P, Pin-Yu Chen

UCL Discovery

SLOVO, VOL. 28, NO. 2(SPRING 2016), 140-143.  DOI: 10.14324/111. 0954-6839.052 © School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, 2016. Mapping Jewish Loyalties in Interwar Slovakia. By REBEKAH KlEIN-PEJŠOVÁ. Pp. 216. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 2015. £26.99. Hardback. ISBN: 9780253015549.  The mushrooming of  nation states in the wake of  the Great War radically transformed the map of  Central and Eastern Europe. Some ethnic groups, like Czechs and Slovaks in the newly formed Czechoslovakia, became the new dominant nationality; others, like the Jews in the territory of  Slovakia, had to reorient from Budapest to Prague. What, then, did Prague use as a touchstone of  the political loyalty of  Slovak Jews? Rebekah Klein-Pejšová examined the Jewish reorientation in their declaration of  nationality in three censuses: the 1919 census in Slovakia, and the 1921 and 1930 Czechoslovak state-wide censuses. She argues that Czechoslovakia used the option of  Jewish nationality on the census to ‘foster relocation of  individual Jewish loyalties’ from Hungary to the Czechoslovak state (p. 21). Magyarized Jews might continue their linguistic and cultural affiliation with the Hungarian nation, but politically they were encouraged to declare Jewish or Czechoslovak nationality to counter Hungarian minority influence in Slovakia.  Much of  Klein-Pejšová’s monograph focusses on the statistical obsessions of  various parties, especially those of  the Czechoslovak administration and Hungarian minorities. Prague relied on the superior numerical strength of  the Czechoslovak nation to legitimize its dominance over the state. Hungarian minorities counted on passing the 20% bar to secure the right to use the Hungarian language in a certain local district for educational, 141 REVIEWS: BOOKS © School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, 2016. cultural, and administrative purposes. Thus the Jewish minority, and how to count Jewish nationality, became a contentious subject. The Jews in Czechoslovakia lacked a separate Jewish language, therefore complicating the seemingly natural connection between language and nationality. The legacy of  Magyrisation under the Kingdom of  Hungary left many Slovak Jews speaking the Hungarian language as their mother tongue. Moreover, Czechoslovak demographers deemed determining nationality by language of  daily use (Austrian census tradition) or by mother tongue (Hungarian census tradition) rather manipulative. They argued that such results had underestimated the numerical strength of  Czechs and Slovaks due to their German and Hungarian linguistic assimilation. Jews happened to prove the need to detach nationality from language in censuses. The 1919 census in Slovakia, therefore, asked individuals to declare nationality according to ‘internal conviction’, much like religious affiliation. The much-debated 1920 census methodology, though reconciling the two traditions of  direct declaration or linguistic determinism to count nationality, still allowed exception for Jews and for those assimilated into another linguistic group. Throughout the inter-war years, Slovak Jews increasingly opted for Jewish or Czechoslovak nationalities instead of  the Hungarian one, seeing them as the safest option to prove their loyalty to the Czechoslovak state, and to steer away from ethnic strifes.   Klein-Pejšová successfully contextualizes domestic and regional challenges to Jewish integration in Slovakia. Not only were the small Slovak Jewish community internally divided 142 REVIEWS: BOOKS © School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, 2016. by assimilationist and Zionist politics, their Czechoslovak statist affiliation also brought them into conflict with Hungarian minority and Slovak nationalists. The former blamed the Jews for losing the rights to Hungarian language usage in some local districts, while the latter accused them of  assisting majority oppression of  the minority as in the days of  the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Slovak Jews also trod a fine line when engaging in transnational cooperation with Jews in Budapest to commemorate fallen Hungarian Jewish soldiers in the Great War for fear it would play into Hungary’s irredentist ambition.         Unfortunately, Klein-Pejšová’s mastery over interpreting dry statistics is compromized by occasional mistakes and slightly confusing manner of  narration. Antonín Bohác wrote ‘Nationality and the New Czechoslovak Census’ to defend the 1930 census, not the 1931 one (p. 120). The achronological recount of  Hugo Roth’s resignation as the leader of  the Union of  Slovak Jews in 1934 and its consequences—presenting two opinion pieces that came to Roth’s defence before revealing the reason of  his resignation in a newspaper piece written by Roth himself  more than a week before the two responses—could have the opposite effect of  bringing to light this historical obscurity. However, Klein-Pejšová proves extremely helpful when providing tables for the 1921 census to skilfully present the overwhelming demographical numbers. This reader would be grateful if  she had done the same for the 1930 census, rather than depending on verbal elucidation for statistical comparisons.  143 REVIEWS: BOOKS © School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, 2016.  Stylistic flaws notwithstanding, readers will find that this book offers a fresh perspective on the crucial role the tiny Slovak Jewish community played in the inter-war Czechoslovak politics of  demography—regarding census methodological debates, minority campaigns for nationality declaration, and the very definition and understanding of  nationality in Czechoslovakia.     PARIS PIN-YU CHEN School of  Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London                This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. This license lets it to be freely shared and adapted in any medium and format and for any purpose, including commercially. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. 

Mapping Jewish Loyalties in Interwar Slovakia. By REBEKAH KlEIN-PEJŠOVÁ. Pp. 216. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 2015. £26.99. Hardback. ISBN: 9780253015549.

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Mapping Jewish Loyalties in Interwar Slovakia. By REBEKAH KlEIN-PEJŠOVÁ. Pp. 216. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 2015. £26.99. Hardback. ISBN: 9780253015549.

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