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Basic Law Concerning the Deportation of the Jews of Slovakia

The House of Representatives of the Slovakian Republic has adopted the following Basic Law:

Paragraph 1

Jews may be deported from the territory of the Slovakian Republic.

Paragraph 2

(1) The regulation in Paragraph 1 does not apply:

a. to persons who by March 14, 1939, at the latest, became members of the Christian faiths.

b. to persons in valid wedlock to a non-Jew (man or woman) and who entered into said miscegenation before September 10, 1941.

(2) Those whom the President of the Republic has exempted or will exempt under Paragraph 255 of Law 198/1941 of the Slovakian Constitution, as well as doctors, pharmacists, veterinarians, engineers, and other persons whom, in the view of the relevant ministry, should be allowed to remain active in public, technical, or economic affairs in Slovakia, shall not be deported as long as the decision on their dismissal or retention remains in effect.

(3) The exemption from deportation (Paragraphs 1 and 2) also applies to the spouse, parents and underage children of the exempt persons.

Paragraph 3

(1) Jews who have been deported and Jews who have left or will leave the state territory hereby forfeit the citizenship of the Slovak Republic.

(2) The property of persons mentioned in Paragraph 1 is hereby confiscated on behalf of the state. The state is liable to debtors only up to a sum equal to the value of the property it obtains.

Paragraph 4

(1) Chattels of persons enumerated in Paragraph 2 shall remain in their possession and disposal. Claims for the return of chattels appropriated from them up to May 15, 1942, under existing laws, shall not be presented through the legal system.

(2) Special provisions shall apply to livestock and agricultural stock that is not livestock.

Paragraph 5

(1) To implement the regulations in Paragraphs 1 and 3, especially with respect to the nullification of legal relations in the personal and property affairs of Jews who were deported and who left the territory of the Slovakian Republic, the Government shall gazette the requisite provisions by administrative order, including cases in which the constitution requires a legislative amendment.

(2) Orders issued under Paragraph 1 shall have the force of law, shall be signed by the Prime Minister and all ministers in the government, and shall be gazetted in the Slovakian book of laws.

Paragraph 6

Provisions pertaining to the legal status of Jews, insofar as they create restrictions in the personal and property affairs of the non-Jewish spouse, expire on the date this law is gazetted.

Paragraph 7

The validity and incidence of this Basic Law commence on the date on which this Law is gazetted; this Law shall be implemented by all members of the government.

Source: L. Rotkirchen, The Destruction of Slovak Jewry, Jerusalem 1961 p.115

Yad Vashem