05 January 2006

Jewish culture in Bratislava

Bratislava is a multicultural town, where people of Slovak, German and Hungarian as well as Jewish ethnicities have been living next to each other for centuries. Forty-year period of communism is associated with destruction of material monuments of Slovak Jewry, demolition of synagogues, cemeteries, with destructing libraries and archives.

Thus you may have a look at resting place of famous rabbi Chatam Sofer who, during his activities in the post of chief rabbi of Bratislava, became unofficial head of European and world Jewry. The Mausoleum of Chatam Sofer is created by a torso of onetime cemetery of the 17th; there are buried the most significant rabbis of Jewish community of Bratislava in 23 graves and 41 crypts, of whom Chatam Sofer is most distinguished, as well as great uncles of German poet Heinrich Heine.

Chatam Sofer Memorial

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Jewish culture is indeed coming to the forefront recently, and more places than Bratislava. In a recent article on the Forward, the town of Belmonte, Portugal is showing in Jewish roots once again, after 500 years.

http://www.forward.com/articles/12391/