Ian Payne is Leading Britain's Conversation Storm Boris has swept through Eastern Europe leaving at least six dead and thousands evacuated from their homes due to flooding Another night of torrential rain across central Europe forced massive evacuations in the hardest hit areas A firefighter died after "slipping on stairs" while pumping out a flooded basement in an Austrian province Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that another person was presumed dead in floods in the south-west He said the situation is "dramatic" around the town of Klodzko located in a valley in the Sudetes mountains near the border with the Czech Republic It came after four were killed in south eastern Romania on Saturday with Galati being the region worst affected said: "This is a catastrophe of epic proportions." Romania president Klaus Iohannis blamed climate change for the extreme conditions Meteorologists have warned the situation might get worse yet as waters in most rivers are rising and more heavy rain could return overnight Read more: Eight migrants die while attempting to cross English Channel Rear more: 'We need to stand united against Russia': Sir Ed Davey acknowledges 'disappointment' over delay in missile deal "We must continue to strengthen our capacity to anticipate extreme weather phenomena," Mr Iohannis said "Severe floods that have affected a large part of the country have led to loss of lives and significant damage "We are again dealing with the effects of climate change which are increasingly present throughout the European continent with dramatic consequences on people." Hundreds of people have been rescued from 19 parts of Romania rising waters overflowed a river embankment and flooded streets and houses Mayor Pawel Szymkowicz said "we are drowning" as he urged residents to evacuate to high ground sandbags are being handed out in a bid to protect homes 50,000 homes have been left without power in the Czech Republic with police reporting that four people are missing Three of them were in a car swept into a river in Lipova-Lazne Another man went missing after being swept away by floods in the southeast Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala warned that the country had "a tough weekend" ahead He added: "We have to be ready for worst-case scenarios." Flood barriers have been raised in Prague in preparation with embankments having also been closed to the public See more More Latest News See more Latest News See more The News Explained See more Royals See more Highlights & Opinion See more More Topics Relic of a Distant Past: The 200-year-old Stupava synagogue is one of the few of its type left in Europe Tomas Stern was born decades after World War II decades after Nazi Slovak militia fired bullets into a pile of hay narrowly missing his father — not yet 5 years old — who lay trembling beneath the straw “They got some information that there are some Jews hiding there so they ran into the stable,” Stern explained so they were shooting into the heap.” The childhood trauma left Stern’s father a stutterer who as an adult memorized poetry to overcome his disability is why Stern decided to become a healer; he trained as a physician But in 2006 he took on a different sort of restoration project He decided to salvage the 200-year-old Stupava synagogue long abandoned and in ruins — one of the few of its type left in Europe “I realized that if nobody is doing something with the synagogue I stood with Stern in this cavernous space only four or five Jews returned to this village for Stupava was the home of my great-grandparents — the place where a Geiringer brother and sister married a Hindels sister and brother The two couples gave birth to a large tribe of doubly related cousins and although many moved away to big cities such as Vienna they would return each spring to celebrate a raucous Passover with the grandparents Many can be found among the ashes of Auschwitz and other death camps The survivors are scattered around the world grandchildren and now great-grandchildren living in Australia Until a few weeks before meeting with Stern in this small village I had no idea that a synagogue even existed in Stupava from relatives who had visited our great-grandparents’ graves that the man who lived next door had the key and that no one in my family knew his name or how to reach him Worrying that I would travel here for naught hoping to find someone in Stupava — or Stampfen as it was known during the Austro-Hungarian Empire — who could lead me to the neighbor Tomas Stern and his not-for-profit organization along with a surprising trove of new information new research and newly formed organizations focused on Slovakia’s Jewish heritage Maros Borsky of Bratislava wrote an exhaustive doctoral dissertation that became a book — “Synagogue Architecture in Slovakia: A Memorial Landscape of a Lost Community.” It catalogs some 100 synagogues and prayer halls in Slovakia of which only a handful are still in use for Jewish worship a key figure in the revival of Slovakia’s Jewish heritage traces