Bezid, Bözöd, 46°24' N 24°55' E, 147.4 miles NNW of Bucureşti. Bezid (Bözöd), Bezidu Nou (Bözödújfalu) and Loţu (Lóc) villages are administratively part of the town of Sângeorgiu de Pădure (Hungarian: Erdőszentgyörgy, meaning "St. George of the Forest").
CEMETERY:
The cemetery is located in Bezid under the water [sic] near the village, cod. 3281, 4624 2455, 147.4 miles NNW of Bucharest and 42 km from Targu Mures. Alternate name: Bozod (Hungarian). Present town population is under 1,000 with no Jews.
[UPDATE] Photos by Charles Burns [June 2016]
- Mayor Tar Andras, tel. 164 167, 578 Sangeorgiu de Padure.
- The Jewish Community of Targu Mures, A. Filimon Str. no. 23, tel. 161810, cod, Tîrgu Mures, Romania
- The Federation of the Jewish Communities of Romania, Sf. Vineri Str., no. 9-11, sect. 3, Bucharest, Romania
- "Dr. Moshe Carmilly" Institute for Hebrew and Jewish History, Universitatii Str. no. 7-9, room 61, 3400 Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Director: Ladislau Gyemant, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- Key holder and caretaker: None
The 1850 Jewish population by census was 21 and from 1930 census was 10. Beginning at the end of the 16th century, Bezid was one of the main centers of the so-called Sabatarians, Christians who observed Jewish festivals, rituals, and sanitation and food prescriptions. After persecutions suffered in the 17-18th centuries and after the1869 civil emancipation of Jews in Hungary and Transylvania, the Sabatarians converted to Judaism. In May 1944, they chose to be deported together with the Jews to Auschwitz and not return to Christianity. The 19th and 20th century isolated unlandmarked Orthodox cemetery gravestones are under water and by water with no sign or marker. Reached by a public road, 20-100 stones are visible. Location of stones removed from the cemetery is unknown. Water drainage is a constant problem. Tombstones date from the 19th century. No known mass graves. The national Jewish community owns the property that is now a lake. Adjacent properties are hills. No maintenance. No care. No structures. The cemetery generally is under water.
Cosmina Popa, Tatra Str. no. 4, tel. 064/ 128764, Cluj Napoca, 3400 and Ioana Oprea, Bd. 21 Decembrie, 13-15, 064/190849, Cluj-Napoca, 3400 visited the site and completed the survey on 11 August 2000 using the following documentation:
- Recensamantul din 1850. Transilvania (The 1850 Jewish population census. Transylvania) coord.: Traian Rotariu, Cluj 1996.
- Carmilly-Weinberger, Moshe. History of the Jews of Transylvania (1623-1944), Bucuresti, 1994, in Romanian, Budapest, 1995, in Hungarian
- Recensamantul general al populatiei din 29 decembrie 1930 (The General Census of the Population from December 29, 1930), vol. II, Bucuresti 1938
- Coriolan Suciu, Dictionar istoric al localitatilor din Transilvania (The Historical Dictionary of Localities in Transylvania), vol. I-II, Bucuresti, 1967
Cosmina Popa and Ioana Raiciu interviewed Veres Rozalia, Suplac. [January 2003]