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The area was part of the First Bulgarian Empire in the 9th century and was subsequently conquered by the Hungarians. In the first half of the 16th century, the town was administered by the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom, until 1552 when it was administered by the Ottoman Empire (Sanjak of Çanad). From 1686 to 1918, the town was administered by the Habsburg Monarchy.
After 1918, the town was part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Yugoslavia) and subsequent South Slavic states.
Yugoslavia was defeated and conquered by Nazi Germany who granted administrative control of this area to Hungary. The Jewish community in town was wiped out in the Holocaust.
Jewish history
Documentation of the presence of Jews in town existed since the end of the 18th century. Towards the middle of the 19th century the cemetery was established and in 1861 the community synagogue was established. The permanent synagogue was probably built on the site of an earlier synagogue. The new synagogue was two stories high, with the second floor used by women. It was remodeled in 1900.
After the rift in Hungarian Jewry the community was divided between neolog and orthodox. At the end of the century, a branch of "All Israel Friends" was established in the town. In 1880, 371 Jews lived in the town, and in 1900, 375, constituting 2.26 percent of its total population.
After the First World War, Zionist activity began among the neolog community. The Orthodox congregation also included a number of Jewish families from the surrounding villages, such as the village of Martonos (see below).
In 1921 there were 285 Jews in Kaniza, and in 1931 there were 223 Jews.
At the outbreak of World War II, 174 Jews lived in Kaniza. In April 1941, Nazi Germany invaded Yugoslavia and defeated its army within days. Germany granted administrative control of this area to Hungary who sent troups to the area.
The town's Jews were mostly exterminated according to some sources as soon as the end of 1941.
Generally in the county of Backa some Jews had their nationality revoked and they were killed either locally or after deportation (to the Kamenets Podolski area). Others were sent to forced labor campsand still others were murdered locally or deported and murdered in extermination camps over the years, the most massive killings occurring in 1944. A disproportionate number of Jews joined the Yugoslav Partisans rebels and fought against the occupation.
In 1948 the synagogue building was demolished by the local authorities. In 1994, a memorial plaque for the previous Jewish community was installed on the wall of a building on the site of the synagogue on Dože Derda Ulica/ Dosza Gjörgy St.
As of 2002, the cemetery stood on its own, it was surrounded by a stone wall and in a reasonable condition and contained about 250 graves.
Dan Reisinger, a painter, graphic designer and winner of the Israel Prize for Design for the year 5758, was born in Kaniza.
Martonos
A community was founded in Martonos in the late 18th century. In 1800 a synagogue for the community was established. On April 19, 1944, the village's Jews were deported to the extermination camps. The community was destroyed in the Holocaust. In 1949, the synagogue building was demolished there.
Source: Wikipedia
Links
- Jews in Backa county and the Holocaust (Hebrew, Yad Vashem)
- The extermination of jewish population and heritage in Bačka region of Vojvodina (Serbia) by Aleksandra Terzić and Željko Bjeljac, 2014 article, Geographic Institute “Jovan Cvijić” SASA, Belgrade
- Vojvodina World War II and immediate aftermath (wikipedia)
- Jewish Partisans
- DEPORTATION OF THE JEWS OF BAČKA IN 1944 (full book 420 pages, includes Kanizsa), Arhiv Vojvodine Edited by Aleksandar Bursać, Vladimir Todorović, Petar Đurđev Novi Sad - Ramat Gan 2021.
- List of prominent Jews in the town and town map drawn by Auschwitz survivor Suzana Kohn (Ungar). Unfortunately low quality drawing, original should be available at Montreal Holocaust Museum.
Please help us tag the people in the list here: https://www.geni.com/photo/view?album_type=project&photo_id=6000000201640306847&project_id=4480980 Page 1
Please help us tag the people in the list. Tag page 2 here: https://www.geni.com/photo/view/6000000116830461878?album_type=project&end=&photo_id=6000000201639823914&project_id=4480980
Please help us tag the people on the plaque. Tag here: https://www.geni.com/photo/view/6000000116830461878?album_type=project&end=&photo_id=6000000201639877887&project_id=4480980 
