Slovak National Research Articles

Karol Anton Medvecký v slovenskej politike po roku 1918

The following article is devoted to a personality important for the Slovak environment, especially in the period of the so-called revolutionary changes since 1918, but not only during them. Karol Anton Medvecký first became the secretary of the Slovak National Party, later also the secretary of the Slovak National Council, a member of the Revolutionary National Assembly, deputy minister with power of attorney for Slovak administration for Catholic Church Affairs, vice-president of the Czechoslovak People's Party in Slovakia or its deputy in the regional council. The aim of the paper is to present Medvecký, his activities, tasks and problems that he was solving in the political field. We will try to answer questions that mainly concern his political activities. We will rely primarily on periodicals and the current state of historiography in the event of a significant shortage and dispersion of preserved archival sources.

Современная словацкая драма о Второй мировой войне

The paper addresses the Slovak drama of the 21st century dedicated to the Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Slovak National Uprising. After the “velvet revolution” of 1989, interest in the military and insurgent theme in Slovak art as a whole declined sharply, but as early as in the 21st century playwrights and theaters of Slovakia are increasingly beginning to return to these topics. Many of these plays created in the last twenty years were written in order to actualize public discussions about the period of the Slovak Republic (1939–1945), around the mass deportation of Jews from its territory, around the arization, etc. The main task of these plays` authors is to put serious moral questions before the viewer. For this purpose, the paper focuses on social and historical context in which National Socialism spread in Slovakia. Such are, for example, the works of R. Ballek “Tiso”, P. Rankov “It Happened on the First of September (or Some Other Time)”, A. Gruskova “The Woman Rabbi”, V. Klimachek “The Holocaust”, Y. Yuraneva “The Silent Whip”. One of the most important questions that Slovak writers and society have been asking in recent decades is the question of how and why Slovaks actually joined Nazi Germany during the Second World War, what prompted them to do this.

The Holocaust in Slovakia: The Deportation of 1942 through the Prism of Oral History

On October 28, 1918, after the end of the Great War, Slovakia became part of the Czechoslovak Republic. Two decades later, on October 6, 1938, the country’s political leadership declared autonomy, and within a few months, on March 14, 1939, the Slovak National Assembly voted for the establishment of an independent state. Already during the period of autonomy, the government adopted anti-Jewish legislation (this trend would continue throughout the brief lifespan of the new state) aimed at gradually shutting Jews out of social and economic life. This state-sponsored persecution of the Jews culminated in mass deportations which began in 1942. In Central Europe, Holocaust remembrance typically involves events that took place on the territory of the given state. In Slovakia, these include the anniversary of the first transport (March 25, 1942) and especially September 9, 1942, when the Slovak National Assembly issued Decree 198/1941 on the Legal Status of the Jews. On September 13, 2000, the National Council of the Slovak Republic established September 9 as Memorial Day for Victims of the Holocaust and Racial Violence. To understand the criminal nature of the wartime Slovak regime, it is important to examine Constitutional Act 68/1942 on the Resettlement of the Jews, passed by the national assembly on May 15, 1942, by which time nearly 30,000 Jews had already been deported to concentration camps. The assembly thus retroactively legitimated deportations which in most cases ended in the death of the Jewish victims. This article centers on survivors’ testimonies about the impact of Act 68/1942 on them and their families. The selected recollections illustrate the process of the deportations as well as ways of avoiding them.

Die "Taufe Christi" im Werk von Johann Lucas Kracker

In recent years, the set of drawings by Johann Lucas Kracker (1719–1779) has been enlarged with 12 pieces. The sheets preserved in the museum of Debrecen include a sketch showing the baptism of Christ in the Jordan. It is the first variant of the high altar of the Premonstratensian abbey in Jasov. Two exquisite painted oil sketches for the enormous picture of the high altar signed in 1762 (Košice / Jasov, Bratislava, Slovak National Gallery) have long been known. The drawing is a far simpler composition with few figures, reminiscently of Daniel Gran's painting for the high altar of Vienna's church of the Brothers Hospitallers (1736). The painted sketches were extended with genre figures from the motivic set of Paul Troger (1698–1762) and with the large angel holding a drapery behind Jesus. Kracker painted another two reduced versions on the basis of the sketches: for a side altar in the remonstratensian church in Nová Říše and a small mural for the church of Rancířov (1763). To the picture of the high altar in Jasov a monumental fresco cycle belongs narrating the legend of John the Baptist; their epic character suggests the inspiration of the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark and Luke, while the drawn sketch was presumably inspired by St John's Gospel. The commission was given by abbot Andreas Sauberer (1700–1779).

