The Jewish Community of Berehove/Berehovo/Beregszasz
Yiddish: Beregsaz, Czech: Berehovo, Hungarian: Beregszasz, Russian: Beregovo
A city in Transcarpathia, western Ukraine, near the Hungarian border. A cultural center for ethnic Hungarians living in Ukraine.
Timeline:
Until 1919: part of Hungary, called Beregszasz
1919-1938: part of Czechoslovakia, called Berehovo
End of 1938-1944: part of Hungary, called Beregszasz
After World War II: annexed to Soviet Union, called Beregovo
Post-Soviet era: part of Ukraine, called Berehove or Berehovo
For clarity, this article will refer to the city consistently as Berehove.
The Shalom Foundation of Beregszasz/Berehove was established in 2000 and works to protect and promote the cultural heritage of the Jewish people, to serve the city's current Jewish population, as well as to protect and preserve the cultural, religious, and historical monuments of the historical Jewish population. Many of the 21st-century plans to renovate and restore Jewish sites in the city are initiated by The Shalom Foundation
There is a small synagogue in the city that holds weekly services on the Sabbath, followed by a kiddush. The synagogue has no rabbi, and is sustained through donations. Local leaders have undertaken a project to renovate and restore the small synagogue. There are also plans to establish a Museum of Sub-Carpathian Jewry on the synagogue's second floor.
What was once the Grand Synagogue has been used as a cultural center in Berehove since the building was expropriated by the Soviet authorities in the 1960s. The building that once housed the mikvah was turned into a bank.
A project to renovate the Jewish cemetery was undertaken in 1991 and completed in 1996. As of 2016 there have been additional plans to establish a memorial for the victims of the Holocaust from Berehove.
HISTORY
The first Jews who settled in the city, then called Beregszasz, arrived during the 18th century, mainly from Poland. They lived on the estates of the nobles of the House of Schoenborn. In 1768, when Jews first arrived, there were four Jewish families living in Berehove; by 1830 there were 200 Jews living in the city. In 1795 the community had a prayer house, as well as a hevra kaddisha.
By 1838 the Jews living in Berehove had established an organized community. The first rabbi was Rabbi Yitzchok Rochlitz, a descendant of the Maharal of Prague; he served for 21 years until his death on June 10, 1859. From 1861 until 1881 Abraham Judah Leib HaKohen Schwartz was the community's rabbi. Rabbi Solomon Schreiber, the grandson of the Hatam Sofer, led the community from 1884 until 1930. From 1930 until 1944, when the community was liquidated by the Nazis, the rabbi was Abraham Solomon Hirsch, Rabbi Schreiber's son-in-law.
The community owned a piece of land in the center of the town and the community's major institutions were built there: the big synagogue, the beit midrash, the mikvah, the community's offices, and the elementary school. The homes of the community's employees were also located there, including the head of the beit din (religious court), the cantor, the beadle, and the ritual slaughterers. The area was also home to a matzah bakery, a poultry slaughterhouse, and butcher shops. Religious services and Torah lessons were held on weekdays at the various prayer houses located throughout the city; on Sabbaths and festivals they were also held in the homes of the rabbis who lived in Berehove. The hevra kaddisha, in addition to its regular work as a burial society, also founded a soup kitchen to provide hot meals for the needy, and established a hostel for poor visitors. Shalom Schwartz was the chairman of the hevra kaddisha for many years; he was succeeded by Saul Weiss. The women's society organized weekly visits to Jewish patients at the local hospitals and provided them with kosher food. They were assisted by a youth group for girls.
The city had a Jewish elementary school as well as a Talmud Torah. These were in addition to a number of small yeshivas and the Yeshiva Bnei Asher under Rabbi Asher Steinmetz, which enrolled approximately 100 students from the area. During the 1930s an elementary Hebrew school was also founded. Because the community denied the school access to regular classrooms, it operated out of rented private rooms. Only in its final years did the community submit to public pressure and grant the school necessary recognition.
The majority of Jews in the city spoke Hungarian, while many also spoke Yiddish and German.
Following the emancipation of 1867 the Jews of Berehove began to prosper economically. A number of Jews worked as vintners. Among the businesses established by local Jews were a workshop for embroideries, a workshop for footwear, three brick kilns, two barrel factories, three flour mills, a quarry, and a sawmill. They owned inns and most of the shops in the bazaars. Jews were the managers of four out of the six banks of Berehove, and they also held high public posts. Others worked as artisans or farmers. There were also Jewish professionals who worked as engineers, lawyers, pharmacists, and physicians; in 1940 all 25 of the city's private physicians were Jewish. There were also Jewish movers and day laborers.
Among the presidents of the community, from the beginning of the 20th century, were Dr. Shimon Reismann, Schandor Vari, Lajos Herschkowitz, Fischl Hartmann, Albert Fodor, Jacob Marmelstein, and Dr. Bela Szekely. Mor Greenboim was a senior secretary of the community.
