Debrecen is the third largest city in Hunagry and is about 120 miles east of Budapest. Jews were officially permitted to settle in the town in 1840. In 1940, there were about 12,000 Jews in the city. Many Jewish men were drafted into the Hungarian labor battalions. Deportations of Jews began in June, 1944. The first group of deportees (about 7,000) were sent to Austria and about one-half of these survived the war. Most of the other Jews were deported to Auschwitz. About 4,000 Jews from Debrecen survived the war.
The synagogue depicted in the postcard below was designed by Jacob Gartner (see Olomouc) and was built between 1895-97. It was destroyed by fire in 1948.
Encyclopedia Judaica, CD-Rom Edition, Keter Publishing
Copyright © 1998-99 Edward Victor