Slovak Jews, Gypsies protest Catholic archbishop pro-Nazi comment

By: Associated Press - | Thursday, January 11, 2007 7:23 PM PST ∞

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia ---- Slovakian Jewish and Gypsy communities have sharply criticized a Roman Catholic archbishop for praising the country's authoritarian wartime rule by pro-Nazi priest Jozef Tiso.

Archbishop Jan Sokol said in a TV interview Jan. 4 that Tiso's rule was a "time of well-being."

"I remember him from my childhood. We used to be very poor and under his rule, the situation greatly improved," the archbishop said on Bratislava's TA3 TV.

Most of Slovakia's Jews perished in concentration camps during World War II, an era when Slovakia served as a puppet state to Nazi-run Germany and was headed from 1939-1945 by Tiso, a Catholic monsignor. He was executed for treason by Czechoslovak authorities in 1947.

An association of Slovakia's Jewish religious communities said Sokol "had failed to mention the fate of over 70,000 Slovak Jews who were deported by the Slovak government" to Nazi concentration camps, where most of them perished. Only about 4,000 Jews still live in Slovakia.

"Archbishop Jan Sokol offended Holocaust victims when he spoke positively" about the time Tiso was in power in Slovakia, said the Central Association of Jewish Religious Communities.

Slovakia's Council of Roma Communities also criticized Sokol's remarks. Many of Slovakia's Roma, or Gypsies, perished in Nazi camps. About 70 percent of the 5.4 million Slovaks are Roman Catholic, and Sokol's statement drew criticism from some of them, as well.

Sokol's office dismissed the criticism and said the archbishop "presented his personal views."

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Neil wrote on Jan 12, 2007 4:27 AM:Roman catholics collaborating with the communists in Poland, praising the Nazis in Slovakia or backing George W in Iraq. Seems the Christian part of religion is missing!

Manuel wrote on Jan 12, 2007 11:13 AM:The Roman Catholic Church has been a great friend to facist dictators over the years - the Nazis came to power in Germany supported by the votes of the Catholic Centre Party in the Reichstag. They were rewarded for this in the following year with a Concordat between Berlin and Rome (Hitler's first foreign treaty) enshrining privileges for the Roman Catholic Church into Nazi law. Tiso was just another one of the facists they supported at the time (Mussolini, Franco, Salazar etc., etc.) - probably the most repugnant thing about his regime is that he infamously PAID the Nazis a per capita sum to have the Jews deported out of Slovakia!

RTPapa wrote on Mar 23, 2008 8:46 AM:The christian history of slaughtering nonbelievers pretty much remains consistent here so quit fooling yourself.

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