Uzhgorod through Snow and Memory: Archival Winters, the City, and Jewish History

Uzhgorod — one of the oldest cities in Ukraine, spread out on the banks of the Uzh River, has once again come into the spotlight thanks to a series of archival photographs from the 1960s. These winter shots take the viewer back to the everyday reality of the post-war city: streets under snow, leisurely passersby, houses where the memory of pre-war decades is still alive.

The photographs work as a document of time.
They not only capture everyday life — they show Uzhgorod as it was in the mid-20th century: a city of intersecting cultures, languages, and traditions. The winter in the photos enhances the sense of restraint of an era where the past is not yet let go, and the future is only being formed.

The history of Uzhgorod is multilayered.
Archaeological data indicate the existence of settlements as early as the 10th–11th centuries. From the 11th century, the city was part of the Hungarian Kingdom, later — the Austro-Hungarian Empire. These periods shaped the architecture, administrative culture, and ethnic diversity of the region.

From the 14th century, the Hungarian Drugeth family played an important role in the development of the city.
Their influence was reflected not only in governance but also in the city’s appearance. However, it was the 20th century that became a time of sharp and painful upheavals for Uzhgorod.

After the First Vienna Award in 1938, the city was transferred to Hungary.
In 1941, Uzhgorod was drawn into World War II on the side of Nazi Germany. These events directly impacted the demographic structure of the city.

The Jewish community, which had been an integral part of Uzhgorod for centuries, practically disappeared.
The Holocaust, deportations, and emigration destroyed the cultural and intellectual fabric that had been formed over centuries. A significant part of the city’s intelligentsia either left the region or became victims of repression.

In the fall of 1944, the front line approached closely.
In October, the city was occupied by Soviet troops, and from 1945, Uzhgorod finally became part of Ukraine within the USSR. A new stage began — Soviet transformation, reflected in both construction and social structure.

This post-war Uzhgorod is what we see in the archival winter photographs of the 1960s.
The city is already different, but traces of the lost past are still readable — in faces, in streets, in the silence of the frames.

These shots are important today not as nostalgia, but as a source of understanding.
They remind us that the history of Uzhgorod is a history of coexistence, losses, and complex memory, in which the Jewish page occupies a special place. By capturing such scenes, NAnews — News of Israel | Nikk.Agency preserves the context, without which the past turns into an abstraction.