Sighet’s Old Jewish Cemetery: The Ohel of the Teitelbaum Rebbes

Behind a high concrete wall, a short walk from the centre of Sighet, lies the town’s old Jewish cemetery: thousands of gravestones from the late 18th century to the 1980s. At its heart stands the ohel of the Teitelbaum rebbes, where Sighet and Satmar Hasidim still come to pray.

Where It Is

The cemetery is on Strada Szilágyi István, according to JewishGen’s burial registry (JOWBR), JGuide Europe and Romania’s tourism site. In Romanian it is the “Cimitirul Evreiesc”; English-language sources call it the Old Jewish Cemetery. JewishGen’s cemetery survey describes it as “located in the city”, within walking distance of the community centre at Strada Basarabiei 8.

Age and Size

According to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, Jews lived in Sighet by the 17th century and appear on tax rolls from 1728. The organised community is known from the mid-18th century; its first rabbi was appointed around 1759.

According to JewishGen, the recorded burials run from the late 18th century to the 1980s. The Sighet burial list was compiled after the Second World War by transcribing the gravestones and holds about 3,400 names; the handwritten original is reportedly kept at the community centre. Because it covers only stones with legible inscriptions, the cemetery is thought to hold more than 4,000 burials. It is divided into sections, and some of the oldest graves are in Section III. World Jewish Travel puts its age at about 300 years and notes that many stones have weathered away.

The Teitelbaum Ohel

According to JewishGen, members of the Teitelbaum family, the Hasidic dynasty that led Sighet’s Orthodox community, are buried in an ohel in Section I. Section III has another ohel, of the Kahan family, another leading rabbinic family of the town.

• Rabbi Yekutiel Yehudah Teitelbaum, the “Yetev Lev” (1808–1883): born in Drohobych, he came to Sighet in 1858. He died on 6 Elul 5643 (1883) and was buried in the town. He is regarded as the founder of the Sighet dynasty.
• Rabbi Hananiah Yom Tov Lipa Teitelbaum, the “Kedushat Yom Tov” (1836–1904): his son, who succeeded him in 1883 and died in Sighet on 29 Shevat 5664. His youngest son, Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, was born in Sighet in 1887 and later founded the Satmar Hasidic movement.
• Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum, the “Atzei Chaim” (1880–1926): grandson of the Yetev Lev. According to Hasidic biographies he died suddenly in Grosswardein (Oradea) on 6 Shevat 5686 and was brought to Sighet for burial.

His son, Rabbi Yekutiel Yehudah (1912–1944), was the last rabbi of the Orthodox community. He was murdered in Auschwitz with his family and has no grave. His brother, Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum, survived and later led the Satmar movement.

Pilgrims at the Ohel

Sighet was a Hasidic centre, and the cemetery is still a place of pilgrimage. According to World Jewish Travel, many Hasidim come to pray at the ohel and leave written petitions there. In May 2012 the Satmar Rebbe of Williamsburg, Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum, visited with a group of followers; according to the Jewish Press, they prayed for hours at the grave of the Yetev Lev and the other tzaddikim in the ohel. In May 2026 a delegation of nearly 1,000 Satmar Hasidim came to Sighet, Yeshiva World News reported.

A Memorial and Soap from Auschwitz

At the centre of the cemetery stands a monument to the town’s Jews deported in May 1944. According to JewishGen’s cemetery survey, bars of soap brought from Auschwitz are buried beneath it. Several communities held such burials after the war, in the belief that the soap had been made from the fat of the murdered. Holocaust historians have found no evidence of such soap being made on an industrial scale, but the grave remains a witness to the grief of those who returned.

The cemetery also has a small tahara house and an “Ohel Kohanim” built into the wall near the side gate. Through its window, kohanim can pray facing the graves without entering the cemetery.

The Site Today

A high concrete wall surrounds the cemetery, and the gate is kept locked. JewishGen’s survey (from around 2000, with photographs from 2015 and 2018) found the stones old but standing, with no sign of vandalism, and the ohels by and large in good condition. The Sighet community also looks after many cemeteries in the villages of Maramureș: according to Federation of Jewish Communities figures from 2007, it was responsible for 49 cemeteries in the county.

Visiting

• Address: Strada Szilágyi István, Sighetu Marmației, within walking distance of the town centre.
• Access: according to JewishGen, visits are by appointment only. You check in at the Jewish community centre at Strada Basarabiei 8, next to the Wizhnitz synagogue, and the caretaker unlocks the gate. The source mentions an entrance fee. No current source gives hours or prices, so arrange your visit with the community or the Federation of Jewish Communities before you go.
• For kohanim: the Ohel Kohanim in the wall lets you pray without entering the cemetery.
• Nearby: the Wizhnitz synagogue, the Elie Wiesel house and the memorial to the deportees on Strada Gheorghe Doja.