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complementing the primary school that had been in existence
since 1771. In addition to several communal and charity organizations,
the community also built a hospital in 1882. In 1885,
the smaller Jewish communities of the neighboring villages,
including those of Baracska, Bátamonostor, Borsód, Csátalja,
Csávoly, Dantova, Felsöszentiván, Gara, and Vaskut, affiliated
themselves to Baja organizationally. Baja’s Jewish population
ranged from 516 in 1840 (3.7% of the total) to 1,648 (5.9%) in
1930, with a maximum of 2,542 (13.2%) in 1880. Among the
rabbis who served the Jewish community of Baja were József
Márkus, who built the first synagogue in 1768; Rabbi Meir
*Ash (Eisenstadt), a student of Ḥatam Sofer, who served from
1805 to 1815; and Rabbi Eliakim Schwerin Goetz Kohn, who
served from 1815 to 1845.The latter also founded and headed
a yeshivah. In 1941, Baja had a Jewish population of 1,378,
representing 4.3% of the total of 32,369. In addition it had 149
(0.5%) converts who were identified as Jews under the racial
laws then in effect. During the period of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire, two Jews – Mór Hauser and Gyula Erdélyi – had
served as the city’s mayor. Hauser was also elected to the lower
house of the Hungarian parliament.
After the German occupation of Hungary on March 19,
1944, the largely Neolog community numbered approximately
1,200 members. They were led by Zsigmond Weidinger and
Rabbi József Klein. On April 14, the authorities arrested 150
prominent Jews, who were first taken to the Topolya internment
camp and then deported to Grossrosen – a month before
the start of the mass deportations from Hungary. Among
the victims were Rabbi Klein, Lipót Kertész, the communal
notary, and cantor Mór Rubovics. From Grossrosen, Rabbi
Klein was eventually taken to Stettin (Szczecin), where he was
beaten to death by German guards.
Baja served as a major concentration point for Jews
rounded up in several neighboring districts, including those
of Apatin, Baja, Hódság, Palánka, and Zombor. The roundup
of the Jews was directed by Police Chief Béla Jeles. The Jews,
including those brought in from the neighboring ghettos,
were concentrated in three different locations, where they
lived under miserable conditions until their deportation. Two
of these ghettos were set up for the Jews of Újvidék (Novi
Sad). The ghetto of Baja was led by a seven-member Jewish
Council that included Ferencz Stein and László Biró. The approximately
8,200 Jews concentrated in Baja were deported
to Auschwitz in two transports that left the town on May 28
and June 18, respectively. Prior to their deportation the Jews
were subjected to still another round of expropriations under
brutal conditions.
During the immediate post-liberation period, Baja had
approximately 400 Jewish inhabitants, including those who
moved in from the neighboring villages. The survivors reestablished
the Neolog community in 1947 under the leadership
of President Sándor Rostás, Rabbi József Rosenfeld, and Rabbi
Tibor Klein. After 1948, the membership gradually declined.
By 1953 only 180 identified themselves as Jews. This number
had shrunk to 70 by 1964. By the turn of the century only a
handful were still left in the city. In 1985 the synagogue was
transformed into a public library.
Bibliography: G. Dudás, Bács-Bodrog vármegye
monographiája, 2 (1896), 254–15, 309–10; M. Pollák, A bajai zsidó
hitközség iskoláinak története, (1896); S. Kohn, Kohn Schwerin Götz
(Hung. 1899). Add. Bibliography: Braham, Politics; PK Hungaria,
168–70.
[Laszlo Harsanyi / Randolph Braham (2nd ed.)]
BAK (also Pak), a family of Jewish printers of Ashkenazi origin,
who lived first in Venice and later in Prague. According
to Zunz, the name represents the initials of Benei Kedoshim
(Children of the Martyrs).
GERSON, the progenitor of the family, lived in Italy in the
early 16th century, where his son JACOB followed the printing
trade. Jacob printed the Midrash Tanḥuma in Verona (1595)
and in Venice Tanna de-Vei Eliyahu (1598), and Tiferet Yisrael
by *Judah Loew (the Maharal) of Prague in 1599. Apparently
his connections with the latter brought him to Prague. From
1605 until his death in 1618 he printed numerous Hebrew and
Judeo-German books. He was succeeded by his sons JOSEPH
and JUDAH, who in 1623 set up a new printing house called
“Jacob Bak’s Sons.” Their output was considerable, despite the
temporary slowing down during the Thirty Years’ War and
the persecutions of 1648/49 and 1656. In about 1660 Joseph
left the printing business, and Judah carried on alone. A libel
action brought against the press led to its closing down in
1669. Judah died in 1671, and two years later his sons, JACOB
(1630–1688) and JOSEPH (d. 1696), were authorized to resume
printing books, as “Judah Bak’s sons,” but a special permit
was required for each book. In 1680 Joseph completed a
maḥzor at nearby Weckelsdorf – the only Hebrew work ever
printed there. Between 1680 and 1683 Joseph apparently continued
alone in Prague, while Jacob worked under the name
“Judah Bak’s Sons” (1682–88). Joseph was joined by Jacob’s
son MOSES (d. 1712), in 1686. From 1697 Moses ran the firm
with his cousin, Joseph’s son (later “The Bak Press”). Moses’
son JUDAH (d. 1767/68), who was a compositor, managed
the press from 1735 to 1756. In 1757 Judah’s brother YOM TOV
LIPMANN joined as his partner, and the firm became “Moses
Bak’s Sons.” The firm later became “The Bak and Katz Press”
(1784–89), and afterwards passed into other hands entirely.
The Bak family members were pioneers in the field of Jewish
printing, while also making an important contribution to
the Jewish community of the time. Israel *Bak, the printer of
Safed and Jerusalem, does not seem to have any connection
with this Bak family.
Bibliography: Zunz, Gesch, 264–6, 282–303; S. Hock,
Mishpeḥot K.K. Prag (1892), 46–48; H.D. Friedberg, Toledot ha-Defus
ha-Ivri be-Arim… she-be-Eiropah ha-Tikhonah (1937), 19–26; A.
Tauber, Meḥkarim Bibliografiyyim (1932), 9–14; A. Yaari, Ha-Defus
ha-Ivri be-Arẓot ha-Mizraḥ (1937), 14–15.
[Abraham Meir Habermann]
70 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3