The Jewish Community of Levice
Levice
In Hungarian: Leva; in German: Lewenz
A town in south Slovakia.
Levice is situated on a railway junction and served as a marketing center of grain and cattle. Until 1918 it was part of the Kingdom of Hungary and then, until 1993, part of the Republic of Czechoslovakia. During the years 1938-1945 the area was under Hunagian occupation.
In a document of 1713 two Jews of Levice are mentioned, one a lessee of customs and the other a supplier of the Kaiser (Emperor). Both were protected Jews of the Graf Eszterhazy.
The Jewish community was organized in 1840 and the rabbi was then Rabbi Yehuda Heilbron. In 1842 a cemetery was consecrated and the hevra kaddisha (burial society) was formed. In 1848 about 100 Jews lived in Levice.
A community register was kept in Levice from 1851 and when Jews from some 30 neighboring settlements in the sub-district of Bars were also registered in it, the Rabbi of Levice became a chief rabbi (district rabbi).
The syangogue was built in 1853 and enlarged in 1883. A mikveh (purification bath) was opened in 1854 and reconditioned in 1891. A private school, which had been opened in 1840, became a religious school and in 1854 a public school. In the course of the years also children of enlightened non- Jews attended the school, because of its high educational standard.
As a result of the emancipation of the Jews of Hungary (1867) and following the General Congress of the Jews of Hungary (1868-69), the community of Levice registered as a Neolog (reform) community. The orthodox Jews parted from the community and in 1874 formed a separate community. In consequence of the divided financial resources both communities found it difficult to function and after 11 years of separation they reunited to form a “status quo antle” community, that is a community that kept a neutral position in the controversy between the Neolog and orthodox streams.
From the beginning of the 20th century three rabbis occupied the position of the community’s rabbi: Rabbi Jacob Lieberman, Rabbi Dr. Nathan Nandor, and Dr. Andrei Kaempfner. During that time the following persons functioned as the head of the community: Dr Ignaz Frummer, who was knighted for his services as a doctor; Dr. Samuel Silard; Dr. Alexander Balog; Dr. Lajos Kaiser, and Dr. Stephan Fisher.
Nine different societies were active in the field of welfare and charity. Among them were: hevra kaddisha (burial society), that apart from its usual function provided also medical help to the needy and supported the country’s Jewish hospital; a women’s society, founded in 1868; agudat maot, founded in 1900; a shelter for elderly men and women, founded in 1931, which supported also the poor and orphaned children; a society for aiding poor girls and occasional wayfarers; and poel zedek, a society for the aid of the sick and people in mourning. The cemetery was enlarged and fenced in 1880. In 1927 a piece of land was acquired for a further enlargement.
In the second half of the 19th century, following their emancipation, the Jews began to take part in all fields of the economy. In the 1930s, more than 100 Jews engaged in trade within the town, among them 10 big merchants; 25 engaged in agriculture; 3 were owners of factories; 64 were craftsmen; 18 doctors, 12 lawyers; 5 engineers, clerks, teachers, and others.
Many Jews of Levice faught in World War I. 23 of them were killed in action.
After the war, the newly established Republic of Czechoslovakia recognized the Jews as a national minority, with appropriate rights. This caused the involvement of Jews also in political activity. During that period, Zionism also struck roots in the community. The Zionist youth movement Maccabi was active in Levice. In 1926, prior to the elections to the 15th Zionist Congress, the Jews of Levice acquired many Shekels, membership in the Zionist organisation and a voting right, and in 1937, 14 of them took part in the elections to the 20th Zionist Congress.
In 1930, 1448 Jews were members of the community of Levice.
The Holocaust Period
Following the Munich Agreement of September 1938, about a year before World War II broke out, the Republic of Czechoslovakia was dismembered and by the (second) Vienna Agreement of November 1938, parts of Slovakia, with Levice, were annexed to Hungary. The antisemitic laws of the pro-German Hungarian regime were now applied also to the Jews of the annexed territory.
In 1941 Jewish men were drafted to work companies in a military framework for forced labor. Most of them were sent in the summer of 1941 to the Russian front, where almost all found their death.
On March 19,1944, the German army entered Hungary and a few weeks later the Jews of Levice and the neighborhood were concentrated in a ghetto that was set up in the town. Between May 15 and June 14 some 4000 Jews of the ghetto were deported to the extermination camp of Auschwitz in Poland.
After the war, in June 1945, a few scores of survivors returned to Levice. In 1949 most of them went to Israel. In 1988 the Slovak authorities were about to repair the synagogue, but in 1990 the work was still incomplete. About 15 Jews were then living in the place, all of them over 70 years old. The cemetery was fairly well in order, with a monument commemorating the victims of the Holocaust inside it.
