Kiddush cup engraved with a Hebrew prayer owned by a Romanian Jewish family

Kiddush cup engraved with a Hebrew blessing owned by a Jewish family living on Rodnei Street close to the center of Tîrgu-Mureș (Târgu Mureş), Romania before World War II. A Kiddush cup is a ceremonial vessel to hold wine for the blessing said at Shabbat and Jewish holiday meals. Before World War II, Tîrgu-Mureș was home to a robust, diverse, and prosperous Jewish community of more than 2,000 people. The town was in the historically contested region of Transylvania, which became part of Romania after World War I. In 1937, the fascist Romanian government enacted anti-Jewish laws similar to those in Nazi Germany. In August 1940, northern Romania, including Transylvania, was ceded to Hungary and joined the Axis Alliance in November. In Transylvania, the Hungarian authorities conscripted Jews to work in forced labor battalions and changed laws. Following several German defeats in 1943, Hungary realized that Germany was likely to lose and began to negotiate with the Allies, which prompted Germany to occupy Hungary in March 1944. In May, a Jewish ghetto was established in the brickyard of Tîrgu-Mureș and more than 7,000 Jews from the local area were held there. They were deported to Auschwitz concentration camp in German occupied Poland, between May 27 and June 8, where the majority were murdered.