Slovak National Council

The Slovak National Council (Slovak: Slovenská národná rada, SNR) was an organisation that was formed at various times in the 19th and 20th centuries to act as the highest representative of the Slovak nation.^[1] It originated in the mid-19th century as a focus for Slovak nationalist aspirations to break away from the Kingdom of Hungary but its bid for independence was suppressed. The second SNR was more successful, issuing a celebrated declaration of Slovak independence in 1918, though it too was ultimately dissolved by the state after Czechoslovakia was formed. The third SNR coordinated Slovak resistance to the Nazis and their Slovak puppet government, and evolved into a Communist-controlled organ of state power after the Second World War. Following the 1989 Velvet Revolution it was transformed into the new democratically elected Slovak parliament.^[1] A number of mostly short-lived and not particularly influential Slovak National Councils were also proclaimed abroad between the 1920s and 1940s, the last one seeking to mobilise Slovak émigré resistance to Communist rule.^[1]