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The Jewish Community of Szarvas

Szarvas

A town in the district of Bekes, south-east Hungary.


21st Century

Szarvas is home to a successful international Jewish summer camp which was established in 1990 by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation. It services some 1,600 campers from over twenty countries. The camp is kosher, pluralistic and focuses on strengthening Jewish knowledge, identity and leadership. It has had a very important impact on Jewish identity of the campers and staff.

 

History

Jews settled in Szarvas in 1842. They engaged in trade, crafts and light industry. The first synagogue was built in 1850 with the support of the general community and prayed in the Neolog tradition. The community was organized in 1855. Following the dispute between the Orthodox Jews and the Reform movement in the General Jewish Congress of Hungary (1868-1869), the community of Szarvas was split into an Orthodox community and a Neolog community, each with its own synagogue, rabbi, hevra kaddisha (burial society) and educational institutions. The Neolog community also had a women’s society and a large cultural hall in which cultural events were held for welfare purposes. In 1863 there was an elementary school for children and boys and girls studied in separate classes.

In 1930 there were 787 Jews in the community. In 1941 the numbers fell to 686.



The Holocaust Period

In 1930 Jewish young men were removed from the Hungarian army and transferred to labor camps. In 1941 they were sent to the Ukrainian front, where the Hungarians fought on the side of Germany. Many were killed in mine fields. In April 1944, about two weeks after the German army entered Hungary, the Jews were ordered to wear the yellow star. On May 15 all the Jews were crowded into a ghetto that was demarcated in the town and to which Jews from neighboring places were also taken.  At this point, most of the men and older boys had been taken to labor camps. Five weeks later they were moved to the ghetto of Szolnok, from which some were sent to the extermination camp of Auschwitz and the majority to labor camps in Strasshof, Austria.

 

Postwar

After the war, six survivors of Auschwitz and most of those who had been sent to Austria, returned to Szarvas. The synagogue and the schools were renovated. A Zionist movement was organized and offered social activities. But, at the end of the 1940s and in the 1950s most of the Jews left Szarvas. The institutions of both communities were liquidated and in the 1960s only a few Jews remained in Szarvas.

Mihaly Mohr (1861-1924), ophthalmologist, born in Szarvas, Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire). He received his M.D. degree from the University of Budapest, and specialized in ophthalmology, working in the eye division of the Jewish Hospital of Pest until 1891. Subsequently he was oculist-in-chief of the Workmen's Sick Insurance Fund clinic and of the Brody Adel Children's Hospital of the Jewish Community of Pest. From 1903 on he was an instructor in diseases of the eye in children at the University of Budapest. He held offices in several medical associations.

Among Mohr's numerous published works are: Az arnyekproba (The Shadow Test); A gyermek szemenek apolasa (Care of Children's Eyes); Ueber Cocain-Anaesthesie (in German); Ueber den Zusammenhang von Augenleiden mit Hautleiden (in German); Influenzaval osszefuggo szembantalmak ("Diseases of the Eye Related to Influenza"); Ueber Augenentzuengung der Neugeborenen (in German); A gyermek szeme ("The Eye of the Child"); Utmutato szemeszeti balesetekben ("A Guide in Accidents of the Eye"); A kotohartya bantalmairol ("On Diseases of the Conjunctiva"); A pupilla-reactiorol ("On Pupillar Reaction").

Mor Ballagi (born Moritz Bloch) (1815-1891), philologist and Christian theologian, born in Inocz, Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire). He studied at the well known טeshivot at Nagyvarad (now Oradea, in Romania), and Papa, Hungary. While working as a teacher in Moor and Surany, he studied classical and modern languages and also mathematics. His religion being an obstacle to the obtaining of a diploma at the University of Budapest, he moved to Paris in 1839, where he took up Oriental studies. Jozsef Eotvoes, a leading Hungarian writer and statesman, was much impressed by Ballagi's pamphlet A zsidokrol (About the Jews), in which he advocated the emancipation of Hungarian Jewry, and called upon him to return to Hungary, which he did in 1840. Ballagi began a Hungarian translation of the Bible, of which, however, only the Pentateuch and Joshua appeared (Budapest, 1840-1843). Its language and his commentaries were widely praised in Hungary. In recognition he was made a member of the Hungarian Academy of Science. In 1841 he translated the Hebrew prayer book into Hungarian.

