Licenses of more than 2,000 Jewish merchants and artisans in the three Ruthenian counties of Ung, Ugossa and Bereg have been finally revoked, it was officially announced today. Revocation of the licenses, in accordance with the anti-Jewish law, was first announced April 11 but was not enforced until today because of the shortage of Gentiles qualified to replace the Jews.
Premier Paul Teleki recently explained in Parliament, in reply to Nazi critics protesting against the slowness with which anti-Semitic measures were being executed, that in many Ruthenian villages the only blacksmith, the only butcher and the only baker were Jews.
“To expropriate him immediately, without first providing a Gentile from elsewhere to take his place, would not only deprive a Jew of his job but a village of its tradesman,” the Premier said. “Thus the anti-Jewish law would work unnecessary hardships on Gentile and Jew alike.”
Court Councillor Samuel Stern, president of the Jewish community, declared before the general assembly of the Jewish communities of Budapest and the districts of Pest and Bacz-Bodrog that despite the sadness-of the present situation, Hungarian Jewry looked forward to better times with unshaken faith.
Reviewing the position of the Hungarian Jews, Stern said their hope that supplementary interpretations of the anti-Jewish law would bring certain alleviations were not realized. On the contrary, each new official interpretation brought accentuated restrictions.
Referring to the physical impossibility of proving permanent residence of a family in Hungary since 1867, as demanded by the electoral law, Stern said that Jews must solemnly protest against inferring from that fact that the majority of Hungarian Jews were “alien intruders” and must protest against the civic stigmatization of disenfranchisement.
Passing to internal problems, Stern emphasized that Jewish distress in Hungary found a greater echo among coreligionists abroad than in the midst of Hungarian Jewry itself. He insisted on the need of greater cooperation between Jews in Budapest and in provincial centers. Dr. Leo von Buday Goldberger, member of the Upper Chamber, pleaded for support of communal relief activities.
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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.
