The Kozma utca graveyard in Kőbánya is currently the largest Jewish cemetery in Hungary. About 300,000 people were laid to rest here, including such rabbis as Sámuel Kohn chief rabbi who was the first to hold a liturgy in Hungarian. This was the main burial site of the Jewish elite of the turn-of-the-century and of the 20th century, but the fairytale-like, sometimes abandoned-looking cemetery is also the final resting place of many famous people like Alfréd Hajós or Sándor Bródy. There are mausoleums along the wall – the Gries and Schmidl ones are protected monuments. The graves are often overgrown with plants but that’s not necessarily a sign of neglect: in Jewish traditions the presence of plants is a symbol of respect.
