Kirchenakte Documented events from judgments, reports and church documents
1939-1945 · 6 years · show in timeline

Slovak State under the priest Jozef Tiso 1939 to 1945, disenfranchisement and deportation of the Jews

From 1939 to 1945 the Catholic priest Jozef Tiso led the Slovak State, which was dependent on Hitler, as its president. In 1941 this state issued a "Jewish Code" modelled on the Nuremberg Laws, expropriated the Jews and in 1942 deported around 69,000 of them to the camps in occupied Poland; for each deportee it paid the German Reich 500 Reichsmarks. About 70,000 Jews from Slovakia perished in the Holocaust. In 1947 Tiso was convicted of, among other things, crimes against humanity and executed.

Period
1939-1945 (6 years)
Country
Slovakia
Institutions
Slovak State
Hlinka's Slovak People's Party
President Jozef Tiso
Category
Anti-Judaism, Expropriation, Persecution
Level of evidence
B two independent scholarly sources · what does this mean?
Persons
Jozef Tiso (Catholic priest, President of the Slovak State 1939-1945, convicted in 1947 of, among other things, crimes against humanity)
Jozef Tiso (right) with Adolf Hitler (left) and Alexander von Dörnberg in Berlin
Jozef Tiso (right) with Adolf Hitler (left) and Alexander von Dörnberg in Berlin Image: unbekannt, Public domain, Source

What happened to the people

Who was affected? Victims and numbers

  1. From 25 March to 20 October 1942 Jews were deported in cattle wagons from collection camps in Poprad, Bratislava, Sereď, Nováky and Žilina to concentration camps in occupied Poland. Of the 89,000 Jews of Slovakia, 69,000 were taken in 57 trains to camps in occupied Poland, and 7500 had already been driven in 1938 into the territory ceded to Hungary. About 70,000 Jews from Slovakia became victims of the Holocaust.
    Evidence: Ústav pamäti národa (Institut des nationalen Gedächtnisses, Slowakei), Faltblatt, Abschnitt The ‘Final Solution’
    „Deportation of Jews from the territory of Slovakia to concentration camps in occupied Poland from March 25, till October 20, 1942. People were transported in inhumane conditions in cattle wagons“
    Holocaust. Persecution of Jews in Slovakia between 1938 and 1945 (Faltblatt), Faltblatt, Abschnitt The ‘Final Solution’. Original
    Evidence: Ústav pamäti národa (Institut des nationalen Gedächtnisses, Slowakei), Faltblatt, Abschnitt Consequences of Holocaust in Slovakia
    „Of the 89,000 Jews living in Slovakia: 7,500 were deported to the territory ceded to Hungary, 69,000 to camps in occupied Poland in 57 train transports.“
    Holocaust. Persecution of Jews in Slovakia between 1938 and 1945 (Faltblatt), Faltblatt, Abschnitt Consequences of Holocaust in Slovakia. Original
    Evidence: Ústav pamäti národa (Institut des nationalen Gedächtnisses, Slowakei), Faltblatt, Abschnitt Consequences of Holocaust in Slovakia
    „The total number of Jewish Holocaust victims in Slovakia is approximately 70,000 people.“
    Holocaust. Persecution of Jews in Slovakia between 1938 and 1945 (Faltblatt), Faltblatt, Abschnitt Consequences of Holocaust in Slovakia. Original

How were they charged and sentenced?

  1. On 9 September 1941 the state issued the so-called Jewish Code (Government Decree No. 198/1941) with 270 articles modelled on the Nuremberg Laws; propaganda boasted that it was even stricter. Jewish origin was now defined racially, and Jews had to wear a yellow Star of David.
    Evidence: Ústav pamäti národa (Institut des nationalen Gedächtnisses, Slowakei), Faltblatt, Abschnitt Holocaust in Slovakia
    „On Spetember 9, 1941 the so-called Jewish Codex was issued, the Governmental Decree No. 198/1941 on legal position of Jews; 270 articles stipulated a special legal regime which found inspiration in Nuremberg Laws, but the propaganda was proud on these articles being even stricter.“
    Holocaust. Persecution of Jews in Slovakia between 1938 and 1945 (Faltblatt), Faltblatt, Abschnitt Holocaust in Slovakia. Original
    Evidence: Ústav pamäti národa (Institut des nationalen Gedächtnisses, Slowakei), Faltblatt, Abschnitt Holocaust in Slovakia
    „There was a new duty to wear a visible mark on one’s clothes on form of yellow six-pointed Star of David.“
    Holocaust. Persecution of Jews in Slovakia between 1938 and 1945 (Faltblatt), Faltblatt, Abschnitt Holocaust in Slovakia. Original
  2. After the war Tiso was convicted of high treason, suppression of freedom and crimes against humanity and executed in Bratislava on 18 April 1947.
    Evidence: Encyclopaedia Britannica (online, Stand 9. Oktober 2025), Artikel Jozef Tiso
    „He was tried and convicted for treason , suppression of freedom, and crimes against humanity and was executed in 1947.“
    Jozef Tiso, Artikel Jozef Tiso. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Encyclopaedia Britannica (online, Stand 9. Oktober 2025), Artikel Jozef Tiso
    „died April 18, 1947, Bratislava“
    Jozef Tiso, Artikel Jozef Tiso. Original · Archive copy

What happened to those affected?

