The Jews of Borsec: a synagogue and mikveh in a Carpathian spa

Borsec, Borszék in Hungarian, is a spa town in the Eastern Carpathians whose mineral springs are known throughout Romania. From the late 19th century a few dozen Jews lived here, joined every summer by Jewish holidaymakers. In 1944, under Hungarian rule, the Jews who remained were sent to Auschwitz. Today there is no permanent community, but the synagogue still stands, next to a holiday centre run by the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania, with a mikveh.

A spa among the fir forests

Borsec lies at about 900 metres in today’s Harghita County. Until 1920 it belonged to the Hungarian county of Csík, and most of its residents were, and remain, Hungarian. Its springs made it one of Transylvania’s best-known spas in the 19th century, and decorated wooden villas were built along its streets to let to visitors.

Jews arrived with this boom. According to the census statistics compiled by the historian Árpád Varga, Borsec had 9 Jews in 1869, 63 in 1900 and 125 in 1910, about six and a half percent of its population. In 1930 their number peaked at 151.

Villas, kosher guesthouses and sawmills

According to the Hebrew Wikipedia article on Borsec, the first Jews settled here in the 1870s. They bought villas and let them to visitors, ran kosher guesthouses and eating places, and worked in trade and crafts. At the edge of town, away from the springs, there were sawmills and woodworking shops, and even a Jewish-owned piano factory. Between the two world wars they were joined by Jews from Maramureș who dealt in timber and cattle.

Borsec also drew Jews from the larger towns. Edita Adler, who told her life story to the Centropa project, remembered holidays of about two weeks with her parents in the spa towns of Tușnad and Borsec.

A synagogue that blends into the town

The synagogue was built in the 20th century and covers 190 square metres. According to the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania, which lists it on Vânători Street, it does not stand out from the houses around it and fits the character of a summer resort. According to the Hebrew Wikipedia it had about a hundred seats, many for the size of the permanent community, because it also served visitors. The Federation’s list of synagogues marks it as a synagogue in use.

1940–1944: Northern Transylvania under Hungary

Under the Second Vienna Award of August 1940, Borsec passed with Northern Transylvania to Hungarian rule. The Hungarian census of 1941 counted 88 Jews here, far fewer than in 1930. According to the Hebrew Wikipedia, many left when the Hungarians arrived.

In spring 1944 the Jews of northern Csík County, to which Borsec belonged, were concentrated in a ghetto set up in a brick factory in Reghin. On 4 June 1944 the ghetto was emptied and 3,149 people were deported from it to Auschwitz-Birkenau. According to the Hebrew Wikipedia, this was also the fate of the Jews still living in Borsec. The community did not revive after the war: in the 1956 census ten residents declared Jewish nationality, and in 1992 not one Jew was recorded in the town.

Borsec today: a synagogue, a mikveh and a holiday centre

Jewish life in Borsec continues mainly through the Federation. It runs a training and holiday centre in two villas. One has 26 beds and a restaurant run according to religious rules for 48 diners; the other gives access to the synagogue and the mikveh. The Federation’s 2007 activity report notes a mikveh next to the synagogue and says that the synagogue is used mostly by religious Jews from Bnei Brak. The Federation’s Rabbinical Chancellery holds study camps at the centre, and in 2010 it hosted a summer camp for children from flood-hit families in Dorohoi.

There is no organised Jewish community in the town itself. The nearest is the Jewish community of Târgu Mureș, to which the Jews of nearby Gheorgheni are also affiliated.

Visiting

• The synagogue: on Vânători Street (Strada Vânători), according to the Federation. There are no fixed opening hours.
• Arranging a visit: through the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania or the Târgu Mureș community. Check in advance whether the holiday centre is open and whether there will be a minyan.
• Kosher food: we found no current information on kosher food in town. Bring supplies.
• Nearby: the synagogue and memorial plaques in Gheorgheni, about 30 km to the south, and the synagogue in Reghin.