Fulesd Jewish Cemetery

The Jewish cemetery of Fülesd existed as early as 1873, which is the date marked on the earliest tombstone found in the cemetery. The most recent discovered tombstone dates to 1940.

The first Jews began to settle in Fülesd in the 18th century, most of whom worked in agriculture. After the Schism in Hungarian Jewry, the community joined the Orthodox movement. The village had a synagogue and a cemetery. In 1880, 55 Jewish people lived in the village, which had a total population of 644. The number of Jews did not change much in the next 60 years. They did not form an organized community or have a caretaker, and they paid the rabbi salary to the Rabbinate of Fehérgyarmat.

In 1941, four Jews from the village were sent for forced labor. In a letter sent by the community as part of the Hungarian Communities Census, the community leader wrote that there were only 9 families left in the village, they have a synagogue with a thatched roof (that was not worth much), and religious services were led by the Rabbi of Fehérgyarmat. Therefore, they had no ability to answer the questions asked in the census.

In April 1944, a few weeks after the German army entered Hungary, the Jews of Fülesd were deported to the village of Kölcse, and from there to the Matesalka Ghetto along with 17,000 other Jews living in the district. They were held there for about a month in harsh conditions of famine and torture, until they were sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. After the war, some survivors returned to the village, but Jewish community life did not resume. The synagogue building was not damaged in the war. Of the two preserved Torah scrolls in the synagogue, one was given to the Fehérgyarmat Jewish community while the other was brought to Israel.