Journeyman Traitor

Before the Slovak National Court in Bratislava came Father Josef Tiso, a man long cheated of his proper niche in history. Scrupulous justice would have made Tiso's name (and not that of Johnny-come-lately Vidkun Quisling) a worldwide synonym for treason.

In a colorful life whose flamboyant tones were muted only slightly by the black robes of the Roman Catholic priesthood, fat, bullet-headed Josef Tiso had successively sold out the Slovaks to the Austrians and Hungarians, and then helped sell out the Czechoslovak Republic to the Nazis. In 1939, he became the first puppet President of a subjugated nation. To the court opening his trial for treason, Tiso explained that he held the puppet presidency of Slovakia only to safeguard Slovak interests. This didn't much impress Slovaks with long memories, nor did it impress the Vatican, which has said no single word in Tiso's behalf.

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