EN
In this contribution, the author deals with the topic of the significant personality of the Slovak military power of 1939 – 1944 – Rudolf Pilfousek. He came from Bohemia, however, he was an officer of the German nationality. Pilfousek was an officer, the service of whom had reflected the complicated and dramatic changes in the constitutional arrangement of the Central European nations of the first half of the 20th century, when different states were rising and falling. During his military career, he served gradually as the soldier of four armies, first as the member of the Austro-Hungarian Army and participated in the final battles of the World War 1. Later on, he served as the higher officer of the artillery of the inter-war CS Army.In 1939 – 1944 he was the member of the Slovak Military Force and Colonel of the General Staff. In conclusion of his military career, he shortly became the member of the German SS, with the rank of SS-Standartenfűhrer. Among the historical community, he is considered to be a negative personality of the Slovak modern military history, a pro-German and pro-Nazi oriented officer of the German nationality, in spite of the fact that originally, during the World War 1, he acted as the totally loyal citizen of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and later, after its collapse, as the CSR citizen, he was perceived as fully identified with the Czechoslovak State and its state ideology.