JEWISH CEMETERIES, SYNAGOGUES, 

AND MONUMENTS IN SLOVENIA 

 

United States Commission for 

the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad 

2005 
UNITED STATES COMMISSION FOR 

THE PRESERVATION OF AMERICA’S HERITAGE ABROAD 

Warren L. Miller, Chairman 

McLean, VA 

Members: 

Ned Bandler 

Bridgewater, CT 

Chaskel Besser 

New York, NY 

Amy S. Epstein 

Pinellas Park, FL 

 

Edgar Gluck 

Brooklyn, NY 

Phyllis Kaminsky 

Potomac, MD 

Zvi Kestenbaum 

Brooklyn, NY 

Daniel Lapin 

Mercer Island, WA 

Gary J. Lavine 

Fayetteville, NY 

Michael B. Levy 

Washington, DC 

Rachmiel Liberman 

Brookline, MA 

Laura Raybin Miller 

Hollywood, FL 

Vincent Obsitnik 

Peachtree City, GA 

August B. Pust

Euclid, OH 

Menno Ratzker 

Monsey, NY 

Harriet Rotter 

Bingham Farms, MI 

Lee Seeman 

Great Neck, NY 

 

Steven E. Some 

Princeton, NJ 

Irving Stolberg 

New Haven, CT 

Ari Storch 

Potomac, MD 

Staff: 

Jeffrey L. Farrow 

Executive Director 

Samuel D. Gruber 

Research Director 

Katrina A. Krzysztofiak 

Program Manager 

888 17th Street, N.W., Suite 1160 

Washington, DC 20006 

Ph: (202) 254-3824 Fax: (202) 254-3934 

E-mail: uscommission@heritageabroad.gov
October 31, 2005 

Message from the Chairman 

One of the principal missions that United States law assigns the Commission for the Preservation 

of America’s Heritage Abroad is to identify and report on cemeteries, monuments, and historic 

buildings in Central and Eastern Europe associated with the cultural heritage of U.S. citizens, 

especially endangered sites. The Congress and the President were prompted to establish the 

Commission because of the special problem faced by Jewish sites in the region. The populations 

that had once cared for the properties were annihilated during the Holocaust. The atheistic 

Communist Party dictatorships that succeeded the Nazis throughout most of the region were 

insensitive to American Jewish concerns about the preservation of the sites. Properties were 

converted to other uses or encroached upon by development. Natural deterioration was not 

counteracted. Vandalism often went unchecked. 

This report identifies and discusses Jewish cemeteries, synagogue buildings, and Jewish 

monuments located in the Republic of Slovenia. I hope that the report will encourage 

preservation efforts and assist American Jews of Slovenian descent to connect with the last 

remnants of their heritage in Slovenia. 

The Commission is also required by U.S. law to seek assurances from the governments of the 

region regarding the protection and preservation of these cultural heritage properties. I am 

pleased to note that the Governments of the United States and Slovenia entered into a 

Commission-negotiated agreement regarding the protection and preservation of certain cultural 

properties in 1996. The agreement covers the sites identified in this report. 

 

 
 

Table of Contents 

Acknowledgements.................................................................................................. i 

Map of Slovenia .................................................................................................. ii 

I. Slovenia's Jewish History ...........................................................................1 

II. Slovenian Jewry Contemporary Snapshot ...................................................3 

III. Property Restitution .....................................................................................4 

IV. Monuments ..................................................................................................5 

 1. Ljubljana ...................................................................................5 

 2. Slovenian Istria .........................................................................7 

 3. Piran ..........................................................................................8 

 4. Koper.........................................................................................8 

 5. Nova Gorica (Rozna Dolina) ....................................................9 

 6. Maribor....................................................................................12 

 7. Ptuj .......... ...........................................................15 

 8. Prekmurje ................................................................................16 

 9. Lendava...................................................................................17 

10. Murska Sobota ........................................................................19 

V. World War I Cemeteries With Jewish Graves..........................................21 

 1. Stanjel......................................................................................21 

 2. Kidricevo.................................................................................21 

VI. Photographs ..............................................................................................22 

VII. Bibliography..............................................................................................53 
i 

Acknowledgements

This survey was carried out in Slovenia in September 1996 by Ruth Ellen Gruber with the 

assistance of Slovenian experts in the field. Particular thanks go to Mitja Ferenc of the Cultural 

Heritage Office of the Slovenian Ministry of Culture, who coordinated the preliminary 

groundwork and organized on-site visits. Ms. Gruber, who took all of the photographs, updated 

material on several sites in 2003. Additional research was done by Commission Research 

Director Samuel D. Gruber. This work was supplemented by Commission Executive Director 

Jeffrey L. Farrow, Program Manager Katrina A. Krzysztofiak, and Administrative Officer 

Patricia Hoglund. 

The assistance of the following is also appreciated: 

• Marina Zupancic of the Cultural Heritage Office of the Slovenian Culture Ministry; 

• Darij Humar of the Institute for the Conservation of Natural and Cultural Heritage in 

Nova Gorica; 

• Dr. Sonja Hoyer of the Intercommune Institute for the Conservation of Natural and 

Cultural Heritage in Piran; 

• Uros Lubej of the Institute for Conservation of Natural and Cultural Heritage in 

Ljubljana; 

• Janez Mikuz, formerly Director of the Documentation Department of the Institute for the 

Conservation of Natural and Cultural Heritage in Maribor; 

• Franz Kuzmic of the Prekmurje Museum in Murska Sobota; and 

• Irena Krajac Horvat of the municipal government in Lendava. 

Other members of the staff of these institutions and the Regional Museum of Maribor, the 

Regional Museum of Ptuj, the Regional Archives of Ptuj, and the Regional Study-Library in 

Murska Sobota were helpful as well. 

Thanks, too, go to: 

• the late Mladen Svarc and his mother, the late Mrs. Alexander Svarc, of the Jewish 

Community of Slovenia; 

• Klara Stanic; 

• Andrej Kozar Beck, the current president of the Slovenian Jewish community; 

• Rabbi Ariel Haddad; 

• Matja Ravitz; 

• Tadija Dobaj; 

• Stane Mrvic, who was Director of the Cultural Heritage Office of Slovenian Ministry of 

Culture when the survey was carried out; and 

• Miklavz Borstnik, who at the time was First Secretary of the Embassy of Slovenia in 

Washington, D.C.
ii 

Map of Slovenia 
1 

I. Slovenia’s Jewish History 

What is now the Republic of Slovenia formed part of Yugoslavia from 1918 until it seceded from 

the Yugoslav Federation in 1991. Bordered by Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia, and with a 

narrow stretch of coast along the Adriatic Sea, Slovenia is roughly the size of Israel, 

encompassing 20,000 square kilometers. 

The Slovenes, a Slavic people, first appeared in the region in the latter part of the 6th century. 

Most of present-day Slovenia was ruled by the Habsburgs until the post-World War I 

dismemberment of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Slovenia's present borders encompass 

territory that historically formed parts of Habsburg-dominated Carniola (central Slovenia), 

Styria, and Carinthia, as well as Hungary and Italy. 

It is likely that there was a Jewish presence in the region in antiquity, when several Roman 

towns, such as Emona (near the site of today's Ljubljana), flourished. Chance archeological 

finds, such as an oil lamp inscribed with a menorah found in a cave near Skocjan and probably 

dating from the fifth century, confirm that Jews were present in the region at that time.1

There is no evidence, however, of continuity between this fifth-century relic and the twelfth 

century, when new Jewish settlers are known to have arrived in the region. At the time, some 

came from North Central Europe (many seeking refuge from the Crusaders) and others came 

from Italy.2

Jewish communities existed in the 12th or 13th century in many towns throughout the territory of 

present-day Slovenia. The communities are known to have existed as ghettos during the Middle 

Ages in the present-day Slovene towns of Piran, Koper, Izola, Ljubljana, Maribor, Radgona, 

Slovenj-Gradec, Olmos, Celje, and Ptuj. Most of these ghettos had well-organized communal 

and religious organizations. 

Jews in the towns in the medieval period were engaged in trade and money lending. Documents 

indicate that Jews in Styria also owned property, including houses, vineyards, fields and mills.3

 

Prosperity ended on March 18, 1496, when, pressured by the nobility, the Holy Roman Emperor 

Maximilian signed an edict ordering the expulsion of Jews from Styria and Carinthia. The order 

went into force on January 6, 1497. In 1515, the Jews were also expelled from Ljubljana.4

 

1

 This lamp is in the collection of the Museo Civico Trieste. See Jews in Yugoslavia (Exhibition Catalogue), (Muzejski 

Prostor, Zagreb, 1989), 73. See also Attilio Degrassi, "Le Grotte Carsiche nell'eta' Romana" in Le Grotte d'Italia, 

October-December 1929, 11, 13; and Timotej Knific and Milan Sagadin, Pismo Brez Pisave, (Slovenian National 

Museum, Ljubljana), 29, 68. 

