The Jewish Community of Bekescsaba

Vilmos Perlrott-Csaba (1880-1955), painter and graphic artist, born in Bekescsaba, Hungary (then part of Austria-Hungary). He studied painting at the art school of Nagybanya (now Baia Mare, Romania) and under Henri Matisse in Paris, France. He lived and painted alternately in Paris, Spain and Hungary, and his works were acclaimed by the critics of several countries, including the United States.

In search for new means of expression, Perlrott-Csaba never lost contact with nature. His greater collection of works were first shown at the Konyves Kalman's "Fiatalok" ("Youth") exhibition. He was among the founders of the "Kepzomuveszek Uj Tarsasaga" ("The new Association of Creative-Artists"). The influence of Paul Cezanne is marked in his paintings which include "Notre Dame de Paris with Two Portraits"; "Still-life with Notre Dame de Paris"; "Seine Embankment"; "Landscape in Szentendre"; "Gypsy Man". Perlrott-Csaba was among the first avant-garde artists in Hungary. His style changed through postimpressionism and cubism to expressionism.

Vica (Weiss), the bride, being led by her brother Janci
to the synagogue.
Bekescsaba, Hungary c1938.
Behind them aunt Laura Weisz.
(The Oster Visual Documentation Center, Beit Hatfutsot,
courtesy of Shoshana Gvirzman, Israel)

Magyarbanhegyes

A small town in the Csanad district, south east Hungary.

Jews began to settle in Magyarbanhegyes during the second half of the 19th century. The majority made a living from petty trading, and the remainder owned small farmsteads. The community was organized around 1880 and established a hevra kadisha (burial society), synagogue and heder (school). Relations with the other inhabitants were generally good. Even 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, the Jews were not harmed.

In 1930 the community numbered 74 and in 1935 a branch of the Zionist organization of Hungary was formed.

The Holocaust Period

In 1941, the men were conscripted for forced labor, work on fortifications and in services together with other Hungarian citizens whom the authorities did not want to join the armed forces. They were sent to the Ukrainian front, where six of them perished in the mine fields and others died of typhus.

At the end of May 1944, after the German occupation, the Jews were assembled on a farm on the outskirts of the town, together with other Jews from the neighboring villages. Here the authorities allowed them to remain without harassment, until they were moved to the Bekescsaba ghetto. There they were crammed into tobacco warehouses adjoining the railway station, under conditions of overcrowding and great hunger. Some of them managed to escape to Budapest and to Romania. Several found refuge in Christian homes for payment. On June 25, 1944, of the 55 Jews of the town who were transported, only a few went to Austria with the majority went to Auschwitz. 49 of them perished in Auschwitz.

After the war the community was not renewed.

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.

Endrod

A village in the Bekes district, south east Hungary.

We have no details about the history of Jewish settlement in the village. All that is known is that in 1880 there were 182 Jewish inhabitants.

In 1930 the local Jewish population numbered 80.

The Holocaust Period

In 1944, after the German occupation, all the Jews were taken to the Bekescsaba ghetto, and from there transported to Auschwitz.

After the war the few survivors went on aliyah to Israel.

Battonya

A town in the Csanad district, south east Hungary.

The Jewish community developed in the second half of the 19th century, although Jews had lived in the town from the end of the 18th century. The majority of the Jews were merchants and industrialists, and their economic situation was quite good.

Because of differences of opinion between haredim and maskilim (moderates) at the Jewish Congress in 1868, the community took a stand on the status quo in refusing to accept either the decisions of Congress or the decisions of the haredim.

A synagogue was built in 1896. There was a hevra kadisha (burial society), a women's society and for a time even a school. In the thirties there was an active hachshara (preparation) movement, preparing for settlement in Eretz Israel, under the Mizrachi movement. During the period of the White Terror, riots against Jews instigated by right-wing military elements (1919-21) after the fall of the communist regime, Jews were beaten on the streets of the town and their shops were looted. The situation worsened in 1938, after the publication of discriminatory laws, with the spread of anti-semitism throughout Hungary. Because of the proximity of the town to the Romanian border, the Jews were suspect.

In 1930, the community numbered 152 people.
 

