Jews were not allowed to settle within the city walls of Kosice until 1840. At this time Kosice belonged to the Hungarian Kingdom under Habsburg leadership. In 1895 Judaism was granted the same legal status as other denominations.
At the end of the 19th century the Jewish population was between 11 and 13 percent, most of them spoke German or Hungarian.In 1904 the reform (neolog) Jewish community decided to magyarize. It meant a commitment to assimilation into the Hungarian society: they started to exclusively use Hungarian during church services, meetings and eventually in Jewish schools. Kosice, however, had a diverse population, including Slovaks, Hungarians, Jews, Czechs and Germans alike. The mixture of nationalities mirrored the linguistic and religious diversity too.