The Slovak Republic : Nazi Germany’s Most Important Vassal State During World War II
When Germany invaded Czechoslovakia in 1938, there were significant concerns about the future of the nation-state. However, the Slavic people who resided in Czechoslovakia saw it as an opportunity to gain an independent nation and allied itself with Nazi Germany in return for some level of recognition and autonomy as a sovereign state. This wish was to be granted in 1939 when Germany started World War II by invading Poland. The Munich Agreement gave Slovakia its partial autonomy and dependence on Germany on military matters.
The Slovak Republic (1939-1945)
After the 1938 Munich Agreement, Slovakia acquired self-rule inside Czechoslovakia and lost its southern domains to Hungary. As the Nazi Führer, Adolf Hitler set up an invasion into the Czech environment and made him Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; he had different designs for Slovakia. The Hungarians at first misled German authorities that the Slovaks needed to join Hungary. Germany chose to make Slovakia a proxy state and a possible vital base for German assaults on Poland and other different areas of strategic importance.
On March 14th, the Slovak Parliament met and heard various reports on whether a potential affirmation of autonomy could be announced. A portion of the representatives was wary of taking such an action, among different reasons. Some stressed that the Slovak state would be tiny and with a substantial Hungarian minority. The discussion was immediately brought to a head when Franz Karmasin, leader of the German minority in Slovakia, said that any deferral in proclaiming freedom would bring about Slovakia split among Hungary and Germany. Under these conditions, Parliament consistently announced Slovak autonomy, subsequently making the central Slovak state ever. Jozef Tiso was selected, the Prime Minister of the new republic. The following day, Tiso sent a message (which had been created the earlier day in Berlin) requesting the Reich to assume control over the assurance from the recently printed state. The solicitation was promptly acknowledged.
Military Endeavors
Slovakia’s first significant conflict wasn’t in World War II but was shortly after its independence when on March 23rd, 1939, Hungarian forces were deployed in Slovak territory. After a week of fighting, Slovakia was forced to cede over a thousand kilometers of land to Hungary.
During World War II, The Slovak republic helped Germany deploy military troops, munitions, and supplies on the Eastern front in Europe, especially in Poland and Russia.
The Holocaust
Over 70,000 Slovak Jews were sent to concentration camps during WWII, and only a few hundred of them survived after the war. The Slovak Republic had an agreement with Germany, as Germany had to pay for every Jew sent by the new state. It was mass murder on the side of the Slovak government, and after the war was over in 1945, Prime Minister Jozef Tiso was condemned to death by the International War council and executed.
