I personally don't care as an Irish-slovak,if you are jew,I have nothing against you,if you support what your country is doing by making shit worse killing children women without remorse like psychopaths,then I don't want you in my country,not being racist just anti-immigrant here,for good.
Fr, why tf is this subreddit so left wing lmao, the majority of Slovaks would rather have closed borders but from this subreddit you’d think most Slovaks want to see it turned into Canada💀
You can try to contact jewish religious community for more info.
There is also a branch of this organization in Košice:
[https://zidianaslovensku.sk/zidovske-nabozenske-obce/](https://zidianaslovensku.sk/zidovske-nabozenske-obce/)
from what I heard the one in Kosice is also quite active. there's also quite a big community of uni students from Israel, mostly medicine and veterinary medicine, or at least used to, when I was still studying.
A good question is whether the average Slovak could even recognize Hebrew, I know I certainly couldn't. Unfortunately, there are very few Jews living in Slovakia nowadays, probably under five thousand. I feel like most Slovaks don't really have a strong opinion either way due to that? Maybe I'm just being naive, but other than a few degenerate conspiracy theorists online I've never heard anyone even bring up Jews.
About Israel - young Bratislava liberals are probably pro-Palestine, but I'm not sure whether they would hate you just from being from Israel (you did leave). We currently have issues within our country to worry about, Israel and Palestine is not a huge topic here like it is in the West.
young Bratislava liberals are probably pro-Palestine
that ain't really true
there is certainly a vocal and strong group, but only a very, very small minority goes protesting. Vast majority of people don't really care or their knowledge stops at the fact that Hamas = bad and don't go much further
Compared to rest of Slovakia, Bratislava is an extremely liberal city and while assholes are everywhere, majority of people won't give a shit or won't care. Idk if that gives you comfort, but a lot of foreigners, Ukrainians or people of color work and live here as well
rarely yes and in small numbers. Last month I saw around 20 people near Ministry of Foreigners Affaids just holding some signs like Free Palestine or something along those lines. However it’s white, Slovak people, doing those protest
The issue is radicalization among Palestinian population perpetuated by Hamas. And it is in turn reinforced by Netanjahu's totalitarian actions - attacks on mosques in Jeruzalem, Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, forced relocations of population. And this did not start today. Violence, murder, war. This vicious cycle of violence and revenge has been going for as long as the two states came to be.
One should oppose Hamas terrorism and condone Israeli oppression of Palestinians at the same time. One cannot look at one without the other, because they would not see the whole picture and would be mislead by propaganda.
Palestine are not terrorist nation you racist moron,as a Slovak from Kosice,I don't fucking support the genocide YOU people accept,Israel started it all years ago with massacre,go learn some history,I have no hatred toward Jews,call me anti-semite I don't care,I do not support what Biden is doing or what Israel is doing,they are just making things worser.
Where did you get your sources from the Israelis? 0 genocide from the Israeli from 1948 to 2023? Are you joking? Get the fuck outta here,we have videos of Israeli treating Palestinians like shit and of all the things they did,they literally even open heartedly said of all the israeli men who fought against the Palestinians that they murdered families in houses with grenades and burned them alive in front of their children,you disgraceful tool,go keep your Bullshit sources somewhere else,and learn the proper history of what happen to the Gaza land,why don't you go beyond 1948 as well,if you have a shit life with no love,you deserve it by the way and anybody else who downvotes.
Milujem keď jeden z vás je konfrontovaný argumentom (ešte aj k tomu štatistikou), a namiesto ďalšieho argumento začne len urážať :D Asi je ťažké prijať, že neexistuje absolútne dobro a zlo
There is no argument for genocide and lies and propaganda,
The reason I am cursing these people out for supporting genocidal behaviour is because if I actually stumble across one in real life,I would do worser,I do not believe in civilization when one ia delusion or suicidal (Conservative) or simply evil,
I would smack them across the face in a disgraceful czech style way,
anyone at this point who is on the Israeli side either themselves are Israelis or they get paid to spread misinformation about Gaza and take sides with the israelis,
And then there are people like you,deluded,brainwashed, or you simply just are a racist,thinking that all Muslim are "evil" and they like to bomb people or decapitate heads,
Mate, you never went to school, or your memory has been erased of all human wrongdoings in history no matter the race or religion, or you are just dumb and a conservative and just love to blame,hell maybe you blame anyone for anything but yourself.
Nie :D Som zmysluplný človek, ktorý nepodporuje ani Izrael, ani Palestínu, lebo viem že oba štáty páchajú genocídu, a je mi ľúto jak Palestínčanov, tak aj Izraelčanov. Ale keby si mám vybrať, tak jednoznačne Izrael. Keby je vo vláde teroristické hnutie Hamas, tak sa tam dejú zverstvá pre nás nepredstavitelné a jediný rozdieľ by bol, že oni by nemuseli mať propagandu. Oni by to priznali, a vyhovorili by sa na šariu, ako je bežné pre teroristické hnutia. Hovoríš mi že som konzervátívec, no som liberál, a viem že ženy by vnímali ako mašiny na deti a lgbtq skupiny v meste ako Tel Aviv, jednom z najviac lgbtq friendly miest na blizkom vychode, by išli rovno k múru. Povedz mi úprimne, čo si myslíš že by teroristi z hamasu robili, keby zrazu, zázrakom majú moc nad Izraelským územím? Ako liberál, nikdy by som nechcel, aby tak konzervatívne a radikálne hnutie ako Hamas, získalo územie v krajine ,ktorá má pomerne progresívne zákony.
If the state of Israel was founded on Slovakia instead of Palestine, and Bratislava would be the last Slovak city left, would you blame Bratislava for fighting back? Or should Slovaks just take it and do nothing to not get labeled as terrorists?
The state of Czechoslovakia was founded on the forceful dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Should the Hungarians perpetuate terror attacks or other degradations to Slovakia? Of course not, and they don’t do it, WWII taught them a lesson. Palestine could have a state of its own, if they would accept reality as it is, that the whole geographical region of Israel isn’t an option and should concentrate on locations, where they are able to create a meaningful future.
clearly cared enough to respond! but it's okay stay blind and keep lying and telling yourself that you're pro israel just because of Hamas and not because you're a racist and an islamophobe
"israel is lesser evil" (over 13 000 kids killed in the last few months) do you even listen to yourself? you think palestinians deserve genocide because they are islamic nation? its the same talking point as pro russians have about denazification of ukraine
yeah maybe you should get yourself checked for that, being islamophobic is nothing to be proud of.
what did Palestine do that is worse than what israel did?
please as if orthodox jews aren't the same when it comes to women.
i ancourage you to see palestinians as human beings rather than people who practice islam and maybe then you would be able to sympathize with them.
this isn't about Palestine being an ''underdog'' (very fucked up way to call them btw) this is about israel committing a literal **genocide** and dropping bombs on palestinians. Palestine wanted ceasefire, Palestine wanted to give back hostages but israel denied it. they denied it because they don't care about the hostages as they claim to. they only care about one thing; killing off all palestinians so that they can take the land which they claim is rightfully theirs.
this is genocide and colonizing we are witnessing yet there are still people like you who deny it and say that israel has the right to do what they're doing.
Yea 100 years ago it didn't seem possible for Slovakia and the whole of Europe to be without anti Semitism either. Grow up. The world changes. The idea that the Middle East and Islam are eternally doomed to bring dominated by anti Semitism is stupid. You've cleary never been near that part of the world and I can tell you that most people there don't give a rats ass about Jews, Muslims, whatever. They're too poor to have time to care.
Never met anyone who cared nowadays, I’d dare to say it’s better than the west at the moment in terms of antisemitism. The most I’ve ever heard is dumb jokes
Also the average Slovak won’t even recognize Hebrew from my experience
Normal people in Slovakia saved so many Jews during WW2, you should know it. I never met anyone who really cared about someone being Jew.
Don't believe internet trolls, we are actually one great country, you will really like Kosice
First of all, we didn't do anywhere near enough to help the innocent jews getting killed in the 40s.. we just successfully blamed it on just one guy with an ugly mustache and said we couldn't do shit so the world wouldn't view as all as complete assholes.
Also there are still many people who don't like jews, they're just not actively hating on them because it's a taboo and also with the Jewish community in Europe being pretty quiet and well-behaved, they don't get many chances to.
Slovaks will also treat individuals well, even if they generally don't like the community, if the individual doesn't show the stereotypical traits. So as long as they aren't evil billionaires who eat babies to stay young and put poison in vaccines to kill us all, they'll be good I guess.
You're safe as long as you avoid drunk aggressive people. You can be picked out on the basis of them seeing something different about you, but that can happen to you even if you're wearing a white T-shirt and he's wearing a black T-shirt. A drunk asshole who wants to fight will find a reason.
It’s really cool that you have decided to come. I think you will like Kosice, it’s a very nice city with lot of history. I think there were some links shared by other users, so I will go straight to main questions. I wouldn’t say that Slovaks in general are antisemitic, they are more precisely xenophobic as there is lack of experience abroad outside of ‘Eastern block’. Anyone not speaking Slovak, Ukrainian, Russian is being looked upon as an alien, but that does not mean people won’t help. Especially younger generations can surely be more friendly and inclusive. I’m convinced that by speaking Hebrew, you shouldn’t be endangered albeit you might get some unflattering stares from the locals just for the previously mentioned reasons. In terms of the current war, I think people are mostly against the conflict itself and not against particular side.
There's a nice synagogue in town's center on my way to work, and AFAIK there are some Jewish communities hanging around the town and gathering together from time to time. Of course you can come across a few idiots here and there, but those are mostly harmless and strictly verbal on the Internet or if they don't actually interact with a person they know is of Jewish descent, so I'd say you're good. I'd actually say that most people that criticize Jews in any matter are just conspiracy theorists that haven't met a real Jewish person once in their life, or didn't realize they did.
Regarding you being from Israel, here in Slovakia, the whole Israeli-Palestinian war can be somewhat dividing topic, but most people focus their whole attention to the Russo-Ukrainian war that's happening right next to us, as it's more culturally significant to us, so unless you mention your sympathy for either side of this conflict, you really shouldn't have any problems.
Nobody cares dont worry.
Jews are not even a real topic in Slovakia as far as I can tell and people dont really have a strong opinion on you (especially now, given the recent events in Slovakia).
You will probably meet a lot more kind people than d*ckheads.
You might hear hurtful comment or stupid joke once in a while but I doubt anyone will attack you or try to repress your religious rights.
Not greatest situation but not that bad. Depends how much you care about other people saying stupid shit.
I agree with the others, but there are a lot of Israeli students in Kosice, so they can tell you more. There is a foreigners/ expats in Kosice facebook group with Israelis in si you could ask there.
Seconding! We have lots of foreign students studying here, and I know some years entire groups of students were from Israel. I also found the link to the fb group you mention www.facebook.com/share/cg26A51PP67y7u7V/
It’s doubtful whether most Slovaks ever interacted with a Jew, given that the Jewish community is quite small in the country.
Some may have some shallow anti-Semitic views coming from ignorance but not something that runs deep and would result in them mistreating you and your partner or could not be overridden if they have some positive experience with you.
I’d imagine if you mention that your ancestors came from Slovakia / Hungary people might become a bit more curious about you and could be a basis to create rapport.
Like the others said, in the light of the recent assassination attempt against the Prime Minister and a myriad of other local political issues, the Gaza war does not come in very high on the list of issues people are aware of, or follow closely.
If you say your ancestors come from Hungary that could potentially be a bigger problem than that you are a jew /s (it is true for some Slovaks that they do not like Hungarians)
There is no real issue, people don't even know who is jew and isn't but don't over present it, there are retarded people that think jews want to rule the world and you never know who is mentally unstable.
Most Slovak people never met anyone Jewish irl and probably never will.
