Rajka
Cemetery
The Jewish cemetery of Rajka is the most
unkempt of the Györ-Moson-Sopron comitatus. The gate is closed, the surrounding
walls are coming down, on the inside the visitor would be greeted by the sight
of an ancient bush. It has been a long time that the gate to this cemetery was
opened, one can only guess at the numbers of tombstones standing and lying
there.
Thanks to the local chronicles we have precise data on the immigration of Jews
to Rajka from 1835 on, when the register was begun. Back then 35 families, 100
persons, lived here, they had a synagogue and a prayer house, the rabbi’s name
was Mózes Krausz. They had their own cemetery which according to the records
was founded in 1830.
The Jews living here worked in almost all professions. Zsigmond Spuller for
example owned a plant producing sparkling water. It had been founded by his
father, Miksa Spuller who had also been the head of the Jewish community. The
company had two bottling stations with 1500 bottles. Mór Löwin was a merchant,
Zsigmond Spuller traded grains.
Jews first settled in Rajka in the 16th century when they were displaced from
Vienna. They started migrating to Hungary. On June 6 and 7, 1944 they were
brought to the ghetto of Györ. Only few of them returned from the concentration
camps, they too did not stay in Rajka for long. Now only the cemetery
commemorates their presence, it lies by the former border crossing of Rajka
between Hungary and Czechoslovakia, later the Hungarian-Slovakian border.
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