As the writer of this article, John Karch noted "His invention must be considered
as an outstanding, historic contribution to the safety of aviation in war and
peace." I concur.
In 1921 Stephen returned back to Smolenice, Slovakia and once more became
"Stefan." He died there in 1941, but he has not been forgotten. In the latter
1980s Slovakia has come to give him a place of honor and here in the US
sky divers have begun to give him long overdue recognition. Among those
who have is Senator Robbins, a West Point grad and Vietnam veteran. As a
skydiving enthusiast, he impressed many by honoring Stefan Banic and stating
his appreciation of Slovakia and its people. Another regular "Banic" skydiver
at the 17th annual Stefan Banic Memorial celebration held recently at SKYDIVE
DALLAS is retired Rear Admiral George Worthington, USN, of San Diego, CA.
The kudos for Stefan came late, but for a man who gave up his patent rights to
a country which welcomed him in, they obviously were not necessary or even
important to him.
And now I salute Alexander Dubchek -- a Communist but a Slovak one with
heart. It was he who as head of the Communist party in Prague, initiated the
"Prague Spring" - an attempt to put a kinder face on Communism. Sadly,
his Communist bosses weren't pleased and they sent in tanks to squelch
his humanitarian attempt. Naturally, he was demoted but he never lost the
love of his Slovak people. He may well have become the first president of the
new Slovakia if he had gone along with the Velvet Divorce, but he died in an
auto accident before this historic event happened.
And for last I applaud two Slovak priests - Msgr. Hlinka and Father Tiso.
Because most of the Slovaks were uneducated, they turned to their priests
for guidance and direction because they were the only ones with higher
education. I am saddened at the ill treatment they both received - Msgr.
Hlinko from the Hungarians and Father Tiso from the Czechs.
Msgr. Hinka who had initially championed the cause of national rights
within the Austro-Hungarian Empire and later in the first republic of Czecho-
Slovakia was imprisoned by both repressive regimes.
He was born of Slovak peasant stock but his brilliant public school record
enabled him to seek higher education. He chose the priesthood and, though
his seminary record was listed as outstanding, he was thought to be "inclined
to Slavism," which was looked upon unfavorably by the Hungarians.
Nevertheless, he was ordained and in 1895 he began to be active as a member
of the Catholic Peoples Party which criticized the social and ethnic policies
of the Hungarian government.
He was imprisoned soon after the new church he built in his native village
of Cernova. The Hungarian bishop would not allow him to be present for the
church blessing and sent his own representative in his place. As the carriage
came upon the entrance to the village, hundreds of the faithful flocked the
carriage. The Hungarian police who accompanied the entourage shot into
the crowd killing and wounding men, women, and children.
As sad as this was, the only bright spot for Msgr. Hlinka was the realization
that this story would find its way into the Western press and the world
might now know the sad plight of the Slovaks under Hungarian rule.
Another sad chapter involving a priest - Father Tiso. Between 1939 and l945
Father Tiso as head of the Slovak's People Party became involved in a strategy
which favored Hitler and allowed him to send his troops into Czech lands.
Further down I will try to explain how this happened.
I also read sadly that Slovakia as well as a goodly portion of Central Europe were
anti-Semitic. As a result, we did not treat the Jews well, but the following
paragraph From the Wikipedia article on Josef Tiso succinctly gives at least
some measure of concern for them by the Slovaks:
"The deportations of Jews from Slovakia started in March 1942, but were
stopped-despite heavy opposition from Germany, which demanded their
resumption in October 1942 by Slovaks, when it became clear that Nazi
Germany had not "only" abused the Slovak Jews as forced labor workers
but had also executed many of them in death camps, and when public
protests arose as well as pressure from the Holy See to stop the deportation
of Jewish civilians. Slovakia became the first state in the Nazi sphere to
stop deportation of Jews, but some 58,000 Jews (75% of Slovak Jewry) had
already suffered deportation, mostly to Auschwitz, of whom only a minority
survived. Between October 1943 and October 1944, an independent Slovakia
even served as a safe last resort for Jews suffering persecution in Nazi-
occupied neighboring countries such as annexed Austria, the protectorate of
Bohemia and Moravia, Poland and occupied Ukraine."
When the Nazis resumed their occupation of Slovakia and it lost its
independence, Nazi Germany saw the deportation of Jews again after two years.
During this 1944-45 German occupation another 13,500 Jews were deported
and 5,000 were imprisoned.
No, I am not proud of this period of our history and I would imagine none of us
of Slovak ancestry are, but I believe it is always better to acknowledge the
truth and hopefully we have.
How did we become in league with the Nazis? That too is a sad story, but
it seems that there were forces at play which propelled us into this untenable
situation:
1. "In 1938 HUNGARY, having never really accepted the separation of Slovakia
from its control in 1918 ...managed to persuade Germany and Italy to FORCE
SLOVAKIA to let Hungarian troops occupy one third of Slovak territory...."
2."On March 9, 1939- CZECH troops occupied Slovakia and Tiso lost his post of
Prime Minister...."
3. "On March 13, 1939, losing patience Hitler "invited" the deposed prime minister
Fr. Tiso and PERSONALLY FORCED HIM TO IMMEDIATELY DECLARE THE
INDEPENDNCE OF SLOVAKIA UNDER GERMAN "PROTECTION." OTHERWISE
GERMANY WOULD ALLOW HUNGARY TO ANNEX THE REMAINING TERRITORY
OF SLOVAKIA."
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