NASNA

NASNA (generally referred to in Hungarian Jewish historiography as Náznánfalva), village near Tîrgu-Mureş in Transylvania, Romania, within Hungary to 1918 and from 1940 to 1945. With the exception of alba-iulia , Nasna had the oldest Jewish community within the borders of historic Transylvania. The first reliable information about the Jews there dates from 1601. Several were members of the Turkish Sephardi community and had family or communal connections with Jews in Alba-Iulia. The curious wooden synagogue of Nasna, of which only the eastern wall was constructed of brick, was apparently built in 1747 (or according to some opinions in 1757 or 1785). The exterior resembled a granary or warehouse and the walls, ceiling, pillars, and platform were painted and ornamented in the style of the contemporary church decoration of the local Unitarians. Quotations from the Psalms and prayers were inscribed on the walls and ceiling. The synagogue was   completely demolished in 1940. Some of the decorated boards which were salvaged were transferred to the Jewish Museum in Budapest. Members of the Nasna community were among the first Jews to settle in Tîrgu-Mureş from which Jews had been excluded until 1848. After the prohibition was abolished the Jewish population of Nasna dwindled. During the Holocaust the last two Jewish residents were deported to the ghetto in Tîrgu-Mures (and from there to their deaths). After World War II the Jewish community of Nasna was not revived. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Avi-Shaul, in: Reshumot, 4 (1926), 387–90; F. Lőwy, in: Magyar Zsidó Almanach (1911), 144–7; G. Balázs, in: Libanon (Hung., 1941). (Yehouda Marton)