Info on the school & neighbourhood

Info on the school:

Until 1999, Gutenberg János Elementary School was located in the building (Gutenberg Street 25). And in some articles it has been referred to as „the Jewish school of the past” (but I will need to find more evidence for this). Also, it is referred to as a school with a past of 125 years, which is why so many people from the town protested against its closing down in 1999. The reason was that there are less and less children in Szeged, so the local government needed to change the school system and decided to close down some elementary schools. They chose the Gutenberg School even though at that time it was a school with a yearly growing student body and great results.
Then, Kossuth Zsuzsanna Medical High School was moved to the building, which also moved away and merged into another high school in June 2007. Right after this, the municipality sold the building, though its value has multiplied recently because of the planned construction of a large shopping mall nearby (which will be the biggest shopping mall in town). The new owner is planning to make the building into an office building, thus giving a whole new function to the neighborhood.


Info on the neighbourhood:

The school is located on Gutenberg Street, which used to be called Margit Street (Margit is a female name like Margareth, there is nothing special about it as far as I know) around the turn of the century. This and the surrounding streets are the heart of the historical Jewish district of , which is a bit off downtown, but still very close. The new synagogue and the Jewish community center with the old people’s home of the Jewish community are all located on this street. The old synagogue (main venue of Thealter) is also very close.
In the late 19th century there already was a strong Jewish community in Szeged owning several houses in the area, most of which – including the old synagogue - were damaged in the big flood of 1879. After the flood, they reconstructed most of the buildings including the school building (no idea where), and started to plan the construction of new buildings: the new synagogue and the head office building (and I have a feeling that the Gutenberg school was built by them at the same period). These were finished around 1910-12.
It is also worth noting the number of Jews in Szeged, which ranged from 3618 in 1880 to 6954 in 1920.
As for shops in the district, what I found is that in 1885 Márk Pick opened his store of all kinds of crops and paprika at 12 Margit Street. He also produced some salami here, which later became quite popular and is known today as Pick salami.
During World War II, this district (Gogol Street – Londoni krt. – Hajnóczy Street – Bolyai János Street ... with today’s street names so you can check on the map) served as the ghetto, whose entrance/exit was where Margit Street meets Londoni krt., that is, right where Gutenberg School is. I also read about some controversy on whether they should convert „the school” (which then might be the building in question) into a hospital, but it remained unclear for me if they did so finally or not. In May 1944, 3827 people had to move to the ghetto, which meant that 4-5 families had to live in one apartment. In June 1944, 3095 people were deported, and only one-third of them managed to return. (And I saw some shocking pictures with shoes and furniture accumulated in the synagogue.)
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From the website of MAZSIHISZ (Hungarian Jewish Community) – News – May 11, 2008

The municipality of Szeged has announced the reconstruction of the historical Jewish quarter. Gutenberg street will get a new cobblestone surface, as this is the street that will lead to the new shopping mall constructed in the area in the near future. And also, this way, more emphasis will be placed on the new synagogue. The neighborhood will also be enriched with a new function since the school on Gutenberg Street (which used to be a Jewish school) will be transformed into an office building.

More about the Holocaust in Szeged click here.

imPOSSIBLE VENUE FOR EX-POSITION

KULTURHOUSE

The venue is in the center of the city, near main square and in the front of it is the National Theater.


The venue was a Kulturhouse having inside different spaces for different cultural activities> dance, theater, music, etc.

But at this point of the story I do not know much about it except that it is empty now. What it was before being the Kulturhouse we still do not know, but you will see on the photos some marble plate on the side wall which maybe can say more to you who speak better Hungarian then me.