his Jewish roots back to 1778._ Image by Lawrence W Underway is a Jewish heritage trail through Slovakia former synagogues (now mostly art galleries) and some Jewish museums and research continues into Slovakia’s Jewish history and architecture he traveled the country taking thousands of photographs of the remnants of its Jewish culture after Nazi devastation and Communist disdain He wanted to learn his family’s own Jewish roots — which he has now documented back to 1778 and forward to his parents who survived the Holocaust with the help of Christian Slovaks But his interest quickly blossomed into something much larger Some of his photos were exhibited in the 1990s at the B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum in Washington and published by the new Slovak government after the fall of communism Some of the synagogues don’t exist anymore today,” Stern said He was not about to let that happen to the Stupava synagogue so he turned for support to the still functioning Jewish community of Bratislava creating a square) and four pillars in the center framing the spot where the bimah once stood it is a rare example of Polish-style synagogue architecture that started in Krakow and then spread around Eastern Europe It is also the oldest synagogue in Slovakia still used for some Jewish events one has only a few remaining walls and has been rebuilt as a private house; the other is used for storage A lunette window behind the Aron Kodesh probably brought in light when the ark was opened “like a performance,” to “make an impression,” he said Remnants of Hebrew letters painted in black on the white wall outside the sanctuary and on tzedakah boxes suggest donations to the chevra kadisha an era when the town had anywhere from 500 to 1,000 Jews intricately woven textiles and delicate architectural details a richness now almost unimaginable in this empty space it’s likely that the blue paint on the arches dates from around then Equally difficult to imagine is how the building looked just a decade ago when Stern adopted it: without windows or roof its brick understructure widely exposed to rain Stern and his foundation have raised more than $700,000 from such groups as the Rothschild Foundation and the World Monuments Fund Among the Ancient Ruins: The synagogue as seen prior to 2006 when renovations began mostly for musical performances and seminars and in 2011 Stern himself was married in the synagogue “So we are trying to bring some Yiddishkeit into the building again,” Stern said even though Stupava itself has no Jewish community today exacerbated by a concrete floor laid by locals when the building was used as a warehouse Stern is planning a high-tech light installation that will project the synagogue’s story on its walls After opening a window to let out a few birds that had found their way into the synagogue Stern led us uphill on a narrow road to my destination — the cemetery the town’s Jewish cemetery is more than a century older Stern calls it the oldest preserved Jewish cemetery in Slovakia The neighbor with the key has pulled up many of the fallen headstones as well as vandalism during the Nazi years it is no longer possible to read many of the names and Hebrew inscriptions Stern has counted 3,000 tombstones and created a topographic map but he has yet to try to catalog all the graves including the town’s last rabbi: “He died of a heart attack in his bed when the Nazis came to deport him.” Another buried here is Rabbi Mordechai ben Jacob Baneth (or Banet) “So there are Jews all around who are coming to pay tribute the famous Viennese theater director who founded the Salzburg Festival who produced the first full production of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle and “despite being Jewish was a close friend of Wagner,” Stern explained I would never know their stories or be able to recount them to my own children and grandchildren Coming here offered only a headline of my past The white ones said “Simon Hindls and Johana Hindls” — my great-grandparents And the gray ones had the names of my great-aunt and -uncle Dorothy Brown is a former editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer who blogs at I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward American Jews need independent news they can trust At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S rising antisemitism and polarized discourse This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs Copyright © 2025 The Forward Association, Inc. All rights reserved. Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site. adding that production would be hit.VW said the Bratislava plant halted production lines that make Volkswagen Touareg Skoda Citigo and bodies for the Porsche Cayenne More than 99 percent of the plant's output is exported.It said VW parts and machinery factories in towns of Stupava and Martin were working normally on Tuesday.The first strike at a major Slovak plant since the 1989 end of communist rule comes as economies across central Europe outpace western Europe leading to a labour shortage that many companies worry will limit growth.On Monday Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico supported the strike action which began as labour office data on Tuesday showed Slovakia's unemployment rate fell to 7.4 percent in May plus bonuses."We deserve at least a double-digit raise," Smolinsky said.VW produced 388,687 cars in Slovakia in 2016.The company pays an average wage of 1,800 euros ($2,008) a month double the national average.That figure is also higher than the average salary of 37,000 crowns ($1,577) that VW pays at its Czech carmaker Skoda Auto.Slovakia's Finance Ministry has calculated 12 days of an uninterrupted strike would cut 0.1 percentage points off the country's annual economic output.Growth is seen at 3.3 percent this year and above 4 percent in coming years with the auto sector the most important driver makes more than a 1 million vehicles a year making it the biggest per capita auto producer in the world.Besides VW Kia and Peugeot have plants in Slovakia and Jaguar Land Rover is building a plant due to open next year.Peugeot and Kia have raised wages at their Slovak plants by 6.3 percent and 7.5 percent respectively.($1 = 0.8963 euros)($1 = 23.4600 Czech crowns)Editing by Alexander Smith and Jason Neely Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved Stupava’s Festival of Cabbage is held on the first weekend of October This article was prepared for an edition of the Spectacular Slovakia travel guideand was published in the travel guide Slovakia The town of Stupava dates back to the Bronze Age and sits less than 20 kilometres from Bratislava Although the town cannot boast of any unique cultural haunts there are some landmarks worth visiting if passing through The first weekend of October is a good time to stage a visit as visitors can catch the town’s annual Festival of Cabbage where numerous stalls and the cabbage harvest exhibition line the streets From Stupava’s mansion to its Roman Catholic church the vicinity of the main street is home to the town’s most interesting buildings The town’s impressive mansion dates back to the 12th century and sits in an English park www.synagogastupava.sk Stupava’s synagogue from 1803 is one of the oldest synagogues in Slovakia and adds notable cultural value to the country’s Jewish heritage It is a unique example of the nine-bay type synagogue with the only other one of this type in Bardejov In Stupava, tourists can soon be surrounded by sheep, pigs, horses and other domestic animals in a unique bio farm (www.biofarma.sk) where visitors can also taste the national cuisine in a local restaurant or buy some food as a present The Slovak cheeses korbáčiky and bryndza are both available in the shop as well as žinčica (a sheep’s milk product) or home-made bread and cakes The farm is especially popular with families and features a children’s playground plus the opportunity to ride horses and ponies or to pet various other animals You can sample your food and drink on a small terrace area and enjoy the entertainment The police have launched a criminal investigation due to public endangerment “It was already dead,” said photographer Tomáš Hulík who found the animal during a walk on January 23 and later published the pictures on his Facebook profile He opines that some irresponsible owner got rid of it and it simply died “It looked alive in the position I found it.” He later moved the snake and covered the body with wooden boards so it would not scare other people “We found another deadly snake about a month and a half ago but this one was much smaller,” said Michal Černák of the Stupava municipal police to Sme they did not find the owner since the snake did not have any chip The police meanwhile launched a criminal investigation for public endangerment against an unknown perpetrator the investigation may be extended by the crime of spreading infectious diseases The vet who arrived at the place did not find any chip in the dead anaconda either “This means it probably comes from some illegal breed,” said vet Radoslav Rigler Even if the snake does not belong among the most protected animals its owner needs to have a species card and in case of scrutiny he/she needs to explain how he/she obtained the snake adult species can be as long as three metres They have a reputation for being unpredictable and since they strangle their prey every such animal needs to be have a chip and registered has no information about such an animal on its territory Drivers should prepare for more traffic hold-ups Pupils and students returning to school after the summer holidays along with on-going repairs to the roads in Bratislava flooded underpasses and the construction of new highways caused traffic jams and tailbacks in the capital on Monday Broken traffic lights on Trnavské Mýto and Račianske Mýto also complicated the traffic situation Drivers should prepare for congested traffic in Bratislava during following days drivers reported traffic jams on the D1 highway from Senec to Bratislava delaying them for up to 30 minutes the