Bodrogkeresztúr (shortly, ''"Keresztúr"'', ) is a village in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, in the

Tokaj District Tokaj () is a district in eastern part of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County. ''Tokaj'' is also the name of the town where the district seat is found. The district is located in the Northern Hungary Statistical Region. Geography Tokaj District bord ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, there was a sizable Jewish community in Bodrogkeresztúr. At its height, there were 535 Jews in the community, but most of them were murdered by the Nazis during

the Holocaust in Hungary The Holocaust saw the dispossession, deportation and systematic murder of more than half of the Hungarian Jews, primarily after the German invasion of Hungary (1944), German occupation of Hungary in March 1944. Before that, several incidents too ...

. Rabbi Yeshaya Steiner of the Kerestir

Hasidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...

dynasty lived Bodrogkeresztúr at 67 Kossuth Utca. The house still serves tens of thousands of people annually, especially on the anniversary of his death.

History

The area has been inhabited since prehistoric times, evidenced by significant Neolithic finds, including gold jewellery from 1200 BCE known as the "Treasure of Dereszla." The exact origin of the village's name is unknown; it may have been named after crusader knights. The settlement and its fortress were first mentioned in 1239, likely destroyed during the

Mongol invasion The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire, the Mongol Empire (1206–1368), which by 1260 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastati ...

. From 1411, the village became part of the Tokaj estate. By the 16th century, it was mentioned as a market town, and from the end of that century until the mid-17th century, a printing press operated there. The

Rákóczi's War of Independence Rákóczi's War of Independence (1703–1711) was the first significant attempt to topple the rule of the Habsburgs over Royal Hungary, Hungary. The war was conducted by a group of noblemen, wealthy and high-ranking progressives and was led by F ...

took a toll on the village, but it managed to recover, mainly due to viticulture, modernized significantly by

Hasidic Jewish Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...

settlers who arrived in 1726. During the 1848–49

War of Independence Wars of national liberation, also called wars of independence or wars of liberation, are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) ...

, the settlement was looted. Rabbi Yeshaya Steiner (1851–1925), a revered rabbi who died in Bodrogkeresztúr in 1925, was a prominent member of the Jewish community; his former residence became a memorial house and pilgrimage site.

Gallery

References

External links

Street map

Bodrogkeresztúr - Footsteps of the wonder rabbis

Followers of ‘miracle rabbi’ transform sleepy Hungarian village

Followers of ‘miracle rabbi’ transform sleepy Hungarian village
Populated places in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County Jewish communities in Hungary {{Jewish-hist-stub