Prior to World War 2, about 135,000 Jews lived in Slovakia. As a part of Nazi Germany's expansion into Eastern Europe, Hitler set up a Slovak puppet state. The newly created Slovak Republic was led by the pro-Nazi Catholic priest by the name of Jozef Tiso.
Under Tiso's rule, living conditions for the Slovak Jews deteriorated fast. The government passed a "Jewish Code," which required all Jews to wear a yellow armband, banned them from a variety of professions and made intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews illegal. Tiso went on to agree to deport Slovak Jews as a part of the Nazi Final Solution to rid Europe of the Jews.
Thousands of Slovak Jews would be deported, mainly to Auschwitz, where the majority of them would be executed or killed due to forced labor. Over 100,000 Slovak Jews died during World War II.
At the beginning of World War II, some 3,200 Jews called the Slovakian town of Topolcany their home. Following the end of the war, about 550 Holocaust survivors decided to return to Topolcany. Upon returning to what was their hometown, most found that most Jewish property has been confiscated by Slovaks. The Jewish businesses, which flourished prior to the war, had been claimed and now run by Slovaks. The Jews were no longer citizens, as they had been stripped of citizenship during the Nazi-controlled Republic of Slovakia.
Despite all this, the Jews attempted to settle down in what has been their hometown for centuries. Instead, they would be greeted with a violent pogrom.
The pogrom instigated by a blood libel. A rumor spread that a Jewish doctor was injecting Christian children with poison. The doctor, who was an Auschwitz survivor, was actually administrating smallpox vaccines to the local schoolchildren.
A couple days prior to the pogrom, a series of other baseless rumors broke out. One stated that the Jews were trying to overtake the local Catholic school. Then, there was an allegation that the Jews created their own Jewish classroom in the school, where they desecrated a crucifix. Other rumors said that the Jews had taken over a school in a village close by.
A group of Slovaks went to the school to investigate the rumors. Upon seeing the doctor administer the vaccines to the children, they quickly accused him of poisoning the Slovak children and attacked him.
Rumors of Jews poisoning Slovak children spread fast across the village. Jews were beaten and the little property few of them had left was destroyed my local mobs.
In the end, 48 Jews were seriously injured. 15 required hospitalization. Although the local authorities knew about the situation and the coming attacks, the police did nothing to prevent or stop them.
Following the pogrom, all the remaining members of Topolcany left the town. After the war, approximately 25,000 Jews were left in Slovakia. Within a few years, most would go on to immigrate to Israel.
45 years after the incident, the town issued an official apology to Slovakian Jews for the Topolcany pogrom.
To some, blood libels against the Jews may seem as a ridiculous thing of the past. However, this is far from the truth. Blood libels still quickly spread, as was recently shown by the blood libel against the Israeli aid mission to Haiti.
45 years after the incident, the town issued an official apology to Slovakian Jews for the Topolcany pogrom.
To some, blood libels against the Jews may seem as a ridiculous thing of the past. However, this is far from the truth. Blood libels still quickly spread, as was recently shown by the blood libel against the Israeli aid mission to Haiti.
