but also a memory that takes me back to my father and my childhood in Fiľakovo Frank Lowy left his birthplace.  He became a multi-billionaire and a philanthropist looking for traces of family. He restored the cemetery and, on the site of the demolished synagogue, erected a memorial to its lost Jewish community. As this community including his father who perished in the Holocaust had supported the town’s football team so did he.  Sir Frank Lowy has been knighted by Her Majesty and he holds the highest civilian honor of Australia and Israel and the Gold Plaque of Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovak Republic When Slovakia apologized for the tragedy unleashed on its Jews Frank Lowy’s story is part of a Global Slovakia Project- Slovak Settlers, authored by Zuzana Palovic and Gabriela Bereghazyova. The book is available for purchase via info.globalslovakia@gmail.com I was just a boy when World War Two disrupted my universe I have returned to Fiľakovo many times and walked its streets trying to remember the smell of those sweet years before things turned ugly for the Jewish community of Slovakia freeing my mind to float back to Fiľakovo in 1930 where I was born into a close-knit religious family surrounded by a Jewish community of about 200 souls We and the others followed the Jewish calendar religiously Everyone contributed to its upkeep and towards the rabbi’s salary But let’s return to me and my family Although I was born in the depths of the global depression and drew water from a large handpump in the garden Bells were attached to the door and whenever we heard them tinkle I spent most of my time during the first years of life with my mother hailed from Revúca where they also ran a grocery store The highlight of our year was taking a train to visit them in the summer I still remember carefree play with my cousins especially with the blue-eyed girls Renée and Rebecca but the distance between us was bridged with weekly letters full of domestic details and words of love.  was born into a large family of a former teacher His father gave up teaching to become an innkeeper The family moved to Fiľakovo where they lived behind the inn my grandmother remained there with her daughter and family and mother would often leave me to play with my cousin under the watchful eye of my grandmother.  was one of a handful of wealthy men in Fiľakovo He earned his fortune by running an exclusive agency for the products made by the town’s stove and kitchenware factory Leopold lived in a big house that we only visited once in a blue moon I did not care much about that at the time What fascinated me was his car in which I never got to ride I had to manage with a bicycle that I was allowed to use to run errands for mother’s shop play soccer with a ball made from socks during breaks and head to a Hebrew class after school when the other children went home talk to the Hebrew teacher and the next minute we walked across the fields to the local soccer ground where the team of Fiľakovo famous for its prowess in the district and beyond Men of the Jewish community were big supporters and would sit together on the stand.  It is one of my  most cherished memories to be there with father freed from Hebrew class and watching our team surrounded by men we knew well because I did not see much of my father in those days He was impacted by the Great Depression and had to work as a travelling salesman for his brother and I ran home after school to wait for him Seeing him walk through the door gave me  boundless joy I would even wait at the railway station near our house and run into his arms There were other minorities in our town too The country was led by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk a liberal whom we trusted and who appreciated the Jewish culture Edvard Beneš followed Masaryk’s lead and the earth beneath our feet started to tremble.  and there was nothing we could do to stop them Germany gained permission to occupy the Sudetenland the areas in the Czech lands that were a home to a large German minority This happened just before my eighth birthday and soon Poland and Hungary would also start claiming a share of our weakened country.  Any remaining sense of security was shattered a few weeks after my birthday a pogrom against Jews throughout Nazi Germany Hungary took the Magyar-inhabited southern part of Slovakia and Carpatho-Ruthenia and Slovakia claimed independence from Prague the borders closed and our annual and much looked forward to holidays to Revúca Our town fell under Hungarian rule and anti-Semitism rose steeply every day Jews were deprived of opportunities to work and own businesses or property Mother was forced to take a non-Jewish partner into her grocery shop so his name could appear on the license instead of hers It was no longer possible for us to keep our heads down and get on with life My friends and I were harassed on the way to and from school but I knew I could not afford to show weakness Uncle Leopold was forced to take a business partner too but with Slovakia cut off and the future uncertain our house was at risk of being repossessed but I also recall the enormous relief when mother’s family came to the rescue Her brothers filled a couple of suitcases with cash and arrived in time to pay out the mortgage and save our house The memory of that unquestioning family support—the warmth Any problem for one was a problem for them all.  