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This project seeks to collect all of the Jewish families from the town of Bánovce nad Bebravou (Bánovce nad Bebravou), Slovakia also known as Bánovce nad Bebravou [Slov], Baán [Hun], Banowitz [Ger], Bán, Bánovce, Banovitz, Banowetz.
JewishGen-Bánovce nad Bebravou (Bánovce nad Bebravou)
Family Search-Bánovce nad Bebravou (Bánovce nad Bebravou)
Information courtesy of various sources, including the following:
https://dbs.bh.org.il/place/banovce
BANOVCE NAD BEBRAVOU
(IN HUNGARIAN BAN)
A SMALL TOWN IN WEST SLOVAKIA.
BANOVCE ON THE RIVER BE BRAVA IS SITUATED ON A RAILWAY LINE NEAR THE TOWNS OF NITRA AND TRENCIN. AROUND THE TOWN THERE ARE WOOD INDUSTRIES AND LACEWORK WORTKSHOPS.
THE ARE WAS FIRST PART OF THE “GREAT MORAVIAN EMPIRE”, AND LATER WAS OCCUPIED BY THE HUNGARIANS. DURING THE PERIOD 1526-1918 BANOVCE BELONGED TO THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE AND AFTER THAT TO THE REPUBLIC OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA.
JEWS ARRIVED AT THE AREA ALREADY IN THE 1ST CENTURY WITH THE ROMAN LEGIONS AND IT SEEMS THAT JEWISH MERCHANTS HAD BEEN THERE EVER SINCE. JEWS WHO ESCAPED FROM VIENNA TO SOUTH BOHEMIA IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 15TH CENTURY FOUND REFUGE IN THE AREA OF TRENCIN. SOME OF THEM SETTLED DOWN AT BANOVCE, WHICH WAS THEN CALLED TRENCEN-BAN.
A JEWISH COMMUNITY BEGAN TO BE ORGANISED AT THE PLACE APPARENTLY IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE 19TH CENTURY. IT WAS THEN HEADED BY RABBI NATHANIEL EMERICH AND AFTER HIM BY HIS SON WOLF EMERICH. IN 1822 THEY STARTED KEEPING A REGULAR RECORD OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS OF JEWS IN THE TOWN AND ITS SURROUNDINGS.
IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY, WHEN BANOVCE WAS JOINED TO THE RAILWAY SYSTEM, THE PLACE BEGAN TO DEVELOP AND THE TOWN ABSORBED JEWS FROM THE NEIGHBOURHOOD, PARTICULARLY FROM OZOROVCE.
THE COMMUNITY BELONGED TO THE ORTHODOX STREAM (WHICH OPPOSED ANY CHANGE IN THE HALAKHA). IT HAD A CEMETERY, A SYNAGOGUE, A MIKVEH, A HOME FOR THE AGED, A HEVRAH KADDISHA, A WOMEN’S SOCIETY AND A DAUGHTER’S SOCIETY. FOR A SHORT TIME THERE WAS ALSO A JEWISH SCHOOL AND WHEN IT WAS CLOSED DOWN THE CXHILDREN ATTENDED THE GENERAL SCHOOL AND CONTINUED THEIR STUDIES AT A GYMNASIUM. RELIGIOUS TEACHINGS WERE CONDUCTED BY THE RABBI. JEWS WERE NOT ACCEPTED AT THE LOCAL TEACHER’S SEMINAR, WHICH WAS MANAGED BY CATHOLICS.
THE HEADS OF THE COMMUNITY BETWEEN THE TWO WOLRD WARS WERE: ERNEST MUNK, THE PRESIDENT, MORITZ REICH, THE RABBI, AND ISIDOR WEINSTEIN, THE SECRETARY. THE COMMUNITY ALSO ENGAGED CANTORS.
JEWISH MERCHANTS AND MIDDLEMEN WERE ACTIVE IN THE AREA ALREADY IN THE ROMAN PERIOD. THEY ARE AGAIN MENTIONED IN RECORDS OF THE YEARS 1903-1907. THE EWS TRADE MAINLY IN FURS AND KEPT COMMERCIAL CONNECTIONS WITH ANTWERP, VENICE AND COUNTRIES IN THE EAST.
FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE 19TH CENTURY JEWS INTEGRATED IN ALL FIELDS OF THE ECONOMY. SOME OF THEM BECAME NOTABLE MERCHANTS. AMONG THE MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY WERE HOTEL OWNERS, TWO PHYSICIANS AND TWO LAWYERS. THE JEWISH SHOPS WERE ALL LOCATED AROUND THE CENTRAL SQUARE OF THE TOWN. MOST OF THE JEWS WERE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS, SOME WERE POOR. IN THE 1930’S TWO JEWS, BURG AND THE PRESIDENT MUNK, ESTABLISHED A FACTORY.
THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE JEWISH COMMUNITY AND THE NON-JEWISH INHABITANTS WERE AMICABLE AND AT THE TIME OF THE REPUBLIC OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA, BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS, THE JEWS ENJOYED A NATIONAL- CULTURAL AUTONOMY. FROM THE 1920’S THE YOUTH WERE ORGANISED IN ZIONIST YOUTH MOVEMENTS: “HASHOMER KADIMAH” (LATER “HASHOMER HAZAIR” , “MACCABI”, AND “BENEI AKIVA”. THE ZIONISTS, HEADED BY ISIDOR WEINSTEIN, SET UP IN THE TOWN A LIBRARY, A CLUB, AND A SPORT EXERCISE HALL.
IN 1926, PRIOR TO THE 15TH ZIONIST CONGRESS, THE JEWS OF BANOVCE ACQUIRED 250 SHEKELS (VOTING AND MEMBERSHIP RIGHTS), AND CONTINUED TO ACQUIRE THEM ALSO IN FOLLOWING YEARS. IN 1937 127 MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY TOOK PART IN THE ELCTIONS TO THE 20TH ZIONIST CONGRESS AND ONE OF THEM WAS ELECTED TO THE LEADERSHIP OF THE GENERAL ZIONISTS. A TRAINING FARM FOR ALYJAH WAS SET UP AT BANOVCE IN 1938 AND MANY OF ITS TRAINEES ACTUALLY EMIGRATED TO ERETZ ISRAEL.
IN 1930 ABOUT 500 JEWS WERE LIVING AT BRANOVCE NAD BEBRAVOU.
THE HOLOCAUST PERIOD
FOLLOWING THE MUNICH AGREEMENT (SEPTEMBER 1938), ABOUT A YEAR BEFORE WORLD WAR II BROKE OUT, THE REPUBLIC OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA WAS DISMEMBERED AND SLOVAKIA BECAME INDEPENDENT, A SATELLITE OF THE GERMAN 3RD REICH.
THE JEWS WERE GRADUALLY REMOVED FROM THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC LIFE OF THE COUNTRY. MANY OF THEM WERE TAKEN TO LABOUR CAMPS, WHICH WERE SET UP AT SERED AND NOVAKI, WHERE THEY WORKED FOR THE AUTHORITIES. AT THE END OF 1940 THERE WERE STILL SOME 500 JEWS AT THE TOWN.
BETWEEN MARCH AND OCTOBER 1942 SLOVAKIA TURNED MOST OF THE JEWS INTO THE HANDS OF THE GERMANS IN POLAND., WHERE MOST OF THEM WERE MURDERED IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS AND EXTERMINATION CAMPS. A PLEA OF THE JEWS OF BANOVCE ADDRESSED TO PRESIDENT JOSEPH TISO TO EXEMPT RABBI REICH FROM EXPULSION, WAS DECLINED. THE RABBI WAS TAKEN TO A LORRY, FROM WHICH HE BLESSED HIS CONGREGATION, AND THEN STARTED ON HIS LAST JOURNEY. AFTER OCTOBER 1942 ONLY A FEW JEWS , WHOSE WORK WAS VITAL TO THE AUTHORITIES, REMAINED AT BANOVCE.
IN THE SUMMER OF 1942, WHEN THE GERMANS INVADED SLOVAKIA IN ORDER TO SUPPRESS AN ATTEMPTED RISING AGAINST THE FASCIST REGIME, THE JEWS WHO WERE THEN STILL IN THE AREA, ESCAPED TO THE WOODS. MOST OF THEM WERE CAUGHT BY THE GERMANS, MURDERED AND BURIED IN A MASS GRAVE AT BANOVCE.
AFTER THE WAR, ONLY 45 JEWS OF THE TOWN AND THE NEIGHBOURHOOD SURVIVED. MOST OF THEM EMIGRATED IN THE LATE 1940’S TO ERETZ ISRAEL OR TO COUNTRIES OVERSEAS. IN 1990 THREE JEWISH FAMILIES WERE LIVING AT BANOVCE. THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS OF THE COMMUNITY WERE DESOLATE AND ONLY ABOUT A THIRD OF THE TOMBSTONES AT THE JEWISH CEMETERY WERE STILL INTACT.
Official text written by Researchers of The Museum of The Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot
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http://iajgscemetery.org/eastern-europe/slovakia/banovce-nad-bebravou
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A1novce_nad_Bebravou
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http://www.slovak-jewish-heritage.org/database/database.php?Monumen...
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https://forebears.io/slovakia/tren%C4%8D%C3%ADn-region/b%C3%A1novce...