Slovak priest: Jews to blame for Holocaust-era hate

At ceremony marking uprising against Nazis, Emil Floris says ‘those who are hated often do it to themselves’

By JTA 9 September 2014, 6:25 pm

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Teenage Jewish Czech refugees in Denmark in the early years of World War II. Some 150 of the 700 teens saved by Danish foster families during the war were from Czechoslovakia. They often rode their bikes and met in Naestved, and shared stories and practiced their Hebrew, with the hopes of one day making it to Palestine. (photo credit: Courtesy, archive of Judita Matyasova)

A Catholic priest in Slovakia sparked outrage by blaming the Jews for the hatred against them during the Holocaust and warned that the Roma are following suit.

Emil Floris leveled the accusation last month during a ceremony in Cadca, located 120 miles northeast of the capital Bratislava, commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising against Nazi Germany and the collaborationist government.

“From all over Europe, they took the Jews to concentration camps. And do you know why? Because there was hatred toward them, but those who are hated often do it to themselves,” Floris said, according to the news website zpravy.e15.cz.

“Now there is a risk for some Roma. And you know why? Because of abuse of the system and the kindness of others,” he added. Roma are also known as Gypsies.

The Federation of Jewish Communities in Slovakia said in a statement posted on its website last week that Floris’s statement “contained untruths and anti-Semitic cliches, diminishes the suffering of the Jewish people during the time of the First Slovak Republic and insults the memory of victims.”