He wrote several pamphlets in favour of Hungarian independence and succeeded in enlisting the support of leading politician Count Stephen Szechenyi, who had championed the modernization of Hungarian economic, social, and intellectual life and was the leader of the moderate liberal group in the Hungarian diet, for the establishment of a Hungarian rabbinical seminary. In 1842 Ballagi went to Tuebingen, Germany, where he converted to Protestantism (1843) although he remained sympathetic to Judaism. The following year he became a lecturer at the Lyceum in Szarvas (Hungary) and in 1851 he was made professor there.

During the War of Liberation, as the revolution of 1848 was known in Hungary, he was secretary to General Goergey and subsequently was assigned to the War Department. Later he also was made professor at the Protestant Theological Institute of Pest. In 1959 he produced a Hungarian dictionary and a collection of Hungarian proverbs. He also published also a textbook of the Hebrew language (1872) and wrote a number of books on Christian subjects. He wrote in both Hungarian and German. Ballagi died in Budapest.

Szolnok

A town and seat of the Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county in central Hungary.

Jews began to settle there around 1830; at first Jewish peddlers were only permitted to enter the city during the day. In 1848 there were 60 Jews in the city. A synagogue was built in 1850 (later used by the orthodox congregation) and a second one in 1857. A Talmud Torah was founded in 1925. After the schism in Hungarian Jewry in 1868--69 the community of Szolnok joined the Neologists. In 1898 a magnificent synagogue was built.

The community numbered 818 persons in 1869; 1,101 in 1880; 1,455 in 1890; 1,952 in 1900; 2,062 in 1910; 2,103 in 1920; and 2,098 in 1930.

The Jews in Szolnok mainly engaged in trade and crafts, but also served as government and municipal officials. Rabbis of Szolnok were E. Klein (from 1854), V. I. Friedlieber (1887--1891) and K. Heves (1898--1945), who died in Budapest.

During World War II, after the German invasion on March 19, 1944, the Jews in Szolnok (c. 2,500 persons) were deported, some to Auschwitz and others to Austria.

After the war 609 Jews returned to Szolnok. They numbered 320 in 1953, and 180 in 1963, but in 1970 there were only 200. The great synagogue was converted into a municipal library.

The mathematician G. Szego and the author A. Komor were born in Szolnok.

Bekes

A town in the Bekes district, south east Hungary.

Jews first came to Bekes from Adony in 1840. At the beginning, many of them worked in agriculture, although later they turned to other occupations, mainly commerce. Active in the place and started in the 1890s was a women's association, a society for visiting the sick and clothing the needy. In addition, there were a synagogue which was built in 1908 and a school which was founded in 1861.

During World War I eight Jews fell in action.

During the period of the White Terror, pogroms against the Jews instigated by right wing military elements (1919-21) after the fall of the communist regime, some of the Jewish residents were murdered. For a short period the town was under Romanian rule.

In 1930 the community numbered 317.


The Holocaust Period

In the middle of May 1944, after the German occupation, all the Jews were herded into a ghetto. In the middle of June, they were sent to a concentration camp in a brickfield in Bekescsaba, where all the Jews of the area were confined. On June 26, the majority were transported to Auschwitz, and only a few were sent to Austria.

After the war returning survivors renewed communal life. A memorial was built to the martyrs. There was a continuous movement of Jews away from the village.

Szentes

A city in Csongrád county, Hungary.

21ST CENTURY

The synagogue, which was restored in the late 1990s, was converted into a library and hosts exhibits and cultural events. The exterior has remained the same as the synagogue’s exterior, but the inside has been redesigned. A memorial is located in an entrance room, and the garden on the left includes plaques to commemorate the Jewish people of Szentes. The synagogue’s original iron fence surrounds the garden.

HISTORY

Jewish families were granted permission to settle in Szentes in 1742. By the 19th century, Szentes was home to over 900 Jews.

The community was organized in 1800 and a number of community institutions were established in the following years. The local chevra kaddisha was establisehd in 1810. A school was opened in 1841 (it would be closed briefly by the authorities in 1866). An organization to support the community’s poor was established in 1864.

Most of these early Jewish residents worked as merchants and clerks.

