Hungary borders Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine. The first Jewish settlers came to
Buda from the German and the Slavic countries in the second half of the 12th century. They were twice expelled in the 14th century; in 1349 following the anti-Jewish accusations after the "Black Plaque", and again in 1360 as a result of the hostile influence of the church. More information can be found at
http://www.bh.org.il/Communities/Budapest.asp
The Jews of Budapest were
very assimilated and successful members of society. However,
anti Semitism was on the rise. The Numerus Clasus laws
were enacted in 1924, limiting Jewish university enrollment at
six percent. Soon Jews were not allowed telephones, radios
or pets. In the summer of 1941, immigrant Jews living in
Hungary were deported and massacred.
Hungary was allied with Germany during WW II, thus it
was not until 1944 that Hungarian Jews became targets.
At that time, it was estimated that there were approximately
825,000 Jews. On
March 22, all Jewish shops were ordered closed and on April 5,
Hungarian Jews were ordered to wear the yellow Star of David.
About some 63,000 Jews died or were killed prior to the German
occupation. Some of the male Jews were transported to the copper mines of
Bor, Yugoslavia, to work as slave laborers. Between
May and July 1944, almost a half-million (440,000) Hungarian Jews
were deported to Auschwitz in more than 145 trains.
Today, Hungary has a total population of 10.2 million. Jews have lived there since Roman times. Today there are 70,000
to 100,000 Jews who live in the capital city of Budapest. There are Jews living today in small communities including
Miklosc, Debrecen and Szeged and several other smaller towns. Before WW II, there were over 600,000 Jews and most perished in the Holocaust. Over half of those still living in
Hungary are over the age of 65.
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/hu.html
If you are looking for information about
Transylvania and Moldova, ROM SIG covers the Moldova and Transylvania areas and click on Links where you will find a list of maps for
Romania, Transylvania and Moldova. www.jewishgen.org/romsig
Hungary Home Page
http://www.fsz.bme.hu/hungary/homepage.html
For information on family research possibilities in Hungarian archives, (in Hungarian and in English)
www.natarch.hu
Most books, CDs, etc. can be ordered through my link to Amazon.com.
"Bridging Three Worlds: Hungarian Jewish Americans" - authored by Robert Perlman, a Professor Emeritus at Brandeis University. Available at the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania or by calling (412) 454 6324.
"Fiorello's Sister: Gemma La Guardia Gluck's Story" -
Non-fiction - authored by Gemma La Guardia Gluck and edited by
Rochelle G. Saidel, published by Syracuse University Press.
Gemma and Fiorello La Guardia were the children of an Italian
Jewish mother and a bandmaster in the US Army. Gemma, who
did not practice Judaism, married Herman Gluck, a Hungarian Jew,
and made her home in Budapest. When the Nazis conquered
Hungary, the Glucks were arrested in reprisal against her
brother, Fiorello La Guardia, then mayor of New York. Her
husband later died in Mauthausen and Gemma was interned at
Ravensbruck, as were her daughter and her infant grandson, who
were held in a separate barrack.
"From Shtetl to Milltown: Litvaks, Hungarians and Galitzianers in Western Pennsylvania 1875-1925" authored by Robert Perlman and published by the
Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. The books tells the story of those who populated
McKeesport, Donora, Homestead, Ambridge, New Castle and many other steel and manufacturing towns in
Western Pennsylvania The book is available at the Museum Shop of the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania or by calling (412) 454 6324. The cost is $18.95
"Jews in the Hungarian Economy: 1760-1945" - edited by Michael K. Silver and published by the Magnes Press, Hebrew University Jerusalem in 1992. It is a collection of studies dedicated to Moshe Carmilly-Weinberger on the occasion of his 80th birthday.
"Jewish Life in Hungary" authored by Ferenc Orban and published in
Budapest by Makkabi. A bi-lingual (Hungarian and English directory and travel guide to Jewish sites in Hungary). Lists the names and contact information for Jewish organizations, foundations, social groups, cultural institutions, schools, publications, restaurants and shopping. Provides a guide to 119 Jewish sites specifically in
Budapest, including synagogues, cemeteries and monuments, and list notable sites in the small towns and villages of the
Hungarian countryside plus a few maps.