THE ACOUSTIC FEATURES AND MUSIC-CULTURAL CONTEXTS OF CONCERT AND THEATRE HALLS IN SLOVAKIA - ZICHY PALACE, THE SLOVAK NATIONAL THEATRE

This study deals with spatial-acoustic research on two buildings in Bratislava, built in two different historical periods, with a significantly different primary function in terms of the musical life of the town. The Opera and Ballet Hall of the Slovak National Theatre is a relatively new building with a relatively short concert history. The concert life of the Concert Hall of Zichy Palace dates back to the 18th century and has an extremely rich concert history. The present study is devoted to describing the historical and cultural contexts, while also investigating their acoustic properties. The subject of the acoustical research is the description of the basic parameters – reverberation time T, clarity C80, interaural correlation coefficient IACC and spoken speech intelligibility measure STI.

High-grade B-cell lymphoma with MYC and BCL2 and/or BCL6 rearrangements: Biopsy analysis of 70 cases from the Slovak Lymphoma Registry.

We performed a twelve-year retrospective analysis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients' biopsies with rearrangements of genes MYC, BCL2, and/or BCL6, commonly referred to as double-hit and triple-hit high-grade B-cell lymphomas (DH/TH HGBL). Our aim was to present complex characteristics of the DH/TH HGBL group of patients diagnosed in the Slovak National Lymphoma Register together with the evaluation of the relationship between immunohistochemical (IHC) protein expressions of c-myc, bcl2, bcl6, and cyclin D1 in tissue specimens and the presence of rearrangements of their protein-coding genes by FISH analysis in order to find a clinically relevant diagnostic algorithm that would be the most time- and cost-efficient. For this study, a standard panel of histomorphological, IHC, and FISH methods was used to analyze the characteristics of 70 DH/TH HGBL patients' biopsies. Our study showed a predominance of the immunohistochemical GCB subtype over the non-GCB subtype (59:10 cases) in DH/TH lymphomas. The centroblastic morphology was the most commonly observed (30/70 cases; 43%). Furthermore, our study showed a high predominance of DH lymphoma cases with simultaneous MYC and BCL2 genes rearrangements (40/70; 57%), followed by an almost equal incidence of DH lymphomas with rearrangements of MYC and BCL6 genes (16/70; 23%) and of TH lymphomas (14/70; 20%). 15 of 16 FISH-examined DLBCL cases were negative for CCND1 rearrangement. A great majority of DH/TH cases showed also immunohistochemical overexpression of corresponding proteins (62/70; 89%), mostly in a form of triple expressor of c-myc/bcl2/bcl6 proteins (36/70; 51%), followed by c-myc/bcl2 and c-myc/bcl6 double expressor proteins positivity (20/70 and 6/70, respectively). Comparing preferential FISH testing of DE/TE and GCB DLBCL cases for genetic rearrangements we would be able to detect 89% and 84% of our HGBL-DH, TH group of patients, respectively. None of the examined methods for economically rational FISH testing showed enough concordance with IHC analysis results. We might, therefore, advocate the complex testing of all DLBCL patients' biopsies including FISH analyses.

The forgotten Karol Andel (1897–1977) and his contribution to the development of Ethnography, Archaeology and Museology in Slovakia

The paper is an evaluation study of the biographical work of Karol Andel, who, as a civil servant in the interwar and post-war periods, devoted himself to the amateur collection of ethnographic material and the search for archaeological sites. His work refuted opinions of the prehistoric sterility of many regions, and also laid the foundations of many ethnographic and archaeological collections in Slovakia – in Kysuce Záhorie, Levoča and Bojnice, and at the Slovak National Museum in Bratislava. In his fieldwork he collaborated with respected authorities of archaeology and ethnography in Slovakia, including J. Eisner, V. Budinský-Krička, Š. Janšák, B. Szöke, R. Bednárik and M. Markuš. Thanks to his lifelong professional work and passion, he eventually became a researcher at the Ethnographic Institute, and later the Archaeological Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences.

