Renaissance or Remembrance? Jewish Life in My Two Ancestral Hometowns

By David Weiss

Imagine looking into a rear-view mirror and seeing an object on your trunk. Imagine it's something like an apple. It's not an illusion, you can see it, but you can't grab it. If you stop the car, that change in the dynamic will certainly cause the apple to roll off of the trunk. The apple is there, visible, but not attainable for any use other than seeing it, making observations and taking note of its undeniable presence. Judaism in my ancestral homeland is much like this apple. Judaism was there, that is a fact. You can still see it and experience it….sort of. But you can't ever really have it. You can research it, find where the old buildings are/used to be, read about the people/places, but you can't have it. And would you really want it? What was Jewish life like in these two towns? What is it like now? Lastly, what could and what should the future of Judaism be in the two mid-size Slovak towns of Nitra and Trnava?

My image of life in "The Old Country" has always been that of a slow-paced, calm, peaceful and timeless existence. But the real history of Slovakia Jewry is filled with upheaval. The history of Jewish people in this region and in these two towns is even more tumultuous. This book looks at what existed before the Holocaust, what happened during the Shoah (Holocaust) and what effect communism had on these cities after WWII. We will then look at the critical question of where Jewish life should go from here.

Should there be robust, rebuilt Jewish life in the heart of Hitler's former empire just to make a symbolic statement? Thank you for joining me on this journey as we open a window to the past and discuss what future, if any, can and should exist in these cities.

Writing this book has been a labor of love and the result of two decades of research on these topics. It has also been the result of many hours of thinking about these issues from both a philosophical and a practical lens.

I would like to thank the following people for their insight on the topics in this book. They were very kind to reply to me and share their knowledge and observations with me; Josef Novak (Trnava), Jan Medved (Trnava), Maria Rybar (Nitra), Anna Banik (Nitra), Katarina Jahoda (Bratislava), Ron Levenson (Israel via Kosice). As teachers with a passion for history and for their country, it was a pleasure to learn from them. All of the pictures come from my grandparents collection and from tripadvisor.com unless otherwise noted.

The picture on the cover was one of the items that my Grandma Weiss hid in the garden of her cousin's garden before the Holocaust. She dug a large hole and kept several pictures and other family heirlooms in the ground. This picture was rolled up and kept underground for four years.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Holocaust Legacy Books
• Release date: Dec 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215921821

Book preview

Renaissance or Remembrance?

Jewish Life in My Two Ancestral Hometowns

David Weiss

A Holocaust Legacy Book

Copyright © 2023 by David Weiss, Holocaust Legacy Books, Grinbaum Shoah Memorial Project and Expert Promotions LLC

All rights reserved. This book or any portion of it may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher, , except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Second Edition, 2023

Published by David Weiss, Holocaust Legacy Books, Grinbaum Shoah Memorial Project and Expert Promotions LLC

[e-mail]

www.HolocaustLegacyBooks.com

Table of Contents

Introduction

Meet Sarlota and Tibor Weiss

History of Slovakia and Jewish Slovakia

History of Jewish Nitra

Jewish Impact in Nitra

Nitra Today

Jews in Trnava

Jewish Slovakia, Nitra and Trnava Now and in The Future

Should There be a Jewish-Slovak Future?

Trnava Today

The Possible Path Forward

A Note About Reparations

In Conclusion....At Least For Now

Family Trees

Pics Part I

Blog: Israel’s Allies and Angels

Who Was Father Josef Tiso

Pics Part 2

Slovak Restitution Agreement

Other Books by David Weiss and Holocaust Legacy Books

Introduction

Imagine looking into a rear-view mirror and seeing an object on your trunk. Imagine it’s something like an apple. It’s not an illusion, you can see it, but you can’t grab it. If you stop the car, that change in the dynamic will certainly cause the apple to roll off of the trunk. The apple is there, visible, but not attainable for any use other than seeing it, making observations and taking note of its undeniable presence. Judaism in my ancestral homeland is much like this apple. Judaism was there, that is a fact. You can still see it and experience it....sort of. But you can’t ever really have it. You can research it, find where the old buildings are/used to be, read about the people/places, but you can’t have it. And would you really want it? What was Jewish life like in these two towns? What is it like now? Lastly, what could and what should the future of Judaism be in the two mid-size Slovak towns of Nitra and Trnava?

My image of life in The Old Country has always been that of a slow-paced, calm, peaceful and timeless existence. But the real history of Slovakia Jewry is filled with upheaval. The history of Jewish people in this region and in these two towns is even more tumultuous. This book looks at what existed before the Holocaust, what happened during the Shoah (Holocaust) and what effect communism had on these cities after WWII. We will then look at the critical question of where Jewish life should go from here.

Should there be robust, rebuilt Jewish life in the heart of Hitler’s former empire just to make a symbolic statement? Thank you for joining me on this journey as we open a window to the past and discuss what future, if any, can and should exist in these cities.

Writing this book has been a labor of love and the result of two decades of research on these topics. It has also been the result of many hours of thinking about these issues from both a philosophical and a practical lens.

I would like to thank the following people for their insight on the topics in this book. They were very kind to reply to me and share their knowledge and observations with me; Josef Novak (Trnava), Jan Medved (Trnava), Maria Rybar (Nitra), Anna Banik (Nitra), Katarina Jahoda (Bratislava), Ron Levenson (Israel via Kosice). As teachers with a passion for history and for their country, it was a pleasure to learn from them. All of the pictures come from my grandparents collection and from tripadvisor.com unless otherwise noted.

The picture on the cover was one of the items that my Grandma Weiss hid in the garden of her cousin’s garden before the Holocaust. She dug a large hole and kept several pictures and other family heirlooms in the ground. This picture was rolled up and kept underground for four years.

Meet Tibor and Sarlota Weiss

This is a brief summary of my paternal grandparents. Their full life-story is told in Czech Mates: Holocaust Legacy. These two books explain how my grandparents were able to keep a few pictures of their family members along with a couple other items which are shown in the pictures section.

Sarlota (Charlotte) Sarkany Weiss was born on March 7th, 1906 in Trnava which was a part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire at the time. As the youngest child she was expected to care for her mother in her old age, which she did. Sarlota was a serious student and put a high priority on organization. She was told at a young age that she had a bad heart condition which stemmed from a valve problem. She was told that she wouldn’t be able to handle rough circumstances and would probably not live a long life. She ended up living through the toughest of times and made it to the age of ninety-six.

Life was quiet for Sarlota until she was forced into hiding in 1941. My Grandma Weiss was guided through the Holocaust by her cousin, Hermina Wilhelm. Hermina married a Catholic man, converted and they raised the children Catholic. Sarlota met Tibor while in hiding. They got married in 1946 and had their only child in 1947. Fearing communism, the Weiss family left for Rehovot, Israel. They had already, however, had their sights set on coming to the United States where Sarlota’s only surviving sister lived. In 1952 they arrived in the United States and settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Sarlota’s grandchildren were born in 1971 and 1975. Grandma Weiss lived in good health until 2001 when she broke her hip. She passed away in 2002 at the age of ninety-six.

Tibor Messinger Weiss was born on August 31st, 1915 in Nitra, which was still a part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. His father, Max Weiss, died eight days after Tibor’s birth while fighting in the first World War. An only child, Tibor was very close to his mother and to all four of his grandparents. Two of his grandparents died before the Holocaust and the other two were killed in the Holocaust as was his mother.

Tibor served in the Czechoslovak Military from 1934-1935. He worked on airplanes and in the