The General Jewish Congress of Hungary (1868-1869) was organized in order to discuss the formation of an autonomous, united Jewish organization that could organize the entire Hungarian Jewish community and represent it to the Hungarian government. This initiative eventually failed, resulting in a split between the Neolog and Orthodox movements.  In the wake of the Congress, the community of Szentes decided to affiliate with the Neolog movement, which advocated for increased Jewish involvement in Hungarian culture.

The synagogue was built in 1871 and was one of the largest synagogues in the area. It was restored in 1901 and then again in 1910 when electricity was set up.

In 1900 there were 945 Jews in the community.

During the interwar period, the Jewish community of Szentes established additional social and cultural organizations. In the 1920s the community opened a library, and a committee was set up to research and record its history. The Young Women’s Association, a charitable organization, was established in 1921.

THE HOLOCAUST

Following the 1938 publication of anti-Jewish laws, which were designed to restrict the Jewish participation in Hungary’s economic and cultural life, tensions increased between the Jews and Christians, as did anti-Semitism. Jewish homes were vandalized, as was the synagogue. Some of the city’s Jews were arrested on false charges.

In 1941 there were approximately 500 Jews living in Szentes.

In May 1944, about 2 months after German forces occupied Hungary, a ghetto was set up in Szentes, where Jews from Szentes and Szeghalom were concentrated.

Additionally, a number of additional restrictions were placed on the local Jews, including a prohibition against Jews using the public baths or the beaches along the Tisza River. On May 13, the local swimming pool requested that Jews be completely excluded from using the facilities; until that point, the landlord of the local baths and pool was willing to let Jews have a hot shower.  On June 14, the mayor decided to allow the Jews to use the steam baths the next day, knowing what their ultimate fate would be. Two days later, all of the Jews were taken in railway cars to Szeged. On June 26, 1944, some were sent to Auschwitz, and some to labor camps in Austria.

POSTWAR

After the war approximately 120 survivors returned to Szentes and revived the community. In 1949 a monument was erected to commemorate the Jews who perished in the Holocaust.

In the 1960s the synagogue was mostly abandoned, and as a result, the building started to fall apart. It was restored in 1998.

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The Jewish Community of Szarvas

Szarvas

A town in the district of Bekes, south-east Hungary.


21st Century

Szarvas is home to a successful international Jewish summer camp which was established in 1990 by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation. It services some 1,600 campers from over twenty countries. The camp is kosher, pluralistic and focuses on strengthening Jewish knowledge, identity and leadership. It has had a very important impact on Jewish identity of the campers and staff.

 

History

Jews settled in Szarvas in 1842. They engaged in trade, crafts and light industry. The first synagogue was built in 1850 with the support of the general community and prayed in the Neolog tradition. The community was organized in 1855. Following the dispute between the Orthodox Jews and the Reform movement in the General Jewish Congress of Hungary (1868-1869), the community of Szarvas was split into an Orthodox community and a Neolog community, each with its own synagogue, rabbi, hevra kaddisha (burial society) and educational institutions. The Neolog community also had a women’s society and a large cultural hall in which cultural events were held for welfare purposes. In 1863 there was an elementary school for children and boys and girls studied in separate classes.

In 1930 there were 787 Jews in the community. In 1941 the numbers fell to 686.



The Holocaust Period

In 1930 Jewish young men were removed from the Hungarian army and transferred to labor camps. In 1941 they were sent to the Ukrainian front, where the Hungarians fought on the side of Germany. Many were killed in mine fields. In April 1944, about two weeks after the German army entered Hungary, the Jews were ordered to wear the yellow star. On May 15 all the Jews were crowded into a ghetto that was demarcated in the town and to which Jews from neighboring places were also taken.  At this point, most of the men and older boys had been taken to labor camps. Five weeks later they were moved to the ghetto of Szolnok, from which some were sent to the extermination camp of Auschwitz and the majority to labor camps in Strasshof, Austria.

 

Postwar

After the war, six survivors of Auschwitz and most of those who had been sent to Austria, returned to Szarvas. The synagogue and the schools were renovated. A Zionist movement was organized and offered social activities. But, at the end of the 1940s and in the 1950s most of the Jews left Szarvas. The institutions of both communities were liquidated and in the 1960s only a few Jews remained in Szarvas.

