Medieval period

First settlements of Slavic tribes on the nowadays Slovakia's territory are dated back to V century. Around 830, Duke Prybina established the first country with Nitra as a capital. In this way Prybina became the first known Slovak surname. At the same time, archbishop of Salzburg consecrated the first Christian church in Nitra. Soon those territories were included into a larger state organism of Grater-Moravia with Swietopelek as the main ruler. In this time a gradual integration of Northern Slovakia with Cracow was observed. At the beginning of X century Grater-Moravia state fell down under a growing pressure of two new regional powers Hungarian and Czech states.

The first Jewish settlements in Slovakian region were documented in XI century. In the XIV century, nearly 800 Jews resided in Bratislava. The majority of Jewish population engaged in commerce and money lending. Money lending for interest was prohibited by Christianity. In the early Medieval period Central Europe was still undergoing gradual Christianization. In order to reinforce the faith, the territory was often visited by western European preachers. They were glorifying crusade movement and in their sermons they were openly turning against other religions. Two large blood libels were organized:  in 1494 some  Jews were burnt at stake in Trnava and in 1529, 30 Jews were burnt in Pezinok.

The catastrophic defeat of the Hungarian armies from Suleiman I ("the Magnificent") in the Battle of Mohács in 1526, and the conquest of Buda in 1541 by the Turks, brought about the reduction of the Kingdom of Hungary to the territory of what was called Royal Hungary, while the remaining former Hungarian territories became part either of the Ottoman Empire or of Transylvania. After the battle of Mohács in 1526, Jews were expelled from all major towns in Slovakia. This forced the Jewish communities into more rural territory which would later develop unique Shtetls.

Austro-Hungarian period

During the late XVII century and early XVIII century, Jews began to return to their original cities in Slovakia, and establish well defined communities. In 1683, hundreds of Moravian Jewish fled to Slovakia seeking refuge from the Kurucz riots and the living restrictions of Moravia. Most of these immigrants settled in western Slovakia, bordering Moravia. In 1700, the leading yeshiva in Slovakia was established in Bratislava. This institution was recognized by the government for the education of rabbis. Nevertheless, Jews were in constant conflict with locals and barred from many trading industries. The first Jewish cemetery in Slovakia was set aside in the early XV century in Tisinec (the cemetery was utilized until 1892). Under the rule of Joseph II, Jews received many civil liberties and much of their livelihoods were expanded in aptitude.

In 1867, the dual monarch of Austro-Hungary was established and Slovakia became part of Northern Hungary. For more than a millennium, Slovakian Jewry was closely linked with that of Hungarian Jews. The Hungarian parliament passed the Emancipation Law to promote assimilation among minorities, especially Jews. Government officials supported Jewish cooperation in industry and finance. The Jewish population grew exponentially, especially in small, secluded Shtetls in Eastern Slovakia. Late XIX century brought emergence of numerous national and independence movements which often bore very right wing orientation and built new national identity on anti-Semitism and intolerance. Often Jews were portrayed as obstacles on the way to re-cover independence.

In 1882 and 1883, anti-Jewish riots occurred in several towns in Slovakia. With the introduction of the "Reception Law" (1896), which placed Jews and Christians on the same equal level, the Slovak Clerical People's Party was formed. The Party's main interests were anti-Liberalism and limiting Jewish influence in the country. The main leader was Hlinka.

Similar national movements could be observed within Jewish communities. The idea of Zionism was forged as a solution to centuries of anti-Jewish politics of European countries. In Slovakia, eight local Zionist organizations were formed. In 1903, Bratislava held the first Hungarian Zionist Convention; the first World Mizrachi Congress was convened in 1904.

Between the Wars

In 1918, just after World War I, Czechoslovakia with other central European countries  regained independence as a result of Versailles treaty. Jews were given the right to be considered a separate nationality in the country. The so called "Small Versailles treaty", signed by majority of freshly created countries in Central  Europe, was created to grant legal protection for national minorities on those territories. Jews prospered not only in industry but cultural life. Jews held more than one-third of all industrial investments in Slovakia and were active in reconstruction of the country's economy after WW I. In 1919, the National Federation of Slovak Jews was established in Piestany and the Jewish Party (Židovská Strana) was created. On August 2, 1919, Juedische Volkszeitung ("Jewish People's Paper") was first published in Bratislava. This paper played a crucial role in advancing the rights of the Jews in Czechoslovakia. On February 15th 1921 the first national census in Czechoslovakia was held, 135,918 people registered as practicing Jews (4.5 percent of the population); 70,522 of them declared themselves of Jewish nationality.

