Nástup

Nástup (translated as "line up"[1] "forming ranks",[2] "deployment",[3] or "ascent"[4]) was a semimonthly Slovak periodical, published between 1933 and 1945, that advocated Slovak autonomy, ethnonationalism, and antisemitism. Founded by Ferdinand Ďurčanský and his brother Ján, the magazine was oriented at younger Slovak Catholics, especially university students. Its readers, the most radical wing of the Slovak People's Party, were called "Nástupists"[2] or "Nástup faction";[5] many of them had been previously affiliated with Rodobrana paramilitary and later with the Hlinka Guard paramilitary. The paper admired some aspects of Nazism, but disagreed with those which could not be reconciled with Catholicism. Israeli historian Yetayashu Jelínek described Nástup as offering "a sui generis brand of extreme rightist ideology" because it insisted on an independent (as opposed to pro-German) foreign policy.[6]

For the 1953 Czechoslovak film, see Nástup (film).

Nástup, volume 7 issue 6 (1938)

History

Nástup was founded by Ferdinand Ďurčanský and his brother Ján in April 1933 following the decline of the Rodobrana paramilitary organization, officially dissolved in 1929. Officially, its name was Nástup mladej slovenskej autonomistickej generácie (The Ascent of the Young Slovak Autonomist Generation), but it was commonly referred to as Nástup.[7][8] Historian Sabine Witt suggests that the title may derive from the 1929 poem "Nástup otrávených" (The Deployment of the Poisoned) by Andrej Žarnov, which was banned for its advocacy of Slovak autonomy.[9] Published semimonthly,[1][10] Nástup was popular among young Slovak nationalists,[9] especially students and university graduates.[1][11] Editorial staff included Alexander Mach and Karol Murgaš, who was also the editor of the Slovak People's Party's main publication, Slovák. Vojtech Tuka, one of the movers behind the creation of Rodobrana, was a key member of the Nástup faction[5] and covertly supported the paper.[12] There was a significant continuity between Rodobrana, the Nástup faction, and the later Hlinka Guard paramilitary, founded in 1938.[9] The Nástup faction was eventually absorbed by the Hlinka Guard faction of the party.[5]

In 1933, Nástupists disrupted a commemoration event for Saints Cyril and Methodius, forcing the organizers to allow Andrej Hlinka to speak. This triggered arrests of some of the rioters and a temporary ban on the paper.[13] It was also banned for six months in late 1934 and early 1935.[14] From late 1934, the paper received funding from the Polish Foreign Ministry.[15] Although Hlinka once denied that Nástup had any affiliation with the Slovak People's Party, in fact all of the periodical's writers were party members and wielded increasing influence over Hlinka and his party.[16] The paper was banned again following the July 1940 Salzburg Conference in which the Germans targeted the Nástup faction.[6]

Content

In its first issue in 1933, Nástup called for Czechoslovakia to become a federation, which was anathema at the time because it would require a fundamental change in the constitution. The issue also contained a two-part article, pseudonomously authored, on Adolf Hitler and Nazism, which concluded: "We are basically fighting for the same goals as German Nazism: for a political, economic and cultural renewal. Only our circumstances are different."[9] However, the same article also condemned racism and violence as contrary to Catholic teaching, and Nazism as a potential enemy because it did not adhere to Christian values.[9] The magazine at times admired Nazism in Germany,[1] and promoted fascism to the Slovak People's Party, although it disagreed with the anti-clerical element of Nazism.[17] It opposed support for Edvard Beneš in the 1935 Czechoslovak presidential election and joining the Czechoslovak government after the 1935 Czechoslovak parliamentary election,[18] and tried to remove Jozef Tiso from a position of influence in the Slovak People's Party.[14]

Israeli historian Yetayashu Jelínek described Nástup as offering "a sui generis brand of extreme rightist ideology" because it insisted on an independent (as opposed to pro-German) foreign policy.[6] The newspaper opposed alliance between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia;[4] instead, Nástup preferred closer relations with the right-wing authoritarian regimes in Central Europe. As its primary audience was young Catholics, the periodical frequently aired grievances related to professors and the Slovak language in education.[9] Viewing itself as part of a "fascist new order" in Europe, Nástup advocated for a racial definition for the Slovak nation and "cleansing" of minority groups, especially Jews.[5][16]

