Editing Jozef Tiso (section)

==Autonomous Slovak Region==
In October 1938, following the [[Munich Agreement]], Germany annexed and occupied the [[Sudetenland]], the main German-speaking parts of [[Czecho-Slovakia]]. On 6 October 1938, HSĽS took advantage of the weakening of central government and, in collusion with other Slovak parties, declared autonomy for Slovakia  in the [[Žilina|Žilina Agreement]]. The next day, he became Prime Minister of the Slovak Autonomous Region.{{sfn|Ward|2013|pp=156–8}} Tiso had effectively squashed the Ľudák faction calling for outright independence, and thus ostensibly strengthened his loyalty for the [[Second Czechoslovak Republic|Czecho-Slovak Republic]]; Tiso recognized that the fragile republic was still vulnerable to German, Hungarian, and Polish aggression. In addition, Tiso's new role empowered him to consolidate control within the party.

One of his first tasks was to lead the Czechoslovak delegation during negotiations with Hungary in [[Komárno]] preceding the [[First Vienna Award]]. Prime Minister Tiso, who had never led a delegation in similar international negotiations, found himself in a difficult position. The central government of the [[Second Czechoslovak Republic]], under the pressure of terrorist actions sponsored by the Hungarian government{{sfn|Deák|1991|p=157}} and after serious changes of the international situation, accepted negotiations before being completely ready, and the government also found itself overloaded while trying to stabilize the situation with Germany. Tiso opposed the proposals of the Hungarian delegation but acted as a flexible and patient negotiator. When the Hungarian delegation refused further discussion, Tiso sought the help of Germany through [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]].{{sfn|Kamenec|2013|p=82}} Later, Tiso was shocked by the [[First Vienna Award]], so much so that he initially refused to sign the protocol. The devastated Tiso was described by peers as "on the verge of collapse [and] approaching hysteria....From his behavior, one could see very clearly that he [took] the situation not only as a hard blow to the nation but also as a personal defeat, for which he was unprepared."{{sfn|Ward|2013|p=166}} In a radio speech to the citizens, Tiso  blamed the Prague government and its "policies of the past twenty years" for the result.{{sfn|Fabricius|Hradská|2007|p=25}}

Angered yet taking solace in the fact that Slovakia was spared from complete [[Partition (politics)|partition]], Tiso re-adopted political antisemitism. The day before the award, police arrested several Jews at a demonstration of the Hungarian Youth Organization calling for the cession of Komárno to Hungary. Their participation was then used in propaganda blaming the Jews for the result (Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy obviously did not carry out "the wish of the Jewry" but followed their own interests).{{sfn|Nižňanský|2010|p=45}}{{sfn|Kamenec|2013|p=83}} On 3 November 1938, Tiso met with [[Jozef Faláth]] (the head of the "central office for the [[Jewish question]]" who had already contacts to [[Nazi Party]] politicians in [[Vienna]]) and [[Jozef Kirschbaum]]. Tiso, who was otherwise a relatively pragmatic politician, adopted an unusually firm solution. On 4 November 1938 he ordered the deportation of Jews "without property", and later those without citizenship, to the territory now annexed by Hungary. His government then deported more than 7,500 people including elderly people, pregnant women, and at least 570 children under age 15 to [[no man's land]] in rainy autumn weather.{{sfn|Nižňanský|2010|p=51}} On 7 November, he cancelled the action.

In the aftermath of the Vienna Award, Tiso embarked on the process of ''[[Gleichschaltung]]'' in "New Slovakia." In November 1938, he merged (through intimidation and demoralization tactics) numerous Slovak parties into the Ľudáks, creating "Hlinka's Slovak People's Party – Party of Slovak National Unity."{{sfn|Ward|2013|pp=167-168}} As a prime minister and minister of the interior of the autonomous government, Tiso had extensive powers, forbidding the activities of all political parties except those that agreed to join the governing coalition "voluntarily" and two parties representing minority populations, the [[German Party (Slovakia)|German Party]] and the [[Hungarian National Party (Czechoslovakia)|Unified Hungarian Party]]. HSĽS then organized [[1938 Slovak parliamentary election|rigged parliamentary elections]]. Even before the official announcement of the elections, Tiso told the German newspaper ''[[Völkischer Beobachter]]'' that there would be only one united ballot and Jews could not be elected.{{sfn|Nižňanský|2010|p=75}} The deportations and some other actions of Tiso's autonomous government were against the [[Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920]].{{sfn|Nižňanský|2010|p=53}}