Hungarian Government Submits Memorandum on Jews to Peace Conference in Paris

The Hungarian Government has submitted a memorandum to the Peace Conference outlining the measures taken by the present regime to restore the Jews in Hungary to their full civil, economic, social and religious rights, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency learned today.

The memorandum lists 38 laws providing for the return of Jewish rights and property, which have been passed since the end of the war, It also reveals that 16 other restitution and rehabilitation laws are planned for the Jews, including the government’s renunciation of the property of Jews who died heirless and other unclaimed Jewish property, Such property, the document asserts, will be turned over to a central Jewish charitable institution.

It further maintains that the government has met all the requirements laid down in a note from the American Jewish Conference, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the World Jewish Congress to the Council of Foreign Ministers.

Declaring that it has attempted to restore the Jews to their former positions throughout the economic stratus of Hungarian society, the memorandum states that its ability to help the Jews rests on the economic position of the country. Factors influencing Hungarian economy include the present runaway inflation and the expected heavy reparations program, as well as the need to rehabilitate the entire country which was severely damaged during the war, the memorandum says, adding that it will not be possible to estimate the amount that can be repaid the Jews until after the signing of the peace treaty.

The fact that 250,000 Hungarian Jews are alive in Hungary today is due to the active cooperation of the democratic forces in Hungary and of large sections of the population, the memorandum says. It relates in detail the attempts of the Nazis and some collaborating ministers to deport and exterminate the Jews. It points out that in the provinces generally, these attempts were successful, but that in Budapest where slightly under half the Jews in Hungary resided, the deportations were not as effective. The chief ministers responsible for these crimes have been executed, the memorandum says.

Taking up the problem of anti-Semitism since the end of the war, the document reveals that all anti-Jewish excesses have occurred only in the provinces, and under circumstances which point to active incitement by remnants of the fascist groups still at large in the country. It declares that the government is making every effort to apprehend and punish the criminals and has embarked upon a campaign to educate those sections of the population which are still infected by Nazi propaganda.