FRUMMER
(Family Name)Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. In some cases Frummer was originally a nickname based on personal characteristics. The word Frummer means a "pious person" in German and may have been adopted by a religious family or head. In some cases, Frummer is a form of the biblical male personal name Avraham (in which the development can be traced, as in Avrahahm- Avrum-Afrum-Frum). The German and Yiddish suffixes "-er" and man stand for "son of", or "family of". Transforming or translating Hebrew names into vernacular-sounding names, enabled Jews in the Diaspora both to maintain their Jewish tradition, as well as to become part of their host society,
BALOG
(Family Name)Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name derives from a physical characteristic.
Balog(h) is the Hungarian for "left-handed". The Hungarian nickname is also associated with Beloch, a Silesian form of Bloch. Bloch is based on the German word Welsch, which means "alien" (a term applied to persons and things from Romance-language countries, particularly Italy and France) and on the Slavic Vlach, which means "foreigner". Frequent among Jews in Alsace and Germany who had emigrated from France in the 14th and 15th centuries, Welsch became Vlach/Wallach/Wallich when Jews moved from Central to Eastern Europe, and Bloch when they immigrated to Germany from Poland. In the 20th century, Balog is recorded as a Jewish surname with the Yugoslav soldiers Bela and Nikola 'Minja' Balog who were taken prisoner by the Germans during World War II.
Tekovske Sarluhy
(Place)Tekovske Sarluhy
Tekovské Lužany
A small town in south western Slovakia.
The town is situated on a plain, a few kilometers south west of the district capital Levice. Until 1919 the town was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire and was called Nagysallo. After the dismemberment of the empire, the area was annexed to Czechoslovakia and the town was called Tekovske Sarluhy, its Slovak name. During World War II it was under Hungarian rule. In 1954 the town was renamed Tekovske-Luzany.
A number of tombstones which were preserved in the old Jewish cemetery dating from about 1800, are evidence of a Jewish presence in the town in the 18th century. In the new cemetery among the baroque-style tombstones there is one which according to legend is of a Christian who donated the land for the cemetery on condition that he be buried there.
The community was organized in the 19th century. In the seventies, after the convening of the Hungarian Jewish Congress in 1868-1869, the kehilla (community) joined the orthodox stream which opposed changes in religious practices. The Jews were traditional for the most part but there were some enlightened liberals.
Among the educational institutions of the kehilla were a grammar school with eight grades where, studies were in the Hungarian language, a cheder and Talmud torah. There was a yeshiva where some 30 students were enrolled. The head of the yeshiva was the rabbi of the community, Rabbi Joseph Abeles, who also served the Jews of the surrounding area. Preceding him in that position was Rabbi Yungreiss who had founded the yeshiva. A ritual slaughterer (shochet) who was also a cantor (chazan) served the kehilla. The community also employed two teachers, one for secular studies and one for Jewish subjects.
Most of the Jewish homes and the community institutions were located between the river and the main street. On one side of the street were the synagogue and the study and prayer house and on the other side the school. In the courtyard were the ritual baths, the home of the shochet, a matza bakery and the slaughter house for chickens. The rabbi's home was near the yeshiva.
In 1880 there were 64 Jews among a population of 2,256. By 1910 the number had increased to 113. At its height the community numbered 70-72 families.
Depended on trade with the peasants in the neighboring villages. There were also craftsmen, cobblers, tinsmiths and carpenters. There were several doctors, a dentist, a lawyer and two engineers in the community. Only a few were wealthy.
In 1867 the Jews in Hungary were granted civil rights. They were thus able to participate in public affairs and the economic institutions of the Hungarians. The relations between the Jews and the Christians in the town were generally good.
During the period between the two world wars, the Zionist youth movements, Young Macabbi and Betar were active. In 1939 several families and some single young Jews were able to emigrate to Eretz Israel.
The Holocaust Period
In accordance with the arbitration treaty in Vienna of November 2, 1938, a result of the Munich Pact of September 1938, the southern part of Slovakia was annexed to Hungary. The Jewish Laws then in effect in Hungary, limiting Jewish activity in the economy and the public sector, were also applied to the Jews in the annexed territories. Some men were sent to forced labor camps. Trade and craft licenses held by Jews were cancelled and many families were left with no means of livelihood.
According to the census conducted by the Hungarian authorities in 1941, there were 154 Jews in the town among a population of 2,785. It seems that at that time there were some scores of additional Jews in the town illegally.
Under the pro-German regime in Hungary, the Jews were able to live there in relative safety, in spite of the restrictions and difficult economic conditions.
On March 19, 1944 the German army advanced into Hungary. Two weeks later the Jews were ordered to wear a yellow patch and to hand over their valuables to the German authorities. A few weeks later the Jews of the town were sent to the ghetto in Levice where all the Jews of the area were concentrated. In the middle of June all the Jews in the ghetto were transported to the death camp in Auschwitz. Most of the Jews of Nagysallo arrived there on June 17, 1944 in the afternoon and sent to the gas chambers in the evening.
Some Jews were partisans and one Jew joined the Red Army and fought in a unit led by General Svoboda.
After the war, the town again became part of Slovakia. About 20-25 single Jews and some families returned from Auschwitz and other camps. With the help of the Joint, the community began to function again. The synagogue had been destroyed but the prayer house was intact. The Zionist youth movement, Bnei Akiva organized a training center for pioneers. Most of the survivors emigrated to Israel, some to the United States. In the late forties only one Jewish family remained.