traffic service Stella Centrum reported The situation on the road from Podunajské Biskupice from the village of Most pri Bratislave via Bratislava’s borough Vrakuňa was even worse with drivers being delayed by as much as one hour here There was also a wait of between 30-45 minutes on the Slovnafská Street in the direction of the city centre and from Bratislava’s borough of Krasňany up to the Biely Kríž district Traffic was also more dense on the D2 highway junction from Stupava to Bratislava where drivers experienced tailbacks of up to 90 minutes Reporters for the Sme daily tried several ways and means of transportation to commute to Bratislava from neighbouring villages on Monday morning It took it 24 minutes to get from Senec to Bratislava The journey by car lasted roughly one hour and it took 17 minutes to get from Senec to the outskirts of Bratislava The reporter spent the rest of the drive in tailbacks on the ring road and in the city The situation is not set to improve during the following days Bratislava city council is repairing several streets in the city including some junctions of the busy Prístavný Bridge The Rebuilding of the Mlynské Nivy road also complicates the situation in the city centre The renewed work on Triblavina highway junction and the construction of the D1/R7 ring road around Bratislava is not helping the traffic situation either The Bratislava Self-governing Region has added new lines within the Bratislava Integrated Transport to boost suburban bus transportation in an attempt to alleviate the situation Rain is expected during the night and on Monday in the west of Slovakia and in Spiš in eastern Slovakia Bratislava police have issued a stern warning to residents to stay away from the Danube River at the Tyršovo and Fajnorovo embankments "Falling into the river poses a severe risk of fatal consequences," the police said on Sunday evening The water level of the Danube in central Bratislava surpassed 8 metres late on Sunday evening As heavy rain continues to batter parts of Slovakia and water levels rise in a number of Slovak rivers and streams several roads have become impassable on Sunday causing widespread disruption to daily traffic The public transport system in Bratislava has also been affected Line 4: Restored in both directions on the Pri kríži - Šafárikovo Square section Replacement bus service X4 operates on the Šafárikovo Square- Zlaté piesky section Line 3: Restored with an extended interval Line 9: Replaced by X9 buses in the Astronomická – Šafárikovo Square section via Obchodná and SNP Square transfer to tram 4 towards Pri kríži The transfer point is Šafárikovo Square None of the tram lines are running according to the regular timetable Source: DPB and most shops in the country are therefore closed resulting in the minimal movement of people 64: Operates in both directions on the Valašská - Hraničná section via Šancová 71: Does not operate in both directions via Miletičova It does not serve the following stops: Miletičova (C) 96: Gradually being restored under limited conditions 29: Runs from the final stop at Malá scéna to the Botanical Garden continuing through Karlova Ves and Dúbravka it follows its regular route to Opletalova Replacement service X29 runs between the Mlynská and Devín Castle stops and 29: Operating between Novoveská and DNV (station) via Vápencova Source: DPB Flooding has affected Bratislavská and Gbelská Streets in Záhorská Bystrica as well as Istrijská Street in Devínska Nová Ves Devínska Nová Ves and Devín are the most affected by the flooding among all Bratislava boroughs The underpass from the Patrónka junction to the zoo was also submerged during the day. Animals at the Bratislava Zoo had to be evacuated, reports Denník N traffic has been diverted from Miletičova Street in Bratislava Istrijská Street in Devínska Nová Ves is difficult to pass Several roadways in the Malacky district are also impassable including access roads to the villages of Borinka and Pernek Other impassable routes include sections from Lozorno towards Rohožník and from Láb towards Vysoká na Morave Traffic on the bridge in the centre of Stupava is being alternately allowed and regulated by police due to the high water level in the stream There are also issues with road passability in the village of Kuchyňa "Traffic restrictions are expected on Monday and movement around the city should be minimised to essential travel only," stated the Bratislava City Hall VIDEO: Flooding on part of the D2 motorway near the Zohor exit heading from Bratislava on September 15 has been closed in both directions since Saturday due to a landslide the diversion route leads through Devínska Nová Ves Bratislava announced on Saturday that it would attempt to arrange a geological inspection of the slope over the weekend together with other authorities and a geologist to restore traffic on Devínska cesta and reopening the road will take several days," the city of Bratislava said on Sunday night Viedenská cesta and Fajnorovo nábrežie (embankment) in Bratislava both remain closed Parking