Slovakia on the Road to Independence

During the breakup of the Soviet Union, the countries of Eastern Europe underwent transitions to democracy that involved varying degrees of struggle and turmoil. Czechoslovakia eventually split in two with the establishment of separate Czech and Slovak republics in 1993. Paul Hacker witnessed this transition firsthand from his vantage point as head of the U.S. Consulate in Bratislava. This is his story of U.S. diplomacy during this period, from the time the consulate was reestablished there in 1990 (after a forty-year hiatus during the Cold War) through the opening of the U.S. Embassy in 1993 after Slovakia had gained its independence. The memoir covers the volatile political intrigues and changes of the era, the administrative challenges of operating a small diplomatic outpost that was dependent on the embassy based in Prague (headed for much of this period by the high-profile U.S. ambassador Shirley Temple Black), tensions between Slovaks and Czechs and between the Slovak majority and its ethnic Hungarian minority population, the legacy of the Holocaust, and the developments that finally led to independence for Slovakia. In a final chapter, Hacker brings the story of Slovak postindependence political history up to the present, including Slovakia’s accession to both NATO and the European Union.

“The history of the breakup of Czechoslovakia has largely been written from the perspective of actors based in Prague. Paul Hacker’s account not only balances this bias but also tells the story from the place where it really happened.”—Karen Henderson, University of Leicester, “One crucial period of Slovak history, 1990–1993, is often neglected when Western commentators analyze all that came after. The reason for the omission is very simple: there were almost no foreigners in Slovakia to observe it. Paul Hacker was there. This book is living history, with reminiscences ranging from insights into the background of politically crucial events to accounts of the travails of a diplomat’s everyday life in a state newly emerged from communist rule. All are fascinating.“The history of the breakup of Czechoslovakia has largely been written from the perspective of actors based in Prague. Hacker’s account not only balances this bias but also tells the story from the place where it really happened.”—Karen Henderson, University of Leicester, “Drawing on his experiences as the senior U.S. diplomat stationed in Bratislava before and immediately after Slovak independence, Paul Hacker provides a fascinating account of Slovakia’s ‘velvet divorce’ from its Czech partner and its challenging early development as a newly independent democracy seeking to integrate into the trans-Atlantic community.”—Theodore E. Russell, U.S. ambassador (ret.); founding chairman, Friends of Slovakia; first U.S. ambassador to Slovakia, 1993–96, “Drawing on his experiences as the senior U.S. diplomat stationed in Bratislava before and immediately after Slovak independence, Paul Hacker provides a fascinating account of Slovakia’s ‘velvet divorce’ from its Czech partner and its challenging early development as a newly independent democracy seeking to integrate into the trans-Atlantic community.”—Theodore E. Russell, U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia, 1993-96, “Paul Hacker arrived in Slovakia at a critical time, when we were just starting to overcome the legacy of totalitarianism. He was also in a unique position as the first American representative on the scene in Slovakia in over forty years. He is a sympathetic but objective observer of our developments, and when he sent his first cable welcoming Slovakia into the family of nations, he did so with the wish that our people would enjoy the blessings of peace, freedom, and prosperity.”—Pavol Demeš, former minister of international relations of Slovakia

Paul Hacker had a long career in the Foreign Service (1973–2003). From 1990 to 1992 he was the principal officer of the U.S. Consulate General in Bratislava, Slovakia, and chargé d’affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Slovakia after that country gained independence in 1993.