Jewish leaders here are alarmed over the fate of the Jews of Budapest as a result of a message reaching here today stating that pro-Nazi Premier Fereno Szalasy has threatened to massacre all the Jews in the city prior to its occupation by the Russian forces.
It is known here that no more than 75,000 Jews remained in Budapest at the beginning of this month after a pogrom during which many thousands of Jews were killed, and following the “death march” of 100,000 Budapest Jews to the Austrian frontier. No report has reached Jewish organizations in Switzerland as to what has happened to the remaining 75,000 Budapest Jews since the early part of December. However, today’s message quotes Premier Szalasy as stating: “I ask no mercy from anybody, but I shall also show no mercy to the Jews.”
It is assumed in well-informed Jewish circles here that not a single Jew will remain alive in besieged Budapest if last-minute efforts are not from the outside to prevent Szalasy from carrying out his threat. Special anti-Semitic Arrow Cross units have been assigned to watch the Jewish ghetto and to carry out Szalasy’s threat before retreating from the city, the message indicated.
“The Szalasy regime is determined to leave no Jew in Hungary alive, and has in this respect the full support of the German authorities,” says the message. “Only the tortures of Jews in the Maidanek and Oswiecim camps can be compared with the martyrdom of the Jews in Hungary today,” it adds.
Other reports reaching here reveal that Jews in the Budapest ghetto have not been permitted to obtain food for several days. They also emphasize that no distinction is being made any longer between Jews who have Hungarian passports and those who were given Swedish and Swiss “security passports,” They estimate that 14,000 Jews in Budapest were holders of Palestine immigration certificates and “security passports” of neutral countries, but point out that nothing is known of the fate of these Jews since the “death march” in which many of them were forced to walk for seven days and nights to the Austrian border under constant rains, and practically without food.
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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.
