This past Thursday, April 20th, the Federation of Jewish Communities in Slovakia (ÚZŽNO) together with Pavol and Peter Hudák invited professionals and honorary guests to a conference that concludes the synagogue’s restoration. ÚZŽNO received a grant of 649,703 euros from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Financial Mechanism for the project, which is officially named Bardejov Suburbia: Rescue, Recovery, and Restoration of the Old Synagogue. Once completed, the total cost of the project will be 750,000 euro. Also included is the re-surfacing of the Suburbia courtyard, a fence around the courtyard and a replication of the old slaughter house. 

The conference was attended by H.E. Inga Magistad (the Norwegian ambassador in Slovakia), Mr. Jaroslav Mojžiš (Director of the Norway and EEA Grants on behalf of the Slovak Government), project implementers and other guests. 

The Slovak government announced the conference on its official website and noted that the adjacent Holocaust Memorial provides “the right conditions for educational activity for youth and the public as well as an opportunity to discover the history of the city together with the cultural and historical heritage of the Bardejov Jewish community.” Please click here to read the full article posted on the website of the Slovak government (in Slovak).
Mr. Emil Fish gave a welcoming speech to the conference participants, which was recorded for the event (To view the full program of the event please click here).

Below are several photos taken by Mr. Ferdinand Hažlinský on the day of the conference, which was a wonderful prelude to our event in June that will incorporate an official public ceremony.

We hope you all received last week’s email and newsletter which included a detailed tentative program for the event and an interest in participation form. As we advance with the preparation for the event we urge you to please send us back your form as we need to finalize our list of participants. Both forms (program and interest form) have been attached to this email and you may also access them on our website by clicking here.

We also wanted to let you know that we are very happy to learn that the low-cost airline WIZZAIR will start operating direct flights from Tel Aviv to Kosice in June 2017. Please click here to search their website.