Ministry of Defence pays tribute to the victims of the burned-out villages of Kľak and Ostrý Grúň

On behalf of the Slovak Ministry of Defence, Secretary General of the MOD Service Office Peter Kozák today paid tribute to the memory of the 148 residents of Kľak and Ostrý Grúň who died when the villages were burned down by Nazis in January 1945. This so-called Bloody Sunday is a reminder of the Nazi retaliations ordered against the civilian residents for their actions in support of the Slovak National Uprising (SNP) partisan groups.

In his speech, Secretary General of the MOD Service Office Peter Kozák said: “Despite the fact that 78 years have passed since the tragic events and time may have effaced the scars in hearts and in minds, we vow not to forget the crimes of the Second World War and its victims from across the ranks of courageous members and supporters of our national liberation movement.”

He further pointed to the growing volume of documented war crimes perpetrated by Russian service members in Ukraine today. “They come to remind us of the tragedies that occurred across Slovakiaʼs villages throughout the Second World War, which is why we should not be indifferent and insensitive to the pain, suffering and hardship of other people,” Mr Kozák emphasised.

All of a sudden, in the early hours of Sunday 21 January 1945, the Edelweiss anti-partisan unit, led by German Waffen-SS troops involving Slovak soldiers under the leadership Artillery Sergeant Ladislav Nižňanský, staged a reprisal raid on the village of Kľak. Some residents were still in bed before being forcibly dragged out and executed on the spot. Their houses were then torched. Others, still alive, burned to death after their homes went up in flames. A total of 84 residents died in the reprisal. Sadly, women, children and elderly people were not spared either.

That same day, the Edelweiss unit, joined by a Waffen-SS unit and a Heimatschutz (Home Guard) unit, stormed the village of Ostrý Grúň. 64 local residents were taken to the house of Izidor Debnár, where they were killed. The house with the victims was then set on fire. The rest of the residents were driven out of the village and their homes were looted. Three days later, Nazi troops returned to the village. The remaining 112 houses were burnt to the ground, as were all the secluded clusters of houses, barns and hay sheds across the valley. Entry to the entire valley was banned to all residents until Slovakia's liberation.

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