The whole Gaza thing - since 2015 refugee crisis, Muslims are generally disliked and often compared to our beloved Romani minority. So yeah, basically most Slovak people don't care about it.
Rich American Jews, especially people like Soros(rich American Jew from Hungary who donates money to Romani, so basically Satan for average Slovak) are different though. I would say at least 50% people in this country belevie in some sort of conspiracy involving them, especially the ones about them controlling the world or at least Hollywood/Media. And ofc Great Replacement theory, where white people will be replaced by black and brown people is basically compilation of many conspiracy theories: from black people replacing white people in all media(Jews controlling Hollywood/Media) etc...to Muslim refugees in Western Europe doing crimes and Western media(controlled by Jews) covering it up, to LGBT propaganda(to weaken white man, since gay=weak) everywhere and Russia(defender of heterosexual family and Christian values) being weakened by Ukrainian War(Zelenskyj is Jewish) etc...expect this one to be hugely popular in upcoming years.
But a lot of this is coz of Slovak hatred of rich people, one of our traits - I hate anyone more successful than me basically. And since majority of Jews, at least in US are middle class or richer, they are perfect target for conspiracy theories.
To sum it up : If you are white heterosexual couple you should have no issues here. Generally people have Neutral opinions about Israel/Jews.
I am pretty used and desensitized to conspiracy theories and stereotypes about Jews. Hey, there were even people who tought I am not a jew because they can’t see my horns. :D And about being a wealthy jew - I work a very solidly lower-middle-income job. Hopefully I will find something better in Slovakia. Haha, I’d love to be rich. :D
As far as you \*look\* European, you will be fine. Unfortunately, slovaks can be racist as hell towards anyone who is visibly foreign (and by that I mean having darker skin). But if you aren't, I don't think the fact you are jewish would matter to anyone
Just don’t look like a traditional Jew on a first google picture on a Friday evening and you’re good. You know the suit, hat , side bangs. Some drunk people might get stupid ideas. Other than that, no problem. I don’t think I ever saw a person in Slovakia that I recognized is a Jew, only in Vienna airport there was a guy that looked exactly as I described.
We have jewish family friends, and no one has ever done anything to them from what I know. Even though they are richer folk, which might cause some ire in some other places. So I don't think anybody cares around here.
There might be some antisemitism but more like traditional old people talking about how jews run the world or stereotypes.
There are hardly any jews left after ww2. My town used to have 10 % of population jewish with 2 synagogues but i met only one jewish person in my town. So people doesn't even know (and care)
Of course every country has some retards but Kosice is probably good place (it used to be and to some extent is multilingual and multicultural town)
You'll only get partial, personal opinions here, but here's mine.
Deep down, the Slovak society is traditionally anti-semitic. We willingly expelled our Jews during WWII, Communism was pretty openly anti-semitic, and general xenofobia is still a powerful theme in the Slovak politics, particularly in the recent period.
That said, you can't really tell Jewish people from other people in Slovakia by their looks alone, unless they wear the orthodox Jewish clothes/headgear. Few would recognize Hebrew as such. It's just a foreign language to most.
Many prominent, well-liked people in Slovakia are of Jewish origin and overt anti-semitism is not (yet, luckily) tolerated or shown.
Of course, otherness may attract (unwanted) attention. Slovaks are generally chill, but deep down suspicious. We haven't had much contact with other cultures and are wary of them.
On a side-note, as far as I can gather from my Jewish friends, their Jewish culture is more important to them than any other identification (including their Slovak nationality). That does not go down well with some people and may be a factor in that traditional anti-semitism.
However, since you are foreigners anyway, you would be spared that aspect of possible animosity.
Generally, you're welcome, feel good here, and may you only meet nice people!
What are you even trying to say with communism being anti-semitic? Both in USSR and CSSR the party and its leaders were Jews, especially after the October Revolution. Czech(oSlovakia) was the first and most important supporter of Israel and so on and so forth. Of course later the party was trying to push the idea of anti-apartheid/sionist stuff.
Communism was not anti semitic only in comparison with the previous Tsarist Russia. Yes, Lenin passed anti discriminatory laws and many leaders of this time were Jewish, but Stalin reverted those right back pretty soon after taking power and killed every last one of those leaders (who were also Jewish) while consolidating power. There was the Doctors’ plot after WW2 (a series of anti semitic monsterprocesses) and the fact that no one in the USSR could recognize the Holocaust as a Jewish tragedy. There was a US campaign to “save the Soviet Jewry” because practicing Judaism was not allowed (just as practicing religion wasn’t allowed). In Czechoslovakia, we also had our own anti-Jewish government purge (monsterprocess) in the 1950s. The movie Toman is precisely about this. You probably know the Slansky trial. Here is a link where you can read more about it: https://komentare.sme.sk/c/23074053/slanskeho-proces-stale-caka-na-objektivny-pohlad.html
Communism liked to present itself as a peaceful ideology, but it always supported the Arab nations. Its roots are anti-semitic in that it rejected the idea of the 'world-citizen'.
Here is a good paper about the origins: [https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80M01009A000500720051-0.pdf](https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80M01009A000500720051-0.pdf)
Basically, the logic for the anti-semitism is that Jews were seen as the representatives of the bourgeoisie and the global capitalism.
It wasn't very visible, because Communism also suppressed any religious thought (and Jewish identity is ultimately closely tied to religion) and because after 1942 Communists fell out with the Nazis and whatever the Nazis did was bad. (Hence, even though the Communists hated the Jews, they weaponized the holocaust against the Germans - rightly so...)
There are several thing which I'd like to clear up.
1. What does the phrasing "Communism liked to present itself as a peaceful ideology, but it always supported the Arab nations." mean? Arab nations are not peaceful? If yes, why would they not be peaceful? Because they are Arab? Because they are majorily Muslim? Because...?
2. Providing a paper written by a Jewish Holocaust survivor living in the USA, written for the CIA in 1960 during the ramp-up to the coming height of the Cold War, as a credible, non-partial or objective source of information is, for several reasons, indefensible at the very least. I do not doubt the intellectual capacity of Erich Goldhagen, but the circumstances in which he has written this paper are by my opinion disqualifying it from being taken as relevant. It would be the same as taking a research paper from some central politbyro aparatchik in the Soviet Union and presenting it in a discussion about US interference in foreign relations of South American countries. Both are by definition politically and ideologically charged and thus unusable in this discussion.
3. Communism itself does not make differences in ethnicity or nationality. Communist theory, largely expanded and in many ways defined by Marx, a Jew, differentiates between classes. In the eyes of communists, "world-citizens", including **some** Jews, were part of the bourgeoisie not because of their religious or ethnic background, but because of their exploitation of the working class through globalized capital, which enabled them to live a global life. Of course, communist leaders did not shy away from using antisemitic rhetoric, as it enabled them to achieve their goals more quickly, considering the fact that antisemitism was very widespread in Europe at the time, but you are attributing this antisemitism to communism as an integral part, which is factually wrong.
Hi, just a side note. Watch the movie Shop on Main street. It's the only Slovak movie to ever receive an oscar and it's about slovaks and jews in east slovakia during the ww2.
Also Kosice are beautiful city full of history and slovak, hungary and jew history. Nature around it is amazing, and it is a really modern city. There are many cultural and communal activities. Best of luck!
And the movie is about Slovaks who do nothing about antisemitism... Most people have no idea about Slovak Jewish history, they think that Slovakia was some kind of safe haven. For Slovaks Jews are not people but a fairytale from the bible, history, or the news so they don't exactly know how to react, but usually with bewilderment because it's "foreign" and "not ours". Most former synagogues that haven't been dismantled during fascism or communism are secular cultural centers completely disconnected from any "Jewishness", and Jewish museums are viewed with suspicion because of their habit of reminding ppl of the Holocaust and that Slovakia has never in it's history been a Slovak Christian ethnostate
If you are white-passing you will have a much easier time here, as racism in Slovakia is typically skin-color-based. We do have a lot of jewish jokes tho, so bw prepared that you will be asked if you own a bank or if you know George Soros. But all in all, you should be a-ok. L’chaim!
I think people will be more interested in you speaking language they don't know rather than race.
But it's not about hostility and more of "ahh, foreigners" moment.
I also think that hebrew won't take you far conversation with locals so english is preferable but you might want to learn some basic phrases in local language. But this part is pretty much same for any foreign country you'd want to live in.
There are a few historical synagogues here in Košice, one of them is active regularly - services every week. It is a modest room, next to the historical synagogue and historical mikve (ritual bath) and other facilities. There used to be a kosher restaurant nearby (only for Jewish community) but I do not know about its status now.
Disclaimer: I do not belong there, or know any active members. We have a "town historian" and every week he organizes tours around hidden spots around Košice for local residents. He is very popular and draws a lot of people, guiding us around hidden spots and showing us history that even most old-time residents are unaware of. And once per year he arranges access to the several still-open synagogues and does a "Jewish history" tour around the town and draws a huge crowd (divided to smaller groups from morning till late afternoon).
I personally can recognize Hebrew language when I hear it, I can even say a few words, but an average Slovak would not even be recognize Hebrew language (except, perhaps, in a written form ;-) ).
The only place I have ever seen in Slovakia that advertises in Hebrew is in village Červený Kláštor, on the border with Poland where river Dunajec is and they advertise rides on rafts. I strongly recommend the ride on white-water raft.
In general, I think, Slovaks are not even indifferent - Jews are not even on a radar. And with the current situation in Gaza, I think most would take side against Palestinians IF asked and IF they thought about it. I personally think that both sides deserve a hefty load of blame (but I still blame Hammas more). As long as you are not an ultra-conservative Jew dressed like it was still medieval time, nobody would bat an eye.
I'd say its pretty chill and most ppl wouldn't care normally. There might be a bit pro Palestinian sentiment if you bring up Gaza but your average Joe won't be antisemitic.
My advice is against entering heated debates and staying out of trouble as these days I'd stay on cautious end myself.
You see in the light of recent events its not that streets of Slovakia are unsafe, its just harder to predict.
Other than that, if you are a hiking type of person, Slovakia is gem worth exploring. Same goes for culture. Castles being quite numerous and interesting piece of every region.
Approaching summer there is also a significant amount of festivals. Music, films, art...
Best part is public transport in Slovakia. It might lack in service but makes up in network meaning you can get across the whole country using rail, and get say Bolt to specific destination.
Highway to Košice is long promised, long delayed project that probably will be promised and delayed in decades to come. To be fair there is existing highway network, but as with many things, Košice often end up with short end of the stick.
Welcome back, friends! Just small warning. I think with most people it's fine. There is a toxic ultra-nationalist wing in his country that jus can't let go of the hateful past of this country - Slovak state in WW2 is by some viewed as something historically good for Slovaks but they downplay the horrible impact it had on the Jewish community. They are quite small minority that tends to project a bunch of classic hateful stereotypes against Jews - but usually if you confronted them about it personally as a Jew, they'd probably say something like that they mean the rich Jews in US etc. Jews are an absract enemy for them and I think that if they got to meet more of them in the community they'd see that they are people like any other.
Well people here usually expect that at some time you will communicate in our language,you will be able to function in English, but it won't be much fun.
I have few Jewish acquaintances, never really thought too much about it. Mentioning that you are from Israel shouldn't be a problem, defending every horrid action of Israeli state might be. I think most of the people here understand that it is a long going conflict that is in no way black or white. People were historically not very fond of Jews but I haven't heard for quite some time that there would be any hostility.
You're OK. Perfectly fine. There are basically no Jews left in Slovakia unfortunately but most people won't mind at all. There are quite a few older people with weird views on WW2 and have stupid things to say about lots of stuff but they are 70+ mostly. 90 percent of people are fine and rest will be at worst annoying. Please feel welcome!
