Vojtech Tuka - The Slovak Republic and Tuka's Rise To Political Power

The Slovak Republic and Tuka's Rise To Political Power

On 9 March 1939, Czech troops moved into Slovakia in reaction to radical calls for independence from Slovak patriots (including Tuka, who had recently been released from prison). On 13 March, Adolf Hitler took advantage of this "Homolov Putsch", prompting Jozef Tiso—the Slovak ex–prime minister and Roman Catholic Monsignor deposed by the Czech troops—to declare Slovak independence. Tiso refused; Slovak independence was declared on 14 March by an act of the Slovak Assembly, which was convocated by Czecho-Slovak president Hacha. The remaining part of Czechoslovakia was incorporated into the Third Reich as a protectorate. Tiso was elected President on 26 October 1939 as president; he immediately appointed Tuka as Prime Minister.

At a conference held in Salzburg, Austria on 28 July 1940, an agreement was reached to establish a National Socialist regime in Slovakia. Tuka attended the conference, as did Hitler, Tiso, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Alexander Mach (head of the Hilnka Guards), and Franz Karmasin, head of the local German minority. As a result of the conference, two state agencies were created to deal with "Jewish affairs".

On 3 September 1940, Tuka convinced the Slovak assembly to enact Constitutional Law 210, a law authorizing the government to do everything necessary to exclude Jews from the economic and social life of the country. Previous laws had already stripped them of political participation. That November, on the 24th, Tuka and von Ribbentrop signed a protocol entering Slovakia into alliance with Germany, Japan, and Italy.

In 1942, Tuka strongly advocated the deportation of Slovakia's Jewish population to the eastern Nazi concentration camps. His anti-Semitic policies put Tuka in conflict with the moderate Tiso. Together with Internal Affairs Minister Alexander Mach, Tuka became the leader of the pro-Nazi wing within the Slovak People's Party. This wing—enjoying little support among Slovaks—relied on the Hlinka Guard, successor to the Rodobrana revived by Tuka. Tuka was also the vice-chairman of the Slovak People's Party.

The conflict between the moderate Tiso wing and the pro-Nazi wing resulted in the Salzburg Compromise, concluded between Slovakia and the Reich on 28 July 1940, as a result of which Tuka and other political leaders increased their powers at the expense of Tiso and other moderates. The compromise called for dual command by the Slovak People’s Party and the Hlinka Guard (HSĽS). The Reich appointed Stormtrooper leader Manfred von Killinger as the German representative in Slovakia. While Tiso successfully restructured the Slovak People's Party in harmony with Christian principles, Tuka and Mach radicalized Slovak policy toward the Jews.