Csorna is a town in

Győr-Moson-Sopron county Győr-Moson-Sopron ( hu, Győr-Moson-Sopron megye, ; german: Komitat Raab-Wieselburg-Ödenburg; sk, Rábsko-mošonsko-šopronská župa) is an administrative county (comitatus or '' megye'') in north-western Hungary, on the border with Slovakia ( ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

. Csorna is located near the Fertő-Hanság National Park. There are two districts in the town: the Földsziget and the Csatárimajor.

Etymology

The name comes from Slavic ''*Cherna/Chorna'' (black), see also e.g.

Čierna Čierna (; hu, Ágcsernyő) is a village and municipality in the Trebišov District in the Košice Region of south-eastern Slovakia. History In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1214. Geography The village lies at an altit ...

, Černá or Czarna.

History

At 13 June 1849, during the

Hungarian War of Independence The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 or fully Hungarian Civic Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849 () was one of many European Revolutions of 1848 and was closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas. Although th ...

of 1848 and 1849, in the

Battle of Csorna The Battle of Csorna, fought on 13 June 1849, was one of the battles which took place in the Summer Campaign of the Hungarian War of Independence from 1848 to 1849, fought between the Habsburg Empire and the Hungarian Revolutionary Army. The Hun ...

the Hungarian division led by Colonel

György Kmety György Kmety ( Felsőpokorágy, – London, ) was a general in the Hungarian Army, and in the Ottoman Army under the name Ismail Pasha. Career Kmety's father was a noble but poor evangelist vicar who died in 1818, so his brother (Pau ...

defeated the Austrian troops led by Major General Franz Wyss, who died in the battle. The Hungarian peasants tried to help the Hungarian troops, and because of this the Austrians when they returned to Csorna on 21 June, they burned the city to punish its inhabitants.

Jews

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

first settled in the town in the second half of the 18th century, at the invitation of the estate owner, count Eszterhazy. The majority were engaged in commerce, while there were some industrialists. The community was organized in 1853. the

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of wor ...

was built in 1854 and enlarged in 1884. because of differences between

haredim Haredi Judaism ( he, ', ; also spelled ''Charedi'' in English; plural ''Haredim'' or ''Charedim'') consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions, in oppos ...

and

maskilim The ''Haskalah'', often termed Jewish Enlightenment ( he, השכלה; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Euro ...

(reformer) at the Jewish congress in 1868, the community affiliated with the orthodox stream (which refused to accept the decisions of congress). In 1885 land was obtained for a cemetery and a Khevra Kadisha was established. There were also a school,

Talmud Torah Talmud Torah ( he, תלמוד תורה, lit. 'Study of the Torah') schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, as a form of religious school for boys of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary edu ...

and charitable institutions. In

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

19 Jews fell in action. During the period of the " White Terror" (1919–21) one Jew was murdered. In 1930 the community numbered 795 Jews.

The Holocaust period

In 1941 Jewish males were conscripted for

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

(work on fortifications and in services together with other Hungarian citizens whom the authorities would not permit to join the armed forces). In May 1944 a

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished ...

was set up in Csorna, in which the Jews from the surrounding area were also confined. They were sent on foot and in carts, often for long distances. On 18 June they were all sent to the ghetto in

Sopron Sopron (; german: Ödenburg, ; sl, Šopron) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő. History Ancient times-13th century When the area that is today Western Hungary was a province of the Roman Empire, a ...

, and on 5 July they were transported to

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) 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 int ...

. In April 1945 Jewish workers from a forced labour unit at the

extermination camp Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...

Balf Balf () is a town in Hungary, a district of Sopron Sopron (; german: Ödenburg, ; sl, Šopron) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő. History Ancient times-13th century When the area that is today ...

were brought to the

municipal hospital A Municipal hospital is a hospital under the control of a local government, as opposed to those run commercially, by some sort of charitable organisation, or by national or state governments. In many countries the different sorts of organisation ...

in csorna. They were wounded, having been shot by members of the

S.S. The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe duri ...

and men of Szalasi's "

Arrow Cross A cross whose arms end in arrowheads is called a "cross barby" or "cross barbée" in the traditional terminology of heraldry. In Christian use, the ends of this cross resemble the barbs of fish hooks, or fish spears. This alludes to the Ichth ...

" fascist party. They all died and were buried in the Jewish cemetery. After the war, some tens of survivors returned who renewed communal life. In 1955 there were 70 Jews in the area, including 22 children born after the war.

Sport

The

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

Csornai SE, competing in the

Nemzeti Bajnokság III Nemzeti Bajnokság III (''NBIII'', ''National Championship III'') is the third tier of Hungarian football (from the autumn of 1997 till the spring of 2005, NB III was the fourth tier, the third was NB II). The tier contains 3 groups (west, cente ...

, are based in the town.

Notable people

János Áder János Áder (; born 9 May 1959) is a Hungarian politician and lawyer who served as President of Hungary from 2012 to 2022. He is a long-time politician of the right-wing Fidesz. As a representative of his party, he took part in the Hungarian Ro ...

, President of Hungary *

David Gestetner David Gestetner (31 March 18548 March 1939) was the inventor of the Gestetner stencil duplicator, the first piece of office equipment that allowed production of numerous copies of documents quickly and inexpensively. He also invented the nail ...

, inventor of the

Gestetner The Gestetner is a type of duplicating machine named after its inventor, David Gestetner (18541939). During the 20th century, the term ''Gestetner'' was used as a verb—as in ''Gestetnering''. The Gestetner company established its base in Londo ...

duplicating machine * Zoltán Szarka, footballer

Twin towns – sister cities

Csorna is twinned with: *

Dingzhou Dingzhou, or Tingchow in Postal Map Romanization, and formerly called Ding County or Dingxian, is a county-level city in the prefecture-level city of Baoding, Hebei Province. As of 2009, Dingzhou had a population of 1.2 million. Dingzhou has 3 ...

, China *

Lunca de Sus Lunca de Sus ( hu, Gyimesfelsőlok; or colloquially ''Felsőlok'') is a commune in Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Szekely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania. Component villages The commune is composed of six vil ...

, Romania * Miercurea Nirajului, Romania *

Sinzing Sinzing is a municipality in the district of Regensburg in Bavaria in Germany. Geography Sinzing is located on the Schwarzen Laber and the Danube, about eight kilometers west of Regensburg. Municipality structure There are 17 districts Adlste ...

, Germany * Zlaté Klasy, Slovakia

References

Sources

* *

External links

* in Hungarian
Csorna, Hungary - JewishGen
Populated places in Győr-Moson-Sopron County {{Gyor-geo-stub