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ABSTRACT
The principal aim of this paper is to focus on various acts of collective anti-Semitic violence which were committed in eastern Slovakia and have not yet been adequately studied in the Slovak historiography. The territory in question represented a borderland or periphery far from Prague and Bratislava, where the new state was asserting its authority slowly and inefficiently. Moreover, this region was suffering from extraordinary critical social and economic conditions because it had suffered more damages due to the war than any other region in the country. These circumstances created a space in which it was difficult for the state to curb violence and in which anti-Semitic sentiments were likely to erupt into violence. This essay focuses on these kinds of incidents.
I examine the selected incidents which culminated in physical violence from the perspectives of the perpetrators. I attempt to contextualize their motives, the impulses which prompted them to act, and the points at which sentiment changed into act. I also attempt to problematize the role of anti-Semitism in their efforts to legitimize their acts. I examine cases of mass killings in Kolbasov, a local demonstration in Trebišov, partisans´ racially motivated hostility as exemplified by correlated cases in Bardejov and Prešov.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Bumová, “Povojnové pomery”; Bumová, “Židia–spoločnosť–politika”; Salner (ed.), “Židovská komunita”; Lániček, Czechs, Slovaks and the Jews; Cichopek-Gajraj, Beyond Violence, etc.
2. Šmigeľ, “K niektorým udalostiam”; Šišjáková and Šmigeľ, “Protižidovské prejavy”; Šišjáková, “Protižidovské nepokoje “; Šišjáková, “Antisemitizmus na Spiši,” etc.
3. Salner, Židia na Slovensku, 54.
4. Bauman, Modernosť a holokaust, 78.
5. Rybářová, Antisemitizmus v Uhorsku, 58–67.
6. Frankl and Szabó, Budování státu bez antisemitismu.
7. Szabó, Od slov k činom, 206–219.
8. Ibid, 224.
9. Kamenec, “Trauma holokaustu,” 208.
10. Atlas obyvateľstva Slovenska, 107.
11. For example, see the article “Židmi zamorený Bardejov,“ Gardista (26 August 1939), 9.
12. The southern parts of eastern Slovakia, including the largest city in the region (Košice), were ceded to Hungary as a result the First Vienna Award on 2 November 1938. This was annulled at the end of World War II.
13. Hlavinka, ‘Židovská komunita v okrese Medzilaborce,’ 138.
14. Štátny archív v Košiciach (ŠAKE), pracovisko Archív Trebišov, f. Obvodný úrad MNV v Strede nad Bodrogom 1945–1950, box 2, 2161/1945.
15. For example, the testimony of Matilda Hrabovecká http://www.centropa.org/biography.
16. Slovenský národný archív (SNA), f. Povereníctvo vnútra (PV), box 1–2.
17. SNA, f. PV–sprav., box 9, without no.–Zpráva číslo 136 zo dňa 4. augusta 1947. Protižidovské provokácie; SNA, f. Sdruženie rasovo prenasledovaných (SRP) [nespracované], 532/45.
18. SNA, f. PV–bezp. Správa oblastného veliteľstva NB v Michalovciach, 31 August 1946.
19. In some cases, this kind of accusation went from words to deeds. For example, rumours about allegedly poisoned vaccinations became one of the alleged triggers of the active participation by the crowd in the pogrom in Topoľčany in September 1945.
20. Ibid.
21. SNA, f. SRP [nespracované], 2709/1951.
22. ŠAKE, f. Štátne zastupiteľstvo (ŠZ) 1922–1949, box 28, Št 184/1945.
23. SNA, f. SRP [nespracované], 4013/46.
24. Vojenský historický archív v Praze (VHA v Praze), f. Vojenská kancelář prezidenta republiky, box 1, č. 1047.
25. For example, Etela Paukschová, a woman with Jewish origins, was deported to Hungary because of her nationality. In SNA, f. Povereníctvo priemyslu a obchodu. VII. reštitučný odbor, box 626, sign. 8793 – Paukschová Etela–BB.
