Jewish Local History Collection

Until 1865, the Nyíregyházi synagogue was a subsidiary synagogue under the supervision of the rabbi of Nagykálló. At that time, the community, which had grown in strength and size, became the main synagogue. was founded with the permission of Rabbi Weinberger of Kisvárda and the approval of the Ministry of Interior, and the city became the seat of the rabbi. The Orthodox Jews of Nyíregyháza elected their first rabbi, Ignácz Friedmann, who held this position until his death in 1905. The rabbi was a student of the famous Bratislava yeshiva and preached in German. In addition to the Orthodox synagogue, the city's Jews could also join the status quo synagogue on Szarvas Street, whose last chief rabbi was the scholar Dr. Béla Bernstein. The synagogue burned down in 1944, its walls collapsed. The monument to the deportees was erected on its foundations from the remains of the wall. After the nationalization in 1953, a school was built on the site and the memorial was placed in the Jewish cemetery on Kótaji Street. The other (Orthodox) synagogue was built in the 1920s. Today, the religious community operates here. During the Great Depression, about 4,800 Jews from Nyíregyháza were of Jewish faith. The authorities wrote off thousands of people, and after the deportations some celebrated the city's "anti-Jewish" holiday. After the liberation, only a few hundred returned, many of whom emigrated in the following decades.