Sečovce, Slovakia

Sečovce is first mentioned in the year 1255. Located at a confluence of regional crossroads, as early as the 1400s the economic basis of the development of the town was being a fair and market center. The residents were primarily Roman Catholic, but also Greek Orthodox and Protestant. Jews are first mentioned in written documents in 1669. After the Jewish Congress of 1868-1869, the community became officially Orthodox, though there was a Chasidic group and a smaller Neolog group.

Until the end of World War I, the region was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; from 1918 to 1993 it was a part of the Republic of Czechoslovakia.

• Pinkas Kehillot chapter on Sečovce
• The History of the Jewish Community in Sečovce
• Beit Hatefuzot article on Sečovce
• Article by Martina Diheneščíková (pages 87-99, in Slovak)
• Article by Martina Diheneščíková (pages 54-66, in Slovak)
• Hungarian Jewish Lexicon (in Hungarian), pp.303-304

The Geni website has a town project for the Jewish families of Sečovce which includes additional history of Sečovce.

• 1600: ∽280
• late 1700s: ∽1,400
• 1828: 1,502 (246 Jews)
• 1869: 3,404
• 1880: 3,134 (1,015 Jews)
• 1919: 3,380 (1,026 Jews)
• 1940: 4,724 (1,138 Jews)
• 1948: 4,843 (98 Jews)
• 2018: 8,453

The new cemetery, approximately 70 meters by 30 meters, consists of 100 to 500 tombstones. The old cemetery was destroyed during The War.

Jews were gradually removed from the social and economic life of the country, with many without any means of livelihood.
Jewish men were compelled into forced labor within the framework of the military 6^th Battalion. Jewish children were expelled
from the public schools and Jewish businesses were closed down by the authorities.

Emery ROTH

   An architect who designed many art deco buildings in New York, including the Ritz Hotel and the Beresford building.
Working under auspices of a Japanese architect, Roth’s firm carried out the project work for the World Trade Center (“Twin Towers”).

Adolf SCHWARZ

A Chess Master who competed in tournaments in Vienna, Frankfurt, Leipzig, and Graz, among other places, often finishing in the top three.