Friday, March 23, 2007

In 'loving' memory of a fascist

March 14th marked the 68th anniversary of the founding of the Nazi puppet state of Slovakia. 2007 also sees the 60th anniversary of the execution of it's Catholic priest leader, Jozef Tiso. Tiso founded the independent state of Slovakia in 1941. Slovakia's first wave of independence lasted until 1945 when it became reunited with the Czech Republic. Tiso was finally executed by Czechoslovak authorities on 18th April 1947.

He was a supporter of Hitler and ordered the deportation of 700,000 Slovak Jews to Germany in March 1942. To mark the anniversary, 150 young neo-Nazis and older-generation Slovaks gathered to his grave. According to a recent survey, 16% of Slovaks believed that he did a lot for Slovakia. Yet over 40% of Slovaks condemned Tiso's support for Hitler and the fact that he declared war on Britain and America.

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