Alternate names: Vranov nad Top'lou, Varannó. town image and town image [February 2009]

[UPDATE] Photos by Charles Burns [November 2017]

US Commission No. SLCE000027

Vranov is located in Vranov, SW of Humenne. The isolated urban hillside has a pre-burial house with Hebrew wall inscriptions. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all via a broken masonry wall and a non-locking gate. 100-500 18th-20th century marble, granite, limestone, sandstone, and other materials flat shaped tombstones (some with carved relief decorations), finely smoothed and inscribed stones, or multi-stone monuments with Hebrew and German inscriptions are in original locations. The property is Jewish cemetery and garden. Adjacent properties are residential and a hospital. Occasionally, private visitors stop. There had been clearing vegetation. Now, individuals clean or clean occasionally. There are no threats.

This town is in E Slovakia between Presov and Humenne. The cemetery set into a hillside on the E side of town contains several hundred graves. A crumbling wall surrounds it. At the bottom of the hill is a decaying building. Interestingly, although the cemetery and the building were vandalized, a bier remained in the building in 1996. Inscriptions on the gravestones are in Hebrew, German and Hungarian. I was told that Vranov nad Toplou had a synagogue in the center of the town demolished by the Communist regime. A bank stands there now. The size of the cemetery and the central location of the synagogue suggest that the Jewish community was very large before the war, despite the fact that Vranov nad Toplou was not much of a town then. Now, it has about 22,000 people, Vranov really grew as a conglomeration of three or four villages under the Communists. Source: Andrew Stroehlein This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The cemetery is high on a steep hill off of a dirt road called Hlovikova. Both the road and the cemetery are marked on a Vranov street map. The cemetery has a high stone wall on the sides and back. The front has a locked gate but one can squeeze through its bars. The pre-1900 oldest graves are highest on the hill and in the woods. The 1900-1935 graves are in an open field lower on the very overgrown hill. We cut down much brush and photographed all legible stones (160). Many stones toppled from their pedestal are face down on the hill. Source: Bobby Furst: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and Joan Adler: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

UPDATES:

"Jewish gravestones were damaged [vandalism] in Levice and Vranov nad Toplou. One tombstone dating back to the 19th century, valued at about $1,500, was stolen." Source: Dateline World Jewish, July 2001.

Seven tombstones were destroyed in May 2001 in this cemetery that was declared a cultural heritage site in 1963. Source: http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism/asw2001-2/slovakia.htm and Radio Free Europe report at http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2001/06/040601.asp. [January 2004]

A Short History of the Jewish People of Vranov nad Toplou by Ing. Igor Sol'anik, Vranov nad Toplou, 2002. ISBN 80 - 968735-7-1. 48 pages in English. [January 2004]

January 2009:

Map of Town

Town Vranov nad Topľou
	Address:	Phone:	00 421 57 442 25 51-3
	Mestský úrad	Fax:	00 421 57 442 29 29
	Dr. C. Daxnera 87	Email:	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
	093 16 Vranov nad Topľou SLOVAKIA	Web:	www.vranov.sk