THE MEMORIAL BOOK OF PÁPA JEWRY - JewishGen

with D'Annunzio, which was not approved of by the citizens of the town. One day Shisha was
kidnapped from his apartment at gun-point by reactionaries; he was forced into a car, and was
driven away. D'Annunzio was informed about it, saved Shisha's life, and advised him to leave the
town. First, he worked in the organisation of the Italian Socialist Party in Civita Vecchia, and
then he moved to Rome where he worked as an official in charge of the press for the Soviet
Embassy. In 1927 he was transferred to Milano where he fell mortally ill, and died there at the
age of 34 on July 13, 1927.
Dr. Miklós Shisha was an idealist with a pure soul and an amazingly intelligent person.
His attitude to being a Jew is demonstrated in his letters written to his brother who settled in
Palestine in 1920. He was not religious, but he was a self-respecting Jew who never denied his
identity.
He highly valued the building of Eretz Yisrael. In his letters, he drew a parallel between
his humanistic socialism and Zionism which was building the country. He yearned to see Eretz
Yisrael being rebuilt, but his dream could not be realized. Fate decided otherwise. The fact that
the builders of the new world highly appreciated the activities of Dr. Shisha is attested by the
following books written about him:
1.Galilei per a XX. században [The Trial of Galilei in the 20th century] by Jolán Kelen,
Kossuth, 1957.
2.Új vizeken járok. A Galilei Kör története [I Walk on New Waters. The History of the
Galilei Circle] by Márta Tömöry, Gondolat, Budapest, 1960.
3.Sisa Miklós. ‘Forrás’, Irodalom, Művészet, Tudomány by Nándor Heltai, Kecskemét,
July 1969.
ALBERT SHELLEY
Albert Seelenfreund, born in Pápa, was a later successor of the Abaújszántó rabbi Shemen
Rokeach. He was a student in the days of Herzl when he founded the Tzeirei Tzion Youth
Association in Pápa. He received his diploma as a teacher and a chazan at the National Teacher
Training College of Pápa with an excellent record. He was a student at the Teacher Training
College and only 19 when, in recognition of his talents, he was invited by the Szeged Jewish
Community to take the post of secretary. Chief Rabbi Immanuel Lőw loved this musical genius,
whose pleasant baritone voice elevated the ritual of the priestly blessing (Albert was a Cohen) to
an artistic level. While working as secretary at Szeged, several of his poems were published in the
most intellectual Jewish periodical, Múlt és Jövő, under the name Albert Baráth. During the First
World War, in which he was injured, he reached the rank of lieutenant. After the war, he returned
to Szeged. He left his secretarial job and worked for a wholesale business firm where he was in
charge of exporting paprika
Many years before the Second World War, he travelled with his family to Cuba, then to
Mexico, and soon won himself a name as the representative of chemical factories. A series of his
articles were published in Spanish in the technical literature. He was in charge of the temple
frequented by Hungarians in Mexico City, and his holiday sermons were the highlights of the
services.
On the occasion of his 70th birthday, he visited Israel and presented the Bnei Herzl Lodge
with a beautiful silver goblet in memory of Immanuel Lőw.
101