Alternate names : (formerly Carei-Mare; Hung. Nagykà roly; Heb. קרל××™.
CAREI (formerly Carei-Mare; Hung. Nagykà roly; Heb. קרל××™), town in Northern Transylvania, Romania; up to World War I in Hungary, and between 1940 and 1944 again in Hungary. The town dates from 1335 but the Jewish community from the beginning of the 19th century when the local lord invited 12 families in 1720. Jewish population : 66 in 1740, 56 families in 1770, and 300 families in the 1860s. Source with more info : The Jewish Virtual Library. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/carei
CEMETERIES:
The two cemeteries in Carei were the best kept I have ever seen in the Hungarian/Romanian countryside. The grass has been cut and there are no trees or vegetation growing anywhere. The maintenance of the grounds and the restoration of the stones in Soimului strada, makes the latter a model for any old cemetery in the world.
Note: Google maps has Soimului str. correctly but Str. Oburului is called Str. Cimitirului.
Caretaker: Lives in the house at Oburului 31 but the man who lives there now is Sanyi Varga, a man in his 40s.
He and his wife know well how to treat visitors offering them water to wash their hands at the end. However, their knowledge of the actual place is poor. Mr Varga insisted many times that the cemetery on Oborului Str. no. 31 is the old one but that is patently wrong. I informed him of that. The wife seems to know more and it leads me to believe that she may be the daughter of Szentmiklosy, the old caretaker.
They are native Hungarian speakers.
Both cemeteries are in very good condition but cemetery on Soimului is even better as at some point in the last 5 or 10 years, all the stones have been cleaned and are legible. It was incredibly easy to read every stone including those from the 1820s. The older stones in the new cemetery have not been restored but are in good condition with 90%+ standing. Some of the sandstone ones have deteriorated badly and are illegible while some are fine but need some cleaning or light sanding to be able to read them.
The NEW CEMETERY on Oburului has a few graves from the mid 1880s but most are of a later date. Many of them have some Latin characters but at least 40% are in Hebrew only. The layout is somewhat different to other cemeteries as men and women tend to be separated. It is rare to see a husband and wife next to each other although there are some instances of it from the 1920s on.
The OLD CEMETERY on Soimului has a majority of stones in Hebrew only, probably 70%. As you walk in, those straight in front of you and directly ahead are newer graves from the late 1800s on while to the right are those from earlier periods, mostly 1810-1880s.
If you are searching for family graves, it is highly advisable to have someone in your party who is able to read and decipher Hebrew tombstones.
Michael Perl visited both in September 2019. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.