spaces near the river on the Petržalka side of the Danube are also closed Several traffic restrictions have also been reported in the Trenčín and Žilina Regions, in particular in the town of Čadca due to the highly increased level of the Kysuca River with water receding and most roads in the Záhorie region now passable Drivers are still advised to follow traffic signs and police instructions Road II/425 – the bridge at the Lanžhot-Brodské border crossing is closed Road II/590 Skalica-Zlatnícka Dolina and Borský Mikuláš-Lakšárska Nová Ves Road III/1144 Border crossing of Moravský Sv Road II/426 Closed bridge between Holíč and Skalica Road II/501 Cerová-Jablonica: Passable with one lane Road III/1276 Dechtice-Dobrá Voda: Passable with one lane Pernek (line 249 operates only in the Malacky – Pernek section) not all stops in the Záhorie region might be served by regional bus lines Source: Arriva The weather is affecting railway transport in Slovakia as well as in the neighbouring countries trains between Bratislava and Vienna have been suspended until further notice "The RJX 167 (September 15) and RJX 160 (September 16) trains between Bratislava and Vienna have been cancelled. However, the replacement bus service between Bratislava and Marchegg is not affected and will continue as planned," explained Slovakia's national train company Trains through the Čadca border station towards Prague are not running and only operating between Žilina and Čadca with a replacement service Passengers are advised to use connections to the Czech Republic via Púchov Trains through the Vrbovce (Nové Mesto nad Váhom – Myjava – Veselí nad Moravou) border station are running only as far as Vrbovce with services beyond Vrbovce to the Czech Republic cancelled Trains through other border crossings are operating but expect longer delays Extreme weather has also caused widespread power outages in the northern part of central Slovakia Kysucké Nové Mesto and Čadca districts the risk of flooding from ongoing rainfall remains high across multiple districts in Slovakia The Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute (SHMÚ) issued third-degree flood warnings for a number of districts on Sunday the highest level flood warnings are in effect in the districts of Kysucké Nové Mesto the highest alerts for heavy rain are in place for Skalica Rainfall is expected throughout the Bratislava Alerts ranging from first to third degree are also in effect for the eastern Slovak districts of Gelnica "The expectation is that the rainfall will cease in the coming hours but another wave is anticipated during the night," meteorologist Cyril Siman said on Sunday afternoon He noted that new precipitation should be expected on Monday "We ask all residents to prepare an evacuation bag for emergencies and potential evacuation notices, which cannot be ruled out," the town of Stupava, near Bratislava, wrote on Facebook on Sunday morning An evacuation centre in Stupava has been established at the Primary School of Captain Ján Nálepka. Meanwhile, several people have been evacuated in Devínska Nová Ves in Bratislava and around 100 people have been evacuated in the village of Kuchyňa in the Malacky district The Vydrica stream has also overflowed in the popular Bratislava green oasis "Do not enter the forests at this time It is currently very dangerous," the city of Bratislava warned its residents on Sunday night Due to heavy rain, the Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava, located by the Danube, is also closed over the weekend The gallery has shared photos of damaged walls on social media A small section of the retaining wall at Bratislava Castle has collapsed due to the current weather conditions The University of Economics in Bratislava has decided to postpone the start of lectures at its Bratislava campuses for the winter semester from September 16 to one week later all kindergartens and primary schools will be closed on Monday due to flooding both the municipal kindergarten and the private primary school will be closed students at the three primary schools will have a day off on Monday kindergartens and the primary school will remain open but there will be a ban on staying in the school grounds due to the risk of falling trees and branches the primary school on Hargašova Street will be closed while the kindergarten classes will remain open The city district of Staré Mesto (Old Town) will leave the decision up to the principals of primary and kindergartens Kindergartens and primary schools in Nové Mesto and Ružinov will be open on Monday the flood wave on the Morava River is expected to be slightly smaller "The situation on the Morava is stabilised thanks in part to the Czech water managers," hydrologist Peter Smrtník said on Sunday "We should not reach the critical levels on the Morava discussed in recent days." Conversely, a higher flood wave is anticipated on the Danube - from Bratislava to the town of Štúrovo - than was recorded at the beginning of June this year Peak levels are expected on the Morava profiles and on