To the Editor:
Re: "Hungary salutes four Jews," it is important to note the significance of the 20,000 Jews who fought for Hungarian independence in 1848-50, but we should also note the wave of anti-Semitism that accompanied the revolution in Hungary. Ernest Wangermann’s article on the subject reports that among other things, this wave of anti-Semitism resulted in the disarming and expulsion of Jews from the citizens’ militia in Budapest — hardly an indication of acceptance by the Hungarians. And Jewish participation in the Hungarian Revolution certainly didn’t contribute to the emancipation of Jews in Hungary, seeing as that was the result of the Hapsburg constitution of 1867 that granted all subjects of the monarchy equal rights.
Given that the revolution had been against the Hapsburgs, it makes no sense to claim that this participation in what the Hapsburgs saw as treason somehow convinced the Hapsburgs to emancipate the Jews of Hungary.
Stan Nadel
Salzburg, Austria
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