The Slovak National Uprising, declared on August 29th, 1944, was in terms of the international standing of combatant nations an event of exceptional significance for our state. As an act of organised nationwide resistance to fascism it had an influence on the post-war territorial settlement of Central Europe. General Jan Golian (1906 - 1945)

• was the first commander of the army of the Slovak National Uprising. On September 5th, 1944 he was appointed supreme commander of the Czechoslovak armed forces in Slovakia. On this post being taken over by Rudolf Viest on October 7th, Golian served as second-in-command. On November 3.rd, 1944 he was taken prisoner by the Germans at Pohronský Bukovec and was executed along with General Viest at an unknown location in Germany in 1945.

General Rudolf Viest (1890 - 1945)

• was supreme commander of the Czechoslovak Army - the insurrectionist forces - in Slovakia. A member of the Czechoslovak Legions, he emigrated in 1939 via Yugoslavia to France, where in 1940 he was placed at the head of a division. A member of the State Council and Minister of the Czechoslovak Government in London, he took over command of the army in Banska Bystrica on October 7th, 1944. On November 3rd he was captured by the Germans and in 1945 executed in Germany along with General Golian.