hen peace was restored, the community quickly developed.
The first Jewish elementary school was founded in 1846, and was organized as a normal school in 1905, with four grades and about 230 pupils. The first synagogue was built by the former lord of the town, Duke Batthyányi, who sold it to the Jews. In 1880 a large temple was built; it is one of the handsomest edifices of its kind in Hungary. The founder of the community and its first rabbi was Ludwig Königsberger (d. 1861); he was succeeded in turn by Leopold Rockenstein, Joseph Stier and Béla Bernstein (called in 1892). A small Orthodox congregation, numbering about 60 or 70 members, separated from the main body in 1870. According to the 1910 census, 10.1% of the population, 3125 people was Jewish by religion. Between July 4 and 6, 1944, 4228 Jews were deported by the Hungarian authorities from Szombathely to Auschwitz.
The former Jewish Temple was designed by Ludwig Schöne, combining oriental and Romantic elements. It has been functioning as a concert hall since 1975. A memorial outside commemorates the Jews deported in World War II
