Members of Hashomer Hatzair in Huedin (Banffyhunyad), Transylvania, Romania, 1930s.

The Oster Visual Documentation Center, Beit Hatfutsot, courtesy of Chava Mandel, Israel

Talmud Torah Students with their Teacher, Huedin (Banffyhunyad), Transylvania, Romania, c1923.

The Oster Visual Documentation Center, Beit Hatfutsot, courtesy of Chava Mandel, Israel

Sigismond Kolos-Vary (aka Kolosvary) (1899-1983), painter, member of the Ecole de Paris, born in Huedin, Romania (then part of Austria-Hungary). He attended the Royal Hungarian School of Applied Arts in Budapest from 1915 to 1918, and then the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts, followed by a tour of Italy. In 1926 he travelled to Switzerland and then moved to Paris where he joined the Atelier 17 artistic group close to the Surrealist movement. He had his first solo exhibition in 1928 followed by others in 1929 and 1930 as well as by participation to Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Indépendants. After the German occupation of France in WW II, Kolos-Vary and his wife joined the French Resistance, but were arrested while attempting to move to southern France and detained for a couple of years at Gurs concentration camp. With the help of the Quaker aid organization who provided them with forged documents and smugglers they tried to cross the border to Switzerland in 1943. However, they were captured and imprisoned in Annecy before being allowed to leave for Switzerland following the intervention of the Hungarian ambassador to the French regime in Vichy. In Switzerland they spent eight months in an internment camp. Kolos-Vary returned to France in 1945 and restarted his artistic career.  His style evolved from Expressionism during his youth to Surrealism during the 1930s and then to Abstract art in the years after WW II. While working as a book illustrator and designer of advertising posters for commercial companies, he continued to exhibit at Salon de Mai, Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, and Salon Comparaisons. After 1977 he lived in Boulogne-Billancourt. His works are displayed at Musée de Lille, Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, Musée Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Janus Pannonius Museum in Pecs, Hungary. Kolos-Vary died in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.

Ciucea

In Hungarian: Csucsa; in German: Tschötsch

A commune in the Cluj County in the historical region of Transylvania, Romania. Until 1918 it was part of Austria-Hungary, between 1940-1944 was annexed by Hungary.

Jews started to settle in Ciucea during the first half of the 19th century. In 1857 there were 17 Jewish inhabitants in the village. The 1930 census recorded 134 Jews out of the general population of 1,777

The rise to power of the Goga-Cuza government in December 1937 led to the enactment and implementation of official anti-Semitic policies in Romania. After his dismissal as Prime Minister of Romania in February 1938, Octavian Goga, a notorious anti-Semite, spent his last month of life at his estate in Ciucea. 

In August 1940 Northern Transylvania, including Ciucea, was annexed by Hungary. The anti-Semitic policy of the Hungarian government was implemented immediately. In May 1944 the Jews of Ciucea were arrested and taken to the ghetto in Cluj, and from there were deported to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz in early June 1944.

Ther Jewish cemetery in Ciucea is located on Crasnei Str., at the exit from the village towards Vanatori village.

Ciucea is the birth place of Dezső David Friedmann (1880-1939), the father of the war photographer and journalist Robert Capa (born Endre Ernő Friedmann) (1913-1954).

Gilău 

In Hungarian: Gyalu; in German: Julmarkt, Gela.

A commune in the Cluj County in the historical region of Transylvania, Romania. Since 2008 is part of the Cluj-Napoca metropolitan area. Until 1918 it was part of Austria-Hungary, between 1940-1944 was annexed by Hungary.

In 1920 there were 89 Jewish inhabitants in Gilau; the 1930 census recorded 161 Jews in the village out of a general population of 3,330 people. Most of the local Jews made a living as artisans.

In August 1940 Northern Transylvania, including Gilau, was annexed by Hungary. The anti-Semitic policy of the Hungarian government was implemented immediately. During 1942-1943, a number of Romanians of Gilau served as guides and helped many Jews to cross the nearby border into Romanian territory. In May 1944 the Jews of Gilau were arrested and transferred to the ghetto of Cluj, and from there deported to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz in May-June 1944.

Romania

România

A country in eastern Europe, member of the European Union (EU)

21st Century

Estimated Jewish population in 2018: 9,000 out of 19,500,000.  Before the Holocaust Romania was home to the second largest Jewish community in Europe, and the fourth largest in the world, after USSR, USA, and Poland. Main Jewish organization:

Federaţia Comunităţilor Evreieşti Din România - Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania
Str. Sf. Vineri nr. 9-11 sector 3, Bucuresti, Romania
Phone: 021-315.50.90
Fax: 021-313.10.28
Email: secretariat@fcer.ro
Website: www.jewishfed.ro

Cluj-Napoca

Commonly known as Cluj  - renamed Cluj-Napoca from Cluj in 1974; Yiddish: Kloyzenburg / קלויזענבורג; Hungarian: Kolozsvar; German: Klausenburg

A city in northwest Romania. Cluj is the capital of Cluj County, and is traditionally considered to be the capital of Transylvania

Between 1790 and 1848, and 1861 and 1867, Cluj was the capital of Transylvania. The location of Cluj is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (201 miles/324km), Budapest (218 miles/351km), and Belgrade (200 miles/322km). Between 1867 and 1920, and between 1940 and 1945, Cluj was part of Hungary.

