Alexander Bachnár papers

The Alexander Bachnár papers consist of correspondence and biographical, photographic, and printed materials documenting Bachnár’s forced work on Sixth Labor Battalion (VI Prapor) in Slovakia during World War II, his confinement to the Nováky labor camp for Jews, his participation in armed resistance with partisans, awards he received for his wartime service, and his work as a journalist after the war. Biographical materials include certificates, correspondence, lists, speeches, and an interview documenting Alexander Bachnár, his forced work on the Slovak Jewish labor battalion, his confinement to the Nováky labor camp, his military service with partisans, awards he received for his wartime service, and his work as a journalist after the war. This series also includes an identification card issued at the Nováky labor camp to Gizella Bachnerova, Bachnár’s sister-in-law, who was later shot into an open pit in Kremnica with her two sons. Correspondence includes three letters to Bachnár from former students at the Nováky labor camp, a letter to him from the family who helped his partisan unit during the war, and a postcard from Erich Roth who was imprisoned at Majdanek to his aunt Lotte Gross. Photographic material include photographs and copies documenting Nováky and other Jewish labor camps, the partisans with whom Bachnár fought, the Jenis family in Skýcov, the Mauthausen memorial, and Bachnár’s daughter Alexandra Tothova. Nováky Jewish Council members depicted include Ervin Dick, Emanuel Fürst, Dr. Braun, Dr. Mandler, Dr. Neumann, Dr. Špira, Juraj Spitzer, Elo Gross, Ivan Székely, Pavel Weinwurm, Ing. Löwenbein, Ferdinand Goldstein, Mr. Rosenbaum, Tibor Pethö, and Imrich Rosenthal. Partisans depicted in the photographs include Major Zorich, Imrich Muller, Edita Ernst, Jan Schönfeld, and Vojtech Friedmann. This series also includes a list of descriptions of photographs, at least one of which is included in this series. Many of the photographs appear to have been taken by Juraj Spitzer. Printed materials include a 1947 postcard from the State Museum of Auschwitz, a clipping celebrating Bachnár’s 50th birthday, a post-1989 clipping listing Bachnár as a reactionary element, and a 1965 clipping from the Polish daily newspaper Glos Pracy. Alexander Bachnár (né Bachner) was born on July 29, 1919 in Topolčany, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia) to painter Jakub Bachner and his wife Františka Bachner (née Steckauer). He attended the Pedagogical School in Bratislava until anti-Semitic measure forced him out. He was drafted into the Sixth Labor Battalion (VI Prapor) in February 1940 and transferred to the Nováky labor camp for Jews in June 1942, where he performed manual labor, taught children, and served as the camp’s primary school director. When the Slovak National Uprising began and the Nováky labor camp was liquidated in August 1944, Bachnár participated in the uprising, took command of a Jewish partisan group, and took part in the fighting in central Slovakia. He, his sister Ela, and his father were the only members of their large family to survive the Holocaust. After the war, he worked as a journalist and editor for Bojovník, the Pravda printing house, the daily Práca, and at the Institute of Health Education. He was fired from both Pravda and Práca for political reasons and expelled from the Communist Party in 1968 or 1969. He served as Secretary General of the National Anti-Fascist Committee from 1989-1995.