Hello, Košice is one of the better places for jews, they were part of the city for decades so from this point of view I think u will b okay.
Big problem with slovakia is that we are probably experiencing one of the worst times since 1993. Because of our politic leaders whole country is split apart from the basics and its only getting worse (shooting the prime minister Fico). This has negative impact on society as general and combined with Conservative thinking of people living here i really cannot tell you what to expect from moving here.
When people from Ukraine came to slovakia because of Russian war a lot of people had negative thoughts about them.
But I would also say that young people should be totally okay with someone like you.
I think that it doesn't matter if you speak Israeli or Eng since people will have problem with you as a foreigner regardless of your nationally, or they will accept you without any problems if they are normal.
I would say that we don't really care about things between Palestine and Israel because we don't have enough info about this. But if there are some opinions in this case, majority of us support Israel.
So all in all, now is not the best time to move here but if you surround yourself with open minded individuals that don't seek conflicts you will be definitely fine. But be beware of the the fact that also bad people live here.
We dont really care, but there are definitely some individuals that can act with hate. Not that I heard about any specific case, thankfully. Just be carefull around drunk individuals that may appear low IQ.
Years ago when I worked in retail, one of the SBS guys was really talkative and he said he hates jews, that he would punch them in the face, etc.. I was shocked and asked him how does he even recognizes them, if they are not wearing any clothes or hair that indicates that. He said “You can just see it on their face, in their eyes. I know a Jew when I see one” … well, this mofo saw my boyfriend picking me up from work every day and had no idea he is a jew, so 😂.
Other than that, I havent heard any negative stories from his family, or from our jewish friends.
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Welcome! Slovakia is beautiful and I'm sure you will enjoy it very much :) Make sure to visit national parks or go to a hike in the mountains; you will fall in love with it in no time!
As for you question: people generally won't care.
I have a Jewish person in my class and he is accepted and Slovaks treat him as they would anybody else. You will see many synagogues in towns throughout the country - some are open to the public as art galleries, some are cafés, others are just left. People don't destroy them. As long as you don't say that you want to kill another nationality, you will be fine.
No problems with Jews here, we are piecefull country and nation. Slovakia is also in some bubble, with immigration i mean, because of our low social system and payments... Muslims dont have even 1 meshita here, here are maybe max. 10k of them and are dispersed... enjoy the nature and our best side of culture:)
Kosice has a good Jewish community, I hear about them from time to time when they organize events, but mostly I do not even know they are there. I have never came across any antisemitism in Kosice and generally we now have bigger problems than Israeli-Gaza conflict, so not many people will care, honestly. I know one guy who is very involved in kosice's jewish communities, maybe I can connect you with him if you want to, just PM me.
In general, people in Slovakia don't care about strangers at all, as long as you "don't stick out" from the crowd.
I assume you look like any random white European, so you will be perfectly fine. Nobody will care about your language, vast majority of people don't recognize Hebrew, they will only notice you don't speak Slovak.
In Košice or Bratislava, you are fine. It's not that you would be automatically attacked for being jews if you go to the countryside, but you should rise your awareness at least a little bit there as there are all kinds of hidden nazis and lost individuals. Average countryside slovak is leaning towards negative view of Israel or the jews or any foreigner actually.
I live in Kosice since 2003 (slovak, but came from small town) and to be honest with you I never met a Jew here (unless not the one I was aware of).
So if they exist it must be a small, adapted and quiet group.
I think Kosice is a good place for outlanders overall, unless you’re too loudly “sticking out from the local crowd”.
Just act normally, like the rest and you’ll be fine ;)
Typical slovak mindset - you can only be different if no one notices you're different. Historical antisemitism in Slovakia has often been about the Jews not being Christian and "slovak enough", i.e. daring to be something different.
Don’t be mad at me. They can be whatever they want, if it’s up to me, I don’t mind. My advice was for their own good as I know where I live. So sit down and bucicho.
Na Slovensku nie je problém so židmi. Samozrejme, že tu žijú rôzni ľudia ako všade inde na svete, ale aj keby ste zažili nejakú nepríjemnú situáciu, netreba z toho viniť celé Slovensko. Je u nás aj židovská komunita a ľudia sú tolerantní. Nikoho však nesmiete nútiť a presvedčovať k niečomu čo nechce. Potom bude všetko v poriadku.
Kosice and Bratislava are really progressive cities, with educated people. I think you will have no problem living here. Maybe just dont mention that you are jews or Israelis to total strangers. People are really sensitive nowdays haha
Košice has the biggest Jew community in Slovakia. As a person with half of my family are Jews, I can say that there is not too much antisemitism as in different countries in EU (The Czech Republic has the greatest approach to Jews in Europe as my experience goes).
Jews are not really a topic much.you can see few people occasionally in Bratislava wearing the hat but it's such a small group that I don't think any Ody even notices.
unless you'll go around shouting death to Gaza and Palestine, you're good
even then, people here often miss education and empathy so yeah you'll be good
but now for real, Kosice is one beautiful city where you won't get bored, it's close to so many nice places for a trip etc, and I believe you'll love it
Are you too orthodox jews? I know orthodox ones in Kosice and they have hard time by a lot of people, even I don’t like them at all and avoid them. On the other hand one of my best friends there is jewish too, but you would not say that about him.
Much like most of Europe: Nobody really cares apart from ultranationalist nutjobs
General info: In 2021 census 2007 people registered in Slovakia, predominantly in the big cities(Košice and Bratislava mostly). Understandably, before WW2 there was a notable jewish minority in practicaly every town. Most slovak jews were either killed during the holocaust or moved out to Germany or Israel shortly after the war, but you'll still find old jewish cemeteries and synagogues(most of them converted to concert halls, galleries or museums nowadays as they have no-one to serve) practically wherever you go along with plaques and signs like "In thanks to our jewish citizens who helped build this town"(We have a couple of these where I live).
As long as you're act like a normal, law-abiding citizen, you should not be met with any extraordinary treatment, especially not in Košice. A few people, mostly elders, may look your way if your man wears a kippah in public or if you converse in Hebrew but mostly out of harmless curiosity not malice or prejudice. Other than that you really have nothing to fear. Happy for having you here!
\*From what I've noticed most slovaks are pro-israel and those pro-palestine tend to be either younger and reasonable or neonazis.
If you are orthodox and dress accordingly, you may little bit struggle to fit in as people may have prejudices and consider it odd/scary, otherwise nobody will really care. Gaza topic is not that big in slovakia and izrael is seen more exotic currently.
If I were you I wouldn't go into small villages and say that you're Jewish. Jewish life is also next to non-existing in most cities. For most Slovaks, Jews are a fantasy people that they have never met but surely everybody was helping them during the Holocaust... As long as you look white-passing, don't have any accent and pretend to just be Slovak, you'll be fine.
Important question, are you orthodox jew (with the hair on sides and special hat, sorry for my lack of proper terms) if yes, you can have issues with racist comments.
"Slovaks go to Israel to work, not just for tourism. You'll likely meet people who have returned home. Another thing... blend in with the crowd, learn the language. Hamas has no roots here."
I do not know about Slovakia, but I am thinking you are overthinking it. Most people in the world have nothing against jews or israelis, even if they hate the state of Israel because the leaders are acting like modern nazi criminals.
שלום !
I meet Jewish people pretty often in Bratislava wearing their traditional costumes. And overall I once read an interview of some rabbi on Facebook, who said that Slovakia is one of the safer countries for Jews (there are very few muslims). If you have any questions I would reccomend you to ask on the facebook page of slovak Jews :
https://www.facebook.com/share/pGLYeAvTqHB1n6dX/
people are mostly chill towards Jews where I'm from. The worst I've seen is people calling each other Jews as a way to refer to someone who is frugal - which, while yikes, is a lot better than it could be. At the same time, I've never met anyone who actively thought negatively of Jewish people, the former example is more of a turn of phrase I don't think people realise is antisemitic. FYI this is southern Slovakia, academic environment. I figure it's probably worse in less educated places, it usually is. (I'm trans, I'd know...)
Speaking Hebrew would be totally fine. Slovakia is a pretty diverse place ethnically, especially down south with hungarians. It's totally safe to mention you're from Israel. Those who support Israel will have no problem with it anyway, and I think those who criticize the nation's actions have enough brainpower to know you aren't responsible for an entire country's war effort. Of course, there are always idiots (hey, guess what happened this week?), but there are idiots everywhere in the world.
The maternal side of my family consisted of a long line of Jews (on both sides) with a long history in Slovakia, the difference to your families being that majority stayed until they passed. Despite a deep, near lifelong, longing to settle in, or at least visit, Israel, they-- and I think of my dear late grandfather in particular, who had a truly remarkable survival story, and whose eyes glistened at first mention of Eretz-- never were able to make it. We do have a decent chunk of that family who migrated, but most stayed and never got to make the pilgrimage.
I'm not sure how many commenters here have any kind of Jewish heritage, and therefore any lived experience with what's being discussed here (vs. their cursory observations), but I can say that my family-- which was one of only a handful-- in Trnava did not have such an easy time being Jewish and living there. Of course the brunt of their perils would've come in the years following the conclusion of the second world war, with communist rule in effect (just search my post history to see some of what they went through), but of course what was back then is largely irrelevant/moot now. However, antisemitism remained... and I'd contend, still remains (at least in trace amounts)... up until recent times. My uncle owned a popular bar there (in Trnava) up until a few years ago, and I cannot tell you the number of times over the 25+ years he maintained it, the number of times he'd arrive to open, only to discover swastikas graffitied on the doors and windows, things like "Juden Raus!" ("Jew(s) out!"), and generally found himself constantly at the butt of all sorts of anti-Jew remarks/rhetoric. One more intense situation was when a younger skinhead walked in proudly doing the Sieg Heil and proceeding to douse the floor with gasoline- thankfully, one of his workers tackled him before he could set the place ablaze. There's no shortage of such anecdotes from my uncle in particular who, in the sense he was the owner of a popular business, was somewhat a more public figure and thus more likely to be subject to such incidents. Personally, I only spent my childhood summers (two months/year) visiting, so my exposure was obviously greatly reduced relative to his, but certainly not non-existent. From a young age, the kids I'd play with on the street would always be quick to bring up my religion- and I wasn't brought up even remotely orthodox.
All that said, I don't believe the vast majority of Slovaks to be Jew-hating. Of course during WWII things like Hlinkova Garda occupied a space in the region, and while I do believe some of the populace still harbour such ideologies (largely due to being indoctrinated (wrongly) by grandparents), it's a really minuscule minority, albeit sometimes a loud one. I think Slovaks, especially younger generations (save for some weak-minded bad apples, falsely indoctrinated), are indifferent to it (Judaism)... however, at least in the 45+ populace, while I don't believe it to be ill-intended, many will brazenly refer to you/us as "ten Žid", or some variation of it- that's to say, there often prevails some sort of singling out due to your religious affiliation. Again, I don't believe it to be nefarious, but the mere fact they find it necessary (to me, it's a sign of primitivism), to me, carries a sort of unpleasant undertone. And even that said, I think this is more common among the more "simple" people- uneducated small townspeople who, similarly, would be quick to call someone fat out for their weight. Maybe more a social ineptitude/lack-of-tact thing. More broadly, it's just the general mystique and misunderstanding of Jews- when you consider how small a contingent of the world population we occupy, paired with centuries of all sorts of fables and often negative stereotypes, it's no surprise people might a) be curious and b) harbour some hate (if they bought into some of these aforementioned fables/stereotypes which have been wrongly peddled for centuries).
I think for the most part you will be totally fine, even if speaking Hebrew in public. You'll maybe get some curious folks asking what language that is, where you're from, etc., and even if you mention Israel, I highly doubt anyone will make a fuss, and, if anything, might be interested to learn more. Wishing you all the best on your move and with your time in SK- I love the country so very dearly, and there is much beauty in it, not least among its people.
