Jewish-Slavic Relations and Memory in the Literary Works of Clerics in Prešov

• In Event: Prešov as Peripheral Metropolis: Memory and Transcultural Identity

Abstract

This study examines the representation of Jewish-Slavic relations in the works of 19th-century Greek Catholic priests Alexander Dukhnovych and Alexander Pavlovych. Written in ​​Jazyčije, a mixture of Church Slavonic, Ukrainian, Russian, and local dialects, their texts reflect the multiethnic dynamics of Eastern Slovakia, where Jewish and Slavic communities coexisted for centuries. Situating these works within the broader history of Jewish presence in the region, the study explores the clergy’s role as educators and moral guides. While Christian-Jewish relations in northeast Slovakia were largely cooperative, Pavlovych’s texts suggest a deliberate distancing of Christians from Jews. After the Holocaust erased Jewish communities in the region, literature remained one of the few records of their presence. Through literary analysis, this study highlights how 19th-century clerical prose both preserved and shaped collective memory, mediating historical realities through artistic and moral discourse.

Author

• Adriana Amir, U of Prešov (Slovakia)