Raba by transposition of letters. We find a river bea:ring the same name in Pol,and, which flows into the Visla alboive the Dunajec ; I :reg,ard the name of the Ra!ba of Polamd also of Celitic origin. The Polish Raba and the Pannonian Ra.ha a.re one Of the many proofs of the wandering Oif the Celts, after whom there are traces e:ven in Slovaikia in the names of rivers. Thus, for example, Orava is of Ce1tic origin,. as is Oravica in Rumania. 'Dhe Rabica (Ra.pea in Mayiga:r and Rabliltz SLOVAKIA 55 in German) flows into the Danubian Raba. And Rabica means the SmaH Ralba, because in ancient Slovak diminlutiive names were formed- ~ the sulffix "-ica" - e.g. - NitraNitrica, Bystra-lBystrica, Tepla~Teplica, Lomna◄Lomnica, Byoca.,Bytx'!ica., Lovea◄Lovcioa, etc. One o.f the triburtaries of the Ralbica is named Repce in Magyar, which undoubtedly is am. older name than Ra.pea, because the Magyar Repce presupposes the older Slo'Va.k form Ratiica with an "-a" after a soft "c." In other words, the Magyar Repce was adopted bef<>i:re the thirteenth cen<bury, before the hardening of the soft "c," whife the Magyar Ra.pea is of later origin (afiter the "-a" changed into "-a" in Slovak). At the confluence of the Raba into the Danulbe is the city of RaJb (RaaJb), the Magyar Gyor, which used to be the site of a strong gianison to protect the Roman borders. In Slovll!k t'he name of the city is of the masculine gender in contrast to the name of the river. So, here again we meet with tilie same phenomenon as we did with the. name Rim (Rome). The SlovaJks ada,pted and preserved the ancient name of the river in the form oif Raba and out of it made the dimmuti<ve Rabica; but when they came to the name of the city, they changed the gender in the spirit of their language and, therefore, the form Rab proves a direct corm.ection with the Roman population. in Pannonia, from which the Slovaks tOOik the name of the r iver in the form of Arba, but in designating the city changed the form to Arb, from which at .t he end of the second half of the ninth century, by a trans.posiltion of vocals, the forms Raba and Rab originated. The German forms Raab, Rabnitz and the Magyar Raba (the riiveir) , Repce, Rapea coulld have been taJken onlry from the SlovaJk forms. Here the ancient Slov3'k continuity is quite clear. We must also mention that on the Adriatic, south of the ffihune River, lies the island of RaJb with a oity by that name. The IWian name of the island is Arbe, which also supports our etymology of the names Raba (in Poland), Raba, Rabica, Rab (beyond the Danu'be). When dealing with ancient geog,rruphica:l names, if we are concerned. with the afrooment of the name of a river with the name of a city or town, the name of the river, as a rule, is older. For example: Nitra is named according to 56 SLOVAKIA the river bearing that name, and not vice-versa. The same holds for the names Raba and Rab: the Celts first named the river and later the setrtJement by the same name, which became a Roman city or town. On the Polish Raba there is no town with a similiar name, 'b ut only the community Rabka, whose suffix is "-ka" shows that its origin came later, similarly liike Oravka is of a lateT date in comparison with the more ancient Oravica. In the period of migration of nations there were no great oo111flrcit:s in Panrnonia which could have destroyed ancient oities, because the Romans at the beginning of the fifth cenitury ceded Pann.onia to the H'l.l!Ils, who not only did not destroy A:q,uincum, near the present Budin, but not even the principal city of Upper Pannonia, SaJVaria (todaiy, the Magyar Szombathe ly and the German Stein am Anger). This wealthy city, the birthplace oif St. Ma,rtin, was Mstroyed oruy after the fall of the Tums, in 4!56, but by an earthquaJke. The Huns, similat1ly like the Arvara later, were not interested in destrnying the Pannonfam towns which had to pay them tribute. Therefore, eiven outsride oircumstain ces attest to the fact that the forefathers of the Slo:viaks were acquainted with Rab (Raab) during the time when it was a n important ancient town with a harbor on the Danube. RE~WEN NA-VIED EN-WIEN (Vienna): The official name of the southern tribuil:iary of the Danube in Vienna is Fluss Wien (1RiJver Vioona), even though in the ordinary German language, both in the City of Vienna and also in it.s vicmity, the ancient name Rekawenna is still qurite alive. The firsit part o!f the latter appelation cor.respond s to the SlovaJk "rieka" (rwhich happened to be "reka" in the tenth and eleventh centuries,). Near tJhe wpper part of this river is a community called Rekawinke l (A corner of the river). The second part of the com'I)O!U.Ild word with its "-wenna" reminds us of the names V!ienna (Viedeii) in Slov,ruk and Wien in German). The ending "-a" of the name Wenna tells us that we are concerned with a name that was taken o,ver into German at a relatively late date, s,i nce the "-a" ending ·· in old German disappeared . For exaJiniple: the ancient name of the river Ipusa SLOVAKIA 57 changed into lps ( officially, Ybbs), of courrse thro1Ugh a Slovanic medil.llffi, as is proved by its. trilbutary, the Ipsitz, namely the Small ]jpsa, which in turn wa;s derived from the older term Ipsica. Similarly only thTou·g h a Slovanic medilllffi can be eXiplained the feminine gender of the name Enns, which professor E. Schwrurz noted correctly, according to which the ancient Anisus first gave the Slovams Anisa, from which then, b.y changing the "a" into an "e" and further changes in the German, the form Enns was created. The feminine gender of Enns points to its Slovanic origin against the masc'll!line gender of the class~ca·l name Anisus. This same phenomenon is noticed in t'he names Drava and Sava, which in Latin are Dravus and Savus (masclllline gender) . The change in gender in the Slovanic is given to the omitted or untleratood word "rieka" or probrubly "voda" (rirver and water, lbolth feminine gender). The form Rekawenna, wiith the irresevviation of the word "rieka" indicates not onliy the Sl{)!Varucity of the name, 'but also the necessity of disting1Uishing 'by means of this word t'he name of the ri;ver from another geographical name, so that ambiguity would not a-rise. The existence of the word "Rellmwenna" tells us that the name Wenna had to be. also• the name of a place. Rekawenna found its way into the common German language at the earliest by the end of the eleventh century, that is, aifter the disappearance orf the ending "-a," which otherwise agrees also with historical fact, because the Germans succeSSJfu[ly pushed out the Magyars from the Vienna region only as late as the eleiventh century. According to Much, the Celtic appelation for the Wien (Vienna) River was Vedunia, which means "mountain stream" ("Waldibach"). We thinlk that Much cor:rectly seeks the Ce1tic origin of the name of the river, but we cannot agree with him that we are here concerned with the suffix "-nia," beca:use the Romans wouJd have placed t'his word among the multitude of other names, which ended in "-ania, -onia, -inia, -unia, -enia" and all of which in common or vulgar Latin had a long, accented vowel before the "-n". Burt Vediinia with a long, accented "-ii" would not have become Vieden in Sl01Vak The Celtic V edona we regard as the same name which was preserved in the French name of the 58 SLOVAKIA river Vienne (a tributary of the Loire), as well as in the name of the City of V'ienne near Grenoble and in the regional name Haute Vienne. Here we are concerned with a similar ancient Celtic name as, for exarrniple, the French lsere, which corresponds to the Bava:rian lsar and the Czech Jizera, or the French Aube frrom the Celtic Albis (compaTe with Labe-Elbe, above). The French Vienne presuipposes the Celtic V oo.ona with a short aCJCented "-e-", w'hioh gave "-ie-," simila:rly as bene gaive bien. The change of Voo.ona to Vienne came aJbout according to t!he cmrent old..French vooal changes, which we cannot truke up here. We presuppose the Celto-Latin na,me of the riiver Vedona, in which the Latin short "-o-" gave the short "-u-" in the Sloivanic, w'hich later changed into a hard jer, like the Latin commater gaive kumatra and kmotra: like co:mlite(m) g,a,ve kumet and then kmef, and many others. In the same manner, Vedona first ga.ve Veduna, which after the disappeaora:nce of the weak jer (i.ei. the very short "-u") changed into Vedna, which the Germans adrupted in the form of Wenna, beoause they did not to[e,r ate the intervowel grollip "-dn-". In a word, Rekawenna got into the German lanigua:ge through a Sloviank medium ; not only because of the first part of the compound word, but also the second part. 'l'he glorious Vindobona of antiquity, which was situated rubove the river Vedona, lost its impomnce and a1read'Y in the beginning of tlhe fifth cenitury it is mentioned once as Vindomana, and at other tiimes as Vendomina or Vindomma. IDvidently we a:re concerned with a name of Celtic origin, which originaHy meant as much as "a white city" and whose name was being fu:rigotten by the ancient writers oif the fii.fith and sixth centuries. The SlO!V'aks could have known Vindobona--Vendomina already in the fifth century, and certainly not later than the beginning of the sixth; and sin(!e the names of rive:ris usually became the names of settlements, the settllement near the Vedona RiveT (today, the Rekawenna) was named after it. The name of the to:wn was of the mas<!uline gender, while the riiver remained feminine, like Rab (the river: Raba). SLO \ .AK IA 59 Here the name of the river was Veduna and the town named after it bore the name Vedun (where the "-u-" later became a hard jer in a strong position, which was p~operly changed into an "-e-"). After the vocalimtion of the je:ra, therefore akeady in the tenth century, the foom Vedeii existed in SlowaJk; the genitive of this form wa.s Vediia (do Vedna - to Vienna) . The German na:me is not derived from the nominatirve, 'but from the SlO!Vlak geinitirve, as attested t-0 by the proof "Wenia" from 881. The attempt of pro!fessoc Liewehr, who preswpposes in this name a nasal vowel, CaJI1not be deduced in any manner, but even more incorrect is his claim that the Gerunans got the name "Wien" from the Czechs. Liehwehr obviously colllf,used Ol;ech with Slovak. When we consider that even today the Slovak ethnic border commences abo1Ut 35 !k ilometers northeast of Vienna, that during the entire ninth century the southern border of Great Moravia in Lower Austria was the Danube, and .tJhat durring the time of Ki'Il!g Sva.topllllk even the Vienna region belonged to his empire, it is altogether clear that the Slova,ks have ,preserved to the present time the ancient appelation o!f Viedeii (Viienna). 'f.he Czechs a;ccepted the name Viden from the Slorvaks, as they did the word "kost.el" (church) , rubout whic h we shall say something before we conclude this article. The German Rekawenna comes from the old Slovak form "reka Vedna" and from the ancient, indfrect cases: do Vediia (to Vienna, z Vedna (from Vienna) , in old German this was first Wena, and then later Wien. Llke the Germans along the Roman border on the Danulbe preserved the names Pata.via, Lentia, Lauriacum in the forms Pasau, Linz, Lorch, so the Slovaks in the names of Vied en and Rab ,preserved the names of V edona and Arabo along that ancient border. '.Ilhe Slo;venian Dunaj (iDanulbe) to designate Vienna supports the theory of professor Oettinger that the principal city of Samo's, empiTe was Vienna, rbecause only the constriuction of Benghof cOIUld haive girven the Slovenians the chance to name the new citadel according to the river, but 60 SLOVAKIA the irrediutaible oontinmty of the Sl01Vruk name wit'h the ancient one attests to the fact that during the time of King Samo, and even 1b efore him, the Slovenes did not live in the Vienna region, but the Slov8Jks did. Edtitz-Edlach-Edlbach: It is dbviol\.ls that the Slovruk population wais found not Ottl!ly in the immedliaite vii.cinity of Vienna, but extended fal'lt'her to the south, aJPpmx:imwte1y to the separation of the southern tributaries O!f the Danube in Lower Austria and partia,Uy in Upper AU1sitria, as is attested to by other to;pograiphica;l names, of which we might mention art 1€18JSt Edlitz and Eillach, which are east and north of Semmering. The consonant group "-di-" indicates its Slo!V'ruk origin. In Slovene "jela' comes from the older form "ela," as compared to the Slovruk "jedfa" (derived from the older fo:ran "edfa"). The grolllp "-di-" was also preseirved in the name of Modling (near Vienna) .f.rom the Sloviak "M:odlin" (another Modlin is near Wa:raaw). And south of Wind<ischg,a,rsten in Upper Austria we find the stream Edlbach. The very drcuimsitance that these names do not start with a "j-" proves their antiquity, that is, they must have penetrated into the Germian before the secondi half of the ninth century. In German names ta;ken over fr<>rr1 SIOIValk, we can ascertain three groups: 1. Edlitz (east of Semmering; another one is west of the Vienna Forest, near Wein1burg); here belong many other names, which we need not mention; Aflenz, a riiver in the SO'Utheastern region of Upper Austria; these and similar n8Jmes were taken over by t'he Germans when the Sloivak sit.HI used 'adfa, ablonica' instead of "jedfa, jablonica"; 2. the group with the initial "g" instead of the Slovak "j-" - e.g., Gaflenz (the nanie of the town above the river Aflertz W8JS ·adlapted later by the Germans, which means that the Sloiv,alk poipuiliaition preserwed itself there quite some time); 3. the ,groUJp with the presenved secondary "j-,r-" e.g. Jauerling (f,r om Javornik, a mountain ridge northw~ of MelO'k, a:bove the Danulbe; . the Gemnans adapted the word, just lirke they got "Moserling" from "MocamI'k"); Jas~tzbach, a trilburtal'y of the Erlaf, whfoh :filows into the Danu'be (Jasnitlz is from the SLO'V'ark Jasenica, naimed accordling to the tree "jasen" - ash). _ SLOVAKIA 61 All this indicates the possi1bility which philology has to determine the time element of vowel changes, a,lso to ascertain the g.radual penetration of Gernnan colomzation and the period · of Gennanization of the Danube area in present-day Austria. Pregraten: Pro;fessor E. Pragarte Pregarten Schwartz correctly derives the name Pregarten from the word "pregarda," which later iby interposition of vocals, changed to "pregrada" (now priehrada in Slovak). We found over ten Pregartens in Upper AU/Stria alone, in the districts of Vociklalbruok, Perg, Gmunden, Freis,tadit, P,r egarten, Eferding, Ottens,tein, Raa>b, Schwanenstad t, which indicates that defense partitions are concerned, parts of the Slov.amic stronghold system which came from the sixth century and haippened to- be on the western border of Samo's empi-re. Designating territoria;l borders had a specia:l sig,rnifica:nce in the life o;f the ancient Slovans; even the German word "Grenze" comes from the Slo,vanic "granica." The Germans penetrated into easte•r n Tyrol after the change of ''gard-" to "grad-", because Pregraten was preser-v ed there. Of course., in some ,places they penetrated before this chamge took place, beca,use there we also find the settlement Aegarth (Oegarth) from the Sl01Va,k Ograda, similarly li!ke a sm~H plow in the German dialect used there is called "arl" from the ancient Slovene form "arlo" (today ralo a,nd, in Sloivruk, radio). The German form arl comes from the era before the interchange of vocals. Windisch garsten-Garsten: The first part of the na,me Windischgars ten indii'cates the Slovanidty of t'he seoon:d part, rubout which E. Schwartz claims that it comes from the Slovanic "chvorst-" ( chrasf in SloiVaik). We cannot, however, agree with him, beca,me in old German names taJken over from the Slov,8Jnic, "k" takes the place oif "ch"; e.g., in Austria, in the Damulbe region, there are several hills whi'C'h are called Kulm, Kulmitz; these are derived from the Slovak "chu!lm" (today, Chlmec, chlmok); therefore, the 'g" of Garsten ca,nnot come from "ch," but only from a word which began with .a "g". Besides that, Windischga-rs ten lies on the old, very im- 62 SLOVAKIA portant highway which already dUJring the Roman times corrected Noricum with the Danwbian region; therefore, already then this road was fortified with bast.rions. In the proximity Of Win<lischg•a rsten is Grad.au, whose. name is obvious1y connected or rel•a ted to the word "grad." A section of the city of Steyr is also called Garsten. We are here concerned with an elevation which hardly could halve been named after "chraist"' (thicket; s'lmufbbery), but l'ather after "brad" (castle; bastion). In our 01pilll.i.on, Garst.en is derived from "gardisce" - the accented "-i-" dlisappearing in the Geir,man, and the gl'OU'l) olf five consonants "rdsts-", because very difrficw.t to pronounce, was modified to "-rit-". Therefore,, we must derive "Garst.en" from "gardisce" and not from "chvorst" ( ohrasf, today). And since south of Windi-schg,a rsten we find the stream Edlbach, it is necesisary to assll!me that the Slovaks settled here very earJiy, because the Sioivenes along the Dra;v,a penetrated to the west in the sixt'h and serventh centuries and through Istria into northern J.truly. In a word, their goal was west and sourt'hiwest, but not north. Slovak tribes from the north also penetrated souith and so1.lfthwesit into the Danubian region. Inasmuoh as traces of Slovenian colonirzation have been ascertained recently around the central part of the Enns, they came from a 1a:ter ,period, when the penetration of the Slovenes to the west wais stopped by the Bavarians and in northern Italy by the Langobal'ds. The woros Garsten, Windischgarst.en, just lilke Pregart.en, are liiving testimony of the defense organization of the forefathers of the ~ovalks (.castles, bastions, citadels) ; other names in the Dainlllibian region of Austria will lead us to the sa:me conclusion. For example, Gairlen and Grat.en ( Garten berg ipresuipposes the name "Gradna), and many names conta•i ning "Strass", are for the most part related to the Slovak "straza" (guaro, and not to the German Strasse (street). Traces were even found after the name "brad.lo" (huge rock) , which the ancient SlovaJks used to designate a defensilve p1ace, usuiaaly a hill, on which defenses were set up (compare Brad.lo near Myjava and Domica; also Branisko, a hill between Saris and Spis) . SLOVAKIA 63 By analyzing a large number of locail, river, borderline and other names in Lower and Upper AIUJStria and vicinity, as well as Austrian dia:leotic words of Slovak origin, we can define relatiively a;ccurateily just aibout what tme these areas were colonized, but also the 'beginnings, the bo,r ders and the fortunes of Slovak colonization. In summary, then: 1. The names Wien, Rekawenna, Raab, Rabnitz found their way into, German through a Slovak medium, and the Slovaks received the names Vieden, Raba, Rab directly from the Roman population wath whioh they came into contact after their advent into P,a nnonia. 2. The southern 1b ooodary of Slovak colonization in Lorwer and Upper Austria is coarsely indicated by the propagati001 of names of the Edlitz ty,pe, the Slo;va;kness of which cannot ibe questioned, and for the most par,t is c,overed with the waters of the southern tributaries of the central Danube and the northern tributaries of the Drava, besides the region of the centrai IDnns. 3. Names of the Pregarten--Garst,en type designate an ancient Slovak-Bavarian boundary line, which was sUJbjected to changes from the sixth to the eighth centuries. It is self-evident that the direct Slovak~Roman contact was not limited to topograiphicaJ names alone, but can be traced in a multitude of words which the forefathers of the Slovaks took 0 ver from the Pannonian Romams. Pressed for space here, let us mention at least a feiw exrumples. The Slo~ vaks could ha,ve received the word "cast.ellum" only in Pannonia, whose ecclesiastica.>l organization was clissolved thy the Acvars when they destroyed the archibishopris of Sirmium in 582. The Roman "cast,ella" (ca,s tles) served as places of worship long before that date. At that time, when the Slovaks became acquainted with the word castellum (lkostol" - church), they also came to know the word "t,ehla," which came from "tegla," and this word in turn from the Latin "tegula." The GeI1Illans changed "tegla" to "ziegel" in the first half of the sixth century. The Czec'hs got the word "kost.el' from the western-iSlovaJk "kostel," because on their ethnical territory there never wa,s 1 64 SLOVAKIA a single Roman "castellum." The Czech "cihla" comes from the German, while the Slova;k "tehla" and the Moravian-Slovak "tihla" come directly from the Roman "teglartegula." Among other words the forefathers Olf the Slovaks took over directly from the Romans were also "marmor" (J1ater "mramor - ma:rible) and "ban.a (mine). This swpports our theory that the Slovaks had direct conitacts with the Romans in Pannon:ia. It is not the purpose of philology to analyize the political sitiuation in Europe of the first half of the seventh century and to point out the possibilities which were presented the ancient Slovaiks so that they became the core of the strong empire of King Samo. It shall be the task of ecclesiastical historiains to throw Hght on the reasons why St. Amandus, the apostle of the Belgians, was not suocessful with the Slovak tri!bes in the western Da;nUJbian area. Historians will perhaps tel,l us which Slovak tribes preserved their independence even after Samo's deat'h. Philology can simply state that the material culture of the Sl01Vak Tribes, just like their administrativ e organization, was the same during Samo's time as it was in the Great Moravian Empire and that differences in spiritual culture were only in religion. During Samo's time the ancient Slovaks held onto their pagan religion, whHe the creators of Great Moraivia were Christian Slovak princes . • • • WHO SAID IT? "The aHiiance with the USSR is the starting ,poirut of our new foreign policy and of our security system. This alliance will be complrumented by alhances with other Slav countries. It r epreseruts a mighty bulwairk ag,ainst iposs,i!bJe danger in the future Jirom German imperia:lisnn. In the spirit of these prino1ples, the Demooraitic Party aicted st!an.mchly at all forums. It put aH its weight behind this conception. This orientation is to be regarded as the invariable devise also for our future political life." - (Dr. Joseph Lettrich, Vi.ce-Chaimnan cxf the IDxecutive Committee of the "Council of Free Czechoslo.vakia," at session of Democratic Party, January 25, 194'8).  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 624-659 A.D.: The Slovaks and King Samo's Empire Description An account of the resource Dr. Henrich Bartek Slovakia, Vol. 4, No. 2 (10), June 1954 pp. 49-64 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bartek, Henrich, 1907-1986 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 1954 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/10a79fa5440b0a074f48c5bfe4dca5ce.pdf 1c0016b37d210ef68e238bf3a3d5796a PDF Text Text 28 SLOVAKIA 70th Anniversary of the Slovak People's Party By Joseph Pa u co, Ph.D. Ferko Skycak, a prominent and able Slovak political leader before World War I, announced that he was dropping out of the Magyar Popular Party on December 5, 1905, and simultaneously called upon his Slovak colleagues to organize a new Slovak political party to serve the best interests of the Slovak nation. Immediate response to Skycak's proposal came from Andrej Hlinka, Ferdis Juriga, Frantisek Jehlicka, Jozef Kubina, Milan Hodza, Martin Kollar, Pavol Blaho and others. All supported and approved his political program. In 1906 the newly-formed Slovak People's Party (Slovenska l'udova strana) entered the political arena in Hungary and, despite bitter official government opposition, the Slovaks elected seven representatives to the Hungarian diet in Budapest. The political platform of the Slovak People's Party of 1906 consisted of the following points: 1) Cc,ndemnation of Communism and Socialism 2) Support of the issue for equal rights and a secret ballot 3) Demand for free assembly and the right to organize societies 4) Reduction of taxes 5) Laws to prevent economic road-blocks to industry in Slovakia 6) An increased number of schools an d a guarantee of positions and equitable salaries for qualified Slovak teachers 7) Subsidy for special commercial, trade and agricultural schools 8) Assurance to workers against capitalistic exploitation 9) Reduction of working-hours and an increase of wages �SLOVAKIA 29 Although limited by circumstances of time and place, the new Slovak political party activated the program and continued its activities. Andrej Hlinka, the chairman of the party from 1913, reorganized it on December 19, 1918, and announced the publication of the Slovak as the official party newspaper. Chief opposition to the party came from the Socialists who attacked Hlinka and his followers by charges that they all belonged to the Magyar-Jesuit camp. They stopped at nothing to destroy the Slovak People's Party. They instigated plots and violently broke up meetings of the party. The government insidiously collaborated with them by censoring the publication of the Slovak daily, by stopping delivery to subscribers, by police raids and confiscation of material for publication, and by secret instigation of riots to break up meetings and rallies of the Slovak People's Party. Mobs received help from the police and constabulary in dispersing meetings of the party throughout the country. Two of Hlinka's adherents were killed in the Rumanova riot and many were wounded elsewhere in riots instigated by the enemies of Hlinka's Slovak People's Party through the 1920's and early 1930's. Hlinka was seized by the police on October, 1919, and imprisoned because he had dared to attend the Paris peace conference (without government approval). This obviously was a subterfuge to cover up the government's plan to destroy his party by removing its stalwart champion. Precisely 17 days before the first national elections in the country (1920) a Socialist mob invaded Hlinka's 'Lev' printery in Ruzomberok and damaged the plant. In spite of all these attempts to destroy the Slovak party of the people led by Hlinka, the Slovak People's Party received 12 mandates in the general elections. After the elections Hlinka declared that he would work day and night until Slovakia became white instead of red, until Slovakia would be Slovak and Christian. On the whole, the temporary Socialist victory was due not only to the terroristic tactics employed but also to the fact that approximately 200,000 Czech soldiers voted the Socialist ticket in Slovakia! Leaders of the Slovak People's Party readily perceived, therefore, the danger of an anti- �30 SLOVAKIA Slovak movement in the Socialist program. Therefore, the representatives of the Slovak People's Party denounced the results of the vote as undemocratic and in no way representative of the will of the Slovak nation and its electorate. Nonetheless, the Socialists, intoxicated by their questionable triumph for the moment, proceeded to take steps for the complete subjugation of Slovakia. But their greatest tactical error was their personal vendetta against Hlinka and his associates. Accordingly, on May 1, 1920, a Socialist mob attacked Hlinka in Ruzomberok. Forewarned, Hlinka was protected by a strong bodyguard that warded off the attack on his life. Other violent clashes followed this dastardly attempt on the life of the great Slovak leader. In August, 1920, a Slovak party member was killed in Pruske; Hlinka was stoned in sastin on September 26 that same year, and on October 10, two of Hlinka's followers were murdered in Namestovo. From 1920 on, as Karol Sidor noted, the radical leftists of the Socialist party and its allies vowed to kill Hlinka at the first opportunity. Bloody incidents occurred repeatedly through the early 1920's. On March 25, 1921, one more Hlinka follower in Trnava paid with his life for his convictions. In Krupina on June 12, 1921, shooting occured in Hlinka's presence. Fortunately, no one was seriously wounded. A riot in Trencianske Teplice on July 4, 1921, was followed by an outbreak in Malacky on September 4, 1921, and on May 25, 1922, a mob broke into the editorial offices of the Slovak daily and destroyed everything. Government censorship and pressure were so powerful that Hlinka was forced to suspend the publication of the Slovak temporarily in 1923. Anti-Slovak elements on August 28, 1923, in Presov, and in Kosice on September 22 of that year attacked a Hlinka rally. Czech officials displayed their opposition and enmity to Hlinka openly, and criminal characters were planted in the front ranks of mobs incited to destroy Hlinka's Slovak People's Party. Another Hlinka follower was killed in Kosice during a demonstration. Such terroristic methods of the leftists against Hlinka, however, served to wake up the Slovak people who rallied behind their dynamic leader and succeeded in electing half �SLOVAKIA 31 of the local officials who were members of the Slovak People's Party in the elections of September 30, 1923. Once again the Socialists rose up in fury against Hlinka, but this time the Slovak people were thoroughly aroused so that on September 6, 1924, on the eve of Hlinka's 60th birthday, his party had become powerful enough to win respect from its violent opponents. Dr. Vavro i:;robar, one of Hlinka's most outspoken opponents, was forced to admit on October 28, of that year, that "the Slovak People's Party was a national party in which the spirit of nationalism was a rejuvenated and vigorous force." A final tally of 489,027 votes was garnered by the Slovak People's Party in the parliamentary elections of 1925. This strong vote made the party the most dominant Slovak party among the total of 29 political parties in Slovakia and Bohemia. Beginning in 1927, the tactics of the Slovak People's Party were changed in the hope that a coalition inside the government would bring about better results. But by October, 1929, after a series of failures, it became apparent its hope for success in obtaining just rights for the Slovak nation rested solely upon its own individual action. The decision to proceed on its course without any ties with the government in Prague met with an increase in membership at home and a series of successes followed under the new policy. From 1925 on, the Slovak People's Party succeeded in gaining at least 50 % of the votes in the parliamentary campaigns in Slovakia. It is a well known fact that Hlinka's political strength lay in the vote of the farmers, but he had a strong '.following among the workers, too, and his influence among educated young Slovaks increased steadily. Turbulent, indeed, were the meetings and political rallies that attracted five to ten thousand members of the Slovak People's Party in the first years of the Czecho-Slovak Republic in the 1920's. As overflow crowd of Slovaks came to Nitra in 1933 for the 11th centennial Pribina celebration. There more than 100,000 demonstrated that the people's choice was unquestionably Hlinka, and not the official government representatives flanked by hundreds of police and soldiers. �32 SLOVAKIA Piest'any in 1936 was the host city to an outpouring of 30,000 members of the Slovak People's Party for a conference, and on June 4 and 5, 1938, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Pittsburgh Pact, over a hundred thousand people came from all parts of Slovakia to Bratislava to welcome the American Slovak delegation that brought the original of the Pittsburgh Pact for the national celebration. The reading of the document was met with a resounding cheer of approval from the great crowd in the Slovak capital. Andrej Hlinka, on the basis of this historic document for the self-government or autonomy of Slovakia, expressed his unequivocal approval of the Pittsburgh Pact in the spirit of the American Slovaks who drew it up on the one side, and signed by Thomas G. Masaryk on the other, on May 30, 1918. There was no doubt that the absolute majority of American Slovaks were in favor of Hlinka's movement that was dedicated to win freedom for the Slovak nation, freedom in its self-government or autonomous state. At this time the first generation of Slovak immigrants controlled the Slovak organizations and periodicals in America. One can safely assume that the number of Hlinka's followers in America was at least 400,000. It was natural for the American Slovaks under the leadership of the Slovak League of America to work hand in hand with Hlinka. They were intensely proud of their creation of the Pittsburgh Pact which was the expression of their aspirations and the first step towards realizing the right of the Slovak nation to self-government. Slovak emigrants who returned to their native homeland from America were imbued with the American spirit of freedom and democracy. Not one of these opposed Hlinka. At least I never heard of such a person. On the contrary, they became his most ardent and loyal followers. Perhaps that is why even the internal structure of Hlinka's Slovak People's Party differed basically from all the other political parties inside Czecho-Slovakia. While the Czech political parties represented classes, various trades or occupations, etc., the Slovak People's Party and its associate, the Slovak National Party, success- �SLOVAKIA 33 fully recruited party members from all walks of life. Hence, is was truly representative of the entire Slovak nation. One of the blessings of the influence of the Slovak People's Party accrued to the Matica Slovenska ( Slovak Institute) in Turciansky Svaty Martin, which was able to get rid of all foreign elements in its administration. At the Slovak University in Bratislava, too, the growing power of the Slovak People's Party was felt as the positions of Czech professors became shaky. Slovak college and university students there became enthusiastic ( and sometimes radical J members of the Slovak People's Party in which they formed the nucleus of the most loyal followers of Hlinka and Razus. Hlinka's sincere attempt to cooperate with Czech Catholics ended in failure. He abandoned the idea and proceeded to concentrate on his own program that was vital to the interests of the Slovak nation. In the early 1930's the Slovak National Party under Razus joined Hlinka's Slovak People's Party. This was a solid bloc for Slovak autonomy established in agreement with the view of Dr. Tiso who declared that in Slovak politics a Slovak Lutheran was closer to a Slovak Catholic than a Czech Catholic. Autonomy was the primary and ultimate goal of Hlinka's Slovak People's Party. True, however, it was but another small step from there to statehood.'In March, 1939, it would have been a crime, and as an aftermath, national suicide, to have acted otherwise than did the Slovak leaders who declared national independence and set up an independent Slovak Republic. The alternative was to let the Slovak nation become a victim of several alien protectorates, reduced to complete slavery under the complete control of no less than three different states. As a direct consequence of the heroic decision ( and fateful personally to many who were courageous and bold enough to make it for the welfare of the Slovak nation) the Slovak People's Party gave the Slovak nation a long list of national martyrs, headed by President Tiso and Prime Minister Vojtech Tuka. But their brave action saved the Slovak nation from enslavement at the hands of several foreign powers. Before the end of the second World War the first to die because of their alliance with the heroic men who held �34 SLOVAKIA the Slovak rtation intact durin~ the entire worldwide conflict were two Slovak parliament members, namely, Frantisek Slamen and Fr. Anton salat. They died at the hahds of the apocalyptic forces of the East and their traitorous allies during the pro-Communist rebellion in the fall of 1944. Many more suffered and died for the self-same sacred cause of faith and freedom in the years that followed the so-called Soviet liberation of the country. Although the Slovak People's Party was completely liquidated after the second World War by the communist regime, the communists and their allies continued to blame all anti-state activities upon a party that no longer existed. Of course, the underlying reason was on both sides. What Karel Svetlik, a Czech commubist, declared Jn 1922 was applied in the postwar years because "We are a political party," Svetlik stated, "that is farthest removed from the people's party." Marly examples of Christian fortitude were g1ven in past decades atnong the ·ranks of the Slovak People's Party that 6ontributed much n'lbre than the mere Winning of votes or the victory of partisan politics. Hundreds suffered and died fdr their honest convictions at the hands of theit undemocratic foes. In the process of developing the Slovak nation to full maturity the final stages may be attributed largely to the efforts of the Slovak Peop!e's Party. As a matter of fact, the handful of communists would not have dared to ask for anything in the Kosice Agreement at the end of the second World War had not the Slovak People's Party in the Slovak Republic held the Slovak nation united during the war. To tell the truth, however, the agreement documented between the Slovak communists and the postwar government of Czecho-Slovakia was a long cry frotn the Pittsburgh Pact, but it at least basically recognized the existence or the Slovak nation! That essentially was the outcome of Hlinka's struggle and the result of the Slovak Republic, a final culmination of the internal conflicts between two World Wars. If in the free world today those who were on Iflinka's side as active participants, or merely sympathizers, discuss the Slovak problem as an international problem, they give voice to one of the first objectives of the reorganized Slovak �SLOVAKIA 35 People's Party in 1922. Its program opened with the following declaration: The Slovak problem c-zased being merely an internal problem of one state a long time ago. It has become actually a critical internati onal problem in our time. Whoever would defend his views with such a "reactionary" program could truly congratulate himself. It is time that we pay tribute to Andrej Hlinka for his vision and sacrifice in behalf of the Slovak nation and to Dr. Jozef Tiso who died for his resolute decision to bring the Slovak problem into the international sphere and before the world forum. The Slovak People's Party played an honorable role in the political life of the Slovak nation, and its place in history ranks high in the light of incontestable evidence that remains as a permanent record of achievement and an inspiration for all who seek great ideals and permanent values in Slovak politics of that era. SOURCES Jozef Pauco, Politicko-narodny program HS~S (The national political program of the Hlinka Slovak People's Party ), Brati,lava, 1944. Slovaci a komunizmus (Slovaks and Communism), Middletown, Pa., 1957. 75 rokov Prvej Katolickej Slovenskej Jednoty (75 Years of the First Catholic Slovak Union), Cleveland, Ohio, 1955. Andrej Hlinka v Amerike (Andrej Hlinka in America), Kalendar J ednota, Middletown, Pa ., 1927. Karol Sidor, Andrej Hlinka (Andre w Hlinka), Bratislava, 1934 . . I recently found myself again reading the No. 47 issue of your annual Slovakia in an effort to gain more informational material on Slovak life and culture. Slovakia is the only really authoritative source for information on this region. It is useful in research, studies, teachin ~ and documentary and lecture preparation. I am most pleased to be able to receive Slovakia. Finally, I have had occasion to use Slovakia in lecturing to student3 and other interested groups on Slovak life and culture, and also in research. Several associates havl! read Slovakia issues of the past and they tell me they have gained new and interesting insights and knowledge into Slovakia's history, political development, the Slovak people and their customs, culture, and life. Earl J. Bornschein, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin � 28 SLOVAKIA 70th Anniversary of the Slovak People's Party By Joseph Pa u co, Ph.D. Ferko Skycak, a prominent and able Slovak political leader before World War I, announced that he was dropping out of the Magyar Popular Party on December 5, 1905, and simultaneously called upon his Slovak colleagues to organize a new Slovak political party to serve the best interests of the Slovak nation. Immediate response to Skycak's proposal came from Andrej Hlinka, Ferdis Juriga, Frantisek Jehlicka, Jozef Kubina, Milan Hodza, Martin Kollar, Pavol Blaho and others. All supported and approved his political program. In 1906 the newly-formed Slovak People's Party (Slovenska l'udova strana) entered the political arena in Hungary and, despite bitter official government opposition, the Slovaks elected seven representatives to the Hungarian diet in Budapest. The political platform of the Slovak People's Party of 1906 consisted of the following points: 1) Cc,ndemnation of Communism and Socialism 2) Support of the issue for equal rights and a secret ballot 3) Demand for free assembly and the right to organize societies 4) Reduction of taxes 5) Laws to prevent economic road-blocks to industry in Slovakia 6) An increased number of schools an d a guarantee of positions and equitable salaries for qualified Slovak teachers 7) Subsidy for special commercial, trade and agricultural schools 8) Assurance to workers against capitalistic exploitation 9) Reduction of working-hours and an increase of wages �SLOVAKIA 29 Although limited by circumstances of time and place, the new Slovak political party activated the program and continued its activities. Andrej Hlinka, the chairman of the party from 1913, reorganized it on December 19, 1918, and announced the publication of the Slovak as the official party newspaper. Chief opposition to the party came from the Socialists who attacked Hlinka and his followers by charges that they all belonged to the Magyar-Jesuit camp. They stopped at nothing to destroy the Slovak People's Party. They instigated plots and violently broke up meetings of the party. The government insidiously collaborated with them by censoring the publication of the Slovak daily, by stopping delivery to subscribers, by police raids and confiscation of material for publication, and by secret instigation of riots to break up meetings and rallies of the Slovak People's Party. Mobs received help from the police and constabulary in dispersing meetings of the party throughout the country. Two of Hlinka's adherents were killed in the Rumanova riot and many were wounded elsewhere in riots instigated by the enemies of Hlinka's Slovak People's Party through the 1920's and early 1930's. Hlinka was seized by the police on October, 1919, and imprisoned because he had dared to attend the Paris peace conference (without government approval). This obviously was a subterfuge to cover up the government's plan to destroy his party by removing its stalwart champion. Precisely 17 days before the first national elections in the country (1920) a Socialist mob invaded Hlinka's 'Lev' printery in Ruzomberok and damaged the plant. In spite of all these attempts to destroy the Slovak party of the people led by Hlinka, the Slovak People's Party received 12 mandates in the general elections. After the elections Hlinka declared that he would work day and night until Slovakia became white instead of red, until Slovakia would be Slovak and Christian. On the whole, the temporary Socialist victory was due not only to the terroristic tactics employed but also to the fact that approximately 200,000 Czech soldiers voted the Socialist ticket in Slovakia! Leaders of the Slovak People's Party readily perceived, therefore, the danger of an anti- �30 SLOVAKIA Slovak movement in the Socialist program. Therefore, the representatives of the Slovak People's Party denounced the results of the vote as undemocratic and in no way representative of the will of the Slovak nation and its electorate. Nonetheless, the Socialists, intoxicated by their questionable triumph for the moment, proceeded to take steps for the complete subjugation of Slovakia. But their greatest tactical error was their personal vendetta against Hlinka and his associates. Accordingly, on May 1, 1920, a Socialist mob attacked Hlinka in Ruzomberok. Forewarned, Hlinka was protected by a strong bodyguard that warded off the attack on his life. Other violent clashes followed this dastardly attempt on the life of the great Slovak leader. In August, 1920, a Slovak party member was killed in Pruske; Hlinka was stoned in sastin on September 26 that same year, and on October 10, two of Hlinka's followers were murdered in Namestovo. From 1920 on, as Karol Sidor noted, the radical leftists of the Socialist party and its allies vowed to kill Hlinka at the first opportunity. Bloody incidents occurred repeatedly through the early 1920's. On March 25, 1921, one more Hlinka follower in Trnava paid with his life for his convictions. In Krupina on June 12, 1921, shooting occured in Hlinka's presence. Fortunately, no one was seriously wounded. A riot in Trencianske Teplice on July 4, 1921, was followed by an outbreak in Malacky on September 4, 1921, and on May 25, 1922, a mob broke into the editorial offices of the Slovak daily and destroyed everything. Government censorship and pressure were so powerful that Hlinka was forced to suspend the publication of the Slovak temporarily in 1923. Anti-Slovak elements on August 28, 1923, in Presov, and in Kosice on September 22 of that year attacked a Hlinka rally. Czech officials displayed their opposition and enmity to Hlinka openly, and criminal characters were planted in the front ranks of mobs incited to destroy Hlinka's Slovak People's Party. Another Hlinka follower was killed in Kosice during a demonstration. Such terroristic methods of the leftists against Hlinka, however, served to wake up the Slovak people who rallied behind their dynamic leader and succeeded in electing half �SLOVAKIA 31 of the local officials who were members of the Slovak People's Party in the elections of September 30, 1923. Once again the Socialists rose up in fury against Hlinka, but this time the Slovak people were thoroughly aroused so that on September 6, 1924, on the eve of Hlinka's 60th birthday, his party had become powerful enough to win respect from its violent opponents. Dr. Vavro i:;robar, one of Hlinka's most outspoken opponents, was forced to admit on October 28, of that year, that "the Slovak People's Party was a national party in which the spirit of nationalism was a rejuvenated and vigorous force." A final tally of 489,027 votes was garnered by the Slovak People's Party in the parliamentary elections of 1925. This strong vote made the party the most dominant Slovak party among the total of 29 political parties in Slovakia and Bohemia. Beginning in 1927, the tactics of the Slovak People's Party were changed in the hope that a coalition inside the government would bring about better results. But by October, 1929, after a series of failures, it became apparent its hope for success in obtaining just rights for the Slovak nation rested solely upon its own individual action. The decision to proceed on its course without any ties with the government in Prague met with an increase in membership at home and a series of successes followed under the new policy. From 1925 on, the Slovak People's Party succeeded in gaining at least 50 % of the votes in the parliamentary campaigns in Slovakia. It is a well known fact that Hlinka's political strength lay in the vote of the farmers, but he had a strong '.following among the workers, too, and his influence among educated young Slovaks increased steadily. Turbulent, indeed, were the meetings and political rallies that attracted five to ten thousand members of the Slovak People's Party in the first years of the Czecho-Slovak Republic in the 1920's. As overflow crowd of Slovaks came to Nitra in 1933 for the 11th centennial Pribina celebration. There more than 100,000 demonstrated that the people's choice was unquestionably Hlinka, and not the official government representatives flanked by hundreds of police and soldiers. �32 SLOVAKIA Piest'any in 1936 was the host city to an outpouring of 30,000 members of the Slovak People's Party for a conference, and on June 4 and 5, 1938, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Pittsburgh Pact, over a hundred thousand people came from all parts of Slovakia to Bratislava to welcome the American Slovak delegation that brought the original of the Pittsburgh Pact for the national celebration. The reading of the document was met with a resounding cheer of approval from the great crowd in the Slovak capital. Andrej Hlinka, on the basis of this historic document for the self-government or autonomy of Slovakia, expressed his unequivocal approval of the Pittsburgh Pact in the spirit of the American Slovaks who drew it up on the one side, and signed by Thomas G. Masaryk on the other, on May 30, 1918. There was no doubt that the absolute majority of American Slovaks were in favor of Hlinka's movement that was dedicated to win freedom for the Slovak nation, freedom in its self-government or autonomous state. At this time the first generation of Slovak immigrants controlled the Slovak organizations and periodicals in America. One can safely assume that the number of Hlinka's followers in America was at least 400,000. It was natural for the American Slovaks under the leadership of the Slovak League of America to work hand in hand with Hlinka. They were intensely proud of their creation of the Pittsburgh Pact which was the expression of their aspirations and the first step towards realizing the right of the Slovak nation to self-government. Slovak emigrants who returned to their native homeland from America were imbued with the American spirit of freedom and democracy. Not one of these opposed Hlinka. At least I never heard of such a person. On the contrary, they became his most ardent and loyal followers. Perhaps that is why even the internal structure of Hlinka's Slovak People's Party differed basically from all the other political parties inside Czecho-Slovakia. While the Czech political parties represented classes, various trades or occupations, etc., the Slovak People's Party and its associate, the Slovak National Party, success- �SLOVAKIA 33 fully recruited party members from all walks of life. Hence, is was truly representative of the entire Slovak nation. One of the blessings of the influence of the Slovak People's Party accrued to the Matica Slovenska ( Slovak Institute) in Turciansky Svaty Martin, which was able to get rid of all foreign elements in its administration. At the Slovak University in Bratislava, too, the growing power of the Slovak People's Party was felt as the positions of Czech professors became shaky. Slovak college and university students there became enthusiastic ( and sometimes radical J members of the Slovak People's Party in which they formed the nucleus of the most loyal followers of Hlinka and Razus. Hlinka's sincere attempt to cooperate with Czech Catholics ended in failure. He abandoned the idea and proceeded to concentrate on his own program that was vital to the interests of the Slovak nation. In the early 1930's the Slovak National Party under Razus joined Hlinka's Slovak People's Party. This was a solid bloc for Slovak autonomy established in agreement with the view of Dr. Tiso who declared that in Slovak politics a Slovak Lutheran was closer to a Slovak Catholic than a Czech Catholic. Autonomy was the primary and ultimate goal of Hlinka's Slovak People's Party. True, however, it was but another small step from there to statehood.'In March, 1939, it would have been a crime, and as an aftermath, national suicide, to have acted otherwise than did the Slovak leaders who declared national independence and set up an independent Slovak Republic. The alternative was to let the Slovak nation become a victim of several alien protectorates, reduced to complete slavery under the complete control of no less than three different states. As a direct consequence of the heroic decision ( and fateful personally to many who were courageous and bold enough to make it for the welfare of the Slovak nation) the Slovak People's Party gave the Slovak nation a long list of national martyrs, headed by President Tiso and Prime Minister Vojtech Tuka. But their brave action saved the Slovak nation from enslavement at the hands of several foreign powers. Before the end of the second World War the first to die because of their alliance with the heroic men who held �34 SLOVAKIA the Slovak rtation intact durin~ the entire worldwide conflict were two Slovak parliament members, namely, Frantisek Slamen and Fr. Anton salat. They died at the hahds of the apocalyptic forces of the East and their traitorous allies during the pro-Communist rebellion in the fall of 1944. Many more suffered and died for the self-same sacred cause of faith and freedom in the years that followed the so-called Soviet liberation of the country. Although the Slovak People's Party was completely liquidated after the second World War by the communist regime, the communists and their allies continued to blame all anti-state activities upon a party that no longer existed. Of course, the underlying reason was on both sides. What Karel Svetlik, a Czech commubist, declared Jn 1922 was applied in the postwar years because "We are a political party," Svetlik stated, "that is farthest removed from the people's party." Marly examples of Christian fortitude were g1ven in past decades atnong the ·ranks of the Slovak People's Party that 6ontributed much n'lbre than the mere Winning of votes or the victory of partisan politics. Hundreds suffered and died fdr their honest convictions at the hands of theit undemocratic foes. In the process of developing the Slovak nation to full maturity the final stages may be attributed largely to the efforts of the Slovak Peop!e's Party. As a matter of fact, the handful of communists would not have dared to ask for anything in the Kosice Agreement at the end of the second World War had not the Slovak People's Party in the Slovak Republic held the Slovak nation united during the war. To tell the truth, however, the agreement documented between the Slovak communists and the postwar government of Czecho-Slovakia was a long cry frotn the Pittsburgh Pact, but it at least basically recognized the existence or the Slovak nation! That essentially was the outcome of Hlinka's struggle and the result of the Slovak Republic, a final culmination of the internal conflicts between two World Wars. If in the free world today those who were on Iflinka's side as active participants, or merely sympathizers, discuss the Slovak problem as an international problem, they give voice to one of the first objectives of the reorganized Slovak �SLOVAKIA 35 People's Party in 1922. Its program opened with the following declaration: The Slovak problem c-zased being merely an internal problem of one state a long time ago. It has become actually a critical internati onal problem in our time. Whoever would defend his views with such a "reactionary" program could truly congratulate himself. It is time that we pay tribute to Andrej Hlinka for his vision and sacrifice in behalf of the Slovak nation and to Dr. Jozef Tiso who died for his resolute decision to bring the Slovak problem into the international sphere and before the world forum. The Slovak People's Party played an honorable role in the political life of the Slovak nation, and its place in history ranks high in the light of incontestable evidence that remains as a permanent record of achievement and an inspiration for all who seek great ideals and permanent values in Slovak politics of that era. SOURCES Jozef Pauco, Politicko-narodny program HS~S (The national political program of the Hlinka Slovak People's Party ), Brati,lava, 1944. Slovaci a komunizmus (Slovaks and Communism), Middletown, Pa., 1957. 75 rokov Prvej Katolickej Slovenskej Jednoty (75 Years of the First Catholic Slovak Union), Cleveland, Ohio, 1955. Andrej Hlinka v Amerike (Andrej Hlinka in America), Kalendar J ednota, Middletown, Pa ., 1927. Karol Sidor, Andrej Hlinka (Andre w Hlinka), Bratislava, 1934 . . I recently found myself again reading the No. 47 issue of your annual Slovakia in an effort to gain more informational material on Slovak life and culture. Slovakia is the only really authoritative source for information on this region. It is useful in research, studies, teachin ~ and documentary and lecture preparation. I am most pleased to be able to receive Slovakia. Finally, I have had occasion to use Slovakia in lecturing to student3 and other interested groups on Slovak life and culture, and also in research. Several associates havl! read Slovakia issues of the past and they tell me they have gained new and interesting insights and knowledge into Slovakia's history, political development, the Slovak people and their customs, culture, and life. Earl J. Bornschein, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1975, Vol. 25 Description An account of the resource Vol. 25 (No. 48), 1975. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1975 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 28 SLOVAKIA 70th Anniversary of the Slovak People's Party By Joseph Pa u co, Ph.D. Ferko Skycak, a prominent and able Slovak political leader before World War I, announced that he was dropping out of the Magyar Popular Party on December 5, 1905, and simultaneously called upon his Slovak colleagues to organize a new Slovak political party to serve the best interests of the Slovak nation. Immediate response to Skycak's proposal came from Andrej Hlinka, Ferdis Juriga, Frantisek Jehlicka, Jozef Kubina, Milan Hodza, Martin Kollar, Pavol Blaho and others. All supported and approved his political program. In 1906 the newly-formed Slovak People's Party (Slovenska l'udova strana) entered the political arena in Hungary and, despite bitter official government opposition, the Slovaks elected seven representatives to the Hungarian diet in Budapest. The political platform of the Slovak People's Party of 1906 consisted of the following points: 1) Cc,ndemnation of Communism and Socialism 2) Support of the issue for equal rights and a secret ballot 3) Demand for free assembly and the right to organize societies 4) Reduction of taxes 5) Laws to prevent economic road-blocks to industry in Slovakia 6) An increased number of schools an d a guarantee of positions and equitable salaries for qualified Slovak teachers 7) Subsidy for special commercial, trade and agricultural schools 8) Assurance to workers against capitalistic exploitation 9) Reduction of working-hours and an increase of wages SLOVAKIA 29 Although limited by circumstances of time and place, the new Slovak political party activated the program and continued its activities. Andrej Hlinka, the chairman of the party from 1913, reorganized it on December 19, 1918, and announced the publication of the Slovak as the official party newspaper. Chief opposition to the party came from the Socialists who attacked Hlinka and his followers by charges that they all belonged to the Magyar-Jesuit camp. They stopped at nothing to destroy the Slovak People's Party. They instigated plots and violently broke up meetings of the party. The government insidiously collaborated with them by censoring the publication of the Slovak daily, by stopping delivery to subscribers, by police raids and confiscation of material for publication, and by secret instigation of riots to break up meetings and rallies of the Slovak People's Party. Mobs received help from the police and constabulary in dispersing meetings of the party throughout the country. Two of Hlinka's adherents were killed in the Rumanova riot and many were wounded elsewhere in riots instigated by the enemies of Hlinka's Slovak People's Party through the 1920's and early 1930's. Hlinka was seized by the police on October, 1919, and imprisoned because he had dared to attend the Paris peace conference (without government approval). This obviously was a subterfuge to cover up the government's plan to destroy his party by removing its stalwart champion. Precisely 17 days before the first national elections in the country (1920) a Socialist mob invaded Hlinka's 'Lev' printery in Ruzomberok and damaged the plant. In spite of all these attempts to destroy the Slovak party of the people led by Hlinka, the Slovak People's Party received 12 mandates in the general elections. After the elections Hlinka declared that he would work day and night until Slovakia became white instead of red, until Slovakia would be Slovak and Christian. On the whole, the temporary Socialist victory was due not only to the terroristic tactics employed but also to the fact that approximately 200,000 Czech soldiers voted the Socialist ticket in Slovakia! Leaders of the Slovak People's Party readily perceived, therefore, the danger of an anti- 30 SLOVAKIA Slovak movement in the Socialist program. Therefore, the representatives of the Slovak People's Party denounced the results of the vote as undemocratic and in no way representative of the will of the Slovak nation and its electorate. Nonetheless, the Socialists, intoxicated by their questionable triumph for the moment, proceeded to take steps for the complete subjugation of Slovakia. But their greatest tactical error was their personal vendetta against Hlinka and his associates. Accordingly, on May 1, 1920, a Socialist mob attacked Hlinka in Ruzomberok. Forewarned, Hlinka was protected by a strong bodyguard that warded off the attack on his life. Other violent clashes followed this dastardly attempt on the life of the great Slovak leader. In August, 1920, a Slovak party member was killed in Pruske; Hlinka was stoned in sastin on September 26 that same year, and on October 10, two of Hlinka's followers were murdered in Namestovo. From 1920 on, as Karol Sidor noted, the radical leftists of the Socialist party and its allies vowed to kill Hlinka at the first opportunity. Bloody incidents occurred repeatedly through the early 1920's. On March 25, 1921, one more Hlinka follower in Trnava paid with his life for his convictions. In Krupina on June 12, 1921, shooting occured in Hlinka's presence. Fortunately, no one was seriously wounded. A riot in Trencianske Teplice on July 4, 1921, was followed by an outbreak in Malacky on September 4, 1921, and on May 25, 1922, a mob broke into the editorial offices of the Slovak daily and destroyed everything. Government censorship and pressure were so powerful that Hlinka was forced to suspend the publication of the Slovak temporarily in 1923. Anti-Slovak elements on August 28, 1923, in Presov, and in Kosice on September 22 of that year attacked a Hlinka rally. Czech officials displayed their opposition and enmity to Hlinka openly, and criminal characters were planted in the front ranks of mobs incited to destroy Hlinka's Slovak People's Party. Another Hlinka follower was killed in Kosice during a demonstration. Such terroristic methods of the leftists against Hlinka, however, served to wake up the Slovak people who rallied behind their dynamic leader and succeeded in electing half SLOVAKIA 31 of the local officials who were members of the Slovak People's Party in the elections of September 30, 1923. Once again the Socialists rose up in fury against Hlinka, but this time the Slovak people were thoroughly aroused so that on September 6, 1924, on the eve of Hlinka's 60th birthday, his party had become powerful enough to win respect from its violent opponents. Dr. Vavro i:;robar, one of Hlinka's most outspoken opponents, was forced to admit on October 28, of that year, that "the Slovak People's Party was a national party in which the spirit of nationalism was a rejuvenated and vigorous force." A final tally of 489,027 votes was garnered by the Slovak People's Party in the parliamentary elections of 1925. This strong vote made the party the most dominant Slovak party among the total of 29 political parties in Slovakia and Bohemia. Beginning in 1927, the tactics of the Slovak People's Party were changed in the hope that a coalition inside the government would bring about better results. But by October, 1929, after a series of failures, it became apparent its hope for success in obtaining just rights for the Slovak nation rested solely upon its own individual action. The decision to proceed on its course without any ties with the government in Prague met with an increase in membership at home and a series of successes followed under the new policy. From 1925 on, the Slovak People's Party succeeded in gaining at least 50 % of the votes in the parliamentary campaigns in Slovakia. It is a well known fact that Hlinka's political strength lay in the vote of the farmers, but he had a strong '.following among the workers, too, and his influence among educated young Slovaks increased steadily. Turbulent, indeed, were the meetings and political rallies that attracted five to ten thousand members of the Slovak People's Party in the first years of the Czecho-Slovak Republic in the 1920's. As overflow crowd of Slovaks came to Nitra in 1933 for the 11th centennial Pribina celebration. There more than 100,000 demonstrated that the people's choice was unquestionably Hlinka, and not the official government representatives flanked by hundreds of police and soldiers. 32 SLOVAKIA Piest'any in 1936 was the host city to an outpouring of 30,000 members of the Slovak People's Party for a conference, and on June 4 and 5, 1938, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Pittsburgh Pact, over a hundred thousand people came from all parts of Slovakia to Bratislava to welcome the American Slovak delegation that brought the original of the Pittsburgh Pact for the national celebration. The reading of the document was met with a resounding cheer of approval from the great crowd in the Slovak capital. Andrej Hlinka, on the basis of this historic document for the self-government or autonomy of Slovakia, expressed his unequivocal approval of the Pittsburgh Pact in the spirit of the American Slovaks who drew it up on the one side, and signed by Thomas G. Masaryk on the other, on May 30, 1918. There was no doubt that the absolute majority of American Slovaks were in favor of Hlinka's movement that was dedicated to win freedom for the Slovak nation, freedom in its self-government or autonomous state. At this time the first generation of Slovak immigrants controlled the Slovak organizations and periodicals in America. One can safely assume that the number of Hlinka's followers in America was at least 400,000. It was natural for the American Slovaks under the leadership of the Slovak League of America to work hand in hand with Hlinka. They were intensely proud of their creation of the Pittsburgh Pact which was the expression of their aspirations and the first step towards realizing the right of the Slovak nation to self-government. Slovak emigrants who returned to their native homeland from America were imbued with the American spirit of freedom and democracy. Not one of these opposed Hlinka. At least I never heard of such a person. On the contrary, they became his most ardent and loyal followers. Perhaps that is why even the internal structure of Hlinka's Slovak People's Party differed basically from all the other political parties inside Czecho-Slovakia. While the Czech political parties represented classes, various trades or occupations, etc., the Slovak People's Party and its associate, the Slovak National Party, success- SLOVAKIA 33 fully recruited party members from all walks of life. Hence, is was truly representative of the entire Slovak nation. One of the blessings of the influence of the Slovak People's Party accrued to the Matica Slovenska ( Slovak Institute) in Turciansky Svaty Martin, which was able to get rid of all foreign elements in its administration. At the Slovak University in Bratislava, too, the growing power of the Slovak People's Party was felt as the positions of Czech professors became shaky. Slovak college and university students there became enthusiastic ( and sometimes radical J members of the Slovak People's Party in which they formed the nucleus of the most loyal followers of Hlinka and Razus. Hlinka's sincere attempt to cooperate with Czech Catholics ended in failure. He abandoned the idea and proceeded to concentrate on his own program that was vital to the interests of the Slovak nation. In the early 1930's the Slovak National Party under Razus joined Hlinka's Slovak People's Party. This was a solid bloc for Slovak autonomy established in agreement with the view of Dr. Tiso who declared that in Slovak politics a Slovak Lutheran was closer to a Slovak Catholic than a Czech Catholic. Autonomy was the primary and ultimate goal of Hlinka's Slovak People's Party. True, however, it was but another small step from there to statehood.'In March, 1939, it would have been a crime, and as an aftermath, national suicide, to have acted otherwise than did the Slovak leaders who declared national independence and set up an independent Slovak Republic. The alternative was to let the Slovak nation become a victim of several alien protectorates, reduced to complete slavery under the complete control of no less than three different states. As a direct consequence of the heroic decision ( and fateful personally to many who were courageous and bold enough to make it for the welfare of the Slovak nation) the Slovak People's Party gave the Slovak nation a long list of national martyrs, headed by President Tiso and Prime Minister Vojtech Tuka. But their brave action saved the Slovak nation from enslavement at the hands of several foreign powers. Before the end of the second World War the first to die because of their alliance with the heroic men who held 34 SLOVAKIA the Slovak rtation intact durin~ the entire worldwide conflict were two Slovak parliament members, namely, Frantisek Slamen and Fr. Anton salat. They died at the hahds of the apocalyptic forces of the East and their traitorous allies during the pro-Communist rebellion in the fall of 1944. Many more suffered and died for the self-same sacred cause of faith and freedom in the years that followed the so-called Soviet liberation of the country. Although the Slovak People's Party was completely liquidated after the second World War by the communist regime, the communists and their allies continued to blame all anti-state activities upon a party that no longer existed. Of course, the underlying reason was on both sides. What Karel Svetlik, a Czech commubist, declared Jn 1922 was applied in the postwar years because "We are a political party," Svetlik stated, "that is farthest removed from the people's party." Marly examples of Christian fortitude were g1ven in past decades atnong the ·ranks of the Slovak People's Party that 6ontributed much n'lbre than the mere Winning of votes or the victory of partisan politics. Hundreds suffered and died fdr their honest convictions at the hands of theit undemocratic foes. In the process of developing the Slovak nation to full maturity the final stages may be attributed largely to the efforts of the Slovak Peop!e's Party. As a matter of fact, the handful of communists would not have dared to ask for anything in the Kosice Agreement at the end of the second World War had not the Slovak People's Party in the Slovak Republic held the Slovak nation united during the war. To tell the truth, however, the agreement documented between the Slovak communists and the postwar government of Czecho-Slovakia was a long cry frotn the Pittsburgh Pact, but it at least basically recognized the existence or the Slovak nation! That essentially was the outcome of Hlinka's struggle and the result of the Slovak Republic, a final culmination of the internal conflicts between two World Wars. If in the free world today those who were on Iflinka's side as active participants, or merely sympathizers, discuss the Slovak problem as an international problem, they give voice to one of the first objectives of the reorganized Slovak SLOVAKIA 35 People's Party in 1922. Its program opened with the following declaration: The Slovak problem c-zased being merely an internal problem of one state a long time ago. It has become actually a critical internati onal problem in our time. Whoever would defend his views with such a "reactionary" program could truly congratulate himself. It is time that we pay tribute to Andrej Hlinka for his vision and sacrifice in behalf of the Slovak nation and to Dr. Jozef Tiso who died for his resolute decision to bring the Slovak problem into the international sphere and before the world forum. The Slovak People's Party played an honorable role in the political life of the Slovak nation, and its place in history ranks high in the light of incontestable evidence that remains as a permanent record of achievement and an inspiration for all who seek great ideals and permanent values in Slovak politics of that era. SOURCES Jozef Pauco, Politicko-narodny program HS~S (The national political program of the Hlinka Slovak People's Party ), Brati,lava, 1944. Slovaci a komunizmus (Slovaks and Communism), Middletown, Pa., 1957. 75 rokov Prvej Katolickej Slovenskej Jednoty (75 Years of the First Catholic Slovak Union), Cleveland, Ohio, 1955. Andrej Hlinka v Amerike (Andrej Hlinka in America), Kalendar J ednota, Middletown, Pa ., 1927. Karol Sidor, Andrej Hlinka (Andre w Hlinka), Bratislava, 1934 . . I recently found myself again reading the No. 47 issue of your annual Slovakia in an effort to gain more informational material on Slovak life and culture. Slovakia is the only really authoritative source for information on this region. It is useful in research, studies, teachin ~ and documentary and lecture preparation. I am most pleased to be able to receive Slovakia. Finally, I have had occasion to use Slovakia in lecturing to student3 and other interested groups on Slovak life and culture, and also in research. Several associates havl! read Slovakia issues of the past and they tell me they have gained new and interesting insights and knowledge into Slovakia's history, political development, the Slovak people and their customs, culture, and life. Earl J. Bornschein, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 70th Anniversary of the Slovak People's Party Description An account of the resource Joseph Paučo, Ph.D. Slovakia, Vol. 25 (No. 48), 1975 pp. 28-35 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 1975 SNK 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/2a7db42a0de7e82305e7938edaf41f12.pdf d0d8d20af77aa5ed8a55583d38826676 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 31 need right now is a large, stiff dose of "Knowlandism" for the brain to clear our thinking so that we might resolve: NO MORAL AND/ OR MATERIAL AID FOR THE SOVIET UNION AND ITS SATELLITES! • • • A BELATED REPORT By CHARLES MURIN, Ph.D., LL.D. It seems to be inevitable during a war, when the stakes are high, that people reduce their thinking to two categories only: my side is identified with the good and moral purely and simply, the enemy, or the other side. is the embodiment pure of the principle of evil which is the root of all disorder in the world. It is understandable that this psychological attitude belongs to war, because one has to know what he is offering his life for. However, if this psychological factor seems to belong to the conditions required for the winning of a war, the same attitude is a disturbing factor when it enters among the considerations how to win the peace. This is exactly what we experienced after World War II in regard to the organization of post-war Europe. Besides this, Slovak refugees, among many others, have experienced in their own personal destinies the drawbacks in the application of the above-mentioned psychological attitude to the period immediately following the war. It took about two years until an about face had been brought about, and the writer of these lines had the peculiar opportunity of being personally involved in both stages of mind; the one that is supposed to win the war, and the one which aims at winning the peace. It goes without saying that the latter was infinitely more in accordance with common sense and reason and with what can be called the moral principles in politics. The psychological attitude of seeing only black and white becomes a real disaster when it is adopted by responsible statesmen and politicians. As a direct consequence, this attitude inevitably involves political and moral contradictions that do not fail to give, with on unerring �32 SLOVAKIA exactitude, the results of which are best illustrated by the present state of affairs in Europe. It is our intention to point out one instance of the application of the black and/ or white psychological attitude in connection with the conditions in the Danube valley and particularly in connection with the late President of the Slovak Republic, Msgr. Dr. Joseph Tiso. We shall not go into the analysis of the causes of this attitude in our case even though they can be, without any doubt, revealed quite easily. The Munich Agreement of 1938 was an affair of the big European powers of that time. The small nations could not help but take notice of the agreement by which Central Europe became the zone of influence of Germany. Since the great powers knew that it was a Nazi Germany, the small nations were compelled to take notice of this fact and steer the destiny of their respective nations through the troubled waters of the years to come. It is a curious fact, unfortunately not a unique one in the political history, that the same great powers, or more exactly a part of them, did not mind the putting to trial and sentencing of people, after World War II, simply because they had to accept what the great powers had agreed upon in Munich. Either they must concede that they were not able to see the immediate geopolitical consequence of what they were doing, or they must admit that they accepted a multiplicity of rights to life and rights to survive: one code for me, another, a modified one, to suit my interests for the others. First they objected to Nazi-Germany and later on - grace a Dieu to the Soviet Union. It is not difficult to see that a contradiction in regard to fundamental moral principles is involved in this case. However, let us look into the case which applies this time not directly to the whole area of Central Europe but specifically to Slovakia and only indirectly, though not less vitally, to the whole area of Central Europe. We are going to mention three instances of a public address of the late President Dr. Joseph Tiso which should not have escaped the attention of the people in charge of Central European affairs in respective Departments of Foreign Affairs in the Western World. The more so, since the Germans' reaction :n all the three cases was utterly hostile. �SLO\',\KIA 33 1. In the Western-Slovakia town of Trnava, some 30 miles from the capital of Slovakia, Dr. Tiso said in August 1939: "Slovaks, do not think that what the Germans are doing for us they do because of their love for us (literally, "because of our beautiful blue eyes" - this expression comes from a Slovak proverb). They do it because it is in their interest to do so." 2. In speaking to the District Governors of Slovakia, Dr. Tiso said in the Redoute Hall in Bratislava: "Our participation in the present war is but a symbolic one." 3. On the occasion of the opening of the new Strazske-Vranov rail line, Dr. Tiso proclaimed in Presov, a town situated in Eastern Slovakia: "The Slovak people will display more loyalty to the one who will help us to a more free life" (Not having the original texts at hand, the writer guarantees for the fidelity of the quoted sentences only as far as their genuine meaning is concerned). In all the three instances, the President's speeches were broadcast throughout the whole territory of the Slovak Republic and to the personal knowledge of the writer the last two quotations were objected to in strong terms by the Germans. The meaning of these speeches was clear to all concerned, including the Germans, and to the Benes clique at that time preparing its comeback via Moscow. What was the reaction to these speeches in Slovakia? What we were interested in was whether these speeches will be noticed by those in charge of Central Europe in the State Department of the United States. Confidence towards the Americans of Slovak origin was in the eyes of Slovaks extended to the whole of the United States. Even towards the end of the war, when the present writer discussed with President Tiso his preferences of the then unknown zones of occupation of Germany and of Austria, in the opinion of the President it was the American zone of occupation that he wished for in the first place. In reality, however, the facts have shown that the French have manifested more understanding for the complexities of the Central European politics than did the military administration of the United States. �34 SLOVAKIA There were two points around which revolved the thinking of Dr. Joseph Tiso as regards the future of the Slovak people. First, it was the confidence in the United States as to the country of Washington, Lincoln, etc., and, last but not least, as to the country of the American Slovaks. In other words, the Slovaks had expected that the Government of the United States would not oppose the will of a nation to freedom. Secondly, Dr. Tiso ruled out in his thinking the possibility of creating a political vacuum in Europe after the war, because he knew that any political vacuum would be but an invitation to the Soviets who would not fail to intervene if not opposed by a military force superior to their own. Now let us recall what was the situation during the war in Slovakia and what moves were expected by the Slovaks in regard to their political future. Call it whatever you want, call it unjustly a German protectorate or a German appendix, or call it according to no matter which names given to the Slovak Republic by the Benes people and the Communists, the fact remains that the Slovak people, during the short period of the Slovak Republic, made greater progress in all fields of their national existence than during any period of time, entirely out of proportion with the six years, in the last centuries. On the other hand, the Slovak nation was very much aware of the fact that the conditions of their freedom were rather precarious in more than one regard, concerning both some of the internal and also international factors. The only positive approach to the Slovak people leads through what hindered their freedom and not through questioning their right to fredom. This was the meaning of the above messages of President Joseph Tiso to the Western World and in particular to the United States. On the other hand, what was the political formula offered 'by the United Nations to the Slovak people? To put it bluntly, it can be briefly resumed in the following sentence: give up your freedom. Or in a more explicit way: if you want to get rid of what contradicts the way of life you are striving for, get rid of freedom. Or: there is no other way to cut loose from the accompanying phenomena that �SLOVAKIA 35 hinder your freedom than to kill the whole thing, which is tantamount to the advice: throw out the child together with the bath water. There was an inherent contradiction in this attitude that can be summed up as follows: in order to be free you must renounce freedom. In itself, this is a perfectly coherent assertion under the condition one qualifies the two meanings of freedom in a due way. Yet historically speaking the conditions were set either by the Nazis, on the one side, or by the Benes people and the Communists, on the other side. President Tiso hoped that there might be a third condition, that is, that of the Slovak people, and that the United States might understand this. Dr. Tiso's political vision aimed at the transition from freedom conditioned by Nazi Germany {the history of this condition is not a univocal one; there were changes for better and for worse) to the freedom conditioned by the Slovak people. Contrary to this legitimate expectation, on the Slovak people was imposed the Communist and the Benes version of freedom which by no means was lacking an univocal significance whose depth of cruelty the Western World seems to be grasping only after the Hungarian tragedy of last Fall. In Slovakia we had a chance to see this version of freedom i.n an extremely lucid way during the so-called August "uprising" of 1944. This political movement might pass into history as the most curious and most ineffective and futile piece of political thinking. Ill-timed, wrongly executed, without any real significance as to war operations, its only result was to bring the war on the territory of Slovakia and to help Benes to sell his version of "freedom" by building Potemkin villages to the West, yet replacing the rather humorous deceit of the famous Russian deceiver by the cruelty of the present-day power-holders of Russia. What about the Slovak version of their freedom? For the time being its highest symbol is President Dr. Joseph Tiso. Historical events have imposed upon him this significance. The German military police {Sicherheitsdienst) gathered material towards the end of the war for a process against Dr. Joseph Tiso. The forecluded result of his show process would have been most probably the last and the definite qualification of the Nazi-Germany version of the �36 SLOVAKIA Slovak freedom. Where the Germans were stopped by the victory of the United Nations, the Benes government faithfully carried on. The execution of the President of the Slovak Republic, the 10th anniversary of which the free Slovaks commemorated this year, was supposed to put an end to Slovak freedom. It would seem that there can be no freedom for this people at all; that the Slovaks have to choose between the two or more pseudo-versions of freedom which must be always conditioned for the benefit of one of their neighbors, not in the sense of a loyal cooperation as might be arranged with justice in a federation of nations, but in the sense of being politically, economically, and culturally subjected by one of its neighbors. The Slovaks are not shocked to hear this. Yet they beg to differ radically from this opinion, both because of their conviction that they have the moral and political right to live freely, the Slovak way of life, in full respect of other peoples, and because they trust that the vitality of the American spirit of freedom is keen and strong enough to overcome the contradiction implied in the wartime pattern of political thinking concerning the Slovaks. Western wartime reporters had failed to report the above-mentioned messages of the late Msgr. Dr. Joseph Tiso to the responsible personalities of the U. S. Government. I am using the opportunity to do this on the tenth anniversary of the death on the gallows of the priest of whom his ecclesiastical superior, Archbishop Dr. Kmefko, said: "It is because we knew him always as an exemplary priest that we wished him to accept the nomination for the Presidency of the Slovak Republic; he was a guarantee against the intrusion of Nazi ideology." Thus I am drawing attention of the United States Government to the political vision of Dr. Joseph Tiso, the vision of his Slovak people, i.e., not a Nazi version, nor a Comunist one, nor a Czech version of Slovak freedom, but an honest-to-goodness Washington version of freedom which is a human one. By .this I believe, I am only fulfilling, though somewhat belatedly, my duty connected with my being the former "personal secretary" of the late President of the Slovak Republic, Dr. Joseph Tiso. � SLOVAKIA 31 need right now is a large, stiff dose of "Knowlandism" for the brain to clear our thinking so that we might resolve: NO MORAL AND/ OR MATERIAL AID FOR THE SOVIET UNION AND ITS SATELLITES! • • • A BELATED REPORT By CHARLES MURIN, Ph.D., LL.D. It seems to be inevitable during a war, when the stakes are high, that people reduce their thinking to two categories only: my side is identified with the good and moral purely and simply, the enemy, or the other side. is the embodiment pure of the principle of evil which is the root of all disorder in the world. It is understandable that this psychological attitude belongs to war, because one has to know what he is offering his life for. However, if this psychological factor seems to belong to the conditions required for the winning of a war, the same attitude is a disturbing factor when it enters among the considerations how to win the peace. This is exactly what we experienced after World War II in regard to the organization of post-war Europe. Besides this, Slovak refugees, among many others, have experienced in their own personal destinies the drawbacks in the application of the above-mentioned psychological attitude to the period immediately following the war. It took about two years until an about face had been brought about, and the writer of these lines had the peculiar opportunity of being personally involved in both stages of mind; the one that is supposed to win the war, and the one which aims at winning the peace. It goes without saying that the latter was infinitely more in accordance with common sense and reason and with what can be called the moral principles in politics. The psychological attitude of seeing only black and white becomes a real disaster when it is adopted by responsible statesmen and politicians. As a direct consequence, this attitude inevitably involves political and moral contradictions that do not fail to give, with on unerring �32 SLOVAKIA exactitude, the results of which are best illustrated by the present state of affairs in Europe. It is our intention to point out one instance of the application of the black and/ or white psychological attitude in connection with the conditions in the Danube valley and particularly in connection with the late President of the Slovak Republic, Msgr. Dr. Joseph Tiso. We shall not go into the analysis of the causes of this attitude in our case even though they can be, without any doubt, revealed quite easily. The Munich Agreement of 1938 was an affair of the big European powers of that time. The small nations could not help but take notice of the agreement by which Central Europe became the zone of influence of Germany. Since the great powers knew that it was a Nazi Germany, the small nations were compelled to take notice of this fact and steer the destiny of their respective nations through the troubled waters of the years to come. It is a curious fact, unfortunately not a unique one in the political history, that the same great powers, or more exactly a part of them, did not mind the putting to trial and sentencing of people, after World War II, simply because they had to accept what the great powers had agreed upon in Munich. Either they must concede that they were not able to see the immediate geopolitical consequence of what they were doing, or they must admit that they accepted a multiplicity of rights to life and rights to survive: one code for me, another, a modified one, to suit my interests for the others. First they objected to Nazi-Germany and later on - grace a Dieu to the Soviet Union. It is not difficult to see that a contradiction in regard to fundamental moral principles is involved in this case. However, let us look into the case which applies this time not directly to the whole area of Central Europe but specifically to Slovakia and only indirectly, though not less vitally, to the whole area of Central Europe. We are going to mention three instances of a public address of the late President Dr. Joseph Tiso which should not have escaped the attention of the people in charge of Central European affairs in respective Departments of Foreign Affairs in the Western World. The more so, since the Germans' reaction :n all the three cases was utterly hostile. �SLO\',\KIA 33 1. In the Western-Slovakia town of Trnava, some 30 miles from the capital of Slovakia, Dr. Tiso said in August 1939: "Slovaks, do not think that what the Germans are doing for us they do because of their love for us (literally, "because of our beautiful blue eyes" - this expression comes from a Slovak proverb). They do it because it is in their interest to do so." 2. In speaking to the District Governors of Slovakia, Dr. Tiso said in the Redoute Hall in Bratislava: "Our participation in the present war is but a symbolic one." 3. On the occasion of the opening of the new Strazske-Vranov rail line, Dr. Tiso proclaimed in Presov, a town situated in Eastern Slovakia: "The Slovak people will display more loyalty to the one who will help us to a more free life" (Not having the original texts at hand, the writer guarantees for the fidelity of the quoted sentences only as far as their genuine meaning is concerned). In all the three instances, the President's speeches were broadcast throughout the whole territory of the Slovak Republic and to the personal knowledge of the writer the last two quotations were objected to in strong terms by the Germans. The meaning of these speeches was clear to all concerned, including the Germans, and to the Benes clique at that time preparing its comeback via Moscow. What was the reaction to these speeches in Slovakia? What we were interested in was whether these speeches will be noticed by those in charge of Central Europe in the State Department of the United States. Confidence towards the Americans of Slovak origin was in the eyes of Slovaks extended to the whole of the United States. Even towards the end of the war, when the present writer discussed with President Tiso his preferences of the then unknown zones of occupation of Germany and of Austria, in the opinion of the President it was the American zone of occupation that he wished for in the first place. In reality, however, the facts have shown that the French have manifested more understanding for the complexities of the Central European politics than did the military administration of the United States. �34 SLOVAKIA There were two points around which revolved the thinking of Dr. Joseph Tiso as regards the future of the Slovak people. First, it was the confidence in the United States as to the country of Washington, Lincoln, etc., and, last but not least, as to the country of the American Slovaks. In other words, the Slovaks had expected that the Government of the United States would not oppose the will of a nation to freedom. Secondly, Dr. Tiso ruled out in his thinking the possibility of creating a political vacuum in Europe after the war, because he knew that any political vacuum would be but an invitation to the Soviets who would not fail to intervene if not opposed by a military force superior to their own. Now let us recall what was the situation during the war in Slovakia and what moves were expected by the Slovaks in regard to their political future. Call it whatever you want, call it unjustly a German protectorate or a German appendix, or call it according to no matter which names given to the Slovak Republic by the Benes people and the Communists, the fact remains that the Slovak people, during the short period of the Slovak Republic, made greater progress in all fields of their national existence than during any period of time, entirely out of proportion with the six years, in the last centuries. On the other hand, the Slovak nation was very much aware of the fact that the conditions of their freedom were rather precarious in more than one regard, concerning both some of the internal and also international factors. The only positive approach to the Slovak people leads through what hindered their freedom and not through questioning their right to fredom. This was the meaning of the above messages of President Joseph Tiso to the Western World and in particular to the United States. On the other hand, what was the political formula offered 'by the United Nations to the Slovak people? To put it bluntly, it can be briefly resumed in the following sentence: give up your freedom. Or in a more explicit way: if you want to get rid of what contradicts the way of life you are striving for, get rid of freedom. Or: there is no other way to cut loose from the accompanying phenomena that �SLOVAKIA 35 hinder your freedom than to kill the whole thing, which is tantamount to the advice: throw out the child together with the bath water. There was an inherent contradiction in this attitude that can be summed up as follows: in order to be free you must renounce freedom. In itself, this is a perfectly coherent assertion under the condition one qualifies the two meanings of freedom in a due way. Yet historically speaking the conditions were set either by the Nazis, on the one side, or by the Benes people and the Communists, on the other side. President Tiso hoped that there might be a third condition, that is, that of the Slovak people, and that the United States might understand this. Dr. Tiso's political vision aimed at the transition from freedom conditioned by Nazi Germany {the history of this condition is not a univocal one; there were changes for better and for worse) to the freedom conditioned by the Slovak people. Contrary to this legitimate expectation, on the Slovak people was imposed the Communist and the Benes version of freedom which by no means was lacking an univocal significance whose depth of cruelty the Western World seems to be grasping only after the Hungarian tragedy of last Fall. In Slovakia we had a chance to see this version of freedom i.n an extremely lucid way during the so-called August "uprising" of 1944. This political movement might pass into history as the most curious and most ineffective and futile piece of political thinking. Ill-timed, wrongly executed, without any real significance as to war operations, its only result was to bring the war on the territory of Slovakia and to help Benes to sell his version of "freedom" by building Potemkin villages to the West, yet replacing the rather humorous deceit of the famous Russian deceiver by the cruelty of the present-day power-holders of Russia. What about the Slovak version of their freedom? For the time being its highest symbol is President Dr. Joseph Tiso. Historical events have imposed upon him this significance. The German military police {Sicherheitsdienst) gathered material towards the end of the war for a process against Dr. Joseph Tiso. The forecluded result of his show process would have been most probably the last and the definite qualification of the Nazi-Germany version of the �36 SLOVAKIA Slovak freedom. Where the Germans were stopped by the victory of the United Nations, the Benes government faithfully carried on. The execution of the President of the Slovak Republic, the 10th anniversary of which the free Slovaks commemorated this year, was supposed to put an end to Slovak freedom. It would seem that there can be no freedom for this people at all; that the Slovaks have to choose between the two or more pseudo-versions of freedom which must be always conditioned for the benefit of one of their neighbors, not in the sense of a loyal cooperation as might be arranged with justice in a federation of nations, but in the sense of being politically, economically, and culturally subjected by one of its neighbors. The Slovaks are not shocked to hear this. Yet they beg to differ radically from this opinion, both because of their conviction that they have the moral and political right to live freely, the Slovak way of life, in full respect of other peoples, and because they trust that the vitality of the American spirit of freedom is keen and strong enough to overcome the contradiction implied in the wartime pattern of political thinking concerning the Slovaks. Western wartime reporters had failed to report the above-mentioned messages of the late Msgr. Dr. Joseph Tiso to the responsible personalities of the U. S. Government. I am using the opportunity to do this on the tenth anniversary of the death on the gallows of the priest of whom his ecclesiastical superior, Archbishop Dr. Kmefko, said: "It is because we knew him always as an exemplary priest that we wished him to accept the nomination for the Presidency of the Slovak Republic; he was a guarantee against the intrusion of Nazi ideology." Thus I am drawing attention of the United States Government to the political vision of Dr. Joseph Tiso, the vision of his Slovak people, i.e., not a Nazi version, nor a Comunist one, nor a Czech version of Slovak freedom, but an honest-to-goodness Washington version of freedom which is a human one. By .this I believe, I am only fulfilling, though somewhat belatedly, my duty connected with my being the former "personal secretary" of the late President of the Slovak Republic, Dr. Joseph Tiso. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1957, Vol. 7 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 22), March 1957.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 23), June 1957.</li> <li>Issue 3-4 (No. 24-25), September-December 1957.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1957 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 31 need right now is a large, stiff dose of "Knowlandism" for the brain to clear our thinking so that we might resolve: NO MORAL AND/ OR MATERIAL AID FOR THE SOVIET UNION AND ITS SATELLITES! • • • A BELATED REPORT By CHARLES MURIN, Ph.D., LL.D. It seems to be inevitable during a war, when the stakes are high, that people reduce their thinking to two categories only: my side is identified with the good and moral purely and simply, the enemy, or the other side. is the embodiment pure of the principle of evil which is the root of all disorder in the world. It is understandable that this psychological attitude belongs to war, because one has to know what he is offering his life for. However, if this psychological factor seems to belong to the conditions required for the winning of a war, the same attitude is a disturbing factor when it enters among the considerations how to win the peace. This is exactly what we experienced after World War II in regard to the organization of post-war Europe. Besides this, Slovak refugees, among many others, have experienced in their own personal destinies the drawbacks in the application of the above-mentioned psychological attitude to the period immediately following the war. It took about two years until an about face had been brought about, and the writer of these lines had the peculiar opportunity of being personally involved in both stages of mind; the one that is supposed to win the war, and the one which aims at winning the peace. It goes without saying that the latter was infinitely more in accordance with common sense and reason and with what can be called the moral principles in politics. The psychological attitude of seeing only black and white becomes a real disaster when it is adopted by responsible statesmen and politicians. As a direct consequence, this attitude inevitably involves political and moral contradictions that do not fail to give, with on unerring 32 SLOVAKIA exactitude, the results of which are best illustrated by the present state of affairs in Europe. It is our intention to point out one instance of the application of the black and/ or white psychological attitude in connection with the conditions in the Danube valley and particularly in connection with the late President of the Slovak Republic, Msgr. Dr. Joseph Tiso. We shall not go into the analysis of the causes of this attitude in our case even though they can be, without any doubt, revealed quite easily. The Munich Agreement of 1938 was an affair of the big European powers of that time. The small nations could not help but take notice of the agreement by which Central Europe became the zone of influence of Germany. Since the great powers knew that it was a Nazi Germany, the small nations were compelled to take notice of this fact and steer the destiny of their respective nations through the troubled waters of the years to come. It is a curious fact, unfortunately not a unique one in the political history, that the same great powers, or more exactly a part of them, did not mind the putting to trial and sentencing of people, after World War II, simply because they had to accept what the great powers had agreed upon in Munich. Either they must concede that they were not able to see the immediate geopolitical consequence of what they were doing, or they must admit that they accepted a multiplicity of rights to life and rights to survive: one code for me, another, a modified one, to suit my interests for the others. First they objected to Nazi-Germany and later on - grace a Dieu to the Soviet Union. It is not difficult to see that a contradiction in regard to fundamental moral principles is involved in this case. However, let us look into the case which applies this time not directly to the whole area of Central Europe but specifically to Slovakia and only indirectly, though not less vitally, to the whole area of Central Europe. We are going to mention three instances of a public address of the late President Dr. Joseph Tiso which should not have escaped the attention of the people in charge of Central European affairs in respective Departments of Foreign Affairs in the Western World. The more so, since the Germans' reaction :n all the three cases was utterly hostile. SLO\',\KIA 33 1. In the Western-Slovakia town of Trnava, some 30 miles from the capital of Slovakia, Dr. Tiso said in August 1939: "Slovaks, do not think that what the Germans are doing for us they do because of their love for us (literally, "because of our beautiful blue eyes" - this expression comes from a Slovak proverb). They do it because it is in their interest to do so." 2. In speaking to the District Governors of Slovakia, Dr. Tiso said in the Redoute Hall in Bratislava: "Our participation in the present war is but a symbolic one." 3. On the occasion of the opening of the new Strazske-Vranov rail line, Dr. Tiso proclaimed in Presov, a town situated in Eastern Slovakia: "The Slovak people will display more loyalty to the one who will help us to a more free life" (Not having the original texts at hand, the writer guarantees for the fidelity of the quoted sentences only as far as their genuine meaning is concerned). In all the three instances, the President's speeches were broadcast throughout the whole territory of the Slovak Republic and to the personal knowledge of the writer the last two quotations were objected to in strong terms by the Germans. The meaning of these speeches was clear to all concerned, including the Germans, and to the Benes clique at that time preparing its comeback via Moscow. What was the reaction to these speeches in Slovakia? What we were interested in was whether these speeches will be noticed by those in charge of Central Europe in the State Department of the United States. Confidence towards the Americans of Slovak origin was in the eyes of Slovaks extended to the whole of the United States. Even towards the end of the war, when the present writer discussed with President Tiso his preferences of the then unknown zones of occupation of Germany and of Austria, in the opinion of the President it was the American zone of occupation that he wished for in the first place. In reality, however, the facts have shown that the French have manifested more understanding for the complexities of the Central European politics than did the military administration of the United States. 34 SLOVAKIA There were two points around which revolved the thinking of Dr. Joseph Tiso as regards the future of the Slovak people. First, it was the confidence in the United States as to the country of Washington, Lincoln, etc., and, last but not least, as to the country of the American Slovaks. In other words, the Slovaks had expected that the Government of the United States would not oppose the will of a nation to freedom. Secondly, Dr. Tiso ruled out in his thinking the possibility of creating a political vacuum in Europe after the war, because he knew that any political vacuum would be but an invitation to the Soviets who would not fail to intervene if not opposed by a military force superior to their own. Now let us recall what was the situation during the war in Slovakia and what moves were expected by the Slovaks in regard to their political future. Call it whatever you want, call it unjustly a German protectorate or a German appendix, or call it according to no matter which names given to the Slovak Republic by the Benes people and the Communists, the fact remains that the Slovak people, during the short period of the Slovak Republic, made greater progress in all fields of their national existence than during any period of time, entirely out of proportion with the six years, in the last centuries. On the other hand, the Slovak nation was very much aware of the fact that the conditions of their freedom were rather precarious in more than one regard, concerning both some of the internal and also international factors. The only positive approach to the Slovak people leads through what hindered their freedom and not through questioning their right to fredom. This was the meaning of the above messages of President Joseph Tiso to the Western World and in particular to the United States. On the other hand, what was the political formula offered 'by the United Nations to the Slovak people? To put it bluntly, it can be briefly resumed in the following sentence: give up your freedom. Or in a more explicit way: if you want to get rid of what contradicts the way of life you are striving for, get rid of freedom. Or: there is no other way to cut loose from the accompanying phenomena that SLOVAKIA 35 hinder your freedom than to kill the whole thing, which is tantamount to the advice: throw out the child together with the bath water. There was an inherent contradiction in this attitude that can be summed up as follows: in order to be free you must renounce freedom. In itself, this is a perfectly coherent assertion under the condition one qualifies the two meanings of freedom in a due way. Yet historically speaking the conditions were set either by the Nazis, on the one side, or by the Benes people and the Communists, on the other side. President Tiso hoped that there might be a third condition, that is, that of the Slovak people, and that the United States might understand this. Dr. Tiso's political vision aimed at the transition from freedom conditioned by Nazi Germany {the history of this condition is not a univocal one; there were changes for better and for worse) to the freedom conditioned by the Slovak people. Contrary to this legitimate expectation, on the Slovak people was imposed the Communist and the Benes version of freedom which by no means was lacking an univocal significance whose depth of cruelty the Western World seems to be grasping only after the Hungarian tragedy of last Fall. In Slovakia we had a chance to see this version of freedom i.n an extremely lucid way during the so-called August "uprising" of 1944. This political movement might pass into history as the most curious and most ineffective and futile piece of political thinking. Ill-timed, wrongly executed, without any real significance as to war operations, its only result was to bring the war on the territory of Slovakia and to help Benes to sell his version of "freedom" by building Potemkin villages to the West, yet replacing the rather humorous deceit of the famous Russian deceiver by the cruelty of the present-day power-holders of Russia. What about the Slovak version of their freedom? For the time being its highest symbol is President Dr. Joseph Tiso. Historical events have imposed upon him this significance. The German military police {Sicherheitsdienst) gathered material towards the end of the war for a process against Dr. Joseph Tiso. The forecluded result of his show process would have been most probably the last and the definite qualification of the Nazi-Germany version of the 36 SLOVAKIA Slovak freedom. Where the Germans were stopped by the victory of the United Nations, the Benes government faithfully carried on. The execution of the President of the Slovak Republic, the 10th anniversary of which the free Slovaks commemorated this year, was supposed to put an end to Slovak freedom. It would seem that there can be no freedom for this people at all; that the Slovaks have to choose between the two or more pseudo-versions of freedom which must be always conditioned for the benefit of one of their neighbors, not in the sense of a loyal cooperation as might be arranged with justice in a federation of nations, but in the sense of being politically, economically, and culturally subjected by one of its neighbors. The Slovaks are not shocked to hear this. Yet they beg to differ radically from this opinion, both because of their conviction that they have the moral and political right to live freely, the Slovak way of life, in full respect of other peoples, and because they trust that the vitality of the American spirit of freedom is keen and strong enough to overcome the contradiction implied in the wartime pattern of political thinking concerning the Slovaks. Western wartime reporters had failed to report the above-mentioned messages of the late Msgr. Dr. Joseph Tiso to the responsible personalities of the U. S. Government. I am using the opportunity to do this on the tenth anniversary of the death on the gallows of the priest of whom his ecclesiastical superior, Archbishop Dr. Kmefko, said: "It is because we knew him always as an exemplary priest that we wished him to accept the nomination for the Presidency of the Slovak Republic; he was a guarantee against the intrusion of Nazi ideology." Thus I am drawing attention of the United States Government to the political vision of Dr. Joseph Tiso, the vision of his Slovak people, i.e., not a Nazi version, nor a Comunist one, nor a Czech version of Slovak freedom, but an honest-to-goodness Washington version of freedom which is a human one. By .this I believe, I am only fulfilling, though somewhat belatedly, my duty connected with my being the former "personal secretary" of the late President of the Slovak Republic, Dr. Joseph Tiso.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 Belated Report Description An account of the resource Charles Murin, Ph.D., LL.D. Slovakia, Vol. 7, No. 2 (23), June 1957 pp. 31-36 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 June 1957 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/6376f63cc018b9fe9d80cf8807fc3bfc.pdf 1fa2404f2402048916991549b5b05250 PDF Text Text 203 SLOVAKIA REVIEWS OF PAUCO'S WRITINGS IN LEADING PERIODICALS MOST co po komunizme? (I, 1, 1954, p . 44) Tisov odkaz (I, 2, 1954, p. 39-40. Dr. Karol Murin) Dr. Jozef Tiso o sebe (I, 3, 1954, p. 41-43. F. Hrusovsky) Stefan Furdek a slovenske prist'ahovalectvo (II, 2, 1955, p. 136-137) Mest'ancik) Slovcici a komunizmus (IV, 3, 1957, p. 132-133. Unconquerables (VI, 1-2, 1959, p. 83-85. Andrew Pier, O.S.B.) Christian Slovakia Under Communism (VI, 3, 1959, p. 186-187. Andrew Jan Pier, O.S.B. ) Pi:it'desiatnik Dr. Jozef Kirschbaum (XI, 3-4, 1964, p. 181) Slovakia (XI, 3-4, 1964, p. 182-183) Litercirny Almanach Slovcika v Amerike na rok 1965 (XII, 1-2, 1965, p. 82-83) Slovakia (XII, 3-4, 1965, p. 189) SLOVAKIA 75 rokov Prvej Katolickej Slovenskej Jednoty (XV, 38, 1965, p . 152-155. Mother M. Emerentia, SS.C.M.) Litercirny Almanach Slovcika v Amerike 1967 (XVII, 40, 1967, p. 190-192. Sister M. Tarcisia Gregorovic, SS.C.M.) Tak sme sa poznali (XVIII, 41, 1968, p . 159-164. Sister M. Tarcisia, SS. C.M.) Slovenski priekopnici v Amerike ( XXIII , 46, 1973, p. 196-197. Joseph C. Krajsa) F URD EK All writings by Dr. Pauco on the history of American Slovaks are evaluated by J . M. Kirschbaum in his article Dr. Pauco' s W ritings and the History of American Slovaks (Furdek, 1974, p. 75-80) . Francis V n u k : A BIOGRAPHICAL VALEDICTION In spite of the fact that the Slovaks are among the oldest inhabitants of the Central European region their efforts to secure a fully independent life has been seldom appreciated and rarely understood. But frustrations and disappointments can never deter a nation from its ultimate aim, and where one generation fails another will rise to continue the struggle. The natural aspirations of a nature and self-respecting nation cannot be suppressed by terror, nor silenced by bribes, nor extinguished by an apparent �204 SLOVAKIA lack of success. In all its history - and especially in the last 200 years - the Slovak nation has always had selfless and dedicated sons who in the struggle for national independence - not unlike Tennyson's Ulysses - were "strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yield." One of these indefatigable fighters is Dr. Jozef Pauco who on February 26th was celebrating his 60th birthday. This memorable occasion makes one pause a moment and look into the past in order to reconstruct a brief outline of his life-career with all its notable moments and achievements. As a man in the forefront of Slovak public activities Dr. Pauco has many friends and admirers and not a few enemies. But - no matter what their feeling towards him are - they would all be unanimous in admitting that the name of Dr. Pauco has become a synonym of hard and continuous work in the cause of his nation. The beginnings of his involvement in this kind of work go back to his student days; the seeds, however, were sown much earlier, in the years of his childhood. Born on February 26th, 1914 (at Pila, near Lucenec) of Slovak peasant stock, young Pauco grew up in a typical Central European village environment where life was harsh, shortages common and rewards only very modest. This situation was further aggravated by the outbreak of World War I, when all able-bodied men were called up and the heavy burden of daily life had.to be carried by the women and old people. Pauco's father had to go too and he never came back. He died as a conscript in the service of those who denied the very existence of the Slovak nation and were seeking its physical extinction. This powerful traumatic experience, combined with the gentle influence of his widowed mother, imbued the young boy with a strong sense of justice, and with a fighting spirit to undo wrongs and to see that one received what was due to him. In Czecho-Slovakia which came into being in October 1918 the Slovaks were faring much better than in the prewar Hungary, but they still were treated by their Czech brethren as minor partners in an unequal Czecho-Slovak partnership. As a young high school student at Nitra (where �SLOVAKIA 205 - according to his mother's wishes - he was preparing for the priesthood) J. Pauco could see this inequality which was both humiliating and insulting. His teachers (as well as other public servants and State employees) were Czechs, while Slovaks were without jobs. Not only did these Czechs occupy jobs and posts which belonged to the Slovaks but they also abused their positions by denigrating the Slovak language, culture, history and way of life. The outcome of this haughty and unsparing attitude towards the Slovak people was quite predictible. A general disenchantment soon gave way to discontent and these sentiments eventually crystallized out as a massive opposition movement led by Andrej Hlinka. Under Hlinka's charismatic leadership Slovakia launched a campaign for administrative self-government (autonomy) which- incidentallyhad been guaranteed to Slovaks back in 1918 by President T. G. Masaryk in the well-known Pittsburgh Agreement. · Hlinka's massive following came from all strata of Slovak society but the most significant support came from the enthusiastic followers among the young people. They provided the Hlinka People's Party with the most convincing arguments vis-a-vis Prague's centralist "Czechoslovak" policies. The young Slovak generation was autonomist in its outlook almost to a man, as was demonstrated at Trencianske Teplice in 1932. J. Pauco soon translated into action his admiration for Hlinka's valiant struggle for Slovak autonomy. His contributions to this common national effort were more and more substantial as he grew older and when in 1936 he came to Bratislava to study Philosophy at the Slovak University he was already a fully-fledged and highly-valued activist within the ranks of the Slovak autonomist movement. In Bratislava he became involved in the affairs of the busy campus life, where at that time the political issues were fought and argued in the most radical manner. (One of Dr. Pauco's ideological opponents was a fellow-student from the Law Faculty, G. Husak, today's Communist boss of Czecho-Slovakia). In addition to the campus activities J . Pauco was a regular contributor to the People's Party dailies and periodicals. This part-time collaboration with �206 SLOVAKIA the press was destined to become the enduring attachmen t of his life. In 1938 the struggle for Slovak autonomy took on a dramatic turn. The artificial facade of "Czechoslo vak" unity could not withstand the combined pressure of internal and external factors and collapsed completely , as predicted by those Slovak politicians whose warnings were never heeded. In the hectic three months September -November 1938 the Czecho-Slovakia of Masaryk and Benes changed beyond recognition . It had to cede the Sudeten territories to Germany, Southern Slovakia to the Magyars, the Teschen region to Poland and internally to grant autonomy to Slovaks and Ruthenians . Slovak autonomy, declared by all the Slovak political parties ( except the Socialists and Communis ts) on October 6th, 1938, was long overdue, but its arrival at this critical time (as an aftermath of the Munich crisis) made its realization easily misinterpr eted. For the Slovaks, however, it was a most welcome developme nt in which they saw the culminatio n of their long political struggle. For the Slovak People's Party (led since the death of A. Hlinka - in August 1938 - by Dr. Jozef Tiso, who became Premier of the Slovak autonomou s governmen t) autonomy was a challenge to show the world around us that we could manage our affairs with skill and responsibil ity. In communic ating its aims and ideals to the people the governmen t required a reliable and prompt press service. Consequen tly J. Pauco was asked to concentrat e his activities mainly in this direction. In March 1939 the Slovaks declared their independen ce and a new state appeared on the map of Europe: the Slovak Republic. The transition from autonomy to independence was rapid and the road to independen ce was somewhat steep. But the Slovaks knew that in the given situation theirs was not to argue and ponder about the road behind, but to do something about the road ahead. They grasped eagerly the historic opportunit y which independence offered and set out to make Slovakia as happy and prosperous a place for all Slovaks as was possible under the given circumstan ces. In this challenging and unique period of Slovak history �SLOVAKIA 207 Dr. Jozef Pauco played a major and politically significant role. Apart from administrative responsibilities (he was acting as a district secretary of the People's Party at Nitra) he steadily maintained his journalistic and editorial connections with numerous political dailies and weeklies. In 1942 Dr. Jozef Tiso, the President of the Slovak Republic, appointed him as Editor-in-Chief of the principal national daily, Slovak. Slovak was the official press organ of the People's Party and of the Slovak government. It is an eloquent testimony to Pauco's journalistic abilities and political maturity that President Tiso placed such an important function on the shoulders of such a youthful (28 years old ) man. Dr. J . Pauco reciprocated this trust and served Dr. Tiso faithfully in the subsequent years. It was his concern to explain and popularize the current governmental policies, to provide ideological guidance, to maintain and foster proud nationalistic sentiments among the people and to instil hope and optimism when the situation became grim and critical. It is a tragic aspect of Slovak history that during the global conflict of 1939-45 Slovakia - unable to escape its geography - was politically under German protection and influence. The enemies of Slovak independence exploited this unfortunate situation and persuaded both the Western Allies and the Soviet Union that in the post-war settlement Slovakia should be again annexed to the Czech lands and that the pre-Munich Czecho-Slovakia should be restored. The Slovak patriots who had fought for and defended the independent Slovak state were branded as fascists, traitors and even criminals and were threatened with severe punishments and retribution. To escape the advancing Red Army Slovak political leaders, administrators, intellectuals and even ordinary citizens fled in thousands to the West where they hoped to find sympathy and understanding for their cause. Dr. J. Pauco and his family (his wife Draga whom he had married in 1942 and infant-son Svatopluk) were among them. The last issue of the daily, Slovak was published in Bratislava on April 1st, 1945 and it sadly signified the end of an era. The bulk of Slovak political refugees eventually sur· �208 SLOVAKIA rendered to the Americans. But the American military, starry-eyed about "the gallant Soviet ally," and having swallowed all the Communist lies about the refugees unthinkingly handed them over to their Communist jailers and executioners. To escape death or a fate worse than death the refugees had to scatter and go into hiding in the hope the West would soon wake up and cease this inhuman practice. Gradually the Western statesmen realized their folly and refused to comply with the bloodthirsty Soviet wishes. The refugees could now breathe relief, but their troubles were far from over. And what was even more tragic for hundreds and thousands of them it was already too late. Dr. J. Pauco was among the lucky ones. Moving from place to place in Austria and Bavaria he finally settled in Munich. During this trying period his son Svatopluk died and many of his close friends and colleagues were forcibly "repatriated" to Slovakia where they faced the vengeance of the so-called "people's tribunals." President Tiso and most of the members of the Slovak government were among them. But these tremendous losses and blows failed to break Pauco's spirit. Believing in justice and convinced that truth would ultimately triumph, he refused to accept defeat. As soon as it was possible (in April 1946) he started the publication of Slobodne Slovensko (Free Slovakia) in war-torn Munich. Though modest in appearance this mimeographed journal was the very embodiment of ardent Slovak nationalism. The journal was a great moral and psychological boost for the hard-pressed and frightened Slovak refugees . To explain the Slovak position to foreigners Dr. Paufo published bulletins in the German and Ukrainian languages. Dr. Pauco's stay in West Germany lasted five years. They were years of extreme hardship and at the same time years of very intense activity. Many events and happenings of this period are recorded in his autobiographical novel The Flight to Wonderland. The "Wonderland" to him was America which since the 1870's has become the adopted country to almost one million Slovaks. He settled in a small provincial township, Middletown, Pa., where a major Slovak fraternalistic society has its printery and where the largest Slovak-English weekly, Jednota is published. He took up the position of �SLOVAKIA 209 associate editor of this paper and has remained there till now. But the editorial work could not possibly absorb all his energies. Soon after his arrival in the USA he was deeply involved in all the aspects of Slovak communal activities. One cannot go through them in detail, but even a simple enumeration of them is impressive enough to confirm what was said at the beginning, i.e . that Pauco's name is synonymous with continuous work in the service of his nation. He participates actively in several Slovak associations and societies: in the Slovak League of America (where he serves as secretary-general and editor of its English language annual, Slovakia) , in the First Catholic Slovak Union, in the Slovak Catholic Federation, etc. He plays a leading role in Slovak political organizations such as the Slovak National Council Abroad, Slovak Liberation Council, Slovak World Congress (as the chairman of its Information Committee. ) He takes a keen interest in the history of the Slovak immigrants in the USA and in this field he has produced five books (including a comprehensive history of the First Catholic Slovak Union, 1890-1965) and a large number of articles. He is owner-publisher of a popular weekly Slovak v Amerike and editor of its prestigious annual Literdrny Almanach. As a writer Dr. Pauco has to his credit two books of fictionalized autobiography (Unconquerables, 1958 and The Flight to Wonderland , 1963), a volume of reminiscences concerning famous people he met ( Tak sme sa poznali, 1966) and several books and pamphlets of political writing (e.g. Slovdci a komunizmus, 1957; co po komunizme?, 1952; Tisov odkaz, 1953; etc.). It is indeed a life rich in achievements and, what is more, one can say without fear of contradiction that - as in the past so in the future - Dr. J. Pauco will certainly enrich it further with many valuable additions in every sphere of his many-sided activity. We, his friends and colleagues, greet him warmly at this momentous milestone of his life and ask the Almighty to grant him health and strength not only to continue in his work but also to reap a justly deserved reward for his efforts. Ad multos annos! � 203 SLOVAKIA REVIEWS OF PAUCO'S WRITINGS IN LEADING PERIODICALS MOST co po komunizme? (I, 1, 1954, p . 44) Tisov odkaz (I, 2, 1954, p. 39-40. Dr. Karol Murin) Dr. Jozef Tiso o sebe (I, 3, 1954, p. 41-43. F. Hrusovsky) Stefan Furdek a slovenske prist'ahovalectvo (II, 2, 1955, p. 136-137) Mest'ancik) Slovcici a komunizmus (IV, 3, 1957, p. 132-133. Unconquerables (VI, 1-2, 1959, p. 83-85. Andrew Pier, O.S.B.) Christian Slovakia Under Communism (VI, 3, 1959, p. 186-187. Andrew Jan Pier, O.S.B. ) Pi:it'desiatnik Dr. Jozef Kirschbaum (XI, 3-4, 1964, p. 181) Slovakia (XI, 3-4, 1964, p. 182-183) Litercirny Almanach Slovcika v Amerike na rok 1965 (XII, 1-2, 1965, p. 82-83) Slovakia (XII, 3-4, 1965, p. 189) SLOVAKIA 75 rokov Prvej Katolickej Slovenskej Jednoty (XV, 38, 1965, p . 152-155. Mother M. Emerentia, SS.C.M.) Litercirny Almanach Slovcika v Amerike 1967 (XVII, 40, 1967, p. 190-192. Sister M. Tarcisia Gregorovic, SS.C.M.) Tak sme sa poznali (XVIII, 41, 1968, p . 159-164. Sister M. Tarcisia, SS. C.M.) Slovenski priekopnici v Amerike ( XXIII , 46, 1973, p. 196-197. Joseph C. Krajsa) F URD EK All writings by Dr. Pauco on the history of American Slovaks are evaluated by J . M. Kirschbaum in his article Dr. Pauco' s W ritings and the History of American Slovaks (Furdek, 1974, p. 75-80) . Francis V n u k : A BIOGRAPHICAL VALEDICTION In spite of the fact that the Slovaks are among the oldest inhabitants of the Central European region their efforts to secure a fully independent life has been seldom appreciated and rarely understood. But frustrations and disappointments can never deter a nation from its ultimate aim, and where one generation fails another will rise to continue the struggle. The natural aspirations of a nature and self-respecting nation cannot be suppressed by terror, nor silenced by bribes, nor extinguished by an apparent �204 SLOVAKIA lack of success. In all its history - and especially in the last 200 years - the Slovak nation has always had selfless and dedicated sons who in the struggle for national independence - not unlike Tennyson's Ulysses - were "strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yield." One of these indefatigable fighters is Dr. Jozef Pauco who on February 26th was celebrating his 60th birthday. This memorable occasion makes one pause a moment and look into the past in order to reconstruct a brief outline of his life-career with all its notable moments and achievements. As a man in the forefront of Slovak public activities Dr. Pauco has many friends and admirers and not a few enemies. But - no matter what their feeling towards him are - they would all be unanimous in admitting that the name of Dr. Pauco has become a synonym of hard and continuous work in the cause of his nation. The beginnings of his involvement in this kind of work go back to his student days; the seeds, however, were sown much earlier, in the years of his childhood. Born on February 26th, 1914 (at Pila, near Lucenec) of Slovak peasant stock, young Pauco grew up in a typical Central European village environment where life was harsh, shortages common and rewards only very modest. This situation was further aggravated by the outbreak of World War I, when all able-bodied men were called up and the heavy burden of daily life had.to be carried by the women and old people. Pauco's father had to go too and he never came back. He died as a conscript in the service of those who denied the very existence of the Slovak nation and were seeking its physical extinction. This powerful traumatic experience, combined with the gentle influence of his widowed mother, imbued the young boy with a strong sense of justice, and with a fighting spirit to undo wrongs and to see that one received what was due to him. In Czecho-Slovakia which came into being in October 1918 the Slovaks were faring much better than in the prewar Hungary, but they still were treated by their Czech brethren as minor partners in an unequal Czecho-Slovak partnership. As a young high school student at Nitra (where �SLOVAKIA 205 - according to his mother's wishes - he was preparing for the priesthood) J. Pauco could see this inequality which was both humiliating and insulting. His teachers (as well as other public servants and State employees) were Czechs, while Slovaks were without jobs. Not only did these Czechs occupy jobs and posts which belonged to the Slovaks but they also abused their positions by denigrating the Slovak language, culture, history and way of life. The outcome of this haughty and unsparing attitude towards the Slovak people was quite predictible. A general disenchantment soon gave way to discontent and these sentiments eventually crystallized out as a massive opposition movement led by Andrej Hlinka. Under Hlinka's charismatic leadership Slovakia launched a campaign for administrative self-government (autonomy) which- incidentallyhad been guaranteed to Slovaks back in 1918 by President T. G. Masaryk in the well-known Pittsburgh Agreement. · Hlinka's massive following came from all strata of Slovak society but the most significant support came from the enthusiastic followers among the young people. They provided the Hlinka People's Party with the most convincing arguments vis-a-vis Prague's centralist "Czechoslovak" policies. The young Slovak generation was autonomist in its outlook almost to a man, as was demonstrated at Trencianske Teplice in 1932. J. Pauco soon translated into action his admiration for Hlinka's valiant struggle for Slovak autonomy. His contributions to this common national effort were more and more substantial as he grew older and when in 1936 he came to Bratislava to study Philosophy at the Slovak University he was already a fully-fledged and highly-valued activist within the ranks of the Slovak autonomist movement. In Bratislava he became involved in the affairs of the busy campus life, where at that time the political issues were fought and argued in the most radical manner. (One of Dr. Pauco's ideological opponents was a fellow-student from the Law Faculty, G. Husak, today's Communist boss of Czecho-Slovakia). In addition to the campus activities J . Pauco was a regular contributor to the People's Party dailies and periodicals. This part-time collaboration with �206 SLOVAKIA the press was destined to become the enduring attachmen t of his life. In 1938 the struggle for Slovak autonomy took on a dramatic turn. The artificial facade of "Czechoslo vak" unity could not withstand the combined pressure of internal and external factors and collapsed completely , as predicted by those Slovak politicians whose warnings were never heeded. In the hectic three months September -November 1938 the Czecho-Slovakia of Masaryk and Benes changed beyond recognition . It had to cede the Sudeten territories to Germany, Southern Slovakia to the Magyars, the Teschen region to Poland and internally to grant autonomy to Slovaks and Ruthenians . Slovak autonomy, declared by all the Slovak political parties ( except the Socialists and Communis ts) on October 6th, 1938, was long overdue, but its arrival at this critical time (as an aftermath of the Munich crisis) made its realization easily misinterpr eted. For the Slovaks, however, it was a most welcome developme nt in which they saw the culminatio n of their long political struggle. For the Slovak People's Party (led since the death of A. Hlinka - in August 1938 - by Dr. Jozef Tiso, who became Premier of the Slovak autonomou s governmen t) autonomy was a challenge to show the world around us that we could manage our affairs with skill and responsibil ity. In communic ating its aims and ideals to the people the governmen t required a reliable and prompt press service. Consequen tly J. Pauco was asked to concentrat e his activities mainly in this direction. In March 1939 the Slovaks declared their independen ce and a new state appeared on the map of Europe: the Slovak Republic. The transition from autonomy to independence was rapid and the road to independen ce was somewhat steep. But the Slovaks knew that in the given situation theirs was not to argue and ponder about the road behind, but to do something about the road ahead. They grasped eagerly the historic opportunit y which independence offered and set out to make Slovakia as happy and prosperous a place for all Slovaks as was possible under the given circumstan ces. In this challenging and unique period of Slovak history �SLOVAKIA 207 Dr. Jozef Pauco played a major and politically significant role. Apart from administrative responsibilities (he was acting as a district secretary of the People's Party at Nitra) he steadily maintained his journalistic and editorial connections with numerous political dailies and weeklies. In 1942 Dr. Jozef Tiso, the President of the Slovak Republic, appointed him as Editor-in-Chief of the principal national daily, Slovak. Slovak was the official press organ of the People's Party and of the Slovak government. It is an eloquent testimony to Pauco's journalistic abilities and political maturity that President Tiso placed such an important function on the shoulders of such a youthful (28 years old ) man. Dr. J . Pauco reciprocated this trust and served Dr. Tiso faithfully in the subsequent years. It was his concern to explain and popularize the current governmental policies, to provide ideological guidance, to maintain and foster proud nationalistic sentiments among the people and to instil hope and optimism when the situation became grim and critical. It is a tragic aspect of Slovak history that during the global conflict of 1939-45 Slovakia - unable to escape its geography - was politically under German protection and influence. The enemies of Slovak independence exploited this unfortunate situation and persuaded both the Western Allies and the Soviet Union that in the post-war settlement Slovakia should be again annexed to the Czech lands and that the pre-Munich Czecho-Slovakia should be restored. The Slovak patriots who had fought for and defended the independent Slovak state were branded as fascists, traitors and even criminals and were threatened with severe punishments and retribution. To escape the advancing Red Army Slovak political leaders, administrators, intellectuals and even ordinary citizens fled in thousands to the West where they hoped to find sympathy and understanding for their cause. Dr. J. Pauco and his family (his wife Draga whom he had married in 1942 and infant-son Svatopluk) were among them. The last issue of the daily, Slovak was published in Bratislava on April 1st, 1945 and it sadly signified the end of an era. The bulk of Slovak political refugees eventually sur· �208 SLOVAKIA rendered to the Americans. But the American military, starry-eyed about "the gallant Soviet ally," and having swallowed all the Communist lies about the refugees unthinkingly handed them over to their Communist jailers and executioners. To escape death or a fate worse than death the refugees had to scatter and go into hiding in the hope the West would soon wake up and cease this inhuman practice. Gradually the Western statesmen realized their folly and refused to comply with the bloodthirsty Soviet wishes. The refugees could now breathe relief, but their troubles were far from over. And what was even more tragic for hundreds and thousands of them it was already too late. Dr. J. Pauco was among the lucky ones. Moving from place to place in Austria and Bavaria he finally settled in Munich. During this trying period his son Svatopluk died and many of his close friends and colleagues were forcibly "repatriated" to Slovakia where they faced the vengeance of the so-called "people's tribunals." President Tiso and most of the members of the Slovak government were among them. But these tremendous losses and blows failed to break Pauco's spirit. Believing in justice and convinced that truth would ultimately triumph, he refused to accept defeat. As soon as it was possible (in April 1946) he started the publication of Slobodne Slovensko (Free Slovakia) in war-torn Munich. Though modest in appearance this mimeographed journal was the very embodiment of ardent Slovak nationalism. The journal was a great moral and psychological boost for the hard-pressed and frightened Slovak refugees . To explain the Slovak position to foreigners Dr. Paufo published bulletins in the German and Ukrainian languages. Dr. Pauco's stay in West Germany lasted five years. They were years of extreme hardship and at the same time years of very intense activity. Many events and happenings of this period are recorded in his autobiographical novel The Flight to Wonderland. The "Wonderland" to him was America which since the 1870's has become the adopted country to almost one million Slovaks. He settled in a small provincial township, Middletown, Pa., where a major Slovak fraternalistic society has its printery and where the largest Slovak-English weekly, Jednota is published. He took up the position of �SLOVAKIA 209 associate editor of this paper and has remained there till now. But the editorial work could not possibly absorb all his energies. Soon after his arrival in the USA he was deeply involved in all the aspects of Slovak communal activities. One cannot go through them in detail, but even a simple enumeration of them is impressive enough to confirm what was said at the beginning, i.e . that Pauco's name is synonymous with continuous work in the service of his nation. He participates actively in several Slovak associations and societies: in the Slovak League of America (where he serves as secretary-general and editor of its English language annual, Slovakia) , in the First Catholic Slovak Union, in the Slovak Catholic Federation, etc. He plays a leading role in Slovak political organizations such as the Slovak National Council Abroad, Slovak Liberation Council, Slovak World Congress (as the chairman of its Information Committee. ) He takes a keen interest in the history of the Slovak immigrants in the USA and in this field he has produced five books (including a comprehensive history of the First Catholic Slovak Union, 1890-1965) and a large number of articles. He is owner-publisher of a popular weekly Slovak v Amerike and editor of its prestigious annual Literdrny Almanach. As a writer Dr. Pauco has to his credit two books of fictionalized autobiography (Unconquerables, 1958 and The Flight to Wonderland , 1963), a volume of reminiscences concerning famous people he met ( Tak sme sa poznali, 1966) and several books and pamphlets of political writing (e.g. Slovdci a komunizmus, 1957; co po komunizme?, 1952; Tisov odkaz, 1953; etc.). It is indeed a life rich in achievements and, what is more, one can say without fear of contradiction that - as in the past so in the future - Dr. J. Pauco will certainly enrich it further with many valuable additions in every sphere of his many-sided activity. We, his friends and colleagues, greet him warmly at this momentous milestone of his life and ask the Almighty to grant him health and strength not only to continue in his work but also to reap a justly deserved reward for his efforts. Ad multos annos! � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1974, Vol. 24 Description An account of the resource Vol. 24 (No. 47), 1974. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1974 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 203 SLOVAKIA REVIEWS OF PAUCO'S WRITINGS IN LEADING PERIODICALS MOST co po komunizme? (I, 1, 1954, p . 44) Tisov odkaz (I, 2, 1954, p. 39-40. Dr. Karol Murin) Dr. Jozef Tiso o sebe (I, 3, 1954, p. 41-43. F. Hrusovsky) Stefan Furdek a slovenske prist'ahovalectvo (II, 2, 1955, p. 136-137) Mest'ancik) Slovcici a komunizmus (IV, 3, 1957, p. 132-133. Unconquerables (VI, 1-2, 1959, p. 83-85. Andrew Pier, O.S.B.) Christian Slovakia Under Communism (VI, 3, 1959, p. 186-187. Andrew Jan Pier, O.S.B. ) Pi:it'desiatnik Dr. Jozef Kirschbaum (XI, 3-4, 1964, p. 181) Slovakia (XI, 3-4, 1964, p. 182-183) Litercirny Almanach Slovcika v Amerike na rok 1965 (XII, 1-2, 1965, p. 82-83) Slovakia (XII, 3-4, 1965, p. 189) SLOVAKIA 75 rokov Prvej Katolickej Slovenskej Jednoty (XV, 38, 1965, p . 152-155. Mother M. Emerentia, SS.C.M.) Litercirny Almanach Slovcika v Amerike 1967 (XVII, 40, 1967, p. 190-192. Sister M. Tarcisia Gregorovic, SS.C.M.) Tak sme sa poznali (XVIII, 41, 1968, p . 159-164. Sister M. Tarcisia, SS. C.M.) Slovenski priekopnici v Amerike ( XXIII , 46, 1973, p. 196-197. Joseph C. Krajsa) F URD EK All writings by Dr. Pauco on the history of American Slovaks are evaluated by J . M. Kirschbaum in his article Dr. Pauco' s W ritings and the History of American Slovaks (Furdek, 1974, p. 75-80) . Francis V n u k : A BIOGRAPHICAL VALEDICTION In spite of the fact that the Slovaks are among the oldest inhabitants of the Central European region their efforts to secure a fully independent life has been seldom appreciated and rarely understood. But frustrations and disappointments can never deter a nation from its ultimate aim, and where one generation fails another will rise to continue the struggle. The natural aspirations of a nature and self-respecting nation cannot be suppressed by terror, nor silenced by bribes, nor extinguished by an apparent 204 SLOVAKIA lack of success. In all its history - and especially in the last 200 years - the Slovak nation has always had selfless and dedicated sons who in the struggle for national independence - not unlike Tennyson's Ulysses - were "strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yield." One of these indefatigable fighters is Dr. Jozef Pauco who on February 26th was celebrating his 60th birthday. This memorable occasion makes one pause a moment and look into the past in order to reconstruct a brief outline of his life-career with all its notable moments and achievements. As a man in the forefront of Slovak public activities Dr. Pauco has many friends and admirers and not a few enemies. But - no matter what their feeling towards him are - they would all be unanimous in admitting that the name of Dr. Pauco has become a synonym of hard and continuous work in the cause of his nation. The beginnings of his involvement in this kind of work go back to his student days; the seeds, however, were sown much earlier, in the years of his childhood. Born on February 26th, 1914 (at Pila, near Lucenec) of Slovak peasant stock, young Pauco grew up in a typical Central European village environment where life was harsh, shortages common and rewards only very modest. This situation was further aggravated by the outbreak of World War I, when all able-bodied men were called up and the heavy burden of daily life had.to be carried by the women and old people. Pauco's father had to go too and he never came back. He died as a conscript in the service of those who denied the very existence of the Slovak nation and were seeking its physical extinction. This powerful traumatic experience, combined with the gentle influence of his widowed mother, imbued the young boy with a strong sense of justice, and with a fighting spirit to undo wrongs and to see that one received what was due to him. In Czecho-Slovakia which came into being in October 1918 the Slovaks were faring much better than in the prewar Hungary, but they still were treated by their Czech brethren as minor partners in an unequal Czecho-Slovak partnership. As a young high school student at Nitra (where SLOVAKIA 205 - according to his mother's wishes - he was preparing for the priesthood) J. Pauco could see this inequality which was both humiliating and insulting. His teachers (as well as other public servants and State employees) were Czechs, while Slovaks were without jobs. Not only did these Czechs occupy jobs and posts which belonged to the Slovaks but they also abused their positions by denigrating the Slovak language, culture, history and way of life. The outcome of this haughty and unsparing attitude towards the Slovak people was quite predictible. A general disenchantment soon gave way to discontent and these sentiments eventually crystallized out as a massive opposition movement led by Andrej Hlinka. Under Hlinka's charismatic leadership Slovakia launched a campaign for administrative self-government (autonomy) which- incidentallyhad been guaranteed to Slovaks back in 1918 by President T. G. Masaryk in the well-known Pittsburgh Agreement. · Hlinka's massive following came from all strata of Slovak society but the most significant support came from the enthusiastic followers among the young people. They provided the Hlinka People's Party with the most convincing arguments vis-a-vis Prague's centralist "Czechoslovak" policies. The young Slovak generation was autonomist in its outlook almost to a man, as was demonstrated at Trencianske Teplice in 1932. J. Pauco soon translated into action his admiration for Hlinka's valiant struggle for Slovak autonomy. His contributions to this common national effort were more and more substantial as he grew older and when in 1936 he came to Bratislava to study Philosophy at the Slovak University he was already a fully-fledged and highly-valued activist within the ranks of the Slovak autonomist movement. In Bratislava he became involved in the affairs of the busy campus life, where at that time the political issues were fought and argued in the most radical manner. (One of Dr. Pauco's ideological opponents was a fellow-student from the Law Faculty, G. Husak, today's Communist boss of Czecho-Slovakia). In addition to the campus activities J . Pauco was a regular contributor to the People's Party dailies and periodicals. This part-time collaboration with 206 SLOVAKIA the press was destined to become the enduring attachmen t of his life. In 1938 the struggle for Slovak autonomy took on a dramatic turn. The artificial facade of "Czechoslo vak" unity could not withstand the combined pressure of internal and external factors and collapsed completely , as predicted by those Slovak politicians whose warnings were never heeded. In the hectic three months September -November 1938 the Czecho-Slovakia of Masaryk and Benes changed beyond recognition . It had to cede the Sudeten territories to Germany, Southern Slovakia to the Magyars, the Teschen region to Poland and internally to grant autonomy to Slovaks and Ruthenians . Slovak autonomy, declared by all the Slovak political parties ( except the Socialists and Communis ts) on October 6th, 1938, was long overdue, but its arrival at this critical time (as an aftermath of the Munich crisis) made its realization easily misinterpr eted. For the Slovaks, however, it was a most welcome developme nt in which they saw the culminatio n of their long political struggle. For the Slovak People's Party (led since the death of A. Hlinka - in August 1938 - by Dr. Jozef Tiso, who became Premier of the Slovak autonomou s governmen t) autonomy was a challenge to show the world around us that we could manage our affairs with skill and responsibil ity. In communic ating its aims and ideals to the people the governmen t required a reliable and prompt press service. Consequen tly J. Pauco was asked to concentrat e his activities mainly in this direction. In March 1939 the Slovaks declared their independen ce and a new state appeared on the map of Europe: the Slovak Republic. The transition from autonomy to independence was rapid and the road to independen ce was somewhat steep. But the Slovaks knew that in the given situation theirs was not to argue and ponder about the road behind, but to do something about the road ahead. They grasped eagerly the historic opportunit y which independence offered and set out to make Slovakia as happy and prosperous a place for all Slovaks as was possible under the given circumstan ces. In this challenging and unique period of Slovak history SLOVAKIA 207 Dr. Jozef Pauco played a major and politically significant role. Apart from administrative responsibilities (he was acting as a district secretary of the People's Party at Nitra) he steadily maintained his journalistic and editorial connections with numerous political dailies and weeklies. In 1942 Dr. Jozef Tiso, the President of the Slovak Republic, appointed him as Editor-in-Chief of the principal national daily, Slovak. Slovak was the official press organ of the People's Party and of the Slovak government. It is an eloquent testimony to Pauco's journalistic abilities and political maturity that President Tiso placed such an important function on the shoulders of such a youthful (28 years old ) man. Dr. J . Pauco reciprocated this trust and served Dr. Tiso faithfully in the subsequent years. It was his concern to explain and popularize the current governmental policies, to provide ideological guidance, to maintain and foster proud nationalistic sentiments among the people and to instil hope and optimism when the situation became grim and critical. It is a tragic aspect of Slovak history that during the global conflict of 1939-45 Slovakia - unable to escape its geography - was politically under German protection and influence. The enemies of Slovak independence exploited this unfortunate situation and persuaded both the Western Allies and the Soviet Union that in the post-war settlement Slovakia should be again annexed to the Czech lands and that the pre-Munich Czecho-Slovakia should be restored. The Slovak patriots who had fought for and defended the independent Slovak state were branded as fascists, traitors and even criminals and were threatened with severe punishments and retribution. To escape the advancing Red Army Slovak political leaders, administrators, intellectuals and even ordinary citizens fled in thousands to the West where they hoped to find sympathy and understanding for their cause. Dr. J. Pauco and his family (his wife Draga whom he had married in 1942 and infant-son Svatopluk) were among them. The last issue of the daily, Slovak was published in Bratislava on April 1st, 1945 and it sadly signified the end of an era. The bulk of Slovak political refugees eventually sur· 208 SLOVAKIA rendered to the Americans. But the American military, starry-eyed about "the gallant Soviet ally," and having swallowed all the Communist lies about the refugees unthinkingly handed them over to their Communist jailers and executioners. To escape death or a fate worse than death the refugees had to scatter and go into hiding in the hope the West would soon wake up and cease this inhuman practice. Gradually the Western statesmen realized their folly and refused to comply with the bloodthirsty Soviet wishes. The refugees could now breathe relief, but their troubles were far from over. And what was even more tragic for hundreds and thousands of them it was already too late. Dr. J. Pauco was among the lucky ones. Moving from place to place in Austria and Bavaria he finally settled in Munich. During this trying period his son Svatopluk died and many of his close friends and colleagues were forcibly "repatriated" to Slovakia where they faced the vengeance of the so-called "people's tribunals." President Tiso and most of the members of the Slovak government were among them. But these tremendous losses and blows failed to break Pauco's spirit. Believing in justice and convinced that truth would ultimately triumph, he refused to accept defeat. As soon as it was possible (in April 1946) he started the publication of Slobodne Slovensko (Free Slovakia) in war-torn Munich. Though modest in appearance this mimeographed journal was the very embodiment of ardent Slovak nationalism. The journal was a great moral and psychological boost for the hard-pressed and frightened Slovak refugees . To explain the Slovak position to foreigners Dr. Paufo published bulletins in the German and Ukrainian languages. Dr. Pauco's stay in West Germany lasted five years. They were years of extreme hardship and at the same time years of very intense activity. Many events and happenings of this period are recorded in his autobiographical novel The Flight to Wonderland. The "Wonderland" to him was America which since the 1870's has become the adopted country to almost one million Slovaks. He settled in a small provincial township, Middletown, Pa., where a major Slovak fraternalistic society has its printery and where the largest Slovak-English weekly, Jednota is published. He took up the position of SLOVAKIA 209 associate editor of this paper and has remained there till now. But the editorial work could not possibly absorb all his energies. Soon after his arrival in the USA he was deeply involved in all the aspects of Slovak communal activities. One cannot go through them in detail, but even a simple enumeration of them is impressive enough to confirm what was said at the beginning, i.e . that Pauco's name is synonymous with continuous work in the service of his nation. He participates actively in several Slovak associations and societies: in the Slovak League of America (where he serves as secretary-general and editor of its English language annual, Slovakia) , in the First Catholic Slovak Union, in the Slovak Catholic Federation, etc. He plays a leading role in Slovak political organizations such as the Slovak National Council Abroad, Slovak Liberation Council, Slovak World Congress (as the chairman of its Information Committee. ) He takes a keen interest in the history of the Slovak immigrants in the USA and in this field he has produced five books (including a comprehensive history of the First Catholic Slovak Union, 1890-1965) and a large number of articles. He is owner-publisher of a popular weekly Slovak v Amerike and editor of its prestigious annual Literdrny Almanach. As a writer Dr. Pauco has to his credit two books of fictionalized autobiography (Unconquerables, 1958 and The Flight to Wonderland , 1963), a volume of reminiscences concerning famous people he met ( Tak sme sa poznali, 1966) and several books and pamphlets of political writing (e.g. Slovdci a komunizmus, 1957; co po komunizme?, 1952; Tisov odkaz, 1953; etc.). It is indeed a life rich in achievements and, what is more, one can say without fear of contradiction that - as in the past so in the future - Dr. J. Pauco will certainly enrich it further with many valuable additions in every sphere of his many-sided activity. We, his friends and colleagues, greet him warmly at this momentous milestone of his life and ask the Almighty to grant him health and strength not only to continue in his work but also to reap a justly deserved reward for his efforts. Ad multos annos!  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 Biographical Valediction Description An account of the resource Francis Vnuk Slovakia, Vol. 24 (No. 47), 1974 pp. 203-209 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 1974 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/2b6ffd2bc25a578864af4acebea874cb.pdf fecee9742e45dbaca1968d95260c911b PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 107 A Call for Courage HANA PONICKA INTRODUCTION BY J.M . KIRSCHBAUM Due to the peculiar circumstances under which the Slovak people were subjected to Communism, cultural life in Slovakia may have experienced the strongest repression of any Soviet satellite. (1) The short period of liberalization under A. Dubcek proved, however, that the Stalinist system was unable to break the moral backbone of Slovak writers or to eradicate Slovak literary traditions. Within a few months after the suspension of censorship, Slovak intellectuals displayed a moral courage which startled Wes tern observers. They were among the initiators of the struggle for "socialism with a human face. '' They condemned and criticized the excesses of the Stalinist period, called for rehabilitation of its victims, and insisted on giving cultural institutions (Matica Slovenska, for instance) their original functions and cultural freedom. (2) The short period of liberalization made possible a freer portrayal of the past in literary and political history. The memoirs of T. J. Gaspar and testimonies about political trials (G. Husak, E. Loebl, D . Viest and others) were published. Cultural contacts with the Western world were renewed. This new cultural freedom was interrupted by the invasion of the Warsaw Pact armies on August 21, 1968. The subsequent Soviet occupation put an end to free cultural expression. " Socialism with a human face '' perished with the final removal of Dubcek from his position in the Spring of 1969. The new regime under Dr. Gustav Husak proclaimed the Soviet invasion an act of 'fraternal assistance of the socialist countries to protect socialism in Czecho-Slovakia. ' ' It introduced a policy of "normalization. " Dubcek 's liberalization was condemned as "counterrevolutionary. ' ' Massive purges eliminated thousands of people from scientific institutions, artists' unions, schools, broadcasting, journalism, and literary journals. The regime "moved swiftly to block or to reverse the major reforms of 1968, including political democratization, freedom of expression and association, legal reform and rehabiliation . . . '' One saw ' 'the restoration of the Soviet model in all spheres of life. The penetration of Soviet ideas was so blatant that a visitor could not escape the impression that Czecho-Slovakia had taken on the character of a Soviet republic. " (3) Among the first measures of this ' 'normalization'' policy were the introduction of a strict censorship and the establishment of new committees to head cultural and scientific institutions. The Academy of �108 SLOVAKIA Sciences and the Matica Slovenska were transformed into instruments for the "development of socialist culture, science and education in the spirit of Marxism-Leninism. " Artists' unions were transformed into ideological organizations subject to the Communist Party. The periodicals Kulturny iivot and Nova tvorba were forced out of publication. Many scholars, writers, and artists found themselves pariahs, unable to engage in creative work of any kind, and restricted to menial work, at a very low fixed income. Their children also suffered from discrimination in schooling and employment. New and refined methods of persecution were employed, not as grim and macabre as the slow trials of the 'fifties.' These took the form, in Havel's words, of existential pressure, threatening every one, high or low, loyal or disloyal, with loss of position in case of nonconformity. ''This became a veritable vendetta against all who were engaged in reform activities in 1968 and who were unwilling to recant. "(4) That this ''normalization'' has not changed during the past eight years, observers of the Sovak cultural scene have little doubt. Corroboration is found in a courageous address by a Slovak writer who was neither purged nor persecuted, Hana Ponicka. Here follow, in abbreviated form, without the knowledge or permission of the author, her propositions for discussion at the 3rd Conference of Slovak Writers in Bratislava, March 2, 1977, undelivered due to the preemptory halting of discussion, but offered to the Conference as a matter of record. Esteemed assembly: This is our third Slovak Writers' Conference . In the five years since our last conference, held May 31, 1972 in Bratislava, every one of us has surely created something. We have realized the publication of new books and various dramatic and other works. Numerically, with respect to contemporary Slovak literature, this is not the worst record, for our classics are being reissued, and new editions of Slovak translations of classical world literature are also being published. And yet I am not, I cannot be, satisfied. In the vicinity of the village where I live, I see in the fall a great amount of ungathered harvest. But I am troubled just as much by the ungathered harvests in our literary fields. We have been living for nine years now in an atmosphere of unusual social tension. Even during such long-lasting tension, however, it is possible for excellent works to appear that are worth reading and deserving of literary criticism. And yet we have suffered and continue to suffer disproportionate losses. In the past few years, we have lost more notable writers. Though they have died, their work continues to be published. But besides them we have lost many remarkable writers living here and elsewhere, fully capable of creativity, but whose work has not appeared for many years. To this day they are not fellow-members of our writers' organization, nor are �SLOVAKIA 109 they permitted to publish, writers such as Dominik Tatarka, Peter Karvas, and Ladislav Tazky. Nor, unlike the works of other writers recently deceased, do the highly qualified translations of Zora Jesenska from Russian, Soviet, English classics and contemporary literature appear, and are even less likely to. If her name was not mentioned among the others in the requested moment of reverent silence by which we were to honor the work and memory of all our departed writers, I do so at least now with this brief pause of respect. To this day (a long list of writers) is forbidden to publish their poems, prose, or translations , articles or literary critiques, or to write with the hope of being published , whether they are former members or candidates of our writers' organization or even non-members and workers on our literary and cultural journals, such as Jan Rozner, Pavol Hruz, Milan Hamada, Josef Bzoch , Fedor Cadra, Miroslav Kusy, Zlata Solivajsova, Miroslav Hysko, Michal Gafri, Julius Vanovic, Ctibor Stitnicky, Frantisek Andrascik, Stefan Moravcik, Roman Kalisky, Juraj Spitzer, Albert Marencin, Agnesa Kalinova, Sona Cechova, Ladislav Dobis, Ivan Kadlecik , Jan Kalina, Tomas Winkler, and others. If there are any errors in my listing, or if in the case of some authors administrative changes have taken place, that is not my fault. Meeting less seldom in the framework of our organization now than ever before, we know very little about each other. Hence we do not have in our ranks to this day many creators of literature, criticism, journalism or dramatic works. Their names have been lost together with their works from the catalogs and shelves of our public libraries. And yet these friends and colleagues of ours work and live among us, or rather, apart from us and around us. They work in jobs, though not the worst in every case, that are mostly foreign to them and inferior to their abilities. Some of the younger ones who did not try to become members of the Slovak Writers ' Union have taken hold of axe and spade, but among them there are also those who are literally vegetating physically, morally and spiritually - on pension. And what particularly catches us up short is the fact that years ago many of them were awarded the highest artistic titles and honors of our socialist state. As far as I know, these titles have not been taken away from them . Titles, yes; publication, no. I shall never forget that picture of our contemporary literature that appeared to me a couple of years ago when, on the occasion of my chats with them in schools of various districts, Slovak students and their teachers showed me pages of these literary textbooks crossed-out . With what knowledge of our recent history will those youths go out into the world, who with their own hands had to expunge from their textbooks the names and works of living writers, whom they were recently taught to respect and admire? This picture of expunged contemporary literature must also be a part of our balancing of the recent interconference period. Likewise must examples of discarded galleys and �110 SLOVAKIA the shredding of freshly published books and literary works of our expelled writers be included in this picture. It has to be said with sadness that the losses of creative forces in literature, the arts, and in all cultural activity on the part of Czechs are immeasurably greater than those of the Slovaks. I personally feel the continuation of this situation of precious losses as a great fault of our cultural policy, as a serious crime against our creative element and our respective literatures, arts and cultures. Twenty-one years ago, the poet Vitezslav Nezval said at a conference on Czech poetry in Prague: "So long as a single poet in this land lives with the feeling that he cannot publish, my comrades, something is out of order. '' And a year later, at the Second Conference of Czechoslovak Writers, in Prague in 1956, the poet Frantisek Hrubin said: "He who walks among us unconcernedly, writes and calmly gathers honors and goes to sleep peacefully, as though he knew nothing was amiss, who does not cry out aloud, 'A crime is being committed!' is a disguised bourgeois and egotist, and the one who is only secretly ashamed, is a coward!" Esteemed Conference: I can no longer bear the secret shame that I am allowed to publish while others cannot. I can probably claim some justification for myself, namely, that I was one of those who long believed and hoped that the conflicts and injustices would be corrected and solved, and with the intention of improving a difficult societal situation especially for young people, I worked from the fall of 1968 to the end of 1971 in the editorial offices of juvenile publications. Then I somehow stopped hoping. It became necessary for me to create for myself a new working situation in order to accomplish something. I worked hard physically and mentally, I found my place in a new environment where things are called by their right name, and, after long deliberations and daily conversations with people who are being shipped out of our own communities to factories, railroads and other places of occupation, or with those who remained to work in the JRD (collective farms) that is, after acquiring new experiences and knowledge and, of course, as I followed the course of domestic and world events in the press and in our own and foreign broadcasts - I decided to speak out honestly about that which hurts us and disturbs us. We are suffering morally, and our moral suffering is caused by the moral suffering of others, by the endless contradictions between words and deeds, by the rampant growth of half-truths and lies, by unceasing duplicity, and by the incomprehensibly harmful interventions of our society. Our Sturovian poet said 130 years ago: ' 'Among us one loves! '' Another said: ''Among us one sings.'' But today our poetic nation says: '' Among us one deceives!'' And we hear it said further: ''I wouldn't say anything if it were just a little deception; for after all, I too deceive an old woman a little if I can �SLOVAKIA 111 get away with short-changing her a decimeter; but here the deception goes on daily, and only on Sunday is there a little truth to be found. And as for freely confessing our faith? You have to crawl through the back alleys if you want your child christened. And as for equal rights? This is what they are like: Take a child who has completed his entrance examinations with distinction, both parents are workers - but the child is not only not accepted by the school, but is not even given the right to appeal! For it is said that even the application for an appeal must be made in advance, and that even the appeal will be decided in advance by the higher authorities. That's what they told me, I swear!" our people conclude, and they must then go to other districts to find a school that will enroll their child. Our people are indeed grateful for their material improvements, and yet they have a soul as well - the kind of soul they have possessed for ages - and so they are not satisfied merely with material things. They want to realize their full personal dignity, the respect of their communities toward everything that is within them. They also wish independently to be able to evaluate their abilities and to arrive at their conclusions and views without the endless propaganda and imposition of prescribed and ready-made views, as well as without fear of unpleasant consequences if they do not always parrot a for a, but also must do the same for b, c, d, and so on to z. Our people are also entitled to their full dignity in their congregations and the feeling of actual freedom to confess their faith and to perform the activities pertaining thereto. It is impossible, after all, to make instant atheists quickly, haphazardly and forcibly out of one-third of the population of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic that still professes a religious faith. I have not touched upon our literature of the last period, but I know that our literature has lost its experimentation and innovation, and that these have been replaced in the main by conventional tastes, ideas and forms. Such innovations as do manage to appear here or there are not welcomed directly. And the significance of exceptional works is systematically pushed into the background if their author is not on the list of acceptable authors who may publish but without publicity. Esteemed Conference, I conclude. I have spoken extremely critically, because if I had said anything of a complimentary nature, that would have amounted to carrying wood into the forest considering our press of late. And I have spoken extremely critically also out of carefulness, lest it happen, God forbid, that out of my presentation only some positive excerpt would be quoted in print. That happens among us regularly with the comments of author-delegates. And finally, I permit myself the privilege of proposing a motion: that our debates at this conference be published. I think that now when our press has lately revealed such an interest in writers and their signatures, that there would be an equal willingness to provide space for their debates at their Third Write rs ' Conference.'' �112 SLOVAKIA FOOTNOTES (1) See Chapter X in my book Slovak Language and Literature (University of Manitoba, Dept. of Slavic Studies, Winnipeg, 1975) pp. 215-234. (2) See H. Gordon Skilling, Czechoslovakia's Interrupted Revolution (Princeton , 1976), pp. 62-72, and J . Kirschbaum , " Slovakia in the de-Stalinization Process of Czechoslovakia," Canadian Slavonic Papers, Vol. X, 4, 1968, pp. 549-556. (3) Skilling, "Czechoslovakia and Helsinki," Canadian Slavonic Papers, XVIII, 3, pp. 246-253. (4) Skilling, ibid., p. 254. � SLOVAKIA 107 A Call for Courage HANA PONICKA INTRODUCTION BY J.M . KIRSCHBAUM Due to the peculiar circumstances under which the Slovak people were subjected to Communism, cultural life in Slovakia may have experienced the strongest repression of any Soviet satellite. (1) The short period of liberalization under A. Dubcek proved, however, that the Stalinist system was unable to break the moral backbone of Slovak writers or to eradicate Slovak literary traditions. Within a few months after the suspension of censorship, Slovak intellectuals displayed a moral courage which startled Wes tern observers. They were among the initiators of the struggle for "socialism with a human face. '' They condemned and criticized the excesses of the Stalinist period, called for rehabilitation of its victims, and insisted on giving cultural institutions (Matica Slovenska, for instance) their original functions and cultural freedom. (2) The short period of liberalization made possible a freer portrayal of the past in literary and political history. The memoirs of T. J. Gaspar and testimonies about political trials (G. Husak, E. Loebl, D . Viest and others) were published. Cultural contacts with the Western world were renewed. This new cultural freedom was interrupted by the invasion of the Warsaw Pact armies on August 21, 1968. The subsequent Soviet occupation put an end to free cultural expression. " Socialism with a human face '' perished with the final removal of Dubcek from his position in the Spring of 1969. The new regime under Dr. Gustav Husak proclaimed the Soviet invasion an act of 'fraternal assistance of the socialist countries to protect socialism in Czecho-Slovakia. ' ' It introduced a policy of "normalization. " Dubcek 's liberalization was condemned as "counterrevolutionary. ' ' Massive purges eliminated thousands of people from scientific institutions, artists' unions, schools, broadcasting, journalism, and literary journals. The regime "moved swiftly to block or to reverse the major reforms of 1968, including political democratization, freedom of expression and association, legal reform and rehabiliation . . . '' One saw ' 'the restoration of the Soviet model in all spheres of life. The penetration of Soviet ideas was so blatant that a visitor could not escape the impression that Czecho-Slovakia had taken on the character of a Soviet republic. " (3) Among the first measures of this ' 'normalization'' policy were the introduction of a strict censorship and the establishment of new committees to head cultural and scientific institutions. The Academy of �108 SLOVAKIA Sciences and the Matica Slovenska were transformed into instruments for the "development of socialist culture, science and education in the spirit of Marxism-Leninism. " Artists' unions were transformed into ideological organizations subject to the Communist Party. The periodicals Kulturny iivot and Nova tvorba were forced out of publication. Many scholars, writers, and artists found themselves pariahs, unable to engage in creative work of any kind, and restricted to menial work, at a very low fixed income. Their children also suffered from discrimination in schooling and employment. New and refined methods of persecution were employed, not as grim and macabre as the slow trials of the 'fifties.' These took the form, in Havel's words, of existential pressure, threatening every one, high or low, loyal or disloyal, with loss of position in case of nonconformity. ''This became a veritable vendetta against all who were engaged in reform activities in 1968 and who were unwilling to recant. "(4) That this ''normalization'' has not changed during the past eight years, observers of the Sovak cultural scene have little doubt. Corroboration is found in a courageous address by a Slovak writer who was neither purged nor persecuted, Hana Ponicka. Here follow, in abbreviated form, without the knowledge or permission of the author, her propositions for discussion at the 3rd Conference of Slovak Writers in Bratislava, March 2, 1977, undelivered due to the preemptory halting of discussion, but offered to the Conference as a matter of record. Esteemed assembly: This is our third Slovak Writers' Conference . In the five years since our last conference, held May 31, 1972 in Bratislava, every one of us has surely created something. We have realized the publication of new books and various dramatic and other works. Numerically, with respect to contemporary Slovak literature, this is not the worst record, for our classics are being reissued, and new editions of Slovak translations of classical world literature are also being published. And yet I am not, I cannot be, satisfied. In the vicinity of the village where I live, I see in the fall a great amount of ungathered harvest. But I am troubled just as much by the ungathered harvests in our literary fields. We have been living for nine years now in an atmosphere of unusual social tension. Even during such long-lasting tension, however, it is possible for excellent works to appear that are worth reading and deserving of literary criticism. And yet we have suffered and continue to suffer disproportionate losses. In the past few years, we have lost more notable writers. Though they have died, their work continues to be published. But besides them we have lost many remarkable writers living here and elsewhere, fully capable of creativity, but whose work has not appeared for many years. To this day they are not fellow-members of our writers' organization, nor are �SLOVAKIA 109 they permitted to publish, writers such as Dominik Tatarka, Peter Karvas, and Ladislav Tazky. Nor, unlike the works of other writers recently deceased, do the highly qualified translations of Zora Jesenska from Russian, Soviet, English classics and contemporary literature appear, and are even less likely to. If her name was not mentioned among the others in the requested moment of reverent silence by which we were to honor the work and memory of all our departed writers, I do so at least now with this brief pause of respect. To this day (a long list of writers) is forbidden to publish their poems, prose, or translations , articles or literary critiques, or to write with the hope of being published , whether they are former members or candidates of our writers' organization or even non-members and workers on our literary and cultural journals, such as Jan Rozner, Pavol Hruz, Milan Hamada, Josef Bzoch , Fedor Cadra, Miroslav Kusy, Zlata Solivajsova, Miroslav Hysko, Michal Gafri, Julius Vanovic, Ctibor Stitnicky, Frantisek Andrascik, Stefan Moravcik, Roman Kalisky, Juraj Spitzer, Albert Marencin, Agnesa Kalinova, Sona Cechova, Ladislav Dobis, Ivan Kadlecik , Jan Kalina, Tomas Winkler, and others. If there are any errors in my listing, or if in the case of some authors administrative changes have taken place, that is not my fault. Meeting less seldom in the framework of our organization now than ever before, we know very little about each other. Hence we do not have in our ranks to this day many creators of literature, criticism, journalism or dramatic works. Their names have been lost together with their works from the catalogs and shelves of our public libraries. And yet these friends and colleagues of ours work and live among us, or rather, apart from us and around us. They work in jobs, though not the worst in every case, that are mostly foreign to them and inferior to their abilities. Some of the younger ones who did not try to become members of the Slovak Writers ' Union have taken hold of axe and spade, but among them there are also those who are literally vegetating physically, morally and spiritually - on pension. And what particularly catches us up short is the fact that years ago many of them were awarded the highest artistic titles and honors of our socialist state. As far as I know, these titles have not been taken away from them . Titles, yes; publication, no. I shall never forget that picture of our contemporary literature that appeared to me a couple of years ago when, on the occasion of my chats with them in schools of various districts, Slovak students and their teachers showed me pages of these literary textbooks crossed-out . With what knowledge of our recent history will those youths go out into the world, who with their own hands had to expunge from their textbooks the names and works of living writers, whom they were recently taught to respect and admire? This picture of expunged contemporary literature must also be a part of our balancing of the recent interconference period. Likewise must examples of discarded galleys and �110 SLOVAKIA the shredding of freshly published books and literary works of our expelled writers be included in this picture. It has to be said with sadness that the losses of creative forces in literature, the arts, and in all cultural activity on the part of Czechs are immeasurably greater than those of the Slovaks. I personally feel the continuation of this situation of precious losses as a great fault of our cultural policy, as a serious crime against our creative element and our respective literatures, arts and cultures. Twenty-one years ago, the poet Vitezslav Nezval said at a conference on Czech poetry in Prague: "So long as a single poet in this land lives with the feeling that he cannot publish, my comrades, something is out of order. '' And a year later, at the Second Conference of Czechoslovak Writers, in Prague in 1956, the poet Frantisek Hrubin said: "He who walks among us unconcernedly, writes and calmly gathers honors and goes to sleep peacefully, as though he knew nothing was amiss, who does not cry out aloud, 'A crime is being committed!' is a disguised bourgeois and egotist, and the one who is only secretly ashamed, is a coward!" Esteemed Conference: I can no longer bear the secret shame that I am allowed to publish while others cannot. I can probably claim some justification for myself, namely, that I was one of those who long believed and hoped that the conflicts and injustices would be corrected and solved, and with the intention of improving a difficult societal situation especially for young people, I worked from the fall of 1968 to the end of 1971 in the editorial offices of juvenile publications. Then I somehow stopped hoping. It became necessary for me to create for myself a new working situation in order to accomplish something. I worked hard physically and mentally, I found my place in a new environment where things are called by their right name, and, after long deliberations and daily conversations with people who are being shipped out of our own communities to factories, railroads and other places of occupation, or with those who remained to work in the JRD (collective farms) that is, after acquiring new experiences and knowledge and, of course, as I followed the course of domestic and world events in the press and in our own and foreign broadcasts - I decided to speak out honestly about that which hurts us and disturbs us. We are suffering morally, and our moral suffering is caused by the moral suffering of others, by the endless contradictions between words and deeds, by the rampant growth of half-truths and lies, by unceasing duplicity, and by the incomprehensibly harmful interventions of our society. Our Sturovian poet said 130 years ago: ' 'Among us one loves! '' Another said: ''Among us one sings.'' But today our poetic nation says: '' Among us one deceives!'' And we hear it said further: ''I wouldn't say anything if it were just a little deception; for after all, I too deceive an old woman a little if I can �SLOVAKIA 111 get away with short-changing her a decimeter; but here the deception goes on daily, and only on Sunday is there a little truth to be found. And as for freely confessing our faith? You have to crawl through the back alleys if you want your child christened. And as for equal rights? This is what they are like: Take a child who has completed his entrance examinations with distinction, both parents are workers - but the child is not only not accepted by the school, but is not even given the right to appeal! For it is said that even the application for an appeal must be made in advance, and that even the appeal will be decided in advance by the higher authorities. That's what they told me, I swear!" our people conclude, and they must then go to other districts to find a school that will enroll their child. Our people are indeed grateful for their material improvements, and yet they have a soul as well - the kind of soul they have possessed for ages - and so they are not satisfied merely with material things. They want to realize their full personal dignity, the respect of their communities toward everything that is within them. They also wish independently to be able to evaluate their abilities and to arrive at their conclusions and views without the endless propaganda and imposition of prescribed and ready-made views, as well as without fear of unpleasant consequences if they do not always parrot a for a, but also must do the same for b, c, d, and so on to z. Our people are also entitled to their full dignity in their congregations and the feeling of actual freedom to confess their faith and to perform the activities pertaining thereto. It is impossible, after all, to make instant atheists quickly, haphazardly and forcibly out of one-third of the population of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic that still professes a religious faith. I have not touched upon our literature of the last period, but I know that our literature has lost its experimentation and innovation, and that these have been replaced in the main by conventional tastes, ideas and forms. Such innovations as do manage to appear here or there are not welcomed directly. And the significance of exceptional works is systematically pushed into the background if their author is not on the list of acceptable authors who may publish but without publicity. Esteemed Conference, I conclude. I have spoken extremely critically, because if I had said anything of a complimentary nature, that would have amounted to carrying wood into the forest considering our press of late. And I have spoken extremely critically also out of carefulness, lest it happen, God forbid, that out of my presentation only some positive excerpt would be quoted in print. That happens among us regularly with the comments of author-delegates. And finally, I permit myself the privilege of proposing a motion: that our debates at this conference be published. I think that now when our press has lately revealed such an interest in writers and their signatures, that there would be an equal willingness to provide space for their debates at their Third Write rs ' Conference.'' �112 SLOVAKIA FOOTNOTES (1) See Chapter X in my book Slovak Language and Literature (University of Manitoba, Dept. of Slavic Studies, Winnipeg, 1975) pp. 215-234. (2) See H. Gordon Skilling, Czechoslovakia's Interrupted Revolution (Princeton , 1976), pp. 62-72, and J . Kirschbaum , " Slovakia in the de-Stalinization Process of Czechoslovakia," Canadian Slavonic Papers, Vol. X, 4, 1968, pp. 549-556. (3) Skilling, "Czechoslovakia and Helsinki," Canadian Slavonic Papers, XVIII, 3, pp. 246-253. (4) Skilling, ibid., p. 254. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1977, Vol. 27 Description An account of the resource Vol. 27 (No. 50), 1977. 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 1977 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 107 A Call for Courage HANA PONICKA INTRODUCTION BY J.M . KIRSCHBAUM Due to the peculiar circumstances under which the Slovak people were subjected to Communism, cultural life in Slovakia may have experienced the strongest repression of any Soviet satellite. (1) The short period of liberalization under A. Dubcek proved, however, that the Stalinist system was unable to break the moral backbone of Slovak writers or to eradicate Slovak literary traditions. Within a few months after the suspension of censorship, Slovak intellectuals displayed a moral courage which startled Wes tern observers. They were among the initiators of the struggle for "socialism with a human face. '' They condemned and criticized the excesses of the Stalinist period, called for rehabilitation of its victims, and insisted on giving cultural institutions (Matica Slovenska, for instance) their original functions and cultural freedom. (2) The short period of liberalization made possible a freer portrayal of the past in literary and political history. The memoirs of T. J. Gaspar and testimonies about political trials (G. Husak, E. Loebl, D . Viest and others) were published. Cultural contacts with the Western world were renewed. This new cultural freedom was interrupted by the invasion of the Warsaw Pact armies on August 21, 1968. The subsequent Soviet occupation put an end to free cultural expression. " Socialism with a human face '' perished with the final removal of Dubcek from his position in the Spring of 1969. The new regime under Dr. Gustav Husak proclaimed the Soviet invasion an act of 'fraternal assistance of the socialist countries to protect socialism in Czecho-Slovakia. ' ' It introduced a policy of "normalization. " Dubcek 's liberalization was condemned as "counterrevolutionary. ' ' Massive purges eliminated thousands of people from scientific institutions, artists' unions, schools, broadcasting, journalism, and literary journals. The regime "moved swiftly to block or to reverse the major reforms of 1968, including political democratization, freedom of expression and association, legal reform and rehabiliation . . . '' One saw ' 'the restoration of the Soviet model in all spheres of life. The penetration of Soviet ideas was so blatant that a visitor could not escape the impression that Czecho-Slovakia had taken on the character of a Soviet republic. " (3) Among the first measures of this ' 'normalization'' policy were the introduction of a strict censorship and the establishment of new committees to head cultural and scientific institutions. The Academy of 108 SLOVAKIA Sciences and the Matica Slovenska were transformed into instruments for the "development of socialist culture, science and education in the spirit of Marxism-Leninism. " Artists' unions were transformed into ideological organizations subject to the Communist Party. The periodicals Kulturny iivot and Nova tvorba were forced out of publication. Many scholars, writers, and artists found themselves pariahs, unable to engage in creative work of any kind, and restricted to menial work, at a very low fixed income. Their children also suffered from discrimination in schooling and employment. New and refined methods of persecution were employed, not as grim and macabre as the slow trials of the 'fifties.' These took the form, in Havel's words, of existential pressure, threatening every one, high or low, loyal or disloyal, with loss of position in case of nonconformity. ''This became a veritable vendetta against all who were engaged in reform activities in 1968 and who were unwilling to recant. "(4) That this ''normalization'' has not changed during the past eight years, observers of the Sovak cultural scene have little doubt. Corroboration is found in a courageous address by a Slovak writer who was neither purged nor persecuted, Hana Ponicka. Here follow, in abbreviated form, without the knowledge or permission of the author, her propositions for discussion at the 3rd Conference of Slovak Writers in Bratislava, March 2, 1977, undelivered due to the preemptory halting of discussion, but offered to the Conference as a matter of record. Esteemed assembly: This is our third Slovak Writers' Conference . In the five years since our last conference, held May 31, 1972 in Bratislava, every one of us has surely created something. We have realized the publication of new books and various dramatic and other works. Numerically, with respect to contemporary Slovak literature, this is not the worst record, for our classics are being reissued, and new editions of Slovak translations of classical world literature are also being published. And yet I am not, I cannot be, satisfied. In the vicinity of the village where I live, I see in the fall a great amount of ungathered harvest. But I am troubled just as much by the ungathered harvests in our literary fields. We have been living for nine years now in an atmosphere of unusual social tension. Even during such long-lasting tension, however, it is possible for excellent works to appear that are worth reading and deserving of literary criticism. And yet we have suffered and continue to suffer disproportionate losses. In the past few years, we have lost more notable writers. Though they have died, their work continues to be published. But besides them we have lost many remarkable writers living here and elsewhere, fully capable of creativity, but whose work has not appeared for many years. To this day they are not fellow-members of our writers' organization, nor are SLOVAKIA 109 they permitted to publish, writers such as Dominik Tatarka, Peter Karvas, and Ladislav Tazky. Nor, unlike the works of other writers recently deceased, do the highly qualified translations of Zora Jesenska from Russian, Soviet, English classics and contemporary literature appear, and are even less likely to. If her name was not mentioned among the others in the requested moment of reverent silence by which we were to honor the work and memory of all our departed writers, I do so at least now with this brief pause of respect. To this day (a long list of writers) is forbidden to publish their poems, prose, or translations , articles or literary critiques, or to write with the hope of being published , whether they are former members or candidates of our writers' organization or even non-members and workers on our literary and cultural journals, such as Jan Rozner, Pavol Hruz, Milan Hamada, Josef Bzoch , Fedor Cadra, Miroslav Kusy, Zlata Solivajsova, Miroslav Hysko, Michal Gafri, Julius Vanovic, Ctibor Stitnicky, Frantisek Andrascik, Stefan Moravcik, Roman Kalisky, Juraj Spitzer, Albert Marencin, Agnesa Kalinova, Sona Cechova, Ladislav Dobis, Ivan Kadlecik , Jan Kalina, Tomas Winkler, and others. If there are any errors in my listing, or if in the case of some authors administrative changes have taken place, that is not my fault. Meeting less seldom in the framework of our organization now than ever before, we know very little about each other. Hence we do not have in our ranks to this day many creators of literature, criticism, journalism or dramatic works. Their names have been lost together with their works from the catalogs and shelves of our public libraries. And yet these friends and colleagues of ours work and live among us, or rather, apart from us and around us. They work in jobs, though not the worst in every case, that are mostly foreign to them and inferior to their abilities. Some of the younger ones who did not try to become members of the Slovak Writers ' Union have taken hold of axe and spade, but among them there are also those who are literally vegetating physically, morally and spiritually - on pension. And what particularly catches us up short is the fact that years ago many of them were awarded the highest artistic titles and honors of our socialist state. As far as I know, these titles have not been taken away from them . Titles, yes; publication, no. I shall never forget that picture of our contemporary literature that appeared to me a couple of years ago when, on the occasion of my chats with them in schools of various districts, Slovak students and their teachers showed me pages of these literary textbooks crossed-out . With what knowledge of our recent history will those youths go out into the world, who with their own hands had to expunge from their textbooks the names and works of living writers, whom they were recently taught to respect and admire? This picture of expunged contemporary literature must also be a part of our balancing of the recent interconference period. Likewise must examples of discarded galleys and 110 SLOVAKIA the shredding of freshly published books and literary works of our expelled writers be included in this picture. It has to be said with sadness that the losses of creative forces in literature, the arts, and in all cultural activity on the part of Czechs are immeasurably greater than those of the Slovaks. I personally feel the continuation of this situation of precious losses as a great fault of our cultural policy, as a serious crime against our creative element and our respective literatures, arts and cultures. Twenty-one years ago, the poet Vitezslav Nezval said at a conference on Czech poetry in Prague: "So long as a single poet in this land lives with the feeling that he cannot publish, my comrades, something is out of order. '' And a year later, at the Second Conference of Czechoslovak Writers, in Prague in 1956, the poet Frantisek Hrubin said: "He who walks among us unconcernedly, writes and calmly gathers honors and goes to sleep peacefully, as though he knew nothing was amiss, who does not cry out aloud, 'A crime is being committed!' is a disguised bourgeois and egotist, and the one who is only secretly ashamed, is a coward!" Esteemed Conference: I can no longer bear the secret shame that I am allowed to publish while others cannot. I can probably claim some justification for myself, namely, that I was one of those who long believed and hoped that the conflicts and injustices would be corrected and solved, and with the intention of improving a difficult societal situation especially for young people, I worked from the fall of 1968 to the end of 1971 in the editorial offices of juvenile publications. Then I somehow stopped hoping. It became necessary for me to create for myself a new working situation in order to accomplish something. I worked hard physically and mentally, I found my place in a new environment where things are called by their right name, and, after long deliberations and daily conversations with people who are being shipped out of our own communities to factories, railroads and other places of occupation, or with those who remained to work in the JRD (collective farms) that is, after acquiring new experiences and knowledge and, of course, as I followed the course of domestic and world events in the press and in our own and foreign broadcasts - I decided to speak out honestly about that which hurts us and disturbs us. We are suffering morally, and our moral suffering is caused by the moral suffering of others, by the endless contradictions between words and deeds, by the rampant growth of half-truths and lies, by unceasing duplicity, and by the incomprehensibly harmful interventions of our society. Our Sturovian poet said 130 years ago: ' 'Among us one loves! '' Another said: ''Among us one sings.'' But today our poetic nation says: '' Among us one deceives!'' And we hear it said further: ''I wouldn't say anything if it were just a little deception; for after all, I too deceive an old woman a little if I can SLOVAKIA 111 get away with short-changing her a decimeter; but here the deception goes on daily, and only on Sunday is there a little truth to be found. And as for freely confessing our faith? You have to crawl through the back alleys if you want your child christened. And as for equal rights? This is what they are like: Take a child who has completed his entrance examinations with distinction, both parents are workers - but the child is not only not accepted by the school, but is not even given the right to appeal! For it is said that even the application for an appeal must be made in advance, and that even the appeal will be decided in advance by the higher authorities. That's what they told me, I swear!" our people conclude, and they must then go to other districts to find a school that will enroll their child. Our people are indeed grateful for their material improvements, and yet they have a soul as well - the kind of soul they have possessed for ages - and so they are not satisfied merely with material things. They want to realize their full personal dignity, the respect of their communities toward everything that is within them. They also wish independently to be able to evaluate their abilities and to arrive at their conclusions and views without the endless propaganda and imposition of prescribed and ready-made views, as well as without fear of unpleasant consequences if they do not always parrot a for a, but also must do the same for b, c, d, and so on to z. Our people are also entitled to their full dignity in their congregations and the feeling of actual freedom to confess their faith and to perform the activities pertaining thereto. It is impossible, after all, to make instant atheists quickly, haphazardly and forcibly out of one-third of the population of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic that still professes a religious faith. I have not touched upon our literature of the last period, but I know that our literature has lost its experimentation and innovation, and that these have been replaced in the main by conventional tastes, ideas and forms. Such innovations as do manage to appear here or there are not welcomed directly. And the significance of exceptional works is systematically pushed into the background if their author is not on the list of acceptable authors who may publish but without publicity. Esteemed Conference, I conclude. I have spoken extremely critically, because if I had said anything of a complimentary nature, that would have amounted to carrying wood into the forest considering our press of late. And I have spoken extremely critically also out of carefulness, lest it happen, God forbid, that out of my presentation only some positive excerpt would be quoted in print. That happens among us regularly with the comments of author-delegates. And finally, I permit myself the privilege of proposing a motion: that our debates at this conference be published. I think that now when our press has lately revealed such an interest in writers and their signatures, that there would be an equal willingness to provide space for their debates at their Third Write rs ' Conference.'' 112 SLOVAKIA FOOTNOTES (1) See Chapter X in my book Slovak Language and Literature (University of Manitoba, Dept. of Slavic Studies, Winnipeg, 1975) pp. 215-234. (2) See H. Gordon Skilling, Czechoslovakia's Interrupted Revolution (Princeton , 1976), pp. 62-72, and J . Kirschbaum , " Slovakia in the de-Stalinization Process of Czechoslovakia," Canadian Slavonic Papers, Vol. X, 4, 1968, pp. 549-556. (3) Skilling, "Czechoslovakia and Helsinki," Canadian Slavonic Papers, XVIII, 3, pp. 246-253. (4) Skilling, ibid., p. 254.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 Call for Courage Description An account of the resource Hana Ponická Introduction by J.M. Kirschbaum Slovakia, Vol. 27 (No. 50), 1977 pp. 107-112 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ponická, Hana, 1922-2007 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1977 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/519648dadecc38cef230b824faf0ad73.pdf eba3066bdd46cab2fc8fde4fea24b341 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 61 A Century and a half of Czech-Slovak Relations A Slovak Perspective STANISLAV J . KIRSCHBAUM In the fall of 1991, when two American and two Canadian academics agreed to participate in a roundtable on Czech-Slovak relations a year later at the annual Conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, none could foresee that the end of an historical period would be at hand. By the time the roundtable took place in Phoenix in November 1992, it was clear that the common state of the Czechs and Slovaks would soon be dissolved; the Federal Parliament of Czechoslovakia passed a law approving the dissolution shortly thereafter. On 1 January 1993, two new states appeared in Central Europe, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. A study of Czech-Slovak relations had thus ceased to be an examination of one of the main issues in the common state. It had become a question of the historical record. As long as the Slovaks lived in a common state with the Czechs, Western scholars specializing in Slovak history and Slovak politics fully knew under what handicap they had to labour. Western scholarship tended to favour the Czech perception, as Stanley Z. Pech noted two decades ago: Although Western specialists in Eastern European history have usually regarded it as their task to make the West familiar with the entire ethnic panorama of the polyglot region, they have in practice often been selective in the favours they have bestowed on each nation. They have incorporated in their work, in modified form, the outlook and the preju- �62 SLOVAKIA dices of the nations which they "adopted". To give the most conspicuous examples, they viewed Slovak history through Czech eyes and Ukrainian history through Polish (or Russian) eyes. In so doing, they have in fact created a second-class status for certain nations . The history of the Slovaks in the West has usually been presented from the point of view of "Czechoslovakism" and has appeared as hardly more than a postscript to Czech history .1 There is no theme that has enjoyed such a one-sided approach as that of Czech-Slovak relations , in particular in their common state. The following papers do not seek so much to redress the balance as to offer a Slovak perspective on a question that also has a Czech one and that is likely to be debated for some time. They are not exhaustive examinations, rather they are interpretative essays of three important periods, the first on seven decades preceding the creation of the common state in 1918 written by Edita Bosak, the second on the first two decades of Czechoslovakia, which were characterized by a democratic regime, written by Susan Mikula and the third on the post-war decades of communist rule and the three years that preceded the dissolution of the state written by Stanislav J. Kirschbaum. In each, the theme is the Slovak definition of and response to what might be termed the "Czech question " in Slovak political life. Carol Skalnik Leff offers a commentary of the three papers . Each text was revised by its author and edited for publication by the writer of this introduction. 1stanley Z. Pech, "New Avenues in East European History", Canadian Slavonic Papers, X (1), 1968, pp. 14-15. � SLOVAKIA 61 A Century and a half of Czech-Slovak Relations A Slovak Perspective STANISLAV J . KIRSCHBAUM In the fall of 1991, when two American and two Canadian academics agreed to participate in a roundtable on Czech-Slovak relations a year later at the annual Conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, none could foresee that the end of an historical period would be at hand. By the time the roundtable took place in Phoenix in November 1992, it was clear that the common state of the Czechs and Slovaks would soon be dissolved; the Federal Parliament of Czechoslovakia passed a law approving the dissolution shortly thereafter. On 1 January 1993, two new states appeared in Central Europe, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. A study of Czech-Slovak relations had thus ceased to be an examination of one of the main issues in the common state. It had become a question of the historical record. As long as the Slovaks lived in a common state with the Czechs, Western scholars specializing in Slovak history and Slovak politics fully knew under what handicap they had to labour. Western scholarship tended to favour the Czech perception, as Stanley Z. Pech noted two decades ago: Although Western specialists in Eastern European history have usually regarded it as their task to make the West familiar with the entire ethnic panorama of the polyglot region, they have in practice often been selective in the favours they have bestowed on each nation. They have incorporated in their work, in modified form, the outlook and the preju- �62 SLOVAKIA dices of the nations which they "adopted". To give the most conspicuous examples, they viewed Slovak history through Czech eyes and Ukrainian history through Polish (or Russian) eyes. In so doing, they have in fact created a second-class status for certain nations . The history of the Slovaks in the West has usually been presented from the point of view of "Czechoslovakism" and has appeared as hardly more than a postscript to Czech history .1 There is no theme that has enjoyed such a one-sided approach as that of Czech-Slovak relations , in particular in their common state. The following papers do not seek so much to redress the balance as to offer a Slovak perspective on a question that also has a Czech one and that is likely to be debated for some time. They are not exhaustive examinations, rather they are interpretative essays of three important periods, the first on seven decades preceding the creation of the common state in 1918 written by Edita Bosak, the second on the first two decades of Czechoslovakia, which were characterized by a democratic regime, written by Susan Mikula and the third on the post-war decades of communist rule and the three years that preceded the dissolution of the state written by Stanislav J. Kirschbaum. In each, the theme is the Slovak definition of and response to what might be termed the "Czech question " in Slovak political life. Carol Skalnik Leff offers a commentary of the three papers . Each text was revised by its author and edited for publication by the writer of this introduction. 1stanley Z. Pech, "New Avenues in East European History", Canadian Slavonic Papers, X (1), 1968, pp. 14-15. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1991-92, Vol. 35 Description An account of the resource Vol. 35 (No. 64-65), 1991-92. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Slovak League of America Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available 1991-92 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 A Century and a half of Czech-Slovak Relations A Slovak Perspective STANISLAV J . KIRSCHBAUM In the fall of 1991, when two American and two Canadian academics agreed to participate in a roundtable on Czech-Slovak relations a year later at the annual Conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, none could foresee that the end of an historical period would be at hand. By the time the roundtable took place in Phoenix in November 1992, it was clear that the common state of the Czechs and Slovaks would soon be dissolved; the Federal Parliament of Czechoslovakia passed a law approving the dissolution shortly thereafter. On 1 January 1993, two new states appeared in Central Europe, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. A study of Czech-Slovak relations had thus ceased to be an examination of one of the main issues in the common state. It had become a question of the historical record. As long as the Slovaks lived in a common state with the Czechs, Western scholars specializing in Slovak history and Slovak politics fully knew under what handicap they had to labour. Western scholarship tended to favour the Czech perception, as Stanley Z. Pech noted two decades ago: Although Western specialists in Eastern European history have usually regarded it as their task to make the West familiar with the entire ethnic panorama of the polyglot region, they have in practice often been selective in the favours they have bestowed on each nation. They have incorporated in their work, in modified form, the outlook and the preju- 62 SLOVAKIA dices of the nations which they "adopted". To give the most conspicuous examples, they viewed Slovak history through Czech eyes and Ukrainian history through Polish (or Russian) eyes. In so doing, they have in fact created a second-class status for certain nations . The history of the Slovaks in the West has usually been presented from the point of view of "Czechoslovakism" and has appeared as hardly more than a postscript to Czech history .1 There is no theme that has enjoyed such a one-sided approach as that of Czech-Slovak relations , in particular in their common state. The following papers do not seek so much to redress the balance as to offer a Slovak perspective on a question that also has a Czech one and that is likely to be debated for some time. They are not exhaustive examinations, rather they are interpretative essays of three important periods, the first on seven decades preceding the creation of the common state in 1918 written by Edita Bosak, the second on the first two decades of Czechoslovakia, which were characterized by a democratic regime, written by Susan Mikula and the third on the post-war decades of communist rule and the three years that preceded the dissolution of the state written by Stanislav J. Kirschbaum. In each, the theme is the Slovak definition of and response to what might be termed the "Czech question " in Slovak political life. Carol Skalnik Leff offers a commentary of the three papers . Each text was revised by its author and edited for publication by the writer of this introduction. 1stanley Z. Pech, "New Avenues in East European History", Canadian Slavonic Papers, X (1), 1968, pp. 14-15.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 Century and a half of Czech-Slovak Relations: A Slovak Perspective Description An account of the resource Stanislav J. Kirschbaum Slovakia, Vol. 35 (No. 64-65), 1991-92 pp. 61-62 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kirschbaum, Stanislav J., 1942- Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-92 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/cd5345e65b3dd7f70ba04784e4ecdb09.pdf 9f38a4a5b5622a77e42eb2c7289252de PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 17 A CLOSE-UP VIEW OF RADIO FREE EUROPE By Jiri Brada ( From January, February, and March, 1956, issues of "FACTS FORUM," Dallas, Texas) Radio Free Europe, a netwoPk of stations which has been set up in westeim Europe for the purpose of sending anti-Communist broadcasts to the peoples on the other side of the Iron Curtain, is a division of Free Europe Committee, Inc. The latter, a private organization, was founded in 1949 by a group of American citizens, among whom the Hon. Herbert H. Lehman, U. S. Senator from New York, played a prominent role. In 1950, the Free :illurope Committee started its annual fund-raising drive under t'he name of Crusade for Freedom. Most of us, at one time or another, have bee111 exposed to the propaganda of thi,s powerful orgacization, via newspapers, radio, television, freedom cars, and freedom trains, and most of us have read and heard a'bout FEC's muchpublicized freedom balloons. The Free Europe Committee claims that millions of its funds have been contributed by more than twenty-five million American citizens. Many more millions of dollars, though, have 1been donated by corporations, including some of the large foundations. Henry Ford II, whose Ford Foundation through the yeairs has been a heavy contributor, is nationa:l chairman of the Crusade for Freedom. As such he is the ,successor of General Lucius D. Clay. Other ,prominent sponsors of the project include David Sarnoff, Edward R. Murrow, Harold E . Stassen, Walter S. Gifford, Samuel Unger, Geo:rge Barasch, C. B. Tibbets, and Joseph J. Fliesser. Headquarters of the Crusaide is 29 West 157th Street, New York City. C. D. Jackson, in crucial years one of President Ei~ senho.w er's "paiace guard," headed the Free, Europe Committee for a cosiderable length of time. Wh~tney H. Shepardson is its current president. Joseph C. Grew, former U. S. Ambassador to Japan, is Chairman of the Board of the F,r ee Europe Committee. Arthur W. Page is Chairman of the Executive Committee. �18 SLOVAKIA Vice presidents include W. J. C. Eagan, Levering Tyson, Samuel S. Wa.J.ikeT, JT., and :Bernard Yarrow. Jo'hn C. Tra.phagen serves as treasurer, Theodore C. Augustine as secretary and assistant itireasurer, and J. Clay.ton Miller as assistant secretary. On March 15, 1955, Helfuert H. Lang was replaced as Director of Radio Free Europe by W. J. C. Eagan. 'Dhe Board of Directors, besides several of the abo.venamed, is composed of A. A. Berle, David K. :ID. Bruce, Jr. , Frederick R. Dolbeare, Julius Fleischmann, H. B. Miller, Irving S. Olds, George U. 1S huster, Charles M. Spofford, and H. Gregory Thomas. Among additiona:l sponsors of the Free EUTope Comm1ttee we find such nationally known figures as Clarence L. Adcock, Raymond Pace Alexander, Laird Bell, Francis Biddle, Rolbert Woods Bliss, Robert F. Bradford, !Hairry A. Bullis, Cecile B. De Mille, Frank R. Denton, William J. Donovan, Mark 1F . iIDthridge, James A. Farley, Virginia C. Gildersleeve, Charles R.. Hook, Palmer Hoyt, Paul Kesten, Henry ,R, Luce, Joseph V. McKee, Web Maddox, H. B. Miller, tSamuel E. Morison, F.rederiok Osborn, John W. Sibley, Sp)'l'os Skouras, Chairles P. 'Daft, DeWitt Wallace, W. W. Waymac:k, Walter H. Wheeler, Jr., Charles E. Wilson, Mrs. Quincy Wright, and Darryl Zanuck. The 1952 list of national sponsors also featured Jaimes B. Carey, .A:J.ilen W . Dulles, William Green, and Matthew Woll. Besides a sprinkL ing of men who uphold America's tradiitions of limited govVeTrunent and the free market economy, there is :the usual contingent of ancient and ubiquitous New Dealers. Headquarters of ,t he Free Emope Committee is a few stone's throws from <bhrut of the Crusade for Freedom, at 110 West 57th Street, New Yo.rk City. The political and ideological influence of the Free Europe Committee spans continents. No organization in the world exerts more power over the refugees from eastern Europe. lt practicaft:ly maintains a monopoly on placing refugee students in American colleges. It controls the University College at 'S trassbourg, F.rance. Besides the periodical, News from Behind the Iron Curtains, :the Free Europe Commi,t tee has published num- �SLOVAKIA 19 erous booklets and pamphlets Olll communism in eastern Europe. Radio 1Free IDurope, whioh is lo·cated at the Committee's headquarters, 110 West 57th ,S treet, is thus but one, though no doU!bt the most important, department of the Free Em:-ope Committee. While officially a dilVision of a private o,r gani,z ation, Radio Free Em·ope does of course not devise amy arbitrairy policy of its own. It has been conceived as a private a:rnn of the American government's foreign policy and as such reflects the res,pective competence or confusion of Washington. The princ1pal editorial offices of Radio F1ree Europe, while taking their cues from New Yor.k and Washington, are located in Euro.pe, especia!lly in western Germany. European headquarters is at English Gardens (Englisoher Garten) 1, Munich 23, Germany. Riahard J. Condon is European diirector. The largest :broadcasting stations of Radio Free Europe aire located outside of Munich and Frankfurt on the Main. Their principal programs are broadcast in the various languages oif Communist-dominaited peoples, suoh as Czech, Slovaik, Hungarian, Roumanian, Bulgarian, Albanian, and Polish. Influence of Soviet Postwar Policy In order to grasp the policy of these programs, it ~ well worth recalling the Soviet postwar policy in the satellite nations of eastern Europe. For the sa;ke of appearance and eXipediency, no outright Communist governments were set up by the USSR immediately upon the end of World War fil. •I nstead, there arose the so-calied governments of "national fronts" or "people's fronts" or "popular :fironts." Moscow's commissars saw to it that no parities of the real center nor, of course, any of the ,right wing m01Vements were admitted to these fronts; lbut even the non-Communist left wing parties, such as those of the Socialists or Social Democrats, were from the outset largely ied by puppets of the Soviet Union, many of whom had up to then lived in comparative obscurity. Within the course of a few months or years respective- �20 SLOVAKIA ly, these non-.Communisit leftist parties were forged into total tools of the globa.'l Communist conspiracy. Freedom of eleotion, assembly and press weire abolished; trade and industry were nationalized; non-·conformis:ts, by means of the "people's courts," were crushed, and "national committees," virz. soviets, soon dictated and .strangled all !branches of ,public and private iife. 'Dho.ughtful readers may wonder why so many of the Socialist-minded colla,borators were in due time permitted by the Co.m munist authorities to leave their countries. They cannot help being amazed to iearn that it is maiinly these collectivi.stic refugees from the sateilli,te nations whom Radio Free Europe has entrusted with program-.c ontroHing positions. There ,Marxians and sta,tists were 'ballyhooed as "victims" of rS oviet 1persecution, while practically all those who had escaped from the Communists when the Russian armies swept over their countries, i.e., those who at all times had ste·a dfa:stly opposed the Communist menace, were systematicallv excluded from Radi·o Free Europe. Is it possible that a good many of these Socialist twin brothers of the C ommunists were not prevented from reaching our side of the Iron Curtain because on the basis of their ,Marxist past they were likely to confuse and adultcra,te the crusade of the free world? Is it possi,b le that some of them even promised merely to pose as foes of communism, and therefore in r eality continued their collabora-· tion with the Communists, in the guise of foes? At any rate, quite a few of these recent allies, of the Communists are now earning considerable fees firom the funds of the Crusade for Freedom, in payment of their ineffectual and phony ;psychological warfare. Former Red Confederates in Top Jobs The real champions of political and economic freedom , the real opponents of state intervention, the real adversaries o.f materialism, atheism and tyranny were either rejected or ffa-ed by <Radio Free Europe, and are now sitting on the side lines. The men of the Kremlin should indeed be pleased with this curious policy of Radio• 'Free Europe. To be sure, RF1E's •b osses offer us a re ady-made excuse �SLOVAKIA 21 for employing so many former Soviet collruborators in top positions. No one, they aver, is more thoroughly aware of Communist deviousness than 8Jre those who have experienced Communist tactics in practice. However-and this is the crux of the matter-not one of these former confe• derates of the Communists !has come forth !With any .protest against his former ooHa;boration, and none of the former Communists on Rooio Free Europe has come forth with any protest against his former communism. They shun the role of the ,r epentant sinner. They all of a sudden ,p ose as experts of :the democrntic way, a;s pioneers of individual, personal freedom. The Whittaker Chamtbers type is excluded. By no means have aH of these men mere:ly posed ais anti-Communists while in ever so many instances they could not help going soft on the Communist -line. A giroot many, being Socialists, have been so blind with regard to -limited governmental and the free mar,ket economy, and still are such loyal believeil'S in the benefits of Socialist inter,vention, planning and control, that they consistently devise policies which ,p lay into the hands of the Communists by appeasing them. The Polish, Ozechoslo1va;k and Hungarian broadcasting stations of IRadio Free Europe, which equal the power of t he German station in ,M unich, i. e., 50,000 watts, run pro. grams for 20 hours a day. Nume!l'ous short wave stations send broadcasts in the various idioms of eastern Europe t hree or four houirs daily. It is claimed that 29 RF:Ei statjons are now functioning. The Czechoslovak station near Munich is as strong as that of Munich or that of the American Forces network, in that city. In operation since May 1, 1951, it covers political commentaries; daily commentaries; the international situat ion (transmitted from New York offices); programs for workers, peasants, women, young ,people, and children; economics; history; music; entertainment, etc. , and news every hour on the hour. Source Material Far Left of Center The over-all ideology of these prog1rams is largely determined by former members of the Czechoslovak National �22 SLOVcAKIIA Front, i.e., one-time Co,. nrpu:ni.3t colla,borator.s. From time to time, these men ireceive written instructions of specific subjects :from the New Yovk offices where left..,wingers set the tone Dr. Mar.tin Kvetko and Dr. Julius First, :known and prominent former pro-Oommunists, instruct alll editors at regular meetings. Carefully selected boo.ks on communism, clippings from such American publications ·a s The New York Times, The New York Hierald T.rilbune, T.iine, Life, ~tc., items from the press of AmerJcan la;bor unions, material from Communist paipers on bo:th sides of the Curtain, and monitored terts of the Czechoslova;k Communist radio represent the source materiaJl f.rom which the script writers draw. Theire are also special "intelligence" reports. Straight conservative papers and magazines are ta;boo at Radio Free Em:rope. Script writera know how to toe the line. They know that they might as welJ -look for another job if they dare use_materiail or ideas from the Ohicago Triibune or such of Oll!I' magazines :as American !Mercury, American Legion Maga•zine, Ohristian Economics, HUiIIlan Events, National Review and National Repulblic. To summarize - iRJmE progtrams are shl!,POO- according to the dM"ectives of (a) :the American bosses and (b) the hired leftist National Fronters from eastern Europe. The ran!k and file Socialist or o:therwise• leftist editors are either unintelligent or servile or both, and grind out their chores in accordance with their o.rders. AoturuNy, tRill1E policies vary only in degree, !but not in sulbstance,. :f.rom other psychological warfare .s tations of the free world. These inolude Radio Free Asia, strution RIAS in Berlin, Radio Llberation - a private Amer.ican station which broadcasts to IPOOPles inside the USSR - and of course the Voice of America. None of them ,t akes a consistent stand againsit the iphilosophy of g01Vernment intervention a;nd government control, none of them - except for occasional and half-ilieaTted Hp servJce- champions freedom of enterprise. No wonder that so far our psychological warfare has failed. In order to document for American readers WlhaA: sort of ideas aTe being tTansmitted to the fron Curtain world �SLOVAKIA 23 iby their expensive ly staffed freed.om stations, I have for some years gathered from RFE Czec'hoslov.alk programs a substantia :l coNection of radio scTipbs and tape recording s, from which I sha;ll quote in the followh]-g. If any Sllogan may be offered to character ize the genera:! tenor of all too many programs , let us quote whait a well-know n American a·p ologist for the Soviet causes has said in the process of the Far Eastern debacle: "Let them fall, ;b ut do not let it appear that we pushed them." Propagation of Socialism May 1, 1953, 3 :15 ip. m . : "The Socialist youth of the whole world sends its greetings to the youth of Czechoslovakia. We assuTe you that we s hall reach the aim ... the day, when we will be alble to join you in democrac y in the fig,ht for socialism , social justice and freed.om. " At the end of the program the International was played. (The International is the rallying song of world communi sm.) May 3, 1953, 1,2 :15 p. m.: Ferdinan d Peroutka , chief of R~'s Czechoslova!k desk in New York, a weH-known Soci'alist rund one-•t ime .prominen t member of the pro-Comu munist National •ffiront, in his "Sunday Comment s of Ferdinand Peroutka ": "Eisenho wer's program, on .t:he other hand, even though America's factories have not been nati01I1ali2:ed, stands for the concept of world socialism . TheTe is no better way to desoribe it. This is sociaJism . . . The aim of 1:Jhe program outlined by tile President of the United States is to socialize -life." 1 May 1, 1954, 2 :'50 p. m.: "Today, on May 1st, we convey our g,reetings to aN those who are dedicated to the faith in democrat ic socialism ." (To Commun ist-domin ated countries May 1st is synonym ous with America' s July 4th, and the term "Democra tic Socialism " is a Commun ist term used in May Day speeches to descTilbe Commun ist ideology. ) May 4, 1954, 2:10 p. m.: "Program for WorkeTs: "Leon Jouhaux - a g,reat man, descende d from a famNy in which revoltitio nism has been a tradition . His father partidpaJ ted in the revo.1t of the Paris Commun e . . . a born revolution ary ... " GANS.ER LIBRARY MILLERS VILLE STATE COLLEGE �24 SLOV!AKIA May 5, 1954, 2:10 p. m.: "Leon Jouhaux - a great revolutionary, a great rre:fo1rmeT ... " March 23, 1'955, 12:40 p. m. Program, "We Call the Communist Party": "The present order (in eastern Europe) r:ierely serves to continue the dictatorship . . . this jungle which falsely is fabeiled as legitimaJte socia.lism." March 23, 2:20 p. m. Dr. Jan Hajek, on program, "Living Science - Discussion with Young People," said : "Socia1ism has 1become adult. Socialist thinkers are no longer irresponsible radicals. The fundamenta!l problem of modern socialism is man's relation to the state. "The modern socialist rejects both extremes - laissez faire and state control. He is aware of his duties as well as his rigihts. "The citizens of the Socialist society must be conscious of their heritage, aind proud of it." Along this line, the Czechoslova:k editors and broadca;sters crurefully avoid repudiating the measures of socializaJtion and communrzation wbich their own National Front had irnstituted in tJhe postwar years, and often go so far a;s to appro;ve of similar Communist measures in satellite Europe. Thus, on October 28, 1952, at 11 :'50 a. m., the broadcaster of "We Cali t he Communist Party," exclaimed: "Seven years ago, .the decrees of the P,r esident of the Republic ibrought forth the nationalization of industry. In this way Czechoslovakia set out on her way of democraJtic independence.'' So.oialist Policies Defended T.hese ipsychological warriors of the RFE thus still don't realize tha,t it was a crime to cooperate with the Communists, or if they do, :they don't admit it. There is never any hint that the 1Socialist po'licies of the National Front as such have iJ.ed to disaster, no inkling that socialism, because it infringes upon the rights of the individual, leads to communism. Therefo,re, these so-called freedom ,broadcasters ne;ver ,p oint out that the misery of the :p eople in eastern Europe -largely deri;ves from Socialist meddling with the affairs of :the people ; they blame it all on \Soviet exploitation, armaments, emphasis on heavy industry, and that sort of thing. �SLOVAKIA 25 Yes, ,t hey have mentioned the "forced Communist eco-• nomy." What they mean by it may be seen from "Lnternationa1 Commentary from New York," in its :broadca,st April 18, 1953, at 6 :05 p. m. The broadcaster explained that "this mearus in Czechoslovakia bhe return of the fo,r mer export policy, ,t he return to the production of quality arrticies. To put an end to this over-emphasis, on heavy industry must be the goal of our new democratic way." · That is all. No, reference to libeTation from the Socialist bureauaracy, from Socialist oppression. Just a shift from armaments to quality ,p roducts. Nothing more. Feroinamd Peroutka, in his broadca;st of 'Sunday, April 27, 1952, at 12 :15 p. m., declared: "The Communists lie when they tell you that we want to ;restore caipitalism, that we intend to ,r eturn to the proprietors the property which has been ta1ken from them some time ago . . . I repeat: the program ,o f the Czechoslova•k exiles is not capitalism and the return to 1938. Nor do we wish to hand baok the mines and foundries to their former owners. All we care for is thaJt the Communist government, which means dependence on Russia, disappears." It might be argued that an occasional ,p rogram of this sort migiht have its place in the o.ver-all setup 1because, after all, there still are oM 'Socialists in Czechoslovalkia who have no use for the Communists. Yet isn't it strange that while there are programs for workeirs, peaJSants and Communists, there are none £or businessmen? Sometimes they talk about free competition, but often it is but the competitiion of collectively owned factories amongst themselves. The terminology of their broadcasts is af the Socialist variety, including the trite ranting against "Capitalists" and "reactionaries". I now shail ,proceed to offer documentary evidence to show that Radio •F ree Europe also aids, and sometimes even propagates, Titoism and communism, and frequently extols Communist leaders. Milos Vanek, one-.time big wheel in the Commun1st party of Czechoslovakia, and now chief of the economics department of RFE's Czechoslovak desk, said on November 21. 1952. at 11.30 a. m.: "Marx. Engels. Trotsky-for them 1 �26 SLOVAKIA Marxism was the ,s ubstitute for the Western revoilution of human rights." The co:mmentaJtor of "Weekly Survey of the Ame:rican Press," on April 12, 1953, art; 8 :30 a. m., said: "The New York Herald Trilbune is of the opinion that the trial of Mindszenty, the HungM'ian cardin.a;l, as wehl as the trial of Slansky and similar crimes in other Communist countries, ought to ,be remembered ... " Possibly, if not proba,bly, tt was one of the numerous left-wingers on the staff of the Tribune who plamed this cOITU!pting little seed of associating the fearless anti-Comm'l.llllist cairdinal with that old Marxian wheel'horse and Kremlin errand iboy, Slans.ky..Salzmann, who stood as solidly for the Leninist-iStalinist program as any Communist who happened to get purged in some intra..party feud. Sure enough, if the Tribune man did not give a ring to his pal at the CzechosloV'aik desk in New York's RFE heaidquarters, the latter did not fail to picik up that choke tidlbit. After all, any "opinion" of the stai:d and ·p resumably coruserva,tive New Yo11k Herald 'Dribune is safe quoting. Who is there 1bra;zen enough to accuse the o}d Tribune of being sUJbversi,v e? And thus, by association with a ,primate and mal1tyr of the Roman Catholic Church, a Communist li0kspittle is being groomed for respectaJbility. And this in the name of fighting the totalitarian enemy, by an organization which is financed by American donations, a;nd which is sponsored ,b y well--Omown Americams. Again and again, ,R JFE's psychological warriors do not attack Marxism-eommunism as such but what, with tears of regret, they c01I1de:mn is its "degeneracy." Consequently, the listener-unless he be quite alert--is mduced to fancy that communilsm, with which so many RFE bigwigs: once cooperated, would not be so bad if only it had not "degenerated." RFE Attacks Russian Imperialism but not Communism Fid<filing that tune, RJF])'s "Europe without the Iron Curtain," on March 2, 1952, at 3:45 .p. m., complained a/bout the "degeneration of the old Communist ideaJls." Commenting on the arrest of the Kremlin-serving boss- �SLOVAKIA 27 es Sling, Olementis and 'Slansky, RFE's "Comments on Events of the Day," on February 13, 1952, at 7 :30 p. m., waxed somewihat melanc'hoiic: "They consciously closed their eyes, dreaming about the Communist security of the future . . . they dreamed . . . what was to remain of the ide·a ls once the dream had come to Ml end?... A cynical disdain for Communist ideals ... " K•rurol Bel:aJk-lBerger, the left wing Socialist, in RFE's "Round Table Discussion," on April 12, 1953, at 3 :05 p. m., nostalgically referred to the "millions of idealists and men of good wilJ" who had lbelieved in communism and merely deplored the "methods" that had "failed." Regretfully he mused that "the whole aippeal of communism has evaporated ... " 'I'.he policy of collaboration with the Communists was quite distinotly expressed by the old Socialist comrade, Ferdinand Peroutka, in his '~Sunday Oomments" of April 27, 1952, at 12 :15 p. m., when he answered the attack of the Communist dM'ly, !Rude Pravo, on exil.es such a,s he. '"It a<ecuses us of wor,king for the restoration of capitalism, along with the return of the western powers," stated Peroutka. "All we wish to say in reply to these accusations is this: "There has been a Socialist government in England for six yeam. This government would hardly have forced you, the Czech and Slovak people, to accept capitalism. Today we have a Conservatiive government in EngJand. Yet it has not abolished any of the Labor government's Socialist measures, and it would not do anything of the sort in CzechoslovaJkia. "As to America-she supports T1to. Now even though Tito acc~ts America's /bountiful assistance with open hands, t he United States government has not demanded the denationalization of a single Yugoslav factory. Yes, Tiito never ceased to be a Communist. America says: 'Let everyone do as he pleases.' America says: 'Go ahead and be a Communist if that's what you want. All we ask is that you stop supporting Russian imperialism.' America has no 1ntention �28 SLOVAKIA to force runyone, including Czechoslovaikia, to return to capitalism." iDr. Miloslav Kohak, another widely known one-time. Communist collaborator of the National Front who saved his skin in the nick of time and landed a fat job as cllief (until his replacement recently) of RJFE's "Political Comments on the Siituation at Hlome," on November 25, 1952, at 10:45 a. m., had this to say ,a bout Arthur London: "From ,b eg.inning to end, the indictment against London is preposterous. It is the whoie International Brigade of the Civil War irn Spain which is 'being attacked in his person-another proof of the reactionary attitude now prevailing in the Soviet Uni:on. She no longer wants the support of men who. believe in ideals, ibut only of those who believe in bayonets." On May 8, 1954, at 5 :45 .p. m., in "Stories Written ey Life," a young Communist inmate of a slave labor camp was quoted as follows: "Your Christian concept comes close to the 01riginal Leninist ideology . . . We must wm•k toge-· ther, faithful to the ideas which Lenin has taught us." Dr. Jaros}aiv Stransky, Socialist and an oJd Oommunist collaborator of the Nationa1 Front, said in "Taik with Home," on March 1, 1952, at 9 :30 p. m.: "Denunciation should not play amy .part in ,p olitics . . . Arny honest Communist will join the rest of us in condemning denunciation." Probably the old collaborator still believes that it is possible for Communists to ibe honest. Consequently he had no trouble :i n slipping that one in. The trouble with Radio Free Europe, though, is quite another matter. Squandering miHions of American dollars for the alleged ,purpose of fighting communi:sm, it hires old Communist collaborators who rant about "honest" Communists. "We Call the Communist Party," of February 22, 1952, at 11.45 a. m., went all out in praise of Communist cultural achievements. "Czech Communist literature ha;s brought forth works of outstanding value," RFE's psychological warrior declared. "We enjoy reading Communist authors as much as any others." A curious way of inducing an anti-Communist attitude, to say the least. �29 SLOVAKIA 'Dhe Socialist 'Franta Klatil, in "Political Comments on the Situation at Home," on April 21, 1953, at 11]_ :45 a. m., mused that "Tito has more character ithan his one-time aL lies in Prague . . . iHe secured this independence, and quite thoroug,hly at that." It is quite a common rprocedure foir Radio Free Europe to quote Tito and Red Yugoslavia's press as authorities in both moral and political matters. Holiday trips to Tito's Yugoslavia have ,b ecome a cherished habit o,f RFE's editors. Programs Glorify Revolutionary Workers Another variety of the collectivist ideology which pre~ vails among RFE eclitora is the frequent praise of those enemies o,f the Kremlin who have not been able to toe the party line but 'have otherwise been valuable fighters in the class struggle against the so-called exploiters. Thus, the RFE .script, "We CaU the Communist Party," which was broadcast to Ozechoslov,a kia on March 29, 1955, at 12 :40 p. m., in its glorification of title revolutionary workers of Kronstadt sounds as if it had been wr.itten by the old Lithu~ ani3JI14m.e:rican anarchist Alexander Benkman. "'I1he workers of Kronstadt," it says in that script, "fought so that the soviets may be elected freely and democratically, that their just demands be fulfilled - demands which ,w ere entirely in the spirit of the Oct01ber Revolution. They fought for democrati:c soviets ... " True enough, this broadcas-t; was addressed to Communits, and it might seem reasona,;ble to some to appeal to -Communists in the spirit of genuine communism; but is it likely that hardened trans--Ourtain Communi sts of 1955 believe in appeals in behalf of communi~m when they M"e uttered by those who are hired by Americans? Yet, incredtble though it may appear, that is the line which RFE commentators adopted a:S fate as 1955. Let us choose another example of this folly by quoting Dr. JaroS'la.v tStransky, former minister of the National Front, in his "Commentary on the Political Situation" of April 2, 1955, 9 :50 a. m. In this gem of an "anti-Communist" ,b roa.d~ast, the Communist collaborator of b.ut a few yea.rs ago sang the praise of the "Spartacus Bund," the 1 �30 SLOVAKIA militant group which, following World War I, broke away from Germany's left wing 'Socirulists in order to usher in the Communist ·r evolution. Stransky really waxed lyr-ical over Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, the .two most prominent and violent ieaders: of early German communism. "The modern 1Spartacus movement," pontificated Stransky in behalf of iRFE's version of freedom, "Karl Liebknecht and !Rosa Luxemburg . . . they were pacifists, the foes of imperi:aiism and militarism . . . they were beaten to death iby the mob . . . theN" articles, their speeches, their lettevs were inspired by a vision of order and beauty for the modem world . . . in every sentence which that undersized, unga.irny Jewess, Luxemburg, wrote, there was humaneness and poesy ... " We are not arguing a:bout the lofty intentions of these two world famous pioneers of the Communist revolution, misguided and unbalanced though they were. We are here questioning the wisdom of Ameri'CMlS who, in the name of the freedom for which Washington and Lincoln lirved and died, hN'e a notorious one-time Communist collaJborator who stiH offers hymns to the cause of the Communist revolution. That Stransky shmdd express such revolutionary feeL ings is obvious; that well-meaning Americans should sponhor such project does ,p rovide food for thought. National Fronts Vaunted In line with this farcically suicidal policy these RFE psychological wrurriors natua-ally still vaunt the very Nationa'l Front which paved the way for the total subjugation of the Czech and 'Slovak people •b y the Communists. These strange refugee policy-maJkers, script-writers and editors still live in that dreary world in which fatal short-~ghtedness delivered their people into. the hands of the ,Krem!lin. Thus, on October 28, 1952, at 10 :05 a. m., these socaned heralds of freedom told the home folks ibeihind the Cua-tain: "There wiH once more ,b e a time when Benes will arise ... " On OctOlber '2/l, 1953, at 4 :35 p. m., they aippealed to "those who remember the pre..,F~bruary (i.e.,. 1945-48) democra~y ... " On January 11, 1953, at 1:1:30 a. m., the Je:ftist ,S ociaiist Belak-iBerger, "in Comments on the Events �SLOVAKIA 31 of the Day," exclaimed: "The real Nationa;l Front (i.e., peaceful ,Socialist-Communist collaborators) today lives in the hearts of the Ozechs and SlovaJks." As if there had not been mass murders all over Czeohoslova;kia ,throughout the existence of the National Front, RFE's "Time, Men, Events" of OctOlbeT 18, 1952, at 10 :15 a. m., told the good ipeople behind the Curtain that "the conditions of 194!5 adually orig.iinated in the will and the wish of ,the majority of the people." New Yovk "Comments of the International Situation," on April 12, 1952, decried the "Communist treason" of February, 1948, 1b y which the last collruborators of the National Front were ex;pelled ,b y the K!remlin's agents. "The Communists," this broadcast said, "seized ,p ower by means of the militia and the police ... Before this time (i.e., before February, 1948, d!uTi'Il!g the entire time of the National Front) the democratic politicians had pro.v ed their .g ood will to cooperate (with the Communi:sts ... However) the democratic politioians (the National Front men and today the RFE men) ·· were removed ... " This is of course true, as all of us know. Yet what sort of democrats are Commumst collaborators who tacitly consent or act1vely connive at the suppressiion and murder of political non-conformists? These Nationa,l ·F ronters, now employed by IRFE, did not discoiver the criminality of their Communist a:IHes when moderates and conservatives were systematical!ly murdered. Only when tihe Communists put the finishing touches on the enslavement of .the Ozec'hoslova!k people by exterminating their own co,Uaborators did these curious freedom fighters b,elatedly decide that the Krem1in's henchmen were afiter all poor champions of liberty. Yet whom do the American ,b osses ·o f Radio F.ree Europe select for speaking to the enslaved people of Ozecho"' slovalkia? Not those \WlO from the beginning refused to compromise with the Communist tyrants. They have preferred to choos:e such National Fronters as Dr. iPetr Zenkl, Dr. Joseph Lettrich, Vaclav Majer, Dr. Ivo Duchacclc, and Dr. Ja,roslav Stransky. The latter has ,b een offered as a weeklv feature attraction. �32 SLOVAKIA Like Alger Hiss, who stiU maintains that Yalta was "a good thing," but that the bad Communists unfortunately broke their ,pledges, these N8Jtiona:l Fronters claim that their colla:borator with the CommunLsbs---the so-called Kosice Program-would have been "a good thing" if only the Communists had not .proved to be treacherous. Instead of at last a:dmitting that the Kosice Program was criminal folly from the outset, they still refer to it as an "ideal." In 1955, when the Communists in Czechoslovakia celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Kosice Program, RFE's "Head and Tail," in a broadcast of April 5, at 8 :15 a. m., declared: "Communist propaganda appeals to democracy, i.e., to the ideals which the Communists have betrayed." On April 7, 1955, at 12 :40 p. m., RFE's "We Call the Communist Party" still praised the Kosice government program, "according to which the Czechoslovalk peo.ple were to elect their representatives in free and secret elections." This whitewashing of the Kosice Program is a deliberate falsehood because only four left wing parties then were handed out licenses by the Communist masters while all anti-Communist parties were declared illegal. The Kersten Committee of the U. S. !House of Representatives ha:s put this sham psychological warfare of RFE in the proper light, by Report No. 8, of December 31, 1954. "Especially the proclamation of the Kosice P.rogram, of April 5, :1,94'5," the Report states on pruge 17, "opened the door for an unobstructed drive on the part of the Communists to seize full power in the country." Policy of Appeasement Let the readers draw their conclusions as they see fit. There is no better way to expose the intrinsic bankruptcy of Radio Free Europe's policy. It is not the fight against communism which these psychological war.rio,rs carry on; they stand for 8Jppeasment amd reconciEation. Thus, of ail ,peo.ple, Konni Zilliacus, the led:t wing Brit~ ish Laborite who has for years been a faithfuil contributor to publi-cations of the Communist ,party, was invited by Radio F.ree Europe to address the Czechosloivak peo,ple. This is what Zilliacus, in broken Czech, beamed over the �SLOVAKIA 33 air waves to the trams-Curtain sJ.a,ves, on April 17, 1953, at 12:40 p. m.: "You would enormously encourage and strengit,hen those in the West who-, for the sake of reconciliatio~, woU!ld l.ike to meet the .Soviet Uni:on and the people's democracies half -w ay if you were to rehabi'liltate those of the Prague trial wiho are ,s till in prison, and clear the memory of those who died or were killed ... " Zilliacurs here did not refer to, any anti-Communist victims. He spoke of .such Communists as the Secretary General of the Ozechoslo.vaik Communist Party, Slansky-Salzmann, who had been subjected to one of -qie interminruble purge triaJs and put to death by his coreligionist, Stefan Rais, then Communist Minister of Justice. No,t am.ti-Communists, but the arch-Communist Sbnsky-Saizmann and his confederates were to be "rehrubilitated" for the sake of " reconciliation" with the Communists. That is the sort of psycho1ogical warfare RJFE has been propagating. In similar vein, ,Milos Vanek, old champion of Red causes, said on Apri,l 12, 1953, at 3 :05 p. m.: " ... as long as the Soviet Union faiis to prove by deeds that she is in earnest in her alleged desire to put an end to the cold war and the hot war, she cannot expect that we may diminish our efforts to liberate all the oppressed peo,ples." One weeik later, on the same "Round Table Discussion" program, again at 3 :05 p. m., Vanek said: "First let the Communists mruke ,p eace with their own people. They ought to resort to peaceful means in their :internal policy, too." We might as weJtl asrk wolves to stop devouring lambs, and hyenas to turn into doves of peace. It is nothing less than RFE's zi1uacus and Vanek expect. It is therefore no exaggeration to state that Radio F,r ee Europe has consistently ad<kessed its broadcasts not to anti-Commu:nists, but to, Communists, Ti,to:i.sts, semi-Communists and pro-Communist Socialists b,e hind the Iron Curtain. This fatal policy has spread apathy among what is left of genuine anti-Communists ,b eyond the Curtain. This is not ,t he inspiring fi.g,ht for freedom; it is the deadly appeasement of the Communist tyranny. Inasmuch as Radio Free Europe is controlled and staffed by socialists, pro-Comm1mists, World Federa:lirsts �SLOVAKIA 34. and other assorted internationalists, we should not be surprised ,t o learn that ineffective and harmful progz,ams, and even broadcasts amounting to, srubotage, have character.i~d its specific ,policies. Particu!larly noteworthy features comprise: 1. The reipetition of lbanalities-"truth- telling." 2. The "People's iProgra.m.." 3. Attacks on petty Communists and prote.ction of Communist bosses. 4. tDefonse of American pro-Communist errors. 5. Broadcasts amounting to saJbotage. 6. The spreading of recognizable and destructive lies. 7. Failure ,t o propagate Gemnan-Czech and GermanPolish reconci'li ation. 8. Occasional advice to, follow Communist suggestions. 9. I.;eininist inoitement to premature revolts. 10. Propa:gation of decadent literature and music. 11. Propagation of internationalism and racial merger. 12. Praise for the New Dea:lera, and criticism of con-· servative Americans. 1 Repetition of Banalities F'or many a year, a disproportionate amount of broadcast time, be it out of ineptness or aotually malicious intent, has ibeen alloted by Radio. Free Europe to the never-ending reiteration of banrulities. We might identify this curious practice as RF1E's special little game of "telling the truth." it goes somewhat ,l ike this: - the Communists call Americans imper.iaJlists; Ame~ rioans are not imperiaUsts. - the Com.mu.rusts claim that they want peace; Communists don't waJILt ,p eace. - the Communists claim that the American economy is !bad; the America1I1. economy is good. Of what avail is the production of sue'h trivialitie.s? Can there be any doubt that the endless repetition of such trite assertions Sipreads boredom and turns away potential listeners? If at least RJFE}'s broadcastevs made a sustained effort to explain why Americans are not imperialists, and why their economy excels that of the collectivists, listeners �SLOVAKIA 35 might be inspired to do, some constructive thinking. The natm-e of RFE's script writers a:nd editors, of course, forbids any such sensilble procedure; for collectivists cannot be expected .to expose the impotence of collectivism. 1In a certain way, RIFE prides itself on beiing "specific" in the stale little game of ".teilling the truth." As an example, the reporter of a broadcast delivered on May 3rd, 1953, ait 8:45 a. m., stated: "In Hungary .t here are obvious supply defficiencies ... Canned food has gone ,b ad ... There is a laok of suga1:> in Bulgaria ... Poland suffers from a shmtage of fish ... " This sort of news, of coll!I'se, is no news behind the Iron Curtain. If t:he economic fai,l,ure of the Soviet re-alm were expl,a ined as the inevitable result of state intervention, listene~ might find it proper to heed such programs. Another part of the quaint little truth-telling game consists of reporting concrete conditions and haippenings from t'he world of the slaive labor camps. Inasmuch as there cannot ,b e any suggestion. regarding the termination of these horrors, the effect of these reports is exactly what the Corrurnmist leaders desire, i. e., to lame the wiU of the people by striking teirror into their hearts. Until May 1, 1954, this sort of aimless and uncoordinated "truth-,teUing" seemed to 1b e RFE's princi,pal task Then--at last-a definite over-all program was announced. Does this mean liberation? Let us look and see. The "Program of the •P eople's Opposi.t ion," proposed on Labor Day, 1954, ait 10 :10 a. m. , and frequently reiterated and referred to, ever since, contained the foUowing ten postulates,: 1. LaJbor unions s'hould belong to their memberis, not the b9sses. The positions of union officials should be elective. 2. There should be less ta1k and more hrurd cash. Hon-est money (sic!) for honest work. 3. The worker should be permitted to choose the type of work he prefers. 4. Overtime should be outlawed. 5. Peasants should be a:llowed to quit the kolkho,z es (i.e. 1 cdllectivies) if they so desire. �36 SLOVAKIA 6. There should be a ceHing on the state's s'hare of agricwltural production. I!'arm oontributioos to the state should be equaliized. 7. The government should wovk for the people, not the politicians. 8. Production should benefit the people, not the state. 9. Emphasis should once more be on the consumer. Small shOil)S, owned and run by little ,people, should be revived, to serve the ,c onsumer. 10. The building industry should be mobiUzed for the benefit of the ,peop'le, instead of the state officials. Some points of this so_,called people's pro,g ram, at first sight, may look impressive. Its cardinal and decisive error derives precisely :firom the inability of its coUectivistic perpetraJtors to recognize the primacy of the enterprise. This program fails to go, to the root of the matter. It does not atfack state control as such. It merely proposes to mitigate and qualify. It is at its core plain socialism. Yet this is the sort of t'hing wihich, in the form of leaflets, is dropped from the trans-Curtain ,s kies by means of the "freedom balloons" which columnists like Drew Pearson have been vaunting for years. This program does not offer any decisive opposition to the tyranny of na;tiona'1ization as such. There is but the indecisive and dU'll suggestion to reform the preSleJilt Communist system, to abolish its excesses, to turn it into some form of Titoism or semi~communism or to return to the socialism of the bankrupt National Front. Instinctively, the Ozechs and Slovaks who hear this socalled ,p eople's program reach for the .lmob and shut it off. They must shrug their shottlders wt the oratorical antics of men .w ho :rant against ta'lking but in their own tum offer little beyond empty talrk. This "Program of the People',s Opposition" is faulty and spurious !because the concept of Rrudio Free Europe is based on a capital error. Radio Free Euro,p e basically main_ tams rthat the threat to the free world comes from Russia as an armed and aggressive power; it obfuscates the fundamental issue of the world~wide Communist conspiracy. In accordance with this leftist line, Radio Free Europe �SLOVAKIA 37 a:bsolutely never refers to, congressional investigations of subversirves in the United States. T.rans-1Curtain listeners M"e completely :unaware of the existence of such men a.IS Jenner, Velde, EaJStland, Walter, Dies, Reece, aJnd Mundt. When the Kerstein committee operated in Munich, in the summer of 1954, RJFE referred to it; but the texts of tes-timonies were edited to suit the over-all ·soft~peda:ling of basic issues. Radio Free Europe acts as if it were set up to preserve the concept of state bureaucracy and iprute:rnali:sm by all avaHa:ble means. Petty Communists Blamed for Party Policy Radio Free Europe acts a:s the quack who peddles curealls for the most nauseating aspects of the Comnmnist di-· sease; iit fails to tackle the roots of communism as such. Thrus it makes much ado about the chicaneries and perversions of petty Communist officiais, but it does not name the real culprits, the wire-,pulilers, the bosses who guide and encourage the brutalities of little village tyrants. Radio ·F ree Europe refers by name to individual Stakhanovites, tractor-drivers, and prison~guards; it disregards the organizers of the hruted Communist drives. lt thus actualily ,protects the pillars of the CommU.111ist society, the calclrlating masterminds who play on the wea;knesses of a confused citizenry and trap therir helpless victims in a net of Comm'll.llist demora1ization and perver,s ion. In "Messia:ges to Those at Home," Radio Free Europe p.hllories the little informers who are known to work for the ,s tate police. A1:most without exception these little fellows are known far and wide as stooges of the Communist masters. Dossiers on these puppets do not add to the knowledge rubout Communist evil-0oers. These dossieI's are largely based on dippings from the press of Communist-controllJ.ed eastern :IDurope. The secret agenrts of the Soviet police, the directors: of the pro.grarrn of terror, are never mentioned. "Messages to Those at Home," on February 29, 1952, at 7 :415 p. m., as an example, said: "Who is the mruster in Nitra? (A tiny Slova!k town-Editor.) Who is the master of whom the Soviet police itself is in fear? It is Sergeant Klike. He is hated, dreaded and mighty. He causes the .pllll- �38 SLOVAKIA ishment of policemen who sometimes haive a hearrt; for the.ix victims.'' Now, who is this monster, Sergeant K1ike? Not any "master" by any means. He is but wellArnoW111 little sergeant of the uniformed poJice ! Again, on June 26, 195,2, at 12 :15 p. m., "Messages to Those at Home" singled out a few Communist women: "Comrades M. PO!korelska, !H. Y anosikova, Kr. Bezakova and M. Dedinlmva," the broadcast addressed itself to these petty Communists, "swine-herds and tractor-drivers, re-· member m time the warnings of today. Tomorrow you may be brought to account for your misdeeds; but tomorrow may be too late for you." "'.Program for Civil and State Servants," on April. 10, 1955, at 8:40 a. m., importantly sounded off: "We call your attention to a dangerous informer. The pensioner Michalek, Kulda Street, Brno, ,persecutes beggars. He chases them from homes and often hands them over to the police. In your own interest, Comrade Michalek, we advise you to stop yoUT dirty work." This sort of broadcasting, declaimed in a lowered, almost comical tone, is suppooed to scare primitive swinehevds and tractor-drivers. The bosses are never named. Radio Flree Europe never criticizes the mistakes or the treason of the past and thus never has to expla;in the real reasons of the Communist successes in the past. In the same way as they conceal systematicaliy a11 real causes of the communization of Czechoslovakia, they conceal also the real causes of Communist advances in other part of the world. Let sleeping dogs lie~that seems to be RFE's guiding inspiration. There is no criticism of Teheran, Yalta, and Potsdam. These conferences, in line with the views of an Alger Hiss, are regavded as joot splendid. If only the bad men of the Kremlin had not betrayed their solemn pledges! "We Teach History," on February 13, 1952, at 6:15 p. m., stated: "The Sov.iet Union broke the Yalta rugreement and betrayed it . . . The ink on the document 'had hardly dried when the Soviet Union made a display of violation and unparalleled cynicism." "Sunday Comments of Ferdinand Peroutka," on April �SLOVAKIA 89 3, 1955, at 12:15 p.m., commented: "When the Yalta ,papers were published, some individuals wanted to reprimand the Democratic leaders foo- lack of cautiousness. But any discussion of some little mistaJkes the Democra;tic leaders may ha'Ve made would merely obscure the ,p rincipal wirong, which has been and remains the systematic deception contrived b,y the Ru€,s ian statesmen. These reaJl,i ties ought to be clear. ly understood by the wor-ld. The Ya!lta conferoo:ce turned into a tragedy, not because of what was agreed upon there, but because the 'Soviet Union failed to honor the agreements." Broadcasts Amounting t.o Sabotage Naturally, if we are decei,v ed regarding om own stu~ pidity, and even betrayal, at Yalta, we are likely to remain unaware of the stupidity and pet.haps even SaJbotage which have characterized a certain type of ~E's refugee programs. Incredible though it may seem, Riadio Free Europe ~against the ,persistent pleas and protests of refugees firom behind the Iron Ourtain - in its Sa,turday programs has offered detailed descriptions of successful flights from the Soviet terror. These ,b roadcasts - have named the locations where the border was passed, and indicated even 1:Jhe person:s who, at the risk of their 'lives, assisted the escapees. There could not have been any better means to alert the Communist police.. The very identities of patriots in eastern Europe were thus disclosed to the Soviet secret police, with the reswlt that any recurrence might be prevented. How self-destructive, at the expense of optimistic American dono,r s, cam. we get? Were the script writevs and editors of these "sensatio:nal" pro,grams really s•o naive that they failed to grasp the sinister consequences of their paradoxical role? Did they reaUy not understand that their disclosures about the specific locations of escape would en~ able the Communist pdlice to plug the last holes in the Coctaj.n? Let us quote from the !broadcast, "I Chose Freedom," of Aprill 25, 1953, 8 :30 a. m. "[ went through Cerna Horka," the refugee interviewee revealed, "walking along the hrigihway. Then I went :ba<ck to tile river bed of Vltaiva, in �40 SLOVAKIA the direction of the Austrian Soviet zone. I approached the Jezuv creek ... across f.rom it there is for:bidden territory. . . . In Frynburg there is a bridge across the riv&, and the road to Vyssi Brod. In St. Thomais there is the headquarters of the ,p atrols. The bridge had ,b een torn doWID.. I made a float from_ an old fence and other wood I gathered. The river is aJbout t_e n meters wide and three meters deep at that spot. (This was said in reply to a question from the broadcaister. - Editor.) I guided the float by means of a pole, and then set foot on the forbidden side. I hid in the bushes anod woods ... On the highway to- St. Thomas I encountered a banbed wire barricade, a,bout three feet high. I found an old laidder in a hut which had been empty ever since the German's left. I broke it in two, put it a;gainst the barricade, climbed, and jumped to the other side. Traversing a distance of a'bout thirty meters, I reached Jezuv creek, which is ·less than a meter wide. I crossed the creek and found myself in the Soviet zone of Austria. "In Austria, I folfowed the highway until I entered a little ho.use below a hill. The Ausitri.ans who occupied this house felt pity for the refugee, and assisted me . They helped me to contact a friend of theirs in Linz who was to get me ,s afely acro,s s a bridge in Linz, on the border of the 1Soviet ·a nd American 2.1ones. That man pro.v ided me with a forged identification card, into which we rubbed some dirt in order to maike the name illeg1ble. I joined a group of girls who passed the sentry at that spot. Nonchalantly, I ,p roduced the forged identity card for the sentry, and without looking back I crossed the bridge. I was in the Western. izone of Austria." Enemy Alerted The Communist enemy couid not have been more brazenly ailerted. Letters of protest against such asinine (if not trea{!herou.s) interviews fl.ooded the expellee press in Munich. Nevertheless, the interviews continued until 1954, by w'hich time a great many of the cracks in the Soviet wall had been revealed to the Russiains, and repaired by them. As late ·as 'May 9, 1954, at 3 :45 p. m ., the "I Chose Freedom" broadcast disclosed the exact details of a flight �SLOVAKIA 41 by express train from Decin, Bohemia, to. Berlin. The in. terviewee described how he had conceailed his presence at the Decin railway stat,ion, how he eluded the attention of the .security agents, aid ,how a "people's po'liceman" at the station in East Berlin 'helped him to escape. As late as Apriil 2, 1955, at 12 :45 p. m., again on the "I Chose Freedom" program, an escapee pictured the detafls of his flight across the above-mentioned bridge in Linz. Can there be any doubt that such interviews. intimidate those behind the Iron Curtain who might be wirlling to cooperate with refugees? Can our friends behind the Iron Curtain maintain erven a shred of confidence in "psyc'hologica1 warriors" who indulge in this sort of give-away? The editor of RFJD's "I Chose Freedom," one Otto Graf, had been editor of the Socialist ,p aper Svet Prace and a well-known CommUJnist collaborator of the National Front. An obscure journalist before War H, he owes hi.s career to his fatal activities in the National Front. Zdenek Fierlinger and Bohumil Lausman, Socialist ministers of the Nationa1l Front, were the pulblishers of Svet Prace, at the time of Graf's editorship. In 1948, on the occasion of the Communist coup in Czechoslovakia, Fierlinger turned out to be a Communist planted in the Sooial Democ.ratic party. Lausman, after his "esca.pe" to the free world, in 1951 worked for a while for Radio Free Europe. Afterward~, he turned out to be a Communist agent and returned to 0zechoslovakia. As editor of the Czechoslovak refugee ,paper, Ce.skoslovenske Noviny, in Ludwigslburg, Gerimany, RFE editor Otto Graf published articles by Lausman. Self-destructive Lies Broadcast It is ha.r d to believe that a man who has ,b een able to function as a newspaper editor is so inept that quite a few of his presumably anti-Communist radio programs in effect equal sabotage of the freedom crusade. That a saboteur of the free world's cause could hardly improve on these refugee programs is evident from their text. An almost equally self-destructive feature of R:ailio Free Europe is the routine broadcasting of transparent lies. �42 SLOVAKIA In a number of pamphlets, including The RFlE Story (p. 14), RFE's psychological warriors proudly admit resorting to lies. Whether lies should be part of our "psycho war" program is 1b oth ethically and practically quite debatable. To brag aJbout one's own lie in print, so that their admission may hie quoted ,b y the enemy, once aga:illl reaches itili.at degree of ingenuousness that in its net results is hardly distinguishaJble fr<Y«..'l saibotage. In addition to all that, many of the fabrications which our RFE brain trusters have th01Ught up are such simon puTe inventions that those for whom they are intended immediately recognize them as such. iFor example, Otto Graf and Vladimir Kucera~Homik, at Christmas, 1954, when maJking programs on the miner's life, made a· report about a great coal mirle catastrophe in Kladno., which a1legdly cost twe:lve lives of miners. This report was invented. We may ibe s,ure that a character like Bohumil Lalli:lman, former chairman of the Ozechoslovak Social Democratic party and afterwards a ,p lain Commrunist agent in Western Germany and Austria, fed RFE such damaging stories, and that some editors believed him. Yet who but one_,time Nation.ail Front colla;borators - RFE's farvorites wou!ld pUJt any trust in LaUSiman anyhow? RFE has made it easy for the Communist to prove RJFE's own mendaoity. Verbatim quotations from RFE's press and radio are all that is :required. T.here is still another lie, even more destructive, which has been produced by the "truth-telling" of Radio Free Europe. It is the number one lie, and concerns the core of the Communist system. There is irrefutable evidence regarding which group is maki:ng communism in the East. This evidence comes from refugees from the East and from various reliable sources. This group is characterized by such · names as Kruglow (or Krugloch), the chief of the Secret Police of the U&SR, Kaganovic, Ehreniburg, Berman, Rakosi_,Rosenkra.Il'Z, etc. In ,aJdd,ition, this group fully and completely constitutes that "invisi'ble government" behind the scenes in �43 SLOVAKIA the East. It is the same group, of course, which also makes the Communist conspiracy in the West. When in 1951 the members of this group (Minister of Justice Stefan Rais, etc.) staged purge tria:ls against other members of .the same group - Slansky-1Sal2'Inann, iReicin, Ka.tiz, etc. - RFE shouted to the world that the entire group was b.eing cruelly persecuted and liquidated in the East. Many samples of suoh programs are availaJble. This greatest and most perverted lie of world communism is !being upheld by RFE even now, and all facts contradfoting it ,a re cut, adjusted or ·s uppressed. Every intellrigent .refugee from the East calils this He the number one .sabotage committed by RFE. An intelligent inv-estigation of FRE as well as of the opinions and the material of the ref.ugees from behind the Iron Curtain would easily bring forth the full truth. 1 Former German Co-Citizens Alienated It is not enough to quote Radio Free Europe to expose its sooia:list and internationalist bias. To point out lost op-, portuni,ties as well as de[iberate omissions permits us to penetrate the confused and hrulf-·hearted mentality of this much~touted and eXipensiive outfit. Perhaps the tbest example of RFE's negativism toward .important objectives of t'he free world is its peculiar attitude towards the Germans. To be sure, on the surface t.he West Ger.man RepubHc and Chance!Hor Adenauer have been officially praised 'b y RFE. Beyond such formalities, IWE has done little to inspire the Czechs and Poles with trust in the Germans. In 1945, the Communists forced the Poles and the C.zec'hs to expel close to fifteen miUion Germans, from their home1and of centUJries. Albout three million of these lost their Hives as they walked through the Iron Ore Mountains, the Sudeten Mountains and the Bohemian Forest or as they were shipped westward in cattle cars which somewhere were left on the traoks. All of the other twelive mililion were r01b1bed of their ,property. Most of them were bea,ten and tortwred. Naturally, the Czechs ,and the Poles fear the venge-· a.nee of their former German co~citizens. Understandrubly, �SLOVAKIA the Communists do, all they can to :keep this fear a1ive among the Poles and the Czechs who are under their domination. It would be the duty of Radio Free Europe to counteract this Communi<st policy by telling the Poles and Czechs a bout the numerous manifestations of good will and the sincere desire for reconciliation on the part of di siplaced Germans living in Western Germany. Radio Free Europe does nothing of the sort. It does not even report the official agreements which expelled Czech statesmen have signed with the German expellees. In summary, R@Es' stand on the highly important expellee prdblem is as foillows: a. It does not even mention the peaceful attitude and program of the German expellees. b. It ridicules exi'led Czechs and Poles who do not hate the Germans. c. It fails ever to refer to the remarkable past achievements of the :G ermans in Czechoslovakia and to examples of German-Czech coopexation. d. It never mentions how the ex,pulsion of the antiCommunist Germans enabled the communization of Czechoslovakia from within. e. It continuaNy harps on the persecutions the Czechs and Poles have suffered under German domination. f. It damns the Germans with faint prai,se, and slyly, in veiled fashion, even incites the Slavs against the Germans. g. By upholding the ex;pulsion of fifteen mililion Germans and defending the Oder-Neisse border, it follows a line of nationality policy which is identical with that of the Communists. 