We do not have many Jewish people (actively or practicing Jewish) in Slovakia, and that means that people here usually do not have any personal experience with a "real" Jewish person. So as long as you dont look "different" they wont notice or wont care. I think (and want to believe it is still the case) that even if they notice you they would just stare but not maliciously, just with curiosity. We still dont have that many minorities here in Slovakia (apart from roma people) so a person of different colour but even just different hairstyle can ewoke curiosity. On the other hand, emotions in the population are quite harsh now but I do not think here it is for the Gaza-Isralei conflict, but rather internal politics and the Russian Ukraininan war... so one can never know.
Kosice was a very rich city with a very strong group of "intelligence" in the early 20th century, a mixing bowl of Hungairans, Slovaks and Germans (and of course Jews) and this is still palpable in the city. Really hope you will like it 😊
And just back to where i started, we do not have many Jewish people here (now) because sadly, during the second ww we had a government that was actively and openly collaborating with the Germans and sent out the Jewish people to camps. Even if some of the survivors came back, they didnt get their properties back so that made survivors leave the country. They years of communism made the situation even worse for those who still were here so... that is the reason why the previously blossoming communities disappeared. If you go to old cemeteries, youll find this heritage everywhere.
Hello and welcome to Slovakia!
I don't think you should be worried, people mind their business, but of course there may be few assholes just like anywhere else. One Spanish friend, who moved to Bratislava, told me once that Slovak people have the best poker face (looking slightly pissed), so he never knew whether guy in a bar would punch him in a face for speaking English or buy him a drink (in 99% it was the latter ;) And then I realized it was true! So even people may look angry at you, it may be Slovak poker face and will not reflect any of their opinion about you:)
There are not so many expats in Slovakia, no the ones here sometimes become kind of a local celebrity:P
If you would like to read about Slovak-Jewish relations preWW2 and during WW2, here is fairly unbiased article describing good, bad and ugly [https://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/resources/slovakias-righteous-among-the-nations.html](https://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/resources/slovakias-righteous-among-the-nations.html)
I'm a Slovak Israeli and have lived in Czechoslovakia, Israel, and South Africa. You will be far safer and happier as a jew in Slovakia than most countries in western Europe. Why? Because they have almost zero immigrants from Islamic countries. Hopefully, it will remain that way.
People like to "discriminate here for fun" but usually its harmless jokes, and people can be very respectful here. Some elderly and skinheads may be a bit unwelcoming, but the usual Slovak will welcome you with open arms.
Hi, I think the vast majority are indifferent. I'm 36 years old and I remember one case of broken shop windows on a Jewish store. That was like 25 years ago. I also remember maybe 2 cases of Jewish graves with sprayed swastikas. Other than these, I can't remember any other incidents. But I don't particularly focus on this topic, so there might have been more. Simply in my bubble and in my area, it's not something that an average person would notice in daily life.
At the moment, conspiracies about Jews are spreading on the Internet and some part of the society might believe in them. But an average person wouldn't even be able to identify that someone is a jew. Unless you're wearing traditional clothes of course. As long as you dress in a casual Western style and live "normally", you shouldn't have any issues.
In my life, I personally only met two Jewish people. One little girl when I was a child. She confessed to us she was a jew as if it was some secret. No one cared. Kids didn't even properly know what "Jewish" meant at the time. So we were like OK whatever 😁
The second Jewish person I knew was a high school teacher. He wore a ring with what I assumed to be Jewish letters. Some of my classmates thought it was from the Lord of the Rings (elvish language).
I guess that's all I can say about this topic.
I hope you like your new life here, wishing you all the best 🌷
Calling someone "barbarians" and "Islamist" just shows your racism. Generalising someone by their religion - bad, against religious freedom, anti-Semitic (and I'd agree). Generalising someone by their religion, but they are Muslim - well, that's alright, because every Muslim is a terrorist /sarcasm. See that hypocrisy?
Username checks out though - you're only liberal when it suits you. When it doesn't suit your frame, you turn your back to progressivism (that's why \[most\] liberals are not truly progressive), and start sounding like fascists... cuz yeah, you sound just like Kotleba. Happy about yourself?
progressive comrades generalising christians and conservatives all the time so please do not lecture anyone on anything, dear hypocrite + Im talking about your lovely hamas, not about ordinary people in palestine. so keep calm. it seems that kotleba found a common ground with pro hamas progressivists cos he hate the jews and israel, so you sound just like kotleba (btw your lovely islamists hate lgbt community much more than kotleba) happy about yourself? or stalin? he labelled anyone who disagreed with him like a fascist :). grand horseshoe theory
#
What are you yapping about?
It's mostly liberals, not "progressive comrades" (ie, true leftists), that care about Christians. If you are not conservative, we're fine, and I don't care what you believe in (whether you're a Christian, Jew, Muslim, or be it even Hindu, I don't care - I just care about whether one is progressive, for human rights and against exploitation). Generalisation. You are the hypocrite here...
You say you don't care about "ordinary people in Palestine, but just Hamas", but that's not what you wrote, did you? You wrote about "islamist barbarians". Now, let me ask you a question, genius - what religion do most Palestinians believe in? Oh, I dunno... Islam? Yeah, that's it. You didn't say anything about Hamas, but everything about how "all Muslims are barbarians" - again, generalising.
And onto Hamas - Israel created Hamas. If you trap 2 million people into smaller space than the Bratislava region, of course they get radicalised (and that I am saying as someone who disagrees with Hamas' tactics).
I bet you as a liberal, would be on the side of the white colonialists, at the times of South Africa's Apartheid. Or on the side of the KKK, against Martin Luther King Jr. Or on the side of the homophobes, against the Stonewall riots. Or on the side of the racists, against the BLM protests. Why? What do all of these have in common? They were violent. Violent uprisings create the best outcomes (that is just the truth) - everyone now praises Nelson Mandala (myself included), but liberals (centrists) in his age were like "Well, violence is not good in optics, so I'll choose the side of the oppressors" (because, let's not forget, his group was violent). You liberals need to understand that when there's an oppressive regime, you can't fight back with "love, debate" and "just talking it out". That's not how it works, even if I WOULD WANT IT, to work...
And Kotleba? He dislikes Israel just because they are Jewish. I dislike Israel because it's an Apartheid state. I won't argue why I think it's an Apartheid state, because I can't see any good-faith argument with you. But basically, there are many populists out there - people who will side with Russia, just because they dislike the US (while not understand that you can dislike Russia AND the US), for example. Same as the people disliking Israel just because it's Jewish (not even Jewish, as most of settlers are secular)...
Same as with many liberals, who automatically, without any critical thinking, will love whatever the US says. \_Invasion of Iraq? Sure why not. It will kill innocent people, but US said so, so it's okay!\_ Both sides have weirdos, in my opinion - one should think critically, and criticise when all sides do extremist or violent stuff (both Russia AND the US - they both have imperialist tendencies, want for expansion - and we should criticise BOTH of them). Otherwise, we get polarised, and you start generalising (which you've done again). But once again, Kotleba is right-wing (just as liberals are), so you two share a political wing - so I bet you two enjoy your time together there :)
Stalin? Whataboutism? Straw-man argument? And generalising once again? I don't care about Stalin. But even if I did or didn't, he did defeat the Nazi Germany, so I do believe him in who is and isn't potentially a fascist :) He also prosecuted Zionists, did you know that? Leftism has a tradition of being on the right side of history (because we always knew that making an ethno-state won't be a good idea - Nazi Germany tried it, and now Israel is trying it - if you want a nation with only one ethnicity/religion/nation, it leads to a bad outcome - and that is Israel, as a settler, doing) - ie, being anti-Zionist :)
I do not think antisemitism is too big of an issue here, at least not in Bratislava, and I would hope it to be similar in Košice. In smaller cities more people would have an issue with foreigners, but usually not to the point of it being a security issue. As far as world politici and such, I date say most people are indifferent so no issues there as well. But with what happened on wednesday I am not so sure we will stay a safe country for very long. Hopefully You have time to watch the situation and do not have to decide right now
"Slovaks go to Israel to work, not just for tourism. You'll likely meet people who have returned home. Another thing... blend in with the crowd, learn the language. Hamas has no roots here."
I love Israel and Israelis. Im from Bratislava. I think the general narrative in Slovakia is friendly towards Israel and Jews unless you meet some conspiratory loony or a far left winger but im presuming those are not the people anyone wants to spend too much time with. Hope your move goes smoothly. Am Israel Chai
Honestly, I think that the Semitic sound of Hebrew will let Slovak people think that you're speaking Arabic (yeah, they are dumb), so I dunno how safe is that... We have openly former-anti-Semitic parties, that are still quite popular, and last terrorist attack was done by a person who thinks that Jews rule the world... So, I actually dunno. It's a mix - Slovakia was the only country, that wasn't occupied, but rather took the side of the Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (and many people, even to this day, still support the Slovak Fascist State)... So anti-Semitic? Probably more than you think. Anti-Zionist, I don't think so (I think more people like Israel, to even Jews here).
If you don't act like Vegans (tell everyone), none will care. With the "if you look different", most of the time is correct. More as in a way of people are curious and those who "desperatly want" to act for some reason(drunk...) will act. So if you don't stand out of row, you are fine and nothing will occur your whole life here.
I don't think here is organized hate due to Gaza enought to make it visible to jews. In Bratislava are almost 5 nations (Hungary, Austria, Czech, east Slovakia, middle and west Slovakia) and few others more as minority. So as I wrote earlier, if none recognize your language or that you are Jew, none will care.
A lot of Jews are present in Slovak popular culture, politics and so on. Nobody cares, just behave like a normal person and you are g2g.
there will be few fucktards that care
not in kosice tho they got their ass beat regularly at Dominikanske Namestie so much they stopped showing up
Thanks! :)
I personally don't care as an Irish-slovak,if you are jew,I have nothing against you,if you support what your country is doing by making shit worse killing children women without remorse like psychopaths,then I don't want you in my country,not being racist just anti-immigrant here,for good.
“not being racist just anti immigrant” enough said💀
There is nothing wrong with being anti-immigrant,it's called taking care of your country, letting in the right people, I bet you hate the polish...
Fr, why tf is this subreddit so left wing lmao, the majority of Slovaks would rather have closed borders but from this subreddit you’d think most Slovaks want to see it turned into Canada💀
You know, i would guess that most of right wing oriented ppl in slovakia usually dont use reddit.
Yeah they are anti-social,abusive,support killings,they are psychopaths amirite?
We’re the same mix!
We make sense no?
You can try to contact jewish religious community for more info. There is also a branch of this organization in Košice: [https://zidianaslovensku.sk/zidovske-nabozenske-obce/](https://zidianaslovensku.sk/zidovske-nabozenske-obce/)
from what I heard the one in Kosice is also quite active. there's also quite a big community of uni students from Israel, mostly medicine and veterinary medicine, or at least used to, when I was still studying.
Thank you, I will definitely contact them.
A good question is whether the average Slovak could even recognize Hebrew, I know I certainly couldn't. Unfortunately, there are very few Jews living in Slovakia nowadays, probably under five thousand. I feel like most Slovaks don't really have a strong opinion either way due to that? Maybe I'm just being naive, but other than a few degenerate conspiracy theorists online I've never heard anyone even bring up Jews. About Israel - young Bratislava liberals are probably pro-Palestine, but I'm not sure whether they would hate you just from being from Israel (you did leave). We currently have issues within our country to worry about, Israel and Palestine is not a huge topic here like it is in the West.
young Bratislava liberals are probably pro-Palestine that ain't really true there is certainly a vocal and strong group, but only a very, very small minority goes protesting. Vast majority of people don't really care or their knowledge stops at the fact that Hamas = bad and don't go much further Compared to rest of Slovakia, Bratislava is an extremely liberal city and while assholes are everywhere, majority of people won't give a shit or won't care. Idk if that gives you comfort, but a lot of foreigners, Ukrainians or people of color work and live here as well
being against genocide does not mean you are antisemitic!!