26. Štátny archív v Prešove (ŠAPO), pracovisko Archív Svidník, f. Okresný národný výbor vo Svidníku I., Prezidiálne spisy 1945, box 30, 521/1945 prez.
27. ABS, f. 302, 302–155–5.
28. Hallon and Sabol and Fálisová, Vojnové škody, 153.
29. Vojenský historický archív (VHA), f. Operace banderovci (OB), box 50, 1/Taj. 1946.
30. VHA, f. OB, box 51, 129/Dôv. 1946.
31. ABS, f. 307, 307–97–4; ŠAPO, pracovisko Archív Vranov nad Topľou, f. Okresný národný výbor vo Vranove nad Topľou 1945–1948, box 6, 149/1945 prez.
32. For example, the head of the National Security in Trebišov noted one anonymous anti-Semitic leaflet in which it was stated that almost half of the UNRRA goods ‘was stolen’ by local Jews. In ŠAKE, pracovisko Archív Trebišov, f. Okresný národný výbor v Trebišove (ONV v TV) 1945–1948–prezidiálne spisy, box 21, 129/46 prez.
33. ŠAPO, f. Okresné veliteľstvo Národnej bezpečnosti (OV NB) Sabinov, box 5, 163dôv./1945; ŠAPO, f. OV NB Sabinov, box 5, 209dôv./1945.
34. SNA, f. PV–bezp., box 3, without no.–Oblastné veliteľstvo NB Žilina, 1 March 1946.
35. SNA, f. PV–bezp., box 2, without no.–Situačná zpráva za mesiac november 1946.
36. For further details on the restitution process see Bumová, “Židovská komunita,” 52–60.
37. Nižňanský, Holokaust na Slovensku 7, 7.
38. ŠAPO, f. OV NB Sabinov, box 5, 163dôv./1945.
39. SNA, f. PV–bezp., box 2, without no.–Hlásenie OV NB v Michalovciach, 1 August 1946.
40. The anti-Semitic legislation was abolished by regulation 1/1944 Sb. n. SNR. This regulation was originally enacted by the Slovak National Council during the Slovak National Uprising in 1944.
41. ŠAKE, f. ŠZ 1922–1949, box 52, Št 2758/47.
42. For example, ŠAPO, Špecializované pracovisko Archív Levoča, f. Štátne zastupiteľstvo v Levoči (ŠZ) 1900–1949, box 288, 1178/1946; ŠAKE, f. ŠZ 1922–1949, box 48, Št 2388/1946.
43. SNA, f. PV–bezp., box 1, without no.–Oblastný bezpečnostný referát Michalovce, 2 December 1945.
44. ŠAPO, špecializované pracovisko Archív Levoča, ŠZ 1922–1949, box 284, Št 113/1946. This kind of attack was not the only one. For example, similar acts of violence were committed in the village of Báčka (District Kráľovský Chlumec, south-eastern Slovakia) where a member of the National Committee was assaulted–ŠAKE, f. ŠZ 1922–1949, box 26, Št 13/1945.
45. Kamenec, “Protižidovský pogrom“; Kamenec, “Správa o pogrome”; Šišjáková, “Prípad Topoľčany”; Bumová, “Protižidovské výtržnosti v Bratislave”; Šmigeľ, “Protižidovské výtržnosti v Bratislave”.
46. VHA, f. OB, box 51, 124/dôv.-1946.
47. ŠAPO, pracovisko Archív Humenné, f. Okresný národný výbor v Humennom–prezidiálne spisy, box 1, 1500/45 prez.
48. Šmigeľ, Banderovci na Slovensku.
49. ABS, f. 307, 307–95–26.
50. ŠAPO, pracovisko Archív Svidník, f. Obvodný úrad MNV vo Veľkých Bukovciach 1945–1950, box 4, 77/1945 prez.
51. ABS, f. 305, 305–143–1.
52. Šmigeľ, Banderovci na Slovensku, 107–127.
