The Cehei ghetto, also known as the Șimleu Silvaniei ghetto, was one of the
Nazi-era ghettos for European
Jew
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
s during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. It was located outside Szilágysomlyó in the village of Somlyócsehi,
Szilágy County
Szilágy (Romanian language, Romanian: Sălaj) was an administrative county (Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary), comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now in north-western Romania. The capital of the county was Zilah (present-day Za ...
,
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...
(Romanian: Cehei, today part of
Șimleu Silvaniei
Șimleu Silvaniei (; , ) is a town in Sălaj County, Crișana, Romania with a population of 13,948 people (2021 census). It is located near the ancient Dacian fortress Dacidava.
Three villages are administered by the town: Bic (''Bükk''), Cehei ...
,
Sălaj County
Sălaj County (; ) (also known as ''Land of Silvania'', ''silva, -ae'' means "forest") is a Counties of Romania, county (''județ'') of Romania, located in the north-west of the country, in the Historical regions of Romania, historical regions of ...
,
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
) as the territory became part of Hungary again from the 1940
Second Vienna Award
The Second Vienna Award was the second of two territorial disputes that were arbitrated by Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Italy. On 30 August 1940, they assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania, including all of MaramureÈ™ and part of Cri ...
's grant of
Northern Transylvania
Northern Transylvania (, ) was the region of the Kingdom of Romania that during World War II, as a consequence of the August 1940 territorial agreement known as the Second Vienna Award, became part of the Kingdom of Hungary (1920-1946), Kingdom ...
until the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. It was active in the spring of 1944, following
Operation Margarethe
In March 1944, Hungary was occupied by the Wehrmacht. This invasion was formally known as Operation Margarethe (Unternehmen Margarethe).
Course of events
Hungarian Prime Minister Miklós Kállay, who had been in office from 1942, had the kno ...
.
History
Romania's 1930 census found some 14,000 Jews living in Sălaj County, but this number had fallen to 8,000 by 1944. In 1942 and 1943, the county's male Jews aged 16 to 60 had been sent to perform forced labor on the
Eastern Front, on the
Ukrainian border, accounting for the fall in population. Thus, those sent to the ghetto were women, children, the elderly and the sick.
[ Alina Pop]
"Cum erau umiliţi evreii în ghetoul de la Cehei"
''Adevărul'', October 9, 2013; accessed October 10, 2013 The decision to set it up was taken at a conference held in Szatmárnémeti (
Satu Mare
Satu Mare (; ; ; or ) is a city with a population of 102,400 (2011). It is the capital of Satu Mare County, Romania, as well as the centre of the Satu Mare metropolitan area. It lies in the region of MaramureÈ™, broadly part of Transylvania ...
) on April 26, attended by András Gazda, assistant to the county prefect; János Sréter, mayor of Zilah (
Zalău
Zalău (, unofficial and former official name: (; or , , ) is the seat of Sălaj County, Romania. In 2021, its estimated population was 52,359.
History
Ancient times
Zalău is situated in the area inhabited by "Free Dacians", away from the h ...
); József Udvari, mayor of Szilágysomlyó (Șimleu Silvaniei); lieutenant colonel György Mariska, commander of the county's gendarmerie unit; Ferenc Elekes, chief of police of Zilah (Zalău); and István Pethes, his counterpart in Szilágysomlyó (Șimleu Silvaniei). The
ispán
The ispánRady 2000, p. 19.''Stephen Werbőczy: The Customary Law of the Renowned Kingdom of Hungary in Three Parts (1517)'', p. 450. or countEngel 2001, p. 40.Curta 2006, p. 355. (, , and ),Kirschbaum 2007, p. 315. deriving from title of župan, ...
of the county, Baron János Jósika, immediately resigned upon being informed of the conference's decisions by his assistance, holding the planned course of action to be immoral and illegal. His successor László Szlávi, sent by the
Döme Sztójay
Döme Sztójay ( sr-cyr, Димитрије Стојаковић, 5 January 1883 – 22 August 1946) was a Hungarian soldier and diplomat of Serb origin, who served as Prime Minister of Hungary in 1944, during World War II.
Biography
Born in ...
, fully cooperated with the program. Following the officials' return from Szatmárnémeti (Satu Mare), discussions took place in the prefect's office among local officials regarding the ghetto's physical location.
["Ghettoes"]
at the Northern Transylvania Holocaust Memorial Museum site; accessed October 10, 2013
In Szilágysomlyó (
Șimleu Silvaniei
Șimleu Silvaniei (; , ) is a town in Sălaj County, Crișana, Romania with a population of 13,948 people (2021 census). It is located near the ancient Dacian fortress Dacidava.
Three villages are administered by the town: Bic (''Bükk''), Cehei ...
), the Jews were rounded up under the direct command of István Pethes; in Zilah (Zalău), by Ferenc Elekes; in the rest of the county, under orders from András Gazda and the direct supervision of György Mariska. Among the larger communities affected were those at Tasnád (
Tășnad
Tășnad (; Hungarian: ''Tasnád'', Hungarian pronunciation: ; German: ''Trestenburg'') is a town in Satu Mare County, Crișana, Romania. It administers five villages: Blaja (''Tasnádbalázsháza''), Cig (''Csög''), Rațiu (''Ráctanya''), Săr ...
) and Kraszna (
Crasna). The Jews were forced to live on the precincts of the Klein brick factory in Somlyócsehi (Cehei), in a swampy and muddy area some 5 km distant from the center of Szilágyosmlyó (Şimleu Silvaniei). At its peak, there were nearly 8,500 inhabitants, including Jews from the districts of
Kraszna, Szilágycseh, Zsibó, Szilágysomlyó, Alsószopor, Tasnád and Zilah.
As the brick shelters could not accommodate everyone, many ghetto residents had to live outside. Security was provided by a special gendarmerie unit from
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
commanded by Krasznai, a man noted for his cruelty.
He practiced constant humiliation of the Jews; in one incident, he led them to the ghetto fence, where they excreted onto a field. He ordered their picture taken, blowing it up and placing it in a shop window in town, with the legend, "this is the lesson of the yids in the Cehei ghetto". At other times, Jews would be forced up a hill, some of them savagely beaten in order to obtain information about where their valuables were hidden. Those watching the beatings were also expected to reveal what they knew.
Conditions in the ghetto were such as to keep inhabitants barely alive during the three to four weeks they spent there.
Due to physical torture, lack of food and of water, the Jews of Szilágyság (Sălaj) reached
Auschwitz concentration camp
Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...
in particularly poor shape, so that an unusually high percentage were selected for the gas chambers immediately upon arrival.
The deportations from Somlyócsehi (Cehei) took place in three transports: May 31 (3,106), June 3 (3,161) and June 6 (1,584), with a total of 7,851 Jews sent to Auschwitz.
"The Holocaust in Northern Transylvania"
at the Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...
site; accessed October 10, 2013 Some 1,200 Jews survived the Holocaust but later emigrated from Romania, so that by the 2000s, under fifty Jews remained in the county.
See also
* Northern Transylvania Holocaust Memorial Museum
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cehei Ghetto
Jewish Romanian history
Jewish Hungarian history
Jewish ghettos in Nazi-occupied Hungary
1944 establishments in Hungary
Șimleu Silvaniei