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Jewish Situation in Hungary Now More or Less Normal Prime Minister Tells J.t.a Head in Interview: Re

April 23, 1931
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The Jewish situation in Hungary is now more or less normal, Count Bethlen, the Prime Minister, said to-day when he received Mr. Jacob Landau, the Managing Director of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, in replying to Mr. Landau’s question how the position of the Jews of Hungary had been affected during the ten years in which he has been head of the Government, since the establishment of the Bethlen consolidation regime in April 1921.

The relations between Jews and Christians to-day are approximately the same as before the war, the Premier proceeded. The fact that Jews took a prominent part in the Bolshevik revolution in 1919 gave a powerful impetus to the antisemitic movement – but in the course of the last ten years antisemitism has gradually lost its hold on the public.

The numerus clausus owes its establishment to that period, he went on. Though still practised, it has been modified and its more offensive features have been removed. The numerus clausus was due, however, not only to antisemitic influences, but to conditions which made it imperative to limit the number of students in the Universities. Hungary had lost three-quarters of her territory, and there were three of four hundred thousand officials, lawyers and physicians crowded together in a much smaller country which could not offer opportunities for all of them.

The numerus clausus is to be less strictly enforced against the Jews, the Premier continued, but it seems to me that all people, Jews and non-Jews alike, who to-day go into the liberal professions and crowd the Universities are bound merely to swell the ranks of the intellectual proletariat. Though I understand the ambition of people to follow an academic profession, under the present conditions it is hardly desirable from a practical point of view. However, when conditions improve I have no doubt that the numerus clausus will be entirely eliminated.

ECONOMIC CRISIS HIT JEWS MORE SEVERELY THAN ANY OTHER GROUP BECAUSE THEY ARE MOSTLY ENGAGED IN COMMERCE: 40 PER CENT. OF ALL MERCHANTS ARE JEWS: ONLY VERY SMALL PERCENTAGE FARMERS: MUST BE RECOGNISED HOWEVER PREMIER ADDS THAT JEWS ARE CONSTRUCTIVE AND CAPABLE FORCE

The economic crisis has hit the Jews more severely than any other group, the Prime Minister said, because they are mostly engaged in commerce, which in times of economic depression suffers most. I have before me a book giving some very interesting statistical data with regard to the proportion of Jews in the various professions and trades. 40 per cent. of all merchants and 25 per

The fact that the Jewish merchant finds things particularly difficult is unavoidable, he pursued. Large areas have been cut off, and there has consequently been a diminution of the population, and these facts, taken together with the economic world crisis which also affects Hungary, have combined to make the possible margin for the Jewish merchant very small.

It must be recognised, however, that the Jews are a constructive and capable force and that they have contributed very much to the development of Hungary; they play, indeed, a prominent part in the literature and science, the commerce and industry of the country. I know a number of the leading Jews, for example, Hofrat Stern, the devoted Leader of the Jewish Community of Budapest, one of the largest Jewish communities in Europe, Baron Adolph Kohner, the President of the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities, Chief Rabbis Hevesi and Frankl, Deputy Paul Sandor, for many years a member of the Parliament, and Dr. Joseph Veszi, one of the best known publicists in Europe who has made the “Pester Lloyd”, which is written in German, a splendid organ of Hungarian interests. Hungarian Jewry possesses its own organ for its religious needs, the “Egyenloeseg”, under the capable leadership of Dr. Szabolesi, which recently celebrated its fiftieth anniversary.

The Jews in our country, the Premier concluded, are divided into two groups, the majority of them belonging to the Neolog group. The Jews who belong to this group are entirely assimilated, while the orthodox group adheres to many of the old forms. Both groups are recognised officially by the State and receive the support of the Government in their various educational and religious activities.

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