View source for Slovakization

{{Short description|Process of cultural assimilation}}{{Multiple issues|{{POV | date=October 2024}}
{{One source | date=October 2024}}
{{Cleanup rewrite | date=October 2024}}
{{More citations needed | date=October 2024}}}}{{for|the exclusion of Slovak Jews from the economy during the Holocaust|Aryanization in Slovakia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2014}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=July 2020}}
[[File:Hungarians in Slovakia 2.jpg|thumb|400px|Approximate area in Slovakia inhabited by ethnic [[Hungarians]]. [[Hungarians in Slovakia|Hungarians]] are the largest ethnic minority of Slovakia, numbering 456,154 people or 7.75% of population (2021 census).<ref>{{cite web |date=1 January 2022 |title=Sčítanie obyvateľov, domov a bytov 2021 |url=https://www.scitanie.sk/obyvatelia/zakladne-vysledky/struktura-obyvatelstva-podla-narodnosti/SR/SK0/SR |access-date=1 January 2022 |website=National census of Slovak republic 2021}}</ref>
{{legend|#C75450|50–100%}}
{{legend|#FFFF07|10–50%}}
{{legend|#94C1E2|0–10%}}]]

'''Slovakization''' or '''Slovakisation''' ({{Langx|sk|Slovakizácia}}, {{langx|hu|Szlovákosítás}}) is a form of either forced or voluntary [[cultural assimilation]] and [[acculturation]], during which non-Slovak nationals give up their culture and language in favor of the [[Slovaks|Slovak]] one. This process has relied most heavily on intimidation and harassment by state authorities.{{sfn|Kocsis|Kocsisné Hodosi|1998|p=62}}<ref>{{cite book|first1=C. M. Eleonore|last1=Breuning|first2=Jill|last2=Dr. Lewis|first3=Gareth|last3=Pritchard|title=Power and the People: A Social History of Central European Politics, 1945–56|publisher=Manchester University Press|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GiLyV2xjGEoC&q=Slovakisation+%22forcible+assimilation%22|isbn=9780719070693}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Oszkár|last=Jászi|title=Danubia: Old and New - Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (vol. 93, no. 1), Philadelphia|year=1949|publisher=American Philosophical Society |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=csco-7Vdwr4C&q=%22a+psychological+and+physical+pressure+this+forcible+assimilation%22}}
</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=Rob|last1=Humphreys|first2=Tim|last2=Nollen|title=Rough Guide to the Czech & Slovak Republics|year=2003|publisher=Rough Guides |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kpEc8ltyqnUC&q=%22Slovakization+of+ethnic+Hungarians+was+nonetheless+enforced%22|isbn=9781858289045}}</ref> Another method of Slovakization was artificial resettlement.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Szarka |first=László |date=2003 |title=A szlovákiai magyarok kényszerletelepítéseinek emlékezete |url=https://mek.oszk.hu/12500/12521/12521.pdf}}</ref> In the past the process has been greatly aided by deprivation of [[minority rights|collective rights for minorities]]  and [[ethnic cleansing]], but in the last decades its promotion has been limited to the adoption of anti-minority policies and anti-minority [[hate speech]].

The process itself is limited mostly to [[Slovakia]], where Slovaks constitute the absolute majority by means of population and legislation power as well. Slovakization is most often used in relation to [[Hungarians in Slovakia|Hungarians]],<ref name=R.content>{{Harvnb|J. Rieber|2000| p=}}</ref> who constitute the most prominent minority of Slovakia, but it also affects [[Germans]], [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Ukrainians]], [[Rusyns]] (Ruthenians),<ref>{{Harvnb|Magocsi|Pop|2002| p=75}}</ref> and Jews, and [[Romani people|Romani]].

[[Robert Fico]]'s governance often violates minority rights and is openly [[Hungarophobia|hungarophobic]] for its disrespect of the Hungarian minority,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nemzet |first=Magyar |date=2024-04-05 |title="Külföldi ügynöknek" minősíthetnek minden magyar szervezetet Szlovákiában |url=https://magyarnemzet.hu/kulfold/2024/04/kulfoldi-ugynoknek-minosithetnek-minden-magyar-szervezetet-szlovakiaban |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=„Külföldi ügynöknek" minősíthetnek minden magyar szervezetet Szlovákiában |language=hu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-10-28 |title=Ethnic discrimination is still alive and kicking in Slovakia |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/ethnic-discrimination-slovakia-benes-decrees/ |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=POLITICO |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Attila |first=Tóth-Szenesi |date=2023-07-18 |title=A magyargyűlölőnek megismert Robert Fico Orbán Viktor szövetségeseként térhet vissza a politikába |url=https://444.hu/2023/07/18/a-magyargyulolonek-megismert-robert-fico-orban-viktor-szovetsegesekent-terhet-vissza-a-politikaba |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=444 |language=hu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=9 May 2024 |title=Magyar szavazatokkal nyert a magyarellenes Ficó államfőjelöltje |url=https://jelen.media/vilag/magyar-szavazatokkal-nyert-a-magyarellenes-fico-allamfojeloltje/ |website=Jelen}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Géza |first=Wolf |date=2021-02-25 |title=Szlovákia elcsatolásától tartva vonják meg a kettős állampolgárságot a magyaroktól |url=https://index.hu/kulfold/2021/02/25/szlovak-allampolgarsagi-torveny-modositas-gyimesi-klus-mkp/ |access-date=2024-05-27 |website=index.hu |language=hu}}</ref> and Fico himself in 1998 lobbied for the Party of [[Hungarian Alliance (Slovak political party)|Hungarian Coalition]] to not be let into the Slovakian parliament,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-04-05 |title=Fico már a kilencvenes években sem kedvelte a magyarokat |url=https://hirtv.hu/hirtvkulfold/fico-mar-a-kilencvenes-evekben-sem-kedvelte-a-magyarokat-1066257 |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=Hír TV |language=hu}}</ref> and stated that the Beneš decrees (promoted the [[violation of human rights]] and [[racial discrimination]] of Hungarian and German population) was unchangeable.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-10-03 |title=Fico: a Benes-dekrétumok megváltoztathatatlanok |url=https://mult-kor.hu/20121003_fico_a_benesdekretumok_megvaltoztathatatlanok |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=Múlt-kor történelmi magazin |language=hu}}</ref> By keeping the laws the Slovak government could make millions of euros in profit in a few years.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Balázs |first=Tárnok |date=2022-02-14 |title=Folytatódnak a földkobzások Szlovákiában a Beneš-dekrétumok alapján I. rész |url=https://www.ludovika.hu/blogok/ot-perc-europa-blog/2022/02/14/folytatodnak-a-foldkobzasok-szlovakiaban-a-benes-dekretumok-alapjan-i-resz/ |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=Ludovika.hu |language=hu-HU}}</ref>

==Hungarians==

===After World War I ===
{{POV|date=October 2024}}
{{Further|Hungarians in Slovakia}}
[[File:Magyarorszag 1920.png|thumb|right|300px|Map showing the border changes after the [[Treaty of Trianon]]. As a result, Hungary lost over two-thirds of its territory, about two-thirds of its inhabitants under the treaty and 3.3&nbsp;million out of 10 million ethnic Hungarians.<ref name="Macartney37">{{cite book| last=Macartney| first =C.A.| title=Hungary and her successors – The Treaty of Trianon and Its Consequences 1919–1937| publisher=Oxford University Press| year=1937}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title= East on the Danube: Hungary's Tragic Century|newspaper=The New York Times| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07E3D91531F93AA3575BC0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2|date=2003-08-09|access-date=2008-03-15 | first=Richard | last=Bernstein}}</ref> (Based on the 1910 census.)]]
The process of slovakization was present in the [[Kingdom of Hungary]] presumably ever since the appearance of the Slovak nation itself, but up until the foundation of Czechoslovakia the process was entirely voluntary. This early form of slovakization can be observed in detail in noble families' personal correspondence.<ref>{{cite book|work=Meghasadt múlt – Fejezetek a szlovákok és a magyarok történelméből|language=hu|publisher=Terra Recognita Alapítvány|title=Slovak-Hungarian common past: the medieval Slovak-Hungarian cohabitation and its memory in the two nations' thinking|first1=Gábor|last1=Lagzi|first2=István|last2=Kollai|year=2008|pages=30–41|url=http://www.kibic.hu/bin/archivprn.php?cid=3}}</ref> Another example of pre-World War I Slovakization is the assimilation of the Habans, a [[Hutterite]] group settled in the [[Veľké Leváre|Nagylévárd]] (today's Veľké Leváre) area in the 16th century, into the Slovak majority.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://nemzetisegek.hu/repertorium/2007/05/belivek_13-16.pdf|page=5476|date=15 November 2007|title=Ceremonies related to death and burial in Slovakia|language=hu|work=Barátság – kulturális és közéleti folyóirat|publisher=Filantróp Társaság Barátság Egyesülete}}</ref>

