Slovakia
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Dianne Lob, Chair, William Daroff, CEO, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Vice Chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, on Thursday welcomed Slovakia’s apology for anti-Semitic World War II legislation.

“We welcome the declaration by the government of Slovakia apologizing for its antisemitic World War II era laws and actions,” they said in a statement.

“A Nazi puppet state during the war, Slovakia sent more than 70,000 Jews to death camps, and enacted a ‘Jewish Code’ that severely oppressed and discriminated against its Jewish citizens,” added the Jewish leaders.

“By this public recognition and statement of regret for the crimes of its wartime government, Slovakia is taking a welcome step toward atonement and reconciliation that was long overdue,” they concluded.

On Wednesday, Slovakia’s government apologized for the World War II legislation that stripped the country’s Jews of their human and civil rights.

Marking the 80th anniversary of the “Jewish Code” adopted on Sept 9, 1941, the government said in a statement that it “feels a moral obligation today to publicly express sorrow over the crimes committed by the past regime.”

The code prevented access of the Jews to education and authorized the transfer of their property to non-Jewish owners.

Slovakia sent over 70,000 of its Jewish citizens to Nazi concentration camps during World War II, where most of them perished.