2 Jews in Yugoslavia, op. cit. 1989, 73. See also Yakir Eventov, A History of Yugoslav Jews: from Ancient Times to the 

End of the 19th Century (Tel Aviv, 1971), 9. 

3 Jews in Yugoslavia, op. cit. For detailed information on Medieval Jewish settlement and history in Slovenia, see 

also the articles in Fris, Darko (ed). Review for History and Ethnography, Judovski Zbornik. (Maribor, 2000.) 

4 A History of Yugoslav Jews, op. cit., 10. 
2 

Under the Habsburgs, Jews were expelled from almost everywhere in the region beginning in the 

late 15th century and extending through the early 18th century. Many fled to neighboring 

territories in Habsburg-ruled Italy and western Hungary, although some managed to settle in 

Slovenian villages.5 Expulsion orders were renewed several times over the centuries, the last in 

1828. Restrictions on Jewish settlement and business remained in force until 1861.6

Only in 1808, with the Napoleonic conquests and the creation of the Illyrian Provinces of the 

French Empire, was it possible -- briefly -- for Jews to settle again in Slovenia. Few did, 

however. Reversion of the territories to Austrian rule in 1815 cancelled the possibility. In 1817, 

the Emperor Francis II forbade Jews from settling in Carniola. 

Relatively few Jews moved back in the late 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.7 Some settled again in 

Carniola only in the latter part of the 19th century. In the census of 1880, 96 Jews are listed with 

the number increasing to 146 in 1910. Widespread anti-Semitism stopped further growth of the 

Jewish community. Meanwhile, in the late 18th century, a small number of Jews moved to what 

is now the Slovenian region of Prekmurje, then a part of Hungary, settling in the towns of 

Murska Sobota, Beltinci, and Lendava. This region became the main Jewish center of what is 

today Slovenia. 

Unlike other places in Central Europe where Jews were periodically expelled and then 

readmitted, Jews did not return to the Slovenian settlements and the ghettos were not renewed. 

For this reason there are few identifiable Jewish monuments in Slovenia today. 

In a few towns, such as Piran, Maribor and Ljubljana, street names still give an indication of the 

area of Jewish settlement. Sites of former Jewish quarters are known in other towns, including 

Ptuj and Koper. In Maribor, the remains of a medieval synagogue were identified and the 

building was restored. Several medieval Jewish gravestones or fragments have been found and, 

doubtless, some older structures that once served the medieval Jewish population also survive in 

other localities. In addition, the later 18th and 19th century Jewish communities in Prekmurje 

have left more modern traces. Communities in Lendava and Murska Sobota flourished until the 

Holocaust. 

 

5 Jews in Yugoslavia, op. cit., 73. 

6 Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 15, 466. 

7

 For a description of the tiny Jewish presence in one of the communities where they settled, the town of Ajdovscina, 

see Giuseppe Bolaffio, “Un Piccolo Nucleo Ebraico in Aidussina ai Confini della Venezio Giulia: in Pier Cesare Ioly 

Zorattini, ed., Gili Ebrei a Gorizia e a Trieste tra “Ancien Regime” ed Emancipazione (Del Bianco Editore, Udine, 

1984), 47-50. 
3 

II. Slovenian Jewry Contemporary Snapshot 

In April 2003, the Slovenian Jewish community numbered 130-150, though communal leaders 

estimate that there were two or three times that number of people with Jewish ancestry living in 

the country. Most Slovenian Jews live in Ljubljana. 

A Jewish organization existed in Ljubljana after World War II, but it was weak and carried out 

almost no social, cultural, or religious functions. This changed radically in the late 1990s. 

Supported by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the community obtained a 

meeting room and began program activities. 

Communal development was further galvanized when Ariel Haddad, a rabbi who is the director 

of the Jewish museum in Trieste, Italy, assumed the informal role of rabbi for the community in 

1999. Trieste is little more than an hour’s drive from Ljubljana. 

In 2002, a team of Jewish and non-Jewish scholars produced a high-quality, scholarly, annotated 

Slovenian-Hebrew edition of the Passover Seder (a ritual dinner ceremony) text, the Haggadah. 

It was financed primarily by the Slovenian government and the Joint Distribution Committee. 

In January 2003, the community took another step in its revival when it inaugurated a synagogue 

– the first to function in Ljubljana in nearly 500 years. A month later, the community officially 

inaugurated Haddad as Chief Rabbi of Slovenia and took possession of a Torah scroll. 
4 

III. Property Restitution 

According to Jewish community officials, as of early 2003 there were no outstanding issues of 

communal property restitution in Slovenia. After World War II, decisions on the disposal of 

Jewish communal property in what was then Yugoslavia were taken by the Federation of Jewish 

Communities. As elsewhere in Yugoslavia, the Federation sold off abandoned and/or damaged 

synagogues and other property in places where the Jewish community had been annihilated. 

Some of these sites were destroyed; others were left standing. (Only two synagogues were in 

operation in Slovenia in the years prior to the Holocaust, those in Lendava and Murska Sobota. 

The Lendava synagogue was left standing, while that in Murska Sobota was demolished in the 

1950s.) Jewish communal officials did, however, express concern that the former ceremonial 

hall of the cemetery in Nova Gorica was used for improper purposes. 

The question of ownership of private material assets that belonged to Jewish Holocaust victims 

who left no heirs remained unresolved in 2003. At the time, Jewish community officials said 

they were researching ownership and might file claims on more than 1,000 properties. Some of 

these properties included industrial and other commercial sites that were owned before World 

War II by Jews who did not live in Slovenia. 
5 

IV. Monuments 

1. Ljubljana 

Much of what remains of Jewish heritage in present-day Slovenia are names etched in stone or 

still used to identify places. 

In Ljubljana, Slovenia's charming capital on the Ljubljanica River, two narrow streets in the 

town center -- Zidovska ulica (Jewish street) and Zidovska steza (Jewish Path) -- mark where the 

medieval ghetto stood. Jews were expelled from Ljubljana in 1515, but the streets still recall the 

Jewish presence even though few Jews have ever resettled in the city. 

Jews may have originally settled there as early as the end of the 12th or beginning of the 13th

centuries. The 17th century Slovenian historian, Janez Vajkard Valvasor, wrote that Jews built a 

synagogue in 1213 after a fire destroyed the previous building.8

 Some historians, however, 

doubt that there was such an early settlement given the fact that not only had Ljubljana itself just 

been founded, but also that Jewish settlement was mentioned only toward the end of the 13th

century in the records of other towns, such as Maribor.9

According to Uros Lubej of Ljubljana's Institute for the Conservation of Natural and Cultural 

Heritage, the medieval Jewish quarter had about 30 houses, most likely consisting of two stories 

each with the upper part constructed of wood. These were consolidated over time into the 

present 13 or 14 structures. 

The entrance to the ghetto was probably at the site of present-day Jurcicev trg. (Jurcicev Square). 

The enclave was across the street from a bridge that was the oldest connection between two parts 

of Ljubljana on the opposite sides of the river. In medieval times, the river, to which the street 

Zidovska ulica runs parallel, did not have an embankment (it was built in 1913). Thus, the level 

of the houses was one story lower.10

Judging from architectural evidence, the peak Jewish population in the Middle Ages may have 

been 300.11 The people were bankers, merchants, artisans, and farmers. The community had a 

Jewish school and Beth Din (rabbinical court).12

Zidovska ulica and Zidovska steza meet at an intersection in the middle of what is today one of 

Ljubljana's most picturesque and fashionable downtown areas. Located just off the river, 

it is an area filled with boutiques and cafes, some of them with outdoor tables with umbrellas 

(Figures 1-3). 

 

8

 Jews in Yugoslavia, op. cit., 74. 

9

 See Vlado Valencic, Zidje v Preteklosti ljubljane (Par, Ljubljana, 1992). 

10 On-site interview with Uros Lubej from Ljubljana's Institute for the Conservation of Natural and Cultural Heritage, 

Sept. 4, 1996. 

11 ibid. 

12 Jews in Yugoslavia, op. cit.
6 

Nothing is left of the original appearance of the quarter except the placement of the streets. 

Additionally, no excavation has been done to see what is left from the medieval period. There 

are no maps of the area before the 16th century.13 Most of the buildings today are Baroque (17th

century) structures on medieval foundations with many of the façades from the 19th century. 

