Historiography of the Holocaust in Slovakia

The historiography of the Holocaust in Slovakia has been a much-debated subject, and historians have still not arrived at a consensus position as to the role of the Slovak State in the Holocaust.

During the Communist era, scholars were required to analyze events through a Marxist historiographical framework. Marxist historiography viewed Aryanization was a struggle between Jewish and Christian owners, and wealthy Slovaks encouraged the working class to adopt antisemitic beliefs in order to divide the proletariat. However, responsibility for the Holocaust was placed squarely on Nazi Germany. During the Prague Spring era, Ivan Kamenec's dissertation on the Holocaust in Slovakia was accepted, and Kamenec was allowed to publish four studies from it. He was not allowed to publish the dissertation because it was accused of being non-Marxist and promoting Zionism. Academic inquiry again became impossible during the period of normalization that followed.

As a result, the first studies of the Holocaust were published outside the country, for example The Destruction of Slovak Jewry (1961) by Livia Rothkirchen in Hebrew and Die Juden im slowakischen Staat, 1939–1945 (The Jews in the Slovak State) by Ladislav Lipscher in 1980.

Another strand of historiography was developed by anti-Communists living in exile.

Later, perestroika allowed the emergence of more balanced accounts in Slovakia.

References

Bibliography

• Jelinek, Yeshayahu (1981). "Ladislav Lipscher. Die Juden im slowakischen Staat, 1939–1945. (Veröffentlichungen des Collegium Carolinum, number 35.) Munich: R. Oldenbourg Verlag. 1980. Pp. 210". The American Historical Review. 86 (1): 175. doi:10.1086/ahr/86.1.175. ISSN 0002-8762.
• Kamenec, Ivan (2007). On the Trail of Tragedy: The Holocaust in Slovakia. Translated by Styan, Martin. Bratislava: Hajko & Hajková. ISBN 9788088700685.
• Nedelsky, Nadya (2016). ""The Struggle for the Memory of the Nation": Post-Communist Slovakia and its World War II Past". Human Rights Quarterly. 38 (4): 969–992. doi:10.1353/hrq.2016.0053. S2CID 151419238.
• Paulovičová, Nina (2013). "The "Unmasterable Past"? The Reception of the Holocaust in Postcommunist Slovakia.". In Himka, John-Paul; Michlic, Joanna Beata (eds.). Bringing the Dark Past to Light. The Reception of the Holocaust in Postcommunist Europe. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 549–590. ISBN 978-0-8032-2544-2.
• Ward, James Mace (2013). Priest, Politician, Collaborator: Jozef Tiso and the Making of Fascist Slovakia. Ithaka: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-6812-4.

Further reading

• Nižňanský, Eduard (2003). "Der Holocaust in der slowakischen Historiographie der neunziger Jahre" [The Holocaust in Slovak Historiography of the Nineties]. Bohemia - Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Kultur der böhmischen Länder (in German). 44 (2): 370–388. ISSN 0523-8587.
• Tönsmeyer, Tatjana (2003). "Vom "Recht auf die eigene Geschichte" – Der Slowakische Staat 1939 bis 1945 in der Historiographie" [About the "Right to One's Own History": The 1939–1945 Slovak State in Historiography]. Bohemia - Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Kultur der böhmischen Länder (in German). 44 (2): 356–369. ISSN 0523-8587.