Gréckokatolícka cirkev a Židia v Slovenskej republike v rokoch 1939–1945

Abstract

The study analyzes the attitude of the Greek Catholic Church towards the Jewish population in the Slovak Republic during 1939–1945. In the authoritarian political regime, this minority church was confronted with the nationalist and racial (anti-Semitic) policies of the state; a fundamentally oppositional attitude towards the regime was interpreted in the form of pastoral letters, or public appearances of its hierarch – Bishop Peter Pavel Gojdič. The study describes specific forms of help from the clergy of the Greek Catholic Church intending to rescue the Jewish population from the repressive measures and deportations of the regime. The most common form of help and rescue of Jews was baptism and the issuing of false letters on baptisms with antedated baptisms. Persecuted Jews also found help by getting presidential exemptions and issuing letters on baptisms, hiding valuables and movable property, saving their real estates from arization, and finally sheltering people from persecution and deportation.