This is a photograph from 1940 of Jozsef Faludi working in his aunt’s dressmaking workshop in Tel Aviv. Faludi is sitting behind the women, wearing a cap. His aunt’s name was Rozsi Brull, and she immigrated to Israel from Hungary in 1936. Also working in the workshop were Rozsi’s sister, Rene, who can be seen making artificial flowers on the right-hand side of the photograph and Rozsi’s husband, Zoli Brull, who is standing in the back. Rozsi was the salon manager, Zoli was the tailor, and Rene’s artificial flowers were used on the garments.
Jozsef Faludi, came from a Hungarian Jewish religious family. His grandfather was a rabbi and took care of all the religious needs of the Jews in their town of Csepel. Jozsef grew up in the Hungarian town of Kiskoros, where his father had a business. When he was young he studied secular studies in the morning and religious studies in a cheder in the afternoon. Later, he studied in a yeshiva. In 1939 Jozsef immigrated to Israel with the intention of subsequently bringing the other members of the family to live in Israel. However, in 1944, his parents and siblings were deported from Kiskoros to Auschwitz and other camps. Only his brother Imre survived, and after a short period in Hungary, he joined Jozsef in Israel. In 1948 Jozsef returned to Hungary with his Israeli wife and son.
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The Jewish Community of Hungary – Jews have lived in Hungary for approximately 600 years. Attitudes towards the Jewish community differed depending on the leaders; some were very welcoming, while others subjected the Jews to harsh taxation and blood libels and expelled them from certain areas of Hungary. By the mid-nineteenth century Jews had achieved full emancipation and the community prospered, with many belonging to the social, academic, and financial elites of the country. The Jewish community at the time consisted of Orthodox, traditionalist (Status Quo Ante), and Neolog communities. Prior to World War I, the Jews comprised around 5 percent of the total Hungarian population and 23 percent of the population of Budapest. By the outbreak of World War II, the Jewish population numbered around 825,000. In 1944, towards the end of the war, the Nazis took over Hungary, and within a very short period most of the Jews were murdered. Around 200,000 Hungarian Jews survived the war. After the war, only 140,000 Jews remained in Hungary, while others immigrated to Israel and other western countries. In the following years, the Jews remaining in Hungary were challenged once again, this time by communist rule. However, after the fall of communism in Hungary in 1989, the community rebuilt itself and is today the largest in East-Central Europe with around 75,000–100,000 Jews. Most Hungarian Jews live in Budapest, where there are 20 active synagogues and a variety of Jewish religious and cultural institutions.
