14: Journey to Israel
Oscar Sladek
All of Oscar’s hopes turn toward Israel. In his memoir, Escape to the Tatras, Oscar writes: “It became clear with each passing day that many of us who survived were damaged human beings, fearful and emotionally shattered. By moving to Israel, I hoped I could repair my faith in humanity, leave fear behind, and walk the streets with pride and dignity, not having to breath the air contaminated by evil hatred and curses.” However, he is shocked to learn his parents and some of their siblings are instead considering moving to South America. The Zinger family decides to move to Venezuela. Some of Frici’s brothers decide to stay in Slovakia. But Frici and Irene, along with Irene’s brother and his wife, decide they will go to Israel, and Oscar is elated.
The process of moving to Israel is far from straightforward. All of their belongings must be packed in a shipping container a month before their departure. When they pack everything up, an inspector comes to ensure that they are not taking too many valuables or too much money out of the country. Like many other emigrants, the Sladeks carefully hide certain objects in their shipping container. Irene and Frici entrust this task to Oscar. They watch nervously as the inspector picks over their things and finds nothing improper.
The Sladeks’ visa application also must be approved. The process has many steps, and at each step a bribe is expected by the communist bureaucrats. They finally file all the necessary paperwork and are told they will be able to leave in May of 1949. They rush to book a train through the Jewish Agency Sochnut, which will help them get to Constanta, Romania where they will take a ship to Haifa, Israel.
The Sladeks board the train from Košice to Bratislava with a few suitcases. At Bratislava they change trains. During their three-day rail journey, the passengers headed for Israel hold religious services together. Multiple times during their journey, the train is stopped and everyone’s paperwork is checked and their suitcases are inspected by various government officials. Looking for anyone attempting to take valuables out of the country, agents ask the Sladeks to empty their pockets, looking through their bags, and even inspecting their shoes. The inspector carefully looks their belongings over before handing them back. The Sladeks have passed inspection, but little does the inspector know that he has missed American money concealed by Frici, as well as Irene’s diamond ring, which Oscar has hidden in the heel of his mother’s shoe.
They arrive at the port of Constanta where they will board their ship to Israel. Because they arrive so late, they have to sleep aboard the train one more night. The mood is excited as everyone looks forward to the next leg of their journey. After long lines and more paperwork inspections the next day, they board the ship, which turns out to be an old cargo ship converted to carry passengers. There are neither enough toilets nor enough fresh water for the passengers, so the journey will be far from comfortable. Oscar has never been on a ship and as soon as it sails “into the open waters of the Black Sea the hull began to creak. [. . .] I didn’t like the noises around me. On top of that, I was a poor swimmer. I was panic-stricken, worried about the vessel’s integrity. Were we going to be dumped into the sea due to excessive load?”
Early the next morning, the ship sails down the Bosphorus. When the minarets and palaces of Istanbul appear on one side of the ship, all the passengers rush to see the view. The shifting weight of so many people causes the ship to lurch, and the captain quickly orders everyone to spread out across the ship to distribute weight evenly.
An immigrant ship landing in Haifa (1946)
Like many other children on board, although Oscar is instructed to stay below, he spends most of the journey exploring the ship. He sometimes finds a hidden spot to watch the moon or the sunrise reflect in the Mediterranean. Finally, land is spotted. Shouts spread the question across the ship—could that be Israel on the horizon? Over the ship’s loudspeaker, the captain announces that the land ahead is, indeed, Israel, and jubilation breaks out on board. Musical instruments are produced and dancing starts up behind him, but Oscar is “glued to the railing, focused on the scenery” of his new home. As the ship is finally towed into the harbor, “Anyu, Apu, little Marika and I hugged and kissed, laughed and cried. Our joy and elation, mixed with a certain degree of apprehension about the unknown future and the new beginning, is truly hard to describe.”
Everyone on board anxiously prepares to leave the ship, only to discover that they will not be able to disembark. They have arrived on the eve of the first celebration of Israel’s Independence Day! The harbor is closed because everyone has the day off. This is a disappointment to everyone on board, but the Sladeks and their fellow passengers decide that they will join in Israel’s celebrations on the ship’s deck.
Oscar recalls, “Following dinner, the dancing began and went on and on and on, non-stop, until the wee hours of the morning on May 14, 1949. I could hardly believe it. Israel and freedom were within our reach. After all we had been through, my dreams had been realized.”
Interview excerpt: “He survived the Holocaust, then flourished on Colorado’s folk music scene”
Oscar: We sang Hatikvah when we were on the ship. On the immigrant ship that took us from Romania to Israel, arrived to Israel the evening before Yom Ha’atzmaut, which was independence day.
