User:Buidhe/Jewish Code (Slovakia)

The Jewish Code (Židovský kódex; officially nariadenie č. 198/1941 Slov. z. o právnom postavení Židov, roughly "Regulation No. 198/1941 on the legal status of the Jews") was a set of anti-Jewish regulations passed by the Slovak State on 9 September 1941.

Contents
The Jewish Code was based on the Nuremberg Laws and contained 270 anti-Jewish articles. The code defined Jews in terms of ancestry, banned intermarriage, and required that all Jews over six years old wear a yellow star. The Jewish Code excluded Jews from public life, forbidding them from traveling at certain times, using radios or phones, shopping at certain hours, or belonging to clubs or organizations. In addition, Jews had to pay a 20 percent tax on all property. The law enabled the Central Economic Office to force Jews to change their residence. The president could issue exemptions protecting individual Jews from the law. Employed Jews were initially exempt from some of the code's requirements, such as wearing the star.

Reactions and effects
Slovak propaganda boasted that the Jewish Code was the strictest set of anti-Jewish laws in Europe. The racial definition of Jews was criticized by the Catholic Church, and converts were eventually exempted from some of the requirements.

Legacy
In October 2001 Slovakia designated 9 September (the anniversary of the passage of the law) as Holocaust Victims and Racial Hatred Day (Pamätný deň obetí holokaustu a rasového násilia).

Denník N described the code as "one of the most shameful pieces of legislation that was ever passed in our country".