This richly illustrated book documents the search for the former Jewish presence in Satu Mare in the Northwest of today’s Romania. In 1944, Satu Mare’s Jewry was almost completely annihilated in the Holocaust. What is left are vanishing traces, mostly ruined Jewish cemeteries and shabby synagogues. These forgotten sites bear witness to the formerly proud Jewish presence in the region. On his journeys Simon Geissbühler is not only interested in the Jewish heritage and the Jewish microcosm of Satu Mare. He also discusses the history of the Romanian Jews in the 20th century, the Holocaust in Romania, the still almost inexistent culture of memory and remembrance in Romania, a country which was home to one of the most important Jewish communities in pre-World War II Europe. The author builds new inroads into what once was a thriving Jewish community and makes a world long gone rise again.
