Korčok from the Holocaust Museum in Seredi: Thanks to concentration camp survivors, I know what real tragedy is in life

You are a graduate of ethnology and extra-European studies at the Faculty of Arts of UCM. However, before entering university, you had no idea what ethnology was at all. What made you interested in this field so much that you decided to study it?

I primarily studied medicinal chemistry in high school and knew that it was not the direction I wanted to take professionally in the future. Even though I didn't have much history in school, I always enjoyed it. So I looked for the field that was closest to it. With the aforementioned ethnology, I was most interested in the profile of the graduate. When I read it, I told myself that this is what I wanted to do in the future.

What did it say?

That one of the tasks of a graduate is to represent Slovakia at a cultural level at home and abroad. Above all, I was very attracted by abroad.

Why the Faculty of Arts UCM in Trnava?

When I told my parents what I wanted to study, they were not very happy with me. They expected me to continue my studies from high school. That's why I first had to agree with them and make a compromise. So, in addition to Ethnology and Non-European Studies at UCM, I applied for Pharmacy at Comenius University. The problem was that I was not one of the worst pupils. My personal challenge was therefore how to pass the entrance exams well enough not to be suspicious, but at the same time in such a way that I would not be accepted to pharmacy. (laughs).

You seem to have managed to balance that exemplarily.

Yes. Even though I had a handicap in the Ethnology admissions, since they were focused on the high school history curriculum, I got through them without any problems. I enjoyed the study itself incredibly much later on, and I found that I had no significant deficiencies in history compared to others.

When did you decide to pursue Jewish culture and Holocaust topics professionally?

It wasn't my decision, more of a coincidence. Associate Professor Parikova was teaching at the faculty at the time, and she asked me in my very first year if I wanted to pursue Jewish culture and traditions. We had a big gap in Slovakia. I wanted to pursue a different topic, but I agreed. Since I was close to the Jewish religious community in Galanta, my first year's work was about the customs and traditions of the Orthodox Jewish community in that city. After writing it, the topic captivated me so much that I did not let go.

In my fourth year, I even had the privilege of giving a lecture to my classmates about the Jewish minority in Slovakia. I realized that I was doing something right. It was the engine that drove me on. It should be added, however, that it is not only about the skill and zeal of the student himself. Professional guidance and cooperation with the faculty is also extremely important. If they work, students can do great things. Because of that, today I am doing what I enjoy immensely and I don't even call it work.

When the Holocaust Museum in Seredi was founded in 2016, you became its first head and you have been in that position ever since. How did you get this job?

Practically right after school, in 2003, I was offered a job at the Slovak National Museum - Museum of Jewish Culture in Bratislava. I took a position that suited me perfectly and where I could continue my research under the tutelage of Professor Mešt'an. At that time, I was already professionally involved in the subject of the Holocaust.

In 2009, the Museum of Jewish Culture in Bratislava was commissioned to establish the Holocaust Museum in Sered. Since opening a new museum is a process that takes years, from that time until 2016 we worked hard on research and creating the exhibit. In October 2015, I came here from Bratislava as the first ever employee and I was lucky enough to create the team that is still working here today. Together, we also started with education right from the beginning and built the largest human rights education centre in Slovakia.

When we arranged the date of the interview, I already understood that you are extremely busy. What kind of work duties do you normally perform as the head of the Holocaust Museum?

My work calendar is really busy, but I am not aware of the fact that I am busy. I am happy when I get up in the morning and when I know I am coming here. The museum is dedicated to research, collecting artefacts, building a library and archive, education, preparing and organising commemorative and cultural events and, of course, international cooperation. We cooperate with many embassies, ministries and other state and non-state institutions, both domestic and foreign.

What are you doing to create this community? I will just add that the museum was established in the premises of the former Sered labour and concentration camp. It is therefore not only a museum, but also a memorial to the Jews murdered during the Second World War.

