Czech Jews of Hungarian or German nationality who were persecuted by the Nazis are to be granted citizenship rights, Czechoslovak Minister of the Interior Vaclav Nosek has informed the national committees, which are the local administrative bodies. Such Jews are to be exempted from laws providing for the confiscation of property belonging to persons of German or Hungarian nationality, Nosek said.
The fact that a person spoke German or belonged to German groups is not to be considered prima facie evidence of “Germanization,” he stated. At the same time, he declared that those Jews who are found to have been active in “Germanization” are to have their property confiscated, but are not liable to expatriation, as are non-Jews who fall in to the same category. He urged, however, that voluntary emigration of German Jews should be encouraged.
The Council of Jewish Communities in Bohemia and Moravia today welcomed the Nosek statement, expressing the opinion that it represented a great step forward in guaranteeing the rights of all Jews in the country.
The Minister’s order concluded by denouncing racial discriminations. Earlior, Nosek, discussing anti-Semitism in Slovakia, said that his ministry, in co-operation with Slovak authorities, was doing everything possible to crush the movement, which he charged was imported from Hungary and elsewhere.
This charge was echoed by General Ferjenick, Minister of the Interior of the semi-autonomous Slovak Government, who told a parliamentary committee that the existing anti-Semitism in Slovakia was a heritage of six years of Nazi occupation and was fostered by the anti-Semitic movements in Poland and Hungary.
Other contributing factors, he added, were the problem of restoration of Aryanized property and the settlement in sections of Slovakia of non-Slovak Jews who do not speak Slovakian and “who do not participate in the reconstruction of the country, but engage in the black market.” He said that many Slovaks had aided Jews during the occupation.
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.
