REFERENCE:
http://www.giotto.org/jesse/romania.html
Gruber, Ruth Ellen. Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide to East-Central Europe . New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1992. pgs 230-231
Located at 46°33' 24°34' in Mures County, Transylvania region. Alternate names: Marosvasarhely/ Muresh/ Neumarktam Mieresch/ Targu Mures/ Targul Mures/ Turgul Mures/ Tyrgu Muresh.
Anti-semitic slogans were written on tombstones. Source: Dateline World Jewry , June 1998, World Jewish Congress
Toni Szmuk wrote from Tîrgu Mures, Romania: I am a Romanian-Israeli citizen and recently visited the Jewish cemetery in my home town where few members of my family are burried.I was deeply moved by the ruin I found there. There are over 2000 Jews burried there; and their graves seem deserted and abandoned, so, I thought maybe I can do something to restore them. I started the papers to open a not-for-profit society, in order to raise funds for this purpose and also to offer support and help for those looking for their ancestors buried in Romania. The local Jewish community used to be a large and powerful one, but now there are only a few old Jews alive. I talked to them about my intentions and they received them with great enthousiasm and assured me of their support. They offered me the books they kept, to study and to use them in my project. Therefore, seeing that Romania is not well covered on the web, I intend to enlarge the studies to as many counties as we can. This will be a huge time and money consuming project, so, I thought maybe you could help us started with some know-how. I already have worked on a database covering one of the Jewish cemeteries in my town, and sofar, we have over 2000 names listed. [25 December 2000]
Alternate/former names are German: Neumarkt and Hungarian: Marosvasarhely. Cemetery is at Verii str. No. 10 in Mures judet, 350 km from Bucharest; 105 km from Cluj (Kolozsvar); 320 km from Timisoara (Temesvar). Present total town population: about 200.000 with about 250 Jews.
- Local: Mayor dr. Dorin Florea, 1 P-ta victoriei, tel 065.168330. Prefect ec. Carmen Vamanu, 2 P-ta Victoriei, tel 065.163211. President of City Council Virag Gyorgy, 2 P-ta Victoriei, tel 065.163211
- caretaker with key: Petras Iulia, Verii str. No. 10
The earliest known Jewish community in town was late 18th century. 1944 Jewish population was about 8,000, before deportation. The Orthodox cemetery was established in the 19th century with the last burial in November 2000. No other towns and villages use this unlandmarked cemetery, approximately 4 km from the congregation.
The isolated urban hillside has no sign or marker. Reached turning directly off a public road, access is open to all via a continuous fence and a gate that locks. The approximate size of cemetery before WWII and now is 3 hectares. 2,300 graves are in the cemetery in original location with about 1,500 toppled or broken. None have been removed. Vegetation overgrowth is a constant problem which is disturbing graves. Water drainage is a seasonal problem. The cemetery has no special sections. The oldest known gravestone dates from 1854. The marble, granite, limestone, and concrete flat stones with carved relief decoration, double tombstones, or obelisks, some with bronze decorations or lettering and/or metal fences around graves, have Hebrew, Hungarian, and/or Romanian inscriptions. The cemetery contains special memorial mounuments to Holocaust victims and Jewish soldiers. No known mass graves. The local Jewish community owns the site used only as a Jewish cemetery. Properties adjacent are residential. Occasionally, private Jewish or non-Jewish visitors visit the cemetery.
The cemetery never was vandalized. Care includes clearing vegetation and fixing wall and gate by Jewish individuals within country and occasional clearing or cleaning by individuals and an unpaid caretaker. Within the limits of the cemetery is a pre-burial house with a tahara [table] and statue. Vegetation is the only serious threat.
Anton Szmuk & Gratiela Szmuk completed this survey on 27 December 2000 using the Jewish Community's Burial Registry. Address: 4300, Targu Mures, Mures, Romania. Tel. 00 40 92 724225 and 00 40 92 248981. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . No other documentation exists. They visited in December 2000 and Sauber Bernath, president of the Local Jewish Community, in his office. [January 2001]