Petőcz Kálmán (szerk.): National Populism and Slovak - Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006-2009 (Somorja, 2009)
Miroslav Kocúr: For God and Nation: Christian National Populism
For God and Nation: Christian National Populism 4 Štefan Polakovič: Tisová náuka [Tiso’s Teachings], (Bratislava: HSLS Publishing House, 1941, p. 27). 5 Ibid., p. 76). 6 Ibid., p. 157. 7 Ibid., p. 27. 8 František Tondra, Head of the Conference of Slovak Bishops, said it was impossible to take an unambiguous stance on the personality of Slovak President Jozef Tiso. “There are arguments for as well as against,” he said. “Perhaps the greatest Tiso’s ‘sin’ was that he was a Catholic priest.” ČTK news agency, January 9, 2007; available at: http://spravy.pravda.sk/sk_domace.asp?r=sk_domace&c=A070109 185645_sk_domace_p 12. 9 Please sec http://www.aomega.sk/sk/nechcemc_sa_prizerat.php. 10 In reaction to these statements, the Sme daily on February 12, 2007, published a commentary by Peter Salner and Jaro Franek, representatives of the Jewish religious community, titled “Tiso, socha a Jeruzalem” [‘Tiso, Statue and Jerusalem’] that reads: “Recently, the Slovak public resumed a vivid public debate on the first Slovak Republic and its president Jozef Tiso. It is interesting to watch some of its participants help resurrect myths about this controversial politician. A good example of these efforts are statements by František Tondra, Head of the Conference of Slovak Bishops. [Mr. Tondra’s] views regarding Jozef Tiso and the wartime Slovak State were presented in two articles the Sme daily published on Tuesday, February 6 (Re: “What about the Nation’s Memory”), and on Saturday, February 10 (“Priest’s Past Shall be Judged by the Lord”). Some of his assertions compel us to react.” “One of standard Ludak (Ludak, pi Ludaks: an expression referring to active members of the Hlinka's Slovak People’s Party, which was the only legitimate political party in the wartime Slovak State) myths is the assertion that “Jewish rabbis demanded that President Tiso remained in office”. This nonsense was analyzed in detail and disproved beyond doubt by Professor Y. A. Jelinek in a article published in proceedings from The Tragedy of Slovak Jews, an international symposium held in Banská Bystrica on March 25-27, 1992 (pp. 121-124). Even more absurd is the figment (quoted by Mr. Tondra) according to which a statue was supposed to be unveiled in honour of Jozef Tiso in Jerusalem (!!). With respect to the latter assertion, we would like to express our astonishment that a person of such a high social status and title of professor before the name is able to subscribe publicly to nonsense of such calibre.” “The story about “Tiso’s statue in Jerusalem” has many various mutations. The first reference to it appeared during the communist regime when the 1986 yearbook published by the Association of Anti-Fascist Warriors reprinted an article from exile Ludak press on page 134. By the late 1990s, the myth was fully resurrected in Slovakia. In reaction to it, the Jerusalem Magistrate published a statement on behalf of Ehud Olmert (then Mayor of Jerusalem and later the Israeli Prime Minister) reading that “there is no publicly displayed statue or plaque in honour of Jozef Tiso on the territory of greater Jerusalem”. We are willing to produce a copy of this document.” “Head of the Conference of Slovak Bishops Tondra argues that Tiso is being criticized primarily because he was a Catholic priest. The truth is that Jozef Tiso was convicted and his sentence continues to apply on the moral as well as the legal level. He is criticized until the present day as a top official of the fascist state, as a president, political leader and one of the most loyal collaborators of (or accomplices to) German Nazism and its leader Adolf Hitler. Bishop Tondra’s statement turns the entire matter ‘upside down’. Tiso is not being criticized because he was a Catholic priest; quite the contrary, it is why the Catholic Church defends him. For the same reason, the Conference of Slovak Bishops is unable to take a critical attitude to the period of Slovak fascism during which 243
