Estimating that nearly 1,000,000 Jews are threatened with extermination in Hungary, Secretary of State Cordell Hull today stated at his press conference that the U. S. Government “will not slacken its efforts to rescue as many of these unfortunate people as can be saved from persecution and death.”
“Reliable reports from Hungary have confirmed the appalling news of mass killings of Jews by the Nazis and their Hungarian quislings,” Secretary Hull said. “The number of victims of these fiendish crimes is great. The entire Jewish community in Hungary, which numbered nearly 1,000,000 souls, is threatened with extermination.
“The horror and indignation felt by the American people at these cold-blooded tortures and massacres has been voiced by the President, by the Congress and by hundreds of private organizations throughout the country. It is shared by all the civilized nations of the world.
“This Government will not slacken its efforts to rescue as many of these unfortunate people as can be saved from persecution and death. The puppet Hungarian Government, by its violation of the most elementary human rights and by its servile adoption of the worst features of the Nazi ‘racial policy’ stands condemned before history.
“It may be futile to appeal to the humanity of the instigators or perpetrators of such outrages. Let them know that they cannot escape the inexorable punishment which will be meted out to them when the power of the evil men now in control of Hungary has been broken.”
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.
