Prime Minister Robert Fico laid a wreath at Bratislava's SNP Square Wednesday on the eve of the 64th anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising (SNP). He asked for more respect and humility for important figures of Slovak modern history. He underscored that he does not want to apologize for their mistakes but wants to show a more human approach in judging their deeds. According to him, Gustav Husak, who became the communist leader in former Czechoslovakia after the invasion by Warsaw Pact troops and suppression of the Prague Spring, was an excellent political leader of the uprising during WWII. Mr. Fico emphasized that President Antonin Novotny treated Gustav Husak and others as bourgeois nationalists and now many condemn the same people as communists.
In his speech, Mr. Fico sad that the idea of the Slovak National Uprising had two points of origin. The idea of it was born in Bratislava at 9 Gajova Street, when the Christmas Agreement was concluded in December 1943 to unite two resistance groups. He condemned the fact that the house at 9 Gajova has not been filmed for twenty years. "It hurts me how sloppily we treat our modern history," he said. How can young people know that Bratislava was the conceptual home of the uprising, he asked. The Christmas Agreement showed how politicians should seek "higher interest". The prime minister underscored that he also invited political parties in Slovakia to reach a consensus on national and state interests today.
Mr. Fico also mentioned the spiritual leader of the reformist Prague Spring movement, Alexander Dubcek. He called him a truth seeker and said that every politician faces the task of seeking the truth, although each may be mistaken. "Even we can be wrong," he said.
The prime minister also said that Slovakia experienced two uprisings, in 1848 and 1944. Both ended in defeat. "These were victorious defeats," said Mr. Fico. Speaker of Parliament Pavol Paska drew attention in his speech to the death of the student Daniel Tupy, who was murdered for his long hair in the autumn of 2005. "We have to do our best to eliminate ideologies of prejudice," said the speaker of parliament, who read Daniel Tupy's poems at the ceremonial gathering. Mr. Paska also underscored that the SNP is a symbol of humanity, one of which we should be proud.
Since the end of World War Two, Slovakia has been celebrating the SNP anniversary on August 29 as its national holiday. In the face of Nazi German troops entering Slovakia on August 29, 1944, because of the increasing anti-Fascist pressure on the puppet regime that governed the country, the Central Command of the Slovak Army ordered the troops to begin armed resistance, thus starting the SNP. Most Slovak historians consider the uprising the fight for the basic values of a democratic society by the allied forces that defeated Nazi Germany.