Slovenská armáda a protižidovské pogromy na okupovanom území ZSSR v lete 1941
The Slovak army and anti-Jewish pogroms in the occupied part of the USSR in 1941

Summary/Abstract: The study analyses the reactions of members of the Slovak army stationed on the Eastern Front to the emerging genocide against the Jewish population in the conditions of Nazi occupation during the first weeks of the war. On the basis of the avail¬able sources, the author states that under the influence of the propaganda, which accused the Jews of supporting the Bolshevik regime, intense anti-Semitic feelings also resounded among the Slovak soldiers at the front. Many soldiers, including the highest representatives of the army, openly approved of violence against the Jews as an act of just revenge, even when it acquired the character of genocide. In some cases, there was voluntary participation by soldiers in anti-Jewish pogroms carried out by the local population. The author also analyses the official attitude of the leadership of the army to violence against Jews, and describes it as ambivalent. The author also considers the reaction of the Ľudák representatives in Slovakia, who increased their anti-Jewish rhetoric and radicalized their anti-Jewish measures including preparations to deport the Jews to the Nazi extermination camps, in spite of the fact that they knew that genocide was beginning.

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