Hungarian soldiers serving with the Axis occupation forces in the Ukraine have blanket orders to execute all Jews found living in the villages they seize, it is revealed in letters and documents captured when the Russian forces routed a Hungarian infantry division, which were made public here today. Where no Jews are found in a village the Hungarian officers even resort to executing peasants whom they declare to be “Jews,” the documents disclose.
The matter-of-fact routine to which the Hungarian officers reduced their mistreatment and execution of Jews is indicated by a diary found on the body of Lieut. Berechwami of the 6th Company of the 32nd Infantry Regiment. He writes: “Raided the village of Makashin. Executed 13 Jews. Nothing special to report.” Further exploits of this Lieutenant are related in a diary found on Sr. Lieut. Herendi of the 32nd Regiment who wrote: “Our Berechwami, who has become a New export’ was sent to the village of Terescoga. Insofar as the Germans had been there a week previously there was nothing left for him. Only a few peasant families remained. Berechwami was determined not to come back empty handed. When the soldiers returned with the report that there were no Jews left in the village, he ordered three bearded Ukrainian peasants brought before him and appointed’ them Jews. Then he ordered them shot and sent in a report of the execution of ‘three Jews.'”
On the body of another dead Hungarian, Johan Kovacz, a non-commissioned officer of the 5th Company of the same regiment, were found four beautifully bound Jewish prayer books and copies of a report he had sent to his commander, which indicated where he obtained the prayer books. The report reads: “We raided Shamlyanka and executed 25 Jews. We captured much booty and then destroyed the village.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