Leading the Way, but Also Following the Trend: The Slovak National Party

Despite spells outside parliament, with its blend of nationalist and populist appeals the Slovak National Party (SNS) has been a prominent fixture on Slovakia’s political scene for three decades. Unlike some of the newer parties in Slovakia and across the region, partly as a product of the point of its (re-)creation, SNS has a comparable organizational density to most established parties in the country and has invested in party branches and recruiting members. Although ordinary members exercised some power and influence during the fissiparous era of the early 2000s, SNS has been notable for the role played by its leader in decision-making and steering the party. Each leader placed their stamp on the projection, pitch and functioning of the party, both as a decision-making organization and an electoral vehicle. Ordinary members have been largely—but not exclusively—relegated to the role of cheerleaders and campaigners for the party’s tribunes; a situation which has not changed significantly in the era of social media. The pre-eminent position of the leader and the limited options for “voice” has led unsuccessful contenders for top posts and their supporters to opt instead for “exit.” Despite having some of the traits of the mass party and having engaged in some of the activities common for mass parties, especially in the earlier years of its existence, in more recent times in particular, SNS falls short of the mass party model both in aspiration and reality.

Genomic Diversity of Listeria monocytogenes Isolates From Slovakia (2010 to 2020).

Over the past 11 years, the Slovak National Reference Laboratory has collected a panel of 988 Listeria monocytogenes isolates in Slovakia, which were isolated from various food sectors (61%), food-processing environments (13.7%), animals with listeriosis symptoms (21.2%), and human cases (4.1%). We serotyped these isolates by agglutination method, which revealed the highest prevalence (61.1%) of serotype 1/2a and the lowest (4.7%) of serotype 1/2c, although these represented the majority of isolates from the meat sector. The distribution of CCs analyzed on 176 isolates demonstrated that CC11-ST451 (15.3%) was the most prevalent CC, particularly in food (14.8%) and animal isolates (17.5%). CC11-ST451, followed by CC7, CC14, and CC37, were the most prevalent CCs in the milk sector, and CC9 and CC8 in the meat sector. CC11-ST451 is probably widely distributed in Slovakia, mainly in the milk and dairy product sectors, posing a possible threat to public health. Potential persistence indication of CC9 was observed in one meat facility between 2014 and 2018, highlighting its general meat-related distribution and potential for persistence worldwide.

English grammatical collocations of the verb and the preposition for and their collocational equivalents in the Slovak language

This paper focuses on empirical research of grammatical collocations of the type: verb and preposition FOR. Subject to analysis were the verbal prepostional structures of the pattern 1: V+prepositional phrase in the function of the object and the pattern 2: V+ preposition+fixed element. The study is based on comparisons of the English and Slovak sentences containing this specific verbal-prepositional structure. Data for contrastive study of English and Slovak languages are taken from the electronic corpus Slovak National Corpus, ie. English- Slovak Parallel Corpus. The aim of the study is to analyse, describe and classify only prepositional counterparts.

MONITORING THE CONGESTION OF URBAN PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEMS FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF INTRODUCING THE CROWD SHIPPING DELIVERY IN BRATISLAVA

The aim is to study the congestion of urban passenger transport in the historical part of Bratislava for the possibility of introducing crowdsourcing technology. The visual methods of examination are used in work. According to the results of the study, data were obtained on the congestion of urban passenger transport and its distribution by hours of the day at the entrances to the historic part of the city. The obtained results indicate the possibility of using crowd shipping technology in off-peak periods. Monitoring of public transport flows in the urban core will identifying the distribution of travellers and contribute to understanding the time window for implementing crowd shipping technology during the day, minimal whit influence on the other participants of the transport process. The peak traffic load is observed on the routes passing through the Slovak National Rebellion (SNP) square in direct downtown of the city, from 8 am to 9 am and from 4-6 pm in the evening, and from 7 am to 8 am in the morning and 5-6 pm for the routes passing through the SNP bridge across the river Danube. A new way to monitoring the number of passengers in public transport was suggested. The paper provides credits for future development sharing technology and sustainable development of transport in Slovakia. The results could be usfull for transport policy and regularities for local government in Bratislava in case of apply new delivery technology.

Socio-Demographic Factors and the Level of Teachers’ Motivation in Slovak National Schools in Hungary