53. Archiv vizuální historie USC Shoah Foundation, interview with S. M., IC 16956.
54. SNA, f. SPR [nespracované], 2040/46.
55. ABS, f. 307, 307–99–5.
56. See note 54 above.
57. SNA, f. PV–bezp., box 1, without no. – Okresný Národný Výbor v Bardejove, 13 September 1945.
58. Bergmann, “Pogroms,” 351–368.
59. SNA, f. SPR, 2040/46.
60. Archiv vizuální historie USC Shoah Foundation, interview with M. S., IC 16476.
61. ABS, f. 305, 305–144–3.
62. ABS, f. 215, 215–208–81.
63. Zudová-Lešková, “Židia a protinacistický odboj na Slovensku“, 9–44.
64. Bumová, “Protižidovské výtržnosti v Bratislave v historickom kontexte (august 1946)”; Šmigeľ,”Protižidovské výtržnosti v Bratislave v rokoch 1946 a 1948,” 251–273.
65. SNA, f. PV–bezp., box 2, without no.–Oblastné veliteľstvo NB Humenné, 2 August 1946.
66. SNA, f. PV–bezp., box 2, without no.–Oblastné veliteľstvo NB Humenné, 6 September 1946.
67. ŠAKE, f. ŠZ 1922–1949, box 49, Št 3512/1946.
68. Lônčíková,”‘Coming back home?,” 191–212.
69. ŠAPO, pracovisko Archív Bardejov, f. Okresný národný výbor v Bardejove (ONV v BJ) 1945–1960, box D1, 303/1945 prez.
70. SNA, f. PV–bezp. box 1, without no.–Oblastná správa OBZ, 5 September 1945.
71. ŠAPO, pracovisko Archív Bardejov, f. ONV v BJ 1945–1960, box D1, 766/1945 prez.
72. There is evidence that Andrej Palša was arrested, but it is still not clear why. In SNA, Ústredný výbor Komunistickej strany Slovenska (ÚV KSS), box 2145, GT-197/20.
73. SNA, f. PV–sekr., box 75, 966/24–46-sekr.
74. SNA, f. SRP [nespracované], 4586/46.
75. SNA, f. ÚV KSS, box 2145, GT-197/20.
76. Ibid.
77. ŠAPO, pracovisko Archív Vranov nad Topľou, f. ONV vo VT 1945–1948, box 25, 3976/45.
78. ŠAKE, pracovisko Archív Trebišov, f. ONV v TV 1945–1948–prezidiálne spisy, box 21, 1462/1945 prez.
79. VHA, f. Veliteľstvo VI. zboru, box 22, 33267/1945.
80. ŠAKE, pracovisko Archív Trebišov, f. ONV v TV 1945–1948–prezidiálne spisy, box 21, 1348/45 prez.
81. See note 79 above.
82. Ibid.
83. Ibid.
84. ŠAKE, pracovisko Archív Trebišov, f. ONV v TV 1945–1948–prezidiálne spisy, box 21, 1349/45 prez.
85. Ibid., 998/1945 prez.
86. Ibid., 388/1945 prez.
87. Ward, Priest, Politician, Collaborator; Kamenec, Tragédia politika; Kamenec, “Proces”.
88. SNA, f. PV–sprav., box 9, without no.–Povereníctvo vnútra VII. odbor. Zpráva číslo 85 zo dňa 29 May 1947.
89. Lônčíková, “Holokaust pred súdom,” 58–91.
90. § 3 Regulation no. 33/1945 Sb. n. SNR.
91. SNA, f. PV. bezp., box. 1, without no.–Hlásenie Oblastného veliteľstva NB Humenné z 5 January 1946.
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Michala Lônčíková
Michala Lônčíková is a PhD candidate at the Department of General History at the Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava (Slovakia). Her dissertation work compares anti-Semitic propaganda during World War II in the Slovak state and the Independent State of Croatia under the influence of Nazi Germany. With Eduard Nižňanský, she co-authored a book entitled History of the Jewish Community in Banská Bystrica (2016).