Nástup promoted antisemitism, and "blamed Jews for everything",[14] including the French Revolution, liberalism, immoral capitalism, socialism, and an alleged global moral decline.[14][16] Nástup also blamed Jews for the Russian Revolution and Soviet communism, according to the conspiracy theory Judeo-Bolshevism.[7] In the first issue, the paper argued for extending the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses to Slovakia and urged readers to "shop only in Slovak shops... advertise only in Slovak newspapers... give jobs only to Slovaks".[16] The periodical argued that Jews could not be Slovaks.[9] By 1939, the paper was quoting The Eternal Jew in order to justify anti-Jewish measures.[13] According to Nástup in 1938:

A Jew brought up on the text of the Talmud will always remain Jewish, and can never become Christian... It is necessary to eliminate Jews from the life of Christian nations. It is necessary to chase Jews from Christian nations. Jews must be deprived of all influence, their property, acquired by fraudulent means, must be confiscated, we must begin to act.[19]

gollark: I think there's a thing called PiFS.
gollark: I think the calculators we have for school store numbers as either rationals, surds (multiples of square roots, or something like that), or multiples of pi.
gollark: You miss out on those pesky infinitely long numbers.
gollark: Correctness is correct. Floats are mostly okayish.
gollark: I think you mean "5 haskell programmers".

References

Citations
  1. Ward 2013, p. 115.
  2. Gromada 1969, p. 460.
  3. Szabó 2018, p. 895.
  4. Zemko 2006, p. 117.
  5. Kallis 2008, p. 246.
  6. Jelínek 1971, p. 247.
  7. Zemko 2006, pp. 108, 117.
  8. Lorman 2019, pp. 196, 204.
  9. Witt 2014, p. 273.
  10. Zemko 2006, p. 108.
  11. Nedelsky 2012, p. 92.
  12. Lorman 2019, p. 196.
  13. Lorman 2019, p. 206.
  14. Ward 2013, p. 136.
  15. Gromada 1969, pp. 459–460.
  16. Lorman 2019, p. 205.
  17. Lorman 2019, pp. 204–205.
  18. Felak 1995, p. 158.
  19. "Slovak Party Launches Anti-Jewish Drive". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 22 November 1938. Retrieved 10 December 2019.

Sources
  • Felak, James Ramon (1995). At the Price of the Republic: Hlinka's Slovak People's Party, 1929–1938. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 978-0-8229-7694-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Gromada, Thaddeus V. (1969). "Pilsudski and the Slovak Autonomists". Slavic Review. 28 (3): 445–462. doi:10.2307/2494021. ISSN 0037-6779. JSTOR 2494021.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Jelínek, Yeshayahu (1971). "Slovakia' Internal Policy and the Third Reich, August 1940–February 1941". Central European History. 4 (3): 242–270. doi:10.1017/S0008938900015363. ISSN 1569-1616.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Kallis, Aristotle (2008). Genocide and Fascism: The Eliminationist Drive in Fascist Europe. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-30034-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Lorman, Thomas (2019). The Making of the Slovak People's Party: Religion, Nationalism and the Culture War in Early 20th-Century Europe. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-350-10938-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Nedelsky, Nadya (2012). Defining the Sovereign Community: The Czech and Slovak Republics. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-0289-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Szabó, Miloslav (2018). ""For God and Nation" Catholicism and the Far-Right in the Central European Context (1918–1945)". Historický časopis. 66 (5). doi:10.31577/histcaso.2018.66.5.4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Ward, James Mace (2013). Priest, Politician, Collaborator: Jozef Tiso and the Making of Fascist Slovakia. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0801468124.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Witt, Sabine (2014). Nationalistische Intellektuelle in der Slowakei 1918-1945: Kulturelle Praxis zwischen Sakralisierung und Säkularisierung (in German). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN 978-3-11-035955-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Zemko, Milan (2006). "Československo-sovietske spojenectvo z pohľadu mladoľudáckeho Nástupu" (PDF). In Šuchová, Xénia (ed.). L'udáci a komunisti: Súperi? Spojenci? Protivníci? (in Slovak). pp. 108–117. ISBN 80-89046-38-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

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