On Friday, as part of the Day of victims of the Holocaust and of Racial Persecution, Slovakia remembers a black spot in its history. 75 years ago, on September 9th 1941, the so-called Jewish Codex was issued, a Governmental Decree on the legal position of Jews. As a public-law institution, the Nation's Memory Institute writes on its website: "270 articles stipulated a special legal regime which found inspiration in the Nuremberg Laws, but the propaganda showed pride in these articles being even stricter. In comparison to the first phase of regulations, the Jewish origin was not determined on religious, but racial grounds. There was a new duty to wear a visible mark on one's clothes in the form of a yellow six-pointed Star of David," reads an article on the Nation's Memory Institute's website. Moreover, the wartime Slovak state paid 500 German Marks for each deported Slovak Jew to Germany.
On Thursday, September 8th, the annual reading of names of the 57,000 lists of the Slovak victims of the Holocaust took place in the City Theatre of Pavol Orsagh-Hviezdoslav in Bratislava. The event was held one day ahead of the actual anniversary. "Since September 9th is on Friday this year, when the Jewish holiday Sabbath starts, we moved the pious act to Thursday," reads the Jewish website delet.sk. The Museum of the Slovak National Uprising in the central Slovak city of Banská Bystrica is also holding events commemorating the issuing of the Jewish Codex.
The commemorative events are held at a time when a district court has decided that the prosecutors won't press charges against MP for the far-right Kotleba-People's Party Our Slovakia Milan Mazurek for allegedly denying the Holocaust on a social network. The comments in question were written before he became an MP. „When it comes to the Third Reich, we only know lies and fairy tales about six million people and soap made from Jews. Nothing but lies are taught about Hitler," wrote Mazurek.
Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska doesn't understand the decision of the police officers and prosecutors to drop charges against MP. "This is a phase when it's no longer about legislation, but about how the police, prosecutors and ultimately courts are able to operate with this legislation," said Justice Minister.
