O.84 - Documentation gathered in preparation of the "Hungarian Communities Registry" published by Yad Vashem

O.84 - Documentation gathered in preparation of the "Pinkas HaKehillot, Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Hungary" published by Yad Vashem
 
 The ""Pinkas HaKehillot, Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Hungary" Project and a history of the Record Group:
 
 "Pinkas HaKehillot, Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Hungary", which was published in 1975 was the third volume in the Yad Vashem "Communities Registry" series.
 
 The editorial board members (Theodore Lavi, Nathaniel Katzburg, Shmuel Shichor, Neta Perach and Avraham Shein) wrote in the introduction to the book: "This volume […] went through many metamorphoses and severe birth pangs until it finally was printed. The work involved in gathering the material and collecting the testimonies from the survivors began at a very early stage, as far back as 1959."
 
 The survivors not only gave testimonies but in many cases, they also completed questionnaires prepared by the ""Pinkas HaKehillot" board regarding the history of their communities. In the documentation there are questionnaires regarding 110 Hungarian communities (see the Hebrew translation of the questionnaire, which was originally written in Hungarian, in the appendix).
 
 In general, the documentation collectors were historians, rabbis and other scholars in the humanities who wrote surveys regarding the communities about which they gathered material for the "Pinkas HaKehillot" board. Dr. Jenő Buchwald and Dr. Ernő László wrote most of the surveys, each one working with a different method. Dr. Buchwald mainly gathered testimonies on which he based his surveys, and as a result, there are important testimonies from the late 1950s and early 1960s in the Record Group, while Dr. László chose a different way and based his surveys mainly on research that had already been published.
 
 In addition to these two main collectors, another approximately twenty researchers participated in the preparations, among them well-known researchers such as the historian, Fülöp Grünwald (1887-1964), the Director of the Hungarian Jewish Museum in Budapest, and Rabbi Professor Sándor Schreiber (1913-1985), Director of the Hungarian Rabbinical Seminary in Budapest.
 
 The collection was submitted to the Yad Vashem Archives after the publication of the book, "Pinkas HaKehillot, Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Hungary" in 1975.
 
 Scope of the Record Group and its content:
 
 There are approximately 630 files in the collection including many original and varied documents: testimonies, memoirs, historical surveys, official documentation, lists of those who perished and those who survived, press clippings and more.
 In the collection there is documentation regarding hundreds of communities that were active until 1944 (the year the Hungarian Jews were deported to extermination camps with the exception of the Jews of Budapest).
 
 The documentation is arranged by community and relates primarily to the following periods of time:
 
 A. The history of the communities in Hungary from their establishment until World War I;
 
 B. The history of the communities in Hungary during World War I and in the period between World War I and World War II;
 
 C. The history during the Holocaust (1938-1944/1945).
 
 Appendix:
 
 In most of the files there are no questionnaires; instead there are answers from those who completed the questionnaires but without the questions.
 
 Following are the sections of the questionnaire in the Hebrew translation:
 
 Questionnaire
 
 The questions are divided into three groups:
 
 A. Questions regarding the history of the community in the distant past;
 
 B. Questions regarding the history of the community from World War I until the German occupation of Hungary;
 
 C. The period of the persecutions.
 
 A. Questions regarding the history of the community in the past:
 1. The official name of the community (as well as the name of the community used by the Jews in the language they spoke and in written documentation in the Jewish languages);
 
 2. The nature of the community (main community, filia, Orthodox community, Neolog community, Status Quo Ante community);
 
 3. Founding date of the community and date of the settlement of Jews there;
 
 4. Was there persecution of the Jews in the community, [were there] deportations, blood libels in the distant past or murders during the period immediately after World War I (during the "White Terror" period)?
 
 5. Date of the founding of the earliest community institutions (Chevra Kadisha [Burial Society], schools, social welfare institutions);
 
 6. Date the synagogue was built;
 
 7. Date the cemetery was established;
 
 8. Known community leaders, famous people who lived in the community (Rabbis, scholars, researchers and others as well as their birth and death dates);
 
 9. Special customs within the community (at prayers or on holidays);
 
 10. Which communities were affiliated with the community (filia);
 
 11. Number of Jews who lived in the community during the various periods; 
 
 12. Was there significant aliya to Eretz Israel before World War I?
 
 13. Other special characteristics of the community.
 
 B. Questions regarding the history of the community from World War I until the German occupation of Hungary (This section concentrates on questions regarding community life until the German occupation with an emphasis on the property which was destroyed in the wake of the occupation)
 
 1. Social welfare institutions;
 
 2. Cultural institutions (schools, "heders", yeshivas, Talmud Torahs, various associations, libraries and so on);
 
 3. Zionist movements that were active in the community;
 
 4. The main sources of income within the community and the professions of the community members;
 
 5. Did the community or members of the community own valuable religious articles or books?
 
 6. The number of officials working for the community and the various positions within the community;
 
 7. The number of community members and data regarding those who paid the community tax;
 
 8. Was a book regarding the history of the community or a book concerning the community institutions published?
 
 9. Relations between the Jewish population and the local non-Jewish population;
 
 10. The economic situation of the community (property and charity funds).
 
 The period of the persecutions
 
 1. Anti-Jewish orders prior to the German occupation;
 
 2. Anti-Jewish orders and first arrests of Jews right after the German occupation;
 
 3. The date of the establishment of the ghetto;
 
 4. Location of the ghetto;
 
 5. Food supply to the ghetto;
 
 6. Medical treatment in the ghetto;
 
 7. Was there internal independent government in the ghetto?
 
 8. Was there a Jewish Police unit in the ghetto?
 
 9. Jewish religious life in the ghetto (the role of the rabbis);
 
 10. The role of the Judenrat;
 
 11. Instances of Jewish mutual help and solidarity;
 
 12. Instances of bravery and rescue:
 
 13. Was the non-Jewish population prepared to help?
 
 14. Deportation (Brickyard, travel by train, arrival [at the camp]);
 
 15. The number of deportees;
 
 16. At which camps did the deportees arrive?
 
 17. How many survived and returned to the community?
 
 18. The number of members in the renewed community, the community institutions and community life (brief description);
 
 19. Special events during the period of the persecution (which did not appear in the previous questions);
 
 20. We would like to transfer to the Yad Vashem Museum photographs of the synagogue, the community institutions and various events regarding the persecution (without transferring ownership of the photographs).
 
 We request completion of the questionnaire according to the sections [that appear in the questionnaire]. If there is an answer you don't know, we ask that you mark that specific section with the – symbol.
 
 The Yad Vashem Hungarian Department 
 P.O.B. 84
 Jerusalem