Acceptance of the Government’s bill to restrict Jews to twenty per cent in Hungary’s economic life would be a ” veritable catastrophe,” Dr. Charles Rassay, leader of the national Liberal Party, declared today during a debate on the measure in the Lower House. Formal discussion of the bill, approved by a joint parliamentary committee, was initiated yesterday.
Frequently interrupted by Right Extremists, Dr. Rassay said he would not accept the bill for constitutional and social reasons, and also for reasons of foreign policy. He expressed the belief that if the proposal was accepted, it would be short-lived.
The Hungarians always held trade in contempt, he said, leaving it to the Jews. Before the Jews, it was in the hands of Greeks, Armenians and Serbs, but not Magyars, he declared. Referring to the religious wars of the Hungarians, he particularly accused the Protestants, who had shed so much blood for religious freedom, of being ready to vote for a bill signifying a setback in religious liberty.
The rapporteur on the bill, M. Balogh, said the bill was not motivated by anti-Semitism. Dr. Tibor Eckhardt, leader of the Independent Agrarians, said his party accepted the measure, but he criticized severely several of its provisions.
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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.
