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EJP | News | Eastern Europe | Slovak president praises controversial nationalist priest
Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic praised a controversial pre-WWII politician and Catholic priest Andrej Hlinka, who once described himself as the “Slovak Hitler”, at a ceremony Saturday. Gasparovic’s comments came a day after Slovak lawmakers voted a law to honour Hlinka’s memory in a move condemned by Slovak intellectuals, Jewish and Protestant groups. (…) Slovakia, part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, was administered from Budapest before the monarchy collapsed at the end of WW1. Hlinka came from Cernova, now swallowed by the central Slovak town of Ruzemberok, and the ban on him consecrating a new church there helped spark the 1907 demonstations and subsequent shootings. He is infamous for proclaiming in 1936: “I am the Slovak Hitler. I will restore order in Slovakia like Hitler did in Germany.”