One of the most controversial figures of Slovak wartime history remains Jozef Tiso. To this day the president of the first distinctly Slovak state often comes in for both praise and criticism. He brought Slovaks statehood, but at the bitter price of allegiance to Nazi Germany. But both Tiso's defenders and critics often forget that Tiso was not the decisive element in creating a new state.
According to historian Ivan Kamenec the establishment of the Slovak State was not the culmination of the national emancipation efforts of Slovak society although there had been such endeavours:
"This state was a by product of splitting Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany. It is of course obvious that after its split in March 1939 the establishment of the Slovak State started to be celebrated. The history of any state is subject to legends and this is one of them. The reality was that this state was created because of the will of Germany and Hitler."
