The Jewish Community of Tapolca

After visiting Budapest for a few days, we chose to spend the second half of our holiday in the small town of Tapolca in western Hungary so that we could enjoy some of the Balaton countryside. My choice was based on the accommodation I found but incredibly, once we arrived in the town, I discovered that it had once been a Yiddish-speaking hub and home to a small Jewish community. I spotted a synagogue marked on the town map, which I of course had to find and, in the meantime began to do some reading.

I soon found out that the first Jewish families were permitted to settle in Tapolca in the middle of the 18th century, on the condition that they would not have children. Because of the hostility of the townsmen, most Jews lived in villages but, with the removal of the restrictions on them residing in the towns, settlement in Tapolca grew in the middle of the 19th century and the Jewish community organised itself. The majority of the Jews made a living from selling wines and allied products and, eventually, most of the businesses and industries in the town were in Jewish hands.

In 1840 the community formed a chevra kadisha, which is an organisation of Jewish men and women who see to it that the bodies of deceased Jews are prepared for burial according to Jewish tradition. The community also established charitable institutions, a school which opened in 1855 and a synagogue in 1863.

In 1868, as a result of differences of opinion between the Haredim (Orthodox) and Maskilim (moderates) at the Jewish Congress, the community affiliated with the Neolog (Reform) movement, which advocated integration into Hungarian society and changes in the religious way of life.

It was the 1863 synagogue, above, which I had seen on the map of the town and which we subsequently found. The synagogue's inauguration ceremony took place on 13th September 1863 and in 1905 it was renovated, serving the Jewish community of Tapolca until the town's Jewish population was transported to Auschwitz in the summer of 1944. The building became abandoned in the following two decades. In the 1970s it was transformed completely by a local industrial firm. The main body of the synagogue was converted to the performance hall of the Tamási Áron Cultural Centre and only the western facade remained more or less in the same state as it had been earlier.

In World War I, 29 Jewish men from the town were killed in action on various fronts. During the period of the "White Terror"  (pogroms instigated against Jews and radicals in the period 1919-21, which were implemented by right wing military elements, after the collapse of the communist regime), some Jews were held in the Zalaegerszeg concentration camp. 17 others were murdered by gangs who came to the town, and stones were thrown at the synagogue.

In 1930 there were 706 Jewish people living in Tapolca.
In 1939, following the publication of "Discriminatory Laws" which aimed at limiting Jewish participation in economic and cultural fields, the licences of Jews dealing in wine were cancelled. Only thanks to Christian friends, who put their names to Jewish businesses, were the Jews saved from total economic collapse.

In 1940, Jewish labour battalions were brought to Tapolca. These workers were conscripted to work on fortifications, together with other Hungarian citizens whom the authorities would not permit to join the armed forces. They worked on the local airfield.

On 17th May 1944, after the German occupation of the town, the Jews were confined to the ghetto which was erected in the area of the synagogue. Today, signs on two buildings, above, mark where the entrance was. The wealthy Jews were tortured by the Germans in order to discover the hiding places of their valuables. On 18th June the Jews were sent to the Zalaegerszeg concentration camp. and the following day they were transported to Auschwitz. The Jewish labour battalions remained in the town at the time of the expulsion.

After the war sixty survivors returned to Tapolca. With the help of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee they renewed communal life there, renovated the synagogue and cemetery and erected a memorial to the martyrs. However, they slowly began to leave the town, with some coming to live in Israel and others migrating to Budapest. To the best of my knowledge, there are no Jews living in Tapolca today.

My interest in this lost community was piqued and I wanted to know more. We talked to the guy at the local tourist office who told us about visitors to the town who arrive there to find out about their parents' and grandparents' roots. He then directed us to yet another synagogue, which I had not known about. I had great trouble finding it but, with the help of Google Maps, came across a small stone building which looked nothing like a synagogue from the outside. Until recently it was being used as a pub.

Mister Handmade in Israel and I were snooping around the building when I saw someone watching us. We quickly made our introductions and upon hearing that we were visiting from Israel, our "guide", Imre Attila Neszler, was happy to open up the building for us.

It turned out that this building was the first synagogue in Tapolca, used between 1813-1863. Imre, who owns the synagogue and whose project this turned out to be, has carefully overseen the renovation of it and proudly showed us the place where the Torah scrolls were kept and the location of the mikveh. When he has sufficient funding, he plans to make this into a small Jewish museum commemorating the community of Tapolca.

Another gentleman involved in the project, László Hangodi, has written a book about the Jewish community of Tapolca and Imre very kindly gave me a copy, albeit in Hungarian.
If any of my readers have any contacts who could help Imre and László move the project forward, I would love to hear from you!

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun., Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Life this Week, The Weekly Link Up, Tuesday's Treasures, Travel Tuesday, Our World Tuesday, My Corner of the World, InSPIREd Sunday and All Seasons.