Slovakia on the Road to Independence

Contents

List of Illustrations

Foreword

Claiborne de Borda Pell

Political Party and Organizational Acronyms

Introduction

1. By Way of Prelude

2. Getting Organized in Slovakia

3. Na Slovensku Po Slovenský: Crisis over the Language Law

4. The Gulf War and Slovakia

5. The VPN Implodes

6. Ambassador Shirley Temple Black: The Person and the Flower

7. More Hungarian Problems: Gabčikovo, the Constitution, and the Road Signs

8. Czech-Slovak Relations

9. Countdown to the 1992 Elections

10. Slovakia’s Second Revolution: Mečiar’s Triumphant Return

11. Aftermath of the 1992 Elections: The Breakup of the Federation

12. Human Rights in Slovakia

13. The Slovak State and the Jewish Question

14. Trnava University: Assault on Academic Freedom or Dialogue of the Deaf?

15. The Microphone Episode

16. Vladimír Mečiar

17. Other Slovak Personalities

18. U.S. Policy and Czechoslovakia

19. Independence and Its Aftermath: The Domestic Angle

20. Independence and Its Aftermath: The Foreign Angle

21. Do Videnia, Slovensko

Postscript: Sixteen Years of Independence

Glossary of Slovak Political Organizations

Glossary of Czech and Slovak Personalities

Appendixes

Notes

Bibliography

Index

“Paul Hacker arrived in Slovakia at a critical time, when we were just starting to overcome the legacy of totalitarianism. He was also in a unique position as the first American representative on the scene in Slovakia in over forty years. He is a sympathetic but objective observer of our developments, and when he sent his first cable welcoming Slovakia into the family of nations, he did so with the wish that our people would enjoy the blessings of peace, freedom, and prosperity.”

—Pavol Demeš, former minister of international relations of Slovakia