Žilina Gallery :: Fotogaléria mesta Žiliny

82 – Jewish Folk School in Žilina

School desing from 1907 – front view. Source: State archives in Žilina

The old Jewish folk school was situated at Rajecká cesta, today Kuzmányho Street, approximately from 1873. It was a small school and did not meet the requirements of increasing the number of students. According to the design of January 1907 by Karol Grün and son, a firm from Žilina, a new Jewish school with an irregular ground plan approximately 27 metres times 21 metres was about to be built on the same place. In that period, the Hungarian name of today Kuzmányho Street, where the old Jewish school was situated, was “Vámos út.” (Mýtna Street) and its Slovak name was “Za záhradami”.
However, after the Jewish religious community purchased the adjacent plot, the intention changed. In 1907 to 1910 the Jewish religious community built a two-storey building with an elevated basement on the new plot. The old school was demolished after the new one was built. The new school had eight classrooms for students of the 1st to 4th grade. It had a very good reputation in Žilina and therefore also non-Jewish children studied there. In school year 1910/11, for example, the school had 246 students, of which 77 were non-Jewish. Children were studying foreign languages, in particular German. The school boiler room was heating the school, the synagogue built in 1931 and the building of Makabi gym (gymnastic, sport and cultural-educational organisation of Jewish youth) built in 1937 as well. The school was interconnected with Makabi gym by a corridor.
The Jewish folk school terminated its operation in June 1942. Then the classes were let to other schools in Žilina. Three classrooms, for example, were let to the State Slovak Boy Secondary Grammar School in Žilina. After 1945 the original Jewish education was not restored in the school. The building was used by the 2nd National School and later by a special school. In the 60’s of the 20th century the building was used by the Folk School of Arts in Žilina – its art and literary-dramatic section. In 2011 the building was reconstructed, a superstructure was built and then the Leisure Centre Spektrum Žilina was moved to the building.

Source: Mgr. Peter Štanský a doc. Ing. Novák Milan, PhD. Text prevzatý z webovej stránky TIK Žilina (kliknite): www.tikzilina.eu.