Čo pre Slovákov znamenal a v súčasnosti znamená štátny sviatok Slovenského národného povstania?

Intention of the authors is to analyse the importance of national holiday of the Slovak National Uprising in a context of collective and historical memory of the Slovak nation. The aim of submitted paper is therefore to analyse various lines of opinion on the Slovak National Uprising, especially from the perspective of two totalitarian ideologies, as well as from the perspective of contemporary historiography after 1989. In the context of aforementioned analyses, authors deal with recent and historical interpretations from the historical and collective memory point of view, with an emphasis on legal consequences. The first years of independence and democracy brought to Slovakia re-increase of pro-fascist (ľudák’s) interpretation of history, which, however, did not succeeded in settling down in the collective memory of the Slovak nation. Nevertheless, the last years once again brought relativisation and misinterpretation of historical context of the Slovak National Uprising and its specific standing in society as a national holiday in particular. Reflecting these negative trends, the authors also consider possibilities of effective protection of national holidays, not only with the use of law.