The Holocaust Period

In 1942 many young Jews were sent to do forced labor, work on fortifications and in services together with other Hungarian citizens whom the authorities did not want to serve in the armed forces, and were employed preparing firing ranges. In the spring of 1944, after the German occupation, the head and several leading members of the community were immediately arrested. On May 13, all the Jewish inhabitants were assembled in an empty produce warehouse in the town. After a fortnight they were sent to a nearby farm where there were other Jews from the neighboring villages. Their money and valuables were taken from them. After three weeks they were transferred to Bekescsaba. The one, in which there were some Jews from Battonya, was sent to Strasshof in Austria, and the second was transported to Auschwitz.

After the war, three survivors returned from Auschwitz, six from forced labor and eighty from Austria. Communal life was renewed, but many left shortly thereafter. Only a few Jews live in the town now.

Totkomlos

Tótkomlós

A small town in the Bekes district, south east Hungary.

Jews first settled in the town only after the war of liberation in 1848, when Jews were permitted to live in towns in Hungary. Most of them were engaged in commerce, although there were also doctors, lawyers and estate managers. Relations between the Jews and the other inhabitants, Slovakian Hussites who had fled their homeland because of persecutions, were good, as is the case among refugees who share a common fate. Until 1944, Nandor Vas was the head of the party that governed the town. There was a hevra kadisha in addition to a synagogue built in 1884, and a school that was active from 1895 to 1918.

In 1930 the community numbered 192.

The Holocaust Period

In 1940 the majority of the men were sent to do forced labor, work on fortifications and in services together with other Hungarian citizens whom the authorities would not allow to join the armed forces.

In April 1944, after the German occupation, all the Jews were assembled in the house of a Jewish resident. The Christians supplied the Jews with food and brought mail which had come for them. Jewish clerical workers continued to receive their salaries. The ghetto was managed by the Jews without any obvious outside interference. This state of affairs continued until June 26, 1944, when all the Jews were expelled to the ghetto at Bekescsaba where they were held in a brick-field outside the town, together with Jews from Vegegyhaza.

The Jews were transferred from Bekescsaba to the Debrecen ghetto, and after three days were transported to Kassa on their way to Auschwitz.

About 80 Jews of the town reached Austria on the Kastner train, a group of Jews whom the Nazis agreed to release against payment of money and trucks.

After the war, in July 1945, all the survivors from Austria returned to their homes and got back all their property. However, in 1946, there was a recurrence of anti-semitism and hooligans attacked Jews and looted their shops. Later many of them left the town, and Jews from the neighboring villages replaced them.

Mezobereny

A town in the Bekes district, south east Hungary.

Jews first settled in the place in the middle of the 19th century, as a result of an invitation by the estate owner. The majority were merchants, and only a few worked in agriculture and in clerical jobs. There were also some members of the free professions and industrialists. The community was organized in 1851 and established a hevra kadisha, synagogue (built in 1884), women's association and a school started in 1879. In 1869, because of differences between haredim (orthodox) and maskilim (moderates) at the Jewish Congress, the community took a stand on the status quo, by refusing to accept the decisions of Congress as well as the regulations of the haredim.

In World War I 47 Jews served in the army, of whom five fell in action.

In 1930 the community numbered 166.
 

The Holocaust Period

In April 1944, 18 Jews of the town were arrested and detained in a prison in Budapest. Several of them, by order of Eichman, were attached to a group going to Auschwitz, even before the large scale expulsions. This was done without the knowledge of the Hungarian authorities. In May, all the remaining Jews were assembled in the synagogue where their money and valuables were confiscated. They were sent to Bekescsaba, and from here one group was sent to Austria and the other to Auschwitz.

After the war a few survivors returned but they did not renew communal life. By the 1970s only a few individuals remained.

Oroshaza

City in the Bekes district, south-east Hungary.

Hungarian: Orosháza
 

21st Century

The former Oroshaza synagogue, built in 1890, was reopened in 2005 as cultural center.

The Jewish cemetery underwent restoration starting in 2004 and received support by a church. Located on Büchler Márton Square the cemetery has 350 gravestones and a memorial to the Holocaust. Greenery has been taken care of uncovering gravestones unseen for quite some time.

