The Federation of Jewish Communities in Slovakia is organizing a conference in Bratislava on November 9 — the anniversary of Kristallnacht — whose aim is to facilitate exchange of information about planned and already-implemented projects to preserve and restore Jewish heritage in the country.
Participants will include representatives of public and Jewish community institutions as well as civic activists and professionals working in the field of heritage preservation in Slovakia.
The organizers state that they want “to focus attention on the complex issues affecting the preservation of Jewish heritage in Slovakia over the past 25 years.”
Gradually, over the course of a quarter-century, public as well community-based institutions have been established that work actively in this area. Their research, cultural and educational activities have also resulted in numerous publications. Projects were implemented to restore synagogues and Jewish monuments in many cities across Slovakia. The Slovak Jewish Heritage Route was established, encompassing 25 places of interest. This comprehensive project includes research, educational and promotional activities and is designed to help preserve and restore Jewish cultural heritage in Slovakia.
The restoration of synagogues in Bardejov, Trnava and Žilina will be completed next year, and a Holocaust Museum is to open in the former labor camp in Sereď. In addition, the Jewish Community Museum in Bratislava is preparing an exhibition project, Heritage Rediscovered, to mark the 90th anniversary of the construction of Bratislava’s synagogue. (The museum is located in the women’s gallery of the synagogue.)
Moreover, the Federation has declared 2016 to be the “Year of Jewish Heritage.” As part of observances it plans to award, for the first time, the Eugen Bárkány Prize for activities of great significance in the preservation of Jewish heritage in Slovakia.
Eugen Bárkány, for whom the award is named, founded the Slovak Jewish Museum in Prešov in 1928 and settled in Bratislava in 1955. There he worked as the custodian of the Judaica collection in the Jewish community and planned the establishment of a Jewish museum in the Rybné Square synagogue — the twin-towered Neolog synagogue that was demolished in 1969 to make way for a new bridge over the Danube River.
The Judaica collection is now preserved in the Jewish Community Museum, which opened in 2012.
Conference program: