J.D.B. News Letter

(By our Vienna Correspondent)

If you did not know what a difficult struggle Hungarian Jewry must continually wage for simple equality of civil rights, one would have to consider the newest political adventures of official Jewish organizations and prominent Jewish personages as a symptom of well-being, of carefree luxury. This is the comment in Jewish circles in many of Hungary’s neighboring countries where the Jewish comunities have been placed in a most embarrassing position by the action of some Hungarian Jewish leaders.

A person with ordinary common sense cannot grasp at all the constant hyper-patriotic activities of the Jewish elements in Hungary who want to harness the Jews of the entire world to the service of the Hungarian Irredenta, and are ready to drag into a miserable position approximately two million Jews of Roumania, Czechoslovakia, and Jugoslavia. They are willing to do this as long as they can carry favor with several Magyar noblemen who do not care if the whole world is again drawn into war, as long as they can enlarge the present frontiers of Hungary by ten or twenty kilometers.

At the same time, when Parliament discussed a scandalously anti-Semitic bill against Jewish landholders and even against the leasing of land by Jews, the Federation of Jewish Cornmunities sent out a circular to the larger Jewish communities the world over, urging them to support with the great “Jewish world influence” the struggle of Hungarian Jewry for the revision of the Trianon Peace Treaty and for the restoration of Greater Hungary in its pre-war boundaries. One cannot imagine a greater tragicomedy. The Jews of Budapest demand of the Jewish communites of Belgrade, Prague and Bucharest that they become traitors to their own countries and help to wrest provinces from their present fatherlands in order to enlarge Hungary.

There are to be found in this Hungarian Jewry some religious Jews who are supporting the Hungarian Irredenta movement through the political misuse of he Jewish religion. They are printing prayer books and pentateuchs with especial prayers for the restoration of Greater Hungary by means of cutting off Slovakia from the Czech territory.

These prayerbooks are sold and distributed gratis among the naive Jewish populations of small Slovakian towns, without thought of the terrible disasters that can be brought upon the slovakian Jewry, by making the Jews of the entire country suspected of treason.

It is true that the Hungarian Jews are Magyarized and strongly patriotic. No one would possibly demand of the Hungarian Jews that they weaken their patrictism, but they must remember that the Czechoslavian Jews have at least as many reasons for being good patriots in their own countries, as the Jews of Hungary, is their argument. They must know that there must be certain limits even to the most ardent patriotism, and that they have a special duty of exercising a certain amount of reserve because of the much larger Jewish communities in Hungary’s neighboring countries. One should not play with fire at the expense of more than two million Jews, towards whom the Hungarian Jews should have at least one one-thousandth of the spirit of sympathy which they have toward their Christian fellow-cit in Hungary, the Czecheslovakian Jews declare.

If the fine feeling of patriotism on the part the Hungarian Jews opposed the readiness of Jewish organizations of other countries to help them in fighting against the numerus clausus. why shouldn’t the civic loyalty at least of Czechoslovakian Jewry rebel against the suspicion of high treason? It is not believable, moreover, that the Jews of Hungary will not feel grieved when this activity will develop a terible movement of anti-Semitism in Czeclroslovakin or Jugo-Slavia. where the Jewish population will have to pay with sacrifices of human lives and property for a thonghtless propaganda of their own brothers across the border. It is feelish and a more theatrical effect, because the entire ? is one of the most ? international territorial broblems, and one upon which the Jewish community can have no influence of any kind.

It has been proved, moreover, that this egneentric and extravagant policy of responsible Jewish circles of Hungary will also not save Hungarian ? from efficial and non-official anti-Semitism in Hangary. This is shown by the series of new anti-Semitic ? ? by the government and parliament with the purpose of ? forcing the Hungarian Jewry out of all social and economic positions in the country until they will have to follow the fine advice of Prime Minister Count Bethlen, namely, mass immigration from Hungary into other countries.

The frony of the Jewish let in Hungary goes still further, however. A group of Jewish politicians under the leadership of the family of the late Jewish Minister of Justice Vaszonyi has begun to create a strong nonarchistic movement among the Jewish population of Hungary. This Jewish group intends to favor Hungary and the world with the restoration of the Hapsburg monarchy. Should such a movement be born on the shoulders of Hungarian Jewry? Has the Jewish population of Hungary no other cares to worry about?

Immigration to Canada for June, 1925, totalled 20,303, as compared with 15,052 for June a year ago, an increase of twelve percent. For the three months April, May and June of this year, immigration amounted to 70,927. The principal sources were British 23,695, and United States 3,343. Belgium contributed 638, Denmark. 1.817, Holland 549. Finland 1.201, France 272. Germany 5,812, Norway 1,092, Sweden 1,554, Switzerland 229, all other countries 24,405.

During June 3,526 Canadians who had gone to the Unitied States intending to live there permanently returned to Canada, declaring heir intention of remaining in this country.