The accelerated,<ref>Károly Kocsis, Eszter Kocsisné Hodosi, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-zZ_NVM9mNEC&q=%22accelerated%22&pg=PA62 Ethnic Geography of the Hungarian Minorities in the Carpathian Basin], Simon Publications LLC, 1998, p. 62</ref> forced<ref>Charles Wojatsek: [https://books.google.com/books?id=6spnAAAAMAAJ&q=%22forced+slovakization%22 ''From Trianon to the first Vienna Arbitral Award: the Hungarian minority in the First Czechoslovak Republic''], Institute of Comparative Civilizations, 1981</ref><ref>Edward Chászár: [https://books.google.com/books?id=sa2ZAAAAIAAJ&q=%22forced+slovakization%22 ''Hungarians in Czechoslovakia, yesterday and today''], National Committee of Hungarians from Czechoslovakia in North America, Danubian Press, 1988</ref> nature of slovakization began with the defeat of the remaining Hungarian armies in 1919, which laid foundations to the creation of Czechoslovakia, a state in which the Slovaks had gained a ''de facto'' political power for the first time in the nation's history. The [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] concluded by the [[Treaty of Trianon]] in 1920 set the southern border of Czechoslovakia for strategic and economic reasons much further south than the Slovak-Hungarian language border.<ref>{{Harvnb|Macartney|2001| p=3}}</ref> Consequently, fully Hungarian-populated areas were annexed to the newly created state.<ref name="gramma">[http://www.gramma.sk/en/hunginslov/history.php 1<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301110413/http://www.gramma.sk/en/hunginslov/history.php |date=1 March 2008 }}</ref> The ethnic border has been sliding downward since the second part of the 19th century, with the beginning of the [[Slovakia|Slovak nationalist aspirations]], and many almost exclusively Hungarian settlements, such as [[Pusté Úľany|Pusztafödémes]] (now: Pusté Úľany) became completely Slovakised by the end of the 1910s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Földes |first=György |title=Visszaemlékezések}}</ref>

Czechoslovakia provided a large education network for the Hungarian minority. Hungarians, for example, had 31 kindergartens, 806 elementary schools, 46 secondary schools, 576 Hungarian libraries at schools in the 1930s and a Department of [[Hungarian literature]] was created at the [[Charles University of Prague]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}} The number of Hungarian elementary schools increased from 720 in 1923/1924 to the above number 806.<ref name="marko">{{Harvnb|Marko|Martinický|1995| p=}}</ref> The Hungarian University in Bratislava/Pozsony was immediately closed after formation of Czechoslovakia<ref>{{Harvnb|Engemann|2008| p=2}}</ref>

According to the 1910 census conducted by the Central Statistical Office of  Hungary, there were 884,309 people with Hungarian as a mother tongue, constituting 30.2% of the population, in what is now Slovakia{{verify source|date=June 2014}} compared to the 9.7% number recorded in the 2001 census, amounting to a 3-fold decrease in the percentage of Hungarians.<ref name=CEP146>{{Harvnb|C.M. Breuning|Dr. Lewis|Pritchard|2005| p=146}}</ref><ref name=Kocsis>{{Harvnb|Kocsis|Kocsisné Hodosi|1998| p=56}}</ref> The first Slovak census in 1919 in what is now Slovakia recorded 689,565 Hungarians constituting 23.59% of the population. According to the first Czechoslovak census in 1921 there were 650,597 Hungarians in Slovakia, constituting 21.68% of the population.<ref>{{Harvnb|Tisliar| p=}}</ref> The Czechoslovak census of 1930 recorded 571,952 Hungarians. All censuses from the period are disputed, and some give conflicting data for example in Kosice according to the Czechoslovak censuses 15–20% of the population was Hungarian. However, during the parliamentary elections the Ethnic Hungarian parties got 35–45% of the total votes (excluding those Hungarians who voted for the Communists or the Social democrats).<ref>{{Harvnb|Kovács|2004| p=}}</ref>  The whole matter is complicated by the fact that there was a high percentage of bilingual and similarly "Slovak-Hungarian" persons who could claim being both Slovak and Hungarian.

Slovak sources usually do not deny that many Hungarian teachers (replaced in Slovak schools by Slovak and Czech teachers), railwaymen (on strike against new Czechoslovak republic in February 1919),<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090426044026/http://www.zsr.sk/slovensky/historia-zeleznic/1918-1939.html?page_id=1276]</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=Citation is the railway company website (not scholar source), it does not contain single word about strike and it cannot be used to prove that "Slovak sources usually" do something or not.|date=June 2014}} postmen, policemen, soldiers and civil clerks (replaced by Czech and Slovak soldiers, policemen and clerks) were forced to leave or left for Hungary voluntarily, the numbers however are unclear but census do show a rapid decline in the number of people with Hungarian as a mother tongue. Some teachers and civil servants were expelled from Czechoslovakia while some left due to the harsh circumstances.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}} There are many examples of Hungarians who were forced to leave their homes from this territory (two famous ones are the families of [[Béla Hamvas]],<ref>[http://www.hamvasbela.org HamvasBéla.org<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and of [[Albert Szent-Györgyi]]). The high number of refugees (and even more from [[Romania]]) necessitated entire new housing projects in [[Budapest]] (Mária-Valéria telep, Pongrácz-telep), which gave shelter to refugees numbering at least in the ten-thousands.<ref>[http://mek.oszk.hu/02100/02185/html/228.html Magyarország a XX. században / Szociálpolitika<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

Demographic change was also significant. Since the Middle Ages, Pusztaföldes, for example, had been almost exclusively Hungarian, but the Slovak expansion slowly replaced the aging population and out-numbering them.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Földes |first=György |title=Visszaemlékezések}}</ref>