1 Advice to Fellow Communist Suggestions There are many other - apparently often ha:rmless occasions on which RFE's line comcides with what the Communists desire. Why men should be .p aid by Americans to broadcast from expensive stations what our Communist enemies want in the first pl ace is not easy to grasp. Particttlarly ba:ffling examples of American--Soviet co1 �SLOVAKIA 45 incidences ha:ve come from the desk of Milos Vanek, chief · of the Economic Department of the Czechoslovak Desk, RFIE, Munich. Formerly one o.f the most prominent leaders of the 0zech Communist party, Vanek still feels urged to counsel Czechs in harmony with his former confederates. Early in 19'52, Vane'k busied himself forecrusting an immediate inflation, and advising the people to invest their cash in goods, including the expensive products of the Communist gray market. Innumerable programs have carried this message to the Czechs. The broadcast of Ja:nuary 23, 1952, at 6 :45 p. m., admonished the Czechs: "The Communists in Czechoslovakia are about to runloose inflation. Invest all your savings in goods, buy whatever you can, even the e_x1pensive articles on the government market." There was no inflation; but the refugees from the satellite country reported that the Communist government at that time spread exacbly the same rumor of inflation and also adv1sed to spend all savings because it wanted to draw in a:11 "surplus" money without any monetary reform. A year and a half later, when, of a sudden, the new value oif the Czech currency was a:nnounced, neither the Communists in 0zechoslovakia noT Vanek in RIFE had given any wa:rning. When the Communist government asked for shock brigades of voluteers to plant new forests, Vanek enthusia,stically chimed in. "Help to plant new trees," Vanek exhorted the Czechs on the "Economic Program" of May 1, 1953. "The Communist regime," he announced, "will perish, and t'he trees will be for your children." Other programs hawe offered similar a'dvice. •~Prog,ra,m for Women," 0ctob.er 24, 1953, at 1 :45 ,p. m., counseled to sell quality go·ods. to Communist state stores "because the Communist stores are sel'ling the goods to non-Communists, and it is 111ot good to, cheat non-Communists." "Program for Workers," March 23, 1955, 2:10 p. m., suggested that workers as.k foremen for e~tra work becawse it would mean extra money for them -while it would not really help the Communist cause. Along the same line, the old collaiborator, Otto Graf, 1 �46 SLOVAKIA interviewed a fellow by name of Tonda Hornik, who said: "I thus eairned 2,000 crowns extra~it pays not to be lazy." Radio Free Europe, thus, does not urge the satellite slave workers .to relax if not slow down, it spurs them on to work harder - for their Communis t masters. Those in the know were not surprised when "wor.ker" Tonda Hornik, in June, 1955, was exposed as a Communis t agent. One of RFE's editors, Robert Lowkota by name, had gone to the extreme of appealing to the Czech workers not to absent themselves from wor.k; but the protests from refugees who had listened to this monstrosit y w&e so im-,pressive that iRiFE had to back down and, in a broadcast of April 10, 1955, at 12.:45 p. m. ("We Call the Communis t Party"), tried to minimize the importance of Loulkota's aberration. Do these editors who urge the Czech people to fol.Jew suc'h advice have a soft spot in their hearts for the Commwnist~ r are they following the orders of men whose hearts and minds are hard as steel ? On the one hand, Radio Free Europe has urged Czechs to do overtime in factories giving only evasive consolation s, never mentioning how and when liberation could be achieved; on the other, through provocative agitation, it has practically incited them to revolt. Such policy, on the surface, appears contradicto ry. On second thought, we might wonder if all of this confusion is due to ineptness. As long as the Western governmen ts are not prepared to supply .p otential rebels with weapons, no rebellion can succeed. Only people who are unacquaint ed with the nature of communism can hope to overthrow Communis t governments withouit outside assistance. Certainly the present United States governmen t is not inclined to arm potential insurrectio nists. Even if it wanted to, a horde of United Naitions associates would prevent it from going ahead. Why then does Radio Free Europe fail to warn resolutely against revolts at this time? Curiously enough, Lenin favored armed uprisings against his own regime; for nothing exposes more glaringly the staunchest freedom fighters, and nothing offers a more striking opportunity to exterminat e the most stout-heart ed �SLOVAKIA 47 foes of communism. Whatever the reason may be - and it appears most worthwhile to get to the bottom of the situation - Radio Free Europe again and again has played the role of the agent provocateur.Whether or not any sabotage wa:s intended, the policy has actually been of benefit to the Communists. First of all, RFE has pictured the enemy as weak while in reality he is strong. "Life Behind the Iron Curtain," on April 26, 1953, at 8:45 a. m., exclaimed: "There is chaos, uncertainty and fear in the Soviet Union and among its leaders." "Best Article," on April 24, 1953, at 9:05 a. m., stated that "there are rifts within the system," and on April 17 it claimed that "we face the beginning of a dissolution process which affects the entire regime." Few Americans know that the broadcast of RIAS, the American broadcasting station in Berlin, shared in the responsibility for the tragic 1953 rebellion of the Germans in the Soviet zone - a rebellion which led to the arrest and annihila:tion of tens of thousands of our best friends behind the Iron Curtain. Practically no American knows that RFE has sent the same sort of abortive action ,p rograms to the Czechs. On February 8, 1952, at 9:15 p. m., Milos Vanek, on "Economic Program," approvingly spoke of the rise of "armed brigades against their leaders in the Communist party itself." Hopefully he observed that "the signs . . . are already on the horizon." When in Czechoslovakia public demonstrations took place in 1953, Radio Free Europe pictured them in inflammatory scenes. The other programs reflected the same attitudes. On June 21, 1953, at 12 :15 p. m., the perennial "Sunday Comments of Ferdinand Peroutka," referring to the tragic and fatal uprising among the Germans, told the Czechs: "Do you know that tens of thousands of workers there are on the march, shouting 'Ivan, go home? Do you know that everybody there is fed up with the Soviet overlordship, has enough of Soviet exploitation?" �48 SLOVAK IA Again and again, Peroutk a has dicussed prematu re and therefor e suicidal - uprising s in an inflamm atory fashion. For the sake of preservi ng precious friends for a more opportu ne time, we might well have followed the advice of the late Senator Robert A. Taft, who vigorou sly opposed such heedlessness. Propagation of Decadent Literature and Music For the time being, Radio Free Europe might well content itself with building up the morale of those who long for liberatio n from the Commu nist tyrants. There are numerou s straight forward books which take a courage ous stand against any and all undue control by governm ent. These, though, are not the books from which RFE's commentato rs have chosen to quote. No, the cultural fare which they have selected is largely confined to decaden ce in literature, and jazz in the realm of music. The program "Play of the Week" is full of mental confusion and decay. The books which are reviewed and quoted, and which are suppose d to represen t the world of the free, abound in decaden t characte rs, in suicide and perversi on. As to literatur e which is suppose d to represen t eastern Europe, the emphasi s is strongly placed on works of defected collectiv ists, picturin g the horror and the hopeless ness among the satellite nations. The editor of "Book of the Week," on August 3, 1952, at 9:45 a. m., expound ed: "We enable you to become acquain ted with the literatur e which is current in the free world. Take a book by Mannus Ferber, who once was a Commu nist . . . the story in itself is colorless - a tera in the ocean ... there are no ready answers anywhe re .. . " On April 26, 1953, at 9 :45 a. m., "Book of the Week" another typical example - discusse d The Polish present to Giodo: "A mysterio us curse rests on the Jean Mill, by family," the commen tator explaine d. "In vain, Kosta opposes the weight of destiny ... his son-in-la w becomes mentally insane ... his daughte r goes crazy ... the young woman is slowly dying ... the power of fate is the core of the book ... all revolt against it is futile . . . " �SLOVAKIA 49 "Weekly Survey of Culture," of January 4, 1953, at 11 :15 a. m., told of a work of literature that is "full of complexes and inner conflicts . . . " "Film Program," of April 9, 1955, at 2 :20 p. m., reviewed a film directed by Eliza Kazan: " . . . he went to see his mother in the brothel ... he borrowed money from her, even though he despises her, and then he made a good business deal . . . a drama full of instincts, passions, and convulsions, of undertones ... a master work by Kazan ... " This story about a moral and strong father whose wife lives in a brothel was offered by RFE during the Easter holidays. RFE seems to be chockful of split personalities, of people with complexes, of those who are in need of psychiatrists, of people whom we might pity if there were not so little time left and if they were not entrusted with the task of championing our principles of trust in God and our responsibilities as free men. The music offered by RFE, at 10:05 every morning, and at other hours, accords with the confusion, savagery and hopelessness of the literary ,p roducts which these men favor. ,Most of it i:s jruzz in the version of the squieruking dis_ harmonies and noises of primitives, or of complex men who flee from their own souls. The West is rich in music of the highest inspiration. RFE seems not aware of this mighty force in our behalf. The Communist station in Prague does better. The Communists, mindful of national heritage, play Smetana and Dvorak, the great music of the Czech people. They benefit by these magnificent works. But Radio Free Europe broadcasts jazz - alien, uninspiring stuff. Some of the less influential employees on Radio Free Europe have protested against these low and degrading performances. They were told from above to go on producing jazz. Propagation of Internationalism and Racial Merger The general mental and moral climate of Radio Free Europe conveys moods of indecision, wretchedness and vexation. �50 SLOVAKIA Inherentl y most of the ideals which RFE advocates require some sort of super-gov ernment, which means but additional curtailme nt of the liberties which this costly radio network is supposed to champion . On nearly every day, for instance, there is a program which urges the abolition of naturally- grown national culture in favor of the European super-sta te. It is called "Europe Without the Iron Curtain" and it always begins with the slogan: "Europe without the Iron Curtain means the United States of Europe. Yesterda y but Utopia, today the dream of millions, tomorrow reality." The slogan has been formulate d by the widely known internationalis t Karol Belak-Be rger. Paradoxic ally, the Commun ist internatio nalists in the East are smart enough to appeal often to age-old, traditiona l nationalism. Radio Free Europe, which has been presumab ly conceived to fight Commun ist internatio nalism, champion s internatio nalism. "Nearly all Czechs and Slovaks desire the United States of Europe." That is what "The Other Side of the Coin" asserted, on April 5, 1955, at 8 :15 a. m. A free poll or plebiscite among the enslaved Czechs and Slovaks might well disclose a different mood, a different opinion. On June 6, 1952, at 7 :15 p. m., "Europe Without the Iron Curtain" stated: "The world federatio n is a necessity ; but first Europe must be united. The European federatio n is but the beginning ; the United States of the World is the ultimafo aim ... First a European federatio n must be achieved; then we shall be ready for the world federatio n." In accordanc e with this candidly avowed goal, RFE continually disparage s the concept of national sovereign ty, which is dear to the overwhel ming majority of European s. Thus "Commen ts on Events at Home," on April 28, 1953, at 10:45 a. m., slightingl y referred to "the so-called national sovereign ty." "Europe Without the Iron Curtain," on May 5, 1954, at 1:15 p. m., stated: "On the defendan t's .b ank there sits the concept of the national state and its ideological foundation - nationalis m. Frontiers - the straitjack et of the national state - are an anachron ism." �SLOVAKIA 51 The United Nations and UNESCO - a controversial topic among millions of Europeans - are favorites of RFE. "The United Nations gives new hope," said "News," on October 24, 1953, at 1 p. m. "The whole world looks toward the United Nations," said "Who Is Who," on April 22, 1953, at 8:30 a. m. Such statements are daily standard with Radio Free Europe. Ever opposed to nationalism, RFE even objects to national self-determination of the many non-Russian nations inside the Soviet empire. It stands to reason that national self-assertion inside Russia might be a ,p owerful aid to any effort aimed at disintegration of the Soviet Union. Consequently this is opposed by RFE's amazing bleeding hearts. Thus, "Voices of the Western Press," on February 8, 1952, at 8 p. m., quoted: "Russia should not dissolve herself into a number of smaller nations; the nations of the Soviet Union should discontinue their disputes." In its determined opposition to the concept of national heritage, and in harmony with the ideas favored by such American left-wing groups as Americans for Democratic Action, RFE, in programs addressed to the trans-Curtain people, goes so far as to attack the McCarran-Walter Immigration Act. Thus, "Our New York Correspondent Reports," on April 29, 1953, at 10:05 a. m., declared: "The public wants the law to be changed; for the nationality quotas of this law are obsolete . . . The press unanimously demands revision. We hope that the change will be effected." Beyond mere political merger of the nations, Radio Free Europe also campaigns for a merger of races. Thus, for instance, "Europe Without the Iron Curtain," on February 15, 1952, at 6:15 p. m., declared: "Just as Europe, in a way, already represents a nation . . . . there also arises a new nation in the U. S. A. - out of the white, the black, and the yellow races . . . This too will happen in the East of Europe." Along this line, RFE's left-wingers seldom fail to disguise their animosity towards those nations which they regard as particularly nationalistic - against the past Germany, Spain, the Union of South Africa, and the various �52 SLOVAKIA Arab nations. RFE's persistent opposition to the Arab states sometimes reaches comical proportions. An article in itself would be required to document this phase of RFE's internationalism. Praise for New Dealers and Criticism of Conservative Americans In line with its over-all outlook, Radio Free Europe has consistently glorified American New Dealers and has at the same time not refrained from merciless attacks on conservative Americans. In other words, RFE, which should concentrate on psychological warfare against the Communist world con$piracy, has indulged in the hobby of defaming valiant American anti-Communists. No wonder that wideawake Europeans have ever more often asked if RFE is primarily an anti-anti-Communist organization. "Answers to Those at Home," on October 28, 1952, at 10 :05 a. m., proclaimed : "Stevenson was a principal speaker at the celebration for T. G. Masaryk. (Founder and first president of the Czechoslovak republic. - Editor.) Our hope for the future would be rekindled if he were elected President of the United States." On November 4, 1952, at 10:05 a. m., the same program reveled in this choice bit of lyrical effusion: "Adlai Stevenson ... ranks among America's greatest sons, such as Lincoln and F. D. Roosevelt ... He is the very incarnation of America's highest aspirations . . . Within less than a year he rose from obscurity to the pinnacle of American leadership." The record of Radio Free Europe's programs is full of unfavorable remarks about those great Americans who have steadfastly opposed the Communist menace. A flood of vituperation was pou:r;-ed on General Douglas MacArthur upon his dismissal from the Far Eastern scene. His speeches, which have moved the truly anti-Communist refugees from eastern Europe, have been consistently withheld from RFE's programs. It was the same with the great and honorable Senator Robert A. Taft, on the occasion of his campaign for the Republican nomination in 1952. After "Mr. Republican's" �SLOVAKIA 53 defeat at the Chicago Convention, "Our New York Correspondent Reports," on August 7, 1952, at 10:05 a. m., rejoiced: "For Europe it is decisive that the last remainders of isolationism have been removed, and that a sound policy has been carried to victory." Ferdinand Peroutka, in one of his interminable "Sunday Comments," on August 3, 1952, at 12:15 p. m., pontificated: "Taft was the proponent of a policy which can never settle anything, as his adversaries have always pointed out." "Our New York Correspondent Reports," on July 9, 1952, at 8:05 p. m., had this to say: "The opinions of (Herbert) Hoover and (Douglas) MacArthur represent the viewpoint of a minority; these men want to confine themselves to the (exclusive) defense of the American continent. The majority ( of Americans), though, have dimissed this attitude and are conscious of America's global role." "A Program of Novelties," referring to the passing of two famous American journalists Pulitzer and Bert McCormick - on April 3, 1955, at 3 .p. m., called Pulitzer the "son of an Hungarian immigrant, an outstanding American journalist," but criticized Colonel McCormick as a "controversial, reactionary isolationist" who "opposed progress." The Krem'l~n must have been satisfied with that incisive observation. General Impression Created By Radio Free Europe What, then, is the general impression which Radio Free Europe has made, behind the Iron Curtain as well as among the millions of anti-Communists in Western Europe? It is, besides the impression of half-heartedness, indecision, artificiality, and downright clowning. When RFE's broadcasters, directly addressing some poor wretch or some swineherd in some forlorn little hamlet in Slovakia or Bohemia, lower their voices to terrify him, antiCommunist refugees merely laugh. Alas, the farce tastes bitter, because of the lost opportunities, the stupidity, the feeling of treason, and the unsonscionably low moral standard. Next, there is the strong impression of cliche journalism, occupying itseif with superficialities - cars, houses, �54 SLOVAKIA etc. - and largely avoiding verbatim quotations. Instead, they impose their propaganda by means of slogans. Real opinions of the refugees and of the people at home are disregarded by the RFE propaganda. Real anti-Communists are never allowed to get their messages across the Curtain. Real anti-Communists, including the repenting National Fronters, are social outcasts. But the collaborators of the National Front, who even today maintain that the National Front was all right, sit at the big desks and cash their substantial checks, in compensation for their shadow boxing. Then there is the distinct impression of coolness, impersonality and anonymity. Since the well-known anti-Communists of -long standing have been barred from RFEJ, theTe are no names to inspire the listeners. Yes, some men do speak under their own names. These include the left-winger Dr. Joseph Lettrich, the Marxist Vaclav Majer, and such Socialists as Ferdinand Peroutka, Dr. Petr Zenkl and Dr. Jaroslav Stransky. However, these men are known to be weaklings, mere fronts for more powerful personalities. They are recognized to be generally useless; they won't stir the imagination of anyone. As to the known former champions of the Communist causes, trans-Curtain listeners would simply shut off the radio if they knew who was talking to them. Therefore, Milos Vanek now calls himself Pravdomil Basta, and Frantisek Listopad goes by the name of Jan Ctvrtek. Similarly, the leftist Socialist Dr. Miloslav Kohak has become Vitezslav Fram; Otto Graf hides his pro-Communist past under the pseudonym of Franta Tabor, and Karol Belak-Berger has conveniently turned into one Jan Lehota. "Who are these fellows anyhow?" the listeners behind the Curtain must wonder; for they have never heard of them. Naturally, they become suspicious, and their interest sags. Czechs and Slovaks behind the Curtain remember those who never compromised with the Communists. They know that these men are now living in the West - the C:i!echoslovak General of the Army, Lev Prchala, the former Czechoslovak Minister, Dr. Joseph Cerny, and many others, and �SLOVAKIA 55 also some former members of the National Front who in the free West started to denounce it - Dr. Bohdan Chudoba, Dr. Michal Zibrin, or Dr. Helena Kozeluhova, who was expelled in 1946 from the Parliament by the National Front, and the entire younger generation, led by Jiri Havelka, Emil Petrik, etc. The Slovaks have their former Minister, Dr. Ferdinand Durcansky and many others. The listeners behind the Iron Curtain cannot fail to wonder why none of them sends any "messages home" by way of Radio Free Europe. The masterminds of this confusion, whose net results represent sabotage of the anti-Communist fight - are way behind the firing lines in New York City, and in Washington. They, too, shroud themselves in anonymity. 'T he over-all impression, then, is one of cynism and emptiness, artificiality, and insincerity. Who wants to buy apples which are rotten at the core? RFE's Program In conclusion, we must ask: What, then, is the program of Radio Free Europe, or has no program been designed so far? Those behind the Curtain, who have the time to listen at all, would like to know in what way liberation may be achieved, and what specific assistance, beyond mere words, the West might be able to offer. Radio Free Europe has not been able to supply any satisfactory information in respect to this all-important ,problem. Here, however, we cannot help allowing for valid reasons to excuse much of RFE's ineffectualness; for even if RFE were staffed with outright, hard-hitting anti-Communists, it could not ,possibly make any promises which the Western governments, particularly the government of the U. S. A., were not willing to back with power. There is no use in claiming superiority in aircraft or guided missiles if that superiority admittedly does not exist. It is not possible to promise an economic blockade as long as that policy has not been adopted by the American government. Radio Free Europe - or any of the other liberation �56 SLOVAKIA stations - cannot very well offer the severing of diplomati c relations with the Soviet criminals when our own statesmen meet with them at the summit and have lots of smiling pictures :taken for the benefit of the Soviet ieaders. However, if RFE were really (instead of merely in name) an independe nt and private organizat ion, and really staffed with intelligen t and genuine anti-Com munists, it could urge Western governme nts to take stronger steps. Radio Free Europe might demand the creation of military units exclusive ly composed of refugee and e~pellee volunteers. It might demand the ousting of Commun ists from both internatio nal and national organizat ions. It might establish extensive contacts with the undergro und behind the Curtain, instead of causing its discovery and extermin ation by Communi sts. Radio Free Europe might frankly discuss the present difficultie s while at the same time exhorting the Iron Curtain slaves not to lose hope. The trans-Cu rtain ,people who long for liberty might at least be informed about where all of us stand. They should know about a long-rang e .p rogram as well as what can be done at this time. Most importan t of all, Radio Free Europe should become a clear and shining beacon to those who are willing to fight for their liberties. This can only be achieved by throwing out the clowns and confusion ists who want to fight communism with a Socialist "peo1ple',s program. " If Radio Free Europe cannot cleanse itself because it is from top to bottom infested with collectivists, internatio nalists, materialists and decadents , then it would be better to shut it down and replace it with an entirely new organizat ion. Perhaps this great reform cannot be undertak en as long a:s even in the United States the grass roots patriots, who unequivocally believe in God, the Constitut ion and freedom of enterprise , are successfu lly boycotted and ridiculed. Perhaps an effective liberation station can only be establishe d when at last the collectivi st corrupter s of the United States are driven from their entrenche d ,p ositions in America' s public institution s, and her means of communi cation, and her governme nt itself. � SLOVAKIA 17 A CLOSE-UP VIEW OF RADIO FREE EUROPE By Jiri Brada ( From January, February, and March, 1956, issues of "FACTS FORUM," Dallas, Texas) Radio Free Europe, a netwoPk of stations which has been set up in westeim Europe for the purpose of sending anti-Communist broadcasts to the peoples on the other side of the Iron Curtain, is a division of Free Europe Committee, Inc. The latter, a private organization, was founded in 1949 by a group of American citizens, among whom the Hon. Herbert H. Lehman, U. S. Senator from New York, played a prominent role. In 1950, the Free :illurope Committee started its annual fund-raising drive under t'he name of Crusade for Freedom. Most of us, at one time or another, have bee111 exposed to the propaganda of thi,s powerful orgacization, via newspapers, radio, television, freedom cars, and freedom trains, and most of us have read and heard a'bout FEC's muchpublicized freedom balloons. The Free Europe Committee claims that millions of its funds have been contributed by more than twenty-five million American citizens. Many more millions of dollars, though, have 1been donated by corporations, including some of the large foundations. Henry Ford II, whose Ford Foundation through the yeairs has been a heavy contributor, is nationa:l chairman of the Crusade for Freedom. As such he is the ,successor of General Lucius D. Clay. Other ,prominent sponsors of the project include David Sarnoff, Edward R. Murrow, Harold E . Stassen, Walter S. Gifford, Samuel Unger, Geo:rge Barasch, C. B. Tibbets, and Joseph J. Fliesser. Headquarters of the Crusaide is 29 West 157th Street, New York City. C. D. Jackson, in crucial years one of President Ei~ senho.w er's "paiace guard," headed the Free, Europe Committee for a cosiderable length of time. Wh~tney H. Shepardson is its current president. Joseph C. Grew, former U. S. Ambassador to Japan, is Chairman of the Board of the F,r ee Europe Committee. Arthur W. Page is Chairman of the Executive Committee. �18 SLOVAKIA Vice presidents include W. J. C. Eagan, Levering Tyson, Samuel S. Wa.J.ikeT, JT., and :Bernard Yarrow. Jo'hn C. Tra.phagen serves as treasurer, Theodore C. Augustine as secretary and assistant itireasurer, and J. Clay.ton Miller as assistant secretary. On March 15, 1955, Helfuert H. Lang was replaced as Director of Radio Free Europe by W. J. C. Eagan. 'Dhe Board of Directors, besides several of the abo.venamed, is composed of A. A. Berle, David K. :ID. Bruce, Jr. , Frederick R. Dolbeare, Julius Fleischmann, H. B. Miller, Irving S. Olds, George U. 1S huster, Charles M. Spofford, and H. Gregory Thomas. Among additiona:l sponsors of the Free EUTope Comm1ttee we find such nationally known figures as Clarence L. Adcock, Raymond Pace Alexander, Laird Bell, Francis Biddle, Rolbert Woods Bliss, Robert F. Bradford, !Hairry A. Bullis, Cecile B. De Mille, Frank R. Denton, William J. Donovan, Mark 1F . iIDthridge, James A. Farley, Virginia C. Gildersleeve, Charles R.. Hook, Palmer Hoyt, Paul Kesten, Henry ,R, Luce, Joseph V. McKee, Web Maddox, H. B. Miller, tSamuel E. Morison, F.rederiok Osborn, John W. Sibley, Sp)'l'os Skouras, Chairles P. 'Daft, DeWitt Wallace, W. W. Waymac:k, Walter H. Wheeler, Jr., Charles E. Wilson, Mrs. Quincy Wright, and Darryl Zanuck. The 1952 list of national sponsors also featured Jaimes B. Carey, .A:J.ilen W . Dulles, William Green, and Matthew Woll. Besides a sprinkL ing of men who uphold America's tradiitions of limited govVeTrunent and the free market economy, there is :the usual contingent of ancient and ubiquitous New Dealers. Headquarters of ,t he Free Emope Committee is a few stone's throws from <bhrut of the Crusade for Freedom, at 110 West 57th Street, New Yo.rk City. The political and ideological influence of the Free Europe Committee spans continents. No organization in the world exerts more power over the refugees from eastern Europe. lt practicaft:ly maintains a monopoly on placing refugee students in American colleges. It controls the University College at 'S trassbourg, F.rance. Besides the periodical, News from Behind the Iron Curtains, :the Free Europe Commi,t tee has published num- �SLOVAKIA 19 erous booklets and pamphlets Olll communism in eastern Europe. Radio 1Free IDurope, whioh is lo·cated at the Committee's headquarters, 110 West 57th ,S treet, is thus but one, though no doU!bt the most important, department of the Free Em:-ope Committee. While officially a dilVision of a private o,r gani,z ation, Radio Free Em·ope does of course not devise amy arbitrairy policy of its own. It has been conceived as a private a:rnn of the American government's foreign policy and as such reflects the res,pective competence or confusion of Washington. The princ1pal editorial offices of Radio F1ree Europe, while taking their cues from New Yor.k and Washington, are located in Euro.pe, especia!lly in western Germany. European headquarters is at English Gardens (Englisoher Garten) 1, Munich 23, Germany. Riahard J. Condon is European diirector. The largest :broadcasting stations of Radio Free Europe aire located outside of Munich and Frankfurt on the Main. Their principal programs are broadcast in the various languages oif Communist-dominaited peoples, suoh as Czech, Slovaik, Hungarian, Roumanian, Bulgarian, Albanian, and Polish. Influence of Soviet Postwar Policy In order to grasp the policy of these programs, it ~ well worth recalling the Soviet postwar policy in the satellite nations of eastern Europe. For the sa;ke of appearance and eXipediency, no outright Communist governments were set up by the USSR immediately upon the end of World War fil. •I nstead, there arose the so-calied governments of "national fronts" or "people's fronts" or "popular :fironts." Moscow's commissars saw to it that no parities of the real center nor, of course, any of the ,right wing m01Vements were admitted to these fronts; lbut even the non-Communist left wing parties, such as those of the Socialists or Social Democrats, were from the outset largely ied by puppets of the Soviet Union, many of whom had up to then lived in comparative obscurity. Within the course of a few months or years respective- �20 SLOVAKIA ly, these non-.Communisit leftist parties were forged into total tools of the globa.'l Communist conspiracy. Freedom of eleotion, assembly and press weire abolished; trade and industry were nationalized; non-·conformis:ts, by means of the "people's courts," were crushed, and "national committees," virz. soviets, soon dictated and .strangled all !branches of ,public and private iife. 'Dho.ughtful readers may wonder why so many of the Socialist-minded colla,borators were in due time permitted by the Co.m munist authorities to leave their countries. They cannot help being amazed to iearn that it is maiinly these collectivi.stic refugees from the sateilli,te nations whom Radio Free Europe has entrusted with program-.c ontroHing positions. There ,Marxians and sta,tists were 'ballyhooed as "victims" of rS oviet 1persecution, while practically all those who had escaped from the Communists when the Russian armies swept over their countries, i.e., those who at all times had ste·a dfa:stly opposed the Communist menace, were systematicallv excluded from Radi·o Free Europe. Is it possible that a good many of these Socialist twin brothers of the C ommunists were not prevented from reaching our side of the Iron Curtain because on the basis of their ,Marxist past they were likely to confuse and adultcra,te the crusade of the free world? Is it possi,b le that some of them even promised merely to pose as foes of communism, and therefore in r eality continued their collabora-· tion with the Communists, in the guise of foes? At any rate, quite a few of these recent allies, of the Communists are now earning considerable fees firom the funds of the Crusade for Freedom, in payment of their ineffectual and phony ;psychological warfare. Former Red Confederates in Top Jobs The real champions of political and economic freedom , the real opponents of state intervention, the real adversaries o.f materialism, atheism and tyranny were either rejected or ffa-ed by <Radio Free Europe, and are now sitting on the side lines. The men of the Kremlin should indeed be pleased with this curious policy of Radio• 'Free Europe. To be sure, RF1E's •b osses offer us a re ady-made excuse �SLOVAKIA 21 for employing so many former Soviet collruborators in top positions. No one, they aver, is more thoroughly aware of Communist deviousness than 8Jre those who have experienced Communist tactics in practice. However-and this is the crux of the matter-not one of these former confe• derates of the Communists !has come forth !With any .protest against his former ooHa;boration, and none of the former Communists on Rooio Free Europe has come forth with any protest against his former communism. They shun the role of the ,r epentant sinner. They all of a sudden ,p ose as experts of :the democrntic way, a;s pioneers of individual, personal freedom. The Whittaker Chamtbers type is excluded. By no means have aH of these men mere:ly posed ais anti-Communists while in ever so many instances they could not help going soft on the Communist -line. A giroot many, being Socialists, have been so blind with regard to -limited governmental and the free mar,ket economy, and still are such loyal believeil'S in the benefits of Socialist inter,vention, planning and control, that they consistently devise policies which ,p lay into the hands of the Communists by appeasing them. The Polish, Ozechoslo1va;k and Hungarian broadcasting stations of IRadio Free Europe, which equal the power of t he German station in ,M unich, i. e., 50,000 watts, run pro. grams for 20 hours a day. Nume!l'ous short wave stations send broadcasts in the various idioms of eastern Europe t hree or four houirs daily. It is claimed that 29 RF:Ei statjons are now functioning. The Czechoslovak station near Munich is as strong as that of Munich or that of the American Forces network, in that city. In operation since May 1, 1951, it covers political commentaries; daily commentaries; the international situat ion (transmitted from New York offices); programs for workers, peasants, women, young ,people, and children; economics; history; music; entertainment, etc. , and news every hour on the hour. Source Material Far Left of Center The over-all ideology of these prog1rams is largely determined by former members of the Czechoslovak National �22 SLOVcAKIIA Front, i.e., one-time Co,. nrpu:ni.3t colla,borator.s. From time to time, these men ireceive written instructions of specific subjects :from the New Yovk offices where left..,wingers set the tone Dr. Mar.tin Kvetko and Dr. Julius First, :known and prominent former pro-Oommunists, instruct alll editors at regular meetings. Carefully selected boo.ks on communism, clippings from such American publications ·a s The New York Times, The New York Hierald T.rilbune, T.iine, Life, ~tc., items from the press of AmerJcan la;bor unions, material from Communist paipers on bo:th sides of the Curtain, and monitored terts of the Czechoslova;k Communist radio represent the source materiaJl f.rom which the script writers draw. Theire are also special "intelligence" reports. Straight conservative papers and magazines are ta;boo at Radio Free Em:rope. Script writera know how to toe the line. They know that they might as welJ -look for another job if they dare use_materiail or ideas from the Ohicago Triibune or such of Oll!I' magazines :as American !Mercury, American Legion Maga•zine, Ohristian Economics, HUiIIlan Events, National Review and National Repulblic. To summarize - iRJmE progtrams are shl!,POO- according to the dM"ectives of (a) :the American bosses and (b) the hired leftist National Fronters from eastern Europe. The ran!k and file Socialist or o:therwise• leftist editors are either unintelligent or servile or both, and grind out their chores in accordance with their o.rders. AoturuNy, tRill1E policies vary only in degree, !but not in sulbstance,. :f.rom other psychological warfare .s tations of the free world. These inolude Radio Free Asia, strution RIAS in Berlin, Radio Llberation - a private Amer.ican station which broadcasts to IPOOPles inside the USSR - and of course the Voice of America. None of them ,t akes a consistent stand againsit the iphilosophy of g01Vernment intervention a;nd government control, none of them - except for occasional and half-ilieaTted Hp servJce- champions freedom of enterprise. No wonder that so far our psychological warfare has failed. In order to document for American readers WlhaA: sort of ideas aTe being tTansmitted to the fron Curtain world �SLOVAKIA 23 iby their expensive ly staffed freed.om stations, I have for some years gathered from RFE Czec'hoslov.alk programs a substantia :l coNection of radio scTipbs and tape recording s, from which I sha;ll quote in the followh]-g. If any Sllogan may be offered to character ize the genera:! tenor of all too many programs , let us quote whait a well-know n American a·p ologist for the Soviet causes has said in the process of the Far Eastern debacle: "Let them fall, ;b ut do not let it appear that we pushed them." Propagation of Socialism May 1, 1953, 3 :15 ip. m . : "The Socialist youth of the whole world sends its greetings to the youth of Czechoslovakia. We assuTe you that we s hall reach the aim ... the day, when we will be alble to join you in democrac y in the fig,ht for socialism , social justice and freed.om. " At the end of the program the International was played. (The International is the rallying song of world communi sm.) May 3, 1953, 1,2 :15 p. m.: Ferdinan d Peroutka , chief of R~'s Czechoslova!k desk in New York, a weH-known Soci'alist rund one-•t ime .prominen t member of the pro-Comu munist National •ffiront, in his "Sunday Comment s of Ferdinand Peroutka ": "Eisenho wer's program, on .t:he other hand, even though America's factories have not been nati01I1ali2:ed, stands for the concept of world socialism . TheTe is no better way to desoribe it. This is sociaJism . . . The aim of 1:Jhe program outlined by tile President of the United States is to socialize -life." 1 May 1, 1954, 2 :'50 p. m.: "Today, on May 1st, we convey our g,reetings to aN those who are dedicated to the faith in democrat ic socialism ." (To Commun ist-domin ated countries May 1st is synonym ous with America' s July 4th, and the term "Democra tic Socialism " is a Commun ist term used in May Day speeches to descTilbe Commun ist ideology. ) May 4, 1954, 2:10 p. m.: "Program for WorkeTs: "Leon Jouhaux - a g,reat man, descende d from a famNy in which revoltitio nism has been a tradition . His father partidpaJ ted in the revo.1t of the Paris Commun e . . . a born revolution ary ... " GANS.ER LIBRARY MILLERS VILLE STATE COLLEGE �24 SLOV!AKIA May 5, 1954, 2:10 p. m.: "Leon Jouhaux - a great revolutionary, a great rre:fo1rmeT ... " March 23, 1'955, 12:40 p. m. Program, "We Call the Communist Party": "The present order (in eastern Europe) r:ierely serves to continue the dictatorship . . . this jungle which falsely is fabeiled as legitimaJte socia.lism." March 23, 2:20 p. m. Dr. Jan Hajek, on program, "Living Science - Discussion with Young People," said : "Socia1ism has 1become adult. Socialist thinkers are no longer irresponsible radicals. The fundamenta!l problem of modern socialism is man's relation to the state. "The modern socialist rejects both extremes - laissez faire and state control. He is aware of his duties as well as his rigihts. "The citizens of the Socialist society must be conscious of their heritage, aind proud of it." Along this line, the Czechoslova:k editors and broadca;sters crurefully avoid repudiating the measures of socializaJtion and communrzation wbich their own National Front had irnstituted in tJhe postwar years, and often go so far a;s to appro;ve of similar Communist measures in satellite Europe. Thus, on October 28, 1952, at 11 :'50 a. m., the broadcaster of "We Cali t he Communist Party," exclaimed: "Seven years ago, .the decrees of the P,r esident of the Republic ibrought forth the nationalization of industry. In this way Czechoslovakia set out on her way of democraJtic independence.'' So.oialist Policies Defended T.hese ipsychological warriors of the RFE thus still don't realize tha,t it was a crime to cooperate with the Communists, or if they do, :they don't admit it. There is never any hint that the 1Socialist po'licies of the National Front as such have iJ.ed to disaster, no inkling that socialism, because it infringes upon the rights of the individual, leads to communism. Therefo,re, these so-called freedom ,broadcasters ne;ver ,p oint out that the misery of the :p eople in eastern Europe -largely deri;ves from Socialist meddling with the affairs of :the people ; they blame it all on \Soviet exploitation, armaments, emphasis on heavy industry, and that sort of thing. �SLOVAKIA 25 Yes, ,t hey have mentioned the "forced Communist eco-• nomy." What they mean by it may be seen from "Lnternationa1 Commentary from New York," in its :broadca,st April 18, 1953, at 6 :05 p. m. The broadcaster explained that "this mearus in Czechoslovakia bhe return of the fo,r mer export policy, ,t he return to the production of quality arrticies. To put an end to this over-emphasis, on heavy industry must be the goal of our new democratic way." · That is all. No, reference to libeTation from the Socialist bureauaracy, from Socialist oppression. Just a shift from armaments to quality ,p roducts. Nothing more. Feroinamd Peroutka, in his broadca;st of 'Sunday, April 27, 1952, at 12 :15 p. m., declared: "The Communists lie when they tell you that we want to ;restore caipitalism, that we intend to ,r eturn to the proprietors the property which has been ta1ken from them some time ago . . . I repeat: the program ,o f the Czechoslova•k exiles is not capitalism and the return to 1938. Nor do we wish to hand baok the mines and foundries to their former owners. All we care for is thaJt the Communist government, which means dependence on Russia, disappears." It might be argued that an occasional ,p rogram of this sort migiht have its place in the o.ver-all setup 1because, after all, there still are oM 'Socialists in Czechoslovalkia who have no use for the Communists. Yet isn't it strange that while there are programs for workeirs, peaJSants and Communists, there are none £or businessmen? Sometimes they talk about free competition, but often it is but the competitiion of collectively owned factories amongst themselves. The terminology of their broadcasts is af the Socialist variety, including the trite ranting against "Capitalists" and "reactionaries". I now shail ,proceed to offer documentary evidence to show that Radio •F ree Europe also aids, and sometimes even propagates, Titoism and communism, and frequently extols Communist leaders. Milos Vanek, one-.time big wheel in the Commun1st party of Czechoslovakia, and now chief of the economics department of RFE's Czechoslovak desk, said on November 21. 1952. at 11.30 a. m.: "Marx. Engels. Trotsky-for them 1 �26 SLOVAKIA Marxism was the ,s ubstitute for the Western revoilution of human rights." The co:mmentaJtor of "Weekly Survey of the Ame:rican Press," on April 12, 1953, art; 8 :30 a. m., said: "The New York Herald Trilbune is of the opinion that the trial of Mindszenty, the HungM'ian cardin.a;l, as wehl as the trial of Slansky and similar crimes in other Communist countries, ought to ,be remembered ... " Possibly, if not proba,bly, tt was one of the numerous left-wingers on the staff of the Tribune who plamed this cOITU!pting little seed of associating the fearless anti-Comm'l.llllist cairdinal with that old Marxian wheel'horse and Kremlin errand iboy, Slans.ky..Salzmann, who stood as solidly for the Leninist-iStalinist program as any Communist who happened to get purged in some intra..party feud. Sure enough, if the Tribune man did not give a ring to his pal at the CzechosloV'aik desk in New York's RFE heaidquarters, the latter did not fail to picik up that choke tidlbit. After all, any "opinion" of the stai:d and ·p resumably coruserva,tive New Yo11k Herald 'Dribune is safe quoting. Who is there 1bra;zen enough to accuse the o}d Tribune of being sUJbversi,v e? And thus, by association with a ,primate and mal1tyr of the Roman Catholic Church, a Communist li0kspittle is being groomed for respectaJbility. And this in the name of fighting the totalitarian enemy, by an organization which is financed by American donations, a;nd which is sponsored ,b y well--Omown Americams. Again and again, ,R JFE's psychological warriors do not attack Marxism-eommunism as such but what, with tears of regret, they c01I1de:mn is its "degeneracy." Consequently, the listener-unless he be quite alert--is mduced to fancy that communilsm, with which so many RFE bigwigs: once cooperated, would not be so bad if only it had not "degenerated." RFE Attacks Russian Imperialism but not Communism Fid<filing that tune, RJF])'s "Europe without the Iron Curtain," on March 2, 1952, at 3:45 .p. m., complained a/bout the "degeneration of the old Communist ideaJls." Commenting on the arrest of the Kremlin-serving boss- �SLOVAKIA 27 es Sling, Olementis and 'Slansky, RFE's "Comments on Events of the Day," on February 13, 1952, at 7 :30 p. m., waxed somewihat melanc'hoiic: "They consciously closed their eyes, dreaming about the Communist security of the future . . . they dreamed . . . what was to remain of the ide·a ls once the dream had come to Ml end?... A cynical disdain for Communist ideals ... " K•rurol Bel:aJk-lBerger, the left wing Socialist, in RFE's "Round Table Discussion," on April 12, 1953, at 3 :05 p. m., nostalgically referred to the "millions of idealists and men of good wilJ" who had lbelieved in communism and merely deplored the "methods" that had "failed." Regretfully he mused that "the whole aippeal of communism has evaporated ... " 'I'.he policy of collaboration with the Communists was quite distinotly expressed by the old Socialist comrade, Ferdinand Peroutka, in his '~Sunday Oomments" of April 27, 1952, at 12 :15 p. m., when he answered the attack of the Communist dM'ly, !Rude Pravo, on exil.es such a,s he. '"It a<ecuses us of wor,king for the restoration of capitalism, along with the return of the western powers," stated Peroutka. "All we wish to say in reply to these accusations is this: "There has been a Socialist government in England for six yeam. This government would hardly have forced you, the Czech and Slovak people, to accept capitalism. Today we have a Conservatiive government in EngJand. Yet it has not abolished any of the Labor government's Socialist measures, and it would not do anything of the sort in CzechoslovaJkia. "As to America-she supports T1to. Now even though Tito acc~ts America's /bountiful assistance with open hands, t he United States government has not demanded the denationalization of a single Yugoslav factory. Yes, Tiito never ceased to be a Communist. America says: 'Let everyone do as he pleases.' America says: 'Go ahead and be a Communist if that's what you want. All we ask is that you stop supporting Russian imperialism.' America has no 1ntention �28 SLOVAKIA to force runyone, including Czechoslovaikia, to return to capitalism." iDr. Miloslav Kohak, another widely known one-time. Communist collaborator of the National Front who saved his skin in the nick of time and landed a fat job as cllief (until his replacement recently) of RJFE's "Political Comments on the Siituation at Hlome," on November 25, 1952, at 10:45 a. m., had this to say ,a bout Arthur London: "From ,b eg.inning to end, the indictment against London is preposterous. It is the whoie International Brigade of the Civil War irn Spain which is 'being attacked in his person-another proof of the reactionary attitude now prevailing in the Soviet Uni:on. She no longer wants the support of men who. believe in ideals, ibut only of those who believe in bayonets." On May 8, 1954, at 5 :45 .p. m., in "Stories Written ey Life," a young Communist inmate of a slave labor camp was quoted as follows: "Your Christian concept comes close to the 01riginal Leninist ideology . . . We must wm•k toge-· ther, faithful to the ideas which Lenin has taught us." Dr. Jaros}aiv Stransky, Socialist and an oJd Oommunist collaborator of the Nationa1 Front, said in "Taik with Home," on March 1, 1952, at 9 :30 p. m.: "Denunciation should not play amy .part in ,p olitics . . . Arny honest Communist will join the rest of us in condemning denunciation." Probably the old collaborator still believes that it is possible for Communists to ibe honest. Consequently he had no trouble :i n slipping that one in. The trouble with Radio Free Europe, though, is quite another matter. Squandering miHions of American dollars for the alleged ,purpose of fighting communi:sm, it hires old Communist collaborators who rant about "honest" Communists. "We Call the Communist Party," of February 22, 1952, at 11.45 a. m., went all out in praise of Communist cultural achievements. "Czech Communist literature ha;s brought forth works of outstanding value," RFE's psychological warrior declared. "We enjoy reading Communist authors as much as any others." A curious way of inducing an anti-Communist attitude, to say the least. �29 SLOVAKIA 'Dhe Socialist 'Franta Klatil, in "Political Comments on the Situation at Home," on April 21, 1953, at 11]_ :45 a. m., mused that "Tito has more character ithan his one-time aL lies in Prague . . . iHe secured this independence, and quite thoroug,hly at that." It is quite a common rprocedure foir Radio Free Europe to quote Tito and Red Yugoslavia's press as authorities in both moral and political matters. Holiday trips to Tito's Yugoslavia have ,b ecome a cherished habit o,f RFE's editors. Programs Glorify Revolutionary Workers Another variety of the collectivist ideology which pre~ vails among RFE eclitora is the frequent praise of those enemies o,f the Kremlin who have not been able to toe the party line but 'have otherwise been valuable fighters in the class struggle against the so-called exploiters. Thus, the RFE .script, "We CaU the Communist Party," which was broadcast to Ozechoslov,a kia on March 29, 1955, at 12 :40 p. m., in its glorification of title revolutionary workers of Kronstadt sounds as if it had been wr.itten by the old Lithu~ ani3JI14m.e:rican anarchist Alexander Benkman. "'I1he workers of Kronstadt," it says in that script, "fought so that the soviets may be elected freely and democratically, that their just demands be fulfilled - demands which ,w ere entirely in the spirit of the Oct01ber Revolution. They fought for democrati:c soviets ... " True enough, this broadcas-t; was addressed to Communits, and it might seem reasona,;ble to some to appeal to -Communists in the spirit of genuine communism; but is it likely that hardened trans--Ourtain Communi sts of 1955 believe in appeals in behalf of communi~m when they M"e uttered by those who are hired by Americans? Yet, incredtble though it may appear, that is the line which RFE commentators adopted a:S fate as 1955. Let us choose another example of this folly by quoting Dr. JaroS'la.v tStransky, former minister of the National Front, in his "Commentary on the Political Situation" of April 2, 1955, 9 :50 a. m. In this gem of an "anti-Communist" ,b roa.d~ast, the Communist collaborator of b.ut a few yea.rs ago sang the praise of the "Spartacus Bund," the 1 �30 SLOVAKIA militant group which, following World War I, broke away from Germany's left wing 'Socirulists in order to usher in the Communist ·r evolution. Stransky really waxed lyr-ical over Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, the .two most prominent and violent ieaders: of early German communism. "The modern 1Spartacus movement," pontificated Stransky in behalf of iRFE's version of freedom, "Karl Liebknecht and !Rosa Luxemburg . . . they were pacifists, the foes of imperi:aiism and militarism . . . they were beaten to death iby the mob . . . theN" articles, their speeches, their lettevs were inspired by a vision of order and beauty for the modem world . . . in every sentence which that undersized, unga.irny Jewess, Luxemburg, wrote, there was humaneness and poesy ... " We are not arguing a:bout the lofty intentions of these two world famous pioneers of the Communist revolution, misguided and unbalanced though they were. We are here questioning the wisdom of Ameri'CMlS who, in the name of the freedom for which Washington and Lincoln lirved and died, hN'e a notorious one-time Communist collaJborator who stiH offers hymns to the cause of the Communist revolution. That Stransky shmdd express such revolutionary feeL ings is obvious; that well-meaning Americans should sponhor such project does ,p rovide food for thought. National Fronts Vaunted In line with this farcically suicidal policy these RFE psychological wrurriors natua-ally still vaunt the very Nationa'l Front which paved the way for the total subjugation of the Czech and 'Slovak people •b y the Communists. These strange refugee policy-maJkers, script-writers and editors still live in that dreary world in which fatal short-~ghtedness delivered their people into. the hands of the ,Krem!lin. Thus, on October 28, 1952, at 10 :05 a. m., these socaned heralds of freedom told the home folks ibeihind the Cua-tain: "There wiH once more ,b e a time when Benes will arise ... " On OctOlber '2/l, 1953, at 4 :35 p. m., they aippealed to "those who remember the pre..,F~bruary (i.e.,. 1945-48) democra~y ... " On January 11, 1953, at 1:1:30 a. m., the Je:ftist ,S ociaiist Belak-iBerger, "in Comments on the Events �SLOVAKIA 31 of the Day," exclaimed: "The real Nationa;l Front (i.e., peaceful ,Socialist-Communist collaborators) today lives in the hearts of the Ozechs and SlovaJks." As if there had not been mass murders all over Czeohoslova;kia ,throughout the existence of the National Front, RFE's "Time, Men, Events" of OctOlbeT 18, 1952, at 10 :15 a. m., told the good ipeople behind the Curtain that "the conditions of 194!5 adually orig.iinated in the will and the wish of ,the majority of the people." New Yovk "Comments of the International Situation," on April 12, 1952, decried the "Communist treason" of February, 1948, 1b y which the last collruborators of the National Front were ex;pelled ,b y the K!remlin's agents. "The Communists," this broadcast said, "seized ,p ower by means of the militia and the police ... Before this time (i.e., before February, 1948, d!uTi'Il!g the entire time of the National Front) the democratic politicians had pro.v ed their .g ood will to cooperate (with the Communi:sts ... However) the democratic politioians (the National Front men and today the RFE men) ·· were removed ... " This is of course true, as all of us know. Yet what sort of democrats are Commumst collaborators who tacitly consent or act1vely connive at the suppressiion and murder of political non-conformists? These Nationa,l ·F ronters, now employed by IRFE, did not discoiver the criminality of their Communist a:IHes when moderates and conservatives were systematical!ly murdered. Only when tihe Communists put the finishing touches on the enslavement of .the Ozec'hoslova!k people by exterminating their own co,Uaborators did these curious freedom fighters b,elatedly decide that the Krem1in's henchmen were afiter all poor champions of liberty. Yet whom do the American ,b osses ·o f Radio F.ree Europe select for speaking to the enslaved people of Ozecho"' slovalkia? Not those \WlO from the beginning refused to compromise with the Communist tyrants. They have preferred to choos:e such National Fronters as Dr. iPetr Zenkl, Dr. Joseph Lettrich, Vaclav Majer, Dr. Ivo Duchacclc, and Dr. Ja,roslav Stransky. The latter has ,b een offered as a weeklv feature attraction. �32 SLOVAKIA Like Alger Hiss, who stiU maintains that Yalta was "a good thing," but that the bad Communists unfortunately broke their ,pledges, these N8Jtiona:l Fronters claim that their colla:borator with the CommunLsbs---the so-called Kosice Program-would have been "a good thing" if only the Communists had not .proved to be treacherous. Instead of at last a:dmitting that the Kosice Program was criminal folly from the outset, they still refer to it as an "ideal." In 1955, when the Communists in Czechoslovakia celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Kosice Program, RFE's "Head and Tail," in a broadcast of April 5, at 8 :15 a. m., declared: "Communist propaganda appeals to democracy, i.e., to the ideals which the Communists have betrayed." On April 7, 1955, at 12 :40 p. m., RFE's "We Call the Communist Party" still praised the Kosice government program, "according to which the Czechoslovalk peo.ple were to elect their representatives in free and secret elections." This whitewashing of the Kosice Program is a deliberate falsehood because only four left wing parties then were handed out licenses by the Communist masters while all anti-Communist parties were declared illegal. The Kersten Committee of the U. S. !House of Representatives ha:s put this sham psychological warfare of RFE in the proper light, by Report No. 8, of December 31, 1954. "Especially the proclamation of the Kosice P.rogram, of April 5, :1,94'5," the Report states on pruge 17, "opened the door for an unobstructed drive on the part of the Communists to seize full power in the country." Policy of Appeasement Let the readers draw their conclusions as they see fit. There is no better way to expose the intrinsic bankruptcy of Radio Free Europe's policy. It is not the fight against communism which these psychological war.rio,rs carry on; they stand for 8Jppeasment amd reconciEation. Thus, of ail ,peo.ple, Konni Zilliacus, the led:t wing Brit~ ish Laborite who has for years been a faithfuil contributor to publi-cations of the Communist ,party, was invited by Radio F.ree Europe to address the Czechosloivak peo,ple. This is what Zilliacus, in broken Czech, beamed over the �SLOVAKIA 33 air waves to the trams-Curtain sJ.a,ves, on April 17, 1953, at 12:40 p. m.: "You would enormously encourage and strengit,hen those in the West who-, for the sake of reconciliatio~, woU!ld l.ike to meet the .Soviet Uni:on and the people's democracies half -w ay if you were to rehabi'liltate those of the Prague trial wiho are ,s till in prison, and clear the memory of those who died or were killed ... " Zilliacurs here did not refer to, any anti-Communist victims. He spoke of .such Communists as the Secretary General of the Ozechoslo.vaik Communist Party, Slansky-Salzmann, who had been subjected to one of -qie interminruble purge triaJs and put to death by his coreligionist, Stefan Rais, then Communist Minister of Justice. No,t am.ti-Communists, but the arch-Communist Sbnsky-Saizmann and his confederates were to be "rehrubilitated" for the sake of " reconciliation" with the Communists. That is the sort of psycho1ogical warfare RJFE has been propagating. In similar vein, ,Milos Vanek, old champion of Red causes, said on Apri,l 12, 1953, at 3 :05 p. m.: " ... as long as the Soviet Union faiis to prove by deeds that she is in earnest in her alleged desire to put an end to the cold war and the hot war, she cannot expect that we may diminish our efforts to liberate all the oppressed peo,ples." One weeik later, on the same "Round Table Discussion" program, again at 3 :05 p. m., Vanek said: "First let the Communists mruke ,p eace with their own people. They ought to resort to peaceful means in their :internal policy, too." We might as weJtl asrk wolves to stop devouring lambs, and hyenas to turn into doves of peace. It is nothing less than RFE's zi1uacus and Vanek expect. It is therefore no exaggeration to state that Radio F,r ee Europe has consistently ad<kessed its broadcasts not to anti-Commu:nists, but to, Communists, Ti,to:i.sts, semi-Communists and pro-Communist Socialists b,e hind the Iron Curtain. This fatal policy has spread apathy among what is left of genuine anti-Communists ,b eyond the Curtain. This is not ,t he inspiring fi.g,ht for freedom; it is the deadly appeasement of the Communist tyranny. Inasmuch as Radio Free Europe is controlled and staffed by socialists, pro-Comm1mists, World Federa:lirsts �SLOVAKIA 34. and other assorted internationalists, we should not be surprised ,t o learn that ineffective and harmful progz,ams, and even broadcasts amounting to, srubotage, have character.i~d its specific ,policies. Particu!larly noteworthy features comprise: 1. The reipetition of lbanalities-"truth- telling." 2. The "People's iProgra.m.." 3. Attacks on petty Communists and prote.ction of Communist bosses. 4. tDefonse of American pro-Communist errors. 5. Broadcasts amounting to saJbotage. 6. The spreading of recognizable and destructive lies. 7. Failure ,t o propagate Gemnan-Czech and GermanPolish reconci'li ation. 8. Occasional advice to, follow Communist suggestions. 9. I.;eininist inoitement to premature revolts. 10. Propa:gation of decadent literature and music. 11. Propagation of internationalism and racial merger. 12. Praise for the New Dea:lera, and criticism of con-· servative Americans. 1 Repetition of Banalities F'or many a year, a disproportionate amount of broadcast time, be it out of ineptness or aotually malicious intent, has ibeen alloted by Radio. Free Europe to the never-ending reiteration of banrulities. We might identify this curious practice as RF1E's special little game of "telling the truth." it goes somewhat ,l ike this: - the Communists call Americans imper.iaJlists; Ame~ rioans are not imperiaUsts. - the Com.mu.rusts claim that they want peace; Communists don't waJILt ,p eace. - the Communists claim that the American economy is !bad; the America1I1. economy is good. Of what avail is the production of sue'h trivialitie.s? Can there be any doubt that the endless repetition of such trite assertions Sipreads boredom and turns away potential listeners? If at least RJFE}'s broadcastevs made a sustained effort to explain why Americans are not imperialists, and why their economy excels that of the collectivists, listeners �SLOVAKIA 35 might be inspired to do, some constructive thinking. The natm-e of RFE's script writers a:nd editors, of course, forbids any such sensilble procedure; for collectivists cannot be expected .to expose the impotence of collectivism. 1In a certain way, RIFE prides itself on beiing "specific" in the stale little game of ".teilling the truth." As an example, the reporter of a broadcast delivered on May 3rd, 1953, ait 8:45 a. m., stated: "In Hungary .t here are obvious supply defficiencies ... Canned food has gone ,b ad ... There is a laok of suga1:> in Bulgaria ... Poland suffers from a shmtage of fish ... " This sort of news, of coll!I'se, is no news behind the Iron Curtain. If t:he economic fai,l,ure of the Soviet re-alm were expl,a ined as the inevitable result of state intervention, listene~ might find it proper to heed such programs. Another part of the quaint little truth-telling game consists of reporting concrete conditions and haippenings from t'he world of the slaive labor camps. Inasmuch as there cannot ,b e any suggestion. regarding the termination of these horrors, the effect of these reports is exactly what the Corrurnmist leaders desire, i. e., to lame the wiU of the people by striking teirror into their hearts. Until May 1, 1954, this sort of aimless and uncoordinated "truth-,teUing" seemed to 1b e RFE's princi,pal task Then--at last-a definite over-all program was announced. Does this mean liberation? Let us look and see. The "Program of the •P eople's Opposi.t ion," proposed on Labor Day, 1954, ait 10 :10 a. m. , and frequently reiterated and referred to, ever since, contained the foUowing ten postulates,: 1. LaJbor unions s'hould belong to their memberis, not the b9sses. The positions of union officials should be elective. 2. There should be less ta1k and more hrurd cash. Hon-est money (sic!) for honest work. 3. The worker should be permitted to choose the type of work he prefers. 4. Overtime should be outlawed. 5. Peasants should be a:llowed to quit the kolkho,z es (i.e. 1 cdllectivies) if they so desire. �36 SLOVAKIA 6. There should be a ceHing on the state's s'hare of agricwltural production. I!'arm oontributioos to the state should be equaliized. 7. The government should wovk for the people, not the politicians. 8. Production should benefit the people, not the state. 9. Emphasis should once more be on the consumer. Small shOil)S, owned and run by little ,people, should be revived, to serve the ,c onsumer. 10. The building industry should be mobiUzed for the benefit of the ,peop'le, instead of the state officials. Some points of this so_,called people's pro,g ram, at first sight, may look impressive. Its cardinal and decisive error derives precisely :firom the inability of its coUectivistic perpetraJtors to recognize the primacy of the enterprise. This program fails to go, to the root of the matter. It does not atfack state control as such. It merely proposes to mitigate and qualify. It is at its core plain socialism. Yet this is the sort of t'hing wihich, in the form of leaflets, is dropped from the trans-Curtain ,s kies by means of the "freedom balloons" which columnists like Drew Pearson have been vaunting for years. This program does not offer any decisive opposition to the tyranny of na;tiona'1ization as such. There is but the indecisive and dU'll suggestion to reform the preSleJilt Communist system, to abolish its excesses, to turn it into some form of Titoism or semi~communism or to return to the socialism of the bankrupt National Front. Instinctively, the Ozechs and Slovaks who hear this socalled ,p eople's program reach for the .lmob and shut it off. They must shrug their shottlders wt the oratorical antics of men .w ho :rant against ta'lking but in their own tum offer little beyond empty talrk. This "Program of the People',s Opposition" is faulty and spurious !because the concept of Rrudio Free Europe is based on a capital error. Radio Free Euro,p e basically main_ tams rthat the threat to the free world comes from Russia as an armed and aggressive power; it obfuscates the fundamental issue of the world~wide Communist conspiracy. In accordance with this leftist line, Radio Free Europe �SLOVAKIA 37 a:bsolutely never refers to, congressional investigations of subversirves in the United States. T.rans-1Curtain listeners M"e completely :unaware of the existence of such men a.IS Jenner, Velde, EaJStland, Walter, Dies, Reece, aJnd Mundt. When the Kerstein committee operated in Munich, in the summer of 1954, RJFE referred to it; but the texts of tes-timonies were edited to suit the over-all ·soft~peda:ling of basic issues. Radio Free Europe acts as if it were set up to preserve the concept of state bureaucracy and iprute:rnali:sm by all avaHa:ble means. Petty Communists Blamed for Party Policy Radio Free Europe acts a:s the quack who peddles curealls for the most nauseating aspects of the Comnmnist di-· sease; iit fails to tackle the roots of communism as such. Thrus it makes much ado about the chicaneries and perversions of petty Communist officiais, but it does not name the real culprits, the wire-,pulilers, the bosses who guide and encourage the brutalities of little village tyrants. Radio ·F ree Europe refers by name to individual Stakhanovites, tractor-drivers, and prison~guards; it disregards the organizers of the hruted Communist drives. lt thus actualily ,protects the pillars of the CommU.111ist society, the calclrlating masterminds who play on the wea;knesses of a confused citizenry and trap therir helpless victims in a net of Comm'll.llist demora1ization and perver,s ion. In "Messia:ges to Those at Home," Radio Free Europe p.hllories the little informers who are known to work for the ,s tate police. A1:most without exception these little fellows are known far and wide as stooges of the Communist masters. Dossiers on these puppets do not add to the knowledge rubout Communist evil-0oers. These dossieI's are largely based on dippings from the press of Communist-controllJ.ed eastern :IDurope. The secret agenrts of the Soviet police, the directors: of the pro.grarrn of terror, are never mentioned. "Messages to Those at Home," on February 29, 1952, at 7 :415 p. m., as an example, said: "Who is the mruster in Nitra? (A tiny Slova!k town-Editor.) Who is the master of whom the Soviet police itself is in fear? It is Sergeant Klike. He is hated, dreaded and mighty. He causes the .pllll- �38 SLOVAKIA ishment of policemen who sometimes haive a hearrt; for the.ix victims.'' Now, who is this monster, Sergeant K1ike? Not any "master" by any means. He is but wellArnoW111 little sergeant of the uniformed poJice ! Again, on June 26, 195,2, at 12 :15 p. m., "Messages to Those at Home" singled out a few Communist women: "Comrades M. PO!korelska, !H. Y anosikova, Kr. Bezakova and M. Dedinlmva," the broadcast addressed itself to these petty Communists, "swine-herds and tractor-drivers, re-· member m time the warnings of today. Tomorrow you may be brought to account for your misdeeds; but tomorrow may be too late for you." "'.Program for Civil and State Servants," on April. 10, 1955, at 8:40 a. m., importantly sounded off: "We call your attention to a dangerous informer. The pensioner Michalek, Kulda Street, Brno, ,persecutes beggars. He chases them from homes and often hands them over to the police. In your own interest, Comrade Michalek, we advise you to stop yoUT dirty work." This sort of broadcasting, declaimed in a lowered, almost comical tone, is suppooed to scare primitive swinehevds and tractor-drivers. The bosses are never named. Radio Flree Europe never criticizes the mistakes or the treason of the past and thus never has to expla;in the real reasons of the Communist successes in the past. In the same way as they conceal systematicaliy a11 real causes of the communization of Czechoslovakia, they conceal also the real causes of Communist advances in other part of the world. Let sleeping dogs lie~that seems to be RFE's guiding inspiration. There is no criticism of Teheran, Yalta, and Potsdam. These conferences, in line with the views of an Alger Hiss, are regavded as joot splendid. If only the bad men of the Kremlin had not betrayed their solemn pledges! "We Teach History," on February 13, 1952, at 6:15 p. m., stated: "The Sov.iet Union broke the Yalta rugreement and betrayed it . . . The ink on the document 'had hardly dried when the Soviet Union made a display of violation and unparalleled cynicism." "Sunday Comments of Ferdinand Peroutka," on April �SLOVAKIA 89 3, 1955, at 12:15 p.m., commented: "When the Yalta ,papers were published, some individuals wanted to reprimand the Democratic leaders foo- lack of cautiousness. But any discussion of some little mistaJkes the Democra;tic leaders may ha'Ve made would merely obscure the ,p rincipal wirong, which has been and remains the systematic deception contrived b,y the Ru€,s ian statesmen. These reaJl,i ties ought to be clear. ly understood by the wor-ld. The Ya!lta conferoo:ce turned into a tragedy, not because of what was agreed upon there, but because the 'Soviet Union failed to honor the agreements." Broadcasts Amounting t.o Sabotage Naturally, if we are decei,v ed regarding om own stu~ pidity, and even betrayal, at Yalta, we are likely to remain unaware of the stupidity and pet.haps even SaJbotage which have characterized a certain type of ~E's refugee programs. Incredible though it may seem, Riadio Free Europe ~against the ,persistent pleas and protests of refugees firom behind the Iron Ourtain - in its Sa,turday programs has offered detailed descriptions of successful flights from the Soviet terror. These ,b roadcasts - have named the locations where the border was passed, and indicated even 1:Jhe person:s who, at the risk of their 'lives, assisted the escapees. There could not have been any better means to alert the Communist police.. The very identities of patriots in eastern Europe were thus disclosed to the Soviet secret police, with the reswlt that any recurrence might be prevented. How self-destructive, at the expense of optimistic American dono,r s, cam. we get? Were the script writevs and editors of these "sensatio:nal" pro,grams really s•o naive that they failed to grasp the sinister consequences of their paradoxical role? Did they reaUy not understand that their disclosures about the specific locations of escape would en~ able the Communist pdlice to plug the last holes in the Coctaj.n? Let us quote from the !broadcast, "I Chose Freedom," of Aprill 25, 1953, 8 :30 a. m. "[ went through Cerna Horka," the refugee interviewee revealed, "walking along the hrigihway. Then I went :ba<ck to tile river bed of Vltaiva, in �40 SLOVAKIA the direction of the Austrian Soviet zone. I approached the Jezuv creek ... across f.rom it there is for:bidden territory. . . . In Frynburg there is a bridge across the riv&, and the road to Vyssi Brod. In St. Thomais there is the headquarters of the ,p atrols. The bridge had ,b een torn doWID.. I made a float from_ an old fence and other wood I gathered. The river is aJbout t_e n meters wide and three meters deep at that spot. (This was said in reply to a question from the broadcaister. - Editor.) I guided the float by means of a pole, and then set foot on the forbidden side. I hid in the bushes anod woods ... On the highway to- St. Thomas I encountered a banbed wire barricade, a,bout three feet high. I found an old laidder in a hut which had been empty ever since the German's left. I broke it in two, put it a;gainst the barricade, climbed, and jumped to the other side. Traversing a distance of a'bout thirty meters, I reached Jezuv creek, which is ·less than a meter wide. I crossed the creek and found myself in the Soviet zone of Austria. "In Austria, I folfowed the highway until I entered a little ho.use below a hill. The Ausitri.ans who occupied this house felt pity for the refugee, and assisted me . They helped me to contact a friend of theirs in Linz who was to get me ,s afely acro,s s a bridge in Linz, on the border of the 1Soviet ·a nd American 2.1ones. That man pro.v ided me with a forged identification card, into which we rubbed some dirt in order to maike the name illeg1ble. I joined a group of girls who passed the sentry at that spot. Nonchalantly, I ,p roduced the forged identity card for the sentry, and without looking back I crossed the bridge. I was in the Western. izone of Austria." Enemy Alerted The Communist enemy couid not have been more brazenly ailerted. Letters of protest against such asinine (if not trea{!herou.s) interviews fl.ooded the expellee press in Munich. Nevertheless, the interviews continued until 1954, by w'hich time a great many of the cracks in the Soviet wall had been revealed to the Russiains, and repaired by them. As late ·as 'May 9, 1954, at 3 :45 p. m ., the "I Chose Freedom" broadcast disclosed the exact details of a flight �SLOVAKIA 41 by express train from Decin, Bohemia, to. Berlin. The in. terviewee described how he had conceailed his presence at the Decin railway stat,ion, how he eluded the attention of the .security agents, aid ,how a "people's po'liceman" at the station in East Berlin 'helped him to escape. As late as Apriil 2, 1955, at 12 :45 p. m., again on the "I Chose Freedom" program, an escapee pictured the detafls of his flight across the above-mentioned bridge in Linz. Can there be any doubt that such interviews. intimidate those behind the Iron Curtain who might be wirlling to cooperate with refugees? Can our friends behind the Iron Curtain maintain erven a shred of confidence in "psyc'hologica1 warriors" who indulge in this sort of give-away? The editor of RFJD's "I Chose Freedom," one Otto Graf, had been editor of the Socialist ,p aper Svet Prace and a well-known CommUJnist collaborator of the National Front. An obscure journalist before War H, he owes hi.s career to his fatal activities in the National Front. Zdenek Fierlinger and Bohumil Lausman, Socialist ministers of the Nationa1l Front, were the pulblishers of Svet Prace, at the time of Graf's editorship. In 1948, on the occasion of the Communist coup in Czechoslovakia, Fierlinger turned out to be a Communist planted in the Sooial Democ.ratic party. Lausman, after his "esca.pe" to the free world, in 1951 worked for a while for Radio Free Europe. Afterward~, he turned out to be a Communist agent and returned to 0zechoslovakia. As editor of the Czechoslovak refugee ,paper, Ce.skoslovenske Noviny, in Ludwigslburg, Gerimany, RFE editor Otto Graf published articles by Lausman. Self-destructive Lies Broadcast It is ha.r d to believe that a man who has ,b een able to function as a newspaper editor is so inept that quite a few of his presumably anti-Communist radio programs in effect equal sabotage of the freedom crusade. That a saboteur of the free world's cause could hardly improve on these refugee programs is evident from their text. An almost equally self-destructive feature of R:ailio Free Europe is the routine broadcasting of transparent lies. �42 SLOVAKIA In a number of pamphlets, including The RFlE Story (p. 14), RFE's psychological warriors proudly admit resorting to lies. Whether lies should be part of our "psycho war" program is 1b oth ethically and practically quite debatable. To brag aJbout one's own lie in print, so that their admission may hie quoted ,b y the enemy, once aga:illl reaches itili.at degree of ingenuousness that in its net results is hardly distinguishaJble fr<Y«..'l saibotage. In addition to all that, many of the fabrications which our RFE brain trusters have th01Ught up are such simon puTe inventions that those for whom they are intended immediately recognize them as such. iFor example, Otto Graf and Vladimir Kucera~Homik, at Christmas, 1954, when maJking programs on the miner's life, made a· report about a great coal mirle catastrophe in Kladno., which a1legdly cost twe:lve lives of miners. This report was invented. We may ibe s,ure that a character like Bohumil Lalli:lman, former chairman of the Ozechoslovak Social Democratic party and afterwards a ,p lain Commrunist agent in Western Germany and Austria, fed RFE such damaging stories, and that some editors believed him. Yet who but one_,time Nation.ail Front colla;borators - RFE's farvorites wou!ld pUJt any trust in LaUSiman anyhow? RFE has made it easy for the Communist to prove RJFE's own mendaoity. Verbatim quotations from RFE's press and radio are all that is :required. T.here is still another lie, even more destructive, which has been produced by the "truth-telling" of Radio Free Europe. It is the number one lie, and concerns the core of the Communist system. There is irrefutable evidence regarding which group is maki:ng communism in the East. This evidence comes from refugees from the East and from various reliable sources. This group is characterized by such · names as Kruglow (or Krugloch), the chief of the Secret Police of the U&SR, Kaganovic, Ehreniburg, Berman, Rakosi_,Rosenkra.Il'Z, etc. In ,aJdd,ition, this group fully and completely constitutes that "invisi'ble government" behind the scenes in �43 SLOVAKIA the East. It is the same group, of course, which also makes the Communist conspiracy in the West. When in 1951 the members of this group (Minister of Justice Stefan Rais, etc.) staged purge tria:ls against other members of .the same group - Slansky-1Sal2'Inann, iReicin, Ka.tiz, etc. - RFE shouted to the world that the entire group was b.eing cruelly persecuted and liquidated in the East. Many samples of suoh programs are availaJble. This greatest and most perverted lie of world communism is !being upheld by RFE even now, and all facts contradfoting it ,a re cut, adjusted or ·s uppressed. Every intellrigent .refugee from the East calils this He the number one .sabotage committed by RFE. An intelligent inv-estigation of FRE as well as of the opinions and the material of the ref.ugees from behind the Iron Curtain would easily bring forth the full truth. 1 Former German Co-Citizens Alienated It is not enough to quote Radio Free Europe to expose its sooia:list and internationalist bias. To point out lost op-, portuni,ties as well as de[iberate omissions permits us to penetrate the confused and hrulf-·hearted mentality of this much~touted and eXipensiive outfit. Perhaps the tbest example of RFE's negativism toward .important objectives of t'he free world is its peculiar attitude towards the Germans. To be sure, on the surface t.he West Ger.man RepubHc and Chance!Hor Adenauer have been officially praised 'b y RFE. Beyond such formalities, IWE has done little to inspire the Czechs and Poles with trust in the Germans. In 1945, the Communists forced the Poles and the C.zec'hs to expel close to fifteen miUion Germans, from their home1and of centUJries. Albout three million of these lost their Hives as they walked through the Iron Ore Mountains, the Sudeten Mountains and the Bohemian Forest or as they were shipped westward in cattle cars which somewhere were left on the traoks. All of the other twelive mililion were r01b1bed of their ,property. Most of them were bea,ten and tortwred. Naturally, the Czechs ,and the Poles fear the venge-· a.nee of their former German co~citizens. Understandrubly, �SLOVAKIA the Communists do, all they can to :keep this fear a1ive among the Poles and the Czechs who are under their domination. It would be the duty of Radio Free Europe to counteract this Communi<st policy by telling the Poles and Czechs a bout the numerous manifestations of good will and the sincere desire for reconciliation on the part of di siplaced Germans living in Western Germany. Radio Free Europe does nothing of the sort. It does not even report the official agreements which expelled Czech statesmen have signed with the German expellees. In summary, R@Es' stand on the highly important expellee prdblem is as foillows: a. It does not even mention the peaceful attitude and program of the German expellees. b. It ridicules exi'led Czechs and Poles who do not hate the Germans. c. It fails ever to refer to the remarkable past achievements of the :G ermans in Czechoslovakia and to examples of German-Czech coopexation. d. It never mentions how the ex,pulsion of the antiCommunist Germans enabled the communization of Czechoslovakia from within. e. It continuaNy harps on the persecutions the Czechs and Poles have suffered under German domination. f. It damns the Germans with faint prai,se, and slyly, in veiled fashion, even incites the Slavs against the Germans. g. By upholding the ex;pulsion of fifteen mililion Germans and defending the Oder-Neisse border, it follows a line of nationality policy which is identical with that of the Communists. 1 Advice to Fellow Communist Suggestions There are many other - apparently often ha:rmless occasions on which RFE's line comcides with what the Communists desire. Why men should be .p aid by Americans to broadcast from expensive stations what our Communist enemies want in the first pl ace is not easy to grasp. Particttlarly ba:ffling examples of American--Soviet co1 �SLOVAKIA 45 incidences ha:ve come from the desk of Milos Vanek, chief · of the Economic Department of the Czechoslovak Desk, RFIE, Munich. Formerly one o.f the most prominent leaders of the 0zech Communist party, Vanek still feels urged to counsel Czechs in harmony with his former confederates. Early in 19'52, Vane'k busied himself forecrusting an immediate inflation, and advising the people to invest their cash in goods, including the expensive products of the Communist gray market. Innumerable programs have carried this message to the Czechs. The broadcast of Ja:nuary 23, 1952, at 6 :45 p. m., admonished the Czechs: "The Communists in Czechoslovakia are about to runloose inflation. Invest all your savings in goods, buy whatever you can, even the e_x1pensive articles on the government market." There was no inflation; but the refugees from the satellite country reported that the Communist government at that time spread exacbly the same rumor of inflation and also adv1sed to spend all savings because it wanted to draw in a:11 "surplus" money without any monetary reform. A year and a half later, when, of a sudden, the new value oif the Czech currency was a:nnounced, neither the Communists in 0zechoslovakia noT Vanek in RIFE had given any wa:rning. When the Communist government asked for shock brigades of voluteers to plant new forests, Vanek enthusia,stically chimed in. "Help to plant new trees," Vanek exhorted the Czechs on the "Economic Program" of May 1, 1953. "The Communist regime," he announced, "will perish, and t'he trees will be for your children." Other programs hawe offered similar a'dvice. •~Prog,ra,m for Women," 0ctob.er 24, 1953, at 1 :45 ,p. m., counseled to sell quality go·ods. to Communist state stores "because the Communist stores are sel'ling the goods to non-Communists, and it is 111ot good to, cheat non-Communists." "Program for Workers," March 23, 1955, 2:10 p. m., suggested that workers as.k foremen for e~tra work becawse it would mean extra money for them -while it would not really help the Communist cause. Along the same line, the old collaiborator, Otto Graf, 1 �46 SLOVAKIA interviewed a fellow by name of Tonda Hornik, who said: "I thus eairned 2,000 crowns extra~it pays not to be lazy." Radio Free Europe, thus, does not urge the satellite slave workers .to relax if not slow down, it spurs them on to work harder - for their Communis t masters. Those in the know were not surprised when "wor.ker" Tonda Hornik, in June, 1955, was exposed as a Communis t agent. One of RFE's editors, Robert Lowkota by name, had gone to the extreme of appealing to the Czech workers not to absent themselves from wor.k; but the protests from refugees who had listened to this monstrosit y w&e so im-,pressive that iRiFE had to back down and, in a broadcast of April 10, 1955, at 12.:45 p. m. ("We Call the Communis t Party"), tried to minimize the importance of Loulkota's aberration. Do these editors who urge the Czech people to fol.Jew suc'h advice have a soft spot in their hearts for the Commwnist~ r are they following the orders of men whose hearts and minds are hard as steel ? On the one hand, Radio Free Europe has urged Czechs to do overtime in factories giving only evasive consolation s, never mentioning how and when liberation could be achieved; on the other, through provocative agitation, it has practically incited them to revolt. Such policy, on the surface, appears contradicto ry. On second thought, we might wonder if all of this confusion is due to ineptness. As long as the Western governmen ts are not prepared to supply .p otential rebels with weapons, no rebellion can succeed. Only people who are unacquaint ed with the nature of communism can hope to overthrow Communis t governments withouit outside assistance. Certainly the present United States governmen t is not inclined to arm potential insurrectio nists. Even if it wanted to, a horde of United Naitions associates would prevent it from going ahead. Why then does Radio Free Europe fail to warn resolutely against revolts at this time? Curiously enough, Lenin favored armed uprisings against his own regime; for nothing exposes more glaringly the staunchest freedom fighters, and nothing offers a more striking opportunity to exterminat e the most stout-heart ed �SLOVAKIA 47 foes of communism. Whatever the reason may be - and it appears most worthwhile to get to the bottom of the situation - Radio Free Europe again and again has played the role of the agent provocateur.Whether or not any sabotage wa:s intended, the policy has actually been of benefit to the Communists. First of all, RFE has pictured the enemy as weak while in reality he is strong. "Life Behind the Iron Curtain," on April 26, 1953, at 8:45 a. m., exclaimed: "There is chaos, uncertainty and fear in the Soviet Union and among its leaders." "Best Article," on April 24, 1953, at 9:05 a. m., stated that "there are rifts within the system," and on April 17 it claimed that "we face the beginning of a dissolution process which affects the entire regime." Few Americans know that the broadcast of RIAS, the American broadcasting station in Berlin, shared in the responsibility for the tragic 1953 rebellion of the Germans in the Soviet zone - a rebellion which led to the arrest and annihila:tion of tens of thousands of our best friends behind the Iron Curtain. Practically no American knows that RFE has sent the same sort of abortive action ,p rograms to the Czechs. On February 8, 1952, at 9:15 p. m., Milos Vanek, on "Economic Program," approvingly spoke of the rise of "armed brigades against their leaders in the Communist party itself." Hopefully he observed that "the signs . . . are already on the horizon." When in Czechoslovakia public demonstrations took place in 1953, Radio Free Europe pictured them in inflammatory scenes. The other programs reflected the same attitudes. On June 21, 1953, at 12 :15 p. m., the perennial "Sunday Comments of Ferdinand Peroutka," referring to the tragic and fatal uprising among the Germans, told the Czechs: "Do you know that tens of thousands of workers there are on the march, shouting 'Ivan, go home? Do you know that everybody there is fed up with the Soviet overlordship, has enough of Soviet exploitation?" �48 SLOVAK IA Again and again, Peroutk a has dicussed prematu re and therefor e suicidal - uprising s in an inflamm atory fashion. For the sake of preservi ng precious friends for a more opportu ne time, we might well have followed the advice of the late Senator Robert A. Taft, who vigorou sly opposed such heedlessness. Propagation of Decadent Literature and Music For the time being, Radio Free Europe might well content itself with building up the morale of those who long for liberatio n from the Commu nist tyrants. There are numerou s straight forward books which take a courage ous stand against any and all undue control by governm ent. These, though, are not the books from which RFE's commentato rs have chosen to quote. No, the cultural fare which they have selected is largely confined to decaden ce in literature, and jazz in the realm of music. The program "Play of the Week" is full of mental confusion and decay. The books which are reviewed and quoted, and which are suppose d to represen t the world of the free, abound in decaden t characte rs, in suicide and perversi on. As to literatur e which is suppose d to represen t eastern Europe, the emphasi s is strongly placed on works of defected collectiv ists, picturin g the horror and the hopeless ness among the satellite nations. The editor of "Book of the Week," on August 3, 1952, at 9:45 a. m., expound ed: "We enable you to become acquain ted with the literatur e which is current in the free world. Take a book by Mannus Ferber, who once was a Commu nist . . . the story in itself is colorless - a tera in the ocean ... there are no ready answers anywhe re .. . " On April 26, 1953, at 9 :45 a. m., "Book of the Week" another typical example - discusse d The Polish present to Giodo: "A mysterio us curse rests on the Jean Mill, by family," the commen tator explaine d. "In vain, Kosta opposes the weight of destiny ... his son-in-la w becomes mentally insane ... his daughte r goes crazy ... the young woman is slowly dying ... the power of fate is the core of the book ... all revolt against it is futile . . . " �SLOVAKIA 49 "Weekly Survey of Culture," of January 4, 1953, at 11 :15 a. m., told of a work of literature that is "full of complexes and inner conflicts . . . " "Film Program," of April 9, 1955, at 2 :20 p. m., reviewed a film directed by Eliza Kazan: " . . . he went to see his mother in the brothel ... he borrowed money from her, even though he despises her, and then he made a good business deal . . . a drama full of instincts, passions, and convulsions, of undertones ... a master work by Kazan ... " This story about a moral and strong father whose wife lives in a brothel was offered by RFE during the Easter holidays. RFE seems to be chockful of split personalities, of people with complexes, of those who are in need of psychiatrists, of people whom we might pity if there were not so little time left and if they were not entrusted with the task of championing our principles of trust in God and our responsibilities as free men. The music offered by RFE, at 10:05 every morning, and at other hours, accords with the confusion, savagery and hopelessness of the literary ,p roducts which these men favor. ,Most of it i:s jruzz in the version of the squieruking dis_ harmonies and noises of primitives, or of complex men who flee from their own souls. The West is rich in music of the highest inspiration. RFE seems not aware of this mighty force in our behalf. The Communist station in Prague does better. The Communists, mindful of national heritage, play Smetana and Dvorak, the great music of the Czech people. They benefit by these magnificent works. But Radio Free Europe broadcasts jazz - alien, uninspiring stuff. Some of the less influential employees on Radio Free Europe have protested against these low and degrading performances. They were told from above to go on producing jazz. Propagation of Internationalism and Racial Merger The general mental and moral climate of Radio Free Europe conveys moods of indecision, wretchedness and vexation. �50 SLOVAKIA Inherentl y most of the ideals which RFE advocates require some sort of super-gov ernment, which means but additional curtailme nt of the liberties which this costly radio network is supposed to champion . On nearly every day, for instance, there is a program which urges the abolition of naturally- grown national culture in favor of the European super-sta te. It is called "Europe Without the Iron Curtain" and it always begins with the slogan: "Europe without the Iron Curtain means the United States of Europe. Yesterda y but Utopia, today the dream of millions, tomorrow reality." The slogan has been formulate d by the widely known internationalis t Karol Belak-Be rger. Paradoxic ally, the Commun ist internatio nalists in the East are smart enough to appeal often to age-old, traditiona l nationalism. Radio Free Europe, which has been presumab ly conceived to fight Commun ist internatio nalism, champion s internatio nalism. "Nearly all Czechs and Slovaks desire the United States of Europe." That is what "The Other Side of the Coin" asserted, on April 5, 1955, at 8 :15 a. m. A free poll or plebiscite among the enslaved Czechs and Slovaks might well disclose a different mood, a different opinion. On June 6, 1952, at 7 :15 p. m., "Europe Without the Iron Curtain" stated: "The world federatio n is a necessity ; but first Europe must be united. The European federatio n is but the beginning ; the United States of the World is the ultimafo aim ... First a European federatio n must be achieved; then we shall be ready for the world federatio n." In accordanc e with this candidly avowed goal, RFE continually disparage s the concept of national sovereign ty, which is dear to the overwhel ming majority of European s. Thus "Commen ts on Events at Home," on April 28, 1953, at 10:45 a. m., slightingl y referred to "the so-called national sovereign ty." "Europe Without the Iron Curtain," on May 5, 1954, at 1:15 p. m., stated: "On the defendan t's .b ank there sits the concept of the national state and its ideological foundation - nationalis m. Frontiers - the straitjack et of the national state - are an anachron ism." �SLOVAKIA 51 The United Nations and UNESCO - a controversial topic among millions of Europeans - are favorites of RFE. "The United Nations gives new hope," said "News," on October 24, 1953, at 1 p. m. "The whole world looks toward the United Nations," said "Who Is Who," on April 22, 1953, at 8:30 a. m. Such statements are daily standard with Radio Free Europe. Ever opposed to nationalism, RFE even objects to national self-determination of the many non-Russian nations inside the Soviet empire. It stands to reason that national self-assertion inside Russia might be a ,p owerful aid to any effort aimed at disintegration of the Soviet Union. Consequently this is opposed by RFE's amazing bleeding hearts. Thus, "Voices of the Western Press," on February 8, 1952, at 8 p. m., quoted: "Russia should not dissolve herself into a number of smaller nations; the nations of the Soviet Union should discontinue their disputes." In its determined opposition to the concept of national heritage, and in harmony with the ideas favored by such American left-wing groups as Americans for Democratic Action, RFE, in programs addressed to the trans-Curtain people, goes so far as to attack the McCarran-Walter Immigration Act. Thus, "Our New York Correspondent Reports," on April 29, 1953, at 10:05 a. m., declared: "The public wants the law to be changed; for the nationality quotas of this law are obsolete . . . The press unanimously demands revision. We hope that the change will be effected." Beyond mere political merger of the nations, Radio Free Europe also campaigns for a merger of races. Thus, for instance, "Europe Without the Iron Curtain," on February 15, 1952, at 6:15 p. m., declared: "Just as Europe, in a way, already represents a nation . . . . there also arises a new nation in the U. S. A. - out of the white, the black, and the yellow races . . . This too will happen in the East of Europe." Along this line, RFE's left-wingers seldom fail to disguise their animosity towards those nations which they regard as particularly nationalistic - against the past Germany, Spain, the Union of South Africa, and the various �52 SLOVAKIA Arab nations. RFE's persistent opposition to the Arab states sometimes reaches comical proportions. An article in itself would be required to document this phase of RFE's internationalism. Praise for New Dealers and Criticism of Conservative Americans In line with its over-all outlook, Radio Free Europe has consistently glorified American New Dealers and has at the same time not refrained from merciless attacks on conservative Americans. In other words, RFE, which should concentrate on psychological warfare against the Communist world con$piracy, has indulged in the hobby of defaming valiant American anti-Communists. No wonder that wideawake Europeans have ever more often asked if RFE is primarily an anti-anti-Communist organization. "Answers to Those at Home," on October 28, 1952, at 10 :05 a. m., proclaimed : "Stevenson was a principal speaker at the celebration for T. G. Masaryk. (Founder and first president of the Czechoslovak republic. - Editor.) Our hope for the future would be rekindled if he were elected President of the United States." On November 4, 1952, at 10:05 a. m., the same program reveled in this choice bit of lyrical effusion: "Adlai Stevenson ... ranks among America's greatest sons, such as Lincoln and F. D. Roosevelt ... He is the very incarnation of America's highest aspirations . . . Within less than a year he rose from obscurity to the pinnacle of American leadership." The record of Radio Free Europe's programs is full of unfavorable remarks about those great Americans who have steadfastly opposed the Communist menace. A flood of vituperation was pou:r;-ed on General Douglas MacArthur upon his dismissal from the Far Eastern scene. His speeches, which have moved the truly anti-Communist refugees from eastern Europe, have been consistently withheld from RFE's programs. It was the same with the great and honorable Senator Robert A. Taft, on the occasion of his campaign for the Republican nomination in 1952. After "Mr. Republican's" �SLOVAKIA 53 defeat at the Chicago Convention, "Our New York Correspondent Reports," on August 7, 1952, at 10:05 a. m., rejoiced: "For Europe it is decisive that the last remainders of isolationism have been removed, and that a sound policy has been carried to victory." Ferdinand Peroutka, in one of his interminable "Sunday Comments," on August 3, 1952, at 12:15 p. m., pontificated: "Taft was the proponent of a policy which can never settle anything, as his adversaries have always pointed out." "Our New York Correspondent Reports," on July 9, 1952, at 8:05 p. m., had this to say: "The opinions of (Herbert) Hoover and (Douglas) MacArthur represent the viewpoint of a minority; these men want to confine themselves to the (exclusive) defense of the American continent. The majority ( of Americans), though, have dimissed this attitude and are conscious of America's global role." "A Program of Novelties," referring to the passing of two famous American journalists Pulitzer and Bert McCormick - on April 3, 1955, at 3 .p. m., called Pulitzer the "son of an Hungarian immigrant, an outstanding American journalist," but criticized Colonel McCormick as a "controversial, reactionary isolationist" who "opposed progress." The Krem'l~n must have been satisfied with that incisive observation. General Impression Created By Radio Free Europe What, then, is the general impression which Radio Free Europe has made, behind the Iron Curtain as well as among the millions of anti-Communists in Western Europe? It is, besides the impression of half-heartedness, indecision, artificiality, and downright clowning. When RFE's broadcasters, directly addressing some poor wretch or some swineherd in some forlorn little hamlet in Slovakia or Bohemia, lower their voices to terrify him, antiCommunist refugees merely laugh. Alas, the farce tastes bitter, because of the lost opportunities, the stupidity, the feeling of treason, and the unsonscionably low moral standard. Next, there is the strong impression of cliche journalism, occupying itseif with superficialities - cars, houses, �54 SLOVAKIA etc. - and largely avoiding verbatim quotations. Instead, they impose their propaganda by means of slogans. Real opinions of the refugees and of the people at home are disregarded by the RFE propaganda. Real anti-Communists are never allowed to get their messages across the Curtain. Real anti-Communists, including the repenting National Fronters, are social outcasts. But the collaborators of the National Front, who even today maintain that the National Front was all right, sit at the big desks and cash their substantial checks, in compensation for their shadow boxing. Then there is the distinct impression of coolness, impersonality and anonymity. Since the well-known anti-Communists of -long standing have been barred from RFEJ, theTe are no names to inspire the listeners. Yes, some men do speak under their own names. These include the left-winger Dr. Joseph Lettrich, the Marxist Vaclav Majer, and such Socialists as Ferdinand Peroutka, Dr. Petr Zenkl and Dr. Jaroslav Stransky. However, these men are known to be weaklings, mere fronts for more powerful personalities. They are recognized to be generally useless; they won't stir the imagination of anyone. As to the known former champions of the Communist causes, trans-Curtain listeners would simply shut off the radio if they knew who was talking to them. Therefore, Milos Vanek now calls himself Pravdomil Basta, and Frantisek Listopad goes by the name of Jan Ctvrtek. Similarly, the leftist Socialist Dr. Miloslav Kohak has become Vitezslav Fram; Otto Graf hides his pro-Communist past under the pseudonym of Franta Tabor, and Karol Belak-Berger has conveniently turned into one Jan Lehota. "Who are these fellows anyhow?" the listeners behind the Curtain must wonder; for they have never heard of them. Naturally, they become suspicious, and their interest sags. Czechs and Slovaks behind the Curtain remember those who never compromised with the Communists. They know that these men are now living in the West - the C:i!echoslovak General of the Army, Lev Prchala, the former Czechoslovak Minister, Dr. Joseph Cerny, and many others, and �SLOVAKIA 55 also some former members of the National Front who in the free West started to denounce it - Dr. Bohdan Chudoba, Dr. Michal Zibrin, or Dr. Helena Kozeluhova, who was expelled in 1946 from the Parliament by the National Front, and the entire younger generation, led by Jiri Havelka, Emil Petrik, etc. The Slovaks have their former Minister, Dr. Ferdinand Durcansky and many others. The listeners behind the Iron Curtain cannot fail to wonder why none of them sends any "messages home" by way of Radio Free Europe. The masterminds of this confusion, whose net results represent sabotage of the anti-Communist fight - are way behind the firing lines in New York City, and in Washington. They, too, shroud themselves in anonymity. 'T he over-all impression, then, is one of cynism and emptiness, artificiality, and insincerity. Who wants to buy apples which are rotten at the core? RFE's Program In conclusion, we must ask: What, then, is the program of Radio Free Europe, or has no program been designed so far? Those behind the Curtain, who have the time to listen at all, would like to know in what way liberation may be achieved, and what specific assistance, beyond mere words, the West might be able to offer. Radio Free Europe has not been able to supply any satisfactory information in respect to this all-important ,problem. Here, however, we cannot help allowing for valid reasons to excuse much of RFE's ineffectualness; for even if RFE were staffed with outright, hard-hitting anti-Communists, it could not ,possibly make any promises which the Western governments, particularly the government of the U. S. A., were not willing to back with power. There is no use in claiming superiority in aircraft or guided missiles if that superiority admittedly does not exist. It is not possible to promise an economic blockade as long as that policy has not been adopted by the American government. Radio Free Europe - or any of the other liberation �56 SLOVAKIA stations - cannot very well offer the severing of diplomati c relations with the Soviet criminals when our own statesmen meet with them at the summit and have lots of smiling pictures :taken for the benefit of the Soviet ieaders. However, if RFE were really (instead of merely in name) an independe nt and private organizat ion, and really staffed with intelligen t and genuine anti-Com munists, it could urge Western governme nts to take stronger steps. Radio Free Europe might demand the creation of military units exclusive ly composed of refugee and e~pellee volunteers. It might demand the ousting of Commun ists from both internatio nal and national organizat ions. It might establish extensive contacts with the undergro und behind the Curtain, instead of causing its discovery and extermin ation by Communi sts. Radio Free Europe might frankly discuss the present difficultie s while at the same time exhorting the Iron Curtain slaves not to lose hope. The trans-Cu rtain ,people who long for liberty might at least be informed about where all of us stand. They should know about a long-rang e .p rogram as well as what can be done at this time. Most importan t of all, Radio Free Europe should become a clear and shining beacon to those who are willing to fight for their liberties. This can only be achieved by throwing out the clowns and confusion ists who want to fight communism with a Socialist "peo1ple',s program. " If Radio Free Europe cannot cleanse itself because it is from top to bottom infested with collectivists, internatio nalists, materialists and decadents , then it would be better to shut it down and replace it with an entirely new organizat ion. Perhaps this great reform cannot be undertak en as long a:s even in the United States the grass roots patriots, who unequivocally believe in God, the Constitut ion and freedom of enterprise , are successfu lly boycotted and ridiculed. Perhaps an effective liberation station can only be establishe d when at last the collectivi st corrupter s of the United States are driven from their entrenche d ,p ositions in America' s public institution s, and her means of communi cation, and her governme nt itself. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1956, Vol. 6 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 18), March 1956.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 19), June 1956.</li> <li>Issue 3-4 (No. 20-21), September-December 1956.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1956 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 17 A CLOSE-UP VIEW OF RADIO FREE EUROPE By Jiri Brada ( From January, February, and March, 1956, issues of "FACTS FORUM," Dallas, Texas) Radio Free Europe, a netwoPk of stations which has been set up in westeim Europe for the purpose of sending anti-Communist broadcasts to the peoples on the other side of the Iron Curtain, is a division of Free Europe Committee, Inc. The latter, a private organization, was founded in 1949 by a group of American citizens, among whom the Hon. Herbert H. Lehman, U. S. Senator from New York, played a prominent role. In 1950, the Free :illurope Committee started its annual fund-raising drive under t'he name of Crusade for Freedom. Most of us, at one time or another, have bee111 exposed to the propaganda of thi,s powerful orgacization, via newspapers, radio, television, freedom cars, and freedom trains, and most of us have read and heard a'bout FEC's muchpublicized freedom balloons. The Free Europe Committee claims that millions of its funds have been contributed by more than twenty-five million American citizens. Many more millions of dollars, though, have 1been donated by corporations, including some of the large foundations. Henry Ford II, whose Ford Foundation through the yeairs has been a heavy contributor, is nationa:l chairman of the Crusade for Freedom. As such he is the ,successor of General Lucius D. Clay. Other ,prominent sponsors of the project include David Sarnoff, Edward R. Murrow, Harold E . Stassen, Walter S. Gifford, Samuel Unger, Geo:rge Barasch, C. B. Tibbets, and Joseph J. Fliesser. Headquarters of the Crusaide is 29 West 157th Street, New York City. C. D. Jackson, in crucial years one of President Ei~ senho.w er's "paiace guard," headed the Free, Europe Committee for a cosiderable length of time. Wh~tney H. Shepardson is its current president. Joseph C. Grew, former U. S. Ambassador to Japan, is Chairman of the Board of the F,r ee Europe Committee. Arthur W. Page is Chairman of the Executive Committee. 18 SLOVAKIA Vice presidents include W. J. C. Eagan, Levering Tyson, Samuel S. Wa.J.ikeT, JT., and :Bernard Yarrow. Jo'hn C. Tra.phagen serves as treasurer, Theodore C. Augustine as secretary and assistant itireasurer, and J. Clay.ton Miller as assistant secretary. On March 15, 1955, Helfuert H. Lang was replaced as Director of Radio Free Europe by W. J. C. Eagan. 'Dhe Board of Directors, besides several of the abo.venamed, is composed of A. A. Berle, David K. :ID. Bruce, Jr. , Frederick R. Dolbeare, Julius Fleischmann, H. B. Miller, Irving S. Olds, George U. 1S huster, Charles M. Spofford, and H. Gregory Thomas. Among additiona:l sponsors of the Free EUTope Comm1ttee we find such nationally known figures as Clarence L. Adcock, Raymond Pace Alexander, Laird Bell, Francis Biddle, Rolbert Woods Bliss, Robert F. Bradford, !Hairry A. Bullis, Cecile B. De Mille, Frank R. Denton, William J. Donovan, Mark 1F . iIDthridge, James A. Farley, Virginia C. Gildersleeve, Charles R.. Hook, Palmer Hoyt, Paul Kesten, Henry ,R, Luce, Joseph V. McKee, Web Maddox, H. B. Miller, tSamuel E. Morison, F.rederiok Osborn, John W. Sibley, Sp)'l'os Skouras, Chairles P. 'Daft, DeWitt Wallace, W. W. Waymac:k, Walter H. Wheeler, Jr., Charles E. Wilson, Mrs. Quincy Wright, and Darryl Zanuck. The 1952 list of national sponsors also featured Jaimes B. Carey, .A:J.ilen W . Dulles, William Green, and Matthew Woll. Besides a sprinkL ing of men who uphold America's tradiitions of limited govVeTrunent and the free market economy, there is :the usual contingent of ancient and ubiquitous New Dealers. Headquarters of ,t he Free Emope Committee is a few stone's throws from <bhrut of the Crusade for Freedom, at 110 West 57th Street, New Yo.rk City. The political and ideological influence of the Free Europe Committee spans continents. No organization in the world exerts more power over the refugees from eastern Europe. lt practicaft:ly maintains a monopoly on placing refugee students in American colleges. It controls the University College at 'S trassbourg, F.rance. Besides the periodical, News from Behind the Iron Curtains, :the Free Europe Commi,t tee has published num- SLOVAKIA 19 erous booklets and pamphlets Olll communism in eastern Europe. Radio 1Free IDurope, whioh is lo·cated at the Committee's headquarters, 110 West 57th ,S treet, is thus but one, though no doU!bt the most important, department of the Free Em:-ope Committee. While officially a dilVision of a private o,r gani,z ation, Radio Free Em·ope does of course not devise amy arbitrairy policy of its own. It has been conceived as a private a:rnn of the American government's foreign policy and as such reflects the res,pective competence or confusion of Washington. The princ1pal editorial offices of Radio F1ree Europe, while taking their cues from New Yor.k and Washington, are located in Euro.pe, especia!lly in western Germany. European headquarters is at English Gardens (Englisoher Garten) 1, Munich 23, Germany. Riahard J. Condon is European diirector. The largest :broadcasting stations of Radio Free Europe aire located outside of Munich and Frankfurt on the Main. Their principal programs are broadcast in the various languages oif Communist-dominaited peoples, suoh as Czech, Slovaik, Hungarian, Roumanian, Bulgarian, Albanian, and Polish. Influence of Soviet Postwar Policy In order to grasp the policy of these programs, it ~ well worth recalling the Soviet postwar policy in the satellite nations of eastern Europe. For the sa;ke of appearance and eXipediency, no outright Communist governments were set up by the USSR immediately upon the end of World War fil. •I nstead, there arose the so-calied governments of "national fronts" or "people's fronts" or "popular :fironts." Moscow's commissars saw to it that no parities of the real center nor, of course, any of the ,right wing m01Vements were admitted to these fronts; lbut even the non-Communist left wing parties, such as those of the Socialists or Social Democrats, were from the outset largely ied by puppets of the Soviet Union, many of whom had up to then lived in comparative obscurity. Within the course of a few months or years respective- 20 SLOVAKIA ly, these non-.Communisit leftist parties were forged into total tools of the globa.'l Communist conspiracy. Freedom of eleotion, assembly and press weire abolished; trade and industry were nationalized; non-·conformis:ts, by means of the "people's courts," were crushed, and "national committees," virz. soviets, soon dictated and .strangled all !branches of ,public and private iife. 'Dho.ughtful readers may wonder why so many of the Socialist-minded colla,borators were in due time permitted by the Co.m munist authorities to leave their countries. They cannot help being amazed to iearn that it is maiinly these collectivi.stic refugees from the sateilli,te nations whom Radio Free Europe has entrusted with program-.c ontroHing positions. There ,Marxians and sta,tists were 'ballyhooed as "victims" of rS oviet 1persecution, while practically all those who had escaped from the Communists when the Russian armies swept over their countries, i.e., those who at all times had ste·a dfa:stly opposed the Communist menace, were systematicallv excluded from Radi·o Free Europe. Is it possible that a good many of these Socialist twin brothers of the C ommunists were not prevented from reaching our side of the Iron Curtain because on the basis of their ,Marxist past they were likely to confuse and adultcra,te the crusade of the free world? Is it possi,b le that some of them even promised merely to pose as foes of communism, and therefore in r eality continued their collabora-· tion with the Communists, in the guise of foes? At any rate, quite a few of these recent allies, of the Communists are now earning considerable fees firom the funds of the Crusade for Freedom, in payment of their ineffectual and phony ;psychological warfare. Former Red Confederates in Top Jobs The real champions of political and economic freedom , the real opponents of state intervention, the real adversaries o.f materialism, atheism and tyranny were either rejected or ffa-ed by <Radio Free Europe, and are now sitting on the side lines. The men of the Kremlin should indeed be pleased with this curious policy of Radio• 'Free Europe. To be sure, RF1E's •b osses offer us a re ady-made excuse SLOVAKIA 21 for employing so many former Soviet collruborators in top positions. No one, they aver, is more thoroughly aware of Communist deviousness than 8Jre those who have experienced Communist tactics in practice. However-and this is the crux of the matter-not one of these former confe• derates of the Communists !has come forth !With any .protest against his former ooHa;boration, and none of the former Communists on Rooio Free Europe has come forth with any protest against his former communism. They shun the role of the ,r epentant sinner. They all of a sudden ,p ose as experts of :the democrntic way, a;s pioneers of individual, personal freedom. The Whittaker Chamtbers type is excluded. By no means have aH of these men mere:ly posed ais anti-Communists while in ever so many instances they could not help going soft on the Communist -line. A giroot many, being Socialists, have been so blind with regard to -limited governmental and the free mar,ket economy, and still are such loyal believeil'S in the benefits of Socialist inter,vention, planning and control, that they consistently devise policies which ,p lay into the hands of the Communists by appeasing them. The Polish, Ozechoslo1va;k and Hungarian broadcasting stations of IRadio Free Europe, which equal the power of t he German station in ,M unich, i. e., 50,000 watts, run pro. grams for 20 hours a day. Nume!l'ous short wave stations send broadcasts in the various idioms of eastern Europe t hree or four houirs daily. It is claimed that 29 RF:Ei statjons are now functioning. The Czechoslovak station near Munich is as strong as that of Munich or that of the American Forces network, in that city. In operation since May 1, 1951, it covers political commentaries; daily commentaries; the international situat ion (transmitted from New York offices); programs for workers, peasants, women, young ,people, and children; economics; history; music; entertainment, etc. , and news every hour on the hour. Source Material Far Left of Center The over-all ideology of these prog1rams is largely determined by former members of the Czechoslovak National 22 SLOVcAKIIA Front, i.e., one-time Co,. nrpu:ni.3t colla,borator.s. From time to time, these men ireceive written instructions of specific subjects :from the New Yovk offices where left..,wingers set the tone Dr. Mar.tin Kvetko and Dr. Julius First, :known and prominent former pro-Oommunists, instruct alll editors at regular meetings. Carefully selected boo.ks on communism, clippings from such American publications ·a s The New York Times, The New York Hierald T.rilbune, T.iine, Life, ~tc., items from the press of AmerJcan la;bor unions, material from Communist paipers on bo:th sides of the Curtain, and monitored terts of the Czechoslova;k Communist radio represent the source materiaJl f.rom which the script writers draw. Theire are also special "intelligence" reports. Straight conservative papers and magazines are ta;boo at Radio Free Em:rope. Script writera know how to toe the line. They know that they might as welJ -look for another job if they dare use_materiail or ideas from the Ohicago Triibune or such of Oll!I' magazines :as American !Mercury, American Legion Maga•zine, Ohristian Economics, HUiIIlan Events, National Review and National Repulblic. To summarize - iRJmE progtrams are shl!,POO- according to the dM"ectives of (a) :the American bosses and (b) the hired leftist National Fronters from eastern Europe. The ran!k and file Socialist or o:therwise• leftist editors are either unintelligent or servile or both, and grind out their chores in accordance with their o.rders. AoturuNy, tRill1E policies vary only in degree, !but not in sulbstance,. :f.rom other psychological warfare .s tations of the free world. These inolude Radio Free Asia, strution RIAS in Berlin, Radio Llberation - a private Amer.ican station which broadcasts to IPOOPles inside the USSR - and of course the Voice of America. None of them ,t akes a consistent stand againsit the iphilosophy of g01Vernment intervention a;nd government control, none of them - except for occasional and half-ilieaTted Hp servJce- champions freedom of enterprise. No wonder that so far our psychological warfare has failed. In order to document for American readers WlhaA: sort of ideas aTe being tTansmitted to the fron Curtain world SLOVAKIA 23 iby their expensive ly staffed freed.om stations, I have for some years gathered from RFE Czec'hoslov.alk programs a substantia :l coNection of radio scTipbs and tape recording s, from which I sha;ll quote in the followh]-g. If any Sllogan may be offered to character ize the genera:! tenor of all too many programs , let us quote whait a well-know n American a·p ologist for the Soviet causes has said in the process of the Far Eastern debacle: "Let them fall, ;b ut do not let it appear that we pushed them." Propagation of Socialism May 1, 1953, 3 :15 ip. m . : "The Socialist youth of the whole world sends its greetings to the youth of Czechoslovakia. We assuTe you that we s hall reach the aim ... the day, when we will be alble to join you in democrac y in the fig,ht for socialism , social justice and freed.om. " At the end of the program the International was played. (The International is the rallying song of world communi sm.) May 3, 1953, 1,2 :15 p. m.: Ferdinan d Peroutka , chief of R~'s Czechoslova!k desk in New York, a weH-known Soci'alist rund one-•t ime .prominen t member of the pro-Comu munist National •ffiront, in his "Sunday Comment s of Ferdinand Peroutka ": "Eisenho wer's program, on .t:he other hand, even though America's factories have not been nati01I1ali2:ed, stands for the concept of world socialism . TheTe is no better way to desoribe it. This is sociaJism . . . The aim of 1:Jhe program outlined by tile President of the United States is to socialize -life." 1 May 1, 1954, 2 :'50 p. m.: "Today, on May 1st, we convey our g,reetings to aN those who are dedicated to the faith in democrat ic socialism ." (To Commun ist-domin ated countries May 1st is synonym ous with America' s July 4th, and the term "Democra tic Socialism " is a Commun ist term used in May Day speeches to descTilbe Commun ist ideology. ) May 4, 1954, 2:10 p. m.: "Program for WorkeTs: "Leon Jouhaux - a g,reat man, descende d from a famNy in which revoltitio nism has been a tradition . His father partidpaJ ted in the revo.1t of the Paris Commun e . . . a born revolution ary ... " GANS.ER LIBRARY MILLERS VILLE STATE COLLEGE 24 SLOV!AKIA May 5, 1954, 2:10 p. m.: "Leon Jouhaux - a great revolutionary, a great rre:fo1rmeT ... " March 23, 1'955, 12:40 p. m. Program, "We Call the Communist Party": "The present order (in eastern Europe) r:ierely serves to continue the dictatorship . . . this jungle which falsely is fabeiled as legitimaJte socia.lism." March 23, 2:20 p. m. Dr. Jan Hajek, on program, "Living Science - Discussion with Young People," said : "Socia1ism has 1become adult. Socialist thinkers are no longer irresponsible radicals. The fundamenta!l problem of modern socialism is man's relation to the state. "The modern socialist rejects both extremes - laissez faire and state control. He is aware of his duties as well as his rigihts. "The citizens of the Socialist society must be conscious of their heritage, aind proud of it." Along this line, the Czechoslova:k editors and broadca;sters crurefully avoid repudiating the measures of socializaJtion and communrzation wbich their own National Front had irnstituted in tJhe postwar years, and often go so far a;s to appro;ve of similar Communist measures in satellite Europe. Thus, on October 28, 1952, at 11 :'50 a. m., the broadcaster of "We Cali t he Communist Party," exclaimed: "Seven years ago, .the decrees of the P,r esident of the Republic ibrought forth the nationalization of industry. In this way Czechoslovakia set out on her way of democraJtic independence.'' So.oialist Policies Defended T.hese ipsychological warriors of the RFE thus still don't realize tha,t it was a crime to cooperate with the Communists, or if they do, :they don't admit it. There is never any hint that the 1Socialist po'licies of the National Front as such have iJ.ed to disaster, no inkling that socialism, because it infringes upon the rights of the individual, leads to communism. Therefo,re, these so-called freedom ,broadcasters ne;ver ,p oint out that the misery of the :p eople in eastern Europe -largely deri;ves from Socialist meddling with the affairs of :the people ; they blame it all on \Soviet exploitation, armaments, emphasis on heavy industry, and that sort of thing. SLOVAKIA 25 Yes, ,t hey have mentioned the "forced Communist eco-• nomy." What they mean by it may be seen from "Lnternationa1 Commentary from New York," in its :broadca,st April 18, 1953, at 6 :05 p. m. The broadcaster explained that "this mearus in Czechoslovakia bhe return of the fo,r mer export policy, ,t he return to the production of quality arrticies. To put an end to this over-emphasis, on heavy industry must be the goal of our new democratic way." · That is all. No, reference to libeTation from the Socialist bureauaracy, from Socialist oppression. Just a shift from armaments to quality ,p roducts. Nothing more. Feroinamd Peroutka, in his broadca;st of 'Sunday, April 27, 1952, at 12 :15 p. m., declared: "The Communists lie when they tell you that we want to ;restore caipitalism, that we intend to ,r eturn to the proprietors the property which has been ta1ken from them some time ago . . . I repeat: the program ,o f the Czechoslova•k exiles is not capitalism and the return to 1938. Nor do we wish to hand baok the mines and foundries to their former owners. All we care for is thaJt the Communist government, which means dependence on Russia, disappears." It might be argued that an occasional ,p rogram of this sort migiht have its place in the o.ver-all setup 1because, after all, there still are oM 'Socialists in Czechoslovalkia who have no use for the Communists. Yet isn't it strange that while there are programs for workeirs, peaJSants and Communists, there are none £or businessmen? Sometimes they talk about free competition, but often it is but the competitiion of collectively owned factories amongst themselves. The terminology of their broadcasts is af the Socialist variety, including the trite ranting against "Capitalists" and "reactionaries". I now shail ,proceed to offer documentary evidence to show that Radio •F ree Europe also aids, and sometimes even propagates, Titoism and communism, and frequently extols Communist leaders. Milos Vanek, one-.time big wheel in the Commun1st party of Czechoslovakia, and now chief of the economics department of RFE's Czechoslovak desk, said on November 21. 1952. at 11.30 a. m.: "Marx. Engels. Trotsky-for them 1 26 SLOVAKIA Marxism was the ,s ubstitute for the Western revoilution of human rights." The co:mmentaJtor of "Weekly Survey of the Ame:rican Press," on April 12, 1953, art; 8 :30 a. m., said: "The New York Herald Trilbune is of the opinion that the trial of Mindszenty, the HungM'ian cardin.a;l, as wehl as the trial of Slansky and similar crimes in other Communist countries, ought to ,be remembered ... " Possibly, if not proba,bly, tt was one of the numerous left-wingers on the staff of the Tribune who plamed this cOITU!pting little seed of associating the fearless anti-Comm'l.llllist cairdinal with that old Marxian wheel'horse and Kremlin errand iboy, Slans.ky..Salzmann, who stood as solidly for the Leninist-iStalinist program as any Communist who happened to get purged in some intra..party feud. Sure enough, if the Tribune man did not give a ring to his pal at the CzechosloV'aik desk in New York's RFE heaidquarters, the latter did not fail to picik up that choke tidlbit. After all, any "opinion" of the stai:d and ·p resumably coruserva,tive New Yo11k Herald 'Dribune is safe quoting. Who is there 1bra;zen enough to accuse the o}d Tribune of being sUJbversi,v e? And thus, by association with a ,primate and mal1tyr of the Roman Catholic Church, a Communist li0kspittle is being groomed for respectaJbility. And this in the name of fighting the totalitarian enemy, by an organization which is financed by American donations, a;nd which is sponsored ,b y well--Omown Americams. Again and again, ,R JFE's psychological warriors do not attack Marxism-eommunism as such but what, with tears of regret, they c01I1de:mn is its "degeneracy." Consequently, the listener-unless he be quite alert--is mduced to fancy that communilsm, with which so many RFE bigwigs: once cooperated, would not be so bad if only it had not "degenerated." RFE Attacks Russian Imperialism but not Communism Fid<filing that tune, RJF])'s "Europe without the Iron Curtain," on March 2, 1952, at 3:45 .p. m., complained a/bout the "degeneration of the old Communist ideaJls." Commenting on the arrest of the Kremlin-serving boss- SLOVAKIA 27 es Sling, Olementis and 'Slansky, RFE's "Comments on Events of the Day," on February 13, 1952, at 7 :30 p. m., waxed somewihat melanc'hoiic: "They consciously closed their eyes, dreaming about the Communist security of the future . . . they dreamed . . . what was to remain of the ide·a ls once the dream had come to Ml end?... A cynical disdain for Communist ideals ... " K•rurol Bel:aJk-lBerger, the left wing Socialist, in RFE's "Round Table Discussion," on April 12, 1953, at 3 :05 p. m., nostalgically referred to the "millions of idealists and men of good wilJ" who had lbelieved in communism and merely deplored the "methods" that had "failed." Regretfully he mused that "the whole aippeal of communism has evaporated ... " 'I'.he policy of collaboration with the Communists was quite distinotly expressed by the old Socialist comrade, Ferdinand Peroutka, in his '~Sunday Oomments" of April 27, 1952, at 12 :15 p. m., when he answered the attack of the Communist dM'ly, !Rude Pravo, on exil.es such a,s he. '"It a<ecuses us of wor,king for the restoration of capitalism, along with the return of the western powers," stated Peroutka. "All we wish to say in reply to these accusations is this: "There has been a Socialist government in England for six yeam. This government would hardly have forced you, the Czech and Slovak people, to accept capitalism. Today we have a Conservatiive government in EngJand. Yet it has not abolished any of the Labor government's Socialist measures, and it would not do anything of the sort in CzechoslovaJkia. "As to America-she supports T1to. Now even though Tito acc~ts America's /bountiful assistance with open hands, t he United States government has not demanded the denationalization of a single Yugoslav factory. Yes, Tiito never ceased to be a Communist. America says: 'Let everyone do as he pleases.' America says: 'Go ahead and be a Communist if that's what you want. All we ask is that you stop supporting Russian imperialism.' America has no 1ntention 28 SLOVAKIA to force runyone, including Czechoslovaikia, to return to capitalism." iDr. Miloslav Kohak, another widely known one-time. Communist collaborator of the National Front who saved his skin in the nick of time and landed a fat job as cllief (until his replacement recently) of RJFE's "Political Comments on the Siituation at Hlome," on November 25, 1952, at 10:45 a. m., had this to say ,a bout Arthur London: "From ,b eg.inning to end, the indictment against London is preposterous. It is the whoie International Brigade of the Civil War irn Spain which is 'being attacked in his person-another proof of the reactionary attitude now prevailing in the Soviet Uni:on. She no longer wants the support of men who. believe in ideals, ibut only of those who believe in bayonets." On May 8, 1954, at 5 :45 .p. m., in "Stories Written ey Life," a young Communist inmate of a slave labor camp was quoted as follows: "Your Christian concept comes close to the 01riginal Leninist ideology . . . We must wm•k toge-· ther, faithful to the ideas which Lenin has taught us." Dr. Jaros}aiv Stransky, Socialist and an oJd Oommunist collaborator of the Nationa1 Front, said in "Taik with Home," on March 1, 1952, at 9 :30 p. m.: "Denunciation should not play amy .part in ,p olitics . . . Arny honest Communist will join the rest of us in condemning denunciation." Probably the old collaborator still believes that it is possible for Communists to ibe honest. Consequently he had no trouble :i n slipping that one in. The trouble with Radio Free Europe, though, is quite another matter. Squandering miHions of American dollars for the alleged ,purpose of fighting communi:sm, it hires old Communist collaborators who rant about "honest" Communists. "We Call the Communist Party," of February 22, 1952, at 11.45 a. m., went all out in praise of Communist cultural achievements. "Czech Communist literature ha;s brought forth works of outstanding value," RFE's psychological warrior declared. "We enjoy reading Communist authors as much as any others." A curious way of inducing an anti-Communist attitude, to say the least. 29 SLOVAKIA 'Dhe Socialist 'Franta Klatil, in "Political Comments on the Situation at Home," on April 21, 1953, at 11]_ :45 a. m., mused that "Tito has more character ithan his one-time aL lies in Prague . . . iHe secured this independence, and quite thoroug,hly at that." It is quite a common rprocedure foir Radio Free Europe to quote Tito and Red Yugoslavia's press as authorities in both moral and political matters. Holiday trips to Tito's Yugoslavia have ,b ecome a cherished habit o,f RFE's editors. Programs Glorify Revolutionary Workers Another variety of the collectivist ideology which pre~ vails among RFE eclitora is the frequent praise of those enemies o,f the Kremlin who have not been able to toe the party line but 'have otherwise been valuable fighters in the class struggle against the so-called exploiters. Thus, the RFE .script, "We CaU the Communist Party," which was broadcast to Ozechoslov,a kia on March 29, 1955, at 12 :40 p. m., in its glorification of title revolutionary workers of Kronstadt sounds as if it had been wr.itten by the old Lithu~ ani3JI14m.e:rican anarchist Alexander Benkman. "'I1he workers of Kronstadt," it says in that script, "fought so that the soviets may be elected freely and democratically, that their just demands be fulfilled - demands which ,w ere entirely in the spirit of the Oct01ber Revolution. They fought for democrati:c soviets ... " True enough, this broadcas-t; was addressed to Communits, and it might seem reasona,;ble to some to appeal to -Communists in the spirit of genuine communism; but is it likely that hardened trans--Ourtain Communi sts of 1955 believe in appeals in behalf of communi~m when they M"e uttered by those who are hired by Americans? Yet, incredtble though it may appear, that is the line which RFE commentators adopted a:S fate as 1955. Let us choose another example of this folly by quoting Dr. JaroS'la.v tStransky, former minister of the National Front, in his "Commentary on the Political Situation" of April 2, 1955, 9 :50 a. m. In this gem of an "anti-Communist" ,b roa.d~ast, the Communist collaborator of b.ut a few yea.rs ago sang the praise of the "Spartacus Bund," the 1 30 SLOVAKIA militant group which, following World War I, broke away from Germany's left wing 'Socirulists in order to usher in the Communist ·r evolution. Stransky really waxed lyr-ical over Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, the .two most prominent and violent ieaders: of early German communism. "The modern 1Spartacus movement," pontificated Stransky in behalf of iRFE's version of freedom, "Karl Liebknecht and !Rosa Luxemburg . . . they were pacifists, the foes of imperi:aiism and militarism . . . they were beaten to death iby the mob . . . theN" articles, their speeches, their lettevs were inspired by a vision of order and beauty for the modem world . . . in every sentence which that undersized, unga.irny Jewess, Luxemburg, wrote, there was humaneness and poesy ... " We are not arguing a:bout the lofty intentions of these two world famous pioneers of the Communist revolution, misguided and unbalanced though they were. We are here questioning the wisdom of Ameri'CMlS who, in the name of the freedom for which Washington and Lincoln lirved and died, hN'e a notorious one-time Communist collaJborator who stiH offers hymns to the cause of the Communist revolution. That Stransky shmdd express such revolutionary feeL ings is obvious; that well-meaning Americans should sponhor such project does ,p rovide food for thought. National Fronts Vaunted In line with this farcically suicidal policy these RFE psychological wrurriors natua-ally still vaunt the very Nationa'l Front which paved the way for the total subjugation of the Czech and 'Slovak people •b y the Communists. These strange refugee policy-maJkers, script-writers and editors still live in that dreary world in which fatal short-~ghtedness delivered their people into. the hands of the ,Krem!lin. Thus, on October 28, 1952, at 10 :05 a. m., these socaned heralds of freedom told the home folks ibeihind the Cua-tain: "There wiH once more ,b e a time when Benes will arise ... " On OctOlber '2/l, 1953, at 4 :35 p. m., they aippealed to "those who remember the pre..,F~bruary (i.e.,. 1945-48) democra~y ... " On January 11, 1953, at 1:1:30 a. m., the Je:ftist ,S ociaiist Belak-iBerger, "in Comments on the Events SLOVAKIA 31 of the Day," exclaimed: "The real Nationa;l Front (i.e., peaceful ,Socialist-Communist collaborators) today lives in the hearts of the Ozechs and SlovaJks." As if there had not been mass murders all over Czeohoslova;kia ,throughout the existence of the National Front, RFE's "Time, Men, Events" of OctOlbeT 18, 1952, at 10 :15 a. m., told the good ipeople behind the Curtain that "the conditions of 194!5 adually orig.iinated in the will and the wish of ,the majority of the people." New Yovk "Comments of the International Situation," on April 12, 1952, decried the "Communist treason" of February, 1948, 1b y which the last collruborators of the National Front were ex;pelled ,b y the K!remlin's agents. "The Communists," this broadcast said, "seized ,p ower by means of the militia and the police ... Before this time (i.e., before February, 1948, d!uTi'Il!g the entire time of the National Front) the democratic politicians had pro.v ed their .g ood will to cooperate (with the Communi:sts ... However) the democratic politioians (the National Front men and today the RFE men) ·· were removed ... " This is of course true, as all of us know. Yet what sort of democrats are Commumst collaborators who tacitly consent or act1vely connive at the suppressiion and murder of political non-conformists? These Nationa,l ·F ronters, now employed by IRFE, did not discoiver the criminality of their Communist a:IHes when moderates and conservatives were systematical!ly murdered. Only when tihe Communists put the finishing touches on the enslavement of .the Ozec'hoslova!k people by exterminating their own co,Uaborators did these curious freedom fighters b,elatedly decide that the Krem1in's henchmen were afiter all poor champions of liberty. Yet whom do the American ,b osses ·o f Radio F.ree Europe select for speaking to the enslaved people of Ozecho"' slovalkia? Not those \WlO from the beginning refused to compromise with the Communist tyrants. They have preferred to choos:e such National Fronters as Dr. iPetr Zenkl, Dr. Joseph Lettrich, Vaclav Majer, Dr. Ivo Duchacclc, and Dr. Ja,roslav Stransky. The latter has ,b een offered as a weeklv feature attraction. 32 SLOVAKIA Like Alger Hiss, who stiU maintains that Yalta was "a good thing," but that the bad Communists unfortunately broke their ,pledges, these N8Jtiona:l Fronters claim that their colla:borator with the CommunLsbs---the so-called Kosice Program-would have been "a good thing" if only the Communists had not .proved to be treacherous. Instead of at last a:dmitting that the Kosice Program was criminal folly from the outset, they still refer to it as an "ideal." In 1955, when the Communists in Czechoslovakia celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Kosice Program, RFE's "Head and Tail," in a broadcast of April 5, at 8 :15 a. m., declared: "Communist propaganda appeals to democracy, i.e., to the ideals which the Communists have betrayed." On April 7, 1955, at 12 :40 p. m., RFE's "We Call the Communist Party" still praised the Kosice government program, "according to which the Czechoslovalk peo.ple were to elect their representatives in free and secret elections." This whitewashing of the Kosice Program is a deliberate falsehood because only four left wing parties then were handed out licenses by the Communist masters while all anti-Communist parties were declared illegal. The Kersten Committee of the U. S. !House of Representatives ha:s put this sham psychological warfare of RFE in the proper light, by Report No. 8, of December 31, 1954. "Especially the proclamation of the Kosice P.rogram, of April 5, :1,94'5," the Report states on pruge 17, "opened the door for an unobstructed drive on the part of the Communists to seize full power in the country." Policy of Appeasement Let the readers draw their conclusions as they see fit. There is no better way to expose the intrinsic bankruptcy of Radio Free Europe's policy. It is not the fight against communism which these psychological war.rio,rs carry on; they stand for 8Jppeasment amd reconciEation. Thus, of ail ,peo.ple, Konni Zilliacus, the led:t wing Brit~ ish Laborite who has for years been a faithfuil contributor to publi-cations of the Communist ,party, was invited by Radio F.ree Europe to address the Czechosloivak peo,ple. This is what Zilliacus, in broken Czech, beamed over the SLOVAKIA 33 air waves to the trams-Curtain sJ.a,ves, on April 17, 1953, at 12:40 p. m.: "You would enormously encourage and strengit,hen those in the West who-, for the sake of reconciliatio~, woU!ld l.ike to meet the .Soviet Uni:on and the people's democracies half -w ay if you were to rehabi'liltate those of the Prague trial wiho are ,s till in prison, and clear the memory of those who died or were killed ... " Zilliacurs here did not refer to, any anti-Communist victims. He spoke of .such Communists as the Secretary General of the Ozechoslo.vaik Communist Party, Slansky-Salzmann, who had been subjected to one of -qie interminruble purge triaJs and put to death by his coreligionist, Stefan Rais, then Communist Minister of Justice. No,t am.ti-Communists, but the arch-Communist Sbnsky-Saizmann and his confederates were to be "rehrubilitated" for the sake of " reconciliation" with the Communists. That is the sort of psycho1ogical warfare RJFE has been propagating. In similar vein, ,Milos Vanek, old champion of Red causes, said on Apri,l 12, 1953, at 3 :05 p. m.: " ... as long as the Soviet Union faiis to prove by deeds that she is in earnest in her alleged desire to put an end to the cold war and the hot war, she cannot expect that we may diminish our efforts to liberate all the oppressed peo,ples." One weeik later, on the same "Round Table Discussion" program, again at 3 :05 p. m., Vanek said: "First let the Communists mruke ,p eace with their own people. They ought to resort to peaceful means in their :internal policy, too." We might as weJtl asrk wolves to stop devouring lambs, and hyenas to turn into doves of peace. It is nothing less than RFE's zi1uacus and Vanek expect. It is therefore no exaggeration to state that Radio F,r ee Europe has consistently ad<kessed its broadcasts not to anti-Commu:nists, but to, Communists, Ti,to:i.sts, semi-Communists and pro-Communist Socialists b,e hind the Iron Curtain. This fatal policy has spread apathy among what is left of genuine anti-Communists ,b eyond the Curtain. This is not ,t he inspiring fi.g,ht for freedom; it is the deadly appeasement of the Communist tyranny. Inasmuch as Radio Free Europe is controlled and staffed by socialists, pro-Comm1mists, World Federa:lirsts SLOVAKIA 34. and other assorted internationalists, we should not be surprised ,t o learn that ineffective and harmful progz,ams, and even broadcasts amounting to, srubotage, have character.i~d its specific ,policies. Particu!larly noteworthy features comprise: 1. The reipetition of lbanalities-"truth- telling." 2. The "People's iProgra.m.." 3. Attacks on petty Communists and prote.ction of Communist bosses. 4. tDefonse of American pro-Communist errors. 5. Broadcasts amounting to saJbotage. 6. The spreading of recognizable and destructive lies. 7. Failure ,t o propagate Gemnan-Czech and GermanPolish reconci'li ation. 8. Occasional advice to, follow Communist suggestions. 9. I.;eininist inoitement to premature revolts. 10. Propa:gation of decadent literature and music. 11. Propagation of internationalism and racial merger. 12. Praise for the New Dea:lera, and criticism of con-· servative Americans. 1 Repetition of Banalities F'or many a year, a disproportionate amount of broadcast time, be it out of ineptness or aotually malicious intent, has ibeen alloted by Radio. Free Europe to the never-ending reiteration of banrulities. We might identify this curious practice as RF1E's special little game of "telling the truth." it goes somewhat ,l ike this: - the Communists call Americans imper.iaJlists; Ame~ rioans are not imperiaUsts. - the Com.mu.rusts claim that they want peace; Communists don't waJILt ,p eace. - the Communists claim that the American economy is !bad; the America1I1. economy is good. Of what avail is the production of sue'h trivialitie.s? Can there be any doubt that the endless repetition of such trite assertions Sipreads boredom and turns away potential listeners? If at least RJFE}'s broadcastevs made a sustained effort to explain why Americans are not imperialists, and why their economy excels that of the collectivists, listeners SLOVAKIA 35 might be inspired to do, some constructive thinking. The natm-e of RFE's script writers a:nd editors, of course, forbids any such sensilble procedure; for collectivists cannot be expected .to expose the impotence of collectivism. 1In a certain way, RIFE prides itself on beiing "specific" in the stale little game of ".teilling the truth." As an example, the reporter of a broadcast delivered on May 3rd, 1953, ait 8:45 a. m., stated: "In Hungary .t here are obvious supply defficiencies ... Canned food has gone ,b ad ... There is a laok of suga1:> in Bulgaria ... Poland suffers from a shmtage of fish ... " This sort of news, of coll!I'se, is no news behind the Iron Curtain. If t:he economic fai,l,ure of the Soviet re-alm were expl,a ined as the inevitable result of state intervention, listene~ might find it proper to heed such programs. Another part of the quaint little truth-telling game consists of reporting concrete conditions and haippenings from t'he world of the slaive labor camps. Inasmuch as there cannot ,b e any suggestion. regarding the termination of these horrors, the effect of these reports is exactly what the Corrurnmist leaders desire, i. e., to lame the wiU of the people by striking teirror into their hearts. Until May 1, 1954, this sort of aimless and uncoordinated "truth-,teUing" seemed to 1b e RFE's princi,pal task Then--at last-a definite over-all program was announced. Does this mean liberation? Let us look and see. The "Program of the •P eople's Opposi.t ion," proposed on Labor Day, 1954, ait 10 :10 a. m. , and frequently reiterated and referred to, ever since, contained the foUowing ten postulates,: 1. LaJbor unions s'hould belong to their memberis, not the b9sses. The positions of union officials should be elective. 2. There should be less ta1k and more hrurd cash. Hon-est money (sic!) for honest work. 3. The worker should be permitted to choose the type of work he prefers. 4. Overtime should be outlawed. 5. Peasants should be a:llowed to quit the kolkho,z es (i.e. 1 cdllectivies) if they so desire. 36 SLOVAKIA 6. There should be a ceHing on the state's s'hare of agricwltural production. I!'arm oontributioos to the state should be equaliized. 7. The government should wovk for the people, not the politicians. 8. Production should benefit the people, not the state. 9. Emphasis should once more be on the consumer. Small shOil)S, owned and run by little ,people, should be revived, to serve the ,c onsumer. 10. The building industry should be mobiUzed for the benefit of the ,peop'le, instead of the state officials. Some points of this so_,called people's pro,g ram, at first sight, may look impressive. Its cardinal and decisive error derives precisely :firom the inability of its coUectivistic perpetraJtors to recognize the primacy of the enterprise. This program fails to go, to the root of the matter. It does not atfack state control as such. It merely proposes to mitigate and qualify. It is at its core plain socialism. Yet this is the sort of t'hing wihich, in the form of leaflets, is dropped from the trans-Curtain ,s kies by means of the "freedom balloons" which columnists like Drew Pearson have been vaunting for years. This program does not offer any decisive opposition to the tyranny of na;tiona'1ization as such. There is but the indecisive and dU'll suggestion to reform the preSleJilt Communist system, to abolish its excesses, to turn it into some form of Titoism or semi~communism or to return to the socialism of the bankrupt National Front. Instinctively, the Ozechs and Slovaks who hear this socalled ,p eople's program reach for the .lmob and shut it off. They must shrug their shottlders wt the oratorical antics of men .w ho :rant against ta'lking but in their own tum offer little beyond empty talrk. This "Program of the People',s Opposition" is faulty and spurious !because the concept of Rrudio Free Europe is based on a capital error. Radio Free Euro,p e basically main_ tams rthat the threat to the free world comes from Russia as an armed and aggressive power; it obfuscates the fundamental issue of the world~wide Communist conspiracy. In accordance with this leftist line, Radio Free Europe SLOVAKIA 37 a:bsolutely never refers to, congressional investigations of subversirves in the United States. T.rans-1Curtain listeners M"e completely :unaware of the existence of such men a.IS Jenner, Velde, EaJStland, Walter, Dies, Reece, aJnd Mundt. When the Kerstein committee operated in Munich, in the summer of 1954, RJFE referred to it; but the texts of tes-timonies were edited to suit the over-all ·soft~peda:ling of basic issues. Radio Free Europe acts as if it were set up to preserve the concept of state bureaucracy and iprute:rnali:sm by all avaHa:ble means. Petty Communists Blamed for Party Policy Radio Free Europe acts a:s the quack who peddles curealls for the most nauseating aspects of the Comnmnist di-· sease; iit fails to tackle the roots of communism as such. Thrus it makes much ado about the chicaneries and perversions of petty Communist officiais, but it does not name the real culprits, the wire-,pulilers, the bosses who guide and encourage the brutalities of little village tyrants. Radio ·F ree Europe refers by name to individual Stakhanovites, tractor-drivers, and prison~guards; it disregards the organizers of the hruted Communist drives. lt thus actualily ,protects the pillars of the CommU.111ist society, the calclrlating masterminds who play on the wea;knesses of a confused citizenry and trap therir helpless victims in a net of Comm'll.llist demora1ization and perver,s ion. In "Messia:ges to Those at Home," Radio Free Europe p.hllories the little informers who are known to work for the ,s tate police. A1:most without exception these little fellows are known far and wide as stooges of the Communist masters. Dossiers on these puppets do not add to the knowledge rubout Communist evil-0oers. These dossieI's are largely based on dippings from the press of Communist-controllJ.ed eastern :IDurope. The secret agenrts of the Soviet police, the directors: of the pro.grarrn of terror, are never mentioned. "Messages to Those at Home," on February 29, 1952, at 7 :415 p. m., as an example, said: "Who is the mruster in Nitra? (A tiny Slova!k town-Editor.) Who is the master of whom the Soviet police itself is in fear? It is Sergeant Klike. He is hated, dreaded and mighty. He causes the .pllll- 38 SLOVAKIA ishment of policemen who sometimes haive a hearrt; for the.ix victims.'' Now, who is this monster, Sergeant K1ike? Not any "master" by any means. He is but wellArnoW111 little sergeant of the uniformed poJice ! Again, on June 26, 195,2, at 12 :15 p. m., "Messages to Those at Home" singled out a few Communist women: "Comrades M. PO!korelska, !H. Y anosikova, Kr. Bezakova and M. Dedinlmva," the broadcast addressed itself to these petty Communists, "swine-herds and tractor-drivers, re-· member m time the warnings of today. Tomorrow you may be brought to account for your misdeeds; but tomorrow may be too late for you." "'.Program for Civil and State Servants," on April. 10, 1955, at 8:40 a. m., importantly sounded off: "We call your attention to a dangerous informer. The pensioner Michalek, Kulda Street, Brno, ,persecutes beggars. He chases them from homes and often hands them over to the police. In your own interest, Comrade Michalek, we advise you to stop yoUT dirty work." This sort of broadcasting, declaimed in a lowered, almost comical tone, is suppooed to scare primitive swinehevds and tractor-drivers. The bosses are never named. Radio Flree Europe never criticizes the mistakes or the treason of the past and thus never has to expla;in the real reasons of the Communist successes in the past. In the same way as they conceal systematicaliy a11 real causes of the communization of Czechoslovakia, they conceal also the real causes of Communist advances in other part of the world. Let sleeping dogs lie~that seems to be RFE's guiding inspiration. There is no criticism of Teheran, Yalta, and Potsdam. These conferences, in line with the views of an Alger Hiss, are regavded as joot splendid. If only the bad men of the Kremlin had not betrayed their solemn pledges! "We Teach History," on February 13, 1952, at 6:15 p. m., stated: "The Sov.iet Union broke the Yalta rugreement and betrayed it . . . The ink on the document 'had hardly dried when the Soviet Union made a display of violation and unparalleled cynicism." "Sunday Comments of Ferdinand Peroutka," on April SLOVAKIA 89 3, 1955, at 12:15 p.m., commented: "When the Yalta ,papers were published, some individuals wanted to reprimand the Democratic leaders foo- lack of cautiousness. But any discussion of some little mistaJkes the Democra;tic leaders may ha'Ve made would merely obscure the ,p rincipal wirong, which has been and remains the systematic deception contrived b,y the Ru€,s ian statesmen. These reaJl,i ties ought to be clear. ly understood by the wor-ld. The Ya!lta conferoo:ce turned into a tragedy, not because of what was agreed upon there, but because the 'Soviet Union failed to honor the agreements." Broadcasts Amounting t.o Sabotage Naturally, if we are decei,v ed regarding om own stu~ pidity, and even betrayal, at Yalta, we are likely to remain unaware of the stupidity and pet.haps even SaJbotage which have characterized a certain type of ~E's refugee programs. Incredible though it may seem, Riadio Free Europe ~against the ,persistent pleas and protests of refugees firom behind the Iron Ourtain - in its Sa,turday programs has offered detailed descriptions of successful flights from the Soviet terror. These ,b roadcasts - have named the locations where the border was passed, and indicated even 1:Jhe person:s who, at the risk of their 'lives, assisted the escapees. There could not have been any better means to alert the Communist police.. The very identities of patriots in eastern Europe were thus disclosed to the Soviet secret police, with the reswlt that any recurrence might be prevented. How self-destructive, at the expense of optimistic American dono,r s, cam. we get? Were the script writevs and editors of these "sensatio:nal" pro,grams really s•o naive that they failed to grasp the sinister consequences of their paradoxical role? Did they reaUy not understand that their disclosures about the specific locations of escape would en~ able the Communist pdlice to plug the last holes in the Coctaj.n? Let us quote from the !broadcast, "I Chose Freedom," of Aprill 25, 1953, 8 :30 a. m. "[ went through Cerna Horka," the refugee interviewee revealed, "walking along the hrigihway. Then I went :ba<ck to tile river bed of Vltaiva, in 40 SLOVAKIA the direction of the Austrian Soviet zone. I approached the Jezuv creek ... across f.rom it there is for:bidden territory. . . . In Frynburg there is a bridge across the riv&, and the road to Vyssi Brod. In St. Thomais there is the headquarters of the ,p atrols. The bridge had ,b een torn doWID.. I made a float from_ an old fence and other wood I gathered. The river is aJbout t_e n meters wide and three meters deep at that spot. (This was said in reply to a question from the broadcaister. - Editor.) I guided the float by means of a pole, and then set foot on the forbidden side. I hid in the bushes anod woods ... On the highway to- St. Thomas I encountered a banbed wire barricade, a,bout three feet high. I found an old laidder in a hut which had been empty ever since the German's left. I broke it in two, put it a;gainst the barricade, climbed, and jumped to the other side. Traversing a distance of a'bout thirty meters, I reached Jezuv creek, which is ·less than a meter wide. I crossed the creek and found myself in the Soviet zone of Austria. "In Austria, I folfowed the highway until I entered a little ho.use below a hill. The Ausitri.ans who occupied this house felt pity for the refugee, and assisted me . They helped me to contact a friend of theirs in Linz who was to get me ,s afely acro,s s a bridge in Linz, on the border of the 1Soviet ·a nd American 2.1ones. That man pro.v ided me with a forged identification card, into which we rubbed some dirt in order to maike the name illeg1ble. I joined a group of girls who passed the sentry at that spot. Nonchalantly, I ,p roduced the forged identity card for the sentry, and without looking back I crossed the bridge. I was in the Western. izone of Austria." Enemy Alerted The Communist enemy couid not have been more brazenly ailerted. Letters of protest against such asinine (if not trea{!herou.s) interviews fl.ooded the expellee press in Munich. Nevertheless, the interviews continued until 1954, by w'hich time a great many of the cracks in the Soviet wall had been revealed to the Russiains, and repaired by them. As late ·as 'May 9, 1954, at 3 :45 p. m ., the "I Chose Freedom" broadcast disclosed the exact details of a flight SLOVAKIA 41 by express train from Decin, Bohemia, to. Berlin. The in. terviewee described how he had conceailed his presence at the Decin railway stat,ion, how he eluded the attention of the .security agents, aid ,how a "people's po'liceman" at the station in East Berlin 'helped him to escape. As late as Apriil 2, 1955, at 12 :45 p. m., again on the "I Chose Freedom" program, an escapee pictured the detafls of his flight across the above-mentioned bridge in Linz. Can there be any doubt that such interviews. intimidate those behind the Iron Curtain who might be wirlling to cooperate with refugees? Can our friends behind the Iron Curtain maintain erven a shred of confidence in "psyc'hologica1 warriors" who indulge in this sort of give-away? The editor of RFJD's "I Chose Freedom," one Otto Graf, had been editor of the Socialist ,p aper Svet Prace and a well-known CommUJnist collaborator of the National Front. An obscure journalist before War H, he owes hi.s career to his fatal activities in the National Front. Zdenek Fierlinger and Bohumil Lausman, Socialist ministers of the Nationa1l Front, were the pulblishers of Svet Prace, at the time of Graf's editorship. In 1948, on the occasion of the Communist coup in Czechoslovakia, Fierlinger turned out to be a Communist planted in the Sooial Democ.ratic party. Lausman, after his "esca.pe" to the free world, in 1951 worked for a while for Radio Free Europe. Afterward~, he turned out to be a Communist agent and returned to 0zechoslovakia. As editor of the Czechoslovak refugee ,paper, Ce.skoslovenske Noviny, in Ludwigslburg, Gerimany, RFE editor Otto Graf published articles by Lausman. Self-destructive Lies Broadcast It is ha.r d to believe that a man who has ,b een able to function as a newspaper editor is so inept that quite a few of his presumably anti-Communist radio programs in effect equal sabotage of the freedom crusade. That a saboteur of the free world's cause could hardly improve on these refugee programs is evident from their text. An almost equally self-destructive feature of R:ailio Free Europe is the routine broadcasting of transparent lies. 42 SLOVAKIA In a number of pamphlets, including The RFlE Story (p. 14), RFE's psychological warriors proudly admit resorting to lies. Whether lies should be part of our "psycho war" program is 1b oth ethically and practically quite debatable. To brag aJbout one's own lie in print, so that their admission may hie quoted ,b y the enemy, once aga:illl reaches itili.at degree of ingenuousness that in its net results is hardly distinguishaJble fr<Y«..'l saibotage. In addition to all that, many of the fabrications which our RFE brain trusters have th01Ught up are such simon puTe inventions that those for whom they are intended immediately recognize them as such. iFor example, Otto Graf and Vladimir Kucera~Homik, at Christmas, 1954, when maJking programs on the miner's life, made a· report about a great coal mirle catastrophe in Kladno., which a1legdly cost twe:lve lives of miners. This report was invented. We may ibe s,ure that a character like Bohumil Lalli:lman, former chairman of the Ozechoslovak Social Democratic party and afterwards a ,p lain Commrunist agent in Western Germany and Austria, fed RFE such damaging stories, and that some editors believed him. Yet who but one_,time Nation.ail Front colla;borators - RFE's farvorites wou!ld pUJt any trust in LaUSiman anyhow? RFE has made it easy for the Communist to prove RJFE's own mendaoity. Verbatim quotations from RFE's press and radio are all that is :required. T.here is still another lie, even more destructive, which has been produced by the "truth-telling" of Radio Free Europe. It is the number one lie, and concerns the core of the Communist system. There is irrefutable evidence regarding which group is maki:ng communism in the East. This evidence comes from refugees from the East and from various reliable sources. This group is characterized by such · names as Kruglow (or Krugloch), the chief of the Secret Police of the U&SR, Kaganovic, Ehreniburg, Berman, Rakosi_,Rosenkra.Il'Z, etc. In ,aJdd,ition, this group fully and completely constitutes that "invisi'ble government" behind the scenes in 43 SLOVAKIA the East. It is the same group, of course, which also makes the Communist conspiracy in the West. When in 1951 the members of this group (Minister of Justice Stefan Rais, etc.) staged purge tria:ls against other members of .the same group - Slansky-1Sal2'Inann, iReicin, Ka.tiz, etc. - RFE shouted to the world that the entire group was b.eing cruelly persecuted and liquidated in the East. Many samples of suoh programs are availaJble. This greatest and most perverted lie of world communism is !being upheld by RFE even now, and all facts contradfoting it ,a re cut, adjusted or ·s uppressed. Every intellrigent .refugee from the East calils this He the number one .sabotage committed by RFE. An intelligent inv-estigation of FRE as well as of the opinions and the material of the ref.ugees from behind the Iron Curtain would easily bring forth the full truth. 1 Former German Co-Citizens Alienated It is not enough to quote Radio Free Europe to expose its sooia:list and internationalist bias. To point out lost op-, portuni,ties as well as de[iberate omissions permits us to penetrate the confused and hrulf-·hearted mentality of this much~touted and eXipensiive outfit. Perhaps the tbest example of RFE's negativism toward .important objectives of t'he free world is its peculiar attitude towards the Germans. To be sure, on the surface t.he West Ger.man RepubHc and Chance!Hor Adenauer have been officially praised 'b y RFE. Beyond such formalities, IWE has done little to inspire the Czechs and Poles with trust in the Germans. In 1945, the Communists forced the Poles and the C.zec'hs to expel close to fifteen miUion Germans, from their home1and of centUJries. Albout three million of these lost their Hives as they walked through the Iron Ore Mountains, the Sudeten Mountains and the Bohemian Forest or as they were shipped westward in cattle cars which somewhere were left on the traoks. All of the other twelive mililion were r01b1bed of their ,property. Most of them were bea,ten and tortwred. Naturally, the Czechs ,and the Poles fear the venge-· a.nee of their former German co~citizens. Understandrubly, SLOVAKIA the Communists do, all they can to :keep this fear a1ive among the Poles and the Czechs who are under their domination. It would be the duty of Radio Free Europe to counteract this Communi<st policy by telling the Poles and Czechs a bout the numerous manifestations of good will and the sincere desire for reconciliation on the part of di siplaced Germans living in Western Germany. Radio Free Europe does nothing of the sort. It does not even report the official agreements which expelled Czech statesmen have signed with the German expellees. In summary, R@Es' stand on the highly important expellee prdblem is as foillows: a. It does not even mention the peaceful attitude and program of the German expellees. b. It ridicules exi'led Czechs and Poles who do not hate the Germans. c. It fails ever to refer to the remarkable past achievements of the :G ermans in Czechoslovakia and to examples of German-Czech coopexation. d. It never mentions how the ex,pulsion of the antiCommunist Germans enabled the communization of Czechoslovakia from within. e. It continuaNy harps on the persecutions the Czechs and Poles have suffered under German domination. f. It damns the Germans with faint prai,se, and slyly, in veiled fashion, even incites the Slavs against the Germans. g. By upholding the ex;pulsion of fifteen mililion Germans and defending the Oder-Neisse border, it follows a line of nationality policy which is identical with that of the Communists. 1 Advice to Fellow Communist Suggestions There are many other - apparently often ha:rmless occasions on which RFE's line comcides with what the Communists desire. Why men should be .p aid by Americans to broadcast from expensive stations what our Communist enemies want in the first pl ace is not easy to grasp. Particttlarly ba:ffling examples of American--Soviet co1 SLOVAKIA 45 incidences ha:ve come from the desk of Milos Vanek, chief · of the Economic Department of the Czechoslovak Desk, RFIE, Munich. Formerly one o.f the most prominent leaders of the 0zech Communist party, Vanek still feels urged to counsel Czechs in harmony with his former confederates. Early in 19'52, Vane'k busied himself forecrusting an immediate inflation, and advising the people to invest their cash in goods, including the expensive products of the Communist gray market. Innumerable programs have carried this message to the Czechs. The broadcast of Ja:nuary 23, 1952, at 6 :45 p. m., admonished the Czechs: "The Communists in Czechoslovakia are about to runloose inflation. Invest all your savings in goods, buy whatever you can, even the e_x1pensive articles on the government market." There was no inflation; but the refugees from the satellite country reported that the Communist government at that time spread exacbly the same rumor of inflation and also adv1sed to spend all savings because it wanted to draw in a:11 "surplus" money without any monetary reform. A year and a half later, when, of a sudden, the new value oif the Czech currency was a:nnounced, neither the Communists in 0zechoslovakia noT Vanek in RIFE had given any wa:rning. When the Communist government asked for shock brigades of voluteers to plant new forests, Vanek enthusia,stically chimed in. "Help to plant new trees," Vanek exhorted the Czechs on the "Economic Program" of May 1, 1953. "The Communist regime," he announced, "will perish, and t'he trees will be for your children." Other programs hawe offered similar a'dvice. •~Prog,ra,m for Women," 0ctob.er 24, 1953, at 1 :45 ,p. m., counseled to sell quality go·ods. to Communist state stores "because the Communist stores are sel'ling the goods to non-Communists, and it is 111ot good to, cheat non-Communists." "Program for Workers," March 23, 1955, 2:10 p. m., suggested that workers as.k foremen for e~tra work becawse it would mean extra money for them -while it would not really help the Communist cause. Along the same line, the old collaiborator, Otto Graf, 1 46 SLOVAKIA interviewed a fellow by name of Tonda Hornik, who said: "I thus eairned 2,000 crowns extra~it pays not to be lazy." Radio Free Europe, thus, does not urge the satellite slave workers .to relax if not slow down, it spurs them on to work harder - for their Communis t masters. Those in the know were not surprised when "wor.ker" Tonda Hornik, in June, 1955, was exposed as a Communis t agent. One of RFE's editors, Robert Lowkota by name, had gone to the extreme of appealing to the Czech workers not to absent themselves from wor.k; but the protests from refugees who had listened to this monstrosit y w&e so im-,pressive that iRiFE had to back down and, in a broadcast of April 10, 1955, at 12.:45 p. m. ("We Call the Communis t Party"), tried to minimize the importance of Loulkota's aberration. Do these editors who urge the Czech people to fol.Jew suc'h advice have a soft spot in their hearts for the Commwnist~ r are they following the orders of men whose hearts and minds are hard as steel ? On the one hand, Radio Free Europe has urged Czechs to do overtime in factories giving only evasive consolation s, never mentioning how and when liberation could be achieved; on the other, through provocative agitation, it has practically incited them to revolt. Such policy, on the surface, appears contradicto ry. On second thought, we might wonder if all of this confusion is due to ineptness. As long as the Western governmen ts are not prepared to supply .p otential rebels with weapons, no rebellion can succeed. Only people who are unacquaint ed with the nature of communism can hope to overthrow Communis t governments withouit outside assistance. Certainly the present United States governmen t is not inclined to arm potential insurrectio nists. Even if it wanted to, a horde of United Naitions associates would prevent it from going ahead. Why then does Radio Free Europe fail to warn resolutely against revolts at this time? Curiously enough, Lenin favored armed uprisings against his own regime; for nothing exposes more glaringly the staunchest freedom fighters, and nothing offers a more striking opportunity to exterminat e the most stout-heart ed SLOVAKIA 47 foes of communism. Whatever the reason may be - and it appears most worthwhile to get to the bottom of the situation - Radio Free Europe again and again has played the role of the agent provocateur.Whether or not any sabotage wa:s intended, the policy has actually been of benefit to the Communists. First of all, RFE has pictured the enemy as weak while in reality he is strong. "Life Behind the Iron Curtain," on April 26, 1953, at 8:45 a. m., exclaimed: "There is chaos, uncertainty and fear in the Soviet Union and among its leaders." "Best Article," on April 24, 1953, at 9:05 a. m., stated that "there are rifts within the system," and on April 17 it claimed that "we face the beginning of a dissolution process which affects the entire regime." Few Americans know that the broadcast of RIAS, the American broadcasting station in Berlin, shared in the responsibility for the tragic 1953 rebellion of the Germans in the Soviet zone - a rebellion which led to the arrest and annihila:tion of tens of thousands of our best friends behind the Iron Curtain. Practically no American knows that RFE has sent the same sort of abortive action ,p rograms to the Czechs. On February 8, 1952, at 9:15 p. m., Milos Vanek, on "Economic Program," approvingly spoke of the rise of "armed brigades against their leaders in the Communist party itself." Hopefully he observed that "the signs . . . are already on the horizon." When in Czechoslovakia public demonstrations took place in 1953, Radio Free Europe pictured them in inflammatory scenes. The other programs reflected the same attitudes. On June 21, 1953, at 12 :15 p. m., the perennial "Sunday Comments of Ferdinand Peroutka," referring to the tragic and fatal uprising among the Germans, told the Czechs: "Do you know that tens of thousands of workers there are on the march, shouting 'Ivan, go home? Do you know that everybody there is fed up with the Soviet overlordship, has enough of Soviet exploitation?" 48 SLOVAK IA Again and again, Peroutk a has dicussed prematu re and therefor e suicidal - uprising s in an inflamm atory fashion. For the sake of preservi ng precious friends for a more opportu ne time, we might well have followed the advice of the late Senator Robert A. Taft, who vigorou sly opposed such heedlessness. Propagation of Decadent Literature and Music For the time being, Radio Free Europe might well content itself with building up the morale of those who long for liberatio n from the Commu nist tyrants. There are numerou s straight forward books which take a courage ous stand against any and all undue control by governm ent. These, though, are not the books from which RFE's commentato rs have chosen to quote. No, the cultural fare which they have selected is largely confined to decaden ce in literature, and jazz in the realm of music. The program "Play of the Week" is full of mental confusion and decay. The books which are reviewed and quoted, and which are suppose d to represen t the world of the free, abound in decaden t characte rs, in suicide and perversi on. As to literatur e which is suppose d to represen t eastern Europe, the emphasi s is strongly placed on works of defected collectiv ists, picturin g the horror and the hopeless ness among the satellite nations. The editor of "Book of the Week," on August 3, 1952, at 9:45 a. m., expound ed: "We enable you to become acquain ted with the literatur e which is current in the free world. Take a book by Mannus Ferber, who once was a Commu nist . . . the story in itself is colorless - a tera in the ocean ... there are no ready answers anywhe re .. . " On April 26, 1953, at 9 :45 a. m., "Book of the Week" another typical example - discusse d The Polish present to Giodo: "A mysterio us curse rests on the Jean Mill, by family," the commen tator explaine d. "In vain, Kosta opposes the weight of destiny ... his son-in-la w becomes mentally insane ... his daughte r goes crazy ... the young woman is slowly dying ... the power of fate is the core of the book ... all revolt against it is futile . . . " SLOVAKIA 49 "Weekly Survey of Culture," of January 4, 1953, at 11 :15 a. m., told of a work of literature that is "full of complexes and inner conflicts . . . " "Film Program," of April 9, 1955, at 2 :20 p. m., reviewed a film directed by Eliza Kazan: " . . . he went to see his mother in the brothel ... he borrowed money from her, even though he despises her, and then he made a good business deal . . . a drama full of instincts, passions, and convulsions, of undertones ... a master work by Kazan ... " This story about a moral and strong father whose wife lives in a brothel was offered by RFE during the Easter holidays. RFE seems to be chockful of split personalities, of people with complexes, of those who are in need of psychiatrists, of people whom we might pity if there were not so little time left and if they were not entrusted with the task of championing our principles of trust in God and our responsibilities as free men. The music offered by RFE, at 10:05 every morning, and at other hours, accords with the confusion, savagery and hopelessness of the literary ,p roducts which these men favor. ,Most of it i:s jruzz in the version of the squieruking dis_ harmonies and noises of primitives, or of complex men who flee from their own souls. The West is rich in music of the highest inspiration. RFE seems not aware of this mighty force in our behalf. The Communist station in Prague does better. The Communists, mindful of national heritage, play Smetana and Dvorak, the great music of the Czech people. They benefit by these magnificent works. But Radio Free Europe broadcasts jazz - alien, uninspiring stuff. Some of the less influential employees on Radio Free Europe have protested against these low and degrading performances. They were told from above to go on producing jazz. Propagation of Internationalism and Racial Merger The general mental and moral climate of Radio Free Europe conveys moods of indecision, wretchedness and vexation. 50 SLOVAKIA Inherentl y most of the ideals which RFE advocates require some sort of super-gov ernment, which means but additional curtailme nt of the liberties which this costly radio network is supposed to champion . On nearly every day, for instance, there is a program which urges the abolition of naturally- grown national culture in favor of the European super-sta te. It is called "Europe Without the Iron Curtain" and it always begins with the slogan: "Europe without the Iron Curtain means the United States of Europe. Yesterda y but Utopia, today the dream of millions, tomorrow reality." The slogan has been formulate d by the widely known internationalis t Karol Belak-Be rger. Paradoxic ally, the Commun ist internatio nalists in the East are smart enough to appeal often to age-old, traditiona l nationalism. Radio Free Europe, which has been presumab ly conceived to fight Commun ist internatio nalism, champion s internatio nalism. "Nearly all Czechs and Slovaks desire the United States of Europe." That is what "The Other Side of the Coin" asserted, on April 5, 1955, at 8 :15 a. m. A free poll or plebiscite among the enslaved Czechs and Slovaks might well disclose a different mood, a different opinion. On June 6, 1952, at 7 :15 p. m., "Europe Without the Iron Curtain" stated: "The world federatio n is a necessity ; but first Europe must be united. The European federatio n is but the beginning ; the United States of the World is the ultimafo aim ... First a European federatio n must be achieved; then we shall be ready for the world federatio n." In accordanc e with this candidly avowed goal, RFE continually disparage s the concept of national sovereign ty, which is dear to the overwhel ming majority of European s. Thus "Commen ts on Events at Home," on April 28, 1953, at 10:45 a. m., slightingl y referred to "the so-called national sovereign ty." "Europe Without the Iron Curtain," on May 5, 1954, at 1:15 p. m., stated: "On the defendan t's .b ank there sits the concept of the national state and its ideological foundation - nationalis m. Frontiers - the straitjack et of the national state - are an anachron ism." SLOVAKIA 51 The United Nations and UNESCO - a controversial topic among millions of Europeans - are favorites of RFE. "The United Nations gives new hope," said "News," on October 24, 1953, at 1 p. m. "The whole world looks toward the United Nations," said "Who Is Who," on April 22, 1953, at 8:30 a. m. Such statements are daily standard with Radio Free Europe. Ever opposed to nationalism, RFE even objects to national self-determination of the many non-Russian nations inside the Soviet empire. It stands to reason that national self-assertion inside Russia might be a ,p owerful aid to any effort aimed at disintegration of the Soviet Union. Consequently this is opposed by RFE's amazing bleeding hearts. Thus, "Voices of the Western Press," on February 8, 1952, at 8 p. m., quoted: "Russia should not dissolve herself into a number of smaller nations; the nations of the Soviet Union should discontinue their disputes." In its determined opposition to the concept of national heritage, and in harmony with the ideas favored by such American left-wing groups as Americans for Democratic Action, RFE, in programs addressed to the trans-Curtain people, goes so far as to attack the McCarran-Walter Immigration Act. Thus, "Our New York Correspondent Reports," on April 29, 1953, at 10:05 a. m., declared: "The public wants the law to be changed; for the nationality quotas of this law are obsolete . . . The press unanimously demands revision. We hope that the change will be effected." Beyond mere political merger of the nations, Radio Free Europe also campaigns for a merger of races. Thus, for instance, "Europe Without the Iron Curtain," on February 15, 1952, at 6:15 p. m., declared: "Just as Europe, in a way, already represents a nation . . . . there also arises a new nation in the U. S. A. - out of the white, the black, and the yellow races . . . This too will happen in the East of Europe." Along this line, RFE's left-wingers seldom fail to disguise their animosity towards those nations which they regard as particularly nationalistic - against the past Germany, Spain, the Union of South Africa, and the various 52 SLOVAKIA Arab nations. RFE's persistent opposition to the Arab states sometimes reaches comical proportions. An article in itself would be required to document this phase of RFE's internationalism. Praise for New Dealers and Criticism of Conservative Americans In line with its over-all outlook, Radio Free Europe has consistently glorified American New Dealers and has at the same time not refrained from merciless attacks on conservative Americans. In other words, RFE, which should concentrate on psychological warfare against the Communist world con$piracy, has indulged in the hobby of defaming valiant American anti-Communists. No wonder that wideawake Europeans have ever more often asked if RFE is primarily an anti-anti-Communist organization. "Answers to Those at Home," on October 28, 1952, at 10 :05 a. m., proclaimed : "Stevenson was a principal speaker at the celebration for T. G. Masaryk. (Founder and first president of the Czechoslovak republic. - Editor.) Our hope for the future would be rekindled if he were elected President of the United States." On November 4, 1952, at 10:05 a. m., the same program reveled in this choice bit of lyrical effusion: "Adlai Stevenson ... ranks among America's greatest sons, such as Lincoln and F. D. Roosevelt ... He is the very incarnation of America's highest aspirations . . . Within less than a year he rose from obscurity to the pinnacle of American leadership." The record of Radio Free Europe's programs is full of unfavorable remarks about those great Americans who have steadfastly opposed the Communist menace. A flood of vituperation was pou:r;-ed on General Douglas MacArthur upon his dismissal from the Far Eastern scene. His speeches, which have moved the truly anti-Communist refugees from eastern Europe, have been consistently withheld from RFE's programs. It was the same with the great and honorable Senator Robert A. Taft, on the occasion of his campaign for the Republican nomination in 1952. After "Mr. Republican's" SLOVAKIA 53 defeat at the Chicago Convention, "Our New York Correspondent Reports," on August 7, 1952, at 10:05 a. m., rejoiced: "For Europe it is decisive that the last remainders of isolationism have been removed, and that a sound policy has been carried to victory." Ferdinand Peroutka, in one of his interminable "Sunday Comments," on August 3, 1952, at 12:15 p. m., pontificated: "Taft was the proponent of a policy which can never settle anything, as his adversaries have always pointed out." "Our New York Correspondent Reports," on July 9, 1952, at 8:05 p. m., had this to say: "The opinions of (Herbert) Hoover and (Douglas) MacArthur represent the viewpoint of a minority; these men want to confine themselves to the (exclusive) defense of the American continent. The majority ( of Americans), though, have dimissed this attitude and are conscious of America's global role." "A Program of Novelties," referring to the passing of two famous American journalists Pulitzer and Bert McCormick - on April 3, 1955, at 3 .p. m., called Pulitzer the "son of an Hungarian immigrant, an outstanding American journalist," but criticized Colonel McCormick as a "controversial, reactionary isolationist" who "opposed progress." The Krem'l~n must have been satisfied with that incisive observation. General Impression Created By Radio Free Europe What, then, is the general impression which Radio Free Europe has made, behind the Iron Curtain as well as among the millions of anti-Communists in Western Europe? It is, besides the impression of half-heartedness, indecision, artificiality, and downright clowning. When RFE's broadcasters, directly addressing some poor wretch or some swineherd in some forlorn little hamlet in Slovakia or Bohemia, lower their voices to terrify him, antiCommunist refugees merely laugh. Alas, the farce tastes bitter, because of the lost opportunities, the stupidity, the feeling of treason, and the unsonscionably low moral standard. Next, there is the strong impression of cliche journalism, occupying itseif with superficialities - cars, houses, 54 SLOVAKIA etc. - and largely avoiding verbatim quotations. Instead, they impose their propaganda by means of slogans. Real opinions of the refugees and of the people at home are disregarded by the RFE propaganda. Real anti-Communists are never allowed to get their messages across the Curtain. Real anti-Communists, including the repenting National Fronters, are social outcasts. But the collaborators of the National Front, who even today maintain that the National Front was all right, sit at the big desks and cash their substantial checks, in compensation for their shadow boxing. Then there is the distinct impression of coolness, impersonality and anonymity. Since the well-known anti-Communists of -long standing have been barred from RFEJ, theTe are no names to inspire the listeners. Yes, some men do speak under their own names. These include the left-winger Dr. Joseph Lettrich, the Marxist Vaclav Majer, and such Socialists as Ferdinand Peroutka, Dr. Petr Zenkl and Dr. Jaroslav Stransky. However, these men are known to be weaklings, mere fronts for more powerful personalities. They are recognized to be generally useless; they won't stir the imagination of anyone. As to the known former champions of the Communist causes, trans-Curtain listeners would simply shut off the radio if they knew who was talking to them. Therefore, Milos Vanek now calls himself Pravdomil Basta, and Frantisek Listopad goes by the name of Jan Ctvrtek. Similarly, the leftist Socialist Dr. Miloslav Kohak has become Vitezslav Fram; Otto Graf hides his pro-Communist past under the pseudonym of Franta Tabor, and Karol Belak-Berger has conveniently turned into one Jan Lehota. "Who are these fellows anyhow?" the listeners behind the Curtain must wonder; for they have never heard of them. Naturally, they become suspicious, and their interest sags. Czechs and Slovaks behind the Curtain remember those who never compromised with the Communists. They know that these men are now living in the West - the C:i!echoslovak General of the Army, Lev Prchala, the former Czechoslovak Minister, Dr. Joseph Cerny, and many others, and SLOVAKIA 55 also some former members of the National Front who in the free West started to denounce it - Dr. Bohdan Chudoba, Dr. Michal Zibrin, or Dr. Helena Kozeluhova, who was expelled in 1946 from the Parliament by the National Front, and the entire younger generation, led by Jiri Havelka, Emil Petrik, etc. The Slovaks have their former Minister, Dr. Ferdinand Durcansky and many others. The listeners behind the Iron Curtain cannot fail to wonder why none of them sends any "messages home" by way of Radio Free Europe. The masterminds of this confusion, whose net results represent sabotage of the anti-Communist fight - are way behind the firing lines in New York City, and in Washington. They, too, shroud themselves in anonymity. 'T he over-all impression, then, is one of cynism and emptiness, artificiality, and insincerity. Who wants to buy apples which are rotten at the core? RFE's Program In conclusion, we must ask: What, then, is the program of Radio Free Europe, or has no program been designed so far? Those behind the Curtain, who have the time to listen at all, would like to know in what way liberation may be achieved, and what specific assistance, beyond mere words, the West might be able to offer. Radio Free Europe has not been able to supply any satisfactory information in respect to this all-important ,problem. Here, however, we cannot help allowing for valid reasons to excuse much of RFE's ineffectualness; for even if RFE were staffed with outright, hard-hitting anti-Communists, it could not ,possibly make any promises which the Western governments, particularly the government of the U. S. A., were not willing to back with power. There is no use in claiming superiority in aircraft or guided missiles if that superiority admittedly does not exist. It is not possible to promise an economic blockade as long as that policy has not been adopted by the American government. Radio Free Europe - or any of the other liberation 56 SLOVAKIA stations - cannot very well offer the severing of diplomati c relations with the Soviet criminals when our own statesmen meet with them at the summit and have lots of smiling pictures :taken for the benefit of the Soviet ieaders. However, if RFE were really (instead of merely in name) an independe nt and private organizat ion, and really staffed with intelligen t and genuine anti-Com munists, it could urge Western governme nts to take stronger steps. Radio Free Europe might demand the creation of military units exclusive ly composed of refugee and e~pellee volunteers. It might demand the ousting of Commun ists from both internatio nal and national organizat ions. It might establish extensive contacts with the undergro und behind the Curtain, instead of causing its discovery and extermin ation by Communi sts. Radio Free Europe might frankly discuss the present difficultie s while at the same time exhorting the Iron Curtain slaves not to lose hope. The trans-Cu rtain ,people who long for liberty might at least be informed about where all of us stand. They should know about a long-rang e .p rogram as well as what can be done at this time. Most importan t of all, Radio Free Europe should become a clear and shining beacon to those who are willing to fight for their liberties. This can only be achieved by throwing out the clowns and confusion ists who want to fight communism with a Socialist "peo1ple',s program. " If Radio Free Europe cannot cleanse itself because it is from top to bottom infested with collectivists, internatio nalists, materialists and decadents , then it would be better to shut it down and replace it with an entirely new organizat ion. Perhaps this great reform cannot be undertak en as long a:s even in the United States the grass roots patriots, who unequivocally believe in God, the Constitut ion and freedom of enterprise , are successfu lly boycotted and ridiculed. Perhaps an effective liberation station can only be establishe d when at last the collectivi st corrupter s of the United States are driven from their entrenche d ,p ositions in America' s public institution s, and her means of communi cation, and her governme nt itself.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 Close-Up View of Radio Free Europe Description An account of the resource Jiri Brada Slovakia, Vol. 6, No. 1 (18), March 1956 pp. 17-56 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Brada, Jiri Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1956 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/29447f6d211a355161309fa98bc1dea0.pdf 3a23cb29402bede360b3cea790b2ea44 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA If he does not find sufficient records, he will survey the self-reoog,nition nationailly, especfa:lly the personalities of the Rev. Stephen Furdek, the foll!Ilder of t.lhe First Catholic SJ.walk Union, and P eter Rovniiaine'k, the foU!Ilde r of the Nationa1 Slova'k Society. Dr. Greene, who has learned to read and ooderstand SlovaJk, is familiar with the ouilitura1 and historicaJl material a'Wlllfa1ble art: tihe J ankola Lj,brary iin Damville, Pa., the S[ova'k linst1turte Li,b rary in Olevel-amd, Ohio, and the faciltties iin Pittsburgh, Pa. rund Chicago, Illinois. In his own reference library he has joot about aJll the books publ!ished about the American SlovaJks, both ii11 the English and S.Jovak language. In his cooversation he talks 147 with ease aibout FuTdek, JankoLa, Murgas, Rovnianek, Sabol, Cutlen, Ko j is, Hrobak, Hletko, itfue Slov,a;k League of Arrnedca, the S[ovalk CaitJholic Federation of America, Lhe Jednota, amd a;ll the other Slovaik orgamizations. He .feels he hi t a bonanza when he came across the 75 Year History of the 1?'irst Oatholk Slovaik Union (75 rdkov Prvej KatoliC!kej Sloveniskej Jednoty), by Dr. Joseph Pauco. •'Not only is it a complete a.ind most comprehensive 1h i s t o r y of the J ednota ,amd rt!he Slovatks in Arrnerlca, buit its many references, footnotes, and bibliography wiilil sart:isfy any serious reader and research historiam," said Dr. Greene. Joseph C. Krajsa A DELICATE SUBJECT On March 17, 1965, was St. Pia t T •i c k's Day, a day Wlhidh iJS lh~1d .fill high esteem in ,tJhe heart of every Irishman wthether of remote ancestry from -the United States or from a,cross :the s ea. ]n New Yoiik this day is celebra,ted wi:f:Jh an annual parade down F'wth Avenue. By chiam.ce my -husbam.d is em- ployed in a 'luxury apa:ritment house overlooking Ce n tr a 1 parik: ; thus lh e viewed the paraide for the first time a1thougih !he immigrated to the United States six years ago. His Irish co-wo:rike r raved about the spectac:Ie. Meanwhile, they were jomed by a third pa11ty who oommented on the strong Irish nation- �148 SLOVAKIA aJisti,c fee '1i 111 g. Noting my being Ni:tra situated in Slohusband's aocenit asked where vaJkia. he was from. What is the reruson for my "S1lova'kia", wa:s his reply. interest? I was born twentyUpon this his i ill q u i r e r four yeaiis a,go in New York drew a bl8J!llk expression and City of Mora:viam-SlovaJk iparelllts; rHved in tJhe heart :lf shrugged lb.is shoU!lders. the Slovak and Czech neigh..Czecho-SlovaJkfa; it's a bo•rhood; and graduated from p a r t of Czee1ho-Sll.O'V\akia. the O.rech School. I sensed There aTe two nation,a11ities. that .there was an Ullleasy I'm Slovruk", was his earnest feeRng between some of the reply. Czechs amd SlovaJks. Af,t hough not beilllg a:gg,ressive nor any "Oh." mteHeoturul, I mooe timid inWitJh tlhi<s tJhe company dis- quires for wlhiclh peoip1e either persed. shurnrned away from the poin,t Thart: s a m e evening my or ranigTilly hU'S'.hed me. I soon hUJSban'd recounted the day's discovered that whatever the events remrutikinig how very reaison, it was a delicate and few people are awaire that a coml)lioated subject. 'I'hen I met my fU!ture husbamd who S'1ov,aikia exists. as a subscriber to "Slovak After loolkilng up in a ·b ook v Amerilke" 'began to read of Saints ibheir brief notes secrtion•s irn volving the poliition Saint Part:rick, one of the crul issues 8Jlld ipast history of paJtron sa:illlibs of Ireland, we tJhe cou'1!try. ln the beginning t u r n e d to see whart: was it was difficult for me to written aJbouJt Sairut Cyri,l a,nd ruoknowledg:e the i.1!1.1.f ormatfon Saint MetihodiU!S. According whioh seemed inrflammatory to the text these two saints and cOilltrary to what I preare responsi,ble for tlhe Slav sUJined to be the whole truth. rul,phalbet and s,u/bsequently the Slaiv l,amguage a:s well as Slowly I began to correilaspreading Christianity. It te ·tJhis infovmation with what a·lso mentiOlllS very briefly was wdtten ~rn various artictihe territory .they covered - les, hooks, encyclopedias as soUtt:hern Russia, Bohemia, wel!l as by ,various authors, and Paland. 'Dhere is no men- and foU'Ild thaJt certain fact s tion of Great Mora:via whi~h seemed etther omitted, g,lid~ existed at this time du!':ng ed over, or misinterpreted. the ninth cent ury, its center For e:x:ample, one source ad• �SLOVAKIA milts ilil a few pages 'bha,t Slov.aikia became an independent sitate on March 14, 1939, ,b ut there is no mention of Jozef Tiso, the Roman OatJholic priest a·s :president. lt only states thait Slovaikia fatithfuily did it!he 1b iddings of Germany UIIltil .April 5, 1945 ; when it decided to return to the originaJl bi~sit,a te of Czecho.:Slova!kia, but on equal b a s i s with the Czedhs I pemonai11y ,o annot see it becaiUJSe Slov,aJkia during its independence enjoyed g,reater prosperity than wihen it was in the centra:lized Republic. No state once tasting the fruits of independence :is going to e~ohange it for denationa!lization and communism ll1Il1ess forced to do so. A it ih i rd souree .portrays President Tiso ia;s ,a cautious fascist; a fourth as 'b eing a N arzi ipuppet who danced when Hitler pu[1leid the stTiings. and ainotJher treats the pr;blem as something which unfortunaitely existed. 149 Sudete!rland? In faict Slovak autonomy did not rise over nig<hit so i,t could hide in H itler's· shadow; S<lova!ks wanted aiuitonomy ,b efore World War II. 1t j u s t happened they made a successful break during a itoomoil; a brea!k which was fort!hcoming regardless !if there would have been a Hitler. As for it doing Hitler's biddings, Ptresidenrt Tiso was d e e P 1 Y rooted in Roman Catholic dogma, became presideint without opposition £r?~ the V,aitic~, cou4d not wihlmgly obey H utler who was an ~t heist and ohief advocate agamst ~oman Oa,tJholicism OIIl the pomt itihairt Jesus was a Jew. If President Tiso is bd ng bI18Jil!ded a f ,a scist or a Nazi 1 pUJPPet wihairt would one label Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister, along wiith tJhe French who made a..n agreement with Hitler in Mu\Jlich in reg,a.rd to Sudclenland; O!I' Benes's 20 ye a r aJilisance treaity wi,t h Moscow when he c o u l d have well The ,p oint is these state- guessed StaJlm's intentions! menits are 1cold and narrowIt is easy to labe'l rpeople, miinded. How could a small the de trimentail fact being it ' newly..formed Slovalk st.ate ' iJS sei'zed Uipon by an NI-inaif.ter a tjhousam.d y e a r ;; of formed audience which dines fore~gn ru[e, stand against on coiined phrases disregardthe higMy organized and miing the initial source. litarized Germany who alMary A. Hlock y ready todk Austr~a and the � SLOVAKIA If he does not find sufficient records, he will survey the self-reoog,nition nationailly, especfa:lly the personalities of the Rev. Stephen Furdek, the foll!Ilder of t.lhe First Catholic SJ.walk Union, and P eter Rovniiaine'k, the foU!Ilde r of the Nationa1 Slova'k Society. Dr. Greene, who has learned to read and ooderstand SlovaJk, is familiar with the ouilitura1 and historicaJl material a'Wlllfa1ble art: tihe J ankola Lj,brary iin Damville, Pa., the S[ova'k linst1turte Li,b rary in Olevel-amd, Ohio, and the faciltties iin Pittsburgh, Pa. rund Chicago, Illinois. In his own reference library he has joot about aJll the books publ!ished about the American SlovaJks, both ii11 the English and S.Jovak language. In his cooversation he talks 147 with ease aibout FuTdek, JankoLa, Murgas, Rovnianek, Sabol, Cutlen, Ko j is, Hrobak, Hletko, itfue Slov,a;k League of Arrnedca, the S[ovalk CaitJholic Federation of America, Lhe Jednota, amd a;ll the other Slovaik orgamizations. He .feels he hi t a bonanza when he came across the 75 Year History of the 1?'irst Oatholk Slovaik Union (75 rdkov Prvej KatoliC!kej Sloveniskej Jednoty), by Dr. Joseph Pauco. •'Not only is it a complete a.ind most comprehensive 1h i s t o r y of the J ednota ,amd rt!he Slovatks in Arrnerlca, buit its many references, footnotes, and bibliography wiilil sart:isfy any serious reader and research historiam," said Dr. Greene. Joseph C. Krajsa A DELICATE SUBJECT On March 17, 1965, was St. Pia t T •i c k's Day, a day Wlhidh iJS lh~1d .fill high esteem in ,tJhe heart of every Irishman wthether of remote ancestry from -the United States or from a,cross :the s ea. ]n New Yoiik this day is celebra,ted wi:f:Jh an annual parade down F'wth Avenue. By chiam.ce my -husbam.d is em- ployed in a 'luxury apa:ritment house overlooking Ce n tr a 1 parik: ; thus lh e viewed the paraide for the first time a1thougih !he immigrated to the United States six years ago. His Irish co-wo:rike r raved about the spectac:Ie. Meanwhile, they were jomed by a third pa11ty who oommented on the strong Irish nation- �148 SLOVAKIA aJisti,c fee '1i 111 g. Noting my being Ni:tra situated in Slohusband's aocenit asked where vaJkia. he was from. What is the reruson for my "S1lova'kia", wa:s his reply. interest? I was born twentyUpon this his i ill q u i r e r four yeaiis a,go in New York drew a bl8J!llk expression and City of Mora:viam-SlovaJk iparelllts; rHved in tJhe heart :lf shrugged lb.is shoU!lders. the Slovak and Czech neigh..Czecho-SlovaJkfa; it's a bo•rhood; and graduated from p a r t of Czee1ho-Sll.O'V\akia. the O.rech School. I sensed There aTe two nation,a11ities. that .there was an Ullleasy I'm Slovruk", was his earnest feeRng between some of the reply. Czechs amd SlovaJks. Af,t hough not beilllg a:gg,ressive nor any "Oh." mteHeoturul, I mooe timid inWitJh tlhi<s tJhe company dis- quires for wlhiclh peoip1e either persed. shurnrned away from the poin,t Thart: s a m e evening my or ranigTilly hU'S'.hed me. I soon hUJSban'd recounted the day's discovered that whatever the events remrutikinig how very reaison, it was a delicate and few people are awaire that a coml)lioated subject. 'I'hen I met my fU!ture husbamd who S'1ov,aikia exists. as a subscriber to "Slovak After loolkilng up in a ·b ook v Amerilke" 'began to read of Saints ibheir brief notes secrtion•s irn volving the poliition Saint Part:rick, one of the crul issues 8Jlld ipast history of paJtron sa:illlibs of Ireland, we tJhe cou'1!try. ln the beginning t u r n e d to see whart: was it was difficult for me to written aJbouJt Sairut Cyri,l a,nd ruoknowledg:e the i.1!1.1.f ormatfon Saint MetihodiU!S. According whioh seemed inrflammatory to the text these two saints and cOilltrary to what I preare responsi,ble for tlhe Slav sUJined to be the whole truth. rul,phalbet and s,u/bsequently the Slaiv l,amguage a:s well as Slowly I began to correilaspreading Christianity. It te ·tJhis infovmation with what a·lso mentiOlllS very briefly was wdtten ~rn various artictihe territory .they covered - les, hooks, encyclopedias as soUtt:hern Russia, Bohemia, wel!l as by ,various authors, and Paland. 'Dhere is no men- and foU'Ild thaJt certain fact s tion of Great Mora:via whi~h seemed etther omitted, g,lid~ existed at this time du!':ng ed over, or misinterpreted. the ninth cent ury, its center For e:x:ample, one source ad• �SLOVAKIA milts ilil a few pages 'bha,t Slov.aikia became an independent sitate on March 14, 1939, ,b ut there is no mention of Jozef Tiso, the Roman OatJholic priest a·s :president. lt only states thait Slovaikia fatithfuily did it!he 1b iddings of Germany UIIltil .April 5, 1945 ; when it decided to return to the originaJl bi~sit,a te of Czecho.:Slova!kia, but on equal b a s i s with the Czedhs I pemonai11y ,o annot see it becaiUJSe Slov,aJkia during its independence enjoyed g,reater prosperity than wihen it was in the centra:lized Republic. No state once tasting the fruits of independence :is going to e~ohange it for denationa!lization and communism ll1Il1ess forced to do so. A it ih i rd souree .portrays President Tiso ia;s ,a cautious fascist; a fourth as 'b eing a N arzi ipuppet who danced when Hitler pu[1leid the stTiings. and ainotJher treats the pr;blem as something which unfortunaitely existed. 149 Sudete!rland? In faict Slovak autonomy did not rise over nig<hit so i,t could hide in H itler's· shadow; S<lova!ks wanted aiuitonomy ,b efore World War II. 1t j u s t happened they made a successful break during a itoomoil; a brea!k which was fort!hcoming regardless !if there would have been a Hitler. As for it doing Hitler's biddings, Ptresidenrt Tiso was d e e P 1 Y rooted in Roman Catholic dogma, became presideint without opposition £r?~ the V,aitic~, cou4d not wihlmgly obey H utler who was an ~t heist and ohief advocate agamst ~oman Oa,tJholicism OIIl the pomt itihairt Jesus was a Jew. If President Tiso is bd ng bI18Jil!ded a f ,a scist or a Nazi 1 pUJPPet wihairt would one label Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister, along wiith tJhe French who made a..n agreement with Hitler in Mu\Jlich in reg,a.rd to Sudclenland; O!I' Benes's 20 ye a r aJilisance treaity wi,t h Moscow when he c o u l d have well The ,p oint is these state- guessed StaJlm's intentions! menits are 1cold and narrowIt is easy to labe'l rpeople, miinded. How could a small the de trimentail fact being it ' newly..formed Slovalk st.ate ' iJS sei'zed Uipon by an NI-inaif.ter a tjhousam.d y e a r ;; of formed audience which dines fore~gn ru[e, stand against on coiined phrases disregardthe higMy organized and miing the initial source. litarized Germany who alMary A. Hlock y ready todk Austr~a and the � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1965, Vol. 15 Description An account of the resource Vol. 15 (No. 38), 1965. 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 1965 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 If he does not find sufficient records, he will survey the self-reoog,nition nationailly, especfa:lly the personalities of the Rev. Stephen Furdek, the foll!Ilder of t.lhe First Catholic SJ.walk Union, and P eter Rovniiaine'k, the foU!Ilde r of the Nationa1 Slova'k Society. Dr. Greene, who has learned to read and ooderstand SlovaJk, is familiar with the ouilitura1 and historicaJl material a'Wlllfa1ble art: tihe J ankola Lj,brary iin Damville, Pa., the S[ova'k linst1turte Li,b rary in Olevel-amd, Ohio, and the faciltties iin Pittsburgh, Pa. rund Chicago, Illinois. In his own reference library he has joot about aJll the books publ!ished about the American SlovaJks, both ii11 the English and S.Jovak language. In his cooversation he talks 147 with ease aibout FuTdek, JankoLa, Murgas, Rovnianek, Sabol, Cutlen, Ko j is, Hrobak, Hletko, itfue Slov,a;k League of Arrnedca, the S[ovalk CaitJholic Federation of America, Lhe Jednota, amd a;ll the other Slovaik orgamizations. He .feels he hi t a bonanza when he came across the 75 Year History of the 1?'irst Oatholk Slovaik Union (75 rdkov Prvej KatoliC!kej Sloveniskej Jednoty), by Dr. Joseph Pauco. •'Not only is it a complete a.ind most comprehensive 1h i s t o r y of the J ednota ,amd rt!he Slovatks in Arrnerlca, buit its many references, footnotes, and bibliography wiilil sart:isfy any serious reader and research historiam," said Dr. Greene. Joseph C. Krajsa A DELICATE SUBJECT On March 17, 1965, was St. Pia t T •i c k's Day, a day Wlhidh iJS lh~1d .fill high esteem in ,tJhe heart of every Irishman wthether of remote ancestry from -the United States or from a,cross :the s ea. ]n New Yoiik this day is celebra,ted wi:f:Jh an annual parade down F'wth Avenue. By chiam.ce my -husbam.d is em- ployed in a 'luxury apa:ritment house overlooking Ce n tr a 1 parik: ; thus lh e viewed the paraide for the first time a1thougih !he immigrated to the United States six years ago. His Irish co-wo:rike r raved about the spectac:Ie. Meanwhile, they were jomed by a third pa11ty who oommented on the strong Irish nation- 148 SLOVAKIA aJisti,c fee '1i 111 g. Noting my being Ni:tra situated in Slohusband's aocenit asked where vaJkia. he was from. What is the reruson for my "S1lova'kia", wa:s his reply. interest? I was born twentyUpon this his i ill q u i r e r four yeaiis a,go in New York drew a bl8J!llk expression and City of Mora:viam-SlovaJk iparelllts; rHved in tJhe heart :lf shrugged lb.is shoU!lders. the Slovak and Czech neigh..Czecho-SlovaJkfa; it's a bo•rhood; and graduated from p a r t of Czee1ho-Sll.O'V\akia. the O.rech School. I sensed There aTe two nation,a11ities. that .there was an Ullleasy I'm Slovruk", was his earnest feeRng between some of the reply. Czechs amd SlovaJks. Af,t hough not beilllg a:gg,ressive nor any "Oh." mteHeoturul, I mooe timid inWitJh tlhi<s tJhe company dis- quires for wlhiclh peoip1e either persed. shurnrned away from the poin,t Thart: s a m e evening my or ranigTilly hU'S'.hed me. I soon hUJSban'd recounted the day's discovered that whatever the events remrutikinig how very reaison, it was a delicate and few people are awaire that a coml)lioated subject. 'I'hen I met my fU!ture husbamd who S'1ov,aikia exists. as a subscriber to "Slovak After loolkilng up in a ·b ook v Amerilke" 'began to read of Saints ibheir brief notes secrtion•s irn volving the poliition Saint Part:rick, one of the crul issues 8Jlld ipast history of paJtron sa:illlibs of Ireland, we tJhe cou'1!try. ln the beginning t u r n e d to see whart: was it was difficult for me to written aJbouJt Sairut Cyri,l a,nd ruoknowledg:e the i.1!1.1.f ormatfon Saint MetihodiU!S. According whioh seemed inrflammatory to the text these two saints and cOilltrary to what I preare responsi,ble for tlhe Slav sUJined to be the whole truth. rul,phalbet and s,u/bsequently the Slaiv l,amguage a:s well as Slowly I began to correilaspreading Christianity. It te ·tJhis infovmation with what a·lso mentiOlllS very briefly was wdtten ~rn various artictihe territory .they covered - les, hooks, encyclopedias as soUtt:hern Russia, Bohemia, wel!l as by ,various authors, and Paland. 'Dhere is no men- and foU'Ild thaJt certain fact s tion of Great Mora:via whi~h seemed etther omitted, g,lid~ existed at this time du!':ng ed over, or misinterpreted. the ninth cent ury, its center For e:x:ample, one source ad• SLOVAKIA milts ilil a few pages 'bha,t Slov.aikia became an independent sitate on March 14, 1939, ,b ut there is no mention of Jozef Tiso, the Roman OatJholic priest a·s :president. lt only states thait Slovaikia fatithfuily did it!he 1b iddings of Germany UIIltil .April 5, 1945 ; when it decided to return to the originaJl bi~sit,a te of Czecho.:Slova!kia, but on equal b a s i s with the Czedhs I pemonai11y ,o annot see it becaiUJSe Slov,aJkia during its independence enjoyed g,reater prosperity than wihen it was in the centra:lized Republic. No state once tasting the fruits of independence :is going to e~ohange it for denationa!lization and communism ll1Il1ess forced to do so. A it ih i rd souree .portrays President Tiso ia;s ,a cautious fascist; a fourth as 'b eing a N arzi ipuppet who danced when Hitler pu[1leid the stTiings. and ainotJher treats the pr;blem as something which unfortunaitely existed. 149 Sudete!rland? In faict Slovak autonomy did not rise over nig<hit so i,t could hide in H itler's· shadow; S<lova!ks wanted aiuitonomy ,b efore World War II. 1t j u s t happened they made a successful break during a itoomoil; a brea!k which was fort!hcoming regardless !if there would have been a Hitler. As for it doing Hitler's biddings, Ptresidenrt Tiso was d e e P 1 Y rooted in Roman Catholic dogma, became presideint without opposition £r?~ the V,aitic~, cou4d not wihlmgly obey H utler who was an ~t heist and ohief advocate agamst ~oman Oa,tJholicism OIIl the pomt itihairt Jesus was a Jew. If President Tiso is bd ng bI18Jil!ded a f ,a scist or a Nazi 1 pUJPPet wihairt would one label Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister, along wiith tJhe French who made a..n agreement with Hitler in Mu\Jlich in reg,a.rd to Sudclenland; O!I' Benes's 20 ye a r aJilisance treaity wi,t h Moscow when he c o u l d have well The ,p oint is these state- guessed StaJlm's intentions! menits are 1cold and narrowIt is easy to labe'l rpeople, miinded. How could a small the de trimentail fact being it ' newly..formed Slovalk st.ate ' iJS sei'zed Uipon by an NI-inaif.ter a tjhousam.d y e a r ;; of formed audience which dines fore~gn ru[e, stand against on coiined phrases disregardthe higMy organized and miing the initial source. litarized Germany who alMary A. Hlock y ready todk Austr~a and the  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A Delicate Subject Description An account of the resource Mary A. Hlocky Slovakia, Vol. 15 (No. 38), 1965 pp. 147-149 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hlocky, Mary A. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1965 name 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/53e9ffe678915216b1f1018220699dbb.pdf 754e04f96045a8f0cca233d2c889e0e5 PDF Text Text 54 SLOVAKIA A FREE SWVAK.IA IN A FEDERATED EUROPE ( EZ) What chances have the Slovak s fo i- an indep en dent st at e? The answer to that question depends oh one's outlook, hls knowledge or the Slovak poople and his knowledge o! Europe as a whole The Slovak people think they have a fair chance to re-esttabllsh the Slovak Republic. The Slovaks at home and in emigration firruly belleve that their natlonal existence depends on establishing a free Slovakia in a federated Europe. It is sald that every natlon has as much treedom as lt deserves and as much as it can gain by flghtlng. Well, the Slova.ks ait home and a,broad are willing to fight Cor their freedom and independence. They want to prove it. But they want a llttle understandlng and encouragement !rom the democrat!c powers which have on so many occaslons proclaimed that all nations, both large and small, have a God-given and inherent rlght to freedom and statehood. In the first place, let u11 remember that the Slovaks already have had an independent state. The Slovak R epublic e:iG!sted from 1939 to 1945, of course w!th limitatlons. But they liked lt nevertheless. Slovakia has lts state tradition, even though lt be relatlvely a mergre one. The Slovak ,state was recognlzed by 27 nations. And it gave a good account of ltselr culturally, economically and socially. The Slovaks have proved to the Czechs and thelr neighbors that they are capable of managing their own afralrs. Every informed, objective and unprejudiced observer wlll admlt that the Slovak Republic wa.s democratlc, Christlan and subllme. Slovak national economy has forever refuted the thesis that the Slovaks could not maintain themselves economically_ What they did in six short years, but siic difficul t years, practically amounts to a miracle. A natlon which has tasted of the fruit of treedom wlll hardly be satlsfied with less thereafter. The Slovaks are no exception. They wlll fight to be free again ! They have been overpowered ond forced to retreat against terrible odds. What hurts most is that the powers who sought ,to liberate all natlons trom totalitarian tyranny arhitrarlly forced Slovakia under alien rule and the godless tyrauny of Moscow through the pseudodemocrat Beneš. The Slovak state wlth its ,positive achlevements has !nscnbed itself deeply on the soul of the whole Slovak nation. Many Stovaks who once were against Slovak statehood, (the Benes or Czech Slovaks: CZECHOSLOVAKS!) today are for an independent Slovak Repu bllc. If Slovaks could vote in freedom at the present time, there ls not the least doubt that at least 95% would vote for an independent Slovak State. Never before did the Slovak nation have such a large number of sons in exile as lt has today. It ls a flghtlng group of exlles, wlth lts ,sights on a free, democratlc Slovakla. These Slovak exlles are deeply grateful to Americans of Slovak descent. The Slovak people at horne and non-part!san exiles In all parts of the world think hlghly of the work of the Slovak League of America, the organizatlon which represents a solid mora! and cultural value. When this material and spiritual potentlal is once put into motlon, lt undoubt· edly wlll lntervene effeotively at the decisive moment. The syste- �SLOVAKIA 55 matic work of the League in this direction and lts realistic Slovak ou tlook are more than a promise. What other facts portend the establishment of a Slova.k state? Old enemies of the Slovak people have been decimated by the bolshevik steam roller. In the second (some call it the thlrd) Czecho• slovak Republic, ihe Czech leadership commlited many blunders whlch have nothing in common with democracy, Christianity, humanity, and culture. Just a single example to !llustrate: the resolution of the Sudeten question ! Furthermore, the Czechs under Beneš's leadership set up Communism in Czechoslovakia. This is becoming increasingly clear to every obj-eetive observer. Beneš ,p repared the way for Moscow into Czechoslovakia. When Beneš died, the press of Switzerland, France and Italy described him as a ",traitor ot democracy, a seniLe politlcian who could not see clearly" and Jed not only his nation, but the Slovak people also lnto bolshev!k s lavery. The legend of Czech political reali.sm,'' on which the Czechs had counted so much, burst like a soap bubble. Colonies are not very fashionabLe today. Even the most backward countries are yearnlng for independellce, for statehood. De Gasperi, Italian P remier, has proclaimed more than once that the days of colonies are gone forever; Ita\y ls through with colonizing, be· cause it is against the spirit ot the tlmes. The Czechs have ,ex,ploited Slovakia as their colony. The Slovaks cannot be and do not want to be a Czech colony. The representatlves of c·entral European nations are work!ng for a federatlon, for a just and democratlc arrangement of the region between Russia and Germany. This is in favor of the establishment of an independent Slevakla. The Slovaks at horne and in exile are for such a federatlon of which Slovakla would be an integral part. Admlttlng Czechoslovakia as a unit within such a federation would not be a Just and democr atlc settlement of the problem of centra! Europe be• cause the Slovaks would contlnue to be exploited and gradually exterminated natlonally by the Czechs. Bolshevlsm is a world problem. The world will have to measure its strength with Commun!sm sooner or later. But the Slovaks know that they themselves must settle their problem with the Czechs and tbe so-called "Czech Slovaks." Experience tells them not to underrate the Czechs. The Slovaks have already been "taken in" by the Czechs several tlmes by trickery, clever propaganda and legal hypocrisy. Czech emigration is still aggressive and financially strong. Because of their many political, cultural and business connections, the Czechs stlll have access to high diplomatlc circles and influential people. They want to keep Slovakia, because it has been "such a good milch cow" ! The Czecbs do not openly clalm that they need Slovakia as a dumping ground for their "progressive intelligentsia, but the fact 1s tbat in their hearts they firmly believe it. They want Slovakia, be• cause of German pressure and fear of German reprisals for the brutalitles committed against the Sudetenlanders. The Czechs need to revitalize themselves with Slovak blood and the slnews of young Slovakla. Indeed, Beneš himself admitted that the continued existence of Czechoslovakia is a vital interest of the Czechs, hence the Czechs �56 SLOVAKIA must ever oppose the creatlon ot a free and independent Slovakla. Well, the Slovaks flgure they shall have somethlng to say about the matter, as rightly they should have. And no one can blame them for wantlng to live thelr own 11ves and belng masters of thelr destlny. The Slovaks know, too, that the "Czech Slovaks" - the Slovak traltors - are no less dangerous than the lmperlalistlc Beneli C:techs. They are the Janlssarles. The Slovaks do not underestlmate the Czechs, who have been and stm are pJytng a systematlc politlco· dlplomatlc game, the goal ot whJch 1s the denlal and suppresslon of the natural and fundamental rlghts of the Slovak natlon. One day world CÔmmunlsm shall be llquldated. And Czechoslovaklsm, the handmald or Communlsm, must be llquldated also. The fiction of an ethnlcal "Czechoslovak natlon" must be dlscarded for all tlmes. Czechoslovakla was a mlstake, an llluslon, politlcally and mo• rally an unprofltable creatlon, but for the Czechs lt stm ls a reality and an Idea!. The Slovaks are aware of thls and are just as determlned that they shall never again be subject to the rule of the Czechs when the plague or Communlsm ls vanquished. • • • OUR FIGHT FOR DEMOORACY AND INDEPENDENCE DR. JOSEPH KIRSCHBAUM Slnce 1945 Slovaks In emlgratlon have frequently stated that the goal of thelr struggle ls a democratlc and Independent Slovakla. The leaders of Slovak exlles can support thelr declaratlons not only by thelr IJfetlme flght agalnst communlsm, but also by thelr reslstance to eftorts to lntroduce the nazl system in Slovakla. The group whlch later collaborated wlth the communlsts - the so-called "Czechoslovaks" (Czech Slovaks ! ) - cannot and should not be counted among t.he patrlotlc Slovaks who opposed the nazl avalanche from 194Q. Hllnka's Slovak Peoples Party, headed by Presldent Joseph Tlso, fought agalnst nazlsm and communlsm then, and today the members of that party in exile form the flrst flghting line agalnst communlsm. lt ls a fact that after the meeting ln Salzburg In 1940, when the group around Prof. Tuka attempted to force Natlonal Soclallsm on the Slovaks In the attempt to prevent drastlc interventlon by the Cermans In Slovak public llfe, lt was not the present adherents ot Czechoslavakla (the so-called "Czechoslovaks") - later the self-styled "antl-fasclst warrlors" - who lost thelr hlgh posltlons, but the leaders ot Slovak natlonal emigratlon. That the attempt to force Natlonal Soclallsm on the Slovaks falled, that, too, cannot be credlted to those who today denounce Slovaks In exlle as fasclsts and nazls. At that Ume most ot the "Czech Slovaks" were busy gettlng fat jobs, waxing rich and llving In luxury. Thelr maln worry was not to !ose the favor ot the reglme. Thelr tlrst attempts to "revolt" dld not happen In 1939 or 1940, but only In 1944, when the outcome of the war was pretty clear. But even then they were not lnterested In flghtlng tor democracy, but rather In flghtlng to retaln the rlches and the high functlons they had attalned In the Slovak State. The few persons among them who fought for democracy and Slovak lnterests are even today flghtlng, at home and abroad, for an Independent, democratlc Slovak republlc. � 54 SLOVAKIA A FREE SWVAK.IA IN A FEDERATED EUROPE ( EZ) What chances have the Slovak s fo i- an indep en dent st at e? The answer to that question depends oh one's outlook, hls knowledge or the Slovak poople and his knowledge o! Europe as a whole The Slovak people think they have a fair chance to re-esttabllsh the Slovak Republic. The Slovaks at home and in emigration firruly belleve that their natlonal existence depends on establishing a free Slovakia in a federated Europe. It is sald that every natlon has as much treedom as lt deserves and as much as it can gain by flghtlng. Well, the Slova.ks ait home and a,broad are willing to fight Cor their freedom and independence. They want to prove it. But they want a llttle understandlng and encouragement !rom the democrat!c powers which have on so many occaslons proclaimed that all nations, both large and small, have a God-given and inherent rlght to freedom and statehood. In the first place, let u11 remember that the Slovaks already have had an independent state. The Slovak R epublic e:iG!sted from 1939 to 1945, of course w!th limitatlons. But they liked lt nevertheless. Slovakia has lts state tradition, even though lt be relatlvely a mergre one. The Slovak ,state was recognlzed by 27 nations. And it gave a good account of ltselr culturally, economically and socially. The Slovaks have proved to the Czechs and thelr neighbors that they are capable of managing their own afralrs. Every informed, objective and unprejudiced observer wlll admlt that the Slovak Republic wa.s democratlc, Christlan and subllme. Slovak national economy has forever refuted the thesis that the Slovaks could not maintain themselves economically_ What they did in six short years, but siic difficul t years, practically amounts to a miracle. A natlon which has tasted of the fruit of treedom wlll hardly be satlsfied with less thereafter. The Slovaks are no exception. They wlll fight to be free again ! They have been overpowered ond forced to retreat against terrible odds. What hurts most is that the powers who sought ,to liberate all natlons trom totalitarian tyranny arhitrarlly forced Slovakia under alien rule and the godless tyrauny of Moscow through the pseudodemocrat Beneš. The Slovak state wlth its ,positive achlevements has !nscnbed itself deeply on the soul of the whole Slovak nation. Many Stovaks who once were against Slovak statehood, (the Benes or Czech Slovaks: CZECHOSLOVAKS!) today are for an independent Slovak Repu bllc. If Slovaks could vote in freedom at the present time, there ls not the least doubt that at least 95% would vote for an independent Slovak State. Never before did the Slovak nation have such a large number of sons in exile as lt has today. It ls a flghtlng group of exlles, wlth lts ,sights on a free, democratlc Slovakla. These Slovak exlles are deeply grateful to Americans of Slovak descent. The Slovak people at horne and non-part!san exiles In all parts of the world think hlghly of the work of the Slovak League of America, the organizatlon which represents a solid mora! and cultural value. When this material and spiritual potentlal is once put into motlon, lt undoubt· edly wlll lntervene effeotively at the decisive moment. The syste- �SLOVAKIA 55 matic work of the League in this direction and lts realistic Slovak ou tlook are more than a promise. What other facts portend the establishment of a Slova.k state? Old enemies of the Slovak people have been decimated by the bolshevik steam roller. In the second (some call it the thlrd) Czecho• slovak Republic, ihe Czech leadership commlited many blunders whlch have nothing in common with democracy, Christianity, humanity, and culture. Just a single example to !llustrate: the resolution of the Sudeten question ! Furthermore, the Czechs under Beneš's leadership set up Communism in Czechoslovakia. This is becoming increasingly clear to every obj-eetive observer. Beneš ,p repared the way for Moscow into Czechoslovakia. When Beneš died, the press of Switzerland, France and Italy described him as a ",traitor ot democracy, a seniLe politlcian who could not see clearly" and Jed not only his nation, but the Slovak people also lnto bolshev!k s lavery. The legend of Czech political reali.sm,'' on which the Czechs had counted so much, burst like a soap bubble. Colonies are not very fashionabLe today. Even the most backward countries are yearnlng for independellce, for statehood. De Gasperi, Italian P remier, has proclaimed more than once that the days of colonies are gone forever; Ita\y ls through with colonizing, be· cause it is against the spirit ot the tlmes. The Czechs have ,ex,ploited Slovakia as their colony. The Slovaks cannot be and do not want to be a Czech colony. The representatlves of c·entral European nations are work!ng for a federatlon, for a just and democratlc arrangement of the region between Russia and Germany. This is in favor of the establishment of an independent Slevakla. The Slovaks at horne and in exile are for such a federatlon of which Slovakla would be an integral part. Admlttlng Czechoslovakia as a unit within such a federation would not be a Just and democr atlc settlement of the problem of centra! Europe be• cause the Slovaks would contlnue to be exploited and gradually exterminated natlonally by the Czechs. Bolshevlsm is a world problem. The world will have to measure its strength with Commun!sm sooner or later. But the Slovaks know that they themselves must settle their problem with the Czechs and tbe so-called "Czech Slovaks." Experience tells them not to underrate the Czechs. The Slovaks have already been "taken in" by the Czechs several tlmes by trickery, clever propaganda and legal hypocrisy. Czech emigration is still aggressive and financially strong. Because of their many political, cultural and business connections, the Czechs stlll have access to high diplomatlc circles and influential people. They want to keep Slovakia, because it has been "such a good milch cow" ! The Czecbs do not openly clalm that they need Slovakia as a dumping ground for their "progressive intelligentsia, but the fact 1s tbat in their hearts they firmly believe it. They want Slovakia, be• cause of German pressure and fear of German reprisals for the brutalitles committed against the Sudetenlanders. The Czechs need to revitalize themselves with Slovak blood and the slnews of young Slovakla. Indeed, Beneš himself admitted that the continued existence of Czechoslovakia is a vital interest of the Czechs, hence the Czechs �56 SLOVAKIA must ever oppose the creatlon ot a free and independent Slovakla. Well, the Slovaks flgure they shall have somethlng to say about the matter, as rightly they should have. And no one can blame them for wantlng to live thelr own 11ves and belng masters of thelr destlny. The Slovaks know, too, that the "Czech Slovaks" - the Slovak traltors - are no less dangerous than the lmperlalistlc Beneli C:techs. They are the Janlssarles. The Slovaks do not underestlmate the Czechs, who have been and stm are pJytng a systematlc politlco· dlplomatlc game, the goal ot whJch 1s the denlal and suppresslon of the natural and fundamental rlghts of the Slovak natlon. One day world CÔmmunlsm shall be llquldated. And Czechoslovaklsm, the handmald or Communlsm, must be llquldated also. The fiction of an ethnlcal "Czechoslovak natlon" must be dlscarded for all tlmes. Czechoslovakla was a mlstake, an llluslon, politlcally and mo• rally an unprofltable creatlon, but for the Czechs lt stm ls a reality and an Idea!. The Slovaks are aware of thls and are just as determlned that they shall never again be subject to the rule of the Czechs when the plague or Communlsm ls vanquished. • • • OUR FIGHT FOR DEMOORACY AND INDEPENDENCE DR. JOSEPH KIRSCHBAUM Slnce 1945 Slovaks In emlgratlon have frequently stated that the goal of thelr struggle ls a democratlc and Independent Slovakla. The leaders of Slovak exlles can support thelr declaratlons not only by thelr IJfetlme flght agalnst communlsm, but also by thelr reslstance to eftorts to lntroduce the nazl system in Slovakla. The group whlch later collaborated wlth the communlsts - the so-called "Czechoslovaks" (Czech Slovaks ! ) - cannot and should not be counted among t.he patrlotlc Slovaks who opposed the nazl avalanche from 194Q. Hllnka's Slovak Peoples Party, headed by Presldent Joseph Tlso, fought agalnst nazlsm and communlsm then, and today the members of that party in exile form the flrst flghting line agalnst communlsm. lt ls a fact that after the meeting ln Salzburg In 1940, when the group around Prof. Tuka attempted to force Natlonal Soclallsm on the Slovaks In the attempt to prevent drastlc interventlon by the Cermans In Slovak public llfe, lt was not the present adherents ot Czechoslavakla (the so-called "Czechoslovaks") - later the self-styled "antl-fasclst warrlors" - who lost thelr hlgh posltlons, but the leaders ot Slovak natlonal emigratlon. That the attempt to force Natlonal Soclallsm on the Slovaks falled, that, too, cannot be credlted to those who today denounce Slovaks In exlle as fasclsts and nazls. At that Ume most ot the "Czech Slovaks" were busy gettlng fat jobs, waxing rich and llving In luxury. Thelr maln worry was not to !ose the favor ot the reglme. Thelr tlrst attempts to "revolt" dld not happen In 1939 or 1940, but only In 1944, when the outcome of the war was pretty clear. But even then they were not lnterested In flghtlng tor democracy, but rather In flghtlng to retaln the rlches and the high functlons they had attalned In the Slovak State. The few persons among them who fought for democracy and Slovak lnterests are even today flghtlng, at home and abroad, for an Independent, democratlc Slovak republlc. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1951, Vol. 1 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1951 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 1), May 1951.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 2), December 1951.</li> </ul> Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context <ul><li><a href="https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/s261hfmshm7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span>ark:/13960/s261hfmshm7</span></a></li> <li><a href="https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/s21tk2wkzj4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span>ark:/13960/s21tk2wkzj4</span></a></li> </ul> Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 54 SLOVAKIA A FREE SWVAK.IA IN A FEDERATED EUROPE ( EZ) What chances have the Slovak s fo i- an indep en dent st at e? The answer to that question depends oh one's outlook, hls knowledge or the Slovak poople and his knowledge o! Europe as a whole The Slovak people think they have a fair chance to re-esttabllsh the Slovak Republic. The Slovaks at home and in emigration firruly belleve that their natlonal existence depends on establishing a free Slovakia in a federated Europe. It is sald that every natlon has as much treedom as lt deserves and as much as it can gain by flghtlng. Well, the Slova.ks ait home and a,broad are willing to fight Cor their freedom and independence. They want to prove it. But they want a llttle understandlng and encouragement !rom the democrat!c powers which have on so many occaslons proclaimed that all nations, both large and small, have a God-given and inherent rlght to freedom and statehood. In the first place, let u11 remember that the Slovaks already have had an independent state. The Slovak R epublic e:iG!sted from 1939 to 1945, of course w!th limitatlons. But they liked lt nevertheless. Slovakia has lts state tradition, even though lt be relatlvely a mergre one. The Slovak ,state was recognlzed by 27 nations. And it gave a good account of ltselr culturally, economically and socially. The Slovaks have proved to the Czechs and thelr neighbors that they are capable of managing their own afralrs. Every informed, objective and unprejudiced observer wlll admlt that the Slovak Republic wa.s democratlc, Christlan and subllme. Slovak national economy has forever refuted the thesis that the Slovaks could not maintain themselves economically_ What they did in six short years, but siic difficul t years, practically amounts to a miracle. A natlon which has tasted of the fruit of treedom wlll hardly be satlsfied with less thereafter. The Slovaks are no exception. They wlll fight to be free again ! They have been overpowered ond forced to retreat against terrible odds. What hurts most is that the powers who sought ,to liberate all natlons trom totalitarian tyranny arhitrarlly forced Slovakia under alien rule and the godless tyrauny of Moscow through the pseudodemocrat Beneš. The Slovak state wlth its ,positive achlevements has !nscnbed itself deeply on the soul of the whole Slovak nation. Many Stovaks who once were against Slovak statehood, (the Benes or Czech Slovaks: CZECHOSLOVAKS!) today are for an independent Slovak Repu bllc. If Slovaks could vote in freedom at the present time, there ls not the least doubt that at least 95% would vote for an independent Slovak State. Never before did the Slovak nation have such a large number of sons in exile as lt has today. It ls a flghtlng group of exlles, wlth lts ,sights on a free, democratlc Slovakla. These Slovak exlles are deeply grateful to Americans of Slovak descent. The Slovak people at horne and non-part!san exiles In all parts of the world think hlghly of the work of the Slovak League of America, the organizatlon which represents a solid mora! and cultural value. When this material and spiritual potentlal is once put into motlon, lt undoubt· edly wlll lntervene effeotively at the decisive moment. The syste- SLOVAKIA 55 matic work of the League in this direction and lts realistic Slovak ou tlook are more than a promise. What other facts portend the establishment of a Slova.k state? Old enemies of the Slovak people have been decimated by the bolshevik steam roller. In the second (some call it the thlrd) Czecho• slovak Republic, ihe Czech leadership commlited many blunders whlch have nothing in common with democracy, Christianity, humanity, and culture. Just a single example to !llustrate: the resolution of the Sudeten question ! Furthermore, the Czechs under Beneš's leadership set up Communism in Czechoslovakia. This is becoming increasingly clear to every obj-eetive observer. Beneš ,p repared the way for Moscow into Czechoslovakia. When Beneš died, the press of Switzerland, France and Italy described him as a ",traitor ot democracy, a seniLe politlcian who could not see clearly" and Jed not only his nation, but the Slovak people also lnto bolshev!k s lavery. The legend of Czech political reali.sm,'' on which the Czechs had counted so much, burst like a soap bubble. Colonies are not very fashionabLe today. Even the most backward countries are yearnlng for independellce, for statehood. De Gasperi, Italian P remier, has proclaimed more than once that the days of colonies are gone forever; Ita\y ls through with colonizing, be· cause it is against the spirit ot the tlmes. The Czechs have ,ex,ploited Slovakia as their colony. The Slovaks cannot be and do not want to be a Czech colony. The representatlves of c·entral European nations are work!ng for a federatlon, for a just and democratlc arrangement of the region between Russia and Germany. This is in favor of the establishment of an independent Slevakla. The Slovaks at horne and in exile are for such a federatlon of which Slovakla would be an integral part. Admlttlng Czechoslovakia as a unit within such a federation would not be a Just and democr atlc settlement of the problem of centra! Europe be• cause the Slovaks would contlnue to be exploited and gradually exterminated natlonally by the Czechs. Bolshevlsm is a world problem. The world will have to measure its strength with Commun!sm sooner or later. But the Slovaks know that they themselves must settle their problem with the Czechs and tbe so-called "Czech Slovaks." Experience tells them not to underrate the Czechs. The Slovaks have already been "taken in" by the Czechs several tlmes by trickery, clever propaganda and legal hypocrisy. Czech emigration is still aggressive and financially strong. Because of their many political, cultural and business connections, the Czechs stlll have access to high diplomatlc circles and influential people. They want to keep Slovakia, because it has been "such a good milch cow" ! The Czecbs do not openly clalm that they need Slovakia as a dumping ground for their "progressive intelligentsia, but the fact 1s tbat in their hearts they firmly believe it. They want Slovakia, be• cause of German pressure and fear of German reprisals for the brutalitles committed against the Sudetenlanders. The Czechs need to revitalize themselves with Slovak blood and the slnews of young Slovakla. Indeed, Beneš himself admitted that the continued existence of Czechoslovakia is a vital interest of the Czechs, hence the Czechs 56 SLOVAKIA must ever oppose the creatlon ot a free and independent Slovakla. Well, the Slovaks flgure they shall have somethlng to say about the matter, as rightly they should have. And no one can blame them for wantlng to live thelr own 11ves and belng masters of thelr destlny. The Slovaks know, too, that the "Czech Slovaks" - the Slovak traltors - are no less dangerous than the lmperlalistlc Beneli C:techs. They are the Janlssarles. The Slovaks do not underestlmate the Czechs, who have been and stm are pJytng a systematlc politlco· dlplomatlc game, the goal ot whJch 1s the denlal and suppresslon of the natural and fundamental rlghts of the Slovak natlon. One day world CÔmmunlsm shall be llquldated. And Czechoslovaklsm, the handmald or Communlsm, must be llquldated also. The fiction of an ethnlcal "Czechoslovak natlon" must be dlscarded for all tlmes. Czechoslovakla was a mlstake, an llluslon, politlcally and mo• rally an unprofltable creatlon, but for the Czechs lt stm ls a reality and an Idea!. The Slovaks are aware of thls and are just as determlned that they shall never again be subject to the rule of the Czechs when the plague or Communlsm ls vanquished. • • • OUR FIGHT FOR DEMOORACY AND INDEPENDENCE DR. JOSEPH KIRSCHBAUM Slnce 1945 Slovaks In emlgratlon have frequently stated that the goal of thelr struggle ls a democratlc and Independent Slovakla. The leaders of Slovak exlles can support thelr declaratlons not only by thelr IJfetlme flght agalnst communlsm, but also by thelr reslstance to eftorts to lntroduce the nazl system in Slovakla. The group whlch later collaborated wlth the communlsts - the so-called "Czechoslovaks" (Czech Slovaks ! ) - cannot and should not be counted among t.he patrlotlc Slovaks who opposed the nazl avalanche from 194Q. Hllnka's Slovak Peoples Party, headed by Presldent Joseph Tlso, fought agalnst nazlsm and communlsm then, and today the members of that party in exile form the flrst flghting line agalnst communlsm. lt ls a fact that after the meeting ln Salzburg In 1940, when the group around Prof. Tuka attempted to force Natlonal Soclallsm on the Slovaks In the attempt to prevent drastlc interventlon by the Cermans In Slovak public llfe, lt was not the present adherents ot Czechoslavakla (the so-called "Czechoslovaks") - later the self-styled "antl-fasclst warrlors" - who lost thelr hlgh posltlons, but the leaders ot Slovak natlonal emigratlon. That the attempt to force Natlonal Soclallsm on the Slovaks falled, that, too, cannot be credlted to those who today denounce Slovaks In exlle as fasclsts and nazls. At that Ume most ot the "Czech Slovaks" were busy gettlng fat jobs, waxing rich and llving In luxury. Thelr maln worry was not to !ose the favor ot the reglme. Thelr tlrst attempts to "revolt" dld not happen In 1939 or 1940, but only In 1944, when the outcome of the war was pretty clear. But even then they were not lnterested In flghtlng tor democracy, but rather In flghtlng to retaln the rlches and the high functlons they had attalned In the Slovak State. The few persons among them who fought for democracy and Slovak lnterests are even today flghtlng, at home and abroad, for an Independent, democratlc Slovak republlc.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 Free Slovakia in a Federated Europe Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource May 1951 Description An account of the resource Slovakia, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1), May 1951 pp. 54-56 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/89fef06fff45e630883f6912b72e5997.pdf 686916407a14a21d309fc7be8b3da25d PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 87 A GLIM!PSE OF GOTHI'C SLOVA!KI:A By Tino Berko Every country has its hrilght side ,a s well as its shadows. '11he qualities that set it apart are rfatrly numerous, and !'Un the gamut :iirom tihe mrugniifiroent to the ·badkwa'l'.'ld aJilld booris'h . In the past, similar epithets a:lso aipplied to a land in the Carpathian Basin, - S'lovakra. Some of these adjectives are relatively new, having made thei-r appearance after 1918 when the Slovaks freed t!hemselves from the !Hungarian yoke and were a·b le to form Czeoho--lS'lovaki,a in common with tlhe Czeelhs. During the years from 1939-1945 when Slovakia ibecame a sovereign state, it acquired still other qualifying titles, good and not so good. Depending on whether they were to invest the Slovruk Republic with approval or lend it a false imruge, the words "fascist" or "nazi" were a'P'Plied. When Slovakia lost its political independence in 1945, it was reduced by the Ozeclhs to the status of an occupational province. Yet in the list of political epithets that we seek to recaH, there is no such name. On the contrary: '.Dhose in command of Slovakia today, the Czecihs, call the :plight of the enslaved Slovaks "people's democracy", "communistic"; since 1960, "socialistic" . The world is told by the voice of Czech propaganda that Slovakia did not win its independence until 1945 and that since then it has been a model of socialism. Out of "backward" Slovakia !has allegedly developed a " highly industria:lized" country. Thus another new epithet for Slova:kia. But in leafing baok through the catalog of Slovakia's a ttributes, the word "wonderful" still applies. Slovrukia today is still a -land that every nature-lover will readily endorse as " an immense natural park in Central Europe". In regard to its historic works of rurt, Slovakia is still a "ha:ribaric" country. But if we •b ear in mind 1:Jhat to the early Italian ear the word "Gothic" and "barbarian" were synonymous, the presence in Slovakia of many Gothic master-wo:riks of art makes thiat land indeed one replete with '~barbaric" treasures. This is just tJhe opposite to tlhe origina:l idea of Gothic meaning "uncivilized" (used in t!he ancient world to designate any person or thiJllg that was non-Greek �Gothic entrance to the fortress in Bratislava, Slovakia. (Photo Berka) �SLOVAKIA 89 or non-Roman), for the history of art has long since rehabilitated the Gothic style, 1:Jhe most perfect in unity and harrmony. Gothic Slovakia, which covers the entire country of 49,000 square kilometers, is a vast Eden of art where castles and !forts, churohes ,a nd chapels radiate a unique fascination. We know that this Gothic garden in Slovaikia was landscaped witJh the 1he}p of German settlers in the 13th and 14tJh Centuries; enlarged in the 15th Century and the beginning of the 16th, as ,a Late Gothic variation of the architectural style that lhad its birth in northern France. It is sad to reflect that it was not spared the ravages of war. Many of the forts crumbled in ruins when Hussit-es from Boihemi•a stormed Slovakia, or tJhe Turks, during the 16th Century, advanced as far as south and central Slovrukia and from their outposts struged wild plundering raids. 'Dhat is why today these Got!hic forts, once the a bode of counts and grandees, or places of asylum for the threatened populace in times of siege, are today in rack and ruin, looted and plundered and scarred by the raviages of time. Indeed, only a few of tJhe fortresses were spared this tragic fate. Slovakia's historic forts have been restored at great cost and rebuilt as museums of Sloviak history. Favored have ibeen the Gothic residences and forts of Bratislava, Nitra, Orava, Smolenke, Zvolen and, to some extent, Trencin. Very many, among them tJhe !fortresses of Strecno and Spis, see tJheir proud past reflected in wild ruins and twisted rocky ravines. They are documents in stone of the merciless inlI'oaJds 111pan their Gothic style, tJhe attack of re•a l barbarians. In contemplating Gothic Sloviakia, we must first mention tJhe numerous churcihes and sacred works of art, for they embody the strongest heritage of tJhe Slovak Gothic style, which has been preserved to this day, imparting to the faithful wibhin a sea of atheism, a theologica:l reply to the eternal "to be or not to lbe". Seen externally, the Gothic churches in Slovakia are not ostentatious, but plain. 'Dhey lack tJhe splendor and magnificent form reflected, for example, by the Cathedrals of Notre Dame in Chartres and Rheims. What one notes in pairticular is the imperrfect execution of the Gothic spires. Many cathedrals have towers that run counter to form or �Portal of the Cathedral in Kosice, Slovakia, seen from town-hall arcades. (Photo Berko > �SLOVAKIA 91 are in need of towers to conform in style. An example is tJhe Cathedrnl of Kosice. The upper parts have towers of Baroque or conkal roofs, but of different heights. At most, the parish cihurch in Spisska Nova Ves can he considered a prize in competition with other churc'hes in Slovakia. It suffered a disastrous fire in 1849 and acquired a tower 87 meters hi:gh, the highest in all Slovaki,a. The Gothic towers of Slovrukia form a contrast to t hose in Germany. For example, the spires of Regensburg are 105 and 107 meters, those of Fretburig Cathedral are 115 meters and those of the Cathedral at Ulm, 162 meters high. Again historical factors were responsiible for the lesser degree of magnificence and external form, as well as the inadequate execution of the Slovak church spires. It is quite understandable and excusable in '1i:g'ht of the turmoil that followed the Hussite and TurkiSlh wars. Furthermore, tihe churc!hes were often struck by disasters, such a:s floods , earthquaik es and fires, that had a hrurmful effect on the Got'hic beauty and style. Albeit the outer Gothic forms were somewhat inconsistent and frequently unfinished, especiaHy the steeples, the interiors possessed great riches. T•he Gothic tripty~hs, woodcarved statues and panei frescoes, a veritable feast for the eye, can claim for Slova•kia international primacy, for tihey merit the admiration of the most /fastidious fancier of art. Striking examples are to be found in: St. Martin's Cathedral and tihe Franciscan Church in Bratislava, the Bishop's Cathedrnls of Trnava, Banrska Bystrica and Spisska Kapitula; also the churches in Hronsky •B enadik, Zehra, Kezmarok, Spisska Sobota, Spissky Stvrtok, S'pisske Vlachy, L iptovsky Mikulas, Bardejov and Presov. A:11 are outstanding ecclesiastical edifices from the High and Late Got'hic periods 13th, 14th and 15th Centuries whose masters are not always known. Unique amonig tJhe Gothic structures of Slovakia, however, are the houses of worshiip in Levoca or Leutsdhau (•a n area settled by Germans in tihe 12th and 13th Centuries) in the northeastern part of Slovakia. They reach the zenitJh in the works of Master Paul .o f Levoca (1455-1530 ?) , principally in the main altar of St. James' Church, and in the metropolis of Kosice in East Slovakia, where the greatest �Gothic Cathedral of Kosice, Slovakia. Note Baroque roof on tower. (Photo Berka) �SLOVAKIA 93 Gothi,c structure in the country stands on a plot of giround 1,200 meters square. The main altar, 18.62 meters higih, is the largest altar, with ,s ide wings, in the Got:Jhic ,w orld. It is Paul of Levoca's masterpiece, erected in the mighty three-apse pseudo-'b asilica in 1508, lbut not completed until the end of 1,518. 'I'he altar is magnificent, not only because of its heig1ht, but due to the tectonic, composition and stylistic harmony. In creating this masterwork, Paul of Levoca merits a niche in the hall of fame alongside ot:Jher great Gothic architects and wood-carvers, that include Tilman Riemenschneider, Hans Multsclher, Veit Stoss, Hans Leinberger, Gregor Et1hart, Albrecht Dlirer, Lucas Crarnach, Hans Holbein and many other masters of the late Middle Ages. The altar with side wings of Paul of Levoca "is rooted in the familiar traditions of plastic art of the Sloviak historic landscape. If we put him with all his artistic and estJhetic qualities alongside similar works of other great masters of that period, we see that he forms a link in a chain extending across the peaks of European art of the XV and XVI Centuries.* 'Dhe bold execution of the ihigh altar in Lev,oca, is a work carved out of linden, or basswood, which made it susceptible early to worm damage. From 1952-54, it was treated and renovated to preserve it from further destructive forces, restoring the greatest specimen of Gothic art in Europe to manifest, in all its glory, the spirit of European solidarity and unity. Thus it mirrored the spirit of German-<8lavic cooperation, ,a s it was manifested in the Middle Ages in keeping with the Gothic spirit. In that same church of 'St. James, whose tower rburned down at the end of the 18th Century and was not rebuilt until 1858 - only 70 meters high this time and counter to style - there are six other Gothic altars with wings. They, too, are a creation of the famous Master Paul and his pupils, whose work was imitated throughout 1:Jhe Spis area and in fact, all of Slovrukia. Also, the wwks of Paul are the oarved figures of BetMehem on the altar of the Nativity in Levoca, and the statues of the Crucifixion in Lomnicka, of St. Barbar,a in Oko1i<cne, and the triptyclhs in tJhe churches of Banska Byst•rica, Sasova and Spisska Sdbota. Levoca a!lso has Gothic frescoes in the aforementioned sanctuary, datini5 �Largest Gothic Altar of its kind is this masterpiece by Paul of Levoca in the Church of St. James, Levoca, Slovakia. (Photo Berko) �SLOVAKIA from the 14th Century, plus several panel frescoes, a unique lava·bo and other art trea:sures that have made the town a verita,b le repository CYf superb sacred Gofilric art. Moving toward the Eaistern !Slovak cities of Bardejov and Kosice, one finds a verita:ble Gothic feast for t:Jhe eyes. Both these historic sites are proud of their ohurohes and many tripty~hs, woodca•r vings and panel frescoes that date from the 14tih and 1'5th Oenturies. In Bardejov is 1:Jhe Church of St. Aegidius, in the 12th Century the site of a Cistercian cloister, 1:Jhat invites the photographer's eye. The architects were Nicholas of Bardejov, Stefan L•apicid of Kosice, Master Urban and Franklin Stemraseg .CYf Ansba:ch who completed the steeple in 1486. This spire, too, was tfue victim of an earthquaJke, the la-st time in 1725, as weH as several fires in 1640, 1669 and 1836. Irts sp1re was but 78 meters h~gh and was not lb uilt in Gothic style. 'Dhe ohurch has pure lineation, crowned by an altar 17.5 meters hig,h in the main nave, wmoh is 24 meters high. Along with the otfuer side a1tars, 11 in all, one finds the famous triptych of the Nativity, tlhe work of an unknown artist from 1460, and the altar Vir dolorum, dating to 1505. No other cathedral in ,Slovakia can compare with that of Kosice, which enohants even the most fastidious eye with its grandeur •a nd ,b rilliance. 'Dhe cathedral's perfect Gobhic form, covering some 1,200 squaire meters ta:kes on gigantic proportions. It was bui'1t in the 14th and 151:Jh Centuries and practicaHy completed by 1436 as a 3-nave basilica. It is 60 meters long, 35.50 meters wide, 24 meters hi,g'h inside and 32.70 meters high outside, with a transept, whose interior length measures 42.20 meters. Several artists, among them the architect and stonecutter, Stefan Lapicid of Kosiice, and Mikulas Erom,pholz, were responsi<ble for the Gothic interior. The cathedral has 12 side-altars and a main altar 11 meters h ~gili. and 8 meters wide, and a triiptyoh from 1477. The 16 meter high pastoforium is ailso attri:buted to tlhat period. A unique stone sculpture of Master Stefan dating from the Late Gothic period. The crises that this CatJhedria:l CYf St. Eli'za!beth had to weather, come to the fore when one fooks at tfue spires. The four-sided one to the north, that becomes octagonal aJfter tlhree stories, is but 59 meters and runs counter to the general style, with a Baroque-Rococo roof from the �Apostle partaking of the "Last Supper", from the wood-carved Altar in St. James' Church , Levoca, Slovakia. (Photo Berko) �SLOVAKIA 97 yeair 1775. The second, or Matthew's spire, to the south, just about reaches 1Jhe roof of the nave. In 1902-04 it acquired a strange conical top. Tihe entire st11ucture laibors under the uneven proportions and varying roofs and seems to want in the fact tJhat the Kosicania (,t he people of Kosice) could lbe so neglectful and expeot the church to endure 1Jhis misshapen form so long. In other WOTds, if one may hold a brief for the cathedral of Kosice, it has not relinquished the hope that one day it will have Gothic spires of an aippropriate he1ght. We, too, !hope t!his dream will be fulfilled and that it will ·b ecome a concern of the city of Kosice and the experts on Slovak cultural edifices, especially since the "socialist regime" is very generous witJh funds for such purpose, and, where possible, provides ''highly developed" artistic workmen. * Meister P avol v on Levoca. Slowaki scher Ve rl ag der ,s chonen Liteiraitur, B raitislava 1964 , p. 165. We ,sirncerely cong;ratullate the 1Iargest and most ipopula'r Americain-61lovaJk newspaiper in America, J 1EDiNOTA (The Union), ofificia!l OTgan oif , tlhe First Ca<bholic S'1ovaJk Uniion (Jednoba) , whiclh celeJbrated itJs 75th Annivernairy on May 12, 1966. 'Dhe Crutholi,c Weekily waJs founded in Cleveland, Ohio, by the Rev. St~phern. Furxlek, who also founded the fraterna l society, and, be's ides F\t'I'idek, tbhere were suoh renowned editors and recognized leaJders of the American Slorvaikis as the Rev. Mait1:!h w Janikola, Joseph Husak, and Pihilip A. Hrobruk. 1 For orver the pa.1st two yearrs, Joseph C. Krajsa has been editor oft~ J·IDDiNOTA. The assistamt editor of 1:Jhe JIDDNOT A for the ,pa:st sixteen yearn i s the presenlt secreta,ry of tJhe Slova!k Leaigme of Ameriioa, Dr. Joseph Pa'lico. 1 The Fi,v st Catlho1ic SlorvaJk Union and its pwb1ication JEIDNOTA have s1U1pported the aims amd objectives of the Slovruk Lerugue of America since the League wa's foU111dedand they stm do today. Tihe JIDDNOTA hais /kept the Slovaik press al'ive and we wislh it continued success in its service to AmericaJn-Slovruk journaEsm. �The church and town-hall in Levoca, Spis, Slovakia. (Photo Berko) � SLOVAKIA 87 A GLIM!PSE OF GOTHI'C SLOVA!KI:A By Tino Berko Every country has its hrilght side ,a s well as its shadows. '11he qualities that set it apart are rfatrly numerous, and !'Un the gamut :iirom tihe mrugniifiroent to the ·badkwa'l'.'ld aJilld booris'h . In the past, similar epithets a:lso aipplied to a land in the Carpathian Basin, - S'lovakra. Some of these adjectives are relatively new, having made thei-r appearance after 1918 when the Slovaks freed t!hemselves from the !Hungarian yoke and were a·b le to form Czeoho--lS'lovaki,a in common with tlhe Czeelhs. During the years from 1939-1945 when Slovakia ibecame a sovereign state, it acquired still other qualifying titles, good and not so good. Depending on whether they were to invest the Slovruk Republic with approval or lend it a false imruge, the words "fascist" or "nazi" were a'P'Plied. When Slovakia lost its political independence in 1945, it was reduced by the Ozeclhs to the status of an occupational province. Yet in the list of political epithets that we seek to recaH, there is no such name. On the contrary: '.Dhose in command of Slovakia today, the Czecihs, call the :plight of the enslaved Slovaks "people's democracy", "communistic"; since 1960, "socialistic" . The world is told by the voice of Czech propaganda that Slovakia did not win its independence until 1945 and that since then it has been a model of socialism. Out of "backward" Slovakia !has allegedly developed a " highly industria:lized" country. Thus another new epithet for Slova:kia. But in leafing baok through the catalog of Slovakia's a ttributes, the word "wonderful" still applies. Slovrukia today is still a -land that every nature-lover will readily endorse as " an immense natural park in Central Europe". In regard to its historic works of rurt, Slovakia is still a "ha:ribaric" country. But if we •b ear in mind 1:Jhat to the early Italian ear the word "Gothic" and "barbarian" were synonymous, the presence in Slovakia of many Gothic master-wo:riks of art makes thiat land indeed one replete with '~barbaric" treasures. This is just tJhe opposite to tlhe origina:l idea of Gothic meaning "uncivilized" (used in t!he ancient world to designate any person or thiJllg that was non-Greek �Gothic entrance to the fortress in Bratislava, Slovakia. (Photo Berka) �SLOVAKIA 89 or non-Roman), for the history of art has long since rehabilitated the Gothic style, 1:Jhe most perfect in unity and harrmony. Gothic Slovakia, which covers the entire country of 49,000 square kilometers, is a vast Eden of art where castles and !forts, churohes ,a nd chapels radiate a unique fascination. We know that this Gothic garden in Slovaikia was landscaped witJh the 1he}p of German settlers in the 13th and 14tJh Centuries; enlarged in the 15th Century and the beginning of the 16th, as ,a Late Gothic variation of the architectural style that lhad its birth in northern France. It is sad to reflect that it was not spared the ravages of war. Many of the forts crumbled in ruins when Hussit-es from Boihemi•a stormed Slovakia, or tJhe Turks, during the 16th Century, advanced as far as south and central Slovrukia and from their outposts struged wild plundering raids. 'Dhat is why today these Got!hic forts, once the a bode of counts and grandees, or places of asylum for the threatened populace in times of siege, are today in rack and ruin, looted and plundered and scarred by the raviages of time. Indeed, only a few of tJhe fortresses were spared this tragic fate. Slovakia's historic forts have been restored at great cost and rebuilt as museums of Sloviak history. Favored have ibeen the Gothic residences and forts of Bratislava, Nitra, Orava, Smolenke, Zvolen and, to some extent, Trencin. Very many, among them tJhe !fortresses of Strecno and Spis, see tJheir proud past reflected in wild ruins and twisted rocky ravines. They are documents in stone of the merciless inlI'oaJds 111pan their Gothic style, tJhe attack of re•a l barbarians. In contemplating Gothic Sloviakia, we must first mention tJhe numerous churcihes and sacred works of art, for they embody the strongest heritage of tJhe Slovak Gothic style, which has been preserved to this day, imparting to the faithful wibhin a sea of atheism, a theologica:l reply to the eternal "to be or not to lbe". Seen externally, the Gothic churches in Slovakia are not ostentatious, but plain. 'Dhey lack tJhe splendor and magnificent form reflected, for example, by the Cathedrals of Notre Dame in Chartres and Rheims. What one notes in pairticular is the imperrfect execution of the Gothic spires. Many cathedrals have towers that run counter to form or �Portal of the Cathedral in Kosice, Slovakia, seen from town-hall arcades. (Photo Berko > �SLOVAKIA 91 are in need of towers to conform in style. An example is tJhe Cathedrnl of Kosice. The upper parts have towers of Baroque or conkal roofs, but of different heights. At most, the parish cihurch in Spisska Nova Ves can he considered a prize in competition with other churc'hes in Slovakia. It suffered a disastrous fire in 1849 and acquired a tower 87 meters hi:gh, the highest in all Slovaki,a. The Gothic towers of Slovrukia form a contrast to t hose in Germany. For example, the spires of Regensburg are 105 and 107 meters, those of Fretburig Cathedral are 115 meters and those of the Cathedral at Ulm, 162 meters high. Again historical factors were responsiible for the lesser degree of magnificence and external form, as well as the inadequate execution of the Slovak church spires. It is quite understandable and excusable in '1i:g'ht of the turmoil that followed the Hussite and TurkiSlh wars. Furthermore, tihe churc!hes were often struck by disasters, such a:s floods , earthquaik es and fires, that had a hrurmful effect on the Got'hic beauty and style. Albeit the outer Gothic forms were somewhat inconsistent and frequently unfinished, especiaHy the steeples, the interiors possessed great riches. T•he Gothic tripty~hs, woodcarved statues and panei frescoes, a veritable feast for the eye, can claim for Slova•kia international primacy, for tihey merit the admiration of the most /fastidious fancier of art. Striking examples are to be found in: St. Martin's Cathedral and tihe Franciscan Church in Bratislava, the Bishop's Cathedrnls of Trnava, Banrska Bystrica and Spisska Kapitula; also the churches in Hronsky •B enadik, Zehra, Kezmarok, Spisska Sobota, Spissky Stvrtok, S'pisske Vlachy, L iptovsky Mikulas, Bardejov and Presov. A:11 are outstanding ecclesiastical edifices from the High and Late Got'hic periods 13th, 14th and 15th Centuries whose masters are not always known. Unique amonig tJhe Gothic structures of Slovakia, however, are the houses of worshiip in Levoca or Leutsdhau (•a n area settled by Germans in tihe 12th and 13th Centuries) in the northeastern part of Slovakia. They reach the zenitJh in the works of Master Paul .o f Levoca (1455-1530 ?) , principally in the main altar of St. James' Church, and in the metropolis of Kosice in East Slovakia, where the greatest �Gothic Cathedral of Kosice, Slovakia. Note Baroque roof on tower. (Photo Berka) �SLOVAKIA 93 Gothi,c structure in the country stands on a plot of giround 1,200 meters square. The main altar, 18.62 meters higih, is the largest altar, with ,s ide wings, in the Got:Jhic ,w orld. It is Paul of Levoca's masterpiece, erected in the mighty three-apse pseudo-'b asilica in 1508, lbut not completed until the end of 1,518. 'I'he altar is magnificent, not only because of its heig1ht, but due to the tectonic, composition and stylistic harmony. In creating this masterwork, Paul of Levoca merits a niche in the hall of fame alongside ot:Jher great Gothic architects and wood-carvers, that include Tilman Riemenschneider, Hans Multsclher, Veit Stoss, Hans Leinberger, Gregor Et1hart, Albrecht Dlirer, Lucas Crarnach, Hans Holbein and many other masters of the late Middle Ages. The altar with side wings of Paul of Levoca "is rooted in the familiar traditions of plastic art of the Sloviak historic landscape. If we put him with all his artistic and estJhetic qualities alongside similar works of other great masters of that period, we see that he forms a link in a chain extending across the peaks of European art of the XV and XVI Centuries.* 'Dhe bold execution of the ihigh altar in Lev,oca, is a work carved out of linden, or basswood, which made it susceptible early to worm damage. From 1952-54, it was treated and renovated to preserve it from further destructive forces, restoring the greatest specimen of Gothic art in Europe to manifest, in all its glory, the spirit of European solidarity and unity. Thus it mirrored the spirit of German-<8lavic cooperation, ,a s it was manifested in the Middle Ages in keeping with the Gothic spirit. In that same church of 'St. James, whose tower rburned down at the end of the 18th Century and was not rebuilt until 1858 - only 70 meters high this time and counter to style - there are six other Gothic altars with wings. They, too, are a creation of the famous Master Paul and his pupils, whose work was imitated throughout 1:Jhe Spis area and in fact, all of Slovrukia. Also, the wwks of Paul are the oarved figures of BetMehem on the altar of the Nativity in Levoca, and the statues of the Crucifixion in Lomnicka, of St. Barbar,a in Oko1i<cne, and the triptyclhs in tJhe churches of Banska Byst•rica, Sasova and Spisska Sdbota. Levoca a!lso has Gothic frescoes in the aforementioned sanctuary, datini5 �Largest Gothic Altar of its kind is this masterpiece by Paul of Levoca in the Church of St. James, Levoca, Slovakia. (Photo Berko) �SLOVAKIA from the 14th Century, plus several panel frescoes, a unique lava·bo and other art trea:sures that have made the town a verita,b le repository CYf superb sacred Gofilric art. Moving toward the Eaistern !Slovak cities of Bardejov and Kosice, one finds a verita:ble Gothic feast for t:Jhe eyes. Both these historic sites are proud of their ohurohes and many tripty~hs, woodca•r vings and panel frescoes that date from the 14tih and 1'5th Oenturies. In Bardejov is 1:Jhe Church of St. Aegidius, in the 12th Century the site of a Cistercian cloister, 1:Jhat invites the photographer's eye. The architects were Nicholas of Bardejov, Stefan L•apicid of Kosice, Master Urban and Franklin Stemraseg .CYf Ansba:ch who completed the steeple in 1486. This spire, too, was tfue victim of an earthquaJke, the la-st time in 1725, as weH as several fires in 1640, 1669 and 1836. Irts sp1re was but 78 meters h~gh and was not lb uilt in Gothic style. 'Dhe ohurch has pure lineation, crowned by an altar 17.5 meters hig,h in the main nave, wmoh is 24 meters high. Along with the otfuer side a1tars, 11 in all, one finds the famous triptych of the Nativity, tlhe work of an unknown artist from 1460, and the altar Vir dolorum, dating to 1505. No other cathedral in ,Slovakia can compare with that of Kosice, which enohants even the most fastidious eye with its grandeur •a nd ,b rilliance. 'Dhe cathedral's perfect Gobhic form, covering some 1,200 squaire meters ta:kes on gigantic proportions. It was bui'1t in the 14th and 151:Jh Centuries and practicaHy completed by 1436 as a 3-nave basilica. It is 60 meters long, 35.50 meters wide, 24 meters hi,g'h inside and 32.70 meters high outside, with a transept, whose interior length measures 42.20 meters. Several artists, among them the architect and stonecutter, Stefan Lapicid of Kosiice, and Mikulas Erom,pholz, were responsi<ble for the Gothic interior. The cathedral has 12 side-altars and a main altar 11 meters h ~gili. and 8 meters wide, and a triiptyoh from 1477. The 16 meter high pastoforium is ailso attri:buted to tlhat period. A unique stone sculpture of Master Stefan dating from the Late Gothic period. The crises that this CatJhedria:l CYf St. Eli'za!beth had to weather, come to the fore when one fooks at tfue spires. The four-sided one to the north, that becomes octagonal aJfter tlhree stories, is but 59 meters and runs counter to the general style, with a Baroque-Rococo roof from the �Apostle partaking of the "Last Supper", from the wood-carved Altar in St. James' Church , Levoca, Slovakia. (Photo Berko) �SLOVAKIA 97 yeair 1775. The second, or Matthew's spire, to the south, just about reaches 1Jhe roof of the nave. In 1902-04 it acquired a strange conical top. Tihe entire st11ucture laibors under the uneven proportions and varying roofs and seems to want in the fact tJhat the Kosicania (,t he people of Kosice) could lbe so neglectful and expeot the church to endure 1Jhis misshapen form so long. In other WOTds, if one may hold a brief for the cathedral of Kosice, it has not relinquished the hope that one day it will have Gothic spires of an aippropriate he1ght. We, too, !hope t!his dream will be fulfilled and that it will ·b ecome a concern of the city of Kosice and the experts on Slovak cultural edifices, especially since the "socialist regime" is very generous witJh funds for such purpose, and, where possible, provides ''highly developed" artistic workmen. * Meister P avol v on Levoca. Slowaki scher Ve rl ag der ,s chonen Liteiraitur, B raitislava 1964 , p. 165. We ,sirncerely cong;ratullate the 1Iargest and most ipopula'r Americain-61lovaJk newspaiper in America, J 1EDiNOTA (The Union), ofificia!l OTgan oif , tlhe First Ca<bholic S'1ovaJk Uniion (Jednoba) , whiclh celeJbrated itJs 75th Annivernairy on May 12, 1966. 'Dhe Crutholi,c Weekily waJs founded in Cleveland, Ohio, by the Rev. St~phern. Furxlek, who also founded the fraterna l society, and, be's ides F\t'I'idek, tbhere were suoh renowned editors and recognized leaJders of the American Slorvaikis as the Rev. Mait1:!h w Janikola, Joseph Husak, and Pihilip A. Hrobruk. 1 For orver the pa.1st two yearrs, Joseph C. Krajsa has been editor oft~ J·IDDiNOTA. The assistamt editor of 1:Jhe JIDDNOT A for the ,pa:st sixteen yearn i s the presenlt secreta,ry of tJhe Slova!k Leaigme of Ameriioa, Dr. Joseph Pa'lico. 1 The Fi,v st Catlho1ic SlorvaJk Union and its pwb1ication JEIDNOTA have s1U1pported the aims amd objectives of the Slovruk Lerugue of America since the League wa's foU111dedand they stm do today. Tihe JIDDNOTA hais /kept the Slovaik press al'ive and we wislh it continued success in its service to AmericaJn-Slovruk journaEsm. �The church and town-hall in Levoca, Spis, Slovakia. (Photo Berko) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1966, Vol. 16 Description An account of the resource Vol. 16 (No. 39), 1966. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1966 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 87 A GLIM!PSE OF GOTHI'C SLOVA!KI:A By Tino Berko Every country has its hrilght side ,a s well as its shadows. '11he qualities that set it apart are rfatrly numerous, and !'Un the gamut :iirom tihe mrugniifiroent to the ·badkwa'l'.'ld aJilld booris'h . In the past, similar epithets a:lso aipplied to a land in the Carpathian Basin, - S'lovakra. Some of these adjectives are relatively new, having made thei-r appearance after 1918 when the Slovaks freed t!hemselves from the !Hungarian yoke and were a·b le to form Czeoho--lS'lovaki,a in common with tlhe Czeelhs. During the years from 1939-1945 when Slovakia ibecame a sovereign state, it acquired still other qualifying titles, good and not so good. Depending on whether they were to invest the Slovruk Republic with approval or lend it a false imruge, the words "fascist" or "nazi" were a'P'Plied. When Slovakia lost its political independence in 1945, it was reduced by the Ozeclhs to the status of an occupational province. Yet in the list of political epithets that we seek to recaH, there is no such name. On the contrary: '.Dhose in command of Slovakia today, the Czecihs, call the :plight of the enslaved Slovaks "people's democracy", "communistic"; since 1960, "socialistic" . The world is told by the voice of Czech propaganda that Slovakia did not win its independence until 1945 and that since then it has been a model of socialism. Out of "backward" Slovakia !has allegedly developed a " highly industria:lized" country. Thus another new epithet for Slova:kia. But in leafing baok through the catalog of Slovakia's a ttributes, the word "wonderful" still applies. Slovrukia today is still a -land that every nature-lover will readily endorse as " an immense natural park in Central Europe". In regard to its historic works of rurt, Slovakia is still a "ha:ribaric" country. But if we •b ear in mind 1:Jhat to the early Italian ear the word "Gothic" and "barbarian" were synonymous, the presence in Slovakia of many Gothic master-wo:riks of art makes thiat land indeed one replete with '~barbaric" treasures. This is just tJhe opposite to tlhe origina:l idea of Gothic meaning "uncivilized" (used in t!he ancient world to designate any person or thiJllg that was non-Greek Gothic entrance to the fortress in Bratislava, Slovakia. (Photo Berka) SLOVAKIA 89 or non-Roman), for the history of art has long since rehabilitated the Gothic style, 1:Jhe most perfect in unity and harrmony. Gothic Slovakia, which covers the entire country of 49,000 square kilometers, is a vast Eden of art where castles and !forts, churohes ,a nd chapels radiate a unique fascination. We know that this Gothic garden in Slovaikia was landscaped witJh the 1he}p of German settlers in the 13th and 14tJh Centuries; enlarged in the 15th Century and the beginning of the 16th, as ,a Late Gothic variation of the architectural style that lhad its birth in northern France. It is sad to reflect that it was not spared the ravages of war. Many of the forts crumbled in ruins when Hussit-es from Boihemi•a stormed Slovakia, or tJhe Turks, during the 16th Century, advanced as far as south and central Slovrukia and from their outposts struged wild plundering raids. 'Dhat is why today these Got!hic forts, once the a bode of counts and grandees, or places of asylum for the threatened populace in times of siege, are today in rack and ruin, looted and plundered and scarred by the raviages of time. Indeed, only a few of tJhe fortresses were spared this tragic fate. Slovakia's historic forts have been restored at great cost and rebuilt as museums of Sloviak history. Favored have ibeen the Gothic residences and forts of Bratislava, Nitra, Orava, Smolenke, Zvolen and, to some extent, Trencin. Very many, among them tJhe !fortresses of Strecno and Spis, see tJheir proud past reflected in wild ruins and twisted rocky ravines. They are documents in stone of the merciless inlI'oaJds 111pan their Gothic style, tJhe attack of re•a l barbarians. In contemplating Gothic Sloviakia, we must first mention tJhe numerous churcihes and sacred works of art, for they embody the strongest heritage of tJhe Slovak Gothic style, which has been preserved to this day, imparting to the faithful wibhin a sea of atheism, a theologica:l reply to the eternal "to be or not to lbe". Seen externally, the Gothic churches in Slovakia are not ostentatious, but plain. 'Dhey lack tJhe splendor and magnificent form reflected, for example, by the Cathedrals of Notre Dame in Chartres and Rheims. What one notes in pairticular is the imperrfect execution of the Gothic spires. Many cathedrals have towers that run counter to form or Portal of the Cathedral in Kosice, Slovakia, seen from town-hall arcades. (Photo Berko > SLOVAKIA 91 are in need of towers to conform in style. An example is tJhe Cathedrnl of Kosice. The upper parts have towers of Baroque or conkal roofs, but of different heights. At most, the parish cihurch in Spisska Nova Ves can he considered a prize in competition with other churc'hes in Slovakia. It suffered a disastrous fire in 1849 and acquired a tower 87 meters hi:gh, the highest in all Slovaki,a. The Gothic towers of Slovrukia form a contrast to t hose in Germany. For example, the spires of Regensburg are 105 and 107 meters, those of Fretburig Cathedral are 115 meters and those of the Cathedral at Ulm, 162 meters high. Again historical factors were responsiible for the lesser degree of magnificence and external form, as well as the inadequate execution of the Slovak church spires. It is quite understandable and excusable in '1i:g'ht of the turmoil that followed the Hussite and TurkiSlh wars. Furthermore, tihe churc!hes were often struck by disasters, such a:s floods , earthquaik es and fires, that had a hrurmful effect on the Got'hic beauty and style. Albeit the outer Gothic forms were somewhat inconsistent and frequently unfinished, especiaHy the steeples, the interiors possessed great riches. T•he Gothic tripty~hs, woodcarved statues and panei frescoes, a veritable feast for the eye, can claim for Slova•kia international primacy, for tihey merit the admiration of the most /fastidious fancier of art. Striking examples are to be found in: St. Martin's Cathedral and tihe Franciscan Church in Bratislava, the Bishop's Cathedrnls of Trnava, Banrska Bystrica and Spisska Kapitula; also the churches in Hronsky •B enadik, Zehra, Kezmarok, Spisska Sobota, Spissky Stvrtok, S'pisske Vlachy, L iptovsky Mikulas, Bardejov and Presov. A:11 are outstanding ecclesiastical edifices from the High and Late Got'hic periods 13th, 14th and 15th Centuries whose masters are not always known. Unique amonig tJhe Gothic structures of Slovakia, however, are the houses of worshiip in Levoca or Leutsdhau (•a n area settled by Germans in tihe 12th and 13th Centuries) in the northeastern part of Slovakia. They reach the zenitJh in the works of Master Paul .o f Levoca (1455-1530 ?) , principally in the main altar of St. James' Church, and in the metropolis of Kosice in East Slovakia, where the greatest Gothic Cathedral of Kosice, Slovakia. Note Baroque roof on tower. (Photo Berka) SLOVAKIA 93 Gothi,c structure in the country stands on a plot of giround 1,200 meters square. The main altar, 18.62 meters higih, is the largest altar, with ,s ide wings, in the Got:Jhic ,w orld. It is Paul of Levoca's masterpiece, erected in the mighty three-apse pseudo-'b asilica in 1508, lbut not completed until the end of 1,518. 'I'he altar is magnificent, not only because of its heig1ht, but due to the tectonic, composition and stylistic harmony. In creating this masterwork, Paul of Levoca merits a niche in the hall of fame alongside ot:Jher great Gothic architects and wood-carvers, that include Tilman Riemenschneider, Hans Multsclher, Veit Stoss, Hans Leinberger, Gregor Et1hart, Albrecht Dlirer, Lucas Crarnach, Hans Holbein and many other masters of the late Middle Ages. The altar with side wings of Paul of Levoca "is rooted in the familiar traditions of plastic art of the Sloviak historic landscape. If we put him with all his artistic and estJhetic qualities alongside similar works of other great masters of that period, we see that he forms a link in a chain extending across the peaks of European art of the XV and XVI Centuries.* 'Dhe bold execution of the ihigh altar in Lev,oca, is a work carved out of linden, or basswood, which made it susceptible early to worm damage. From 1952-54, it was treated and renovated to preserve it from further destructive forces, restoring the greatest specimen of Gothic art in Europe to manifest, in all its glory, the spirit of European solidarity and unity. Thus it mirrored the spirit of German-<8lavic cooperation, ,a s it was manifested in the Middle Ages in keeping with the Gothic spirit. In that same church of 'St. James, whose tower rburned down at the end of the 18th Century and was not rebuilt until 1858 - only 70 meters high this time and counter to style - there are six other Gothic altars with wings. They, too, are a creation of the famous Master Paul and his pupils, whose work was imitated throughout 1:Jhe Spis area and in fact, all of Slovrukia. Also, the wwks of Paul are the oarved figures of BetMehem on the altar of the Nativity in Levoca, and the statues of the Crucifixion in Lomnicka, of St. Barbar,a in Oko1i<cne, and the triptyclhs in tJhe churches of Banska Byst•rica, Sasova and Spisska Sdbota. Levoca a!lso has Gothic frescoes in the aforementioned sanctuary, datini5 Largest Gothic Altar of its kind is this masterpiece by Paul of Levoca in the Church of St. James, Levoca, Slovakia. (Photo Berko) SLOVAKIA from the 14th Century, plus several panel frescoes, a unique lava·bo and other art trea:sures that have made the town a verita,b le repository CYf superb sacred Gofilric art. Moving toward the Eaistern !Slovak cities of Bardejov and Kosice, one finds a verita:ble Gothic feast for t:Jhe eyes. Both these historic sites are proud of their ohurohes and many tripty~hs, woodca•r vings and panel frescoes that date from the 14tih and 1'5th Oenturies. In Bardejov is 1:Jhe Church of St. Aegidius, in the 12th Century the site of a Cistercian cloister, 1:Jhat invites the photographer's eye. The architects were Nicholas of Bardejov, Stefan L•apicid of Kosice, Master Urban and Franklin Stemraseg .CYf Ansba:ch who completed the steeple in 1486. This spire, too, was tfue victim of an earthquaJke, the la-st time in 1725, as weH as several fires in 1640, 1669 and 1836. Irts sp1re was but 78 meters h~gh and was not lb uilt in Gothic style. 'Dhe ohurch has pure lineation, crowned by an altar 17.5 meters hig,h in the main nave, wmoh is 24 meters high. Along with the otfuer side a1tars, 11 in all, one finds the famous triptych of the Nativity, tlhe work of an unknown artist from 1460, and the altar Vir dolorum, dating to 1505. No other cathedral in ,Slovakia can compare with that of Kosice, which enohants even the most fastidious eye with its grandeur •a nd ,b rilliance. 'Dhe cathedral's perfect Gobhic form, covering some 1,200 squaire meters ta:kes on gigantic proportions. It was bui'1t in the 14th and 151:Jh Centuries and practicaHy completed by 1436 as a 3-nave basilica. It is 60 meters long, 35.50 meters wide, 24 meters hi,g'h inside and 32.70 meters high outside, with a transept, whose interior length measures 42.20 meters. Several artists, among them the architect and stonecutter, Stefan Lapicid of Kosiice, and Mikulas Erom,pholz, were responsi<ble for the Gothic interior. The cathedral has 12 side-altars and a main altar 11 meters h ~gili. and 8 meters wide, and a triiptyoh from 1477. The 16 meter high pastoforium is ailso attri:buted to tlhat period. A unique stone sculpture of Master Stefan dating from the Late Gothic period. The crises that this CatJhedria:l CYf St. Eli'za!beth had to weather, come to the fore when one fooks at tfue spires. The four-sided one to the north, that becomes octagonal aJfter tlhree stories, is but 59 meters and runs counter to the general style, with a Baroque-Rococo roof from the Apostle partaking of the "Last Supper", from the wood-carved Altar in St. James' Church , Levoca, Slovakia. (Photo Berko) SLOVAKIA 97 yeair 1775. The second, or Matthew's spire, to the south, just about reaches 1Jhe roof of the nave. In 1902-04 it acquired a strange conical top. Tihe entire st11ucture laibors under the uneven proportions and varying roofs and seems to want in the fact tJhat the Kosicania (,t he people of Kosice) could lbe so neglectful and expeot the church to endure 1Jhis misshapen form so long. In other WOTds, if one may hold a brief for the cathedral of Kosice, it has not relinquished the hope that one day it will have Gothic spires of an aippropriate he1ght. We, too, !hope t!his dream will be fulfilled and that it will ·b ecome a concern of the city of Kosice and the experts on Slovak cultural edifices, especially since the "socialist regime" is very generous witJh funds for such purpose, and, where possible, provides ''highly developed" artistic workmen. * Meister P avol v on Levoca. Slowaki scher Ve rl ag der ,s chonen Liteiraitur, B raitislava 1964 , p. 165. We ,sirncerely cong;ratullate the 1Iargest and most ipopula'r Americain-61lovaJk newspaiper in America, J 1EDiNOTA (The Union), ofificia!l OTgan oif , tlhe First Ca<bholic S'1ovaJk Uniion (Jednoba) , whiclh celeJbrated itJs 75th Annivernairy on May 12, 1966. 'Dhe Crutholi,c Weekily waJs founded in Cleveland, Ohio, by the Rev. St~phern. Furxlek, who also founded the fraterna l society, and, be's ides F\t'I'idek, tbhere were suoh renowned editors and recognized leaJders of the American Slorvaikis as the Rev. Mait1:!h w Janikola, Joseph Husak, and Pihilip A. Hrobruk. 1 For orver the pa.1st two yearrs, Joseph C. Krajsa has been editor oft~ J·IDDiNOTA. The assistamt editor of 1:Jhe JIDDNOT A for the ,pa:st sixteen yearn i s the presenlt secreta,ry of tJhe Slova!k Leaigme of Ameriioa, Dr. Joseph Pa'lico. 1 The Fi,v st Catlho1ic SlorvaJk Union and its pwb1ication JEIDNOTA have s1U1pported the aims amd objectives of the Slovruk Lerugue of America since the League wa's foU111dedand they stm do today. Tihe JIDDNOTA hais /kept the Slovaik press al'ive and we wislh it continued success in its service to AmericaJn-Slovruk journaEsm. The church and town-hall in Levoca, Spis, Slovakia. (Photo Berko)  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 Glimpse of Gothic Slovakia Description An account of the resource Tino Berko Slovakia, Vol. 16 (No. 39), 1966 pp. 87-98 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Berko, Tino Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1966 Type The nature or genre of the resource contains illustrations name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/e483d453a2b5c628bd44e309c2e5d189.pdf 1247a703bb9bba36d0cc0c5f129e0491 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 81 A HIGHWAYMAN'S LIFE: EXTANT DOCUMENTS v~ ABOUT JANOSIK ~ Martin Votruba "Our salvation can come only from Janosik," lamented a Czech blogger over the budget proposals in Prague. 