Jewish Mementos in the Zala Comitatus

Jewish Türje

The market town of Türje was formed by the merging of Külsõ-Türje and Belsõ-Türje in 1900. Jews settled in there since the end of the 19th century. In 1880 their proportion was the highest and in 1890 the total number of Israelites in the town was at its highest, reaching 74 persons. The censuses of Jews from the 19 hundreds record a Schlesinger and a Weisz family in Türje. The Schlesinger family stayed in Türje permanently, the Weisz family only took up permanent residence with Sámuel Weisz (1835-1893) and his wife Borbála Rechnitzer (1840-1919), they settled in Türje and raised their children there. Apart from the two families mentioned there were others living in the town and they contributed much to the development of trade and economy. The sons generally carried on their father's line of business (trade, gastronomy and butchery), the members of the Lang and Vértes (Weisz) families were mostly butchers. György Vértes, the older son of Zsigmond Vértes, a caterer deceased in 1927, received permission to trade with slaughtered animals.
Because of the restrictions placed on the Jews both butcheries and trade with animal were shut down on October 1, 1942. In October of 1943 the Jewish property, which amounted to less than 5 castral ledgers of land, was redistributed, it was given to the welfare association of the Zala comitatus.
In 1941 47 Israelites were counted, another 9 persons were qualified as Jews. The Jewish citizens of the notarial district of Türje were brought to the ghetto of Zalaszentgrót on May 15, 1944 and from there brought to Zalaegerszeg in mid June. After the ghetto was emptied the Jewish real estate - the houses and shops of Jenõ Lang, Vilmos Huber, Sámuel Bauer, Jenõ Bauer, Zsigmondné Vértes, Jenõ Politzer - were used as apartments for the doctor and the vice notary, as well as a Green Cross helpdesk, a pharmacy and post office.

Of the 40 Jews that were deported during the Holocaust only 4 returned home, among the victims were Zsigmondné Vértes, born Aranka Spiegel, Béláné Hofbauer, born Ilona Vértes and Ignác Vértes.

A memorial for the martyrs with the names of all the victims stands in the Jewish cemetery and in town there is a memorial for the Second World War. The local sports club is named after György Vértes (1904-1983) who did a lot for sports in Türje. The memorial plaque for György Vértes was crafted by a prized sculptor, it was put up on the wall of the the changing rooms at the athletic grounds.

by Scholem Alejchem & Alexandra Vogt

2012.10.31