THE MEMORIAL BOOK OF PÁPA JEWRY - JewishGen

After barely a year and a half, the police superintendent of Pápa invited the leaders Kaufmann
and Lőwenstein to his house and showed them letters denouncing the movement. Police
Superintendent Vida called on the leaders to make a choice: either they announce voluntarily that
they dissolve or he will send the letters to the County Prosecutor's Office. As a result, the
movement went underground; mainly through young people getting together at the lumber-yard
of the Grünwalds.
The Keren Kayemet Leyisrael and the Keren Hayesod was headed by Luci Gottlieb.
Government chief councellor Dr. Ádám Kende was the president of the Pro-Palestine
Association.The Zionist Girls' Association was founded in 1927. It was organized by Dénes
Wittmann from Győr, who came for a visit to Pápa; later on he became a well-known artist and
architect, the designer of the Haifa city hall. Ivrit was taught by the teacher Várhelyi. Zionist
readings were held, contributions to Keren Kayemet Leyisrael were collected. The association
was headed by enthusiastic, firmly convinced leaders: Erzsi Hacker, Manci Kellner, Irén Fürst,
Manci Köves and Ilus Gerstl. It was a very small association, with only about 25-30 members,
because of the serious difficulties they had to face, caused by the chassidim.
The first hachshara was established in 1930 under the leadership of Moshe Filip and
Moshe Jungreisz. In the following years the hachshara was regularly held on the Hatvani
Deutsch estate at Ihászi, with the financial and spiritual support of Laci Bass, Zoli Goldstein, Jani
Weisz, Andi Bachrach, Judit and Jenő Tausz.
The Zionist idea sprung up first in a Hungarian religious community here in Pápa, but
because of the harsh attacks of their religious leaders, after a few decades it found fertile soil only
in the souls of young people. The youth had no hope of becoming Hungarian through assimilation
so they chose to return to the Jewish people. They set out on their way to come Home: to the
Ancient Land, to the New Homeland.
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