Ryan Warner: By the way, Hatikvah is the national anthem of Israel.
Oscar: Yeah, the national anthem. So what we did, we didn’t sleep all night on the ship.
Ryan Warner: You were excited?
Oscar: Oh! We were dancing and singing, and we sang all kind of songs, Israeli songs that I learned in my youth group in Prešov before we went to Israel.
Ryan Warner: A festive environment on that boat.
Oscar: It was a wonderful time that I never forget, you know.
Ryan Warner: And how did it feel to be in Israel in those early days?
Oscar: It felt, to me it was like paradise, okay. Going through all the experiences in Europe, I could hardly wait to get there. I was fourteen years old. I was determined to go to Israel. Because, the fact was, that after we came back from the mountains, and back to Prešov, the war basically came to an end, there was still a lot of antisemitism.
Ryan Warner: I mean, it lingers today in those places, frankly.
Oscar: And it was not a pleasant environment, and what came on top of that, in 1948, communists took over Slovakia, Czechoslovakia, see these two nation joined again after the war.
Ryan Warner: Yes, and land was seized and lives were upended.
Oscar: And they [his parents] lost their business the second time.
Transcript
Oscar: We sang Hatikvah when we were on the ship. On the immigrant ship that took us from Romania to Israel, arrived to Israel the evening before Yom Ha’atzmaut, which was independence day.
Interviewer: By the way, Hatikvah is the national anthem of Israel.
Oscar: Yeah, the national anthem. So what we did, we didn’t sleep all night on the ship.
Interviewer: You were excited?
Oscar: Oh! We were dancing and singing, and we sang all kind of songs, Israeli songs that I learned in my youth group in Prešov before we went to Israel.
Interviewer: A festive environment on that boat.
Oscar: It was a wonderful time that I never forget, you know.
Interviewer: And how did it feel to be in Israel in those early days?
Oscar: It felt, to me it was like paradise, okay. Going through all the experiences in Europe, I could hardly wait to get there. I was fourteen years old. I was determined to go to Israel. Because, the fact was, that after we came back from the mountains, and back to Prešov, the war basically came to an end, there was still a lot of antisemitism.
Interviewer: I mean, it lingers today in those places, frankly.
Oscar: And it was not a pleasant environment, and what came on top of that, in 1948, communists took over Slovakia, Czechoslovakia, see these two nation joined again after the war.
Interviewer: Yes, and land was seized and lives were upended.
Oscar: And they [his parents] lost their business the second time.
"It felt, to me it was like paradise, okay. Going through all the experiences in Europe, I could hardly wait to get there. I was fourteen years old. I was determined to go to Israel. ”
Interview with Oscar Sladek by Ryan Warner, Colorado Public Radio (January 27, 2023)
Celebrations in Tel Aviv on the first anniversary of Israel's founding, May 14, 1949
Oscar Sladek's Timeline
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Czechoslovakia formed
Czechoslovakia is founded after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I. The country comprises the Czech provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, Slovakia, Subcarpathian Rus [today part of Ukraine known as Transcarpathia] and parts of the Austrian region of Silesia, and is home to a variety of ethnic groups including Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, and Slovaks.
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Oscar Sladek is born in Prešov, Czechoslovakia
Frici and Irene Štaub welcome their first son, Oskar. Later, the family will change their last name to Sladek, and Oskar will change the spelling of his name to Oscar. Oscar is born in the Slovak part of Czechoslovakia and belongs to a Slovak Jewish population that numbers over 136,000 in 1930.
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Hungary passes three ‘Jewish Laws’
The first of three Jewish Laws establishes quotas restricting the number of Jews permitted to work in certain white-collar professions and business sectors. The second, passed a year later on May 5, 1939 defines Jews racially based on their ancestry, restricts their voting rights, and further reduces the professional quotas established under the First Jewish Law in 1938. A third Jewish Law is enacted on August 8, 1941, banning marriages and sexual relations between Jews and non-Jews in Hungary.
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Munich Agreement authorizes German annexation of Sudetenland
Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy conclude an agreement that allows Germany to annex the Sudetenland, a largely German-speaking region then part of Czechoslovakia, in exchange for a peace pledge. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain hails the Munich Agreement as an achievement of "peace in our time" but he is criticized for a policy of appeasement. Nazi troops occupy Sudetenland on October 1, and the democratically-elected Czechoslovakian government, which was not party to the negotiation, resigns.
