Judaism in Timișoara

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The history of the Jews in the western Romanian city ​​of Timișoara ( German  Timişoara ) dates back to the 17th century.

history

→ see also History of the Jews in Romania

Jews had already settled in the Banat in the 2nd and 3rd centuries . After the systematic expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, many Sephardi settled in the then Ottoman Empire , in the Eastern Mediterranean , in the Balkans , but also in the Banat. In Timisoara they were called "Spanish" Jews. Records of German Ashkenazi in Timisoara go back to the beginning of the 18th century.

The oldest grave inscription in the Old Sephardic Cemetery in Strada Liniştei No. 3 can be found on the grave of Rabbi Azriel Assael, who died in 1636 . A century later, Rabbi Meir Amigo and four companions from Istanbul were allowed to settle in the city.

The Jewish community in what was then Timişoara, 144 people strong, was explicitly mentioned in the handover documents of the fortress, which were drawn up in 1716 by the Turkish fortress commander for the general of the Austrian army Eugene of Savoy after the Venetian-Austrian Turkish War . The tolerance patent of 1783 led to the emancipation of the Jewish community .

A total of six synagogues were built in the city after 1863. Over time, conservative Judaism with neologic currents established itself as a denomination.

In 1920 there were 8,307 people of Jewish descent, roughly a tenth of the city's then total population. After World War I who took anti-Semitism to, especially in the second half of the 1930s. In 1936, members of the Iron Guard dropped a bomb on the audience while a Jewish theater production was being performed, killing two people. The wells was prohibited by law in 1938 and 1939, about 1,000 Jews were deprived of the Romanian citizenship. Due to the deportation of many Jews from rural areas to larger cities, the Jewish population in Timișoara swelled to 11,788 in July 1941 (see also History of Romania # Second World War ). On August 4, 1941, the majority of male Jews between the ages of 18 and 50 were sent to forced labor camps. At the request of the Jewish community, some were dismissed or at least came to work in the area around the city. Between 1941 and 1942, much of the Jewish property in buildings was confiscated by the Romanian authorities.

On August 17, 1942, the Romanian "state leader" Marshal Ion Antonescu gave his consent to the deportations of Jews from Arad , Timișoara and Turda . 2833 people from Timișoara were then deported until 1943. About 100 Jews were brought to the Transnistrian camps .

From 1943, many Hungarian Jews fled to Timișoara via the nearby border. The wave of refugees peaked in the summer of 1944. After the royal coup d'état on August 23, 1944, the electricity came to an almost complete standstill. In 1947 about 13,600 Jews lived in the city. During the time of communist rule , most of the people of Jewish descent emigrated, most of them to Israel . Many Romanian Jews were allowed to travel to Israel on the basis of secret intergovernmental agreements, similar to the ransom of Romanian Germans . However, no bounties were paid, but economic goods in return.

Of the former six synagogues, the synagogue in the city center (3000 seats), the synagogue in the factory town and the synagogue in the Josefstadt still exist today , the latter being the only still active synagogue. The first two synagogues were closed and are now (20xx) threatened with decay. With its believers, the city of Timișoara represents a significant part of the approximately 9,000 members of the Jewish community in Romania. In the 2002 census, 367 Jewish residents were identified in the city.

  • Synagogue in the city center, 2008

  • Synagogue in the factory town, 2006

  • Synagogue in Josefstadt, 2008

literature

  • M. Lowy: Sketches on the history of the Jews in Temesvar up to 1865 , Szeged, 1890
  • Jakab Singer: Temesvari rabbik a XVIII. it XIX. szazadban , Seini (Szinervar-alja), 1928, in Hungarian

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Banaterra.eu ( Memento from May 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), Timisoara - the capital of the Banat, First German settlers in Timisoara
  2. ↑ ADRC.ro , Centrul de resurse pentru diversitate etnoculturală, in Romanian
  3. ↑ Banat24.net  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ), Anastasius Skarlatto: Visit to the Begastadt - the Jewish quarter of Timisoara@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.banat24.net
  4. ↑ a b c d cet.rdstm.ro , Comunitatea Evreilor din Timișoara: Temesvar-Timișoara , January 21, 2008, in English
  5. ↑ HolocaustResearchProject.org, Nazioccupation, Romanianjews, The destruction of the Jews of Romania , in English
  6. ^ RomanianJewish.org , Incursion in the life and history of the Jew community in Timișoara , in English
  7. ↑ IC Butnaru: The silent Holocaust: Romania and Its Jews . Greenwood Press; illustrated edition, 1992, ISBN 0-313-27985-3 , pp. 140, in English .
  8. ↑ Timpolis.ro , Timpolis: Sinagogile, marturia de multiculturalitate a timisorenilor , August 20, 2008, in Romanian
  9. ↑ Radu Ioanid: Rascumpararea evreilor . Editura Polirom, 2005, ISBN 973-681-775-X , p. 216 (Romanian, price.ro ).
  10. ^ Martin Eichler, Dan Leopold Ciobotaru and Martin Rill: Temeswar / Timișoara. A pearl of the Banat . Wort + Welt + Bild Verlag, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-9810825-6-2 , p. 207 .
  11. ↑ welcometoromania.ro , Sinagoga din Iosefin , in Romanian
  12. ↑ Ramona Balutescu: Peste sinagogile din Timișoara apun vremurile. Dar ele, cu Steaua lui David in virf, ca un paratrasnet, isi cauta geana de lumina ( Memento from July 21, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )