Slovak Republic (1939–1945)
The (First) Slovak Republic (Slovak: (Prvá) Slovenská republika), otherwise known as the Slovak State (Slovenský štát), was a partially-recognized client state of Nazi Germany which existed between 14 March 1939 and 4 April 1945 after abandoning Czechoslovakia to be annexed by Germany. The Slovak part of Czechoslovakia declared independence with German support one day before the German occupation of Bohemia and Moravia. The majority of the territory of present-day Slovakia was under the control of the Slovak-Republic, without its current southern parts, which were ceded by Czechoslovakia to Hungary in 1938. It was the first time in history that Slovakia had been a formally independent state.
Slovak Republic Slovenská republika | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1939–1945 | |||||||||
| Motto: Verní sebe, svorne napred! (English: "Faithful to Ourselves, Together Ahead!") | |||||||||
| Anthem: Hej, Slováci (English: "Hey, Slovaks") | |||||||||
The Slovak Republic in 1942 | |||||||||
| Status | Client state of Germany, | ||||||||
| Capital | Bratislava | ||||||||
| Common languages | Slovak, German | ||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism (state religion) | ||||||||
| Demonym(s) | Slovak | ||||||||
| Government | Clerical fascist one-party corporate state under a totalitarian dictatorship | ||||||||
| President | |||||||||
• 1939–1945 | Jozef Tiso | ||||||||
| Prime Minister | |||||||||
• 1939 | Jozef Tiso | ||||||||
• 1939–1944 | Vojtech Tuka | ||||||||
• 1944–1945 | Štefan Tiso | ||||||||
| Historical era | World War II | ||||||||
| 14 March 1939 | |||||||||
| 23–31 March 1939 | |||||||||
| 21 July 1939 | |||||||||
| 1–16 September 1939 | |||||||||
| 28 July 1940 | |||||||||
| 22 June 1941 | |||||||||
| 29 August 1944 | |||||||||
| 4 April 1945 | |||||||||
| Currency | Slovak koruna | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Slovakia Poland | ||||||||
A one-party state governed by the far-right Hlinka's Slovak People's Party, the Slovak Republic is primarily known for its collaboration with Nazi Germany, which included sending troops to the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and the Soviet Union in 1941. In 1942, the country deported 58,000 Jews (two-thirds of the Slovak Jewish population) to German-occupied Poland, paying Germany 500 Reichsmarks each. After an increase in the activity of anti-Nazi Slovak partisans, Germany invaded Slovakia, triggering a major uprising. The Slovak Republic was abolished after the Soviet occupation in 1945 and its territory was reintegrated into the recreated Third Czechoslovak Republic.
The current Slovak Republic does not consider itself a successor state of the wartime Slovak Republic, instead a successor to the Czechoslovak Federal Republic. However, some nationalists continue to celebrate 14 March as a day of independence.