There are only a few thousand Jews in Slovakia today; some 73,500 Slovak Jews were removed to concentration camps by the Nazi SS and the Slovak Hlinka guards. After the war most survivors left for Israel. Slovakia's Romany gypsies escaped deportation but many have left for the Czech Republic where jobs have been easier to come by. As elsewhere in Eastern Europe, there is much prejudice against sorgypsies.


Geography and Climate:

The area of Slovakia is 49,036 square kilometers. Slovakia sits in the heart of Europe, straddling the north-western end of the Carpathian Mountains and forming a clear physical barrier between the plains of Poland to the north and Hungary to the south. The spectacular High Tatra alpine range runs along Slovakia's north-eastern border, shared with Poland. Gerlachovsky Stit (2655m) is the highest of the mighty Tatra peaks. Although almost 80% of Slovakia is over 750m above sea level, the portion south of Nitra is a fertile lowland stretching down to the Danube River which forms the border with Hungary. Slovakia also shares borders with the Czech Republic in the north-west, Austria in the south-west and Ukraine in the east. Forests, mainly beech and spruce, cover 40% of the country despite centuries of deforestation. Wildlife includes bear, wolves, lynxes, marmots, chamois, otters and mink that live in the High Tatras. The national parks outside the Tatra include most of these animals in smaller numbers. Deer, pheasants, partridges, ducks, wild geese, storks, grouse, eagles and vultures can be seen throughout the countryside. The Slovak countryside is not as badly polluted as other European countries although larger towns that have seen rapid industrialization are suffering. The biggest natural resources are antimony ores, mercury, iron ores, copper, lead, zinc, precious metals, magnesite, limestone, dolomites, gravel, brick soils, ceramic materials, stone and salt.The fuel resources are brown coal and natural gas.

The damp continental climate over most of the Slovak Republic is responsible for warm, showery summers, cold, snowy winters, and generally changeable conditions. The weather in Slovakia is mild. July is the hottest month everywhere, January the coldest. From December through February, temperatures push below freezing even in the lowlands, and are bitter in the mountains. There is no real 'dry season', and the long, sunny hot spells of summer tend to be broken by sudden, heavy thunderstorms. The driest regions are Slovakia's southern lowlands. Winter brings 40 to 100 days of snow on the ground (about 130 in the mountains), plus fog in the lowlands.