Lucia Segľová: How did National Activists become elites? The Careers of the Slovak National Declaration Assembly Participants after 1918
The article analyses the careers of a particular group of participants of the Declaration assembly that took place on 30th October, 1918, in Turčiansky Sv. Martin/Turócszentmárton (present day Martin in Slovakia). At the assembly, the Declaration of the Slovak Nation was proclaimed, by which the participants declared the "will of the Slovak nation" to become a part of the newly established Czechoslovak Republic. The author focuses particularly on 33 male participants who hailed from Turčiansky Sv. Martin, the very town where the declaration assembly took place. The study centers on two questions. Firstly, family background and more specifically, the relationship of kinship ties of the participants to their later career success in the spheres of politics, economy and public service. Secondly, the influence of regime changes in 1918 (the dissolution of Austria-Hungary and establishment of the Czechoslovak republic), 1939 (the dissolution of Czechoslovakia and establishment of the so called war-time Slovak republic), and 1948 (the seizure of power by the Communist party of Czechoslovakia) on the social position and careers of the Declaration assembly members.

Declaration of Slovak Nation 1918, national activists, elites, family, Turčiansky Sv. Martin, Turócszentmárton, Martin