The historical period over the glorious past came to an end to be followed by the most horrible era of all Jewish tragedies.
Oradea's 30,000 Jews shared the fate of the world Jewry and among the six million martyrs, we find the consecrated names of our own parents - children - brothers and sisters - loved ones. It is exclusively thanks to Colonel Imre Reviczky's humane attitude that the number of victims was not much higher.
Imre Reviczky remained a Human Being in the noblest sense of the word in a vast ocean of inhumanity. By all means available to him he tried to save the ill-fated Jews. He issued mass conscription orders to Labor Battalion units in Nagybanya (Baia-Mare) to save in this fashion Jewish men from sure death or suffering that otherwise awaited them, were they to be deported. He defended the Jewish slave laborers under his jurisdiction with unbelievable courage from the cruelty of the overseers, almost at the risk of his own life at times. He exerted his best effort in trying to mitigate their difficult situation. Among others, he gave special treatment to the Sephardic Chief Rabbi Halberstam of Kolozsvar (Cluj), exempting him from marching and all physical work by keeping him always at the district quarters. However, the gendarmes took advantage of a day when the Lieutenant Colonel was not on the premises and deported him to Auschwitz.
A street has been named in memory of Lieutenant Colonel Reviczky in the city of Sefad, Israel. The Yad Vashem Remembrance Authority awarded him the title of The Righteous Among The Nations.
to Oradea, in the baker’s court.
lived with me in the baker’s court.
that’s where my mother raised me.
in Oradea, in the baker’s court. .
in Oradea, in the baker's court.
for every kid, in the baker’s yard.
arrives on Friday in the baker’s court.
like an anthill coming alive.
its fume is a breathful of soot.
They welcome Sabbath in the baker’s yard.
my new clothes so nice and bright.
In Oradea, in the baker’s yard.
All this is dead and gone.
the henchmen feasted on us.
reminder of: Kohn, the baker.
Aside from thirty-some thousand Jewish people who lived in Oradea, some smaller and larger Jewish communities existed in the surrounding provinces as well. Most of them had a temple, ritual institutions, and rabbinates.
This was a well-organized community. The first Jewish residents settled here in 1848, by permit from Count Stubenberg, owner of the locality at the time. The greater majority of this orthodox community lived a strictly observant lifestyle. They had already built an imposing synagogue between 1886 -1888. Chief Rabbi Juda Rosner z.c.l. was one of the distinguished members of the Hungarian Orthodox Rabbinate. A great Talmud scholar, he also led an important yeshiva abroad. Several hundreds of his students learned their basic Talmudic education there and they always remembered the merits and outstanding human virtues of the great Gaon with love and respect. The community maintained a secular school and a Talmudic school, both of high standard. The leaders of the congregation were: József Nussbaum, Salamon Farkas, Miklós Kohn, Sándor Klein, and Fábián Weisz. Salamon Mindszent, Jakab Roth, and Márton Kohn distinguished themselves as gabbayims. The moving force behind the dynamic Zionist life in Székelyhíd was Jenoo Weisz. Ödön Róth and József Farkas took active part in the works of the K.K.L. Erno Róth, Nándor Rosenberg, etc., were altruistic activists in the life of the community. Naturally, the Jews of Székelyhíd also became victims of the great Jewish tragedy and suffered through all the horrors of labor service, ghettoization, and deportation. Only about 90 people survived from this 800-member Jewish community. Jahrzeit to honor the dead is commemorated on the holiday of Shavuot.
Today there are no Jews living in this important locality. The synagogue was demolished and the survivors immigrated, mostly to Israel. The same applies to former Jewish residents of neighboring villages  Kiskereki, Érdolaszi, Érköbölkút, Hegyköz, Szentmiklós, Szentjobb, Nagykágya, and Csokoly.
Nagybárod was a main congregation that included the Jewish population of the following localities: Kisbárod, Cseklye, Nagypatak, Sonkolyos, Banlaka, Bárod-Somos, Bucsa, Feketetó, and Feketepatak. From the beginning of the XVIIIth century, they already recorded vital statistics here from Csucsa to Mezotelegd. Chief Rabbi Ráv Ámrám Jesájáhu Müller, who resided in Mezotelegd, officiated here before deportation. They had rebuilt the synagogue in 1919 and had a variety of institutions  mikvah, Talmud-Tóra, etc., - for the benefit of the members. Mór Schwartz, who enjoyed great popularity and respect based on his personal qualities, was President of the Jewish Community for many years. Mihály Rosmann and Bernát Gross were the trustees. Jeno Hemlei and Albert Salamon managed the business of the Chevra Kadisha. As in the case of the other neighboring villages, all Jews from Nagybárod were also first taken to Osi Telep in Nagyvárad, and then deported. The only exception was a war widow, Helén Packer, who succeeded in hiding the Torah scrolls and other religious relics. She later made aliyah and died in Pardesz Cháná. At the time of her aliyah, she brought along an abandoned child who lived with a family of farmers, thus saving him. The locality had a population of 204 Jewish people.
