Slovakia marked a solemn and historic anniversary as President Peter Pellegrini took part in a commemorative ceremony in the city of Poprad. The event honoured the 84th anniversary of the first deportation of Jews from Slovakia to the Auschwitz concentration camp—a moment that remains one of the darkest chapters in the country’s history.
Eighty-four years ago, Poprad’s railway station became the departure point for around one thousand young Jewish women and girls, forcibly sent on a journey from which none would return. Today, that same place stands as a site of remembrance and reflection.
A large number of dignitaries gathered to lay wreaths, including representatives of the Slovak government and parliament, senior officials from the Prešov self-governing region, and local authorities.
The ceremony was organised by the Holocaust Museum in Sered together with the Federation of Jewish Communities in Slovakia, continuing a tradition of public commemoration and education.
Representatives of survivors, the Ambassador of the State of Israel to Slovakia, and leaders of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Slovakia also addressed those in attendance, reinforcing the importance of preserving memory and confronting contemporary challenges.
In his address, President Pellegrini urged society to reject hatred and the growing normalisation of dehumanising rhetoric in public discourse. He stressed that remembrance must not remain symbolic, but should serve as a call to action: “Let us stand against all forms of hatred that divide society and dehumanise people. We must ensure that such a tragedy never happens again.”
The President also paid tribute not only to the victims, but also to those who resisted oppression—individuals who, despite fear and danger, defended human dignity and fought for freedom.
The ceremony concluded with a moment of silence, honouring the victims of Nazi persecution and the broader machinery of genocidal ideology that led to the Holocaust.
