Located on the northern shore of Lake Balaton, Balatonfüred became a popular tourist resort in the 1800s and one of Hungary's traditional wine-growing regions, particularly known for its white wines. Balatonfüred started as a settlement in Roman times. Füred, the name of the settlement, means a place with lots of quails. The Middle Ages St. Margaret Catholic church burnt down during the war against the Turks (1549 and 1552) and was renovated by the Calvinists and then enlarged in 1725. The Reformed Church built a new church in the 1830s so they sold this to the Jewish community in 1855 as a synagogue that functioned until 1946. The community sold it to the ship factory for a warehouse, washroom, and garage and currently renovated and landmarked as the Black Knight Restaurant at Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Road 32. The mikvah was on Segesdy Street. The summer holiday home of the religious community with a prayer house is in Füred (Arács) on Ferenc utca.[February 2009]
Located on Vázsonyi Road toward Balatonszőlős, the cemetery was renovated in 1991 and has a Holocaust memorial.[March 2009]
US Comm.no.000057
Balatonfured is located in Veszprem (46º57 17º53), 20km from Veszprem. Cemetery: NW of town, alongside the public road to BalatonszoUos. Town population is 5,000-25,000, with fewer than ten Jews.
- Local: Polgarmesteri Hivatal of Bavatonfured Ady utca 6 Ph: 8643255.
- Regional: Budapesti Orthodox Hitkozseg, of Dob u.35, H-1075 Budapest Phone: (011-361) 132-4333.
- Interested: Dr. Olti Ferenc Ph: 1764820.
The pre-WWII Jewish population (census) was 143. Buried in the cemetery is Rabbi Goldstein Ezra/died in 1938. The last known Hasidic Orthodox Jewish burial was 1988. The suburban forested hillside, separate but near other cemeteries, has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open with permission via a broken masonry wall with a locked gate. Keyholder: of Polgarmesteri Hivatal Bavatonfured, Ady utca 6 Ph: 8643255. Pre- and post-WWII size of cemetery is 0.19 hectares.
100-500 gravestones, 20-100 not in original location and 50-75% toppled or broken, date from 1750-20th century. The marble, granite, limestone and sandstone flat shaped stones, finely smoothed and inscribed stones or flat stones with carved relief decoration. Inscriptions are in Hebrew, German and Hungarian. The cemetery contains special memorial monuments to Holocaust victims, but no mass graves or structures. The national Jewish community owns Jewish cemetery. Adjacent properties are residential, woods, and waste dumping. Boundaries are unchanged since 1939. The cemetery was vandalized frequently in the last ten years since restoration in 1991 by local or municipal authorities: cleared vegetation, fixed wall. Authorities clean or clear occasionally. Security and vandalism are serious threats, weather erosion and vegetation are moderate threats.
Peter Wirth completed survey on 11/20/91 using M.ZS.L. (Jewish Encyclopedia of Hungary.) He visited on 20/09/1991. Interviewed was Singer Boriska at Balatonfured, Kossuth u.12.