"Magyarorszag Varmegyei es Varosai" edited by Samu Borovszky in 1894, there is a portion that deals with the purchase of real estate in
Zemplen in the 1700s and in later years, by Jews whose names are mentioned.
Two sources may help you, according to a posting by Armram Eshel to soc.genealogy.jewish re
Budapest Ghetto on 1/19/2003. 1) A series pf 3 books titled NAMES (in English) and NEVEK(in Hungarian).
Part 1 - Names of the deported Jews from Hajdu County,Hungary. Part 2 and
3 - Names of the Jewish victims of Hungarian Labor Battalions. Both have many names from
Budapest.
In parts 2 and 3 there is a note (in Hungarian) for each person listed: missing, sick, wounded, buried, died, etc. Parts 2 and 3 have 34,000 names. All first names are in
Hungarian. Of importance is mother's name of each person.
The name of the author of the books varies in different libraries: Gavriel BEN-SHAKED; Yad Vashem; Beate and Serge Klarsfeld Foundation.
2) "COUNTED REMNANTS: Register of the Jewish survivors in Budapest, 1946". In this book' too' the first-names are in Hungarian. The link is set to a PDF file.
www.cjh.org/pdfs/Hungarian.pdf
General HungarianGenealogy Information
Photo of the Holy Ark in
a Hungarian Synagogue
An excellent site to find information about most European countries is at
http://searcheurope.com and type in the name of the country you wish to research in the search field. This site is a great source to find information for almost every European country. Another valuable site to help find a person, maps, etc. is and type in the name of any country you wish to research. This service is free.
http://www.webhelp.com/home
Global Gazetteer is a great web site. It is a directory of 2,880,532 of the world's cities and towns, sorted by country and linked to a map for each town. A tab separated list is available for each country.
www.calle.com/world/
Hungarian Archives - Hungarian Archives of State Magyar, Orszagos Leveltar
Budapest I., Becsikapu Ter. 4 H-1250 Budapest Phone 00361 156 58 11 Hours: Mon. to Friday 8:30 to 7:30
http://ihff.nwy.at/frtop.htm
in the lands of the former
Austro-HungarianMonarchy - a Guide to Archives and Parish-Registers http://ihff.nwy.at/hpmain.htm
Hungarian Gazetteer
The 1877 volume lists how many Jews lived in each city, town, village and hamlet and notes the place where they worshipped. The list of places is in the back of the 2nd volume of this work, which is available on FHL microfiche #6000840
http://www.progenealogists.com/hungary/gazetteers.htm
Family Tree Genealogical Research Bureau. The following sub-Carpathian (Ukraine), Jewish registers are available and include the following counties: Tecso, Tarackozi and Maramarossziget.
and locating SIG Mailing Lists, you will be able to send and receive to the HungarianSIG. I found a good site at
http://www.jewishgen.org/Hungary
Their Home Page offers a number of interesting links to such sites as the 1828 and 1830 List of Names From Censuses and the Nagyvarad Memorial Book Name List, a List of
translated professions for 1848 Jewish Census among other lists
Hungary.Org
Another interesting and informative site that includes a language translator (for free) along with several excellent Dictionaries and links to the
History of Hungary, Travel, Currency, Photos,, a web search service ... even a free e-mail address at
http://hungary.org/hungary/table.html
Sights and sounds of yesteryear's
Hungary. Birthplace of Theodor Herzl and home of one of the largest synagogues in Europe are contained in an exhibit from Beth-Ha'tefutsorth, The Naum Goldmann Museum of the Jewish Diaspora
www.bh.org.il
Includes Base post offices in
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bohemia, Hungary, Levant, Lombardy, Mantua, Moravia, Silesia, Prague, Poland (Galicia), Venetia and Yugoslavia - all places are in alphabetical order, with provinces prefixed
http://www.kitzbuhel.demon.co.uk/austamps/ pobook/main.htm
Professional genealogical researcher, Professor of Jewish History at the University of Cluj-Napoca, Ladislau Gyemant, PhD communicates in English Phone 011 40 64 167256 or e-mail
gyemant@zortec.ro
There are many translating services, some for free, available to help with your translating needs in most languages including Hungarian, Magyar. One of these sites is
http://www.dictionaries.travlang.com/
Just in case you didn't think of it, contact a nearby university or college's foreign language department. They may offer to write letters and translate letters into English. A nominal fee is usually charged.
