Jewish Heritage
For centuries, Hungary’s sizeable Jewish population played a key role in its economic, scientific, social and intellectual life. Budapest’s Jewish quarter and the Jewish Museum, situated behind the Great Synagogue, remains the focal point of the local Jewry and is still thriving today. The Summer Festival in late August is the best time to discover local Jewish culture, which is epitomised by traditional ensembles like the Di Naye Kapelye. Many towns outside Budapest also have their own synagogues, most notably Miskolc, Debrecen, Pécs and Szeged. In addition, Sopron’s 14th century Jewish quarter has been painstakingly excavated to reveal Hungary’s oldest mikvah (ritual bath), a 13th century prayer house and a women’s synagogue. Fateless, Imre Kertész’s Nobel prize-winning novel, is an accessible and moving account of the persecution of Hungarian Jews during the holocaust. The census of 1941 showed a Jewish population in Hungary of almost ten per cent, almost a million – only 80,000 remain today.
For Jewish Heritage tours see www.aviv.hu