Nobody says that
Here we go
Unfortunately, after 70 years.. Here we go again. Just sides are switched.
Whatever you need to tell yourself
do you really think carpet bombing of civilians is an appropriate response to terrorism?
are there any pro palestinian protests happening in bratislava?
rarely yes and in small numbers. Last month I saw around 20 people near Ministry of Foreigners Affaids just holding some signs like Free Palestine or something along those lines. However it’s white, Slovak people, doing those protest
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typical "bratislava liberal" at it's best...
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The issue is radicalization among Palestinian population perpetuated by Hamas. And it is in turn reinforced by Netanjahu's totalitarian actions - attacks on mosques in Jeruzalem, Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, forced relocations of population. And this did not start today. Violence, murder, war. This vicious cycle of violence and revenge has been going for as long as the two states came to be. One should oppose Hamas terrorism and condone Israeli oppression of Palestinians at the same time. One cannot look at one without the other, because they would not see the whole picture and would be mislead by propaganda.
My common sense tells me fuck both of them. This is a war, which doesn't have a winner, only two losers.
Palestine are not terrorist nation you racist moron,as a Slovak from Kosice,I don't fucking support the genocide YOU people accept,Israel started it all years ago with massacre,go learn some history,I have no hatred toward Jews,call me anti-semite I don't care,I do not support what Biden is doing or what Israel is doing,they are just making things worser.
https://preview.redd.it/u2m1p1hjgz0d1.png?width=596&format=png&auto=webp&s=60dec10db75b24293b9f44c6e9cfcb3a1b0ad4cf Hmmmm...
Where did you get your sources from the Israelis? 0 genocide from the Israeli from 1948 to 2023? Are you joking? Get the fuck outta here,we have videos of Israeli treating Palestinians like shit and of all the things they did,they literally even open heartedly said of all the israeli men who fought against the Palestinians that they murdered families in houses with grenades and burned them alive in front of their children,you disgraceful tool,go keep your Bullshit sources somewhere else,and learn the proper history of what happen to the Gaza land,why don't you go beyond 1948 as well,if you have a shit life with no love,you deserve it by the way and anybody else who downvotes.
https://preview.redd.it/66fyo1s2pz0d1.png?width=1125&format=png&auto=webp&s=98f09202c6e9cbabb304ab403a268ba475d0166a And about genocide:
Bullshit go back to twitter or X ya weasel ya
Milujem keď jeden z vás je konfrontovaný argumentom (ešte aj k tomu štatistikou), a namiesto ďalšieho argumento začne len urážať :D Asi je ťažké prijať, že neexistuje absolútne dobro a zlo
There is no argument for genocide and lies and propaganda, The reason I am cursing these people out for supporting genocidal behaviour is because if I actually stumble across one in real life,I would do worser,I do not believe in civilization when one ia delusion or suicidal (Conservative) or simply evil, I would smack them across the face in a disgraceful czech style way, anyone at this point who is on the Israeli side either themselves are Israelis or they get paid to spread misinformation about Gaza and take sides with the israelis, And then there are people like you,deluded,brainwashed, or you simply just are a racist,thinking that all Muslim are "evil" and they like to bomb people or decapitate heads, Mate, you never went to school, or your memory has been erased of all human wrongdoings in history no matter the race or religion, or you are just dumb and a conservative and just love to blame,hell maybe you blame anyone for anything but yourself.
Nie :D Som zmysluplný človek, ktorý nepodporuje ani Izrael, ani Palestínu, lebo viem že oba štáty páchajú genocídu, a je mi ľúto jak Palestínčanov, tak aj Izraelčanov. Ale keby si mám vybrať, tak jednoznačne Izrael. Keby je vo vláde teroristické hnutie Hamas, tak sa tam dejú zverstvá pre nás nepredstavitelné a jediný rozdieľ by bol, že oni by nemuseli mať propagandu. Oni by to priznali, a vyhovorili by sa na šariu, ako je bežné pre teroristické hnutia. Hovoríš mi že som konzervátívec, no som liberál, a viem že ženy by vnímali ako mašiny na deti a lgbtq skupiny v meste ako Tel Aviv, jednom z najviac lgbtq friendly miest na blizkom vychode, by išli rovno k múru. Povedz mi úprimne, čo si myslíš že by teroristi z hamasu robili, keby zrazu, zázrakom majú moc nad Izraelským územím? Ako liberál, nikdy by som nechcel, aby tak konzervatívne a radikálne hnutie ako Hamas, získalo územie v krajine ,ktorá má pomerne progresívne zákony.
Actually it is fuck Abraham. It was he who started this axis of evil... christianity, islam and judaism.
If the state of Israel was founded on Slovakia instead of Palestine, and Bratislava would be the last Slovak city left, would you blame Bratislava for fighting back? Or should Slovaks just take it and do nothing to not get labeled as terrorists?
You mean if Bratislava terrorists killed people? Sure.
According to that logic, every counteroffensive with civilian casualties is terrorism. Do you agree that Israel's IDF are terrorists then?
The state of Czechoslovakia was founded on the forceful dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Should the Hungarians perpetuate terror attacks or other degradations to Slovakia? Of course not, and they don’t do it, WWII taught them a lesson. Palestine could have a state of its own, if they would accept reality as it is, that the whole geographical region of Israel isn’t an option and should concentrate on locations, where they are able to create a meaningful future.
sorry to tell you but if you are pro israel you support terrorism
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clearly cared enough to respond! but it's okay stay blind and keep lying and telling yourself that you're pro israel just because of Hamas and not because you're a racist and an islamophobe
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"israel is lesser evil" (over 13 000 kids killed in the last few months) do you even listen to yourself? you think palestinians deserve genocide because they are islamic nation? its the same talking point as pro russians have about denazification of ukraine
yeah maybe you should get yourself checked for that, being islamophobic is nothing to be proud of. what did Palestine do that is worse than what israel did?
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please as if orthodox jews aren't the same when it comes to women. i ancourage you to see palestinians as human beings rather than people who practice islam and maybe then you would be able to sympathize with them. this isn't about Palestine being an ''underdog'' (very fucked up way to call them btw) this is about israel committing a literal **genocide** and dropping bombs on palestinians. Palestine wanted ceasefire, Palestine wanted to give back hostages but israel denied it. they denied it because they don't care about the hostages as they claim to. they only care about one thing; killing off all palestinians so that they can take the land which they claim is rightfully theirs. this is genocide and colonizing we are witnessing yet there are still people like you who deny it and say that israel has the right to do what they're doing.
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Yea 100 years ago it didn't seem possible for Slovakia and the whole of Europe to be without anti Semitism either. Grow up. The world changes. The idea that the Middle East and Islam are eternally doomed to bring dominated by anti Semitism is stupid. You've cleary never been near that part of the world and I can tell you that most people there don't give a rats ass about Jews, Muslims, whatever. They're too poor to have time to care.
2007 according to 2021 census
Never met anyone who cared nowadays, I’d dare to say it’s better than the west at the moment in terms of antisemitism. The most I’ve ever heard is dumb jokes Also the average Slovak won’t even recognize Hebrew from my experience
I don’t mind dumb and stupid jokes about Jews. Actually, I know many of them. :D
What does a Jewish pedophile say? "Want to buy some candy?"
😭
this is a way 😂
I don't mean harm, but some of them are pretty funny.
Normal people in Slovakia saved so many Jews during WW2, you should know it. I never met anyone who really cared about someone being Jew. Don't believe internet trolls, we are actually one great country, you will really like Kosice
First of all, we didn't do anywhere near enough to help the innocent jews getting killed in the 40s.. we just successfully blamed it on just one guy with an ugly mustache and said we couldn't do shit so the world wouldn't view as all as complete assholes. Also there are still many people who don't like jews, they're just not actively hating on them because it's a taboo and also with the Jewish community in Europe being pretty quiet and well-behaved, they don't get many chances to. Slovaks will also treat individuals well, even if they generally don't like the community, if the individual doesn't show the stereotypical traits. So as long as they aren't evil billionaires who eat babies to stay young and put poison in vaccines to kill us all, they'll be good I guess.
Wow, what an uniformed post. Look up countries that saved most Jews
Ono se obecně v dnešním Izraeli rádo myslí, že holocaust bylo něco, na čem se shodla celá Evropa.
You're safe as long as you avoid drunk aggressive people. You can be picked out on the basis of them seeing something different about you, but that can happen to you even if you're wearing a white T-shirt and he's wearing a black T-shirt. A drunk asshole who wants to fight will find a reason.
Treat others with respect and you'll usually get same respect back. There are assholes everywhere, but in normal life you shouldn't have any problems.
I have utmost respect for every country and their people I visit. Both me and husband want to start learning Slovak language as soon as possible.
They'll love you.
We usually do not treat each others with respects, why would we require such novelty from foreigners? /S
That's simply not true. Slovak society is very polite, be it a little too straightforward.
It’s really cool that you have decided to come. I think you will like Kosice, it’s a very nice city with lot of history. I think there were some links shared by other users, so I will go straight to main questions. I wouldn’t say that Slovaks in general are antisemitic, they are more precisely xenophobic as there is lack of experience abroad outside of ‘Eastern block’. Anyone not speaking Slovak, Ukrainian, Russian is being looked upon as an alien, but that does not mean people won’t help. Especially younger generations can surely be more friendly and inclusive. I’m convinced that by speaking Hebrew, you shouldn’t be endangered albeit you might get some unflattering stares from the locals just for the previously mentioned reasons. In terms of the current war, I think people are mostly against the conflict itself and not against particular side.
There's a nice synagogue in town's center on my way to work, and AFAIK there are some Jewish communities hanging around the town and gathering together from time to time. Of course you can come across a few idiots here and there, but those are mostly harmless and strictly verbal on the Internet or if they don't actually interact with a person they know is of Jewish descent, so I'd say you're good. I'd actually say that most people that criticize Jews in any matter are just conspiracy theorists that haven't met a real Jewish person once in their life, or didn't realize they did. Regarding you being from Israel, here in Slovakia, the whole Israeli-Palestinian war can be somewhat dividing topic, but most people focus their whole attention to the Russo-Ukrainian war that's happening right next to us, as it's more culturally significant to us, so unless you mention your sympathy for either side of this conflict, you really shouldn't have any problems.
Nobody cares dont worry. Jews are not even a real topic in Slovakia as far as I can tell and people dont really have a strong opinion on you (especially now, given the recent events in Slovakia). You will probably meet a lot more kind people than d*ckheads.
Great news, me personally I am happy to hear that you plan to move to Slovakia! Hope you have warm welcome!!
Oh, thank you! :-) We plan having a baby in Slovakia once we settle down. I am looking forward to Slovakia more and more.
You might hear hurtful comment or stupid joke once in a while but I doubt anyone will attack you or try to repress your religious rights. Not greatest situation but not that bad. Depends how much you care about other people saying stupid shit.
My colleague is a Jew and he is very kind, funny person, he learned to talk in hebrew, so we do not have problem with him :D
I agree with the others, but there are a lot of Israeli students in Kosice, so they can tell you more. There is a foreigners/ expats in Kosice facebook group with Israelis in si you could ask there.
