Németi Synagogue, Satu Mare

ÜBERBLICK

Die Geschichte von Németi Synagogue, Satu Mare

Satu Mare, in Hungarian Szatmárnémeti, grew out of two neighbouring towns, Szatmár and Németi, and kept the double name. Its Jewish community was formally established in 1849 and built its first synagogue in 1857. It became Orthodox in 1869 and split in 1898, when a Status Quo Ante congregation was founded beside the Orthodox one. By 1930 the city had 11,533 Jews, about a fifth of the population, and five large synagogues and some twenty smaller houses of prayer.

A heritage guide to the Jewish sites of the region names three large synagogues: the Orthodox Great Synagogue on what is now Strada Decebal, the Status Quo synagogue, and one in Németi. Nothing further about the Németi building was found in the sources consulted: not its date, its architect, its appearance, its street or the congregation that used it. The same guide states that of the city's twenty-five synagogues and prayer houses only the Great Synagogue still stands, so the Németi synagogue is gone. When it disappeared, and who pulled it down, is unknown. In the spring of 1944 the Jews of the city and its surroundings, about 20,000 people, were confined in a ghetto and deported to Auschwitz; fewer than 15 per cent survived.

STANDORT

Where it stood

Historic: Németi district of Szatmárnémeti, Szatmár county; street and house number unknown. Today: unknown; placeholder pin at Strada Wolfenbüttel 1, Satu Mare, the address of the Németi Calvinist church (approximate).

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Die jüdische Gemeinde

Jews are mentioned in or passing through Satu Mare from the early eighteenth century; there were 11 in 1734 and 19 in 1746, and permits for permanent settlement were granted in 1841. The community was formally organised in 1849 under its first rabbi, Benjamin Ze'ev Mendelbaum, who served until his death in 1896, and built a synagogue in 1857. Through his influence it declared itself Orthodox in 1869. In 1898 a Status Quo Ante community broke away; from 1902 it was led by the Zionist rabbi Samuel Sándor Jordán. The Orthodox community was led by Judah Grünwald until 1920 and then by Eliezer David Grünwald; after his death in 1928 a six-year dispute over the succession ended in 1934 with the victory of the supporters of Joel Teitelbaum, founder of the Satmar Hasidic dynasty. The Jewish population rose from 7,194 in 1910 to 11,533 in 1930. Which of these congregations, or which smaller society, worshipped in the Németi synagogue is unknown.

Architektur und Gestaltung

No description, plan or identifiable photograph of the Németi synagogue was found. The only source that names it calls it one of the city's three large synagogues, which suggests a substantial building rather than a small prayer room, but its size, materials, style, seating and interior are unknown, and no architect or builder is recorded. Postcards in the collection of the Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives captioned 'Szatmár-Németi' or 'Szatmár' were checked; those found show the Orthodox Great Synagogue or a domed synagogue that is probably the Status Quo building, and none could be tied to Németi. The caption 'Szatmár-Németi' on such cards refers to the city as a whole, not to the Németi district, so it cannot be used to identify this building. For comparison, the surviving Great Synagogue was rebuilt in 1891-1892 to plans by Nándor Bach of Vác.

Leben in der Synagoge

No record of worship in the Németi synagogue itself was found: its rabbis, cantors, officers and the rite it followed are unknown. What is known is the wider religious life of which it was part. Between the wars the city's Jews prayed in five large synagogues and about twenty smaller houses of prayer, divided between the Orthodox community, which under Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum from 1934 became the seat of the Satmar Hasidic court, and the Status Quo Ante community led by the Zionist rabbi Samuel Sándor Jordán. A synagogue in Németi, at a distance from the Orthodox centre on today's Strada Decebal, probably served the Jews living on that side of the city, but this is an inference from its location and is not stated in any source read.

Zerstörung

The sources consulted do not say when or how the Németi synagogue was destroyed. No damage to it during the Second World War is recorded. In 1944 the Jews of Szatmárnémeti and its surroundings were confined in a ghetto set up by the Hungarian authorities after the Nazi German occupation of Hungary and deported to Auschwitz, so the building lost its congregation then. About 5,000 Jews lived in the city again by 1947, but most emigrated in the following decades, and a survivor interviewed by Centropa recalled that the community sold another of the city's large synagogues, the Neolog one, after which it was demolished and a county police station built on the site. Whether the Németi synagogue went the same way, was demolished under Communist rule, or was lost later is unknown. The only firm statement is a recent heritage guide's: of twenty-five synagogues and prayer houses in the city, only the Great Synagogue still stands.

Das Schicksal der Gemeinde

In 1940 Jews without Hungarian citizenship were deported from the city to Kamenets-Podolsky, where they were murdered by Hungarian and Nazi German troops. Most Jewish men had already been taken into Hungarian forced labour battalions when, in the spring of 1944, about 20,000 Jews from Satu Mare and its surroundings, refugees included, were forced into a ghetto set up by the Hungarian authorities after the Nazi German occupation of Hungary and then deported to Auschwitz. Fewer than 15 per cent survived and returned. About 500 Jews settled in the city soon after the war and by 1947 the community numbered about 5,000. Emigration to Israel and elsewhere reduced it to about 500 by 1970, and it has declined further since. The community today uses the Great Synagogue on Strada Decebal.

Der Ort heute

The location of the Németi synagogue has not been identified in any source consulted, so what stands on its plot today is unknown. Németi was the town on the south side of the Someș that grew together with Szatmár; its historic Calvinist church still stands on Strada Wolfenbüttel. The map pin for this entry is a placeholder in that district near the church and should not be read as the synagogue's site. Of the city's former synagogues, only the Great Synagogue and the adjoining Talmud Torah prayer house of 1927 on Strada Decebal survive. Finding the plot will need old cadastral maps, city directories or the records of the Satu Mare County Museum.

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Fotos, Dokumente, Familiengeschichten oder Erinnerungen an diese Synagoge und ihre Gemeinde halten ihre Geschichte lebendig.