Corund Jewish Cemetery

There is scant information about the tiny Jewish community of Corund (Hung. Korond). Based on census data, the Jewish population appeared no later than the mid-19th century. In 1840, two Jews were recorded in Corund; by 1880 there were 8, and by 1920 their number had grown to 25 people, reaching its peak of 29 people (7-10 families) by 1941. Birth records in the registry books from the 1850s contain mentions of the Weisz and Moses families in Corund.

According to Hungarian religious census data, 4 people identified as Israelites in 1890, 21 people (0.6% of the total population) in 1900, and 25 people in 1910. According to the memoir of Andrei Lorincz, a native of Corund, recorded by Centropa, part of the Jewish population of this village, located in the historic Székely region, identified themselves as Jews during censuses, while others identified as Székelys:
“My paternal great-grandparents, the Lorincz family, came from amidst the Szeklers… They were born in the commune of Corund, in the Harghita County. Francisc Rakoczi 4, the governor of Transylvania 5, required all of them to declare themselves either Szekler or Jews. Thus, a part of the community joined the Jews, and the other part stayed with the Szeklers.”

In any case, the Jewish population of the village never exceeded a dozen families. Apparently, they had neither a synagogue nor other communal structures. Nevertheless, by the late 19th century there was a separate cemetery, consisting of a small plot adjacent to the Christian cemetery.

It can be assumed that the local Jews engaged in crafts and trade, including pottery craft and trade, for which the village of Corund became famous.

In May 1944, the Jews were gathered in the Satu Mare ghetto and deported to Auschwitz in late May. The Yad Vashem database contains approximately 40 records of Jewish victims who were born or lived in Corund in the pre-war period, including the Moses and Weiss families, as well as Hershkovits, Citron, Simon, and several others.

The Jewish cemetery in Corund was established no later than the late 19th century. Today, this small cemetery, adjacent to the municipal cemetery, preserves 5 tombstones dating from the late 19th to the first half of the 20th century.