Užhorod, Czechoslovakia

Užhorod in the Carpathian Mountains was home to 22 members of the Boys.

Pre-war

Jews have lived in Užhorod since the 16th century.

Until 1920, Užhorod was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1920, Užhorod became the capital of Carpathian Ruthenia, the most easterly corner of the newly created state of Czechoslovakia. In the inter-war period the Jewish community flourished.

In 1930, 7,357 Jews, a third of the population lived in Užhorod.

^{Modern-day Uzhhorod, Ukraine.}

The city had a number of Jewish schools, a yeshiva, a Jewish hospital and an old aged people’s home. Užhorod was an important Hasid and Orthodox religious centre. Many books were printed in the city in Hebrew and Yiddish.

Jews played an important role in the economy and were active in local politics. The vast majority of the Jewish population of Užhorod were tradesmen and shopkeepers, although there were also wealthy families who owned large factories that still exist. The Weiser family were owners of the flour mills on Mukacsevskaja Street, which still produces bread and baked goods.

Occupation

Under the 1938 Munich Agreement, Hungary occupied the area. In March 1939, the Hungarians officially annexed the region and imposed laws restricting Jewish access to education, trade, and the professions. The city was now known by its Hungarian name of Ungvár.

Many Jewish men were drafted into slave labour battalions sending them east for forced labour on the eastern front. Jews who could not prove that they had Hungarian citizenship were deported to Poland and many were murdered there by the SS.

Deportation

In March 1944, Germany invaded Hungary.

On 21 April 1944, two ghettos were established outside the town. One in the ghettos was in a brick factory, which belonged to the Jewish Moschkowich family and the other in a timber warehouse, owned by the Gluck family, who were also Jewish. Jews from the surrounding area were brought into the ghettos and approximately 25,000 people were held there. Other member of the Boys from neighbouring towns and villages were also taken to the ghetto. To find out more click here.

In June 1944, the majority of the ghetto’s inhabitants were sent to Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp.

Liberation

On October 27 1944, the city was liberated by the Soviet Red Army. About 2,000 Jews from Užhorod survived the Holocaust. Many of those who returned home were not made welcome and found strangers living in the homes.

The Carpathians were annexed to the Soviet Union in 1945. As a result most survivors chose to leave the Carpathians

Present-day

Uzhhorod has a small Jewish community, a synagogue, community centre and a day school. It oversees the remaining Jews in the nearby towns of Khust, Mukachevo, Rachiv and Vinogradov.