Censorship of Printed Media in the Interwar Period in Slovakia – Analysis of Application Practice

Abstract

The article deals with the topic of press censorship in Slovakia during the interwar perio. It focuses primarily on the application practice of Czechoslovak bureaus and courts. Author analyzes specific cases of confiscated printed materials of various types – from political periodicals (linked to the Hlinka’s People’s Party, communists or hungarian irredentism) to leaflets, posters, and even entertainment sections. The analysis explores not only preventive and post-publication censorship measures—such as seizures, distribution bans, and additional administrative confiscations—but also the specific dynamics of cross-border control, particularly regarding Hungarian and German materials carrying anti-czechoslovak, antisemitic or revisionist messages.Czechoslovak authorities used censorship to combat separatist and irredentist activities to prevent the spread of disinformation and extremist ideas and to restrict the publication of strategic information. The aim of the study is to demonstrate that censorship in Slovakia during the interwar period had an increasing character and was among the regularly employed instruments for protecting the political stability, public order and constitutional unity of Czechoslovakia as well.