As part of a general roundup of Jews in Slovakia Several letters described the deportations and in April mother opened a heartbreaking letter from her brother Géza He was in despair about the plight of the children  ‘I would very much like to ask you if you could take our dear children to be with you Although I know you are not in an easy situation We could arrange to get them to [word deleted by censors] and you could come and meet them there if we are still here at that time.’  my parents despatched a trusted non-Jewish woman from the village to go towards Revúca to collect the children at a place near the border The woman had cash to secure their passage The family had been deported the day before had disappeared and little information was available about where they had gone I was 11 and tried to imagine what might have happened to Renée and Rebecca She spent much of her days crying and praying There was a letter from one of the families and for a couple of months she held hope mother was overcome by uncontainable grief with each child feeling the heavy weight of the immense loss I was becoming aware of the precariousness of our existence and of ominous forces at work Father decided we should move to Budapest where it would be easier to blend in among the one million inhabitants The then-regent of the city was relatively protective of the Jews we packed up and joined our extended family that had been in Budapest for a year we found an apartment with a bathroom and heating He had been drafted into the Hungarian army as a labourer Mother ran our home; I went to school; and Father this period was an interlude of happiness for us Despite considerable anti-Jewish sentiment and restrictions I even attended soccer matches.   The fragile equilibrium was blown apart on Sunday when the Nazis entered Budapest with the sole intention of ridding Hungary of Jews I can still see the fright in my parents’ faces father went to the railway station to buy tickets to move us to the provinces but his arrival at the station coincided disastrously with a raid by the secret police.  A relative suggested we buy false papers and split up As my sister and brother went off separately Stories of our family’s survival could fill an entire book… he would surely find us in Fiľakovo.  Jews had begun trickling back from the camps and although only around 30 returned to Fiľakovo and none were spared the details of what had happened when the town was ‘cleansed’ of its Jews When I heard what happened to Uncle Leopold he was accused of hiding it and brutally beaten for not producing it he had to be carried to the trucks waiting to transport the Jews to a larger town We packed our few belongings and went to Lučenec to turn over a new leaf and start again.  and my sister met a lawyer called Paul Weiner They married and began planning to move to Australia I can be part of something I could claim as my own.” Mother recognized the desolation of our life in Europe and said I should join him I went to a Zionist-funded camp in Košice where I was taught about Palestine and Zionism The Jewish Agency had for some years been organizing escape routes from central Europe to the Mediterranean where it bought or chartered ships to Palestine There was nothing for me in Czechoslovakia—only bleak memories I had missed many days of school and was not motivated to catch up I also felt a huge inner pressure to leave Palestine offered a new beginning and a chance to be part of the Jewish drive to create a homeland.  The sadness of separation was tempered with the hope of something new she assured me that we would all meet again in Palestine I travelled by train to Prague and then Paris with two dozen youngsters we boarded a ship that had been patched together and was barely seaworthy it had more than 750 souls on board with little food or water.  it finally dawned on me what my decision  meant Mother had always been the still point in the turmoil of the world I joined a small group of boys and girls who had survived the Holocaust and together The United Nations voted in favor of creating a Jewish State The local Palestinians and surrounding Arab countries were in violent disagreement with this decision when David Ben Gurion declared independence they all combined to attack the new State of Israel I had just turned 17 and  signed up immediately to fight for the Biblical homeland I had learned so much about in Košice the group to which I belonged was selected to join the first commando unit in the Israeli army then worked in the post office while attending night school to learn accounting and life seemed to be “normal” again Mother and other members of the family had moved to Sydney and we yearned to be reunited.  