The Blogs: The Enduring Spirit of Slovenia’s Small Jewish Community

Nestled on a small little pedestrian street, which was once a Jewish area of Ljubljana, is an old 2-story house, now under renovation that is the Jewish Community Center of Ljubljana (JCCL). Inside the JCCL is a Jewish cultural center, synagogue and Jewish Museum with a permanent exhibition of the Holocaust in Ljubljana. The head of the Jewish community, Robert Waltl, its director, was able to meet me to give me a guided tour and explain Slovenia’s Jewish history.

Robert is an interesting man with a colorful story and is certainly commendable for his dedication to maintaining the small, yet vibrant, Jewish community of Ljubljana. Robert’s great grandmother on his father’s side was Jewish from Austria. On his mother’s side, there too had sprinkles of Jewish heritage from Hungry. Judaism remained dormant in his life only until much later in his life did, he decide to go through the Jewish rituals for full conversion he did in Frankfurt including a Brit Mila!

During WWII, then under Yugoslavia, the Slovenian Jewish community was almost destroyed. In 1991 upon Slovenia’s independence, a new Jewish Community was established. In 2002, the JCCL turned a former tobacco factory into a synagogue. In 2013, the JCCL went bankrupt, and Robert agreed to move their operation to its current location. From 2014 to 2020, a synagogue operated alongside the JCCL. Today, a Rabbi from Luxembourg visits a few times a year, as does a cantor from Munich. Services are held irregularly for Shabbats and major holidays.

Today, the JCCL is based on three pillars: history through a museum tracing the history of Slovenian Jews from its beginnings to the Shoah, religion in its synagogue and its festival hall and finally culture with a place dedicated to workshops and exhibitions. In January, numerous events are held to remember the Shoah, including a public reading of the names of all Slovenian Holocaust victims. Robert continues to offer and expand activities to educate and memorialize Ljubljana’s Jewish history.

Before 2013, there was not a single memorial of Ljubljana’s Jewish history. Today there’s a memorial plaque on the site where the medieval Ljubljana synagogue once stood. In addition, there’ one memorial stone placed for 150 refugees from Croatia and 68 stone plaques honoring the victims of the Holocaust in Ljubljana, along with Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) installed in the communities of Lendava, Murska Sobota, Šalovci, and Maribor. Last year, a permanent exhibition titled “Holocaust in Ljubljana” was opened at the JCCL.

Inside the JCC, you can find historic Jewish objects from the pre-Holocaust period. Adjacent to this room is the synagogue, which can accommodate up to 40 people. On the ground floor, there is a theater where at least two new plays are staged each year, focusing on themes of the Holocaust or works by Jewish authors. Their biggest hits are “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “The Jewish Dog”. In the works, is a puppet monodrama based on the story of “My Dovecote” from the “Tales of Odessa” by Isaac Babel. Each year, they participate in the European Days of Jewish Culture with performances, concerts, and exhibitions. This year marks the tenth year of their participation in the Festival House of Tolerance held in November.

Slovenian Jews

Historians claim that Jews lived in Slovenia as early as the Roman period (2^nd century), as evidenced by the discovery of an oil lamp with a menorah. In the 12th or 13th centuries, there were Jewish communities in Piran, Koper, Izola, Ljubljana, Maribor, Radgona, Slovenj Gradec, Celje, Ptuj, and the border regions of Hungary and Austria.

Ljubljana Jews

The Jewish presence in Ljubljana dates from the 12^th century where there a few dozen houses owned by Jews. Historian, Janez Vajkard Valvasor wrote that Jews built a synagogue in Ljubljana in 1213, after a fire destroyed the previous building. The Jewish population never exceeded 300. The community had a school and a Beth Din.

This era of prosperity ended on March 18, 1496 (effective on January 6, 1497) when the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian signed an edict ordering the expulsion of Jews from Slovenia. In 1515, the Jews were expelled from Ljubljana.

In 1867, Jews were more welcoming, resettling and obtaining emancipation. In 1910, there were 110 Jews in Ljubljana. The only remaining traces of a prior Jewish presence in Ljubljana were the names of two narrow streets in the city center, and in the once medieval Jewish quarter until their expulsion in 1515.

Jews of Maribor

Beginning in the 13th century, there was a robust Jewish community in Maribor, the second largest city of Slovenia bordering Austria. The first Jews began arriving in Maribor between 1274 and 1296. Most of the Jews settled in the southeastern part of the city and created a Jewish quarter with a synagogue, cemetery and, mikveh. In 1477, there was a Jewish school. By the 15th century, the Jewish population reached its zenith of 300 Jews.

The Jewish synagogue in Maribor is considered one of the oldest in Europe said to have been built in 1354. In 1501, the synagogue was converted into a Catholic Church. Five hundred years later, the synagogue was restored but not used as a house of prayer. Since 2011, the historic synagogue now operates as a Jewish Cultural Heritage Synagogue

During the 19th and 20th centuries, Jews began to return to Maribor. Many of them were active in the textile industry, as factory owners or in prominent positions, but most of them now belonged to the bourgeois middle class. It is believed that about a 100 Jews were living in pre-WWII Maribor, who constituted less than half of one percent of the urban population. Today only a few Jews live in Maribor.

WWII

Before the outbreak of WWII, there were around 820 Jews living in the Prekmurje region. In Ljubljana, there were only 150 Jews, many of whom were also students from Poland.

On October 18, 1940, two laws of anti-Jewish legislation were imposed.

Banned Jews from opening wholesale food product trading businesses or face closure.
Restricted Jews from enrollment in education: universities, secondary schools, teacher’s colleges. If one was a citizen of the Republic of Yugoslavia, then he could not study.

Post WWII

After World War II, Yugoslavia nationalized all assets. The government confiscated factories, shops, and apartments from wealthy Jews leaving them destitute. Yugoslavians treated Jews as German and labeled them as enemies of the state leaving fewer than 100 Jews in Slovenia.

Current situation

Currently, there’s between 100 and 400 Jews living in Slovenia. After October 7, 2023, antisemitism from both the left and right-wing parties have increased by over 10,000 percent. The JCCL is currently under temporary police protection. Swastikas have been painted on doors, equated with the Magen David and defaced in the Jewish cemetery. Additionally, there have been threats urging Jews to leave the area and calls for a boycott of the JCCL.

Due to rising antisemitism and attacks on the functioning of the JCCL, the global Jewish community, particularly the World Jewish Congress, intervened. They visited Slovenia with an 11-member delegation to support the Jewish community and, together with Slovenian politicians to fight against antisemitism offering moral and material support.

The JCCL is going through trying times to keep their doors open. If you are interested in assisting them and learning more about them, please visit their website at: https://www.jewishcenterljubljana.com