Bloody Wednesday - Námestie SNP

Sobre este lugar

Today Námestie SNP is Bratislava's big stage for protest, framed by the Old Market Hall of 1910 and the Manderlák, the 45 metre tower a butcher built in the 1930s. In February 1919 it was the scene of the city's bloodiest day of the new era. Czechoslovak troops had taken the city only six weeks earlier, in a place where about four in ten people spoke German, four in ten Hungarian and only around fifteen percent were Slovak. A strike that began over working conditions grew into a protest against the new state, and on 12 February several thousand people gathered in front of the market hall to march toward the Old Town Hall. Legionnaires under the Italian colonel Riccardo Barreca blocked the way and opened fire. Eight or nine people died and at least ten were seriously wounded. Hungarian accounts speak of an unarmed crowd shot from several sides; Slovak reports of the time describe stones, spitting and shots from the windows. The dead were laid to rest in Slávičie údolie cemetery, and only weeks later the city officially became Bratislava. No plaque marks the spot; the market hall is the last witness.

Datos clave

• 1919 year — On Wednesday 12 February 1919, Czechoslovak legionnaires fired into a crowd of protesters gathered in front of the market hall.
• 8 people killed — Sources count eight or nine dead and at least ten seriously wounded; Slovak and Hungarian accounts still disagree on the details.
• 1910 year — The Old Market Hall opened in 1910 and is the last witness still standing, since no plaque marks the shooting on the square.

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