Memorial panel commemorating the contributors to the rebuilding of the Jewish hospital

Ber Halevi Frank (1777-1845)

The Jewish hospital, which provided for the social needs of the Jewish community in Bratislava’s Castlemount, was founded in October 1710 in a leased building in Zuckermandel owned by the Bratislava burgher Andreas Naszvády and his wife Maria Elisabeth, neé Harrein. The contractual lease between him and the Jewish community was set for 12 years on the condition that after expiry of the lease period and its subsequent prolongation, the real estate would become the property of the community after 1726. The Chevra Kadisha, the society caring for the sick and providing burial services, whose origins dated back to the 1690s, was in charge of the hospital. Daily care for ill members of the community and the allocation of necessary medication was free of charge; the hospital was used not only by locals, but also by strangers passing through the town. The hospital’s rooms were also allocated to the poorest families in distress as a temporary solution to their problems. In 1756 the building underwent an unspecified adaptation. Jewish doctors who had studied at foreign universities in Germany and Italy worked here, among them Marcus Menzer, Michael Hirschel, Israel Walmarin and Marcus Moses. At the time of the great fire of Bratislava Castle, on 28 May 1811, the hospital building was destroyed. Thanks to an extensive charitable drive among Jewish community members, the hospital was quickly restored. In order to commemorate this event, the secretary of the Jewish community, Ber Halevi Frank, painted a memorial chart depicting the tragic event, and an alphabetical list of all donors (299 names in total, the original version containing one more donor). Owing to the damage of the paper material, the graphic letter was restored by Zalman Leib Abeles on the occasion of the event‘s 70th anniversary.

Bratislava

1811

HEB

ŽM-D 1607 A-30a

Paper, ink, tempera, Height: 89.5 cm, width: 60 cm

paper, ink, tempera

60 x 89.5 cm

POLAKOVIČ, Daniel: The Jewish Hospital. IN: BORSKÝ, Maroš - ŠVANTNEROVÁ, Jana et al.: The Jews of Bratislava and Their Heritage. Bratislava: Jewish Heritage Foundation - Menorah 2012, p. 44.