Some have dates carved over the doors, including 1846 (Number 3 Zidovska steza) and 1838 

(Number 6 Zidovska steza). 

Number 4 Zidovska steza is believed to have been the site of the synagogue. After 1515, there 

was a Christian chapel on the site until the end of the 16th century. Today, the building is a 

dwelling with a business premises on the ground floor. The building, with a late 19th century 

façade, is set back from the curb and dates from after an earthquake in 1895.14 (Figure 4 shows 

its appearance in 1996.) 

A few Jews settled in Ljubljana in the 19th century but the community never grew to any 

appreciable size. Before World War I, there was a strong anti-Semitic element, which expressed 

itself in the local media with calls for all Jews to be expelled. 

There is a small Jewish section in Ljubljana's municipal cemetery, Zale (Figures 5-10). It is a 

small rectangular plot set off from the rest of the cemetery by a yew hedge about 1.5 meters high 

on three sides and a wall on the fourth. Its iron gates are marked with Stars of David along with 

Hebrew and Slovenian designation indicating the Jewish section (Figure 6). This section is the 

only area separated by religion in a cemetery in which Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, and 

Muslims are all buried together. The Jewish section was established in 1926, but it was moved 

to its present location in 1964 because the authorities wanted to build a monument on the 

original plot of land.15

The layout of the present section is the same as the original cemetery.16 The size and simplicity 

is a testimony to the small size of the Slovenian Jewish population. There are two dozen or so 

marked graves. Some are for more than one person and all are arranged around the perimeter of 

the section. The markers are on a white gravel base which surrounds a grassy lawn with trees. 

Almost all the graves are very simple, with a headstone and a lower horizontal section (a slab or 

stone curb-high enclosure) that only states the name of the deceased and date of death. One 

headstone marks the grave of an unidentified Jewish World War II victim. Many Jews, who 

were in mixed marriages, are buried in the main part of the cemetery with their families. 

A small Holocaust monument erected in 1964 is in the center of the cemetery. It is a horizontal, 

rectangular slab with an inscription that reads, "Remember the Jews, fallen soldiers and victims 

of Fascism 1941-1945." It also includes the Menorah shield of Israel, with the word "Israel" in 

Hebrew -- something that was very daring in 1964 during the atheistic Communist Party era 

(Figure 7). 

 

13 On-site interview with Uros Lubej. 

14 Ibid. 

15 Ibid. 

16 Ibid. 
7 

Most of the Jews in Slovenia today live in Ljubljana. The Jewish community offices are in a 

large office block just outside the city center. It is here, too, that the first synagogue to function 

in Ljubljana in nearly 500 years was inaugurated in January 2003. 

The new synagogue is located in a transformed suite of rooms in the office block. The tiny 

sanctuary has a modern, built-in wooden Ark and a section of exposed stone representing the 

Western Wall of Jerusalem. One wall is decorated with an inlaid stone sculptural representation 

of a Star of David. Light, openwork wooden trellises set off a women’s section to one side of the 

room. There is also a good-sized function room attached to the sanctuary. 

The Jewish community expects to use this synagogue as a temporary prayer room until it has the 

resources to find and obtain a permanent, stand-alone building or an apartment. 

2. Slovenian Istria 

Slovenia has a narrow, 47 kilometer-long (30 miles) strip of Adriatic coastline at the 

northwestern part of the Istrian peninsula, just south of the Italian city of Trieste. The main 

towns on the Slovene coast are Koper, Izola, Piran and Portoroz. 

Except for the Napoleonic period of 1809-1814 when it formed part of the short-lived Illyrian 

Provinces, greater Istria was ruled by the Habsburgs from the 14th century until the end of World 

War I. It was then granted to Italy over the protests of the newly formed Yugoslav state, which 

was known as "The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes." Yugoslavia was awarded most of 

Istria and other Italian-held territories (including what is now western Slovenia) after World War 

II. In 1954, it received almost all the rest of the peninsula, except for the city of Trieste and a 

strip of coast immediately to the north of that city. It was this settlement that incorporated the 

part of Istria that is now part of Slovenia. (Croatia includes most of what was once Istria.) 

Jews from Germany and elsewhere settled in the Istrian peninsula in the 14th and 15th centuries. 

Istria is where a mysterious false Messiah, Asher Lemlein, made a sudden -- and brief -- 

appearance from 1500 to 1502.17

Protected by local rulers, Jews in Istria were mainly traders, bankers, and money-lenders. Many 

settled there in the 15th century to take the place of Tuscan money-lenders, who were expelled 

from the region in 1451. Jews generally flourished in this role until the mid-17th century, when 

the institution of Church-run "monti di pieta" (pawn shops) drove them out of the money-lending 

business.18

Trieste, now in Italy, is the only city in Istria where there was a Jewish community after the 

middle of the 18th century.

19 But traces of Jewish history still remain in some smaller 

settlements. 

 

17 Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 9, 1100. 

18 ibid. See also Cecil Roth, History of the Jews in Italy (JPS, Philadelphia, 1946), 124. 

19 Encyclopaedia Judaica, op. cit. 
8 

3. Piran 

Piran is a charming, small medieval port on an elongated triangle-shaped spit of land poking into 

the Gulf of Trieste at the southern end of Slovenia's coast. English travel writer J.A. Cuddon 

called it "one of the most beautiful small towns on the whole coastline."20 Conquered by Venice 

in the late 13th century, Piran retains a Venetian air with fine examples of Venetian-Gothic 

architecture and an early 17th century church tower above the main square and port. The tower is 

virtually a copy of the bell tower of St. Mark's in Venice. 

There is mention of a Jewish community here in 1483,21 and Jewish settlement may have begun a 

century earlier.22 Jews were not confined to a ghetto in Piran until 1714, but, even before that, 

they tended to live around what is still called Zidovski trg. -- Jewish square, a small space in the 

heart of the old town. It is entered through two low archways and surrounded by evocative 

multistory buildings similar to the ghetto architecture in Venice.23 The buildings on Zidovski trg. 

are mainly Baroque on top of medieval foundations (Figures 11-15). 

In the 1980s, the area underwent considerable renovation and the area surrounding the square 

was renamed "The Jewish Square Quarter" ("Kare Zidovski trg."). During the renovation, two 

newer, probably late 19th century buildings were removed from Zidovski trg. to create a more 

open space.24 Nothing remains of the original medieval aspect of the buildings, which today are 

painted in light pastel colors. The Church of St. Stephen adjoins Zidovski trg. (forming part of 

its north side), and some historical sources say it was built on the site of the medieval 

synagogue25 (Figure 12). 

4. Koper 

Koper (known in Italian as Capodistria) just south of Trieste and the Italian border is a very 

beautiful port that was ruled by Venice from 1278 to 1797. The town has a distinctly Venetian 

air with its wealth of fine buildings, such as the 13th/14th century governor's palace, the 15th

century cathedral, and a 15th century loggia on the main square. 

Ruled by Austria until 1918, Koper passed to Italy after World War I and became part of 

Yugoslavia after World War II. Jews were known to live in Koper in the late 14th century. The 

first Jewish money-lending bank was opened in Koper in the 1380s.26

 

20 J.A. Cuddon, The Companion Guide to Yugoslavia (Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1984). 

21 Roth, op. cit.

22 On-site interview with Dr. Sonja Hoyer of the Intercommune Institute for the Conservation of Natural and Cultural 

Heritage, Piran, Sept. 3, 1996. 

23 ibid.

24 ibid.

25 ibid.

26 Eventov, A History of Yugoslav Jews, op. cit., 12. 
9 

The former Zidovska ulica (Jewish street) is a short, narrow, slightly curving street of five 

houses perpendicular to Cevljarska ulica. The street today is known as Triglavska ulica; earlier 

it was called via Formi, and before that was Zidovska ulica (Figures 16, 17-18). The second 

house on the right on Cevljarska ulica from the intersection with Triglavska is believed to be the 

site of where the synagogue was located.27

5. Nova Gorica (Rozna Dolina)

When Slovenia’s new borders were drawn after World War II, the town of Gorizia, north of 

Trieste, was awarded to Italy. Its suburbs went to Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav part (now in 

Slovenia) became a new government administrative center called Nova Gorica (New Gorizia). 

