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|
 Židovská Street, Bratislava | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 2,000[1] | |
| Languages | |
| Slovak,Hebrew,Yiddish | |
| Religion | |
| Judaism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Ashkenazi Jews,Czech Jews,Czech diaspora in Israel |
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1921 | 135,918 | — |
| 1930 | 136,737 | +0.6% |
| 1950 | 7,476 | −94.5% |
| 1991 | 912 | −87.8% |
| 2001 | 2,310 | +153.3% |
| 2011 | 1,999 | −13.5% |
| 2021 | 2,007 | +0.4% |
| Source: Data from Slovak and Czechoslovak censuses[2] | ||
Thehistory of the Jews in Slovakia goes back to the 11th century, when the first Jews settled in the area.[3]
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In the 14th century, about 800 Jews lived inBratislava, the majority of them engaged in commerce and money lending. In the early 15th century, a Jewish cemetery was established atTisinec and was in use until 1892.[4]
In 1494, ablood libel caused sixteen Jews to beburned at the stake inTrnava, and in 1526, after theBattle of Mohács, Jews were expelled from all major towns. In 1529, thirty Jews were burned at the stake inPezinok.[5]
In the late 17th century and early 18th century, Jews began to return to their original cities and establish organized communities, though they were barred from many trading industries and often in conflict with non-Jews. In 1683, hundreds of Jews fromMoravia fled to the Hungarian Kingdom, seeking refuge fromKuruc riots and restrictions on their living imposed in Moravia. In 1700, a leadingyeshiva was established in Bratislava and recognized by the government. Under theenlightened absolutism ofJoseph II, Jews received many additional civil liberties.[citation needed]
Jewish communities emerged in the late eighteenth century following immigration fromBohemia,Moravia, Austria and Poland. The communities were affected by theschism in Hungarian Jewry in the mid-nineteenth century, eventually splitting intoOrthodox (the majority),Status Quo, and more liberalNeolog factions. FollowingJewish emancipation in 1867, many Jews had adopted Hungarian language and customs to advance in society. Many Jews moved to cities and joined the professions; others remained in the countryside, mostly working as artisans, merchants, and shopkeepers.[6][7] Their multilingualism helped them advance in business, but put them in conflict withSlovak nationalism.[6][8][9] The Slovak Jews were not as integrated as the Jews in Bohemia and Moravia, preferring a traditional lifestyle.[10] Traditionalreligious antisemitism was joined by the stereotypical view of Jews as exploiters of poor Slovaks (economic antisemitism), and a form of "national anti-Semitism" that accused Jews of sympathizing withHungarian and laterCzechoslovak national aims.[11][12][13]
AfterWorld War I, Slovakia became part of the new country ofCzechoslovakia.[6][14] In both parts of the new republic,anti-Jewish riots broke out in the aftermath of the declaration of independence (1918–1920), although the violence was not nearly as serious as in Ukraine or Poland.[15]Blood libel accusations occurred inTrenčin and inŠalavský Gemer in the 1920s. In the 1930s, theGreat Depression affected Jewish businessmen and also increased economic antisemitism.[10] Economic underdevelopment and perceptions of discrimination in Slovak part of Czechoslovakia led a plurality (about one-third) of Slovaks to support the conservative pro-catholic and anti-semitic,ethnonationalistSlovak People's Party (Slovak:Hlinkova slovenská ľudová strana: HSĽS).[16][17][18] HSĽS viewed minority groups such as Czechs, Hungarians, Jews, andRomani people as a destructive influence on the Slovak nation,[18] and presentedSlovak autonomy as the solution to Slovakia's problems.[17] The party began to emphasize antisemitism during the late 1930s following a wave of Jewish refugees from Austria in1938 and anti-Jewish laws passed by Hungary,Poland, andRomania.[19]
In the 1930s, antisemitic rioting and demonstrations broke out, incited by theSlovak People's Party.[citation needed] During the rioting, professional Jewish boxers and wrestlers took to the streets to defend their neighborhoods from antisemitic gangs,[citation needed] and one of them,Imi Lichtenfeld, would later use his experiences to developKrav Maga.[20]
Some 5,000 Jews emigrated before the outbreak ofWorld War II and several thousands afterwards (mostly to the British Mandate of Palestine), but most were killed in theHolocaust. After theSlovak Republic proclaimed its independence in March 1939 under the protection ofNazi Germany, the pro-Nazi regime of PresidentJozef Tiso, a Catholic priest, began a series of measures aimed against the Jews in the country, first excluding them from the military and government positions. TheHlinka Guard began to attack Jews, and the "Jewish Code" was passed in September 1941. Resembling theNuremberg Laws, the Code required that Jews wear ayellow armband and were banned from intermarriage and many jobs. By 1940, more than 6,000 Jews had emigrated.[citation needed] By October 1941, 15,000 Jews were expelled from Bratislava; many were sent to labor camps, includingSereď.[citation needed]