Today, for example, we have organised an exhibition which tells the story of a man who saved his wife during the Holocaust. His daughter, a world fencing vice-champion, came to give a lecture to the students about the important values of fair play. Later, we had an online meeting with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, an alliance of 35 countries around the world. We are working on a joint project to explain the importance of anti-Semitism education. We are preparing an event in August to commemorate the International Day of the Genocide of the Roma during the Holocaust. In September, it is the Memorial Day of the Victims of the Holocaust and Racial Violence. All these events have to be prepared with a huge amount of time in advance, because we are trying to do them at a high professional level and we want to have as large an audience as possible.

In addition, we are a large educational centre, we are building up a collection of historical objects and documents, and we are adding to our archive and library. It's really a very diverse job.

 

I know that, among many other activities, you have long been involved in collecting and mapping the stories of Holocaust survivors, which, unfortunately, are fewer and fewer every year.

It is the cooperation with them that is closest to my heart and takes place practically on a daily basis. Many of the insights that I can pass on today, I have learned thanks to them. Because of the unimaginable horrors these people survived, I can distinguish what is a real tragedy in life and which things to simply rise above and move on.

Collecting these stories is undoubtedly mentally challenging, both for you and for the people who have to revisit the worst period of their lives in their memories. How do you approach these people in processing their experiences?

I have known most of them for many years, some of them for their whole lives. Because of that, we are able to talk about these topics with confidence and even joke around as friends. However, I have noticed that no matter how much they talk about any ordinary subject, the topic of conversation always turns to the Holocaust in the end. This trauma haunts many of them until death and they find it very difficult to cope with. It is important to remember that these people are not telling stories about the murders and deaths of others - they are talking about the losses of their own families. For many, after these conversations, the thoughts swirl on, they have nightmares. Listening to such narratives is therefore not a matter of course. We need to be aware of how much pain they experience with each and every testimony so that we can know and learn from history. I therefore respect them immensely.

What groups of visitors come to you most often?

Mostly organised, mainly school groups, for whom we always offer an educational programme as well. However, we don't just focus on schoolchildren, we try to educate everyone who is interested. For example, also employees of large foreign companies or municipalities. We also offer an educational programme for teachers or members of the Ministry of the Interior and Defence, i.e. police officers and soldiers.

What do you specifically train the aforementioned police officers and soldiers in?

The fact that people in these professions encounter situations that, hopefully, an ordinary mortal will never get into, we have prepared for them more demanding lectures with a different type of interpretation while guiding them around the museum.

Can we take this to mean that the interpretation for them is more explicit?

Yes, but we are still reproducing the events as they really happened. We are conveying to them what can happen if democracy, values and human rights fail in society. We show how important their mission is in this respect.

But I did not invent education for the forces. I once gave a lecture in Canada with a Holocaust survivor from Slovakia. He was the only survivor of his family, all the others were murdered. His name was Max Tibor Eisen. He became a successful businessman in Canada, made good money, sold his company and started to do human rights education. He went so far in this direction that the Canadian government itself began to work with him to educate senior military officers. He was the one who gave me the idea.

Let us go back to the educators. I know that within the Museum you are also actively working with many history teachers.

Yes. For example, through the mayor, we were approached by the city of Žilina, where, together with the local Jewish religious community, they opened a memorial room for Vrba and Wetzler. They wanted us to prepare education for teachers about this exhibition, so that they could bring their students there and tell them something about it. But we also provide a week of training for educators right here in Israel, at Yad Vashem - the International School for Holocaust Education. Personally, I think that's what gives people the most.

Unfortunately, our education is not able to reach many members of the Roma minority from the eastern part of Slovakia, for whom it is logistically and financially very difficult. That's why we decided to do outreach lectures. We go to them in the Prešov or Košice region and they are very grateful for that. They always prepare some kind of programme for us - they play, dance, prepare theatre. I have not come across this to such an extent with any other group. We also try to invite them here and network with ministry representatives or ambassadors at big events. A lot of these kids are very talented and we give them a chance to show themselves through this kind of activity as well.