Jewish-Hungarian born Imré Kovács chose to spend the last part of his life in Oroshaza passing away in 2003. He had been born in a town not far. Life, however, brought him to other places. Brasserie Lipp, the iconic locale in existence for nearly one and a half centuries, on Boulevard Saint-Germain in Paris was for many years staffed by this special Hungarian Jewish man, as he was called there Monsieur Serge. Brasserie Lipp had been frequented by personalities such as Chagall, Camus, de Gaulle and Mitterand, also Bergman, Madonna and Hemingway. Chez Lipp, Monsieur Serge was at all times discrete. Unknown about him was that in his younger days Imré Kovács had survived the Holocaust. This he kept silent about. Imré Kovács alias Monsieur Serge had survived a Soviet prisoner of war camp, emigrated to serve in the armed struggle in Palestine for the establishment of the State of Israel and finally came to spend much of his working years at the distinguished Parisian Brasserie Lipp. His final days Imré Kovács chose to settle in Oroshaza earlier had been home to a Jewish community.

 

History

Jews began to settle in the town at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1840 only 15 Jews lived there; but in the same year the restrictions on Jewish settlements in Hungary were revoked and until 1869 the Jewish population grew to the number of 259. In 1835 a hevra kadisha (burial society) was founded. In 1880, 696 Jews lived in Oroshaza; there existed a prayer house and a cemetery was consecrated. In 1890 a synagogue was built.

There was a Talmud torah school and in 1852 a yeshiva elementary school opened which in 1867 had 176 pupils including a number of gentiles.

In 1900 the Jewish community reached its peak number, 938 Jews. It had the usual charitable institutions.

After the Congress of Hungarian Jewry the community joined the Neolog stream.

Most of the Oroshaza Jews made a living from trade and artisanship; there were also members of the free professions, clerks, owners of agricultural farms and one industrialist.

In the period between the two world wars there were many Zionist and cultural activities in the community. In 1930 the Borochov circle was initiated. As an outcome of the numerus clausus, limitation of the number of Jewish students, in the Hungarian higher institutions of study, many Jewish young people emigrated overseas.

In 1930 there were 727 Jews in Oroshaza.
 

The Holocaust Period

In 1938 the discriminatory laws were published; their aim was to restrict the Jews in economic and cultural areas. They had a devastating influence on the income on most of the Oroshaza Jews.

In 1940 Jewish young men were mobilized for forced labor, work in fortification and services, together with such Hungarian citizens whom the government did not want on active military service. In 1941 many of them were sent to the Ukrainian front.

In 1944, after the German conquest, the Jewish men of 40-50 were mobilized for forced labor. They had to wear black and yellow armbands.

In April 1944 an SS unit arrived in Oroshaza. The night of their arrival 40 Jewish men were taken from their homes and driven to a place out of town and there shot to death. Other Jews had to clean the streets or to do the hard work on the nearby farms.

On May 16, 1944 the Oroshaza Jews were collected in a ghetto; after six weeks they were made to walk to Bekescsaba on the Romanian-Hungarian border. There, whoever had relatives in the town was allowed to stay there, the rest were taken to Auschwitz. A false road taken on the way brought them to Austria.

In May 1945, after the war, about 300 of the exiled Jews returned from Austria and revived the life of the community and the Zionist activities. After a time most of them emigrated and came to Eretz Israel.

Medgyesegyhaza

A small town in the Elek district, south east Hungary.

Jews began to settle in Medgyesegyhaza in the second half of the 19th century. The majority were engaged in the grain trade. The mill was owned by a Jew. Relations with the other inhabitants were generally normal. In addition to a cemetery (opened in 1900), there were a synagogue (built in 1870) and a school. The community affiliated with the Neolog (reform) movement which wanted to integrate into Hungarian society and amend the religious way of life.

In 1930 the community numbered 60.

The Holocaust Period

In 1938, after the publication of discriminatory laws which aimed at limiting Jewish participation in the economic and cultural fields, the economic position of the Jews worsened, but there was no appearance of extreme anti-Semitism until the Nazi occupation.

In 1942, the young Jews were mobilized for forced labor, work on fortifications and in services together with other Hungarian citizens whom the authorities did not want to join the armed forces. They were sent to the Ukrainian front, were four of them perished.

In May 1944, 51 Jews were taken by cart to a nearby farm where there were also Jews from the neighboring villages. After three weeks they were taken to the town of Bekescsaba, where all the Jews of the district were confined. From here one group of 20 was transported to Auschwitz and the remainder sent to Austria. Almost all of those expelled to Austria survived.

After the war, 21 survivors returned who tried to renew the life of the community, but after a short period of time the majority dispersed. In 1947 the community officially ceased to exist. In 1964, one Jewish family still lived in the town.