the Danube in Devín and Bratislava on Monday/Tuesday reaching level 3 of the flood warning system The Bratislava waterfront is expected to be fully secured against flooding by Sunday evening or Monday morning "The flood barriers around the Tyršovo Embankment [in Bratislava] are expected to be completed by Monday morning before the Danube reaches its peak," said the city The worst hydrological situation was in the basins of the Kysuca (northern Slovakia) and Myjava (western Slovakia) rivers as well as in the smaller basins of the Small Carpathians (western Slovakia) on Sunday the Kysuca River reached a level of 383 cm at 9:45 on Sunday "The water has caused significant damage to property which will affect the operation of schools and educational facilities as well as suburban transport services and the town's overall functioning Bridge connections will be fully restored only following assessments by structural engineers," the town announced on Sunday afternoon The water level began to recede in the afternoon the water level of the Kysuca River dropped to 130 cm Rain doesn't just complicate life for people but for birds as well The organisation SOS/BirdLife Slovakia posted on social media that the rain has severely disrupted the migration of barn swallows and house martins "The situation is critical," the organisation stated on social media urging people not to disturb the birds if they find them on their balconies and to allow them to wait out the rainy period They also requested that people allow swallows access to stables "If you find exhausted individuals on the ground take them home in a box lined with napkins so they can stay dry overnight but they need to be in peace and warmth." VIDEO: The Danube River in downtown Bratislava "The band of heavy rain associated with the wavy cold front and low-pressure system is slowly moving out of our region and currently affects only the southwest," the SHMÚ office said on Sunday morning adding that this band gradually moved through the entire area from the northeast during the night The highest total rainfall since Thursday morning was recorded by the SHMÚ office in the village of Pernek in the Záhorie region – over 350 millimetres The average annual rainfall in the area is around 650 millimetres nearly half a year's worth of rainfall has been recorded meteorologists recorded totals exceeding 200 millimetres Daytime temperatures on Sunday ranged from 13°C to 18°C Meteorologists forecasted a light to moderate northwest wind in the west with gusts occasionally reaching 85 km/h during the night and early morning Light rain will continue in the Small Carpathians in western Slovakia throughout the night The rain is expected to intensify with Monday's precipitation wave particularly in Spiš in eastern Slovakia announced Minister Erik Tomáš (Hlas) The maximum amount of aid per household is €1,500 and may be provided more than once The grant for municipalities is €15,000 Humanitarian aid will be delivered through the labour offices where flood-affected citizens can apply for assistance which is contending with Russia's war on its own soil Hungary and Romania overcome the floods by sending its units of the Ukrainian Emergency Situations Service "Ukraine stands in solidarity with its neighbours who are suffering from devastating floods," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha posted to social media The car maker Volkswagen returned to production on April 20 a German car maker with three plants in the country will continue to resume its full manufacturing capacity next week “From Monday, April 27, Volkswagen will start resuming production in a single-shift operation in another part of the Bratislava plant,” the firm’s spokesperson Lucia Kovarovič Makayová told the Hospodárske noviny daily Volkswagen is the only car plant in operation The firm relaunched production on April 20 in all its three plants are gradually starting to manufacture again while taking into account demand from other concerns' plants 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 When Mario Maruška became one of the new owners of a central Slovak bar two years ago he and his friends decorated the interior with some old communist memorabilia - a few flags and soon customers began bringing in more old communist relics to his Stupava Pub in Nová Baňa.Today the bar is covered in pictures and busts of Stalin and Lenin original hammers and sickles - anything with a link to the bygone days of communism."People are still bringing us stuff," Maruška says "Sometimes objects make it here from Bratislava It's definitely improved our business." A bartender at Bratislava's KGB pub poses by an omnipotent-looking bust of Vladimir Lenin.photo: Ján Svrček When Mario Maruška became one of the new owners of a central Slovak bar two years ago and soon customers began bringing in more old communist relics to his Stupava Pub in Nová Baňa original hammers and sickles - anything with a link to the bygone days of communism "People are still bringing us stuff," Maruška says Stupova Pub is not the