Fabianhaza Jewish Cemetery
Cemetery Information
Historical overview
The Jewish cemetery of Fábiánháza existed as early as 1892, since it appears on the cadastral map of that year. The cemetery was demolished and is now partially built over.
Jews settled in the area around 1800, with the permission of the Count Karolyi family who owned the land. Most of the Jews worked in trade, particularly in grain and handcrafts. The Jewish community defined itself as Orthodox, and for most of its existence came under the jurisdiction of the Mátészalka Jewish community. There was a synagogue, a burial society (Chevra Kadisha), a yeshiva, and a Talmud Torah.
In the 1920’s, there were frequent robberies and looting of the village’s Jews and, as a result, many left. In 1941, ten young Jewish people from the village were recruited for forced labour, eight of whom perished in the course of work. At midnight on the night of April 12, 1944, the Jews of the village were rounded up and accused of hiding a secret radio transmitter in the synagogue. They were then transferred to the Mátészalka Ghetto, where about 18,000 Jews from the area were concentrated and were sent to Auschwitz a few weeks later.