Debrecen

Just as in other towns, Jews were not allowed to settle in Debrecen, the center of the Hajdúság region until the middle of the nineteenth century. The first Jews came to Debrecen from nearby Hajdúsámson following the legislation on the free movement of Jews that came into force in 1840. At the time of the “great schism” that affected most Jewish communities across Hungary, the community of Debrecen decided to join the Status Quo Ante movement. The community remained united until the early twentieth century, when some of the conservative members left and formed the Orthodox community. Following the initial period when a number of small prayer houses were used, the first real synagogue, with a seating capacity of not more than two hundred was finally erected in 1875. A grandiose and representative domed synagogue was built at the turn of the century. The Orthodox community had their own synagogue erected in 1895 and the Chassidim of Debrecen also had their own house of prayer. During the first decades of the twentieth century, the Jewish community gradually established its institutions. Besides the synagogue and the Jewish community center, ritual baths, a matzah bakery and schools also came to exist. The synagogue the community currently uses was built in 1910 as the prayer hall of the Jewish High School built just behind the community center. The interior follows a traditional arrangement, the Torah Ark is simple and void of decoration. About half of the once 8-9,000 member community was killed during the Holocaust. A bombshell severely damaged the great synagogue. Later the roof burnt down during reconstruction works, after which it was finally torn down in the 1960s and the shul once the Chassidim used does not exist anymore either.