Anti-Semitism in Slovakia

Benoit Douville · Post by **Benoit Douville** » 09 Mar 2004 01:17

The leaders of the Christian religion played an active role in the wartime Slovak government, which was sympatic to the Nazis. The Christian leaders created the environment in which the holocaust could occur. Most Christians in Slovakia were slow to speak out against the Nazis and simply ignored a violence against Jews. Slovakia was the only one European country from 1939-1945 ruled by a priest and Catholic nationalist group with extremely anti-Semitic violence and own discriminatory laws against the Jews. Tiso was the priest and politician, who became the president of Slovak state and remained loyal to the Germany. Even when informed that deported Slovakian Jews were being exterminated, he did not intervene and kept up his anti-Jewish propaganda.His popular quote:
"What we did (Deportation of Jews from Slovakia) we did in the spirit of Christianity"

Source: The Holocaust World Ressource Center

I am really wondering if it's true and that's why I posted here. I know that anti-semetism was everywhere in Eastern Europe but saying that Slovakia was really that bad I have doubt. I am just looking for the truth. Some clarification would be appreciated.

michael mills · Post by **michael mills** » 09 Mar 2004 07:06

There is a good source book on this issue by the United States diplomat, George Kennan: "From Prague after Munich: Diplomatic papers 1938-1940", Princeton University Press, 1968.

Some of the contemporary papers written by Kennan, who was stationed at the consulate in Prague until 1940, deal with the treatment of Jews in Slovakia, and with the bases of the Slovak Government's anti-Jewish legislation.

For example, the Slovak legislation against Jews was based on religious adherence, not race. Thus a Jew who had converted to Christianity before 1918 was not considered a Jew any more.

I will post some relevant quotes from the book later, when I get time.

Benoit Douville · Post by **Benoit Douville** » 13 Mar 2004 04:37

I am waiting for your report Michael Mills regarding this controversial issue in Slovakia.

Regards

Raistlin · Post by **Raistlin** » 13 Mar 2004 04:58

Hi All,

Just a quick question. Ok anti-semitic everyone takes as being anti-jewish?. Arabs are semitic people. Should not it be anti-zoinist instead? Forgive my naive on this.

Raistlin

Marcus · Post by **Marcus** » 13 Mar 2004 10:30

Raistlin,

Zoinist and Jew are two very different things. One can be a zionist and not a Jew as well as be a Jew and not a zionist.

/Marcus

Raistlin · Post by **Raistlin** » 14 Mar 2004 01:55

Hi Mr Wendel,

Once again forgive my naive. But being jewish is that not a religion and not a race? If then if being jewish is a religion then you can't be anti-semitic, Would you not be then anti-zoinist? As I understand it you just cann't hate one small part of one group and not hate the whole group. Cause if you have arab friends they are semitic and jewish people are semitic as well, so you could not rightfully hate the jew for being semitic cause the arab is semitic aswell. And you can reverse it and go, Having jewish friends you could not hate the arabs cause they are semitic too.
Raistlin

Sergey Romanov · Post by **Sergey Romanov** » 14 Mar 2004 02:26

<Yawn>
There are two main definitions of a "Jew" - 1) a member of Jewish ethnicity/nationality, 2) a "member" of Jewish religion. Those are separate meanings, but, unfortunately, they're used interchangeably in the West. So, being antisemitic (judeophobic) is being anti-Jewish by the first definition of a Jew. Being anti-Judaistic or anti-Zionist is not synonymous with being antisemitc.

That Arabs are Semites is irrelevant since antisemitism is not about Arabs _by definition_. Meaning is derived from definition, not from etymology.

michael mills · Post by **michael mills** » 14 Mar 2004 03:19

Benoit Douville wrote:

I am waiting for your report Michael Mills regarding this controversial issue in Slovakia.

Thank you for your interest. I was waiting to see whether there would be any, before devoting any of my time to posting the excerpts.

Here is one from the book I referred to (pp. 149-156):

24. Despatch of May 10, 1939, from Consul General Linnell to the Department of State, on the new law limiting the rights and activities of Jews in Slovakia

I have the honour to report that on April 20, 1939, the Slovak government finally published in its Collection of Laws the text of a decree defining what shall constitute a Jew in Slovakia and restricting the participation of Jews in certain free professions.

A copy of the decree in question is enclosed in translation.

The Slovak Jewish law is the product of long and difficult deliberations on the part of the Slovak leaders - deliberations which began many months before the declaration of Slovak independence and which have been complicated by the conflicting attitudes of the Hlinka People's Party, the Catholic Church, and the business interests.

