A proposal that the Hungarian Government undertake a nation-wide campaign against anti-Semitism which would include an educational program among the Hungarian people and the strengthening of police and military forces to prevent mass attacks upon Jews was adopted here by a national convention of Hungarian Jews and presented to Premier Ferenc Nagy.
The conference, which included representatives of both Orthodox and non-Ortho Jews, demanded that the government set up special mobile units to be used in case of further anti-Semitic outbreaks. It also demanded that the police be instructed to act quickly and firmly to suppress anti-Semitic incidents at their earliest manifestations. Pointing out that fascism has imbued the youth with anti-Semitic teachings, the conference urged the immediate establishment of a nation-wide educational program to root out fascist influences and ideas.
The memorandum presented to Premier Nagy also asked that the Jews be returned to full-fledged citizenship, and that full restitution of their property be made, and that all unsatisfactory legislation and “half-measures” which have so far proved inadequate to restore the Jews to their full equal rights, be revised. It also suggested that if the Hungarian Government is unable to protect the Jews, it consider the possibility of calling upon the Allied nations for aid.
In an interview with Jewish leaders following the conference, a Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent was told that the Jewish community’s chief grievances were the fact that the land restitution policy has not yet been implemented and that the Jewish Rehabilitation Law and the Jewish Fund are still in the planning stage and the government apparently fears to implement them because of possible political repercussions. They also pointed out that the perpetrators of the Kunmadaras and Miskolc pogroms are still unpunished, thus strengthening anti-Semitic forces which will flourish if unchecked.
The conference also called upon the leaders of the Christian churches to take up the fight against anti-Semitism with all means at their disposal.
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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.
