The Museum of Jewish Culture is an independent branch of the Slovak National Museum. The Museum's exhibition is dedicated to Jewish culture and the Holocaust.

Bratislava, about 1930, The Jewish quarter, Stiftung Denkmal


Bratislava, 2004, Building of the Museum of Jewish Culture, Múzeum židovskej kultúry

Jews had inhabited the area of what is today Slovakia since the 11th century. There were about 800 Jews living in what is now Bratislava (German: Pressburg) in the 14th century. Bratislava was until 1918 part of the Kingdom of Hungary within the Habsburg Empire. Several waves of anti-Jewish violence occurred during the Middle Ages; in 1526, Jews were expelled from the larger cities. Nevertheless, the region remained an important centre for Orthodox Judaism. The Pressburg Yeshiva was famous in the 18th century and many of Europe's leading rabbis completed their education there. For a long time it was the largest Yeshiva in Europe. At the end of the 18th century, a rift divided the Jewish community: influenced by Jewish enlightenment philosophy and the liberal rule of Emperor Joseph II (1780─1790), many turned away from Orthodox Judaism, striving for assimilation instead. Many Jews supported the Hungarian independence efforts following the March 1848 revolution, yet the anti-Jewish violence which soon broke out stifled this support. Jewish citizens enjoyed equal rights during the final years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was also the case in the newly-founded state of Czechoslovakia after the First World War. In 1938, the Slovak People's Party led by Jozef Tiso came to power and in 1939, established a dictatorship in now-independent Slovakia. The Slovak government began systematically persecuting the Jews residing in Slovakia. They were excluded from public life, their property was confiscated and many were deployed in forced labour. In 1942, Slovakia began deporting Jews to ghettos and concentration camps in German-occupied Poland, conducting this in close coordination with the German Reich. In all, about 75,000 Jews from Slovakia were murdered in the Holocaust.

Bratislava, about 1930, The Jewish quarter, Stiftung Denkmal


Bratislava, 2004, Building of the Museum of Jewish Culture, Múzeum židovskej kultúry

The Museum is dedicated to Jewish culture and Jewish influences on Slovak history. One of the central topics addressed in the exhibition is the history of the Holocaust in Slovakia.

Bratislava, undated, Jews with their belongings during deportation, Yad Vashem


Bratislava, 2001, Display of Jewish religious artefacts, Múzeum židovskej kultúry

The Museum of Jewish Culture in Bratislava was established in 1991. It grew out of the department for Jewish cultural history at the Slovak National Museum. The Museum became an independent institution in 1994. The permanent exhibition is located in the »Zsigrayova kúria«, a building in the former Jewish quarter of Bratislava. The »Zsigrayova kúria«, or »Zsigra Ház«, was originally a late-renaissance two-storey building; following a fire in the 19th century it was renovated and an additional storey was constructed. It is the only building in Bratislava's Jewish quarter to remain intact after the quarter was almost entirely torn down in the 1960s to make way for a motorway.

Bratislava, 2001, Memorial plaque to the rabbis who perished in the Holocaust, located in the Museum, Múzeum židovskej kultúry


Bratislava, 2001, View of the exhibition, Múzeum židovskej kultúry

Name

Múzeum židovskej kultúry

Address

Židovská 17
810 06 Bratislava

Phone

+421 (0)2 204 901 01

Fax

+421 (0)2 204 901 10

Web

http://www.snm.sk

E-Mail

mzk@snm.sk

Open

Sunday to Friday: 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.

Possibilities

Library, archive, educational projects