The Government’s anti-Jewish policy was denounced today by three deputies in the Hungarian Parliament and by speakers at a conference of the Evangelical Church in Oroshaza.
Deputy Ernst Brody, speaking at a session of the Lower House, enumerated injustices which the Government’s anti-Jewish measures had inflicted on Jews in Upper Hungary and the Carpatho-Ukraine through revocation of trade and artisan licenses, and demanded revision of these measures.
The demand was supported by Dr. Rupert, a non-Jewish deputy, known for his democratic views. He declared: “We see how hundreds of Jewish enterprises and workshops in Upper Hungary are being closed down, and it is painful to observe it, not only because such action contradicts humanitarian feelings, Christian teaching and Hungarian history, but because it undermines the defensive strength of our country, which requires that our economy should not shrink and that the income from taxes should not be reduced.”
Social Democratic Deputy Hugo Payr also demanded withdrawal of the anti-Jewish measures, declaring they were detrimental to the State’s interests. None of the Upper Hungarian deputies, however, spoke against the anti-Jewish restrictions in Upper Hungary, which was a part of Czecho-Slovakia before the Munich pact.
At the Oroshaza Evangelical conference, Bishop Raffay, criticizing the anti-Jewish measures, stated that no country should permit itself the luxury of classifying its citizens into special categories. Father Beliczey declared that he never would permit religious differences to be used as an issue in his parish as he was firmly convinced that those preaching such differences were undermining not only the Church but the State. “A nation which indulges in religious intolerance must perish,” he said. Other participants in the conference spoke in similar vein.
Meanwhile, Jewish chorus singers in the Budapest State Opera, who were dismissed under the “Jewish law,” have started court proceedings against the Opera for payment of salaries until the end of the season, as provided in their contracts, which were concluded before the promulgation of the law barring Jews from State employment.
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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.