====De-Magyarization====
{{POV|section|date=June 2014}}
{{Off topic|date=June 2014}} 
[[File:Czechoslovakia 1930 linguistic map - created 2008-10-30.svg|264px|thumb|Linguistic map of Czechoslovakia (1930)]]
Under the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]] there was strong anti-Hungarian sentiment among certain sections of the Czech and Slovak population<ref>Dinko Antun Tomašić, [https://books.google.com/books?id=nZdnAAAAMAAJ&q=The+communist+leadership+and+nationalism+in+Czechoslovakia The communist leadership and nationalism in Czechoslovakia], Institute of Ethnic Studies, Georgetown University, 1960, p. 4 Cited:"...The other was Czech nationalism, combined with Slavophilism and Pan-Slavism, particularly in its anti-German and anti-Hungarian aspects."</ref><ref>Jaroslav Pánek, Oldřich Tůma, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hMwrAQAAIAAJ&q=anti-hungarian A History of the Czech Lands], Charles University, 2009, p. 465</ref><ref>Eugen Steiner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ODk8AAAAIAAJ&q=anti-hungarian+ The Slovak dilemma], Cambridge University Press, 1973, p. 27</ref> and this persisted to some extent in Czechoslovakia once it was formed. It seemed to hit the city of [[Pressburg]] (soon to be renamed Bratislava) most intensely. One of the first measures brought by [[Samuel Zoch]], the newly appointed [[župan]] of the city was the forced disbandment of the only Hungarian university in Czechoslovakia ([[Elisabeth Science University]]), and the intimidation of its professors by the police in 1919, immediately after the formation of the new country.<ref name="Zoch1">{{cite book	 
|author=Béla Angyal	 
|title=Érdekvédelem és önszerveződés – Fejezetek a csehszlovákiai magyar pártpolitika történetéből 1918–1938 (Protection of interests and self-organization – Chapters from the history of the politics of Hungarians in Czechoslovakia)	 
|language=hu	 
|publisher=Lilium Aurum	 
|pages = 18–19	 
|year = 2002	 
|url= http://mek.niif.hu/01800/01869/01869.pdf	 
|isbn = 80-8062-117-9	 
|access-date=2011-03-24}}</ref>{{POV statement|date=June 2014}}  
Most of the professors and former students then left Pressburg for [[Budapest]] (with the university later [[University of Pécs|being re-established in Pécs]]). Zoch had previously stated "...but the question of minorities will be fully solved only after our public perception of morality will condemn ethnic oppression just as much as the oppression of religion".<ref name="Zoch2">{{citation	 
|author=László Szarka	 
|title=A szlovák autonómia alternatívája 1918 őszén (An alternative of Slovak autonomy in the autumn of 1918)	 
|language=hu	 
|publisher= Nógrád Megyei Levéltár	 
|page = 1	 
|year = 2002	 
|url= http://www.nogradhistoria.eu/data/files/186527950.pdf	 
|access-date=2011-03-24}}</ref>	

According to Varsik, the university was not closed by the župan because local politicians did not have such powers.{{citation needed|date=September 2014}} Elisabeth University was founded in 1912 and began teaching only in 1914. The university was not the only Hungarian graduate school in the territory of contemporary Slovakia, but it had to serve to also all students from [[Upper Hungary]] inhabited by Slovak majority. However, in compliance with the education policy of the Hungarian government, which did not allow Slovak high schools, the university did not even have a Slovak language department. In 1919, a new Czechoslovak university was founded in parallel and adopted space and limited inventory of unfinished faculty of medicine. Hungarian professors refused to promise loyalty to the new state, as was necessary for teachers and state employees, and were retired after being provided financial compensation.<ref>{{citation	 
|author=Branislav Varsik	 
|title=Päťdesiat rokov univerzity Komenského	 
|language=sk	 
|publisher= Univerzita Komenského	 
|page = 28	 
|year = 1969	 
|url= http://www.uniba.sk/fileadmin/user_upload/editors/archiv/ID_295_300DPI/RUK/50rokovUK-dejiny.pdf	 
|access-date=2014-06-28}}</ref> Thereafter, the university was closed by official government decree and replaced by [[Comenius University]] which remained the only university in mid-war Slovakia for the majority population.

On 3 February 1919, the day before the moving of [[Vavro Šrobár]]'s government to Bratislava, a strike began which affected key infrastructure and sectors of industry. The strike had initially social character.{{clarify|date=June 2018}} Thereafter, it was politicized and joined with national demands of Hungarian and German workers. On 12 February 1919, Hungarian nationalistic circles exploited a demonstration organized by the Council of Workers. The demonstration went out of control and after a physical attack on the Italian commander [[Riccardo Barreca]], a military patrol dispersed the crowd by shooting,{{sfn|Zemko|Bystrický|2012|p=41}} leaving 7 dead and 23 wounded.<ref name="Zoch1" />
	 
Another aspect of the anti-Hungarian sentiment was the hatred of all the statues and monuments representing [[Austria-Hungary]] or Hungarian historical people. [[National socialist]] [[Member of Parliament|MP]]s of the Czechoslovak National Assembly called for the conservation of such works of art, moving and preserving them in suitable places as early as 1920.<ref name="Legions">{{cite web	 
|author=Vladimír Jancura	 
|title=Mesto zastonalo, keď cisárovnú strhli z koňa (The city has groaned, when the empress was torn off the horse)	 
|language=sk	 
|publisher=Pravda (Perex a.s.)	 
|url=http://spravy.pravda.sk/mesto-zastonalo-ked-cisarovnu-strhli-z-kona-fm0-/sk_domace.asp?c=A101017_121614_sk_domace_p58	 
|date=2010-10-17	 
|access-date=2011-03-24}}</ref> The hatred however was not limited to sculptures only: Hungarian books were burned in [[Poprad]]<ref name="deportation">{{cite book	 
|author=Tipary Lászlóné–Tipary László	 
|title=Szülõföldem szép határa… – Magyarok deportálása és kitelepítése szülõföldjükrõl Csehszlovákiában az 1946–1948-as években (Beautiful borders of my homeland... – Deportation and forceful evacuation of Hungarians from their homeland at Czechoslovakia in the years of 1946–1948)	 
|language=hu	 
|publisher=Lilium Aurum	 
|page = 26	 
|year = 2004	 
|url= http://mek.niif.hu/02700/02796/02796.pdf	 
|isbn = 80-8062-199-3	 
|access-date=2011-03-24}}</ref> and possibly other locations<ref name="jankovics">{{cite web	 
|author=János Lukáts	 
|title=A szigorú virrasztó ébresztése (Raising of the strict watcher)	 
|language=hu	 
|publisher=Magyar Szemle	 
|date = April 2001	 
|url= http://www.magyarszemle.hu/szamok/2001/2/a_szigoru_virraszto	 
|access-date=2011-03-24}}</ref> as well. Concurrently some of the statues were destroyed as well: the millennium monument along with the [[Árpád]] statue in [[Devín]] was blown up using dynamite,.<ref name="Legions" /><ref name="Lipták">Lubomír Lipták, [https://books.google.com/books?id=x8HZAAAAMAAJ&q=blown Changes of changes: society and politics in Slovakia in the 20th century], Academic Electronic Press, 2002, p. 30 {{ISBN|978-80-88880-50-9}}</ref> The statue of [[Maria Theresa]] in [[Bratislava]] was preserved until October 1921 when information about attempts to restore monarchy spread in successor states of Austro-Hungarian Empire.<ref name="Legions" /> In the atmosphere of partial mobilization, martial law and fresh memories to invasion by [[Béla Kun]]'s army, it was brought down using ropes tied to trucks.<ref name="Legions" /><ref name="jankovics" /> In Slovakia, memorials were destroyed mainly after intervention of Red Guards of [[Béla Kun]] in spring and summer 1919, when statues of [[Lajos Kossuth]] were destroyed in [[Rožňava]], [[Lučenec]], [[Dobšiná]] and [[Nové Zámky]],<ref name="Lipták" /> as well as a statue of [[Ferenc Rákóczi]] in [[Brezno]] and numerous others.<ref name="Legions" /> In almost all of these cases the perpetrators were soldiers of the Czechoslovak legion.<ref name="Legions" /> The idleness of state authorities encouraged destroyers of statues. The government started to act only when the mob had begun to take over shops and properties of German entrepreneurs.{{citation needed|date=June 2018}} Thereafter, Czechoslovak army and police intervened and destruction of symbols of monarchy stopped for nearly a year.<ref name="Legions" />

In the revolutionary period between the creation of Czechoslovakia and the first free parliamentary elections in 1920, legislative power was held by temporary, the revolutionary (un-elected) [[Czechoslovak National Council]] (later The [[Czechoslovak National Assembly]]). The revolutionary parliament without participation of minorities<ref name="Zoch1_1">{{cite book
|author=Béla Angyal
|title=Érdekvédelem és önszerveződés – Fejezetek a csehszlovákiai magyar pártpolitika történetéből 1918–1938 (Protection of interests and self-organization – Chapters from the history of the politics of Hungarians in Czechoslovakia)
|language=hu
|publisher=Lilium Aurum
|pages = 23–27
|year = 2002
|url= http://mek.niif.hu/01800/01869/01869.pdf
|isbn = 80-8062-117-9
|access-date=2011-03-24}}</ref> also adopted a new constitution. The constitution guaranteed equal rights for all citizens regardless of gender, nationality or religion. In comparison with the previous state in the [[Kingdom of Hungary]] it also extended political rights to individuals of Hungarian nationality, by introducing [[universal suffrage]], removing voting criteria based on wealth and education (typical for previous Hungarian elections){{sfn|Zemko|Bystrický|2012|p=242}} and granted full [[women's suffrage]] (including for Hungarian women).

