On January 23 Defence Minister Ľubomír Galko and other members of the Slovak government took part in a ceremony marking the 66th anniversary of Nazi atrocities carried out against innocent civilians in the central Slovak villages of Kľak and Ostrý Grúň towards the end of WWII, the TASR reported.
The events of 'Bloody Sunday' (January 21, 1945) are considered the worst example of Nazi repression in Slovakia. As many as 148 people, including both adults and children, were killed in the two villages. The youngest victim from Kľak was only three months old. The killings, carried out by an SS unit, a Heimatschutz unit and a counter-partisan Edelweiss unit, were a reprisal for the area's support for Slovak partisans.
The memorial ceremony was also attended by ministers Jozef Mihál (Labour, Social Affairs and Family), Daniel Krajcer (Culture) and Juraj Miškov (Economy).
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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