As far as the definition of what constitutes a Jews is concerned, the Slovak law is in some respects harsher and in others more liberal than the Nuremberg Laws (see Article 5 of the "Erste Verordnung zum Reichsbürgergesetz vom 15. September 1935"). In Slovakia religion rather than blood has been taken as the basis for legislation [my emphasis]. Anyone who is - or was as late as October 30, 1918 - a member of the Israelitic confession is a Jew. Of those who left the Israelitic church before 1918, the ones who became baptized in another church (here the Slovak legislators were thinking mostly of the Roman Catholic Church) are considered Aryans even though they may be full-fledged Jews by blood, whereas those who remained without confession are considered full-fledged Jews, even though two of their grand-parents may have been Aryans. The status of children and spouses follows closely that of the parents or the marriage partner, respectively. On the other hand, there are no intermediate categories. In Slovakia a person is either a Jew or he is not.

The remainder of the law deals with the restriction of Jewish participation in the free professions. A numerus clausus of 4 percent is established for the legal profession and Aryans may not, in normal circumstances, be represented at court by Jewish lawyers. Jews are excluded entirely from being notaries public. They may serve as editors only of Jewish periodicals. No mention is made of the medical profession. The law likewise contains no provisions affecting the status of the Jews in commerce: an omission which is particularly interesting for the reason that this was so frequently mentioned as one of the problems which the law would ahve to regulate.

In general, the purpose of the Slovak legislation may be said to have been to segregate out of the body of the population all those Jews who have not long since become Catholics, to stamp these people definitely as Jews, and to limit their participation in the free professions. This is, of course, only a portion of the anti-Semitic program of the Slovak leaders. The problems connected with the role of the Jews in the medical profession, with Jewish predominance in business and finance and with Jewish ownership of land, still remain for future legislative treatment. There is, furthermore, a very wide field in the treatment of the Jews which must, of necessity be left to local administrative authorities and to irresponsible elements of the population. There is little doubt that in Slovakia these elements will keep pace with the legislative authorities in the general endeavour to reduce the wealth and influence of the Jewish population.

ANNEX TO DOCUMENT NO. 24

SOURCE: Slovak Collection of Laws
Issue N. 14
April 20, 1939
(Item No. 63)

(TRANSLATION)

GOVERNMENT DECREE OF APRIL 18, 1939 CONCERNING THE DEFINITION OF THE TERM "JEW" AND THE RESTRICTION OF THE NUMBER OF JEWS IN CERTAIN FREE PROFESSIONS

The Government of the Slovak state, acting on the authority of Paragraph 4 of the Law of March 14, 1939, published in Issue No. 1 of the Slovak Collection of Laws concerning the independent Slovak state, decrees the following:

PART 1

The definition of the Term "Jew"

PARAGRAPH 1

(1) The following persons, regardless of sex and citizenship, shall be considered Jews:

1. Persons who are or have been of Israelitic confession, even if in the latter case the person concerned has changed to a Christian confession after October 30, 1918;

2. Persons who are or have been without a confession and have or have had at least one parent of Israelitic confession;

3. Descendants of persons mentioned above, excepting such descendants as have themselves changed to a Christian confession prior to October 30, 1918;

4. Persons who, subsequent to the date of promulgation of this government decree, enter into marriage with a person mentioned above, and in this case for the period of validity of such a marriage;

5. Persons who, after the promulgation of this government decree, live with a Jewish person in an illegitimate relationship, as well as children who issue therefrom.

(2) In cases deserving of special consideration the government may make exceptions.

My comment:

The provision that persons without a confession (ie atheists and agnostics) who had at least one parent who was Jewish by religion (ie a person at least half-Jewish by descent) were to be considered as "Jews" was no doubt designed to catch persons of Jewish origin who were Socialists or Communists and for that reason had left the Jewish religious community without joining any other.

Under that provision, someone like Trotsky would be defined as a "Jew" (quite reasonably and in accordance with reality, since Trotsky and similar persons never denied their ethnic Jewishness), whereas he would not be so defined under the primary criterion, adherence to the "Israelitic confession".

The other provision, that persons of Jewish descent who converted to Christianity after the cut-off date (30 October 1918, the date Slovakia seceded from Hungary) were still to be defined as "Jews", was no doubt intended to catch persons who made a notional conversion purely for the purpose of avoiding the legal restrictions on Jews.

Marcus · Post by **Marcus** » 14 Mar 2004 09:33

Raistlin,

Zionism is a political movement that seeks a homeland for Jews in Palestine (in the past that was not defined, but since 1917 it was Palestine and today it focuses on the strengthening of Israel as Jewish state), so supporting anti-zionsim means that you disagree with that movement, it does not say anything on how you feel about Jews.

See the link below for an introduction to the subject.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zionism

/Marcus

Raistlin · Post by **Raistlin** » 14 Mar 2004 11:57

Hi All,

Mr. Romanov & Mr. Wendel,

Thank you both. And Mr. Wendel I found the link very interesting. Thanks again.

Raistlin