The Sfântu Gheorghe ghetto was one of the Nazi-era ghettos for European

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

s during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. It was located in the city of

Sfântu Gheorghe Sfântu Gheorghe (; hu, Sepsiszentgyörgy or ''Szentgyörgy'' ; yi, סנט דזשארדזש; English lit.: ''Saint George'') is the capital city of Covasna County, Romania. Located in the central part of the country and in the historical regio ...

( hu, Sepsiszentgyörgy) in today's

Covasna County Covasna County (, hu, Kovászna megye, ) is a county ( județ) of Romania, in eastern Transylvania, with the county seat at Sfântu Gheorghe. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 210,177, making it the second least populous of Romania ...

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

, now part of

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

but administered by the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

from the 1940

Second Vienna Award The Second Vienna Award, also known as the Vienna Diktat, was the second of two territorial disputes that were arbitrated by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. On 30 August 1940, they assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania, including all o ...

's grant of Northern Transylvania until late 1944. It was active in the spring of 1944, following

Operation Margarethe Operation Margarethe (''Unternehmen Margarethe'') was the occupation of Hungary by German Nazi troops during World War II that was ordered by Adolf Hitler. Course of events Hungarian Prime Minister Miklós Kállay, who had been in office from ...

History

The ghetto housed Jews from the city as well as from surrounding villages in

Háromszék County Háromszék (''Three Seats''; Romanian: ''Trei Scaune'') was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Situated in south-eastern Transylvania, its territory is now in central Romania (in the counties of Covasna, Brașov and B ...

(''Trei Scaune''), and from the southern part of

Csík County Csík (Hungarian, in Romanian: ''Ciuc'') was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now in central Romania (eastern Transylvania). The capital of the county was Csíkszereda (now Miercurea Ciuc). Geograp ...

(''Ciuc''). Its total population was 850. The committee for deciding on its location was composed of county prefect Gábor Szentiványi, whose conduct toward the rural Jews was relatively humane; his assistant Andor Barábas; the Sfântu Gheorghe chief of police, István Vincze; and lieutenant-colonel Balla, commander of the county's gendarmerie. Together with Adolf Eichmann's assistant László Endre, they had all taken part in a planning conference at

Târgu Mureș Târgu Mureș (, ; hu, Marosvásárhely ) is the seat of Mureș County in the historical region of Transylvania, Romania. It is the 16th largest Romanian city, with 134,290 inhabitants as of the 2011 census. It lies on the Mureș River, the ...

."Ghettoes"
at the Northern Transylvania Holocaust Memorial Museum site; accessed October 11, 2013 The ghettoization procedure for the Jews of Sfântu Gheorghe unfolded differently from other areas. On May 2, the police asked them to come to their headquarters at 6 am the following day, together with all their family members. One member of each family was allowed to return home, accompanied by a policeman, in order to pick up essential possessions allowed by officials. Subsequently, the Jews were transferred to an unfinished building without doors or windows. The Ciuc Jews, including those from

Miercurea Ciuc Miercurea Ciuc (; hu, Csíkszereda, ; german: Szeklerburg) is the county seat of Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, a mainly Hungarian-speaking ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania, and is situated in the Olt Ri ...

, were rounded up under orders from county prefect Ernő Gaáli; his assistant József Abraham; Miercurea Ciuc mayor Gerő Szász; his chief of police, Pál Farkas; and the city's gendarmerie commander, locotenent-colonel Tivadar Lóhr. These individuals too had taken part in the Târgu Mureș conference. The ghetto was commanded by an unidentified SS officer, and conditions were harsh. After one week, residents were transported to the Reghin ghetto.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sfantu Gheorghe Ghetto Jewish Romanian history Jewish Hungarian history Sfântu Gheorghe Jewish ghettos in Nazi-occupied Hungary 1944 establishments in Hungary