Huncovce
(Place)Huncovce
In German: Hondorf; in Hungarian: Hunfalu or Hunfalva
A small town in north-eastern Slovakia.
Huncovce is situated on the river Poprad, between the towns Poprad in the south and Kezmarok in the north. Until 1918 the region was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and then, until 1993, part of the Republic of Czechoslovakia.
Huncovce is known in the Jewish world thanks to its yeshivot, in which over 10,000 torah scholars were trained in the course of the years. The Jewish community of Huncovce is one of the oldest in the region of Spis (in Hungarian Szepes). The region was inhabited mostly by Germans, who opposed the settlement of Jews in the towns of the district. The first Jews came to Huncovce in the 17th century. In 1728 there were still only two Jewish families in the town, and in 1754 the number rose to 31, but the community was organized only in the 1760’s.
The old synagogue was burnt down around 1760. The fire destroyed also important documents and rabbinical literature. In 1821 a new splendid synagogue in the baroque style was consecrated, with a mikveh (purification bath) in its cellar. In 1844 an elementary Jewish school was opened.
In the middle of the 19th century when the restrictions on the settlement of Jews in Hungary were abolished, many Jews moved from Huncovce to the towns of Spiska Nova Ves, to Levica and to Poprad.
In 1851 the community consisted of 928 Jews. In 1860 there were about 200 Jewish families in the place and in 1900 the number dwindled to just 40.
The first rabbi of Huncovce, Rabbi Benjamin Sinai, died in 1708. The second rabbi of Huncovce is on record in 1757. He was followed by Rabbi Rappoport, the author of the book Bigdei Kodesh; Rabbi Jehezkel Levy; Rabbi Joav Billizer; and Rabbi Jehezkel Weil. In 1812 Rabbi Mordecai Broda, the grandson of Rabbi Abrahm Broda of Frankfurt/Main was appointed. He was succeeded by Rabbi Solomon Perlstein who in 1833 became the district rabbi. Since then until the end of the 19th century Huncovce became the center for the Jews of the Spis region.
At the beginning of the 19th century there were three yeshivot at Huncovce. Following the decrease in the Jewish population at the place only one yeshiova was left, which developed particularly under its head Rabbi Shmuel Rosenberg (1825-1918). Rabbi Rosenberg was regarded in his congregation as a wonder-maker and was called Zadik. A monument was built over his grave.
The yeshiva was the second most important in Europe, after the Yeshiva of Pressburg. It was recognized as an institute of higher education by the Hungarian authorities and also by the Republic of Czechoslovakia. In the years 1908-1910 it was attended by 300 students from all over the world. In 1929 living quarters were built for the students but in 1931, when Rabbi Joseph Horowitz, the head of the yeshiva, left the town, the yeshiva was closed. The majority of the Jews of Huncovce made their living in trade and crafts.
In 1848, when the Hungarian revolted against the Austrian rule, Jews of Huncovce joined as volunteers the Hungarian rebels and eight of them fall in battle. After the emancipation of the Jews of Hungary (1867) the Jews of Huncovce became integrated in the life of the Hungarian society and economy. In the Republic of Czechoslovakia, that came into being in 1918, the Jews were given a national-cultural autonomy. At that time started also Zionist activity in the town. In 1926, prior to the election to the 15th Zionist Congress, 12 shekels membership in the Zionist organization and a voting right were acquired at Huncovce.
In 1930, 194 Jews were living at Huncovce.
The Holocaust Period
Following the Munich Agreement of September 1938, about a year before the outbreak of World War II, the Republic of Czechoslovakia disintegrated. In October Slovakia declared its autonomy and in March 1939 became an independent state, a satellite of Nazi Germany. The Fascist regime removed the Jews from the social and economic life of the country. In 1941 only 75 Jews lived in the town. In 1942 all the Jews of Huncovce and the neighborhood except one were taken to Poprad and from there deported to Auschwitz in Poland, where most of them were murdered by the Germans.
Only a few survivors of the community returned to Huncovce after the war. The synagogue building, which during the war suffered damage in air raids, was turned into a warehouse. At the end of the century, many tombstones in the old cemetery, which borders the river, were found under water. One tombstone was of the year 1697. At the new cemetery, which was opened in the 19th century, the tombstones were found in place, undamaged.
Slovakia
(Place)Slovakia
Slovenská republika - Slovak Republic
A country in central Europe, until 1993 part of Czechoslovakia, member of the European Union (EU).
21st Century
Estimated Jewish population in 2018: 2,600 out of 5,450,000. Main Jewish organization:
Ústredný zväz židovských náboženských obcí v Slovenskej republike - Federation of Jewish Communities in Slovakia
Panenská 4
811 03 Bratislava
Slovakia
Phone: 02-5441 2167
Fax: 02-5441 1106
Email: office@uzzno.sk
Website: http://www.uzzno.sk/