In the 30's, 217 congregations existed in Slovakia: 165 Orthodox congregations and the remaining 52 congregations split between Neology and Status Quo Ante (the later two affiliations later unified under the title "Jeshurun"). During this period, Judaism in this region was also caught in the struggle between the Reform and Orthodox movements. It was because of this religious strife that the Jewish Party was split by such factions as the Conservative Jewish Party and the Jewish Economic Party in the nation's first two elections (1920, 1925). Ultimately, the party failed to receive enough votes to maintain any seats in the parliament in Prague. In 1929, during the third election, Ludvik Singer and Julius Reisz of Bratislava were elected to parliament through the Jewish Party.

In 1938 about 135,000 Jews lived in Slovakia, of whom 40,000 lived in the territory ceded to Hungary (Ruthenia and Subcarpathia). About 5,000 emigrated voluntarily before the war, leaving about 90,000 Jews, 3 % of the total population. Slovakia was poorer and far less industrialized than the historic Czech crown provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, and so were its Jews. They were engaged mostly in retail trade and handicrafts, servicing the peasantry.

The small segment of well-to-do Jews spoke Hungarian and were assimilated, maintaining religious congregations based on tradition rather then religion. Most other Jews were highly traditional, among whom Hasidic rabbis enjoyed huge followings especially in more rural areas and Shtetls.

Under the influence of the Slovak Peoples' party, many Slovakians were incited against the Jews. In the late 1930s, numerous anti-Jewish demonstrations were held in Slovakia led by the Nationalist Youth Movement (Om Iadina) and the Volksdeutsche students. In late 30's Slovakia was affected by Nazi policy and immediate raise of anti-Semitism followed.

WW II and the Holocaust in Slovakia

After the establishment on March 14, 1939 of a Nazi German protectorate state in Slovakia, the government instituted Nazi-style anti-Jewish legislation in an effort to banish the Jews from society and confiscate their property. The country came under the control of an extremely religious and right-wing party, the Hlinka (Slovak) Peoples' party, under the leadership of Father Jozef Tiso, a Catholic priest. This party had also its military branch called "Hlinka Guard" which was later responsible for final solution of Jewish question in Slovakia.

The first anti-Jewish law was passed in Slovakia on April 18, 1939. A few days later, on April 24, Jews were excluded from all government positions and service. On September 19, 1939, all Jews were expelled from the military. By 1940, more than 6,000 Jews emigrated both legally and illegally. Soon Slovakian government passed a law that permitted it to take over control of all major Jewish businesses.

In August 1940 SS-Haupsturmfuhrer Dieter Wisliceny, Eichmann's representative from the Reich Security Main Office, arrived in Bratislava as an adviser on Jewish affairs. The Hlinka Guard and the Freiwillige Schutzstaffel (Slovak volunteers in the SS) were reorganized on the model of the SS and given the responsibility of carrying out anti-Jewish measures.

On September 9, 1941, the Slovak government established a major code of anti-Jewish legislation, containing 270 articles, redefining the Jews as a racial group, requiring them to wear the yellow Star of David, making them liable to force labour, and evicting them from specified towns and districts.

The plans for deportations appeared in late 1941 and were implemented in 1942 by Jewish Center. It was SS established agency to deal with all Jewish matters in Nazi Slovakia. Their role was similar to Judenrats in the ghettos, it was mainly labour distribution and latter organization of deportations. Between March 25 and October 20, 1942, fifty-seven transports carrying close to 59,000 Jewish deportees left Slovakia. Thirty-eight trains with more than 40,000 Jews went to Lublin District; the other nineteen transports, with 18,600 people, were taken to Auschwitz. Only about 19,000 Jews - most of whom had certificates of exemption on the grounds that they were essential to the country's economy - remained in Slovakia. In addition, there were 3,500 Jews held in three labor camps: Novaky, Vyhne and Sered. Nearly 10,000 Jews avoided deportation for some time by fleeing to Hungary.

In late March 1942 the first transport of Jewish women prisoners came into Auschwitz from Slovakia. 999 women were loaded on wagons in Poprad and on the next day this transport arrived at Auschwitz. Future women's camp in Birkenau was not yet constructed so all those women were imprisoned for a few months in 10 separated blocks of Auschwitz.

Majority of Slovak Jews deported in 1942 were sent to Lublin District. They were temporarily imprisoned in numerous SS labour camps and ghettos to be finally exterminated in Majdanek, Sobibor or Belzec.

