Zilina
ZILINA
ZILINA (Slovak. Žlina ; Hung. Zsolna ; Ger. Sillein ), town in N.W. Slovakia. After the repulsion of the Tatar invasion in the 13th century, King Béla iv of Hungary elevated Zilina to the status of a royal city and invited Jews and Germans to the abandoned and depopulated town, granting them certain important privileges. The town later suffered severely from various vicissitudes and was repeatedly burned down; the town archives therefore retain no documents concerning Jewish life there in this period.
Many of the inhabitants were German settlers, and the authorities prevented Jews from settling in Zilina. Even the Toleranzpatent of Josef ii did not alter the situation. In 1840 the Hungarian parliament permitted Jews to settle in most places, but Zilina authorities still tried to prohibit Jewish settlement. Jews settled in nearby villages, such as Rajec and Varin. After the prohibition was lifted in 1840, Jews moved to Zilina. A commercial crossroads, it attracted Jewish businessmen. In 1834 there were 13 Jews in Zilina; in 1840, there were 22; in 1880 there were 619; in 1910 there were 1,467; and in 1940 there were 2,919. Most were deported in 1942 to extermination camps in Poland. In 1947, there were 497 Jews living in Zilina. Some 700 local Jews survived the Holocaust.
In 1852 Jewish communal life began in the town. There was a small synagogue, a ḥeder, a ḥevra kaddisha, and a cemetery. In 1861 the synagogue was enlarged, and there was a school, a mikveh, and a kosher slaughterhouse. After Zilina became an important railway center, more Jews moved in. They established saw mills and textile factories. Through Jewish initiative, Zilina became the center of the Slovakian timber trade.
After the Jewish Congress of 1868, the congregation chose the Reform path until 1921, when several hundred formed an Orthodox congregation. In 1938 a small group of Ḥasidim established a place of prayer following nusaḥ sefarad.
The Jewish community became a center of political and cultural activity. With the foundation of the Czechoslovak state, a group of Jews asked to be recognized as Slovaks of the Mosaic creed. They were followed by intensive Zionist activity. The city became a leading center of the Jewish Party, and its candidate served a long stint as deputy mayor. The Zionist movement had a major branch in Zilina, which included several youth movements. The Maccabi sports organization was well established and boasted several national champions.
After the Munich treaty of September 1938, Slovak nationalists, mainly in the Hlinka Slovak People's Party, proclaimed autonomy for Slovakia within the Czechoslovak Republic. The proclamation took place in Zilina. On March 14, 1939, Slovakia proclaimed independence under the aegis of Berlin. The new state immediately embarked on persecuting Jews. All Jewish children were expelled from non-Jewish schools and autonomous Jewish institutions were outlawed. In 1940 many Jews were expelled from Bratislava, and some settled in Zilina. Thus the Jewish population rose to 3,500.
In March 1942 the deportation of Jews from Slovakia to extermination centers in Poland began. Being close to the Polish border and a central transportation hub, Zilina was the final preparation point for Poland-bound transports. The living conditions were so squalid and the Hlinka Guard so brutal that the state had to intervene. While waiting for their transport, the inmates were forced to work on building a soccer stadium, which is still in use.
In 1943–44 the remaining Jewish community helped Jewish refugees from Poland, who had crossed the Slovak border illegally, to cross the Hungarian border to safety. In August 1944 the Slovak Uprising began, and Zilina became a hiding place. Jews caught by the Germans were sent to Poland.
Zilina was liberated in spring 1945, and the small community attempted to rebuild its Jewish life. A synagogue was renovated, and the cemetery was cleaned up. A public kitchen distributed food to the homeless returnees and the Displaced Persons on their way home. Zilina also became a center of *"illegal" immigration (Aliyah b) on the way to Palestine.
The Zionist youth movements flourished, preparing their members for Palestine. In the cemetery a memorial to victims of the Holocaust was erected. In the 1950s the Jews suffered badly under the Communist regime. In 1967 there were 254 Jews in Zilina.
During the Prague Spring of 1968 whoever could leave the country did so; mainly the elderly remained. After the Velvet Revolution (1989), the community organized public life again. The Reform synagogue was sold and became a concert hall. June 17 is the memorial day of the Zilina congregation; in 2004 a memorial to the Jews who perished at the transportation center was erected, made of twisted railway tracks.
bibliography:
M. Lányi and H. Propper, A szlovenszkói zsidó hitközségek története (1933); Z. Lippa and I. Halpert, in: Die aussaeen unter Traenen mit Jubel werden sie ernten, ed. by R. Iltis (1959), 206–11. add. bibliography: E. Bàrkàny and L. Dojč, Židovské náboženské obce na Slovensku (1991).
[Elieser Beck /
Yeshayahu Jelinek (2nd ed.)]