In 1914 there were 4,800 Jews living in Berehove. Forty-six men from the community who had enlisted in the army were killed in action during World War I. After the war, the number of Jews in Berehove rose considerably and Jews took an active part in the social and cultural activities of the city. In fact, the president of the local society for the promotion of art and literature was Jewish, and
Zionism arrived in the city relatively late, but it quickly became popular. In 1928 a convention of HaShomer Kadimah was held in Berehove. Two years later most of the local youth participated in the Betar movement, as well as in HaShomer HaTzair, Bnei Akiva, HaPoel HaMizrachi, and HeHalutz. Revisionist Zionists, as well as general Zionists, were active, as was the women's Zionist organization WIZO. In 1937 there were 104 Jews from Berehove who took part in the elections for the 20th Zionist Congress.
In addition to the Zionist movements, there were other organizations that were active in the city. These included Agudas Yisroel, communist organizations, as well as Zionist sports organizations such as HaKoach, HaNoar, and Maccabi. Most of the tennis players in the city were Jewish, and in 1934 HaKoach's football team won the local championship.
The organized community was Orthodox, but also relatively modern. At the beginning of the 1930s a controversy arose regarding the appointment of Rabbi Hirsch, resulting in a split in the community. Because state laws forbade two communities of the same denomination in one town, the dissenters were compelled to establish a Neolog community, in spite of the fact that most of them were actually followers of the Chassidic movement. This misnamed community formed its own institutions including a mikvah, a slaughterhouse, and butcher shops. Rabbi Asher Steinmetz was appointed as the new community's rabbi and Shmuel Schoenfeld and David Weiss were elected as its leaders. Haim Isaac Altmann served as the secretary and when he emigrated to Eretz Yisrael his son Moshe Altmann replaced him.
In 1938 there were about 6,500 Jews living in Berehove.
THE HOLOCAUST
About a year before World War II broke out, following the First Vienna Arbitration (and the subsequent First Vienna Award treaty) of 1938, the region encompassing Berehove returned to Hungarian control. The relationship between the Jews and their neighbors soon deteriorated. Anti-Semitism and harassment increased. Trade permits were withdrawn from Jewish businessmen and men were forcibly drafted into labor battalions. During this period many Zionist leaders left the city for Mandate Palestine.
After the outbreak of World War II (September 1, 1939), the Hungarians expelled many Jews who could not prove their Hungarian citizenship to Nazi-occupied Poland. Local branches of two Jewish institutions based in Budapest were active in Berehove during this time. The first was Omzsa, which collected funds, and the other was Parteogo Iroda, whose function was to assist Jews in obtaining citizenship documents, to extend legal aid, to represent Jews at government offices, and to help the needy. These institutions were aided by Dr. Sandor Kroo and Feri Weiss and the secretary was Bela Gross.
In 1941 about 500 Jews were expelled from Berehove to the USSR. At the end of 1942 all of the men in the community were forcibly mobilized and sent to the Ukrainian front (Hungary at that point was an ally of Germany) where they were treated badly by the Hungarian troops accompanying them. At the front, the men were sent in to clear minefiends. Those who survived were marched along the River Don at the beginning of 1943 and died in the frost and snow. The Berehove men also served in the Czechoslovak forces of General Ludvik Svoboda, who fought against the Germans outside of the Republic.
On March 19, 1944 the Germans occupied Hungary; they entered Berehove on March 31. At that time the community consisted almost entirely of old men, women, and children; most of the young men had either fled or had been taken for forced labor in the Hungarian army. The following day the Germans appointed a Judenrat, whose task was to carry out the German orders against the Jews. A curfew was imposed on the Jews of the city, their telephone lines were cut, and their radio sets and vehicles were confiscated. On Saturday, the 8th day of Passover 1944, a ghetto was set up at the brick factory of Vari; 12,000 Jews from Berehove and the surrounding area were transferred there. In the ghetto there was insufficient water, and the sanitary conditions were poor. All of the inmates were sent to the concentration camp Auschwitz after a series of aktions on May 15th, 17th, and 19th, 1944. About 80% of the Jews of Berehove perished in the Holocaust.
POSTWAR
After the war, survivors attempted to restore the community. However, they met with a hostile reception from the city's inhabitants, prompting most to emigrate to other countries.
During the 1960s the Soviet authorities seized the Grand Synagogue and built a "shell" around the original building; though the original exterior was not destroyed, the Soviets built around it so that it cannot be seen. The interior was converted into a cultural center.
There were about 300 Jewish families left in Berehove in 1970. In the 1980s there were only a few dozen Jews living in Berehove.
The Great Synagogue in Beregszasz (Beregovo), Hungary, 1920's
(Photos)Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia, Hungary, 1920s
(now Beregovo, Ukraine(
The Synagogue was confiscated in 1959, in order to house the local theater
(The Oster Visual Documentation Center, Beit Hatfutsot,
courtesy of Dr. Bela Stark, England)
Abraham Judah Ha-Kohen Schwartz
(Personality)Abraham Judah Ha-Kohen Schwartz (1824-1883), rabbi, born in Mad, Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire). At the age of fourteen, he started to study under Moses Sofer and Benjamin Wolf Levi at Pozsony, Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire, now Bratislava, Slovakia), from where he moved to the yeshiva at Verbo. From 1861 to 1881 he served as rabbi at Beregszasz (Berehovo, now in Ukraine), and from 1861 until his death, in 1883, he was rabbi at his home town of Mad.