Later on, all minorities gained the right to use their languages in municipalities where they constituted at least 20% of the population even in communication with government offices and courts.

According to [[Béla Angyal]], due to [[gerrymandering]] and disproportionate distribution of population between [[Bohemia]] and [[Slovakia]] the Hungarians had little representation in the National Assembly and thus their influence on the politics of Czechoslovakia remained limited. The same considerations limited the Slovak [[intelligentsia]]'s political power as well.<ref name="Zoch1_1" /> On the other hand, Hungarians founded numerous parties including pro-Czechoslovak parties, founded parties with agrarian, social-democratic, Christian-socialist and other orientations, were active as sections of statewide Czechoslovak parties, had opportunities to participate in government and in the 1920s Hungarian members of parliament participated in adoption of several important laws with statewide impact.{{sfn|Simon|2009}}

=== The aftermath of World War II ===

===="Re-Slovakization"====
{{see also|Czechoslovak–Hungarian population exchange|Deportations of Hungarians to the Czech lands}}
[[File:Janos Esterhazy.jpg|thumb|200px|[[János Esterházy]], controversial leader of Hungarian minority in mid-war Czechoslovakia]]
 	
After World War II, the size of Hungarian population was decreased by Czechoslovak-Hungarian population exchange and expulsion of Hungarians who came to after the [[First Vienna Award]] or committed crimes according to Decree of Slovak National Council No. 33/1945 Zb. about people tribunals. Due to the proclamation of the "Košice Government Program", the German and Hungarian population living in the reborn Czechoslovakia were subjected to various forms of persecution, including: expulsions, deportations, internments, peoples court procedures, citizenship revocations, property confiscation, condemnation to forced labour camps, and forced changes of ethnicity referred to as "reslovakization." 	
{{quote box
| width   = 30em
| bgcolor = #c6dbf7
| align   = left
| quote   = "...in Slovakia, the party is breaking into factions. One of the factions is headed by the Representative of the Soviet of Plenipotentiaries, G. Husák. This faction includes Clementis, Novomeský and in general the Slovak intelligentsia and students. It displays a sharply nationalistic, [[Antisemitism|anti-Semitic]], [[Anti-Hungarian sentiment|anti-Hungarian]] character. ... Anti-Semitism generally is widespread in the party"
| source  =  — ''A letter from [[Mátyás Rákosi]] to [[Joseph Stalin]]'', dated 25, September 1948.<ref name=abcdef/>
}}

In 1946 the process of "Reslovakization" (or re-Slovakization), the forced acceptance of Slovak ethnicity,<ref name=Migration>{{cite web|title=Human Rights For Minorities In Central Europe: Ethnic Cleansing In Post World War II Czechoslovakia: The Presidential Decrees Of Edvard Beneš, 1945–1948|url=http://migrationeducation.de/15.1.html?&rid=14&cHash=944ca081bb|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423112729/http://migrationeducation.de/15.1.html?&rid=14&cHash=944ca081bb|archive-date=23 April 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Ther|Siljak|2001| p=15}}</ref> was engaged by the Czechoslovak government with the objective of eliminating the Hungarian ethnicity.<ref name=Migration/> The Slovak Commissioner of the Interior on June 17, 1946 (decree No.20,000/1946) initiated the "Reslovakization" program.<ref name=Migration/> This process based upon the Czechoslovak assumption that in fact there never had been any Hungarians in South Slovakia, only "Hungarianized Slovaks" who lost their Slovak national identity through the centuries of Hungarian rule.<ref name="Frič1993">{{Harvnb|Frič|1993| p=28}}</ref><ref name="ŠpieszČaplovič2006">{{Harvnb|Špiesz|Čaplovič|J. Bolchazy| p=242}}</ref> As Anton Granatier, officer of the Resettlement Bureau said: ''„We want to be the national state of Slovaks and Czechs, and we will be. This monumental programme includes re−slovakization, already under way in whole Slovakia! Within the scope of this action everyone who feels to be Slovak by origin will have the chance to declare it freely whether they want to become Slovaks with all its consequences or want to share the fate of those without citizenship.“'' In the spring and summer of 1945, a series of decrees stripped Hungarians of property, from all civil rights and from their citizenship.<ref name="Mandelbaum, p.40">{{Harvnb|Mandelbaum|2000| p=40}}</ref> Hungary itself gave the Slovaks equal rights and demanded the same solution to the issue from Czechoslovakia.<ref name=abcdef>{{Harvnb|J. Rieber|2000| p=91}}</ref> Since Hungarians in Slovakia were deprived of many rights, and were the target of discrimination, they were pressured into having their ethnicity officially changed to Slovak, otherwise they dropped out of the [[pension system|pension]], [[social system|social]], and [[healthcare system]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Szegő|2007| p=}}</ref> 400,000 (sources differ) stateless<ref name=Kamusella775>{{Harvnb|Kamusella|2009| p=775}}</ref> Hungarians applied for, and eventually 344,609<ref name=Migration/> Hungarians received a re-Slovakization certificate by the Central Committee for Reslovakization, and thereby Czechoslovak citizenship. Therefore, the number of Hungarians in Slovakia dropped to 350,000.<ref name=Kamusella775/> According to Soviet archives, 20,000 Hungarians declared themselves as Slovak at the beginning of the year 1949, and eventually 360,000 Hungarians changed their ethnicity to Slovak, according to Slovak historians.<ref name="Rieber, p. 92">{{Harvnb|J. Rieber|2000| p=92}}</ref> The fear was so big among the Hungarian population, that only 350,000–367,000<ref name="Roessingh">{{Harvnb|Roessingh|1996| pp=109–115}}</ref> claimed themselves Hungarian in the 1950 census, and only after ten years -when the reslovakization program was revoked- began to rose and reached 518,000.<ref>{{Harvnb|Mandelbaum|2000| p=43}}</ref>
[[File:Gutaiak.jpg|thumb|200px|Deported Hungarians of Gúta (Kolárovo) in Mladá Boleslav, Czechoslovakia, February, 1947 (photo: Dr. Károly Ravasz)]]	

The official results of re-slovakization action were summarized in the final report of the Re-slovakization Commission. The commission received 197,916 application forms related to 449,914 people. 83,739 applicants declared Slovak nationality also before 1930 and they were not considered to be re-slovakizants. From the remaining 366,175 candidates, the commission accepted 284,814 and refused 81,361 candidates for various reasons.{{sfn|Popély|2009|p=186}}

An important issue with the slovakization procedure was, that the "reslovakized" Hungarians did not take the forcible change of ethnicity seriously, because it is impossible to force someone to forget his culture and language suddenly. A Slovak journalist wrote the following about the "reslovakized" city of [[Nové Zámky]] ({{langx|hu|Érsekújvár}}):<ref>Nás Národ, September 7, 1947. (Article by J. Miklo.)</ref> {{Blockquote|''„80% of the Hungarian population of Nové Zamky re-Slovakized . . . On the other hand, the fact remains that one can barely hear Slovak spoken in Nové Zámky. You will never find these 80% Slovaks. Only a few government employees speak Slovak here and there. What happened to the re-Slovakized persons?"''|J. Miklo; Nás Národ (1947)}}

====After October 1948====
With the disappearance of [[Edvard Beneš]] from the political scene, the Czechoslovak government issued decree No. 76/1948 on April 13, 1948, allowing those Hungarians still living in Czechoslovakia, to reinstate Czechoslovak citizenship.<ref name=Migration/> A year later, Hungarians were allowed to send their children to Hungarian schools, which had been reopened for the first time since 1945,<ref name=Migration/> although Hungarians remaining in Slovakia were subjected to extremely heavy pressure to assimilate,<ref name="Rieber, p. 93"/> and complaints reached Moscow about forced enrollment of Hungarian children in Slovak schools.<ref name="Rieber, p. 93"/>

Most Slovakized Hungarians gradually readopted their Hungarian ethnicity. As a result, "The Re-Slovakization Commission" ceased operations in December 1948.

