“We Really Did Not Expect to See You Again”: A Case Study on Jewish–Non-Jewish Relations in Post-War Szeged

The Jewish Community of Szeged, Hungary, has a rich cultural and historical heritage dating back two centuries. Like most Jewish cities in Europe, much of Szeged’s Jewish population was destroyed in the Holocaust. It was the main deportation centre for Csongrád County (southern Hungarian settlements) and parts of current northern Serbia (Bačka region). It was also the main deportation centre for southern Hungary. At the end of June 1944, three trains departed from Szeged, deporting the Jewish population from this city and the surrounding villages, totalling 8,617 people in only three days. Approximately half of the deportees were taken to Auschwitz, where most were killed upon arrival; partly unintentionally, the other half ended up at the Strasshof Labour Camp near Vienna, where most people survived. This resulted in Szeged’s Jewry having an exceptionally high rate of survival (an estimated 60%), including children and the elderly. What was the nature of the relationship between Jewish survivors and their non-Jewish neighbours upon their return to Szeged, and what factors contributed to the development of these relationships? What were the experiences of Jewish survivors in attempting to retrieve their confiscated property, and what factors facilitated or hindered their efforts? How did Jewish survivors cope with the challenges of rebuilding their lives in Szeged after the war, and what role did their relationships with non-Jewish neighbours play in this process? The proposed paper presents and analyses the survivors’ fates upon their return to Szeged and their relationships with their non-Jewish neighbours. These narratives include the non-Jewish local population’s reaction to the return of Jews, accounts of attempts to recover looted property, and the depiction of life in Szeged immediately after the war.