Újfehértó (Pre-Deportation) Gallery
~ Introduction ~
Some time ago, Louis SCHONFELD, then President of the Hungarian-SIG of the Jewish Genealogy group, sent Paul LINHARDT an e-mail concerning a cache of photographs of unidentified Jews of the village of Újfehértó, Hungary. (a portion of that e-mail is below)
Since these pictures were over 50 years old, many of the very people who could best identify them may not be connected to the Internet and/or have weak eyes. If you know someone from Újfehértó who can identify any of the Gallery images in Gallery1 through Gallery9 (in the menu above), but does not have access to the internet, please consider printing out the photo set pages or the larger image when it is clicked, for easier identification.
If you know anyone who can identify any unidentified photographs, click HERE to contact Paul LINHARDT.
Louis SCHONFELD's e-mail
Subj: RE: Breuer Date: 9/15/98 9:54:39 PM EST From: (Louis SCHONFELD) To: (Paul LINHARDT) "Hi Paul, [...] My father, Ignatz Schonfeld, OBM was born in Újfehértó in 1907. I have been visiting the town regularly since I first went there in 1992. My father's mother Sali was the daughter of Yona Moshe Weinstock who while walking to synagogue one Friday night in 1942 was assaulted by a Hungarian cavalryman. My great-grandfather died of his wounds and was buried in the Jewish cemetery of Újfehértó. Today the Jewish cemetery is preserved in excellent condition and is surrounded by a protective wall put up after WW2 through the efforts of Rabbi Hershel Kestenbaum a survivor of the town and a grandson of the famous Rabbi Hershele of Ratsferd. The town's Hasidic Jews (and they comprised perhaps 80% of the Jewish population in the inter war years) amongst themselves call the town by its Yiddish appellation, Ratsferd. The name came from a corruption of the Hungarian name of an adjacent town called Regi Feherto (note Regi means old, Uj means new - I don't know the meaning of Feherto, [the word feher means white]). Rabbi Kestenbaum, a Satmar Chassid living in Williamsburgh, Brooklyn is a frequent visitor to his native village and over the years developed a cooperative relationship with the town's governing officials. About six years ago on one of his visits there, the mayor presented him with a gift: an envelope stuffed with passport sized black & white photographs that had recently been discovered in the basement of a building that was the photographer's studio for a number of years until he along with the other Jews of the town were deported to Auschwitz in April of 1944. There were nearly a hundred different photographs of obviously Jewish people which seemed to have been taken in order to comply with some governmental requirement. There were also about half dozen photographs of couples dressed in Wedding and formal wear. I was very excited to be able to view these old, black and white photographs many of them curled due to age. No known photograph exists of my father's parents or his one brother who died during the war. Perhaps also among these photographs I would find a picture of my father as a young boy. Alas, the only photograph that I could definitely recognize or that resembled a relative of mine was a well known photo I had already seen of my great-grandfather's brother in law, the well known scholar, Avigdor Weinberger. Rabbi Kestenbaum was kind enough to allow me to take the original photographs to Cleveland and have them professionally reproduced, which I did. I now had about 100 photographs of Jews living in Újfehértó before World War II, but without identification. Rabbi Kestenbaum was too young during that time period to recall anyone by name. I took a set of the photographs with me on a trip to Israel hoping to find survivors there who could place a name with a photo. I did meet with several Újfehértó survivors, but none were able to recall with any certainty the names of the people depicted. However, I was informed that there were many ex-Ratsferders living in New York, and perhaps one or more of them could assist me in accomplishing this important task. I met with Mr. Harry Weinberg who assured met that he would do his utmost to show these photographs to as many people as possible who might be able to make an identification. I left one set of the photographs with him. Several months later he returned a photocopy of the pictures with about 50% of them identified. Among those named were Karcsi Breuer (Karcsi could be a diminutive for Karpel, a Jewish name that might be equivalent to the Hungarian name Karoly) and another Breuer whose first name he nor the others could recall. Sincerely, Louis Schonfeld Cleveland, Ohio"

---

This page is hosted at no cost to the public by JewishGen, Inc., a non-profit corporation. If you feel there is a benefit to you in accessing this site, your JewishGen-erosity is appreciated.

Created by: Marshall J. KATZ, USA / Compiled by: Eugene KATZ, USA with assistance from Amos Israel ZEZMER, France and the following JewishGen members/descendants and contributors of Újfehértó Jewish families: Paul LINHARDT, USA Louis SCHONFELD, USA

Updated: 14 May 2009

Copyright © 2009 Eugene Katz All rights reserved.

Top of Page