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Translation of the Tarcal chapter from
Pinkas Hakehillot Hungary
Edited by: Theodore Lavi
Published by Yad Vashem
Published in Jerusalem, 1975
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This is a translation from: Pinkas Hakehillot Hungary: Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Hungary,
Edited by Theodore Lavi, published by Yad Vashem, Jerusalem.
JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of
the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material
for verification.
JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions.
Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.
[Page 305]
Year | Number |
1746 | 13 |
1771 | 12 |
1822 | 30 |
1851 | 231 |
1896 | 280 |
1930 | 321 |
1941 | 299 |
1946 | 30 |
The majority of Tertzal Jews were merchants, and the rest were farmers, artisans, and vineyard owners. There were 20 merchants in 1929, six artisans, two farmers and vineyard owners, a teacher, physician, miller, and a quarry owner, a lumberyard proprietor, and 30 whose professions were undefined.
The attitude of the non-Jewish population to the Jews was generally reasonable. It seems that the community organized in the second half of the eighteenth century, and in 1869 it defined itself as Orthodox. In 1888 the community was under the authority of Bodrogkeresztur. After the First World War the community became independent. The community had a Hevra Kadisha, an old people's hostel, a school, a hevrat shas, tiferet bachurim, and a cheder. The synagogue was built in 1860, and then remodeled in 1910. The religious services of the town also served the little hamlet of Kishomokos with its five Jews.
Among the famous rabbis of Terzel was Yehezkel Paneth (1813-1822), the author of Mare Yeheskel (Marmaros, 1875). From Tertzal he was called to be the rabbi of Transylvania. Another was Yakov Shapira (1876-1906), a very good and famous scholar, whose name is often mentioned in the halachic responsa of the famous rabbis of Hungary.
After the First World War, soldiers who returned from the front after the defeat of Germans incited the town against Jews. They said that the Jews had profited from the war, and thus spoiled relations between them and their neighbors. Attacks against the Jews of Tarcal also continued during the Communist Revolution and the White Terror. But afterwards relations became normal
In 1939 vineyards and farms of the Jews of Tarcal were confiscated because of the Laws of Discrimination. The wine trade, which was also in the hands of the Jews, was also taken away. This situation undermined the main source of income of the local Jews.
In March 1944 the Germans entered Tarcal and immediately declared a curfew on the Jews. Valuables were taken from them. On April 16, the Jews of Tarcal were concentrated in the synagogue, and the day after they were transported to the Satoraljaujhely ghetto. There about 15,000 Jews of the region were concentrated together. As soon as the Jews left Tarcal their houses were distributed among the local population.
On May 16 the Jews of Tarcal were transported to Auschwitz, a group of 3,500 people, except for a few young women, who were sent to Schleswig-Holstein, and from there, via Denmark, to Sweden.
After the war, 20 men returned from forced labor and ten women from Sweden. They restored the synagogue, purified the cemetery, and renewed community life.
In 1956, during the Revolution against the regime, rioters set fire to the synagogue, and if the Jews had not fled from Tarcal, they would certainly have been murdered. In 1962 there were still seven Jews in Tarcal in mixed marriages.
JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of
the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material
for verification.
JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions.
Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.
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