1 In Poland, a group of developers has been working on recalcitrant software intended to undermine the program called Platnik ("Payer"), which is mandatory for employers to handle social security payments and works only with Microsoft Windows. The leader of the developers named their open-source software Janosik.2 Both of these people invoked the name of a brigand who robbed three hundred years ago in the northern and central predominantly Slovak counties in the Habsburg monarchy, was caught, tried and hanged. About a century after Janosfk's execution, his image began to emerge as the local embodiment of the pervasive myth of a hero who takes from the rich and gives to the poor. The folk stories, Romantic poems, and the more recent films ascribe 3 to him other quite universally idolized trappings, the ones that, for example, helped to generate Hollywood 's legendary rebel stars - he was good looking, single, made a stash of money, lived wild, and died young. 4 All of this is contained in Janosfk's modern Slovak, Czech, and Polish mythology. Practically none of that, however, finds any support in the existing evidence about the actual brigand 's life. 1 Hana Fonminkova, I Oct. 2003 , http: //www neraweb cz/index. php?stype-all&id=632. 2 Danuta Frey, "Janosik chce rozgryzc program Ptatnik." Rzeczpospolita, 6-7 Dec. 2004. 3 Dozens of books, thousands of stories, and popular and academic articles, at least nine plays, six films, one TV series, several classical compositions, and one opera th have been dedicated to Janosfk since the 19 century. His legend was discussed in this journal by Patricia A. Krafcik, "Janosik: Unraveling the Man from the Legend." Slovakia 33, no. 60-6 1 (1987-1988): 7-22. 4 Martin Votruba, " Hang Him High: The Elevation of Janosfk to an Ethnic Icon ." Slavic Review, vol. 56, no. I, Spring 2006, pp. 24-44. �82 SLOVAKIA Name variations There was a historical figure whose name was close or identical to Juraj Janosfk,5 who was sentenced for highway robbery and executed at the age of 25 in 1713. The limited sources about his actual life are the proceedings from his trial and an earlier interrogation, the proceedings from the trial with hi s friend and accomplice Tomas Uhorcfk, whom Janosik replaced as the leader of his band, and several brief records maintained by landlords. The trial proceedings were edited and published by several authors before most of them appeared together for the first time as an appendix to a book on Janosik in 1952. 6 The proceedings from his trial gave three versions of his last name: Janosik, Janosiak and Janosak. There are variations in the records of Uhorcfk ' s name, too. For instance, Janosik referred to him as Uhnk during his trial. Each spelling of Janosfk's name indicates a slightly different pronunciation, but that was not unusual at that time. Historically , people had only one - given - name, and what we know as the last name developed gradually, along with bureaucratic record-keeping, from attributes used to distinguish persons with the same given name, or from various nicknames. The bureaucratic effort to standardize people 's last (and first) names started in Catholic Europe with the Vatican-sponsored Council of Trent (1545-1563). Although the practice of maintaining the same last name within a family became quite common in the Habsburg 7 monarchy, where the Slovaks lived, by the I 600s, it was not formalized until the Imperial and Royal 8 Edict on Family Names was issued in 1787 - perhaps 5 [YOUray YAHnosheek] Ju raj is the Slovak version of George, the nicknames are Jura, Jurko, Dura. 6 Andrej Melichercfk, Janosikovska tradfcia na Slovensku Bratislava: Nakladatel'stvo Slovenskej akademie vied a umenf, 1952, pp. 165-176. 7 Often spelled Hapsburg in English history books. 8 "Imperi al and Royal" were standard attributes of a host of ' federal' institutions in the Habsburg monarchy. They indicated that the ruling monarch was the hereditary king of several kingdoms-provinces th at compri sed the Habsburgs' personal possessions, including the Kingdom of Hungary , and at the same time the emperor of a looser association of German states. The terms Habsburg monarchy and Austrian Empire usually refer only to the Habsburgs' personal possessions whose core were the Kingdom of Hungary (today: Slovakia, Hungary , Croatia), Kingdom of Bohemia, Margravi ate of Moravia (together today : the Czec h Republic) , Austria, and �SLOVAKIA 83 the first law on names in Europe. The three pronunciations of Janosfk 's last name during his trial are not indicative of any confusion about the captive' s identity. Birth date and place According to the trial proceedings, Juraj Janosfk came from the north-west Slovak village of Terchova. 9 Birth and death records were rare, or non-existent in the more distant past, but the maintenance of baptismal and burial records by parishes was among the guidelines set forth by the Council of Trent and became widely practiced by both the Slovak Catholic and Lutheran Churches. A governmentsponsored law on recording births and deaths was not adopted in the Habsburg monarchy until 1828. Baptismal records from the Varin parish that comprised Terchova contain the names of five babies christened in 1687-1688 that could have grown up to be the Juraj Janosfk sentenced in 1713. '0 Without discussing their choice, authors mostly give one of the dates as his true entry - commonly 25 February 1688, father Martin and mother Anna Czisznek or Czisznik, occasionally 16 May 1688, father Michal and mother Barbara Cingel. Only one, not particularly reliable, source makes an argument why the entry of 25 February is to be seen as more likely than the others: when Juraj's father bought his son out of military service in 1710, the father's name was apparently recorded as Martin Janosik. 11 However, if Juraj Janosfk, the brigand executed in March 1713, were baptized on 25 February, other entries in the baptismal records would show him as having a younger brother Jan. That would appear to be at odds with the record of a trial with Jan Janosik in December 1713 during which Jan was identified as an older brother of the executed brigand Juraj . The issue is complicated because the existing baptismal records are not sufficiently consistent and complete, because the name Jan, introduced to Europe through which also incorporated parts of their modern neighboring countries - Italy, Poland, Romania and others. 9 [TERkhova] 10 Rudo Brian, "Na tropie Janosika i polskich zb6jnik6w." Pam(:tnik Slowianski, vo l. 18, 1968, pp. I 67-186; and Rudo Brian, " Pat' Janosikov - ktory je ten pravy?" Nede/ha pravda, 3 Feb. 1978, p. 18. 11 The llles hazy archives, Strecno estate, Vol. 19, No. 15 as referenced in Jozef Kocis, Neznamy Janos1k, Bratislava: Yydavatel'stvo Osveta, l 986, p. 47 . �84 SLOVAKIA the New Testament, has historicall y been the most co mmon given name in Slovak (like its Anglicized version John in English), and the family name Janosfk 12 was, and still is, common in Terchova and vicinity (67 listings in the telephone directory) . It al so occurs elsewhere in Slovakia, and spread even to the United States where its frequency ranks as the 35,524 th most common name. 13 There is some inconsistency in the reading of the last name of Janosik 's mother among those who opt for 25 February as the date of his baptism. Many modem authors transcribe the recorded old spelling of Anna 's last name (Czisznek or Czisznik), without further explanation, as Cesnek, a few others as Cfsnik. Cesnek is a probable reading because such last names are still common in the area (29 telephone directory listings), while Cfsnik or other plausible modernized versions of the old spelling are absent there. Nothing is known about Janosfk 's life until he was between 15 and 21 years old - the time of the Francis Rak6czi uprising, which Janosik joined at an unknown age and for an unknown period of time according to the trial proceedings. Folk tales, as well as the first two film s about him, 14 depict him as a former seminary student who turned to brigandage after his parents were abused by the landlord. The earliest written reference to the legend of Janosfk 's schooling comes from 1809. 15 It says that he was popularly believed to have been a student of the humanities, not of theology. However, no preserved document and nothing in the trial proceedings suggests an educated Janosik. 12 It originated as a Slovak variation on Janos - the Hungarian version of the Biblical name John in English, Jan in Slovak. Janos was occas ionall y used as a ni ckname fo r persons named Jan by the Slovaks , too, and sometimes appeared instead of the th Slovak Jan in the Kingdom' s records. But durin g the 17 century, Janosik and its variations had become established Slovak fa mily names . 13 U.S. Census Burea u, Population Divi sio n, Population Anal ys is and Evaluati on Staff as quoted by Rhett A. Butler in "Most Common Names and Surnames in the U.S." at mongabay com. 14 Jan osfk directed by Jaros lav Jerry Siake l', Tatra Film, Chi cago, 192 1; Janostk directed by Martin Frie, A- B Studio, Praha [Prague] , I935. 15 Bohuslav Tablic, a 3-page unnumbered foo tnote to "Janossjk Liptowsky Laupeznjk ," in S/owensstj W ersso wcy. Collecta revirescunt. S wazek druhf. We Wacove [Yac]: v Antonjna Gotljba pry wil. Knehtlac itele, 1809, pp. 120-1 23 . �SLOVAKIA 85 The Kingdom's situation The trial proceedings begin to reveal glimpses of Janosfk 's life with him taking part in the Franci s Rak6czi 16 uprising of 1703-1711. It was a massive religious and separatist movement in the Kingdom of Hungary aga inst the Habsburg dynasty, which ruled it from Vienna (A ustria). The Slovaks were the majority inhabitants of the north-western , mostl y mountainous counties of the multi-ethnic 17 Kingdom. The Kingdom , established around the year 1000, was defeated and lost its sovereignty in the 1500s, and was incorporated as a province in the expanding Habsburg monarchy. The Kingdom was 90% Protestant (Lutheran in the Slovak areas) in the early 1600s, but by the mid- l 600s, the Vatican-allied Habsburgs began forcibly to reCatholicize it, and also increased their efforts to further reduce the Kingdom 's remaining limited self-government. The uprising led by nobleman Franci s Rak6czi II was the last of a series of substantial , but economically destructive armed attempts in the Kingdom to reverse that course. 18 He was Catholic, but in favor of the Kingdom 's independence and religious freedom. Janosik the insurgent It is not known when and under what circumstances Janosik joined Rak6czi 's rebel troops. It is not known , either, how he became a soldier in the Habsburg army later. The Rak6czi rebels suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of Trencfn 19 (about 60 miles south-west 16 [RAHkotsee], Francis Rak:6czi II, Prince of Transylvani a, born on 27 March I 676. After his fin al defeat, he and some of his supporters initially defected to Poland. He eventu all y died in exi le in Turkey on 8 April 1735. 17 The country's language of admi nistration and education from high school up was Latin , which was no one ' s mother ton gue. The languages of individual ethnic groups, most of whom li ved in their majority areas, were used in everyday life, local businesses, emerging literatures, etc. The ethni c gro ups of the Kingdom of Hungary inc luded the Slovaks, Magyars ([MAHdars] often called Hungarians), Croats, Romani ans, Germans, Ru syns, Roma (Gypsies), and others. The Slovaks were in the majority in about 15 counties in the Kingdom ' s mountainous north-west (today's Slovakia) customari ly called the "Upper Co untry" in the Kingdo m, which is usuall y rendered as Upper Hungary in English. 1 8The major anti-Habsburg insurgenc ies that affected the Slovak counti es extensive ly were (the year of inception and leader): 1604 Stephen Bocskay, 16 19 Gabriel Bethlen, 1644 George Rak:6czi, 1678 Emerich Thokoly, 1703 Francis Rak:6czi II . 19 [TRENtsheen); in West Slovakia on the Yah River �86 SLOVAKIA of Terc hova) the actual fightin g took pl ace at Hamre, a haml et and originall y a forge site two miles south of Trencfn) on 3 August 1708. The Habsburgs had taken full control of the Kingdom by the time of Janosfk's tri al. It therefore needs to be taken with a grai n of salt that hi s defen se lawyer Baltazar Palugyay portrayed Janosik as the Emperor's loyal subj ect at hi s tri al, and insisted that Janosik had eage rl y and willingly enlisted in the Habsburg army during the upri sing. Authors mostly speculate that Janosfk first left the Rak6czi rebe ls, returned to Terchova, and was subsequentl y drafted by the Imperial and Royal Army. Another possibility put forward is that he was captured during the Battle of Trencfn and turned into a soldier, 20 which was what happe ned to hundreds of insurge nts on th at occasion. No records document either ass umption. Janosik the loyalist and a brigand's assistant Once in the Imperial and Royal Army, Janosik was stationed at Bytca Castle, 25 miles from his home. He was made a prison guard . During hi s trial, Janosik admitted providing unspecified services to Tomas Uhorcfk,2 1 a brigand leader he ld in the castle's dungeons. Uhorcik managed to escape in the fa ll of 1710 while Janosik still served at Bytca. Janosik 's father bought Ju raj out of military service a month later. This seq uence of events that emanates from the trial proceedings gave ri se to later spec ul ation s that Janosik may have actu ally he lped Uhorcfk to escape. Family background The statement from Janosik's trial that hi s father had bought him out of military service, for which he had to have enough spare money, appears to contrad ict the co mmon, but undoc umented , assertions that Janosik came fro m a particul arl y poor farmer's famil y. The existing records from the landlord of Terchova ' s estate around 1700 do not li st the Janosfk famil y among those obligated to work for a day or two each week in the landlord ' s field s22 - a common duty of fe ud al subj ects. It could mean that members of the Janosik fa mil y °Koc is, Neznamy ... 2 21 [TOmahsh OOhortsheek], from the village of Predmi er near Turzovka. Andrej Melichercfk, Janosikovska tradfcia na Slovensku. Brati slava: Nakladatel'stvo SAY , 1952. 22 �SLOVAKIA 87 were still obligated to work, but were among the poorest, almost landless families and therefore not entered in the records of households with farms; or it could be due to a contract between some of the original settlers of the village and a past landlord. Numerous Slovak villages originated as contractual settlements of a landlord's unimproved property in earlier centuries. Finally, Janosfk 's family could have been prosperous enough to be able to pay the landlord instead of providing labor services. Besides these historical reasons, the absence of an entry for the Janosfks in the landlord 's records could also be due to deficient record-keeping, or to lost documents. If the Janosfks could be shown to have been a particularly poor family, it would increase the likelihood that the money they used to buy Juraj out was not theirs, and that the Janosfks may have received it for that purpose from Uhorcfk who was grateful for Juraj's unspecified services in the dungeons (possibly including his escape). By the fall of 1710, Uhorcfk had had about eight robbing seasons behind him , which would have allowed him to accumulate some disposable cash. Highwaymen Other court records show the inhabitants of Terchova to have been fervent supporters of brigands. 23 That ties in with Uhorcfk's testimony, according to which Janosik sometimes stayed with the teacher at Terchova, and the local tavern-keeper would bring him food. Juraj Janosfk's brother Jan was hanged for highway robbery ten months after Juraj. 24 Highway robbery was common in Europe until the advent of modern times, which brought about increased policing, personal record-tracing, education, perhaps honesty, and new, less arduous forms of crime. The first mention of brigands in the Slovak region comes from the Legend of Saints Zoerardus and Benedict recorded in 1064. Two ancient north-south trade routes from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean passed through eastern Slovakia. The merchants' caravans were among the earliest lucrative targets for highway robbery. Legal records of highway robberies and 23 Stefan Kazimfr, "O novych dokumentoch k janosikovskej legende." Cudove cftanie Vol. 3, No. 6, 1957. 24 Stanistaw Sroka, Janosik: Pra wdziwa historia karpackiego zb6jnika. Krakow [Cracow]: Wydawnictwo Homini, 2004, p. 41; Kocis, Neznamy .. . p. 86. �88 SLOVAKIA trials with brigands begin to accumulate in the late 15 th century and do not start to dwindle until the mid-19 th century. One of the first known brigand bands in the Slovak counties, led by Fedor Hlavaty, operated in the north-east (Saris County). Its 50 members included Slovaks, Poles, and Rusyns.25 In 1493, Hlavaty sent a ransom letter to the town of Bardejov threatening to burn it down unless the Town Council paid a hefty compensation for the execution of four of Hlavaty's highwaymen. Incentives to rob in the 1600s The religious-cum-separatist wars of the 1i" century caused a great deal of destruction in the Kingdom already harmed by decades of attacks by the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire from the south. 26 Highway robbery must have appeared to be a way out to some of those impoverished by the developments. The brigands' ranks were also increased by displaced soldiers made redundant by both the insurgent and the Habsburg armies after the resolution of each rebellion. With the reduced, or periodicall y absent authority of the monarch, some noblemen, too, turned their hill-top castles to brigands' nests, armed large bands and in addition to highway robbery, raided villages, as well as their peers' residences. The Kingdom therefore saw a jump in highway robberies in the 17 th century.2 7 25 The Rusyns, also called Ruthenians, are an East Slav ic ethni c group (as opposed to the West Slavic Slovaks and Poles) who li ve as a recogni zed minority in the north-eastern parts of Slovakia, as well as in so uth-eastern Poland - often called L emkos there. Their acti vists call for a recognition of their much more substantial numbers in south- western Ukraine where the authorities insist they are Ukrainians. 26 The Slovak counties never fell to the Turks, but es peciall y the southern ones were continuall y harassed and attacked. The fac t that the mostl y Magyar/Hungarian counties (today's Hungary) fell under the Ottoman rule and became their prov ince of Ma1,aristan fo r about l 50 years added to the disruption of the economy of the Slovak counties and brought in some ethni c Hungari ans, especiall y noblemen, who ran away north fro m the encroaching Turks. 27 Although just a pass ing reference has been preserved about him , the name of briga nd leader Adamcik survived from the 1630s in fo lklore, and was later added to the list of Janosik 's band members in fo lk tales. The name Ilcfk - another of Janosik's comrades in fo lk stories - has a similar, albeit somewhat later origin. �SLOVAKIA 89 Highwaymen's seasons In the Kingdom , and in Central Europe in general, the brigands' season was limited by the climate. Late summer and early fall was the time when seasonal sheepfolds in mountain pastures were abandoned and the flocks were dri ven back to villages. These shepherds played an important role in hi ghwaymen 's support networks. Cold winters made clandestine surviva l in the Slovak mountai ns almost impossible. Moreover, Europe was at the height of its Little Ice Age (l 560-1850). The deciduous forests at the lower elevations lose leaves and provide less cover, and while the higher elevations have spruce and fir trees that do not lose their needles, they are also colder and therefore even less suitable for winter subsistence 28 . Snow tracks made the brigands easily traceable. But brigands needed villagers ' support year-round. In the winter, they needed farmers to accept them as hired hands, and even their help to cover up their identities and summer acti vity. In the summer, the brigands needed to obtain food , sell their loot, and learn about the police searches for them, not to mention their less operative desires to show off, party, booze and flirt. Some of the villagers in turn , made welcome profit on the services and goods rendered to the brigands, since they were paid for their silence as well. Moreover, the vi llagers were paid by people with periodic windfalls who are generall y inclined to overspending. According to the court records, the Janosiks were among Terchova 's notorious rowdy , thieving fa milies. Jano~fk' s participation During his trial , Janosik confessed that he joined Tomas Uhorcfk ' s band of brigands " around Michaelmas" 29 in 1711. Brigand bands in the Western Carpathians would traditionall y di sperse on or not long after Michaelmas and agree to reassemble on St. Adalbert's Feast-George mas (23-24 April). Numero us saints' days were associated with a variety of far m works and festivities , and were used to identify periods of the year in the same manner that months and parts of months are used today (" late September"). Michae lmas was a typical day of post-harvest fa irs. Janosik claimed that he had 28 Some mountains aro und Terchova reach over 5,000 ft, some mountain ridges around Liptov County rise to 7,000 ft. 29 September 29, St. Michael' s Day. �90 SLOVAKIA joined the brigands at Uhorcik's insistence. It was customary that a new member would swear allegiance to the band leader°. The group he joined may have had about two to three dozen members, but that was always in a state of flux with highwaymen. Some were disabled or killed during robberies and chases, so me were caught, some dropped out, temporarily , or for good, and aspiring highwaymen joined. Janosfk's confession that Uhorcik handed the leadership of the band to him soon afterwards indicates that it was hardly as simple as Uhorcik looking up Janosik almost a year after the latter provided him with some incidental assistance in prison. Uhorcik had to have great tru st in Janosik in order to persuade his band of thugs that a rel ati ve newcomer should take over after him . That, in turn , suggests that Janosik's assistance at Bytca Castle may have extended to Uhorcik ' s escape, that they maintained contacts afterwards, that Uhorcfk 's band had already seen Janosik in action, and it opens to speculation the source of the money that his father used to buy Juraj out of military service. It is also poss ible that the members of Uhorcik's band already knew Janosik because he became involved with them earlier. The highwaymen's logistics Limited circumstantial evidence contradicts Janosfk's testimony that he did not meet with Uhorcik until a year after Uhorcik's escape and that he simply talked Janosik into joining his band on that single occasion. A court record hints that there could have been rather a pressing incentive for Janosik to turn from initially a brigands' assistant and perhaps a subsequent incidental brigand into a regular member of Uhorcik's band. On 30 September 1711 , a day after Michaelmas, the confessed time of Janosik's pledge to Uhorcfk, three of the Janosfks of Terchova were brought to court and charged with assault 30 In contrast with their life of crime, the pledge could appear quite pious - an indication that they perceived Christianity as part of a flexible set of beliefs in the supernatural rather than the strict doctrine with a specific moral code preached by the Church. A documented pledge in the band of Jakub Surovec from the 1730s said: " I swear to God eternal, the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary and all the divine saints that I shall neither betray, nor cheat, nor yet abandon my companions in fortu ne, or misfortune. Thus help me God the Lord." �SLOVAKIA 91 and robbery .31 If they were Juraj Janosik' s family, and moreover, if he was among the suspects (and guilty), he might have preferred to remove himself from the village rather than face the charges and possibly be forced to reveal more of his recent past. The Habsburgs did not ban torture as an investi gati ve method until 1776. J ano~ik' s season Soon after 23-year old Janosik became the band 's leader, Uhorcfk , after nine seasons as a highwayman, retired to Klenovec in south-central Slovakia under the adopted name Martin Mravec. He married and became the village's hired shepherd and occasional musician (he also managed briefly to serve as the village's policeman). Janosfk's band robbed mainly in the north-central Slovak counties of Orava, Liptov, and Spis, sometimes to the south of them, and occasionally - still in the Habsburg monarchy - across the Kingdom 's north -western border in parts of Silesia and the Margrav iate of Moravia (both now in the Czech Republic). All of the three Slovak counties border Poland in the north , and Janosik identified several members of his band as coming from Poland, but no document has surfaced to confirm legends about his raids into the Kingdom of Poland. Simple economics may have played a role: while Moravia and Silesia were relatively wealthy, the Polish Podhale region north of Slovakia was poorer than the Slovak counties and with fewer noblemen 's residences, and therefore less attractive, especially since the border follows a rel atively high mountain ridge in Liptov and in parts of Spis and Orava, which was a substanti al obstacle to bringing back any loot except money. On the other hand, the Podhale folklore occasionally depicted the Slovak counties as desirable targets of Polish brigands. The expected higher return may have made the climb somewhat more worthwhile. However, Janosik was questioned specifically during hi s tri al whether he had also robbed in Poland : an indication that the border was crossed by hi ghwaymen from both sides, but also of the authorities' concern about possible contacts with leaders of the Rak6cz i upri sing who defected to Pol and after their final defeat in 1711. 31 Rudo Brtan "Na tropie Janosika i polskich zb6jnik6w." Pami~tnik Slowiariski 18, pp. 167-186. �92 SLOVAKIA Janosik:' s victims and spoils While the list was certainly not complete, Janosik's trial revealed rather meager, and some bizarre spoils from hi s only full-time robbing season from the spring to the fall of 1712: several guns, including a "valuable" one, unimpressive amounts of cash, some jewelry, as well as two ladies' wigs and elegant ladies' clothing impossible to be worn by villagers and therefore awkward to sell or donate in those days. However, Uhorcfk said Janosfk's highway robberies yielded more. Among other things, he apparently accumulated almost two bushels of coins, enough cloth to dress 300 men, and maintained a stash of weapons in another hiding place. Although cloth may appear to be an unlikely booty, it was among the brigands' prized possessions. It was needed to repair their clothing, which was more prone to wear and tear, yet less readily replaceable in case of damage than the clothes of law-abiding subjects. 32 Rolls of cloth, not ready-made clothes, were loaded in merchants' wagons that were attacked by brigands. Cloth was also among the more durable goods in their loot, but not as easy to exchange as money, jewelry, or guns, so the brigands were likely to have a surplus of cloth in their hiding places. 33 Uhorcfk also spoke of Janosfk's attacks on small detachments of the Imperial and Royal Army which yielded weapons, ammunition, and on one occasion a carriage. Janosfk admitted robbing men and women, commoners as well as three noblemen , a clergyman, another clergyman's wife, a blacksmith (he did not respond to this charge), a goldsmith, a butcher, a cloth trader, and wine traders. He robbed them on the road, in their homes, in the woods, even on the Vah River (see below), emphasized the prosecutor. Of all the regional authorities, Liptov County was probably the most bitter about Janosfk's actions because of his assault on Imperial and Royal Officer Rudolf Schardon's wife and her retinue. Slovak and Polish sources commonly say she was Officer Schardon 's widow. One author contradicts thi s without giving his 32 John S. Koliopoulos, Brigands with a Cause, Brigandage and Irredentism in Mo- dem Greece /821-1912. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987. 33 Jozef Kocis, Neznamy ... creates a weighty narrative about Janosfk's apparent revolutionary intentions from a historical report that guns and substantial amounts of cloth were discovered in some of his hiding places. �SLOVAKIA 93 reasons. 34 The trial proceedings refer to her as Schardonka (the ending -ka indicates that she was a woman) and as vojenskeho oficfra pani, which means "a military officer's lady [wife]" without any indication of her being a widow. Because her husband was employed by the Crown and the robbery took place while she was passing through Liptov, the law obligated the County to pay the Lady the damages, which must have been higher than usual due to her rank. Throughout his trial, Janosik maintained that he had not killed anyone, but the court still considered him a guilty party when a priest from Domaniza was "shot through" by two brigands from his band during a robbery. The priest, 58-year old Juraj Yrtik (also spelled Yertik), died a month later. Janosik was also accused of sacrilege target-shooting at a host (the Eucharistic bread) attached to a treetrunk. He neither denied, nor confirmed this charge. While it is not clear why so many authors call Lady Schardon a widow rather than a wife, some of the counterfactual information in modern writing about Janosik ' s robberies and victims stems from cross-linguistic confusion by Polish authors reading Slovak sources, which is then repeated by others. Thus, for example, one author has Janosik rob a magnate on his way to Turkey (do Turcji in Polish), while the person, John Radvanszky, County Lieutenant of Zvolen, was actually on his way to Turiec County (do Turca in Slovak) in north-central Slovakia. 35 Another author says that Janosik robbed a pastor' s wife as she was fetching water (po wodf! in Polish) from the Yah River. 36 It is not only unlikely for geographic and historical reasons because her village was not on the V ah and people used wells as their source of water, not the river. It is mistaken factually because the trial proceedings say that she was robbed about a half-day's journey from her home, while traveling down the Vah (po vode in Slovak) on a raft - a common means of transport provided comercially at that time. Such confusion about language and geography happens with some regularity and can affect the authors' arguments. For instance, Stanislaw Sroka believes that the village of Klenovec where Janosik was captured was in Liptov County , a mere geogra34 Jozef Kocis, Neznamy .. . Jace k Kotbu szewski , "Janosik ni eznany?" Literatura Judowa, vol. 3 1, no. 4-6, Jul y- December 1987, pp. 108-11 2, - p. 110. 36 Sroka, Janosik ... p. 50. 35 �SLOVAKIA 94 phic error, but the error then becomes Sroka's explanation of why Janosik was tried by Liptov County. Klenovec, however, was in Malohont County. The real reason for the location of Janosik's trial was that he was captured in Klenovec by the Liptov police (see below). Cross-linguistic confusion can lead to much farther-reaching fallacious conclusions. Jacek Kolbuszewski, the author who believes that Janosik robbed John Radvanszky on his way to Turkey, then 37 assumes that he was going to the funeral of Stephen Petrycy [sic], a former general in the Kuruc army, according to Kolbuszewski, who took refuge in Turkey in order to avoid persec ution by the Habsburgs. Kolbuszewski subsequently presents his conjecture as evidence to disprove a point made by another author, Jozef Koci s, 38 and accuses him of "keeping silent" about that apparent fact. Yet, Radvanszky was robbed in 1712 while traveling from Zvolen County to Turiec County in order to attend the funeral of Stephen Petr6czy de Petr6cz et Kaszavar (villages near Trencfn : the name could be Stefan Petrovicky of Petrovice and Koseca in modern Slovak spelling), sonin-law of the late Turiec County Chief Emerich Revay - not to Turkey to a conjectured funeral of Baron Stephen Petr6czy, born around 1620, a commander in the Kuruc insurgencies in the l 670- l 680s who sought refuge in Turkey after their failure . Baron Petr6czy would have to have been in his 90s had he died, as Kotbuszewski concludes, in 1712 when Radvanszky was robbed by Janosfk (the date of his death is actually unknown). Janosik, s capture Janosik was first caught, along with Uhorcfk, about a year after he joined Uhorcik's former band and became its leader. They were detained by Malohont County authorities in Klenovec in south37 Kotbuszewski , "Janosik ... " p. 110. Kocis, Neznamy ... Kotbuszewski's goal was to disprove Kocis's claims about Janosfk's sym pathies for the anti-Habsburg rebels by showing that Janosfk actually robbed a nobleman presumably supportive of the rebellion since he went to a former rebel ' s and political defector' s funeral. If Polish scholars had not misread the Slovak sources, which was the starting point for Kotbuszewski's disoriented conclusions about the historical figures, Kotbuszewski could have made the same argument without any reference to Petr6czy, because Janosfk ' s victim John Radvanszky, Zvolen County Lieutenant and minor poet born in 1666, was himself a former influential supporter of the Kuruc rebellion, Thokoly, as well as Francis Rak6czi. 38 �SLOVAKIA 95 central Slovakia, where Uhorcik had settled as Martin Mravec, on 26 October 1712 - around the end of the robbing season. Janosik probably came to spend the winter with his comrade under an assumed identity . They were put in jail in the Mansion of Hrachov but were released after they "proved" their innocence. Janosik's subsequent trial revealed that the proof rested mainly in fox furs and cheese passed on to the detaining authorities. Moreover, the County Lieutenant of Malohont 39 who testified on their behalf had earlier received a prized rifle from Uhorcik. The historical, decorated weapon came from Janosik's loot when his band ambushed Baron Paul Revay. Janosik was arrested again while still in Klenovec before he had a chance to start his next robbing season, and so was "Mravec" for giving him shelter for the winter. Although in another county, this time he was traced and captured by the Liptov police put on special alert after the robbery of Lady Schardon. They were transferred to Svaty Mikulas, 40 the seat of Liptov County, where Uhorcik 's identity was eventually discovered. JaI1osik's sentence Janosik's trial took place on 16-17 March 1713. The Kingdom ' s main statutes were contained in the Tripartitum of 1514,41 and two subsequent royal decrees. Chapter I, Titulus XV, Paragraph I of the Tripartitum mandated that highwaymen be hanged, broken upon the wheel, impaled, or beheaded, as a warning to others. When the Habsburgs added the Kingdom to their lands, they tried to limit various laws contained in the Tripartitum, especially those that gave more privileges to its nobles and greater self-government to its counties and some municipalities than were granted in other Habsburg lands, but they reinforced some other laws including those against brigandage. Emperor Ferdinand II iss ued a decree in 1625 "On pillaging vagabonds and highwaymen and on ways of handling them," whose 39 Pal Lan yi/Pavol Lani (1670-1733) was a prominent supporter of the Rak6czi insurgency. 40 Now called Liptovsky Mikulas. 41 Tripartitum opus iuris consuetudinarii incly ti regni Hungariae partiumque annexarum , by Stephen Werboczy (1460-1541), presented to the Diet in 1514 and published by the author in Vienna in 1517. Although not a fo rmall y adopted document, it was used as the authoritati ve compend ium of the Kingdom's customary law. �96 SLOVAKIA Article XIII mandated that hi ghwaymen and similar criminals be tortured if their testimonies were not comprehensive and convincing. The decision to apply torture was regulated in the Kingdom by a widely used book of comments on the Tripartitum from 1619,42 whose Article 8, Section 6 required that the defendant be rel eased without torture if the preliminary proceedings did not raise sufficient suspicions about the truthfulness of his denial of guilt. Emperor Ferdinand Ill 's decree from 1655 contained Article XXVI , which prohibited any leniency or pardon in such trials. Additionally , Emperor Leopold I decreed in Article XVII in 1659 that those providing shelter to brigands be executed as well. Janosik's assigned defense lawyer Palugyay described him as a former victim of Francis Rak6czi 's insurgents and played up his loyalty to the Crown demonstrated by his apparent eagerness to join the Imperial and Royal Army. Palugyay also stressed that although submitted to both the light and severe levels of torture, Janosik denied having been guilty of the murder of the Reverend Yrtik. Under the Kingdom 's legislation it meant that the defendant (called the "accused" then) was to be seen as innocent of the crime. Although people submitted to torture did not normally survive for more than three days - if for no additional injuries, then due to the internal hemorrhage and other damage to the joints pulled out of their sockets during stretching - the county was obligated to pay an annual allowance to the family of the accused who failed to admit guilt under torture. Janosfk's defense lawyer called for his release because, according to Palugay, he certainly regretted his actions and would mend his ways. Yet, Janosik did admit to highway robbery, and the court still considered him an accomplice in the priest' s murder. He was sentenced to death. As usual in those days , it was a public execution. In Janosfk' s case, a hook was threaded through his left side, and he was left dangling on the gallows to die - a fairly common execution then especially for brigand leaders, although this was the only instance of its implementation by Liptov County between 1700 and 1715.43 42 Directio methodica processus judiciarii; Juris consuetudinarii lnclyti Regni Hun gariae .. . , by Johannes Kitonich de Koztanicza [Ivan Kitonic/Janos Kaszony i of Kostajnica] , Tymavia: [Tmava] : Anno Domini MDCXIX. 43 Stanistaw Dzieciolowski in an interview with Zdena Sisova "Odpocfva Janosfk na dne Liptovskej Mary?" Slovenske dotyky Maj 2002, p. 7. �SLOVAKIA 97 Uhorcik's identity was not discovered until after the first day of his trial during which he was still taken to be a Martin Mravec. He was sentenced more than a month after Janosik, on 21 April 1713 . He was broken upon the wheel, another common form of execution. As an act of benevolence, perhaps obtained by the County Lieutenant of Malohont who testified on Janosik ' s and Uhorcik's behalf at their trials, the court ordered that his neck be broken first. The burial place of either of the brigands is unknown. Corpses were often left hanging or otherwise exposed as a warning for a period of time after the criminals' execution and then di sposed of unceremoniously. Conclusion The trial proceedings, effectively the only extant source of information about Janosik, offer a meager picture of his life because he disclosed very little before or under torture. Most questions posed by the interrogators remained unanswered. All that transpires from the proceedings besides some of his robberies is that he was loyal to his fellow-criminals, that he remained so under severe torture, and that he proved to be a cunning liar before severe torture more-or-less silenced him. When he gave answers, they were often misleading or quite untrue, crafted to protect his accomplices. For example, while Uhorcik, still known to the authorities only as Martin Mravec, was awaiting his trial in the same building, Janosik was telling the interrogators that Uhorcik had been killed by another brigand several years earlier. Most of the accomplices Janosik divulged were already dead or believed to be dead. He claimed not to know the whereabouts of the others whose names came up during the interrogation. He did not di sclose the names of those who gave him shelter. Uhorcfk's testimony a month later revealed that Janosik had withheld the names of at least a half of his fellow brigands. Even without the strict Imperial and Royal decrees on brigandage, several factors would have probably contributed to Janosik's harsh punishment by Liptov County anyway: the damages that the county had to pay to Lady Schardon; the blame it probably received from the monarc hy's central authorities and the county 's subsequent increased efforts to eradicate hi ghway robbery; Janosik's origin in Terchova known for its support to highwaymen ; Janosik 's participation in the Francis Rak6czi uprising against the Habsburgs, which �98 SLOVAKIA the judge reiterated before reading his sentence; and finally , susp icions of anti-Catholic and heretic sentiments reflected in hi s insurgent past and in the alleged target-shooting at hosts augmented by his presence at the killing of a priest. In a broader context, the existence of the enormous gap between what is documented about Juraj Janosfk and his modern myth is unremarkable. Discrepancies, elevations or degradations, are common, universal features of historical mythology. Equally pervasive are folk legends about characters from the feudal past who "took from the rich and gave to the poor" and defended the commoners from the injustices of the masters. Such tales dot the Eurasian continent from English Robin Hood at its north-western periphery all the way to Korean Hong Kildong and Japanese Oyake Akahachi at its south-eastern edge. What makes Janosfk 's myth in Slovakia special (which applies only partly in the Czech Republic and decidedly less so in Poland) is the manner in which it was first embraced and molded by the intellectuals around the middle of the 19 th century44 and then by academia from around the middle of the 20 th century, and the degree to which his intellectualized and academic myth incorporated the notion that it is not talking merely about folk mythology (whose modern shape has actually been largely formed by Janosfk' s myth created in high culture), but that it is also talking about a real hi storical character. 44 Yotruba, " Hang Him Hi gh .. ." � SLOVAKIA 81 A HIGHWAYMAN'S LIFE: EXTANT DOCUMENTS v~ ABOUT JANOSIK ~ Martin Votruba "Our salvation can come only from Janosik," lamented a Czech blogger over the budget proposals in Prague. 1 In Poland, a group of developers has been working on recalcitrant software intended to undermine the program called Platnik ("Payer"), which is mandatory for employers to handle social security payments and works only with Microsoft Windows. The leader of the developers named their open-source software Janosik.2 Both of these people invoked the name of a brigand who robbed three hundred years ago in the northern and central predominantly Slovak counties in the Habsburg monarchy, was caught, tried and hanged. About a century after Janosfk's execution, his image began to emerge as the local embodiment of the pervasive myth of a hero who takes from the rich and gives to the poor. The folk stories, Romantic poems, and the more recent films ascribe 3 to him other quite universally idolized trappings, the ones that, for example, helped to generate Hollywood 's legendary rebel stars - he was good looking, single, made a stash of money, lived wild, and died young. 4 All of this is contained in Janosfk's modern Slovak, Czech, and Polish mythology. Practically none of that, however, finds any support in the existing evidence about the actual brigand 's life. 1 Hana Fonminkova, I Oct. 2003 , http: //www neraweb cz/index. php?stype-all&id=632. 2 Danuta Frey, "Janosik chce rozgryzc program Ptatnik." Rzeczpospolita, 6-7 Dec. 2004. 3 Dozens of books, thousands of stories, and popular and academic articles, at least nine plays, six films, one TV series, several classical compositions, and one opera th have been dedicated to Janosfk since the 19 century. His legend was discussed in this journal by Patricia A. Krafcik, "Janosik: Unraveling the Man from the Legend." Slovakia 33, no. 60-6 1 (1987-1988): 7-22. 4 Martin Votruba, " Hang Him High: The Elevation of Janosfk to an Ethnic Icon ." Slavic Review, vol. 56, no. I, Spring 2006, pp. 24-44. �82 SLOVAKIA Name variations There was a historical figure whose name was close or identical to Juraj Janosfk,5 who was sentenced for highway robbery and executed at the age of 25 in 1713. The limited sources about his actual life are the proceedings from his trial and an earlier interrogation, the proceedings from the trial with hi s friend and accomplice Tomas Uhorcfk, whom Janosik replaced as the leader of his band, and several brief records maintained by landlords. The trial proceedings were edited and published by several authors before most of them appeared together for the first time as an appendix to a book on Janosik in 1952. 6 The proceedings from his trial gave three versions of his last name: Janosik, Janosiak and Janosak. There are variations in the records of Uhorcfk ' s name, too. For instance, Janosik referred to him as Uhnk during his trial. Each spelling of Janosfk's name indicates a slightly different pronunciation, but that was not unusual at that time. Historically , people had only one - given - name, and what we know as the last name developed gradually, along with bureaucratic record-keeping, from attributes used to distinguish persons with the same given name, or from various nicknames. The bureaucratic effort to standardize people 's last (and first) names started in Catholic Europe with the Vatican-sponsored Council of Trent (1545-1563). Although the practice of maintaining the same last name within a family became quite common in the Habsburg 7 monarchy, where the Slovaks lived, by the I 600s, it was not formalized until the Imperial and Royal 8 Edict on Family Names was issued in 1787 - perhaps 5 [YOUray YAHnosheek] Ju raj is the Slovak version of George, the nicknames are Jura, Jurko, Dura. 6 Andrej Melichercfk, Janosikovska tradfcia na Slovensku Bratislava: Nakladatel'stvo Slovenskej akademie vied a umenf, 1952, pp. 165-176. 7 Often spelled Hapsburg in English history books. 8 "Imperi al and Royal" were standard attributes of a host of ' federal' institutions in the Habsburg monarchy. They indicated that the ruling monarch was the hereditary king of several kingdoms-provinces th at compri sed the Habsburgs' personal possessions, including the Kingdom of Hungary , and at the same time the emperor of a looser association of German states. The terms Habsburg monarchy and Austrian Empire usually refer only to the Habsburgs' personal possessions whose core were the Kingdom of Hungary (today: Slovakia, Hungary , Croatia), Kingdom of Bohemia, Margravi ate of Moravia (together today : the Czec h Republic) , Austria, and �SLOVAKIA 83 the first law on names in Europe. The three pronunciations of Janosfk 's last name during his trial are not indicative of any confusion about the captive' s identity. Birth date and place According to the trial proceedings, Juraj Janosfk came from the north-west Slovak village of Terchova. 9 Birth and death records were rare, or non-existent in the more distant past, but the maintenance of baptismal and burial records by parishes was among the guidelines set forth by the Council of Trent and became widely practiced by both the Slovak Catholic and Lutheran Churches. A governmentsponsored law on recording births and deaths was not adopted in the Habsburg monarchy until 1828. Baptismal records from the Varin parish that comprised Terchova contain the names of five babies christened in 1687-1688 that could have grown up to be the Juraj Janosfk sentenced in 1713. '0 Without discussing their choice, authors mostly give one of the dates as his true entry - commonly 25 February 1688, father Martin and mother Anna Czisznek or Czisznik, occasionally 16 May 1688, father Michal and mother Barbara Cingel. Only one, not particularly reliable, source makes an argument why the entry of 25 February is to be seen as more likely than the others: when Juraj's father bought his son out of military service in 1710, the father's name was apparently recorded as Martin Janosik. 11 However, if Juraj Janosfk, the brigand executed in March 1713, were baptized on 25 February, other entries in the baptismal records would show him as having a younger brother Jan. That would appear to be at odds with the record of a trial with Jan Janosik in December 1713 during which Jan was identified as an older brother of the executed brigand Juraj . The issue is complicated because the existing baptismal records are not sufficiently consistent and complete, because the name Jan, introduced to Europe through which also incorporated parts of their modern neighboring countries - Italy, Poland, Romania and others. 9 [TERkhova] 10 Rudo Brian, "Na tropie Janosika i polskich zb6jnik6w." Pam(:tnik Slowianski, vo l. 18, 1968, pp. I 67-186; and Rudo Brian, " Pat' Janosikov - ktory je ten pravy?" Nede/ha pravda, 3 Feb. 1978, p. 18. 11 The llles hazy archives, Strecno estate, Vol. 19, No. 15 as referenced in Jozef Kocis, Neznamy Janos1k, Bratislava: Yydavatel'stvo Osveta, l 986, p. 47 . �84 SLOVAKIA the New Testament, has historicall y been the most co mmon given name in Slovak (like its Anglicized version John in English), and the family name Janosfk 12 was, and still is, common in Terchova and vicinity (67 listings in the telephone directory) . It al so occurs elsewhere in Slovakia, and spread even to the United States where its frequency ranks as the 35,524 th most common name. 13 There is some inconsistency in the reading of the last name of Janosik 's mother among those who opt for 25 February as the date of his baptism. Many modem authors transcribe the recorded old spelling of Anna 's last name (Czisznek or Czisznik), without further explanation, as Cesnek, a few others as Cfsnik. Cesnek is a probable reading because such last names are still common in the area (29 telephone directory listings), while Cfsnik or other plausible modernized versions of the old spelling are absent there. Nothing is known about Janosfk 's life until he was between 15 and 21 years old - the time of the Francis Rak6czi uprising, which Janosik joined at an unknown age and for an unknown period of time according to the trial proceedings. Folk tales, as well as the first two film s about him, 14 depict him as a former seminary student who turned to brigandage after his parents were abused by the landlord. The earliest written reference to the legend of Janosfk 's schooling comes from 1809. 15 It says that he was popularly believed to have been a student of the humanities, not of theology. However, no preserved document and nothing in the trial proceedings suggests an educated Janosik. 12 It originated as a Slovak variation on Janos - the Hungarian version of the Biblical name John in English, Jan in Slovak. Janos was occas ionall y used as a ni ckname fo r persons named Jan by the Slovaks , too, and sometimes appeared instead of the th Slovak Jan in the Kingdom' s records. But durin g the 17 century, Janosik and its variations had become established Slovak fa mily names . 13 U.S. Census Burea u, Population Divi sio n, Population Anal ys is and Evaluati on Staff as quoted by Rhett A. Butler in "Most Common Names and Surnames in the U.S." at mongabay com. 14 Jan osfk directed by Jaros lav Jerry Siake l', Tatra Film, Chi cago, 192 1; Janostk directed by Martin Frie, A- B Studio, Praha [Prague] , I935. 15 Bohuslav Tablic, a 3-page unnumbered foo tnote to "Janossjk Liptowsky Laupeznjk ," in S/owensstj W ersso wcy. Collecta revirescunt. S wazek druhf. We Wacove [Yac]: v Antonjna Gotljba pry wil. Knehtlac itele, 1809, pp. 120-1 23 . �SLOVAKIA 85 The Kingdom's situation The trial proceedings begin to reveal glimpses of Janosfk 's life with him taking part in the Franci s Rak6czi 16 uprising of 1703-1711. It was a massive religious and separatist movement in the Kingdom of Hungary aga inst the Habsburg dynasty, which ruled it from Vienna (A ustria). The Slovaks were the majority inhabitants of the north-western , mostl y mountainous counties of the multi-ethnic 17 Kingdom. The Kingdom , established around the year 1000, was defeated and lost its sovereignty in the 1500s, and was incorporated as a province in the expanding Habsburg monarchy. The Kingdom was 90% Protestant (Lutheran in the Slovak areas) in the early 1600s, but by the mid- l 600s, the Vatican-allied Habsburgs began forcibly to reCatholicize it, and also increased their efforts to further reduce the Kingdom 's remaining limited self-government. The uprising led by nobleman Franci s Rak6czi II was the last of a series of substantial , but economically destructive armed attempts in the Kingdom to reverse that course. 18 He was Catholic, but in favor of the Kingdom 's independence and religious freedom. Janosik the insurgent It is not known when and under what circumstances Janosik joined Rak6czi 's rebel troops. It is not known , either, how he became a soldier in the Habsburg army later. The Rak6czi rebels suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of Trencfn 19 (about 60 miles south-west 16 [RAHkotsee], Francis Rak:6czi II, Prince of Transylvani a, born on 27 March I 676. After his fin al defeat, he and some of his supporters initially defected to Poland. He eventu all y died in exi le in Turkey on 8 April 1735. 17 The country's language of admi nistration and education from high school up was Latin , which was no one ' s mother ton gue. The languages of individual ethnic groups, most of whom li ved in their majority areas, were used in everyday life, local businesses, emerging literatures, etc. The ethni c gro ups of the Kingdom of Hungary inc luded the Slovaks, Magyars ([MAHdars] often called Hungarians), Croats, Romani ans, Germans, Ru syns, Roma (Gypsies), and others. The Slovaks were in the majority in about 15 counties in the Kingdom ' s mountainous north-west (today's Slovakia) customari ly called the "Upper Co untry" in the Kingdo m, which is usuall y rendered as Upper Hungary in English. 1 8The major anti-Habsburg insurgenc ies that affected the Slovak counti es extensive ly were (the year of inception and leader): 1604 Stephen Bocskay, 16 19 Gabriel Bethlen, 1644 George Rak:6czi, 1678 Emerich Thokoly, 1703 Francis Rak:6czi II . 19 [TRENtsheen); in West Slovakia on the Yah River �86 SLOVAKIA of Terc hova) the actual fightin g took pl ace at Hamre, a haml et and originall y a forge site two miles south of Trencfn) on 3 August 1708. The Habsburgs had taken full control of the Kingdom by the time of Janosfk's tri al. It therefore needs to be taken with a grai n of salt that hi s defen se lawyer Baltazar Palugyay portrayed Janosik as the Emperor's loyal subj ect at hi s tri al, and insisted that Janosik had eage rl y and willingly enlisted in the Habsburg army during the upri sing. Authors mostly speculate that Janosfk first left the Rak6czi rebe ls, returned to Terchova, and was subsequentl y drafted by the Imperial and Royal Army. Another possibility put forward is that he was captured during the Battle of Trencfn and turned into a soldier, 20 which was what happe ned to hundreds of insurge nts on th at occasion. No records document either ass umption. Janosik the loyalist and a brigand's assistant Once in the Imperial and Royal Army, Janosik was stationed at Bytca Castle, 25 miles from his home. He was made a prison guard . During hi s trial, Janosik admitted providing unspecified services to Tomas Uhorcfk,2 1 a brigand leader he ld in the castle's dungeons. Uhorcik managed to escape in the fa ll of 1710 while Janosik still served at Bytca. Janosik 's father bought Ju raj out of military service a month later. This seq uence of events that emanates from the trial proceedings gave ri se to later spec ul ation s that Janosik may have actu ally he lped Uhorcfk to escape. Family background The statement from Janosik's trial that hi s father had bought him out of military service, for which he had to have enough spare money, appears to contrad ict the co mmon, but undoc umented , assertions that Janosik came fro m a particul arl y poor farmer's famil y. The existing records from the landlord of Terchova ' s estate around 1700 do not li st the Janosfk famil y among those obligated to work for a day or two each week in the landlord ' s field s22 - a common duty of fe ud al subj ects. It could mean that members of the Janosik fa mil y °Koc is, Neznamy ... 2 21 [TOmahsh OOhortsheek], from the village of Predmi er near Turzovka. Andrej Melichercfk, Janosikovska tradfcia na Slovensku. Brati slava: Nakladatel'stvo SAY , 1952. 22 �SLOVAKIA 87 were still obligated to work, but were among the poorest, almost landless families and therefore not entered in the records of households with farms; or it could be due to a contract between some of the original settlers of the village and a past landlord. Numerous Slovak villages originated as contractual settlements of a landlord's unimproved property in earlier centuries. Finally, Janosfk 's family could have been prosperous enough to be able to pay the landlord instead of providing labor services. Besides these historical reasons, the absence of an entry for the Janosfks in the landlord 's records could also be due to deficient record-keeping, or to lost documents. If the Janosfks could be shown to have been a particularly poor family, it would increase the likelihood that the money they used to buy Juraj out was not theirs, and that the Janosfks may have received it for that purpose from Uhorcfk who was grateful for Juraj's unspecified services in the dungeons (possibly including his escape). By the fall of 1710, Uhorcfk had had about eight robbing seasons behind him , which would have allowed him to accumulate some disposable cash. Highwaymen Other court records show the inhabitants of Terchova to have been fervent supporters of brigands. 23 That ties in with Uhorcfk's testimony, according to which Janosik sometimes stayed with the teacher at Terchova, and the local tavern-keeper would bring him food. Juraj Janosfk's brother Jan was hanged for highway robbery ten months after Juraj. 24 Highway robbery was common in Europe until the advent of modern times, which brought about increased policing, personal record-tracing, education, perhaps honesty, and new, less arduous forms of crime. The first mention of brigands in the Slovak region comes from the Legend of Saints Zoerardus and Benedict recorded in 1064. Two ancient north-south trade routes from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean passed through eastern Slovakia. The merchants' caravans were among the earliest lucrative targets for highway robbery. Legal records of highway robberies and 23 Stefan Kazimfr, "O novych dokumentoch k janosikovskej legende." Cudove cftanie Vol. 3, No. 6, 1957. 24 Stanistaw Sroka, Janosik: Pra wdziwa historia karpackiego zb6jnika. Krakow [Cracow]: Wydawnictwo Homini, 2004, p. 41; Kocis, Neznamy .. . p. 86. �88 SLOVAKIA trials with brigands begin to accumulate in the late 15 th century and do not start to dwindle until the mid-19 th century. One of the first known brigand bands in the Slovak counties, led by Fedor Hlavaty, operated in the north-east (Saris County). Its 50 members included Slovaks, Poles, and Rusyns.25 In 1493, Hlavaty sent a ransom letter to the town of Bardejov threatening to burn it down unless the Town Council paid a hefty compensation for the execution of four of Hlavaty's highwaymen. Incentives to rob in the 1600s The religious-cum-separatist wars of the 1i" century caused a great deal of destruction in the Kingdom already harmed by decades of attacks by the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire from the south. 26 Highway robbery must have appeared to be a way out to some of those impoverished by the developments. The brigands' ranks were also increased by displaced soldiers made redundant by both the insurgent and the Habsburg armies after the resolution of each rebellion. With the reduced, or periodicall y absent authority of the monarch, some noblemen, too, turned their hill-top castles to brigands' nests, armed large bands and in addition to highway robbery, raided villages, as well as their peers' residences. The Kingdom therefore saw a jump in highway robberies in the 17 th century.2 7 25 The Rusyns, also called Ruthenians, are an East Slav ic ethni c group (as opposed to the West Slavic Slovaks and Poles) who li ve as a recogni zed minority in the north-eastern parts of Slovakia, as well as in so uth-eastern Poland - often called L emkos there. Their acti vists call for a recognition of their much more substantial numbers in south- western Ukraine where the authorities insist they are Ukrainians. 26 The Slovak counties never fell to the Turks, but es peciall y the southern ones were continuall y harassed and attacked. The fac t that the mostl y Magyar/Hungarian counties (today's Hungary) fell under the Ottoman rule and became their prov ince of Ma1,aristan fo r about l 50 years added to the disruption of the economy of the Slovak counties and brought in some ethni c Hungari ans, especiall y noblemen, who ran away north fro m the encroaching Turks. 27 Although just a pass ing reference has been preserved about him , the name of briga nd leader Adamcik survived from the 1630s in fo lklore, and was later added to the list of Janosik 's band members in fo lk tales. The name Ilcfk - another of Janosik's comrades in fo lk stories - has a similar, albeit somewhat later origin. �SLOVAKIA 89 Highwaymen's seasons In the Kingdom , and in Central Europe in general, the brigands' season was limited by the climate. Late summer and early fall was the time when seasonal sheepfolds in mountain pastures were abandoned and the flocks were dri ven back to villages. These shepherds played an important role in hi ghwaymen 's support networks. Cold winters made clandestine surviva l in the Slovak mountai ns almost impossible. Moreover, Europe was at the height of its Little Ice Age (l 560-1850). The deciduous forests at the lower elevations lose leaves and provide less cover, and while the higher elevations have spruce and fir trees that do not lose their needles, they are also colder and therefore even less suitable for winter subsistence 28 . Snow tracks made the brigands easily traceable. But brigands needed villagers ' support year-round. In the winter, they needed farmers to accept them as hired hands, and even their help to cover up their identities and summer acti vity. In the summer, the brigands needed to obtain food , sell their loot, and learn about the police searches for them, not to mention their less operative desires to show off, party, booze and flirt. Some of the villagers in turn , made welcome profit on the services and goods rendered to the brigands, since they were paid for their silence as well. Moreover, the vi llagers were paid by people with periodic windfalls who are generall y inclined to overspending. According to the court records, the Janosiks were among Terchova 's notorious rowdy , thieving fa milies. Jano~fk' s participation During his trial , Janosik confessed that he joined Tomas Uhorcfk ' s band of brigands " around Michaelmas" 29 in 1711. Brigand bands in the Western Carpathians would traditionall y di sperse on or not long after Michaelmas and agree to reassemble on St. Adalbert's Feast-George mas (23-24 April). Numero us saints' days were associated with a variety of far m works and festivities , and were used to identify periods of the year in the same manner that months and parts of months are used today (" late September"). Michae lmas was a typical day of post-harvest fa irs. Janosik claimed that he had 28 Some mountains aro und Terchova reach over 5,000 ft, some mountain ridges around Liptov County rise to 7,000 ft. 29 September 29, St. Michael' s Day. �90 SLOVAKIA joined the brigands at Uhorcik's insistence. It was customary that a new member would swear allegiance to the band leader°. The group he joined may have had about two to three dozen members, but that was always in a state of flux with highwaymen. Some were disabled or killed during robberies and chases, so me were caught, some dropped out, temporarily , or for good, and aspiring highwaymen joined. Janosfk's confession that Uhorcik handed the leadership of the band to him soon afterwards indicates that it was hardly as simple as Uhorcik looking up Janosik almost a year after the latter provided him with some incidental assistance in prison. Uhorcik had to have great tru st in Janosik in order to persuade his band of thugs that a rel ati ve newcomer should take over after him . That, in turn , suggests that Janosik's assistance at Bytca Castle may have extended to Uhorcik ' s escape, that they maintained contacts afterwards, that Uhorcfk 's band had already seen Janosik in action, and it opens to speculation the source of the money that his father used to buy Juraj out of military service. It is also poss ible that the members of Uhorcik's band already knew Janosik because he became involved with them earlier. The highwaymen's logistics Limited circumstantial evidence contradicts Janosfk's testimony that he did not meet with Uhorcik until a year after Uhorcik's escape and that he simply talked Janosik into joining his band on that single occasion. A court record hints that there could have been rather a pressing incentive for Janosik to turn from initially a brigands' assistant and perhaps a subsequent incidental brigand into a regular member of Uhorcik's band. On 30 September 1711 , a day after Michaelmas, the confessed time of Janosik's pledge to Uhorcfk, three of the Janosfks of Terchova were brought to court and charged with assault 30 In contrast with their life of crime, the pledge could appear quite pious - an indication that they perceived Christianity as part of a flexible set of beliefs in the supernatural rather than the strict doctrine with a specific moral code preached by the Church. A documented pledge in the band of Jakub Surovec from the 1730s said: " I swear to God eternal, the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary and all the divine saints that I shall neither betray, nor cheat, nor yet abandon my companions in fortu ne, or misfortune. Thus help me God the Lord." �SLOVAKIA 91 and robbery .31 If they were Juraj Janosik' s family, and moreover, if he was among the suspects (and guilty), he might have preferred to remove himself from the village rather than face the charges and possibly be forced to reveal more of his recent past. The Habsburgs did not ban torture as an investi gati ve method until 1776. J ano~ik' s season Soon after 23-year old Janosik became the band 's leader, Uhorcfk , after nine seasons as a highwayman, retired to Klenovec in south-central Slovakia under the adopted name Martin Mravec. He married and became the village's hired shepherd and occasional musician (he also managed briefly to serve as the village's policeman). Janosfk's band robbed mainly in the north-central Slovak counties of Orava, Liptov, and Spis, sometimes to the south of them, and occasionally - still in the Habsburg monarchy - across the Kingdom 's north -western border in parts of Silesia and the Margrav iate of Moravia (both now in the Czech Republic). All of the three Slovak counties border Poland in the north , and Janosik identified several members of his band as coming from Poland, but no document has surfaced to confirm legends about his raids into the Kingdom of Poland. Simple economics may have played a role: while Moravia and Silesia were relatively wealthy, the Polish Podhale region north of Slovakia was poorer than the Slovak counties and with fewer noblemen 's residences, and therefore less attractive, especially since the border follows a rel atively high mountain ridge in Liptov and in parts of Spis and Orava, which was a substanti al obstacle to bringing back any loot except money. On the other hand, the Podhale folklore occasionally depicted the Slovak counties as desirable targets of Polish brigands. The expected higher return may have made the climb somewhat more worthwhile. However, Janosik was questioned specifically during hi s tri al whether he had also robbed in Poland : an indication that the border was crossed by hi ghwaymen from both sides, but also of the authorities' concern about possible contacts with leaders of the Rak6cz i upri sing who defected to Pol and after their final defeat in 1711. 31 Rudo Brtan "Na tropie Janosika i polskich zb6jnik6w." Pami~tnik Slowiariski 18, pp. 167-186. �92 SLOVAKIA Janosik:' s victims and spoils While the list was certainly not complete, Janosik's trial revealed rather meager, and some bizarre spoils from hi s only full-time robbing season from the spring to the fall of 1712: several guns, including a "valuable" one, unimpressive amounts of cash, some jewelry, as well as two ladies' wigs and elegant ladies' clothing impossible to be worn by villagers and therefore awkward to sell or donate in those days. However, Uhorcfk said Janosfk's highway robberies yielded more. Among other things, he apparently accumulated almost two bushels of coins, enough cloth to dress 300 men, and maintained a stash of weapons in another hiding place. Although cloth may appear to be an unlikely booty, it was among the brigands' prized possessions. It was needed to repair their clothing, which was more prone to wear and tear, yet less readily replaceable in case of damage than the clothes of law-abiding subjects. 32 Rolls of cloth, not ready-made clothes, were loaded in merchants' wagons that were attacked by brigands. Cloth was also among the more durable goods in their loot, but not as easy to exchange as money, jewelry, or guns, so the brigands were likely to have a surplus of cloth in their hiding places. 33 Uhorcfk also spoke of Janosfk's attacks on small detachments of the Imperial and Royal Army which yielded weapons, ammunition, and on one occasion a carriage. Janosfk admitted robbing men and women, commoners as well as three noblemen , a clergyman, another clergyman's wife, a blacksmith (he did not respond to this charge), a goldsmith, a butcher, a cloth trader, and wine traders. He robbed them on the road, in their homes, in the woods, even on the Vah River (see below), emphasized the prosecutor. Of all the regional authorities, Liptov County was probably the most bitter about Janosfk's actions because of his assault on Imperial and Royal Officer Rudolf Schardon's wife and her retinue. Slovak and Polish sources commonly say she was Officer Schardon 's widow. One author contradicts thi s without giving his 32 John S. Koliopoulos, Brigands with a Cause, Brigandage and Irredentism in Mo- dem Greece /821-1912. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987. 33 Jozef Kocis, Neznamy ... creates a weighty narrative about Janosfk's apparent revolutionary intentions from a historical report that guns and substantial amounts of cloth were discovered in some of his hiding places. �SLOVAKIA 93 reasons. 34 The trial proceedings refer to her as Schardonka (the ending -ka indicates that she was a woman) and as vojenskeho oficfra pani, which means "a military officer's lady [wife]" without any indication of her being a widow. Because her husband was employed by the Crown and the robbery took place while she was passing through Liptov, the law obligated the County to pay the Lady the damages, which must have been higher than usual due to her rank. Throughout his trial, Janosik maintained that he had not killed anyone, but the court still considered him a guilty party when a priest from Domaniza was "shot through" by two brigands from his band during a robbery. The priest, 58-year old Juraj Yrtik (also spelled Yertik), died a month later. Janosik was also accused of sacrilege target-shooting at a host (the Eucharistic bread) attached to a treetrunk. He neither denied, nor confirmed this charge. While it is not clear why so many authors call Lady Schardon a widow rather than a wife, some of the counterfactual information in modern writing about Janosik ' s robberies and victims stems from cross-linguistic confusion by Polish authors reading Slovak sources, which is then repeated by others. Thus, for example, one author has Janosik rob a magnate on his way to Turkey (do Turcji in Polish), while the person, John Radvanszky, County Lieutenant of Zvolen, was actually on his way to Turiec County (do Turca in Slovak) in north-central Slovakia. 35 Another author says that Janosik robbed a pastor' s wife as she was fetching water (po wodf! in Polish) from the Yah River. 36 It is not only unlikely for geographic and historical reasons because her village was not on the V ah and people used wells as their source of water, not the river. It is mistaken factually because the trial proceedings say that she was robbed about a half-day's journey from her home, while traveling down the Vah (po vode in Slovak) on a raft - a common means of transport provided comercially at that time. Such confusion about language and geography happens with some regularity and can affect the authors' arguments. For instance, Stanislaw Sroka believes that the village of Klenovec where Janosik was captured was in Liptov County , a mere geogra34 Jozef Kocis, Neznamy .. . Jace k Kotbu szewski , "Janosik ni eznany?" Literatura Judowa, vol. 3 1, no. 4-6, Jul y- December 1987, pp. 108-11 2, - p. 110. 36 Sroka, Janosik ... p. 50. 35 �SLOVAKIA 94 phic error, but the error then becomes Sroka's explanation of why Janosik was tried by Liptov County. Klenovec, however, was in Malohont County. The real reason for the location of Janosik's trial was that he was captured in Klenovec by the Liptov police (see below). Cross-linguistic confusion can lead to much farther-reaching fallacious conclusions. Jacek Kolbuszewski, the author who believes that Janosik robbed John Radvanszky on his way to Turkey, then 37 assumes that he was going to the funeral of Stephen Petrycy [sic], a former general in the Kuruc army, according to Kolbuszewski, who took refuge in Turkey in order to avoid persec ution by the Habsburgs. Kolbuszewski subsequently presents his conjecture as evidence to disprove a point made by another author, Jozef Koci s, 38 and accuses him of "keeping silent" about that apparent fact. Yet, Radvanszky was robbed in 1712 while traveling from Zvolen County to Turiec County in order to attend the funeral of Stephen Petr6czy de Petr6cz et Kaszavar (villages near Trencfn : the name could be Stefan Petrovicky of Petrovice and Koseca in modern Slovak spelling), sonin-law of the late Turiec County Chief Emerich Revay - not to Turkey to a conjectured funeral of Baron Stephen Petr6czy, born around 1620, a commander in the Kuruc insurgencies in the l 670- l 680s who sought refuge in Turkey after their failure . Baron Petr6czy would have to have been in his 90s had he died, as Kotbuszewski concludes, in 1712 when Radvanszky was robbed by Janosfk (the date of his death is actually unknown). Janosik, s capture Janosik was first caught, along with Uhorcfk, about a year after he joined Uhorcik's former band and became its leader. They were detained by Malohont County authorities in Klenovec in south37 Kotbuszewski , "Janosik ... " p. 110. Kocis, Neznamy ... Kotbuszewski's goal was to disprove Kocis's claims about Janosfk's sym pathies for the anti-Habsburg rebels by showing that Janosfk actually robbed a nobleman presumably supportive of the rebellion since he went to a former rebel ' s and political defector' s funeral. If Polish scholars had not misread the Slovak sources, which was the starting point for Kotbuszewski's disoriented conclusions about the historical figures, Kotbuszewski could have made the same argument without any reference to Petr6czy, because Janosfk ' s victim John Radvanszky, Zvolen County Lieutenant and minor poet born in 1666, was himself a former influential supporter of the Kuruc rebellion, Thokoly, as well as Francis Rak6czi. 38 �SLOVAKIA 95 central Slovakia, where Uhorcik had settled as Martin Mravec, on 26 October 1712 - around the end of the robbing season. Janosik probably came to spend the winter with his comrade under an assumed identity . They were put in jail in the Mansion of Hrachov but were released after they "proved" their innocence. Janosik's subsequent trial revealed that the proof rested mainly in fox furs and cheese passed on to the detaining authorities. Moreover, the County Lieutenant of Malohont 39 who testified on their behalf had earlier received a prized rifle from Uhorcik. The historical, decorated weapon came from Janosik's loot when his band ambushed Baron Paul Revay. Janosik was arrested again while still in Klenovec before he had a chance to start his next robbing season, and so was "Mravec" for giving him shelter for the winter. Although in another county, this time he was traced and captured by the Liptov police put on special alert after the robbery of Lady Schardon. They were transferred to Svaty Mikulas, 40 the seat of Liptov County, where Uhorcik 's identity was eventually discovered. JaI1osik's sentence Janosik's trial took place on 16-17 March 1713. The Kingdom ' s main statutes were contained in the Tripartitum of 1514,41 and two subsequent royal decrees. Chapter I, Titulus XV, Paragraph I of the Tripartitum mandated that highwaymen be hanged, broken upon the wheel, impaled, or beheaded, as a warning to others. When the Habsburgs added the Kingdom to their lands, they tried to limit various laws contained in the Tripartitum, especially those that gave more privileges to its nobles and greater self-government to its counties and some municipalities than were granted in other Habsburg lands, but they reinforced some other laws including those against brigandage. Emperor Ferdinand II iss ued a decree in 1625 "On pillaging vagabonds and highwaymen and on ways of handling them," whose 39 Pal Lan yi/Pavol Lani (1670-1733) was a prominent supporter of the Rak6czi insurgency. 40 Now called Liptovsky Mikulas. 41 Tripartitum opus iuris consuetudinarii incly ti regni Hungariae partiumque annexarum , by Stephen Werboczy (1460-1541), presented to the Diet in 1514 and published by the author in Vienna in 1517. Although not a fo rmall y adopted document, it was used as the authoritati ve compend ium of the Kingdom's customary law. �96 SLOVAKIA Article XIII mandated that hi ghwaymen and similar criminals be tortured if their testimonies were not comprehensive and convincing. The decision to apply torture was regulated in the Kingdom by a widely used book of comments on the Tripartitum from 1619,42 whose Article 8, Section 6 required that the defendant be rel eased without torture if the preliminary proceedings did not raise sufficient suspicions about the truthfulness of his denial of guilt. Emperor Ferdinand Ill 's decree from 1655 contained Article XXVI , which prohibited any leniency or pardon in such trials. Additionally , Emperor Leopold I decreed in Article XVII in 1659 that those providing shelter to brigands be executed as well. Janosik's assigned defense lawyer Palugyay described him as a former victim of Francis Rak6czi 's insurgents and played up his loyalty to the Crown demonstrated by his apparent eagerness to join the Imperial and Royal Army. Palugyay also stressed that although submitted to both the light and severe levels of torture, Janosik denied having been guilty of the murder of the Reverend Yrtik. Under the Kingdom 's legislation it meant that the defendant (called the "accused" then) was to be seen as innocent of the crime. Although people submitted to torture did not normally survive for more than three days - if for no additional injuries, then due to the internal hemorrhage and other damage to the joints pulled out of their sockets during stretching - the county was obligated to pay an annual allowance to the family of the accused who failed to admit guilt under torture. Janosfk's defense lawyer called for his release because, according to Palugay, he certainly regretted his actions and would mend his ways. Yet, Janosik did admit to highway robbery, and the court still considered him an accomplice in the priest' s murder. He was sentenced to death. As usual in those days , it was a public execution. In Janosfk' s case, a hook was threaded through his left side, and he was left dangling on the gallows to die - a fairly common execution then especially for brigand leaders, although this was the only instance of its implementation by Liptov County between 1700 and 1715.43 42 Directio methodica processus judiciarii; Juris consuetudinarii lnclyti Regni Hun gariae .. . , by Johannes Kitonich de Koztanicza [Ivan Kitonic/Janos Kaszony i of Kostajnica] , Tymavia: [Tmava] : Anno Domini MDCXIX. 43 Stanistaw Dzieciolowski in an interview with Zdena Sisova "Odpocfva Janosfk na dne Liptovskej Mary?" Slovenske dotyky Maj 2002, p. 7. �SLOVAKIA 97 Uhorcik's identity was not discovered until after the first day of his trial during which he was still taken to be a Martin Mravec. He was sentenced more than a month after Janosik, on 21 April 1713 . He was broken upon the wheel, another common form of execution. As an act of benevolence, perhaps obtained by the County Lieutenant of Malohont who testified on Janosik ' s and Uhorcik's behalf at their trials, the court ordered that his neck be broken first. The burial place of either of the brigands is unknown. Corpses were often left hanging or otherwise exposed as a warning for a period of time after the criminals' execution and then di sposed of unceremoniously. Conclusion The trial proceedings, effectively the only extant source of information about Janosik, offer a meager picture of his life because he disclosed very little before or under torture. Most questions posed by the interrogators remained unanswered. All that transpires from the proceedings besides some of his robberies is that he was loyal to his fellow-criminals, that he remained so under severe torture, and that he proved to be a cunning liar before severe torture more-or-less silenced him. When he gave answers, they were often misleading or quite untrue, crafted to protect his accomplices. For example, while Uhorcik, still known to the authorities only as Martin Mravec, was awaiting his trial in the same building, Janosik was telling the interrogators that Uhorcik had been killed by another brigand several years earlier. Most of the accomplices Janosik divulged were already dead or believed to be dead. He claimed not to know the whereabouts of the others whose names came up during the interrogation. He did not di sclose the names of those who gave him shelter. Uhorcfk's testimony a month later revealed that Janosik had withheld the names of at least a half of his fellow brigands. Even without the strict Imperial and Royal decrees on brigandage, several factors would have probably contributed to Janosik's harsh punishment by Liptov County anyway: the damages that the county had to pay to Lady Schardon; the blame it probably received from the monarc hy's central authorities and the county 's subsequent increased efforts to eradicate hi ghway robbery; Janosik's origin in Terchova known for its support to highwaymen ; Janosik 's participation in the Francis Rak6czi uprising against the Habsburgs, which �98 SLOVAKIA the judge reiterated before reading his sentence; and finally , susp icions of anti-Catholic and heretic sentiments reflected in hi s insurgent past and in the alleged target-shooting at hosts augmented by his presence at the killing of a priest. In a broader context, the existence of the enormous gap between what is documented about Juraj Janosfk and his modern myth is unremarkable. Discrepancies, elevations or degradations, are common, universal features of historical mythology. Equally pervasive are folk legends about characters from the feudal past who "took from the rich and gave to the poor" and defended the commoners from the injustices of the masters. Such tales dot the Eurasian continent from English Robin Hood at its north-western periphery all the way to Korean Hong Kildong and Japanese Oyake Akahachi at its south-eastern edge. What makes Janosfk 's myth in Slovakia special (which applies only partly in the Czech Republic and decidedly less so in Poland) is the manner in which it was first embraced and molded by the intellectuals around the middle of the 19 th century44 and then by academia from around the middle of the 20 th century, and the degree to which his intellectualized and academic myth incorporated the notion that it is not talking merely about folk mythology (whose modern shape has actually been largely formed by Janosfk' s myth created in high culture), but that it is also talking about a real hi storical character. 44 Yotruba, " Hang Him Hi gh .. ." � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2007, Vol. 39 Description An account of the resource Vol. 39 (No. 72-73), 2007. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 81 A HIGHWAYMAN'S LIFE: EXTANT DOCUMENTS v~ ABOUT JANOSIK ~ Martin Votruba "Our salvation can come only from Janosik," lamented a Czech blogger over the budget proposals in Prague. 1 In Poland, a group of developers has been working on recalcitrant software intended to undermine the program called Platnik ("Payer"), which is mandatory for employers to handle social security payments and works only with Microsoft Windows. The leader of the developers named their open-source software Janosik.2 Both of these people invoked the name of a brigand who robbed three hundred years ago in the northern and central predominantly Slovak counties in the Habsburg monarchy, was caught, tried and hanged. About a century after Janosfk's execution, his image began to emerge as the local embodiment of the pervasive myth of a hero who takes from the rich and gives to the poor. The folk stories, Romantic poems, and the more recent films ascribe 3 to him other quite universally idolized trappings, the ones that, for example, helped to generate Hollywood 's legendary rebel stars - he was good looking, single, made a stash of money, lived wild, and died young. 4 All of this is contained in Janosfk's modern Slovak, Czech, and Polish mythology. Practically none of that, however, finds any support in the existing evidence about the actual brigand 's life. 1 Hana Fonminkova, I Oct. 2003 , http: //www neraweb cz/index. php?stype-all&id=632. 2 Danuta Frey, "Janosik chce rozgryzc program Ptatnik." Rzeczpospolita, 6-7 Dec. 2004. 3 Dozens of books, thousands of stories, and popular and academic articles, at least nine plays, six films, one TV series, several classical compositions, and one opera th have been dedicated to Janosfk since the 19 century. His legend was discussed in this journal by Patricia A. Krafcik, "Janosik: Unraveling the Man from the Legend." Slovakia 33, no. 60-6 1 (1987-1988): 7-22. 4 Martin Votruba, " Hang Him High: The Elevation of Janosfk to an Ethnic Icon ." Slavic Review, vol. 56, no. I, Spring 2006, pp. 24-44. 82 SLOVAKIA Name variations There was a historical figure whose name was close or identical to Juraj Janosfk,5 who was sentenced for highway robbery and executed at the age of 25 in 1713. The limited sources about his actual life are the proceedings from his trial and an earlier interrogation, the proceedings from the trial with hi s friend and accomplice Tomas Uhorcfk, whom Janosik replaced as the leader of his band, and several brief records maintained by landlords. The trial proceedings were edited and published by several authors before most of them appeared together for the first time as an appendix to a book on Janosik in 1952. 6 The proceedings from his trial gave three versions of his last name: Janosik, Janosiak and Janosak. There are variations in the records of Uhorcfk ' s name, too. For instance, Janosik referred to him as Uhnk during his trial. Each spelling of Janosfk's name indicates a slightly different pronunciation, but that was not unusual at that time. Historically , people had only one - given - name, and what we know as the last name developed gradually, along with bureaucratic record-keeping, from attributes used to distinguish persons with the same given name, or from various nicknames. The bureaucratic effort to standardize people 's last (and first) names started in Catholic Europe with the Vatican-sponsored Council of Trent (1545-1563). Although the practice of maintaining the same last name within a family became quite common in the Habsburg 7 monarchy, where the Slovaks lived, by the I 600s, it was not formalized until the Imperial and Royal 8 Edict on Family Names was issued in 1787 - perhaps 5 [YOUray YAHnosheek] Ju raj is the Slovak version of George, the nicknames are Jura, Jurko, Dura. 6 Andrej Melichercfk, Janosikovska tradfcia na Slovensku Bratislava: Nakladatel'stvo Slovenskej akademie vied a umenf, 1952, pp. 165-176. 7 Often spelled Hapsburg in English history books. 8 "Imperi al and Royal" were standard attributes of a host of ' federal' institutions in the Habsburg monarchy. They indicated that the ruling monarch was the hereditary king of several kingdoms-provinces th at compri sed the Habsburgs' personal possessions, including the Kingdom of Hungary , and at the same time the emperor of a looser association of German states. The terms Habsburg monarchy and Austrian Empire usually refer only to the Habsburgs' personal possessions whose core were the Kingdom of Hungary (today: Slovakia, Hungary , Croatia), Kingdom of Bohemia, Margravi ate of Moravia (together today : the Czec h Republic) , Austria, and SLOVAKIA 83 the first law on names in Europe. The three pronunciations of Janosfk 's last name during his trial are not indicative of any confusion about the captive' s identity. Birth date and place According to the trial proceedings, Juraj Janosfk came from the north-west Slovak village of Terchova. 9 Birth and death records were rare, or non-existent in the more distant past, but the maintenance of baptismal and burial records by parishes was among the guidelines set forth by the Council of Trent and became widely practiced by both the Slovak Catholic and Lutheran Churches. A governmentsponsored law on recording births and deaths was not adopted in the Habsburg monarchy until 1828. Baptismal records from the Varin parish that comprised Terchova contain the names of five babies christened in 1687-1688 that could have grown up to be the Juraj Janosfk sentenced in 1713. '0 Without discussing their choice, authors mostly give one of the dates as his true entry - commonly 25 February 1688, father Martin and mother Anna Czisznek or Czisznik, occasionally 16 May 1688, father Michal and mother Barbara Cingel. Only one, not particularly reliable, source makes an argument why the entry of 25 February is to be seen as more likely than the others: when Juraj's father bought his son out of military service in 1710, the father's name was apparently recorded as Martin Janosik. 11 However, if Juraj Janosfk, the brigand executed in March 1713, were baptized on 25 February, other entries in the baptismal records would show him as having a younger brother Jan. That would appear to be at odds with the record of a trial with Jan Janosik in December 1713 during which Jan was identified as an older brother of the executed brigand Juraj . The issue is complicated because the existing baptismal records are not sufficiently consistent and complete, because the name Jan, introduced to Europe through which also incorporated parts of their modern neighboring countries - Italy, Poland, Romania and others. 9 [TERkhova] 10 Rudo Brian, "Na tropie Janosika i polskich zb6jnik6w." Pam(:tnik Slowianski, vo l. 18, 1968, pp. I 67-186; and Rudo Brian, " Pat' Janosikov - ktory je ten pravy?" Nede/ha pravda, 3 Feb. 1978, p. 18. 11 The llles hazy archives, Strecno estate, Vol. 19, No. 15 as referenced in Jozef Kocis, Neznamy Janos1k, Bratislava: Yydavatel'stvo Osveta, l 986, p. 47 . 84 SLOVAKIA the New Testament, has historicall y been the most co mmon given name in Slovak (like its Anglicized version John in English), and the family name Janosfk 12 was, and still is, common in Terchova and vicinity (67 listings in the telephone directory) . It al so occurs elsewhere in Slovakia, and spread even to the United States where its frequency ranks as the 35,524 th most common name. 13 There is some inconsistency in the reading of the last name of Janosik 's mother among those who opt for 25 February as the date of his baptism. Many modem authors transcribe the recorded old spelling of Anna 's last name (Czisznek or Czisznik), without further explanation, as Cesnek, a few others as Cfsnik. Cesnek is a probable reading because such last names are still common in the area (29 telephone directory listings), while Cfsnik or other plausible modernized versions of the old spelling are absent there. Nothing is known about Janosfk 's life until he was between 15 and 21 years old - the time of the Francis Rak6czi uprising, which Janosik joined at an unknown age and for an unknown period of time according to the trial proceedings. Folk tales, as well as the first two film s about him, 14 depict him as a former seminary student who turned to brigandage after his parents were abused by the landlord. The earliest written reference to the legend of Janosfk 's schooling comes from 1809. 15 It says that he was popularly believed to have been a student of the humanities, not of theology. However, no preserved document and nothing in the trial proceedings suggests an educated Janosik. 12 It originated as a Slovak variation on Janos - the Hungarian version of the Biblical name John in English, Jan in Slovak. Janos was occas ionall y used as a ni ckname fo r persons named Jan by the Slovaks , too, and sometimes appeared instead of the th Slovak Jan in the Kingdom' s records. But durin g the 17 century, Janosik and its variations had become established Slovak fa mily names . 13 U.S. Census Burea u, Population Divi sio n, Population Anal ys is and Evaluati on Staff as quoted by Rhett A. Butler in "Most Common Names and Surnames in the U.S." at mongabay com. 14 Jan osfk directed by Jaros lav Jerry Siake l', Tatra Film, Chi cago, 192 1; Janostk directed by Martin Frie, A- B Studio, Praha [Prague] , I935. 15 Bohuslav Tablic, a 3-page unnumbered foo tnote to "Janossjk Liptowsky Laupeznjk ," in S/owensstj W ersso wcy. Collecta revirescunt. S wazek druhf. We Wacove [Yac]: v Antonjna Gotljba pry wil. Knehtlac itele, 1809, pp. 120-1 23 . SLOVAKIA 85 The Kingdom's situation The trial proceedings begin to reveal glimpses of Janosfk 's life with him taking part in the Franci s Rak6czi 16 uprising of 1703-1711. It was a massive religious and separatist movement in the Kingdom of Hungary aga inst the Habsburg dynasty, which ruled it from Vienna (A ustria). The Slovaks were the majority inhabitants of the north-western , mostl y mountainous counties of the multi-ethnic 17 Kingdom. The Kingdom , established around the year 1000, was defeated and lost its sovereignty in the 1500s, and was incorporated as a province in the expanding Habsburg monarchy. The Kingdom was 90% Protestant (Lutheran in the Slovak areas) in the early 1600s, but by the mid- l 600s, the Vatican-allied Habsburgs began forcibly to reCatholicize it, and also increased their efforts to further reduce the Kingdom 's remaining limited self-government. The uprising led by nobleman Franci s Rak6czi II was the last of a series of substantial , but economically destructive armed attempts in the Kingdom to reverse that course. 18 He was Catholic, but in favor of the Kingdom 's independence and religious freedom. Janosik the insurgent It is not known when and under what circumstances Janosik joined Rak6czi 's rebel troops. It is not known , either, how he became a soldier in the Habsburg army later. The Rak6czi rebels suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of Trencfn 19 (about 60 miles south-west 16 [RAHkotsee], Francis Rak:6czi II, Prince of Transylvani a, born on 27 March I 676. After his fin al defeat, he and some of his supporters initially defected to Poland. He eventu all y died in exi le in Turkey on 8 April 1735. 17 The country's language of admi nistration and education from high school up was Latin , which was no one ' s mother ton gue. The languages of individual ethnic groups, most of whom li ved in their majority areas, were used in everyday life, local businesses, emerging literatures, etc. The ethni c gro ups of the Kingdom of Hungary inc luded the Slovaks, Magyars ([MAHdars] often called Hungarians), Croats, Romani ans, Germans, Ru syns, Roma (Gypsies), and others. The Slovaks were in the majority in about 15 counties in the Kingdom ' s mountainous north-west (today's Slovakia) customari ly called the "Upper Co untry" in the Kingdo m, which is usuall y rendered as Upper Hungary in English. 1 8The major anti-Habsburg insurgenc ies that affected the Slovak counti es extensive ly were (the year of inception and leader): 1604 Stephen Bocskay, 16 19 Gabriel Bethlen, 1644 George Rak:6czi, 1678 Emerich Thokoly, 1703 Francis Rak:6czi II . 19 [TRENtsheen); in West Slovakia on the Yah River 86 SLOVAKIA of Terc hova) the actual fightin g took pl ace at Hamre, a haml et and originall y a forge site two miles south of Trencfn) on 3 August 1708. The Habsburgs had taken full control of the Kingdom by the time of Janosfk's tri al. It therefore needs to be taken with a grai n of salt that hi s defen se lawyer Baltazar Palugyay portrayed Janosik as the Emperor's loyal subj ect at hi s tri al, and insisted that Janosik had eage rl y and willingly enlisted in the Habsburg army during the upri sing. Authors mostly speculate that Janosfk first left the Rak6czi rebe ls, returned to Terchova, and was subsequentl y drafted by the Imperial and Royal Army. Another possibility put forward is that he was captured during the Battle of Trencfn and turned into a soldier, 20 which was what happe ned to hundreds of insurge nts on th at occasion. No records document either ass umption. Janosik the loyalist and a brigand's assistant Once in the Imperial and Royal Army, Janosik was stationed at Bytca Castle, 25 miles from his home. He was made a prison guard . During hi s trial, Janosik admitted providing unspecified services to Tomas Uhorcfk,2 1 a brigand leader he ld in the castle's dungeons. Uhorcik managed to escape in the fa ll of 1710 while Janosik still served at Bytca. Janosik 's father bought Ju raj out of military service a month later. This seq uence of events that emanates from the trial proceedings gave ri se to later spec ul ation s that Janosik may have actu ally he lped Uhorcfk to escape. Family background The statement from Janosik's trial that hi s father had bought him out of military service, for which he had to have enough spare money, appears to contrad ict the co mmon, but undoc umented , assertions that Janosik came fro m a particul arl y poor farmer's famil y. The existing records from the landlord of Terchova ' s estate around 1700 do not li st the Janosfk famil y among those obligated to work for a day or two each week in the landlord ' s field s22 - a common duty of fe ud al subj ects. It could mean that members of the Janosik fa mil y °Koc is, Neznamy ... 2 21 [TOmahsh OOhortsheek], from the village of Predmi er near Turzovka. Andrej Melichercfk, Janosikovska tradfcia na Slovensku. Brati slava: Nakladatel'stvo SAY , 1952. 22 SLOVAKIA 87 were still obligated to work, but were among the poorest, almost landless families and therefore not entered in the records of households with farms; or it could be due to a contract between some of the original settlers of the village and a past landlord. Numerous Slovak villages originated as contractual settlements of a landlord's unimproved property in earlier centuries. Finally, Janosfk 's family could have been prosperous enough to be able to pay the landlord instead of providing labor services. Besides these historical reasons, the absence of an entry for the Janosfks in the landlord 's records could also be due to deficient record-keeping, or to lost documents. If the Janosfks could be shown to have been a particularly poor family, it would increase the likelihood that the money they used to buy Juraj out was not theirs, and that the Janosfks may have received it for that purpose from Uhorcfk who was grateful for Juraj's unspecified services in the dungeons (possibly including his escape). By the fall of 1710, Uhorcfk had had about eight robbing seasons behind him , which would have allowed him to accumulate some disposable cash. Highwaymen Other court records show the inhabitants of Terchova to have been fervent supporters of brigands. 23 That ties in with Uhorcfk's testimony, according to which Janosik sometimes stayed with the teacher at Terchova, and the local tavern-keeper would bring him food. Juraj Janosfk's brother Jan was hanged for highway robbery ten months after Juraj. 24 Highway robbery was common in Europe until the advent of modern times, which brought about increased policing, personal record-tracing, education, perhaps honesty, and new, less arduous forms of crime. The first mention of brigands in the Slovak region comes from the Legend of Saints Zoerardus and Benedict recorded in 1064. Two ancient north-south trade routes from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean passed through eastern Slovakia. The merchants' caravans were among the earliest lucrative targets for highway robbery. Legal records of highway robberies and 23 Stefan Kazimfr, "O novych dokumentoch k janosikovskej legende." Cudove cftanie Vol. 3, No. 6, 1957. 24 Stanistaw Sroka, Janosik: Pra wdziwa historia karpackiego zb6jnika. Krakow [Cracow]: Wydawnictwo Homini, 2004, p. 41; Kocis, Neznamy .. . p. 86. 88 SLOVAKIA trials with brigands begin to accumulate in the late 15 th century and do not start to dwindle until the mid-19 th century. One of the first known brigand bands in the Slovak counties, led by Fedor Hlavaty, operated in the north-east (Saris County). Its 50 members included Slovaks, Poles, and Rusyns.25 In 1493, Hlavaty sent a ransom letter to the town of Bardejov threatening to burn it down unless the Town Council paid a hefty compensation for the execution of four of Hlavaty's highwaymen. Incentives to rob in the 1600s The religious-cum-separatist wars of the 1i" century caused a great deal of destruction in the Kingdom already harmed by decades of attacks by the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire from the south. 26 Highway robbery must have appeared to be a way out to some of those impoverished by the developments. The brigands' ranks were also increased by displaced soldiers made redundant by both the insurgent and the Habsburg armies after the resolution of each rebellion. With the reduced, or periodicall y absent authority of the monarch, some noblemen, too, turned their hill-top castles to brigands' nests, armed large bands and in addition to highway robbery, raided villages, as well as their peers' residences. The Kingdom therefore saw a jump in highway robberies in the 17 th century.2 7 25 The Rusyns, also called Ruthenians, are an East Slav ic ethni c group (as opposed to the West Slavic Slovaks and Poles) who li ve as a recogni zed minority in the north-eastern parts of Slovakia, as well as in so uth-eastern Poland - often called L emkos there. Their acti vists call for a recognition of their much more substantial numbers in south- western Ukraine where the authorities insist they are Ukrainians. 26 The Slovak counties never fell to the Turks, but es peciall y the southern ones were continuall y harassed and attacked. The fac t that the mostl y Magyar/Hungarian counties (today's Hungary) fell under the Ottoman rule and became their prov ince of Ma1,aristan fo r about l 50 years added to the disruption of the economy of the Slovak counties and brought in some ethni c Hungari ans, especiall y noblemen, who ran away north fro m the encroaching Turks. 27 Although just a pass ing reference has been preserved about him , the name of briga nd leader Adamcik survived from the 1630s in fo lklore, and was later added to the list of Janosik 's band members in fo lk tales. The name Ilcfk - another of Janosik's comrades in fo lk stories - has a similar, albeit somewhat later origin. SLOVAKIA 89 Highwaymen's seasons In the Kingdom , and in Central Europe in general, the brigands' season was limited by the climate. Late summer and early fall was the time when seasonal sheepfolds in mountain pastures were abandoned and the flocks were dri ven back to villages. These shepherds played an important role in hi ghwaymen 's support networks. Cold winters made clandestine surviva l in the Slovak mountai ns almost impossible. Moreover, Europe was at the height of its Little Ice Age (l 560-1850). The deciduous forests at the lower elevations lose leaves and provide less cover, and while the higher elevations have spruce and fir trees that do not lose their needles, they are also colder and therefore even less suitable for winter subsistence 28 . Snow tracks made the brigands easily traceable. But brigands needed villagers ' support year-round. In the winter, they needed farmers to accept them as hired hands, and even their help to cover up their identities and summer acti vity. In the summer, the brigands needed to obtain food , sell their loot, and learn about the police searches for them, not to mention their less operative desires to show off, party, booze and flirt. Some of the villagers in turn , made welcome profit on the services and goods rendered to the brigands, since they were paid for their silence as well. Moreover, the vi llagers were paid by people with periodic windfalls who are generall y inclined to overspending. According to the court records, the Janosiks were among Terchova 's notorious rowdy , thieving fa milies. Jano~fk' s participation During his trial , Janosik confessed that he joined Tomas Uhorcfk ' s band of brigands " around Michaelmas" 29 in 1711. Brigand bands in the Western Carpathians would traditionall y di sperse on or not long after Michaelmas and agree to reassemble on St. Adalbert's Feast-George mas (23-24 April). Numero us saints' days were associated with a variety of far m works and festivities , and were used to identify periods of the year in the same manner that months and parts of months are used today (" late September"). Michae lmas was a typical day of post-harvest fa irs. Janosik claimed that he had 28 Some mountains aro und Terchova reach over 5,000 ft, some mountain ridges around Liptov County rise to 7,000 ft. 29 September 29, St. Michael' s Day. 90 SLOVAKIA joined the brigands at Uhorcik's insistence. It was customary that a new member would swear allegiance to the band leader°. The group he joined may have had about two to three dozen members, but that was always in a state of flux with highwaymen. Some were disabled or killed during robberies and chases, so me were caught, some dropped out, temporarily , or for good, and aspiring highwaymen joined. Janosfk's confession that Uhorcik handed the leadership of the band to him soon afterwards indicates that it was hardly as simple as Uhorcik looking up Janosik almost a year after the latter provided him with some incidental assistance in prison. Uhorcik had to have great tru st in Janosik in order to persuade his band of thugs that a rel ati ve newcomer should take over after him . That, in turn , suggests that Janosik's assistance at Bytca Castle may have extended to Uhorcik ' s escape, that they maintained contacts afterwards, that Uhorcfk 's band had already seen Janosik in action, and it opens to speculation the source of the money that his father used to buy Juraj out of military service. It is also poss ible that the members of Uhorcik's band already knew Janosik because he became involved with them earlier. The highwaymen's logistics Limited circumstantial evidence contradicts Janosfk's testimony that he did not meet with Uhorcik until a year after Uhorcik's escape and that he simply talked Janosik into joining his band on that single occasion. A court record hints that there could have been rather a pressing incentive for Janosik to turn from initially a brigands' assistant and perhaps a subsequent incidental brigand into a regular member of Uhorcik's band. On 30 September 1711 , a day after Michaelmas, the confessed time of Janosik's pledge to Uhorcfk, three of the Janosfks of Terchova were brought to court and charged with assault 30 In contrast with their life of crime, the pledge could appear quite pious - an indication that they perceived Christianity as part of a flexible set of beliefs in the supernatural rather than the strict doctrine with a specific moral code preached by the Church. A documented pledge in the band of Jakub Surovec from the 1730s said: " I swear to God eternal, the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary and all the divine saints that I shall neither betray, nor cheat, nor yet abandon my companions in fortu ne, or misfortune. Thus help me God the Lord." SLOVAKIA 91 and robbery .31 If they were Juraj Janosik' s family, and moreover, if he was among the suspects (and guilty), he might have preferred to remove himself from the village rather than face the charges and possibly be forced to reveal more of his recent past. The Habsburgs did not ban torture as an investi gati ve method until 1776. J ano~ik' s season Soon after 23-year old Janosik became the band 's leader, Uhorcfk , after nine seasons as a highwayman, retired to Klenovec in south-central Slovakia under the adopted name Martin Mravec. He married and became the village's hired shepherd and occasional musician (he also managed briefly to serve as the village's policeman). Janosfk's band robbed mainly in the north-central Slovak counties of Orava, Liptov, and Spis, sometimes to the south of them, and occasionally - still in the Habsburg monarchy - across the Kingdom 's north -western border in parts of Silesia and the Margrav iate of Moravia (both now in the Czech Republic). All of the three Slovak counties border Poland in the north , and Janosik identified several members of his band as coming from Poland, but no document has surfaced to confirm legends about his raids into the Kingdom of Poland. Simple economics may have played a role: while Moravia and Silesia were relatively wealthy, the Polish Podhale region north of Slovakia was poorer than the Slovak counties and with fewer noblemen 's residences, and therefore less attractive, especially since the border follows a rel atively high mountain ridge in Liptov and in parts of Spis and Orava, which was a substanti al obstacle to bringing back any loot except money. On the other hand, the Podhale folklore occasionally depicted the Slovak counties as desirable targets of Polish brigands. The expected higher return may have made the climb somewhat more worthwhile. However, Janosik was questioned specifically during hi s tri al whether he had also robbed in Poland : an indication that the border was crossed by hi ghwaymen from both sides, but also of the authorities' concern about possible contacts with leaders of the Rak6cz i upri sing who defected to Pol and after their final defeat in 1711. 31 Rudo Brtan "Na tropie Janosika i polskich zb6jnik6w." Pami~tnik Slowiariski 18, pp. 167-186. 92 SLOVAKIA Janosik:' s victims and spoils While the list was certainly not complete, Janosik's trial revealed rather meager, and some bizarre spoils from hi s only full-time robbing season from the spring to the fall of 1712: several guns, including a "valuable" one, unimpressive amounts of cash, some jewelry, as well as two ladies' wigs and elegant ladies' clothing impossible to be worn by villagers and therefore awkward to sell or donate in those days. However, Uhorcfk said Janosfk's highway robberies yielded more. Among other things, he apparently accumulated almost two bushels of coins, enough cloth to dress 300 men, and maintained a stash of weapons in another hiding place. Although cloth may appear to be an unlikely booty, it was among the brigands' prized possessions. It was needed to repair their clothing, which was more prone to wear and tear, yet less readily replaceable in case of damage than the clothes of law-abiding subjects. 32 Rolls of cloth, not ready-made clothes, were loaded in merchants' wagons that were attacked by brigands. Cloth was also among the more durable goods in their loot, but not as easy to exchange as money, jewelry, or guns, so the brigands were likely to have a surplus of cloth in their hiding places. 33 Uhorcfk also spoke of Janosfk's attacks on small detachments of the Imperial and Royal Army which yielded weapons, ammunition, and on one occasion a carriage. Janosfk admitted robbing men and women, commoners as well as three noblemen , a clergyman, another clergyman's wife, a blacksmith (he did not respond to this charge), a goldsmith, a butcher, a cloth trader, and wine traders. He robbed them on the road, in their homes, in the woods, even on the Vah River (see below), emphasized the prosecutor. Of all the regional authorities, Liptov County was probably the most bitter about Janosfk's actions because of his assault on Imperial and Royal Officer Rudolf Schardon's wife and her retinue. Slovak and Polish sources commonly say she was Officer Schardon 's widow. One author contradicts thi s without giving his 32 John S. Koliopoulos, Brigands with a Cause, Brigandage and Irredentism in Mo- dem Greece /821-1912. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987. 33 Jozef Kocis, Neznamy ... creates a weighty narrative about Janosfk's apparent revolutionary intentions from a historical report that guns and substantial amounts of cloth were discovered in some of his hiding places. SLOVAKIA 93 reasons. 34 The trial proceedings refer to her as Schardonka (the ending -ka indicates that she was a woman) and as vojenskeho oficfra pani, which means "a military officer's lady [wife]" without any indication of her being a widow. Because her husband was employed by the Crown and the robbery took place while she was passing through Liptov, the law obligated the County to pay the Lady the damages, which must have been higher than usual due to her rank. Throughout his trial, Janosik maintained that he had not killed anyone, but the court still considered him a guilty party when a priest from Domaniza was "shot through" by two brigands from his band during a robbery. The priest, 58-year old Juraj Yrtik (also spelled Yertik), died a month later. Janosik was also accused of sacrilege target-shooting at a host (the Eucharistic bread) attached to a treetrunk. He neither denied, nor confirmed this charge. While it is not clear why so many authors call Lady Schardon a widow rather than a wife, some of the counterfactual information in modern writing about Janosik ' s robberies and victims stems from cross-linguistic confusion by Polish authors reading Slovak sources, which is then repeated by others. Thus, for example, one author has Janosik rob a magnate on his way to Turkey (do Turcji in Polish), while the person, John Radvanszky, County Lieutenant of Zvolen, was actually on his way to Turiec County (do Turca in Slovak) in north-central Slovakia. 35 Another author says that Janosik robbed a pastor' s wife as she was fetching water (po wodf! in Polish) from the Yah River. 36 It is not only unlikely for geographic and historical reasons because her village was not on the V ah and people used wells as their source of water, not the river. It is mistaken factually because the trial proceedings say that she was robbed about a half-day's journey from her home, while traveling down the Vah (po vode in Slovak) on a raft - a common means of transport provided comercially at that time. Such confusion about language and geography happens with some regularity and can affect the authors' arguments. For instance, Stanislaw Sroka believes that the village of Klenovec where Janosik was captured was in Liptov County , a mere geogra34 Jozef Kocis, Neznamy .. . Jace k Kotbu szewski , "Janosik ni eznany?" Literatura Judowa, vol. 3 1, no. 4-6, Jul y- December 1987, pp. 108-11 2, - p. 110. 36 Sroka, Janosik ... p. 50. 35 SLOVAKIA 94 phic error, but the error then becomes Sroka's explanation of why Janosik was tried by Liptov County. Klenovec, however, was in Malohont County. The real reason for the location of Janosik's trial was that he was captured in Klenovec by the Liptov police (see below). Cross-linguistic confusion can lead to much farther-reaching fallacious conclusions. Jacek Kolbuszewski, the author who believes that Janosik robbed John Radvanszky on his way to Turkey, then 37 assumes that he was going to the funeral of Stephen Petrycy [sic], a former general in the Kuruc army, according to Kolbuszewski, who took refuge in Turkey in order to avoid persec ution by the Habsburgs. Kolbuszewski subsequently presents his conjecture as evidence to disprove a point made by another author, Jozef Koci s, 38 and accuses him of "keeping silent" about that apparent fact. Yet, Radvanszky was robbed in 1712 while traveling from Zvolen County to Turiec County in order to attend the funeral of Stephen Petr6czy de Petr6cz et Kaszavar (villages near Trencfn : the name could be Stefan Petrovicky of Petrovice and Koseca in modern Slovak spelling), sonin-law of the late Turiec County Chief Emerich Revay - not to Turkey to a conjectured funeral of Baron Stephen Petr6czy, born around 1620, a commander in the Kuruc insurgencies in the l 670- l 680s who sought refuge in Turkey after their failure . Baron Petr6czy would have to have been in his 90s had he died, as Kotbuszewski concludes, in 1712 when Radvanszky was robbed by Janosfk (the date of his death is actually unknown). Janosik, s capture Janosik was first caught, along with Uhorcfk, about a year after he joined Uhorcik's former band and became its leader. They were detained by Malohont County authorities in Klenovec in south37 Kotbuszewski , "Janosik ... " p. 110. Kocis, Neznamy ... Kotbuszewski's goal was to disprove Kocis's claims about Janosfk's sym pathies for the anti-Habsburg rebels by showing that Janosfk actually robbed a nobleman presumably supportive of the rebellion since he went to a former rebel ' s and political defector' s funeral. If Polish scholars had not misread the Slovak sources, which was the starting point for Kotbuszewski's disoriented conclusions about the historical figures, Kotbuszewski could have made the same argument without any reference to Petr6czy, because Janosfk ' s victim John Radvanszky, Zvolen County Lieutenant and minor poet born in 1666, was himself a former influential supporter of the Kuruc rebellion, Thokoly, as well as Francis Rak6czi. 38 SLOVAKIA 95 central Slovakia, where Uhorcik had settled as Martin Mravec, on 26 October 1712 - around the end of the robbing season. Janosik probably came to spend the winter with his comrade under an assumed identity . They were put in jail in the Mansion of Hrachov but were released after they "proved" their innocence. Janosik's subsequent trial revealed that the proof rested mainly in fox furs and cheese passed on to the detaining authorities. Moreover, the County Lieutenant of Malohont 39 who testified on their behalf had earlier received a prized rifle from Uhorcik. The historical, decorated weapon came from Janosik's loot when his band ambushed Baron Paul Revay. Janosik was arrested again while still in Klenovec before he had a chance to start his next robbing season, and so was "Mravec" for giving him shelter for the winter. Although in another county, this time he was traced and captured by the Liptov police put on special alert after the robbery of Lady Schardon. They were transferred to Svaty Mikulas, 40 the seat of Liptov County, where Uhorcik 's identity was eventually discovered. JaI1osik's sentence Janosik's trial took place on 16-17 March 1713. The Kingdom ' s main statutes were contained in the Tripartitum of 1514,41 and two subsequent royal decrees. Chapter I, Titulus XV, Paragraph I of the Tripartitum mandated that highwaymen be hanged, broken upon the wheel, impaled, or beheaded, as a warning to others. When the Habsburgs added the Kingdom to their lands, they tried to limit various laws contained in the Tripartitum, especially those that gave more privileges to its nobles and greater self-government to its counties and some municipalities than were granted in other Habsburg lands, but they reinforced some other laws including those against brigandage. Emperor Ferdinand II iss ued a decree in 1625 "On pillaging vagabonds and highwaymen and on ways of handling them," whose 39 Pal Lan yi/Pavol Lani (1670-1733) was a prominent supporter of the Rak6czi insurgency. 40 Now called Liptovsky Mikulas. 41 Tripartitum opus iuris consuetudinarii incly ti regni Hungariae partiumque annexarum , by Stephen Werboczy (1460-1541), presented to the Diet in 1514 and published by the author in Vienna in 1517. Although not a fo rmall y adopted document, it was used as the authoritati ve compend ium of the Kingdom's customary law. 96 SLOVAKIA Article XIII mandated that hi ghwaymen and similar criminals be tortured if their testimonies were not comprehensive and convincing. The decision to apply torture was regulated in the Kingdom by a widely used book of comments on the Tripartitum from 1619,42 whose Article 8, Section 6 required that the defendant be rel eased without torture if the preliminary proceedings did not raise sufficient suspicions about the truthfulness of his denial of guilt. Emperor Ferdinand Ill 's decree from 1655 contained Article XXVI , which prohibited any leniency or pardon in such trials. Additionally , Emperor Leopold I decreed in Article XVII in 1659 that those providing shelter to brigands be executed as well. Janosik's assigned defense lawyer Palugyay described him as a former victim of Francis Rak6czi 's insurgents and played up his loyalty to the Crown demonstrated by his apparent eagerness to join the Imperial and Royal Army. Palugyay also stressed that although submitted to both the light and severe levels of torture, Janosik denied having been guilty of the murder of the Reverend Yrtik. Under the Kingdom 's legislation it meant that the defendant (called the "accused" then) was to be seen as innocent of the crime. Although people submitted to torture did not normally survive for more than three days - if for no additional injuries, then due to the internal hemorrhage and other damage to the joints pulled out of their sockets during stretching - the county was obligated to pay an annual allowance to the family of the accused who failed to admit guilt under torture. Janosfk's defense lawyer called for his release because, according to Palugay, he certainly regretted his actions and would mend his ways. Yet, Janosik did admit to highway robbery, and the court still considered him an accomplice in the priest' s murder. He was sentenced to death. As usual in those days , it was a public execution. In Janosfk' s case, a hook was threaded through his left side, and he was left dangling on the gallows to die - a fairly common execution then especially for brigand leaders, although this was the only instance of its implementation by Liptov County between 1700 and 1715.43 42 Directio methodica processus judiciarii; Juris consuetudinarii lnclyti Regni Hun gariae .. . , by Johannes Kitonich de Koztanicza [Ivan Kitonic/Janos Kaszony i of Kostajnica] , Tymavia: [Tmava] : Anno Domini MDCXIX. 43 Stanistaw Dzieciolowski in an interview with Zdena Sisova "Odpocfva Janosfk na dne Liptovskej Mary?" Slovenske dotyky Maj 2002, p. 7. SLOVAKIA 97 Uhorcik's identity was not discovered until after the first day of his trial during which he was still taken to be a Martin Mravec. He was sentenced more than a month after Janosik, on 21 April 1713 . He was broken upon the wheel, another common form of execution. As an act of benevolence, perhaps obtained by the County Lieutenant of Malohont who testified on Janosik ' s and Uhorcik's behalf at their trials, the court ordered that his neck be broken first. The burial place of either of the brigands is unknown. Corpses were often left hanging or otherwise exposed as a warning for a period of time after the criminals' execution and then di sposed of unceremoniously. Conclusion The trial proceedings, effectively the only extant source of information about Janosik, offer a meager picture of his life because he disclosed very little before or under torture. Most questions posed by the interrogators remained unanswered. All that transpires from the proceedings besides some of his robberies is that he was loyal to his fellow-criminals, that he remained so under severe torture, and that he proved to be a cunning liar before severe torture more-or-less silenced him. When he gave answers, they were often misleading or quite untrue, crafted to protect his accomplices. For example, while Uhorcik, still known to the authorities only as Martin Mravec, was awaiting his trial in the same building, Janosik was telling the interrogators that Uhorcik had been killed by another brigand several years earlier. Most of the accomplices Janosik divulged were already dead or believed to be dead. He claimed not to know the whereabouts of the others whose names came up during the interrogation. He did not di sclose the names of those who gave him shelter. Uhorcfk's testimony a month later revealed that Janosik had withheld the names of at least a half of his fellow brigands. Even without the strict Imperial and Royal decrees on brigandage, several factors would have probably contributed to Janosik's harsh punishment by Liptov County anyway: the damages that the county had to pay to Lady Schardon; the blame it probably received from the monarc hy's central authorities and the county 's subsequent increased efforts to eradicate hi ghway robbery; Janosik's origin in Terchova known for its support to highwaymen ; Janosik 's participation in the Francis Rak6czi uprising against the Habsburgs, which 98 SLOVAKIA the judge reiterated before reading his sentence; and finally , susp icions of anti-Catholic and heretic sentiments reflected in hi s insurgent past and in the alleged target-shooting at hosts augmented by his presence at the killing of a priest. In a broader context, the existence of the enormous gap between what is documented about Juraj Janosfk and his modern myth is unremarkable. Discrepancies, elevations or degradations, are common, universal features of historical mythology. Equally pervasive are folk legends about characters from the feudal past who "took from the rich and gave to the poor" and defended the commoners from the injustices of the masters. Such tales dot the Eurasian continent from English Robin Hood at its north-western periphery all the way to Korean Hong Kildong and Japanese Oyake Akahachi at its south-eastern edge. What makes Janosfk 's myth in Slovakia special (which applies only partly in the Czech Republic and decidedly less so in Poland) is the manner in which it was first embraced and molded by the intellectuals around the middle of the 19 th century44 and then by academia from around the middle of the 20 th century, and the degree to which his intellectualized and academic myth incorporated the notion that it is not talking merely about folk mythology (whose modern shape has actually been largely formed by Janosfk' s myth created in high culture), but that it is also talking about a real hi storical character. 44 Yotruba, " Hang Him Hi gh .. ."  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 Highwayman's Life: Extant Documents About Jánošík Description An account of the resource Martin Votruba Slovakia, Vol. 39 (No. 72-73), 2007 pp. 81-98 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Votruba, Martin Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/4f2af75243484897307a179315cab34a.pdf 9f221d4cbd3972e47a783e0e280c74f2 PDF Text Text 64 SLOVAKIA A HUNDRED YEARS OF THE MATICA SLOVENSKA IMRICH KRUZLIAK The concept of the Matica Sloven.ska. (The Slovak Institute of the Arts and Sciences) has its roots far in the times before its establishment in 1863. The earlier learned societies, federations of intellectuals, which often had only a confessional or local character, can be considered as the predecessors of the Matica Slovenska.: The Learned Society of Maly Hont, Societas Slavica, The Learned Society of the mining (Banska) area; also The Slovak Learned Society of Bernolaik, Hamuliak's Society of Admirers of the Slovak Language and Literature, and the Tatrin of Ludovit Stur. The programs of the last three societies were adopted by the Matica Slovenska.. Besides domestic efforts to establish the Matica Slovenska, we must also mention Safa.rik's interest who, at that time, was the director of the Serbian Gymnazium in Novy Sad. He used to write to his countrymen in Slovakia, particularly after the founding of the Serbian Matica in 1823 - which was founded with this help - to give serious thought to the idea of establishing a similar society in Slovakia. Safarik wrote a:bout the matter to, among others, Hamuliak, Kollar and Palacky. Hamuliak liked the idea very much, so much fo fact that, in 1857, when he was about to retire, he donated his personal library to the gymnazium at Banska. Bystrica only on tihe condition that it be handed over to the Matica Slovenska as soon as it was established. M. that time Hamuliak attempted to organize a literary society in Banska. Bystrica, which would be headed by Safarik, a recognized scientific authority. There were several such similar efforts in Slovakia in those years, but not one of them was realized. The Magyar authorities woulq not allow a charter either to Hamuliak or to Stur. With tihe revolutionary years at hand, 1848-49, the Slovaks, too, t ook up arms to seek political freedom. Having failed in the attempt, the Slovaks had to travel the bitter road of sacrifice and oppression. Many hopes were crushed, many enthusiasts were silenced, and many �SLOVAKIA 65 more self-sacrificing Slovaks withdrew to the background. Nevertheless, the concept of the Matica did not die, but continued to live in the hearts and minds of the people, awaiting an opportune moment. In 1859, a Slovak patriot, Natan J. Petian, bequeathed 9,000 Gold Crowns for the establishment of the Matica. Two years prior to that, Jonas Zaborsky established a literary foundation with the Czeoh Matica to support the publication of Slovak works, with the reservation, however, that the foundation be transferred to the Matica Slovenska once it came into being. Then followed the historical year 1861, the year of the famous Slovak Memorandum which brought new hopes to the Slovaks. Representatives of the Slovak provinces of Hungary came to Tuiiciansky Sviity Martin to the public meeting arranged for June 6-7, 1861. There in the presence of thousands of people they wholeheartedly adopted the historical Memorandum of the Slovak Nation, with which they hoped to gain recognition for national and political individuality and the political rights to which they felt entitled. There it was, too, that the decision was made to request permission to establish the Matica Slovenska. Emperor Francis Joseph very graciously received the Slovak delegation, headed by Bishop Stephen Moyses, on December 12, 1861. Impressed by the Memorandum, he promised to comply with their righteous requests. The Slovaks were jubilant, figuring that the way was cleared to establish the Matica Slovenska. In Pest'., Jan Franci sci worked feverishly to complete the By-Laws of the Matica; the work was ready on August 1. But the local regency council returned the By-Laws to Francisci, because it found that t:he Matica Slovenska would also be interested in political action. The Magyar authorities also opposed naming the building of the Matica the "Home of the Slovak Nation." Furthermore, they would not permit the organization of affiliates in Slovak communities and cities; they wished to limit the activity and influence of the Matica and make it subject to the control of a royal commissioner. Difficulties were also encountered when it came to selecting a location for the Matica. At first the Matica Slovenska was to be located at Brezno-above-the-Hron (Brez- �66 SLOVAKIA no nad Hronom). The town council had given its approval, but later recalled it, after pressure was applied by royal commissioner Havas of Zvolen. Other Slovak towns wanted the Matica, particularly Turciansky Svaty Martin and Liptovsky Sva.ty Mikulas. The St. Martin town iI'epresentat!on said that it considered it "a most sacred duty" to offer residence to the Matica Slovenska. On October 29, 1862, the local regency council announced the decision of the Emperor who had, by decree, on August 21, allowed the establishment of the Matica Slovenska. The temporary committee of the Matica proclaimed the joyous news in the Pesfbudinske Vedomosti on November 4, 1862. Thereupon a membership drive and a campaign for funds were instituted. The committee then called a meeting of the Matica on August 4, 1863. From, the fall of 1862 to the end of July 1863, more than 50,000 Gold Crowns were collected for the Matica. Francisci at that time joyously exclaimed: "My dear nation, you are indeed arising from the dust, but you are rising as a giant!" The Foundation of the Matica Slovenska On August 4, 1863, great throngs of Slovaks from practically all parts of Slovakia travelled to Turciansky Svaty Martin for the first general meeting of the Matica Slovenska.. Bishop Stephen Moyses was wildly acclaimed along the route to Martin by hundreds of thousands of his countrymen. After he had led the Slovak delegation in December, 1861, to the Emperor, Bishop Moyses became the most popular man in Slovakia, the leader of the Slovak people. In St. Martin, Charles Kuzma.ny, a Lutheran clergyman, welcomed Moyses with a memorable speech in whioh he sad: "Entire milleniums now look upon you and upon us from the height of these hills; all the valleys of our hallowed Tatra Mountains to the blue Danube gaze upon you with the eyes of the here present matured generation and from the faces of these children there looks upon you and upon llS the entire future of the Slovak nation. You are going to perform an act for the entire history of this nation, a monument to the past and a foundation for the future, the �SLOVAKIA 67 twofold gate, closed for the injustices of the past and opened for the glory of future ages." Tihe meeting was opened by Jan Francisci, chairman of the temporary committee, who, among other things, said: "We, the sons of the Slovak nation:, which had no haven to turn to in the face of injustice, have gathered here to place the cornerstone on which shall rest the temple and stability of Slovak national life." Wihen Francisci asked Bishop Moyses to preside at the meeting, the multitude went wild with joy. The spontaneous acclamation accorded Bishop Moyses was tantamount to electing him the first president of the Matica Slovenska. After the crowd quieted down, Bishop Moyses said: "Where there is a question of honors and decorations, I always like to be the last, because I do not and never did yearn for honors . . . Where, 1h owever, there is a question of service to my Slovak people and willingness to render service, as well as sacrifices for the development of our nation, I never did withdraw, I am not going to withdraw, I do not wish to withdraw, and I shall not withdraw... " Charles_Kuzmany became vice-president of the Matica. Francisci and Daxner were nominated for the function, to honor them for the services they rendered to the Slovak nation, but they declined the nomination, as they had agreed to beforehand t!hat the office should go to Kuzmany, who at that time had been expelled from Banska Bystrica by the enemies of the Slovak cause and had been accepted by the ecclesiastical community in Turciansky Svaty Martin. There were also other tactical reasons for this move. The Slovaks did not wish to have politically exposed individuals at the head of the Matica, especially not those who had taken an active part in the revolution. The personalities of Moyses and Kuzmany, representing ·b oth confessions (Catholic and Lutheran), reflected the solidarity and unity of the Slovak nation. In the act of allowing the establishment of the Matica, the Slovaks saw the recognition of the existence of the Slovak nation on the part of the Emperor. His gift of a thousand Gold Crowns to the Matica was joyously ac- �68 SLOVAKIA claimed by the Slovaks. When the Slovaks learned that the Emperor had named Bishop Moyses as his personal counsellor, their joy knew no bounds. The convention ordered a delegation to visit the Emperor to express its sin- ----cere gratefulness and fealty. The First Period of the Matica (1863-1875) The Matica Slovenska began its activity in 1863, that is, in the year the Slovaks commemorated the millenium of the advent of Sts. Cyril and Methodius to the territory of ancient Slovaks, Great Moravia. At that time there were grandiose celebrations in various cities of Slovakia, whereby the Slovaks demonstrated their cultural and political antiquity. J. M. Hurban had this in mind when, at the Matica meeting, he moved that "the establishment of the Matica Slovenska take place in commemoration of the CyriloMethodian baptism and the thousand-year-old Christianity of our nation." Because Sts. Cyril and Methodius brought to our forefathers not only Christianity but also the elements of Slovak literature, Bishop Moyses "wholeheartedly agreed with the motion of Dr. Hurban," as S. H. Vajansky later recorded. The establishment of the Matica Slovenska. was followed attentively by other Slovanic nations. The Croatian Bishop Strossmayer donated a thousand Gold Crowns to the Matica which sought the favor and support of cultural factors of other Slovanic nations. At its first and second meetings, the Matica elected outstanding Slovanic scholars as charter and honorary members. Paragraph 32 of the Matica By-Laws noted its cooperation with other Slovanic cultural institutions. According to paragraph 1, the Matica Slovenska was "a union of admirers of the nation and Slovak life" and it chief aim was: to cultivate and propagate Slovak literature and the fine arts, as well as to rouse moral and intellectual education and thereby also aid the material welfare of the Slovak nation. The cooperation of the intelligentsia and the people was the prerequisite to the cucce.ss of Matica activity. Bishop Moyses stressed this in his speeches. The Matica, from its very beginning, unfolded its acti- �SLOVAKIA 69 vity in two fields: the field of science and the field of enlightenment, that is in the field of educating people. The building of a great library and mus~um were on its program. Unfortunately, the activity of the Matica was dependent on the success of public drives for finances. And because the amounts raised thusly were less and less with passing years, they were not sufficient to c01Ver the needs of the Matica. John Gotcar suggested that the government subsidize the •a ctivity of the Matica as it did in the case of Magyar and German institutions. The matter was brought up in parliament, but the majority of deputies repudiated it. In the first period of its existence, the Matica published books and periodicals, built its home, supported the alumnea of the Slovak gymnasiums, gave stipends to students, and supported the artists Bohuii and Klemens. Altogether in these twelve years (1863-1875), the Matica published 40 books and newspapers, Moyses's and Kozacek's speeches in the Matica, which it distributed gratis among the people, two volumes of the Archives of Old Documents, a souvenir book to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Mikulas Subic Zrinsky, Dobsinsky's articles about Slovak folklore, two volumes of Slovak national songs and tales, a National Almanac, a Slovak Reader, Slovak school texts; then it also sought to fix orthographical usage according to Hattala's grammar, and even devoted itself to geological research in Slovakia. There were <voices that the Matica devote itself only to scientific activity. Jonas Zaborsky was especially vocal about this. But the Matica could not do this, because the need to educate the people at large was very great. From 1868, the Matica began to develop several scientific departments which became the motivators of Matica activity especially in its second period, after 1919. In the first period these departments could not sufficiently develop their activity because of the lack workers and financial means. In a few years the Matica gained so much respect and weight with the Slovak public that Vajansky, evaluating its activity, wrote gleefully: "For the Slovak nation the Matica was everything on which could depend our national feeling, national consciousness, national pride and hope." �70 SLOVAKIA The assemblies of the Matica, especially after Slovak cultural and economic life began to be concentrated in St. Martin, were important national and social occasions, during which Slovaks discussed their plans for the future. Thanks to the Matica, St. Martin became the bastion of the defensiive battle of the Slovaks and the cradle of Slovak activities. After Bishop Moyses's death in 1869, the office of president was left vacant for one year, out of deference to the Bishop, then Abbot Jozef Koza.eek took over the office. The participation of the Matica delegates in the various festivities of Slovanic nations meant much to the Slovaks politically and nationally. The Magyar authorities were alert; they readily recognized such activity as anti-Magyar, that is, "anti-State." Already in 1867, Vtliam Pauliny Toth complained that Slovak patriots were being vilified and made suspect of treason just because they were members of the Matica. This also characterized the position of the Matica. When the Matica Slovenska came into being, the conditions were not at all favorable for the national and cultural life of the Slovaks. The authorities repeatedly acc.uaed the Matica of "Pan-Slavism" and of making preparations to destroy Hungary. Soon enough the fight against the Matica was identified with the fight against the Slovak nation, against the freedom and independence of the Slovak nation: to Slovaks it became increasingly clear that probably the last fight for their national survival was at hand. In vain did officials of the Matica try to convince the Magyar State officials that their institution was not an enemy of the State. The Magyar press increased its attacks against everything Slov,ak, declaring: "the Slovak is not a man . . . there is no Slovak nation . . . The Slovaks are Pan-Slavists, enemies of the State . . . There is no Slovak language . . . the official and only recognized tongue in Hungary is Magyar." Slovak leaders felt the Matica's days were numbered. At the general meeting of the Matica on August 5, 1874, more Slovaks came to St. Martin than had come during the previous ten years. Daniel Lichard said �SLOVAKIA 71 on that occasion: (we are not supposed to exist) "nevertheless here we a.re!" The cause of the Slovaks once again seemed hopeless. After the settlement with Austria was reached in 1867, resulting in the Dual-Monarchy (Austria-Hungary), the Magyars had absolute control of Hungary with over half its population being non-Magyar. In Pest, the name of the Matica Slovenska was on the blacklist. The Magyars instituted hearings against the Matica on November 19, 1875, outlawed its activities on April 6, 1875, and dissolived it on November 12, 1875, by order of the Minister of the Interior, Koloman Tisza. The property of the Matica was confiscated only to be used against the Slovaks: Tisza declared cynically that the property cannot be given to the Slovak nation, because "in Hungary there is no Slovak nation." The Slovaks, however, were now more determined than ever to fight for their national survival against Magyar chauvinism. The Matica was not to be revived until 1919. The Matica's Second Period (1919-1954) Forty-four years had to elapse before the Matica Slovenska was revived. During that time many political changes had taken place. Old Hungary was split up and the Slovak nation-whose existence was denied by Koloman Tisza in 1875-was able to form a state in 1918. Much had been neglected since 1875; there was much to do for the Matice Slovenska after the collapse of Austria-Hungary. On January 1, 1919, representatives of the Slovak people, the sons of the founders of the Matica, gathered solemnly at Turciansky Svaty Martin to open the gates of the Matica in the newly-formed Czecho-Slovak State. Thus began its second period of activity, which was to last until 1954, when Matica activities came to an end at the hands of Communists. It soon became evident that the troubles of the Matica were not over and new storm clouds gathered over Slovakia to test anew the political capacity and political maturity of the Slovaks. That the struggles over the spiritual individuality of the Slovak nation - which this time were evoked by a mistaken "Czechoslovak" national conception- �72 SLOVAKIA were transferred over to the arena of the Matica, clearly demonstrated its important role in the life of the Slovaks. In this period, right from the beginning, the head of the Matica w.as Jozef Skultety, a direct descendant of the generation from the first Matica period. He was a worthy successor of the first Matica presidents, a recognized national authority, and a defender of the Moyses-Kuzmany tradition. Until 1932, Stefan Krcmery was executive secretary of the Matica; Jozef C. Hronsky succeeded Krcmery. When Hronsky became executive director of the Matica during the lifetime of the Slovak Republic (1939-1945), the secretaryship went to Jan Martak. The activity of the Matica during this period was twofold: scientific work and public instruction. The Matica attracted writers and educators, scientific workers, priests and students; it organized local units in many towns and communities. The tradition and the spirit of the Matica Slovenska. did not fit into the pattern of the concept of the "Czechoslovak" nation, which the Czechs defined as a single ethnic entity for world consumption. The Czechs, however, knew they were Czechs a,nd not Slovaks or "Czechoslovaks"and the Slovaks lmew they were Sl<Waks and not Czechs or "Czechoslovaks." The defenders and promoters of the "Czechoslovak" ideology, having the support of Czech politicians made an attempt to anchor themselves in the Matica and to influence especially the work of its linguistic and historic departments. Under their guidance the Matica, in 1931, publtshed the "Pravidla slovenskeho pravopisu" (Rules of Slovak Orthography) which did not conform to the legality or purity of literary Slovak. This evoked a storm of opposition in Slovakia which was quelled with the victory of the Slovak tendency during the mass meeting of the Matica on May 12, 1932. The heralds and promoters of the conception of the "Czechoslovak" language and the "Czechoslovak" nation were voted out of office at this meeting and Jozef C. Hronsky, one of the most eminent of modern Slovak n<Wellists, was elected executive secretary of the Matica Slovenska. The Matica events evoked a strong response in the political life of the Slovaks, especially am~g the younger �SLOVAKIA 73 generation. At the end of June, 1932, members of this generation, representing all political parties, held ,a conference at Trencianske Teplice at which they unanimously backed a federated Czecho-Slovak State. It was from their rank's that the Matica recruited tl\e workers it needed to fulfil its mission. Historian Dr. Frantisek Hrusovsky was named secretary of the scientific departments of the Matica in 1934; Dr. Henrich Bartek and Dr. tudovit Nova.kl specialized as linguists; Dr. Andrew Mraz, Dr. Stanislav Meciar and Dr. Jan Marta.k were given the t~k of developing the ,h istory of Slovak literature; Dr. Jozef Cincik specialized in the art department; and Karol Plicka's forte was ethnology. As soon as the Matica Slovenska. was revived after World War I, it began to publish the literary monthly review "Slovenske Pohfady," which had been founded by Jozef M. Hurban in 1845. The indi'Vidual departments of the Matica gradually began to publish their own magazines. In time the Matica also publit;hed periodicals, such as "Slovensko" (review of culture in general), "Slovenska Rec" (linguistic) , "Slniecko" (youth magazine) , and others. The Matica's "Pedagogicky Zbornik' (Pedagogical Magazine) was, for many years, the only magazine of its kind in the entire Czecho-Slovak Republic. The Matica also supported amateur theater productions and published "Nase Divadlo" (Our Theater); Ferdinand Hoffman specialized in t~ field. Of course, the Matica Slovenska published various literary works of many authors-Slovak and non-Slova:kfor the edification and reading pleasure of the Slovaks: scientific and artistic tomes, children's readers and story books; the collected works of the Slovak classics; translations from foreign literature; textbooks; Rules of Orthography; Rizner's Bibliography of Slovak Letters (6 Vols.); Polivka's "Supis Slovenskych Rozpra.vok" (Inventory of Slovak Tales), etc. The Matica Slovenska. expanded its activities enormously during the life of the Slovak Republic (1939-1945), when its membership and staff personnel reached its highest peak. It was under Hronsky that the Matica built the great book-printing plant Neografia, one of the most modern in Central Europe. --- �74 SLOVAKIA From 1919 to 1944, the Matica Slovenska multiplied. Slovak literary and scientific works as never before. The reason for this was not only a more favorable climate, but especially because the Matica had the services of able and devoted men like Jozef Skultety, Stefan Krcmery, Jozef C. Hronsky, Frantisek Hrusovsky, and many others. At the end of World War II, the complexion of the Matica Slovenska changed completely. With Dr. Edward Benes, Stalin's errand boy, in the president's chair againthe same chair he voluntarily and willingly gave u,p in October, 1938, to flee to England - a Communist beachhead was established in Czecho-Slovakia, in the heart of Europe. A question mark hung over the fate of the Matica. Even though the first indications were that the Matica would be able to continue its wo:r1k, as the days and months rolled by the political power of the "people's democratic regime" began to intervene more and more in the :work of the Matica, violating its tradition and direction. For the first time in the history of the Matica, its president became an exposed politician, Laco N ovomesky, the Commissioner of Education. And the worst of it was that the Matica in those years had no personalities who could protect it with the weight of their authority. Jozef Skultety was a very old man, and the new director of the Matica, Dr. Jan Martak, lacked firmness. Under the circumstances, for which Slovak patriots cannot be held responsible, the Matica Slovenska was completely controlled by the Communists, even though the "Slovak Democrats" of Dr. Jozef Lettrich won 62 per cent of the Slovak electorate in 1946. Old workers were retired, investigated, jailed, disfranchised and persecuted. Already in 1945 it was quite apparent that the Matica was fast becoming a tool of communistic cultural politics. Even the name "Matica Sloven.ska" bothered the Reds. It meant something special, it was a symbol of the efforts and the masses of the people that were opposed to Communism; and the Reds feared that the hundreds of local assem!blies of the Matica could well .become dangerous centers or cells of anti-Communist resistance. It so happened that the Communist regime, by order of the Slovak National Council of April 'l:l, 1954, put a �Sl..OVAKIA 75 stop to the work of the Matica. The Matica building was changed into a central library and the State appropriated the property of the Matica. Shades of 1875 (when the Magyars dissolved the Matica) ! Attempts were made to organize a Matica Slovenska outside of Slovakia by Slovak exiles in the free world, notably by Hronsky, in 1959, in Argentina, with little success, however, thus far. About the closest thing to the Matica was organized in Cleveland, Ohio, by the Right Rev. Theodore J. Kojis, O.S.B., Abbot of St. Andrew-Svorad's Abbey, on September 15, 1952. It is called the Slovak Institute (Slovensky Ustav) and is devoted to practically the same work as the Matica of Slovakia. Lack of finances and personnel limit its activity, but the Slovak Institute of Cleveland, Ohio, nevertheless, is a going institution. Dr. Frantisek Hrusovsky, eminent Slovak historian, was the Institute's first director. His untimely death in 1956 was a setback for the Institute. Cleveland's Slovak Institute, however, definitely holds out the promise of a better future under the directorship of the youthful but energetic Father Andrew Pier, 0, S. B. The Institute has already proved its worth and deserves the support of all Slovaks in the free world. An earlier attempt to found a Matica Slovenska in America was made by Rev. Stephen Furdek of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1893. The meeting he called for Chicago, ID., Sept. 26, 1893, was attended by some 100 Slovak leaders, clergymen and layman, who approved the idea. The organization just about got off the ground when it folded because of dissention in Slovak ranks and lack of vision, tolerance and understanding among Slovak leaders. The Matica quit operation after August, 1899. BIBLIOGRAPHY Frantisek Bokes: Dejiny Slovenska a Slovakov, Bratislava, 1946; Viliam Pauliny-T6th, Turo. Sv. Martin, 194-2. JuHus Botto: Dejiny Matice slovenakej 1863-1875, Turi!. Sv. Martin, 1923. Konstanitln Culen : Rc>ky alove-nakych nadeji a sklamani 1843-1875, Tmava, 1932. Frantillek Hrusovaky : Slovenaky Uatav v Clevelande, reprint from "MOST"-Vol. 2, No. 2, 1955, Cleveland, Ohio. AJ-oj11: KoUse'k: U28. Borba katolfkov za alovenclnu a slobodu, Bratislava, �76 SLOVAKIA Stefa.n Krcmery: Stopit'desiat rokov elovenskej literatury, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1943. Da,nieiJ. Lichard: Rozhovory o Slovenskej Matici, Viedeii, 1865. Jan ,Mart.A'k: Otok na spisovnu 1lovenoi1nu, Turi!. Sv. Martin, 1942. Andrej Mra.z: Jozef Skult6ty, Tu~. Sv. Mar.Un, 1933; Matica slovenekA v rokoch 1863-1875, Tu.re. Sv. MarMn, 193-6. Jan V. Ol'lllis: Zo 1loven1kej minuloati narodnej a literarnej, Pra:ha, 1932. Stefan Pasiar: Dejiny slovenakych l'udovych kniinic, Martin, 1957. Eugen Pauliny: Dejiny spiaovnej 1lovenciny, Bratislava, 19·48. MiLam. P4M.t: Dejiny slovenakej literatury, Bratislava., 1960. Daniel Rapant: K pociatkom madarizacie, Bratis lava, 19.2-'7 and 1931; Tatrin, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1•950. Sbornik na poceat' Jozefa SkultHyho, Turi!. Sv. Martin, 1933. Jozef Skultety: Slivnoat' Mial!ice 1lovenakej ozivotvorenej, T,uro. Sv. Martin, 1919; Stodvadsat'pit' rokov zo alovenak6ho zivota 17901914, Turi!. Sv. Mlllrtin, 1•9 20; 0 Slovakoch, Turi!. Sv. Mal'tin, 1938. Svetozar Hurban Va.jamsk:S,: Zivot Stefana Moyaeaa, Turc. Sv. Martin, 193:5. Jan Vllikovskf: D~jiny literarnich apolecnostf malohontakych, Bratislava, 1935. l!.U D, Bratislava, 1954, No. 9'9, April 27, p. 1. MOST, Cleveland, Ohio, 1954, No. 1, pp. 26, 37; 195-6, No. 1, pp. 2-12; 1959, "No. 3, 'PP, 135-136 and No. 4, p , 14'5; 1960, No 3-4, pp, 97-104. SLOVENSKE NOVINY, Viedeii, 18-50, No. 39 ; 18.'il, Nos. 137, 149. VERB,UM, Kosice, 1947, No. 2, pp. 65-69, 98-102. SLOVAKIA AND ITS PEOPLE by Gilbert L. Oddo - the first complete history of the Slovak people and their country in the English language - may be ordered from the following: Jednota Printery fhe Slovak lnstitute <;\ ~d~et!~xn _l~ Mrs. Julia Krajcovic 1648 W 18th Street Chicago 8 m Mr. Paul C Kaz1mer 1122 Sylvan Avenue Homestead Pa M2~rlevM~1 ·l1aas~nBV~~lB~lhaazl~edk 19. 4922 S Leclaire Avenue Chicago 38 Ul Mr John Horecky 2264 Walton Avenue New York 53. N Y l'he book has 384 pages and a cloth cover and . sells for $6.00. Get your -copy today! 0 ;· g :A:R:IOQ01~~00000000000000<XI � 64 SLOVAKIA A HUNDRED YEARS OF THE MATICA SLOVENSKA IMRICH KRUZLIAK The concept of the Matica Sloven.ska. (The Slovak Institute of the Arts and Sciences) has its roots far in the times before its establishment in 1863. The earlier learned societies, federations of intellectuals, which often had only a confessional or local character, can be considered as the predecessors of the Matica Slovenska.: The Learned Society of Maly Hont, Societas Slavica, The Learned Society of the mining (Banska) area; also The Slovak Learned Society of Bernolaik, Hamuliak's Society of Admirers of the Slovak Language and Literature, and the Tatrin of Ludovit Stur. The programs of the last three societies were adopted by the Matica Slovenska.. Besides domestic efforts to establish the Matica Slovenska, we must also mention Safa.rik's interest who, at that time, was the director of the Serbian Gymnazium in Novy Sad. He used to write to his countrymen in Slovakia, particularly after the founding of the Serbian Matica in 1823 - which was founded with this help - to give serious thought to the idea of establishing a similar society in Slovakia. Safarik wrote a:bout the matter to, among others, Hamuliak, Kollar and Palacky. Hamuliak liked the idea very much, so much fo fact that, in 1857, when he was about to retire, he donated his personal library to the gymnazium at Banska. Bystrica only on tihe condition that it be handed over to the Matica Slovenska as soon as it was established. M. that time Hamuliak attempted to organize a literary society in Banska. Bystrica, which would be headed by Safarik, a recognized scientific authority. There were several such similar efforts in Slovakia in those years, but not one of them was realized. The Magyar authorities woulq not allow a charter either to Hamuliak or to Stur. With tihe revolutionary years at hand, 1848-49, the Slovaks, too, t ook up arms to seek political freedom. Having failed in the attempt, the Slovaks had to travel the bitter road of sacrifice and oppression. Many hopes were crushed, many enthusiasts were silenced, and many �SLOVAKIA 65 more self-sacrificing Slovaks withdrew to the background. Nevertheless, the concept of the Matica did not die, but continued to live in the hearts and minds of the people, awaiting an opportune moment. In 1859, a Slovak patriot, Natan J. Petian, bequeathed 9,000 Gold Crowns for the establishment of the Matica. Two years prior to that, Jonas Zaborsky established a literary foundation with the Czeoh Matica to support the publication of Slovak works, with the reservation, however, that the foundation be transferred to the Matica Slovenska once it came into being. Then followed the historical year 1861, the year of the famous Slovak Memorandum which brought new hopes to the Slovaks. Representatives of the Slovak provinces of Hungary came to Tuiiciansky Sviity Martin to the public meeting arranged for June 6-7, 1861. There in the presence of thousands of people they wholeheartedly adopted the historical Memorandum of the Slovak Nation, with which they hoped to gain recognition for national and political individuality and the political rights to which they felt entitled. There it was, too, that the decision was made to request permission to establish the Matica Slovenska. Emperor Francis Joseph very graciously received the Slovak delegation, headed by Bishop Stephen Moyses, on December 12, 1861. Impressed by the Memorandum, he promised to comply with their righteous requests. The Slovaks were jubilant, figuring that the way was cleared to establish the Matica Slovenska. In Pest'., Jan Franci sci worked feverishly to complete the By-Laws of the Matica; the work was ready on August 1. But the local regency council returned the By-Laws to Francisci, because it found that t:he Matica Slovenska would also be interested in political action. The Magyar authorities also opposed naming the building of the Matica the "Home of the Slovak Nation." Furthermore, they would not permit the organization of affiliates in Slovak communities and cities; they wished to limit the activity and influence of the Matica and make it subject to the control of a royal commissioner. Difficulties were also encountered when it came to selecting a location for the Matica. At first the Matica Slovenska was to be located at Brezno-above-the-Hron (Brez- �66 SLOVAKIA no nad Hronom). The town council had given its approval, but later recalled it, after pressure was applied by royal commissioner Havas of Zvolen. Other Slovak towns wanted the Matica, particularly Turciansky Svaty Martin and Liptovsky Sva.ty Mikulas. The St. Martin town iI'epresentat!on said that it considered it "a most sacred duty" to offer residence to the Matica Slovenska. On October 29, 1862, the local regency council announced the decision of the Emperor who had, by decree, on August 21, allowed the establishment of the Matica Slovenska. The temporary committee of the Matica proclaimed the joyous news in the Pesfbudinske Vedomosti on November 4, 1862. Thereupon a membership drive and a campaign for funds were instituted. The committee then called a meeting of the Matica on August 4, 1863. From, the fall of 1862 to the end of July 1863, more than 50,000 Gold Crowns were collected for the Matica. Francisci at that time joyously exclaimed: "My dear nation, you are indeed arising from the dust, but you are rising as a giant!" The Foundation of the Matica Slovenska On August 4, 1863, great throngs of Slovaks from practically all parts of Slovakia travelled to Turciansky Svaty Martin for the first general meeting of the Matica Slovenska.. Bishop Stephen Moyses was wildly acclaimed along the route to Martin by hundreds of thousands of his countrymen. After he had led the Slovak delegation in December, 1861, to the Emperor, Bishop Moyses became the most popular man in Slovakia, the leader of the Slovak people. In St. Martin, Charles Kuzma.ny, a Lutheran clergyman, welcomed Moyses with a memorable speech in whioh he sad: "Entire milleniums now look upon you and upon us from the height of these hills; all the valleys of our hallowed Tatra Mountains to the blue Danube gaze upon you with the eyes of the here present matured generation and from the faces of these children there looks upon you and upon llS the entire future of the Slovak nation. You are going to perform an act for the entire history of this nation, a monument to the past and a foundation for the future, the �SLOVAKIA 67 twofold gate, closed for the injustices of the past and opened for the glory of future ages." Tihe meeting was opened by Jan Francisci, chairman of the temporary committee, who, among other things, said: "We, the sons of the Slovak nation:, which had no haven to turn to in the face of injustice, have gathered here to place the cornerstone on which shall rest the temple and stability of Slovak national life." Wihen Francisci asked Bishop Moyses to preside at the meeting, the multitude went wild with joy. The spontaneous acclamation accorded Bishop Moyses was tantamount to electing him the first president of the Matica Slovenska. After the crowd quieted down, Bishop Moyses said: "Where there is a question of honors and decorations, I always like to be the last, because I do not and never did yearn for honors . . . Where, 1h owever, there is a question of service to my Slovak people and willingness to render service, as well as sacrifices for the development of our nation, I never did withdraw, I am not going to withdraw, I do not wish to withdraw, and I shall not withdraw... " Charles_Kuzmany became vice-president of the Matica. Francisci and Daxner were nominated for the function, to honor them for the services they rendered to the Slovak nation, but they declined the nomination, as they had agreed to beforehand t!hat the office should go to Kuzmany, who at that time had been expelled from Banska Bystrica by the enemies of the Slovak cause and had been accepted by the ecclesiastical community in Turciansky Svaty Martin. There were also other tactical reasons for this move. The Slovaks did not wish to have politically exposed individuals at the head of the Matica, especially not those who had taken an active part in the revolution. The personalities of Moyses and Kuzmany, representing ·b oth confessions (Catholic and Lutheran), reflected the solidarity and unity of the Slovak nation. In the act of allowing the establishment of the Matica, the Slovaks saw the recognition of the existence of the Slovak nation on the part of the Emperor. His gift of a thousand Gold Crowns to the Matica was joyously ac- �68 SLOVAKIA claimed by the Slovaks. When the Slovaks learned that the Emperor had named Bishop Moyses as his personal counsellor, their joy knew no bounds. The convention ordered a delegation to visit the Emperor to express its sin- ----cere gratefulness and fealty. The First Period of the Matica (1863-1875) The Matica Slovenska began its activity in 1863, that is, in the year the Slovaks commemorated the millenium of the advent of Sts. Cyril and Methodius to the territory of ancient Slovaks, Great Moravia. At that time there were grandiose celebrations in various cities of Slovakia, whereby the Slovaks demonstrated their cultural and political antiquity. J. M. Hurban had this in mind when, at the Matica meeting, he moved that "the establishment of the Matica Slovenska take place in commemoration of the CyriloMethodian baptism and the thousand-year-old Christianity of our nation." Because Sts. Cyril and Methodius brought to our forefathers not only Christianity but also the elements of Slovak literature, Bishop Moyses "wholeheartedly agreed with the motion of Dr. Hurban," as S. H. Vajansky later recorded. The establishment of the Matica Slovenska. was followed attentively by other Slovanic nations. The Croatian Bishop Strossmayer donated a thousand Gold Crowns to the Matica which sought the favor and support of cultural factors of other Slovanic nations. At its first and second meetings, the Matica elected outstanding Slovanic scholars as charter and honorary members. Paragraph 32 of the Matica By-Laws noted its cooperation with other Slovanic cultural institutions. According to paragraph 1, the Matica Slovenska was "a union of admirers of the nation and Slovak life" and it chief aim was: to cultivate and propagate Slovak literature and the fine arts, as well as to rouse moral and intellectual education and thereby also aid the material welfare of the Slovak nation. The cooperation of the intelligentsia and the people was the prerequisite to the cucce.ss of Matica activity. Bishop Moyses stressed this in his speeches. The Matica, from its very beginning, unfolded its acti- �SLOVAKIA 69 vity in two fields: the field of science and the field of enlightenment, that is in the field of educating people. The building of a great library and mus~um were on its program. Unfortunately, the activity of the Matica was dependent on the success of public drives for finances. And because the amounts raised thusly were less and less with passing years, they were not sufficient to c01Ver the needs of the Matica. John Gotcar suggested that the government subsidize the •a ctivity of the Matica as it did in the case of Magyar and German institutions. The matter was brought up in parliament, but the majority of deputies repudiated it. In the first period of its existence, the Matica published books and periodicals, built its home, supported the alumnea of the Slovak gymnasiums, gave stipends to students, and supported the artists Bohuii and Klemens. Altogether in these twelve years (1863-1875), the Matica published 40 books and newspapers, Moyses's and Kozacek's speeches in the Matica, which it distributed gratis among the people, two volumes of the Archives of Old Documents, a souvenir book to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Mikulas Subic Zrinsky, Dobsinsky's articles about Slovak folklore, two volumes of Slovak national songs and tales, a National Almanac, a Slovak Reader, Slovak school texts; then it also sought to fix orthographical usage according to Hattala's grammar, and even devoted itself to geological research in Slovakia. There were <voices that the Matica devote itself only to scientific activity. Jonas Zaborsky was especially vocal about this. But the Matica could not do this, because the need to educate the people at large was very great. From 1868, the Matica began to develop several scientific departments which became the motivators of Matica activity especially in its second period, after 1919. In the first period these departments could not sufficiently develop their activity because of the lack workers and financial means. In a few years the Matica gained so much respect and weight with the Slovak public that Vajansky, evaluating its activity, wrote gleefully: "For the Slovak nation the Matica was everything on which could depend our national feeling, national consciousness, national pride and hope." �70 SLOVAKIA The assemblies of the Matica, especially after Slovak cultural and economic life began to be concentrated in St. Martin, were important national and social occasions, during which Slovaks discussed their plans for the future. Thanks to the Matica, St. Martin became the bastion of the defensiive battle of the Slovaks and the cradle of Slovak activities. After Bishop Moyses's death in 1869, the office of president was left vacant for one year, out of deference to the Bishop, then Abbot Jozef Koza.eek took over the office. The participation of the Matica delegates in the various festivities of Slovanic nations meant much to the Slovaks politically and nationally. The Magyar authorities were alert; they readily recognized such activity as anti-Magyar, that is, "anti-State." Already in 1867, Vtliam Pauliny Toth complained that Slovak patriots were being vilified and made suspect of treason just because they were members of the Matica. This also characterized the position of the Matica. When the Matica Slovenska came into being, the conditions were not at all favorable for the national and cultural life of the Slovaks. The authorities repeatedly acc.uaed the Matica of "Pan-Slavism" and of making preparations to destroy Hungary. Soon enough the fight against the Matica was identified with the fight against the Slovak nation, against the freedom and independence of the Slovak nation: to Slovaks it became increasingly clear that probably the last fight for their national survival was at hand. In vain did officials of the Matica try to convince the Magyar State officials that their institution was not an enemy of the State. The Magyar press increased its attacks against everything Slov,ak, declaring: "the Slovak is not a man . . . there is no Slovak nation . . . The Slovaks are Pan-Slavists, enemies of the State . . . There is no Slovak language . . . the official and only recognized tongue in Hungary is Magyar." Slovak leaders felt the Matica's days were numbered. At the general meeting of the Matica on August 5, 1874, more Slovaks came to St. Martin than had come during the previous ten years. Daniel Lichard said �SLOVAKIA 71 on that occasion: (we are not supposed to exist) "nevertheless here we a.re!" The cause of the Slovaks once again seemed hopeless. After the settlement with Austria was reached in 1867, resulting in the Dual-Monarchy (Austria-Hungary), the Magyars had absolute control of Hungary with over half its population being non-Magyar. In Pest, the name of the Matica Slovenska was on the blacklist. The Magyars instituted hearings against the Matica on November 19, 1875, outlawed its activities on April 6, 1875, and dissolived it on November 12, 1875, by order of the Minister of the Interior, Koloman Tisza. The property of the Matica was confiscated only to be used against the Slovaks: Tisza declared cynically that the property cannot be given to the Slovak nation, because "in Hungary there is no Slovak nation." The Slovaks, however, were now more determined than ever to fight for their national survival against Magyar chauvinism. The Matica was not to be revived until 1919. The Matica's Second Period (1919-1954) Forty-four years had to elapse before the Matica Slovenska was revived. During that time many political changes had taken place. Old Hungary was split up and the Slovak nation-whose existence was denied by Koloman Tisza in 1875-was able to form a state in 1918. Much had been neglected since 1875; there was much to do for the Matice Slovenska after the collapse of Austria-Hungary. On January 1, 1919, representatives of the Slovak people, the sons of the founders of the Matica, gathered solemnly at Turciansky Svaty Martin to open the gates of the Matica in the newly-formed Czecho-Slovak State. Thus began its second period of activity, which was to last until 1954, when Matica activities came to an end at the hands of Communists. It soon became evident that the troubles of the Matica were not over and new storm clouds gathered over Slovakia to test anew the political capacity and political maturity of the Slovaks. That the struggles over the spiritual individuality of the Slovak nation - which this time were evoked by a mistaken "Czechoslovak" national conception- �72 SLOVAKIA were transferred over to the arena of the Matica, clearly demonstrated its important role in the life of the Slovaks. In this period, right from the beginning, the head of the Matica w.as Jozef Skultety, a direct descendant of the generation from the first Matica period. He was a worthy successor of the first Matica presidents, a recognized national authority, and a defender of the Moyses-Kuzmany tradition. Until 1932, Stefan Krcmery was executive secretary of the Matica; Jozef C. Hronsky succeeded Krcmery. When Hronsky became executive director of the Matica during the lifetime of the Slovak Republic (1939-1945), the secretaryship went to Jan Martak. The activity of the Matica during this period was twofold: scientific work and public instruction. The Matica attracted writers and educators, scientific workers, priests and students; it organized local units in many towns and communities. The tradition and the spirit of the Matica Slovenska. did not fit into the pattern of the concept of the "Czechoslovak" nation, which the Czechs defined as a single ethnic entity for world consumption. The Czechs, however, knew they were Czechs a,nd not Slovaks or "Czechoslovaks"and the Slovaks lmew they were Sl<Waks and not Czechs or "Czechoslovaks." The defenders and promoters of the "Czechoslovak" ideology, having the support of Czech politicians made an attempt to anchor themselves in the Matica and to influence especially the work of its linguistic and historic departments. Under their guidance the Matica, in 1931, publtshed the "Pravidla slovenskeho pravopisu" (Rules of Slovak Orthography) which did not conform to the legality or purity of literary Slovak. This evoked a storm of opposition in Slovakia which was quelled with the victory of the Slovak tendency during the mass meeting of the Matica on May 12, 1932. The heralds and promoters of the conception of the "Czechoslovak" language and the "Czechoslovak" nation were voted out of office at this meeting and Jozef C. Hronsky, one of the most eminent of modern Slovak n<Wellists, was elected executive secretary of the Matica Slovenska. The Matica events evoked a strong response in the political life of the Slovaks, especially am~g the younger �SLOVAKIA 73 generation. At the end of June, 1932, members of this generation, representing all political parties, held ,a conference at Trencianske Teplice at which they unanimously backed a federated Czecho-Slovak State. It was from their rank's that the Matica recruited tl\e workers it needed to fulfil its mission. Historian Dr. Frantisek Hrusovsky was named secretary of the scientific departments of the Matica in 1934; Dr. Henrich Bartek and Dr. tudovit Nova.kl specialized as linguists; Dr. Andrew Mraz, Dr. Stanislav Meciar and Dr. Jan Marta.k were given the t~k of developing the ,h istory of Slovak literature; Dr. Jozef Cincik specialized in the art department; and Karol Plicka's forte was ethnology. As soon as the Matica Slovenska. was revived after World War I, it began to publish the literary monthly review "Slovenske Pohfady," which had been founded by Jozef M. Hurban in 1845. The indi'Vidual departments of the Matica gradually began to publish their own magazines. In time the Matica also publit;hed periodicals, such as "Slovensko" (review of culture in general), "Slovenska Rec" (linguistic) , "Slniecko" (youth magazine) , and others. The Matica's "Pedagogicky Zbornik' (Pedagogical Magazine) was, for many years, the only magazine of its kind in the entire Czecho-Slovak Republic. The Matica also supported amateur theater productions and published "Nase Divadlo" (Our Theater); Ferdinand Hoffman specialized in t~ field. Of course, the Matica Slovenska published various literary works of many authors-Slovak and non-Slova:kfor the edification and reading pleasure of the Slovaks: scientific and artistic tomes, children's readers and story books; the collected works of the Slovak classics; translations from foreign literature; textbooks; Rules of Orthography; Rizner's Bibliography of Slovak Letters (6 Vols.); Polivka's "Supis Slovenskych Rozpra.vok" (Inventory of Slovak Tales), etc. The Matica Slovenska. expanded its activities enormously during the life of the Slovak Republic (1939-1945), when its membership and staff personnel reached its highest peak. It was under Hronsky that the Matica built the great book-printing plant Neografia, one of the most modern in Central Europe. --- �74 SLOVAKIA From 1919 to 1944, the Matica Slovenska multiplied. Slovak literary and scientific works as never before. The reason for this was not only a more favorable climate, but especially because the Matica had the services of able and devoted men like Jozef Skultety, Stefan Krcmery, Jozef C. Hronsky, Frantisek Hrusovsky, and many others. At the end of World War II, the complexion of the Matica Slovenska changed completely. With Dr. Edward Benes, Stalin's errand boy, in the president's chair againthe same chair he voluntarily and willingly gave u,p in October, 1938, to flee to England - a Communist beachhead was established in Czecho-Slovakia, in the heart of Europe. A question mark hung over the fate of the Matica. Even though the first indications were that the Matica would be able to continue its wo:r1k, as the days and months rolled by the political power of the "people's democratic regime" began to intervene more and more in the :work of the Matica, violating its tradition and direction. For the first time in the history of the Matica, its president became an exposed politician, Laco N ovomesky, the Commissioner of Education. And the worst of it was that the Matica in those years had no personalities who could protect it with the weight of their authority. Jozef Skultety was a very old man, and the new director of the Matica, Dr. Jan Martak, lacked firmness. Under the circumstances, for which Slovak patriots cannot be held responsible, the Matica Slovenska was completely controlled by the Communists, even though the "Slovak Democrats" of Dr. Jozef Lettrich won 62 per cent of the Slovak electorate in 1946. Old workers were retired, investigated, jailed, disfranchised and persecuted. Already in 1945 it was quite apparent that the Matica was fast becoming a tool of communistic cultural politics. Even the name "Matica Sloven.ska" bothered the Reds. It meant something special, it was a symbol of the efforts and the masses of the people that were opposed to Communism; and the Reds feared that the hundreds of local assem!blies of the Matica could well .become dangerous centers or cells of anti-Communist resistance. It so happened that the Communist regime, by order of the Slovak National Council of April 'l:l, 1954, put a �Sl..OVAKIA 75 stop to the work of the Matica. The Matica building was changed into a central library and the State appropriated the property of the Matica. Shades of 1875 (when the Magyars dissolved the Matica) ! Attempts were made to organize a Matica Slovenska outside of Slovakia by Slovak exiles in the free world, notably by Hronsky, in 1959, in Argentina, with little success, however, thus far. About the closest thing to the Matica was organized in Cleveland, Ohio, by the Right Rev. Theodore J. Kojis, O.S.B., Abbot of St. Andrew-Svorad's Abbey, on September 15, 1952. It is called the Slovak Institute (Slovensky Ustav) and is devoted to practically the same work as the Matica of Slovakia. Lack of finances and personnel limit its activity, but the Slovak Institute of Cleveland, Ohio, nevertheless, is a going institution. Dr. Frantisek Hrusovsky, eminent Slovak historian, was the Institute's first director. His untimely death in 1956 was a setback for the Institute. Cleveland's Slovak Institute, however, definitely holds out the promise of a better future under the directorship of the youthful but energetic Father Andrew Pier, 0, S. B. The Institute has already proved its worth and deserves the support of all Slovaks in the free world. An earlier attempt to found a Matica Slovenska in America was made by Rev. Stephen Furdek of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1893. The meeting he called for Chicago, ID., Sept. 26, 1893, was attended by some 100 Slovak leaders, clergymen and layman, who approved the idea. The organization just about got off the ground when it folded because of dissention in Slovak ranks and lack of vision, tolerance and understanding among Slovak leaders. The Matica quit operation after August, 1899. BIBLIOGRAPHY Frantisek Bokes: Dejiny Slovenska a Slovakov, Bratislava, 1946; Viliam Pauliny-T6th, Turo. Sv. Martin, 194-2. JuHus Botto: Dejiny Matice slovenakej 1863-1875, Turi!. Sv. Martin, 1923. Konstanitln Culen : Rc>ky alove-nakych nadeji a sklamani 1843-1875, Tmava, 1932. Frantillek Hrusovaky : Slovenaky Uatav v Clevelande, reprint from "MOST"-Vol. 2, No. 2, 1955, Cleveland, Ohio. AJ-oj11: KoUse'k: U28. Borba katolfkov za alovenclnu a slobodu, Bratislava, �76 SLOVAKIA Stefa.n Krcmery: Stopit'desiat rokov elovenskej literatury, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1943. Da,nieiJ. Lichard: Rozhovory o Slovenskej Matici, Viedeii, 1865. Jan ,Mart.A'k: Otok na spisovnu 1lovenoi1nu, Turi!. Sv. Martin, 1942. Andrej Mra.z: Jozef Skult6ty, Tu~. Sv. Mar.Un, 1933; Matica slovenekA v rokoch 1863-1875, Tu.re. Sv. MarMn, 193-6. Jan V. Ol'lllis: Zo 1loven1kej minuloati narodnej a literarnej, Pra:ha, 1932. Stefan Pasiar: Dejiny slovenakych l'udovych kniinic, Martin, 1957. Eugen Pauliny: Dejiny spiaovnej 1lovenciny, Bratislava, 19·48. MiLam. P4M.t: Dejiny slovenakej literatury, Bratislava., 1960. Daniel Rapant: K pociatkom madarizacie, Bratis lava, 19.2-'7 and 1931; Tatrin, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1•950. Sbornik na poceat' Jozefa SkultHyho, Turi!. Sv. Martin, 1933. Jozef Skultety: Slivnoat' Mial!ice 1lovenakej ozivotvorenej, T,uro. Sv. Martin, 1919; Stodvadsat'pit' rokov zo alovenak6ho zivota 17901914, Turi!. Sv. Mlllrtin, 1•9 20; 0 Slovakoch, Turi!. Sv. Mal'tin, 1938. Svetozar Hurban Va.jamsk:S,: Zivot Stefana Moyaeaa, Turc. Sv. Martin, 193:5. Jan Vllikovskf: D~jiny literarnich apolecnostf malohontakych, Bratislava, 1935. l!.U D, Bratislava, 1954, No. 9'9, April 27, p. 1. MOST, Cleveland, Ohio, 1954, No. 1, pp. 26, 37; 195-6, No. 1, pp. 2-12; 1959, "No. 3, 'PP, 135-136 and No. 4, p , 14'5; 1960, No 3-4, pp, 97-104. SLOVENSKE NOVINY, Viedeii, 18-50, No. 39 ; 18.'il, Nos. 137, 149. VERB,UM, Kosice, 1947, No. 2, pp. 65-69, 98-102. SLOVAKIA AND ITS PEOPLE by Gilbert L. Oddo - the first complete history of the Slovak people and their country in the English language - may be ordered from the following: Jednota Printery fhe Slovak lnstitute <;\ ~d~et!~xn _l~ Mrs. Julia Krajcovic 1648 W 18th Street Chicago 8 m Mr. Paul C Kaz1mer 1122 Sylvan Avenue Homestead Pa M2~rlevM~1 ·l1aas~nBV~~lB~lhaazl~edk 19. 4922 S Leclaire Avenue Chicago 38 Ul Mr John Horecky 2264 Walton Avenue New York 53. N Y l'he book has 384 pages and a cloth cover and . sells for $6.00. Get your -copy today! 0 ;· g :A:R:IOQ01~~00000000000000<XI � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 64 SLOVAKIA A HUNDRED YEARS OF THE MATICA SLOVENSKA IMRICH KRUZLIAK The concept of the Matica Sloven.ska. (The Slovak Institute of the Arts and Sciences) has its roots far in the times before its establishment in 1863. The earlier learned societies, federations of intellectuals, which often had only a confessional or local character, can be considered as the predecessors of the Matica Slovenska.: The Learned Society of Maly Hont, Societas Slavica, The Learned Society of the mining (Banska) area; also The Slovak Learned Society of Bernolaik, Hamuliak's Society of Admirers of the Slovak Language and Literature, and the Tatrin of Ludovit Stur. The programs of the last three societies were adopted by the Matica Slovenska.. Besides domestic efforts to establish the Matica Slovenska, we must also mention Safa.rik's interest who, at that time, was the director of the Serbian Gymnazium in Novy Sad. He used to write to his countrymen in Slovakia, particularly after the founding of the Serbian Matica in 1823 - which was founded with this help - to give serious thought to the idea of establishing a similar society in Slovakia. Safarik wrote a:bout the matter to, among others, Hamuliak, Kollar and Palacky. Hamuliak liked the idea very much, so much fo fact that, in 1857, when he was about to retire, he donated his personal library to the gymnazium at Banska. Bystrica only on tihe condition that it be handed over to the Matica Slovenska as soon as it was established. M. that time Hamuliak attempted to organize a literary society in Banska. Bystrica, which would be headed by Safarik, a recognized scientific authority. There were several such similar efforts in Slovakia in those years, but not one of them was realized. The Magyar authorities woulq not allow a charter either to Hamuliak or to Stur. With tihe revolutionary years at hand, 1848-49, the Slovaks, too, t ook up arms to seek political freedom. Having failed in the attempt, the Slovaks had to travel the bitter road of sacrifice and oppression. Many hopes were crushed, many enthusiasts were silenced, and many SLOVAKIA 65 more self-sacrificing Slovaks withdrew to the background. Nevertheless, the concept of the Matica did not die, but continued to live in the hearts and minds of the people, awaiting an opportune moment. In 1859, a Slovak patriot, Natan J. Petian, bequeathed 9,000 Gold Crowns for the establishment of the Matica. Two years prior to that, Jonas Zaborsky established a literary foundation with the Czeoh Matica to support the publication of Slovak works, with the reservation, however, that the foundation be transferred to the Matica Slovenska once it came into being. Then followed the historical year 1861, the year of the famous Slovak Memorandum which brought new hopes to the Slovaks. Representatives of the Slovak provinces of Hungary came to Tuiiciansky Sviity Martin to the public meeting arranged for June 6-7, 1861. There in the presence of thousands of people they wholeheartedly adopted the historical Memorandum of the Slovak Nation, with which they hoped to gain recognition for national and political individuality and the political rights to which they felt entitled. There it was, too, that the decision was made to request permission to establish the Matica Slovenska. Emperor Francis Joseph very graciously received the Slovak delegation, headed by Bishop Stephen Moyses, on December 12, 1861. Impressed by the Memorandum, he promised to comply with their righteous requests. The Slovaks were jubilant, figuring that the way was cleared to establish the Matica Slovenska. In Pest'., Jan Franci sci worked feverishly to complete the By-Laws of the Matica; the work was ready on August 1. But the local regency council returned the By-Laws to Francisci, because it found that t:he Matica Slovenska would also be interested in political action. The Magyar authorities also opposed naming the building of the Matica the "Home of the Slovak Nation." Furthermore, they would not permit the organization of affiliates in Slovak communities and cities; they wished to limit the activity and influence of the Matica and make it subject to the control of a royal commissioner. Difficulties were also encountered when it came to selecting a location for the Matica. At first the Matica Slovenska was to be located at Brezno-above-the-Hron (Brez- 66 SLOVAKIA no nad Hronom). The town council had given its approval, but later recalled it, after pressure was applied by royal commissioner Havas of Zvolen. Other Slovak towns wanted the Matica, particularly Turciansky Svaty Martin and Liptovsky Sva.ty Mikulas. The St. Martin town iI'epresentat!on said that it considered it "a most sacred duty" to offer residence to the Matica Slovenska. On October 29, 1862, the local regency council announced the decision of the Emperor who had, by decree, on August 21, allowed the establishment of the Matica Slovenska. The temporary committee of the Matica proclaimed the joyous news in the Pesfbudinske Vedomosti on November 4, 1862. Thereupon a membership drive and a campaign for funds were instituted. The committee then called a meeting of the Matica on August 4, 1863. From, the fall of 1862 to the end of July 1863, more than 50,000 Gold Crowns were collected for the Matica. Francisci at that time joyously exclaimed: "My dear nation, you are indeed arising from the dust, but you are rising as a giant!" The Foundation of the Matica Slovenska On August 4, 1863, great throngs of Slovaks from practically all parts of Slovakia travelled to Turciansky Svaty Martin for the first general meeting of the Matica Slovenska.. Bishop Stephen Moyses was wildly acclaimed along the route to Martin by hundreds of thousands of his countrymen. After he had led the Slovak delegation in December, 1861, to the Emperor, Bishop Moyses became the most popular man in Slovakia, the leader of the Slovak people. In St. Martin, Charles Kuzma.ny, a Lutheran clergyman, welcomed Moyses with a memorable speech in whioh he sad: "Entire milleniums now look upon you and upon us from the height of these hills; all the valleys of our hallowed Tatra Mountains to the blue Danube gaze upon you with the eyes of the here present matured generation and from the faces of these children there looks upon you and upon llS the entire future of the Slovak nation. You are going to perform an act for the entire history of this nation, a monument to the past and a foundation for the future, the SLOVAKIA 67 twofold gate, closed for the injustices of the past and opened for the glory of future ages." Tihe meeting was opened by Jan Francisci, chairman of the temporary committee, who, among other things, said: "We, the sons of the Slovak nation:, which had no haven to turn to in the face of injustice, have gathered here to place the cornerstone on which shall rest the temple and stability of Slovak national life." Wihen Francisci asked Bishop Moyses to preside at the meeting, the multitude went wild with joy. The spontaneous acclamation accorded Bishop Moyses was tantamount to electing him the first president of the Matica Slovenska. After the crowd quieted down, Bishop Moyses said: "Where there is a question of honors and decorations, I always like to be the last, because I do not and never did yearn for honors . . . Where, 1h owever, there is a question of service to my Slovak people and willingness to render service, as well as sacrifices for the development of our nation, I never did withdraw, I am not going to withdraw, I do not wish to withdraw, and I shall not withdraw... " Charles_Kuzmany became vice-president of the Matica. Francisci and Daxner were nominated for the function, to honor them for the services they rendered to the Slovak nation, but they declined the nomination, as they had agreed to beforehand t!hat the office should go to Kuzmany, who at that time had been expelled from Banska Bystrica by the enemies of the Slovak cause and had been accepted by the ecclesiastical community in Turciansky Svaty Martin. There were also other tactical reasons for this move. The Slovaks did not wish to have politically exposed individuals at the head of the Matica, especially not those who had taken an active part in the revolution. The personalities of Moyses and Kuzmany, representing ·b oth confessions (Catholic and Lutheran), reflected the solidarity and unity of the Slovak nation. In the act of allowing the establishment of the Matica, the Slovaks saw the recognition of the existence of the Slovak nation on the part of the Emperor. His gift of a thousand Gold Crowns to the Matica was joyously ac- 68 SLOVAKIA claimed by the Slovaks. When the Slovaks learned that the Emperor had named Bishop Moyses as his personal counsellor, their joy knew no bounds. The convention ordered a delegation to visit the Emperor to express its sin- ----cere gratefulness and fealty. The First Period of the Matica (1863-1875) The Matica Slovenska began its activity in 1863, that is, in the year the Slovaks commemorated the millenium of the advent of Sts. Cyril and Methodius to the territory of ancient Slovaks, Great Moravia. At that time there were grandiose celebrations in various cities of Slovakia, whereby the Slovaks demonstrated their cultural and political antiquity. J. M. Hurban had this in mind when, at the Matica meeting, he moved that "the establishment of the Matica Slovenska take place in commemoration of the CyriloMethodian baptism and the thousand-year-old Christianity of our nation." Because Sts. Cyril and Methodius brought to our forefathers not only Christianity but also the elements of Slovak literature, Bishop Moyses "wholeheartedly agreed with the motion of Dr. Hurban," as S. H. Vajansky later recorded. The establishment of the Matica Slovenska. was followed attentively by other Slovanic nations. The Croatian Bishop Strossmayer donated a thousand Gold Crowns to the Matica which sought the favor and support of cultural factors of other Slovanic nations. At its first and second meetings, the Matica elected outstanding Slovanic scholars as charter and honorary members. Paragraph 32 of the Matica By-Laws noted its cooperation with other Slovanic cultural institutions. According to paragraph 1, the Matica Slovenska was "a union of admirers of the nation and Slovak life" and it chief aim was: to cultivate and propagate Slovak literature and the fine arts, as well as to rouse moral and intellectual education and thereby also aid the material welfare of the Slovak nation. The cooperation of the intelligentsia and the people was the prerequisite to the cucce.ss of Matica activity. Bishop Moyses stressed this in his speeches. The Matica, from its very beginning, unfolded its acti- SLOVAKIA 69 vity in two fields: the field of science and the field of enlightenment, that is in the field of educating people. The building of a great library and mus~um were on its program. Unfortunately, the activity of the Matica was dependent on the success of public drives for finances. And because the amounts raised thusly were less and less with passing years, they were not sufficient to c01Ver the needs of the Matica. John Gotcar suggested that the government subsidize the •a ctivity of the Matica as it did in the case of Magyar and German institutions. The matter was brought up in parliament, but the majority of deputies repudiated it. In the first period of its existence, the Matica published books and periodicals, built its home, supported the alumnea of the Slovak gymnasiums, gave stipends to students, and supported the artists Bohuii and Klemens. Altogether in these twelve years (1863-1875), the Matica published 40 books and newspapers, Moyses's and Kozacek's speeches in the Matica, which it distributed gratis among the people, two volumes of the Archives of Old Documents, a souvenir book to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Mikulas Subic Zrinsky, Dobsinsky's articles about Slovak folklore, two volumes of Slovak national songs and tales, a National Almanac, a Slovak Reader, Slovak school texts; then it also sought to fix orthographical usage according to Hattala's grammar, and even devoted itself to geological research in Slovakia. There were <voices that the Matica devote itself only to scientific activity. Jonas Zaborsky was especially vocal about this. But the Matica could not do this, because the need to educate the people at large was very great. From 1868, the Matica began to develop several scientific departments which became the motivators of Matica activity especially in its second period, after 1919. In the first period these departments could not sufficiently develop their activity because of the lack workers and financial means. In a few years the Matica gained so much respect and weight with the Slovak public that Vajansky, evaluating its activity, wrote gleefully: "For the Slovak nation the Matica was everything on which could depend our national feeling, national consciousness, national pride and hope." 70 SLOVAKIA The assemblies of the Matica, especially after Slovak cultural and economic life began to be concentrated in St. Martin, were important national and social occasions, during which Slovaks discussed their plans for the future. Thanks to the Matica, St. Martin became the bastion of the defensiive battle of the Slovaks and the cradle of Slovak activities. After Bishop Moyses's death in 1869, the office of president was left vacant for one year, out of deference to the Bishop, then Abbot Jozef Koza.eek took over the office. The participation of the Matica delegates in the various festivities of Slovanic nations meant much to the Slovaks politically and nationally. The Magyar authorities were alert; they readily recognized such activity as anti-Magyar, that is, "anti-State." Already in 1867, Vtliam Pauliny Toth complained that Slovak patriots were being vilified and made suspect of treason just because they were members of the Matica. This also characterized the position of the Matica. When the Matica Slovenska came into being, the conditions were not at all favorable for the national and cultural life of the Slovaks. The authorities repeatedly acc.uaed the Matica of "Pan-Slavism" and of making preparations to destroy Hungary. Soon enough the fight against the Matica was identified with the fight against the Slovak nation, against the freedom and independence of the Slovak nation: to Slovaks it became increasingly clear that probably the last fight for their national survival was at hand. In vain did officials of the Matica try to convince the Magyar State officials that their institution was not an enemy of the State. The Magyar press increased its attacks against everything Slov,ak, declaring: "the Slovak is not a man . . . there is no Slovak nation . . . The Slovaks are Pan-Slavists, enemies of the State . . . There is no Slovak language . . . the official and only recognized tongue in Hungary is Magyar." Slovak leaders felt the Matica's days were numbered. At the general meeting of the Matica on August 5, 1874, more Slovaks came to St. Martin than had come during the previous ten years. Daniel Lichard said SLOVAKIA 71 on that occasion: (we are not supposed to exist) "nevertheless here we a.re!" The cause of the Slovaks once again seemed hopeless. After the settlement with Austria was reached in 1867, resulting in the Dual-Monarchy (Austria-Hungary), the Magyars had absolute control of Hungary with over half its population being non-Magyar. In Pest, the name of the Matica Slovenska was on the blacklist. The Magyars instituted hearings against the Matica on November 19, 1875, outlawed its activities on April 6, 1875, and dissolived it on November 12, 1875, by order of the Minister of the Interior, Koloman Tisza. The property of the Matica was confiscated only to be used against the Slovaks: Tisza declared cynically that the property cannot be given to the Slovak nation, because "in Hungary there is no Slovak nation." The Slovaks, however, were now more determined than ever to fight for their national survival against Magyar chauvinism. The Matica was not to be revived until 1919. The Matica's Second Period (1919-1954) Forty-four years had to elapse before the Matica Slovenska was revived. During that time many political changes had taken place. Old Hungary was split up and the Slovak nation-whose existence was denied by Koloman Tisza in 1875-was able to form a state in 1918. Much had been neglected since 1875; there was much to do for the Matice Slovenska after the collapse of Austria-Hungary. On January 1, 1919, representatives of the Slovak people, the sons of the founders of the Matica, gathered solemnly at Turciansky Svaty Martin to open the gates of the Matica in the newly-formed Czecho-Slovak State. Thus began its second period of activity, which was to last until 1954, when Matica activities came to an end at the hands of Communists. It soon became evident that the troubles of the Matica were not over and new storm clouds gathered over Slovakia to test anew the political capacity and political maturity of the Slovaks. That the struggles over the spiritual individuality of the Slovak nation - which this time were evoked by a mistaken "Czechoslovak" national conception- 72 SLOVAKIA were transferred over to the arena of the Matica, clearly demonstrated its important role in the life of the Slovaks. In this period, right from the beginning, the head of the Matica w.as Jozef Skultety, a direct descendant of the generation from the first Matica period. He was a worthy successor of the first Matica presidents, a recognized national authority, and a defender of the Moyses-Kuzmany tradition. Until 1932, Stefan Krcmery was executive secretary of the Matica; Jozef C. Hronsky succeeded Krcmery. When Hronsky became executive director of the Matica during the lifetime of the Slovak Republic (1939-1945), the secretaryship went to Jan Martak. The activity of the Matica during this period was twofold: scientific work and public instruction. The Matica attracted writers and educators, scientific workers, priests and students; it organized local units in many towns and communities. The tradition and the spirit of the Matica Slovenska. did not fit into the pattern of the concept of the "Czechoslovak" nation, which the Czechs defined as a single ethnic entity for world consumption. The Czechs, however, knew they were Czechs a,nd not Slovaks or "Czechoslovaks"and the Slovaks lmew they were Sl<Waks and not Czechs or "Czechoslovaks." The defenders and promoters of the "Czechoslovak" ideology, having the support of Czech politicians made an attempt to anchor themselves in the Matica and to influence especially the work of its linguistic and historic departments. Under their guidance the Matica, in 1931, publtshed the "Pravidla slovenskeho pravopisu" (Rules of Slovak Orthography) which did not conform to the legality or purity of literary Slovak. This evoked a storm of opposition in Slovakia which was quelled with the victory of the Slovak tendency during the mass meeting of the Matica on May 12, 1932. The heralds and promoters of the conception of the "Czechoslovak" language and the "Czechoslovak" nation were voted out of office at this meeting and Jozef C. Hronsky, one of the most eminent of modern Slovak n<Wellists, was elected executive secretary of the Matica Slovenska. The Matica events evoked a strong response in the political life of the Slovaks, especially am~g the younger SLOVAKIA 73 generation. At the end of June, 1932, members of this generation, representing all political parties, held ,a conference at Trencianske Teplice at which they unanimously backed a federated Czecho-Slovak State. It was from their rank's that the Matica recruited tl\e workers it needed to fulfil its mission. Historian Dr. Frantisek Hrusovsky was named secretary of the scientific departments of the Matica in 1934; Dr. Henrich Bartek and Dr. tudovit Nova.kl specialized as linguists; Dr. Andrew Mraz, Dr. Stanislav Meciar and Dr. Jan Marta.k were given the t~k of developing the ,h istory of Slovak literature; Dr. Jozef Cincik specialized in the art department; and Karol Plicka's forte was ethnology. As soon as the Matica Slovenska. was revived after World War I, it began to publish the literary monthly review "Slovenske Pohfady," which had been founded by Jozef M. Hurban in 1845. The indi'Vidual departments of the Matica gradually began to publish their own magazines. In time the Matica also publit;hed periodicals, such as "Slovensko" (review of culture in general), "Slovenska Rec" (linguistic) , "Slniecko" (youth magazine) , and others. The Matica's "Pedagogicky Zbornik' (Pedagogical Magazine) was, for many years, the only magazine of its kind in the entire Czecho-Slovak Republic. The Matica also supported amateur theater productions and published "Nase Divadlo" (Our Theater); Ferdinand Hoffman specialized in t~ field. Of course, the Matica Slovenska published various literary works of many authors-Slovak and non-Slova:kfor the edification and reading pleasure of the Slovaks: scientific and artistic tomes, children's readers and story books; the collected works of the Slovak classics; translations from foreign literature; textbooks; Rules of Orthography; Rizner's Bibliography of Slovak Letters (6 Vols.); Polivka's "Supis Slovenskych Rozpra.vok" (Inventory of Slovak Tales), etc. The Matica Slovenska. expanded its activities enormously during the life of the Slovak Republic (1939-1945), when its membership and staff personnel reached its highest peak. It was under Hronsky that the Matica built the great book-printing plant Neografia, one of the most modern in Central Europe. --- 74 SLOVAKIA From 1919 to 1944, the Matica Slovenska multiplied. Slovak literary and scientific works as never before. The reason for this was not only a more favorable climate, but especially because the Matica had the services of able and devoted men like Jozef Skultety, Stefan Krcmery, Jozef C. Hronsky, Frantisek Hrusovsky, and many others. At the end of World War II, the complexion of the Matica Slovenska changed completely. With Dr. Edward Benes, Stalin's errand boy, in the president's chair againthe same chair he voluntarily and willingly gave u,p in October, 1938, to flee to England - a Communist beachhead was established in Czecho-Slovakia, in the heart of Europe. A question mark hung over the fate of the Matica. Even though the first indications were that the Matica would be able to continue its wo:r1k, as the days and months rolled by the political power of the "people's democratic regime" began to intervene more and more in the :work of the Matica, violating its tradition and direction. For the first time in the history of the Matica, its president became an exposed politician, Laco N ovomesky, the Commissioner of Education. And the worst of it was that the Matica in those years had no personalities who could protect it with the weight of their authority. Jozef Skultety was a very old man, and the new director of the Matica, Dr. Jan Martak, lacked firmness. Under the circumstances, for which Slovak patriots cannot be held responsible, the Matica Slovenska was completely controlled by the Communists, even though the "Slovak Democrats" of Dr. Jozef Lettrich won 62 per cent of the Slovak electorate in 1946. Old workers were retired, investigated, jailed, disfranchised and persecuted. Already in 1945 it was quite apparent that the Matica was fast becoming a tool of communistic cultural politics. Even the name "Matica Sloven.ska" bothered the Reds. It meant something special, it was a symbol of the efforts and the masses of the people that were opposed to Communism; and the Reds feared that the hundreds of local assem!blies of the Matica could well .become dangerous centers or cells of anti-Communist resistance. It so happened that the Communist regime, by order of the Slovak National Council of April 'l:l, 1954, put a Sl..OVAKIA 75 stop to the work of the Matica. The Matica building was changed into a central library and the State appropriated the property of the Matica. Shades of 1875 (when the Magyars dissolved the Matica) ! Attempts were made to organize a Matica Slovenska outside of Slovakia by Slovak exiles in the free world, notably by Hronsky, in 1959, in Argentina, with little success, however, thus far. About the closest thing to the Matica was organized in Cleveland, Ohio, by the Right Rev. Theodore J. Kojis, O.S.B., Abbot of St. Andrew-Svorad's Abbey, on September 15, 1952. It is called the Slovak Institute (Slovensky Ustav) and is devoted to practically the same work as the Matica of Slovakia. Lack of finances and personnel limit its activity, but the Slovak Institute of Cleveland, Ohio, nevertheless, is a going institution. Dr. Frantisek Hrusovsky, eminent Slovak historian, was the Institute's first director. His untimely death in 1956 was a setback for the Institute. Cleveland's Slovak Institute, however, definitely holds out the promise of a better future under the directorship of the youthful but energetic Father Andrew Pier, 0, S. B. The Institute has already proved its worth and deserves the support of all Slovaks in the free world. An earlier attempt to found a Matica Slovenska in America was made by Rev. Stephen Furdek of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1893. The meeting he called for Chicago, ID., Sept. 26, 1893, was attended by some 100 Slovak leaders, clergymen and layman, who approved the idea. The organization just about got off the ground when it folded because of dissention in Slovak ranks and lack of vision, tolerance and understanding among Slovak leaders. The Matica quit operation after August, 1899. BIBLIOGRAPHY Frantisek Bokes: Dejiny Slovenska a Slovakov, Bratislava, 1946; Viliam Pauliny-T6th, Turo. Sv. Martin, 194-2. JuHus Botto: Dejiny Matice slovenakej 1863-1875, Turi!. Sv. Martin, 1923. Konstanitln Culen : Rc>ky alove-nakych nadeji a sklamani 1843-1875, Tmava, 1932. Frantillek Hrusovaky : Slovenaky Uatav v Clevelande, reprint from "MOST"-Vol. 2, No. 2, 1955, Cleveland, Ohio. AJ-oj11: KoUse'k: U28. Borba katolfkov za alovenclnu a slobodu, Bratislava, 76 SLOVAKIA Stefa.n Krcmery: Stopit'desiat rokov elovenskej literatury, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1943. Da,nieiJ. Lichard: Rozhovory o Slovenskej Matici, Viedeii, 1865. Jan ,Mart.A'k: Otok na spisovnu 1lovenoi1nu, Turi!. Sv. Martin, 1942. Andrej Mra.z: Jozef Skult6ty, Tu~. Sv. Mar.Un, 1933; Matica slovenekA v rokoch 1863-1875, Tu.re. Sv. MarMn, 193-6. Jan V. Ol'lllis: Zo 1loven1kej minuloati narodnej a literarnej, Pra:ha, 1932. Stefan Pasiar: Dejiny slovenakych l'udovych kniinic, Martin, 1957. Eugen Pauliny: Dejiny spiaovnej 1lovenciny, Bratislava, 19·48. MiLam. P4M.t: Dejiny slovenakej literatury, Bratislava., 1960. Daniel Rapant: K pociatkom madarizacie, Bratis lava, 19.2-'7 and 1931; Tatrin, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1•950. Sbornik na poceat' Jozefa SkultHyho, Turi!. Sv. Martin, 1933. Jozef Skultety: Slivnoat' Mial!ice 1lovenakej ozivotvorenej, T,uro. Sv. Martin, 1919; Stodvadsat'pit' rokov zo alovenak6ho zivota 17901914, Turi!. Sv. Mlllrtin, 1•9 20; 0 Slovakoch, Turi!. Sv. Mal'tin, 1938. Svetozar Hurban Va.jamsk:S,: Zivot Stefana Moyaeaa, Turc. Sv. Martin, 193:5. Jan Vllikovskf: D~jiny literarnich apolecnostf malohontakych, Bratislava, 1935. l!.U D, Bratislava, 1954, No. 9'9, April 27, p. 1. MOST, Cleveland, Ohio, 1954, No. 1, pp. 26, 37; 195-6, No. 1, pp. 2-12; 1959, "No. 3, 'PP, 135-136 and No. 4, p , 14'5; 1960, No 3-4, pp, 97-104. SLOVENSKE NOVINY, Viedeii, 18-50, No. 39 ; 18.'il, Nos. 137, 149. VERB,UM, Kosice, 1947, No. 2, pp. 65-69, 98-102. SLOVAKIA AND ITS PEOPLE by Gilbert L. Oddo - the first complete history of the Slovak people and their country in the English language - may be ordered from the following: Jednota Printery fhe Slovak lnstitute <;\ ~d~et!~xn _l~ Mrs. Julia Krajcovic 1648 W 18th Street Chicago 8 m Mr. Paul C Kaz1mer 1122 Sylvan Avenue Homestead Pa M2~rlevM~1 ·l1aas~nBV~~lB~lhaazl~edk 19. 4922 S Leclaire Avenue Chicago 38 Ul Mr John Horecky 2264 Walton Avenue New York 53. N Y l'he book has 384 pages and a cloth cover and . sells for $6.00. Get your -copy today! 0 ;· g :A:R:IOQ01~~00000000000000<XI  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 Hundred Years of the Matica Slovenská Description An account of the resource Imrich Kružliak Slovakia, Vol. 13, No. 1 (36), March 1963 pp. 64-76 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kružliak, Imrich, 1914-2019 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1963 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/8cca52a70435dc9cd05b6fa2457ec9b1.pdf bf5b53d80710ba34ebda4c8ecae805d9 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 57 A New Phase In The Socialist Economic Reform V. J. Hurley I Ever since the famous Liberman debate in 1962 on the reform of the Socialist planned economic system, several Socialist writers have voiced their opinions on the subject. Ideas proposed by Liberman for the Soviet Union were followed by similar ideas for the planned economic system in other European Communist countries. It was primarily 0. Sik1 and others in Czecho-Slovakia, W. Brus2 and others in Poland, as well as others in each Communist country who were economic proponents of the new way of looking at economic planning proposed by Liberman.3 After a heated debate in the Soviet press, especially Pravda, for a general discussion and Voprosy ekonomiki for a more rigorous discussion, there were certain fluctuations in proposing the Liberman ideas in practice or rejecting them. A period of total stagnation set in when N. Khruschev was replaced by Brezhnev and Kosygin. However, soon afterwards a further development of Liberman's ideas was evident in the Soviet press and elsewhere in the Communist countries. The purpose of this paper is to present and briefly analyze the state of the debate of the economic reform in Czecho-Slovakia. It will be noted that after a brief period of "liberalization" in 1968, there followed a complete stop in the discussion of the subject. Latter have there appeared occassional suggestions that the topic is still alive and of paramount importance to the Socialist economic planners. Andrej Lantay, the present director of the Economic Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava, has published what may be considered the important �58 SLOVAKIA restatement of the issues involved in the economic reform in the Socialist countries, especially Czecho-Slovakia.4 In his statement, Lantay proposes a new approach to the economic reform in Czecho-Slovakia. Before analyzing the major issues involved, he specifies certain basic criteria which must be observed when discussing the problem of Socialist economic planning. First, he maintains that it is the planned economic system and not price mechanism that is characteristic of any Socialist economy. Second, it is impossible to confuse $ik's model of Socialist economy with the actual purpose of the economic reform. Third, any debate on the economic reform must proceed from the premise that the Communist Party is the leading and actual moving force behind any economic measures proposed. Thus, the supremacy of the Communist Party has been reasserted. II At present, the new phase in the development of Socialist economic reform entails a slow reevaluation of the various instruments of their economic system. After the setback of the reform in 1968, it is clear to the Socialist as well as western analysts that the reform must follow on wholly Socialist lines with a more or less centralized model as suggested by various writers in the past. The Lantay model differs from other models only by its distribution of areas of competent decision making between the central planning authority and the firm. The pre-Liberman models tended to stress the dominance of the central authorities in planning decisions. The post-Liberman models showed the necessity to decentralize the rigid economic system and give the firm enough responsibility to decide on what level the relevant actions were to be taken to achieve higher profitability or productivity of the firm. Most post-Liberman models considered giving a firm a dominant role in decision making. The Socialist and western literature is abundant on that score. The Lantay model, on the other hand, is a slight departure from the two previous approaches to the problem of economic planning in the Socialist countries, especially in Czecho-Slovakia. Lantay proposes that decision making �SLOVAKIA 59 in terms of planning should occur on the first level with an explicit collaboration with the central planning authority. Thus, there should exist a kind of sharing the authority of planning decisions between the individual firms and the center and possibly between some intermediate planning organizations. This model may be an improvement over the pre-Liberman centralized models, but it is doubtful that it will efficiently replace such decentralized models as the one of sik. In general, the Lantay model may be considered as an intermediate model between the two extremes. The Lantay model will have to face the same major problems of rigidity in economic planning in various areas. First, in terms of organization, the firm will have to have enough competence to decide as to the microeconomic variables utilized in its production. If this competence is going to be acknowledged the firm may be free to choose some measuring stick of some kind of optimization. It does not have to be profitability maximization. However, in this respect the Lantay model will have to decide the old problem of what criteria it is going to use to measure :profitability. So far the Lantay model does not suggest any solution to this problem. If the firm will obtain such competence as to decide on its own how to maximize some objective function, some positive results may follow from the Lantay model. Such decentralization of microeconomic decisions of the firm will leave the overall microeconomic decisions to the central planning authority. Then the central planning authority could be given an opportunity to follow the development of individual microeconomic plans as to the level of achievement. Only in this way, i.e. through the division of labor between the center and the firm, may it eliminate the unnecessary overlapping and contradictory decision processes. The details of this have not been specified by Lantay. Second, on measuring the level of performance, the Lantay model will have to solve a problem of measuring the capital productivity and also the above mentioned profitability. In both cases the Socialist literature is negligent in coming to an adequate solution. Although the profitability indicator, one of several, has been recently �60 SLOVAKIA stressed, the actual performance of the firm showed that it was used only as one of many. As long as profitability is not used as the most important indicator, there are likely to be difficulties in the measurement of the efficiency of the firms. Such indicators as quality, assortment, etc., are a necessary part of statistical assessment of the firm's performance, but they should not be given dominance over profitability. A profitable firm is one which earns certain levels of profits, given the product of certain quality, size, shape, etc. Physical assessment of the performance of the firm is crude in some cases and impossible in others. Profits under Socialism are a public property. This was maintained by Liberman and others. Therefore, the Lantay model cannot shy away from it as from the capitalist variable. In terms of investment spending, the same argument follows. To assess it, one should calculate it in terms of monetary values rather than in physical terms. Even if one has to select a less profitable investment project over a more profitable one, one should assess the difference between them. Thus, one should calculate how much value is being lost by choosing a less profitable investment project in order to be able to compare it with the social gain from making such a choice. Capital productivity in monetary values may prove a much more realistic way of measuring it and also much easier. Third, one of the major problems in any previous models was the problem of factor mobility. The planning mechanism did not allow for factor mobility into their optimal uses by differential compensation. Rather, the planning authorities totally disregarded this process o! allocation and have distributed the factors by the stress of certain emphasized industries such as heavy industries under pre-Liberman models. This brought about a tremendous amount of misallocation of resources with an accompanying suboptimal performances on micro- and macro-economic levels. It should be noted at this point that labor mobility exists and is also officially recognized by the central economic planning authorities in Czechoslovakia as well as in other Socialist countries. However, the actual movement of labor has been made very difficult by various restrictions, such as a workbook which has to be presented at the new location before one can obtain �SLOVAKIA 61 a job there. Slackening the institutional restrictions on factor mobility usually brings about a movement of the factors of production into such industries in which their productivity is the highest. Thus, the most profitable firms will attract and be able to pay higher wages to interested labor and become even more profitable through higher productivity, eliminating some of the low productivity labor which would have to transfer into a less profitable firm. With total labor mobility, there would remain only most profitable firms in the industry, the marginal firms being eliminated. Although this is the basic mechanism in a free enterprise economic system, it is also inevitable in a Socialist system if some method of optimization is to be sought after. The planning authority role in the mobility of factors o:! production would be to stay away and not to interfere. Given the free factor mobility, the planning authorities should observe the trends of labor mobility. If the trends observed are with the wishes of the planners, nothing should be done. However, if the labor moves into the most profitable uses and the planners wish to change the trend into the industries which are not so profitable but emphasized some criteria other than the profitability, the planning authority should be able to steer such movement with ease as it has all the necessary instruments of enforcement. What is proposed here is a working mechanism of the allocation of resources to their optimal uses within the planned economic framework. Of course, it is obvious that a free enterprise system which is supposed to be without too many imperfections is likely to solve this problem much faster and more efficiently than the planned economic system. However, this may not be so if the planners will devise such methods of allocation of resources which will outweigh the imperfections of the free enterprise systems. So far this has not been done, and if there is hope of it ever being done, it must be only a case in which the planning authority is a steering agency rather than a commanding one. III Observing the present state of economic reform in any of the Communist countries, one may delineate what may �62 SLOVAKIA be called a new phase of development. This new phase could be briefly described within the planned economic framework as the moderate search for solutions to economic problems as outlined above. Thus, it may be clear by now to the Socialist as well as western analysts that the planned economic system is there to stay. The dominance of the Communist Party in economic decision making has been reasserted. The content of the new phase of economic development in Socialist countries would be the search for such instruments and mechanisms of economic activity which will affect the optimal allocation of resources within the planned economic framework. Such a search has been started by A. Lantay, and his model shows signs of awareness of the above mentioned areas of difficulty. In his study, he mentions the first major problem of economic planning. This is the problem of what role the planning authority should play in the Socialist economic process. It has been pointed out above that Lantay proposes a redistribution of competence between the center and the firms. This is expected to occur in such a way that the firms' interests will be supported by the interests of the central planning authority. Lantay further suggests that sufficient amounts of authority should be delegated to the firms to create an atmosphere in which the firms may be able to operate profitably. This may be actually the strongest point in the Lantay model. In the past, the Socialist reformers had difficulty defending such views, but it seems that Lantay, who is proposing a kind of intermediate model, may have other supporters, as he does ultimately stress the point of reemphasizing the centralized economic planning. This may seem a contradiction in itself. But it does not have to be; it all depends on the content of responsibility of the agents like the firms and the planning authorities at various levels. If, as Lantay suggests, the responsibily of the central planning authority will be to plan an overall economic activity and let the firms operate on their own initiative within the plan, then there should not be much conflict. This could resemble very loosely the concept of "economie dirige" of France. Although the central planning authority �SLOVAKIA 63 is not supposed to interfere with the performance of the firms, it always has an opportunity to check their activities should the need arise. Further, Lantay proposes that the firms should be interested in the collaboration with the central planning authority by striving for higher productivity through innovations and eventually for higher profitability. This may be a new shape of economic reform as other indicators are lacking from Lantay's discussion. It may be remembered that there were other indicators that the planning authority has imposed on the firms as obligatory target figures. The Lantay presentation may be a departure from the older models as it stresses the achievement of productivity and profitability. Since this has also been a major area difficulty in the past, Lantay's version may be a move in the right direction. He does mention that one has to eliminate the mistakes of the past and supply goods of acceptable or prescribed quality. This is, however, assumed as given rather than to present it as a target. If carried trough properly, this may prove one of the most important improvements on all previous economic models without sacrificing any principles of economic planning. One simply maximizes Socialist profits within the planned economic system. It is a question of how the new planning organization will be carried out that will determine whether planning is going to be a supporting variable rather than a constraint. The planning as it was produced in the pre-Liberman models turned out to be a constraint to economic growth rather than a supporting variable. In the Lantay model, there are signs which may prove workable. In a further discussion, Lantay proposes a new structure for wages and tax payments. However, it is only a suggestion without any specific elaboration of the problem. It has been mentioned above what problems are connected in this respect. If one were allowed a guess, Lantay may try to solve the problem of wages by allowing labor mobility and thus base the wage r ates on productivity rather than planned figures. Furthermore, the supply and demand, which are not explicitly stated by Lantay, may take care of itself by the free m obility of labor. Lantay does �64 SLOVAKIA criticize the way in which the firms in the past used bribes to attract more qualified labor. This may show that by eliminating institutional and other restrictions there would be a great mobility of labor in Socialist economics if allowed. In terms of the firm's production, Lantay suggests that one should modernize the present firms by the latest technology in order to increase productivity rather than to expand production by building new plants. Thus, it is a switch from an extensive to an intensive process of production. This kind of approach would be in line with the profit maximization proposal which also takes into consideration the technological aspect of the production function or "the state of arts". This also would be a departure from other Socialist models, as the Socialist producers usually shy away from modernization of their firms. Paradoxical as it may appear at first sight, and subject to a misconception on this issue in the western literature, the Socialist manager has so far tried to avoid the modernization of his firm, although it has been done in many instances. The problem is this; it is true that modern machinery is more productive, and therefore it is expected to produce a larger physical output. This is a simple proposition and to mention it here amounts to a teutology. Because of the higher productivity, the Socialist planners are also interested in introducing the new technology into their firms. The question is, then, why is it that the Socialist manager would not be interested in its introduction to his firm? The answer is this; although it is true that machinery of higher productivity may produce the larger output, the target figures for the manager will also be higher than before when the old machinery was used. This by itself would not create a great problem. If the productivity of a new machine is three times greater than that of the old, then the targets would become three times higher. But the problem starts when the Socialist manager starts to make physical adjustments to meet the increased production. First, it will need larger amounts of raw materials, more workers to handle the increased output; apart from �SLOVAKIA 65 this, the output may increase to such a level that the manager will have to expand any activity that will be affected by such an increase. With larger volumes of production the supply of factors of production by other firms will also increase. Here is the crux of the matter: with higher targets for the production of the firm and with inefficient supplies coming from other firms, the manager may have a more difficult time fulfilling the plan with the consequence of costly penalties imposed for underfulfillment. The Socialist manager, therefore, is better off in terms of fulfilling the plan when he is working with the old and less efficient machinery. If the process of planning and carrying through the set targets for all firms concerned were improved upon, the Socialist manager could be interested in modernization of the firm. Until then, however, he will be satisfied with lower output that is achieved more safely. It is especially in this context that the proposition of Lantay should be considered. The situation in Slovakia and Bohemia may be better in this respect than in the Soviet Union and other Socialist countries, but it is still a matter of future planning rather than the present situation that will allow the "starved for capital" managers to be seriously interested in modernization of their firms. However, if the Lantay model will be carried out as proposed and a situation created in which the managers will be able to maximize profits rather than a host of other indicators and all firms perform efficiently, there may be an interest for modernization on the part of the Socialist managers. It could prove to have a cumulative effect on the various variables which support a higher economic growth. But this is to be seen in the future. FOOTNOTES 1) Sile, Ota, K problematice socialistickych zbozn£ch vztahu, Prague 1965. 2) Brus, W., Modely socialistickeho hospodarstvi, Prague 1964. 3) Liberman, E. G., Planirovanie proizvodstva i normativy dlitelnogo deystviya, in Voprosy ekonomiki, 1962, No. 8; Liberman also wrote a book in 1950 called Plan, pribyl i premiya but it is very seldom quoted in connection with the famous debate. 4) Lantay, A., Uvazene a triezvo rozvijat' ekonomicku reformu, in Pravda (Bratislava), October 19, 21, 22, and 23, 1970. � SLOVAKIA 57 A New Phase In The Socialist Economic Reform V. J. Hurley I Ever since the famous Liberman debate in 1962 on the reform of the Socialist planned economic system, several Socialist writers have voiced their opinions on the subject. Ideas proposed by Liberman for the Soviet Union were followed by similar ideas for the planned economic system in other European Communist countries. It was primarily 0. Sik1 and others in Czecho-Slovakia, W. Brus2 and others in Poland, as well as others in each Communist country who were economic proponents of the new way of looking at economic planning proposed by Liberman.3 After a heated debate in the Soviet press, especially Pravda, for a general discussion and Voprosy ekonomiki for a more rigorous discussion, there were certain fluctuations in proposing the Liberman ideas in practice or rejecting them. A period of total stagnation set in when N. Khruschev was replaced by Brezhnev and Kosygin. However, soon afterwards a further development of Liberman's ideas was evident in the Soviet press and elsewhere in the Communist countries. The purpose of this paper is to present and briefly analyze the state of the debate of the economic reform in Czecho-Slovakia. It will be noted that after a brief period of "liberalization" in 1968, there followed a complete stop in the discussion of the subject. Latter have there appeared occassional suggestions that the topic is still alive and of paramount importance to the Socialist economic planners. Andrej Lantay, the present director of the Economic Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava, has published what may be considered the important �58 SLOVAKIA restatement of the issues involved in the economic reform in the Socialist countries, especially Czecho-Slovakia.4 In his statement, Lantay proposes a new approach to the economic reform in Czecho-Slovakia. Before analyzing the major issues involved, he specifies certain basic criteria which must be observed when discussing the problem of Socialist economic planning. First, he maintains that it is the planned economic system and not price mechanism that is characteristic of any Socialist economy. Second, it is impossible to confuse $ik's model of Socialist economy with the actual purpose of the economic reform. Third, any debate on the economic reform must proceed from the premise that the Communist Party is the leading and actual moving force behind any economic measures proposed. Thus, the supremacy of the Communist Party has been reasserted. II At present, the new phase in the development of Socialist economic reform entails a slow reevaluation of the various instruments of their economic system. After the setback of the reform in 1968, it is clear to the Socialist as well as western analysts that the reform must follow on wholly Socialist lines with a more or less centralized model as suggested by various writers in the past. The Lantay model differs from other models only by its distribution of areas of competent decision making between the central planning authority and the firm. The pre-Liberman models tended to stress the dominance of the central authorities in planning decisions. The post-Liberman models showed the necessity to decentralize the rigid economic system and give the firm enough responsibility to decide on what level the relevant actions were to be taken to achieve higher profitability or productivity of the firm. Most post-Liberman models considered giving a firm a dominant role in decision making. The Socialist and western literature is abundant on that score. The Lantay model, on the other hand, is a slight departure from the two previous approaches to the problem of economic planning in the Socialist countries, especially in Czecho-Slovakia. Lantay proposes that decision making �SLOVAKIA 59 in terms of planning should occur on the first level with an explicit collaboration with the central planning authority. Thus, there should exist a kind of sharing the authority of planning decisions between the individual firms and the center and possibly between some intermediate planning organizations. This model may be an improvement over the pre-Liberman centralized models, but it is doubtful that it will efficiently replace such decentralized models as the one of sik. In general, the Lantay model may be considered as an intermediate model between the two extremes. The Lantay model will have to face the same major problems of rigidity in economic planning in various areas. First, in terms of organization, the firm will have to have enough competence to decide as to the microeconomic variables utilized in its production. If this competence is going to be acknowledged the firm may be free to choose some measuring stick of some kind of optimization. It does not have to be profitability maximization. However, in this respect the Lantay model will have to decide the old problem of what criteria it is going to use to measure :profitability. So far the Lantay model does not suggest any solution to this problem. If the firm will obtain such competence as to decide on its own how to maximize some objective function, some positive results may follow from the Lantay model. Such decentralization of microeconomic decisions of the firm will leave the overall microeconomic decisions to the central planning authority. Then the central planning authority could be given an opportunity to follow the development of individual microeconomic plans as to the level of achievement. Only in this way, i.e. through the division of labor between the center and the firm, may it eliminate the unnecessary overlapping and contradictory decision processes. The details of this have not been specified by Lantay. Second, on measuring the level of performance, the Lantay model will have to solve a problem of measuring the capital productivity and also the above mentioned profitability. In both cases the Socialist literature is negligent in coming to an adequate solution. Although the profitability indicator, one of several, has been recently �60 SLOVAKIA stressed, the actual performance of the firm showed that it was used only as one of many. As long as profitability is not used as the most important indicator, there are likely to be difficulties in the measurement of the efficiency of the firms. Such indicators as quality, assortment, etc., are a necessary part of statistical assessment of the firm's performance, but they should not be given dominance over profitability. A profitable firm is one which earns certain levels of profits, given the product of certain quality, size, shape, etc. Physical assessment of the performance of the firm is crude in some cases and impossible in others. Profits under Socialism are a public property. This was maintained by Liberman and others. Therefore, the Lantay model cannot shy away from it as from the capitalist variable. In terms of investment spending, the same argument follows. To assess it, one should calculate it in terms of monetary values rather than in physical terms. Even if one has to select a less profitable investment project over a more profitable one, one should assess the difference between them. Thus, one should calculate how much value is being lost by choosing a less profitable investment project in order to be able to compare it with the social gain from making such a choice. Capital productivity in monetary values may prove a much more realistic way of measuring it and also much easier. Third, one of the major problems in any previous models was the problem of factor mobility. The planning mechanism did not allow for factor mobility into their optimal uses by differential compensation. Rather, the planning authorities totally disregarded this process o! allocation and have distributed the factors by the stress of certain emphasized industries such as heavy industries under pre-Liberman models. This brought about a tremendous amount of misallocation of resources with an accompanying suboptimal performances on micro- and macro-economic levels. It should be noted at this point that labor mobility exists and is also officially recognized by the central economic planning authorities in Czechoslovakia as well as in other Socialist countries. However, the actual movement of labor has been made very difficult by various restrictions, such as a workbook which has to be presented at the new location before one can obtain �SLOVAKIA 61 a job there. Slackening the institutional restrictions on factor mobility usually brings about a movement of the factors of production into such industries in which their productivity is the highest. Thus, the most profitable firms will attract and be able to pay higher wages to interested labor and become even more profitable through higher productivity, eliminating some of the low productivity labor which would have to transfer into a less profitable firm. With total labor mobility, there would remain only most profitable firms in the industry, the marginal firms being eliminated. Although this is the basic mechanism in a free enterprise economic system, it is also inevitable in a Socialist system if some method of optimization is to be sought after. The planning authority role in the mobility of factors o:! production would be to stay away and not to interfere. Given the free factor mobility, the planning authorities should observe the trends of labor mobility. If the trends observed are with the wishes of the planners, nothing should be done. However, if the labor moves into the most profitable uses and the planners wish to change the trend into the industries which are not so profitable but emphasized some criteria other than the profitability, the planning authority should be able to steer such movement with ease as it has all the necessary instruments of enforcement. What is proposed here is a working mechanism of the allocation of resources to their optimal uses within the planned economic framework. Of course, it is obvious that a free enterprise system which is supposed to be without too many imperfections is likely to solve this problem much faster and more efficiently than the planned economic system. However, this may not be so if the planners will devise such methods of allocation of resources which will outweigh the imperfections of the free enterprise systems. So far this has not been done, and if there is hope of it ever being done, it must be only a case in which the planning authority is a steering agency rather than a commanding one. III Observing the present state of economic reform in any of the Communist countries, one may delineate what may �62 SLOVAKIA be called a new phase of development. This new phase could be briefly described within the planned economic framework as the moderate search for solutions to economic problems as outlined above. Thus, it may be clear by now to the Socialist as well as western analysts that the planned economic system is there to stay. The dominance of the Communist Party in economic decision making has been reasserted. The content of the new phase of economic development in Socialist countries would be the search for such instruments and mechanisms of economic activity which will affect the optimal allocation of resources within the planned economic framework. Such a search has been started by A. Lantay, and his model shows signs of awareness of the above mentioned areas of difficulty. In his study, he mentions the first major problem of economic planning. This is the problem of what role the planning authority should play in the Socialist economic process. It has been pointed out above that Lantay proposes a redistribution of competence between the center and the firms. This is expected to occur in such a way that the firms' interests will be supported by the interests of the central planning authority. Lantay further suggests that sufficient amounts of authority should be delegated to the firms to create an atmosphere in which the firms may be able to operate profitably. This may be actually the strongest point in the Lantay model. In the past, the Socialist reformers had difficulty defending such views, but it seems that Lantay, who is proposing a kind of intermediate model, may have other supporters, as he does ultimately stress the point of reemphasizing the centralized economic planning. This may seem a contradiction in itself. But it does not have to be; it all depends on the content of responsibility of the agents like the firms and the planning authorities at various levels. If, as Lantay suggests, the responsibily of the central planning authority will be to plan an overall economic activity and let the firms operate on their own initiative within the plan, then there should not be much conflict. This could resemble very loosely the concept of "economie dirige" of France. Although the central planning authority �SLOVAKIA 63 is not supposed to interfere with the performance of the firms, it always has an opportunity to check their activities should the need arise. Further, Lantay proposes that the firms should be interested in the collaboration with the central planning authority by striving for higher productivity through innovations and eventually for higher profitability. This may be a new shape of economic reform as other indicators are lacking from Lantay's discussion. It may be remembered that there were other indicators that the planning authority has imposed on the firms as obligatory target figures. The Lantay presentation may be a departure from the older models as it stresses the achievement of productivity and profitability. Since this has also been a major area difficulty in the past, Lantay's version may be a move in the right direction. He does mention that one has to eliminate the mistakes of the past and supply goods of acceptable or prescribed quality. This is, however, assumed as given rather than to present it as a target. If carried trough properly, this may prove one of the most important improvements on all previous economic models without sacrificing any principles of economic planning. One simply maximizes Socialist profits within the planned economic system. It is a question of how the new planning organization will be carried out that will determine whether planning is going to be a supporting variable rather than a constraint. The planning as it was produced in the pre-Liberman models turned out to be a constraint to economic growth rather than a supporting variable. In the Lantay model, there are signs which may prove workable. In a further discussion, Lantay proposes a new structure for wages and tax payments. However, it is only a suggestion without any specific elaboration of the problem. It has been mentioned above what problems are connected in this respect. If one were allowed a guess, Lantay may try to solve the problem of wages by allowing labor mobility and thus base the wage r ates on productivity rather than planned figures. Furthermore, the supply and demand, which are not explicitly stated by Lantay, may take care of itself by the free m obility of labor. Lantay does �64 SLOVAKIA criticize the way in which the firms in the past used bribes to attract more qualified labor. This may show that by eliminating institutional and other restrictions there would be a great mobility of labor in Socialist economics if allowed. In terms of the firm's production, Lantay suggests that one should modernize the present firms by the latest technology in order to increase productivity rather than to expand production by building new plants. Thus, it is a switch from an extensive to an intensive process of production. This kind of approach would be in line with the profit maximization proposal which also takes into consideration the technological aspect of the production function or "the state of arts". This also would be a departure from other Socialist models, as the Socialist producers usually shy away from modernization of their firms. Paradoxical as it may appear at first sight, and subject to a misconception on this issue in the western literature, the Socialist manager has so far tried to avoid the modernization of his firm, although it has been done in many instances. The problem is this; it is true that modern machinery is more productive, and therefore it is expected to produce a larger physical output. This is a simple proposition and to mention it here amounts to a teutology. Because of the higher productivity, the Socialist planners are also interested in introducing the new technology into their firms. The question is, then, why is it that the Socialist manager would not be interested in its introduction to his firm? The answer is this; although it is true that machinery of higher productivity may produce the larger output, the target figures for the manager will also be higher than before when the old machinery was used. This by itself would not create a great problem. If the productivity of a new machine is three times greater than that of the old, then the targets would become three times higher. But the problem starts when the Socialist manager starts to make physical adjustments to meet the increased production. First, it will need larger amounts of raw materials, more workers to handle the increased output; apart from �SLOVAKIA 65 this, the output may increase to such a level that the manager will have to expand any activity that will be affected by such an increase. With larger volumes of production the supply of factors of production by other firms will also increase. Here is the crux of the matter: with higher targets for the production of the firm and with inefficient supplies coming from other firms, the manager may have a more difficult time fulfilling the plan with the consequence of costly penalties imposed for underfulfillment. The Socialist manager, therefore, is better off in terms of fulfilling the plan when he is working with the old and less efficient machinery. If the process of planning and carrying through the set targets for all firms concerned were improved upon, the Socialist manager could be interested in modernization of the firm. Until then, however, he will be satisfied with lower output that is achieved more safely. It is especially in this context that the proposition of Lantay should be considered. The situation in Slovakia and Bohemia may be better in this respect than in the Soviet Union and other Socialist countries, but it is still a matter of future planning rather than the present situation that will allow the "starved for capital" managers to be seriously interested in modernization of their firms. However, if the Lantay model will be carried out as proposed and a situation created in which the managers will be able to maximize profits rather than a host of other indicators and all firms perform efficiently, there may be an interest for modernization on the part of the Socialist managers. It could prove to have a cumulative effect on the various variables which support a higher economic growth. But this is to be seen in the future. FOOTNOTES 1) Sile, Ota, K problematice socialistickych zbozn£ch vztahu, Prague 1965. 2) Brus, W., Modely socialistickeho hospodarstvi, Prague 1964. 3) Liberman, E. G., Planirovanie proizvodstva i normativy dlitelnogo deystviya, in Voprosy ekonomiki, 1962, No. 8; Liberman also wrote a book in 1950 called Plan, pribyl i premiya but it is very seldom quoted in connection with the famous debate. 4) Lantay, A., Uvazene a triezvo rozvijat' ekonomicku reformu, in Pravda (Bratislava), October 19, 21, 22, and 23, 1970. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1973, Vol. 23 Description An account of the resource Vol. 23 (No. 46), 1973. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 57 A New Phase In The Socialist Economic Reform V. J. Hurley I Ever since the famous Liberman debate in 1962 on the reform of the Socialist planned economic system, several Socialist writers have voiced their opinions on the subject. Ideas proposed by Liberman for the Soviet Union were followed by similar ideas for the planned economic system in other European Communist countries. It was primarily 0. Sik1 and others in Czecho-Slovakia, W. Brus2 and others in Poland, as well as others in each Communist country who were economic proponents of the new way of looking at economic planning proposed by Liberman.3 After a heated debate in the Soviet press, especially Pravda, for a general discussion and Voprosy ekonomiki for a more rigorous discussion, there were certain fluctuations in proposing the Liberman ideas in practice or rejecting them. A period of total stagnation set in when N. Khruschev was replaced by Brezhnev and Kosygin. However, soon afterwards a further development of Liberman's ideas was evident in the Soviet press and elsewhere in the Communist countries. The purpose of this paper is to present and briefly analyze the state of the debate of the economic reform in Czecho-Slovakia. It will be noted that after a brief period of "liberalization" in 1968, there followed a complete stop in the discussion of the subject. Latter have there appeared occassional suggestions that the topic is still alive and of paramount importance to the Socialist economic planners. Andrej Lantay, the present director of the Economic Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava, has published what may be considered the important 58 SLOVAKIA restatement of the issues involved in the economic reform in the Socialist countries, especially Czecho-Slovakia.4 In his statement, Lantay proposes a new approach to the economic reform in Czecho-Slovakia. Before analyzing the major issues involved, he specifies certain basic criteria which must be observed when discussing the problem of Socialist economic planning. First, he maintains that it is the planned economic system and not price mechanism that is characteristic of any Socialist economy. Second, it is impossible to confuse $ik's model of Socialist economy with the actual purpose of the economic reform. Third, any debate on the economic reform must proceed from the premise that the Communist Party is the leading and actual moving force behind any economic measures proposed. Thus, the supremacy of the Communist Party has been reasserted. II At present, the new phase in the development of Socialist economic reform entails a slow reevaluation of the various instruments of their economic system. After the setback of the reform in 1968, it is clear to the Socialist as well as western analysts that the reform must follow on wholly Socialist lines with a more or less centralized model as suggested by various writers in the past. The Lantay model differs from other models only by its distribution of areas of competent decision making between the central planning authority and the firm. The pre-Liberman models tended to stress the dominance of the central authorities in planning decisions. The post-Liberman models showed the necessity to decentralize the rigid economic system and give the firm enough responsibility to decide on what level the relevant actions were to be taken to achieve higher profitability or productivity of the firm. Most post-Liberman models considered giving a firm a dominant role in decision making. The Socialist and western literature is abundant on that score. The Lantay model, on the other hand, is a slight departure from the two previous approaches to the problem of economic planning in the Socialist countries, especially in Czecho-Slovakia. Lantay proposes that decision making SLOVAKIA 59 in terms of planning should occur on the first level with an explicit collaboration with the central planning authority. Thus, there should exist a kind of sharing the authority of planning decisions between the individual firms and the center and possibly between some intermediate planning organizations. This model may be an improvement over the pre-Liberman centralized models, but it is doubtful that it will efficiently replace such decentralized models as the one of sik. In general, the Lantay model may be considered as an intermediate model between the two extremes. The Lantay model will have to face the same major problems of rigidity in economic planning in various areas. First, in terms of organization, the firm will have to have enough competence to decide as to the microeconomic variables utilized in its production. If this competence is going to be acknowledged the firm may be free to choose some measuring stick of some kind of optimization. It does not have to be profitability maximization. However, in this respect the Lantay model will have to decide the old problem of what criteria it is going to use to measure :profitability. So far the Lantay model does not suggest any solution to this problem. If the firm will obtain such competence as to decide on its own how to maximize some objective function, some positive results may follow from the Lantay model. Such decentralization of microeconomic decisions of the firm will leave the overall microeconomic decisions to the central planning authority. Then the central planning authority could be given an opportunity to follow the development of individual microeconomic plans as to the level of achievement. Only in this way, i.e. through the division of labor between the center and the firm, may it eliminate the unnecessary overlapping and contradictory decision processes. The details of this have not been specified by Lantay. Second, on measuring the level of performance, the Lantay model will have to solve a problem of measuring the capital productivity and also the above mentioned profitability. In both cases the Socialist literature is negligent in coming to an adequate solution. Although the profitability indicator, one of several, has been recently 60 SLOVAKIA stressed, the actual performance of the firm showed that it was used only as one of many. As long as profitability is not used as the most important indicator, there are likely to be difficulties in the measurement of the efficiency of the firms. Such indicators as quality, assortment, etc., are a necessary part of statistical assessment of the firm's performance, but they should not be given dominance over profitability. A profitable firm is one which earns certain levels of profits, given the product of certain quality, size, shape, etc. Physical assessment of the performance of the firm is crude in some cases and impossible in others. Profits under Socialism are a public property. This was maintained by Liberman and others. Therefore, the Lantay model cannot shy away from it as from the capitalist variable. In terms of investment spending, the same argument follows. To assess it, one should calculate it in terms of monetary values rather than in physical terms. Even if one has to select a less profitable investment project over a more profitable one, one should assess the difference between them. Thus, one should calculate how much value is being lost by choosing a less profitable investment project in order to be able to compare it with the social gain from making such a choice. Capital productivity in monetary values may prove a much more realistic way of measuring it and also much easier. Third, one of the major problems in any previous models was the problem of factor mobility. The planning mechanism did not allow for factor mobility into their optimal uses by differential compensation. Rather, the planning authorities totally disregarded this process o! allocation and have distributed the factors by the stress of certain emphasized industries such as heavy industries under pre-Liberman models. This brought about a tremendous amount of misallocation of resources with an accompanying suboptimal performances on micro- and macro-economic levels. It should be noted at this point that labor mobility exists and is also officially recognized by the central economic planning authorities in Czechoslovakia as well as in other Socialist countries. However, the actual movement of labor has been made very difficult by various restrictions, such as a workbook which has to be presented at the new location before one can obtain SLOVAKIA 61 a job there. Slackening the institutional restrictions on factor mobility usually brings about a movement of the factors of production into such industries in which their productivity is the highest. Thus, the most profitable firms will attract and be able to pay higher wages to interested labor and become even more profitable through higher productivity, eliminating some of the low productivity labor which would have to transfer into a less profitable firm. With total labor mobility, there would remain only most profitable firms in the industry, the marginal firms being eliminated. Although this is the basic mechanism in a free enterprise economic system, it is also inevitable in a Socialist system if some method of optimization is to be sought after. The planning authority role in the mobility of factors o:! production would be to stay away and not to interfere. Given the free factor mobility, the planning authorities should observe the trends of labor mobility. If the trends observed are with the wishes of the planners, nothing should be done. However, if the labor moves into the most profitable uses and the planners wish to change the trend into the industries which are not so profitable but emphasized some criteria other than the profitability, the planning authority should be able to steer such movement with ease as it has all the necessary instruments of enforcement. What is proposed here is a working mechanism of the allocation of resources to their optimal uses within the planned economic framework. Of course, it is obvious that a free enterprise system which is supposed to be without too many imperfections is likely to solve this problem much faster and more efficiently than the planned economic system. However, this may not be so if the planners will devise such methods of allocation of resources which will outweigh the imperfections of the free enterprise systems. So far this has not been done, and if there is hope of it ever being done, it must be only a case in which the planning authority is a steering agency rather than a commanding one. III Observing the present state of economic reform in any of the Communist countries, one may delineate what may 62 SLOVAKIA be called a new phase of development. This new phase could be briefly described within the planned economic framework as the moderate search for solutions to economic problems as outlined above. Thus, it may be clear by now to the Socialist as well as western analysts that the planned economic system is there to stay. The dominance of the Communist Party in economic decision making has been reasserted. The content of the new phase of economic development in Socialist countries would be the search for such instruments and mechanisms of economic activity which will affect the optimal allocation of resources within the planned economic framework. Such a search has been started by A. Lantay, and his model shows signs of awareness of the above mentioned areas of difficulty. In his study, he mentions the first major problem of economic planning. This is the problem of what role the planning authority should play in the Socialist economic process. It has been pointed out above that Lantay proposes a redistribution of competence between the center and the firms. This is expected to occur in such a way that the firms' interests will be supported by the interests of the central planning authority. Lantay further suggests that sufficient amounts of authority should be delegated to the firms to create an atmosphere in which the firms may be able to operate profitably. This may be actually the strongest point in the Lantay model. In the past, the Socialist reformers had difficulty defending such views, but it seems that Lantay, who is proposing a kind of intermediate model, may have other supporters, as he does ultimately stress the point of reemphasizing the centralized economic planning. This may seem a contradiction in itself. But it does not have to be; it all depends on the content of responsibility of the agents like the firms and the planning authorities at various levels. If, as Lantay suggests, the responsibily of the central planning authority will be to plan an overall economic activity and let the firms operate on their own initiative within the plan, then there should not be much conflict. This could resemble very loosely the concept of "economie dirige" of France. Although the central planning authority SLOVAKIA 63 is not supposed to interfere with the performance of the firms, it always has an opportunity to check their activities should the need arise. Further, Lantay proposes that the firms should be interested in the collaboration with the central planning authority by striving for higher productivity through innovations and eventually for higher profitability. This may be a new shape of economic reform as other indicators are lacking from Lantay's discussion. It may be remembered that there were other indicators that the planning authority has imposed on the firms as obligatory target figures. The Lantay presentation may be a departure from the older models as it stresses the achievement of productivity and profitability. Since this has also been a major area difficulty in the past, Lantay's version may be a move in the right direction. He does mention that one has to eliminate the mistakes of the past and supply goods of acceptable or prescribed quality. This is, however, assumed as given rather than to present it as a target. If carried trough properly, this may prove one of the most important improvements on all previous economic models without sacrificing any principles of economic planning. One simply maximizes Socialist profits within the planned economic system. It is a question of how the new planning organization will be carried out that will determine whether planning is going to be a supporting variable rather than a constraint. The planning as it was produced in the pre-Liberman models turned out to be a constraint to economic growth rather than a supporting variable. In the Lantay model, there are signs which may prove workable. In a further discussion, Lantay proposes a new structure for wages and tax payments. However, it is only a suggestion without any specific elaboration of the problem. It has been mentioned above what problems are connected in this respect. If one were allowed a guess, Lantay may try to solve the problem of wages by allowing labor mobility and thus base the wage r ates on productivity rather than planned figures. Furthermore, the supply and demand, which are not explicitly stated by Lantay, may take care of itself by the free m obility of labor. Lantay does 64 SLOVAKIA criticize the way in which the firms in the past used bribes to attract more qualified labor. This may show that by eliminating institutional and other restrictions there would be a great mobility of labor in Socialist economics if allowed. In terms of the firm's production, Lantay suggests that one should modernize the present firms by the latest technology in order to increase productivity rather than to expand production by building new plants. Thus, it is a switch from an extensive to an intensive process of production. This kind of approach would be in line with the profit maximization proposal which also takes into consideration the technological aspect of the production function or "the state of arts". This also would be a departure from other Socialist models, as the Socialist producers usually shy away from modernization of their firms. Paradoxical as it may appear at first sight, and subject to a misconception on this issue in the western literature, the Socialist manager has so far tried to avoid the modernization of his firm, although it has been done in many instances. The problem is this; it is true that modern machinery is more productive, and therefore it is expected to produce a larger physical output. This is a simple proposition and to mention it here amounts to a teutology. Because of the higher productivity, the Socialist planners are also interested in introducing the new technology into their firms. The question is, then, why is it that the Socialist manager would not be interested in its introduction to his firm? The answer is this; although it is true that machinery of higher productivity may produce the larger output, the target figures for the manager will also be higher than before when the old machinery was used. This by itself would not create a great problem. If the productivity of a new machine is three times greater than that of the old, then the targets would become three times higher. But the problem starts when the Socialist manager starts to make physical adjustments to meet the increased production. First, it will need larger amounts of raw materials, more workers to handle the increased output; apart from SLOVAKIA 65 this, the output may increase to such a level that the manager will have to expand any activity that will be affected by such an increase. With larger volumes of production the supply of factors of production by other firms will also increase. Here is the crux of the matter: with higher targets for the production of the firm and with inefficient supplies coming from other firms, the manager may have a more difficult time fulfilling the plan with the consequence of costly penalties imposed for underfulfillment. The Socialist manager, therefore, is better off in terms of fulfilling the plan when he is working with the old and less efficient machinery. If the process of planning and carrying through the set targets for all firms concerned were improved upon, the Socialist manager could be interested in modernization of the firm. Until then, however, he will be satisfied with lower output that is achieved more safely. It is especially in this context that the proposition of Lantay should be considered. The situation in Slovakia and Bohemia may be better in this respect than in the Soviet Union and other Socialist countries, but it is still a matter of future planning rather than the present situation that will allow the "starved for capital" managers to be seriously interested in modernization of their firms. However, if the Lantay model will be carried out as proposed and a situation created in which the managers will be able to maximize profits rather than a host of other indicators and all firms perform efficiently, there may be an interest for modernization on the part of the Socialist managers. It could prove to have a cumulative effect on the various variables which support a higher economic growth. But this is to be seen in the future. FOOTNOTES 1) Sile, Ota, K problematice socialistickych zbozn£ch vztahu, Prague 1965. 2) Brus, W., Modely socialistickeho hospodarstvi, Prague 1964. 3) Liberman, E. G., Planirovanie proizvodstva i normativy dlitelnogo deystviya, in Voprosy ekonomiki, 1962, No. 8; Liberman also wrote a book in 1950 called Plan, pribyl i premiya but it is very seldom quoted in connection with the famous debate. 4) Lantay, A., Uvazene a triezvo rozvijat' ekonomicku reformu, in Pravda (Bratislava), October 19, 21, 22, and 23, 1970.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 New Phase in the Socialist Economic Reform Description An account of the resource V. J. Hurley Slovakia, Vol. 23 (No. 46), 1973 pp. 57-65 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hurley, V. J. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/fbccf65c4a7f79fdd3ea5bfe315fa952.pdf 0ebc7ab64a23699ec918ee01fdbd6556 PDF Text Text 89 SLOVAKIA A Note for Researchers The Slavic-~merican Imprint Collection Southern lllin~is University, Edwardsville STANLEY B. KIMBALL The bulk of this 2,693 title collection consists of Czech, Polish, Slovak, and Slovene books and periodicals published in the middle Midwest since 1918, but hundreds of other items by other peoples and outside this time-space framework have been collected. The collection is revealing of Slavic-American attitudes on all kinds of subjects , the problems of Americanization, settlement patterns, political (especially radical) developments, biculturalism, and will be helpful to students and scholf1rs interested in linguistics, literature, the social sciences, ethnic studies, and American Studies. In 1972 the card catalog of this collection was published in book form; a 1977 supplement is being prepared for publication. The following table describes the collection. Books Pamphlets Bulgaro-Macedonian Croat Czech Polish Russian Serb Slovak Slovene Ukrainian Hungarian Lithuanian Rumanian Albanian Greek Latvian Totals 46 77 822 412 34 24 102 118 18 110 32 9 Almanacs 4 12 148 7 2 7 109 40 4 7 1 18 102 25 10 4 20 9 3 5 1 26 10 12 2 1 8 91 6 7 1 1 1 4 3 1,819 Periodicals Newspapers Manuscripts 1 342 192 67 109 Our earliest date is 1873. There are publications from 26 states (and Canada) and 149 cities and towns . A few related items published by East European non-Slavs are also included. �� 89 SLOVAKIA A Note for Researchers The Slavic-~merican Imprint Collection Southern lllin~is University, Edwardsville STANLEY B. KIMBALL The bulk of this 2,693 title collection consists of Czech, Polish, Slovak, and Slovene books and periodicals published in the middle Midwest since 1918, but hundreds of other items by other peoples and outside this time-space framework have been collected. The collection is revealing of Slavic-American attitudes on all kinds of subjects , the problems of Americanization, settlement patterns, political (especially radical) developments, biculturalism, and will be helpful to students and scholf1rs interested in linguistics, literature, the social sciences, ethnic studies, and American Studies. In 1972 the card catalog of this collection was published in book form; a 1977 supplement is being prepared for publication. The following table describes the collection. Books Pamphlets Bulgaro-Macedonian Croat Czech Polish Russian Serb Slovak Slovene Ukrainian Hungarian Lithuanian Rumanian Albanian Greek Latvian Totals 46 77 822 412 34 24 102 118 18 110 32 9 Almanacs 4 12 148 7 2 7 109 40 4 7 1 18 102 25 10 4 20 9 3 5 1 26 10 12 2 1 8 91 6 7 1 1 1 4 3 1,819 Periodicals Newspapers Manuscripts 1 342 192 67 109 Our earliest date is 1873. There are publications from 26 states (and Canada) and 149 cities and towns . A few related items published by East European non-Slavs are also included. �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1978-79, Vol. 28 Description An account of the resource Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 89 SLOVAKIA A Note for Researchers The Slavic-~merican Imprint Collection Southern lllin~is University, Edwardsville STANLEY B. KIMBALL The bulk of this 2,693 title collection consists of Czech, Polish, Slovak, and Slovene books and periodicals published in the middle Midwest since 1918, but hundreds of other items by other peoples and outside this time-space framework have been collected. The collection is revealing of Slavic-American attitudes on all kinds of subjects , the problems of Americanization, settlement patterns, political (especially radical) developments, biculturalism, and will be helpful to students and scholf1rs interested in linguistics, literature, the social sciences, ethnic studies, and American Studies. In 1972 the card catalog of this collection was published in book form; a 1977 supplement is being prepared for publication. The following table describes the collection. Books Pamphlets Bulgaro-Macedonian Croat Czech Polish Russian Serb Slovak Slovene Ukrainian Hungarian Lithuanian Rumanian Albanian Greek Latvian Totals 46 77 822 412 34 24 102 118 18 110 32 9 Almanacs 4 12 148 7 2 7 109 40 4 7 1 18 102 25 10 4 20 9 3 5 1 26 10 12 2 1 8 91 6 7 1 1 1 4 3 1,819 Periodicals Newspapers Manuscripts 1 342 192 67 109 Our earliest date is 1873. There are publications from 26 states (and Canada) and 149 cities and towns . A few related items published by East European non-Slavs are also included.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 Note for Researchers: The Slavic-American Imprint Collection Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville Description An account of the resource Stanley B. Kimball Slovakia, Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79 p. 89 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kimball, Stanley Buchholz Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/6245d95fd753fdc339b150d063a36d38.pdf cf8b49fe89d9bb9a208f47c468cbdf5d PDF Text Text 38 SLOVAKIA w.ho are not reliable, and it is surely our duty to lea..rn from the mistakes in this reS'l)eCt whi~h have been made in the .past. It must a!so be remembered tJhat the. Communists, who a1-e always much more actlve and quicker than tíheir democratic opponents in the West, have innumerable agent,; or their own among Czeol1 emigres. Western democracy should be wamed in tlme before it is too late. • • • • A NOTE ON TISO, HORTHY AND BENES E. L. DELANEY Admfral Hoľ,thy, Regen1t of Hungary, alleged collaborllltor with Germany and castlgated as a "Fasc,i st" by our Reds and "plnks," was given sanctuary by our Mil1tary Government in Bavaria a..fter the end of hoSltlU.ties, and rightly so. Had he been returned t o BudapeBt, he would have been execu<ted by the Communisit rabble. . But President Josef TisÔ in the adjoining state of Slovakia, even less a collaborator with Germany than Horthy but who was án implacable foe of Communism, also fled into Bavaria and what he thought was the sanctuary of the Americans. He was imprisoncd, mlstreated, manhandled and then delivered to the Reds by our Milit ary Government to be hanged by them in Bratislava. Duri-ng Lhe war, Presddent Tlso had delegated members of his own official family to provide the best care and hospl:tal!za1tl.on if necessary for the Amerlcan and Brltish flyers who were shot down or who made foreed Jandlngs in his counitry. Other Amerlcans were given sanctuary there, thls wrlter being one who knew Dr. Josef Tlso personally and who received such sanctuary. It was alleged by the mouthpieces of Moscow that Tiso was guilty of treasonaib1e actions when, for the flrst Ume in nine hundred years, he and his co-workere gained independence and "a better Ufe" for the Slovak people. "Self-determination" was what they had been told was their right, and now they were belng told it was their wrong. Wrong because, long before the beginning of the war, thelr president had a(•· cepted the protection of Berlin agalnst outside aggression. The aggression of tihe Soviiet. That was hls sin. But note the utlter i•nconslsitency and the convincing proof of col· Juslon and connlvance with the Communist cllque on the parit of our execut!ves and officdals. Dr. Eduard Benes Journeyed to Moscow with the approval and the ald of Frankl!n D. Roosevelt and there slgned with Josef Stálln the death warran1. of ,the Czecb and Slovak peoples. He represented nelther Czechs nor Slovaks at that t ime, altbough he had been president of their courutry and reslgned six years prevlously. He came to Prague with ihe blesslng of Washlngiton and the dlgnllty of an ambassador trom here. The betrayal of the entire country of Czechoslovakia by Benes, Churchill and Rooaevelt, far out-Heroďs anything Josef Tiso did to gain independence "and . a better life" for his people during the six years of their Republic. More con.temp,ti.ble duplieity on the part of any statesman could scarcely be lmagin1:,d. (REPUBLICANISM versus STATISM, ECA Press, 1950, Los Angeles, Catif.) � 38 SLOVAKIA w.ho are not reliable, and it is surely our duty to lea..rn from the mistakes in this reS'l)eCt whi~h have been made in the .past. It must a!so be remembered tJhat the. Communists, who a1-e always much more actlve and quicker than tíheir democratic opponents in the West, have innumerable agent,; or their own among Czeol1 emigres. Western democracy should be wamed in tlme before it is too late. • • • • A NOTE ON TISO, HORTHY AND BENES E. L. DELANEY Admfral Hoľ,thy, Regen1t of Hungary, alleged collaborllltor with Germany and castlgated as a "Fasc,i st" by our Reds and "plnks," was given sanctuary by our Mil1tary Government in Bavaria a..fter the end of hoSltlU.ties, and rightly so. Had he been returned t o BudapeBt, he would have been execu<ted by the Communisit rabble. . But President Josef TisÔ in the adjoining state of Slovakia, even less a collaborator with Germany than Horthy but who was án implacable foe of Communism, also fled into Bavaria and what he thought was the sanctuary of the Americans. He was imprisoncd, mlstreated, manhandled and then delivered to the Reds by our Milit ary Government to be hanged by them in Bratislava. Duri-ng Lhe war, Presddent Tlso had delegated members of his own official family to provide the best care and hospl:tal!za1tl.on if necessary for the Amerlcan and Brltish flyers who were shot down or who made foreed Jandlngs in his counitry. Other Amerlcans were given sanctuary there, thls wrlter being one who knew Dr. Josef Tlso personally and who received such sanctuary. It was alleged by the mouthpieces of Moscow that Tiso was guilty of treasonaib1e actions when, for the flrst Ume in nine hundred years, he and his co-workere gained independence and "a better Ufe" for the Slovak people. "Self-determination" was what they had been told was their right, and now they were belng told it was their wrong. Wrong because, long before the beginning of the war, thelr president had a(•· cepted the protection of Berlin agalnst outside aggression. The aggression of tihe Soviiet. That was hls sin. But note the utlter i•nconslsitency and the convincing proof of col· Juslon and connlvance with the Communist cllque on the parit of our execut!ves and officdals. Dr. Eduard Benes Journeyed to Moscow with the approval and the ald of Frankl!n D. Roosevelt and there slgned with Josef Stálln the death warran1. of ,the Czecb and Slovak peoples. He represented nelther Czechs nor Slovaks at that t ime, altbough he had been president of their courutry and reslgned six years prevlously. He came to Prague with ihe blesslng of Washlngiton and the dlgnllty of an ambassador trom here. The betrayal of the entire country of Czechoslovakia by Benes, Churchill and Rooaevelt, far out-Heroďs anything Josef Tiso did to gain independence "and . a better life" for his people during the six years of their Republic. More con.temp,ti.ble duplieity on the part of any statesman could scarcely be lmagin1:,d. (REPUBLICANISM versus STATISM, ECA Press, 1950, Los Angeles, Catif.) