Bratislava -- Jewish Memorial

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Jewish memorial and an elderly man

As we walked, we happened to see what we guessed was a memorial in a square. On one side was a black granite wall with a picture of a synagogue laser etched into the stone. As we looked at the memorial an elderly Slovak man on crutches made his way and stood near us. Though our Slovak is zero and his English the same, he made known to us that the ething in stone is of the synagogue which used to stand in this square. I am sure he told us when it was destroyed, but we could not understand. The memorial sculpture in the middle of the square is in honor of the Slovak Jews lost in the holocaust. We have looked up the history of this place now that we are back in Prague. The Nazis planned on making the synagogue a museum once World War II ended. They had the same plan for the entire Jewish quarter in Prague. Of course this was assuming they won the war. Thus, my first thought was in error. We had assumed the Nazis destroyed it during the war. Perhaps just as sadly, the synagogue was torn down in 1967 to make room for a new road and bridge over the Danube. A beautiful, historic building surely precious to many was lost forever.

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