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IX. From Equality to Holocaust

The Jews were granted equal civic rights in 1867 the same year in which Austria and Hungary reached conciliation. The decades that followed were marked by utter confusion in the kehillas because of the absence of any regularization of their legal status. There were many instances where in one city or another, two or even three kehillas were established. Each Jew was able to associate himself with whichever kehilla he wished and small fragments of the membership of any kehilla were free to withdraw and form a separate body. This internal divisiveness caused a decline in the number of taxpayers and created enormous difficulties in the maintenance of the community institutions. As a consequence, the government found it necessary to enact regulations which required every Jew who withdrew from his kehilla to continue to pay his taxes for three years following such withdrawal. (This was later prolonged to five years).

The rupture between the Congress movement (Neolog) and the Orthodox quickly became an established fact and was accepted by Jewish public opinion as an unavoidable consequence of the inevitable cultural and social developments of the times. The split between Orthodox factions to the point of establishment of separate kehillas in one city, however, was regarded as certainly unusual. In view of this situation, the Minister of Religions and Culture in 1888 published a regulation limiting the right to set up a kehilla unless the new body was able to maintain those institutions necessary for meeting the religious requirements of the community. The Hasidim objected to this regulation but they were powerless to do anything about it.

In Újhely, the Hasidic sect organized its own separate and autonomous kehilla (Sephardic) even before adoption of the above regulation, and on Sabbath day, August 1, 1891 dedicated its rebuilt Klaus in the presence of an audience numbering about one thousand persons. The principal sermon was delivered by the rabbi of Sziget and among those present were several rabbis and members from the Orthodox and Status-quo kehillas. (1)

Klaus is a Latin word used in medieval times to mean an enclosed space. The reference is to a bet midrash (institution of study and prayer) erected and maintained with special funds. Its students were engaged full time in study and the place served also as a house of worship. Beginning with the sixteenth century, a Klaus was to be found in Prague, Vienna

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Altona, Frankfurt and elsewhere. Since occupants of the Klaus originally had no fixed occupation other than study, they were usually called upon to perform such functions as the recital of Psalms at the bedside of the ill and the study of Talmud or saying prayers at the homes of mourners. In Russia and Poland, practically every kehilla had its Klaus. The Hasidim preferred to designate their synagogues by this name as a way of emphasizing that it served also as a house of study. (2)

In 1891 the Hasidim invited Rabbi Moses Joseph Teitelbaum, son of Jekuthiel Judah and a descendant of Rabbi Moses Teitelbaum, to serve as their rabbi. He had previously been the spiritual leader in Zborov and Stropkow. His letter of appointment was couched in superlatives and was signed by some eighty members of the kehilla including its head, Elhanan Chaim Preis. His tenure in Újhely was brief, however, he died in 1897 while en route to Bekescsaba. (3)

He was succeeded by his son, rabbi Brachya but because of his youth, the latter requested that he be granted a few years to continue his studies at the home of his father-in-law. The community assented, especially since Rabbi Brachya engaged Rabbi Eleazar Schwartz as spiritual guide in his place, paying him out of his own pocket, while the usual stipend went to the widow. Rabbi Brachya maintained contact with the community by coming there at fixed intervals, filling rabbinical functions and taking any action necessary as befitting the head of the rabbinical court.

Rabbi Moses Joseph also had a daughter, Rosa Blumeh, who married Rabbi David Meisels, scion of a distinguished family, who as a youth had already established a reputation as a brilliant scholar. He lived with his mother-in-law, whereas Rabbi Brachya lived with his father-in-law, a fact which eventually contributed to bitter controversy within the Hasidic group. Rabbi David was in 1898 appointed a judge in the religious court and founded a yeshiva. Young people in increasing numbers came from Galicia and Poland to study with him because he taught them both Torah and Hasidism.

The question of the rabbinical succession had repercussions for ten years and more and the authorities were compelled to intervene. Rabbi Brachya's supporters maintained that as a matter of fact, their rabbi felt sorry for his brother-in-law, who had come to him asking that he be permitted to remain with his mother-in-law since he had nowhere else to go. Rabbi Brachya enjoyed the support of Rabbi Yom Tov Lipa Teitelbaum of Sziget, while Rabbi David's followers had the encouragement of the rabbi of Munkacs. Rabbi Yom Tov Lipa ruled that Rabbi Brachya was the rabbi of the community, while Rabbi David would engage in teaching and no other teacher could be engaged in his place. The widow

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did her share in keeping the pot boiling. It was finally decided, Rabbi Brachya's followers maintained that his brother-in-law would have to leave Újhely as soon as he found another source of livelihood and within three months thereafter, their rabbi had to come to take up his rabbinical position. If he failed to do so, he would forfeit his claim.

As luck would have it, Rabbi Brachya became ill, underwent several operations, but did not recover and the agreement could not be implemented. The Munkacs Hasidim kept up their barrage of propaganda and they gradually overcame all the efforts of the Mad rabbi and all the Teitelbaum rabbis. Elections were held and in 1913, Rabbi David was named rabbi of the Sephardi kehilla, a position which he held until his death. (4) The custom of the Hasidim in Újhely to maintain two separate groups, one linked to Munkacs and the other to Sziget, worshipping separately – one in its Klaus and the other in its bet midrash, was undoubtedly a result of that conflict.

The Status-quo kehilla named Rabbi Leopold Bermann as their rabbi in 1887. He served for a short while, passing away in 1890 in San Remo following an illness. He was succeeded by Rabbi Kalonymous Weiss who held that post for twenty years. Rabbi Kalonymous had gained a reputation as a scholar in his early youth. He wrote many articles in Jewish periodicals and his book, published in 1881, contained much innovative exegesis. He was a brilliant speaker and his literary Hebrew style was superb.

