Property Restitution and Violent Backlash
In May 1946, the Slovak government passed a restitution law canceling Aryanizations and returning property to Jews. Former partisans—often appointed as administrators of seized businesses—opposed the law, fearing loss of wartime spoils. During the First National Congress of Slovak Partisans (August 2-4, 1946), violence erupted. Between August 1-6, rioters attacked ten apartments, the Jewish community kitchen, injuring 19 people (4 seriously). Antisemitic leaflets distributed before the congress mobilized violence with slogans like “Death to the Jews!” and “Now or never, away with the Jews!” Rioting spread to other cities. The government suspended restitution but launched investigations into police complicity, revealing that postwar antisemitism persisted despite Nazi defeat.
„At the beginning of August 1946, new anti‑Jewish incidents occurred in Slovakia. At that time, the first nationwide congress of partisans was taking place in Bratislava.“
Petr Bednařík
„Protižidovské výtržnosti při partyzánském sjezdu v českém tisku v létě 1946,“ Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae – Historia litterarum 57(4), 2012, 37–42.
Further Reading / Sources
Beyond Violence: Jewish Survivors in Poland and Slovakia.1944–48
Cichopek-Gajraj, Anna, 2014, Cambridge University Press
Anti-Jewish Riots during Partisan Congress in Czech Press in Summer 1946
Bednařík, Petr, 2012, Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae – Historia litterarum, Vol. 57, No. 4, pp. 37-42.
Ústav pamäti národa (UPN) – Institute of National Memory Slovakia
Archival materials: criminal case files and investigations from postwar violence (1945–1948)