Jewish mementos in Györ-Moson-Sopron Comitatus

Kapuvár

Cemetery

This is one of the rare cemeteries of the comitatus that was not built on the outskirts of the city but within the grid of streets, situated between family homes and carrying a house number. The stone wall is rather inconspicuous, only the star of David on the front gate indicates a Jewish memorial. Thanks to the cemetery’s board of trustees the cemetery was placed in the service of commemoration on August 14, 1999. The founders and members of the board of trustees live abroad, they are connected to Kapuvár through their ancestors and memories. The fallen tombstones were placed upright again, the building belonging to the cemetery was renovated. The names of the victims of the Holocaust from Kauvár and surroundings were engraved in marble plaques and now line the walls of the cemetery, 410 names in Hungarian and Hebrew are to be found. There are around 200 tombstones in the cemetery now, most of them carry Hebrew inscriptions. The dates are barely legible, those which can be read are from 10s and 20s of twentieth century. We assume that most burials at Kapuvár cemetery took place in that time. In the 1800s there was a large Jewish community in Kapuvár. The oldest tombstone in the cemetery dates back to 1867. There is also a communal grave to be found, it holds 20 martyrs. According to old remembrance they had fallen sick when they were found by retreating German soldiers and were murdered. The communal tombstone reads: “Here rest the twenty martyrs who, freed from the barbarians, could not achieve their goals.” The grave was made with the renewal of the cemetery in 1999.

by Scholem Alejchem & Alexandra Vogt

2012.05.31