Edit Balázs: What Remained of the Countryside Jews?
The Jews living in the countryside have been almost completely wiped out during the soa. In most countryside settlements, nothing indicates that Jewish have ever lived there. Only the cemetery remains after them. The engravings on the intact tombstones show important data concerning the Jews who died before 1944. Some history workshops and several researchers registered the data of Jewish cemeteries especially with the purpose of preserving historical sources, so that they can be used for research on local history.
The data found on tombstones can be used to establish the age pyramid of a particular community and to examine its name giving customs. We can conclude the causes of death, epidemics, and infant mortality. We can also reconstruct the members of the chevra and the leader of the religious community, since their titles are often recorded on their tombstones. The halachic quotes are enlightening in regard of cultural history, history of religion and they are sources of family research. Tombstones of rabbis show significant data, as the grateful community often engraved their whole biography on them. We publish the tombstone engravings of the rabbis Lajos Könisberger from Szombathely, Elázár ben Elázár Kálir from Rohonc, Götz Bodanszky from Körmend and Mózes Weinrebe from Szalónak.