Jozef Tiso (13 October 1887 - 18 April 1947) was a Slovak politician and Catholic priest who rose to the Presidency of the Slovak Republic, a German puppet state established from the eastern half of occupied Czechoslovakia during World War II. Intially, Tiso was resistent to the idea of an independent Slovakia, but ultimately bowed to German pressure in early 1939, lest the region be annexed by Hungary under German supervision. Tiso was captured after the war, and executed as a war criminal.