Introduction. The research paper seeks to identify the level of motivation of Slovak educators teaching in Hungary in the context of a low level of teachers’ motivation in Central and Eastern Europe. The aim of the paper is to show the relationship between socio-demographic factors (age, gender, type of school) and the degree of teachers’ motivation at Slovak national schools in Hungary. The results of research on motivation in relation to gender, age and type of school are shown to be inconsistent and yield varying findings. Materials and Methods. This paper is based on the data collected in the survey conducted in 10 Hungarian counties between January and April 2019, using a sample of 139 teachers of ethnic schools (monolingual, bilingual and schools teaching the ethnic language as a separate subject). We processed the obtained research results using methods of descriptive statistics and methods of inferential statistics (Pearson correlation coefficient; Mann-Whitney U test; Kruskal-Wallis H test). Results. The results showed that there was no correlation between the teacher’s age and teaching motivation (p > 0.05). No statistically significant differences were found between gender and teaching motivation when using the Mann-Whitney test. Using a non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test, the existence of significant differences in the level of motivation of teachers working at various types of schools was confirmed. The research showed that teachers of bilingual schools were the most positive in relation to motivation, and the lowest average scores were achieved by teachers in schools where Slovak is taught as a subject. The age and gender of teachers were not significant in relation to the evaluation of the degree of motivation for teaching Slovak. Discussion and Conclusion. The results presented in the article will be beneficial not only for pedagogical researchers, but especially for Slovak teachers in Hungary, as research of this kind was conducted for the first time.

The Apponyi family in the history of book culture, ed. by Agáta Klimenková, Martin, Slovak National Library, 2015

„Vannak, akik a lovakat szeretik, mások a vadakat, mások a madarakat […] engem pedig már kisfiú koromtól a könyvek megszerzésének csodálatos vágya lelkesített” idézte W. Salgó Ágnes (a Teleki Téka 200. születésnapjára írt tanulmánya végén) Apponyi Sándor (1844–1925) bibliofilt, aki ezt a Justinianus császárnak tulajdonított szólást illesztette be a könyvbeszerzéseit tartalmazó kéziratos művének elejére.

A cross-border outbreak of Salmonella Bareilly cases confirmed by whole genome sequencing, Czech Republic and Slovakia, 2017 to 2018.

In August 2017, an increased incidence of Salmonella Bareilly was detected in the Czech Republic. An investigation was conducted with Slovakia to confirm the outbreak and identify the source. Probable outbreak cases were defined as cases with laboratory-confirmed S. Bareilly reported in either of the national surveillance systems, and/or the Czech and Slovak National Reference Laboratory databases from July 2017. Confirmed cases had the pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) outbreak pulsotype or up to 5 alleles difference from outbreak cluster members by core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST). PFGE and whole genome sequencing were used for isolate comparison. The same trawling questionnaire was used in both countries. By the end of October 2018, 325 cases were identified. Among 88 human S. Bareilly isolates analysed by PFGE, 82 (93%) shared an identical pulsotype; cgMLST of 17 S. Bareilly human isolates showed 1–2 allele difference. The trawling questionnaire excluded consumption of unusual or imported foods. In September 2018, an isolate closely related to the outbreak isolates was identified in a powdered egg product. A spray dryer was recognised as the contamination source and the production plant was closed. Using molecular typing methods, we detected a diffuse cross-border outbreak caused by S. Bareilly.

Slovak National Council and (Un)Implemented Principles of Parliamentarism between 1944 and 1992

Slovak National Council and (Un)Implemented Principles of Parliamentarism between 1944 and 1992

Milan Rastislav Štefánik: The Slovak National Hero and Co-Founder of Czechoslovakia. By Michal Kšiňan. London–New York: Routledge, 2021. pp. 300.

Milan Rastislav Štefánik: The Slovak National Hero and Co-Founder of Czechoslovakia. By Michal Kšiňan. London–New York: Routledge, 2021. pp. 300.

Архивная Россика в Словакии: документы по истории русско-словацких контактов в архиве Матицы словацкой

The article traces the process of formation of archival Rossica in one of the oldest archives of the Slovak Republic. The authors analyze documentary materials on the history of the Slovak-Russian contacts in the 19th century, the period when ties between Slovak and Russian scientists and public figures were most intense. It was at this time that the process of national identity formation of the Slovaks took place. The article is to investigate the content of documents from the standpoint of methodology of historical memory and that of principles of historicism. Despite the fact that the history of the Slovak-Russian relations has been in the focus of attention of national and foreign scientists for many years, there are no special scientific studies in which archival materials on this issue would be systematized. In the modern historiographic situation, as there continues a “revision” of previous assessments of the history of the Slovak-Russian relations, the role of archival heritage increases, and yet its significant part has not been introduced into scientific use. In historical science, the most important archive for reconstruction of the history of the Slovak-Russian contacts in the 19th century is the archive of the Slovak Matica. This organization was created by order of the Austro-Hungarian authorities in Martin, city in the East of Slovakia. In the 19th century the Slovak Matica was a center of social life of the Slovaks and played an important role in the formation of the Slovak nation. The article details the complex history of the formation of the archival Rossica collection in the archive of Martin and all stages of its emergence and development. The archive of the Slovak Matica has undergone significant organizational changes over a century and a half of its existence. It is currently called the Archives of Literature and Art of the Slovak National Library (ALI SNB). The authors systematize the archival Rossica in the ALI SNB by the nature of documents and problems. The article provides an overview of the main groups of archival collections and fonds that preserve the historical evidence on nature and intensity of the Slovak-Russian contacts in the 19th century. An analysis of archival materials has shown that these relations developed mainly at the level of personal contacts between Slovak and Russian scientists, writers, and public figures. The authors of the article conclude that the Rossica in the archives of Slovakia still remains an incompletely developed topic for researchers, primarily for Russian ones. Study of the archival Rossica acquires special significance in modern humanities, as there continues a revision of previous assessments of historical events, facts, and actions of national movements leaders.

