Huși

According to local tradition, the first Jewish immigrants came to Huși some time after 1484 (documents mention "five families, among them Frisof, Stofler and Gronic"). In 1747 there were about 1,042 Jews in city; cca. 2,500 in 1859; 3,587 in 1897; 2,514 in 1930; 2,100 in 1942; 2,000 in 1992. In 2005, Huși was home to only 25 Jews (0–15 years old: 1 person; 16–35 years old: 3 persons; 36–60 years old: 6 persons; over 60 years old: 10 persons), the result of successive waves of aliyah after World War II.

The Jews of Huși have had an important role in the economic development of the city, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries, at a time when the city was considered one of the most important in Moldavia.

The first synagogue (Beth-Hanidras, the Great Synagogue) was built in the 18th century. In 1943 there were five synagogues (Beth-Hanidras, Ceaușul Mare, Blănari, Croitorilor, Postelnici). Only one synagogue serves the Jewish community nowadays. The first Jewish cemetery was founded in 1680, on Călărași Street. The second cemetery was opened in 1880, and it is still in use.

According to some historians, Huși was established by hussite refugees from the Kingdom of Hungary in the 15th century. The town itself has a significant role in Hungarian history because the first Hungarian Bible translation was written in Huși. Its copies can be found in the Vienna-codex and the Apor-codex. During the Counter-Reformation the Hussite citizens were converted to Catholic faith; nevertheless, in the 17th century the majority of the town were Hungarian-Saxon Catholics. As archbishop Bandinus wrote in 1648 "the inhabitants here are Hungarians and Romanians; Hungarians are in the majority. They share the leading positions between them: if in one year the judge is Hungarian, next year a Romanian will be the judge, so the leaders are changed alternately. The Hussites until now sang in Hungarian at holy masses and liturgies, what was a bad practice in that time. We arranged this in order to satisfy the need of the people, that the holy liturgies will be performed in Latin, and before and after the mass the hymns should be sung in Hungarian, to satisfy the devotion of the people.

Two years ago, a village on the river Prut had twelve Hungarian houses, but because of many difficulties the Hungarian people immigrated to the Tatar land, to the town called Csoborcsok, and others to Huși so the region remained abandoned. Catholics are 682, in number they have a Szekler priest called Michael Rabczony."[5] After the 19th century, assimilation reached the Catholic population of Huși. In 1898 Gheorghe I. Lahovary wrote that the Hungarians number 1838 out of total 12,600 however they only speak Romanian.[6] In 1930, the town had 3,983 Catholics but only 324 Hungarian citizens. The result of assimilation that today only 9 Hungarians (out of 5,826 Roman Catholics) live in Huși. The 2011 census counted 24,997 inhabitants.