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There are grounds for optimism in Slovakia – but we cannot turn a blind eye to surviving antisemitism

JL;DR SUMMARY The article reflects on a visit to Slovakia, highlighting both the preservation of Jewish heritage by non-Jewish Slovaks and the underlying antisemitism that still lingers. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish HistoryHolocaustJewish HeritageCommunismSlovakiaCentral EuropePhilo SemitismTisoJewish Slovak Relations

Places mentioned

Namestovo, Nitra, Slovakia
"Over a hundred years ago, what now is called Namestovo bore the Hungarian name of Nameszto."
Nitra, Slovakia
"He was then reburied in a place of greater honour and in keeping with Canon Law in the Cathedral in the town of Nitra,"
Bratislava, Slovakia
"For example, the 2024 reports of Freedom House places Slovakia only slightly behind the Czech Republic and far ahead of its other neighbours Hungary, Poland and Ukraine."
Kosice, Košice, Slovakia
"Communist takeover during the late 1940s benefit the surviving remnant in a handful of Slovak places such as Bratislava and Kosice."
Budapest, Hungary
"Rabbi Dov Bers other son, a doctor, survived until January 1945 when Hungarian Arrow Cross Nazis murdered him and others working at the Maros Utca Jewish hospital in Buda just days before Soviet troops fully occupied the Hungarian capital."
Vienna, Austria
"I was literally stepping into the valley of the shadow of death of Jewish communities which are no more or which have a minute fraction of their pre-Holocaust populations."
Croatia
"Slovakia had the dubious distinction of being one of only two Nazi client states [Croatia was the other] which paid Hitler to deport Jewish families."
Poland
"I was literally stepping into the valley of the shadow of death of Jewish communities which are no more or which have a minute fraction of their pre-Holocaust populations."
Ukraine
"For example, the 2024 reports of Freedom House places Slovakia only slightly behind the Czech Republic and far ahead of its other neighbours Hungary, Poland and Ukraine."

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Cairo Item ID 39165
Cairo Source ID 45
Retrieved 2024-12-19 05:30:39 UTC
Curated 2024-12-19 08:30:58 UTC