Although the Slovak state adopted the ideas of Nazi Germany, hostile behaviour towards the Jewish population did not appear in Slovakia with Adolf Hitler, its roots are older.
A negative image of the Jews was already being created during the period of the Slovak national movement. For example, the fight against alcoholism at that time was indirectly directed against Jews, because they often ran taverns and distilleries. Alcoholism was thus, according to Slovak nationalists, a consequence of Jewish greed and the desire to make money. Also many Jews in Hungary (of which today's Slovakia was a part) claimed Hungarian nationality, so they were labeled as "anti-Slovak element".
Alongside this, there was also classic religious anti-Semitism in the predominantly Catholic Slovak environment, i.e. blaming the Jews for the death of Jesus Christ, for example. Thus, the people's ideology merely took advantage of the existing prejudices against the religious minority. With the rise to power of the HSĽS in 1938, anti-Semitism became part of the political programme.
Jozef Tiso described the Jewish minority as "vermin" from whom it was necessary to purge oneself. At that time there were 89 000 Jewish citizens in Slovakia, which had a population of two and a half million. However, these people did not constitute a homogeneous group. They included the poor, the rich, the secular, the Orthodox, who wore traditional Jewish dress, and the neologistic, who wore the same clothes as the majority.
We were not Orthodox Jews, we belonged to the so-called neologos, who have looser rules. We were more of a secular family. But we observed the basic things, we went to synagogue twice a year, on New Year's Day and the Day of Atonement. (...) The turning point came with the establishment of the Slovak state, that is, when I was fifteen years old. Antisemitism existed before that, as it always will, but since I grew up in a normal environment, and even my appearance was somehow non-Jewish, I didn't feel it. (...)
As far as the Czech and Jewish question is concerned, today we have on the agenda what we have had on the agenda for the whole 20 years. If we were to betray this programme, we would betray ourselves. For 20 years we had the slogan Slovakia for Slovaks! (...) The Jews, who have gold, jewels, wealth, have made order everywhere, and we will make order with them too. The strength of the Slovak country is work, and those who do not work here will not even eat here. Whoever has stolen something here, it will be taken away from him! That is the practical solution to the whole Jewish question.
all chapters
Remembering the HolocaustHungary
Return and emigrationHungary
LMBTQHungary
History of the HolocaustHungary
Fascist ideologyHungary
The HolocaustHungary
The HolocaustSlovakia
Slovak StateSlovakia
IdeologySlovakia
PersecutionSlovakia
AntisemitismSlovakia
AryanisationSlovakia
PorajmosSlovakia
PorajmosHungary
LGBT minoritySlovakia
First transportSlovakia
DeportationsSlovakia
Life in the campSlovakia
Slovak National UprisingSlovakia
HomecomingSlovakia
EmigrationSlovakia
