Pinkas Hakehillot Hungary: Kiskoros

“Kiskoros” - Encyclopedia of Jewish
Communities in Hungary

46°37' / 19°18'

Translation of the “Kiskoros” chapter from
Pinkas Hakehillot Hungary

Edited by: Theodore Lavi

Published by Yad Vashem

Published in Jerusalem, 1975

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This is a translation from: Pinkas Hakehillot Hungary: Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Hungary,
Edited by Theodore Lavi, published by Yad Vashem, Jerusalem.

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[Pages 506-507]

Kiskoros

A town in the district of Pest-Pilis-Solt, 27 Kilometers from Kecskemet.
The population in 1941 was 12,875.

Jewish Population

Year	Number	% of Total Population
1784/85	4	-
1840	143	2.6
1869	350	5.3
1890	387	4.7
1900	455	4.6
1910	482	4.2
1920	536	4.4
1930	588	4.4
1941	509	3.9

Until the Second World War

The first Jewish families began to live in Kiskoros at the end of the eighteenth century. The majority of those who established the community came from the Maramaros district in Transylvania. A few of them were of Moravian origin. Until 1930 the number of Jews grew constantly. The main reason for this was the fact that since this was an Orthodox community among Neolog communities, Orthodox Jews preferred living there. The area of Kiskoros is distinguished by its fertility. The Jews made their living selling agricultural produce, mainly grain and wine, and foodstuffs. Some of the Jews of Kiskoros were artisans, and a few were owners of farms.

The community was organized at the beginning of the nineteenth century. After the Hungarian Jewish community split into Orthodox and Neolog factions, it defined itself in the status-quo position, but in 1912 it attached itself to the Orthodox community. It defined itself as moderate in terms of observance, in comparison to other Orthodox communities. It was indicated by the fact that its rabbis used to give their sermons in German, not Yiddish. The institutions of the community were the Hevra Kadisha, a Women's Association, a gmilot hesed for giving loans to poor people, poor brides, etc., a Linat Lilah home with three rooms for poor guests. The community owned some land; the money it earned was used for charity.

Under the authority of the Kiskoros community were the towns of Kecel, Csaszartoltes, Nemesnadudvar, Ersekcsanad, Sukosd, and Bajaszentistvan.

Among the distinguished rabbis of Kiskoros were Rabbi Meshulam Rubinstein, 1866-1899), who was a disciple of the author of Ktav Safer, and he is also mentioned in his book of Respona. He wrote a book called Mabit ( 5656). The synagogue in Kiskoros his was built during his rabbinate. Rabbi David Lelovics (1899-1942) established the yeshiva in Kiskoros. He wrote Dibuve Chen, Konsantmiklosh (5695). The last rabbi of Kiskoros was Rabbi Yakov Snyders, who was banished to Austria during the Holocaust. He is now in Brazil.

The school was established in about 1880. It included six classes with two teachers. There also was a Talmud Torah, a cheder with two melamdim, a yeshiva with 10-15 students, and an association for learning Talmud, which possessed a big library. The community had 18 Torah scrolls.

Reasonably good relations between Jews and their neighbors deteriorated after the First World War. During the pogroms that broke out all over Hungary in these years, Jewish shops in Kiskoros were robbed, and a few frightened community members fled.

The Holocaust

At the beginning of 1940 six Jews were arrested and were sent to concentration camps.

On May 4, 1944, after the entrance of the Germans, 22 Kiskoros Jews were transported to concentration camps in the city of Topolya, and from there they were sent to Strasshof in Austria. Those who were capable of walling were sent to forced labor. The rest were banished to Auschwitz.

Those who remained in Kiskoros were concentrated in a ghetto at the end of April. It was in some houses near the synagogue. In the ghetto they were permitted to take care of their daily needs, and their representatives were permitted to leave for a few hours every day in order to purchase whatever was needed.

On June 21 all the Jews of the Kiskoros district were concentrated there. On June 23 the first transport went to Auschwitz. Afterwards the transports continued until no one remained in the ghetto. The majority of Jews of Kiskoros came to Auschwitz in June. 580 of the Jews were exterminated in Auschwitz.

After the war the community reorganized. Rabbi Snyders was among those who returned, and he again headed the community, but briefly. Since the synagogue was ruined, prayers were conducted in the building of the Association for Learning Talmud.

After some time the number of Jews dwindled, and the majority of them left. Now there are about ten Jewish families.

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