Kežmarok, Slovakia

Visitors and Cemeteries

Kezmarok Cemetery Map, 2004, by Mikulas Liptak
Entrance is shown at the left; a "pathway" separates the men on the left from the women on the right

Since no Jews currently live in Kezmarok, (the last one, Leo KOVACS, having died in 2 October 2002) the only time Jews are seen in Kezmarok is when they come to visit the well-kept cemetery on Tehelna Street. Buried there primarily are their ancestors who died before World War II. The cemetery underwent a cleaning in 2004. Mikulas "Miki" Liptak, who lives in Kezmarok and developed an interest in the Jews who once lived there, then created a detailed map by rows and locations within the rows, resulting in labeling each stone with a unique identifier. More than 500 stones were identified, but some were no longer whole and some too eroded to learn who the deceased was below the stone. However, with a lot of hard work, almost all of the stones have been identified according to their row and position within a row.

In Judaism, Jews are aware of the special observance of Kever Avot, of visiting the graves of ancestors or family. Not many Jews continued to live, post World War II, since survivors had so little reason to return to their former homes. Some visitors come on a regular basis, as a sort of pilgrimage, if the countries they live in have transportation that is reasonable and doesn't take long. That means the most frequent visitors might be from Israel or the United Kingdom, where survivors found new homes after WW II. Families who eventually reached the United States or Australia, are then less frequent visitors. So, it is always an occasion when visitors do come.

This page displays photos of such visits and the visitors, and sometimes the locations in the cemetery where they pay their respect to their ancestors.

Some of the stones have fallen into sad disrepair. When possible, attempts are made to refurbish the stones or in some way make them more readable. In Kezmarok, they are fortunate that the cemetery lies within the town itself, and not on the outskirts, where some cemeteries have been horribly and disrespectfully vandalized.

Here is a demonstration how such a small stone was improved. It was for a little girl, Golda, daughter of the esteemed rabbi of Kezmarok. Miki arranged and supervised the work and took these photos of the process. Thanks, Miki! (If anyone should need help locating their family member(s) or arrange for repairs, feel free to contact Miki.

Refurbishing the Stone of Aranka (Golda) GRÜNBERG

Little three year old Aranka, or Golda as she was known in Yiddish, was the daughter of the Chief Rabbi of Kezmarok, Rabbi Simcha Natan GRÜNBERG, and his wife, Johanna HARTMANN. Golda was born in 1919, in Kezmarok and died 25 April 1922 (corresponding to the 27 Nisan 5682), just shortly after the Pesach holiday.

The Repair Process

Golda's Stone in 2004

In 2004, with the clean-up of the cemetery, and subsequent mapping of the locations of every stone, little Golda's stone was situated in what was labeled, Row C, position 34. In the photo from that time, you can see the stone is partially eroded, with just a touch of gold showing around the enlarge letters of her name.
In December of 2013, about nine years later, you can see that the stone is in worse condition and very vulnerable to crumbling and the lettering has faded away.
Jack FRIEDMAN, a grandson of Rabbi Yisrael Meir GLÜCK and his wife Rosa GRÜNBERG (sister of Simcha Natan and aunt of Golda) decided to arrange for Golda's stone to be repaired and refurbished.
Here then are rare glimpses of how this repair was accomplished. Stano Dzubas did the repair work. Unclear who did the lettering before the cement work began; possibly Mikulas Liptak who learned some Hebrew in the intervening years.

Due to the erosion over the years, it was not clear that the Hebrew wording above her name was originally, הילדה היקרה, meaning "dear girl." Instead the wording now appears as, הילדה הקטנה, meaning the "little girl." This is another indication how over time, erosion can result in loss of information. In this case, the change has not been too significant.

It is commendable that this work was undertaken at that time, before worse issues might have occurred. Thank you Jack!

3 December 2013	Top was Crumbling	Preparing the Top
Repaired Top	Mesh Added to Attach Cement	Cement Added
	Finished, 1 June 2014

Descendants of Natan ZOLLMAN, ca. 2005

Relatives of Natan ZOLLMAN visited the cemetery in December 2008. The man in shorts is Rudolf HERZ who was caring for the cemetery at that time. The photo of the stone at left was taken by Mikulas Liptak, Jun 2004.

ZOLLMAN_Natan — Natan ZOLLMAN, son of David and Sarah Leah née GOLDMAN, d. 23 Tishri 5701=24 October 1940. He was 68 years old.
Location: Row S, Position 25

TANDLICH and GOLDMAN, June 2008

HagitPodolinec

In June 2008, Hagit TANDLICH-TSAFRIRI, left her home in Rehovot, Israel to vacation in Slovakia. She is also descended from Isak GOLDMAN, but her great-grandmother, Regina (Rivka) née STEINER was the second wife and sister of the first, Rosa née STEINER who died very young.

Her grandmother was Ilona GOLDMAN who married Alexander TANDLICH. Their son Dejsko, as a little boy survived the Holocaust, emigrated to Israel, was raised by his aunt Vica and uncle Lajos ZOLLMAN, and later married Ada DUBETSKI. They had two daughters, Ilana, named for her paternal grandmother, and Hagit.

Hagit visited the Kezmarok cemetery with Miki. She was able to put some finishing touches and corrections to the stone of Rosa (Rachel), Hagit's great-great-aunt. Note: At that time, we were unaware that using a marker on an old stone, is not a recommended practice!

Hagit and Miki traveled to another town in the Spis Region, the town of Podolinec, where Hagit and Miki were able to locate the stone of her paternal great-grandfather, Josef TANDLICH that had fallen down on the ground and was buried under a lot of foliage. At right is a photo of that find.

Descendants of GOLDMANs and ZOLLMAN, 28 October 2012

Yitzchak ZOLLMAN (son of the afortementioned Vica and Lajos ZOLLMAN) and his wife Mina (and two friends) traveled from Israel to visit the cemetery. Yitzchak (in blue jacket) is obviously descended from the same Natan ZOLLMAN above, but he is also visiting the graves of other relatives. Here, they are standing near the stone of his grandmother, Regina (Rivka) née STEINER GOLDMAN also a relative, who died 16 January 1943 and was buried at the extreme northern end of the cemetery (Row Y, Position 11). He and Mina also visit Regina's sister's grave, Rosa (Rachel) née STEINER GOLDMAN, who died much too young age 26, on 4 May 1889. She is buried almost at the other extreme end of the cemetery (Row D, Position 2). (Consider the distance between rows D and Y!) The photos of the stones as well as of these visitors were taken again by Mikulas Liptak.

Note: Isak (Yitzchak) GOLDMAN who had been married first to Rosa, and after her death to Regina, ultimately became a martyr of the Holocaust, when at age 84, blind, and diabetic, he was among those deported to Plaszow, Poland, shot on 6 September 1944, and buried in a mass grave there.

The Zollmans and friends Visit Rivka GOLDMAN's stone.

Detail of Rivka GOLDMAN's stone

Zollmans visit Rachel GOLDMAN's stone

Visit by Rabbi Natanel LAUER

In March 2018, Brooklyn-born, Rabbi Natanel LAUER, living in Jerusalem, contact Madeleine Isenberg and Miki, enquiring about his namesake ancestor who he knew had died in Kezmarok. Despite having information on more than 500 tombstones in Kezmarok, none had been identified for such a person. Guided by some data, such as the year of death and that this man had been a rabbi and scholar, Madeleine was able to locate a very eroded stone that had elements that looked like a match. E-mail exchanges led us to believe we had truly identified and found the stone (located at Row I, position 23) in question, to the delight of Rabbi Natanel.

Rabbi Natanel and his 18-year-old son traveled to Slovakia later in March and on the 22nd was able to perform kever avot for his ancestor-namesake.

Rabbi Natanel Lauer and Son Locate their Ancestor's Stone

Rabbi Natanel Lauer and Son Light a Yizkor Candle

Rabbi Natanel Lauer and Son; Yizkor Candle

"The Row of the Kezmarok Rabbis"

Row T, as labeled by Miki, became the row that noted rabbis of the community were buried. Numbered from left to right, T-22, has the ohel (enclosure) around that of the esteemed first rabbi of the kehilla, Rabbi Avraham GRÜNBERG (see the box on the cemetery map above). As we look at this photo, to his left is Rabbi Yisrael Meir GLÜCK (T-23), who was married to Rabbi GRÜNBERG's daughter Rozalia. To his left, was their son Rabbi Jozef (Yechiel) (T-24). The fourth was Rabbi Aryeh HALBERSTAM (T-25) who had his own kloiz, and was descended from the famous HALBERSTAM dynasty.

Refurbishing More GRÜNBERG Stones

At the time of the dedication of the memorial in November 2013, Jack FRIEDMAN noted the condition of the stone (T-11) of the Rabbi's wife, Rebeka (Rivka) GRÜNBERG and that it needed some fixing. He arranged for this to be done with Miki who would ask Stano Dzubas to take care of this. Rebeka GRÜNBERG was Jack's great-great-grandmother, mother to Rozalia who was married to Jack's great-grandfather, Rabbi Yisrael Meir GLÜCK, of blessed memory. Additionally, the curved ohel of the esteemed Rabbi needed a coat of paint.

Note, that next to the ohel, and near his grandfather, is the smaller stone (T-21) of Ernst (Tsvi Hirsch) son of Natan Simcha GRÜNBERG, who died age 32, on 2 May 1947.

Here you have some photos of the work and results. Again thanks to Jack FRIEDMAN, and to Miki for the always great photography!

Visit by HALBERSTAM Family

On 30 April 2019, members of the HALBERSTAM family visited the Kezmarok cemetery to pay their respects to the late Rabbi Aryeh HALBERSTAM.

Rabbi Aryeh HALBERSTAM, was the head of the Bet Din of Muszyna, Poland before coming to Kezmarok. He was the son of the Gaon/Tzaddik Moshe HALBERSTAM (who was the head of the Bet Din of Bardejov) and grandson of the Gaon/Tzaddik, Chaim HALBERSTAM, author of Divrei Chaim. The HALBERSTAMs are a well-known rabbinic dynasty, with Rabbi Chaim HALBERSTAM starting the dynasty that originated in the city of Sanz (Nowy Sącz) in Galicia, Poland.

b. 7 Aug 1870, d. 15 June 1942 (1 Tammuz 5702)

Halberstam family at prayer

Another photo of the Halberstams

GROSSMAN and JONAP family Visit the "Rabbis' Stones"

On 29 August 2019, a contingent from the GROSSMAN and JONAP families came to visit the cemetery, and were impressed by how well it was cared for. These visitors came from Antwerp, Belgium and London, UK, and included the following GROSSMANs: Yissachar Dov, Yaakov Chaim, Yosef Yuda, and Nussen Shimon.

The collection of visitors and photos on this page does not represent everyone who visited there. But possibly more may be added as we discover who they were, whey they came from, and when it took place!

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