Posted on 09/01/2006 6:57:19 AM PDT by Grzegorz 246
These days, the people of the Slovak Republic is celebrating two important events in its modern history –August 29, 1944, the 62nd anniversary of the National Slovak Insurrection, and September 1, 1992 – the 14th anniversary of the Day of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic.
The National Slovak Insurrection represents one of the most important chapters of Slovak history, even if its unilateral interpretation during the Communist regime stressing the guiding role of the Communists and denying the role of the Army and of the strong civic resistance for a while jagged the meaning of that progressive historic legacy of the Slovak people. However, its fundamental message has lasted: during the most acute crisis of the European civilisation in the 20th century, many Slovaks rejected the totalitarian collaborationist regime and took the organised and informed side of freedom and truth. Through their insurrection, the Slovaks unequivocally adhered to the anti-Fascist coalition. The National Slovak Insurrection was an inherent part of the European anti-Fascist resistance. Its international importance is also emphasised by the participation of insurgents representing 32 peoples and nations from Europe, including Romanians. In the second half of August 1944 a two-moth confrontation began that has remained in history known by the name of the National Slovak Insurrection. In Central Slovakia, the Army had control over a compact territory with its centre at Banska Bystrica.
There the National Slovak Council took power and the units of the Slovak Army formed First Czechoslovakian Army Corps in Slovakia with 60,000 servicemen. The partisans’ units counted approximately 18,000 fighters. The National Slovak Insurrection took place in the positive context of the act on August 23, 1944, when Romania exited the alliance of the Axis and stopped its war against the United Nations, which enabled the Romanian Army to join the fight against the German troops. The tradition of the Insurrection endowed Slovakia with a moral capital the essence of which it was to feed on in the decades to come as well. The principles it embraced at that time it also confirmed in its first historic Constitution adopted on the 1st of September 1992. It stands for the natural sovereignty of the people, of the citizen, of the state, for the freedom of thinking and of faith, for democracy, social equity, respect for the human being and has all the attributes of a democratic constitution.
The adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovakia at the time when the country was part of the common state of the Federative Czech and Slovak Republic expedited its division into two sovereign states. It was a civilised split of the two peoples whose political elite were unable to find a satisfactory solution to regulating the bilateral relations between the Slovaks and the Czechs. Under the understanding of the 29th of October 1992, the Slovak and Czech premiers signed the Agreement on the Future Relations between the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic, and, on the 25th of November, the Federal Assembly voted with a tight majority the dissolution of the federation.
On the 31st of December 1992, the Czech-Slovak Republic ceased to exist and, on the 1st of January 1993, the two states became its rightful successors. Nonetheless, the good relations between the two peoples fortunately did not end on that date; they managed to find again ways of communication and have been cooperating closely ever since. On this occasion we ought to be mentioning that, in the spirit of our good bilateral relations, Romania was among the first states that recognised the independence of the Slovak Republic, and Slovakia was the first state that, on the 21st of June 2006, ratified the EU Accession Treaty of Romania and sincerely wishes that Romania and the Romanian people will soon regain their rightful place in the large family of European nations.
Hurrah! Huzzah!
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