A chance for Slovakia?

The Depictions of War and the European New Order in Slovak Press between September 1939 and the German Invasion of the USSR

Abstract

The aim of the present article is to take a closer look at the war and the new European order as depicted in selected articles from Slovak press. On the outbreak of the Second World War, Slovakia was a young authoritarian state, which was still in the process of developing its internal and foreign policies. The war was a new beginning, which could be, and indeed was, taken advantage of by Slovak propaganda. Slovakia was effectively a place of relative stability in times of war trouble, which also affected how press propaganda operated. Relative peace could serve to validate the political choices of Slovak authorities. The article also analyzes the depictions of the Germans and Adolf Hitler in Slovak press, the rivalry between the Nazi and conservative wings in the Hlinka’s Slovak People’s Party, as well as the narrative about national socialism as appearing in press articles. My sources are selected Slovak papers (“Slovák”, “Slovák Pondelník”, and “Gardista”). The Slovaks experienced the war in different fashion than the Poles and many other European nations did, which makes this subject unique and means that it lends itself to extensive further study.