All of Hungary’s 800,000 Jews will be in ghettos by the end of this month, it was stated in Budapest today by Lazlo Baky, Under-Secretary of State in the Hungarian puppet government. The final result of the Hungarian treatment of Jews “will be a Jewish exodus from Hungary,” Baky said. At the same time, Hungarian newspapers reveal that many Jews have been arrested and jailed for attempting to flee to Slovakia or Rumania.
Twenty_two ghettos, in which 60,000 Jews will be confined, have already been established in the Pest area, according to a dispatch from the Nazi Transkontinent press. The Hungarian MTI agency, meanwhile, sent out a dispatch admitting that Budapest Jews have been forced to settle near war factories threatened by enemy raids.
Lazlo Endre, Hungarian Commissioner for Jewish Affairs, in a broadcast today reviewing the anti-Jewish regulations which have been introduced, revealed that a provisional executive” has been named to head the Association of Hungarian Jews, to which all Jews must belong. The association, under government direction, will be compelled to arrange the transfer of Jews to ghettos, furnish lists of Jews for deportation and, in general, carry out all the anti-Jewish measures decreed by the authorities.
JEWS SHORN OF POSSESSIONS, SAYS COMMISSIONER FOR JEWISH AFFAIRS
Endre said after completing a tour of 34 cities to check on the “problem of the Jews,” he found the situation “satisfactory.” Jews have already been placed in ghettos in many of these cities, and they have been shorn of their possessions, he said. Endre alleged that many Jews burned bank notes in preference to surrendering their funds to the pro-Nazi government.
The police, meanwhile, are continuing to arrest Jews found in the streets without a yellow star on their clothing. In the future, such persons will be sentenced to a short prison term and then interned. At the same time, Hungarian newspapers bitterly attack non-Jews who fraternize with persons wearing the yellow badges.
One paper complains that many Hungarians in the sub-Carpathian town of Ungvar deliberately ignored the order providing for the internment of all Jews there and hid them in their homes. Many Christians, the paper said, have been arrested for concealing valuables belonging to Jews.
The Ministry of the Interior has made public new decrees affecting Jews. Included is one listing the categories of Jews exempt from the anti-Semitic regulations. These are mostly war veterans and their families and nationals of certain friendly countries. Another decree names commissioners for Jewish-owned industrial and mining enterprises. Still another provides that licenses to conduct schools, colleges or any kind of classes which are held by Jews are revoked as of June 30.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
