XIII. Documents of the Chevra Kadisha of the Pest Jewish Community

XIII. Documents of the Chevra Kadisha of the Pest Jewish Community 

XIII. Documents of the Chevra Kadisha of the Pest Jewish Community 

The collection contains documents of the Chevra Kadisha of the Pest Jewish Community from the 1940s. Most importantly for the study of the history of the Holocaust in Hungary, there are various documents from the month of April 1944, i.e. from the time after the German entry and the beginnings of the activities of the collaborationist government but before the mass deportations from the countryside. These documents include the datasheet regarding the financial situation and the assets of the Pest Chevra Kadisa compiled as stipulated by Prime Minister’s Decree 1600/1944, documents on the imposed changes in its financial situation as well as documents reflecting the new ban on the assembly and travel of Jews. Moreover, the collection contains ample documentation of the January 1942 election of the Chevra Kadisha of the Pest Jewish Community. There are also miscellaneous documents of the Pest Chevra Kadisha from 1943-1944 that document the cases of various individuals, including materials concerning the support provided for labor servicemen in 1943. There are letters of various individuals to the Chevra Kadisha of the Pest Jewish Community requesting the cancellation of their membership fees due to their financial hardships caused by the Hungarian anti-Jewish laws adopted in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Last but not least, the collection contains information on the Chevra Kadisha’s project of memorializing the Holocaust (avant la lettre) in the early postwar period. This includes correspondence from 1948 of individuals and the Chevra Kadisha regarding the engraving of their family members’ names onto the Holocaust memorial erected by the Chevra Kadisha as well the budgetary and technical descriptions of the memorial.