Dombrad Jewish Cemetery

The Jewish cemetery in Dombrád existed as early as in 1870, since it appears on the cadastral map of that year. The most recently dated tombstone found in the cemetery dates to 1942. The cemetery has been fenced and includes a cenotaph commemorating the victims of the Holocaust.

Dombrád is a settlement in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, which, by 1770, already had 9 Jewish inhabitants, according to the tax list. The number of Jews in Dombrád, who mostly moved there from Galicia, was 10 in 1784/85, 29 in 1840, and 40 in 1848, according to census data. In 1910, Jewish population of Dombrád reached its peak at 329 individuals, after which the community began to decline. In 1920, there were 286 Jews living in Dombrád and only 234 in 1930. By 1941, Jews accounted for 193 of the town’s total population of 6,688. Among them, two were classified as baptized Jews and one was a native Yiddish speaker.

The Jews were attracted to Dombrád by the discounts given to them by the town landlords. In 1848, there was a barkeeper and seven merchants amongst the Jewish community, and the latter occupation became the most common profession among the Jewish community. In this industry, Jews sold, and distributed goods produced in the village, mainly potatoes and tobacco. In the next century, some Jews were craftsmen, shoemakers, tailors, blacksmiths, butchers, upholsters, carpenters, officials, or doctors. Jews also owned the distillery, the mill, the sawmill, and the herb processing plant. The Jewish elementary school was founded in the 1890’s and had only one teacher. The 6th-grade class in the school was abolished in 1933, owing to the decrease in the number of students enrolled. In the 1936/37 schoolyear, the school maintenance fee was paid by 11 Jewish parents in the Protestant school. In 1911, Chaim Friedmann was elected as the Jewish community’s rabbi. He was succeeded by Leichtag Efraim in 1920, who remained the leader of the community until the deportation of the settlement’s Jews in 1944. His remains were taken from the cemetery in Dombrád to Israel by his descendants. Many Jews served in the 1848/49 War of Independence, including Corporal Manó Altmann. In World War I, 12 Jewish people from Dombrád died in combat.

The Jews of Dombrád were deported to Auschwitz from Kisvárda at the end of May 1944. Of 200 Jews who were deported, only 67 survived. Some returned to Dombrád, however, owing to the nationalization of businesses, the number of emigrants grew and the Jewish community diminished. Since the 1960’s, there have not been any Jewish residents in the settlement. Today, there is a community centre where the synagogue used to be.