Buj Jewish Cemetery

The Jewish cemetery in Buj existed as early as 185—the earliest date identified on a tombstone found in the cemetery. The most recent discovered tombstone dates to 1943. The cemetery has been fenced, and some tombstones were restored, one of which also serves as a cenotaph for Holocaust victims.

Buj is a settlement in northern Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County, in the Nyírség region, north of the town of Nyíregyháza. In 1880, of the town’s total population of 2,237, 247 were Jewish, constituting 11% of the population. However, by 1910, the Jewish population dropped significantly, leaving only 154 Jewish residents. In 1944, the Jewish community of Buj had 102 members, 22 of whom were taxpayers. The community caretaker was Sámuel Schwarz, who did not have a civil occupation. The Jewish community had 3 employees: a rabbi (registrar rabbi), a money-collector, and a shochet (butcher). The synagogue in Buj no longer exists.

There is a statue in the village which commemorates the victims of the First and Second World Wars in Buj, and the local Jews who were deported during the Holocaust. The statue in Szabadság Square was carved out of limestone in 1989 by the Munkácsy Prize-winning sculptor Sándor Nagy. Royal counselor and school-inspector Károly Ballagi was born in Buj. He served in the 1848-49 War of Independence as a lieutenant and was wounded in combat. He wrote several articles for the Folk Teachers’ Journal and the Pest Diary. He wrote about German grammar and Hungarian grammar in German as well as many pedagogical works. One such work is entitled “The History of Jewish public schools in Hungary and Transylvania.”