These articles were published in the Spectacular Slovakia travel guide, published annually by The Slovak Spectator since 1996. The latest editions can be obtained from our online shop.

Žilina

Foreigners welcome

By Matthew J. Reynolds

	photo: TASR

Ján Slota's Žilina may be a hotbed of nationalist sentiment, but that shouldn't keep foreigners away.

For the last 11 years Žilina has been run by Slota, whose controversial persona has come to dominate the city's image. The list of charges against Mayor Slota - also the former head of the far-right Slovak National Party (SNS) - includes making an impassioned call for Slovaks to man their tanks and storm Budapest, appearing drunk on a nationally-televised presidential debate, and, at a meeting of the SNS where he was removed as president, shutting off the auditorium's lights in an attempt to nullify the results.

Less famously, he has overseen the transformation of Žilina from a dour post-communist city into a thriving, fetching metropolis, without going heavily into debt - a feat almost unheard of in Slovakia.

Flanked by portraits of controversial Slovak figures such as Andrej Hlinka, Milan Štefánik and Jozef Tiso in his mayor's office, Slota begins our interview by saying: "I have to tell you. I am not happy with what your travel guide wrote about me last year."

Besides referring to Slota's "racist and inflammatory comments, and his repeated drunken appearances in public," Spectacular Slovakia 2000 also mentioned his plans to mount a plaque in honour of the Catholic priest Tiso - who served as Slovak president of the World War II nazi puppet state - at a nearby convent where in 1939 he had declared Slovak independence. I replied that Žilina's image was affected by such acts, and that he was now being given a chance to respond. I also repeated what I had heard about Žilina in my first month in Slovakia, that "up there they hate foreigners so much" that were I to visit the nationalist city speaking only English, I'd never make it out alive.

"None of that is true. I don't know where all this comes from," he said, not hiding his irritation. "Last year we had a congressman from Pennsylvania who made it a point to come to Žilina. He had a great time. We have foreign visitors here all the time, and never have any problems. In Žilina, the Slovak expression 'Hosť do domu, Boh do domu' (A guest in the home is like God in the home) holds true."

	Ján Slota
	photo: TASR

Slota is around 6'2". He has a stevedore's handshake, a substantial paunch, and penetrating eyes. As he talked about his and Žilina's image of hostility to foreigners, he was instantly agitated, asking "what have I ever done to deserve this image?" and demanding that "people confront me with specific incidences." Although I didn't feel personally threatened - he seemed to be angry at a grand amorphous group of reporters and political enemies rather than me - I got the feeling it would not be pleasant to cross him in a closed-door political meeting.

His demeanour softened as we discussed his mayoral administration. Rather than boasting of his city's magnificent pedestrian zone, he was most proud of an 800-million crown ($16 million) trolley bus system the city had installed which had cut harmful emissions by 35%. He also mentioned 40 million crowns in equipment the city had purchased for area hospitals, city loans to shop owners that had helped revive the city centre, and stressed that he had accomplished everything while accumulating only 140 million crowns in debt. Banská Bystrica and Košice, by contrast, have debts of 1.5 and 2.5 billion crowns; Bratislava's stands at 4.5 billion crowns.

I asked him about his famous tank comment and his since-abandoned plans to mount a Tiso plaque. The remark about the tanks was taken out of context, he said. He had been talking about Slovakia's ability to defend itself if it were to ever again be faced with Hungarian domination.

He remained unbowed on the subject of Tiso, going off on an impassioned tangent about Spaniards honouring Franco, Hungarians remembering some fascist general, while Slovaks were hectored if they dared honour Tiso. Tiso had saved the Slovak nation, he said.

What about the tens of thousands of murdered Jews he represents? Tiso was forced into cooperating with the Nazi's, Slota said, as were most European countries during World War II. Which is why "I have no great affection for the Germans."

Slota ended our interview by reiterating that in Žilina "A guest in the home is like God in the home", mentioning Žilina's proximity to several mountain chains as being attractive for tourists, presenting me with a pamphlet on Žilina in English, and apologising for having initially kept me waiting.

I left his office and walked out onto Žilina's bustling Mariánske námestie - a colourful 80 by 80 metre cobblestone zone with a grassy park, pyramid fountain, bronze statue of an angel, 50 park benches, enclosed well, and four rows of burgher houses above and behind arcades. I asked a random sample of locals if Žilina was hostile to foreigners (they all said no) and their thoughts on Slota, who incidentally is a shoo-in to win a fourth term as mayor next year.

"Ten years ago none of this was here," said one man, gesturing to the city centre. "There were roads running through here and the buildings were empty. I don't agree with a lot of what he has said about Hungarians and other things, but he has done a lot for the city."

As I was leaving the square, I remembered that I had forgotten to ask Slota how many people lived in Žilina. It seemed too mundane a question to return to his office, so I ducked into the first city administration building I saw and asked the first person I met. She said 83,000. That made it what, Slovakia's fourth largest city? Third, she said. "Žilina is bigger than Banská Bystrica?" I asked - the latter actually has 85,000 inhabitants. "Of course," she snorted. "Banská Bystrica is a hole with one decent square."

I started to laugh, but looked up and saw that her eyes were dead serious. More than dead serious. Burning with the same fierce flame I had seen in Slota's eyes when the subject turned to Tiso, with a passion for city and country that had often carried him beyond the limits of what most Slovaks and ex-pats considered healthy pride.

You can't argue with the progress Žilina has made in the last 11 years with Slota at the helm. And you can't (and shouldn't) argue politics with Slota or anyone else from Žilina who shares his nationalist proclivities. It means more to them than it does to you, and they are better informed and more emotional. But that's true of many places in Slovakia, and it's no reason to avoid the city, which only grows more lovely and vibrant every time I visit.

See also:

• Žilina (Spectacular Slovakia 2002)
• Žilina travel tips (Spectacular Slovakia 2001)

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