It was during his time that Rabbi Dr. Israel Goldberger was also invited to serve as rabbi of the kehilla. The latter filled many functions: he administered the Kestenbaum School; taught religion and delivered sermons. His religious education was obtained at the rabbinical seminary in Budapest. Rabbi Israel published 194 works and was undoubtedly the most productive of Újhely's rabbis. His work appeared in all the Jewish papers and periodicals in Hungary as well as in county periodicals. He wrote numerous articles for the well-known Hebrew encyclopaedia Ozar Ysrael (New York) and for such periodicals as Hazofeh (Budapest) and Ha-Eshkol (Cracow). The first to do research into the history of the Jews of Újhely, Rabbi Israel, published many documents which he found in the county archives. He served in Újhely for nine years until 1912 when he went to Tata but he never forgot his years in Újhely and more than a decade after his departure from there, in 1925, he wrote: “While I was in Újhely it was my intention to write a history of the Jews of Zemplen County. I began gathering the material and some of my works were devoted to that subject. Thereafter, I took up duties elsewhere but I did not give up my initial plan. However, the World War (the First) and various crises made it impossible for me to realize my aim. Thus far,

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there is no one in Újhely with the will and the necessary feel for the subject to help me out… I do believe that I shall be of help to the historiography of the Jews in Hungary and shall lighten the task of whoever follows me in this work”. (6)

The rabbinical crisis in the Orthodox kehilla was solved in a somewhat unusual way. It will be recalled that Rabbi Elazar Loew was accepted as rabbi of Ungvar (1888) but did not formally relinquish his post in Újhely. He used to say, whether in earnest or in jest, that he was in a position comparable to that of Franz Josef who was emperor of Austria and king of Hungary since he was rabbi in both Újhely and Ungvar. He spent most of his time in Ungvar which had a large kehilla and therefore, placed one of his pupils, Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Hacohen Dick, in Újhely as a rabbinical judge. He himself spent less and less time in Újhely appearing there to speak twice a year at most. (7) It all turned out for the best for Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Dick became closely identified with his congregation, serving also as a symbol for the Jewish community as a whole.

The conciliation between Austria and Hungary in 1867 was followed by drastic changes in the country. A process of industrialization set in and the capitalist system began to take hold, although these changes were scarcely felt in Zemplen. A few roads were built and a railroad was constructed between Kassa, Újhely and Szrencs with an extension later, Újhely-Csap. As an immediate consequence, the city was involved in the trade between Hungary and Russia. Újhely became a rail junction and a large workshop built there for the repair of cars and locomotives, provided employment for hundreds. A second large plant built in the early nineties was a factory for the processing of tobacco products which employed over a thousand workers, most of them women, though the number was reduced considerably within a short time. There was no development of large scale industry in the city or in the county. Regular supply of electricity and water began only toward the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. The city streets were paved and sidewalks were built. Since industry remained on the scale of small workshops, the main economic activity continued to be the raising of grapes and the production of wine.

Liberalism was a foreign element under the monarchy, introduced into Hungary by the revolutionary aristocrats and the intellectuals in 1848. It was accepted as an external embellishment, in imitation of western models, but it never truly penetrated Hungarian society. A constitution was adopted and the influence of the church was reduced somewhat, but liberalism was of little interest to broad social strata. Neither the landless peasantry nor the industrial proletariat were enthusiastic about it. The former feudal classes detested trade and industry, and left these in the

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hands of Jews who began to fill the functions of a middle class which was lacking in Hungary. (8)

Between the eighties of the previous century and the First World War, the Jews of Zemplen reached the peak of their achievement. The blood libel of Tiszaeszlar had little effect in the county, despite the geographic proximity. There were no anti-Semitic outbursts here in contrast to the situation elsewhere in Hungary. The Baroness Ilona Wallis, who was patroness of the Catholic Church in Újhely, served as an example of the spirit of liberalism which prevailed in the city and contributed 200 florins to the construction of the large synagogue of the Status-quo kehilla. (9) Yet, the Jews of Zemplen did not enjoy representation in public life commensurate to their numbers. With rare exception, positions of leadership were not open to them.

The Jewish physicians were among those who had special privileges. When Hungary obtained its independence, Dr. Wilhelm Schoen was appointed director of the county hospital. Upon assuming his duties, he prepared a memorandum which gave details of the difficult times the hospital had gone through and encouraged the public to contribute so that the needy could be hospitalized. His report was published by the county and afforded wide distributions. (10) Dr. Schoen was only the first to be given an appointment in the public service. Other Jewish doctors who served as district physicians were: Dr. Adolph Friedman in Tokaj, Dr. Maximilian Rosenfeld in Homonna, Dr. Hugo Schoen in Újhely, Dr. Marc Widder in Nagymihaly and others. (11)

The first and second generation of intellectuals in Újhely and the county included several who attained national reputations. Morris Mezei (1835-1925) was a lawyer and journalist. During the time of the Austrian oppression, he was tried before a military court because of his nationalist activity. After the emancipation, he became one of the leaders of the Congress movement (Neolog). His brother, Ernest Mezei (1851-1932) also a native of Újhely, a jurist, journalist and author, was elected to Parliament on an anti-Hapsburg platform. Their mother was a Friedlieber, one of the most distinguished families in the city. (12) Prof. Friedrich Koranyi (Kornfeld) born in Tolcsva, studied medicine and rose to the rank of professor at the University of Budapest. In 1884, he was elevated to the Hungarian nobility. (13)

Though the Kestenbaum School taught on an elementary level, it rather surprisingly attracted many teachers who were also writers. In addition to Israel Singer, referred to in the previous chapter, there was Ignatz Füredi who published thirty volumes, some of them textbooks. He translated Rousseau's Emile from French and the Mahzor (High Holy Day prayer book) from Hebrew, edited a Hungarian-Hebrew dictionary, etc. (14)

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He constituted an interesting blend of the Hebraic, Hungarian and Western cultures. Alexander Knopfler, another native of Újhely who taught at the Kestenbaum School for many years, wrote numerous articles in the Jewish press and in pedagogical journals. Beginning in the seventies, he became the correspondent of the Zemplen county newspaper. Knopfler was unhappy with the secession of the Orthodox from the central kehilla and also vigorously opposed the heder system, to both of which views he gave public expression. Among his textbooks was a geography of the county. (15)

The equal rights law of 1867 granted civil rights to the Jews as an individual but not to the Jewish religion as a sect, which was acknowledged but had no legal standing. The emancipation law was unsatisfactory to the Jewish intellectuals because it failed to provide for the status of their faith, as it did for the other religions, which enjoyed autonomy, government assistance and representation in the upper chamber of the Hungarian parliament. The struggle to achieve status (receptio) for the Jewish religion had actually been launched by a relatively few public figures, Morris Mezei among them, at the Jewish Congress in 1869. Not much could be expected at the time since the Protestant denominations had not yet received full recognition.

By the nineties, the demand for full recognition was urged by all the Jewish intellectuals with Morris Mezei's brother, Ernest, in the forefront of the public relations campaign. The efforts of both jurists transcended the narrow boundaries of their city and were conducted in the capital. The receptio law declaring Judaism to be a “legally recognized religion” was adopted in 1895.

