Our ancestors lived in Slovakia for centuries.

High mountains and long winters made life difficult but it was our home.

We received both secular &

religious education

At home we received Jewish education but were raised in a democratic spirit of respecting other opinions & views, variety of secular cultures and also different religions & beliefs.

Between 1918 and 1938 our Czechoslovak government wasdemocratic and its laws pursuit mutual tolerance

and democracy. We Jews were fully respected citizens having both equal human

&legal rights as any other citizens. We lived in peace and relative harmony next to each other.

In spite of common anti-Semitism, most people respected each other’s religious faiths & practiced their own traditions

and customs without any serious conflicts with the others.For centuries, neither Czech nor Slovak Jews had experienced

violent and often deadly pogroms as they had occurred almost regularly in neighboring Poland ,

Ukraine and Russia .

We all believed in the coming of Messiah.Some expected Him co come first time

or return the 2nd time

In early 1938, Czechoslovakia was still safe for us

even if many refugees were warning us of approaching danger from anti-Semitic events in neighboring Nazi Germany.

Uncertainty about our future was growing

but nobody could answer our worries.

It made us feel shaky like the “Fiddler on the hoof.”

Fear

Jews were known as literate and hard working people who were peaceful, unarmed and harmless. Helpless and confused, suddenly they found themselves surrounded by violent gangs directed by the government.

In Slovakia we Jews found ourselves trapped among violent

beasts with no easy way to escape

Robbed of our property and jobs, we were starving and constantly exposed to

false accusations, humiliation, daily arrests, harassment, looting and

threats.

The civilized world abroad abandoned the Jews of Europe

and refused to help us. It included the USA State dept.,

British government & others. We became sad and desperate.

One of many terrible nights of terror filled with violence,

broken glass windows ,anti-Semitic propaganda and threats.

Deceived Jews were promised to be“ resettled”.

Self-governed areas“ somewhere in the East” waited for them .

Frequent deportations were carried out orderly

and mostly without major resistance.

Shout or remain silent?

Each of us had to make the decision to become either passive & die,

revolt & become short-lived heroes or try to survive in order to

become witnesses of genocide & preserve it for history & posterity.

Many of us became desperate

Established in Slovakia for centuries ,the Jewish communities kept silently vanishing.

Exemptions for our family started running out as we were to join the last group of deported Jews .

Those unable to endure such harsh conditions joined the MARCH TO

ETERNITY

Even Prophetsamong us cried

Only after the war we learned details about the real destination and fate of our deported relatives.

All we could was remembering them with love and sadness.

Vanished in the flames of the Holocaust.

We mourned and lamented our losses

End of a

family

Each of the six million Jewish victims

had a face and a name. There were

1.5 million children among them.

KaddishKaddish is a Jewish prayer to praise G-d

to honor memory of the dead. It includes Jewish Martyrs murdered

during the 12 years of Nazi rule of Europe and particularly during the Holocaust because they

were singled out for annihilation for the only reason to be born into Jewish families

or for choosing to become Jewish by conversion . Religious denomination or

social status did not make a difference.

Bitter memories turned into art

Memories became

nightmares

In the year of 2006 a large painting of Jeremy Hoffeld depicting deportations of Jews

(with a Holocaust survivor Tibor Spitz in front) was exhibited at the group exhibition in Woodstock, NY.

Hebrew text from the Passover

Haggadah story reads:

“In every generation our

enemies wanted to

destroy us but God always

saved us… ”

Today is the International Holocaust Memorial Day

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

All shown art pieces and paintingshave been created by the

artist and witness

Tibor SpitzThe text was written by Tibor Spitz.Tibor Spitz sent me this valuable material

and his consent to make a series of presentations

about him as artist and witness of the Holocaust.