Nové Mesto nad Váhom

A town in western Slovakia that was home to one of the largest Slovak Jewish communities before the war. In 1939, an old age home was converted into a refuge for Jews, which was run partially with support from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. In 1941, 230 elderly Jews were housed there. In 1943, the Slovak government established a camp in Nové Mesto nad Váhom called “Central Jewish Old People’s Camp in Nováky with transitional headquarters in Nové Mesto nad Váhom,” primarily for the purpose of housing elderly Jews who were deemed to be a drain on resources in the labor camps in Slovakia. After the German takeover of Slovakia in 1944, all residents of the camp were deported to Auschwitz via the transit camp at Sered.