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The principal aim of this paper is to focus on various acts of collective anti-Semitic violence which were committed in eastern Slovakia and have not yet been adequately studied in the Slovak historiography. The territory in question represented a borderland or periphery far from Prague and Bratislava, where the new state was asserting its authority slowly and inefficiently. Moreover, this region was suffering from extraordinary critical social and economic conditions because it had suffered more damages due to the war than any other region in the country. These circumstances created a space in which it was difficult for the state to curb violence and in which anti-Semitic sentiments were likely to erupt into violence. This essay focuses on these kinds of incidents. I examine the selected incidents which culminated in physical violence from the perspectives of the perpetrators. I attempt to contextualize their motives, the impulses which prompted them to act, and the points at which sentiment changed into act. I also attempt to problematize the role of anti-Semitism in their efforts to legitimize their acts. I examine cases of mass killings in Kolbasov, a local demonstration in Trebišov, partisans´ racially motivated hostility as exemplified by correlated cases in Bardejov and Prešov. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking the example of the protests against the films All Quiet on the Western Front (1930–1) and Le Golem (1936) in interwar Austria and Slovakia, this study addresses the links between antisemitism, nationalism and cinema in Central Europe that historical research has so far overlooked. Unlike other demonstrations against the talkies, campaigns against so-called 'Jewish' films were not an expression of linguistic nationalism, as they pointed to the 'destructive' impact of capitalism, socialism or modern art, which in the ideology of antisemitism were allegedly personified by 'Jews'. The conservatives and radicals who called for a ban of those 'Jewish' films considered it a first step towards the creation of a national community without 'Jews'. In Austria the moderate and radical opponents of All Quiet on the Western Front ultimately reached their goal through a joint effort. In Slovakia they only managed to get the film Le Golem completely banned when the geopolitical conditions changed after the mutilation of Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War. The fact is that in both cases, moderate nationalists placed themselves in the ambivalent position of pioneers of antisemitism and ultimately facilitated fascist and Nazi radicals in the practical implementation of their postulates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the history of immigrant tinkers, tinsmiths, or wireworkers (drotári) from the province of Trenčín in Slovakia and transnationalism in Europe. Emphasis is given to topics such as the impact of industrial capitalism on itinerant craftsmen, social stigma against tinkers, and migratory patterns and temporary settlements.

The article presents a report from an April 17-18, 2015 conference in Berlin, Germany on the history of Germans in Slovakia hosted by the Collegium Carolinum München college and the historical institute of the Slovakian Sciences Academy. Topics of presentations delivered included the role of the German language in Slovakia, differences in personifications of death between Germans and Slovaks, and the spread of Reformation theology through Hungary by Germans.

The article presents a report from a March 31 to April 4, 2015 conference in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic on the 20th-century history of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Czechoslovakia hosted by the East Bohemian Museum. Topics of presentations delivered included economic effects of totalitarian governance, the development of the sociopolitical theories of Czech philosopher Karel Kosík, and the lack of Western scientific literature in socialist Czechoslovakia.

The number of associations in the era of dualism was growing rapidly in Košice as well as in Hungary. Statutes constitute an important primary source for the research of an association's life. The regulation by the Minister of Interior no. 1508/1875 ordered the associations to write their statutes and send them to the Minister of Interior for acceptance. Thus, the statutes were the first documents made by associations. Based on this primary source it is possible to study the creation, character and functioning of every association of that time. The aim of the paper is to analyze the statutes of associations in Košice in the era of dualism and to present possibilities of the research based on these statutes. By way of an example of the selected type of associations and the selected information excerpted from the statutes, the paper also presents the character of the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ever since the 1920 Trianon Treaty that dismantled the former Hungarian empire, Komárno's significance in Slovak and Hungarian symbolic politics has exceeded that of a town merely at the border with the former ruler-nation. Instead, it has represented the entire Hungarian community in Slovakia. On the basis of oral history interviews analyzed against the background of local and state-level politics in Slovakia and in Hungary, this article considers the way Komárno Hungarians and Slovaks perceive themselves in their bi-ethnic environment. It contrasts the local, everyday cohabitation with the instrumentatization of the national question in Budapest and Bratislava. It shows how the continued dynamic development of the bi-ethnic community is undermined by the politicization of the national question, which in itself is seen as a part of the post-communist legacy: as if the fading contours of the physical border after the fall of the Iron Curtain had to be replaced by a symbolic border of language and nationality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of various sites of chemistry in the Lower Hungarian mining district, one of the most important mining regions in the Habsburg monarchy, during the eighteenth century. Focusing on the academic laboratory of the mining academy at Schemnitz, it examines connections between this prominent place of chemical knowledge and the more traditional sites of metallurgical production. It argues for the crucial role of experts in the process of shaping and using these sites: men who were not recruited exclusively from among the professors of the mining academy. The contributions of these experts-for instance, in seeking a solution to the contemporary problem of brittleness of copper-reveal an elaborate scientific and technical savoir faire, which served the mercantile goals of the Habsburg administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Slovakian history, examining the character of the Normalisation regime in Slovakia and the impact of the Normalisation regime on Slovak domestic policy subsequent to the political changes of 1989. The author uses defines the Normalisation regime as existing between the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia on 21 August 1968 through the 1980s. Topics include the post-1968 restoration and consolidation of control over all aspects of Slovakian society by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia as well as the elimination of independent civic activities in Slovakian public life.

The article discusses two key moments in the histories of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, the two countries that comprised the country of Czechoslovakia from 1918-1992. The years 1948 and 1968 are given special examination by the author, with 1948 being the year Czechoslovakia saw the Stalinist communists take power, while 1968 was the year in which the Slovaks and the Czechs unsuccessfully attempted to develop their own "Socialism with a Human Face." Also discussed are the Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, both of which occurred in 1968.

The paper concentrates on three aspects that played a role in shaping the capital of Slovakia: the importance of a name given to the territory illustrating how renaming came to play a crucial role in creating a capital of Slovakia, an successful example of how to nationalise a place and a past; the second part of the paper describes the barriers in acceptance of Bratislava as the capital city of Slovakia among its citizens; the final part deals with ideological incentives in demolition and construction the town and its monuments. The main argument says that the route of Bratislava to the position of the capital of Slovakia was atypical, the majority of its population did not want this status, the actors of the national revolution - the Slovaks did not regard it as their centre, and it did not even have a definitely fixed Slovak name. Nevertheless, Bratislava succeeded gradually made its own history of 'all Slovakia'. The democratic revolution of 1989 - 1993 confirmed the functioning of Bratislava as the centre of Slovakia, both in the actual political revolution and in the creation of democratic institutions. As a matter of fact, Bratislava could not be considered a 'big city' especially in comparison to Vienna, Prague or Budapest - with nearly half of million inhabitants belongs to rather small cities in East Central Europe and sometimes is characterised as a 'provincial large city'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the role of the institutional framework in developing the Slovak politics during the premiership of Vladimír Meciar. Roles played by Meciar's party and his coalition partners during his third stint as prime minister in 1994 to 1998; Overview of Slovak party politics in the 1990's; Details of the parliament; Function of the constitutional court.