Slovak Archival Records Project

The objective of this umbrella project is to photograph, digitize and transcribe records from Slovak archives that have not been filmed by FamilySearch. These include census and vital records from the Slovak State Archives in Bratislava as well as regional branches and municipal archives in Slovakia.

The project began with the acquisition and indexing of images from Abauj-Torna, which were previously covered by the Abauj-Torna Records Project. Although the initial focus of the Slovak Archives project was on eastern Slovakia, where Abauj-Torna is located, it is our intention to expand the effort to include other parts of Slovakia as additional funds are raised.

The Slovak Republic now encompasses all or part of about 20 formerly Hungarian counties including Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County in northeastern Hungary, and the Kosicky region (kraj) of Slovakia. Jews first settled in what is now Slovakia in the 11th century. By the 14th century, about 800 Jews lived in Bratislava (formerly Pozsony or Pressburg, Hungary), the majority of them engaged in commerce and money lending. In the early 15th century, a Jewish cemetery was established in Tisinyecz, Makovicza, Saros (now Tisinec), which was in use until 1892. The Jewish community of the area increased significantly during the 17th and 18th centuries due to migration into the western part of the Hungarian kingdom from Moravia, Bohemia and Austria, and to the northeastern counties from Galicia following the Second Partition of Poland in 1793.

On the eve of World War II, the Jewish population of what is now Slovakia was about 135,000 including more than 15,000 Jews, comprising about 12 percent of the population, in Bratislava, now the capital of the Slovak Republic.

The territory of today's Slovakia comprised the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary until the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy after the First World War, when it became part of the new nation of Czechoslovakia. It remained part of Czechoslovakia until 1993, except for the years of the Second World War, when part of the area became a separate Slovak State under Nazi Germany and their Slovak sympathizers. Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, is the largest city with a population of 413,000 including about 800 Jews. There are about 2,300 Jews living in Slovakia today, primarily in Bratislava and Kosice, the nation’s second-largest city.

We have entered into a Work for Hire Agreement with Peter Absolon, a researcher in Kosice, to undertake digitization of records that he and other researchers have identified. The estimated cost for this component project is $5,000, which includes archive fees and the researcher’s time and expenses. The proposed agreement provides for payment at an hourly rate of €20, which includes archive fees. Travel costs, including mileage and parking, are separately invoiced.

Submitted by Vivian Kahn, JewishGen Hungarian Research Director, 23 January 2021.