The period from the end of the nineteenth century up to the First World War was later referred to by those who lived through it as a “time of peace”, in contrast to the tribulations which beset them even before the end of the war. Despite the “time of peace” and the liberal regime, however, about a hundred thousand Jews emigrated from Hungary to the United States during the years 1870-1910. (17) Zemplen was no exception and many of its sons among the emigrants rose to prominence, though none attained the heights reached by Adolf Zukor. He was born in Ricse in 1873, a small village in Bodrogkoz, the son of a petty shopkeeper. The store was actually run by his mother so that her husband could till the soil and the agricultural produce accounted for an important part of the family income. The head of the household died when Adolf was still young. The mother remarried but passed away soon thereafter and Adolf and his brother Arthur were taken in by their uncles, his mother's brother. Adolf became an apprentice in a store and advanced rapidly. Influenced by letters received from America, and

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by books he had read, he decided to emigrate. Arthur, his senior, who was a student in Berlin, received the family legacy and Adolf sailed for America in 1888 with his share, $40 sewed into his vest. (18)

Arthur became a rabbi in Berlin while Adolf carved out quite a different career. His first years in the new world were years of struggle. He worked in a soda water factory and was a furrier but in 1904, he devoted himself to the motion picture business, and within six years was already producing films. In his autobiography, he maintained that he was not the founder of Paramount Pictures Corp. but had a hand in its development. (19) The great film producer never forgot his origins and from time to time, used to visit Ricse where his parent's home and the store in which he used to work had been restored. He was generous in his help to the town for repair and reconditioning of public buildings. He commented that some people had exaggerated ideas about the wealth of the Americans. Once, when he visited his parents' graves, a huge crowd of “mourners” came from far and near, all anxious to “adopt” him as a close relative. (20)

A year after the Orthodox seceded from the central kehilla in 1886, they set up their separate elementary school, in accordance with the idea advocated by Ignatz Schweiger, first head of their congregation. The school was located in the David Weinberger building at the corner of Karolyi and Molnar Streets but the structure was not at all suited for this purpose since its rooms were low-ceilinged and narrow and the yard was small. The school began with four classes and two teachers. Morris Gardos joined the staff as a teacher in its second year, 1888, and remained there for decades. He served as principal many times until his retirement in 1921, after thirty-one years of fruitful service. The kehilla purchased a plot in 1907 and erected a new building.

About ten years after the establishment of the school, two classes were added; the fifth and sixth grades, making it a full elementary school. This arrangement was discontinued in 1906 so that the pupils could enrol for four years of study, the fifth through the eighth grades, in a kind of junior high school. In that year, a private
school was started with the same grades and it operated with the encouragement and support of the Orthodox kehilla until 1920 when the kehilla re-opened its own fifth and sixth grades. (21) This brought to an end the Orthodox qualms against general education and they even proceeded to broaden the base to the extent of at least a partial high school education.

The opening of the Orthodox school did not particularly affect the enrolment at the Kestenbaum School for several interesting reasons. Firstly, the Orthodox school accepted only boys until 1930 when the school's board (iskolaszek) decided to enrol girls as well. Until that

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year, the girls from Orthodox families all studied at the Kestenbaum School. (22) Secondly, the parents in the Sephardic kehilla preferred to send their children to this school rather than to the Orthodox school associated with the kehilla from which they had separated. (23)

Contrary to expectations, the Status-quo kehilla remained conservative in its attitudes. Sabbath violators among its members were few in number and religious functions were carried out in diligent observance of the Shulhan Arukh. The stand for the reading of the Torah was located in the centre of the synagogue and the prayers were conducted according to the standard prayer book, without change or abridgement and without accompaniment of choir. Women sat in the balcony only, hidden behind netting in accordance with custom. In 1911 when one of the teachers, Paula Bettelheim married out of faith, the school board quickly summoned her before a disciplinary court and dismissed her from her position. (24)

Furthermore, only in the Status-quo kehilla of Újhely could one find a situation where its dayan, Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Tobes of Galicia, known as Hirsch the Gaon (genius) who wore a streimel (typical Hasidic fur hat) on the Sabbath and on holidays and its ritual slaughterer, Rabbi Feishel Feldbrandt, were strictly orthodox and ensured that everything was conducted in strict conformity with tradition and law.

Tolerance was the order of the day in liberal Újhely and at the beginning of this century, a lawyer, Dr. Reichard, did not detach himself from Jewish affairs and for some time served as head of the Kestenbaum School Public Committee. His seventieth birthday was ceremoniously marked in 1927 by the lawyers of the town and by the entire Jewish community. His Jewish viewpoint was modern and once, in his later years and in order to demonstrate what he felt was the distortions of the Orthodox-Hasidic approach, he asked a yeshiva student why Jews fasted on the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Ab. The young man could not reply and maintained that he fasted only because his father fasted on that day as well. His knowledge about the destruction of the Temple on that day was weak indeed. (25)

The appointment of David Kellner as superintendent of police in 1910 served as further evidence of the integration of the Jews as an integral element in the life of the city on the eve of the World War. (26)

Industry of any appreciable scope had not yet been developed in Zemplen and in Újhely with the result that there were far more Jewish vintners than Jewish factory owners. Újhely is located in a mountainous region and furniture factories were set up by Geza Blum and Simon Deutsch. The well-known ceramics factory founded by

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Baron Karolyi was later sold to two partners; Berger and Lipschitz. The plant itself was in Hollohaza but storage and marketing were at its headquarters in Újhely. Most of the Jews of Újhely were retailers or artisans with a relatively sizeable stratum of intellectuals, doctors and lawyers.

The First World War broke out in the summer of 1914. Available statistics indicate that 250 members out of the 2000 souls in the status-quo kehilla were enlisted and thirty-six of them fell in battle. These figures serve as evidence of the loyalty of the Jews of Újhely and the sacrifices they made in gratitude for the “time of peace”.

Two temporary hospitals were set up in the city to take care of the wounded that were brought in from the front in Poland. One was in the tobacco products factory and the other adjacent to the “small railroad station” in the eastern part of the city where huts were put up. Many Jews volunteered to care for the wounded.

The war took a turn in 1918 as the Central Powers began to show signs of fatigue and internal disintegration. The centralized administration which had characterized Hungarian rule became weaker and liberalism was exposed as a hollow mockery. The accumulation of the country's domestic problems was accompanied by outbreaks of unrestrained anti-Semitism, especially in the daily press, with no intervention on the part of the authorities.

