photo: synagogue in 1983. The former synagogue built in 1863 now is the community center of the Bakonyi bauxite mine. Installed on its wall in 1992 is a memorial plaque commemorating the town's Holocaust victims. The former school also has one recalling the school and also the kindergarten that operated from 1855 to 1944. In the cemetery there is a Holocaust memorial. [February 2009]
US Commission No. 000065
Tapolca is located in Veszprem (46°53 17°26), 62km from Nagykanizsa. Cemetery: Halapi ut (NE of the center). Present population is 5,000-25,000 with Jewish population under ten.
- Local: Polgarmesteri Hivatal of 8300 Tapolca Hosok tere 15 Ph: 8711444.
- Regional: Mazsihisz of Sip U.12, H-1075, Budapest Phone: (011-361) 122-6475/78.
- Interested: Kemeny Emno of Tapolca Batsanyi u. 12 and Volak Tiborne of Tapolca Ady u. 20. Mayer Denes of Tapolca Batsanyi u. 12.
The pre-WWII Jewish population (census) was 706. Rabbis Abraham Neuhaus (1853-81), Mor Rosenstein, and Bernat Singer (1893-1905) lived here. The Jewish cemetery was established in 1840 with last known Neolog Jewish burial in 1992. Sumeg (20km away) used this unlandmarked cemetery. The flat isolated suburban site has inscriptions on the pre-burial house. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open with permission via a continuous masonry wall and locked. Pre- and post-WWII size of cemetery is 0.42 hectares.
100-500 gravestones, 1-20 not in original location with less than 25% toppled or broken, date from 19th-20th centuries. Vegetation overgrowth is a seasonal problem. The cemetery is not divided into special sections. The marble, granite and limestone flat shaped stones, finely smoothed and inscribed stones and sculpted monuments have inscriptions are in Hebrew, German and Hungarian. Some have iron decorations or lettering and/or metal fences around graves. The cemetery contains special memorial monuments to Holocaust victims, but no known mass graves. The owner of the still-active cemetery is the national Jewish community. Adjacent properties are commercial/industrial and residential. Boundaries are unchanged since 1939. Jewish groups within Hungary re-erected stones, patched broken stones and cleared vegetation. In 1993, Mazsihisz reerected stones. There has not been vandalism since restoration. Individuals cleared or cleaned. Caretaker is paid. Within the limits of the cemetery is a pre-burial house with a catafalque and list of Holocaust victims. Security, vandalism, and incompatible development are moderate threats.
Peter Wirth completed survey on 8/27/93 using M.ZS.L. (Jewish Encyclopedia of Hungary.) and Mayer Denes: A tapolcai Zsidosag tortenete (manuscript). He visited site on 26/08/1993. Interviewed were Mr and Mrs Kemeny on 26/08/1993 at Tapolca Batsanyi u12.