A reader of mine pointed out a very good article about the First Slovak Republic, which was a puppet country existing throughout the WWII as an ally of Nazi Germany. If you are part Slovak as I am (my grandfather was Slovak), you may be interested in reading it….AND it is only 1, 287 words long!
Just to entice you, here is the beginning of it:
CZ: Jestli mate zajem, prectete si velmi hezky rychlokurz o Slovenske Republice – v anglictine. Jen abych vas trosku nalakala, okopirovala jsem prvni paragraf:
‘The First Slovak State in 1,287 Words’
‘Those who brought about the First Slovak Republic were traitors to Czechoslovakia. They helped give Czechoslovakia, without a fight, to the Nazis. They helped make it seem internationally like Czechoslovakia had dissolved from internal conflict. They are arguably not traitors to the Slovak nation, because their actions largely kept Slovakia out of the war and therefore, somewhat prosperous, according to common accounts of those times.‘ (read the rest here).
http://www.52insk.com/2011/first-slovak-state/
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Most people who have knowledge about WWII history do not realize that technically Slovakia was part of the Axis powers and never was punished for it. They seemed to forget they were the bad guys but there were people who fought in the mountains. My grandfather was Slovak and he also helped Jews escape into Hungary but never got paid for it. He was last person in the underground railroad system, a young girl would come to his home with buttons. How many buttons he received was how many Jews he would take across the border. He was the do the right thing sort of person which caused him to leave in 1948. My grandmother remembers the bombing of Bratislava, when the Russians came they were anxious and my grandmother had to hide her radio, watches, bicycle, mirrors, livestock underneath the perina and the cellar so the Russians would not loot any of it. She always had a map and track the progress of the Allies. She also saw one of the american bombers get shot down and the villagers taking him away.
I have to admit this was all new to me too. I got to re-read the article (and maybe make notes?) so I can remember some of those facts into the future!
I have been going back and forth with MariKa here and her personal story, encouraging her to write a book about it (turns out she has a bunch of them lined up already). Are you going to do the same? It seems like your grandpa would be a great main character in the book! And from what you have written about your other family members they are also not short of adventurous past.
Yeah my grandmother wants me to write a book because there are not a lot of books out there which talk about the subject. The truth will come out eventually and people will see what life was like under communism and during WWII. Communist propaganda will not win out.
I wish I could agree with your last sentence Jana, but I’m afraid evidence here in America points to the contrary. 🙁
Reds will win in USA. Regardless of color 🙂
Oh if there were only a like button on her Vlastimil 🙂
*here
My mom grew up in a town that before 1930s belonged to Hungary and post 1938 Slovakia.
It’s kind of funny. I’m Slovak born, but I don’t remember living there at all, my memories only come from Czech parts and some sommers in Kosice where my mom’s sister still lives. But if you take a look only a few hundred years back at a European map, it feels as if Europe changes took place almost on monthly bases 😉
I recently dug into my history books, especially for the book I was writing to refresh my mind a little bit and I went as far back as the Summarians. Quite a read, and quite lengthy.
Nice post btw!
Jana, get a decent proposal together, first 50 pages and send it to my email ( Tanya has it) I’ll give it to my agent if you’d like. I’m a Buddhist, so I like doing nice things for others;)
I was not talking about the Reds taking over the US but the influence of communism and communist thinking which is still prevalent in the Czech Republic and not so sure about the Slovak Republic. You can see the movies and books which have been made and published in the Czech Republic which have dealt with World War II themes such as musime se pomahlat, tmavo modry svet, and others. There is a need for the truth during the World War II era to be brought out into the open. Now if they could start making movies about communism.
Just like Masaryk said Pravda vitezi. Another Czech proverb : lies have short legs
Sad thing in USA is, that many Americans favour leftists…which not necessary means communists, it may turn out, that those leftists are actually fascists, which I think is closer to the truth, because fascists don’t want to destroy capitalist economy, they “simply” want to be in charge of it ….. regardless the cost….
Labels, labels and clicks.
Do you remember high school? There were the cool kids, the nerds, the arty people and the outcasts, the punks. Seriously, to hell with the labels, we’re all humanz, we’re all Americans, I wish people would talk issues instead of labels.
I was having tea with some tea-partiers hahaha ( no pun intended ) and I went, because they’re people form my town and like five people live in this town, so you don’t want to piss off anyone or they’ll show up with pitchforks at your house LOL hence I went, to be civil. I added no comments, but I kind of saw WHY they are so passionate about the issues that matter to them and I realized that listening to BOTH or ALL sides is sometimes important. There I was thinking why get rid of abortion clinics, it’s just going to create a shortage on wire hangers and then I heard their side and I must agree to meet them in the middle. People who stand for the mother’s right to choose should be footing that bill. I personally would not get an abortion, so why should I pay for it? But see, here is an example of people having tea, talking, and coming to a nice agreeable decision. Now why can’t the government do the same on all counts? I know, I know, I’m just talking out of my touchas, but someone has to.
MariKo, did you all have a group hug at the end of the night? 😉
Ha ha ha tys me rozesmala ;)))
No, but 3 of us shared an umbrella walking to our cars and the funny thing was the liberal got into a Honda, the Republican into a Prius and I hoped into my ML320 :PPP
Marika,
I guess the Republican is paying higher taxes?? And many liberals don’t.. 😉 So you are driving Benz??
Don’t be so loud about it, Robin Hood will get you 😀