Translation Services - I found an interesting site that offers to translate Hungarian to English as well as Hungarian to German and in addition, links to a number of important Dictionaries
http://hungary.org/hungary/ Click on Languages. Site takes a bit of time to load.
Art Source International offers a selection of antique maps, prints and globes at Art Source
International
Austro-Hungarian Empire circa 1880 or 1890s, very detail map is located on LDS Film #1,045,395? At the beginning of the film is a grid layout of all the sections that follow. Basically you need to identify a zone and a column and then search that area.
Austro-Hungarian Military Topographic Maps Scale 1:75,000 - Contact Lavrentiy Krupnak at
Lkrupnak@erols.com for a 1,877k jpeg file via e-mail. It will take about 10 minutes to download. You may also find these same, or similar maps, at the U.S. Library of Congress.
Old Bereg County - here is a map web site with
Hungarian place names. You will note the large town of
Munkacs in the middle of the map and Klucsarka about 5 km southwest of it on the main road. Just north of
Klucsarkais Uj-Davidhaza(New Davidhaza) and just north of that is
O-Dav (Old Davidhaza). The maps at this site are large and take a while to download, but they are wonderfully detailed
http://lazarus.elte.hu/hun/maps/1910/bereg.jpg
The Map Division at the New York Public Library has a set of maps of Hungary which might be helpful in genealogical research. This set of maps has not yet been entered in their on-line card catalog,
CATNYP. The bibliographic entry for this set as listed in their printed catalog is 'Spezialkarte der Oesterreichisch-ungarischen Monarchie, im Masse: 1:75,000 der natur'. Unofficially, it is referred to as Austria-Hungary 1:75,000. It has not been entered into the pre-1971 map (as opposed to book) acquisitions or into the computer database yet, so you will not find it in CATNYP. It was published in Vienna over a period of years, 1877-1914.The K.u.k. (the abbreviation of 'Kaiserliche und Konigliche' (=Imperial and Royal) (title of the institutions that were shared under the Dual Monarchy, such as military, etc. refers to the cartographic unit of the Military and Geographic Institute of the state. The set is in 776 sheets and comes with an index which can be consulted in the Map Division.
The place should be instantly recognizable to all fans of the horror novel as the place where Jonathan Harker stopped off on his way to Castle Dracula. Bistritz is described near the opening of the book as an old place close to the frontier between
Hungary and the Austrian province of Bukovina. There are other details in the book about the town and region that author Bram Stoker picked up from books in the British Library.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/2901/hujewcom.htm
Buda on one side and
Pest is on the other = Budapest
Budapest - capital of Hungary, technically lies in both Eastern and Western Europe. The Danube River divides the city into
Buda and Pest, distinct entities until they were joined to form
Budapest in 1872. This beautiful city is considered the 'Paris' of the East A wonderful web site to visit for details about this city is at
http://www.bh.org.il/Communities/Budapest.asp
Jews, during WW II suffered under the rigid rules of the
Hungarian authorities and later, the Nazis --- no phone calls, no radio, no mail, no alcohol and no prayer. Many survived with the help of Raoul Wallenberg, a
Swedish diplomat, and others who had fooled the Germans while hiding Jews until the Red Army offered liberation. The city itself, was devastated after WW II by the Soviets and before, by the Nazis.
"The Great Jewish Cities of Central and Eastern Europe: A Travel Guide and Resource Book to Prague, Warsaw, Cracow and Budapest" - authored by Eli Valley
Buy
from Amazon.com
TheDohány Synagogue (The Great Synagogue is located in District VII, Dohanyu 2-8) is the second largest in the world and is a towering shrine that is a testament to the life of Jews all over Pest. It houses the National Jewish Museum.
Dohány translates to tobacco and was taken from the name of the street it is located in
Belvarios, the inner city of Pest, in the astern section of
Budapest. It was built between 1854-59 by the Neolog Jewish community of Pest and offers 4,000 seats..
