Czechoslovakia Under Nazi Rule

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Czechoslovakia in 1930

Slovakia as a German Puppet State

The Slovak Republic (1939-45)

• Forced alliance with Germany

• Hitler did not want country to align with Hungary in 1939

• “Offered” independence in return for protection from Hungary and Poland

• Josef Tiso agreed, fearing division

• Became a puppet regime

• Hitler wanted as base for attacks on Poland

• Slovak army fought Poland and Hungary in 1939

• Adopted aspects of Nazism

The Slovak Republic (1939-45)

• Hinkla’s Slovak People’s Party

• Jewish Code passed in 1941

• Jews must wear yellow armbands, banned from intermarriage and many jobs

• Agreed to deport Jews as opposed to providing Slovak workers for the war effort

• Slovaks paid to have Jews deported

• Deportations halted for awhile in 1942 after Vatican and certain leaders protested

The Slovak Republic (1939-45)

• Officials said they were not aware they were being sent to gas chambers

• 1944: Deportations resumed, Slovakia occupied, Uprising suppressed

• 105 ,000 Slovak Jews died during the war

• 77% of pre-war population