SIGHET MARMAŢIEI

A city in Northern Transylvania, under Hungarian rule from 1940 to 1944.Sighet served as the capital of the Maramaros region. In 1941, 10,441 Jews lived in Sighet. They comprised 39.1% of the general population.In April 1944 the Sighet Ghetto was formed. The ghetto contained close to 13,000 Jews, including those brought in from the rural communities in the neighboring districts of Dragomiresti (Drágomérfalva), Ocna-Şugatag (Aknasugatag), and Vişeu de Sus (Felsövisó). The Sighet Ghetto was extremely crowded, with approximately twenty people in almost every room.The ghetto was guarded by the local police and fifty police officers brought in from Miskolc. The commander of the police, colonel Sárvári, was among those who tortured the Jews into confessing where they had hidden their valuables. Internally, the ghetto was administrated by a Zsidó Tanács (Jewish Council), headed by Rabbi Samu Danzig.The Sighet Ghetto was liquidated between May 16 and 22, 1944, when the Jews were deported to Auschwitz in four transports.In 1947, Sighet still had 2,308 Jews, including some survivors and a considerable number of Jews who settled there from other parts of Romania.Sighet rejoined Romania after the World War II.