Petőcz Kálmán (szerk.): National Populism and Slovak - Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006-2009 (Somorja, 2009)
Grigorij Mesežnikov: National Populism in Slovakia - Defining the Character of the State and Interpreting Select Historic Events
Grigorij Mesežnikov demned “the fascist regime” of the wartime Slovak State led by Tiso as well as war crimes perpetrated during that period. In order to strengthen his party’s image of a principled anti-fascist force, Fico declared in 2007 that he would not have any attempts to revise the government’s official position on the SNP, claiming that “the cabinet will clamp down on [anybody] questioning the Slovak National Uprising”.52 However, several serious cracks recently appeared in this seemingly integrated attitude of SMER-SD. It was not only its government cooperation with the SNS whose leaders harbour ambiguous views of the wartime Slovak State. Far more importantly, it was party leaders’ tolerance of the fact that one MP for SMER-SD co-authored an anthology of odes to Jozef Tiso and their repeated defence of professional credit of historians who openly supported his views on particular issues of the Slovaks’ ancient history; some of them were revisionist historians who openly advertise their sympathies to the wartime Slovak State and its President Jozef Tiso. Besides, the unambiguousness of officially declared anti-fascist positions of SMER-SD has been rendered increasingly relative by the constant support chairman Fico shows to leaders of Matica slovenská who are the most vocal members of the opinion stream that demands a revision of the standing official anti-fascist doctrine in interpretation of the World War II period, including political rehabilitation of Jozef Tiso. Although the HZDS has officially subscribed to the SNP legacy since its founding, some representatives of the party’s nationalist wing between 1991 and 2002 presented apologetic statements regarding the wartime Slovak State and critical views of the SNP, which put them on the same platform with upholders of revisionist concepts. For instance, a group of MPs for HZDS in 1997 visited the parental home of Jozef Tiso in Bytča. The visit was supposed to demonstrate the party’s endeavour to evaluate the president of the wartime Slovak State in a more “balanced” manner in order to “shed more light [onto his personality] ... eliminate various lies and bias ... and assess all his negative but also positive acts with cool head”.53 In summer 1997, then HZDS spokesman Vladimir Hagara defended the already mentioned history textbook The History of Slovakia and the Slovaks that featured actual adoration of the wartime Slovak State and tried to make light of war crimes its regime perpetrated with respect to Jews, which was the main reason why the book’s distribution to primary schools was halted on a request by the European Commission. According to Hagara, Ďurica’s publication was a “well researched piece of science work that deserves admiration and respect of all Slovaks”.54 At that time, though, HZDS 58
