Slovak National Council

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with
National Council (Slovakia)
.

The Slovak National Council (

Second World War. Following the 1989 Velvet Revolution it was transformed into the new democratically elected Slovak parliament.[1] A number of mostly short-lived and not particularly influential Slovak National Councils were also proclaimed abroad between the 1920s and 1940s, the last one seeking to mobilise Slovak émigré resistance to Communist rule.[1]

First Slovak National Council (1848–49)

Main article: Slovak National Council (1848–49)

The SNR was first established during the

Franz Josef I, sought to co-opt the three Slovak leaders by offering them positions in the state administration. They refused, insisting on their previous demands of a separate Slovak territory within the empire. The Austrian government put them under close surveillance and they were forced to retire from politics.[2]

Second Slovak National Council (1914–19)

The second SNR was established on 26 May 1914 under

Austro-Hungarian Empire. The final months of the war saw the gradual disintegration of the empire and the revitalisation of the SNR. At a meeting held in Budapest on 12 September 1918, twelve representatives of Slovak parties were nominated to serve as members of the council. It was officially constituted in the town of Turčiansky Svätý Martin (now Martin, Slovakia) on 29 October and the following day issued the Martin Declaration, in effect declaring Slovakia's independence and presaging Slovakia's unification with the Czech lands as part of the new state of Czechoslovakia.[3] The occupation of Martin by Hungarian troops prevented the SNR doing much following the declaration, other than issuing around 200 directives,[1] and it was dissolved by the new Czechoslovak government on 8 January 1919[4] as part of a centralising drive by Vavro Šrobár, the government's Minister for Slovakia.[5]

Third Slovak National Council (1943–92)

In September 1943 the SNR was again constituted to serve as a forum for resistance to the pro-Nazi puppet regime of the

Eduard Beneš, though he was reluctant to recognise it in return.[7]

Following the launch of the

Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948, when the Communists seized power, the SNR became an instrument of the Communist regime.[1]

This situation persisted until the

National Council of the Slovak Republic on 1 September 1992 after a new Slovak constitution was promulgated; Slovakia became independent from Czechoslovakia four months later on 1 January 1993.[1]

Slovak National Councils abroad

Four Slovak National Councils were also proclaimed abroad at various times between 1920 and 1948. The first was established by

Czechoslovak government in exile refused to recognise it and it played no part in determining Slovakia's post-war settlement.[1]

The fourth and final SNR abroad was the only one to be officially termed the Slovak National Council Abroad (Slovak: Slovenská národná rada v zahraniči, SNRvZ). It was founded in Rome in May 1948 after the Communist coup in Czechoslovakia, with Karol Sidor, Konštantin Čulen, Jozef Kirschbaum and others as founder members. It sought to restore Slovak statehood and to mobilise Slovak émigrés abroad, through its branches in West Germany, Argentina, Canada, the United States and other countries where Slovaks had settled. In September 1948 it merged with Prídavok's Slovak National Council. A further merger took place in 1960 when the Slovak Liberation Committee joined it to form the Slovak Liberation Council.[1]

See also

  • National Council of the Slovak Republic

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8108-8030-6
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 90-272-3452-3
    .
  3. ISBN 978-0-8153-0092-2
    .
  4. ISBN 978-0-86516-444-4
    .
  5. ISBN 978-0-8229-7728-5
    .
  6. ISBN 978-1-137-01409-2
    .
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-0-521-20050-9
    .
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