Dunajská Streda, Slovakia

A Memorial to the
Jewish Community of Dunaszerdahely
(Dunajská Streda, Slovakia)

47°59' / 17°37'

Translation of
Sefer zikaron le-kehilat Dunaszerdahely

Editor: Abraham (Alfréd) Issachar Engel

Published in Tel Aviv 1975

Our sincere appreciation to Yad Vashem
for the submission of the necrology for placement on the JewishGen web site.

This is a translation of: Sefer zikaron le-kehilat Dunaszerdahely (A Memorial to the Jewish Community of Dunaszerdahely),
Editor: Abraham (Alfréd) Issachar Engel, Commitee of Dunaszerdahely Emigrants in Israel, Published: Tel Aviv 1975 (H,Hu 586 pages)

Note: The original book can be seen online at the NY Public Library site: Dunaszerdahely

This material is made available by JewishGen, Inc. and the Yizkor Book Project for the purpose of
fulfilling our mission of disseminating information about the Holocaust and destroyed Jewish communities.
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Hebrew Section Translated by Yocheved Klausner
Introduction	13
Part 1: The Community
Chapter 1. General Background	19
Chapter 2. The Beginning of the Jewish Settlement Organizing the Jewish life. “The Privileges Document.”	23
Chapter 3. Community Life in the 18^th Century Development. Rights and duties. Taxes. Building a new synagogue.	34
Chapter 4. The 19^th and 20^th Centuries, until the Holocaust Prosperity and Occupations. After the Emancipation. The turn of the century. The First World War. Under Czechoslovakian rule. A statistical table. The spoken languages.	48
Chapter 5. The Rabbis, their Lives and Works The rabbis of the community. Rabbis born and residing in the community. The rabbis of the Elistal community. List of books and booklets.	73
Chapter 6. The Community and its Institutions Authority and implementation. Conflicts in the community. The Community Center. The Rabbinate Office. The Great Synagogue. Educational institutions. Societies and Organizations. Leaders and public figures.	135
Chapter 7. The Appearance and Character of the Community Sabbath and Holidays. Purim. Livelihoods. Famous people. Legends from Szerdahely (from the stories of Csermely Gyula).	177
Chapter 8. Political and Public Life General parties and the Jewish party. The Jewish movements. Agudat Israel and Zionist movements.	220
Part 2: The Holocaust
Chapter 9. Years of Horror, General Description The community in the mirror of changing Regime. Without a ruler. The Hungarian Occupation. Between two borders. The years 1939 and 1940. Deportation of “Foreigners.” Dispossession and denial of occupations. In 1942. The Work groups. Occupations in the years of war. The OMZSA. In 1943.	235
Chapter 10. Episodes from the Holocaust The German invasion. The dispersion of the community. Instructions. The establishment of the Ghetto. Gathering in the Great Synagogue. The deportation. From “Lamentations.”	266
Chapter 11. After the Destruction The renewal of the community, after the storms of war subsided. The funeral of the community and the 18 [Chay = living] Regulations. Restoration and building. Change of evaluations. Mass emigration. Memories from the community.	287
Part 3: The Neighboring Communities
Chapter 12. The Somorja and Magendorf Communities The Somorja Community, by Blanka and Dr. Julia Tauber. The Magendorf community, by Shlomo Blumenfeld.	307
T a b l e s
Memorial to the Families	319

Hungarian Section Translated by Alex Revai

Introduction	13
Chapter I. Background	15
Chapter II. Beginning of the Jewish settlement	16
Chapter III. A few mementoes from the XVIII^th century	18
Chapter IV. The XIX^th century Official status of the Jewish community after the emancipation. The Jewish Centrum in flames. From the turn of the century to the Holocaust. Times of the first WW. Under Czechoslovakian rule. The multilingual community.	20
Chapter V. The lives and (scholarly) works of the Rabbis Our Rabbis. Important Rabbis, who were born and lived at Szerdahely. Rabbis of the Alistal community.	28
Chapter VI. Various institutions of the Community and public figures Authority of the J. Community. The “big debate”. The J. Community Center. Office of the Rabbi. The Big Synagogue. Educational institutions. The Jewish school. Talmud–Torah and Yeshivas. Chevra Kadisha. Societies and associations. Leaders of the Community and the Institutions. Public figures.	45
Chapter VII. Our little city, Szerdahely Social life of the J. Community and the citizenry. Shabbat and Holidays. Purim. Occupations and livelihoods. Famous personalities of Szerdahely. From the stories of Gyula Csermely.	67
Chapter VIII. Politics Political parties. Jewish activism. Agudat Israel. Zionist activities. Hashomer Hatzair and Betar.	100
Chapter IX. Years of fear and the Holocaust J. Community during the “changes”. Occupation by the Hungarians. Between two borders, 1939–1940. 1941. 1942. Forced labor service. How did we make a living during the war? OMZSA (Hungarian National Association to Assist Jews). 1943	106
Chapter X. The Holocaust The German occupation. Dissolution of the J. Community and they ran from the persecutors. In the Ghetto. Roundup in the Big Synagogue. The deportations.	124
Chapter XI. After the Holocaust The storm calms down. The new J. Community. The big burial. The renewal of life. The atmosphere changes: the first ones are leaving. Mass emigration. The living remember.	136
Chapter XII. Neighboring J. Communities Blanka Tauber and Dr. Julia Tauber: The J. Community of Somorja. Shlomo Blumenfeld: The J. Community of Nagymagyar.	149
Closing Remarks	159
Content of the Pictures and Documents in the Hebrew (language) Section	160

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