The original idea of the designers (Ferenc Faragó and László Vágó) was to create a green and open community space representing the openness of the Neolog community. However, in the winter of 1944, the Jewish Quarter of Pest became the closed Budapest ghetto (30 November 1944 - 18 January 1945).
Many lost their lives due to cold, illness, starvation. Many others were murdered. The victims in the ghetto could not be taken to the cemeteries, partially because of war conditions, partially because of restrictions about exiting the ghetto. The corpses had to be buried in the ghetto, but there were only two places where this was possible in this small area: Klauzál Square (further down) and the Heroes' Garden here (which would become the Heroes' Cemetery). Within a short time, both areas became mass graves. After the war, the bodies at Klauzál Square were exhumed and then buried in the Jewish cemetery. However, the ones in the Heroes’ Garden were not. Today, the Heroes’ Cemetery is a memorial with more than 2,000 dead bodies. At the liberation of the ghetto on January 18, 1945, thousands of corpses were lying in the streets. In Klauzál Square alone, there were more than 3,000 dead bodies. Of the dead, only 1,140 were able to be identified by name. More than 1,000 unknown people were buried in 24 common tombs in the yard of the synagogue.
The Dohany Street Synagogue is the only one in the world with a cemetery in its garden. The Jewish religion says life and death are to be strictly separated-- the cemetery must be built on the outskirts of the city, nowhere near the synagogue. However, because of the tragedies endured in the ghetto, this space had to function as a cemetery, despite its proximity to the synagogue.
This place is a nexus of tragedy and contradiction. The Heroes' Temple was meant to commemorate people who gave their lives to their homeland, while in the synagogue's garden, there are victims who were murdered by their home country. It is a synagogue that was built for an assimilated Jewish community, who were later confined and traumatized in the same area by their neighbors.
On one of the columns surrounding the cemetary on Wesselényi street, you can see a plaque commemorating the liberation of the ghetto that also marks the place where one of the gates of the ghetto stood.