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Hlinka Guard established
The paramilitary unit of the pro-Nazi Slovak People’s Party (HSLS), named after Slovak nationalist Andrej Hlinka. The group supported the right-wing party’s goal of achieving Slovakian independence and, after the establishment of the Slovak Republic in 1939, the consolidation of authoritarian power in the new regime and the persecution and vilification of Jews, Czechs, and political opponents.
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First Vienna Award redraws Czechoslovakian borders
In the wake of the Munich Agreement ceding the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Germany, the First Vienna Award provided for further territorial claims against Czechoslovakia. With support from Germany and Italy, Hungary is awarded territories along the southeastern border of Czechoslovakia that had been under Hungarian control prior to World War I.
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Formation of Slovakia
Following the partition of Czechoslovakia, the independent Slovak Republic is established. Essentially a client state of Nazi Germany, the new Slovakian regime under Prime Minister Jozef Tiso immediately curtails democratic freedoms and pursues a decidedly anti-Jewish agenda.
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Nazi occupation of Czech lands and partition of Czechoslovakia
In violation of the Munich Agreement, Nazi troops invade and occupy Czech territory, establishing the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Hungary annexes territory along the former southern border of Czechoslovakia, as well as Subcarpathian-Ruthenia [today Transcarpathia, part of Ukraine]; the Tesin District of Czech Silesia is annexed by Poland. Slovakia becomes an independent state.
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Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia join the Axis alliance
Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia join with Nazi-allied forces: the Axis.
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“The Jewish Codex” adopted in Slovak Republic
The Slovak government adopts “The Jewish Codex,” a comprehensive packet of anti-Jewish laws among the strictest such measures to be found in any European country. The 270 paragraphs of the Codex include measures to define the term “Jew” based on strictly racial criteria, ban Jews from membership in organizations of any kind, require the wearing of a Jewish badge, curtail Jewish citizens’ ability to own businesses, property, or bank accounts. The combined effect of the Jewish Codex is the complete exclusion of Jews from public life in Slovakia.
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First deportation of Slovak Jews
The first transport of Slovak Jews—consisting of 1000 women and girls—is deported to concentration camps in German-occupied Poland. The Slovak government has agreed to pay Nazi Germany a fee of 500 Reichsmarks for every Jew deported from Slovakia, ostensibly to cover the cost of resettlement and retraining. Some 57,000 Slovak Jews are gathered into labor camps within Slovakia and, over the next seven months, deported to concentration camps in German-occupied Poland.
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Oscar Sladek is sent to Kassa, Hungary
The Štaubs have been able to avoid the deportations of 1942 by hiding during roundups. Now, after a brief reprieve during which deportations were halted, the government is threatening to resume the transports. Irene has a sister living in Kassa, Hungary, just 20 miles away from Prešov. The situation seems much safer on the Hungarian side, so Irene and Frici Štaub hire a smuggler to take Oscar across the border to live with Irene's sister's family.
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Deportation transports from Slovakia halted
Since March 25, 1942, Slovakia has deported more than 57,000 Jews, delivering them into German custody in Nazi-occupied Poland. As reports that deported Jews are being murdered by the Nazis reach the Slovakian government, President Jozef Tiso, who is an ordained Catholic priest, comes under pressure from the Vatican and other Church officials. Tiso orders deportations of Slovak Jews to camps in German-occupied Poland to cease.
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Jewish population of Slovakia is estimated to be c. 20,000
The number of Jews living in Slovakia, estimated to have been c. 89,000 in 1940, has been reduced to around 20,000 at the beginning of 1943. More than 57,000 Slovak Jews were deported between May-October 1942; most of them have perished. Of those remaining in Slovakia, some 2,500 are interned in the three major labor camps: Sered, Nováky, and Vyhne. Some 6,000 more have fled to Hungary, the only country under Nazi influence not yet deporting Jews. Many others are in hiding or living under false identities.
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Report to US State Department confirms systematic murder of Jews
A report from the American Legation in Switzerland to the US State Department with the title “Confirming Reports of Mass Executions of Jews in Poland” describes the systematic deprivation and murder of Jews across Europe and specifically in ghettos and Nazi concentration camps in Poland, adding to growing evidence of Nazi atrocities against the Jewish populations of occupied Europe.
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Nazi surrender at Stalingrad
After months of bitter fighting, the Soviet army is finally able to surround and trap German forces besieging the city. Of the nearly 250,000 troops that attacked the city in August 1942, some 90,000 surrender to the Soviets. The German defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad marks a turning point in the war; Soviet forces will now advance and push the Axis to retreat.
