The Story of the Jewish Community in Bratislava

Before the Holocaust

Before the Holocaust

During the Holocaust

During the Holocaust

After the Holocaust

After the Holocaust

Their Legacies Remain

Their Legacies Remain

Bratislava, Slovakia

On the eve of the Holocaust the Jewish community in Bratislava was the largest Jewish community in Slovakia; it was a Jewish religious and political center, and home to the renowned Pressburg Yeshiva as well as the Zionist Organization of Slovakia. In 1930 some 15,000 Jews lived in the city, constituting some 12 percent of the population.

Following the creation of an independent Slovak State in March 1939, the Jews of Bratislava were subjected to discriminatory practices and persecution. By the 1st of March 1942, nearly half of the city’s Jews had been evicted, and dispersed in smaller towns across the country. During 1942 many of the Jews of Bratislava were deported to the death camps in Poland.

During the war the city was home to the Bratislava Working Group, which was devoted to rescuing Jews. The group’s efforts, however, came to naught and most Slovakian Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

This is the story of the Jewish community of Bratislava.