The large, stone-fenced Kövágóörs cemetery is located in the right corner of the Christian cemetery. Completely overgrown and inaccessible, many graves inside, according to locals, have been stolen. The entrance is from the street beside the cemetery, but in 2005 the whole area was inaccessible. [March 2009]
US Commission No. 000061
Kövágóörs is located in Veszprem, (46º51' 17º36'), 16km from Tapolca. Cemetery: W of village at end of Temeto utca. Town population is 1,000-5,000 with no Jews.
- Local: Polgarmesteri Hivatal of Kovagoors Jokai utca 24 Ph: 8744017.
- Regional: Budapesti Orthodox Hitkozseg, of Dob u.35, H-1075 Budapest Phone: (011-361) 132-4333 and Kali-medence Kornuyeretvedelmi Taryasag of Kerner Gabor, President, Kovagoors.
- Interested: Grosz Bela of Koveskal.
The pre-WWII Jewish population was 72. The Jewish cemetery was established in 1820. Pfeifer Zelig Lebi, First Rabbi (died 1868), is buried in the cemetery. The last known Hasidic Orthodox Jewish burial was 1940. The flat suburban forest, separate but near other cemeteries, has no sign or marker. Access is open to all via a masonry wall and no gate. Pre- and post-WWII size of cemetery is 0.35 hectares.
20-100 gravestones, 25-50% toppled or broken, date from 19th century. The marble, limestone and sandstone flat shaped stones, finely smoothed and inscribed stones or flat stones with carved relief decoration, some with metal fences around graves, have Hebrew and Hungarian inscriptions. No known mass graves. There is a pre-burial house ruins. The national Jewish community owns the cemetery. Adjacent properties are agricultural, cemetery, and forest. Boundaries are unchanged since 1939. The cemetery was vandalized during and after World War II, but not since Jewish groups within Hungary cleared vegetation in 1976 and in 1990. There is no care of the cemetery now. Security, erosion, and vegetation are very serious threats, vandalism moderate. Peter Wirth completed survey on 9/13/91 using M.ZS.L. (Jewish Encyclopedia of Hungary.) He visited site on 13/09/1991.
Grosz Bela at Koveskal, Varoskut at Utca 5 was interviewed.