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Italy surrenders to Allies
Following the Allied invasion of Italy and the defeat of Italian operations in North Africa, Mussolini is replaced as prime minister by Marschall Pietro Badoglio, who formally surrenders to the Allies in early September. Northern Italy is quickly occupied by Germany.
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Nazis occupy Hungary
Hungary, part of the Axis powers since 1940, wavers in its support of Hitler after Soviet successes on the battlefield. Concerned that Hungary is preparing to leave the Axis powers and join the Allies, Hitler orders Hungary’s occupation. Hungarian Regent Miklós Horthy is sidelined and a pro-Nazi government is appointed. Up to this point, Hungary has refused to deport its Jewish population.
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Oscar Sladek returns to Prešov
Unable to convince his relatives in Hungary of the danger to Jews under Nazi occupation, Oscar demands to be sent back to his parents in Prešov. He travels with a smuggler organized by his parents.
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Registration of Hungary's Jews
Nazi and Hungarian authorities begin to register the country's Jews, force them to wear an identification badge, confiscate propery and businesses, and soon isolate them in ghettos.
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Deportations of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz-Birkenau begin
Beginning 15 May, Nazi forces and Hungarian collaborators systematically round-up and deport c. 440,000 Jews within two months. Most are murdered on arrival in Auschwitz-Birkenau; some 110,000 are assigned to forced labor.
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Oscar Sladek and his family leave Prešov for Mikuláš
Supplied with false papers by their friend the judge, the Štaubs have been living under assumed Christian identity in Prešov. Fearing they will be recognized as Jews, they decide to leave Prešov for a new location: Mikuláš [Liptovský Mikuláš] is located in the mountainous region of northern Slovakia.
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Russia advances westward in Subcarpathian Rus
During the summer of 1944, Russian forces move up through Subcarpathian Rus towards Slovakia’s eastern border. The Russian advance is an important factor precipitating the Slovak uprising in August, leading to Germany's subsequent occupation of Slovakia.
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Einsatzgruppe H active in Slovakia
Einsatzgruppe H is a special task force of the SS with the express purpose of implementing the Final Solution in Slovakia and suppressing resistance to Nazi occupation. With the occupation of Slovakia, the Nazis prioritize the elimination of the Jewish population. Working with local collaborators such as the Hlinka Guard, Einsatzgruppe H systematically hunt down Jews and partisans, as well as anyone suspected of aiding either. Those found are either killed on the spot or deported.
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Germany occupies Slovakia
In response to a partisan uprising, Germany enters and occupies Slovakia. Encouraged by the Allied invasion of Normandy and news that Soviet troops are advancing towards Slovakia, the underground Slovak resistance movement revolts against the Tiso regime and the influence of the Nazis. As many as 80,000 fighters from the Slovak military, partisan groups, and foreign volunteers join forces in the Slovak National Uprising. After the organized rebellion is quashed by Nazi occupying forces in late October, partisan fighters retreat but continue resistance using guerilla tactics.
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The Štaubs leave Mikuláš for Bobrovček
Nazi forces advance into Slovakia and begin to encircle Mikulas. Partisan forces in the city retreat, and Oscar and his family move to the village of Bobrovček, where the partisans have established a base.
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Deportation of Slovak Jews under Nazi occupation
Under German occupation the deportation of Slovak Jews resumes. Between September and December 1944, approximately 12,600 Jews are transported to concentration camps, bringing the total of deported Slovak Jews to c. 70,000.
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Soviet Army enters Slovakia
From early September 1944, the Soviets and Germans are fighting along the Polish-Slovak border in the Carpathian Mountains. The Soviets gain control of Slovak territory near Svidnik in early October. Simultaneously, the Soviets were pushing upward through Hungary along the southeastern border of Slovakia. By November, eastern Slovakia is under Soviet control.
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Oscar Sladek and his family flee into the Tatras
As the Nazis are about to take control of the village of Bobrovcek, the Štaubs flee on foot into the Tatra mountains, along with other Jews, partisans, and others. They take shelter in a primitive cabin they must share with 12 other people.
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Publication of Auschwitz Report
The War Refugee Board publishes the 40-page report “German Extermination Camps – Auschwitz and Birkenau,” based on first-person testimony from four Slovakian Jewish men who had escaped from Auschwitz in spring 1944. Known as the 'Auschwitz Report,' the document contains for the first time estimates of the numbers of Jews being murdered in the camp as well as details of camp operations, including the gas chambers. One of the eyewitness accounts reported is from Irene Štaub’s second cousin, Arnost Rozin.
