There is a beautiful synagogue in MÁd, a village near Tokaj in Eastern Hungary, that is not as popular as it should be amongst visitors. Today it is a Holocaust memorial and represents rare Hungarian synagogue architecture; its history is just as fascinating.
MÁd Synagogue, which was built in 1795, is one of the oldest surviving synagogues in Hungary and is perfectly situated on top of a hill overlooking the beautiful vineyards of the Tokaj Hegyalja region.
In 1944 German soldiers and local militia rounded up the Jews in the community and locked them in the synagogue without any food for days. The captives were eventually sent to the Nazi death camps. During that communist rule period the few synagogues in rural Hungary, including this one, were abused and eventually left abandoned and neglected. These photos displayed in the synagogue now tell the story of what condition it was found in before restoration began.
Few Holocaust survivors from MÁd returned to the village at the end of WWII. The synagogue therefore continued to remain neglected until 2002, when it was one of a handful that got a makeover by the World Monuments Fund. The restored MÁd Synagogue was completed in 2004 with a ceremony to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Holocaust in Hungary.
Today it is managed by an old Jew who lives close by. The really sweet gentleman let us in and gave us a tour nevermind he spoke no English; clearly beaming with pride of the richness of his heritage that this synagogue represents.
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