Balatonfőkajár cemetery caretaker is the mayor's office. This settlement 3 km from the eastern end of Lake Balaton has 1471 inhabitants. Balatonvilágos is the easternmost settlement on the southern shore of Lake Balaton. Where the three counties meet is the border of the city of Siófok, the city of Enying (Fejér), and the town of Balatonfőkajár. The official name of the settlement is Balatonvilágos that also includes Balatonaliga. Inhabited since Roman times, Balatonfőkajár is near one of the main roads connecting Vindobona (Bécs/Wien) and Carnuntum (Pozsony/Bratislava ) through Sopiane (Pécs). First documented as Villa Quaiar in 1086, the town name means "person calling people together" as in a court. Under Turkish rule, people fled several times, but in the first half of the 17th century, it became stable. The large 1794 Late Baroque and early Classical church reflects the Protestant farmers of the village. Around 1800, Felsõbüki Nagy Ferenc built a castle and a brickyard in Balatonfõkajár. After 1840, the bishopic's vineyards went private for long time. A unique row of cellars evidences the five-hundred-year-old local wine culture. Between December 1944 and March 1945, German and Russian troops attacked the village eight times killing many civilians and destroying the whole settlement except two houses. [February 2009]
US Commission No. 000056
Balatonfokajar is located in Veszprem, at 47º01' 18º13', 88km from Budapest. Cemetery: the end of Zalka Mate utca. Town population is 1,000-5,000 with no Jews.
- Local: Polgarmesteri Hivatal of 8164 Balatonfokajar Kossuth utca 8 Ph: 80 83181. (caretaker)
- Regional: MAZSIHISZ of Sip U.12, H-1075, Budapest Phone: (011-361) 122-6475/78.
1930 population (census) was 42. The Jewish cemetery was established in 19th century. Buried in the cemetery is Dessauer Gabor (first Rabbi of the community) who died 1878. The last known Jewish burial was before WWII. The Jewish community was Congress. [sic] The flat isolated suburban agricultural site has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all with no wall or gate. The approximate size before WWII was 0.90 hectares and now is 0.82 hectares. No mass graves or structures.
20-100 gravestones (25-50% are toppled or broken) date from 19th-20th centuries. The limestone and sandstone flat shaped stones, finely smoothed and inscribed stones, flat stones with carved relief decoration or double tombstones, some with metal fences around graves, have Hebrew and Hungarian inscriptions. The national Jewish community owns the cemetery used for Jewish cemetery and waste dumping. Adjacent properties are agricultural and residential. Boundaries are smaller than in 1939 because of a housing development. The cemetery was not vandalized since restoration in 1990 on a limited part of the cemetery by Jewish individuals abroad. There has been cleaned stones and cleared vegetation but no further care. Security, vegetation, and incompatible development are moderate threats, weather erosion is serious threat.
Peter Wirth completed survey on 1/10/91 using: M.ZS.L. (Jewish Encyclopedia of Hungary.). He visited on 01/10/1991. Interviewed was Varga Istvanne on 01/10/1991 at Zalka Mate utca, born 1915.