Christian Nationalism, Nation-Building, and the Making of the Holocaust in Slovakia

Previous scholarship on fascism in Slovakia has focused on either state actors operating from urban centres or the mechanisms of violence on a grassroots level - with the result being that the Holocaust is seen as primarily a top-down and state-centred process. In contrast, Hana Kubatova reveals here a dynamic and unexplored centre-periphery relationship, and how violence against the Jewish population unfolded in both cities and the countryside, and on both national and local levels. As an integral component of broader nation-building efforts, the authority of the fascist regime and the newly-founded Slovak state hinged not only on appeasing Hitler but also on civilian populations of the nation's heterogenous eastern borderlands, especially local elites, such as priest and teachers, as well as the rural masses. The book explores how this relationship was forged, how it was maintained, and how, ultimately, Christian nationalism operated as a political strategy that brought differently positioned actors together - to broker deals over resources and power accrued through the co-enactment of genocide by a broad coalition of perpetrators on the ground. In so doing, this little-known chapter of Holocaust history offers a new way to understand the dynamics and escalations of mass violence, and how collaborations between elite and popular groups can pave the way for ethnic cleansing across different territories and, even, times.