![Stanislav Rejthar 06](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Stanislav_Rejthar_06.jpg)
Slovak partisans were fighters in
irregular military
Irregular military is any non-standard military component that is distinct from a country's national armed forces. Being defined by exclusion, there is significant variance in what comes under the term. It can refer to the type of military orga ...
groups participating in the Slovak resistance movement, including against
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
and
collaborationism
Wartime collaboration is cooperation with the enemy against one's country of citizenship in wartime, and in the words of historian Gerhard Hirschfeld, "is as old as war and the occupation of foreign territory".
The term ''collaborator'' dates to ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Beginning
Slovak partisans were an anti-fascist militia formed immediately the creation of the First Slovak Republic in 1939, to fight against Nazis and their collaborators. Men and women both fought in the ranks of partisan units, as well as Jews and Christians alike. Slovak partisans had mixed loyalties as many were deeply nationalistic and wanted a to maintain an independent Slovak Republic free of fascism, while many others were socialists who forged strong links with the Soviet Union and Soviet partisans. Slovak partisans mainly carried out acts of sabotage. Their largest anti-Nazi military engagement was the
Slovak National Uprising
The Slovak National Uprising ( sk, Slovenské národné povstanie, abbreviated SNP) was a military uprising organized by the Slovak resistance movement during World War II. This resistance movement was represented mainly by the members of the ...
in 1944, in which Slovak partisans were aided by the
Slovak Army
The Slovak Ground Forces, also known as the Slovak Army, is the land specialized service branch of the Slovak Armed Forces.
Structure
Ground Forces Command
* Ground Forces Command, in Trenčín (Commander: 2 Star General)
** Command Supp ...
and
Soviet partisan
Soviet partisans were members of resistance movements that fought a guerrilla war against Axis forces during World War II in the Soviet Union, the previously Soviet-occupied territories of interwar Poland in 1941–45 and eastern Finland. The ...
s.
Jan Golian and
Rudolf Viest
Rudolf Viest (24 September 1890, Revúca, Gömör és Kis-Hont County, Kingdom of Hungary, – 1945 ?, Flossenbürg concentration camp ?, Germany) was a Slovak military leader, member of the Czechoslovak government in exile, member of the Slova ...
, generals in the Slovak Army, led the uprising, which was eventually crushed by the Germans and their Hungarian, Slovak and Ukrainian collaborators. The most famous Slovak partisan brigade was the
M.R.Stefanik brigade led by the Slovak partisan hero
Viliam Zingor. With 1300 members, it was the largest partisan brigade, and was fiercely nationalistic yet religiously tolerant, with over 300
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
members. After the war this brigade, and its leader, fell into disfavour among
Czechoslovak
Czechoslovak may refer to:
*A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93)
**First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38)
**Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39)
**Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60)
**Fourth Czechoslovak Repub ...
Communist politicians, who accused
Gustáv Husák
Gustáv Husák (, , ; 10 January 1913 – 18 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak communist politician of Slovak origin, who served as the long-time First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1969 to 1987 and the president o ...
of being a traitor to the Slovak nation and people. Zingor was eventually executed by Husák and the communist government on the December 18, 1950. The
Janosik brigade was another partisan brigade, which fought in the
Tatra Mountains
The Tatra Mountains (), Tatras, or Tatra (''Tatry'' either in Slovak () or in Polish () - '' plurale tantum''), are a series of mountains within the Western Carpathians that form a natural border between Slovakia and Poland. They are the hi ...
and
Orava.
Jewish brigades
Slovak Jewish partisans made outstanding accomplishments as members of all-Jewish groups. The most famous Slovak Jewish partisan unit was the
Novaky Brigade, formed from the inmates of
Novaky concentration camp. The Novaky brigade benefited from its strategic locale, as the camp was in a region populated by miners and farmers who had no sympathy for the pro-Nazi government. With the help of these friendly locals, the Novaky brigade made contacts with other partisans, and arranged to receive aid and weapons in the event of an armed uprising. In honour of their service to their country, 166 Jewish partisans were awarded the
Order of the Slovak Uprising
Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to:
* Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood
* Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...
.
Famous partisans
There were many famous Slovak partisans but none more famous than the famous
Jan Nalepka
Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to:
Acronyms
* Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN
* Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code
* Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group
* Japanese Article Numb ...
, and .
*Martin Petrasek
*
Rudolf Vrba
Rudolf "Rudi" Vrba (born Walter Rosenberg; 11 September 1924 – 27 March 2006) was a Slovak-Jewish biochemist who, as a teenager in 1942, was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. He escaped from the c ...
*
Ján Nálepka
Ján Nálepka (20 September 1912 in Smižany, Austria-Hungary – 16 November 1943 in Ovruch, German-occupied Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union) was a Slovak captain who organized and led an anti-fascist Slovak partisan detachment in the Soviet Uni ...
*
Viliam Zingor
*
Emil Perko
Emil or Emile may refer to:
Literature
*''Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
* ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life
*''Emil and the Detective ...
*
Karol Adler Karol may refer to:
Places
* Karol, Gujarat, a village on Saurashtra peninsula in Gujarat, west India
* Karol State, a former Rajput petty princely state with seat in the above town
Film/TV
*'' Karol: A Man Who Became Pope'', a 2005 miniseries
*' ...
*
Haviva Reik
Haviva Reik (alternately Haviva Reick, Havivah Reich, Chaviva Reiková or Chaviva Reich) (22 June 1914 – 20 November 1944) was one of 32 or 33 parachutists sent by the Jewish Agency and Britain's MI9 on military missions in Nazi-occupied Europe ...
*
Ludovit Kukorelli
*
Jan Fedak
Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to:
Acronyms
* Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN
* Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code
* Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group
* Japanese Article Numb ...
*
Viola Valachova
; german: Bratsche
, alt=Viola shown from the front and the side
, image=Bratsche.jpg
, caption=
, background=string
, hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71
, hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow
, range=
, related=
*Violin family ...
*
Katarina Chutkova
*
Jan Kovac
*
Zelma Steiner
*
Egon Roth
*
Jan Usiak
*
Michal Pavlovic
*
Milos Uher
File:HavivaReik.JPG, In Memoriam Chaviva Reikova Slovak-Jewish partisan
File:Viola Valachová table.jpg, In Memoriam partisan
File:JanUsiak.jpg, Jan Usiak partisan commander
File:Bratislava Nova doba1.jpg, Michal Pavlovic partisan
References
Further reading
*
See also
*
Partisan Congress riots
*
Slovak National Uprising
The Slovak National Uprising ( sk, Slovenské národné povstanie, abbreviated SNP) was a military uprising organized by the Slovak resistance movement during World War II. This resistance movement was represented mainly by the members of the ...
*
Central National Revolutionary Committee The Central National Revolutionary Committee (ÚNRV) was an anti-fascism, anti-fascist resistance organization in Slovakia during the Second World War. The idea of forming the ÚNRV had been launched by the underground leadership of the Communist Pa ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slovak Partisans
Paramilitary organizations based in Czechoslovakia