English Translation

44a - 38 - But when Šrobár, Dr. Bella, Ružiak, Janko Pálka, Janoška and other followers of St. Nicholas learned what it was about, they protested against such a felony, and all the eloquent arts of Dr. Mudroň helped nothing. The Slovaks did not go to Budapest and transferred their grave silence to the Magyars. When the political leaders in Paris and Rome shook their minds about this, Štefánik and Osuský answered them: "If the Slovaks could speak, they would have said their opinion long ago." The Slovaks spoke in their own way only on 1 May 1918 in St. Nicholas. After four years of absolute silence, workers and citizens gathered in a popular gathering, for the so-called May celebration. The main speaker was Dr. Šrobár, and in the resolution adopted by the Assembly there was also a rimging paragraph: "The war, which had already been raging for four years, demanded of all nations-of the world, including the Hungarian branch of the Czecho-Slovak tribe, unprecedented victims of wealth,' blood and life... As a natural consequence of the requested freedom, we demand unconditional recognition" of the right to self-determination of all peoples, not only from the borders of our monarchy, but also of the peoples of Austria-Hungary, i.e. of the Hungarian branch of the Czecho-Slovak tribe." On the same day, Mrs. Olga Houdek sent a report and the resolution, which were quickly written, to Teschen, addressed to my person. The resolution was published in all the major Prague newspapers, and not long after that they had our representatives abroad. The "National Newspaper" published the resolution with a change. Instead of "Czech-Slovak" it published "Slovac". On July 27 the prosecutor ordered the investigation against Dr. Šrobár and comrades (the workers' confidants Maršálek, Ján Kurenda and Michal Korman) because of high treason according to §§ 127 and 173 of the Uigar Criminal Law. The accused should present this' crime by compiling and reading the resolution in the People's Assembly - 39 -