The history and the preent days of the cemetery

History of the cemetery

The cemetery of the Jewish community in Namestovo was founded at the beginning of the 19th century, when a significant increase in the Jewish population was recorded in the town. The cemetery was located at a distance of about 700 m from the village and encompassed an area of approximately 45 x 100 m. It was fenced off with a wall. The entrance led through a building with a ceremonial room, measuring 8 x 5.8 m, located in the middle of the southern part of the fence and covered with a hipped roof. The terrain of the cemetery ran from south to north from a slight slope to the plain. In the southern part of the cemetery, the graves were placed in rows from south to north, in the northern part from west to east.

After the end of World War 2, the Jewish religious community in Namestovo was restored only for a short time. There were only a few Jews in Namestovo who had survived the Holocaust. Soon after the founding of the state of Israel in 1949, they moved away and the Jewish community disappeared. In 1953 the cemetery was flooded by the waters of the Orava Reservoir. The entrance building was demolished, with only portions of the fence remaining. Unstable water levels and vandals left some evidence which is seen on the condition of the cemetery. The tombstones remained scattered on the shore of the lake. The waters of the Orava Reservoir, nature and time contributed to the deterioration of the cemetery, which required a long time to be restored.

The present condition of the cemetery

In order to implement the ambition of renewal in 2013, we founded a non- governmental association, which was symbolically named “Remember”. With personal involvement of the association members and supporters, the project was gradually implemented.

Year 2000

In 2000, at the instigation of Jeff Beiman, a volunteer of the Peace Corps from the USA, who, at the time, worked at the Municipal Office in Namestovo, several foundations were approached to help restore the cemetery. The Central Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Bratislava, led by its vice-president Juraj Turčan, was the only one to respond, providing funding for temporary workers to clean and re-lay the tombstones. Since then, however, the cemetery once again fell into disrepair again and became overgrown with grass.

Year 2010

The first visible changes were seen in 2010 when a group of enthusiasts managed to restore the torso of the cemetery. Since then, reconstruction work has slowly continued on a voluntary basis. Gradually, other tombstones were discovered, repaired and re-erected.

Year 2012

Mr. Karol Kurtulik takes initiative to make the restoration of the Jewish cemetery a reality. He invites local architects Mrs Danica Holla and Ľubomír Holly to collaborate and together design the concept of restoration with a hint of the original fencing and the construction of a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.

The monument was designed in the form of three tombstones - symbolic tombstones, since these victims did not have their own graves. The shape of the individual parts of the monument was chosen. They indicate the railway line along which the deportations took place. The Star of David and the bilingual inscription "MEMORY" in Slovak and Hebrew are designed on the tallest of the three stones. The inscription is intended not only to be a remainder of the specific victims - the citizens of Namestovo, whose names are on the other two stones, but it is also a lesson and warning that judging people on the basis of ethnicity, religion or race has tragic consequences and cannot be tolerated in any form.

Year 2013

The non- governmental association “Remember” is founded to implement the idea of restoration of the cemetery. Its members and supporters gradually succeed in the restoration works and organisation of other events commemorating the Jewish community in Namestovo.

Year 2015

A new stone entrance to the cemetery with a glass information board is built with a plate bearing some information about the history of the cemetery.

Year 2016

Designed in 2012, the Monument to the victims of the Holocaust who lived in Namestovo is installed.

Year 2018

A fragment of the stone wall from the east side is completed.

Year 2019

On 16 December unknown perpetrators tip over and break approximately 50 tombstones and demolish the art of the cemetery. Subsequently, repairs are carried out and the cemetery is returned to its original state from before the incident.

Year 2020

A place of commemoration and reverence is built containing the fragments of the destroyed monuments which could not be assigned to the existing, preserved monuments, and the southern part of the fencing is completed.

In 2020, an installation of a camera of the cemetery was completed. The live stream is available on the website.

Year 2021

On 25 February 2021 a new information board with QR code was installed The QR code refers to the website of the cemetery.