Elsa and Esther

I am born in 1931, in the little village of Lula close to Levice, a village that is nowadays not even on the map. We lead a beautiful life. We were poor, but happy. The whole village knew we were jewish, but everybody was the same, we studied together, played together. For me the war started at may 8th 1944, the day the millitaries came to get us. The whole village cried and prayed for us when they deported our family first to a ghetto and later to Auschwitz. Nine months I worked in a munition factory. Often I do wonder how I survived. I think it was God’s will, being a thirteen year old girl in a concentrationcamp. But, I was a tough one, big like I am now and strong. When we were freed and I stood on my uncle’s doorstep weighing 34 kilo’s, he didn’t recognise me. But I was alive.

In 1948 I went to Israël. I said to Slovakia and my friends and family Shalom! Dovidenia! To help build Israël and live in Kibbutz. I met my husband through my uncle. He had told this slovak young man: if you see her, you will want to marry her. Well, we met in october, we were married in april. And so our life really begun. Esther was born in a village, but we moved to Jerusalem when a nearby house exploded and this family got killed.

Sixteen years ago I went back to Lula.This time I stood on the doorstep of my old neighbours, I left as a young girl and returned as an old Baba. But I will never forget how they cried out “Jésis Mária, Elsa Braun, you with the long hair from the village shop!” We kissed and cried, and were welcomed with open arms. It was wonderfull, but I never thought about coming back to Slovakia. What I lost in Slovakia, I could never get back. I had a good life there, but my life is in Israël.

Now my daughter Esther opened her exhibition of papercutting yesterday in the Jewish Museum. The first time there has ever been an exhibition of paper in Slovakia. I feel like she is giving back something of the jewish culture to the country.

Family Meyers

Our goal is to bring back the joy and freedom in experiencing to be jewish in Slovakia. The older generation lived in absolute fear of what they were during fascism and communism. Now they are just afraid. Sometimes if the small children from our kindergarden wear their ‘kippah’ outside, the older people are shocked. But the only way not to live in fear and get accepted is to be open. Teach your neighbours that it is a normal thing to be jewish. It is a blessing that there is a new generation that can learn in freedom. Of the approximately. 500 jewish people in Bratislava, 200 are born after 1994, so there is a lot of work to do!

Chanie Meyers is the wife of Rabbi Meyers, they came from New York 13 years ago to Bratislava, where they live with 9 of their 10 children. They started the jewish kindergarden, educational, religious and cultural events and try to improve the jewish life by doing so.

Rut and Aaron

Last week my son Aaron came to me with a problem. Mommy, what am I? Am I black, Slovak or jew? We had a long talk about how your identity doesn’t have to be one single thing. I don’t believe your identity stops with the color of your skin or the religion you have. Next month I will adopt a little Roma boy, his name is funny enough also Aaron, but he has blue eyes and blond hair. It is difficult being a jew in Slovakia. I am a single mother and I am trying to live a kosher life. But buying kosher food is almost impossible in Slovakia, in Austria it is too expensive. I try to find my own way within the jewish way of life, one that is workable for me. The most knowledge I get from my son, when he comes back with the lessons at the jewish kindergarden.

Dominika

Dominika

If it were for us, the Palestina-Israel conflict would not exist. Ma'moun fell in love with me when he saw me bellydancing, he looked four months for my number. I feel that hisPalestinian-muslim culture is closer to my jewish culture. Sometimes he jokes that if there were more jewish boys in Slovakia, I would not have fallen for him.

I was sixteen when I found out that I am jewish. My family has always been trying to hide this. My father and his brother are baptised, just to protect them. Since I know I am jewish, I have been exploring this part of my cultural identity alone, my family is too used to hide it. For me it is part of my identity. I am not going to pretend I am not.

Kindergarden

In the Chabad kindergarden, the children are tought that it is allright and fun to be jewish. Every friday the children bake special shabbes bread and a girl plays the shabbes mother, lights the candle and says prayers.


Family/Rodina

Family gives you the first social structure in your life, and it is where a great deal of your identity takes shape. The food you like, the colour of your eyes, the jokes you tell, the holidays you celebrate and the religion you practice.
If you are born in a jewish family you are also given something extra; a jewish identity. According to the jewish law you can only be jewish if you are born out of a jewish mother, so being jewish is not something you can become, but something you are.

Many of the jewish people I spoke with, are struggling with the difficulty of being jewish in Slovakia. Six year old Aron asking his mother “Mommy, what am I? Black, Slovak or jewish?”, Dominika is exploring her jewish identity alone, without her family. Her Palestinian muslim boyfriend jokes that if there were more Slovak jewish boys, she would not be in love with him. As a Dutch girl, I am shocked to see that many people are so afraid of being openly jewish here. It was very difficult to find people that wanted to be photographed for this project. But it was Chamie Meyers, the wife of the Rabbi, who gave me the inspiration to do this project. She said: The only way not to live in fear and get accepted is to be open. Teach your neighbours that it is a normal thing to be jewish!
And that is exactly what I try to do with these photographs: I show you normal families.

Rabbi Stiefel

Lev and his wife Bina came from the US to live in Bratislava about 1,5 years ago. Now Slovakia has two Rabbi's, both of them from the US. Rabbi Stiefel concentrates on young jewish people. he organises lessons, barbeque's and he travels often to Kosice to help with organising religious and cultural events. Their son is born in Slovakia.