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Sobrance, the easternmost town in Slovakia, is in the Kosice Region (Košický kraj) of Slovakia, about 18 km from Uzhorod, Ukraine and 22 km east of Michalovce. Before the end of World War I, Sobrance, then Szobránc, was the main city in the Szobránci járás (district) of Ung megye (county), Hungary.
Sobrance is about 15 kilometers (just over 2 miles) west of Uzhorod, Ukraine, formerly Ungvar, the main city in Ung megye (county). Szobrancz was once a post stop and place to change horses on the road between Ungvar, the county seat to the east, and Nagymihaly, in Zemplen megye to the west. Szobrancz was totally destroyed and abandoned during the Wars of the Hungarian Aristocracy in the 17th century, but was rebuilt in the 18th and grew during the 19th century.
The early 19th century population was mostly Slovak with a few Ruthenians and Hungarians, primarily Catholic , who worked in agriculture and trades. By the late 19th century Szobrancz was also well known for its thermal springs and spa, which are mentioned in the 1911 Baedeker Guide to Austria-Hungary. Landed nobility including Buttler, Szemere, Viczmandy, and Feket all owned estates in the area.
Jews may have settled in Szobrancz as early as the late 17th century. The first reference to Jewish residents appears in the May 15, 1739 Jewish Conscription of Ung County which recorded only one Jewish family. The head of household was Marko Joseffovics (Marko the son of Josef), a distiller of whisky (palinka, slivovitz or vodka). By July 1746 there were two Jewish families-- Marko Joseffovics and Hersko Abrahamovics (Hersko the son of Abraham). The Chevra Kadisha or burial society was founded in about 1780, a time when the Jewish population of northeastern Hungary began to grow due to migrations from Galicia. The synagogue, which was still standing in 1929, was built in about 1800.
By 1828 Szobrancz had 106 Jewish residents. A geography book published in 1851 reported that there were 119 Jews living in Szobrancz in 1840 along with 241 Greek Catholics and 172 Roman Catholics. (Fenyes Elek, Magyarorszag geographiai szotara, Vol. I-IV). By 1877, the Jewish population of the town had increased to 349, about a third of the total population, and Szobrancz had become seat of the regional rabbinate with 34 surrounding settlements and a total Jewish population of 2,091 under its jurisdiction. Other communities in the district with large Jewish populations included Poruba (127), Felso Ribnyicze (120), and Prikopa (115).
In 1882, there were 51 towns in the Szobránci district, most of which are now in Slovakia. Those now in Ukraine are marked (U):
Vinna-Banka, Baskócz, Benetine (U), Bunkócz, Csecsehó (U), Fekésháza, Gajdos, Gézsény, Hanajna, Hliviscse, Hornya, Hunkócz, Jeszenõ (U), Magyar-Jesztreb, Józsa, Kaluzsa, Kereszt, Klokocsó, Kolibábócz, Kónyus, Kuszin, Lucska, Orechova, Osztró, Sáros-Polyánka, Porosztó, Német-Poruba, Ördög-Poruba, Prékopa, Felsõ-Remete (U), Sáros-Remete, Felsõ-Reviscse, Sáros-Reviscse, Alsó-Ribnyicze, Felsõ-Ribnyicze, Ruszkócz, Solymos, Szentes, Komorócz-Szobráncz, Sztrajnyán, Tarna, Tiba, Ubrezs (U), Vajnatina, Váralja (U), Remetei-Vasgyár, Verbócz, Kis-Zalacska, Nagy-Zalacska, Zavatka.
At the end of the 19th century about half of the large leaseholders in the Szobrancz district were Jews including Aron Herskovics, Samuel Jozepovits, Mosko Grunvald, Hermann Propper, Jozef Moskovits, Jakab Rosenbluth, Lipot Rosenbluth, Abraham Roth, Salamon Herskovics, Fulop Akkermann, Henrik Weisz, Mihaly Guttman, Jakab Juszkovits, Izsak Lipkovits, Ignacz Vider, Mihaly Vidder, Bernat Schwarcz, Emanuel Schwarcz and my great-grandfathers Miksa Neumann and Markus Moskovits.
