The first record of the Jewish community in Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, dates from 1251. Until the end of World War I, Bratislava (known as Pressburg or Pozsony through much of its history) was a multicultural city with a Hungarian and German majority and a Slovak and Jewish minority. In 1806 when the city was part of the Kingdom of Hungary, Rabbi Moses Sofer established the Pressburg Yeshiva and the city emerged as the center of Central European Jewry and a leading power in the opposition to the Reform movement in Judaism in Europe. Pressburg Yeshiva produced hundreds of future leaders of Austro-Hungarian Jewry who made major influence on the general traditional orthodox and future Charedi Judaism.
The Bratislava Jewish Community was the largest and most influential in Slovakia. In 1930, approximately 15,000 Jews lived in the city (total population was 120,000). Part of the community emigrated during the late 1930s and after the Second World War but despite organized efforts such as the Bratislava Working Group, the majority of Bratislava Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.
Today, Bratislava features the Heydukova Street Synagogue, Museum of Jewish Culture, Bratislava Jewish Community Museum, the Chatam Sofer Memorial, the Neolog cemetery and the Orthodox cemetery and many other Jewish landmarks and monuments. Bratislava Jewish Community comprises approximately 500 people and since 1993, the Chief Rabbi of Slovakia and Rabbi of Bratislava is Baruch Myers.
Early history
It is known that Jews were active as traders and liaisons between the Roman legions and Germanic tribes north of the river Danube. The area of today's Bratislava was at the crossroads of important trade routes and Jews passed through this area from the 1st century CE, although there are no records of them settling here. Jews started to migrate in larger numbers to Upper Hungary in the 11th century as first Jewish settlements appeared also in Bratislava. Bratislava Jews of this time had strong connections to the Jewish Community of Esztergom. The first Jewish religious community in Bratislava was founded in the late 13th century, as evidenced by the Menor Codex (Memorbuch) from Mainz. Sometime between 1250 and 1300, the Rabbi of Bratislava was Jonah (or Yonah).
Bratislava Jews always formed a compact community somewhat closed to the outside world. They were employed in finance, as merchants, craftsmen, artisans and even winemakers and they lived in the areas of today's Nedbalova Street, Františkánska Street, Zámočnícka Street and Baštová Street. A 1299 decree of Andrew II of Hungary granted to Bratislava's Jewish inhabitants rights equal with other citizens of the city. Jews became represented by a Jewish Mayor, elected from the ranks of Christian citizens by the King and since 1440 by the Bratislava City Council.
The existence of a synagogue in the city is attested by a 1335 decree of Pope Benedict XII which mentions a letter from the local Cistercian Order to the Archbishop of Esztergom asking him to have the Jewish temple demolished. It is one of the first written mentions of Jews living in the city. The Cistercian Cloister stood near the today's cloister on Uršulínska Street with the synagogue directly next to it. The Pope had the Archbishop investigate the situation and soon afterwards, the synagogue was demolished. A gothic entrance portal from this synagogue was uncovered in the 1990s, it is located in the courtyard of a building on Panská Street No. 11. The synagogue was rebuilt in 1339. In the 14th century there were several hundred Jews living in Bratislava and the city featured a synagogue, a Jewish cemetery, a mikveh and other public Jewish institutions.
In 1360, all Jews were expelled from Bratislava and their belongings were confiscated, part of the community found refuge in the town of Hainburg an der Donau. In 1367 or 1368 several Jewish families were permitted to return. In 1399 permission was granted for construction of a synagogue, probably at the place of the formerly destroyed one. At the end of the 14th century, there were approximately 800 Jews living in the city (total population of the city in 1435 was 5,000).