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The Archbishop of Trnava, Ján Sokol
While outright denial of the Holocaust was relatively rare, expressions of approval for the World War II Slovak fascist state that deported tens of thousands of Jews, Gypsies and others to extermination camps were quite common. Personality Josef Tiso, president of the wartime fascist Slovak state, was honored as the highest representative of the Roman Catholic Church in Slovakia back in 2008. Archbishop Jan Sokol of Trnava served a memorial service for Tiso on April 18, on the 61st anniversary of his execution as a traitor. The Slovak Bishops' Conference stated that this was a private act of Archbishop Sokol.
At the turn of the 20s. In the 21st century, the Tiso cult began to form among the ultra-right in Slovakia. Far-right groups began regularly celebrating dates associated with the Slovak fascist state and its president, including the youth wing of the neo-Nazi Our Slovakia Party (LSNS), which, for example, published a post on social media on March 14, 2021, dedicated to the creation of the fascist state in 1939. On the same day, LSNS chairman Marian Kotleba posted the Slovak flag on his social media account in what experts believe was recognition of the anniversary of the Slovak fascist state.
In December, after investigating a street named after the president of the Slovak fascist state, located in the village of Varin, the National Criminal Affairs Agency indicted 10 of 11 local councilors for the crime of expressing sympathy for a movement aimed at suppression of fundamental rights and freedoms. The accused councillors, one of whom was then absent, refused to vote for the name change at the August city council meeting, citing plans to hold a local referendum after the police and courts dropped the case. After objections from all 10 counselors, the Special Prosecutor dismissed the charges on the grounds that a specific crime could not be committed by inaction and that "lack of empathy and ignorance of historical facts" was not a crime.