Written by researchers of ANU Museum of the Jewish People
Mihaly Mohr

Mihaly Mohr (1861-1924), ophthalmologist, born in Szarvas, Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire). He received his M.D. degree from the University of Budapest, and specialized in ophthalmology, working in the eye division of the Jewish Hospital of Pest until 1891. Subsequently he was oculist-in-chief of the Workmen's Sick Insurance Fund clinic and of the Brody Adel Children's Hospital of the Jewish Community of Pest. From 1903 on he was an instructor in diseases of the eye in children at the University of Budapest. He held offices in several medical associations.

Among Mohr's numerous published works are: Az arnyekproba (The Shadow Test); A gyermek szemenek apolasa (Care of Children's Eyes); Ueber Cocain-Anaesthesie (in German); Ueber den Zusammenhang von Augenleiden mit Hautleiden (in German); Influenzaval osszefuggo szembantalmak ("Diseases of the Eye Related to Influenza"); Ueber Augenentzuengung der Neugeborenen (in German); A gyermek szeme ("The Eye of the Child"); Utmutato szemeszeti balesetekben ("A Guide in Accidents of the Eye"); A kotohartya bantalmairol ("On Diseases of the Conjunctiva"); A pupilla-reactiorol ("On Pupillar Reaction").

Mor Ballagi

Mor Ballagi (born Moritz Bloch) (1815-1891), philologist and Christian theologian, born in Inocz, Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire). He studied at the well known טeshivot at Nagyvarad (now Oradea, in Romania), and Papa, Hungary. While working as a teacher in Moor and Surany, he studied classical and modern languages and also mathematics. His religion being an obstacle to the obtaining of a diploma at the University of Budapest, he moved to Paris in 1839, where he took up Oriental studies. Jozsef Eotvoes, a leading Hungarian writer and statesman, was much impressed by Ballagi's pamphlet A zsidokrol (About the Jews), in which he advocated the emancipation of Hungarian Jewry, and called upon him to return to Hungary, which he did in 1840. Ballagi began a Hungarian translation of the Bible, of which, however, only the Pentateuch and Joshua appeared (Budapest, 1840-1843). Its language and his commentaries were widely praised in Hungary. In recognition he was made a member of the Hungarian Academy of Science. In 1841 he translated the Hebrew prayer book into Hungarian.

He wrote several pamphlets in favour of Hungarian independence and succeeded in enlisting the support of leading politician Count Stephen Szechenyi, who had championed the modernization of Hungarian economic, social, and intellectual life and was the leader of the moderate liberal group in the Hungarian diet, for the establishment of a Hungarian rabbinical seminary. In 1842 Ballagi went to Tuebingen, Germany, where he converted to Protestantism (1843) although he remained sympathetic to Judaism. The following year he became a lecturer at the Lyceum in Szarvas (Hungary) and in 1851 he was made professor there.

During the War of Liberation, as the revolution of 1848 was known in Hungary, he was secretary to General Goergey and subsequently was assigned to the War Department. Later he also was made professor at the Protestant Theological Institute of Pest. In 1959 he produced a Hungarian dictionary and a collection of Hungarian proverbs. He also published also a textbook of the Hebrew language (1872) and wrote a number of books on Christian subjects. He wrote in both Hungarian and German. Ballagi died in Budapest.

Szolnok

Szolnok

A town and seat of the Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county in central Hungary.

Jews began to settle there around 1830; at first Jewish peddlers were only permitted to enter the city during the day. In 1848 there were 60 Jews in the city. A synagogue was built in 1850 (later used by the orthodox congregation) and a second one in 1857. A Talmud Torah was founded in 1925. After the schism in Hungarian Jewry in 1868--69 the community of Szolnok joined the Neologists. In 1898 a magnificent synagogue was built.

The community numbered 818 persons in 1869; 1,101 in 1880; 1,455 in 1890; 1,952 in 1900; 2,062 in 1910; 2,103 in 1920; and 2,098 in 1930.

The Jews in Szolnok mainly engaged in trade and crafts, but also served as government and municipal officials. Rabbis of Szolnok were E. Klein (from 1854), V. I. Friedlieber (1887--1891) and K. Heves (1898--1945), who died in Budapest.

During World War II, after the German invasion on March 19, 1944, the Jews in Szolnok (c. 2,500 persons) were deported, some to Auschwitz and others to Austria.

