Further Anti-jewish Measures Urged in Hungary; Germans Get Autonomy

Complete satisfaction of their minority demands, until now confined solely to the cultural domain, was extended to Hungary’s Germans today by premier Bela Imredy, while Hungary’s Jews, already faced with severe restrictions, were placed under the threat of further repressive measures modeled along the lines traced by the Nazi Reich. The semi-official Hunagyarsag took the lead in this new anti-Semitic campaign, with other newspapers taking up the cry in almost full chorus.

Imredy also announced establishment of a Government commission to deal with all minority affairs. His promise to satisfy German minority demands was published in the semi-official pester Lloyd. On face value alone, the concessions represent a complete success for the federation of Germans living in Hungary, organized last Nov. 27 under the leadership of Dr. Franz Basch. Basch’s followers voiced their cultural autonomy demands on only one occasion, on the date of the federation’s organization. There has since been no propaganda in their support and the question has never been discussed before Parliament. Pester Lloyd has always been controlled by Jewish financiers and now passes into “Aryan” hands as a result of Hungary’s new anti-Semitic legislation.

Hunagyarsag’s tirade against the Jews was modeled along the classic examples set in Der stuermer by Julius Streicher. “If Hungarians are not substituted for Jews in Hungarian economy, Hungary risks becoming the vassal of foreign states,” it warned.

Two prominent Jews have committed suicide over the Hungarian Government’s new anti-Jewish bill. Dr. Geza Tonbovary, legal adviser to the Jewish community of Budapest, shot himself through the heart, leaving a letter in which he said: “I owe nobody anything. I depart this life because of the Jew Law.” he was 64 years old. Prof. Leon Libermann, 55-year-old world-renowned ophthalmologist, was discovered dead by his wife, his body slumped over a copy of the printed text of the bill.