Archive/File: fascism/slovakia reuter.032695s Last-Modified: 1995/04/02 Slovak Jews fear campaign to make fascism respectable By Chris Sulavik BRATISLAVA, March 27 (Reuter) - As Slovakia enters its third year of independence, the tiny remnant of its Jewish community fears a campaign is under way to rehabilitate fascists who aided the Nazis in their near-annihilation. Jewish leaders are alarmed by praise lavished on Jozef Tiso, a Roman Catholic priest who proclaimed the first nominally independent Slovak state but collaborated in mass deportations of Jews to Hitler's death camps. In an open letter to leading politicians, the Slovak Jewish Community Union said: ``Despite declared support for democratic traditions, our concern is growing over the campaign to rehabilitate exponents of fascism.'' Tiso led a Nazi puppet state from 1939 to 1945. Under his rule, the Nazi-trained Hlinka Guard brigade was formed and helped Hitler's plan to wipe out European Jewry. About 60,000 Jews were deported to Auschwitz camp alone and a national uprising in 1944 was brutally put down by German forces. Slovakia's Jewish community has shrunk to just 3,000 members today from 120,000 before World War Two. Prominent among Tiso's admirers is Jan Slota, leader of the far-right Slovak National Party (SNS) which is a junior partner in Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar's coalition. ``We bow before Jozef Tiso, and we are glad that he lives and will continue to live in the Slovak nation for a long time,'' the Czech news agency CTK quoted Slota as telling a rally commemorating the birth of the first Slovak state. ``If it had not been for this great achievement, we would have been eradicated,'' he said. Tiso was executed as a war criminal in 1947 but some Slovaks say his cooperation with Nazi Germany was motivated by a desire to ensure the survival of the Slovak state rather than by allegiance to the Third Reich. Many Slovaks believe that their country was a victim of foreign domination for too long. For centuries it was ruled by the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and when that empire collapsed in 1918, Slovakia became part of new-born Czechoslovakia. Slovaks believe they were again dominated, this time by the more advanced and prosperous Czechs. Apart from the brief nominal independence under Tiso, Slovakia became a sovereign state only when Czechoslovakia split up at the start of 1993. This willingness to give Tiso at least the benefit of the doubt is what troubles the Jewish Community Union. ``There are some groups here which want to rehabilitate Jozef Tiso, whose rehabilitation is impossible to separate from the rehabilitation of Slovak fascism ... This campaign is organised, enduring and aggressive,'' it said in the letter sent to Slota, Meciar, President Michal Kovac and other leaders. The letter has yet to prompt a response but Slota stands by his comments. ``I deeply believe that the first Slovak president, Father Jozef Tiso, did everything possible to put out the fires of the war and to enable Slovakia to survive them,'' he told Reuters. ``Slovakia was surrounded by fascists, and one has to put himself in the position of those who saved this nation.'' Not all Slovaks supported Tiso during the war. Some hid Jews in their homes and joined the unsuccessful uprising. Last year, Israel honoured 23 Slovaks who saved Jewish lives. Nor is admiration of Tiso shared by all Slovaks. Kovac has spoken out against atttempts to rehabilitate fascism. Overt expressions of anti-Semitism and neo-fascism were rare under communism but since 1989 there have been at least 10 incidents of vandalism at Slovak Jewish cemeteries. Last year an American rabbi was assaulted in Bratislava and skinheads have attacked gypsies. The question remains whether nostalgia for the Tiso days is confined to an extremist fringe. ``It's hard to say if this is a marginal trend or one that is reaching into the mainstream in Slovakia,'' said Frantisek Alexander, a Jewish leader. ``The best we can do is just emphasise our concerns,'' he told Reuters. ``That's all we can do.'' Slovak MP extolls Slovakia's Nazi past in house BRATISLAVA, April 5 (Reuter) - Slovakia's wartime past as a Nazi puppet state resurfaced on Wednesday when a parliamentary deputy from an extreme-right party praised the president of the so-called First Republic. ``I'm proud that we have had such a president as Jozef Tiso was,'' Vitazoslav Moric told parliament, the Slovak state news agency TASR reported. Jozef Tiso, a Roman Catholic priest, proclaimed the first nominally independent Slovak state in 1939 but collaborated in mass deportations of Jews to Hitler's death camps. He was executed as a war criminal in 1947. Moric spoke in defence of his Slovak National Party (SNS) -- a partner of Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar's ruling coalition -- after an opposition deputy asked the house to discuss a decision by SNS leaders to attend an art exhibition opening which the deputy said ``glorified'' Tiso. Moric added that if there had not been a wartime state, then Slovakia could not have gained the independence it won in 1992, TASR said. Tiso led a Nazi puppet state from 1939 to 1945. Under his rule, the Nazi-trained Hlinka Guard brigade was formed and helped Hitler's plan to wipe out European Jewry. About 60,000 Slovak Jews were deported to the Auschwitz camp alone and a national uprising in 1944 was brutally put down by German forces. Slovakia's Jewish community has shrunk to just 3,000 members today from 120,000 before World War Two. Fears of rising neo-Fascism in Slovakia recently prompted Jewish leaders to speak out. In an open letter to leading politicians, the Slovak Jewish Community Union said: ``There are some groups here which want to rehabilitate Jozef Tiso, whose rehabilitation is impossible to separate from the rehabilitation of Slovak fascism.'' ``This campaign is organised, enduring and aggressive,'' said the letter sent to Slota, Meciar, President Michal Kovac and other leaders. Not all Slovaks supported Tiso during the war. Some hid Jews in their homes and joined the unsuccessful uprising. Last year, Israel honoured 23 Slovaks who saved Jewish lives. Overt expressions of anti-Semitism and neo-fascism were rare under communism but since 1989 there have been at least 10 incidents of vandalism at Slovak Jewish cemeteries. Last year an American rabbi was assaulted in Bratislava and skinhead attacks against gypsies have been reported.
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