The Jewish Community of Fuzesgyarmat

Fuzesgyarmat

A village in the Bekes district, south east Hungary.

Jews first settled in the place in the second half of the 19th century. During the two world wars the number of Jews increased while their economic position improved. The Christian inhabitants generally displayed animosity towards the Jews, although there were never any physical attacks. The community was orthodox. There were a hevra kadisha (burial society), synagogue built during the second half of the 19th century, mikveh (ritual bath) and heder (religious school).

In 1930 the community numbered 217.

The Holocaust Period

In 1938, following the publication of discriminatory laws which aimed at restricting Jewish participation in the economic and cultural fields, the majority of Jews were deprived of their means of livelihood. The men were conscripted for forced labor in 1942. In 1944, after the German occupation, the inhabitants of the village cooperated with the Germans in implementing all the cruel edicts imposed on the Jews. The Jews were transferred to bekescsaba in the middle of June where they were held under overcrowded conditions in tobacco warehouses near the railway station. On the way there they were cruelly harassed by the gendarmerie. Only a few managed to escape, mainly to nearby Romania. On June 25 they were loaded into cattle cars with blows and curses, and sent to Austria.

After the war, the majority of those deported to Austria returned; they renewed communal life. Slowly they began to disperse, most of them going on aliyah to Israel.