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Background

Dej (in Hungarian, Dés) is a city now in in Cluj County of Romania (in the Somes River valley in Transylvania).  The city's population in 1992 was 37,745 inhabitants, including 17.0% Hungarians.  Dej was both the town and the capital of the Szolnok-Doboka County of Hungary (Solnoc-Dobâca in Rumanian) from 1918 through 1920, between the Rumanian occupation and the Treaty of Trianon.  From 1920 to 1940, Dej was part of Romania, and the capital of Someş (in Hungarian, Szamos) County.  During the German occupation, 1940 through 1944, Dej became part of Hungary as part of the Decision of Vienna II.  The treaty of Paris returned Dej to Romania.

Database

The database consists of 131 pages of approximately 3,250 Jewish residents in Dés (Dej), Rumania, just prior to their ghettoization and deportation May 3-10, 1944. It is one part of a larger collection donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by Professor Randolph Braham (RG-52.003.02.01). The paper copies from this collection were generated from originally microfilmed documents.

The database is not unlike a US Census Report.  The list of residents is arranged by street name, house number and family/living unit. Each family/living unit has one member referred to as "head of household". The other members listed are shown with their relation to the first person. Like the census, you may find extended family or in-house workers along with spouses and children. This database was designed to link all family members when searching for any individual member. If an individual is employed, or has a skill, it is listed in the "Occupation" field. Minors are referred to as "Children". There are also some individuals who lived alone and therefore are not referenced to any other individuals. Finally, each individual listed has the maiden name of their mother listed as part of their record.

The fields of the database are as follows:

• Serial Number
• Street Name
• Family Group Number
• House Number
• Surname
• Given Name
• Title
• Year of Birth
• Place of Birth
• Mother's Maiden Surname
• Mother's Given Name
• Profession
• Family Relationship
• Comments

Hungarian Naming Conventions for Certain Females:

There are a few naming conventions to be aware of when searching for women in this database. If a woman was listed as a widow (özv.) or as head of household, her name is listed as her husband's name with a "né" attached to his first name. For example, the wife of KATZ, David would be KATZ, Davidné. The "né" designation is equivalent to the present day English "Mrs." Title. Therefore the wife's name would be listed as Mrs. David Katz. In most cases, if you find the wife's name designated with the "né", you will also find the wife's maiden surname and given name in the "Comments" field preceded by "sz." (maiden name). The data in the "Comments" field will be more helpful locating a widow or female head of household with her given name.

Hungarian Occupations:

To assist the researcher with Hungarian occupations, please see JewishGen InfoFile "Hungarian Occupations" at: http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/holocaust/HungarianOccupations.html.

Hungarian Family Relationships:

The following chart lists the "Family Relationship" terms that are used within this database:

Des (Dej) Ghetto Streets:

The following chart lists the street names included in this project:

Acknowledgments

The information contained in this database was indexed from the files of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (Randolph L. Braham Collection #RG 52.003.02). This information is accessible to you today thanks to the effort of the following JewishGen volunteers who are responsible for the transcription of this file: Nolan Altman (coordinator), Nancy Biederman, Beny Bobek, Eve Blum, Maxine Bromyard, Carol Edan, Shana Egan, Kurt Friedlaender, Harry Green, Ernest Kallmann, Joan Parker, Peter Reiniger, Ralph Salinger, Aida Strocovsky, Nicolas Trokiner, Karen Weinberg and Paula Zieselman. Thanks also to Vivian Kahn and Ferenc Kovács for assistance with the translation of occupations, family relationships and miscellaneous comments.

In addition, thanks to JewishGen Inc. for providing the website and database expertise to make this database accessible. Special thanks to Susan King, Warren Blatt and Michael Tobias for their continued contributions to Jewish genealogy. Particular thanks to the Research Division headed by Joyce Field and to Nolan Altman, coordinator of Holocaust files.

Nolan Altman
April, 2005

Searching the Database

This database is searchable via JewishGen's Holocaust Database.

Copyright ©2005 JewishGen, Inc.
Last Update: 15 Sep 2005 by WSB.