Hitler’s President: A Theater Show for High School Students

On May 25, our High School students attended a performance at DPOH Theatre in Bratislava. The play, titled Hitler’s President, focused on the wartime president of the Slovak Republic, Jozef Tiso. Although he is sometimes portrayed as a controversial and morally ambiguous figure in Slovak history, the performance highlighted his legal actions — and, most of all, inaction. As mentioned in the play, despite receiving more than 20,000 pleas from Slovak citizens, he rejected over 90% of them, effectively condemning those individuals to death in concentration camps.

This play, based on the book Letters to Tiso by Madeline Vadkerty, reflects on Slovakia’s past through literature and theatre. In doing so, it encourages us to reflect on and learn more about our own history and identity.