Sobrance

Sister cities

• Lubaczów

History

In 1910, the town had 1216 inhabitants, 538 Hungarians and 577 Slovaks. Before the establishment of independent Czechoslovakia in 1918, Sobrance was part of Ung County within the Kingdom of Hungary. It became the capital city of its own district. In 1939, Sobrance was for a short time part of the Slovak Republic. As a result of the Slovak–Hungarian War of 1939, it was again part of Hungary from 1939 to 1944. During the Second World War the town was heavily damaged. On 23 November 1944, the Red Army entered Sobrance and it was once again part of Czechoslovakia, but did not immediately regain its district status. Since the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia, Sobrance has been part of independent Slovakia. It regained its district town status in 1996. The first reference to Jewish residents appears in the May 15, 1739 Jewish Conscription of Ung County which recorded only one Jewish family. The head of the household was Marko Joseffovics (Marko the son of Josef), a distiller of whisky (palinka, slivovica or vodka). By July 1746 there were two Jewish families—Marko Joseffovics and Hersko Abrahamovics (Hersko the son of Abraham). The Chevra Kadisha or burial society was founded in about 1780, a time when the Jewish population of northeastern Hungary began to grow due to migrations from Galicia. Their percentage stood at 24.3% in 1910. Menashe Simcha Friedman (b.1855- d.1926) was the town Rabbi and was known as the Sobrance Rov. The synagogue, which was still standing in 1929, was built in about 1800. Following the Nazi invasion of Hungary on May 17, 1944, all of the Jews living in Sobrance were deported to Auschwitz concentration camp as part of the Final Solution where most were murdered upon arrival. The property and belongings that were left behind were looted in a…