Jewish cemetery Zvolen
History of the Zvolen Jewish cemetery
We don't know when exactly the Jewish cemetery in Zvolen was created. The first written document about the Jewish cemetery in Zvolen dates back to 1906, and it is a purchase of land to enlarge the cemetery, which means that the cemetery must have existed before that. The cemetery was then fenced with a wall with dimentions 50x75 meters. The first Jewish funeral took place in 1869. In the mid-1990s, Alice Gingold from the United States (as an envoy of the American Peace Corps) came to Zvolen and contacted Mr. Jozef Klement, who at the time was trying to dignify the Jewish cemetery. As part of the reconstruction, a new mass grave tombstone dedicated to 128 murdered people from 1944/5 was made. The wall of the cemetery and sidewalks were restored and several memorial plaques were placed on the inside of the wall. The first of them was a plaque of fallen Jewish citizens from the First World War, which was originally located in the Zvolen synagogue. Later, plaques of donors who contributed were added to the reconstruction, as well as a memorial plaque dedicated to Mrs. Alice Gingold. During the following years, 21 plaques were installed containing 731 names of deported and murdered Jewish victims of the Holocaust (šoa) from Zvolen and the surrounding area. As Romani people were also murdered in the cemetery during the war, there is also a memorial dedicated to the Romani Holocaust, which they call "Porajmos". The mass grave monument has been declared a national cultural monument.
Jewish History of the City
The first mention of the town of Zvolen dates back to the 12th century when it existed as a trade and craft settlement under Pustý hrad. In the Middle Ages, it gradually began to become a mining town and Jews were not allowed to settle in it, because after the battle of Mohács (1526), Hungary recognized them as enemies who helped the Turks. Joseph II issued a patent in 1783 that removed most of the restrictions and bans, but did not lift the ban on settling in mining towns. In 1849, the political and civic equality of the jews was proclaimed in Szeged. The first Jew in Zvolen was the merchant Adolf Tomašoff, who allegedly settled here in 1853. But due to the lack of documents, some claim that it was Elijah Eisler who settled here in 1854. In the late 1880s, Zvolen had around 380 Jewish residents. In 1895 they started building the first synagogue in Zvolen.
During the First Czechoslovak Republic, the Jews did not establish their own political party in Zvolen, but mostly voted for the agrarian, trade, social democratic and communist parties. According to the December 1938 census, the Jewish community in Zvolen had 525 members, representing 4.5% of the population of approximately 12,000 people that lived in Zvolen back then. But despite their small numbers, the Jews had a significant position in economic activity in Zvolen.
There were about 8,000 people living in Zvolen before the Second World War, of which about a tenth were Jews. 733 of them did not return to the city. Even those who survived the Holocaust (šoa) gradually emigrated abroad. Almost none of the original Jewish population remained in Zvolen.
"Jews in the city were mainly in the middle class. They were mostly tradesmen engaged in a craft. "
The Jewish cemetery in Zvolen today
The Zvolen Jewish cemetery is characterized by the fact that most of the buried are victims of the Holocaust (šoa). In addition to monuments dedicazed to these victims, the complex also hold the Park of Noble Souls. This park contains a monument that is a thank you to the Slovak people who saved Jewish citizens from deportation and from concentration camps. This park was added to the cemetery in 2008. The Path of Humility is also located in it. It symbolizes the experience of death and rebirth. This two-meter-deep symbolic tomb is made of glass plates filled with river stones wraped in brass wires, which symbolize prayers for Slovak victims of the Holocaust (šoa). The plates are inserted between iron rails, which symbolize the deportation of Jews to concentration camps.
Jewish community in Zvolen today
After 1989, political changes took place that allowed Jews to develop freely in civic and religious terms. Approximately ten Jews from Zvolen began participating in the renewal of the Jewish community in Banská Bystrica. The Jewish community meets mainly on the occasion of major holidays, socio-cultural and sporting events. Today they meet on various holidays, e.g. (Hanukkah, Purim, Pesach...)