THE MEMORIAL BOOK OF PÁPA JEWRY - JewishGen

SOME STATISTICS
The mutual influence of county episcopates founded by King Stephen I and the
Benedictine Order hindered the formation of royal towns where Jews could have settled as
chamber servants.
Count Antal Eszterházy was the first to permit Jewish settlement in Veszprém County in
the first quarter of the 18th century.
The 1736 census mentions 11 Jewish families in Pápa.
In subsequent periods the number of Jews in Pápa was as follows:
In 1740, 73
In 1785-87, 445
In 1830-35, 2645
In 1880, 3550, 24 % of the population
In 1884-94, 3140, 22 % of the population
In 1910, 3076, 15.3 % of the population
In 1941, 2613, 11 % of the population.
The situation of villages surrounding the Pápa community was interesting but sad.
In the village of Tevel in 1830 there were 149 Jews earning their living. They had their
own temple, mikva, rabbi and shochet. Their number gradually decreased to 55, then to 19, and in
1941 there were only 18 left. Most of them moved to Pápa.
In Pápateszér the first census mentions 39 Jews. No one was left.
In Homokbödög in 1880 there were 101. However, in 1941 they numbered only 14.
In Nagydém there was once a large community - the census mentioned 149 Jews at the
time of the War of Independence [1848/49] – which finally decreased to 11.
In the villages closer to Pápa things were not different – in Tapolcafő, where once there
had been 86 Jews, merely 13 were left in 1941.
In Marcaltő even in 1910 there were 37 Jews, while in 1941 only 15.
Statistics clearly prove that the reforms under the rule of Joseph II the "hatted king" [he
was called "the hatted king" because he was never actually crowned as King of Hungary – the
translator] opened a new era in the life of Hungarian Jews as well. Jewish settlement was made
possible by giving the right to change residence.
Taking into account the proportion of Jews in the country, one comes to the conclusion
that Pápa was the largest Jewish settlement in Hungary after Pest and Buda in the beginning of
the 19th century.
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