Historical overview of the Slovak Republic (1939 – 1945)

 

Adapted by:

People in NEED, NPO

Community Centres Spišské podhradie/Roškovce, Plavecký Štvrtok

 

Although there were no mass transportations to the concentration camps from the territory of the Slovak state, the Romani people were persecuted, terrorized and eliminated. Based on the Defence Act from 1940 were Gypsies and Jews were deprived the opportunity to become part of the army forces because considered, “unreliable” they were not allowed to handle weapons. In place of that they did active military service in a special battalion – the Sixth Battalion of the Work Division of the Ministry of National Defence. They performed earthwork and ancillary operation work. 
The situation became worse after political changes in 1944. Deportation of Roma to concentration camps began, mainly from the east and south part of Slovakia. It is estimated that from the territory of then Hungary, including the Slovak territory occupied by the Vienna arbitration, there was about 25,000 – 30,000 Gypsy men and women deported. From the occupied territory of Eastern Slovakia Gypsies were transported to Košice and then deported to Komárno. In Komárno were prepared trains to dispatch Gypsies to concentration camp in Dachau and from there to other concentration camps.

During the Slovak State period in 1939 – 1945 two groups of people from our territory were persecuted, the Jews and the Roma. Ghettos and concentration camps were established for the Jewish population and work units for the Romani population.

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The Ministry of Interior issued a regulation on “treatment of some conditions of Gypsies” in April 1941. It significantly affected the life of all the Gypsy population. Vlach Roma were taken from their horses and carriages and forbidden to live a nomadic life. On the other hand, Romani people with a settled way of life had to remove their homes from the state or local roads and place them away from villages, often a several kilometres away, even in forests. The Roma were forbidden to travel by public transport, to enter into public places (cinemas, parks). They could visit towns and village centres only on specified days and hours and they could not own dogs. Repeatedly, people have been subjected to the degrading physical examinations, settlements, and to midnight inspections.

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Work units

The fundamental law for regulation establishing work units on our territory is the regulation of the Ministry of Interior no. 137/1941 of Úradné noviny from April 2, 1941, and adapted in collaboration with the Ministry of National Defence.

The aim of labour camps was to centralize, retain, re-educate and use economically so called antisocial elements and Gypsies. These camps were about the mass concentration of prisoners, mainly men who were used for physically strenuous works associated with construction of railways, reservoirs, river realignments, etc.

Establishment of units were common in the whole territory that time. The first units were established in Očová, Most na Ostrove and the gamekeeper’s lodge in Trnava in 1941. After several of months they were dissolved.

In Hanušovce nad Topľou in the east of Slovakia, a complex of work units was created. Under the economic authority of Hanušovce nad Topľou also belonged a work unit in Jarabá where workers had built the Čertovica - Mýto pod Ďumbierom state road. Other labour camps were situated in Bystrá, under the Petič peak and in Nižný Hrabovec.

The Roma built a railway line Prešov – Strážske in Eastern Slovakia.

The greatest work unit the workers participated in was the construction of a reservoir camp in Dubnica nad Váhom with operation between 1942 - 44.  In 1943 a temporary work unit in Ilava was established.

The work unit in Central Slovakia was established in Revúca. The latest major work unit was in Ústie nad Oravou where Roma workers participated in construction of the reservoir called Oravská priehrada.

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Labour camp in Dubnica nad Váhom was converted to "detention camp" in 1944 and had also gathered Roma women and children.

The living situation in camps was extremely cruel. In February 1945 typhus epidemics broke out in the camps affecting mostly children and elderly people and resulted in deaths. On February 23, 1945, under the pretence of transporting sick people to a hospital, they put them on trucks, took them to a local weapons factory, and murdered them. 26 murdered bodies were left in a mass grave.

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The relationship of the Slovak population towards the Roma has not been the same everywhere: in some places with good relationships, Slovaks protected Roma and did not allow their deportation. Residents had to ensure that Roma were working for them, etc. grazing, working in the fields. Similarly, it was when observing the regulation about the removal of Roma settlements: in many areas the settlements were kept because there was no money for removal. The mass murders of Romani took place between the autumn 1944 and the spring 1945 by special SS forces under the pretext of suspicion of cooperation with guerrillas. There are couple of well-known cases from following towns and villages with the number of the population: Valaská Bela (13), Žiar nad Hronom (23), Jastraba (4), Lutila (46), Čierny Balog (60), Krupina (34), Tisovec (48), llija pri Banskej Štiavnici (111), Detva (4), Dúbravy (15), Hriňová (2), Slatina (59), Trhové Mýto Topoľníky (60). Gypsies have been executed in Svätý Kríž nad Hronom, Motyčky - settlement Štubňa in Kremnička, Nemecká, Kováčová and in the Jewish cemetery in Zvolen.

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In honour of World War II victims have been built monuments in Ilija, Tisovec and Dúbrava. There was no information the victims were Romani people. In 1995, the local self-government unveiled a monument commemorating the murdered Gypsy victims in Čierny Balog.

 

ŠUVADA, M. 2015. Rómovia v slovenských mestách.Bratislava: POMS, 2015.

MANN, A.B.: Rómsky dejepis, Kalligram, 2001.

KUMANOVÁ, Z. Základné fakty o holokauste Rómov na Slovensku. [online] Available on <www.rusyn.sk>