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Jews in Hungary Reported Keeping Their Communal Organization Intact

April 30, 1965
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Despite some difficulties, the Jews of Hungary have managed to keep the communal organization intact, Col. Marcus Lipton, a Labor Member of Parliament who recently visited Hungary, reported today to a Poale Zion meeting here.

Col. Lipton who visited Hungary as a member of the British delegation to a meeting of Interparliamentary Union, said that the synagogue in Budapest was open and used and that the Government placed no obstacle in the way of religious observances. He also reported that the Jewish community has institutions in which students were trained for the rabbinate and that Jewish community leaders were allowed to visit western countries and make contact with their counterparts in these nations.

He explained that because the Hungarian Government has made Zionism taboo, Jewish religious teachers had difficulties in teaching religion to their pupils without mentioning Zionism or Israel. He added that the Government still allows a good many Jewish one-man businesses to continue. Col. Lipton also expressed the opinion that if Hungarian Jews were allowed to emigrate, many would leave and settle in Israel.

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