He was an active participant in the rabbinical gathering in Nagymihaly (Michalovce) in 1866 and at the congress held in Budapest in 1868-69. Although his personality was molded by the atmosphere of Pozsony, which was opposed to Hasidism, after a visit which he made to the head of the Hasidic dynasty of Zanz (Novy Sacz), Chaim Halberstam, he became deeply attached to him and to Hasidism. He spent the festival of Shavuot in Zanz for 26 successive years. He also had connections with Isaac Meir Alter, the head of the Hasidic dynasty of Gur (Gora Kalwaria).
Although he left only one work, responsa Kol Aryeh (1904), its influence on the rabbis of Hungary was very great. One of his grandchildren, Dov Beer Spitzer, wrote his biography – Toledot Kol Aryeh (1940). Schwartz had five sons and six daughters. Many of his descendants serves as rabbis of various Jewish communities in Hungary.
Aharon Roth
(Personality)Aharon Roth (1894-1944), Hasidic rabbi, born in Uzhorod, Ukraine (then Ungvar in Austria-Hungary). He attended yeshivot and as a young man was attracted to Hasidism. His teacher Tsevi Elimelekh of Blazowa instructed him to found a Hasidic community even though he was not a descendant of the traditional Hasidic leaders. He gathered round him Hasidim in Satu Mare and Beregszasz (Beregovo) who practiced a simple faith and rejected any form of modernism. They supported themselves by their own labor. Towards the end of his life he settled in the Land of Israel where he established a small Hasidic community. He wrote a number of books in the spirit of his teachings.
Ukraine
(Place)Ukraine
Україна / Ukrayina
A country in eastern Europe, until 1991 part of the Soviet Union.
21st Century
Estimated Jewish population in 2018: 50,000 out of 42,000,000 (0.1%). Main Jewish organizations:
Єврейська Конфедерація України - Jewish Confederation of Ukraine
Phone: 044 584 49 53
Email: jcu.org.ua@gmail.com
Website: http://jcu.org.ua/en
Ваад (Ассоциация еврейских организаций и общин) Украины (VAAD – Asssociation of Jewish Organizations & Communities of Ukraine)
Voloska St, 8/5
Kyiv, Kyivs’ka
Ukraine 04070
Phone/Fax: 38 (044) 248-36-70, 38 (044) 425-97-57/-58/-59/-60
Email: vaadua.office@gmail.com
Website: http://www.vaadua.org/
Mukachevo
(Place)Mukachevo
In Ukrainian: Мукачево / Mukachevo; Hungarian: Munkacs; Czech: Mukacevo; Yiddish: Munkatch
A city in Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine.
Mukachevo is located by the Latorica River, in the Zakarpattia Oblast (province). Until 1918 it was part of the Kingdom of Hungary within Austria-Hungary. Between the two world wars Mukachevo was part of the Republic of Czechoslovakia. After World War II (1939-1945) Mukachevo became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic; since 1991 it has been part of independent Ukraine.
In 2014 a memorial consisting of the remains of broken tombstones, as well as a menorah, was erected where Mukachevo’s Jewish cemetery was once located. Until then the site had been used first as a parking lot, and then as a vacant lot.
HISTORY
Documents indicate that the Jewish community of Mukachevo was founded during the second half of the 17th century, though there is also evidence indicating that individual Jews were living in the surrounding area beforehand. Jewish sources refer to "Minkatchov, a town situated on the banks of the Latartza River and of springs." After the community’s founding, the Jewish population rapidly increased, and Mukachevo became one of the largest communities in Hungary. Interestingly, the Jewish community of Mukachevo eventually became well-known for commitments to two opposing ideologies. On the one hand, Mukachevo became known for its extreme conservatism and commitment to the Hasidic movement, while also becoming known for its Zionism and advocacy of modern Jewish education.
The Jewish population grew, and was continuously augmented by new arrivals from Galicia. In 1741 there were 80 Jewish families living in Mukachevo; the Jewish population doubled by 1815. In 1830 there were 202 Jews living in Mukachevo, and in 1842 there were 301.
In the beginning, Mukachevo’s Jews worked in commerce and acted as brokers in the trade between Galicia and Hungary. Other Jews worked as farmers and craftsmen. As the community grew, its members became more involved in local and national politics; during the Hungarian revolt against the Austrians (1848-1849) 247 Jews from Mukachevo joined the local guard. Additionally, the Jews of Mukachevo worked on developing community institutions; a large yeshiva was established in 1851, and a Hebrew press was founded in 1871. Two additional synagogues were built in 1895 and 1903.
Prominent rabbis who served the community included Tzevi Shapira, who succeeded his father in 1893; Solomon Shapira, Rabbi Tzevi’s grandson; and Chaim Eleazar Shapira, who began his tenure in 1913 and became known as the leading opponent of Zionism in the Hasidic world. After Rabbi Chaim’s death in 1937 he was succeeded by his son-in-law, Baruch Rabinowitz, who would ultimately serve as a rabbi in the Israeli city of Holon.
In 1891 the community numbered 5,049 (47.9% of the total population). In 1910 Mukacheve’s Jewish population was 7,675 (44% of the total). The Jews of Mukachevo numbered 10,012 in 1921 (48% of the total); and 11,241 (43% of the total) in 1930; during the latter census, 88% of the Jews in Mukacheve registered their nationality as Jewish.
