Tibor Kováč (1905–1952) was an activist in the illegal

Working Group A working group is a group of experts working together to achieve specified goals. Such groups are domain-specific and focus on discussion or activity around a specific subject area. The term can sometimes refer to an interdisciplinary collab ...

resistance organization during the

Holocaust in Slovakia The Holocaust in Slovakia was the systematic dispossession, deportation, and murder of Jews in the Slovak Republic, a client state of Nazi Germany, during World War II. Out of 89,000 Jews in the country in 1940, an estimated 69,000 were murde ...

; he also worked for the welfare department of the Ústredňa Židov (ÚŽ), the ''

Judenrat A ''Judenrat'' (, ) was an administrative body, established in any zone of German-occupied Europe during World War II, purporting to represent its Jewish community in dealings with the Nazi authorities. The Germans required Jews to form ''J ...

'' in the

Slovak State Slovak may refer to: * Something from, related to, or belonging to Slovakia (''Slovenská republika'') * Slovaks, a Western Slavic ethnic group * Slovak language, an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages * Slovak, Arkan ...

. During the deportations from Slovakia in 1942, Kováč served on the Department of Appeals at the ÚŽ, which was set up to help Jews gain exceptions and ensure that those issued would be honored. It is unclear how effective this department was in saving Jews from deportation. The Working Group also attempted to bribe Slovak officials in order to halt the deportations. One of its targets was Anton Vašek, head of the Ministry of the Interior department responsible for implementing the deportations. Because he was Vašek's former classmate, Kováč was given the responsibility of negotiating with him. He visited Vašek's office almost daily to deliver bribes and provide Vašek with excuses to explain delays in deportations to his superiors. Due to Vašek's intervention, a 26 June transport of Jews was cancelled; Vašek presented Interior Minister

Alexander Mach Alexander "Šaňo" Mach (11 October 1902 – 15 October 1980) was a Slovakia, Slovak nationalist politician. Mach was associated with the far right wing of Slovak nationalism and became noted for his strong support of Nazism and Germany. Early ...

with a falsified report that all non-exempt Jews had already been deported. Mach was skeptical about the report, however, and the deportations resumed in July. On 28 August 1944, the Germans invaded Slovakia, triggering the

Slovak National Uprising Slovak National Uprising ( Slovak: ''Slovenské národné povstanie'', abbreviated SNP; alternatively also ''Povstanie roku 1944'', English: ''The Uprising of 1944'') was organised by the Slovak resistance during the Second World War, directed ag ...

. Kováč remained in Bratislava while his group attempted to negotiate with the Nazis. On 28 September, Kováč and another Working Group activist, Michael Dov Weissmandl, were summoned to the office of their negotiating partner, SS officer

Alois Brunner Alois Brunner (8 April 1912 – December 2001 or 2010) was an Austrian officer who held the rank of (captain) during World War II. Brunner played a significant role in the implementation of the Holocaust through rounding up and deporting Jews in ...

, who arrested them. Kováč and Weissmandl witnessed the use of stolen lists of Jews to prepare for a massive roundup that evening; 1,800 Jews in Bratislava were captured. Kováč was allowed to remain in Bratislava after the roundup along with another colleague, Gisi Fleischmann. Fleischmann was arrested by the SS on 15 October and killed at

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

, but Kováč managed to go into hiding and survived the war. He served as the main witness for the prosecution during Vašek's trial for his participation in the Holocaust. Philosophically, Kováč was an assimilationist and decided to remain in Czechoslovakia after the Soviet takeover. He was harassed by the

secret police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...

, which led him to commit suicide in 1952.

References

Citations Bibliography * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kovac, Tibor 1905 births 1952 deaths Slovak Jews Bratislava Working Group members Suicides in Slovakia Czechoslovak Holocaust survivors