Budapest Guide
Terézváros and Erzsébetváros
The Jewish quarter
Fanning out behind the Dohány utca Synagogue is what was once the Jewish ghetto, created by the Nazis in April 1944. As their menfolk had already been conscripted into labour battalions intended to kill them from overwork, the 70,000 inhabitants of the ghetto were largely women, children and old folk, crammed into 162 blocks of flats, with over 50,000 of them (in buildings meant for 15,000) around Klauzál tér alone.
The Rumbach utca Synagogue (Mon– Thurs 10am–4.30pm, Fri 10am–2.30pm, Sun 10am–5.30pm; 800Ft), is five-minutes' walk from the Dohány Synagogue. Built by Otto Wagner in 1872, for the so-called "Status Quo" or middling-conservative Jews, it now belongs to the Neolog community. Decorated in violet, crimson and gold, its octagonal Moorish interior has yet to be fully restored after being ruined during the war. As a plaque outside notes, the building served as a detention barracks in August 1941, from where up to 1800 Slovak and Polish refugees were deported to the Nazi death camps.
Crossing cross Dob utca, you'll see a monument to Carl Lutz, the Swiss consul who began issuing Schutzpasses to Jews, attesting that they were Swiss or Swedish citizens. His monument – a gilded angel swooping down to help a prostrate victim – is locally known as "the figure jumping out of a window".
The kosher Fröhlich patisserie at Dob utca 22 is one of several Jewish businesses around Kazinczy utca, the centre of the 3000-strong Orthodox community, where Yiddish can still be heard. Nearby stands the Orthodox Synagogue (Mon– Thurs 10am–4.30pm, Fri 10am–2.30pm, Sun 10am–5.30pm; 800Ft), built in 1913 in the Art Nouveau style, with a facade melding into the curve of the street, and an interior with painted rather than moulded motifs. A smaller wood-panelled synagogue for winter use, a yeshiva and the Hanna Orthodox kosher restaurant are all contained within an L-shaped courtyard that can also be entered via an arcade on Dob utca.