REICH, IGNÁC

REICH, IGNÁC (1821–1887), teacher and historian. Born in Zsámbek, Hungary, Reich worked from 1851 as a teacher at the Jewish Community School of Budapest, where he proposed that religious subjects be taught in Hungarian. He wrote newspaper articles in favor of the emancipation of Hungarian Jewry and their assimilation as Hungarians. During the 1848 Revolution, Reich voiced his sentiments in patriotic poems. He was a frequent contributor to the Hungarian Jewish press, and translated Genesis and the Haggadah into Hungarian for use in schools (1879, 1878). His main works included a collection of biographies of Hungarian Jews under the title Beth El: Ehrentempel verdienter ungarischer Israeliten (5 vols., 1856–65, 18782), an important source book for Hungarian Jewish history; and Bet Lehem: Jahrbuch zur Befoerderung des Ackerbaues, des Handwerks und der Industrie unter den Israeliten Ungarns, a yearbook for the advancement of agriculture, trade, and industry among Hungarian Jews (2 vols., 1872–73). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Magyar Zsidó Lexikon (1929), 737.