Скачать или смотреть The Jews of Slovakia - Spisska Stara Ves

About the History of the Community

In the 17th and 18th centuries, when Spišská Stará Ves was pledged to the Kingdom of Poland, sometimes Polish Jews came there for business purposes, and at the beginning of the 18th century some Jewish families lived there, but not for too long. In 1710, a plague broke out that led to a high death rate and inhabitants abandoning the town. It appears that Jews left there at that time; in any case in the population censuses of the 18th century no indication of Jews living in Spišská Stará Ves. Later in the 18th century settlement of Jews from Galicia was renewed and in the beginning of the 19th century their numbers grew gradually until reaching its peak of 300 people in 1910. Most of the Jews made their living from commerce, small business, and crafts. In the second half of the 19th century with the spread of the enlightenment, some doctors appeared among them and the rest in the free professions.


Spišská Stará Ves and the district. On March 21, 1942, dozens of young Jewish women from the district were taken to the transit camp in Poprad (q.v.) and on March 25th they were sent from there to the extermination camp in Auschwitz. A few days afterward, another round–up took place for young Jewish men, most of them sent to the collection camp in Žilina (q.v.). In the beginning of April they were added to the transport to the camp in Majdanek, near Lublin, Poland. On May 26, 1942, toward the general deportation, Jews from small villages in the area were brought to town, and afterward the town's Jews joined them. On May 28th they were transported to Spišská Nová Ves (q.v.) and attached the following day to the transport to the Izbica ghetto in area of Lublin, Poland. In September 1942, three other families whose exemption certificates were cancelled, including the family of Rabbi Moshe FISCHER, were sent via Žilina to extermination camps in Poland. By the end of 1942, about 80% of Jews of Spišská Stará Ves and the district, had been sent to extermination camps and ghettoes in Poland