Transylvania 2012

As our honeymoon continued in Romania, Jenifer and I met up with my parents, siblings, two nephews, a niece, and some cousins. There were 15 of us in total, and using Oradea, Romania as a base, we spent two days touring a section of Transylvania where my Deutsch and Lichtman ancestors lived. When they lived there, it was part of Hungary. Now it is part of Romania.

One day we visited Huedin, Almasu (marked by the A), and Cluj. The other we visited Marghita and Simleu Silvaniei. My maternal grandfather, Martin Deutsch, was born in Almasu. The nearest train station from which the family likely departed in 1913 was in Huedin. My great grandfather's passport was issued in Kolozsvár (Cluj). In 1977 my great-uncle Ted Deutsch was recorded singing a song in part-Hungarian and part-Romanian about Kolozsvár. My great grandmother, Helen Lichtman Deutsch, was born in Marghita. Two nieces of Helen's, who remained in Romania, survived the concentration camps, but returned post-war, and settled in Simleu Silvaniei. They weren't allowed to leave under Communist rule until the 1960s. A daughter of one of the survivors, who grew up in Simleu Silvaniei, now lives near Tel Aviv. She joined us and acted as a tour guide.  

Almasu, Romania (Varalmas, Hungary)



About all we know about the home my grandfather was raised in until age 7 is that it was situated by the river. The Valea Babiu runs through Almasu. My parents took a photograph of a different house when they visited previously back in 2000. Either could be 100 years old; both have clearly seen better days. My great-grandfather was a tenant-farmer, so even if some depository had land records, his name wouldn't likely be on them.

Huedin, Romania (Bánffyhunyad, Hungary)



I like that the train station still has the Hungarian version of the town's name on it in addition to the Romanian. I also took photographs of two old benches that theoretically could have been there in 1913. One of the two benches isn't very useful anymore.  The sign on the red box says, "Pastrati Curatenia," which means, "Keep Clean" in Romanian. (There were newer benches at the train station, in addition to the chairs which can be seen in the first photograph.

Marghita, Romania (Margitta, Hungary)



We know the exact address in Margitta where my great-grandmother, Helen (Lichtman) Deutsch, was raised. However, sometimes streets get renumbered. There's a photograph of the Lichtmann leather shop prior to WW2. Is this the same building? While the front has been remodeled somewhat over the years, I believe it is.  While the building is occupied, we didn't knock on the door.

Update

Here's another archival image of the Lichtmann leather store, obviously taken at a different time than the one above because the sign above the door is different. The similarities between it and the current building are more noticeable.

Cluj, Romania (Kolozsvár, Hungary)

While in Cluj, I took a photograph of a monument. I couldn't read what it said at the base, but I figured I could look it up later.

It is a quote from Ioan Raţiu, one of several Romanians who petitioned Emperor-King Franz Joseph in 1892 for equal rights for Romanians.

Existenţa unui popor nu se discută, se afirmă!

which translates to:

The existence of a people is not for discussion, but rather for affirmation!
Photo Credits: 
John Newmark - June 2012 
Lichtman Leather Shop: Unknown photographer, Unknown date

Almasu Romania / Varalmas Hungary

Monday when I posted the transcript of my grandfather and his brother discussing their home village in Transylvania, I included photographs of nearby Cluj I had found on the web. Cluj had been mentioned on the tape, but I noted that wasn't the village they were describing. After she saw the post, my mother reminded me that when she had visited in 2000, she had taken some photographs I was welcome to scan and post here. Several photographs appear below from what is now Almasu, Romania, and 100 years ago was Varalmas, Hungary.




Except for the telephone poles, and the partially paved road, the main street of the town might not look much different than it did 100 years ago.

They are still using wells as their primary source of water.



While there are no Jews left in the town, there are two Jewish cemeteries that remain. My parents, who were there with cousins from Israel who knew both Hebrew and Hungarian so they could read the tombstones, searched for the tombstone of Armon Deutsch, a brother of my grandfather who died tragically. They were unsuccessful. It isn't certain that there was a stone marker for the grave, or maybe it had faded beyond readability.

On the tape they made in 1977, my grandfather and his brother indicated that the house they lived in was by the river that ran through the town. There were no other details, so my parents found a house by the river they decided was representative of the ones they saw.







It appears as if the house could be over 100 years old. While run down, it was likely in better shape in its younger days.

My great uncle talks about at age 8 driving a horse and carriage with bottles of plum brandy (slivowitz) to a local brewery. Horse and carriage is still the primary means of transportation in the town. My father shows up in this photograph.



Finally, there is a photograph of the Huedin Train Station. Huedin is the nearest town that had a train station in the early 1900s, and is likely the train station from which my grandfather's family left - his mother in 1912, and the rest of the family in 1913.



The name of the town (Varalmas) means Apple Fort. You can barely see the fort in the distance in the photograph of the cemetery above. A close-up view of the remains can be seen here.