INTERWAR PERIOD
Between the two World Wars Jews participated actively in the administration and political life of Mukacheve. In spite of Mukacheve’s heavy Hasidic presence and influence, the Zionist party of Czechoslovakia found many local supporters. Local students, as well as those from the surrounding area, flocked to the first Hebrew elementary school, which was founded in 1920 by the Organization of Hebrew Schools in Subcarpathian Ruthenia. A Hebrew high school was established in 1925 and, beginning in 1929, was led by Chaim Kugel, who became a member of the Czechoslovakian parliament in 1935; Kugel was later succeeded by Eliahu Rubin.
Hebrew was not the only prominent language in Mukachevo during the interwar period. Four Yiddish newspapers were published in Mukachevo during this time, attesting to the prominence and importance of the Yiddish language.
On the eve of World War II there were about 30 synagogues in Mukachevo, many of which were Hasidic.
Mukachevo reverted to Hungarian rule in 1938, ushering in a period of discrimination and violence against the region’s Jews that would peak during the Holocaust.
THE HOLOCAUST
Beginning in 1940, many of Mukachevo’s young Jewish men were drafted into work battalions and sent to the Russian front. Then, in July and August, 1941, Jewish families who did not have Hungarian citizenship were expelled to Galicia.
The Germans occupied Hungary in March of 1944. Shortly thereafter, the Jews of Mukachevo were forced into a ghetto that spanned a few streets. Sanitary conditions were extremely poor, and food was in short supply. Those who were able to work were conscripted for forced labor. Deportations to Auschwitz began during the second half of May, 1944. By the end of the month there were no Jews left in Mukachevo.
POSTWAR
After the war approximately 2,500 Jews returned to the city. However, after the Soviet annexation many left, mostly for Czechoslovakia and the newly-created State of Israel.
Jewish life in Mukachevo proved to be difficult under Soviet rule. The synagogues were confiscated; the last remaining synagogue building was converted into a warehouse in 1959. Some Jews were imprisoned for practicing kosher slaughter.
Between 1,000 and 2,000 Jews were living in Mukachevo in the late 1960s.By the 1990s, however, almost all of the city’s remaining Jews emigrated to Israel and the west.
Beregsurány
(Place)A village in Szabolcs- Szatmár- Bereg county, northeast Hungary.
HISTORY
Between the end of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century Jewish immigration to this region intensified. It is likely that it was during this period that the first Jewish families settled in Beregsurány; in the first half of the 19th century there were already Jews living there. In 1840 the Jewish population of the village was 8. By the beginning of the 20th century due to the high birth rate and Jewish emigration from Eastern Europe this number had risen to 70.
The General Jewish Congress in Hungary was organized in 1868-69 in order to discuss the formation of an autonomous, united Jewish body that could organize the entire Hungarian Jewish community and act as its official representative. This initiative eventually failed, resulting in a split between the Neolog and Orthodox movements. Following the dispute in the General Jewish Congress in Hungary (1868-1869) between the Orthodox and the Neolog movements, the local Jews of Beregsurány affiliated with the Orthodox movement, which refused to accept the regulations adopted by the Congress.
The Jews of Beregsurány had a small prayer house and a kosher butcher, who also served additional small villages in the surrounding area.
THE HOLOCAUST
Due to the adoption of anti-Jewish laws in 1938 Jews were no longer allowed to work in intellectual professions, and they faced economic restrictions; their licenses to maintain inns and sell basic goods were confiscated. During this time, the Jews of the village were detained in one house for 10 days on suspicion of being traitors.
In 1941, all the Jews about whom there were doubts concerning their Hungarian citizenship were expelled. During this period the Jewish community of Beregsurány numbered 39 residents.
In April, a few weeks after the German occupation of Hungary (March 19, 1944), the jewelry and cash of the local Jews were confiscated. The following day the Jews of Beregsurány were taken to the brick factory Kont and Vály, which was located in Beregszász. The factory was already overcrowded with Jews who had been brought there from the city and from the surrounding area. On the 20th of May all of the Jews were deported to Auschwitz.
POSTWAR
After the war no Jews returned to Beregsurány.
In 1995 the Jewish cemetery was re-consecrated and a fence was built around it.
Selish
(Place)Selish
Hungarian: Nagy-Szölös; Slovak: Velky Sevlus; Russian: Vinogradov; Ukrainian: Vynohradiv
A town in Zakarpatskaja Oblast in western Ukraine. Between the world wars years Selish was part of Czechoslovakia, until the end of World War I part of Hungary within the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Selish is situated on the right bank of the Tisza river. The name means vineyard and the area was a wine making district. The town serves as a center for the surrounding agricultural region but also has furniture factories and brick-yards. The town was part of a variety of jurisdictions in the 2oth century. During the period of Hungarian rule until 1918, the city served as the capital of the Ugocsa district. In 1919 the city was annexed by the new Republic of Czechoslovakia. During the war years, 1939-45 it returned to Hungarian rule. In June, 1945 the area was annexed by the Soviet Union and since 1947 the town has been called Vinogradov.
