Sátoraljaújhely Ghetto

Members Boys and their families were imprisoned in the Sátoraljaújhely Ghetto.

Sátoraljaújhely Ghetto was one of a network of ghettos set up by Nazi Germany after it invaded in Hungary in March 1944.

The Boys were teenage and child-Holocaust survivors, who were brought to the UK after the war for rest and rehabilitation.

^{Sátoraljaújhely.}

Sátoraljaújhely is in northeastern Hungary near the Slovak border. To find out more about Sátoraljaújhely and the surrounding area as well as the Boys who grew up there click here.

It was home to a vibrant and established Jewish community before the Holocaust. By 1941, approximately 3-4,000 Jewish residents lived in the town with a significant Orthodox population, which had a strong network of Jewish schools and synagogues.

Ghettoisation

After the German invasion of Hungary in March 1944, about 4,000 Jews from Satoraljaújhely were confined in a ghetto in just four day from 15 April 1944. They were joined by another 11,000 from nearby villages. Between 13,000 and 15,000 people were forced into the cramped ghetto, where they lived in inhuman conditions for about a month.

The ghetto was established in the most neglected area of Sátoraljaújhely, primarily in the slum area. It was comprised houses on several streets, including Rakoczei, Virag, and Sziget Streets.

Deportation

^{Memorial and Museum Auschwitz Birkenau, Poland.}

The Jews in the ghetto were deported to the Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp between 16 May and 3 June 1944 in four transports.

Ultimately, about 90% (around 4,000 people from the town itself, and more from the wider region) of the Jewish population of Sátoraljaújhely were murdered in the Holocaust.

Aftermath

Red Army soldiers reached the town in November 1944. Only 550 Jews survived the Holocaust and returned to the town.

Memorialisation 
A Holocaust memorial plaque and commemorative events now mark the history of the ghetto and the deportations, including a commemorative walk retracing the route to the former deportation station. To find out about visiting the region click here.