The first to speak up against the phenomenon was Dr. Albert Szekely of Újhely who published a public appeal in Egyenloseg on July 6, 1918. He wrote that apparently the Hungarian newspapers had nothing else to write about except to list the positions being held by Jews instead of Christians; the gendarmerie ignored the thievery taking place at the tobacco factory but preferred false charges against Jews. All this was taking place, he wrote, in the fifth year of the war during which Hungarian Jews had made great sacrifices of life on behalf of the homeland. Thousands of families were mourning the loss of sons and fathers as well as bearing the burden of the heavy war loans, amounting to millions of florins. He added: “We must set up a self-defence league to protect Jewish honour by all legal means, to prosecute the press and to prefer charges against the agitators…This is the zero hour for self-defence. Every real Hungarian, every true Jew should stand up and be counted in defence of the Jews!” The proclamation was signed by Dr. Albert Szekely, Satoraljaujhely. (27)

On July 16, 1918, gendarmes burst into the Sephardi Klaus as the worshippers were in the mists of their prayers, shoved the cantor and forcibly removed the prayer shawls and phylacteries from the Jews, shouting: “Identify yourselves!” Those who were of age to have served

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In the army produced their papers as did the older men who were in any event past the age for military service. Whoever tried to object was beaten. Leopold Teitelbaum cried out in protest and a gendarme ordered his comrade to hit him over the head. The entire congregation, including those who were sixty and seventy years of age, were marched through the centre of town to the Central café in the principal square and from there to police headquarters, all this before the eyes of jeering and derisive throngs who lined the streets. One of the escorts shouted that “their fate will be like that of Abraham Husz^[1] The gendarmes picked up Jews in the streets and broke into homes and yards. In the homes of Christians, it was sufficient for them to say that they were not Jews and the gendarmes left them alone. The search did not uncover a single deserter from the army. This was Újhely's first oblava^[2]

In reaction; Dr. Szekely published another articled headed: “What Happened in Újhely?” and described what had occurred. Some of the local people sought to cover up their actions by claiming that they had not harmed anyone from the Status-quo kehilla, only “those who wore a gabardine and had side locks”. Dr. Szekely's blood boiled as he asserted his solidarity with all Jews. “A Jew who is a scoundrel should be put behind bars even if he is of elegant and gentlemanly appearance, but if an attack is with shameless impudence launched in a synagogue against a Jew who wears side locks, then whether it is the Orthodox or the Sephardic, it becomes my synagogue and I must be considered as one who has side locks and wears a gabardine, and I shall strike back at the attacker. Every true and upright Jews is my brother. I would prefer to give up my title as public prosecutor and to return all my medals, but I shall never be a traitor to my people”. The commandant of the gendarmerie filed a complaint against him. (28)

Another oblava occurred in Újhely on July 30, 1918 lasting for five days and nights. Detectives from Budapest, police from the border guard and the gendarmes raided the city and hunted down Jews. They arrested everyone with a beard in the vicinity of the railroad station and herded…….

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them through the streets at the point of bayonets. Most of them were robbed of their money on the grounds of a “tax collection”. The newspaper Egyenloseg reported that this was “imposition of taxes with bayoneted rifles, accompanied by kicks and slaps in the face, while the sub-prefect laughed. A pogrom spirit has swept through the streets of Újhely. Delegations rush to the capital without avail and Jews in Újhely are still compelled to identify themselves”.

Eye-witness testimony on the two incidents: Leopold Teitelbaum told that despite his advanced age, he was not permitted to remove his phylacteries and prayer shawl and he was hurried along with the rest of the Jews. Michael Schoenfeld was treated the same way and said they behaved toward him as if he were a thief or a burglar. Heinrich Klein, who sold straw hats in the market, was compelled to abandon his merchandise and go with the gendarmes who pushed him and beat him in the ribs. Samuel Leopold reported: “The combing-out operation began on the afternoon of the thirtieth of the month. Every Jew was taken to the police, even if his papers were in order. Jews were taken off the trains by groups and faced committees. Passers-by in the streets mocked at them. The military police arrested about a thousand Jews, searched their possessions and confiscated large sums of money. A gendarme officer kicked them as did the military police. They were given nothing to eat or drink for twenty hours and were not permitted to go to the toilets. It was a succession of beatings, kicking and shoving”.

A delegation of town notables, Jews and non-Jews, called on the prefect. Baron George Szechenyi, on August 3. Their major complaint was that the incidents would destroy commerce and wine production! Outside traders would no longer come to the county and to the city and would withdraw their money from the local banks. The conversation with the prefect became a scandal and it was decided that a delegation should go to the Prime Minister.

They visited the Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, Alexander Wekerle on August 6, 1918 and he told them: “An abominable act! I am thoroughly ashamed that things like this happened precisely during my terms as Minister!”

An oblava was carried out in Szerencs on July 28-31 by military police and eight detectives from Budapest. They arrested all Jews arriving by train, seized flour, sugar and coffee in homes, examined account books, imposed taxes on the Jews and confiscated money.

At the Szerencs railroad station, a Jewish tavern keeper, about 60, was arrested when he arrived from Kassa.
“What was the purpose of your visit?” he was asked. “A military matter about my son”, he replied.

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“Ah, you Jew, you wanted to get your son released!” said the gendarme.

The old man burst into tears and took out of his pocket a letter from the Town Major informing him that his son had fallen in battle two weeks earlier at the Piave River in Italy and he had gone to Kassa to pick up the boy's belongings. The elderly tavern keeper took the three medals earned by his dead son and three them in the faces of his interrogators.

When the three-day operation was over, the gendarmerie declared: “This combing-out was nothing: just wait till they start beating up the Jews; that'll be something!”

Similar search operations were carried out in several other cities in northeast Hungary. (29)

The legal basis for the searches was the regulation setting up special tax commissions which went through the cities of upper Hungary, and their visits were exploited to carry out the oblava. The authorities maintained that the activity was aimed at Galician refugees, about 300 of whom were apprehended and sent back over the border. No explanation was given, however, as to why the Jews were ill-treated and why money was being confiscated. (30)

These incidents had wide repercussions abroad. The Times of London, on August 26, 1918, reported faithfully in great detail all the excesses which had taken place in Újhely and in Maramaros-Sziget. English and American newspapermen urged American President Woodrow Wilson not to forget the Jews of Hungary. The press in the Entente countries in general urged that a solution be found for the Jewish problem in Hungary, while at the same time pointing out that this Jewish community had rejected the proposal that it receive the status of a national minority and enjoy the rights of a minority group. The official representation of Hungarian Jewry gave public reply that they did not seek to benefit from the tragedy which had befallen the homeland after the war and the Jews would continue to be an integral part of the Hungarian nation.