History
According to Hungarian historical sources, some Jewish families lived in the town already in the 17th century. As a result of the Chmielnicki pogroms in 1648, Jew fled Poland and the Ukraine and found refuge in the villages and estates of the baronial families Perenyi, Acel and Fogarasi.
Still, life was not peaceful and at the end of the 17th century fighters of the Hungarian uprising under the leadership of Ferenc (Franz) Rakoczi II, organized pogroms against the Jews. Despite the law forbidding the Jews to settle in Hungarian towns, Jews came to Selish from nearby villages, most of them from Rackowic. After the death of the Austrian Emperor Josef II, whose "Edict of Tolerance" issued in 1782 granted certain privileges and freedom of worship to the Jews, there were attempts to banish Jews from the cities. However, these efforts failed and the Jews remained in Selish.
Jewish Religious Life
Jewish life was vibrant. The first rabbi of the community, Rabbi Yair Katz, was appointed in 1745 and died in 1780. Around 1785-1786, Rabbi Baruch, the father of the famous Rabbi Zalman Schneur, the author of the Tanya and first Chabad rabbi, came to live in Selish until his death in 1792. Rabbi Hacohen Heller (1794-1802), the author of the Kontras Hasefekot ("Book of Questions") about "Hoshen Mishpat" officiated after Rabbi Katz and then Rabbi Chaim Meyer Zev Hacohen Zelenfreund was rabbi during the years 1820-1832. Rabbi Falk, Rabbi Eleazer Lipman Stein and Rabbi Chaim Moshe Hacohen served in the following years. The rabbi who had the greatest influence in shaping the religious structure of the community was Rabbi Shmuel (Shmelke) Klein, the founder of the yeshiva and the author of Tzror HaChaim ("Eternal Life"). He died in 1874 and his son, Rabbi Pinchas Chaim Klein succeeded him.
The Jews of Selish opposed the Reform Movement which was spreading among the Jews of Hungary. Israel Roiz, head of the Jewish community, left the congress of Jewish communities which convened in Budapest in 1868-1869 because it was conducted in the Reform spirit. At the end of the 19th century the yeshiva in Selish was among the 31 yeshivot recognized by the authorities as preparatory schools for rabbis. The students were also obligated to study secular objects at the secondary school level.
The Jews of Selish and the surrounding area supported the Jewish community in Eretz Israel and played a part in the founding of the kollel (talmudic academy) named "Munkacs". Rabbi Pinchas Chaim Klein was chosen as a vice-president of the kollel. After his death in 1923, Rabbi Joseph Nehemia Kornizer was his successor in Selish. In 1925 when Rabbi Kornizer was called to serve in the rabbinate in Krakow, Rabbi Shlomo Israel Klein, the son of Rabbi PinchasChaim served as rabbi, the last rabbi in Selish.
There were a variety of synagogues, batei midrash and Jewish institutions. The central synagogue was the large synagogue built in 1904 on Kiraly street. The Beit Midrash was founded by Abraham Klein. With the increase in the number of congregants who prayed according to the Sephardi custom, the Ashkenazi version was replaced by the Sephardi one. They continued to pray according to the Ashkenazi tradition in the large synagogue and in the Beit Midrash "Mahzikei Torah" where Rabbi Shmelke prayed. There was also a Hassidic Talmud study house, mikvaot (ritual baths), and organized "Mishnah" study groups In addition, there was also the prayer-house of the Admor Rabbi Israel Menachem Ehrlich and a few other private places of prayer.
The community offices, the mikvaot, the ritual slaughter house, the synagogue, the homes of the rabbi and judge, the shochet and shamash were all located in the courtyard of the Great Synagogue, the "Schulhof.
The members of the burial society also visited the sick and provided medicines and firewood for the needy. In the local government hospital that was expanded in 1935 there was a kosher kitchen under the supervision of the burial society. Additional organizations active in Selish were the committee for "Hospitality for Visitors", “Psalms Society”, "Seekers of Justice Society “, womens' organizations and "Tiferes Bonim“. During the First World War, the community organized a kitchen to provide meals for Jewish soldier prisoners from Russia and Jewish refugees from Galicia.
The Chasidic rabbis (admorim) in the city were Rabbi Israel Mendel Ehrlich; Rabbi Chaim Meyer Yechiel Horowitz; the Rabbi of "Rzeszow". Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Weiss, the Admor of Spinka and the author of the Chekel Yitzchak ("Field of Yitzhak") came to Selish from Munkacs, organized a yeshiva and a magnificent synagogue. Many hassidim from the whole country came to his court. Until the end of World War I, there were only private teachers in the city. Rabbi Moshe Zeev Katz, who taught Talmud, Rashi and other commentaries, also taught Jewish religious studies in the government schools. A Talmud Torah with five classes was started after the war through the initiative of Moshe Schwartz, Rabbi Shmelke Klein, Tzvi Markowitz, Yehuda Hollander and others. Some of them also founded a school for girls called "Beth Yaacov". The Hassidim had a separate Talmud Torah.