Regime Preferences in Communist Czechoslovakia and the Narrative on the Slovak National Uprising

Most of the participants in the Slovak National Uprising (SNP) were fighting for the ideals of democracy and freedom, for the defeat of fascism and Nazism and for the new Czechoslovak Republic with equal status for the Slovak people within it. They could not have foreseen that communist totalitarianism would be established after the war, one that would try to use the Uprising as a precursor for the socialist revolution (Fremal 2010: 359). The Communist Party, with the support of historians, utilised the legacy of the SNP to justify its political actions. Czechoslovak identity was also constructed through the image of the SNP, whose annual celebrations provided the communists with the opportunity to interpret the legacy of the SNP in various forms. This work deals with the way the communists interpreted the SNP in order to convince the public that this was a people's Uprising intended to lead to social equality and the eventual acceptance of communism in Czechoslovakia in the years 1947,1948 and 1954.

Selected aspects of historical policy towards the Slovak National Uprising in the Slovak Republic

The Slovak Republic is a state that was formed as a result of the disintegration of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic in 1993. Slovaks do not have rich traditions of their own statehood. For nearly a thousand years, the Slovak lands were within the sphere of influence of Hungary and they formed a common state with the Czechs, although the latter had a dominant position. The only period of owning one’s own statehood was during 1939- 1945, i.e. the functioning of the Slovak State / Slovak Republic. However, it was a country under the influence of the Third Reich. The article concerns selected aspects of the historical policy towards the Second World War appearing in the political discourse in the Slovak Republic. Issues that evoke extreme emotions have been analyzed: the Slovak National Uprising and the Slovak State / Slovak Republic. The activities of the People’s Party – Our Slovakia, which was the only one that refers to the tradition of the Slovak state in 1939-1945 and attacks the Slovak National Uprising were also analyzed. Transcripts were analyzed from meetings of the Slovak National Council, press articles and programs of individual political parties as well as statements of politicians with particular emphasis on the People’s Party – Our Slovakia. The article uses a comparative method and a case study.

Socio-Political and Socio-Cultural Activities of the Union of Rusyns-Ukrainians in the Slovak Republic (1989-1993)

The given article, based on archival documents, provides the analysis of socio-political, socio-cultural, and educational activities of the Union of Rusyns-Ukrainians in the Slovak Republic, the updated name of which was adopted at the extraordinary Congress of the Cultural Union of Ukrainian workers of Czechoslovakia in January 20, 1990 in Prešov. The Cultural Union of Ukrainian Workers of Czechoslovakia of cultural orientation (founded in 1951), which was the predecessor of the new organization, is mentioned. According to the decision of the Congress, the reformed organization focused on strengthening the friendship and cooperation with the Slovak people, other nationalities in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, etc. It is noted that the return to the old name was seen by the Rusyn-Ukrainians of Eastern Slovakia as one of the means of identity struggle against the accelerated slovakization in the context of aggravation of interethnic relations in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in the late 1980s and 1990s. The analysis of the adopted documents in which the Congress stated its intentions and requirements is given including: Program Proclamation of the Congress, the Memorandum of Rusyns-Ukrainians of Czechoslovakia to the Federal Assembly of Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, Slovak National Council and the SSR Government, the Statute of the Council of Rusyns-Ukrainians of Czechoslovakia, “Organization’s Work Plan for the Near Future”, which expressed the need to give priority to working with young people in and out of schools. The catastrophic decrease in the number of schools with the Ukrainian language of instruction is stated. The paper also notes the numerical grow and revitalization of other Ukrainian national associations and institutions in Slovakia willing to work in the field of cultural and national life of Rusyns-Ukrainians (Oleksander Dukhnovych Society, Rukh, “OBRUCH” Organization, Association of Ukrainians in the Czech Republic, Carpathians Youth Union, etc.)