The Jewish Family Facing the Post-War Situation and anti-Semitism in Slovakia (1945 – 1948)

The Second World War affected the Jewish population in a specific way. In a critical state appeared especially the traditional Jewish family and, in fact, it ceased to exist. It is possible to speak about torsos of families – children without parents, spouses without their partners and other family members. The return to a society exhibiting complicated social relations, harsh socio-economic conditions and a post-war psychosis was tremendously difficult for the Jews. In this context, they had three possible options: to preserve their identity, to get assimilated, or to emigrate. Each of these solutions would affect family relationships and bonds. Of extreme difficulty was to reconcile themselves to the traumatising experiences from the recent past. Besides problems connected with participation in everyday life they had to face a wave of post-war of anti-Semitism. As a result, it was difficult for the Jewish people to regard their own identity – from getting entirely distanced from to getting entirely identified with it.