Gorizia came under Austrian rule in 1500. It remained a Habsburg possession until 1918 when 

the empire collapsed after World War I. Jews probably lived in Gorizia from the 13th or 14th

century. Many were bankers and money-lenders. Ferdinand I expelled the Jews from Gorizia in 

1534, and the expulsion order was renewed repeatedly, but Jews were deemed so vital to the 

economic life of the town that local officials pressured the imperial authorities to lift the ban.28

 

And in 1624, Ferdinand II granted the rank of Hofjude (Court Jew) to Gorizia’s Joseph 

Pincherle.29

A ghetto was established in Gorizia in 1698.30 During the ghetto period, Jews in the town 

became involved in a flourishing silk industry. An official census in 1764 counted 256 Jews -- 

127 men and 129 women, working in the silk industry or as pawnbrokers, merchants, rag and 

ironmongers, and other occupations.31 Jews who were expelled in 1777 from small towns ruled 

by Venice moved to Gorizia.32 In 1788, the Jewish community comprised 270 people -- about 

four percent of the town's total population.33 Even at its height, the community numbered under 

350 people. 

Few Jews remained in Gorizia on the eve of World War II. Those in the town, mainly elderly 

people, were deported to Auschwitz on November 23, 1943.34

 

27 Information provided on site by Mitja Ferenc of the Cultural Heritage Office of the Slovenian Ministry of Culture. 

28 Altieri, Orietta, "Note per una Storia Demografica degli Ebrei a Gorizia" in Pier Cesare Ioly Zorattini, ed., Gli Ebrei a 

Gorizia e Trieste tra "Ancien Regime" ed Emacipazione, (Del Bianco editore, Udine, 1984). 

29 For details see Maddalena Del Bianco Cotrozzi, "Gli Ebrei di Gradisca ed i loro Privilegi" in Zorattini, ibid. 

30 Cusin, Silvio G., and Pier Cesare Ioly Zorattini, Friuli Venezia Giulia Jewish Itineraries (Marsilio, Venice, 1998), 50. 

See also Roth, op. cit., 337, 328. 

31 Altieri, Orietta, "La Comunita' Ebraica di Gorizia: Cenni Storici," in La Speranza: Attraverso l'Ebraismo Goriziano, 

(Venice, 1991). 

32 Roth, op. cit., 416. 

33 Altieri, "Note per una Storia Demografica," op. cit., and Annie Sacerdoti and Luca Fiorentino, Guida all'Italia 

Ebraica, (Marietti, Genoa, 1986) 164. 

34 Altieri, "La Comunita' Ebraica di Gorizia: Cenni Storici," op. cit.
10 

Most of the Jewish sites of Gorizia, including a synagogue built on the site of an earlier prayer 

house in 1756 (later renovated in 1894) and the former ghetto of today’s via Ascoli, are located 

in the Italian section.35 The synagogue was in use until 1969, when the Jewish community 

formally dissolved for lack of numbers and was incorporated into the community of nearby 

Trieste. In 1978, the Trieste Jewish community presented the synagogue to the Gorizia 

Municipality with the proviso that it be restored and used for Jewish-themed cultural activities. 

The building was fully restored by regional and municipal authorities and reopened in 1984. It 

became the home of a local Association of Friends of Israel. A small museum of ritual objects 

and memorabilia was established on the ground floor. In 1998, the municipality sponsored an 

expansion and overhaul that added historical panels, didactic information, multi-media 

installations, and a separate room devoted to Gorizia’s most famous Jewish native, Carlo 

Michelstaedter. He was an early 20th century poet, painter, and philosopher. 

Gorizia’s historic Jewish cemetery is on the Slovenian side of the border, in the suburb of Rozna 

Dolina (Rose Valley or Valdirose in Italian) a few hundred yards from the main border crossing 

point. The site is roughly triangular, encompassing 5,652 square meters enclosed by a thick 

masonry wall. One part of the wall has a red-tiled upper surface. 

The cemetery is set in a beautiful location: a low-lying spot with gentle green wooded hills in the 

background. The site is separated from the former ceremonial hall by a little stream. 

The main entrance is an iron gate with a menorah motif, located at the base of the triangle, near 

the ceremonial hall. A secondary entrance is near the top point of the triangle via a gate in the 

wall. It is reached by a footbridge over the stream (Figures 19-30). A highway overpass 

parallels the gated base of the triangle, affording a good view of the site from above. 

There are approximately 900 gravestones. Some were found outside the current walls of the 

cemetery and some were brought to the present site from the earlier, older cemetery in 1881 and 

moved inside the present walls during road construction in the 1980s. A census of stones was 

made in 1876, at which time 692 were noted. This list was updated over the years and a census 

in 1932, counted 878 stones. These lists are kept in the archives of the Jewish community in 

Trieste. They also contain notations that give biographical information about some of the people 

buried in the cemetery, as well as transcriptions and translations of some of the epitaphs.36

The cemetery has been mapped in detail to show topography and also the position of each 

gravestone and monument. Each of the grave markers has also been photographed. 

 

35 On Gorizia’s Jewish quarter, see Silvio G. Cusin and Pier Cesare Ioly Zorattini, Friuli Venezia Giulia Jewish 

Itineraries op. cit. 48 ff. 

36 For detailed information on the cemetery and these census counts, see M. Elisabetta Loricchio, "Valdirose il cimitero 

perduto", in La Speranza, op. cit., Angelo Vivian, "Il Cimitero Israelitico di Nova Goriza" in Zorattini, (ed.), op. cit. 91-

98, and Dusan Ogrin, "Zidovsko pokopalisce v Novi Gorici: pomemben spomenik pokopaliske kulture", in Srecanje, No. 

35/36, 1972, 33-40. 
11 

According to Angelo Vivian, citing a list of gravestones made at the time of the 1876 census, the 

earliest gravestone in the cemetery dates from 1371, but does not represent a local burial. 

Instead, the monument to "Regina, daughter of Zerach, wife of Benedetto" was brought from 

Maribor to Gorizia in 1831 by Salomon Luzzatto.37

Sources cited by Vivian and by Darij Humar from the Institute for Conservation of Natural and 

Cultural Heritage at Nova Gorica break down the legible local inscriptions on the stones into 

four periods:38

FIRST PERIOD: 13th -15th centuries: One inscription from 1406, Levi Joshua of Isach, a stone 

found in 1865 in the atrium of a house in piazza del Duomo, and one from 1450, probably 

commemorating a member of the Morpurgo family. 

SECOND PERIOD: 16th to 17th centuries: One inscription from 1617, honoring a member of the 

Jona family on a stone found in a house in the town, and one inscription from 1652, on a stone 

which Vivian notes is believed to be the oldest identified stone from the current cemetery. 

THIRD PERIOD: 1732 to 1828: Sixteen stones transferred from the old cemetery to the current 

cemetery in 1881. 

FOURTH PERIOD: From 1829 to the present: Approximately 900 stones, with inscriptions in 

Hebrew and Italian, or only in Italian. The last burials are from World War II. There are also 

graves in memory of Auschwitz victims. 

Most of the stones are low (some knee-high or lower) gray markers carved from local sandstone 

with flat rectangular or square faces and rounded tops. Some are very thick, presenting a 

massive three-dimensional form. For most, the only decoration is the epitaph and date of death 

framed within a border. A very few of the older stones have slightly more elaborate shapes, 

some with scalloped curves. Erosion is taking its toll and many of the stones are barely legible. 

Many have numbers carved on them from the 1876 or the 1932 censuses. 

One of the older stones, near the top point of the triangle at the back of the cemetery, has an 

unusual form. It is a round ball on a low cylindrical base vaguely resembling a turban. The 

epitaph is on the round base. In a 1972 article in a Yugoslav magazine, Dusan Ogrin noted that 

this stone resembled the gravestones of men in Muslim cemeteries.39

Among the few gravestones with decorative carving are those of several members of the 

Morpurgo family, which originated in Maribor. The stones show the Morpurgo family emblem 

of Jonah in the mouth of the whale (Figures 27, 28). The Morpurgos were the most important 

and, at one time, the most numerous Jewish family in Gorizia.40

 

 

37 Vivian, "Il Cimitero Israelitico di Nova Goriza" op. cit. 

38 On-site interview with Darij Humar, Sept. 3, 1996, which is the source of most of the information in this section. 

39 Ogrin, op. cit. 

40 On the Morpurgo family see Edgardo Morpurgo, La Famiglia Morpurgo di Gradisca sull'Isonzo, 1585-1885 (1909); 

and Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 12, 348-351. 
12 

At the time of the 1876 gravestone census, some 139 of the 692 graves listed were of the 

Morpurgo family, followed by 127 from the Gentilli family, 80 from the Luzzatto family, 56 

from the Pincherle family, 37 from the Senigaglia family, 34 from the Bolaffio family, 23 from 

the Jona family, 17 from the Richetti family, 10 from the Dorfles family, seven from the 

Michelstaedter family, six from the Reggio family, five from the Pavia family, two from the 

Windspach family, and one each from the Schnabl and Schonheit families.41

Carved decorations on the graves include a few Levite pitchers. One stone fragment lying on the 

ground near the main entrance bears a winged head, like an angel, as seen on some Sephardic 

graves (and also in Christian iconography) (Figure 29). 