During the period of Czech rule, when the Jews were granted minority rights, Yair Richter and Shlomo Yaacov Gilad taught Judaic studies to Jewish students in the government schools. There were also yeshivot administered by Rabbi Shlomo Israel Klein; the rabbinical judge Jonathan Benjamin, the author of the "Soul of Yonatan" and Rabbi Shmuel Greenwald. Taking advantage of the minority rights legislation, some Hebrew schools were founded. In 1922 a Hebrew school was organized in Selish and during the first year there were 150 pupils. Some of the young people continued their education at the commercial high school or in the trade schools. Some studied at the Hebrew Gymnazia in Munkacs. Many studied in the local yeshivot or in the large yeshivot in Slovakia and Hungary.
Economic Life
Most of the early Jewish settlers were inn-keepers, petty merchants, butchers and craftsmen. Most of them were poor and the Tolerance Tax introduced by the Empress Maria Theresia made their economic position even more difficult. Relief came with the introduction of a more tolerant policy by the Emperor Joseph II when the Jews could enter new fields of employment. The Jews specialized in the production and export of wine, especially to Galicia. The area was an important wine district. During the grape harvest, many admorim (Hassidic rabbis) came to the city.
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century there was a substantial improvement in the economic situation of the town's Jews. Some purchased large tracts of land, among them A. Klein, the head of the community, and the founder and director of the Ugocsa Bank. During the 1920s, the Joint Distribution Committee organized a credit bank. Some Jews owned flour mills, factories, textile stores and printing houses. They were also wholesale grain merchants, directors of financial institutions and building contractors. Most of the doctors, the district veterinarian, lawyers and the owner of the first movie house were Jews. Some Jews were wealthy and gained positions of influence in the town. But there were also workers, coachman and many needy families.
Political Life
The Jews of Selish made efforts to be part of the Hungarian society and in 1848, during the Hungarian Revolution, four Jews fought on their side. After the emancipation of the Hungarian Jews in 1867, many Jews filled important positions. In 1910 the Jewish population was 2,237 (28.6%) in a town of 7,811 inhabitants. Many Jewish refugees arrived from Galicia during World War I including hasidim and their leaders. During the period when the town was part of Czechoslovakia, Noah Jacob Deutsch was the editor and publisher of the Hungarian newspaper "Ugocsa". He was also chairman of the Jewish National Party in the years 1920-1922. In the municipal elections of 1921, eleven representatives of the Jewish Party were elected to the council that contained 36 members. Eliahu Weiss was elected deputy mayor.
Zionism
Zionist activity in the town began with the founding of the “Lovers of Zion" society by Moshe Gutman in 1913. When World War I broke out in 1914, most of its members were drafted into the army. After the war, Zionist activity was renewed. An organization called "Unity" included Zionists from all parties. Public lectures were sponsored and money collected for the Jewish National Fund. A branch of the WIZO and a youth group for girls called "Miriam" were active. In June, "Unity" split up and branches of the Mizrachi and Revisionist parties were formed. In 1918, Moshe Gutman was elected a member of the Zionist executive board of Hungary. After the war he organized Zionist groups in the region, joined the Mizrachi and was its delegate to the 12th Zionist congress, which took place in Karlsbad. In 1926, 244 shkalim were purchased by the community for the fifteenth Zionist Congress. In 1937, 151 Jews from Selish attended the 20th Zionist Congress. Another active Zionist was Meshullam Fish Weiss. Yitschak Bloch was assistant to the leader of the Beitar in Czechoslovakia. In later years he served as the secretary of the Tel-Chai fund in London. The sports club Maccabi supported a football team.
There were branches of many youth movements: Hashomer Kadima, Hashomer Hatzair, Beitar, Hechalutz and youth movement of Hamizrachi. The youth movements sent their members to training farms and factories as a preparation for aliya. Selish had a number of such hachshara (preparation for aliyah) programs, and some immigrated to Eretz Israel in small groups or as individuals during the years 1930-1939. During that period about five or six large families also immigrated to Eretz Israel.
Small Communities in the district served by Selish
In the area there were several small communities, some populated by Jews who lived there for many years before Jews were allowed to settle in the city. Many were in the wine trade and had small tracts of vineyards or were wine merchants. The rabbis of Selish provided these communities with a “dayan”(judge) and teacher.
Halmi had an independent Jewish community. In 1865 the rabbi of the rabbinical court was Rabbi Mordechai Halevi, the author of "Parshat Mordechai “ (The Commentaries of Mordechai) . Rabbi Eliahu Klein served the community for many years. There was also a yeshiva in the village. The Jews of Tur-Terebes joined the community of Halmi when it became independent.
The community in Turcz was independent even before World War I. The first rabbi was Rabbi Chaim Friedrich. His son, Yitzchak, served as rabbi after him, followed by Rabbi A. S. Yerucham Friedman, who headed a yeshiva there.
In Nagy-Tarna there was a small group of Jews and among them were rabbinical judges and teachers.
Except for the four communities mentioned above, which were annexed to Romania after the First World War, the rest of the communities in the area were annexed to Czechoslovakia. During this period the district developed economically. Most of the Jews owned their own homes and small auxiliary farms and some Jews even owned large tracts of land.
In Chepa the community numbered 250 Jews. There was a cemetery, a burial society, a Talmud Torah school, and a mishnaioth study group. A caretaker, shochet (ritual slaughterer) and treasurer were employed. The Jews of Csoma, Hetenyi and Gyula were part of the Chepa community. In Velky-Palad there was a synagogue, a ritual bath and Talmud Torah. A rabbi and shochet were also employed.
