Slovakia observes Holocaust and racial violence remembrance day

September 9 marks the Remembrance Day for Victims of the Holocaust and Racial Violence. In Slovakia, this date commemorates the anniversary of the Jewish Code, a set of anti-Semitic laws issued in 1941 by the government of the first Slovak state. Modeled after Nazi German legislation, the Code was among the strictest in Europe at the time, stripping Jewish citizens of their personal, social, economic, and religious rights.

Historical records indicate that these legal measures facilitated the deportation of more than 70,000 Jewish citizens from Slovakia to Nazi concentration camps between 1942 and 1945.

In observance of the day, Monsignor Bernard Bober, Chairman of the Conference of Bishops of Slovakia, issued a statement calling for the renewal of memory. He emphasized the suffering of thousands of innocent victims destroyed by ideologies based on hatred and the abuse of power. Bober urged society to remain vigilant against rising intolerance and antisemitism, calling for respect and peace in human relations.