  1. About 20,000 Jews were protected from deportation by exemption certificates that the Presidential Office issued to economically important persons. After October 1942 deportations from the Slovak State were not resumed; after the Slovak National Uprising in August 1944 the German occupation troops deported without exception.
    Evidence: Ústav pamäti národa (Institut des nationalen Gedächtnisses, Slowakei), Faltblatt, Abschnitt Holocaust in Slovakia
    „About 20,000 Jews were protected against deportation by having ‘certificates of exemption’ that were granted by the Office of the President to persons deemed vital to the Slovak economy.“
    Holocaust. Persecution of Jews in Slovakia between 1938 and 1945 (Faltblatt), Faltblatt, Abschnitt Holocaust in Slovakia. Original
    Evidence: Ústav pamäti národa (Institut des nationalen Gedächtnisses, Slowakei), Faltblatt, Abschnitt Holocaust in Slovakia
    „After the outbreak of Slovak Nation Uprising (on August 29, 1944) the deportation were carried out by the German occupation troops, with no exception.“
    Holocaust. Persecution of Jews in Slovakia between 1938 and 1945 (Faltblatt), Faltblatt, Abschnitt Holocaust in Slovakia. Original

Background

Course of events

  1. Jozef Tiso (1887-1947) was a Catholic priest and politician. He led Hlinka's Slovak People's Party, became prime minister of autonomous Slovakia on 6 October 1938 and, after independence was declared under Hitler's patronage in 1939, president of the state until 1945.
    Evidence: Encyclopaedia Britannica (online, Stand 9. Oktober 2025), Artikel Jozef Tiso
    „was a Slovak priest and statesman who fought for Slovak autonomy within the Czechoslovak nation during the interwar period and headed the German puppet state of independent Slovakia (1939–45)“
    Jozef Tiso, Artikel Jozef Tiso. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Encyclopaedia Britannica (online, Stand 9. Oktober 2025), Artikel Jozef Tiso
    „On October 6, 1938, Tiso became premier of autonomous Slovakia in the new federal Czechoslovakia, assuming the presidency after his country , under Adolf Hitler ’s sponsorship, declared its independence (1939)“
    Jozef Tiso, Artikel Jozef Tiso. Original · Archive copy

Why? Justification and motives (according to the sources)

  1. After Hlinka's Slovak People's Party took power, the aim of state propaganda was to turn the population against the Jews; the "solution of the Jewish question" was one of the main tasks after the founding of the state.
    Evidence: Ústav pamäti národa (Institut des nationalen Gedächtnisses, Slowakei), Faltblatt, Abschnitt Reasons leading to Holocaust in Slovakia
    „To turn the public opinion against the Jewish population became the aim of the official state propaganda and the solution of the Jewish question was one of the main tasks after the Slovak State was established on March 14, 1939.“
    Holocaust. Persecution of Jews in Slovakia between 1938 and 1945 (Faltblatt), Faltblatt, Abschnitt Reasons leading to Holocaust in Slovakia. Original

Who received the assets, who profited?

  1. The Slovak State paid Nazi Germany a "resettlement fee" of 500 Reichsmarks for each deported Jew. Jewish property was "aryanised": 2200 Jewish businesses, 100,000 hectares of land and thousands of houses and flats went to non-Jewish owners, and ten thousand businesses were liquidated.
    Evidence: Ústav pamäti národa (Institut des nationalen Gedächtnisses, Slowakei), Faltblatt, Abschnitt The ‘Final Solution’
    „The Slovak State paid Nazi Germany a ‘resettlement fee’ of 500 Reichmarks for each deported Jew.“
    Holocaust. Persecution of Jews in Slovakia between 1938 and 1945 (Faltblatt), Faltblatt, Abschnitt The ‘Final Solution’. Original
    Evidence: Ústav pamäti národa (Institut des nationalen Gedächtnisses, Slowakei), Faltblatt, Abschnitt Consequences of Holocaust in Slovakia
    „2,200 Jewish businesses, 100,000 hectares of Jewish land and thousands of houses and flats were ‘aryanised’. Ten thousand Jewish businesses were liquidated.“
    Holocaust. Persecution of Jews in Slovakia between 1938 and 1945 (Faltblatt), Faltblatt, Abschnitt Consequences of Holocaust in Slovakia. Original

Scholarly literature and reference works

  1. Reference work
    Encyclopaedia Britannica (online, Stand 9. Oktober 2025): Jozef Tiso. Original · Archive copy (retrieved 15 Oct 2026)
  2. Scholarly literature
    Ústav pamäti národa (Institut des nationalen Gedächtnisses, Slowakei): Holocaust. Persecution of Jews in Slovakia between 1938 and 1945 (Faltblatt). Original (retrieved 15 Oct 2026)
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