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1951, Vol. 1 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1951 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 1), May 1951.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 2), December 1951.</li> </ul> Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context <ul><li><a href="https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/s261hfmshm7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span>ark:/13960/s261hfmshm7</span></a></li> <li><a href="https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/s21tk2wkzj4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span>ark:/13960/s21tk2wkzj4</span></a></li> </ul> Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 38 SLOVAKIA w.ho are not reliable, and it is surely our duty to lea..rn from the mistakes in this reS'l)eCt whi~h have been made in the .past. It must a!so be remembered tJhat the. Communists, who a1-e always much more actlve and quicker than tíheir democratic opponents in the West, have innumerable agent,; or their own among Czeol1 emigres. Western democracy should be wamed in tlme before it is too late. • • • • A NOTE ON TISO, HORTHY AND BENES E. L. DELANEY Admfral Hoľ,thy, Regen1t of Hungary, alleged collaborllltor with Germany and castlgated as a "Fasc,i st" by our Reds and "plnks," was given sanctuary by our Mil1tary Government in Bavaria a..fter the end of hoSltlU.ties, and rightly so. Had he been returned t o BudapeBt, he would have been execu<ted by the Communisit rabble. . But President Josef TisÔ in the adjoining state of Slovakia, even less a collaborator with Germany than Horthy but who was án implacable foe of Communism, also fled into Bavaria and what he thought was the sanctuary of the Americans. He was imprisoncd, mlstreated, manhandled and then delivered to the Reds by our Milit ary Government to be hanged by them in Bratislava. Duri-ng Lhe war, Presddent Tlso had delegated members of his own official family to provide the best care and hospl:tal!za1tl.on if necessary for the Amerlcan and Brltish flyers who were shot down or who made foreed Jandlngs in his counitry. Other Amerlcans were given sanctuary there, thls wrlter being one who knew Dr. Josef Tlso personally and who received such sanctuary. It was alleged by the mouthpieces of Moscow that Tiso was guilty of treasonaib1e actions when, for the flrst Ume in nine hundred years, he and his co-workere gained independence and "a better Ufe" for the Slovak people. "Self-determination" was what they had been told was their right, and now they were belng told it was their wrong. Wrong because, long before the beginning of the war, thelr president had a(•· cepted the protection of Berlin agalnst outside aggression. The aggression of tihe Soviiet. That was hls sin. But note the utlter i•nconslsitency and the convincing proof of col· Juslon and connlvance with the Communist cllque on the parit of our execut!ves and officdals. Dr. Eduard Benes Journeyed to Moscow with the approval and the ald of Frankl!n D. Roosevelt and there slgned with Josef Stálln the death warran1. of ,the Czecb and Slovak peoples. He represented nelther Czechs nor Slovaks at that t ime, altbough he had been president of their courutry and reslgned six years prevlously. He came to Prague with ihe blesslng of Washlngiton and the dlgnllty of an ambassador trom here. The betrayal of the entire country of Czechoslovakia by Benes, Churchill and Rooaevelt, far out-Heroďs anything Josef Tiso did to gain independence "and . a better life" for his people during the six years of their Republic. More con.temp,ti.ble duplieity on the part of any statesman could scarcely be lmagin1:,d. (REPUBLICANISM versus STATISM, ECA Press, 1950, Los Angeles, Catif.)  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 Note on Tiso, Horthy and Beneš Description An account of the resource E. L. Delaney Slovakia, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2), December 1951 p. 38 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 December 1951 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/fdb93e6ed9406306d8954d1dc629e5c0.pdf 24d8a956f6cc031275dec34b129b38c8 PDF Text Text 144 SLOVAKIA A POET IN EXILE ( Msgr. M . K. Mlynarovic celebrates his 80th birthday on October 11, 1967) Milos Klement Mlyna.rovic is a unique phenomenon of Slovak literature 1 in more than one respect. First of all, he is the oldest living Slovak poet. His literary contemporaries ( I. Grebac-Orlov, M. Razus, V. Roy, P. Kompis, K. F. Urbanovic ) have now all died and their work has been a closed chapter for the last two or three decades. Mlynarovic, on the other hand, has established himself as a mature and productive writer mainly in the last two decades. Secondly, all his literary output (amounting to 15 books of poetry, novels and religious writing) has been produced in exile, away from his native land. In spite of this physical and geographical separation Mlynarovic has maintained close and unbroken ties with the country of his birth. And finally, his poetry, as if untouched by the fashions and vicissitudes of the day, remains faithful to his three-pronged love: God, Church and nation. In this sense Mlynarovic is a traditional poet and a true son of his nation. These three themes (God, Church and nation) have dominated Slovak poetry since the time of the National Awakening (end of the 18th century) but never more intensely than in the time of national oppression which befell the Slovak nation after the Austro-Hungarian 'Ausgleich' (1867 ) and did not cease until 1918. For the generations of Slovak writers and poets living on hope and trusting in God's justice these three themes comprised a programme to which they faithfully adhered. Thus Andrej Truchly-Sytniansky proclaimed in the poem, "Kto som?": P<in Bah, cirkev, rod slovensky; srdca m6jho vz<icny predmet. Tymto tram ze vzdycky zijem, nedal by ch sa za eel'!} svet. 2 (God, Church and Slovak nation/ are precious themes of my heart./ I always live for these three/ and would not give them up for the whole world.) These three themes were passed on as a historical �SLOVAKIA 145 message from fathers to sons. The form may have changed, but the content did not. Kraska, Roy, Razus - the pioneer of modern Slovak poetry - were echoing them in their verses on the eve of the First World War, 3 when the young Franciscan priest, Father Benedict Mlynarovic, OFM, left Slovakia for the U.S.A. In the strange new world, among a sizable Slovak emigration which he came to serve, these three themes acquired a new meaning and became the cornerstone of his pastoral, fraternalistic and literary activities. The new environment in which the young priest-poet found himself in the U.S .A. differed drastically from that which he had left behind. Back in old Hungary ( of which Slovakia was then a part) the aspiring poet and young priest-lecturer had moved in the intellectual milieu of Magyar culture. Towards the end of the 19th century Magyar culture and literature caught up with the West, while the oppressed and struggling Slovak literature was still lagging behind. For young ambitious intellectuals the adoption of the culture of the dominating Magyar nation had much more to offer not only intellectually but also materially. It required a strong conviction and even stronger devotion to one's own nation to resist Magyar lures, enticements and ever-mounting pressure. Many Slovak intellectuals were thus lost to their own nation. It was a doubly tragic loss since it strengthened and enriched the ranks of the oppressors of the Slovak nation. Even the greatest Slovak poet, Hviezdoslav, succumbed initially to these temptations and began to write his verses in Magyar. 4 In a similar way we find the first literary contributions of M. K. Mlynarovic in Magyar language periodicals ( Religio, Alkotmdny, etc.) . The poet has left us an autobiographic record of his struggle and victory. 5 A tempting voice called him : Pis bdsne mad'arsky a nie viac zobrdcky! (Write Magyar poems/ and nothing more of this beggar's language!) . But he overcame the temptation. He realized his indebtedness to his family, to his native village �146 SLOVAKIA and to his nation suffering under the lashes of the tyrant's whip. No, he would not "kiss the whip": Oprety o stip bulvdra hl'add si chlapec cestu spat a slzou si ju otvdra. (Leaning against the column of Budapest's boulevard/ the young lad looks for a road which will take him back/ and unlocks it with a tear.) At an important cross-road of his life the poet listened to the voice of his heart and made his irrevocable choice which was soon to bear precious fruit. During the war-years 1914-1918 the Slovaks in America were the most active section of the Slovak national community and it was largely through their efforts that in the postwar rearrangement of Central Europe Slovaks opted for a common state with the Czechs. The striving, sacrifices and other heroic deeds and splendid achievements of Slovak people in a free - though foreign - country were an eloquent testimony of the capabilities inherent in the Slovak nation. Through their accomplishments and experiences in the U.S.A. Slovaks were shedding their national inferiority complex and becoming confident and conscious citizens. And here among them the patriotism of a young priest-poet acquired a new dimension. His devotion to the Slovak national heritage deepened. Deprived of opportunities to study his native language and culture at home (where during his school-years the education was offered only in the Magyar language and spirit), he made up for it in America. Painstakingly and steadfastly he studied Slovak grammar, Slovak history and Slovak literature. From among the Slovak poets he developed a special affection for Hviezdoslav and Krasko, two of the brightest stars in the Slovak literary firmament. In 1919 he published his first book of verse, Sldvia. It was a small volume of warm patriotic poetry, expressing joy over the liberation of Slovakia, welcoming the new dawn of the freed nation and thanking God for the favours in which the dreams of generations had materialized. By its content the book fitted into the pattern of the poetical �SLOVAKIA 147 production appearing in those days in Slovakia,6 but artistically the verse still lacked the force and refinement appropriate to the festive and hymnic message it tried to convey. In the following years Mlynarovic wrote several prose works and only occasionally published a poem here and there in Slovak journals and magazines. Then in 1934 there appeared his second book of poetry, Veliky Boh malych. (Great God of the little ones) It contained mainly meditative and religious poems of intense sincerity and Franciscan humility. In the lines one could detect the strong influence of Krasko, 7 but the poems bore the unmistakable imprint of Mlynarovic's individuality. Spiritual depth and heartfelt intimacy rank these poems with the best religious poetry written in the Slovak language. Especially moving is the poem, Vel' ky piatok, (Good Friday) the opening verses of which run: Beyond the stars now He doth dwell And I below, a shattered bell, Unworthy to ring out His name. Age-old, my heart cried out in pain, When my tongue moved, but all in vain To turn the evil when He came. Good Friday once again is here. The cross looks down from everywhere As Son unto His Father dies .. .8 The next volume of Mlynarovic's poetry, Boha hl'addm,9 was published in Slovakia shortly after the Second World War (1948). In a way it was a revelation: it was not only a voice from the other side of the Ocean but also from another era. In the immediate post-war years mankind was taking account of its misery and self-inflicted suffering. The Slovak poetry of the day was full of sadness, nostalgia, remorse and dissonant voices. Then in its unobtrusive whisper entered Mlynarovic's poetry to remind one of the overlooked honesty in human action, of the purposefulness of human life, and of the human heart's everlasting search for God: �148 SLOVAKIA Tisic rdz nasiel som 1'a, tisic rdz stratil, Veen'!}, bludickou budem v priestore kruzit' tulavym behom vzd'alovat' sa, blizit', a vzdy 1'a ndjdem, jak vtdk svoje hniezdo, ja maly prach Tvoj, satelit. 10 A thousand times I have found You, A thousand times I have lost You again, Everlasting One! As an errant star I will soar through the space, In roving course I get further, closer, But always I find You As a bird finds its nest, I, Your little speck of dust, Your satellite. It was indeed a tender, deeply human and humanistic kind of poetry. In delicate verses the poet records the reminiscences of his youth, identifies himself with the humble, suffering and downtrodden, pays homage to the memory of Father Damien de Veuster ( the missionary of the lepers' colony at Molokai) and meditates upon God's goodness and eternity: Chcem den. co neznd rdna, vecera nie, Zen poludnie; chcem vecne slnka Pdna, ziariace do mna, do studne. 11 I wish for a day which has no sunrise and no sunset, only a lasting noon; I crave for the Lord's sun which never sets but radiates into me as into a well. Prayer clothed in poetry was the central theme of Mlynarovic's book of poems, Testament krdl'a sfdc. 12 In meditative lyrical poetry the author "looks into secrets, investigates the world behind the veil, searches into mysteries of human existence." 13 It is, in a way, a continuation of the search for God undertaken in an earlier book, but this time the intensity of the spiritual quest is even more emphasized in reflective monologues of prayer-like sin- �SLOVAKIA 149 cerity. The poems are grouped into five cycles: Broken Rhythm, Meditations at Holy Mass, Sayings of the Word Made Flesh, Seven Words and At the Sepulchre. Many poems are introduced with appropriate quotations taken from the Scriptures - not unlike antiphons preceding psalms in the Divine Office. The value of this poetry of pure spirituality is even more enhanced when one places it alongside the versifications produced at the same time in the poet's native count ry. There, under the compulsive guidance of the Communist Party, poetry and all arts were harnessed into the service of "the cause of Socialism." Only a "functional" poetry, that is a poetry helping the masses to build up Communism, was permitted; and what was not explicitly permitted was virtually outlawed. In those lean years of Slovak literature the good name and the artistic honour of Slovak poetry were saved by the writings of the emigre poets, Milos K. Mlynarovic being foremost among them. While in the previous books of verse Mlynarovic had repeatedly proclaimed his soaring devotion to God, in the book, z l'udu - za l'ud,14 he comes down to earth and the object of his inspiration is man. His warm sympathy extends to all people everywhere, but in particular two sections of mankind lie deep in his heart: the hard-pressed Slovak nation in Communist captivity and the struggling negro race both in Africa and the U.S.A. Eud a ja . . . zijem si s nim vzdy povedomy ja, diet'a domca, svatych prdv a borieb a dnes sa zakolisat', Boze m6j, nedaj mi! 15 My people and I . . . As a child of humble abode I live with them, constantly aware of their sacred rights and struggles; Do not ever let me, o my God, waver in this conviction. Here again - even more frequently than in the previous book - each poem is prefaced by one or more quotations. A brief glance at these quotations is a convenient key to the inspirational sources of Mlynarovic's poetry. They range from the Bible, classical authors and Slovak �150 SLOVAKIA poets to Shakespeare, Petofi, Mada.ch, Keats, Masefield, etc. The last poetical work of M. K. Mlynarovic is a slim volume of verse, entitled Dejiny srdca. 16 Some of the poems in this collection had been published earlier and here they reappear in a somewhat modified form. Some poems were written as early as 1911, others in the autum of the poet's fruitful life. Arranged in chronological order they represent a concise cross-section of Mlynarovic's creative activity and the poetical manifesto of a writer in exile. The poet equates himself to a tree transplanted to new ground, but the soil of the new environment failed "to change the tune of his heart" .17 In the last poem of the collection, Vlak (the Train), the poet with calm and resignation writes the last chapter of the history of his heart. The train of his life is approaching its terminus and he is preparing to alight. He sings in a melancholy strain: Pride tci stanica a vlak m6j pozastane; padne mi pero, stichne hlas a svetlo dohori. Vtedy mi bratia-sestry, zrobte po v6li : na mna si spomente, jak ja na vcis spominam/ 18 The station where my train will stop is already in sight; then the pen will fall from my fingers, my voice will be silenced, my light will go out. At that time, my brothers and sisters, grant me this wish: Remember me, as I am now remembering you! Difficult is the life of a poet in exile. The separation from his native soil - and especially when he is separated by an Iron Curtain - may be a source of nostalgic inspiration but then it denies the poet everything else: favourable working conditions, publishing opportunities, and above all - a sizable and appreciative audience. In spite of these difficulties the creative spark in the poet's bosom makes it "impossible not to write". And thanks to this compelling and driving force Slovak literature has been enriched by verses of lasting beauty. The creator of this �SLOVAKIA 151 poetry never intended to be modern or fashionable yet he succeeded in making his presence in the Slovak literary field vividly felt and wrote his name across the pages of the histories of Slovak literature. F. Vnuk, Australia FOOTNOTES 1. Milos K. Mlynarovic was born on October 11, 1887 at Hasprunka (now called Studienka), near Malacky in West Slovakia. He attended High School at Trnava. Later he entered the Franciscan order and accepted the name Benedict. His theological studies were completed at Bratislava and in 1910 he was ordained. Shortly after his ordination he was appointed to lecture in Rhetoric and Biblical studies at a Franciscan seminary. In 1914 he left his native country and emigrated to the U.S.A. hoping to join the Slovak Franciscan Commissariate and to work among the Slovak settlers in the U.S.A. But owing <to the political pressure exercised by the anti-Slovak Magyars even within the monastic orders, he was prevented from realizing his youthful dreams. In order to stay in the U.S.A. and to work among the Slovak emigrants he had to become a secular priest. As an administrator of the Slovak Catholic parish of the Assumption of Our Lady at Indiana Harbor (now East Chicago), Ind., he spent 35 years in active pastoral service. He built a beautiful church, presbytery, school and convent. In addition to his parochial duties he took an active part in numerous Slovak fraternalistic associations. In 1950 he retired and since then he has lived with the Slovak Franciscan community (Seven Dolors Shrine) at Valparaiso, Indiana. This essay attempts to give a brief outline of his poetical work, leaving aside his prose writing, religious books and occasional journalistic activity. For a more comprehensive treatment of Mlynarovic's life and literary work the reader is advised <to consult J. E. Bor: Msgr. Milos K. Mlynarovic; osobnost', dielo a posolstvo (Whiting, Ind., 1957). 2. Sokol (literary monthly) , No. 7, 1869. 3. Of these only Kraska published his poems in two slim volumes of verse. The others contributed to various Slovak journals and periodicals such as Prudy (Roy, Razus) , Narodne noviny (Razus, GrebacOrlov), 13udove noviny ( Grebac-Orlov). 4. This lapse later led Hviezdoslav to a rhapsodic ode on the Slovak language: Mn.a kedys' zvadzal svet, mi hovoriac: Rec, ktoru z domu vies, o, jak je licha . .. 0, mojej matky rec je krasota, je milota, je rozko~, laska svata .. . (The world once tried to seduce me, saying: The language you learned at home, oh, how base it is .. ./ To which the poet makes this noble reply: / Oh, the language taught by my mother is loveliness, is tenderness, is delight and holy love ... ) �152 SLOVAKIA 5. See his poem Budapest', jun 1914 in Dejiny srdca (Story of a heart, Middletown, Pa., 1964, pp. 5-6) from which account of the poet's decision is reconstructed. 6. e.g. Martin Razus : Hoj, zem dralui (1919), Vladimir Roy: Ked' miznu hmly (1920), Stefan Krcmery: Ked' sa sloboda rodila (1920), Ignac Grebac-Orlov: V povichrici (1922), etc. 7. Even the title of Mlynarovic's book of verse, Vel'kiJ Boh malych, reminds one of the famous verses of I. Krasko: 0, Boze ubohych a ponizenych, modlitbu moju milosrdne prijmi! Ty vel'kiJ, pretoze Si Bohom malych ... (Oh God of poor and humble ones,/ graciously accept my prayer./ You the great One, because You deign to be the God of little ones .. . ) 8. Translation by Ivan J . Kramoris, published in his "Anthology of Slovak Poetry" (Scranton, Pa., 1947), p. 131. 9. Boha hl'adam (In search of God, Trnava 1948), 62 pages. 10. Boha hl'adam, p. 35. 11. Boha hl'adam, p . 50. 12. Testament kral'a sfdc (Testament of the King of Human Hearts, Buenos Aires, n.d.), 78 pages. 13. T estament kral'a sfdc, p. 9. 14. Z l'udu - za l'ud (From the People ,vhiting, Ind., 1956) , 67 pages. 15. Z l'udu - For the People, za l'ud, p. 12. 16. Dejiny srdca (Story of a Heart, Middletown, Pa., 1964), 39 pages. 17. Dejiny srdca, p. 11. 18. Dejiny srdca, p . 39. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA as a Christian and democratic organization, is resolutely against the domination and exploitation of the Slovak nation by any other nation or political state; the Slovaks did not want to be ruled over by the Magyars and, today, do not want to be subservient to the Czech nation. � 144 SLOVAKIA A POET IN EXILE ( Msgr. M . K. Mlynarovic celebrates his 80th birthday on October 11, 1967) Milos Klement Mlyna.rovic is a unique phenomenon of Slovak literature 1 in more than one respect. First of all, he is the oldest living Slovak poet. His literary contemporaries ( I. Grebac-Orlov, M. Razus, V. Roy, P. Kompis, K. F. Urbanovic ) have now all died and their work has been a closed chapter for the last two or three decades. Mlynarovic, on the other hand, has established himself as a mature and productive writer mainly in the last two decades. Secondly, all his literary output (amounting to 15 books of poetry, novels and religious writing) has been produced in exile, away from his native land. In spite of this physical and geographical separation Mlynarovic has maintained close and unbroken ties with the country of his birth. And finally, his poetry, as if untouched by the fashions and vicissitudes of the day, remains faithful to his three-pronged love: God, Church and nation. In this sense Mlynarovic is a traditional poet and a true son of his nation. These three themes (God, Church and nation) have dominated Slovak poetry since the time of the National Awakening (end of the 18th century) but never more intensely than in the time of national oppression which befell the Slovak nation after the Austro-Hungarian 'Ausgleich' (1867 ) and did not cease until 1918. For the generations of Slovak writers and poets living on hope and trusting in God's justice these three themes comprised a programme to which they faithfully adhered. Thus Andrej Truchly-Sytniansky proclaimed in the poem, "Kto som?": P<in Bah, cirkev, rod slovensky; srdca m6jho vz<icny predmet. Tymto tram ze vzdycky zijem, nedal by ch sa za eel'!} svet. 2 (God, Church and Slovak nation/ are precious themes of my heart./ I always live for these three/ and would not give them up for the whole world.) These three themes were passed on as a historical �SLOVAKIA 145 message from fathers to sons. The form may have changed, but the content did not. Kraska, Roy, Razus - the pioneer of modern Slovak poetry - were echoing them in their verses on the eve of the First World War, 3 when the young Franciscan priest, Father Benedict Mlynarovic, OFM, left Slovakia for the U.S.A. In the strange new world, among a sizable Slovak emigration which he came to serve, these three themes acquired a new meaning and became the cornerstone of his pastoral, fraternalistic and literary activities. The new environment in which the young priest-poet found himself in the U.S .A. differed drastically from that which he had left behind. Back in old Hungary ( of which Slovakia was then a part) the aspiring poet and young priest-lecturer had moved in the intellectual milieu of Magyar culture. Towards the end of the 19th century Magyar culture and literature caught up with the West, while the oppressed and struggling Slovak literature was still lagging behind. For young ambitious intellectuals the adoption of the culture of the dominating Magyar nation had much more to offer not only intellectually but also materially. It required a strong conviction and even stronger devotion to one's own nation to resist Magyar lures, enticements and ever-mounting pressure. Many Slovak intellectuals were thus lost to their own nation. It was a doubly tragic loss since it strengthened and enriched the ranks of the oppressors of the Slovak nation. Even the greatest Slovak poet, Hviezdoslav, succumbed initially to these temptations and began to write his verses in Magyar. 4 In a similar way we find the first literary contributions of M. K. Mlynarovic in Magyar language periodicals ( Religio, Alkotmdny, etc.) . The poet has left us an autobiographic record of his struggle and victory. 5 A tempting voice called him : Pis bdsne mad'arsky a nie viac zobrdcky! (Write Magyar poems/ and nothing more of this beggar's language!) . But he overcame the temptation. He realized his indebtedness to his family, to his native village �146 SLOVAKIA and to his nation suffering under the lashes of the tyrant's whip. No, he would not "kiss the whip": Oprety o stip bulvdra hl'add si chlapec cestu spat a slzou si ju otvdra. (Leaning against the column of Budapest's boulevard/ the young lad looks for a road which will take him back/ and unlocks it with a tear.) At an important cross-road of his life the poet listened to the voice of his heart and made his irrevocable choice which was soon to bear precious fruit. During the war-years 1914-1918 the Slovaks in America were the most active section of the Slovak national community and it was largely through their efforts that in the postwar rearrangement of Central Europe Slovaks opted for a common state with the Czechs. The striving, sacrifices and other heroic deeds and splendid achievements of Slovak people in a free - though foreign - country were an eloquent testimony of the capabilities inherent in the Slovak nation. Through their accomplishments and experiences in the U.S.A. Slovaks were shedding their national inferiority complex and becoming confident and conscious citizens. And here among them the patriotism of a young priest-poet acquired a new dimension. His devotion to the Slovak national heritage deepened. Deprived of opportunities to study his native language and culture at home (where during his school-years the education was offered only in the Magyar language and spirit), he made up for it in America. Painstakingly and steadfastly he studied Slovak grammar, Slovak history and Slovak literature. From among the Slovak poets he developed a special affection for Hviezdoslav and Krasko, two of the brightest stars in the Slovak literary firmament. In 1919 he published his first book of verse, Sldvia. It was a small volume of warm patriotic poetry, expressing joy over the liberation of Slovakia, welcoming the new dawn of the freed nation and thanking God for the favours in which the dreams of generations had materialized. By its content the book fitted into the pattern of the poetical �SLOVAKIA 147 production appearing in those days in Slovakia,6 but artistically the verse still lacked the force and refinement appropriate to the festive and hymnic message it tried to convey. In the following years Mlynarovic wrote several prose works and only occasionally published a poem here and there in Slovak journals and magazines. Then in 1934 there appeared his second book of poetry, Veliky Boh malych. (Great God of the little ones) It contained mainly meditative and religious poems of intense sincerity and Franciscan humility. In the lines one could detect the strong influence of Krasko, 7 but the poems bore the unmistakable imprint of Mlynarovic's individuality. Spiritual depth and heartfelt intimacy rank these poems with the best religious poetry written in the Slovak language. Especially moving is the poem, Vel' ky piatok, (Good Friday) the opening verses of which run: Beyond the stars now He doth dwell And I below, a shattered bell, Unworthy to ring out His name. Age-old, my heart cried out in pain, When my tongue moved, but all in vain To turn the evil when He came. Good Friday once again is here. The cross looks down from everywhere As Son unto His Father dies .. .8 The next volume of Mlynarovic's poetry, Boha hl'addm,9 was published in Slovakia shortly after the Second World War (1948). In a way it was a revelation: it was not only a voice from the other side of the Ocean but also from another era. In the immediate post-war years mankind was taking account of its misery and self-inflicted suffering. The Slovak poetry of the day was full of sadness, nostalgia, remorse and dissonant voices. Then in its unobtrusive whisper entered Mlynarovic's poetry to remind one of the overlooked honesty in human action, of the purposefulness of human life, and of the human heart's everlasting search for God: �148 SLOVAKIA Tisic rdz nasiel som 1'a, tisic rdz stratil, Veen'!}, bludickou budem v priestore kruzit' tulavym behom vzd'alovat' sa, blizit', a vzdy 1'a ndjdem, jak vtdk svoje hniezdo, ja maly prach Tvoj, satelit. 10 A thousand times I have found You, A thousand times I have lost You again, Everlasting One! As an errant star I will soar through the space, In roving course I get further, closer, But always I find You As a bird finds its nest, I, Your little speck of dust, Your satellite. It was indeed a tender, deeply human and humanistic kind of poetry. In delicate verses the poet records the reminiscences of his youth, identifies himself with the humble, suffering and downtrodden, pays homage to the memory of Father Damien de Veuster ( the missionary of the lepers' colony at Molokai) and meditates upon God's goodness and eternity: Chcem den. co neznd rdna, vecera nie, Zen poludnie; chcem vecne slnka Pdna, ziariace do mna, do studne. 11 I wish for a day which has no sunrise and no sunset, only a lasting noon; I crave for the Lord's sun which never sets but radiates into me as into a well. Prayer clothed in poetry was the central theme of Mlynarovic's book of poems, Testament krdl'a sfdc. 12 In meditative lyrical poetry the author "looks into secrets, investigates the world behind the veil, searches into mysteries of human existence." 13 It is, in a way, a continuation of the search for God undertaken in an earlier book, but this time the intensity of the spiritual quest is even more emphasized in reflective monologues of prayer-like sin- �SLOVAKIA 149 cerity. The poems are grouped into five cycles: Broken Rhythm, Meditations at Holy Mass, Sayings of the Word Made Flesh, Seven Words and At the Sepulchre. Many poems are introduced with appropriate quotations taken from the Scriptures - not unlike antiphons preceding psalms in the Divine Office. The value of this poetry of pure spirituality is even more enhanced when one places it alongside the versifications produced at the same time in the poet's native count ry. There, under the compulsive guidance of the Communist Party, poetry and all arts were harnessed into the service of "the cause of Socialism." Only a "functional" poetry, that is a poetry helping the masses to build up Communism, was permitted; and what was not explicitly permitted was virtually outlawed. In those lean years of Slovak literature the good name and the artistic honour of Slovak poetry were saved by the writings of the emigre poets, Milos K. Mlynarovic being foremost among them. While in the previous books of verse Mlynarovic had repeatedly proclaimed his soaring devotion to God, in the book, z l'udu - za l'ud,14 he comes down to earth and the object of his inspiration is man. His warm sympathy extends to all people everywhere, but in particular two sections of mankind lie deep in his heart: the hard-pressed Slovak nation in Communist captivity and the struggling negro race both in Africa and the U.S.A. Eud a ja . . . zijem si s nim vzdy povedomy ja, diet'a domca, svatych prdv a borieb a dnes sa zakolisat', Boze m6j, nedaj mi! 15 My people and I . . . As a child of humble abode I live with them, constantly aware of their sacred rights and struggles; Do not ever let me, o my God, waver in this conviction. Here again - even more frequently than in the previous book - each poem is prefaced by one or more quotations. A brief glance at these quotations is a convenient key to the inspirational sources of Mlynarovic's poetry. They range from the Bible, classical authors and Slovak �150 SLOVAKIA poets to Shakespeare, Petofi, Mada.ch, Keats, Masefield, etc. The last poetical work of M. K. Mlynarovic is a slim volume of verse, entitled Dejiny srdca. 16 Some of the poems in this collection had been published earlier and here they reappear in a somewhat modified form. Some poems were written as early as 1911, others in the autum of the poet's fruitful life. Arranged in chronological order they represent a concise cross-section of Mlynarovic's creative activity and the poetical manifesto of a writer in exile. The poet equates himself to a tree transplanted to new ground, but the soil of the new environment failed "to change the tune of his heart" .17 In the last poem of the collection, Vlak (the Train), the poet with calm and resignation writes the last chapter of the history of his heart. The train of his life is approaching its terminus and he is preparing to alight. He sings in a melancholy strain: Pride tci stanica a vlak m6j pozastane; padne mi pero, stichne hlas a svetlo dohori. Vtedy mi bratia-sestry, zrobte po v6li : na mna si spomente, jak ja na vcis spominam/ 18 The station where my train will stop is already in sight; then the pen will fall from my fingers, my voice will be silenced, my light will go out. At that time, my brothers and sisters, grant me this wish: Remember me, as I am now remembering you! Difficult is the life of a poet in exile. The separation from his native soil - and especially when he is separated by an Iron Curtain - may be a source of nostalgic inspiration but then it denies the poet everything else: favourable working conditions, publishing opportunities, and above all - a sizable and appreciative audience. In spite of these difficulties the creative spark in the poet's bosom makes it "impossible not to write". And thanks to this compelling and driving force Slovak literature has been enriched by verses of lasting beauty. The creator of this �SLOVAKIA 151 poetry never intended to be modern or fashionable yet he succeeded in making his presence in the Slovak literary field vividly felt and wrote his name across the pages of the histories of Slovak literature. F. Vnuk, Australia FOOTNOTES 1. Milos K. Mlynarovic was born on October 11, 1887 at Hasprunka (now called Studienka), near Malacky in West Slovakia. He attended High School at Trnava. Later he entered the Franciscan order and accepted the name Benedict. His theological studies were completed at Bratislava and in 1910 he was ordained. Shortly after his ordination he was appointed to lecture in Rhetoric and Biblical studies at a Franciscan seminary. In 1914 he left his native country and emigrated to the U.S.A. hoping to join the Slovak Franciscan Commissariate and to work among the Slovak settlers in the U.S.A. But owing <to the political pressure exercised by the anti-Slovak Magyars even within the monastic orders, he was prevented from realizing his youthful dreams. In order to stay in the U.S.A. and to work among the Slovak emigrants he had to become a secular priest. As an administrator of the Slovak Catholic parish of the Assumption of Our Lady at Indiana Harbor (now East Chicago), Ind., he spent 35 years in active pastoral service. He built a beautiful church, presbytery, school and convent. In addition to his parochial duties he took an active part in numerous Slovak fraternalistic associations. In 1950 he retired and since then he has lived with the Slovak Franciscan community (Seven Dolors Shrine) at Valparaiso, Indiana. This essay attempts to give a brief outline of his poetical work, leaving aside his prose writing, religious books and occasional journalistic activity. For a more comprehensive treatment of Mlynarovic's life and literary work the reader is advised <to consult J. E. Bor: Msgr. Milos K. Mlynarovic; osobnost', dielo a posolstvo (Whiting, Ind., 1957). 2. Sokol (literary monthly) , No. 7, 1869. 3. Of these only Kraska published his poems in two slim volumes of verse. The others contributed to various Slovak journals and periodicals such as Prudy (Roy, Razus) , Narodne noviny (Razus, GrebacOrlov), 13udove noviny ( Grebac-Orlov). 4. This lapse later led Hviezdoslav to a rhapsodic ode on the Slovak language: Mn.a kedys' zvadzal svet, mi hovoriac: Rec, ktoru z domu vies, o, jak je licha . .. 0, mojej matky rec je krasota, je milota, je rozko~, laska svata .. . (The world once tried to seduce me, saying: The language you learned at home, oh, how base it is .. ./ To which the poet makes this noble reply: / Oh, the language taught by my mother is loveliness, is tenderness, is delight and holy love ... ) �152 SLOVAKIA 5. See his poem Budapest', jun 1914 in Dejiny srdca (Story of a heart, Middletown, Pa., 1964, pp. 5-6) from which account of the poet's decision is reconstructed. 6. e.g. Martin Razus : Hoj, zem dralui (1919), Vladimir Roy: Ked' miznu hmly (1920), Stefan Krcmery: Ked' sa sloboda rodila (1920), Ignac Grebac-Orlov: V povichrici (1922), etc. 7. Even the title of Mlynarovic's book of verse, Vel'kiJ Boh malych, reminds one of the famous verses of I. Krasko: 0, Boze ubohych a ponizenych, modlitbu moju milosrdne prijmi! Ty vel'kiJ, pretoze Si Bohom malych ... (Oh God of poor and humble ones,/ graciously accept my prayer./ You the great One, because You deign to be the God of little ones .. . ) 8. Translation by Ivan J . Kramoris, published in his "Anthology of Slovak Poetry" (Scranton, Pa., 1947), p. 131. 9. Boha hl'adam (In search of God, Trnava 1948), 62 pages. 10. Boha hl'adam, p. 35. 11. Boha hl'adam, p . 50. 12. Testament kral'a sfdc (Testament of the King of Human Hearts, Buenos Aires, n.d.), 78 pages. 13. T estament kral'a sfdc, p. 9. 14. Z l'udu - za l'ud (From the People ,vhiting, Ind., 1956) , 67 pages. 15. Z l'udu - For the People, za l'ud, p. 12. 16. Dejiny srdca (Story of a Heart, Middletown, Pa., 1964), 39 pages. 17. Dejiny srdca, p. 11. 18. Dejiny srdca, p . 39. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA as a Christian and democratic organization, is resolutely against the domination and exploitation of the Slovak nation by any other nation or political state; the Slovaks did not want to be ruled over by the Magyars and, today, do not want to be subservient to the Czech nation. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1967, Vol. 17 Description An account of the resource Special Issue: Sixty Years of the Slovak League of America Vol. 17 (No. 40), 1967. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1967 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 144 SLOVAKIA A POET IN EXILE ( Msgr. M . K. Mlynarovic celebrates his 80th birthday on October 11, 1967) Milos Klement Mlyna.rovic is a unique phenomenon of Slovak literature 1 in more than one respect. First of all, he is the oldest living Slovak poet. His literary contemporaries ( I. Grebac-Orlov, M. Razus, V. Roy, P. Kompis, K. F. Urbanovic ) have now all died and their work has been a closed chapter for the last two or three decades. Mlynarovic, on the other hand, has established himself as a mature and productive writer mainly in the last two decades. Secondly, all his literary output (amounting to 15 books of poetry, novels and religious writing) has been produced in exile, away from his native land. In spite of this physical and geographical separation Mlynarovic has maintained close and unbroken ties with the country of his birth. And finally, his poetry, as if untouched by the fashions and vicissitudes of the day, remains faithful to his three-pronged love: God, Church and nation. In this sense Mlynarovic is a traditional poet and a true son of his nation. These three themes (God, Church and nation) have dominated Slovak poetry since the time of the National Awakening (end of the 18th century) but never more intensely than in the time of national oppression which befell the Slovak nation after the Austro-Hungarian 'Ausgleich' (1867 ) and did not cease until 1918. For the generations of Slovak writers and poets living on hope and trusting in God's justice these three themes comprised a programme to which they faithfully adhered. Thus Andrej Truchly-Sytniansky proclaimed in the poem, "Kto som?": P<in Bah, cirkev, rod slovensky; srdca m6jho vz<icny predmet. Tymto tram ze vzdycky zijem, nedal by ch sa za eel'!} svet. 2 (God, Church and Slovak nation/ are precious themes of my heart./ I always live for these three/ and would not give them up for the whole world.) These three themes were passed on as a historical SLOVAKIA 145 message from fathers to sons. The form may have changed, but the content did not. Kraska, Roy, Razus - the pioneer of modern Slovak poetry - were echoing them in their verses on the eve of the First World War, 3 when the young Franciscan priest, Father Benedict Mlynarovic, OFM, left Slovakia for the U.S.A. In the strange new world, among a sizable Slovak emigration which he came to serve, these three themes acquired a new meaning and became the cornerstone of his pastoral, fraternalistic and literary activities. The new environment in which the young priest-poet found himself in the U.S .A. differed drastically from that which he had left behind. Back in old Hungary ( of which Slovakia was then a part) the aspiring poet and young priest-lecturer had moved in the intellectual milieu of Magyar culture. Towards the end of the 19th century Magyar culture and literature caught up with the West, while the oppressed and struggling Slovak literature was still lagging behind. For young ambitious intellectuals the adoption of the culture of the dominating Magyar nation had much more to offer not only intellectually but also materially. It required a strong conviction and even stronger devotion to one's own nation to resist Magyar lures, enticements and ever-mounting pressure. Many Slovak intellectuals were thus lost to their own nation. It was a doubly tragic loss since it strengthened and enriched the ranks of the oppressors of the Slovak nation. Even the greatest Slovak poet, Hviezdoslav, succumbed initially to these temptations and began to write his verses in Magyar. 4 In a similar way we find the first literary contributions of M. K. Mlynarovic in Magyar language periodicals ( Religio, Alkotmdny, etc.) . The poet has left us an autobiographic record of his struggle and victory. 5 A tempting voice called him : Pis bdsne mad'arsky a nie viac zobrdcky! (Write Magyar poems/ and nothing more of this beggar's language!) . But he overcame the temptation. He realized his indebtedness to his family, to his native village 146 SLOVAKIA and to his nation suffering under the lashes of the tyrant's whip. No, he would not "kiss the whip": Oprety o stip bulvdra hl'add si chlapec cestu spat a slzou si ju otvdra. (Leaning against the column of Budapest's boulevard/ the young lad looks for a road which will take him back/ and unlocks it with a tear.) At an important cross-road of his life the poet listened to the voice of his heart and made his irrevocable choice which was soon to bear precious fruit. During the war-years 1914-1918 the Slovaks in America were the most active section of the Slovak national community and it was largely through their efforts that in the postwar rearrangement of Central Europe Slovaks opted for a common state with the Czechs. The striving, sacrifices and other heroic deeds and splendid achievements of Slovak people in a free - though foreign - country were an eloquent testimony of the capabilities inherent in the Slovak nation. Through their accomplishments and experiences in the U.S.A. Slovaks were shedding their national inferiority complex and becoming confident and conscious citizens. And here among them the patriotism of a young priest-poet acquired a new dimension. His devotion to the Slovak national heritage deepened. Deprived of opportunities to study his native language and culture at home (where during his school-years the education was offered only in the Magyar language and spirit), he made up for it in America. Painstakingly and steadfastly he studied Slovak grammar, Slovak history and Slovak literature. From among the Slovak poets he developed a special affection for Hviezdoslav and Krasko, two of the brightest stars in the Slovak literary firmament. In 1919 he published his first book of verse, Sldvia. It was a small volume of warm patriotic poetry, expressing joy over the liberation of Slovakia, welcoming the new dawn of the freed nation and thanking God for the favours in which the dreams of generations had materialized. By its content the book fitted into the pattern of the poetical SLOVAKIA 147 production appearing in those days in Slovakia,6 but artistically the verse still lacked the force and refinement appropriate to the festive and hymnic message it tried to convey. In the following years Mlynarovic wrote several prose works and only occasionally published a poem here and there in Slovak journals and magazines. Then in 1934 there appeared his second book of poetry, Veliky Boh malych. (Great God of the little ones) It contained mainly meditative and religious poems of intense sincerity and Franciscan humility. In the lines one could detect the strong influence of Krasko, 7 but the poems bore the unmistakable imprint of Mlynarovic's individuality. Spiritual depth and heartfelt intimacy rank these poems with the best religious poetry written in the Slovak language. Especially moving is the poem, Vel' ky piatok, (Good Friday) the opening verses of which run: Beyond the stars now He doth dwell And I below, a shattered bell, Unworthy to ring out His name. Age-old, my heart cried out in pain, When my tongue moved, but all in vain To turn the evil when He came. Good Friday once again is here. The cross looks down from everywhere As Son unto His Father dies .. .8 The next volume of Mlynarovic's poetry, Boha hl'addm,9 was published in Slovakia shortly after the Second World War (1948). In a way it was a revelation: it was not only a voice from the other side of the Ocean but also from another era. In the immediate post-war years mankind was taking account of its misery and self-inflicted suffering. The Slovak poetry of the day was full of sadness, nostalgia, remorse and dissonant voices. Then in its unobtrusive whisper entered Mlynarovic's poetry to remind one of the overlooked honesty in human action, of the purposefulness of human life, and of the human heart's everlasting search for God: 148 SLOVAKIA Tisic rdz nasiel som 1'a, tisic rdz stratil, Veen'!}, bludickou budem v priestore kruzit' tulavym behom vzd'alovat' sa, blizit', a vzdy 1'a ndjdem, jak vtdk svoje hniezdo, ja maly prach Tvoj, satelit. 10 A thousand times I have found You, A thousand times I have lost You again, Everlasting One! As an errant star I will soar through the space, In roving course I get further, closer, But always I find You As a bird finds its nest, I, Your little speck of dust, Your satellite. It was indeed a tender, deeply human and humanistic kind of poetry. In delicate verses the poet records the reminiscences of his youth, identifies himself with the humble, suffering and downtrodden, pays homage to the memory of Father Damien de Veuster ( the missionary of the lepers' colony at Molokai) and meditates upon God's goodness and eternity: Chcem den. co neznd rdna, vecera nie, Zen poludnie; chcem vecne slnka Pdna, ziariace do mna, do studne. 11 I wish for a day which has no sunrise and no sunset, only a lasting noon; I crave for the Lord's sun which never sets but radiates into me as into a well. Prayer clothed in poetry was the central theme of Mlynarovic's book of poems, Testament krdl'a sfdc. 12 In meditative lyrical poetry the author "looks into secrets, investigates the world behind the veil, searches into mysteries of human existence." 13 It is, in a way, a continuation of the search for God undertaken in an earlier book, but this time the intensity of the spiritual quest is even more emphasized in reflective monologues of prayer-like sin- SLOVAKIA 149 cerity. The poems are grouped into five cycles: Broken Rhythm, Meditations at Holy Mass, Sayings of the Word Made Flesh, Seven Words and At the Sepulchre. Many poems are introduced with appropriate quotations taken from the Scriptures - not unlike antiphons preceding psalms in the Divine Office. The value of this poetry of pure spirituality is even more enhanced when one places it alongside the versifications produced at the same time in the poet's native count ry. There, under the compulsive guidance of the Communist Party, poetry and all arts were harnessed into the service of "the cause of Socialism." Only a "functional" poetry, that is a poetry helping the masses to build up Communism, was permitted; and what was not explicitly permitted was virtually outlawed. In those lean years of Slovak literature the good name and the artistic honour of Slovak poetry were saved by the writings of the emigre poets, Milos K. Mlynarovic being foremost among them. While in the previous books of verse Mlynarovic had repeatedly proclaimed his soaring devotion to God, in the book, z l'udu - za l'ud,14 he comes down to earth and the object of his inspiration is man. His warm sympathy extends to all people everywhere, but in particular two sections of mankind lie deep in his heart: the hard-pressed Slovak nation in Communist captivity and the struggling negro race both in Africa and the U.S.A. Eud a ja . . . zijem si s nim vzdy povedomy ja, diet'a domca, svatych prdv a borieb a dnes sa zakolisat', Boze m6j, nedaj mi! 15 My people and I . . . As a child of humble abode I live with them, constantly aware of their sacred rights and struggles; Do not ever let me, o my God, waver in this conviction. Here again - even more frequently than in the previous book - each poem is prefaced by one or more quotations. A brief glance at these quotations is a convenient key to the inspirational sources of Mlynarovic's poetry. They range from the Bible, classical authors and Slovak 150 SLOVAKIA poets to Shakespeare, Petofi, Mada.ch, Keats, Masefield, etc. The last poetical work of M. K. Mlynarovic is a slim volume of verse, entitled Dejiny srdca. 16 Some of the poems in this collection had been published earlier and here they reappear in a somewhat modified form. Some poems were written as early as 1911, others in the autum of the poet's fruitful life. Arranged in chronological order they represent a concise cross-section of Mlynarovic's creative activity and the poetical manifesto of a writer in exile. The poet equates himself to a tree transplanted to new ground, but the soil of the new environment failed "to change the tune of his heart" .17 In the last poem of the collection, Vlak (the Train), the poet with calm and resignation writes the last chapter of the history of his heart. The train of his life is approaching its terminus and he is preparing to alight. He sings in a melancholy strain: Pride tci stanica a vlak m6j pozastane; padne mi pero, stichne hlas a svetlo dohori. Vtedy mi bratia-sestry, zrobte po v6li : na mna si spomente, jak ja na vcis spominam/ 18 The station where my train will stop is already in sight; then the pen will fall from my fingers, my voice will be silenced, my light will go out. At that time, my brothers and sisters, grant me this wish: Remember me, as I am now remembering you! Difficult is the life of a poet in exile. The separation from his native soil - and especially when he is separated by an Iron Curtain - may be a source of nostalgic inspiration but then it denies the poet everything else: favourable working conditions, publishing opportunities, and above all - a sizable and appreciative audience. In spite of these difficulties the creative spark in the poet's bosom makes it "impossible not to write". And thanks to this compelling and driving force Slovak literature has been enriched by verses of lasting beauty. The creator of this SLOVAKIA 151 poetry never intended to be modern or fashionable yet he succeeded in making his presence in the Slovak literary field vividly felt and wrote his name across the pages of the histories of Slovak literature. F. Vnuk, Australia FOOTNOTES 1. Milos K. Mlynarovic was born on October 11, 1887 at Hasprunka (now called Studienka), near Malacky in West Slovakia. He attended High School at Trnava. Later he entered the Franciscan order and accepted the name Benedict. His theological studies were completed at Bratislava and in 1910 he was ordained. Shortly after his ordination he was appointed to lecture in Rhetoric and Biblical studies at a Franciscan seminary. In 1914 he left his native country and emigrated to the U.S.A. hoping to join the Slovak Franciscan Commissariate and to work among the Slovak settlers in the U.S.A. But owing <to the political pressure exercised by the anti-Slovak Magyars even within the monastic orders, he was prevented from realizing his youthful dreams. In order to stay in the U.S.A. and to work among the Slovak emigrants he had to become a secular priest. As an administrator of the Slovak Catholic parish of the Assumption of Our Lady at Indiana Harbor (now East Chicago), Ind., he spent 35 years in active pastoral service. He built a beautiful church, presbytery, school and convent. In addition to his parochial duties he took an active part in numerous Slovak fraternalistic associations. In 1950 he retired and since then he has lived with the Slovak Franciscan community (Seven Dolors Shrine) at Valparaiso, Indiana. This essay attempts to give a brief outline of his poetical work, leaving aside his prose writing, religious books and occasional journalistic activity. For a more comprehensive treatment of Mlynarovic's life and literary work the reader is advised <to consult J. E. Bor: Msgr. Milos K. Mlynarovic; osobnost', dielo a posolstvo (Whiting, Ind., 1957). 2. Sokol (literary monthly) , No. 7, 1869. 3. Of these only Kraska published his poems in two slim volumes of verse. The others contributed to various Slovak journals and periodicals such as Prudy (Roy, Razus) , Narodne noviny (Razus, GrebacOrlov), 13udove noviny ( Grebac-Orlov). 4. This lapse later led Hviezdoslav to a rhapsodic ode on the Slovak language: Mn.a kedys' zvadzal svet, mi hovoriac: Rec, ktoru z domu vies, o, jak je licha . .. 0, mojej matky rec je krasota, je milota, je rozko~, laska svata .. . (The world once tried to seduce me, saying: The language you learned at home, oh, how base it is .. ./ To which the poet makes this noble reply: / Oh, the language taught by my mother is loveliness, is tenderness, is delight and holy love ... ) 152 SLOVAKIA 5. See his poem Budapest', jun 1914 in Dejiny srdca (Story of a heart, Middletown, Pa., 1964, pp. 5-6) from which account of the poet's decision is reconstructed. 6. e.g. Martin Razus : Hoj, zem dralui (1919), Vladimir Roy: Ked' miznu hmly (1920), Stefan Krcmery: Ked' sa sloboda rodila (1920), Ignac Grebac-Orlov: V povichrici (1922), etc. 7. Even the title of Mlynarovic's book of verse, Vel'kiJ Boh malych, reminds one of the famous verses of I. Krasko: 0, Boze ubohych a ponizenych, modlitbu moju milosrdne prijmi! Ty vel'kiJ, pretoze Si Bohom malych ... (Oh God of poor and humble ones,/ graciously accept my prayer./ You the great One, because You deign to be the God of little ones .. . ) 8. Translation by Ivan J . Kramoris, published in his "Anthology of Slovak Poetry" (Scranton, Pa., 1947), p. 131. 9. Boha hl'adam (In search of God, Trnava 1948), 62 pages. 10. Boha hl'adam, p. 35. 11. Boha hl'adam, p . 50. 12. Testament kral'a sfdc (Testament of the King of Human Hearts, Buenos Aires, n.d.), 78 pages. 13. T estament kral'a sfdc, p. 9. 14. Z l'udu - za l'ud (From the People ,vhiting, Ind., 1956) , 67 pages. 15. Z l'udu - For the People, za l'ud, p. 12. 16. Dejiny srdca (Story of a Heart, Middletown, Pa., 1964), 39 pages. 17. Dejiny srdca, p. 11. 18. Dejiny srdca, p . 39. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA as a Christian and democratic organization, is resolutely against the domination and exploitation of the Slovak nation by any other nation or political state; the Slovaks did not want to be ruled over by the Magyars and, today, do not want to be subservient to the Czech nation.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A Poet in Exile Description An account of the resource Msgr. M. K. Mlynarovič celebrates his 80th birthday on October 11, 1967 F. Vnuk Slovakia, Vol. 17 (No. 40), 1967 pp. 144-152 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 1967 SNK 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/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/d21a21880b64960b1f061fe54da171c4.pdf 2196332d20dd317fdc9f4385f9ae7d9c PDF Text Text 136 SLOVAKIA A Slovak-American Perspective in a Changing Society ALEXANDER J. RUDINSKY It is important to talk of Slovakia within the context of the rest of the world and of changing events. As Slovak-Americans we face a complex series of events different from those either of the Slovak or the American people, and yet we experience familiar ties with both. The insights which come from having an affinity towards these two cultures provide a truer picture of our personal and social lives. I remember the halusky s bryndzou we ate on Sunday. I remember the chickens running around the yard. We weren't supposed to keep the gate open for fear they 'd run out. I remember the Kalvaria (Calvary) with medieval statues nestled in a pattern between the trees on the hill. I remember helping plant the garden and being scared by the geese. The buses went everywhere all the time. The cobblestone streets were always being repaired, as were the buildings. I remember much scaffolding on the church. Inside, the scaffolding hid the figures of painted cherubs high on the ceiling; sometimes they would peek out. When we sat in the dark wooden pews Mom would give us each a koruna to put in when the basket came around. In the little town of Banska Stiavnica my thoughts were dreamlike. How much of it was because I was twelve , or because I was in a new land with a new culture, I don't know. I do know, however, there is ·a definite change. I spent half of two years in Slovakia with my Slovak relatives. Life there was more tightly knit. I had a definite place in the public school I went to, in the community of neighbors, and of course, in the family. Since I was a foreigner, especially from America, the place I had in these groups was rather unique. I was looked upon as different and special. But also in many instances, I was looked upon as a member. This is what I cherished. One did not do things without the family, without the community, without loyalty towards those to whom one belonged. The four children in the house, from age twenty to eleven, slept in the same room. We ate together and spent most of our time with other members of the family. The primary social occasion was visiting our second cousins at the end of the street. Walking up the Sitno mountain reminded me of the story told about the Turks who almost conquered that area. Almost. During the seige, the Slovaks at the top of the hill were running drastically short of food. As a gesture to the Turks, they baked a huge loaf of bread and This paper won First Place in the scholarship competition of the Slovak League. �SLOVAKIA 137 rolled it down the mountain into their camp. The Turks were impressed by the pertinacity of the Slovaks, and their seeming store of extra provisions. Soon they abandoned their siege. Living in Czecho-Slovakia gives one a sense of tradition unfelt in America, and quite different from that of Western Europe; a rough and harsh beauty. It is evident in the Tatras and evident in the tale of Janosik. It is also evident on the faces and in the hearts of the people. People from all over talk of the Slovaks as being a "noble" and "exuberant" people. "The Slovaks are generally known as unadulterated peasants and shepherd people, settled in a land of considerable natural beauty. Observers have always known to appreciate their natural handsomeness and dignity as well as the incorruptible honesty of their character. "(l) American Culture The first two years and then later the two months I spent in Slovakia formed one of the most important experiences in my life and education. The rest of the time I have spent in America. The culture here is of a completely different nature. All the while I was growing up like my ·brothers and sisters, I had a room alone. Our society places more importance on the solitary individual as a center of responsibility, rather than on the family or neighborhood. The will of the solitary self which harbors loneliness goes well with the Protestant ethic so predominant in this country. It is difficult to say what American culture is. The facets of life in this country are many. The newly rich WASPS, the oilmen of Texas, the real estaters of Florida, are in direct contrast to the quiet, distinguished WASPS of New England. And the majority of America's people are descendants of recent immigrants who are in varying degrees of WASP assimilation. The constant change we have is a necessity. Whatever America is, it is different from what we or our Slovak predecessors came from. Big cars, large steaks, and mass consumption are in direct contrast with the small Skodas, potatoes, and folk art products. Conflicts For all the talk of truth in America there is a lot of falsehood here. All forms of mass media, especially television, block many realities out. This doesn't make people forget the realities, but they tend not to acknowledge them as much. In all the shows the "good guy" wins, and the ' 'bad guy' ' gets what he deserves, usually a bullet in the back of his head. An incredible amount of violence is just one way of distorting the facts and giving a view of the world that is totaly unrealistic. Possibly a less blatant distortion is the propagation of stereotyped roles. This is not only present in television's dream world, but also in our society. We are all too familiar with the jokes about the Polish, a fad that has �138 SLOVAKIA lowered many conversations. The portrayal of ethnics as being dumb flag-waving fascists is still quite prevalent. This is evident in such slang as " hunky " . Who wants to be associated with that? Rather let's try and match up to the cool American stereotype we always see on television. He is usually quiet and has everything under control. He is usually tough and individualistic. He knows what he wants and knows how to get it. As the saying goes , "He 's cool, calm and collected." These aren't bad traits to have! Women are also stereotyped in the media. She is self-assured and seductive. Her saying is " Clean is sexy. " Not bad traits to have either! The tendency to use these sterotyped roles is strong. And why not? These roles are quite socially acceptable, and immerse the owner in a charismatic light. Many other countries have worse distortions than these seemingly peripheral ones. As Slovaks, an oppressed people, we are quite, quite familiar with them. What the Slovaks are facing at present is degrading and very pressing. However, this does not negate the problem we have here , either . Our situation in life , especially when growing up, is filled with numerous differences in how we react to society . This becomes more complicated when society reacts to itself in more than one way. Since here in the United States the media portray a false world, many people bring some of these false perceptions into the "real world." This is again complicated by the differences in "real worlds" in our many cultures. It becomes important to look at some of these differences to understand the conflicts which Slovaks, as an ethnic group living in the United States , feel. Slovak-Americans must bear more of these conflicts than the typical WASP. Multi-cultural people bring into a culture many inherited differences of perception. Different cultural groups relate to anger, hatred, desire and pain in vastly different ways. Mark Zborowski in his book People and Pain, illustrates many differences in perception . Societal pressure to adhere to the societal norm is great. When deviation occurs, such as culture differences, much misunderstanding and stereotyping results. Another problem, that of self-misunderstanding, results. People try to be what they are not. They try to live up to a cultural type not their own. They go against their own instincts for the reward of societal acceptance. What do we have to give up for these constantly sought after types? Do not the majority of us have to give up some aspect of our heritage , our past? Have we always been the quintessential American , cool , calm , collected? Secretly we know we have not, and still, how many times do we cover it up to ourselves? The whole idea of an ethnic memory is not so much remembering a series of events, but rather it is the feeling, instincts , and expectations passed from generation to generation. It is the patterns of behavior and �SLOVAKIA 139 emotion for the individual and the people as a whole. Being ethnic requires us to understand that sense of reality. John Wayne vs Janosik The heroes of a culture reveal many peculiar insights to that culture's frame of reference. It is helpful to know a person's history and cultural background to understand his perceptions. Juro Janosik is certainly no less than the prototype of Slovak mentality. On the other hand, a perfect hero of America is John Wayne. I think the illustration of fundamental differences between these two can provide insight into the differences in the values of either society. On the one hand, the individualistic, cool oppressor type; John Wayne needs no justification for his actions. He can "do as he damn well pleases." Also the phrase "he calls 'em as he sees 'em" is characteristic of such an attitude. On the other hand, Janosik has qualities illustrating different aspects of personality. His whole life is centered around fighting against injustice. He harbors loyalty to his beloved ones and is sensitive and sentimental. Instead of being totally individualistic, he relies heavily on his mountain boys. The way the hero fits into his surrounding environment also influences the culture's frame of reference. Janosik dealt mostly with shepherds and poor folk, fighting against the established barons. He fought upwards against oppression. John Wayne fought the Indians; he drove them away . His was a different sense of justice (might makes right). Janosik's justice was closer to the word's true meaning. Which does one follow: John Wayne or Janosik? Much of this decision depends on to what extent the ethnic experience exists in us individually. Michael Novak gives an illuminating description of the crisis: The battle is partly in one's own soul. On the one hand American, enlightened, educated; on the other, stubbornly resistant, in love with values too dear to jettison, at home neither in the ethnic community nor in any intellectual group, neither with theorists nor with practical politicians, convinced of a certain rightness in one's soul and yet not confident that others will see, can see, the subtle links in a different way of life. It is the insecurity of certainty: the sense that something of value is not likely to be understood. (2) Cultural Multiplicity Within inheritors of more than one heritage there arise conflicts. However, this meeting of different ways of life many times is quite beneficial. Synergy, a word very few people use, means the behavior of whole systems unpredicted by its parts or any subassembly of its parts(3), i.e., the combination of various things may be stronger than the sum of its parts. One and one and one equals four. A three hundred pound man can sit on a bicycle with wheels that are supported by �140 SLOVAKIA spokes a child could bend. It is the arrangement of those spokes which makes it possible to withstand great pressure. The ignorance of such a concept creates misunderstandings in many areas of knowledge, not the least of which is relationships between people. Since this ignorance is widespread throughout society, people with a different cultural background are usually thought of for other reasons than for their own potential benefit. The misunderstanding results in such ideas as cultural inferiority, as if purity of heritage is a great virtue, and in such nick-names as ''half-breed,'' etc. Although our notion of equality has been around since the beginning of this country, so were Jefferson's slaves. Even though this concept has dropped from prominence, much of the idea of intellectual superiority remains. These notions are looked upon as ridiculous in present day science. The study of biology shows us the creatures which survive are the ones that are most suitable to the environment. When the environment changes, the animals must either adapt or perish. Humans are no different: the more variables - the more adaptive to change. L. S. Harms in his book Intercultural Communication also raises the concept of synergy: Synergy is a process that may operate in an organized system with a favorable structure. In the case of communication, in an authority structure in which messages are prepared and transmitted, there is little opportunity for synergy to operate. The interchange structure, however, is favorable to the process of synergy. (indeed) .. . high synergy may be expected. (4) A high number of various cultural influences is not unique to Slovak-Americans. It is inherent in all intercultural transactions. The advantages of a multi-heritage and especially a multi-lingual perception become clear in the ability to perceive below a superficial level of human understanding. One becomes able to see certain fundamental aspects. A tolerance arises for different attitudes, opinions, lifestyles and patterns of behavior. We become able to adapt ourselves to other peoples' mannerisms, symbolic meanings, gestures and etiquette. Indeed, the need to go beyond linguistic differences is essential in understanding our true thoughts, which abide in our subjective side, in our feelings and emotions. Humanity's creative geniuses, whether they be in art, science, philosophy or religion, speak of their understanding coming from a place deep within, usually beyond language. Today and Tomorrow: Toward a Preferred State Our world is changing at a shocking rate. In recent years, we have invented two new terms to describe that change: culture-shock and future-shock. Culture-shock describes the condition, the disease, experienced by a person suddenly transplanted into a foreign culture (Arensburg and Niehoff 1973). Future-shock describes the experience of the person who finds "things" in his community changing so fast he �SLOVAKIA 141 is no longer able to deal with them (Toffler 1971). Many large imbalances have resulted in the process of rapid growth. We have now a technological superiority and a moral inferiority. Our amount of information is doubling every ten years, yet we cling to many obsolete patterns of thought. Dichotomies such as rich and poor, educated and noneducated still exist, and we seem to be making little progress towards change . These problems need to be faced. In order to solve problems one must plan a preferred state. In order to design such a plan, one must have a variety of values. Values, in turn, come from individuals made up of different social, religious and ethnic backgrounds . We need a larger selection of values to work from, when confronting the large scale problems of today. This selection of values must be representative of our population, including more than the traditional WASP ethics we have now. There is a great need for people with multi-perspectives to help in world planning in all areas. It's high time for a new cultural pluralism and a politics that requires this pluralism - one that draws from resources other than Anglo-Saxon history and values. We have the responsibility of seeing that our Slovak culture does not die, but grows as we grow. This responsibility also entails quality. There must be a true pride in the heritage we come from. Paul Wilkes, a Slovak reporter, after an ethnic festival in New Jersey, wrote, "I didn't belong in East Hampton but I was going back there. It would be a place to recollect myself. Maybe next year at the festival I'll be able to walk up to a stranger and say: ''I'm a SlovakAmerican boy. And you?"(5) That was written in 1976. It is already ''next year''! But again, to isolate ourselves is to miss the point. The majority of Americans are minorities. When fighting individually we can't possibly match strength with many of the established ways which are oppressive. However, in combined numbers we are able to get rid of the antagonism that plagues us all. Novak, in his column "Illusions and Realities'' in the Jednota weekly, comments: Mathematics is on the side of stressing similarities. If we stress racial differences, we err in strategy. Isolated off by themselves, blacks are only nine percent of the nation. Linked to others who share analogous experiences, blacks stand with the large majority . . . I wish the Black Caucus in Congress would call into being a White Ethnic Caucus. These two together might forge a great new source of fresh social ideas and political power. ''A rising tide lifts every boat. ''(6) Much of what I've said has been said before. The awareness of injustice towards ethnic groups is high right now. This is ''The Decade of the Ethnics''. But, in order for those ideas to be meaningful, they have to be embraced on both an individual and community level. Personally, I think you will find it quite rewarding to go finding out your �142 SLOVAKIA " roots ". Discussing ethnic subjects brings the topic into general awareness, and it also clarifies certain issues previously left unsaid . I do sincerely hope that all those that are in similar positions can also incorporate the fact of being Slovak-Americans on a level that is more than just a slogan. Let it become a fact that determines much of what you say and do. Become aware of many of those unconscious traits which we all have passed down to us from our ancestors. As Michael Novak says: To learn the habits, instincts, and inspirations of a person 's grandparents is to discern the emotional and imaginal weight of much in that person's life that otherwise seems inexplicable. To see the patterns of life adopted by a person's grandchildren is to discern more clearly the organic implications of the choices and efforts launched two generations earlier. Emotions, instincts, memory, imagination, passions, and ways of perceiving are passed on to us in ways so thick with life that they lie far beyond the power of consciousness (let alone the analytic and verbal reason) thoroughly to master, totally to alter. We are, in a word, ineffebly ethnic in our values and our actions. (7) I haven't been to Slovakia for almost five years, yet I still have fond memories of the place. I remember Starky coming home from a long day of cutting grass, bringing some with him to feed the rabbits . I also remember him standing over the table at Stedry vecer (Christmas Eve) and quoting from the Bible before we could eat. He was eighty-five then and has worked every day of his life, except Sundays. My brother Mike just came back from a year in Slovakia and visited me for a few days. He said Starky is becoming senile. After this New Year was over Starky said to him - ' ' Miso , Christmas time should be coming up, shouldn't it? " I hope I will be able to see him once again, and learn more of those instincts and passions which have so richly contributed to what I and my family are, realizing how much we are all enriched by the vitality of our ancestral roots. FOOTNOTES (1) Joseph A. Mikus, Pride in Slovak Origin, (Cleveland: First Catholic Slovak Union Press , 1973) pp 100-101. (2) Michael Novak , The Rise of the Unmeltable Ethnics, (New York : Macmillan Co., 1972) p 62. (3) R. Buckminster Fulle r , Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, (New York : Pocket Books, 1971) p 65. (4) L. S. Harms, lnte rcultural Communication, (New York: Harper and Row, 1973) p 53. (5) Paul Wilkes, " Rejoining the Slovak Community," (The New York Times, August 6, 1976). (6) Michael Novak, Illusions and Realities, Jednota , p. 1, February 24, 1977. (7) Michael Novak, The Rise of the Unmeltable Ethnics p xvi . �SLOVAKIA 143 BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Fuller, R. Buckminster, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, New York: Pocket Books , 1971. 2. Harms, L. S., /ntercultural Communication, New York: Harper and Row, 1973. 3. Mikus, Joseph A., Pride in Slovak Origin, Cleveland: First Catholic Slovak Union, 1973. 4. Novak, Michael, The Rise of the Unmeltable Ethnics, New York : Macmillan Co., 1972. 5. Segal, Bernard E., ed., Racial and Ethnic Relations New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1966. 6. Wilkes, Paul , Rejoining the Slovak Community, The New York Times, August 6, 1976, N.Y., N.Y. 7. Zborowski, Mark , People in Pain, San Francisco, Jossey Bass, Inc., 1966 . � 136 SLOVAKIA A Slovak-American Perspective in a Changing Society ALEXANDER J. RUDINSKY It is important to talk of Slovakia within the context of the rest of the world and of changing events. As Slovak-Americans we face a complex series of events different from those either of the Slovak or the American people, and yet we experience familiar ties with both. The insights which come from having an affinity towards these two cultures provide a truer picture of our personal and social lives. I remember the halusky s bryndzou we ate on Sunday. I remember the chickens running around the yard. We weren't supposed to keep the gate open for fear they 'd run out. I remember the Kalvaria (Calvary) with medieval statues nestled in a pattern between the trees on the hill. I remember helping plant the garden and being scared by the geese. The buses went everywhere all the time. The cobblestone streets were always being repaired, as were the buildings. I remember much scaffolding on the church. Inside, the scaffolding hid the figures of painted cherubs high on the ceiling; sometimes they would peek out. When we sat in the dark wooden pews Mom would give us each a koruna to put in when the basket came around. In the little town of Banska Stiavnica my thoughts were dreamlike. How much of it was because I was twelve , or because I was in a new land with a new culture, I don't know. I do know, however, there is ·a definite change. I spent half of two years in Slovakia with my Slovak relatives. Life there was more tightly knit. I had a definite place in the public school I went to, in the community of neighbors, and of course, in the family. Since I was a foreigner, especially from America, the place I had in these groups was rather unique. I was looked upon as different and special. But also in many instances, I was looked upon as a member. This is what I cherished. One did not do things without the family, without the community, without loyalty towards those to whom one belonged. The four children in the house, from age twenty to eleven, slept in the same room. We ate together and spent most of our time with other members of the family. The primary social occasion was visiting our second cousins at the end of the street. Walking up the Sitno mountain reminded me of the story told about the Turks who almost conquered that area. Almost. During the seige, the Slovaks at the top of the hill were running drastically short of food. As a gesture to the Turks, they baked a huge loaf of bread and This paper won First Place in the scholarship competition of the Slovak League. �SLOVAKIA 137 rolled it down the mountain into their camp. The Turks were impressed by the pertinacity of the Slovaks, and their seeming store of extra provisions. Soon they abandoned their siege. Living in Czecho-Slovakia gives one a sense of tradition unfelt in America, and quite different from that of Western Europe; a rough and harsh beauty. It is evident in the Tatras and evident in the tale of Janosik. It is also evident on the faces and in the hearts of the people. People from all over talk of the Slovaks as being a "noble" and "exuberant" people. "The Slovaks are generally known as unadulterated peasants and shepherd people, settled in a land of considerable natural beauty. Observers have always known to appreciate their natural handsomeness and dignity as well as the incorruptible honesty of their character. "(l) American Culture The first two years and then later the two months I spent in Slovakia formed one of the most important experiences in my life and education. The rest of the time I have spent in America. The culture here is of a completely different nature. All the while I was growing up like my ·brothers and sisters, I had a room alone. Our society places more importance on the solitary individual as a center of responsibility, rather than on the family or neighborhood. The will of the solitary self which harbors loneliness goes well with the Protestant ethic so predominant in this country. It is difficult to say what American culture is. The facets of life in this country are many. The newly rich WASPS, the oilmen of Texas, the real estaters of Florida, are in direct contrast to the quiet, distinguished WASPS of New England. And the majority of America's people are descendants of recent immigrants who are in varying degrees of WASP assimilation. The constant change we have is a necessity. Whatever America is, it is different from what we or our Slovak predecessors came from. Big cars, large steaks, and mass consumption are in direct contrast with the small Skodas, potatoes, and folk art products. Conflicts For all the talk of truth in America there is a lot of falsehood here. All forms of mass media, especially television, block many realities out. This doesn't make people forget the realities, but they tend not to acknowledge them as much. In all the shows the "good guy" wins, and the ' 'bad guy' ' gets what he deserves, usually a bullet in the back of his head. An incredible amount of violence is just one way of distorting the facts and giving a view of the world that is totaly unrealistic. Possibly a less blatant distortion is the propagation of stereotyped roles. This is not only present in television's dream world, but also in our society. We are all too familiar with the jokes about the Polish, a fad that has �138 SLOVAKIA lowered many conversations. The portrayal of ethnics as being dumb flag-waving fascists is still quite prevalent. This is evident in such slang as " hunky " . Who wants to be associated with that? Rather let's try and match up to the cool American stereotype we always see on television. He is usually quiet and has everything under control. He is usually tough and individualistic. He knows what he wants and knows how to get it. As the saying goes , "He 's cool, calm and collected." These aren't bad traits to have! Women are also stereotyped in the media. She is self-assured and seductive. Her saying is " Clean is sexy. " Not bad traits to have either! The tendency to use these sterotyped roles is strong. And why not? These roles are quite socially acceptable, and immerse the owner in a charismatic light. Many other countries have worse distortions than these seemingly peripheral ones. As Slovaks, an oppressed people, we are quite, quite familiar with them. What the Slovaks are facing at present is degrading and very pressing. However, this does not negate the problem we have here , either . Our situation in life , especially when growing up, is filled with numerous differences in how we react to society . This becomes more complicated when society reacts to itself in more than one way. Since here in the United States the media portray a false world, many people bring some of these false perceptions into the "real world." This is again complicated by the differences in "real worlds" in our many cultures. It becomes important to look at some of these differences to understand the conflicts which Slovaks, as an ethnic group living in the United States , feel. Slovak-Americans must bear more of these conflicts than the typical WASP. Multi-cultural people bring into a culture many inherited differences of perception. Different cultural groups relate to anger, hatred, desire and pain in vastly different ways. Mark Zborowski in his book People and Pain, illustrates many differences in perception . Societal pressure to adhere to the societal norm is great. When deviation occurs, such as culture differences, much misunderstanding and stereotyping results. Another problem, that of self-misunderstanding, results. People try to be what they are not. They try to live up to a cultural type not their own. They go against their own instincts for the reward of societal acceptance. What do we have to give up for these constantly sought after types? Do not the majority of us have to give up some aspect of our heritage , our past? Have we always been the quintessential American , cool , calm , collected? Secretly we know we have not, and still, how many times do we cover it up to ourselves? The whole idea of an ethnic memory is not so much remembering a series of events, but rather it is the feeling, instincts , and expectations passed from generation to generation. It is the patterns of behavior and �SLOVAKIA 139 emotion for the individual and the people as a whole. Being ethnic requires us to understand that sense of reality. John Wayne vs Janosik The heroes of a culture reveal many peculiar insights to that culture's frame of reference. It is helpful to know a person's history and cultural background to understand his perceptions. Juro Janosik is certainly no less than the prototype of Slovak mentality. On the other hand, a perfect hero of America is John Wayne. I think the illustration of fundamental differences between these two can provide insight into the differences in the values of either society. On the one hand, the individualistic, cool oppressor type; John Wayne needs no justification for his actions. He can "do as he damn well pleases." Also the phrase "he calls 'em as he sees 'em" is characteristic of such an attitude. On the other hand, Janosik has qualities illustrating different aspects of personality. His whole life is centered around fighting against injustice. He harbors loyalty to his beloved ones and is sensitive and sentimental. Instead of being totally individualistic, he relies heavily on his mountain boys. The way the hero fits into his surrounding environment also influences the culture's frame of reference. Janosik dealt mostly with shepherds and poor folk, fighting against the established barons. He fought upwards against oppression. John Wayne fought the Indians; he drove them away . His was a different sense of justice (might makes right). Janosik's justice was closer to the word's true meaning. Which does one follow: John Wayne or Janosik? Much of this decision depends on to what extent the ethnic experience exists in us individually. Michael Novak gives an illuminating description of the crisis: The battle is partly in one's own soul. On the one hand American, enlightened, educated; on the other, stubbornly resistant, in love with values too dear to jettison, at home neither in the ethnic community nor in any intellectual group, neither with theorists nor with practical politicians, convinced of a certain rightness in one's soul and yet not confident that others will see, can see, the subtle links in a different way of life. It is the insecurity of certainty: the sense that something of value is not likely to be understood. (2) Cultural Multiplicity Within inheritors of more than one heritage there arise conflicts. However, this meeting of different ways of life many times is quite beneficial. Synergy, a word very few people use, means the behavior of whole systems unpredicted by its parts or any subassembly of its parts(3), i.e., the combination of various things may be stronger than the sum of its parts. One and one and one equals four. A three hundred pound man can sit on a bicycle with wheels that are supported by �140 SLOVAKIA spokes a child could bend. It is the arrangement of those spokes which makes it possible to withstand great pressure. The ignorance of such a concept creates misunderstandings in many areas of knowledge, not the least of which is relationships between people. Since this ignorance is widespread throughout society, people with a different cultural background are usually thought of for other reasons than for their own potential benefit. The misunderstanding results in such ideas as cultural inferiority, as if purity of heritage is a great virtue, and in such nick-names as ''half-breed,'' etc. Although our notion of equality has been around since the beginning of this country, so were Jefferson's slaves. Even though this concept has dropped from prominence, much of the idea of intellectual superiority remains. These notions are looked upon as ridiculous in present day science. The study of biology shows us the creatures which survive are the ones that are most suitable to the environment. When the environment changes, the animals must either adapt or perish. Humans are no different: the more variables - the more adaptive to change. L. S. Harms in his book Intercultural Communication also raises the concept of synergy: Synergy is a process that may operate in an organized system with a favorable structure. In the case of communication, in an authority structure in which messages are prepared and transmitted, there is little opportunity for synergy to operate. The interchange structure, however, is favorable to the process of synergy. (indeed) .. . high synergy may be expected. (4) A high number of various cultural influences is not unique to Slovak-Americans. It is inherent in all intercultural transactions. The advantages of a multi-heritage and especially a multi-lingual perception become clear in the ability to perceive below a superficial level of human understanding. One becomes able to see certain fundamental aspects. A tolerance arises for different attitudes, opinions, lifestyles and patterns of behavior. We become able to adapt ourselves to other peoples' mannerisms, symbolic meanings, gestures and etiquette. Indeed, the need to go beyond linguistic differences is essential in understanding our true thoughts, which abide in our subjective side, in our feelings and emotions. Humanity's creative geniuses, whether they be in art, science, philosophy or religion, speak of their understanding coming from a place deep within, usually beyond language. Today and Tomorrow: Toward a Preferred State Our world is changing at a shocking rate. In recent years, we have invented two new terms to describe that change: culture-shock and future-shock. Culture-shock describes the condition, the disease, experienced by a person suddenly transplanted into a foreign culture (Arensburg and Niehoff 1973). Future-shock describes the experience of the person who finds "things" in his community changing so fast he �SLOVAKIA 141 is no longer able to deal with them (Toffler 1971). Many large imbalances have resulted in the process of rapid growth. We have now a technological superiority and a moral inferiority. Our amount of information is doubling every ten years, yet we cling to many obsolete patterns of thought. Dichotomies such as rich and poor, educated and noneducated still exist, and we seem to be making little progress towards change . These problems need to be faced. In order to solve problems one must plan a preferred state. In order to design such a plan, one must have a variety of values. Values, in turn, come from individuals made up of different social, religious and ethnic backgrounds . We need a larger selection of values to work from, when confronting the large scale problems of today. This selection of values must be representative of our population, including more than the traditional WASP ethics we have now. There is a great need for people with multi-perspectives to help in world planning in all areas. It's high time for a new cultural pluralism and a politics that requires this pluralism - one that draws from resources other than Anglo-Saxon history and values. We have the responsibility of seeing that our Slovak culture does not die, but grows as we grow. This responsibility also entails quality. There must be a true pride in the heritage we come from. Paul Wilkes, a Slovak reporter, after an ethnic festival in New Jersey, wrote, "I didn't belong in East Hampton but I was going back there. It would be a place to recollect myself. Maybe next year at the festival I'll be able to walk up to a stranger and say: ''I'm a SlovakAmerican boy. And you?"(5) That was written in 1976. It is already ''next year''! But again, to isolate ourselves is to miss the point. The majority of Americans are minorities. When fighting individually we can't possibly match strength with many of the established ways which are oppressive. However, in combined numbers we are able to get rid of the antagonism that plagues us all. Novak, in his column "Illusions and Realities'' in the Jednota weekly, comments: Mathematics is on the side of stressing similarities. If we stress racial differences, we err in strategy. Isolated off by themselves, blacks are only nine percent of the nation. Linked to others who share analogous experiences, blacks stand with the large majority . . . I wish the Black Caucus in Congress would call into being a White Ethnic Caucus. These two together might forge a great new source of fresh social ideas and political power. ''A rising tide lifts every boat. ''(6) Much of what I've said has been said before. The awareness of injustice towards ethnic groups is high right now. This is ''The Decade of the Ethnics''. But, in order for those ideas to be meaningful, they have to be embraced on both an individual and community level. Personally, I think you will find it quite rewarding to go finding out your �142 SLOVAKIA " roots ". Discussing ethnic subjects brings the topic into general awareness, and it also clarifies certain issues previously left unsaid . I do sincerely hope that all those that are in similar positions can also incorporate the fact of being Slovak-Americans on a level that is more than just a slogan. Let it become a fact that determines much of what you say and do. Become aware of many of those unconscious traits which we all have passed down to us from our ancestors. As Michael Novak says: To learn the habits, instincts, and inspirations of a person 's grandparents is to discern the emotional and imaginal weight of much in that person's life that otherwise seems inexplicable. To see the patterns of life adopted by a person's grandchildren is to discern more clearly the organic implications of the choices and efforts launched two generations earlier. Emotions, instincts, memory, imagination, passions, and ways of perceiving are passed on to us in ways so thick with life that they lie far beyond the power of consciousness (let alone the analytic and verbal reason) thoroughly to master, totally to alter. We are, in a word, ineffebly ethnic in our values and our actions. (7) I haven't been to Slovakia for almost five years, yet I still have fond memories of the place. I remember Starky coming home from a long day of cutting grass, bringing some with him to feed the rabbits . I also remember him standing over the table at Stedry vecer (Christmas Eve) and quoting from the Bible before we could eat. He was eighty-five then and has worked every day of his life, except Sundays. My brother Mike just came back from a year in Slovakia and visited me for a few days. He said Starky is becoming senile. After this New Year was over Starky said to him - ' ' Miso , Christmas time should be coming up, shouldn't it? " I hope I will be able to see him once again, and learn more of those instincts and passions which have so richly contributed to what I and my family are, realizing how much we are all enriched by the vitality of our ancestral roots. FOOTNOTES (1) Joseph A. Mikus, Pride in Slovak Origin, (Cleveland: First Catholic Slovak Union Press , 1973) pp 100-101. (2) Michael Novak , The Rise of the Unmeltable Ethnics, (New York : Macmillan Co., 1972) p 62. (3) R. Buckminster Fulle r , Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, (New York : Pocket Books, 1971) p 65. (4) L. S. Harms, lnte rcultural Communication, (New York: Harper and Row, 1973) p 53. (5) Paul Wilkes, " Rejoining the Slovak Community," (The New York Times, August 6, 1976). (6) Michael Novak, Illusions and Realities, Jednota , p. 1, February 24, 1977. (7) Michael Novak, The Rise of the Unmeltable Ethnics p xvi . �SLOVAKIA 143 BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Fuller, R. Buckminster, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, New York: Pocket Books , 1971. 2. Harms, L. S., /ntercultural Communication, New York: Harper and Row, 1973. 3. Mikus, Joseph A., Pride in Slovak Origin, Cleveland: First Catholic Slovak Union, 1973. 4. Novak, Michael, The Rise of the Unmeltable Ethnics, New York : Macmillan Co., 1972. 5. Segal, Bernard E., ed., Racial and Ethnic Relations New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1966. 6. Wilkes, Paul , Rejoining the Slovak Community, The New York Times, August 6, 1976, N.Y., N.Y. 7. Zborowski, Mark , People in Pain, San Francisco, Jossey Bass, Inc., 1966 . � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1977, Vol. 27 Description An account of the resource Vol. 27 (No. 50), 1977. 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 1977 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 136 SLOVAKIA A Slovak-American Perspective in a Changing Society ALEXANDER J. RUDINSKY It is important to talk of Slovakia within the context of the rest of the world and of changing events. As Slovak-Americans we face a complex series of events different from those either of the Slovak or the American people, and yet we experience familiar ties with both. The insights which come from having an affinity towards these two cultures provide a truer picture of our personal and social lives. I remember the halusky s bryndzou we ate on Sunday. I remember the chickens running around the yard. We weren't supposed to keep the gate open for fear they 'd run out. I remember the Kalvaria (Calvary) with medieval statues nestled in a pattern between the trees on the hill. I remember helping plant the garden and being scared by the geese. The buses went everywhere all the time. The cobblestone streets were always being repaired, as were the buildings. I remember much scaffolding on the church. Inside, the scaffolding hid the figures of painted cherubs high on the ceiling; sometimes they would peek out. When we sat in the dark wooden pews Mom would give us each a koruna to put in when the basket came around. In the little town of Banska Stiavnica my thoughts were dreamlike. How much of it was because I was twelve , or because I was in a new land with a new culture, I don't know. I do know, however, there is ·a definite change. I spent half of two years in Slovakia with my Slovak relatives. Life there was more tightly knit. I had a definite place in the public school I went to, in the community of neighbors, and of course, in the family. Since I was a foreigner, especially from America, the place I had in these groups was rather unique. I was looked upon as different and special. But also in many instances, I was looked upon as a member. This is what I cherished. One did not do things without the family, without the community, without loyalty towards those to whom one belonged. The four children in the house, from age twenty to eleven, slept in the same room. We ate together and spent most of our time with other members of the family. The primary social occasion was visiting our second cousins at the end of the street. Walking up the Sitno mountain reminded me of the story told about the Turks who almost conquered that area. Almost. During the seige, the Slovaks at the top of the hill were running drastically short of food. As a gesture to the Turks, they baked a huge loaf of bread and This paper won First Place in the scholarship competition of the Slovak League. SLOVAKIA 137 rolled it down the mountain into their camp. The Turks were impressed by the pertinacity of the Slovaks, and their seeming store of extra provisions. Soon they abandoned their siege. Living in Czecho-Slovakia gives one a sense of tradition unfelt in America, and quite different from that of Western Europe; a rough and harsh beauty. It is evident in the Tatras and evident in the tale of Janosik. It is also evident on the faces and in the hearts of the people. People from all over talk of the Slovaks as being a "noble" and "exuberant" people. "The Slovaks are generally known as unadulterated peasants and shepherd people, settled in a land of considerable natural beauty. Observers have always known to appreciate their natural handsomeness and dignity as well as the incorruptible honesty of their character. "(l) American Culture The first two years and then later the two months I spent in Slovakia formed one of the most important experiences in my life and education. The rest of the time I have spent in America. The culture here is of a completely different nature. All the while I was growing up like my ·brothers and sisters, I had a room alone. Our society places more importance on the solitary individual as a center of responsibility, rather than on the family or neighborhood. The will of the solitary self which harbors loneliness goes well with the Protestant ethic so predominant in this country. It is difficult to say what American culture is. The facets of life in this country are many. The newly rich WASPS, the oilmen of Texas, the real estaters of Florida, are in direct contrast to the quiet, distinguished WASPS of New England. And the majority of America's people are descendants of recent immigrants who are in varying degrees of WASP assimilation. The constant change we have is a necessity. Whatever America is, it is different from what we or our Slovak predecessors came from. Big cars, large steaks, and mass consumption are in direct contrast with the small Skodas, potatoes, and folk art products. Conflicts For all the talk of truth in America there is a lot of falsehood here. All forms of mass media, especially television, block many realities out. This doesn't make people forget the realities, but they tend not to acknowledge them as much. In all the shows the "good guy" wins, and the ' 'bad guy' ' gets what he deserves, usually a bullet in the back of his head. An incredible amount of violence is just one way of distorting the facts and giving a view of the world that is totaly unrealistic. Possibly a less blatant distortion is the propagation of stereotyped roles. This is not only present in television's dream world, but also in our society. We are all too familiar with the jokes about the Polish, a fad that has 138 SLOVAKIA lowered many conversations. The portrayal of ethnics as being dumb flag-waving fascists is still quite prevalent. This is evident in such slang as " hunky " . Who wants to be associated with that? Rather let's try and match up to the cool American stereotype we always see on television. He is usually quiet and has everything under control. He is usually tough and individualistic. He knows what he wants and knows how to get it. As the saying goes , "He 's cool, calm and collected." These aren't bad traits to have! Women are also stereotyped in the media. She is self-assured and seductive. Her saying is " Clean is sexy. " Not bad traits to have either! The tendency to use these sterotyped roles is strong. And why not? These roles are quite socially acceptable, and immerse the owner in a charismatic light. Many other countries have worse distortions than these seemingly peripheral ones. As Slovaks, an oppressed people, we are quite, quite familiar with them. What the Slovaks are facing at present is degrading and very pressing. However, this does not negate the problem we have here , either . Our situation in life , especially when growing up, is filled with numerous differences in how we react to society . This becomes more complicated when society reacts to itself in more than one way. Since here in the United States the media portray a false world, many people bring some of these false perceptions into the "real world." This is again complicated by the differences in "real worlds" in our many cultures. It becomes important to look at some of these differences to understand the conflicts which Slovaks, as an ethnic group living in the United States , feel. Slovak-Americans must bear more of these conflicts than the typical WASP. Multi-cultural people bring into a culture many inherited differences of perception. Different cultural groups relate to anger, hatred, desire and pain in vastly different ways. Mark Zborowski in his book People and Pain, illustrates many differences in perception . Societal pressure to adhere to the societal norm is great. When deviation occurs, such as culture differences, much misunderstanding and stereotyping results. Another problem, that of self-misunderstanding, results. People try to be what they are not. They try to live up to a cultural type not their own. They go against their own instincts for the reward of societal acceptance. What do we have to give up for these constantly sought after types? Do not the majority of us have to give up some aspect of our heritage , our past? Have we always been the quintessential American , cool , calm , collected? Secretly we know we have not, and still, how many times do we cover it up to ourselves? The whole idea of an ethnic memory is not so much remembering a series of events, but rather it is the feeling, instincts , and expectations passed from generation to generation. It is the patterns of behavior and SLOVAKIA 139 emotion for the individual and the people as a whole. Being ethnic requires us to understand that sense of reality. John Wayne vs Janosik The heroes of a culture reveal many peculiar insights to that culture's frame of reference. It is helpful to know a person's history and cultural background to understand his perceptions. Juro Janosik is certainly no less than the prototype of Slovak mentality. On the other hand, a perfect hero of America is John Wayne. I think the illustration of fundamental differences between these two can provide insight into the differences in the values of either society. On the one hand, the individualistic, cool oppressor type; John Wayne needs no justification for his actions. He can "do as he damn well pleases." Also the phrase "he calls 'em as he sees 'em" is characteristic of such an attitude. On the other hand, Janosik has qualities illustrating different aspects of personality. His whole life is centered around fighting against injustice. He harbors loyalty to his beloved ones and is sensitive and sentimental. Instead of being totally individualistic, he relies heavily on his mountain boys. The way the hero fits into his surrounding environment also influences the culture's frame of reference. Janosik dealt mostly with shepherds and poor folk, fighting against the established barons. He fought upwards against oppression. John Wayne fought the Indians; he drove them away . His was a different sense of justice (might makes right). Janosik's justice was closer to the word's true meaning. Which does one follow: John Wayne or Janosik? Much of this decision depends on to what extent the ethnic experience exists in us individually. Michael Novak gives an illuminating description of the crisis: The battle is partly in one's own soul. On the one hand American, enlightened, educated; on the other, stubbornly resistant, in love with values too dear to jettison, at home neither in the ethnic community nor in any intellectual group, neither with theorists nor with practical politicians, convinced of a certain rightness in one's soul and yet not confident that others will see, can see, the subtle links in a different way of life. It is the insecurity of certainty: the sense that something of value is not likely to be understood. (2) Cultural Multiplicity Within inheritors of more than one heritage there arise conflicts. However, this meeting of different ways of life many times is quite beneficial. Synergy, a word very few people use, means the behavior of whole systems unpredicted by its parts or any subassembly of its parts(3), i.e., the combination of various things may be stronger than the sum of its parts. One and one and one equals four. A three hundred pound man can sit on a bicycle with wheels that are supported by 140 SLOVAKIA spokes a child could bend. It is the arrangement of those spokes which makes it possible to withstand great pressure. The ignorance of such a concept creates misunderstandings in many areas of knowledge, not the least of which is relationships between people. Since this ignorance is widespread throughout society, people with a different cultural background are usually thought of for other reasons than for their own potential benefit. The misunderstanding results in such ideas as cultural inferiority, as if purity of heritage is a great virtue, and in such nick-names as ''half-breed,'' etc. Although our notion of equality has been around since the beginning of this country, so were Jefferson's slaves. Even though this concept has dropped from prominence, much of the idea of intellectual superiority remains. These notions are looked upon as ridiculous in present day science. The study of biology shows us the creatures which survive are the ones that are most suitable to the environment. When the environment changes, the animals must either adapt or perish. Humans are no different: the more variables - the more adaptive to change. L. S. Harms in his book Intercultural Communication also raises the concept of synergy: Synergy is a process that may operate in an organized system with a favorable structure. In the case of communication, in an authority structure in which messages are prepared and transmitted, there is little opportunity for synergy to operate. The interchange structure, however, is favorable to the process of synergy. (indeed) .. . high synergy may be expected. (4) A high number of various cultural influences is not unique to Slovak-Americans. It is inherent in all intercultural transactions. The advantages of a multi-heritage and especially a multi-lingual perception become clear in the ability to perceive below a superficial level of human understanding. One becomes able to see certain fundamental aspects. A tolerance arises for different attitudes, opinions, lifestyles and patterns of behavior. We become able to adapt ourselves to other peoples' mannerisms, symbolic meanings, gestures and etiquette. Indeed, the need to go beyond linguistic differences is essential in understanding our true thoughts, which abide in our subjective side, in our feelings and emotions. Humanity's creative geniuses, whether they be in art, science, philosophy or religion, speak of their understanding coming from a place deep within, usually beyond language. Today and Tomorrow: Toward a Preferred State Our world is changing at a shocking rate. In recent years, we have invented two new terms to describe that change: culture-shock and future-shock. Culture-shock describes the condition, the disease, experienced by a person suddenly transplanted into a foreign culture (Arensburg and Niehoff 1973). Future-shock describes the experience of the person who finds "things" in his community changing so fast he SLOVAKIA 141 is no longer able to deal with them (Toffler 1971). Many large imbalances have resulted in the process of rapid growth. We have now a technological superiority and a moral inferiority. Our amount of information is doubling every ten years, yet we cling to many obsolete patterns of thought. Dichotomies such as rich and poor, educated and noneducated still exist, and we seem to be making little progress towards change . These problems need to be faced. In order to solve problems one must plan a preferred state. In order to design such a plan, one must have a variety of values. Values, in turn, come from individuals made up of different social, religious and ethnic backgrounds . We need a larger selection of values to work from, when confronting the large scale problems of today. This selection of values must be representative of our population, including more than the traditional WASP ethics we have now. There is a great need for people with multi-perspectives to help in world planning in all areas. It's high time for a new cultural pluralism and a politics that requires this pluralism - one that draws from resources other than Anglo-Saxon history and values. We have the responsibility of seeing that our Slovak culture does not die, but grows as we grow. This responsibility also entails quality. There must be a true pride in the heritage we come from. Paul Wilkes, a Slovak reporter, after an ethnic festival in New Jersey, wrote, "I didn't belong in East Hampton but I was going back there. It would be a place to recollect myself. Maybe next year at the festival I'll be able to walk up to a stranger and say: ''I'm a SlovakAmerican boy. And you?"(5) That was written in 1976. It is already ''next year''! But again, to isolate ourselves is to miss the point. The majority of Americans are minorities. When fighting individually we can't possibly match strength with many of the established ways which are oppressive. However, in combined numbers we are able to get rid of the antagonism that plagues us all. Novak, in his column "Illusions and Realities'' in the Jednota weekly, comments: Mathematics is on the side of stressing similarities. If we stress racial differences, we err in strategy. Isolated off by themselves, blacks are only nine percent of the nation. Linked to others who share analogous experiences, blacks stand with the large majority . . . I wish the Black Caucus in Congress would call into being a White Ethnic Caucus. These two together might forge a great new source of fresh social ideas and political power. ''A rising tide lifts every boat. ''(6) Much of what I've said has been said before. The awareness of injustice towards ethnic groups is high right now. This is ''The Decade of the Ethnics''. But, in order for those ideas to be meaningful, they have to be embraced on both an individual and community level. Personally, I think you will find it quite rewarding to go finding out your 142 SLOVAKIA " roots ". Discussing ethnic subjects brings the topic into general awareness, and it also clarifies certain issues previously left unsaid . I do sincerely hope that all those that are in similar positions can also incorporate the fact of being Slovak-Americans on a level that is more than just a slogan. Let it become a fact that determines much of what you say and do. Become aware of many of those unconscious traits which we all have passed down to us from our ancestors. As Michael Novak says: To learn the habits, instincts, and inspirations of a person 's grandparents is to discern the emotional and imaginal weight of much in that person's life that otherwise seems inexplicable. To see the patterns of life adopted by a person's grandchildren is to discern more clearly the organic implications of the choices and efforts launched two generations earlier. Emotions, instincts, memory, imagination, passions, and ways of perceiving are passed on to us in ways so thick with life that they lie far beyond the power of consciousness (let alone the analytic and verbal reason) thoroughly to master, totally to alter. We are, in a word, ineffebly ethnic in our values and our actions. (7) I haven't been to Slovakia for almost five years, yet I still have fond memories of the place. I remember Starky coming home from a long day of cutting grass, bringing some with him to feed the rabbits . I also remember him standing over the table at Stedry vecer (Christmas Eve) and quoting from the Bible before we could eat. He was eighty-five then and has worked every day of his life, except Sundays. My brother Mike just came back from a year in Slovakia and visited me for a few days. He said Starky is becoming senile. After this New Year was over Starky said to him - ' ' Miso , Christmas time should be coming up, shouldn't it? " I hope I will be able to see him once again, and learn more of those instincts and passions which have so richly contributed to what I and my family are, realizing how much we are all enriched by the vitality of our ancestral roots. FOOTNOTES (1) Joseph A. Mikus, Pride in Slovak Origin, (Cleveland: First Catholic Slovak Union Press , 1973) pp 100-101. (2) Michael Novak , The Rise of the Unmeltable Ethnics, (New York : Macmillan Co., 1972) p 62. (3) R. Buckminster Fulle r , Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, (New York : Pocket Books, 1971) p 65. (4) L. S. Harms, lnte rcultural Communication, (New York: Harper and Row, 1973) p 53. (5) Paul Wilkes, " Rejoining the Slovak Community," (The New York Times, August 6, 1976). (6) Michael Novak, Illusions and Realities, Jednota , p. 1, February 24, 1977. (7) Michael Novak, The Rise of the Unmeltable Ethnics p xvi . SLOVAKIA 143 BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Fuller, R. Buckminster, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, New York: Pocket Books , 1971. 2. Harms, L. S., /ntercultural Communication, New York: Harper and Row, 1973. 3. Mikus, Joseph A., Pride in Slovak Origin, Cleveland: First Catholic Slovak Union, 1973. 4. Novak, Michael, The Rise of the Unmeltable Ethnics, New York : Macmillan Co., 1972. 5. Segal, Bernard E., ed., Racial and Ethnic Relations New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1966. 6. Wilkes, Paul , Rejoining the Slovak Community, The New York Times, August 6, 1976, N.Y., N.Y. 7. Zborowski, Mark , People in Pain, San Francisco, Jossey Bass, Inc., 1966 .  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 Slovak-American Perspective in a Changing Society Description An account of the resource Alexander J. Rudinsky Slovakia, Vol. 27 (No. 50), 1977 pp. 136-143 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rudinsky, Alexander J. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1977 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/0a4186c45f469a6e25c3397d9b2e72f1.pdf 8565f71f4a21fc7514fbf5cb042e30d2 PDF Text Text 28 SLOVAKIA-2017 A SURVEY OF SLOVAK COMMUNITIES OF THE BYZANTINE RITE IN CANADA BEFORE THEY RECEIVED THEIR OWN BISHOPRIC Daniel Cerny When we look at Catholic immigration to the USA and Canada, only one bishopric in those coutries is called by the name of the nations of the so-called Visegrad Group- the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Surprisingly, this ecclesiastical structure is not of the Latin rite. It is the Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodious for Slovaks of the Byzantine Rite in Canada. When created in 1980, a postcard with a map of Slovak Greek Catholic settlements in Canada was published. The aim of this paper is to present a historical overview of these communities until the Eparchy was created. The late professor Michael Lacko, SJ wrote the first history of these par1 ishes. However, this paper adds some new information, making this survey more accurate and updated. Some of the reasons why these people immigrated to Canada were the changes to the immigration laws in the USA enacted by Congress in June of 1921 and also in July of 1924. 2 Our research on Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada shows that the majority were descendenats of immigrants who came to Canada between 1926 and 1939 (when the borders were open), to be joined by the immigration waves of 1945 - 1950 and of 1968. For the first immigrants the church was in many cases the most important part of their life. Here they were not forced to speak a foreign language, it was like being at home - the same rite, dialects, family, friends, sometimes even neighbors, the same customs. However this also could be harmful in the sense that it created an ethnic 1 Cf. Lacko, Michal, "A Brief Survey of the History of the Slovak Catholics of the Byzantine-Slavonic Rite," Slovak Studies, III (1963), 199 - 224. 2 Based on these regulations, after June of 1921 only 14,269 Czechoslovak citizens were allowed to immigrate annually to the USA, and after July 1924, only 3,073. Cf. Bielik, Frantisek- Rakos, Elo: Slovenske vyst'ahovalectvo (Dokumenty II. - 19191939) (Martin: Matica slovenska, 1975), 51, footnote 2. �SLOVAKIA-2017 29 ghetto - which was probably fine for the first generation, but no longer so for the following ones. Only those places which experienced large numbers of new immigrants in later years, or were open to new people from outside entering "their" church, were able to continue to flourish . The history of these communities includes the creation of their own Slovak deanery (1957) and the consecration of their own Slovak 3 bishop ( 1964) in the person of Michael Rusnak, CSsR, who was for many years an Apostolic Visitator of these communities. Only two Slovak Greek Catholics participated on the Vatican II Council. One layman and one clergyman. The layman was the Canadian-Slovak multimilllionaire Stephen B. Roman, who participated from the third session on and bishop Michal Rusnak, who participated in the fourth and final session. The use of the vernacular, which was encouraged by Vatican II, resulted in more and more celebrations in English among the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada (the translations were done by the Greek Catholics in the Ruthenian Church in the USA), but not so in modem Slovak. Thus the Church lost many people from 4 the immigration wave of 1968. 3 Michael Rusnak was born on August 21, 1921 in Beaverdale, Pennsylvania. His mother and siblings returned with him to Slovakia during the Great Depression. He was ordained a Redemptorist priest by Bishop Pau l Gojdic, OSBM in Jul y of 1949. After the forced liquidation of the Greek Catholic church in Czechoslovakia, Rusnak was arrested and placed in the Podolinec monastery, which was turned into a prison camp for the clergy . After fifteen months in vari ous prisons, he escaped and, thanks to his American citizenship, he was allowed to emigrate to America. Ru snak went to Canada in 1951 and started to establish Slovak Greek Catholic parishes. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Bishop of Toronto, the Most Reverend Isidore Borecky, named Father Rusnak dean for Slovak Greek-Catholic parishes belonging to his jurisdiction.in 1957. On October 5, 1964, Pope Paul VI elevated Father Rusnak to Auxiliary Bishop to Isidore Borecky and Apostolic Visitator for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada. The process of creating the Slovak Greek Catholic Church in Canada was completed when Pope John Paul II , in his bull Apostolicae Sedis of October 13, 1980, created the Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodius for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada. At the same time, the pope appointed aux iliary bishop Michael Rusnak as the eparchi al bishop of this Eparchy . Rusnak retired in 1996 and died on January 16, 2003 and is buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Thornhill , Ontario. More about Bishop Michael Rusnak can be found in Cerny, Daniel, Biskup Michael Rusnak, CSsR (Diploma thesis), Presov: Greek Catho lic Theological Faculty of the University of Presov, 2008 . 4 Documents on this topic are in the personal archives of the author (hereafter PAA), and are based on letters from Father Fuga, Father Dubiak and Father Lacko. �30 SLOVAKIA-2017 The author of this article located important documents in various archives, and tiny pieces of the mosaic were found everywhere. Especially valuable were the articles in Maria magazine, which was published from 1955 to 1969 and then from 1976 to I 989; in the second period under the direction of a gifted editor - the late Jozef Suchy. In some cases, we can speak only about individuals, in other cases about a group of dedicated parishioners with only irregular services. The most advanced was the group of individual parishes, which we are about to describe. In 1980 these parishes were incorporated into the newly-created Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodius for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada,5 the only Slovak Greek Catholic eparchy in the world, which served as a beacon to the persecuted and oppressed brothers and sisters in Slovakia under the . yo ke. 6 communist PARISHES 1: Lethbridge, Alberta (1921) The oldest Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Canada was in Lethbridge, Alberta. In 1885 the first Slovaks came to Lethbridge from 7 Shelby, Montana. Among them was the Veselenak family, Greek 8 Catholics from Nizne Slovinky in Spis county. Local Slovaks formed branch 53 of the Canadian Slovak League (CSL) in 1946. The Slovak Greek Catholic parish of Sts. Peter and Paul was founded in 1921 by coal miners, who came mostly from the Spis villages of Ponic, Zavadka and Slovinky. Before the parish was erected, the faithful organized a branch of the American-based Greek Catholic 5 Cf. L ·o sservatore Romano, December 14, 1980, Articles entitled "Erezione di nuova Eparchia; Provvista di Chiesa; Eretta in Canada Eparchi a di rito bizantino per slovacch i", 1-2. 6 For more on the general history of the Slovak Greek Catholi cs in Canada see Cerny, Daniel , "From Unknown People to a Separate Diocese: Slovak Greek Catholics in Canad a," in Mazurkiewicz, Adam, ed ., East Central Europe in Exile Volum e 1: Transatlantic Migrations (Newcastle upon Tyne : Cam bridge Scholars Publishing, 20 13), 253-72. 7 Cf. "75 rokov lethbridzs kej slov. kol6nie," Kanadsk), Slovak, February 18, 1961 , p. 2. 8 Cf. The Bend: A History of West Lethbridge (Lethbridge: West Lethbridge History Book Soc iety, 1982), 218. �SLOVAKIA-2017 31 9 Union. One important document, a photocopy of the parish minutes from the years 1921-193 7 exists, deposited in the library of the Pon10 tifical Oriental Institute in Rome. These minutes were written by 11 Andrew Mihalik. They start with the explanation that the term "fonitika," mentioned in the minutes as a petition to the Ukrainian bishop of Edmonton Nikita Budka, is to be the language used in the church, and that meant the Slovak language. According to these minutes, the first meeting took place on May 30, 1921 in the presence of bishop Budka. The faithful asked to have the celebration of a lit12 urgy every Sunday. During Wold War II the parish counted some 13 200 adults and 300 children. It was founded and owned by lay people (trustees). This was quite common in the ecclesiastical history of the USA and Canada. According to historian Mark Stolarik, this system consisted of elected members of the parish (kuratori), who collected tithes once a year from all the parishioners. A priest was paid from this treasury and the faithful had the right to terminate their 14 contract with him. Before the blessing of the church, the trustees 15 negotiated with the bishop for a resident priest. The parish had 16 a choir, the first Slovak Greek Catholic Choir in Canada. During the first years of its existence, the pastors were predominately Ukrainian, with the exception of Father Nicholas Szilagy, who came from Subcarpathia. In 1948 Ukrainians established their own parish in Lethbridge, but Ukrainian priests continued to serve Sts. Peter and Paul. However a great joy for the Slovak parish was the 1953 or- 9 PAA, e-mail fro m Father David Petras, November 5, 2010. Parafialna zapisnica Sv. toho Petra i Pavla Greko Katolickoho Viznania.(further on only PIO). 11 In 2011 the author of thi s article contacted the son of the late Andrew Mihalik. The original of the minutes are now neither in the parish archive, nor among the f:osses ions of the Mihalik family. 2 Cf. PIO, 2. 13 PAA, Quinquennial report for Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada, 1973-1978 (November 151, 1978), 2. 14 Cf. Stolarik, M. Mark, " Slovak Immigrants Co me to Terms with Religious Diversity in North America," The Catholic Historical Review, XCVI , No . I (January, 20 I 0), 69. 15 Cf. PIO, 36. 16 Cf. PIO, 25 ; 62. 10 �32 SLOVAKJA-2017 17 daination of one of their own, Father Richard Zuback, who later 18 served also as their pastor. Some of the parishioners appeared 19 among the benefactors of Maria magazine. The first pastoral visit of Bishop Rusnak took place on June 27, 1965 , the parish 's feast day. Many people came to the celebration from as far away as British Columbia. In his homily, Bishop Rusnak said the following: "Do not correct the work of God. If God created you as Greek Catholics, stay firm , remain and work in this province. Do not run away from this rite. Do not leave behind your church and 20 rite. " In the 1960's Father John Zeman, OSB informed Bishop Rusnak about the local Slovak Greek Catholics, asking for a Slovak priest, as the young people were without a priest of their own and 1 ashamed of being Slovaks.2 Father Zeman volunteered to go to the 22 parish . This never happened . In 1967 Bishop Michael expressed his desire to send Father Zorvan, from Europe, to be the pastor of the 23 parish. In I 970's the parish was noted in his calendar several times. 24 Father Lacko, SJ visited the parish in August 1973. When the enthronement of Bishop Rusnak was organized in 1981, the Leth bridge pastor refused to participate, claiming to have only nineteen Slovak 25 families. On the contrary, in 1982, Bishop Rusnak informed the Papal Pro-Nuncio that there were forty-five Slovak families in Leth26 bridge. The parish was owned by the trustees almost for a record time. The official incorporation into the Ukrainian church happened 27 on ly after a plebiscite within the parish in the early 2000's. The 17 "Prve slov. gr. katol primicie v Lethbridge, Alta," Kanadsky Slovak, June 20, 1953, p. 2. The author is grateful for this information to Mark Stolarik. 18 Cf. " Zpravy," Maria, 5/1955 Gui), I 0. 19 Cf. Maria, 6-7/ 1964, third page of the cover; I 2/ 1966, third page of the cover. 20 "Cestujeme s p. biskupom ," Maria , 9-10/ 1965, 8. 21 Cf. PAA, Letter of Father John Zeman, C hri stmas 1964. Father John , who was born in Kenaston , Saskatchewan, joined th e Slovak Benedictine Order in Cleveland, Ohio, but always wished to return to Canada. 22 Cf. PAA, Letter of Father John Zeman, sen t on July 22 , 1966 . 23 Cf. PAA , Letter of Bi shop Michael of May 15, 1967. 24 Cf. PAA , Postcard "Srdecny pozdrav od Ticheho oceanu," Sent from San Francisco, July 20, 1973 . 25 Cf. PAA , Motiuk, D. Report on the Canonical status of Saint Peter and Paul Catholic Church. l ethbridge. Alberta. 26 27 Cf. PA A, Letter of Bishop Michael to the Pro- uncio, sent October 28, 1982. Archive of the Eparchy of Sts. Cyri l and Methodius, folder Lethbridge. �33 SLOVAKIA-2017 parish is thus nowadays Ukrainian, but its contribution to the history and culture of the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada, especially in the first half of the 20 th century, is significant. 2: Montreal, Quebec (1930) 28 Many Slovaks settled in Montreal in the l 920's, forming branch 2 of the CSL in 1932. After Western Canada, Montreal became the second center of Slovak settlement in Canada. Slovaks in Montreal first established a Roman Catholic parish in 1928 and a 29 Lutheran one in 1929. The Slovak Greek Catholics joined several fraternal groups, such as the Greek Catholic Union. At one of the meetings of branch 959 of the Union, on October 18, 1930, discussions started and eventually led to the founding of the Slovak Greek 30 Catholic parish. The volunteers created a list of fifty families and 31 many individuals who would join the parish. Ukrainian Bishop Ladyka, visiting Montreal on November 21, 1930, welcomed the delegates and promised to do everything possible "in order to fulfill the request of this God-fearing people, who are organizing themselves in this foreign world, not forgetting God, and are willing to do such a 32 beautiful, but difficult task." The first liturgy was celebrated by Father Michal Gregorejchuk, OSBM on Sunday, December 7, 33 1930. Three days later a meeting was held and a parish council was elected. December I 0, 1930 is considered the date of the creation of 34 the parish. From the very beginning the parish was organized by Slovaks not only from Slovakia, but from Hungary, Romania or 35 elsewhere. A photo from 1931 testifies to the presence of a Slovak 36 school. In 1931 a "Membership Book" was published. This book, 28 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia - Nanebevstupenia Pana v Montreale - 50'h anniversary Slovak Catholic (E. R.) parish of Ascension Montreal (Montreal: Parish of the Ascension, 1980), 34. 29 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady, 34. 3 Cf. PAA , Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, I. 31 PAA , Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 3-4. 32 PAA Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 2. 33 Cf. PAA , Zapisn ica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 2. 34 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 30; 34. 35 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr kat. osady Voznesenia, 24. 36 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 23. ° �34 SLOVAKIA-2017 together with the first financial records, are an authoritative example 37 of the language of the first immigrants. The Basilian fathers took care of the parish until the arrival of 38 Father John Hawryluk in 1949. When the parish was created it was named the GR. KFT. RUSSKA CERKOV (Greek Catholic Russian Church). The change of name was moti vated by a schismatic movement and the rise of national awareness among the faithful. The name Slovak Gr. Cath. Church was used for the first time on October 39 15, 1935 . A youth orchestra nicely represented the parish. In 193 7 the parishioners started to use the chapel in the Notre Dame de Lourdes church as their place of worship until November, 1959. In 1938 the parish mission was granted permission to keep their own 40 parish records and thus gained greater internal autonomy. In these years the pari sh was still only a mission. The years following WW II brought a radical change into the lives of the Slovak Greek Catholics . With the arrival of thousands of Ukrainian refugees to Canada, the Ukrainian Exarchate, later the Eparchy of Toronto and all Eastern Canada, was founded. Its first bishop was Isidore Borecky. On October 10, 1949, Bishop Borecky named Father John Hawryluk as the pastor of the Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Montreal. On December 20, 1949 the former mis41 sion was established as an independent parish. The presence of young people at the services was really appreciated as the youth was 42 "the real core of the new choir of our church." The choir even broadcast by radio to Slovakia. The people dreamt about getting a Slovak priest: 37 Original scans were published in 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 44. 38 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 37. And also : Souvenir book of the dedication of the Slovak Catholic E. R. Church of Ascension, Montreal, Jun e JO, 1962 - Pamiitnci kniha archijerejskeho blahoslovenia slovenskej katolickej V 0. cerkvi Voznesenia, Montreal, JO. juna 1962 (Montreal: Pari sh of the Ascension, 1962), 17-18 . 39 Cf. PAA , Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 32. 4 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 35; 37-39. 41 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 3 1; 40. 42 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 40. ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 35 We firmly believe that, in a short time a priest of Slovak ethnicity wi ll be assigned to our parish and thus we will fulfill our long-time dream .... The faithfu l understands the announced Word of God more easily . .. There are obstacles in foreign objections and intentions that prevent us from achieving this goal of ours . .. "We do not long for something foreign, we just want to live our own life, but on the other hand we do not accept anyone trying to make fools of us, that we are Rusnaks or something similar, because those days are gone ... 43 In 1956 the trustees purchased properties at the comer of Legen45 44 dre and Clark streets, and erected a wooden cross . The construction of the new church started in Apri l and the basement was finished 46 in November of I 959 . Parishioners came in the evenings, and on their days off, to work on the construction of the church. The first liturgy in the hall in the basement was celebrated on November 29, 47 1959. The cornerstone was blessed by Bishop Borecky on October 48 2, 1960, and the construction was completed on December 17, 49 1961. An icon of Our Lady of Klokofov was displayed in the 50 church . The solemn blessing of the new church by Bishop Borecky 51 had to wait until June I 0, 1962. The main contractor was the parishioner, Mr. Andrej Midlick, originally from Ponic in Spis county. He even donated to the new church the main altar with a baldachino. The newly-ordained Bishop Rusnak came to visit his flock in 52 Montreal for the first time in May of 1965. Bishop Rusnak blessed 43 "Sv. misie pre gr.-kat. Slovakov v Montreali ," Kanadsky Slowik, Apri l 3, 1954, ff· 5, 8. Cf. PAA , Zapisnica Slovenskej Greko Katol'ickej Osadi Voznesefza Vo Montreale Jan Ihnat zapisnik Na rok 1956, 4-5. 45 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 32. The wooden cross still stands in 201 6. 46 Cf. Souvenir book, 34. 47 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 36. 48 Cf. "Z nasich fa rnosti," Maria , 9-10/1960, 226. 49 Souvenir book, 28 . so Cf. "Z nas ich farnosti," Maria, 3/ 1962, 67. 51 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 42. 52 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 42. �36 SLOVAKIA-2017 the altar on March 6, 1966. From Rome he brought some relics of Saint Cyril to be placed into the altar. The parish in Montreal thus became the first one in the North America to celebrate the liturgy on 53 the relics of this great saint. Bishop Rusnak expressed his desire that the Ascension Church would become "a site of pilgrimages in honor of Saint Cyril, the apostle of the Slovaks and Slavs in general. ,,54 • On October 15, 1966, Father Andrew Sinai' was named pastor. 55 For the first time in its history, the parish had its own Slovak priest. Father Sinai' served until 2006. The beginnings were very hard for Father Sinai', since the parish had a huge mortgage. The trustees gave their approval for reading of the Gospel in English and in Slovak to meet the needs of the younger generation, in order to bring them back to the church. From June 1, 1971 Slovak liturgies were cele56 brated in the parish. The golden jubilee was celebrated on Sunday, 57 September 28, 1980, with Bishop Rusnak present. More than twenty of the original founders of the parish survived for this celebration. Around 500 people attended the banquet. However, due to the death of Father Sinai in 2007 and to dwindling numbers, the Montreal parish was closed in 2010. 3: Windsor, Ontario (1950) The automobile industry attracted many Slovaks to the city of Windsor. So did some farms on the outskirts of town. In 1951 the 58 third largest group of Slovaks in Canada lived here. Slovak Lutherans in Windsor organized a parish in 1928, while the Slovak Greek Catholics had to wait until after WW II. Andrew Balint, acting as the secretary of a newly-formed parish committee, wrote to Bishop 59 Borecky on July 29, 1950. He asked for the bishop's permission to 53 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 42. Tomko, Vladimir, " Posviacka noveho hi. oltara v Montreale," Maria, 4-5/ 1966, 56. 55 PAA, Letter sent on October 4, 1966. 56 Cf. PAA, Zapisnica Slovenskej Greko Katol'ickej Osadi Vozneseiia Vo Montreale Jan Ihnat zapisnik Na rok 1956, 48. 57 Cf. "Oslava 50 rocneho jubilea nasej farnosti v Montreale," Maria , 12/1980, 7-8. 58 Cf. Kirschbaum, 137. 59 PAA , Letter from Jul y 29, 1950. 54 �SLOVAKIA-2017 37 establish a new parish. The name chosen was "St. Michael the Archangel Slovak and Subcarpathian Greek Catholic Parish in Windsor, 60 ON." The letter ended with the desire of the congregation to "soon 61 invite (the bishop) to the Slovak parish." Borecky agreed with the 62 organization of a Slovak parish. Father Andrew Krafcik also played a role in its establishment. Until his arrival in Windsor, the 63 parish was administered by Father Mina. The blessing of the cor64 nerstone took place on June 13 , 1954. The rectory, hall and the 65 church were blessed by Bishop Borecky on November 7, 1954. 66 Work with the youth led to establishing the parish choir. In 1956 67 Father George Perejda, CSsR, was ordained from the parish. From November of 1957 to February of 1958 the parish was served by Fa68 ther Fetsco. In 1958 a newly-ordained Slovak Greek Catholic priest, Anthony Zouzal, was appointed as the pastor of Windsor. His tenure could be 69 characterized as the "golden age" of the parish. Collaboration with the Byzantine Catholics on the American side of the border was intensified. 7° Thanks to many cantors, the parish was famous for its singing of Vespers and Liturgies. The popularity of Father Zouzal was so great that on his birthday the parishioners gave him a gift - a 71 car. In his letter to the chancery, dated August 1966, Father Zouzal suggested building a parish school, and even a new name for the parish: the Greek Catholic Parish of St. John - Michael, in order to 60 Sv. Micha/a Archandela Slov. a Podkrp.Gr.kt.paraphija vo Windsor Ont. PAA , Letter from July 29, 1950. 61 "Scoby mi Vas poklikali skoro na nasu Slovensku paraphiju. " PAA , Letter from Jul y 29, 1950. 62 27. Lipna /950. PAA , Letter of Bishop Isidore from July 27, 1950. 63 Cf. "S lovenski greckokatolici v Ontariu," Kanadsky Slowik, September 4, 1954, p. 5. 64 Cf. "Cirkevna slavnost' vo Windsore, Ont.", Kanadsky Slowik, June 12, 1954, p. 8. 65 See the photo in Maria, I /1955 (March), 15. 66 Cf. "Zo zivota nasich farnosti ," Maria , 3/ 195 5 (June), I 6. 67 Cf. "Zpravy," Maria, 6/ 1956, 14. 68 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria , 3-4/ 1965, 15 . 69 Cf. "Zpravy z domova a z katolickeho sveta," Maria, 12/ 1958, 15-16. 7 Cf. " Den modlitieb vo Windsore," Kanadsky Slovak, September 19, 1959, p. 2; "Z nasich farnosti," Maria , I 2/ 1960, 282. 71 Cf. "Z nasich osad," Maria, 7-8/ 1960, 189. ° �38 SLOVAKIA-2017 72 avoid confusion within the city. The school project was never im73 plemented . In 1976 Father Zouzal was named an archpriest. However, his tenure was cut short with his premature death on July 14, 74 1976. An eyewitness remembers Bishop Borecky coming to the funeral and placing his own pectoral cross on the body in the coffin. Some 150 priests, as well as more than 1,500 laypeople, participated 75 in the funeral procession. In the following years the parish was served by Father Gregory Novak, CSsR, by Father James Lynch in 76 1978, and by Father Andrew Sipek in 1979. In 1980 some 400 77 people attended an anniversary banquet. The parish continues to exist to this day. 4: Toronto, Ontario (1951) Slovak settlement in Toronto is already mentioned towards the 78 end of the 19 th century, but large numbers came only after 1923. Many Slovak Greek Catholics in Toronto belonged to branch 7 of the CSL (1937). During their meetings the opportunity to establish an independent Slovak Greek Catholic parish was discussed. Until that time, Slovak Greek Catholics mostly attended the Slovak Roman Catholic parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius (1934), where they comprised a third, or maybe even half of the members . As a result, many people regarded very negatively attempts to establish another parish.79 The beginnings of the Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Toronto 80 are connected with a Rusyn priest, Father Louis Mina. In the archives of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Toronto is a list of seventy-seven names of those who volunteered to join a "S lovak Greek Catholic 72 PA A, Letter of Father Zouzal to Bishop Isidore from August 12, 1966. Cf. "Vy znamenani e o. Antona Zouzala," Maria, 5/ 1976, I 0. 74 "Zomrel o. Anton Zouzal ," Maria, 9/ 1976, 11. 75 PAA , Comm uni cation with Mr. W. Zouzal , recorded on June 5, 20 11. 76 Cf. "Novy paroch vo Windsore," Maria, 12/ 1979, 7. 77 Cf. "Odpust" in Windsor, Maria, 12/ 1980, 9. 78 Cf. Kirschbaum , 132-5. 79 Mikula, Jan, " Hrst' rozpomienok na t'azke zaciatky," Kanadsky Slovak, March 28, 1981, p. 8. 8 Cf. "S lovenski greckokatolici v Ontariu," Kanadsky Slovak, September 4, 1954, p. 5. 73 ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 39 81 parish, if such were created." The parish was founded on October 82 29, 1951 as the Slovak Greek - Catholic Church of the Nativity of the B. V. Mary. A different date is indicated by a document dated November 29, 1951 based on a request for the founding of the parish, written and submitted in the name of the faithful from the Eparchies of Presov and Mukacevo, as well as the Apostolic Administra83 tion in Miskolc, Hungary by Father Mina. The term Slovak was of much wider sense than nowadays and it included almost all the Greek Catholic faithful coming from the Union of Uzhorod. The lit84 urgy was celebrated in the Ukrainian Church on Bathurst Street. On April I , 1952, Father Rusnak was named the new pastor of the church. The congregation gathered first on Bathurst Street, then moved to the Holy Eucharist church on King Street, where they worshiped until 1959, when their own church on Shaw Street was 85 blessed. The plans for the new Slovak Greek Catholic church in Toronto were approved on June 9, 1953 . The church was supposed to 86 be built at the comer of Roblock Avenue and Leeds, however this 87 attempt failed. The success of parish picnics led to the purchase of 89 St. Mary's Park. 88 The parish also acquired one part of a cemetery. However, none of these investments lasted. Towards the end of 1956 90 a choir was organized in the parish. A long-time cantor was Mr. 91 Joseph Kampu. At the end of 1959 the parish acquired a B' nai Is92 rael congregation synagogue, located at 257 Shaw Street. On De93 cember 27, 1959 Bishop Borecky blessed it as a church. Some 600 81 PAA, Copy of the signature li st. Cf. "25. vyroc ie nasej famost i," Maria, 9/ 1976, I 0. Jozef Suchy gives the date of October 2 1. 83 PAA, Letter from 28. XI. 1951. 84 Cf. Vasko, Andrej , "S lovenskf Grecko-katolfci," Kanadsky Slovak, October 11 , 1952, p. 2. 85 Cf. Ru snak, Michal , "Stvrt'storocie nasho rastu," Maria , 1/ 1980, 11. 86 Cf. Daily commercial news and building records, June 9 1953, I. 87 Cf. Ru snak, Michal , "Stvrt'storocie nasho rastu," Maria , 1/ 1980, 11 . 88 Cf. Maria, 5/ 1963 , third page of the cover. 89 Maria , 2/1963 , 16. 90 Cf. "Z nasich farnosti," Maria, 9-10/1956, 22. 91 Cf. Maria, 4/1963, 16. 92 Cf. "Time for rejoicing - Celebrate Opening of New Slovak Church," Toronto Daily Star, October 11 , 1959, p. 57 . 93 Cf. " Pozvanka na posviacku," Kanadsky Slovak, Christmas 1959, p. 4. 82 �40 SLOVAKIA-2017 94 people from near and far attended. The first English liturgy in the 95 parish was celebrated on March 22, 1964. The nomination of Father Rusnak as the Auxiliary Bishop of the Toronto Eparchy and the Apostolic Visitator for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada surely filled his parishioners with joy, for the church with its rectory became the official seat of the new bishop. Father John Fetsco became its new pastor. In 1972 Father John Pazak, CSsR, later the second bishop of the Slovak Eparchy, was 96 ordained a deacon in the parish. In 1974 Father Joseph Krafcik, SJ 97 helped out. The "odpust" celebration of 197 5 was highlighted by the priestly ordinations of three married deacons, at that time a rare 98 ordination in the Catholic world. On May 31, 1976, a Divine Litur99 gy was celebrated for the first time in Slovak. The arrival of Father Richard Boyle, ordained in the parish in 1978, brought new life to 100 the parish. This consisted not only of pilgrimages he organized, but all the parish activities, where he, together with a group of volun0 teers, cared for children as well as adults. ' ' He even installed a provisional iconostasis. On July 17, 1980, the first Slovak Greek Catholic Day in Bratislava Park near Hamilton took place, in an attempt to unite all the Slovak Greek Catholic parishes at a picnic. The "odpust" in 1980 was prepared jointly by all the parishes, and some 500 102 people attended. When the Slovak Eparchy was created, the 94 Cf. "Z nasich osad," Maria, 1-2/ 1960, 39. Cf. "Kronika," Maria , 3-411964, 16. 96 "Najdostojnej si o. Biskup Jan Pazak, C.Ss.R." in "Banquet in honour of His Excellency Most Reverend John S. Pazak, C.Ss.R." in The episcopal ordination and enthronement of the Most Reverend John S. Pazak, C.Ss. R., second Bishop of the Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius for Byzantine Slovaks in Canada (Toronto: E;archy of Saints Cyril and Methodius, 2000). 9 Cf. PAA , Letter Vel'adostojny a mily Vlady ko! Sent from Rome, Jul y 3, 1974. 98 The whole story is described in the following: Pospishil , Victor, "The Toronto Tempest," in Compulsory celibacy fo r the Eastern Catholics in the Americas (Toronto: Ukrainian Catholic Women's League, 1977). 99 Cf. " Slovenska liturgia v Toronte," Maria, 7-8/ 1976, 13-14. 100 To Quebec and its sanctuaries, to the Holy Land or pilgrimages to Uniontown, PA. 101 Cf. Boy le, Richard, "First solemn reception of Holy Communion in Toronto," Maria , 9/ 1979, 11. 102 Cf. Boyle, Richard, "Alive and well on Shaw Street in Toronto," Maria , 11 / 1980, 8-9. 95 �SLOVAKIA-2017 41 church on Shaw Street became its cathedral. A bishop's throne was 103 installed in the cathedral on the orders of Bishop Rusnak. As time passed many parishioners from downtown Toronto (and from the vicinity of the church) moved to other areas of town. It would have been fitting to reach out to these people, especially in the western areas of the Greater Toronto Area. 5: Oshawa, Ontario (1952) Slovak settlement in Oshawa started in the l 920's and is closely related to the development of the automobile industry in the area. After their arrival, the Greek Catholic Slovaks started to attend ser104 vices in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church of Saint George. In 1951 an announcement was placed in Kanadsky Slovak asking people in the Oshawa region who were interested in establishing a Slo105 vak Greek Catholic church to gather for a meeting. Thanks to Mr. 106 Andrew Vasko, the first meeting took place in January of 1952. The chairman asked all those present to sign a document confirming their desire to establish a Slovak Greek Catholic Society. Some fifty signatures were collected. At this meeting a parish committee was elected and the possibility of celebrating the Greek Catholic services 107 in the Slovak Hall was discussed. The first pastor of the community was the Reverend Michael Rusnak. On July 13 , 1952 the very first Slovak Greek Catholic Day in Oshawa was organized with a field 108 liturgy. On January 11 , 1953, the potential parishioners sent a request to Bishop Borecky for a "Slovak Greek Catholic priest, who would be able to have divine services in Oshawa every other Sunday 103 PAA , Folder: Boyle, Letter of Bishop Michael , February 12, 1981. Cf. "Z peknej slovenskej svadby v Oshawe," Kanadsky Slovak, August I 0, 1950, p. 7; "SI. M. Korcinska a p. M. Karas v putach manzelstva," Kanadsky Slovak, October 19, 1950, p. 6. 105 Cf. "S lovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dejin famosti) ," Kanadsky Slovak, AJril 26, 1958, p. 3. 1 Cf. PAA , Lescisin, E. & C.: Slovenska greckokatolicka farnost Ochrany Presvdtej Bohorodicky Oshawa, Ontario, Canada - Slovak Greek Catholic Church of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. November 2001, not for sale description of the parish history, 5. 107 Cf. "S lovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dejin farnosti) ," Kanadsky Slovak, April 26, 1958, p. 3. 108 Cf. Ibid. 104 �42 SLOVAKJA-2017 • a mont h ." 109 Some th.irty SI ova k s s1gne • d th e petition. • • 11 0 A or twice mission was established in February of 1953 . The Divine Liturgy was celebrated every other Sunday of the month in the Slovak Hall 111 and the solemn opening ofthe mission occurred on May 10, 1953. The liturgies were celebrated in the morning in Church Slavonic, but 11 2 always with a Slovak sermon. A property was purchased in 1953 11 3 right next to the Slovak Hall on Ritson Road. Really encouraging was the fact that the building process was started by only thirty-eight 114 families. Of great help was a six month-long strike by the United Auto Workers (UAW) labor union in the local General Motors Com11 5 pany, thus providing a ready labor force . The blessing of the cor11 6 nerstone occurred on July 31 , 1955 . The fini shed church was 117 blessed by Bishop Borecky on November 2, I 955 . Attendance was astounding, as according to one chronicler: "From some 800 mouths resounded the hierarchical hymn: " Vose) jesi Archijere11 8 1I 9 ju ..." The parish also offered religious education for the youth. 12 In the late 1950' s a Slovak choir also existed in Oshawa. From October of 1960 until September of 1963 , the parish was adminis12 1 tered by Father John Fetsco, CSsR. He was succeeded by Father 122 Andrew Krafcik. The first official visit of Bishop Rusnak to the 123 parish in Oshawa was on Sunday, May 2, I 965 . Father Michael ° 109 PAA , Without any signature. PAA , Without any signature. 11 1 Cf. " Slovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dej in fa rnosti )," Kanadsky Slovak, April 26, 1958, p. 3. 11 2 C f. " Prvy slovensky grec ko-katolicky odpust," Kanadsky Slovak, November 14, 1953 , p. 2. 11 3 Cf. "S lovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dejin farn osti)," Kanadsky Slovak, April 26, 1958, p. 3. 11 " Vzor jedn oty a spoluprace," Maria, 5/ 1957, 14. 115 Cf. Lescisin, 6. 11 6 Cf. "Oznamuj eme .. .," Mar ia, 5/ 1955 (Jul y), 15. 11 7 Cf. Oznamuj eme .. .," Maria , 7/ 1955 (September), 14-1 5. 118 Cf. " Posvateni e novej slovenskej gr.-kat cerkvi v Os hawe," Maria , 8/ 1955 (October), 15 119 Cf. Maria , 3/ 1957, photo on th e first page of th e cover. 120 "Vas kovci v Os hawe vydava li dceru," Kanadsky Slovak, January 9, 1960, p. 2. 121 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria , 3-4/ 1965 , 15. 122 Cf. Maria, 2/ 1963 , 16. 123 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Bi skupa M. Ru snaka," Maria, 3-4/ 1965, 16. 11 0 �SLOVAKIA-2017 43 Durisin from Slovakia served the parish in 1966. After him came 124 Father Stephen Adamiak. The need for a resident priest became urgent among the parishioners towards the end of 1960 's: " If we do not have a resident priest, ... then we and even more our children will 125 be in danger regarding our faith and keeping our pari sh." After dedicated efforts of the parishioners, a new rectory was blessed in 126 May of 1969. In 1970 Father Adamiak was replaced by Father Joseph Dubiak. Thanks to Father Dubiak the modem Slovak lan127 guage was introduced into the liturgy. Father Dubiak left the parish in 197 1, and his successor became Father Adolph Vateha, 128 CSsR. In 1972 a railroad overpass was built nearby, which changed the church surroundings. Later the parish was given some 129 compensation by the City of Oshawa. In later years, mostly Toronto priests served in the Oshawa parish. The parish in Oshawa was never large, but had a strong sense of community. According to the 200 I booklet about the pari sh, a majority of the parisioners were 130 from the former historic counties of Zemplin and Ugoca. The parish is still alive, being served by the Reverend Stephen Williams, an English-speaking convert to th e Byzantine-Slovak rite. 6: Hamilton, Ontario (1952) The first Slovaks arrived in the steel city of Hamilton, Ontario, 131 in the 1920's. They founded their own Roman Catholic Church in January of 1945 . Half of the fo unding families were Greek Catholics, and due to this fact the parish was named Sts. Cyril and Methodi132 us. Several Slovak Greek Catholic families also attended the local 133 Ukrainian church and some even the Polish church. The key mo124 Cf. "Z nasich osad - Oshawa," Maria , 9- I 0/ 1967, 17- I 8. PAA , Letter fro m Jul y 28, 1967. 126 Cf. "V izi tac ie preosv. o. biskupa Michala Rusnaka, CSsR," Maria , 5-6/ 1969, 5. 127 PAA , Letter of Father Joseph to Father Lacko, September 17, I 971. 128 PAA , Confirmation of the appointment as a pastor in the letter of Bi shop Isidore fro m September 20, 1973. 129 Cf. Lesc isin, 11 . 13 Cf. Lescisin, 13 . 13 1 Cf. Kirschbaum , 135-7. 132 Sts. Cyril and Methodius parish - History . htt ://www.s lovakchurch .com/historyh tm ( 11.5 .20 12 15 :00). b J Cf. "Nas rozhovor," Maria , 4/1 979, 9. 125 ° �44 SLOVAKIA-2017 ment for the founding of the Greek Catholic parish was a meeting on October 26, 1952 in the house of Mr. Michael Mati. During this meeting a deci sion was made to establish the parish of Sts . Peter and 134 Paul. The first liturgy was celebrated on December 14, 1952 in the 135 local Ukrainian church. Fathers Michael Rusnak and Louis Mina 136 took turns serving the community. The first anniversary of the mission was celebrated in the Hungarian church on December 13, 1953 , with Bishop Borecky attending, and everyone "was delighted 137 to hear him deliver a short sermon in Slovak. " 138 In 1954 Father Frantisek Fuga came to Hamilton from Rome. The parish changed its name due to a request by the Roman Catholic bishop of Hamilton, who already had in his diocese a parish dedicated to Sts. Peter and Paul. Ukrainian Bishop Isidore Borecky, who was in charge of Slovak Greek Catholics in Ontario, changed the name of the parish to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 139 October 20, 1954. In a letter from the Oriental Congregation in Rome, Cardinal Coussa stated: "The veneration of the Mother of God of Klokocov will assure its success among Slovak Greek Catho40 lics." 1 A copy of the Klokocov icon was painted in the church thanks to the efforts of Father Lacko in 1955, and it was blessed by 14 1 the Pope himself. Also, some Slovenians came annualy in pil. h' . gnmages to t 1s icon. 142 The cornerstone of the sanctuary was blessed on October 20, 143 144 1957 . Inside was al so a bit of soil from Klokocov in Slovakia. The facade with three mountain peaks and a double cross (the Slovak 134 Cf. Yinansky, J. (F . Fuga), "Gr. K. Osada, Hamilton," Kalendar KSL 1977 (Toronto), 84. 135 Cf. " 25 . vyrocie nas ich farn osti," Maria, I 0/ 1977, 11. 136 Cf. Eli as, Jan, "Otec Fuga IO rokov v Hamiltone," Maria , 5/ 1964, 9. 137 Cf. " Po Gr.-kato lickej oslave v Hamiltone," Kanadsky Slovak, Fe bruary 20, 1954, p. 2. 138 "Zo zivota nas ich fa rnosti," Maria, 3/ 195 5 (May), 15. 139 Cf. " Hist6ri a odpustov Panny Marie Klokocovskej v Hamiltonskej svatyni ," Maria, 7-8/ 1965, 3. 14 Fuga, Franti sek, " Rozpomienka na prvy odpu st," Maria , 7-8/ 1965 , I 0. 14 1 Cf. " lkona kl okocovskej Matky Bozej v Hamiltone," Maria, 8/ 1958, 5-7. 142 Cf. " Hor' sa na putnicky odpust Panny Marie Klokococskej do Hamiltonu," Maria , 7-8/ 1969, 3. 143 Cf. Maria, 10/ 1957 , last page of the cover. 144 Cf. " Dej inn y den," Ma ria , 11 / 1957 , 11. ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 45 national emblem) was painted by the noted Slovak artist Jozef 145 Cincik. Father Fuga was a skilled organizer, and the Hamilton 146 sanctuary was nicely decorated during his tenure. Fuga also supported the struggle for Slovak independence and created the modem Slovak flag (horizontal white, blue and red stripes with the Slovak emblem superimposed upon it!" In 197 4 he became the director of 47 the Matica Slovenska Abroad. Hamilton was also one of the first Greek Catholic parishes to have the Sunday readings done in modem Slovak. The church was dedicated on June 9, 1963, as part of the local Cyrillo-Methodian celebrations (the 1100 th anniversary of the 148 arrival of the Apostles of the Slavs on Slovak territory). In those days, the number of the faithful in Hamilton increased to almost 149 500. The first visit of Bishop Rusnak to Hamilton after his episco150 pal ordination took place on May 23 , 1965. At the beginning of 1975 Father Fuga became seriously ill. This was the price he paid for his printing apostolate, using lead ink. Some parishioners said to him: "Monsignor, please do not die! It would be better for us if the sanctuary burned to the ground, because you could build another one, but if you die, we will lose it in a few 151 years! " Father Fuga lived for another ten years. On October 3, 152 1975 a Slovak school opened in the parish. The "odpust" of 1976 included a blessing of the interior iconography, created by Igor 153 Suchacev, and the ceremony of presenting the miter to Monsignor Fuga. Suchacev painted Slovak saints in the apse, with their scrolls 145 PAA, Letter from Father Fuga to Father Lacko, January 31, 1975. Cf. "Z nasich osad - Hamilton," Maria, 3-4, 1968, 18-20; fourth page of the cover; "Odpust a cirkevne slavnosti v Hamiltone," Kanadsky Slovak, August 9, 1975, p. 5; "Vyrocity odpust a strieborne jubileum pastoracie Mons. Fr. Fugu v Hamiltone," Kanadsky Slovak, September 8, 1979, p. 3. 147 Cf. Elias, Jan, "Zahranicna MS ma protektora," Kanadsky Slovak, July 6, 1974, P,·48 5. Cf. "Kronika," Maria , 4/ 1963, 16. 149 Cf. Lacko, Michal, " Posviacka dvoch novych s lovenskyc h kostolov v Kanade," Kanadsky Slovak, June 29, 1963 , p. 5. 15 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Biskupa M. Rusnaka," Maria, 3-4/ 1965, 16. 151 "Nas rozhovor," Maria , 4/ 1979, 9. 152 Cf. "Skola slovenciny osady P. M. Klokocovskej , Kanadsky Slovak, October 18, 1975 , p. 5. 153 Born in Yugoslavia to Russian refugees . One of his works was the decoration of the throne in Ethiopia. 146 ° �46 SLOVAKIA-2017 written in Slovak. The church also has depictions of the blessed Sister Miriam T. Demjanovic and President Joseph Tiso. The beauty of the church was also enhanced by the iconostasis, being the only Slo154 vak church in Canada to have a permanent one. The parish exists to this day, although the glory days of Father Fuga are gone. 7: Welland, Ontario (1953) The first Slovaks settled in the Niagara peninsula around 1920; eventually there were some 3,000. Local branches of the CSL had these numbers : 23 in Welland (1940), 31 in St. Catharines (1942), 3 7 155 in Niagara Falls (1943) and 64 in Port Colborne ( 1952). A majority of the Slovak Greek Catholics in Welland and nearby places came to Canada in the last years prior to WW II, mostly from Zemplin County. Only after WW II, when new priests arrived, did the organization of spiritual life develop here. On November 22, 1953 a meeting was held in Welland for all those interested in establishing a Slovak Greek Catholic parish under the patronage of the Holy Spirit. The meeting was organized by Father Vincent Danco, SJ. Some twenty-eight members of the future parish appeared. The faithful wished to have the liturgy celebrated twice a month and to temporarily use the Gregorian calendar. They also produced a list of fifty-five people who wished to belong to the 156 parish. Bishop Borecky promised in his letter of December I 9, 157 1953 to send a Decree for the creation of this parish. The first pastor of the parish was Father Danco, whose name was inscribed with gold letters into the history of the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada. On August 1, 1954, the Reverend Nicholas Chanat became the pastor of the Hol y Ghost parish in Welland and the "mission stations 158 of the Niagara Peninsula districts." The solemn groundbreaking 154 Cf. " Yysoka cirkevna hodnost' Mons. F. Fugovi," Kanadsky Slovak, September 4, 1976, pp . 1-2. 155 Cf. "S lovaci a ich organi zacia v dejinach oblasti N iagara," Kanadsky Slovak, January 31 , 198 1, p.5. 156 PAA , without a signature. 157 PAA , without a signature. 158 PAA, Letter from Bishop Borecky, without a signature. �47 SLOVAKIA-2017 159 took place on July 3, 1955 , and on May 20, 1956 the new church160 hall was blessed. However, the Reverend Chanat died in the morn161 ing of March 17, 1957 at the age of30. This was so devastating that the hall became a permanent church, as there was never any fur162 ther building activity. Father Mina succeeded him ; after him the 164 163 parish was served by Fathers Fetsco, Kra:fcik, Shogan, Chamey and Russin. Bishop Rusnak visited the parish for the first time as a • 165 bishop on June 6, 1965 . From November 1965, Father Smal' was 166 the pastor. After Father Russin resigned as pastor at the end of 167 I 971, Father Robert Keleher was named the new administrator. 168 He installed a temporary iconostasis. Father Keleher was replaced with a Slovak priest, Father Stephen Kundra, who served from Au169 gust of 1972 until February of 1973 . The parish was administered for a while by Father Fuga until the arrival of Father John Leso, SJ _110 Vo The parish financial report for the year 1980 showed that, were it not for bingo, the rental of the hall and kitchen, the parish would not 171 collect enough money to pay the priest's salary. This was due to the aging of the parish, the death of its founders , while their offspring either moved away or lost interest in this church. Thus, the parish slowly declined and did not survive the year 20 I 0. 159 In other sources the date for the groundbreaking by Father Chanat is listed as Jul y 4, 1954 . 16 Cf. "Zaznamenavame," Maria , 411956, 16. 161 Cf. "Za milovanym o. Nikolajom," Maria , 4/ 1957, 3-6. 162 PAA, Letter of April 3, 1957. 163 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria, 3-4/1965 , 15 . 164 PAA, Letter from Michael Kostik to Bi shop Isidore, November 9, 196 1. 165 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Biskupa M. Ru snaka," Maria , 3-4/ 1965 , 16. 166 PAA , Letter of th e Vicar General, the Right Reverend Basil Filevich, December 6, 1965 . 167 PAA , Letter of Bishop Isidore to the Toronto-Dominion Bank, December 24, 197 1. 168 PAA, Letter of Father Keleher to Bishop Isidore, August 27, 1973. 169 PAA , Letter of Bishop Isidore, February 23, 1973, addressed to the TorontoDomi nion Bank . 170 PAA , Lette r of February 17, 1976. 171 PAA, Annual statement - 1980. ° �48 SLOVAKIA-2017 8: Sudbury, Ontario (1954) This mining town in northern Ontario also attracted Slovak im172 migrants. In 1923 the first Slovaks arrived in Sudbury. Several of 173 them were Greek Catholics. The founding meeting of branch 16 of the CSL was held June 19, 1938 at the hall of the local Ukrainian Greek Catholic church, showing thus their religious affi liation. The local Greek Catholic Slovaks had quite a community life even before 174 their parish was founded , as testified by newspaper articles. On many of these occasions the Master of Ceremonies, or simply the Elder, presided over the event with both formal as well as religious 175 elements. A real start for the Slovak Greek Catholics was the Divine Liturgy celebrated on August 15, 1954 at the hall of the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society. It was celebrated by fathers Louis Mina and Nicholas Chanat and Father Dzurman, the local Ukrainian 176 priest. The parish received the title of Our Lady of Perpetual 178 177 Help. The entire ceremony was broadcast on local television. 179 Thereafter liturgies were celebrated on a monthly basis. The Sudbury parishioners were also subscribers and ~enerous benefactors of 1 the Slovak Greek Catholic magazine Maria. Father Fetsco became 18 1 the pastor for the first time in 1957. With several breaks and sev- ° 172 Cf. Urban, J., "Slovaks in Sudbury," Polyphony: Th e Bulletin of the Multicultural History Society of Ontario - Sudbury 's People, Vol. 5 (No. I, 1983), p. 123 . 173 Cf. "Smutna sprava 23. zboru KSL," Kanadsk:y Slovak, August 9, 1980, p. 7; " Spravy z Toronta," Kanadsk:y Slovak, April 7, 1979, p. 2. 174 Cf. " Man zelia Strokovi jubilovali," Kanadsk:y Slovak, March 30, 1950, p. 6; "Manzelia Rani covi jubilovali, Kanadsk:y Slowik, August 17, 1950, p. 6; "Rani covi zenili syna Stefana," Kanadsk:y Slovak, September 9, 1950, p. 6; "S I. Johanka Simkova v putach manzelstva," Kanadsk:y Slovak November 9, 1950, p. 7; " Manzelia Koritko jubilovali, Kanadsk:y Slovak, November 8, 1952, p. 2. 175 Cf. " Mad'arovci 25 rokov v manzelstve, Kanadsk:y Slovak, December 2 1, 1950, p. 3. 176 Cf. Maria , 2/1955 , 15; "S lavnostne otvorenie slovenskej gr. kat. parafii v Sudbury, Ont. di\ a 15. augusta, Kanadsky Slovak, August 7, 1954, p. 8. 177 Cf Urban 124 178 Cf. Mari;, 2/ 1955 , 15. No such video recording cou ld be found. CTV does not have it in its archi ves, TYO did not exist and CBC did not answer my e-mails. 179 Cf. " Prvy slovensky krst v Sudburach," Kanadsk:y Slovak, November 6, 1954, p. 3. 18 Cf. Maria , 6/l 955 , 17; 5/ 1958, 22. 18 1 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria, 3-4/ 1965 , 15. ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 49 182 era! priests substituting, he continued coming to the parish until 1972. On July I, 1964, a new pastor was named--Father Theoktist 183 Vidov, a Studite monk originally from Croatia. Bishop Rusnak 184 came to Sudbury on June 13, 1965 . Sadly, someone noted that the youth had little interest in its roots: "The whole ceremony was really nice. And it could be even nicer if our young Slovaks from Sudbury 185 would show up in bigger numbers for such a great ceremony." In 1965 Father Jules Riotte, a Greek Catholic priest of German origin is • d as t he pastor, commg • twice • a mont h . 186 B 1s . hop R usna' k menhone 187 also returned to Sudbury in the following years. We have a list 188 from the 1960's of 31 fam ilies who had their homes blessed following the blessing of the Jordan water. Another list of families who 189 appeared for All Souls Day celebrations is also preserved. One of the problems of the Slovak Greek Catholic community in Sudbury was the lack of a resident priest. Another important factor for the downfall of the parish were economic conditions. Around 1964, when their economic situation changed for the better, many people moved to southern Ontario, and since no new waves of immigrants appeared, a decline in the number of Slovaks (and Greek Catholics) began. At a parish meeting held on July 13, 1975, it was decided "to dismiss the parish ; the reason is that there is no one to keep it because there are no more parishioners, it is sad, but it could 191 190 not be changed." Bishop Rusnak responded on July 25, 1975, but another reply from the parishioners was dated August 1, 1977. Because of this correspondence, Maria magazine listed the parish in 182 Cf. Urban, 124. Cf. "Kronika," Maria, 6-7/ 1964, 16. 184 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp . Biskupa M. Rusnaka," Maria, 3-4/1965, 16. 185 "Cestujeme s p. biskupom ," Maria, 9-10/ 1965, 6. 186 Beskyd, J., Yearbook of the Eparchy of Toronto (In the vineyard of Christ) (Toro nto: Eparc hy of Toronto, 1964), 520. 187 Cf. "Z nas ich osad - Sudbury - Preosv. p. biskup Michal Rusnak CSsR medzi svojimi ," Maria, 11-12/ 1967, 18- 19; Stripay, J., "Preosv. o. bisk up Michal Rusnak CSsR v Sudburach," Maria, 9-10/1968, 6. 188 PAA, File: Sudbury. 189 PAA , File: Sudbury. 190 PAA , Letter from the ushers to Bishop Michael, dated July 17, 1975. 191 PAA, Letter from the ushers to Bishop Michael, dated August I, 1977. 183 �50 SLOVAKIA-2017 192 197 6 as still open, but that is no longer the case. Only sixty people 193 of Slovak origin remain in Sudbury. 9: Delhi (Simcoe - Delhi), Ontario (1955) Many Slovaks, especially from Eastern Slovakia, started to move into the area of Simcoe and Delhi, in southern Ontario, around 1930. 194 Most of them worked as tobacco farmers . The same people who founded branch 46 of the Canadian Slovak League in 1944 also founded St. Andrew's parish. In 1954 Father Frantisek Fuga of Hamilton heard about the Greek Catholic Slovaks at this location and contacted them. After a few weeks he celebrated a liturgy for 195 them. Since this took place around the feast of St. Andrew, the parish was named for this saint. It was officially created in Novem196 ber of 1955 . Father Fuga answered the spiritual needs of the parishioners working on farms and served them once a month in the 197 local Ukrainian church in Delhi. In 1965 only about thirty families 198 attended these services. The first pastoral visit of St. Andrew's parish by Bishop Michael Rusnak was conducted on December 18, 199 1966. The silver jubilee of the parish could also be called its swan 200 song. It was celebrated on October 19, 1980. The story of Simcoe - Delhi is the story of a small flock of the faithful, who wanted to 192 Cf. "Nase kostoly," Maria, 1/1976, third page of the cover. Census profile: http://wwwI2.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/20 I I/dpp_gfprQf1/<!eJ<1.ih/p_agt!,Sfo1'.?: Lang= E&Geo l =CSD&Cocle 1=3553005&Geo2=CD&Cocle2=3553&Data=Count&S t!archText=suclbur &SearchT e=Contains&SearchPR=0 l&B l =A ll &C ustom=&TA Bl D '."'J (27.8.2013 23:30) 194 Cf. Kirschbaum , J. M.: Slovaks in Canada (Toronto: Canadian Ethnic Press Association of Ontario, 1967), 128. 195 Cf. "Osada v Simcoe - Delhi jubiluje," Maria , 1-3/1966, 3-4. 196 See: Kirschbaum , 262 and Fuga, Frantisek, J., "Slovenska greckokatolicka farnost' sv. Andreja v Simcoe - Delhi , Ont. jubilovala," Kanadsky Slovak, November 29, 1980, p. 4. 197 Cf. Kirschbaum, 262. 198 Cf." Osada v Simcoe - Delhi jubiluje," Maria, 1-311966, 3-4. 199 Cf. "Prva vizitacia pana biskupa Michala Rusnaka v Simcoe-Delhi, Ont. ," Maria, 1-2/1967, 10-11. 200 Cf. Fuga, Frantisek J., "S lovenska greckokatolicka farnost' sv. Andreja v Simcoe - Delhi , Ont. jubilovala," Kanadsky Slovak, November 29, 1980, p. 4. 193 �SLOVAKIA-2017 51 praise God in Church Slavonic, as they did back home. However their small size prevented the parish from growing. The community literally died with the death of the last parishioner from among the original flock. This community was always listed as a parish, even though from the ecclesiastical point of view it would probably be called a mission, as in all juridical matters the parishioners belonged to the Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Hamilton. 10: Kenaston, Saskatchewan (1967) The first Slovaks arrived in Kenaston in July of 1903 and were 20 1 followed by others who came to farm. Besides the Ukrainians, many Slovak Greek Catholics also settled in and around nearby Sas202 katoon, Saskatchewan. Bishop Rusnak came to Saskatoon on June 203 26, 1966, hoping to include these people within his jurisdiction, and to make of this place a permanent center of the Slovak religious presence in Canada. Before this visit, an invitation appeared in the press: Come all of you, who are able to come, because this will be the very first time, since our arrival here 50 years ago, that we will be able to welcome amongst us our first Slovak bishop in Canada and the first bishop who is a Greek Catholic, since the times of Sts. Cyril and Methodius .... This joyful news is written for you ... by Joseph Zeman, an 80 year-old Slovak, who after 65 years in Canada, lived long enough to 204 experience this great joy ... The Ukrainian Greek Catholics gave Rusnak permission to use their cathedral of St. George for the meeting. The organizational committee prepared 600 memorial ribbons - but they were not 205 206 . enough! Father John Kobelak, M.S.F. was entrusted with or- 20 1 Cf. "Na vyrocie slovenskych pociatkov v Saskatchewan a slovenskeho ~riekopnictva v Kanade, Kanadsky Slowik, June 25 , 1966, p. 2. 02 Cf. "S lovak so Slovakom sa zide," Kanadsky Slowik, March 10, 1962, p. 2; "Janko Purda graduoval ," Kanadsky Slovak, January 5, 1963, p. 2. 203 Cf." Pl anovane vizitacne cesty p. biskupa," Maria , 4-5/1966, 16. 204 Cf. " Do pozornosti Slovakom v Saskatchewan," Kanadsky Slovak, May 28, 1966, ~- 2. os Cf. "Aj 600 bolo malo," Kanadsky Slovak, July 16, I 966, p. 3. �52 SLOVAKIA-2017 20 7 gamzmg this parish. The Slovak Greek Catholic parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Kenaston, Saskatchewan, was officially created during the Canadian centennial in 1967, after the trip of Bishop Rusnak to Saskatoon. The parish was part of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Saskatoon, having its own property, a gift of the recently-deceased Joseph Zeman. Bishop Rusnak planned to send the parish a Slovak priest - the Reverend Stephen Adamiak.208 In the archives are notes testifying that the Ukrainian Eparchy indeed received the property and also $1000 to be used to build a Slovak Greek Catholic church in Kenaston. However, the following year the heirs of the late Mr. Zeman changed their minds and requested that the $1,000 be re209 turned to them. In the fall of 1970 the parish ceased to exist. 2 10 The question remains: Would a Slovak parish have lasted in Saskatchewan, if it had been built in Saskatoon rather than in the small village of Kenaston? MISSIONS WITH IRREGULAR SERVICES Among the missions we list those places where we are sure that the Slovak Greek Catholic services were held: 11: Edmonton, Alberta The capital of the Province of Alberta attracted many Slovak immigrants in the 1930's, including Greek Catholics.2 11 Slovak 212 Greek Catholics present here never formed a separate parish or other type of organized community, but they still could be considered a part of the life of Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada. After his 206 Born in Poland in 1921 . He came to Canada in 1964, and worked in the Eastern rite. He died in 200 I. 207 Cf. "Z nasich osad - Kenaston - Nova slovenska greckokatolfcka osada sv. Cyrila a Metoda," Maria, 11-12/ 1967, 17. 208 PAA, Letter of Bishop Michael dated May 15, 1967. 209 PAA , E-mail from the Eparchy of Saskatoon, sent to the author on November 21, 2011 , 17:00. 210 PAA , Letter NM najdostojnejci Otce Vladyka! sent from Rome, 12. X. 1970. 211 Cf. Kirschbaum , 151. 212 Cf. Maria, 1/ 1963, 17. �SLOVAKIA-2017 53 Episcopal ordination, Bishop Michael Rusnak visited Edmonton on 213 June 27, I 965 . 12: Fernie, British Columbia Femie is one of the oldest settlements of Slovaks in Canada. The 214 first Slovak miners came here in 1898 from Pennsylvania. Many of them were Greek Catholics. Shortly after the start of the 20th cen215 tury, a branch of the Greek Catholic Union was founded here. Slovaks in Femie were also organized in branch 51 of the CSL. Fa2 16 ther Michal Lacko did a visitation here in 1973. Femie is mentioned as a mission in the report of the Apostolic Visitator in 217 1978. 13: New Westminster, British Columbia The first Slovaks came to the Canadian Pacific coast at the end 218 219 of the 19 th century. Larger numbers appeared only after WW 11. Branch 4 7 of the CSL was established here in 1944. The Slovak Roman Catholic parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius has existed in New 220 Westminster since 1960. Many of its parishioners were Greek 221 Catholics. From time to time, Greek Catholic services were also celebrated here. In 1959 there was a Slovak Greek Catholic wedding in the Ukrainian church, performed by a "good friend of Slovaks, 222 Father Bylik, who was ass isted in the ceremonies by Mr. Bodnar.'' 213 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Bisk upa M. Rusnaka," Maria, 5-611965, I 3. Cf. Kirschbaum , 70. 215 Cf. Palmer, Howard, Land of the Second Chance (A History of Ethnic Groups in Southern Alberta), (Lethbridge : Lethbridge Herald, 1972), 195. 216 Personal Archive of the Author (PAA) Letter of Bishop Michael to Father Lacko, May 28, 1973. 217 PAA , Quinquennial report for Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada, 19731978 (November 1st , 1978),2-3 . 218 Kanadsky Slovak, November 14, I 970. 219 Cf. Kirschbau m, 146-8. 220 Officiall y establ ished by Father Wi lliam Lacko, SJ in 1960. The first acti vities with local Slovaks date back to 1952. 22 1 Cf. " Klub za ujemcov o hist6riu Slovakov v Britskej Kolumbii v Kanade," http://www.sk-bc .ca/book/export/ html/I 98 (October 18, 20 11 , 20:00); Maria, 78/ 1965, 5; 12; 12/1965, 15. 222 " Pekna slovenska svadba v B.C.," Kanadsky Slovak, June 27, 1959, p. 2. 214 �54 SLOVAKIA-2017 The Slovak church of Sts. Cyril and Methodius was the home of Ukrainian Greek Catholics until they built their own church. In those days a certain Byzantine-rite priest - Father Kmec-- celebrated the services. Many times the Slovak Greek Catholics celebrated with the Ukrainians. ln 1970, the Reverend William Lacko wrote about the Greek Catholics: "the late Michael Bodnar with a beautiful voice, was an outstanding cantor." Already during the Cyrillo-Methodian jubilee in 1963 we learn that "many Slovak Greek Catholics are living in this area and because of this Father Michael Lacko went to the far west of Canada ... and celebrated services in the Church Slavonic 223 language .... " And during the Jubilee year, according to the words of the pastor, once a month instead of the sermon "we all sang "Moleben." The Impressive "Hospodi pomiluj" resounded in the church as a joint response to the petition of all the Catholics of both 224 rites." On the day of the Cyrillo-Methodian celebrations, July 7, 1963 , the Latin Mass was fo ll owed with the singing of sacred songs in Slovak and Church Slavonic by both Roman and Greek Catho225 lics. They sang lie Cheruvimi (Let us, who mystically represent 226 the Cherubim) and Otce nas (Our Father), led by Mr. Bodnar. Bishop Rusnak was quite frequentl y a welcome guest of the parish. On those occasions, the church was always filled to the very last seat or even overcrowded. His visit was a real "unique experience with lasting value .. .. Greek Catholics are coming from near and far to the services held in the Slovak church and it is a joy to see them, 227 when Bishop Michael is among them .. .'' In 1966 Bishop Rusnak 228 appeared on July 3. He officiated at the funeral of Mrs. Potoma on 229 July 6, 1970. For the local parishioners it became a tradition throughout the years to have Bishop Rusnak among them , always around the feast day of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, patrons of their 223 224 Cf. Maria , 7/ 1963 , 11. "Slovenski greckokatolici na Pacifiku," Kanadsky Slovak, September 14, 1970, p. 5. 225 Cf. "Cyril ometodske slav nosti v B.C.," Kanadsky Slovak, June 29, 1963, p. 8. Cf. "Cyrilometodske oslavy na Pacifickom pobrezi," Kanadsky Slovak, August 17, 1963, p. 2. 227 "Slovenski greckokatolici na Pacifiku," Kanadsky Slovak, September 14, 1970, p. 5. 228 Cf. " Planovane vizitacne cesty p. biskupa," Maria , 4-5/ 1966, 16. 229 PAA , Folder: Vancouver. 226 �SLOVAKIA-2017 55 church. The bishop made such a good impression on the people that they left with the words: "Goodbye Most Reverend Bishop M. 230 Rusnak until next year." In 1973 the Byzantine liturgy was scheduled for August 5, with Father Michael Lacko, SJ as the main cele. . was a Iso the act o f a canomca . I v1s1tahon. . . . 232 brant. 23 1 H.1s v1s1t Among the benefactors of the Maria magazine were several people 233 from New Westminster. The visits of the Greek Catholic bishop to New Westminster stopped a long time ago, but the Greek Catholics there attend the Slovak Roman Catholic parish to thi s day. 14: Unionville (Markham), Ontario From the canonical point of view, Unionville Ontario, and the fa mily mansion of the billionaire Stephen B. Roman could not be considered either a parish, or a mission. However, to be fair to history, we have to note that services were held here more often than in some of th e other missions. Fron the 1950's until the 1980 's Bishop Rusnak celebrated a liturgy in the residence of Mr. Roman every 234 Sunday aftemoon. The bishop had become a good friend of the Greek Catholic Stephen Roman in the early 1950 's. Together they planned to build a huge Cathedral of the Transfiguration on Mr. Roman's property in Unionville and Pope John Paul II even blessed the 235 cornerstone in I 984. However, after Mr. Roman suddenly died in 1988, Bishop Rusnak and his successor Bishop Pazak, could not come to an agreement with Mr. Roman 's heirs as to the actual ownership of the cathedral. Therefore, Bishop Pazak deconsecrated the 23 °Korem, Albin, " Dve spravy z B. C.," Kanadsky Slowik, July 18, 1970, p. 5. 23 1 PAA , Postcard Srdecny pozdrav od Ticheho oceanu. Sent from San Francisco, Jul y 20, 1973. 232 PAA, Letter of Bishop Michae l to Father Lacko, May 28, 1973. 233 Cf. Maria, 2/ 1963, 17; 1/1964, third page of the cover; 2/ 1964, third page of the cover; 9-10/ 1964, third page of the cover; 1-2/ 1965, third page of the cover; 12/1965 , 16; 1-3/ 1966, third page of the cover; 1/ 1977, third page of the cover; 5/ 1978, 16;4/ 1979, 16; 7-8/ 1980, 24. 234 Litva, Felix, "Stefan B. Roman - clovek v rozdvojenom svete" (Cambridge, ON : Dobra kniha, 198 I). 235 See Our Heritage of Faith : Consecration of the Slovak Cathedral of the Transfiguration by His Holiness Pope John Paul II, September 15, 1984, ed. by Helen Roman-Barber and Anne C. R. Roman (Toronto: Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius for Slovaks of the Byzantine Ri te in Canada, 1984). �56 SLOVAKIA-2017 church in 2006 and since then it has sat empty as the cornerstone of a 236 massive housing development called "Cathedraltown." 15: Winnipeg, Manitoba Slovak immigrants started coming to to Winnipeg before the First World War, but the largest group arrived in the interwar peri237 od. A Slovak Roman Catholic parish existed here since 1951. Father Alexander Baran, an historian and native of the Subcarpathian region, worked at the local univers ity. Because his dad had been a secretary to the first Slovak Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia- Dr. Milan Hodza--he knew Slovak and was a great friend to Slovak Greek Catholics, with whom he shared the same liturgical tradition.2 38 Before the end of the 19 th century, several families from Zemplin County arrived via Pennsylvania to the town of Neepawa, in the 239 Province of Manitoba. When the Canadian Slovak League (CS L) was established here in 1932, one of the founding members, Juraj Rond'os, was not ashamed of being not only Slovak, but also a Greek Catholic. The local branch of the CSL received the number 1. The Slovak Greek Catholics in town attended mostly the local Ukrainian church for their worship services. The priests even learned some 240 Slovak for special celebrations for these parishioners. The most vital period for Slovak Greek Catholics in Winnipeg 24 1 started after the episcopal ordination of Bishop Rusnak. He came to Winnipeg for the first time on Sunday, August 22, 1965, and assisted by the local Slovak Roman Catholic pastor, Msgr. John Re236 For more details see "The Cathedral that Toronto Forgot," Toronto Star, June 26, 201 1 and "Losing Faith in Cathedraltown," Toronto Star, January I 0, 2015. 237 Cf. Kirschbaum , 75 -76. 238 For more info on Baran see: htt ://um anitoba.ca/libraries/units/archi ves/collections/rad/baran.html 239 Cf. R~ ndos, Juraj, "V lete sli spat' na breh rieky," in Spomienky pionierov, ed. by lmrich Stolarik (Toronto: Kanadska Slovenska Liga, I 978), 2 19. Maria, 1/ 1963, 17; 10/ 1963, third page of the cover; 12/ 1965 , 16; 12/ 1966, third page of the cover. 24 Cf. " Mary Rondosova vydala sa za Janka Stretavskeho," Kanadsky Slovak, March I, 195 1, p. 4. " Pekna slovenska svadba vo Winnipegu," Kanadsky Slovak, Apri l 5, 1958, p. 2; "Opusti li nas dvaja Slovaci z nasej okolice v Dufresne, Man. ," Kanadsky Slovak, March 21, 198 1, p. I 0. 241 Cf. Kutka, J., " Historicky den manitobskych Slovakov," Kanadsky Slovak, Nove mber 13, 1965, p. 2. ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 57 kem, as well as by Father Baran, he celebrated a Byzantine liturgy in 242 the local Slovak Roman Catholic church. His visit was prepared by Msgr. Rekem and Mr. J. Kutka. Beautiful liturgical Church Slavonic singing had a delicate impact on the people present, many of them hearing it probably for the very first time in their lives. The choir, directed by organist Cudovit (Louis) Besei\ovsky, sang both Slovak Greek and Latin liturgies. Even though the Greek and Latin Catholics sang together for the first time, they 243 were praised for their perforrnance. Bishop Rusnak also visited the Greek Catholic Slovaks in Win244 nipeg in the following years. Several Slovak Greek Catholics from Winnipeg and nearby settlements appeared among the supporters of ~"' • • 245 1V1arza magazme. OTHER SLOVAK GREEK CATHOLIC LOCATIONS 16: Flin Flon, Manitoba Many Slovaks found jobs in the mining industry here, among them quite a few Greek Catholics . Several Slovak farmers settled around the town as well. When the Canadian Slovak League was founded in 1932, its local branch was given the number 4. However, the best years for the community were the 1940's and 1950's. Several Greek Catholic Slovaks here attended the local Ukrainian 246 church. In 1966 Bishop Michael Rusnak intended to send the Revernd John Zeman, OSB as a Greek Catholic priest to Flin 247 Flon . However, this did not materialize. 242 Cf. "Cestujeme s p. biskupom," Maria , 9-10/1965, 9- I 0. 1bid., 9. 244 Cf. " Planovane vizitacne cesty p. biskupa," Maria, 4-5/1966, 16. PAA, diaries. 245 Cf. Maria , 1/ 1964, third page of the cover; 2/ 1964, third page of the cover; 67/ 1964, third page of the cover; 12/1965, 16; 1-2/ 1967, fourth page of the cover; 78/ 1977, third page ofthe cover; 5/ 1978, 16; 3/1979, 16; 2/ 1980, 16; 12/1980, 16. 246 Cf. "Smutok sboru vo Flin Flon, Man. ," Kanadsky Slovak, February 4, 1956, p. 2; Kadas, V.: Brat Jozef Dubos na vecnosti," Kanadsky Slovak, July 23, 1966, p. 2; "Zlata svadba u Rujakov vo Flin Flon, Man.," Kanadsky Slovak, September 25, 1976, p. 6; "Zlata svadba manzelov Stefanik v B. C.," Kanadsky Slovak, October 18, 1975, p. 4. 247 PAA , Letter from Father John Zeman, August 2, 1966. 243 �58 SLOVAKIA-2017 17: Thunder Bay, Ontario The city of Thunder Bay came into existence on January 1, 1970, when Port Arthur and Fort William, were amalgamated. The majority of the Slovaks in this area were from the county of Orava. They started coming in the 1890's and built St. Peter's Slovak Roman 248 Catholic church in 1907. Slovak Lutherans built a church in 1927. 249 Newspapers confirm several Slovak Greek Catholics living here. The first journey after his ordination led Bishop Rusnak to the Cana250 dian West through Fort William. He almost certainly stopped here on his ways to the West, when traveling by car. Conclusion Besides the above mentioned cities, which were depicted on the map of the Eparchy, the Slovak Greek Catholic presence was also documented elsewhere in Canada. Benefactors of the magazine Maria appeared in a larger number of locations. One can observe from the life of the Canadian Slovak Greek Catholics that, to some degree, they were copying the ways of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics, who first settled in the West of Canada, then moved to Quebec, with a hiatus in the interwar period and then focused on Southern Ontario. The settlements in Southern Ontario 25 1 shared similar fates , not only with Ukrainian Catholics, but to a 252 certain degree even more with the Hungarian Greek Catholics. 248 Cf. Kirschbaum , 77-79. Cf. " Smutime za nas imi bratmi," Kanadsky Slowi k, August 27, 1966, p. 3; "Jub ileum Bakovych v Niagara Falls," Kanadsky Slowik, August 15, 1959, p. 2. 25 Cf. Kutka, J., "Historicky dei\ Manitobskych Slovakov, Kanadsky Slowik, November 13, 1965 , p. 2. 251 Cf. Canada 's Ukrainians: Negotiating an Identity, ed. by Lubomyr Luciuk and Stella Hryniuk (Toronto: Uni versity of Toronto Press, 199 1). On the Ukrainian exr,erience around Winnipeg see pages 53 -80. 52 Slovak - Hungarian Greek Cath olic re lati ons in Canada are a topic fo r furth er research . The Slovak Greek Catholics were fo r a time guests of the Hungari an Greek Catholic Church in Hamilton. In Windsor, Father Krafcik served for a time both Greek Catholi c communities - Slovak as we ll as Hungari an. Similar plans were made fo r Welland, whi ch also had both Churches, using the same liturgical rite, the same melodi es (and when it came to English, exactl y the same melodies and texts)! Especially in Ontario, the Hungarian settlements were almost identical to the Slovak ones. Also from the letters of Father Michal Lacko, SJ, we learn that, before the Slovak eparchy was created, he hoped that a bishopric would be created whi ch 249 ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 59 Many people had relatives in other parishes, leading to frequent mutual visits of Slovak Greek Catholics, other than in their their own parishes, especially for parish feast days, or some great historic milestones. Many new friendships were thus started, and also some marriages arranged within the community. Places which really continued to blossom with the Slovak Greek Catholic population were the industrial towns of Eastern Canada. If the industry closed, or shrank, or farming was no longer attractive, the people moved out and then their parishes were closed (Sudbury 253 and Flin Flon). The same thing happened in the mining and steel 254 industry towns of Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey. If a parish were to last, it had to have several zealous parishioners. Where there were only a few, such a parish had only a minimum chance of survival (Kenaston, Winnipeg, New Westminster). In such a case the Slovak Greek Catholics joined (or remained) either with local Slovak Roman Catholics or with Ukrainian Greek Catholics. The age of the parishioners when starting their parishes was also quite crucial, as when they were relatively old, and few in number, their parishes lasted for only a short while (Simcoe - Delhi). What is interesting is how the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada made picnics an important part of parish culture. These gatherings became so popular, that at some time the parishes of Toronto and Hamilton owned their own picnic grounds, while the other parishes used facilities of other groups. In almost all the parishes we note that the most active parishioners were born in Slovakia. The subsequent generations, born in Canada, began to lose interest in maintaining their parishes. This would include, not only Slovak, but Hungarian Greek Catholic parishes as well (PAA). The last pastor of the Slovak church in Welland (before it was closed in 20 I 0) was Father John Girhinyi, himself a Hungarian. For more information on Hungarian life in Canada (and how it resembled the Slovak experience), see Nandor Dreisziger, Church and Society in Hungary and in the Hungarian Diaspora (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016), especially pages 261-4. 253 Cf. https: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List of Canadian muni c ipalities having experienced popula-tion decreases 254 Other existing parishes, which face serious challenges with changing industry in the USA include Braddock, Charleroi, Clarence and Clymer, Pennsylvania. See Byzantine-Ruthenian Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh Directory (Pittsburgh: Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh, I 999). See also. https://en.wikipecl ia.org/wiki/Shrinking- cities in the United States �60 SLOVAKIA-2017 might be attributed to the relatively high percentage of the Slovak immigrants assimilating to English-Canadian culture. Indeed, many times the parents themselves wanted to have their children completely forget about their ancestral homeland . In some cases the parents were not even willing to speak with them in Slovak - so that they would not have an accent, and thus be more successful in the labor market. By 1980, only two Slovak Greek Catholic parishes in Canada were over 50 years old: Lethbridge - which was Ukrainianized, and Montreal, which also had its best years behind it. Sadly, even some of the younger parishes (Kenaston, Simcoe - Delhi, Sudbury) were already closed, or just about to be closed. At the creation of the Slovak Greek Catholic Eparchy in 1980, only parishes in southern Ontario, which were close to each other, and able to benefit from mutual visits, or even exchanges of the clergy, were flourishing. Even this was to change in the following years, as the parish of Montreal was closed shortly after 2010, and the Welland parish was also not able to live through 2010. Recently the Most Reverend John S. Pazak, Bishop of the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada was transferred by 255 the Vatican to Phoenix, Arizona in the USA. Thus, the future of Greek Catholic Slovaks in Canada remains uncertain. 255 Transfer announced on May 7 th 20 I 6. HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE - Other Pontifical Acts: htt s:// ress.vatican.va/co nten t/sa lastam a/en/bo ll ettino/ ubblico/20 I 6/05/07 /16050 7h.html. See also "Bishop John S. Pazak named new Byzantine Eparch in Phoenix, Ariz. ," Slovak Catholic Falcon, June 15, 20 16, p.5. � 28 SLOVAKIA-2017 A SURVEY OF SLOVAK COMMUNITIES OF THE BYZANTINE RITE IN CANADA BEFORE THEY RECEIVED THEIR OWN BISHOPRIC Daniel Cerny When we look at Catholic immigration to the USA and Canada, only one bishopric in those coutries is called by the name of the nations of the so-called Visegrad Group- the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Surprisingly, this ecclesiastical structure is not of the Latin rite. It is the Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodious for Slovaks of the Byzantine Rite in Canada. When created in 1980, a postcard with a map of Slovak Greek Catholic settlements in Canada was published. The aim of this paper is to present a historical overview of these communities until the Eparchy was created. The late professor Michael Lacko, SJ wrote the first history of these par1 ishes. However, this paper adds some new information, making this survey more accurate and updated. Some of the reasons why these people immigrated to Canada were the changes to the immigration laws in the USA enacted by Congress in June of 1921 and also in July of 1924. 2 Our research on Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada shows that the majority were descendenats of immigrants who came to Canada between 1926 and 1939 (when the borders were open), to be joined by the immigration waves of 1945 - 1950 and of 1968. For the first immigrants the church was in many cases the most important part of their life. Here they were not forced to speak a foreign language, it was like being at home - the same rite, dialects, family, friends, sometimes even neighbors, the same customs. However this also could be harmful in the sense that it created an ethnic 1 Cf. Lacko, Michal, "A Brief Survey of the History of the Slovak Catholics of the Byzantine-Slavonic Rite," Slovak Studies, III (1963), 199 - 224. 2 Based on these regulations, after June of 1921 only 14,269 Czechoslovak citizens were allowed to immigrate annually to the USA, and after July 1924, only 3,073. Cf. Bielik, Frantisek- Rakos, Elo: Slovenske vyst'ahovalectvo (Dokumenty II. - 19191939) (Martin: Matica slovenska, 1975), 51, footnote 2. �SLOVAKIA-2017 29 ghetto - which was probably fine for the first generation, but no longer so for the following ones. Only those places which experienced large numbers of new immigrants in later years, or were open to new people from outside entering "their" church, were able to continue to flourish . The history of these communities includes the creation of their own Slovak deanery (1957) and the consecration of their own Slovak 3 bishop ( 1964) in the person of Michael Rusnak, CSsR, who was for many years an Apostolic Visitator of these communities. Only two Slovak Greek Catholics participated on the Vatican II Council. One layman and one clergyman. The layman was the Canadian-Slovak multimilllionaire Stephen B. Roman, who participated from the third session on and bishop Michal Rusnak, who participated in the fourth and final session. The use of the vernacular, which was encouraged by Vatican II, resulted in more and more celebrations in English among the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada (the translations were done by the Greek Catholics in the Ruthenian Church in the USA), but not so in modem Slovak. Thus the Church lost many people from 4 the immigration wave of 1968. 3 Michael Rusnak was born on August 21, 1921 in Beaverdale, Pennsylvania. His mother and siblings returned with him to Slovakia during the Great Depression. He was ordained a Redemptorist priest by Bishop Pau l Gojdic, OSBM in Jul y of 1949. After the forced liquidation of the Greek Catholic church in Czechoslovakia, Rusnak was arrested and placed in the Podolinec monastery, which was turned into a prison camp for the clergy . After fifteen months in vari ous prisons, he escaped and, thanks to his American citizenship, he was allowed to emigrate to America. Ru snak went to Canada in 1951 and started to establish Slovak Greek Catholic parishes. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Bishop of Toronto, the Most Reverend Isidore Borecky, named Father Rusnak dean for Slovak Greek-Catholic parishes belonging to his jurisdiction.in 1957. On October 5, 1964, Pope Paul VI elevated Father Rusnak to Auxiliary Bishop to Isidore Borecky and Apostolic Visitator for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada. The process of creating the Slovak Greek Catholic Church in Canada was completed when Pope John Paul II , in his bull Apostolicae Sedis of October 13, 1980, created the Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodius for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada. At the same time, the pope appointed aux iliary bishop Michael Rusnak as the eparchi al bishop of this Eparchy . Rusnak retired in 1996 and died on January 16, 2003 and is buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Thornhill , Ontario. More about Bishop Michael Rusnak can be found in Cerny, Daniel, Biskup Michael Rusnak, CSsR (Diploma thesis), Presov: Greek Catho lic Theological Faculty of the University of Presov, 2008 . 4 Documents on this topic are in the personal archives of the author (hereafter PAA), and are based on letters from Father Fuga, Father Dubiak and Father Lacko. �30 SLOVAKIA-2017 The author of this article located important documents in various archives, and tiny pieces of the mosaic were found everywhere. Especially valuable were the articles in Maria magazine, which was published from 1955 to 1969 and then from 1976 to I 989; in the second period under the direction of a gifted editor - the late Jozef Suchy. In some cases, we can speak only about individuals, in other cases about a group of dedicated parishioners with only irregular services. The most advanced was the group of individual parishes, which we are about to describe. In 1980 these parishes were incorporated into the newly-created Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodius for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada,5 the only Slovak Greek Catholic eparchy in the world, which served as a beacon to the persecuted and oppressed brothers and sisters in Slovakia under the . yo ke. 6 communist PARISHES 1: Lethbridge, Alberta (1921) The oldest Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Canada was in Lethbridge, Alberta. In 1885 the first Slovaks came to Lethbridge from 7 Shelby, Montana. Among them was the Veselenak family, Greek 8 Catholics from Nizne Slovinky in Spis county. Local Slovaks formed branch 53 of the Canadian Slovak League (CSL) in 1946. The Slovak Greek Catholic parish of Sts. Peter and Paul was founded in 1921 by coal miners, who came mostly from the Spis villages of Ponic, Zavadka and Slovinky. Before the parish was erected, the faithful organized a branch of the American-based Greek Catholic 5 Cf. L ·o sservatore Romano, December 14, 1980, Articles entitled "Erezione di nuova Eparchia; Provvista di Chiesa; Eretta in Canada Eparchi a di rito bizantino per slovacch i", 1-2. 6 For more on the general history of the Slovak Greek Catholi cs in Canada see Cerny, Daniel , "From Unknown People to a Separate Diocese: Slovak Greek Catholics in Canad a," in Mazurkiewicz, Adam, ed ., East Central Europe in Exile Volum e 1: Transatlantic Migrations (Newcastle upon Tyne : Cam bridge Scholars Publishing, 20 13), 253-72. 7 Cf. "75 rokov lethbridzs kej slov. kol6nie," Kanadsk), Slovak, February 18, 1961 , p. 2. 8 Cf. The Bend: A History of West Lethbridge (Lethbridge: West Lethbridge History Book Soc iety, 1982), 218. �SLOVAKIA-2017 31 9 Union. One important document, a photocopy of the parish minutes from the years 1921-193 7 exists, deposited in the library of the Pon10 tifical Oriental Institute in Rome. These minutes were written by 11 Andrew Mihalik. They start with the explanation that the term "fonitika," mentioned in the minutes as a petition to the Ukrainian bishop of Edmonton Nikita Budka, is to be the language used in the church, and that meant the Slovak language. According to these minutes, the first meeting took place on May 30, 1921 in the presence of bishop Budka. The faithful asked to have the celebration of a lit12 urgy every Sunday. During Wold War II the parish counted some 13 200 adults and 300 children. It was founded and owned by lay people (trustees). This was quite common in the ecclesiastical history of the USA and Canada. According to historian Mark Stolarik, this system consisted of elected members of the parish (kuratori), who collected tithes once a year from all the parishioners. A priest was paid from this treasury and the faithful had the right to terminate their 14 contract with him. Before the blessing of the church, the trustees 15 negotiated with the bishop for a resident priest. The parish had 16 a choir, the first Slovak Greek Catholic Choir in Canada. During the first years of its existence, the pastors were predominately Ukrainian, with the exception of Father Nicholas Szilagy, who came from Subcarpathia. In 1948 Ukrainians established their own parish in Lethbridge, but Ukrainian priests continued to serve Sts. Peter and Paul. However a great joy for the Slovak parish was the 1953 or- 9 PAA, e-mail fro m Father David Petras, November 5, 2010. Parafialna zapisnica Sv. toho Petra i Pavla Greko Katolickoho Viznania.(further on only PIO). 11 In 2011 the author of thi s article contacted the son of the late Andrew Mihalik. The original of the minutes are now neither in the parish archive, nor among the f:osses ions of the Mihalik family. 2 Cf. PIO, 2. 13 PAA, Quinquennial report for Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada, 1973-1978 (November 151, 1978), 2. 14 Cf. Stolarik, M. Mark, " Slovak Immigrants Co me to Terms with Religious Diversity in North America," The Catholic Historical Review, XCVI , No . I (January, 20 I 0), 69. 15 Cf. PIO, 36. 16 Cf. PIO, 25 ; 62. 10 �32 SLOVAKJA-2017 17 daination of one of their own, Father Richard Zuback, who later 18 served also as their pastor. Some of the parishioners appeared 19 among the benefactors of Maria magazine. The first pastoral visit of Bishop Rusnak took place on June 27, 1965 , the parish 's feast day. Many people came to the celebration from as far away as British Columbia. In his homily, Bishop Rusnak said the following: "Do not correct the work of God. If God created you as Greek Catholics, stay firm , remain and work in this province. Do not run away from this rite. Do not leave behind your church and 20 rite. " In the 1960's Father John Zeman, OSB informed Bishop Rusnak about the local Slovak Greek Catholics, asking for a Slovak priest, as the young people were without a priest of their own and 1 ashamed of being Slovaks.2 Father Zeman volunteered to go to the 22 parish . This never happened . In 1967 Bishop Michael expressed his desire to send Father Zorvan, from Europe, to be the pastor of the 23 parish. In I 970's the parish was noted in his calendar several times. 24 Father Lacko, SJ visited the parish in August 1973. When the enthronement of Bishop Rusnak was organized in 1981, the Leth bridge pastor refused to participate, claiming to have only nineteen Slovak 25 families. On the contrary, in 1982, Bishop Rusnak informed the Papal Pro-Nuncio that there were forty-five Slovak families in Leth26 bridge. The parish was owned by the trustees almost for a record time. The official incorporation into the Ukrainian church happened 27 on ly after a plebiscite within the parish in the early 2000's. The 17 "Prve slov. gr. katol primicie v Lethbridge, Alta," Kanadsky Slovak, June 20, 1953, p. 2. The author is grateful for this information to Mark Stolarik. 18 Cf. " Zpravy," Maria, 5/1955 Gui), I 0. 19 Cf. Maria, 6-7/ 1964, third page of the cover; I 2/ 1966, third page of the cover. 20 "Cestujeme s p. biskupom ," Maria , 9-10/ 1965, 8. 21 Cf. PAA, Letter of Father John Zeman, C hri stmas 1964. Father John , who was born in Kenaston , Saskatchewan, joined th e Slovak Benedictine Order in Cleveland, Ohio, but always wished to return to Canada. 22 Cf. PAA, Letter of Father John Zeman, sen t on July 22 , 1966 . 23 Cf. PAA , Letter of Bi shop Michael of May 15, 1967. 24 Cf. PAA , Postcard "Srdecny pozdrav od Ticheho oceanu," Sent from San Francisco, July 20, 1973 . 25 Cf. PAA , Motiuk, D. Report on the Canonical status of Saint Peter and Paul Catholic Church. l ethbridge. Alberta. 26 27 Cf. PA A, Letter of Bishop Michael to the Pro- uncio, sent October 28, 1982. Archive of the Eparchy of Sts. Cyri l and Methodius, folder Lethbridge. �33 SLOVAKIA-2017 parish is thus nowadays Ukrainian, but its contribution to the history and culture of the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada, especially in the first half of the 20 th century, is significant. 2: Montreal, Quebec (1930) 28 Many Slovaks settled in Montreal in the l 920's, forming branch 2 of the CSL in 1932. After Western Canada, Montreal became the second center of Slovak settlement in Canada. Slovaks in Montreal first established a Roman Catholic parish in 1928 and a 29 Lutheran one in 1929. The Slovak Greek Catholics joined several fraternal groups, such as the Greek Catholic Union. At one of the meetings of branch 959 of the Union, on October 18, 1930, discussions started and eventually led to the founding of the Slovak Greek 30 Catholic parish. The volunteers created a list of fifty families and 31 many individuals who would join the parish. Ukrainian Bishop Ladyka, visiting Montreal on November 21, 1930, welcomed the delegates and promised to do everything possible "in order to fulfill the request of this God-fearing people, who are organizing themselves in this foreign world, not forgetting God, and are willing to do such a 32 beautiful, but difficult task." The first liturgy was celebrated by Father Michal Gregorejchuk, OSBM on Sunday, December 7, 33 1930. Three days later a meeting was held and a parish council was elected. December I 0, 1930 is considered the date of the creation of 34 the parish. From the very beginning the parish was organized by Slovaks not only from Slovakia, but from Hungary, Romania or 35 elsewhere. A photo from 1931 testifies to the presence of a Slovak 36 school. In 1931 a "Membership Book" was published. This book, 28 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia - Nanebevstupenia Pana v Montreale - 50'h anniversary Slovak Catholic (E. R.) parish of Ascension Montreal (Montreal: Parish of the Ascension, 1980), 34. 29 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady, 34. 3 Cf. PAA , Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, I. 31 PAA , Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 3-4. 32 PAA Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 2. 33 Cf. PAA , Zapisn ica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 2. 34 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 30; 34. 35 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr kat. osady Voznesenia, 24. 36 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 23. ° �34 SLOVAKIA-2017 together with the first financial records, are an authoritative example 37 of the language of the first immigrants. The Basilian fathers took care of the parish until the arrival of 38 Father John Hawryluk in 1949. When the parish was created it was named the GR. KFT. RUSSKA CERKOV (Greek Catholic Russian Church). The change of name was moti vated by a schismatic movement and the rise of national awareness among the faithful. The name Slovak Gr. Cath. Church was used for the first time on October 39 15, 1935 . A youth orchestra nicely represented the parish. In 193 7 the parishioners started to use the chapel in the Notre Dame de Lourdes church as their place of worship until November, 1959. In 1938 the parish mission was granted permission to keep their own 40 parish records and thus gained greater internal autonomy. In these years the pari sh was still only a mission. The years following WW II brought a radical change into the lives of the Slovak Greek Catholics . With the arrival of thousands of Ukrainian refugees to Canada, the Ukrainian Exarchate, later the Eparchy of Toronto and all Eastern Canada, was founded. Its first bishop was Isidore Borecky. On October 10, 1949, Bishop Borecky named Father John Hawryluk as the pastor of the Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Montreal. On December 20, 1949 the former mis41 sion was established as an independent parish. The presence of young people at the services was really appreciated as the youth was 42 "the real core of the new choir of our church." The choir even broadcast by radio to Slovakia. The people dreamt about getting a Slovak priest: 37 Original scans were published in 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 44. 38 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 37. And also : Souvenir book of the dedication of the Slovak Catholic E. R. Church of Ascension, Montreal, Jun e JO, 1962 - Pamiitnci kniha archijerejskeho blahoslovenia slovenskej katolickej V 0. cerkvi Voznesenia, Montreal, JO. juna 1962 (Montreal: Pari sh of the Ascension, 1962), 17-18 . 39 Cf. PAA , Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 32. 4 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 35; 37-39. 41 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 3 1; 40. 42 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 40. ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 35 We firmly believe that, in a short time a priest of Slovak ethnicity wi ll be assigned to our parish and thus we will fulfill our long-time dream .... The faithfu l understands the announced Word of God more easily . .. There are obstacles in foreign objections and intentions that prevent us from achieving this goal of ours . .. "We do not long for something foreign, we just want to live our own life, but on the other hand we do not accept anyone trying to make fools of us, that we are Rusnaks or something similar, because those days are gone ... 43 In 1956 the trustees purchased properties at the comer of Legen45 44 dre and Clark streets, and erected a wooden cross . The construction of the new church started in Apri l and the basement was finished 46 in November of I 959 . Parishioners came in the evenings, and on their days off, to work on the construction of the church. The first liturgy in the hall in the basement was celebrated on November 29, 47 1959. The cornerstone was blessed by Bishop Borecky on October 48 2, 1960, and the construction was completed on December 17, 49 1961. An icon of Our Lady of Klokofov was displayed in the 50 church . The solemn blessing of the new church by Bishop Borecky 51 had to wait until June I 0, 1962. The main contractor was the parishioner, Mr. Andrej Midlick, originally from Ponic in Spis county. He even donated to the new church the main altar with a baldachino. The newly-ordained Bishop Rusnak came to visit his flock in 52 Montreal for the first time in May of 1965. Bishop Rusnak blessed 43 "Sv. misie pre gr.-kat. Slovakov v Montreali ," Kanadsky Slowik, Apri l 3, 1954, ff· 5, 8. Cf. PAA , Zapisnica Slovenskej Greko Katol'ickej Osadi Voznesefza Vo Montreale Jan Ihnat zapisnik Na rok 1956, 4-5. 45 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 32. The wooden cross still stands in 201 6. 46 Cf. Souvenir book, 34. 47 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 36. 48 Cf. "Z nasich fa rnosti," Maria , 9-10/1960, 226. 49 Souvenir book, 28 . so Cf. "Z nas ich farnosti," Maria, 3/ 1962, 67. 51 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 42. 52 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 42. �36 SLOVAKIA-2017 the altar on March 6, 1966. From Rome he brought some relics of Saint Cyril to be placed into the altar. The parish in Montreal thus became the first one in the North America to celebrate the liturgy on 53 the relics of this great saint. Bishop Rusnak expressed his desire that the Ascension Church would become "a site of pilgrimages in honor of Saint Cyril, the apostle of the Slovaks and Slavs in general. ,,54 • On October 15, 1966, Father Andrew Sinai' was named pastor. 55 For the first time in its history, the parish had its own Slovak priest. Father Sinai' served until 2006. The beginnings were very hard for Father Sinai', since the parish had a huge mortgage. The trustees gave their approval for reading of the Gospel in English and in Slovak to meet the needs of the younger generation, in order to bring them back to the church. From June 1, 1971 Slovak liturgies were cele56 brated in the parish. The golden jubilee was celebrated on Sunday, 57 September 28, 1980, with Bishop Rusnak present. More than twenty of the original founders of the parish survived for this celebration. Around 500 people attended the banquet. However, due to the death of Father Sinai in 2007 and to dwindling numbers, the Montreal parish was closed in 2010. 3: Windsor, Ontario (1950) The automobile industry attracted many Slovaks to the city of Windsor. So did some farms on the outskirts of town. In 1951 the 58 third largest group of Slovaks in Canada lived here. Slovak Lutherans in Windsor organized a parish in 1928, while the Slovak Greek Catholics had to wait until after WW II. Andrew Balint, acting as the secretary of a newly-formed parish committee, wrote to Bishop 59 Borecky on July 29, 1950. He asked for the bishop's permission to 53 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 42. Tomko, Vladimir, " Posviacka noveho hi. oltara v Montreale," Maria, 4-5/ 1966, 56. 55 PAA, Letter sent on October 4, 1966. 56 Cf. PAA, Zapisnica Slovenskej Greko Katol'ickej Osadi Vozneseiia Vo Montreale Jan Ihnat zapisnik Na rok 1956, 48. 57 Cf. "Oslava 50 rocneho jubilea nasej farnosti v Montreale," Maria , 12/1980, 7-8. 58 Cf. Kirschbaum, 137. 59 PAA , Letter from Jul y 29, 1950. 54 �SLOVAKIA-2017 37 establish a new parish. The name chosen was "St. Michael the Archangel Slovak and Subcarpathian Greek Catholic Parish in Windsor, 60 ON." The letter ended with the desire of the congregation to "soon 61 invite (the bishop) to the Slovak parish." Borecky agreed with the 62 organization of a Slovak parish. Father Andrew Krafcik also played a role in its establishment. Until his arrival in Windsor, the 63 parish was administered by Father Mina. The blessing of the cor64 nerstone took place on June 13 , 1954. The rectory, hall and the 65 church were blessed by Bishop Borecky on November 7, 1954. 66 Work with the youth led to establishing the parish choir. In 1956 67 Father George Perejda, CSsR, was ordained from the parish. From November of 1957 to February of 1958 the parish was served by Fa68 ther Fetsco. In 1958 a newly-ordained Slovak Greek Catholic priest, Anthony Zouzal, was appointed as the pastor of Windsor. His tenure could be 69 characterized as the "golden age" of the parish. Collaboration with the Byzantine Catholics on the American side of the border was intensified. 7° Thanks to many cantors, the parish was famous for its singing of Vespers and Liturgies. The popularity of Father Zouzal was so great that on his birthday the parishioners gave him a gift - a 71 car. In his letter to the chancery, dated August 1966, Father Zouzal suggested building a parish school, and even a new name for the parish: the Greek Catholic Parish of St. John - Michael, in order to 60 Sv. Micha/a Archandela Slov. a Podkrp.Gr.kt.paraphija vo Windsor Ont. PAA , Letter from July 29, 1950. 61 "Scoby mi Vas poklikali skoro na nasu Slovensku paraphiju. " PAA , Letter from Jul y 29, 1950. 62 27. Lipna /950. PAA , Letter of Bishop Isidore from July 27, 1950. 63 Cf. "S lovenski greckokatolici v Ontariu," Kanadsky Slowik, September 4, 1954, p. 5. 64 Cf. "Cirkevna slavnost' vo Windsore, Ont.", Kanadsky Slowik, June 12, 1954, p. 8. 65 See the photo in Maria, I /1955 (March), 15. 66 Cf. "Zo zivota nasich farnosti ," Maria , 3/ 195 5 (June), I 6. 67 Cf. "Zpravy," Maria, 6/ 1956, 14. 68 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria , 3-4/ 1965, 15 . 69 Cf. "Zpravy z domova a z katolickeho sveta," Maria, 12/ 1958, 15-16. 7 Cf. " Den modlitieb vo Windsore," Kanadsky Slovak, September 19, 1959, p. 2; "Z nasich farnosti," Maria , I 2/ 1960, 282. 71 Cf. "Z nasich osad," Maria, 7-8/ 1960, 189. ° �38 SLOVAKIA-2017 72 avoid confusion within the city. The school project was never im73 plemented . In 1976 Father Zouzal was named an archpriest. However, his tenure was cut short with his premature death on July 14, 74 1976. An eyewitness remembers Bishop Borecky coming to the funeral and placing his own pectoral cross on the body in the coffin. Some 150 priests, as well as more than 1,500 laypeople, participated 75 in the funeral procession. In the following years the parish was served by Father Gregory Novak, CSsR, by Father James Lynch in 76 1978, and by Father Andrew Sipek in 1979. In 1980 some 400 77 people attended an anniversary banquet. The parish continues to exist to this day. 4: Toronto, Ontario (1951) Slovak settlement in Toronto is already mentioned towards the 78 end of the 19 th century, but large numbers came only after 1923. Many Slovak Greek Catholics in Toronto belonged to branch 7 of the CSL (1937). During their meetings the opportunity to establish an independent Slovak Greek Catholic parish was discussed. Until that time, Slovak Greek Catholics mostly attended the Slovak Roman Catholic parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius (1934), where they comprised a third, or maybe even half of the members . As a result, many people regarded very negatively attempts to establish another parish.79 The beginnings of the Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Toronto 80 are connected with a Rusyn priest, Father Louis Mina. In the archives of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Toronto is a list of seventy-seven names of those who volunteered to join a "S lovak Greek Catholic 72 PA A, Letter of Father Zouzal to Bishop Isidore from August 12, 1966. Cf. "Vy znamenani e o. Antona Zouzala," Maria, 5/ 1976, I 0. 74 "Zomrel o. Anton Zouzal ," Maria, 9/ 1976, 11. 75 PAA , Comm uni cation with Mr. W. Zouzal , recorded on June 5, 20 11. 76 Cf. "Novy paroch vo Windsore," Maria, 12/ 1979, 7. 77 Cf. "Odpust" in Windsor, Maria, 12/ 1980, 9. 78 Cf. Kirschbaum , 132-5. 79 Mikula, Jan, " Hrst' rozpomienok na t'azke zaciatky," Kanadsky Slovak, March 28, 1981, p. 8. 8 Cf. "S lovenski greckokatolici v Ontariu," Kanadsky Slovak, September 4, 1954, p. 5. 73 ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 39 81 parish, if such were created." The parish was founded on October 82 29, 1951 as the Slovak Greek - Catholic Church of the Nativity of the B. V. Mary. A different date is indicated by a document dated November 29, 1951 based on a request for the founding of the parish, written and submitted in the name of the faithful from the Eparchies of Presov and Mukacevo, as well as the Apostolic Administra83 tion in Miskolc, Hungary by Father Mina. The term Slovak was of much wider sense than nowadays and it included almost all the Greek Catholic faithful coming from the Union of Uzhorod. The lit84 urgy was celebrated in the Ukrainian Church on Bathurst Street. On April I , 1952, Father Rusnak was named the new pastor of the church. The congregation gathered first on Bathurst Street, then moved to the Holy Eucharist church on King Street, where they worshiped until 1959, when their own church on Shaw Street was 85 blessed. The plans for the new Slovak Greek Catholic church in Toronto were approved on June 9, 1953 . The church was supposed to 86 be built at the comer of Roblock Avenue and Leeds, however this 87 attempt failed. The success of parish picnics led to the purchase of 89 St. Mary's Park. 88 The parish also acquired one part of a cemetery. However, none of these investments lasted. Towards the end of 1956 90 a choir was organized in the parish. A long-time cantor was Mr. 91 Joseph Kampu. At the end of 1959 the parish acquired a B' nai Is92 rael congregation synagogue, located at 257 Shaw Street. On De93 cember 27, 1959 Bishop Borecky blessed it as a church. Some 600 81 PAA, Copy of the signature li st. Cf. "25. vyroc ie nasej famost i," Maria, 9/ 1976, I 0. Jozef Suchy gives the date of October 2 1. 83 PAA, Letter from 28. XI. 1951. 84 Cf. Vasko, Andrej , "S lovenskf Grecko-katolfci," Kanadsky Slovak, October 11 , 1952, p. 2. 85 Cf. Ru snak, Michal , "Stvrt'storocie nasho rastu," Maria , 1/ 1980, 11. 86 Cf. Daily commercial news and building records, June 9 1953, I. 87 Cf. Ru snak, Michal , "Stvrt'storocie nasho rastu," Maria , 1/ 1980, 11 . 88 Cf. Maria, 5/ 1963 , third page of the cover. 89 Maria , 2/1963 , 16. 90 Cf. "Z nasich farnosti," Maria, 9-10/1956, 22. 91 Cf. Maria, 4/1963, 16. 92 Cf. "Time for rejoicing - Celebrate Opening of New Slovak Church," Toronto Daily Star, October 11 , 1959, p. 57 . 93 Cf. " Pozvanka na posviacku," Kanadsky Slovak, Christmas 1959, p. 4. 82 �40 SLOVAKIA-2017 94 people from near and far attended. The first English liturgy in the 95 parish was celebrated on March 22, 1964. The nomination of Father Rusnak as the Auxiliary Bishop of the Toronto Eparchy and the Apostolic Visitator for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada surely filled his parishioners with joy, for the church with its rectory became the official seat of the new bishop. Father John Fetsco became its new pastor. In 1972 Father John Pazak, CSsR, later the second bishop of the Slovak Eparchy, was 96 ordained a deacon in the parish. In 1974 Father Joseph Krafcik, SJ 97 helped out. The "odpust" celebration of 197 5 was highlighted by the priestly ordinations of three married deacons, at that time a rare 98 ordination in the Catholic world. On May 31, 1976, a Divine Litur99 gy was celebrated for the first time in Slovak. The arrival of Father Richard Boyle, ordained in the parish in 1978, brought new life to 100 the parish. This consisted not only of pilgrimages he organized, but all the parish activities, where he, together with a group of volun0 teers, cared for children as well as adults. ' ' He even installed a provisional iconostasis. On July 17, 1980, the first Slovak Greek Catholic Day in Bratislava Park near Hamilton took place, in an attempt to unite all the Slovak Greek Catholic parishes at a picnic. The "odpust" in 1980 was prepared jointly by all the parishes, and some 500 102 people attended. When the Slovak Eparchy was created, the 94 Cf. "Z nasich osad," Maria, 1-2/ 1960, 39. Cf. "Kronika," Maria , 3-411964, 16. 96 "Najdostojnej si o. Biskup Jan Pazak, C.Ss.R." in "Banquet in honour of His Excellency Most Reverend John S. Pazak, C.Ss.R." in The episcopal ordination and enthronement of the Most Reverend John S. Pazak, C.Ss. R., second Bishop of the Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius for Byzantine Slovaks in Canada (Toronto: E;archy of Saints Cyril and Methodius, 2000). 9 Cf. PAA , Letter Vel'adostojny a mily Vlady ko! Sent from Rome, Jul y 3, 1974. 98 The whole story is described in the following: Pospishil , Victor, "The Toronto Tempest," in Compulsory celibacy fo r the Eastern Catholics in the Americas (Toronto: Ukrainian Catholic Women's League, 1977). 99 Cf. " Slovenska liturgia v Toronte," Maria, 7-8/ 1976, 13-14. 100 To Quebec and its sanctuaries, to the Holy Land or pilgrimages to Uniontown, PA. 101 Cf. Boy le, Richard, "First solemn reception of Holy Communion in Toronto," Maria , 9/ 1979, 11. 102 Cf. Boyle, Richard, "Alive and well on Shaw Street in Toronto," Maria , 11 / 1980, 8-9. 95 �SLOVAKIA-2017 41 church on Shaw Street became its cathedral. A bishop's throne was 103 installed in the cathedral on the orders of Bishop Rusnak. As time passed many parishioners from downtown Toronto (and from the vicinity of the church) moved to other areas of town. It would have been fitting to reach out to these people, especially in the western areas of the Greater Toronto Area. 5: Oshawa, Ontario (1952) Slovak settlement in Oshawa started in the l 920's and is closely related to the development of the automobile industry in the area. After their arrival, the Greek Catholic Slovaks started to attend ser104 vices in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church of Saint George. In 1951 an announcement was placed in Kanadsky Slovak asking people in the Oshawa region who were interested in establishing a Slo105 vak Greek Catholic church to gather for a meeting. Thanks to Mr. 106 Andrew Vasko, the first meeting took place in January of 1952. The chairman asked all those present to sign a document confirming their desire to establish a Slovak Greek Catholic Society. Some fifty signatures were collected. At this meeting a parish committee was elected and the possibility of celebrating the Greek Catholic services 107 in the Slovak Hall was discussed. The first pastor of the community was the Reverend Michael Rusnak. On July 13 , 1952 the very first Slovak Greek Catholic Day in Oshawa was organized with a field 108 liturgy. On January 11 , 1953, the potential parishioners sent a request to Bishop Borecky for a "Slovak Greek Catholic priest, who would be able to have divine services in Oshawa every other Sunday 103 PAA , Folder: Boyle, Letter of Bishop Michael , February 12, 1981. Cf. "Z peknej slovenskej svadby v Oshawe," Kanadsky Slovak, August I 0, 1950, p. 7; "SI. M. Korcinska a p. M. Karas v putach manzelstva," Kanadsky Slovak, October 19, 1950, p. 6. 105 Cf. "S lovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dejin famosti) ," Kanadsky Slovak, AJril 26, 1958, p. 3. 1 Cf. PAA , Lescisin, E. & C.: Slovenska greckokatolicka farnost Ochrany Presvdtej Bohorodicky Oshawa, Ontario, Canada - Slovak Greek Catholic Church of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. November 2001, not for sale description of the parish history, 5. 107 Cf. "S lovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dejin farnosti) ," Kanadsky Slovak, April 26, 1958, p. 3. 108 Cf. Ibid. 104 �42 SLOVAKJA-2017 • a mont h ." 109 Some th.irty SI ova k s s1gne • d th e petition. • • 11 0 A or twice mission was established in February of 1953 . The Divine Liturgy was celebrated every other Sunday of the month in the Slovak Hall 111 and the solemn opening ofthe mission occurred on May 10, 1953. The liturgies were celebrated in the morning in Church Slavonic, but 11 2 always with a Slovak sermon. A property was purchased in 1953 11 3 right next to the Slovak Hall on Ritson Road. Really encouraging was the fact that the building process was started by only thirty-eight 114 families. Of great help was a six month-long strike by the United Auto Workers (UAW) labor union in the local General Motors Com11 5 pany, thus providing a ready labor force . The blessing of the cor11 6 nerstone occurred on July 31 , 1955 . The fini shed church was 117 blessed by Bishop Borecky on November 2, I 955 . Attendance was astounding, as according to one chronicler: "From some 800 mouths resounded the hierarchical hymn: " Vose) jesi Archijere11 8 1I 9 ju ..." The parish also offered religious education for the youth. 12 In the late 1950' s a Slovak choir also existed in Oshawa. From October of 1960 until September of 1963 , the parish was adminis12 1 tered by Father John Fetsco, CSsR. He was succeeded by Father 122 Andrew Krafcik. The first official visit of Bishop Rusnak to the 123 parish in Oshawa was on Sunday, May 2, I 965 . Father Michael ° 109 PAA , Without any signature. PAA , Without any signature. 11 1 Cf. " Slovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dej in fa rnosti )," Kanadsky Slovak, April 26, 1958, p. 3. 11 2 C f. " Prvy slovensky grec ko-katolicky odpust," Kanadsky Slovak, November 14, 1953 , p. 2. 11 3 Cf. "S lovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dejin farn osti)," Kanadsky Slovak, April 26, 1958, p. 3. 11 " Vzor jedn oty a spoluprace," Maria, 5/ 1957, 14. 115 Cf. Lescisin, 6. 11 6 Cf. "Oznamuj eme .. .," Mar ia, 5/ 1955 (Jul y), 15. 11 7 Cf. Oznamuj eme .. .," Maria , 7/ 1955 (September), 14-1 5. 118 Cf. " Posvateni e novej slovenskej gr.-kat cerkvi v Os hawe," Maria , 8/ 1955 (October), 15 119 Cf. Maria , 3/ 1957, photo on th e first page of th e cover. 120 "Vas kovci v Os hawe vydava li dceru," Kanadsky Slovak, January 9, 1960, p. 2. 121 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria , 3-4/ 1965 , 15. 122 Cf. Maria, 2/ 1963 , 16. 123 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Bi skupa M. Ru snaka," Maria, 3-4/ 1965, 16. 11 0 �SLOVAKIA-2017 43 Durisin from Slovakia served the parish in 1966. After him came 124 Father Stephen Adamiak. The need for a resident priest became urgent among the parishioners towards the end of 1960 's: " If we do not have a resident priest, ... then we and even more our children will 125 be in danger regarding our faith and keeping our pari sh." After dedicated efforts of the parishioners, a new rectory was blessed in 126 May of 1969. In 1970 Father Adamiak was replaced by Father Joseph Dubiak. Thanks to Father Dubiak the modem Slovak lan127 guage was introduced into the liturgy. Father Dubiak left the parish in 197 1, and his successor became Father Adolph Vateha, 128 CSsR. In 1972 a railroad overpass was built nearby, which changed the church surroundings. Later the parish was given some 129 compensation by the City of Oshawa. In later years, mostly Toronto priests served in the Oshawa parish. The parish in Oshawa was never large, but had a strong sense of community. According to the 200 I booklet about the pari sh, a majority of the parisioners were 130 from the former historic counties of Zemplin and Ugoca. The parish is still alive, being served by the Reverend Stephen Williams, an English-speaking convert to th e Byzantine-Slovak rite. 6: Hamilton, Ontario (1952) The first Slovaks arrived in the steel city of Hamilton, Ontario, 131 in the 1920's. They founded their own Roman Catholic Church in January of 1945 . Half of the fo unding families were Greek Catholics, and due to this fact the parish was named Sts. Cyril and Methodi132 us. Several Slovak Greek Catholic families also attended the local 133 Ukrainian church and some even the Polish church. The key mo124 Cf. "Z nasich osad - Oshawa," Maria , 9- I 0/ 1967, 17- I 8. PAA , Letter fro m Jul y 28, 1967. 126 Cf. "V izi tac ie preosv. o. biskupa Michala Rusnaka, CSsR," Maria , 5-6/ 1969, 5. 127 PAA , Letter of Father Joseph to Father Lacko, September 17, I 971. 128 PAA , Confirmation of the appointment as a pastor in the letter of Bi shop Isidore fro m September 20, 1973. 129 Cf. Lesc isin, 11 . 13 Cf. Lescisin, 13 . 13 1 Cf. Kirschbaum , 135-7. 132 Sts. Cyril and Methodius parish - History . htt ://www.s lovakchurch .com/historyh tm ( 11.5 .20 12 15 :00). b J Cf. "Nas rozhovor," Maria , 4/1 979, 9. 125 ° �44 SLOVAKIA-2017 ment for the founding of the Greek Catholic parish was a meeting on October 26, 1952 in the house of Mr. Michael Mati. During this meeting a deci sion was made to establish the parish of Sts . Peter and 134 Paul. The first liturgy was celebrated on December 14, 1952 in the 135 local Ukrainian church. Fathers Michael Rusnak and Louis Mina 136 took turns serving the community. The first anniversary of the mission was celebrated in the Hungarian church on December 13, 1953 , with Bishop Borecky attending, and everyone "was delighted 137 to hear him deliver a short sermon in Slovak. " 138 In 1954 Father Frantisek Fuga came to Hamilton from Rome. The parish changed its name due to a request by the Roman Catholic bishop of Hamilton, who already had in his diocese a parish dedicated to Sts. Peter and Paul. Ukrainian Bishop Isidore Borecky, who was in charge of Slovak Greek Catholics in Ontario, changed the name of the parish to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 139 October 20, 1954. In a letter from the Oriental Congregation in Rome, Cardinal Coussa stated: "The veneration of the Mother of God of Klokocov will assure its success among Slovak Greek Catho40 lics." 1 A copy of the Klokocov icon was painted in the church thanks to the efforts of Father Lacko in 1955, and it was blessed by 14 1 the Pope himself. Also, some Slovenians came annualy in pil. h' . gnmages to t 1s icon. 142 The cornerstone of the sanctuary was blessed on October 20, 143 144 1957 . Inside was al so a bit of soil from Klokocov in Slovakia. The facade with three mountain peaks and a double cross (the Slovak 134 Cf. Yinansky, J. (F . Fuga), "Gr. K. Osada, Hamilton," Kalendar KSL 1977 (Toronto), 84. 135 Cf. " 25 . vyrocie nas ich farn osti," Maria, I 0/ 1977, 11. 136 Cf. Eli as, Jan, "Otec Fuga IO rokov v Hamiltone," Maria , 5/ 1964, 9. 137 Cf. " Po Gr.-kato lickej oslave v Hamiltone," Kanadsky Slovak, Fe bruary 20, 1954, p. 2. 138 "Zo zivota nas ich fa rnosti," Maria, 3/ 195 5 (May), 15. 139 Cf. " Hist6ri a odpustov Panny Marie Klokocovskej v Hamiltonskej svatyni ," Maria, 7-8/ 1965, 3. 14 Fuga, Franti sek, " Rozpomienka na prvy odpu st," Maria , 7-8/ 1965 , I 0. 14 1 Cf. " lkona kl okocovskej Matky Bozej v Hamiltone," Maria, 8/ 1958, 5-7. 142 Cf. " Hor' sa na putnicky odpust Panny Marie Klokococskej do Hamiltonu," Maria , 7-8/ 1969, 3. 143 Cf. Maria, 10/ 1957 , last page of the cover. 144 Cf. " Dej inn y den," Ma ria , 11 / 1957 , 11. ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 45 national emblem) was painted by the noted Slovak artist Jozef 145 Cincik. Father Fuga was a skilled organizer, and the Hamilton 146 sanctuary was nicely decorated during his tenure. Fuga also supported the struggle for Slovak independence and created the modem Slovak flag (horizontal white, blue and red stripes with the Slovak emblem superimposed upon it!" In 197 4 he became the director of 47 the Matica Slovenska Abroad. Hamilton was also one of the first Greek Catholic parishes to have the Sunday readings done in modem Slovak. The church was dedicated on June 9, 1963, as part of the local Cyrillo-Methodian celebrations (the 1100 th anniversary of the 148 arrival of the Apostles of the Slavs on Slovak territory). In those days, the number of the faithful in Hamilton increased to almost 149 500. The first visit of Bishop Rusnak to Hamilton after his episco150 pal ordination took place on May 23 , 1965. At the beginning of 1975 Father Fuga became seriously ill. This was the price he paid for his printing apostolate, using lead ink. Some parishioners said to him: "Monsignor, please do not die! It would be better for us if the sanctuary burned to the ground, because you could build another one, but if you die, we will lose it in a few 151 years! " Father Fuga lived for another ten years. On October 3, 152 1975 a Slovak school opened in the parish. The "odpust" of 1976 included a blessing of the interior iconography, created by Igor 153 Suchacev, and the ceremony of presenting the miter to Monsignor Fuga. Suchacev painted Slovak saints in the apse, with their scrolls 145 PAA, Letter from Father Fuga to Father Lacko, January 31, 1975. Cf. "Z nasich osad - Hamilton," Maria, 3-4, 1968, 18-20; fourth page of the cover; "Odpust a cirkevne slavnosti v Hamiltone," Kanadsky Slovak, August 9, 1975, p. 5; "Vyrocity odpust a strieborne jubileum pastoracie Mons. Fr. Fugu v Hamiltone," Kanadsky Slovak, September 8, 1979, p. 3. 147 Cf. Elias, Jan, "Zahranicna MS ma protektora," Kanadsky Slovak, July 6, 1974, P,·48 5. Cf. "Kronika," Maria , 4/ 1963, 16. 149 Cf. Lacko, Michal, " Posviacka dvoch novych s lovenskyc h kostolov v Kanade," Kanadsky Slovak, June 29, 1963 , p. 5. 15 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Biskupa M. Rusnaka," Maria, 3-4/ 1965, 16. 151 "Nas rozhovor," Maria , 4/ 1979, 9. 152 Cf. "Skola slovenciny osady P. M. Klokocovskej , Kanadsky Slovak, October 18, 1975 , p. 5. 153 Born in Yugoslavia to Russian refugees . One of his works was the decoration of the throne in Ethiopia. 146 ° �46 SLOVAKIA-2017 written in Slovak. The church also has depictions of the blessed Sister Miriam T. Demjanovic and President Joseph Tiso. The beauty of the church was also enhanced by the iconostasis, being the only Slo154 vak church in Canada to have a permanent one. The parish exists to this day, although the glory days of Father Fuga are gone. 7: Welland, Ontario (1953) The first Slovaks settled in the Niagara peninsula around 1920; eventually there were some 3,000. Local branches of the CSL had these numbers : 23 in Welland (1940), 31 in St. Catharines (1942), 3 7 155 in Niagara Falls (1943) and 64 in Port Colborne ( 1952). A majority of the Slovak Greek Catholics in Welland and nearby places came to Canada in the last years prior to WW II, mostly from Zemplin County. Only after WW II, when new priests arrived, did the organization of spiritual life develop here. On November 22, 1953 a meeting was held in Welland for all those interested in establishing a Slovak Greek Catholic parish under the patronage of the Holy Spirit. The meeting was organized by Father Vincent Danco, SJ. Some twenty-eight members of the future parish appeared. The faithful wished to have the liturgy celebrated twice a month and to temporarily use the Gregorian calendar. They also produced a list of fifty-five people who wished to belong to the 156 parish. Bishop Borecky promised in his letter of December I 9, 157 1953 to send a Decree for the creation of this parish. The first pastor of the parish was Father Danco, whose name was inscribed with gold letters into the history of the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada. On August 1, 1954, the Reverend Nicholas Chanat became the pastor of the Hol y Ghost parish in Welland and the "mission stations 158 of the Niagara Peninsula districts." The solemn groundbreaking 154 Cf. " Yysoka cirkevna hodnost' Mons. F. Fugovi," Kanadsky Slovak, September 4, 1976, pp . 1-2. 155 Cf. "S lovaci a ich organi zacia v dejinach oblasti N iagara," Kanadsky Slovak, January 31 , 198 1, p.5. 156 PAA , without a signature. 157 PAA , without a signature. 158 PAA, Letter from Bishop Borecky, without a signature. �47 SLOVAKIA-2017 159 took place on July 3, 1955 , and on May 20, 1956 the new church160 hall was blessed. However, the Reverend Chanat died in the morn161 ing of March 17, 1957 at the age of30. This was so devastating that the hall became a permanent church, as there was never any fur162 ther building activity. Father Mina succeeded him ; after him the 164 163 parish was served by Fathers Fetsco, Kra:fcik, Shogan, Chamey and Russin. Bishop Rusnak visited the parish for the first time as a • 165 bishop on June 6, 1965 . From November 1965, Father Smal' was 166 the pastor. After Father Russin resigned as pastor at the end of 167 I 971, Father Robert Keleher was named the new administrator. 168 He installed a temporary iconostasis. Father Keleher was replaced with a Slovak priest, Father Stephen Kundra, who served from Au169 gust of 1972 until February of 1973 . The parish was administered for a while by Father Fuga until the arrival of Father John Leso, SJ _110 Vo The parish financial report for the year 1980 showed that, were it not for bingo, the rental of the hall and kitchen, the parish would not 171 collect enough money to pay the priest's salary. This was due to the aging of the parish, the death of its founders , while their offspring either moved away or lost interest in this church. Thus, the parish slowly declined and did not survive the year 20 I 0. 159 In other sources the date for the groundbreaking by Father Chanat is listed as Jul y 4, 1954 . 16 Cf. "Zaznamenavame," Maria , 411956, 16. 161 Cf. "Za milovanym o. Nikolajom," Maria , 4/ 1957, 3-6. 162 PAA, Letter of April 3, 1957. 163 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria, 3-4/1965 , 15 . 164 PAA, Letter from Michael Kostik to Bi shop Isidore, November 9, 196 1. 165 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Biskupa M. Ru snaka," Maria , 3-4/ 1965 , 16. 166 PAA , Letter of th e Vicar General, the Right Reverend Basil Filevich, December 6, 1965 . 167 PAA , Letter of Bishop Isidore to the Toronto-Dominion Bank, December 24, 197 1. 168 PAA, Letter of Father Keleher to Bishop Isidore, August 27, 1973. 169 PAA , Letter of Bishop Isidore, February 23, 1973, addressed to the TorontoDomi nion Bank . 170 PAA , Lette r of February 17, 1976. 171 PAA, Annual statement - 1980. ° �48 SLOVAKIA-2017 8: Sudbury, Ontario (1954) This mining town in northern Ontario also attracted Slovak im172 migrants. In 1923 the first Slovaks arrived in Sudbury. Several of 173 them were Greek Catholics. The founding meeting of branch 16 of the CSL was held June 19, 1938 at the hall of the local Ukrainian Greek Catholic church, showing thus their religious affi liation. The local Greek Catholic Slovaks had quite a community life even before 174 their parish was founded , as testified by newspaper articles. On many of these occasions the Master of Ceremonies, or simply the Elder, presided over the event with both formal as well as religious 175 elements. A real start for the Slovak Greek Catholics was the Divine Liturgy celebrated on August 15, 1954 at the hall of the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society. It was celebrated by fathers Louis Mina and Nicholas Chanat and Father Dzurman, the local Ukrainian 176 priest. The parish received the title of Our Lady of Perpetual 178 177 Help. The entire ceremony was broadcast on local television. 179 Thereafter liturgies were celebrated on a monthly basis. The Sudbury parishioners were also subscribers and ~enerous benefactors of 1 the Slovak Greek Catholic magazine Maria. Father Fetsco became 18 1 the pastor for the first time in 1957. With several breaks and sev- ° 172 Cf. Urban, J., "Slovaks in Sudbury," Polyphony: Th e Bulletin of the Multicultural History Society of Ontario - Sudbury 's People, Vol. 5 (No. I, 1983), p. 123 . 173 Cf. "Smutna sprava 23. zboru KSL," Kanadsk:y Slovak, August 9, 1980, p. 7; " Spravy z Toronta," Kanadsk:y Slovak, April 7, 1979, p. 2. 174 Cf. " Man zelia Strokovi jubilovali," Kanadsk:y Slovak, March 30, 1950, p. 6; "Manzelia Rani covi jubilovali, Kanadsk:y Slowik, August 17, 1950, p. 6; "Rani covi zenili syna Stefana," Kanadsk:y Slovak, September 9, 1950, p. 6; "S I. Johanka Simkova v putach manzelstva," Kanadsk:y Slovak November 9, 1950, p. 7; " Manzelia Koritko jubilovali, Kanadsk:y Slovak, November 8, 1952, p. 2. 175 Cf. " Mad'arovci 25 rokov v manzelstve, Kanadsk:y Slovak, December 2 1, 1950, p. 3. 176 Cf. Maria , 2/1955 , 15; "S lavnostne otvorenie slovenskej gr. kat. parafii v Sudbury, Ont. di\ a 15. augusta, Kanadsky Slovak, August 7, 1954, p. 8. 177 Cf Urban 124 178 Cf. Mari;, 2/ 1955 , 15. No such video recording cou ld be found. CTV does not have it in its archi ves, TYO did not exist and CBC did not answer my e-mails. 179 Cf. " Prvy slovensky krst v Sudburach," Kanadsk:y Slovak, November 6, 1954, p. 3. 18 Cf. Maria , 6/l 955 , 17; 5/ 1958, 22. 18 1 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria, 3-4/ 1965 , 15. ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 49 182 era! priests substituting, he continued coming to the parish until 1972. On July I, 1964, a new pastor was named--Father Theoktist 183 Vidov, a Studite monk originally from Croatia. Bishop Rusnak 184 came to Sudbury on June 13, 1965 . Sadly, someone noted that the youth had little interest in its roots: "The whole ceremony was really nice. And it could be even nicer if our young Slovaks from Sudbury 185 would show up in bigger numbers for such a great ceremony." In 1965 Father Jules Riotte, a Greek Catholic priest of German origin is • d as t he pastor, commg • twice • a mont h . 186 B 1s . hop R usna' k menhone 187 also returned to Sudbury in the following years. We have a list 188 from the 1960's of 31 fam ilies who had their homes blessed following the blessing of the Jordan water. Another list of families who 189 appeared for All Souls Day celebrations is also preserved. One of the problems of the Slovak Greek Catholic community in Sudbury was the lack of a resident priest. Another important factor for the downfall of the parish were economic conditions. Around 1964, when their economic situation changed for the better, many people moved to southern Ontario, and since no new waves of immigrants appeared, a decline in the number of Slovaks (and Greek Catholics) began. At a parish meeting held on July 13, 1975, it was decided "to dismiss the parish ; the reason is that there is no one to keep it because there are no more parishioners, it is sad, but it could 191 190 not be changed." Bishop Rusnak responded on July 25, 1975, but another reply from the parishioners was dated August 1, 1977. Because of this correspondence, Maria magazine listed the parish in 182 Cf. Urban, 124. Cf. "Kronika," Maria, 6-7/ 1964, 16. 184 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp . Biskupa M. Rusnaka," Maria, 3-4/1965, 16. 185 "Cestujeme s p. biskupom ," Maria, 9-10/ 1965, 6. 186 Beskyd, J., Yearbook of the Eparchy of Toronto (In the vineyard of Christ) (Toro nto: Eparc hy of Toronto, 1964), 520. 187 Cf. "Z nas ich osad - Sudbury - Preosv. p. biskup Michal Rusnak CSsR medzi svojimi ," Maria, 11-12/ 1967, 18- 19; Stripay, J., "Preosv. o. bisk up Michal Rusnak CSsR v Sudburach," Maria, 9-10/1968, 6. 188 PAA, File: Sudbury. 189 PAA , File: Sudbury. 190 PAA , Letter from the ushers to Bishop Michael, dated July 17, 1975. 191 PAA, Letter from the ushers to Bishop Michael, dated August I, 1977. 183 �50 SLOVAKIA-2017 192 197 6 as still open, but that is no longer the case. Only sixty people 193 of Slovak origin remain in Sudbury. 9: Delhi (Simcoe - Delhi), Ontario (1955) Many Slovaks, especially from Eastern Slovakia, started to move into the area of Simcoe and Delhi, in southern Ontario, around 1930. 194 Most of them worked as tobacco farmers . The same people who founded branch 46 of the Canadian Slovak League in 1944 also founded St. Andrew's parish. In 1954 Father Frantisek Fuga of Hamilton heard about the Greek Catholic Slovaks at this location and contacted them. After a few weeks he celebrated a liturgy for 195 them. Since this took place around the feast of St. Andrew, the parish was named for this saint. It was officially created in Novem196 ber of 1955 . Father Fuga answered the spiritual needs of the parishioners working on farms and served them once a month in the 197 local Ukrainian church in Delhi. In 1965 only about thirty families 198 attended these services. The first pastoral visit of St. Andrew's parish by Bishop Michael Rusnak was conducted on December 18, 199 1966. The silver jubilee of the parish could also be called its swan 200 song. It was celebrated on October 19, 1980. The story of Simcoe - Delhi is the story of a small flock of the faithful, who wanted to 192 Cf. "Nase kostoly," Maria, 1/1976, third page of the cover. Census profile: http://wwwI2.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/20 I I/dpp_gfprQf1/<!eJ<1.ih/p_agt!,Sfo1'.?: Lang= E&Geo l =CSD&Cocle 1=3553005&Geo2=CD&Cocle2=3553&Data=Count&S t!archText=suclbur &SearchT e=Contains&SearchPR=0 l&B l =A ll &C ustom=&TA Bl D '."'J (27.8.2013 23:30) 194 Cf. Kirschbaum , J. M.: Slovaks in Canada (Toronto: Canadian Ethnic Press Association of Ontario, 1967), 128. 195 Cf. "Osada v Simcoe - Delhi jubiluje," Maria , 1-3/1966, 3-4. 196 See: Kirschbaum , 262 and Fuga, Frantisek, J., "Slovenska greckokatolicka farnost' sv. Andreja v Simcoe - Delhi , Ont. jubilovala," Kanadsky Slovak, November 29, 1980, p. 4. 197 Cf. Kirschbaum, 262. 198 Cf." Osada v Simcoe - Delhi jubiluje," Maria, 1-311966, 3-4. 199 Cf. "Prva vizitacia pana biskupa Michala Rusnaka v Simcoe-Delhi, Ont. ," Maria, 1-2/1967, 10-11. 200 Cf. Fuga, Frantisek J., "S lovenska greckokatolicka farnost' sv. Andreja v Simcoe - Delhi , Ont. jubilovala," Kanadsky Slovak, November 29, 1980, p. 4. 193 �SLOVAKIA-2017 51 praise God in Church Slavonic, as they did back home. However their small size prevented the parish from growing. The community literally died with the death of the last parishioner from among the original flock. This community was always listed as a parish, even though from the ecclesiastical point of view it would probably be called a mission, as in all juridical matters the parishioners belonged to the Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Hamilton. 10: Kenaston, Saskatchewan (1967) The first Slovaks arrived in Kenaston in July of 1903 and were 20 1 followed by others who came to farm. Besides the Ukrainians, many Slovak Greek Catholics also settled in and around nearby Sas202 katoon, Saskatchewan. Bishop Rusnak came to Saskatoon on June 203 26, 1966, hoping to include these people within his jurisdiction, and to make of this place a permanent center of the Slovak religious presence in Canada. Before this visit, an invitation appeared in the press: Come all of you, who are able to come, because this will be the very first time, since our arrival here 50 years ago, that we will be able to welcome amongst us our first Slovak bishop in Canada and the first bishop who is a Greek Catholic, since the times of Sts. Cyril and Methodius .... This joyful news is written for you ... by Joseph Zeman, an 80 year-old Slovak, who after 65 years in Canada, lived long enough to 204 experience this great joy ... The Ukrainian Greek Catholics gave Rusnak permission to use their cathedral of St. George for the meeting. The organizational committee prepared 600 memorial ribbons - but they were not 205 206 . enough! Father John Kobelak, M.S.F. was entrusted with or- 20 1 Cf. "Na vyrocie slovenskych pociatkov v Saskatchewan a slovenskeho ~riekopnictva v Kanade, Kanadsky Slowik, June 25 , 1966, p. 2. 02 Cf. "S lovak so Slovakom sa zide," Kanadsky Slowik, March 10, 1962, p. 2; "Janko Purda graduoval ," Kanadsky Slovak, January 5, 1963, p. 2. 203 Cf." Pl anovane vizitacne cesty p. biskupa," Maria , 4-5/1966, 16. 204 Cf. " Do pozornosti Slovakom v Saskatchewan," Kanadsky Slovak, May 28, 1966, ~- 2. os Cf. "Aj 600 bolo malo," Kanadsky Slovak, July 16, I 966, p. 3. �52 SLOVAKIA-2017 20 7 gamzmg this parish. The Slovak Greek Catholic parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Kenaston, Saskatchewan, was officially created during the Canadian centennial in 1967, after the trip of Bishop Rusnak to Saskatoon. The parish was part of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Saskatoon, having its own property, a gift of the recently-deceased Joseph Zeman. Bishop Rusnak planned to send the parish a Slovak priest - the Reverend Stephen Adamiak.208 In the archives are notes testifying that the Ukrainian Eparchy indeed received the property and also $1000 to be used to build a Slovak Greek Catholic church in Kenaston. However, the following year the heirs of the late Mr. Zeman changed their minds and requested that the $1,000 be re209 turned to them. In the fall of 1970 the parish ceased to exist. 2 10 The question remains: Would a Slovak parish have lasted in Saskatchewan, if it had been built in Saskatoon rather than in the small village of Kenaston? MISSIONS WITH IRREGULAR SERVICES Among the missions we list those places where we are sure that the Slovak Greek Catholic services were held: 11: Edmonton, Alberta The capital of the Province of Alberta attracted many Slovak immigrants in the 1930's, including Greek Catholics.2 11 Slovak 212 Greek Catholics present here never formed a separate parish or other type of organized community, but they still could be considered a part of the life of Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada. After his 206 Born in Poland in 1921 . He came to Canada in 1964, and worked in the Eastern rite. He died in 200 I. 207 Cf. "Z nasich osad - Kenaston - Nova slovenska greckokatolfcka osada sv. Cyrila a Metoda," Maria, 11-12/ 1967, 17. 208 PAA, Letter of Bishop Michael dated May 15, 1967. 209 PAA , E-mail from the Eparchy of Saskatoon, sent to the author on November 21, 2011 , 17:00. 210 PAA , Letter NM najdostojnejci Otce Vladyka! sent from Rome, 12. X. 1970. 211 Cf. Kirschbaum , 151. 212 Cf. Maria, 1/ 1963, 17. �SLOVAKIA-2017 53 Episcopal ordination, Bishop Michael Rusnak visited Edmonton on 213 June 27, I 965 . 12: Fernie, British Columbia Femie is one of the oldest settlements of Slovaks in Canada. The 214 first Slovak miners came here in 1898 from Pennsylvania. Many of them were Greek Catholics. Shortly after the start of the 20th cen215 tury, a branch of the Greek Catholic Union was founded here. Slovaks in Femie were also organized in branch 51 of the CSL. Fa2 16 ther Michal Lacko did a visitation here in 1973. Femie is mentioned as a mission in the report of the Apostolic Visitator in 217 1978. 13: New Westminster, British Columbia The first Slovaks came to the Canadian Pacific coast at the end 218 219 of the 19 th century. Larger numbers appeared only after WW 11. Branch 4 7 of the CSL was established here in 1944. The Slovak Roman Catholic parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius has existed in New 220 Westminster since 1960. Many of its parishioners were Greek 221 Catholics. From time to time, Greek Catholic services were also celebrated here. In 1959 there was a Slovak Greek Catholic wedding in the Ukrainian church, performed by a "good friend of Slovaks, 222 Father Bylik, who was ass isted in the ceremonies by Mr. Bodnar.'' 213 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Bisk upa M. Rusnaka," Maria, 5-611965, I 3. Cf. Kirschbaum , 70. 215 Cf. Palmer, Howard, Land of the Second Chance (A History of Ethnic Groups in Southern Alberta), (Lethbridge : Lethbridge Herald, 1972), 195. 216 Personal Archive of the Author (PAA) Letter of Bishop Michael to Father Lacko, May 28, 1973. 217 PAA , Quinquennial report for Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada, 19731978 (November 1st , 1978),2-3 . 218 Kanadsky Slovak, November 14, I 970. 219 Cf. Kirschbau m, 146-8. 220 Officiall y establ ished by Father Wi lliam Lacko, SJ in 1960. The first acti vities with local Slovaks date back to 1952. 22 1 Cf. " Klub za ujemcov o hist6riu Slovakov v Britskej Kolumbii v Kanade," http://www.sk-bc .ca/book/export/ html/I 98 (October 18, 20 11 , 20:00); Maria, 78/ 1965, 5; 12; 12/1965, 15. 222 " Pekna slovenska svadba v B.C.," Kanadsky Slovak, June 27, 1959, p. 2. 214 �54 SLOVAKIA-2017 The Slovak church of Sts. Cyril and Methodius was the home of Ukrainian Greek Catholics until they built their own church. In those days a certain Byzantine-rite priest - Father Kmec-- celebrated the services. Many times the Slovak Greek Catholics celebrated with the Ukrainians. ln 1970, the Reverend William Lacko wrote about the Greek Catholics: "the late Michael Bodnar with a beautiful voice, was an outstanding cantor." Already during the Cyrillo-Methodian jubilee in 1963 we learn that "many Slovak Greek Catholics are living in this area and because of this Father Michael Lacko went to the far west of Canada ... and celebrated services in the Church Slavonic 223 language .... " And during the Jubilee year, according to the words of the pastor, once a month instead of the sermon "we all sang "Moleben." The Impressive "Hospodi pomiluj" resounded in the church as a joint response to the petition of all the Catholics of both 224 rites." On the day of the Cyrillo-Methodian celebrations, July 7, 1963 , the Latin Mass was fo ll owed with the singing of sacred songs in Slovak and Church Slavonic by both Roman and Greek Catho225 lics. They sang lie Cheruvimi (Let us, who mystically represent 226 the Cherubim) and Otce nas (Our Father), led by Mr. Bodnar. Bishop Rusnak was quite frequentl y a welcome guest of the parish. On those occasions, the church was always filled to the very last seat or even overcrowded. His visit was a real "unique experience with lasting value .. .. Greek Catholics are coming from near and far to the services held in the Slovak church and it is a joy to see them, 227 when Bishop Michael is among them .. .'' In 1966 Bishop Rusnak 228 appeared on July 3. He officiated at the funeral of Mrs. Potoma on 229 July 6, 1970. For the local parishioners it became a tradition throughout the years to have Bishop Rusnak among them , always around the feast day of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, patrons of their 223 224 Cf. Maria , 7/ 1963 , 11. "Slovenski greckokatolici na Pacifiku," Kanadsky Slovak, September 14, 1970, p. 5. 225 Cf. "Cyril ometodske slav nosti v B.C.," Kanadsky Slovak, June 29, 1963, p. 8. Cf. "Cyrilometodske oslavy na Pacifickom pobrezi," Kanadsky Slovak, August 17, 1963, p. 2. 227 "Slovenski greckokatolici na Pacifiku," Kanadsky Slovak, September 14, 1970, p. 5. 228 Cf. " Planovane vizitacne cesty p. biskupa," Maria , 4-5/ 1966, 16. 229 PAA , Folder: Vancouver. 226 �SLOVAKIA-2017 55 church. The bishop made such a good impression on the people that they left with the words: "Goodbye Most Reverend Bishop M. 230 Rusnak until next year." In 1973 the Byzantine liturgy was scheduled for August 5, with Father Michael Lacko, SJ as the main cele. . was a Iso the act o f a canomca . I v1s1tahon. . . . 232 brant. 23 1 H.1s v1s1t Among the benefactors of the Maria magazine were several people 233 from New Westminster. The visits of the Greek Catholic bishop to New Westminster stopped a long time ago, but the Greek Catholics there attend the Slovak Roman Catholic parish to thi s day. 14: Unionville (Markham), Ontario From the canonical point of view, Unionville Ontario, and the fa mily mansion of the billionaire Stephen B. Roman could not be considered either a parish, or a mission. However, to be fair to history, we have to note that services were held here more often than in some of th e other missions. Fron the 1950's until the 1980 's Bishop Rusnak celebrated a liturgy in the residence of Mr. Roman every 234 Sunday aftemoon. The bishop had become a good friend of the Greek Catholic Stephen Roman in the early 1950 's. Together they planned to build a huge Cathedral of the Transfiguration on Mr. Roman's property in Unionville and Pope John Paul II even blessed the 235 cornerstone in I 984. However, after Mr. Roman suddenly died in 1988, Bishop Rusnak and his successor Bishop Pazak, could not come to an agreement with Mr. Roman 's heirs as to the actual ownership of the cathedral. Therefore, Bishop Pazak deconsecrated the 23 °Korem, Albin, " Dve spravy z B. C.," Kanadsky Slowik, July 18, 1970, p. 5. 23 1 PAA , Postcard Srdecny pozdrav od Ticheho oceanu. Sent from San Francisco, Jul y 20, 1973. 232 PAA, Letter of Bishop Michae l to Father Lacko, May 28, 1973. 233 Cf. Maria, 2/ 1963, 17; 1/1964, third page of the cover; 2/ 1964, third page of the cover; 9-10/ 1964, third page of the cover; 1-2/ 1965, third page of the cover; 12/1965 , 16; 1-3/ 1966, third page of the cover; 1/ 1977, third page of the cover; 5/ 1978, 16;4/ 1979, 16; 7-8/ 1980, 24. 234 Litva, Felix, "Stefan B. Roman - clovek v rozdvojenom svete" (Cambridge, ON : Dobra kniha, 198 I). 235 See Our Heritage of Faith : Consecration of the Slovak Cathedral of the Transfiguration by His Holiness Pope John Paul II, September 15, 1984, ed. by Helen Roman-Barber and Anne C. R. Roman (Toronto: Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius for Slovaks of the Byzantine Ri te in Canada, 1984). �56 SLOVAKIA-2017 church in 2006 and since then it has sat empty as the cornerstone of a 236 massive housing development called "Cathedraltown." 15: Winnipeg, Manitoba Slovak immigrants started coming to to Winnipeg before the First World War, but the largest group arrived in the interwar peri237 od. A Slovak Roman Catholic parish existed here since 1951. Father Alexander Baran, an historian and native of the Subcarpathian region, worked at the local univers ity. Because his dad had been a secretary to the first Slovak Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia- Dr. Milan Hodza--he knew Slovak and was a great friend to Slovak Greek Catholics, with whom he shared the same liturgical tradition.2 38 Before the end of the 19 th century, several families from Zemplin County arrived via Pennsylvania to the town of Neepawa, in the 239 Province of Manitoba. When the Canadian Slovak League (CS L) was established here in 1932, one of the founding members, Juraj Rond'os, was not ashamed of being not only Slovak, but also a Greek Catholic. The local branch of the CSL received the number 1. The Slovak Greek Catholics in town attended mostly the local Ukrainian church for their worship services. The priests even learned some 240 Slovak for special celebrations for these parishioners. The most vital period for Slovak Greek Catholics in Winnipeg 24 1 started after the episcopal ordination of Bishop Rusnak. He came to Winnipeg for the first time on Sunday, August 22, 1965, and assisted by the local Slovak Roman Catholic pastor, Msgr. John Re236 For more details see "The Cathedral that Toronto Forgot," Toronto Star, June 26, 201 1 and "Losing Faith in Cathedraltown," Toronto Star, January I 0, 2015. 237 Cf. Kirschbaum , 75 -76. 238 For more info on Baran see: htt ://um anitoba.ca/libraries/units/archi ves/collections/rad/baran.html 239 Cf. R~ ndos, Juraj, "V lete sli spat' na breh rieky," in Spomienky pionierov, ed. by lmrich Stolarik (Toronto: Kanadska Slovenska Liga, I 978), 2 19. Maria, 1/ 1963, 17; 10/ 1963, third page of the cover; 12/ 1965 , 16; 12/ 1966, third page of the cover. 24 Cf. " Mary Rondosova vydala sa za Janka Stretavskeho," Kanadsky Slovak, March I, 195 1, p. 4. " Pekna slovenska svadba vo Winnipegu," Kanadsky Slovak, Apri l 5, 1958, p. 2; "Opusti li nas dvaja Slovaci z nasej okolice v Dufresne, Man. ," Kanadsky Slovak, March 21, 198 1, p. I 0. 241 Cf. Kutka, J., " Historicky den manitobskych Slovakov," Kanadsky Slovak, Nove mber 13, 1965, p. 2. ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 57 kem, as well as by Father Baran, he celebrated a Byzantine liturgy in 242 the local Slovak Roman Catholic church. His visit was prepared by Msgr. Rekem and Mr. J. Kutka. Beautiful liturgical Church Slavonic singing had a delicate impact on the people present, many of them hearing it probably for the very first time in their lives. The choir, directed by organist Cudovit (Louis) Besei\ovsky, sang both Slovak Greek and Latin liturgies. Even though the Greek and Latin Catholics sang together for the first time, they 243 were praised for their perforrnance. Bishop Rusnak also visited the Greek Catholic Slovaks in Win244 nipeg in the following years. Several Slovak Greek Catholics from Winnipeg and nearby settlements appeared among the supporters of ~"' • • 245 1V1arza magazme. OTHER SLOVAK GREEK CATHOLIC LOCATIONS 16: Flin Flon, Manitoba Many Slovaks found jobs in the mining industry here, among them quite a few Greek Catholics . Several Slovak farmers settled around the town as well. When the Canadian Slovak League was founded in 1932, its local branch was given the number 4. However, the best years for the community were the 1940's and 1950's. Several Greek Catholic Slovaks here attended the local Ukrainian 246 church. In 1966 Bishop Michael Rusnak intended to send the Revernd John Zeman, OSB as a Greek Catholic priest to Flin 247 Flon . However, this did not materialize. 242 Cf. "Cestujeme s p. biskupom," Maria , 9-10/1965, 9- I 0. 1bid., 9. 244 Cf. " Planovane vizitacne cesty p. biskupa," Maria, 4-5/1966, 16. PAA, diaries. 245 Cf. Maria , 1/ 1964, third page of the cover; 2/ 1964, third page of the cover; 67/ 1964, third page of the cover; 12/1965, 16; 1-2/ 1967, fourth page of the cover; 78/ 1977, third page ofthe cover; 5/ 1978, 16; 3/1979, 16; 2/ 1980, 16; 12/1980, 16. 246 Cf. "Smutok sboru vo Flin Flon, Man. ," Kanadsky Slovak, February 4, 1956, p. 2; Kadas, V.: Brat Jozef Dubos na vecnosti," Kanadsky Slovak, July 23, 1966, p. 2; "Zlata svadba u Rujakov vo Flin Flon, Man.," Kanadsky Slovak, September 25, 1976, p. 6; "Zlata svadba manzelov Stefanik v B. C.," Kanadsky Slovak, October 18, 1975, p. 4. 247 PAA , Letter from Father John Zeman, August 2, 1966. 243 �58 SLOVAKIA-2017 17: Thunder Bay, Ontario The city of Thunder Bay came into existence on January 1, 1970, when Port Arthur and Fort William, were amalgamated. The majority of the Slovaks in this area were from the county of Orava. They started coming in the 1890's and built St. Peter's Slovak Roman 248 Catholic church in 1907. Slovak Lutherans built a church in 1927. 249 Newspapers confirm several Slovak Greek Catholics living here. The first journey after his ordination led Bishop Rusnak to the Cana250 dian West through Fort William. He almost certainly stopped here on his ways to the West, when traveling by car. Conclusion Besides the above mentioned cities, which were depicted on the map of the Eparchy, the Slovak Greek Catholic presence was also documented elsewhere in Canada. Benefactors of the magazine Maria appeared in a larger number of locations. One can observe from the life of the Canadian Slovak Greek Catholics that, to some degree, they were copying the ways of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics, who first settled in the West of Canada, then moved to Quebec, with a hiatus in the interwar period and then focused on Southern Ontario. The settlements in Southern Ontario 25 1 shared similar fates , not only with Ukrainian Catholics, but to a 252 certain degree even more with the Hungarian Greek Catholics. 248 Cf. Kirschbaum , 77-79. Cf. " Smutime za nas imi bratmi," Kanadsky Slowi k, August 27, 1966, p. 3; "Jub ileum Bakovych v Niagara Falls," Kanadsky Slowik, August 15, 1959, p. 2. 25 Cf. Kutka, J., "Historicky dei\ Manitobskych Slovakov, Kanadsky Slowik, November 13, 1965 , p. 2. 251 Cf. Canada 's Ukrainians: Negotiating an Identity, ed. by Lubomyr Luciuk and Stella Hryniuk (Toronto: Uni versity of Toronto Press, 199 1). On the Ukrainian exr,erience around Winnipeg see pages 53 -80. 52 Slovak - Hungarian Greek Cath olic re lati ons in Canada are a topic fo r furth er research . The Slovak Greek Catholics were fo r a time guests of the Hungari an Greek Catholic Church in Hamilton. In Windsor, Father Krafcik served for a time both Greek Catholi c communities - Slovak as we ll as Hungari an. Similar plans were made fo r Welland, whi ch also had both Churches, using the same liturgical rite, the same melodi es (and when it came to English, exactl y the same melodies and texts)! Especially in Ontario, the Hungarian settlements were almost identical to the Slovak ones. Also from the letters of Father Michal Lacko, SJ, we learn that, before the Slovak eparchy was created, he hoped that a bishopric would be created whi ch 249 ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 59 Many people had relatives in other parishes, leading to frequent mutual visits of Slovak Greek Catholics, other than in their their own parishes, especially for parish feast days, or some great historic milestones. Many new friendships were thus started, and also some marriages arranged within the community. Places which really continued to blossom with the Slovak Greek Catholic population were the industrial towns of Eastern Canada. If the industry closed, or shrank, or farming was no longer attractive, the people moved out and then their parishes were closed (Sudbury 253 and Flin Flon). The same thing happened in the mining and steel 254 industry towns of Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey. If a parish were to last, it had to have several zealous parishioners. Where there were only a few, such a parish had only a minimum chance of survival (Kenaston, Winnipeg, New Westminster). In such a case the Slovak Greek Catholics joined (or remained) either with local Slovak Roman Catholics or with Ukrainian Greek Catholics. The age of the parishioners when starting their parishes was also quite crucial, as when they were relatively old, and few in number, their parishes lasted for only a short while (Simcoe - Delhi). What is interesting is how the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada made picnics an important part of parish culture. These gatherings became so popular, that at some time the parishes of Toronto and Hamilton owned their own picnic grounds, while the other parishes used facilities of other groups. In almost all the parishes we note that the most active parishioners were born in Slovakia. The subsequent generations, born in Canada, began to lose interest in maintaining their parishes. This would include, not only Slovak, but Hungarian Greek Catholic parishes as well (PAA). The last pastor of the Slovak church in Welland (before it was closed in 20 I 0) was Father John Girhinyi, himself a Hungarian. For more information on Hungarian life in Canada (and how it resembled the Slovak experience), see Nandor Dreisziger, Church and Society in Hungary and in the Hungarian Diaspora (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016), especially pages 261-4. 253 Cf. https: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List of Canadian muni c ipalities having experienced popula-tion decreases 254 Other existing parishes, which face serious challenges with changing industry in the USA include Braddock, Charleroi, Clarence and Clymer, Pennsylvania. See Byzantine-Ruthenian Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh Directory (Pittsburgh: Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh, I 999). See also. https://en.wikipecl ia.org/wiki/Shrinking- cities in the United States �60 SLOVAKIA-2017 might be attributed to the relatively high percentage of the Slovak immigrants assimilating to English-Canadian culture. Indeed, many times the parents themselves wanted to have their children completely forget about their ancestral homeland . In some cases the parents were not even willing to speak with them in Slovak - so that they would not have an accent, and thus be more successful in the labor market. By 1980, only two Slovak Greek Catholic parishes in Canada were over 50 years old: Lethbridge - which was Ukrainianized, and Montreal, which also had its best years behind it. Sadly, even some of the younger parishes (Kenaston, Simcoe - Delhi, Sudbury) were already closed, or just about to be closed. At the creation of the Slovak Greek Catholic Eparchy in 1980, only parishes in southern Ontario, which were close to each other, and able to benefit from mutual visits, or even exchanges of the clergy, were flourishing. Even this was to change in the following years, as the parish of Montreal was closed shortly after 2010, and the Welland parish was also not able to live through 2010. Recently the Most Reverend John S. Pazak, Bishop of the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada was transferred by 255 the Vatican to Phoenix, Arizona in the USA. Thus, the future of Greek Catholic Slovaks in Canada remains uncertain. 255 Transfer announced on May 7 th 20 I 6. HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE - Other Pontifical Acts: htt s:// ress.vatican.va/co nten t/sa lastam a/en/bo ll ettino/ ubblico/20 I 6/05/07 /16050 7h.html. See also "Bishop John S. Pazak named new Byzantine Eparch in Phoenix, Ariz. ," Slovak Catholic Falcon, June 15, 20 16, p.5. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2017, Vol. 43 Description An account of the resource Vol. 43 (No. 80-81), 2017. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 28 SLOVAKIA-2017 A SURVEY OF SLOVAK COMMUNITIES OF THE BYZANTINE RITE IN CANADA BEFORE THEY RECEIVED THEIR OWN BISHOPRIC Daniel Cerny When we look at Catholic immigration to the USA and Canada, only one bishopric in those coutries is called by the name of the nations of the so-called Visegrad Group- the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Surprisingly, this ecclesiastical structure is not of the Latin rite. It is the Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodious for Slovaks of the Byzantine Rite in Canada. When created in 1980, a postcard with a map of Slovak Greek Catholic settlements in Canada was published. The aim of this paper is to present a historical overview of these communities until the Eparchy was created. The late professor Michael Lacko, SJ wrote the first history of these par1 ishes. However, this paper adds some new information, making this survey more accurate and updated. Some of the reasons why these people immigrated to Canada were the changes to the immigration laws in the USA enacted by Congress in June of 1921 and also in July of 1924. 2 Our research on Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada shows that the majority were descendenats of immigrants who came to Canada between 1926 and 1939 (when the borders were open), to be joined by the immigration waves of 1945 - 1950 and of 1968. For the first immigrants the church was in many cases the most important part of their life. Here they were not forced to speak a foreign language, it was like being at home - the same rite, dialects, family, friends, sometimes even neighbors, the same customs. However this also could be harmful in the sense that it created an ethnic 1 Cf. Lacko, Michal, "A Brief Survey of the History of the Slovak Catholics of the Byzantine-Slavonic Rite," Slovak Studies, III (1963), 199 - 224. 2 Based on these regulations, after June of 1921 only 14,269 Czechoslovak citizens were allowed to immigrate annually to the USA, and after July 1924, only 3,073. Cf. Bielik, Frantisek- Rakos, Elo: Slovenske vyst'ahovalectvo (Dokumenty II. - 19191939) (Martin: Matica slovenska, 1975), 51, footnote 2. SLOVAKIA-2017 29 ghetto - which was probably fine for the first generation, but no longer so for the following ones. Only those places which experienced large numbers of new immigrants in later years, or were open to new people from outside entering "their" church, were able to continue to flourish . The history of these communities includes the creation of their own Slovak deanery (1957) and the consecration of their own Slovak 3 bishop ( 1964) in the person of Michael Rusnak, CSsR, who was for many years an Apostolic Visitator of these communities. Only two Slovak Greek Catholics participated on the Vatican II Council. One layman and one clergyman. The layman was the Canadian-Slovak multimilllionaire Stephen B. Roman, who participated from the third session on and bishop Michal Rusnak, who participated in the fourth and final session. The use of the vernacular, which was encouraged by Vatican II, resulted in more and more celebrations in English among the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada (the translations were done by the Greek Catholics in the Ruthenian Church in the USA), but not so in modem Slovak. Thus the Church lost many people from 4 the immigration wave of 1968. 