Thursday, May 4, 2023

Slovakia: What's Wrong with the Bratislava Holocaust Memorial?





[n.b. this was first posted on June 17, 2009]

Slovakia: What's Wrong with the Bratislava Memorial?
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) My readers know my interest in getting the story straight, and when it comes to Holocaust Monuments and Memorials I have a strong sense that collectively they are not getting or telling the story - straight or otherwise.

The big question is how can one remember what one doesn't know? How can one "not forget" what is never fully discussed or taught? In some recent posts I've discussed some ways that informative narratives can be added to monuments to make them meaningful to everyone who passes by and wants to know.

We all know that monuments - whether to kings, generals, scientists or town fathers - go silent after not too many years. In the case of many purported Holocaust memorials, silence is built into their very design. Their purpose is clear only to a chosen few. With a didactic or narrative text, few people know what these monuments stand for- and those that do know have the excuse to avoid specifics.

This is the case of the Holocaust Memorial in Bratislava, Slovakia, and also its adjacent commemorative synagogue image, erected in 1996 in the Old Town center of Bratislava, on the site of the former Neolog Synagogue which was torn down in the Soviet period (not by the Nazis or their Slovak allies) to make way for a highway.



The monument is a striking piece of sculpture, and its placement, and the adjacent wall size engraved image of the Great Synagogue are very effective ways to enliven an otherwise near-dead space - a former plaza now cut through be a highway. But to the passing resident or visitor, young or old, they say nothing of what they are and why they are there, and they give no details the people and places they are meant to recall.

According to Maros Borsky on the website of the Slovak Jewish Heritage Center:

The Memorial was erected in 1996 by the Slovak Republic to commemorate the memory of 105,000 Holocaust victims from Slovakia. The location was not selected accidentally. The Holocaust memorial was composed as a place of public remembrance, where two layers of history intertwine: the memory of the tragic event and the memory of the former Rybné Square synagogue, still remembered by many Bratislavians, and which can be often found on historical photos hanging in Bratislava cafés. The memorial consists of the black wall with silhouette of the destroyed synagogue and the central sculpture with non-figurative motif and a David Shield on the top, placed on the black granite platform with “zachor” [remember] and “pamätaj” inscriptions. The plot of the former synagogue is owned by the Bratislava Municipality, which leases the site for an annual symbolical fee to the Museum of Jewish Culture, which maintains the memorial.

I was struck on my last visit to Bratislava that none of this information is knowable without going to Maros's website. There is no sign, no plaque, not text at all except "Remember!" in Hebrew and Slovak. In the history of Bratislava there are so many events one can be asked to remember, so which does this recall?

Some might say I'm unfair, since monuments do receive attention when they are the focus of events - such as Yom ha-Shoah or some other Day of Remembrance. Still, what about the rest of the year? A good monument has a job to do, and it should be on the job full time. It's not like a tuxedo or fancy dress only taken out once a year for the Opera.

Some artist friends of mine - including some who have made monuments - have said to me that their work should not be labeled, or constricted by one interpretation. I have no problem with that, the work can be interpreted in any way, or in many ways. But the event it purportedly commemorates is not open to such interpretation. In an age of Holocaust Denial we cannot allow that. Some specifics - the what, who, how and when need to be stated, and stately unequivocally.

I hope that the Museum of Jewish Culture in Bratislava will take heed, and take action. Put up a sign, a plaque, something informative to help people remember.


5 comments:

CP Canada said...

I found your website while I was trying to interpret/make sense of some photographs I had taken on a river-cruise stopover. Thank you for helping me learn more.
CP, Canada

Alex said...

I stayed in Bratislava and when I showed the photograph I had taken to the hotel where I was staying asking them, local people all, if they knew what the significance of this memorial was only one suggested it had something to do with the war,none knew of the Jewish relationship and all thought that it was something to do when the Soviets were in power. When I attempted to explain the actual meaning the general comment was well this was a long time ago we do not learn about such matters! Shame, they ought to!

Jen I am said...

Thanks for the info. I just found this monument today and could read the Hebrew but couldn't tell what it was about or why it was there.

westsidewench said...

Thank you for this post. I just saw this memorial today on our trip here, and had to look up what the meaning was, as it clearly had somber significance. Agreed that it needs to have some kind of description nearby.

Hels said...

My parents-in-law left Czechoslovakia in 1951 to come to Australia, and my impression from them was that Czechoslovakia was relatively moral when it came to be dealing with its own Jewish community. At least compared to Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, Latvia etc etc. Yet you say that 105,000 Holocaust victims come from Slovakia alone.

Perhaps the Bratislava citizens are not denying their history... perhaps they truly believed the Slovakian Jews were actually safe. I hope they start taking university and school groups on guided excursions.