The most famous person buried in the cemetery is Carlo Michelstaedter, who was born in 1887 

and committed suicide in 1910. His posthumously published works are considered important as 

precursors of existentialism.42 A simple upright stone, like a post with a curved back, bearing 

simply his name and dates of his birth and death, marks his grave. It is next to the grave of his 

father, Alberto, a businessman who lived from 1850 to 1929. Alberto's simple mazzevah bears 

the carving of a Levite pitcher and a lengthy epitaph in Italian with a briefer Hebrew text 

underneath (Figure 25). 

Italian sources say the cemetery was used until the end of the 19th century by other communities 

in the vicinity, in particular Gradisca.43 It is abandoned but relatively well cared for with grass 

cut several times a year. The main threat appears to be from erosion. In the mid 1980s, the 

whole area was flooded when the stream separating a ceremonial hall from the cemetery 

overflowed its banks, but the stream was canalized and this threat is believed to no longer exist. 

The ceremonial hall was originally built in 1928 and was in ruinous condition after World War 

II. The Jewish community of Gorizia, Italy gave it to the municipality, of Nova Gorica in 1977 

in return for guarantees that the Nova Gorica municipality, would maintain and care for the 

cemetery. The hall, which was basically a shell, was reconstructed in the late 1980s (Figures 21, 

22). A simple structure with a small side part attached to a larger main building, yellowish walls 

and a red tile roof, it is still owned by the municipality, which rents it out as a cafe. There is no 

plaque to indicate its original function. Members of the newly active Jewish community in 

Slovenia have expressed concern that the former ceremonial hall is being used for an 

inappropriate purpose. They cited rumors that the café serves as a roadhouse and, possibly, even 

a brothel.44

6. Maribor 

Situated on the Drava River near today's border with Austria, Maribor gradually grew up around 

a fortress castle built probably in the 11th century. Today, Maribor is a lively university town 

and 

 

41 Vivian, "Il Cimitero Israelitico di Nova Goriza" op. cit. 

42 Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 11, 1497-98. See also Gallarotti, Antonella, “Ricordare Attraverso la Carta: Carlo 

Michelstaedter,” in La Speranza, op cit, 87 ff. Also see the web site www.michelstaedter.it. 

43 Sacerdoti and Fiorentino, op. cit., 166. See also Silvio G. Cusin and Pier Cesare Ioly Zorattini, Friuli Venezia Giulia 

Jewish Itineraries, op cit., pp 67-68. 

44 Conversations with members of the Slovenian Jewish community, Feb. 28, 2003. 
13 

regional center which retains a wealth of striking medieval and Baroque architecture 

dramatically situated on the river. Its recently restored medieval synagogue is one of the few 

from that era in Central Europe and is one of Slovenia's most important Jewish relics. 

This town in Styria was the stronghold of Slovenia's medieval Jewish population. A Jewish 

community in Maribor is first mentioned between 1274 and 1296 but Jews probably settled there 

much earlier than that. Jews in Maribor prospered as artisans, bankers, money-lenders and 

merchants trading mainly in cheese, wine, wood, and textiles. Their commercial interests 

extended to Italy, Hungary, and Moravia, and they also owned fields, vineyards, and houses as 

security on loans.45 The success of the Jewish community of Maribor in the 15th century is 

attested to by the request of several Catholic families to convert to Judaism, something unheard 

of in most parts of Europe.46

Noted Rabbi Israel Isserlein (1390-1460), one of the foremost rabbis in Germany in the 15th

century, lived in Maribor for about 20 years. He held the title "Chief Rabbi of Styria, Carinthia, 

and Carniola" between 1427 and 1435. 

The Regional Museum in Maribor displays the gravestone of Maribor’s first known rabbi, 

Abraham, who died in November 1379.47 The 109 centimeter-high gravestone was made from a 

much older Roman gravestone with traces of Latin lettering on the back and one side. The stone 

consists of three major fragments and there is much repair work on one side. From the different 

calligraphy styles, it appears as if the main fragments may, in fact, come from at least two 

different stones (Figure 31). 

Emperor Maximilian I's 1496 decree expelling the Jews from all of Styria by January 6, 1497, 

included the Jews of Maribor, most of who made their way to Venice and Hungary. Some, like 

the Morpurgo family (who took their name from the German name of Maribor, Marburg) went to 

Split and, more importantly, to Trieste, Gorizia, and Gradisca, where they prospered. 

The Jewish quarter in Maribor lies in the old town near the southwest corner of the town wall 

above the Drava River. The area is still known as Zidovska ulica (Jewish Street) (Figure 38). It 

is here that the remains of a synagogue were identified (Figures 32-38). This building, thought 

by its excavators to have measured 16.50 x 12.80 meters, post-dates 1190, as it abuts a wall of 

that date. (Excavations into the foundations of the building uncovered foundations of river 

stones, possibly dating from Roman times.) Numerous fragments of stone with carved Hebrew 

inscriptions were found during the excavations. It remains to be determined if these inscriptions 

relate to the building or are fragments of gravestones removed to the spot at a later date. A 

Jewish cemetery in Maribor was first mentioned in 1367. 

The synagogue's earliest appearance and date are unknown. (Something of its late Gothic form 

can be surmised, however. It may have resembled the Altneushul of Prague in overall 

appearance.) The structure was remodeled on several occasions, at least twice before 1450 and, 

perhaps, once following an earthquake that severely damaged the town walls in 1348. 

 

45 Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol 11, 992. 

46 Jews in Yugoslavia, op. cit., 74. 

47 Angelo Vivian gives the date as Sept. 12, 1379, corresponding to Rosh Hashana. See Vivian, "Le iscrizioni ebraiche di 

Ptuj e Maribor," in Egitto e Vicino Oriente, 4 (1981), 92. 
14 

The original structure was rectangular in plan. On the lowest level, it appears to have been 

divided into two aisles by two square piers. This created a double-nave plan of the sort familiar 

from the Romanesque synagogue in Worms (Germany) and the Gothic synagogue in Prague 

(Czech Republic). 

This plan type was used, however, for many non-Jewish building types, such as civic halls, 

monastic buildings, and churches. It is also found in the basement levels of many medieval 

buildings where cellar vaulting was preferred for structural support and fireproofing. Whether 

the double-nave plan was originally repeated in the upper level of the Maribor building is 

unclear. 

When the Jews were expelled and their institutions destroyed, the synagogue was bought by a 

local judge, Bernardin Druckher. In 1501, he converted it into a church dedicated to All Saints. 

(It was common for synagogues to be converted into churches with this name and for Jewish 

streets to be renamed All Saints Street.) Druckher’s name is carved into the frame of a window 

in the northern wall. The building functioned as a church until the late 18th century, when many 

churches and monasteries were closed as a result of Joseph II's nationalization of the Catholic 

Church. 

In the early 19th century, the building was sold and turned into a storehouse by local merchant 

Anton Altman. The building was divided horizontally into two parts. In the second half of the 

19th century, the gothic arches were demolished and the upper part of the building was converted 

into a dwelling. Pictures from the 1970s show it with rectangular, small-paned windows, a 

chimney, and what appears to be a television antenna. 

When used as a church, the upper room was an open hall, apparently vaulted with multi-rib 

vaults springing from the side walls. The entire building was probably surmounted by a steep 

wooden roof. An annex was built against the north side of the building, possibly for women. 

Restoration work completed in 2001 followed this model. 

The sanctuary is entered from the west. A large niche set into the masonry of the east wall, 

presumably for the Ark, is the only physical evidence of the Jewish use of the building. This 

niche was probably framed with some sort of carved stone or stucco architectural feature. It 

would have been approached by steps. Two tall lancet windows with Gothic tracery are set in 

the east wall flanking the central niche. These have been recently rebuilt, as one could only posit 

their original form from earlier photographs. Above the niche, a small round window provides 

further illumination (Figure 38). 

The empty synagogue was used for exhibitions in the 1980s but the building was shut because of 

unsettled ownership rights. In the early-mid 1990s, town authorities began a years-long 

reconstruction effort that was later halted due to funding problems. The delay, however, enabled 

researchers to carry out detailed studies on the building’s construction. 

