Oradea had a thriving Jewish community before World War II and the thousands of families living and working here provided a dynamic and varied contribution to the life ofthe city. The events of the early 1940's brought that to an irrevocable halt.

We do not want all this information about people, events and environment to be lost. Our Family albums section allows us to assist those families who wish to use our pages to celebrate lives that were lost.

Hosting family pictures, documents and stories will also give everyone a greater insight into Jewish life in Oradea before the Holocaust. Over the next few years we will be posting here contributions that we have already received and we would encourage others attracted by the possibility of displaying their family effects/stories to contact us.

The Steiner family (of the Steiner bakery)

The details of this Steiner family were provided to us by Marta Elian (née Steiner) a good friend of Asociatia Tikvah who sadly died in October 2016. Marta was able to complete her autobiography shortly before her death ("Don't Enter the Wagons"). She was an exceptional woman and we recommend that you read more of her life, particularly her memories of growing up in Oradea and the remarkable escape from the ghetto in 1944 (which is covered in another section of our website). You can also do this by visiting the website of her publisher.

 Marta with her brother Robi and her parents Laszlo and Magda 

Marta's father (and his brother) were the driving forces behind the extremely successful and large bakery in Oradea which was lost to the family in 1944 when they were forced into the ghetto and faced deportation to Auschwitz. Although, they managed to escape from the ghetto to Romania and then subsequently to Israel, they never recovered their family bakery.

 Advert for the bakery in the 1930s