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German and Soviet forces battle for control of Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia
In early February, Soviet forces take control of villages to the east and south of the strategically important town. Mikuláš itself is the site of prolonged fighting between the advancing Soviet army and German forces ordered to hold the position. The Germans begin pulling out of the town in March, and by March 27 Mikuláš is under Soviet control. During this time, Oscar Sladek and his family are in hiding in the nearby Tatra mountains.
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Oscar Sladek and his family reach Soviet lines and freedom
With the help of partisan fighters, the Štaubs and the other families with whom they have been sharing their hideout in the Tatras make their way down the mountain to Soviet lines. In the town of Žiar, they are provided with warm food and shelter for the first time in months.
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Soviet forces capture Bratislava
With the liberation of the Slovak capitol Nazi control of Slovakia is ended and Tiso’s collaborationist regime is toppled. German forces withdraw into Austria rather than defend the city, which becomes a gateway for the Soviet advance into Austria and southern Germany.
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Provisional Czechoslovak government formed in Košice
Under Soviet control since January, the city of Košice becomes the seat of a provisional Czechoslovak government. The Košice Government Program restores the state of Czechoslovakia, aligning it politically and economically with the Soviet Union. Territory ceded to Hungary is restored, so that Košice becomes, once again, part of Czechoslovakia.
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Unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany's High Command unconditionally surrenders on 7 May to the Allies and 9 May to the Soviets. May 8 is proclaimed "Victory in Europe Day."
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Communists seize power in Czechoslovakia
Under the Soviet sphere of influence since its liberation in 1945, post-war Czechoslovakia initially operated as a democracy, but gradually, key government ministries came under communist control, culminating in a communist takeover of the government in early 1948. Among other reforms, the new communist regime collectivizes businesses and initiates a campaign against all organized religion—part of a larger plan to limit basic civil, labor, and personal liberties.
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Oscar Sladek celebrates his bar mitzvah
Just days before his thirteenth birthday, Oscar celebrates his bar mitzvah in Košice. Many of his relatives are missing, having perished during the war.
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State of Israel established
Per the United Nations resolution of November 1947 for the partition of Mandate Palestine, the British mandate comes to an end on May 14, 1948. In Tel Aviv, Jewish leader David Ben-Gurion proclaims the State of Israel, which will be a haven for those Jews made homeless by the Holocaust.
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Oscar Sladek’s sister Miriam is born
Frici and Irene welcome their long-awaited second child, a daughter and a younger sister to Oscar.
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Oscar Sladek and his family arrive in Israel
The Sladeks arrive in the harbor of Haifa on Israeli Independence Day—exactly one year after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
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Suez Crisis
Also known as the Second Arab-Israeli War. After Egypt nationalizes the British- and French-owned Suez Canal Company, Great Britain and France respond to the threat to their economic interests with a joint attack on Egypt in coordination with Israel. Israel seeks to regain access to the waterway lost due to an Egyptian blockade since the First Arab-Israeli War. A UN resolution on November 6 brings about a ceasefire. Egypt is able to maintain control of the Canal and Israel secures its shipping rights, but the crisis marks the end of Britain and French influence in the Middle East.
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Oscar Sladek immigrates to Venezuela
Following his military service in Israel, Oscar moves to Caracas, Venezuela to pursue a musical career. One year later, a coup in Venezuela forces him to leave the country.
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Oscar Sladek moves from Caracas to Los Angeles
Civil unrest in the wake of the collapse of the Venezuelan government in November 1958 forces Oscar to leave Caracas. He decides to pursue his career as a musician and entertainer in the United States, settling in Los Angeles.
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Oscar and Selma Sladek settle in Denver
Oscar meets his wife Selma in Los Angeles. Following their marriage, the couple decide to settle in Selma’s hometown of Denver.
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Oscar Sladek's Contributions Recognized
Honoring Oscar’s work as an educator and speaker on the Holocaust, this award recognizing his “commitment to inspire understanding, moral courage and social responsibility” is presented to him by Colorado Governor Jared Polis at the Mizel Institute Annual Dinner.
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Slovakia issues apology
On the 80th anniversary of the adoption of the 1941 Jewish Codex, Slovakia issues a formal apology for the persecution of Slovak Jews through anti-Jewish laws and its role in the murder of Slovak Jews during World War II.
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Oscar is inducted into the Colorado Authors Hall of Fame
Following the publication of his memoir, "Escape to the Tatras," Oscar’s accomplishments are recognized with his induction into the Colorado Authors Hall of Fame.