Panel 2: Rescue and Escape from the Holocaust (original) (raw)
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Aspects of the Holocaust During the Slovak Autonomy Period (Octob
Aspects of the Holocaust during the Slovak Autonomy Period, 2022
The Slovak Autonomy Period lasted from October 6, 1938 to March 14, 1939. It was precisely during this brief, prestate span that the Slovaks’ first attempted to create anti-Jewish legislation, define who was a Jew, and establish a “Committee for the Solution of the Jewish Question.” November 4 - 5, 1938, thousands of “poor or stateless” Jews were transported to the no man’s land between the newly drawn Hungarian and Slovak border resulting from the First Vienna Award. The loss of territory represented a humiliating foreign policy setback for the Slovaks. The regime needed a scapegoat in order to conceal its discomfiture in front of their followers. Given these and other developments, this article suggests that this troubling time period deserves a greater emphasis in Holocaust discourse.