Despite their promises to settle the issue of the Hungarians in Slovakia, in 1948 Czech and Slovak ruling circles still maintained the hope that they could deport the Hungarians from Slovakia.<ref name="Rieber, p. 92"/> According to a 1948 poll conducted among the Slovak population 55% were for "resettlement" (deportation) of the Hungarians, 24% said "don't know", 21% were against.<ref name="Rieber, p. 93">{{Harvnb|J. Rieber|2000| p=93}}</ref> Under slogans for the struggle with class enemies, the process of dispersing dense Hungarian settlements continued in 1948 and 1949.<ref name="Rieber, p. 93"/> By October 1949 preparations were made to deport 600 Hungarian families.<ref name="Rieber, p. 93"/>

Finally, on 25 July 1949, Czechoslovak and Hungarian delegations met in Štrbské pleso and signed so-called Štrba protocol ({{langx|sk|Štrbský protokol}}) which ended the law disputes between Hungarian and Czechoslovak property and legal question and compensation of deported Hungarians.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://blisty.cz/art/19466.html|title = Štrbský protokol – "polozabudnutý" dokument|author = Vladimír Draxler|date = 24 August 2004}}</ref>

====The current Slovak-Hungarian political standpoint on the expulsions====
In 2002 before [[Slovakia]] and Hungary [[2004 enlargement of the European Union|joined the European Union in 2004]], Hungarian politician [[Viktor Orbán]] demanded the repeal of the [[Beneš decrees]], but the [[European Parliament]] asserted that "the decrees did not constitute an insurmountable obstacle to accession."<ref name=Bernd>{{Harvnb|Bernd|2009| p=201}}</ref> Slovak politician Monika Beňová-Flašiková accused the Hungarian politicians for pushing "revanchist" policies which could destabilize Europe.<ref name=Bernd/> Later on the Hungarian members of the [[Politics of Slovakia|Slovak parliament]] requested for compensation and for a symbolic apology to the victims of the expulsions.<ref name=Bernd/> As an answer, the Slovak government adopted a resolution in September 2007 which declared that the Beneš decrees are inalterable.<ref name=Bernd/>

===During Socialism===
Czechoslovakia (being a Socialist country at that time) financed the following purely Hungarian institutions for the Hungarians in Czechoslovakia as of early 1989: 386 kindergartens, 131 elementary schools, 98 secondary schools, 2 theaters, 1 special Hungarian language publishing house (6 publishing houses also publishing Hungarian literature) and 24 newspapers and journals.
The first Hungarian-language university in Slovakia was opened only in 2004 – the [[Selye János University]].

According to ''The Minorities at Risk Project'':

{{cquote|During the socialist regime, Slovak nationalism was largely kept in check by the strongly centralist Prague regime. The 1968 switch to a federal arrangement gave greater scope to Slovak nationalism, however. New policies of assimilation included progressive Slovakization of education, elimination of Hungarian place-names from signs, bans on using Hungarian in administrative dealings and in institutions and workplaces, and pressure to Slovakize Hungarian names. Nonetheless, the most significant exclusionary factor in Hungarians’ social situation under the socialist regime was most likely their own refusal to integrate into the Czechoslovak system and to learn the language. Without a fluency in the official language, their economic and political opportunities were severely limited.<ref name=MAR>{{Harvnb|MAR|2006| p=}}</ref>}}

===Since the independence of Slovakia===
{{Further|Hungary-Slovakia relations}}

====Hungarian minority parties====

The [[Party of the Hungarian Coalition]] (SMK) and [[Most–Híd]] are the major Hungarian minority parties in Slovak politics. Since 1993 a Hungarian minority party has always been a member of the [[National Council of the Slovak Republic|parliament]]. As of 2012, a Hungarian minority party spent 10 out of 19 years in government.

These parties are fighting for [[minority rights]] in Slovakia, such as the right to [[Multiple citizenship|dual citizenship]], which is granted by Hungary<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sarkadi |first=Zsuzsanna |date=2023-09-27 |title=Does Hungary allow multiple citizenships? |url=https://helpers.hu/hu/magyar-allampolgarsag/does-hungary-allow-multiple-citizenships/ |access-date=2024-06-09 |website=Helpers |language=hu-HU}}</ref> but not by the Slovak state,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nóra |first=Ernőfy |date=2023-11-01 |title=Többezren veszítették el szlovák állampolgárságukat az elmúlt tizenhárom évben |url=https://index.hu/gazdasag/2023/11/01/szlovak-allampolgarsagukat-elvesztettek-kettos-allampolgarsag-hataron-tuli-magyarok/ |access-date=2024-06-09 |website=index.hu |language=hu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-02-16 |title=Tilos marad a kettős állampolgárság {{!}} Új Szó {{!}} A szlovákiai magyar napilap és hírportál |url=https://ujszo.com/kozelet/tilos-marad-a-kettos-allampolgarsag |access-date=2024-06-09 |website=ujszo.com |language=hu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Nemzet |first=Magyar |date=2022-02-16 |title=Nincs könnyítés a szlovákiai magyarok számára |url=https://magyarnemzet.hu/kulfold/2022/02/nincs-konnyites-a-szlovakiai-magyarok-szamara |access-date=2024-06-09 |website=Nincs könnyítés a szlovákiai magyarok számára |language=hu}}</ref> who have passed a law expecting others states to let [[Slovaks]] living abroad to retain their Slovak citizenship.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Desku |first=Arta |date=2022-02-18 |title=Slovaks Living Abroad Soon to Be Able to Hold Dual Citizenship |url=https://schengen.news/slovaks-living-abroad-soon-to-be-able-to-hold-dual-citizenship/ |access-date=2024-06-09 |website=SchengenNews |language=en}}</ref>

====Mečiar Government====

Under Communism, the Hungarian minority issue was confined invariably to the position of Slovaks within the Czechoslovak state, and therefore it was ignored in any systematic way.<ref name=Smith155>{{Harvnb|Smith|2000| p=155}}</ref> But the [[Revolutions of 1989|fall of Communism]] reinforced national identities and demolished the ideology of 'the socialist unity of nations'.<ref name=Smith155/> The [[Dissolution of Czechoslovakia|break-up of Czechoslovakia]] was a process of national redefinition and assertion in Slovakia.<ref name=Smith155/>

{{quote box
| width   = 25em
| bgcolor = #c6dbf7
| align   = right
| quote   = "The oppression of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia gained momentum with the formation of the Slovak state in 1993, increasing even more sharply since [[Vladimír Mečiar]] came to power for the third time in December of 1994."
| source  =  — [[Miklós Duray]], politician [[Party of the Hungarian Coalition]]<ref name=Duray/>
}}
Under the premiership of Mečiar prone to [[populism]], exclusivist Slovak [[nationalism]],
and the use of extralegal measures, independent Slovakia approached
authoritarianism.<ref name=Kamusella887>{{Harvnb|Kamusella|2009| p=887}}</ref> Mečiar turned the Hungarian minority into a scapegoat for Slovakia's bad economic situation.<ref name=Kamusella887/> Numerous articles and books containing [[anti-Hungarian sentiment|anti-Hungarian]] propaganda appeared, and the Hungarians were accused for the destruction of the '[[Great Moravia|first Slovak state]]', and for the ‘one-millennium-long oppression’ of Slovak nation.<ref name=Kamusella887/>