Originally, this locality belonged to the Chief Rabbinate of Oradea, however, Chief Rabbi Benjamin Fuchs relinquished it in a noble gesture, saying: "I wish to give an opportunity and assure a livelihood to young talented rabbis." The community in Élesd had a beautiful synagogue and the usual ritual institutions. It elected Ráv Sámuel Klein (Schmelke), son of R. Jákob Solem Klein of Halm, as its Chief Rabbi. The great Talmud scholar and popular chief rabbi shared the tragic fate of his congregants, including his wife and ten children. He was deported and did not survive. There were 372 Jews living in Élesd. The survivors of deportation resettled in part in Oradea, while others emigrated.
This locality, with approximately 30 Jewish families, belonged to the Rabbinate of Oradea. Lázár Sternberg established here a flourmill and oil press with a large production capacity. Later, his three sons-in-law, Sámuel Nussbaum, Ármin Selzer, and Vilmos Stern took over the management of the mill and the estate. At the same time, they held important roles in the domain of Jewish public life. Ármin Selzer, an excellent scholar of the Hebrew language, was a prominent personality within the Mizrahi leadership. He made aliyah to Israel in time, while the others were deported. Today, there are no Jews living in this township.
Similarly, this village also belonged to the Rabbinate of Oradea, yet by favor of Chief Rabbi Benjámin Fuchs, Ráv Mose Zvi Adler, a highly distinguished and learned Talmud scholar functioned as rabbi in this locality. Ráv Adler was the son-in-law of E. Moshe Klein, the "réter ruf", Rabbi of the Temple Poálé Cedek in Oradea. He published several Talmudic works. Diószeg was one of the oldest Jewish settlements, Jews having lived here in the XVIIIth century. In 1944, the community had 196 Jewish residents.
A well organized community with a large membership functioned in this locality until deportation. Chief Rabbi Ráv Zvi Kohn officiated here until he was eleceted Chief Rabbi of the Derecske congregation. The community had 137 Jewish members.
This town became independent from the Oradea Rabbinate already by the consent of Chief Rabbi Landesberg of Oradea. The first elected chief rabbi was Rabbi Mordecháj Léb Winkler, one of the great Gaons of his time. He authored several Halachic works. Later, Chief Rabbi R. József Cháim Fischmann, son of the renouned R. Feish Fischmann - famous Mágid of Pozsony  functioned as rabbi. After his death, his son-in-law, Ráv Ámrám Jesájáhu Müller followed in the rabbinical seat. Before deportation approximately 100 Jewish families lived in Mezotelegd. Presently, one or two survivors live in this township.
The so-called Sternberg Mill from this village provided in part the flour to the bakeries of Oradea. After Mr. Sternberg's death, his sons-in-law, Ábrahám Rosenbaum and Herman Neumann took over the management of the mill. The congregation had 40 members.
In the larger communities of Bihar County, such as Bihar (108 Jews), Rév (63 Jews), the Jewish population reached a few hundred. However, there were smaller villages where only one or two Jews lived. They made their meager living from small grocery stores or taverns. Nonetheless, there were cases where Jews owned large estates and had important social standing.
It was February 13, 1944 when Eva Heyman wrote her first notes in the diary. "I turned thirteen - on 13 and I was born on a Friday."
She wrote these lines in the house of her grandfather, Dr. Rezso Racz. (Dr. Rezso Racz's father - Dr. Sandor Rosenberg - was Chief Rabbi of the Oradea Neologue Jewish Community and later moved to Arad.) Eva lived with her grandparents, because her parents divorced and her mother (whom in her diary she calls Agi) remarried. She became the wife of Bela Zsolt, the well-known writer and publicist. Because of the many problems Bela Zsolt encountered at that time, his wife did not move from his side. "This is my first birthday, for which Agi did not come - she writes. I know she will have surgery, but she still could have come. There are doctors in Oradea as well. She didn't come home for my thirteenth birthday. Agi is happy now. Uncle Bela was freed from prison..."