The restored synagogue was inaugurated in April 2001 as a cultural center administered by the 

Regional Museum in Maribor. The intent is to establish a Jewish museum and Slovene Jewish 

heritage center in the building. Curators would like to purchase the small building adjacent to 

the synagogue for this purpose. In 2002, about 16,500 people visited the synagogue. 
15 

A so-called "Jewish Tower", built in 1465 as part of the town fortifications is now a 

photographic gallery. It is near the synagogue across an empty space where the medieval Jewish 

cemetery is believed perhaps to have been. Its only relation to Jews is that it was next to the 

ghetto and thus used in the defense of that part of town (Figure 40). 

The empty space between the synagogue and the Jewish Tower is bordered by a wall 

overlooking the river on one side and a modern building (one of the few in the vicinity) with a 

gallery, cafe, etc., on the other. There is a large tree that shades the public plaza in the middle. 

The surrounding neighborhood of the medieval ghetto, Zidovska ulica, is an area of quaint, 

pastel-colored Baroque houses on medieval foundations. It is slowly becoming the site of 

fashionable shops, boutiques, cafes, and galleries (Figure 39). 

7. Ptuj 

An extremely beautiful town dramatically situated above the Drava River just 25 kilometers 

from Maribor, Ptuj occupies a site that has been inhabited since prehistoric times. During the 

ancient Roman era it was a strategic outpost and fortress at a ford across the Drava. Known as 

“Poetovium”, it became a prosperous Roman city extending along both sides of the river. 

Invading Huns destroyed it in the fifth century. The site was then settled by Slavs. 

The more modern history of the town stems from the first part of the 12th century, when 

Archbishop Conrad I rebuilt it. Ptuj became a center of the wine trade. (The surrounding area is 

still one of Slovenia's most famous wine growing regions). A mint was established in Ptuj in 

1225. Less than a century later, a bridge was built across the Drava. 

Jews lived in Ptuj from at least the second half of the 13th century. The first documentary 

evidence dates from 1286. It records the sale of a house to a Jakob and his wife, Gnanna, for 

forty silver marks. Four Christians and four Jews were listed as witnesses to the sale. A 

well-preserved gravestone of Asher David Bar Moshe dating from 1303 also survives and is 

displayed in the regional museum. The gravestone, possibly reworked from a Roman grave 

monument, is a massive upright rectangular block on a pedestal-like base with the epitaph 

framed by a raised border. An iron ring is embedded on top of the stone (Figure 42). 

Also displayed in the museum are fragments of half a dozen other old gravestones with welldefined inscriptions. The Institute for Conservation of Natural and Cultural Heritage 

additionally has a fragment of a Jewish gravestone that was found in 1994 during rescue 

excavations of the foundation of a 17th century Capuchin monastery outside town (now the site 

of a parking lot). The stone, about 16"x 10"x 6", had been used as building material. According 

to Dr. Ada Yardini of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the fragmentary inscription reads: 
16 

"here was/were bu[ried] 

Hanina (?) 

Lady Hanna" 

The provincial archives in Ptuj include several documents testifying to the medieval Jewish 

presence in the town, including that first mention of the sale of a house in 1286. Jews had their 

own judge; the first mentioned was named Andre Walher in 1333. A town statute of 1376 dealt 

with the rights and position of Jews in the town. In addition to mentioning the Jewish judge, it 

forbade Jews to run taverns and to engage in trade. The law also regulated money lending, the 

principal activity of Ptuj Jews.48

A Judengasse (Jewish Street) was first mentioned in Ptuj in 1344. Christians also lived here at 

the time.49 It was last mentioned as a Judengasse in 1429 and was already known as 

Allerheiligengasse (All Saints Street) in 1441, indicating that the Jews may have left Ptuj for the 

most part by that time.50 The site where the street was located is today a rather wide but angled 

street named Jadranska. It leads down toward the river from the main square (Figure 41), where 

a 15-foot-high Roman funeral monolith from the 2nd century, beautifully carved with a scene of 

Orpheus and his lute, stands in front of a graceful bell tower. 

The buildings on Jadranska Street are mostly two-story dwellings with 17th, 18th, and 19th -

century façades in pastel colors. The synagogue, sited at what today is a dwelling at Jadranska 9, 

was turned into All Saints Church around 1441 or earlier. This church can be seen in a painting 

of the town by Franz Josef Fellner done in 1766, but by 1786 the church also was gone. In 1840, 

the site is known to have been occupied by a home.51

8. Prekmurje

Slovenia's Prekmurje region comprises the northeast corner of the country, bordering on Austria 

to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast and Croatia to the southeast. The Mura River forms a 

natural boundary with the rest of Slovenia to the southwest. (Prekmurje means "across the 

Mura."). The landscape is flat, slightly rolling farmland at the edge of the Pannonian plain 

bordered by low hills. The region is noted for its vineyards, wetlands, and ceramics. 

Prekmurje formed part of Hungary until the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918. It 

was occupied again by Hungary during World War II. The history of its Jews, therefore, fits the 

pattern of that of Hungarian Jews. 

Jews settled here from Hungary in the late 18th century, many from around the town of 

Zalaegerszeg, not far across today's border. They went first to Lendava, close to what is today's 

border, then to Beltinci, a town 20 kilometers away, and then to Murska Sobota, about 10 km 

 

48 Germanica Judaica, ibid, 652. 

49 ibid., 652. 

50 Arye Maimon, Mordechai Breuer and Yacov Guggenheim, eds. Germania Judaica, Band III, 1350-1519) (J.C.B. 

Mohr, Tubingen, 1995), 1097-8. Information also supplied at the Provincial Museum in Ptuj. 

51 Information supplied by the Provincial Museum. 
17 

from Beltinci.52 Their numbers swelled to some extent after an 1817 decree by Emperor Francis 

II which barred Jews from living in Carniola (central Slovenia).53

By 1793, 60 Jews lived in Prekmurje. In 1831, 207 lived in the region, most of them in Murska 

Sobota. In 1853, some 383 Jews lived in the region, 180 in Murska Sobota and 120 in Lendava. 

 The peak Jewish population of Prekmurje was in 1889, when 1,107 Jews lived there. Many 

were merchants, innkeepers, and bankers.54

The area was occupied by the Hungarians in World War II and more than 460 Jews, most of 

them from Murska Sobota, were deported to Auschwitz in 1944. The main deportation was of 

328 people in April 1944. About 65 survived.55

9. Lendava

Lendava is a small town close to the Hungarian border dominated by a hilltop castle. The town’s 

Jewish monuments constitute the most important in Slovenia along with those in Maribor and 

Nova Gorica. They include a 19th century synagogue building (Figures 43-49), a 19th or early 

20th century building that once housed a Jewish school (Figure 50), and a cemetery founded in 

the 19th century, with a ceremonial hall and a monument to local Holocaust victims 

(Figures 51-56). 

Jews from Hungary settled in Lendava around 1773, according to the first documented evidence. 

At the end of the 18th century, they gathered to pray at the home of innkeeper Bodog Weisz. In 

1837, the community rented a house for use as a prayer hall. The facility had 50 seats -- 30 for 

men and 20 for women. In 1843, the community rented and, then, purchased another building 

which became their first real synagogue.56

Construction on a new synagogue began in 1866.57 This building, recently restored as a local 

cultural center, still stands in the heart of town at Spodnja ulica 5. It is a boxy, rectangular, brick 

structure with a peaked roof. The corners are decorated with slightly raised flat pilasters. 

Heavily damaged by the Germans, the building was sold to the town after the war by the Jewish 

Federation of Yugoslavia. It was then used as a warehouse. Work began in 1994 to renovate it 

for use as a cultural center. An exhibition on local Jewish history was installed in what had been 

the women's gallery. Town officials wanted most of the interior to look like a functioning 

synagogue and, at one point, they appealed to the few remaining Jews in the town to donate 

 

52 Information supplied by Franc Kuzmic of the Prekmurje Museum in Murska Sobota, Sept. 6, 1996 and see his article 

"Naselitev Zidov v Prekmurju in Njihov Razvoj do Konca Prve Svetovne vojne" in Evangelicanski Koledar, 1993 

(Murska Sobota), 120-123. 

53 Jews in Yugoslavia, op. cit., 74. 

54 Kuzmic, op. cit., interview and article. 

55 ibid. and also Drago Novak, Ivo Resnik and Herman Sticl, Pomniki nob v Slovenskih Goricah in Prekmurju (Pomurska 

Zalozba, 1985), 329-331. 

