Among the Holocaust victims were tens of thousands of fellow citizens who were forcibly taken from Slovak towns and villages, stated President Zuzana Čaputová at the former Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp on Monday. An estimated 70,000 Jews from Slovakia fell victim to the Holocaust. Čaputová noted that these people were sent to certain death by the fascist regime that was in power in Slovakia between 1939 and 1945. "Times are different today, and perpetrators use different words, but the essence of evil remains the same - fascism is still alive in Slovakia, in our society. That's why I think it's essential that we, by working together, do our utmost to prevent it from coming back to power," stated the president for the media.
Earlier in the day a member of the far-right LSNS party, Anton Grňo, was sentenced at the Specialised Criminal Court (STS) in Banská Bystrica with a fine of €5,000 for having saluted with a raised voice 'Na straz!' at the Supreme Court in May 2018. 'Na straz!' meaning 'On guard!' was a salute among the fascist paramilitary Hlinka Guard during WWII, when Slovakia was an ally of Nazi Germany. In the event he fails to pay, the judge has imposed a six-month sentence of imprisonment. The verdict is not final. The defendant has appealed, so the case will be dealt with by the Supreme Court. Anton Grňo is running for LSNS in the parliamentary election set to be held in February. The party, which was ranked second with 12.8 percent of voter preferences in the latest opinion poll, has a long history of anti-semitism and support for the WWII Slovak state which persecuted and deported Jews to concentration camps.
