Constitution of Slovakia (1939)

The Constitution of Slovakia (Slovak: Ústava Slovenska), was the former constitution of the Slovak Republic. It was voted by the Slovak Diet, and came into effect on 21 July 1939.[1]

History

Following the Munich Agreement, the Slovak State was given autonomy within Czechoslovakia. In 1939, they declared independence at the urging of Nazi Germany. The Slovak Parliament met and voted through a constitution for the newly renamed Slovak Republic on 21 July.[1] It was noted by outside observers to have been heavily influenced by the German minority in Slovakia.[1] The constitution was based upon the Austrofascist constitution of the Federal State of Austria.[2] At first glance it appeared that the constitution contained separation of powers with the President of Slovakia being term limited and an elected National Assembly. However, the constitution granted the State Council, dominated by Hlinka's Slovak People's Party, the sole right to select parliamentary candidates in elections. As a result, they always selected Slovak People's Party members as candidates to turn the Slovak State into a de facto one-party state.[1] President Jozef Tiso used the constitution to make the Slovak State into a puppet of Nazi Germany under the German Zone of Protection in Slovakia.[3] The constitution granted recognition of "national groups" and granted extraterritorial jurisdiction over them by their "mother state", which would later become a regular demand from Nazi Germany over all their subsequent occupied and puppet states.[1][4]

During the Second World War, following the Bratislava–Brno offensive, the Slovak State surrendered and was subsumed as a part of Czechoslovakia again and the old 1920 Czechoslovak Constitution overrode the Slovak constitution.[5][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "34. Despatch of July 24, 1939, from Consul General Linnell to the Department of State, on the new Slovak constitution". From Prague After Munich: Diplomatic Papers, 1938-1939. 2015. pp. 212–216. doi:10.1515/9781400868537-036. ISBN 978-1-4008-6853-7.
  2. ^ "Tisos Weg vom Separatismus zur Kollaboration". DER STANDARD (in German). Retrieved 2 April 2025.
  3. ^ office, Kafkadesk Prague (14 March 2021). "On this Day, in 1939: Slovakia declared its independence to side with Nazi Germany". Retrieved 2 April 2025.
  4. ^ Raphael Lemkin (2008). Axis Rule in Occupied Europe. The Lawbook Exchange Ltd; 2nd edition. p. 141. ISBN 978-1584779018.
  5. ^ Government of the United Kingdom (1945). Conditions in Occupied Territories: The law. HM Stationery Office. p. 13. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
  6. ^ "The Košice manifesto – the 1945 document that sealed Czechoslovakia's eastern orientation". Radio Prague International. 5 April 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2025.

See also

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