Dissolution of Czechoslovakia
Since the federalization in 1968, Czechoslovakia had divided citizenship, either of the Czech Socialist Republic or of the Slovak Socialist Republic (the word 'Socialist' was dropped from both names shortly after the Velvet Revolution). This distinction, however, had little effect on the citizen's life. On January 1, 1993, all Czechoslovak citizens automatically became citizens either of the Czech Republic or the Slovak Republic, based on their previous citizenship, permanent residence address, birthplace, family ties, job, and other criteria. Additionally, people had one year's time to claim the other citizenship under certain conditions.
Jozef Tiso's speech in Holič
In March 1939, the Slovak State declared independence from Czechoslovakia; Germany invaded the Czech rump state. That October, Jozef Tiso, a Catholic priest, became president of Slovakia. Slovakia was the only country to pay for the deportation of its Jewish population, and the only country besides Nazi Germany to organize the deportation of its own Jewish citizens. In an 8 March petition, Slovak Jewish community leaders exhorted Tiso to cancel the planned deportation of Slovakia's Jews because it represented the "physical destruction of the Jews in Slovakia". Tiso ignored the petition, as well as the condemnation of papal ambassador Giuseppe Burzio. At the time of Tiso's speech, 55,000 Jews out of 89,000 had been deported from the Slovak State; the deportations had been halted on 1 August 1942. The Slovak government knew that the deportees were being systematically murdered.