Volume 4 No 2 - Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

2012] ANTISEMITISM IN SLOVAKIA 487intellectuals, such as selected historians from the Matica Slovenská, werealso active in the rehabilitation efforts. The main function of these effortswas political mobilization on ethnic and ideological grounds—based onnationalism and Catholicism—i.e., defining the “real” Slovaks. Moderaterevisionists started a process of rehabilitation of historical public figuresand the Slovak Catholic Church. The attempt to beatify the Roman Catholicbishop Ján Vojtaššák met with strong opposition from the domestic andinternational Jewish community, since Vojtaššák was actively involvementin transferring Jewish assets to the state during Tiso’s Slovak Republic (seeMesežnikov, et al., 2005).The second Slovak antisemitic discourse is political and built on racistanti-Roma and anti-Hungarian attitudes. 33 In general, such intolerant attitudestarget Jews, Roma, Hungarians, immigrants, and foreigners as “theothers,” but they also revive the discourse of “Jewish conspiracy.” Politicaldiscourse utilizes traditional negative stereotypes of Jews as “conspirators”in quest of a new world order (Vašečka, 2006). Key elements of this discourseare defamation and aggressive public shaming; proponents targetpublic figures opposing their agenda as “Jews, Freemasons and Zionists.”While the first, historical, discourse seeks to rehabilitate and glorify thetroublesome past, the second, political, discourse portrays the post-communistdevelopment in Slovakia as a struggle between “the pro-nationalSlovak forces and the representatives of the Jewish lobby” (Mesežnikov etal., 2005).The third antisemitic discourse in Slovakia—the international—iscomplex and often too nuanced to be primarily employed by the nationalisticextremists. Its roots can be discovered in the anti-Israeli and anti-Zionistrhetoric of the communist era. International discourse critically portrays theState of Israel in Middle Eastern politics and the world. It views Israel’spolicies toward the Palestinians as barbaric and an act of aggression. Thepolitically right-wing-leaning proponents of this discourse include representativesof the Slovak radical parties (SNS and PSNS), neo-Nazi groups,paramilitary groups based on the “Hlinka Guards,” and some representativesof the Catholic Church. The left-leaning participants in the discoursecondemn the human rights record of Israel and challenge Israel’s right tothe identity of the new state. The mainstream political views were framed by ethnicas well as religious discourse, and the main figures of the Slovakian state, includingTiso, expressed openly antisemitic views.33. This form of antisemitism is often expressed in public demonstrations bysuch groups as Slovak Togetherness and in online discussions, including readers’comments on the Web sites of mainstream media outlets. It has close ties to parts ofthe Slovak Peoples Party.