Jewish History

Hana Kubátová (Charles University) 

This presentation exposes the critical role of Christian nationalism in cultivating complicity and collaboration in the Holocaust in Slovakia. Building on existing topographies of power, racial hierarchies, and sectarian tensions that paralleled ethnic conflicts over territory, a state ideology adapted to fit the concerns of the urban elites in Bratislava––whose power hinged on appeasing not only Hitler but also the far from homogenous national populations––and inhabitants of the tumultuous eastern borderlands. By recentering the story of the Holocaust in Slovakia, my presentation highlights the importance of studying people, places, but also processes at the edges of power.