Slovak National Uprising
The Slovak National Uprising (Slovak: Slovenské národné povstanie, abbreviated SNP) was a military uprising organized by the Slovak resistance movement during World War II in central Slovakia. This resistance movement was represented mainly by members of the Democratic Party, social democrats, and communists. It was launched on 29 August 1944 from Banská Bystrica in an attempt to resist German troops that had occupied Slovak territory and to overthrow the collaborationist government of Jozef Tiso.[1] Although the resistance was largely defeated by German forces, guerrilla operations continued until the Red Army, Czechoslovak Army and Romanian Army occupied the Slovak Republic in 1945.
In the post-war period, the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia presented the Uprising as an event initiated and governed by Communist forces.[2] Some Slovak nationalists, on the other hand, claim that the uprising was a plot against the Slovak nation, as one of its main objectives was to oust the regime of the puppet Slovak state and reestablish Czechoslovakia. In fact, many factions fought in the uprising, the largest of which were units of the Slovak Army, Democratic resistance, Communist partisans, and international forces. Given this factionalization, the Uprising did not have unambiguous popular support. Yet the participants and supporters of the Uprising represented every religion, class, age, and anti-Nazi political faction of the Slovak nation.[3][4]
In Czechoslovakia and in particular in its Slovak part the SNP was celebrated as working peoples taking to arms against fascist dictatorship in the name of freedom, progress and justice. Many streets and institutions were named after SNP or heroes of the SNP (also in the Czech part), every year solemn official ceremonies were held on the anniversary of the outbreak of the rising and the press extensively dwelled on the heroic fight of the Slovak insurgents. In 1951 the day of August 29 was declared a public holiday. In 1955 Múzeum Slovenského Národného Povstania was opened in Banska Bystrica and official programs ensured a constant inflow of visitors from schools and workplaces.[18] Monuments, plaques, commemorative stones and other objects honoring the SNP were constructed across all of the Slovak part of Czechoslovakia.
The fall of Communist regime in 1989 triggered public debate on SNP, which became particularly heated after Slovakia became independent in 1993. A wide array of opinions were presented on various issues related to the rising, like its cause, objectives, opponents, mechanism, international background, impact and role in the Slovak history; at least three distinct visions of the SNP were floated.[19]
Most threads converged in discussion whether SNP should be officially honoured by the Slovak state, which climaxed in the mid- and late 1990s. Supporters of this option have relatively easily gained advantage in public discourse, even though the conflict between the Slovak Republic tradition and the SNP tradition has not been satisfactorily resolved in the popular narrative. August 29 remained as public holiday, most street names have been retained, while monuments are being well maintained and taken care of. Cases of dropping SNP references were related to commercial changes rather than to politics, e.g. in case of the aluminium giant Slovalco. The rising went on as part of the official memory. Moreover, it is viewed as key episode of national history by most of the population. In the popular survey of 2018, when asked to name the most important event during last 100 years, most Slovaks pointed to SNP over emergence of the Slovak state in 1993 (second) and the Velvet revolution of 1989 (third).[23] There is no particular individual symbolic for SNP, and persons at times listed as its leaders, like Rudolf Viest or Ján Golian, have not made it to top 10 greatest Slovaks in history.[24]