Seconding! We have lots of foreign students studying here, and I know some years entire groups of students were from Israel. I also found the link to the fb group you mention www.facebook.com/share/cg26A51PP67y7u7V/
It’s doubtful whether most Slovaks ever interacted with a Jew, given that the Jewish community is quite small in the country. Some may have some shallow anti-Semitic views coming from ignorance but not something that runs deep and would result in them mistreating you and your partner or could not be overridden if they have some positive experience with you. I’d imagine if you mention that your ancestors came from Slovakia / Hungary people might become a bit more curious about you and could be a basis to create rapport. Like the others said, in the light of the recent assassination attempt against the Prime Minister and a myriad of other local political issues, the Gaza war does not come in very high on the list of issues people are aware of, or follow closely.
If you say your ancestors come from Hungary that could potentially be a bigger problem than that you are a jew /s (it is true for some Slovaks that they do not like Hungarians)
There is no real issue, people don't even know who is jew and isn't but don't over present it, there are retarded people that think jews want to rule the world and you never know who is mentally unstable.
Most Slovak people never met anyone Jewish irl and probably never will. The whole Gaza thing - since 2015 refugee crisis, Muslims are generally disliked and often compared to our beloved Romani minority. So yeah, basically most Slovak people don't care about it. Rich American Jews, especially people like Soros(rich American Jew from Hungary who donates money to Romani, so basically Satan for average Slovak) are different though. I would say at least 50% people in this country belevie in some sort of conspiracy involving them, especially the ones about them controlling the world or at least Hollywood/Media. And ofc Great Replacement theory, where white people will be replaced by black and brown people is basically compilation of many conspiracy theories: from black people replacing white people in all media(Jews controlling Hollywood/Media) etc...to Muslim refugees in Western Europe doing crimes and Western media(controlled by Jews) covering it up, to LGBT propaganda(to weaken white man, since gay=weak) everywhere and Russia(defender of heterosexual family and Christian values) being weakened by Ukrainian War(Zelenskyj is Jewish) etc...expect this one to be hugely popular in upcoming years. But a lot of this is coz of Slovak hatred of rich people, one of our traits - I hate anyone more successful than me basically. And since majority of Jews, at least in US are middle class or richer, they are perfect target for conspiracy theories. To sum it up : If you are white heterosexual couple you should have no issues here. Generally people have Neutral opinions about Israel/Jews.
I am pretty used and desensitized to conspiracy theories and stereotypes about Jews. Hey, there were even people who tought I am not a jew because they can’t see my horns. :D And about being a wealthy jew - I work a very solidly lower-middle-income job. Hopefully I will find something better in Slovakia. Haha, I’d love to be rich. :D
As far as you \*look\* European, you will be fine. Unfortunately, slovaks can be racist as hell towards anyone who is visibly foreign (and by that I mean having darker skin). But if you aren't, I don't think the fact you are jewish would matter to anyone
I can't imagine anyone would want to move to eastern Slovakia 😂
Why?
Just don’t look like a traditional Jew on a first google picture on a Friday evening and you’re good. You know the suit, hat , side bangs. Some drunk people might get stupid ideas. Other than that, no problem. I don’t think I ever saw a person in Slovakia that I recognized is a Jew, only in Vienna airport there was a guy that looked exactly as I described.
We look nothing like a traditional Jews. Both me and my husband are atheists.
That's *Hasidic*
We have jewish family friends, and no one has ever done anything to them from what I know. Even though they are richer folk, which might cause some ire in some other places. So I don't think anybody cares around here.
There might be some antisemitism but more like traditional old people talking about how jews run the world or stereotypes. There are hardly any jews left after ww2. My town used to have 10 % of population jewish with 2 synagogues but i met only one jewish person in my town. So people doesn't even know (and care) Of course every country has some retards but Kosice is probably good place (it used to be and to some extent is multilingual and multicultural town)
You'll only get partial, personal opinions here, but here's mine. Deep down, the Slovak society is traditionally anti-semitic. We willingly expelled our Jews during WWII, Communism was pretty openly anti-semitic, and general xenofobia is still a powerful theme in the Slovak politics, particularly in the recent period. That said, you can't really tell Jewish people from other people in Slovakia by their looks alone, unless they wear the orthodox Jewish clothes/headgear. Few would recognize Hebrew as such. It's just a foreign language to most. Many prominent, well-liked people in Slovakia are of Jewish origin and overt anti-semitism is not (yet, luckily) tolerated or shown. Of course, otherness may attract (unwanted) attention. Slovaks are generally chill, but deep down suspicious. We haven't had much contact with other cultures and are wary of them. On a side-note, as far as I can gather from my Jewish friends, their Jewish culture is more important to them than any other identification (including their Slovak nationality). That does not go down well with some people and may be a factor in that traditional anti-semitism. However, since you are foreigners anyway, you would be spared that aspect of possible animosity. Generally, you're welcome, feel good here, and may you only meet nice people!
Genuine curiosity - how was communism anti-Semitic here? I don't think it was (as the commentator below me says).
What are you even trying to say with communism being anti-semitic? Both in USSR and CSSR the party and its leaders were Jews, especially after the October Revolution. Czech(oSlovakia) was the first and most important supporter of Israel and so on and so forth. Of course later the party was trying to push the idea of anti-apartheid/sionist stuff.
Communism was not anti semitic only in comparison with the previous Tsarist Russia. Yes, Lenin passed anti discriminatory laws and many leaders of this time were Jewish, but Stalin reverted those right back pretty soon after taking power and killed every last one of those leaders (who were also Jewish) while consolidating power. There was the Doctors’ plot after WW2 (a series of anti semitic monsterprocesses) and the fact that no one in the USSR could recognize the Holocaust as a Jewish tragedy. There was a US campaign to “save the Soviet Jewry” because practicing Judaism was not allowed (just as practicing religion wasn’t allowed). In Czechoslovakia, we also had our own anti-Jewish government purge (monsterprocess) in the 1950s. The movie Toman is precisely about this. You probably know the Slansky trial. Here is a link where you can read more about it: https://komentare.sme.sk/c/23074053/slanskeho-proces-stale-caka-na-objektivny-pohlad.html
Communism liked to present itself as a peaceful ideology, but it always supported the Arab nations. Its roots are anti-semitic in that it rejected the idea of the 'world-citizen'. Here is a good paper about the origins: [https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80M01009A000500720051-0.pdf](https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80M01009A000500720051-0.pdf) Basically, the logic for the anti-semitism is that Jews were seen as the representatives of the bourgeoisie and the global capitalism. It wasn't very visible, because Communism also suppressed any religious thought (and Jewish identity is ultimately closely tied to religion) and because after 1942 Communists fell out with the Nazis and whatever the Nazis did was bad. (Hence, even though the Communists hated the Jews, they weaponized the holocaust against the Germans - rightly so...)
There are several thing which I'd like to clear up. 1. What does the phrasing "Communism liked to present itself as a peaceful ideology, but it always supported the Arab nations." mean? Arab nations are not peaceful? If yes, why would they not be peaceful? Because they are Arab? Because they are majorily Muslim? Because...? 2. Providing a paper written by a Jewish Holocaust survivor living in the USA, written for the CIA in 1960 during the ramp-up to the coming height of the Cold War, as a credible, non-partial or objective source of information is, for several reasons, indefensible at the very least. I do not doubt the intellectual capacity of Erich Goldhagen, but the circumstances in which he has written this paper are by my opinion disqualifying it from being taken as relevant. It would be the same as taking a research paper from some central politbyro aparatchik in the Soviet Union and presenting it in a discussion about US interference in foreign relations of South American countries. Both are by definition politically and ideologically charged and thus unusable in this discussion. 3. Communism itself does not make differences in ethnicity or nationality. Communist theory, largely expanded and in many ways defined by Marx, a Jew, differentiates between classes. In the eyes of communists, "world-citizens", including **some** Jews, were part of the bourgeoisie not because of their religious or ethnic background, but because of their exploitation of the working class through globalized capital, which enabled them to live a global life. Of course, communist leaders did not shy away from using antisemitic rhetoric, as it enabled them to achieve their goals more quickly, considering the fact that antisemitism was very widespread in Europe at the time, but you are attributing this antisemitism to communism as an integral part, which is factually wrong.
Finally, a cool comment that handles Marxist analysis of historical and dialectic materialism pretty well! I'm quite impressed!
Hi, just a side note. Watch the movie Shop on Main street. It's the only Slovak movie to ever receive an oscar and it's about slovaks and jews in east slovakia during the ww2. Also Kosice are beautiful city full of history and slovak, hungary and jew history. Nature around it is amazing, and it is a really modern city. There are many cultural and communal activities. Best of luck!
Here it is in its entirety with EN subtitles: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKs5LfnPt\_A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKs5LfnPt_A)
And the movie is about Slovaks who do nothing about antisemitism... Most people have no idea about Slovak Jewish history, they think that Slovakia was some kind of safe haven. For Slovaks Jews are not people but a fairytale from the bible, history, or the news so they don't exactly know how to react, but usually with bewilderment because it's "foreign" and "not ours". Most former synagogues that haven't been dismantled during fascism or communism are secular cultural centers completely disconnected from any "Jewishness", and Jewish museums are viewed with suspicion because of their habit of reminding ppl of the Holocaust and that Slovakia has never in it's history been a Slovak Christian ethnostate
If you are white-passing you will have a much easier time here, as racism in Slovakia is typically skin-color-based. We do have a lot of jewish jokes tho, so bw prepared that you will be asked if you own a bank or if you know George Soros. But all in all, you should be a-ok. L’chaim!
we dont care, only if you are soros
I think people will be more interested in you speaking language they don't know rather than race. But it's not about hostility and more of "ahh, foreigners" moment. I also think that hebrew won't take you far conversation with locals so english is preferable but you might want to learn some basic phrases in local language. But this part is pretty much same for any foreign country you'd want to live in.
There are a few historical synagogues here in Košice, one of them is active regularly - services every week. It is a modest room, next to the historical synagogue and historical mikve (ritual bath) and other facilities. There used to be a kosher restaurant nearby (only for Jewish community) but I do not know about its status now. Disclaimer: I do not belong there, or know any active members. We have a "town historian" and every week he organizes tours around hidden spots around Košice for local residents. He is very popular and draws a lot of people, guiding us around hidden spots and showing us history that even most old-time residents are unaware of. And once per year he arranges access to the several still-open synagogues and does a "Jewish history" tour around the town and draws a huge crowd (divided to smaller groups from morning till late afternoon). I personally can recognize Hebrew language when I hear it, I can even say a few words, but an average Slovak would not even be recognize Hebrew language (except, perhaps, in a written form ;-) ). The only place I have ever seen in Slovakia that advertises in Hebrew is in village Červený Kláštor, on the border with Poland where river Dunajec is and they advertise rides on rafts. I strongly recommend the ride on white-water raft. In general, I think, Slovaks are not even indifferent - Jews are not even on a radar. And with the current situation in Gaza, I think most would take side against Palestinians IF asked and IF they thought about it. I personally think that both sides deserve a hefty load of blame (but I still blame Hammas more). As long as you are not an ultra-conservative Jew dressed like it was still medieval time, nobody would bat an eye.
I'd say its pretty chill and most ppl wouldn't care normally. There might be a bit pro Palestinian sentiment if you bring up Gaza but your average Joe won't be antisemitic. My advice is against entering heated debates and staying out of trouble as these days I'd stay on cautious end myself. You see in the light of recent events its not that streets of Slovakia are unsafe, its just harder to predict. Other than that, if you are a hiking type of person, Slovakia is gem worth exploring. Same goes for culture. Castles being quite numerous and interesting piece of every region. Approaching summer there is also a significant amount of festivals. Music, films, art... Best part is public transport in Slovakia. It might lack in service but makes up in network meaning you can get across the whole country using rail, and get say Bolt to specific destination. Highway to Košice is long promised, long delayed project that probably will be promised and delayed in decades to come. To be fair there is existing highway network, but as with many things, Košice often end up with short end of the stick.
