Hungarian Government Proclaims “merciless “war” on Jews: Introduces Yellow Badge

All Jews in Hungary over six years of age. will, as of next Wednesday, be obliged to wear yellow badges, it was announced today over the German-controlled Hungarian radio.

The announcement also said that Jews possessing telephones must report that fact to the police authorities within three days. Swedish newspapers today report that Hungarian authorities have already started removing telephones from Jewish homes.

The new anti-Jewish measures, which follow the pattern laid down by the Nazis in Germany and in occupied countries, were adopted at a session of the new Hungarian puppet cabinet held this week, after it was formed with Hitler’s approval. No official communique was issued, but it is understood that the cabinet adopted “important decisions for the solution of the Jewish problem,” the Budapest radio today reported.

The new Hungarian Minister of the Interior, in a broadcast over the Budapest radio, today announced that he will wage “a merciless war” against the Jews. “I stake my position on the liquidation of the Jewish elements and of the Socialists,” he said.

JEWISH HOMES IN HUNGARY TO ACCOMMODATE 300,000 BOMBED-OUT GERMANS

The Swedish press reports that the Hungarian Government has received an order from Berlin to provide housing for 300,000 Germans whose homes have been destroyed as a result of Allied air raids. These Germans, who are to arrive in Hungary next week, will be placed in the homes of Jews from Budapest and other Hungarian cities who are being arrested and deported. Hungarian official quarters estimated that there are 53,000 flats in Budapest inhabited by Jews.

The deportation of Hungarian Jews is now being speeded up. Herded into cattle trains, thousands of Jews are being sent to Czechoslovakia, while others have been placed in concentration camps inside Hungary. The Swedish newspaper Aftontidningen today reports that the Hungarian Primate, Justinian Cardinal Seredi has appealed to the German ambassador in Budapest for milder treatment “at least of Jews who have accepted Catholicism.”