Anti-fascism without Jews
After the 1948 communist takeover, Jewish institutions were placed under strict state control, with cultural activity viewed as politically suspect and community life monitored by the secret police. Antisemitism did not vanish; it was recast as “anti-Zionism,” especially after the Soviet bloc turned against Israel, allowing stereotypes and targeting to persist under ideological cover. Public remembrance of wartime suffering followed state doctrine, emphasizing a broad “anti-fascist” narrative that left little room for a clear reckoning with the Holocaust as a specifically anti-Jewish crime. This framing distorted historical memory and contributed to the long-term marginalization of Jewish experience in mainstream culture.
„Because anti-Semitism itself was unacceptable under its own name, it became „anti-Zionism“, Zionism being labelled a product of imperialism.“
OSCE
Anti-Semitism and Right-Wing Extremism in the Czech Republic, 2003
Further Reading / Sources
Anti-Semitism and Right-Wing Extremism in the Czech Republic
OSCE (PDF; includes communist-period “anti-Zionism” and control of Jewish life)
East European Holocaust Studies – scholarship on Holocaust representation and memory in Slovak media/culture
De Gruyter
Jewish identity, postwar/communist-era pressures in Slovakia
German National Library (DNB) open PDF (Peter Salner)
Destruction of Bratislava’s Neolog synagogue under communism (late 1960s) and later memorialization
Jewish Heritage Europe (documented site history)