New interpretations and deliberate misinterpretations of the Jewish question in Slovakia: some remarks
New interpretations and deliberate misinterpretations of the Jewish question in Slovakia: some remarks

Summary/Abstract: Since 1989, various interpretations and deliberate misinterpretations of the Jewish question in Slovakia have achieved great prominence both in political life and in propaganda. The sources have been, for the most part, nationalist political parties and their leading figures and press offices. Citizens living abroad have also been involved, including various representatives of Slovaks throughout the world and former functionaries and ideologues of the Slovak state who were – or still are – resident outside the country’s borders. The re-animated Jewish question has provided the impetus for the exploration of a wider problem – namely the very essence of the 1939-1945 Slovak Republic, for decades labelled “the so-called Slovak state”, and the significance of this for present-day Slovakia. The extreme nationalist right in the country has returned to the wartime state and its President, Dr. Jozef Tiso, and has taken up the politics and ideology of this period. But this must, of necessity, entail a cleansing of Slovak fascism of its crimes and viewing it merely as a historical national movement, hampered by the circumstances of war and acceptable as such (with evident reservations) to the present (or anticipated) democracy.

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