3 Michael Rusnak was born on August 21, 1921 in Beaverdale, Pennsylvania. His mother and siblings returned with him to Slovakia during the Great Depression. He was ordained a Redemptorist priest by Bishop Pau l Gojdic, OSBM in Jul y of 1949. After the forced liquidation of the Greek Catholic church in Czechoslovakia, Rusnak was arrested and placed in the Podolinec monastery, which was turned into a prison camp for the clergy . After fifteen months in vari ous prisons, he escaped and, thanks to his American citizenship, he was allowed to emigrate to America. Ru snak went to Canada in 1951 and started to establish Slovak Greek Catholic parishes. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Bishop of Toronto, the Most Reverend Isidore Borecky, named Father Rusnak dean for Slovak Greek-Catholic parishes belonging to his jurisdiction.in 1957. On October 5, 1964, Pope Paul VI elevated Father Rusnak to Auxiliary Bishop to Isidore Borecky and Apostolic Visitator for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada. The process of creating the Slovak Greek Catholic Church in Canada was completed when Pope John Paul II , in his bull Apostolicae Sedis of October 13, 1980, created the Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodius for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada. At the same time, the pope appointed aux iliary bishop Michael Rusnak as the eparchi al bishop of this Eparchy . Rusnak retired in 1996 and died on January 16, 2003 and is buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Thornhill , Ontario. More about Bishop Michael Rusnak can be found in Cerny, Daniel, Biskup Michael Rusnak, CSsR (Diploma thesis), Presov: Greek Catho lic Theological Faculty of the University of Presov, 2008 . 4 Documents on this topic are in the personal archives of the author (hereafter PAA), and are based on letters from Father Fuga, Father Dubiak and Father Lacko. 30 SLOVAKIA-2017 The author of this article located important documents in various archives, and tiny pieces of the mosaic were found everywhere. Especially valuable were the articles in Maria magazine, which was published from 1955 to 1969 and then from 1976 to I 989; in the second period under the direction of a gifted editor - the late Jozef Suchy. In some cases, we can speak only about individuals, in other cases about a group of dedicated parishioners with only irregular services. The most advanced was the group of individual parishes, which we are about to describe. In 1980 these parishes were incorporated into the newly-created Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodius for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada,5 the only Slovak Greek Catholic eparchy in the world, which served as a beacon to the persecuted and oppressed brothers and sisters in Slovakia under the . yo ke. 6 communist PARISHES 1: Lethbridge, Alberta (1921) The oldest Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Canada was in Lethbridge, Alberta. In 1885 the first Slovaks came to Lethbridge from 7 Shelby, Montana. Among them was the Veselenak family, Greek 8 Catholics from Nizne Slovinky in Spis county. Local Slovaks formed branch 53 of the Canadian Slovak League (CSL) in 1946. The Slovak Greek Catholic parish of Sts. Peter and Paul was founded in 1921 by coal miners, who came mostly from the Spis villages of Ponic, Zavadka and Slovinky. Before the parish was erected, the faithful organized a branch of the American-based Greek Catholic 5 Cf. L ·o sservatore Romano, December 14, 1980, Articles entitled "Erezione di nuova Eparchia; Provvista di Chiesa; Eretta in Canada Eparchi a di rito bizantino per slovacch i", 1-2. 6 For more on the general history of the Slovak Greek Catholi cs in Canada see Cerny, Daniel , "From Unknown People to a Separate Diocese: Slovak Greek Catholics in Canad a," in Mazurkiewicz, Adam, ed ., East Central Europe in Exile Volum e 1: Transatlantic Migrations (Newcastle upon Tyne : Cam bridge Scholars Publishing, 20 13), 253-72. 7 Cf. "75 rokov lethbridzs kej slov. kol6nie," Kanadsk), Slovak, February 18, 1961 , p. 2. 8 Cf. The Bend: A History of West Lethbridge (Lethbridge: West Lethbridge History Book Soc iety, 1982), 218. SLOVAKIA-2017 31 9 Union. One important document, a photocopy of the parish minutes from the years 1921-193 7 exists, deposited in the library of the Pon10 tifical Oriental Institute in Rome. These minutes were written by 11 Andrew Mihalik. They start with the explanation that the term "fonitika," mentioned in the minutes as a petition to the Ukrainian bishop of Edmonton Nikita Budka, is to be the language used in the church, and that meant the Slovak language. According to these minutes, the first meeting took place on May 30, 1921 in the presence of bishop Budka. The faithful asked to have the celebration of a lit12 urgy every Sunday. During Wold War II the parish counted some 13 200 adults and 300 children. It was founded and owned by lay people (trustees). This was quite common in the ecclesiastical history of the USA and Canada. According to historian Mark Stolarik, this system consisted of elected members of the parish (kuratori), who collected tithes once a year from all the parishioners. A priest was paid from this treasury and the faithful had the right to terminate their 14 contract with him. Before the blessing of the church, the trustees 15 negotiated with the bishop for a resident priest. The parish had 16 a choir, the first Slovak Greek Catholic Choir in Canada. During the first years of its existence, the pastors were predominately Ukrainian, with the exception of Father Nicholas Szilagy, who came from Subcarpathia. In 1948 Ukrainians established their own parish in Lethbridge, but Ukrainian priests continued to serve Sts. Peter and Paul. However a great joy for the Slovak parish was the 1953 or- 9 PAA, e-mail fro m Father David Petras, November 5, 2010. Parafialna zapisnica Sv. toho Petra i Pavla Greko Katolickoho Viznania.(further on only PIO). 11 In 2011 the author of thi s article contacted the son of the late Andrew Mihalik. The original of the minutes are now neither in the parish archive, nor among the f:osses ions of the Mihalik family. 2 Cf. PIO, 2. 13 PAA, Quinquennial report for Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada, 1973-1978 (November 151, 1978), 2. 14 Cf. Stolarik, M. Mark, " Slovak Immigrants Co me to Terms with Religious Diversity in North America," The Catholic Historical Review, XCVI , No . I (January, 20 I 0), 69. 15 Cf. PIO, 36. 16 Cf. PIO, 25 ; 62. 10 32 SLOVAKJA-2017 17 daination of one of their own, Father Richard Zuback, who later 18 served also as their pastor. Some of the parishioners appeared 19 among the benefactors of Maria magazine. The first pastoral visit of Bishop Rusnak took place on June 27, 1965 , the parish 's feast day. Many people came to the celebration from as far away as British Columbia. In his homily, Bishop Rusnak said the following: "Do not correct the work of God. If God created you as Greek Catholics, stay firm , remain and work in this province. Do not run away from this rite. Do not leave behind your church and 20 rite. " In the 1960's Father John Zeman, OSB informed Bishop Rusnak about the local Slovak Greek Catholics, asking for a Slovak priest, as the young people were without a priest of their own and 1 ashamed of being Slovaks.2 Father Zeman volunteered to go to the 22 parish . This never happened . In 1967 Bishop Michael expressed his desire to send Father Zorvan, from Europe, to be the pastor of the 23 parish. In I 970's the parish was noted in his calendar several times. 24 Father Lacko, SJ visited the parish in August 1973. When the enthronement of Bishop Rusnak was organized in 1981, the Leth bridge pastor refused to participate, claiming to have only nineteen Slovak 25 families. On the contrary, in 1982, Bishop Rusnak informed the Papal Pro-Nuncio that there were forty-five Slovak families in Leth26 bridge. The parish was owned by the trustees almost for a record time. The official incorporation into the Ukrainian church happened 27 on ly after a plebiscite within the parish in the early 2000's. The 17 "Prve slov. gr. katol primicie v Lethbridge, Alta," Kanadsky Slovak, June 20, 1953, p. 2. The author is grateful for this information to Mark Stolarik. 18 Cf. " Zpravy," Maria, 5/1955 Gui), I 0. 19 Cf. Maria, 6-7/ 1964, third page of the cover; I 2/ 1966, third page of the cover. 20 "Cestujeme s p. biskupom ," Maria , 9-10/ 1965, 8. 21 Cf. PAA, Letter of Father John Zeman, C hri stmas 1964. Father John , who was born in Kenaston , Saskatchewan, joined th e Slovak Benedictine Order in Cleveland, Ohio, but always wished to return to Canada. 22 Cf. PAA, Letter of Father John Zeman, sen t on July 22 , 1966 . 23 Cf. PAA , Letter of Bi shop Michael of May 15, 1967. 24 Cf. PAA , Postcard "Srdecny pozdrav od Ticheho oceanu," Sent from San Francisco, July 20, 1973 . 25 Cf. PAA , Motiuk, D. Report on the Canonical status of Saint Peter and Paul Catholic Church. l ethbridge. Alberta. 26 27 Cf. PA A, Letter of Bishop Michael to the Pro- uncio, sent October 28, 1982. Archive of the Eparchy of Sts. Cyri l and Methodius, folder Lethbridge. 33 SLOVAKIA-2017 parish is thus nowadays Ukrainian, but its contribution to the history and culture of the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada, especially in the first half of the 20 th century, is significant. 2: Montreal, Quebec (1930) 28 Many Slovaks settled in Montreal in the l 920's, forming branch 2 of the CSL in 1932. After Western Canada, Montreal became the second center of Slovak settlement in Canada. Slovaks in Montreal first established a Roman Catholic parish in 1928 and a 29 Lutheran one in 1929. The Slovak Greek Catholics joined several fraternal groups, such as the Greek Catholic Union. At one of the meetings of branch 959 of the Union, on October 18, 1930, discussions started and eventually led to the founding of the Slovak Greek 30 Catholic parish. The volunteers created a list of fifty families and 31 many individuals who would join the parish. Ukrainian Bishop Ladyka, visiting Montreal on November 21, 1930, welcomed the delegates and promised to do everything possible "in order to fulfill the request of this God-fearing people, who are organizing themselves in this foreign world, not forgetting God, and are willing to do such a 32 beautiful, but difficult task." The first liturgy was celebrated by Father Michal Gregorejchuk, OSBM on Sunday, December 7, 33 1930. Three days later a meeting was held and a parish council was elected. December I 0, 1930 is considered the date of the creation of 34 the parish. From the very beginning the parish was organized by Slovaks not only from Slovakia, but from Hungary, Romania or 35 elsewhere. A photo from 1931 testifies to the presence of a Slovak 36 school. In 1931 a "Membership Book" was published. This book, 28 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia - Nanebevstupenia Pana v Montreale - 50'h anniversary Slovak Catholic (E. R.) parish of Ascension Montreal (Montreal: Parish of the Ascension, 1980), 34. 29 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady, 34. 3 Cf. PAA , Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, I. 31 PAA , Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 3-4. 32 PAA Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 2. 33 Cf. PAA , Zapisn ica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 2. 34 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 30; 34. 35 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr kat. osady Voznesenia, 24. 36 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 23. ° 34 SLOVAKIA-2017 together with the first financial records, are an authoritative example 37 of the language of the first immigrants. The Basilian fathers took care of the parish until the arrival of 38 Father John Hawryluk in 1949. When the parish was created it was named the GR. KFT. RUSSKA CERKOV (Greek Catholic Russian Church). The change of name was moti vated by a schismatic movement and the rise of national awareness among the faithful. The name Slovak Gr. Cath. Church was used for the first time on October 39 15, 1935 . A youth orchestra nicely represented the parish. In 193 7 the parishioners started to use the chapel in the Notre Dame de Lourdes church as their place of worship until November, 1959. In 1938 the parish mission was granted permission to keep their own 40 parish records and thus gained greater internal autonomy. In these years the pari sh was still only a mission. The years following WW II brought a radical change into the lives of the Slovak Greek Catholics . With the arrival of thousands of Ukrainian refugees to Canada, the Ukrainian Exarchate, later the Eparchy of Toronto and all Eastern Canada, was founded. Its first bishop was Isidore Borecky. On October 10, 1949, Bishop Borecky named Father John Hawryluk as the pastor of the Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Montreal. On December 20, 1949 the former mis41 sion was established as an independent parish. The presence of young people at the services was really appreciated as the youth was 42 "the real core of the new choir of our church." The choir even broadcast by radio to Slovakia. The people dreamt about getting a Slovak priest: 37 Original scans were published in 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 44. 38 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 37. And also : Souvenir book of the dedication of the Slovak Catholic E. R. Church of Ascension, Montreal, Jun e JO, 1962 - Pamiitnci kniha archijerejskeho blahoslovenia slovenskej katolickej V 0. cerkvi Voznesenia, Montreal, JO. juna 1962 (Montreal: Pari sh of the Ascension, 1962), 17-18 . 39 Cf. PAA , Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 32. 4 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 35; 37-39. 41 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 3 1; 40. 42 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 40. ° SLOVAKIA-2017 35 We firmly believe that, in a short time a priest of Slovak ethnicity wi ll be assigned to our parish and thus we will fulfill our long-time dream .... The faithfu l understands the announced Word of God more easily . .. There are obstacles in foreign objections and intentions that prevent us from achieving this goal of ours . .. "We do not long for something foreign, we just want to live our own life, but on the other hand we do not accept anyone trying to make fools of us, that we are Rusnaks or something similar, because those days are gone ... 43 In 1956 the trustees purchased properties at the comer of Legen45 44 dre and Clark streets, and erected a wooden cross . The construction of the new church started in Apri l and the basement was finished 46 in November of I 959 . Parishioners came in the evenings, and on their days off, to work on the construction of the church. The first liturgy in the hall in the basement was celebrated on November 29, 47 1959. The cornerstone was blessed by Bishop Borecky on October 48 2, 1960, and the construction was completed on December 17, 49 1961. An icon of Our Lady of Klokofov was displayed in the 50 church . The solemn blessing of the new church by Bishop Borecky 51 had to wait until June I 0, 1962. The main contractor was the parishioner, Mr. Andrej Midlick, originally from Ponic in Spis county. He even donated to the new church the main altar with a baldachino. The newly-ordained Bishop Rusnak came to visit his flock in 52 Montreal for the first time in May of 1965. Bishop Rusnak blessed 43 "Sv. misie pre gr.-kat. Slovakov v Montreali ," Kanadsky Slowik, Apri l 3, 1954, ff· 5, 8. Cf. PAA , Zapisnica Slovenskej Greko Katol'ickej Osadi Voznesefza Vo Montreale Jan Ihnat zapisnik Na rok 1956, 4-5. 45 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 32. The wooden cross still stands in 201 6. 46 Cf. Souvenir book, 34. 47 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 36. 48 Cf. "Z nasich fa rnosti," Maria , 9-10/1960, 226. 49 Souvenir book, 28 . so Cf. "Z nas ich farnosti," Maria, 3/ 1962, 67. 51 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 42. 52 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 42. 36 SLOVAKIA-2017 the altar on March 6, 1966. From Rome he brought some relics of Saint Cyril to be placed into the altar. The parish in Montreal thus became the first one in the North America to celebrate the liturgy on 53 the relics of this great saint. Bishop Rusnak expressed his desire that the Ascension Church would become "a site of pilgrimages in honor of Saint Cyril, the apostle of the Slovaks and Slavs in general. ,,54 • On October 15, 1966, Father Andrew Sinai' was named pastor. 55 For the first time in its history, the parish had its own Slovak priest. Father Sinai' served until 2006. The beginnings were very hard for Father Sinai', since the parish had a huge mortgage. The trustees gave their approval for reading of the Gospel in English and in Slovak to meet the needs of the younger generation, in order to bring them back to the church. From June 1, 1971 Slovak liturgies were cele56 brated in the parish. The golden jubilee was celebrated on Sunday, 57 September 28, 1980, with Bishop Rusnak present. More than twenty of the original founders of the parish survived for this celebration. Around 500 people attended the banquet. However, due to the death of Father Sinai in 2007 and to dwindling numbers, the Montreal parish was closed in 2010. 3: Windsor, Ontario (1950) The automobile industry attracted many Slovaks to the city of Windsor. So did some farms on the outskirts of town. In 1951 the 58 third largest group of Slovaks in Canada lived here. Slovak Lutherans in Windsor organized a parish in 1928, while the Slovak Greek Catholics had to wait until after WW II. Andrew Balint, acting as the secretary of a newly-formed parish committee, wrote to Bishop 59 Borecky on July 29, 1950. He asked for the bishop's permission to 53 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 42. Tomko, Vladimir, " Posviacka noveho hi. oltara v Montreale," Maria, 4-5/ 1966, 56. 55 PAA, Letter sent on October 4, 1966. 56 Cf. PAA, Zapisnica Slovenskej Greko Katol'ickej Osadi Vozneseiia Vo Montreale Jan Ihnat zapisnik Na rok 1956, 48. 57 Cf. "Oslava 50 rocneho jubilea nasej farnosti v Montreale," Maria , 12/1980, 7-8. 58 Cf. Kirschbaum, 137. 59 PAA , Letter from Jul y 29, 1950. 54 SLOVAKIA-2017 37 establish a new parish. The name chosen was "St. Michael the Archangel Slovak and Subcarpathian Greek Catholic Parish in Windsor, 60 ON." The letter ended with the desire of the congregation to "soon 61 invite (the bishop) to the Slovak parish." Borecky agreed with the 62 organization of a Slovak parish. Father Andrew Krafcik also played a role in its establishment. Until his arrival in Windsor, the 63 parish was administered by Father Mina. The blessing of the cor64 nerstone took place on June 13 , 1954. The rectory, hall and the 65 church were blessed by Bishop Borecky on November 7, 1954. 66 Work with the youth led to establishing the parish choir. In 1956 67 Father George Perejda, CSsR, was ordained from the parish. From November of 1957 to February of 1958 the parish was served by Fa68 ther Fetsco. In 1958 a newly-ordained Slovak Greek Catholic priest, Anthony Zouzal, was appointed as the pastor of Windsor. His tenure could be 69 characterized as the "golden age" of the parish. Collaboration with the Byzantine Catholics on the American side of the border was intensified. 7° Thanks to many cantors, the parish was famous for its singing of Vespers and Liturgies. The popularity of Father Zouzal was so great that on his birthday the parishioners gave him a gift - a 71 car. In his letter to the chancery, dated August 1966, Father Zouzal suggested building a parish school, and even a new name for the parish: the Greek Catholic Parish of St. John - Michael, in order to 60 Sv. Micha/a Archandela Slov. a Podkrp.Gr.kt.paraphija vo Windsor Ont. PAA , Letter from July 29, 1950. 61 "Scoby mi Vas poklikali skoro na nasu Slovensku paraphiju. " PAA , Letter from Jul y 29, 1950. 62 27. Lipna /950. PAA , Letter of Bishop Isidore from July 27, 1950. 63 Cf. "S lovenski greckokatolici v Ontariu," Kanadsky Slowik, September 4, 1954, p. 5. 64 Cf. "Cirkevna slavnost' vo Windsore, Ont.", Kanadsky Slowik, June 12, 1954, p. 8. 65 See the photo in Maria, I /1955 (March), 15. 66 Cf. "Zo zivota nasich farnosti ," Maria , 3/ 195 5 (June), I 6. 67 Cf. "Zpravy," Maria, 6/ 1956, 14. 68 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria , 3-4/ 1965, 15 . 69 Cf. "Zpravy z domova a z katolickeho sveta," Maria, 12/ 1958, 15-16. 7 Cf. " Den modlitieb vo Windsore," Kanadsky Slovak, September 19, 1959, p. 2; "Z nasich farnosti," Maria , I 2/ 1960, 282. 71 Cf. "Z nasich osad," Maria, 7-8/ 1960, 189. ° 38 SLOVAKIA-2017 72 avoid confusion within the city. The school project was never im73 plemented . In 1976 Father Zouzal was named an archpriest. However, his tenure was cut short with his premature death on July 14, 74 1976. An eyewitness remembers Bishop Borecky coming to the funeral and placing his own pectoral cross on the body in the coffin. Some 150 priests, as well as more than 1,500 laypeople, participated 75 in the funeral procession. In the following years the parish was served by Father Gregory Novak, CSsR, by Father James Lynch in 76 1978, and by Father Andrew Sipek in 1979. In 1980 some 400 77 people attended an anniversary banquet. The parish continues to exist to this day. 4: Toronto, Ontario (1951) Slovak settlement in Toronto is already mentioned towards the 78 end of the 19 th century, but large numbers came only after 1923. Many Slovak Greek Catholics in Toronto belonged to branch 7 of the CSL (1937). During their meetings the opportunity to establish an independent Slovak Greek Catholic parish was discussed. Until that time, Slovak Greek Catholics mostly attended the Slovak Roman Catholic parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius (1934), where they comprised a third, or maybe even half of the members . As a result, many people regarded very negatively attempts to establish another parish.79 The beginnings of the Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Toronto 80 are connected with a Rusyn priest, Father Louis Mina. In the archives of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Toronto is a list of seventy-seven names of those who volunteered to join a "S lovak Greek Catholic 72 PA A, Letter of Father Zouzal to Bishop Isidore from August 12, 1966. Cf. "Vy znamenani e o. Antona Zouzala," Maria, 5/ 1976, I 0. 74 "Zomrel o. Anton Zouzal ," Maria, 9/ 1976, 11. 75 PAA , Comm uni cation with Mr. W. Zouzal , recorded on June 5, 20 11. 76 Cf. "Novy paroch vo Windsore," Maria, 12/ 1979, 7. 77 Cf. "Odpust" in Windsor, Maria, 12/ 1980, 9. 78 Cf. Kirschbaum , 132-5. 79 Mikula, Jan, " Hrst' rozpomienok na t'azke zaciatky," Kanadsky Slovak, March 28, 1981, p. 8. 8 Cf. "S lovenski greckokatolici v Ontariu," Kanadsky Slovak, September 4, 1954, p. 5. 73 ° SLOVAKIA-2017 39 81 parish, if such were created." The parish was founded on October 82 29, 1951 as the Slovak Greek - Catholic Church of the Nativity of the B. V. Mary. A different date is indicated by a document dated November 29, 1951 based on a request for the founding of the parish, written and submitted in the name of the faithful from the Eparchies of Presov and Mukacevo, as well as the Apostolic Administra83 tion in Miskolc, Hungary by Father Mina. The term Slovak was of much wider sense than nowadays and it included almost all the Greek Catholic faithful coming from the Union of Uzhorod. The lit84 urgy was celebrated in the Ukrainian Church on Bathurst Street. On April I , 1952, Father Rusnak was named the new pastor of the church. The congregation gathered first on Bathurst Street, then moved to the Holy Eucharist church on King Street, where they worshiped until 1959, when their own church on Shaw Street was 85 blessed. The plans for the new Slovak Greek Catholic church in Toronto were approved on June 9, 1953 . The church was supposed to 86 be built at the comer of Roblock Avenue and Leeds, however this 87 attempt failed. The success of parish picnics led to the purchase of 89 St. Mary's Park. 88 The parish also acquired one part of a cemetery. However, none of these investments lasted. Towards the end of 1956 90 a choir was organized in the parish. A long-time cantor was Mr. 91 Joseph Kampu. At the end of 1959 the parish acquired a B' nai Is92 rael congregation synagogue, located at 257 Shaw Street. On De93 cember 27, 1959 Bishop Borecky blessed it as a church. Some 600 81 PAA, Copy of the signature li st. Cf. "25. vyroc ie nasej famost i," Maria, 9/ 1976, I 0. Jozef Suchy gives the date of October 2 1. 83 PAA, Letter from 28. XI. 1951. 84 Cf. Vasko, Andrej , "S lovenskf Grecko-katolfci," Kanadsky Slovak, October 11 , 1952, p. 2. 85 Cf. Ru snak, Michal , "Stvrt'storocie nasho rastu," Maria , 1/ 1980, 11. 86 Cf. Daily commercial news and building records, June 9 1953, I. 87 Cf. Ru snak, Michal , "Stvrt'storocie nasho rastu," Maria , 1/ 1980, 11 . 88 Cf. Maria, 5/ 1963 , third page of the cover. 89 Maria , 2/1963 , 16. 90 Cf. "Z nasich farnosti," Maria, 9-10/1956, 22. 91 Cf. Maria, 4/1963, 16. 92 Cf. "Time for rejoicing - Celebrate Opening of New Slovak Church," Toronto Daily Star, October 11 , 1959, p. 57 . 93 Cf. " Pozvanka na posviacku," Kanadsky Slovak, Christmas 1959, p. 4. 82 40 SLOVAKIA-2017 94 people from near and far attended. The first English liturgy in the 95 parish was celebrated on March 22, 1964. The nomination of Father Rusnak as the Auxiliary Bishop of the Toronto Eparchy and the Apostolic Visitator for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada surely filled his parishioners with joy, for the church with its rectory became the official seat of the new bishop. Father John Fetsco became its new pastor. In 1972 Father John Pazak, CSsR, later the second bishop of the Slovak Eparchy, was 96 ordained a deacon in the parish. In 1974 Father Joseph Krafcik, SJ 97 helped out. The "odpust" celebration of 197 5 was highlighted by the priestly ordinations of three married deacons, at that time a rare 98 ordination in the Catholic world. On May 31, 1976, a Divine Litur99 gy was celebrated for the first time in Slovak. The arrival of Father Richard Boyle, ordained in the parish in 1978, brought new life to 100 the parish. This consisted not only of pilgrimages he organized, but all the parish activities, where he, together with a group of volun0 teers, cared for children as well as adults. ' ' He even installed a provisional iconostasis. On July 17, 1980, the first Slovak Greek Catholic Day in Bratislava Park near Hamilton took place, in an attempt to unite all the Slovak Greek Catholic parishes at a picnic. The "odpust" in 1980 was prepared jointly by all the parishes, and some 500 102 people attended. When the Slovak Eparchy was created, the 94 Cf. "Z nasich osad," Maria, 1-2/ 1960, 39. Cf. "Kronika," Maria , 3-411964, 16. 96 "Najdostojnej si o. Biskup Jan Pazak, C.Ss.R." in "Banquet in honour of His Excellency Most Reverend John S. Pazak, C.Ss.R." in The episcopal ordination and enthronement of the Most Reverend John S. Pazak, C.Ss. R., second Bishop of the Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius for Byzantine Slovaks in Canada (Toronto: E;archy of Saints Cyril and Methodius, 2000). 9 Cf. PAA , Letter Vel'adostojny a mily Vlady ko! Sent from Rome, Jul y 3, 1974. 98 The whole story is described in the following: Pospishil , Victor, "The Toronto Tempest," in Compulsory celibacy fo r the Eastern Catholics in the Americas (Toronto: Ukrainian Catholic Women's League, 1977). 99 Cf. " Slovenska liturgia v Toronte," Maria, 7-8/ 1976, 13-14. 100 To Quebec and its sanctuaries, to the Holy Land or pilgrimages to Uniontown, PA. 101 Cf. Boy le, Richard, "First solemn reception of Holy Communion in Toronto," Maria , 9/ 1979, 11. 102 Cf. Boyle, Richard, "Alive and well on Shaw Street in Toronto," Maria , 11 / 1980, 8-9. 95 SLOVAKIA-2017 41 church on Shaw Street became its cathedral. A bishop's throne was 103 installed in the cathedral on the orders of Bishop Rusnak. As time passed many parishioners from downtown Toronto (and from the vicinity of the church) moved to other areas of town. It would have been fitting to reach out to these people, especially in the western areas of the Greater Toronto Area. 5: Oshawa, Ontario (1952) Slovak settlement in Oshawa started in the l 920's and is closely related to the development of the automobile industry in the area. After their arrival, the Greek Catholic Slovaks started to attend ser104 vices in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church of Saint George. In 1951 an announcement was placed in Kanadsky Slovak asking people in the Oshawa region who were interested in establishing a Slo105 vak Greek Catholic church to gather for a meeting. Thanks to Mr. 106 Andrew Vasko, the first meeting took place in January of 1952. The chairman asked all those present to sign a document confirming their desire to establish a Slovak Greek Catholic Society. Some fifty signatures were collected. At this meeting a parish committee was elected and the possibility of celebrating the Greek Catholic services 107 in the Slovak Hall was discussed. The first pastor of the community was the Reverend Michael Rusnak. On July 13 , 1952 the very first Slovak Greek Catholic Day in Oshawa was organized with a field 108 liturgy. On January 11 , 1953, the potential parishioners sent a request to Bishop Borecky for a "Slovak Greek Catholic priest, who would be able to have divine services in Oshawa every other Sunday 103 PAA , Folder: Boyle, Letter of Bishop Michael , February 12, 1981. Cf. "Z peknej slovenskej svadby v Oshawe," Kanadsky Slovak, August I 0, 1950, p. 7; "SI. M. Korcinska a p. M. Karas v putach manzelstva," Kanadsky Slovak, October 19, 1950, p. 6. 105 Cf. "S lovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dejin famosti) ," Kanadsky Slovak, AJril 26, 1958, p. 3. 1 Cf. PAA , Lescisin, E. & C.: Slovenska greckokatolicka farnost Ochrany Presvdtej Bohorodicky Oshawa, Ontario, Canada - Slovak Greek Catholic Church of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. November 2001, not for sale description of the parish history, 5. 107 Cf. "S lovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dejin farnosti) ," Kanadsky Slovak, April 26, 1958, p. 3. 108 Cf. Ibid. 104 42 SLOVAKJA-2017 • a mont h ." 109 Some th.irty SI ova k s s1gne • d th e petition. • • 11 0 A or twice mission was established in February of 1953 . The Divine Liturgy was celebrated every other Sunday of the month in the Slovak Hall 111 and the solemn opening ofthe mission occurred on May 10, 1953. The liturgies were celebrated in the morning in Church Slavonic, but 11 2 always with a Slovak sermon. A property was purchased in 1953 11 3 right next to the Slovak Hall on Ritson Road. Really encouraging was the fact that the building process was started by only thirty-eight 114 families. Of great help was a six month-long strike by the United Auto Workers (UAW) labor union in the local General Motors Com11 5 pany, thus providing a ready labor force . The blessing of the cor11 6 nerstone occurred on July 31 , 1955 . The fini shed church was 117 blessed by Bishop Borecky on November 2, I 955 . Attendance was astounding, as according to one chronicler: "From some 800 mouths resounded the hierarchical hymn: " Vose) jesi Archijere11 8 1I 9 ju ..." The parish also offered religious education for the youth. 12 In the late 1950' s a Slovak choir also existed in Oshawa. From October of 1960 until September of 1963 , the parish was adminis12 1 tered by Father John Fetsco, CSsR. He was succeeded by Father 122 Andrew Krafcik. The first official visit of Bishop Rusnak to the 123 parish in Oshawa was on Sunday, May 2, I 965 . Father Michael ° 109 PAA , Without any signature. PAA , Without any signature. 11 1 Cf. " Slovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dej in fa rnosti )," Kanadsky Slovak, April 26, 1958, p. 3. 11 2 C f. " Prvy slovensky grec ko-katolicky odpust," Kanadsky Slovak, November 14, 1953 , p. 2. 11 3 Cf. "S lovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dejin farn osti)," Kanadsky Slovak, April 26, 1958, p. 3. 11 " Vzor jedn oty a spoluprace," Maria, 5/ 1957, 14. 115 Cf. Lescisin, 6. 11 6 Cf. "Oznamuj eme .. .," Mar ia, 5/ 1955 (Jul y), 15. 11 7 Cf. Oznamuj eme .. .," Maria , 7/ 1955 (September), 14-1 5. 118 Cf. " Posvateni e novej slovenskej gr.-kat cerkvi v Os hawe," Maria , 8/ 1955 (October), 15 119 Cf. Maria , 3/ 1957, photo on th e first page of th e cover. 120 "Vas kovci v Os hawe vydava li dceru," Kanadsky Slovak, January 9, 1960, p. 2. 121 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria , 3-4/ 1965 , 15. 122 Cf. Maria, 2/ 1963 , 16. 123 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Bi skupa M. Ru snaka," Maria, 3-4/ 1965, 16. 11 0 SLOVAKIA-2017 43 Durisin from Slovakia served the parish in 1966. After him came 124 Father Stephen Adamiak. The need for a resident priest became urgent among the parishioners towards the end of 1960 's: " If we do not have a resident priest, ... then we and even more our children will 125 be in danger regarding our faith and keeping our pari sh." After dedicated efforts of the parishioners, a new rectory was blessed in 126 May of 1969. In 1970 Father Adamiak was replaced by Father Joseph Dubiak. Thanks to Father Dubiak the modem Slovak lan127 guage was introduced into the liturgy. Father Dubiak left the parish in 197 1, and his successor became Father Adolph Vateha, 128 CSsR. In 1972 a railroad overpass was built nearby, which changed the church surroundings. Later the parish was given some 129 compensation by the City of Oshawa. In later years, mostly Toronto priests served in the Oshawa parish. The parish in Oshawa was never large, but had a strong sense of community. According to the 200 I booklet about the pari sh, a majority of the parisioners were 130 from the former historic counties of Zemplin and Ugoca. The parish is still alive, being served by the Reverend Stephen Williams, an English-speaking convert to th e Byzantine-Slovak rite. 6: Hamilton, Ontario (1952) The first Slovaks arrived in the steel city of Hamilton, Ontario, 131 in the 1920's. They founded their own Roman Catholic Church in January of 1945 . Half of the fo unding families were Greek Catholics, and due to this fact the parish was named Sts. Cyril and Methodi132 us. Several Slovak Greek Catholic families also attended the local 133 Ukrainian church and some even the Polish church. The key mo124 Cf. "Z nasich osad - Oshawa," Maria , 9- I 0/ 1967, 17- I 8. PAA , Letter fro m Jul y 28, 1967. 126 Cf. "V izi tac ie preosv. o. biskupa Michala Rusnaka, CSsR," Maria , 5-6/ 1969, 5. 127 PAA , Letter of Father Joseph to Father Lacko, September 17, I 971. 128 PAA , Confirmation of the appointment as a pastor in the letter of Bi shop Isidore fro m September 20, 1973. 129 Cf. Lesc isin, 11 . 13 Cf. Lescisin, 13 . 13 1 Cf. Kirschbaum , 135-7. 132 Sts. Cyril and Methodius parish - History . htt ://www.s lovakchurch .com/historyh tm ( 11.5 .20 12 15 :00). b J Cf. "Nas rozhovor," Maria , 4/1 979, 9. 125 ° 44 SLOVAKIA-2017 ment for the founding of the Greek Catholic parish was a meeting on October 26, 1952 in the house of Mr. Michael Mati. During this meeting a deci sion was made to establish the parish of Sts . Peter and 134 Paul. The first liturgy was celebrated on December 14, 1952 in the 135 local Ukrainian church. Fathers Michael Rusnak and Louis Mina 136 took turns serving the community. The first anniversary of the mission was celebrated in the Hungarian church on December 13, 1953 , with Bishop Borecky attending, and everyone "was delighted 137 to hear him deliver a short sermon in Slovak. " 138 In 1954 Father Frantisek Fuga came to Hamilton from Rome. The parish changed its name due to a request by the Roman Catholic bishop of Hamilton, who already had in his diocese a parish dedicated to Sts. Peter and Paul. Ukrainian Bishop Isidore Borecky, who was in charge of Slovak Greek Catholics in Ontario, changed the name of the parish to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 139 October 20, 1954. In a letter from the Oriental Congregation in Rome, Cardinal Coussa stated: "The veneration of the Mother of God of Klokocov will assure its success among Slovak Greek Catho40 lics." 1 A copy of the Klokocov icon was painted in the church thanks to the efforts of Father Lacko in 1955, and it was blessed by 14 1 the Pope himself. Also, some Slovenians came annualy in pil. h' . gnmages to t 1s icon. 142 The cornerstone of the sanctuary was blessed on October 20, 143 144 1957 . Inside was al so a bit of soil from Klokocov in Slovakia. The facade with three mountain peaks and a double cross (the Slovak 134 Cf. Yinansky, J. (F . Fuga), "Gr. K. Osada, Hamilton," Kalendar KSL 1977 (Toronto), 84. 135 Cf. " 25 . vyrocie nas ich farn osti," Maria, I 0/ 1977, 11. 136 Cf. Eli as, Jan, "Otec Fuga IO rokov v Hamiltone," Maria , 5/ 1964, 9. 137 Cf. " Po Gr.-kato lickej oslave v Hamiltone," Kanadsky Slovak, Fe bruary 20, 1954, p. 2. 138 "Zo zivota nas ich fa rnosti," Maria, 3/ 195 5 (May), 15. 139 Cf. " Hist6ri a odpustov Panny Marie Klokocovskej v Hamiltonskej svatyni ," Maria, 7-8/ 1965, 3. 14 Fuga, Franti sek, " Rozpomienka na prvy odpu st," Maria , 7-8/ 1965 , I 0. 14 1 Cf. " lkona kl okocovskej Matky Bozej v Hamiltone," Maria, 8/ 1958, 5-7. 142 Cf. " Hor' sa na putnicky odpust Panny Marie Klokococskej do Hamiltonu," Maria , 7-8/ 1969, 3. 143 Cf. Maria, 10/ 1957 , last page of the cover. 144 Cf. " Dej inn y den," Ma ria , 11 / 1957 , 11. ° SLOVAKIA-2017 45 national emblem) was painted by the noted Slovak artist Jozef 145 Cincik. Father Fuga was a skilled organizer, and the Hamilton 146 sanctuary was nicely decorated during his tenure. Fuga also supported the struggle for Slovak independence and created the modem Slovak flag (horizontal white, blue and red stripes with the Slovak emblem superimposed upon it!" In 197 4 he became the director of 47 the Matica Slovenska Abroad. Hamilton was also one of the first Greek Catholic parishes to have the Sunday readings done in modem Slovak. The church was dedicated on June 9, 1963, as part of the local Cyrillo-Methodian celebrations (the 1100 th anniversary of the 148 arrival of the Apostles of the Slavs on Slovak territory). In those days, the number of the faithful in Hamilton increased to almost 149 500. The first visit of Bishop Rusnak to Hamilton after his episco150 pal ordination took place on May 23 , 1965. At the beginning of 1975 Father Fuga became seriously ill. This was the price he paid for his printing apostolate, using lead ink. Some parishioners said to him: "Monsignor, please do not die! It would be better for us if the sanctuary burned to the ground, because you could build another one, but if you die, we will lose it in a few 151 years! " Father Fuga lived for another ten years. On October 3, 152 1975 a Slovak school opened in the parish. The "odpust" of 1976 included a blessing of the interior iconography, created by Igor 153 Suchacev, and the ceremony of presenting the miter to Monsignor Fuga. Suchacev painted Slovak saints in the apse, with their scrolls 145 PAA, Letter from Father Fuga to Father Lacko, January 31, 1975. Cf. "Z nasich osad - Hamilton," Maria, 3-4, 1968, 18-20; fourth page of the cover; "Odpust a cirkevne slavnosti v Hamiltone," Kanadsky Slovak, August 9, 1975, p. 5; "Vyrocity odpust a strieborne jubileum pastoracie Mons. Fr. Fugu v Hamiltone," Kanadsky Slovak, September 8, 1979, p. 3. 147 Cf. Elias, Jan, "Zahranicna MS ma protektora," Kanadsky Slovak, July 6, 1974, P,·48 5. Cf. "Kronika," Maria , 4/ 1963, 16. 149 Cf. Lacko, Michal, " Posviacka dvoch novych s lovenskyc h kostolov v Kanade," Kanadsky Slovak, June 29, 1963 , p. 5. 15 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Biskupa M. Rusnaka," Maria, 3-4/ 1965, 16. 151 "Nas rozhovor," Maria , 4/ 1979, 9. 152 Cf. "Skola slovenciny osady P. M. Klokocovskej , Kanadsky Slovak, October 18, 1975 , p. 5. 153 Born in Yugoslavia to Russian refugees . One of his works was the decoration of the throne in Ethiopia. 146 ° 46 SLOVAKIA-2017 written in Slovak. The church also has depictions of the blessed Sister Miriam T. Demjanovic and President Joseph Tiso. The beauty of the church was also enhanced by the iconostasis, being the only Slo154 vak church in Canada to have a permanent one. The parish exists to this day, although the glory days of Father Fuga are gone. 7: Welland, Ontario (1953) The first Slovaks settled in the Niagara peninsula around 1920; eventually there were some 3,000. Local branches of the CSL had these numbers : 23 in Welland (1940), 31 in St. Catharines (1942), 3 7 155 in Niagara Falls (1943) and 64 in Port Colborne ( 1952). A majority of the Slovak Greek Catholics in Welland and nearby places came to Canada in the last years prior to WW II, mostly from Zemplin County. Only after WW II, when new priests arrived, did the organization of spiritual life develop here. On November 22, 1953 a meeting was held in Welland for all those interested in establishing a Slovak Greek Catholic parish under the patronage of the Holy Spirit. The meeting was organized by Father Vincent Danco, SJ. Some twenty-eight members of the future parish appeared. The faithful wished to have the liturgy celebrated twice a month and to temporarily use the Gregorian calendar. They also produced a list of fifty-five people who wished to belong to the 156 parish. Bishop Borecky promised in his letter of December I 9, 157 1953 to send a Decree for the creation of this parish. The first pastor of the parish was Father Danco, whose name was inscribed with gold letters into the history of the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada. On August 1, 1954, the Reverend Nicholas Chanat became the pastor of the Hol y Ghost parish in Welland and the "mission stations 158 of the Niagara Peninsula districts." The solemn groundbreaking 154 Cf. " Yysoka cirkevna hodnost' Mons. F. Fugovi," Kanadsky Slovak, September 4, 1976, pp . 1-2. 155 Cf. "S lovaci a ich organi zacia v dejinach oblasti N iagara," Kanadsky Slovak, January 31 , 198 1, p.5. 156 PAA , without a signature. 157 PAA , without a signature. 158 PAA, Letter from Bishop Borecky, without a signature. 47 SLOVAKIA-2017 159 took place on July 3, 1955 , and on May 20, 1956 the new church160 hall was blessed. However, the Reverend Chanat died in the morn161 ing of March 17, 1957 at the age of30. This was so devastating that the hall became a permanent church, as there was never any fur162 ther building activity. Father Mina succeeded him ; after him the 164 163 parish was served by Fathers Fetsco, Kra:fcik, Shogan, Chamey and Russin. Bishop Rusnak visited the parish for the first time as a • 165 bishop on June 6, 1965 . From November 1965, Father Smal' was 166 the pastor. After Father Russin resigned as pastor at the end of 167 I 971, Father Robert Keleher was named the new administrator. 168 He installed a temporary iconostasis. Father Keleher was replaced with a Slovak priest, Father Stephen Kundra, who served from Au169 gust of 1972 until February of 1973 . The parish was administered for a while by Father Fuga until the arrival of Father John Leso, SJ _110 Vo The parish financial report for the year 1980 showed that, were it not for bingo, the rental of the hall and kitchen, the parish would not 171 collect enough money to pay the priest's salary. This was due to the aging of the parish, the death of its founders , while their offspring either moved away or lost interest in this church. Thus, the parish slowly declined and did not survive the year 20 I 0. 159 In other sources the date for the groundbreaking by Father Chanat is listed as Jul y 4, 1954 . 16 Cf. "Zaznamenavame," Maria , 411956, 16. 161 Cf. "Za milovanym o. Nikolajom," Maria , 4/ 1957, 3-6. 162 PAA, Letter of April 3, 1957. 163 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria, 3-4/1965 , 15 . 164 PAA, Letter from Michael Kostik to Bi shop Isidore, November 9, 196 1. 165 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Biskupa M. Ru snaka," Maria , 3-4/ 1965 , 16. 166 PAA , Letter of th e Vicar General, the Right Reverend Basil Filevich, December 6, 1965 . 167 PAA , Letter of Bishop Isidore to the Toronto-Dominion Bank, December 24, 197 1. 168 PAA, Letter of Father Keleher to Bishop Isidore, August 27, 1973. 169 PAA , Letter of Bishop Isidore, February 23, 1973, addressed to the TorontoDomi nion Bank . 170 PAA , Lette r of February 17, 1976. 171 PAA, Annual statement - 1980. ° 48 SLOVAKIA-2017 8: Sudbury, Ontario (1954) This mining town in northern Ontario also attracted Slovak im172 migrants. In 1923 the first Slovaks arrived in Sudbury. Several of 173 them were Greek Catholics. The founding meeting of branch 16 of the CSL was held June 19, 1938 at the hall of the local Ukrainian Greek Catholic church, showing thus their religious affi liation. The local Greek Catholic Slovaks had quite a community life even before 174 their parish was founded , as testified by newspaper articles. On many of these occasions the Master of Ceremonies, or simply the Elder, presided over the event with both formal as well as religious 175 elements. A real start for the Slovak Greek Catholics was the Divine Liturgy celebrated on August 15, 1954 at the hall of the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society. It was celebrated by fathers Louis Mina and Nicholas Chanat and Father Dzurman, the local Ukrainian 176 priest. The parish received the title of Our Lady of Perpetual 178 177 Help. The entire ceremony was broadcast on local television. 179 Thereafter liturgies were celebrated on a monthly basis. The Sudbury parishioners were also subscribers and ~enerous benefactors of 1 the Slovak Greek Catholic magazine Maria. Father Fetsco became 18 1 the pastor for the first time in 1957. With several breaks and sev- ° 172 Cf. Urban, J., "Slovaks in Sudbury," Polyphony: Th e Bulletin of the Multicultural History Society of Ontario - Sudbury 's People, Vol. 5 (No. I, 1983), p. 123 . 173 Cf. "Smutna sprava 23. zboru KSL," Kanadsk:y Slovak, August 9, 1980, p. 7; " Spravy z Toronta," Kanadsk:y Slovak, April 7, 1979, p. 2. 174 Cf. " Man zelia Strokovi jubilovali," Kanadsk:y Slovak, March 30, 1950, p. 6; "Manzelia Rani covi jubilovali, Kanadsk:y Slowik, August 17, 1950, p. 6; "Rani covi zenili syna Stefana," Kanadsk:y Slovak, September 9, 1950, p. 6; "S I. Johanka Simkova v putach manzelstva," Kanadsk:y Slovak November 9, 1950, p. 7; " Manzelia Koritko jubilovali, Kanadsk:y Slovak, November 8, 1952, p. 2. 175 Cf. " Mad'arovci 25 rokov v manzelstve, Kanadsk:y Slovak, December 2 1, 1950, p. 3. 176 Cf. Maria , 2/1955 , 15; "S lavnostne otvorenie slovenskej gr. kat. parafii v Sudbury, Ont. di\ a 15. augusta, Kanadsky Slovak, August 7, 1954, p. 8. 177 Cf Urban 124 178 Cf. Mari;, 2/ 1955 , 15. No such video recording cou ld be found. CTV does not have it in its archi ves, TYO did not exist and CBC did not answer my e-mails. 179 Cf. " Prvy slovensky krst v Sudburach," Kanadsk:y Slovak, November 6, 1954, p. 3. 18 Cf. Maria , 6/l 955 , 17; 5/ 1958, 22. 18 1 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria, 3-4/ 1965 , 15. ° SLOVAKIA-2017 49 182 era! priests substituting, he continued coming to the parish until 1972. On July I, 1964, a new pastor was named--Father Theoktist 183 Vidov, a Studite monk originally from Croatia. Bishop Rusnak 184 came to Sudbury on June 13, 1965 . Sadly, someone noted that the youth had little interest in its roots: "The whole ceremony was really nice. And it could be even nicer if our young Slovaks from Sudbury 185 would show up in bigger numbers for such a great ceremony." In 1965 Father Jules Riotte, a Greek Catholic priest of German origin is • d as t he pastor, commg • twice • a mont h . 186 B 1s . hop R usna' k menhone 187 also returned to Sudbury in the following years. We have a list 188 from the 1960's of 31 fam ilies who had their homes blessed following the blessing of the Jordan water. Another list of families who 189 appeared for All Souls Day celebrations is also preserved. One of the problems of the Slovak Greek Catholic community in Sudbury was the lack of a resident priest. Another important factor for the downfall of the parish were economic conditions. Around 1964, when their economic situation changed for the better, many people moved to southern Ontario, and since no new waves of immigrants appeared, a decline in the number of Slovaks (and Greek Catholics) began. At a parish meeting held on July 13, 1975, it was decided "to dismiss the parish ; the reason is that there is no one to keep it because there are no more parishioners, it is sad, but it could 191 190 not be changed." Bishop Rusnak responded on July 25, 1975, but another reply from the parishioners was dated August 1, 1977. Because of this correspondence, Maria magazine listed the parish in 182 Cf. Urban, 124. Cf. "Kronika," Maria, 6-7/ 1964, 16. 184 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp . Biskupa M. Rusnaka," Maria, 3-4/1965, 16. 185 "Cestujeme s p. biskupom ," Maria, 9-10/ 1965, 6. 186 Beskyd, J., Yearbook of the Eparchy of Toronto (In the vineyard of Christ) (Toro nto: Eparc hy of Toronto, 1964), 520. 187 Cf. "Z nas ich osad - Sudbury - Preosv. p. biskup Michal Rusnak CSsR medzi svojimi ," Maria, 11-12/ 1967, 18- 19; Stripay, J., "Preosv. o. bisk up Michal Rusnak CSsR v Sudburach," Maria, 9-10/1968, 6. 188 PAA, File: Sudbury. 189 PAA , File: Sudbury. 190 PAA , Letter from the ushers to Bishop Michael, dated July 17, 1975. 191 PAA, Letter from the ushers to Bishop Michael, dated August I, 1977. 183 50 SLOVAKIA-2017 192 197 6 as still open, but that is no longer the case. Only sixty people 193 of Slovak origin remain in Sudbury. 9: Delhi (Simcoe - Delhi), Ontario (1955) Many Slovaks, especially from Eastern Slovakia, started to move into the area of Simcoe and Delhi, in southern Ontario, around 1930. 194 Most of them worked as tobacco farmers . The same people who founded branch 46 of the Canadian Slovak League in 1944 also founded St. Andrew's parish. In 1954 Father Frantisek Fuga of Hamilton heard about the Greek Catholic Slovaks at this location and contacted them. After a few weeks he celebrated a liturgy for 195 them. Since this took place around the feast of St. Andrew, the parish was named for this saint. It was officially created in Novem196 ber of 1955 . Father Fuga answered the spiritual needs of the parishioners working on farms and served them once a month in the 197 local Ukrainian church in Delhi. In 1965 only about thirty families 198 attended these services. The first pastoral visit of St. Andrew's parish by Bishop Michael Rusnak was conducted on December 18, 199 1966. The silver jubilee of the parish could also be called its swan 200 song. It was celebrated on October 19, 1980. The story of Simcoe - Delhi is the story of a small flock of the faithful, who wanted to 192 Cf. "Nase kostoly," Maria, 1/1976, third page of the cover. Census profile: http://wwwI2.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/20 I I/dpp_gfprQf1/<!eJ<1.ih/p_agt!,Sfo1'.?: Lang= E&Geo l =CSD&Cocle 1=3553005&Geo2=CD&Cocle2=3553&Data=Count&S t!archText=suclbur &SearchT e=Contains&SearchPR=0 l&B l =A ll &C ustom=&TA Bl D '."'J (27.8.2013 23:30) 194 Cf. Kirschbaum , J. M.: Slovaks in Canada (Toronto: Canadian Ethnic Press Association of Ontario, 1967), 128. 195 Cf. "Osada v Simcoe - Delhi jubiluje," Maria , 1-3/1966, 3-4. 196 See: Kirschbaum , 262 and Fuga, Frantisek, J., "Slovenska greckokatolicka farnost' sv. Andreja v Simcoe - Delhi , Ont. jubilovala," Kanadsky Slovak, November 29, 1980, p. 4. 197 Cf. Kirschbaum, 262. 198 Cf." Osada v Simcoe - Delhi jubiluje," Maria, 1-311966, 3-4. 199 Cf. "Prva vizitacia pana biskupa Michala Rusnaka v Simcoe-Delhi, Ont. ," Maria, 1-2/1967, 10-11. 200 Cf. Fuga, Frantisek J., "S lovenska greckokatolicka farnost' sv. Andreja v Simcoe - Delhi , Ont. jubilovala," Kanadsky Slovak, November 29, 1980, p. 4. 193 SLOVAKIA-2017 51 praise God in Church Slavonic, as they did back home. However their small size prevented the parish from growing. The community literally died with the death of the last parishioner from among the original flock. This community was always listed as a parish, even though from the ecclesiastical point of view it would probably be called a mission, as in all juridical matters the parishioners belonged to the Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Hamilton. 10: Kenaston, Saskatchewan (1967) The first Slovaks arrived in Kenaston in July of 1903 and were 20 1 followed by others who came to farm. Besides the Ukrainians, many Slovak Greek Catholics also settled in and around nearby Sas202 katoon, Saskatchewan. Bishop Rusnak came to Saskatoon on June 203 26, 1966, hoping to include these people within his jurisdiction, and to make of this place a permanent center of the Slovak religious presence in Canada. Before this visit, an invitation appeared in the press: Come all of you, who are able to come, because this will be the very first time, since our arrival here 50 years ago, that we will be able to welcome amongst us our first Slovak bishop in Canada and the first bishop who is a Greek Catholic, since the times of Sts. Cyril and Methodius .... This joyful news is written for you ... by Joseph Zeman, an 80 year-old Slovak, who after 65 years in Canada, lived long enough to 204 experience this great joy ... The Ukrainian Greek Catholics gave Rusnak permission to use their cathedral of St. George for the meeting. The organizational committee prepared 600 memorial ribbons - but they were not 205 206 . enough! Father John Kobelak, M.S.F. was entrusted with or- 20 1 Cf. "Na vyrocie slovenskych pociatkov v Saskatchewan a slovenskeho ~riekopnictva v Kanade, Kanadsky Slowik, June 25 , 1966, p. 2. 02 Cf. "S lovak so Slovakom sa zide," Kanadsky Slowik, March 10, 1962, p. 2; "Janko Purda graduoval ," Kanadsky Slovak, January 5, 1963, p. 2. 203 Cf." Pl anovane vizitacne cesty p. biskupa," Maria , 4-5/1966, 16. 204 Cf. " Do pozornosti Slovakom v Saskatchewan," Kanadsky Slovak, May 28, 1966, ~- 2. os Cf. "Aj 600 bolo malo," Kanadsky Slovak, July 16, I 966, p. 3. 52 SLOVAKIA-2017 20 7 gamzmg this parish. The Slovak Greek Catholic parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Kenaston, Saskatchewan, was officially created during the Canadian centennial in 1967, after the trip of Bishop Rusnak to Saskatoon. The parish was part of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Saskatoon, having its own property, a gift of the recently-deceased Joseph Zeman. Bishop Rusnak planned to send the parish a Slovak priest - the Reverend Stephen Adamiak.208 In the archives are notes testifying that the Ukrainian Eparchy indeed received the property and also $1000 to be used to build a Slovak Greek Catholic church in Kenaston. However, the following year the heirs of the late Mr. Zeman changed their minds and requested that the $1,000 be re209 turned to them. In the fall of 1970 the parish ceased to exist. 2 10 The question remains: Would a Slovak parish have lasted in Saskatchewan, if it had been built in Saskatoon rather than in the small village of Kenaston? MISSIONS WITH IRREGULAR SERVICES Among the missions we list those places where we are sure that the Slovak Greek Catholic services were held: 11: Edmonton, Alberta The capital of the Province of Alberta attracted many Slovak immigrants in the 1930's, including Greek Catholics.2 11 Slovak 212 Greek Catholics present here never formed a separate parish or other type of organized community, but they still could be considered a part of the life of Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada. After his 206 Born in Poland in 1921 . He came to Canada in 1964, and worked in the Eastern rite. He died in 200 I. 207 Cf. "Z nasich osad - Kenaston - Nova slovenska greckokatolfcka osada sv. Cyrila a Metoda," Maria, 11-12/ 1967, 17. 208 PAA, Letter of Bishop Michael dated May 15, 1967. 209 PAA , E-mail from the Eparchy of Saskatoon, sent to the author on November 21, 2011 , 17:00. 210 PAA , Letter NM najdostojnejci Otce Vladyka! sent from Rome, 12. X. 1970. 211 Cf. Kirschbaum , 151. 212 Cf. Maria, 1/ 1963, 17. SLOVAKIA-2017 53 Episcopal ordination, Bishop Michael Rusnak visited Edmonton on 213 June 27, I 965 . 12: Fernie, British Columbia Femie is one of the oldest settlements of Slovaks in Canada. The 214 first Slovak miners came here in 1898 from Pennsylvania. Many of them were Greek Catholics. Shortly after the start of the 20th cen215 tury, a branch of the Greek Catholic Union was founded here. Slovaks in Femie were also organized in branch 51 of the CSL. Fa2 16 ther Michal Lacko did a visitation here in 1973. Femie is mentioned as a mission in the report of the Apostolic Visitator in 217 1978. 13: New Westminster, British Columbia The first Slovaks came to the Canadian Pacific coast at the end 218 219 of the 19 th century. Larger numbers appeared only after WW 11. Branch 4 7 of the CSL was established here in 1944. The Slovak Roman Catholic parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius has existed in New 220 Westminster since 1960. Many of its parishioners were Greek 221 Catholics. From time to time, Greek Catholic services were also celebrated here. In 1959 there was a Slovak Greek Catholic wedding in the Ukrainian church, performed by a "good friend of Slovaks, 222 Father Bylik, who was ass isted in the ceremonies by Mr. Bodnar.'' 213 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Bisk upa M. Rusnaka," Maria, 5-611965, I 3. Cf. Kirschbaum , 70. 215 Cf. Palmer, Howard, Land of the Second Chance (A History of Ethnic Groups in Southern Alberta), (Lethbridge : Lethbridge Herald, 1972), 195. 216 Personal Archive of the Author (PAA) Letter of Bishop Michael to Father Lacko, May 28, 1973. 217 PAA , Quinquennial report for Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada, 19731978 (November 1st , 1978),2-3 . 218 Kanadsky Slovak, November 14, I 970. 219 Cf. Kirschbau m, 146-8. 220 Officiall y establ ished by Father Wi lliam Lacko, SJ in 1960. The first acti vities with local Slovaks date back to 1952. 22 1 Cf. " Klub za ujemcov o hist6riu Slovakov v Britskej Kolumbii v Kanade," http://www.sk-bc .ca/book/export/ html/I 98 (October 18, 20 11 , 20:00); Maria, 78/ 1965, 5; 12; 12/1965, 15. 222 " Pekna slovenska svadba v B.C.," Kanadsky Slovak, June 27, 1959, p. 2. 214 54 SLOVAKIA-2017 The Slovak church of Sts. Cyril and Methodius was the home of Ukrainian Greek Catholics until they built their own church. In those days a certain Byzantine-rite priest - Father Kmec-- celebrated the services. Many times the Slovak Greek Catholics celebrated with the Ukrainians. ln 1970, the Reverend William Lacko wrote about the Greek Catholics: "the late Michael Bodnar with a beautiful voice, was an outstanding cantor." Already during the Cyrillo-Methodian jubilee in 1963 we learn that "many Slovak Greek Catholics are living in this area and because of this Father Michael Lacko went to the far west of Canada ... and celebrated services in the Church Slavonic 223 language .... " And during the Jubilee year, according to the words of the pastor, once a month instead of the sermon "we all sang "Moleben." The Impressive "Hospodi pomiluj" resounded in the church as a joint response to the petition of all the Catholics of both 224 rites." On the day of the Cyrillo-Methodian celebrations, July 7, 1963 , the Latin Mass was fo ll owed with the singing of sacred songs in Slovak and Church Slavonic by both Roman and Greek Catho225 lics. They sang lie Cheruvimi (Let us, who mystically represent 226 the Cherubim) and Otce nas (Our Father), led by Mr. Bodnar. Bishop Rusnak was quite frequentl y a welcome guest of the parish. On those occasions, the church was always filled to the very last seat or even overcrowded. His visit was a real "unique experience with lasting value .. .. Greek Catholics are coming from near and far to the services held in the Slovak church and it is a joy to see them, 227 when Bishop Michael is among them .. .'' In 1966 Bishop Rusnak 228 appeared on July 3. He officiated at the funeral of Mrs. Potoma on 229 July 6, 1970. For the local parishioners it became a tradition throughout the years to have Bishop Rusnak among them , always around the feast day of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, patrons of their 223 224 Cf. Maria , 7/ 1963 , 11. "Slovenski greckokatolici na Pacifiku," Kanadsky Slovak, September 14, 1970, p. 5. 225 Cf. "Cyril ometodske slav nosti v B.C.," Kanadsky Slovak, June 29, 1963, p. 8. Cf. "Cyrilometodske oslavy na Pacifickom pobrezi," Kanadsky Slovak, August 17, 1963, p. 2. 227 "Slovenski greckokatolici na Pacifiku," Kanadsky Slovak, September 14, 1970, p. 5. 228 Cf. " Planovane vizitacne cesty p. biskupa," Maria , 4-5/ 1966, 16. 229 PAA , Folder: Vancouver. 226 SLOVAKIA-2017 55 church. The bishop made such a good impression on the people that they left with the words: "Goodbye Most Reverend Bishop M. 230 Rusnak until next year." In 1973 the Byzantine liturgy was scheduled for August 5, with Father Michael Lacko, SJ as the main cele. . was a Iso the act o f a canomca . I v1s1tahon. . . . 232 brant. 23 1 H.1s v1s1t Among the benefactors of the Maria magazine were several people 233 from New Westminster. The visits of the Greek Catholic bishop to New Westminster stopped a long time ago, but the Greek Catholics there attend the Slovak Roman Catholic parish to thi s day. 14: Unionville (Markham), Ontario From the canonical point of view, Unionville Ontario, and the fa mily mansion of the billionaire Stephen B. Roman could not be considered either a parish, or a mission. However, to be fair to history, we have to note that services were held here more often than in some of th e other missions. Fron the 1950's until the 1980 's Bishop Rusnak celebrated a liturgy in the residence of Mr. Roman every 234 Sunday aftemoon. The bishop had become a good friend of the Greek Catholic Stephen Roman in the early 1950 's. Together they planned to build a huge Cathedral of the Transfiguration on Mr. Roman's property in Unionville and Pope John Paul II even blessed the 235 cornerstone in I 984. However, after Mr. Roman suddenly died in 1988, Bishop Rusnak and his successor Bishop Pazak, could not come to an agreement with Mr. Roman 's heirs as to the actual ownership of the cathedral. Therefore, Bishop Pazak deconsecrated the 23 °Korem, Albin, " Dve spravy z B. C.," Kanadsky Slowik, July 18, 1970, p. 5. 23 1 PAA , Postcard Srdecny pozdrav od Ticheho oceanu. Sent from San Francisco, Jul y 20, 1973. 232 PAA, Letter of Bishop Michae l to Father Lacko, May 28, 1973. 233 Cf. Maria, 2/ 1963, 17; 1/1964, third page of the cover; 2/ 1964, third page of the cover; 9-10/ 1964, third page of the cover; 1-2/ 1965, third page of the cover; 12/1965 , 16; 1-3/ 1966, third page of the cover; 1/ 1977, third page of the cover; 5/ 1978, 16;4/ 1979, 16; 7-8/ 1980, 24. 234 Litva, Felix, "Stefan B. Roman - clovek v rozdvojenom svete" (Cambridge, ON : Dobra kniha, 198 I). 235 See Our Heritage of Faith : Consecration of the Slovak Cathedral of the Transfiguration by His Holiness Pope John Paul II, September 15, 1984, ed. by Helen Roman-Barber and Anne C. R. Roman (Toronto: Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius for Slovaks of the Byzantine Ri te in Canada, 1984). 56 SLOVAKIA-2017 church in 2006 and since then it has sat empty as the cornerstone of a 236 massive housing development called "Cathedraltown." 15: Winnipeg, Manitoba Slovak immigrants started coming to to Winnipeg before the First World War, but the largest group arrived in the interwar peri237 od. A Slovak Roman Catholic parish existed here since 1951. Father Alexander Baran, an historian and native of the Subcarpathian region, worked at the local univers ity. Because his dad had been a secretary to the first Slovak Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia- Dr. Milan Hodza--he knew Slovak and was a great friend to Slovak Greek Catholics, with whom he shared the same liturgical tradition.2 38 Before the end of the 19 th century, several families from Zemplin County arrived via Pennsylvania to the town of Neepawa, in the 239 Province of Manitoba. When the Canadian Slovak League (CS L) was established here in 1932, one of the founding members, Juraj Rond'os, was not ashamed of being not only Slovak, but also a Greek Catholic. The local branch of the CSL received the number 1. The Slovak Greek Catholics in town attended mostly the local Ukrainian church for their worship services. The priests even learned some 240 Slovak for special celebrations for these parishioners. The most vital period for Slovak Greek Catholics in Winnipeg 24 1 started after the episcopal ordination of Bishop Rusnak. He came to Winnipeg for the first time on Sunday, August 22, 1965, and assisted by the local Slovak Roman Catholic pastor, Msgr. John Re236 For more details see "The Cathedral that Toronto Forgot," Toronto Star, June 26, 201 1 and "Losing Faith in Cathedraltown," Toronto Star, January I 0, 2015. 237 Cf. Kirschbaum , 75 -76. 238 For more info on Baran see: htt ://um anitoba.ca/libraries/units/archi ves/collections/rad/baran.html 239 Cf. R~ ndos, Juraj, "V lete sli spat' na breh rieky," in Spomienky pionierov, ed. by lmrich Stolarik (Toronto: Kanadska Slovenska Liga, I 978), 2 19. Maria, 1/ 1963, 17; 10/ 1963, third page of the cover; 12/ 1965 , 16; 12/ 1966, third page of the cover. 24 Cf. " Mary Rondosova vydala sa za Janka Stretavskeho," Kanadsky Slovak, March I, 195 1, p. 4. " Pekna slovenska svadba vo Winnipegu," Kanadsky Slovak, Apri l 5, 1958, p. 2; "Opusti li nas dvaja Slovaci z nasej okolice v Dufresne, Man. ," Kanadsky Slovak, March 21, 198 1, p. I 0. 241 Cf. Kutka, J., " Historicky den manitobskych Slovakov," Kanadsky Slovak, Nove mber 13, 1965, p. 2. ° SLOVAKIA-2017 57 kem, as well as by Father Baran, he celebrated a Byzantine liturgy in 242 the local Slovak Roman Catholic church. His visit was prepared by Msgr. Rekem and Mr. J. Kutka. Beautiful liturgical Church Slavonic singing had a delicate impact on the people present, many of them hearing it probably for the very first time in their lives. The choir, directed by organist Cudovit (Louis) Besei\ovsky, sang both Slovak Greek and Latin liturgies. Even though the Greek and Latin Catholics sang together for the first time, they 243 were praised for their perforrnance. Bishop Rusnak also visited the Greek Catholic Slovaks in Win244 nipeg in the following years. Several Slovak Greek Catholics from Winnipeg and nearby settlements appeared among the supporters of ~"' • • 245 1V1arza magazme. OTHER SLOVAK GREEK CATHOLIC LOCATIONS 16: Flin Flon, Manitoba Many Slovaks found jobs in the mining industry here, among them quite a few Greek Catholics . Several Slovak farmers settled around the town as well. When the Canadian Slovak League was founded in 1932, its local branch was given the number 4. However, the best years for the community were the 1940's and 1950's. Several Greek Catholic Slovaks here attended the local Ukrainian 246 church. In 1966 Bishop Michael Rusnak intended to send the Revernd John Zeman, OSB as a Greek Catholic priest to Flin 247 Flon . However, this did not materialize. 242 Cf. "Cestujeme s p. biskupom," Maria , 9-10/1965, 9- I 0. 1bid., 9. 244 Cf. " Planovane vizitacne cesty p. biskupa," Maria, 4-5/1966, 16. PAA, diaries. 245 Cf. Maria , 1/ 1964, third page of the cover; 2/ 1964, third page of the cover; 67/ 1964, third page of the cover; 12/1965, 16; 1-2/ 1967, fourth page of the cover; 78/ 1977, third page ofthe cover; 5/ 1978, 16; 3/1979, 16; 2/ 1980, 16; 12/1980, 16. 246 Cf. "Smutok sboru vo Flin Flon, Man. ," Kanadsky Slovak, February 4, 1956, p. 2; Kadas, V.: Brat Jozef Dubos na vecnosti," Kanadsky Slovak, July 23, 1966, p. 2; "Zlata svadba u Rujakov vo Flin Flon, Man.," Kanadsky Slovak, September 25, 1976, p. 6; "Zlata svadba manzelov Stefanik v B. C.," Kanadsky Slovak, October 18, 1975, p. 4. 247 PAA , Letter from Father John Zeman, August 2, 1966. 243 58 SLOVAKIA-2017 17: Thunder Bay, Ontario The city of Thunder Bay came into existence on January 1, 1970, when Port Arthur and Fort William, were amalgamated. The majority of the Slovaks in this area were from the county of Orava. They started coming in the 1890's and built St. Peter's Slovak Roman 248 Catholic church in 1907. Slovak Lutherans built a church in 1927. 249 Newspapers confirm several Slovak Greek Catholics living here. The first journey after his ordination led Bishop Rusnak to the Cana250 dian West through Fort William. He almost certainly stopped here on his ways to the West, when traveling by car. Conclusion Besides the above mentioned cities, which were depicted on the map of the Eparchy, the Slovak Greek Catholic presence was also documented elsewhere in Canada. Benefactors of the magazine Maria appeared in a larger number of locations. One can observe from the life of the Canadian Slovak Greek Catholics that, to some degree, they were copying the ways of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics, who first settled in the West of Canada, then moved to Quebec, with a hiatus in the interwar period and then focused on Southern Ontario. The settlements in Southern Ontario 25 1 shared similar fates , not only with Ukrainian Catholics, but to a 252 certain degree even more with the Hungarian Greek Catholics. 248 Cf. Kirschbaum , 77-79. Cf. " Smutime za nas imi bratmi," Kanadsky Slowi k, August 27, 1966, p. 3; "Jub ileum Bakovych v Niagara Falls," Kanadsky Slowik, August 15, 1959, p. 2. 25 Cf. Kutka, J., "Historicky dei\ Manitobskych Slovakov, Kanadsky Slowik, November 13, 1965 , p. 2. 251 Cf. Canada 's Ukrainians: Negotiating an Identity, ed. by Lubomyr Luciuk and Stella Hryniuk (Toronto: Uni versity of Toronto Press, 199 1). On the Ukrainian exr,erience around Winnipeg see pages 53 -80. 52 Slovak - Hungarian Greek Cath olic re lati ons in Canada are a topic fo r furth er research . The Slovak Greek Catholics were fo r a time guests of the Hungari an Greek Catholic Church in Hamilton. In Windsor, Father Krafcik served for a time both Greek Catholi c communities - Slovak as we ll as Hungari an. Similar plans were made fo r Welland, whi ch also had both Churches, using the same liturgical rite, the same melodi es (and when it came to English, exactl y the same melodies and texts)! Especially in Ontario, the Hungarian settlements were almost identical to the Slovak ones. Also from the letters of Father Michal Lacko, SJ, we learn that, before the Slovak eparchy was created, he hoped that a bishopric would be created whi ch 249 ° SLOVAKIA-2017 59 Many people had relatives in other parishes, leading to frequent mutual visits of Slovak Greek Catholics, other than in their their own parishes, especially for parish feast days, or some great historic milestones. Many new friendships were thus started, and also some marriages arranged within the community. Places which really continued to blossom with the Slovak Greek Catholic population were the industrial towns of Eastern Canada. If the industry closed, or shrank, or farming was no longer attractive, the people moved out and then their parishes were closed (Sudbury 253 and Flin Flon). The same thing happened in the mining and steel 254 industry towns of Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey. If a parish were to last, it had to have several zealous parishioners. Where there were only a few, such a parish had only a minimum chance of survival (Kenaston, Winnipeg, New Westminster). In such a case the Slovak Greek Catholics joined (or remained) either with local Slovak Roman Catholics or with Ukrainian Greek Catholics. The age of the parishioners when starting their parishes was also quite crucial, as when they were relatively old, and few in number, their parishes lasted for only a short while (Simcoe - Delhi). What is interesting is how the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada made picnics an important part of parish culture. These gatherings became so popular, that at some time the parishes of Toronto and Hamilton owned their own picnic grounds, while the other parishes used facilities of other groups. In almost all the parishes we note that the most active parishioners were born in Slovakia. The subsequent generations, born in Canada, began to lose interest in maintaining their parishes. This would include, not only Slovak, but Hungarian Greek Catholic parishes as well (PAA). The last pastor of the Slovak church in Welland (before it was closed in 20 I 0) was Father John Girhinyi, himself a Hungarian. For more information on Hungarian life in Canada (and how it resembled the Slovak experience), see Nandor Dreisziger, Church and Society in Hungary and in the Hungarian Diaspora (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016), especially pages 261-4. 253 Cf. https: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List of Canadian muni c ipalities having experienced popula-tion decreases 254 Other existing parishes, which face serious challenges with changing industry in the USA include Braddock, Charleroi, Clarence and Clymer, Pennsylvania. See Byzantine-Ruthenian Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh Directory (Pittsburgh: Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh, I 999). See also. https://en.wikipecl ia.org/wiki/Shrinking- cities in the United States 60 SLOVAKIA-2017 might be attributed to the relatively high percentage of the Slovak immigrants assimilating to English-Canadian culture. Indeed, many times the parents themselves wanted to have their children completely forget about their ancestral homeland . In some cases the parents were not even willing to speak with them in Slovak - so that they would not have an accent, and thus be more successful in the labor market. By 1980, only two Slovak Greek Catholic parishes in Canada were over 50 years old: Lethbridge - which was Ukrainianized, and Montreal, which also had its best years behind it. Sadly, even some of the younger parishes (Kenaston, Simcoe - Delhi, Sudbury) were already closed, or just about to be closed. At the creation of the Slovak Greek Catholic Eparchy in 1980, only parishes in southern Ontario, which were close to each other, and able to benefit from mutual visits, or even exchanges of the clergy, were flourishing. Even this was to change in the following years, as the parish of Montreal was closed shortly after 2010, and the Welland parish was also not able to live through 2010. Recently the Most Reverend John S. Pazak, Bishop of the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada was transferred by 255 the Vatican to Phoenix, Arizona in the USA. Thus, the future of Greek Catholic Slovaks in Canada remains uncertain. 255 Transfer announced on May 7 th 20 I 6. HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE - Other Pontifical Acts: htt s:// ress.vatican.va/co nten t/sa lastam a/en/bo ll ettino/ ubblico/20 I 6/05/07 /16050 7h.html. See also "Bishop John S. Pazak named new Byzantine Eparch in Phoenix, Ariz. ," Slovak Catholic Falcon, June 15, 20 16, p.5.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A Survey of Slovak Communities of the Byzantine Rite in Canada before they Received their Own Bishopric Description An account of the resource Daniel Černý Slovakia, Vol. 43 (No. 80-81), 2017 pp. 28-60 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Černý. Daniel Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/300872b1fc16055c2aec32c5cd361906.pdf 995df54c6ac5008b178fc60e105406cc PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA A VOICE FOR SWVAK.IA James McVann He stood about five feet ten, angular, and with the tenseness marked in so many priests who have fled from Communist countries. We met in Albany, N. Y ., at the home of Father B. Culver Alford, a diocesan official and a friend from Roman days. When I was introduced to the stranger, my curiosity rose at the announcement that this Father Augustin Zan came from Slovakia, where he had been assistant to Monsignor Tiso; later for six years he worked as the Papal Relief Mission's representative to Slovak D. P.'s throughout Germany and Austria. "Here was a man to interview. My first question had to do with the antecedents of Father Zan (prounonced Zan-yeh). He replied in an English by no means faultless but very good for one in this country only a year. "Forty-one years ago I was born at Prievidza, a Slovakian village in the foothills of the Carpathians. Prievidza means 'long view'; our village got the name because in old times there the government guards could see down the roads that went straight into the forests. "My seminary education was obtained at Nitra, ancient capital of Slovakia." Tiso The next question had to do with Monsignor Joseph Tiso, President of the Slovak Republic from 1939 to 1945, who was hanged in 1947 by the Red government of Prague. "How did Monsignor Tiso come to power?" "He succeeded Monsignor Andrew IIlinka as head of what was called the H'linka Party. When Slovakia, freed from the Czech government by the Nazi occupation of Bohemia, set up its own republic, Monsignor Tiso was elected president by the free votes of the country." "Wasn't Slovakia occupied by Hitler like the rest of Czechoslovakia?" �SLOVAKIA "No," he emphasized. "We stayed free. All during the war my country had neither German nor Russian occupation." "What sort of man was Tiso?" "He was a courageous - what do you call it? straight out, no speaking around." "Forthright?" "Forthright. He was a man prepared at all times to die. The Nazis tried to assassinate him at Bratislava in 1944. He had refused to let Slova,k soldiers be taken into the German army. When eleven American pilots were downed in Slovakia combatting Nazi fliers, he refused to give them up to Germany and spirited them to freedom via Jugoslavia. "Then the Reds pressed him to form a Soviet Slovak Republic. He refused, knowing they would take his life when the Allies won." "What was your own relation to Tiso?" I next asked. "Were you his political secretary or lieutenant?" "Oh, no. From 1938 to 1939 I was assistant - what you call curate - in the parish where he was pastor, at Banovce. All week Tiso was head of the government. On Sunday he came bacik to be priest of his people." "But why did he, a priest, accept the Presidency?" "He didn't want to. Sfovakia was under Nazi domination - four million against fifty million. What could they do? Tiso knew his position was almost impossible. But he accepted because he wanted to do all he could for his country. Once the West condemned him for things he had to do. They know better now. He was a great hero." Papal Almoner "Were you with him when he was executed?" "I had fled. A year before Monsignor Tiso died, the Catholic underground sent me a letter saying that the Reds had decided to hang me. The underground helped me to escape into the American zone of Austria." "Then what?" "Return to Slovakia was out of the question. I determined- to help my people - thousands of them - who were refugees in Western Germany and Austria. With the �SLOVAKIA aid of Archbishop Carlo Chiarlo, head of the Third Papal Relief Mission to G€rmany, I was appointed to look after Slovaks in eighty centers." "What was your work?" "Spiritual, charitable - not political. I tried to provide them with priests, sacraments and money raised by the Papal Relief. For that I made a hundred trips to Germany. Seventeen Slovak exile priests helped me. The Holy Father gave me the power to confer Confirmation. " "Why do you say your work was not political?" "As a priest and delegate of the Pope's charitable agency, I avoided politics. The nearest to political action I approached was when, on behalf of the Holy See, I questioned Polish, Hungarian, Slovakian, and Ukrainian refugees about church conditions in their country." Immigrant I asked him next how he came to the United States. "I knew I couJd get no help from the IRO - International Relief Organization - because some of their agents opposed my religious work. So I went direct to the American consulate at Salzburg, where I obtained entry not as a refugee official but strictly in terms of American immigration law. "Monsignor Emil Komora of New York, director of the Catholic Committee for Refugees, was helpful. And I am grateful to Bishop Gib.hons for admitting me to his diocese. They helped me to come to this nice country." I smiled a,t the little touch of newcomer's English, "nice country," Father Zan's one lapse in an otherwise good performance. The questions continued. "Why did you come to America?" "To work among the Slovaks here. There are two million in the United States and one million in Canada. And to obtain assistance for our unhappy people back home." "Tell me of your people's unhappiness " Intrepid Faith He leaned back in his chair, like a man recollecting-. "You will have to be patient with me a little if you would �SLOVAKIA 43 understand my nation's plight. We Slovaks are proud of our religious history - the oldest Christian nation in Central Europe, dating back from the fifth century. Then in 863 the great saints Cyril and Methodius came from Constantinople and renewed the Catholicism not only of the Slovaks but of all the various Slavic nations - Czechs, Poles, Ukrainians, Croatians, Slovenes - as well as the Hungarians. "Though Slovakia lost its political independence in the eleventh century, it never let go its national consciousness. No, not even under the domination of the Prague government when the regimes of Masaryk and Benes, violating the autonomy assured Slovakia by Wilson at Versailles, forced on us a Czech control in government, police, and education. "So when Hitler took over Bohemia and Moravia, our people seized the chance and proclaimed their Independent Republic. Until 1945 the country was free of occupation. In the war it took sides with Nazi Germany by defending its borders against Russia; there could be no neutrality with godless Communism. "In the Red invasion many towns and villages were razed to the ground (the way the Nazis had razed Lidice ) . Women were raped, about thirty thousand Slovaks were deported to Siberia. Thousands more fled to the West. "Then when the Reds took control at Prague, the Slovaks voted 70 per cent against Communism. For that they have been persecuted by the so-called People's Courts. It is essentially a religious persecution, as the whole question of Central Europe is a religious question. "Now all churches and clergy are under Red supervision No priest may preach anything but state-issued bullet ins. Catholic education has been turned over to Marxism. The seminary at Bratislava has only Communist youth who go out passing for priests until the people detect them in their Marxist doctrine and walk out on their sermons. Every bishop is in prison or under house arrest. So severe is their confinement that they cannot go to confession except in the presence of a Red observer - · and they must confess in Slovak for him to understand. A thousand' priests are �SLOVAKIA in concentration camps, forced to ]31bor in mines and factories." I interupted him to ask, "Are any priests being sent to Siberia ?" "So far they are being kept in Slovakia. But Catholic laymen are sent to concentration camps. "Has this weakened the faith of the people?" "On the contrary." he replied with a touch of pride, "their faith is stronger. They fill the churches. Since the government seizes all Church collections, they support the clergy privately." Voice of Hope "Are you in a position now to help your nation?" "To some extent. To needy priests I send Mass stipends. and the money I collect for the people is transmitted to Father Vojtech Bucko, my successor as delegate to the Slovak exiles in Europe. We both shifted in our chairs for the last question. "Father Zan, what do you hope for your country?" "I hope Slovakia will be free again I hope it will have the same freedom as America, to worship God and decide its own affairs." - (INFORMATION, Dec. 1952). • • • • • WHO SAi D IT? - "However close the original bonds (between the Slovaks and the Czechs) may have been, the ten centuries during which the Slovaks formed a part of the kingdom of Hungary, while the ,Czechs were subjected to German and Austrian influences, naturally ' brought .. about a marked differentation between the two peoples. Even the physical stocks CaJ'iilOt be so closely related today as they were a thousand years ago, for the Czechs are today inextricably mingled with German elements, while the Slovak mountaineers have retained their racial purity to a larger degree . . . . 'l'he.re is, however, a noticeable difference both in physical appearance and in character between the dour, efficient, but somewhat ungainly Czech, and the airy, talkative, happy-go-lucky Slovak." (C. A. Macartney: HUNGARY AND HER SUCCESSORS; 1937, London) . • WHO SAID IT? "Slovakia has never been too happy in its union with Bohemia and Moravia in the synthetic Czechoslovak state. The Masaryk-Benes Government sentenced Dr. Vojtech Tuka to fifteen years imprisonment in 1928 for ,ieparatlsm. The Benes-Gottwald Government hanged Monsignor Tiso for the same offense in 1947, and Clementls Is to be tried for it In 1951." - (John MacCormac, The NEW YORK TIMES, 3-3-51). � SLOVAKIA A VOICE FOR SWVAK.IA James McVann He stood about five feet ten, angular, and with the tenseness marked in so many priests who have fled from Communist countries. We met in Albany, N. Y ., at the home of Father B. Culver Alford, a diocesan official and a friend from Roman days. When I was introduced to the stranger, my curiosity rose at the announcement that this Father Augustin Zan came from Slovakia, where he had been assistant to Monsignor Tiso; later for six years he worked as the Papal Relief Mission's representative to Slovak D. P.'s throughout Germany and Austria. "Here was a man to interview. My first question had to do with the antecedents of Father Zan (prounonced Zan-yeh). He replied in an English by no means faultless but very good for one in this country only a year. "Forty-one years ago I was born at Prievidza, a Slovakian village in the foothills of the Carpathians. Prievidza means 'long view'; our village got the name because in old times there the government guards could see down the roads that went straight into the forests. "My seminary education was obtained at Nitra, ancient capital of Slovakia." Tiso The next question had to do with Monsignor Joseph Tiso, President of the Slovak Republic from 1939 to 1945, who was hanged in 1947 by the Red government of Prague. "How did Monsignor Tiso come to power?" "He succeeded Monsignor Andrew IIlinka as head of what was called the H'linka Party. When Slovakia, freed from the Czech government by the Nazi occupation of Bohemia, set up its own republic, Monsignor Tiso was elected president by the free votes of the country." "Wasn't Slovakia occupied by Hitler like the rest of Czechoslovakia?" �SLOVAKIA "No," he emphasized. "We stayed free. All during the war my country had neither German nor Russian occupation." "What sort of man was Tiso?" "He was a courageous - what do you call it? straight out, no speaking around." "Forthright?" "Forthright. He was a man prepared at all times to die. The Nazis tried to assassinate him at Bratislava in 1944. He had refused to let Slova,k soldiers be taken into the German army. When eleven American pilots were downed in Slovakia combatting Nazi fliers, he refused to give them up to Germany and spirited them to freedom via Jugoslavia. "Then the Reds pressed him to form a Soviet Slovak Republic. He refused, knowing they would take his life when the Allies won." "What was your own relation to Tiso?" I next asked. "Were you his political secretary or lieutenant?" "Oh, no. From 1938 to 1939 I was assistant - what you call curate - in the parish where he was pastor, at Banovce. All week Tiso was head of the government. On Sunday he came bacik to be priest of his people." "But why did he, a priest, accept the Presidency?" "He didn't want to. Sfovakia was under Nazi domination - four million against fifty million. What could they do? Tiso knew his position was almost impossible. But he accepted because he wanted to do all he could for his country. Once the West condemned him for things he had to do. They know better now. He was a great hero." Papal Almoner "Were you with him when he was executed?" "I had fled. A year before Monsignor Tiso died, the Catholic underground sent me a letter saying that the Reds had decided to hang me. The underground helped me to escape into the American zone of Austria." "Then what?" "Return to Slovakia was out of the question. I determined- to help my people - thousands of them - who were refugees in Western Germany and Austria. With the �SLOVAKIA aid of Archbishop Carlo Chiarlo, head of the Third Papal Relief Mission to G€rmany, I was appointed to look after Slovaks in eighty centers." "What was your work?" "Spiritual, charitable - not political. I tried to provide them with priests, sacraments and money raised by the Papal Relief. For that I made a hundred trips to Germany. Seventeen Slovak exile priests helped me. The Holy Father gave me the power to confer Confirmation. " "Why do you say your work was not political?" "As a priest and delegate of the Pope's charitable agency, I avoided politics. The nearest to political action I approached was when, on behalf of the Holy See, I questioned Polish, Hungarian, Slovakian, and Ukrainian refugees about church conditions in their country." Immigrant I asked him next how he came to the United States. "I knew I couJd get no help from the IRO - International Relief Organization - because some of their agents opposed my religious work. So I went direct to the American consulate at Salzburg, where I obtained entry not as a refugee official but strictly in terms of American immigration law. "Monsignor Emil Komora of New York, director of the Catholic Committee for Refugees, was helpful. And I am grateful to Bishop Gib.hons for admitting me to his diocese. They helped me to come to this nice country." I smiled a,t the little touch of newcomer's English, "nice country," Father Zan's one lapse in an otherwise good performance. The questions continued. "Why did you come to America?" "To work among the Slovaks here. There are two million in the United States and one million in Canada. And to obtain assistance for our unhappy people back home." "Tell me of your people's unhappiness " Intrepid Faith He leaned back in his chair, like a man recollecting-. "You will have to be patient with me a little if you would �SLOVAKIA 43 understand my nation's plight. We Slovaks are proud of our religious history - the oldest Christian nation in Central Europe, dating back from the fifth century. Then in 863 the great saints Cyril and Methodius came from Constantinople and renewed the Catholicism not only of the Slovaks but of all the various Slavic nations - Czechs, Poles, Ukrainians, Croatians, Slovenes - as well as the Hungarians. "Though Slovakia lost its political independence in the eleventh century, it never let go its national consciousness. No, not even under the domination of the Prague government when the regimes of Masaryk and Benes, violating the autonomy assured Slovakia by Wilson at Versailles, forced on us a Czech control in government, police, and education. "So when Hitler took over Bohemia and Moravia, our people seized the chance and proclaimed their Independent Republic. Until 1945 the country was free of occupation. In the war it took sides with Nazi Germany by defending its borders against Russia; there could be no neutrality with godless Communism. "In the Red invasion many towns and villages were razed to the ground (the way the Nazis had razed Lidice ) . Women were raped, about thirty thousand Slovaks were deported to Siberia. Thousands more fled to the West. "Then when the Reds took control at Prague, the Slovaks voted 70 per cent against Communism. For that they have been persecuted by the so-called People's Courts. It is essentially a religious persecution, as the whole question of Central Europe is a religious question. "Now all churches and clergy are under Red supervision No priest may preach anything but state-issued bullet ins. Catholic education has been turned over to Marxism. The seminary at Bratislava has only Communist youth who go out passing for priests until the people detect them in their Marxist doctrine and walk out on their sermons. Every bishop is in prison or under house arrest. So severe is their confinement that they cannot go to confession except in the presence of a Red observer - · and they must confess in Slovak for him to understand. A thousand' priests are �SLOVAKIA in concentration camps, forced to ]31bor in mines and factories." I interupted him to ask, "Are any priests being sent to Siberia ?" "So far they are being kept in Slovakia. But Catholic laymen are sent to concentration camps. "Has this weakened the faith of the people?" "On the contrary." he replied with a touch of pride, "their faith is stronger. They fill the churches. Since the government seizes all Church collections, they support the clergy privately." Voice of Hope "Are you in a position now to help your nation?" "To some extent. To needy priests I send Mass stipends. and the money I collect for the people is transmitted to Father Vojtech Bucko, my successor as delegate to the Slovak exiles in Europe. We both shifted in our chairs for the last question. "Father Zan, what do you hope for your country?" "I hope Slovakia will be free again I hope it will have the same freedom as America, to worship God and decide its own affairs." - (INFORMATION, Dec. 1952). • • • • • WHO SAi D IT? - "However close the original bonds (between the Slovaks and the Czechs) may have been, the ten centuries during which the Slovaks formed a part of the kingdom of Hungary, while the ,Czechs were subjected to German and Austrian influences, naturally ' brought .. about a marked differentation between the two peoples. Even the physical stocks CaJ'iilOt be so closely related today as they were a thousand years ago, for the Czechs are today inextricably mingled with German elements, while the Slovak mountaineers have retained their racial purity to a larger degree . . . . 'l'he.re is, however, a noticeable difference both in physical appearance and in character between the dour, efficient, but somewhat ungainly Czech, and the airy, talkative, happy-go-lucky Slovak." (C. A. Macartney: HUNGARY AND HER SUCCESSORS; 1937, London) . • WHO SAID IT? "Slovakia has never been too happy in its union with Bohemia and Moravia in the synthetic Czechoslovak state. The Masaryk-Benes Government sentenced Dr. Vojtech Tuka to fifteen years imprisonment in 1928 for ,ieparatlsm. The Benes-Gottwald Government hanged Monsignor Tiso for the same offense in 1947, and Clementls Is to be tried for it In 1951." - (John MacCormac, The NEW YORK TIMES, 3-3-51). � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1953, Vol. 3 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 6), April 1953.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 7), July 1953.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 8), September 1953.</li> <li>Issue 4 (No. 9), December 1953.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1953 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA A VOICE FOR SLOVAKIA James McVann He stood about five feet ten, angular, and with the tenseness marked in so many priests who have fled from Communist countries. We met in Albany, N. Y ., at the home of Father B. Culver Alford, a diocesan official and a friend from Roman days. When I was introduced to the stranger, my curiosity rose at the announcement that this Father Augustin Zan came from Slovakia, where he had been assistant to Monsignor Tiso; later for six years he worked as the Papal Relief Mission's representative to Slovak D. P.'s throughout Germany and Austria. "Here was a man to interview. My first question had to do with the antecedents of Father Zan (prounonced Zan-yeh). He replied in an English by no means faultless but very good for one in this country only a year. "Forty-one years ago I was born at Prievidza, a Slovakian village in the foothills of the Carpathians. Prievidza means 'long view'; our village got the name because in old times there the government guards could see down the roads that went straight into the forests. "My seminary education was obtained at Nitra, ancient capital of Slovakia." Tiso The next question had to do with Monsignor Joseph Tiso, President of the Slovak Republic from 1939 to 1945, who was hanged in 1947 by the Red government of Prague. "How did Monsignor Tiso come to power?" "He succeeded Monsignor Andrew IIlinka as head of what was called the H'linka Party. When Slovakia, freed from the Czech government by the Nazi occupation of Bohemia, set up its own republic, Monsignor Tiso was elected president by the free votes of the country." "Wasn't Slovakia occupied by Hitler like the rest of Czechoslovakia?" SLOVAKIA "No," he emphasized. "We stayed free. All during the war my country had neither German nor Russian occupation." "What sort of man was Tiso?" "He was a courageous - what do you call it? straight out, no speaking around." "Forthright?" "Forthright. He was a man prepared at all times to die. The Nazis tried to assassinate him at Bratislava in 1944. He had refused to let Slova,k soldiers be taken into the German army. When eleven American pilots were downed in Slovakia combatting Nazi fliers, he refused to give them up to Germany and spirited them to freedom via Jugoslavia. "Then the Reds pressed him to form a Soviet Slovak Republic. He refused, knowing they would take his life when the Allies won." "What was your own relation to Tiso?" I next asked. "Were you his political secretary or lieutenant?" "Oh, no. From 1938 to 1939 I was assistant - what you call curate - in the parish where he was pastor, at Banovce. All week Tiso was head of the government. On Sunday he came bacik to be priest of his people." "But why did he, a priest, accept the Presidency?" "He didn't want to. Sfovakia was under Nazi domination - four million against fifty million. What could they do? Tiso knew his position was almost impossible. But he accepted because he wanted to do all he could for his country. Once the West condemned him for things he had to do. They know better now. He was a great hero." Papal Almoner "Were you with him when he was executed?" "I had fled. A year before Monsignor Tiso died, the Catholic underground sent me a letter saying that the Reds had decided to hang me. The underground helped me to escape into the American zone of Austria." "Then what?" "Return to Slovakia was out of the question. I determined- to help my people - thousands of them - who were refugees in Western Germany and Austria. With the SLOVAKIA aid of Archbishop Carlo Chiarlo, head of the Third Papal Relief Mission to G€rmany, I was appointed to look after Slovaks in eighty centers." "What was your work?" "Spiritual, charitable - not political. I tried to provide them with priests, sacraments and money raised by the Papal Relief. For that I made a hundred trips to Germany. Seventeen Slovak exile priests helped me. The Holy Father gave me the power to confer Confirmation. " "Why do you say your work was not political?" "As a priest and delegate of the Pope's charitable agency, I avoided politics. The nearest to political action I approached was when, on behalf of the Holy See, I questioned Polish, Hungarian, Slovakian, and Ukrainian refugees about church conditions in their country." Immigrant I asked him next how he came to the United States. "I knew I couJd get no help from the IRO - International Relief Organization - because some of their agents opposed my religious work. So I went direct to the American consulate at Salzburg, where I obtained entry not as a refugee official but strictly in terms of American immigration law. "Monsignor Emil Komora of New York, director of the Catholic Committee for Refugees, was helpful. And I am grateful to Bishop Gib.hons for admitting me to his diocese. They helped me to come to this nice country." I smiled a,t the little touch of newcomer's English, "nice country," Father Zan's one lapse in an otherwise good performance. The questions continued. "Why did you come to America?" "To work among the Slovaks here. There are two million in the United States and one million in Canada. And to obtain assistance for our unhappy people back home." "Tell me of your people's unhappiness " Intrepid Faith He leaned back in his chair, like a man recollecting-. "You will have to be patient with me a little if you would SLOVAKIA 43 understand my nation's plight. We Slovaks are proud of our religious history - the oldest Christian nation in Central Europe, dating back from the fifth century. Then in 863 the great saints Cyril and Methodius came from Constantinople and renewed the Catholicism not only of the Slovaks but of all the various Slavic nations - Czechs, Poles, Ukrainians, Croatians, Slovenes - as well as the Hungarians. "Though Slovakia lost its political independence in the eleventh century, it never let go its national consciousness. No, not even under the domination of the Prague government when the regimes of Masaryk and Benes, violating the autonomy assured Slovakia by Wilson at Versailles, forced on us a Czech control in government, police, and education. "So when Hitler took over Bohemia and Moravia, our people seized the chance and proclaimed their Independent Republic. Until 1945 the country was free of occupation. In the war it took sides with Nazi Germany by defending its borders against Russia; there could be no neutrality with godless Communism. "In the Red invasion many towns and villages were razed to the ground (the way the Nazis had razed Lidice ) . Women were raped, about thirty thousand Slovaks were deported to Siberia. Thousands more fled to the West. "Then when the Reds took control at Prague, the Slovaks voted 70 per cent against Communism. For that they have been persecuted by the so-called People's Courts. It is essentially a religious persecution, as the whole question of Central Europe is a religious question. "Now all churches and clergy are under Red supervision No priest may preach anything but state-issued bullet ins. Catholic education has been turned over to Marxism. The seminary at Bratislava has only Communist youth who go out passing for priests until the people detect them in their Marxist doctrine and walk out on their sermons. Every bishop is in prison or under house arrest. So severe is their confinement that they cannot go to confession except in the presence of a Red observer - · and they must confess in Slovak for him to understand. A thousand' priests are SLOVAKIA in concentration camps, forced to ]31bor in mines and factories." I interupted him to ask, "Are any priests being sent to Siberia ?" "So far they are being kept in Slovakia. But Catholic laymen are sent to concentration camps. "Has this weakened the faith of the people?" "On the contrary." he replied with a touch of pride, "their faith is stronger. They fill the churches. Since the government seizes all Church collections, they support the clergy privately." Voice of Hope "Are you in a position now to help your nation?" "To some extent. To needy priests I send Mass stipends. and the money I collect for the people is transmitted to Father Vojtech Bucko, my successor as delegate to the Slovak exiles in Europe. We both shifted in our chairs for the last question. "Father Zan, what do you hope for your country?" "I hope Slovakia will be free again I hope it will have the same freedom as America, to worship God and decide its own affairs." - (INFORMATION, Dec. 1952). • • • • • WHO SAi D IT? - "However close the original bonds (between the Slovaks and the Czechs) may have been, the ten centuries during which the Slovaks formed a part of the kingdom of Hungary, while the ,Czechs were subjected to German and Austrian influences, naturally ' brought .. about a marked differentation between the two peoples. Even the physical stocks CaJ'iilOt be so closely related today as they were a thousand years ago, for the Czechs are today inextricably mingled with German elements, while the Slovak mountaineers have retained their racial purity to a larger degree . . . . 'l'he.re is, however, a noticeable difference both in physical appearance and in character between the dour, efficient, but somewhat ungainly Czech, and the airy, talkative, happy-go-lucky Slovak." (C. A. Macartney: HUNGARY AND HER SUCCESSORS; 1937, London) . • WHO SAID IT? "Slovakia has never been too happy in its union with Bohemia and Moravia in the synthetic Czechoslovak state. The Masaryk-Benes Government sentenced Dr. Vojtech Tuka to fifteen years imprisonment in 1928 for ,ieparatlsm. The Benes-Gottwald Government hanged Monsignor Tiso for the same offense in 1947, and Clementls Is to be tried for it In 1951." - (John MacCormac, The NEW YORK TIMES, 3-3-51).  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 Voice for Slovakia Description An account of the resource James McVann Slovakia, Vol. 3, No. 1 (6), April 1953 pp. 40-44 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource McVann, James Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource April 1953 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/de135378ad4bce1b596e24d63b7d3cd6.pdf e9d2cd9f01c7062306feed2915186794 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 59 ABOUT THE COUNCll, OF FREE CZECHOSLOVAKIA ( J k) - Thirty years ago Czech political exiles adopted the motto: "Truth Prevails." At that tíme T. G. Masaryk led the fight to establish á common state of two legally equal natlons the Czechs and the Slovaks. ;Masaryk, we know, was successful, and Czecho•Slovakia was born after World War I. After Masaryk two generatlons went to battle under this motto. But the motto "Truth Prevails" has backflred on them. The truth did i,revail, but at the expense of Czech emigratlon and against its intentions. Recently it happened to the Czech emigranta and their Slovak fellow•travelers organized in tbe so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovakia." The institution was presented by lts founders as loyal to democracy and fighting for democracy, and lts members and dlrectors pose as martyrs of democracy.. Under tbls disguise they got into the USA. But tbe truth will out! Some of the more serious Czech emigranta, who do not have their hands sullied by collaborating wlth the Communistš, decided to tear the mask of lies from the faces of the leaders of the Council of Free Czecboslovakia. A leading Czech journalist, the eminent Dr. Helen Koželuh found that the CFC was an undemocratic and totalitarian lnstitution and its representatives were responsible for many crimes, as well as collaboring with Communism. She tells in detail why she did so in an article published in "Návrat" (THE RETURN), Paris. It would be interesting to reproduce the whole article, but space In the SLOVAK NEWSLETTER ls limited. A few paragraphs, that fully cliaracterlze the people and the policy of the Council, ought to convince our readers that the SN was right In its appraisal of the CFC right from the start. "The CFC (Council of Free Czechoslovakla) is a totalitarian and undemocratic instltutlon," writes Dr. Koželub. "1 am a conflrmed democrat. I have no right to remain in this organlzation. I had some justificatlon as long as I could have the lmpresslon that the will to amend its ways did exist. Evidently the CFC had no intentlons of amending its ways and I would have to Ile if I wanted to state that I belleve otherwise. Certainly I am sorry that I cannot recognlze the CFC as a uniform reslstance organ, because I know that lt would be well if a uniform reslstance organ could exist. However, I cannot give preference to unity before democracy, because experlence has 1aught us that we fled from uniformity and because of the loss of democracy." "I made a mistake - and this I confess openly - that I dld not at first deduce the consequences from the fact that the CFC is not a democratlc organ, but a seJf.appointed continuer of the NATIONAL FRONT, and that not only wlth lts representatives, but with lts ideology as well. The spirit of the Košice program, agalnst whlch I fought In valn at horne t.nd trom which I was fortunate to escape, has conquered In the CFC. It would be not only illogical, but also dlshonest to support that which I rightly cons!dered as the rulnation of any natlon." �60 SLOVAKIA That 1s wbat Dr. Koželuh thlnks of the CFC as an lnstltulton. She also had sometblng to say about lts representatlves: "I wanted to belleve that the people, wbo were members ot the Natlonal Front and had approved the Košice program, reallzed that tbey had blundered and committed many mlstakes and tbat tbey would endeavor to make amends for the crlmes whlch tbey h ad unanlmously a11proved elther because of thelr lnsurtlclency or thelr !nl:Ufflclent understandlng. lt is true that the full measure of responsibility for everything that has happened or is happening in our country falls on the government and polltieal faetors of the Natlonal Front. There ia no argument about the faet that the Communist Party at horne was in the minority and eould always have been outvoted. How- ever, tbat dld not happen, so, we can safely say that all laws, regul atlons and decrees were passed by non-Communist votes, tbat 1s the votes ot those (the CFC) who now want to rule here, judge us and make declslons over us." Dr. Helen Koželuh also says that the factors of the National F'ront "knew well tha.t t h elr own partles could oust them from the Jeadershlp ot th elr respectlve partles for their past catastrophic blunders and, so, they procla.lmed themselves as personalltles Independent of thelr parttes and, therefore, unsea.table. Thls ls perhaps the flrst ca.se In hlstory where people proclaimed themselves as personalities because thelr work proved to be bad and rulnous for the na.tlon. Undoubtedly, they could not expect others to do that for them and, therefore, these bunglers by mutual agreement elevated themselves mutually to the posltlon of personalltles. I proclalm wlth a full knowledge ot responslblllty that thls shady undertaklng ls the most foollsh and most transparent attempt to decelve thelr own and other polltlcal partles that has ever happenetl and only a fool would be taken In and belleve lt." The above should be sufflclent to condemn the lnstttutlon ot collaborators wlth Communlsm who are responslble for tbe bloody tragedy of the Czech and Slovak natlons, for all the crlmes and murders commltted In Bohemla and In Slovakla slnce 1945. • • • • WHO SAID IT? " Benei defends tie w i th Russla. - Dec. 2ó. - Presltlent Edward Beneš advlsed Czechos'ovak pollticians In a broad.cast last night to avold maklng a bitter parliamentary eampaign lssue of the nation's alllanee with Russia. The Pres!dent, relteratlng a promlse ot l'ree, sec• ret e lectlons next spr!ng, sa!d that alllan-ce w!th Russla should be regarded as a CORNERSTONE OF CZECH OSLOVAKIA'S POLICY." - NEW YORK TIMES, 12-26-4ó. • "Londo'n, Feb. 19. - The Czecboslovak Government In Exile w!ll leave London next week for Koelce In Slovak!a, wbere a temporary capltal wlll be establlshed unt!I Prague !s treed. The group wlll travel via MOSCOW. T bls fact gave rise to ERRONEOUS reports tbat wbile there P resldent Eduard Benes would consult the Soviet Government about the eompoaltlon of his Government. Thls was flatly denled by the Government bere." - NEW YORK TIMES. 2-20-46. � SLOVAKIA 59 ABOUT THE COUNCll, OF FREE CZECHOSLOVAKIA ( J k) - Thirty years ago Czech political exiles adopted the motto: "Truth Prevails." At that tíme T. G. Masaryk led the fight to establish á common state of two legally equal natlons the Czechs and the Slovaks. ;Masaryk, we know, was successful, and Czecho•Slovakia was born after World War I. After Masaryk two generatlons went to battle under this motto. But the motto "Truth Prevails" has backflred on them. The truth did i,revail, but at the expense of Czech emigratlon and against its intentions. Recently it happened to the Czech emigranta and their Slovak fellow•travelers organized in tbe so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovakia." The institution was presented by lts founders as loyal to democracy and fighting for democracy, and lts members and dlrectors pose as martyrs of democracy.. Under tbls disguise they got into the USA. But tbe truth will out! Some of the more serious Czech emigranta, who do not have their hands sullied by collaborating wlth the Communistš, decided to tear the mask of lies from the faces of the leaders of the Council of Free Czecboslovakia. A leading Czech journalist, the eminent Dr. Helen Koželuh found that the CFC was an undemocratic and totalitarian lnstitution and its representatives were responsible for many crimes, as well as collaboring with Communism. She tells in detail why she did so in an article published in "Návrat" (THE RETURN), Paris. It would be interesting to reproduce the whole article, but space In the SLOVAK NEWSLETTER ls limited. A few paragraphs, that fully cliaracterlze the people and the policy of the Council, ought to convince our readers that the SN was right In its appraisal of the CFC right from the start. "The CFC (Council of Free Czechoslovakla) is a totalitarian and undemocratic instltutlon," writes Dr. Koželub. "1 am a conflrmed democrat. I have no right to remain in this organlzation. I had some justificatlon as long as I could have the lmpresslon that the will to amend its ways did exist. Evidently the CFC had no intentlons of amending its ways and I would have to Ile if I wanted to state that I belleve otherwise. Certainly I am sorry that I cannot recognlze the CFC as a uniform reslstance organ, because I know that lt would be well if a uniform reslstance organ could exist. However, I cannot give preference to unity before democracy, because experlence has 1aught us that we fled from uniformity and because of the loss of democracy." "I made a mistake - and this I confess openly - that I dld not at first deduce the consequences from the fact that the CFC is not a democratlc organ, but a seJf.appointed continuer of the NATIONAL FRONT, and that not only wlth lts representatives, but with lts ideology as well. The spirit of the Košice program, agalnst whlch I fought In valn at horne t.nd trom which I was fortunate to escape, has conquered In the CFC. It would be not only illogical, but also dlshonest to support that which I rightly cons!dered as the rulnation of any natlon." �60 SLOVAKIA That 1s wbat Dr. Koželuh thlnks of the CFC as an lnstltulton. She also had sometblng to say about lts representatlves: "I wanted to belleve that the people, wbo were members ot the Natlonal Front and had approved the Košice program, reallzed that tbey had blundered and committed many mlstakes and tbat tbey would endeavor to make amends for the crlmes whlch tbey h ad unanlmously a11proved elther because of thelr lnsurtlclency or thelr !nl:Ufflclent understandlng. lt is true that the full measure of responsibility for everything that has happened or is happening in our country falls on the government and polltieal faetors of the Natlonal Front. There ia no argument about the faet that the Communist Party at horne was in the minority and eould always have been outvoted. How- ever, tbat dld not happen, so, we can safely say that all laws, regul atlons and decrees were passed by non-Communist votes, tbat 1s the votes ot those (the CFC) who now want to rule here, judge us and make declslons over us." Dr. Helen Koželuh also says that the factors of the National F'ront "knew well tha.t t h elr own partles could oust them from the Jeadershlp ot th elr respectlve partles for their past catastrophic blunders and, so, they procla.lmed themselves as personalltles Independent of thelr parttes and, therefore, unsea.table. Thls ls perhaps the flrst ca.se In hlstory where people proclaimed themselves as personalities because thelr work proved to be bad and rulnous for the na.tlon. Undoubtedly, they could not expect others to do that for them and, therefore, these bunglers by mutual agreement elevated themselves mutually to the posltlon of personalltles. I proclalm wlth a full knowledge ot responslblllty that thls shady undertaklng ls the most foollsh and most transparent attempt to decelve thelr own and other polltlcal partles that has ever happenetl and only a fool would be taken In and belleve lt." The above should be sufflclent to condemn the lnstttutlon ot collaborators wlth Communlsm who are responslble for tbe bloody tragedy of the Czech and Slovak natlons, for all the crlmes and murders commltted In Bohemla and In Slovakla slnce 1945. • • • • WHO SAID IT? " Benei defends tie w i th Russla. - Dec. 2ó. - Presltlent Edward Beneš advlsed Czechos'ovak pollticians In a broad.cast last night to avold maklng a bitter parliamentary eampaign lssue of the nation's alllanee with Russia. The Pres!dent, relteratlng a promlse ot l'ree, sec• ret e lectlons next spr!ng, sa!d that alllan-ce w!th Russla should be regarded as a CORNERSTONE OF CZECH OSLOVAKIA'S POLICY." - NEW YORK TIMES, 12-26-4ó. • "Londo'n, Feb. 19. - The Czecboslovak Government In Exile w!ll leave London next week for Koelce In Slovak!a, wbere a temporary capltal wlll be establlshed unt!I Prague !s treed. The group wlll travel via MOSCOW. T bls fact gave rise to ERRONEOUS reports tbat wbile there P resldent Eduard Benes would consult the Soviet Government about the eompoaltlon of his Government. Thls was flatly denled by the Government bere." - NEW YORK TIMES. 2-20-46. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1951, Vol. 1 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1951 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 1), May 1951.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 2), December 1951.</li> </ul> Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context <ul><li><a href="https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/s261hfmshm7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span>ark:/13960/s261hfmshm7</span></a></li> <li><a href="https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/s21tk2wkzj4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span>ark:/13960/s21tk2wkzj4</span></a></li> </ul> Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 59 ABOUT THE COUNCll, OF FREE CZECHOSLOVAKIA ( J k) - Thirty years ago Czech political exiles adopted the motto: "Truth Prevails." At that tíme T. G. Masaryk led the fight to establish á common state of two legally equal natlons the Czechs and the Slovaks. ;Masaryk, we know, was successful, and Czecho•Slovakia was born after World War I. After Masaryk two generatlons went to battle under this motto. But the motto "Truth Prevails" has backflred on them. The truth did i,revail, but at the expense of Czech emigratlon and against its intentions. Recently it happened to the Czech emigranta and their Slovak fellow•travelers organized in tbe so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovakia." The institution was presented by lts founders as loyal to democracy and fighting for democracy, and lts members and dlrectors pose as martyrs of democracy.. Under tbls disguise they got into the USA. But tbe truth will out! Some of the more serious Czech emigranta, who do not have their hands sullied by collaborating wlth the Communistš, decided to tear the mask of lies from the faces of the leaders of the Council of Free Czecboslovakia. A leading Czech journalist, the eminent Dr. Helen Koželuh found that the CFC was an undemocratic and totalitarian lnstitution and its representatives were responsible for many crimes, as well as collaboring with Communism. She tells in detail why she did so in an article published in "Návrat" (THE RETURN), Paris. It would be interesting to reproduce the whole article, but space In the SLOVAK NEWSLETTER ls limited. A few paragraphs, that fully cliaracterlze the people and the policy of the Council, ought to convince our readers that the SN was right In its appraisal of the CFC right from the start. "The CFC (Council of Free Czechoslovakla) is a totalitarian and undemocratic instltutlon," writes Dr. Koželub. "1 am a conflrmed democrat. I have no right to remain in this organlzation. I had some justificatlon as long as I could have the lmpresslon that the will to amend its ways did exist. Evidently the CFC had no intentlons of amending its ways and I would have to Ile if I wanted to state that I belleve otherwise. Certainly I am sorry that I cannot recognlze the CFC as a uniform reslstance organ, because I know that lt would be well if a uniform reslstance organ could exist. However, I cannot give preference to unity before democracy, because experlence has 1aught us that we fled from uniformity and because of the loss of democracy." "I made a mistake - and this I confess openly - that I dld not at first deduce the consequences from the fact that the CFC is not a democratlc organ, but a seJf.appointed continuer of the NATIONAL FRONT, and that not only wlth lts representatives, but with lts ideology as well. The spirit of the Košice program, agalnst whlch I fought In valn at horne t.nd trom which I was fortunate to escape, has conquered In the CFC. It would be not only illogical, but also dlshonest to support that which I rightly cons!dered as the rulnation of any natlon." 60 SLOVAKIA That 1s wbat Dr. Koželuh thlnks of the CFC as an lnstltulton. She also had sometblng to say about lts representatlves: "I wanted to belleve that the people, wbo were members ot the Natlonal Front and had approved the Košice program, reallzed that tbey had blundered and committed many mlstakes and tbat tbey would endeavor to make amends for the crlmes whlch tbey h ad unanlmously a11proved elther because of thelr lnsurtlclency or thelr !nl:Ufflclent understandlng. lt is true that the full measure of responsibility for everything that has happened or is happening in our country falls on the government and polltieal faetors of the Natlonal Front. There ia no argument about the faet that the Communist Party at horne was in the minority and eould always have been outvoted. How- ever, tbat dld not happen, so, we can safely say that all laws, regul atlons and decrees were passed by non-Communist votes, tbat 1s the votes ot those (the CFC) who now want to rule here, judge us and make declslons over us." Dr. Helen Koželuh also says that the factors of the National F'ront "knew well tha.t t h elr own partles could oust them from the Jeadershlp ot th elr respectlve partles for their past catastrophic blunders and, so, they procla.lmed themselves as personalltles Independent of thelr parttes and, therefore, unsea.table. Thls ls perhaps the flrst ca.se In hlstory where people proclaimed themselves as personalities because thelr work proved to be bad and rulnous for the na.tlon. Undoubtedly, they could not expect others to do that for them and, therefore, these bunglers by mutual agreement elevated themselves mutually to the posltlon of personalltles. I proclalm wlth a full knowledge ot responslblllty that thls shady undertaklng ls the most foollsh and most transparent attempt to decelve thelr own and other polltlcal partles that has ever happenetl and only a fool would be taken In and belleve lt." The above should be sufflclent to condemn the lnstttutlon ot collaborators wlth Communlsm who are responslble for tbe bloody tragedy of the Czech and Slovak natlons, for all the crlmes and murders commltted In Bohemla and In Slovakla slnce 1945. • • • • WHO SAID IT? " Benei defends tie w i th Russla. - Dec. 2ó. - Presltlent Edward Beneš advlsed Czechos'ovak pollticians In a broad.cast last night to avold maklng a bitter parliamentary eampaign lssue of the nation's alllanee with Russia. The Pres!dent, relteratlng a promlse ot l'ree, sec• ret e lectlons next spr!ng, sa!d that alllan-ce w!th Russla should be regarded as a CORNERSTONE OF CZECH OSLOVAKIA'S POLICY." - NEW YORK TIMES, 12-26-4ó. • "Londo'n, Feb. 19. - The Czecboslovak Government In Exile w!ll leave London next week for Koelce In Slovak!a, wbere a temporary capltal wlll be establlshed unt!I Prague !s treed. The group wlll travel via MOSCOW. T bls fact gave rise to ERRONEOUS reports tbat wbile there P resldent Eduard Benes would consult the Soviet Government about the eompoaltlon of his Government. Thls was flatly denled by the Government bere." - NEW YORK TIMES. 2-20-46. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource About the Council of Free Czechoslovakia Description An account of the resource Slovakia, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1), May 1951 pp. 59-60 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource May 1951 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/36024209d0873742f12c32c149b2e72d.pdf caa74e09040271cf19ac65fd2adaa500 PDF Text Text 52 SLOVAKIA ABOUT THE SLOVAK STATE ( ks) - An anonymous Slovak had an article publlshed in a Czech paper about the origin or the Slovak State. Thaťs the way Czech Slo• vaks (CZECHOSLOVAKS!) do buslness, and the Czechs, o! course, gladly give them space in thelr papers. Phllosophlzlng on the subject or the origin of the Slovak Republlc, the author ot the artlcle asks several questlons: 1. Did the Slovak parliament decide freely (when it voted the independence of Slovakia in March 1939)? Yes, lt did. lt declded that freely and unanlmously. Not one Deputy of the Slovak parllament remalned seated; all stood up and so voted for Slovak state lndependence. No one forced them to stand up. At Ieast one could have remained seated and so lndlcate a negatlve vote; but, I repeat, not one Deputy remalned seated. 2. Was the "Berlin order" In line with the wlll of the nation? No "order" was concerned. Karol Sidor, as Premier of the Slovak Government, refused in the name of the Slovaks to execute an "order" at that time, when he told Keppler, Seys-lnquart and Biirckel - who had come to him to Bratislava on March 12, 1939, - that he would not go to Berlin or to Vlenna to proclaim the lndependence ot Slovakia by radlo. He told them that wa.s the function of the Party and the Slovak parliament. lf Sldor would have gone to Germany and there proclalmed the lndependence of Slovakia, that would bave been effected by German order. The Germans wanted the proclamatlon over the radlo, whereas the Slovaks wanted thelr parllament to do the proclalming. Two days later the Slovaks wllled lt that thelr parllament pro• clalm the lndependence of thelr country. The votlng in parllament on March 14, 1939, was no klnd ot "Berlin order." lt does not matter that the elected deputles voted for lt. That the deputies voted for it unanimously strongly emphaslzes the fact that the Slovak natlon as a whole, through its duly elected representatlves, voiced ltself for lts own state. 3. Did the deputies have any right to do what they did? The representatlves of a sovereign natlon have the rlght to do anythlng wlthin the llmlts of the laws of the land. The only thlng they probably could not do - as an old Slovak saylng states lt would be to make a boy out of a girl. They certainly had a greater rlght to speak for the natlon than dld the formulators of the Martin Declaration, the undenvrlters of the Pittsburgh Pact, or the deputles In the Revolutlonary Natlonal Assembly, who in 1920 voted tor the Constitutlon of the flrst Czechoslovak Republlc, or the self-styled "deputies" of Communlsts and Democrats of 1944-45, who dlvided up the power over Slovakia on a 50-50 basls In such a "brotherly" fashion In the forests or Banská Bystrica. 4. How is it possibfe even now to celebrate such sorrowful annlversarles of our recent past (as the proclamatlon of the lndependence of Slovakla)? �63 SLOVAKIA There are, lndeed, "sorrowful anniversarles In our recent past," but the 14th of March, 1939, does not belong among them. Neither formally, nor by content. Among such sad annlversarles, however, do belong all those acts that Ued up wlth any collaboratlon with natlve Communlsm from Chrlstmas of 1943 and wlth Moscow collaboratlon slnce 1945. March 14, 1939, definltely is not responslble for the atrocitles and blunders commltted by and wlth the ald of Beneš and hls Red Prague reglme slnce 1945. Say what you wlll, In politics only successes count. The llfe of the Slovaks after 1945 1s replete wlth sufferlngs, deportations to the USSR, concentratlon ca.mps, dlsfranchlsements, dlspossesslons and pol!Ucal murders. Even the avowed enemies of Slovak freedom and lndependence former members of the NATIONAL FRONT of Czechoslovakla (Lettrich, Zenkl, Heldrlch, Ducháček, etc.) - have admltted that condl· tlons In Slovakla are worse today than they were under the Nazis. The Czechs, too, are worse off now than they were under Hitler. And we belleve lt. But the Czechs have absolutely no rlght to deny the Slovaks the same freedom and lndependence and "llberatlon" that they themselves are clamorlng and plead!ng for today. The Slovaks have learnt thelr lesson well. T. G. Masaryk and Edward Beneš lgnored thelr just demands for twenty years. Today thelr followers stlll lnslst that the Slovaks have no right to thelr own natlonal exlstence and thelr own Independent state. So don't blame the Slovaks for proclalming: "NEVER DO WE WANT TO BE A PAR'ľ OF ANY OLD OR NEW CZECHOSLOVAKIA! " • • • • WHO SAID IT? "The Soviet Union SINCERELY deslres a strong, consolidated, fully homogeneous Czechoslovak republic which would be a truly good and strong frlend and a collaborator of the Soviet people In the future defenae of a lastlng peace In Europe. The same wish also applies to the future of Poland. The Soviet Union not only desires good and friendly relatlons wlth her but also a strong Pollsh-Czechoslovak frlendship and collaboratlon." TIMES, 12-23-43. Dr. Edward Beneš, THE NEW YORK • "The Czechoslovak republlc is, just a.s it had been, a democratlc state that respects freedom of convictlons and vlewpoints, a state that always respected and even In the future shall respect, above all else, freedom of rellgion, the church and religlous culture. lt ls an independent state and Independent it shall remaln. lt ls a state that has always u,pheld, above al! else, objectivlty and full tolerance toward the convlctlons and rellglous beller or all lts cltlzens. lt ls a state that has respected the well-known Four Freedoms of President F. D. Roosevelt and toí:iay 1s applylng them in a practlcal way In lts set-up. That 1s how lt 1s today and so shall lt be even In the future." - Dr. Edward Beneš, Prague, Aprll 8, 1946. (NÁROD, 4-17-46). � 52 SLOVAKIA ABOUT THE SLOVAK STATE ( ks) - An anonymous Slovak had an article publlshed in a Czech paper about the origin or the Slovak State. Thaťs the way Czech Slo• vaks (CZECHOSLOVAKS!) do buslness, and the Czechs, o! course, gladly give them space in thelr papers. Phllosophlzlng on the subject or the origin of the Slovak Republlc, the author ot the artlcle asks several questlons: 1. Did the Slovak parliament decide freely (when it voted the independence of Slovakia in March 1939)? Yes, lt did. lt declded that freely and unanlmously. Not one Deputy of the Slovak parllament remalned seated; all stood up and so voted for Slovak state lndependence. No one forced them to stand up. At Ieast one could have remained seated and so lndlcate a negatlve vote; but, I repeat, not one Deputy remalned seated. 2. Was the "Berlin order" In line with the wlll of the nation? No "order" was concerned. Karol Sidor, as Premier of the Slovak Government, refused in the name of the Slovaks to execute an "order" at that time, when he told Keppler, Seys-lnquart and Biirckel - who had come to him to Bratislava on March 12, 1939, - that he would not go to Berlin or to Vlenna to proclaim the lndependence ot Slovakia by radlo. He told them that wa.s the function of the Party and the Slovak parliament. lf Sldor would have gone to Germany and there proclalmed the lndependence of Slovakia, that would bave been effected by German order. The Germans wanted the proclamatlon over the radlo, whereas the Slovaks wanted thelr parllament to do the proclalming. Two days later the Slovaks wllled lt that thelr parllament pro• clalm the lndependence of thelr country. The votlng in parllament on March 14, 1939, was no klnd ot "Berlin order." lt does not matter that the elected deputles voted for lt. That the deputies voted for it unanimously strongly emphaslzes the fact that the Slovak natlon as a whole, through its duly elected representatlves, voiced ltself for lts own state. 3. Did the deputies have any right to do what they did? The representatlves of a sovereign natlon have the rlght to do anythlng wlthin the llmlts of the laws of the land. The only thlng they probably could not do - as an old Slovak saylng states lt would be to make a boy out of a girl. They certainly had a greater rlght to speak for the natlon than dld the formulators of the Martin Declaration, the undenvrlters of the Pittsburgh Pact, or the deputles In the Revolutlonary Natlonal Assembly, who in 1920 voted tor the Constitutlon of the flrst Czechoslovak Republlc, or the self-styled "deputies" of Communlsts and Democrats of 1944-45, who dlvided up the power over Slovakia on a 50-50 basls In such a "brotherly" fashion In the forests or Banská Bystrica. 4. How is it possibfe even now to celebrate such sorrowful annlversarles of our recent past (as the proclamatlon of the lndependence of Slovakla)? �63 SLOVAKIA There are, lndeed, "sorrowful anniversarles In our recent past," but the 14th of March, 1939, does not belong among them. Neither formally, nor by content. Among such sad annlversarles, however, do belong all those acts that Ued up wlth any collaboratlon with natlve Communlsm from Chrlstmas of 1943 and wlth Moscow collaboratlon slnce 1945. March 14, 1939, definltely is not responslble for the atrocitles and blunders commltted by and wlth the ald of Beneš and hls Red Prague reglme slnce 1945. Say what you wlll, In politics only successes count. The llfe of the Slovaks after 1945 1s replete wlth sufferlngs, deportations to the USSR, concentratlon ca.mps, dlsfranchlsements, dlspossesslons and pol!Ucal murders. Even the avowed enemies of Slovak freedom and lndependence former members of the NATIONAL FRONT of Czechoslovakla (Lettrich, Zenkl, Heldrlch, Ducháček, etc.) - have admltted that condl· tlons In Slovakla are worse today than they were under the Nazis. The Czechs, too, are worse off now than they were under Hitler. And we belleve lt. But the Czechs have absolutely no rlght to deny the Slovaks the same freedom and lndependence and "llberatlon" that they themselves are clamorlng and plead!ng for today. The Slovaks have learnt thelr lesson well. T. G. Masaryk and Edward Beneš lgnored thelr just demands for twenty years. Today thelr followers stlll lnslst that the Slovaks have no right to thelr own natlonal exlstence and thelr own Independent state. So don't blame the Slovaks for proclalming: "NEVER DO WE WANT TO BE A PAR'ľ OF ANY OLD OR NEW CZECHOSLOVAKIA! " • • • • WHO SAID IT? "The Soviet Union SINCERELY deslres a strong, consolidated, fully homogeneous Czechoslovak republic which would be a truly good and strong frlend and a collaborator of the Soviet people In the future defenae of a lastlng peace In Europe. The same wish also applies to the future of Poland. The Soviet Union not only desires good and friendly relatlons wlth her but also a strong Pollsh-Czechoslovak frlendship and collaboratlon." TIMES, 12-23-43. Dr. Edward Beneš, THE NEW YORK • "The Czechoslovak republlc is, just a.s it had been, a democratlc state that respects freedom of convictlons and vlewpoints, a state that always respected and even In the future shall respect, above all else, freedom of rellgion, the church and religlous culture. lt ls an independent state and Independent it shall remaln. lt ls a state that has always u,pheld, above al! else, objectivlty and full tolerance toward the convlctlons and rellglous beller or all lts cltlzens. lt ls a state that has respected the well-known Four Freedoms of President F. D. Roosevelt and toí:iay 1s applylng them in a practlcal way In lts set-up. That 1s how lt 1s today and so shall lt be even In the future." - Dr. Edward Beneš, Prague, Aprll 8, 1946. (NÁROD, 4-17-46). � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1951, Vol. 1 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1951 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 1), May 1951.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 2), December 1951.</li> </ul> Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context <ul><li><a href="https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/s261hfmshm7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span>ark:/13960/s261hfmshm7</span></a></li> <li><a href="https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/s21tk2wkzj4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span>ark:/13960/s21tk2wkzj4</span></a></li> </ul> Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 52 SLOVAKIA ABOUT THE SLOVAK STATE ( ks) - An anonymous Slovak had an article publlshed in a Czech paper about the origin or the Slovak State. Thaťs the way Czech Slo• vaks (CZECHOSLOVAKS!) do buslness, and the Czechs, o! course, gladly give them space in thelr papers. Phllosophlzlng on the subject or the origin of the Slovak Republlc, the author ot the artlcle asks several questlons: 1. Did the Slovak parliament decide freely (when it voted the independence of Slovakia in March 1939)? Yes, lt did. lt declded that freely and unanlmously. Not one Deputy of the Slovak parllament remalned seated; all stood up and so voted for Slovak state lndependence. No one forced them to stand up. At Ieast one could have remained seated and so lndlcate a negatlve vote; but, I repeat, not one Deputy remalned seated. 2. Was the "Berlin order" In line with the wlll of the nation? No "order" was concerned. Karol Sidor, as Premier of the Slovak Government, refused in the name of the Slovaks to execute an "order" at that time, when he told Keppler, Seys-lnquart and Biirckel - who had come to him to Bratislava on March 12, 1939, - that he would not go to Berlin or to Vlenna to proclaim the lndependence ot Slovakia by radlo. He told them that wa.s the function of the Party and the Slovak parliament. lf Sldor would have gone to Germany and there proclalmed the lndependence of Slovakia, that would bave been effected by German order. The Germans wanted the proclamatlon over the radlo, whereas the Slovaks wanted thelr parllament to do the proclalming. Two days later the Slovaks wllled lt that thelr parllament pro• clalm the lndependence of thelr country. The votlng in parllament on March 14, 1939, was no klnd ot "Berlin order." lt does not matter that the elected deputles voted for lt. That the deputies voted for it unanimously strongly emphaslzes the fact that the Slovak natlon as a whole, through its duly elected representatlves, voiced ltself for lts own state. 3. Did the deputies have any right to do what they did? The representatlves of a sovereign natlon have the rlght to do anythlng wlthin the llmlts of the laws of the land. The only thlng they probably could not do - as an old Slovak saylng states lt would be to make a boy out of a girl. They certainly had a greater rlght to speak for the natlon than dld the formulators of the Martin Declaration, the undenvrlters of the Pittsburgh Pact, or the deputles In the Revolutlonary Natlonal Assembly, who in 1920 voted tor the Constitutlon of the flrst Czechoslovak Republlc, or the self-styled "deputies" of Communlsts and Democrats of 1944-45, who dlvided up the power over Slovakia on a 50-50 basls In such a "brotherly" fashion In the forests or Banská Bystrica. 4. How is it possibfe even now to celebrate such sorrowful annlversarles of our recent past (as the proclamatlon of the lndependence of Slovakla)? 63 SLOVAKIA There are, lndeed, "sorrowful anniversarles In our recent past," but the 14th of March, 1939, does not belong among them. Neither formally, nor by content. Among such sad annlversarles, however, do belong all those acts that Ued up wlth any collaboratlon with natlve Communlsm from Chrlstmas of 1943 and wlth Moscow collaboratlon slnce 1945. March 14, 1939, definltely is not responslble for the atrocitles and blunders commltted by and wlth the ald of Beneš and hls Red Prague reglme slnce 1945. Say what you wlll, In politics only successes count. The llfe of the Slovaks after 1945 1s replete wlth sufferlngs, deportations to the USSR, concentratlon ca.mps, dlsfranchlsements, dlspossesslons and pol!Ucal murders. Even the avowed enemies of Slovak freedom and lndependence former members of the NATIONAL FRONT of Czechoslovakla (Lettrich, Zenkl, Heldrlch, Ducháček, etc.) - have admltted that condl· tlons In Slovakla are worse today than they were under the Nazis. The Czechs, too, are worse off now than they were under Hitler. And we belleve lt. But the Czechs have absolutely no rlght to deny the Slovaks the same freedom and lndependence and "llberatlon" that they themselves are clamorlng and plead!ng for today. The Slovaks have learnt thelr lesson well. T. G. Masaryk and Edward Beneš lgnored thelr just demands for twenty years. Today thelr followers stlll lnslst that the Slovaks have no right to thelr own natlonal exlstence and thelr own Independent state. So don't blame the Slovaks for proclalming: "NEVER DO WE WANT TO BE A PAR'ľ OF ANY OLD OR NEW CZECHOSLOVAKIA! " • • • • WHO SAID IT? "The Soviet Union SINCERELY deslres a strong, consolidated, fully homogeneous Czechoslovak republic which would be a truly good and strong frlend and a collaborator of the Soviet people In the future defenae of a lastlng peace In Europe. The same wish also applies to the future of Poland. The Soviet Union not only desires good and friendly relatlons wlth her but also a strong Pollsh-Czechoslovak frlendship and collaboratlon." TIMES, 12-23-43. Dr. Edward Beneš, THE NEW YORK • "The Czechoslovak republlc is, just a.s it had been, a democratlc state that respects freedom of convictlons and vlewpoints, a state that always respected and even In the future shall respect, above all else, freedom of rellgion, the church and religlous culture. lt ls an independent state and Independent it shall remaln. lt ls a state that has always u,pheld, above al! else, objectivlty and full tolerance toward the convlctlons and rellglous beller or all lts cltlzens. lt ls a state that has respected the well-known Four Freedoms of President F. D. Roosevelt and toí:iay 1s applylng them in a practlcal way In lts set-up. That 1s how lt 1s today and so shall lt be even In the future." - Dr. Edward Beneš, Prague, Aprll 8, 1946. (NÁROD, 4-17-46).  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource About the Slovak State Description An account of the resource Slovakia, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1), May 1951 pp. 52-53 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource May 1951 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/7155cf795df7a666e89ec3a5139d7624.pdf be842bcc0051ac2e0d9cb08edb4a2d72 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 29 ADDRESS OF HONORABLE MICHAEL A. FEIGHAN United States Representative 20th Ohio District, Delivered at 25:~h Anniversary of Slovak Independence, Sts. Cyril and Methodius Auditorium, Alameda Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio Sunday, March 15, 1964 It is most fitting that the observance of this 25th Anniversary of Slovak National Independence should be held iin this AuditoriUJlll dedieated to the Brother Saints, Cyril and Mebhodius. For the Brother Sair.ts Cyril and Methodius are indelibly linke<l wibh eleven centuries of Slovak culture and history. They were invited by Rastislav, who then rules Slovakia. To bring th e civiliziir.,g message of Christianity to the Slovak people. That was in the year 863 and so effective was bheir work that history records them as the A,postles o,f bht: Slavs. Slovakia has stood fast by her Christian faitih from the days of Cyril and Methodius to bhe present. T•hat faith has carrie<l her over epics of great suffering and has preserved the cu-lture o.f her people in the face of foreign occupation and rule. The stre!llgth of that faith is matched only by the sturdi.ness and resolve of her people . No Natio·n in history has fought harder or long.:-r for freedom and National Independence than Slovakia. No peo,ple have paid a greater pri-ce for their allegiance to liberty and human diignity than paid by the Slovak peo-ple. And no nation or peo,ple are more firmly committed to the principles of freedom today. To understa,r.-d the aspirations o,f the Slovak people and bheir plight as a nation today we need but look back upon events o,f the century in which WI} live. When this century ope-n ed Slovakia was a part of tihe AustroHungarian Empire - but a very restive part. Their struggle for a-uto,r.,o,my and self-rule over the previous century prepared them well for the politica,l stmggle durin•g and following World War I. It was no accident of history that bhe Austro Hu!llgarian , Russian . German and Ottoman Empires fell in the wake of that war. For it was the yearnings and strug,gles for nation-al independence by nations long suibjugated which to,ppled those empires. In pr e•p aring bhe people o,f Slovakia for their po.Utica! independence the name of Ms,gr . Andrew Hlinka looms large. A great patriotic leader. He took the initiative to form the Slovak peoples party as a un,i ted and demo-cratic voice of his peop:e. That party adopted the guiding priindples of bhe great encyclicals on the socia'1 order as their guideposts for bhe formation of a new soeiail order in central Europe . Meanwhile there were diwussions among Czechs and Slovaks in the United States concer,n,in,g the formation of a common federation following th-e war. One historic meeting took place in Cleveland in 1915. At that meeting the Slovak League of America made clear its intention to support a Czecho Slovak federal state, providing Slovakia would be an equal member with Czoohia and would retain complete auton,o,my in all legislative, executive, judiciary, c-U!ltural and national matters . Matters of common concern such as defense and fore ign affairs were to be handled by a common parliament, that agreement together wit•h the Pittsburgh Pact led to the establishment of a provisional .government at Paris wi-th Thomas Masaryk ,as President. 'Dhat provisional governmen,t was ratified by a Czechoslovak National �30 SLOVAKIA Assembly on November 14, 1918 ar.d eleded Thomas Masaryk a& President of the Republic. It was not long before serious disagreements between the Czechs and Slovaks developed over the issue o-f a strongly centralist state and the concept of a federation of co-equal states. In the opin-ion of the Slovak leaders the Czecho-Slovak Republic was rapidly becoming a Czech state and the identity as well as the independence of Slovakia was thereby threatened. This trend was contrary to all agreements entered ir.to before the formation of bhe Czeoho-Slovak Republic. Under these circumstances Msgr. Hli n,ka went to Paris in September o.f 1919 to plead the cause of Slovak independence before the Pea-ce Conference of the victorious Western Powers. There he was falsely denounced to the Frenc,h authorities by the Czechoslovak delegation as a Hapsburg spy and was forced to depart the coun try. Returning to his homeland he was immediately imprisoned by order of the Prague central government and his release was won by the Slovak people who elected him a deputy. In the years between the wars the Slovaks people fared poorly under the centralized regime in Prague Their ho,pes for self-government were denied by a system they had opposed and rejeded and which laid upon 1:Jhem laws and demands to which they had not given their free consent. Slovaks were the victoms of harsh discriminations in all phases of government, education and public life. Their ancie,nt culture was put under a barra-ge of controls and regulations whiC!h had no other purpose but to suffocate their national heritage and yearnings Practically all the distrkt and county public offices in Slovakia were directed ar.d run by Czechs assigned by Prague. They, along with the police establishment, were directly respon-sible to Prague and none of these arms of a central goverin,ment were responsive to the will of the Slovak people. For example, in 1938, there were 120,926 Czech public officials quartered in Slovakia. 'Ilhe Slo,v ak ,people made numerous attempts to win their just national ri,g hts from the central government in Prague. But these attempts were rebuffed and rejected by a series of delaying tactics, untfulfilled promises and outright deceit. Since a,n alleged parhamentary form of government was established in Pra,gue, the Slovak leaders took their series of complaints to that central body for redress. But there they were faced with impossible odds for bhe parliament was loaded with 233 Czech deputies a,gainst 58 deputtes from S!ovakia _.and 9 deputies from Ruthenia . Hence. the Slovak grievances fell upon unreceptive and unyielding ears. Then the Slovaks leaders took their grievances to President Edward Ben-es, who had succeeded to that post after the death of Thomas Masa,ryk. There they met ,thie s,ame treatment of delay, .ejection and rebuff. When Hitler came to power in Germany and began to manipulate the smaller and weaker nations of Europe, the Slovak people did not seize upon this situation to attain bheir long neglected grievances against the government of Pra•g ue. Contrarywise, all the legitimate political parties of Slovakia moved into a state of cohesive unity. Moreover. they eased their complaints against Prague, conscious of the coming- storm over all of Europe . The Mumch conference of September 22, 1938, which was alleged to be a peace co,niference, unleasherl r.ew forces of division and discord throughout all of central Europe. When the Sudentenland was �SLOVAKIA 31 ceded to Germany as the price of peace, tht centralist government of Pra.gue was doomed. Czecho-Slovakia was forced by the circumstances of political reality to become a federation of Boihemia-Moravia, Slovakia, and Ruthenia . Slovakia, at long last, was to become master of its destiny as well as self-goverr.ing. But the removal of 9,000 Czech officials in Slovakia to make room for officials chosen by the Slovak people caused additional strains on relations with Prague, although Edward Benes had fled into exile, the centralist vent of Prague remained, and this despite the lesson of Munich. On March 10, 1939, the Prague government, annoyed at the serious manner in which the Slovaks were taking their responsibilities for self-government, dismm,ed the autonomous Slovak government headed by Dr. Josep,h Tiso and declared martial Jaw over all o<f Slovakia Pubiic demonstrations against the Prague ,g overnment spread throughout Slovakia a,n.ct threatened a blood bath revolution. Under these circumstances, Hitler invited Dr. Tiso to a conference in Berlin where he showed him a telegram from Von Ribbentrop, then forei,gn minister oif the Reich, in which the threat of forei-gn occupation of Slovakia was made. Hitler then suggested this threat mi,g ht be avoided Lf Slovakia declared its national independence. While Hitler was a mad fooL he was by no means ignorant about the aspirations of bh-e Slovak people for national independence. Dr. Tiso returned to Bratislava where he reported fully to the Slovak diet on his conference with Hitler in Berlin. The Slovak diet then proclaimed the nation-a:! independence of Slovakia on March 14, 193·9. That, in quick summary, is the history of the 25th Anniversary of Slovak National Independence we obs·e rve here today. All that I have said, and more, can be found in an official report o,f the United States Congress, rendered by the select Comm ittee to In-vestiga te Communist aggression 83rd Congress. I was a member of that committee and I can tell you its members had no fear of the truth as we sought the facts on this vital issue. That report also tells the story of Slovakia's loss of national independence follow ing World War II and the Manner in which the unprincipled po.Jitical rogues who made up the centralist goverr.ment of Pra,gue sold out t,heir own people as well as the Slovak nation to Imperial R•ussia. It is fitting at bhis moment t,hat we o·f.fer u,p a prayer for the s-0ul of Dr. Joseph Tiso, who m1de the supreme Sa•c rifice for the Political ideals of a free and iir.,dependent Slovakia. Dr. Tiso was tried in a Mo-ck tial, sentenced and har.,g ed by the Communist quislin•gs who eventually so,Jd out their own country to the Russian Communists. But history will treat Dr. Tiso kindly because the passa,ge of time has brou.ght forth and will continue to bring forth the tru t,h a-bout his desperate efforts to save his native land. Slovakia today suffers under bhe harsh heel of Russia,n Communist occupation. That occupation has sou,ght to rob the Slovak pe o,ple of t,heir ancient traditions, their religious, and their heritage as well as their political liberties. But the Slovak people are stee,Jed in the tactics which must be employed agamst a foreign occupier. Time and the experience of centuries has prepared them well for the tests they now endure. It is little wonder that the spirit o•f resista,r.,ce to tyranny Tuns so ,s,tro,n g -i n Slovak-i:a: :today. The Russians as well a,s their Czech �32 SLOVAKIA quislings in Prague, know the power of Slovak national aspirations. History is repeating itself today as the people of Slovakia are bringing pressures upon the die-hard Russia,n stalinist regime entrenohed at Prague. Those pressures are agai-n st the twin chauvinisms which seek to erase the distmct nationa,l character of the Slovak peo,ple. Genuine dissent against the Prague regime comes only fro,m Siovakia while Bohemia and Moravia- remain stra,r.,gely silent even on the old hat Russian trick of de-stalinization . All of us remember that on the occasion of the Hungarian freedom revolution in 1956 the people of Slovakia afone amon,g all the peo,ple of a Russian restored centralist Czeehoslovakia demonstrate<l .sympathy for the aims of that freedom revolution. The da,r.,ger of that demonstrated sympathy was quickly recognized by Moscow As a result three Czech divisions were moved to the common border between Slovakia and Hungary, to seal off any prospeet of assistance to and collaboration with the Hungarian freedom fighters That is a lesson of history which must never be for gotten bv those who love freedom a,nd fight against tyranny m any form There is another lesson to be gained from the era of the Hunga.rian freedom r. volution which needs tellin,g, but wh ich up to this moment, has remained buried in the archives of trut~. That lesson occured several weeks before the outbreak ot the Hungarian revolution. The scene was Poland, lo,n,g under occupation by the oppressive Russian Communists. The Poznan revolt m the spring of 1956 was an important event in history, but it failed to expose to the free world the fuH story o-f the human pressures which had built up amon,g the people of Poland. 'I\hat revolt served as a short fused safety valve for the pent up feelings of the Polish peo,ple. But by September and early October of 1956 the oppressed people of poland had rea,ohed a breaking point. They were willing to risk all in a heroic effort to t>r eak the chains of Russian slavery whi,oh had been fixed to their nat10n al life and ancient heritage. The Russia,n quis,Jings in control of Pol and became alarmed by these develo,pm ents and sent urgent warnings to Moseow. Khru shchsv knew the full meaning of these warning~ and flew to Warsaw to avert disaster for the Russian Empire But the Po:es were r eady for him. They had ma,n-aged tu gain anti-communist discipline and control over 40 divi sions of Po les and East Germans Whzn Khrushchev's plane arrived over Warsaw airport it was not allowed to land. The Russians then surrounded Warsaw airport with a Russian armored divisio,n. But the Poles cou ntered this move by surrounding the Russian division with severa l loyal divisions o.f their own. The Polish leaders o,f revolt sought time to negotiate with th e American Ambassador in Wars-aw. What they sought in these negotiatior.s was assurance of United States moral support if they att:acked the Russians a,nd drove them from P o-lish soil. In thes-e n.egotiations the Po,les were discouraged m then efforts and reminded that their ambition s would likely unlea sh a nuclear war The Polish n,egotiators left the United States Embassy discouraged and disillusione<l and returned to the Warsaw airport There they agre,ed upo,n a pl,a-n to for.ce as ma,n y conc-esstons ou~ of Khrushchev as they cou'1d. They agree-d to demand the release of Cardinal Wyczynski from ho-use arrest, the release of Gomulka from pris•on and a general relaxation of oppressio,n whioh had been laid �SLOVAKIA 33 upon the Polish people . This brave action on the part of the enslaved Polish people held Khrushchev in thr air over Warsaw fo.r four to five hours. When his plane was allowed to land, there was no pounding of a Russiar. shoe on a desk a·n-d there were no insults poured upon the negotiators because the Poles stood firm in their promise of unrestricted bloodshed unless their demands were met, Khrushchev understands that kind of negotiation. He met the demands of the Polish negotiators who negotiated upon n-othing more than their confidence in the Polish people to stand up in support of their ideals arud aspirations. These facts were not known to the people of Hungary. All they knew was that the people of Poland were standing up to the RUJSsian-s. In support of that stand they began peaceful demonstrations in Budapest. It was no accident that these peaceful demostrations moved toward the historic statue of General Bern. A Polish hero who went to the rescue of Hungary a century before when the people of Hungary fought for their national independence, nor was it a,n. accident when the Russian secret po-lice machine gunned the peaceful Hungarian demostrators . Moscow remembered the events ~n Warsaw a few weeks prior ar.,d knew or.!y too well their meaning, a show of brute strength, the traditional source of Russian power, was ordered. That bruta-1 action triggered off the Hungarian freedom revolution which co-uld have bro-ught the Russian Empire down in shambles if the United States had demostrated the moral and political courage which has brought us to a position of leadership in the free world. Looking back on that heroic chapter in history, in light o.f these facts which I have exposed, I must conclude that one of the greatest opportunities in history was bungled in Warsaw in the early days of October 1956. The Poles and East Germans would have been joined by Slovakia. Hungary, Ukraine, Lithuania, R,umania, Byelorussia and all the rest of the peoples in the captive nations. A popular revolution of that dimension, reaching from the Baltic sea to the Caspian sea, wo-uld have brought about the total disintegration of the Russian! Empire. The Russians would have been powerless in the face of such a popular movement for freedom. The Red Army would have fallen i-n-to total collapse, as its occupation elements did during the Hungarian revolution. and Moscow would have been rendered powerless. These conclusions are ir.escapable and they will become more apparent with the passage of time. Truth will not be buried because truth endures time. mortal men and the Imperial Russians. For these reasons I am ho,n,ored by the opportunity which you have given me to participatP. with you in this observance of the 25th Anniversary of Slovak National Inde·p endence. This is the Silver Anniversary of a,n important event in the annuals of freedom's cause. It serves well to provide a brig,ht linmg, a silver lining, to the dark clouds of war which stretch over much of the civilized world. That silver linin-g raises our ho-pes for peace with justice and freedom . It reminds us that the power of human aspirations dwarfs the power and threat of all the nuclear weapons stockpiled thro,u,ghout the world. God bless the Slovak people and hasten the day when their hard journey toward freedom and national independence shall end in a glorious triumph. � SLOVAKIA 29 ADDRESS OF HONORABLE MICHAEL A. FEIGHAN United States Representative 20th Ohio District, Delivered at 25:~h Anniversary of Slovak Independence, Sts. Cyril and Methodius Auditorium, Alameda Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio Sunday, March 15, 1964 It is most fitting that the observance of this 25th Anniversary of Slovak National Independence should be held iin this AuditoriUJlll dedieated to the Brother Saints, Cyril and Mebhodius. For the Brother Sair.ts Cyril and Methodius are indelibly linke<l wibh eleven centuries of Slovak culture and history. They were invited by Rastislav, who then rules Slovakia. To bring th e civiliziir.,g message of Christianity to the Slovak people. That was in the year 863 and so effective was bheir work that history records them as the A,postles o,f bht: Slavs. Slovakia has stood fast by her Christian faitih from the days of Cyril and Methodius to bhe present. T•hat faith has carrie<l her over epics of great suffering and has preserved the cu-lture o.f her people in the face of foreign occupation and rule. The stre!llgth of that faith is matched only by the sturdi.ness and resolve of her people . No Natio·n in history has fought harder or long.:-r for freedom and National Independence than Slovakia. No peo,ple have paid a greater pri-ce for their allegiance to liberty and human diignity than paid by the Slovak peo-ple. And no nation or peo,ple are more firmly committed to the principles of freedom today. To understa,r.-d the aspirations o,f the Slovak people and bheir plight as a nation today we need but look back upon events o,f the century in which WI} live. When this century ope-n ed Slovakia was a part of tihe AustroHungarian Empire - but a very restive part. Their struggle for a-uto,r.,o,my and self-rule over the previous century prepared them well for the politica,l stmggle durin•g and following World War I. It was no accident of history that bhe Austro Hu!llgarian , Russian . German and Ottoman Empires fell in the wake of that war. For it was the yearnings and strug,gles for nation-al independence by nations long suibjugated which to,ppled those empires. In pr e•p aring bhe people o,f Slovakia for their po.Utica! independence the name of Ms,gr . Andrew Hlinka looms large. A great patriotic leader. He took the initiative to form the Slovak peoples party as a un,i ted and demo-cratic voice of his peop:e. That party adopted the guiding priindples of bhe great encyclicals on the socia'1 order as their guideposts for bhe formation of a new soeiail order in central Europe . Meanwhile there were diwussions among Czechs and Slovaks in the United States concer,n,in,g the formation of a common federation following th-e war. One historic meeting took place in Cleveland in 1915. At that meeting the Slovak League of America made clear its intention to support a Czecho Slovak federal state, providing Slovakia would be an equal member with Czoohia and would retain complete auton,o,my in all legislative, executive, judiciary, c-U!ltural and national matters . Matters of common concern such as defense and fore ign affairs were to be handled by a common parliament, that agreement together wit•h the Pittsburgh Pact led to the establishment of a provisional .government at Paris wi-th Thomas Masaryk ,as President. 'Dhat provisional governmen,t was ratified by a Czechoslovak National �30 SLOVAKIA Assembly on November 14, 1918 ar.d eleded Thomas Masaryk a& President of the Republic. It was not long before serious disagreements between the Czechs and Slovaks developed over the issue o-f a strongly centralist state and the concept of a federation of co-equal states. In the opin-ion of the Slovak leaders the Czecho-Slovak Republic was rapidly becoming a Czech state and the identity as well as the independence of Slovakia was thereby threatened. This trend was contrary to all agreements entered ir.to before the formation of bhe Czeoho-Slovak Republic. Under these circumstances Msgr. Hli n,ka went to Paris in September o.f 1919 to plead the cause of Slovak independence before the Pea-ce Conference of the victorious Western Powers. There he was falsely denounced to the Frenc,h authorities by the Czechoslovak delegation as a Hapsburg spy and was forced to depart the coun try. Returning to his homeland he was immediately imprisoned by order of the Prague central government and his release was won by the Slovak people who elected him a deputy. In the years between the wars the Slovaks people fared poorly under the centralized regime in Prague Their ho,pes for self-government were denied by a system they had opposed and rejeded and which laid upon 1:Jhem laws and demands to which they had not given their free consent. Slovaks were the victoms of harsh discriminations in all phases of government, education and public life. Their ancie,nt culture was put under a barra-ge of controls and regulations whiC!h had no other purpose but to suffocate their national heritage and yearnings Practically all the distrkt and county public offices in Slovakia were directed ar.d run by Czechs assigned by Prague. They, along with the police establishment, were directly respon-sible to Prague and none of these arms of a central goverin,ment were responsive to the will of the Slovak people. For example, in 1938, there were 120,926 Czech public officials quartered in Slovakia. 'Ilhe Slo,v ak ,people made numerous attempts to win their just national ri,g hts from the central government in Prague. But these attempts were rebuffed and rejected by a series of delaying tactics, untfulfilled promises and outright deceit. Since a,n alleged parhamentary form of government was established in Pra,gue, the Slovak leaders took their series of complaints to that central body for redress. But there they were faced with impossible odds for bhe parliament was loaded with 233 Czech deputies a,gainst 58 deputtes from S!ovakia _.and 9 deputies from Ruthenia . Hence. the Slovak grievances fell upon unreceptive and unyielding ears. Then the Slovaks leaders took their grievances to President Edward Ben-es, who had succeeded to that post after the death of Thomas Masa,ryk. There they met ,thie s,ame treatment of delay, .ejection and rebuff. When Hitler came to power in Germany and began to manipulate the smaller and weaker nations of Europe, the Slovak people did not seize upon this situation to attain bheir long neglected grievances against the government of Pra•g ue. Contrarywise, all the legitimate political parties of Slovakia moved into a state of cohesive unity. Moreover. they eased their complaints against Prague, conscious of the coming- storm over all of Europe . The Mumch conference of September 22, 1938, which was alleged to be a peace co,niference, unleasherl r.ew forces of division and discord throughout all of central Europe. When the Sudentenland was �SLOVAKIA 31 ceded to Germany as the price of peace, tht centralist government of Pra.gue was doomed. Czecho-Slovakia was forced by the circumstances of political reality to become a federation of Boihemia-Moravia, Slovakia, and Ruthenia . Slovakia, at long last, was to become master of its destiny as well as self-goverr.ing. But the removal of 9,000 Czech officials in Slovakia to make room for officials chosen by the Slovak people caused additional strains on relations with Prague, although Edward Benes had fled into exile, the centralist vent of Prague remained, and this despite the lesson of Munich. On March 10, 1939, the Prague government, annoyed at the serious manner in which the Slovaks were taking their responsibilities for self-government, dismm,ed the autonomous Slovak government headed by Dr. Josep,h Tiso and declared martial Jaw over all o<f Slovakia Pubiic demonstrations against the Prague ,g overnment spread throughout Slovakia a,n.ct threatened a blood bath revolution. Under these circumstances, Hitler invited Dr. Tiso to a conference in Berlin where he showed him a telegram from Von Ribbentrop, then forei,gn minister oif the Reich, in which the threat of forei-gn occupation of Slovakia was made. Hitler then suggested this threat mi,g ht be avoided Lf Slovakia declared its national independence. While Hitler was a mad fooL he was by no means ignorant about the aspirations of bh-e Slovak people for national independence. Dr. Tiso returned to Bratislava where he reported fully to the Slovak diet on his conference with Hitler in Berlin. The Slovak diet then proclaimed the nation-a:! independence of Slovakia on March 14, 193·9. That, in quick summary, is the history of the 25th Anniversary of Slovak National Independence we obs·e rve here today. All that I have said, and more, can be found in an official report o,f the United States Congress, rendered by the select Comm ittee to In-vestiga te Communist aggression 83rd Congress. I was a member of that committee and I can tell you its members had no fear of the truth as we sought the facts on this vital issue. That report also tells the story of Slovakia's loss of national independence follow ing World War II and the Manner in which the unprincipled po.Jitical rogues who made up the centralist goverr.ment of Pra,gue sold out t,heir own people as well as the Slovak nation to Imperial R•ussia. It is fitting at bhis moment t,hat we o·f.fer u,p a prayer for the s-0ul of Dr. Joseph Tiso, who m1de the supreme Sa•c rifice for the Political ideals of a free and iir.,dependent Slovakia. Dr. Tiso was tried in a Mo-ck tial, sentenced and har.,g ed by the Communist quislin•gs who eventually so,Jd out their own country to the Russian Communists. But history will treat Dr. Tiso kindly because the passa,ge of time has brou.ght forth and will continue to bring forth the tru t,h a-bout his desperate efforts to save his native land. Slovakia today suffers under bhe harsh heel of Russia,n Communist occupation. That occupation has sou,ght to rob the Slovak pe o,ple of t,heir ancient traditions, their religious, and their heritage as well as their political liberties. But the Slovak people are stee,Jed in the tactics which must be employed agamst a foreign occupier. Time and the experience of centuries has prepared them well for the tests they now endure. It is little wonder that the spirit o•f resista,r.,ce to tyranny Tuns so ,s,tro,n g -i n Slovak-i:a: :today. The Russians as well a,s their Czech �32 SLOVAKIA quislings in Prague, know the power of Slovak national aspirations. History is repeating itself today as the people of Slovakia are bringing pressures upon the die-hard Russia,n stalinist regime entrenohed at Prague. Those pressures are agai-n st the twin chauvinisms which seek to erase the distmct nationa,l character of the Slovak peo,ple. Genuine dissent against the Prague regime comes only fro,m Siovakia while Bohemia and Moravia- remain stra,r.,gely silent even on the old hat Russian trick of de-stalinization . All of us remember that on the occasion of the Hungarian freedom revolution in 1956 the people of Slovakia afone amon,g all the peo,ple of a Russian restored centralist Czeehoslovakia demonstrate<l .sympathy for the aims of that freedom revolution. The da,r.,ger of that demonstrated sympathy was quickly recognized by Moscow As a result three Czech divisions were moved to the common border between Slovakia and Hungary, to seal off any prospeet of assistance to and collaboration with the Hungarian freedom fighters That is a lesson of history which must never be for gotten bv those who love freedom a,nd fight against tyranny m any form There is another lesson to be gained from the era of the Hunga.rian freedom r. volution which needs tellin,g, but wh ich up to this moment, has remained buried in the archives of trut~. That lesson occured several weeks before the outbreak ot the Hungarian revolution. The scene was Poland, lo,n,g under occupation by the oppressive Russian Communists. The Poznan revolt m the spring of 1956 was an important event in history, but it failed to expose to the free world the fuH story o-f the human pressures which had built up amon,g the people of Poland. 'I\hat revolt served as a short fused safety valve for the pent up feelings of the Polish peo,ple. But by September and early October of 1956 the oppressed people of poland had rea,ohed a breaking point. They were willing to risk all in a heroic effort to t>r eak the chains of Russian slavery whi,oh had been fixed to their nat10n al life and ancient heritage. The Russia,n quis,Jings in control of Pol and became alarmed by these develo,pm ents and sent urgent warnings to Moseow. Khru shchsv knew the full meaning of these warning~ and flew to Warsaw to avert disaster for the Russian Empire But the Po:es were r eady for him. They had ma,n-aged tu gain anti-communist discipline and control over 40 divi sions of Po les and East Germans Whzn Khrushchev's plane arrived over Warsaw airport it was not allowed to land. The Russians then surrounded Warsaw airport with a Russian armored divisio,n. But the Poles cou ntered this move by surrounding the Russian division with severa l loyal divisions o.f their own. The Polish leaders o,f revolt sought time to negotiate with th e American Ambassador in Wars-aw. What they sought in these negotiatior.s was assurance of United States moral support if they att:acked the Russians a,nd drove them from P o-lish soil. In thes-e n.egotiations the Po,les were discouraged m then efforts and reminded that their ambition s would likely unlea sh a nuclear war The Polish n,egotiators left the United States Embassy discouraged and disillusione<l and returned to the Warsaw airport There they agre,ed upo,n a pl,a-n to for.ce as ma,n y conc-esstons ou~ of Khrushchev as they cou'1d. They agree-d to demand the release of Cardinal Wyczynski from ho-use arrest, the release of Gomulka from pris•on and a general relaxation of oppressio,n whioh had been laid �SLOVAKIA 33 upon the Polish people . This brave action on the part of the enslaved Polish people held Khrushchev in thr air over Warsaw fo.r four to five hours. When his plane was allowed to land, there was no pounding of a Russiar. shoe on a desk a·n-d there were no insults poured upon the negotiators because the Poles stood firm in their promise of unrestricted bloodshed unless their demands were met, Khrushchev understands that kind of negotiation. He met the demands of the Polish negotiators who negotiated upon n-othing more than their confidence in the Polish people to stand up in support of their ideals arud aspirations. These facts were not known to the people of Hungary. All they knew was that the people of Poland were standing up to the RUJSsian-s. In support of that stand they began peaceful demonstrations in Budapest. It was no accident that these peaceful demostrations moved toward the historic statue of General Bern. A Polish hero who went to the rescue of Hungary a century before when the people of Hungary fought for their national independence, nor was it a,n. accident when the Russian secret po-lice machine gunned the peaceful Hungarian demostrators . Moscow remembered the events ~n Warsaw a few weeks prior ar.,d knew or.!y too well their meaning, a show of brute strength, the traditional source of Russian power, was ordered. That bruta-1 action triggered off the Hungarian freedom revolution which co-uld have bro-ught the Russian Empire down in shambles if the United States had demostrated the moral and political courage which has brought us to a position of leadership in the free world. Looking back on that heroic chapter in history, in light o.f these facts which I have exposed, I must conclude that one of the greatest opportunities in history was bungled in Warsaw in the early days of October 1956. The Poles and East Germans would have been joined by Slovakia. Hungary, Ukraine, Lithuania, R,umania, Byelorussia and all the rest of the peoples in the captive nations. A popular revolution of that dimension, reaching from the Baltic sea to the Caspian sea, wo-uld have brought about the total disintegration of the Russian! Empire. The Russians would have been powerless in the face of such a popular movement for freedom. The Red Army would have fallen i-n-to total collapse, as its occupation elements did during the Hungarian revolution. and Moscow would have been rendered powerless. These conclusions are ir.escapable and they will become more apparent with the passage of time. Truth will not be buried because truth endures time. mortal men and the Imperial Russians. For these reasons I am ho,n,ored by the opportunity which you have given me to participatP. with you in this observance of the 25th Anniversary of Slovak National Inde·p endence. This is the Silver Anniversary of a,n important event in the annuals of freedom's cause. It serves well to provide a brig,ht linmg, a silver lining, to the dark clouds of war which stretch over much of the civilized world. That silver linin-g raises our ho-pes for peace with justice and freedom . It reminds us that the power of human aspirations dwarfs the power and threat of all the nuclear weapons stockpiled thro,u,ghout the world. God bless the Slovak people and hasten the day when their hard journey toward freedom and national independence shall end in a glorious triumph. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1964, Vol. 14 Description An account of the resource Vol. 14 (No. 37), 1964. 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 1964 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 ADDRESS OF HONORABLE MICHAEL A. FEIGHAN United States Representative 20th Ohio District, Delivered at 25:~h Anniversary of Slovak Independence, Sts. Cyril and Methodius Auditorium, Alameda Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio Sunday, March 15, 1964 It is most fitting that the observance of this 25th Anniversary of Slovak National Independence should be held iin this AuditoriUJlll dedieated to the Brother Saints, Cyril and Mebhodius. For the Brother Sair.ts Cyril and Methodius are indelibly linke<l wibh eleven centuries of Slovak culture and history. They were invited by Rastislav, who then rules Slovakia. To bring th e civiliziir.,g message of Christianity to the Slovak people. That was in the year 863 and so effective was bheir work that history records them as the A,postles o,f bht: Slavs. Slovakia has stood fast by her Christian faitih from the days of Cyril and Methodius to bhe present. T•hat faith has carrie<l her over epics of great suffering and has preserved the cu-lture o.f her people in the face of foreign occupation and rule. The stre!llgth of that faith is matched only by the sturdi.ness and resolve of her people . No Natio·n in history has fought harder or long.:-r for freedom and National Independence than Slovakia. No peo,ple have paid a greater pri-ce for their allegiance to liberty and human diignity than paid by the Slovak peo-ple. And no nation or peo,ple are more firmly committed to the principles of freedom today. To understa,r.-d the aspirations o,f the Slovak people and bheir plight as a nation today we need but look back upon events o,f the century in which WI} live. When this century ope-n ed Slovakia was a part of tihe AustroHungarian Empire - but a very restive part. Their struggle for a-uto,r.,o,my and self-rule over the previous century prepared them well for the politica,l stmggle durin•g and following World War I. It was no accident of history that bhe Austro Hu!llgarian , Russian . German and Ottoman Empires fell in the wake of that war. For it was the yearnings and strug,gles for nation-al independence by nations long suibjugated which to,ppled those empires. In pr e•p aring bhe people o,f Slovakia for their po.Utica! independence the name of Ms,gr . Andrew Hlinka looms large. A great patriotic leader. He took the initiative to form the Slovak peoples party as a un,i ted and demo-cratic voice of his peop:e. That party adopted the guiding priindples of bhe great encyclicals on the socia'1 order as their guideposts for bhe formation of a new soeiail order in central Europe . Meanwhile there were diwussions among Czechs and Slovaks in the United States concer,n,in,g the formation of a common federation following th-e war. One historic meeting took place in Cleveland in 1915. At that meeting the Slovak League of America made clear its intention to support a Czecho Slovak federal state, providing Slovakia would be an equal member with Czoohia and would retain complete auton,o,my in all legislative, executive, judiciary, c-U!ltural and national matters . Matters of common concern such as defense and fore ign affairs were to be handled by a common parliament, that agreement together wit•h the Pittsburgh Pact led to the establishment of a provisional .government at Paris wi-th Thomas Masaryk ,as President. 'Dhat provisional governmen,t was ratified by a Czechoslovak National 30 SLOVAKIA Assembly on November 14, 1918 ar.d eleded Thomas Masaryk a& President of the Republic. It was not long before serious disagreements between the Czechs and Slovaks developed over the issue o-f a strongly centralist state and the concept of a federation of co-equal states. In the opin-ion of the Slovak leaders the Czecho-Slovak Republic was rapidly becoming a Czech state and the identity as well as the independence of Slovakia was thereby threatened. This trend was contrary to all agreements entered ir.to before the formation of bhe Czeoho-Slovak Republic. Under these circumstances Msgr. Hli n,ka went to Paris in September o.f 1919 to plead the cause of Slovak independence before the Pea-ce Conference of the victorious Western Powers. There he was falsely denounced to the Frenc,h authorities by the Czechoslovak delegation as a Hapsburg spy and was forced to depart the coun try. Returning to his homeland he was immediately imprisoned by order of the Prague central government and his release was won by the Slovak people who elected him a deputy. In the years between the wars the Slovaks people fared poorly under the centralized regime in Prague Their ho,pes for self-government were denied by a system they had opposed and rejeded and which laid upon 1:Jhem laws and demands to which they had not given their free consent. Slovaks were the victoms of harsh discriminations in all phases of government, education and public life. Their ancie,nt culture was put under a barra-ge of controls and regulations whiC!h had no other purpose but to suffocate their national heritage and yearnings Practically all the distrkt and county public offices in Slovakia were directed ar.d run by Czechs assigned by Prague. They, along with the police establishment, were directly respon-sible to Prague and none of these arms of a central goverin,ment were responsive to the will of the Slovak people. For example, in 1938, there were 120,926 Czech public officials quartered in Slovakia. 'Ilhe Slo,v ak ,people made numerous attempts to win their just national ri,g hts from the central government in Prague. But these attempts were rebuffed and rejected by a series of delaying tactics, untfulfilled promises and outright deceit. Since a,n alleged parhamentary form of government was established in Pra,gue, the Slovak leaders took their series of complaints to that central body for redress. But there they were faced with impossible odds for bhe parliament was loaded with 233 Czech deputies a,gainst 58 deputtes from S!ovakia _.and 9 deputies from Ruthenia . Hence. the Slovak grievances fell upon unreceptive and unyielding ears. Then the Slovaks leaders took their grievances to President Edward Ben-es, who had succeeded to that post after the death of Thomas Masa,ryk. There they met ,thie s,ame treatment of delay, .ejection and rebuff. When Hitler came to power in Germany and began to manipulate the smaller and weaker nations of Europe, the Slovak people did not seize upon this situation to attain bheir long neglected grievances against the government of Pra•g ue. Contrarywise, all the legitimate political parties of Slovakia moved into a state of cohesive unity. Moreover. they eased their complaints against Prague, conscious of the coming- storm over all of Europe . The Mumch conference of September 22, 1938, which was alleged to be a peace co,niference, unleasherl r.ew forces of division and discord throughout all of central Europe. When the Sudentenland was SLOVAKIA 31 ceded to Germany as the price of peace, tht centralist government of Pra.gue was doomed. Czecho-Slovakia was forced by the circumstances of political reality to become a federation of Boihemia-Moravia, Slovakia, and Ruthenia . Slovakia, at long last, was to become master of its destiny as well as self-goverr.ing. But the removal of 9,000 Czech officials in Slovakia to make room for officials chosen by the Slovak people caused additional strains on relations with Prague, although Edward Benes had fled into exile, the centralist vent of Prague remained, and this despite the lesson of Munich. On March 10, 1939, the Prague government, annoyed at the serious manner in which the Slovaks were taking their responsibilities for self-government, dismm,ed the autonomous Slovak government headed by Dr. Josep,h Tiso and declared martial Jaw over all o<f Slovakia Pubiic demonstrations against the Prague ,g overnment spread throughout Slovakia a,n.ct threatened a blood bath revolution. Under these circumstances, Hitler invited Dr. Tiso to a conference in Berlin where he showed him a telegram from Von Ribbentrop, then forei,gn minister oif the Reich, in which the threat of forei-gn occupation of Slovakia was made. Hitler then suggested this threat mi,g ht be avoided Lf Slovakia declared its national independence. While Hitler was a mad fooL he was by no means ignorant about the aspirations of bh-e Slovak people for national independence. Dr. Tiso returned to Bratislava where he reported fully to the Slovak diet on his conference with Hitler in Berlin. The Slovak diet then proclaimed the nation-a:! independence of Slovakia on March 14, 193·9. That, in quick summary, is the history of the 25th Anniversary of Slovak National Independence we obs·e rve here today. All that I have said, and more, can be found in an official report o,f the United States Congress, rendered by the select Comm ittee to In-vestiga te Communist aggression 83rd Congress. I was a member of that committee and I can tell you its members had no fear of the truth as we sought the facts on this vital issue. That report also tells the story of Slovakia's loss of national independence follow ing World War II and the Manner in which the unprincipled po.Jitical rogues who made up the centralist goverr.ment of Pra,gue sold out t,heir own people as well as the Slovak nation to Imperial R•ussia. It is fitting at bhis moment t,hat we o·f.fer u,p a prayer for the s-0ul of Dr. Joseph Tiso, who m1de the supreme Sa•c rifice for the Political ideals of a free and iir.,dependent Slovakia. Dr. Tiso was tried in a Mo-ck tial, sentenced and har.,g ed by the Communist quislin•gs who eventually so,Jd out their own country to the Russian Communists. But history will treat Dr. Tiso kindly because the passa,ge of time has brou.ght forth and will continue to bring forth the tru t,h a-bout his desperate efforts to save his native land. Slovakia today suffers under bhe harsh heel of Russia,n Communist occupation. That occupation has sou,ght to rob the Slovak pe o,ple of t,heir ancient traditions, their religious, and their heritage as well as their political liberties. But the Slovak people are stee,Jed in the tactics which must be employed agamst a foreign occupier. Time and the experience of centuries has prepared them well for the tests they now endure. It is little wonder that the spirit o•f resista,r.,ce to tyranny Tuns so ,s,tro,n g -i n Slovak-i:a: :today. The Russians as well a,s their Czech 32 SLOVAKIA quislings in Prague, know the power of Slovak national aspirations. History is repeating itself today as the people of Slovakia are bringing pressures upon the die-hard Russia,n stalinist regime entrenohed at Prague. Those pressures are agai-n st the twin chauvinisms which seek to erase the distmct nationa,l character of the Slovak peo,ple. Genuine dissent against the Prague regime comes only fro,m Siovakia while Bohemia and Moravia- remain stra,r.,gely silent even on the old hat Russian trick of de-stalinization . All of us remember that on the occasion of the Hungarian freedom revolution in 1956 the people of Slovakia afone amon,g all the peo,ple of a Russian restored centralist Czeehoslovakia demonstrate<l .sympathy for the aims of that freedom revolution. The da,r.,ger of that demonstrated sympathy was quickly recognized by Moscow As a result three Czech divisions were moved to the common border between Slovakia and Hungary, to seal off any prospeet of assistance to and collaboration with the Hungarian freedom fighters That is a lesson of history which must never be for gotten bv those who love freedom a,nd fight against tyranny m any form There is another lesson to be gained from the era of the Hunga.rian freedom r. volution which needs tellin,g, but wh ich up to this moment, has remained buried in the archives of trut~. That lesson occured several weeks before the outbreak ot the Hungarian revolution. The scene was Poland, lo,n,g under occupation by the oppressive Russian Communists. The Poznan revolt m the spring of 1956 was an important event in history, but it failed to expose to the free world the fuH story o-f the human pressures which had built up amon,g the people of Poland. 'I\hat revolt served as a short fused safety valve for the pent up feelings of the Polish peo,ple. But by September and early October of 1956 the oppressed people of poland had rea,ohed a breaking point. They were willing to risk all in a heroic effort to t>r eak the chains of Russian slavery whi,oh had been fixed to their nat10n al life and ancient heritage. The Russia,n quis,Jings in control of Pol and became alarmed by these develo,pm ents and sent urgent warnings to Moseow. Khru shchsv knew the full meaning of these warning~ and flew to Warsaw to avert disaster for the Russian Empire But the Po:es were r eady for him. They had ma,n-aged tu gain anti-communist discipline and control over 40 divi sions of Po les and East Germans Whzn Khrushchev's plane arrived over Warsaw airport it was not allowed to land. The Russians then surrounded Warsaw airport with a Russian armored divisio,n. But the Poles cou ntered this move by surrounding the Russian division with severa l loyal divisions o.f their own. The Polish leaders o,f revolt sought time to negotiate with th e American Ambassador in Wars-aw. What they sought in these negotiatior.s was assurance of United States moral support if they att:acked the Russians a,nd drove them from P o-lish soil. In thes-e n.egotiations the Po,les were discouraged m then efforts and reminded that their ambition s would likely unlea sh a nuclear war The Polish n,egotiators left the United States Embassy discouraged and disillusione<l and returned to the Warsaw airport There they agre,ed upo,n a pl,a-n to for.ce as ma,n y conc-esstons ou~ of Khrushchev as they cou'1d. They agree-d to demand the release of Cardinal Wyczynski from ho-use arrest, the release of Gomulka from pris•on and a general relaxation of oppressio,n whioh had been laid SLOVAKIA 33 upon the Polish people . This brave action on the part of the enslaved Polish people held Khrushchev in thr air over Warsaw fo.r four to five hours. When his plane was allowed to land, there was no pounding of a Russiar. shoe on a desk a·n-d there were no insults poured upon the negotiators because the Poles stood firm in their promise of unrestricted bloodshed unless their demands were met, Khrushchev understands that kind of negotiation. He met the demands of the Polish negotiators who negotiated upon n-othing more than their confidence in the Polish people to stand up in support of their ideals arud aspirations. These facts were not known to the people of Hungary. All they knew was that the people of Poland were standing up to the RUJSsian-s. In support of that stand they began peaceful demonstrations in Budapest. It was no accident that these peaceful demostrations moved toward the historic statue of General Bern. A Polish hero who went to the rescue of Hungary a century before when the people of Hungary fought for their national independence, nor was it a,n. accident when the Russian secret po-lice machine gunned the peaceful Hungarian demostrators . Moscow remembered the events ~n Warsaw a few weeks prior ar.,d knew or.!y too well their meaning, a show of brute strength, the traditional source of Russian power, was ordered. That bruta-1 action triggered off the Hungarian freedom revolution which co-uld have bro-ught the Russian Empire down in shambles if the United States had demostrated the moral and political courage which has brought us to a position of leadership in the free world. Looking back on that heroic chapter in history, in light o.f these facts which I have exposed, I must conclude that one of the greatest opportunities in history was bungled in Warsaw in the early days of October 1956. The Poles and East Germans would have been joined by Slovakia. Hungary, Ukraine, Lithuania, R,umania, Byelorussia and all the rest of the peoples in the captive nations. A popular revolution of that dimension, reaching from the Baltic sea to the Caspian sea, wo-uld have brought about the total disintegration of the Russian! Empire. The Russians would have been powerless in the face of such a popular movement for freedom. The Red Army would have fallen i-n-to total collapse, as its occupation elements did during the Hungarian revolution. and Moscow would have been rendered powerless. These conclusions are ir.escapable and they will become more apparent with the passage of time. Truth will not be buried because truth endures time. mortal men and the Imperial Russians. For these reasons I am ho,n,ored by the opportunity which you have given me to participatP. with you in this observance of the 25th Anniversary of Slovak National Inde·p endence. This is the Silver Anniversary of a,n important event in the annuals of freedom's cause. It serves well to provide a brig,ht linmg, a silver lining, to the dark clouds of war which stretch over much of the civilized world. That silver linin-g raises our ho-pes for peace with justice and freedom . It reminds us that the power of human aspirations dwarfs the power and threat of all the nuclear weapons stockpiled thro,u,ghout the world. God bless the Slovak people and hasten the day when their hard journey toward freedom and national independence shall end in a glorious triumph.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Address of Honorable Michael A. Feighan Description An account of the resource United States Representative 20th Ohio District, Delivered at 25th Anniversary of Slovak Independence, Sts. Cyril and Methodius Auditorium, Alameda Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio - Sunday, March 15, 1964 Slovakia, Vol. 14 (No. 37), 1964 pp. 29-33 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Feighan, Michael Aloysius, 1905- Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1964 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/17b2ba5de24fde8f10d68ec6e9dabd71.pdf 987bd22423ada38132070f099872cd75 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 35 Jozef Pauco, Vojtech Balaz, Frank Deviatka, Method M. Balco, Juraj Getlik, Anton Moravcik, Otto Klement, Mike Soyka Sr., Joseph Stanek, Dr. Rudolph Medlen, Mary Student, Stephen Student, Gabriel Lantos, Andrew Welchek, Simon Siranec, Blase Dvorsky, Michal Rak, Veronica Janci, Anna M. Kocur, Irene F. Kocur, Anna V. Kocur, Mary Welchek, Irene Halac, Terezia Ondriska, Anna Vizza, Susanna K.lucar, Veronica Patala, Julia P. Benya. • • • ADDRESS OF PHILIP A. HROBAK, PRESIDENT OF THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA, DELIVERED AT THE INFORMAL DINNER OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF AMERICANS OF SLOVAK DESCENT, WASHINGTON HOTEL, MAY 24, 1954 As citizens of the United States of America we firmly hold to the belief that all nations without exception have the inherent, God-given right to freedom and independence, the right to establish their own political state and to freely elect a govern.men t of their own choice. On March 14, 1939, after over ten centuries of alien domination, the Slovak nation exercised its inherent right when its duly elected representatives in the Bratislava Assembly of autonomous Slovakia proclaimed the independence of the land the Slovaks had occupied for 1500 years and established the Republic of Slovakia. Of course, certain people in America present this historical fact in a false light and attempt to debase and vilify everything connected with it. But the utterly simple historical truth is that the Slovak Assembly unanimously declared the land of the Slovaks an independent republic. Independent Slovakia, the dream of Slova;k generations, did become a reality and was thoroughly enjoyed by the Slovak people, even though it was short-lived (1939-1945). And it is significant even today that the Slovak Republic was recognized by twenty-seven countries, includmg Great Britain, France, Japan, and even the Soviet Union. Natu- �36 SLOVAKTA rally, the· enemies of S1ovak freedom and independence; the exploiters of the Slovak nation, furiously opposed the independence of Slovakia. Raving over the circumstances und.e r w}:iich the Slovaks· gained their independence, the foJlowen; of . Dr. E9,war4 Benes - the so-called Benes Czechs (Socialists) and "Czecho: slovaks" (Slovak Judases_ in the pay· of the Benes Cze.chs) - smeared and crucified true Slovak ·pa.triots who dared fo speak up for what their nation rightfully entitled· tci:' But no matter what the circumstances under which the nation we are descended from gained its independence, we as Americans declar_e unequiv<><;:ally tha,t the Repuplic of Slovakia should not have been destroyed against the will of the Slovak nationt · · ' · " -' · , · ·: ·' ·· ,,- ' was ._ ' /-: ·.• :·. :~-,:.,~• : l,. ·'· • ~. • •·: " ~ 1 • • · ;• • i '""•·t, ·~ · ·:.,;:· By what ·law of · God · ot man·· Wli.s i-ndepehderut ··s1ovakia destroyed? Its wanton destructiori" cannot be reconciled with our political beliefs; it was contrary to all Christian and democratic principles, in short, the destruction of Slovaikia in l945 was criminal. And_the eternal shame of it all is that Slovakia was destroyed by the victorious United Nations under the guise of liberation! . The present terri_ble plight of the Slovak nation, like that of th_e other naµo~s of Central Europe which had been "liberJLte.d " in 1945, can be trace<} to th~ blundering, undemocratic policy pursued and the secret agreements negotiated in the name of expediency by m~n in democratic government~. We are _all, therefore, res,po_n sible, more or less, for the Red enslavement of the nations behind the Iron Curtain and the iphu:manities suffered by .them. Defi~itely, we. should do . $Omething about it. Let at least be honest with ourselve-s and the rest of the wi:>-rld and admit .that it was morally wrong and contrary· to every democratic and Christian principle to surrender the Slovak nation and the other nations of Central and Eastern Europe to the ruthless men of the· K;remlin: Then; let us repudiate the treaties and secret agreements iby which these nations were enslaved by the USSR and immediately proceed in earnest with the task of real· liberation of all nations from all tyranny. · • . The struggle against tyranny· is nothing new to the Slo.. µs �SLOVAKIA 37 vaks. The history of the Slovak nation is a history of thraldom and exploitation. For over' ten centuries the Slovak nation -'-- one of the oldest Christian nations in Central :IDurope --'- has been but a pawn in the hands of alien rulers. Its freedom, security, economy and territorial integrity have always been determined by foreigners. The Slovaks have suffered longer under alien domination than any other nation of Europe. No other nation has been so thoroughly misundeI'.stood, misrepresented, degraded, maligned and vilified even by the very people who claimed to represent it and protect its national interests, by men who professed to be and were glorified as the very epitome of the democratic way of life. Many of us believed, as did many Slovaks at home, that the trials and tribulations of the Slovak nation were ended and its national existence safeguarded with the establishment of .the Czecho-Slovak Republic in 1918, which the Slovaks and the Czechs were supposed to govern as equal partners and in which the Czechs were to be masters of their own household and the Slovaks were to enjoy States' Rights according to the principle of self-determination. But we were mistaken, badly mistaken. We did not see the job through ; Czecho-Slovakia was not set up as a federation. It soon becanie evident that the Prague Government, headed by T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Edward Benes, did not regard the Slovaks as equal partners, but only as a colony to be exploited by the Czechs. · The Slovaks s9on realized that Czecho-Slcwakia ~imply meant an exchange of rulers: they were rid of the Magyar tyrant only to be placed under the Czech despot, ~ho also sought to destroy them eventuaily as a nation. They protested, but in vain. Andrew Hlinka, champion of Slovak freedom , went to Paris to attend the Peace Conference in 1919, but was promptly arrested by the French police, at the instigation of Dr. Edward Benes, and ordered o'ut of France. For this the Prague Government later hacf Hlinka jailed . . The Slovaks, however, ·outlived the tyranny of the past and today are determined to outlive the present scourge of Czecho-Co:tnmunist terror and violence and to continue in their march to complete political freedom and fndependen ce. �38 SLOVAKIA But what after Communism? Shall the Slovaks be surrendered to another tyrant? Are they willing to be exploited by another form of Czecho~Slovakfa? Certainly not! The Slovaks want only what rightfully belongs to them - no more no less. They want the United States of America and the rest of the free world to recognize and respect their inherent right to freedom and independence. The Slovaks, however , despite the many bitter memor ies of injustices suffered from ruling groups of neighboring nations, some of which blatantly claimed to be exemplary democracies - are fully aware of the fact that a free Ukraine, a free Poland, Bohemia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and even a free Russia are also nece&sary to form a better, free and more just order in Europe. The Slovaks well know that the struggle for freedom and independence camiot and must not be waged in isolation, that the goal of liberation from communist tyranny and all foreign domination must be the unified aim of all enslaved nations and of all friends of all the oppressed peoples. It is a matter of record that the Slovak nation fought Communism, the implacable foe of all free countries, in and out of season. Americans of Slovak descent can proudly stress the fact that their forefathers fought the plague of materialistic Communism consistently and resolutely for over a hundred years. Slovak history tells us that Louis Stur, champion of Slovak freedom, repudiated the Godless philosophy of Marx in 1849; at its very first session, in 1905, the political party of Andrew IIlinka, the Slova,k Populist Party, did not hesitate to condemn Communism; fourteen years later, in 1919, General Milan R. Stefanik, Slovak hero of World War I and one of the founders of Czecho-Slovakia, warned T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Edward Benes to make no compromises with Bolshevism ; finally, Dr. Joseph Tiso, the first president of the Slovak Republic, appealed to his people to persevere in its fight against the dread plague of Communism even as he was being led to his death on the gallows by order of the Communist-dominated National Front Government of Dr. Edward Benes on April 18, 1947. And, today, the sons of Slovakia, wherever they might be, �SLOVAKIA 39 are more determined than ever to fight Communist tyranny until it is completely eradicated from the face of the earth. The Slovaks seek the opportunity to play a useful role in the struggle for freedom and, they believe, it is the responsibility of the free democratic world to afford them this opportunity. At the same time, however, they wish to make it perfectly clear that they do not intend to surrender their inherent right to freedom and independence under any circumstances. They do not beHeve the Soviet propaganda that the free democratic world wants the Slovak nation to commit national suicide. The Slovaks want the free nations of the world to recognize at long last a simple truth which the Slovaks and the Czechs have known for many centuTies past, that is, that the Czechs are not and do not desire to be Slovaks, and the Slovaks are not and do not want to be Czechs. The Slovaks recognize and respect the right of the Czech nation to complete freedom and political independence, but they also expect the leaders of the Czech nation to realize that the Slovak nation, too, has the inherent right to freedom and political independence. And in the struggle against Communism, the Slovaks want to be united with all free nations and not es,p ecially with and only with the Czech natioo. They want it clearly understood that they are not fighting Communism for the sake of a free or any other kind of Czecho-Slovakia. They were definitely through with the political monstrosity known as Czecho-Slovakia in 1939, when the Assembly of autonomous Slovakia declared the independence of the Slovak nation. The Slovaks subscribe wholeheartedly to the idea of a federation of Central Europe, or even a federation of the whole of Europe, in which all nations would be equal and none would be dominated and exploited by the others. The Slovaks do not want anything that they are not rightfully entitled to; they make no claims to Czech history, national traditions and customs, or the material, spiritual and cultural wealth of the Czech nation; and they do not covet Czech territory. The Slovaks do not want or request the Czechs to represent them in the field of human endeavor, whether cultural. political, or spiritual. �40 SLOVAKJ4 And, of course, the Slovaks do not want to be credited with the criminal acts committed by the Communist-dominated "National Front" Government of Dr. IDdward Benes and Clement Gottwald. The Slovak nation had nothing to do with the criminal expulsion of Germans and Magyars from Czecho-Slovakia, or the brutal persecution and suppression of religion and of all anti-Communist opposition in that hapless country. For the betrayal of Czecho-Slovakia - the Czech and Slovak nations - to the Communists and the Soviet Union, the Slovaks give full credit to Dr. Edward Be.nes and his socialist followers, who consistently promoted proSoviet policy. Slovak political, cultural and religious leaders did not betray the Czechs, but the "Benes Czechs" betrayed not only the Slovaks, but the entire Ozech nation as well. Today, in America and elsewhere, the Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings - the apostles of "Czechoslovak" democracy .- are organized in various Czech and "Czechoslovak" organizations, the "American Fund fo,r Czechoslovak Refugees, Inc.," and the "Council of Free Czechoslovakia" among them, which profess to be organizations of "anti-Communist, democratic exiles" from Czecho-Slovakia. In fact, however, they are controlled by the Benes Czechs, the Cze<:h National Socialists and former members of the Communist-dominated "National Front" Government of Dr. Edward Be.n.es and Clement Gottwald, which collaborated closely with the Soviet Union and outlawed all anti-socialistic and anti-communistic parties in Czecho-Slovakia in 1945. These "National Fronters," who claim they control the employees of RADIO FREE EUROPE and the VOICE OF AMERICA, never did and never will re-p resent the political will of the SlovaJk naiti01I1, and therefore, hruve no authority to speak for the Slovaks anywhere. Furthermore, they do not represent the anti-socialistic and anti-communistic Czechs. They should be recognized for what they really were in their homeland: promoters of the pro-Soviet policy of the Czech Socialists and Communists. And they should be treated accordingly. Under their leadership the so-called "Czechoslovak democracy" had practically no trouble at all in converting to a "people's democracy" after World ·War II. Americans of Slovak descent -consider it their sacred �SLOVAKIA 41 duty to unmask and embarrass all such pseudodemocratic Elements and to disarm them completely, because the enemies of Slovak freedom and independence are, in fact, the enemies of the American democratic way of life itself. Imagine then, if you will, our surprise and consternation when we learned as late as February 26, 1954, that our State Department still "considers the Council of Free Czechoslovakia to be an organization of leading anti-Communist political refugees from Czechoslovakia working for the liberation of that country from Communist domination." Rightfully we ask: "What goes on in official Washington?" ln our opinion, to defend an indefensible group of foreign politicians, who peddled the Moscow line for years, is today not only inexcusable but highly reprehensible. And more so in the case of a government official. We must not be confused by the propagators of the "new look" of the Soviet Union. Let us remember that such a "new look" had deceived intelligent statesmen and wary diplomats during the last war. Just ten yeaJrs ago today, May 24, 1944, the Hon. Winston Churchill said in the Commons: " Profound changes have taken place in Soviet Russia. The Trotskyite form of communism has been completely wiped out. The victories of the Russian armies have been attended by a great rise in strength of the Russian state and a remarkable broadening of its views. The religious side of Russian life has had a wonderful rebirth. The discipline and military etiquette of the Russian armies are unsurpassed. There is a new national anthem. The Comintern has been abolished." The Slovak nation was not deceived by the Soviet chamelon in 1938, or in 1944, and it will not be deceived by it now. The Slovaks are firmly convinced that the world cannot exist in peace half-slave and half-free; there can be no compromise between the forces of freedom and the forces of slavery. History has taught us one great lesson: no nation can have a monopoly on freedom and remain free. Freedom is the grandest of all of God's gifts to mankind ; freedom is the universal heritage of all the ages. The more we promote �42 SLOVAKIA and share it, the more abundant and lasting are its fruits. Peace without freedom is unthinkable. If we are truly int erested in a permanent and just peace, let us not deny freedom to any nation - not even the Slo,v ak nation . • MARCH 14 - • • SLOVAK INDEPENDENOE DAY1 ( Address of the Hon. Michael A. Feighan, 20th District, Ohio, delivered on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Slovak Declaration of Independence at a meeting sponsored by the Slovak League of America and the Catholic Slovak Federation of America, at the Benedictine High School Auditorium, Cleveland, March 13, 1954, on "National Sovereignty Against World Socialism.") It is an honor for me to be here with you this evening and to join with you in commemorating the love of Slovak people everywhere in the world for God, freedom, and individual liberty. Anyone who has taken the time to study the history of the Slovak people, or to acquaint themselves with the traditions of Slovaks in America, will immediately recognize my point of associating God with human freedom. Like the Irish , their slogan is and has always been for God and country. Some years ago, when the storm clouds of World War II were gathering over the skies of Europe, I became intense1y interested in the cause of nations which were then hanging in the balance. On the one hand, we, the people of the free world, were confronted with the menace of national socialism as represented by Hitler, and on the other hand, the menace of international socialism as represented by Stalin, the czar of Russian communism. It was then clear to me that the tyrants, Stalin and Hitler, had a common purpose - to dominate the world. It was therefore no shock to me when the Hitler-Stalin Pact was announced to the world in 1939. It was, however, a tremendous shock to the unprepared homegrown Communists and fellow travelers in the United States and their fellow conspirators in other parts of the world. � SLOVAKIA 35 Jozef Pauco, Vojtech Balaz, Frank Deviatka, Method M. Balco, Juraj Getlik, Anton Moravcik, Otto Klement, Mike Soyka Sr., Joseph Stanek, Dr. Rudolph Medlen, Mary Student, Stephen Student, Gabriel Lantos, Andrew Welchek, Simon Siranec, Blase Dvorsky, Michal Rak, Veronica Janci, Anna M. Kocur, Irene F. Kocur, Anna V. Kocur, Mary Welchek, Irene Halac, Terezia Ondriska, Anna Vizza, Susanna K.lucar, Veronica Patala, Julia P. Benya. • • • ADDRESS OF PHILIP A. HROBAK, PRESIDENT OF THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA, DELIVERED AT THE INFORMAL DINNER OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF AMERICANS OF SLOVAK DESCENT, WASHINGTON HOTEL, MAY 24, 1954 As citizens of the United States of America we firmly hold to the belief that all nations without exception have the inherent, God-given right to freedom and independence, the right to establish their own political state and to freely elect a govern.men t of their own choice. On March 14, 1939, after over ten centuries of alien domination, the Slovak nation exercised its inherent right when its duly elected representatives in the Bratislava Assembly of autonomous Slovakia proclaimed the independence of the land the Slovaks had occupied for 1500 years and established the Republic of Slovakia. Of course, certain people in America present this historical fact in a false light and attempt to debase and vilify everything connected with it. But the utterly simple historical truth is that the Slovak Assembly unanimously declared the land of the Slovaks an independent republic. Independent Slovakia, the dream of Slova;k generations, did become a reality and was thoroughly enjoyed by the Slovak people, even though it was short-lived (1939-1945). And it is significant even today that the Slovak Republic was recognized by twenty-seven countries, includmg Great Britain, France, Japan, and even the Soviet Union. Natu- �36 SLOVAKTA rally, the· enemies of S1ovak freedom and independence; the exploiters of the Slovak nation, furiously opposed the independence of Slovakia. Raving over the circumstances und.e r w}:iich the Slovaks· gained their independence, the foJlowen; of . Dr. E9,war4 Benes - the so-called Benes Czechs (Socialists) and "Czecho: slovaks" (Slovak Judases_ in the pay· of the Benes Cze.chs) - smeared and crucified true Slovak ·pa.triots who dared fo speak up for what their nation rightfully entitled· tci:' But no matter what the circumstances under which the nation we are descended from gained its independence, we as Americans declar_e unequiv<><;:ally tha,t the Repuplic of Slovakia should not have been destroyed against the will of the Slovak nationt · · ' · " -' · , · ·: ·' ·· ,,- ' was ._ ' /-: ·.• :·. :~-,:.,~• : l,. ·'· • ~. • •·: " ~ 1 • • · ;• • i '""•·t, ·~ · ·:.,;:· By what ·law of · God · ot man·· Wli.s i-ndepehderut ··s1ovakia destroyed? Its wanton destructiori" cannot be reconciled with our political beliefs; it was contrary to all Christian and democratic principles, in short, the destruction of Slovaikia in l945 was criminal. And_the eternal shame of it all is that Slovakia was destroyed by the victorious United Nations under the guise of liberation! . The present terri_ble plight of the Slovak nation, like that of th_e other naµo~s of Central Europe which had been "liberJLte.d " in 1945, can be trace<} to th~ blundering, undemocratic policy pursued and the secret agreements negotiated in the name of expediency by m~n in democratic government~. We are _all, therefore, res,po_n sible, more or less, for the Red enslavement of the nations behind the Iron Curtain and the iphu:manities suffered by .them. Defi~itely, we. should do . $Omething about it. Let at least be honest with ourselve-s and the rest of the wi:>-rld and admit .that it was morally wrong and contrary· to every democratic and Christian principle to surrender the Slovak nation and the other nations of Central and Eastern Europe to the ruthless men of the· K;remlin: Then; let us repudiate the treaties and secret agreements iby which these nations were enslaved by the USSR and immediately proceed in earnest with the task of real· liberation of all nations from all tyranny. · • . The struggle against tyranny· is nothing new to the Slo.. µs �SLOVAKIA 37 vaks. The history of the Slovak nation is a history of thraldom and exploitation. For over' ten centuries the Slovak nation -'-- one of the oldest Christian nations in Central :IDurope --'- has been but a pawn in the hands of alien rulers. Its freedom, security, economy and territorial integrity have always been determined by foreigners. The Slovaks have suffered longer under alien domination than any other nation of Europe. No other nation has been so thoroughly misundeI'.stood, misrepresented, degraded, maligned and vilified even by the very people who claimed to represent it and protect its national interests, by men who professed to be and were glorified as the very epitome of the democratic way of life. Many of us believed, as did many Slovaks at home, that the trials and tribulations of the Slovak nation were ended and its national existence safeguarded with the establishment of .the Czecho-Slovak Republic in 1918, which the Slovaks and the Czechs were supposed to govern as equal partners and in which the Czechs were to be masters of their own household and the Slovaks were to enjoy States' Rights according to the principle of self-determination. But we were mistaken, badly mistaken. We did not see the job through ; Czecho-Slovakia was not set up as a federation. It soon becanie evident that the Prague Government, headed by T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Edward Benes, did not regard the Slovaks as equal partners, but only as a colony to be exploited by the Czechs. · The Slovaks s9on realized that Czecho-Slcwakia ~imply meant an exchange of rulers: they were rid of the Magyar tyrant only to be placed under the Czech despot, ~ho also sought to destroy them eventuaily as a nation. They protested, but in vain. Andrew Hlinka, champion of Slovak freedom , went to Paris to attend the Peace Conference in 1919, but was promptly arrested by the French police, at the instigation of Dr. Edward Benes, and ordered o'ut of France. For this the Prague Government later hacf Hlinka jailed . . The Slovaks, however, ·outlived the tyranny of the past and today are determined to outlive the present scourge of Czecho-Co:tnmunist terror and violence and to continue in their march to complete political freedom and fndependen ce. �38 SLOVAKIA But what after Communism? Shall the Slovaks be surrendered to another tyrant? Are they willing to be exploited by another form of Czecho~Slovakfa? Certainly not! The Slovaks want only what rightfully belongs to them - no more no less. They want the United States of America and the rest of the free world to recognize and respect their inherent right to freedom and independence. The Slovaks, however , despite the many bitter memor ies of injustices suffered from ruling groups of neighboring nations, some of which blatantly claimed to be exemplary democracies - are fully aware of the fact that a free Ukraine, a free Poland, Bohemia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and even a free Russia are also nece&sary to form a better, free and more just order in Europe. The Slovaks well know that the struggle for freedom and independence camiot and must not be waged in isolation, that the goal of liberation from communist tyranny and all foreign domination must be the unified aim of all enslaved nations and of all friends of all the oppressed peoples. It is a matter of record that the Slovak nation fought Communism, the implacable foe of all free countries, in and out of season. Americans of Slovak descent can proudly stress the fact that their forefathers fought the plague of materialistic Communism consistently and resolutely for over a hundred years. Slovak history tells us that Louis Stur, champion of Slovak freedom, repudiated the Godless philosophy of Marx in 1849; at its very first session, in 1905, the political party of Andrew IIlinka, the Slova,k Populist Party, did not hesitate to condemn Communism; fourteen years later, in 1919, General Milan R. Stefanik, Slovak hero of World War I and one of the founders of Czecho-Slovakia, warned T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Edward Benes to make no compromises with Bolshevism ; finally, Dr. Joseph Tiso, the first president of the Slovak Republic, appealed to his people to persevere in its fight against the dread plague of Communism even as he was being led to his death on the gallows by order of the Communist-dominated National Front Government of Dr. Edward Benes on April 18, 1947. And, today, the sons of Slovakia, wherever they might be, �SLOVAKIA 39 are more determined than ever to fight Communist tyranny until it is completely eradicated from the face of the earth. The Slovaks seek the opportunity to play a useful role in the struggle for freedom and, they believe, it is the responsibility of the free democratic world to afford them this opportunity. At the same time, however, they wish to make it perfectly clear that they do not intend to surrender their inherent right to freedom and independence under any circumstances. They do not beHeve the Soviet propaganda that the free democratic world wants the Slovak nation to commit national suicide. The Slovaks want the free nations of the world to recognize at long last a simple truth which the Slovaks and the Czechs have known for many centuTies past, that is, that the Czechs are not and do not desire to be Slovaks, and the Slovaks are not and do not want to be Czechs. The Slovaks recognize and respect the right of the Czech nation to complete freedom and political independence, but they also expect the leaders of the Czech nation to realize that the Slovak nation, too, has the inherent right to freedom and political independence. And in the struggle against Communism, the Slovaks want to be united with all free nations and not es,p ecially with and only with the Czech natioo. They want it clearly understood that they are not fighting Communism for the sake of a free or any other kind of Czecho-Slovakia. They were definitely through with the political monstrosity known as Czecho-Slovakia in 1939, when the Assembly of autonomous Slovakia declared the independence of the Slovak nation. The Slovaks subscribe wholeheartedly to the idea of a federation of Central Europe, or even a federation of the whole of Europe, in which all nations would be equal and none would be dominated and exploited by the others. The Slovaks do not want anything that they are not rightfully entitled to; they make no claims to Czech history, national traditions and customs, or the material, spiritual and cultural wealth of the Czech nation; and they do not covet Czech territory. The Slovaks do not want or request the Czechs to represent them in the field of human endeavor, whether cultural. political, or spiritual. �40 SLOVAKJ4 And, of course, the Slovaks do not want to be credited with the criminal acts committed by the Communist-dominated "National Front" Government of Dr. IDdward Benes and Clement Gottwald. The Slovak nation had nothing to do with the criminal expulsion of Germans and Magyars from Czecho-Slovakia, or the brutal persecution and suppression of religion and of all anti-Communist opposition in that hapless country. For the betrayal of Czecho-Slovakia - the Czech and Slovak nations - to the Communists and the Soviet Union, the Slovaks give full credit to Dr. Edward Be.nes and his socialist followers, who consistently promoted proSoviet policy. Slovak political, cultural and religious leaders did not betray the Czechs, but the "Benes Czechs" betrayed not only the Slovaks, but the entire Ozech nation as well. Today, in America and elsewhere, the Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings - the apostles of "Czechoslovak" democracy .- are organized in various Czech and "Czechoslovak" organizations, the "American Fund fo,r Czechoslovak Refugees, Inc.," and the "Council of Free Czechoslovakia" among them, which profess to be organizations of "anti-Communist, democratic exiles" from Czecho-Slovakia. In fact, however, they are controlled by the Benes Czechs, the Cze<:h National Socialists and former members of the Communist-dominated "National Front" Government of Dr. Edward Be.n.es and Clement Gottwald, which collaborated closely with the Soviet Union and outlawed all anti-socialistic and anti-communistic parties in Czecho-Slovakia in 1945. These "National Fronters," who claim they control the employees of RADIO FREE EUROPE and the VOICE OF AMERICA, never did and never will re-p resent the political will of the SlovaJk naiti01I1, and therefore, hruve no authority to speak for the Slovaks anywhere. Furthermore, they do not represent the anti-socialistic and anti-communistic Czechs. They should be recognized for what they really were in their homeland: promoters of the pro-Soviet policy of the Czech Socialists and Communists. And they should be treated accordingly. Under their leadership the so-called "Czechoslovak democracy" had practically no trouble at all in converting to a "people's democracy" after World ·War II. Americans of Slovak descent -consider it their sacred �SLOVAKIA 41 duty to unmask and embarrass all such pseudodemocratic Elements and to disarm them completely, because the enemies of Slovak freedom and independence are, in fact, the enemies of the American democratic way of life itself. Imagine then, if you will, our surprise and consternation when we learned as late as February 26, 1954, that our State Department still "considers the Council of Free Czechoslovakia to be an organization of leading anti-Communist political refugees from Czechoslovakia working for the liberation of that country from Communist domination." Rightfully we ask: "What goes on in official Washington?" ln our opinion, to defend an indefensible group of foreign politicians, who peddled the Moscow line for years, is today not only inexcusable but highly reprehensible. And more so in the case of a government official. We must not be confused by the propagators of the "new look" of the Soviet Union. Let us remember that such a "new look" had deceived intelligent statesmen and wary diplomats during the last war. Just ten yeaJrs ago today, May 24, 1944, the Hon. Winston Churchill said in the Commons: " Profound changes have taken place in Soviet Russia. The Trotskyite form of communism has been completely wiped out. The victories of the Russian armies have been attended by a great rise in strength of the Russian state and a remarkable broadening of its views. The religious side of Russian life has had a wonderful rebirth. The discipline and military etiquette of the Russian armies are unsurpassed. There is a new national anthem. The Comintern has been abolished." The Slovak nation was not deceived by the Soviet chamelon in 1938, or in 1944, and it will not be deceived by it now. The Slovaks are firmly convinced that the world cannot exist in peace half-slave and half-free; there can be no compromise between the forces of freedom and the forces of slavery. History has taught us one great lesson: no nation can have a monopoly on freedom and remain free. Freedom is the grandest of all of God's gifts to mankind ; freedom is the universal heritage of all the ages. The more we promote �42 SLOVAKIA and share it, the more abundant and lasting are its fruits. Peace without freedom is unthinkable. If we are truly int erested in a permanent and just peace, let us not deny freedom to any nation - not even the Slo,v ak nation . • MARCH 14 - • • SLOVAK INDEPENDENOE DAY1 ( Address of the Hon. Michael A. Feighan, 20th District, Ohio, delivered on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Slovak Declaration of Independence at a meeting sponsored by the Slovak League of America and the Catholic Slovak Federation of America, at the Benedictine High School Auditorium, Cleveland, March 13, 1954, on "National Sovereignty Against World Socialism.") It is an honor for me to be here with you this evening and to join with you in commemorating the love of Slovak people everywhere in the world for God, freedom, and individual liberty. Anyone who has taken the time to study the history of the Slovak people, or to acquaint themselves with the traditions of Slovaks in America, will immediately recognize my point of associating God with human freedom. Like the Irish , their slogan is and has always been for God and country. Some years ago, when the storm clouds of World War II were gathering over the skies of Europe, I became intense1y interested in the cause of nations which were then hanging in the balance. On the one hand, we, the people of the free world, were confronted with the menace of national socialism as represented by Hitler, and on the other hand, the menace of international socialism as represented by Stalin, the czar of Russian communism. It was then clear to me that the tyrants, Stalin and Hitler, had a common purpose - to dominate the world. It was therefore no shock to me when the Hitler-Stalin Pact was announced to the world in 1939. It was, however, a tremendous shock to the unprepared homegrown Communists and fellow travelers in the United States and their fellow conspirators in other parts of the world. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1954, Vol. 4 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 10), March 1954.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 11), June 1954.</li> <li>Issue 3-4 (No. 12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1954 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 35 Jozef Pauco, Vojtech Balaz, Frank Deviatka, Method M. Balco, Juraj Getlik, Anton Moravcik, Otto Klement, Mike Soyka Sr., Joseph Stanek, Dr. Rudolph Medlen, Mary Student, Stephen Student, Gabriel Lantos, Andrew Welchek, Simon Siranec, Blase Dvorsky, Michal Rak, Veronica Janci, Anna M. Kocur, Irene F. Kocur, Anna V. Kocur, Mary Welchek, Irene Halac, Terezia Ondriska, Anna Vizza, Susanna K.lucar, Veronica Patala, Julia P. Benya. • • • ADDRESS OF PHILIP A. HROBAK, PRESIDENT OF THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA, DELIVERED AT THE INFORMAL DINNER OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF AMERICANS OF SLOVAK DESCENT, WASHINGTON HOTEL, MAY 24, 1954 As citizens of the United States of America we firmly hold to the belief that all nations without exception have the inherent, God-given right to freedom and independence, the right to establish their own political state and to freely elect a govern.men t of their own choice. On March 14, 1939, after over ten centuries of alien domination, the Slovak nation exercised its inherent right when its duly elected representatives in the Bratislava Assembly of autonomous Slovakia proclaimed the independence of the land the Slovaks had occupied for 1500 years and established the Republic of Slovakia. Of course, certain people in America present this historical fact in a false light and attempt to debase and vilify everything connected with it. But the utterly simple historical truth is that the Slovak Assembly unanimously declared the land of the Slovaks an independent republic. Independent Slovakia, the dream of Slova;k generations, did become a reality and was thoroughly enjoyed by the Slovak people, even though it was short-lived (1939-1945). And it is significant even today that the Slovak Republic was recognized by twenty-seven countries, includmg Great Britain, France, Japan, and even the Soviet Union. Natu- 36 SLOVAKTA rally, the· enemies of S1ovak freedom and independence; the exploiters of the Slovak nation, furiously opposed the independence of Slovakia. Raving over the circumstances und.e r w}:iich the Slovaks· gained their independence, the foJlowen; of . Dr. E9,war4 Benes - the so-called Benes Czechs (Socialists) and "Czecho: slovaks" (Slovak Judases_ in the pay· of the Benes Cze.chs) - smeared and crucified true Slovak ·pa.triots who dared fo speak up for what their nation rightfully entitled· tci:' But no matter what the circumstances under which the nation we are descended from gained its independence, we as Americans declar_e unequiv<><;:ally tha,t the Repuplic of Slovakia should not have been destroyed against the will of the Slovak nationt · · ' · " -' · , · ·: ·' ·· ,,- ' was ._ ' /-: ·.• :·. :~-,:.,~• : l,. ·'· • ~. • •·: " ~ 1 • • · ;• • i '""•·t, ·~ · ·:.,;:· By what ·law of · God · ot man·· Wli.s i-ndepehderut ··s1ovakia destroyed? Its wanton destructiori" cannot be reconciled with our political beliefs; it was contrary to all Christian and democratic principles, in short, the destruction of Slovaikia in l945 was criminal. And_the eternal shame of it all is that Slovakia was destroyed by the victorious United Nations under the guise of liberation! . The present terri_ble plight of the Slovak nation, like that of th_e other naµo~s of Central Europe which had been "liberJLte.d " in 1945, can be trace<} to th~ blundering, undemocratic policy pursued and the secret agreements negotiated in the name of expediency by m~n in democratic government~. We are _all, therefore, res,po_n sible, more or less, for the Red enslavement of the nations behind the Iron Curtain and the iphu:manities suffered by .them. Defi~itely, we. should do . $Omething about it. Let at least be honest with ourselve-s and the rest of the wi:>-rld and admit .that it was morally wrong and contrary· to every democratic and Christian principle to surrender the Slovak nation and the other nations of Central and Eastern Europe to the ruthless men of the· K;remlin: Then; let us repudiate the treaties and secret agreements iby which these nations were enslaved by the USSR and immediately proceed in earnest with the task of real· liberation of all nations from all tyranny. · • . The struggle against tyranny· is nothing new to the Slo.. µs SLOVAKIA 37 vaks. The history of the Slovak nation is a history of thraldom and exploitation. For over' ten centuries the Slovak nation -'-- one of the oldest Christian nations in Central :IDurope --'- has been but a pawn in the hands of alien rulers. Its freedom, security, economy and territorial integrity have always been determined by foreigners. The Slovaks have suffered longer under alien domination than any other nation of Europe. No other nation has been so thoroughly misundeI'.stood, misrepresented, degraded, maligned and vilified even by the very people who claimed to represent it and protect its national interests, by men who professed to be and were glorified as the very epitome of the democratic way of life. Many of us believed, as did many Slovaks at home, that the trials and tribulations of the Slovak nation were ended and its national existence safeguarded with the establishment of .the Czecho-Slovak Republic in 1918, which the Slovaks and the Czechs were supposed to govern as equal partners and in which the Czechs were to be masters of their own household and the Slovaks were to enjoy States' Rights according to the principle of self-determination. But we were mistaken, badly mistaken. We did not see the job through ; Czecho-Slovakia was not set up as a federation. It soon becanie evident that the Prague Government, headed by T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Edward Benes, did not regard the Slovaks as equal partners, but only as a colony to be exploited by the Czechs. · The Slovaks s9on realized that Czecho-Slcwakia ~imply meant an exchange of rulers: they were rid of the Magyar tyrant only to be placed under the Czech despot, ~ho also sought to destroy them eventuaily as a nation. They protested, but in vain. Andrew Hlinka, champion of Slovak freedom , went to Paris to attend the Peace Conference in 1919, but was promptly arrested by the French police, at the instigation of Dr. Edward Benes, and ordered o'ut of France. For this the Prague Government later hacf Hlinka jailed . . The Slovaks, however, ·outlived the tyranny of the past and today are determined to outlive the present scourge of Czecho-Co:tnmunist terror and violence and to continue in their march to complete political freedom and fndependen ce. 38 SLOVAKIA But what after Communism? Shall the Slovaks be surrendered to another tyrant? Are they willing to be exploited by another form of Czecho~Slovakfa? Certainly not! The Slovaks want only what rightfully belongs to them - no more no less. They want the United States of America and the rest of the free world to recognize and respect their inherent right to freedom and independence. The Slovaks, however , despite the many bitter memor ies of injustices suffered from ruling groups of neighboring nations, some of which blatantly claimed to be exemplary democracies - are fully aware of the fact that a free Ukraine, a free Poland, Bohemia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and even a free Russia are also nece&sary to form a better, free and more just order in Europe. The Slovaks well know that the struggle for freedom and independence camiot and must not be waged in isolation, that the goal of liberation from communist tyranny and all foreign domination must be the unified aim of all enslaved nations and of all friends of all the oppressed peoples. It is a matter of record that the Slovak nation fought Communism, the implacable foe of all free countries, in and out of season. Americans of Slovak descent can proudly stress the fact that their forefathers fought the plague of materialistic Communism consistently and resolutely for over a hundred years. Slovak history tells us that Louis Stur, champion of Slovak freedom, repudiated the Godless philosophy of Marx in 1849; at its very first session, in 1905, the political party of Andrew IIlinka, the Slova,k Populist Party, did not hesitate to condemn Communism; fourteen years later, in 1919, General Milan R. Stefanik, Slovak hero of World War I and one of the founders of Czecho-Slovakia, warned T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Edward Benes to make no compromises with Bolshevism ; finally, Dr. Joseph Tiso, the first president of the Slovak Republic, appealed to his people to persevere in its fight against the dread plague of Communism even as he was being led to his death on the gallows by order of the Communist-dominated National Front Government of Dr. Edward Benes on April 18, 1947. And, today, the sons of Slovakia, wherever they might be, SLOVAKIA 39 are more determined than ever to fight Communist tyranny until it is completely eradicated from the face of the earth. The Slovaks seek the opportunity to play a useful role in the struggle for freedom and, they believe, it is the responsibility of the free democratic world to afford them this opportunity. At the same time, however, they wish to make it perfectly clear that they do not intend to surrender their inherent right to freedom and independence under any circumstances. They do not beHeve the Soviet propaganda that the free democratic world wants the Slovak nation to commit national suicide. The Slovaks want the free nations of the world to recognize at long last a simple truth which the Slovaks and the Czechs have known for many centuTies past, that is, that the Czechs are not and do not desire to be Slovaks, and the Slovaks are not and do not want to be Czechs. The Slovaks recognize and respect the right of the Czech nation to complete freedom and political independence, but they also expect the leaders of the Czech nation to realize that the Slovak nation, too, has the inherent right to freedom and political independence. And in the struggle against Communism, the Slovaks want to be united with all free nations and not es,p ecially with and only with the Czech natioo. They want it clearly understood that they are not fighting Communism for the sake of a free or any other kind of Czecho-Slovakia. They were definitely through with the political monstrosity known as Czecho-Slovakia in 1939, when the Assembly of autonomous Slovakia declared the independence of the Slovak nation. The Slovaks subscribe wholeheartedly to the idea of a federation of Central Europe, or even a federation of the whole of Europe, in which all nations would be equal and none would be dominated and exploited by the others. The Slovaks do not want anything that they are not rightfully entitled to; they make no claims to Czech history, national traditions and customs, or the material, spiritual and cultural wealth of the Czech nation; and they do not covet Czech territory. The Slovaks do not want or request the Czechs to represent them in the field of human endeavor, whether cultural. political, or spiritual. 40 SLOVAKJ4 And, of course, the Slovaks do not want to be credited with the criminal acts committed by the Communist-dominated "National Front" Government of Dr. IDdward Benes and Clement Gottwald. The Slovak nation had nothing to do with the criminal expulsion of Germans and Magyars from Czecho-Slovakia, or the brutal persecution and suppression of religion and of all anti-Communist opposition in that hapless country. For the betrayal of Czecho-Slovakia - the Czech and Slovak nations - to the Communists and the Soviet Union, the Slovaks give full credit to Dr. Edward Be.nes and his socialist followers, who consistently promoted proSoviet policy. Slovak political, cultural and religious leaders did not betray the Czechs, but the "Benes Czechs" betrayed not only the Slovaks, but the entire Ozech nation as well. Today, in America and elsewhere, the Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings - the apostles of "Czechoslovak" democracy .- are organized in various Czech and "Czechoslovak" organizations, the "American Fund fo,r Czechoslovak Refugees, Inc.," and the "Council of Free Czechoslovakia" among them, which profess to be organizations of "anti-Communist, democratic exiles" from Czecho-Slovakia. In fact, however, they are controlled by the Benes Czechs, the Cze<:h National Socialists and former members of the Communist-dominated "National Front" Government of Dr. Edward Be.n.es and Clement Gottwald, which collaborated closely with the Soviet Union and outlawed all anti-socialistic and anti-communistic parties in Czecho-Slovakia in 1945. These "National Fronters," who claim they control the employees of RADIO FREE EUROPE and the VOICE OF AMERICA, never did and never will re-p resent the political will of the SlovaJk naiti01I1, and therefore, hruve no authority to speak for the Slovaks anywhere. Furthermore, they do not represent the anti-socialistic and anti-communistic Czechs. They should be recognized for what they really were in their homeland: promoters of the pro-Soviet policy of the Czech Socialists and Communists. And they should be treated accordingly. Under their leadership the so-called "Czechoslovak democracy" had practically no trouble at all in converting to a "people's democracy" after World ·War II. Americans of Slovak descent -consider it their sacred SLOVAKIA 41 duty to unmask and embarrass all such pseudodemocratic Elements and to disarm them completely, because the enemies of Slovak freedom and independence are, in fact, the enemies of the American democratic way of life itself. Imagine then, if you will, our surprise and consternation when we learned as late as February 26, 1954, that our State Department still "considers the Council of Free Czechoslovakia to be an organization of leading anti-Communist political refugees from Czechoslovakia working for the liberation of that country from Communist domination." Rightfully we ask: "What goes on in official Washington?" ln our opinion, to defend an indefensible group of foreign politicians, who peddled the Moscow line for years, is today not only inexcusable but highly reprehensible. And more so in the case of a government official. We must not be confused by the propagators of the "new look" of the Soviet Union. Let us remember that such a "new look" had deceived intelligent statesmen and wary diplomats during the last war. Just ten yeaJrs ago today, May 24, 1944, the Hon. Winston Churchill said in the Commons: " Profound changes have taken place in Soviet Russia. The Trotskyite form of communism has been completely wiped out. The victories of the Russian armies have been attended by a great rise in strength of the Russian state and a remarkable broadening of its views. The religious side of Russian life has had a wonderful rebirth. The discipline and military etiquette of the Russian armies are unsurpassed. There is a new national anthem. The Comintern has been abolished." The Slovak nation was not deceived by the Soviet chamelon in 1938, or in 1944, and it will not be deceived by it now. The Slovaks are firmly convinced that the world cannot exist in peace half-slave and half-free; there can be no compromise between the forces of freedom and the forces of slavery. History has taught us one great lesson: no nation can have a monopoly on freedom and remain free. Freedom is the grandest of all of God's gifts to mankind ; freedom is the universal heritage of all the ages. The more we promote 42 SLOVAKIA and share it, the more abundant and lasting are its fruits. Peace without freedom is unthinkable. If we are truly int erested in a permanent and just peace, let us not deny freedom to any nation - not even the Slo,v ak nation . • MARCH 14 - • • SLOVAK INDEPENDENOE DAY1 ( Address of the Hon. Michael A. Feighan, 20th District, Ohio, delivered on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Slovak Declaration of Independence at a meeting sponsored by the Slovak League of America and the Catholic Slovak Federation of America, at the Benedictine High School Auditorium, Cleveland, March 13, 1954, on "National Sovereignty Against World Socialism.") It is an honor for me to be here with you this evening and to join with you in commemorating the love of Slovak people everywhere in the world for God, freedom, and individual liberty. Anyone who has taken the time to study the history of the Slovak people, or to acquaint themselves with the traditions of Slovaks in America, will immediately recognize my point of associating God with human freedom. Like the Irish , their slogan is and has always been for God and country. Some years ago, when the storm clouds of World War II were gathering over the skies of Europe, I became intense1y interested in the cause of nations which were then hanging in the balance. On the one hand, we, the people of the free world, were confronted with the menace of national socialism as represented by Hitler, and on the other hand, the menace of international socialism as represented by Stalin, the czar of Russian communism. It was then clear to me that the tyrants, Stalin and Hitler, had a common purpose - to dominate the world. It was therefore no shock to me when the Hitler-Stalin Pact was announced to the world in 1939. It was, however, a tremendous shock to the unprepared homegrown Communists and fellow travelers in the United States and their fellow conspirators in other parts of the world.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Address of Philip A. Hrobak, President of the Slovak League of America Description An account of the resource Delivered at the informal dinner of the National Conference of Americans of Slovak Descent, Washington Hotel, May 24, 1954 Slovakia, Vol. 4, No. 2 (10), June 1954 pp. 35-42 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hrobak, Philip Anthony, 1904-1964 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 1954 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/70cf2b0ef30296551c584062bb55308b.pdf b828bfebe5d2865ab9e552aa226177a0 PDF Text Text 114 SLOVAKIA America's Discovery of Ethnic Values A . V . Pi e r, 0. S. B. Strangely enough after almost two hundred years since the founding of this Republic an important and vital discovery has been made by American scholars and educators, namely, that the people of America have been misled into thinking that complete amalgamation is the best and only formula for insuring a strong, united, enlightened and prosperous country. This trend until recently has been pushed officially and unofficially towards the elimination of individual nationality traits, all foreign languages, traditions, etc., according to the erstwhile popular but misguided melting-pot idea. Fortunately, at long last this trend has been radically reversed because the idea that was in vogue for so long a time without seriously questioned has been abandoned because its effects have been detrimental to our society. Its aim was to produce a monolithic entity without historic roots, without a past, without a trace of ethnic origins. The process was supposed to produce a new nation devoid of any links with the past. Such an unrealistic approach was doomed to failure from the start. It is a wonder it took so long to expose the falseness of the whole idea i na society that is known for it practicality and realistic approach to any problem. Exalted expectations of one hundred percent Americanism as the end result of total consolidation through total immersion and submersion in a common melting-pot, so to speak, went askew despite concerted efforts of government and educational agencies to produce by distillation a completely simon pure product or creation, that is, a standarized version of the new American. Cultural values are enduring. They do not, as a general rule, vanish completely from existence. Very often they become adopted to new surroundings and circumstances of time and place. For example, both the Greek and Roman �SLOVAKIA 115 cultures, though pagan, were in a different way adapted to the emerging new Chr:ilstian culture that followed the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Many of the best phases of that Greco-Roman civilization still influence the western world. What are some of the genuinely worthwhile ethnic values that were downgraded almost to the point of extinction in our time? Since they deal largely with many diversified form that require a thorough study of the various languages, literatures a histories of some fifty ethnic groups in our country it would require at least several volumes to analyze and evaluate them properly and adequately. Already serious research is being done in this direction. When this essential work is completed we will have a veritable treasure trove of cultural values whose intrinsic worth will exceed by far anything the world has ever seen. Other nations may boast of their own distinct cultural riches but our collection will contain the finest gifts of fifty cultures from around the globe. Appraisal of our potential wealth will include, we feel certain, the unique cultural qualities of Slovak national culture which the American Slovaks have fostered and cherished since their coming to this country almost a century ago. So far we have not given much attention to the signs of Slovak culture which are actually all around us, particularly in localities where large numbers of immigrants from Slovakia settled. We have our own churches , schools, societies, clubs, newspapers, magazines, radio program, plays, music and literature both prose and poetry. It is only a matter of time until all these will be properly recorded, evaluated and publicized to show how truly great is our Slovak culture not only in Slovakia but here in our very midst in America. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA firmly believes in the American principle of self-determination of all nations, the inherent and God-given right of every nation, whether large or small, to freedom and independence, the right of every nation to freely choose its own form of government and freely elect persons of its own choice by whom it shall be governed. � 114 SLOVAKIA America's Discovery of Ethnic Values A . V . Pi e r, 0. S. B. Strangely enough after almost two hundred years since the founding of this Republic an important and vital discovery has been made by American scholars and educators, namely, that the people of America have been misled into thinking that complete amalgamation is the best and only formula for insuring a strong, united, enlightened and prosperous country. This trend until recently has been pushed officially and unofficially towards the elimination of individual nationality traits, all foreign languages, traditions, etc., according to the erstwhile popular but misguided melting-pot idea. Fortunately, at long last this trend has been radically reversed because the idea that was in vogue for so long a time without seriously questioned has been abandoned because its effects have been detrimental to our society. Its aim was to produce a monolithic entity without historic roots, without a past, without a trace of ethnic origins. The process was supposed to produce a new nation devoid of any links with the past. Such an unrealistic approach was doomed to failure from the start. It is a wonder it took so long to expose the falseness of the whole idea i na society that is known for it practicality and realistic approach to any problem. Exalted expectations of one hundred percent Americanism as the end result of total consolidation through total immersion and submersion in a common melting-pot, so to speak, went askew despite concerted efforts of government and educational agencies to produce by distillation a completely simon pure product or creation, that is, a standarized version of the new American. Cultural values are enduring. They do not, as a general rule, vanish completely from existence. Very often they become adopted to new surroundings and circumstances of time and place. For example, both the Greek and Roman �SLOVAKIA 115 cultures, though pagan, were in a different way adapted to the emerging new Chr:ilstian culture that followed the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Many of the best phases of that Greco-Roman civilization still influence the western world. What are some of the genuinely worthwhile ethnic values that were downgraded almost to the point of extinction in our time? Since they deal largely with many diversified form that require a thorough study of the various languages, literatures a histories of some fifty ethnic groups in our country it would require at least several volumes to analyze and evaluate them properly and adequately. Already serious research is being done in this direction. When this essential work is completed we will have a veritable treasure trove of cultural values whose intrinsic worth will exceed by far anything the world has ever seen. Other nations may boast of their own distinct cultural riches but our collection will contain the finest gifts of fifty cultures from around the globe. Appraisal of our potential wealth will include, we feel certain, the unique cultural qualities of Slovak national culture which the American Slovaks have fostered and cherished since their coming to this country almost a century ago. So far we have not given much attention to the signs of Slovak culture which are actually all around us, particularly in localities where large numbers of immigrants from Slovakia settled. We have our own churches , schools, societies, clubs, newspapers, magazines, radio program, plays, music and literature both prose and poetry. It is only a matter of time until all these will be properly recorded, evaluated and publicized to show how truly great is our Slovak culture not only in Slovakia but here in our very midst in America. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA firmly believes in the American principle of self-determination of all nations, the inherent and God-given right of every nation, whether large or small, to freedom and independence, the right of every nation to freely choose its own form of government and freely elect persons of its own choice by whom it shall be governed. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1972, Vol. 22 Description An account of the resource Vol. 22 (No. 45), 1972. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 114 SLOVAKIA America's Discovery of Ethnic Values A . V . Pi e r, 0. S. B. Strangely enough after almost two hundred years since the founding of this Republic an important and vital discovery has been made by American scholars and educators, namely, that the people of America have been misled into thinking that complete amalgamation is the best and only formula for insuring a strong, united, enlightened and prosperous country. This trend until recently has been pushed officially and unofficially towards the elimination of individual nationality traits, all foreign languages, traditions, etc., according to the erstwhile popular but misguided melting-pot idea. Fortunately, at long last this trend has been radically reversed because the idea that was in vogue for so long a time without seriously questioned has been abandoned because its effects have been detrimental to our society. Its aim was to produce a monolithic entity without historic roots, without a past, without a trace of ethnic origins. The process was supposed to produce a new nation devoid of any links with the past. Such an unrealistic approach was doomed to failure from the start. It is a wonder it took so long to expose the falseness of the whole idea i na society that is known for it practicality and realistic approach to any problem. Exalted expectations of one hundred percent Americanism as the end result of total consolidation through total immersion and submersion in a common melting-pot, so to speak, went askew despite concerted efforts of government and educational agencies to produce by distillation a completely simon pure product or creation, that is, a standarized version of the new American. Cultural values are enduring. They do not, as a general rule, vanish completely from existence. Very often they become adopted to new surroundings and circumstances of time and place. For example, both the Greek and Roman SLOVAKIA 115 cultures, though pagan, were in a different way adapted to the emerging new Chr:ilstian culture that followed the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Many of the best phases of that Greco-Roman civilization still influence the western world. What are some of the genuinely worthwhile ethnic values that were downgraded almost to the point of extinction in our time? Since they deal largely with many diversified form that require a thorough study of the various languages, literatures a histories of some fifty ethnic groups in our country it would require at least several volumes to analyze and evaluate them properly and adequately. Already serious research is being done in this direction. When this essential work is completed we will have a veritable treasure trove of cultural values whose intrinsic worth will exceed by far anything the world has ever seen. Other nations may boast of their own distinct cultural riches but our collection will contain the finest gifts of fifty cultures from around the globe. Appraisal of our potential wealth will include, we feel certain, the unique cultural qualities of Slovak national culture which the American Slovaks have fostered and cherished since their coming to this country almost a century ago. So far we have not given much attention to the signs of Slovak culture which are actually all around us, particularly in localities where large numbers of immigrants from Slovakia settled. We have our own churches , schools, societies, clubs, newspapers, magazines, radio program, plays, music and literature both prose and poetry. It is only a matter of time until all these will be properly recorded, evaluated and publicized to show how truly great is our Slovak culture not only in Slovakia but here in our very midst in America. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA firmly believes in the American principle of self-determination of all nations, the inherent and God-given right of every nation, whether large or small, to freedom and independence, the right of every nation to freely choose its own form of government and freely elect persons of its own choice by whom it shall be governed.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource America's Discovery of Ethnic Values Description An account of the resource A. V. Pier, O.S.B. Slovakia, Vol. 22 (No. 45), 1972 pp. 114-115 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Pier, Andrew W., 1910-2003 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/2c402ffb425450b873e1ac799e7f49be.pdf 6f28bbbb734e96f02c41e2505d11426d PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA Published by the Slovak League of America VOL. XVII 1967 NO. 40 SIXTY YEARS OF THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA AMERICAN DEMOCRACY AND SLOVAK LIFE By Dr. Francis Hrusovsky Living conditions and standards of Slovak emigrants changed radically in the new world. The temperament or character of the Slovak who had lived for centuries under Magyar rule was influenced to a large degree by his environment. His economic status in Slovakia was poor, hi~ social standing low, and as for political freedom and civil rights, these, for him, were non-existent. Everyday life for the average Slovak demanded the complete expenditure of his physical energy to eke out a livelihood. Poverty and misery were the common lot of the Slovak people. Thus, oppressed and overburdened, the Slovak, though perhaps seething within because of the intolerable conditions, was helpless not only because he lacked the courage but even the strength to throw off the shackles of servitude. He was, therefore, resigned to his sad fate and he became adjusted to conditions because there was no way out for him. Under these circumstances in which the Slovak people were forced to live and struggle for mere survival, it was difficult for the idea of Slovak national consciousness to take root and grow. Organized political action was an impossibility because he was caught and held fast in the web of feudal system which still existed in Hungary. The Slovak was quite aware of his nationality but the degree of his national pride was never high. It was merely a personal thing. The idea of national unity even if it �2 SLOVAKIA entered his mind was quickly dispelled by immediate necessities of his economic life. Obviously, under such adverse circumstances one cannot expect a simple peasant either to worry about national interests or grasp the idea of unified political action to achieve the aspiration of a whole people so that as a nation, organized and working in harmony, he and his fellow countrymen might win recog-nition of their just rights. Surprisingly, the Slovak people though suffering want and being subject to political oppression, did not become depressed in their hard surroundings. Somehow, the Slovaks worked out an amazing philosophy of life: they came to the conclusion that their privations and difficulties were inevitable consequences of an earthly existence . . . and hence they must bear up under their burdens patiently. And their enduring patience became a national virtue. Slovak immigrants in the new world found an entirely different atmosphere, particularly in democratic America. The first noticeable difference were seemingly endless opportunities for earning power. A typical immigrant from Slovakia was industrious because he had learned to work hard in the struggle for survival in his native homeland. At home his opportunities for work were, however, limited, and his chances for earning a little more money were poor. As a consequence, he was unable to improve his lot. This realization made him feel that he was doomed to remain poor all his life, as if it were a national inheritance down through the ages. Naturally, of course, in view of his abject poverty at home, the Slovak immigrant to America was primarily motivated by the desire to earn more money to assure him a brighter economic future . If he earned more money, he would be able to raise his standard of living and thus free himself from the curse of poverty. He did not shirk any work provided it meant higher wages and since jobs were plentiful, the newcomer found plenty of work. For that basic reason, the Slovak peasant, now an immigrant worker, willingly worked harder and longer hours so that he might improve the living conditions of his family across the sea. Most of the Slovak immigrants were workers and farm- �SLOVAKIA 3 ers, who had no skill or special training. But a simple person with the courage to go out into the world in search of an occupation and with an innate desire to work could do wonders. Moreover he was endowed with a source of inner strength to grapple with all kinds of hardships and obstacles in the new world. Because he was uneducated he was greatly under-rated in his homeland. Nevertheless, he possessed unusual natural ability and endurance. He often excelled in good judgment and had the determination to succeed. In the multivaried life of America the new immigrants learned much. Many of them would have wasted their energies as farmers had they remained at home. However in America they soon discovered opportunities for their talents. Quite a few, on the strength of their native talents, rose to high levels in American society. This would have been impossible in their native homeland. But the democratic atmosphere in America presented them with the opportunity to develop their natural ability to the utmost. As soon as the Slovak immigrant overcame the first difficulties that he encountered in America, he quickly learned by experience and readily became accustomed to his new way of life. He was more than satisfied with the substantial increase of his earning power. He did not squander his hard-earned money but set aside a portion as savings. Seeing the tangible results of his industrious work, he acquired a new sense of importance and human dignity. From a beaten down and oppressed servile person, he changed gradually into a proud citizen of a democratic country. In comparing his position and achievements with the lot of his fellow countrymen back in Slovakia, he could not but be content for here he was an equal among equals with unlimited opportunities in an enterprising democratic land. True, this process of personal re-orientation and rehabilitation in the new world did not affect all immigrants in quite the same way. It did not bring the same results in every case. Among the Slovak immigrants there were many failures as many were swallowed up in the new world. But, in general, the great majority of the Slovak newcomers reacted favorably and successfully to the new circumstan- �4 SLOVAKIA ces. Too long had they breathed the oppresive air of oppression inside Hungary, now they reveled in breathing the invigorating atmosphere of American freedom and democracy. In life every man constantly encounters obstacles and is forced to overcome handicaps, endure hardships and struggle along the pathway to a definite goal. The Slovak, accustomed to meet challenges along his course through life, was not afraid of difficulties nor did he shrink from obstacles in his path. At home he had become disillusioned, for he had become quite conscious of his failure to rise above his station in life. He realized the hopelessness of his situation and he made the most of it. In America, it was quite different. Here nothing could stop him from im• proving his condition, for here he was a free man, and he had the will to get ahead. Each day that he worked with determination and endurance, the Slovak immigrant's appreciation of personal liberty and equality grew and his work was manifestly a labor of love and gratitude for the opportunity to fulfill his ambitions in a new world. As his appreciation of the new life increased, he began to get used to the idea of being a free man as a normal situation, and his desire to work and prosper, his initiative and his enjoyment of life increased proportionately. In the United States the Slovak immigrant became acquainted with native Americans as well as with immigrants from other lands. This influenced him twofold: 1) As a stranger among strangers and without much knowledge of the English language he shied away from all non-Slovaks. 