[Title page]

[Inside cover]

[Page i]

[Page ii]

[Pages iii-vii]

[Page vii]

This book was completed in the midst of Operation “Desert Storm,” which was brought upon us by Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi dictator who threatened to destroy the state of Israel. His troops launched destructive missile barrages at Israel that caused immense damage. May the words of the prophet Obadiah be fulfilled: “The day of the LORD (the day of calamity) is at hand against all nations (who tormented the Israelites). As you did, so shall it be done to you; your conduct shall be requited” (1:15).

The notes on the community of Sečovce were collected and written mostly in Hungarian by Nathan Asher Rotenberg in the sixties and seventies (1966-1974). Memories of the community's businessmen, rabbinate, and institutions were told by Menachem Katz, Kalman Lebenkopf, Yitzchak Ryder, and others who knew how to attract someone with great skill in writing. These distinguished ones who lived their lives in service of all life did not get to see the fruit of their pen— articles and individual essays.

The file of documents about Sečovce contained copies of correspondence and narrative material in the Holy Language and foreign languages, which was passed from hand to hand, calling out for someone to redeem them, until it reached my hands about three years ago. I am not a child of Sečovce, but I loved the community, in which I started my career as a teacher in the Jewish school in 1944. I loved the students, most of whom perished in the Holocaust. Since then, the connection has not been cut off. On the contrary, it became stronger when I was the chair of the Center of the Jewish Communities of Bratislava (1946-1949) and the president of the Organization of Expatriates of Czechoslovakia in Israel.

Due to this close acquaintance, I was asked by friends from Sečovce who were survivors of the Holocaust to take on this challenge: translate the essays, edit the material, and publish the expected book. With the grace of G-d and financial support, I can now bless the finished project. The book is finally published and will be told for generations to come. I must ask for forgiveness for any errors or shortcomings. Just as every light creates a shadow, so too every person who devotes themself to a cause sees what more is missing.

I must thank and bless everyone who helped me with this work, the generous people who provided assistance to carry out this task: Meir Wintner, Aharon Schwartz, and Yehuda Spiegel. Acknowledgements to my kind and grateful friend Naftali Rosenfeld, and the Center of Sečovce Expatriates, who provided me with information on the community and the martyrs of Sečovce.

Netanya, Purim 5751

[Page viii]

[Page 1]

In the years of the Second World War (1939-1945) Nazi forces exterminated six million Jews in Europe, and among them, about a million children. A holocaust like no other in human history. The martyrs were brutally killed and burned, and not brought to the Jewish cemetery. Most of them do not have a remnant left to remember them, to light their yahrzeit candle, or to say Kaddish in their memory. That is why the Chief Rabbinate of Israel established a “general day of Kaddish,” and the children of Israel all around the world, wherever they are, unite in the holy memory on the Memorial Day for the Holocaust and Heroism.

At the end of the war, many of the Holocaust survivors had the idea to immortalize the community and the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and their heroism, in order to fulfill the scripture: “Remember what Amalek did to you…blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!” (Deuteronomy 25:17-19). Indeed, since then thousands of books, pamphlets, journals, albums, testimonies, documents, diaries, and “Yizkor” Books have been published about Jewish communities which no longer exist.

And then expatriates of Sečovce in Israel, which organize a commemoration for the martyrs of the community every year, decided before the 25th anniversary (5726-1966) to publish a Yizkor Book. People of action, who knew how to attract someone with great skill in writing, began to realize their thoughts and started to turn their plans into action.

The Gemara in Masekhet Shabbat says that the sages taught: “'Who wrote Megillat Ta'anit?' This scroll was written by Hananya ben Hizkiya ben Garon and his sect, who held dear the memory of the troubles that befell Israel and their salvation from them. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: We also hold dear the memory of the troubles from which Israel was saved, but what can we do? If we came to write all the days of that kind, we would not manage to do so” (Shabbat 13b:4). Rashi asks: “hold dear the memory of the troubles?” He interprets this as meaning that since they were redeemed from the troubles, it's the miracles of redemption that were so dear to them. It is to remind them to praise the Holy One, they write about the days of miracles to make them days of celebration. End quote.

[Page 2]

When we come now after a period of decades to raise the memories from the abyss of oblivion we may reflect and carry on the words of the great Tanna Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel who responded with the question: “But what do we do, if for us writing is not enough?!”

So, many years have passed and we have not had enough time to write everything about the magnificent community that gained a reputation not only in eastern Slovakia but also beyond its borders. And in all this, if not now when? With the grace of G-d, the time of desire Has arrived, at the beginning of the year 5751— grant us a year of true victory— We have come to know that nothing stands in the way of our wishes. Distinguished people, the wise ancestors, who took it upon themselves to publish this book, in order to tell to our children's children from generation to generation.

“May this be written down for a coming generation, that people yet to be created may praise the LORD” (Psalms 102:19)

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