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SLOVAKIA

There was no increase in anti-Semitic violence in 1997. French Front National leader Jean-Marie Le Pen visited Slovakia in September at the invitation of the Slovak National Party, a partner in the government coalition. The process of rehabilitation of the fascist wartime regime, led by Jozef Tiso, continued.

THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

There are some 6,000 Jews out of a total population of 5,350,000 in the Slovak Republic. The largest Jewish community is in the capital, Bratislava, with smaller communities in Kosice, Presov and Piestany. The Central Union of Jewish Religious Communities is the leading communal organization. Local branches of major Jewish organizations, such as B'nai B'rith and Maccabi, have been established in the past few years. In general, the Jewish community is an aging one; however there are signs that many members of the younger generation are becoming interested in their Jewish roots.

EXTREMIST MOVEMENTS AND HATE GROUPS

Those who wished Slovakia a smoother transition to a democratic society continued to be disappointed in 1997. Slovakia of 1997 was characterized by bitter political rivalries, tensions around the scheduled elections in 1998, and the deadlocked relations between Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar and outgoing President Michal Kovac. Relations with the Roma and the Hungarian minorities, each of them a grave internal issue, continued to cloud the country's political life.

The leading extremist nationalist party is still the Slovak National Party (SNS), a partner in the government coalition. Much smaller, and on the fringes of political life, is the extreme xenophobic Slovak People's Party (SLS). Violence motivated by xenophobia is often traceable to skinheads, whose chief target is the Roma. The Slovak Community (Slovenska Pospolitost) is the largest of the skinhead groups.

The expanding ties between East European right-wing extremists and their Western counterparts was the major issue discussed during the visit of French Front National leader Jean-Marie Le Pen to Slovakia in September 1997. Invited by the SNS, Le Pen faced a demonstration of several hundred opponents. Le Pen was received by cabinet ministers, members of the SNS, officials from the departments of education and defense and the deputy chairman of the parliament. Meciar distanced himself from the visit and called on members of his cabinet not to meet him. He emphasized that the invitation to Le Pen was not extended by his ruling party or by the parliament. On the other hand, the Slovak premier had no words of criticism for his coalition partner, the SNS. SNS chairman Jan Slota, who participated in meetings of the FN in Strasbourg, suggested that a conference of "European nationalist parties" should take place in Slovakia.

Since extremist nationalism is still so popular in Slovakia, it is not surprising that the disturbing trends away from democratic principles, noted in the US State Department's annual report for 1996, continued.

ANTI-SEMITIC ACTIVITIES
AND ATTITUDES TOWARD THE FASCIST ERA

There was no increase in anti-Semitic violence in 1997. Vandals desecrated the Jewish cemetery in Nove Zamky, destroying more than 165 headstones in April. The police reported that they knew nothing about it, and only when the Jewish community complained did they start an investigation.

The process of rehabilitation of the fascist war-time regime led by Jozef Tiso continued. Slovak nationalism is riding high on a wave of historical revisionism, in which segments of history are whitewashed, and the Tiso legacy is rehabilitated. The Tiso myth woven carefully by the nationalists concentrates on the allegation that the fascist regime did everything it could to save the Jews. Such blunt distortions of history have reappeared in the educational system, while from various nationalist publications a picture is emerging of a "closet liberal" regime, which had to play the Nazi game in order to survive. This is a new technique of historical revisionism, since there is no admission that the Tiso regime was fascist, but rather that the nature of the regime and its policies toward the Jews were "misunderstood" by Jewish interests, who intended to blackmail the Slovak nation. Such apologies and defense of the fascist era have penetrated large segments of Slovak's current political and cultural life.

The yearly events supporting the legacy of the wartime Slovak fascist regime and its leader continued, when in March 1997 and 1998 hundreds commemorated events of the dark past. The SNS has appealed to all Slovaks to "honor the memory" of Tiso, described as a "great son of the church and the nation." According to the RFE Newsline report of April 21, 1997, the SNS presented Tiso, executed in April 1947 as a war criminal, as a "martyr to the defense of the nation and Christianity in the face of Bolshevism and liberalism." It should be noted that this pro-Tiso position of the SNS, is the only case in the post-communist countries in which a political party and government coalition member openly adheres to the legacy of a fascist leader and his regime.

The publication of a textbook on Slovak history financed by the European Union (EU) aroused an international outcry. The textbook, The History of Slovakia and the Slovaks, written by Milan Durica, a Catholic priest, denies the persecution of Slovak Jews during World War II and states that the Slovak wartime government under "Dr. Jozef Tiso decided to solve the Jewish question in conformity with Christian moral principles." Furthermore, the book claims that the conditions in Jewish labor camps were "close to the normal living conditions of the Slovak people."

The book elicited immediate protest from Jewish and non-Jewish organizations, including its sponsors, the EU's PHARE program which finances a wide variety of educational projects in the former communist countries. The EU stated, according to a Reuters dispatch of 25 June 1997, that "when the book came out we were not satisfied and we are having it reviewed by independent experts." The Slovak Union of Jewish Religious Communities branded the work as "aiming at rehabilitating Slovak fascism."

The criticism leveled against the Slovak Ministry of Education was rejected by the Slovak government and all Slovak replies concerning the alleged falsification of history in the published textbook referred to the perceived "interference in Slovakia's internal affairs and an attempt to discredit it internationally." This is a typical official response to criticism of Tiso's rehabilitation. In fact, it is the Slovak attitude on this topic which is responsible for the country's negative reputation abroad.

In the face of mounting criticism, Premier Meciar distanced himself from the controversial parts of the book, saying that some of the book was "inaccurate and historically incorrect." Unfortunately, not much more was done to repair the damage.

RESPONSES TO RACISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM

The Jewish community continued to play a major role in combating anti-Semitism, especially opposing the rehabilitation of the Tiso era. Officially, the government continued to promise its help in this endeavor; however, whitewashing the past seems to enjoy official sanction, if not overt approval. The opposition liberal press is very active in unmasking extremism, and Jewish topics are featured frequently in press reports criticizing historical revisionism. It should also be noted that the return of Jewish communal property is a divisive issue between the Jewish community and the government. In spite of assurances by Prime Minister Meciar that legislation on the matter will proceed, this step has yet to be taken.

The Bratislava branch of B'nai B'rith society was very active in calling for opposition to the rehabilitation of the wartime fascist regime. A news conference of the organization was held on the eve of the anniversary of the formation of the Slovak state in March 1939, where, as reported by the Czech news agency CTK on March 4, 1997, speakers warned of the continuing process of Tiso's rehabilitation.

A week after the Vatican's document on the Holocaust (see Introduction), the Catholic Church in Slovakia published a statement on March 26, 1998, asking pardon from the country's Jewish community for its part in the massacres of Jews during the period of the pro-Nazi regime. The statement made no mention of Jozef Tiso, who himself was a Catholic priest, but stated that "we cannot deny that the deportation of Slovak Jews took place in our midst, that certain members of the nation took part and that Slovaks looked on silently."