The last recording in the diary dates to May 30, 1944. The fate of the Oradea Jewry has been decided during these three months. The value of the diary consists in the fact that it reflects the atmosphere of those tragic days - the anarchy, the glimmering hope and the despair. Orders are passed in the first days following March 19: the Jews are gasping, perhaps they can hide a few things, perhaps something can be saved. The liquidation however, is prepared according to precisely worked out and psychologically tested plans. When the ghetto-order is made public, people virtually become paralyzed. We were waiting for three days that they come to take us. We were waiting in the house and watching for the arrival of the police. "Little Diary, I have never been this afraid" - confesses Eva.
Without a doubt, Eva's diary is a priceless document, left by an exceptionally talented thirteen year old girl, the honest testimony to the tragedy of the European Jewry. An adult could never arrive to such a level of honesty. This little girl sees everything, hears everything, takes note of everything. She is filled with death premonitions, and though she does not mention them as such, every line she writes is a cry for help to a different, better, more truthful world. As her contemporaries in the other ghettos, Eva Heyman is also writing, to leave testimony of the suffering and injustice. Let the world know what happened in Europe in the middle of the twentieth century!
Eva Heyman could not escape, but she tries to save the Diary. When her grandmother's former Christian maid, Mariska Szabo is allowed into the ghetto for a few minutes by a "friendly gendarme", she secretly passes on the Diary to her and entrusts her to keep it safe.
Mrs. Bela Zsolt published Eva's Diary in 1948 in Budapest, while the Hebrew version was published in 1964 in Jerusalem. Dr. Lajos Marton describes the history of the Oradea Jewry, its social and cultural characteristics, speaks about Eva's family and about the atmosphere in which the Diary was born, in a twelve page introduction for the Hebrew version. Additionally, he wrote explanatory notes to the text, to render in a concise manner ideas that are foreign to the Hebrew reader.
Otherwise, this was the first volume Yad Vashem has consecrated to the catastrophy that has befallen the Hungarian Jews.
In his introductory study, Dr. Lajos Marton also discusses some problems of the Diary. First, he raises the question of authenticity, then examines, whether the Hungarian published text of the Diary is the same with that of the handwritten version? After having considered the concrete facts and logical premises, he arrives at the conclusion that the "text of the Diary is probably authentic."
Dr. Marton spoke to Mrs. Friedlander, who according to the Diary wasAgi's best friend, and she said that after liberation she heard about the existence of the Diary. She also knew that Agi has weighed at lengthwithin herself the idea of publishing it.
We too, believe that the text of the Diary is authentic, but notnecessarily complete. It arrived to the press in a shortened version. This operation has been carried out by Agi. (Eva's mother).
On the last page of the Diary there is mention of the fact that Bela Zsolt's family is preparing to escape from the Oradea ghetto. "Agi and Uncle Bela are whispering something now, that we may staybehind in a typhus hospital, supposedly we will say that uncle Bela hastyphoid fever. This may be possible, as he had it in the Ukraine"- writes Eva.
As we see, Eva was also included in the escape plan. However,when it comes to execution, only Bela Zsolt and his wife escaped. They first got to Budapest, then with the Kastner group via Bergen Belsento Switzerland.
Who knows what happened within the emotional world of the little girlknowing that her mother escaped without her? Without a doubt, EvaHeyman, who so honestly and openly spoke about everything in her diary, did not hide her life's biggest disappointment.
The text we have in our possession however, makes no mention of any of these items.
According to us, this is the explanation why Agi has "considered at length within herself the idea of publishing the Diary."
The mother's dilemma, however was not solved by this either. It has not calmed her raw emotional state.
Eva's Diary hardly saw the light of publishing, when Agi reached for the poison and ended her greatly agitated, bumpy, unfortunate and conflicted life.
Somehow, word got around that uncle Bela and Agi were here and in the afternoon, Agi's girl friends came over. Uncle Bela was visited by his best friend in Oradea, uncle Sandor Friedlander. A large crowd has gathered, when uncle Bela and uncle Sandor Friedlander went out to a cafe. Less than ten minutes later, uncle Bela and uncle Sandor Friedlander came back, both of them white as the wall. I can still here uncle Sandor's voice: We are all ruined, the Germans are in Budapest since this morning.
Today they came from the Jewish Community and they took away nearly all the linen. The Germans request almost daily something from the Jews, one day the typewriter, another day the carpets, today the bed linen. First, grandmother tried to negotiate, then she said it was futile, and let them take it. She did not even want to make selections, she handed the keys to the linen closet to these total strangers, the same keys which in the olden days she would not easily give even to Juszti or Agi.
