Hajdusamson Old Jewish Cemetery

Cemetery Information

Country
Hungary
Region
Hajdú-Bihar
District
Debreceni
Settlement
Hajdúsámson
Site address
The cemetery is located directly north of the intersection of Jókai and Jánostavadûlô streets.
GPS coordinates
47.59714, 21.74942
Perimeter length
178 metres
Is the cemetery demolished
no
Type and height of existing fence
There is a 2.5m high concrete fence.
Preservation condition
Fenced and protected Jewish cemetery
General site condition
The cemetery is newly fenced and restored. The handover of the fence happened on the week of the survey visit.
Number of existing gravestones
39
Date of oldest tombstone
1805
Date of newest tombstone
1883
Urgency of erecting a fence
Fence is not needed
Land ownership
Property of local community
Preserved construction on site
No
Drone surveys
No

Historical overview

There were two Jewish cemeteries in Hajdúsámson. This cemetery was established as early as 1805, since the oldest gravestone found in the cemetery dates to that year. There is one gravestone in the cemetery for Rabbi Jeremiás Mattersdorf who served as the Av Beit Din in several communities. The cemetery remained in operation until at least 1883, the year in which the latest tombstone was erected. The cemetery has been fenced.

Jews first settled in Hajdúsámson in the early 18th century and made a living trading in the local market. According to the community census of 1944, the community had a Chevra Kadisha (burial society), a cemetery, a synagogue, a school, and several charitable institutions. According to census records, there were 418 Jews in Hajdúsámson. This number continuously decreased beginning in the second half of the 19th century: 333 Jews lived there in 1880, 309 in 1910, 334 in 1920, 268 in 1930, and 216 in 1941. In May 1940, Jewish men from Hajdúsámson were recruited for forced labour and in the summer of 1941, forced labourers were sent to the Ukrainian front.

In April 1944, the Jews of Hajdúsámson were transferred to a concentration camp on a farm near Debrecen, where they were held with barely any access to food. In mid-June they were transferred to a brick factory near the city where all the Jews of the district were concentrated. On June 24, the Jews were divided into two groups: one—which included the majority of Jews from Hajdúsámson—was sent to the Auschwitz, while the other was first sent to Austria for forced labour, and then to the Theresienstadt camp in March 1945. Most of the people in the second group survived. After the war, 30 Jews who survived returned to Hajdúsámson and tried to re-establish the Jewish community, though they all soon left the town.