TISO, JOZEF (1887

JOZEF TISO (1887-1947)

Slovak Priest and Politician who Ruled Slovakia from 1939 to 1945.

Born into a lower - middle - class family, Tiso was trained as a Catholic priest. He excelled in his studies, and earned the degree of doctor of theology in 1910. Following the establishment of Czechoslovakia in 1918, Tiso became a Slovak nationalist. In 1925, he was elected to the Czechoslovak parliament, and he served as minister of health from 1927 to 1929. His extremism led to his detention and to his loss of the title of Monsignor. In the Slovak People's Party (the party of Andrej Hlinka), Tiso belonged to the clerical wing, his views having been influenced by Othmar Spann, an Austrian philosopher who advocated an authoritarian and corporate Catholic style of government. After Hlinka's death in 1938, Tiso won the struggle for leadership of the party. A few weeks later, in the wake of the Munich conference of September 29 - 30, 1938, Slovakia became an autonomous entity, with Tiso as its prime minister.

Independent Slovakia.

In March 1939, prompted by Adolf Hitler, Tiso declared Slovakia's independence and brought the country into the Nazi camp. His regime contained elements of authoritarianism, Christian solidarity, and democracy. In October of that year, he became president of Slovakia and was also elected Vodca (leader) of the state. He opposed the radicals of the Hlinka guard and prevailed against them, since Berlin was aware that there was no viable alternative to Tiso's clerical camp. Even after the anti - Nazi Slovak national uprising of 1944, he remained loyal to the Reich, and Slovakia became a de facto protectorate and satellite of the Reich. Time and again his policy was condemned by the Vatican, and he was included in the list of war criminals compiled by the Allies during the war.

Attitude toward the Jews.

Tiso hated the Jews, but did not thirst for their blood. According to the Neo - Thomist doctrine, to which he adhered (in his interpretation), it was advisable to accept a minor evil in order to prevent a great evil. This led him to surrender the Slovak Jews and thereby avoid a Nazi - inspired radical regime from taking over and the Reich from taking revenge. Even when the Vatican warned him that the Jews who were deported were facing extermination, Tiso failed to intervene, and kept up his anti - Jewish propaganda. Under the existing regulations, he had the power to grant exemptions from deportation, and he issued some eleven hundred certificates to this effect, mainly to baptized and wealthy Jews. In March 1943, the deportations from Slovakia were halted, only to be renewed after the 1944 uprising. Tiso's sympathizers claim that he had no choice in the matter and that in 1943 and 1944 he made efforts to save the surviving Jews of Slovakia, but extant documentation does not bear this out.

Postwar Trial and Execution.

In April 1945, Tiso fled to Austria, where he was apprehended. He was extradited to Czechoslovakia, brought to trial, sentenced to death, and executed. Many believed that the trial, and particularly his execution, was motivated by political considerations. To this day, his partisans believe that Tiso was a victim of the Slovak people's aspiration for self - determination.

Courtesy of:
"Encyclopedia of the Holocaust"
�1990 Macmillan Publishing Company
New York, NY 10022