Alarmed by anti-Jewish outbreaks which have occurred in recent weeks in various parts of Hungary, President Zoltan Tildy today issued a statement appealing to all sections of the Hungarian people to crush any attempts to spread anti-Semitism.
Declaring that Hungarian Jewry is an integral part of the nation, the President expressed sympathy with the sufferings undergone by the Jews in recent years. “The wounds of the Jews are the wounds of the entire nation,” he added, “and we must prove that the overwhelming majority of the Hungarian people were not in favor of the persecutions which were imported by foreign barbarism.
“It is in the national interest that the Jews who have returned from the Jews of death shall be enabled to participate in the rebuilding of our country,” Tildy concluded. A similar appeal was made yesterday by Premier Ferance Nagy.
Under-Secretary of Justice Zoltan Pfeiffer, who has been placed in charge of the trial of the persons involved in the disturbance at Kurmadaras last week where three Jews were killed and many injured, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that the trial will open shortly in Szolnok, a short distance from Kunmadaras.
He said that a police investigation, as a result of which 75 to 100 people have been arrested, disclosed that the riot was caused by mass-hysteria, rather than instigation by any individual. However, the Budapest daily Village reports that one of those arrested is woman named Eszter Kabai, who is charged with spreading the rumor that Jews were kidnapping children and selling their flesh in sausages.
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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.