The news portal The Slovak Spectator highlights an award-winning Jewish cemetery project in Spišská Nová Ves, a small town in eastern Slovakia — where a teacher has used the Jewish Cemetery to teach about local Jewish history and instill in students the responsibility for caring for both the site and local Jewish memory.
The Jewish cemetery in Spišská Nová Ves lies near a railroad line on the eastern outskirts of the town. It has around 280 graves; the oldest from 1880. The last burial took place in 1955.
There are no imposing tombs or memorials, but the epitaphs illustrate the story of Jewish life in the town. Around 200 Jewish families lived in Spišská Nová Ves before the Holocaust; they were all deported to the camps on May 28, 1942.
No Jews live there today. But for the past 15 years, thanks to the efforts of history teacher Ružena Kormošová, local high school students have been caring for the cemetery.
In November, at the annual Slovak Jewish Heritage conference, she was awarded the annual Eugen Barkany Prize, for her Jewish cemetery and educational work.
Kormošová, now retired, is an activist with the Pro Memoria civic association, which works to preserve Jewish heritage and memory.
When she taught at the local high school, she created educational programs that incorporated interaction with the cemetery to teach pupils about local Jewish history — and, in fact, about the history of the town. As part of the programs, students contacted the last surviving Jews of Spišská Nová Ves; unveiled a memorial plaque to the children who attended their school and were killed in the Holocaust.
Students restored the Jewish cemetery and took on the responsibility of maintaining it — which they still carry out, even though Kormošová has retired from teaching.
As the Slovak Spectator article states:
As guides during the Weekend of Open Parks and Gardens, students come to the graveyard to recount to visitors the history and stories of local Jews. Here, they also gather in late October to light 333 candles and commemorate the Jewish children from the 1942 family transport.
Read the full article about the Spisska Nova Ves cemetery project
1 comment on “Slovakia: Media highlights award-winning Jewish cemetery care and educational project in Spišská Nová Ves”
שלום רב המקצוע שלי הוא שימור כיתוב על מצבות אני רוצה להציע את שירותי , לבצע עבודה זו בבתי עלמין בגולה..