Deportations of the Slovakian Jews to Lublin District

In late summer 1942 further deportations were put off, partly through the intervention of the Catholic church and partly through a strategy of bribery and promises of financial profit that the Jewish leaders used in negotiations with Slovaks and with Wisliceny himself.

In mid 1942 an underground organization known as the Working Group, headed by Rabbi Michael Dov Weissmandel and Gisi Fleischmann, was created within the Jewish Center in an attempt to block or postpone the deportations and aid the deportees. The Working Groups success in halting the deportations from Slovakia encouraged its members to intensify their efforts to save all of European Jewry by negotiating with the Nazis. The resulting initiative, devised by Rabbi Weissmandel, was known as "Europa Plan". Second plan was called "Jews for Trucks" offering an exchange of Jewish populations for trucks for the III Reich. Both plans had very limited impact.

In April 1944 two Slovakian Jews, Alfred Wetzler and Walter Rosenberg (known as Rudolf Vrba), escaped from Auschwitz. The Working Group provided them a shelter in Slovakia and interviewed them about all details of the Auschwitz camp and the extermination methods developed in Birkenau. The prepared report was known as "Auschwitz Protocols", they were sent from Slovakia to the Western countries with full description and sketches of the death facilities. This was one of the most successful information release about the real nature of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The Working Group was active to alarm worldwide public opinion and to force them to organize extensive rescue activities. Different Jewish organizations along with Polish government in exile in London, undertook diplomatic offensive to force the Allies to bomb Auschwitz-Birkenau and the rail connections in this part of Europe. Due to different general war strategies, such actions were not undertaken.

After the Slovak uprising in 1944 was suppressed, the Germans took over the authority for Jewish affairs. SS officer Alois Brunner, one of the Eichmann's assistants, went to Slovakia to deport all Jews irrespective of their status. The plan was to make Slovakia Judenrein. Those Jews, who were captured by the Nazis and their Slovakian accomplices, were taken to the Sered camp. The deportation of the remaining Jews in Slovakia resumed on September 30, 1944. From then until March 31, 1945, some 12,000 Jews were deported from Slovakia; only half survived. Another 2,500 Jews were murdered on Slovakian soil during this period. Additional victims among Slovakian Jews were those who had fled to Hungary and were deported from there to the extermination camps, mainly Auschwitz.

Slovak Jews from the Hungarian territory

The Jews in the territories annexed to Hungary in 1938-1939 met the same fate as those in the rest of Hungary. After the annexation of these territories, Hungarians began to persecute the Jews and accused them of supporting Czechoslovakia. Of the 10,600 business owners only 4,500 were permitted to keep their establishments going. Beginning in 1940, close to 7,500 men from southern Slovakia were taken to work in labor battalions; few survived. Several thousand Jews, lacking Hungarian citizenship, were deported in 1941 to the occupied part of Ukraine, where most of them were murdered. After the Germans occupied Hungary (March 19, 1944), new anti-Jewish edicts were promulgated. Ghettoization of the Jews began in the second half of April 1944. The first transports from the territories annexed to Hungary left for Auschwitz in the second half of May 1944; the rest of the deportations occurred in June of that year. Of some 45,000 Jews who lived in those territories, 10,000 survived. About 100,000 Slovakian Jews - 73 percent of their number in 1938 - perished during World War II.

After WW II

The Communist Party controlled politics of Czechoslovakia from February 1948 to 1989. During that time, little or no organized Jewish life existed in Slovakia. Religious practices were banned by the new Communist Authorities. Many Jews, mainly Holocaust survivors, left for Israel or the United States to retain their freedom of religion. In July 1991, Soviet forces were withdrawn from the region, initiating the fall of Communism. The country was gradually recuperating from communist trauma and more liberal approach for minorities could be observed.

After the peaceful division of Czechoslovakia in 1992, Slovakia gained its independence on January 1, 1993.

The major communal organization which maintains Jewish life is the Federation of Jewish Communities in Slovakia. In both Bratislava and Kosice, there exist kosher restaurants and community centres. Active Synagogues are located in Bratislava, Galanta, Kosice, Piestany, Presov and Trnava.

There are numerous Jewish cultural places in Slovakia to visit, including the Underground Mausoleum. This museum contains the graves of 18 famous rabbis with Chatam Sofer, who founded a rabbinical seminary. About 200 synagogues and 620 Jewish cemeteries remain in Slovakia, symbolizing the once thriving community and presenting its heritage. There are many Jewish heritage sites to be explored, sometimes even discovered for the first time with your Jewish guide in Slovakia.