Paps: History of the Jews of Papa

HISTORY OF THE JEWS OF PAPA

PAPA (Hung. Papá), town in N.W. Hungary.

A few families first settled in Papa under the protection of the Esterhazy family; by 1714 the first synagogue was built. At that time the tax collector of the city was a Jew. A new synagogue was built in 1743. In 1748 Count F. Esterhazy autborized Jews to settle in Papa and organize a community. A Bikkur Holim society was founded in 1770. The first Jewish private school was opened in 1812, and the community, school, founded in 1826, had 504 pupils in 1841. In 1899 the first junior high school was founded. The synagogue erected in 1846 was an important step toward the introduction of Reform. Space was left for an organ although none was installed; the bimah was set in front of the Ark and not in the center of the synagogue. After the religious schism in Hungarian Jewry in 1869 the Neologists (see Neology) left the community, but returned five years later. During the Tiszaeszlar blood libel case (1882) anti-Jewish riots broke out in Papa but they were suppressed by the authorities.

The first rabbi of the community was Bernard Isaac, followed by Selig Bettelheim. The Orthodox rabbi Paul (Feiwel) Horwitz initiated the meeting of rabbis in Paks in 1844. Leopold Loew (1846-50) was the first rabbi to introduce Reform. Moritz Klein, rabbi from 1876 to 1880, translated part of Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed into Hungarian. He was followed by Solomon Breuer (1880-83). The last rabbi was J. Haberfeld, who perished with his congregation in the Holocaust.

The anti-Jewish laws of 1938-39 caused great hardship in the community, and from 1940 the young Jewish men were sent to forced.labor battalions, at first within Hungary, but later to the Russian front (1942). The Jewish population in Papa increased from 452 in 1787 to 2,645 in 1840 19.6% of the total population), and 3,550 in 1880 (24.2%). After the beginning of the 20th century a gradual decline began; there were 3,076 Jews in 1910 (15.3%), 2,991 in 1920, 2,613 in 1941 (11%) and 2,565 in 1944. After the German occupation on March 19, 1944, the Jews were confined in a ghetto on May 24 and from there moved to a concentration camp which was set up in a factory in the town. On July 4 and 5 2,565 Jews of the city plus 300 from the vicinity were deported to Auschwitz, from which less than 10% returned. In 1946 there were 470 Jews in the town (2% of the population) and by 1970 the number had fallen to 40.

List of Martyrs

This material is made available by JewishGen, Inc. and the Yizkor Book Project for the purpose of fulfilling our mission of disseminating information about the Holocaust and destroyed Jewish communities. This material may not be copied, sold or bartered without JewishGen, Inc.'s permission. Rights may be reserved by the copyright holder.

JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material for verification. JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions. Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.

Papa, Hungary Yizkor Book Project JewishGen Home Page

Yizkor Book Project Manager, Joyce Field
This web page created by Mike Kalt