Juda Eisenstadter, David Eisenstadter, Herman Weisz and Simon Friedmann were the first rabbis of Szobrancz. Rabbi Moshe Simcha Friedman, a descendant of the Teitelbaum family who served from 1891 to 1940, was one of the best known. The parnasim were Eisik Lebovits landowner, Elias Moskovits forest owner, and tradesmen Wolf Moskovits and Simon M. Friedmann.
Peter Ujvari's Magyar Zsido Lexikon reports that in 1929 Szobrancz had a Talmud Torah with two teachers. Jewish public figures included bank directors Armin Herschkovits and Lipot M. Rosenfeld, both of whom were active in the Ung County Jewish party. Mayer Schwab owned a brick factory.
By 1929 there were 52 villages in the Szobrancz district. Szobrancz, with 270 Jewish residents in 65 households had the largest population. The 54 community tax payers included 2 wholesalers, 1 in agriculture, 1 teacher, 18 retailers, 2 lawyers, 4 public servants, 4 workers, 1 manufacturer, 1 engineer, 3 living from capital and 10 others. The leaders of the Jewish community were Lazar Lebovits, president; Hermann Wiesner vice-president; Ignac Weinberger Sr., Samuel Salamon, and Ignac Weinberger Jr. parnasim; and Mor Fried dayan (associate rabbi).
Denisa Vinanska, a secondary school history teacher in Sobrance, has been documenting the history of the town’s Jewish community and working with her students to restore the cemetery. She writes that the Jews of Szobrancz were primarily involved in crafts and trade but there were also some in various professions.
In the interwar period there were four doctors, two of them - Dr. Herškovič and Dr. Milder were Jews. Among the four local lawyers were three members of the Jewish community to three - Dr. Roth, Dr. Feher. And Dr. Preus. Tailors included Mr. Grunwald, Mr. Jakubovič and Mr. Gerstl, a Jewish barber was Mr. Weisberger, inns and pubs were operated by Messrs. Gutmann, Milder, Goldberger, Winkler and Swartz. The afore-mentioned Mr. Swartz also had a beer warehouse. Shops were owned by Jewish merchants - Rosmer (textile trade), Šouli (for soda water), Jakubovič (before the war owned tailoring, he and his wife survived the Holocaust), Moše (buying into villages agricultural products), Jukel (bought old textiles), Salomon (he was a shoemaker and owned a shoe store), Goldberger (owned food store), Strulovič (owned convenience store), Berkovic (he and his wife owned a haberdashery), Neumann (had a haberdashery shop), Weismann (custom cabinetry), Grunfeld (owned food). Dentist Dr. Geiger also served the city.
References:
Peter Ujvari, Magyar Zsido Lexikon http://mek.oszk.hu/04000/04093/html/fejlec01.html
Encylopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust (ISBN 0-8147-9356-8)
Janos Dvorzsak, Magyarorszag Helysegnevtara [Gazetteer of Hungary], Budapest, 1877. http://kt.lib.pte.hu/konyvtar/kt03110501/tartalom.html
JewishGen Town Finder: http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsys~community~-845992
Fenyes Elek, Magyarorszag geographiai szotara. Vol. I-IV, Budapest ,1851 Reprint Budapest 1984.
Landowners and Leaseholders in Hungary, 1895 A magyar korona országainak mezőgazdasági statisztikája. : Második kötet. : Gazdaczimtár / szerk. és kiadja a Magyar Kir. Központi Statisztikai Hivatal http://kt.lib.pte.hu/konyvtar/kt04022302/tartalom.html
Natan P.F. (Marcus) Kellerman, In Search for the Lost Grave, http://www.centropa.org/reports
Baedeker, Guide to Austria-Hungary, 1911