The Neolog synagogue is the only functioning synagogue left in Cluj, and serves the local Jewish community. It is dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust.

A census conducted in 2002 indicated that there were 223 Jews living in Cluj.

HISTORY

A document from 1481 is the first evidence of a Jewish presence in Cluj. During the 16th and 17th centuries Jews attended the city's fairs, in spite of opposition from the local authorities. However, it was only in the late 18th century that Jews were permitted to settle in Cluj; during the 17th and 18th centuries any Jews who wanted to live in Transylvania were restricted to the town of Alba Iulia.

The census of 1780 records eight Jewish families as living in Cluj. Locals were not happy about having Jews in their city. In 1784 the municipal council prohibited the inhabitants from selling real estate to Jews. Lobel Deutsch, the first Jew who had been allowed to live in Cluj, had his shop closed by the authorities in 1790; when he protested his 11-year old daughter was kidnapped and forcibly baptized.

In spite of the struggles, a small number of Jews remained in Cluj and made their homes there. A prayer room was opened in 1807, and a small synagogue was built in 1818, at which point the community consisted of 40 people. A chevra kaddisha was founded in 1837.

In 1839 fifteen Jewish families were permitted to live in Cluj, but they were forbidden from hosting any other Jews from other areas. Nonetheless, before the Revolution of 1848 there were 58 Jewish families living n Cluj; the authorities had plans to expel 16 of them. With the outbreak and subsequent failure of the revolution, the Imperial Constitution of 1849 removed the residence restrictions imposed on the Jews of Transylvania, and granted them the right to purchase real estate.

As a result of the removal of various restrictions, the Jewish community of Cluj began to grow rapidly; by 1850 there were 479 Jews living in Cluj, and the population would continue to grow. The city's first synagogue was established in 1851; a year later Rabbi Hillel Lichtenstein arrived to serve the community. Rabbi Lichtenstein did not serve for long; his opposition to modernism, as well as his conflicts with Transylvania's chief rabbi, Abraham Friedman, eventually led to his firing, and he left the city in 1854. He was succeeded in 1861 by Rabbi Feisch Fischman. Rabbi Abraham Glasner served the community from 1863 until 1877; he was opposed by proponents of the Hasidic movement, which was then gaining ground in the city. Glasner's son, Moshe Glasner, succeeded him in 1878; Mosher Glasner, in turn, was succeeded by his son, Akiva Glasner, who served from 1919 until the community's destruction in1944.

The religious schism that took place during and after the General Jewish Congress of Hungary (1868-1869) also affected the Jews of Cluj. An Orthodox community was maintained; those who did not want to identify as Orthodox were organized into the Status Quo community (a community that was neither Orthodox nor Neolog) in 1881; the Status Quo community subsequently became Neolog in 1884. The Neolog community established a synagogue in 1886, which was renovated in 1912. Alexander Kohut served as the Neolog community's first rabbi (1884-1885); he was succeeded by Rabbi Matyas Eisler (1891-1930), and Rabbi Moses Weinberger (1934-1944). The Hasidim established a separate communal organization in 1921 and was led by Rabbi Zalman Leib Halberstam.The Orthodox and Neolog communities each opened their own educational institutions. The Orthodox elementary school opened in 1875, while the Neolog community opened their school in 1908.

In 1866 there were 776 Jews living in Cluj; after the emancipation of 1869-1870 the city's Jewish population shot up to 3,008. By 1910 the population had more than doubled, with 7,046 Jews living in the city (11.6% of the total population).

Zionism became active in Cluj after World War I, and Cluj became a Zionist center within Transylvania. Uj Kelet, a lively and prominent Zionist weekly (it later became a daily newspaper), began to be published at the end of 1918. It had a large readership and became a major influence among the Jews of Transylvania and Romania. Uj Kelet was also the organ of the (principally Zionist) Jewish Party (Partidul Evreiesc); some of the party's local activists were elected to the Romanian Parliament. Cluj's local Jewish press was not limited to Zionism, however. During the interwar period approximately 20 newspapers were published in Cluj, on a variety of topics and in languages ranging from Yiddish to Hebrew to Hungarian.