Juszti came by again today. Her eyes were red from crying, as if she were Jewish herself. She says she will die because she can't save me - whom she loves most in this world - from possibly what awaits me.
Grandmother Lujza was very happy to see me, she is very calm. She says she doesn't mind if she has to die. Yes, but she is 72 and I am only 13 years old. Grandmother Lujza is worried only about my father, my aunt, aunt Lilli and myself. She says that now it is of utmost importance to stay healthy, because then one can endure everything. While there, a lady came in running with the news that Emil Vaiszlovics was arrested and taken to the Elementary School on Koros Street. They broke into his hotel and the Germans and Hungarians robbed him of everything they could. Even though grandmother is not on speaking terms with Emil Vaiszlovics, she was still terrified. Grandmother Lujza believed that they will not dare touch Emil Vaiszlovics, after having been beaten up by the Romanians because he was so pro Hungarian. Grandmother Lujza questioned if it has been worthwhile for Emil to be so 'Hungarian'...Now they even helped the Germans rob the hotel, instead of defending him.
My little Dairy, from now on I see everything as a dream... We started to pack, taking from everything the quantity Agi has seen written on the poster. I know it is not a dream, but I can't believe it. We can also take bed linen, but we don't know when they are coming to take us, so we can't pack the bed linen just yet. Agi is making coffee all day long for uncle Bela and grandmother is drinking cognac. No one says a word. My little Diary, I was never so afraid!
I have no idea how it will be later, I always think this is the worst, then I realize on my own that everything can become even worse, actually much worse. Until now, there was food to eat, now we won't have any. On the inside of the ghetto we could visit one another, now we are not allowed to get out of the house...Agi doesn't mind anything if they only leave us alive, that is what she keeps constantly saying... Last night I dreamed of Juszti, my little Diary, and in the morning I woke up crying.
You see, my little Diary, I told you the other day that everything could be worse? You see how right I was? They started the interrogations at the Dreher beer factory. You know my little Dairy, the gendarms don't believe the Jews that they have nothing left... Now everyone in the house is shaking with fear, wondering when are they going to be taken in for a beating at the Dreher.
Patience daddy, this can't last forever!
My little Diary, now it all comes to an end! The ghetto has been subdivided into districts and they are taking us all away.
My little Diary, everyone says that we will remain in Hungary, that they gather the Jews from the entire country somewhere around the Balaton region for work. But I don't believe it. It must be terrible in the freight car and now nobody is saying any longer that they are taking us, but rather that they are "deporting" us. I have not heard this word so far and Agi says to uncle Bela: Bela, don't you understand, they are deporting us! A gendarme is walking up and down in front of the house. Yesterday, he was in the Rhedey Park, because that is from where the Jews are being deported. Not from the real train station, as here the town's people can't see them - says grandfather.
Much do the town's people care. If the Aryans didn't want it, they could have stopped our ghettoization. But they were rather enjoying it and even now they don't care what will happen to us.
This gendarme, whom uncle Bela calls a friendly gendarme, because he never yells at us and doesn't address women in the familiar form, came in the backyard and told us that he will live the police force, because it is inhuman what he has witnessed in the Rhedey Park.
They forced 80 people in freight cars and they gave them altogether only one bucket of drinking water. But it is still more awful that they are sealing the cars with padlocks. People will surely suffocate in this terrible heat! The gendarme said he truly didn't understand these Jews. Not even the children cried. They were all like sleepwalkers. They got into those cars stiff, without a word.
The friendly gendarme didn't sleep all night, while other times, he said he is fast asleep as soon as he puts his head down. This was such a horrific view, he related, that even he could not sleep. Even though he is a gendarme!
Now Agi and uncle Bela whispered something about us remaining behind in a typhus hospital. Supposedly, we will say that uncle Bela has contacted typhoid fever. This is possible, because he had it earlier while in the Ukraine. I don't know, I trust mostly nothing, I can only think of Marta and I am afraid that the same thing will happen to us as it did to her, even though everyone says that we are not going to Poland, but only to Balaton.
Yet, my little Diary, I don't want to die, I still want to live, even if it means that only I remain behind from this entire district. I would wait for the end of the war in a cellar, or in the attic, or any hole, I would, my little Diary, I would even allow that cross-eyed gendarme who took the flour from us to kiss me, only not to be killed, only to be left alive!