Relatively recently, we celebrated 8 May - Victory over Fascism Day. On this occasion, you wrote on your Facebook profile that fascism unfortunately still has its admirers in our society and that we can honour the victory over fascism in the Second World War by not suppressing humanities and human rights education in schools at the expense of other subjects. Why is it that subjects connected with recent history have long been neglected in our education system?

Unfortunately, this is not just a Slovak phenomenon. Negative sentiments in society, including anti-Semitism, are growing everywhere. Learning from the past, we know that studying medicine or mathematics does not automatically make you a good person. That is why it is important to me that young and educated people in Slovakia should also be exposed to the humanities. These are the ones that can pass on values and show them good role models. One or two lessons in history, ethics or social studies are simply not enough. Instead, we are overwhelming them with a lot of teaching that is not so relevant to their everyday lives. If you get the basic knowledge and values of democracy in the humanities, you can go on to study anything. But if you don't have it, you will hardly get it later.

In Slovakia, in many ways, we also feel a kind of nostalgia for Jozef Tiso and the Slovak state. What do you think is the source of this distorted perception of history in a certain part of society?

Our society has not come to terms with the past. Almost immediately we moved from one totalitarian state to another, which we lived in until 1989. After that, we began to come to terms with the victims of both regimes - fascist and communist. It was common, however, for those who persecuted during the period of the Slovak State to be persecuted during the communist period. Thus, after 1989, the former persecutors became victims of the communist regime, who began to be given a social space to spread their ideas that distorted historical events.

Many experts have long pointed out that Slovak society has been extremely polarised for years. We can see this in the online space, in public speeches, in politics and in culture. What manifestations of anti-Semitism do you encounter in Slovakia?

Anti-Semitism in Slovakia is different from other European countries. Here, you can still walk around with a kippah on your head (ed. note: a cap worn by practicing Jews) without anyone attacking you. Anti-Semitism is often manifested here, especially on social networks. A professor from the Czech Republic, based on his years of research, figured out that there is no hoax or fake news that has not also been used against Jews. In the online space, they are therefore an extremely frequent target of attacks.

Back in my high school days, we agreed in class that we wanted to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp as part of an end-of-year field trip. I remember being deeply affected by the visit. I visualised the horrors that the people there must have experienced during the Second World War. Nevertheless, I had a classmate who smiled mockingly and commented ironically during the tour. I remember that our Polish guide had incredible patience with him. It was as if similar situations happened to them regularly and they were prepared for them. Are you witnessing similar cases here in Sered?

As I rarely accompany school groups, I personally don't have such an experience. However, eye contact is very important for me during lectures. Thanks to it, I am able to catch various negative hints in the audience and then work with these people. If it is just an individual in the group, a well-trained worker should be able to handle it.

I was once called in by colleagues to a group of apprentices who were clearly not enjoying the tour at all. When I asked what they were interested in, they said nothing. Only one of them, who enjoyed sports, spoke up from the back. I started to tell them about sports in Slovakia, in the background of which there were members of the Jewish community. We went through the whole museum and suddenly they didn't want to leave. I believe that you can talk to anyone.

Another important topic is the protection of the cultural heritage of the Jews in Slovakia. During the former regime, many synagogues fell into disrepair; in Bratislava, the communists even demolished one in 1969 because of the construction of the New Bridge. Do you feel that in recent years the state and local governments have taken a greater interest in these monuments?

I often hear that the Jews have enough money, so let them repair the cemeteries and synagogues on their own dime. People don't realise that before the Second World War there were almost 140 thousand Jews living in Slovakia. Today there are less than 3 thousand members in Jewish religious communities. Four Jews in Slovakia today could have one cemetery of their own. Some are huge, so how are they supposed to take care of them?

It simply cannot be done without the help of towns, villages and municipalities. In them, the people - mayors, mayors and residents - matter a great deal. Some cemeteries and synagogues are beautiful, well maintained and renovated, others are in a terrible state. In general, I think that we in Slovakia should take a more sensitive approach to tangible cultural heritage.