A Tarbut high school was founded in Cluj in 1920; its director, Mark Antal, was a former director general of Hungary's Ministry of Education and Culture. The language of instruction was Hungarian, Romanian, and Hebrew. The Tarbut school operated until 1927, when it was closed by the Romanian authorities. Later, after Cluj was annexed by Hungary and Jewish children were prohibited from attending general schools, a Jewish high school was opened in October 1940 and functioned until the community's internment in the ghetto.

In 1930 there were 13,504 Jews living in Cluj (12.7% of the total population).

THE HOLOCAUST

After the 1940 Hungarian annexation, anti- Jewish measures and economic restrictions were imposed on Jews throughout the region. In 1942 most of the military-age men in Cluj were conscripted for forced labor and transported to the Nazi-occupied area of the Soviet Union, where many perished.

When the Germans occupied Hungary in the summer of 1944 the local Jews, 16,763 Jews from Cluj, Szamosujvar (Gherla) and the surrounding area were confined to a ghetto. They were deported to Auschwitz between May 25 and June 9, 1944, where most were killed.

POSTWAR

A number of survivors from Cluj returned to the city, and were joined by survivors who came from other areas; in 1947 Cluj was home to 6,500 Jews. Prayers were held in three synagogues, and the community maintained a kosher butcher and canteen. A Jewish elementary school and a high school were reopened, and a vocational school was established to aid survivors in finding work. These institutions were closed in 1948, however, when the communist authorities imposed their own system of education on the populace. Eventually many of the community's Jews emigrated to Israel or other areas. By 1970 there were 1,100 Jews (340 families) remaining in Cluj. At the end of the 20th century the Jewish population had dropped by more than half, and the community had about 500 members.

Ciuleni

In Hungarian: Incsel, Csula

A village in the municipality of Mărgău in Cluj County in the historical Region of Transylvania, Romania. Until 1918 it was part of Austria-Hungary.

Jews started settling in Ciuleni by mid-18th century, most of them arriving from Moravia. At the time both Traמsylvania and Moravia were part of the Austrian Empire. The Jews of Ciuleni did not have their own community, they belonged to the Jewish community of Huedin. However, there was a prayer house and a mikveh in Ciuleni and the kosher meat was provided by a local shochet.

In 1920, after the region became part of Romania, there were 118 Jews living in Ciuleni that constituted 15.2% of the total population. The census of 1930 recorded 160 Jewish inhabitants in the village.

Most Jews of Ciuleni made a living as petty traders of agricultural products or craftsmen and a few owned agricultural land.

In early 1940 the norther regions of Transylvania were occupied by Hungary. The new border was just next to the village that remained within Romania, but part of its agricultural lands were situated in the territory annexed by Hungary.  As a result, the vast majority of the village residents, including the Jews, were evacuated to other locations in Romania.   

Aleșd

In Hungarian: Élesd

A town in Bihor County in the historical region of Crisana, Romania. Until 1918 it was part of Austria-Hungary, between 1940-1944 it was annexed by Hungary.

Jews settled in Alesd during the 19th century. In 1880 there were 94 Jews living in the town, and in 1900 the Jewish population reached 227 individuals. In 1920, after the area was incorporated into Romania, there were 352 Jewish residents in Alesd, then in 1941 their number increased to 372 that constituted 15% of the total population.

In October-November 1918, the Jews of Alesd were attacked by soldiers returning from the front lines of WW I. In 1927 Jewish owned shops in Alesd were attacked by militants of far-right anti-Semitic political organizations. The Jews of Alesd were expulsed to the Oradea ghetto between May 25-30, and then deported to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz during June 1944.

After WW II, about 130 Holocaust survivors returned to Alesd, but by early 1950s they left the town with a majority emigrating to Israel and the rest relocating to the city of Oradea. 

In early 21st century there were no Jews living in Alesd. There is a Jewish cemetery in town. It was opened during the second half of the 19th century and the last burial took place in 1979.

Vadu Crișului

Also known as Vad, Vadul lui Carol II, Vadul-Carol II; in Hungarian: Rév, also Nagyrév, Koros Nagy Rév

A village and a municipality in the Bihor county in the historical region of Crisana, Romania. Until 1918 it was part of Austria-Hungary. Between 1940 to 1944 it was annexed by Hungary.

Jews began settling in Vadu Crisului in early 19th century. A Jewish family with six people is recorded in the village in 1829. The Jewish population increased from 5 people in 1837 to 73 in 1880, and then to 82 in 1910.

After the area became part of Romania, the 1930 census recorded 64 Jewish residents and in 1941, when the village was under Hungarian rule, there were 60 Jews living in Vadu Crisului.

Most Jews made a living as traders and craftsmen.

In May 1944, all Jews of Vadu Crisului - over 60 - were arrested, transferred to the ghetto in Oradea by the Hungarian authorities and subsequently deported to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. Only about 10 survivors returned to the village after the Holocaust. They all left the village after late 1940s.

The Jewish cemetery, opened in the second half of the 19th century, is located on Peta street.