But Israel was brimming with youthful optimism but the pull of family was irresistible and in January 1952 I rushed into mother’s arms at Sydney airport All I possessed was a small suitcase and a debt to cover my airfare to Australia Soon I was delivering smallgoods all over Sydney at a party to celebrate the Jewish festival of Channukah I met a beautiful 18-year-old lady called Shirley Rusanow who While I worked as hard as was humanly possible and I entered into a business partnership with an older European émigré we grew it into a shopping center called Westfield it became the largest retail real estate company in the world My sons and I worked together like a business machine driving the company forward.  so I had ignited a passion for soccer in my sons Australian football (soccer) had fallen into disarray and  its administration had collapsed When I was asked to restore the sport to a professional level first  rebuilding the domestic league then strengthening the national team and seeing it qualify for three successive FIFA World Cups Soccer remains central in our lives and for me it will always be an unbroken link to Fiľakovo I always carried a photo of mother and father in my wallet to remind me of what was lost and why I should live life to the fullest I also carried a photo of my blue-eyed cousins Renée and Rebecca these images were with me when I took Shirley to Fiľakovo for the first time We stood on the pavement and looked at the old house Then I found the place where the Synagogue had stood The Communist Party had erased it from the map Over the years we went back to Slovakia a few more times and we braved to knock on the front door of our old house we noticed the derelict Jewish cemetery and stopped My sons and I climbed its high fences and found it overgrown with stones that had long since fallen After an hour of clearing weeds in the sun we turned over the headstone of Jonah Lowy the grandfather and inn keeper I had never known We set his stone upright and stood in silence each aware that four generations of Lowy men were in one spot The cemetery was the only sign that Jews had ever lived in Fiľakovo It was an opportunity pleading to be taken Janko agreed to fly there and stay a couple of months to arrange for it to be restored This project awakened interest in the townsfolk and was the beginning of the recognition of what was lost.  I had learned that Father had perished at Auschwitz for refusing to forsake his faith and in 2010 I managed to create a private memorial for him at the place where he died There is a small park where the synagogue once stood I placed an obelisk and dedicated it to the memory of our community that had been there since the early-1800s The town enthusiastically organized a ceremony and with this the lost community was acknowledged.  and I am touched by the museum displays that show a few artefacts someone had saved from the synagogue before it was destroyed One of these artefacts is a seating plan that shows where my father used to sit I would like to thank Edita Berntsen a Slovak immigrant and Honorary Consul for Slovakia in Sydney who has helped coordinate  my reconnection on to Fiľakovo for the past 20 years.  When I was signing a contract for the town to maintain the memorial offered to look after the cemetery as an act of grace I sponsor his club and the team I followed as a boy bringing my grandchildren so they would know the story of their family on the eve of the Jewish Festival of Channukah.  Slovakia apologized to its Jews for the tragedy unleashed on them during those fateful and tragic years As someone who lived through the sad times and survived the Holocaust I appreciate this gesture and regard it as significant.  2 large eggs ½ cup cold watercup olive oil (traditionally chicken fat was used)½ tsp saltpinch of pepperfinely minced parsley  1 cup matzo meal (ground-up matzo beat the eggs with a fork.  Mix in the cold water and the olive oil 3)  Add the matzo meal and blend well 4) Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.  The consistency will change 5)  Moisten both hands and form the mixture into balls about 1” in diameter 6)  Drop the balls gently into a big pot of boiling chicken broth 7)  Reduce the heat and let simmer for 30 minutes or more.  The matzo balls will rise to the top.  (If you make the balls bigger than 1” 8) Carefully remove the matzo balls from the broth with a slotted spoon Just a few kilometres from the Hungarian border Fiľakovo Castle lures visitors with its wartime corridors The former air raid shelters carved under ground beneath Fiľakovo Castle are among the rarities in the country that attract visitors even from abroad As many as 68,500 visitors over the past six years have seen them The castle itself dates back to at least 1242 when a written source states it survived the first Mongol invasion of Hungary The castle burned to the ground in 1682 and was left to ruin There are two underground passages beneath Fiľakovo Castle the entrances to the shelters were bricked up and the interiors were filled with rubbish which had not been originally part of the castle house an exhibition documenting local events during the Second World War The corridors were excavated during that time and residents of Fiľakovo would hide themselves there during air raids and bombings The exhibition in the longer corridor started in 2018 has been gradually improved ever since the entrance was surrounded by mud and grass a proper interior entrance was built along with paths "Visitors are introduced to 19 educational panels and objects that were used in Fiľakovo and its surroundings during the war disarmed ammunition and military equipment," says Viktória Tittonová there is also a command post with German and Russian uniforms and weapons shorter corridor is not yet open to tourists the museum is planning another exhibition there The castle rock of Fiľakovo Castle is fascinating for several reasons it is also remarkable for being part of an ancient volcano A helping hand in the heart of Europe thanks to our Slovakia travel guide with more than 1,000 photos and hundreds of tourist spots Our detailed travel guide to the Tatras introduces you to the whole region around the Tatra mountains Lost in Bratislava? That's impossible with our City Guide This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Dovedna 19 obcí bude zastrešovať nové Centrum zdieľaných služieb Novinka má pomôcť menším mestám a obciam znížiť náklady spojené s riešením bežnej agendy Po Tornali tak ide o druhé otvorené centrum pričom do konca roka ich plánujú spustiť 22 v rôznych lokalitách Slovenska Najbližšie je naplánované otvorenie centra v Medzilaborciach „Je to projekt, do ktorého vkladáme veľké nádeje. Chceme, aby starostovia a primátori obcí, ktoré majú stavebný úrad, zabezpečujú mzdy či ekonomiku alebo musia pomáhať školstvu, mali tieto služby na vysokej úrovni za čo najmenej peňazí,“ poznamenal predseda parlamentu Richard Raši ktorý na projekte spolupracoval ešte ako minister investícií regionálneho rozvoja a informatizácie spolu s rezortom vnútra Centrum vzniklo v budove na Biskupickej ulici V priestoroch aktuálne sídli aj časť mestského úradu Príprava na vznik centra stála okolo 250-tisíc eur z plánu obnovy. Peniaze okrem úpravy interiérov použili aj na rekonštrukciu parkoviska i nákup vnútorného vybavenia a elektromobilu s nabíjacou stanicou „Ďalšie státisíce z eurofondov budú slúžiť na pokrytie personálnych nákladov na tri roky tak sa starostovia zúčastnených obcí už čiastočne skladajú na mzdy aby centrá mali pripravený balík peňazí a mohli pokračovať aj po trojročnom období čerpania eurofondov,“ ozrejmil Raši keďže nie všetky si mohli dovoliť využívať odborné služby že centrum nám zjednodušilo a skvalitnilo procesy tak aby občan za okrúhlou pečiatkou videl istotu a všetky splnené náležitosti Nám pomôže v rámci agendy životného prostredia či stavebných konaní,“ skonštatoval starosta obce Ratka Milan Spodniak starosta Buzitky a predseda tamojšieho klubu starostov že podobnú agendu riešili vo vlastnej réžii s pomocou mesta Fiľakovo Menšie obce si nemohli dovoliť zamestnať odborníkov napríklad v rámci projektového manažmentu no teraz sa to vďaka centru zmení,“ povedal pretože v meste dlhšie fungoval spoločný obecný úrad pre mesto a ďalších osemnásť okolitých obcí Agendu bude teraz zastrešovať nové centrum Primátor Fiľakova Attila Agócs poznamenal, že vidí priestor aj na poskytovanie služieb týkajúcich sa životného prostredia, smart agendy, verejného obstarávania právneho poradenstva či kontroly výberu daní a poplatkov takže v priebehu času budeme reagovať na potreby zapojených obcí,“ povedal Agócs no záujem postupne prejavujú ďalšie samosprávy z okresu Lučenec keďže podľa primátora horná hranica neexistuje „Viem o obci Becherov na východnom Slovensku aj keď ide o samosprávy s menším počtom obyvateľov,“ doplnil Bez kvalitných výrobkov by neboli spokojní zákazníci a bez motivovaných a spokojných zamestnancov by zasa neboli kvalitné výrobky Vďaka zdieľanému paušálu teraz platia za mobil menej až o tretinu Na jednej nehnuteľnosti sa strecha úplne prepadla Manufacturer aiming for lovers of vintage cars and environmentally-aware Slovakia will soon become home to another car manufacturer Patak Motors will produce a retro city car