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Priest, Politician, Collaborator: Jozef Tiso and the Making of Fascist Slovakia By James Mace Ward. (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. 2013. Pp. xiv, 362. $39.95. ISBN 978-0-8014-4988-8.)
For a Catholic historian, a consideration of the career of Father Jozef Tiso poses an exceptional challenge. Able, intelligent, devoted to his clerical duties (he continued to minister to his parishioners even after his appointment as president and "leader" of the wartime Slovak state), Tiso is one of the rare cases of a serving priest who became the leader of his country. He should, therefore, have been an exemplary figure in the Church's struggle to respond to the rise of socialism, atheism, unfettered capitalism, and the secularization of modern society by a re-engagement with society. As the author of this superb biography makes clear, however, Tiso perverted this struggle with his chauvinistic nationalism, his own (dubious) interpretations of Catholic theology, and the relentless pursuit of political power. He established a quasi-totalitarian regime with fascist characteristics, collaborated with Nazi Germany, expelled the bulk of Slovak Jewry to its slaughter, and brought lasting shame on the Church and Slovak Catholic nationalism.
Some Slovak Catholic historians have always found this verdict impossible to accept. Emigré Slovak historians lauded Tiso as a hero who had finally fulfilled the Slovak people's desire for an independent state, had guarded this independence against the expansionist goals of Nazi Germany, had resisted efforts by his radical fascist...