Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
quarter (by then a walled ghetto) by the local SS commander, Eichmann. Some 2281 Jews
are interred beneath simple headstones, erected immediately after the Red Army's liberation
of the ghetto on January 18, 1945. Beyond the cemetery looms the cuboid, domed
Heroes'
Temple
, inaugurated in 1931 in honour of the ten thousand Jewish soldiers who died fighting
for Hungary during World War I. It now serves as a synagogue for everyday use and so may
not be open to tourists.
Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Park
Just beyond the cemetery, you enter the
RaoulWallenbergMemorialPark
, named after the
Swedish consul who saved twenty thousand Jews during World War II. Armed with diplo-
matic status and money for bribing officials, Wallenberg and his assistants plucked thousands
from the cattle trucks and lodged them in “safe houses”, manoeuvring to buy time until the
Russians arrived. He was last seen alive the day before the Red Army liberated the ghetto; ar-
rested by the Soviets on suspicion of espionage, he died in the Gulag. The park's centrepiece
is a
Holocaust Memorial
by Imre Varga, shaped like a weeping willow, each leaf engraved
with the names of a family killed by the Nazis. On the plinth are testimonials from their rel-
atives living in Israel, America and Russia. Behind it, glass panels by the artist Klára Szilárd
commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the neighbouring Goldmark Hall.
Goldmark Hall
Goldmark terem, • VII, Wesselényi utca 7 • Mon-Thurs & Sun 10am-6pm, Fri 10am-4pm • 800Ft but it's
cheaper to buy a combined ticket with the synagogue (2500Ft) which takes you through the memorial park
Named after Károly Goldmark, the composer of the opera
The Queen of Sheba
, the
Gold-
mark Hall
houses the fascinating small Jewish Quarter exhibition. This display of objects
from the
JewishArchives
includes the screenplay for a performance of
The Magic Flute
per-
formed here in 1942; opened in 1931, the hall was the only place where Jews were able to
perform in the city at that time. There's also a coffee grinder that was one family's sole pos-
session to survive the Holocaust, and a pair of weighty scales from the
Frőhlich
patisserie on
Dob utca, which opened in 1953 and is still going strong today.
Monument to Carl Lutz
Heading north up Rumbach Sebestyén utca from the Great Synagogue you'll cross Dob utca,
where you'll see a
monument to Carl Lutz
, the Swiss consul who saved many Jewish lives
during the war (see
Glass House Memorial Room
). His monument - a gilded angel swooping
down to help a prostrate victim - is locally known as “the figure jumping out of a window”.
Rumbach utca Synagogue
Rumbachutcazsinagóga•VII,RumbachSebestyénutca11-13•Mon-Thurs10am-3.30pm,Fri10am-2.30pm,
Sun 10am-5.30pm • 500Ft
In happier times, each Jewish community within the quarter had its own place of worship,
with a
yeshiva
(religious school) and other facilities within an enclosed courtyard invisible
