The role of the commercial banks in Aryanization in Slovakia, 1939 – 1945
The role of the commercial banks in Aryanization in Slovakia, 1939 – 1945

Summary/Abstract: In the conditions of the wartime Slovak Republic, the commercial banks with Slovak management played a key role in extending the control of Slovak capital over areas of business controlled by other nationalities, especially Czechs and Jews. However, they had only a secondary position in capital expansion, because the most important businesses in Slovakia were controlled by the banks and companies of Nazi Germany. From autumn 1940, the Slovak commercial banks and other financial institutions fulfilled an entirely new role in the process of state directed Aryanization of Jewish property. They became passive mediators of the transfer of Jewish property from the hands of the Jewish community into the possession of the state. The commercial banks also became the main source of finance for further anti-Jewish actions including the deportations to extermination camps. A wave of opposition began to arise against participation in Aryanization and actions against the Jewish community.

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