• Memorial to the Deported Jews of Oradea
A memorial in Oradea (German: Großwardein, Hungarian: Nagyvárad), located on the square in front of the orthodox synagogue, commemorates the city's Jews who were deported to Auschwitz in the summer of 1944.
Image: Oradea, undated, The orthodox synagogue, Yad Vashem
Oradea, undated, The orthodox synagogue, Yad Vashem

Image: Oradea, 2009, Memorial to the Deported Jews, Rachel Titiriga
Oradea, 2009, Memorial to the Deported Jews, Rachel Titiriga
The city of Oradea lies in the historical region of Crişana close to the Hungarian border. After World War I, the Kingdom of Hungary had to cede the region - along with Transylvania and parts of Banat - to Romania. In 1941, there were about 21,000 Jews residing in Oradea, about one quarter of the population. Almost all Jews in Oradea considered themselves Hungarian nationals. Since the end of the 1930s, Hungary had begun to raise ever stronger claims to the ceded territories. In September 1940, Transylvania was divided under German and Italian pressure, and its northern part, including Oradea, became part of Hungary. In the summer of 1941, the Hungarian authorities deported several Jewish families deemed stateless to occupied Ukraine, where they were murdered by the SS in Kamianets-Podilskyi. In 1942, the Hungarian army deployed about 500 Jewish men in work service, most of whom later died on the eastern front.
In March 1944, the German Wehrmacht occupied its ally Hungary, and employees of the »department for Jewish affairs« from the Reich Main Security Office under Adolf Eichmann arrived on site. The SS and Hungarian authorities began registering Jews, expropriating and deporting them. Members of the Hungarian constabulary concentrated the Jews of Oradea in a ghetto on May 1, 1944: about 20,000 Jews were crowded in a small area, making the ghetto in Oradea one of the largest in Hungary. Moreover, Hungarian authorities set up a further ghetto close to the city for 8,000 Jews from the surrounding areas. On May 27, 1944, the deportations from Oradea to Auschwitz began. They continued until the end of June 1944.
Image: Oradea, undated, The orthodox synagogue, Yad Vashem
Oradea, undated, The orthodox synagogue, Yad Vashem

Image: Oradea, 2009, Memorial to the Deported Jews, Rachel Titiriga
Oradea, 2009, Memorial to the Deported Jews, Rachel Titiriga
At least 20,000 Jews from Oradea and about 8,000 Jews from surrounding areas were concentrated in two ghettos. By June 27, 1944, all Jews from Oradea had most probably been deported to Auschwitz. How many of them perished there is not known.
Image: Oradea, 2009, Memorial plaque on the synagogue, Rachel Titiriga
Oradea, 2009, Memorial plaque on the synagogue, Rachel Titiriga

Image: Oradea, 2009, Facade of the orthodox synagogue, Rachel Titiriga
Oradea, 2009, Facade of the orthodox synagogue, Rachel Titiriga
After the war, several thousand surviving Jews returned to Oradea, many of whom were not originally from there. In 1947, there were about 8,000 Jews residing in Oradea. In 1946, a memorial to the Jews who were deported to Auschwitz was erected on the initiative of survivors close to the orthodox synagogue. In the following years, many members of the Jewish community of Oradea emigrated from communist Romania to Israel. In 1970, there were 2,000 Jews left in the city; in 2002, there were only 170. In 2003, the Jewish community renovated the memorial with the support of the Lempert Family Foundation. Memorial plaques in English, Hebrew, Romanian and Hungarian were added.
Image: Oradea, 2009, Memorial to the Deported Jews, Rachel Titiriga
Oradea, 2009, Memorial to the Deported Jews, Rachel Titiriga

Image: Oradea, 2009, Inscription on the memorial, Rachel Titiriga
Oradea, 2009, Inscription on the memorial, Rachel Titiriga
Name
Monumentul Evreilor deportat din Oradea
Address
Mihai Viteazul Street 4
Oradea
Phone
+40 (0) 259 434 843
Web
http://www.oradeajc.com
Open
The memorial is accessible at all times.