2) He searched for fellow Slovaks with whom he could communicate. These he could understand, and they could understand him. This immediate need for friends drew the Slovaks together in a foreign country. All Slovak immigrants felt the practical impact of living among strangers in a strange environment. They soon knew they were somehow different and they drew apart seeking their own kind to whom they were drawn because they spoke the same language, and they shared the same �SLOVAKIA 5 customs, traditions, ideals and experiences. Moreover, they all had come to America with the same goal: a better life. Loneliness drew the Slovak immigrants together. They felt insecure and unhappy in the strange world. It was only natural that they sought companionship among their own Slovak countrymen. Thus, drawn together by the magnet of kinship, the need for companionship and mutual understanding, wherever a group of Slovaks came together, there they organized societies, parishes and clubs. This common activity warded off their feelings of homesickness and nostalgia and helped them to overcome the longing for their homeland. Their organizations enabled them to protect their mutual interests and promote worthwhile social activities. The sudden realization that they were an island in a strange sea made the Slovaks aware of their national origin. They were not merely individuals now, but persons who belonged to a great unity: a nation. Their national consciousness was accentuated and their national pride increased as more and more societies sprang up. Their desire to unify their mutual interests was intensified. The ultimate attainment of their aspirations to national freedom was now visualized as they saw how the enjoyment of personal liberty could readily lead to the enjoyment of national freedom in their native homeland, if liberated from foreign domination. No doubt the example of the various nationality groups in America that had become strongly organized inspired the Slovak immigrants to imitate them so that they, too, could achieve greater progress and attain whatever goals they must reach in their lifetime. "What is perhaps a paradox is that in Slovakia, though the Slovaks were what they were and nothing else, they were not Slovaks in the sense that they could not publicly appear as themselves. They were subjects of Magyar overlords and, as such, feudal peasants who were officially listed as "Hungarian inhabitants". Their real national origin was to be denied and ultimately erased according to the designs of chauvinistic Magyar masters. No obstacles or limitations were placed upon American immigrants in the matter of their nationality. Here �6 SLOVAKIA a person could appear privately or publicly as a national, ie., he could freely manifest his national origin, speak his native language, organize freely and come and go freely without being subject to government interference, public insults or repression of any kind. As a matter of fact, he was treated with respect by native Americans and other nationality groups as a rule, and there were no restrictions placed upon an immigrant by a government agency or his employer. Slovaks who became citizens of the United States learned that even as full-fledged loyal citizens of their adopted country they did not loose their identity as native sons of Slovakia. Moreover, they could still actively help their fellow countrymen here and in their homeland. Not long after his coming to American shores of freedom, the Slovak immigrant noted that he could have his own convictions and opinions and express them freely in speach or writing. Slovak organizations that had the common interest of their fellow countrymen at heart provided their members with numerous occasions to appear in public. Slovak newspapers not only informed and instructed t heir readers but acted as bond of unity and communication for all the Slovaks in America. Slovak periodicals rendered a great service in that they were a forum for public opinion among the American Slovaks. The experiences, suggestions, advice, opinions, etc. of thousands of Slovaks found their way into the pages of daily and weekly publications. Thus, even the ordinary Slovak worker could publish his views, opinions and reactions on a multiplicity of topics. For many this opportunity gave them a postgraduate course in public expression. They often voiced their growing pride in their Slovak national ancestry. Every Slovak who was forced to migrate into far off foreign countries in search of a better living never lost his love for his native country ... it was an abiding love, sometimes sentimental perhaps, but nevertheless sincere and profound. This attachment from his youth was never quite lost; even after many years of absence from his native homeland he still could see the picture of his village home and the little white church with its cross on the steeple. �SLOVAKIA 7 To him this memory would always be sacred for it symbolized the faith of his people down through centuries of time, a faith that had sustained them through the hardships, dangers, and sufferings of countless ages. Always, as long as he lived, the Slovak immigrant, no matter how far from the native village where the Church, though oftentimes small, was a symbol of the indestructible faith of his forefathers , would remember that his religion was his greatest asset in a world of struggle. Without a church, without a priest and without prayer, life in a Slovak village would have been infinitely sad. And for him, though far removed from his birthplace, this remained t rue in the country of his adoption. Prayer is for the pious Slovak today what it was for his predecessors for centuries: a solace in time of grief, a bulwark, a mighty fortress in time of peril. Church prayers and hymns in his native Slovak tongue were a balm to his soul, an inspiration to his spirit. So long as he stayed close to his Church he felt safe amidst the confusions and storms of foreign currents that sometimes terrified him, at other times made him feel uneasy and uncertain as he faced each day's struggle in strange surroundings. Slovak life in America followed a definite pattern where enough settlers came from Slovakia. Parish churches and schools were built and much of the immigrant's social life centered around these religious institutions. As a rule, the more vital parish life of a Slovak group became the more solid and permanent became the national and cultural development of Slovak immigrant units that clustered around their own parishes. Loyalty to the faith of their fathers in the midst of the hubub and maelstrom of the big new world became the source of fidelity to the Slovak family, the native mother tongue and the Slovak homeland. At the end of a week ( 6 days ) of hard labor, the Slovak immigrant invariably went to Church on Sunday. He prayed fervently, sang with enthusiasm, listened to the weekly sermon, all in his native tongue. His heart was touched, his love rekindled each week, and he kept alive love of his homeland and native hearth. �8 SLOVAKIA Unique in every respect are the Slovak churches, rectories, schools and convents in many parts of the United States, for they are living testimonials of the profound religious faith of the people from Slovakia. In Slovakia, there were not societies or organizations of their own. A few that were permitted to function were in the service directly or indirectly of anti-Slovak interests. This denationalization policy unfortunately not infrequently crossed the threshold of the church itself. On the other hand, in America Slovak societies, schools, and churches, besides fulfilling their religious, social and cultural role, were at the same time centers of the Slovak spirit and national life. This left a strong impression on the Slovak immigrant in America. He grasped the full significance of this new life of personal liberty and national freedom. The new atmosphere changed him into a true patriot who was proud equally of his new citizenship and his Slovak ancestry. The tempo of life in America was much faster and fuller then the development of the new national spirit in Slovakia where many obstacles still existed. The democratic spirit of America was vital and refreshing, whereas the feudal system of Hungary was depressing and lifeless. Hungary's 20th century feudalism was outmoded but it kept the Slovak nation, the oldest nation in the Carpathian basin of the upper Danube, in a state of political bondage and economic servitude. The result was that the mass of Slovaks was unable to rise from its plight and live a normal national life. Slovak poets and writers who felt the pain of this tragic debasement of their nation feared the future consequences of this situation. In vain, however, were their efforts to wake up the Slovak masses; the years of oppression had been too many. They had taken their toll. Hundreds of thousands remained spiritless and turned a deaf ear to their pleadings. Slovak patriots endeavored to alert the people to the danger of remaining inactive in the crisis that threatened their national extinction. They, too, failed to arouse the inert masses to action. Every attempt to put a program into action was foiled by subversive activity of the enemy. �SLOVAKIA 9 Slovakia's national life, deprived of all vital sources by her oppressors, was all but dead. Her people lacked sufficient power and initiative for a flourishing national life and progress as a highly cultured and dynamic people. Stymied internally, therefore, the Slovak national organism which was physically healthy and vigorous, biologically sound, morally solid and potentially rich, needed an injection. And that is precisely what the Slovaks in America provided for the Slovak nation's life-an injection that thoroughly revitalized Slovakia's life as a nation in its historic homeland. We have no reliable statistics to show to what extent the influence of the American Slovak way of life was exerted in various parts of Slovakia. Perhaps at some future time this will become available. Only then shall we be able to get a precise, or at least a more accurate record of this impact of American democracy on the Slovaks' historic homeland in central Europe. Lacking statistics, we are still able, however, to indicate to some degree how American Slovaks after having acquired the new experience of a life of freedom affected the life of their fellow countrymen in Slovakia. A considerable number of Slovak emigrants who went to America in search of work and higher earning power returned to their native land. They had attained their goal, namely, the acquisition of a moderate fortune which enabled them to get a fresh start in life. Most of them, however, chose to make America their permanent home. Instances of individuals who lost all contact with their homeland and their fellow countrymen here are so few that they are negligible. Even those who elected to remain in America continued their interest in Slovak affairs and maintained a lively interest in their Slovak nation's destiny. In fact, many of them inspired their children and even their grandchildren to take an active part in Slovak life. In Slovakia the effect of the American way of life manifested itself in a number of ways but primarily in an economic sense, for the prime motive of Slovak emigration overseas was economic necessity. The returnees stimulated economic progress with their savings which were invested in the purchase of land, cattle, agricultural implements and �SLOVAKIA new homes. The sum total of this new capital proved a vital factor in renewing Slovakia's national economy. At first glance, perhaps, the role of American capital in the hands of the Slovak emigrants who returned to their homeland may seem unimportant but it proved to be an essential factor in rebuilding their lives. They were able to acquire land with their savings and this, alone, strengthened their power through ownership. Under the feudal system much of the land had fallen into the hands of a foreign aristocracy for whom the Slovak peasant tilled the soil. The products of his labor were not his, the land belonged to aliens and both land and produce, as well as his daily labors, served alien and not his own interests. Vast estates, forests and fields were in the hands of an ancient Slovak nobility that either had alienated itself or was rapidly alienating itself from the people. The loss of their native Slovak national pride meant the loss of their lands to Slovakia. One of the most serious practices among small landowners was the breaking-up of the estates through inheritance. This process was the more alarming because the high birth-rate among the farming families often forced the small landowners to make loans that not only weighed heavily upon the individual land-owner but often plunged him heavily into debt. This, too often, forced him to sell some or all of his lands. Another factor that created a serious problem for the small land-owner was the reccurence of bad crops. This and the need for money to make repairs, buy equipment or make an expansion often resulted in a huge debt so that the poor man frequently could not even pay the interest on a loan. Eventually such heavily mortgaged properties ended up in the hands of strangers who held the mortgage. For the Slovak national cause such failures had a twofold effect: 1) They decreased the number of Slovak landowners and proportionately increased non-Slovak ownership of the land; 2) Loss of land meant that the Slovak peasant lost his attachment to the land of his forebears and with the loss he lost his national consciousness or pride when he migrated to the city where he got a job in the �SLOVAKIA 11 factory. Second and third generations of these families generally lost their identity as Slovaks. Slovak land, the solid base of Slovak national life, was being lost to aliens and with each loss national unity and ancestral pride were weakened. Under such adverse conditions the Slovaks could make no progress and the economy of their country was weakened considerably because it was not serving the people but foreign landowners who exploited the native workers. An independent class of small land-owners had always been the backbone of the Slovak nation. It was, therefore, a vital necessity that this class be preserved, and even extended both for the welfare of the people and for the national interest. Above all, capital was needed in this crisis. At home there was none to be had. Accordingly, there was only one hope and that was America. In the years of migration money came back to the old country and this more than any one thing helped to preserve ancient lands intact. American capital in the form of savings of the immigrants saved Slovakia's lands for her people. In almost every Slovak village or town before and after World War I new homes, new ventures and developments were made possible through American dollars, savings of Slovak settlers in America. Slovak farmers were able tc:, purchase new agricultural equipment and increase their production on a modest scale. Their lands and confidence were restored, thanks to their American experience and their savings from honest toil in the land of opportunity. Emigration of Slovak landowners to America actually strengthened the small land-owning class in Slovakia and preserved the right of ownership of the entire Slovak nation to its own native soil. Tenant farmers who had left their native homeland for America, as well as many Slovak workers, frequently returned from America to swell the ranks of the new landowners. These paid ready cash for land and equipment as they proudly took ownership of their new properties in their native country. �12 SLOVAKIA Some Slovaks who returned with savings preferred to invest their modest wealth in various enterprises such as a small business, for example, a store, a tavern, a mill or lumber plant. These, too, greatly enhanced the economic growth of the country through their initiative and enterprise. Stiff competition for the new enterprises greeted their founders but this did not scare the Slovaks who had returned from America, for competition was what stimulated progress and was an added incentive to success. Against their non-Slovak competitors, therefore, the new business men succeeded in breaking up what was considered somewhat of a monopoly by the old owners and directors in various businesses. Their experience in America served them well as they met every challenge with confidence and generally with success. American capital undoubtedly helped to raise the living· standard of the Slovak people. The Slovaks remained what they had always been, a simple people with moderate wants and desires and tastes but it was imperative that this simplicity be not interpreted as a sign of backwardness. Their American experiences helped them to cope with this problem, too. Highly important for the development of Slovak national life was the education of the youth. High school and college training was necessary so that the Slovak nation could have a strong core of educated men and women. For the average Slovak family higher education had a high social value, too. Unfortunately, Slovak schools were directed by nonSlovak elements and the children were subject to a denationalization process whereby the Magyar language and the spirit of a Hungarian nationality were fostered exclusively. It was a foregone conclusion that this would result in a tremendous loss to the Slovak nation when its youth would be alienated in its formative years. Although many were lost to the Slovak cause, not every Slovak youth succumbed to the lure of promises for the future or was terrorized into submission, for in many homes the spirit of loyalty to the Slovak national culture was cherished. �SLOVAKIA 13 Only a few Slovak youths were able to pursue higher studies in high school, college and university because their fathers who had gone to America encouraged their sons by ear-marking special funds for their education. These, as a rule, completed their studies and became loyal sons of their homeland. Their spirit of national pride inspired them to fight back at any attempt to rob them of their rightful Slovak birthright and national heritage. Such was the spirit of the American-Slovak families in Slovakia that their dynamic force and influence were invariably felt throughout the country. The sons, like their father, bore the unmistakable trade-mark of true patriotism. The printed word, either in the daily press, periodicals or in books, is an essential factor in the training of youth everywhere. It is the expression of the spirit and soul of a nation. In this respect, the situation was actually quite bad in Slovakia because there were only a few good Slovak newspapers and these, because of an extremely limited circulation, exerted little influence. Since the masses of common people had limited finances, they did not subscribe to newspapers or buy books. Most of them did not feel the urgency of supporting their own Slovak press. Most widespread of all printed matter was the religious prayerbook but its influence did not extend beyond religion. The Spolok sv. Vojtecha, a religious publication society, sought to supplement this by editing books from time to time. There were several religious periodicals, too, but these did not reach the realm of politics. Moreover, the average Slovak peasant or worker showed little or no concern for politics anyway. He had been conditioned to the idea that politics was an art in which the rich and the nobility had a natural monopoly. To use the current term, "brainwashed", would be appropriate. American Slovaks opened their eyes to the truth and they held a completely opposite view from their fellow countrymen. They soon adopted the idea that they had a right and a duty to mix in politics and they received full support for this practical view in their daily and weekly newspapers which they read regularly. �14 SLOVAKIA American Slovak newspapers were sent to Slovakia. Actually, in many villages for quite a while the only reading matter consisted of Slovak newspapers from America where one could freely write not only in his native Slovak language but give voice to his views, foster the Slovak national spirit, criticize the injustices inflicted upon their countrymen at home and register an open demand for the just rights that belonged to the Slovaks. These periodicals were almost exclusively the sole source of accurate information about what was really going on in their own country and they found out the truth by reading news that were sent to them all the way from America. When they returned to Slovakia, many American Slovak immigrants kept in touch with the organization in which they had membership. For years they proudly wore their membership emblems, subscribed to both local and American periodicals, engaged actively in public life and showed a keen interest in politics as they had become accustomed to do in America. No doubt the most valuable contributions to Slovakia by America were the Slovaks who returned home after living a year or more in a truly democratic country. These American Slovaks had had rich experiences abroad and they had developed a new outlook on life so that their presence had repercussions everywhere. A Slovak who had left his homeland, depressed and beaten down, returned from America a different man. He was full of life and energy, imbued with the spirit of national pride and fully convinced that he had a natural right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" according to the spirit and principles of American democracy. This new, optimistic attitude clarified and refreshed the atmosphere throughout the country. Gone forever was the inferiority complex which had customarily marked the Slovak emigrant. Here was a renovated man not afraid to speak his mind openly, anywhere, anytime. This was the happy result of being exposed, if only briefly, to democracy in the United States. As a respected and integral part of a great and powerful country, the Slovak grew accustomed to the idea of �SLOVAKIA 15 his importance as an individual. As a member of various Slovak societies he learned to stand up for his own rights and to cooperate with others for the common welfare of all. He had fulfilled his obligations to his position in life as a free man and he knew what his rights were. This new sense of human dignity stemmed from his understanding of the genuine spirit of American democracy : every citizen worked freely for his welfare as well as for the common good in a spirit of freedom under law. Far removed from his homeland, the Slovak immigrant learned, too, how great was his innate love for his native heart and he felt a new kinship with his fellow countrymen whether they came from the east or west, the north or south of a common motherland. The horizon of his nationalism extended far beyond his native village and reached the Tatras in the north, the Danube in the south, the low Carpathians in the west and the high Carpathians in the east. A wider concept of his rightful place in the Slovak family was developed in the mind and soul of every immigrant in America. He was a member of the Slovak nation and a human person who belonged to the land that for centuries belonged to all the Slovaks for ages. This was their common national heritage. A golden chain, their common language, had bound all the Slovaks together for many centuries. The Slovak immigrant cherished this precious gift all the more after living in America. Upon returning home he became its greatest defender against detractors. He had seen it flourish in a far off and strange land and Slovak national life had taken on a new glow under its influence. Why couldn't this be realized in his home country? To this end united voices of the American Slovak returnees were heard from one end of the country to the other as they spoke up fearlessly for their natural right to develop and grow as a nation, to live as a free people in a self-governing democratic country. How did his fellow-countrymen look upon this new dynamic "American" who had come back home to Slovakia? Perhaps they envied him just a little because he could afford to live better than they, but they also greatly admired �16 SLOVAKIA him for his openmindeness, his outspoken views and his newly-acquired democratic manners. They were favorably impressed and imitated him. They, too, became self-confident and hopeful of the future as they discussed their problems and sought solutions for them in a democratic exchange of opinions. This new type of Slovak did not avoid public functions nor steer clear of political meetings. He was there in the midst of them and his frequent public appearances inspired others to follow his example so that a new generation of Slovaks sprung up as if by magic, and the new generation was as fearless and frank in the expression of its views and opinions as their leader. In these and other forms the currents of American Slovak life were transformed to Slovakia. The need arose for coordinating this mutual contact for the greatest possible benefit to all. Accordingly, plans were made and attempts at establishing a working basis for better cooperation were put into practical operation. In accord with the desire to establish closer contact with American Slovaks, a number of educated Slovaks went to America where they renewed old friendships, exchanged views and established channels of communication not only with the immigrant Slovaks but what surprised them was the opportunity to converse fluently with second generation American Slovaks who were vitally interested in the mother country of their fathers and willing to lend a helping hand. This was, indeed, a bonanza, a stroke of good fortune that was destined to be of invaluable aid to the Slovak nation. Many Slovak patriots in their homeland established a close relationship between Slovakia and the American Slovaks by contributing articles to Slovak newspapers, periodicals, annuals, almanacs, etc. A considerable number of these timely articles dealt with topics on American Slovak life, and this welcome and flattering move bound the American Slovaks closer together with their kin in the home country. There were magnanimous Slovaks who, because they �SLOVAKIA 17 fully understood and wholeheartedly sympathized with the plight of the Slovak nation beneath the Tatras, willingly sacrificed much of their time and energy to the Slovak cause often to their great personal disadvantage and material loss. Nevertheless, they did not count the cost, for they were firmly convinced every sacrifice was worthwhile in behalf of the Slovak nation's struggle for the recognition of its just rights. They justified their countrymen's faith in them, namely, that they would not forget their native homeland and that in time of need they would come to their aid though living far from their homeland. No true Slovak, no matter how successful he became in a strange land, ever forgot his native homeland. When he heard the call for help, he did not turn a deaf ear to the cry but replied with ready assistance. Slovakia's economic, cultural and national progress in the past several decades is in large measure due to the American Slovaks because of timely assistance to their brethern in Slovakia. American Slovaks never failed to respond generously in a number of crises to help save the Slovak nation. They constantly defended the Slovaks' right to self-government in their own homeland. Gratitude, the Slovaks say, is a virtue and an obligation. The Slovak nation will ever be grateful to the American Slovaks for their great role in its struggle for liberty, a democratic way of life and a self-governing state. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA firmly believes in the American principle of self-determination of all nations, the inherent and God-given right of every nation, whether large or small, to freedom and independence, the right of every nation to freely choose its own form of government and freely elect persons of its own choice by whom it shall be governed. � SLOVAKIA Published by the Slovak League of America VOL. XVII 1967 NO. 40 SIXTY YEARS OF THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA AMERICAN DEMOCRACY AND SLOVAK LIFE By Dr. Francis Hrusovsky Living conditions and standards of Slovak emigrants changed radically in the new world. The temperament or character of the Slovak who had lived for centuries under Magyar rule was influenced to a large degree by his environment. His economic status in Slovakia was poor, hi~ social standing low, and as for political freedom and civil rights, these, for him, were non-existent. Everyday life for the average Slovak demanded the complete expenditure of his physical energy to eke out a livelihood. Poverty and misery were the common lot of the Slovak people. Thus, oppressed and overburdened, the Slovak, though perhaps seething within because of the intolerable conditions, was helpless not only because he lacked the courage but even the strength to throw off the shackles of servitude. He was, therefore, resigned to his sad fate and he became adjusted to conditions because there was no way out for him. Under these circumstances in which the Slovak people were forced to live and struggle for mere survival, it was difficult for the idea of Slovak national consciousness to take root and grow. Organized political action was an impossibility because he was caught and held fast in the web of feudal system which still existed in Hungary. The Slovak was quite aware of his nationality but the degree of his national pride was never high. It was merely a personal thing. The idea of national unity even if it �2 SLOVAKIA entered his mind was quickly dispelled by immediate necessities of his economic life. Obviously, under such adverse circumstances one cannot expect a simple peasant either to worry about national interests or grasp the idea of unified political action to achieve the aspiration of a whole people so that as a nation, organized and working in harmony, he and his fellow countrymen might win recog-nition of their just rights. Surprisingly, the Slovak people though suffering want and being subject to political oppression, did not become depressed in their hard surroundings. Somehow, the Slovaks worked out an amazing philosophy of life: they came to the conclusion that their privations and difficulties were inevitable consequences of an earthly existence . . . and hence they must bear up under their burdens patiently. And their enduring patience became a national virtue. Slovak immigrants in the new world found an entirely different atmosphere, particularly in democratic America. The first noticeable difference were seemingly endless opportunities for earning power. A typical immigrant from Slovakia was industrious because he had learned to work hard in the struggle for survival in his native homeland. At home his opportunities for work were, however, limited, and his chances for earning a little more money were poor. As a consequence, he was unable to improve his lot. This realization made him feel that he was doomed to remain poor all his life, as if it were a national inheritance down through the ages. Naturally, of course, in view of his abject poverty at home, the Slovak immigrant to America was primarily motivated by the desire to earn more money to assure him a brighter economic future . If he earned more money, he would be able to raise his standard of living and thus free himself from the curse of poverty. He did not shirk any work provided it meant higher wages and since jobs were plentiful, the newcomer found plenty of work. For that basic reason, the Slovak peasant, now an immigrant worker, willingly worked harder and longer hours so that he might improve the living conditions of his family across the sea. Most of the Slovak immigrants were workers and farm- �SLOVAKIA 3 ers, who had no skill or special training. But a simple person with the courage to go out into the world in search of an occupation and with an innate desire to work could do wonders. Moreover he was endowed with a source of inner strength to grapple with all kinds of hardships and obstacles in the new world. Because he was uneducated he was greatly under-rated in his homeland. Nevertheless, he possessed unusual natural ability and endurance. He often excelled in good judgment and had the determination to succeed. In the multivaried life of America the new immigrants learned much. Many of them would have wasted their energies as farmers had they remained at home. However in America they soon discovered opportunities for their talents. Quite a few, on the strength of their native talents, rose to high levels in American society. This would have been impossible in their native homeland. But the democratic atmosphere in America presented them with the opportunity to develop their natural ability to the utmost. As soon as the Slovak immigrant overcame the first difficulties that he encountered in America, he quickly learned by experience and readily became accustomed to his new way of life. He was more than satisfied with the substantial increase of his earning power. He did not squander his hard-earned money but set aside a portion as savings. Seeing the tangible results of his industrious work, he acquired a new sense of importance and human dignity. From a beaten down and oppressed servile person, he changed gradually into a proud citizen of a democratic country. In comparing his position and achievements with the lot of his fellow countrymen back in Slovakia, he could not but be content for here he was an equal among equals with unlimited opportunities in an enterprising democratic land. True, this process of personal re-orientation and rehabilitation in the new world did not affect all immigrants in quite the same way. It did not bring the same results in every case. Among the Slovak immigrants there were many failures as many were swallowed up in the new world. But, in general, the great majority of the Slovak newcomers reacted favorably and successfully to the new circumstan- �4 SLOVAKIA ces. Too long had they breathed the oppresive air of oppression inside Hungary, now they reveled in breathing the invigorating atmosphere of American freedom and democracy. In life every man constantly encounters obstacles and is forced to overcome handicaps, endure hardships and struggle along the pathway to a definite goal. The Slovak, accustomed to meet challenges along his course through life, was not afraid of difficulties nor did he shrink from obstacles in his path. At home he had become disillusioned, for he had become quite conscious of his failure to rise above his station in life. He realized the hopelessness of his situation and he made the most of it. In America, it was quite different. Here nothing could stop him from im• proving his condition, for here he was a free man, and he had the will to get ahead. Each day that he worked with determination and endurance, the Slovak immigrant's appreciation of personal liberty and equality grew and his work was manifestly a labor of love and gratitude for the opportunity to fulfill his ambitions in a new world. As his appreciation of the new life increased, he began to get used to the idea of being a free man as a normal situation, and his desire to work and prosper, his initiative and his enjoyment of life increased proportionately. In the United States the Slovak immigrant became acquainted with native Americans as well as with immigrants from other lands. This influenced him twofold: 1) As a stranger among strangers and without much knowledge of the English language he shied away from all non-Slovaks. 2) He searched for fellow Slovaks with whom he could communicate. These he could understand, and they could understand him. This immediate need for friends drew the Slovaks together in a foreign country. All Slovak immigrants felt the practical impact of living among strangers in a strange environment. They soon knew they were somehow different and they drew apart seeking their own kind to whom they were drawn because they spoke the same language, and they shared the same �SLOVAKIA 5 customs, traditions, ideals and experiences. Moreover, they all had come to America with the same goal: a better life. Loneliness drew the Slovak immigrants together. They felt insecure and unhappy in the strange world. It was only natural that they sought companionship among their own Slovak countrymen. Thus, drawn together by the magnet of kinship, the need for companionship and mutual understanding, wherever a group of Slovaks came together, there they organized societies, parishes and clubs. This common activity warded off their feelings of homesickness and nostalgia and helped them to overcome the longing for their homeland. Their organizations enabled them to protect their mutual interests and promote worthwhile social activities. The sudden realization that they were an island in a strange sea made the Slovaks aware of their national origin. They were not merely individuals now, but persons who belonged to a great unity: a nation. Their national consciousness was accentuated and their national pride increased as more and more societies sprang up. Their desire to unify their mutual interests was intensified. The ultimate attainment of their aspirations to national freedom was now visualized as they saw how the enjoyment of personal liberty could readily lead to the enjoyment of national freedom in their native homeland, if liberated from foreign domination. No doubt the example of the various nationality groups in America that had become strongly organized inspired the Slovak immigrants to imitate them so that they, too, could achieve greater progress and attain whatever goals they must reach in their lifetime. "What is perhaps a paradox is that in Slovakia, though the Slovaks were what they were and nothing else, they were not Slovaks in the sense that they could not publicly appear as themselves. They were subjects of Magyar overlords and, as such, feudal peasants who were officially listed as "Hungarian inhabitants". Their real national origin was to be denied and ultimately erased according to the designs of chauvinistic Magyar masters. No obstacles or limitations were placed upon American immigrants in the matter of their nationality. Here �6 SLOVAKIA a person could appear privately or publicly as a national, ie., he could freely manifest his national origin, speak his native language, organize freely and come and go freely without being subject to government interference, public insults or repression of any kind. As a matter of fact, he was treated with respect by native Americans and other nationality groups as a rule, and there were no restrictions placed upon an immigrant by a government agency or his employer. Slovaks who became citizens of the United States learned that even as full-fledged loyal citizens of their adopted country they did not loose their identity as native sons of Slovakia. Moreover, they could still actively help their fellow countrymen here and in their homeland. Not long after his coming to American shores of freedom, the Slovak immigrant noted that he could have his own convictions and opinions and express them freely in speach or writing. Slovak organizations that had the common interest of their fellow countrymen at heart provided their members with numerous occasions to appear in public. Slovak newspapers not only informed and instructed t heir readers but acted as bond of unity and communication for all the Slovaks in America. Slovak periodicals rendered a great service in that they were a forum for public opinion among the American Slovaks. The experiences, suggestions, advice, opinions, etc. of thousands of Slovaks found their way into the pages of daily and weekly publications. Thus, even the ordinary Slovak worker could publish his views, opinions and reactions on a multiplicity of topics. For many this opportunity gave them a postgraduate course in public expression. They often voiced their growing pride in their Slovak national ancestry. Every Slovak who was forced to migrate into far off foreign countries in search of a better living never lost his love for his native country ... it was an abiding love, sometimes sentimental perhaps, but nevertheless sincere and profound. This attachment from his youth was never quite lost; even after many years of absence from his native homeland he still could see the picture of his village home and the little white church with its cross on the steeple. �SLOVAKIA 7 To him this memory would always be sacred for it symbolized the faith of his people down through centuries of time, a faith that had sustained them through the hardships, dangers, and sufferings of countless ages. Always, as long as he lived, the Slovak immigrant, no matter how far from the native village where the Church, though oftentimes small, was a symbol of the indestructible faith of his forefathers , would remember that his religion was his greatest asset in a world of struggle. Without a church, without a priest and without prayer, life in a Slovak village would have been infinitely sad. And for him, though far removed from his birthplace, this remained t rue in the country of his adoption. Prayer is for the pious Slovak today what it was for his predecessors for centuries: a solace in time of grief, a bulwark, a mighty fortress in time of peril. Church prayers and hymns in his native Slovak tongue were a balm to his soul, an inspiration to his spirit. So long as he stayed close to his Church he felt safe amidst the confusions and storms of foreign currents that sometimes terrified him, at other times made him feel uneasy and uncertain as he faced each day's struggle in strange surroundings. Slovak life in America followed a definite pattern where enough settlers came from Slovakia. Parish churches and schools were built and much of the immigrant's social life centered around these religious institutions. As a rule, the more vital parish life of a Slovak group became the more solid and permanent became the national and cultural development of Slovak immigrant units that clustered around their own parishes. Loyalty to the faith of their fathers in the midst of the hubub and maelstrom of the big new world became the source of fidelity to the Slovak family, the native mother tongue and the Slovak homeland. At the end of a week ( 6 days ) of hard labor, the Slovak immigrant invariably went to Church on Sunday. He prayed fervently, sang with enthusiasm, listened to the weekly sermon, all in his native tongue. His heart was touched, his love rekindled each week, and he kept alive love of his homeland and native hearth. �8 SLOVAKIA Unique in every respect are the Slovak churches, rectories, schools and convents in many parts of the United States, for they are living testimonials of the profound religious faith of the people from Slovakia. In Slovakia, there were not societies or organizations of their own. A few that were permitted to function were in the service directly or indirectly of anti-Slovak interests. This denationalization policy unfortunately not infrequently crossed the threshold of the church itself. On the other hand, in America Slovak societies, schools, and churches, besides fulfilling their religious, social and cultural role, were at the same time centers of the Slovak spirit and national life. This left a strong impression on the Slovak immigrant in America. He grasped the full significance of this new life of personal liberty and national freedom. The new atmosphere changed him into a true patriot who was proud equally of his new citizenship and his Slovak ancestry. The tempo of life in America was much faster and fuller then the development of the new national spirit in Slovakia where many obstacles still existed. The democratic spirit of America was vital and refreshing, whereas the feudal system of Hungary was depressing and lifeless. Hungary's 20th century feudalism was outmoded but it kept the Slovak nation, the oldest nation in the Carpathian basin of the upper Danube, in a state of political bondage and economic servitude. The result was that the mass of Slovaks was unable to rise from its plight and live a normal national life. Slovak poets and writers who felt the pain of this tragic debasement of their nation feared the future consequences of this situation. In vain, however, were their efforts to wake up the Slovak masses; the years of oppression had been too many. They had taken their toll. Hundreds of thousands remained spiritless and turned a deaf ear to their pleadings. Slovak patriots endeavored to alert the people to the danger of remaining inactive in the crisis that threatened their national extinction. They, too, failed to arouse the inert masses to action. Every attempt to put a program into action was foiled by subversive activity of the enemy. �SLOVAKIA 9 Slovakia's national life, deprived of all vital sources by her oppressors, was all but dead. Her people lacked sufficient power and initiative for a flourishing national life and progress as a highly cultured and dynamic people. Stymied internally, therefore, the Slovak national organism which was physically healthy and vigorous, biologically sound, morally solid and potentially rich, needed an injection. And that is precisely what the Slovaks in America provided for the Slovak nation's life-an injection that thoroughly revitalized Slovakia's life as a nation in its historic homeland. We have no reliable statistics to show to what extent the influence of the American Slovak way of life was exerted in various parts of Slovakia. Perhaps at some future time this will become available. Only then shall we be able to get a precise, or at least a more accurate record of this impact of American democracy on the Slovaks' historic homeland in central Europe. Lacking statistics, we are still able, however, to indicate to some degree how American Slovaks after having acquired the new experience of a life of freedom affected the life of their fellow countrymen in Slovakia. A considerable number of Slovak emigrants who went to America in search of work and higher earning power returned to their native land. They had attained their goal, namely, the acquisition of a moderate fortune which enabled them to get a fresh start in life. Most of them, however, chose to make America their permanent home. Instances of individuals who lost all contact with their homeland and their fellow countrymen here are so few that they are negligible. Even those who elected to remain in America continued their interest in Slovak affairs and maintained a lively interest in their Slovak nation's destiny. In fact, many of them inspired their children and even their grandchildren to take an active part in Slovak life. In Slovakia the effect of the American way of life manifested itself in a number of ways but primarily in an economic sense, for the prime motive of Slovak emigration overseas was economic necessity. The returnees stimulated economic progress with their savings which were invested in the purchase of land, cattle, agricultural implements and �SLOVAKIA new homes. The sum total of this new capital proved a vital factor in renewing Slovakia's national economy. At first glance, perhaps, the role of American capital in the hands of the Slovak emigrants who returned to their homeland may seem unimportant but it proved to be an essential factor in rebuilding their lives. They were able to acquire land with their savings and this, alone, strengthened their power through ownership. Under the feudal system much of the land had fallen into the hands of a foreign aristocracy for whom the Slovak peasant tilled the soil. The products of his labor were not his, the land belonged to aliens and both land and produce, as well as his daily labors, served alien and not his own interests. Vast estates, forests and fields were in the hands of an ancient Slovak nobility that either had alienated itself or was rapidly alienating itself from the people. The loss of their native Slovak national pride meant the loss of their lands to Slovakia. One of the most serious practices among small landowners was the breaking-up of the estates through inheritance. This process was the more alarming because the high birth-rate among the farming families often forced the small landowners to make loans that not only weighed heavily upon the individual land-owner but often plunged him heavily into debt. This, too often, forced him to sell some or all of his lands. Another factor that created a serious problem for the small land-owner was the reccurence of bad crops. This and the need for money to make repairs, buy equipment or make an expansion often resulted in a huge debt so that the poor man frequently could not even pay the interest on a loan. Eventually such heavily mortgaged properties ended up in the hands of strangers who held the mortgage. For the Slovak national cause such failures had a twofold effect: 1) They decreased the number of Slovak landowners and proportionately increased non-Slovak ownership of the land; 2) Loss of land meant that the Slovak peasant lost his attachment to the land of his forebears and with the loss he lost his national consciousness or pride when he migrated to the city where he got a job in the �SLOVAKIA 11 factory. Second and third generations of these families generally lost their identity as Slovaks. Slovak land, the solid base of Slovak national life, was being lost to aliens and with each loss national unity and ancestral pride were weakened. Under such adverse conditions the Slovaks could make no progress and the economy of their country was weakened considerably because it was not serving the people but foreign landowners who exploited the native workers. An independent class of small land-owners had always been the backbone of the Slovak nation. It was, therefore, a vital necessity that this class be preserved, and even extended both for the welfare of the people and for the national interest. Above all, capital was needed in this crisis. At home there was none to be had. Accordingly, there was only one hope and that was America. In the years of migration money came back to the old country and this more than any one thing helped to preserve ancient lands intact. American capital in the form of savings of the immigrants saved Slovakia's lands for her people. In almost every Slovak village or town before and after World War I new homes, new ventures and developments were made possible through American dollars, savings of Slovak settlers in America. Slovak farmers were able tc:, purchase new agricultural equipment and increase their production on a modest scale. Their lands and confidence were restored, thanks to their American experience and their savings from honest toil in the land of opportunity. Emigration of Slovak landowners to America actually strengthened the small land-owning class in Slovakia and preserved the right of ownership of the entire Slovak nation to its own native soil. Tenant farmers who had left their native homeland for America, as well as many Slovak workers, frequently returned from America to swell the ranks of the new landowners. These paid ready cash for land and equipment as they proudly took ownership of their new properties in their native country. �12 SLOVAKIA Some Slovaks who returned with savings preferred to invest their modest wealth in various enterprises such as a small business, for example, a store, a tavern, a mill or lumber plant. These, too, greatly enhanced the economic growth of the country through their initiative and enterprise. Stiff competition for the new enterprises greeted their founders but this did not scare the Slovaks who had returned from America, for competition was what stimulated progress and was an added incentive to success. Against their non-Slovak competitors, therefore, the new business men succeeded in breaking up what was considered somewhat of a monopoly by the old owners and directors in various businesses. Their experience in America served them well as they met every challenge with confidence and generally with success. American capital undoubtedly helped to raise the living· standard of the Slovak people. The Slovaks remained what they had always been, a simple people with moderate wants and desires and tastes but it was imperative that this simplicity be not interpreted as a sign of backwardness. Their American experiences helped them to cope with this problem, too. Highly important for the development of Slovak national life was the education of the youth. High school and college training was necessary so that the Slovak nation could have a strong core of educated men and women. For the average Slovak family higher education had a high social value, too. Unfortunately, Slovak schools were directed by nonSlovak elements and the children were subject to a denationalization process whereby the Magyar language and the spirit of a Hungarian nationality were fostered exclusively. It was a foregone conclusion that this would result in a tremendous loss to the Slovak nation when its youth would be alienated in its formative years. Although many were lost to the Slovak cause, not every Slovak youth succumbed to the lure of promises for the future or was terrorized into submission, for in many homes the spirit of loyalty to the Slovak national culture was cherished. �SLOVAKIA 13 Only a few Slovak youths were able to pursue higher studies in high school, college and university because their fathers who had gone to America encouraged their sons by ear-marking special funds for their education. These, as a rule, completed their studies and became loyal sons of their homeland. Their spirit of national pride inspired them to fight back at any attempt to rob them of their rightful Slovak birthright and national heritage. Such was the spirit of the American-Slovak families in Slovakia that their dynamic force and influence were invariably felt throughout the country. The sons, like their father, bore the unmistakable trade-mark of true patriotism. The printed word, either in the daily press, periodicals or in books, is an essential factor in the training of youth everywhere. It is the expression of the spirit and soul of a nation. In this respect, the situation was actually quite bad in Slovakia because there were only a few good Slovak newspapers and these, because of an extremely limited circulation, exerted little influence. Since the masses of common people had limited finances, they did not subscribe to newspapers or buy books. Most of them did not feel the urgency of supporting their own Slovak press. Most widespread of all printed matter was the religious prayerbook but its influence did not extend beyond religion. The Spolok sv. Vojtecha, a religious publication society, sought to supplement this by editing books from time to time. There were several religious periodicals, too, but these did not reach the realm of politics. Moreover, the average Slovak peasant or worker showed little or no concern for politics anyway. He had been conditioned to the idea that politics was an art in which the rich and the nobility had a natural monopoly. To use the current term, "brainwashed", would be appropriate. American Slovaks opened their eyes to the truth and they held a completely opposite view from their fellow countrymen. They soon adopted the idea that they had a right and a duty to mix in politics and they received full support for this practical view in their daily and weekly newspapers which they read regularly. �14 SLOVAKIA American Slovak newspapers were sent to Slovakia. Actually, in many villages for quite a while the only reading matter consisted of Slovak newspapers from America where one could freely write not only in his native Slovak language but give voice to his views, foster the Slovak national spirit, criticize the injustices inflicted upon their countrymen at home and register an open demand for the just rights that belonged to the Slovaks. These periodicals were almost exclusively the sole source of accurate information about what was really going on in their own country and they found out the truth by reading news that were sent to them all the way from America. When they returned to Slovakia, many American Slovak immigrants kept in touch with the organization in which they had membership. For years they proudly wore their membership emblems, subscribed to both local and American periodicals, engaged actively in public life and showed a keen interest in politics as they had become accustomed to do in America. No doubt the most valuable contributions to Slovakia by America were the Slovaks who returned home after living a year or more in a truly democratic country. These American Slovaks had had rich experiences abroad and they had developed a new outlook on life so that their presence had repercussions everywhere. A Slovak who had left his homeland, depressed and beaten down, returned from America a different man. He was full of life and energy, imbued with the spirit of national pride and fully convinced that he had a natural right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" according to the spirit and principles of American democracy. This new, optimistic attitude clarified and refreshed the atmosphere throughout the country. Gone forever was the inferiority complex which had customarily marked the Slovak emigrant. Here was a renovated man not afraid to speak his mind openly, anywhere, anytime. This was the happy result of being exposed, if only briefly, to democracy in the United States. As a respected and integral part of a great and powerful country, the Slovak grew accustomed to the idea of �SLOVAKIA 15 his importance as an individual. As a member of various Slovak societies he learned to stand up for his own rights and to cooperate with others for the common welfare of all. He had fulfilled his obligations to his position in life as a free man and he knew what his rights were. This new sense of human dignity stemmed from his understanding of the genuine spirit of American democracy : every citizen worked freely for his welfare as well as for the common good in a spirit of freedom under law. Far removed from his homeland, the Slovak immigrant learned, too, how great was his innate love for his native heart and he felt a new kinship with his fellow countrymen whether they came from the east or west, the north or south of a common motherland. The horizon of his nationalism extended far beyond his native village and reached the Tatras in the north, the Danube in the south, the low Carpathians in the west and the high Carpathians in the east. A wider concept of his rightful place in the Slovak family was developed in the mind and soul of every immigrant in America. He was a member of the Slovak nation and a human person who belonged to the land that for centuries belonged to all the Slovaks for ages. This was their common national heritage. A golden chain, their common language, had bound all the Slovaks together for many centuries. The Slovak immigrant cherished this precious gift all the more after living in America. Upon returning home he became its greatest defender against detractors. He had seen it flourish in a far off and strange land and Slovak national life had taken on a new glow under its influence. Why couldn't this be realized in his home country? To this end united voices of the American Slovak returnees were heard from one end of the country to the other as they spoke up fearlessly for their natural right to develop and grow as a nation, to live as a free people in a self-governing democratic country. How did his fellow-countrymen look upon this new dynamic "American" who had come back home to Slovakia? Perhaps they envied him just a little because he could afford to live better than they, but they also greatly admired �16 SLOVAKIA him for his openmindeness, his outspoken views and his newly-acquired democratic manners. They were favorably impressed and imitated him. They, too, became self-confident and hopeful of the future as they discussed their problems and sought solutions for them in a democratic exchange of opinions. This new type of Slovak did not avoid public functions nor steer clear of political meetings. He was there in the midst of them and his frequent public appearances inspired others to follow his example so that a new generation of Slovaks sprung up as if by magic, and the new generation was as fearless and frank in the expression of its views and opinions as their leader. In these and other forms the currents of American Slovak life were transformed to Slovakia. The need arose for coordinating this mutual contact for the greatest possible benefit to all. Accordingly, plans were made and attempts at establishing a working basis for better cooperation were put into practical operation. In accord with the desire to establish closer contact with American Slovaks, a number of educated Slovaks went to America where they renewed old friendships, exchanged views and established channels of communication not only with the immigrant Slovaks but what surprised them was the opportunity to converse fluently with second generation American Slovaks who were vitally interested in the mother country of their fathers and willing to lend a helping hand. This was, indeed, a bonanza, a stroke of good fortune that was destined to be of invaluable aid to the Slovak nation. Many Slovak patriots in their homeland established a close relationship between Slovakia and the American Slovaks by contributing articles to Slovak newspapers, periodicals, annuals, almanacs, etc. A considerable number of these timely articles dealt with topics on American Slovak life, and this welcome and flattering move bound the American Slovaks closer together with their kin in the home country. There were magnanimous Slovaks who, because they �SLOVAKIA 17 fully understood and wholeheartedly sympathized with the plight of the Slovak nation beneath the Tatras, willingly sacrificed much of their time and energy to the Slovak cause often to their great personal disadvantage and material loss. Nevertheless, they did not count the cost, for they were firmly convinced every sacrifice was worthwhile in behalf of the Slovak nation's struggle for the recognition of its just rights. They justified their countrymen's faith in them, namely, that they would not forget their native homeland and that in time of need they would come to their aid though living far from their homeland. No true Slovak, no matter how successful he became in a strange land, ever forgot his native homeland. When he heard the call for help, he did not turn a deaf ear to the cry but replied with ready assistance. Slovakia's economic, cultural and national progress in the past several decades is in large measure due to the American Slovaks because of timely assistance to their brethern in Slovakia. American Slovaks never failed to respond generously in a number of crises to help save the Slovak nation. They constantly defended the Slovaks' right to self-government in their own homeland. Gratitude, the Slovaks say, is a virtue and an obligation. The Slovak nation will ever be grateful to the American Slovaks for their great role in its struggle for liberty, a democratic way of life and a self-governing state. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA firmly believes in the American principle of self-determination of all nations, the inherent and God-given right of every nation, whether large or small, to freedom and independence, the right of every nation to freely choose its own form of government and freely elect persons of its own choice by whom it shall be governed. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1967, Vol. 17 Description An account of the resource Special Issue: Sixty Years of the Slovak League of America Vol. 17 (No. 40), 1967. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1967 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA Published by the Slovak League of America VOL. XVII 1967 NO. 40 SIXTY YEARS OF THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA AMERICAN DEMOCRACY AND SLOVAK LIFE By Dr. Francis Hrusovsky Living conditions and standards of Slovak emigrants changed radically in the new world. The temperament or character of the Slovak who had lived for centuries under Magyar rule was influenced to a large degree by his environment. His economic status in Slovakia was poor, hi~ social standing low, and as for political freedom and civil rights, these, for him, were non-existent. Everyday life for the average Slovak demanded the complete expenditure of his physical energy to eke out a livelihood. Poverty and misery were the common lot of the Slovak people. Thus, oppressed and overburdened, the Slovak, though perhaps seething within because of the intolerable conditions, was helpless not only because he lacked the courage but even the strength to throw off the shackles of servitude. He was, therefore, resigned to his sad fate and he became adjusted to conditions because there was no way out for him. Under these circumstances in which the Slovak people were forced to live and struggle for mere survival, it was difficult for the idea of Slovak national consciousness to take root and grow. Organized political action was an impossibility because he was caught and held fast in the web of feudal system which still existed in Hungary. The Slovak was quite aware of his nationality but the degree of his national pride was never high. It was merely a personal thing. The idea of national unity even if it 2 SLOVAKIA entered his mind was quickly dispelled by immediate necessities of his economic life. Obviously, under such adverse circumstances one cannot expect a simple peasant either to worry about national interests or grasp the idea of unified political action to achieve the aspiration of a whole people so that as a nation, organized and working in harmony, he and his fellow countrymen might win recog-nition of their just rights. Surprisingly, the Slovak people though suffering want and being subject to political oppression, did not become depressed in their hard surroundings. Somehow, the Slovaks worked out an amazing philosophy of life: they came to the conclusion that their privations and difficulties were inevitable consequences of an earthly existence . . . and hence they must bear up under their burdens patiently. And their enduring patience became a national virtue. Slovak immigrants in the new world found an entirely different atmosphere, particularly in democratic America. The first noticeable difference were seemingly endless opportunities for earning power. A typical immigrant from Slovakia was industrious because he had learned to work hard in the struggle for survival in his native homeland. At home his opportunities for work were, however, limited, and his chances for earning a little more money were poor. As a consequence, he was unable to improve his lot. This realization made him feel that he was doomed to remain poor all his life, as if it were a national inheritance down through the ages. Naturally, of course, in view of his abject poverty at home, the Slovak immigrant to America was primarily motivated by the desire to earn more money to assure him a brighter economic future . If he earned more money, he would be able to raise his standard of living and thus free himself from the curse of poverty. He did not shirk any work provided it meant higher wages and since jobs were plentiful, the newcomer found plenty of work. For that basic reason, the Slovak peasant, now an immigrant worker, willingly worked harder and longer hours so that he might improve the living conditions of his family across the sea. Most of the Slovak immigrants were workers and farm- SLOVAKIA 3 ers, who had no skill or special training. But a simple person with the courage to go out into the world in search of an occupation and with an innate desire to work could do wonders. Moreover he was endowed with a source of inner strength to grapple with all kinds of hardships and obstacles in the new world. Because he was uneducated he was greatly under-rated in his homeland. Nevertheless, he possessed unusual natural ability and endurance. He often excelled in good judgment and had the determination to succeed. In the multivaried life of America the new immigrants learned much. Many of them would have wasted their energies as farmers had they remained at home. However in America they soon discovered opportunities for their talents. Quite a few, on the strength of their native talents, rose to high levels in American society. This would have been impossible in their native homeland. But the democratic atmosphere in America presented them with the opportunity to develop their natural ability to the utmost. As soon as the Slovak immigrant overcame the first difficulties that he encountered in America, he quickly learned by experience and readily became accustomed to his new way of life. He was more than satisfied with the substantial increase of his earning power. He did not squander his hard-earned money but set aside a portion as savings. Seeing the tangible results of his industrious work, he acquired a new sense of importance and human dignity. From a beaten down and oppressed servile person, he changed gradually into a proud citizen of a democratic country. In comparing his position and achievements with the lot of his fellow countrymen back in Slovakia, he could not but be content for here he was an equal among equals with unlimited opportunities in an enterprising democratic land. True, this process of personal re-orientation and rehabilitation in the new world did not affect all immigrants in quite the same way. It did not bring the same results in every case. Among the Slovak immigrants there were many failures as many were swallowed up in the new world. But, in general, the great majority of the Slovak newcomers reacted favorably and successfully to the new circumstan- 4 SLOVAKIA ces. Too long had they breathed the oppresive air of oppression inside Hungary, now they reveled in breathing the invigorating atmosphere of American freedom and democracy. In life every man constantly encounters obstacles and is forced to overcome handicaps, endure hardships and struggle along the pathway to a definite goal. The Slovak, accustomed to meet challenges along his course through life, was not afraid of difficulties nor did he shrink from obstacles in his path. At home he had become disillusioned, for he had become quite conscious of his failure to rise above his station in life. He realized the hopelessness of his situation and he made the most of it. In America, it was quite different. Here nothing could stop him from im• proving his condition, for here he was a free man, and he had the will to get ahead. Each day that he worked with determination and endurance, the Slovak immigrant's appreciation of personal liberty and equality grew and his work was manifestly a labor of love and gratitude for the opportunity to fulfill his ambitions in a new world. As his appreciation of the new life increased, he began to get used to the idea of being a free man as a normal situation, and his desire to work and prosper, his initiative and his enjoyment of life increased proportionately. In the United States the Slovak immigrant became acquainted with native Americans as well as with immigrants from other lands. This influenced him twofold: 1) As a stranger among strangers and without much knowledge of the English language he shied away from all non-Slovaks. 2) He searched for fellow Slovaks with whom he could communicate. These he could understand, and they could understand him. This immediate need for friends drew the Slovaks together in a foreign country. All Slovak immigrants felt the practical impact of living among strangers in a strange environment. They soon knew they were somehow different and they drew apart seeking their own kind to whom they were drawn because they spoke the same language, and they shared the same SLOVAKIA 5 customs, traditions, ideals and experiences. Moreover, they all had come to America with the same goal: a better life. Loneliness drew the Slovak immigrants together. They felt insecure and unhappy in the strange world. It was only natural that they sought companionship among their own Slovak countrymen. Thus, drawn together by the magnet of kinship, the need for companionship and mutual understanding, wherever a group of Slovaks came together, there they organized societies, parishes and clubs. This common activity warded off their feelings of homesickness and nostalgia and helped them to overcome the longing for their homeland. Their organizations enabled them to protect their mutual interests and promote worthwhile social activities. The sudden realization that they were an island in a strange sea made the Slovaks aware of their national origin. They were not merely individuals now, but persons who belonged to a great unity: a nation. Their national consciousness was accentuated and their national pride increased as more and more societies sprang up. Their desire to unify their mutual interests was intensified. The ultimate attainment of their aspirations to national freedom was now visualized as they saw how the enjoyment of personal liberty could readily lead to the enjoyment of national freedom in their native homeland, if liberated from foreign domination. No doubt the example of the various nationality groups in America that had become strongly organized inspired the Slovak immigrants to imitate them so that they, too, could achieve greater progress and attain whatever goals they must reach in their lifetime. "What is perhaps a paradox is that in Slovakia, though the Slovaks were what they were and nothing else, they were not Slovaks in the sense that they could not publicly appear as themselves. They were subjects of Magyar overlords and, as such, feudal peasants who were officially listed as "Hungarian inhabitants". Their real national origin was to be denied and ultimately erased according to the designs of chauvinistic Magyar masters. No obstacles or limitations were placed upon American immigrants in the matter of their nationality. Here 6 SLOVAKIA a person could appear privately or publicly as a national, ie., he could freely manifest his national origin, speak his native language, organize freely and come and go freely without being subject to government interference, public insults or repression of any kind. As a matter of fact, he was treated with respect by native Americans and other nationality groups as a rule, and there were no restrictions placed upon an immigrant by a government agency or his employer. Slovaks who became citizens of the United States learned that even as full-fledged loyal citizens of their adopted country they did not loose their identity as native sons of Slovakia. Moreover, they could still actively help their fellow countrymen here and in their homeland. Not long after his coming to American shores of freedom, the Slovak immigrant noted that he could have his own convictions and opinions and express them freely in speach or writing. Slovak organizations that had the common interest of their fellow countrymen at heart provided their members with numerous occasions to appear in public. Slovak newspapers not only informed and instructed t heir readers but acted as bond of unity and communication for all the Slovaks in America. Slovak periodicals rendered a great service in that they were a forum for public opinion among the American Slovaks. The experiences, suggestions, advice, opinions, etc. of thousands of Slovaks found their way into the pages of daily and weekly publications. Thus, even the ordinary Slovak worker could publish his views, opinions and reactions on a multiplicity of topics. For many this opportunity gave them a postgraduate course in public expression. They often voiced their growing pride in their Slovak national ancestry. Every Slovak who was forced to migrate into far off foreign countries in search of a better living never lost his love for his native country ... it was an abiding love, sometimes sentimental perhaps, but nevertheless sincere and profound. This attachment from his youth was never quite lost; even after many years of absence from his native homeland he still could see the picture of his village home and the little white church with its cross on the steeple. SLOVAKIA 7 To him this memory would always be sacred for it symbolized the faith of his people down through centuries of time, a faith that had sustained them through the hardships, dangers, and sufferings of countless ages. Always, as long as he lived, the Slovak immigrant, no matter how far from the native village where the Church, though oftentimes small, was a symbol of the indestructible faith of his forefathers , would remember that his religion was his greatest asset in a world of struggle. Without a church, without a priest and without prayer, life in a Slovak village would have been infinitely sad. And for him, though far removed from his birthplace, this remained t rue in the country of his adoption. Prayer is for the pious Slovak today what it was for his predecessors for centuries: a solace in time of grief, a bulwark, a mighty fortress in time of peril. Church prayers and hymns in his native Slovak tongue were a balm to his soul, an inspiration to his spirit. So long as he stayed close to his Church he felt safe amidst the confusions and storms of foreign currents that sometimes terrified him, at other times made him feel uneasy and uncertain as he faced each day's struggle in strange surroundings. Slovak life in America followed a definite pattern where enough settlers came from Slovakia. Parish churches and schools were built and much of the immigrant's social life centered around these religious institutions. As a rule, the more vital parish life of a Slovak group became the more solid and permanent became the national and cultural development of Slovak immigrant units that clustered around their own parishes. Loyalty to the faith of their fathers in the midst of the hubub and maelstrom of the big new world became the source of fidelity to the Slovak family, the native mother tongue and the Slovak homeland. At the end of a week ( 6 days ) of hard labor, the Slovak immigrant invariably went to Church on Sunday. He prayed fervently, sang with enthusiasm, listened to the weekly sermon, all in his native tongue. His heart was touched, his love rekindled each week, and he kept alive love of his homeland and native hearth. 8 SLOVAKIA Unique in every respect are the Slovak churches, rectories, schools and convents in many parts of the United States, for they are living testimonials of the profound religious faith of the people from Slovakia. In Slovakia, there were not societies or organizations of their own. A few that were permitted to function were in the service directly or indirectly of anti-Slovak interests. This denationalization policy unfortunately not infrequently crossed the threshold of the church itself. On the other hand, in America Slovak societies, schools, and churches, besides fulfilling their religious, social and cultural role, were at the same time centers of the Slovak spirit and national life. This left a strong impression on the Slovak immigrant in America. He grasped the full significance of this new life of personal liberty and national freedom. The new atmosphere changed him into a true patriot who was proud equally of his new citizenship and his Slovak ancestry. The tempo of life in America was much faster and fuller then the development of the new national spirit in Slovakia where many obstacles still existed. The democratic spirit of America was vital and refreshing, whereas the feudal system of Hungary was depressing and lifeless. Hungary's 20th century feudalism was outmoded but it kept the Slovak nation, the oldest nation in the Carpathian basin of the upper Danube, in a state of political bondage and economic servitude. The result was that the mass of Slovaks was unable to rise from its plight and live a normal national life. Slovak poets and writers who felt the pain of this tragic debasement of their nation feared the future consequences of this situation. In vain, however, were their efforts to wake up the Slovak masses; the years of oppression had been too many. They had taken their toll. Hundreds of thousands remained spiritless and turned a deaf ear to their pleadings. Slovak patriots endeavored to alert the people to the danger of remaining inactive in the crisis that threatened their national extinction. They, too, failed to arouse the inert masses to action. Every attempt to put a program into action was foiled by subversive activity of the enemy. SLOVAKIA 9 Slovakia's national life, deprived of all vital sources by her oppressors, was all but dead. Her people lacked sufficient power and initiative for a flourishing national life and progress as a highly cultured and dynamic people. Stymied internally, therefore, the Slovak national organism which was physically healthy and vigorous, biologically sound, morally solid and potentially rich, needed an injection. And that is precisely what the Slovaks in America provided for the Slovak nation's life-an injection that thoroughly revitalized Slovakia's life as a nation in its historic homeland. We have no reliable statistics to show to what extent the influence of the American Slovak way of life was exerted in various parts of Slovakia. Perhaps at some future time this will become available. Only then shall we be able to get a precise, or at least a more accurate record of this impact of American democracy on the Slovaks' historic homeland in central Europe. Lacking statistics, we are still able, however, to indicate to some degree how American Slovaks after having acquired the new experience of a life of freedom affected the life of their fellow countrymen in Slovakia. A considerable number of Slovak emigrants who went to America in search of work and higher earning power returned to their native land. They had attained their goal, namely, the acquisition of a moderate fortune which enabled them to get a fresh start in life. Most of them, however, chose to make America their permanent home. Instances of individuals who lost all contact with their homeland and their fellow countrymen here are so few that they are negligible. Even those who elected to remain in America continued their interest in Slovak affairs and maintained a lively interest in their Slovak nation's destiny. In fact, many of them inspired their children and even their grandchildren to take an active part in Slovak life. In Slovakia the effect of the American way of life manifested itself in a number of ways but primarily in an economic sense, for the prime motive of Slovak emigration overseas was economic necessity. The returnees stimulated economic progress with their savings which were invested in the purchase of land, cattle, agricultural implements and SLOVAKIA new homes. The sum total of this new capital proved a vital factor in renewing Slovakia's national economy. At first glance, perhaps, the role of American capital in the hands of the Slovak emigrants who returned to their homeland may seem unimportant but it proved to be an essential factor in rebuilding their lives. They were able to acquire land with their savings and this, alone, strengthened their power through ownership. Under the feudal system much of the land had fallen into the hands of a foreign aristocracy for whom the Slovak peasant tilled the soil. The products of his labor were not his, the land belonged to aliens and both land and produce, as well as his daily labors, served alien and not his own interests. Vast estates, forests and fields were in the hands of an ancient Slovak nobility that either had alienated itself or was rapidly alienating itself from the people. The loss of their native Slovak national pride meant the loss of their lands to Slovakia. One of the most serious practices among small landowners was the breaking-up of the estates through inheritance. This process was the more alarming because the high birth-rate among the farming families often forced the small landowners to make loans that not only weighed heavily upon the individual land-owner but often plunged him heavily into debt. This, too often, forced him to sell some or all of his lands. Another factor that created a serious problem for the small land-owner was the reccurence of bad crops. This and the need for money to make repairs, buy equipment or make an expansion often resulted in a huge debt so that the poor man frequently could not even pay the interest on a loan. Eventually such heavily mortgaged properties ended up in the hands of strangers who held the mortgage. For the Slovak national cause such failures had a twofold effect: 1) They decreased the number of Slovak landowners and proportionately increased non-Slovak ownership of the land; 2) Loss of land meant that the Slovak peasant lost his attachment to the land of his forebears and with the loss he lost his national consciousness or pride when he migrated to the city where he got a job in the SLOVAKIA 11 factory. Second and third generations of these families generally lost their identity as Slovaks. Slovak land, the solid base of Slovak national life, was being lost to aliens and with each loss national unity and ancestral pride were weakened. Under such adverse conditions the Slovaks could make no progress and the economy of their country was weakened considerably because it was not serving the people but foreign landowners who exploited the native workers. An independent class of small land-owners had always been the backbone of the Slovak nation. It was, therefore, a vital necessity that this class be preserved, and even extended both for the welfare of the people and for the national interest. Above all, capital was needed in this crisis. At home there was none to be had. Accordingly, there was only one hope and that was America. In the years of migration money came back to the old country and this more than any one thing helped to preserve ancient lands intact. American capital in the form of savings of the immigrants saved Slovakia's lands for her people. In almost every Slovak village or town before and after World War I new homes, new ventures and developments were made possible through American dollars, savings of Slovak settlers in America. Slovak farmers were able tc:, purchase new agricultural equipment and increase their production on a modest scale. Their lands and confidence were restored, thanks to their American experience and their savings from honest toil in the land of opportunity. Emigration of Slovak landowners to America actually strengthened the small land-owning class in Slovakia and preserved the right of ownership of the entire Slovak nation to its own native soil. Tenant farmers who had left their native homeland for America, as well as many Slovak workers, frequently returned from America to swell the ranks of the new landowners. These paid ready cash for land and equipment as they proudly took ownership of their new properties in their native country. 12 SLOVAKIA Some Slovaks who returned with savings preferred to invest their modest wealth in various enterprises such as a small business, for example, a store, a tavern, a mill or lumber plant. These, too, greatly enhanced the economic growth of the country through their initiative and enterprise. Stiff competition for the new enterprises greeted their founders but this did not scare the Slovaks who had returned from America, for competition was what stimulated progress and was an added incentive to success. Against their non-Slovak competitors, therefore, the new business men succeeded in breaking up what was considered somewhat of a monopoly by the old owners and directors in various businesses. Their experience in America served them well as they met every challenge with confidence and generally with success. American capital undoubtedly helped to raise the living· standard of the Slovak people. The Slovaks remained what they had always been, a simple people with moderate wants and desires and tastes but it was imperative that this simplicity be not interpreted as a sign of backwardness. Their American experiences helped them to cope with this problem, too. Highly important for the development of Slovak national life was the education of the youth. High school and college training was necessary so that the Slovak nation could have a strong core of educated men and women. For the average Slovak family higher education had a high social value, too. Unfortunately, Slovak schools were directed by nonSlovak elements and the children were subject to a denationalization process whereby the Magyar language and the spirit of a Hungarian nationality were fostered exclusively. It was a foregone conclusion that this would result in a tremendous loss to the Slovak nation when its youth would be alienated in its formative years. Although many were lost to the Slovak cause, not every Slovak youth succumbed to the lure of promises for the future or was terrorized into submission, for in many homes the spirit of loyalty to the Slovak national culture was cherished. SLOVAKIA 13 Only a few Slovak youths were able to pursue higher studies in high school, college and university because their fathers who had gone to America encouraged their sons by ear-marking special funds for their education. These, as a rule, completed their studies and became loyal sons of their homeland. Their spirit of national pride inspired them to fight back at any attempt to rob them of their rightful Slovak birthright and national heritage. Such was the spirit of the American-Slovak families in Slovakia that their dynamic force and influence were invariably felt throughout the country. The sons, like their father, bore the unmistakable trade-mark of true patriotism. The printed word, either in the daily press, periodicals or in books, is an essential factor in the training of youth everywhere. It is the expression of the spirit and soul of a nation. In this respect, the situation was actually quite bad in Slovakia because there were only a few good Slovak newspapers and these, because of an extremely limited circulation, exerted little influence. Since the masses of common people had limited finances, they did not subscribe to newspapers or buy books. Most of them did not feel the urgency of supporting their own Slovak press. Most widespread of all printed matter was the religious prayerbook but its influence did not extend beyond religion. The Spolok sv. Vojtecha, a religious publication society, sought to supplement this by editing books from time to time. There were several religious periodicals, too, but these did not reach the realm of politics. Moreover, the average Slovak peasant or worker showed little or no concern for politics anyway. He had been conditioned to the idea that politics was an art in which the rich and the nobility had a natural monopoly. To use the current term, "brainwashed", would be appropriate. American Slovaks opened their eyes to the truth and they held a completely opposite view from their fellow countrymen. They soon adopted the idea that they had a right and a duty to mix in politics and they received full support for this practical view in their daily and weekly newspapers which they read regularly. 14 SLOVAKIA American Slovak newspapers were sent to Slovakia. Actually, in many villages for quite a while the only reading matter consisted of Slovak newspapers from America where one could freely write not only in his native Slovak language but give voice to his views, foster the Slovak national spirit, criticize the injustices inflicted upon their countrymen at home and register an open demand for the just rights that belonged to the Slovaks. These periodicals were almost exclusively the sole source of accurate information about what was really going on in their own country and they found out the truth by reading news that were sent to them all the way from America. When they returned to Slovakia, many American Slovak immigrants kept in touch with the organization in which they had membership. For years they proudly wore their membership emblems, subscribed to both local and American periodicals, engaged actively in public life and showed a keen interest in politics as they had become accustomed to do in America. No doubt the most valuable contributions to Slovakia by America were the Slovaks who returned home after living a year or more in a truly democratic country. These American Slovaks had had rich experiences abroad and they had developed a new outlook on life so that their presence had repercussions everywhere. A Slovak who had left his homeland, depressed and beaten down, returned from America a different man. He was full of life and energy, imbued with the spirit of national pride and fully convinced that he had a natural right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" according to the spirit and principles of American democracy. This new, optimistic attitude clarified and refreshed the atmosphere throughout the country. Gone forever was the inferiority complex which had customarily marked the Slovak emigrant. Here was a renovated man not afraid to speak his mind openly, anywhere, anytime. This was the happy result of being exposed, if only briefly, to democracy in the United States. As a respected and integral part of a great and powerful country, the Slovak grew accustomed to the idea of SLOVAKIA 15 his importance as an individual. As a member of various Slovak societies he learned to stand up for his own rights and to cooperate with others for the common welfare of all. He had fulfilled his obligations to his position in life as a free man and he knew what his rights were. This new sense of human dignity stemmed from his understanding of the genuine spirit of American democracy : every citizen worked freely for his welfare as well as for the common good in a spirit of freedom under law. Far removed from his homeland, the Slovak immigrant learned, too, how great was his innate love for his native heart and he felt a new kinship with his fellow countrymen whether they came from the east or west, the north or south of a common motherland. The horizon of his nationalism extended far beyond his native village and reached the Tatras in the north, the Danube in the south, the low Carpathians in the west and the high Carpathians in the east. A wider concept of his rightful place in the Slovak family was developed in the mind and soul of every immigrant in America. He was a member of the Slovak nation and a human person who belonged to the land that for centuries belonged to all the Slovaks for ages. This was their common national heritage. A golden chain, their common language, had bound all the Slovaks together for many centuries. The Slovak immigrant cherished this precious gift all the more after living in America. Upon returning home he became its greatest defender against detractors. He had seen it flourish in a far off and strange land and Slovak national life had taken on a new glow under its influence. Why couldn't this be realized in his home country? To this end united voices of the American Slovak returnees were heard from one end of the country to the other as they spoke up fearlessly for their natural right to develop and grow as a nation, to live as a free people in a self-governing democratic country. How did his fellow-countrymen look upon this new dynamic "American" who had come back home to Slovakia? Perhaps they envied him just a little because he could afford to live better than they, but they also greatly admired 16 SLOVAKIA him for his openmindeness, his outspoken views and his newly-acquired democratic manners. They were favorably impressed and imitated him. They, too, became self-confident and hopeful of the future as they discussed their problems and sought solutions for them in a democratic exchange of opinions. This new type of Slovak did not avoid public functions nor steer clear of political meetings. He was there in the midst of them and his frequent public appearances inspired others to follow his example so that a new generation of Slovaks sprung up as if by magic, and the new generation was as fearless and frank in the expression of its views and opinions as their leader. In these and other forms the currents of American Slovak life were transformed to Slovakia. The need arose for coordinating this mutual contact for the greatest possible benefit to all. Accordingly, plans were made and attempts at establishing a working basis for better cooperation were put into practical operation. In accord with the desire to establish closer contact with American Slovaks, a number of educated Slovaks went to America where they renewed old friendships, exchanged views and established channels of communication not only with the immigrant Slovaks but what surprised them was the opportunity to converse fluently with second generation American Slovaks who were vitally interested in the mother country of their fathers and willing to lend a helping hand. This was, indeed, a bonanza, a stroke of good fortune that was destined to be of invaluable aid to the Slovak nation. Many Slovak patriots in their homeland established a close relationship between Slovakia and the American Slovaks by contributing articles to Slovak newspapers, periodicals, annuals, almanacs, etc. A considerable number of these timely articles dealt with topics on American Slovak life, and this welcome and flattering move bound the American Slovaks closer together with their kin in the home country. There were magnanimous Slovaks who, because they SLOVAKIA 17 fully understood and wholeheartedly sympathized with the plight of the Slovak nation beneath the Tatras, willingly sacrificed much of their time and energy to the Slovak cause often to their great personal disadvantage and material loss. Nevertheless, they did not count the cost, for they were firmly convinced every sacrifice was worthwhile in behalf of the Slovak nation's struggle for the recognition of its just rights. They justified their countrymen's faith in them, namely, that they would not forget their native homeland and that in time of need they would come to their aid though living far from their homeland. No true Slovak, no matter how successful he became in a strange land, ever forgot his native homeland. When he heard the call for help, he did not turn a deaf ear to the cry but replied with ready assistance. Slovakia's economic, cultural and national progress in the past several decades is in large measure due to the American Slovaks because of timely assistance to their brethern in Slovakia. American Slovaks never failed to respond generously in a number of crises to help save the Slovak nation. They constantly defended the Slovaks' right to self-government in their own homeland. Gratitude, the Slovaks say, is a virtue and an obligation. The Slovak nation will ever be grateful to the American Slovaks for their great role in its struggle for liberty, a democratic way of life and a self-governing state. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA firmly believes in the American principle of self-determination of all nations, the inherent and God-given right of every nation, whether large or small, to freedom and independence, the right of every nation to freely choose its own form of government and freely elect persons of its own choice by whom it shall be governed.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource American Democracy and Slovak Life Description An account of the resource Dr. Francis Hrušovský Slovakia, Vol. 17 (No. 40), 1967 pp. 1-17 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hrušovský, František, 1903-1956 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1967 Relation A related resource This article is one of five from this special issue republished as a monograph: Paučo, Jozef, ed. 1967. <em>Sixty Years of the Slovak League of America.</em> Middletown Pennsylvania: Slovak League of America. <a href="https://worldcat.org/en/title/36616" target="_blank" title="Link to WorldCat" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://worldcat.org/en/title/36616</a> 60years LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/b03279cd81b9ebd4601ac1ffca8df81a.pdf b6dad0a741d4e3eb02e2c574d5551baa PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 17 AMERICAN SLOVAKS AND MARCH 14, 1939 Joseph Pauco Americans of Slovak descent participated honorably and in no small measure in the struggle for 'SlovaJk independerl'ce. The foundation of the program of the aurtonlOmistic movement in Slova;kia cannot be imagined without them. In fact, they were responsiJble for its structure with the prin:::i;ples contained in the Pittsburgh Pact of May 30, 1918, the same princiiples which some American Slovaks defended more consistently than did the Hlinka Slovaik Peo.p le's Party itself. One need not ,b e surprised, therefore, at the great joy evinced by American Slovaks when the autonomy of Sloivakia was 1proclaimed at Zilina on October 6, 1938, after iit was granted by the Czecho-,Slovak go.vernment at Prague. The Slovak League of America not only eX!pre.ssed its congratulations, but also hurried to help the autonomous government of Slovrukia financially with a gift of $10,000. The government of Dr. Joseph Tiso was aware of the role played by American Slovruks in rthe l~beration movement. At the very first opportunity it wanted to greet a delegation in free Bratislaiva, so Premier Tiso sent an invitation to the Sloivak Lea;gue on December 16, 1938, to be present at rthe opening of the Slovak Srtate Assembly. In his letter of invitation, Dr. Tiso said among other things: "Your coming here will be a holiday of infinite joy over the victorious concllIBion of the struggle for the rights of the sovereign Slovak naition and a holiday of cmr sincere gratitude for eveeything .that you ha'Ve done in the United States to ccmtrilbute either ideologically or financially to the vi:ictOlry of the SlovaJk nation." Dr. Tiso sent a similar message to ,t he Supreme Office of the Catholiic Slovalk Federation, in'Virting "our entiTe fraternal America" to Bratisl:wa. On March 14, 1939, when the belJ.s of freedom resounded throughout the whole of Slovakia, the Slovak Government again was mindful of the American Slovalks. At �18 SLOVAKIA that time Dr. Joseph Tiso sent the following telegram to the Slovak Lea:gue of Amevka : "Today we have founded the independent Slovaik State, not only to preserive Slovak tradition, but also to guarantee bread and soil for the Slova.Jks. We are basing our nuture on our independence. In ,this tense politiJcal situaition, in wh~ch states and nations are changing their forms, we can presenve oursel;ves only if we become an independent state. "Therefore, beloved brothers and sisters in the United States, stand by us and rejoice with us. Today you can rest aissured ,t hat Slovaikia is no longer a suffered aippendaige, hut is everywhere the master in its own home and is able to present itself to the world under its very own name. "For you, beloved 1brothers and sistevs in the United States, this iis very important, rbec-ause we shall be able to ma,ke contaots with yOIU direotlry without having to go in a circuitous way thvough diplomatic ,connections. May God protect you and 1b e with us so that the Slovaik nati!on might f1ourish in what has b een initiated today." 1 Dr. Tiso sent an eX1tensive messaige to .the American Slovaks, .i n which he explained in detail how the proclamation of the independence of Slovakia had come aibout and sketichoo especia:Uy the politkal principles by which the Slovak Government would guide itself. This message is such a penm.rating and serious dommnent of Slovak history that it will be necessary to devote indiviidual attention to it some time. It is necessary to note that the Slovaik Leaigue of America, which stood at the head of the movement for autono-mous SlovaJkia, was ag,a inst the dismembe:mnent of OzechoSlovakia up to Mav~h 14, 1939. In those .s tirring Mavch days, when President Hrucha dismissed Tiso as premier of the antonomous Slova,k · Government and appointed Karol -Sidor in his pla,ce, the Slovak League of Almeri,ca sent Sidor this caiblegra,m: "Advise strong stand rugai:nst secession. Slo- �SLOVAKIA 19 v.ak League is for federation with Czechs on an equal basis." This stand of the League need not surprise us. U;p to the day when the SlovaJk League sent the caiblegram to Sidor, not even responsible Slovak circles were for any other political program. 'Ilhe ffi1I1Jka SlovaJk People's Pal'ty honootl,y sought a peaceful solution of mutual relationship with the Ozechs. It did not find such a solution and, therefore, after the aruned putsch of the Czech Genera1's on Ma·r ch 10, 1939, and at the same time fully aiware of the internaitional situation as a whole, it chase ,s ecession despite the fact that Americans of Slova;k descent advised against it. But even American S1'ovaks did not ta!ke the situation literally as expressed in the cablegram. Its autho,r, the president of the Slovalk League at that time, Joseph Husek, comrrnentmg on the events transpiring in Bratishwa and quoting the crublegram of the Leaigue, explained: "This stand ( against secession) was accepted by the last Congress of the Slovak Leaigue. We stand upon our word. But whatever the result of this conflict, we shall stand loyally by SlovaJkia and the Slovak nation. Prague committed not only a mistake, but in fact has committed an hostile act against the Slovak nation. This, in its own drastic intervention, it cannot justify. For the consequences thereof it alone is respons~ble." That is how Joseph Husek wrote when he still did not have any reports of what had happened in BraitiisJ.,a va on March 14, 1939. It was iprobably only a few houra lbeifore or after that the Slovak Assemlbly unanimously declared the independence of SlovaJkia and the founding of the independent SlovaJk Republic. When the telegram of Dr. Joseph Tiso arrived in the USA, Husek ipublidy congratulated and greeted the government of the Slovak Repuibli:c in the Slorvak press of America. Among o.ther things, he stated: "The Slova!k League was against secession. But si,nce the Slovaks at home have proclaime!d their independence, we greeted independent Slovakia and wished her a hearty 'Good Luok' ." Immediately after March 14, 1939, the SlovaJk League of America staunchly defended Slova;k statehood and in prin- �20 SLOVAKIA ciple backed the SlovaJk Republic. In this regard we must mention the letteT which the ,pres1dent of the Slovak League of .America, Joseiph HU!sek, sent ,to President F. D. Roosevelt on .AJPril 24, 1939. The letter, requesting recognition of the Slovak RepuJblic •b y the United States of America, contained also the following: "T'he secession of Slovatlcia from the Cze,cho...Sloviak Rep'l.llblic was not the result of intrigues between the Slovak leadern and Germany, not for a desire for annexation to Hungary. The Slovaks proved by recent srucri:fice Of hll!ITlan life and their present firm resistance to the unjust territorial demands of H'UJilgaory how 4ounded this accusation, made frequently during the .past twenty years by the proponents of the Ozechoslo'Vak theory, has .b een. The secession of Slovakia was, at least, as much the result of intolerable condi:tions within the Repwblic, cu1minating in the unjustifiable military occupation of its capi,tol of Slovaikia, Bratislava, and the arrest of the pri:me minister, Dr. Joseph Tiso, b;y orde r c.f the Prague government, as of the existing conditions outside of the small country over which, naturally, the Slovaikis had no control. There was, and is, perhrups, no nation which has been so wilfully misrepresented to the world as has, and is even today, Slovakia. Explo,i ted by non-4Slovak g c-vernments, ·h er le aders silenced by foreign masters, p ersecuted and often incarcerated, her people have s uffered national oppression for more than a hundred years; first , under the Magyars, later under the Czechs, who, under the gui.se of 'democr.aicy' made of Slovakia a Czech colony. Today, an autonomous state, her fate lies entirely in the hands of those who haive, or shall have, the power to determine the futUTe of Europe and the world at large. " At the same time the president of the Slova:k League expressed this request : "It is the fer.vent desire of the Slovak Americans that the -,United States will be one of the first to recognize the R~pulblic of Slovalkia, ther~by giving its people. courage and �SLOVAKIA 21 faith with which to. meet the future and strengthening the spirit of democrrucy, already so firmly imlbedded in the hearts of Slovak people.." On May 12, 1939, the Central Committee of the Slovak league of America met in Pittsiburgh, Pa., and declared officially that "the Slova;k League of America stands and shall stand intrepidly behind Slo1vaJkra, sympathizes with her, shall he1p her and in every way defend her against all eneimies, whether internal or external." At that session, the sixth point of the resolution passed at that meeting of the league read: "The Slovak Lea·gue shall make the necessary steps to get a hear:ing before the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate in Washington so that it could ,p resent its arguments why the United States, following the example od: another great democracy - Britain, should at least give de facto recognition to the Slovak State." The Catholic Slovak Federation of America reacted just as favorrubly to the Sloiva!k State as diid the Slovak League. Immediately after March 14, 1939, the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Stephen Kocis and Mr. John Lesko, president and se:cretary of the CSF respectively, issued a declaration in which they defended the honor and good name of the Slovak leaders and forcefully answered all attacks of enemies of the Slovak cause. In the declaration we read: " . . .personally we know Dr. Joseph Tiso, his Sloivak patriotism and his noble character; therefore, we cannot believe, and do not believe that he has committed the base betray;al against his Slovak nation and Slovakia which certain people accuse him of today." The late Rt. Rev. Msgr. John E. Rura of Perth Amboy, N. J., who was very a;ctive in the OSF in the east, wrote an article for the Slovak press prior to the meeting of Slovaik Catholi'c priests in New Yoi,k on April 19, 1939, condemning those who slandered and viilified Slovruk leaders in Slovakia. In that artide he said that for certiain people "October 6, 1938, was fatal, because the Pittsburgh Pact was then incor,porated in the life of the history of the Slovak nation. And now aigain March 14, 1939, that mortal �22 SLOVAKIA wownd was adm1nistered anew, when a free and independent Slow.Ilda was born. They are squirnl.in,g like a wounded snaJke and wd:11 not recognize the truth that there was no other way out for the .sa1viation of the Slovak nation, except that wMch the ,present lead~s in Slovakia had taken . . . . " Amedcans of .Slovffik descent kneiw the meaning o.f freedom and independence. They enjoyed the bJess,i ngs of the American way of life. As tTue Ameniicans they CO'llld not wish less to the nation they descended from. It is to their everliasting oredit that the,y ruoted as manfully as they did when the Slovak Republic wrus born on March 14, 1939. God bles,s Amerioa, God 1bless and protect the Slovak nation in this darkest period of its history! • • • HISTORICAL TRUTH AND :F ALSE LEGENDS Francis Hrusovsky Theil'e rure people who are not bl1nd, b1u t do not want to see the true face of reality. They aTe not deaif, but their ears are not a;c,cessi:ble to the voice of truth. Nor are they inteHectuaUy so dull as nOlt to ,be aJble to comprehend a matter in its .sulbstance, :if they only wanted to. Such people distort even the s1mplest matter and enravel it with a veil of confusion oocording to their o,w n conceptions and their own selfish interests. The,y are cowardly to kno,w and confess the truth and PTefer to deceive themse1ves and ha;ve suf:fiicient courage to deceive others. In this manner it is possiible to charructerize the ,p eople who present the historical fact of the proclamation of the state independence of Slovrukia in a false light and then with consistent stubbornness endeavo,r to 1present in a false light everything that is connected with the Slovak Republic. The utterly simple historical fact is that on March 14, 1939, the Slovak Assembliy declared Slovakia an independent Slovruk State This historical fact was acknowledged by many states (27), which recognized the SlovaJk Republic either de jure or de facto and esta:blished drplomaUc rela- � SLOVAKIA 17 AMERICAN SLOVAKS AND MARCH 14, 1939 Joseph Pauco Americans of Slovak descent participated honorably and in no small measure in the struggle for 'SlovaJk independerl'ce. The foundation of the program of the aurtonlOmistic movement in Slova;kia cannot be imagined without them. In fact, they were responsiJble for its structure with the prin:::i;ples contained in the Pittsburgh Pact of May 30, 1918, the same princiiples which some American Slovaks defended more consistently than did the Hlinka Slovaik Peo.p le's Party itself. One need not ,b e surprised, therefore, at the great joy evinced by American Slovaks when the autonomy of Sloivakia was 1proclaimed at Zilina on October 6, 1938, after iit was granted by the Czecho-,Slovak go.vernment at Prague. The Slovak League of America not only eX!pre.ssed its congratulations, but also hurried to help the autonomous government of Slovrukia financially with a gift of $10,000. The government of Dr. Joseph Tiso was aware of the role played by American Slovruks in rthe l~beration movement. At the very first opportunity it wanted to greet a delegation in free Bratislaiva, so Premier Tiso sent an invitation to the Sloivak Lea;gue on December 16, 1938, to be present at rthe opening of the Slovak Srtate Assembly. In his letter of invitation, Dr. Tiso said among other things: "Your coming here will be a holiday of infinite joy over the victorious concllIBion of the struggle for the rights of the sovereign Slovak naition and a holiday of cmr sincere gratitude for eveeything .that you ha'Ve done in the United States to ccmtrilbute either ideologically or financially to the vi:ictOlry of the SlovaJk nation." Dr. Tiso sent a similar message to ,t he Supreme Office of the Catholiic Slovalk Federation, in'Virting "our entiTe fraternal America" to Bratisl:wa. On March 14, 1939, when the belJ.s of freedom resounded throughout the whole of Slovakia, the Slovak Government again was mindful of the American Slovalks. At �18 SLOVAKIA that time Dr. Joseph Tiso sent the following telegram to the Slovak Lea:gue of Amevka : "Today we have founded the independent Slovaik State, not only to preserive Slovak tradition, but also to guarantee bread and soil for the Slova.Jks. We are basing our nuture on our independence. In ,this tense politiJcal situaition, in wh~ch states and nations are changing their forms, we can presenve oursel;ves only if we become an independent state. "Therefore, beloved brothers and sisters in the United States, stand by us and rejoice with us. Today you can rest aissured ,t hat Slovaikia is no longer a suffered aippendaige, hut is everywhere the master in its own home and is able to present itself to the world under its very own name. "For you, beloved 1brothers and sistevs in the United States, this iis very important, rbec-ause we shall be able to ma,ke contaots with yOIU direotlry without having to go in a circuitous way thvough diplomatic ,connections. May God protect you and 1b e with us so that the Slovaik nati!on might f1ourish in what has b een initiated today." 1 Dr. Tiso sent an eX1tensive messaige to .the American Slovaks, .i n which he explained in detail how the proclamation of the independence of Slovakia had come aibout and sketichoo especia:Uy the politkal principles by which the Slovak Government would guide itself. This message is such a penm.rating and serious dommnent of Slovak history that it will be necessary to devote indiviidual attention to it some time. It is necessary to note that the Slovaik Leaigue of America, which stood at the head of the movement for autono-mous SlovaJkia, was ag,a inst the dismembe:mnent of OzechoSlovakia up to Mav~h 14, 1939. In those .s tirring Mavch days, when President Hrucha dismissed Tiso as premier of the antonomous Slova,k · Government and appointed Karol -Sidor in his pla,ce, the Slovak League of Almeri,ca sent Sidor this caiblegra,m: "Advise strong stand rugai:nst secession. Slo- �SLOVAKIA 19 v.ak League is for federation with Czechs on an equal basis." This stand of the League need not surprise us. U;p to the day when the SlovaJk League sent the caiblegram to Sidor, not even responsible Slovak circles were for any other political program. 'Ilhe ffi1I1Jka SlovaJk People's Pal'ty honootl,y sought a peaceful solution of mutual relationship with the Ozechs. It did not find such a solution and, therefore, after the aruned putsch of the Czech Genera1's on Ma·r ch 10, 1939, and at the same time fully aiware of the internaitional situation as a whole, it chase ,s ecession despite the fact that Americans of Slova;k descent advised against it. But even American S1'ovaks did not ta!ke the situation literally as expressed in the cablegram. Its autho,r, the president of the Slovalk League at that time, Joseph Husek, comrrnentmg on the events transpiring in Bratishwa and quoting the crublegram of the Leaigue, explained: "This stand ( against secession) was accepted by the last Congress of the Slovak Leaigue. We stand upon our word. But whatever the result of this conflict, we shall stand loyally by SlovaJkia and the Slovak nation. Prague committed not only a mistake, but in fact has committed an hostile act against the Slovak nation. This, in its own drastic intervention, it cannot justify. For the consequences thereof it alone is respons~ble." That is how Joseph Husek wrote when he still did not have any reports of what had happened in BraitiisJ.,a va on March 14, 1939. It was iprobably only a few houra lbeifore or after that the Slovak Assemlbly unanimously declared the independence of SlovaJkia and the founding of the independent SlovaJk Republic. When the telegram of Dr. Joseph Tiso arrived in the USA, Husek ipublidy congratulated and greeted the government of the Slovak Repuibli:c in the Slorvak press of America. Among o.ther things, he stated: "The Slova!k League was against secession. But si,nce the Slovaks at home have proclaime!d their independence, we greeted independent Slovakia and wished her a hearty 'Good Luok' ." Immediately after March 14, 1939, the SlovaJk League of America staunchly defended Slova;k statehood and in prin- �20 SLOVAKIA ciple backed the SlovaJk Republic. In this regard we must mention the letteT which the ,pres1dent of the Slovak League of .America, Joseiph HU!sek, sent ,to President F. D. Roosevelt on .AJPril 24, 1939. The letter, requesting recognition of the Slovak RepuJblic •b y the United States of America, contained also the following: "T'he secession of Slovatlcia from the Cze,cho...Sloviak Rep'l.llblic was not the result of intrigues between the Slovak leadern and Germany, not for a desire for annexation to Hungary. The Slovaks proved by recent srucri:fice Of hll!ITlan life and their present firm resistance to the unjust territorial demands of H'UJilgaory how 4ounded this accusation, made frequently during the .past twenty years by the proponents of the Ozechoslo'Vak theory, has .b een. The secession of Slovakia was, at least, as much the result of intolerable condi:tions within the Repwblic, cu1minating in the unjustifiable military occupation of its capi,tol of Slovaikia, Bratislava, and the arrest of the pri:me minister, Dr. Joseph Tiso, b;y orde r c.f the Prague government, as of the existing conditions outside of the small country over which, naturally, the Slovaikis had no control. There was, and is, perhrups, no nation which has been so wilfully misrepresented to the world as has, and is even today, Slovakia. Explo,i ted by non-4Slovak g c-vernments, ·h er le aders silenced by foreign masters, p ersecuted and often incarcerated, her people have s uffered national oppression for more than a hundred years; first , under the Magyars, later under the Czechs, who, under the gui.se of 'democr.aicy' made of Slovakia a Czech colony. Today, an autonomous state, her fate lies entirely in the hands of those who haive, or shall have, the power to determine the futUTe of Europe and the world at large. " At the same time the president of the Slova:k League expressed this request : "It is the fer.vent desire of the Slovak Americans that the -,United States will be one of the first to recognize the R~pulblic of Slovalkia, ther~by giving its people. courage and �SLOVAKIA 21 faith with which to. meet the future and strengthening the spirit of democrrucy, already so firmly imlbedded in the hearts of Slovak people.." On May 12, 1939, the Central Committee of the Slovak league of America met in Pittsiburgh, Pa., and declared officially that "the Slova;k League of America stands and shall stand intrepidly behind Slo1vaJkra, sympathizes with her, shall he1p her and in every way defend her against all eneimies, whether internal or external." At that session, the sixth point of the resolution passed at that meeting of the league read: "The Slovak Lea·gue shall make the necessary steps to get a hear:ing before the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate in Washington so that it could ,p resent its arguments why the United States, following the example od: another great democracy - Britain, should at least give de facto recognition to the Slovak State." The Catholic Slovak Federation of America reacted just as favorrubly to the Sloiva!k State as diid the Slovak League. Immediately after March 14, 1939, the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Stephen Kocis and Mr. John Lesko, president and se:cretary of the CSF respectively, issued a declaration in which they defended the honor and good name of the Slovak leaders and forcefully answered all attacks of enemies of the Slovak cause. In the declaration we read: " . . .personally we know Dr. Joseph Tiso, his Sloivak patriotism and his noble character; therefore, we cannot believe, and do not believe that he has committed the base betray;al against his Slovak nation and Slovakia which certain people accuse him of today." The late Rt. Rev. Msgr. John E. Rura of Perth Amboy, N. J., who was very a;ctive in the OSF in the east, wrote an article for the Slovak press prior to the meeting of Slovaik Catholi'c priests in New Yoi,k on April 19, 1939, condemning those who slandered and viilified Slovruk leaders in Slovakia. In that artide he said that for certiain people "October 6, 1938, was fatal, because the Pittsburgh Pact was then incor,porated in the life of the history of the Slovak nation. And now aigain March 14, 1939, that mortal �22 SLOVAKIA wownd was adm1nistered anew, when a free and independent Slow.Ilda was born. They are squirnl.in,g like a wounded snaJke and wd:11 not recognize the truth that there was no other way out for the .sa1viation of the Slovak nation, except that wMch the ,present lead~s in Slovakia had taken . . . . " Amedcans of .Slovffik descent kneiw the meaning o.f freedom and independence. They enjoyed the bJess,i ngs of the American way of life. As tTue Ameniicans they CO'llld not wish less to the nation they descended from. It is to their everliasting oredit that the,y ruoted as manfully as they did when the Slovak Republic wrus born on March 14, 1939. God bles,s Amerioa, God 1bless and protect the Slovak nation in this darkest period of its history! • • • HISTORICAL TRUTH AND :F ALSE LEGENDS Francis Hrusovsky Theil'e rure people who are not bl1nd, b1u t do not want to see the true face of reality. They aTe not deaif, but their ears are not a;c,cessi:ble to the voice of truth. Nor are they inteHectuaUy so dull as nOlt to ,be aJble to comprehend a matter in its .sulbstance, :if they only wanted to. Such people distort even the s1mplest matter and enravel it with a veil of confusion oocording to their o,w n conceptions and their own selfish interests. The,y are cowardly to kno,w and confess the truth and PTefer to deceive themse1ves and ha;ve suf:fiicient courage to deceive others. In this manner it is possiible to charructerize the ,p eople who present the historical fact of the proclamation of the state independence of Slovrukia in a false light and then with consistent stubbornness endeavo,r to 1present in a false light everything that is connected with the Slovak Republic. The utterly simple historical fact is that on March 14, 1939, the Slovak Assembliy declared Slovakia an independent Slovruk State This historical fact was acknowledged by many states (27), which recognized the SlovaJk Republic either de jure or de facto and esta:blished drplomaUc rela- � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1954, Vol. 4 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 10), March 1954.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 11), June 1954.</li> <li>Issue 3-4 (No. 12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1954 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 17 AMERICAN SLOVAKS AND MARCH 14, 1939 Joseph Pauco Americans of Slovak descent participated honorably and in no small measure in the struggle for 'SlovaJk independerl'ce. The foundation of the program of the aurtonlOmistic movement in Slova;kia cannot be imagined without them. In fact, they were responsiJble for its structure with the prin:::i;ples contained in the Pittsburgh Pact of May 30, 1918, the same princiiples which some American Slovaks defended more consistently than did the Hlinka Slovaik Peo.p le's Party itself. One need not ,b e surprised, therefore, at the great joy evinced by American Slovaks when the autonomy of Sloivakia was 1proclaimed at Zilina on October 6, 1938, after iit was granted by the Czecho-,Slovak go.vernment at Prague. The Slovak League of America not only eX!pre.ssed its congratulations, but also hurried to help the autonomous government of Slovrukia financially with a gift of $10,000. The government of Dr. Joseph Tiso was aware of the role played by American Slovruks in rthe l~beration movement. At the very first opportunity it wanted to greet a delegation in free Bratislaiva, so Premier Tiso sent an invitation to the Sloivak Lea;gue on December 16, 1938, to be present at rthe opening of the Slovak Srtate Assembly. In his letter of invitation, Dr. Tiso said among other things: "Your coming here will be a holiday of infinite joy over the victorious concllIBion of the struggle for the rights of the sovereign Slovak naition and a holiday of cmr sincere gratitude for eveeything .that you ha'Ve done in the United States to ccmtrilbute either ideologically or financially to the vi:ictOlry of the SlovaJk nation." Dr. Tiso sent a similar message to ,t he Supreme Office of the Catholiic Slovalk Federation, in'Virting "our entiTe fraternal America" to Bratisl:wa. On March 14, 1939, when the belJ.s of freedom resounded throughout the whole of Slovakia, the Slovak Government again was mindful of the American Slovalks. At 18 SLOVAKIA that time Dr. Joseph Tiso sent the following telegram to the Slovak Lea:gue of Amevka : "Today we have founded the independent Slovaik State, not only to preserive Slovak tradition, but also to guarantee bread and soil for the Slova.Jks. We are basing our nuture on our independence. In ,this tense politiJcal situaition, in wh~ch states and nations are changing their forms, we can presenve oursel;ves only if we become an independent state. "Therefore, beloved brothers and sisters in the United States, stand by us and rejoice with us. Today you can rest aissured ,t hat Slovaikia is no longer a suffered aippendaige, hut is everywhere the master in its own home and is able to present itself to the world under its very own name. "For you, beloved 1brothers and sistevs in the United States, this iis very important, rbec-ause we shall be able to ma,ke contaots with yOIU direotlry without having to go in a circuitous way thvough diplomatic ,connections. May God protect you and 1b e with us so that the Slovaik nati!on might f1ourish in what has b een initiated today." 1 Dr. Tiso sent an eX1tensive messaige to .the American Slovaks, .i n which he explained in detail how the proclamation of the independence of Slovakia had come aibout and sketichoo especia:Uy the politkal principles by which the Slovak Government would guide itself. This message is such a penm.rating and serious dommnent of Slovak history that it will be necessary to devote indiviidual attention to it some time. It is necessary to note that the Slovaik Leaigue of America, which stood at the head of the movement for autono-mous SlovaJkia, was ag,a inst the dismembe:mnent of OzechoSlovakia up to Mav~h 14, 1939. In those .s tirring Mavch days, when President Hrucha dismissed Tiso as premier of the antonomous Slova,k · Government and appointed Karol -Sidor in his pla,ce, the Slovak League of Almeri,ca sent Sidor this caiblegra,m: "Advise strong stand rugai:nst secession. Slo- SLOVAKIA 19 v.ak League is for federation with Czechs on an equal basis." This stand of the League need not surprise us. U;p to the day when the SlovaJk League sent the caiblegram to Sidor, not even responsible Slovak circles were for any other political program. 'Ilhe ffi1I1Jka SlovaJk People's Pal'ty honootl,y sought a peaceful solution of mutual relationship with the Ozechs. It did not find such a solution and, therefore, after the aruned putsch of the Czech Genera1's on Ma·r ch 10, 1939, and at the same time fully aiware of the internaitional situation as a whole, it chase ,s ecession despite the fact that Americans of Slova;k descent advised against it. But even American S1'ovaks did not ta!ke the situation literally as expressed in the cablegram. Its autho,r, the president of the Slovalk League at that time, Joseph Husek, comrrnentmg on the events transpiring in Bratishwa and quoting the crublegram of the Leaigue, explained: "This stand ( against secession) was accepted by the last Congress of the Slovak Leaigue. We stand upon our word. But whatever the result of this conflict, we shall stand loyally by SlovaJkia and the Slovak nation. Prague committed not only a mistake, but in fact has committed an hostile act against the Slovak nation. This, in its own drastic intervention, it cannot justify. For the consequences thereof it alone is respons~ble." That is how Joseph Husek wrote when he still did not have any reports of what had happened in BraitiisJ.,a va on March 14, 1939. It was iprobably only a few houra lbeifore or after that the Slovak Assemlbly unanimously declared the independence of SlovaJkia and the founding of the independent SlovaJk Republic. When the telegram of Dr. Joseph Tiso arrived in the USA, Husek ipublidy congratulated and greeted the government of the Slovak Repuibli:c in the Slorvak press of America. Among o.ther things, he stated: "The Slova!k League was against secession. But si,nce the Slovaks at home have proclaime!d their independence, we greeted independent Slovakia and wished her a hearty 'Good Luok' ." Immediately after March 14, 1939, the SlovaJk League of America staunchly defended Slova;k statehood and in prin- 20 SLOVAKIA ciple backed the SlovaJk Republic. In this regard we must mention the letteT which the ,pres1dent of the Slovak League of .America, Joseiph HU!sek, sent ,to President F. D. Roosevelt on .AJPril 24, 1939. The letter, requesting recognition of the Slovak RepuJblic •b y the United States of America, contained also the following: "T'he secession of Slovatlcia from the Cze,cho...Sloviak Rep'l.llblic was not the result of intrigues between the Slovak leadern and Germany, not for a desire for annexation to Hungary. The Slovaks proved by recent srucri:fice Of hll!ITlan life and their present firm resistance to the unjust territorial demands of H'UJilgaory how 4ounded this accusation, made frequently during the .past twenty years by the proponents of the Ozechoslo'Vak theory, has .b een. The secession of Slovakia was, at least, as much the result of intolerable condi:tions within the Repwblic, cu1minating in the unjustifiable military occupation of its capi,tol of Slovaikia, Bratislava, and the arrest of the pri:me minister, Dr. Joseph Tiso, b;y orde r c.f the Prague government, as of the existing conditions outside of the small country over which, naturally, the Slovaikis had no control. There was, and is, perhrups, no nation which has been so wilfully misrepresented to the world as has, and is even today, Slovakia. Explo,i ted by non-4Slovak g c-vernments, ·h er le aders silenced by foreign masters, p ersecuted and often incarcerated, her people have s uffered national oppression for more than a hundred years; first , under the Magyars, later under the Czechs, who, under the gui.se of 'democr.aicy' made of Slovakia a Czech colony. Today, an autonomous state, her fate lies entirely in the hands of those who haive, or shall have, the power to determine the futUTe of Europe and the world at large. " At the same time the president of the Slova:k League expressed this request : "It is the fer.vent desire of the Slovak Americans that the -,United States will be one of the first to recognize the R~pulblic of Slovalkia, ther~by giving its people. courage and SLOVAKIA 21 faith with which to. meet the future and strengthening the spirit of democrrucy, already so firmly imlbedded in the hearts of Slovak people.." On May 12, 1939, the Central Committee of the Slovak league of America met in Pittsiburgh, Pa., and declared officially that "the Slova;k League of America stands and shall stand intrepidly behind Slo1vaJkra, sympathizes with her, shall he1p her and in every way defend her against all eneimies, whether internal or external." At that session, the sixth point of the resolution passed at that meeting of the league read: "The Slovak Lea·gue shall make the necessary steps to get a hear:ing before the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate in Washington so that it could ,p resent its arguments why the United States, following the example od: another great democracy - Britain, should at least give de facto recognition to the Slovak State." The Catholic Slovak Federation of America reacted just as favorrubly to the Sloiva!k State as diid the Slovak League. Immediately after March 14, 1939, the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Stephen Kocis and Mr. John Lesko, president and se:cretary of the CSF respectively, issued a declaration in which they defended the honor and good name of the Slovak leaders and forcefully answered all attacks of enemies of the Slovak cause. In the declaration we read: " . . .personally we know Dr. Joseph Tiso, his Sloivak patriotism and his noble character; therefore, we cannot believe, and do not believe that he has committed the base betray;al against his Slovak nation and Slovakia which certain people accuse him of today." The late Rt. Rev. Msgr. John E. Rura of Perth Amboy, N. J., who was very a;ctive in the OSF in the east, wrote an article for the Slovak press prior to the meeting of Slovaik Catholi'c priests in New Yoi,k on April 19, 1939, condemning those who slandered and viilified Slovruk leaders in Slovakia. In that artide he said that for certiain people "October 6, 1938, was fatal, because the Pittsburgh Pact was then incor,porated in the life of the history of the Slovak nation. And now aigain March 14, 1939, that mortal 22 SLOVAKIA wownd was adm1nistered anew, when a free and independent Slow.Ilda was born. They are squirnl.in,g like a wounded snaJke and wd:11 not recognize the truth that there was no other way out for the .sa1viation of the Slovak nation, except that wMch the ,present lead~s in Slovakia had taken . . . . " Amedcans of .Slovffik descent kneiw the meaning o.f freedom and independence. They enjoyed the bJess,i ngs of the American way of life. As tTue Ameniicans they CO'llld not wish less to the nation they descended from. It is to their everliasting oredit that the,y ruoted as manfully as they did when the Slovak Republic wrus born on March 14, 1939. God bles,s Amerioa, God 1bless and protect the Slovak nation in this darkest period of its history! • • • HISTORICAL TRUTH AND :F ALSE LEGENDS Francis Hrusovsky Theil'e rure people who are not bl1nd, b1u t do not want to see the true face of reality. They aTe not deaif, but their ears are not a;c,cessi:ble to the voice of truth. Nor are they inteHectuaUy so dull as nOlt to ,be aJble to comprehend a matter in its .sulbstance, :if they only wanted to. Such people distort even the s1mplest matter and enravel it with a veil of confusion oocording to their o,w n conceptions and their own selfish interests. The,y are cowardly to kno,w and confess the truth and PTefer to deceive themse1ves and ha;ve suf:fiicient courage to deceive others. In this manner it is possiible to charructerize the ,p eople who present the historical fact of the proclamation of the state independence of Slovrukia in a false light and then with consistent stubbornness endeavo,r to 1present in a false light everything that is connected with the Slovak Republic. The utterly simple historical fact is that on March 14, 1939, the Slovak Assembliy declared Slovakia an independent Slovruk State This historical fact was acknowledged by many states (27), which recognized the SlovaJk Republic either de jure or de facto and esta:blished drplomaUc rela-  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource American Slovaks and March 14, 1939 Description An account of the resource Joseph Paučo Slovakia, Vol. 4, No. 1 (10), March 1954 pp. 17-22 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 1954 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/9035ed3667ef69ed4467ca94b766f781.pdf 5d5b464c4fe3e22d910d612a1c2eeffd PDF Text Text AMERICAN SLOVAKS AND SLOVAK STATEHOOD CONSTANTINE ČULEN (Member of the Board of the Slovak National Council Abroad) We are witnesses of an incredible phenomenon. The demand of the Slovak nation to decide for itself its own fate, to have its own state, has often been classified as a crime. If it is a crime, then we must state clearly at the outset that the roots of this crime stem not in Slovakia, but in America. No other country in the world has had as much influence as America on the development of the political destinies of the Slovak nation. Even today in Slovakia there Jive several hundred thousand mature citizens who spent the best years of their lives in America. English and American prisoners of war attest to the fact that wher­ever they traveled in Slovakia they found people who could speak English and felt a burning love for the United States. There were times when 2 per cent of the total Slovak population left its native home for America annually. In the years between 1889 and 1915 about 600,000 Slovaks emigrated out of a total population of about 2,750,000. Of course, many Slovaks later returned to their homes beneath the majestic Tatras, but the majority of Slovak emi­grants remained in America. Today about a million and a half Americans are of Slovak descent. The Slovaks who returned to Slo­vakia, however, were not the same people who had left lt. They were distinctly different in certain respects, because America had done something to them, America had, in fact, transformed them. In old Hungary the Slovak people was an oppressed nation. The Slovaks were dying materially and nationally under the yoke of Magyar feudalism. They had very little or no schooling and no representation in parliament. Their language was not tolerated outside the church and family circle. It was such Slovaks who first came to America in large numbers. They had no idea of the rights they were entitled to. In America they began to organize themselves on a national basis. It may seem strange, but it 1s a fact that the Slovaks as a whole did not awaken nationally at home, but in America. For the first time in their history, it was In America that the Slovaks could parade freely under the Slovak flag. In America they could establish Slovak organizations. In America they could freely and without fear of censorship and confiscation publish their own Slovak newspapers. They could freely and without interference present their political demands. All this was forbidden them at home, In Slovakia. In a short Ume, this small nation, oppressed at home, awakened nationally on American soil and soon made its influence felt even at home. In Slovakia under the Magyars. the Slovaks could not even elect a squire, but In the USA they could elect even the President of the USA after they had become citizens. The Slovaks, who lived in thraldom in their native land, became full-fledged citizens In America. And since thousands of Slovaks returned to Slovakia from America annually, they brought with themselves not only money, with which they paid off their debts, bought homes and established businesses, but they also brought with themselves national consciousness. The influence of these re-emigrants was so effective that the Slovak nation, which had only two deputies in parliament during a whole century, already had twenty of them during the first decade of this century. All political battles of the twentieth century were waged with American money and were influenced by the American spirit of freedom. From America, the Slovaks brought many things to their homeland, especially, however, 1. capital; 2. technical experiences; 3. human and national self-consciousness; 4. a love for democracy; 6. a knowledge of English; and 6. a love for America and the American way of life. What the Slovaks brought from America they sought to validate at home. The American way of life encouraged and directed their plans in Slovakia. Slovak life waxed strong even during the hardest times, because it was nourished materially and ideologically by a current of material and spiritual wealth from America. In the recent past, American Slovaks formed the most nationalistic group of the Slovak nation. What the Slovak at home could not say, the Slovak in America expressed for him. It is undoubtedly an interesting reality that the wide Slovak masses became ardent na­tionalists in America. And the fact that Slovak newspapers became an indispensable necessity of the Slovak people, that, too, must be credited to America. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the most widely distributed Slovak newspaper in America had about ten times more sub­scribers than all the Slovak newspapers in Slovakia combined. Without the national consciousness which the emigrants brought home from America, there never would have been any political awakening of the Slovaks during the first decade of this century. And without the money, which the Slovaks earned and saved in America, the living standard of the Slovak people would not have attained the high level that it did. For that reason, the Idea of "the new homeland of the Slovaks" - in reference to America - is not an empty expression. America actually became the new homeland of Slovak emigrants, in fact, the homeland of approximately one-third of the entire Slovak nation. The Slovaks at home always mentioned and still do mention America with grateful affection. In Slovakia, even today the words Pittsburgh, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, New York, Milwaukee, Scranton and other American cities with large Slovak populations are as familiar as Budapest, Berlin, Vienna, Paris and Prague. If one looks through the oldest newspapers published in Slovakia, he will ascertain that Slovakia regarded the results of American de­mocracy with great admiration and respect long before hundreds of thousands of Slovaks settled in America. American freedom was their model. The old "Prešpurské Noviny" (Pressburg News) already in 1783 published quite a few articles about the American struggle for freedom. And American democracy – “where there are no citizens with special privileges" - was offered as a model to the Slovaks by Štúr's "Orol Tatranský (The Eagle of the Tatras). The youthful followers of Štúr already In 1843 contributed an article about Slovak poetry to the "North American Review." Joseph Miloslav Hurban, Slovak patriot, said in his biography of Štúr: "Wise and just laws, founded on inalienable natural rights, will provide strength and welfare to nations. For us the evident proof of this has become the free United States of North America." His son, Svetozár Hurban Vajanský renowned Slovak poet and writer, sent a greeting to his countrymen in America while in jail. In that greeting, among other things, he has America saying to Slovak emigrants: "Oh, come to me, foresaken children! Gifts I have not, but one thing I do give you: Time to work in freedom, respect for human rights." And he further wrote: "And Columbia? Thou hast rent the shackles, Lifted them up closer to humanity, to God, to heaven. Land of Christopher, may Christ reward thee, For what thou bast done for my wretched brethren." That the American flag was held in great respect by the first Slovak immigrants is attested to by a leaflet that was published some fifty years ago. It reads: "Under this flag you are a free citizen. Under this flag there is freedom, equality and fraternity. Under this flag is justice and truth. Under this flag you have meat and bread. Under this flag you worship no one and are not persecuted by the Government. Under this flag you were received as a human being and freedom was given you. Under this flag you praise the Lord in your own tongue and no one ridicules or persecutes you for it. To this flag you have sworn loyalty, you have become a citizen. Do you want to break your oath, do you want to be a perjurer and traitor? ! " That is how the Slovaks regarded and respected the American flag fifty years ago. In such a manner the Slovaks rallied around the American f\ag and everything that is symbolized: American democracy, American regard for the rights of nations. It was the American way of life that first motivated the Slovaks to fight for the right of the Slovak nation to its own state. Unfortunately, false and mendacious propaganda succeeded in convincing the statesmen of America that there is only one nation In the world that did not want freedom and independence - and that nation was the Slovak nation. They fell for the story that there was one nation In this world that wanted to be a vassal of others and not an independent nation, and that was the Slovak nation - the nation which drank from the pure stream of American freedom and democracy, the nation which so long ago propagated from America what its enslaved adherents at home dared to translate into deeds a half century later. American democracy and the American way of life gave the Slovaks the first motive to demand all their inherent rights. Fifty years ago American Slovaks propagated and financed the fight of their nation for the right of a general, equal and secret ballot in Slovakia. The Slovaks in America sent their first "Memorandum" to the rulers of Slovakia in 1900. In it they requested the Magyar government to grant the Slovaks at home as much freedom as the Slovaks enjoyed in America. Peter Rovnianek, one of the outstanding Slovaks of his time, already in 1894 wrote in the first Slovak Almanac (Kalendár) published in America: "American-Slovak life is shining proof of Slovak capability. Only in America have we seen all that the Slovaks would be able to create at home, if the boot of the tyrant would not press them to the earth." But even Dr. Edward Beneš himself wrote in 1918: "American Slovaks are manifesting how the entire Slovak nation would think, speak and act, if it could freely think, speak and act. They are demonstrating on what level of mora! and cultural development they would be today, if they could live their own national life for at least two or three decades." - (ČESKOSLOVENSKÁ SAMOSTATNOSŤ, September 4, 1918). The idea of Slovak statehood did not originate in Germany, as is frequently claimed, but in America. The first Slovak book which told the Slovaks why they must work for their own state was published in Pittsburgh, Pa., some forty years ago. It is altogether understandable and natural that the Slovaks, who grew up under the sun of American freedom, should demand for the nation they are descended from all that had proved to be so sound in America. For that very reason it was the American Slovaks who first came with the idea of Slovak statehood. and it is they who even today in an overwhelming majority hold to the idea that only an independent Slovakia can fully secure the national existence of the Slovak nation. The Slovak state originated from the ideals of American freedom. Its most zealous defenders are people who know and love America. The spirit of independence has its roots in America. The first Slovaks who claimed that the Slovak nation was entitled to a state of its own lived in America. The Slovaks, brought up in America in the spirit of freedom, were the first to foster the Idea of Slovak state independence. It is tragic misunderstanding, caused by bolshevik and Czech propaganda connected with bolshevism, that from the large states it was only the American statesmen who did not recognize the Slovak State, even though that State ideologically and practically had its roots in the great and noble principles of American freedom and de­mocracy and was born, so to speak, on American soil. Already at the outset we had mentioned that the Slovak, who at home could not elect even a squire. in America could elect the President when he became a citizen. No little wonder, then, that such a difference in political rights evoked In the common Slovak immigrant a sound reaction and urged him to think about the causes for such a difference. How is it - he asked himself - that here In America I can do these things, but at home I cannot? He learned that in a foreign land he could freely establish societies, schools, church organizations and businesses; that he even could march under the Slovak flag; that he could pin the Slovak emblem on his coat. But all these things were taboo at home, why? He compared himself with members of other nations and asked: What’s wrong with me? Am I inferior to others? Am I not a member of the family of nations of this earth? Is my child more backward intellectually than others in school? - And again he had to answer: certainly not! He saw that the Slovak, given an equal opportunity, was equal to any member of the ancient and wealthy nations as far as work, dexterity and readiness were concerned. Why can't the Slovaks at home enjoy the things the Slovaks can have in America? Who are we? What is our history? And so it was that the Slovaks gradually became self-conscious and it was altogether natural for them to seek the same rights and opportunities even for their own people over there. Thus it was that some 50 years ago, there began to appear in the American Slovak press the declaration: Slovaks, we are entitled to our own Slovak State! In the "Amerikánsko Slovenské Noviny" (American Slovak News), the "Slovenský Denník" (Slovak Daily), the "Jednota" (Union), the "Slovák v Amerike" (Slovak in America) and the "Slovenský Hlásnik" (Slovak Herald) - to name at least the most important papers - an interesting discussion developed. Dissertation followed dissertation and thoughts were being crystallized. Among the first propagators of the idea of an independent Slovak State was Adalbert Tholt-Veľkoštiavnický. Then came Hušek, Salva and many others. And it was entirely natural that those people saw the industry, the organizing ability of the Slovak In America who was aroused nationally and secured materially. They saw that in the Slovak nation were to be found all the prerequisites for the attainment of the highest right - state independence. At the same Ume, when the Slovaks at home dreamed about having a single secondary school and about the re-established Slovak Institute (Matica Slovenská) as the pinnacle of national attainment, the voice of the Slovaks in America thundered: Not one school, but all schools! Not a few rights, but all rights! Not the easement of thraldom, but the abolition of slavery! And these things are possible only in an Independent state life. At the time, when even those Slovaks at home did not believe in their hearts the Slovak credo which they publicly professed, the voice of the Slovaks In America boomed: "You must believe in the resurrection of our Slovak nation and also in its complete independence and self-sufficiency, because the Lord of all nations is not God of the dead nations, but of those which are corporeally and spiritually alive. Long live the independent Slovak nation!" - (Slovenský Denník, Pittsburgh, Pa., April 10, 1909). That was the kind of faith that transformed mountains and cured the sick. But that kind of faith could be attained only in an atmosphere enlightened by the sun of American freedom and democracy. And we must admit that this faith, developed In America. worked miracles in Slovakia. The Magyars could prohibit the publication of Slovak periodicals, they could forbid the entry of Slovak Almanacs into Slovakia, but the living bearers of this faith kept returning home to fire their countrymen with it. Without this faith there would have been no miraculous turn of events In 1918. And it was this faith, too, that in an instant washed away all foreign deposits like fine dust. 18 SLOVAKIA AMERICAN SWVAKS AND SLOVAK STATEHOOD CONSTANTINE ČULEN (Member of the Board of the Slovak National Council Abroad) We are witnesses of an incredlble phenomenon. The demand of the Slovak natlon to decide for itself its own fate, to have its own state, has often been classified as a crime. If it 1s a crlme, then we must state clearly at the outset that the roots of thls crlme stem not in Slovakia, but in Amerlca. No other country in the world has had as much influence as Amerlca on the development of the political destinles of the Slovak natlon. Even today in Slovakia there Jive several hundred thousand mature cltlzens who spent the best years of their lives in America. Engllsh and American prisoners of war attest to the fact that wherever they traveled in Slovakla they found people who could speak Engllsh and felt a burning love for the Unlted States. There were tlmes when 2 per cent of the total Slovak population Jeft its natlve home for America annually. In the years between 1889 and 1915 about 600,000 Slovaks emlgrated out of a total populatlon of about 2,750,000. Of course, many Slovaks later returned to thelr homes beneath the majestlc Tatras, but the majority of Slovak emigrants remalned in America. Today about a million and a half Americans are of Slovak descent. The Slovaks who returned to Slovakia, however, were not the same people who had left lt. Tbey were dlstlnctly dlfferent In certaln respects, because America had done something to them, Amerlca had, In fact, t ransformed them. In old Hungary the Slovak people was an oppressed nation. The Slovaks were dylng materlally and nationally under the yoke of Magyar feudallsm. They had very llttle or no schooling and no representatlon In parllament. Thelr language was not tolerated outslde the church and family clrcle. It was such Slovaks who flrst came to America in large numbers. They had no idea of the rlghts they were entltled to. In America they began to organlze themselves on a natlonal basls. It may seem strange, but it 1s a fact that the Slovaks as a whole dld not awaken natlonally at home, but in Amerlca. For the flrst Ume In thelr hlstory, lt was In America that the Slovaks could parade freeJy under the Slovak flag. In Amerlca they could establlsh Slovak organlzatlons. In America they could freely and without fear of censors hlp and conflscatlon publish thelr own Slovak newspapers. They could freely and wlthout lnterference present their political demands. All thls was forbldden them at home, In Slovakla. In a short Ume, this small natlon, oppressed at home, awakened natlonally on Amerlcan son and soon made its influence felt even at home. In Slovakia under the Magyars. the Slovaks could not even elect a squlre, but In the USA they could elect even the Presldent of the USA after they had become cltizens. The Slovaks, who l!ved in thraldom In thelr natlve land, became full-fledged cltlzens In America. And slnce thousands of Slovaks returned to Slovakla from Amerlca annually, they brought wlth themselves not only money, wlth which they paid off thelr debts, bought homes and established buslnesses, but they also brougbt witb tbemselves natlonal consclousness. Tbe �SLOVAKIA 19 influence of these re-emigrants was so effective that the Slovak nation, whlch had only two deputies In parUament durlng a whole century, a.lready had twenty of them durlng the flrst decade of thls century. All politícal battles of the twentieth century were waged wlth Ameri• can money and were lnfluenced by the American spirit of freedom. From America, the Slovaks brought many things to thelr homeland, especially, however, 1. capi tal; 2. technical experiences; 3. human and national self-consciousness; 4. a love for democracy; 6. a knowledge of English; and 6. a love for Amerlca and the Amerlcan way of llfe. Wbat the Slovaks brought trom Amerlca they sought to valldate at home. The Amerlcan way of llfe encouraged and dlrected their plans in Slovakia. Slovak life waxed strong even durlng the hardest times, because lt was nourlshed materlally and ldeologically by a eurrent of material and spiritual wealth from Amerlca. In the recent past, American Slovaks formed the most nationalistlc group of the Slovak nation. What the Slovak at home could not say, the Slovak In Amerlca expressed for bim. It Js undoubtedly an lnterestlng reality that the wide Slovak masses became ardent nationalists in Amerlca. And tbe fact that Slovak newspapers became an indispensable necessity of the Slovak people, that, too, must be credited to America. At the beginnlng of the twentieth century, the most wldely distributed Slovak newspaper In America had about ten times more subscribers than all the Slovak newspapers in Slovakla combined. Wlthout the national consclousness whlch the emigrants brought home from America, there never would bave been any polltical awakening of the Slovaks during the first decade of this century. And wlthout the money, which the Slovaks earned and saved in Amerlca, the llvlng standard of the Slovak people would not have attained the hlgh level that it dld. For that reason, the Idea of "the new homeland of the Slovaks" - In reference to America - is not an empty expression. Amerlca actually became the new homeland of Slovak emlgrants, in fact, the homeland of approxlmately one-thlrd of the entire Slovak nation. The Slovaks at bome always mentloned and stlll do mentlon America wlth grateful affectlon. In Slovakia, even today tbe words Pittsburgh, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, New York, Wllwaukee, Scranton and otber Amerlcan citles witb large Slovak populations are as famil!ar as Budapest, Berlin, Vienna, Paris and Prague. If one looks tbrougb the oldest newspapers publlsbed In Slovakla, he will ascertaln that Slovakia regarded the results of American democracy wltb great admlration and respect long before hundreds of thousands of Slovaks settled in America. Amerlcan freedom was the!r model. The old "Prešpurské Noviny" {Pressburg News) already In 1783 published qulte a few articles about the American struggle for freedom. And Amerlcan democracy - ·'where there are no cltlzens wltb speclal privlleges" - was offered as a model to the Slovaks by Štúr's "Orol Tatranský" {The Eagle of the Tatras). The youthful followers ot Štúr already In 1843 contrlbuted an artlcle about Slovak 'poetry to the "North Amerlcan Review." Joseph MIioslav Hurban, Slova'k patriot, sa!d In bis b!ography of Štúr: �20 SLOVAKIA "Wise and just laws, founded on inalienable natural rights, will provide strength and welfare to nations. For us the evident proof of this has become the free United States of North America." His son, Svetozár Hurban Vajanský, renowned Slovak poet and writer, sent a greeting to his countrymen in America while in jail. In that greeting, among other things, he has America saying to Slovak emigrants: "Oh, come to me, foresaken children ! Gifts I have not, but one thing I do give you: Tlme to work in freedom. respect for human rights." And he further wrote: "And Columbia? Thou bast rent the shackles, Lifted them up closer to humanity, to God, to beaven. Land of Christopher, may Christ reward tbee, For what thou bast done for my wretched brethren." That the American flag was held in great respect by the first Slovak lmmigrants is attested to by a leaflet that was pubiisbed some fifty years ago. It reads: "Under this flag you are a free citizen. Under this flag there is freedom, equality and fraternity. Under this flag is justice and truth. Under this flag you have meat and bread. Under thls flag you worship no one and are not persecuted by t he Government. Under this flag you were received as a buman being and freedom was given you. Under thls flag you praise the Lord in your own tongue and no one ridicules or persecutes you for it. To this flag you have sworn loyalty, you have become a Citizen. Do you want to break your oath, do you want to be a perjurer and traitor? ! " That is how the Slovaks regarded and respected the American flag fifty years ago. In such a manner the Slovaks rallied around the American f\ag and everything that is symbolized: American democracy, American regard for the rights of nations. It was the American way of \ife that first motivated the Slovaks to fight for the right of the Slovak nation to its own state. Unfortunately, false and mendacious propaganda succeeded in convinclng the statesmen of America that there ls only one natlon In the world that dld not want fredom and independence - and that nation was the Slovak nation. They fell for the story that there was one nation In this world that wanted to be a vassal of others and not an independent nation, and that was the Slovak nation - the natlon whlch drank ftom the pure stream of American freedom and democracy, the natlon whlch so long ago propagated from America what lts enslaved adherents at home dared to translate lnto deeds a half cen• tury later. American democracy and the American way of life gave t he Slovaks the first motlve to demand all their inherent rlghts. Fify years ago Amerlcan Slovaks propagated and Cinanced the flght of thelr natlon for the rlght of a general, equa\ and secret ballot In Slovak la. �SLOVAKIA 21 The Slovaks in America sent their first "Memorandum" to the rulers of Slovakia in 1900. In it tbey requested the Magyar government to grant the Slovaks at home as much freedom as the Slovaks enjoyed in America. Peter Rovnianek, one of the outstandlng Slovaks of hls Ume, already in 1894 wrote in the first Slovak Almanac (Kalendár) publlshed in America: "American-Slovak life ls shining proof of Slovak capability. Only in America have we seen all that the Slovaks would be able to create at bome, if the boot of tbe tyrant would not press them to the earth." But even Dr. Edward Beneš himself wrote in 1918: "American Slovaks are manifesting how the entire Slovak natlon would think, speak and act, if it could freely tbink, speak and act. They are demonstrating on what level of mora! and cultural development they would be today, if they could live their own national Ufe for at least two or three decades." - (ČESKOSLOVENSKÁ SAMO· STATNOSŤ, September 4, 1918). The ide a of Slovak statehood did no t orig i na te in Germany, as la frequently cl ai m ed, but in Ame r i ca. The first Slovak book which told the Slovaks why th ey must work for their own state was published in Pittsburgh, Pa., some forty years ago. It !s altogether understandable and natural tbat the Slovaks, wbo grew up under the sun of American freedom, sbould demand for tbe nation tbey are descended trom all that had proved to be so sound in America. For that very reason it was tbe Amerlcan Slovaks wbo first came with tbe idea of Slovak statehood. and it is they wbo even today in an overwhelming majority hold to the Idea that only an Independent Slovakia can fully secure tbe national existence of tbe Slovak nation. The Slovak state originated from tbe ideals of American freedom. Its most zealous defenclers are people wbo know and love America. The spirit of independence has its roots In Amerlca. Tbe first Slovaks who clalmed that the Slovak nation was entltled to a state of its own lived in Amer!ca. Tbe Slovaks, brought up In Amerlca in tbe spirit of freedom, were the first to foster tbe Idea of Slovak state lndependence. It ls traglc misunderstandlng, caused by bolshevik and Czech propaganda connected with bolsbevlsm, that from tbe large states lt was only the American statesmen wbo did not recognize the Slovak State, even though tbat State !deologically and practlcally had lts roots In the great and noble princ!oles of American freedom and democracy and was born, so to speak, on Amerlcan soll. Already at the outset we had mentloned that the Slovak, who at home could not elect even a sQuire. in America could elect tbe President when he became a cltlzen. No llttle wonder, then, that such a difference in political r!ghts evoked In the common Slovak lmmigrant a sound reaction and urged bim to thlnk about the causes for such a dlfference. How ls it - he asked h!mself - that here In America I can do these things, but at home I cannot? He learned that In a forelgn !and he could freely establish societies, schools, chu rch organlzatlons and businesses; tbat he even could marcb under the Slovak flag; tbat �22 SLOVAKIA he could pin the Slovak emblem on his coat. But all these things were taboo at home, why? He compared himself with members of other nations and asked: Whaťs wrong with me? Am I inferior to others? Am I not a member of the famlly of natlons ot this earth? Is my child more backward intellectually than others in school? - And again he had to answer: certalnly not! He saw that the Slovak, given an equal opportunlty, was equal to any member of the ancient and wealthy nations as far as work, dexterity and readiness were concerned. Why can't the S lovaks at home enjoy the things the Slovaks can have in Amerlca? Who are we? What is our history? And so it was that the Slovaks gradually became selt-conscious and it was altogether natural for them to seek the same rlghts and opportunities even for their own people over there. Thus it was that some 50 years ago, there began to appear in the Amerlcan Slovak press the declaration: Slova ks, we are entitled to our own Slovak State! In the "Amerikánsko Slovenské Noviny" (American Slovak News), the "Slovenský Dennik" (Slovak Dal\y), the "J ednota" (Union), the "Slovák v Amerike" (Slovak in Amerlca) and the "Slovenský Hläsnik" (Slovak Herald) - to name at Jeast the most important papers - an interestlng dlscussion developed. Dlssertation followed dlssertation and thoughts were being crystalllzed. Among the tlrst propagators ot the Idea of an independent Slovak State was Adalbert Tholt- Vel'koštiavnický. Then came Hušek, Salva and many others. And it was entirely natural that those people saw the industry, the organlzlng ablllty of the Slovak In America who was aroused natlonally and secured materially. They saw that in the Slovak natlon were to be found all the prerequlsltes for the attainment of the hlghest right - state lndependence. At the same Ume, when the Slovaks at horne dreamed ahout having a single secondary school and about the re-establlshed Slovak Instltute (Matica Slovenská) as the plnnacle of natlonal attalnment, the volce of the Slovaks in America thundered: Not one school, but all schools ! Not a few rights, but all rights ! Not the easement of thraldom, but the abolition of slavery! And these thlngs are posslble only in an Independent state life. At the tlme, when even those Slovaks at home dld not believe In tbelr hearts the Slovak credo which they publlcly professed, tbe voice of the Slovaks In America boomed: "You must belleve in the resurrectlon of our Slovak natlon and also ln its complete lndependence and self-sufficiency, because the Lord of all natlons is not God ot tbe dead natlons. but of those whlch are corporeally and splrltually allve. Long live the Independent Slovak natlon!" - (Slovenský Denn!k, Plttsburgh, Pa., Aprll 10, 1909). That was the klnd of falth that transformed mountalns and cured the slck. But that klnd of falth could be attalned only in an atmospbere enllgbtened by tbe sun of Amerlcan freedom and democracy. And we must admlt that thls faitb, developed In Amerlca. worked mlracles In Slovakla. The Magyars could problblt the publlcatlon of Slovak perlodicals, they could forbld tbe entry of Slovak Almanacs lnto Slovakla, but the llving b earers of thls faith kept returnlng home to flre thelr countrymen wlth lt. Wltbout thls faltb there would have been no mlraculous turn of events In 1918. And lt was thls faitb, too, tbat in an lnstant washed away all forelgn deposlts llke fine dust. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1951, Vol. 1 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1951 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 1), May 1951.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 2), December 1951.</li> </ul> Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context <ul><li><a href="https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/s261hfmshm7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span>ark:/13960/s261hfmshm7</span></a></li> <li><a href="https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/s21tk2wkzj4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span>ark:/13960/s21tk2wkzj4</span></a></li> </ul> Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document AMERICAN SLOVAKS AND SLOVAK STATEHOOD CONSTANTINE ČULEN (Member of the Board of the Slovak National Council Abroad) We are witnesses of an incredible phenomenon. The demand of the Slovak nation to decide for itself its own fate, to have its own state, has often been classified as a crime. If it is a crime, then we must state clearly at the outset that the roots of this crime stem not in Slovakia, but in America. No other country in the world has had as much influence as America on the development of the political destinies of the Slovak nation. Even today in Slovakia there Jive several hundred thousand mature citizens who spent the best years of their lives in America. English and American prisoners of war attest to the fact that wher­ever they traveled in Slovakia they found people who could speak English and felt a burning love for the United States. There were times when 2 per cent of the total Slovak population left its native home for America annually. In the years between 1889 and 1915 about 600,000 Slovaks emigrated out of a total population of about 2,750,000. Of course, many Slovaks later returned to their homes beneath the majestic Tatras, but the majority of Slovak emi­grants remained in America. Today about a million and a half Americans are of Slovak descent. The Slovaks who returned to Slo­vakia, however, were not the same people who had left lt. They were distinctly different in certain respects, because America had done something to them, America had, in fact, transformed them. In old Hungary the Slovak people was an oppressed nation. The Slovaks were dying materially and nationally under the yoke of Magyar feudalism. They had very little or no schooling and no representation in parliament. Their language was not tolerated outside the church and family circle. It was such Slovaks who first came to America in large numbers. They had no idea of the rights they were entitled to. In America they began to organize themselves on a national basis. It may seem strange, but it 1s a fact that the Slovaks as a whole did not awaken nationally at home, but in America. For the first time in their history, it was In America that the Slovaks could parade freely under the Slovak flag. In America they could establish Slovak organizations. In America they could freely and without fear of censorship and confiscation publish their own Slovak newspapers. They could freely and without interference present their political demands. All this was forbidden them at home, In Slovakia. In a short Ume, this small nation, oppressed at home, awakened nationally on American soil and soon made its influence felt even at home. In Slovakia under the Magyars. the Slovaks could not even elect a squire, but In the USA they could elect even the President of the USA after they had become citizens. The Slovaks, who lived in thraldom in their native land, became full-fledged citizens In America. And since thousands of Slovaks returned to Slovakia from America annually, they brought with themselves not only money, with which they paid off their debts, bought homes and established businesses, but they also brought with themselves national consciousness. The influence of these re-emigrants was so effective that the Slovak nation, which had only two deputies in parliament during a whole century, already had twenty of them during the first decade of this century. All political battles of the twentieth century were waged with American money and were influenced by the American spirit of freedom. From America, the Slovaks brought many things to their homeland, especially, however, 1. capital; 2. technical experiences; 3. human and national self-consciousness; 4. a love for democracy; 6. a knowledge of English; and 6. a love for America and the American way of life. What the Slovaks brought from America they sought to validate at home. The American way of life encouraged and directed their plans in Slovakia. Slovak life waxed strong even during the hardest times, because it was nourished materially and ideologically by a current of material and spiritual wealth from America. In the recent past, American Slovaks formed the most nationalistic group of the Slovak nation. What the Slovak at home could not say, the Slovak in America expressed for him. It is undoubtedly an interesting reality that the wide Slovak masses became ardent na­tionalists in America. And the fact that Slovak newspapers became an indispensable necessity of the Slovak people, that, too, must be credited to America. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the most widely distributed Slovak newspaper in America had about ten times more sub­scribers than all the Slovak newspapers in Slovakia combined. Without the national consciousness which the emigrants brought home from America, there never would have been any political awakening of the Slovaks during the first decade of this century. And without the money, which the Slovaks earned and saved in America, the living standard of the Slovak people would not have attained the high level that it did. For that reason, the Idea of "the new homeland of the Slovaks" - in reference to America - is not an empty expression. America actually became the new homeland of Slovak emigrants, in fact, the homeland of approximately one-third of the entire Slovak nation. The Slovaks at home always mentioned and still do mention America with grateful affection. In Slovakia, even today the words Pittsburgh, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, New York, Milwaukee, Scranton and other American cities with large Slovak populations are as familiar as Budapest, Berlin, Vienna, Paris and Prague. If one looks through the oldest newspapers published in Slovakia, he will ascertain that Slovakia regarded the results of American de­mocracy with great admiration and respect long before hundreds of thousands of Slovaks settled in America. American freedom was their model. The old "Prešpurské Noviny" (Pressburg News) already in 1783 published quite a few articles about the American struggle for freedom. And American democracy – “where there are no citizens with special privileges" - was offered as a model to the Slovaks by Štúr's "Orol Tatranský (The Eagle of the Tatras). The youthful followers of Štúr already In 1843 contributed an article about Slovak poetry to the "North American Review." Joseph Miloslav Hurban, Slovak patriot, said in his biography of Štúr: "Wise and just laws, founded on inalienable natural rights, will provide strength and welfare to nations. For us the evident proof of this has become the free United States of North America." His son, Svetozár Hurban Vajanský renowned Slovak poet and writer, sent a greeting to his countrymen in America while in jail. In that greeting, among other things, he has America saying to Slovak emigrants: "Oh, come to me, foresaken children! Gifts I have not, but one thing I do give you: Time to work in freedom, respect for human rights." And he further wrote: "And Columbia? Thou hast rent the shackles, Lifted them up closer to humanity, to God, to heaven. Land of Christopher, may Christ reward thee, For what thou bast done for my wretched brethren." That the American flag was held in great respect by the first Slovak immigrants is attested to by a leaflet that was published some fifty years ago. It reads: "Under this flag you are a free citizen. Under this flag there is freedom, equality and fraternity. Under this flag is justice and truth. Under this flag you have meat and bread. Under this flag you worship no one and are not persecuted by the Government. Under this flag you were received as a human being and freedom was given you. Under this flag you praise the Lord in your own tongue and no one ridicules or persecutes you for it. To this flag you have sworn loyalty, you have become a citizen. Do you want to break your oath, do you want to be a perjurer and traitor? ! " That is how the Slovaks regarded and respected the American flag fifty years ago. In such a manner the Slovaks rallied around the American f\ag and everything that is symbolized: American democracy, American regard for the rights of nations. It was the American way of life that first motivated the Slovaks to fight for the right of the Slovak nation to its own state. Unfortunately, false and mendacious propaganda succeeded in convincing the statesmen of America that there is only one nation In the world that did not want freedom and independence - and that nation was the Slovak nation. They fell for the story that there was one nation In this world that wanted to be a vassal of others and not an independent nation, and that was the Slovak nation - the nation which drank from the pure stream of American freedom and democracy, the nation which so long ago propagated from America what its enslaved adherents at home dared to translate into deeds a half century later. American democracy and the American way of life gave the Slovaks the first motive to demand all their inherent rights. Fifty years ago American Slovaks propagated and financed the fight of their nation for the right of a general, equal and secret ballot in Slovakia. The Slovaks in America sent their first "Memorandum" to the rulers of Slovakia in 1900. In it they requested the Magyar government to grant the Slovaks at home as much freedom as the Slovaks enjoyed in America. Peter Rovnianek, one of the outstanding Slovaks of his time, already in 1894 wrote in the first Slovak Almanac (Kalendár) published in America: "American-Slovak life is shining proof of Slovak capability. Only in America have we seen all that the Slovaks would be able to create at home, if the boot of the tyrant would not press them to the earth." But even Dr. Edward Beneš himself wrote in 1918: "American Slovaks are manifesting how the entire Slovak nation would think, speak and act, if it could freely think, speak and act. They are demonstrating on what level of mora! and cultural development they would be today, if they could live their own national life for at least two or three decades." - (ČESKOSLOVENSKÁ SAMOSTATNOSŤ, September 4, 1918). The idea of Slovak statehood did not originate in Germany, as is frequently claimed, but in America. The first Slovak book which told the Slovaks why they must work for their own state was published in Pittsburgh, Pa., some forty years ago. It is altogether understandable and natural that the Slovaks, who grew up under the sun of American freedom, should demand for the nation they are descended from all that had proved to be so sound in America. For that very reason it was the American Slovaks who first came with the idea of Slovak statehood. and it is they who even today in an overwhelming majority hold to the idea that only an independent Slovakia can fully secure the national existence of the Slovak nation. The Slovak state originated from the ideals of American freedom. Its most zealous defenders are people who know and love America. The spirit of independence has its roots in America. The first Slovaks who claimed that the Slovak nation was entitled to a state of its own lived in America. The Slovaks, brought up in America in the spirit of freedom, were the first to foster the Idea of Slovak state independence. It is tragic misunderstanding, caused by bolshevik and Czech propaganda connected with bolshevism, that from the large states it was only the American statesmen who did not recognize the Slovak State, even though that State ideologically and practically had its roots in the great and noble principles of American freedom and de­mocracy and was born, so to speak, on American soil. Already at the outset we had mentioned that the Slovak, who at home could not elect even a squire. in America could elect the President when he became a citizen. No little wonder, then, that such a difference in political rights evoked In the common Slovak immigrant a sound reaction and urged him to think about the causes for such a difference. How is it - he asked himself - that here In America I can do these things, but at home I cannot? He learned that in a foreign land he could freely establish societies, schools, church organizations and businesses; that he even could march under the Slovak flag; that he could pin the Slovak emblem on his coat. But all these things were taboo at home, why? He compared himself with members of other nations and asked: What’s wrong with me? Am I inferior to others? Am I not a member of the family of nations of this earth? Is my child more backward intellectually than others in school? - And again he had to answer: certainly not! He saw that the Slovak, given an equal opportunity, was equal to any member of the ancient and wealthy nations as far as work, dexterity and readiness were concerned. Why can't the Slovaks at home enjoy the things the Slovaks can have in America? Who are we? What is our history? And so it was that the Slovaks gradually became self-conscious and it was altogether natural for them to seek the same rights and opportunities even for their own people over there. Thus it was that some 50 years ago, there began to appear in the American Slovak press the declaration: Slovaks, we are entitled to our own Slovak State! In the "Amerikánsko Slovenské Noviny" (American Slovak News), the "Slovenský Denník" (Slovak Daily), the "Jednota" (Union), the "Slovák v Amerike" (Slovak in America) and the "Slovenský Hlásnik" (Slovak Herald) - to name at least the most important papers - an interesting discussion developed. Dissertation followed dissertation and thoughts were being crystallized. Among the first propagators of the idea of an independent Slovak State was Adalbert Tholt-Veľkoštiavnický. Then came Hušek, Salva and many others. And it was entirely natural that those people saw the industry, the organizing ability of the Slovak In America who was aroused nationally and secured materially. They saw that in the Slovak nation were to be found all the prerequisites for the attainment of the highest right - state independence. At the same Ume, when the Slovaks at home dreamed about having a single secondary school and about the re-established Slovak Institute (Matica Slovenská) as the pinnacle of national attainment, the voice of the Slovaks in America thundered: Not one school, but all schools! Not a few rights, but all rights! Not the easement of thraldom, but the abolition of slavery! And these things are possible only in an Independent state life. At the time, when even those Slovaks at home did not believe in their hearts the Slovak credo which they publicly professed, the voice of the Slovaks In America boomed: "You must believe in the resurrection of our Slovak nation and also in its complete independence and self-sufficiency, because the Lord of all nations is not God of the dead nations, but of those which are corporeally and spiritually alive. Long live the independent Slovak nation!" - (Slovenský Denník, Pittsburgh, Pa., April 10, 1909). That was the kind of faith that transformed mountains and cured the sick. But that kind of faith could be attained only in an atmosphere enlightened by the sun of American freedom and democracy. And we must admit that this faith, developed In America. worked miracles in Slovakia. The Magyars could prohibit the publication of Slovak periodicals, they could forbid the entry of Slovak Almanacs into Slovakia, but the living bearers of this faith kept returning home to fire their countrymen with it. Without this faith there would have been no miraculous turn of events In 1918. And it was this faith, too, that in an instant washed away all foreign deposits like fine dust. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource American Slovaks and Slovak Statehood Description An account of the resource Constantine Čulen Slovakia, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1), May 1951 pp. 18-22 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource May 1951 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Čulen, Konštantín, 1904-1964 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/a43d95a5e8d013cc251ec24748bd0e08.pdf ad69dac0484c5bce202217bc5e0cdb7c PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 25 AMERICAN SLOVAK.SAND SS. CYRIL AND METIIODIDS MARY PIROCH A comparison of the list of Slovak Catholic parishes in America with a list of those in Slovakia reveals an interesting fact which would prove puzzling and hard to understand if one were unfamiliar with conditions under which ohurches were founded in the respective countries. In Slovakia, churi;hes were founded by patrons. These were usually noblemen, lords, dukes or counts who retained great wealth and power by inheritance and, in the selection of the saint to whom a church was to be dedicated, the patron made the choice. In America, on the other hand, the churches were founded by the people and for the patron of their church they usually chose a saint to whom they felt bound by the strongest ties of love and devotion. This phenomenon occurs also among the Irish, German and other Europeans who have settled in greater numbers in America. It is noteworthy that the Slovaks petitioned the emperor, in 1861, to officially proclaim SS. Cyril and Methodius "Apostles of the Slova:ks." That the emperor declined to grant the request does not detract from its significance. The petition to have SS. Cyril and Methodius proclaimed as "National Slovak Patrons" was signed by over fifty eminent Slovak patriots, led ·b y Bishop Stephen Moyses. Among the signers were both Catholics and Evangelicals (Lutherans), clergymen and laymen - and this adds meaning to the petition. ':Nie petition to recognize SS. Cyril and Methodius as "National Patrons" has, above all else, a religious significance. The entire national life of the Slovaks was built on a Christian foundation. Thereby the Slovaks clearly expressed the fact that their national life was not only a combination of economic forces, not only a struggle of class and political groups, not only a cultivation of cultural nobility, but also an organic system in which social, cultural, and religious manifestations of life have their proper place. When Slovaks came to this country and began founding their Catholic parishes and churches, they chose for their ;patron the saint to whom they were most attached and upon whose intercession they relied the most. In their new home, here in America, our pioneers, more than ever before be- �26 SLOVAKIA came aware of their alien environment and, to counteract this, wanted to bring into it as much of "their own" as possible. '.Dhat is why, for their patrons, so frequently they chose SS. Cyril and Methodius. This also explains why, here in America, we have SS. Cyril and Methodius churches in almost every diocese, while in the "old country" they are almost nonexistent. T·h is empathy manifested itself yet in another way. Slovak newspapers and periodicals in America frequently brought studies and articles about our Slova:k Apostles, and there were times when every Slovak Catholic family in America had in its dwelling, in a place of prominence, a picture of SS. Cyril and Mefuodius. Today we also find pictures of these saints in Slovak Catholic households. These are the pictures which the Slovak Catholic Federation prepared and is selling as souvenirs commemorating the 1100th Anniversary of the coming of Cyril and Methodius to Slovakia. We have in America, under the patronage of SS. Cyril and Methodius, a congregation of sisters which was founded 50 years ago. '.Dhis is the only religious congregation founded by Slovaks, either here or in Slovakia. Today, it numbers over 400 members, is in charge of 36 schools in nine dioceses and, ,besides the St. Cyril Academy for Girls, the Sisters conduct the girls' section of Adrian High School in Gary, Ind., and Junior High Schools in Hazleton, Pa., Bridgeport, Conn., and Binghamton, N. Y., also the clinics in WilkesBarre and Phoenixville, Pa., the Jednota Home for orphans in Middletown, Pa., and two homes for the aged. It is true that sisters of other congregations, which have their own Slova:k mother houses teach in many of Olll" Slovak parochial schools. Nevertihele~s, the Congregation of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius seems to have become the most numerous which again indicates that Slovak girls with a calling to the religious life seem to find the Congregation of the Slovak Apostles the most attractive. Since so many of our churches here are dedicated to SS. Cyril and Methodius, and since so many sisters are devoting their lives to work in a religious order under their name, it is only natural that artists should want to depict their image and likeness and scenes from their lives. So, we �SLOVAKIA 27 have statues of SS. Cyril and Metlhodius in churches dedicated to them and in others, notably in the National Shrine of the llnmaculate Conception in Washington, D. C. The following gives an idea where, in the U.S. and Canada, churches dedicated to SS. Cyril and Methodius are located: Alabama: Brookside (organized 1895); Arkansas: Stuttgart-Slovaktown (1900); Connecticut: Bridgeport (1907); IDinois: Chicago (1914), East St. Louis (1911), Joliet (1900); Kansas: Kansas City (1906); Maine: Lisbon Falls (1923); Michigan: Detroit (1918); Minnesota: Minneapolis (1891); Missouri: Sugar Creek (1913); Montana: Stockett (1900); New Jersey: Boonton (1906), Clifton (1913); New York: Binghamton (1903), Schenectady (1913); Ohio: Barberton (1906), Lakewood (1903-the only Slovak R.C. Church which is consecrated), Rossford (1923), Warren (1928), Youngstown (1898); Pennsylvania: Bethlehem (1891), Charleroi (1901), Coaldale (1920), Edwardsville (1901), Fairchance (1911), Lebanon (1905), New Brighton (1916), Reading 1.895), Winburne (1904), Windber (1905); Wisconsin: Superior (1911); CANADA: Hamilton, Ont. (1945); Montreal, Que. (1928); New Westminster, B. C. (1960); Toronto, Ont. (1934) ; Windsor (1940). In addition to this, songs and hymns in their honor be-came an integral part of every religious event among the Slova1ks in America. Thus we find here in America that more pictures of SS. Cyril and Methodius have been painted, more statues -carved, cut, chiseled, cast or molded, and more songs, hymns in their honor sung, than in Slovakia. You and I and all Catholics of Slovak descent in America, are witnessing a beautiful event, the completion of a cycle of religious history of Slovakia. Under the leadership of Bishop Andrew G. Grutka and the SlovRk Catholic Federation of America the Slovaks have decided to build and furnish an institute in Rome, Italy, where future priests and missionaries for Slovakia are to be trained. By this deed, American Slovak Catholics will be repaying theiT mother country for sending us priests when we needed them most to preserve the faith of our fathers. The SS. Cyril and Methodius Institute is named most appropriately in honor of our Slovak Apostles, the saintly brothers who brought the �28 SLOVAKIA faith to our forefathers at the dawn of our national history. It was then, in the ninth century, t:hat the Slovak nation became an integral part of Christian civilization. Our duty is to support the Institute according to OUT means. This is one way we show our appreciation for the benefit of the faith which today is flourishing among our Slovak people in America. Let us not forget that it was not always so. The first immigrants to this country were lost without their own churches and priests. There was no one to defend them in time of need; no one to protect their interests. So the priests, who at that time came among our people brought a real, a heroic sacrifice. They really started from "scratch." So often want, real want, was an everyday guest of these selfsacrificing priests who not only had to preach the word of God and administer the sacraments to our people, but also were their advisors, teachers, protectors, and representatives in their new homeland. They often acted as counselors in courts, but more often they had to counsel the faithful against their OWIIl bad habits, passions and ignorance. These selfless pioneer priests founded our flourishing parishes. Then native born Americans of Slovak descent continued to organize and build many other parishes. Slovak women, mothers especially, should appreciate the fact that if anything is important in the life of our people in America, it is this great conversion of a colony to a parish, the change of a boarder (' ~burdingos") into a head of a happy family. This would not have been possible without the immigrant Slovak priests_of that day. Times and circumstances have since changed. Today, not we in America, but those in Slovakia need priests to fill the ancient Slovak churches in order to return to their beautiful Cyrilo-Methodian tradition. What is expected of us? A mere trifle! We are asked to give a share of our material abundance so that the project may become a reality and the Institute of SS. Cyril and MethodiU'S in Rome could begin its most worthwhile function now in 1963-1100 years after the advent of the Slovak Apostles to the land of the Slovaks. I pray God that the Slovaks of America and Canada, and the rest of the free world, respond generously. � SLOVAKIA 25 AMERICAN SLOVAK.SAND SS. CYRIL AND METIIODIDS MARY PIROCH A comparison of the list of Slovak Catholic parishes in America with a list of those in Slovakia reveals an interesting fact which would prove puzzling and hard to understand if one were unfamiliar with conditions under which ohurches were founded in the respective countries. In Slovakia, churi;hes were founded by patrons. These were usually noblemen, lords, dukes or counts who retained great wealth and power by inheritance and, in the selection of the saint to whom a church was to be dedicated, the patron made the choice. In America, on the other hand, the churches were founded by the people and for the patron of their church they usually chose a saint to whom they felt bound by the strongest ties of love and devotion. This phenomenon occurs also among the Irish, German and other Europeans who have settled in greater numbers in America. It is noteworthy that the Slovaks petitioned the emperor, in 1861, to officially proclaim SS. Cyril and Methodius "Apostles of the Slova:ks." That the emperor declined to grant the request does not detract from its significance. The petition to have SS. Cyril and Methodius proclaimed as "National Slovak Patrons" was signed by over fifty eminent Slovak patriots, led ·b y Bishop Stephen Moyses. Among the signers were both Catholics and Evangelicals (Lutherans), clergymen and laymen - and this adds meaning to the petition. ':Nie petition to recognize SS. Cyril and Methodius as "National Patrons" has, above all else, a religious significance. The entire national life of the Slovaks was built on a Christian foundation. Thereby the Slovaks clearly expressed the fact that their national life was not only a combination of economic forces, not only a struggle of class and political groups, not only a cultivation of cultural nobility, but also an organic system in which social, cultural, and religious manifestations of life have their proper place. When Slovaks came to this country and began founding their Catholic parishes and churches, they chose for their ;patron the saint to whom they were most attached and upon whose intercession they relied the most. In their new home, here in America, our pioneers, more than ever before be- �26 SLOVAKIA came aware of their alien environment and, to counteract this, wanted to bring into it as much of "their own" as possible. '.Dhat is why, for their patrons, so frequently they chose SS. Cyril and Methodius. This also explains why, here in America, we have SS. Cyril and Methodius churches in almost every diocese, while in the "old country" they are almost nonexistent. T·h is empathy manifested itself yet in another way. Slovak newspapers and periodicals in America frequently brought studies and articles about our Slova:k Apostles, and there were times when every Slovak Catholic family in America had in its dwelling, in a place of prominence, a picture of SS. Cyril and Mefuodius. Today we also find pictures of these saints in Slovak Catholic households. These are the pictures which the Slovak Catholic Federation prepared and is selling as souvenirs commemorating the 1100th Anniversary of the coming of Cyril and Methodius to Slovakia. We have in America, under the patronage of SS. Cyril and Methodius, a congregation of sisters which was founded 50 years ago. '.Dhis is the only religious congregation founded by Slovaks, either here or in Slovakia. Today, it numbers over 400 members, is in charge of 36 schools in nine dioceses and, ,besides the St. Cyril Academy for Girls, the Sisters conduct the girls' section of Adrian High School in Gary, Ind., and Junior High Schools in Hazleton, Pa., Bridgeport, Conn., and Binghamton, N. Y., also the clinics in WilkesBarre and Phoenixville, Pa., the Jednota Home for orphans in Middletown, Pa., and two homes for the aged. It is true that sisters of other congregations, which have their own Slova:k mother houses teach in many of Olll" Slovak parochial schools. Nevertihele~s, the Congregation of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius seems to have become the most numerous which again indicates that Slovak girls with a calling to the religious life seem to find the Congregation of the Slovak Apostles the most attractive. Since so many of our churches here are dedicated to SS. Cyril and Methodius, and since so many sisters are devoting their lives to work in a religious order under their name, it is only natural that artists should want to depict their image and likeness and scenes from their lives. So, we �SLOVAKIA 27 have statues of SS. Cyril and Metlhodius in churches dedicated to them and in others, notably in the National Shrine of the llnmaculate Conception in Washington, D. C. The following gives an idea where, in the U.S. and Canada, churches dedicated to SS. Cyril and Methodius are located: Alabama: Brookside (organized 1895); Arkansas: Stuttgart-Slovaktown (1900); Connecticut: Bridgeport (1907); IDinois: Chicago (1914), East St. Louis (1911), Joliet (1900); Kansas: Kansas City (1906); Maine: Lisbon Falls (1923); Michigan: Detroit (1918); Minnesota: Minneapolis (1891); Missouri: Sugar Creek (1913); Montana: Stockett (1900); New Jersey: Boonton (1906), Clifton (1913); New York: Binghamton (1903), Schenectady (1913); Ohio: Barberton (1906), Lakewood (1903-the only Slovak R.C. Church which is consecrated), Rossford (1923), Warren (1928), Youngstown (1898); Pennsylvania: Bethlehem (1891), Charleroi (1901), Coaldale (1920), Edwardsville (1901), Fairchance (1911), Lebanon (1905), New Brighton (1916), Reading 1.895), Winburne (1904), Windber (1905); Wisconsin: Superior (1911); CANADA: Hamilton, Ont. (1945); Montreal, Que. (1928); New Westminster, B. C. (1960); Toronto, Ont. (1934) ; Windsor (1940). In addition to this, songs and hymns in their honor be-came an integral part of every religious event among the Slova1ks in America. Thus we find here in America that more pictures of SS. Cyril and Methodius have been painted, more statues -carved, cut, chiseled, cast or molded, and more songs, hymns in their honor sung, than in Slovakia. You and I and all Catholics of Slovak descent in America, are witnessing a beautiful event, the completion of a cycle of religious history of Slovakia. Under the leadership of Bishop Andrew G. Grutka and the SlovRk Catholic Federation of America the Slovaks have decided to build and furnish an institute in Rome, Italy, where future priests and missionaries for Slovakia are to be trained. By this deed, American Slovak Catholics will be repaying theiT mother country for sending us priests when we needed them most to preserve the faith of our fathers. The SS. Cyril and Methodius Institute is named most appropriately in honor of our Slovak Apostles, the saintly brothers who brought the �28 SLOVAKIA faith to our forefathers at the dawn of our national history. It was then, in the ninth century, t:hat the Slovak nation became an integral part of Christian civilization. Our duty is to support the Institute according to OUT means. This is one way we show our appreciation for the benefit of the faith which today is flourishing among our Slovak people in America. Let us not forget that it was not always so. The first immigrants to this country were lost without their own churches and priests. There was no one to defend them in time of need; no one to protect their interests. So the priests, who at that time came among our people brought a real, a heroic sacrifice. They really started from "scratch." So often want, real want, was an everyday guest of these selfsacrificing priests who not only had to preach the word of God and administer the sacraments to our people, but also were their advisors, teachers, protectors, and representatives in their new homeland. They often acted as counselors in courts, but more often they had to counsel the faithful against their OWIIl bad habits, passions and ignorance. These selfless pioneer priests founded our flourishing parishes. Then native born Americans of Slovak descent continued to organize and build many other parishes. Slovak women, mothers especially, should appreciate the fact that if anything is important in the life of our people in America, it is this great conversion of a colony to a parish, the change of a boarder (' ~burdingos") into a head of a happy family. This would not have been possible without the immigrant Slovak priests_of that day. Times and circumstances have since changed. Today, not we in America, but those in Slovakia need priests to fill the ancient Slovak churches in order to return to their beautiful Cyrilo-Methodian tradition. What is expected of us? A mere trifle! We are asked to give a share of our material abundance so that the project may become a reality and the Institute of SS. Cyril and MethodiU'S in Rome could begin its most worthwhile function now in 1963-1100 years after the advent of the Slovak Apostles to the land of the Slovaks. I pray God that the Slovaks of America and Canada, and the rest of the free world, respond generously. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to 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 25 AMERICAN SLOVAK.SAND SS. CYRIL AND METIIODIDS MARY PIROCH A comparison of the list of Slovak Catholic parishes in America with a list of those in Slovakia reveals an interesting fact which would prove puzzling and hard to understand if one were unfamiliar with conditions under which ohurches were founded in the respective countries. In Slovakia, churi;hes were founded by patrons. These were usually noblemen, lords, dukes or counts who retained great wealth and power by inheritance and, in the selection of the saint to whom a church was to be dedicated, the patron made the choice. In America, on the other hand, the churches were founded by the people and for the patron of their church they usually chose a saint to whom they felt bound by the strongest ties of love and devotion. This phenomenon occurs also among the Irish, German and other Europeans who have settled in greater numbers in America. It is noteworthy that the Slovaks petitioned the emperor, in 1861, to officially proclaim SS. Cyril and Methodius "Apostles of the Slova:ks." That the emperor declined to grant the request does not detract from its significance. The petition to have SS. Cyril and Methodius proclaimed as "National Slovak Patrons" was signed by over fifty eminent Slovak patriots, led ·b y Bishop Stephen Moyses. Among the signers were both Catholics and Evangelicals (Lutherans), clergymen and laymen - and this adds meaning to the petition. ':Nie petition to recognize SS. Cyril and Methodius as "National Patrons" has, above all else, a religious significance. The entire national life of the Slovaks was built on a Christian foundation. Thereby the Slovaks clearly expressed the fact that their national life was not only a combination of economic forces, not only a struggle of class and political groups, not only a cultivation of cultural nobility, but also an organic system in which social, cultural, and religious manifestations of life have their proper place. When Slovaks came to this country and began founding their Catholic parishes and churches, they chose for their ;patron the saint to whom they were most attached and upon whose intercession they relied the most. In their new home, here in America, our pioneers, more than ever before be- 26 SLOVAKIA came aware of their alien environment and, to counteract this, wanted to bring into it as much of "their own" as possible. '.Dhat is why, for their patrons, so frequently they chose SS. Cyril and Methodius. This also explains why, here in America, we have SS. Cyril and Methodius churches in almost every diocese, while in the "old country" they are almost nonexistent. T·h is empathy manifested itself yet in another way. Slovak newspapers and periodicals in America frequently brought studies and articles about our Slova:k Apostles, and there were times when every Slovak Catholic family in America had in its dwelling, in a place of prominence, a picture of SS. Cyril and Mefuodius. Today we also find pictures of these saints in Slovak Catholic households. These are the pictures which the Slovak Catholic Federation prepared and is selling as souvenirs commemorating the 1100th Anniversary of the coming of Cyril and Methodius to Slovakia. We have in America, under the patronage of SS. Cyril and Methodius, a congregation of sisters which was founded 50 years ago. '.Dhis is the only religious congregation founded by Slovaks, either here or in Slovakia. Today, it numbers over 400 members, is in charge of 36 schools in nine dioceses and, ,besides the St. Cyril Academy for Girls, the Sisters conduct the girls' section of Adrian High School in Gary, Ind., and Junior High Schools in Hazleton, Pa., Bridgeport, Conn., and Binghamton, N. Y., also the clinics in WilkesBarre and Phoenixville, Pa., the Jednota Home for orphans in Middletown, Pa., and two homes for the aged. It is true that sisters of other congregations, which have their own Slova:k mother houses teach in many of Olll" Slovak parochial schools. Nevertihele~s, the Congregation of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius seems to have become the most numerous which again indicates that Slovak girls with a calling to the religious life seem to find the Congregation of the Slovak Apostles the most attractive. Since so many of our churches here are dedicated to SS. Cyril and Methodius, and since so many sisters are devoting their lives to work in a religious order under their name, it is only natural that artists should want to depict their image and likeness and scenes from their lives. So, we SLOVAKIA 27 have statues of SS. Cyril and Metlhodius in churches dedicated to them and in others, notably in the National Shrine of the llnmaculate Conception in Washington, D. C. The following gives an idea where, in the U.S. and Canada, churches dedicated to SS. Cyril and Methodius are located: Alabama: Brookside (organized 1895); Arkansas: Stuttgart-Slovaktown (1900); Connecticut: Bridgeport (1907); IDinois: Chicago (1914), East St. Louis (1911), Joliet (1900); Kansas: Kansas City (1906); Maine: Lisbon Falls (1923); Michigan: Detroit (1918); Minnesota: Minneapolis (1891); Missouri: Sugar Creek (1913); Montana: Stockett (1900); New Jersey: Boonton (1906), Clifton (1913); New York: Binghamton (1903), Schenectady (1913); Ohio: Barberton (1906), Lakewood (1903-the only Slovak R.C. Church which is consecrated), Rossford (1923), Warren (1928), Youngstown (1898); Pennsylvania: Bethlehem (1891), Charleroi (1901), Coaldale (1920), Edwardsville (1901), Fairchance (1911), Lebanon (1905), New Brighton (1916), Reading 1.895), Winburne (1904), Windber (1905); Wisconsin: Superior (1911); CANADA: Hamilton, Ont. (1945); Montreal, Que. (1928); New Westminster, B. C. (1960); Toronto, Ont. (1934) ; Windsor (1940). In addition to this, songs and hymns in their honor be-came an integral part of every religious event among the Slova1ks in America. Thus we find here in America that more pictures of SS. Cyril and Methodius have been painted, more statues -carved, cut, chiseled, cast or molded, and more songs, hymns in their honor sung, than in Slovakia. You and I and all Catholics of Slovak descent in America, are witnessing a beautiful event, the completion of a cycle of religious history of Slovakia. Under the leadership of Bishop Andrew G. Grutka and the SlovRk Catholic Federation of America the Slovaks have decided to build and furnish an institute in Rome, Italy, where future priests and missionaries for Slovakia are to be trained. By this deed, American Slovak Catholics will be repaying theiT mother country for sending us priests when we needed them most to preserve the faith of our fathers. The SS. Cyril and Methodius Institute is named most appropriately in honor of our Slovak Apostles, the saintly brothers who brought the 28 SLOVAKIA faith to our forefathers at the dawn of our national history. It was then, in the ninth century, t:hat the Slovak nation became an integral part of Christian civilization. Our duty is to support the Institute according to OUT means. This is one way we show our appreciation for the benefit of the faith which today is flourishing among our Slovak people in America. Let us not forget that it was not always so. The first immigrants to this country were lost without their own churches and priests. There was no one to defend them in time of need; no one to protect their interests. So the priests, who at that time came among our people brought a real, a heroic sacrifice. They really started from "scratch." So often want, real want, was an everyday guest of these selfsacrificing priests who not only had to preach the word of God and administer the sacraments to our people, but also were their advisors, teachers, protectors, and representatives in their new homeland. They often acted as counselors in courts, but more often they had to counsel the faithful against their OWIIl bad habits, passions and ignorance. These selfless pioneer priests founded our flourishing parishes. Then native born Americans of Slovak descent continued to organize and build many other parishes. Slovak women, mothers especially, should appreciate the fact that if anything is important in the life of our people in America, it is this great conversion of a colony to a parish, the change of a boarder (' ~burdingos") into a head of a happy family. This would not have been possible without the immigrant Slovak priests_of that day. Times and circumstances have since changed. Today, not we in America, but those in Slovakia need priests to fill the ancient Slovak churches in order to return to their beautiful Cyrilo-Methodian tradition. What is expected of us? A mere trifle! We are asked to give a share of our material abundance so that the project may become a reality and the Institute of SS. Cyril and MethodiU'S in Rome could begin its most worthwhile function now in 1963-1100 years after the advent of the Slovak Apostles to the land of the Slovaks. I pray God that the Slovaks of America and Canada, and the rest of the free world, respond generously.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource American Slovaks and SS. Cyril and Methodius Description An account of the resource Mary Piroch Slovakia, Vol. 13, No. 1 (36), March 1963 pp. 25-28 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Piroch, Mary 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/5d85595f4b7c2b959ee29d06a2fe5ef1.pdf 660c5204a16b4cb09eba283c166adb88 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 63 AMIDRIO.AN SLOV:.A.KiS AND '.DHE BEJG]NNJNGS OF 02'JIDOHO-SLOVAKI.A. By Joseph Pauco, Ph.D. In 1907 there was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, an organiiization ,ca:lled the Slovaik LeaJgue of America. This orga'Illization represented a coailition of aiH 1:Jhe existing Slovaik fraite:m al and r~i:giou:s organizations in the United States, and rallied besides, the support of t'he Slovaik clergy, both OatJholic amd Evangelka!l (Lutheran), as well as t!he suipport of the then--e:ristiing Slov:aik-American periodicals. The Slova!k League set as its major goail tJhe lilberation of the SllovaJk nation in its homelaind. For t!his reason it toO!k a srtand for t!he dismaintlement of tJhe .Austro-Hiungarian Empire and e:,oplo;z-ed possiibi'lities for political cooperation wit:Jh the Czech nation. Thiis cooperation reached formal expression in 1:Jhe signing of the Pi'Ubsburgh Pad of May 30, 1918, parties to which were 11epresentatives of the Silova'k Leaigue of America on the one side, and the represenrtatives of the Czech Natriona:l .Alliance and the Union of Czech Ca1fuolics, on the otJher. The Czechs were led by Thomas G. Masaryik, who prepared both .p arties for the aJgreement, aind wiho later became the first president of the O.zechoSlovaik Republiic. The text of tJhe Pittsburgh Paict reads as foHows: The representatives of the Slovak and Czech organizations in the United States-the Slovak League, the Czech National Alliance, and the Union of Czech Catholics-have deliberated, in the presence of the Chairman of the Czecho•Slovak National Council, Professor Masa• ryk, on the Czecho•Slovak question and on our previous program mani• festations, and have resolved as follows: We favor a political program whose purpose it shall be to unite the Czechs and Slovaks into an autonomous state comprising the Czech lands and Slovakia. Slovakia shall have her own administration, her own assembly, and her own courts. The Slovak language shall be the official language in the schools, in public offices, and in the public life in general. The Czecho•Slovak State shall be a republic; its constitution shall be democratic. The cooperation of the Czechs and the Slovaks in the United States shall be intensified and regulated by mutual consent, according to need and changing situations. Detailed provisions relating to the organization of the Czecho· Slovak State shall be left to the liberated Czechs and Slovaks and their legal representatives. �64 SLOVAKIA It is interesting to tmce the early evolution in the attitude of tJhe Prague government, under T. G. Masaryk, to the Pittsburgh Pact, and to the movement of Andrej HLinika, the eminent Slovak politicail leader, wtho adopted the progra:m of the Paiet. And it is no less interesting to review the thirnlkinig on this matter among American Sfoviaks, a faction of wihom rejected the program and succeeded for a short time in leading astray even the Slova:k League of America. On Maroh 7, 1919 Joseph Rusek left for Slova;kii1a. He was sent by t!he Slovak Lea:gue a;g one of a five-member mission, and the supreme of.ficers of the First Oatholic Slovaik Un:ion, too, at their annual meeting in New York, charged "brother Joseph Husek, editor of our organ 'Jedinota', in the name of 70,000 SlovaJk Catholics organized in tlhe FCSU, as a competent ma:n, to represent us illl the o1d country in matters both ecclesiastical aJild national, and to keep us informed on the state of SioV18lk ailfairs." 1 This was the first important mission of the American Siovruks to the continent after the overthrow of the old order. Joseph Huisek spent ten weeks in Slov&kia and urpon his return presented a comprehen,s ive report of his impressions. He analyzed the times and r!Jhe peop{e, circumstances and events, with great perspicacity, in the newspruper Jednotia and the a,lmainac of the same name. 2 It had been Husek's intention to a:cquaint SlloviaJk leaders with the Ame rican Slovaks' interpretation of the program emlbodied in the Pittsrburg,h Pruct. But in Bratislava his voice fell on deaf ears, because "the government was controlled by individuals, as it is to this day, who saw in the new ord€r an excellent opportunity to acihieve their ideal: the Czechizabiorn of S,l ova kia curlturaHy, economically and politic,ally. And by a standing imposition of martial law they envisioned the possi1bi11rity of intilmida;ting not only elemenrts inimi,ca:l to the Republic, hut also elements inimical to tJhis ideal." These people did not acknowledge the reservations of the American-SlovaJk emissaries. "'Dhey only smirled artfully, as if they pittied me for my naive fai'bh in the fitness of tihe Slovaik nation," wrote Joseph Rusek, ·b y way of commentary to •his conversations in Bratislava, for he saw clearly that the ruling c8iste in Srlova:kia was interested "ilil a com1 1 �SLOVAKIA 65 rtsko-~lo1ttll!lk11JQgbl~.. tnmtrettri ll i)ittsbnr9htt. l}n.. bntt ,;o. tndjR. l9ltl • .,ifrr~sttw iMio ~lottttt!ikvch uo ., ll ~kiich o~nnisocif . t •~ ~,P"J•. -'-:t't ~ ll om. - . •~htu t1tsatj 1J~\!~~tho ]Ttlll)~ni.ho.$bttittnfu. . ll ~\!i)!ll frsj1.1,h.~ . " · P•'l"<'lh'1.•,1li t.i pnl.-niu,•;;ti ~~~~t-.'u e,1-1t .... $l..:.•m:-tt,_i "~1Jr.-..1' .,,'!4• ~r,"'f.~h,; ..,1-yh,, . ., ~1-ft,,~Jlct.,i:niok~j ,.....\,h, ,1 ..... th1$i,·b {~\t~:ti:b pr~~;!~l\'?'?Cl•~i.·b pr('_i~-:1.,,'1! r.\ usnt,--.l~-,.l~~,,.a.•\'\.: ! -.. s~b'M !u_irn,~ pditi,·h:i pr.:-~r.t~ uii\ll~U,"\ ~l •' Sp.:-j.:ni~ e.:~h~,i• lt $\i."li,Jk,.. ~ \t ~.,m,;•att1o1hl,'\1' 1ttit, 1. f~-,p.l\lf~-b 1nnl,, Sl\"l\tti:t!th~\~ 4 } ' ,"~""-~ .. :·.:-tc;•~n . . lt.• l;tt~~ mut -..~•-~iu L•l<l1-fn1'.i.)mitliih·..muu.1i,,j ~\j,:·\!1 "~ i,\••:\~ $'UL~~ . ,_S\ci.•(t-:ftn,, ru~..: ,fr,~~n!'t1! j,,iyb.~ t•~\i~l~. ~· Ut",,~~ ,, t,~., t tNi 1"'"'\'\1 !\t, ...,t..! t,;_;~-:-.c. · "€.:~t.,-;,(.,,,,-u1-l,{';;l,1t l-ub.: tt}'u~lik,,u, j~l,..,~.:-1Wtittici" bu ..'-: ~~m""kr"tti4!k-.\. _ ··~•l\'li'!-.i,'t,'\ fp,•lupr.{.:~ e.:cb,"t•" $\.;,i•,tlwv t•c Sp...i. -.:: ., • t1 L • • ·t ' . · ~ ·. '~ ~t-1,t ..--..,h Lru,,,, P•'t. :'"- f"' t r~..,~ ,, mcnt,\~~.t :'1o'\ fl u-1~\<.pn ~}'-' I ..,~o~"t\11 ~~'r-"'?tnn(n\. pr.:hl~~t:..\ ,, '-'}'TOt•~n..i. ·. t: .~ · 1 ~ ,-~ ..... ._\t,.. ~nl t.1,st..,n-:'t~ni~, c- t..\t't'1,'.:1Ul.:-5k~~,l~,tC"Ot~~k~~ ;,1,1tu }'-'ll~.:b,ll.•,i.iu ;," •'!W••r,•~~nym €.i.:!icm ,, Sl,'l C1hcm "icb _ prJi,,•pl.ltni1m pN,'11-t,wit.:l,'tlt." 1 ====---- I w -{. . L_._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _J Photographic reproduction of the original copy of the Pittsburgh Pact ("Pittsburghska Dohoda") plete merging of 1Jhe Slmr31k nart~on wi1:!h tlhe Czeoh." Burt on the 01:!her hand he also ascertained tihat "Masary,k's ideology of tJhe nationa,,l unity of Slovaks and Czecihs was completely foreign to the ordinary Slovaik person." 3 And it did not escape Husek's observation that ''the �oe SLOVAKIA Slov~s !have no desire fo:r the kind of democraitic wwk that haJS to be performed in the shadow of Czech bayonets!" He 01Scertained that the Czeoho-Slovaik Pairliament was gravely deficient in point of "ropresenrta'tion for the SlovaJk nation. Agriculture and the triades haid not a single representative firom among tJhei'r own rarrk!s, and in any case, members of pairliaiment were nominated and a,ppointed by the regime ibselif, whicih ma!kes no seoret of its intentions to consolidate its power at every cost, and whfoh pursues a poli~ica[, cu1tural and economic course that ha,s bhe support of only a smaifil minority of bhe Slovak nation." He noted that bhe policies of bhli s government ran oouniter to the interests of bhe Slovia'k people. Husek verified tllrough his own Olbservations tJhat "in PraJgue many influential pdlitidans want aJbsolurtely no tr,uok with the idea tJhait Slovakia belongs to tJhe Slovaks and that the Slova:ks have no need to go to Piriague for tutelage in the management of bheir own land and nation. Indeed, Pra,gue is completely at a loss as to what to do in its own bailiwick. Politioal chaos reigns in Bohemia. 'flhe national assemlbly speaJks with twenty tongues. Not one faction aictua'lly knows what it wants . .A!I1d in the maisses tJhe most prevalent pdlitic'al orientatfon is Bollshevism." Of suoh stuf.f, too, were the OzechlS who cMne to Slov,a,kia. Hrusek oharaoteri!.zed them aJS fol!lows : "The arrogance am.d domineering attitude of some Czeclhs in Slov.akia was indeed Ml af:firont. And I encountered these maniifestation,s, in per,son, frequently during my stay i'n the old country. I e,cperienced them on tJhe tr,aJirnis and in tlhe restaiurants. On the trams you were comfuaintly being jostled aside for some Ozedh dignilbairy, while in tJhe restaiurants your order WaJS taiken only after 1:Jhe Ozooh had reccived his ... It is a major fault witih many of OUT Czeoh brethren, and not tihe leaist with men of culrttvalbi.on, that tlley do not ,consider the ,Slova,k an equa•l citizen of the Republic." In the political sphere Husek saw cleair signs tJhait the rulling regime in Slov,ailcia haJd no desire to even hear of aultonomy. 'Dhe regime considered tihe autonom:i!sts traitors. It WaJS Huook's finding that a great gaip separated the policie'S of 1:Jhe Slova!k LeaJgue of Amerioa fram the tJhmktmg of tihe current rulers in Slovakia. �6i SLOVAKIA On tJhe subject of autQIIlomy, writes Joseph Husek, "Hlirrrka aJlone g,ave me a clear...oot srtatement - he liives and dies for the American pa,dt . . . Hli'nlka stamds for autooomy antd a Ohrisitian world-view. He stamlds for autonomy becaiuse he sees in it the assu:rainrce of a better future for Ms naJtion, and a gual'amtee of the firee growt:Jh of its natio n.1aJl cu1lture and economy, as weJ1l as a bai:rder to Ozeoh materialilsm and atheism ... Hlmka stand1s for •autonomy because he is Slov,aJk, not Ozeclho-Slovaik ! . . . And besides, it mmt be said of H]i[llka tJhat he loves his naltion warriznrly, truly and entirely seMllessly; he is ready to sacl'ifice evecytlhing for it - whircih is something I camnot in good con,s cience say a!bout many of his opponents." In regard to Joseph Husek'is trirp as "a:n emliss,rury of the Amwican Sfovakis" A. J. Pirha!11a, president of the F1irrist Catholic Slovak Union, commented: "'he accomplished a ,g reat deal of wortJhwhile wo"Pk. His detailed rerport gave us an accurate, clear and specific rev-iew of the situation in Slova,kia. " 4 Hrusek and MH'an Gettilllg presented the reports on tJhcir Slo'ViaJkian trirp at the 12'1:Jh Oongress of tihe SlovaJk Le•ague of America, wh~-c'h todk plaice on May 29, 1919 ilil Scranton, Pennsylva,nia. Getting ,prorposed that the League send the "Slovak Administration" a printing press vail ued at $50,000.00, and in addit-ilon, to Mr. Sirobar, finamcirail a:ssistance in tihe amount of $10,000.00. 'Dhe Congress rupproved t'he proposal, and a•l so moved to send sixty-thousamd dollar3 wO'!'th of clothing to Slovaikia. 5 Husek wrote after tJhe congress: "HHnika is the forunder, president amd guiding spitrit of tlhe SloWJk People's Party, wihldh wiH play a great, if ndt decishre, role in the history of Slovaik'ia, and whiiC'h claims the loyalty of ahnost a'1.!l the patriotiic S'lov~k clergy, even of those who do not approve m ,i:nka'·s -bi'tter anrd unrestrai,ned critilcism of 1:Jh~ administration i01 Braitirs]ra va." 6 In th±s vein Joseph Husek filled tlhe columTIJS Olf · the newspaper Jednota through the year 1919. He subjected the Prrugue regime and its functionaries in Bratislava to shar,p criticism. He believed fifflllly tJhiat ''oniy through aiutonomy wou'ld it be poss~ble to purt Slovaikila finmly on its feet! . . . 'Dhe Slovaks need aiutanomy mairrrly to preserve their national existence. But without srpecific leg~si.ation 1 �68 SLOVAKIA there will be no self-rule of any kiJnid." The sel!f-ru[e "that Slov:aikia has today its not only worbhiless, but even positively pernrjlciou1s. Suoh 'selrf..1rule' demoraJl.ilzes pulbJi.c Hfe in Sloviaikia aind stirs the natiQIIl to open revoU.'' 7 On October 24, 1919, the execubi.ive committtee of tJhe SlovaJk League of Arm.edoa approved a memoramtdurm. addressed to the "policy-rm.1a;king fundt,iana11ieis" ( of t'he Czeoho-Slovaik gavernrrnent), in wihi'clh it oaUed for tJhe implementatiton of the Pit'tsburglh P.aiot. 8 A concentrated fig,ht agiainst Hilinka got under way. The fig,ht WaJS OO'gani.ized on two fronts: in Sfovakia, and in America; •a nd the f.ight gmdruaHy gained ground even ilil tJhe SfovaJk League. As H'linlka was returrning :6rom the peruce conference in Parris, on the evening of October 12, 1919, he wais arrested and spirited away to Mirrov prison. The baJSiis for hiJS arrest waJs hlis 1Jr1p to Piari.is and his a:ttempt there to place before the pea;ce conference, Sfo.viak demands as contaJitned in tJhe P,iUsburr1gih Pact. "If HHn:ka had gone to Pari.is, tJhougih the wa:y hakl led through Budapest, for the purpose of protesting the Bad - let's put the matter squarely on the taJble - the Ozecho..,Slovak ,press iand the Czeoho~SlovaJk gov,ernment would today be prarsing Hli!n!ka to the highest heaven, and everywhere he would be hera:lded as the future rurchb1shop of S'lovaikfa ! . . . Hliillka, therefore, witl!l face tria•l on behaJlf of our P,ruct, aJnd in effoct it will be our P.ruct tJhat will be on trial . . . And because this Pact, whloh ts to go on t'l'ial ~n Olom,o uc, 1s ours, in effect it will be we American Slovaks wiho wi'l'l face trila:l - ()lllT con'triburtion to the revolutionary struggle." 9 To the Uruted StaJrtes oa;me Hltinka's representath,es, Rev. Joseipfri Rudrnisiky and Joseph KU!bala, wiho called a meeting of S'1ovalk Crut:Jholic priests irn Piit1:Jsbu'I"gh 01I1 November 19, 1919, an1d om the following day, a meeting of the represen1ia.1t!ives of Slovak Oaitholiic org,anii!zations, loldiges and newspa;pers. Rerv. Joseph Du'lik of Olyphant, Penn!sy<lw.nia, pres•i!ded at the meeting of 1:Jhe clergy, and Atrrdrew J. Birha!&, presildent of the FiTlst Ca1Jholic S1l0Vlalk Union, at the second meetiinig. Both meet:Jing,s devei~oped g,uideliines for aiction by Slovruk Catholics of America, aJnd issued in a spontaneous determination to defend Aindrew Hlilillkia. Pla;n:s well"e made to expoiSe to the pub]i!c ruH fille events surround!ing Hlinlka's trip to Paris and his subsequent imprisonment. 1 1 �SLOVAKIA 69 The pu11pose of the Pittsburg,h meeting was: "1. To lay a foundation for wide 8Jl1d e:fifective publi<city and a:gitation for Sriovalkian 0Jutonomy within the frame-worik of the Ozeciho-,S,lovaJk Republic; 2. To 13/Un'Ch a movement for the creation of a OatJholic press fund, for the Sll.llpport of Catholi:c l<iterature ... Arrnerica,n S·1nVia1ks do nro t cornsiider the Paict a scrap of pruper: tfuey wr~l underibake everyrtlhilng irn theirr power to whieve its recogndltion. And tn a,ddiition to this, aifter so ma,ny disruppoi1nitment:Js from both tihe SIOVaJk Lea,g,ue, and spokesmen for tfue Ozeehio-S lov,aik goveirnment, they have ehosern t!he only proper courne: tlhey demand th1at the Pact be incorporated in the provi'81ion:s of the P.aris Pea.ice Treaty." 10 1 1 These meetings received an eX!tension, in effect, in the convention of the S~ov·a k Ca1:lho'lic Federation, held in Scranton, Pennsylv,ania, on December 18, 1919. This organization's delegate, Rev. Anton Gmdk, ha.id just returned from Slovaikioa, and he confirmed tJhe coniolusion,s of Hooek, Rudinsky, and K111ba1a. 'J.'1he conventiOIIl, therefoTe, moved to support, in full, Hilin:ka's activities and tJhe Pittsbuirgih Pact. 11 lniaJSmuc'h a.is the leadersthiilp of the S'lov:alk Leag,ue ha:d entetred the services of ''anti.,SiloviaJk and aniti-Ohristian poli,cies," 12 the SlovaJk CatJholic Federation beg,ain to taike noltdce of the politkail si tu ation in SJ.ovaikia. Srrovalk Catho4iics begam taking a heig,htened internst in t,h e n1ationa:l program because the Prague regime had proved itselif not on!ly anti-S1lovaik, but also amti-Oat!ho•l k. "The beMigerent merusuires undeI'balken by the Ozeicihs agairnst the Catholli,c Church a,nd the reH:gions sentiments of believing Slovalks" 13 ciolrld su1c1ceed only in arousing everyfbody. Rev. GraJcik, speaking from hi,s personal observa,tions in Slovakia, dec'l aired: "\Religion hars complete freedom in the Ozecho-Slo'W!Jk Republic, guaranteed by law. But filris f.reedom in only on paper. Nort erven 20 % of the p111blic sti:H be'l~eves in thi s reli•gio1rns freedom. Power rest:Js m 1Jhe han'd s of Sodail-De mocratk atheists, nom.--!believeris; and these people are aJbusing 1!heir power in an attempt to per;pe1tnmte their pairtisan conrtiro1l, and to entren,c h tJheir posirbions. ThU!s, re'ligious :fireedOIJll exists only on pruper and tJhe Ohuircih ooduires cons~deraJble suffering . . . Ln S10V1all da, except for prlimera and bi:bles, no Catlholi1c literaiture is cmrently being publ'islhed. The Ozeciho-SlovaJk government 1hrus completeily stopped 1 1 1 1 �70 SLOVAKIA Catlhol~c presses, suppressed ail OaltJhiolic per'iodicaJ1'S. The Catholic sohool youth is prohilbiited :f.irom organi1z ing in defence of its religficntJS sentiments." 14 Towarids the en!d of 1919 tJhe president of tJhe Sli0W1Jk League, Albert Mamaitej, tiriaveled to S1ovaJkia, 0JI1d returned wiifu a letter from Dr. Mfillan Hoooa, a SlavaJk pol.ritircian on 1:Jhe side of tJhe Ozecfus, wlhi!dh promrlised a definite, sart:isfactory stabi'liz,ati:on of the relaitionlsihiiip between the Ozeoos amid Slo'V'aikls. HoweveT, the resulits of MaJmatej's journey "could be desori:bed, on bailance, only as negative." 15 For the Amerioam SlovaJks, he brought baok more promi:ses from the Ptmgue regime; for himseJrf, he broug,ht badk a committment from Prague that he would be awarded tJhe post of Ozedho-SlovaJk conS'l.1!1 in Bittsburgh. His aJppointment caJme through in Septem1ber 1920. The XII]tJh Congress of the Slova1k Leagure of America, whidh took p'lace at the end of J'll!l1e 1920 in MiilwaJUlkee, Wisconsin, transpired in a ,c ompletely di:£ferent atmosphere from thait of its predecessoI'S. On J1Une 16 Joseph Husek puibiJJioly announced his withd<rawaJl from the League, whose leaJdeirshi!p "is moraHy amd finandaiHy supporting agitation and opposition to the PiittJs'lmrgh PaJct." 16 'Dhe SlovaJk League haJd joined battle witlh t!he wtonmni,stls in America, and bJaJd even given tadd assenlt to the waJgin:g of sUJoh a battle in Slovaklia, at a time that WaJS oritiicaJl, since the na'tiornai election1s Olf 1920 were drawilng neaT. For 1:Jhis reaJson not one S'lav,aJk CaJt:lholic organization in America sent de'leg,ates to 1:Jhe XIILtih Congress, and Husek, after t he Oong,ress warned: 1 ..'Tihe League has ceased to be the mOTal and offioiail representative of the AmeI'icam-Sloviaik colony." 17 RepresentaJtives of Slovak CaJthidlics, under the leaJdership af the S1ovaik OatholJ.i<c Federation and tlhe ot!her orgaJI1izations working in C'1ose ooopera'tion with it, began to taJke over the League's erat-w:hile role in the defence of SllOV1aJk nationaJl rights. On Ja.nuaJry 14, 1920, the cenwail committee of the SlovaJk Catholic Federat•i on "voted 100,000 crowns as a personal girft to the Rev. Andrew HEmlka, our leader, t!he imprisoned SlavaJk martyr. It also rupproved a Clheok in the amownt �SLOVAKIA 71 of $5,000.00 as a stop-gap aid to old-country Catholics, for Catholic aiction. l1t furrtiher passed a motion to issue memoria1 staimps bearing the i'mage of H!lliJ11lm and an inrsm"ilption of his motto ... Dr. Joseph Rudinsky was aippoonted to t'he position of organizer in the Slovak Oa:tholic Fedwarbion, arnd MT. Joseph KUJba:11a was nirumed a,siistanrt to the comptTolileT." 18 The president of the Slovak Oathol1k FedeTation, Rev. Joseph :Dulik, reminded t'he memlbershilp tJhat tJhe basic provisions of the co,nstitution of the Ozeoho-Slovaik Repulblric remaJined inadequate ilil the opinlion of tJhe Federation, and that tJhe lrust ooniverition haJd taiken a position "in suipport of S1ova!kiam aJUtonomy, as g,ururanteed to tJhe Slovruk nation in tJhe PlilftsbuTgh Pact." 19 And in the same vein, the Rev. :DuHk exip:ressed his view on the issue: "We aire foT the Ozecihio.,Slovruk Repufb'li<:, 'body and sou[ - but only on condition tJhat we receive in it what is ouT due." 20 From 1:Jhis standpoint 1fuere was great va:lue in the message of the SIJ:ovak Cathollic Fedevation to "ouir brothers in SfovaJkia", by which historic realities concerning American SfovaJks were put in proper fomis, and a demand was registered "for the incorpOTaltion of tJhe suibstamce of the Pittsburg,h Pact in the basic 11aw of tJhe Repuibl~c." 21 '.Dhe stand of the FedeTation inspired tJhe Slova:k-American community. At its conrvention of 13 and 14 OctO'beT, 1920, in Chicago, the recoros revealed t!hat the Slovalk CartJholic Federation "numbered 17'5 strong men's brandhes, and 14 women's brancihes; and its membership haJd risen to close to twenty thousand. This g,rowfu dated from onily ten months ba;ck." 22 '.Dhe pr,ogram of the Federation with respect to nationaEty matters remained unchanged: autonomy a:s set for!Jh and defined in the Pittsburgh Pact. 23 To the United States came ort!her emissaries, too. These were tlhe agents of tJhe Brague regime, Rev. LaJdis1aiv Moys, a Catlholiic priest, rund the Sooiial..,Democvat Jiohrn Pocislk, whose assignment wa;s to swing pu!b'lic opinion among American Slovaks to tJhe side of 1Jhe Ozeciho-,Slovruks and rugaJinst the SlovaJk People's Party. But American Silovaikrs were not swayed by the mission, despite its ecclesiasticaJl traJppings, because they knew it traveled rubout the country on funds �72 SLOVAKIA provided by Prague. 'l'hey gave no credence to Moys becaruse "he associates and cooperates, works hand in hand, with Socia'li,s ts." 24 Nor were Slovruk Catho'lios shiaJken by Maisrurytk's cli!savowa:l of his sigrrature on t!he Plirttsbmg1h Pact, or by his deo}ruration that 1fue Pa;ct wrus inrva!lid.25 They reaJCted with dignity, becaJU!se their chief concern was to "remain tirue to the honor of t!he SlovaJk nation." 26 In t!he uneven battJle between Andirew Hlinika and fue organized power of Prague and its SUipporting p<jli.tical prurties, the assistaJnce of American Sloviaks was extraordinari1ly wekome. Andrew H1inlka sat innocently in a Oze0h ja:il for seven months. Fior a long time his ja;iiloirs even wi'tfuheld his marl from him; and as he sat in helplessness and isO'}a'bion, tJhe mi,nions of the new state's power structuire tried to disrupt the ranks of the 1P eople's Party. 27 In the me:antiline caJIDe the elections. A!bout t!hem Hlinlka gave the foHowing testimony: "Unfortunately, the elections did not produce the spectacular results for the Peqp'le's Party that we had every reruson to expect. The People's Party did not receive the ma:jority that it should have received. Reasons for this development run to the hun1drreds: t!h:ey locked us urp, tlhey branded us tra!itor,s, they unlerushed a;gainst us tiheiir soildiers, gen1damnerie, sheriffs and professors . . . Agaiinst us was turned every power - and every means was perm~ss~ble. 'Dhe :riig,ht of assembly was denied uiS: and wihen granted, our meetings were diispersed. 'I'he starved and pauperized Slova;k populace threw itselif into the em/brace of the SocialDemocratic Party, whidh ha;d pre~ously been little known in SlovaJlcia. Two-iliuindred tJhous and soldiers were transfer.red to Sfovaikia - to vote. Ozeoh Olfficia;ls, teachers and function airies were for,ced UipOil us; and these people, numbering ~rmcimately fifty th01.1<s'a.nd, voted against Slo"W!Jk autonomy. Where hunger ~atled, the s<jldiier anid official produced t!he de's1red resulit." 28 The Socialists were not, 8Jild could not be, the sa!lvation of S1wa!kia. On the contrary, the sociia.Uistic "Ozech regi,me in Slova;kfa enstranged Slovakia from Bohemia. It created cha,os, because it drove the people witlh fa.:1se prom~ses in'to the airms of the Internationa!le." 29 1 1 1 1 �SLOVAKIA 73 American S~ovaJks exipected the worst in S1lovaJkia. They envisioned the sprea!d of Somallism and its oo!lrrninabon in Coarumrunii.sm - uniless refor,ms were introdUJced in time. In this context CaJt:Jholic organi!za1Jion-s, in particufar, intensified their ef1forts and soug,ht new ways to help Hlinlka win his objectives. 30 FOOTNOTES 1. Minutes of the annual meeting of the supreme officers of the First Catholic Slovak Union, New York City, January 6-9, 1919, page 73. Husek was a member of the Reconstruction Committee of the Slovak League of America, chairman of which was Dr. Miroslav Francisci, and the other members, John Matlocha, Edward Kovac, and Milan Getting. 2. Joseph Husek wrote several articles about his trip to Slovakia, but the most comprehensive was his contribution to the almanac Jednota for 1920, titled "Co som videl, pocul a skusil na Slovensku." (What I Saw, Heard and Experienced in Slovakia.), pages 33-60. All of the above quotes on Husek's mission are taken from this source. 3. This was a group that styled itself "Mlade Slovensko" (Young Slovakia). Hlas (The Voice) was its journal, and the forum from which it expounded views on literature and life, social and political, all heavily influenced by Masaryk. 4. Minutes of the annual meeting of the supreme officers of the First Catholic Slovak Union, Cleveland, Ohio, January 19-22, 1920, page 8. 5. Cover story on this Congress in the newspaper Jednota, June 4, 1919, page 1. The Congress approved a motion to establish a scholarship fund in memory of General Stefanik for "the support of students and writers in Slovakia and America. The Slovak League will contribute $10,000.00 to this fund, and school-fund collections by various organizations and newspapers are also to be turned over to it." 6. "Prestante!" (Desist!). Jednota, June 4, 1919, page 4. 7. "Eppur si muove." Jednota, October 22, 1919, page 4. 8. See the actual text in the Jednota, October 29, 1919, page 1. 9. " Dohoda, Hlinka a Masaryk" (The Pact, Hlinka and Masaryk). Jednota, November 19, 1919, page 4. 10. "Za krest'anske a autonomne Slovensko" (For a Christian and Autonomous Slovakia). Jednota, November 26, 1919, page 4. Also compare with the story of the meetings in the same issue of the Jednota on page one. Inasmuch as the convention of the Slovak Catholic Federation was postponed, a Slovak Catholic Council was elected from among the delegates in Pittsburgh, which however only served till the convention, and then merged with the Federation. Time moved quickly, and the liberal and Czecho-Slovak oriented groups began to break up local branches of the Slovak League, and to scatter accusations against sympathizers with Hlinka's movement. For this reason Slovak Catholics rallied to the cause. Anti-Slovak activities are touched upon in the article "Za auton6miu"' (For Autonomy) in the Jednota, December 3, 1919, page 4, and in subsequent issues. 11. Compare with the coverage of the Convention of the Slovak Catholic Federation in the Jednota, December 24, 1919, on page one. The article "Z konvencie Sdruzenia slovenskych katolikov" (From �74 SLOVAKIA the Convention of the Slovak Catholic Federation) , in the same edition of the Jednota, page 5, notes that all Slovak Catholic organizations were represented at this convention. 12. "Sdruzenie slovenskych katolikov" (The Slovak Catholic Federation ). Jednota, December 31, 1919, page 4. 13. From a letter by the Rev. Andrew Dor{msky, a pastor in Hladovka, Slovakia, dated August 12, 1919, published in the Jednota, September 17, 1919, page 1. 14. "Prednaska Rev. Gracika" (A Lecture by the Rev. Gracik). Jednota, December 10, 1919, page 1. 15. Culen, K. "Strucne dejiny Slovenskej ligy" (A Short History of the Slovak League) . Jednota, August 27, 1958, page 2. 16. "Vystupujem zo Slovenskej ligy" (I am Withdrawing from the Slovak League) . Jedn ota, June 16, 1920, page 4. 17. "Po kongrese" (After the Congress) . Jednota, July 7, 1920, page 4. 18. "Vaznejsie uznesenia Sdruzenia slovenskych katolikov" (Some Important Decisions of the Slovak Catholic Federation) . Jednota, January 28, 1920, page 1. 19. "Nase stanovisko" (Our Standpoint). Jednota, March 17, 1920, page 4. 20. "Este raz Rev. Moysovi" ( Once Again to the Rev. Moys). Jednota, April 21, 1920, page 4. Joseph Husek remained an unswerving adherent of the autonomist idea: "From the standpoint of the enemies of Slovak national distinctivness, Slovak autonomy would constitute virtual suicide-suicide for the idea of Czecho-Slovak national unity! Only a fool could believe that Slovak truth, were it to have behind it the full power of a state, courts, bureau, schools, and the moral and material support of the highly cultured Czech nation, could not successfully resist an immoral and politically bankrupt Magyaronismonly a fool, or someone who considers the Slovak nation a morally debilitated, nationally paralyzed rabble of near-idiots! " "To nie je to prave" (This Isn't the Real Thing) . Jednota, February 18, 1920, page 4. Also see the article "Matez" (Turmoil) , Jednota, March 24, 1920, page 5; and the article "Salus reipublicae suprema lex", Jednota, April 14, 1920, page 4. Among other things, this article states: "For the Slovak politician, the good of the Slovak nation must take precedence over the good of the Republic, or as the case may be, the government. The vital interests of the nation, its natural rights, its national character, may not be sacrificed to the good of the state, the Republic, or the regime. The Republic exists for the nation, not the reverse. The nation is an end, the Republic only a means. The idea of the supremacy of the state (government) must yield to the idea of the supremacy of the nation. Only in monolinguistic democratic states, where the concept of nationality is synonymous with the concept of state, where nationality in reality equates with state and vice versa, can the good of the nation be equated with the good of the state." Husek returns to this theme frequently on the pages of the Jednota in signed and anonymous articles, as well as editorials and remarks. 21. The complete text appears in the Jednota, May 26, 1920, page 5. 22. "Konvencia Sdruzenia slovenskych katolikov" (The Convention of the Slovak Catholic Federation). Jednota, October 20, 1920, page 1. 23. "The Slovak Catholic Federation still favors an autonomous Slovakia and will continue to do so until at last. the banner of Slovak autonomy within the framework of a Czecho-Slovak Republic, will �SLOVAKIA 75 wave over our Tatra mountains." Rev. C. K. Vaniscak, O.S.B.: "Po konvencii Sdruzenia slovenskych katolikov" (After the Convention of the Slovak Catholic Federation) , Jednota, October 20, 1920, page 4. 24. Hrtanek, Klemo. "Koho chcete, abych vam prepustil, Hlinku alebo Moysa?" (Whom Do You Wish I Release to You, Hlinka or Moy~?). Jednota, April 28, 1920, page 4. "Priest or no-priest, come down from the cherry-tree . . . Any Slovak priest who does not fight with us for the martyr Hlinka and his democratic idea, has no right to be called one of us; any priest who favors the Socialists in Prague defeats the legitimate efforts of the Slovaks." 25. The Jednota, in its issue of March 17, 1920, page one, published a letter from Masaryk to his prime minister, Tusar, on the subject of "the so-called Pittsburgh Agreement." Translated from the original Czech, Masaryk's letter reads as follows : "Representatives of American Slovak and Czech organizations resolved in this agreement to combat agitation against a union of the Czechs and Slovaks. The pact was made, it seems to me, largely by American citizens. The Pittsburgh program is one of many pre-revolutionary programs formulated abroad. It has an historical value. The Pittsburgh Pact was contracted between Slovaks and Czechs, and were it to have any validity at all, surely this validity would be predicated on the condition that both parties still agreed on its contents. In the pact itself, toward the end, there is a stipulation that detailed provisions for the organization of the Czecho-Slovak state were to be left to the Czechs and Slovaks and their legal representatives ; this stipulation was entered because the Czechs and Slovaks at the Pittsburgh meeting understood that Ame· rican citizens had no right to make decisions concerning the definitive organization of the Czecho-Slovak state." Husek, who immediately published the letter in the Jednota, alongside the text of the Pittsburgh Pact enclosed in a black frame, took an entirely different view of the matter, and in commentary, remarked among other things : "the Pittsburgh Pact is valid because it rests on the eternally valid natural rights of nations." (Ibid.) 26. "Za Pittsburghsku dohodu 'kavova nahrazka' " (Instead of the Pittsburgh Pact "ersatz coffee"). Jednota, March 31, 1920, page 4. And the Rev. Dulik comments: "To contract an agreement and then not care whether it is observed or not, amounts to making oneself ridiculous before the world." "Rev. Moysovi" (To the Rev. Moy~). Jednota, March 31, 1920, page 4. 27. Karol Sidor gives a detailed description in his book "Andrej Hlinka", Bratislava 1934. 28. "Apel Hlinkov na Slovakov v Amerike" (Hlinka's Appeal to American Slovaks). Jednota, July 21, 1920, page 4. The Jednota expressed the conviction, even after the defeat of the People's Party, that the national idea "will be stopped by nothing and nobody in its victorious advance." "Vol'by na Slovensku" (The Elections in Slo• vakia). Jednota, May 12, 1920, page 4. 29. "Statarium na Slovensku" (Martial Law in Slovakia) . Jed.nota, August 11, 1920, page 1. "But martial law will not preserve Slovakia for the Czechs! Czech bayonets will not preserve Slovakia for the Czecho-Slovak Republic ... Prague is blind, it does not see the writing on the wall ... " 30. Compare with the article by the president of the Slovak Catholic Federation, Rev. Joseph Dulik: "My netratime nadej" (We are not losing Hope), Jednota, August 11, 1920, page 4, and others. � SLOVAKIA 63 AMIDRIO.AN SLOV:.A.KiS AND '.DHE BEJG]NNJNGS OF 02'JIDOHO-SLOVAKI.A. By Joseph Pauco, Ph.D. In 1907 there was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, an organiiization ,ca:lled the Slovaik LeaJgue of America. This orga'Illization represented a coailition of aiH 1:Jhe existing Slovaik fraite:m al and r~i:giou:s organizations in the United States, and rallied besides, the support of t'he Slovaik clergy, both OatJholic amd Evangelka!l (Lutheran), as well as t!he suipport of the then--e:ristiing Slov:aik-American periodicals. The Slova!k League set as its major goail tJhe lilberation of the SllovaJk nation in its homelaind. For t!his reason it toO!k a srtand for t!he dismaintlement of tJhe .Austro-Hiungarian Empire and e:,oplo;z-ed possiibi'lities for political cooperation wit:Jh the Czech nation. Thiis cooperation reached formal expression in 1:Jhe signing of the Pi'Ubsburgh Pad of May 30, 1918, parties to which were 11epresentatives of the Silova'k Leaigue of America on the one side, and the represenrtatives of the Czech Natriona:l .Alliance and the Union of Czech Ca1fuolics, on the otJher. The Czechs were led by Thomas G. Masaryik, who prepared both .p arties for the aJgreement, aind wiho later became the first president of the O.zechoSlovaik Republiic. The text of tJhe Pittsburgh Paict reads as foHows: The representatives of the Slovak and Czech organizations in the United States-the Slovak League, the Czech National Alliance, and the Union of Czech Catholics-have deliberated, in the presence of the Chairman of the Czecho•Slovak National Council, Professor Masa• ryk, on the Czecho•Slovak question and on our previous program mani• festations, and have resolved as follows: We favor a political program whose purpose it shall be to unite the Czechs and Slovaks into an autonomous state comprising the Czech lands and Slovakia. Slovakia shall have her own administration, her own assembly, and her own courts. The Slovak language shall be the official language in the schools, in public offices, and in the public life in general. The Czecho•Slovak State shall be a republic; its constitution shall be democratic. The cooperation of the Czechs and the Slovaks in the United States shall be intensified and regulated by mutual consent, according to need and changing situations. Detailed provisions relating to the organization of the Czecho· Slovak State shall be left to the liberated Czechs and Slovaks and their legal representatives. �64 SLOVAKIA It is interesting to tmce the early evolution in the attitude of tJhe Prague government, under T. G. Masaryk, to the Pittsburgh Pact, and to the movement of Andrej HLinika, the eminent Slovak politicail leader, wtho adopted the progra:m of the Paiet. And it is no less interesting to review the thirnlkinig on this matter among American Sfoviaks, a faction of wihom rejected the program and succeeded for a short time in leading astray even the Slova:k League of America. On Maroh 7, 1919 Joseph Rusek left for Slova;kii1a. He was sent by t!he Slovak Lea:gue a;g one of a five-member mission, and the supreme of.ficers of the First Oatholic Slovaik Un:ion, too, at their annual meeting in New York, charged "brother Joseph Husek, editor of our organ 'Jedinota', in the name of 70,000 SlovaJk Catholics organized in tlhe FCSU, as a competent ma:n, to represent us illl the o1d country in matters both ecclesiastical aJild national, and to keep us informed on the state of SioV18lk ailfairs." 1 This was the first important mission of the American Siovruks to the continent after the overthrow of the old order. Joseph Huisek spent ten weeks in Slov&kia and urpon his return presented a comprehen,s ive report of his impressions. He analyzed the times and r!Jhe peop{e, circumstances and events, with great perspicacity, in the newspruper Jednotia and the a,lmainac of the same name. 2 It had been Husek's intention to a:cquaint SlloviaJk leaders with the Ame rican Slovaks' interpretation of the program emlbodied in the Pittsrburg,h Pruct. But in Bratislava his voice fell on deaf ears, because "the government was controlled by individuals, as it is to this day, who saw in the new ord€r an excellent opportunity to acihieve their ideal: the Czechizabiorn of S,l ova kia curlturaHy, economically and politic,ally. And by a standing imposition of martial law they envisioned the possi1bi11rity of intilmida;ting not only elemenrts inimi,ca:l to the Republic, hut also elements inimical to tJhis ideal." These people did not acknowledge the reservations of the American-SlovaJk emissaries. "'Dhey only smirled artfully, as if they pittied me for my naive fai'bh in the fitness of tihe Slovaik nation," wrote Joseph Rusek, ·b y way of commentary to •his conversations in Bratislava, for he saw clearly that the ruling c8iste in Srlova:kia was interested "ilil a com1 1 �SLOVAKIA 65 rtsko-~lo1ttll!lk11JQgbl~.. tnmtrettri ll i)ittsbnr9htt. l}n.. bntt ,;o. tndjR. l9ltl • .,ifrr~sttw iMio ~lottttt!ikvch uo ., ll ~kiich o~nnisocif . t •~ ~,P"J•. -'-:t't ~ ll om. - . •~htu t1tsatj 1J~\!~~tho ]Ttlll)~ni.ho.$bttittnfu. . ll ~\!i)!ll frsj1.1,h.~ . " · P•'l"<'lh'1.•,1li t.i pnl.-niu,•;;ti ~~~~t-.'u e,1-1t .... $l..:.•m:-tt,_i "~1Jr.-..1' .,,'!4• ~r,"'f.~h,; ..,1-yh,, . ., ~1-ft,,~Jlct.,i:niok~j ,.....\,h, ,1 ..... th1$i,·b {~\t~:ti:b pr~~;!~l\'?'?Cl•~i.·b pr('_i~-:1.,,'1! r.\ usnt,--.l~-,.l~~,,.a.•\'\.: ! -.. s~b'M !u_irn,~ pditi,·h:i pr.:-~r.t~ uii\ll~U,"\ ~l •' Sp.:-j.:ni~ e.:~h~,i• lt $\i."li,Jk,.. ~ \t ~.,m,;•att1o1hl,'\1' 1ttit, 1. f~-,p.l\lf~-b 1nnl,, Sl\"l\tti:t!th~\~ 4 } ' ,"~""-~ .. :·.:-tc;•~n . . lt.• l;tt~~ mut -..~•-~iu L•l<l1-fn1'.i.)mitliih·..muu.1i,,j ~\j,:·\!1 "~ i,\••:\~ $'UL~~ . ,_S\ci.•(t-:ftn,, ru~..: ,fr,~~n!'t1! j,,iyb.~ t•~\i~l~. ~· Ut",,~~ ,, t,~., t tNi 1"'"'\'\1 !\t, ...,t..! t,;_;~-:-.c. · "€.:~t.,-;,(.,,,,-u1-l,{';;l,1t l-ub.: tt}'u~lik,,u, j~l,..,~.:-1Wtittici" bu ..'-: ~~m""kr"tti4!k-.\. _ ··~•l\'li'!-.i,'t,'\ fp,•lupr.{.:~ e.:cb,"t•" $\.;,i•,tlwv t•c Sp...i. -.:: ., • t1 L • • ·t ' . · ~ ·. '~ ~t-1,t ..--..,h Lru,,,, P•'t. :'"- f"' t r~..,~ ,, mcnt,\~~.t :'1o'\ fl u-1~\<.pn ~}'-' I ..,~o~"t\11 ~~'r-"'?tnn(n\. pr.:hl~~t:..\ ,, '-'}'TOt•~n..i. ·. t: .~ · 1 ~ ,-~ ..... ._\t,.. ~nl t.1,st..,n-:'t~ni~, c- t..\t't'1,'.:1Ul.:-5k~~,l~,tC"Ot~~k~~ ;,1,1tu }'-'ll~.:b,ll.•,i.iu ;," •'!W••r,•~~nym €.i.:!icm ,, Sl,'l C1hcm "icb _ prJi,,•pl.ltni1m pN,'11-t,wit.:l,'tlt." 1 ====---- I w -{. . L_._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _J Photographic reproduction of the original copy of the Pittsburgh Pact ("Pittsburghska Dohoda") plete merging of 1Jhe Slmr31k nart~on wi1:!h tlhe Czeoh." Burt on the 01:!her hand he also ascertained tihat "Masary,k's ideology of tJhe nationa,,l unity of Slovaks and Czecihs was completely foreign to the ordinary Slovaik person." 3 And it did not escape Husek's observation that ''the �oe SLOVAKIA Slov~s !have no desire fo:r the kind of democraitic wwk that haJS to be performed in the shadow of Czech bayonets!" He 01Scertained that the Czeoho-Slovaik Pairliament was gravely deficient in point of "ropresenrta'tion for the SlovaJk nation. Agriculture and the triades haid not a single representative firom among tJhei'r own rarrk!s, and in any case, members of pairliaiment were nominated and a,ppointed by the regime ibselif, whicih ma!kes no seoret of its intentions to consolidate its power at every cost, and whfoh pursues a poli~ica[, cu1tural and economic course that ha,s bhe support of only a smaifil minority of bhe Slovak nation." He noted that bhe policies of bhli s government ran oouniter to the interests of bhe Slovia'k people. Husek verified tllrough his own Olbservations tJhat "in PraJgue many influential pdlitidans want aJbsolurtely no tr,uok with the idea tJhait Slovakia belongs to tJhe Slovaks and that the Slova:ks have no need to go to Piriague for tutelage in the management of bheir own land and nation. Indeed, Pra,gue is completely at a loss as to what to do in its own bailiwick. Politioal chaos reigns in Bohemia. 'flhe national assemlbly speaJks with twenty tongues. Not one faction aictua'lly knows what it wants . .A!I1d in the maisses tJhe most prevalent pdlitic'al orientatfon is Bollshevism." Of suoh stuf.f, too, were the OzechlS who cMne to Slov,a,kia. Hrusek oharaoteri!.zed them aJS fol!lows : "The arrogance am.d domineering attitude of some Czeclhs in Slov.akia was indeed Ml af:firont. And I encountered these maniifestation,s, in per,son, frequently during my stay i'n the old country. I e,cperienced them on tJhe tr,aJirnis and in tlhe restaiurants. On the trams you were comfuaintly being jostled aside for some Ozedh dignilbairy, while in tJhe restaiurants your order WaJS taiken only after 1:Jhe Ozooh had reccived his ... It is a major fault witih many of OUT Czeoh brethren, and not tihe leaist with men of culrttvalbi.on, that tlley do not ,consider the ,Slova,k an equa•l citizen of the Republic." In the political sphere Husek saw cleair signs tJhait the rulling regime in Slov,ailcia haJd no desire to even hear of aultonomy. 'Dhe regime considered tihe autonom:i!sts traitors. It WaJS Huook's finding that a great gaip separated the policie'S of 1:Jhe Slova!k LeaJgue of Amerioa fram the tJhmktmg of tihe current rulers in Slovakia. �6i SLOVAKIA On tJhe subject of autQIIlomy, writes Joseph Husek, "Hlirrrka aJlone g,ave me a clear...oot srtatement - he liives and dies for the American pa,dt . . . Hli'nlka stamds for autooomy antd a Ohrisitian world-view. He stamlds for autonomy becaiuse he sees in it the assu:rainrce of a better future for Ms naJtion, and a gual'amtee of the firee growt:Jh of its natio n.1aJl cu1lture and economy, as weJ1l as a bai:rder to Ozeoh materialilsm and atheism ... Hlmka stand1s for •autonomy because he is Slov,aJk, not Ozeclho-Slovaik ! . . . And besides, it mmt be said of H]i[llka tJhat he loves his naltion warriznrly, truly and entirely seMllessly; he is ready to sacl'ifice evecytlhing for it - whircih is something I camnot in good con,s cience say a!bout many of his opponents." In regard to Joseph Husek'is trirp as "a:n emliss,rury of the Amwican Sfovakis" A. J. Pirha!11a, president of the F1irrist Catholic Slovak Union, commented: "'he accomplished a ,g reat deal of wortJhwhile wo"Pk. His detailed rerport gave us an accurate, clear and specific rev-iew of the situation in Slova,kia. " 4 Hrusek and MH'an Gettilllg presented the reports on tJhcir Slo'ViaJkian trirp at the 12'1:Jh Oongress of tihe SlovaJk Le•ague of America, wh~-c'h todk plaice on May 29, 1919 ilil Scranton, Pennsylva,nia. Getting ,prorposed that the League send the "Slovak Administration" a printing press vail ued at $50,000.00, and in addit-ilon, to Mr. Sirobar, finamcirail a:ssistance in tihe amount of $10,000.00. 'Dhe Congress rupproved t'he proposal, and a•l so moved to send sixty-thousamd dollar3 wO'!'th of clothing to Slovaikia. 5 Husek wrote after tJhe congress: "HHnika is the forunder, president amd guiding spitrit of tlhe SloWJk People's Party, wihldh wiH play a great, if ndt decishre, role in the history of Slovaik'ia, and whiiC'h claims the loyalty of ahnost a'1.!l the patriotiic S'lov~k clergy, even of those who do not approve m ,i:nka'·s -bi'tter anrd unrestrai,ned critilcism of 1:Jh~ administration i01 Braitirs]ra va." 6 In th±s vein Joseph Husek filled tlhe columTIJS Olf · the newspaper Jednota through the year 1919. He subjected the Prrugue regime and its functionaries in Bratislava to shar,p criticism. He believed fifflllly tJhiat ''oniy through aiutonomy wou'ld it be poss~ble to purt Slovaikila finmly on its feet! . . . 'Dhe Slovaks need aiutanomy mairrrly to preserve their national existence. But without srpecific leg~si.ation 1 �68 SLOVAKIA there will be no self-rule of any kiJnid." The sel!f-ru[e "that Slov:aikia has today its not only worbhiless, but even positively pernrjlciou1s. Suoh 'selrf..1rule' demoraJl.ilzes pulbJi.c Hfe in Sloviaikia aind stirs the natiQIIl to open revoU.'' 7 On October 24, 1919, the execubi.ive committtee of tJhe SlovaJk League of Arm.edoa approved a memoramtdurm. addressed to the "policy-rm.1a;king fundt,iana11ieis" ( of t'he Czeoho-Slovaik gavernrrnent), in wihi'clh it oaUed for tJhe implementatiton of the Pit'tsburglh P.aiot. 8 A concentrated fig,ht agiainst Hilinka got under way. The fig,ht WaJS OO'gani.ized on two fronts: in Sfovakia, and in America; •a nd the f.ight gmdruaHy gained ground even ilil tJhe SfovaJk League. As H'linlka was returrning :6rom the peruce conference in Parris, on the evening of October 12, 1919, he wais arrested and spirited away to Mirrov prison. The baJSiis for hiJS arrest waJs hlis 1Jr1p to Piari.is and his a:ttempt there to place before the pea;ce conference, Sfo.viak demands as contaJitned in tJhe P,iUsburr1gih Pact. "If HHn:ka had gone to Pari.is, tJhougih the wa:y hakl led through Budapest, for the purpose of protesting the Bad - let's put the matter squarely on the taJble - the Ozecho..,Slovak ,press iand the Czeoho~SlovaJk gov,ernment would today be prarsing Hli!n!ka to the highest heaven, and everywhere he would be hera:lded as the future rurchb1shop of S'lovaikfa ! . . . Hliillka, therefore, witl!l face tria•l on behaJlf of our P,ruct, aJnd in effoct it will be our P.ruct tJhat will be on trial . . . And because this Pact, whloh ts to go on t'l'ial ~n Olom,o uc, 1s ours, in effect it will be we American Slovaks wiho wi'l'l face trila:l - ()lllT con'triburtion to the revolutionary struggle." 9 To the Uruted StaJrtes oa;me Hltinka's representath,es, Rev. Joseipfri Rudrnisiky and Joseph KU!bala, wiho called a meeting of S'1ovalk Crut:Jholic priests irn Piit1:Jsbu'I"gh 01I1 November 19, 1919, an1d om the following day, a meeting of the represen1ia.1t!ives of Slovak Oaitholiic org,anii!zations, loldiges and newspa;pers. Rerv. Joseph Du'lik of Olyphant, Penn!sy<lw.nia, pres•i!ded at the meeting of 1:Jhe clergy, and Atrrdrew J. Birha!&, presildent of the FiTlst Ca1Jholic S1l0Vlalk Union, at the second meetiinig. Both meet:Jing,s devei~oped g,uideliines for aiction by Slovruk Catholics of America, aJnd issued in a spontaneous determination to defend Aindrew Hlilillkia. Pla;n:s well"e made to expoiSe to the pub]i!c ruH fille events surround!ing Hlinlka's trip to Paris and his subsequent imprisonment. 1 1 �SLOVAKIA 69 The pu11pose of the Pittsburg,h meeting was: "1. To lay a foundation for wide 8Jl1d e:fifective publi<city and a:gitation for Sriovalkian 0Jutonomy within the frame-worik of the Ozeciho-,S,lovaJk Republic; 2. To 13/Un'Ch a movement for the creation of a OatJholic press fund, for the Sll.llpport of Catholi:c l<iterature ... Arrnerica,n S·1nVia1ks do nro t cornsiider the Paict a scrap of pruper: tfuey wr~l underibake everyrtlhilng irn theirr power to whieve its recogndltion. And tn a,ddiition to this, aifter so ma,ny disruppoi1nitment:Js from both tihe SIOVaJk Lea,g,ue, and spokesmen for tfue Ozeehio-S lov,aik goveirnment, they have ehosern t!he only proper courne: tlhey demand th1at the Pact be incorporated in the provi'81ion:s of the P.aris Pea.ice Treaty." 10 1 1 These meetings received an eX!tension, in effect, in the convention of the S~ov·a k Ca1:lho'lic Federation, held in Scranton, Pennsylv,ania, on December 18, 1919. This organization's delegate, Rev. Anton Gmdk, ha.id just returned from Slovaikioa, and he confirmed tJhe coniolusion,s of Hooek, Rudinsky, and K111ba1a. 'J.'1he conventiOIIl, therefoTe, moved to support, in full, Hilin:ka's activities and tJhe Pittsbuirgih Pact. 11 lniaJSmuc'h a.is the leadersthiilp of the S'lov:alk Leag,ue ha:d entetred the services of ''anti.,SiloviaJk and aniti-Ohristian poli,cies," 12 the SlovaJk CatJholic Federation beg,ain to taike noltdce of the politkail si tu ation in SJ.ovaikia. Srrovalk Catho4iics begam taking a heig,htened internst in t,h e n1ationa:l program because the Prague regime had proved itselif not on!ly anti-S1lovaik, but also amti-Oat!ho•l k. "The beMigerent merusuires undeI'balken by the Ozeicihs agairnst the Catholli,c Church a,nd the reH:gions sentiments of believing Slovalks" 13 ciolrld su1c1ceed only in arousing everyfbody. Rev. GraJcik, speaking from hi,s personal observa,tions in Slovakia, dec'l aired: "\Religion hars complete freedom in the Ozecho-Slo'W!Jk Republic, guaranteed by law. But filris f.reedom in only on paper. Nort erven 20 % of the p111blic sti:H be'l~eves in thi s reli•gio1rns freedom. Power rest:Js m 1Jhe han'd s of Sodail-De mocratk atheists, nom.--!believeris; and these people are aJbusing 1!heir power in an attempt to per;pe1tnmte their pairtisan conrtiro1l, and to entren,c h tJheir posirbions. ThU!s, re'ligious :fireedOIJll exists only on pruper and tJhe Ohuircih ooduires cons~deraJble suffering . . . Ln S10V1all da, except for prlimera and bi:bles, no Catlholi1c literaiture is cmrently being publ'islhed. The Ozeciho-SlovaJk government 1hrus completeily stopped 1 1 1 1 �70 SLOVAKIA Catlhol~c presses, suppressed ail OaltJhiolic per'iodicaJ1'S. The Catholic sohool youth is prohilbiited :f.irom organi1z ing in defence of its religficntJS sentiments." 14 Towarids the en!d of 1919 tJhe president of tJhe Sli0W1Jk League, Albert Mamaitej, tiriaveled to S1ovaJkia, 0JI1d returned wiifu a letter from Dr. Mfillan Hoooa, a SlavaJk pol.ritircian on 1:Jhe side of tJhe Ozecfus, wlhi!dh promrlised a definite, sart:isfactory stabi'liz,ati:on of the relaitionlsihiiip between the Ozeoos amid Slo'V'aikls. HoweveT, the resulits of MaJmatej's journey "could be desori:bed, on bailance, only as negative." 15 For the Amerioam SlovaJks, he brought baok more promi:ses from the Ptmgue regime; for himseJrf, he broug,ht badk a committment from Prague that he would be awarded tJhe post of Ozedho-SlovaJk conS'l.1!1 in Bittsburgh. His aJppointment caJme through in Septem1ber 1920. The XII]tJh Congress of the Slova1k Leagure of America, whidh took p'lace at the end of J'll!l1e 1920 in MiilwaJUlkee, Wisconsin, transpired in a ,c ompletely di:£ferent atmosphere from thait of its predecessoI'S. On J1Une 16 Joseph Husek puibiJJioly announced his withd<rawaJl from the League, whose leaJdeirshi!p "is moraHy amd finandaiHy supporting agitation and opposition to the PiittJs'lmrgh PaJct." 16 'Dhe SlovaJk League haJd joined battle witlh t!he wtonmni,stls in America, and bJaJd even given tadd assenlt to the waJgin:g of sUJoh a battle in Slovaklia, at a time that WaJS oritiicaJl, since the na'tiornai election1s Olf 1920 were drawilng neaT. For 1:Jhis reaJson not one S'lav,aJk CaJt:lholic organization in America sent de'leg,ates to 1:Jhe XIILtih Congress, and Husek, after t he Oong,ress warned: 1 ..'Tihe League has ceased to be the mOTal and offioiail representative of the AmeI'icam-Sloviaik colony." 17 RepresentaJtives of Slovak CaJthidlics, under the leaJdership af the S1ovaik OatholJ.i<c Federation and tlhe ot!her orgaJI1izations working in C'1ose ooopera'tion with it, began to taJke over the League's erat-w:hile role in the defence of SllOV1aJk nationaJl rights. On Ja.nuaJry 14, 1920, the cenwail committee of the SlovaJk Catholic Federat•i on "voted 100,000 crowns as a personal girft to the Rev. Andrew HEmlka, our leader, t!he imprisoned SlavaJk martyr. It also rupproved a Clheok in the amownt �SLOVAKIA 71 of $5,000.00 as a stop-gap aid to old-country Catholics, for Catholic aiction. l1t furrtiher passed a motion to issue memoria1 staimps bearing the i'mage of H!lliJ11lm and an inrsm"ilption of his motto ... Dr. Joseph Rudinsky was aippoonted to t'he position of organizer in the Slovak Oa:tholic Fedwarbion, arnd MT. Joseph KUJba:11a was nirumed a,siistanrt to the comptTolileT." 18 The president of the Slovak Oathol1k FedeTation, Rev. Joseph :Dulik, reminded t'he memlbershilp tJhat tJhe basic provisions of the co,nstitution of the Ozeoho-Slovaik Repulblric remaJined inadequate ilil the opinlion of tJhe Federation, and that tJhe lrust ooniverition haJd taiken a position "in suipport of S1ova!kiam aJUtonomy, as g,ururanteed to tJhe Slovruk nation in tJhe PlilftsbuTgh Pact." 19 And in the same vein, the Rev. :DuHk exip:ressed his view on the issue: "We aire foT the Ozecihio.,Slovruk Repufb'li<:, 'body and sou[ - but only on condition tJhat we receive in it what is ouT due." 20 From 1:Jhis standpoint 1fuere was great va:lue in the message of the SIJ:ovak Cathollic Fedevation to "ouir brothers in SfovaJkia", by which historic realities concerning American SfovaJks were put in proper fomis, and a demand was registered "for the incorpOTaltion of tJhe suibstamce of the Pittsburg,h Pact in the basic 11aw of tJhe Repuibl~c." 21 '.Dhe stand of the FedeTation inspired tJhe Slova:k-American community. At its conrvention of 13 and 14 OctO'beT, 1920, in Chicago, the recoros revealed t!hat the Slovalk CartJholic Federation "numbered 17'5 strong men's brandhes, and 14 women's brancihes; and its membership haJd risen to close to twenty thousand. This g,rowfu dated from onily ten months ba;ck." 22 '.Dhe pr,ogram of the Federation with respect to nationaEty matters remained unchanged: autonomy a:s set for!Jh and defined in the Pittsburgh Pact. 23 To the United States came ort!her emissaries, too. These were tlhe agents of tJhe Brague regime, Rev. LaJdis1aiv Moys, a Catlholiic priest, rund the Sooiial..,Democvat Jiohrn Pocislk, whose assignment wa;s to swing pu!b'lic opinion among American Slovaks to tJhe side of 1Jhe Ozeciho-,Slovruks and rugaJinst the SlovaJk People's Party. But American Silovaikrs were not swayed by the mission, despite its ecclesiasticaJl traJppings, because they knew it traveled rubout the country on funds �72 SLOVAKIA provided by Prague. 'l'hey gave no credence to Moys becaruse "he associates and cooperates, works hand in hand, with Socia'li,s ts." 24 Nor were Slovruk Catho'lios shiaJken by Maisrurytk's cli!savowa:l of his sigrrature on t!he Plirttsbmg1h Pact, or by his deo}ruration that 1fue Pa;ct wrus inrva!lid.25 They reaJCted with dignity, becaJU!se their chief concern was to "remain tirue to the honor of t!he SlovaJk nation." 26 In t!he uneven battJle between Andirew Hlinika and fue organized power of Prague and its SUipporting p<jli.tical prurties, the assistaJnce of American Sloviaks was extraordinari1ly wekome. Andrew H1inlka sat innocently in a Oze0h ja:il for seven months. Fior a long time his ja;iiloirs even wi'tfuheld his marl from him; and as he sat in helplessness and isO'}a'bion, tJhe mi,nions of the new state's power structuire tried to disrupt the ranks of the 1P eople's Party. 27 In the me:antiline caJIDe the elections. A!bout t!hem Hlinlka gave the foHowing testimony: "Unfortunately, the elections did not produce the spectacular results for the Peqp'le's Party that we had every reruson to expect. The People's Party did not receive the ma:jority that it should have received. Reasons for this development run to the hun1drreds: t!h:ey locked us urp, tlhey branded us tra!itor,s, they unlerushed a;gainst us tiheiir soildiers, gen1damnerie, sheriffs and professors . . . Agaiinst us was turned every power - and every means was perm~ss~ble. 'Dhe :riig,ht of assembly was denied uiS: and wihen granted, our meetings were diispersed. 'I'he starved and pauperized Slova;k populace threw itselif into the em/brace of the SocialDemocratic Party, whidh ha;d pre~ously been little known in SlovaJlcia. Two-iliuindred tJhous and soldiers were transfer.red to Sfovaikia - to vote. Ozeoh Olfficia;ls, teachers and function airies were for,ced UipOil us; and these people, numbering ~rmcimately fifty th01.1<s'a.nd, voted against Slo"W!Jk autonomy. Where hunger ~atled, the s<jldiier anid official produced t!he de's1red resulit." 28 The Socialists were not, 8Jild could not be, the sa!lvation of S1wa!kia. On the contrary, the sociia.Uistic "Ozech regi,me in Slova;kfa enstranged Slovakia from Bohemia. It created cha,os, because it drove the people witlh fa.:1se prom~ses in'to the airms of the Internationa!le." 29 1 1 1 1 �SLOVAKIA 73 American S~ovaJks exipected the worst in S1lovaJkia. They envisioned the sprea!d of Somallism and its oo!lrrninabon in Coarumrunii.sm - uniless refor,ms were introdUJced in time. In this context CaJt:Jholic organi!za1Jion-s, in particufar, intensified their ef1forts and soug,ht new ways to help Hlinlka win his objectives. 30 FOOTNOTES 1. Minutes of the annual meeting of the supreme officers of the First Catholic Slovak Union, New York City, January 6-9, 1919, page 73. Husek was a member of the Reconstruction Committee of the Slovak League of America, chairman of which was Dr. Miroslav Francisci, and the other members, John Matlocha, Edward Kovac, and Milan Getting. 2. Joseph Husek wrote several articles about his trip to Slovakia, but the most comprehensive was his contribution to the almanac Jednota for 1920, titled "Co som videl, pocul a skusil na Slovensku." (What I Saw, Heard and Experienced in Slovakia.), pages 33-60. All of the above quotes on Husek's mission are taken from this source. 3. This was a group that styled itself "Mlade Slovensko" (Young Slovakia). Hlas (The Voice) was its journal, and the forum from which it expounded views on literature and life, social and political, all heavily influenced by Masaryk. 4. Minutes of the annual meeting of the supreme officers of the First Catholic Slovak Union, Cleveland, Ohio, January 19-22, 1920, page 8. 5. Cover story on this Congress in the newspaper Jednota, June 4, 1919, page 1. The Congress approved a motion to establish a scholarship fund in memory of General Stefanik for "the support of students and writers in Slovakia and America. The Slovak League will contribute $10,000.00 to this fund, and school-fund collections by various organizations and newspapers are also to be turned over to it." 6. "Prestante!" (Desist!). Jednota, June 4, 1919, page 4. 7. "Eppur si muove." Jednota, October 22, 1919, page 4. 8. See the actual text in the Jednota, October 29, 1919, page 1. 9. " Dohoda, Hlinka a Masaryk" (The Pact, Hlinka and Masaryk). Jednota, November 19, 1919, page 4. 10. "Za krest'anske a autonomne Slovensko" (For a Christian and Autonomous Slovakia). Jednota, November 26, 1919, page 4. Also compare with the story of the meetings in the same issue of the Jednota on page one. Inasmuch as the convention of the Slovak Catholic Federation was postponed, a Slovak Catholic Council was elected from among the delegates in Pittsburgh, which however only served till the convention, and then merged with the Federation. Time moved quickly, and the liberal and Czecho-Slovak oriented groups began to break up local branches of the Slovak League, and to scatter accusations against sympathizers with Hlinka's movement. For this reason Slovak Catholics rallied to the cause. Anti-Slovak activities are touched upon in the article "Za auton6miu"' (For Autonomy) in the Jednota, December 3, 1919, page 4, and in subsequent issues. 11. Compare with the coverage of the Convention of the Slovak Catholic Federation in the Jednota, December 24, 1919, on page one. The article "Z konvencie Sdruzenia slovenskych katolikov" (From �74 SLOVAKIA the Convention of the Slovak Catholic Federation) , in the same edition of the Jednota, page 5, notes that all Slovak Catholic organizations were represented at this convention. 12. "Sdruzenie slovenskych katolikov" (The Slovak Catholic Federation ). Jednota, December 31, 1919, page 4. 13. From a letter by the Rev. Andrew Dor{msky, a pastor in Hladovka, Slovakia, dated August 12, 1919, published in the Jednota, September 17, 1919, page 1. 14. "Prednaska Rev. Gracika" (A Lecture by the Rev. Gracik). Jednota, December 10, 1919, page 1. 15. Culen, K. "Strucne dejiny Slovenskej ligy" (A Short History of the Slovak League) . Jednota, August 27, 1958, page 2. 16. "Vystupujem zo Slovenskej ligy" (I am Withdrawing from the Slovak League) . Jedn ota, June 16, 1920, page 4. 17. "Po kongrese" (After the Congress) . Jednota, July 7, 1920, page 4. 18. "Vaznejsie uznesenia Sdruzenia slovenskych katolikov" (Some Important Decisions of the Slovak Catholic Federation) . Jednota, January 28, 1920, page 1. 19. "Nase stanovisko" (Our Standpoint). Jednota, March 17, 1920, page 4. 20. "Este raz Rev. Moysovi" ( Once Again to the Rev. Moys). Jednota, April 21, 1920, page 4. Joseph Husek remained an unswerving adherent of the autonomist idea: "From the standpoint of the enemies of Slovak national distinctivness, Slovak autonomy would constitute virtual suicide-suicide for the idea of Czecho-Slovak national unity! Only a fool could believe that Slovak truth, were it to have behind it the full power of a state, courts, bureau, schools, and the moral and material support of the highly cultured Czech nation, could not successfully resist an immoral and politically bankrupt Magyaronismonly a fool, or someone who considers the Slovak nation a morally debilitated, nationally paralyzed rabble of near-idiots! " "To nie je to prave" (This Isn't the Real Thing) . Jednota, February 18, 1920, page 4. Also see the article "Matez" (Turmoil) , Jednota, March 24, 1920, page 5; and the article "Salus reipublicae suprema lex", Jednota, April 14, 1920, page 4. Among other things, this article states: "For the Slovak politician, the good of the Slovak nation must take precedence over the good of the Republic, or as the case may be, the government. The vital interests of the nation, its natural rights, its national character, may not be sacrificed to the good of the state, the Republic, or the regime. The Republic exists for the nation, not the reverse. The nation is an end, the Republic only a means. The idea of the supremacy of the state (government) must yield to the idea of the supremacy of the nation. Only in monolinguistic democratic states, where the concept of nationality is synonymous with the concept of state, where nationality in reality equates with state and vice versa, can the good of the nation be equated with the good of the state." Husek returns to this theme frequently on the pages of the Jednota in signed and anonymous articles, as well as editorials and remarks. 21. The complete text appears in the Jednota, May 26, 1920, page 5. 22. "Konvencia Sdruzenia slovenskych katolikov" (The Convention of the Slovak Catholic Federation). Jednota, October 20, 1920, page 1. 23. "The Slovak Catholic Federation still favors an autonomous Slovakia and will continue to do so until at last. the banner of Slovak autonomy within the framework of a Czecho-Slovak Republic, will �SLOVAKIA 75 wave over our Tatra mountains." Rev. C. K. Vaniscak, O.S.B.: "Po konvencii Sdruzenia slovenskych katolikov" (After the Convention of the Slovak Catholic Federation) , Jednota, October 20, 1920, page 4. 24. Hrtanek, Klemo. "Koho chcete, abych vam prepustil, Hlinku alebo Moysa?" (Whom Do You Wish I Release to You, Hlinka or Moy~?). Jednota, April 28, 1920, page 4. "Priest or no-priest, come down from the cherry-tree . . . Any Slovak priest who does not fight with us for the martyr Hlinka and his democratic idea, has no right to be called one of us; any priest who favors the Socialists in Prague defeats the legitimate efforts of the Slovaks." 25. The Jednota, in its issue of March 17, 1920, page one, published a letter from Masaryk to his prime minister, Tusar, on the subject of "the so-called Pittsburgh Agreement." Translated from the original Czech, Masaryk's letter reads as follows : "Representatives of American Slovak and Czech organizations resolved in this agreement to combat agitation against a union of the Czechs and Slovaks. The pact was made, it seems to me, largely by American citizens. The Pittsburgh program is one of many pre-revolutionary programs formulated abroad. It has an historical value. The Pittsburgh Pact was contracted between Slovaks and Czechs, and were it to have any validity at all, surely this validity would be predicated on the condition that both parties still agreed on its contents. In the pact itself, toward the end, there is a stipulation that detailed provisions for the organization of the Czecho-Slovak state were to be left to the Czechs and Slovaks and their legal representatives ; this stipulation was entered because the Czechs and Slovaks at the Pittsburgh meeting understood that Ame· rican citizens had no right to make decisions concerning the definitive organization of the Czecho-Slovak state." Husek, who immediately published the letter in the Jednota, alongside the text of the Pittsburgh Pact enclosed in a black frame, took an entirely different view of the matter, and in commentary, remarked among other things : "the Pittsburgh Pact is valid because it rests on the eternally valid natural rights of nations." (Ibid.) 26. "Za Pittsburghsku dohodu 'kavova nahrazka' " (Instead of the Pittsburgh Pact "ersatz coffee"). Jednota, March 31, 1920, page 4. And the Rev. Dulik comments: "To contract an agreement and then not care whether it is observed or not, amounts to making oneself ridiculous before the world." "Rev. Moysovi" (To the Rev. Moy~). Jednota, March 31, 1920, page 4. 27. Karol Sidor gives a detailed description in his book "Andrej Hlinka", Bratislava 1934. 28. "Apel Hlinkov na Slovakov v Amerike" (Hlinka's Appeal to American Slovaks). Jednota, July 21, 1920, page 4. The Jednota expressed the conviction, even after the defeat of the People's Party, that the national idea "will be stopped by nothing and nobody in its victorious advance." "Vol'by na Slovensku" (The Elections in Slo• vakia). Jednota, May 12, 1920, page 4. 29. "Statarium na Slovensku" (Martial Law in Slovakia) . Jed.nota, August 11, 1920, page 1. "But martial law will not preserve Slovakia for the Czechs! Czech bayonets will not preserve Slovakia for the Czecho-Slovak Republic ... Prague is blind, it does not see the writing on the wall ... " 30. Compare with the article by the president of the Slovak Catholic Federation, Rev. Joseph Dulik: "My netratime nadej" (We are not losing Hope), Jednota, August 11, 1920, page 4, and others. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1966, Vol. 16 Description An account of the resource Vol. 16 (No. 39), 1966. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1966 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 63 AMIDRIO.AN SLOV:.A.KiS AND '.DHE BEJG]NNJNGS OF 02'JIDOHO-SLOVAKI.A. By Joseph Pauco, Ph.D. In 1907 there was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, an organiiization ,ca:lled the Slovaik LeaJgue of America. This orga'Illization represented a coailition of aiH 1:Jhe existing Slovaik fraite:m al and r~i:giou:s organizations in the United States, and rallied besides, the support of t'he Slovaik clergy, both OatJholic amd Evangelka!l (Lutheran), as well as t!he suipport of the then--e:ristiing Slov:aik-American periodicals. The Slova!k League set as its major goail tJhe lilberation of the SllovaJk nation in its homelaind. For t!his reason it toO!k a srtand for t!he dismaintlement of tJhe .Austro-Hiungarian Empire and e:,oplo;z-ed possiibi'lities for political cooperation wit:Jh the Czech nation. Thiis cooperation reached formal expression in 1:Jhe signing of the Pi'Ubsburgh Pad of May 30, 1918, parties to which were 11epresentatives of the Silova'k Leaigue of America on the one side, and the represenrtatives of the Czech Natriona:l .Alliance and the Union of Czech Ca1fuolics, on the otJher. The Czechs were led by Thomas G. Masaryik, who prepared both .p arties for the aJgreement, aind wiho later became the first president of the O.zechoSlovaik Republiic. The text of tJhe Pittsburgh Paict reads as foHows: The representatives of the Slovak and Czech organizations in the United States-the Slovak League, the Czech National Alliance, and the Union of Czech Catholics-have deliberated, in the presence of the Chairman of the Czecho•Slovak National Council, Professor Masa• ryk, on the Czecho•Slovak question and on our previous program mani• festations, and have resolved as follows: We favor a political program whose purpose it shall be to unite the Czechs and Slovaks into an autonomous state comprising the Czech lands and Slovakia. Slovakia shall have her own administration, her own assembly, and her own courts. The Slovak language shall be the official language in the schools, in public offices, and in the public life in general. The Czecho•Slovak State shall be a republic; its constitution shall be democratic. The cooperation of the Czechs and the Slovaks in the United States shall be intensified and regulated by mutual consent, according to need and changing situations. Detailed provisions relating to the organization of the Czecho· Slovak State shall be left to the liberated Czechs and Slovaks and their legal representatives. 64 SLOVAKIA It is interesting to tmce the early evolution in the attitude of tJhe Prague government, under T. G. Masaryk, to the Pittsburgh Pact, and to the movement of Andrej HLinika, the eminent Slovak politicail leader, wtho adopted the progra:m of the Paiet. And it is no less interesting to review the thirnlkinig on this matter among American Sfoviaks, a faction of wihom rejected the program and succeeded for a short time in leading astray even the Slova:k League of America. On Maroh 7, 1919 Joseph Rusek left for Slova;kii1a. He was sent by t!he Slovak Lea:gue a;g one of a five-member mission, and the supreme of.ficers of the First Oatholic Slovaik Un:ion, too, at their annual meeting in New York, charged "brother Joseph Husek, editor of our organ 'Jedinota', in the name of 70,000 SlovaJk Catholics organized in tlhe FCSU, as a competent ma:n, to represent us illl the o1d country in matters both ecclesiastical aJild national, and to keep us informed on the state of SioV18lk ailfairs." 1 This was the first important mission of the American Siovruks to the continent after the overthrow of the old order. Joseph Huisek spent ten weeks in Slov&kia and urpon his return presented a comprehen,s ive report of his impressions. He analyzed the times and r!Jhe peop{e, circumstances and events, with great perspicacity, in the newspruper Jednotia and the a,lmainac of the same name. 2 It had been Husek's intention to a:cquaint SlloviaJk leaders with the Ame rican Slovaks' interpretation of the program emlbodied in the Pittsrburg,h Pruct. But in Bratislava his voice fell on deaf ears, because "the government was controlled by individuals, as it is to this day, who saw in the new ord€r an excellent opportunity to acihieve their ideal: the Czechizabiorn of S,l ova kia curlturaHy, economically and politic,ally. And by a standing imposition of martial law they envisioned the possi1bi11rity of intilmida;ting not only elemenrts inimi,ca:l to the Republic, hut also elements inimical to tJhis ideal." These people did not acknowledge the reservations of the American-SlovaJk emissaries. "'Dhey only smirled artfully, as if they pittied me for my naive fai'bh in the fitness of tihe Slovaik nation," wrote Joseph Rusek, ·b y way of commentary to •his conversations in Bratislava, for he saw clearly that the ruling c8iste in Srlova:kia was interested "ilil a com1 1 SLOVAKIA 65 rtsko-~lo1ttll!lk11JQgbl~.. tnmtrettri ll i)ittsbnr9htt. l}n.. bntt ,;o. tndjR. l9ltl • .,ifrr~sttw iMio ~lottttt!ikvch uo ., ll ~kiich o~nnisocif . t •~ ~,P"J•. -'-:t't ~ ll om. - . •~htu t1tsatj 1J~\!~~tho ]Ttlll)~ni.ho.$bttittnfu. . ll ~\!i)!ll frsj1.1,h.~ . " · P•'l"<'lh'1.•,1li t.i pnl.-niu,•;;ti ~~~~t-.'u e,1-1t .... $l..:.•m:-tt,_i "~1Jr.-..1' .,,'!4• ~r,"'f.~h,; ..,1-yh,, . ., ~1-ft,,~Jlct.,i:niok~j ,.....\,h, ,1 ..... th1$i,·b {~\t~:ti:b pr~~;!~l\'?'?Cl•~i.·b pr('_i~-:1.,,'1! r.\ usnt,--.l~-,.l~~,,.a.•\'\.: ! -.. s~b'M !u_irn,~ pditi,·h:i pr.:-~r.t~ uii\ll~U,"\ ~l •' Sp.:-j.:ni~ e.:~h~,i• lt $\i."li,Jk,.. ~ \t ~.,m,;•att1o1hl,'\1' 1ttit, 1. f~-,p.l\lf~-b 1nnl,, Sl\"l\tti:t!th~\~ 4 } ' ,"~""-~ .. :·.:-tc;•~n . . lt.• l;tt~~ mut -..~•-~iu L•l<l1-fn1'.i.)mitliih·..muu.1i,,j ~\j,:·\!1 "~ i,\••:\~ $'UL~~ . ,_S\ci.•(t-:ftn,, ru~..: ,fr,~~n!'t1! j,,iyb.~ t•~\i~l~. ~· Ut",,~~ ,, t,~., t tNi 1"'"'\'\1 !\t, ...,t..! t,;_;~-:-.c. · "€.:~t.,-;,(.,,,,-u1-l,{';;l,1t l-ub.: tt}'u~lik,,u, j~l,..,~.:-1Wtittici" bu ..'-: ~~m""kr"tti4!k-.\. _ ··~•l\'li'!-.i,'t,'\ fp,•lupr.{.:~ e.:cb,"t•" $\.;,i•,tlwv t•c Sp...i. -.:: ., • t1 L • • ·t ' . · ~ ·. '~ ~t-1,t ..--..,h Lru,,,, P•'t. :'"- f"' t r~..,~ ,, mcnt,\~~.t :'1o'\ fl u-1~\<.pn ~}'-' I ..,~o~"t\11 ~~'r-"'?tnn(n\. pr.:hl~~t:..\ ,, '-'}'TOt•~n..i. ·. t: .~ · 1 ~ ,-~ ..... ._\t,.. ~nl t.1,st..,n-:'t~ni~, c- t..\t't'1,'.:1Ul.:-5k~~,l~,tC"Ot~~k~~ ;,1,1tu }'-'ll~.:b,ll.•,i.iu ;," •'!W••r,•~~nym €.i.:!icm ,, Sl,'l C1hcm "icb _ prJi,,•pl.ltni1m pN,'11-t,wit.:l,'tlt." 1 ====---- I w -{. . L_._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _J Photographic reproduction of the original copy of the Pittsburgh Pact ("Pittsburghska Dohoda") plete merging of 1Jhe Slmr31k nart~on wi1:!h tlhe Czeoh." Burt on the 01:!her hand he also ascertained tihat "Masary,k's ideology of tJhe nationa,,l unity of Slovaks and Czecihs was completely foreign to the ordinary Slovaik person." 3 And it did not escape Husek's observation that ''the oe SLOVAKIA Slov~s !have no desire fo:r the kind of democraitic wwk that haJS to be performed in the shadow of Czech bayonets!" He 01Scertained that the Czeoho-Slovaik Pairliament was gravely deficient in point of "ropresenrta'tion for the SlovaJk nation. Agriculture and the triades haid not a single representative firom among tJhei'r own rarrk!s, and in any case, members of pairliaiment were nominated and a,ppointed by the regime ibselif, whicih ma!kes no seoret of its intentions to consolidate its power at every cost, and whfoh pursues a poli~ica[, cu1tural and economic course that ha,s bhe support of only a smaifil minority of bhe Slovak nation." He noted that bhe policies of bhli s government ran oouniter to the interests of bhe Slovia'k people. Husek verified tllrough his own Olbservations tJhat "in PraJgue many influential pdlitidans want aJbsolurtely no tr,uok with the idea tJhait Slovakia belongs to tJhe Slovaks and that the Slova:ks have no need to go to Piriague for tutelage in the management of bheir own land and nation. Indeed, Pra,gue is completely at a loss as to what to do in its own bailiwick. Politioal chaos reigns in Bohemia. 'flhe national assemlbly speaJks with twenty tongues. Not one faction aictua'lly knows what it wants . .A!I1d in the maisses tJhe most prevalent pdlitic'al orientatfon is Bollshevism." Of suoh stuf.f, too, were the OzechlS who cMne to Slov,a,kia. Hrusek oharaoteri!.zed them aJS fol!lows : "The arrogance am.d domineering attitude of some Czeclhs in Slov.akia was indeed Ml af:firont. And I encountered these maniifestation,s, in per,son, frequently during my stay i'n the old country. I e,cperienced them on tJhe tr,aJirnis and in tlhe restaiurants. On the trams you were comfuaintly being jostled aside for some Ozedh dignilbairy, while in tJhe restaiurants your order WaJS taiken only after 1:Jhe Ozooh had reccived his ... It is a major fault witih many of OUT Czeoh brethren, and not tihe leaist with men of culrttvalbi.on, that tlley do not ,consider the ,Slova,k an equa•l citizen of the Republic." In the political sphere Husek saw cleair signs tJhait the rulling regime in Slov,ailcia haJd no desire to even hear of aultonomy. 'Dhe regime considered tihe autonom:i!sts traitors. It WaJS Huook's finding that a great gaip separated the policie'S of 1:Jhe Slova!k LeaJgue of Amerioa fram the tJhmktmg of tihe current rulers in Slovakia. 6i SLOVAKIA On tJhe subject of autQIIlomy, writes Joseph Husek, "Hlirrrka aJlone g,ave me a clear...oot srtatement - he liives and dies for the American pa,dt . . . Hli'nlka stamds for autooomy antd a Ohrisitian world-view. He stamlds for autonomy becaiuse he sees in it the assu:rainrce of a better future for Ms naJtion, and a gual'amtee of the firee growt:Jh of its natio n.1aJl cu1lture and economy, as weJ1l as a bai:rder to Ozeoh materialilsm and atheism ... Hlmka stand1s for •autonomy because he is Slov,aJk, not Ozeclho-Slovaik ! . . . And besides, it mmt be said of H]i[llka tJhat he loves his naltion warriznrly, truly and entirely seMllessly; he is ready to sacl'ifice evecytlhing for it - whircih is something I camnot in good con,s cience say a!bout many of his opponents." In regard to Joseph Husek'is trirp as "a:n emliss,rury of the Amwican Sfovakis" A. J. Pirha!11a, president of the F1irrist Catholic Slovak Union, commented: "'he accomplished a ,g reat deal of wortJhwhile wo"Pk. His detailed rerport gave us an accurate, clear and specific rev-iew of the situation in Slova,kia. " 4 Hrusek and MH'an Gettilllg presented the reports on tJhcir Slo'ViaJkian trirp at the 12'1:Jh Oongress of tihe SlovaJk Le•ague of America, wh~-c'h todk plaice on May 29, 1919 ilil Scranton, Pennsylva,nia. Getting ,prorposed that the League send the "Slovak Administration" a printing press vail ued at $50,000.00, and in addit-ilon, to Mr. Sirobar, finamcirail a:ssistance in tihe amount of $10,000.00. 'Dhe Congress rupproved t'he proposal, and a•l so moved to send sixty-thousamd dollar3 wO'!'th of clothing to Slovaikia. 5 Husek wrote after tJhe congress: "HHnika is the forunder, president amd guiding spitrit of tlhe SloWJk People's Party, wihldh wiH play a great, if ndt decishre, role in the history of Slovaik'ia, and whiiC'h claims the loyalty of ahnost a'1.!l the patriotiic S'lov~k clergy, even of those who do not approve m ,i:nka'·s -bi'tter anrd unrestrai,ned critilcism of 1:Jh~ administration i01 Braitirs]ra va." 6 In th±s vein Joseph Husek filled tlhe columTIJS Olf · the newspaper Jednota through the year 1919. He subjected the Prrugue regime and its functionaries in Bratislava to shar,p criticism. He believed fifflllly tJhiat ''oniy through aiutonomy wou'ld it be poss~ble to purt Slovaikila finmly on its feet! . . . 'Dhe Slovaks need aiutanomy mairrrly to preserve their national existence. But without srpecific leg~si.ation 1 68 SLOVAKIA there will be no self-rule of any kiJnid." The sel!f-ru[e "that Slov:aikia has today its not only worbhiless, but even positively pernrjlciou1s. Suoh 'selrf..1rule' demoraJl.ilzes pulbJi.c Hfe in Sloviaikia aind stirs the natiQIIl to open revoU.'' 7 On October 24, 1919, the execubi.ive committtee of tJhe SlovaJk League of Arm.edoa approved a memoramtdurm. addressed to the "policy-rm.1a;king fundt,iana11ieis" ( of t'he Czeoho-Slovaik gavernrrnent), in wihi'clh it oaUed for tJhe implementatiton of the Pit'tsburglh P.aiot. 8 A concentrated fig,ht agiainst Hilinka got under way. The fig,ht WaJS OO'gani.ized on two fronts: in Sfovakia, and in America; •a nd the f.ight gmdruaHy gained ground even ilil tJhe SfovaJk League. As H'linlka was returrning :6rom the peruce conference in Parris, on the evening of October 12, 1919, he wais arrested and spirited away to Mirrov prison. The baJSiis for hiJS arrest waJs hlis 1Jr1p to Piari.is and his a:ttempt there to place before the pea;ce conference, Sfo.viak demands as contaJitned in tJhe P,iUsburr1gih Pact. "If HHn:ka had gone to Pari.is, tJhougih the wa:y hakl led through Budapest, for the purpose of protesting the Bad - let's put the matter squarely on the taJble - the Ozecho..,Slovak ,press iand the Czeoho~SlovaJk gov,ernment would today be prarsing Hli!n!ka to the highest heaven, and everywhere he would be hera:lded as the future rurchb1shop of S'lovaikfa ! . . . Hliillka, therefore, witl!l face tria•l on behaJlf of our P,ruct, aJnd in effoct it will be our P.ruct tJhat will be on trial . . . And because this Pact, whloh ts to go on t'l'ial ~n Olom,o uc, 1s ours, in effect it will be we American Slovaks wiho wi'l'l face trila:l - ()lllT con'triburtion to the revolutionary struggle." 