Posledná vojenská mobilizácia ľudáckeho režimu a spoločnosť na Slovensku na konci vojny

Last Military Mobilization of the Hlinka’s Slovak People’s Party Regime and the Society in Slovakia at the End of the War

Autor: BAKA Igor

BAKA, Igor: Posledná vojenská mobilizácia ľudáckeho režimu a spoločnosť na Slovensku na konci vojny

BAKA, Igor: Last Military Mobilization of the Hlinka’s Slovak People’s Party Regime and the Society in Slovakia at the End of the War.

Vojenská história, 20, 2, 2016, pp. 59-85.

The study follows the development and results of the last rounds of mobilization for armed forces by the regime of Hlinka’s Slovak People’s Party (recruits aged 1935 – 1944), carried out under strict control of the occupying authorities from December 1944 to March 1945. This way, the army should have achieved the offi cial number of 53,433 men. However, in the chaos of the last days before liberation, it is diffi cult to ascertain the actual numbers. Analysing the reports by the occupying authorities as well as the authorities of public administration and self-government, the author observes mostly the reactions of the recruits. It is a fact that the situation in the army largely refl ected the attitudes and moods of Slovak citizens at the end of the War. These were, of course, various. On the one side, there were the anti-fascist fi ghters, prosecuted persons, and on the other side, there were the regime representatives or escaping members of the German minority. For most of the majority population, suffering of the war hardships, passivity and resignation was typical, combined with an effort to survive war with the least damage possible. That means, even regardless of their attitude to the topic of future post-war constitutional position of Slovakia. This may be demonstrated also by behaviour of the Slovak society in the context of the aforementioned mobilization measures. At the end of the War, the anti-German moods and demoralization was fully expressed in the army, which is also documented by an enormous growth of desertions, especially by the newly enlisted soldiers. These phenomena had deepened even more by the fact that under the conditions of approaching frontline and growing chaos, both the military and the civil authorities were no longer able to manage the technical aspects of mobilization.

Keywords: Military History. World War 2. Slovakia. Mobilization, the Hlinka’s Slovak People’s Party Regime and Slovak Society at the end of the War.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.69809/vojhist.2016.20.2.4

Ročník: 20 | Číslo: 2/2016 | Stránky: 59-85