The Geographical Encyclopedia of the Holocaust in Hungary

I’ve heard Hungarian Holocaust survivors talk with nostalgia about life before the war. They spoke of the beautiful cities, the cafes, how civilized it all was. The Jews of Hungary were stereotyped as urbane, well-educated, multilingual, and cultured. But this book doesn’t restrict itself to the upper classes of Hungarian Jews; it collects the stories of the small town Jewish populations, and how they were wiped out.

Hungary was one of the last nations conquered by the Nazis, at a time when they were losing the war. Though Hungary’s government was pro-Nazi (probably out of fear of the Soviets) they refused to hand over the Jewish inhabitants until later in the war. While a sizeable number of Hungarian Jews survived the Holocaust, few returned afterward.

As a well-researched text, it’s a valuable tool for anyone studying the Holocaust and its effects on Europe’s Jews. It’s also important for historians on a personal level. If your ancestors came from a particular town in Hungary, this three-volume text will let you learn all about that community.