at the former industrial premises of Kovosmalt in Fiľakovo The company has already taken possession of the new hall and plans to start production in July but plans to double its workforce as production expands Patak Motors is developing and manufacturing a 1930s-era city car to be called 'Rodster' “The inspiration for its development came from classic gentleman-style cars but currently these aren’t seen on city streets in the EU at all,” said Sonia Matúšková on behalf of Patak Motors as cited by the TASR newswire “The target group is city dwellers who are looking for an efficient environmentally friendly and fun way to get around.” The two-seat vehicle will be produced in both electric and petrol powered versions and will be available as convertible and completely roofless models The manufacturing premises in Fiľakovo will serve as both a centre for the development “The technology centre will be used for the improvement of materials and components which will make the plant a base for innovative solutions,” said Matúšková the vehicle will be completely produced here from body parts through surface finishing to final assembly.” The company expects the investment in Fiľakovo to have a positive impact on the city and the region where unemployment is high the firm also wants to support local suppliers The investment is also seen positively by the local government “I am very happy that a new investor is coming to the former Kovosmalt premises,” said Attila Agócs Construction of a new production hall on the site of the former Kovosmalt in Fiľakovo started last February and the works were completed in autumn The town received funding from the Interreg programme and the state budget for the implementation of the €4 million project The Banská Bystrica Self-Governing Region also joined the project as a co-investor The carmaker consists of a team of enthusiasts car lovers and designers with more than a century of experience in the automotive and manufacturing industries “Andrej Hulala is the author of the idea the key designer and project leader,” the company writes on its website designing the Rodster is a childhood dream come true Michal Vršek has a background in structural engineering and manufacturing He has previously worked for clients including VW/Porsche Norbert Klement is the chief design engineer He designed and built vehicles for the Paris Dakar Rally and has worked for major German manufacturing plants The aim of Patak Motors was to design a vehicle tailored to the needs of urban people “A car that would turn everyday chores like commuting to work “A practical small car with perfect driving characteristics that would be friendly to both inhabitants and the environment.” Local enthusiasts are trying to promote war-time shelters a town in central Slovakia near the Slovak-Hungarian border are finding fascination in places that served as a shelter to protect people from the horrors of war and the weather and they eagerly show these places to others they are planning a mining tour in the village of Čakanovce and a walking tour that will reveal something of military production in the village of Bulhary The rest of this article is premium content at Spectator.skSubscribe now for full access Immediate access to all locked articles (premium content) on Spectator.sk Special weekly news summary + an audio recording with a weekly news summary to listen to at your convenience (received on a weekly basis directly to your e-mail) PDF version of the latest issue of our newspaper Access to all premium content on Sme.sk and Korzar.sk The Slovak-Hungarian town has launched a handy tour guide Fiľakovo, a town of 10,000 in the south of central Slovakia, can now be explored by visitors through a digital guide. thanks to which they can easily find objects that are part of the guide," said Tomáš Krahulec director of the Novohrad a Podpoľanie tourism organisation photos and short videos about nearly 20 different sights including the main attraction: the local castle The digital guide was prepared by the Castle Museum in cooperation with the tourism organisation Fiľakovo is also famous for its coat of arms. A palm tree is a major element in it A helping hand in the heart of Europe thanks to the Slovakia travel guide with more than 1,000 photos and hundreds of tourist spots A detailed travel guide to the Tatras introduces you to the whole region around the Tatra mountains Lost in Bratislava? It's impossible with our City Guide It used to be a place of love as well as hard battles The history of Fiľakovo castle is rich and shrouded with many legends Some parts of the castle have already been conserved and reconstructed and there is also ongoing archaeological research Hungarian graphic artists Zsolt Mihály has published a virtual reconstruction of the castle on Youtube This confirms that it used to be a sumptuous place.