During those very days when the Hungarian gendarmes were rioting against the Jews of Újhely, the ceremony was held in Jerusalem marking the laying of the cornerstone for the Hebrew University. The Western press carried descriptions of both events simultaneously, together with renewed requests for a Jewish State. (31)

Additional victims of the wave of anti-Semitism following the war were in the village of Rakamaz where the Rosenbaum family was robbed. The head of the family, Menyhert, had served at the front for two years. In Galszecs, forty-three Jewish merchants were robbed. (32).

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The end of the war also put an end to Hungarian liberalism which turned out to be a hollow shell, unacceptable to Hungarian society. The events toward the end of 1918 in Hungary in general and in Zemplen in particular, ominously presaged what was to happen soon thereafter, and 20-26 years later.

* * *

The old regime in Hungary collapsed in October 1918 and was succeeded by a democratic republic which lasted only about five months.

Unusual conditions ensued. The many minority groups in Hungary which sought to realize their rights to self-determination were given the full support of the Entente powers which displayed open animosity to Hungary. There had always been many minority Slavs in Zemplen.

The democratic government fell in March 1919 and the rule passed into the hands of the Communists. There were many Jews in Hungary with Socialist leanings and this was true also of Újhely where the best known was Ernest Bettelheim who had been among the founders of the Communist party in the city during the days of the republic. Bettelheim, a close associate of Bela Kun, was invited to serve as a member of the Central Committee of the party. (33) The other local Communist leaders, who became members of the municipal council were zealously devoted to their political ideal and felt no affinity or sense of solidarity with their nation or their community. The Passover holiday occurred during the short-lived (133 days) Communist regime and since the government had banned the marketing of alcoholic liquors, the problem arose as to how the Jews would be able to celebrate their Seder. What would they do for the Sabbath blessing as well? Many Jews were arrested for conducting the seder and hostages were taken from Jewish families, as from all bourgeois families in the country. Most of them returned to their homes later. (34)

All the schools in the country were nationalized in March 1919 and the public board of the two Jewish educational institutions in the city were dissolved. This situation continued for a very short while, until the middle of May, (35) despite the fact that the city administration, backed by the Red Guard, remained in the hands of the Communists until the end of July that year. (36) Thereafter, intervention by the Czechs and the Rumanians put an end to the Communist regime in Újhely and in south Zemplen. The Czechs conquered the county as far as Sarospatak in the south, remained in the city about half a year and then withdrew, though they continued to hold the “small station” of the railroad in the eastern part of the city which later became the border crossing point between

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Hungary and Czechoslovakia, within the area of the new state. Very few Jewish families resided in that distant corner of the city.

The Czech conquest was on the whole benign. The victorious army provided a steady supply of food for the inhabitants. (37) but the Czech civil administrator closed both Jewish schools, among others, by the end of May and proclaimed that the school year had ended. The brief Rumanian occupation, on the other hand, left a bitter taste among the inhabitants. Újhely became a border town at the end of the war.

The Communist government resigned in August 1919 and the campaign of vengeance directed primarily against the Jews began at once. The White Terror which was supposed to be anti-Communist ran wild largely in western Hungary. Hundreds of Jews were brutally butchered, others were assaulted and robbed. In Újhely, every Jew who had had any share in the Communist regime was persecuted by the police but the situation there never reached the stage of terror and physical injury. The economic situation deteriorated and administrative measures made life even more difficult for the Jews. Office personnel and other employees were dismissed. Their right to Hungarian citizenship was not recognized and many of them were therefore banished over the border.

The Treaty of Trianon (1920), which carved up Hungary and reduced its boundaries, affected the Jews as well. From the second half of the preceding century, Zemplen County possessed relatively the largest Jewish population in Hungary. Its 31,622 Jewish inhabitants constituted 11.43% of the total population in 1880. The number of Jews thereafter had its ups and downs. As a result of the division of Hungary, about half the Jewish population of the country came under Czech sovereignty and in Hungarian Zemplen, the remaining 14,855 Jews constituted 10.09% of the total. About ten years later, this number was reduced to 12,542 which was 8.5% of the population. Even with this reduction, Zemplen continued to have the largest Jewish population, relatively, except for the big cities. Only Szabolcs County had a larger Jewish population than Zemplen, though in terms of ratio to the general population, their percentage was smaller. (40)

The census in Zemplen in 1920 revealed that most of the Jews of the county engaged in agriculture, that is to say, viniculture – small scale industry and financial credit. There were few office personnel and white collar workers. On the other hand, there were thirty physicians and forty-six lawyers, more than in other counties. (41) This intellectual class had a marked influence on the entire Jewish population of the county and also served as its leadership.

Difficult days ensued. Anti-Semitism continued to increase and latent hatreds burst out into the open. The first restrictive law, enacted in 1920,

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was known as the numerous clausus and affected Jews. The law provided that students would be accepted into the universities according to their national and racial affiliation. Since Jews constituted 6% of the total population, this was to be the ceiling on their percentage in the universities. This brought to an end the development of an intellectual class of university graduates in Újhely and in Zemplen. Opportunities for the youth in law and medicine were now narrowly restricted. With the exception of a very few who went to universities in neighbouring countries for their higher education, the situation remained in effect until Jewish community reached its bitter end. Even the opportunity of study in other countries no longer existed for the youth during the thirties. A small number of young people from Újhely, Sarospatak and Tallya, most of them with an orthodox background, enrolled at the rabbinical seminary in Budapest and without the restricting quota, were able to enter university and attain an academic degree.

During the period of distress, in the third and fourth decades of this century, the community maintained a long list of organizations such as the Women's Societies of Sarospatak and Újhely. The latter also had a home for the aged. There were also girl's groups, a society for visits to the sick, one to provide food for the poor, and another to provide clothing. The orthodox kehilla had an Etz Hayim society, an organization of Daughters of Zion, a separate body to provide clothing and a group to help new mothers. The Orthodox youth were organized in a club of their own. Modern Jewish nationalism was quite remote from the world of these Jews. Representatives of Zionist pioneer movements made their first appearance here in the early thirties and won over some of the small number of youth in the local secondary school. As the number of students declined, there was correspondingly a drop in the already small number of those who were willing to entertain revolutionary ideas. Orthodoxy withdrew into its own seclusion so as to preserve the spark of its own tradition.

Two personalities in the Orthodox kehilla had connections with Eretz Yisrael. The head of the community, Wilhelm Alexander, visited Palestine before the war, wrote a book about his trip and later settled in Jerusalem. On the occasion of the jubilee of the Orthodox school (1937), he sent a letter from the Holy City and it was published in the book issued on that occasion. (42) The second was Rabbi Israel Wolf Loebl who was born in Palestine. He went back and forth twice, finally settling in Újhely and became assistant to Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Hacohen Dick in adjudication and in instruction in the yeshiva. The Jewish community referred to him as the Eretz Yisrael Yid (the Palestine Jew).

