Nástup

Nástup was founded by Ferdinand Ďurčanský and his brother Ján Ďurčanský in April 1933 following the decline of Rodobrana. Officially, its name was Nástup mladej slovenskej autonomistickej generácie (The Ascent of the Young Slovak Autonomist Generation), but it was commonly referred to as Nástup.[6][7] Published semimonthly,[1][8] it was popular among young Slovak nationalists,[9] especially students and university graduates.[1][10]

In 1933, Nástupists disrupted a commemoration event for Saints Cyril and Methodius, forcing the organizers to allow Andrej Hlinka to speak. This triggered arrests of some of the rioters and a temporary ban on the paper.[11] It was also banned for six months in late 1934 and early 1935.[12] From late 1934, the paper received funding from the Polish Foreign Ministry.[13] Although Hlinka once denied that Nástup had any affiliation with the Slovak People's Party, in fact all of the periodical's writers were party members and wielded increasing influence over Hlinka and his party.[14] Vojtech Tuka covertly supported the paper.[15] The paper was banned again following the July 1940 Salzburg Conference in which the Germans targeted the Nástup faction.[16]

Nástup at times admired Nazism in Germany,[1] and promoted fascism to the Slovak People's Party, although it disagreed with the anti-clerical element of Nazism.[17] Israeli historian Yetayashu Jelínek described Nástup as offering "a sui generis brand of extreme rightist ideology" because it insisted on an independent (as opposed to pro-German) foreign policy.[16] It opposed support for Edvard Benes in the 1935 Czechoslovak presidential election and joining the Czechoslovak government after the 1935 Czechoslovak parliamentary election,[18] and tried to remove Jozef Tiso from a position of influence in the Slovak People's Party.[12] The newspaper opposed alliance between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia.[4] It advocated for a racial definition for the Slovak nation and "cleansing" of minority groups, especially Jews.[5][14]

Nástup promoted antisemitism, and "blamed Jews for everything",[12] including the French Revolution, liberalism, immoral capitalism, socialism, and an alleged global moral decline.[12][14] Nástup also blamed Jews for the Russian Revolution and Soviet communism, according to the conspiracy theory Judeo-Bolshevism.[6] In the first issue, the paper argued for extending the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses to Slovakia and urged readers to "shop only in Slovak shops... advertise only in Slovak newspapers... give jobs only to Slovaks".[14] By 1939, the paper was quoting The Eternal Jew in order to justify anti-Jewish measures.[11] According to Nástup in 1938:

A Jew brought up on the text of the Talmud will always remain Jewish, and can never become Christian... It is necessary to eliminate Jews from the life of Christian nations. It is necessary to chase Jews from Christian nations. Jews must be deprived of all influence, their property, acquired by fraudulent means, must be confiscated, we must begin to act.[19]

Media related to Nástup at Wikimedia Commons