There are a number of names for cemeteries in Judaism, for example Bet Olam, meaning ‘The House of Eternity’ or ‘The House of Life’, denoting the belief that the souls of the dead remain alive. This place is located at a distance from the populated area and is surrounded by a wall. The previous cemeteries in Szeged had ceased to exist, and the present one was established in 1831. The first cemetery (with the first burial having taken place in 1794) was closed down due to the expansion of the city, so the remains were exhumed in 1868 and reburied in the current, so-called New Cemetery (Parcel 7.)

Those who died during the Great Flood of Szeged in 1879 were first buried in Újszeged (‘New Szeged’, the new part of the city on the southeast side of the river Tisza), in a designated part of the Christian cemetery there and then were later reburied in the current Jewish cemetery.

Nearly 14 000 are at rest here, but unfortunately many of the graves are no longer marked. The 19th-century gravestones are special for their rich and varied symbols, and the graves of several famous Jewish people from Szeged can be found in this section.

There are four monumnets dedicated to the victims of the First World War and the Holocaust in the cemetery. The famous architect, Lipót Bamhorn, designed the mortuary for the cemetery and his dome stands out from afar. Next to it, there are simple buildings, such as the place where the bodies are prepared for burial and a house for the cemetery’s caretaker.

Also, a tap for ritual hand-washing can be found here. According to another Jewish custom, when leaving the cemetery, one must throw grass behind one’s back to symbolically cover the path, so the angel of death cannot find one. It is also customary to bring stones to the grave, the more stones on the grave, the more alive the memory of the deceased.

Nowadays the cemetery is still in use but there are significantly less people visiting here than before.