SKARA 5783 Remembrance of the transport of Jews
On June 13, 2023, we commemorated the sad historical event of our city – the transport of our fellow citizens of Jewish origin to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Municipal cultural center Levice, civic association GENIZA in cooperation with the Railways of the Slovak Republic on this day at 6:00 p.m. right in front of the Railway Station in Levice, they prepared a dignified memorial to a sad historical moment. The dance group BM Generation contributed to the program with a beautiful dance-theatre performance “Unforgotten”, pianist and composer Miroslav Rác with his own piano work.
What preceded the removal of our fellow citizens?
In the autumn of 1938, shortly after the southern Slovak territories – including the city of Levice – were annexed by the Kingdom of Hungary, several Jewish families had to move out of Levice, as they could not prove their Hungarian citizenship. From the beginning of 1938, the first anti-Jewish regulations were approved in the Kingdom of Hungary. On August 8, 1941, the Law on the Protection of Race was added, which prohibited marriages with Jews. At that time, Levice had 1,271 Jewish citizens, which represented approximately 10% of the total population of the city. After the occupation of Hungary by the Nazis, the tragic fate of its Jewish inhabitants in particular was sealed. On March 29, 1944, a flurry of anti-Jewish regulations was launched, and from April 5, every Jewish resident had to be marked with a yellow six-pointed star. In April, Zionist movements were dissolved and all Jewish businesses were closed. On April 10, 1944, a list of Jewish persons was created, and at the beginning of May, the Levy ghetto was created. According to the list, the gathering of residents of Jewish origin began. Almost 200 abandoned Jewish homes were immediately looted.
On May 8, 1944, Jews from Tekovské Lužany found themselves in the building of the old barracks. They went to the barracks
Jews from Želiezoviec, Vrábel, Hronoviec, Kalna nad Hronom were also concentrated… 572 people in total.
On the morning of June 13, 1944, all Jews from the ghetto were concentrated in the tobacco factory. It was the last step before deportation. Then the sadistic Hungarian guards oversaw the transfer of all 2,678 Jewish citizens from the tobacco factory and barracks to the station, where they were herded into cattle cars… The train left at night as transport no. 103. Three days later he arrived at the Auschwitz concentration camp, and on that day most of the Jews deported from Levice found their deaths in the Auschwitz gas chambers… Only 300 of the more than 1,700 Levice Jews were saved. We are slowly approaching the completion of the reconstruction of the former Jewish school in Levice. Also thanks to the grant of the European Economic Area (EEA), a grant from the Culture program managed by the Ministry of Investments, Regional Development and Informatization of the Slovak Republic, Norway grants, a space will be created where we will be able to educate young people in the fight against intolerance, racism and xenophobia. So that we never have to remember such sad events like 79 years ago.
“El Male Rachamim” prayer:
“O God, full of mercy, who dwellest on high,
grant perfect rest to all the souls of our holy and pure brothers,
whose blood was spilled by murderers in Auschwitz and other extermination camps in Europe;
who were killed, strangled, burned and buried alive… for the sanctification of Your name…
May their resting place be in the Garden of Eden,
may they dwell forever in the shadow of the wings of the Most High…
May their souls be bound in the bond of the living with the Lord.
HASHEM is their inheritance and may they rest in peace… Amen.”
MsKS Left
Matúš Zelieska, chairman of Geniza, o.z.
