Vojtech Tuka
| Vojtech Tuka | |
|---|---|
Vojtech Tuka, 1939
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| Prime Minister First Slovak Republic |
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In office October 26, 1939 – September 2, 1944 |
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| President | Jozef Tiso |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs First Slovak Republic |
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In office October 26, 1939 – September 2, 1944 |
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| Preceded by | Ferdinand Ďurčanský |
| Deputy, Czechoslovak Parliament | |
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In office 1925 – 1929 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
July 4, 1880 Hegybánya, Hont County, Kingdom of Hungary (today Štiavnické Bane, Slovakia). |
| Died | August 20, 1946 (aged 66) Bratislava, Czechoslovakia |
| Nationality | Slovak |
| Political party | Countrywide Christian Socialist Party |
| Other political affiliations |
Slovak People's Party |
| Occupation | Politician, lawyer, professor, editor |
| Profession | Law |
Vojtech "Béla" Tuka (4 July 1880 – August 20, 1946) was the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the First Slovak Republic between 1940 and 1945. Tuka was one of the main forces behind the deportation of Slovak Jews to Nazi concentration camps in German occupied Poland. He was the leader of the radical wing of the Slovak People's Party.
Tuka, sometimes referred to by the Magyar name Béla, was born in Hegybánya, in the Hont County of the Kingdom of Hungary (today: Štiavnické Bane, Slovakia). He studied law at universities in Budapest, Berlin, and Paris. He became the youngest professor in the Kingdom of Hungary, teaching law in Pécs and—from 1914 to 1919—at the Elizabethan University in Bratislava. After the dissolution of that university in 1919, he worked as an editor in Bratislava.
After the founding of Czechoslovakia in late 1918, he joined the autonomist Slovak People's Party .Growing separatist sentiment would later enable Tuka's rise to power. In 1919, he was elected to the Presidium of the Countrywide Christian Socialist Party as nominee of the Slovak section. In 1923, he founded the organization Rodobrana ("Home Guard"), an armed milita. Tuka was also a deputy to the Czechoslovak parliament.
On 1 January 1928, Tuka published an article titled "Vacuum iuris", alleging that there had been a suppressed annex to the 30 October 1918 "Martin Declaration" (the Slovak version of the Czechoslovak declaration of independence of 18 October 1918) by which Slovak representatives officially joined the newly founded state of Czechoslovakia. This annex, according to Tuka, stated that the declaration was, by agreement, to be valid for only ten years; after 30 October 1928, he claimed, Prague's writ would no longer run in Slovakia. The Prague government charged Tuka with espionage and high treason. Tuka was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment; he served about ten years of that sentence.
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