[[File:Vladimir Meciar.jpg|thumb|left|200px|[[Vladimír Mečiar]] (1942–)]]
During the redrawing of the administrative boundaries of Slovakia, Hungarian politicians suggested two models; the so-called 'Komárno proposals'.<ref name=Smith159>{{Harvnb|Smith|2000| p=159}}</ref> The first proposal was a full ethnic autonomy of the southern Slovak districts with Hungarian majority, while the second suggestion was to create three counties in southern Slovakia to bring together the main centers of Hungarian population.<ref name=Smith159/> Although a territorial unit of this name [[Komárom county|existed]] before 1918, the borders proposed by SMK were significantly different. The proposed region would have encompassed a very long slice of southern Slovakia, with the explicit aim to create an administrative unit with ethnic-Hungarian majority. Hungarian minority politicians and intellectuals thought that such kind of administrative unit is essential for the long-term survival of the Hungarian minority. Both proposals were rejected by the Slovak government in favour of an eight county model of north-south (and not east-west) governance, which has been seen to weaken the electoral power of Hungarians.<ref name=Smith159/><ref name=Ramet>{{Harvnb|P. Ramet|1997| pp=131–134}}</ref><ref name=O>{{Harvnb|O'Dwyer|2006| p=113}}</ref> According to [[Miklós Duray]], a politician of the [[Party of the Hungarian Coalition]]: "Administrative jurisdictions of Slovakia were geographically modified in a clear case of [[gerrymandering]].<ref name=Duray/> The administrative system governed by laws created in 1991,<ref group="note">Law pertaining to Local Administration. Collection of Laws of 1990, number 472. Law pertaining to the territorial and administrative jurisdictions. Collection of Laws of 1990, number 517.</ref> included 17 primary jurisdictions and 2 secondary jurisdictions, with a majority Hungarian population.<ref name=Duray/> The 1996 law<ref group="note">Law pertaining to the territorial and administrative reorganization of the Slovak Republic. Collection of Laws of 1996, number 221.</ref> eliminated this system of administration.<ref name=Duray/> In the reorganized system only 2 primary administrative jurisdictions have a Hungarian majority population ([[Dunajská Streda District|Dunajská Streda]] and [[Komárno District|Komárno]]).<ref name=Duray/> Furthermore, 8 secondary administrative jurisdictions were created, 5 with Hungarian populations in the 10 to 30 per cent range.<ref name=Duray/> In 1998, these jurisdictions had regional self governing communities, where the diminished proportion of Hungarians made certain they played a subordinate role in self government."<ref name=Duray/> After the regions became autonomous in 2002, SMK was able to take power in the [[Nitra Region]] and it became part of the ruling coalition in several other regions.

Before the Slovak independence two main issues appeared regarding language: the right to use non-Slovakized versions of women's names and the use of bilingual street signs.<ref name=Smith157>{{Harvnb|Smith|2000| p=157}}</ref> Non Slovaks were forced to Slovakize female personal names in official documents by attaching the Slovak feminine suffix '-ová'.<ref name="Bernd203">{{Harvnb|Bernd|2009| p=203}}</ref> Members of ethnic minorities were restricted in their choice of given names, as registry offices accepted only names from a limited list only.<ref name="Bernd203"/> After ten years wrangling, the second Dzurinda cabinet eased these restrictions.<ref name=Martin>{{Harvnb|Martin|Skalodny|1998| p=43}}</ref>

====The use of the Hungarian language====
{{Further|Language law of Slovakia}}
{{Further|Hungarian language}}
The Slovak Constitution from 1992 asserts that the ‘[[state language]]’ on the territory of the [[Slovakia|Slovak Republic]] is [[Slovak language|Slovak]].<ref name=Kamusella886>{{Harvnb|Kamusella|2009| p=886}}</ref> At the same time this constitution entails explicit provisions for [[minorities]], including language right.<ref name=Bernd202>{{Harvnb|Bernd|2009| p=202}}</ref> These provisions were reinforced in 2001.<ref name=Bernd202/> [[International treaties]] like the ''[[Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities]]'' (ratified by Slovakia in 1995) or the ''[[European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages]]'' (ratified by Slovakia in 2001) and the ''1995 Treaty on Good Neighbourly Relations and Friendly Cooperations  between Slovakia and Hungary'' protect the language rights of minorities.<ref name=Bernd202/> Article 34. of the 1992 constitution asserts that ''"citizens of ethnic minorities have the right to be educated in their language, the right to use it in dealings with authorities, and the right to participate in the solution of affairs concerning national minorities and ethnic groups".''<ref name="Bernd203"/> These provisions afford a high standard of protection, but still, these legislative instruments do not warrant the implementation of the postulated rights.<ref name=Bernd203/> In most cases the disfrancishement evolves when there is insufficient political will to legislate the provisions as laws.<ref name=Bernd203/> This happened between 1992 and 1998 (i.e. under Mečiar's government).<ref name=Bernd203/>
Slovak nationalist demands for a language law detaining the use of [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] in public institutions already appeared in 1990.<ref name=Hobsbawm>{{Harvnb|Hobsbawm|1990| p=186}}</ref> Finally, the Meciar government pushed through legislation restricting the use of [[minority languages]] in public institutions.<ref name=Smith157/> In 1995, the [[National Council of the Slovak Republic|Slovak Parliament]] passed Act No 270 on the State Language of Slovakia, which came into power on 1 January 1996.<ref name=Kamusella888>{{Harvnb|Kamusella|2009| p=888}}</ref> This act revoked the more tolerant Act No 428 passed in 1990.<ref name=Kamusella888/> The 1995 act emphasized the significance of the Slovak language for Slovak nationalism and statehood, by consolidating the exclusivist [[monolingualism]].<ref name=Kamusella888/> The new act considerably limited the use of minority languages, that is, of Hungarian, which had featured on bilingual signposts with placenames in predominantly Hungarian areas, and in [[bilingual]] school certificates issued to students in Hungarian minority schools.<ref name=Kamusella888/> According to Duray: ''"An official language law<ref group="note">Language Law of the Slovak Republic. Collection of Laws of 1996, number 270.</ref> was promulgated providing the legal framework for the official use of the Slovak language not only in official communications but also in everyday commerce, in the administration of religious bodies, and even in the realm of what is normally considered private interaction, for example, communications between patient and physician."''<ref name=Duray>{{Harvnb|Duray|1996| p=}}</ref> In 1999, the [[Mikuláš Dzurinda|Dzurinda government]] passed Act No 184 on the ''Use of the Languages of the Minority Communities'',<ref name=Kamusella888/> which reintroduced the institution of bilingual school certificates and provided that in communes with more than 20 percent of inhabitants belonging to a given minority, the minority language can be used in administration, and [[signposts]] with placenames can be bilingual.<ref name=Kamusella888/> Furthermore, Article 10, prohibiting doing business and drafting contracts in any other [[language]] but Slovak, was abolished from the Act.<ref name=Kamusella888/> However the act limits itself to only official contacts with the state and thus fails to overcome the 1996 act ensuring the use of Slovak in culture, schools and media.<ref name=Smith161>{{Harvnb|Smith|2000| p=161}}</ref> Language rights in education have also been a sphere of antagonism between the Slovak state and the Hungarian minority.<ref name=Smith>{{Harvnb|Smith|2000| p=158}}</ref> Bilingual education in primary and secondary schools is currently permitted.<ref name=Smith/> However, the array of subjects that should be taught in each language remained a highly contested issue.<ref name=Smith/> Government proposals prior to the 1998 elections (i.e. under Mečiar's government) even suggested that certain subjects should be taught only by teachers of 'Slovak origin' to ensure that the Slovak population living in areas with significant Hungarian populations should be able to assimilate themselves into mainstream Slovak life.<ref name=Smith/> According to Duray: "On March 12, 1997 (i.e. under Mečiar's government), the Undersecretary of Education sent a circular to the heads of the school districts making known the following regulations: In Hungarian schools the Slovak language should be taught exclusively by native speakers.<ref name=Duray/> The same exclusion criteria applies to non-Slovak schools in the teaching of geography and history.<ref name=Duray/> (The Undersecretary modified the language of this regulation later by changing the term "exclusively" for "mainly".)<ref name=Duray/> In communities where the Hungarian community exceeds 40% of the total population the teachers of Slovak schools receive supplementary pay.<ref name=Duray/> In all communities which include a Hungarians population and where there is no school or there is no Slovak school, wherever possible a Slovak school should be opened, but not a Hungarian one."<ref name=Duray/><ref group="note">The circular issued by Undersecretary Ondrej Nemcok cites governmental decrees of the Slovak Republic, numbers 459/95, 768/95 and 845/95.</ref> At the end of the 1998 school year a large number of Hungarian pupils handed back their school report that were issued only in Slovak.<ref name=Smith/>

