Hungarian Holocaust Memorials Database

Volunteers from the JewishGen Hungarian SIG created this database in loving memory of the Holocaust victims in the areas of pre-Trianon Hungary.  The database lists more than 23,000 martyrs whose names are recorded on Holocaust memorials in 37 communities in present-day Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine.

Let the words on the memorials speak for those lost to us . . .

REMEMBER

Our dear brethren who gave their lives in
sanctification of the Divine Name.
Shed a tear, say a prayer for the dear mothers and
fathers, for their innocent children, for the families extinguished.
Only YOU, who have survived the great destruction, can
say Kaddish for them.
May their dear memory be blessed.

— Kisvárda, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg, Hungary

For these things I weep; my eye, my eye runs down with water, because the comforter that should relieve
my soul is far from me; my children are desolate. Lamentations 1:16.
"In flame they covered your sanctuary -- they humbled the house of your name to the ground" Psalm 74:17

— Nyiregyhaza, Hungary

"Let us remember our dear innocent children of Eger, our dear blood, who were dragged away on June 7th, 1944 and died a martyrs' death" — Eger, Heves, Hungary

In foreign earth turning to dust or as smoke rising from crematoria The memory of our heroic dead lives on in our hearts. We will never forget you! To the victims of the war against humanity To our innocent members We erected this eternal memorial. — Miskolc, Hungary

Information on the Memorials:

Holocaust memorials generally only list names, titles, and descriptions of family members.  The following are translations of some of the descriptions used on these memorials:

1. És neje — and his wife
2. És Férje — and her husband
3. És gyermeke — and children
4. És Csaladja (also és cs.) — and family
5. És fia — and son
6. És leánya — and daughter
7. Özv. — abbreviation for özvegy, which means widow
8. a celá rodina — and family (in Slovak)

In Hungarian, the suffix "né" is added to the husband’s first name to indicate Mrs., e.g. "Grünwald Lajosné" means "Mrs. Lajos Grünwald". 

Some occupations are also listed on memorials, including:

1. Alelnňk — Vice President
2. Elnňk — President
3. Förabbi — Head rabbi
4. Gondnok — caretaker
5. Kántor — Cantor
6. Fökántor — Head cantor
7. tanító — Instructor (man)
8. tanítónő — Instructor (woman)

Further information on occupation names in Hungarian can be found in the Hungarian Occupations InfoFile.

Creation of the Database:

The Project Coordinator for this database was originally Carol Robinson, and is now Larry Kohn.  The database was assembled by volunteers from the JewishGen Hungarian SIG (H-SIG), serving as transcribers and validators.  Often the names were transcribed from photographs of the memorials taken during visits to ancestral towns.  The transcribers and validators approached this task with respect and made every effort to enter all names on the memorials accurately.  Please report any errors or volunteer to provide transcriptions and/or photos of other memorials to Larry Kohn at lhkohn@live.com.

Click on the links below to see images of the memorials (if available).

Database Format:

The fields displayed in this database are:

• Town, Megye, Country: The name of the town of residence during World War II; the Hungarian megye (county), and country containing the town pre-Trianon.
• Name: Surname and Given Name(s) of the individual.
• Memorial: Information about the memorial and its location.
• Image: If available, we have linked an image of the name on the memorial.
• Memorial Town, Megye, Country: The current name of the town where the memorial is located; the current megye (county) of Hungarian towns and the current region of Slovakian towns or their Romanian or Ukrainian equivalent; the current country of the town where the memorial is located.
• Comments: We used this field to list other available information that the transcriber chose to transcribe, for example titles or names before marriage.

Transcription Rules:

Names from the Holocaust memorials were entered exactly as they appeared on the original memorial.  If the name was abbreviated, it was transcribed exactly as abbreviated.  No changes were made in the spellings of the name, either.  Some but not all transcriptions included diacritical marks (the little accent marks used above certain letters).

Records in the database:

The database currently contains 23,657 records, as follows:

