SOSIREA EVREILOR ÎN COMUNA SĂPÂNŢA ÎNTRE MIT ŞI ADEVĂR ISTORIC
The Jews Arrival in Săpânta

Summary/Abstract: No one knows exactly when the Jews came in Săpânţa. At least, it hasn’t been discovered yet a document to state for sure their arrival. Probably they came in Săpânţa in the moment when they arrived in Sighet, for the distance between the two localities is almost 20 km.; or, their arrival is related to the invasion in Poland and Russia. Anyway it is certain that at the beginning of the 20th Century there were almost 1000 Jews in Săpânţa: they controlled the inland trade and the land outside the village. The story of their arrival was kept in the collective memory, known from generation to generation, without a certain date: “Only two families were at the beginning, I don’t know exactly when, because they didn’t tell me years, but I know for sure that two Jewish families lived in the centre of the village, in front of the actual Vets. Their burial stones are there too. (…) They maintained their civilized relationships with a strong community from Poland, but it was no space for them there. They told Polish about the Romanians: owning horses, cows, sheep, land; plenty of wood, nobody cut it. So people came from Poland to Săpânţa to see the land and the people went back and taught their children Romanian to be ready to come here. And they did come; the eldest said they had come in a caravan nearby the village, up to a place called “Under the Chair”, beside Tisa. It was summer and they had negotiated with the villagers to buy land inside the village in order to build houses. So they bought land, built houses and they moved in the village. They have carpenters, hammer men, shoe makers, all kind of craftsmen. And they moved in the new houses.

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