Painful anniversary – Denník N

The author is a historian We are all traumatized by the war in Ukraine, but even in this gloomy atmosphere we commemorate the eightieth anniversary of the beginning of the deportation of Slovak Jews to Nazi extermination camps. The hateful and increasingly brutal anti-Semitic policy of the totalitarian regime of the war-torn Slovak state lasted there. This tragedy did not begin until the victims of the “solution to the Jewish question” rushed into the cattle wagons. Its origins are to be found in events when Jews have been identified as the main enemies of the state and the nation. They were immediately deprived of their political, economic, social and, ultimately, basic civil and human rights. In Slovakia, a mass of illegal inhabitants grew, which became a serious social problem for the state. At that time, an offer came from the Nazis (not an ultimate order!) For Slovakia to move “to work” on the eastern territories occupied by its Jews in Germany. Provided that he deprives them of their citizenship and pays 500 Reichsmarks for each person displaced. The Third Reich promised that the state could keep the property after the deportees, because it would never send the exiles back. Interior Minister and Chief of the Hlinka Guard Alexander Mach said of the agreement: “Not only did the Germans not ask us to do so, they forced us to do so.” . From March to October 1942, almost 58,000 people were transported from Slovakia, of whom only a few hundred people survived the Nazi extermination camps. The Slovak state, as the only country not occupied by the Nazis, carried out deportations with its own administrative and power bodies. Indeed, it must be taught in history! There are still disputes about the responsibility of Slovak government officials for this crime. Contemporary documents clearly confirm it. MP František Orlický, who presented a constitutional law on the eviction of Jews in May 1942, confidently declared two years before its adoption: “We have embarked on this path with full awareness of what we are doing in this matter. We will not look at the attitudes of various pseudo-humanists towards our business, nor will we be mistaken in arguing that our actions are anti-Christian. ”It is striking that a similar argument was used by the priest, President Jozef Tiso. However, there were also voices in the government camp, warning that deportations “will one day have to be held accountable before history, and there will be nothing after the war, which is contrary to international law.” Tido J. Gašpar summed up the feelings of government officials in the post-war memoirs of the time: “There were reports of the physical liquidation of the Jews. We didn’t want to, we couldn’t believe it. ”Convincing reports of a crime were growing. Why did (irresponsible) politicians ignore them?