Violence against memory and the dead
The Jewish cemetery in Košice, one of eastern Slovakia’s most important Jewish burial sites, was attacked by unknown perpetrators who overturned and damaged gravestones, including those commemorating Holocaust victims. Jewish cemeteries have long been targets of antisemitic violence because they serve as visible markers of Jewish presence, continuity, and historical suffering. The 2002 desecration formed part of a wider pattern of antisemitic vandalism in Slovakia in the late 1990s and early 2000s, affecting cemeteries, memorials, and synagogues, often linked to extremist subcultures and far-right ideology. Jewish representatives described the attack as an assault on memory and dignity, highlighting persistent challenges in protecting heritage sites and addressing antisemitic hate crimes.
„We’d like to look into the faces of the „heroes“ who fight against mute stones.“
Jossi Steiner, rabbi of the Jewish community in Košice
The Slovak Spectator, “Košice’s Jewish cemetery vandalised”, 2002