On Tuesday, Slovakia is celebrating the 73rd anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising. The chief guide at the Museum of the Slovak National Uprising, Boris Vigaš, defines it as follows:
"It is probably the most important historical event in the modern history of Slovakia. Between 1939 and 1945, the Slovak State cooperated with Nazi Germany and was in fact a satellite of German. The Slovak Army was unhappy with this situation so it prepared a military uprising together with the resistance movement. At first it was against the Slovak Government, and then against the German occupation."
The Museum of the Slovak National Uprising is located in Banská Bystrica where the rebellion took place. Even though it was unsuccessful after 2 months, according to Vigaš it put Slovakia on the winning side of countries after the war.
Due to the Uprising's historic importance for Slovakia, there have been many commemorative events taking place around the country since Friday. Prime Minister Robert Fico attended one of them on Saturday. Fico stated that people take for granted the fact that they have been living in Slovakia in peace for decades.
"We also support the Sereď Holocaust Museum and I often visit various sites wherevillages were burnt down. It would be good if schools - but this also concerns parents - took students to such places more often to teach them that these are serious matters.
Despite Banská Bystrica being the centre of the Uprising, the region's governor for the last four years has been the leader of the far-right People's Party-Our Slovakia (ĽSNS) Marián Kotleba. Among other things, he is known for disapproving of the Uprising. In 2009, Kotleba stated that "[the] moral crisis of Slovakia began on August 29, 1944 when a traitorous part of the Slovak nation stood up against their own state and their very good president."
Similarly, Kotleba raised two black flags in front of his office on the Uprising's anniversary in 2015. Even though this gave a clear signal of his contempt for the Uprising, Kotleba defended it as an act of commemorating the dead soldiers.
During the commemorative event held last Saturday, Robert Fico stated: "If someone sees what happened for instance in Kalište, then they can understand that a person who performs a Hitler salute or uses a swastika these days is crazy and cannot be sane." 42 houses in the village of Kalište were burnt down and 13 citizens were executed by the Nazi army in January 1945 due to the fact that it was one of the seats of the so-called Partisan Republic providing help to the rebels.
