Rebekah Klein-Pejsova

Though I tried to follow what Dr. Klein was saying, I found it hard to concentrate and pay attention when all of the material covered in her lecture was well above my level of understanding due to a lack of background knowledge of the subject. She assumed we knew more about her topic, which from what I was able to gather was about Jewish relations with Slovakia. However, considering it was really an introduction to the subject, at least for me, I was not able to follow the lecture. Even the handout proved confusing. I was able to pick up her point that Judaism was not just a religion within interwar Slovakia but also a “nationality” or what seemed to be a sense of identity. It was interesting to learn that depending on ones physical location within the country would determine their treatment. She noted that the Slovs were not anti-Semitic, but I was curious because it seemed that some of their actions were definitely discriminatory due to their religion, like many countries of the time. I would be interested in learning, in more detail, how life was different for Jews in the post WWII time, as well as during the beginning of the war, in comparison with other nations around them.