After the Ottoman conquest Turkish Jews settled in Eger, but left in 1687 with the end of Turkish rule. A new community was established in the late 1700's. By 1890, the Jewish population had grown to about 2,400 (11% of the total population). By the start of World War II, the population had dropped to about 1,800. In 1942, Jewish males aged 18-42 were drafted into Hungarian labor battalions (see Hungarian Labor Battalions) and sent to the Russian front where most died. In June, 1942, the remaining Jews were deported to Auschwitz. The synagogue in Eger is depicted in the postcard below (postmarked 1923).
Spector, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust (2001), P. 213-18
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Copyright © 2008 Edward Victor