The following small villages and townships contained usually only 100 to 200 Jews but maintained synagogues and ritual baths. In Veroecze the flour mill and stone quarries were owned by Jews. Goedenyhaza had a Jewish school (cheder) and a Jew was elected to the local council. In Rakasz called Rakisova by the Jews, there was a cheder. Shmuel Klein, the head of the community, was elected village judge. Several active Mizrachi members lived there and sold Shekelim (membership in the World Zionist Organization) to the wider Jewish public. In Fekete Ardo, the district notary and one of the doctors were Jewish. There was a cemetery and a shochet was employed. In Szaszfalu there was a burial society and a shochet and teacher were employed. The Jews of Nagykopany founded a synagogue that followed Ashkenazi tradition and another synagogue for Hassidim, ritual baths and a burial society. The shochet also served the Jews in the neighboring area. The Jewish youth were Zionist. In Kiskopany Joseph Glick, a wealthy Jew, built a Talmud study house and ritual baths. in the final days of the community they prayed in the neighboring town of Nagykopany. In Nagykonyjat, a shochet and a teacher were employed who arbitrated on matters of halacha. The Jews of Onok used the communal facilities of Konyjat.
The community of Fancsika supported a synagogue, a study- house and ritual baths. The Hassidim who settled in the village organized their own prayer-house according to the Sephardi tradition. The local shochet also served the village of Sasvar. Szirma, which had about 60 Jews maintained a synagogue and a minyan; Matyfalva and Tisza- Ujhely.
In the villages Tekehaza, Zaricsa, Nagy Sarad, Kis-Sarad, Vlahovo, Ardo, Egres, Boekeny, Salank, Oroszi, Kisrakocz, there were small groups of Jews, but they maintained synagogues and ritual baths and in some cases even employed a shochet or judge.
The following communities contained only a few Jewish families and had no communal facilities: Hreblya, Akli, Fertoes Almas, Csongova, Verboecz, Chyz'a, Csorna, Kistarna, Koekenyesd, Peterfalva, Farkasfalva, Nevetlen Falu, C'orny-Potok, Batar, Tisza Keresztur, Karacsfalva, Forgolany, Tivadar-Falva, Homlovice, Novoselice, Rosztoka, Fakobuekk and Horbka.
In 1938 there were 8,000 Jews living in Selish and the surrounding area.
The Holocaust
As a result of the Munich pact of September 1938, nearly a year before the outbreak of World War II, the Czechoslovak Republic was dismantled. After the Vienna Agreement (Nov 2, 1938), when part of Carpathian Russia was annexed to Hungary, the town of Selish remained in the autonomous Ukrainian Republic. The disruption of rail communications between Selish and the hinterland caused serious shortages.
The Hungarians invaded the area on March 15, 1939 and confiscated lands and invalidated commercial licenses of the Jews. The community organized a bureau for the protection of Jewish civil rights. The leading members were Moshe Gutman (Zionist) and Lipa Friedman (Hassid) and the secretary was Dr. Mordechai Nichomovitz. The bureau later became a branch of the Omzsa, a Jewish relief organization whose center was in Budapest. They organized occupational courses and opened a communal kitchen for the needy.
The men were drafted into Hungarian Work Battalions in 1941 for forced labor service on the Eastern Front. At that time there were 4,264 Jews in Selish. Jews without citizenship were sent to Kamenetz-Podolsky in Ukraine. Among the 18,000 Jews in the camp were several from Selish and its vicinity. Most of the Jews in the camp were murdered by the Ukrainians on the orders of the German SS.
From 1941 till 1944 the Jews in Selish and the area lived under difficult conditions and were subject to harassment. Nevertheless, Zionist activity continued under the guise of scouting.
On March 19, 1944 the Germans invaded Hungary. They organized a Judenrat (Jewish council). The members were Mendel Wuerzburger, Lipa Friedman, Moshe Gutman and others. On the last day of Passover in 1944 the Jews of Selish, and Jews of the Ugocsa and Halmi districts - 12,000 in all were rounded up and forced to move into the ghetto in the vicinity of the communal building in Selish. The wealthy Jews were taken to the synagogue where they were tortured in order to disclose the hiding places of their valuables. Jews from the surrounding area were brought to the ghetto and conditions were very cramped and difficult. The Hungarian Baron Sigmund Perenyi helped the Jews in the ghetto.
The liquidation of the ghetto and the deportations of the Jews to the Nazi death camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau started on the 15th of May 1944.
Moshe Gutman, the community leader chose to stay with his people and was among the first to be deported though he was offered a chance to escape to Budapest. Two additional groups of deportees were sent to Auschwitz and arrived there between the seventh and the thirteenth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan. A few members of the "Ha'shomer Ha'zair" and some other Jews were able to hide and survive.
A local underground group was uncovered by the Germans. Its members were arrested and faced court-martial. Among them were eight Jews: Dr. Yacob Leizman, one of the organizers of the group, the Farkash couple, the Leibowitz couple, the Schwartz couple, Shmuel Weiss from Fekete-Ardo and three non-Jews were executed by firing squad on June 17, 1944.