The Kestenbaum School, which was still regarded as the chief glory of

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the community, always selected its teaching staff carefully. Samuel Fodor, a Torah scholar, came to the school in 1917 and three years later was made principal and remained for a quarter of a century up until 1940. He wrote the pamphlet on the 100 year history of the school which was published in 1938 on the occasion of the festivities. Moses Feldmar and Malvian Ganzfried were two other teachers who for two decades educated successive classes of young people and excelled particularly in their work with the youth in extra-curricular activities. The name of both are inextricably associated with the school. Upon the retirement of Fodor in 1940, Moses Feldmar became acting principal.

At the Orthodox school, Ignatz Opmann (from 1916) and Morris Gondos (between 1923-1930) rendered distinguished service as teachers. Both filled administrative functions as well and were prominent in the life of the community. The school marked its jubilee in 1937. The history of the institution was written by its last principal, Laszlo Budai who began his service there in 1929.

For many years, the Status-quo kehilla had no rabbi. An announcement of the vacancy was published in 1921 and of the many applicants, Rabbi Samuel Roth, formerly of Pomaz, was unanimously chosen. By virtue of his position, he was also the heads of the public committee of the school together with a secular personality. Rabbi Roth established a young people's circle bearing the name of Israel Singer which promoted a programme of Jewish cultural activities. The circle operated during the twenties and thereafter and did much to strengthen the youth's sense of Jewish identification during times of crisis. He was responsible also for teaching and for supervision of the classes in religion. He was deeply devoted to the young people and established a close rapport with them during these classes, which he considered his major function. (43)

For some years the Orthodox kehilla in Újhely had no rabbi either. Rabbi Joel Fellner, formerly of Bard, assumed the position in 1922. Rabbi Zvi Hacohen Dick placed in his hands the administration of the yeshiva and the teaching of the intensive studies, whereas he, Rabbi Dick, taught the class in fundamentals. However, Rabbi Fellner died suddenly three years later, and the direction of the school reverted once again to Rabbi Dick. Rabbi Dick was a native of Tolcscva and had studied at the Pressburg Yeshiva and under Rabbi Elazar in Újhely. He steadfastly refused to assume the mantle as rabbi of the kehilla although, in fact, he managed the affairs of the kehilla and was called upon to make vital religious decisions. (44) When Rabbi David Klein was named religious head of the Orthodox kehilla in 1934, Rabbi Dick asked him to teach the intensive studies. Rabbi Klein remained rabbi of the kehilla for ten years until, at the head of his flock, he perished in the Holocaust.

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Only a few of the rabbis were native sons of the county. An exceptional case was that of Rabbi Kalman Loevenkopf, born in Ricse, a small village in Bodrogkoz. Though a graduate of yeshivas, he took to the Jewish-Hungarian literature. He left Ricse in his youth but the village continued to feel his personality and his influence. Prior to entering the rabbinate and thereafter as well, he was a teacher. He established the first Hebrew school in Szatmar and thereafter devoted himself unremittingly to the revived Hebrew language, both in the Diaspora and in Israel. His popular and journalistic writing in Hungarian began in 1911; a collection of his short stories on life in the village of his birth was published in 1918 under an assumed name. (45) He wrote for the Zionist organ in Transylvania, later the Hungarian daily in Israel, Uj Kelet, since it was founded and to his final days. He translated Sholom Aleichem's stories and Avigdor Hameiri's The Great Madness into Hungarian. In his later years, he was awarded the Nordau Prize in recognition of his many years of literary creativity. It appears that Rabbi Loevenkopf was the last of the Jewish writers in Hungarian. The characters about whom he wrote, and especially the Jewish villagers in Hungary, no longer exist. His wide circle of readers loved his folksy language, marked also by elegance and charm. He served as the head of the kehilla in Orsova (Transylvania) for seventeen years (1928-1945) and reached Israel toward the end of the War of Liberation. Here too, he found folksy Jewish characters both among his Yemenite pupils and among the diverse elements which made up the Acre neighbourhoods. Rabbi Loevenkopf died in Kibbutz Bet Oren in 1982 at the venerable age of 92. (46)

The first years of the Bethlen government, in the twenties, were marked by a degree of stability and relief following the vicissitudes of the war and the internal political revolutions. The country's economic distress was particularly felt in Újhely as a small border town. It was no longer a roaring railroad junction but quiet, forlorn terminal stations, with nothing beyond it. The inexhaustible will to exist, even under such circumstances, created something new and exclusive – the wine marked which operated in 1921-1924 in the Central Café, composed entirely of Jewish merchants. (47) Traffic across the border was usually thin and brought no income to the local inhabitants. Anti-Semitism, which was rampant in public opinion and especially among the administrative officials in the county and the city, was nourished by the economic problems and the general frustration after the terrible war. One ray of light was the 1926 law which was intended to supplement the reception of 1896, which had given the Jewish faith the status of a state recognized religion. Hungarian Jewry became entitled to representation in the upper house of Parliament, as were the Christian religions and three years later,

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the Jewish religion was given the right of representation in municipal and county administrative bodies as well. Zemplen's representative, Rabbi Samuel Roth, chief rabbi of the Status-quo kehilla in Újhely, served as such representative with dignity and honour.

Chief pride and joy of the Jews of Újhely was the hospital operated by the Hevra Kaddisha. Until 1922, this enjoyed a contractual arrangement with the county hospital which provided medical care, medicines, etc., while the Jewish community provided only the kosher food. This agreement was cancelled by the county in January 1922 and Hevra Kaddisha decided to operate the hospital independently. Dr. Alexander Zinner, a well-known local internist, was named director and Dr. Laszlo Szekely was appointed chief physician of the surgical and obstetrics gynaecology departments. The county viewed the opening of a Jewish hospital unfavourably and attempted to requisition the building for the housing of various evacuees. The Jews therefore hastened without delay to put the hospital into immediate operation.

The structure, which had originally been put up with the help of donors and various funds, was in a neglected and dilapidated state after the war. The furnishings were completely destroyed and it became necessary to begin from scratch, including acquisition of the necessary medical equipment. After renovations and alterations, the hospital was hastily opened. After about two years, it invited various health funds, including those just across the border in Czechoslovakia, to send them their members requiring hospitalization against payment. Not long thereafter, Dr. Szekely became director. Up to 1937, this small hospital treated some 11,000 patients and another 2,000 in its clinic. Patients came not only from Zemplen and the neighbouring counties but also from other countries such as; thirty-five from the United States and four from Palestine. Many non-Jewish patients came for treatment because of their faith in the Jewish physicians. During that period of time, about twenty physicians, Jewish and non-Jewish, worked in the hospital. (48)

Beginning 1931, economic problems mounted including an acute shortage of credits and cash experienced particularly among individual entrepreneurs and petty merchants. It became more and more difficult to make a living and poverty was prevalent. The thirties were characterized by changes in the signs on the store fronts. Storekeepers who had gone bankrupt transferred ownership of the store, usually to the names of their wives, thus indicating, at least legally, new ownership which was not responsible for the debts of the previous owner. Witticisms were not lacking and some quipsters changed the name of their city to “Mrs. Újhely”.