9 To the Uruted StaJrtes oa;me Hltinka's representath,es, Rev. Joseipfri Rudrnisiky and Joseph KU!bala, wiho called a meeting of S'1ovalk Crut:Jholic priests irn Piit1:Jsbu'I"gh 01I1 November 19, 1919, an1d om the following day, a meeting of the represen1ia.1t!ives of Slovak Oaitholiic org,anii!zations, loldiges and newspa;pers. Rerv. Joseph Du'lik of Olyphant, Penn!sy<lw.nia, pres•i!ded at the meeting of 1:Jhe clergy, and Atrrdrew J. Birha!&, presildent of the FiTlst Ca1Jholic S1l0Vlalk Union, at the second meetiinig. Both meet:Jing,s devei~oped g,uideliines for aiction by Slovruk Catholics of America, aJnd issued in a spontaneous determination to defend Aindrew Hlilillkia. Pla;n:s well"e made to expoiSe to the pub]i!c ruH fille events surround!ing Hlinlka's trip to Paris and his subsequent imprisonment. 1 1 SLOVAKIA 69 The pu11pose of the Pittsburg,h meeting was: "1. To lay a foundation for wide 8Jl1d e:fifective publi<city and a:gitation for Sriovalkian 0Jutonomy within the frame-worik of the Ozeciho-,S,lovaJk Republic; 2. To 13/Un'Ch a movement for the creation of a OatJholic press fund, for the Sll.llpport of Catholi:c l<iterature ... Arrnerica,n S·1nVia1ks do nro t cornsiider the Paict a scrap of pruper: tfuey wr~l underibake everyrtlhilng irn theirr power to whieve its recogndltion. And tn a,ddiition to this, aifter so ma,ny disruppoi1nitment:Js from both tihe SIOVaJk Lea,g,ue, and spokesmen for tfue Ozeehio-S lov,aik goveirnment, they have ehosern t!he only proper courne: tlhey demand th1at the Pact be incorporated in the provi'81ion:s of the P.aris Pea.ice Treaty." 10 1 1 These meetings received an eX!tension, in effect, in the convention of the S~ov·a k Ca1:lho'lic Federation, held in Scranton, Pennsylv,ania, on December 18, 1919. This organization's delegate, Rev. Anton Gmdk, ha.id just returned from Slovaikioa, and he confirmed tJhe coniolusion,s of Hooek, Rudinsky, and K111ba1a. 'J.'1he conventiOIIl, therefoTe, moved to support, in full, Hilin:ka's activities and tJhe Pittsbuirgih Pact. 11 lniaJSmuc'h a.is the leadersthiilp of the S'lov:alk Leag,ue ha:d entetred the services of ''anti.,SiloviaJk and aniti-Ohristian poli,cies," 12 the SlovaJk CatJholic Federation beg,ain to taike noltdce of the politkail si tu ation in SJ.ovaikia. Srrovalk Catho4iics begam taking a heig,htened internst in t,h e n1ationa:l program because the Prague regime had proved itselif not on!ly anti-S1lovaik, but also amti-Oat!ho•l k. "The beMigerent merusuires undeI'balken by the Ozeicihs agairnst the Catholli,c Church a,nd the reH:gions sentiments of believing Slovalks" 13 ciolrld su1c1ceed only in arousing everyfbody. Rev. GraJcik, speaking from hi,s personal observa,tions in Slovakia, dec'l aired: "\Religion hars complete freedom in the Ozecho-Slo'W!Jk Republic, guaranteed by law. But filris f.reedom in only on paper. Nort erven 20 % of the p111blic sti:H be'l~eves in thi s reli•gio1rns freedom. Power rest:Js m 1Jhe han'd s of Sodail-De mocratk atheists, nom.--!believeris; and these people are aJbusing 1!heir power in an attempt to per;pe1tnmte their pairtisan conrtiro1l, and to entren,c h tJheir posirbions. ThU!s, re'ligious :fireedOIJll exists only on pruper and tJhe Ohuircih ooduires cons~deraJble suffering . . . Ln S10V1all da, except for prlimera and bi:bles, no Catlholi1c literaiture is cmrently being publ'islhed. The Ozeciho-SlovaJk government 1hrus completeily stopped 1 1 1 1 70 SLOVAKIA Catlhol~c presses, suppressed ail OaltJhiolic per'iodicaJ1'S. The Catholic sohool youth is prohilbiited :f.irom organi1z ing in defence of its religficntJS sentiments." 14 Towarids the en!d of 1919 tJhe president of tJhe Sli0W1Jk League, Albert Mamaitej, tiriaveled to S1ovaJkia, 0JI1d returned wiifu a letter from Dr. Mfillan Hoooa, a SlavaJk pol.ritircian on 1:Jhe side of tJhe Ozecfus, wlhi!dh promrlised a definite, sart:isfactory stabi'liz,ati:on of the relaitionlsihiiip between the Ozeoos amid Slo'V'aikls. HoweveT, the resulits of MaJmatej's journey "could be desori:bed, on bailance, only as negative." 15 For the Amerioam SlovaJks, he brought baok more promi:ses from the Ptmgue regime; for himseJrf, he broug,ht badk a committment from Prague that he would be awarded tJhe post of Ozedho-SlovaJk conS'l.1!1 in Bittsburgh. His aJppointment caJme through in Septem1ber 1920. The XII]tJh Congress of the Slova1k Leagure of America, whidh took p'lace at the end of J'll!l1e 1920 in MiilwaJUlkee, Wisconsin, transpired in a ,c ompletely di:£ferent atmosphere from thait of its predecessoI'S. On J1Une 16 Joseph Husek puibiJJioly announced his withd<rawaJl from the League, whose leaJdeirshi!p "is moraHy amd finandaiHy supporting agitation and opposition to the PiittJs'lmrgh PaJct." 16 'Dhe SlovaJk League haJd joined battle witlh t!he wtonmni,stls in America, and bJaJd even given tadd assenlt to the waJgin:g of sUJoh a battle in Slovaklia, at a time that WaJS oritiicaJl, since the na'tiornai election1s Olf 1920 were drawilng neaT. For 1:Jhis reaJson not one S'lav,aJk CaJt:lholic organization in America sent de'leg,ates to 1:Jhe XIILtih Congress, and Husek, after t he Oong,ress warned: 1 ..'Tihe League has ceased to be the mOTal and offioiail representative of the AmeI'icam-Sloviaik colony." 17 RepresentaJtives of Slovak CaJthidlics, under the leaJdership af the S1ovaik OatholJ.i<c Federation and tlhe ot!her orgaJI1izations working in C'1ose ooopera'tion with it, began to taJke over the League's erat-w:hile role in the defence of SllOV1aJk nationaJl rights. On Ja.nuaJry 14, 1920, the cenwail committee of the SlovaJk Catholic Federat•i on "voted 100,000 crowns as a personal girft to the Rev. Andrew HEmlka, our leader, t!he imprisoned SlavaJk martyr. It also rupproved a Clheok in the amownt SLOVAKIA 71 of $5,000.00 as a stop-gap aid to old-country Catholics, for Catholic aiction. l1t furrtiher passed a motion to issue memoria1 staimps bearing the i'mage of H!lliJ11lm and an inrsm"ilption of his motto ... Dr. Joseph Rudinsky was aippoonted to t'he position of organizer in the Slovak Oa:tholic Fedwarbion, arnd MT. Joseph KUJba:11a was nirumed a,siistanrt to the comptTolileT." 18 The president of the Slovak Oathol1k FedeTation, Rev. Joseph :Dulik, reminded t'he memlbershilp tJhat tJhe basic provisions of the co,nstitution of the Ozeoho-Slovaik Repulblric remaJined inadequate ilil the opinlion of tJhe Federation, and that tJhe lrust ooniverition haJd taiken a position "in suipport of S1ova!kiam aJUtonomy, as g,ururanteed to tJhe Slovruk nation in tJhe PlilftsbuTgh Pact." 19 And in the same vein, the Rev. :DuHk exip:ressed his view on the issue: "We aire foT the Ozecihio.,Slovruk Repufb'li<:, 'body and sou[ - but only on condition tJhat we receive in it what is ouT due." 20 From 1:Jhis standpoint 1fuere was great va:lue in the message of the SIJ:ovak Cathollic Fedevation to "ouir brothers in SfovaJkia", by which historic realities concerning American SfovaJks were put in proper fomis, and a demand was registered "for the incorpOTaltion of tJhe suibstamce of the Pittsburg,h Pact in the basic 11aw of tJhe Repuibl~c." 21 '.Dhe stand of the FedeTation inspired tJhe Slova:k-American community. At its conrvention of 13 and 14 OctO'beT, 1920, in Chicago, the recoros revealed t!hat the Slovalk CartJholic Federation "numbered 17'5 strong men's brandhes, and 14 women's brancihes; and its membership haJd risen to close to twenty thousand. This g,rowfu dated from onily ten months ba;ck." 22 '.Dhe pr,ogram of the Federation with respect to nationaEty matters remained unchanged: autonomy a:s set for!Jh and defined in the Pittsburgh Pact. 23 To the United States came ort!her emissaries, too. These were tlhe agents of tJhe Brague regime, Rev. LaJdis1aiv Moys, a Catlholiic priest, rund the Sooiial..,Democvat Jiohrn Pocislk, whose assignment wa;s to swing pu!b'lic opinion among American Slovaks to tJhe side of 1Jhe Ozeciho-,Slovruks and rugaJinst the SlovaJk People's Party. But American Silovaikrs were not swayed by the mission, despite its ecclesiasticaJl traJppings, because they knew it traveled rubout the country on funds 72 SLOVAKIA provided by Prague. 'l'hey gave no credence to Moys becaruse "he associates and cooperates, works hand in hand, with Socia'li,s ts." 24 Nor were Slovruk Catho'lios shiaJken by Maisrurytk's cli!savowa:l of his sigrrature on t!he Plirttsbmg1h Pact, or by his deo}ruration that 1fue Pa;ct wrus inrva!lid.25 They reaJCted with dignity, becaJU!se their chief concern was to "remain tirue to the honor of t!he SlovaJk nation." 26 In t!he uneven battJle between Andirew Hlinika and fue organized power of Prague and its SUipporting p<jli.tical prurties, the assistaJnce of American Sloviaks was extraordinari1ly wekome. Andrew H1inlka sat innocently in a Oze0h ja:il for seven months. Fior a long time his ja;iiloirs even wi'tfuheld his marl from him; and as he sat in helplessness and isO'}a'bion, tJhe mi,nions of the new state's power structuire tried to disrupt the ranks of the 1P eople's Party. 27 In the me:antiline caJIDe the elections. A!bout t!hem Hlinlka gave the foHowing testimony: "Unfortunately, the elections did not produce the spectacular results for the Peqp'le's Party that we had every reruson to expect. The People's Party did not receive the ma:jority that it should have received. Reasons for this development run to the hun1drreds: t!h:ey locked us urp, tlhey branded us tra!itor,s, they unlerushed a;gainst us tiheiir soildiers, gen1damnerie, sheriffs and professors . . . Agaiinst us was turned every power - and every means was perm~ss~ble. 'Dhe :riig,ht of assembly was denied uiS: and wihen granted, our meetings were diispersed. 'I'he starved and pauperized Slova;k populace threw itselif into the em/brace of the SocialDemocratic Party, whidh ha;d pre~ously been little known in SlovaJlcia. Two-iliuindred tJhous and soldiers were transfer.red to Sfovaikia - to vote. Ozeoh Olfficia;ls, teachers and function airies were for,ced UipOil us; and these people, numbering ~rmcimately fifty th01.1<s'a.nd, voted against Slo"W!Jk autonomy. Where hunger ~atled, the s<jldiier anid official produced t!he de's1red resulit." 28 The Socialists were not, 8Jild could not be, the sa!lvation of S1wa!kia. On the contrary, the sociia.Uistic "Ozech regi,me in Slova;kfa enstranged Slovakia from Bohemia. It created cha,os, because it drove the people witlh fa.:1se prom~ses in'to the airms of the Internationa!le." 29 1 1 1 1 SLOVAKIA 73 American S~ovaJks exipected the worst in S1lovaJkia. They envisioned the sprea!d of Somallism and its oo!lrrninabon in Coarumrunii.sm - uniless refor,ms were introdUJced in time. In this context CaJt:Jholic organi!za1Jion-s, in particufar, intensified their ef1forts and soug,ht new ways to help Hlinlka win his objectives. 30 FOOTNOTES 1. Minutes of the annual meeting of the supreme officers of the First Catholic Slovak Union, New York City, January 6-9, 1919, page 73. Husek was a member of the Reconstruction Committee of the Slovak League of America, chairman of which was Dr. Miroslav Francisci, and the other members, John Matlocha, Edward Kovac, and Milan Getting. 2. Joseph Husek wrote several articles about his trip to Slovakia, but the most comprehensive was his contribution to the almanac Jednota for 1920, titled "Co som videl, pocul a skusil na Slovensku." (What I Saw, Heard and Experienced in Slovakia.), pages 33-60. All of the above quotes on Husek's mission are taken from this source. 3. This was a group that styled itself "Mlade Slovensko" (Young Slovakia). Hlas (The Voice) was its journal, and the forum from which it expounded views on literature and life, social and political, all heavily influenced by Masaryk. 4. Minutes of the annual meeting of the supreme officers of the First Catholic Slovak Union, Cleveland, Ohio, January 19-22, 1920, page 8. 5. Cover story on this Congress in the newspaper Jednota, June 4, 1919, page 1. The Congress approved a motion to establish a scholarship fund in memory of General Stefanik for "the support of students and writers in Slovakia and America. The Slovak League will contribute $10,000.00 to this fund, and school-fund collections by various organizations and newspapers are also to be turned over to it." 6. "Prestante!" (Desist!). Jednota, June 4, 1919, page 4. 7. "Eppur si muove." Jednota, October 22, 1919, page 4. 8. See the actual text in the Jednota, October 29, 1919, page 1. 9. " Dohoda, Hlinka a Masaryk" (The Pact, Hlinka and Masaryk). Jednota, November 19, 1919, page 4. 10. "Za krest'anske a autonomne Slovensko" (For a Christian and Autonomous Slovakia). Jednota, November 26, 1919, page 4. Also compare with the story of the meetings in the same issue of the Jednota on page one. Inasmuch as the convention of the Slovak Catholic Federation was postponed, a Slovak Catholic Council was elected from among the delegates in Pittsburgh, which however only served till the convention, and then merged with the Federation. Time moved quickly, and the liberal and Czecho-Slovak oriented groups began to break up local branches of the Slovak League, and to scatter accusations against sympathizers with Hlinka's movement. For this reason Slovak Catholics rallied to the cause. Anti-Slovak activities are touched upon in the article "Za auton6miu"' (For Autonomy) in the Jednota, December 3, 1919, page 4, and in subsequent issues. 11. Compare with the coverage of the Convention of the Slovak Catholic Federation in the Jednota, December 24, 1919, on page one. The article "Z konvencie Sdruzenia slovenskych katolikov" (From 74 SLOVAKIA the Convention of the Slovak Catholic Federation) , in the same edition of the Jednota, page 5, notes that all Slovak Catholic organizations were represented at this convention. 12. "Sdruzenie slovenskych katolikov" (The Slovak Catholic Federation ). Jednota, December 31, 1919, page 4. 13. From a letter by the Rev. Andrew Dor{msky, a pastor in Hladovka, Slovakia, dated August 12, 1919, published in the Jednota, September 17, 1919, page 1. 14. "Prednaska Rev. Gracika" (A Lecture by the Rev. Gracik). Jednota, December 10, 1919, page 1. 15. Culen, K. "Strucne dejiny Slovenskej ligy" (A Short History of the Slovak League) . Jednota, August 27, 1958, page 2. 16. "Vystupujem zo Slovenskej ligy" (I am Withdrawing from the Slovak League) . Jedn ota, June 16, 1920, page 4. 17. "Po kongrese" (After the Congress) . Jednota, July 7, 1920, page 4. 18. "Vaznejsie uznesenia Sdruzenia slovenskych katolikov" (Some Important Decisions of the Slovak Catholic Federation) . Jednota, January 28, 1920, page 1. 19. "Nase stanovisko" (Our Standpoint). Jednota, March 17, 1920, page 4. 20. "Este raz Rev. Moysovi" ( Once Again to the Rev. Moys). Jednota, April 21, 1920, page 4. Joseph Husek remained an unswerving adherent of the autonomist idea: "From the standpoint of the enemies of Slovak national distinctivness, Slovak autonomy would constitute virtual suicide-suicide for the idea of Czecho-Slovak national unity! Only a fool could believe that Slovak truth, were it to have behind it the full power of a state, courts, bureau, schools, and the moral and material support of the highly cultured Czech nation, could not successfully resist an immoral and politically bankrupt Magyaronismonly a fool, or someone who considers the Slovak nation a morally debilitated, nationally paralyzed rabble of near-idiots! " "To nie je to prave" (This Isn't the Real Thing) . Jednota, February 18, 1920, page 4. Also see the article "Matez" (Turmoil) , Jednota, March 24, 1920, page 5; and the article "Salus reipublicae suprema lex", Jednota, April 14, 1920, page 4. Among other things, this article states: "For the Slovak politician, the good of the Slovak nation must take precedence over the good of the Republic, or as the case may be, the government. The vital interests of the nation, its natural rights, its national character, may not be sacrificed to the good of the state, the Republic, or the regime. The Republic exists for the nation, not the reverse. The nation is an end, the Republic only a means. The idea of the supremacy of the state (government) must yield to the idea of the supremacy of the nation. Only in monolinguistic democratic states, where the concept of nationality is synonymous with the concept of state, where nationality in reality equates with state and vice versa, can the good of the nation be equated with the good of the state." Husek returns to this theme frequently on the pages of the Jednota in signed and anonymous articles, as well as editorials and remarks. 21. The complete text appears in the Jednota, May 26, 1920, page 5. 22. "Konvencia Sdruzenia slovenskych katolikov" (The Convention of the Slovak Catholic Federation). Jednota, October 20, 1920, page 1. 23. "The Slovak Catholic Federation still favors an autonomous Slovakia and will continue to do so until at last. the banner of Slovak autonomy within the framework of a Czecho-Slovak Republic, will SLOVAKIA 75 wave over our Tatra mountains." Rev. C. K. Vaniscak, O.S.B.: "Po konvencii Sdruzenia slovenskych katolikov" (After the Convention of the Slovak Catholic Federation) , Jednota, October 20, 1920, page 4. 24. Hrtanek, Klemo. "Koho chcete, abych vam prepustil, Hlinku alebo Moysa?" (Whom Do You Wish I Release to You, Hlinka or Moy~?). Jednota, April 28, 1920, page 4. "Priest or no-priest, come down from the cherry-tree . . . Any Slovak priest who does not fight with us for the martyr Hlinka and his democratic idea, has no right to be called one of us; any priest who favors the Socialists in Prague defeats the legitimate efforts of the Slovaks." 25. The Jednota, in its issue of March 17, 1920, page one, published a letter from Masaryk to his prime minister, Tusar, on the subject of "the so-called Pittsburgh Agreement." Translated from the original Czech, Masaryk's letter reads as follows : "Representatives of American Slovak and Czech organizations resolved in this agreement to combat agitation against a union of the Czechs and Slovaks. The pact was made, it seems to me, largely by American citizens. The Pittsburgh program is one of many pre-revolutionary programs formulated abroad. It has an historical value. The Pittsburgh Pact was contracted between Slovaks and Czechs, and were it to have any validity at all, surely this validity would be predicated on the condition that both parties still agreed on its contents. In the pact itself, toward the end, there is a stipulation that detailed provisions for the organization of the Czecho-Slovak state were to be left to the Czechs and Slovaks and their legal representatives ; this stipulation was entered because the Czechs and Slovaks at the Pittsburgh meeting understood that Ame· rican citizens had no right to make decisions concerning the definitive organization of the Czecho-Slovak state." Husek, who immediately published the letter in the Jednota, alongside the text of the Pittsburgh Pact enclosed in a black frame, took an entirely different view of the matter, and in commentary, remarked among other things : "the Pittsburgh Pact is valid because it rests on the eternally valid natural rights of nations." (Ibid.) 26. "Za Pittsburghsku dohodu 'kavova nahrazka' " (Instead of the Pittsburgh Pact "ersatz coffee"). Jednota, March 31, 1920, page 4. And the Rev. Dulik comments: "To contract an agreement and then not care whether it is observed or not, amounts to making oneself ridiculous before the world." "Rev. Moysovi" (To the Rev. Moy~). Jednota, March 31, 1920, page 4. 27. Karol Sidor gives a detailed description in his book "Andrej Hlinka", Bratislava 1934. 28. "Apel Hlinkov na Slovakov v Amerike" (Hlinka's Appeal to American Slovaks). Jednota, July 21, 1920, page 4. The Jednota expressed the conviction, even after the defeat of the People's Party, that the national idea "will be stopped by nothing and nobody in its victorious advance." "Vol'by na Slovensku" (The Elections in Slo• vakia). Jednota, May 12, 1920, page 4. 29. "Statarium na Slovensku" (Martial Law in Slovakia) . Jed.nota, August 11, 1920, page 1. "But martial law will not preserve Slovakia for the Czechs! Czech bayonets will not preserve Slovakia for the Czecho-Slovak Republic ... Prague is blind, it does not see the writing on the wall ... " 30. Compare with the article by the president of the Slovak Catholic Federation, Rev. Joseph Dulik: "My netratime nadej" (We are not losing Hope), Jednota, August 11, 1920, page 4, and others.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource American Slovaks and the Beginning of Czecho-Slovakia Description An account of the resource Joseph Paučo, Ph.D. Slovakia, Vol. 16 (No. 39), 1966 pp. 63-75 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 1966 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/bf2cce36d2d33788baaafc590a2b2bfc.pdf 21ed57bd8068d09b5812cc3c53d98723 PDF Text Text 122 J,' SLOVAKIA H O M 'l' H E R E C O R D A1n erican Slovaks on the Honie and War Fronts Speech of HON. RAY J. MADDEN of Indiana IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESE NTATIVE S January 13, 1944 MR. MADDEN . Mr. Speaker, in the midst of war, upon the result of which the whole future of civilization depends, I can speak with a deep sense of satisfactio n and pride at the manner in which the Slovaks of America have comported themselves on the war front and on the home front. I refer particularl y to the Slovak response to our Governme nt's request for the Third War Loan. As Representa tive of the First District of Indiana, I wish to extend my hearty congratula tions to the Slovaks of America and the American-S lovak War bond committee , of which Rev. John J. Lach, of Whiting, Ind., is the national chairman, for the outstandin g success of their patriotic effort and cooperatio n with our military forces. This committee appointed by Secretary Morgentha u set out to reach a bond-sale quota of 6,000,000 but at the close of their drive, were happy to announce an oversubscr iption of more than 90 percent, the same totaling approxima tely $11,000,000. These patriotic Americans have thus demonstrated once again their depth of loyality to the United States, its Governme nt, and people, and the sincerity of their desire to see America carry on the war to victory. Their task was hard and difficult as this bond drive covered all communiti es in the United States. Enthusiast ic local committee s with th~ help of devoted Slovak priests were untiring in bringing their parishes to the realization of their Governme nt's needs in this crisis. Special commenda tion and praise should be given the following Slovak newspaper s of America for their untiring �SLOVAKIA 123 effort in this campaign: Slovenska Obrana, Catholic Falcon, Jednota, Osadne Hlasy, Sloboda, zenska Jednota, Pennsylvania Slovak Jednota, Slovensky Obcan, Na.rod, Narodne Noviny and Slovak v Amerike. Also the various State chairmen who assisted in making this drive a success, namely: Rev. Clement Mlynarovich, Indiana Harbor, Indiana State chairman; Rev. John Fedor, Chicago, Illinois State chairman; Rev. Casimir Cvercko, Milwaukee, Wisconsin State chairman; Rev. Joseph Zalibera, Detroit, Michigan State chairman; Rev. Leo Rehak, 0. S. B ., Cleveland, Ohio State chairman; Rev. Martin Rubicky, Clairton, Pennsylvania State chairman; Rev. Florian Billy, 0 . M. C., Schenectady, New York State chairman; Rev. John Rura, Perth Amboy, New Jersey State chairman; Dr. Michael Simko, Bridgeport, Connecticut State chairman; Rev. Joseph Ferenz, Webster, Massachusetts State chairman; Mr. Michael Marcak, Lisbon Falls, Maine State chairman; Mr. Michael M. Vargo, Lakefield, Minnesota State chairman; Mr. Stephen Strecansky, Benwood, West Virginia State chairman; Rev. J . A. Hurcik, St. Louis, Missouri State chairman. The above-stated chairmen worked in cooperation with the national executive committee, consisting of the Right Reverend Francis J. Dubosh, Paul Jamriska, Mrs. Julia Krajcovic, and John A. Kocur. It is by no means the first time this group of citizens has responded generously to the call of the Government for war funds, for the records show that Slovak-Americans have more than met their quotas each time there has been a demand for funds to prosecute the war, and I venture to predict that in the Fourth War Loan drive there will be no let down in their enthusiastic response . The Slovak citizens of the United States, though comparatively small in number, yield to no other racial groups in loyal devotion to our flag and all' that it stands for in the eyes of the world. They have a double interest in the winning of the war by America and her allies of the United Nations-first, their prime interest as patriotic Americans, and, secondly, a very special interest, because their kindred in Europe lie prostrate under the steel-shod heel of nazism. Hence, their youth is serving in all the �124 SLOVAKIA armed forces of the United States; their young women are found in the Army and Navy auxiliaries. The Slovaks of America and their ancestors have advocated freedom for centuries and they looked with nationalistic fervor on this, the promised land of civil and religious liberty. Thanks be to Him who doeth all things well, they found here in the United States the conditions for which their souls longed. They found not only the perfect religious liberty which enabled them forthwith to build their own churches and schools, establish their own priesthood, and worship freely as they wished, but also the civil liberties which gave them the long-suppressed feeling of freemen. They were emancipated from the inhibitions and terrors of the European system of domination by minorities. They became an integral part of the American commonwealth. The record of their race in this country has been one of steady progress in Americanization and good citizenship. In every community in which Slovaks have settled, their sterling character, their industry and integrity have left a deep and lasting impression. They are intensely relie-ious by nature and tradition. Their church is to them the center and hub of the community, and they are inva-riably law-abiding. They observe the laws of man, because their lives and conduct are soundly based upon the eternal laws of God. Their religious faith and practice help them to enrich the community with the moral and spiritual leaven of practical Christianity, with model citizenship as its inevitable development, and so they have become thoroughly asimilated into the great family of American citizens and find a welcome wherever they make their homes . They know the duties and responsibilities of citizenship as well as they recognize and appreciate its rights and privileges. And in such national emergencies as the present, they will always be found ready and anxious to do their patriotic part. But it is not only by buying bonds that the Slovaks of America are again cooperating with the United States Government to the fullest extent of their ability and their resources. They are engaged in every field of activity connected with the equipment and maintenance of our armed forces on land, on the sea, and in the air, and they work �SLOVAKIA 125 with greater zeal and assiduity because they have sons and brothers serving in each and every one of those forces, which are scattered around the globe today as no nation's army and navy ever were scattered before. Whatever their work on the home front, whether it be the farm, in the factory, or in the depths of the mine, Slovak-Americans are putting forth their utmost effort, spurred by the everpresent thought that they are working to maintain their brethren in the field and camp, and working, too, to win the war. The very idea of a war for human freedom captivates the Slovak mind. Centuries of oppression and persecution by ruthless tyrants in Europe have engrained the hopeful prospect of a free world in the subconsciousness of every member of the race. The possibility of its realization through present hostilities against the forces of aggression and domination leaves but one burning desire in the Slovak heart, the desire for victory, complete and speedy as possible. With victory now on the horizon, our Government can rest with great contentment on the fact that our numerous races and various nationalities in this country have not only contributed their money, but have cooperated by enduring bitter hardships and inconveniences that America, this great land of the "four freedoms" can continue to endure. SLOVAKS BUY $11 ,386,700 IN WAR BONDS TO TOP $6,000,000 GOAL Extension of Remarks of HON. RAY J. MADDEN of Indiana IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Friday, December 17, 1943 MR. MADDEN. Mr. Speaker, under leave to extend my remarks in the RECORD, I include the following article from the Hammond (Ind.) Times of December 15, 1943: SLOVAKS BUY $11,386,700 IN WAR BONDS TO TOP $6,000,00 GOAL The Reverend John J. Lach, pastor of the Immaculate �126 SLOVAKIA Conception Church of Whiting, Ind., and National War bond chairman for the Slovaks of America, announced today that the Slovaks went over the top in their Nationwide drive by purchasing $11 ,386,700 in war certificates to top the $6,000,000 goal in the Third War Loan campaign. The drive closed last Armistice Day, but it was not until yesterday that final tabulation was made from practically every city in the United States. * * * In recognition of his leadership and success in directing the bond sale, the distinguished sedvice of Reverend Lach was hailed by Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury, in citing the Whiting priest and presenting him with a Minute Man citation. Another citation was presented the priest by Wm. C. FitzGibbon, chief of the United Nationalities section. It read: "In token of appreciation for distinguished services rendered on behalf of the war savings program, it is my pleasure to present to you the United States Treasury Department's citation of award. "While this citation is for outstanding patriotic work well done, it also serves as a commission for you to lead the Slovaks of America in a crusade to support the Treasury Department's Fourth War Loan drive which starts January 18, 1944." Father Lach said that the success of the campaign resulted from a carefully laid-out program that was studied for 3 months before a contract was made on a Slovak in the country to make a purchase. First, approval was obtained from the United States Treasury, Henry J. Morgenthau, Secretary, and William C. FitzGibbon, chief of the United Nationalities Section of the War Finance Division, Washington, D. C. Father Lach was chosen to lead the campaign by the Rt. Rev. Msgr. F. J . Dubosh, president of the Slovak League of America, Cleveland, Ohio. �127 SLOVAKIA The chairman explained that the money is to be used for the construction of Liberty ships, Father Lach stated: "When a small racial group of American citizens responds to an appeal by our Government for war funds by oversubscribing its quota, it is an exhibition of good citizenship and loyalty. When its quota exceeded it demonstrates an eager desire to support the Government in its war effort. When the quota is oversubscribed to the splendid extent of 90 percent, it is a striking •evidence of patriotic generosity. "Meanwhile," the priest continued, "let me congratulate my fellow workers upon the happy result of their labors in the recent drive. I wish to thank: them all in the name of the American Slovak War Bond Committee for their invaluable zeal and persistence in bringing home the facts of the Nation's need to every adult Slovak, and also to the children of Slovak families who responded as freely in the purchase of War Savings stamps as the enthusiastic youngsters of larger racial groups. Our Slovak workers could not have been more faithful and loyal than they were throughout the period of the drive. From the bottom of my heart I thank them, as well as the many citizens of other races who assisted us by voice and pen in the sale of bonds." * * Tribute was paid to the Slovak-Americans serving in the various branches of the armed forces and the young women in the WAVES, WACS, and other auxiliary branches. REPORT OF THE FIFTH WAR LOAN DRIVE AMONG THE SLOVAKS OF AMERICA Extension of Remarks of HON. B. W. (PAT) KEARNEY of New York IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Monday, November 27, 1944 Mr. KEARNEY. Mr. Speaker, under leave to extend my remarks in the RECORD, I include a report on the Fifth War loan drive among the Slovaks of America as �128 SLOVAKIA reported to the Slovak League Congress held at Pittsburgh, Pa., on October 17-18, 1944, as follows: Mr. Chairman, it is now my pleasant duty to submit to you my report of the result of the campaign among the Slovaks of America in behalf of the Fifth War Loan requested by the United States Treasury for the purpose of carrying on the war against the aggressors who succeeded in unsetting the world, but are now definitely doomed to utter defeat. In order to relieve any anxiety you may have felt as to the probable nature of this report, I am happy to state at the outset that I do not have to start with the old familiar millitary phrase, "I regret to report," for there is nothing to regret in the result of any Slovak drive for war funds. On the contrary, we of the Slovak League of America have every reason to felicitate ourselves upon the magnificent manner in which our people have ever responded to the call of our adopted and beloved country. As the figures which I shall present to you will show, our Slovak share in the Fifth War Loan was generously borne; and as chairman of the Slovak League of America War Bond Committee, operating under the auspieces of this league, I can address you today upon a note of patriotic cheer and congratulation. We Slovaks have once more justified our American citizenship. The provision of essential war funds at this time is of tremendous importance to America and her allies of the United Nations, for we stand at the threshold of our greatest enemy, and a mighty effort will be necessary to accomplish our great purpose of crushing the fanatical forces of Hitler and stamping out the nazi-ism which has held Europe in chains. Hence we must continue in our patriotic duty of supporting the Government. There must be no let-up on the home front while our gallant lads across the sea continue to battle their way forward. The result of the Fifth War Loan drive as in the similar drives that preceded it, reflects great credit upon our national group in America, demonstrating its loyalty and patriotism; and every such campaign helps to consolidate the Slovaks in this country and to increase the esteem and respect of our fellow citizens of other racial �SLOVAKIA 129 ongms. That is a consummation for which we can be devoutly thankful. Our Slovak successes in these drives are due to close cooperation which your committee has enjoyed in its work of promoting the sale of War bonds. This cooperation has come from all elements of our people--from the devoted Slovak Catholic clergy, from the patriotic Slovak forces, and all our Slovak societies and organizations of men and women; while the executive members of the Slovak League of America have been particularly helpful in matters of organization and supervision; and a fine spirit of unselfish cooperation has prevailed among the members of the American Slovak War Bond Committee. To all these elements of our scattered Slovak communities I desire to extend my warmest thanks and gratitude for their valuable aid in making the Fifth War Loan drive a success, thus adding anothed feather to the cap of American-Slovak patriotism, loyalty, and good citizenship. Where Slovak activities in this country's great war effort are concerned, the leadership of the Slovak League of America has always proved invaluable, because it truly represents and typifies the attitude of our nationality toward the problems of our adopted country. And it is not forgetful of the critical situation of our brethren in Europe, who are living in hope of a better day for our race in the old homeland. That hope, we trust, will be soon fulfilled and in expectation that the great influence of the United States will be exerted in their behalf when the time comes settling the affairs of Europe justly and peaceably, with due regard to the past sufferings of the persecuted and their burning desire for an equitable measure of freedom and independence. In that reliance upon the justice of America, my friends, let us continue to demonstrate, upon every possible occasion, our devotion to the Government and institutions of this country, our patriotism, loyalty, and liberality whenever we are called upon for our racial support. And now I will proceed to give you some of the official statistics of the Fifth War Loan drive among our Slovak people: �130 SLOVAKIA Slovak League of America Fifth War Loan campaign June 12 to August 21 , 1944 Fifth War Loan committee Fifth War Loan individuals Fifth War Loan deduction 50 Arkansas ......... . 50 $ .......... $ 3,000 4,400.00 California .. . .... . . $ 300 500 Colorado ......... . .. . ... . ... 1,475 161 ,300 293,850.00 Connecticut ...... . 1,145,217 7,100 1,646,786.60 Illinois ........... . 128,900 173,987 357,745 .00 Indiana ... . .... . . . 200 250 Iowa .... . ....... . . . . ...... . . 6,250 200 250.00 Kansas ...... .. .. . 8,000 11,118.75 Maine .. .. . . ...... . 21,000 35,665.00 Massachusetts .... . 232,450 3,475 190,900.00 Michigan .. ....... . 7,600 150 11,525.00 Minnesota . . . ... . . . 12,500 26,400 .00 Montana ....... . . . 152,450 2,475 423,005.35 New Jersey . ...... . 349,150 7,175 541,295.00 New York .. . . ... . . 1,287,115 229,700 2,301,732.25 Ohio . .. ...... . . . . . 11,700 801 ,715 3,619,997.50 Pennsylvania ..... . 50 . . . ..... Rhode Island . . ... . . .. . . . .... 3,425 7,950.00 Virginia ...... . . . . . 300 2,075 .00 West Virginia .... . . 127,775 6,075 122,550.00 Wisconsin ........ . 12,000 29,745.00 Wyoming . .. ..... . . 175 . . .. . . . . Washington, D . C .. . . ... .. . ... - - - - - - - - -- -- - - Total . . . . . . . . . 9,626,990 .45 399,450 4,565,784 Outright purchases as per committees $9,626,990.45 Outright purchases as per individuals . . . . . 399,450.00 - -- - - Total outright purchases . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,026,440.45 Pay-roll deduction (factory ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,505,784.00 Grand total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To be added: Bridgeport, Conn. . .. . ... . .. . . .... .... . . Donora, Pa . .... . ..... .. . .. ..... . . . .. .. . Hostetter, Pa. . . .... . ... .. . . ... . .. . ... . Grand total Fifth War Loan bond sales 14,532,224.45 1,000,000.00 99,625.85 1,260.00 1,110,885.85 15,633,110.30 � 122 J,' SLOVAKIA H O M 'l' H E R E C O R D A1n erican Slovaks on the Honie and War Fronts Speech of HON. RAY J. MADDEN of Indiana IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESE NTATIVE S January 13, 1944 MR. MADDEN . Mr. Speaker, in the midst of war, upon the result of which the whole future of civilization depends, I can speak with a deep sense of satisfactio n and pride at the manner in which the Slovaks of America have comported themselves on the war front and on the home front. I refer particularl y to the Slovak response to our Governme nt's request for the Third War Loan. As Representa tive of the First District of Indiana, I wish to extend my hearty congratula tions to the Slovaks of America and the American-S lovak War bond committee , of which Rev. John J. Lach, of Whiting, Ind., is the national chairman, for the outstandin g success of their patriotic effort and cooperatio n with our military forces. This committee appointed by Secretary Morgentha u set out to reach a bond-sale quota of 6,000,000 but at the close of their drive, were happy to announce an oversubscr iption of more than 90 percent, the same totaling approxima tely $11,000,000. These patriotic Americans have thus demonstrated once again their depth of loyality to the United States, its Governme nt, and people, and the sincerity of their desire to see America carry on the war to victory. Their task was hard and difficult as this bond drive covered all communiti es in the United States. Enthusiast ic local committee s with th~ help of devoted Slovak priests were untiring in bringing their parishes to the realization of their Governme nt's needs in this crisis. Special commenda tion and praise should be given the following Slovak newspaper s of America for their untiring �SLOVAKIA 123 effort in this campaign: Slovenska Obrana, Catholic Falcon, Jednota, Osadne Hlasy, Sloboda, zenska Jednota, Pennsylvania Slovak Jednota, Slovensky Obcan, Na.rod, Narodne Noviny and Slovak v Amerike. Also the various State chairmen who assisted in making this drive a success, namely: Rev. Clement Mlynarovich, Indiana Harbor, Indiana State chairman; Rev. John Fedor, Chicago, Illinois State chairman; Rev. Casimir Cvercko, Milwaukee, Wisconsin State chairman; Rev. Joseph Zalibera, Detroit, Michigan State chairman; Rev. Leo Rehak, 0. S. B ., Cleveland, Ohio State chairman; Rev. Martin Rubicky, Clairton, Pennsylvania State chairman; Rev. Florian Billy, 0 . M. C., Schenectady, New York State chairman; Rev. John Rura, Perth Amboy, New Jersey State chairman; Dr. Michael Simko, Bridgeport, Connecticut State chairman; Rev. Joseph Ferenz, Webster, Massachusetts State chairman; Mr. Michael Marcak, Lisbon Falls, Maine State chairman; Mr. Michael M. Vargo, Lakefield, Minnesota State chairman; Mr. Stephen Strecansky, Benwood, West Virginia State chairman; Rev. J . A. Hurcik, St. Louis, Missouri State chairman. The above-stated chairmen worked in cooperation with the national executive committee, consisting of the Right Reverend Francis J. Dubosh, Paul Jamriska, Mrs. Julia Krajcovic, and John A. Kocur. It is by no means the first time this group of citizens has responded generously to the call of the Government for war funds, for the records show that Slovak-Americans have more than met their quotas each time there has been a demand for funds to prosecute the war, and I venture to predict that in the Fourth War Loan drive there will be no let down in their enthusiastic response . The Slovak citizens of the United States, though comparatively small in number, yield to no other racial groups in loyal devotion to our flag and all' that it stands for in the eyes of the world. They have a double interest in the winning of the war by America and her allies of the United Nations-first, their prime interest as patriotic Americans, and, secondly, a very special interest, because their kindred in Europe lie prostrate under the steel-shod heel of nazism. Hence, their youth is serving in all the �124 SLOVAKIA armed forces of the United States; their young women are found in the Army and Navy auxiliaries. The Slovaks of America and their ancestors have advocated freedom for centuries and they looked with nationalistic fervor on this, the promised land of civil and religious liberty. Thanks be to Him who doeth all things well, they found here in the United States the conditions for which their souls longed. They found not only the perfect religious liberty which enabled them forthwith to build their own churches and schools, establish their own priesthood, and worship freely as they wished, but also the civil liberties which gave them the long-suppressed feeling of freemen. They were emancipated from the inhibitions and terrors of the European system of domination by minorities. They became an integral part of the American commonwealth. The record of their race in this country has been one of steady progress in Americanization and good citizenship. In every community in which Slovaks have settled, their sterling character, their industry and integrity have left a deep and lasting impression. They are intensely relie-ious by nature and tradition. Their church is to them the center and hub of the community, and they are inva-riably law-abiding. They observe the laws of man, because their lives and conduct are soundly based upon the eternal laws of God. Their religious faith and practice help them to enrich the community with the moral and spiritual leaven of practical Christianity, with model citizenship as its inevitable development, and so they have become thoroughly asimilated into the great family of American citizens and find a welcome wherever they make their homes . They know the duties and responsibilities of citizenship as well as they recognize and appreciate its rights and privileges. And in such national emergencies as the present, they will always be found ready and anxious to do their patriotic part. But it is not only by buying bonds that the Slovaks of America are again cooperating with the United States Government to the fullest extent of their ability and their resources. They are engaged in every field of activity connected with the equipment and maintenance of our armed forces on land, on the sea, and in the air, and they work �SLOVAKIA 125 with greater zeal and assiduity because they have sons and brothers serving in each and every one of those forces, which are scattered around the globe today as no nation's army and navy ever were scattered before. Whatever their work on the home front, whether it be the farm, in the factory, or in the depths of the mine, Slovak-Americans are putting forth their utmost effort, spurred by the everpresent thought that they are working to maintain their brethren in the field and camp, and working, too, to win the war. The very idea of a war for human freedom captivates the Slovak mind. Centuries of oppression and persecution by ruthless tyrants in Europe have engrained the hopeful prospect of a free world in the subconsciousness of every member of the race. The possibility of its realization through present hostilities against the forces of aggression and domination leaves but one burning desire in the Slovak heart, the desire for victory, complete and speedy as possible. With victory now on the horizon, our Government can rest with great contentment on the fact that our numerous races and various nationalities in this country have not only contributed their money, but have cooperated by enduring bitter hardships and inconveniences that America, this great land of the "four freedoms" can continue to endure. SLOVAKS BUY $11 ,386,700 IN WAR BONDS TO TOP $6,000,000 GOAL Extension of Remarks of HON. RAY J. MADDEN of Indiana IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Friday, December 17, 1943 MR. MADDEN. Mr. Speaker, under leave to extend my remarks in the RECORD, I include the following article from the Hammond (Ind.) Times of December 15, 1943: SLOVAKS BUY $11,386,700 IN WAR BONDS TO TOP $6,000,00 GOAL The Reverend John J. Lach, pastor of the Immaculate �126 SLOVAKIA Conception Church of Whiting, Ind., and National War bond chairman for the Slovaks of America, announced today that the Slovaks went over the top in their Nationwide drive by purchasing $11 ,386,700 in war certificates to top the $6,000,000 goal in the Third War Loan campaign. The drive closed last Armistice Day, but it was not until yesterday that final tabulation was made from practically every city in the United States. * * * In recognition of his leadership and success in directing the bond sale, the distinguished sedvice of Reverend Lach was hailed by Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury, in citing the Whiting priest and presenting him with a Minute Man citation. Another citation was presented the priest by Wm. C. FitzGibbon, chief of the United Nationalities section. It read: "In token of appreciation for distinguished services rendered on behalf of the war savings program, it is my pleasure to present to you the United States Treasury Department's citation of award. "While this citation is for outstanding patriotic work well done, it also serves as a commission for you to lead the Slovaks of America in a crusade to support the Treasury Department's Fourth War Loan drive which starts January 18, 1944." Father Lach said that the success of the campaign resulted from a carefully laid-out program that was studied for 3 months before a contract was made on a Slovak in the country to make a purchase. First, approval was obtained from the United States Treasury, Henry J. Morgenthau, Secretary, and William C. FitzGibbon, chief of the United Nationalities Section of the War Finance Division, Washington, D. C. Father Lach was chosen to lead the campaign by the Rt. Rev. Msgr. F. J . Dubosh, president of the Slovak League of America, Cleveland, Ohio. �127 SLOVAKIA The chairman explained that the money is to be used for the construction of Liberty ships, Father Lach stated: "When a small racial group of American citizens responds to an appeal by our Government for war funds by oversubscribing its quota, it is an exhibition of good citizenship and loyalty. When its quota exceeded it demonstrates an eager desire to support the Government in its war effort. When the quota is oversubscribed to the splendid extent of 90 percent, it is a striking •evidence of patriotic generosity. "Meanwhile," the priest continued, "let me congratulate my fellow workers upon the happy result of their labors in the recent drive. I wish to thank: them all in the name of the American Slovak War Bond Committee for their invaluable zeal and persistence in bringing home the facts of the Nation's need to every adult Slovak, and also to the children of Slovak families who responded as freely in the purchase of War Savings stamps as the enthusiastic youngsters of larger racial groups. Our Slovak workers could not have been more faithful and loyal than they were throughout the period of the drive. From the bottom of my heart I thank them, as well as the many citizens of other races who assisted us by voice and pen in the sale of bonds." * * Tribute was paid to the Slovak-Americans serving in the various branches of the armed forces and the young women in the WAVES, WACS, and other auxiliary branches. REPORT OF THE FIFTH WAR LOAN DRIVE AMONG THE SLOVAKS OF AMERICA Extension of Remarks of HON. B. W. (PAT) KEARNEY of New York IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Monday, November 27, 1944 Mr. KEARNEY. Mr. Speaker, under leave to extend my remarks in the RECORD, I include a report on the Fifth War loan drive among the Slovaks of America as �128 SLOVAKIA reported to the Slovak League Congress held at Pittsburgh, Pa., on October 17-18, 1944, as follows: Mr. Chairman, it is now my pleasant duty to submit to you my report of the result of the campaign among the Slovaks of America in behalf of the Fifth War Loan requested by the United States Treasury for the purpose of carrying on the war against the aggressors who succeeded in unsetting the world, but are now definitely doomed to utter defeat. In order to relieve any anxiety you may have felt as to the probable nature of this report, I am happy to state at the outset that I do not have to start with the old familiar millitary phrase, "I regret to report," for there is nothing to regret in the result of any Slovak drive for war funds. On the contrary, we of the Slovak League of America have every reason to felicitate ourselves upon the magnificent manner in which our people have ever responded to the call of our adopted and beloved country. As the figures which I shall present to you will show, our Slovak share in the Fifth War Loan was generously borne; and as chairman of the Slovak League of America War Bond Committee, operating under the auspieces of this league, I can address you today upon a note of patriotic cheer and congratulation. We Slovaks have once more justified our American citizenship. The provision of essential war funds at this time is of tremendous importance to America and her allies of the United Nations, for we stand at the threshold of our greatest enemy, and a mighty effort will be necessary to accomplish our great purpose of crushing the fanatical forces of Hitler and stamping out the nazi-ism which has held Europe in chains. Hence we must continue in our patriotic duty of supporting the Government. There must be no let-up on the home front while our gallant lads across the sea continue to battle their way forward. The result of the Fifth War Loan drive as in the similar drives that preceded it, reflects great credit upon our national group in America, demonstrating its loyalty and patriotism; and every such campaign helps to consolidate the Slovaks in this country and to increase the esteem and respect of our fellow citizens of other racial �SLOVAKIA 129 ongms. That is a consummation for which we can be devoutly thankful. Our Slovak successes in these drives are due to close cooperation which your committee has enjoyed in its work of promoting the sale of War bonds. This cooperation has come from all elements of our people--from the devoted Slovak Catholic clergy, from the patriotic Slovak forces, and all our Slovak societies and organizations of men and women; while the executive members of the Slovak League of America have been particularly helpful in matters of organization and supervision; and a fine spirit of unselfish cooperation has prevailed among the members of the American Slovak War Bond Committee. To all these elements of our scattered Slovak communities I desire to extend my warmest thanks and gratitude for their valuable aid in making the Fifth War Loan drive a success, thus adding anothed feather to the cap of American-Slovak patriotism, loyalty, and good citizenship. Where Slovak activities in this country's great war effort are concerned, the leadership of the Slovak League of America has always proved invaluable, because it truly represents and typifies the attitude of our nationality toward the problems of our adopted country. And it is not forgetful of the critical situation of our brethren in Europe, who are living in hope of a better day for our race in the old homeland. That hope, we trust, will be soon fulfilled and in expectation that the great influence of the United States will be exerted in their behalf when the time comes settling the affairs of Europe justly and peaceably, with due regard to the past sufferings of the persecuted and their burning desire for an equitable measure of freedom and independence. In that reliance upon the justice of America, my friends, let us continue to demonstrate, upon every possible occasion, our devotion to the Government and institutions of this country, our patriotism, loyalty, and liberality whenever we are called upon for our racial support. And now I will proceed to give you some of the official statistics of the Fifth War Loan drive among our Slovak people: �130 SLOVAKIA Slovak League of America Fifth War Loan campaign June 12 to August 21 , 1944 Fifth War Loan committee Fifth War Loan individuals Fifth War Loan deduction 50 Arkansas ......... . 50 $ .......... $ 3,000 4,400.00 California .. . .... . . $ 300 500 Colorado ......... . .. . ... . ... 1,475 161 ,300 293,850.00 Connecticut ...... . 1,145,217 7,100 1,646,786.60 Illinois ........... . 128,900 173,987 357,745 .00 Indiana ... . .... . . . 200 250 Iowa .... . ....... . . . . ...... . . 6,250 200 250.00 Kansas ...... .. .. . 8,000 11,118.75 Maine .. .. . . ...... . 21,000 35,665.00 Massachusetts .... . 232,450 3,475 190,900.00 Michigan .. ....... . 7,600 150 11,525.00 Minnesota . . . ... . . . 12,500 26,400 .00 Montana ....... . . . 152,450 2,475 423,005.35 New Jersey . ...... . 349,150 7,175 541,295.00 New York .. . . ... . . 1,287,115 229,700 2,301,732.25 Ohio . .. ...... . . . . . 11,700 801 ,715 3,619,997.50 Pennsylvania ..... . 50 . . . ..... Rhode Island . . ... . . .. . . . .... 3,425 7,950.00 Virginia ...... . . . . . 300 2,075 .00 West Virginia .... . . 127,775 6,075 122,550.00 Wisconsin ........ . 12,000 29,745.00 Wyoming . .. ..... . . 175 . . .. . . . . Washington, D . C .. . . ... .. . ... - - - - - - - - -- -- - - Total . . . . . . . . . 9,626,990 .45 399,450 4,565,784 Outright purchases as per committees $9,626,990.45 Outright purchases as per individuals . . . . . 399,450.00 - -- - - Total outright purchases . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,026,440.45 Pay-roll deduction (factory ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,505,784.00 Grand total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To be added: Bridgeport, Conn. . .. . ... . .. . . .... .... . . Donora, Pa . .... . ..... .. . .. ..... . . . .. .. . Hostetter, Pa. . . .... . ... .. . . ... . .. . ... . Grand total Fifth War Loan bond sales 14,532,224.45 1,000,000.00 99,625.85 1,260.00 1,110,885.85 15,633,110.30 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1970, Vol. 20 Description An account of the resource Vol. 20 (No. 43), 1970. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1970 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 122 J,' SLOVAKIA H O M 'l' H E R E C O R D A1n erican Slovaks on the Honie and War Fronts Speech of HON. RAY J. MADDEN of Indiana IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESE NTATIVE S January 13, 1944 MR. MADDEN . Mr. Speaker, in the midst of war, upon the result of which the whole future of civilization depends, I can speak with a deep sense of satisfactio n and pride at the manner in which the Slovaks of America have comported themselves on the war front and on the home front. I refer particularl y to the Slovak response to our Governme nt's request for the Third War Loan. As Representa tive of the First District of Indiana, I wish to extend my hearty congratula tions to the Slovaks of America and the American-S lovak War bond committee , of which Rev. John J. Lach, of Whiting, Ind., is the national chairman, for the outstandin g success of their patriotic effort and cooperatio n with our military forces. This committee appointed by Secretary Morgentha u set out to reach a bond-sale quota of 6,000,000 but at the close of their drive, were happy to announce an oversubscr iption of more than 90 percent, the same totaling approxima tely $11,000,000. These patriotic Americans have thus demonstrated once again their depth of loyality to the United States, its Governme nt, and people, and the sincerity of their desire to see America carry on the war to victory. Their task was hard and difficult as this bond drive covered all communiti es in the United States. Enthusiast ic local committee s with th~ help of devoted Slovak priests were untiring in bringing their parishes to the realization of their Governme nt's needs in this crisis. Special commenda tion and praise should be given the following Slovak newspaper s of America for their untiring SLOVAKIA 123 effort in this campaign: Slovenska Obrana, Catholic Falcon, Jednota, Osadne Hlasy, Sloboda, zenska Jednota, Pennsylvania Slovak Jednota, Slovensky Obcan, Na.rod, Narodne Noviny and Slovak v Amerike. Also the various State chairmen who assisted in making this drive a success, namely: Rev. Clement Mlynarovich, Indiana Harbor, Indiana State chairman; Rev. John Fedor, Chicago, Illinois State chairman; Rev. Casimir Cvercko, Milwaukee, Wisconsin State chairman; Rev. Joseph Zalibera, Detroit, Michigan State chairman; Rev. Leo Rehak, 0. S. B ., Cleveland, Ohio State chairman; Rev. Martin Rubicky, Clairton, Pennsylvania State chairman; Rev. Florian Billy, 0 . M. C., Schenectady, New York State chairman; Rev. John Rura, Perth Amboy, New Jersey State chairman; Dr. Michael Simko, Bridgeport, Connecticut State chairman; Rev. Joseph Ferenz, Webster, Massachusetts State chairman; Mr. Michael Marcak, Lisbon Falls, Maine State chairman; Mr. Michael M. Vargo, Lakefield, Minnesota State chairman; Mr. Stephen Strecansky, Benwood, West Virginia State chairman; Rev. J . A. Hurcik, St. Louis, Missouri State chairman. The above-stated chairmen worked in cooperation with the national executive committee, consisting of the Right Reverend Francis J. Dubosh, Paul Jamriska, Mrs. Julia Krajcovic, and John A. Kocur. It is by no means the first time this group of citizens has responded generously to the call of the Government for war funds, for the records show that Slovak-Americans have more than met their quotas each time there has been a demand for funds to prosecute the war, and I venture to predict that in the Fourth War Loan drive there will be no let down in their enthusiastic response . The Slovak citizens of the United States, though comparatively small in number, yield to no other racial groups in loyal devotion to our flag and all' that it stands for in the eyes of the world. They have a double interest in the winning of the war by America and her allies of the United Nations-first, their prime interest as patriotic Americans, and, secondly, a very special interest, because their kindred in Europe lie prostrate under the steel-shod heel of nazism. Hence, their youth is serving in all the 124 SLOVAKIA armed forces of the United States; their young women are found in the Army and Navy auxiliaries. The Slovaks of America and their ancestors have advocated freedom for centuries and they looked with nationalistic fervor on this, the promised land of civil and religious liberty. Thanks be to Him who doeth all things well, they found here in the United States the conditions for which their souls longed. They found not only the perfect religious liberty which enabled them forthwith to build their own churches and schools, establish their own priesthood, and worship freely as they wished, but also the civil liberties which gave them the long-suppressed feeling of freemen. They were emancipated from the inhibitions and terrors of the European system of domination by minorities. They became an integral part of the American commonwealth. The record of their race in this country has been one of steady progress in Americanization and good citizenship. In every community in which Slovaks have settled, their sterling character, their industry and integrity have left a deep and lasting impression. They are intensely relie-ious by nature and tradition. Their church is to them the center and hub of the community, and they are inva-riably law-abiding. They observe the laws of man, because their lives and conduct are soundly based upon the eternal laws of God. Their religious faith and practice help them to enrich the community with the moral and spiritual leaven of practical Christianity, with model citizenship as its inevitable development, and so they have become thoroughly asimilated into the great family of American citizens and find a welcome wherever they make their homes . They know the duties and responsibilities of citizenship as well as they recognize and appreciate its rights and privileges. And in such national emergencies as the present, they will always be found ready and anxious to do their patriotic part. But it is not only by buying bonds that the Slovaks of America are again cooperating with the United States Government to the fullest extent of their ability and their resources. They are engaged in every field of activity connected with the equipment and maintenance of our armed forces on land, on the sea, and in the air, and they work SLOVAKIA 125 with greater zeal and assiduity because they have sons and brothers serving in each and every one of those forces, which are scattered around the globe today as no nation's army and navy ever were scattered before. Whatever their work on the home front, whether it be the farm, in the factory, or in the depths of the mine, Slovak-Americans are putting forth their utmost effort, spurred by the everpresent thought that they are working to maintain their brethren in the field and camp, and working, too, to win the war. The very idea of a war for human freedom captivates the Slovak mind. Centuries of oppression and persecution by ruthless tyrants in Europe have engrained the hopeful prospect of a free world in the subconsciousness of every member of the race. The possibility of its realization through present hostilities against the forces of aggression and domination leaves but one burning desire in the Slovak heart, the desire for victory, complete and speedy as possible. With victory now on the horizon, our Government can rest with great contentment on the fact that our numerous races and various nationalities in this country have not only contributed their money, but have cooperated by enduring bitter hardships and inconveniences that America, this great land of the "four freedoms" can continue to endure. SLOVAKS BUY $11 ,386,700 IN WAR BONDS TO TOP $6,000,000 GOAL Extension of Remarks of HON. RAY J. MADDEN of Indiana IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Friday, December 17, 1943 MR. MADDEN. Mr. Speaker, under leave to extend my remarks in the RECORD, I include the following article from the Hammond (Ind.) Times of December 15, 1943: SLOVAKS BUY $11,386,700 IN WAR BONDS TO TOP $6,000,00 GOAL The Reverend John J. Lach, pastor of the Immaculate 126 SLOVAKIA Conception Church of Whiting, Ind., and National War bond chairman for the Slovaks of America, announced today that the Slovaks went over the top in their Nationwide drive by purchasing $11 ,386,700 in war certificates to top the $6,000,000 goal in the Third War Loan campaign. The drive closed last Armistice Day, but it was not until yesterday that final tabulation was made from practically every city in the United States. * * * In recognition of his leadership and success in directing the bond sale, the distinguished sedvice of Reverend Lach was hailed by Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury, in citing the Whiting priest and presenting him with a Minute Man citation. Another citation was presented the priest by Wm. C. FitzGibbon, chief of the United Nationalities section. It read: "In token of appreciation for distinguished services rendered on behalf of the war savings program, it is my pleasure to present to you the United States Treasury Department's citation of award. "While this citation is for outstanding patriotic work well done, it also serves as a commission for you to lead the Slovaks of America in a crusade to support the Treasury Department's Fourth War Loan drive which starts January 18, 1944." Father Lach said that the success of the campaign resulted from a carefully laid-out program that was studied for 3 months before a contract was made on a Slovak in the country to make a purchase. First, approval was obtained from the United States Treasury, Henry J. Morgenthau, Secretary, and William C. FitzGibbon, chief of the United Nationalities Section of the War Finance Division, Washington, D. C. Father Lach was chosen to lead the campaign by the Rt. Rev. Msgr. F. J . Dubosh, president of the Slovak League of America, Cleveland, Ohio. 127 SLOVAKIA The chairman explained that the money is to be used for the construction of Liberty ships, Father Lach stated: "When a small racial group of American citizens responds to an appeal by our Government for war funds by oversubscribing its quota, it is an exhibition of good citizenship and loyalty. When its quota exceeded it demonstrates an eager desire to support the Government in its war effort. When the quota is oversubscribed to the splendid extent of 90 percent, it is a striking •evidence of patriotic generosity. "Meanwhile," the priest continued, "let me congratulate my fellow workers upon the happy result of their labors in the recent drive. I wish to thank: them all in the name of the American Slovak War Bond Committee for their invaluable zeal and persistence in bringing home the facts of the Nation's need to every adult Slovak, and also to the children of Slovak families who responded as freely in the purchase of War Savings stamps as the enthusiastic youngsters of larger racial groups. Our Slovak workers could not have been more faithful and loyal than they were throughout the period of the drive. From the bottom of my heart I thank them, as well as the many citizens of other races who assisted us by voice and pen in the sale of bonds." * * Tribute was paid to the Slovak-Americans serving in the various branches of the armed forces and the young women in the WAVES, WACS, and other auxiliary branches. REPORT OF THE FIFTH WAR LOAN DRIVE AMONG THE SLOVAKS OF AMERICA Extension of Remarks of HON. B. W. (PAT) KEARNEY of New York IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Monday, November 27, 1944 Mr. KEARNEY. Mr. Speaker, under leave to extend my remarks in the RECORD, I include a report on the Fifth War loan drive among the Slovaks of America as 128 SLOVAKIA reported to the Slovak League Congress held at Pittsburgh, Pa., on October 17-18, 1944, as follows: Mr. Chairman, it is now my pleasant duty to submit to you my report of the result of the campaign among the Slovaks of America in behalf of the Fifth War Loan requested by the United States Treasury for the purpose of carrying on the war against the aggressors who succeeded in unsetting the world, but are now definitely doomed to utter defeat. In order to relieve any anxiety you may have felt as to the probable nature of this report, I am happy to state at the outset that I do not have to start with the old familiar millitary phrase, "I regret to report," for there is nothing to regret in the result of any Slovak drive for war funds. On the contrary, we of the Slovak League of America have every reason to felicitate ourselves upon the magnificent manner in which our people have ever responded to the call of our adopted and beloved country. As the figures which I shall present to you will show, our Slovak share in the Fifth War Loan was generously borne; and as chairman of the Slovak League of America War Bond Committee, operating under the auspieces of this league, I can address you today upon a note of patriotic cheer and congratulation. We Slovaks have once more justified our American citizenship. The provision of essential war funds at this time is of tremendous importance to America and her allies of the United Nations, for we stand at the threshold of our greatest enemy, and a mighty effort will be necessary to accomplish our great purpose of crushing the fanatical forces of Hitler and stamping out the nazi-ism which has held Europe in chains. Hence we must continue in our patriotic duty of supporting the Government. There must be no let-up on the home front while our gallant lads across the sea continue to battle their way forward. The result of the Fifth War Loan drive as in the similar drives that preceded it, reflects great credit upon our national group in America, demonstrating its loyalty and patriotism; and every such campaign helps to consolidate the Slovaks in this country and to increase the esteem and respect of our fellow citizens of other racial SLOVAKIA 129 ongms. That is a consummation for which we can be devoutly thankful. Our Slovak successes in these drives are due to close cooperation which your committee has enjoyed in its work of promoting the sale of War bonds. This cooperation has come from all elements of our people--from the devoted Slovak Catholic clergy, from the patriotic Slovak forces, and all our Slovak societies and organizations of men and women; while the executive members of the Slovak League of America have been particularly helpful in matters of organization and supervision; and a fine spirit of unselfish cooperation has prevailed among the members of the American Slovak War Bond Committee. To all these elements of our scattered Slovak communities I desire to extend my warmest thanks and gratitude for their valuable aid in making the Fifth War Loan drive a success, thus adding anothed feather to the cap of American-Slovak patriotism, loyalty, and good citizenship. Where Slovak activities in this country's great war effort are concerned, the leadership of the Slovak League of America has always proved invaluable, because it truly represents and typifies the attitude of our nationality toward the problems of our adopted country. And it is not forgetful of the critical situation of our brethren in Europe, who are living in hope of a better day for our race in the old homeland. That hope, we trust, will be soon fulfilled and in expectation that the great influence of the United States will be exerted in their behalf when the time comes settling the affairs of Europe justly and peaceably, with due regard to the past sufferings of the persecuted and their burning desire for an equitable measure of freedom and independence. In that reliance upon the justice of America, my friends, let us continue to demonstrate, upon every possible occasion, our devotion to the Government and institutions of this country, our patriotism, loyalty, and liberality whenever we are called upon for our racial support. And now I will proceed to give you some of the official statistics of the Fifth War Loan drive among our Slovak people: 130 SLOVAKIA Slovak League of America Fifth War Loan campaign June 12 to August 21 , 1944 Fifth War Loan committee Fifth War Loan individuals Fifth War Loan deduction 50 Arkansas ......... . 50 $ .......... $ 3,000 4,400.00 California .. . .... . . $ 300 500 Colorado ......... . .. . ... . ... 1,475 161 ,300 293,850.00 Connecticut ...... . 1,145,217 7,100 1,646,786.60 Illinois ........... . 128,900 173,987 357,745 .00 Indiana ... . .... . . . 200 250 Iowa .... . ....... . . . . ...... . . 6,250 200 250.00 Kansas ...... .. .. . 8,000 11,118.75 Maine .. .. . . ...... . 21,000 35,665.00 Massachusetts .... . 232,450 3,475 190,900.00 Michigan .. ....... . 7,600 150 11,525.00 Minnesota . . . ... . . . 12,500 26,400 .00 Montana ....... . . . 152,450 2,475 423,005.35 New Jersey . ...... . 349,150 7,175 541,295.00 New York .. . . ... . . 1,287,115 229,700 2,301,732.25 Ohio . .. ...... . . . . . 11,700 801 ,715 3,619,997.50 Pennsylvania ..... . 50 . . . ..... Rhode Island . . ... . . .. . . . .... 3,425 7,950.00 Virginia ...... . . . . . 300 2,075 .00 West Virginia .... . . 127,775 6,075 122,550.00 Wisconsin ........ . 12,000 29,745.00 Wyoming . .. ..... . . 175 . . .. . . . . Washington, D . C .. . . ... .. . ... - - - - - - - - -- -- - - Total . . . . . . . . . 9,626,990 .45 399,450 4,565,784 Outright purchases as per committees $9,626,990.45 Outright purchases as per individuals . . . . . 399,450.00 - -- - - Total outright purchases . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,026,440.45 Pay-roll deduction (factory ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,505,784.00 Grand total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To be added: Bridgeport, Conn. . .. . ... . .. . . .... .... . . Donora, Pa . .... . ..... .. . .. ..... . . . .. .. . Hostetter, Pa. . . .... . ... .. . . ... . .. . ... . Grand total Fifth War Loan bond sales 14,532,224.45 1,000,000.00 99,625.85 1,260.00 1,110,885.85 15,633,110.30  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource American Slovaks on the Home and War Fronts Description An account of the resource Speech of Hon. Ray J. Madden of Indiana, in the House of Representatives, January 13, 1944 Slovakia, Vol. 20 (No. 43), 1970 pp. 122-130 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1970 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/3937fe16529be6098e88c2b0615f23cb.pdf bafc3ea731f697e216983d10a4845f97 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 61 An Act of Faith and Integrity: Bishop Korec' s Letter to Czechoslovak Television (Introduction) STANISLAV J. KIRSCHBAUM The following letter by a Slovak Catholic bishop to Czechoslovak Television objecting to the contents of the television series ''The Cross in the Snares of Power'' is a document of great historical importance . Although it is quite different from other documents with explicit political goals, it shares with them a similar message and an appropriate sense of timing. It appeared at a time (April, 1989) when East European politics were once again undergoing change. But it is also, by virtue of content as well as timing, a declaration of Slovak national individuality. It reaffirms the vitality of the Slovak people and informs the world of their refusal to bow to internal as well as external oppression. Previous documents of similar historical importance carried a comparable message. Four are of particular interest. In May 1848, as the Austrian Empire was being shaken by national and social revolutions, the leaders of the Slovak nation published a declaration which was sent to the Emperor in Vienna; it was their first political manifesto. In June 1861, when constitutional changes were being contemplated in Vienna, Slovak leaders published the Memorandum of the Slovak Nation, another document outlining their objectives . Each clearly stated the desire of the Slovaks to be recognized as a nation and to run their own affairs, goals that were not incompatible with the possibilities of the period. In October 1918, as the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary was disintegrating, Slovak leaders outlined in the Martin Declaration the political arrangement they wished to have with the Czechs �62 SLOVAKJA in a new state in order to ensure the further development of their people. Finally in March 1968, during the short-lived liberalization period in Communist Czechoslovakia, in a declaration published by the Slovak National Council, Slovak leaders clearly stated under what conditions their nation was willing to continue sharing a state with the Czechs in a Communist regime. In these, and other documents, there is one clear message: the aim of the Slovaks was to achieve national self-determination. 1 The fact that the Slovaks rarely reached all their stated objectives did not discourage them; it merely meant that they would have to try again. By doing so, their leaders were showing that they understood that for a small nation at the crossroads of Central Europe politics is the art of the possible .2 As the bishop's letter states, this lesson is still valid and applicable today. Bishop Jan Ch. Karee wrote to Bratislava Television at a time when many nations in Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union were showing the political will to modify, if not change outright, the existing political system by, among other things, putting an end to political falsification. In the Soviet Union this is known as glasnost, a policy encouraged by the Kremlin not only for the Soviet peoples, but also for the peoples of Eastern Europe. It means telling the truth, not just about the deficiencies of the Communist system, but also about significant periods in a people's history. It is this latter theme that the letter addresses . It looks primarily at one of the most critical periods in Slovak history when, during a world war, the Slovaks were independent and governed themselves in the Slovak Republic. By refuting the falsifications around that period, the letter underlines the refusal of the Slovak people to have their national life determined by others . This is its implicit message. Equally important in the letter is the absence of direct political demands, showing once again how well the Slovaks understand politics as the art of the possible. At the time when the letter was written and began to circulate in Slovakia, the Communist regime of Czechoslovakia was one of the most conservative and repressive in Eastern Europe. Bishop Karee was well aware of the fact that it served no purpose to go beyond a refutation of the falsehoods so blatantly stated in the television programme broadcast on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the declaration of Slovak In- �SLOVAKIA 63 dependence. The fact that a Catholic bishop who strongly defends the political neutrality of the Church published this letter means that an overt political message was automatically excluded . But it would seem that the lesson of the 1960s was also remembered: the road to the federalization of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic had been paved with the refutation of earlier distortions around the activities and the political goals of those involved in the 1944 events about which more is said below. The letter celebrates recent Slovak history in its refutation of the arguments and interpretations found in the television series. It does so because Bishop Korec and others around him know to what depths of ignorance about their history many Slovaks have sunk and to what distortions they have been exposed. In one of the more poignant passages, he writes: 'Rare are the small nations which today can maim and defame their own history and in this way destroy the national consciousness of future generations as we know how to do in Slovakia." The letter is eloquent testimony to the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the Communist regime. The contents of the letter also raised questions about broadcasting and cultural policies in Communist Czechoslovakia. This is evident in the description of the series ' ' The Cross in the Snares of Power." The reader who has not seen it is made fully aware of the malicious fabrications and fantasies found in the programme's contents, presentation and approach . Whatever were the programme' s political motives, they could not possibly have been achieved, for it is clear that it attacked the intelligence of every viewer except perhaps the least discriminating and the most primitive. The response of the two students makes the point forcefully . The effort to mislead the Slovak public with this television series was so blatant that it left one wondering about the control the Slovaks have over their own television . The same question must be asked about Slovak membership in the Institute for Scientific Atheism of the Slovak Academy of Sciences to whom authorship of the programme is attributed. If, as has been suggested in a Slovak-American newspaper, 3 the majority of the programme's authors were non-Slovaks, then the publication of the letter takes on additional meaning. �64 SLOVAKIA In the letter, Bishop Korec comes to the defence of the Slovak nation by defending the Catholic Church, its clergy and the faithful. Two factors account for such an approach; first, the television series unabashedly held the Church responsible for all that its authors perceived to have been either wrong or evil in Slovakia during the period 1918-1945. Secondly, the Catholic clergy did in fact play a role in this period of Slovak history. But more important, as Bishop Korec writes, "Slovak history cannot be understood without Christianity and the Catholic Church". Thus, to defend the Church is to defend the nation. Bishop Korec divides the period under consideration into three phases. The approach is quite simple. First, an outline of the series' interpretation is given and then a refutation is offered which for all intents and purposes also rejects the Communist regime's official version of Slovak history. The refutations are not exhaustive, nor are they meant to be. But they are to the point and they open the door to a further examination of events and their current interpretations by Marxist and Western historians. Bishop Korec 's letter is, in fact, a direct challenge to most contemporary historical works . Our purpose is to highlight the interpretations in the letter which mark a major departure from conventional wisdom about Slovak history. The first phase of the letter deals with the twenty years of the First Czechoslovak Republic (CSR). According to the series, both the clergy and the Slovak People's Party, in which some priests were active, were against the state and sought its breakup . In addition to being simply untrue, this kind of interpretation is also dangerous because it reflects the over-simplification of history . The emphasis that the letter puts on the complexity of events is not unimportant, nor is it meant simply to state the obvious. The fact is that much of what is written about the Slovaks - and not just in the First CSR - is unfortunately over-simplified in one way or another. There are not many serious studies, especially in Western languages, of the history of the First CSR. Let us look at three of them. While their authors recognize that relations between the Czechs and Slovaks were not always harmonious, the explanations given only too often lack sophistication or insight. The American �SLOVAKIA 65 Czech Josef Korbel, for example, reduces the differences between the two peoples to Slovak conservatism and Czech progressivism and to the clash of personalities in Slovak political life. As in the television series, to the Reverend Andrej Hlinka is attributed much of the responsibility for the difficult relations, because, according to Korbel, he was "fascinated by his own words ... and a fanatic Catholic priest" who wanted to be named a bishop. 4 Korbel adds: Hlinka's suspicions and bitterness in this personal matter [of not being named a bishop] grew into a political hostility that engulfed both Czechs and Slovaks . In the eyes of Hlinka's followers, [Vavro] Srobar and the Czechs were the very incarnation of evil: atheists, socialists, liberals, and anticlericalists, who would bring untold misfortunes upon the country if Slovakia were not guaranteed an autonomy that assured the preservation of her own culture. 5 Korbel shows very little understanding of the Slovaks and their desire to ensure by themselves and for themselves their national development . In the second work, written during the Second World War, the Scot Robert W. Seton-Watson, who was one of the first Western scholars to write about the First CSR, also takes a reductionist approach even though he seeks in great detail to understand and explain the complexities of its political life and especially the position and role of the Slovaks. He writes : There was from the first a profound " incompatibility of temper" between the two kinsmen [Slovaks and Czechs], due to long centuries of Slovak isolation from Western currents, followed by two generations of assimilation and " Magyarone " outlook .. .. the personal element [also] played an important part; and Slovak questions were only too soon grouped round the rivalry of two men who had first entered the political arena in close accord, in their native town of Rufomberok - Father Andrew Hlinka, eloquent, passionate, a churchman of the twelfth rather than the twentieth century and Dr. Vavro Srobar, a doctor of �66 SLOVAKIA progressive and even sceptical outlook, already identified with strongly Czechophil and centralist views. 6 Seton-Watson, like Korbel, deplores the fact that the Slovaks refused to accept the Czech agenda for their common state and reduces the tensions between the two nations to this refusal. He dedicated his book to the Czech nation. In the third volume, a collection of essays on the Czechoslovak Republic by Western scholars, the American Slovak Victor S. Mametey sees the history of the First CSR as one of a state which sought to achieve political and economic modernization but which also had problems because of a debate between Slovaks. He writes: While the struggle between the political right and left was the basic feature of Czech politics, the fundamental issue of Slovak politics was centralism versus autonomy and its cultural concomitant, Czechoslovak unity versus Slovak distinctness ("one nation or two?").7 Mamatey further suggests that there was no Czech-Slovak conflict, rather "one between two Slovak political factions, not between Czech and Slovak politicians, let alone the Czech and Slovak peoples as a whole". Yet a few lines earlier he writes: "sincerely believing that the centralists alone represented authentic Slovak opinion, the Czech politicians steadfastly backed them . They themselves, however, rarely interfered in the conflict". 8 Interpreted properly, this last sentence clearly indicates the nature of the dilemna for the Slovaks . The Czechs in fact controlled the outcome of the debate, namely the national non-recognition of the Slovaks and their assimilation into the Czech nation, which is the reason why they did not need to interfere. To suggest that there was no conflict between Czech and Slovaks is therefore, not only absurd, but it is also to distort the essence of the history of the Czechoslovak Republic, namely the unsuccessful attempts to balance CzechSlovak relations politically and constitutionally to the benefit of both nations. That, more than anything else, is what the history of the Czechoslovak state, whether democratic or communist, is all about. As this involves both nations, one cannot reduce the responsibility of finding solutions uniquely to the Slovaks as Marnatey does. �SLOVAKIA 67 As far as Slovak works are concerned, particularly in the postwar period which is dominated by Marxist scholarship, the situation is rather singular. There are many books but only one approach. The reason for this, in the words of the editor of a comprehensive Marxist study of Slovak history for the period 1918-1948, is that Marxist scholars write about Slovak history thoroughly, they try to evaluate in their organic relation the principal components of the economic, social and cultural life of the people in all its breadth and complexity. 9 Be that as it may, they also simplify, because they focus on other and sometimes quite marginal aspects of the history of the First CSR. They take a class struggle approach which makes them concentrate primarily on the failures or successes of the working class, which did not constitute a majority of the population, and some of its political representatives, in particular the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPCS). Their approach is also dictated by later successful developments, namely the seizure of power, with Soviet help, by the Communists at the end of the Second World War. Examination by Marxist scholars of Czech-Slovak relations in the First CSR is, therefore, subsumed in the analysis of class relations in the state. They recognize that the Slovak People's Party was the most important political party in Slovakia; This party, which had the interest of the Slovak bourgeoisie at heart and which was dissatisfied with its political power and economic position, also influenced larger groups of Slovak citizens with a policy of sharp opposition against the Czechoslovak government, with attacks against centralism and with a policy which put the Slovak question at the heart of its intense political endeavors, a question that by law interested not only the nationalist bourgeoisie, but also other classes and groups in society. 10 But when it comes to evaluating the Slovak People's Party's activities, they simplify both its role and impact on Slovak society: �68 SLOVAKIA However, the People's Party's main aim was to solve the Slovak question conservatively, something which was harmful to the nation because it appealed to backward groups and deepened their social and religious prejudices. 11 Given their approach, and in particular the subsequent seizure of power in Czechoslovakia by the Communists, the conclusion by Marxist scholars that in the late 30' s none of the political parties fought for the safety of the First CSR, except "the CPCS which organized and systematically led the battle for the defense of the Republic, for the national interests of the Czechs and Slovaks" 12 comes as no surprise. Other studies, particularly by emigre Slovak scholars, and others, analyze and present Slovak politics in the First CSR . 13 However, they do not seek to indicate how the Slovak question fits into the complexity of political life in the state . As a result, a history of the First CSR which takes fully and accurately into account the participation of the Slovaks remains yet to be written, whether in a Western or in the Slovak language. 14 It must be pointed out that the history of the inter-war years is not central to Bishop Korec's presentation. Rather, he focuses on the struggle to achieve the autonomy of Slovakia, and his interpretation is one of the most accurate and balanced to be found thus far. It contrasts in particular with those authors referred to above who take a pro-Czech or "Czechoslovak" approach. He thereby also sets the tone for the analysis of the next, and rather critical phase, that of the Slovak Republic of 1939-1945. In this phase, Bishop Korec looks at two important themes. The first concerns the Slovak Republic, in particular its creation and independence. According to Bishop Korec, the series showed the creation of the Slovak State only through images of horror. '' Once again, it would seem that the presentation of these events was over-simplified. If over-simplification is a problem that also concerns this period of Slovak history, there is a second one which is equally serious. It is the problem of approach; in most Western and Marxist studies, it is triumphalist. The fact that the Slovak Republic found itself on the losing side of the war determines the judgment and interpreta11 �SLOVAKIA 69 tion of its involvement in this period of European history. No allowance is made for the dilemmas Slovak politicians faced in their attempts to save the Slovak nation from harm, nor for the fact that they did not have unlimited ways and means at their disposal. As a result, what in other circumstances and for other nations would be acknowledged as acts of statesmanship are either misinterpreted, dismissed or ignored at best. Bishop Korec' s account of the events leading to independence shows a great deal of detachment and balance that even as thorough an account as that of Hoensch 15 does not match. And in one sentence he indicates how a Slovak should look at those six eventful months (October 1938-March 1939) as Vnuk 16 calls them: "Amazingly, the Slovaks kept their heads." The comparisons he suggests with more recent political upheavals and independence movements makes one wonder at the motives behind the numerous blanket condemnations of Slovak actions during this period that are found in many history books. There is no thorough account of life in the Slovak Republic in the bishop's letter. On the other hand, he does raise the question of the degree of independence of the Slovak state. The attitude of the Church and its hierarchy is linked to this question. One cannot but be amazed that Bishop Korec has to explain what are simple facts of political life in any state, namely that the Church does not take a position for or against a state, but rather accepts to work within it, defending the faithful and taking care of their spiritual, and sometimes even their temporal needs. What he says about the degree of independence of the Slovak Republic in fact applies not only to the Church, but also to its citizens and today to historians: "One could not dismiss the Slovak State simply because it did not have the attributes of absolute independence." It is only in the matter of the diplomatic recognition of the Slovak Republic that there may be an error; it is generally accepted that 28 and not 30 states granted it de jure or de facto recognition . 17 As can be expected, there is a strong defense of the Slovak Republic in the letter. Two reasons account for this; first the series itself. As Bishop Korec writes, it "showed life in the Slovak State to be directed by traitors to the nation, criminals who exploited and surrendered their country to the Germans and sent their peo- �70 SLOVAKIA ple to their death, all with the blessings of high officials and the Church". It is interesting to note that Edvard Benes, as President of the Provisional Czechoslovak Government-in-exile in London, used similar images with regards to Slovak leaders in his broadcasts to Slovakia during the war. 18 Secondly, there is the testimony of eyewitnesses who worked toward its destruction. This testimony as well as the description of its cultural output indicate that the Slovak Republic deserves to be examined in other than desultory or defamatory terms. 19 Bishop Korec' s letter also suggests new criteria that should be used to evaluate and judge properly the role of President Tiso. 20 He was a man who had, among many other tasks, the responsibility of keeping the Germans and their Slovak supporters from taking over and transforming the internal affairs of the state to the detriment of the nation. Bishop Korec indicates that Tiso did so with courage and adroitness in word and in deed, an evaluation that is backed with statements from contemporaries, including Communists. 2 1 The same can be said with regards to the second theme in this phase, namely the Jewish question. Anyone familiar with the Second World War must agree with the following passage in the letter: "It is not possible to find the appropriate words of horror and condemnation for the criminal murder of these people [the Slovak Jews deported to Poland] which later followed in the gas chambers." Bishop Korec is also one of the 24 signatories of a document of contrition in this matter which reflects the feelings of a great many people in the Slovak nation .22 At the same time, as the letter indicates, the involvement of Slovak authorities in this tragedy is not one of clear-cut collaboration, rather one of courageous resistance, at least until the events of September 1944. There is a great body of literature on the tragedy of European Jewry, particularly from Jewish scholars .23 In the Slovak case, they stress primarily, if not uniquely, the theme of collaboration. This can perhaps be best illustrated with a quotation from each of the two Jewish authors referred to in the letter, Hanna Arendt and Walter Laqueur. According to Arendt, "Slovakia, like Croatia, was an invention of the German Foreign Office." 24 In the passages that follow �SLOVAKIA 71 where she describes the Slovak handling of the Jewish question, she stresses the differences with the German way, yet still leaves the impression that, even with these differences of approach and deed, the Slovaks did not do anything else but collaborate in the tragedy that befell Europe's Jews. Laqueur, for his part writes: "Slovakia had been the first satellite to participate in the 'final solution.' " 25 Yet in the pages that precede, even with all the evidence he has at his disposal or to which he refers, he does not indicate or explain the halt to the deportations or the use of Presidential exemptions by Tiso . There are others who share this approach 26 and those who seek to explain the halt to the deportations attribute them to internal and external factors but not to Tiso. 27 The tragedy that befell the Jewish people during the Second World War accounts to a great extent for the unrelenting singleminded approach of Jewish scholars with regards to this human tragedy . But as Milan S. Durica indicates, the evidence leads to other conclusions. 28 This is what Bishop Korec also tells us in his letter. The Slovaks, like other peoples in the Western world, proposed policies, passed laws and participated in activities that discriminated against Jews; during the war, German anti-Jewish policies resulted in the extermination of millions of European Jews . It is to the discredit of the Slovaks that they allowed themselves to be involved in this tragedy by unlawful deportations; yet at the same time, their President, using the powers the Slovak Constitution gave him, and other officials, just like many individual Slovaks, 29 were actively engaged in saving tens of thousands of Jews, and, until September 1944, in making Slovakia a haven for them and their co-religionists from other parts of Central Europe. Tiso and the Slovak Republic are entitled at least to have this mentioned. It is not surprising that the television series did not give the Slovak Republic any recognition; paradoxically, it did not do so also for the third phase, the one which Marxist scholars call the Slovak National Uprising. Bishop Korec also refers to the events of September 1944 in the same way, but then, one could not expect anything else given the circumstances. What were the events of September 1944? Were they an "incredible conspiracy" as Vnuk labels them, 30 or were they a Slovak National Uprising as Corn- �72 SLOVAKIA munist historiography has canonized them? It is certrainly one of the episodes in Slovak history most researched by Marxist historians. 31 It also makes up one of the main elements of the official ideology of the Communist regime in federal Czechoslovakia and its anniversary is celebrated annually. This explains why Bishop Korec is careful in handing it. It seems that the television series allowed itself much license in interpreting this event in Slovak history. Referring to trials connected with it shown in the series, Bishop Korec writes that The unspoken claim which came out of all this [the trials] is that ''priests'' were primarily responsible for nearly all of the murders during the period September-November 1944, that they were responsible for all the destruction and suffering because "they were bringing up murders." Bishop Korec rejects this interpretation but he does not defend the uprising as do Slovak Marxist historians. In one sentence he explains what it was all about: "The horrible logic of war applied to the uprising." He marshals a great deal of evidence to illustrate his point. He also comes to the defense of the Church and of President Tiso in their handling of the tragic events of September, 1944. These events still await their proper evaluation by historians. Once again, Bishop Korec hints at the criteria which should be used. It will not be an easy task. Bishop Korec refers often to a number of items in his letter that pertain to the Church. It is interesting to note his reference to current Soviet history and to Soviet publications which now admit the harm of religious persecution. He defends the Church not only because the attacks in the series were unfounded, but especially because he wishes to underline the suffering believers have endured under Communism. Their numbers, furthermore, are not insignificant, as he points out. Certain religious events in Slovakia that preceded the broadcast of the series showed that the Catholic faith was by no means losing ground, especially among the youth. Bishop Korec ends his letter not only by affirming his own faith, but also by emphasizing that the Church stands for something greater than everything and anything represented by the regime: �SLOVAKIA 73 The Church towers like a peak into eternity. She embraces nations and continents and her breath blows through all generations. The measure of her faithfulness is not human faithfulness ... she forgives even enemies, she is willing to serve them and to heal wounds. The Church is the way of all of our ways and along these roads, people have been walking to God for thousands of years. Bishop Karee's letter to Czechoslovak Television testifies to his faith in God and in the Slovak nation which gave him the courage to write it. FOOTNOTES The main historical documents can be found in German translation in Jorg K. Hoensch, Dokumente zur Autonomiepolitik der Slowakischen Volkspartei Hlinkas, Miichen, R. Oldenbourgh Verlag, 1984, pp . 71-276. Some of these documents are published in English translation in Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Slovakia. Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe, New York, Robert Speller & Sons, 1960, pp . 231-237. 2 For more on the theme of the art of the possible in Slovak politics and history see Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, "East European Politics and the Art of the Possible. The Case of the Slovaks" in Manuel J. Pelaez, ed. , Papers on Regimes and Political Systems in Eastern Europe, in press. 1 3 See Joseph C. Krajsa, "Truth at my Table. The Cross in Shackles", Jednota, 25 October, 1989. 4 Josef Korbel, Twentieth-Century Czechoslovakia. The Meanings of Its History , New York, Columbia University Press, 1977, p . 100. 5 Ibid., p. 104. R.W . Seton-Watson, A Histon; of the Czechs and Slovaks, Hamden, CT, Archon Books, 1965 (originally published in London by Hutchinson & Co. Ltd., 1943), p. 333. 7 Victor S. Mamatey, " The Development of Czechoslovak Democracy, 1920-1938" in Victor S. Mamatey and Radomir Luza, eds., A History of the Czechoslovak Republic 1918-1948, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1973, p. 120. 6 8 Ibid., p. 126. 9 Miroslav Kropilak, "Uvod " in M. Kropilak et al, Dejiny Slovenska V (1918-1945), Bratisiava, Veda, Vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1985, p. 12. 10 11 12 Ibid., p. 92. Ibid. , p. 94. Ibid. , p . 250. �74 SLOVAKIA 13 See for example Joseph A. Mikus, Slovakia. A Political History 1918-1950, Milwaukee, Marquette University Press, 1963; Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Slovakia . Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe, New York, Robert Speller & Sons Publishers, 1960; Kurt Glaser, Czecho-Slovakia. A Critical History, Caldwell, Idaho, The Caxton Printers, Ltd ., 1961; and Frantisek Vnuk, "Slovakia in Pre-Munich Czecho-Slovakia" in Joseph M. Kirschbaum, ed., Slovakia in the 19th & 20th Centuries, 2nd edition, Toronto, Slovak World Congress, 1973, pp. 101-127. 14 There is a recent study that looks at Czecho-Slovak relations since the creation of the Czecho-Slovak Republic from the point of view of minority management. See Carol Skalnik Leff, National Conflict in Czechoslovakia. The Making and Remaking of a State, 1918-1987, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1988. s Jorg K. Hoensch, Die Slowakei und Hitlers Ostpolitik, Koln-Wien, Bohlau Verlag, 1965. 16 Frantisek Vnuk, "Slovakia's Six Eventful Months (October 1938-March 1939)", Slovak Studies, IV, 1964, pp. 7-164. 1 17 On the question of the diplomatic recognition of the Slovak Republic, see Milan S. !Jurica, " The Foreign Policy of the Slovak Republic" in Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, Slovak Politics. Essays on Slovak History in Honour of Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Cleveland, Slovak Institute, 1983, p . 273 and especially p . 283, note 114. The dilemmas concerning the diplomatic status of the Slovak Republic are examined by Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, "The Slovak Republic, Britain, France and the Principle of Self-determination", Slovak Studies, XXIII, 1983, pp. 149-170. The best study of the relations between Slovakia and another state is by Stefan Parak, Die Schweiz und der Slowakische Staat 1939-1945, Bern, Peter Lang, 1987. The diplomatic relations between Slovakia and the Third Reich are examined by Milan S. !Jurica, La Slovacchia e le sue relazioni politische con la Germania 1938-1945, Vol. I, Padova, Marsilio Ed., 1964. s See Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, " The Revolt of 1944" in Kirschbaum, Slovak Politics, pp. 292-294. 1 19 To this day, there is no exhaustive history of life in the Sovak Republic. Essays were published shortly after the war by people who had lived and worked in that state; see M. Sprinc, ed ., Slovenska Republika, Scranton, PA, Jednota, 1949. There are however some overviews; see Milan S. !Jurica, "The Republic of Slovakia," Slovak Studies, I, 1961, pp. 105-121; by the same author, "Slovensko za druhej svetovej vojny - Slovenska republika" in Jozef M. Rydlo, ed., Slovensko v retrospektive dejin , Lausanne, Liber, 1976, pp. 123-153; and Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, "The Slovak Republic and the Slovaks, " Slovakia , XXIX (53-54), 1980-1981, pp. 11-38. Political life in the Slovak Republic is examined by the same author in "The Slovak Republic 1939-1945" in Stanislav J. Kirschbaum and Anne C. Roman, eds., Reflections in Slovak History, Toronto, Slovak World Congress, 1987, pp . 89-109; other interpretations are offered by Yeshayahu Jelinek, The Parish Republic, Boulder, East European Monographs, 1976, and �SLOVAKIA 75 by Jorg K. Hoensch, "The Slovak Republic, 1939-1945" in Mamatey and Luza, pp. 271-295. 20 Tiso ' s philosophy and political programme are outlined in Lisa Guarda Nardini, Tiso: Una terza proposta, Padova, Ceseo-Liviana editrice, 1977, and by the same author, " The Political Programme of President Tiso" in Kirschbaum, Slovak Politics, pp . 221-250. 21 Communist historians offer, however, a different and opposite evaluation; see Jozef Klimko, Tretia Risa a l'udacky rezim na Slovensku , Bratislava, Obzor, 1986. 22 " Vyhlasenie k deportaciam zidov zo Slovenska" , Horizont, XVI (6), 1987, p. 2. For an English translation of this declaration, see " Deportation of Jews From Slovakia. Declaration," Cross Currents, 9, 1990, pp . 269-270. The publication of this declaration also found a very favourable echo among Slovaks in exile. See "Solidarizuju sa, " Horizont, VXII (1), 1988, p . 2. 23 Until now, the most exhaustive study is by Raul Hilberg, Th e Destruction of the European Jews , Revised and Definitive Edition, 3 Vols ., New York, Holmes and Meyer, 1985. For an assessment of earlier studies on the tragedy of the Slovak Jews by an Israeli historian, see Yeshayahu Jelinek, " The Holocaust of Slovakian Jewry," East Central Europe, X (1-2), 1983, pp. 14-23. 24 Hanna Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem. A Report on the Banality of Evil, New York, The Viking Press, 1963, p. 184. 25 Walter Laqueur, The Terrible Secret. Suppression of the Truth about Hitler's " Final Solution ", Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1980, p. 146. 26 See for example, Yeshayahu Jelinek, " The 'Final Solution' : The Slovak Version," East European Quarterly, IX (4), 1970, pp . 431-444. Jelinek modifies his approach somewhat later. See note 27. 27 Livia Rothkirchen, "The Slovak Enigma : A Reassessment of the Halt to the Deportations," East Central Europe, X (1-2), 1983, pp . 3-13; and Yeshayahu Jelinek, " Slovaks, Germans, the 'Satellites,' and Jews, " Cross Currents, 9, 1990, pp . 261-268. For his part, Michael R. Marrus, who also mentions the halt to the deportations, wonders: " Did these moves reflect serious second thoughts? Among some, including possibly Tiso himself, this may have been the case;" see Michael R. Marrus, The Holocaust in History, Toronto, Lester & Orpen Dennys Limited , 1987, p . 79. 28 Milan S. Durica, "Dr. Joseph Tiso and the Jewish Problem in Slovakia, " Slovakia, VII (3-4), 1957, pp. 1-22. See also his The Slovak Involvement in the Tragedy of the European Jews, Abano Terme, Piovan Editore, 1989. 29 See Kurt Neumann, "The Slovak Republic: A Lived Experience" in Kirschbaum and Roman, pp. 110-124. 3 ° Frantisek Vnuk, Neu verite/'ne sprisahanie, Middletown, PA, Literarny almanach Slovaka v Amerike, 1964. �76 31 SLOVAKIA There is, on the other hand, only one monograph in a Western language on the 1944 events; see Wolfgang Vehnor, Aufstand fur die Tschechos/owakei. Der s/owakische Freiheitskampf van 1944, Hamburg, Christian Wegner Verlag, 1969. See also Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, "The Revolt of 1944" in Kirschbaum, Slovak Politics, pp. 286-313; and Anna Josko, "The Slovak Resistance Movement" in Mamatey and Luza, pp. 362-384. � SLOVAKIA 61 An Act of Faith and Integrity: Bishop Korec' s Letter to Czechoslovak Television (Introduction) STANISLAV J. KIRSCHBAUM The following letter by a Slovak Catholic bishop to Czechoslovak Television objecting to the contents of the television series ''The Cross in the Snares of Power'' is a document of great historical importance . Although it is quite different from other documents with explicit political goals, it shares with them a similar message and an appropriate sense of timing. It appeared at a time (April, 1989) when East European politics were once again undergoing change. But it is also, by virtue of content as well as timing, a declaration of Slovak national individuality. It reaffirms the vitality of the Slovak people and informs the world of their refusal to bow to internal as well as external oppression. Previous documents of similar historical importance carried a comparable message. Four are of particular interest. In May 1848, as the Austrian Empire was being shaken by national and social revolutions, the leaders of the Slovak nation published a declaration which was sent to the Emperor in Vienna; it was their first political manifesto. In June 1861, when constitutional changes were being contemplated in Vienna, Slovak leaders published the Memorandum of the Slovak Nation, another document outlining their objectives . Each clearly stated the desire of the Slovaks to be recognized as a nation and to run their own affairs, goals that were not incompatible with the possibilities of the period. In October 1918, as the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary was disintegrating, Slovak leaders outlined in the Martin Declaration the political arrangement they wished to have with the Czechs �62 SLOVAKJA in a new state in order to ensure the further development of their people. Finally in March 1968, during the short-lived liberalization period in Communist Czechoslovakia, in a declaration published by the Slovak National Council, Slovak leaders clearly stated under what conditions their nation was willing to continue sharing a state with the Czechs in a Communist regime. In these, and other documents, there is one clear message: the aim of the Slovaks was to achieve national self-determination. 1 The fact that the Slovaks rarely reached all their stated objectives did not discourage them; it merely meant that they would have to try again. By doing so, their leaders were showing that they understood that for a small nation at the crossroads of Central Europe politics is the art of the possible .2 As the bishop's letter states, this lesson is still valid and applicable today. Bishop Jan Ch. Karee wrote to Bratislava Television at a time when many nations in Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union were showing the political will to modify, if not change outright, the existing political system by, among other things, putting an end to political falsification. In the Soviet Union this is known as glasnost, a policy encouraged by the Kremlin not only for the Soviet peoples, but also for the peoples of Eastern Europe. It means telling the truth, not just about the deficiencies of the Communist system, but also about significant periods in a people's history. It is this latter theme that the letter addresses . It looks primarily at one of the most critical periods in Slovak history when, during a world war, the Slovaks were independent and governed themselves in the Slovak Republic. By refuting the falsifications around that period, the letter underlines the refusal of the Slovak people to have their national life determined by others . This is its implicit message. Equally important in the letter is the absence of direct political demands, showing once again how well the Slovaks understand politics as the art of the possible. At the time when the letter was written and began to circulate in Slovakia, the Communist regime of Czechoslovakia was one of the most conservative and repressive in Eastern Europe. Bishop Karee was well aware of the fact that it served no purpose to go beyond a refutation of the falsehoods so blatantly stated in the television programme broadcast on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the declaration of Slovak In- �SLOVAKIA 63 dependence. The fact that a Catholic bishop who strongly defends the political neutrality of the Church published this letter means that an overt political message was automatically excluded . But it would seem that the lesson of the 1960s was also remembered: the road to the federalization of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic had been paved with the refutation of earlier distortions around the activities and the political goals of those involved in the 1944 events about which more is said below. The letter celebrates recent Slovak history in its refutation of the arguments and interpretations found in the television series. It does so because Bishop Korec and others around him know to what depths of ignorance about their history many Slovaks have sunk and to what distortions they have been exposed. In one of the more poignant passages, he writes: 'Rare are the small nations which today can maim and defame their own history and in this way destroy the national consciousness of future generations as we know how to do in Slovakia." The letter is eloquent testimony to the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the Communist regime. The contents of the letter also raised questions about broadcasting and cultural policies in Communist Czechoslovakia. This is evident in the description of the series ' ' The Cross in the Snares of Power." The reader who has not seen it is made fully aware of the malicious fabrications and fantasies found in the programme's contents, presentation and approach . Whatever were the programme' s political motives, they could not possibly have been achieved, for it is clear that it attacked the intelligence of every viewer except perhaps the least discriminating and the most primitive. The response of the two students makes the point forcefully . The effort to mislead the Slovak public with this television series was so blatant that it left one wondering about the control the Slovaks have over their own television . The same question must be asked about Slovak membership in the Institute for Scientific Atheism of the Slovak Academy of Sciences to whom authorship of the programme is attributed. If, as has been suggested in a Slovak-American newspaper, 3 the majority of the programme's authors were non-Slovaks, then the publication of the letter takes on additional meaning. �64 SLOVAKIA In the letter, Bishop Korec comes to the defence of the Slovak nation by defending the Catholic Church, its clergy and the faithful. Two factors account for such an approach; first, the television series unabashedly held the Church responsible for all that its authors perceived to have been either wrong or evil in Slovakia during the period 1918-1945. Secondly, the Catholic clergy did in fact play a role in this period of Slovak history. But more important, as Bishop Korec writes, "Slovak history cannot be understood without Christianity and the Catholic Church". Thus, to defend the Church is to defend the nation. Bishop Korec divides the period under consideration into three phases. The approach is quite simple. First, an outline of the series' interpretation is given and then a refutation is offered which for all intents and purposes also rejects the Communist regime's official version of Slovak history. The refutations are not exhaustive, nor are they meant to be. But they are to the point and they open the door to a further examination of events and their current interpretations by Marxist and Western historians. Bishop Korec 's letter is, in fact, a direct challenge to most contemporary historical works . Our purpose is to highlight the interpretations in the letter which mark a major departure from conventional wisdom about Slovak history. The first phase of the letter deals with the twenty years of the First Czechoslovak Republic (CSR). According to the series, both the clergy and the Slovak People's Party, in which some priests were active, were against the state and sought its breakup . In addition to being simply untrue, this kind of interpretation is also dangerous because it reflects the over-simplification of history . The emphasis that the letter puts on the complexity of events is not unimportant, nor is it meant simply to state the obvious. The fact is that much of what is written about the Slovaks - and not just in the First CSR - is unfortunately over-simplified in one way or another. There are not many serious studies, especially in Western languages, of the history of the First CSR. Let us look at three of them. While their authors recognize that relations between the Czechs and Slovaks were not always harmonious, the explanations given only too often lack sophistication or insight. The American �SLOVAKIA 65 Czech Josef Korbel, for example, reduces the differences between the two peoples to Slovak conservatism and Czech progressivism and to the clash of personalities in Slovak political life. As in the television series, to the Reverend Andrej Hlinka is attributed much of the responsibility for the difficult relations, because, according to Korbel, he was "fascinated by his own words ... and a fanatic Catholic priest" who wanted to be named a bishop. 4 Korbel adds: Hlinka's suspicions and bitterness in this personal matter [of not being named a bishop] grew into a political hostility that engulfed both Czechs and Slovaks . In the eyes of Hlinka's followers, [Vavro] Srobar and the Czechs were the very incarnation of evil: atheists, socialists, liberals, and anticlericalists, who would bring untold misfortunes upon the country if Slovakia were not guaranteed an autonomy that assured the preservation of her own culture. 5 Korbel shows very little understanding of the Slovaks and their desire to ensure by themselves and for themselves their national development . In the second work, written during the Second World War, the Scot Robert W. Seton-Watson, who was one of the first Western scholars to write about the First CSR, also takes a reductionist approach even though he seeks in great detail to understand and explain the complexities of its political life and especially the position and role of the Slovaks. He writes : There was from the first a profound " incompatibility of temper" between the two kinsmen [Slovaks and Czechs], due to long centuries of Slovak isolation from Western currents, followed by two generations of assimilation and " Magyarone " outlook .. .. the personal element [also] played an important part; and Slovak questions were only too soon grouped round the rivalry of two men who had first entered the political arena in close accord, in their native town of Rufomberok - Father Andrew Hlinka, eloquent, passionate, a churchman of the twelfth rather than the twentieth century and Dr. Vavro Srobar, a doctor of �66 SLOVAKIA progressive and even sceptical outlook, already identified with strongly Czechophil and centralist views. 6 Seton-Watson, like Korbel, deplores the fact that the Slovaks refused to accept the Czech agenda for their common state and reduces the tensions between the two nations to this refusal. He dedicated his book to the Czech nation. In the third volume, a collection of essays on the Czechoslovak Republic by Western scholars, the American Slovak Victor S. Mametey sees the history of the First CSR as one of a state which sought to achieve political and economic modernization but which also had problems because of a debate between Slovaks. He writes: While the struggle between the political right and left was the basic feature of Czech politics, the fundamental issue of Slovak politics was centralism versus autonomy and its cultural concomitant, Czechoslovak unity versus Slovak distinctness ("one nation or two?").7 Mamatey further suggests that there was no Czech-Slovak conflict, rather "one between two Slovak political factions, not between Czech and Slovak politicians, let alone the Czech and Slovak peoples as a whole". Yet a few lines earlier he writes: "sincerely believing that the centralists alone represented authentic Slovak opinion, the Czech politicians steadfastly backed them . They themselves, however, rarely interfered in the conflict". 8 Interpreted properly, this last sentence clearly indicates the nature of the dilemna for the Slovaks . The Czechs in fact controlled the outcome of the debate, namely the national non-recognition of the Slovaks and their assimilation into the Czech nation, which is the reason why they did not need to interfere. To suggest that there was no conflict between Czech and Slovaks is therefore, not only absurd, but it is also to distort the essence of the history of the Czechoslovak Republic, namely the unsuccessful attempts to balance CzechSlovak relations politically and constitutionally to the benefit of both nations. That, more than anything else, is what the history of the Czechoslovak state, whether democratic or communist, is all about. As this involves both nations, one cannot reduce the responsibility of finding solutions uniquely to the Slovaks as Marnatey does. �SLOVAKIA 67 As far as Slovak works are concerned, particularly in the postwar period which is dominated by Marxist scholarship, the situation is rather singular. There are many books but only one approach. The reason for this, in the words of the editor of a comprehensive Marxist study of Slovak history for the period 1918-1948, is that Marxist scholars write about Slovak history thoroughly, they try to evaluate in their organic relation the principal components of the economic, social and cultural life of the people in all its breadth and complexity. 9 Be that as it may, they also simplify, because they focus on other and sometimes quite marginal aspects of the history of the First CSR. They take a class struggle approach which makes them concentrate primarily on the failures or successes of the working class, which did not constitute a majority of the population, and some of its political representatives, in particular the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPCS). Their approach is also dictated by later successful developments, namely the seizure of power, with Soviet help, by the Communists at the end of the Second World War. Examination by Marxist scholars of Czech-Slovak relations in the First CSR is, therefore, subsumed in the analysis of class relations in the state. They recognize that the Slovak People's Party was the most important political party in Slovakia; This party, which had the interest of the Slovak bourgeoisie at heart and which was dissatisfied with its political power and economic position, also influenced larger groups of Slovak citizens with a policy of sharp opposition against the Czechoslovak government, with attacks against centralism and with a policy which put the Slovak question at the heart of its intense political endeavors, a question that by law interested not only the nationalist bourgeoisie, but also other classes and groups in society. 10 But when it comes to evaluating the Slovak People's Party's activities, they simplify both its role and impact on Slovak society: �68 SLOVAKIA However, the People's Party's main aim was to solve the Slovak question conservatively, something which was harmful to the nation because it appealed to backward groups and deepened their social and religious prejudices. 11 Given their approach, and in particular the subsequent seizure of power in Czechoslovakia by the Communists, the conclusion by Marxist scholars that in the late 30' s none of the political parties fought for the safety of the First CSR, except "the CPCS which organized and systematically led the battle for the defense of the Republic, for the national interests of the Czechs and Slovaks" 12 comes as no surprise. Other studies, particularly by emigre Slovak scholars, and others, analyze and present Slovak politics in the First CSR . 13 However, they do not seek to indicate how the Slovak question fits into the complexity of political life in the state . As a result, a history of the First CSR which takes fully and accurately into account the participation of the Slovaks remains yet to be written, whether in a Western or in the Slovak language. 14 It must be pointed out that the history of the inter-war years is not central to Bishop Korec's presentation. Rather, he focuses on the struggle to achieve the autonomy of Slovakia, and his interpretation is one of the most accurate and balanced to be found thus far. It contrasts in particular with those authors referred to above who take a pro-Czech or "Czechoslovak" approach. He thereby also sets the tone for the analysis of the next, and rather critical phase, that of the Slovak Republic of 1939-1945. In this phase, Bishop Korec looks at two important themes. The first concerns the Slovak Republic, in particular its creation and independence. According to Bishop Korec, the series showed the creation of the Slovak State only through images of horror. '' Once again, it would seem that the presentation of these events was over-simplified. If over-simplification is a problem that also concerns this period of Slovak history, there is a second one which is equally serious. It is the problem of approach; in most Western and Marxist studies, it is triumphalist. The fact that the Slovak Republic found itself on the losing side of the war determines the judgment and interpreta11 �SLOVAKIA 69 tion of its involvement in this period of European history. No allowance is made for the dilemmas Slovak politicians faced in their attempts to save the Slovak nation from harm, nor for the fact that they did not have unlimited ways and means at their disposal. As a result, what in other circumstances and for other nations would be acknowledged as acts of statesmanship are either misinterpreted, dismissed or ignored at best. Bishop Korec' s account of the events leading to independence shows a great deal of detachment and balance that even as thorough an account as that of Hoensch 15 does not match. And in one sentence he indicates how a Slovak should look at those six eventful months (October 1938-March 1939) as Vnuk 16 calls them: "Amazingly, the Slovaks kept their heads." The comparisons he suggests with more recent political upheavals and independence movements makes one wonder at the motives behind the numerous blanket condemnations of Slovak actions during this period that are found in many history books. There is no thorough account of life in the Slovak Republic in the bishop's letter. On the other hand, he does raise the question of the degree of independence of the Slovak state. The attitude of the Church and its hierarchy is linked to this question. One cannot but be amazed that Bishop Korec has to explain what are simple facts of political life in any state, namely that the Church does not take a position for or against a state, but rather accepts to work within it, defending the faithful and taking care of their spiritual, and sometimes even their temporal needs. What he says about the degree of independence of the Slovak Republic in fact applies not only to the Church, but also to its citizens and today to historians: "One could not dismiss the Slovak State simply because it did not have the attributes of absolute independence." It is only in the matter of the diplomatic recognition of the Slovak Republic that there may be an error; it is generally accepted that 28 and not 30 states granted it de jure or de facto recognition . 17 As can be expected, there is a strong defense of the Slovak Republic in the letter. Two reasons account for this; first the series itself. As Bishop Korec writes, it "showed life in the Slovak State to be directed by traitors to the nation, criminals who exploited and surrendered their country to the Germans and sent their peo- �70 SLOVAKIA ple to their death, all with the blessings of high officials and the Church". It is interesting to note that Edvard Benes, as President of the Provisional Czechoslovak Government-in-exile in London, used similar images with regards to Slovak leaders in his broadcasts to Slovakia during the war. 18 Secondly, there is the testimony of eyewitnesses who worked toward its destruction. This testimony as well as the description of its cultural output indicate that the Slovak Republic deserves to be examined in other than desultory or defamatory terms. 19 Bishop Korec' s letter also suggests new criteria that should be used to evaluate and judge properly the role of President Tiso. 20 He was a man who had, among many other tasks, the responsibility of keeping the Germans and their Slovak supporters from taking over and transforming the internal affairs of the state to the detriment of the nation. Bishop Korec indicates that Tiso did so with courage and adroitness in word and in deed, an evaluation that is backed with statements from contemporaries, including Communists. 2 1 The same can be said with regards to the second theme in this phase, namely the Jewish question. Anyone familiar with the Second World War must agree with the following passage in the letter: "It is not possible to find the appropriate words of horror and condemnation for the criminal murder of these people [the Slovak Jews deported to Poland] which later followed in the gas chambers." Bishop Korec is also one of the 24 signatories of a document of contrition in this matter which reflects the feelings of a great many people in the Slovak nation .22 At the same time, as the letter indicates, the involvement of Slovak authorities in this tragedy is not one of clear-cut collaboration, rather one of courageous resistance, at least until the events of September 1944. There is a great body of literature on the tragedy of European Jewry, particularly from Jewish scholars .23 In the Slovak case, they stress primarily, if not uniquely, the theme of collaboration. This can perhaps be best illustrated with a quotation from each of the two Jewish authors referred to in the letter, Hanna Arendt and Walter Laqueur. According to Arendt, "Slovakia, like Croatia, was an invention of the German Foreign Office." 24 In the passages that follow �SLOVAKIA 71 where she describes the Slovak handling of the Jewish question, she stresses the differences with the German way, yet still leaves the impression that, even with these differences of approach and deed, the Slovaks did not do anything else but collaborate in the tragedy that befell Europe's Jews. Laqueur, for his part writes: "Slovakia had been the first satellite to participate in the 'final solution.' " 25 Yet in the pages that precede, even with all the evidence he has at his disposal or to which he refers, he does not indicate or explain the halt to the deportations or the use of Presidential exemptions by Tiso . There are others who share this approach 26 and those who seek to explain the halt to the deportations attribute them to internal and external factors but not to Tiso. 27 The tragedy that befell the Jewish people during the Second World War accounts to a great extent for the unrelenting singleminded approach of Jewish scholars with regards to this human tragedy . But as Milan S. Durica indicates, the evidence leads to other conclusions. 28 This is what Bishop Korec also tells us in his letter. The Slovaks, like other peoples in the Western world, proposed policies, passed laws and participated in activities that discriminated against Jews; during the war, German anti-Jewish policies resulted in the extermination of millions of European Jews . It is to the discredit of the Slovaks that they allowed themselves to be involved in this tragedy by unlawful deportations; yet at the same time, their President, using the powers the Slovak Constitution gave him, and other officials, just like many individual Slovaks, 29 were actively engaged in saving tens of thousands of Jews, and, until September 1944, in making Slovakia a haven for them and their co-religionists from other parts of Central Europe. Tiso and the Slovak Republic are entitled at least to have this mentioned. It is not surprising that the television series did not give the Slovak Republic any recognition; paradoxically, it did not do so also for the third phase, the one which Marxist scholars call the Slovak National Uprising. Bishop Korec also refers to the events of September 1944 in the same way, but then, one could not expect anything else given the circumstances. What were the events of September 1944? Were they an "incredible conspiracy" as Vnuk labels them, 30 or were they a Slovak National Uprising as Corn- �72 SLOVAKIA munist historiography has canonized them? It is certrainly one of the episodes in Slovak history most researched by Marxist historians. 31 It also makes up one of the main elements of the official ideology of the Communist regime in federal Czechoslovakia and its anniversary is celebrated annually. This explains why Bishop Korec is careful in handing it. It seems that the television series allowed itself much license in interpreting this event in Slovak history. Referring to trials connected with it shown in the series, Bishop Korec writes that The unspoken claim which came out of all this [the trials] is that ''priests'' were primarily responsible for nearly all of the murders during the period September-November 1944, that they were responsible for all the destruction and suffering because "they were bringing up murders." Bishop Korec rejects this interpretation but he does not defend the uprising as do Slovak Marxist historians. In one sentence he explains what it was all about: "The horrible logic of war applied to the uprising." He marshals a great deal of evidence to illustrate his point. He also comes to the defense of the Church and of President Tiso in their handling of the tragic events of September, 1944. These events still await their proper evaluation by historians. Once again, Bishop Korec hints at the criteria which should be used. It will not be an easy task. Bishop Korec refers often to a number of items in his letter that pertain to the Church. It is interesting to note his reference to current Soviet history and to Soviet publications which now admit the harm of religious persecution. He defends the Church not only because the attacks in the series were unfounded, but especially because he wishes to underline the suffering believers have endured under Communism. Their numbers, furthermore, are not insignificant, as he points out. Certain religious events in Slovakia that preceded the broadcast of the series showed that the Catholic faith was by no means losing ground, especially among the youth. Bishop Korec ends his letter not only by affirming his own faith, but also by emphasizing that the Church stands for something greater than everything and anything represented by the regime: �SLOVAKIA 73 The Church towers like a peak into eternity. She embraces nations and continents and her breath blows through all generations. The measure of her faithfulness is not human faithfulness ... she forgives even enemies, she is willing to serve them and to heal wounds. The Church is the way of all of our ways and along these roads, people have been walking to God for thousands of years. Bishop Karee's letter to Czechoslovak Television testifies to his faith in God and in the Slovak nation which gave him the courage to write it. FOOTNOTES The main historical documents can be found in German translation in Jorg K. Hoensch, Dokumente zur Autonomiepolitik der Slowakischen Volkspartei Hlinkas, Miichen, R. Oldenbourgh Verlag, 1984, pp . 71-276. Some of these documents are published in English translation in Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Slovakia. Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe, New York, Robert Speller & Sons, 1960, pp . 231-237. 2 For more on the theme of the art of the possible in Slovak politics and history see Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, "East European Politics and the Art of the Possible. The Case of the Slovaks" in Manuel J. Pelaez, ed. , Papers on Regimes and Political Systems in Eastern Europe, in press. 1 3 See Joseph C. Krajsa, "Truth at my Table. The Cross in Shackles", Jednota, 25 October, 1989. 4 Josef Korbel, Twentieth-Century Czechoslovakia. The Meanings of Its History , New York, Columbia University Press, 1977, p . 100. 5 Ibid., p. 104. R.W . Seton-Watson, A Histon; of the Czechs and Slovaks, Hamden, CT, Archon Books, 1965 (originally published in London by Hutchinson & Co. Ltd., 1943), p. 333. 7 Victor S. Mamatey, " The Development of Czechoslovak Democracy, 1920-1938" in Victor S. Mamatey and Radomir Luza, eds., A History of the Czechoslovak Republic 1918-1948, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1973, p. 120. 6 8 Ibid., p. 126. 9 Miroslav Kropilak, "Uvod " in M. Kropilak et al, Dejiny Slovenska V (1918-1945), Bratisiava, Veda, Vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1985, p. 12. 10 11 12 Ibid., p. 92. Ibid. , p. 94. Ibid. , p . 250. �74 SLOVAKIA 13 See for example Joseph A. Mikus, Slovakia. A Political History 1918-1950, Milwaukee, Marquette University Press, 1963; Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Slovakia . Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe, New York, Robert Speller & Sons Publishers, 1960; Kurt Glaser, Czecho-Slovakia. A Critical History, Caldwell, Idaho, The Caxton Printers, Ltd ., 1961; and Frantisek Vnuk, "Slovakia in Pre-Munich Czecho-Slovakia" in Joseph M. Kirschbaum, ed., Slovakia in the 19th & 20th Centuries, 2nd edition, Toronto, Slovak World Congress, 1973, pp. 101-127. 14 There is a recent study that looks at Czecho-Slovak relations since the creation of the Czecho-Slovak Republic from the point of view of minority management. See Carol Skalnik Leff, National Conflict in Czechoslovakia. The Making and Remaking of a State, 1918-1987, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1988. s Jorg K. Hoensch, Die Slowakei und Hitlers Ostpolitik, Koln-Wien, Bohlau Verlag, 1965. 16 Frantisek Vnuk, "Slovakia's Six Eventful Months (October 1938-March 1939)", Slovak Studies, IV, 1964, pp. 7-164. 1 17 On the question of the diplomatic recognition of the Slovak Republic, see Milan S. !Jurica, " The Foreign Policy of the Slovak Republic" in Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, Slovak Politics. Essays on Slovak History in Honour of Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Cleveland, Slovak Institute, 1983, p . 273 and especially p . 283, note 114. The dilemmas concerning the diplomatic status of the Slovak Republic are examined by Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, "The Slovak Republic, Britain, France and the Principle of Self-determination", Slovak Studies, XXIII, 1983, pp. 149-170. The best study of the relations between Slovakia and another state is by Stefan Parak, Die Schweiz und der Slowakische Staat 1939-1945, Bern, Peter Lang, 1987. The diplomatic relations between Slovakia and the Third Reich are examined by Milan S. !Jurica, La Slovacchia e le sue relazioni politische con la Germania 1938-1945, Vol. I, Padova, Marsilio Ed., 1964. s See Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, " The Revolt of 1944" in Kirschbaum, Slovak Politics, pp. 292-294. 1 19 To this day, there is no exhaustive history of life in the Sovak Republic. Essays were published shortly after the war by people who had lived and worked in that state; see M. Sprinc, ed ., Slovenska Republika, Scranton, PA, Jednota, 1949. There are however some overviews; see Milan S. !Jurica, "The Republic of Slovakia," Slovak Studies, I, 1961, pp. 105-121; by the same author, "Slovensko za druhej svetovej vojny - Slovenska republika" in Jozef M. Rydlo, ed., Slovensko v retrospektive dejin , Lausanne, Liber, 1976, pp. 123-153; and Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, "The Slovak Republic and the Slovaks, " Slovakia , XXIX (53-54), 1980-1981, pp. 11-38. Political life in the Slovak Republic is examined by the same author in "The Slovak Republic 1939-1945" in Stanislav J. Kirschbaum and Anne C. Roman, eds., Reflections in Slovak History, Toronto, Slovak World Congress, 1987, pp . 89-109; other interpretations are offered by Yeshayahu Jelinek, The Parish Republic, Boulder, East European Monographs, 1976, and �SLOVAKIA 75 by Jorg K. Hoensch, "The Slovak Republic, 1939-1945" in Mamatey and Luza, pp. 271-295. 20 Tiso ' s philosophy and political programme are outlined in Lisa Guarda Nardini, Tiso: Una terza proposta, Padova, Ceseo-Liviana editrice, 1977, and by the same author, " The Political Programme of President Tiso" in Kirschbaum, Slovak Politics, pp . 221-250. 21 Communist historians offer, however, a different and opposite evaluation; see Jozef Klimko, Tretia Risa a l'udacky rezim na Slovensku , Bratislava, Obzor, 1986. 22 " Vyhlasenie k deportaciam zidov zo Slovenska" , Horizont, XVI (6), 1987, p. 2. For an English translation of this declaration, see " Deportation of Jews From Slovakia. Declaration," Cross Currents, 9, 1990, pp . 269-270. The publication of this declaration also found a very favourable echo among Slovaks in exile. See "Solidarizuju sa, " Horizont, VXII (1), 1988, p . 2. 23 Until now, the most exhaustive study is by Raul Hilberg, Th e Destruction of the European Jews , Revised and Definitive Edition, 3 Vols ., New York, Holmes and Meyer, 1985. For an assessment of earlier studies on the tragedy of the Slovak Jews by an Israeli historian, see Yeshayahu Jelinek, " The Holocaust of Slovakian Jewry," East Central Europe, X (1-2), 1983, pp. 14-23. 24 Hanna Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem. A Report on the Banality of Evil, New York, The Viking Press, 1963, p. 184. 25 Walter Laqueur, The Terrible Secret. Suppression of the Truth about Hitler's " Final Solution ", Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1980, p. 146. 26 See for example, Yeshayahu Jelinek, " The 'Final Solution' : The Slovak Version," East European Quarterly, IX (4), 1970, pp . 431-444. Jelinek modifies his approach somewhat later. See note 27. 27 Livia Rothkirchen, "The Slovak Enigma : A Reassessment of the Halt to the Deportations," East Central Europe, X (1-2), 1983, pp . 3-13; and Yeshayahu Jelinek, " Slovaks, Germans, the 'Satellites,' and Jews, " Cross Currents, 9, 1990, pp . 261-268. For his part, Michael R. Marrus, who also mentions the halt to the deportations, wonders: " Did these moves reflect serious second thoughts? Among some, including possibly Tiso himself, this may have been the case;" see Michael R. Marrus, The Holocaust in History, Toronto, Lester & Orpen Dennys Limited , 1987, p . 79. 28 Milan S. Durica, "Dr. Joseph Tiso and the Jewish Problem in Slovakia, " Slovakia, VII (3-4), 1957, pp. 1-22. See also his The Slovak Involvement in the Tragedy of the European Jews, Abano Terme, Piovan Editore, 1989. 29 See Kurt Neumann, "The Slovak Republic: A Lived Experience" in Kirschbaum and Roman, pp. 110-124. 3 ° Frantisek Vnuk, Neu verite/'ne sprisahanie, Middletown, PA, Literarny almanach Slovaka v Amerike, 1964. �76 31 SLOVAKIA There is, on the other hand, only one monograph in a Western language on the 1944 events; see Wolfgang Vehnor, Aufstand fur die Tschechos/owakei. Der s/owakische Freiheitskampf van 1944, Hamburg, Christian Wegner Verlag, 1969. See also Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, "The Revolt of 1944" in Kirschbaum, Slovak Politics, pp. 286-313; and Anna Josko, "The Slovak Resistance Movement" in Mamatey and Luza, pp. 362-384. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1989-90, Vol. 34 Description An account of the resource Vol. 34 (No. 62-63), 1989-90. 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 1989-90 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 An Act of Faith and Integrity: Bishop Korec' s Letter to Czechoslovak Television (Introduction) STANISLAV J. KIRSCHBAUM The following letter by a Slovak Catholic bishop to Czechoslovak Television objecting to the contents of the television series ''The Cross in the Snares of Power'' is a document of great historical importance . Although it is quite different from other documents with explicit political goals, it shares with them a similar message and an appropriate sense of timing. It appeared at a time (April, 1989) when East European politics were once again undergoing change. But it is also, by virtue of content as well as timing, a declaration of Slovak national individuality. It reaffirms the vitality of the Slovak people and informs the world of their refusal to bow to internal as well as external oppression. Previous documents of similar historical importance carried a comparable message. Four are of particular interest. In May 1848, as the Austrian Empire was being shaken by national and social revolutions, the leaders of the Slovak nation published a declaration which was sent to the Emperor in Vienna; it was their first political manifesto. In June 1861, when constitutional changes were being contemplated in Vienna, Slovak leaders published the Memorandum of the Slovak Nation, another document outlining their objectives . Each clearly stated the desire of the Slovaks to be recognized as a nation and to run their own affairs, goals that were not incompatible with the possibilities of the period. In October 1918, as the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary was disintegrating, Slovak leaders outlined in the Martin Declaration the political arrangement they wished to have with the Czechs 62 SLOVAKJA in a new state in order to ensure the further development of their people. Finally in March 1968, during the short-lived liberalization period in Communist Czechoslovakia, in a declaration published by the Slovak National Council, Slovak leaders clearly stated under what conditions their nation was willing to continue sharing a state with the Czechs in a Communist regime. In these, and other documents, there is one clear message: the aim of the Slovaks was to achieve national self-determination. 1 The fact that the Slovaks rarely reached all their stated objectives did not discourage them; it merely meant that they would have to try again. By doing so, their leaders were showing that they understood that for a small nation at the crossroads of Central Europe politics is the art of the possible .2 As the bishop's letter states, this lesson is still valid and applicable today. Bishop Jan Ch. Karee wrote to Bratislava Television at a time when many nations in Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union were showing the political will to modify, if not change outright, the existing political system by, among other things, putting an end to political falsification. In the Soviet Union this is known as glasnost, a policy encouraged by the Kremlin not only for the Soviet peoples, but also for the peoples of Eastern Europe. It means telling the truth, not just about the deficiencies of the Communist system, but also about significant periods in a people's history. It is this latter theme that the letter addresses . It looks primarily at one of the most critical periods in Slovak history when, during a world war, the Slovaks were independent and governed themselves in the Slovak Republic. By refuting the falsifications around that period, the letter underlines the refusal of the Slovak people to have their national life determined by others . This is its implicit message. Equally important in the letter is the absence of direct political demands, showing once again how well the Slovaks understand politics as the art of the possible. At the time when the letter was written and began to circulate in Slovakia, the Communist regime of Czechoslovakia was one of the most conservative and repressive in Eastern Europe. Bishop Karee was well aware of the fact that it served no purpose to go beyond a refutation of the falsehoods so blatantly stated in the television programme broadcast on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the declaration of Slovak In- SLOVAKIA 63 dependence. The fact that a Catholic bishop who strongly defends the political neutrality of the Church published this letter means that an overt political message was automatically excluded . But it would seem that the lesson of the 1960s was also remembered: the road to the federalization of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic had been paved with the refutation of earlier distortions around the activities and the political goals of those involved in the 1944 events about which more is said below. The letter celebrates recent Slovak history in its refutation of the arguments and interpretations found in the television series. It does so because Bishop Korec and others around him know to what depths of ignorance about their history many Slovaks have sunk and to what distortions they have been exposed. In one of the more poignant passages, he writes: 'Rare are the small nations which today can maim and defame their own history and in this way destroy the national consciousness of future generations as we know how to do in Slovakia." The letter is eloquent testimony to the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the Communist regime. The contents of the letter also raised questions about broadcasting and cultural policies in Communist Czechoslovakia. This is evident in the description of the series ' ' The Cross in the Snares of Power." The reader who has not seen it is made fully aware of the malicious fabrications and fantasies found in the programme's contents, presentation and approach . Whatever were the programme' s political motives, they could not possibly have been achieved, for it is clear that it attacked the intelligence of every viewer except perhaps the least discriminating and the most primitive. The response of the two students makes the point forcefully . The effort to mislead the Slovak public with this television series was so blatant that it left one wondering about the control the Slovaks have over their own television . The same question must be asked about Slovak membership in the Institute for Scientific Atheism of the Slovak Academy of Sciences to whom authorship of the programme is attributed. If, as has been suggested in a Slovak-American newspaper, 3 the majority of the programme's authors were non-Slovaks, then the publication of the letter takes on additional meaning. 64 SLOVAKIA In the letter, Bishop Korec comes to the defence of the Slovak nation by defending the Catholic Church, its clergy and the faithful. Two factors account for such an approach; first, the television series unabashedly held the Church responsible for all that its authors perceived to have been either wrong or evil in Slovakia during the period 1918-1945. Secondly, the Catholic clergy did in fact play a role in this period of Slovak history. But more important, as Bishop Korec writes, "Slovak history cannot be understood without Christianity and the Catholic Church". Thus, to defend the Church is to defend the nation. Bishop Korec divides the period under consideration into three phases. The approach is quite simple. First, an outline of the series' interpretation is given and then a refutation is offered which for all intents and purposes also rejects the Communist regime's official version of Slovak history. The refutations are not exhaustive, nor are they meant to be. But they are to the point and they open the door to a further examination of events and their current interpretations by Marxist and Western historians. Bishop Korec 's letter is, in fact, a direct challenge to most contemporary historical works . Our purpose is to highlight the interpretations in the letter which mark a major departure from conventional wisdom about Slovak history. The first phase of the letter deals with the twenty years of the First Czechoslovak Republic (CSR). According to the series, both the clergy and the Slovak People's Party, in which some priests were active, were against the state and sought its breakup . In addition to being simply untrue, this kind of interpretation is also dangerous because it reflects the over-simplification of history . The emphasis that the letter puts on the complexity of events is not unimportant, nor is it meant simply to state the obvious. The fact is that much of what is written about the Slovaks - and not just in the First CSR - is unfortunately over-simplified in one way or another. There are not many serious studies, especially in Western languages, of the history of the First CSR. Let us look at three of them. While their authors recognize that relations between the Czechs and Slovaks were not always harmonious, the explanations given only too often lack sophistication or insight. The American SLOVAKIA 65 Czech Josef Korbel, for example, reduces the differences between the two peoples to Slovak conservatism and Czech progressivism and to the clash of personalities in Slovak political life. As in the television series, to the Reverend Andrej Hlinka is attributed much of the responsibility for the difficult relations, because, according to Korbel, he was "fascinated by his own words ... and a fanatic Catholic priest" who wanted to be named a bishop. 4 Korbel adds: Hlinka's suspicions and bitterness in this personal matter [of not being named a bishop] grew into a political hostility that engulfed both Czechs and Slovaks . In the eyes of Hlinka's followers, [Vavro] Srobar and the Czechs were the very incarnation of evil: atheists, socialists, liberals, and anticlericalists, who would bring untold misfortunes upon the country if Slovakia were not guaranteed an autonomy that assured the preservation of her own culture. 5 Korbel shows very little understanding of the Slovaks and their desire to ensure by themselves and for themselves their national development . In the second work, written during the Second World War, the Scot Robert W. Seton-Watson, who was one of the first Western scholars to write about the First CSR, also takes a reductionist approach even though he seeks in great detail to understand and explain the complexities of its political life and especially the position and role of the Slovaks. He writes : There was from the first a profound " incompatibility of temper" between the two kinsmen [Slovaks and Czechs], due to long centuries of Slovak isolation from Western currents, followed by two generations of assimilation and " Magyarone " outlook .. .. the personal element [also] played an important part; and Slovak questions were only too soon grouped round the rivalry of two men who had first entered the political arena in close accord, in their native town of Rufomberok - Father Andrew Hlinka, eloquent, passionate, a churchman of the twelfth rather than the twentieth century and Dr. Vavro Srobar, a doctor of 66 SLOVAKIA progressive and even sceptical outlook, already identified with strongly Czechophil and centralist views. 6 Seton-Watson, like Korbel, deplores the fact that the Slovaks refused to accept the Czech agenda for their common state and reduces the tensions between the two nations to this refusal. He dedicated his book to the Czech nation. In the third volume, a collection of essays on the Czechoslovak Republic by Western scholars, the American Slovak Victor S. Mametey sees the history of the First CSR as one of a state which sought to achieve political and economic modernization but which also had problems because of a debate between Slovaks. He writes: While the struggle between the political right and left was the basic feature of Czech politics, the fundamental issue of Slovak politics was centralism versus autonomy and its cultural concomitant, Czechoslovak unity versus Slovak distinctness ("one nation or two?").7 Mamatey further suggests that there was no Czech-Slovak conflict, rather "one between two Slovak political factions, not between Czech and Slovak politicians, let alone the Czech and Slovak peoples as a whole". Yet a few lines earlier he writes: "sincerely believing that the centralists alone represented authentic Slovak opinion, the Czech politicians steadfastly backed them . They themselves, however, rarely interfered in the conflict". 8 Interpreted properly, this last sentence clearly indicates the nature of the dilemna for the Slovaks . The Czechs in fact controlled the outcome of the debate, namely the national non-recognition of the Slovaks and their assimilation into the Czech nation, which is the reason why they did not need to interfere. To suggest that there was no conflict between Czech and Slovaks is therefore, not only absurd, but it is also to distort the essence of the history of the Czechoslovak Republic, namely the unsuccessful attempts to balance CzechSlovak relations politically and constitutionally to the benefit of both nations. That, more than anything else, is what the history of the Czechoslovak state, whether democratic or communist, is all about. As this involves both nations, one cannot reduce the responsibility of finding solutions uniquely to the Slovaks as Marnatey does. SLOVAKIA 67 As far as Slovak works are concerned, particularly in the postwar period which is dominated by Marxist scholarship, the situation is rather singular. There are many books but only one approach. The reason for this, in the words of the editor of a comprehensive Marxist study of Slovak history for the period 1918-1948, is that Marxist scholars write about Slovak history thoroughly, they try to evaluate in their organic relation the principal components of the economic, social and cultural life of the people in all its breadth and complexity. 9 Be that as it may, they also simplify, because they focus on other and sometimes quite marginal aspects of the history of the First CSR. They take a class struggle approach which makes them concentrate primarily on the failures or successes of the working class, which did not constitute a majority of the population, and some of its political representatives, in particular the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPCS). Their approach is also dictated by later successful developments, namely the seizure of power, with Soviet help, by the Communists at the end of the Second World War. Examination by Marxist scholars of Czech-Slovak relations in the First CSR is, therefore, subsumed in the analysis of class relations in the state. They recognize that the Slovak People's Party was the most important political party in Slovakia; This party, which had the interest of the Slovak bourgeoisie at heart and which was dissatisfied with its political power and economic position, also influenced larger groups of Slovak citizens with a policy of sharp opposition against the Czechoslovak government, with attacks against centralism and with a policy which put the Slovak question at the heart of its intense political endeavors, a question that by law interested not only the nationalist bourgeoisie, but also other classes and groups in society. 10 But when it comes to evaluating the Slovak People's Party's activities, they simplify both its role and impact on Slovak society: 68 SLOVAKIA However, the People's Party's main aim was to solve the Slovak question conservatively, something which was harmful to the nation because it appealed to backward groups and deepened their social and religious prejudices. 11 Given their approach, and in particular the subsequent seizure of power in Czechoslovakia by the Communists, the conclusion by Marxist scholars that in the late 30' s none of the political parties fought for the safety of the First CSR, except "the CPCS which organized and systematically led the battle for the defense of the Republic, for the national interests of the Czechs and Slovaks" 12 comes as no surprise. Other studies, particularly by emigre Slovak scholars, and others, analyze and present Slovak politics in the First CSR . 13 However, they do not seek to indicate how the Slovak question fits into the complexity of political life in the state . As a result, a history of the First CSR which takes fully and accurately into account the participation of the Slovaks remains yet to be written, whether in a Western or in the Slovak language. 14 It must be pointed out that the history of the inter-war years is not central to Bishop Korec's presentation. Rather, he focuses on the struggle to achieve the autonomy of Slovakia, and his interpretation is one of the most accurate and balanced to be found thus far. It contrasts in particular with those authors referred to above who take a pro-Czech or "Czechoslovak" approach. He thereby also sets the tone for the analysis of the next, and rather critical phase, that of the Slovak Republic of 1939-1945. In this phase, Bishop Korec looks at two important themes. The first concerns the Slovak Republic, in particular its creation and independence. According to Bishop Korec, the series showed the creation of the Slovak State only through images of horror. '' Once again, it would seem that the presentation of these events was over-simplified. If over-simplification is a problem that also concerns this period of Slovak history, there is a second one which is equally serious. It is the problem of approach; in most Western and Marxist studies, it is triumphalist. The fact that the Slovak Republic found itself on the losing side of the war determines the judgment and interpreta11 SLOVAKIA 69 tion of its involvement in this period of European history. No allowance is made for the dilemmas Slovak politicians faced in their attempts to save the Slovak nation from harm, nor for the fact that they did not have unlimited ways and means at their disposal. As a result, what in other circumstances and for other nations would be acknowledged as acts of statesmanship are either misinterpreted, dismissed or ignored at best. Bishop Korec' s account of the events leading to independence shows a great deal of detachment and balance that even as thorough an account as that of Hoensch 15 does not match. And in one sentence he indicates how a Slovak should look at those six eventful months (October 1938-March 1939) as Vnuk 16 calls them: "Amazingly, the Slovaks kept their heads." The comparisons he suggests with more recent political upheavals and independence movements makes one wonder at the motives behind the numerous blanket condemnations of Slovak actions during this period that are found in many history books. There is no thorough account of life in the Slovak Republic in the bishop's letter. On the other hand, he does raise the question of the degree of independence of the Slovak state. The attitude of the Church and its hierarchy is linked to this question. One cannot but be amazed that Bishop Korec has to explain what are simple facts of political life in any state, namely that the Church does not take a position for or against a state, but rather accepts to work within it, defending the faithful and taking care of their spiritual, and sometimes even their temporal needs. What he says about the degree of independence of the Slovak Republic in fact applies not only to the Church, but also to its citizens and today to historians: "One could not dismiss the Slovak State simply because it did not have the attributes of absolute independence." It is only in the matter of the diplomatic recognition of the Slovak Republic that there may be an error; it is generally accepted that 28 and not 30 states granted it de jure or de facto recognition . 17 As can be expected, there is a strong defense of the Slovak Republic in the letter. Two reasons account for this; first the series itself. As Bishop Korec writes, it "showed life in the Slovak State to be directed by traitors to the nation, criminals who exploited and surrendered their country to the Germans and sent their peo- 70 SLOVAKIA ple to their death, all with the blessings of high officials and the Church". It is interesting to note that Edvard Benes, as President of the Provisional Czechoslovak Government-in-exile in London, used similar images with regards to Slovak leaders in his broadcasts to Slovakia during the war. 18 Secondly, there is the testimony of eyewitnesses who worked toward its destruction. This testimony as well as the description of its cultural output indicate that the Slovak Republic deserves to be examined in other than desultory or defamatory terms. 19 Bishop Korec' s letter also suggests new criteria that should be used to evaluate and judge properly the role of President Tiso. 20 He was a man who had, among many other tasks, the responsibility of keeping the Germans and their Slovak supporters from taking over and transforming the internal affairs of the state to the detriment of the nation. Bishop Korec indicates that Tiso did so with courage and adroitness in word and in deed, an evaluation that is backed with statements from contemporaries, including Communists. 2 1 The same can be said with regards to the second theme in this phase, namely the Jewish question. Anyone familiar with the Second World War must agree with the following passage in the letter: "It is not possible to find the appropriate words of horror and condemnation for the criminal murder of these people [the Slovak Jews deported to Poland] which later followed in the gas chambers." Bishop Korec is also one of the 24 signatories of a document of contrition in this matter which reflects the feelings of a great many people in the Slovak nation .22 At the same time, as the letter indicates, the involvement of Slovak authorities in this tragedy is not one of clear-cut collaboration, rather one of courageous resistance, at least until the events of September 1944. There is a great body of literature on the tragedy of European Jewry, particularly from Jewish scholars .23 In the Slovak case, they stress primarily, if not uniquely, the theme of collaboration. This can perhaps be best illustrated with a quotation from each of the two Jewish authors referred to in the letter, Hanna Arendt and Walter Laqueur. According to Arendt, "Slovakia, like Croatia, was an invention of the German Foreign Office." 24 In the passages that follow SLOVAKIA 71 where she describes the Slovak handling of the Jewish question, she stresses the differences with the German way, yet still leaves the impression that, even with these differences of approach and deed, the Slovaks did not do anything else but collaborate in the tragedy that befell Europe's Jews. Laqueur, for his part writes: "Slovakia had been the first satellite to participate in the 'final solution.' " 25 Yet in the pages that precede, even with all the evidence he has at his disposal or to which he refers, he does not indicate or explain the halt to the deportations or the use of Presidential exemptions by Tiso . There are others who share this approach 26 and those who seek to explain the halt to the deportations attribute them to internal and external factors but not to Tiso. 27 The tragedy that befell the Jewish people during the Second World War accounts to a great extent for the unrelenting singleminded approach of Jewish scholars with regards to this human tragedy . But as Milan S. Durica indicates, the evidence leads to other conclusions. 28 This is what Bishop Korec also tells us in his letter. The Slovaks, like other peoples in the Western world, proposed policies, passed laws and participated in activities that discriminated against Jews; during the war, German anti-Jewish policies resulted in the extermination of millions of European Jews . It is to the discredit of the Slovaks that they allowed themselves to be involved in this tragedy by unlawful deportations; yet at the same time, their President, using the powers the Slovak Constitution gave him, and other officials, just like many individual Slovaks, 29 were actively engaged in saving tens of thousands of Jews, and, until September 1944, in making Slovakia a haven for them and their co-religionists from other parts of Central Europe. Tiso and the Slovak Republic are entitled at least to have this mentioned. It is not surprising that the television series did not give the Slovak Republic any recognition; paradoxically, it did not do so also for the third phase, the one which Marxist scholars call the Slovak National Uprising. Bishop Korec also refers to the events of September 1944 in the same way, but then, one could not expect anything else given the circumstances. What were the events of September 1944? Were they an "incredible conspiracy" as Vnuk labels them, 30 or were they a Slovak National Uprising as Corn- 72 SLOVAKIA munist historiography has canonized them? It is certrainly one of the episodes in Slovak history most researched by Marxist historians. 31 It also makes up one of the main elements of the official ideology of the Communist regime in federal Czechoslovakia and its anniversary is celebrated annually. This explains why Bishop Korec is careful in handing it. It seems that the television series allowed itself much license in interpreting this event in Slovak history. Referring to trials connected with it shown in the series, Bishop Korec writes that The unspoken claim which came out of all this [the trials] is that ''priests'' were primarily responsible for nearly all of the murders during the period September-November 1944, that they were responsible for all the destruction and suffering because "they were bringing up murders." Bishop Korec rejects this interpretation but he does not defend the uprising as do Slovak Marxist historians. In one sentence he explains what it was all about: "The horrible logic of war applied to the uprising." He marshals a great deal of evidence to illustrate his point. He also comes to the defense of the Church and of President Tiso in their handling of the tragic events of September, 1944. These events still await their proper evaluation by historians. Once again, Bishop Korec hints at the criteria which should be used. It will not be an easy task. Bishop Korec refers often to a number of items in his letter that pertain to the Church. It is interesting to note his reference to current Soviet history and to Soviet publications which now admit the harm of religious persecution. He defends the Church not only because the attacks in the series were unfounded, but especially because he wishes to underline the suffering believers have endured under Communism. Their numbers, furthermore, are not insignificant, as he points out. Certain religious events in Slovakia that preceded the broadcast of the series showed that the Catholic faith was by no means losing ground, especially among the youth. Bishop Korec ends his letter not only by affirming his own faith, but also by emphasizing that the Church stands for something greater than everything and anything represented by the regime: SLOVAKIA 73 The Church towers like a peak into eternity. She embraces nations and continents and her breath blows through all generations. The measure of her faithfulness is not human faithfulness ... she forgives even enemies, she is willing to serve them and to heal wounds. The Church is the way of all of our ways and along these roads, people have been walking to God for thousands of years. Bishop Karee's letter to Czechoslovak Television testifies to his faith in God and in the Slovak nation which gave him the courage to write it. FOOTNOTES The main historical documents can be found in German translation in Jorg K. Hoensch, Dokumente zur Autonomiepolitik der Slowakischen Volkspartei Hlinkas, Miichen, R. Oldenbourgh Verlag, 1984, pp . 71-276. Some of these documents are published in English translation in Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Slovakia. Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe, New York, Robert Speller & Sons, 1960, pp . 231-237. 2 For more on the theme of the art of the possible in Slovak politics and history see Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, "East European Politics and the Art of the Possible. The Case of the Slovaks" in Manuel J. Pelaez, ed. , Papers on Regimes and Political Systems in Eastern Europe, in press. 1 3 See Joseph C. Krajsa, "Truth at my Table. The Cross in Shackles", Jednota, 25 October, 1989. 4 Josef Korbel, Twentieth-Century Czechoslovakia. The Meanings of Its History , New York, Columbia University Press, 1977, p . 100. 5 Ibid., p. 104. R.W . Seton-Watson, A Histon; of the Czechs and Slovaks, Hamden, CT, Archon Books, 1965 (originally published in London by Hutchinson & Co. Ltd., 1943), p. 333. 7 Victor S. Mamatey, " The Development of Czechoslovak Democracy, 1920-1938" in Victor S. Mamatey and Radomir Luza, eds., A History of the Czechoslovak Republic 1918-1948, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1973, p. 120. 6 8 Ibid., p. 126. 9 Miroslav Kropilak, "Uvod " in M. Kropilak et al, Dejiny Slovenska V (1918-1945), Bratisiava, Veda, Vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1985, p. 12. 10 11 12 Ibid., p. 92. Ibid. , p. 94. Ibid. , p . 250. 74 SLOVAKIA 13 See for example Joseph A. Mikus, Slovakia. A Political History 1918-1950, Milwaukee, Marquette University Press, 1963; Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Slovakia . Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe, New York, Robert Speller & Sons Publishers, 1960; Kurt Glaser, Czecho-Slovakia. A Critical History, Caldwell, Idaho, The Caxton Printers, Ltd ., 1961; and Frantisek Vnuk, "Slovakia in Pre-Munich Czecho-Slovakia" in Joseph M. Kirschbaum, ed., Slovakia in the 19th & 20th Centuries, 2nd edition, Toronto, Slovak World Congress, 1973, pp. 101-127. 14 There is a recent study that looks at Czecho-Slovak relations since the creation of the Czecho-Slovak Republic from the point of view of minority management. See Carol Skalnik Leff, National Conflict in Czechoslovakia. The Making and Remaking of a State, 1918-1987, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1988. s Jorg K. Hoensch, Die Slowakei und Hitlers Ostpolitik, Koln-Wien, Bohlau Verlag, 1965. 16 Frantisek Vnuk, "Slovakia's Six Eventful Months (October 1938-March 1939)", Slovak Studies, IV, 1964, pp. 7-164. 1 17 On the question of the diplomatic recognition of the Slovak Republic, see Milan S. !Jurica, " The Foreign Policy of the Slovak Republic" in Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, Slovak Politics. Essays on Slovak History in Honour of Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Cleveland, Slovak Institute, 1983, p . 273 and especially p . 283, note 114. The dilemmas concerning the diplomatic status of the Slovak Republic are examined by Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, "The Slovak Republic, Britain, France and the Principle of Self-determination", Slovak Studies, XXIII, 1983, pp. 149-170. The best study of the relations between Slovakia and another state is by Stefan Parak, Die Schweiz und der Slowakische Staat 1939-1945, Bern, Peter Lang, 1987. The diplomatic relations between Slovakia and the Third Reich are examined by Milan S. !Jurica, La Slovacchia e le sue relazioni politische con la Germania 1938-1945, Vol. I, Padova, Marsilio Ed., 1964. s See Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, " The Revolt of 1944" in Kirschbaum, Slovak Politics, pp. 292-294. 1 19 To this day, there is no exhaustive history of life in the Sovak Republic. Essays were published shortly after the war by people who had lived and worked in that state; see M. Sprinc, ed ., Slovenska Republika, Scranton, PA, Jednota, 1949. There are however some overviews; see Milan S. !Jurica, "The Republic of Slovakia," Slovak Studies, I, 1961, pp. 105-121; by the same author, "Slovensko za druhej svetovej vojny - Slovenska republika" in Jozef M. Rydlo, ed., Slovensko v retrospektive dejin , Lausanne, Liber, 1976, pp. 123-153; and Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, "The Slovak Republic and the Slovaks, " Slovakia , XXIX (53-54), 1980-1981, pp. 11-38. Political life in the Slovak Republic is examined by the same author in "The Slovak Republic 1939-1945" in Stanislav J. Kirschbaum and Anne C. Roman, eds., Reflections in Slovak History, Toronto, Slovak World Congress, 1987, pp . 89-109; other interpretations are offered by Yeshayahu Jelinek, The Parish Republic, Boulder, East European Monographs, 1976, and SLOVAKIA 75 by Jorg K. Hoensch, "The Slovak Republic, 1939-1945" in Mamatey and Luza, pp. 271-295. 20 Tiso ' s philosophy and political programme are outlined in Lisa Guarda Nardini, Tiso: Una terza proposta, Padova, Ceseo-Liviana editrice, 1977, and by the same author, " The Political Programme of President Tiso" in Kirschbaum, Slovak Politics, pp . 221-250. 21 Communist historians offer, however, a different and opposite evaluation; see Jozef Klimko, Tretia Risa a l'udacky rezim na Slovensku , Bratislava, Obzor, 1986. 22 " Vyhlasenie k deportaciam zidov zo Slovenska" , Horizont, XVI (6), 1987, p. 2. For an English translation of this declaration, see " Deportation of Jews From Slovakia. Declaration," Cross Currents, 9, 1990, pp . 269-270. The publication of this declaration also found a very favourable echo among Slovaks in exile. See "Solidarizuju sa, " Horizont, VXII (1), 1988, p . 2. 23 Until now, the most exhaustive study is by Raul Hilberg, Th e Destruction of the European Jews , Revised and Definitive Edition, 3 Vols ., New York, Holmes and Meyer, 1985. For an assessment of earlier studies on the tragedy of the Slovak Jews by an Israeli historian, see Yeshayahu Jelinek, " The Holocaust of Slovakian Jewry," East Central Europe, X (1-2), 1983, pp. 14-23. 24 Hanna Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem. A Report on the Banality of Evil, New York, The Viking Press, 1963, p. 184. 25 Walter Laqueur, The Terrible Secret. Suppression of the Truth about Hitler's " Final Solution ", Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1980, p. 146. 26 See for example, Yeshayahu Jelinek, " The 'Final Solution' : The Slovak Version," East European Quarterly, IX (4), 1970, pp . 431-444. Jelinek modifies his approach somewhat later. See note 27. 27 Livia Rothkirchen, "The Slovak Enigma : A Reassessment of the Halt to the Deportations," East Central Europe, X (1-2), 1983, pp . 3-13; and Yeshayahu Jelinek, " Slovaks, Germans, the 'Satellites,' and Jews, " Cross Currents, 9, 1990, pp . 261-268. For his part, Michael R. Marrus, who also mentions the halt to the deportations, wonders: " Did these moves reflect serious second thoughts? Among some, including possibly Tiso himself, this may have been the case;" see Michael R. Marrus, The Holocaust in History, Toronto, Lester & Orpen Dennys Limited , 1987, p . 79. 28 Milan S. Durica, "Dr. Joseph Tiso and the Jewish Problem in Slovakia, " Slovakia, VII (3-4), 1957, pp. 1-22. See also his The Slovak Involvement in the Tragedy of the European Jews, Abano Terme, Piovan Editore, 1989. 29 See Kurt Neumann, "The Slovak Republic: A Lived Experience" in Kirschbaum and Roman, pp. 110-124. 3 ° Frantisek Vnuk, Neu verite/'ne sprisahanie, Middletown, PA, Literarny almanach Slovaka v Amerike, 1964. 76 31 SLOVAKIA There is, on the other hand, only one monograph in a Western language on the 1944 events; see Wolfgang Vehnor, Aufstand fur die Tschechos/owakei. Der s/owakische Freiheitskampf van 1944, Hamburg, Christian Wegner Verlag, 1969. See also Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, "The Revolt of 1944" in Kirschbaum, Slovak Politics, pp. 286-313; and Anna Josko, "The Slovak Resistance Movement" in Mamatey and Luza, pp. 362-384.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource An Act of Faith and Integrity: Bishop Korec's Letter to Czechoslovak Television (Introduction) Description An account of the resource Stanislav J. Kirschbaum Slovakia, Vol. 34 (No. 62-63), 1989-90 pp. 61-76 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kirschbaum, Stanislav J., 1942- Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1989-90 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/ca8a360d8ac991db9b6625a020e8a193.pdf 46e305dc05ad4a4f6891a0b844271e2d PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA Published by the Slovak League of America VOL. XVIII 1968 NO. 4 1 A AGREEME T WHICH ,VAS NE"\ ER RE.AT1IZED ]'h e SloYak Lrag;ne of ~\.merica, an 01·gani:wtion Yoi<·ing Slm·ak politiral nncl social aspi1·ations in the frcr ,Yorld, v,as founded in CleYeland, Ohio eleven ~·e,ns beforn the rreation of the Czerho-Slon1 k Republir. ~rhr main objerti-..-e of its founder, Rev. Stephen l,' m·dek ,r~u, to amplif~· to the \Yorld federation of nations the sentiments of the SloYak people v,ho had lwl:'n mwble to express theiT ideas and desires freely cln(' to their continuing- subjugation by ali en regimes. Rev. Furdek's ,rnrk ,ras not in vain, foT with the nration of the Czerho-SloYak Republic by the Allied Po\\·ers at the end of World War I, the Slovaks were offered equal reprrsentation within the Czecho-SloYak federative goveTnment in an agTeernent commonly known among the Czech and SloYak peoples as the Pittsburgh Agreement. Among the reknown figures adding anthentirity to the Pittsburgh Agreement was P1·ofessm· Thoma. G. MasaTyk, forerunner of Dr. Ech,·m·cl Benes, who piloted Czecho-Slovak destiny until his demise at the hands of the Communists in 194:8. In signing the Pittsburgh Agreement in behalf of the Czech people, P1·ofe sor Masaryk made it clear that it " ·as the intent of the Czech leaders to make the Czecho-SloYak Republir a model state in which the �2 SLOVAKIA wo1-ld would see a ·w orking model of a federation with leadership eminating from the finest of two distinct ethnic cultures, the Czech and the Slovak peoples. But it soon became apparent to the SloYak people that the intent of the Pittsburgh Agreement was never to be realized. With the formation of the CzechoSlovak state, Czech educators, civil servants, and poljticians assumed all responsible positions within both the Czech and Slovak territorial limits of the ne\vlr created Republic. All attempts by the Slovaks to put jnto operation the promises of the Pittsburgh Agreement met with abject frustration. Slovak political leaders were imprisoned, and some Slovak citizens exterminated. The Slovak press was censored. The • Slovak people were humiliated, and subjected to a continuous planned strategy of keeping them in subservient positions. Slovakia historically has been rich in natural resources. It is no ·w onder then that the Slovak territories were kept completely j11dustrially unclm~elopecl while Slovak natural resOluces ,,;ere used over the years to keep the Czech industrial empire healthr and profitable. The Slovak League of America, spokesman for SloYak affairs on an international level, repudiates the Pittsburgh Agreement, but not because of the prjnciples fOl' which it ,vas undertaken, nor for its failure of fruition. Rather the Slovak League of America repudiates this agreement because of the insincerity and untrustworthiness of its Czech authors, because of its exposition as a delaying tactic solely for Czech nationalism, but mostly because of fifty years of historical, liYing proof that the Czech leader ·hip �SLOVAKIA 3 ne,er intended, and does not intend e,en today to rec·ognize the SloYab; eYer as a distinct, separate ethnic cultm·e. For this reason ,rn call upon the United Nations to look into the SloYak situation, for the Slovak situation ·c·ries for so(·ial jnstiee for the Slovak people. We c-all npon the SoYiet Union to recognize the plight of the 810"\·ak people, and exe1·t their infh1ence in creating a climate health fn] for SlO"\·ak ec-onomic grnwth and nationhood. And finally ·we call npon the president of the United States, ·who as a leade1· of the ,Y esten1 V-l orld has supported the principle of self determination for all peoples in the world. EYery great president since the era of Woodrow v\'ilson, during \\·hose administrabon the Czecbo-Slovak Republic was created, has maintained his belief in the principle of ' elf determination. To the Slovaks in Slovakia we urge them to keep the fn ith of thei1· fathers, which they have already maintained for over fifty years. To the Slovaks in the Lnited States, ,rn ask that they cont:ume their efforts in behalf of their SloYak counterparts :iJ.1 Slovakia. In this atomic age, where new African nations emerge daily, ,,·c hope and pray tbat with God's help the thousand year old SloYak dream will finally be realized and tho e famous SloYak words r;t e na.fo, slov e11sh-ri rd zije, bucle zie 11aveky will forever rema:iJ.1 true. ,'-,'te phrn J. Tkach, P1·esident SloYak League of . . .\rn ericn 1 �j t !t ko-$1outn9kll mohob llt ltlllltrtnti 1' i)ittsbur9hu.l)tt.. bnll ~o. tnajn. 1918. ",Prrbsbn•ittlin slootu,kicha cei;kf ,h organisocifuo ~poj. ~tatorh. ~louttt!lktj i!Ifg~~ ~!skrho3Tarobniho ~btruftttill tt ~uil1u irsk~th1Katoli~90. por~k~o,,li ta pntoumosti prc,,~c,\u ecsko-Slown-. :-h~.i 01,f\·. 6R,,~y. pr,,f. qu,..;,w~1 b.,,. 6 ~.::,;l\o-:-lol1.:n:-kc3 ,.,t.i1 lh· 4\ •" \M~i,·b }-""::-,w,{l\n!1~b 1""·"~1~l\.,h''-'~'d, pw_i,w,..~b ~, uini.:~li :,;,, n,,il~,'""l'\l( ~ .._, "SdH1.-duj.:\\'l.: pditid,y' p\·.,~;\·,,1~ 1.1:-i.lu.\tt.:i :-,\ ,, Sp""j,ni~ €.:d-,N1 ., $1,.,v,llt,"l.1 \,I $1\\\l•"$t,,tn""\1l ~t,t.: t ei:iol\\fd, SIN•cn~k,t. "Sl"wi:ni-lt"" bu"'" \lh\t -:-\•(\ju ,,l,utm.f ,,~m,ni~h,·.t{vu,S'-'',j l.:\11(., $\'""\C Hl~\.j. ·,,sl-,l•;n~hhl bu~i: ttM,\nym j,,1yt,,.. m V';k.,t\', 1,.1 ttr,,~, ,, ...,, i•~W~\lNll ?\\.'""ti: t,~l,I!'-•· l,.,-::-l"w\l :-l\\f~½.H ~ ..,~.: r~1m ~ li. ~"u· \Ch"" ~C\i~ti hi-:i,, bu,'.: ,\n,wl\r,,tid\4{. • · " "<9r~1,~i~,,~i,, ~1,,.,lupr,,~1? e~~b"t' ,, Sl.:-l1,,lwv \1" Sp""j. St,,t,-.,·b h1,\1? p,.. ,,~, p,,trcby ,, ml?iii,wci ~,•.$ih,,,~i.:,t,ri $l'""l.,";:ncu1 ' , p,·cb l'·,,~\h\, ,, upr,w,n,,. , • r "'~l·.,,m,1(\l\, "'11'.:-~rch,l \lS t,, n"\1,mi,, ., I,t\·,,.~l.'n{l.i~h,.,-:il"""'4?\'lSh (be ;tai, p,"\')~~h4.\\.14'\_\\l•h1 "":W1o.'h.,~,nym €ttl?.9(\\11 ,, Sl,.. v,Hh"\ll 4\ id, p1·,ft•cpl,,tn:1\,., }"N'-\:iot 1.,vit"l"\11." $\H\ll •• . .,e.: - -~=== ===:---- � SLOVAKIA Published by the Slovak League of America VOL. XVIII 1968 NO. 4 1 A AGREEME T WHICH ,VAS NE"\ ER RE.AT1IZED ]'h e SloYak Lrag;ne of ~\.merica, an 01·gani:wtion Yoi<·ing Slm·ak politiral nncl social aspi1·ations in the frcr ,Yorld, v,as founded in CleYeland, Ohio eleven ~·e,ns beforn the rreation of the Czerho-Slon1 k Republir. ~rhr main objerti-..-e of its founder, Rev. Stephen l,' m·dek ,r~u, to amplif~· to the \Yorld federation of nations the sentiments of the SloYak people v,ho had lwl:'n mwble to express theiT ideas and desires freely cln(' to their continuing- subjugation by ali en regimes. Rev. Furdek's ,rnrk ,ras not in vain, foT with the nration of the Czerho-SloYak Republic by the Allied Po\\·ers at the end of World War I, the Slovaks were offered equal reprrsentation within the Czecho-SloYak federative goveTnment in an agTeernent commonly known among the Czech and SloYak peoples as the Pittsburgh Agreement. Among the reknown figures adding anthentirity to the Pittsburgh Agreement was P1·ofessm· Thoma. G. MasaTyk, forerunner of Dr. Ech,·m·cl Benes, who piloted Czecho-Slovak destiny until his demise at the hands of the Communists in 194:8. In signing the Pittsburgh Agreement in behalf of the Czech people, P1·ofe sor Masaryk made it clear that it " ·as the intent of the Czech leaders to make the Czecho-SloYak Republir a model state in which the �2 SLOVAKIA wo1-ld would see a ·w orking model of a federation with leadership eminating from the finest of two distinct ethnic cultures, the Czech and the Slovak peoples. But it soon became apparent to the SloYak people that the intent of the Pittsburgh Agreement was never to be realized. With the formation of the CzechoSlovak state, Czech educators, civil servants, and poljticians assumed all responsible positions within both the Czech and Slovak territorial limits of the ne\vlr created Republic. All attempts by the Slovaks to put jnto operation the promises of the Pittsburgh Agreement met with abject frustration. Slovak political leaders were imprisoned, and some Slovak citizens exterminated. The Slovak press was censored. The • Slovak people were humiliated, and subjected to a continuous planned strategy of keeping them in subservient positions. Slovakia historically has been rich in natural resources. It is no ·w onder then that the Slovak territories were kept completely j11dustrially unclm~elopecl while Slovak natural resOluces ,,;ere used over the years to keep the Czech industrial empire healthr and profitable. The Slovak League of America, spokesman for SloYak affairs on an international level, repudiates the Pittsburgh Agreement, but not because of the prjnciples fOl' which it ,vas undertaken, nor for its failure of fruition. Rather the Slovak League of America repudiates this agreement because of the insincerity and untrustworthiness of its Czech authors, because of its exposition as a delaying tactic solely for Czech nationalism, but mostly because of fifty years of historical, liYing proof that the Czech leader ·hip �SLOVAKIA 3 ne,er intended, and does not intend e,en today to rec·ognize the SloYab; eYer as a distinct, separate ethnic cultm·e. For this reason ,rn call upon the United Nations to look into the SloYak situation, for the Slovak situation ·c·ries for so(·ial jnstiee for the Slovak people. We c-all npon the SoYiet Union to recognize the plight of the 810"\·ak people, and exe1·t their infh1ence in creating a climate health fn] for SlO"\·ak ec-onomic grnwth and nationhood. And finally ·we call npon the president of the United States, ·who as a leade1· of the ,Y esten1 V-l orld has supported the principle of self determination for all peoples in the world. EYery great president since the era of Woodrow v\'ilson, during \\·hose administrabon the Czecbo-Slovak Republic was created, has maintained his belief in the principle of ' elf determination. To the Slovaks in Slovakia we urge them to keep the fn ith of thei1· fathers, which they have already maintained for over fifty years. To the Slovaks in the Lnited States, ,rn ask that they cont:ume their efforts in behalf of their SloYak counterparts :iJ.1 Slovakia. In this atomic age, where new African nations emerge daily, ,,·c hope and pray tbat with God's help the thousand year old SloYak dream will finally be realized and tho e famous SloYak words r;t e na.fo, slov e11sh-ri rd zije, bucle zie 11aveky will forever rema:iJ.1 true. ,'-,'te phrn J. Tkach, P1·esident SloYak League of . . .\rn ericn 1 �j t !t ko-$1outn9kll mohob llt ltlllltrtnti 1' i)ittsbur9hu.l)tt.. bnll ~o. tnajn. 1918. ",Prrbsbn•ittlin slootu,kicha cei;kf ,h organisocifuo ~poj. ~tatorh. ~louttt!lktj i!Ifg~~ ~!skrho3Tarobniho ~btruftttill tt ~uil1u irsk~th1Katoli~90. por~k~o,,li ta pntoumosti prc,,~c,\u ecsko-Slown-. :-h~.i 01,f\·. 6R,,~y. pr,,f. qu,..;,w~1 b.,,. 6 ~.::,;l\o-:-lol1.:n:-kc3 ,.,t.i1 lh· 4\ •" \M~i,·b }-""::-,w,{l\n!1~b 1""·"~1~l\.,h''-'~'d, pw_i,w,..~b ~, uini.:~li :,;,, n,,il~,'""l'\l( ~ .._, "SdH1.-duj.:\\'l.: pditid,y' p\·.,~;\·,,1~ 1.1:-i.lu.\tt.:i :-,\ ,, Sp""j,ni~ €.:d-,N1 ., $1,.,v,llt,"l.1 \,I $1\\\l•"$t,,tn""\1l ~t,t.: t ei:iol\\fd, SIN•cn~k,t. "Sl"wi:ni-lt"" bu"'" \lh\t -:-\•(\ju ,,l,utm.f ,,~m,ni~h,·.t{vu,S'-'',j l.:\11(., $\'""\C Hl~\.j. ·,,sl-,l•;n~hhl bu~i: ttM,\nym j,,1yt,,.. m V';k.,t\', 1,.1 ttr,,~, ,, ...,, i•~W~\lNll ?\\.'""ti: t,~l,I!'-•· l,.,-::-l"w\l :-l\\f~½.H ~ ..,~.: r~1m ~ li. ~"u· \Ch"" ~C\i~ti hi-:i,, bu,'.: ,\n,wl\r,,tid\4{. • · " "<9r~1,~i~,,~i,, ~1,,.,lupr,,~1? e~~b"t' ,, Sl.:-l1,,lwv \1" Sp""j. St,,t,-.,·b h1,\1? p,.. ,,~, p,,trcby ,, ml?iii,wci ~,•.$ih,,,~i.:,t,ri $l'""l.,";:ncu1 ' , p,·cb l'·,,~\h\, ,, upr,w,n,,. , • r "'~l·.,,m,1(\l\, "'11'.:-~rch,l \lS t,, n"\1,mi,, ., I,t\·,,.~l.'n{l.i~h,.,-:il"""'4?\'lSh (be ;tai, p,"\')~~h4.\\.14'\_\\l•h1 "":W1o.'h.,~,nym €ttl?.9(\\11 ,, Sl,.. v,Hh"\ll 4\ id, p1·,ft•cpl,,tn:1\,., }"N'-\:iot 1.,vit"l"\11." $\H\ll •• . .,e.: - -~=== ===:---- � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1968, Vol. 18 Description An account of the resource Vol. 18 (No. 41), 1968. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1968 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA Published by the Slovak League of America VOL. XVIII 1968 NO. 4 1 A AGREEME T WHICH ,VAS NE"\ ER RE.AT1IZED ]'h e SloYak Lrag;ne of ~\.merica, an 01·gani:wtion Yoi<·ing Slm·ak politiral nncl social aspi1·ations in the frcr ,Yorld, v,as founded in CleYeland, Ohio eleven ~·e,ns beforn the rreation of the Czerho-Slon1 k Republir. ~rhr main objerti-..-e of its founder, Rev. Stephen l,' m·dek ,r~u, to amplif~· to the \Yorld federation of nations the sentiments of the SloYak people v,ho had lwl:'n mwble to express theiT ideas and desires freely cln(' to their continuing- subjugation by ali en regimes. Rev. Furdek's ,rnrk ,ras not in vain, foT with the nration of the Czerho-SloYak Republic by the Allied Po\\·ers at the end of World War I, the Slovaks were offered equal reprrsentation within the Czecho-SloYak federative goveTnment in an agTeernent commonly known among the Czech and SloYak peoples as the Pittsburgh Agreement. Among the reknown figures adding anthentirity to the Pittsburgh Agreement was P1·ofessm· Thoma. G. MasaTyk, forerunner of Dr. Ech,·m·cl Benes, who piloted Czecho-Slovak destiny until his demise at the hands of the Communists in 194:8. In signing the Pittsburgh Agreement in behalf of the Czech people, P1·ofe sor Masaryk made it clear that it " ·as the intent of the Czech leaders to make the Czecho-SloYak Republir a model state in which the 2 SLOVAKIA wo1-ld would see a ·w orking model of a federation with leadership eminating from the finest of two distinct ethnic cultures, the Czech and the Slovak peoples. But it soon became apparent to the SloYak people that the intent of the Pittsburgh Agreement was never to be realized. With the formation of the CzechoSlovak state, Czech educators, civil servants, and poljticians assumed all responsible positions within both the Czech and Slovak territorial limits of the ne\vlr created Republic. All attempts by the Slovaks to put jnto operation the promises of the Pittsburgh Agreement met with abject frustration. Slovak political leaders were imprisoned, and some Slovak citizens exterminated. The Slovak press was censored. The • Slovak people were humiliated, and subjected to a continuous planned strategy of keeping them in subservient positions. Slovakia historically has been rich in natural resources. It is no ·w onder then that the Slovak territories were kept completely j11dustrially unclm~elopecl while Slovak natural resOluces ,,;ere used over the years to keep the Czech industrial empire healthr and profitable. The Slovak League of America, spokesman for SloYak affairs on an international level, repudiates the Pittsburgh Agreement, but not because of the prjnciples fOl' which it ,vas undertaken, nor for its failure of fruition. Rather the Slovak League of America repudiates this agreement because of the insincerity and untrustworthiness of its Czech authors, because of its exposition as a delaying tactic solely for Czech nationalism, but mostly because of fifty years of historical, liYing proof that the Czech leader ·hip SLOVAKIA 3 ne,er intended, and does not intend e,en today to rec·ognize the SloYab; eYer as a distinct, separate ethnic cultm·e. For this reason ,rn call upon the United Nations to look into the SloYak situation, for the Slovak situation ·c·ries for so(·ial jnstiee for the Slovak people. We c-all npon the SoYiet Union to recognize the plight of the 810"\·ak people, and exe1·t their infh1ence in creating a climate health fn] for SlO"\·ak ec-onomic grnwth and nationhood. And finally ·we call npon the president of the United States, ·who as a leade1· of the ,Y esten1 V-l orld has supported the principle of self determination for all peoples in the world. EYery great president since the era of Woodrow v\'ilson, during \\·hose administrabon the Czecbo-Slovak Republic was created, has maintained his belief in the principle of ' elf determination. To the Slovaks in Slovakia we urge them to keep the fn ith of thei1· fathers, which they have already maintained for over fifty years. To the Slovaks in the Lnited States, ,rn ask that they cont:ume their efforts in behalf of their SloYak counterparts :iJ.1 Slovakia. In this atomic age, where new African nations emerge daily, ,,·c hope and pray tbat with God's help the thousand year old SloYak dream will finally be realized and tho e famous SloYak words r;t e na.fo, slov e11sh-ri rd zije, bucle zie 11aveky will forever rema:iJ.1 true. ,'-,'te phrn J. Tkach, P1·esident SloYak League of . . .\rn ericn 1 j t !t ko-$1outn9kll mohob llt ltlllltrtnti 1' i)ittsbur9hu.l)tt.. bnll ~o. tnajn. 1918. ",Prrbsbn•ittlin slootu,kicha cei;kf ,h organisocifuo ~poj. ~tatorh. ~louttt!lktj i!Ifg~~ ~!skrho3Tarobniho ~btruftttill tt ~uil1u irsk~th1Katoli~90. por~k~o,,li ta pntoumosti prc,,~c,\u ecsko-Slown-. :-h~.i 01,f\·. 6R,,~y. pr,,f. qu,..;,w~1 b.,,. 6 ~.::,;l\o-:-lol1.:n:-kc3 ,.,t.i1 lh· 4\ •" \M~i,·b }-""::-,w,{l\n!1~b 1""·"~1~l\.,h''-'~'d, pw_i,w,..~b ~, uini.:~li :,;,, n,,il~,'""l'\l( ~ .._, "SdH1.-duj.:\\'l.: pditid,y' p\·.,~;\·,,1~ 1.1:-i.lu.\tt.:i :-,\ ,, Sp""j,ni~ €.:d-,N1 ., $1,.,v,llt,"l.1 \,I $1\\\l•"$t,,tn""\1l ~t,t.: t ei:iol\\fd, SIN•cn~k,t. "Sl"wi:ni-lt"" bu"'" \lh\t -:-\•(\ju ,,l,utm.f ,,~m,ni~h,·.t{vu,S'-'',j l.:\11(., $\'""\C Hl~\.j. ·,,sl-,l•;n~hhl bu~i: ttM,\nym j,,1yt,,.. m V';k.,t\', 1,.1 ttr,,~, ,, ...,, i•~W~\lNll ?\\.'""ti: t,~l,I!'-•· l,.,-::-l"w\l :-l\\f~½.H ~ ..,~.: r~1m ~ li. ~"u· \Ch"" ~C\i~ti hi-:i,, bu,'.: ,\n,wl\r,,tid\4{. • · " "<9r~1,~i~,,~i,, ~1,,.,lupr,,~1? e~~b"t' ,, Sl.:-l1,,lwv \1" Sp""j. St,,t,-.,·b h1,\1? p,.. ,,~, p,,trcby ,, ml?iii,wci ~,•.$ih,,,~i.:,t,ri $l'""l.,";:ncu1 ' , p,·cb l'·,,~\h\, ,, upr,w,n,,. , • r "'~l·.,,m,1(\l\, "'11'.:-~rch,l \lS t,, n"\1,mi,, ., I,t\·,,.~l.'n{l.i~h,.,-:il"""'4?\'lSh (be ;tai, p,"\')~~h4.\\.14'\_\\l•h1 "":W1o.'h.,~,nym €ttl?.9(\\11 ,, Sl,.. v,Hh"\ll 4\ id, p1·,ft•cpl,,tn:1\,., }"N'-\:iot 1.,vit"l"\11." $\H\ll •• . .,e.: - -~=== ===:----  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource An Agreement Which Was Never Realized Description An account of the resource Stephen J. Tkach, President, Slovak League of America includes photographic copy of original Pittsburgh Pact Slovakia, Vol. 18 (No. 41), 1968 pp. 1-4 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Tkach, Stephen J. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1968 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/fcf3fe94bf3d88f466b31198a8cc2bb1.pdf 2bbe72291b71a9b403abd0d61d81994d PDF Text Text 146 SLOVAKIA AN AMERICAN illSTORIAN AND THE SLOVAKS Dr. VJctor R. Greene, Professor of American History aJt -the Kansa;s Staite Un~versity, Mamhattam, Kansas, a 1Jhiird generation American, who has no connection with Slovail~s in his brucikground, was asked for the reason of his interest in the American Slovaks and in the history Otf the First Cath~lic Slovak Union. Without hesitation and wi:th iassurance he promptly gave this answer. "I am not Slovak amd I ha:ve no immediate personal c.onneciion with ,t he nationality. The abHity of a re1atively uneducaited, ,p oor group of Slovruk immigramts to construct am ethnic community with all the ,a ssociations of seilf-help and murtual aid amazes me and I want to discover how their organi2Jations (like the Jednota) were formed." Professor Greene received his B.A. degree f r o m the University of Harv a r d in 1955; his M.A. degree from the University of Rochester in 1960; and his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1963. His dissertation for his Ph.D. was: A History of East European lmmigrants in the Anthracite Area before 1903. We asked the Professor to be more specific about his. disse:ritation and he respunded, "It is a study of the contribution Slovruks and others made rto ithe unions in the coal ficlds amd the aid to President J oihnny MitcheiH and the Uniited Mine Workers of America. My thesis is that it was because of the loyalty amd sacrifice of Slova,k mine wol1kers that trhe union was permanerutly estab1ished in the hard coal fields." A microfilm copy of the dissertation can ,b e purchased from University Microfilms, Allln Arbor, Michigan or the University of P ennsylvania Llbrary, Philadelphia, Pa. Of course, there are other dissertaitions aJbout Slovaiks that cam be obtained from Microffilms. In his present research, Profess·or Greene is making a. study of ;t he origins of Slovak and East European American s e 1 f -oonsciousness and why by World War I every Slovak immigrant realized such a strong feeling of his ethnic h eritage. He •is attempting to use Chicago, Illinois as a case study, ,b ut as yet h as found Httle ma,teriiaJ before 1910. �SLOVAKIA If he does not find sufficient records, he will survey the self-reoog,nition nationailly, especfa:lly the personalities of the Rev. Stephen Furdek, the foll!Ilder of t.lhe First Catholic SJ.walk Union, and P eter Rovniiaine'k, the foU!Ilde r of the Nationa1 Slova'k Society. Dr. Greene, who has learned to read and ooderstand SlovaJk, is familiar with the ouilitura1 and historicaJl material a'Wlllfa1ble art: tihe J ankola Lj,brary iin Damville, Pa., the S[ova'k linst1turte Li,b rary in Olevel-amd, Ohio, and the faciltties iin Pittsburgh, Pa. rund Chicago, Illinois. In his own reference library he has joot about aJll the books publ!ished about the American SlovaJks, both ii11 the English and S.Jovak language. In his cooversation he talks 147 with ease aibout FuTdek, JankoLa, Murgas, Rovnianek, Sabol, Cutlen, Ko j is, Hrobak, Hletko, itfue Slov,a;k League of Arrnedca, the S[ovalk CaitJholic Federation of America, Lhe Jednota, amd a;ll the other Slovaik orgamizations. He .feels he hi t a bonanza when he came across the 75 Year History of the 1?'irst Oatholk Slovaik Union (75 rdkov Prvej KatoliC!kej Sloveniskej Jednoty), by Dr. Joseph Pauco. •'Not only is it a complete a.ind most comprehensive 1h i s t o r y of the J ednota ,amd rt!he Slovatks in Arrnerlca, buit its many references, footnotes, and bibliography wiilil sart:isfy any serious reader and research historiam," said Dr. Greene. Joseph C. Krajsa A DELICATE SUBJECT On March 17, 1965, was St. Pia t T •i c k's Day, a day Wlhidh iJS lh~1d .fill high esteem in ,tJhe heart of every Irishman wthether of remote ancestry from -the United States or from a,cross :the s ea. ]n New Yoiik this day is celebra,ted wi:f:Jh an annual parade down F'wth Avenue. By chiam.ce my -husbam.d is em- ployed in a 'luxury apa:ritment house overlooking Ce n tr a 1 parik: ; thus lh e viewed the paraide for the first time a1thougih !he immigrated to the United States six years ago. His Irish co-wo:rike r raved about the spectac:Ie. Meanwhile, they were jomed by a third pa11ty who oommented on the strong Irish nation- � 146 SLOVAKIA AN AMERICAN illSTORIAN AND THE SLOVAKS Dr. VJctor R. Greene, Professor of American History aJt -the Kansa;s Staite Un~versity, Mamhattam, Kansas, a 1Jhiird generation American, who has no connection with Slovail~s in his brucikground, was asked for the reason of his interest in the American Slovaks and in the history Otf the First Cath~lic Slovak Union. Without hesitation and wi:th iassurance he promptly gave this answer. "I am not Slovak amd I ha:ve no immediate personal c.onneciion with ,t he nationality. The abHity of a re1atively uneducaited, ,p oor group of Slovruk immigramts to construct am ethnic community with all the ,a ssociations of seilf-help and murtual aid amazes me and I want to discover how their organi2Jations (like the Jednota) were formed." Professor Greene received his B.A. degree f r o m the University of Harv a r d in 1955; his M.A. degree from the University of Rochester in 1960; and his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1963. His dissertation for his Ph.D. was: A History of East European lmmigrants in the Anthracite Area before 1903. We asked the Professor to be more specific about his. disse:ritation and he respunded, "It is a study of the contribution Slovruks and others made rto ithe unions in the coal ficlds amd the aid to President J oihnny MitcheiH and the Uniited Mine Workers of America. My thesis is that it was because of the loyalty amd sacrifice of Slova,k mine wol1kers that trhe union was permanerutly estab1ished in the hard coal fields." A microfilm copy of the dissertation can ,b e purchased from University Microfilms, Allln Arbor, Michigan or the University of P ennsylvania Llbrary, Philadelphia, Pa. Of course, there are other dissertaitions aJbout Slovaiks that cam be obtained from Microffilms. In his present research, Profess·or Greene is making a. study of ;t he origins of Slovak and East European American s e 1 f -oonsciousness and why by World War I every Slovak immigrant realized such a strong feeling of his ethnic h eritage. He •is attempting to use Chicago, Illinois as a case study, ,b ut as yet h as found Httle ma,teriiaJ before 1910. �SLOVAKIA If he does not find sufficient records, he will survey the self-reoog,nition nationailly, especfa:lly the personalities of the Rev. Stephen Furdek, the foll!Ilder of t.lhe First Catholic SJ.walk Union, and P eter Rovniiaine'k, the foU!Ilde r of the Nationa1 Slova'k Society. Dr. Greene, who has learned to read and ooderstand SlovaJk, is familiar with the ouilitura1 and historicaJl material a'Wlllfa1ble art: tihe J ankola Lj,brary iin Damville, Pa., the S[ova'k linst1turte Li,b rary in Olevel-amd, Ohio, and the faciltties iin Pittsburgh, Pa. rund Chicago, Illinois. In his own reference library he has joot about aJll the books publ!ished about the American SlovaJks, both ii11 the English and S.Jovak language. In his cooversation he talks 147 with ease aibout FuTdek, JankoLa, Murgas, Rovnianek, Sabol, Cutlen, Ko j is, Hrobak, Hletko, itfue Slov,a;k League of Arrnedca, the S[ovalk CaitJholic Federation of America, Lhe Jednota, amd a;ll the other Slovaik orgamizations. He .feels he hi t a bonanza when he came across the 75 Year History of the 1?'irst Oatholk Slovaik Union (75 rdkov Prvej KatoliC!kej Sloveniskej Jednoty), by Dr. Joseph Pauco. •'Not only is it a complete a.ind most comprehensive 1h i s t o r y of the J ednota ,amd rt!he Slovatks in Arrnerlca, buit its many references, footnotes, and bibliography wiilil sart:isfy any serious reader and research historiam," said Dr. Greene. Joseph C. Krajsa A DELICATE SUBJECT On March 17, 1965, was St. Pia t T •i c k's Day, a day Wlhidh iJS lh~1d .fill high esteem in ,tJhe heart of every Irishman wthether of remote ancestry from -the United States or from a,cross :the s ea. ]n New Yoiik this day is celebra,ted wi:f:Jh an annual parade down F'wth Avenue. By chiam.ce my -husbam.d is em- ployed in a 'luxury apa:ritment house overlooking Ce n tr a 1 parik: ; thus lh e viewed the paraide for the first time a1thougih !he immigrated to the United States six years ago. His Irish co-wo:rike r raved about the spectac:Ie. Meanwhile, they were jomed by a third pa11ty who oommented on the strong Irish nation- � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1965, Vol. 15 Description An account of the resource Vol. 15 (No. 38), 1965. 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 1965 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 146 SLOVAKIA AN AMERICAN illSTORIAN AND THE SLOVAKS Dr. VJctor R. Greene, Professor of American History aJt -the Kansa;s Staite Un~versity, Mamhattam, Kansas, a 1Jhiird generation American, who has no connection with Slovail~s in his brucikground, was asked for the reason of his interest in the American Slovaks and in the history Otf the First Cath~lic Slovak Union. Without hesitation and wi:th iassurance he promptly gave this answer. "I am not Slovak amd I ha:ve no immediate personal c.onneciion with ,t he nationality. The abHity of a re1atively uneducaited, ,p oor group of Slovruk immigramts to construct am ethnic community with all the ,a ssociations of seilf-help and murtual aid amazes me and I want to discover how their organi2Jations (like the Jednota) were formed." Professor Greene received his B.A. degree f r o m the University of Harv a r d in 1955; his M.A. degree from the University of Rochester in 1960; and his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1963. His dissertation for his Ph.D. was: A History of East European lmmigrants in the Anthracite Area before 1903. We asked the Professor to be more specific about his. disse:ritation and he respunded, "It is a study of the contribution Slovruks and others made rto ithe unions in the coal ficlds amd the aid to President J oihnny MitcheiH and the Uniited Mine Workers of America. My thesis is that it was because of the loyalty amd sacrifice of Slova,k mine wol1kers that trhe union was permanerutly estab1ished in the hard coal fields." A microfilm copy of the dissertation can ,b e purchased from University Microfilms, Allln Arbor, Michigan or the University of P ennsylvania Llbrary, Philadelphia, Pa. Of course, there are other dissertaitions aJbout Slovaiks that cam be obtained from Microffilms. In his present research, Profess·or Greene is making a. study of ;t he origins of Slovak and East European American s e 1 f -oonsciousness and why by World War I every Slovak immigrant realized such a strong feeling of his ethnic h eritage. He •is attempting to use Chicago, Illinois as a case study, ,b ut as yet h as found Httle ma,teriiaJ before 1910. SLOVAKIA If he does not find sufficient records, he will survey the self-reoog,nition nationailly, especfa:lly the personalities of the Rev. Stephen Furdek, the foll!Ilder of t.lhe First Catholic SJ.walk Union, and P eter Rovniiaine'k, the foU!Ilde r of the Nationa1 Slova'k Society. Dr. Greene, who has learned to read and ooderstand SlovaJk, is familiar with the ouilitura1 and historicaJl material a'Wlllfa1ble art: tihe J ankola Lj,brary iin Damville, Pa., the S[ova'k linst1turte Li,b rary in Olevel-amd, Ohio, and the faciltties iin Pittsburgh, Pa. rund Chicago, Illinois. In his own reference library he has joot about aJll the books publ!ished about the American SlovaJks, both ii11 the English and S.Jovak language. In his cooversation he talks 147 with ease aibout FuTdek, JankoLa, Murgas, Rovnianek, Sabol, Cutlen, Ko j is, Hrobak, Hletko, itfue Slov,a;k League of Arrnedca, the S[ovalk CaitJholic Federation of America, Lhe Jednota, amd a;ll the other Slovaik orgamizations. He .feels he hi t a bonanza when he came across the 75 Year History of the 1?'irst Oatholk Slovaik Union (75 rdkov Prvej KatoliC!kej Sloveniskej Jednoty), by Dr. Joseph Pauco. •'Not only is it a complete a.ind most comprehensive 1h i s t o r y of the J ednota ,amd rt!he Slovatks in Arrnerlca, buit its many references, footnotes, and bibliography wiilil sart:isfy any serious reader and research historiam," said Dr. Greene. Joseph C. Krajsa A DELICATE SUBJECT On March 17, 1965, was St. Pia t T •i c k's Day, a day Wlhidh iJS lh~1d .fill high esteem in ,tJhe heart of every Irishman wthether of remote ancestry from -the United States or from a,cross :the s ea. ]n New Yoiik this day is celebra,ted wi:f:Jh an annual parade down F'wth Avenue. By chiam.ce my -husbam.d is em- ployed in a 'luxury apa:ritment house overlooking Ce n tr a 1 parik: ; thus lh e viewed the paraide for the first time a1thougih !he immigrated to the United States six years ago. His Irish co-wo:rike r raved about the spectac:Ie. Meanwhile, they were jomed by a third pa11ty who oommented on the strong Irish nation-  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource An American Historian and the Slovaks Description An account of the resource Joseph C. Krajsa Slovakia, Vol. 15 (No. 38), 1965 pp. 146-147 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Krajsa, Joseph C. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1965 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/cce40f336fa5744281963e827ceff3c1.pdf 9741a26422942b4466966d650bd97947 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 53 An Ethnohistqry of Slovak-American Religious and Fraternal Associations: A Study in Cultural Meaning, Group Identity, and Social Institutions HOW ARD F. STEIN INTRODUCTION: ETHNICITY, INSTITUTIONS AND THE STUDY OF MEANING The study of ethnicity is necessarily a study of systems of meaning and how that meaning is communicated. Ethnicity is far more than a matter of social mobility, group competition for scarce resources, acculturation, and the like. This paper focuses on what might be called the "life histories" of Slovak-American fraternal and religious associations as institutionalized expressors of a century of changing groupidentity and those meanings that represent the underlying group-identity. Special emphasis is placed on identifying precisely what about ethnic identity is communicated by these institutions. The central argument is that Slovak-American fraternal and religious associations perform important psychosocial functions - not merely social structural ones. Indeed, I propose that the former determines and sustains, and explains, the revitalization or atrophy of the latter. Another way of putting it is that the ''expressive'' dimension of ethnicity is inherent in the "instrumental" roles performed by fraternal and religious organizations. The world of the symbolic is never separated from the world of the practical. The term "ethnic fraternal" is used here in the sense of mutual benefit, self-help, voluntary associations (see Anderson 1971) that trace to diverse mid-nineteenth century immigrant populations to the U.S. However, the meaning of ethnic fraternalism should not be ac• A paper presented as part of a panel on ''Ethnicity as Communication in Southeastern Europe: A Comparative Approach,'' at the national convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, New Haven, October, 1979. �54 SLOVAKIA cepted as self-evident, since ethnic voluntary associations, like the religious institutions which they founded, have undergone considerable change of function, and indeed have served multiple, often contradictory functions. In both instances it will be necessary to specify the meaning of persistance and change alike. Elsewhere I have addressed issues of Slovak-American cultural continuity and change in identity at the levels of personality structure, family dynamics, child-rearing patterns, kinship structure, projective system, health and illness attitudes, psychopathology, and ethos (Stein _1973, 1974, 1975,_1976, 1978a; _Stein and Hill 197~, _19~_). No attempt~ here made at a comprehensive history of Slovaks in Europe or the United States. The reader is referred to two groups of works on Slovaks and Slovak-Americans. One genre can be regarded as "official histories," and includes works by Yurchak (1946), Kirschbaum (1960), O~do (1960), Zatko (1966), and Krajsa (1978); and the journals Slovak Studies and Slovakia. The second group consists of disparate studies whose common denominator is the absence of adherence to any prevailing ideology. Representatives of this genre include Balch (1910); Macartney (1937); Kerner (1940); Bue (1957); Roucek (1932-33, 1933-34, 1937); Stolarik (1974); Barton (1975); and Stein (1972). The sources in the first group reflect a particular point of view, namely, the alliance of Slovak Roman Catholicism with political nationalism (i.e., the First Catholic Slovak Union, the Slovak League of America). This also reminds us that traditionally among the majority of Slovaks, ethnicity and religion were fused. Slovak Studies is the publication of the Slovak Institute, Rome, and Slovakia has long been the official publication of the Slovak League. One could legitimately see the Slovak Republic as an expansion onto the level of the state of what had long been a fact at the local level: namely, the political importance of the clergy. Many past and present Slovak League leaders, scholars, and political activists on behalf of Slovak national autonomy in Europe are former leaders and intelligentsia of the short-lived Slovak Republic (1939-1945). That their genre of historiography would be ethno-national apologia is to be expected. However, the visibility of the Slovak League on the American scene in official American political circles has more to do with their anti-communism and their courtship by American political leaders than with cultural, political, or demographic fa~s intrinsic to the League. This highlights the oft neglected fact that American sociopolitical factors often heighten ethnicity, even help preserve it - through a not particularly laudable duplicitous manipulation of loyalties and fears. Among Slovak-Americans, as among all peoples, official histories �SLOVAKIA 55 are those sacred myths of the past held and recorded by the putative leadership. Throughout this essay, I shall emphasize whose perspective on the past is being stated as I discuss those institutions that have been deeply concerned v,:ith the cultural sense of time. This leads to a final word of warning: jus\ as ''culture'' is inseparable from the people who constitute it, likewise for social "institutions." An "institution" is only a conventional shorthand. What this paper is about is the history of group consensus and conflict, continuity and change. The very inclusion of this essay in Slovakia attests to changes not only in ''editorial policy" or editorship, but to a more pervasive change in Slovak ethnicity itself in which there is greater openness to self-scrutiny. It is less necessary, shall I say, to toe a "party line." Neither Slovakia, nor Slovak ethnicity, is static. The focus of this paper is on large-scale social institutions as vehicles of continuity and change in meaning systems. Among SlovakAmericans, religious and fraternal organizations have served for nearly a century as articulators of cultural meaning, first reflecting the relatively uniform cultural system brought from Slovakia, later becoming increasingly removed from the very real pluralism of the Slovak-American population for whom they claim to speak. Both ethnographic research in the Steel Valley of western Pennsylvania (conducted intensively 1970-1972, and intermittently through the present) and documentary study have provided both an understanding of the dynamics within local churches and fraternal society lodges, and a picture of Slovak-American religion and voluntary association on the national scale. Ethnographic study in the Steel Valley of western Pennsylvania, especially the mill-cities of McKeesport and Duquesne, include participant obsevation at, and interviews with members of, the following religious and fraternal groups: parishes of Slovak Roman Catholic Latin Rite, Slovak and Ruthenian Roman Catholic Byzantine Rite, Slovak Independent Catholic Rite, Slovak Lutheran Rite; the First Catholic Slovak Union, Zivena, the Slovak League, Slovak Catholic Sokol, Sokol USA, National Slovak Society, Greek Catholic Union, United Societies of USA, and the Slovak Evangelical Union. I obtained valuable ethnographic and demographic data from interviews and documentary sources at the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese, and with officers of the National Slovak Society, the Greek Catholic Union, United Societies of USA, and the Slovak Zion Synod-Lutheran Church of America. A careful study of old and recent fraternal newspapers and annual Kalendars, often stored not in official archives but in cabinets and basements, permitted comparison of ethnohistory recon- �56 SLOVAKIA structed from informants' current memory and self-presentation, with cultural meanings preserved in print.* Finally, actuarial data provided by the national offices of the National Slovak Society, the Greek Catholic Union, and United Societies of USA permitted a comparison to be made between a necessarily selected sample in which values, attitudes, expectations, criteria and policies of admission and exclusion, and the like were expressed; and statistics of actual participation in or withdrawal from fraternal associations based on trends in membership as reflected in the purchasing and cashing-in of life insurance policies. Ethnographic research both at the local and supra-level simultaneously complemented, explained, and tested the data obtained from tables of parish and fraternal society membership. The reader is referred to the following Tables 1-4 which identify both on the national level and in the region of ethnographic study the major Slovak-American religious and fraternal institutions. ETHNOGRAPHIC BASE LINE The Slovak-American institutions discussed here stem from the migration of over some half-million Slovak peasants and landless peasants from 1880 until the mid-1920's (Zatko 1966: 45), that is, from the period of the Magyar development of a monetary, technologized, labor intensive economy in the 1870's, to the exclusionary American Emergency Quota Laws of 1921-24 and the Immigration Act of 1924, and the National Origins Act of 1929. Roughly 85 percent of the immigrants were Latin or Byzantine Rite Catholics, and 15 percent were Lutherans and Calvinists. The highest rate of migration was from the most impoverished and overpopulated regions of Slovakia, namely, the foothills of the Tatra and Carpathian Mountains (Jansak 1930). As an overall pattern, the earliest Slovaks came to the anthracite coal mining district of eastern Pennsylvania, while later Slovaks came to the mill towns in the "Steel Valley" of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and westward (Cleveland, Gary, Chicago). The greater Pittsburgh region remains the highest concentration of Slovak-Americans in the U.S. (some 29,000 immigrants; 35,000 foreign stock in 1930 Censu~ Klein 1938: 288; Roucek 1933-34: 614) . It is the location of the national offices of the National • These include Narodne Noviny, Jednota, The Greek Catholic Union Messenger, Prosvita, Katolicky Sokol, Sokol USA Times; annual fraternal yearbooks or Kalenddrs ; and the journals Slovakia (Slovak League) and Slovak Studies (Slovak Institute, Cleveland and Rome). �SLOVAKIA 57 TABLE 1 THE FOUNDING OF SOOVAK-AMERICAN RELIGION IN AMERICA I. Early Slovak Catholic Institutional History in America Name Place and Year Founded First Slovak Church in the Western Hemisphere, Hazleton, Penna., 1885 St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church* . .......... . (Cornerstone) Early Slovak Roman Catholic Churches in the Allentown, Penna. Diocese (anthracite coal mining area)* ................ . . . Bethlehem, Penna., 1891 Saints Cyril and Methodius Saint Michael Archangel ... . .... . . . . .. . ..... Summit Hill, Langsford, Penna. , 1891 Saints Cyril and Methodius .... . .. .... ....... . .Reading, Penna., 1896 First Slovak Catholic parish school ............ .. . . .Chicago, ID., 1900 Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius Slovak Sisterhood: Motherhouse established .................... ... Danville, Pa., 1901 High School for Girls established ........... . .... Danville, Pa., 1922 First Vincentian Sisters of Charity arrived from Slovakia to serve St. Michael's Parish ........ Braddock, Pa., 1902 Priests' Society of St. Anthony's Burse in the USA (to support students interested in teaching and Slovak girls preparing to be teaching nuns) .... Wilkes-Barre, Pa., 1903 Benedictine High School for Boys . .. . . .... . . . ...... Cleveland, 1927 II. Early Slovak Lutheran Institutional History in America Name Place and Year Founded First Slovak Lutheran Church in the Western Hemisphere: Saints Peter and Paul .............. Freeland, Penna., first services: 1883; Church built: 1886. • Slovak Lutheran Synod (Missouri Synod) ............ 1902 Slovak Zion Synod (left Missouri Synod, joined United Lutheran Church of America founded in 1919) . . ......... . . .. . . . . ..... .. 1920 • Source: Katolicky Sokol, July 21, 1971 (published in Passaic, New Jersey) . Evidently, the founding of the first Slovak church in the western hemisphere is a matter of considerable controversy - and competition. Professor M. Mark Stolarik kindly informed me of the feud between St. Joseph's parish in Hazleton, Pennsylvania and St. Stephen's in Streator, Illinois for the honor of being "the first" (which, incidentally, is a very American preoccupation!) . Professor Stolarik found the St. Stephen records several years ago and deposited them at the Immigrant Archives in Minnesota. Thus St. Stephen's can document its claim to having been founded in 1884. On the other hand, St. Joseph's burned down at the tum of the century, and its records were lost. Thus its claim to having been founded in 1884 cannot be documented . Professor Stolarik suggests that the editor of Katolicky Sokol, John Sciranka, my original source for the 1886 date , tended to favor the Hazleton parish since he was from Pennsylvania (again , ethnicity in a meta-context, this time localism) (personal communication, 9 September 1979) . �Passaic, N.J ., 1906 Cleveland, 1907 Wilkes-Barre, Pa., 1911 Slovak Catholic Sokol Slovak League of America Slovak Catholic Federation in America McKeesport, Pa ., 1902 Wilkes-Barre, Pa ., 1892 Freeland, Pa., 1893 New York, 1896 Greek Catholic Union Slovak Evangelical Union (since 1960: United Lut9eran Society) Sokol USA (orig.: Slovak Gymnastic Union Sokol of the USA) United Societies of USA (Sobranije) Cleveland, 1892 Cleveland, 1890 Cleveland ? Passaic, N.J . McKeesport Perth Amboy, N.J. Ligonier, Pa. Pittsburgh Cleveland Cleveiand Insurance, religious (Roman Catholic), political, cultural, fraternal Insurance, religious (Roman Catholic), political, cultural, fraternal Insurance, religious , political, fraternal Insurance, religious , cultural, political, fraternal Gymnastic, cultural, insurance, political, fraternal Insurance, religious (Greek Catholic), cultural, political, fraternal Gymnastic, religious (Roman Catholic), cultural, fraternal , insurance Political, cultural, religious Religious, political, cultural MAJOR NATIONALLY-BASED SLOVAK INSTITUTIONS Headquarters Place and Year Functions Pittsburgh, 1890 Pittsburgh Insurance, cultural, political, fraternal New York, 1891 Pittsburgh Insurance, cultural, political, fraternal First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union 2ivena Beneficial Society (women's equivalent to National Slovak Society, last joint convention with NSS, 1901) First Catholic Slovak Union (Jednota) Name National Slovak Society TABLE2 > 7' > ~ r I.I) CX) V, �Saints Cyril and Methodius Slovak National Catholic Church, McKeesport, founded 1922; name originally Saints Peter and Paul Slovak Independent National Catholic Church ; changed name to present in the late 1930's for legal purposes due to loss of church building during the Depression; affiliated throughout its history with the Polish National Catholic Church, and in the 1940's with the Congregational Church. St. Mark Lutheran Church, Duquesne, Pa. (serving Duquesne and McKeesport), founded 1913 ; name originally: Slovak Evangelical Augsburg Congregation of Duquesne; church bought 1920; joined Slovak Zion Synod of the United Lutheran Church of America 1934; Sunday school founded, use of English in teaching confirmation class 1940; earlier schism over non-use of English by acculturated families ; name changed to present in the 1950's, accompanied by change in by-laws to open church to Lutherans of all nationalities . St. Nicholas Byzantine Catholic Church , founded 1901 ; name originally "Greek Catholic," changed to " Byzantine" in the 1960's; schism in 1939. SWVAK CHURCHES SERVING THE McKEESPORT AREA Holy Trinity Slovak Roman Catholic Church, founded 1892; the name "Slovak" officially dropped in the 1960's; first church building purchased and enlarged 1895 ; schism in 1922. ., TABLE3 '° u, 7' > > ~ r Vl �SLOVAK FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS SERVING THE McKEESPORT PENNSYLVANIA AREA IN '' STEEL VALLEY'' Name Year Founded Membership, other comments Slovenskeho N. P. Spolok (Slovak December 16, 1888 Protestant or Catholic, but Slavic Sick Benefit Soc.) preceded the local lodge of the National Slovak Society, with which it merged in 1890 National Slovak Society, Lodge 31 1890 Protestant or Catholic , but Slavic mostly Slovak Jednota (First Catholic Slovak 1892 (women's lodge, Roman Catholic, Slovak Union) , Lodge 60 276 , formed later) Greek Catholic Union, Lodge 2 1892 Mostly Greek Catholic, but also Roman Catholic, Rusin, and Slovak United Societies of USA (Sobranije) , 1902 Schism within the Greek Catholic Union headquarters and Lodge 1 Sokol USA (Slovensky Sokol), Lodge 1903 (ladies assembly Protestant or Catholic , but Slavic 46 11, formed later) mostly Slovak Slovak Evangelical Union, Assembly 1899 Slovak Lutheran 63 (Duquesne , Pa. , serv~g McKeesport as well) Slovak Club , White Street Hall, 1896, sold to Catholic Fellowship, men's club , social, drinking McKeesport War Veterans 1970 activities First Federal Savings and Loan 1914 Association formed to assist Slovak workers Association of Homestead in obtaining funds to purchase a home ; Federal Charter 1937 ; branch offices in McKeesport (1964), Clairton (1969) ; and Braddock (1969) ; serves Monongahela Valley Communities; (originally names: First Slovak Building and Loan Association) TABLE4 > ;;,;; < > l/1 r 0 ~ �SLOVAKIA 61 Slovak Society, the Greek Catholic Union, and the United Societies of USA. The town of Munhall, located in the Steel Valley, is the site of an eparchate or diocese of. the Byzantine Catholic Church. The Greek Catholic Union, founded iq. 1892 in Wilkes-Barre, Penna. , the heart of the anthracite mining region, moved its headquarters in 1910 to the Steel Valley. Although one's place of settlement was greatly influenced by the availability of desirable work, the type of work one sought, and the reasons for choosing that work (originally, to amass greater wealth so that one could return to one's home and village and live better with higher status), it was also strongly influenced by the location of prior immigrant kinsmen, village associates, and even more remotely "related" compatriots of the same geographic, political, and dialect district or iupa - who in tum could advise prospective emigrants of the labor market. Mining and factory towns were not arbitrarily populated by people identifying with the abstract term ' 'Slovak.'' Instead, members of the same village or of adjacent villages commonly sought to live with one another in the New World. Indeed, "ethnicity" changed meanings in the process of settlement in the United States: expanding from more localized, inter-village loyalties, and reciprocal obligation, to supra-local ties based on common religion, dialect, and finally to the emergence in America of an encompassing sense of national "Slovakness" that heretofore had never existed (cf. Gould 1970). It was only after a national sense of identity became established (and this, tenuously, because of the intense factionalism among Slovaks) that the appeal of . President Wilson and Secretary of State House during World War I to Slovak nationalism was possible. A document such as the ' ' Pittsburgh Pact" was thus heretofore unthinkable. Any conceptually neat separation of religion (or churches) from fratemalism is heuristically spurious. Indeed, the history of Slovak religion and mutual benefit societies encompasses the spectrum of alliance and schism, and between them, conflict. The history of the relationship between the two types of associations is the history of each. Moreover, both types of organizations are firmly rooted in east-central European social structure. The village organization functioned much like a vastly extended family, in which kin and extra-kin ties of reciprocity were part of the fabric of everyday life . A group-psychology of community solidarity bound the village tightly together. Even the collapse of manorialism in the mid-19th century did not obliterate this essentially pre-Magyar ethno-psychology. One might say that it functioned preadaptively in the American host environment, and facilitated the earliest " insurance" and cultural- �62 SLOVAKIA perpetuative efforts. After all, the extended family was one's life, accident, and sickness "insurance." There was litsrally no conception of the "individual" apart from the family, church, and village group. Fitzpatrick (1966) correctly identifies Euro-American ethnic communities as bridges or "beachheads" to the wider host society (see also Nelli, 1970). Likewise, Anderson notes "the capacity voluntary associations have to facilitate the transition of individuals and societies to participation in the modem world" (1971:216). He further proposes that ' 'the new associations seem founded to meet needs not previously the responsibility of any older organization" (Ibid.). As this paper will emphasize, however, the new associations built on the firm foundations of elements within traditional organizations; the change lay in the repatterning of those elements - a repatteming which, I might add, has been continuous. I wish to stress that there is nothing automatic, inherently ''natural,' ' or inevitable about the Slovak-American adaptation. The need for "survival" does not explain how or why a particular "survival strategy" for "problem solving" is adopted. Stated differently, it is not the stimulus situation of the stress, but the meaning of the stress and the individual or group characteristic response to it that determines the type of adaptation that will be made (La Barre, 1972; Stein and Hill, 1979). One must inquire both into the nature of the new environment and into the cultural tools a group adapts with. "Necessity" by itself does not explain the "invention" (see Light 1972) . The Slovak-American inventions, themselves variations on traditional psychosocial organization, values, and worldview, must be regarded as preadaptations within the cultural repertoire by which the Slovaks recapitulated much of the Old World in the New (see Stein and Hill 1977, 1979) . The traditional ethos determined both how new " necessities" were perceived and the group-organizational responses based on those perceptions. I cannot here pursue in detail the thorny question as to just what " is" a Slovak. Suffice it to say that the approach taken in this paper is essentially " emic": that is, Slovak based on self-identification and / or ancestry. Thus, for instance, there are several thousand Slovak-Americans, Catholic and Lutheran, whose most ~ediate ancestry traces to Croatia rather than northern Hungary. In the mid:17th century aftermath of the Austro-Hungarian expulsion of the Turks, Maria Theresa invited those peoples inhabiting the already overpopulated Hungarian northlands to migrate to the newly opened land. For the most part, these Slovaks remained Slovaks. Identifying the "ethnic" boundary between Slovaks and Rusins or �SLOVAKIA 63 Ruthenians of far eastern Slovakia, southern Galicia, and the western Ukraine is a far stickier matter (see Stein, 1972) . Indeed, many who are Rusin in ancestry, but who lived in what was geopolitically Slovakia, became accultured insidiously through daily contact with the more westernized Slovaks, through the influence of the Latin and Byzantine Rite Roman Catholic Churches, through the centralizing tendencies of Vienna, and last but not least through affiliation and identification with Slovaks following migration to the United States - that is, many became Slovaks in the U.S. I Over at least the past three centuries, the "ethnic boundary" between Slovaks and Rusins has been progressing further eastward. Had the great immigration taken place two centuries ago, virtually all the immigrants would have been of Byzantine Catholic or Orthodox faith and Rusin ethnicity! To the religious conflict must be added, especially since the World War I era, a conflict of nationalisms and proto-nationalisms. Among the permutations of the conflict: (1) Many Ukrainian nationalists insist that eastern ''Slovaks'' and "Rusins" do not exist, but in fact are Ukrainians; (2) Slovakia has undertaken a program of attempting to Slovakize the remaining Rusins; (3) Both the conflict over ethnic identity and the gradual process of Slovakization of Rusins has taken place in the U.S. (a) in such organizations as the Greek Catholic Union and the United Societies of USA, and (b) through the continued process of Latinization whereby many Greek or Byzantine Catholics joined Slovak Latin Rite parishes. A considerable official literature (see Lacko 1963) prepared by the Slovak Institute of Cleveland, Ohio and Rome, Italy is devoted to demonstrating that Slovaks of the Byzantine Rite, in Europe and America, are bona fide Slovaks and Catholics. Many Slovak peasant immigrants and their children passionately argued the same point (Stein 1972). The author's justification for including such organizations as Byzantine Rite churches, the Greek Catholic Union, and the United Societies as Slovak is that (a) by self-identification many of their officers, priests, and members speak of themselves as Slovaks, and (b) ethnicity is a process, not a static given. THE FOUNDING OF SLOVAK-AMERICAN FRATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS For the most part, the Slovak-American fraternal societies began in the 1880's through the early 1900's as self-help, mutual assistance organizations. The arrangement of regular social activities such as dances , plays, gymnastic groups, and literary clubs, and the organiza- �64 SLOVAKIA tion, construction, and support of Slovak parishes followed later. In all earnestness I emphasize that the link between fraternal and church lay in their division of labor: the fraternal association would first establish insurance in this world; the church would become the guarantor of insurance in the next world. The most immediate needs were mortuary funds, land for the burial of the dead, and death-sickness-and-accident insurance for workers and their families in the U.S. and Slovakia. The new "foreign" dead were often unwelcome in established cemetaries. Slovak burial societies were formed to purchase separate tracts of land, often on the periphery of the town, a considerable distance from the burial sites of the dominant population. Slovak work life was chronically uncertain by the absence of stable unionization in the steel mills until 1936 and thereafter. Wages were low (though admittedly, the immigrant laborers earning a living unheard of in their villages of origin). Periods of steady work fluctuated with periods of layoff. Working conditions were contemptously hazardous. The management of the factories and mines provided no assistance for the injured or for the families of workers killed or maimed on the job. The urban Slovak-American "peasantry" experienced much the same basic insecurity as did they and their progenitors on the manorial latifundia or as landless workers. In one sense, conditions were worse, because in the American capitalistentrepreneurial system there was no personal bond of reciprocity and obligation between manorial lord and serf - although, however, the political system of patronage in the urban wards perpetuated at least an attenuated version of this function. For those immigrants who discovered themselves to be outside the civil and moral community of those recognized as ''Americans,'' the organization of burial-deathaccident-and-sick benefit societies was a means of reconstructing a community. In employment as with religion, Slavic-Americans were for the most part seen as outside the domain of civic and religious responsibilities. This led in tum to a defensive attitude toward American society, even as the belief in the American Dream strongly persisted. Exclusion from without led to a degree of defensive self-exclusion from within. The "enclave mentality," heir to a heightened self-" consciousness of kind," was a product of ethnic-American conflict, not simple cultural transplantation. I am tempted to suggest that much on the organizational level which we might mistake for w~at was traditionally native has a distinctively nativistic quality to it. , For instance, in one multi-Slavic fraternal club, the early by-laws �SLOVAKIA 65 specified that only members of Slavic ethnic groups could qualify as members and be permitted on the premises of the club. This qualification arose as a response to the fact that representatives of the mill management would attend meetings incognito, sit at the bar, listen for comments by dissident millworkers, and report them to the management which would summarily fire them for potential insubordination. A first-generation Catholic Slovak-American who came to the United States in the late 1920's said of the Slovak Club of McKeesport, Pennsylvania (a large mill town): The Slovak Club 's By-Laws were written in 1896. Only Slavs were accepted. You had to: you didn 't know who' s your enemy in those days. Johnny Bulls, or the Irish, might be in there, before the ByLaws were adopted . If you said anything against somebody, they report you. The only way to make sure you could speak your mind and not be afraid was to make the By-Laws . Ethnic " elective affinity" was more out of forced circumstance than choice . Those who were regarded and treated as the same created a survival strategy, becoming far more homogeneous in the process than they might had the constraints been fewer . Let me give two brief examples of the hierarchy of functions in the early fraternals . My first example is Lodge No. 2 of the Greek Catholic Union. Prior to regulation of insurance fraternals by the actuarial rules of the Pennsylvania State Insurance Department in the 1920' s, a member would pay $1.00 monthly dues for the mortuary fund and for death benefits to family , the latter of which is derived by subtracting the mortuary costs from the principal. The $1.00 formal dues would be collected from every member regardless of age or age of joining. In addition to the formally recorded $1.00 , he would pay 3 cents a month for relief benefit , so that, for instance, if he lost an arm in a mill accident he would receive $500 . An additional local assessment was 5 cents monthly for sickness benefit, which provided for food and bought medicine when the member could not work because of poor health. Today, this latter has become a " flower fund " to provide flowers at the funeral of a member or a member 's spouse. Any further needs were met by proportionate assessment of the membership . A second example is that of the Slovak Sick Benefit Society, organized in McKeesport in 1888, and which in 1890 merged with the founding of Lodge No. 31 of the National Slovak Society. This local organization collected monthly dues of $1.00 for males . In addition to the regular dues , if a man died , the men paid $1.00 ; if a woman died, the women paid 50 cents extra - for funeral expenses , given to the sur- �66 SLOVAKIA vivor of the deceased. At that time, the sick benefit was $6.00 a week for 13 weeks . After 13 weeks, up to the 21st week, $3.00 a week was given. After the 21st, nothing. The main economic function was to assist those who became sick or suffered an accident in the mill, since at this time there existed neither a union nor a commitment by management to provide such benefits. The Society also had something of an ambulatory service: two members of the society visited the sick person, or went to the scene of the accident, and took him to the hospital, to his home, or where he could be given proper care. While in their initial phase, ethnic fraternals were a response to the often hostile host environment, voluntary associations were long an inescapable part of the American social landscape. As Alexis de Tocqueville observed in the 1830's, resiliently self-reliant Americans were also habitual joiners. This may help to explain how and why initially exclusive self-preservation societies became internally acculturated clubs and lodges at the local and national levels. That is to say, they became largely American cultural organizations with ethnic ancestry. Criteria for membership became ethnically less restrictive. At the same time, there occurred a gradual yet massive attrition of membership in the totemic Slovak-ethnic associations, and an equally gradual yet dramatic increase in membership by the same Slovak-Americans in lower middle class totemic American clubs such as Eagles, Moose, Elks; such service related groups as Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Catholic War Veterans ; employment related union clubs; and finally local public or private restaurant-bar-entertainment clubs. While there has certainly been, especially in the 1940's and 1960's, considerable compartmentalizing of membership, dual allegiance, something of voluntaristic "double descent, " at the present time American fratemalism has already been the dominant trend. In fact many Slovak-Americans with whom I worked who still maintain their fraternal insurance policies do so for economic reasons; their fraternal affiliation lies elsewhere. Originally, in the ethnic enclave, one's kinship network, resources, and the fraternal were one' s insurance. When the ethnic community network itself was one 's guaranteed insurance, there was no need for a separate entity labeled " insurance, " let alone insurance policies outside that community. Only as many ties within the corporate ethnic community were attenuated or severed cl.id the need arise for American style individual insurance coverage. And only since World War II did the originally multiple functional fraternal societies become primarily insurance companies, that is, businesses. In both cases, American as well as ethnic insurance companies served both instrumental (eco- �SLOVAKIA 67 nomic) and expressive (ethos) functions: security by affiliation in the ethnic sense, and self-reliance in the American sense. THE PROBLEM OF PERPETUATION AND ACCULTURATION IN SLOVAK-AMERICAN FRATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS During the first and second decades of each of the fraternal organizations, the emphasis gradually shifted from immediate self-help requirements to more long-range, future-oriented plans associated with revitalizing Slovak culture in America. Whereas the initial years were preoccupeid with self-preservation, the subsequent years became concerned with perpetuation. The insurance / protective aspects were incorporated in a wider institutional framework that elaborated on the traditional cultural model. Once Slovak immigrants decided to make America their permanent home, churches were founded and supported, Sokol gymnastic programs were initiated, and so forth. It quickly became evident to the founding generation that something must be done to enlist the younger generation in these activities or institutions lest Slovak culture disappear with the passing of the first generation. The younger generation must be socialized into the new institutions and activities the immigrant parents had founded. Thus each fraternal organization instituted a juvenile branch or age grade to prepare the younger generation for adult membership. There were thus established two age sets within each fraternal, the adult and the juvenile. Subsequently, most fraternals also added a Sokol or gymnastic branch (if they were not already Sokol fraternals), originally intended as a middle age grade, but which became an adult unit on par with the "General" or "Adult" branch. The lower age limit for transfer from juvenile to the adult branch seems to be 16-18 in the Greek Catholic Union, and the upper age limit is 25 in the National Slovak Society. Typically, a parent would buy a life insurance policy for an infant shortly after birth and pay for the policy until the child's majority. At that time the former junior member would become a responsible adult member, transfer his or her policy to the adult branch, and begin paying for it himself or herself. Thus was the problem of continuity initially solved. For the third and fourth generations continuity was not so readily assured. Many of the second and third generations themselves withdrew or terminated their own policies and did not enroll their children. Many immigrant and second generation informants spoke bitterly of how they felt that officers of their fraternals had used their position for �68 SLOVAKIA self-advancement (internal mobility?), pocketed some of the dues, especially during the pre-1920 days prior to state-enforced bookkeeping, and terminated members' policies or foreclosed on home mortgages during the Great Depression days when dues were not forthcoming (the internal transformation from personalized ties to impersonalized business venture). In some families where the children had been dutifully enrolled in infancy, the children took advantage of the fact that the parents paid for the juvenile policies, and upon reaching majority or "going out on their own," they turned in the policy for cash value, and enrolled themselves later in large "American" insurance companies. With large-scale industrial unionization in the mid- and late-1930's and the opening up of "American" insurance corporations to the now'' American'' descendants of the ''foreigners,'' many of the purely economic insurance functions fulfilled by the ethnic fraternals were replaced by more attractive, sounder economic policies elsewhere. As the lodges have been losing young and elderly members, the middle-aged members have become the core of their lodges, and those who will be perpetuating them will, like their counterparts in the Americanized Slovak churches, be those who have transformed their lodges and their athletics according to the model of the American prototype. With the great decrease in membership and hence in lodge population, lodge consolidation (GCU, United Societies, NSS) and the widening of intervals between meetings have taken place. Where a lodge meeting until the late 1930's was an enormous and lively social affair, often coordinated with a meal or a play in Slovak, since the Second World War it has become a cut-and-dry business meeting, where members stream in and out, pay their dues, often bring the dues of a friend or two with him (or with her), the older ones stopping to chat with a friend or two in Slovak - and then leave. The monthly business meeting of Jednota Lodge No. 60 in McKeesport, Pennsylvania usually keeps ten listeners besides the six officers and collectors at their long table. During the monthly meetings of the Sokol, the ULS, and the NSS, a table of officers sits in a room of empty chairs in the Slovak Club. Occasionally members drift in and out. The local lodge of the United Societies no longer meets; members brin~ in their dues or mail them in. Likewise for lodges of the GCU. The ULS lodge in Duquesne in 1970 changed its monthly meeting to bimonthly, because, as one officer said: "There's no use sitting down there at the empty church all afternoon every month waiting for a few people to show up." In the early 1970's, over 75 percent of the 1,300 GCU lodges were inactive. For the important annual meeting at which officials were to be elected at GCU Homestead Lodge No. 2 in 1971, only 15 of the 160 members attended. �SLOVAKIA 69 \ To this should be added that only one of the Slovak fraternal lodges in McKeesport presently has any social or athletic program. Jednota Ladies' Lodge No. 276 has a bowling team, which members from Lodge No. 60 and the nearby borough of Port Vue can join. Lodge No. 60 dropped its bowling team in 1956. Bookkeeping changes have consolidated the Sokol and General Branches of the lodges. Today they function as little more than local insurance agents and collectors. All the national offices of the Slovak fratemals modernized and streamlined their policies to make membership attractive to those of the younger generation for whom Slovakness was not a major attraction, and further, to attract non-Slovaks. To a considerable extent, present-day Slovak fratemals are primarily modem insurance com· panies which would like to stay in business. The fact that all of them are far over the required solvency guarantees nothing about the future, for which they are greatly concerned. As the national president of the GCU remarked to me: The way things are now, it's only a matter of time before the GCU is finished. Sure we have an excellent solvency. But without new members, it's just on borrowed time. You just can't rely on monetary figures alone to tell you how we're doing. Of course we're in good financial shape, but that's because today people buy bigger policies - you can't pay for a funeral for $1000 today. Most of our policies are naturally larger, and the figure they give for assets ... would lead you to believe that we're doing great. That's the way the older ones felt. They always looked at the status quo and never at anything else. (1972) Of course the schism in the 1930's cost the GCU half of its more than 135,000 membership, which crisis did not occur in the other Slovak (and Slovak / Rusin) organizations. Nevertheless the same gradual decline in activity and membership has been the experience and plague of every Slovak fraternal. Slovak-American officials at the national level frequently speak of consolidating the adult, juvenile, and Sokol branches for fiscal reasons and because of poor attendance at meetings. They likewise speak of merging lodges for similar reasons, with the hope that perhaps with greater numbers the fraternal spirit may be rekindled. But they are pessimistic and in offhand, tentative ways consider the possibility of merging not only lodges within a given fraternal, but combining many Slovak-American fratemals under a single economic umbrella - anything that will help the solvency problem and postpone the inevitable disappearance of insurance fratemalism. Everywhere in Slovak-American fratemalism, the number of purchased insurance certificates is far �70 SLOVAKIA fewer than the number of deaths, maturities, disabilities, expirations, surrenders, and lapses of policies. Beyond founding the churches, many of the church-affiliated fraternals remain a major support of the church, both financially and by requiring that their members are practitioners of the faith in good standing (for instance, Jednota). Lodge meetings are held in the church (Jednota, United Societies, Slovak Catholic Sokol, GCU), rather than the secular Slovak Hall (where the Sokol USA, NSS, and ULS McKeesport lodges meet). Except for the Lutheran group (whose Duquesne counterpart does meet in the Slovak Lutheran church), the non-religious affiliated groups meet in secular settings, while the religiousaffiliated groups meet in church halls under the aegis of the priest. Until World War II, most of the Slovak fraternal groups at the local and national levels supported the political activity of the Slovak League of America, a non-fraternal, political-cultural group organized to publicize and lobby for the cause of Slovak independence (first in relation to the Hungarians, and later the Czechs). Its stress on Catholicity, its demands for Slovak separatism (rather than federated autonomy), and its support for the politically active Slovak priests Hlinka and Tiso of the Slovak People 's Party during the Nazi period alienated from it the support of the non-Catholic Sokols and the National Slovak Society. Presently, the Slovak League is primarily affiliated with, and is somewhat the political arm of, the First Catholic Slovak Union. All, however, collaborated in the period from 1907 (the year of the League's founding) throughout the First World War and in the early postwar period, toward the founding of the (First) Republic of Czecho-Slovakia (as the Slovaks prefer to spell it). The Slovak Catholic priesthood has always been at odds with the non-Catholic Sokols and the NSS, frequently accusing its members of being atheists and communists. The latter, however, have historically supported Slovak national aspirations, though apart from any religious considerations. This is reflected in the membership of the non-Catholic Sokols and the NSS, where only Slav-ness, not religion, was a qualification for membership. As a consequence, the Slovak Catholic (Latin and Byzantine Rite) religious dissidents, as well as Slovak Protestants , tended to gravitate to the Slovensky Sokol, and the NSS rather than to Jednota or the Katolicky Sokol. Furthermore, the -0verlap in membership equally relfects this distinction. Members would mosi; likely belong to Katolicky Sokol. Slovak Lutherans , of course , would join the Slovensky Sokol and the NSS. The above politico-religious concerns , however, refer only to the �SLOVAKIA 71 \ older and middle age groups, who are the mainstay of the fraternal organizations. For the younger age group, under 36, Slovak national concerns are for the most part a matter of ancestry rather than immediacy. Apart from religious issues, criteria of membership in Slovak fraternals have during the past decades gradually become less exclusivistic. In the early by-laws, Slovak birth or descent was usually specified (together with a particular religious affiliation, where relevant). By the period following World War I, membership was widened to those of Slavic origin or ancestry (with religious specificity, where relevant). In 1937 the NSS extended membership to non-Slovak spouses married to Slovak members and their children. In the 1930's, the GCU extended membership to spouses so long as the spouse was Catholic. In the 1960's, membership in the Catholic organization was opened to Catholics of any nationality, while in the non-religious affiliated Slovak-American fratemals membership was opened to "anyone," implicitly or explicitly referring to whites of Christian faith. A young officer of the GCU said that he would like to see a change in bylaws that would open the organization to all Christians, removing the restriction to Catholics. Accompanying the opening of membership has been a gradual change in the organizations' names, first from the full length Slovak name to a shortened name, normally one word from the full name (Jednota from the First Catholic Slovak Union, Sobranije from the Greek Catholic Union). Then from the 1930's and on, the English title became more important and today predominates. Names became less European-sounding: the Slovak Evangelical Union became in 1960 the United Lutheran Society; the Slovak Gymnastic Union Sokol of the USA became Sokol USA. The young official of the GCU mentioned above suggested that if membership were opened to all Christians, he would like to see the name of the organization officially changed to the initials GCU only, and later "we might call it the Greater Beneficial Union / the name changed from German Beneficial Union / no, that's the GBU ... but you know what I mean.'' The direction then, would be that of an American-sounding name. Similar to this trend has been that from Slovak (or Rusin and Eastern Slovak in the Greek Catholic organizations) to English in the official publications or newspapers of fratemals. The newspapers themselves were founded shortly after the organization of the fratemals and were entirely in Slovak (with the above distinction). At the beginning of the 1930's, under pressure of the American-born membership, pages began to be devoted to stories, articles, and announcements in the �72 SLOVAKIA English language. It should be added, however, that from the days of World War I, all of the papers and English-language sections were on American history, patriotism, the American constitution, government, and citizenship. By the 1950's, 50 percent and more of the space was in the English language. For instance, after the 1964 Milwaukee Convention of Sokol USA, Slovensky Sokol devoted 76 percent of its space to English material. At the 1966 National Convention in Tampa, through an act of the General Assembly of the convention, the name of the official publication was changed from Slovensky Sokol to Sokol Times, and the paper is now entirely English-language, as is that of the United Societies, Prosvita (Enlightenment). Nevertheless, such papers as Jednota, Katolicky Sokol, and the GCU Messenger are half-English, halfSlovak; Narodne Noviny is about 25 percent Slovak. What I emphasize here is the overall direction of change. The annual Kalendar or Yearbook of the Greek Catholic Union provides an excellent and generalizable source by which changes since the first decade of the 20th century can be observed and traced. I examined the annual Kalendar of the GCU spanning the years 1903 through 1972 (with considerable gaps in the 1930's and 1940's due to schism within the society over the issue of clerical celibacy). Although the GCU was founded in 1892, the oldest available Kalendar in storage was that of 1903. The following table gives the title on the cover, a summary of advertisements which reflect contemporary issues (migration, home owning, etc.), the nature of written characters for non-English sections (Latin or Cyrillic), subjects of early essays on Americanization (1903-1932), and the language employed by the exarch / bishop in his introductory message. By the late 1960's, at least half of the Kalendar (totaling in the 1960's 90 pages) was in English. (See Table 6). To summarize the table: Through the 1930's, there were advertisements in the Kalendar for such goods and services as banks, saloons, hotel, liquors, a variety of medicinal cures, boat tickets, home building (financing, mortgages, titles, etc.), shipping from overseas, etc. Essays were written on such subjects as American history (including praiseworthy accounts of American founding heroes and legendary leaders), an explanation of American government and how to participate in it, why and how to obtain citizenship, descriptions of the nature of the population and geography of the United States, accounts of farming in the United States and of technolo~cal innovations from the zeppelin through the airplane. Considerable space was likewise devoted to a description of the Slovak-Rusin homeland, culture, religious �SLOVAKIA 73 \ customs, etc. Although much of the writing through the 1930's was in eastern Slovak-Rusin dialect and written in either or both Cyrillic and Latin characters, English was used in essays on American history and government as early as 1905, when the article was printed in both languages. Americanization, more specifically, bridge-building between the insular ethnic world and the more expanding American world, was one of the major early agendas of the fraternals. Americanization was also one of the major points of stress between traditionalists and acculturationists that led to attrition of membership and schism in churches and fraternals alike. On the one hand, the Polish National Catholic Church and the Slovak National Catholic Church, a variety of independent Rusin-eastern, Slovak-western, and Ukrainian Orthodox churches, and the United Societies of USA (among others) broke with their Americanizing-Irishizing-Latinizing denationalizing parent organizations and became bastions of tradition (e.g., in liturgy, in customs, etc.) - only to acculturate internally. On the other hand, even the most traditionalist societies zealously urged Americanization both by exhortation and by the example of its leadership - including the clergy. SCHISM, DECLINE, AND CULTURE Let me use several nodal points in the history of the Greek Catholic Union to illustrate the convulsions to which conflict between the acculturationists and traditionalists led. The GCU schism of 1902 led to the founding of a new fraternal association, the United Societies of USA (Sobranije). At the 1902 Convention of the Greek Catholic Union, there was strong debate over whether or not the largely Magyarone RusinSlovak clergy leadership would be permitted to retain their official position, since they insisted on remaining citizens of the Kingdom of Hungary. The convention overwhelmingly voted that henceforth all officers of the GCU would have to be American citizens. Moreover, there was a long-standing resentment against domination of Slovak or Rusin parishioners by a Magyar or Magyarone clergy. In Hungary, the laity could do nothing about it. But in America, former peasants could vote out those who were either of the Hungarian aristocracy or had used the church - and ethnic assimilation - as a means of social mobility. The orientation toward a secular leadership made the process complete: the Byzantine Catholic laity of the fraternal would be a strong supporter of the Church but would not be its tool. The United Societies of USA, conversely, retained priests among �.. .. ... .. .. .. . .. .. • • ---- ___________ KALENDARS (YEARBOOKS) OF THE GREEK CATHOIJC UNION (COURTESY OF PRES. GEORGE BATYKO) Message by Advertisements Written Exarch I Characters Bishop Year Cyrillic Slovak Rus. Eng. Early Americanization Topics Cover Title - -- - - - - - - Amerikansko-Russko- J ·1903 Banks• , Saloons, Slovensky Kalendar Hotels , Liquors , Medical Cures , • Boat Tickets• Am. History (Rusin) 1904 • Amerikansky-Russko- 1905 Am. Government (Rusin & English) • Slovensky Kalendar Am. fanning, airplane, zeppelin 1909 (Eng.) Amerikansko-Russko- 1914 Banking-Shipping•, Am . Hist. (Rus .), population • Slovensky Kalendar Cures, Liquors of U. S. (Eng.) Banking•• Sokola Sojedinenija Citizenship / naturalization / 1921 • • govt. (Eng.) ,, Am. Hist., govt., loyalty, how Banking** 1924 • to use checking (Eng.) Kai. Soj . Gr. Kaft. 1926 Banking**, Financing, Russkich Bratstv. Home Building, y • • Religious Publications Am . Hist. , govt. (Rus.) , Cit. / 1932 Title & Mortgage Nat. (Eng.) Guarantee co., • • Banks , Boat Tick...,.. ets, Medical Cures K. Gr. Kaft. Sod . none 1953 S. S. A. • 1955 • • TABLE5 > A > < r 0 V, .:,. '-I �" " " " " " 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 Gr. Kaft. Sod . S.S. A . " " " " " " " " " " Message by Exarch I B ishop • • . . . • . • ..• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . .• . Cyrillic_ Slovak Eng . . Early Americanization Topics - -- - - - Rus. Written Characters • Rovnianek (Pittsburgh) in particular •• Money orders, drafts, credit, savings , import, interest *** Diamond Jubilee Almanac GCU Calendar GCU of USA*** Gr. Kaft. Sod . v S. S. A. GCU Calendar " " " " " 1956 D. Gr . Kaft. Sod. S.S. A. " First Federal S&L of Homestead none Year -- Cover Title Advertisements KALENDARS (YEARBOOKS) OF THE GREEK CATHOLIC UNION (COURTESY OF PRES . GEORGE BATYKO) TABLE 5 (Continued) ., Vl 'I )> A < )> r 0 V) �76 SLOVAKIA its officials through the present; its birth dates from when a number of delegates walked out of the GCU convention in 1902 and founded its first church-affiliated lodge in McKeesport. At the height of its membership in the mid-1920's, United Societies counted some 27,000 in its adult and juvenile branches. By 1970, the last year for which actuarial figures were made available to me, membership had declined to 5,600; since 1930, membership enrollment by young adults has precipitously declined . (See the following Tables 6 -9 assembled from the actuarial records of the United Societies of USA, public domain.) Within the GCU during the intervening years, a second, even more dramatic schism took place in the 1930's over the issue of priestly celibacy - reflecting the conflict between the traditionalists, who argued in favor of a married priesthood and the acculturationists or ''Latinizers ," who advocated clerical celibacy. While no documented figures were available to me, a number of informants agreed that some 60,000 to 70,000 members, or roughly half the membership, defected. The GCU had been organized in 1892; the Juvenile Branch in 1906; the Gymnastic Branch in 1910. It totals some 1,300 lodges and is licensed as an insurance corporation in 12 states (United Societies, in 6). At the height of membership in 1929, the GCU numbered some 60,000 members in its General or Adult Branch, 20,000 in its Falcon Branch, and 65,000 in its Juvenile Branch. The cataclysm which cost the GCU half its membership occurred in 1929. As early as 1924, the Pope had dispatched Bishop Takach back to the United States with instructions that married priests , common in the Byzantine Rite in Europe, were not to be ordained. However, ordination continued for several years through what were described as "loopholes. " In 1929 came a specific papal decree, Cum Data, forbidding the ordination of married priests in the United States. This finalization led to the immediate defection of thousands of GCU members. If this were not earthquake enough, during the 1920's all ethnic fratemals in Pennsylvania were brought under the increasingly strict regulation of the Insurance Department, which consequence was an immediate precipitous drop in the membership of all Slovak-American insurance-related fratemals. Members could no longer be assessed equally, and amounts collected varied from month to month on the basis of the past month's claims, but were rate\f according to the National Fraternal Congress table of "attained age a~ June, l, 1933." That is, members were required to pay on the basis of age, with premiums increasing with age . The new rates were adopted in June 1932 by the GCU. The National Slovak Society and the men 's and ladies' divisions �0 4 5 12 35 51 68 51 42 10 12 28 49 69 83 82 77 88 75 0 70 1 85+ 0 0 0 1 ., 0 1 1 0 6 1 4 7 18 29 15 35 33 34 69 80 0 1 In the Adult Branches, the Falcon and Main Branches have always been combined for bookkeeping purposes . 2 This figure gives the total membership in United Societies . It should be noted that at age 16, one is eligible to transfer from the Juvenile Branch to the Adult Branch (Main or Falcon) . One may transfer from the Juvenile Branch to the Adult Branch between the 16th and 18th birthday. 3 The report for 1950 was missing, so the 1949 figures were used instead . 4 Beginning with 1955, the United Societies adopted One Fund Bookkeeping, using a single ledger system and combining figures for Juvenile and Adult Branches. This means that it is no longer possible to compare membership at ages 16 and 18 in the Juvenile Branch with that in the Adult Branch. 5 An e xplanation for the increase lies in the adoption by the United Societies of the Byzantine Life Savings policy in August, 1968. It is a policy that is sold by agents of the United Societies, an effort to expand the boundaries of fratemalism on a more traditionally commercial basis . It is a 21-year savings program, which one may enter up to age 45 . At the end of the 21 years, the money is returned to the policy owner. Its advantage is that it is insured savings, although the insurance coverage decreases with each year. For the older people , it provides the certainty of a little income . United Societies of the USA : Annual State Insurance Dept . Reports (Penna., Ohio, New Jersey , West Virginia, etc.) Membership: Adult and Juvenile ADULT: MAIN AND FALCON BRANCHES! Membership per attained age categories Total : Adult & Total : Year Juvenile2 Adult 55 60 65 16 18 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 46 16 3 8652 135 128 131 236 272 367 279 185 1924 565 275 212 1926 346 517 1928 55 28 1930 19339 10159 320 372 342 114 135 227 254 290 233 191 70 153 186 227 165 122 30 7472 61 127 177 120 1935 13393 36 41 86 85 51 41 111 152 192 135 92 1940 8857 5464 7 59 70 51 73 130 151 145 49 76 106 107 99 1945 7399 5235 18 19493 48 67 69 86 63 57 58 146 133 130 6285 4739 4 18 19554 43 72 44 46 54 82 78 82 56 65 106 107 5472 25 76 89 47 43 5290 68 52 44 15 55 57 97 1960 73 78 42 37 17 27 53 46 41 1965 4812 90 63 50 19705 47 45 5628 101 60 52 38 99 107 129 118 40 27 - TABLES "" )> A < )> Vl r 0 �,,.. - 63 60 101 52 44 5456 91 613 237 231 18 68 90 16 348 418 191 299 153 93 72 6 This figure is for age 17, as it is the last listed, no figure being given for age 18 in the Juvenile Branch. 7 See Note . 4 on previous page . United Societies of the USA: Annual State Insurance Dept. Reports Membership: Adult and Juvenile JUVENILE BRANCH Membership per attained age categories Total Year Juvenile 0 1 2 10 1928 201 282 549 672 1930 9180 183 426 647 1935 5921 301 456 1940 3393 45 47 48 195 1945 2164 32 81 64 134 1949 1546 28 28 40 62 48 81 51 50 19557 1960 133 150 84 69 1965 33 74 80 88 1970 9 31 30 83 TABLE7 > )> ;ii;;: < r 0 V') 0:, " �1 Beginning with 1955, the United Societies adopted Ond Fund Bookkeeping, using a single ledger system and combining figures for Juvenile and Adult Branches. W - Written Rev. - Revived Rec . - Received Iner. - Increased Mat. - Maturity Surr. - Surrender Dec . - Decrease Exp. - Expiry Other - non-specified (However, for 1935, I would suspect that the 81 in this category belong elsewhere, probably in 'Surrender.') United Societies of the USA : Annual State Insurance Dept. Reports Exhibit of Certificates: Adult and Juvenile Branches ADULT: (se e below for abbreviations) - - MAIN AND FALCON BRANCHES Benefit Certificates . . . In force In force Dec . 31 Dec. 31 Year last yr. W this yr. Death Lapse Rev . Rec. Iner. Surr. Dec. Exp. Other -Mat. 1925 14908 2220 15574 133 1524 103 1926 15574 3833 18141 145 1121 1928 10704 11102 114 10313 1930 527 77 10159 . 652 1 1935 7534 279 80 7472 89 332 81 5621 1940 80 15 5464 98 154 1945 5296 139 4 5235 93 91 20 1949 4864 47 4739 113 23 35 1 19551 5356 360 5472 105 19 86 34 5514 1960 217 5290 108 248 41 44 1965 4907 160 4812 103 74 16 36 26 1970 5054 599 193 5628 91 91 30 5 1 TABLES ~ "'° 7' > > < Vl r 0 �1702 81 16 723 2g3 Transfer 1 The figures for the Juvenile Branch list only up to age 16, so it is ambiguous as to whether Juveniles past their 16th birthday are included in tne figure of 9401. 2 transfer to Falcon Branch . 3 transfer to Senior (Main) Branch. 4 Beginning with 1955, the United Societies adopted One Fund Bookkeeping, using a single ledger system and combining figures for Juvenile and Adult Branches . United Societies of the USA: Annual State Insurance Dept . Reports Exhibit of Certificates: Adult and Juvenile Branches JUVENILE BRANCH: Benefit Certificates In force In force Dec . 31 Received Dec . 31 Terminated b1: last yr. by transfer Increased this yr. Year Written Revived Death Lapse 19281 9401 884 49 42 1930 9239 9180 810 968 1935 6384 597 5921 11 7 470 1940 3740 136 10 3393 223 1945 2356 115 2164 12 1949 1636 60 1546 1 120 19554 1960 1965 ,,, . 