Pinkas Hakehillot Hungary: Kunszentmarton

“Kunszentmarton” - Encyclopedia of Jewish
Communities in Hungary

46°50' / 20°17'

Translation of the “Kunszentmarton” 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.

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[Pages 488-489]

Kunszentmarton

Town in the district of Jasz-Nagy-kun-Szolnok, in the sub-district of Tiszai-also,
28 kilometers from Szolnok. The population in 1941 was 11,986.

Jewish Population

Year	Number	% of Total Population
1869	143	1.8
1880	206	2.0
1890	260	2.5
1900	184	1.6
1920	240	2.1
1930	202	1.8
1941	202	1.7
1946	44	-
1956	16	-
1962	15	-
1965	2	-

Until the Second World War

From the Middle Ages until the first half of the nineteenth century Jews were not allowed to settle in the Jasz region (because of the influence of Greek merchants). There is information about a Jew who settled there in the middle of the eighteenth century with special permission, but apparently he left the town after a short time. Only after the Hungarian war of Independence (1848-49), did the Jews stay there as permanent inhabitants.

Most Jews of Kunszentmarton made their living through agriculture and the trades associated with it: marketing, or the local produce (corn, grain, fruits etc.) sent to Budapest. The majority were artisans, owners of vineyards, or leased farms.

Under the influence of Jewish farmers, Christian farmers began to employ intensive cultivation, and raised horses, cattle, and poultry. Jews also owned a flourmill, a factory for processed wood products, and a printing house. There were also three physicians, two pharmacists, and a lawyer who was also the editor of a local weekly.

The Jewish community was independent at first, but preferred to be under the authority of Karcag. Under its authority the nearby towns of: Csepa (16 Jews), Cibakhaza (15 Jews), Tisza-zug 91 Jew), Tiszakurt (6 Jews), Szeleveny (2 Jews), Nagyrev (1 Jew), Tiszainoka (3 Jews).

In 1869 Kunszentmarton defined itself as Orthodox. In 1885 Kunszentmarton came under the authority of Tiszafoldvar.

There was a cemetery in Kunszentmarton even before the Jews settled there, and it served the Jews of the area. Later a Hevra Kadisha and a Women's Association were organized there.

The old synagogue was built in the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1912 the new synagogue was inaugurated.

From 1880 to 1920 the Jewish community had an elementary school of (six grades), noted for its high level of education, and even Christians sent their children there. It became a private school in 1937, but closed in 1942 because of the small number of pupils.

In 1919 the Terror Unit of Pronay terrified the Jewish population. The leaders of the community were jailed and cruelly beaten. Rioters entered Jewish homes under the pretext of searching for weapons, and then robbed them. Speakers agitated the population against the Jews in a rally that was held near the town hall.

In 1939 the licenses of grain merchants and mill owners were invalidated. The goods that Jewish shops were permitted to sell were limited in 1941.

The Holocaust

At the beginning of 1942 eighteen Jewish men were taken to a forced labor camp. Six of them were killed in ditches that they were forced to dig in the defensive line against the Red Army on the River Don. In April 1944, after the entrance of the German army to Kunszentmarton, the head of the community, the synagogue officers, and the substitute rabbi were first taken a concentration camp. Then they were sent to Auschwitz, even before the general expulsion of Jews from Hungary, and killed in the gas chambers. All the Jews of Kunszentmarton were moved to Kecskemet, concentrated as soon as they arrived, then stripped of jewelry and money by gendarmes at the end of May. After that they were taken to a factory outside the city, and tortured cruelly. At the end of June they were transported to Auschwitz.

After the war a handful of Jews, returned survivors, reconstructed their community life. A monument to the martyrs was built in the cemetery. In November 1948 the synagogue was refurbished and rededicated. A memorial tablet was put on the wall in remembrance of the 180 who were murdered in the Holocaust. Since then the number of the Jews of Kunszentmarton dwindled, and in 1965 only two Jews remained there.

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