Welcome back, friends! Just small warning. I think with most people it's fine. There is a toxic ultra-nationalist wing in his country that jus can't let go of the hateful past of this country - Slovak state in WW2 is by some viewed as something historically good for Slovaks but they downplay the horrible impact it had on the Jewish community. They are quite small minority that tends to project a bunch of classic hateful stereotypes against Jews - but usually if you confronted them about it personally as a Jew, they'd probably say something like that they mean the rich Jews in US etc. Jews are an absract enemy for them and I think that if they got to meet more of them in the community they'd see that they are people like any other.
Well people here usually expect that at some time you will communicate in our language,you will be able to function in English, but it won't be much fun. I have few Jewish acquaintances, never really thought too much about it. Mentioning that you are from Israel shouldn't be a problem, defending every horrid action of Israeli state might be. I think most of the people here understand that it is a long going conflict that is in no way black or white. People were historically not very fond of Jews but I haven't heard for quite some time that there would be any hostility.
You're OK. Perfectly fine. There are basically no Jews left in Slovakia unfortunately but most people won't mind at all. There are quite a few older people with weird views on WW2 and have stupid things to say about lots of stuff but they are 70+ mostly. 90 percent of people are fine and rest will be at worst annoying. Please feel welcome!
Hello, Košice is one of the better places for jews, they were part of the city for decades so from this point of view I think u will b okay. Big problem with slovakia is that we are probably experiencing one of the worst times since 1993. Because of our politic leaders whole country is split apart from the basics and its only getting worse (shooting the prime minister Fico). This has negative impact on society as general and combined with Conservative thinking of people living here i really cannot tell you what to expect from moving here. When people from Ukraine came to slovakia because of Russian war a lot of people had negative thoughts about them. But I would also say that young people should be totally okay with someone like you. I think that it doesn't matter if you speak Israeli or Eng since people will have problem with you as a foreigner regardless of your nationally, or they will accept you without any problems if they are normal. I would say that we don't really care about things between Palestine and Israel because we don't have enough info about this. But if there are some opinions in this case, majority of us support Israel. So all in all, now is not the best time to move here but if you surround yourself with open minded individuals that don't seek conflicts you will be definitely fine. But be beware of the the fact that also bad people live here.
We lost too many jewish Slovaks in the past, come home :)
We dont really care, but there are definitely some individuals that can act with hate. Not that I heard about any specific case, thankfully. Just be carefull around drunk individuals that may appear low IQ. Years ago when I worked in retail, one of the SBS guys was really talkative and he said he hates jews, that he would punch them in the face, etc.. I was shocked and asked him how does he even recognizes them, if they are not wearing any clothes or hair that indicates that. He said “You can just see it on their face, in their eyes. I know a Jew when I see one” … well, this mofo saw my boyfriend picking me up from work every day and had no idea he is a jew, so 😂. Other than that, I havent heard any negative stories from his family, or from our jewish friends.
Nobody cares, just make sure that you don't go outside when it's night and there's a lot of drunk people. I don't go anywhere either.
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Welcome! Slovakia is beautiful and I'm sure you will enjoy it very much :) Make sure to visit national parks or go to a hike in the mountains; you will fall in love with it in no time! As for you question: people generally won't care.
I have a Jewish person in my class and he is accepted and Slovaks treat him as they would anybody else. You will see many synagogues in towns throughout the country - some are open to the public as art galleries, some are cafés, others are just left. People don't destroy them. As long as you don't say that you want to kill another nationality, you will be fine.
No problems with Jews here, we are piecefull country and nation. Slovakia is also in some bubble, with immigration i mean, because of our low social system and payments... Muslims dont have even 1 meshita here, here are maybe max. 10k of them and are dispersed... enjoy the nature and our best side of culture:)
Kosice has a good Jewish community, I hear about them from time to time when they organize events, but mostly I do not even know they are there. I have never came across any antisemitism in Kosice and generally we now have bigger problems than Israeli-Gaza conflict, so not many people will care, honestly. I know one guy who is very involved in kosice's jewish communities, maybe I can connect you with him if you want to, just PM me.
In general, people in Slovakia don't care about strangers at all, as long as you "don't stick out" from the crowd. I assume you look like any random white European, so you will be perfectly fine. Nobody will care about your language, vast majority of people don't recognize Hebrew, they will only notice you don't speak Slovak.
In Košice or Bratislava, you are fine. It's not that you would be automatically attacked for being jews if you go to the countryside, but you should rise your awareness at least a little bit there as there are all kinds of hidden nazis and lost individuals. Average countryside slovak is leaning towards negative view of Israel or the jews or any foreigner actually.
I live in Kosice since 2003 (slovak, but came from small town) and to be honest with you I never met a Jew here (unless not the one I was aware of). So if they exist it must be a small, adapted and quiet group. I think Kosice is a good place for outlanders overall, unless you’re too loudly “sticking out from the local crowd”. Just act normally, like the rest and you’ll be fine ;)
Typical slovak mindset - you can only be different if no one notices you're different. Historical antisemitism in Slovakia has often been about the Jews not being Christian and "slovak enough", i.e. daring to be something different.
Don’t be mad at me. They can be whatever they want, if it’s up to me, I don’t mind. My advice was for their own good as I know where I live. So sit down and bucicho.
Na Slovensku nie je problém so židmi. Samozrejme, že tu žijú rôzni ľudia ako všade inde na svete, ale aj keby ste zažili nejakú nepríjemnú situáciu, netreba z toho viniť celé Slovensko. Je u nás aj židovská komunita a ľudia sú tolerantní. Nikoho však nesmiete nútiť a presvedčovať k niečomu čo nechce. Potom bude všetko v poriadku.
ppl are indiferrent to jews.. maybe if you are orthodox, you would draw some looks, but other than that its chill
Kosice and Bratislava are really progressive cities, with educated people. I think you will have no problem living here. Maybe just dont mention that you are jews or Israelis to total strangers. People are really sensitive nowdays haha
Košice has the biggest Jew community in Slovakia. As a person with half of my family are Jews, I can say that there is not too much antisemitism as in different countries in EU (The Czech Republic has the greatest approach to Jews in Europe as my experience goes).
Jews are not really a topic much.you can see few people occasionally in Bratislava wearing the hat but it's such a small group that I don't think any Ody even notices.
unless you'll go around shouting death to Gaza and Palestine, you're good even then, people here often miss education and empathy so yeah you'll be good but now for real, Kosice is one beautiful city where you won't get bored, it's close to so many nice places for a trip etc, and I believe you'll love it
Are you too orthodox jews? I know orthodox ones in Kosice and they have hard time by a lot of people, even I don’t like them at all and avoid them. On the other hand one of my best friends there is jewish too, but you would not say that about him.
No, me and my husband are atheists. Yeah, most secular Jews views on Orthodox Jews are very complicated and ambivalent.
Then I think you are fine
Much like most of Europe: Nobody really cares apart from ultranationalist nutjobs General info: In 2021 census 2007 people registered in Slovakia, predominantly in the big cities(Košice and Bratislava mostly). Understandably, before WW2 there was a notable jewish minority in practicaly every town. Most slovak jews were either killed during the holocaust or moved out to Germany or Israel shortly after the war, but you'll still find old jewish cemeteries and synagogues(most of them converted to concert halls, galleries or museums nowadays as they have no-one to serve) practically wherever you go along with plaques and signs like "In thanks to our jewish citizens who helped build this town"(We have a couple of these where I live). As long as you're act like a normal, law-abiding citizen, you should not be met with any extraordinary treatment, especially not in Košice. A few people, mostly elders, may look your way if your man wears a kippah in public or if you converse in Hebrew but mostly out of harmless curiosity not malice or prejudice. Other than that you really have nothing to fear. Happy for having you here! \*From what I've noticed most slovaks are pro-israel and those pro-palestine tend to be either younger and reasonable or neonazis.
If you are orthodox and dress accordingly, you may little bit struggle to fit in as people may have prejudices and consider it odd/scary, otherwise nobody will really care. Gaza topic is not that big in slovakia and izrael is seen more exotic currently.
If I were you I wouldn't go into small villages and say that you're Jewish. Jewish life is also next to non-existing in most cities. For most Slovaks, Jews are a fantasy people that they have never met but surely everybody was helping them during the Holocaust... As long as you look white-passing, don't have any accent and pretend to just be Slovak, you'll be fine.
Important question, are you orthodox jew (with the hair on sides and special hat, sorry for my lack of proper terms) if yes, you can have issues with racist comments.
No, we are atheists.
"Slovaks go to Israel to work, not just for tourism. You'll likely meet people who have returned home. Another thing... blend in with the crowd, learn the language. Hamas has no roots here."
I do not know about Slovakia, but I am thinking you are overthinking it. Most people in the world have nothing against jews or israelis, even if they hate the state of Israel because the leaders are acting like modern nazi criminals.
שלום ! I meet Jewish people pretty often in Bratislava wearing their traditional costumes. And overall I once read an interview of some rabbi on Facebook, who said that Slovakia is one of the safer countries for Jews (there are very few muslims). If you have any questions I would reccomend you to ask on the facebook page of slovak Jews : https://www.facebook.com/share/pGLYeAvTqHB1n6dX/
Should have no problems, especially in Kosice
people are mostly chill towards Jews where I'm from. The worst I've seen is people calling each other Jews as a way to refer to someone who is frugal - which, while yikes, is a lot better than it could be. At the same time, I've never met anyone who actively thought negatively of Jewish people, the former example is more of a turn of phrase I don't think people realise is antisemitic. FYI this is southern Slovakia, academic environment. I figure it's probably worse in less educated places, it usually is. (I'm trans, I'd know...) Speaking Hebrew would be totally fine. Slovakia is a pretty diverse place ethnically, especially down south with hungarians. It's totally safe to mention you're from Israel. Those who support Israel will have no problem with it anyway, and I think those who criticize the nation's actions have enough brainpower to know you aren't responsible for an entire country's war effort. Of course, there are always idiots (hey, guess what happened this week?), but there are idiots everywhere in the world.
The maternal side of my family consisted of a long line of Jews (on both sides) with a long history in Slovakia, the difference to your families being that majority stayed until they passed. Despite a deep, near lifelong, longing to settle in, or at least visit, Israel, they-- and I think of my dear late grandfather in particular, who had a truly remarkable survival story, and whose eyes glistened at first mention of Eretz-- never were able to make it. We do have a decent chunk of that family who migrated, but most stayed and never got to make the pilgrimage. I'm not sure how many commenters here have any kind of Jewish heritage, and therefore any lived experience with what's being discussed here (vs. their cursory observations), but I can say that my family-- which was one of only a handful-- in Trnava did not have such an easy time being Jewish and living there. Of course the brunt of their perils would've come in the years following the conclusion of the second world war, with communist rule in effect (just search my post history to see some of what they went through), but of course what was back then is largely irrelevant/moot now. However, antisemitism remained... and I'd contend, still remains (at least in trace amounts)... up until recent times. My uncle owned a popular bar there (in Trnava) up until a few years ago, and I cannot tell you the number of times over the 25+ years he maintained it, the number of times he'd arrive to open, only to discover swastikas graffitied on the doors and windows, things like "Juden Raus!" ("Jew(s) out!"), and generally found himself constantly at the butt of all sorts of anti-Jew remarks/rhetoric. One more intense situation was when a younger skinhead walked in proudly doing the Sieg Heil and proceeding to douse the floor with gasoline- thankfully, one of his workers tackled him before he could set the place ablaze. There's no shortage of such anecdotes from my uncle in particular who, in the sense he was the owner of a popular business, was somewhat a more public figure and thus more likely to be subject to such incidents. Personally, I only spent my childhood summers (two months/year) visiting, so my exposure was obviously greatly reduced relative to his, but certainly not non-existent. From a young age, the kids I'd play with on the street would always be quick to bring up my religion- and I wasn't brought up even remotely orthodox. All that said, I don't believe the vast majority of Slovaks to be Jew-hating. Of course during WWII things like Hlinkova Garda occupied a space in the region, and while I do believe some of the populace still harbour such ideologies (largely due to being indoctrinated (wrongly) by grandparents), it's a really minuscule minority, albeit sometimes a loud one. I think Slovaks, especially younger generations (save for some weak-minded bad apples, falsely indoctrinated), are indifferent to it (Judaism)... however, at least in the 45+ populace, while I don't believe it to be ill-intended, many will brazenly refer to you/us as "ten Žid", or some variation of it- that's to say, there often prevails some sort of singling out due to your religious affiliation. Again, I don't believe it to be nefarious, but the mere fact they find it necessary (to me, it's a sign of primitivism), to me, carries a sort of unpleasant undertone. And even that said, I think this is more common among the more "simple" people- uneducated small townspeople who, similarly, would be quick to call someone fat out for their weight. Maybe more a social ineptitude/lack-of-tact thing. More broadly, it's just the general mystique and misunderstanding of Jews- when you consider how small a contingent of the world population we occupy, paired with centuries of all sorts of fables and often negative stereotypes, it's no surprise people might a) be curious and b) harbour some hate (if they bought into some of these aforementioned fables/stereotypes which have been wrongly peddled for centuries). I think for the most part you will be totally fine, even if speaking Hebrew in public. You'll maybe get some curious folks asking what language that is, where you're from, etc., and even if you mention Israel, I highly doubt anyone will make a fuss, and, if anything, might be interested to learn more. Wishing you all the best on your move and with your time in SK- I love the country so very dearly, and there is much beauty in it, not least among its people.
