Slovakia's parliament on Friday denounced the mass deportation of Slovakian Jews to concentration camps during the Holocaust.
Parliamentarians used the 80th anniversary of the first deportation to Auschwitz to condemn as “particularly reprehensible the forced deportation of the citizens of the Jewish origin from the territory of what was then the Slovak republic between March 25, 1942, and Oct. 20, 1942,” the Associated Press reported.
The resolution passed by the Slovakian parliament said: “We condemn such activities of the regime and express sorrow over the tragedy imposed on innocent victims.”
The members of parliament also asked Slovakian Holocaust survivors and their descendants for forgiveness.
According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Encyclopedia, in 1942 Slovakia was the first Axis country to agree to the deportation of its Jewish population as part of the “Final Solution,” signing an agreement with Nazi Germany. In December 1940, there were nearly 89,000 Jews in Slovakia.
During World War II, Slovakia was a Nazi puppet state. Most of its Jewish citizens perished in concentration camps.
A minute of silence was also observed to honor Jewish victims of the Nazis.
In September 2021 Slovakia’s government apologized for legislation that stripped Jews of their human and civil rights.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)