Alternate names: Bratislava [Slov], Pozsony [Hun], Prešpurk [Cz], Pressburg [Ger], Preßburg, Prešporok [Slov, until 1919], Preshborik and פּרעשבאָריק [Yid], Posonium [Lat], Bratysława [Pol], Aranzenii Vechi
[UPDATE] Bratislava's Jewish heritage uncovered [July 2016]
48°09' N, 17°07' E, Jewish population. 7,111 (1900), 18,102 (1940).
town images [February 2009]
CEMETERY:
- Rusovce Cemetery at Balkánska, facing/ Oproti 37, Bratislava-Rusovce: In the center of Rusovce, formerly a village 10 km Sof Bratislava and now one of its neighborhoods, is a chateau park. On the edge of that park stands the Romanesque St. Vite's church, unused for decades and undergoing gradual refurbishment. During the 1980s, when the Jewish cemetery of Rusovce was destroyed by the local authorities, a local man saved the tombstones from destruction by removing them next to the church. Thus at least the tombstones remind on the former Jewish presence in Rusovce. Source with photo. [Sep 2014]
- Neolog Cemetery at Žižkova , Bratislava: A Neolog cemetery established in 1873 is located approximately 300 m W of the Orthodox cemetery going toward Karlova Ves. The stive active cemetery is well maintained. The most recent graves are next to the entrance gate. Buried here are architects Eugen Bárkány (1885-1967); Artur Szalatnai-Slatinský (1891-1962); painter Imrich Weiner-Kráľ (1901-1978); and director and play writer Leopold Lahola (1918-1968),. Some of the art-nouveau and classicist design gravestones . are monumental and fenced by a massive ironwork chain. Others evoke draped column fragments. Various floral and geometric decorations join traditional symbols like Kohanim blessing hands, Levite's jar, and Shield of David. Source and photo. [Sep 2014]
- Orthodox Cemetery at Žižkova 36, Bratislava's Old Town: The still active cemetery situated above the river Danube and near the Christian St. Nicolas Cemetery was purchased by the Chevra Kadisha in 1845 and then expanded several times. The most recent graves are located in the back. The first funeral took place in 1846. The terraces of the cemetery are cut into its sloped terrain. On one of lower ones, approximately in the middle of the cemetery grounds, are old graves of the community leaders and Kohanim. An outstanding contemporary writer Juraj Spitzer (1919-1995) is buried here. Inscriptions are mostly in Hebrew names and with Latin surnames. The simply shaped gravestones symbols are blessing hand, jars and Shield of David . Source and photos. [Sep 2014]
MASS GRAVE:
- Nábrežná , Bratislava in Bratislava-Petržalka [Engerau] : During the final months of WWII, the Nazis set up a labor camp in the former Semperit factory (today Matador) in Petržalka near Bratislava, where hundreds of Hungarian Jews suffered ininhuman living conditions building the "Südostwall", a defense line aimed to stop the approaching Soviet Army. The camp had several branches. Prisoners lived in cellars and attics of various area buildings, including the Leberfinger Inn. With the advancing front, the Camp was liquidated on March 29, 1945. The Jews were marched to Bad Deutsch Altenburg, those who had no strength to walk, were killed in situ. Their bodies were found along the road to Bad Deutsch Altenburg and buried in mass graves on local cemeteries. The largest one, containing 497 bodies is located at the Petržalka [Engerau] Cemetery. The memorial at the Petržalka Cemetery includes thirteen individual burial plots of victims who could be identified by their documents when the mass grave was exhumed by the Czechoslovak authorities. As the murderers were mainly Austrian nationals, their trials took place in Vienna in 1945-1955 and are called the Engerau-Processes, an important milestone in the Austrian post-War justice. The memorial at the cemetery is maintained by the Jewish Community of Bratislava from its own funds. No support from public funds, either Slovak or Austrian, have been provided. If you wish to donate, find their contact information here. Source and photo. [Sep 2014]
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL:
- Heydukova 11-13, Bratislava: Holocaust survivors of the Bratislava Jewish community cleaned and re-dedicated the Heydukova Street Synagogue on Shavuot 1946. They installed two Holocaust memorial plaques in the passage of the building., one of the first sites of the Holocaust memorials in Slovakia, located in a semi-public area and initiated by the Jewish community on communal premises. The number of victims is incorrect, since they did not include those murdered Jewish citizens from the southern territories, during World War II occupied by Hungary. Source and photo. [Sep 2014]
- Panská, facing/ Oproti 41, Bratislava: Architects were Peter Žalman and Lucia Žalmanová . The main Slovak Holocaust Memorial is located in the center of the Old Town of Bratislava on the site of the former Neolog Synagogue demolished in 1967. Erected in 1996 by the Slovak Republic to commemorate the memory of 105,000 Holocaust victims from Slovakia, the location was purposeful. Composed as a place of public remembrance where two layers of history intertwine, the memory of the tragic event and the memory of the former Rybné Square synagogue, can be often found on historical photos hanging in Bratislava cafés. The memorial consists of the black wall with silhouette of the destroyed synagogue and the central sculpture with non-figurative motif and a David Shield on the top, placed on the black granite platform with "zachor" [remember] and "pamätaj" inscriptions. The ormer synagogue plot owned by the Bratislava Municipality, is leases the site for an annual symbolical fee to the Museum of Jewish Culture, which maintains the memorial. Source and photos. [Sep 2014]
- Žižkova 36, Bratislava: Memorial plaque located on the side façade of the Orthodox cemetery ceremonial hall is dedicated to the memory of 15 thousands residents of Bratislava who perished in the Holocaust. Source and photo. [Sep 2014]
Central Union of the Jewish Communities in the Slovak Republic, 81447 Bratislava, Kozia Ul 21 may have more information. January 2009:Bratislava.
- REFERENCES:
- BOOK: Pictures of some of the stones at this cemetery are in Die Judengemeinde Bratislava , ed. by Hugo Gold, 1932. (pictures on page 43 may be from the new cemetery as is the picture on page 107). Source: Arthur Levi, 435 Porter Lake Drive, Longmeadow MA 01106, Phone: 413-781-2089, Fax: 413-781-2090 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- The underground mausoleum contains the graves of 18 famous rabbis. Among these are Rabbi Moses Sofer "Chatam Sofer" (1762-1839). The key is available from the Commission [?] Offices. See: The Jewish Travel Guide . London: Jewish Chronicle, 1992.
- BOOK: Avnei beit hayotser...geonim asher matsþu mekom menuhatam beveit hahayim hayashan...presburg (Gravestones...of the Rabbis who are resting in the old Jewish cemetery of Pressburg {Bratislava]), by S. Weisz. Jerusalem, 1970 (first printing in 1900). 87 pages, Hebrew. S70A5165. Index of personal names. 85 tombstones (some not complete) dating from 1629-1847 are those of rabbis and some women. See: Tagger, Mathilde. Printed Books on Jewish Cemeteries in the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem: an annotated bibliography . Jerusalem: The Israel Genealogical Society, 1997.
- BOOK: Barkany, Eugen. Die juedischen Friedhoefe in der Slowakei ; [Jewish Cemeteries in Slovakia] as of 1966, published by Frank Komjati [Vienna] with some of his additions, in Zeitscrift fuer Geschichte der Juden : Vol. X, Tel Aviv: __ 1973. Old cemetery was liquidated during construction of a tunnel. Only some 25-30 tombs remained and formed a subterranean mausoleum accessible by concrete steps, including Chatan Sofer and other rabbis. The stones removed to the Orthodox cemetery of Bratislava.