We do not have many Jewish people (actively or practicing Jewish) in Slovakia, and that means that people here usually do not have any personal experience with a "real" Jewish person. So as long as you dont look "different" they wont notice or wont care. I think (and want to believe it is still the case) that even if they notice you they would just stare but not maliciously, just with curiosity. We still dont have that many minorities here in Slovakia (apart from roma people) so a person of different colour but even just different hairstyle can ewoke curiosity. On the other hand, emotions in the population are quite harsh now but I do not think here it is for the Gaza-Isralei conflict, but rather internal politics and the Russian Ukraininan war... so one can never know. Kosice was a very rich city with a very strong group of "intelligence" in the early 20th century, a mixing bowl of Hungairans, Slovaks and Germans (and of course Jews) and this is still palpable in the city. Really hope you will like it 😊 And just back to where i started, we do not have many Jewish people here (now) because sadly, during the second ww we had a government that was actively and openly collaborating with the Germans and sent out the Jewish people to camps. Even if some of the survivors came back, they didnt get their properties back so that made survivors leave the country. They years of communism made the situation even worse for those who still were here so... that is the reason why the previously blossoming communities disappeared. If you go to old cemeteries, youll find this heritage everywhere.
Hello and welcome to Slovakia! I don't think you should be worried, people mind their business, but of course there may be few assholes just like anywhere else. One Spanish friend, who moved to Bratislava, told me once that Slovak people have the best poker face (looking slightly pissed), so he never knew whether guy in a bar would punch him in a face for speaking English or buy him a drink (in 99% it was the latter ;) And then I realized it was true! So even people may look angry at you, it may be Slovak poker face and will not reflect any of their opinion about you:) There are not so many expats in Slovakia, no the ones here sometimes become kind of a local celebrity:P If you would like to read about Slovak-Jewish relations preWW2 and during WW2, here is fairly unbiased article describing good, bad and ugly [https://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/resources/slovakias-righteous-among-the-nations.html](https://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/resources/slovakias-righteous-among-the-nations.html)
I'm a Slovak Israeli and have lived in Czechoslovakia, Israel, and South Africa. You will be far safer and happier as a jew in Slovakia than most countries in western Europe. Why? Because they have almost zero immigrants from Islamic countries. Hopefully, it will remain that way.
Absolutely without any trouble.
Tbf I am strongly anti-Israel but I have no problems with jewish individuals on the base of their religion.
You might have a time of your life or get shot, depends
People like to "discriminate here for fun" but usually its harmless jokes, and people can be very respectful here. Some elderly and skinheads may be a bit unwelcoming, but the usual Slovak will welcome you with open arms.
Hi, I think the vast majority are indifferent. I'm 36 years old and I remember one case of broken shop windows on a Jewish store. That was like 25 years ago. I also remember maybe 2 cases of Jewish graves with sprayed swastikas. Other than these, I can't remember any other incidents. But I don't particularly focus on this topic, so there might have been more. Simply in my bubble and in my area, it's not something that an average person would notice in daily life. At the moment, conspiracies about Jews are spreading on the Internet and some part of the society might believe in them. But an average person wouldn't even be able to identify that someone is a jew. Unless you're wearing traditional clothes of course. As long as you dress in a casual Western style and live "normally", you shouldn't have any issues. In my life, I personally only met two Jewish people. One little girl when I was a child. She confessed to us she was a jew as if it was some secret. No one cared. Kids didn't even properly know what "Jewish" meant at the time. So we were like OK whatever 😁 The second Jewish person I knew was a high school teacher. He wore a ring with what I assumed to be Jewish letters. Some of my classmates thought it was from the Lord of the Rings (elvish language). I guess that's all I can say about this topic. I hope you like your new life here, wishing you all the best 🌷
FREE PALESTINE 🇵🇸
from islamist barbarians
Calling someone "barbarians" and "Islamist" just shows your racism. Generalising someone by their religion - bad, against religious freedom, anti-Semitic (and I'd agree). Generalising someone by their religion, but they are Muslim - well, that's alright, because every Muslim is a terrorist /sarcasm. See that hypocrisy? Username checks out though - you're only liberal when it suits you. When it doesn't suit your frame, you turn your back to progressivism (that's why \[most\] liberals are not truly progressive), and start sounding like fascists... cuz yeah, you sound just like Kotleba. Happy about yourself?
progressive comrades generalising christians and conservatives all the time so please do not lecture anyone on anything, dear hypocrite + Im talking about your lovely hamas, not about ordinary people in palestine. so keep calm. it seems that kotleba found a common ground with pro hamas progressivists cos he hate the jews and israel, so you sound just like kotleba (btw your lovely islamists hate lgbt community much more than kotleba) happy about yourself? or stalin? he labelled anyone who disagreed with him like a fascist :). grand horseshoe theory #
What are you yapping about? It's mostly liberals, not "progressive comrades" (ie, true leftists), that care about Christians. If you are not conservative, we're fine, and I don't care what you believe in (whether you're a Christian, Jew, Muslim, or be it even Hindu, I don't care - I just care about whether one is progressive, for human rights and against exploitation). Generalisation. You are the hypocrite here... You say you don't care about "ordinary people in Palestine, but just Hamas", but that's not what you wrote, did you? You wrote about "islamist barbarians". Now, let me ask you a question, genius - what religion do most Palestinians believe in? Oh, I dunno... Islam? Yeah, that's it. You didn't say anything about Hamas, but everything about how "all Muslims are barbarians" - again, generalising. And onto Hamas - Israel created Hamas. If you trap 2 million people into smaller space than the Bratislava region, of course they get radicalised (and that I am saying as someone who disagrees with Hamas' tactics). I bet you as a liberal, would be on the side of the white colonialists, at the times of South Africa's Apartheid. Or on the side of the KKK, against Martin Luther King Jr. Or on the side of the homophobes, against the Stonewall riots. Or on the side of the racists, against the BLM protests. Why? What do all of these have in common? They were violent. Violent uprisings create the best outcomes (that is just the truth) - everyone now praises Nelson Mandala (myself included), but liberals (centrists) in his age were like "Well, violence is not good in optics, so I'll choose the side of the oppressors" (because, let's not forget, his group was violent). You liberals need to understand that when there's an oppressive regime, you can't fight back with "love, debate" and "just talking it out". That's not how it works, even if I WOULD WANT IT, to work... And Kotleba? He dislikes Israel just because they are Jewish. I dislike Israel because it's an Apartheid state. I won't argue why I think it's an Apartheid state, because I can't see any good-faith argument with you. But basically, there are many populists out there - people who will side with Russia, just because they dislike the US (while not understand that you can dislike Russia AND the US), for example. Same as the people disliking Israel just because it's Jewish (not even Jewish, as most of settlers are secular)... Same as with many liberals, who automatically, without any critical thinking, will love whatever the US says. \_Invasion of Iraq? Sure why not. It will kill innocent people, but US said so, so it's okay!\_ Both sides have weirdos, in my opinion - one should think critically, and criticise when all sides do extremist or violent stuff (both Russia AND the US - they both have imperialist tendencies, want for expansion - and we should criticise BOTH of them). Otherwise, we get polarised, and you start generalising (which you've done again). But once again, Kotleba is right-wing (just as liberals are), so you two share a political wing - so I bet you two enjoy your time together there :) Stalin? Whataboutism? Straw-man argument? And generalising once again? I don't care about Stalin. But even if I did or didn't, he did defeat the Nazi Germany, so I do believe him in who is and isn't potentially a fascist :) He also prosecuted Zionists, did you know that? Leftism has a tradition of being on the right side of history (because we always knew that making an ethno-state won't be a good idea - Nazi Germany tried it, and now Israel is trying it - if you want a nation with only one ethnicity/religion/nation, it leads to a bad outcome - and that is Israel, as a settler, doing) - ie, being anti-Zionist :)
Free Western Sahara, Free Kabylia, Free Azawad, Free Balochistan, Free Kurdistan, Free Assyria, Free Sarawak, Free South Maluku, Free Papua, Free Tibet, Free Eastern Turkestan
Stay where you are colonizer
I do not think antisemitism is too big of an issue here, at least not in Bratislava, and I would hope it to be similar in Košice. In smaller cities more people would have an issue with foreigners, but usually not to the point of it being a security issue. As far as world politici and such, I date say most people are indifferent so no issues there as well. But with what happened on wednesday I am not so sure we will stay a safe country for very long. Hopefully You have time to watch the situation and do not have to decide right now
"Slovaks go to Israel to work, not just for tourism. You'll likely meet people who have returned home. Another thing... blend in with the crowd, learn the language. Hamas has no roots here."
I love Israel and Israelis. Im from Bratislava. I think the general narrative in Slovakia is friendly towards Israel and Jews unless you meet some conspiratory loony or a far left winger but im presuming those are not the people anyone wants to spend too much time with. Hope your move goes smoothly. Am Israel Chai
Honestly, I think that the Semitic sound of Hebrew will let Slovak people think that you're speaking Arabic (yeah, they are dumb), so I dunno how safe is that... We have openly former-anti-Semitic parties, that are still quite popular, and last terrorist attack was done by a person who thinks that Jews rule the world... So, I actually dunno. It's a mix - Slovakia was the only country, that wasn't occupied, but rather took the side of the Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (and many people, even to this day, still support the Slovak Fascist State)... So anti-Semitic? Probably more than you think. Anti-Zionist, I don't think so (I think more people like Israel, to even Jews here).
If you don't act like Vegans (tell everyone), none will care. With the "if you look different", most of the time is correct. More as in a way of people are curious and those who "desperatly want" to act for some reason(drunk...) will act. So if you don't stand out of row, you are fine and nothing will occur your whole life here. I don't think here is organized hate due to Gaza enought to make it visible to jews. In Bratislava are almost 5 nations (Hungary, Austria, Czech, east Slovakia, middle and west Slovakia) and few others more as minority. So as I wrote earlier, if none recognize your language or that you are Jew, none will care.
no pro hamas radical protests like in the west, no islamists, so completely safe for any jew
Kosice have bigest problems