56 Kuzmic, op. cit., interview and article. 

57 ibid.
18 

whatever ritual objects or other material they had to the museum.58

The only original interior decorative elements remaining in the building are six fluted cast iron 

columns supporting the rebuilt gallery (Figures 46, 47), stairway railings, and a small niche in 

the stairwell. A one-time circular (rose) window over the Ark has been changed into an arched 

window. Two arched side windows (which exist on the south side only) have been lengthened 

and enlarged (Figure 44). The third window on the south side has apparently been left at its 

original shape and size. There is also an arched window over the door in the west façade 

(Figures 42, 43, 46). 

Funding for the restoration came from the municipality. (Work on the restoration slowed to a 

standstill in the late 1990s, when construction began on a large, modern, new Hungarian Culture 

Center nearby.) The center was designed by prominent Hungarian architect Imre Makovec in a 

style using Hungarian national elements. The synagogue building now hosts concerts, exhibits, 

readings, and the like. 

Near the synagogue is the former Jewish school. It functioned until the 1920s. It is a fairly 

nondescript looking building built in the official Habsburg style (Figure 50). The building is 

long and low and consists of only a ground floor and raised roof (attic). Reconstruction of this 

building also began in the 1990s. 

The two structures are located off the main street of town with the Hungarian-style Baroque 

church steeple clearly visible behind. The street leading north from the rear of the synagogue 

has a short row of charming low, steep-roofed houses. Nearby are some fine examples of early 

to mid-19th century houses, but there is also a modern shopping center directly opposite the back 

of the synagogue, and the new Hungarian culture center also sharply contrasts with the older 

buildings. 

A Chevra Kadisha (Jewish burial society) was formed in Lendava in 1834. It purchased land for 

a cemetery near the village of Dolga Vas. The land was fenced in 1880.59

Today, the cemetery is on a main road facing a broad vista of farm fields, a few hundred meters 

from the Hungarian border. The cemetery is surrounded by a chain link fence. Entry is through 

a ceremonial hall. 

The hall was restored when the cemetery was repaired following an incident of vandalism in 

1989 in which 43 gravestones were damaged. The hall has a big arched central door flanked by 

two arched windows. It is painted pale yellow with a red tile roof (Figure 51). Inside is a plaque 

commemorating the Jewish cemetery in Beltinci, which ceased operations around the turn of the 

century (some of its stones may have been moved to Lendava). The plaque also commemorates 

prominent members of the local community from the early 20th century. 

There are some 176 gravestones. About 40 are from the second half of the 19th century. 

 

58 Information supplied on-site by town official Irena Krajac Horvat, Sept. 6, 1996. 

59 Kuzmic, op. cit., also material provided by Mitja Ferenc. 
19 

Most of the rest are from the 20th 60 (Figures 52-56). Many of the newer stones are made from 

black marble and are in generally good condition. A number of them, however, have had the 

laminated photograph of the deceased removed (Figure 54). There are relatively few graves with 

sculptural decoration. The older stones, which appear to be carved from local sandstone, show 

severe erosion. The faces on many are totally obliterated (Figure 55). The one unusual carving 

is a winged head, badly eroded on a stone, the epitaph of which has been totally obliterated 

(Figure 56). 

There are several inscriptions commemorating Auschwitz victims, and in the middle of the 

cemetery there is a Holocaust memorial to Prekmurje Jews erected by four survivors in 1947 

(Figure 52). It is a simple, rectangular horizontal memorial stone with a sculpted tree on the left 

side.61

Despite the incident of vandalism in 1989, there does not appear to be any threat of recurrence. 

The cemetery is well maintained with the grass cut regularly. The main threat to the cemetery 

appears to be erosion. It has already taken its toll on a number of stones. 

10. Murska Sobota 

Murska Sobota is the main town of the Prekmurje region. The site was occupied in prehistoric 

and Roman times, and the medieval town was destroyed in the mid-17th century during the 

Turkish advance on the region. Today, Murska Sobota resembles a provincial Hungarian town 

with considerable new construction. 

The town was the home of Slovenia's largest Jewish community between the two world wars. 

The first synagogue was in a private home and was mentioned in 1860. That building existed 

until it was destroyed in 1995. A synagogue designed by Lipot Baumhorn (1860-1932), the 

Budapest-based architect who was modern Europe's most prolific synagogue architect, was built 

in 1907-08 and demolished in 1954.62

The Baumhorn synagogue was fairly modest in comparison to some of the architect's other 

designs. He made use of pointed, almost gothic style windows, as well as architectural ribbing 

as decoration. Inside, slim columns supported a women's gallery. The bimah (reader's platform) 

was at front just before the Ark in Neolog fashion. The Ark was set in a decorative tabernacle 

backed by a surmounting arch at the level of the women's gallery which spanned the entire east 

wall. 

 

60 Information supplied by Mitja Ferenc. 

61 See Novak et al, "Pomniki," op. cit. 

62 Kuzmic, op. cit. On Baumhorn see Carol Herselle Krinsky, The Synagogues of Europe (MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 

1985) passim; and more recently Ruth Ellen Gruber, Upon the Doorposts of Thy House: Jewish Life in East-Central 

Europe, Yesterday and Today. (John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1994), 139-184. Also, Baumhorn Lipot epitesz 1860-

1932 (Budapest: Jewish Museum, 1999), the catalogue to an exhibition on Baumhorn’s work held at the Jewish Museum 

in Budapest in 1999. A picture of the Murska Sobota synagogue appears on pg 17. 
20 

The town's Protestant community tried to secure the synagogue around 1951 for use as a church. 

 Local Jews were amenable to the plan, but no response came from the Federation of Jewish 

Communities in Belgrade, and the building was demolished.63 Today, a modern apartment block 

stands on the site. 

The Jewish cemetery, at the corner of Malanova and Panonska streets, dates from the 19th

century. It was, reportedly, very overgrown, and untended following World War II, although in 

a photograph from that period it did not look too bad. It was demolished in the late 1980s with 

the approval of the Jewish Federation in Belgrade. According to Franc Kuzmic of the Prekmurje 

Museum, some 38 stones were standing at the time and 30 of them were auctioned off. The town 

chose eight of the more elaborate stones of differing types to create a simple -- but striking and 

dignified -- memorial to the town's murdered Jews. 

The site, a rectangular plot with a housing development on one side that encroaches on some of 

the cemetery, is a grassy park dotted with trees. In the middle, seven stones have been arranged 

in a semi-circle facing benches (Figure 57). At the street, under a big weeping willow, stands a 

fine black marble stone. This is the gravestone of Edmund Furst, president of the Murska Sobota 

Jewish community who died in 1929 (Figure 58). On the rear of the stone is written that this is a 

Jewish cemetery and memorial park to the victims of Fascism and Nazism. 

In 1990, Kuzmic put together a book on the history of Jews in Prekmurje. He also organized a 

small permanent exhibit on Jews at the local museum, which opened in 1997. It includes 

portions of Torah scrolls from the Baumhorn synagogue as well as a Hebrew-Hungarian prayer 

book and a few ritual items.64 (A small number of Jews were believed still to live in Murska 

Sobota in April 2003.) 

 

63 Kuzmic, op. cit. 

64 See the museum catalogue: Katalog Stalna Razstava, Pokrajinski Muzej. Murska Sobota, 1997. 
21 

V. World War I Cemeteries With Jewish Graves 

1. Stanjel 

Stanjel is a pretty little hilltop village about 30 kilometers to the southeast of Ljubljana. In the 

valley below, behind railway tracks are the haunting remains of an Austro-Hungarian World War 

I military cemetery. The cemetery was once extremely grand, with a broad central alley leading 

from imposing gates up to a massive Greek-temple style monument bearing the inscription in 

Latin, "To the best sons, the Homeland gives thanks,” with row after row of gravestones/crosses 

on either side. The cemetery was designed by a military architect, Oberleutnant Joseph Ulrich, 

and is believed to have been built with the labor of Russian prisoners of war. Nearby were a 

military hospital and a rail line that transported wounded soldiers. 

All that is left are: the massive stone pillars of the gates, carved art deco-style with 1915 and, 

1917 inscribed in it; the huge, temple-like monument; and about five scattered grave markers, 

including two twisted rusty iron crosses. The rest is an apparently empty field (Figure 59). 

Two of the gravestones are of Jewish soldiers. One is of Dezso Steiner, who apparently was 

from Hungary. The other is the grave of Solomon Gerschow, a Russian, who, possibly, was a 

prisoner of war. Each is marked with a Star of David (Figure 60). 