After the war 609 Jews returned to Szolnok. They numbered 320 in 1953, and 180 in 1963, but in 1970 there were only 200. The great synagogue was converted into a municipal library.

The mathematician G. Szego and the author A. Komor were born in Szolnok.

Bekes

Bekes

A town in the Bekes district, south east Hungary.

Jews first came to Bekes from Adony in 1840. At the beginning, many of them worked in agriculture, although later they turned to other occupations, mainly commerce. Active in the place and started in the 1890s was a women's association, a society for visiting the sick and clothing the needy. In addition, there were a synagogue which was built in 1908 and a school which was founded in 1861.

During World War I eight Jews fell in action.

During the period of the White Terror, pogroms against the Jews instigated by right wing military elements (1919-21) after the fall of the communist regime, some of the Jewish residents were murdered. For a short period the town was under Romanian rule.

In 1930 the community numbered 317.


The Holocaust Period

In the middle of May 1944, after the German occupation, all the Jews were herded into a ghetto. In the middle of June, they were sent to a concentration camp in a brickfield in Bekescsaba, where all the Jews of the area were confined. On June 26, the majority were transported to Auschwitz, and only a few were sent to Austria.

After the war returning survivors renewed communal life. A memorial was built to the martyrs. There was a continuous movement of Jews away from the village.

Szentes

Szentes

A city in Csongrád county, Hungary.

21ST CENTURY

The synagogue, which was restored in the late 1990s, was converted into a library and hosts exhibits and cultural events. The exterior has remained the same as the synagogue’s exterior, but the inside has been redesigned. A memorial is located in an entrance room, and the garden on the left includes plaques to commemorate the Jewish people of Szentes. The synagogue’s original iron fence surrounds the garden.

HISTORY

Jewish families were granted permission to settle in Szentes in 1742. By the 19th century, Szentes was home to over 900 Jews.

The community was organized in 1800 and a number of community institutions were established in the following years. The local chevra kaddisha was establisehd in 1810. A school was opened in 1841 (it would be closed briefly by the authorities in 1866). An organization to support the community’s poor was established in 1864.

Most of these early Jewish residents worked as merchants and clerks.

The General Jewish Congress of Hungary (1868-1869) was organized in order to discuss the formation of an autonomous, united Jewish organization that could organize the entire Hungarian Jewish community and represent it to the Hungarian government. This initiative eventually failed, resulting in a split between the Neolog and Orthodox movements.  In the wake of the Congress, the community of Szentes decided to affiliate with the Neolog movement, which advocated for increased Jewish involvement in Hungarian culture.

The synagogue was built in 1871 and was one of the largest synagogues in the area. It was restored in 1901 and then again in 1910 when electricity was set up.

In 1900 there were 945 Jews in the community.

During the interwar period, the Jewish community of Szentes established additional social and cultural organizations. In the 1920s the community opened a library, and a committee was set up to research and record its history. The Young Women’s Association, a charitable organization, was established in 1921.

THE HOLOCAUST

Following the 1938 publication of anti-Jewish laws, which were designed to restrict the Jewish participation in Hungary’s economic and cultural life, tensions increased between the Jews and Christians, as did anti-Semitism. Jewish homes were vandalized, as was the synagogue. Some of the city’s Jews were arrested on false charges.

In 1941 there were approximately 500 Jews living in Szentes.

In May 1944, about 2 months after German forces occupied Hungary, a ghetto was set up in Szentes, where Jews from Szentes and Szeghalom were concentrated.

Additionally, a number of additional restrictions were placed on the local Jews, including a prohibition against Jews using the public baths or the beaches along the Tisza River. On May 13, the local swimming pool requested that Jews be completely excluded from using the facilities; until that point, the landlord of the local baths and pool was willing to let Jews have a hot shower.  On June 14, the mayor decided to allow the Jews to use the steam baths the next day, knowing what their ultimate fate would be. Two days later, all of the Jews were taken in railway cars to Szeged. On June 26, 1944, some were sent to Auschwitz, and some to labor camps in Austria.

POSTWAR

After the war approximately 120 survivors returned to Szentes and revived the community. In 1949 a monument was erected to commemorate the Jews who perished in the Holocaust.

In the 1960s the synagogue was mostly abandoned, and as a result, the building started to fall apart. It was restored in 1998.