Old Synagogue of Tiszafüred

Die jüdische Gemeinde

Jewish settlement in the area began at Tiszaigar, which was the first local centre of Jewish life; families moved to Tiszafüred in larger numbers only after 1790. The early Jews were tenants and leaseholders. The JewishGen KehilaLinks history gives 186 Jews in 21 households in 1827-28, 181 in 1844, 315 in 1851 (another count gives 341 for 1850-51), 500 in 1854, 600 in 1869 and 682 in 1900, the highest figure. In 1929 the community numbered 620 people in 142 families, and the 1941 census counted 442. A burial society (Chevra Kadisha) was founded in 1803; its honorary president was always the rabbi, while a head administrator was elected each year from among respected members, and the presidents came from the wealthiest families. In 1894 the congregation's income was about 9,224 forints, of which about 1,774 went to its school. Jewish shops and workshops lined the main street; a Jewish joiner's workshop stood next to the synagogue.

Architektur und Gestaltung

The only view found is a postcard of about 1900 headed 'Üdvözlet Tiszafüredről' and 'Izraelita templom'. It shows a free-standing, rendered hall seen from the front. Across the entrance front runs an open portico of four tall round columns carrying a plain entablature with a dentil cornice and a wide, low triangular pediment, in whose centre is a round window with radiating glazing. Behind the columns the facade has a central double door reached by a few steps, a round-headed window above it and rectangular windows on either side at two levels, suggesting a women's gallery inside. Low single-storey houses with tiled roofs stand close on both sides. The KehilaLinks history calls the building classical in style, which agrees with the photograph. The architect, builder, seating capacity, interior arrangement and the exact construction date are not recorded in the sources read; Gazda gives 1846.

Leben in der Synagoge

Mózes Schönfeld, born in Szikszó in 1791, is named as the community's first rabbi; he served for about thirty years before moving to Sarkad in 1848, so he officiated in this synagogue in its first years. Herman (Yisroel Yona Tzvi) Rosenberg, who came from Verpelet, founded a yeshiva in 1865 that functioned until 1944, and a Jewish elementary school in 1876. He was succeeded by Nathan Jungreisz, born in Nagymárton in 1833, author of two Hebrew books, who served until his death on 23 September 1889; between 600 and 700 people attended his funeral. Mór (Moshe) Szófer followed and was rabbi when the old building was given up; he died in 1917. Besides the synagogue the congregation maintained a prayer house, a school, a religious school and a ritual bath, and its rabbi, cantor and slaughterer lived in houses owned by the community. By 1910 the town had three synagogues.

Zerstörung

The old synagogue was not destroyed by war or violence. According to the KehilaLinks history, the congregation sold it at auction in 1911 and immediately began building a new and larger synagogue; who bought the old building and what the buyer did with it are not stated in the sources read. Gazda's survey of 1980-87 lists the building as demolished and gives its dates as 1846-1913, which suggests it was pulled down by its new owner within two years of the sale, but no document of the demolition was found. Who demolished it is not recorded. Its successor, the Secessionist synagogue dedicated in 1916, served the congregation until 1944.

Das Schicksal der Gemeinde

After the Nazi German occupation of Hungary in March 1944, Jewish shops in Tiszafüred were confiscated on 28 April. The Hungarian authorities first considered placing the ghetto near the railway station or around the synagogue, then chose a partly roofed brick-drying works owned by a Jew. On 8 May the Jews of the Tiszafüred district were moved there under the command of Jenő Ficzere and later József Erdélyi; wealthier people were beaten during interrogations. Ernő Weiner headed the Jewish council. On 18 May the men were taken to Hatvan, and rabbis and intellectuals were sent directly to Auschwitz. On 8 June the remaining Jews were marched to the station, loaded into freight cars by Hungarian gendarmes, and deported via Füzesabony, Miskolc and Kassa to Auschwitz, arriving on 13 June. Some women survived forced labour; most survivors later left for Budapest or abroad. In 2010 a single Jewish resident remained.

Der Ort heute

The old synagogue stood on the main street of Tiszafüred, near the Roman Catholic church. The KehilaLinks community history publishes coordinates for the first synagogue, and the map pin uses them, but OpenStreetMap places that point by Rét út in the Tiszavég district, which may not match the main-street description, so the pin is uncertain. What occupies the plot today is not described in any source read, and no fragment of the building is recorded. The later synagogue of 1916 survives in altered form as a shop. The Jewish cemetery at the corner of Nyúl utca and Kertész utca survives with the burial-society house and the mausoleum of Rabbi Nathan Jungreisz.

Bedeutende Namen