Germany–Slovakia relations

Parallel to the establishment of the Weimar Republic, Czechoslovakia was born. Slovakia was a part of this new-born state. German diplomats in Bratislava and in Košice tried to influence Czechoslovak domestic policy by allying with factions of the Carpathian Germans and the Slovak People's Party. Both groups in their majority proved to be incompatible with German goals in the region. Weimar's policy failed.[1]

During World War II, Slovakia was an ally of Nazi Germany as part of the Axis.[2][3] The Slovak Republic under President Josef Tiso signed the Tripartite Pact on November 24, 1940. Slovakia had been closely aligned with Germany almost immediately from its declaration of independence from Czechoslovakia on March 14, 1939.[4] Slovakia entered into a treaty of protection Schutzvertrag with Germany on March 23, 1939. This treaty aligned Slovakia's foreign and defence policies with Germany, and allowed German troops to form a protection zone in the western parts of Slovakia.[5]

Slovak troops joined the German invasion of Poland, having interest in Spiš and Orava. Those two regions (along with Cieszyn Silesia) were divided and disputed between Poland and Czechoslovakia since 1918, until the Poles fully annexed them following the Munich agreement. After the September Campaign, Slovakia reclaimed control of those territories.

In July 1940, Germany successfully demanded the resignation of Slovak politicians who advocated an independent foreign policy at the Salzburg Conference.[6] During the war, approximately 70,000 Slovak Jews were sent to concentration camps to perish in the Holocaust.[7] In September 1942, a Slovak-German treaty was signed detailing the conditions for the deportation of Slovak Jews.[8]

Slovakia was spared German military occupation until the Slovak National Uprising, which began on August 29, 1944, and was crushed by the Waffen SS and Slovak troops loyal to Josef Tiso, dictator of Slovakia.

Following World War II, Slovak Socialist Republic became a communist state with the Czech Socialist Republic as Czechoslovakia. This continued until a peaceful dissolution in 1993 into the Slovak Republic and Czech Republic.

Relations during this period were primarily between the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and Czechoslovakia under the Warsaw Pact.

Following the creation of democratic Slovakia and German reunification, both countries traded under a free market economy.

In March 2001, a German court rejected compensation complaints from Slovakia's surviving Jews from the Holocaust.[9] Claims were rejected again in 2002.[8] In 2003, Slovak Jews made a collective claim of 77 million euros to Germany.[9] The 2003 lawsuit filed against Germany by the Central Union of Jewish Religious Communities in the Slovak Republic (UZZNO) was made to reclaim compensation for monies paid by the wartime Slovak government to Germany to cover the cost of Germany's deportation of 57,000 members of the country's Jewish population. [10]

In 1991, Volkswagen AG opened a factory in Bratislava. Revenue from the plant in 2003 was 4.5 billion euro.[14] By 2006, the company had invested 1.3 billion EUR in its operations and employed 9,000 staff at the time.[15]

In April 2009, Volkswagen AG announced plans to build a new compact family vehicle in Slovakia. The company will invest about 308 million euros. VW currently builds its Touareg,[14] Škoda Octavia[16] as well as its Audi Q7 in Bratislava and employs about 7,800 people in the nation, which has emerged a major hub in the global car industry. Porsche also builds its Cayenne model in Bratislava.[17]