There is an element of truth behind every jest. The stores, which served

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As a hallmark of the city, especially those on the main streets were with very few exceptions, all closed on the Sabbath had been permitted to remain open on Sunday mornings, but this arrangement was later cancelled. On the Sabbath and on holidays, the city took on a festive appearance. The stores were closed and the streets were filled with Jews promenading or hurrying to the synagogue, among them, many wearing the gabardine and the Hasidic hats. After all, about a quarter of the population were Jews.

Ashely's Jews were always deeply devoted to their faith and their tradition and maintained a network of religious institutions to assure perpetuation of the heritage. The Kirshenbaum School, most of whose pupils had no additional Torah lessons outside the school, increased the lessons in religion in 1924 to six hours a week for the boys and three for the girls. Advanced students were given additional Talmud Torah lessons during the afternoon hours. (49)

The Orthodox School where the official lessons in religion were required by the Ministry of Education and Religion also offered further studies in the holy subjects within the framework of a Talmud Torah. (50) The latter unit had been set up during the days of Rabbi Moses Teitelbaum and since 1887 had carried on its activity in close association with the Orthodox School. The classes were not divided according to grade or age, as was customary, but pupils were grouped in classes according to their knowledge. The course of study in these groups began with learning to read Hebrew and continued with study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Examinations were administered periodically by the rabbi and the men of the Talmud Torah association. (51)

In addition to this official institution, there were eight or ten private and unofficial hedarim (religious elementary schools) in Újhely. The heder for girls conducted during the twenties by Tante Hertz was unique. (52) If we take into consideration also the two large yeshivas mentioned previously, we get an unusual picture of a Jewish community with a population of less than 5,000 souls which, even in time of crisis and stress, steadfastly and devotedly maintained a broad network of religious institutions to serve the educational needs of its youth.

Toward the end of the thirties, the two elementary schools celebrated landmarks in their history. The Orthodox School marked its fiftieth anniversary in 1937 and on this occasion, the school principal published a festive booklet with a descriptive history and articles by the leaders of the kehilla. According to the statistics furnished, 4614 pupils studied at this school during the years 1912-1937. (53)

A year later, the Kestenbaum School observed its hundredth anniversary

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The school year 1937-38 was marked by assemblies, symposia, lectures and special presentations in which community leaders, pupils and graduates participated. The central gala ceremony took place in the school yard on September 11, 1938 in the presence of representatives of the authorities and a distinguished audience.

With the appointment of Gyula Gömbös as head of state in 1932, the Jewish question became a major political issue. The first steps to limit Jewish participation in the economic life of the country were taken during his term and Hungary began to move close to Nazi Germany. Gömbös was followed by Kalman Daranyi who in May, 1938 brought before Parliament what became known as the “First Jewish Law”. Upon adoption, it restricted the number of Jews in the free professions, in administration and in industrial and commercial enterprises to 20%.

In return for its pro-Nazi tendencies, Hungary was rewarded with a very sizeable portion of Czechoslovak land in accordance with the decision taken in Vienna on November 2, 1938. As a result, the area of Zemplen was increased and Újhely no longer a border town. Grateful recompense for Hitler was expressed with passage of the “Second Jewish Law” on May 3, 1939 which reduced the percentage of Jews in the economic life of the country to 6%. The territorial addition to northern Zemplen added 1037 Jews to the population of the county and the total number of Jews rose accordingly to approximately 13,500. (54)

The Second World War broke out on September 1, 1939 and within a very short time, remnants of the shattered Polish army, fleeing for their lives, were scattered through Újhely and southern Zemplen. At first, Jews succeeded in infiltrating into Hungary together with the Polish refugees but by 1940, the Hungarian government began to bear down on them heavily. Two transit camps for refugees were set up in Zemplen; one in Csörgo and the other in Garany which quickly became known as an administrative detention camp for Jews.

In that same year, the first labour units were set up and a year later, these were made part of the Labour Service system in which Jews were compelled to serve instead of in the regular army. Hungary entered the war against the Soviet Union on June 27, 1941 and about a month thereafter, Parliament enacted the “Third Jewish law”, similar to the Nuremberg laws. The Jews were in effect expelled from all economic activity, from the Hungarian social structure and from all public activity. From then on, the actions of the authorities knew no bars. About 20,000 Jews, who allegedly lacked citizenship, were banished to German-occupied Ukraine, among them – ninety from Újhely. Only a very few managed to escape the blood-bath at Kamenets-Podolski and succeeded in returning to the city.

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This was the first warning sign of what was to come. (55)

The universities were closed to all Jews and the youth were conscripted into the Labour Service units. Those who had not yet reached twenty-one, the enlistment age, were sent to study a trade. Intellectual studies came to a halt. Both in city and town, only women, children and the aged remained. Jewish enterprises and businesses were handed over to non-Jews. Jews in white collar occupations and in the professions found themselves unemployed as a result of the “Third Jewish Law”.

The deportation of masses of Jews from Slovakia to the concentration and death camps began in the spring of 1942 and thousands of refugees poured in Hungary, including Újhely. Local Jews were strictly forbidden to house them under threat of arrest. (56) At this point, Miklos Kallay became prime minister (March 10, 1942) and despite his wavering policy which was already leaning toward the Allies, he continued to oust the Jews from what little was left to them in the country's economy. In the confiscation of all Jewish-owned properties, vineyards were also taken away from them. A Jew was not permitted to buy a house. Following the heavy losses on the Soviet front, older men were also conscripted into the auxiliary services of the defeated Hungarian army. Like other places in Hungary, Újhely and its surrounding villages were emptied of male Jews and most of them fell victim to the bestial sadism of the Hungarian officers and military staff as well as the hardships at the front.

Prime Minister Kallay's policies, the approach of the battle front, the situation in Italy and the failure to solve the Jewish question brought about the German occupation of Hungary on March 19, 1944 and the tragic fate of the Jews of the country was sealed.

