This book presents a selection of Tiso's articles and speeches, which Štefan Polakovič places in their historical context through his commentary. For the first time since the end of the Second World War, an authentic document by Tiso concerning his struggle for Slovak independence is being published.
What Alfred Rosenberg was to the Third Reich and the NSDAP, Štefan Polakovič was to the Slovak State and the Hlinka Slovak People's Party (HSĽS). He was an ideologist of Slovak statehood, a philosopher and a writer who, after the war, was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison and the confiscation of his property.
World Jewry was, of course, grateful that ideologists such as Polakovič and Rosenberg had not been treated with leniency, and duly expressed its gratitude in congratulatory telegrams addressed to the first communist president of Czechoslovakia, Klement Gottwald.
On 25 June 1948, the international Jewish news agency Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported:
"Dr. Štefan Polakovič […] was sentenced today in absentia by the local People's Court to 20 years' imprisonment. […] The court also ordered the confiscation of his property.
Meanwhile, in Prague, the newly elected President Klement Gottwald received numerous congratulatory telegrams from Zionist and other Jewish organizations. During a thanksgiving service at Prague's main synagogue, the city's Chief Rabbi, Dr. Gustav Sicher, offered a special prayer for President Gottwald and the Czechoslovak Republic. Similar services were also held by other Jewish communities throughout the country."
Like many other representatives of the former regime, Polakovič fled communism and Allied retribution, eventually settling in Argentina.
This book presents a selection of Tiso's articles and speeches, accompanied by Štefan Polakovič's commentary placing them within the historical context of their time. For the first time since the end of the Second World War, an authentic document by Tiso concerning his struggle for Slovak independence is being published.
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