Running perpendicular to the
Jewish Ghetto, which is between Dohány utca, Kiraly utca and Erzseber korut, is the wide Karoly Krt Boulevard. Nearly 70,000 Jews were confined to this small, walled-off neighborhood that today looks charming with a restaurant, a Jewish bookshop and a coffee shop that serves Jewish pastries. Next to the synagogue is a monument honoring the Jews who suffered and died during the Holocaust. Detailed information can be found at this web site
http://www.bh.org.il/Communities/Budapest.asp
There is a photo exhibition by Jeff Gusky which includes photos of this city he recently photographed http://www.jeffgusky.com/
This cemetery as reported by the Heritage Foundation for Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries (HFPJC) is not in good condition.
Bushchyno
The Rusyn name for
Bustyahaza. Bustyahaza was the former Magyar (Hungarian) name when it was in
Maramaros County. During the Soviet period, it had the spelling
Bushtyna, which is also the current Ukrainian spelling.
Bushtino was the former Czechoslovak official place name.
http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/pinkas_hungary/hun348.html
Debrecen - was located in
Hungary's Hajdu Megye (Country) Raoul Wallenberg disappeared somewhere on his way to having a meeting with Marshall Rodion Malinovsky in Debrecen.
www.jewishgen.org/databases/holocaust/0008_Debrecen.html
Dunaujvaros (Dunapentele, Sztalinvaros) - " A Dunapentelei Zsido Kozosseg - Temetojuk - Fotok iv Kotet" (The Jewish Community of Dunapentele, Hungary) -
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/translations.html
Fiomea (Fiume)
A port on the Adriatic near Trieste that used to be in the Hungarian county of Modrus-Fiume. Today it is in either Croatia or Slovenia depending upon when the border changes.
http://www.giorgioperlasca.it/inglese/vita2.html
There are Regional Special Interest Groups that have Hungary information and links. The site includes links to Bohemia-Moravia SIG, Denmark SIG, German-Jewish SIG, Hungary SIG and Stammbaum - German SIG at
http://www.jewishgen.org/Shtetlinks/W_Europe.html
Gyor Synagogue
Gyor
Contact Stephen Schmideg There are Regional Special Interest Groups that have Hungary information and links. The site includes links to Bohemia-Moravia SIG, Denmark SIG, German-Jewish SIG, Hungary SIG and Stammbaum - German SIG
Another source of information, both in English and Hungarian. It's necessary to scroll down the page to get to the Gyor photos and information.
http://gyorjewish.org/main.htm
Kunszentmarton - located south of Budapest has a synagogue that is currently being restored. It will now be used as a cultural center, including a concert hall and gallery. The synagogue was built in 1911-12 and combines traditional Jewish symbolism with Hungarian designs in Art Nouveau style. It functioned as a house of worship until 1964, when the official Hungarian Jewish community sold it and was used as a furniture warehouse until it was no longer used, and then left vacant. Restoration work was initiated by municipal authorities in 1990s. www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/pinkas_hungary/hun488.html
Mad - has a baroque style synagogue still standing. The town is in the northeastern part of Hungary and the synagogue is now being restored and is expected to be used as a memorial museum and educational center It was built around 1795 and is one of the finest surviving examples of this type of synagogue architecture and one of the oldest surviving synagogues still standing in the country. The city is located close to several villages where Hasidic rabbis are known to be buried.
Since 1944, the synagogue has stood empty when the Jewish community was deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz. Remaining today, though not in good condition, is the synagogue itself along with the former yeshiva and the rabbi's residence, though all are in disrepair.
There is a plaque hanging inside the synagogue that commemorates the hundreds of local Holocaust victims. If you are interested in donating money to help with this, or any other synagogue's restoration, see www.worldmonuments.org
Nagy Bocsko (Nagy Bocska, Maramaros, Erdely) Contact Leslie Gyi - There are Regional Special Interest Groups that have Slovakia information and links. The site includes links to Bohemia-Moravia SIG, Denmark SIG, German-Jewish SIG, Hungary SIG and Stammbaum - German SIG at
http://www.jewishgen.org/Shtetlinks/W_Europe.html
Pecs - once had a prominent Jewish community. The town counted approximately 4,000 Jews. There is one synagogue still standing, though it had at one time four. Inside the synagogue, is a beautiful interior that holds memories of the four thousand Jews who were murdered there.
http://caboodle.hu/nc/directories/category/subcategory/single_page/synagogue_pecs/
Pressburg aka (Bratislava in Slovakian and Pozsony in Hungarian) - this town was in Hungary before WW 1 and was the capital of Hungary from 1541 (when the Turks captured Buda) until 1784. http://www.jewish-guide.pl/slovakia/41
In the record books for this city, for the first time a Jew is mentioned in 1664. The names were Macskassy Janos and his wife Zsido Katalin.
