After the September 1938 Munich Agreement, Slovakia declared its autonomy from Czechoslovakia, but lost significant territory to Hungary in the First Vienna Award, signed in November.
In 1941, the Slovak government negotiated with Nazi Germany for the mass deportation of Jews to German-occupied Poland. Between March and October 1942, 58,000 Jews were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp and the Lublin District.
Out of 89,000 Jews in the country in 1940, around 69,000 were murdered in the Holocaust.