This register contains births, marriages, and deaths for the Bezidu Nou Jewish community from 1885-1894. The book is primarily recorded in Hungarian. Information recorded is standard for these registers: details on parents, birthdates and places, occupation, death circumstances and date, and information regarding the officiants at circumcisions, weddings, and burials. Please note that Bezidu Nou and several villages nearby were the center of the Szekely Sabbatarian movement and many or even most of the names in this book are presumably from Szekely Sabbatarian families.
This register from the Unitarian church of the village of Bezidul Nou is included in the catalogue due to its connection to the Szekely Sabbatarian population of the village. The Sabbatarians began as a Judaizing movement in the 16th and 17th century. Following persecution by authorities, most adherents returned to one of the approved Christian religions. A handful, however, of the Sabbatarians continued to practice in secret over the centuries until Jewish emancipation in 1867, after which they converted in mass to Judaism. The Sabbatarian community was centered in the village of Bezidul Nou. For this reason, the register books of the Reform, Catholic, and Unitarian churches in Bezidul Nou may prove of interest to researchers. This Unitarian book in particular has been verified as containing references to Sabbatarians, especially during World War II. In spring and summer of 1944, there is a page of "baptisms" of older individuals, born in the 1860s-1880s. It is noted that they were "Mosaic Sabbatarians" or "Israelites." It is not clear who assisted these individuals to convert, the time of conversion is simultaneous with the period of ghettoization and deportation. In addition, in the death register there are multiple individuals regarding whom it is noted that they converted from Judaism (only in the 1940s).