Alexander Mach was a Slovak

Slovakia

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

 nationalist politician.

He belonged to the non-clerical wing of the Slovak People's Party

Slovak People's Party

The Slovak People's Party was a Slovak right-wing party and was described as a fascist and...

, which has been portrayed as the more pro-Nazi of the party's two factions. Mach came to the fore in 1938 after the Munich Agreement

Munich Agreement

The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...

 and subsequent upsure in Slovak nationalism as a close associate of Vojtech Tuka

Vojtech Tuka

Vojtech "Béla" Tuka was the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic between 1940 and 1945. Tuka was one the main forces behind the deportation of Slovak Jews to Nazi concentration camps in Poland...

 and Ferdinand Ďurčanský

Ferdinand Durcanský

Doctor Ferdinand Ďurčanský was a Slovak nationalist leader who for a time served with the collaborationist government of Jozef Tiso.-Nationalism:...

.

Mach served as Interior Minister in the government of Vojtech Tuka

Vojtech Tuka

Vojtech "Béla" Tuka was the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic between 1940 and 1945. Tuka was one the main forces behind the deportation of Slovak Jews to Nazi concentration camps in Poland...

 in the first Slovak Republic and also served as leader of the Hlinka Guard

Hlinka Guard

Hlinka Guard was the militia maintained by the Slovak People's Party in the period from 1938 to 1945; it was named after Andrej Hlinka.The Hlinka Guard was preceded by the Rodobrana organization, which existed from 1923 to 1927, when the Czechoslovak authorities ordered its dissolution...

. He succeeded Karol Sidor

Karol Sidor

Karol Sidor was a far right Slovak nationalist politician.A devout Roman Catholic, he was born in Ružomberok and came to politics early as a low-level supporter of Andrej Hlinka. After finishing his education he joined the Slovak People's Party and became one of its leading members on the...

in the latter post in March 1939 with Karol Murgaš serving as his chief of staff.