Hungary
From JudaismWiki
HUNGARY. Jews lived in Hungary as far back as Roman times, when the area was part of the Roman province of Dacia. Conquest of the land by invading Magyars in 897 meant for Jews continuous plunder and persecution at the hands of Catholic kings. Under Turkish rule from 1526 to 1686, the situation of the Jewish populace greatly improved. Austrian domination, however, again changed their circumstances for the worse. France Joseph II (1741-1790) emancipated the Jews, but his decree was carried out only partially. A number of Jews fought on the side of Hungary against Austria in the revolution of 1848.
At that time there was a severe struggle between the Orthodox and Reform elements of Hungarian Jewry, which led to a split in 1871. Three congregational groupings emerged: Orthodox, Reform, and “status quo.” Modern Hungarian Jewry has been characterized by sharp contrasts: on the one hand, extreme piety; on the other, extreme assimilation, even to the point of conversion to Christianity.
By the beginning of the 20th century, Hungarian Jews were occupying important posi¬tions in the economic and cultural life of the country, in the arts, the press, and the sciences. However, the interval between the two World Wars was marked by the growth of antisemitism.
Before World War II ended, the Germans had occupied Hungary. In the summer of 1944 they transported 400,000 local Jews to Auschwitz.
The end of the war found some 120,000 Jewish survivors in Hungary, of whom about 80,000 lived in Budapest. The Jewish community, like the rest of the population, was in dire economic straits. In addition, antisemitism was no less virulent than at the height of the Nazi terror. When Hungary came under Soviet domination in 1948, Jews suffered especially from directives aimed at eliminating middle-class elements from the nation’s economy. Although official Communist doctrine forbade antisemitism, an unusually high percentage of Jews were included in the mass deportations of “undesirables” from the larger cities begun in 1951 and continued into 1952. The Hungarian Zionist movement was outlawed. All contact with Western Jewry and Israel was severed. Emigration was barred. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, responsible until 1953 for most welfare and economic aid to the Jewish community, was forced to leave. The Hungarian uprising of October-November 1956 was accompanied by some anti-Jewish acts, and 18,000 to 20,000 Jews fled the country, streaming mainly into Austria. The Jewish population today numbers 50,000. Eighty percent of the Hungarian Jews live in the capital, Budapest. There are also small communities in Debrecen, Miklosc, and Szeged. The community has a high proportion of Holocaust survivors.
Synagogues
Alma Synagogye Alma utca 2 District XII Budapest 1122 Orthodox Tel: 36 1 155-2765
Amerikai Synaoguge Amerikai út 53 District XIV Budapest Tel: 36 1 183-4385
Báthori Synagogue Báthori utca 34 District XIX Budapest Tel: 36 1 147-0950
Berzeviczy Synagogye Berzeviczy utca 8 District IV Budapest Tel: 36 1 169-0829
Bet Smuel Hegedus Gyula St 3 District XIII Budapest Modern Orthodox Tel: 36 1-340-5085
Bethlen Ter Synagogue Istvan St 17 District VII Budapest Tel: 36 1-342-6170
Chevra Shas-Lubavitch Vasvari Pal Utca 5 District VI Budapest Chabad Lubavitch Tel: 36 1-342-1328 Fax: 36 1-142-7876
Dessewffy St Synagogue Dessewffy St 23 District VI Budapest ORTHODOX Tel: 36 1- 351-0521
Dohany St Synagogue Website Dohany St 2 District VII Budapest Liberal http://www.zsido.hu/synagogue/dohany.htm
Frankel Leó street Synagogue Frankel Leó street 49 Budapest 1023 Modern Orthodox http://www.frankel.hu/
György Synagogye Dózsa György út 55 District XIII Budapest
Gyula Bet Aharon Synagogue Thokoly St 83 District XIV Budapest Tel: 36 1-251-3970
Hunyadi Synagogue Hunyadi tér 3 District VI Budapest
Jósika Synagogue Jósika utca 6 District VII Budapest ORTHODOX
József körút Synagogue József körút 27 District VIII Budapest Tel: 36 1 134-2121
Károli Gáspár Synagogye Károli Gáspár tér 5 District XI Budapest 1114 Traditional Tel: 36 1 145-0965
Kazinczy St Synagogue Kazinczy St 27 District VII Budapest http://www.zsido.hu/synagogue/kazinc.htm
Lauder Yavne Budakeszi út 48 District XII Budapest
Lubavitch of Hungary Wesselenyi Utca 4 Budapest Chabad Lubavitch http://www.zsido.com/
Nagyfuvaros Synagogue Nagy Fuvaros St 4 District VIII Budapest H-1084 Reform Tel: 36 1- 334-2731
Obuda Synagogue 163 Lajos Street Budapest
Pava Synagogue Páva utca 39 District IX Budapest Tel: 36 1 215-2796
Pesterzsébet-Soroksár-Csepel Zamárdi utca 7. (Téglagyár tér 9/10.) H-1203 District XX Budapest http://www.zsidohitkozseg.hu/bzsh/
Sim Shalom Egyesulet Csalogany u. 5 Budapest Reform http://www.szimsalom.hu/
Teleki Ter Synagogue Teleki ter 22 District VIII Budapest
The Buda Synagogue Frankel Leo St 49 District II Budapest 1023 Modern Orthodox Tel: (36-1) 326-1445
Visegrádi Synagogue Visegrádi utca 3 District XIII Budapest Modern Orthodox http://www.pestisul.hu/index.php
Jewish Museums
Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives http://www.museum.hu/museum/index_en.php?ID=92
