The Slovak State that was established in 1939 after the breakup of Czechoslovakia, followed the discriminatory racial laws of Nazi Germany in many ways. Following a 1940 defense decree (decree no. 20), all Roma, as well as the Jews, were denied the right to enter the regular army. They served their active military service in a special battalion -- the Sixth Battalion of the Work Division of the Ministry of National Defense. Within the batallion in particular, they were assigned into the 24th, so-called Gypsy, platoon (the Jews and unreliable “Arians” were put into separate platoons). The Jews and the Roma were in an inferior position within this Division, which could also be seen on their uniforms (for instance, while Arians had a cap with a peak, a neck shade, and the State’s coat of arms, the Jews and the Roma had navy hats without these elements). The type of their duties also reflected their position: while “Arians” were given infantry weapons in 1943 and served as guards of military premises, the Jews and the Roma worked as ground and construction workers.

According to a 1940 decree by the Ministry of the Interior (Decree no. 127), “The term Gypsy indicates … only a person of the Gypsy race that belongs to this race because of his or her two parents and leads a nomadic life, or even sedentary life, but avoids work.” In April 1941 the Ministry published another decree (Decree no. 163) “on influencing conditions of Gypsies”. This decree affected not only the small group of Vlach Roma, whose itinerant way of life was forbidden, and whose horses and wagons were taken away; but also the larger group of settled Roma, who were forced to move their houses away from state or municipal roads and to place their hamlets “on a site separate from the village and demarcated by the village for this purpose”.

If there were more than three Romani families in a village, the county office instituted a Gypsy vajda (a leader). The vajda was subordinate to the mayor and was responsible for meeting individual anti-Romani orders. The Roma were forbidden from using the public transportation system, had only limited access to public spaces, and they were allowed to enter cities and villages only during designated times (for instance, only twice a week during morning hours). The Roma were not allowed to own dogs, to buy alcohol in shops or pubs, and were regularly forced to undergo humiliating medical examinations. In executing this anti-Romani legislation, a lot of leeway was given to the Hlinka guards, a paramilitary organization.

The legislation allowed the guards all kinds of direct physical aggression, such as night searches in Romani hamlets, when they controlled the presence of all people that were registered there; or physically punishing the violation of times when the Roma could visit towns. Under the excuse of fighting lice, they targeted especially Romani women, and cut, or even shaved, their hair, which was extremely humiliating. The guards actively cooperated with the police when picking up men capable of work and transporting them to work camps, demolishing Romani hamlets, and forcing the Roma out of towns and villages. It is no wonder that inter-ethnic relations radically worsened during this period, and that mutual distrust and fear of future had grown.