Gyüre Jewish Cemetery One

The Jewish cemetery of Gyüre was in use as early as 1819, since the oldest tombstone found in the cemetery dates to that year. The cemetery remained in operation until at least 1944, the year in which the latest discovered tombstone was erected. The cemetery has been fenced and is maintained by the Heritage Foundation for Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries.

Before the Jewish community was established, two Jewish people lived in Gyüre in the 1770’s. Later the Jewish population increased to 77 individuals in 1840. In 1870, 151 Jews lived in the village – the peak of the Jewish population in Gyüre. In 1880 the Gyüre Jewish community as well as the Nagyharsány Jewish community both lost their independence and joined the Kisvárda Jewish community. In 1925 Rabbi Samuel Roth joined the Gyüre community. He reorganized the Jewish community and broke away from Kisvárda. Despite the small size of the Jewish community, they were able to organize the institutions necessary for Jewish life such as a mikveh, synagogue, and shochet (butcher).

By World War I, Romanian soldiers disturbed the Jewish community, and after the Treaty of Trianon, the Hungarian Rongyos Gárda (Ragged Guard) incited and led a campaign of anti-Semitic violence against the Jews. By 1941, 15 young Jews were sent to forced labour. The rabbi of the community at the time was Rabbi Róth Mór. In the spring of 1944, the German occupation in cooperation with Hungarian authorities transported the 98 Jews of Gyüre to the Kisvarda Ghetto, from where they were then deported to Auschwitz on May 25, 1944.