Petnehaza Jewish Cemetery

The Jewish cemetery of Petneháza was established as early as 1870, since it appears on the cadastral map of that year. This cemetery remained in operation until at least 1943, the year in which the latest tombstone was erected. The cemetery is fenced and is maintained by the Heritage Foundation for Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries.

The first Jews settled in Petneháza in the late 19th century. The Jewish population was 17 in 1840, 83 in 1848, 128 in 1880, and peaked at 199 in 1890. The Jewish population later decreased and, by 1941, merely 62 Jews lived in the village. The Jewish community in Petneháza joined the Orthodox stream following the differences between Haredim (Orthodox) and Maskilim (Enlightened) at the Jewish Congress in 1869 which resulted in the Schism in Hungarian Jewry. There was a synagogue in the village as well as a mikveh (ritual bath), and the community employed a shochet (butcher). By 1885, they joined the registrar Jewish community of Nyirmada. In 1941, men were sent to forced labour service. In 1944, the Jewish population of Petneháza was 44, and the community’s rabbi was Rabbi Samu Rosenbaum from Nyíregyháza. In 1944, following the German occupation and immediately after Pesach, the Jews were sent to the Nyiregyhaza Ghetto and were deported a few weeks later to Auschwitz. After the war, 10 Jews from Petneháza survived and returned to the village, though they did not remain in the village for long.