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504 Hana Kubátová 21 Jewish Resistance in Slovakia, 1938–45 “Slovakia is our only homeland, it is here that we want to live, work, establish things and, if needed, suffer with our Christian fellow citizens, share the same destiny and die.” This statement composed by Jews from Žilina, a city in the northwest of the country, expressed Jewish loyalty to Slovakia and its newly established autonomous government.1 The Jewish minority in Slovakia—136,737 according to the 1930 census—voiced their loyalty on numerous occasions following the autonomy declaration of the Slovak land (Slovenská krajina) on October 6, 1938.2 Autonomy, however, marked an outburst of political antisemitism .3 I will examine the life of the Jewish community in Slovakia between fall 1938 and spring 1945, that is, between the declaration of autonomy and the fall of the wartime state. I will analyze the survival mechanisms of this minority that was gradually stripped of its rights. Hence, I will focus on Jewish resistance in Slovakia—and by resistance I understand not only rebellion against the oppressive regime but also, for example, the struggle against individual and collective feelings of lethargy and resignation. Research on Jewish resistance and revolt has until now emphasized two issues: activities of the Working Group (Pracovná skupina), a secret Jewish rescue organization, and the involvement of Jews in 1. Slovenský národný archív (hereafter SNA), fund Úrad predsedníctva vlády, box 2, file 614/38. 2. Naučný slovník aktualít (Praha: L. Mazáč, 1939), 96. 3. For more on the Jewish minority in autonomous Slovakia, see especially Eduard Nižňanský, Židovská komunita na Slovensku medzi československou parlamentnou demokraciou a slovenským štátom v stredoeurópskom kontexte (Prešov: Universum, 1999); Ivan Kamenec, Po stopách tragédie (Bratislava: Archa, 1991), 19–46. The English translation of the book is available under the title On the Trail of Tragedy: The Holocaust in Slovakia (Bratislava: Hajko & Hajková, 2007). 505 Resistance in Slovakia the Slovak National Uprising, an armed insurrection against the Germans and the collaborating government in Slovakia.4 Both play an important role in the history of Jewish resistance in Slovakia and their significance exceeds their geographical limitations. Here, however, I will place these events in a larger context of resistance and revolt, and attempt to portray the mood of the endangered Jewish community during this historical period. First of all I would like to clarify possible terminological difficulties. The independence of the wartime state of Slovakia was declared on March 14, 1939. According to the constitution, adopted on July 21, 1939, its official name was the Slovak republic. However, with the exception of legal documents and diplomatic correspondence, the name Slovak state was generally preferred. Consequently , I will refer to the wartime state as the Slovak state, although this might not be technically correct. Moreover, aiming for a better transparency of the text, when speaking about Slovak Jews, I will mean all Jews of Slovakia, regardless of their actual Slovak, Hungarian, or other nationality. The history of the wartime state and the Holocaust in Slovakia continues to be a contentious issue both in the historiography and for the Slovak public . This is a result of several factors, but I will limit myself to discussing only one of those factors. The wartime state—a state fatally connected with the Holocaust —remains the only historical (though not legal) antecedent of today’s Slovakia. The negative sides of the wartime Slovak state, described by its constitution as the fulfillment of the nation’s and God’s aims, were suppressed in its historical evaluation.5 Not surprisingly, this also led to the relativization of 4. See for example: Aktivity ilegálnej židovskej Pracovnej skupiny počas holokaustu na Slovensku, zborník príspevkov zo seminára (Bratislava: Dokumentačné stredisko Holokaustu, 2007); Židé v boji a odboji: rezistence československých Židů v letech druhé světové války, ed. Zlatica Zudová-Lešková (Praha: Historický ústav Akademie věd České Republiky, 2007); Jozef Jablonický, Židia v rezistencii na Slovensku, in Pracovné jednotky a útvary slovenskej armády 1939–1945, VI. Robotný prápor, ed. Dezider Tóth, (Bratislava: Zing Print, 1996), 161–66; Juraj Špitzer, “Jewish Opportunities for Resistance and Revolt in the Years 1939–1945 (as in Case of Novaky Camp)” in The Tragedy of the Jews of Slovakia : 1938–1945 : Slovakia and the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question,” ed. Waclaw Dlugoborski, et al., (Oswiecim: Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum; Banská Bystrica...

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