Post War
In 1945, after the war, a public memorial service was held for Dr. Leizman and his comrades, the victims of Nazism. A monument was erected in their memory in the center of the town. Most of the surviving Jews who returned to the town after the war eventually left - some emigrated to the United States, Europe and Australia. About 400 Jews emigrated to Israel, some illegally, during the period of the British Mandate.
In 1990 there was a private home in Selish where a group of Jews gathered to pray but they had no Torah scroll. Jews from Hungary, especially affiliated with Chabad come to pray at the cemetary on the anniversary of Rabbi Baruch’s (father of the Lubavitcher Rebbe) death (8 Tishrei). A local non Jewish resident takes care of the Jewish cemetery.
Irshava
(Place)Irshava
Іршава / Irshava; In Hungarian: Ilosva
A town in Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine. It was part of Czechoslovakia until WW II, and before WW I it was part of Austria-Hungary.
Irshava lies about 50 kms north-east of the town Beregovo.
Until the end of World War I Irshava belonged to the Austro-Hungarian empire. During the period between the two World Wars it was part of Czechoslovakia. In the course of World War II it was occupied by Hungary. At the end of the war it became part of the Ukrainian republic of U.S.S.R.
In Czechoslovakia Irshava was a sub-district town. Most of its citizens were Ruthenians. Their language was Ruthenian, but Hungarian, Russian and Czech were also spoken. The majority of the Jews spoke Yiddish among themselves.
It is not known when the Jewish community of Irshava was established. The oldest tombstone of the Jewish cemetery is apparently of the end of the 19th century. The first Jews who were buried at the Irshava cemetery lived at the nearby villages and not at Irshava itself. The first rabbis of Irshava were the Dayanim (Judges) Shvarti and Haim Joseph. When they died, a tabernacle (“Ohel”) was set upon each of the two graves.
Irshava was known among the Jewish communities mainly thanks to its Yeshiva, established by rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum, who had come to the town from Szatmar before World War I. After the war many Jews came to live near him at Irshava and rabbis and heads of communities were among his disciples.
The Jews of Irshava were living close to the main road which crossed the town. It was called in Yiddish “the Jewish road”. The Talmud Torah, the chicken slaughter-house and the Matzah bakery were in that road. Most of the Jews had their own houses, with a flower garden in front and a vegetable garden and fruit trees at the back. The majority of the Jews engaged in petty trade, some were inn-keepers. Many of the Jews were poor. Daily public “Minhah” and “Maariv” prayer services were held at the central synagogue. On Saturdays and festival days the entire community attended the services. One of the entrances to the synagogue was through the fields.
The activities of the community were financed by the taxes paid by its members. The bulk of the revenue came from the tax on kosher slaughter. Children of the ages 4 and 5 were taught reading and writing at the “Heder”. At the age of 6 the children were required to be registered at one of the general schools, in which the language of instruction was Czech, Ruthenian, Hungarian and in some schools also Hebrew.
Jewish boys of the higher school grades attended religion classes in the afternoon at the rabbi’s home. At the general schools boys and girls attended the same classes. At the “Heder”, the school year consisted of two terms: the winter term, from the first day of the month of Heshvan (October) until one week before Passover; and the summer term, from the first day of the month of Iyyar (May) up to Rosh Hashana (new year, about September), so that the Jewish children had practically no summer vacation.
According to the census of 1938, within the boundaries of that year, 7078 Jews were living at Irshava.
The Holocaust Period
Following the Munich accord of September 1938, the Czech part of Marmaros district was turned on 22.11.1938 into a Ruthenian autonomy under protection of Nazi Germany. The persecution of Jews in that district began at once. In March 1939 the region was occupied by the Hungarian army. Under the laws of the Hungarian government, then an ally of Nazi Germany, discrimination against the Jews set in immediately. Jewish merchants and craftsmen found it difficult to obtain trade, permits or necessary goods and raw materials. Jews were often detained and sometimes even tortured.
In 1941, Jews of Czech nationality and other Jews who could not prove Hungarian citizenship were expelled from the Hungarian territory. A number of Jewish families of Irshava managed to secure false documents with the help of a school official, and so evaded expulsion. Men of all those who were allowed to stay were mobilized for forced labor in a military framework. They were taken to do difficult and dangerous tasks in shameful living conditions and only some survived the war.
Within a short period, most of the Jews of Irshava lost their means of livelihood, their stores in the main street were closed down or expropriated. In an attempt to survive, they were forced to resort to the black market, with a serious risk to their lives.
In the spring of 1944, just before Passover, many Jewish conscripts to the labor companies were allowed to return to their families. At the beginning of April of that year all the Jews in Hungary were ordered to wear the yellow badge on their clothes. Within a few weeks they were all confined into ghettos and from there taken out to forced labor. In the summer of 1944 the Jews were deported to concentration and extermination camps. About 1,900 Jews of Irshava were murdered, most of them in the Auschwitz extermination camp. Among them was also the last rabbi of Irshava, rabbi Moshe Wirzenberger. The number of Irshava Jews who survived the war is not known.
At the end of the 20th century, the tombstones at the Jewish cemetery of Irshava were found sunken in the ground and the inscriptions badly eroded.