first bar in Slovakia to draw customers by poking fun at Slovakia's history bars from Humenné (in northeast Slovakia) to Bratislava have used the recognition and availability (the items are usually free) of communist symbols to decorate their walls attempts to explain it reveal a complicated mix of views on Slovakia's communist past "When a group of Slovaks are good and drunk in a pub what do they do?" asked Comenius Univeristy sociologist Ján Bunčák These symbols are not only ironic and humorous they also carry with them pleasant associations and memories." owner of Café Ante Portas (which has no communist memorabilia) in Bratislava says that the practice is more than just a reference to the past - it's also a rebellion against it "Communist statues and busts were everywhere during communism," he said and a person wasn't supposed to make fun of them there's a freedom - the idea of using them for decoration is funny." but one sociologist says reasons for the phenomenon run deeper a sociologist with the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO) think tank in Bratislava argued that former communist symbols would never have found their way into pubs had it not been for outside influences "The humorous use of these symbols in a commercial context came from the West where the practice has been going on for many more years," he said "I think it shows more about the desire of our young people to conform to the West than anything else." that the points raised by Bunčák and Otruba were also valid and there are certainly a lot of factors at play." Maruška says that his pub is frequented by both young and old clientele and that he has never received any complaints about its decor the idea of using the symbols in fun is appalling "If I walked into a bar and saw symbols of communism I would have the same reaction as if they were crosses," said Štefan Pauliny director of the Confederation of Slovak Political Prisoners communist symbols are symbols of suffering." Pauliny says he was one of about 70,000 people sentenced to prison in Czechoslovakia for treason in 1954 Some 60 were executed for the same crime on Slovak soil "These symbols are not suitable for entertainment They belong only to the museum of history." "I think people do not consider how terrible communism was You wouldn't see a pub in the West with Nazi decorations and portraits of Hitler." some of Slovakia's youth argue that they are trying to make a break from their country's past "Obviously communism was awful and brutal but it's not necessary always to take it so seriously," said 22-year old Juraj Vacho sitting next to an enormous bust of Stalin in Bratislava's KGB pub named after the infamous Soviet secret police - the komitet gasudarstvenoy bezopasnosti "It's time for my generation to move on." Comenius University's Bunčak said that such attitudes were not only natural "Every generation forms its own conception of the past which is a mix of truth and stylisation Slovakia's older generation had no reason to see these symbols as offensive when presented in the context of a pub "For people who feel they were wronged by communism these symbols point to a very satisfying fact - the communists were ultimately the losers." officials from today's Slovak Communist Party which according to a February 2001 poll conducted by the Focus Agency has 4.5% voter support "If I walked into such a pub I would very politely say 'good afternoon' and sit down," said the General Secretary of the Slovak Communist Party People who are making fun of communism now won't be laughing in two or three years The situation in this country is so bad that they are going to wish communism were back." Although communist symbols have been exploited for commercial gain since only 1989 the objects themselves had long before been viewed as ridiculous by many Slovaks it couldn't be anything but funny." He recalled attending a conference where a famous American sociologist was to speak from a podium that had been covered with a cloth - an attempt to avoid a potentially embarrassing situation "But right before he started speaking someone who didn't know what was going on removed the cloth the whole room couldn't stop laughing." Bunčák theorised that as Slovakia's communist past fell further into history people would continue to see the communist symbols in a lighter manner while the commercial use of the relics would probably increase as well But those working in the restaurant business say factors other than customer attitudes determine such fads "Everyone wants to do something new and to be the first so I don't think the use of communist symbols will become a big trend," said Juraj Silvan and I know of only one other pub in Bratislava that has this type of image." Café Ante Portas' Otruba added that the idea of decorating a restaurant with communist relics for irony's sake could only go so far "I'm sure it will continue to exist in some places but I don't think it will become very popular especially not in establishments of a higher quality "It's rather an easy joke."