US Commission No. ROCE-0367
US Commission information pending [March 2001]
United States Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad 1101 15th Street, NW, Suite 1040, Washington D.C. 20005
Telephone: (202) 254-3824
Fax: (202) 254-3934
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website: http://www.heritageabroad.gov
Reference Number: RO/MM/54
Located at 4732 2318, 252.7 miles NNW of Bucharest in Maramureş judet. Szélszeg is the alternate Hungarian name.
LOCAL: Comunitatea Evreilor (Baia Mare), Str. Someşului Nr. 5, 4800 Baia Mare, Jud. Maramureş, Romania. Tel: (40-62) 211-231. Further inquiries about the site could be addressed to the Jewish community in Baia Mare or the Federation of Romanian Jewish Communities in Bucuresti.
REGIONAL: Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania, Str. Sf. Vineri 9-11, Bucureşti, Tel: (40-1) 613-2538, 143-008. Contact: Mr. Alex Silvan
CARETAKER: Simion and Mioriţa Mureşan, Com. Sălsig n0. 94, Jud. Maramureş 4820, Romania. The caretaker listed by the community in Baia Mare, Vasile Kiss, is the father of Miorita Muresan and has passed away. Kiss Vasile, who took care of the cemetery for as long as Miorita can remember, was unpaid. They harvest the prunes that grow on the fruit trees in the cemetery. Also, they keep the grass that is cut several times a year. Aside from the Jewish community in Baia Mare, who visit the site on an annual basis, the Muresans said no one has ever visited the cemetery.
The isolated rural (agricultural) on flat land has no sign or marker. Reached by a public road, access is open to all via a fence with a gate that does not lock. A concrete post and chain link fence that was constructed in 1992 protects the cemetery in Sălsig. At the time of our visit, the area in front of the gate, which is situated on lower ground, was covered with a large puddle of water that made entering the cemetery a challenge involving skillful leaps and moments of precarious balance. The caretakers told us that they have requested, unsuccessfully, on numerous occasions, that the town construct a drainage pipe in that region. The cemetery is in the form of a large "L" composed of two rectangular sections. The first section of the cemetery is approximately 88 meters long and six meters wide, but only the last 16 meters contains markers. The second section is a rectangle approximately 10 meters long and 28 meters wide. Possibly, these two areas represent separate sections of the cemetery. The 630 square meter size (Baia Mare list) was confirmed by on-site measurement. 28 gravestones are in the cemetery, regardless of condition or position: 10 standing straight up, 17 leaning, and 1 broken. Vegetation overgrowth in the cemetery is not a problem. Water drainage at the cemetery is good all year and is not a problem, except for a large puddle outside of the entrance gate formed by a depression joining the drainage ditch that was full of water even in late June. The Hebrew-inscribed marble, limestone, and sandstone flat-shaped, smoothed and inscribed, and carved relief decorated tombstones have traces of painting on their surfaces. No known mass graves.
The property is used only for orchard and some sheep grazing. Properties adjacent to the cemetery are agricultural and residential, in a village residential setting, e.g. very near to houses with adjacent gardens, orchards and pastures). Compared to 1939, the cemetery boundaries enclose a smaller area, a housing development. It looks very much like a "chunk" has been cut out of the cemetery to accommodate a kitchen garden for a neighbor. This would have to be confirmed with the local Jewish community. No one ever visits. Seasonal clearing of vegetation (twice a year minimum) by regular unpaid caretaker. No structures. Weather erosion is only a slight threat.
John DeMetrick and Christina Crowder, formerly of Cluj-Napoca, visited the site on 23 June 2002 and completed this survey on 30 June 2000 using a list of cemeteries known by Jewish Community in Baia Mare. They have no further information. Other documentation exists. They interviewed Simion and Miorita Muresan. Further inquiries about the site could be addressed to the Jewish community in Baia Mare or the Federation of Romanian Jewish Communities in Bucuresti. [April 2002]
[UPDATE] Photos by Charles Burns [July 2018]