Town Name Before WWII	Current Town and Country	Other Communities included	Donor / Transcriber	Number of Names
Abaújszántó *	Abaújszántó, Hungary		John Kovacs / Margarita Lackó	263
Albertirsa	Albertirsa, Hungary		Oblath András	116
Baja	Baja, Hungary		Peter Bakos / Ava Gorkin	1,350
Budapest (Dohany Synagogue)	Budapest, Hungary		Larry Kohn	566
Debrecen	Debrecen, Hungary		Orsolya Levai	146
Drégelypalánk	Drégelypalánk, Hungary		Esther Levinson	62
Eger	Eger, Hungary		Jerry Zeisler	734
Érmihályfalva	Valea lui Mihai, Romania		Fran Meng	36
Érsekújvár	Nové Zámky, Slovakia		Lang Tomás	2,453
Gadó-Tanya *	Gadótanya, Hungary		John Kovacs / Margarita Lackó	37
Gyula	Gyula, Hungary			351
Hatvan	Hatvan, Hungary		Roberta Szollosi	420
Hejőcsaba *	Hejőcsaba, Hungary	Arnót, Bükkaranyos, Görömböly, Harsány, Kistokaj, Sajóbábony, Sajókeresztur, Sajóecseg, Sajóvámos, Szirma, Szirmabesenyo, Mályi	John Kovacs / Margarita Lackó	370
Heves	Heves, Hungary		Ava Gorkin / Carol Robinson	349
Kiskunhalas	Kiskunhalas, Hungary	Memorial is located in the Kozma Street Cemetery, Budapest		169
Kisvárda	Kisvárda, Hungary		Peter Spiro / Carol Robinson	1,223
Kunmadaras	Kunmadaras, Hungary		Robert J. Friedman	178
Mád	Mád, Hungary		Diane M. Rabson	333
Mezöberény	Mezöberény, Hungary		Norbert Diekmann	151
Mezőcsát	Mezőcsát, Hungary		Drs. Joseph and Ida Schwartz / Ava Gorkin	608
Miskolc	Miskolc, Hungary		Edna Berkovits, Julie Kirsh & John Kovacs / Margarita Lackó	835
Mosonmagyaróvár	Mosonmagyaróvár, Hungary		Henry Wellisch	474
Nagykanizsa	Nagykanizsa, Hungary		Orsolya Levai / Ava Gorkin	2,029
Nagy-Kapos	Veľké Kapušany, Slovakia		Amos Zezmer / Carol Robinson	87
Nagy Károly	Carei, Romania		Agnes and Peter Grossinger	1,828
Nagy-Várad	Oradea, Romania		Fran Meng	19
Nyíregyháza	Nyíregyháza, Hungary		Lynn Saul	1,178
Ózd *	Ózd, Hungary	Sajómercse, Borsodnádasd, Bolyok, Center, Királd, Sajónemeti, Hodoscsépány, Arló, Szentsimon, Hangony, Járdánháza, Balaton, Domahaza, Sikátor, Uraj és Susa, Borsodszentgyörgy, Sajóvelezd, Nekézseny, Sáta, Csokva, Lénártdaroc, Csernely, Omány, Aggtelek	John Kovacs / Margarita Lackó	612
Pincehely	Pincehely, Hungary		Ujlaki Gyorgy	163
Sopron	Sopron, Hungary		Bela Scheiber / Alex Miller	1,458
Szegi	Szegi, Hungary			31
Szentes	Szentes, Hungary		Ujlaki Gyorgy	379
Szikszó *	Szikszó, Hungary	Alsóvadász, Aszaló, Csobád, Felsövadász, Gadna, Halmaj, Hernádszentandrás, Homrogd, Ináncs, Kázsmárk, Kiskinizs, Kupa, Monaj, Onga	John Kovacs / Margarita Lackó	635
Tab	Tab, Hungary		Gila Miriam Chait	241
Tatabánya	Tatabánya, Hungary		Oblath András	215
Tiszafüred	Tiszafüred, Hungary		Dr. Szegő Ágnes	521
Tiszakerecseny	Tiszakerecseny, Hungary		Erica Wiesel	36
Topolya	Bačka Topola, Serbia		Larry Kohn	217
Trenčín	Trenčín, Slovakia		Paul A. Strassman	1,561
Túrkeve	Túrkeve, Hungary		Elizabeth Green	62
Túrkeve	Túrkeve, Hungary		Elizabeth Green	345
Újfehértó	Újfehértó, Hungary		Peter Winter	441
Ungvár	Uzhhorod, Ukraine Ужгород		Vivian Kahn / Carol Robinson	86

* Memorials for towns identified with an asterisk (*) are located in Miskolc, Hungary.

Acknowledgements:

We offer our sincere thanks to the transcribers and validators, as without their donation of time and effort this database would not exist.  We also thank Jacob Michel, Erica Wiesel, and Judy Petersen for their help with Hebrew translations and Dr. Peter Hidas, Tom Klein and Pete Grossinger for help with Hungarian translations.  We also thank the support team from JewishGen: Warren Blatt, Michael Tobias and Joyce Field.

Notes on Searching the Database:

The Hungarian Holocaust Memorials Database can be searched via either the JewishGen Hungary Database or JewishGen's Holocaust Database interfaces.

In addition to the usual search of surnames and towns, you can use the "Global Text Search" of all fields to find all entries for a particular county (megye) or given name.