Activities of Bishop Paul Peter Gojdic in favour of Jews in Slovakia during the Holocaust

Abstract

National-socialist policies of racial superiority brought into the Slovak society a new dimension of anti-Semitism, which was evident in Slovakia since the 19th century, but only gained monstrous proportions in the first period of the Slovak Republic during the period 1939 - 1945. The final solution of the Jewish question in Slovakia became a real trauma in modern Slovak history and the moral consequences of this shameful act are still noticeable in today's society. The dramatic fate of approximately 89,000 men, women and children of Jewish nationality is an admonition in face of the Slovak nationalism, which resulted during World War II in a form of an unspeakable brutality and still manifests itself in thought and action of a certain group of the Slovak population. An anti-Jewish campaign was launched after the declaration of the Slovak autonomy in 1938 and the presentation of a solution to the Jewish question became one of the main attributes of the governmental policy of the nascent authoritarian-totalitarian regime. On the night of 4-5 November 1938, the autonomous government with the help of the Hlinka's guards prepared the forced deportation of uncomfortable Jews to the south of Slovakia which was given to Hungary after the Vienna Award. 1