The Jewish Community of Tokaj
Tokaj
A small town in the Zemplen district, north east Hungary.
History
There were Jews in Tokaj during the seventeenth century. At the time of the national uprising during the second half of the seventeenth century, its leader, Ferenc Racosi II and his Kuruc Battalions occupied Tokaj. In 1680 they burnt it, then robbed and plundered the whole district. The Jews suffered especially from their cruelty and because of the lack of general security, they left for a period of time. However, in the first half of the eighteenth century, Jews emigrated from Poland to Tokaj. They were drawn by the trade in Tokaj, the sweet amber colored wine popular in the courts of Louis XIV and Peter of Russia. Jews produced wine for Jews and non-Jews. They leased vineyards, whose products and exports made them very rich. Their neighbors' jealousy was the reason that in 1798, Jews were forbidden to produce high-quality wine, including high quality kosher wine, which only Christians were permitted to produce. In 1800 the Jews also were forbidden to lease or buy vineyards in the Tokaj area. Jews were permitted to hold poor quality vineyards in the district of Zemplen. Nevertheless, the district representatives in Parliament claimed that the Jews concentrated all wine exports in their own hands. However, the municipality supported the Jews. A few local landowners who were interested in the development of Tokaj also supported them. The reputation of Tokaj wine was a credit to the Jews.
In 1879 Jews established a match factory in the town, and others established banks which financed industrial concerns. The community started a hevra kadisha (burial society) and many other charitable institutions such as agudat nashim, malbish arumim, anei haIr, hevrat sandakim, tiferet bachurim, and a merchant's association. In addition, a school was opened in 1856. In 1888 the language of school instruction was changed from German to Hungarian. Certified teachers replaced teachers lacking certificates. The tradition and religion were observed, but the accent was on patriotism. In 1880, there were 1,161 Jews in Tokaj (the height of its Jewish population).
A new synagogue was built in 1889. The distinguished rabbis of Tokaj were: Gabriel Senditc, who was the rabbi there approximately 50 years, until he died in 1868. David Schuck (1864-1889), who wrote the book Imre David, about the Massechet Hulin (Muncacz, 1890). Natan Halevi Jungreisz was the rabbi from 1929 until perished in the Holocaust in 1944.
Neither the change of regimes after the First World War, not the White Terror harmed the Jews of Tokaj; the local authorities backed them, and prevented the terrorists' entrance. Tokaj was unique in the good relations between the Jews and the local citizens and officials which also served them well until the Nazis entered Hungary.
Between the two world wars there was much Zionist activity. The Ministry of the Interior officially registered a branch of aguda lemaan in 1931. The members of this association, the majority of them middle class, didn't believe in personal Aliyah, but supported the Zionist cause by collecting money and publicizing Zionist ideas among the wealthier classes. In 1931 the Young Zionist Movement, Barisia, began its work among the youth, and attracted many to Zionism. In 1932 there was a branch of the Hungarian Youth Organization, which also included Zionism. The local authorities ignored this activity, and the Jews of Tokaj, especially the young, weren't frightened of Zionist connections. There was no opposition in the Jewish community to Zionism. All these factors helped Zionism spread and flourish in Tokaj and some young people went on Aliyah. In 1930 the community numbered 959.
The Holocaust Period
In 1938 with the publication of discriminatory laws which aimed at limiting Jewish participation in the economic and cultural fields, the means of livelihood of the Jews was indeed hurt, but not to the point of destroying their economic position. Through the cooperation of Christians in their businesses, these remained in their possession until the German army invaded Hungary. In 1939, when Hungary was posed to attack Romania, Jews to the age of 40 were mobilized to go to labor camps. In 1942 the laborers were employed on flood prevention. After three months they were sent to the Ukrainian front.
In the spring of 1944, after the German occupation, all the special rights enjoyed by the Jews were revoked and Jewish owned businesses and workshops were closed down. An SS unit assisted the gendarmerie to assemble the Jews and drive them from the town. Many of the wealthy Jews were sent as hostages to a detention camp at Kistarcsa. In April, buildings such as the synagogue, college, heder (a school for Jewish children) and homes of the officials of the community were turned into a ghetto, in which all the Jews of the town were concentrated. In contrast to instructions in other ghettos, the Christian inhabitants of Tokaj were permitted to bring food parcels to the Jews in the ghetto.
At the beginning of May, the Jews of Tokaj were taken by cart to Bodrogkeresztur, and then to the Satoraljaujhely ghetto. Several of the detainees succeeded in escaping from the ghetto and getting to Budapest. In the second half of May, the Jews of the town were sent to Auschwitz in four transports. The young people, who comprised a large part of the population, were sent to do forced labor.
Postwar
After the war, 112 survivors returned. They renewed communal life with the aid of the Joint, but the number of Jewish residents kept on decreasing. In 1960 only three Jews remained in the town.