"Jewish Orthodox records(1887-1895) and not microfilmed by the Mormons. The records are almost complete! Only 4 records are missing:
Birth: 1889 and 1892 Marriage: 1891 Death: 1889
"I was lucky enough to find my gg-parents marriage certificate(1894) with all its precious information, as well as a wealth of data that has greatly enriched my family tree!" From a posting by Andres Carciente on JewishGen on 3/29/04
It has been just published in Israel a new book about Satoraljaujhely by Mr. Mnashe Davidovits:
It provides two lists: 1)*Martyrs* and 2)*Survivors*
As there are not deportation lists available (till now), what Mr. Davidovits did was to collect the birth certificates from the children born between 1928 and 1944:they were the most vulnerable ones (age 0 till 16) together with their mothers. The author also collected information from Yad Vashem and from survivors' testimonies.
The book includes important sections from Meir SAS' famous book, that is out of print(Toronto,1986) and a classic by itself, and also sections from Mr. Csiki's book. The book is trilingual: English, Hungarian and Hebrew. From a posting on JewishGen by Andre Carciente
andrescarciente@yahoo.comon 3/17/04 Editor's Note: Mr. Carciente does not mention the name of the book. http://personal.riverusers.com/~magyarlynn/photographs_from_satoraljaujhely.htm
Selmecbanya
This is a mining town where Jews
were not permitted to settle until the middle of the 19th
century. The first Jews arrived in the 1870s and by the
1920s there about 150 Jews (140 families) here. In 1910
there were 527 Jews. The Chevra Kadisha was established in
1892. The business life of the town and its surrounds were
dominated by Jewish merchants, manufactures and craftsmen.
Prominent names in the 1920s were Jakab Hell, Kalman Ungar,
Adolf Weisz, Sandor Erdos and Jeno Timfold.
Ujhely - "in 1761, a Jew Philep Izsak (note: in this period, any official record would have the notation "Judaeus" in front of the name of any Jew) and his wife, Judovics Erzsebet, bought a house in Paloty Street from the Honourable (lit: nagysagos) Szegedy Johanna. There is a mention from a generation earlier in a less official form. Teutsch David, an Ujhely resident who passed away in 1860, mentioned in his will that his grandfather settled in Ujhely in 1734, when there were only two Jewish families there. Later, one find more frequent mention of Jews buying real property. Here, according to the city's registry book, on May 8, 1799, Kozba Gabor and his wife sold their house in Cserko street to the Jew David Rabbe and Markus Anna, along with the cellar.
The first mention of the existence of a Jewish school in Ujhely is from 1744, in the record book of the steward of the Regeczi and Pataki estate (Conscriptio Pratorum). Here it mentions that in the "Willow Tree meadow," which was owned by the city, there was a small section set aside for the Jewish school.
The above mentioned documents cast an interesting light on land ownership by the Jews in the mid-18th century. It suggest that the claim that Jews could not buy or inherit land in the earliest times is a fallacy. It is possible that Zemplen County was more liberal in this regard than the laws of the rest of the country, and followed a different rule. " http://ca.geocities.com/spirope/zemplen1.txt
Ujfeherto, Szabolcs County - There are Regional Special Interest Groups that have Hungarian information and links. The site includes links to Bohemia-Moravia SIG, Denmark SIG, German-Jewish SIG, Hungary SIG and Stammbaum - German SIG at
http://www.jewishgen.org/Shtetlinks/W_Europe.html
Located between Satumare
and Sighet in Transylvania. There is an
edited Yizkor Book "Bedamayich Chayi", published in
Jerusalem and based on a Pinkas mohalim.
Vishnye Bystra
Located in the Carpathian Mountain, now in the Ukraine, but previously it was part of Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Links connect to maps, family memoirs, pictures and links to other Carpathian Jewish sites. Webmaster is Karin Wandrei kwandrei@pacific.net http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Verkhnyaya_Bystra/
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