The history of the Jews in Transylvania dates back millennia to the Roman settlement of Dacia. The Transylvania region is predominantly in what is now Romania but has, over centuries, belonged to and bordered various nation-states and peoples, including the First Bulgarian Empire, Western Moldavia, the Kingdom of Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and others. Throughout this, Jews have lived in Transylvania under official permission since 1623 by decree of Gabriel Bethlen.[1] Transylvanian Jewish communities underwent Magyarization in the 19th century, creating a language shift from Yiddish to Hungarian, an identification with Hungarian national causes, and a greater integration into Hungarian social and cultural life.[2] By 1910, over 182,000 Jews lived in Transylvanian, of which 70% were Hungarian speakers.[2]
History
editEarly history
editA Jewish presence was recorded in the Roman province of Dacia and in the Roman city of Apulum.
At the encouragement of Abraham Sassa, a Jewish physician of Constantinople, Prince Gabriel Bethlen of Transylvania granted a letter of privileges (18 June 1623) to the Sephardic Jews from the Ottoman Empire.[3][4] The prince had been suffering from dropsy; after being treated by Sassa, who was likely recommended by the Sabbatarian Chancellor Simon Péchi, he designated Alba Iulia as a place of settlement for Jews and granted them unrestricted rights to practice their faith and trades, did not impose additional taxation, and decreed that they had equal rights as other Christian minorities such as the Anabaptists.[5] This was then affirmed by the Transylvanian diet in April 1627.[5]
Alba Iulia became one of the most important Jewish cultural and commercial centres in Transylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries.
World War I
editInterwar period
editAfter World War I, in 1918, Transylvania was ceded to Romania from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
World War II
editOn the eve of World War II in 1939, about 200,000 Jews lived in Transylvania, mostly in the north of the region and mostly of Hungarian descent.[6] Romania ceded Transylvania to Hungary in 1940; approximately 40,000 Jews living in southern Transylvania remained in Romania. Despite antisemitic persecution from Romanian authorities in 1940 and 1941, southern Transylvanian Jews were spared deportation thanks to efforts by Jewish leaders, the Romanian government, and some Christian supporters to undo planned liquidation by the Nazis.[6]
Germany occupied Hungary in 1944 and began the process of ghettoization and deportation to the Auschwitz concentration camp for Transylvanian Jews along with Jews elsewhere in Hungary.[6] In May and June of 1944, roughly 132,000 Jews were deported from Transylvania, making up a third of the 400,000 Hungarian Jews deported to Auschwitz.[6]
Transylvania was liberated from Nazi control in 1944.
Post-war
editReligious life
editThe Jewish communities of historic Transylvania were, on the whole, more urban and more middle class compared to Jews in northern regions such as the Pale of Settlement; they more often identified as Magyars of the Jewish faith.[7] Although Yiddish continued to be spoken, a split occurred between Orthodox Judaism and Neolog Judaism in Hungary and Hungarian-speaking regions, particularly in Arad and Timișoara. [7]
Culture
editReferences
edit- ^ Újlaki-Nagy, Réka Tímea (2022-09-05). Christians or Jews?: Early Transylvanian Sabbatarianism (1580–1621). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. p. 28. ISBN 978-3-647-57331-1.
- ^ a b Gidó, Attila (2021-07-03). "Transylvanian Jewish loyalties in interwar Romania". Jewish Culture and History. 22 (3): 237–252. doi:10.1080/1462169X.2021.1956784. ISSN 1462-169X.
- ^ Büchler, Alexander (1904). "Hungary". In Singer, Isidore (ed.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York and London: Funk and Wagnalls Co. pp. 494–503.
- ^ Studia Judaica. Gloria Publishing House. 1991. p. 44.
- ^ a b Bulboacǎ, Sorin (2014). "NEGUSTORI EVREI ÎN TRANSILVANIA ÎN EVUL MEDIU ÎNTRE TOLERANŢĂ ŞI DISCRIMINARE" (PDF). Studia Iudaica Aradensis (in Romanian).
- ^ a b c d Niewyk, Donald L.; Nicosia, Francis R. (2003-09-03). The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust. Columbia University Press. pp. 209–210. ISBN 978-0-231-50590-1.
- ^ a b Mendelsohn, Ezra (1983). The Jews of East Central Europe Between the World Wars. Indiana University Press. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-253-20418-9.