In 2003, there were 295 Hungarian elementary schools and 75 secondary schools in Slovakia. In most of them Hungarian was used as the [[medium of instruction]], excluding 35 elementary schools and 18 secondary schools, which were bilingual.<ref name=Kamusella890>{{Harvnb|Kamusella|2009| p=890}}</ref>

After the parliamentary elections in 2006, the nationalist [[Slovak National Party]] (SNS) of [[Ján Slota]] became a member of the ruling coalition led by [[Robert Fico]]. In August a few incidents motivated by [[ethnic hatred]] caused diplomatic tensions between the countries. Mainstream Hungarian and Slovak media blamed Slota's anti-Hungarian statements from the early summer for worsening ethnic relations. (Further informations: [[2006 Slovak-Hungarian diplomatic affairs]], and [[Hedvig Malina]]).

On 27 September 2007 the Beneš decrees were reconfirmed by the Slovak parliament which legitimized the [[Hungarians]] and Germans calumniation and deportation from Czechoslovakia after [[World War II]].<ref name="politics">{{cite web | publisher = mkp | url = http://www.mkp.sk/eng/images/pdf/MINORITY%20REPORT%20-%20OCTOBER.pdf | title = The Beneš-Decrees Are Untouchable | year = 2007 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080904004658/http://www.mkp.sk/eng/images/pdf/MINORITY%20REPORT%20-%20OCTOBER.pdf | archive-date = 4 September 2008 | df = dmy-all }}</ref>

[[File:Zilina P6112384-selection.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Ján Slota, the chairman of Slovak Party [[Slovak National Party|SNS]], according to whom the Hungarian population of Slovakia "is a [[tumour]] in the body of the Slovak nation."<ref>{{cite news|title=Separatist Movements Seek Inspiration in Kosovo|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,537008-2,00.html|work=[[Der Spiegel]]|date=2008-02-22|access-date=2008-08-06|last1=Orth|first1=Stephan|last2=Michel|first2=Nadine|last3=Jansen|first3=Maike}}</ref><ref name=GlobalPost>{{Harvnb|Cienski|2009| p=}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Ward|2009| p=}}</ref>]]

In 2008, [[Ján Mikolaj]] (SNS), minister of education propagated changes in the Hungarian schools of Slovakia. According to a new education law plan, the Hungarian language which was educated as mother tongue until now will be considered a foreign language – and taught in a smaller proportion of lessons. The only textbooks allowed to be used in Hungarian schools will be those translated from Slovak books and approved by Slovak administration.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bumm|2008| p=}}</ref><br />
In October 2008 Hungarian parents and teachers sent back Hungarian textbooks to the Minister of Education.<ref name="Sanoma">{{cite web|title=Visszaküldik a magyar neveket bojkottáló szlovák tankönyveket|language=hu|url=http://www.fn.hu/kulfold/20081008/visszakuldik_magyar_neveket_bojkottalo/|work=[[Figyelő]]|publisher=[[Sanoma]]|date=2008-10-08|access-date=2008-11-20}}</ref> The books contained geographical names only in Slovak violating the basic rules of the [[Hungarian language]] and the minorities' right of usage of their native language.<ref name="Sanoma" /><br />
In November 2008 Prime Minister Robert Fico has again promised, this time at a cabinet meeting in Komárno, southern Slovakia, that an ongoing problem with textbooks for ethnic Hungarian schools in Slovakia will be resolved.<ref name="Fico-The Slovak Spektator">{{cite web|title=SFico says Hungarian textbooks problem will be resolved|url=http://www.spectator.sk/articles/view/33631/10/fico_says_hungarian_textbooks_problem_will_be_resolved.html|date=2008-11-19|access-date=2008-11-22}}</ref> Though as of November 2008 Ján Slota still insists on the grammatically incorrect version (Slovak language names in Hungarian sentences) and having the correct Hungarian name only afterwards.<ref name="Slota-MN">{{cite web|title=Slota: Meghátráltunk, kétnyelvűek lesznek a településnevek|language=hu|url=http://www.magyarnemzet.hu/portal/598834|date=2008-11-21|access-date=2008-11-21}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Felvidék Ma|2008| p=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://nol.hu/kulfold/slota_megforditana_fico_javaslatat |title=Slota megfordítaná Fico javaslatát |language=hu |trans-title=Slota would reverse Fico's proposal |work=[[Népszabadság]] |date=2008-11-21}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.delilap.hu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16721&Itemid=1 |title=Déli Lap |publisher=Delilap.hu |date=2018-08-28 |accessdate=2022-08-24}}</ref>

The Slovak authorities denied the registration of a Hungarian traditional folk art association, because they used the Hungarian word ''Kárpát-medence'' ([[Pannonian Basin|Carpathian Basin]]). According to [[Dušan Čaplovič]] the word and the association is against the sovereignty of Slovakia, furthermore the word is fascist, it is familiar with the German [[Lebensraum]], and Hungarians use it in this ideology.<ref>[https://archive.today/20130824082927/http://www.hirszerzo.hu/cikk.a_karpat-medence_a_lebensraum_magyar_megfeleloje_a_szlovak_miniszterelnok-helyettes_szerint.87635.html]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090108191515/http://www.ujszo.com/online/kozelet/2008/11/19/a-belugy-eltorolte-a-karpat-medencet]</ref><ref>[http://atv.hu/hircentrum/2008_nov_caplovic__a__karpat_medence__ugyanaz__mint_a_naci__eletter__.html (In Hungarian)]</ref><ref>[http://www.mno.hu/portal/598288?searchtext=lebensraum (in Hungarian)]</ref><ref>http://www.individual.com/story.php?story=92341355, (in ENGLISH) Nov 20, 2008 (BBC Monitoring via COMTEX)</ref>
On September 1, 2009 more than ten thousand Hungarians held demonstrations to protest against the [[Language law of Slovakia|language law]] that limits the use of minority languages in Slovakia,<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8232878.stm Protests over Slovak language law]</ref> in both countries.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Szimpátiatüntetés a kettős állampolgárság mellett Révkomáromban |url=https://hirado.hu/2011/09/01/szimpatiatuntetes-a-kettos-allampolgarsag-mellett/ |access-date=2024-06-08 |website=hirado.hu |language=hu-HU}}</ref> The law calls for fines of up to £4,380 for anyone "misusing the Slovak language.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/world/World-in-brief120 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090905204525/http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/world/World-in-brief120 |archive-date=5 September 2009 |title=World in brief / World / Home – Morning Star}}</ref>

[[File:SNS 2010 campaign poster.jpg|right|thumb|300px|	An anti-Hungarian SNS political poster from the 2010 parliamentary election campaign. It features the [[flag of Slovakia]] using the colors of the [[flag of Hungary]]. The top text reads "''So that tomorrow we wouldn't be surprised''".]]
The particular anti-Hungarian edge of the Slovak public discourse reached its top in the 2010 parliamentary elections, when numerous parties have been campaigning with latent to openly anti-Hungarian slogans. The presently governing [[Smer]] has rented billboards that have warned that "They have given power to SMK! They will do it again!",<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://spravy.pravda.sk/vyhlasenia-kto-s-kym-netreba-brat-vazne-d99-/sk-volby.asp?c=A100601_214323_sk-volby_p29
|title=Vyhlásenia kto s kým netreba brať vážne
|language=sk
|author=Daniela Jancová
|date=2 June 2010
|publisher=Pravda
|access-date=14 May 2012}}</ref> alleging that forming a coalition with SMK would be dangerous. [[Slovak National Party (historical party)|SNS]] went even further and published openly anti-Hungarian posters (see the picture on the right) asserting that Slovakia's on the brim of being conquered by Hungary due to the new Hungarian government's actions. Posters by SNS have been prominently featured in areas with predominantly Hungarian populace too.

