Purchase of Hungarian Jewish Artifacts Rescues Them From Auction Block
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by JNS.org
The National Library of Israel. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
JNS.org – The Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives (HJMA) and the National Library of Israel (NLI) announced the joint purchase of seven documents from the 19th and 20th centuries, related to Jewish life in what is now Hungary.
These documents include thousands of birth, death, marriage and other records from six different Jewish communities, including a number pertaining to prominent Hungarian Jewish figures, and many from the Holocaust period immediately prior to the Nazi occupation and following World War II.
Not yet digitized or available elsewhere, these documents will present valuable contributions to historical and genealogical research.
After appearing in the catalog of a Jerusalem auction house in August, the items were removed from auction at the request of activists and organizations dedicated to the preservation of Jewish heritage.
Following the joint purchase, the NLI and HJMA have committed to digitizing and making high-resolution scans of these documents freely available on the Internet, as well as preserving the originals under the highest standards of archival storage.
The National Library of Israel and the Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives share a commitment to public ownership of Jewish and European heritage.
Documents acquired through the joint purchase include Pinkas Hevra Kadisha (Ledger of the Burial Society) of Ujhel (Sátoraljaújhely) during the years of World War II (1942-1946); Pinkas Hevra Kadisha of Mishkoltz (Miskolc) (1934-1942); the marriage register of Mishkoltz (Miskolc) (1851-1881); the register of births and circumcisions from Putnok (1858-1884); the register of births and circumcisions from Onod (1886-1913); Pinkas Hevra Kadisha of Debrecen (1896, 1946-1948); and the ledger of income and expenditures of Bussermin (Hajdúböszörmény) (1910-1943).
