HALČÍN, Daniel. Emil Zachar – Regional Chief of Passports and Visa Section in the Central Slovakia Region

The contribution deals with life and career of Emil Zachar, the Regional Chief of Passports and Visa Section in Banská Bystrica. Using him as an example, the author describes the safety apparatus development in Slovakia after WWW2. The article deals also with the issue of how the tourism was overseen by Passports and visa sections of the National Security Corps. Emil Zachar grew up without his father in poor conditions. After leaving school, he worked as a lower post officer in Bratislava. In 1941, when the Soviet Union was attacked by Nazi Germany, he became involved in the anti-Communist resistance. At his working place, he destroyed letters including indictments against people active in the resistance and members of then illegal Communist Party. At the end of 1994, Zachar participated in the Slovak National Uprising in Central Slovakia. He did not probably take part in armed fights and his participation was of a marginal character. Zachar started to work with the State Security in 1947, operating under the name Section VII of the Ministry of Interior. That intelligence unit was dominated by the Communists and their supporters, who focused their activities on compromising and removing political opponents. As a person working with the Section VII, he took active part in the Communist February Coup in 1948. First, as a member of the hidden group, he participated also in preparation of political trials of then Communist Party´s leaders. At the beginning of the 1950ties, various State Security members were imprisoned and convicted in the trial Oskar Valášek et al., people that used to belong to Zachar´s close persons. After that, Zachar was temporarily removed to lower working positions within the State Security. In 1954 he was appointed Chief of Interior Department of the Regional Administration of the Ministry of Interior in Banská Bystrica. Later, from 1963 to 1976, he became the Chief of Passports and Visa Section. Those specialized units of the Ministry of Interior used to issue travelling documents to the applicants. Issuing, or non-issuing of such documents was a political decision and often it was misused as a form of repression against inconvenient citizens or foreigners.