James Ramon Felak . After Hitler, Before Stalin: Catholics, Communists, and Democrats in Slovakia, 1945–1948 . (Pitt Series in Russian and East European Studies.) Pittsburgh, Pa. : University of Pittsburgh Press . 2009 . Pp. xv, 261. $50.00.

Abstract

The history of Slovakia from 1945–1948 is usually told as part of Czechoslovak history. James Ramon Felak's book focuses on events inside Slovakia, following a triangle of conflicts and agreements involving the two main political parties and the Catholic Church. It is based on a thorough study of daily and weekly periodicals, of some archival material, and of secondary sources. The result is a readable and informative account that brings to life the conflicts of the time. The political system of postwar Slovakia initially allowed only two parties, the Communists and the Democratic Party, the latter dominated by members of the Protestant minority and both emerging out of the uprising of August 1944. Approval of these two parties was required before any other party could be formed. The Catholic Church had been weakened by its identification with the independent Slovak state that allied with Nazi Germany, and the formerly ruling Catholic Party was banned. As the overwhelming majority of the population were Catholic, the crucial issue for Felak's study was whether the existing parties could win over Catholic voters or whether a new party would be formed.