The German forces reached Újhely on the third days of the occupation. Jews were immediately forbidden to leave their homes between the hours of 17:00 and 08:00 and the following day, the time permitted them for shopping was curtailed even more, thus making it difficult for them to obtain food. A huge fine was imposed on them. A Jewish Council was established. In addition to the requirement throughout the country that they all bear the yellow star patch, women, children and the elderly locally were subjected to ever more stringent restrictions. The Germans arrested Dr. Zinner, Dr. Schweiger and Dr. Safir holding them as hostages against payment of the collective fine of 100,000 pengo. The money was indeed handed over but the hostages were not released.

On the last day of Passover, a police search operation turned up with ten Jews who were not wearing the yellow patch and they were at once arrested. The Jewish Council was assembled and in the presence of Dr. Indar Varo, mayor of the city, and the chief police, announcement was

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made of the establishment of a ghetto in Újhely. The act was justified on the ground of the approach of the Soviet Army and Jews could therefore not be permitted to move about freely. Jews from the neighbouring villages were also to be enclosed in the same ghetto. Instructions were given by telephone for immediate implementation.

In the village of Berecki near Újhely, two Jews who were renowned because of their physical strength were arrested immediately by the gendarmes to prevent their interfering in any way with the transfer to the ghetto. The village Jews began arriving in Újhely on April 15, many of them weeping from sheer desperation and helplessness. They feared that they would be killed at once. The worst part of the city was fenced around to serve as the ghetto. Gendarmes stood guard at the gates and Jewish police were on duty inside. With the completion of the transfer of the Jews from the countryside, the ghetto was sealed on April 25, 1944. The congestion was fierce and the lack of food led to constant hunger since the authorities were unwilling to consent to acquisition of food from the outside. A major source of supply was the bakery owned by Isaiah Katz which, by chance, was located within the ghetto confines. All mail was subjected to censorship. Food packages were received from Budapest where the Jews had not yet been confined to a ghetto but lived in separate Yellow-Star houses scattered throughout the city. All those confined in the ghetto were then called upon to hand over all their valuables and finally, all remaining men between the ages of 20-24 were called up, without any consideration of their physical conditions. The men ordered to report were in a dilemma: to obey the summons or to evade the order!

At five o'clock in the morning on May 16, 1944 the gendarmes descended on a part of the ghetto in the area of Karolyi and Arpad Streets and turned all the Jews out of their homes, including mothers carrying their sleeping children. They were assembled on Karolyi Street and then herded to the Status-quo synagogue on Molnar Street: 3500 men, women and children, among them thirty-five hostages who had remained in custody since the first days of the German occupation. They were stripped of all their belongings and in the afternoon, taken to the railroad station. The streets were empty and the windows all shuttered. The inhabitants of the town ignored the dreadful scene. At the station, they were loaded into a freight train – about sixty-seventy persons to a boxcar and within the hour, the train began to roll north with hits human cargo.

Ghetto life continued for those who remained. A hospital was set up and a home for the aged in which all the town's rabbis were gathered. Just before the evening on May 22, 1944 acting under forced instructions,

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the Jewish police in the ghetto rounded up 3500 Jews on the pretext that they were to be sent out for factory work. They were, at first, taken to the same synagogue and from there to the railroad station. Another loaded train chugged northwards.

When the ghetto was first established, the enclosure also contained synagogues, study centres and mikvehs (ritual baths). As the deportations continued and the ghetto was gradually emptied of its population, the area was decreased in proportion. Synagogues and other religious facilities were soon located outside the narrowing and constricting walls and the prayer minyans assembled in private homes. The authorities did permit burial of the dead in the cemetery but only five persons were allowed to accompany the corpse.

The pace quickened. On May 25, 1944 all who were being held in prison and all who were not working, about 4,000 persons in all, were bundled aboard the freight cars, bearing what little food they were permitted to take. These deportees reached Auschwitz on the eve of the Festival of Shavuot, 1944.

On Thursday, June 1, 1944 late in the day, instructions were issued that all Jews remaining in the ghetto should report at a certain spot on Arpad Street at 08:00hr Saturday morning, and from there they would be taken to a work camp. On Friday, a group of men escorted by gendarmes was dispatched to collect the Torah scrolls from all the synagogues and transfer them to the home of Amsel Szamet on Karolyi Street. The rumour spread that the scrolls would be sent to Switzerland.

A commotion broke out in the ghetto early Saturday morning, June 3. Gendarmes broke into all homes and evicted the Jewish residents. At the home of Joseph Hamermann, a gendarme prodded the head of the family with the butt of his rifle, whereupon one of the sons struck at the attacker as did other members of the family. They were all forcibly removed and taken to the assembly point, abused by the gendarmes all the way. Meticulous searches were made of the women and when the latter claimed that everything had already been taken, the searchers beat them with rubber truncheons. The men too were searched and beaten on all parts of their body and especially on the soles of their feet. Beaten, battered and crushed, they were taken under c lose guard to the railroad station and seventy to eighty persons were loaded aboard each freight car. The train remained in place until Sunday afternoon when the sealed doors were opened and fifteen healthy persons were taken out and dispatched to the ghetto to fetch the aged and the ill that had remained. The rumour was that at Kassa they would be handed over to the Germans. The report was true. This transport, the last from Újhely reached Auschwitz on Monday night, June 5, 1944. (57)

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Auschwitz was the final destination of the overwhelming majority of the Jews from Zemplen and Újhely. A very few, perhaps a few hundred remained, like brands plucked from the fire. The remainder went to their death while most of the general population displayed apathy and hostile indifference. Three hundred years of co-existence came to its tragic end and the solitary survivors were scattered to the wind.

Perhaps a few isolated individuals remain on the soil of Zemplen but the memory of the once glorious community is preserved not by its synagogues or by its study halls, but by a cemetery in which the generation of the forties was not privileged to be buried. No graves were dug for them there because their ashes were spread over the fields of Auschwitz. Only memorial plaques in the cemeteries of Újhely, Mad and Bodrogkeresztur pay tribute to the memory of the slaughtered. The cemeteries including the old one in Újhely where Rabbi Moses Teitelbaum was buried, have been recognized as Holocaust Memorial Parks and have been beautified and restored, thanks to the devotion and efforts of survivors who today live outside of Hungary. There was no Hungarian participation in the financing of this act of respect, (59) not even expressing some small measure of expiation for the Hungarian share in the perpetration of the most unprecedented tragedies in the history of mankind.

Footnotes

1. Abraham Husz was the only Jew in Hungary who, even before the First World War, had been convicted of murder and had been executed. Return
2. This was the name given in Russia to the police hunts (razzia) after Jews. Return

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