The “Jewish labor units” formed by the Hungarian Government to construct fortifications and roads at the Soviet front are growing by leaps and bounds and soon will have more non-Jews than Jews as a result of the Hungarian people’s disinclination for combat duty in Russia, it is reported here today.
According to Hungarian army regulations, it is pointed out, officers must produce evidence that both their parents were Jewish before they can be assigned to active duty; privates must also be able to show proof of their “racial purity” upon demand. Many officers and men, however, who prefer coming under the anti-Jewish regulations to active duty at the front, declare that they are unable to bring evidence of their “Aryan” ancestry when requested to do so. As a result they are transferred to the “Jewish” forced labor companics.
Cases have been reported where mothers of Hungarian soldiers have sworn out affidavits to the effect that their sons were born out of wedlock of Jewish fathers, in order to have them transferred from the regular Hungarian army into the “Jewish labor units.” There have also been cases where “Aryan” soldiers wrote annonymous letters to the army authorities charging themselves with being of “non-Aryan” background. when the authorities, acting on the letters, ask the soldiers for documents showing that their parents are not Jewish they neglect to produce them and are consequently removed from the combat units. according to testimony by Hungarians captured by the Rod Army this “Jewish invasion” of the Hungarian Army is seriously disturbing the high commend.
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.