===="Wise historism"====
{{Off topic|date=June 2014}}
Since deputy prime minister [[Robert Fico]] declared the "wise historism" concept, the history books are getting rewritten at a faster pace than before, and in an increased "spirit of national pride",<ref name="cancel">[http://www.spectator.sk/articles/view/8878// Matica Slovenská cancels history textbook], [[Slovak Spectator]], July 31, 1996</ref> {{Failed verification|date=December 2008}}<ref name="inventing" /> which Krekovič, Mannová and Krekovičová claim are mainly nothing else, but history falsifications.<ref name="inventing" /> Such new inventions are the interpretation of Great Moravia as an "Old Slovak state", or the term " Old Slovak" itself,<ref name="inventing">{{Harvnb|Krekovič|Mannová|Krekovičová|2005| pp=}}</ref> along with the "refreshing" of many "old traditions", that in fact did not exist or were not Slovak before.<ref name="inventing" /> The concept received criticism in Slovakia pointing out that the term  "Old Slovak" cannot be found in any serious publication, simply because it lacks any scientific basis.<ref>[http://www.nol.hu/cikk/476555/ Népszabadság Online: Fico: Szvatopluk volt első királyunk<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> [[Miroslav Kusý]], a Slovak political scientist, explained that by adopting such scientifically questionable rhetoric Fico aims to "strengthen national consciousness by falsification of history".<ref>[http://www.mno.hu/portal/535174 MN Magyar Nemzet<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><!-- Per [[WP:RSUE]], please provide original language of quotes [[Népszabadság]] "A "régi szlovákok" kifejezéssel egyetlen komoly publikációban sem találkozunk, mert ez a megnevezés egyszerűen minden tudományos alapot nélkülöz - szögezte le." The term proto-Slovak (old-Slovak, ancient-Slovak) cannot be found in any serious publication because this terming lacks all scientific basis"-he pointed out. (note, "he" refers to Dusan Kovác Slovak historian/academic) [[Magyar Nemzet]] A kormány ünnepi nyilatkozatában meghirdetett „okos historizmus" és a hazafiasság programjáról szólva Miroslav Kusy szlovák politológus az Új Szóban kijelentette: a régi nagymorva birodalombeli szlovákok felemlegetésével Robert Fico kormányfő olyan – szakmailag megkérdőjelezhető – retorikát vesz át, amely azt jelzi, hogy „a történelem hamis ábrázolásával erősíti a nemzettudatot”. "Speaking about the "wise (clever?) historism" and patriotism program proclaimed by the government on the occasion (note: 15th year anniversary of 1993) Miroslav Kusy Slovak political scientist said in an interview to [[Új Szó]] that by talking about Slovaks in Great Moravia Robert Fico prime minister adopted such -scientifically questionable- rhetoric that points to the fact that he wants to "strengthen national consciousness by falsification(lit. "false" "painting") of history"   -->

==Rusyns==
The ethnic relationship of [[Prešov Region]] is complex and volatile. A long-term cultural and everyday cohabitation of [[Rusyns]], Slovaks and [[Hungarians]], under the prepodence of the non-Rusyn element led to the linguistic Slovakization of Rusyns, while in some parts (in cities and ethnic islands in the south) they were Magyarized. Still, in both cases they preserved their religion ([[Greek Catholicism]]). Until the 1920s, the Slovak-speaking Greek-Catholics composed a transitional group that was connected with the Rusyns through religion and traditions, with Slovak as their language. Their number was gradually increasing with the transition of the parts of Rusyn population to the Slovak language. Slovakization of the Rusyn population increased in the times of the Czechoslovak authorities (since 1920). The Greek Catholics and Orthodox started to perceive themselves as Slovaks. It is difficult to estimate the distribution of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] and the [[Greek Catholic]]s by the language as well as to determine the number of Rusyns because both the Hungarian and Czechoslovak censuses provided the incorrect number of Rusyns, but it contains roughly 50–100 000 people. According to censuses the decrease of the number of Rusyns was influenced not only by Slovakization but also by emigration of a significant number of Rusyns from Prešov, mainly to the Czech lands.

The Slovak pressure on Rusyns in Slovakia increased after 1919 when Czechoslovakia incorporated [[Carpathian Ruthenia|Transcarpathia]] to the east of the [[Uzh River]]. The Slovakization of Rusyns (and Ukrainians) was a part of the program of the [[Slovak People's Party]], whose leader refused to cooperate with the Rusyn politicians of Transcarpathia but cooperated with Hungarian-speaking A. Brody. Therefore, the Rusyn politicians opened the links with the [[Czechs|Czech]] political parties which were supportive of neutrality towards the Rusyn question. The cultural Slovak-Rusyn relations at the time were minimal.<ref>Entsyklopediia Ukrainoznavstva'</ref>

==Polish Gorals==
{{See also|Szepes county}}
The early Hungarian censuses ignored the Polish nationality, all ethnic Gorals, which identified as Poles were registered as [[Slovaks]].There was also a very strong process of Slovakization of Goral people throughout 18th–20th centuries, mostly done by Roman Catholic Church, in which institution the local aboriginal Polish priests were replaced with Slovak ones. Also, the institution of schooling was replacing the Polish language (Goral dialects) with Slovak during classes.<ref>M. Kaľavský, Narodnostné pomery na Spiši v 18. storočí a v 1. polovici 19. storočia, Bratislava 1993, s. 79–107</ref><ref>J.Dudášová-Kriššáková, Goralské nárečia, Bratislava 1993</ref><ref>Spisz i Orawa w 75. rocznicę powrotu do Polski północnych części obu ziem, T. M. Trajdos (red.), Kraków 1995</ref>

==See also==
*[[Czechoslovak–Hungarian population exchange]]
*[[Beneš decrees]]
*[[Anti-Polish sentiment]]
*[[Hungarian minority in Slovakia]]
*[[Hungarophobia]]
*[[2006 Slovak-Hungarian diplomatic affairs]]
*[[Hedvig Malina]]
*[[Ethnic minorities in Czechoslovakia]]
*[[Anti-German sentiment]]
*[[Slavicisation]]
*[[Magyarization]]
*[[Czechization]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

==Citations==
{{Reflist|2}}

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* {{cite journal
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|title = Zabudnutí aktivisti. Príspevok k dejinám maďarských politických strán v medzivojnovom období.
|trans-title=Forgotten activists. A contribution to the history of Hungarian political parties in the inter-war period.
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|volume = 57
|issue = 3
|year = 2009
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| first       = Arpád
| title       = Dokument: Záverečná správa o reslovakizačnej akcii
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| journal     = Fórum spoločenskovedná revue
| publisher   = Fórum inštitút pre výskum menšín
| location    = Šamorín
| issue       = 5
| year        = 2009
| url         = http://epa.oszk.hu/00000/00033/00041/pdf/szemle_2009_5_dokument1.pdf
| language    = sk
}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book |last1=Van Duin |first1=Pieter|title=Democratic Renewal and the Hungarian Minority Question in Slovakia |last2=Polá|first2=Zuzana |series=European Societies |volume= 2 |issue=3 |year=2000 |pages=335–360 |doi=10.1080/146166900750036303|s2cid=154788930}}
* {{Cite book |title= Political Change in Post-Communist Slovakia and Croatia: From Nationalist to Europeanist|last=Fisher|first=Sharon |year=2006 |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |isbn= 978-1-4039-7286-6}}

==External links==

{{Cultural assimilation|sp=ize}}

[[Category:Politics of Slovakia]]
[[Category:Cultural assimilation]]
[[Category:Social history of Slovakia]]
[[Category:Slovak language]]
[[Category:Slovak nationalism]]
[[Category:Slavicization]]