History of Bratislava - 20th Century

20th Century

In 1905 Philipp Lenard Hungarian-German physicist - came from Pressburg - winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics for his research on cathode rays and the discovery of many of their properties, and also in this year Ján Bahýľ, a Slovak inventor, flew his petrol-engine helicopter in Pressburg reaching a height of 4 metres for more than 1500 m. Czecho-Slovakia has been declared on October 28 in 1918 in Prague, the leaders of Pressburg (where the majority of the population are Germans or Hungarians, see below) want to prevent Pozsony from becoming part of Czecho-Slovakia and declare the town a free town and rename it Wilsonovo mesto (Wilson City) after US-president Woodrow Wilson. However, the city became part of Czechoslovakia after it was taken by the Czechoslovak Legions on January 1, 1919 (only the left river bank; the right river bank, not belonging to Bratislava yet, was occupied only on August 14 while Budapest just was occupied by the Romanian army). It has been chosen as seat of Slovak political organs over Martin and Nitra. Earlier the (Hungarian) Elisabeth University worked here- it had been a predecessor of the Slovak Comenius University after the Czechoslovakian state requistioned it on 6 January. The whole teaching staff were arrested on 28 January, because they rejected the invitation in the new Czechoslovakian government's joining up celebration. The (Slovakian) Comenius University (Univerzita Komenského) is founded then. The government moved to the city on 4–5 February. On 12 February German and Hungarian people demonstrated against of the Czechoslovak occupation on the Vásár square (now SNP Square). The shooting by the Czechoslovak troops left 9 people dead and 23 wounded. On March 27, the town's official new name becomes "Bratislava" - instead of "Prešporok" (Slovak) / "Pressburg" (German) / "Pozsony" (Hungarian).

On 4 May Milan Rastislav Štefánik, French–Slovak general died in an airplane crash near Bratislava. On 26–27 October in 1921 the statue of Maria Theresa was destroyed by Slovakian nationalists and the members of the Sokol Movement.

Between 1928-1930 Hotel Carlton was built instead of hotel Zöldfa at the Séta square (now Hviezdoslavovo square). Before Lajos Kossuth Franz Joseph I. Alfred Nobel Albert Einstein stayed at the hotel Zöldfa too. In the time of census in 1930 the Hungarian residents' rate decreased to under 20% and as a result of it the Hungarian name-plates were removed. Between 1938 (October) - 1939 (March): Seat of the government of the autonomous Slovakia within Czecho-Slovakia (see e.g. Jozef Tiso). Between 1938 (November) - 1945, the future Petržalka borough was occupied by Nazi Germany, and from October 1938 to April 1945, the future Devín borough was part of the Lower Austria area of the German Third Reich. After the break-up of Czechoslovakia, Bratislava became the capital of the First Slovak Republic in 1939. Until 1945, most of the approximately city's 15,000 Jews were expelled and sent into concentration camps. The Bratislava oil district included the Apollo oil refinery and was bombed on 9 September 1944 during the German occupation. The Soviet Red Army took Bratislava on 4 April 1945.