1970 - TABLE9 > 7' > ~ r (./') ~ �SLOVAKIA 81 of the First Catholic Slov~ Union (Jednota) had been the first to comply in 1930. The state requirement of solvency was reflected in high premiums for the older members who, in the Depression years, could not pay. Each insurance company had to make up the deficit. The 1929 law required that all fraternal societies re-rate their policies within five years. Not that this external policing had not been attempted before. But now, like the papal decree on celibacy, the law was final. Between 1892 and 1909 or 1910, each member of the GCU had been assessed 50 cents, 60 cents, or 75 cents a month, depending on how much was customarily collected at a given lodge. There was no uniformity of policy even within the GCU. In 1909 or 1910, the GCU lodges went under an '' Assessment System,'' such that the amount due from each member was determined by the claims of the past month. Thus the assessment varied from month to month, but was internally regulated by the lodge. Around 1910, the state began to appear in the picture, proposing that members of fraternals pay according to age. Some fraternals put a lien on each member's policy, but this did not sufficiently raise revenues. In 1918 , the National Fraternal Congress Table of Mortality provided a uniform schedule according to which each member was to be rated according to the age at which he or she had joined the organization. But, even where this table was applied, it did not bring lodges or national offices anywhere approaching solvency. In Pennsylvania, the Insurance Department saw that the fraternals were functionally decentralized and operated on a day-to-day economic calculus - which, incidentally, was the traitional Slovak way of pooling resources in the extended family. It applied pressure for greater fraternal centralization and economic foresight. As of 1924, new members were to be rated according to the American Experience Table of Rates. However, the old members could continue to pay the prior National Fraternal Congress rate. This, too, did not greatly move the GCU and other Slovak-American fraternals toward solvency. Finally, the 1929 Pennsylvania law was implemented, and its effect paradoxical: it "worked" with amazing effectiveness according to the canons of American economic planning, but utterly disrupted the Slovak way of doing business. To summarize, then : the most compelling factors in declining membership within the Slovak-American fraternals were (a) the increasing cultural Americanization of their members and the availability of fraternal and insurance options within the cultural mainstream; (b) the increased influence of external (e .g., state) forces in the management of the internal affairs of the associations; (c) the devastating in- �82 SLOVAKIA fluence of the Great Depression over members' abilities to keep up payment of premiums on policies (undoubtedly influenced by " b " ); (d) the fraternal officials ' internal acculturation of the associations into "American" institutions (self-motivated as well as impelled by "b"). There remains an extremely potent factor in fraternal schism and attrition much less obvious to the observer's eye than those already discussed, one which the national president of a Slovak-American fraternal in his early 70' s poignantly articulated: ... we are still declining, there is an explanation for it. There was nothing ever done in this society. There was feeble attempts made to try to get the younger generation to become interested in our / fraternal society / . . .. we now lose, on an average of 1200 members a year .... you take in our generation, our parents were interested in our society and as soon as kids were born they put them in the lodge, the mother or father would always make sure that they would come to the meeting once a month and pay their dues. Even after they got married, the would pay their dues , do you follow me? Now, after they were on their own, had their own families they would say: "Here is your policy. Do you want to keep it. We pay till now. You can make your wife your beneficiary. " Lot of them kept it, and a lot of them turned around and cashed whatever they could get for it. See, where the old people wouldn't do that, and this younger generation isn't like the older generation. They say: " I don't need this or that." Now once again I say, it's not all of them, but the majority. They aren't worried so much like the old people were about their future. All they care is they get a new car, or good times, and when they are in trouble they come to their parents to help them out. Shortly thereafter, he spoke of local lodge meetings: The younger kids, they come, some of them come, some come and just pay their dues. They're in a hurry. They're always in a hurry. You see , I'll tell you. I think the biggest dam fault in all our fraternals. We used to have meetings every month at every lodge. I know I went as a younster, we came to the League, as a young fellow, 18, 19 years old, 20, 21. We would go to the Assemblies. All these old timers come to the meetings. It was always in the Slovak language, and if you\wanted the floor or ask permission to say something, and if you couldn""t. explain yourself well in the Slovak language, say in butchered up language, Slovak and English mixed together, the president of �SLOVAKIA 83 _ _ _ _ says: "Sit down you snot nose you. You can't express yourself in Slovak, you can sit down. You are out of order." Well, naturally these younger people think, they say "Oh, my goodness gracious." You get red in the face, these young people, then they don't know what to do. Then they sit through it and first chance that they got to go home, "They won't get me back here with a bull rope." Instead of being nice to them and courteous, ''OK, we understand you, go ahead and say in English what you want to say. We want you to come." And once you drive them away, oh boy, it's hard to bring them back. That's been the trouble all these fratemals, whether it's the Slovak Catholic, whether it's the National Slovak Society or the. First Catholic Slovak Union. It's the same condition and a lot of those old timers, when they held office, they thought they were supposed to be there till they die. The younger people, they need to bring these people in . . . . Another official, participating in the interview, later interjected: ... That old fellow who would come to the conventions, and make a rousing speech, "We have got to get our young people to take over our offices in our local assemblies, in the national,'' yet he wouldn 't give up his damn job .... (from field notes, June 1978) The chronic, occasionally acute conflict (expressed institutionally in schism) which these officers articulate is a generational conflict be- tween fathers and sons, once contained within the traditional familiar and manorial system, but now run openly rife in the expressively more permissive American cultural setting. We have already seen this conflict in another form: the 1902 schism within the GCU which led to the founding of the United Societies of USA, precipitated by the issue of allegiance to the U.S. versus allegiance to the parental-land and representatives of its authority. This conflict at the macro-institutional level is dynamically identical with the deeply traditional family struggle in Slovak culture: parental holding on versus letting go of authority, power, status, property, and roles. What I have discussed elsewhere in terms of traditional and Slovak-American personality, family dynamics, and culture change (Stein 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1976, 1978a, 1978b, 1979, Stein and Hill 1977, 1979) is dynamically identical and isomorphic with the conflict at the macro-institutional level. Traditionally as well as in the New World, unquestioning respect for and obedience to the will and authority of elders was paramount. In the official cultural ethos, the father's word and will were absolute; �84 SLOVAKIA deference was due to him no matter what. With the breakdown of the manorial order in Slovakia between 1848 and the great migration of 1880-1920 , sons began demanding a greater say in the running of family affairs . If fathers refused to relinquish some of their traditional prerogatives , sons now had options from setting up separate households to emigration . The vastly extended " joint family " diminished into the " stem family " (Goldschmidt and Kunkel 1971) in which frequently only a son or two, and daughter or two would live with or near the parents (cf. Koenig 1937) . The children now were able to place demands upon the parents , and to leave if dissatisfied. This is precisely what happened openly in the U.S., which official ethos was based on revolutionary separation from parents who, as the motto goes , exacted " taxation without representation, " an experience that strikes at the heart of the Slovak experience as well. Of course, this never was a matter of either / or. As I have demonstrated in the above cited works , moves centrifugal toward autonomy have evoked enormous ambivalence , guilt, restitution, and centripetal countervailing moves on the part of parents. Nonetheless , the above officials have identified as a decisive ingredient in the attrition of the young from Slovak-American fratemals the demand by the young for respect by the elders, a reversal of tradition that is at the same time traditionally and quintessentially '' American.'' It is thus not enough to say that the young defectors had been " Americanized ," and that the diehards remained doggedly "traditional. '' The elder officials of the Slovak-American fratemals could not mobilize the constraints they once yielded under the much hated manorial and Magyar yoke to compel those who they contemptuously regarded as " snotty nosed" youth to speak their language: Slovak. It should further be noted that language was wielded by the officials as a tool of power - but an impotent tool. Ironically, the youth, in the 1910's and 1920' s , attempted to express their interest in ethnicity in English, but were dismissed as out of order by parental-clergy-fraternal-elder figures who sought to safe-guard their venerable Slovak ethnicity by passing it on through institutional measures (churches, gynmastics , literary clubs). However, the fact of institutionalization of tradition was disqualified by the attitude of the founders toward those who would succeed them - which very " success " aroused their fear and countervailing animosity toward the Slovak-American youth. The very nature of many officers ' traditionalism led to the ardent Americanization by the young, whose consequence for the fratemals was decline in membership. ' �SLOVAKIA 85 ATHLETIC PROGRAMS IN SLOVAK-AMERICAN FRATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS: INTERNAL CHANGE AND CONTINUITY Similar directional change can be seen in the history of athletic programs within the Slovak-American fraternals. The baseline was the Slovak Sokol (Falcon) or gymnastic society. The earliest Sokols had been founded in Bohemia in 1862 by Jindrich Fuegner and Miroslav Tyrs , derived from the German Turnvereine . The Sokols were used in Europe both as vehicles for nativism and Pan-Slavic solidarity. In the U.S. , they tended to follow ethnic lines and intra-ethnic schisms. Initially most of the fraternal organizations were divided into full membership branches: general (adult), juvenile (up to ages 16-18) , and Sokol. Between the ages of 16 and 18, one transferred from the juvenile branch to either the general or the Sokol branch. The Sokol branch stressed group gymnastics. Beyond local activities, each branch combined with other lodges, organizations, and conducted district, regional, national, and international slets (mass calisthenic displays) . Separate Sokol / insurance fraternals later developed. During the first decades of the twentieth century, baseball attracted considerable interest in fraternal and church groups , and if not competed for time with the gymnastic activity, it at least paralleled it. By the 1930's, Sokol activity began a slow decline, while baseball was attracting more interest. And in the mid and late 1930' s, the first fraternal bowling leagues were formed, later organized into district, regional, and national competition along the same lines as were the gymnastics. With the preparation for and American entry into World War II Sokol programs were drastically cut when the young Sokols and Sokolettes and instructors took part in the war. Great hopes were placed on a revival following the war, but there was no such revival. Quite the reverse . Those lodges which were discontinued during the war were never revived. ' ' At least fifty percent of the former gymnastically-active lodges became dormant ; numerous Sokol halls were lost; and most of the prewar instructors and directors disappeared from the physical education field . The indifference and apathy on the part of .. . Sokol membership , and officers as well, also were responsible for this decline ." (Andrew Venglarcik, Jr., " President's Column," Sokol Times, Jan . 14, 1972 , p. 3). Despite efforts by the Supreme Lodge of Sokol USA and other control bodies to induce renewal by the appropriation of larger funds for the Sokols , promises of salaries and the payment of travel expenses, there was little positive response on the part �86 SLOVAK IA of the membership . The Sokol USA slet held in 1966 was a veritable miniature compared with those of the 1920's. The influence of World War II was pervasive on both those who participated in it and in the home communities. Two facts are especially noteworthy: (a) that the virtual collapse of Sokol gynmastics was merely one small aspect of this transformation from Slovak to American, and (b) that the fact of the war did not so much cause the change as it rapidly accelerated a process already under way. Baseball, already popular before the war, was equally popular during the war in the informal games by American soldiers at recreation in training or overseas. Although the soldiers returned with baseball, they did not return it to their fraternal lodges, but instead to their industrial teams, American Legion teams, war veterans ' teams, and so forth . At the Sokol lodges, bowling became the sport. Only in the 1960's did local bowling lodge teams begin to decline. From the late 1940's and early 1950's bowling began to compete with golf, which was subsequently organized in districts, regions, and nationally. From the mid-1960 's , golf became the major activity, all of this taking place as the elderly are passing on, the young either not joining or cashing in their policies when they mature , the lodges becoming smaller and more difficult to justify and maintain. What is the meaning of the transformation in athletic activities? What has changed, and what has remained? The only remnant is that of group competition. Slets displayed competitive gymnastic groups, and baseball, bowling, and golf were organized as competitive tournaments at the various levels . But there is a gradual incorporation into the group of increasing individualism, in contrast with the "mechanical solidarity" of group gymnastics . In all of these, what the individual does is for the sake of the group effort. But the individual as a separate entity is increasingly emphasized. The team-orientation of a baseball team is far greater than that of the bowling team, because, as in the group gymnastic display, all of the members ' (or at least the playing members ' ) actions must be coordinated. This is not the case in bowling or golf, where the group is cumulative and sequential, rather than synchronized. In bowling and golf, individual efforts (and accomplishments) are not directly coordinated with tho'se of others, although they are added to them. In these '' individualistic' •· sports, individual actions are apart from the group , not subsumed under group effort as they necessarily are in the slet and in sports like baseball. Psychologically, the meaning of these sports differs greatly from the earlier " team" sports , where the individual could never be " taken out" of the group . �SLOVAKIA 87 \ This point has been well made by Andrew J. Valusek, President of Sokol USA: '' ... we believe in mass training more than emphasis on individual excellence, even though outstanding Sokol athletes are honored and play an important role in the life and achievements of the movement itself (Souvenir Book, 15th Sokol USA Slet, July 1-3, 1966, New York). This transformation in atheltics reflects what is simultaneously a cultural and psychological transformation: from Slovak to American, from group-oriented to individual-oriented, from coordinated interdependence to self-reliant independence. Furthermore, the incorporation of American athletic activities represented a new social status for the group . The lodge members had adopted within an ethnic framework typically mainstream American social activities. Increasingly, ancestral ethnicity was the basis for association, while categories of American culture dominated the content of the activity. MEN'S CLUB AND SECRET SOCIETY My final consideration in the history of the Slovak-American fraternals is its vital ' 'latent'' function as an exclusive men's club. This refers, of course, to male fraternal organizations or a compartmentalized activity of a male fraternal. The men's club provided and safeguarded a haven and refuge from women, family, and responsibility. It occasioned regularized " rituals of rebellion" (Gluckman 1954; Wallace 1966). This is not a matter of the writer's interpretations but derives from informants ' statements as well as the writer's observations. In Slovakia and Ruthenia, the village tavern had fulfilled this release function. In those Slovak-American organizations whose meetings were held under the strict supervision of the priest, the conclusion of a meeting was frequently followed by a visit to the Slovak Club . Many fraternals held their lodge meetings in one of the rooms at the Slovak Club. At the club , heavy drinking, card and craps playing, mournful and boisterous Slovak folk song, and " men' s talk" occupied the hours and filled the air. Abetted by the influences of "boilermakers'' (a shot of whiskey with a beer as chaser), the unspeakable literally emptied into the open. Taboos were cavalierly broken - at least in word. Built on shared experiences and conflicts, the male associations offered one of the few opportunities for male solidarity. Both in Europe and in the first several decades in the U.S., Saturday night was the ritual occasion for the unbottling of the week's pent up burdens. In the U.S. , the male solidarity of Slovak-American fraternal and the Slovak Club came to be predominantly associated with the immi- �88 SLOVAKIA grant generation. With the second and later generations, from the 1940's and on, this function became transferred to union halls, service veterans' clubs, American fraternal orders, and local bars, whether located adjacent to the mill or in one's neighborhood. These became places where men from varied ethnic backgrounds (though as exclusively white as they were exclusively male) could commiserate and boast of extracurricular feats on the war front and on the home front alike, out of reach of female domination and ridicule. In the original Slovak tavern the American Slovak Club, and later supra-ethnic American adaptations, lusty fiction compensated for social realities too miserable to acknowledge, and over which one felt no control. Through group support, one was able, without too great a burden on the conscience, to take a temporary moral holiday. And a man knew that later confession and communion could always undo - again temporarily what he had dared to think or say or do under the influence of potent spirits. SLOVAK-AMERICAN CHURCHES: A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF TRENDS A detailed history of Slovak-American parishes at the local and national levels, over the past century, exactly duplicates the history of the fraternals . For this reason, and for economy of space, I would like to review the major trends and give a brief ''life history'' of St. Mark Lutheran Church in Duquesne, Pennsylvania, which history will embody these trends. Each of the churches in which I conducted fieldwork (Latin Rite, Byzantine Rite, Independent Rite Catholic, and Lutheran) either experienced the convulsion of schism or was a product of schism. Each of these parishes experiences the on-going drama of conflict between traditionalists and acculturationists. And in each of these parishes, the resolution is identical: (a) outward mobility of dissident acculturationists (and, in some cases, traditionalists for whom even the majority of parish traditionalists have compromised too much); (b) internal acculturation and inter-marriage, creating supra-ethnic denominationalized parishes ; (c) the "territorialization" of "nationality '' parishes (this language comes from khe Catholic diocesan context, but is univerally applicable) . The same directional change is evidenced since the 1930's in Slo- �SLOVAKIA " 89 vak-American churches as in fratemals: that is, away from ethnic exclusiveness and insularity. Initially, religion, like fratemalism, was an inseparable functional component of ethnicity. Today, in the context of an individual's increasingly personal community" (Gould 1970: 148), a traditional social structural view is empirically invalidated. "Religion" and "ethnicity" have become increasingly separate domains of one's life. This is true even for those originally nationality parishes which, in the 1960's or early 1970's, still maintained a large membership and which could afford to build a new parish further "up the hill" or out in suburbia. I think, for instance, of two parishes in Duquesne, Pennsylvania: Holy Trinity (Slovak) Roman Catholic Church, which, in the late 1960's, built a dazzlingly modem church in the suburb of West Mifflin in which many of the second and third generation lived, but which became de jure a supra-ethnic territorial parish in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh; and Sts. Peter and Paul Byzantine Catholic Church, originally located in the same neighborhood as Holy Trinity, but which built a modem church building in the mid-1960's a mile or two further up the hill, in a stable white, middle-class, poly-ethnic neighborhood. Cross-cutting denominational lines is the decisive influence of World War Il in accelerating, though not causing, the Americanization process within Slovak-American parishes, and with it, division or further schism. The ubiquity of this process I have discovered from discussions with Latin and Byzantine Rite Catholic, Lutheran, and Independent Catholic Slovak-American clergymen and parishioners. A Slovak Lutheran minister in his late forties, who grew up in Johnstown, Penna., relates his experience there and generalizes from it: In my church in Johnstown, there was no English until 1942 - at least until 1942, when I left for World War II. When I left, no English had been introduced. But after war, the young people coming back demanded that English be adopted as a separate service. The effect of the war was to put people of all different backgrounds together, and the common language there was English. The men thought and spoke and felt in English, so that when they got home after the war, their native towns and churches were like a foreign country. The delicate questions, then, as always, was how to contain or try to contain change within continuity. In McKeesport, Penna., Holy Trinity Slovak Roman Catholic Church had been founded in 1895 as a "nationality" parish within the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese (Holy Trinity 1970; Slovak Catholic Par- �90 SLOVAKIA ishes and Institutions, 1955). In 1921 the church had a membership of some 1, 700 individuals and 325 families. In that year, the bishop appointed a priest of Alsatian-German ancestry to succeed the Slovak priest who many elderly parishioners allege returned to Slovakia under dubious circumstances (e.g. , with church funds?). Not so much the new priest's ethnicity as his antagonistic, condescendingly anti-Slovak style precipitated a schism in which some 300 families left to found Sts . Peter and Paul Slovak Independent National Catholic Church, later renamed Sts. Cyril and Methodius. This priest remained the pastor of the church until his death in 1963, and was succeeded by a second-generation Slovak-American priest who remained pastor until his retirement in the mid-1970's. This period witnessed considerable Americanization of everything from liturgy to architecture to the aesthetics of the sanctuary. The immense wood-spires gave way to marble. The dusty baldachino was taken down in the 1960' s. The sanctuary of the church has fewer and fewer statues and candles. The interior became increasingly lighter and brightly lit. The Slovak mass on Sunday morning (one mass out of the four) , attended mostly by the older people, was phased out by the late 1960's. At the Diamond Jubilee Celebration (75 yrs.) in 1970, no Slovak was used in the special mass. (As I left the service, I overheard one man , perhaps in this 60 's, exclaim to a friend: " Couldn 't he have said something in Slovak?'') In 1975, a young third-generation Slovak-American priest became pastor and initiated weekly Charismatic Renewal Services , held in the church social hall and open to and attended by Catholics from parishes throughout McKeesport. Thus, what began as an exclusively ethnic parish has become internally a multi-ethnic territorial Roman Catholic parish though with explicitly acknowledged ties to an ethnic past. Moreover, it is the site for decidedly contemporary American cultic activity that stresses the direct, personal religious experience. The possible conflict between the priest and Eucharist-centererd formalism of the traditional mass (now in the vernacular English) and the participatory Charismatic Service of heightened self-expression and testimonial has at least for the moment been settled by compartmentalization. At the present time (see Table 10), the membership is large enough (roughly 1,800 members) , and its >decline due to the greater proportion of deaths over baptisms gradual e:eough to assure the parish at least several decades of "life." But, clearly the nature of the religious experience has changed decisively over the past 85 years . The word ' 'Slovak '' was officially dropped from the name of the church in �SLOVAKIA 91 \ the 1960's. • The parish is becoming increasingly working-class Catholic in its expressive function. The so-called Latinization and Irishization of the church has most recently been succeeded by a new type of American religious nativism: here , however, the change is induced far less from without than from within. To date, St. Nicholas Byzantine Catholic Church, Sts. Cyril and Methodius Slovak Independent National Catholic Church, and St. Mark Lutheran Church have solved the generational gap between traditionalists and acculturationists through separate services. Sts. Cyril and Methodius alternates Sundays with English and Slovak services. At St. Mark, the Slovak service typically takes place early on Sunday, followed by the English service . At the much larger St. Nicholas, the Slavonic Mass is one of three masses offered on Sunday morning, the other two in English (for detailed histories of these parishes , see Stein 1972). If at Holy Trinity, " Latinization" mediated by " Irishization " underlay much internal conflict, at St. Nicholas a less direct though powerful Latinization has taken place, here mediated by the supra-local hierarchy from Byzantine Catholic bishop through Rome. Just as in Latin Rite Slovak-American parishes, the conglomerate of IrishizationLatinization-Americanization was a means of social mobility for the priesthood ; likewise within Byzantine Rite Slovak-American parishes, Latinization-Americanization, bypassing the Latin Rite, Irish-dominated Church , was a means of social mobility for its priesthood. This, however, was not original to the American context. For centuries, both Byzantine and Latin Rite Slovak priests frequently used Magyarization as a means of mobility in Slovakia. Likewise, in Europe as in America, Germanization was a means of social mobility for Slovak Lutheran clergy. In all cases , the process in America was continuous with that in Europe: only the specific content or reference group(s) changed. • Let me furthe r pursue the issue of " What' s in a name? " , the importance of name as personal meaning and identity, from the point of view of baptismal records in this parish . Both in traditional Slovakia, and in parish records through the early 1920' s, baptismal names we re largely Biblical , or reflected more eastern Slavic influence . Thus, most males were named Michael, John, Thomas , Andrew , George, Paul, Joseph, Stephen , Be rnard , Albert, Rudolph, Charles, and Ivan ; and females were named Martha, Helen , Margaret , Mary, Anna , Elizabeth , and Ivana. American names, including the addition of a middle name, began to appear sporadically in the late 1910's , but grew in the 1920's and thereafter . For instance : Ella Sue, Stanley J oseph , Ethel Elizabeth, Emma Marie , Virginia , Robert William , George Edward (all before 1930) , Anna Mae, Rose Marie , Dorothy Mae , Virginia Louise, Patricia J ane , Lucille Diane , Gary Michael, William John , and so forth . �SLOVAKIA 92 TABLE 10 Diocese of Pittsburgh Holy Trinity (Slovak) Catholic Church Allegheny County McKeesport, PA Church reports at five year intervals (1896-1971): Year 1896 1901 1906 1911 1916 1921 1926 1931 1936 1941 1946 1951 1956 1961 1966 1971 1974+ Souls (approximate)• 600 Families (approximate)• 180 905 210 1060 250 1200 1300 1800 2500 2700 300 300 400 600 600 600 600 600 500 600 600 610 675 667 2900 2886 3170 3180 3500 3500 2725 2540 2140 Baptisms 144 151 175 177 160 140 137 131 86 72 127 86 78 66 41 26 16 Deaths 50 . 67 109 30 48 50 30 45 38 37 24 36 39 40 35 37 50 • Priest' s estimate derived from traditional annual blessing of homes after Epiphany. + Last year data available. Moreover, this was hardly a process imposed exclusively from without or by the pastor. In the absence of schism, and in the aftermath of schism for those who chose to remain loyal to church and pastor, the direction taken by the pastor coincided with the direction sought by a majority of the congregation, through passive assent if not active work toward change. The matter is somewhat different for Sts. Cyril and Methodius, an independent Slovak Catholic church that has literally struggled for survival since its creation in 1921. Beginning with some 300 zealous families as Sts. Peter and Paul, it has now barely 100 members. In the 1920's it ambitiously built a new church, only to lose it to the bank in 1937. Just as, prior to building its own edifi<z, the church held services in Slovak Hall and in churches where it was welcomed, likewise after 1937, it held services at the YWCA and the Baptist Mission. In order to be exempt from any past or future debts incurred under its original �SLOVAKIA 93 \ name , Sts. Peter and Paul changed its name to Sts. Cyril and Methodius in the late 1930's . In its early period, the church had been served by a priest ordained by the Czecho-Slovak Independent Church in Slovakia. Later, when no priest could be found, Sts. Cyril and Methodius became affiliated with the parallel nativistic Polish National Catholic movement which had begun in Scranton, Penna. in 1897 (Fox, n .d.). Services were conducted at the local, inner-city Polish National Catholic Church , served by a Polish-American priest who said mass in Polish, while responsorials and hymns were sung in Slovak by the congregation. During the late 1960's, the Polish church began a building program in suburban McKeesport. At the same time, a Swedish Evangelical Free Church was vacating its church on the "hill" and moving to a more outlying district - where its members tended to be living, and away from the area in which blacks were now living in increasing numbers . The Slovak Independent church voted to purchase the Swedish church outright in 1967. So the church now had a home, but few members. Many had, in the intervening year, returned to Holy Trinity. Others joined Catholic or Protestant churches near their homes . Still others gravitated in increasing numbers to the Polish National Catholic Church: an institution which acted both to safeguard the Slovak church and as an agent of acculturation to the PNCC tradition. Indeed , one of the greatest areas of chronic conflict within Sts. Cyril and Methodius has been those who resist and resent the PNCC influence and those who accept it. From the outset, the Slovak National Catholic Church movement has been numerically small and politically weak in comparison with the PNCC, which now claims several hundreds of thousands of members in some 140 churches in the U.S. alone - and which movement diffused in the 1920's back to the mother country . Thus the direction of change in Sts. Cyril and Methodius has been toward PNCC and American acculturation. Like St. Mark, whose ' 'life history '' I present immediately below in detail rather than fragment , the membership of Sts. Cyril and Methodius is highly skewed toward the end of the life cycle , unbalanced by a substantial middle-aged population to compensate for the outward migration of young adults and the virtually non-existent birth-rate. While these examples are sufficient to illustrate the trend of culture change , I would like to tum to the history of St. Mark Lutheran Church , which should provide a depth missing in the breadth of the " trends " I have covered for the other churches . �94 SLOVAKIA ST. MARK LUTHERAN CHURCH: AN INSTITUTIONAL ''LIFE HISTORY'' St. Mark's was founded in 1913 by 25 members from the Slovak Evangelical Union Assembly 53 (a fraternal organization) organized in 1899 in Duquesne. The church was named the Slovak Evangelical Augsburg Lutheran Congregation of Duquesne. Between 1913 and 1919, ''lacking funds to either build or buy a place for a church site, the Church council called upon the nearby existing Grace Reformed Church ... for permission to use the church for services" (50th Anniversary Book, St. Mark Ev. Lutheran Church, Oct. 27, 1963) . Toward the end of the decade , Grace Reformed Church's growth compelled it to seek larger quarters elsewhere in Duquesne, making the building available for purchase. Slovak Lutherans from Duquesne and from the nearby communities of McKeesport and Glassport purchased the church building. In 1920, the parish was able to send a call for its first full-time pastor. In 1934, after no prior synodical affiliation, the church joined the Slovak Zion Synod, Lutheran Church of America, in which it has been a member ever since. In the 1930's, the Slovak Lutheran parish in Duquesne, Pennsylvania, experienced a schism between the more Americanized members and the traditionalists. The more Americanized members wanted English introduced into the service, and wanted to establish a Sunday School for their children in which English was the language of instruction. The more adamant Slovaks refused to permit any change. Between one-third and one-half of the congregation (over 150 members) left. They took up membership at the nearby German Lutheran and Engish Lutheran churches. The loss of membership in the 1930's precipitated a compromise initiated in 1940: an English-language Sunday School was founded, and English was adopted in the Vacation Bible School and in the Confirmation Class. The services, however, remained entirely in Slovak. The Second World War acted as a great catalyst of change toward the more rapid Americanization of the parish - not merely of this parish but thoughout Slovak Lutheran parishes. The younger members, many of them returning veterans, insisted on a separate English service. This structural change solved in part the probl~m of the different intergenerational linguistic and cultural orientatibns. Each age set, indeed cultural set, would have its own separate service. The Sunday morning Slovak service at the Duquesne parish is now a much shortened version of the traditional service. In this way, it has been adopted to the Ameri- �SLOVAKIA 95 can time-sense (e.g., hymns of an original 16-20 stanzas now reduced to 4-6). For occasions such •s Christmas Eve, Easter Sunday, and Confirmation, joint services are held, with roughly half in English and half in Slovak, equally distributed throughout the service. In the 1960's, further measures were taken to Americanize the church. A majority of the younger members felt that the word "Slovak" in its name , as with the lengthy European-sounding name as a whole, discouraged non-Slovaks from joining. The younger age set wished to become an integrated member of the American Lutheran community rather than remain outside it. As a reflection of this attitude change, the name was changed from Slovak Evangelical Augsburg Lutheran Congregation of Duquesne to the more conventional St. Mark Evangelical Lutheran Church, or simply St. Mark Lutheran Church. The church was named in honor of a saint because, as the pastor put it, ''most American churches are called Saint this or Saint that.'' Accompanying the change in name were concomitant changes in the by-laws whose effect was intended to parallel and validate the change in name. Whereas previously membership was restricted to Slovak Lutherans and their spouses (through conversion to Lutheranism), now membership was opened to all Lutherans irrespective of nationality background. For all practical purposes the church became ''two churches' ' : Slovak Lutheran and American Lutheran, the former using the Slovak liturgy, and the latter utilizing the Common Service Book of 1917 (United Lutheran Church of America) until the mid-1960's, then the authorized Service Book and Hymnal (Lutheran Church of America, 1968). However, the opening up of the church to new membership, together with the standardization of the liturgy, failed to attract new members or to retain the young. The Slovak population of Duquesne, like that of McKeesport and all other local milltowns on the Monongahela, had largely been moving to outlying districts, first up on ''the hill,'' later further out to "suburbs. " Mobility of membership to nearby " American Lutheran" churches almost inevitably followed. In the same area of Duquesne as St. Mark Church were former Slovak Roman Catholic (Holy Trinity, Duquesne) and Slovak / Rusin Byzantine Catholic (Sts. Peter and Paul) churches . Sts. Peter and Paul had completed a new church far up on the hill in early 1960, and Holy Trinity completed a new church out in the suburb of West Mifflin in 1970. During the period from the 1940' s through the 1960' s, as the Slovaks moved " up and out," the area rapidly became settled by blacks , and the area quickly became unpopular even in the eyes of those Slovaks who remained and attended the Lutheran Church (which could not �96 SLOVAKIA afford to build elsewhere). The church could hardly retain its own members, let alone attract outsiders to what was quickly becoming called a deteriorated and unstable area. The former Slovak Catholic Holy Trinity Church building and rectory were given by the diocesan bishop to a local black church group, and the nearby vacated Slovak / Rusin Byzantine Church became a plaything for vandals. Many Catholic and Lutheran Slovak-Americans who had bought their first homes here or had grown up in this neighborhood said in disgust that this was no longer a place fit for a white man to live. It is significant that, despite all the vast changes that have taken place in the church, the original German-made oak tryptich altar, baptismal, and pulpit (of the 1920's) are retained by the church to the present. From time to time younger parishioners have suggested that the ancient pipe organ be replaced by a modern electric organ, but there has never been a concerted demand for such a replacement. I suspect that underlying this lack of pressure for costly remodeling and rennovation is first, the smallness of the congregation and hence the lack of large amounts of funds for such purposes, and second, the younger generation's relative lack of long-term future commitment to the parish and hence their acquiescence to the traditional preferences of the older generation . At present, an average of ten of those parishioners aged 60 and over attend the Slovak service; while between 40 and 50 of mostly younger parishioners and their families attend the English. Only a few elderly people are accompanied in the Slovak service by their children and grandchildren. However, many grandparents attend the English service with their children. Unexceptionably, the three-generation service is the English. A maximum of 15 attend the Slovak service, while at the English it approximates 60. The parish is rapidly losing members at both ends of the age range , the elder through deaths , and the younger with their families by moving away or joining more American Lutheran churches . Between 1960 and the end of 1970, the church lost 26 members over age 50 (out of a total of 32) of whom 14 were over age 70. Several parents in their 30 's and 40 's have told me of their intention of joining elsewhere after their own parents, stalwart members , pass on .* \ • Rarely have Slovak-ethnic organizations later becom~ stable supra-ethnic co=unity institutions . The direction of change seems one way . Ethnic parishes have declined dramatically in Slovak-American membership . The ethnic fratemals ' efforts at modernizing fis cally simply came too late . Moreover, the fratemals ' renewed efforts at in- �SLOVAKIA 97 , CONCLUSION This paper has examined religion and fraternal association among Slovak-Americans as institutional forms for the communication of cultural meaning. Although I have focused on a single Euro-American population, the perspectives and findings of this study should be applicable to and testable by data from comparable populations. Historical, documentary, ethnographic, and demographic data were adduced both to illustrate cultural patterns of communication and to offer the reader material by which my generalizations might be evaluated. I have emphasized that (a) there is much in Slovak-American adaptation that is built upon, indeed derived from, preadaptive characteristics of traditional culture which cannot be reduced to the demands of the host environment or to adaptive tools available in it; (b) the overall trend and categories of change in fraternals and churches is identical; (c) the study of institutional meaning is never removed, nor can it be abstracted from, the personal meanings of its participants who invest in social structures; (d) what from one point of view appears to be patently instrumental functions can be discerned simultaneously from another point of view as expressive functions (i.e., complementary); (e) the American cultural system was adopted by Slovak-Americans to achieve both traditional ends (often in new "language" or cultural content) and anti-traditional ends, the seeds of which were sown (as latent possibilities) in traditional Slovak family and social conflict; (f) the distinction between traditional and modern, and continuity and change, cannot be concluded on the basis of mere appearance, but must be detennined by the meanings communicated by the cultural actors; hence (g) continuity in form, function, and meaning can often be expressed, not despite, but strurnental change in service of ethnic, that is, expressive, revitalization was a futile attempt to reassemble functions that had already been severed by the membership for expressive reasons . One conspicuous exception is the Benedictine High School in Cleveland , Ohio . Another is the First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Homestead, Pennsylvania (with branches in McKeesport and Clairton, also mill towns) , originally founded in 1914 by Slovak workers to assist in providing common funds for Slovak families now able and eager to purchase homes in the "hill" regions of the town up and away from their rented flats in the " lowland" or " bottoms " close to the mill . Perhaps a compelling reason for the success of the S & L association lies in its offer of supra-ethnic' ' social security '' resources from the beginning. That is, being primarily a financial institution, it stood the best chance of flourishing in the American cultural environment in which instrumental (e .g. , economic) functions were compartmentalized from expressive ones. �98 SLOVAKIA through a change in symbolic content; (h) although unmistakable trends of change have been noted, at any given moment the identified distinctive features of change may perform complementary or contradictory institutional functions; (i) the process of Americanization or acculturation cannot be seen as a unitary process directed either from within or from without the ethnic community, but must be analyzed in terms of sources of impetus for Americanization. The study of ethnicity is not the study of "tribes" as though they and their conceptually reified cultures persist statically unchanged. Rather, the study of ethnicity is the study of human relationships, the meanings which people attach to those relationships, the communication of those meanings in idiosyncratic or institutionalized forms, the process by which changed meanings lead to changes in relationships and how in tum ethnicity and thus identity itself comes to be redefined. Certainly the nativistic "New Ethnicity" advocated by many fraternal leaders and Slovak-American intelligentsia (Stein and Hill 1977) is not at all the unself-conscious native ethnicity of the pre-immigrant period. My research among some three- and four-generation SlovakAmerican families and institutions leads to to the inexorable conclusion that Slovak-American ethnicity over the past century has dramatically changed from a relatively homogeneous public expression of community form, function, structure, meaning, and relationship to a far more heterogeneous, individualized, private matter. This privatization of ethnicity had led many scholars to conclude that ethnicity has disappeared. This is nonsense: it has been repattemed, some elements retained, others given up. Although the American ethos has replaced the ethnic ethos as the core of personal and group identity, the spheres of life and the levels of the personality at which this replacement has occurred must be demonstrated and explained. What has unmistakably declined and is disappearing is the full complement of institutions which characteristically define a traditional community (cf. Arensberg and Kimball 1965) . However, as I have suggested in my previously cited works, unconsciously communicated loyalties, conflicts, values , expectation, and worldview in the intimate interior of even ethnically intermarried families results in continuities in surprising guises (e.g., the steel mill experienced as the old manorial latifundia: see Stein and Hill 1979; Hamey 1975) . , On the other hand, ethnic ties are often.maintained in the absence of conspicuously ethnic content - and here "conspicuity" refers all too often to the preoccupations and categories of the observer. Ethnicity takes on an especially "hidden" quality (Hill and May 1973) when the �SLOVAKIA 99 observer expects tradition~ meanings to take traditional representational forms. The more subtle, out-of-awareness (Hall 1977) aspects of ethnicity are the most intractible because they are pre-verbally ta.ken for granted and cannot be verbalized. Thus, for instance, I shall know that without a doubt a Slovak-American woman or man has acculturated more toward the core of the metaphoric personal ''onion'' when children - or the ethnographer! - are forcibly lavished copious quantities of food, when I am invited to visit with a family in their ''living room" or "dining room" instead of the kitchen; or when the implicit roles of maternal dominance and paternal distance in the home have become less pronounced, and the affective atmosphere affectively less brittle. Likewise, the inclusion of members from other ethnic groups within formerly exclusive tradition-maintaining fraternal and religious institutions, and the increasingly widespread phenomenon of intermarriage, are expressions of the simultaneous of group- or "ethnic" - and ego-boundaries. The formerly "other," often despised and alien, is now included within the possibilities of the "self." This fact requires a reassessment of our received wisdom about structural assimilation, namely, that inclusion is an act governed or regulated by the more mainstreamed "Americans" - that is, that it operates as a one-way process. Rather, inclusion is reciprocally a dynamic from within the ethnic group. Finally, this paper further confirms the tenet that ethnicity is a process operating at many levels, and is not a lineal continuum whose starting and terminal points can easily be plotted in terms of preconceived categories of "passing," "acculturation," "mobility," or "assimilation." It is the author's hope that future studies will not only provide greater breadth and depth in the study of Slovak-Americans, but will offer a comparative framework for the study of emigrant Slovaks in other nations (indeed, other regions of the U.S.), the internal transformation of Slovakia in the post-World War I period, and other European emigrant populations in their new contexts. Such studies will determine precisely how limited or widespread is the trend of culture change discussed in this paper. REFERENCES Anderson, Robert T. "Voluntary Associations in History," American Anthropologist 73(1971): 209-222. Arensberg, Conrad M. and Solon T. Kimball. Culture and Community . New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1966. �100 SLOVAKIA Balch, Emily Greene. Our Slavic Fellow Citizens . New York : Amo Press, 1969 (orig. 1910) . Barton , Josef J . Peasants and Strangers : Italians, Rumanians and Slovaks in an American City, 1890-1950. Cambridge, Mass : Harvard University Press, 1976. Bue, Bonaventure S. " Slovak Nationalism: Its Origins, Conflicts and Objectives." Master's thesis, University of Pittsburgh, 1967. Fitzpatrick , Joseph P. " The Importance of ' Community' in the Process of Immigrant Assimilation, " International Migration Review 1(1)(1966) : 6-16. Fox, Paul. The Polish National Catholic Church . Scranton , Penna: School of Christian Living, n.d . Gluckman, Max. Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa . Manchester: Manchester University Press , 1964. Goldschmidt, Walter and E. J . Kunkel. " The Structure of the Peasant Family," American Anthropologist 73(1971): 1068-1076. Gould, Harold A. ' 'Some Preliminary Observations Concerning the Anthropology of Industrialization,'' In Peasants in Cities: Readings in the Anthropology of Urbanization . William Mangin, ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1970, pp. 137-149. Hall, Edward. Beyond Culture . Garden City, New York : Doubleday 1/ Anchor, 1977. Hamey, Robert F. "Ambiente and Social Class in North American Little Italies," Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism 2(2)(1976): 208-224. Hill, Robert F. and J . Thomas May. " Exploring Hidden Ethnicity: Problems and Methods ," American Society of Ethnohistory , Central State University, Edmond , Oklahoma, October 1973. Jansak Stefan. "The Land Question in Slovakia (I), " The Slavonic Review 8(1930) : 612626. Kerner, Robert J ., ed . Czechoslovakia . Berkeley: University of California Press, 1940. Kirschbaum , Joseph M. Slovakia: Nation at the Crossroads of Europe. New York: Robert Speller and Sons, 1960. Klein, Philip . A Social Study of Pittsburgh. New York : Columbia University Press, 1938. Koenig, Samuel. " Marriage and the Family among the Galician Ukrainians, " In Studies in the Science of Society . George P. Murdock, ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1937 , pp. 299-318 . Krajsa, Joseph C., Chairman, Editorial Board. Slovaks in America . Middletown, Penn.: The Slovak League of America, 1978. La Barre, Weston . The Ghost Dance: The Origins of Religion . New York: Dell, 1972. Lacko, Michael. '' A Brief Study of the History of the Slovak Catholics of the ByzantineSlavonic Rite," Slovak Studies 3(1963) : 199-224. Slovak Institute, Rome, Italy . Light, Ivan H. Ethnic Enterprise in America. Berkeley: University of California Press , 1972 . Macartney , C. A. Hungary and Her Successors . New York : Oxford University Press , 1937. Nelli, Humbert S. The Italians in Chicago, 1880-1930: A Study in Ethnic Mobility . New York : Oxford University Press, 1970. Oddo, Gilbert L. Slovakia and/ts People . New York: Robert Speller and Sons , 1960. Roucek , Joseph S. "Problems of Assimilation: A Study of Czecho-Slovaks in the United States ," Sociology and Social Research XVIl (1932-33) : 62-71. Roucek , Joseph S. " The Passing of American Czechoshivaks ," American Journal of Sociology 39(1933-34) : 611-626 . Roucek , Joseph S. " Czechoslovak Americans ," In Our Racial and National Minorities. �SLOVAKIA 101 Francis J . Brown and Joseph S. Roucek , eds . New York: Prentice-Hall, 1937, pp. 230246 . Slovak Catholic Parishes and Institutions in the United States and Canada. Cleveland, Ohio: The First Catholic Slovak Union, 1966 (Jednota Printery, Middletown, Penna.) . Stein , Howard F . " An Ethno-Historical Study of Slovak-American Identity." Doctoral dissertation , University of Pittsburgh , 1972. Stein, Howard F. " Cultural Specificity in Patterns of Mental Illness and Health: A Slovak-American Case Study, " Family Process 12(March 1973): 69-82. Stein, Howard F. '' Envy and the Evil Eye among Slovak-Americans: An Exploration into the Psychological Ontogeny of Belief and Ritual," Ethos 2(1)(Spring 1974) : 16-46. Stein , Howard F. " Structural Change in Slovak Kinship: An Ethnohistoric Inquiry," Ethnology 14(1)(January 1976): 99-108 . Stein , Howard F. " A Dialectic Model of Illness and Health Attitudes and Behavior among Slovak-Americans ," International Journal of Mental Health 6(2)(Summer 1976) : 117-137. Stein , Howard F. " The Slovak-American 'Swaddling Ethos' : Homeostat for Family Dynamics and Cultural Continuity, " Family Process 17 (March 1978) : 32-46. (a) Stein, Howard F. ''Aging and Death among Slovak-Americans: A Study in the Thematic Unity of the Life Cycle ," The Journal of Psychological Anthropology 1(3)(Summer 1978) : 297-320. (b) Stein, Howard F. "The White Ethnic Movement, Pan-Ism, and the Restoration of Early Symbosis: The Psychohistory of a Group-Fantasy," The Journal of Psychohistory 6(3)(Winter 1979) : 319-360. Stein, Howard F. and Robert F . Hill. The Ethnic Imperative: Ewmining the New White Ethnic Mo vement. University Park , Penna .: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1977. Stein, Howard F. and Robert F. Hill. " Adaptive Modalities Among Slovak- and PolishAmericans : Some Issues in Cultural Continuity and Change ," Anthropology 3(1-2) (1979) : 96-107. Stolarik , M. Mark . " Immigration and Urbanization: The Slovak Experience, 18701918." Doctoral dissertation , University of Minnesota , 1974. Wallace , A. F. C. Religion: An Anthropological View . New York: Random House, 1966. Yurchak , Peter Paul . The Slovaks . Whiting, Indiana: Obrana Press, 1946. Zatko , James J . " Slovaks in the U.S.A., 1900-1914," Slovakia 16(39)(1966) : 41-62 (Slovak League of America). �� SLOVAKIA 53 An Ethnohistqry of Slovak-American Religious and Fraternal Associations: A Study in Cultural Meaning, Group Identity, and Social Institutions HOW ARD F. STEIN INTRODUCTION: ETHNICITY, INSTITUTIONS AND THE STUDY OF MEANING The study of ethnicity is necessarily a study of systems of meaning and how that meaning is communicated. Ethnicity is far more than a matter of social mobility, group competition for scarce resources, acculturation, and the like. This paper focuses on what might be called the "life histories" of Slovak-American fraternal and religious associations as institutionalized expressors of a century of changing groupidentity and those meanings that represent the underlying group-identity. Special emphasis is placed on identifying precisely what about ethnic identity is communicated by these institutions. The central argument is that Slovak-American fraternal and religious associations perform important psychosocial functions - not merely social structural ones. Indeed, I propose that the former determines and sustains, and explains, the revitalization or atrophy of the latter. Another way of putting it is that the ''expressive'' dimension of ethnicity is inherent in the "instrumental" roles performed by fraternal and religious organizations. The world of the symbolic is never separated from the world of the practical. The term "ethnic fraternal" is used here in the sense of mutual benefit, self-help, voluntary associations (see Anderson 1971) that trace to diverse mid-nineteenth century immigrant populations to the U.S. However, the meaning of ethnic fraternalism should not be ac• A paper presented as part of a panel on ''Ethnicity as Communication in Southeastern Europe: A Comparative Approach,'' at the national convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, New Haven, October, 1979. �54 SLOVAKIA cepted as self-evident, since ethnic voluntary associations, like the religious institutions which they founded, have undergone considerable change of function, and indeed have served multiple, often contradictory functions. In both instances it will be necessary to specify the meaning of persistance and change alike. Elsewhere I have addressed issues of Slovak-American cultural continuity and change in identity at the levels of personality structure, family dynamics, child-rearing patterns, kinship structure, projective system, health and illness attitudes, psychopathology, and ethos (Stein _1973, 1974, 1975,_1976, 1978a; _Stein and Hill 197~, _19~_). No attempt~ here made at a comprehensive history of Slovaks in Europe or the United States. The reader is referred to two groups of works on Slovaks and Slovak-Americans. One genre can be regarded as "official histories," and includes works by Yurchak (1946), Kirschbaum (1960), O~do (1960), Zatko (1966), and Krajsa (1978); and the journals Slovak Studies and Slovakia. The second group consists of disparate studies whose common denominator is the absence of adherence to any prevailing ideology. Representatives of this genre include Balch (1910); Macartney (1937); Kerner (1940); Bue (1957); Roucek (1932-33, 1933-34, 1937); Stolarik (1974); Barton (1975); and Stein (1972). The sources in the first group reflect a particular point of view, namely, the alliance of Slovak Roman Catholicism with political nationalism (i.e., the First Catholic Slovak Union, the Slovak League of America). This also reminds us that traditionally among the majority of Slovaks, ethnicity and religion were fused. Slovak Studies is the publication of the Slovak Institute, Rome, and Slovakia has long been the official publication of the Slovak League. One could legitimately see the Slovak Republic as an expansion onto the level of the state of what had long been a fact at the local level: namely, the political importance of the clergy. Many past and present Slovak League leaders, scholars, and political activists on behalf of Slovak national autonomy in Europe are former leaders and intelligentsia of the short-lived Slovak Republic (1939-1945). That their genre of historiography would be ethno-national apologia is to be expected. However, the visibility of the Slovak League on the American scene in official American political circles has more to do with their anti-communism and their courtship by American political leaders than with cultural, political, or demographic fa~s intrinsic to the League. This highlights the oft neglected fact that American sociopolitical factors often heighten ethnicity, even help preserve it - through a not particularly laudable duplicitous manipulation of loyalties and fears. Among Slovak-Americans, as among all peoples, official histories �SLOVAKIA 55 are those sacred myths of the past held and recorded by the putative leadership. Throughout this essay, I shall emphasize whose perspective on the past is being stated as I discuss those institutions that have been deeply concerned v,:ith the cultural sense of time. This leads to a final word of warning: jus\ as ''culture'' is inseparable from the people who constitute it, likewise for social "institutions." An "institution" is only a conventional shorthand. What this paper is about is the history of group consensus and conflict, continuity and change. The very inclusion of this essay in Slovakia attests to changes not only in ''editorial policy" or editorship, but to a more pervasive change in Slovak ethnicity itself in which there is greater openness to self-scrutiny. It is less necessary, shall I say, to toe a "party line." Neither Slovakia, nor Slovak ethnicity, is static. The focus of this paper is on large-scale social institutions as vehicles of continuity and change in meaning systems. Among SlovakAmericans, religious and fraternal organizations have served for nearly a century as articulators of cultural meaning, first reflecting the relatively uniform cultural system brought from Slovakia, later becoming increasingly removed from the very real pluralism of the Slovak-American population for whom they claim to speak. Both ethnographic research in the Steel Valley of western Pennsylvania (conducted intensively 1970-1972, and intermittently through the present) and documentary study have provided both an understanding of the dynamics within local churches and fraternal society lodges, and a picture of Slovak-American religion and voluntary association on the national scale. Ethnographic study in the Steel Valley of western Pennsylvania, especially the mill-cities of McKeesport and Duquesne, include participant obsevation at, and interviews with members of, the following religious and fraternal groups: parishes of Slovak Roman Catholic Latin Rite, Slovak and Ruthenian Roman Catholic Byzantine Rite, Slovak Independent Catholic Rite, Slovak Lutheran Rite; the First Catholic Slovak Union, Zivena, the Slovak League, Slovak Catholic Sokol, Sokol USA, National Slovak Society, Greek Catholic Union, United Societies of USA, and the Slovak Evangelical Union. I obtained valuable ethnographic and demographic data from interviews and documentary sources at the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese, and with officers of the National Slovak Society, the Greek Catholic Union, United Societies of USA, and the Slovak Zion Synod-Lutheran Church of America. A careful study of old and recent fraternal newspapers and annual Kalendars, often stored not in official archives but in cabinets and basements, permitted comparison of ethnohistory recon- �56 SLOVAKIA structed from informants' current memory and self-presentation, with cultural meanings preserved in print.* Finally, actuarial data provided by the national offices of the National Slovak Society, the Greek Catholic Union, and United Societies of USA permitted a comparison to be made between a necessarily selected sample in which values, attitudes, expectations, criteria and policies of admission and exclusion, and the like were expressed; and statistics of actual participation in or withdrawal from fraternal associations based on trends in membership as reflected in the purchasing and cashing-in of life insurance policies. Ethnographic research both at the local and supra-level simultaneously complemented, explained, and tested the data obtained from tables of parish and fraternal society membership. The reader is referred to the following Tables 1-4 which identify both on the national level and in the region of ethnographic study the major Slovak-American religious and fraternal institutions. ETHNOGRAPHIC BASE LINE The Slovak-American institutions discussed here stem from the migration of over some half-million Slovak peasants and landless peasants from 1880 until the mid-1920's (Zatko 1966: 45), that is, from the period of the Magyar development of a monetary, technologized, labor intensive economy in the 1870's, to the exclusionary American Emergency Quota Laws of 1921-24 and the Immigration Act of 1924, and the National Origins Act of 1929. Roughly 85 percent of the immigrants were Latin or Byzantine Rite Catholics, and 15 percent were Lutherans and Calvinists. The highest rate of migration was from the most impoverished and overpopulated regions of Slovakia, namely, the foothills of the Tatra and Carpathian Mountains (Jansak 1930). As an overall pattern, the earliest Slovaks came to the anthracite coal mining district of eastern Pennsylvania, while later Slovaks came to the mill towns in the "Steel Valley" of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and westward (Cleveland, Gary, Chicago). The greater Pittsburgh region remains the highest concentration of Slovak-Americans in the U.S. (some 29,000 immigrants; 35,000 foreign stock in 1930 Censu~ Klein 1938: 288; Roucek 1933-34: 614) . It is the location of the national offices of the National • These include Narodne Noviny, Jednota, The Greek Catholic Union Messenger, Prosvita, Katolicky Sokol, Sokol USA Times; annual fraternal yearbooks or Kalenddrs ; and the journals Slovakia (Slovak League) and Slovak Studies (Slovak Institute, Cleveland and Rome). �SLOVAKIA 57 TABLE 1 THE FOUNDING OF SOOVAK-AMERICAN RELIGION IN AMERICA I. Early Slovak Catholic Institutional History in America Name Place and Year Founded First Slovak Church in the Western Hemisphere, Hazleton, Penna., 1885 St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church* . .......... . (Cornerstone) Early Slovak Roman Catholic Churches in the Allentown, Penna. Diocese (anthracite coal mining area)* ................ . . . Bethlehem, Penna., 1891 Saints Cyril and Methodius Saint Michael Archangel ... . .... . . . . .. . ..... Summit Hill, Langsford, Penna. , 1891 Saints Cyril and Methodius .... . .. .... ....... . .Reading, Penna., 1896 First Slovak Catholic parish school ............ .. . . .Chicago, ID., 1900 Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius Slovak Sisterhood: Motherhouse established .................... ... Danville, Pa., 1901 High School for Girls established ........... . .... Danville, Pa., 1922 First Vincentian Sisters of Charity arrived from Slovakia to serve St. Michael's Parish ........ Braddock, Pa., 1902 Priests' Society of St. Anthony's Burse in the USA (to support students interested in teaching and Slovak girls preparing to be teaching nuns) .... Wilkes-Barre, Pa., 1903 Benedictine High School for Boys . .. . . .... . . . ...... Cleveland, 1927 II. Early Slovak Lutheran Institutional History in America Name Place and Year Founded First Slovak Lutheran Church in the Western Hemisphere: Saints Peter and Paul .............. Freeland, Penna., first services: 1883; Church built: 1886. • Slovak Lutheran Synod (Missouri Synod) ............ 1902 Slovak Zion Synod (left Missouri Synod, joined United Lutheran Church of America founded in 1919) . . ......... . . .. . . . . ..... .. 1920 • Source: Katolicky Sokol, July 21, 1971 (published in Passaic, New Jersey) . Evidently, the founding of the first Slovak church in the western hemisphere is a matter of considerable controversy - and competition. Professor M. Mark Stolarik kindly informed me of the feud between St. Joseph's parish in Hazleton, Pennsylvania and St. Stephen's in Streator, Illinois for the honor of being "the first" (which, incidentally, is a very American preoccupation!) . Professor Stolarik found the St. Stephen records several years ago and deposited them at the Immigrant Archives in Minnesota. Thus St. Stephen's can document its claim to having been founded in 1884. On the other hand, St. Joseph's burned down at the tum of the century, and its records were lost. Thus its claim to having been founded in 1884 cannot be documented . Professor Stolarik suggests that the editor of Katolicky Sokol, John Sciranka, my original source for the 1886 date , tended to favor the Hazleton parish since he was from Pennsylvania (again , ethnicity in a meta-context, this time localism) (personal communication, 9 September 1979) . �Passaic, N.J ., 1906 Cleveland, 1907 Wilkes-Barre, Pa., 1911 Slovak Catholic Sokol Slovak League of America Slovak Catholic Federation in America McKeesport, Pa ., 1902 Wilkes-Barre, Pa ., 1892 Freeland, Pa., 1893 New York, 1896 Greek Catholic Union Slovak Evangelical Union (since 1960: United Lut9eran Society) Sokol USA (orig.: Slovak Gymnastic Union Sokol of the USA) United Societies of USA (Sobranije) Cleveland, 1892 Cleveland, 1890 Cleveland ? Passaic, N.J . McKeesport Perth Amboy, N.J. Ligonier, Pa. Pittsburgh Cleveland Cleveiand Insurance, religious (Roman Catholic), political, cultural, fraternal Insurance, religious (Roman Catholic), political, cultural, fraternal Insurance, religious , political, fraternal Insurance, religious , cultural, political, fraternal Gymnastic, cultural, insurance, political, fraternal Insurance, religious (Greek Catholic), cultural, political, fraternal Gymnastic, religious (Roman Catholic), cultural, fraternal , insurance Political, cultural, religious Religious, political, cultural MAJOR NATIONALLY-BASED SLOVAK INSTITUTIONS Headquarters Place and Year Functions Pittsburgh, 1890 Pittsburgh Insurance, cultural, political, fraternal New York, 1891 Pittsburgh Insurance, cultural, political, fraternal First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union 2ivena Beneficial Society (women's equivalent to National Slovak Society, last joint convention with NSS, 1901) First Catholic Slovak Union (Jednota) Name National Slovak Society TABLE2 > 7' > ~ r I.I) CX) V, �Saints Cyril and Methodius Slovak National Catholic Church, McKeesport, founded 1922; name originally Saints Peter and Paul Slovak Independent National Catholic Church ; changed name to present in the late 1930's for legal purposes due to loss of church building during the Depression; affiliated throughout its history with the Polish National Catholic Church, and in the 1940's with the Congregational Church. St. Mark Lutheran Church, Duquesne, Pa. (serving Duquesne and McKeesport), founded 1913 ; name originally: Slovak Evangelical Augsburg Congregation of Duquesne; church bought 1920; joined Slovak Zion Synod of the United Lutheran Church of America 1934; Sunday school founded, use of English in teaching confirmation class 1940; earlier schism over non-use of English by acculturated families ; name changed to present in the 1950's, accompanied by change in by-laws to open church to Lutherans of all nationalities . St. Nicholas Byzantine Catholic Church , founded 1901 ; name originally "Greek Catholic," changed to " Byzantine" in the 1960's; schism in 1939. SWVAK CHURCHES SERVING THE McKEESPORT AREA Holy Trinity Slovak Roman Catholic Church, founded 1892; the name "Slovak" officially dropped in the 1960's; first church building purchased and enlarged 1895 ; schism in 1922. ., TABLE3 '° u, 7' > > ~ r Vl �SLOVAK FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS SERVING THE McKEESPORT PENNSYLVANIA AREA IN '' STEEL VALLEY'' Name Year Founded Membership, other comments Slovenskeho N. P. Spolok (Slovak December 16, 1888 Protestant or Catholic, but Slavic Sick Benefit Soc.) preceded the local lodge of the National Slovak Society, with which it merged in 1890 National Slovak Society, Lodge 31 1890 Protestant or Catholic , but Slavic mostly Slovak Jednota (First Catholic Slovak 1892 (women's lodge, Roman Catholic, Slovak Union) , Lodge 60 276 , formed later) Greek Catholic Union, Lodge 2 1892 Mostly Greek Catholic, but also Roman Catholic, Rusin, and Slovak United Societies of USA (Sobranije) , 1902 Schism within the Greek Catholic Union headquarters and Lodge 1 Sokol USA (Slovensky Sokol), Lodge 1903 (ladies assembly Protestant or Catholic , but Slavic 46 11, formed later) mostly Slovak Slovak Evangelical Union, Assembly 1899 Slovak Lutheran 63 (Duquesne , Pa. , serv~g McKeesport as well) Slovak Club , White Street Hall, 1896, sold to Catholic Fellowship, men's club , social, drinking McKeesport War Veterans 1970 activities First Federal Savings and Loan 1914 Association formed to assist Slovak workers Association of Homestead in obtaining funds to purchase a home ; Federal Charter 1937 ; branch offices in McKeesport (1964), Clairton (1969) ; and Braddock (1969) ; serves Monongahela Valley Communities; (originally names: First Slovak Building and Loan Association) TABLE4 > ;;,;; < > l/1 r 0 ~ �SLOVAKIA 61 Slovak Society, the Greek Catholic Union, and the United Societies of USA. The town of Munhall, located in the Steel Valley, is the site of an eparchate or diocese of. the Byzantine Catholic Church. The Greek Catholic Union, founded iq. 1892 in Wilkes-Barre, Penna. , the heart of the anthracite mining region, moved its headquarters in 1910 to the Steel Valley. Although one's place of settlement was greatly influenced by the availability of desirable work, the type of work one sought, and the reasons for choosing that work (originally, to amass greater wealth so that one could return to one's home and village and live better with higher status), it was also strongly influenced by the location of prior immigrant kinsmen, village associates, and even more remotely "related" compatriots of the same geographic, political, and dialect district or iupa - who in tum could advise prospective emigrants of the labor market. Mining and factory towns were not arbitrarily populated by people identifying with the abstract term ' 'Slovak.'' Instead, members of the same village or of adjacent villages commonly sought to live with one another in the New World. Indeed, "ethnicity" changed meanings in the process of settlement in the United States: expanding from more localized, inter-village loyalties, and reciprocal obligation, to supra-local ties based on common religion, dialect, and finally to the emergence in America of an encompassing sense of national "Slovakness" that heretofore had never existed (cf. Gould 1970). It was only after a national sense of identity became established (and this, tenuously, because of the intense factionalism among Slovaks) that the appeal of . President Wilson and Secretary of State House during World War I to Slovak nationalism was possible. A document such as the ' ' Pittsburgh Pact" was thus heretofore unthinkable. Any conceptually neat separation of religion (or churches) from fratemalism is heuristically spurious. Indeed, the history of Slovak religion and mutual benefit societies encompasses the spectrum of alliance and schism, and between them, conflict. The history of the relationship between the two types of associations is the history of each. Moreover, both types of organizations are firmly rooted in east-central European social structure. The village organization functioned much like a vastly extended family, in which kin and extra-kin ties of reciprocity were part of the fabric of everyday life . A group-psychology of community solidarity bound the village tightly together. Even the collapse of manorialism in the mid-19th century did not obliterate this essentially pre-Magyar ethno-psychology. One might say that it functioned preadaptively in the American host environment, and facilitated the earliest " insurance" and cultural- �62 SLOVAKIA perpetuative efforts. After all, the extended family was one's life, accident, and sickness "insurance." There was litsrally no conception of the "individual" apart from the family, church, and village group. Fitzpatrick (1966) correctly identifies Euro-American ethnic communities as bridges or "beachheads" to the wider host society (see also Nelli, 1970). Likewise, Anderson notes "the capacity voluntary associations have to facilitate the transition of individuals and societies to participation in the modem world" (1971:216). He further proposes that ' 'the new associations seem founded to meet needs not previously the responsibility of any older organization" (Ibid.). As this paper will emphasize, however, the new associations built on the firm foundations of elements within traditional organizations; the change lay in the repatterning of those elements - a repatteming which, I might add, has been continuous. I wish to stress that there is nothing automatic, inherently ''natural,' ' or inevitable about the Slovak-American adaptation. The need for "survival" does not explain how or why a particular "survival strategy" for "problem solving" is adopted. Stated differently, it is not the stimulus situation of the stress, but the meaning of the stress and the individual or group characteristic response to it that determines the type of adaptation that will be made (La Barre, 1972; Stein and Hill, 1979). One must inquire both into the nature of the new environment and into the cultural tools a group adapts with. "Necessity" by itself does not explain the "invention" (see Light 1972) . The Slovak-American inventions, themselves variations on traditional psychosocial organization, values, and worldview, must be regarded as preadaptations within the cultural repertoire by which the Slovaks recapitulated much of the Old World in the New (see Stein and Hill 1977, 1979) . The traditional ethos determined both how new " necessities" were perceived and the group-organizational responses based on those perceptions. I cannot here pursue in detail the thorny question as to just what " is" a Slovak. Suffice it to say that the approach taken in this paper is essentially " emic": that is, Slovak based on self-identification and / or ancestry. Thus, for instance, there are several thousand Slovak-Americans, Catholic and Lutheran, whose most ~ediate ancestry traces to Croatia rather than northern Hungary. In the mid:17th century aftermath of the Austro-Hungarian expulsion of the Turks, Maria Theresa invited those peoples inhabiting the already overpopulated Hungarian northlands to migrate to the newly opened land. For the most part, these Slovaks remained Slovaks. Identifying the "ethnic" boundary between Slovaks and Rusins or �SLOVAKIA 63 Ruthenians of far eastern Slovakia, southern Galicia, and the western Ukraine is a far stickier matter (see Stein, 1972) . Indeed, many who are Rusin in ancestry, but who lived in what was geopolitically Slovakia, became accultured insidiously through daily contact with the more westernized Slovaks, through the influence of the Latin and Byzantine Rite Roman Catholic Churches, through the centralizing tendencies of Vienna, and last but not least through affiliation and identification with Slovaks following migration to the United States - that is, many became Slovaks in the U.S. I Over at least the past three centuries, the "ethnic boundary" between Slovaks and Rusins has been progressing further eastward. Had the great immigration taken place two centuries ago, virtually all the immigrants would have been of Byzantine Catholic or Orthodox faith and Rusin ethnicity! To the religious conflict must be added, especially since the World War I era, a conflict of nationalisms and proto-nationalisms. Among the permutations of the conflict: (1) Many Ukrainian nationalists insist that eastern ''Slovaks'' and "Rusins" do not exist, but in fact are Ukrainians; (2) Slovakia has undertaken a program of attempting to Slovakize the remaining Rusins; (3) Both the conflict over ethnic identity and the gradual process of Slovakization of Rusins has taken place in the U.S. (a) in such organizations as the Greek Catholic Union and the United Societies of USA, and (b) through the continued process of Latinization whereby many Greek or Byzantine Catholics joined Slovak Latin Rite parishes. A considerable official literature (see Lacko 1963) prepared by the Slovak Institute of Cleveland, Ohio and Rome, Italy is devoted to demonstrating that Slovaks of the Byzantine Rite, in Europe and America, are bona fide Slovaks and Catholics. Many Slovak peasant immigrants and their children passionately argued the same point (Stein 1972). The author's justification for including such organizations as Byzantine Rite churches, the Greek Catholic Union, and the United Societies as Slovak is that (a) by self-identification many of their officers, priests, and members speak of themselves as Slovaks, and (b) ethnicity is a process, not a static given. THE FOUNDING OF SLOVAK-AMERICAN FRATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS For the most part, the Slovak-American fraternal societies began in the 1880's through the early 1900's as self-help, mutual assistance organizations. The arrangement of regular social activities such as dances , plays, gymnastic groups, and literary clubs, and the organiza- �64 SLOVAKIA tion, construction, and support of Slovak parishes followed later. In all earnestness I emphasize that the link between fraternal and church lay in their division of labor: the fraternal association would first establish insurance in this world; the church would become the guarantor of insurance in the next world. The most immediate needs were mortuary funds, land for the burial of the dead, and death-sickness-and-accident insurance for workers and their families in the U.S. and Slovakia. The new "foreign" dead were often unwelcome in established cemetaries. Slovak burial societies were formed to purchase separate tracts of land, often on the periphery of the town, a considerable distance from the burial sites of the dominant population. Slovak work life was chronically uncertain by the absence of stable unionization in the steel mills until 1936 and thereafter. Wages were low (though admittedly, the immigrant laborers earning a living unheard of in their villages of origin). Periods of steady work fluctuated with periods of layoff. Working conditions were contemptously hazardous. The management of the factories and mines provided no assistance for the injured or for the families of workers killed or maimed on the job. The urban Slovak-American "peasantry" experienced much the same basic insecurity as did they and their progenitors on the manorial latifundia or as landless workers. In one sense, conditions were worse, because in the American capitalistentrepreneurial system there was no personal bond of reciprocity and obligation between manorial lord and serf - although, however, the political system of patronage in the urban wards perpetuated at least an attenuated version of this function. For those immigrants who discovered themselves to be outside the civil and moral community of those recognized as ''Americans,'' the organization of burial-deathaccident-and-sick benefit societies was a means of reconstructing a community. In employment as with religion, Slavic-Americans were for the most part seen as outside the domain of civic and religious responsibilities. This led in tum to a defensive attitude toward American society, even as the belief in the American Dream strongly persisted. Exclusion from without led to a degree of defensive self-exclusion from within. The "enclave mentality," heir to a heightened self-" consciousness of kind," was a product of ethnic-American conflict, not simple cultural transplantation. I am tempted to suggest that much on the organizational level which we might mistake for w~at was traditionally native has a distinctively nativistic quality to it. , For instance, in one multi-Slavic fraternal club, the early by-laws �SLOVAKIA 65 specified that only members of Slavic ethnic groups could qualify as members and be permitted on the premises of the club. This qualification arose as a response to the fact that representatives of the mill management would attend meetings incognito, sit at the bar, listen for comments by dissident millworkers, and report them to the management which would summarily fire them for potential insubordination. A first-generation Catholic Slovak-American who came to the United States in the late 1920's said of the Slovak Club of McKeesport, Pennsylvania (a large mill town): The Slovak Club 's By-Laws were written in 1896. Only Slavs were accepted. You had to: you didn 't know who' s your enemy in those days. Johnny Bulls, or the Irish, might be in there, before the ByLaws were adopted . If you said anything against somebody, they report you. The only way to make sure you could speak your mind and not be afraid was to make the By-Laws . Ethnic " elective affinity" was more out of forced circumstance than choice . Those who were regarded and treated as the same created a survival strategy, becoming far more homogeneous in the process than they might had the constraints been fewer . Let me give two brief examples of the hierarchy of functions in the early fraternals . My first example is Lodge No. 2 of the Greek Catholic Union. Prior to regulation of insurance fraternals by the actuarial rules of the Pennsylvania State Insurance Department in the 1920' s, a member would pay $1.00 monthly dues for the mortuary fund and for death benefits to family , the latter of which is derived by subtracting the mortuary costs from the principal. The $1.00 formal dues would be collected from every member regardless of age or age of joining. In addition to the formally recorded $1.00 , he would pay 3 cents a month for relief benefit , so that, for instance, if he lost an arm in a mill accident he would receive $500 . An additional local assessment was 5 cents monthly for sickness benefit, which provided for food and bought medicine when the member could not work because of poor health. Today, this latter has become a " flower fund " to provide flowers at the funeral of a member or a member 's spouse. Any further needs were met by proportionate assessment of the membership . A second example is that of the Slovak Sick Benefit Society, organized in McKeesport in 1888, and which in 1890 merged with the founding of Lodge No. 31 of the National Slovak Society. This local organization collected monthly dues of $1.00 for males . In addition to the regular dues , if a man died , the men paid $1.00 ; if a woman died, the women paid 50 cents extra - for funeral expenses , given to the sur- �66 SLOVAKIA vivor of the deceased. At that time, the sick benefit was $6.00 a week for 13 weeks . After 13 weeks, up to the 21st week, $3.00 a week was given. After the 21st, nothing. The main economic function was to assist those who became sick or suffered an accident in the mill, since at this time there existed neither a union nor a commitment by management to provide such benefits. The Society also had something of an ambulatory service: two members of the society visited the sick person, or went to the scene of the accident, and took him to the hospital, to his home, or where he could be given proper care. While in their initial phase, ethnic fraternals were a response to the often hostile host environment, voluntary associations were long an inescapable part of the American social landscape. As Alexis de Tocqueville observed in the 1830's, resiliently self-reliant Americans were also habitual joiners. This may help to explain how and why initially exclusive self-preservation societies became internally acculturated clubs and lodges at the local and national levels. That is to say, they became largely American cultural organizations with ethnic ancestry. Criteria for membership became ethnically less restrictive. At the same time, there occurred a gradual yet massive attrition of membership in the totemic Slovak-ethnic associations, and an equally gradual yet dramatic increase in membership by the same Slovak-Americans in lower middle class totemic American clubs such as Eagles, Moose, Elks; such service related groups as Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Catholic War Veterans ; employment related union clubs; and finally local public or private restaurant-bar-entertainment clubs. While there has certainly been, especially in the 1940's and 1960's, considerable compartmentalizing of membership, dual allegiance, something of voluntaristic "double descent, " at the present time American fratemalism has already been the dominant trend. In fact many Slovak-Americans with whom I worked who still maintain their fraternal insurance policies do so for economic reasons; their fraternal affiliation lies elsewhere. Originally, in the ethnic enclave, one's kinship network, resources, and the fraternal were one' s insurance. When the ethnic community network itself was one 's guaranteed insurance, there was no need for a separate entity labeled " insurance, " let alone insurance policies outside that community. Only as many ties within the corporate ethnic community were attenuated or severed cl.id the need arise for American style individual insurance coverage. And only since World War II did the originally multiple functional fraternal societies become primarily insurance companies, that is, businesses. In both cases, American as well as ethnic insurance companies served both instrumental (eco- �SLOVAKIA 67 nomic) and expressive (ethos) functions: security by affiliation in the ethnic sense, and self-reliance in the American sense. THE PROBLEM OF PERPETUATION AND ACCULTURATION IN SLOVAK-AMERICAN FRATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS During the first and second decades of each of the fraternal organizations, the emphasis gradually shifted from immediate self-help requirements to more long-range, future-oriented plans associated with revitalizing Slovak culture in America. Whereas the initial years were preoccupeid with self-preservation, the subsequent years became concerned with perpetuation. The insurance / protective aspects were incorporated in a wider institutional framework that elaborated on the traditional cultural model. Once Slovak immigrants decided to make America their permanent home, churches were founded and supported, Sokol gymnastic programs were initiated, and so forth. It quickly became evident to the founding generation that something must be done to enlist the younger generation in these activities or institutions lest Slovak culture disappear with the passing of the first generation. The younger generation must be socialized into the new institutions and activities the immigrant parents had founded. Thus each fraternal organization instituted a juvenile branch or age grade to prepare the younger generation for adult membership. There were thus established two age sets within each fraternal, the adult and the juvenile. Subsequently, most fraternals also added a Sokol or gymnastic branch (if they were not already Sokol fraternals), originally intended as a middle age grade, but which became an adult unit on par with the "General" or "Adult" branch. The lower age limit for transfer from juvenile to the adult branch seems to be 16-18 in the Greek Catholic Union, and the upper age limit is 25 in the National Slovak Society. Typically, a parent would buy a life insurance policy for an infant shortly after birth and pay for the policy until the child's majority. At that time the former junior member would become a responsible adult member, transfer his or her policy to the adult branch, and begin paying for it himself or herself. Thus was the problem of continuity initially solved. For the third and fourth generations continuity was not so readily assured. Many of the second and third generations themselves withdrew or terminated their own policies and did not enroll their children. Many immigrant and second generation informants spoke bitterly of how they felt that officers of their fraternals had used their position for �68 SLOVAKIA self-advancement (internal mobility?), pocketed some of the dues, especially during the pre-1920 days prior to state-enforced bookkeeping, and terminated members' policies or foreclosed on home mortgages during the Great Depression days when dues were not forthcoming (the internal transformation from personalized ties to impersonalized business venture). In some families where the children had been dutifully enrolled in infancy, the children took advantage of the fact that the parents paid for the juvenile policies, and upon reaching majority or "going out on their own," they turned in the policy for cash value, and enrolled themselves later in large "American" insurance companies. With large-scale industrial unionization in the mid- and late-1930's and the opening up of "American" insurance corporations to the now'' American'' descendants of the ''foreigners,'' many of the purely economic insurance functions fulfilled by the ethnic fraternals were replaced by more attractive, sounder economic policies elsewhere. As the lodges have been losing young and elderly members, the middle-aged members have become the core of their lodges, and those who will be perpetuating them will, like their counterparts in the Americanized Slovak churches, be those who have transformed their lodges and their athletics according to the model of the American prototype. With the great decrease in membership and hence in lodge population, lodge consolidation (GCU, United Societies, NSS) and the widening of intervals between meetings have taken place. Where a lodge meeting until the late 1930's was an enormous and lively social affair, often coordinated with a meal or a play in Slovak, since the Second World War it has become a cut-and-dry business meeting, where members stream in and out, pay their dues, often bring the dues of a friend or two with him (or with her), the older ones stopping to chat with a friend or two in Slovak - and then leave. The monthly business meeting of Jednota Lodge No. 60 in McKeesport, Pennsylvania usually keeps ten listeners besides the six officers and collectors at their long table. During the monthly meetings of the Sokol, the ULS, and the NSS, a table of officers sits in a room of empty chairs in the Slovak Club. Occasionally members drift in and out. The local lodge of the United Societies no longer meets; members brin~ in their dues or mail them in. Likewise for lodges of the GCU. The ULS lodge in Duquesne in 1970 changed its monthly meeting to bimonthly, because, as one officer said: "There's no use sitting down there at the empty church all afternoon every month waiting for a few people to show up." In the early 1970's, over 75 percent of the 1,300 GCU lodges were inactive. For the important annual meeting at which officials were to be elected at GCU Homestead Lodge No. 2 in 1971, only 15 of the 160 members attended. �SLOVAKIA 69 \ To this should be added that only one of the Slovak fraternal lodges in McKeesport presently has any social or athletic program. Jednota Ladies' Lodge No. 276 has a bowling team, which members from Lodge No. 60 and the nearby borough of Port Vue can join. Lodge No. 60 dropped its bowling team in 1956. Bookkeeping changes have consolidated the Sokol and General Branches of the lodges. Today they function as little more than local insurance agents and collectors. All the national offices of the Slovak fratemals modernized and streamlined their policies to make membership attractive to those of the younger generation for whom Slovakness was not a major attraction, and further, to attract non-Slovaks. To a considerable extent, present-day Slovak fratemals are primarily modem insurance com· panies which would like to stay in business. The fact that all of them are far over the required solvency guarantees nothing about the future, for which they are greatly concerned. As the national president of the GCU remarked to me: The way things are now, it's only a matter of time before the GCU is finished. Sure we have an excellent solvency. But without new members, it's just on borrowed time. You just can't rely on monetary figures alone to tell you how we're doing. Of course we're in good financial shape, but that's because today people buy bigger policies - you can't pay for a funeral for $1000 today. Most of our policies are naturally larger, and the figure they give for assets ... would lead you to believe that we're doing great. That's the way the older ones felt. They always looked at the status quo and never at anything else. (1972) Of course the schism in the 1930's cost the GCU half of its more than 135,000 membership, which crisis did not occur in the other Slovak (and Slovak / Rusin) organizations. Nevertheless the same gradual decline in activity and membership has been the experience and plague of every Slovak fraternal. Slovak-American officials at the national level frequently speak of consolidating the adult, juvenile, and Sokol branches for fiscal reasons and because of poor attendance at meetings. They likewise speak of merging lodges for similar reasons, with the hope that perhaps with greater numbers the fraternal spirit may be rekindled. But they are pessimistic and in offhand, tentative ways consider the possibility of merging not only lodges within a given fraternal, but combining many Slovak-American fratemals under a single economic umbrella - anything that will help the solvency problem and postpone the inevitable disappearance of insurance fratemalism. Everywhere in Slovak-American fratemalism, the number of purchased insurance certificates is far �70 SLOVAKIA fewer than the number of deaths, maturities, disabilities, expirations, surrenders, and lapses of policies. Beyond founding the churches, many of the church-affiliated fraternals remain a major support of the church, both financially and by requiring that their members are practitioners of the faith in good standing (for instance, Jednota). Lodge meetings are held in the church (Jednota, United Societies, Slovak Catholic Sokol, GCU), rather than the secular Slovak Hall (where the Sokol USA, NSS, and ULS McKeesport lodges meet). Except for the Lutheran group (whose Duquesne counterpart does meet in the Slovak Lutheran church), the non-religious affiliated groups meet in secular settings, while the religiousaffiliated groups meet in church halls under the aegis of the priest. Until World War II, most of the Slovak fraternal groups at the local and national levels supported the political activity of the Slovak League of America, a non-fraternal, political-cultural group organized to publicize and lobby for the cause of Slovak independence (first in relation to the Hungarians, and later the Czechs). Its stress on Catholicity, its demands for Slovak separatism (rather than federated autonomy), and its support for the politically active Slovak priests Hlinka and Tiso of the Slovak People 's Party during the Nazi period alienated from it the support of the non-Catholic Sokols and the National Slovak Society. Presently, the Slovak League is primarily affiliated with, and is somewhat the political arm of, the First Catholic Slovak Union. All, however, collaborated in the period from 1907 (the year of the League's founding) throughout the First World War and in the early postwar period, toward the founding of the (First) Republic of Czecho-Slovakia (as the Slovaks prefer to spell it). The Slovak Catholic priesthood has always been at odds with the non-Catholic Sokols and the NSS, frequently accusing its members of being atheists and communists. The latter, however, have historically supported Slovak national aspirations, though apart from any religious considerations. This is reflected in the membership of the non-Catholic Sokols and the NSS, where only Slav-ness, not religion, was a qualification for membership. As a consequence, the Slovak Catholic (Latin and Byzantine Rite) religious dissidents, as well as Slovak Protestants , tended to gravitate to the Slovensky Sokol, and the NSS rather than to Jednota or the Katolicky Sokol. Furthermore, the -0verlap in membership equally relfects this distinction. Members would mosi; likely belong to Katolicky Sokol. Slovak Lutherans , of course , would join the Slovensky Sokol and the NSS. The above politico-religious concerns , however, refer only to the �SLOVAKIA 71 \ older and middle age groups, who are the mainstay of the fraternal organizations. For the younger age group, under 36, Slovak national concerns are for the most part a matter of ancestry rather than immediacy. Apart from religious issues, criteria of membership in Slovak fraternals have during the past decades gradually become less exclusivistic. In the early by-laws, Slovak birth or descent was usually specified (together with a particular religious affiliation, where relevant). By the period following World War I, membership was widened to those of Slavic origin or ancestry (with religious specificity, where relevant). In 1937 the NSS extended membership to non-Slovak spouses married to Slovak members and their children. In the 1930's, the GCU extended membership to spouses so long as the spouse was Catholic. In the 1960's, membership in the Catholic organization was opened to Catholics of any nationality, while in the non-religious affiliated Slovak-American fratemals membership was opened to "anyone," implicitly or explicitly referring to whites of Christian faith. A young officer of the GCU said that he would like to see a change in bylaws that would open the organization to all Christians, removing the restriction to Catholics. Accompanying the opening of membership has been a gradual change in the organizations' names, first from the full length Slovak name to a shortened name, normally one word from the full name (Jednota from the First Catholic Slovak Union, Sobranije from the Greek Catholic Union). Then from the 1930's and on, the English title became more important and today predominates. Names became less European-sounding: the Slovak Evangelical Union became in 1960 the United Lutheran Society; the Slovak Gymnastic Union Sokol of the USA became Sokol USA. The young official of the GCU mentioned above suggested that if membership were opened to all Christians, he would like to see the name of the organization officially changed to the initials GCU only, and later "we might call it the Greater Beneficial Union / the name changed from German Beneficial Union / no, that's the GBU ... but you know what I mean.'' The direction then, would be that of an American-sounding name. Similar to this trend has been that from Slovak (or Rusin and Eastern Slovak in the Greek Catholic organizations) to English in the official publications or newspapers of fratemals. The newspapers themselves were founded shortly after the organization of the fratemals and were entirely in Slovak (with the above distinction). At the beginning of the 1930's, under pressure of the American-born membership, pages began to be devoted to stories, articles, and announcements in the �72 SLOVAKIA English language. It should be added, however, that from the days of World War I, all of the papers and English-language sections were on American history, patriotism, the American constitution, government, and citizenship. By the 1950's, 50 percent and more of the space was in the English language. For instance, after the 1964 Milwaukee Convention of Sokol USA, Slovensky Sokol devoted 76 percent of its space to English material. At the 1966 National Convention in Tampa, through an act of the General Assembly of the convention, the name of the official publication was changed from Slovensky Sokol to Sokol Times, and the paper is now entirely English-language, as is that of the United Societies, Prosvita (Enlightenment). Nevertheless, such papers as Jednota, Katolicky Sokol, and the GCU Messenger are half-English, halfSlovak; Narodne Noviny is about 25 percent Slovak. What I emphasize here is the overall direction of change. The annual Kalendar or Yearbook of the Greek Catholic Union provides an excellent and generalizable source by which changes since the first decade of the 20th century can be observed and traced. I examined the annual Kalendar of the GCU spanning the years 1903 through 1972 (with considerable gaps in the 1930's and 1940's due to schism within the society over the issue of clerical celibacy). Although the GCU was founded in 1892, the oldest available Kalendar in storage was that of 1903. The following table gives the title on the cover, a summary of advertisements which reflect contemporary issues (migration, home owning, etc.), the nature of written characters for non-English sections (Latin or Cyrillic), subjects of early essays on Americanization (1903-1932), and the language employed by the exarch / bishop in his introductory message. By the late 1960's, at least half of the Kalendar (totaling in the 1960's 90 pages) was in English. (See Table 6). To summarize the table: Through the 1930's, there were advertisements in the Kalendar for such goods and services as banks, saloons, hotel, liquors, a variety of medicinal cures, boat tickets, home building (financing, mortgages, titles, etc.), shipping from overseas, etc. Essays were written on such subjects as American history (including praiseworthy accounts of American founding heroes and legendary leaders), an explanation of American government and how to participate in it, why and how to obtain citizenship, descriptions of the nature of the population and geography of the United States, accounts of farming in the United States and of technolo~cal innovations from the zeppelin through the airplane. Considerable space was likewise devoted to a description of the Slovak-Rusin homeland, culture, religious �SLOVAKIA 73 \ customs, etc. Although much of the writing through the 1930's was in eastern Slovak-Rusin dialect and written in either or both Cyrillic and Latin characters, English was used in essays on American history and government as early as 1905, when the article was printed in both languages. Americanization, more specifically, bridge-building between the insular ethnic world and the more expanding American world, was one of the major early agendas of the fraternals. Americanization was also one of the major points of stress between traditionalists and acculturationists that led to attrition of membership and schism in churches and fraternals alike. On the one hand, the Polish National Catholic Church and the Slovak National Catholic Church, a variety of independent Rusin-eastern, Slovak-western, and Ukrainian Orthodox churches, and the United Societies of USA (among others) broke with their Americanizing-Irishizing-Latinizing denationalizing parent organizations and became bastions of tradition (e.g., in liturgy, in customs, etc.) - only to acculturate internally. On the other hand, even the most traditionalist societies zealously urged Americanization both by exhortation and by the example of its leadership - including the clergy. SCHISM, DECLINE, AND CULTURE Let me use several nodal points in the history of the Greek Catholic Union to illustrate the convulsions to which conflict between the acculturationists and traditionalists led. The GCU schism of 1902 led to the founding of a new fraternal association, the United Societies of USA (Sobranije). At the 1902 Convention of the Greek Catholic Union, there was strong debate over whether or not the largely Magyarone RusinSlovak clergy leadership would be permitted to retain their official position, since they insisted on remaining citizens of the Kingdom of Hungary. The convention overwhelmingly voted that henceforth all officers of the GCU would have to be American citizens. Moreover, there was a long-standing resentment against domination of Slovak or Rusin parishioners by a Magyar or Magyarone clergy. In Hungary, the laity could do nothing about it. But in America, former peasants could vote out those who were either of the Hungarian aristocracy or had used the church - and ethnic assimilation - as a means of social mobility. The orientation toward a secular leadership made the process complete: the Byzantine Catholic laity of the fraternal would be a strong supporter of the Church but would not be its tool. The United Societies of USA, conversely, retained priests among �.. .. ... .. .. .. . .. .. • • ---- ___________ KALENDARS (YEARBOOKS) OF THE GREEK CATHOIJC UNION (COURTESY OF PRES. GEORGE BATYKO) Message by Advertisements Written Exarch I Characters Bishop Year Cyrillic Slovak Rus. Eng. Early Americanization Topics Cover Title - -- - - - - - - Amerikansko-Russko- J ·1903 Banks• , Saloons, Slovensky Kalendar Hotels , Liquors , Medical Cures , • Boat Tickets• Am. History (Rusin) 1904 • Amerikansky-Russko- 1905 Am. Government (Rusin & English) • Slovensky Kalendar Am. fanning, airplane, zeppelin 1909 (Eng.) Amerikansko-Russko- 1914 Banking-Shipping•, Am . Hist. (Rus .), population • Slovensky Kalendar Cures, Liquors of U. S. (Eng.) Banking•• Sokola Sojedinenija Citizenship / naturalization / 1921 • • govt. (Eng.) ,, Am. Hist., govt., loyalty, how Banking** 1924 • to use checking (Eng.) Kai. Soj . Gr. Kaft. 1926 Banking**, Financing, Russkich Bratstv. Home Building, y • • Religious Publications Am . Hist. , govt. (Rus.) , Cit. / 1932 Title & Mortgage Nat. (Eng.) Guarantee co., • • Banks , Boat Tick...,.. ets, Medical Cures K. Gr. Kaft. Sod . none 1953 S. S. A. • 1955 • • TABLE5 > A > < r 0 V, .:,. '-I �" " " " " " 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 Gr. Kaft. Sod . S.S. A . " " " " " " " " " " Message by Exarch I B ishop • • . . . • . • ..• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . .• . Cyrillic_ Slovak Eng . . Early Americanization Topics - -- - - - Rus. Written Characters • Rovnianek (Pittsburgh) in particular •• Money orders, drafts, credit, savings , import, interest *** Diamond Jubilee Almanac GCU Calendar GCU of USA*** Gr. Kaft. Sod . v S. S. A. GCU Calendar " " " " " 1956 D. Gr . Kaft. Sod. S.S. A. " First Federal S&L of Homestead none Year -- Cover Title Advertisements KALENDARS (YEARBOOKS) OF THE GREEK CATHOLIC UNION (COURTESY OF PRES . GEORGE BATYKO) TABLE 5 (Continued) ., Vl 'I )> A < )> r 0 V) �76 SLOVAKIA its officials through the present; its birth dates from when a number of delegates walked out of the GCU convention in 1902 and founded its first church-affiliated lodge in McKeesport. At the height of its membership in the mid-1920's, United Societies counted some 27,000 in its adult and juvenile branches. By 1970, the last year for which actuarial figures were made available to me, membership had declined to 5,600; since 1930, membership enrollment by young adults has precipitously declined . (See the following Tables 6 -9 assembled from the actuarial records of the United Societies of USA, public domain.) Within the GCU during the intervening years, a second, even more dramatic schism took place in the 1930's over the issue of priestly celibacy - reflecting the conflict between the traditionalists, who argued in favor of a married priesthood and the acculturationists or ''Latinizers ," who advocated clerical celibacy. While no documented figures were available to me, a number of informants agreed that some 60,000 to 70,000 members, or roughly half the membership, defected. The GCU had been organized in 1892; the Juvenile Branch in 1906; the Gymnastic Branch in 1910. It totals some 1,300 lodges and is licensed as an insurance corporation in 12 states (United Societies, in 6). At the height of membership in 1929, the GCU numbered some 60,000 members in its General or Adult Branch, 20,000 in its Falcon Branch, and 65,000 in its Juvenile Branch. The cataclysm which cost the GCU half its membership occurred in 1929. As early as 1924, the Pope had dispatched Bishop Takach back to the United States with instructions that married priests , common in the Byzantine Rite in Europe, were not to be ordained. However, ordination continued for several years through what were described as "loopholes. " In 1929 came a specific papal decree, Cum Data, forbidding the ordination of married priests in the United States. This finalization led to the immediate defection of thousands of GCU members. If this were not earthquake enough, during the 1920's all ethnic fratemals in Pennsylvania were brought under the increasingly strict regulation of the Insurance Department, which consequence was an immediate precipitous drop in the membership of all Slovak-American insurance-related fratemals. Members could no longer be assessed equally, and amounts collected varied from month to month on the basis of the past month's claims, but were rate\f according to the National Fraternal Congress table of "attained age a~ June, l, 1933." That is, members were required to pay on the basis of age, with premiums increasing with age . The new rates were adopted in June 1932 by the GCU. The National Slovak Society and the men 's and ladies' divisions �0 4 5 12 35 51 68 51 42 10 12 28 49 69 83 82 77 88 75 0 70 1 85+ 0 0 0 1 ., 0 1 1 0 6 1 4 7 18 29 15 35 33 34 69 80 0 1 In the Adult Branches, the Falcon and Main Branches have always been combined for bookkeeping purposes . 2 This figure gives the total membership in United Societies . It should be noted that at age 16, one is eligible to transfer from the Juvenile Branch to the Adult Branch (Main or Falcon) . One may transfer from the Juvenile Branch to the Adult Branch between the 16th and 18th birthday. 3 The report for 1950 was missing, so the 1949 figures were used instead . 4 Beginning with 1955, the United Societies adopted One Fund Bookkeeping, using a single ledger system and combining figures for Juvenile and Adult Branches. This means that it is no longer possible to compare membership at ages 16 and 18 in the Juvenile Branch with that in the Adult Branch. 5 An e xplanation for the increase lies in the adoption by the United Societies of the Byzantine Life Savings policy in August, 1968. It is a policy that is sold by agents of the United Societies, an effort to expand the boundaries of fratemalism on a more traditionally commercial basis . It is a 21-year savings program, which one may enter up to age 45 . At the end of the 21 years, the money is returned to the policy owner. Its advantage is that it is insured savings, although the insurance coverage decreases with each year. For the older people , it provides the certainty of a little income . United Societies of the USA : Annual State Insurance Dept . Reports (Penna., Ohio, New Jersey , West Virginia, etc.) Membership: Adult and Juvenile ADULT: MAIN AND FALCON BRANCHES! Membership per attained age categories Total : Adult & Total : Year Juvenile2 Adult 55 60 65 16 18 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 46 16 3 8652 135 128 131 236 272 367 279 185 1924 565 275 212 1926 346 517 1928 55 28 1930 19339 10159 320 372 342 114 135 227 254 290 233 191 70 153 186 227 165 122 30 7472 61 127 177 120 1935 13393 36 41 86 85 51 41 111 152 192 135 92 1940 8857 5464 7 59 70 51 73 130 151 145 49 76 106 107 99 1945 7399 5235 18 19493 48 67 69 86 63 57 58 146 133 130 6285 4739 4 18 19554 43 72 44 46 54 82 78 82 56 65 106 107 5472 25 76 89 47 43 5290 68 52 44 15 55 57 97 1960 73 78 42 37 17 27 53 46 41 1965 4812 90 63 50 19705 47 45 5628 101 60 52 38 99 107 129 118 40 27 - TABLES "" )> A < )> Vl r 0 �,,.. - 63 60 101 52 44 5456 91 613 237 231 18 68 90 16 348 418 191 299 153 93 72 6 This figure is for age 17, as it is the last listed, no figure being given for age 18 in the Juvenile Branch. 7 See Note . 4 on previous page . United Societies of the USA: Annual State Insurance Dept. Reports Membership: Adult and Juvenile JUVENILE BRANCH Membership per attained age categories Total Year Juvenile 0 1 2 10 1928 201 282 549 672 1930 9180 183 426 647 1935 5921 301 456 1940 3393 45 47 48 195 1945 2164 32 81 64 134 1949 1546 28 28 40 62 48 81 51 50 19557 1960 133 150 84 69 1965 33 74 80 88 1970 9 31 30 83 TABLE7 > )> ;ii;;: < r 0 V') 0:, " �1 Beginning with 1955, the United Societies adopted Ond Fund Bookkeeping, using a single ledger system and combining figures for Juvenile and Adult Branches. W - Written Rev. - Revived Rec . - Received Iner. - Increased Mat. - Maturity Surr. - Surrender Dec . - Decrease Exp. - Expiry Other - non-specified (However, for 1935, I would suspect that the 81 in this category belong elsewhere, probably in 'Surrender.') United Societies of the USA : Annual State Insurance Dept. Reports Exhibit of Certificates: Adult and Juvenile Branches ADULT: (se e below for abbreviations) - - MAIN AND FALCON BRANCHES Benefit Certificates . . . In force In force Dec . 31 Dec. 31 Year last yr. W this yr. Death Lapse Rev . Rec. Iner. Surr. Dec. Exp. Other -Mat. 1925 14908 2220 15574 133 1524 103 1926 15574 3833 18141 145 1121 1928 10704 11102 114 10313 1930 527 77 10159 . 652 1 1935 7534 279 80 7472 89 332 81 5621 1940 80 15 5464 98 154 1945 5296 139 4 5235 93 91 20 1949 4864 47 4739 113 23 35 1 19551 5356 360 5472 105 19 86 34 5514 1960 217 5290 108 248 41 44 1965 4907 160 4812 103 74 16 36 26 1970 5054 599 193 5628 91 91 30 5 1 TABLES ~ "'° 7' > > < Vl r 0 �1702 81 16 723 2g3 Transfer 1 The figures for the Juvenile Branch list only up to age 16, so it is ambiguous as to whether Juveniles past their 16th birthday are included in tne figure of 9401. 2 transfer to Falcon Branch . 3 transfer to Senior (Main) Branch. 4 Beginning with 1955, the United Societies adopted One Fund Bookkeeping, using a single ledger system and combining figures for Juvenile and Adult Branches . United Societies of the USA: Annual State Insurance Dept . Reports Exhibit of Certificates: Adult and Juvenile Branches JUVENILE BRANCH: Benefit Certificates In force In force Dec . 31 Received Dec . 31 Terminated b1: last yr. by transfer Increased this yr. Year Written Revived Death Lapse 19281 9401 884 49 42 1930 9239 9180 810 968 1935 6384 597 5921 11 7 470 1940 3740 136 10 3393 223 1945 2356 115 2164 12 1949 1636 60 1546 1 120 19554 1960 1965 ,,, . 1970 - TABLE9 > 7' > ~ r (./') ~ �SLOVAKIA 81 of the First Catholic Slov~ Union (Jednota) had been the first to comply in 1930. The state requirement of solvency was reflected in high premiums for the older members who, in the Depression years, could not pay. Each insurance company had to make up the deficit. The 1929 law required that all fraternal societies re-rate their policies within five years. Not that this external policing had not been attempted before. But now, like the papal decree on celibacy, the law was final. Between 1892 and 1909 or 1910, each member of the GCU had been assessed 50 cents, 60 cents, or 75 cents a month, depending on how much was customarily collected at a given lodge. There was no uniformity of policy even within the GCU. In 1909 or 1910, the GCU lodges went under an '' Assessment System,'' such that the amount due from each member was determined by the claims of the past month. Thus the assessment varied from month to month, but was internally regulated by the lodge. Around 1910, the state began to appear in the picture, proposing that members of fraternals pay according to age. Some fraternals put a lien on each member's policy, but this did not sufficiently raise revenues. In 1918 , the National Fraternal Congress Table of Mortality provided a uniform schedule according to which each member was to be rated according to the age at which he or she had joined the organization. But, even where this table was applied, it did not bring lodges or national offices anywhere approaching solvency. In Pennsylvania, the Insurance Department saw that the fraternals were functionally decentralized and operated on a day-to-day economic calculus - which, incidentally, was the traitional Slovak way of pooling resources in the extended family. It applied pressure for greater fraternal centralization and economic foresight. As of 1924, new members were to be rated according to the American Experience Table of Rates. However, the old members could continue to pay the prior National Fraternal Congress rate. This, too, did not greatly move the GCU and other Slovak-American fraternals toward solvency. Finally, the 1929 Pennsylvania law was implemented, and its effect paradoxical: it "worked" with amazing effectiveness according to the canons of American economic planning, but utterly disrupted the Slovak way of doing business. To summarize, then : the most compelling factors in declining membership within the Slovak-American fraternals were (a) the increasing cultural Americanization of their members and the availability of fraternal and insurance options within the cultural mainstream; (b) the increased influence of external (e .g., state) forces in the management of the internal affairs of the associations; (c) the devastating in- �82 SLOVAKIA fluence of the Great Depression over members' abilities to keep up payment of premiums on policies (undoubtedly influenced by " b " ); (d) the fraternal officials ' internal acculturation of the associations into "American" institutions (self-motivated as well as impelled by "b"). There remains an extremely potent factor in fraternal schism and attrition much less obvious to the observer's eye than those already discussed, one which the national president of a Slovak-American fraternal in his early 70' s poignantly articulated: ... we are still declining, there is an explanation for it. There was nothing ever done in this society. There was feeble attempts made to try to get the younger generation to become interested in our / fraternal society / . . .. we now lose, on an average of 1200 members a year .... you take in our generation, our parents were interested in our society and as soon as kids were born they put them in the lodge, the mother or father would always make sure that they would come to the meeting once a month and pay their dues. Even after they got married, the would pay their dues , do you follow me? Now, after they were on their own, had their own families they would say: "Here is your policy. Do you want to keep it. We pay till now. You can make your wife your beneficiary. " Lot of them kept it, and a lot of them turned around and cashed whatever they could get for it. See, where the old people wouldn't do that, and this younger generation isn't like the older generation. They say: " I don't need this or that." Now once again I say, it's not all of them, but the majority. They aren't worried so much like the old people were about their future. All they care is they get a new car, or good times, and when they are in trouble they come to their parents to help them out. Shortly thereafter, he spoke of local lodge meetings: The younger kids, they come, some of them come, some come and just pay their dues. They're in a hurry. They're always in a hurry. You see , I'll tell you. I think the biggest dam fault in all our fraternals. We used to have meetings every month at every lodge. I know I went as a younster, we came to the League, as a young fellow, 18, 19 years old, 20, 21. We would go to the Assemblies. All these old timers come to the meetings. It was always in the Slovak language, and if you\wanted the floor or ask permission to say something, and if you couldn""t. explain yourself well in the Slovak language, say in butchered up language, Slovak and English mixed together, the president of �SLOVAKIA 83 _ _ _ _ says: "Sit down you snot nose you. You can't express yourself in Slovak, you can sit down. You are out of order." Well, naturally these younger people think, they say "Oh, my goodness gracious." You get red in the face, these young people, then they don't know what to do. Then they sit through it and first chance that they got to go home, "They won't get me back here with a bull rope." Instead of being nice to them and courteous, ''OK, we understand you, go ahead and say in English what you want to say. We want you to come." And once you drive them away, oh boy, it's hard to bring them back. That's been the trouble all these fratemals, whether it's the Slovak Catholic, whether it's the National Slovak Society or the. First Catholic Slovak Union. It's the same condition and a lot of those old timers, when they held office, they thought they were supposed to be there till they die. The younger people, they need to bring these people in . . . . Another official, participating in the interview, later interjected: ... That old fellow who would come to the conventions, and make a rousing speech, "We have got to get our young people to take over our offices in our local assemblies, in the national,'' yet he wouldn 't give up his damn job .... (from field notes, June 1978) The chronic, occasionally acute conflict (expressed institutionally in schism) which these officers articulate is a generational conflict be- tween fathers and sons, once contained within the traditional familiar and manorial system, but now run openly rife in the expressively more permissive American cultural setting. We have already seen this conflict in another form: the 1902 schism within the GCU which led to the founding of the United Societies of USA, precipitated by the issue of allegiance to the U.S. versus allegiance to the parental-land and representatives of its authority. This conflict at the macro-institutional level is dynamically identical with the deeply traditional family struggle in Slovak culture: parental holding on versus letting go of authority, power, status, property, and roles. What I have discussed elsewhere in terms of traditional and Slovak-American personality, family dynamics, and culture change (Stein 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1976, 1978a, 1978b, 1979, Stein and Hill 1977, 1979) is dynamically identical and isomorphic with the conflict at the macro-institutional level. Traditionally as well as in the New World, unquestioning respect for and obedience to the will and authority of elders was paramount. In the official cultural ethos, the father's word and will were absolute; �84 SLOVAKIA deference was due to him no matter what. With the breakdown of the manorial order in Slovakia between 1848 and the great migration of 1880-1920 , sons began demanding a greater say in the running of family affairs . If fathers refused to relinquish some of their traditional prerogatives , sons now had options from setting up separate households to emigration . The vastly extended " joint family " diminished into the " stem family " (Goldschmidt and Kunkel 1971) in which frequently only a son or two, and daughter or two would live with or near the parents (cf. Koenig 1937) . The children now were able to place demands upon the parents , and to leave if dissatisfied. This is precisely what happened openly in the U.S., which official ethos was based on revolutionary separation from parents who, as the motto goes , exacted " taxation without representation, " an experience that strikes at the heart of the Slovak experience as well. Of course, this never was a matter of either / or. As I have demonstrated in the above cited works , moves centrifugal toward autonomy have evoked enormous ambivalence , guilt, restitution, and centripetal countervailing moves on the part of parents. Nonetheless , the above officials have identified as a decisive ingredient in the attrition of the young from Slovak-American fratemals the demand by the young for respect by the elders, a reversal of tradition that is at the same time traditionally and quintessentially '' American.'' It is thus not enough to say that the young defectors had been " Americanized ," and that the diehards remained doggedly "traditional. '' The elder officials of the Slovak-American fratemals could not mobilize the constraints they once yielded under the much hated manorial and Magyar yoke to compel those who they contemptuously regarded as " snotty nosed" youth to speak their language: Slovak. It should further be noted that language was wielded by the officials as a tool of power - but an impotent tool. Ironically, the youth, in the 1910's and 1920' s , attempted to express their interest in ethnicity in English, but were dismissed as out of order by parental-clergy-fraternal-elder figures who sought to safe-guard their venerable Slovak ethnicity by passing it on through institutional measures (churches, gynmastics , literary clubs). However, the fact of institutionalization of tradition was disqualified by the attitude of the founders toward those who would succeed them - which very " success " aroused their fear and countervailing animosity toward the Slovak-American youth. The very nature of many officers ' traditionalism led to the ardent Americanization by the young, whose consequence for the fratemals was decline in membership. ' �SLOVAKIA 85 ATHLETIC PROGRAMS IN SLOVAK-AMERICAN FRATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS: INTERNAL CHANGE AND CONTINUITY Similar directional change can be seen in the history of athletic programs within the Slovak-American fraternals. The baseline was the Slovak Sokol (Falcon) or gymnastic society. The earliest Sokols had been founded in Bohemia in 1862 by Jindrich Fuegner and Miroslav Tyrs , derived from the German Turnvereine . The Sokols were used in Europe both as vehicles for nativism and Pan-Slavic solidarity. In the U.S. , they tended to follow ethnic lines and intra-ethnic schisms. Initially most of the fraternal organizations were divided into full membership branches: general (adult), juvenile (up to ages 16-18) , and Sokol. Between the ages of 16 and 18, one transferred from the juvenile branch to either the general or the Sokol branch. The Sokol branch stressed group gymnastics. Beyond local activities, each branch combined with other lodges, organizations, and conducted district, regional, national, and international slets (mass calisthenic displays) . Separate Sokol / insurance fraternals later developed. During the first decades of the twentieth century, baseball attracted considerable interest in fraternal and church groups , and if not competed for time with the gymnastic activity, it at least paralleled it. By the 1930's, Sokol activity began a slow decline, while baseball was attracting more interest. And in the mid and late 1930' s, the first fraternal bowling leagues were formed, later organized into district, regional, and national competition along the same lines as were the gymnastics. With the preparation for and American entry into World War II Sokol programs were drastically cut when the young Sokols and Sokolettes and instructors took part in the war. Great hopes were placed on a revival following the war, but there was no such revival. Quite the reverse . Those lodges which were discontinued during the war were never revived. ' ' At least fifty percent of the former gymnastically-active lodges became dormant ; numerous Sokol halls were lost; and most of the prewar instructors and directors disappeared from the physical education field . The indifference and apathy on the part of .. . Sokol membership , and officers as well, also were responsible for this decline ." (Andrew Venglarcik, Jr., " President's Column," Sokol Times, Jan . 14, 1972 , p. 3). Despite efforts by the Supreme Lodge of Sokol USA and other control bodies to induce renewal by the appropriation of larger funds for the Sokols , promises of salaries and the payment of travel expenses, there was little positive response on the part �86 SLOVAK IA of the membership . The Sokol USA slet held in 1966 was a veritable miniature compared with those of the 1920's. The influence of World War II was pervasive on both those who participated in it and in the home communities. Two facts are especially noteworthy: (a) that the virtual collapse of Sokol gynmastics was merely one small aspect of this transformation from Slovak to American, and (b) that the fact of the war did not so much cause the change as it rapidly accelerated a process already under way. Baseball, already popular before the war, was equally popular during the war in the informal games by American soldiers at recreation in training or overseas. Although the soldiers returned with baseball, they did not return it to their fraternal lodges, but instead to their industrial teams, American Legion teams, war veterans ' teams, and so forth . At the Sokol lodges, bowling became the sport. Only in the 1960's did local bowling lodge teams begin to decline. From the late 1940's and early 1950's bowling began to compete with golf, which was subsequently organized in districts, regions, and nationally. From the mid-1960 's , golf became the major activity, all of this taking place as the elderly are passing on, the young either not joining or cashing in their policies when they mature , the lodges becoming smaller and more difficult to justify and maintain. What is the meaning of the transformation in athletic activities? What has changed, and what has remained? The only remnant is that of group competition. Slets displayed competitive gymnastic groups, and baseball, bowling, and golf were organized as competitive tournaments at the various levels . But there is a gradual incorporation into the group of increasing individualism, in contrast with the "mechanical solidarity" of group gymnastics . In all of these, what the individual does is for the sake of the group effort. But the individual as a separate entity is increasingly emphasized. The team-orientation of a baseball team is far greater than that of the bowling team, because, as in the group gymnastic display, all of the members ' (or at least the playing members ' ) actions must be coordinated. This is not the case in bowling or golf, where the group is cumulative and sequential, rather than synchronized. In bowling and golf, individual efforts (and accomplishments) are not directly coordinated with tho'se of others, although they are added to them. In these '' individualistic' •· sports, individual actions are apart from the group , not subsumed under group effort as they necessarily are in the slet and in sports like baseball. Psychologically, the meaning of these sports differs greatly from the earlier " team" sports , where the individual could never be " taken out" of the group . �SLOVAKIA 87 \ This point has been well made by Andrew J. Valusek, President of Sokol USA: '' ... we believe in mass training more than emphasis on individual excellence, even though outstanding Sokol athletes are honored and play an important role in the life and achievements of the movement itself (Souvenir Book, 15th Sokol USA Slet, July 1-3, 1966, New York). This transformation in atheltics reflects what is simultaneously a cultural and psychological transformation: from Slovak to American, from group-oriented to individual-oriented, from coordinated interdependence to self-reliant independence. Furthermore, the incorporation of American athletic activities represented a new social status for the group . The lodge members had adopted within an ethnic framework typically mainstream American social activities. Increasingly, ancestral ethnicity was the basis for association, while categories of American culture dominated the content of the activity. MEN'S CLUB AND SECRET SOCIETY My final consideration in the history of the Slovak-American fraternals is its vital ' 'latent'' function as an exclusive men's club. This refers, of course, to male fraternal organizations or a compartmentalized activity of a male fraternal. The men's club provided and safeguarded a haven and refuge from women, family, and responsibility. It occasioned regularized " rituals of rebellion" (Gluckman 1954; Wallace 1966). This is not a matter of the writer's interpretations but derives from informants ' statements as well as the writer's observations. In Slovakia and Ruthenia, the village tavern had fulfilled this release function. In those Slovak-American organizations whose meetings were held under the strict supervision of the priest, the conclusion of a meeting was frequently followed by a visit to the Slovak Club . Many fraternals held their lodge meetings in one of the rooms at the Slovak Club. At the club , heavy drinking, card and craps playing, mournful and boisterous Slovak folk song, and " men' s talk" occupied the hours and filled the air. Abetted by the influences of "boilermakers'' (a shot of whiskey with a beer as chaser), the unspeakable literally emptied into the open. Taboos were cavalierly broken - at least in word. Built on shared experiences and conflicts, the male associations offered one of the few opportunities for male solidarity. Both in Europe and in the first several decades in the U.S., Saturday night was the ritual occasion for the unbottling of the week's pent up burdens. In the U.S. , the male solidarity of Slovak-American fraternal and the Slovak Club came to be predominantly associated with the immi- �88 SLOVAKIA grant generation. With the second and later generations, from the 1940's and on, this function became transferred to union halls, service veterans' clubs, American fraternal orders, and local bars, whether located adjacent to the mill or in one's neighborhood. These became places where men from varied ethnic backgrounds (though as exclusively white as they were exclusively male) could commiserate and boast of extracurricular feats on the war front and on the home front alike, out of reach of female domination and ridicule. In the original Slovak tavern the American Slovak Club, and later supra-ethnic American adaptations, lusty fiction compensated for social realities too miserable to acknowledge, and over which one felt no control. Through group support, one was able, without too great a burden on the conscience, to take a temporary moral holiday. And a man knew that later confession and communion could always undo - again temporarily what he had dared to think or say or do under the influence of potent spirits. SLOVAK-AMERICAN CHURCHES: A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF TRENDS A detailed history of Slovak-American parishes at the local and national levels, over the past century, exactly duplicates the history of the fraternals . For this reason, and for economy of space, I would like to review the major trends and give a brief ''life history'' of St. Mark Lutheran Church in Duquesne, Pennsylvania, which history will embody these trends. Each of the churches in which I conducted fieldwork (Latin Rite, Byzantine Rite, Independent Rite Catholic, and Lutheran) either experienced the convulsion of schism or was a product of schism. Each of these parishes experiences the on-going drama of conflict between traditionalists and acculturationists. And in each of these parishes, the resolution is identical: (a) outward mobility of dissident acculturationists (and, in some cases, traditionalists for whom even the majority of parish traditionalists have compromised too much); (b) internal acculturation and inter-marriage, creating supra-ethnic denominationalized parishes ; (c) the "territorialization" of "nationality '' parishes (this language comes from khe Catholic diocesan context, but is univerally applicable) . The same directional change is evidenced since the 1930's in Slo- �SLOVAKIA " 89 vak-American churches as in fratemals: that is, away from ethnic exclusiveness and insularity. Initially, religion, like fratemalism, was an inseparable functional component of ethnicity. Today, in the context of an individual's increasingly personal community" (Gould 1970: 148), a traditional social structural view is empirically invalidated. "Religion" and "ethnicity" have become increasingly separate domains of one's life. This is true even for those originally nationality parishes which, in the 1960's or early 1970's, still maintained a large membership and which could afford to build a new parish further "up the hill" or out in suburbia. I think, for instance, of two parishes in Duquesne, Pennsylvania: Holy Trinity (Slovak) Roman Catholic Church, which, in the late 1960's, built a dazzlingly modem church in the suburb of West Mifflin in which many of the second and third generation lived, but which became de jure a supra-ethnic territorial parish in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh; and Sts. Peter and Paul Byzantine Catholic Church, originally located in the same neighborhood as Holy Trinity, but which built a modem church building in the mid-1960's a mile or two further up the hill, in a stable white, middle-class, poly-ethnic neighborhood. Cross-cutting denominational lines is the decisive influence of World War Il in accelerating, though not causing, the Americanization process within Slovak-American parishes, and with it, division or further schism. The ubiquity of this process I have discovered from discussions with Latin and Byzantine Rite Catholic, Lutheran, and Independent Catholic Slovak-American clergymen and parishioners. A Slovak Lutheran minister in his late forties, who grew up in Johnstown, Penna., relates his experience there and generalizes from it: In my church in Johnstown, there was no English until 1942 - at least until 1942, when I left for World War II. When I left, no English had been introduced. But after war, the young people coming back demanded that English be adopted as a separate service. The effect of the war was to put people of all different backgrounds together, and the common language there was English. The men thought and spoke and felt in English, so that when they got home after the war, their native towns and churches were like a foreign country. The delicate questions, then, as always, was how to contain or try to contain change within continuity. In McKeesport, Penna., Holy Trinity Slovak Roman Catholic Church had been founded in 1895 as a "nationality" parish within the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese (Holy Trinity 1970; Slovak Catholic Par- �90 SLOVAKIA ishes and Institutions, 1955). In 1921 the church had a membership of some 1, 700 individuals and 325 families. In that year, the bishop appointed a priest of Alsatian-German ancestry to succeed the Slovak priest who many elderly parishioners allege returned to Slovakia under dubious circumstances (e.g. , with church funds?). Not so much the new priest's ethnicity as his antagonistic, condescendingly anti-Slovak style precipitated a schism in which some 300 families left to found Sts . Peter and Paul Slovak Independent National Catholic Church, later renamed Sts. Cyril and Methodius. This priest remained the pastor of the church until his death in 1963, and was succeeded by a second-generation Slovak-American priest who remained pastor until his retirement in the mid-1970's. This period witnessed considerable Americanization of everything from liturgy to architecture to the aesthetics of the sanctuary. The immense wood-spires gave way to marble. The dusty baldachino was taken down in the 1960' s. The sanctuary of the church has fewer and fewer statues and candles. The interior became increasingly lighter and brightly lit. The Slovak mass on Sunday morning (one mass out of the four) , attended mostly by the older people, was phased out by the late 1960's. At the Diamond Jubilee Celebration (75 yrs.) in 1970, no Slovak was used in the special mass. (As I left the service, I overheard one man , perhaps in this 60 's, exclaim to a friend: " Couldn 't he have said something in Slovak?'') In 1975, a young third-generation Slovak-American priest became pastor and initiated weekly Charismatic Renewal Services , held in the church social hall and open to and attended by Catholics from parishes throughout McKeesport. Thus, what began as an exclusively ethnic parish has become internally a multi-ethnic territorial Roman Catholic parish though with explicitly acknowledged ties to an ethnic past. Moreover, it is the site for decidedly contemporary American cultic activity that stresses the direct, personal religious experience. The possible conflict between the priest and Eucharist-centererd formalism of the traditional mass (now in the vernacular English) and the participatory Charismatic Service of heightened self-expression and testimonial has at least for the moment been settled by compartmentalization. At the present time (see Table 10), the membership is large enough (roughly 1,800 members) , and its >decline due to the greater proportion of deaths over baptisms gradual e:eough to assure the parish at least several decades of "life." But, clearly the nature of the religious experience has changed decisively over the past 85 years . The word ' 'Slovak '' was officially dropped from the name of the church in �SLOVAKIA 91 \ the 1960's. • The parish is becoming increasingly working-class Catholic in its expressive function. The so-called Latinization and Irishization of the church has most recently been succeeded by a new type of American religious nativism: here , however, the change is induced far less from without than from within. To date, St. Nicholas Byzantine Catholic Church, Sts. Cyril and Methodius Slovak Independent National Catholic Church, and St. Mark Lutheran Church have solved the generational gap between traditionalists and acculturationists through separate services. Sts. Cyril and Methodius alternates Sundays with English and Slovak services. At St. Mark, the Slovak service typically takes place early on Sunday, followed by the English service . At the much larger St. Nicholas, the Slavonic Mass is one of three masses offered on Sunday morning, the other two in English (for detailed histories of these parishes , see Stein 1972). If at Holy Trinity, " Latinization" mediated by " Irishization " underlay much internal conflict, at St. Nicholas a less direct though powerful Latinization has taken place, here mediated by the supra-local hierarchy from Byzantine Catholic bishop through Rome. Just as in Latin Rite Slovak-American parishes, the conglomerate of IrishizationLatinization-Americanization was a means of social mobility for the priesthood ; likewise within Byzantine Rite Slovak-American parishes, Latinization-Americanization, bypassing the Latin Rite, Irish-dominated Church , was a means of social mobility for its priesthood. This, however, was not original to the American context. For centuries, both Byzantine and Latin Rite Slovak priests frequently used Magyarization as a means of mobility in Slovakia. Likewise, in Europe as in America, Germanization was a means of social mobility for Slovak Lutheran clergy. In all cases , the process in America was continuous with that in Europe: only the specific content or reference group(s) changed. • Let me furthe r pursue the issue of " What' s in a name? " , the importance of name as personal meaning and identity, from the point of view of baptismal records in this parish . Both in traditional Slovakia, and in parish records through the early 1920' s, baptismal names we re largely Biblical , or reflected more eastern Slavic influence . Thus, most males were named Michael, John, Thomas , Andrew , George, Paul, Joseph, Stephen , Be rnard , Albert, Rudolph, Charles, and Ivan ; and females were named Martha, Helen , Margaret , Mary, Anna , Elizabeth , and Ivana. American names, including the addition of a middle name, began to appear sporadically in the late 1910's , but grew in the 1920's and thereafter . For instance : Ella Sue, Stanley J oseph , Ethel Elizabeth, Emma Marie , Virginia , Robert William , George Edward (all before 1930) , Anna Mae, Rose Marie , Dorothy Mae , Virginia Louise, Patricia J ane , Lucille Diane , Gary Michael, William John , and so forth . �SLOVAKIA 92 TABLE 10 Diocese of Pittsburgh Holy Trinity (Slovak) Catholic Church Allegheny County McKeesport, PA Church reports at five year intervals (1896-1971): Year 1896 1901 1906 1911 1916 1921 1926 1931 1936 1941 1946 1951 1956 1961 1966 1971 1974+ Souls (approximate)• 600 Families (approximate)• 180 905 210 1060 250 1200 1300 1800 2500 2700 300 300 400 600 600 600 600 600 500 600 600 610 675 667 2900 2886 3170 3180 3500 3500 2725 2540 2140 Baptisms 144 151 175 177 160 140 137 131 86 72 127 86 78 66 41 26 16 Deaths 50 . 67 109 30 48 50 30 45 38 37 24 36 39 40 35 37 50 • Priest' s estimate derived from traditional annual blessing of homes after Epiphany. + Last year data available. Moreover, this was hardly a process imposed exclusively from without or by the pastor. In the absence of schism, and in the aftermath of schism for those who chose to remain loyal to church and pastor, the direction taken by the pastor coincided with the direction sought by a majority of the congregation, through passive assent if not active work toward change. The matter is somewhat different for Sts. Cyril and Methodius, an independent Slovak Catholic church that has literally struggled for survival since its creation in 1921. Beginning with some 300 zealous families as Sts. Peter and Paul, it has now barely 100 members. In the 1920's it ambitiously built a new church, only to lose it to the bank in 1937. Just as, prior to building its own edifi<z, the church held services in Slovak Hall and in churches where it was welcomed, likewise after 1937, it held services at the YWCA and the Baptist Mission. In order to be exempt from any past or future debts incurred under its original �SLOVAKIA 93 \ name , Sts. Peter and Paul changed its name to Sts. Cyril and Methodius in the late 1930's . In its early period, the church had been served by a priest ordained by the Czecho-Slovak Independent Church in Slovakia. Later, when no priest could be found, Sts. Cyril and Methodius became affiliated with the parallel nativistic Polish National Catholic movement which had begun in Scranton, Penna. in 1897 (Fox, n .d.). Services were conducted at the local, inner-city Polish National Catholic Church , served by a Polish-American priest who said mass in Polish, while responsorials and hymns were sung in Slovak by the congregation. During the late 1960's, the Polish church began a building program in suburban McKeesport. At the same time, a Swedish Evangelical Free Church was vacating its church on the "hill" and moving to a more outlying district - where its members tended to be living, and away from the area in which blacks were now living in increasing numbers . The Slovak Independent church voted to purchase the Swedish church outright in 1967. So the church now had a home, but few members. Many had, in the intervening year, returned to Holy Trinity. Others joined Catholic or Protestant churches near their homes . Still others gravitated in increasing numbers to the Polish National Catholic Church: an institution which acted both to safeguard the Slovak church and as an agent of acculturation to the PNCC tradition. Indeed , one of the greatest areas of chronic conflict within Sts. Cyril and Methodius has been those who resist and resent the PNCC influence and those who accept it. From the outset, the Slovak National Catholic Church movement has been numerically small and politically weak in comparison with the PNCC, which now claims several hundreds of thousands of members in some 140 churches in the U.S. alone - and which movement diffused in the 1920's back to the mother country . Thus the direction of change in Sts. Cyril and Methodius has been toward PNCC and American acculturation. Like St. Mark, whose ' 'life history '' I present immediately below in detail rather than fragment , the membership of Sts. Cyril and Methodius is highly skewed toward the end of the life cycle , unbalanced by a substantial middle-aged population to compensate for the outward migration of young adults and the virtually non-existent birth-rate. While these examples are sufficient to illustrate the trend of culture change , I would like to tum to the history of St. Mark Lutheran Church , which should provide a depth missing in the breadth of the " trends " I have covered for the other churches . �94 SLOVAKIA ST. MARK LUTHERAN CHURCH: AN INSTITUTIONAL ''LIFE HISTORY'' St. Mark's was founded in 1913 by 25 members from the Slovak Evangelical Union Assembly 53 (a fraternal organization) organized in 1899 in Duquesne. The church was named the Slovak Evangelical Augsburg Lutheran Congregation of Duquesne. Between 1913 and 1919, ''lacking funds to either build or buy a place for a church site, the Church council called upon the nearby existing Grace Reformed Church ... for permission to use the church for services" (50th Anniversary Book, St. Mark Ev. Lutheran Church, Oct. 27, 1963) . Toward the end of the decade , Grace Reformed Church's growth compelled it to seek larger quarters elsewhere in Duquesne, making the building available for purchase. Slovak Lutherans from Duquesne and from the nearby communities of McKeesport and Glassport purchased the church building. In 1920, the parish was able to send a call for its first full-time pastor. In 1934, after no prior synodical affiliation, the church joined the Slovak Zion Synod, Lutheran Church of America, in which it has been a member ever since. In the 1930's, the Slovak Lutheran parish in Duquesne, Pennsylvania, experienced a schism between the more Americanized members and the traditionalists. The more Americanized members wanted English introduced into the service, and wanted to establish a Sunday School for their children in which English was the language of instruction. The more adamant Slovaks refused to permit any change. Between one-third and one-half of the congregation (over 150 members) left. They took up membership at the nearby German Lutheran and Engish Lutheran churches. The loss of membership in the 1930's precipitated a compromise initiated in 1940: an English-language Sunday School was founded, and English was adopted in the Vacation Bible School and in the Confirmation Class. The services, however, remained entirely in Slovak. The Second World War acted as a great catalyst of change toward the more rapid Americanization of the parish - not merely of this parish but thoughout Slovak Lutheran parishes. The younger members, many of them returning veterans, insisted on a separate English service. This structural change solved in part the probl~m of the different intergenerational linguistic and cultural orientatibns. Each age set, indeed cultural set, would have its own separate service. The Sunday morning Slovak service at the Duquesne parish is now a much shortened version of the traditional service. In this way, it has been adopted to the Ameri- �SLOVAKIA 95 can time-sense (e.g., hymns of an original 16-20 stanzas now reduced to 4-6). For occasions such •s Christmas Eve, Easter Sunday, and Confirmation, joint services are held, with roughly half in English and half in Slovak, equally distributed throughout the service. In the 1960's, further measures were taken to Americanize the church. A majority of the younger members felt that the word "Slovak" in its name , as with the lengthy European-sounding name as a whole, discouraged non-Slovaks from joining. The younger age set wished to become an integrated member of the American Lutheran community rather than remain outside it. As a reflection of this attitude change, the name was changed from Slovak Evangelical Augsburg Lutheran Congregation of Duquesne to the more conventional St. Mark Evangelical Lutheran Church, or simply St. Mark Lutheran Church. The church was named in honor of a saint because, as the pastor put it, ''most American churches are called Saint this or Saint that.'' Accompanying the change in name were concomitant changes in the by-laws whose effect was intended to parallel and validate the change in name. Whereas previously membership was restricted to Slovak Lutherans and their spouses (through conversion to Lutheranism), now membership was opened to all Lutherans irrespective of nationality background. For all practical purposes the church became ''two churches' ' : Slovak Lutheran and American Lutheran, the former using the Slovak liturgy, and the latter utilizing the Common Service Book of 1917 (United Lutheran Church of America) until the mid-1960's, then the authorized Service Book and Hymnal (Lutheran Church of America, 1968). However, the opening up of the church to new membership, together with the standardization of the liturgy, failed to attract new members or to retain the young. The Slovak population of Duquesne, like that of McKeesport and all other local milltowns on the Monongahela, had largely been moving to outlying districts, first up on ''the hill,'' later further out to "suburbs. " Mobility of membership to nearby " American Lutheran" churches almost inevitably followed. In the same area of Duquesne as St. Mark Church were former Slovak Roman Catholic (Holy Trinity, Duquesne) and Slovak / Rusin Byzantine Catholic (Sts. Peter and Paul) churches . Sts. Peter and Paul had completed a new church far up on the hill in early 1960, and Holy Trinity completed a new church out in the suburb of West Mifflin in 1970. During the period from the 1940' s through the 1960' s, as the Slovaks moved " up and out," the area rapidly became settled by blacks , and the area quickly became unpopular even in the eyes of those Slovaks who remained and attended the Lutheran Church (which could not �96 SLOVAKIA afford to build elsewhere). The church could hardly retain its own members, let alone attract outsiders to what was quickly becoming called a deteriorated and unstable area. The former Slovak Catholic Holy Trinity Church building and rectory were given by the diocesan bishop to a local black church group, and the nearby vacated Slovak / Rusin Byzantine Church became a plaything for vandals. Many Catholic and Lutheran Slovak-Americans who had bought their first homes here or had grown up in this neighborhood said in disgust that this was no longer a place fit for a white man to live. It is significant that, despite all the vast changes that have taken place in the church, the original German-made oak tryptich altar, baptismal, and pulpit (of the 1920's) are retained by the church to the present. From time to time younger parishioners have suggested that the ancient pipe organ be replaced by a modern electric organ, but there has never been a concerted demand for such a replacement. I suspect that underlying this lack of pressure for costly remodeling and rennovation is first, the smallness of the congregation and hence the lack of large amounts of funds for such purposes, and second, the younger generation's relative lack of long-term future commitment to the parish and hence their acquiescence to the traditional preferences of the older generation . At present, an average of ten of those parishioners aged 60 and over attend the Slovak service; while between 40 and 50 of mostly younger parishioners and their families attend the English. Only a few elderly people are accompanied in the Slovak service by their children and grandchildren. However, many grandparents attend the English service with their children. Unexceptionably, the three-generation service is the English. A maximum of 15 attend the Slovak service, while at the English it approximates 60. The parish is rapidly losing members at both ends of the age range , the elder through deaths , and the younger with their families by moving away or joining more American Lutheran churches . Between 1960 and the end of 1970, the church lost 26 members over age 50 (out of a total of 32) of whom 14 were over age 70. Several parents in their 30 's and 40 's have told me of their intention of joining elsewhere after their own parents, stalwart members , pass on .* \ • Rarely have Slovak-ethnic organizations later becom~ stable supra-ethnic co=unity institutions . The direction of change seems one way . Ethnic parishes have declined dramatically in Slovak-American membership . The ethnic fratemals ' efforts at modernizing fis cally simply came too late . Moreover, the fratemals ' renewed efforts at in- �SLOVAKIA 97 , CONCLUSION This paper has examined religion and fraternal association among Slovak-Americans as institutional forms for the communication of cultural meaning. Although I have focused on a single Euro-American population, the perspectives and findings of this study should be applicable to and testable by data from comparable populations. Historical, documentary, ethnographic, and demographic data were adduced both to illustrate cultural patterns of communication and to offer the reader material by which my generalizations might be evaluated. I have emphasized that (a) there is much in Slovak-American adaptation that is built upon, indeed derived from, preadaptive characteristics of traditional culture which cannot be reduced to the demands of the host environment or to adaptive tools available in it; (b) the overall trend and categories of change in fraternals and churches is identical; (c) the study of institutional meaning is never removed, nor can it be abstracted from, the personal meanings of its participants who invest in social structures; (d) what from one point of view appears to be patently instrumental functions can be discerned simultaneously from another point of view as expressive functions (i.e., complementary); (e) the American cultural system was adopted by Slovak-Americans to achieve both traditional ends (often in new "language" or cultural content) and anti-traditional ends, the seeds of which were sown (as latent possibilities) in traditional Slovak family and social conflict; (f) the distinction between traditional and modern, and continuity and change, cannot be concluded on the basis of mere appearance, but must be detennined by the meanings communicated by the cultural actors; hence (g) continuity in form, function, and meaning can often be expressed, not despite, but strurnental change in service of ethnic, that is, expressive, revitalization was a futile attempt to reassemble functions that had already been severed by the membership for expressive reasons . One conspicuous exception is the Benedictine High School in Cleveland , Ohio . Another is the First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Homestead, Pennsylvania (with branches in McKeesport and Clairton, also mill towns) , originally founded in 1914 by Slovak workers to assist in providing common funds for Slovak families now able and eager to purchase homes in the "hill" regions of the town up and away from their rented flats in the " lowland" or " bottoms " close to the mill . Perhaps a compelling reason for the success of the S & L association lies in its offer of supra-ethnic' ' social security '' resources from the beginning. That is, being primarily a financial institution, it stood the best chance of flourishing in the American cultural environment in which instrumental (e .g. , economic) functions were compartmentalized from expressive ones. �98 SLOVAKIA through a change in symbolic content; (h) although unmistakable trends of change have been noted, at any given moment the identified distinctive features of change may perform complementary or contradictory institutional functions; (i) the process of Americanization or acculturation cannot be seen as a unitary process directed either from within or from without the ethnic community, but must be analyzed in terms of sources of impetus for Americanization. The study of ethnicity is not the study of "tribes" as though they and their conceptually reified cultures persist statically unchanged. Rather, the study of ethnicity is the study of human relationships, the meanings which people attach to those relationships, the communication of those meanings in idiosyncratic or institutionalized forms, the process by which changed meanings lead to changes in relationships and how in tum ethnicity and thus identity itself comes to be redefined. Certainly the nativistic "New Ethnicity" advocated by many fraternal leaders and Slovak-American intelligentsia (Stein and Hill 1977) is not at all the unself-conscious native ethnicity of the pre-immigrant period. My research among some three- and four-generation SlovakAmerican families and institutions leads to to the inexorable conclusion that Slovak-American ethnicity over the past century has dramatically changed from a relatively homogeneous public expression of community form, function, structure, meaning, and relationship to a far more heterogeneous, individualized, private matter. This privatization of ethnicity had led many scholars to conclude that ethnicity has disappeared. This is nonsense: it has been repattemed, some elements retained, others given up. Although the American ethos has replaced the ethnic ethos as the core of personal and group identity, the spheres of life and the levels of the personality at which this replacement has occurred must be demonstrated and explained. What has unmistakably declined and is disappearing is the full complement of institutions which characteristically define a traditional community (cf. Arensberg and Kimball 1965) . However, as I have suggested in my previously cited works, unconsciously communicated loyalties, conflicts, values , expectation, and worldview in the intimate interior of even ethnically intermarried families results in continuities in surprising guises (e.g., the steel mill experienced as the old manorial latifundia: see Stein and Hill 1979; Hamey 1975) . , On the other hand, ethnic ties are often.maintained in the absence of conspicuously ethnic content - and here "conspicuity" refers all too often to the preoccupations and categories of the observer. Ethnicity takes on an especially "hidden" quality (Hill and May 1973) when the �SLOVAKIA 99 observer expects tradition~ meanings to take traditional representational forms. The more subtle, out-of-awareness (Hall 1977) aspects of ethnicity are the most intractible because they are pre-verbally ta.ken for granted and cannot be verbalized. Thus, for instance, I shall know that without a doubt a Slovak-American woman or man has acculturated more toward the core of the metaphoric personal ''onion'' when children - or the ethnographer! - are forcibly lavished copious quantities of food, when I am invited to visit with a family in their ''living room" or "dining room" instead of the kitchen; or when the implicit roles of maternal dominance and paternal distance in the home have become less pronounced, and the affective atmosphere affectively less brittle. Likewise, the inclusion of members from other ethnic groups within formerly exclusive tradition-maintaining fraternal and religious institutions, and the increasingly widespread phenomenon of intermarriage, are expressions of the simultaneous of group- or "ethnic" - and ego-boundaries. The formerly "other," often despised and alien, is now included within the possibilities of the "self." This fact requires a reassessment of our received wisdom about structural assimilation, namely, that inclusion is an act governed or regulated by the more mainstreamed "Americans" - that is, that it operates as a one-way process. Rather, inclusion is reciprocally a dynamic from within the ethnic group. Finally, this paper further confirms the tenet that ethnicity is a process operating at many levels, and is not a lineal continuum whose starting and terminal points can easily be plotted in terms of preconceived categories of "passing," "acculturation," "mobility," or "assimilation." It is the author's hope that future studies will not only provide greater breadth and depth in the study of Slovak-Americans, but will offer a comparative framework for the study of emigrant Slovaks in other nations (indeed, other regions of the U.S.), the internal transformation of Slovakia in the post-World War I period, and other European emigrant populations in their new contexts. Such studies will determine precisely how limited or widespread is the trend of culture change discussed in this paper. REFERENCES Anderson, Robert T. "Voluntary Associations in History," American Anthropologist 73(1971): 209-222. Arensberg, Conrad M. and Solon T. Kimball. Culture and Community . New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1966. �100 SLOVAKIA Balch, Emily Greene. Our Slavic Fellow Citizens . New York : Amo Press, 1969 (orig. 1910) . Barton , Josef J . Peasants and Strangers : Italians, Rumanians and Slovaks in an American City, 1890-1950. Cambridge, Mass : Harvard University Press, 1976. Bue, Bonaventure S. " Slovak Nationalism: Its Origins, Conflicts and Objectives." Master's thesis, University of Pittsburgh, 1967. Fitzpatrick , Joseph P. " The Importance of ' Community' in the Process of Immigrant Assimilation, " International Migration Review 1(1)(1966) : 6-16. Fox, Paul. The Polish National Catholic Church . Scranton , Penna: School of Christian Living, n.d . Gluckman, Max. Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa . Manchester: Manchester University Press , 1964. Goldschmidt, Walter and E. J . Kunkel. " The Structure of the Peasant Family," American Anthropologist 73(1971): 1068-1076. Gould, Harold A. ' 'Some Preliminary Observations Concerning the Anthropology of Industrialization,'' In Peasants in Cities: Readings in the Anthropology of Urbanization . William Mangin, ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1970, pp. 137-149. Hall, Edward. Beyond Culture . Garden City, New York : Doubleday 1/ Anchor, 1977. Hamey, Robert F. "Ambiente and Social Class in North American Little Italies," Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism 2(2)(1976): 208-224. Hill, Robert F. and J . Thomas May. " Exploring Hidden Ethnicity: Problems and Methods ," American Society of Ethnohistory , Central State University, Edmond , Oklahoma, October 1973. Jansak Stefan. "The Land Question in Slovakia (I), " The Slavonic Review 8(1930) : 612626. Kerner, Robert J ., ed . Czechoslovakia . Berkeley: University of California Press, 1940. Kirschbaum , Joseph M. Slovakia: Nation at the Crossroads of Europe. New York: Robert Speller and Sons, 1960. Klein, Philip . A Social Study of Pittsburgh. New York : Columbia University Press, 1938. Koenig, Samuel. " Marriage and the Family among the Galician Ukrainians, " In Studies in the Science of Society . George P. Murdock, ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1937 , pp. 299-318 . Krajsa, Joseph C., Chairman, Editorial Board. Slovaks in America . Middletown, Penn.: The Slovak League of America, 1978. La Barre, Weston . The Ghost Dance: The Origins of Religion . New York: Dell, 1972. Lacko, Michael. '' A Brief Study of the History of the Slovak Catholics of the ByzantineSlavonic Rite," Slovak Studies 3(1963) : 199-224. Slovak Institute, Rome, Italy . Light, Ivan H. Ethnic Enterprise in America. Berkeley: University of California Press , 1972 . Macartney , C. A. Hungary and Her Successors . New York : Oxford University Press , 1937. Nelli, Humbert S. The Italians in Chicago, 1880-1930: A Study in Ethnic Mobility . New York : Oxford University Press, 1970. Oddo, Gilbert L. Slovakia and/ts People . New York: Robert Speller and Sons , 1960. Roucek , Joseph S. "Problems of Assimilation: A Study of Czecho-Slovaks in the United States ," Sociology and Social Research XVIl (1932-33) : 62-71. Roucek , Joseph S. " The Passing of American Czechoshivaks ," American Journal of Sociology 39(1933-34) : 611-626 . Roucek , Joseph S. " Czechoslovak Americans ," In Our Racial and National Minorities. �SLOVAKIA 101 Francis J . Brown and Joseph S. Roucek , eds . New York: Prentice-Hall, 1937, pp. 230246 . Slovak Catholic Parishes and Institutions in the United States and Canada. Cleveland, Ohio: The First Catholic Slovak Union, 1966 (Jednota Printery, Middletown, Penna.) . Stein , Howard F . " An Ethno-Historical Study of Slovak-American Identity." Doctoral dissertation , University of Pittsburgh , 1972. Stein, Howard F. " Cultural Specificity in Patterns of Mental Illness and Health: A Slovak-American Case Study, " Family Process 12(March 1973): 69-82. Stein, Howard F. '' Envy and the Evil Eye among Slovak-Americans: An Exploration into the Psychological Ontogeny of Belief and Ritual," Ethos 2(1)(Spring 1974) : 16-46. Stein , Howard F. " Structural Change in Slovak Kinship: An Ethnohistoric Inquiry," Ethnology 14(1)(January 1976): 99-108 . Stein , Howard F. " A Dialectic Model of Illness and Health Attitudes and Behavior among Slovak-Americans ," International Journal of Mental Health 6(2)(Summer 1976) : 117-137. Stein , Howard F. " The Slovak-American 'Swaddling Ethos' : Homeostat for Family Dynamics and Cultural Continuity, " Family Process 17 (March 1978) : 32-46. (a) Stein, Howard F. ''Aging and Death among Slovak-Americans: A Study in the Thematic Unity of the Life Cycle ," The Journal of Psychological Anthropology 1(3)(Summer 1978) : 297-320. (b) Stein, Howard F. "The White Ethnic Movement, Pan-Ism, and the Restoration of Early Symbosis: The Psychohistory of a Group-Fantasy," The Journal of Psychohistory 6(3)(Winter 1979) : 319-360. Stein, Howard F. and Robert F . Hill. The Ethnic Imperative: Ewmining the New White Ethnic Mo vement. University Park , Penna .: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1977. Stein, Howard F. and Robert F. Hill. " Adaptive Modalities Among Slovak- and PolishAmericans : Some Issues in Cultural Continuity and Change ," Anthropology 3(1-2) (1979) : 96-107. Stolarik , M. Mark . " Immigration and Urbanization: The Slovak Experience, 18701918." Doctoral dissertation , University of Minnesota , 1974. Wallace , A. F. C. Religion: An Anthropological View . New York: Random House, 1966. Yurchak , Peter Paul . The Slovaks . Whiting, Indiana: Obrana Press, 1946. Zatko , James J . " Slovaks in the U.S.A., 1900-1914," Slovakia 16(39)(1966) : 41-62 (Slovak League of America). �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1980-81, Vol. 29 Description An account of the resource Vol. 29 (No. 53-54), 1980-81. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1980-81 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 53 An Ethnohistqry of Slovak-American Religious and Fraternal Associations: A Study in Cultural Meaning, Group Identity, and Social Institutions HOW ARD F. STEIN INTRODUCTION: ETHNICITY, INSTITUTIONS AND THE STUDY OF MEANING The study of ethnicity is necessarily a study of systems of meaning and how that meaning is communicated. Ethnicity is far more than a matter of social mobility, group competition for scarce resources, acculturation, and the like. This paper focuses on what might be called the "life histories" of Slovak-American fraternal and religious associations as institutionalized expressors of a century of changing groupidentity and those meanings that represent the underlying group-identity. Special emphasis is placed on identifying precisely what about ethnic identity is communicated by these institutions. The central argument is that Slovak-American fraternal and religious associations perform important psychosocial functions - not merely social structural ones. Indeed, I propose that the former determines and sustains, and explains, the revitalization or atrophy of the latter. Another way of putting it is that the ''expressive'' dimension of ethnicity is inherent in the "instrumental" roles performed by fraternal and religious organizations. The world of the symbolic is never separated from the world of the practical. The term "ethnic fraternal" is used here in the sense of mutual benefit, self-help, voluntary associations (see Anderson 1971) that trace to diverse mid-nineteenth century immigrant populations to the U.S. However, the meaning of ethnic fraternalism should not be ac• A paper presented as part of a panel on ''Ethnicity as Communication in Southeastern Europe: A Comparative Approach,'' at the national convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, New Haven, October, 1979. 54 SLOVAKIA cepted as self-evident, since ethnic voluntary associations, like the religious institutions which they founded, have undergone considerable change of function, and indeed have served multiple, often contradictory functions. In both instances it will be necessary to specify the meaning of persistance and change alike. Elsewhere I have addressed issues of Slovak-American cultural continuity and change in identity at the levels of personality structure, family dynamics, child-rearing patterns, kinship structure, projective system, health and illness attitudes, psychopathology, and ethos (Stein _1973, 1974, 1975,_1976, 1978a; _Stein and Hill 197~, _19~_). No attempt~ here made at a comprehensive history of Slovaks in Europe or the United States. The reader is referred to two groups of works on Slovaks and Slovak-Americans. One genre can be regarded as "official histories," and includes works by Yurchak (1946), Kirschbaum (1960), O~do (1960), Zatko (1966), and Krajsa (1978); and the journals Slovak Studies and Slovakia. The second group consists of disparate studies whose common denominator is the absence of adherence to any prevailing ideology. Representatives of this genre include Balch (1910); Macartney (1937); Kerner (1940); Bue (1957); Roucek (1932-33, 1933-34, 1937); Stolarik (1974); Barton (1975); and Stein (1972). The sources in the first group reflect a particular point of view, namely, the alliance of Slovak Roman Catholicism with political nationalism (i.e., the First Catholic Slovak Union, the Slovak League of America). This also reminds us that traditionally among the majority of Slovaks, ethnicity and religion were fused. Slovak Studies is the publication of the Slovak Institute, Rome, and Slovakia has long been the official publication of the Slovak League. One could legitimately see the Slovak Republic as an expansion onto the level of the state of what had long been a fact at the local level: namely, the political importance of the clergy. Many past and present Slovak League leaders, scholars, and political activists on behalf of Slovak national autonomy in Europe are former leaders and intelligentsia of the short-lived Slovak Republic (1939-1945). That their genre of historiography would be ethno-national apologia is to be expected. However, the visibility of the Slovak League on the American scene in official American political circles has more to do with their anti-communism and their courtship by American political leaders than with cultural, political, or demographic fa~s intrinsic to the League. This highlights the oft neglected fact that American sociopolitical factors often heighten ethnicity, even help preserve it - through a not particularly laudable duplicitous manipulation of loyalties and fears. Among Slovak-Americans, as among all peoples, official histories SLOVAKIA 55 are those sacred myths of the past held and recorded by the putative leadership. Throughout this essay, I shall emphasize whose perspective on the past is being stated as I discuss those institutions that have been deeply concerned v,:ith the cultural sense of time. This leads to a final word of warning: jus\ as ''culture'' is inseparable from the people who constitute it, likewise for social "institutions." An "institution" is only a conventional shorthand. What this paper is about is the history of group consensus and conflict, continuity and change. The very inclusion of this essay in Slovakia attests to changes not only in ''editorial policy" or editorship, but to a more pervasive change in Slovak ethnicity itself in which there is greater openness to self-scrutiny. It is less necessary, shall I say, to toe a "party line." Neither Slovakia, nor Slovak ethnicity, is static. The focus of this paper is on large-scale social institutions as vehicles of continuity and change in meaning systems. Among SlovakAmericans, religious and fraternal organizations have served for nearly a century as articulators of cultural meaning, first reflecting the relatively uniform cultural system brought from Slovakia, later becoming increasingly removed from the very real pluralism of the Slovak-American population for whom they claim to speak. Both ethnographic research in the Steel Valley of western Pennsylvania (conducted intensively 1970-1972, and intermittently through the present) and documentary study have provided both an understanding of the dynamics within local churches and fraternal society lodges, and a picture of Slovak-American religion and voluntary association on the national scale. Ethnographic study in the Steel Valley of western Pennsylvania, especially the mill-cities of McKeesport and Duquesne, include participant obsevation at, and interviews with members of, the following religious and fraternal groups: parishes of Slovak Roman Catholic Latin Rite, Slovak and Ruthenian Roman Catholic Byzantine Rite, Slovak Independent Catholic Rite, Slovak Lutheran Rite; the First Catholic Slovak Union, Zivena, the Slovak League, Slovak Catholic Sokol, Sokol USA, National Slovak Society, Greek Catholic Union, United Societies of USA, and the Slovak Evangelical Union. I obtained valuable ethnographic and demographic data from interviews and documentary sources at the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese, and with officers of the National Slovak Society, the Greek Catholic Union, United Societies of USA, and the Slovak Zion Synod-Lutheran Church of America. A careful study of old and recent fraternal newspapers and annual Kalendars, often stored not in official archives but in cabinets and basements, permitted comparison of ethnohistory recon- 56 SLOVAKIA structed from informants' current memory and self-presentation, with cultural meanings preserved in print.* Finally, actuarial data provided by the national offices of the National Slovak Society, the Greek Catholic Union, and United Societies of USA permitted a comparison to be made between a necessarily selected sample in which values, attitudes, expectations, criteria and policies of admission and exclusion, and the like were expressed; and statistics of actual participation in or withdrawal from fraternal associations based on trends in membership as reflected in the purchasing and cashing-in of life insurance policies. Ethnographic research both at the local and supra-level simultaneously complemented, explained, and tested the data obtained from tables of parish and fraternal society membership. The reader is referred to the following Tables 1-4 which identify both on the national level and in the region of ethnographic study the major Slovak-American religious and fraternal institutions. ETHNOGRAPHIC BASE LINE The Slovak-American institutions discussed here stem from the migration of over some half-million Slovak peasants and landless peasants from 1880 until the mid-1920's (Zatko 1966: 45), that is, from the period of the Magyar development of a monetary, technologized, labor intensive economy in the 1870's, to the exclusionary American Emergency Quota Laws of 1921-24 and the Immigration Act of 1924, and the National Origins Act of 1929. Roughly 85 percent of the immigrants were Latin or Byzantine Rite Catholics, and 15 percent were Lutherans and Calvinists. The highest rate of migration was from the most impoverished and overpopulated regions of Slovakia, namely, the foothills of the Tatra and Carpathian Mountains (Jansak 1930). As an overall pattern, the earliest Slovaks came to the anthracite coal mining district of eastern Pennsylvania, while later Slovaks came to the mill towns in the "Steel Valley" of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and westward (Cleveland, Gary, Chicago). The greater Pittsburgh region remains the highest concentration of Slovak-Americans in the U.S. (some 29,000 immigrants; 35,000 foreign stock in 1930 Censu~ Klein 1938: 288; Roucek 1933-34: 614) . It is the location of the national offices of the National • These include Narodne Noviny, Jednota, The Greek Catholic Union Messenger, Prosvita, Katolicky Sokol, Sokol USA Times; annual fraternal yearbooks or Kalenddrs ; and the journals Slovakia (Slovak League) and Slovak Studies (Slovak Institute, Cleveland and Rome). SLOVAKIA 57 TABLE 1 THE FOUNDING OF SOOVAK-AMERICAN RELIGION IN AMERICA I. Early Slovak Catholic Institutional History in America Name Place and Year Founded First Slovak Church in the Western Hemisphere, Hazleton, Penna., 1885 St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church* . .......... . (Cornerstone) Early Slovak Roman Catholic Churches in the Allentown, Penna. Diocese (anthracite coal mining area)* ................ . . . Bethlehem, Penna., 1891 Saints Cyril and Methodius Saint Michael Archangel ... . .... . . . . .. . ..... Summit Hill, Langsford, Penna. , 1891 Saints Cyril and Methodius .... . .. .... ....... . .Reading, Penna., 1896 First Slovak Catholic parish school ............ .. . . .Chicago, ID., 1900 Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius Slovak Sisterhood: Motherhouse established .................... ... Danville, Pa., 1901 High School for Girls established ........... . .... Danville, Pa., 1922 First Vincentian Sisters of Charity arrived from Slovakia to serve St. Michael's Parish ........ Braddock, Pa., 1902 Priests' Society of St. Anthony's Burse in the USA (to support students interested in teaching and Slovak girls preparing to be teaching nuns) .... Wilkes-Barre, Pa., 1903 Benedictine High School for Boys . .. . . .... . . . ...... Cleveland, 1927 II. Early Slovak Lutheran Institutional History in America Name Place and Year Founded First Slovak Lutheran Church in the Western Hemisphere: Saints Peter and Paul .............. Freeland, Penna., first services: 1883; Church built: 1886. • Slovak Lutheran Synod (Missouri Synod) ............ 1902 Slovak Zion Synod (left Missouri Synod, joined United Lutheran Church of America founded in 1919) . . ......... . . .. . . . . ..... .. 1920 • Source: Katolicky Sokol, July 21, 1971 (published in Passaic, New Jersey) . Evidently, the founding of the first Slovak church in the western hemisphere is a matter of considerable controversy - and competition. Professor M. Mark Stolarik kindly informed me of the feud between St. Joseph's parish in Hazleton, Pennsylvania and St. Stephen's in Streator, Illinois for the honor of being "the first" (which, incidentally, is a very American preoccupation!) . Professor Stolarik found the St. Stephen records several years ago and deposited them at the Immigrant Archives in Minnesota. Thus St. Stephen's can document its claim to having been founded in 1884. On the other hand, St. Joseph's burned down at the tum of the century, and its records were lost. Thus its claim to having been founded in 1884 cannot be documented . Professor Stolarik suggests that the editor of Katolicky Sokol, John Sciranka, my original source for the 1886 date , tended to favor the Hazleton parish since he was from Pennsylvania (again , ethnicity in a meta-context, this time localism) (personal communication, 9 September 1979) . Passaic, N.J ., 1906 Cleveland, 1907 Wilkes-Barre, Pa., 1911 Slovak Catholic Sokol Slovak League of America Slovak Catholic Federation in America McKeesport, Pa ., 1902 Wilkes-Barre, Pa ., 1892 Freeland, Pa., 1893 New York, 1896 Greek Catholic Union Slovak Evangelical Union (since 1960: United Lut9eran Society) Sokol USA (orig.: Slovak Gymnastic Union Sokol of the USA) United Societies of USA (Sobranije) Cleveland, 1892 Cleveland, 1890 Cleveland ? Passaic, N.J . McKeesport Perth Amboy, N.J. Ligonier, Pa. Pittsburgh Cleveland Cleveiand Insurance, religious (Roman Catholic), political, cultural, fraternal Insurance, religious (Roman Catholic), political, cultural, fraternal Insurance, religious , political, fraternal Insurance, religious , cultural, political, fraternal Gymnastic, cultural, insurance, political, fraternal Insurance, religious (Greek Catholic), cultural, political, fraternal Gymnastic, religious (Roman Catholic), cultural, fraternal , insurance Political, cultural, religious Religious, political, cultural MAJOR NATIONALLY-BASED SLOVAK INSTITUTIONS Headquarters Place and Year Functions Pittsburgh, 1890 Pittsburgh Insurance, cultural, political, fraternal New York, 1891 Pittsburgh Insurance, cultural, political, fraternal First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union 2ivena Beneficial Society (women's equivalent to National Slovak Society, last joint convention with NSS, 1901) First Catholic Slovak Union (Jednota) Name National Slovak Society TABLE2 > 7' > ~ r I.I) CX) V, Saints Cyril and Methodius Slovak National Catholic Church, McKeesport, founded 1922; name originally Saints Peter and Paul Slovak Independent National Catholic Church ; changed name to present in the late 1930's for legal purposes due to loss of church building during the Depression; affiliated throughout its history with the Polish National Catholic Church, and in the 1940's with the Congregational Church. St. Mark Lutheran Church, Duquesne, Pa. (serving Duquesne and McKeesport), founded 1913 ; name originally: Slovak Evangelical Augsburg Congregation of Duquesne; church bought 1920; joined Slovak Zion Synod of the United Lutheran Church of America 1934; Sunday school founded, use of English in teaching confirmation class 1940; earlier schism over non-use of English by acculturated families ; name changed to present in the 1950's, accompanied by change in by-laws to open church to Lutherans of all nationalities . St. Nicholas Byzantine Catholic Church , founded 1901 ; name originally "Greek Catholic," changed to " Byzantine" in the 1960's; schism in 1939. SWVAK CHURCHES SERVING THE McKEESPORT AREA Holy Trinity Slovak Roman Catholic Church, founded 1892; the name "Slovak" officially dropped in the 1960's; first church building purchased and enlarged 1895 ; schism in 1922. ., TABLE3 '° u, 7' > > ~ r Vl SLOVAK FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS SERVING THE McKEESPORT PENNSYLVANIA AREA IN '' STEEL VALLEY'' Name Year Founded Membership, other comments Slovenskeho N. P. Spolok (Slovak December 16, 1888 Protestant or Catholic, but Slavic Sick Benefit Soc.) preceded the local lodge of the National Slovak Society, with which it merged in 1890 National Slovak Society, Lodge 31 1890 Protestant or Catholic , but Slavic mostly Slovak Jednota (First Catholic Slovak 1892 (women's lodge, Roman Catholic, Slovak Union) , Lodge 60 276 , formed later) Greek Catholic Union, Lodge 2 1892 Mostly Greek Catholic, but also Roman Catholic, Rusin, and Slovak United Societies of USA (Sobranije) , 1902 Schism within the Greek Catholic Union headquarters and Lodge 1 Sokol USA (Slovensky Sokol), Lodge 1903 (ladies assembly Protestant or Catholic , but Slavic 46 11, formed later) mostly Slovak Slovak Evangelical Union, Assembly 1899 Slovak Lutheran 63 (Duquesne , Pa. , serv~g McKeesport as well) Slovak Club , White Street Hall, 1896, sold to Catholic Fellowship, men's club , social, drinking McKeesport War Veterans 1970 activities First Federal Savings and Loan 1914 Association formed to assist Slovak workers Association of Homestead in obtaining funds to purchase a home ; Federal Charter 1937 ; branch offices in McKeesport (1964), Clairton (1969) ; and Braddock (1969) ; serves Monongahela Valley Communities; (originally names: First Slovak Building and Loan Association) TABLE4 > ;;,;; < > l/1 r 0 ~ SLOVAKIA 61 Slovak Society, the Greek Catholic Union, and the United Societies of USA. The town of Munhall, located in the Steel Valley, is the site of an eparchate or diocese of. the Byzantine Catholic Church. The Greek Catholic Union, founded iq. 1892 in Wilkes-Barre, Penna. , the heart of the anthracite mining region, moved its headquarters in 1910 to the Steel Valley. Although one's place of settlement was greatly influenced by the availability of desirable work, the type of work one sought, and the reasons for choosing that work (originally, to amass greater wealth so that one could return to one's home and village and live better with higher status), it was also strongly influenced by the location of prior immigrant kinsmen, village associates, and even more remotely "related" compatriots of the same geographic, political, and dialect district or iupa - who in tum could advise prospective emigrants of the labor market. Mining and factory towns were not arbitrarily populated by people identifying with the abstract term ' 'Slovak.'' Instead, members of the same village or of adjacent villages commonly sought to live with one another in the New World. Indeed, "ethnicity" changed meanings in the process of settlement in the United States: expanding from more localized, inter-village loyalties, and reciprocal obligation, to supra-local ties based on common religion, dialect, and finally to the emergence in America of an encompassing sense of national "Slovakness" that heretofore had never existed (cf. Gould 1970). It was only after a national sense of identity became established (and this, tenuously, because of the intense factionalism among Slovaks) that the appeal of . President Wilson and Secretary of State House during World War I to Slovak nationalism was possible. A document such as the ' ' Pittsburgh Pact" was thus heretofore unthinkable. Any conceptually neat separation of religion (or churches) from fratemalism is heuristically spurious. Indeed, the history of Slovak religion and mutual benefit societies encompasses the spectrum of alliance and schism, and between them, conflict. The history of the relationship between the two types of associations is the history of each. Moreover, both types of organizations are firmly rooted in east-central European social structure. The village organization functioned much like a vastly extended family, in which kin and extra-kin ties of reciprocity were part of the fabric of everyday life . A group-psychology of community solidarity bound the village tightly together. Even the collapse of manorialism in the mid-19th century did not obliterate this essentially pre-Magyar ethno-psychology. One might say that it functioned preadaptively in the American host environment, and facilitated the earliest " insurance" and cultural- 62 SLOVAKIA perpetuative efforts. After all, the extended family was one's life, accident, and sickness "insurance." There was litsrally no conception of the "individual" apart from the family, church, and village group. Fitzpatrick (1966) correctly identifies Euro-American ethnic communities as bridges or "beachheads" to the wider host society (see also Nelli, 1970). Likewise, Anderson notes "the capacity voluntary associations have to facilitate the transition of individuals and societies to participation in the modem world" (1971:216). He further proposes that ' 'the new associations seem founded to meet needs not previously the responsibility of any older organization" (Ibid.). As this paper will emphasize, however, the new associations built on the firm foundations of elements within traditional organizations; the change lay in the repatterning of those elements - a repatteming which, I might add, has been continuous. I wish to stress that there is nothing automatic, inherently ''natural,' ' or inevitable about the Slovak-American adaptation. The need for "survival" does not explain how or why a particular "survival strategy" for "problem solving" is adopted. Stated differently, it is not the stimulus situation of the stress, but the meaning of the stress and the individual or group characteristic response to it that determines the type of adaptation that will be made (La Barre, 1972; Stein and Hill, 1979). One must inquire both into the nature of the new environment and into the cultural tools a group adapts with. "Necessity" by itself does not explain the "invention" (see Light 1972) . The Slovak-American inventions, themselves variations on traditional psychosocial organization, values, and worldview, must be regarded as preadaptations within the cultural repertoire by which the Slovaks recapitulated much of the Old World in the New (see Stein and Hill 1977, 1979) . The traditional ethos determined both how new " necessities" were perceived and the group-organizational responses based on those perceptions. I cannot here pursue in detail the thorny question as to just what " is" a Slovak. Suffice it to say that the approach taken in this paper is essentially " emic": that is, Slovak based on self-identification and / or ancestry. Thus, for instance, there are several thousand Slovak-Americans, Catholic and Lutheran, whose most ~ediate ancestry traces to Croatia rather than northern Hungary. In the mid:17th century aftermath of the Austro-Hungarian expulsion of the Turks, Maria Theresa invited those peoples inhabiting the already overpopulated Hungarian northlands to migrate to the newly opened land. For the most part, these Slovaks remained Slovaks. Identifying the "ethnic" boundary between Slovaks and Rusins or SLOVAKIA 63 Ruthenians of far eastern Slovakia, southern Galicia, and the western Ukraine is a far stickier matter (see Stein, 1972) . Indeed, many who are Rusin in ancestry, but who lived in what was geopolitically Slovakia, became accultured insidiously through daily contact with the more westernized Slovaks, through the influence of the Latin and Byzantine Rite Roman Catholic Churches, through the centralizing tendencies of Vienna, and last but not least through affiliation and identification with Slovaks following migration to the United States - that is, many became Slovaks in the U.S. I Over at least the past three centuries, the "ethnic boundary" between Slovaks and Rusins has been progressing further eastward. Had the great immigration taken place two centuries ago, virtually all the immigrants would have been of Byzantine Catholic or Orthodox faith and Rusin ethnicity! To the religious conflict must be added, especially since the World War I era, a conflict of nationalisms and proto-nationalisms. Among the permutations of the conflict: (1) Many Ukrainian nationalists insist that eastern ''Slovaks'' and "Rusins" do not exist, but in fact are Ukrainians; (2) Slovakia has undertaken a program of attempting to Slovakize the remaining Rusins; (3) Both the conflict over ethnic identity and the gradual process of Slovakization of Rusins has taken place in the U.S. (a) in such organizations as the Greek Catholic Union and the United Societies of USA, and (b) through the continued process of Latinization whereby many Greek or Byzantine Catholics joined Slovak Latin Rite parishes. A considerable official literature (see Lacko 1963) prepared by the Slovak Institute of Cleveland, Ohio and Rome, Italy is devoted to demonstrating that Slovaks of the Byzantine Rite, in Europe and America, are bona fide Slovaks and Catholics. Many Slovak peasant immigrants and their children passionately argued the same point (Stein 1972). The author's justification for including such organizations as Byzantine Rite churches, the Greek Catholic Union, and the United Societies as Slovak is that (a) by self-identification many of their officers, priests, and members speak of themselves as Slovaks, and (b) ethnicity is a process, not a static given. THE FOUNDING OF SLOVAK-AMERICAN FRATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS For the most part, the Slovak-American fraternal societies began in the 1880's through the early 1900's as self-help, mutual assistance organizations. The arrangement of regular social activities such as dances , plays, gymnastic groups, and literary clubs, and the organiza- 64 SLOVAKIA tion, construction, and support of Slovak parishes followed later. In all earnestness I emphasize that the link between fraternal and church lay in their division of labor: the fraternal association would first establish insurance in this world; the church would become the guarantor of insurance in the next world. The most immediate needs were mortuary funds, land for the burial of the dead, and death-sickness-and-accident insurance for workers and their families in the U.S. and Slovakia. The new "foreign" dead were often unwelcome in established cemetaries. Slovak burial societies were formed to purchase separate tracts of land, often on the periphery of the town, a considerable distance from the burial sites of the dominant population. Slovak work life was chronically uncertain by the absence of stable unionization in the steel mills until 1936 and thereafter. Wages were low (though admittedly, the immigrant laborers earning a living unheard of in their villages of origin). Periods of steady work fluctuated with periods of layoff. Working conditions were contemptously hazardous. The management of the factories and mines provided no assistance for the injured or for the families of workers killed or maimed on the job. The urban Slovak-American "peasantry" experienced much the same basic insecurity as did they and their progenitors on the manorial latifundia or as landless workers. In one sense, conditions were worse, because in the American capitalistentrepreneurial system there was no personal bond of reciprocity and obligation between manorial lord and serf - although, however, the political system of patronage in the urban wards perpetuated at least an attenuated version of this function. For those immigrants who discovered themselves to be outside the civil and moral community of those recognized as ''Americans,'' the organization of burial-deathaccident-and-sick benefit societies was a means of reconstructing a community. In employment as with religion, Slavic-Americans were for the most part seen as outside the domain of civic and religious responsibilities. This led in tum to a defensive attitude toward American society, even as the belief in the American Dream strongly persisted. Exclusion from without led to a degree of defensive self-exclusion from within. The "enclave mentality," heir to a heightened self-" consciousness of kind," was a product of ethnic-American conflict, not simple cultural transplantation. I am tempted to suggest that much on the organizational level which we might mistake for w~at was traditionally native has a distinctively nativistic quality to it. , For instance, in one multi-Slavic fraternal club, the early by-laws SLOVAKIA 65 specified that only members of Slavic ethnic groups could qualify as members and be permitted on the premises of the club. This qualification arose as a response to the fact that representatives of the mill management would attend meetings incognito, sit at the bar, listen for comments by dissident millworkers, and report them to the management which would summarily fire them for potential insubordination. A first-generation Catholic Slovak-American who came to the United States in the late 1920's said of the Slovak Club of McKeesport, Pennsylvania (a large mill town): The Slovak Club 's By-Laws were written in 1896. Only Slavs were accepted. You had to: you didn 't know who' s your enemy in those days. Johnny Bulls, or the Irish, might be in there, before the ByLaws were adopted . If you said anything against somebody, they report you. The only way to make sure you could speak your mind and not be afraid was to make the By-Laws . Ethnic " elective affinity" was more out of forced circumstance than choice . Those who were regarded and treated as the same created a survival strategy, becoming far more homogeneous in the process than they might had the constraints been fewer . Let me give two brief examples of the hierarchy of functions in the early fraternals . My first example is Lodge No. 2 of the Greek Catholic Union. Prior to regulation of insurance fraternals by the actuarial rules of the Pennsylvania State Insurance Department in the 1920' s, a member would pay $1.00 monthly dues for the mortuary fund and for death benefits to family , the latter of which is derived by subtracting the mortuary costs from the principal. The $1.00 formal dues would be collected from every member regardless of age or age of joining. In addition to the formally recorded $1.00 , he would pay 3 cents a month for relief benefit , so that, for instance, if he lost an arm in a mill accident he would receive $500 . An additional local assessment was 5 cents monthly for sickness benefit, which provided for food and bought medicine when the member could not work because of poor health. Today, this latter has become a " flower fund " to provide flowers at the funeral of a member or a member 's spouse. Any further needs were met by proportionate assessment of the membership . A second example is that of the Slovak Sick Benefit Society, organized in McKeesport in 1888, and which in 1890 merged with the founding of Lodge No. 31 of the National Slovak Society. This local organization collected monthly dues of $1.00 for males . In addition to the regular dues , if a man died , the men paid $1.00 ; if a woman died, the women paid 50 cents extra - for funeral expenses , given to the sur- 66 SLOVAKIA vivor of the deceased. At that time, the sick benefit was $6.00 a week for 13 weeks . After 13 weeks, up to the 21st week, $3.00 a week was given. After the 21st, nothing. The main economic function was to assist those who became sick or suffered an accident in the mill, since at this time there existed neither a union nor a commitment by management to provide such benefits. The Society also had something of an ambulatory service: two members of the society visited the sick person, or went to the scene of the accident, and took him to the hospital, to his home, or where he could be given proper care. While in their initial phase, ethnic fraternals were a response to the often hostile host environment, voluntary associations were long an inescapable part of the American social landscape. As Alexis de Tocqueville observed in the 1830's, resiliently self-reliant Americans were also habitual joiners. This may help to explain how and why initially exclusive self-preservation societies became internally acculturated clubs and lodges at the local and national levels. That is to say, they became largely American cultural organizations with ethnic ancestry. Criteria for membership became ethnically less restrictive. At the same time, there occurred a gradual yet massive attrition of membership in the totemic Slovak-ethnic associations, and an equally gradual yet dramatic increase in membership by the same Slovak-Americans in lower middle class totemic American clubs such as Eagles, Moose, Elks; such service related groups as Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Catholic War Veterans ; employment related union clubs; and finally local public or private restaurant-bar-entertainment clubs. While there has certainly been, especially in the 1940's and 1960's, considerable compartmentalizing of membership, dual allegiance, something of voluntaristic "double descent, " at the present time American fratemalism has already been the dominant trend. In fact many Slovak-Americans with whom I worked who still maintain their fraternal insurance policies do so for economic reasons; their fraternal affiliation lies elsewhere. Originally, in the ethnic enclave, one's kinship network, resources, and the fraternal were one' s insurance. When the ethnic community network itself was one 's guaranteed insurance, there was no need for a separate entity labeled " insurance, " let alone insurance policies outside that community. Only as many ties within the corporate ethnic community were attenuated or severed cl.id the need arise for American style individual insurance coverage. And only since World War II did the originally multiple functional fraternal societies become primarily insurance companies, that is, businesses. In both cases, American as well as ethnic insurance companies served both instrumental (eco- SLOVAKIA 67 nomic) and expressive (ethos) functions: security by affiliation in the ethnic sense, and self-reliance in the American sense. THE PROBLEM OF PERPETUATION AND ACCULTURATION IN SLOVAK-AMERICAN FRATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS During the first and second decades of each of the fraternal organizations, the emphasis gradually shifted from immediate self-help requirements to more long-range, future-oriented plans associated with revitalizing Slovak culture in America. Whereas the initial years were preoccupeid with self-preservation, the subsequent years became concerned with perpetuation. The insurance / protective aspects were incorporated in a wider institutional framework that elaborated on the traditional cultural model. Once Slovak immigrants decided to make America their permanent home, churches were founded and supported, Sokol gymnastic programs were initiated, and so forth. It quickly became evident to the founding generation that something must be done to enlist the younger generation in these activities or institutions lest Slovak culture disappear with the passing of the first generation. The younger generation must be socialized into the new institutions and activities the immigrant parents had founded. Thus each fraternal organization instituted a juvenile branch or age grade to prepare the younger generation for adult membership. There were thus established two age sets within each fraternal, the adult and the juvenile. Subsequently, most fraternals also added a Sokol or gymnastic branch (if they were not already Sokol fraternals), originally intended as a middle age grade, but which became an adult unit on par with the "General" or "Adult" branch. The lower age limit for transfer from juvenile to the adult branch seems to be 16-18 in the Greek Catholic Union, and the upper age limit is 25 in the National Slovak Society. Typically, a parent would buy a life insurance policy for an infant shortly after birth and pay for the policy until the child's majority. At that time the former junior member would become a responsible adult member, transfer his or her policy to the adult branch, and begin paying for it himself or herself. Thus was the problem of continuity initially solved. For the third and fourth generations continuity was not so readily assured. Many of the second and third generations themselves withdrew or terminated their own policies and did not enroll their children. Many immigrant and second generation informants spoke bitterly of how they felt that officers of their fraternals had used their position for 68 SLOVAKIA self-advancement (internal mobility?), pocketed some of the dues, especially during the pre-1920 days prior to state-enforced bookkeeping, and terminated members' policies or foreclosed on home mortgages during the Great Depression days when dues were not forthcoming (the internal transformation from personalized ties to impersonalized business venture). In some families where the children had been dutifully enrolled in infancy, the children took advantage of the fact that the parents paid for the juvenile policies, and upon reaching majority or "going out on their own," they turned in the policy for cash value, and enrolled themselves later in large "American" insurance companies. With large-scale industrial unionization in the mid- and late-1930's and the opening up of "American" insurance corporations to the now'' American'' descendants of the ''foreigners,'' many of the purely economic insurance functions fulfilled by the ethnic fraternals were replaced by more attractive, sounder economic policies elsewhere. As the lodges have been losing young and elderly members, the middle-aged members have become the core of their lodges, and those who will be perpetuating them will, like their counterparts in the Americanized Slovak churches, be those who have transformed their lodges and their athletics according to the model of the American prototype. With the great decrease in membership and hence in lodge population, lodge consolidation (GCU, United Societies, NSS) and the widening of intervals between meetings have taken place. Where a lodge meeting until the late 1930's was an enormous and lively social affair, often coordinated with a meal or a play in Slovak, since the Second World War it has become a cut-and-dry business meeting, where members stream in and out, pay their dues, often bring the dues of a friend or two with him (or with her), the older ones stopping to chat with a friend or two in Slovak - and then leave. The monthly business meeting of Jednota Lodge No. 60 in McKeesport, Pennsylvania usually keeps ten listeners besides the six officers and collectors at their long table. During the monthly meetings of the Sokol, the ULS, and the NSS, a table of officers sits in a room of empty chairs in the Slovak Club. Occasionally members drift in and out. The local lodge of the United Societies no longer meets; members brin~ in their dues or mail them in. Likewise for lodges of the GCU. The ULS lodge in Duquesne in 1970 changed its monthly meeting to bimonthly, because, as one officer said: "There's no use sitting down there at the empty church all afternoon every month waiting for a few people to show up." In the early 1970's, over 75 percent of the 1,300 GCU lodges were inactive. For the important annual meeting at which officials were to be elected at GCU Homestead Lodge No. 2 in 1971, only 15 of the 160 members attended. SLOVAKIA 69 \ To this should be added that only one of the Slovak fraternal lodges in McKeesport presently has any social or athletic program. Jednota Ladies' Lodge No. 276 has a bowling team, which members from Lodge No. 60 and the nearby borough of Port Vue can join. Lodge No. 60 dropped its bowling team in 1956. Bookkeeping changes have consolidated the Sokol and General Branches of the lodges. Today they function as little more than local insurance agents and collectors. All the national offices of the Slovak fratemals modernized and streamlined their policies to make membership attractive to those of the younger generation for whom Slovakness was not a major attraction, and further, to attract non-Slovaks. To a considerable extent, present-day Slovak fratemals are primarily modem insurance com· panies which would like to stay in business. The fact that all of them are far over the required solvency guarantees nothing about the future, for which they are greatly concerned. As the national president of the GCU remarked to me: The way things are now, it's only a matter of time before the GCU is finished. Sure we have an excellent solvency. But without new members, it's just on borrowed time. You just can't rely on monetary figures alone to tell you how we're doing. Of course we're in good financial shape, but that's because today people buy bigger policies - you can't pay for a funeral for $1000 today. Most of our policies are naturally larger, and the figure they give for assets ... would lead you to believe that we're doing great. That's the way the older ones felt. They always looked at the status quo and never at anything else. (1972) Of course the schism in the 1930's cost the GCU half of its more than 135,000 membership, which crisis did not occur in the other Slovak (and Slovak / Rusin) organizations. Nevertheless the same gradual decline in activity and membership has been the experience and plague of every Slovak fraternal. Slovak-American officials at the national level frequently speak of consolidating the adult, juvenile, and Sokol branches for fiscal reasons and because of poor attendance at meetings. They likewise speak of merging lodges for similar reasons, with the hope that perhaps with greater numbers the fraternal spirit may be rekindled. But they are pessimistic and in offhand, tentative ways consider the possibility of merging not only lodges within a given fraternal, but combining many Slovak-American fratemals under a single economic umbrella - anything that will help the solvency problem and postpone the inevitable disappearance of insurance fratemalism. Everywhere in Slovak-American fratemalism, the number of purchased insurance certificates is far 70 SLOVAKIA fewer than the number of deaths, maturities, disabilities, expirations, surrenders, and lapses of policies. Beyond founding the churches, many of the church-affiliated fraternals remain a major support of the church, both financially and by requiring that their members are practitioners of the faith in good standing (for instance, Jednota). Lodge meetings are held in the church (Jednota, United Societies, Slovak Catholic Sokol, GCU), rather than the secular Slovak Hall (where the Sokol USA, NSS, and ULS McKeesport lodges meet). Except for the Lutheran group (whose Duquesne counterpart does meet in the Slovak Lutheran church), the non-religious affiliated groups meet in secular settings, while the religiousaffiliated groups meet in church halls under the aegis of the priest. Until World War II, most of the Slovak fraternal groups at the local and national levels supported the political activity of the Slovak League of America, a non-fraternal, political-cultural group organized to publicize and lobby for the cause of Slovak independence (first in relation to the Hungarians, and later the Czechs). Its stress on Catholicity, its demands for Slovak separatism (rather than federated autonomy), and its support for the politically active Slovak priests Hlinka and Tiso of the Slovak People 's Party during the Nazi period alienated from it the support of the non-Catholic Sokols and the National Slovak Society. Presently, the Slovak League is primarily affiliated with, and is somewhat the political arm of, the First Catholic Slovak Union. All, however, collaborated in the period from 1907 (the year of the League's founding) throughout the First World War and in the early postwar period, toward the founding of the (First) Republic of Czecho-Slovakia (as the Slovaks prefer to spell it). The Slovak Catholic priesthood has always been at odds with the non-Catholic Sokols and the NSS, frequently accusing its members of being atheists and communists. The latter, however, have historically supported Slovak national aspirations, though apart from any religious considerations. This is reflected in the membership of the non-Catholic Sokols and the NSS, where only Slav-ness, not religion, was a qualification for membership. As a consequence, the Slovak Catholic (Latin and Byzantine Rite) religious dissidents, as well as Slovak Protestants , tended to gravitate to the Slovensky Sokol, and the NSS rather than to Jednota or the Katolicky Sokol. Furthermore, the -0verlap in membership equally relfects this distinction. Members would mosi; likely belong to Katolicky Sokol. Slovak Lutherans , of course , would join the Slovensky Sokol and the NSS. The above politico-religious concerns , however, refer only to the SLOVAKIA 71 \ older and middle age groups, who are the mainstay of the fraternal organizations. For the younger age group, under 36, Slovak national concerns are for the most part a matter of ancestry rather than immediacy. Apart from religious issues, criteria of membership in Slovak fraternals have during the past decades gradually become less exclusivistic. In the early by-laws, Slovak birth or descent was usually specified (together with a particular religious affiliation, where relevant). By the period following World War I, membership was widened to those of Slavic origin or ancestry (with religious specificity, where relevant). In 1937 the NSS extended membership to non-Slovak spouses married to Slovak members and their children. In the 1930's, the GCU extended membership to spouses so long as the spouse was Catholic. In the 1960's, membership in the Catholic organization was opened to Catholics of any nationality, while in the non-religious affiliated Slovak-American fratemals membership was opened to "anyone," implicitly or explicitly referring to whites of Christian faith. A young officer of the GCU said that he would like to see a change in bylaws that would open the organization to all Christians, removing the restriction to Catholics. Accompanying the opening of membership has been a gradual change in the organizations' names, first from the full length Slovak name to a shortened name, normally one word from the full name (Jednota from the First Catholic Slovak Union, Sobranije from the Greek Catholic Union). Then from the 1930's and on, the English title became more important and today predominates. Names became less European-sounding: the Slovak Evangelical Union became in 1960 the United Lutheran Society; the Slovak Gymnastic Union Sokol of the USA became Sokol USA. The young official of the GCU mentioned above suggested that if membership were opened to all Christians, he would like to see the name of the organization officially changed to the initials GCU only, and later "we might call it the Greater Beneficial Union / the name changed from German Beneficial Union / no, that's the GBU ... but you know what I mean.'' The direction then, would be that of an American-sounding name. Similar to this trend has been that from Slovak (or Rusin and Eastern Slovak in the Greek Catholic organizations) to English in the official publications or newspapers of fratemals. The newspapers themselves were founded shortly after the organization of the fratemals and were entirely in Slovak (with the above distinction). At the beginning of the 1930's, under pressure of the American-born membership, pages began to be devoted to stories, articles, and announcements in the 72 SLOVAKIA English language. It should be added, however, that from the days of World War I, all of the papers and English-language sections were on American history, patriotism, the American constitution, government, and citizenship. By the 1950's, 50 percent and more of the space was in the English language. For instance, after the 1964 Milwaukee Convention of Sokol USA, Slovensky Sokol devoted 76 percent of its space to English material. At the 1966 National Convention in Tampa, through an act of the General Assembly of the convention, the name of the official publication was changed from Slovensky Sokol to Sokol Times, and the paper is now entirely English-language, as is that of the United Societies, Prosvita (Enlightenment). Nevertheless, such papers as Jednota, Katolicky Sokol, and the GCU Messenger are half-English, halfSlovak; Narodne Noviny is about 25 percent Slovak. What I emphasize here is the overall direction of change. The annual Kalendar or Yearbook of the Greek Catholic Union provides an excellent and generalizable source by which changes since the first decade of the 20th century can be observed and traced. I examined the annual Kalendar of the GCU spanning the years 1903 through 1972 (with considerable gaps in the 1930's and 1940's due to schism within the society over the issue of clerical celibacy). Although the GCU was founded in 1892, the oldest available Kalendar in storage was that of 1903. The following table gives the title on the cover, a summary of advertisements which reflect contemporary issues (migration, home owning, etc.), the nature of written characters for non-English sections (Latin or Cyrillic), subjects of early essays on Americanization (1903-1932), and the language employed by the exarch / bishop in his introductory message. By the late 1960's, at least half of the Kalendar (totaling in the 1960's 90 pages) was in English. (See Table 6). To summarize the table: Through the 1930's, there were advertisements in the Kalendar for such goods and services as banks, saloons, hotel, liquors, a variety of medicinal cures, boat tickets, home building (financing, mortgages, titles, etc.), shipping from overseas, etc. Essays were written on such subjects as American history (including praiseworthy accounts of American founding heroes and legendary leaders), an explanation of American government and how to participate in it, why and how to obtain citizenship, descriptions of the nature of the population and geography of the United States, accounts of farming in the United States and of technolo~cal innovations from the zeppelin through the airplane. Considerable space was likewise devoted to a description of the Slovak-Rusin homeland, culture, religious SLOVAKIA 73 \ customs, etc. Although much of the writing through the 1930's was in eastern Slovak-Rusin dialect and written in either or both Cyrillic and Latin characters, English was used in essays on American history and government as early as 1905, when the article was printed in both languages. Americanization, more specifically, bridge-building between the insular ethnic world and the more expanding American world, was one of the major early agendas of the fraternals. Americanization was also one of the major points of stress between traditionalists and acculturationists that led to attrition of membership and schism in churches and fraternals alike. On the one hand, the Polish National Catholic Church and the Slovak National Catholic Church, a variety of independent Rusin-eastern, Slovak-western, and Ukrainian Orthodox churches, and the United Societies of USA (among others) broke with their Americanizing-Irishizing-Latinizing denationalizing parent organizations and became bastions of tradition (e.g., in liturgy, in customs, etc.) - only to acculturate internally. On the other hand, even the most traditionalist societies zealously urged Americanization both by exhortation and by the example of its leadership - including the clergy. SCHISM, DECLINE, AND CULTURE Let me use several nodal points in the history of the Greek Catholic Union to illustrate the convulsions to which conflict between the acculturationists and traditionalists led. The GCU schism of 1902 led to the founding of a new fraternal association, the United Societies of USA (Sobranije). At the 1902 Convention of the Greek Catholic Union, there was strong debate over whether or not the largely Magyarone RusinSlovak clergy leadership would be permitted to retain their official position, since they insisted on remaining citizens of the Kingdom of Hungary. The convention overwhelmingly voted that henceforth all officers of the GCU would have to be American citizens. Moreover, there was a long-standing resentment against domination of Slovak or Rusin parishioners by a Magyar or Magyarone clergy. In Hungary, the laity could do nothing about it. But in America, former peasants could vote out those who were either of the Hungarian aristocracy or had used the church - and ethnic assimilation - as a means of social mobility. The orientation toward a secular leadership made the process complete: the Byzantine Catholic laity of the fraternal would be a strong supporter of the Church but would not be its tool. The United Societies of USA, conversely, retained priests among .. .. ... .. .. .. . .. .. • • ---- ___________ KALENDARS (YEARBOOKS) OF THE GREEK CATHOIJC UNION (COURTESY OF PRES. GEORGE BATYKO) Message by Advertisements Written Exarch I Characters Bishop Year Cyrillic Slovak Rus. Eng. Early Americanization Topics Cover Title - -- - - - - - - Amerikansko-Russko- J ·1903 Banks• , Saloons, Slovensky Kalendar Hotels , Liquors , Medical Cures , • Boat Tickets• Am. History (Rusin) 1904 • Amerikansky-Russko- 1905 Am. Government (Rusin & English) • Slovensky Kalendar Am. fanning, airplane, zeppelin 1909 (Eng.) Amerikansko-Russko- 1914 Banking-Shipping•, Am . Hist. (Rus .), population • Slovensky Kalendar Cures, Liquors of U. S. (Eng.) Banking•• Sokola Sojedinenija Citizenship / naturalization / 1921 • • govt. (Eng.) ,, Am. Hist., govt., loyalty, how Banking** 1924 • to use checking (Eng.) Kai. Soj . Gr. Kaft. 1926 Banking**, Financing, Russkich Bratstv. Home Building, y • • Religious Publications Am . Hist. , govt. (Rus.) , Cit. / 1932 Title & Mortgage Nat. (Eng.) Guarantee co., • • Banks , Boat Tick...,.. ets, Medical Cures K. Gr. Kaft. Sod . none 1953 S. S. A. • 1955 • • TABLE5 > A > < r 0 V, .:,. '-I " " " " " " 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 Gr. Kaft. Sod . S.S. A . " " " " " " " " " " Message by Exarch I B ishop • • . . . • . • ..• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . .• . Cyrillic_ Slovak Eng . . Early Americanization Topics - -- - - - Rus. Written Characters • Rovnianek (Pittsburgh) in particular •• Money orders, drafts, credit, savings , import, interest *** Diamond Jubilee Almanac GCU Calendar GCU of USA*** Gr. Kaft. Sod . v S. S. A. GCU Calendar " " " " " 1956 D. Gr . Kaft. Sod. S.S. A. " First Federal S&L of Homestead none Year -- Cover Title Advertisements KALENDARS (YEARBOOKS) OF THE GREEK CATHOLIC UNION (COURTESY OF PRES . GEORGE BATYKO) TABLE 5 (Continued) ., Vl 'I )> A < )> r 0 V) 76 SLOVAKIA its officials through the present; its birth dates from when a number of delegates walked out of the GCU convention in 1902 and founded its first church-affiliated lodge in McKeesport. At the height of its membership in the mid-1920's, United Societies counted some 27,000 in its adult and juvenile branches. By 1970, the last year for which actuarial figures were made available to me, membership had declined to 5,600; since 1930, membership enrollment by young adults has precipitously declined . (See the following Tables 6 -9 assembled from the actuarial records of the United Societies of USA, public domain.) Within the GCU during the intervening years, a second, even more dramatic schism took place in the 1930's over the issue of priestly celibacy - reflecting the conflict between the traditionalists, who argued in favor of a married priesthood and the acculturationists or ''Latinizers ," who advocated clerical celibacy. While no documented figures were available to me, a number of informants agreed that some 60,000 to 70,000 members, or roughly half the membership, defected. The GCU had been organized in 1892; the Juvenile Branch in 1906; the Gymnastic Branch in 1910. It totals some 1,300 lodges and is licensed as an insurance corporation in 12 states (United Societies, in 6). At the height of membership in 1929, the GCU numbered some 60,000 members in its General or Adult Branch, 20,000 in its Falcon Branch, and 65,000 in its Juvenile Branch. The cataclysm which cost the GCU half its membership occurred in 1929. As early as 1924, the Pope had dispatched Bishop Takach back to the United States with instructions that married priests , common in the Byzantine Rite in Europe, were not to be ordained. However, ordination continued for several years through what were described as "loopholes. " In 1929 came a specific papal decree, Cum Data, forbidding the ordination of married priests in the United States. This finalization led to the immediate defection of thousands of GCU members. If this were not earthquake enough, during the 1920's all ethnic fratemals in Pennsylvania were brought under the increasingly strict regulation of the Insurance Department, which consequence was an immediate precipitous drop in the membership of all Slovak-American insurance-related fratemals. Members could no longer be assessed equally, and amounts collected varied from month to month on the basis of the past month's claims, but were rate\f according to the National Fraternal Congress table of "attained age a~ June, l, 1933." That is, members were required to pay on the basis of age, with premiums increasing with age . The new rates were adopted in June 1932 by the GCU. The National Slovak Society and the men 's and ladies' divisions 0 4 5 12 35 51 68 51 42 10 12 28 49 69 83 82 77 88 75 0 70 1 85+ 0 0 0 1 ., 0 1 1 0 6 1 4 7 18 29 15 35 33 34 69 80 0 1 In the Adult Branches, the Falcon and Main Branches have always been combined for bookkeeping purposes . 2 This figure gives the total membership in United Societies . It should be noted that at age 16, one is eligible to transfer from the Juvenile Branch to the Adult Branch (Main or Falcon) . One may transfer from the Juvenile Branch to the Adult Branch between the 16th and 18th birthday. 3 The report for 1950 was missing, so the 1949 figures were used instead . 4 Beginning with 1955, the United Societies adopted One Fund Bookkeeping, using a single ledger system and combining figures for Juvenile and Adult Branches. This means that it is no longer possible to compare membership at ages 16 and 18 in the Juvenile Branch with that in the Adult Branch. 5 An e xplanation for the increase lies in the adoption by the United Societies of the Byzantine Life Savings policy in August, 1968. It is a policy that is sold by agents of the United Societies, an effort to expand the boundaries of fratemalism on a more traditionally commercial basis . It is a 21-year savings program, which one may enter up to age 45 . At the end of the 21 years, the money is returned to the policy owner. Its advantage is that it is insured savings, although the insurance coverage decreases with each year. For the older people , it provides the certainty of a little income . United Societies of the USA : Annual State Insurance Dept . Reports (Penna., Ohio, New Jersey , West Virginia, etc.) Membership: Adult and Juvenile ADULT: MAIN AND FALCON BRANCHES! Membership per attained age categories Total : Adult & Total : Year Juvenile2 Adult 55 60 65 16 18 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 46 16 3 8652 135 128 131 236 272 367 279 185 1924 565 275 212 1926 346 517 1928 55 28 1930 19339 10159 320 372 342 114 135 227 254 290 233 191 70 153 186 227 165 122 30 7472 61 127 177 120 1935 13393 36 41 86 85 51 41 111 152 192 135 92 1940 8857 5464 7 59 70 51 73 130 151 145 49 76 106 107 99 1945 7399 5235 18 19493 48 67 69 86 63 57 58 146 133 130 6285 4739 4 18 19554 43 72 44 46 54 82 78 82 56 65 106 107 5472 25 76 89 47 43 5290 68 52 44 15 55 57 97 1960 73 78 42 37 17 27 53 46 41 1965 4812 90 63 50 19705 47 45 5628 101 60 52 38 99 107 129 118 40 27 - TABLES "" )> A < )> Vl r 0 ,,.. - 63 60 101 52 44 5456 91 613 237 231 18 68 90 16 348 418 191 299 153 93 72 6 This figure is for age 17, as it is the last listed, no figure being given for age 18 in the Juvenile Branch. 7 See Note . 4 on previous page . United Societies of the USA: Annual State Insurance Dept. Reports Membership: Adult and Juvenile JUVENILE BRANCH Membership per attained age categories Total Year Juvenile 0 1 2 10 1928 201 282 549 672 1930 9180 183 426 647 1935 5921 301 456 1940 3393 45 47 48 195 1945 2164 32 81 64 134 1949 1546 28 28 40 62 48 81 51 50 19557 1960 133 150 84 69 1965 33 74 80 88 1970 9 31 30 83 TABLE7 > )> ;ii;;: < r 0 V') 0:, " 1 Beginning with 1955, the United Societies adopted Ond Fund Bookkeeping, using a single ledger system and combining figures for Juvenile and Adult Branches. W - Written Rev. - Revived Rec . - Received Iner. - Increased Mat. - Maturity Surr. - Surrender Dec . - Decrease Exp. - Expiry Other - non-specified (However, for 1935, I would suspect that the 81 in this category belong elsewhere, probably in 'Surrender.') United Societies of the USA : Annual State Insurance Dept. Reports Exhibit of Certificates: Adult and Juvenile Branches ADULT: (se e below for abbreviations) - - MAIN AND FALCON BRANCHES Benefit Certificates . . . In force In force Dec . 31 Dec. 31 Year last yr. W this yr. Death Lapse Rev . Rec. Iner. Surr. Dec. Exp. Other -Mat. 1925 14908 2220 15574 133 1524 103 1926 15574 3833 18141 145 1121 1928 10704 11102 114 10313 1930 527 77 10159 . 652 1 1935 7534 279 80 7472 89 332 81 5621 1940 80 15 5464 98 154 1945 5296 139 4 5235 93 91 20 1949 4864 47 4739 113 23 35 1 19551 5356 360 5472 105 19 86 34 5514 1960 217 5290 108 248 41 44 1965 4907 160 4812 103 74 16 36 26 1970 5054 599 193 5628 91 91 30 5 1 TABLES ~ "'° 7' > > < Vl r 0 1702 81 16 723 2g3 Transfer 1 The figures for the Juvenile Branch list only up to age 16, so it is ambiguous as to whether Juveniles past their 16th birthday are included in tne figure of 9401. 2 transfer to Falcon Branch . 3 transfer to Senior (Main) Branch. 4 Beginning with 1955, the United Societies adopted One Fund Bookkeeping, using a single ledger system and combining figures for Juvenile and Adult Branches . United Societies of the USA: Annual State Insurance Dept . Reports Exhibit of Certificates: Adult and Juvenile Branches JUVENILE BRANCH: Benefit Certificates In force In force Dec . 31 Received Dec . 31 Terminated b1: last yr. by transfer Increased this yr. Year Written Revived Death Lapse 19281 9401 884 49 42 1930 9239 9180 810 968 1935 6384 597 5921 11 7 470 1940 3740 136 10 3393 223 1945 2356 115 2164 12 1949 1636 60 1546 1 120 19554 1960 1965 ,,, . 1970 - TABLE9 > 7' > ~ r (./') ~ SLOVAKIA 81 of the First Catholic Slov~ Union (Jednota) had been the first to comply in 1930. The state requirement of solvency was reflected in high premiums for the older members who, in the Depression years, could not pay. Each insurance company had to make up the deficit. The 1929 law required that all fraternal societies re-rate their policies within five years. Not that this external policing had not been attempted before. But now, like the papal decree on celibacy, the law was final. Between 1892 and 1909 or 1910, each member of the GCU had been assessed 50 cents, 60 cents, or 75 cents a month, depending on how much was customarily collected at a given lodge. There was no uniformity of policy even within the GCU. In 1909 or 1910, the GCU lodges went under an '' Assessment System,'' such that the amount due from each member was determined by the claims of the past month. Thus the assessment varied from month to month, but was internally regulated by the lodge. Around 1910, the state began to appear in the picture, proposing that members of fraternals pay according to age. Some fraternals put a lien on each member's policy, but this did not sufficiently raise revenues. In 1918 , the National Fraternal Congress Table of Mortality provided a uniform schedule according to which each member was to be rated according to the age at which he or she had joined the organization. But, even where this table was applied, it did not bring lodges or national offices anywhere approaching solvency. In Pennsylvania, the Insurance Department saw that the fraternals were functionally decentralized and operated on a day-to-day economic calculus - which, incidentally, was the traitional Slovak way of pooling resources in the extended family. It applied pressure for greater fraternal centralization and economic foresight. As of 1924, new members were to be rated according to the American Experience Table of Rates. However, the old members could continue to pay the prior National Fraternal Congress rate. This, too, did not greatly move the GCU and other Slovak-American fraternals toward solvency. Finally, the 1929 Pennsylvania law was implemented, and its effect paradoxical: it "worked" with amazing effectiveness according to the canons of American economic planning, but utterly disrupted the Slovak way of doing business. To summarize, then : the most compelling factors in declining membership within the Slovak-American fraternals were (a) the increasing cultural Americanization of their members and the availability of fraternal and insurance options within the cultural mainstream; (b) the increased influence of external (e .g., state) forces in the management of the internal affairs of the associations; (c) the devastating in- 82 SLOVAKIA fluence of the Great Depression over members' abilities to keep up payment of premiums on policies (undoubtedly influenced by " b " ); (d) the fraternal officials ' internal acculturation of the associations into "American" institutions (self-motivated as well as impelled by "b"). There remains an extremely potent factor in fraternal schism and attrition much less obvious to the observer's eye than those already discussed, one which the national president of a Slovak-American fraternal in his early 70' s poignantly articulated: ... we are still declining, there is an explanation for it. There was nothing ever done in this society. There was feeble attempts made to try to get the younger generation to become interested in our / fraternal society / . . .. we now lose, on an average of 1200 members a year .... you take in our generation, our parents were interested in our society and as soon as kids were born they put them in the lodge, the mother or father would always make sure that they would come to the meeting once a month and pay their dues. Even after they got married, the would pay their dues , do you follow me? Now, after they were on their own, had their own families they would say: "Here is your policy. Do you want to keep it. We pay till now. You can make your wife your beneficiary. " Lot of them kept it, and a lot of them turned around and cashed whatever they could get for it. See, where the old people wouldn't do that, and this younger generation isn't like the older generation. They say: " I don't need this or that." Now once again I say, it's not all of them, but the majority. They aren't worried so much like the old people were about their future. All they care is they get a new car, or good times, and when they are in trouble they come to their parents to help them out. Shortly thereafter, he spoke of local lodge meetings: The younger kids, they come, some of them come, some come and just pay their dues. They're in a hurry. They're always in a hurry. You see , I'll tell you. I think the biggest dam fault in all our fraternals. We used to have meetings every month at every lodge. I know I went as a younster, we came to the League, as a young fellow, 18, 19 years old, 20, 21. We would go to the Assemblies. All these old timers come to the meetings. It was always in the Slovak language, and if you\wanted the floor or ask permission to say something, and if you couldn""t. explain yourself well in the Slovak language, say in butchered up language, Slovak and English mixed together, the president of SLOVAKIA 83 _ _ _ _ says: "Sit down you snot nose you. You can't express yourself in Slovak, you can sit down. You are out of order." Well, naturally these younger people think, they say "Oh, my goodness gracious." You get red in the face, these young people, then they don't know what to do. Then they sit through it and first chance that they got to go home, "They won't get me back here with a bull rope." Instead of being nice to them and courteous, ''OK, we understand you, go ahead and say in English what you want to say. We want you to come." And once you drive them away, oh boy, it's hard to bring them back. That's been the trouble all these fratemals, whether it's the Slovak Catholic, whether it's the National Slovak Society or the. First Catholic Slovak Union. It's the same condition and a lot of those old timers, when they held office, they thought they were supposed to be there till they die. The younger people, they need to bring these people in . . . . Another official, participating in the interview, later interjected: ... That old fellow who would come to the conventions, and make a rousing speech, "We have got to get our young people to take over our offices in our local assemblies, in the national,'' yet he wouldn 't give up his damn job .... (from field notes, June 1978) The chronic, occasionally acute conflict (expressed institutionally in schism) which these officers articulate is a generational conflict be- tween fathers and sons, once contained within the traditional familiar and manorial system, but now run openly rife in the expressively more permissive American cultural setting. We have already seen this conflict in another form: the 1902 schism within the GCU which led to the founding of the United Societies of USA, precipitated by the issue of allegiance to the U.S. versus allegiance to the parental-land and representatives of its authority. This conflict at the macro-institutional level is dynamically identical with the deeply traditional family struggle in Slovak culture: parental holding on versus letting go of authority, power, status, property, and roles. What I have discussed elsewhere in terms of traditional and Slovak-American personality, family dynamics, and culture change (Stein 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1976, 1978a, 1978b, 1979, Stein and Hill 1977, 1979) is dynamically identical and isomorphic with the conflict at the macro-institutional level. Traditionally as well as in the New World, unquestioning respect for and obedience to the will and authority of elders was paramount. In the official cultural ethos, the father's word and will were absolute; 84 SLOVAKIA deference was due to him no matter what. With the breakdown of the manorial order in Slovakia between 1848 and the great migration of 1880-1920 , sons began demanding a greater say in the running of family affairs . If fathers refused to relinquish some of their traditional prerogatives , sons now had options from setting up separate households to emigration . The vastly extended " joint family " diminished into the " stem family " (Goldschmidt and Kunkel 1971) in which frequently only a son or two, and daughter or two would live with or near the parents (cf. Koenig 1937) . The children now were able to place demands upon the parents , and to leave if dissatisfied. This is precisely what happened openly in the U.S., which official ethos was based on revolutionary separation from parents who, as the motto goes , exacted " taxation without representation, " an experience that strikes at the heart of the Slovak experience as well. Of course, this never was a matter of either / or. As I have demonstrated in the above cited works , moves centrifugal toward autonomy have evoked enormous ambivalence , guilt, restitution, and centripetal countervailing moves on the part of parents. Nonetheless , the above officials have identified as a decisive ingredient in the attrition of the young from Slovak-American fratemals the demand by the young for respect by the elders, a reversal of tradition that is at the same time traditionally and quintessentially '' American.'' It is thus not enough to say that the young defectors had been " Americanized ," and that the diehards remained doggedly "traditional. '' The elder officials of the Slovak-American fratemals could not mobilize the constraints they once yielded under the much hated manorial and Magyar yoke to compel those who they contemptuously regarded as " snotty nosed" youth to speak their language: Slovak. It should further be noted that language was wielded by the officials as a tool of power - but an impotent tool. Ironically, the youth, in the 1910's and 1920' s , attempted to express their interest in ethnicity in English, but were dismissed as out of order by parental-clergy-fraternal-elder figures who sought to safe-guard their venerable Slovak ethnicity by passing it on through institutional measures (churches, gynmastics , literary clubs). However, the fact of institutionalization of tradition was disqualified by the attitude of the founders toward those who would succeed them - which very " success " aroused their fear and countervailing animosity toward the Slovak-American youth. The very nature of many officers ' traditionalism led to the ardent Americanization by the young, whose consequence for the fratemals was decline in membership. ' SLOVAKIA 85 ATHLETIC PROGRAMS IN SLOVAK-AMERICAN FRATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS: INTERNAL CHANGE AND CONTINUITY Similar directional change can be seen in the history of athletic programs within the Slovak-American fraternals. The baseline was the Slovak Sokol (Falcon) or gymnastic society. The earliest Sokols had been founded in Bohemia in 1862 by Jindrich Fuegner and Miroslav Tyrs , derived from the German Turnvereine . The Sokols were used in Europe both as vehicles for nativism and Pan-Slavic solidarity. In the U.S. , they tended to follow ethnic lines and intra-ethnic schisms. Initially most of the fraternal organizations were divided into full membership branches: general (adult), juvenile (up to ages 16-18) , and Sokol. Between the ages of 16 and 18, one transferred from the juvenile branch to either the general or the Sokol branch. The Sokol branch stressed group gymnastics. Beyond local activities, each branch combined with other lodges, organizations, and conducted district, regional, national, and international slets (mass calisthenic displays) . Separate Sokol / insurance fraternals later developed. During the first decades of the twentieth century, baseball attracted considerable interest in fraternal and church groups , and if not competed for time with the gymnastic activity, it at least paralleled it. By the 1930's, Sokol activity began a slow decline, while baseball was attracting more interest. And in the mid and late 1930' s, the first fraternal bowling leagues were formed, later organized into district, regional, and national competition along the same lines as were the gymnastics. With the preparation for and American entry into World War II Sokol programs were drastically cut when the young Sokols and Sokolettes and instructors took part in the war. Great hopes were placed on a revival following the war, but there was no such revival. Quite the reverse . Those lodges which were discontinued during the war were never revived. ' ' At least fifty percent of the former gymnastically-active lodges became dormant ; numerous Sokol halls were lost; and most of the prewar instructors and directors disappeared from the physical education field . The indifference and apathy on the part of .. . Sokol membership , and officers as well, also were responsible for this decline ." (Andrew Venglarcik, Jr., " President's Column," Sokol Times, Jan . 14, 1972 , p. 3). Despite efforts by the Supreme Lodge of Sokol USA and other control bodies to induce renewal by the appropriation of larger funds for the Sokols , promises of salaries and the payment of travel expenses, there was little positive response on the part 86 SLOVAK IA of the membership . The Sokol USA slet held in 1966 was a veritable miniature compared with those of the 1920's. The influence of World War II was pervasive on both those who participated in it and in the home communities. Two facts are especially noteworthy: (a) that the virtual collapse of Sokol gynmastics was merely one small aspect of this transformation from Slovak to American, and (b) that the fact of the war did not so much cause the change as it rapidly accelerated a process already under way. Baseball, already popular before the war, was equally popular during the war in the informal games by American soldiers at recreation in training or overseas. Although the soldiers returned with baseball, they did not return it to their fraternal lodges, but instead to their industrial teams, American Legion teams, war veterans ' teams, and so forth . At the Sokol lodges, bowling became the sport. Only in the 1960's did local bowling lodge teams begin to decline. From the late 1940's and early 1950's bowling began to compete with golf, which was subsequently organized in districts, regions, and nationally. From the mid-1960 's , golf became the major activity, all of this taking place as the elderly are passing on, the young either not joining or cashing in their policies when they mature , the lodges becoming smaller and more difficult to justify and maintain. What is the meaning of the transformation in athletic activities? What has changed, and what has remained? The only remnant is that of group competition. Slets displayed competitive gymnastic groups, and baseball, bowling, and golf were organized as competitive tournaments at the various levels . But there is a gradual incorporation into the group of increasing individualism, in contrast with the "mechanical solidarity" of group gymnastics . In all of these, what the individual does is for the sake of the group effort. But the individual as a separate entity is increasingly emphasized. The team-orientation of a baseball team is far greater than that of the bowling team, because, as in the group gymnastic display, all of the members ' (or at least the playing members ' ) actions must be coordinated. This is not the case in bowling or golf, where the group is cumulative and sequential, rather than synchronized. In bowling and golf, individual efforts (and accomplishments) are not directly coordinated with tho'se of others, although they are added to them. In these '' individualistic' •· sports, individual actions are apart from the group , not subsumed under group effort as they necessarily are in the slet and in sports like baseball. Psychologically, the meaning of these sports differs greatly from the earlier " team" sports , where the individual could never be " taken out" of the group . SLOVAKIA 87 \ This point has been well made by Andrew J. Valusek, President of Sokol USA: '' ... we believe in mass training more than emphasis on individual excellence, even though outstanding Sokol athletes are honored and play an important role in the life and achievements of the movement itself (Souvenir Book, 15th Sokol USA Slet, July 1-3, 1966, New York). This transformation in atheltics reflects what is simultaneously a cultural and psychological transformation: from Slovak to American, from group-oriented to individual-oriented, from coordinated interdependence to self-reliant independence. Furthermore, the incorporation of American athletic activities represented a new social status for the group . The lodge members had adopted within an ethnic framework typically mainstream American social activities. Increasingly, ancestral ethnicity was the basis for association, while categories of American culture dominated the content of the activity. MEN'S CLUB AND SECRET SOCIETY My final consideration in the history of the Slovak-American fraternals is its vital ' 'latent'' function as an exclusive men's club. This refers, of course, to male fraternal organizations or a compartmentalized activity of a male fraternal. The men's club provided and safeguarded a haven and refuge from women, family, and responsibility. It occasioned regularized " rituals of rebellion" (Gluckman 1954; Wallace 1966). This is not a matter of the writer's interpretations but derives from informants ' statements as well as the writer's observations. In Slovakia and Ruthenia, the village tavern had fulfilled this release function. In those Slovak-American organizations whose meetings were held under the strict supervision of the priest, the conclusion of a meeting was frequently followed by a visit to the Slovak Club . Many fraternals held their lodge meetings in one of the rooms at the Slovak Club. At the club , heavy drinking, card and craps playing, mournful and boisterous Slovak folk song, and " men' s talk" occupied the hours and filled the air. Abetted by the influences of "boilermakers'' (a shot of whiskey with a beer as chaser), the unspeakable literally emptied into the open. Taboos were cavalierly broken - at least in word. Built on shared experiences and conflicts, the male associations offered one of the few opportunities for male solidarity. Both in Europe and in the first several decades in the U.S., Saturday night was the ritual occasion for the unbottling of the week's pent up burdens. In the U.S. , the male solidarity of Slovak-American fraternal and the Slovak Club came to be predominantly associated with the immi- 88 SLOVAKIA grant generation. With the second and later generations, from the 1940's and on, this function became transferred to union halls, service veterans' clubs, American fraternal orders, and local bars, whether located adjacent to the mill or in one's neighborhood. These became places where men from varied ethnic backgrounds (though as exclusively white as they were exclusively male) could commiserate and boast of extracurricular feats on the war front and on the home front alike, out of reach of female domination and ridicule. In the original Slovak tavern the American Slovak Club, and later supra-ethnic American adaptations, lusty fiction compensated for social realities too miserable to acknowledge, and over which one felt no control. Through group support, one was able, without too great a burden on the conscience, to take a temporary moral holiday. And a man knew that later confession and communion could always undo - again temporarily what he had dared to think or say or do under the influence of potent spirits. SLOVAK-AMERICAN CHURCHES: A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF TRENDS A detailed history of Slovak-American parishes at the local and national levels, over the past century, exactly duplicates the history of the fraternals . For this reason, and for economy of space, I would like to review the major trends and give a brief ''life history'' of St. Mark Lutheran Church in Duquesne, Pennsylvania, which history will embody these trends. Each of the churches in which I conducted fieldwork (Latin Rite, Byzantine Rite, Independent Rite Catholic, and Lutheran) either experienced the convulsion of schism or was a product of schism. Each of these parishes experiences the on-going drama of conflict between traditionalists and acculturationists. And in each of these parishes, the resolution is identical: (a) outward mobility of dissident acculturationists (and, in some cases, traditionalists for whom even the majority of parish traditionalists have compromised too much); (b) internal acculturation and inter-marriage, creating supra-ethnic denominationalized parishes ; (c) the "territorialization" of "nationality '' parishes (this language comes from khe Catholic diocesan context, but is univerally applicable) . The same directional change is evidenced since the 1930's in Slo- SLOVAKIA " 89 vak-American churches as in fratemals: that is, away from ethnic exclusiveness and insularity. Initially, religion, like fratemalism, was an inseparable functional component of ethnicity. Today, in the context of an individual's increasingly personal community" (Gould 1970: 148), a traditional social structural view is empirically invalidated. "Religion" and "ethnicity" have become increasingly separate domains of one's life. This is true even for those originally nationality parishes which, in the 1960's or early 1970's, still maintained a large membership and which could afford to build a new parish further "up the hill" or out in suburbia. I think, for instance, of two parishes in Duquesne, Pennsylvania: Holy Trinity (Slovak) Roman Catholic Church, which, in the late 1960's, built a dazzlingly modem church in the suburb of West Mifflin in which many of the second and third generation lived, but which became de jure a supra-ethnic territorial parish in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh; and Sts. Peter and Paul Byzantine Catholic Church, originally located in the same neighborhood as Holy Trinity, but which built a modem church building in the mid-1960's a mile or two further up the hill, in a stable white, middle-class, poly-ethnic neighborhood. Cross-cutting denominational lines is the decisive influence of World War Il in accelerating, though not causing, the Americanization process within Slovak-American parishes, and with it, division or further schism. The ubiquity of this process I have discovered from discussions with Latin and Byzantine Rite Catholic, Lutheran, and Independent Catholic Slovak-American clergymen and parishioners. A Slovak Lutheran minister in his late forties, who grew up in Johnstown, Penna., relates his experience there and generalizes from it: In my church in Johnstown, there was no English until 1942 - at least until 1942, when I left for World War II. When I left, no English had been introduced. But after war, the young people coming back demanded that English be adopted as a separate service. The effect of the war was to put people of all different backgrounds together, and the common language there was English. The men thought and spoke and felt in English, so that when they got home after the war, their native towns and churches were like a foreign country. The delicate questions, then, as always, was how to contain or try to contain change within continuity. In McKeesport, Penna., Holy Trinity Slovak Roman Catholic Church had been founded in 1895 as a "nationality" parish within the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese (Holy Trinity 1970; Slovak Catholic Par- 90 SLOVAKIA ishes and Institutions, 1955). In 1921 the church had a membership of some 1, 700 individuals and 325 families. In that year, the bishop appointed a priest of Alsatian-German ancestry to succeed the Slovak priest who many elderly parishioners allege returned to Slovakia under dubious circumstances (e.g. , with church funds?). Not so much the new priest's ethnicity as his antagonistic, condescendingly anti-Slovak style precipitated a schism in which some 300 families left to found Sts . Peter and Paul Slovak Independent National Catholic Church, later renamed Sts. Cyril and Methodius. This priest remained the pastor of the church until his death in 1963, and was succeeded by a second-generation Slovak-American priest who remained pastor until his retirement in the mid-1970's. This period witnessed considerable Americanization of everything from liturgy to architecture to the aesthetics of the sanctuary. The immense wood-spires gave way to marble. The dusty baldachino was taken down in the 1960' s. The sanctuary of the church has fewer and fewer statues and candles. The interior became increasingly lighter and brightly lit. The Slovak mass on Sunday morning (one mass out of the four) , attended mostly by the older people, was phased out by the late 1960's. At the Diamond Jubilee Celebration (75 yrs.) in 1970, no Slovak was used in the special mass. (As I left the service, I overheard one man , perhaps in this 60 's, exclaim to a friend: " Couldn 't he have said something in Slovak?'') In 1975, a young third-generation Slovak-American priest became pastor and initiated weekly Charismatic Renewal Services , held in the church social hall and open to and attended by Catholics from parishes throughout McKeesport. Thus, what began as an exclusively ethnic parish has become internally a multi-ethnic territorial Roman Catholic parish though with explicitly acknowledged ties to an ethnic past. Moreover, it is the site for decidedly contemporary American cultic activity that stresses the direct, personal religious experience. The possible conflict between the priest and Eucharist-centererd formalism of the traditional mass (now in the vernacular English) and the participatory Charismatic Service of heightened self-expression and testimonial has at least for the moment been settled by compartmentalization. At the present time (see Table 10), the membership is large enough (roughly 1,800 members) , and its >decline due to the greater proportion of deaths over baptisms gradual e:eough to assure the parish at least several decades of "life." But, clearly the nature of the religious experience has changed decisively over the past 85 years . The word ' 'Slovak '' was officially dropped from the name of the church in SLOVAKIA 91 \ the 1960's. • The parish is becoming increasingly working-class Catholic in its expressive function. The so-called Latinization and Irishization of the church has most recently been succeeded by a new type of American religious nativism: here , however, the change is induced far less from without than from within. To date, St. Nicholas Byzantine Catholic Church, Sts. Cyril and Methodius Slovak Independent National Catholic Church, and St. Mark Lutheran Church have solved the generational gap between traditionalists and acculturationists through separate services. Sts. Cyril and Methodius alternates Sundays with English and Slovak services. At St. Mark, the Slovak service typically takes place early on Sunday, followed by the English service . At the much larger St. Nicholas, the Slavonic Mass is one of three masses offered on Sunday morning, the other two in English (for detailed histories of these parishes , see Stein 1972). If at Holy Trinity, " Latinization" mediated by " Irishization " underlay much internal conflict, at St. Nicholas a less direct though powerful Latinization has taken place, here mediated by the supra-local hierarchy from Byzantine Catholic bishop through Rome. Just as in Latin Rite Slovak-American parishes, the conglomerate of IrishizationLatinization-Americanization was a means of social mobility for the priesthood ; likewise within Byzantine Rite Slovak-American parishes, Latinization-Americanization, bypassing the Latin Rite, Irish-dominated Church , was a means of social mobility for its priesthood. This, however, was not original to the American context. For centuries, both Byzantine and Latin Rite Slovak priests frequently used Magyarization as a means of mobility in Slovakia. Likewise, in Europe as in America, Germanization was a means of social mobility for Slovak Lutheran clergy. In all cases , the process in America was continuous with that in Europe: only the specific content or reference group(s) changed. • Let me furthe r pursue the issue of " What' s in a name? " , the importance of name as personal meaning and identity, from the point of view of baptismal records in this parish . Both in traditional Slovakia, and in parish records through the early 1920' s, baptismal names we re largely Biblical , or reflected more eastern Slavic influence . Thus, most males were named Michael, John, Thomas , Andrew , George, Paul, Joseph, Stephen , Be rnard , Albert, Rudolph, Charles, and Ivan ; and females were named Martha, Helen , Margaret , Mary, Anna , Elizabeth , and Ivana. American names, including the addition of a middle name, began to appear sporadically in the late 1910's , but grew in the 1920's and thereafter . For instance : Ella Sue, Stanley J oseph , Ethel Elizabeth, Emma Marie , Virginia , Robert William , George Edward (all before 1930) , Anna Mae, Rose Marie , Dorothy Mae , Virginia Louise, Patricia J ane , Lucille Diane , Gary Michael, William John , and so forth . SLOVAKIA 92 TABLE 10 Diocese of Pittsburgh Holy Trinity (Slovak) Catholic Church Allegheny County McKeesport, PA Church reports at five year intervals (1896-1971): Year 1896 1901 1906 1911 1916 1921 1926 1931 1936 1941 1946 1951 1956 1961 1966 1971 1974+ Souls (approximate)• 600 Families (approximate)• 180 905 210 1060 250 1200 1300 1800 2500 2700 300 300 400 600 600 600 600 600 500 600 600 610 675 667 2900 2886 3170 3180 3500 3500 2725 2540 2140 Baptisms 144 151 175 177 160 140 137 131 86 72 127 86 78 66 41 26 16 Deaths 50 . 67 109 30 48 50 30 45 38 37 24 36 39 40 35 37 50 • Priest' s estimate derived from traditional annual blessing of homes after Epiphany. + Last year data available. Moreover, this was hardly a process imposed exclusively from without or by the pastor. In the absence of schism, and in the aftermath of schism for those who chose to remain loyal to church and pastor, the direction taken by the pastor coincided with the direction sought by a majority of the congregation, through passive assent if not active work toward change. The matter is somewhat different for Sts. Cyril and Methodius, an independent Slovak Catholic church that has literally struggled for survival since its creation in 1921. Beginning with some 300 zealous families as Sts. Peter and Paul, it has now barely 100 members. In the 1920's it ambitiously built a new church, only to lose it to the bank in 1937. Just as, prior to building its own edifi<z, the church held services in Slovak Hall and in churches where it was welcomed, likewise after 1937, it held services at the YWCA and the Baptist Mission. In order to be exempt from any past or future debts incurred under its original SLOVAKIA 93 \ name , Sts. Peter and Paul changed its name to Sts. Cyril and Methodius in the late 1930's . In its early period, the church had been served by a priest ordained by the Czecho-Slovak Independent Church in Slovakia. Later, when no priest could be found, Sts. Cyril and Methodius became affiliated with the parallel nativistic Polish National Catholic movement which had begun in Scranton, Penna. in 1897 (Fox, n .d.). Services were conducted at the local, inner-city Polish National Catholic Church , served by a Polish-American priest who said mass in Polish, while responsorials and hymns were sung in Slovak by the congregation. During the late 1960's, the Polish church began a building program in suburban McKeesport. At the same time, a Swedish Evangelical Free Church was vacating its church on the "hill" and moving to a more outlying district - where its members tended to be living, and away from the area in which blacks were now living in increasing numbers . The Slovak Independent church voted to purchase the Swedish church outright in 1967. So the church now had a home, but few members. Many had, in the intervening year, returned to Holy Trinity. Others joined Catholic or Protestant churches near their homes . Still others gravitated in increasing numbers to the Polish National Catholic Church: an institution which acted both to safeguard the Slovak church and as an agent of acculturation to the PNCC tradition. Indeed , one of the greatest areas of chronic conflict within Sts. Cyril and Methodius has been those who resist and resent the PNCC influence and those who accept it. From the outset, the Slovak National Catholic Church movement has been numerically small and politically weak in comparison with the PNCC, which now claims several hundreds of thousands of members in some 140 churches in the U.S. alone - and which movement diffused in the 1920's back to the mother country . Thus the direction of change in Sts. Cyril and Methodius has been toward PNCC and American acculturation. Like St. Mark, whose ' 'life history '' I present immediately below in detail rather than fragment , the membership of Sts. Cyril and Methodius is highly skewed toward the end of the life cycle , unbalanced by a substantial middle-aged population to compensate for the outward migration of young adults and the virtually non-existent birth-rate. While these examples are sufficient to illustrate the trend of culture change , I would like to tum to the history of St. Mark Lutheran Church , which should provide a depth missing in the breadth of the " trends " I have covered for the other churches . 94 SLOVAKIA ST. MARK LUTHERAN CHURCH: AN INSTITUTIONAL ''LIFE HISTORY'' St. Mark's was founded in 1913 by 25 members from the Slovak Evangelical Union Assembly 53 (a fraternal organization) organized in 1899 in Duquesne. The church was named the Slovak Evangelical Augsburg Lutheran Congregation of Duquesne. Between 1913 and 1919, ''lacking funds to either build or buy a place for a church site, the Church council called upon the nearby existing Grace Reformed Church ... for permission to use the church for services" (50th Anniversary Book, St. Mark Ev. Lutheran Church, Oct. 27, 1963) . Toward the end of the decade , Grace Reformed Church's growth compelled it to seek larger quarters elsewhere in Duquesne, making the building available for purchase. Slovak Lutherans from Duquesne and from the nearby communities of McKeesport and Glassport purchased the church building. In 1920, the parish was able to send a call for its first full-time pastor. In 1934, after no prior synodical affiliation, the church joined the Slovak Zion Synod, Lutheran Church of America, in which it has been a member ever since. In the 1930's, the Slovak Lutheran parish in Duquesne, Pennsylvania, experienced a schism between the more Americanized members and the traditionalists. The more Americanized members wanted English introduced into the service, and wanted to establish a Sunday School for their children in which English was the language of instruction. The more adamant Slovaks refused to permit any change. Between one-third and one-half of the congregation (over 150 members) left. They took up membership at the nearby German Lutheran and Engish Lutheran churches. The loss of membership in the 1930's precipitated a compromise initiated in 1940: an English-language Sunday School was founded, and English was adopted in the Vacation Bible School and in the Confirmation Class. The services, however, remained entirely in Slovak. The Second World War acted as a great catalyst of change toward the more rapid Americanization of the parish - not merely of this parish but thoughout Slovak Lutheran parishes. The younger members, many of them returning veterans, insisted on a separate English service. This structural change solved in part the probl~m of the different intergenerational linguistic and cultural orientatibns. Each age set, indeed cultural set, would have its own separate service. The Sunday morning Slovak service at the Duquesne parish is now a much shortened version of the traditional service. In this way, it has been adopted to the Ameri- SLOVAKIA 95 can time-sense (e.g., hymns of an original 16-20 stanzas now reduced to 4-6). For occasions such •s Christmas Eve, Easter Sunday, and Confirmation, joint services are held, with roughly half in English and half in Slovak, equally distributed throughout the service. In the 1960's, further measures were taken to Americanize the church. A majority of the younger members felt that the word "Slovak" in its name , as with the lengthy European-sounding name as a whole, discouraged non-Slovaks from joining. The younger age set wished to become an integrated member of the American Lutheran community rather than remain outside it. As a reflection of this attitude change, the name was changed from Slovak Evangelical Augsburg Lutheran Congregation of Duquesne to the more conventional St. Mark Evangelical Lutheran Church, or simply St. Mark Lutheran Church. The church was named in honor of a saint because, as the pastor put it, ''most American churches are called Saint this or Saint that.'' Accompanying the change in name were concomitant changes in the by-laws whose effect was intended to parallel and validate the change in name. Whereas previously membership was restricted to Slovak Lutherans and their spouses (through conversion to Lutheranism), now membership was opened to all Lutherans irrespective of nationality background. For all practical purposes the church became ''two churches' ' : Slovak Lutheran and American Lutheran, the former using the Slovak liturgy, and the latter utilizing the Common Service Book of 1917 (United Lutheran Church of America) until the mid-1960's, then the authorized Service Book and Hymnal (Lutheran Church of America, 1968). However, the opening up of the church to new membership, together with the standardization of the liturgy, failed to attract new members or to retain the young. The Slovak population of Duquesne, like that of McKeesport and all other local milltowns on the Monongahela, had largely been moving to outlying districts, first up on ''the hill,'' later further out to "suburbs. " Mobility of membership to nearby " American Lutheran" churches almost inevitably followed. In the same area of Duquesne as St. Mark Church were former Slovak Roman Catholic (Holy Trinity, Duquesne) and Slovak / Rusin Byzantine Catholic (Sts. Peter and Paul) churches . Sts. Peter and Paul had completed a new church far up on the hill in early 1960, and Holy Trinity completed a new church out in the suburb of West Mifflin in 1970. During the period from the 1940' s through the 1960' s, as the Slovaks moved " up and out," the area rapidly became settled by blacks , and the area quickly became unpopular even in the eyes of those Slovaks who remained and attended the Lutheran Church (which could not 96 SLOVAKIA afford to build elsewhere). The church could hardly retain its own members, let alone attract outsiders to what was quickly becoming called a deteriorated and unstable area. The former Slovak Catholic Holy Trinity Church building and rectory were given by the diocesan bishop to a local black church group, and the nearby vacated Slovak / Rusin Byzantine Church became a plaything for vandals. Many Catholic and Lutheran Slovak-Americans who had bought their first homes here or had grown up in this neighborhood said in disgust that this was no longer a place fit for a white man to live. It is significant that, despite all the vast changes that have taken place in the church, the original German-made oak tryptich altar, baptismal, and pulpit (of the 1920's) are retained by the church to the present. From time to time younger parishioners have suggested that the ancient pipe organ be replaced by a modern electric organ, but there has never been a concerted demand for such a replacement. I suspect that underlying this lack of pressure for costly remodeling and rennovation is first, the smallness of the congregation and hence the lack of large amounts of funds for such purposes, and second, the younger generation's relative lack of long-term future commitment to the parish and hence their acquiescence to the traditional preferences of the older generation . At present, an average of ten of those parishioners aged 60 and over attend the Slovak service; while between 40 and 50 of mostly younger parishioners and their families attend the English. Only a few elderly people are accompanied in the Slovak service by their children and grandchildren. However, many grandparents attend the English service with their children. Unexceptionably, the three-generation service is the English. A maximum of 15 attend the Slovak service, while at the English it approximates 60. The parish is rapidly losing members at both ends of the age range , the elder through deaths , and the younger with their families by moving away or joining more American Lutheran churches . Between 1960 and the end of 1970, the church lost 26 members over age 50 (out of a total of 32) of whom 14 were over age 70. Several parents in their 30 's and 40 's have told me of their intention of joining elsewhere after their own parents, stalwart members , pass on .* \ • Rarely have Slovak-ethnic organizations later becom~ stable supra-ethnic co=unity institutions . The direction of change seems one way . Ethnic parishes have declined dramatically in Slovak-American membership . The ethnic fratemals ' efforts at modernizing fis cally simply came too late . Moreover, the fratemals ' renewed efforts at in- SLOVAKIA 97 , CONCLUSION This paper has examined religion and fraternal association among Slovak-Americans as institutional forms for the communication of cultural meaning. Although I have focused on a single Euro-American population, the perspectives and findings of this study should be applicable to and testable by data from comparable populations. Historical, documentary, ethnographic, and demographic data were adduced both to illustrate cultural patterns of communication and to offer the reader material by which my generalizations might be evaluated. I have emphasized that (a) there is much in Slovak-American adaptation that is built upon, indeed derived from, preadaptive characteristics of traditional culture which cannot be reduced to the demands of the host environment or to adaptive tools available in it; (b) the overall trend and categories of change in fraternals and churches is identical; (c) the study of institutional meaning is never removed, nor can it be abstracted from, the personal meanings of its participants who invest in social structures; (d) what from one point of view appears to be patently instrumental functions can be discerned simultaneously from another point of view as expressive functions (i.e., complementary); (e) the American cultural system was adopted by Slovak-Americans to achieve both traditional ends (often in new "language" or cultural content) and anti-traditional ends, the seeds of which were sown (as latent possibilities) in traditional Slovak family and social conflict; (f) the distinction between traditional and modern, and continuity and change, cannot be concluded on the basis of mere appearance, but must be detennined by the meanings communicated by the cultural actors; hence (g) continuity in form, function, and meaning can often be expressed, not despite, but strurnental change in service of ethnic, that is, expressive, revitalization was a futile attempt to reassemble functions that had already been severed by the membership for expressive reasons . One conspicuous exception is the Benedictine High School in Cleveland , Ohio . Another is the First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Homestead, Pennsylvania (with branches in McKeesport and Clairton, also mill towns) , originally founded in 1914 by Slovak workers to assist in providing common funds for Slovak families now able and eager to purchase homes in the "hill" regions of the town up and away from their rented flats in the " lowland" or " bottoms " close to the mill . Perhaps a compelling reason for the success of the S & L association lies in its offer of supra-ethnic' ' social security '' resources from the beginning. That is, being primarily a financial institution, it stood the best chance of flourishing in the American cultural environment in which instrumental (e .g. , economic) functions were compartmentalized from expressive ones. 98 SLOVAKIA through a change in symbolic content; (h) although unmistakable trends of change have been noted, at any given moment the identified distinctive features of change may perform complementary or contradictory institutional functions; (i) the process of Americanization or acculturation cannot be seen as a unitary process directed either from within or from without the ethnic community, but must be analyzed in terms of sources of impetus for Americanization. The study of ethnicity is not the study of "tribes" as though they and their conceptually reified cultures persist statically unchanged. Rather, the study of ethnicity is the study of human relationships, the meanings which people attach to those relationships, the communication of those meanings in idiosyncratic or institutionalized forms, the process by which changed meanings lead to changes in relationships and how in tum ethnicity and thus identity itself comes to be redefined. Certainly the nativistic "New Ethnicity" advocated by many fraternal leaders and Slovak-American intelligentsia (Stein and Hill 1977) is not at all the unself-conscious native ethnicity of the pre-immigrant period. My research among some three- and four-generation SlovakAmerican families and institutions leads to to the inexorable conclusion that Slovak-American ethnicity over the past century has dramatically changed from a relatively homogeneous public expression of community form, function, structure, meaning, and relationship to a far more heterogeneous, individualized, private matter. This privatization of ethnicity had led many scholars to conclude that ethnicity has disappeared. This is nonsense: it has been repattemed, some elements retained, others given up. Although the American ethos has replaced the ethnic ethos as the core of personal and group identity, the spheres of life and the levels of the personality at which this replacement has occurred must be demonstrated and explained. What has unmistakably declined and is disappearing is the full complement of institutions which characteristically define a traditional community (cf. Arensberg and Kimball 1965) . However, as I have suggested in my previously cited works, unconsciously communicated loyalties, conflicts, values , expectation, and worldview in the intimate interior of even ethnically intermarried families results in continuities in surprising guises (e.g., the steel mill experienced as the old manorial latifundia: see Stein and Hill 1979; Hamey 1975) . , On the other hand, ethnic ties are often.maintained in the absence of conspicuously ethnic content - and here "conspicuity" refers all too often to the preoccupations and categories of the observer. Ethnicity takes on an especially "hidden" quality (Hill and May 1973) when the SLOVAKIA 99 observer expects tradition~ meanings to take traditional representational forms. The more subtle, out-of-awareness (Hall 1977) aspects of ethnicity are the most intractible because they are pre-verbally ta.ken for granted and cannot be verbalized. Thus, for instance, I shall know that without a doubt a Slovak-American woman or man has acculturated more toward the core of the metaphoric personal ''onion'' when children - or the ethnographer! - are forcibly lavished copious quantities of food, when I am invited to visit with a family in their ''living room" or "dining room" instead of the kitchen; or when the implicit roles of maternal dominance and paternal distance in the home have become less pronounced, and the affective atmosphere affectively less brittle. Likewise, the inclusion of members from other ethnic groups within formerly exclusive tradition-maintaining fraternal and religious institutions, and the increasingly widespread phenomenon of intermarriage, are expressions of the simultaneous of group- or "ethnic" - and ego-boundaries. The formerly "other," often despised and alien, is now included within the possibilities of the "self." This fact requires a reassessment of our received wisdom about structural assimilation, namely, that inclusion is an act governed or regulated by the more mainstreamed "Americans" - that is, that it operates as a one-way process. Rather, inclusion is reciprocally a dynamic from within the ethnic group. Finally, this paper further confirms the tenet that ethnicity is a process operating at many levels, and is not a lineal continuum whose starting and terminal points can easily be plotted in terms of preconceived categories of "passing," "acculturation," "mobility," or "assimilation." It is the author's hope that future studies will not only provide greater breadth and depth in the study of Slovak-Americans, but will offer a comparative framework for the study of emigrant Slovaks in other nations (indeed, other regions of the U.S.), the internal transformation of Slovakia in the post-World War I period, and other European emigrant populations in their new contexts. 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''Aging and Death among Slovak-Americans: A Study in the Thematic Unity of the Life Cycle ," The Journal of Psychological Anthropology 1(3)(Summer 1978) : 297-320. (b) Stein, Howard F. "The White Ethnic Movement, Pan-Ism, and the Restoration of Early Symbosis: The Psychohistory of a Group-Fantasy," The Journal of Psychohistory 6(3)(Winter 1979) : 319-360. Stein, Howard F. and Robert F . Hill. The Ethnic Imperative: Ewmining the New White Ethnic Mo vement. University Park , Penna .: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1977. Stein, Howard F. and Robert F. Hill. " Adaptive Modalities Among Slovak- and PolishAmericans : Some Issues in Cultural Continuity and Change ," Anthropology 3(1-2) (1979) : 96-107. Stolarik , M. Mark . " Immigration and Urbanization: The Slovak Experience, 18701918." Doctoral dissertation , University of Minnesota , 1974. Wallace , A. F. C. Religion: An Anthropological View . New York: Random House, 1966. Yurchak , Peter Paul . The Slovaks . Whiting, Indiana: Obrana Press, 1946. Zatko , James J . " Slovaks in the U.S.A., 1900-1914," Slovakia 16(39)(1966) : 41-62 (Slovak League of America).  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource An Ethnohistory of Slovak-American Religious and Fraternal Associations: A Study in Cultural Meaning, Group Identity, and Social Institutions Description An account of the resource Howard F. Stein Slovakia, Vol. 29 (No. 53-54), 1980-81 pp. 53-101 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Stein, Howard F. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1980-81 LCNAF