Originally, the Slovak government tried to make a deal with Germany in October 1941 to deport its Jews as a substitute for providing Slovak workers to help the war effort. The initial terms were for 20,000 young men aged 16 and older for forced labour, but the Slovak government was concerned that it would leave many aged, sick, or child Jews who would become a burden on the gentile population. A deal was reached where the Slovak Republic would pay 500 Reichsmark for each Jew deported, and in return, the Germans would deport entire families and promise that the Jews would never return. This was billed as a humanitarian measure that would keep Jewish families together;[a] the Slovak fascist authorities claimed that they did not know that the Germans were systematically exterminating the Jews under its control. Some Jews were exempt from deportation, including those who had converted before 1939.[21]
The deportations of Jews from Slovakia started on March 25, 1942.[b] Transports were halted on October 20, 1942. A group of Jewish activists known as theWorking Group tried to stop the process through a mix of bribery and negotiation. However, some 58,000 Jews had already been deported by October 1942, mostly to theOperation Reinharddeath camps in theGeneral Government in occupied Poland and toAuschwitz. More than 99% of the Jews deported from Slovakia in 1942 were murdered in the concentration death camps.[citation needed]
Jewish deportations resumed on September 30, 1944, after German troops occupied the Slovak territory to defeat theSlovak National uprising. During the German occupation, up to 13,500 Slovak Jews were deported (mostly to Auschwitz where most of them were gassed upon arrival), principally through the Jewish transit camp inSereď under the command ofAlois Brunner, and about 2,000 were murdered in the Slovak territory by members of theEinsatzgruppe H and theHlinka Guard Emergency Divisions. Deportations continued until March 31, 1945, when the last group of Jewish prisoners was taken from Sereď to theTerezín ghetto. In all, German and Slovak authorities deported about 71,500 Jews from Slovakia; about 65,000 of them were murdered or died in concentration camps. The overall figures are inexact, partly because many Jews did not identify themselves, but one 2006 estimate is that approximately 105,000 Slovak Jews, or 77% of their prewar population, died during the war.[3]
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11 Jews were murdered by an unidentifiedUPA group in September 1945 inKolbasov.[23]
In theTopoľčany pogrom 48 Jews were seriously injured. 13 anti-Jewish incidents calledpartisan pogroms took place between August 1 and 5, 1946, the biggest one inŽilina, where 15 people were wounded.[24][25] Antisemitic manifestations took place inBratislava in August 1946 and in August 1948.[26]
In 1946, the Slovak writer Karel František Koch argued that the antisemitic incidents that he witnessed in Bratislava after the war were "notantisemitism, but something far worse—the robber’s anxiety that he might have to return Jewish property [stolen in the Holocaust],"[27] a view that has been endorsed by Czech-Slovak scholarRobert Pynsent [cs].[28]
After the war, the number of Jews in Slovakia was estimated to be up to 31,000. Most of them decided to emigrate. In February 1948, Communist rule was established after the1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état. It lasted until November 1989Velvet Revolution. During those years, little or no Jewish life existed. Many Jews emigrated to Israel or the United States to regain their freedom of religion.[citation needed] After 1989, and with the peaceful breakup of Czechoslovakia and Slovak independence in 1993, there was some resurgence in Jewish life. However, most Jews were elderly, and younger ones largely assimilated through intermarriage.[citation needed]
According to the 2021 census of Slovakia, the religious Jewish community had 2,007 members, which is about 0.04% of the totalpopulation of Slovakia.[29] However, this does not account for those that are not practicing and non-religious jews, or jews by descent (full or partial). About 839 of them live inBratislava Region (0.12% of the total population), followed by 311 members inKošice and 210 members inTrnava Region (both: 0.04%).[30] The active Jewish population increased by 8 members since the 2011 census.[2]