2. Kidricevo 

At Kidricevo, a few kilometers from Ptuj, is another World War I military cemetery that has only 

a few remaining gravestones. Only one of the remaining stones commemorates a Jew. It marks 

the burial place of Isidor Lowy, who died in August 1916. The stone is decorated with a Star of 

David and Decalogue (Figures 61, 62). 
22 

VI. Photographs 

Figures 1, 2. Ljubljana. Zidovska 

ulica and Zidovska steza meet in an 

intersection in the middle of what today 

is one of Ljubljana’s most picturesque 

and fashionable downtown areas. Top: 

Zidovska steza looking toward the river 

embankment from Zidovska ulica. 

Bottom: Zidovska steza looking toward 

intersection with Zidovska ulica. 
23 

Figures 3, 4. Ljubljana. Top:

Zidovska ulica. Bottom: Reputed 

site of former synagogue on Zidovska 

steza. 
24 

Figures 5, 6. Ljubljana. There is a 

small Jewish section in Ljubljana’s 

municipal cemetery, Zale. Top: Site 

of Jewish cemetery behind hedge 

within municipal cemetery. Bottom: 

Gates to Jewish cemetery. 
25 

Figures 7, 8. Ljubljana. Jewish cemetery. Top: Holocaust memorial. Bottom: 

Several gravestones. 
26 

Figures 9, 10. Ljubljana. Jewish 

cemetery. Top: Several graves. 

Bottom: Grave from 1932. 
27 

Figures 11, 12. Piran. The buildings 

on Zidovski trg. are mainly Baroque 

on top of medieval foundations. Top: 

Entrance to Zidovski trg. Bottom: 

Front of church of St. Stephen next to 

Zidovski trg., said to be site of former 

synagogue. The narrow passage to 

the right leads to the piazza next to 

Zidovski trg. 
28 

Figures 13, 14. Piran. Top: Zidovski 

trg. (piazetta ebrei). Bottom: Zidovski 

trg., with arched window (right) of 

church. 
29 

Figure 15. Piran. Top: Zidovski trg. with arched window (right) of church. 

Figure 16. Koper. Bottom: The former Zidovska ulica (Jewish Street) is a short 

narrow, slightly curving street of five houses perpendicular to Cevljarska ulica. The 

street today is known as Triglavska ulica; earlier it was called via Formi, and before 

that was Zidovska ulica. 
30 

Figure 17. Koper. The former Zivdovska ulica 

(Jewish street), is a short narrow, slightly 

curving street of five houses perpendicular to 

Cevljarska ulica. The street today is known as 

Triglavska ulica; earlier it was called via Formi, 

and before that was Zidovska ulica. 

Figure 18. Koper. Building believed to be on site of 

former synagogue. 
31 

Figures 19, 20. Nova Gorica (Rozna Dolina). The Jewish cemetery is a roughly 

triangular or slightly lozenge-shaped site encompassing 5652 square meters, 

enclosed by a thick masonry wall, one part of which has a red-tiled upper surface. 

Top: Gate. Bottom: View from a distance 
32 

Figures 21, 22. Nova Gorica (Rozna Dolina). Jewish cemetery. Restored former 

ceremonial hall and gate. The ceremonial hall was originally built in 1928 and was 

in ruinous condition after World War II. The Jewish community of Gorizia (Italy) 

gave it to the municipality of Nova Gorica in 1977 in return for guarantees that the 

Nova Gorica municipality would maintain and care for the cemetery. The hall, 

which was basically a shell, was restored in the late 1980s. 
33 

Figures 23, 24. Nova Gorica (Rozna Dolina). Jewish cemetery. Most of the 

stones are low grey mazzevot, with flat rectangular or square faces and rounded tops. 

 For most, the only decoration is the epitaph and date of death, framed within a 

border. Erosion is taking its toll, and many are scarcely legible. Many of the stones 

have numbers carved on them -- probably from the 1876 or 1932 census. Top: 

Older section. Bottom: Newer section. 
34 

Figures 25, 26. Nova Gorica (Rozna Dolina). Jewish cemetery. Top: Grave of 

philosopher and painter, Alberto Michelstaedter, who lived from 1850 to 1929. His 

simple mazzevah bears the carving of a Levite pitcher, and a lengthy epitaph in 

Italian with a briefer Hebrew text underneath. Bottom: Uncovering a fallen 

gravestone from 1915. 
35 

Figures 27, 28. Nova Gorica 

(Rozna Dolina). Jewish cemetery. 

Among the few tombstones with 

decorative carving are tombs of 

several members of the important 

Morpurgo family (which originated in 

Maribor), which show the emblem of 

Jonah in the mouth of the whale. 

Top: Grave of Benedetto Morpurgo. 

Bottom: Grave of Ettore Morpurgo. 
36 

Figures 29, 30. Nova Gorica (Rozna 

Dolina). Jewish cemetery. Top: One 

fragment of stone lying on the ground near 

the main entrance bears a winged head, like 

an angel, as seen in some Sephardic tombs. 

Bottom: Grave of journalist Carolina 

Luzzatto. 
37 

Figures 31, 32. Maribor. Top: 

The medieval tombstone of 

Maribor’s first known rabbi, 

Abraham, who died in 

November 1379, together with 

fragments from another early 

mazzevah. Bottom: Also on 

view are architectural fragments 

from the presumed synagogue. 
38 

Figures 33, 34. Maribor. The synagogue, sited in the former Jewish quarter next to 

the town’s defensive walls and turned into a church by the year 1501. In recent 

years, excavation and restoration of the building has attempted to recover the original 

form of the synagogue and to restore its medieval appearance. Top: North façade. 

Bottom: East façade. 
39 

Figures 35, 36. Maribor. Synagogue. 

Top: Detail of north façade. Bottom: 

Detail of north façade with new entrance 

stairs and door. 
40 

Figures 37, 38. Maribor. Synagogue. Top: Interior after creation of “women’s 

gallery,” a modern invention which must now be removed. Bottom: Main hall, 

view of east wall with rebuilt lancet windows and oculus above presumed location 

of Ark. 
41 

Figures 39, 40. Maribor. Top: Zidovska 

ulica. Bottom: “Jewish Tower”. 
42 

Figures 41, 42. Ptuj. Top: Jadranska ulica, which 

leads down toward the river from the main square, is 

on the site of the former Judengasse. Bottom: The 

tombstone of Asher David Bar Moshe, dating from 

1303 (?) is displayed in the Provincial Museum. The 

stone is possibly reworked from a Roman grave 

monument. 
43 

Figures 43, 44. Lendava. Synagogue. Top: West façade with view of church spire 

in background. Bottom: West façade with new door. 
44 

Figures 45, 46. Lendava. Synagogue. Top: South and east (in shadow) façades. 

Bottom: East and north façades. 
45 

Figures 47, 48. Lendava. Synagogue. Top: Interior with reconstructed women’s 

gallery looking west. Bottom: Looking east. 
46 

Figures 49, 50. Lendava. Top: Synagogue seen from former Jewish school. 

Bottom: Former Jewish school. Plans are to restore it as a dance center. 
47 

Figures 51, 52. Lendava. Jewish cemetery. Top: The cemetery ceremonial hall 

has a big arched central door flanked by two arched windows and is painted pale 

yellow with red tile roof. Bottom: Path and benches. 
48 

Figures 53, 54. Lendava. Jewish cemetery. There are some 176 tombstones, about 

40 from the second half of the 19th century, most of the rest from the 20th century. 

Top: In the middle of the cemetery there is a Holocaust memorial to Prekmurje Jews 

erected by four survivors in 1947. Bottom: Many of the newer stones are of black 

marble and in generally good condition. A number of them, however, have had the 

laminated photograph of the person removed. 
49 

Figures 55, 56. Lendava. Jewish 

cemetery. Top: Examples of typically 

eroded stones. Bottom: There are 

relatively few tombs with sculptural 

decoration. The one notable carving is 

a winged head, very eroded, on a stone 

whose epitaph was totally obliterated. 
50 

Figures 57, 58. Murska Subota. Top: Eight stones from the demolished Jewish 

cemetery were used to create a Holocaust memorial in the late 1980s. The site is a 

grassy park (the dead are still buried there) dotted with trees. In the middle, seven 

stones have been arranged in a semi-circle, facing benches. Bottom: At the street, 

under a big weeping willow, stands a fine black marble stone. It is the tombstone of 

Edmund Furst, president of the Murska Sobota Jewish community, who died in 1929. 
51 

Figures 59, 60. Stanjel. Austrian World War I military cemetery. Top: View of 

gate posts. Bottom: Surviving Jewish gravestones. 
52 

Figures 61, 62. Kidricevo. Austrian World 

War I military cemetery. Top: Front gate. 

Bottom: Surviving Jewish gravestone. 
53 

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