Northern Transylvania Holocaust Memorial Museum

The Northern Transylvania Holocaust Memorial Museum is located in Șimleu Silvaniei, Sălaj County, Romania, and was opened September 11, 2005. The museum is operated and maintained by the Jewish Architectural Heritage Foundation of New York and Asociația Memoraliă Hebraică Nușfalău (a Romanian NGO), with the support of the Claims Conference, Elie Wiesel National Institute for Studying the Holocaust in Romania, among other philanthropic and pedagogical partners.

The old synagogue of Șimleu Silvaniei (Szilágysomlyó) was erected in 1876. During the height of its use, the synagogue was used for worship and religious ceremonies by Jewish families from the city of Șimleu Silvaniei, as well as surrounding villages such as Giurtelecu Șimleului (Somlyógyőrtelek) and Nușfalău (Szilágynagyfalu).

In May/June 1944, when the city was part of Hungary (as a consequence of the territorial agreement known as the Second Vienna Award), the area's Jewish population was forced out of their homes into the brutal Cehei ghetto and from there packed into cattle cars and transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Over 160,000 Jews from the region perished.[1] Of those few remaining Jews who survived the Holocaust and remained in Romania (which, under the Paris Peace Treaties of 1947, regained Northern Transylvania), the last Jewish family emigrated from the region during the mid-1960s, while the country was still under Communist rule. The loss of its congregation left the Synagogue to fate, decaying silently over time.

Through the inspiration of Mihaela Gross, New York Architect Adam Aaron Wapniak became interested in the abandoned synagogue's restoration on a 2003 visit, sparking the interest of Alex Hecht, a New York dentist and son of Holocaust survivors Zoltan and Stefania Hecht, native to the nearby village of Nușfalău. Together, they launched a vigorous campaign driving the restoration project. Their efforts contributed to raising funds to complete construction, establishing educational criterion, and supported pedagogical training for the regional school systems. The Museum now functions as an educational hub and essential resource for Holocaust Education in the region. Guided tours tailored to students are offered daily by other students, a project started by Natalia Gross, who was a high school student when she began. The museum centerpiece is the synagogue originally built in 1876.