25 Facts About Andrej Hlinka

Andrej Hlinka was the leader of the Hlinka's Slovak People's Party, papal chamberlain, inducted papal protonotary, member of the National Assembly of Czechoslovakia, and chairman of the St Vojtech Fellowship.

Andrej Hlinka tried to improve the social status of his parishioners, fought against alcoholism and organized educational lectures and theatre performances.

Andrej Hlinka founded credit and food bank associations to help ordinary people and wrote a manual how to found further such organizations.

However, as the party disregarded Slovak demands Andrej Hlinka eventually left and, along with Frantisek Skycak, founded the Slovak People's Party.

Andrej Hlinka gained widespread popularity thanks to his social activities.

Andrej Hlinka's activities met with disapproval from the church hierarchy, which suspended him as a priest.

In prison, Andrej Hlinka led the translation of the Old Testament into the Slovak language.

Andrej Hlinka's friends worked on the rehabilitation of his public image and Hlinka, who complained of his suspension to the Holy See, finally won the case against the bishop.

Andrej Hlinka became party chairman and remained in this position for the rest of his life.

Andrej Hlinka became a member of the Slovak National Council and signed the Martin Declaration, which advocated a political union with the Czech nation.

Andrej Hlinka quickly became disappointed by the undemocratic methods of his former colleague Vavro Srobar, some anti-religious actions, and the unequal position of Slovakia.

Andrej Hlinka complained to the Prime Minister and warned him that he would escalate these problems to the Paris Peace Conference.

Andrej Hlinka believed that the problems could be solved on the basis of the Pittsburgh Agreement which promised autonomy of Slovakia within Czechoslovakia.

Andrej Hlinka then distributed a memorandum about Slovakia to journalists and diplomats, but failed to meet with key decision makers.

Andrej Hlinka, who arrived on a passport issued by Poland on a name of "Josef Berger", was arrested and hustled out of Paris by French police.

Andrej Hlinka was imprisoned and politically isolated and the ability of SLS to act was limited.

Regardless of the issue, Andrej Hlinka remained popular among voters of the Slovak People's Party.

Andrej Hlinka's motivation was based on religious and linguistic grounds.

Andrej Hlinka was known for his charisma, temperament, stubbornness, and sharp tongue, which made him a difficult partner for negotiation.

Andrej Hlinka regularly insulted his opponents and was often criticized for primitive behavior.

Andrej Hlinka sympathized with authoritarian regimes like Salazar's Portugal or Dollfuss' Austria, both states in which Catholic clericalism played a central role.

Andrej Hlinka tried to balance them and for tactical reasons supported them alternately.

On 5 June 1938, Andrej Hlinka made a speech at a demonstration in Bratislava where he again raised a demand for Slovak autonomy.

Andrej Hlinka signed the third proposal for the autonomy but died before he reached his goal.

Today, Andrej Hlinka is mostly commemorated in his native Cernova, where his house can be found and remains open to the public.