Squeezed in between a railroad viaduct and a building materials dealership a tiny Jewish cemetery may be found. Floridsdorf is one of the Viennese districts on the “other” side of the Danube (viewed from the city center), huge in size and population, containing industrial as well as agricultural areas. Before the Shoah it was home […]
Author Archives: hersh
Žilina’s Neolog Art Center and Orthodox Shil
When the Neolog movement spread throughout Hungary and related territories in the 2nd half of the 19th century, the Jewish community of Žilina adopted the new ideas and left the old ways behind. Only a small number of jews stayed faithful to Orthodox judaism. They broke away and formed their own community. Then came the […]
The Grave of The Chatam Sofer
Near the banks of the river Danube in Bratislava there is a streetcar station (tram stop for our friends from the UK) named for non other than the Chatam Sofer who is buried here. Moshe Schreiber, better known as the Chatam Sofer was one of the greatest rabbis of his generation and served for some […]
The Trenčín Jewish Cemetery
The Cemetery is on Partizánska road, perhaps 1km from the town center. It is on a slope and enclosed by a wall approximately 2m high. The gates are safely locked and it is difficult to get a glimps inside. We did our best, however, and managed to take some photographs from over the wall or […]
Synagóga Café, Trnava
My first reaction was dismay. But then I sat down, had a lemonade and began to argue with myself. The dismay I experience is not really with the proprietors who have turned this beautiful building into a beautiful, pleasant, spacious coffee house. It is the decline and destruction of Jewish life in Slovakia and the […]
The “New” Mikvah in Bardejov
After the Shoah, and with communist rule well established (though perhaps not totally accidentally three years after Stalin’s death), in the year 1956, the Jews in Bardejov decided to build a new Mikvah right next to the old one. The old Mikvah was too big for the few survivors who had returned. So, a new […]
The Klois of The Chevra Bikur Cholim, Bardejov, Slovakia
No more than three minutes’ walk from the town square is a white washed building, a little higher than the other houses it is squeezed into. The carefully restored writing near the top of the building, and a proud little plaque on the wall mark it as a synagogue: the”Klois” of the Chevra Bikur Cholim, […]
The Synagogue Building in Malacky, Slovakia
For some historical background, see https://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/pinkas_slovakia/Slo331.html