The announced intention of the Hungarian Government of solving the Jewish problem by special legislation and the many outspokenly anti-Semitic speeches in the Lower House of Parliament have created grave alarm among the Hungarian Jews.
Among the rumors on the scope of the proposed anti-Jewish legislation, one fore casts the complete elimination of Jews from the press, theatre and cultural institutions. Another forecasts restriction of Jewish participation in the press to twenty percent at most.
(The Havas News Agency reports from Budapest that formation of the commission assigned to formulate legislation to settle Hungary’s Jewish question has been completed. It is composed largely of extreme rightist deputies.)
Minister of Trade Geza Bornemissa has so far not committed himself on a proposal advanced by the Christian Baross movement, the pro-German, Nazi-financed organization founded by Gabriel Baross, to restrict Jewish representation in industry to fifty percent.
In view of the imminent change in the Cabinet, The worst fears are entertained among the Jews regarding the possible selection as Premier of Alexander Sztranyavszky, president of the Lower House and well known anti-Semite, and the selection as Interior Minister of the no less anti-Semitically inclined Ladislaus Endre, Governor of Pest Province, who demands certificates of “Aryan” origin of all subordinates.
One of the effects of the tension prevailing among the Hungarian Jews is increased recourse to conversion. The rabbinates of Budapest are being besieged by hundreds of Jews wishing to leave their religion, while a Catholic priest last Sunday actually warned the priesthood against the danger of admitting to the Church thousands of “undesirable” converts motivated by material reasons alone.
Frankly anti-Semitic projects are advanced daily in the Lower House from the Government benches and also from the Opposition. These bills include revision of Jewish citizenship, reform of Jewish land ownership and restriction of Jewish predominance in the economic sphere.
The general political uncertainty and the growing unrest among the Jews induced Premier Koloman Daranyi today to try to reassure the House. He announced that the Government intends to demand full powers on April 4 to carry out immediately the most urgent parts of the Government’s program.
Premier Daranyi hinted that the Government possessed the necessary courage to solve the problems which “appear most delicate,” in the interests of the whole nation, but he emphasized that this would be carried out in a constitutional manner.
Warning those desiring to fish in troubled waters or to organize a revolution that the Government was ready to suppress any disturbances or attempts at sabotage, the Premier deprecated present nervousness and stated that the Government was unable to administer new doses of bromide to fight it.
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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.
