Alphabetical list of members of the Hevra Kaddisha of Karlsburg, Transylvania (then Hungary), between 1873 and 1883. The booklet of the Burial Society also lists the income and the expenses during that period. The incoming donations are listed per donor. The budget was mainly spent for burials, maintenance of the cemetery, and for hospital stays.

Karlsburg, also Weyssenburg, is called Alba Iulia today and located in Transylvania. In the Roman period it was also referred to as Apulum, in Hungarian it is called Gyulafehérvár, in medieval Latin Alba Carolina, in Ladino sources Carlosburg. It was the seat of residence of the princes of Transylvania in the 16th and 17th centuries; for several centuries it was administered by Hungary, but was incorporated into Romania after World War I. The Jews there, originally Sephardim, benefited from the patronage of the princes of Transylvania.

Data in a census of 1735 show that the Jews then living in Karlsburg originated from Poland, Turkey, Moldavia, Wallachia, Hungary, Moravia, and Belgrade. But during the 18th century the number of Jews living there decreased very sharply as a result of Rakoczi's rebellion; only after the return of the region to peaceful conditions did the number of Jews begin to increase again. From that period the Ashkenazi element became increasingly predominant. Karlsburg was regarded as the Jewish "capital" of Transylvania.

Between 1754 and 1868 the rabbi of the congregation held the title "rabbi of Karlsburg and chief rabbi of the state." The first known chief rabbi was the Sephardi hakham Abraham Isaac Russo (d. 1738). Best known was Ezekiel Panet, who officiated in Alba Iulia between 1823 and 1845. The last chief rabbi to officiate was Abraham Friedman (died 1879), who is also listed in the membership list of 1883 at hand.

Until the emancipation of the Jews in Austria-Hungary in 1867 their entire religious life developed under the strict control and censorship of the Roman-Catholic bishop of the region. After the religious schism in Hungarian Jewry in 1867 the Karlsburg congregation remained within the status quo ante faction. In the 17th century there were about 100 Jews living in Karlsburg; in 1754, 54 taxpayers; in 1891, 1,357 persons; in 1910, 1,586 (out of a total population of 11,616); in 1920, 1,770 (out of 9,645); and in 1930, 1,558 (out of 12,282).