Riczu Zoltán: Zsidó épületek és emlékek Nyíregyházán. (A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum kiadványai 34. Nyíregyháza, 1992)

C) The Jewish living in and around Nyíregyháza invested substantial capital in real estate which was not typically the case of the Jewish population living in the capital city and in the Western parts of Hungary. The whole lifestyle of these Jews gradually became similar to that of the conservative and traditional local landlords. The Connections Between Nyíregyháza and the Jews in the Years 1753—1849 Count Ferenc Károlyi brought Lutheran Slovakian settlers to Nyíregyháza, which was then a small village with rich pastures and arable lands around it. He made a contract with the new settlers, and one of the points of this contract prohibited the settling of Greeks and Jews in the village. The dynamic development of the village attracted the Jews, but the leaders of the community tried to keep them away. Nevertheless, some mutually beneficial goods in trade connections were soon established, the Jews purchased and sold many goods in and from the village, from which they even obtained rents and options. It became specially significant after 1824, when the settlement — a town already — bought itself out of the feudal bonds and enjoyed all the privileges and icomes that formerly belonged to the Court and the landlords. Settling Permitted The Act No. XXIX/1840 permitted settling for Jews in all major towns except the mining towns. The first Jewish settler to move to Nyíregyháza was Jakab Fried, a merchant from Tokay. He was followed by three more, Salamon Klein, Jónás Mandel and Emánuel Stern. In 1848 the number of the Jewish population of Nyíregyháza had reached 71 people. All had struggled to overcome harsh conditions in order to be able to settle down in the town. They constituted 17 families. The distribution of the occupations of the heads of families in 1848 was the following: traders, shopkeepers: 10 people craftsmen: 5 people tobacco acceptance officer: 1 person (the person officially responsible for purchasing tobacco from the producers and transporting it to the state-owned processing factories) kosher butcher: 1 people. 58,8 % of the heads of families were involved in trade and 29,4 % of them were involved in industry. 130