The State Department today issued a strong statement condemning Hungary’s treatment of Israel Jacobson, director of the Joint Distribution Committee in Budapest.
“The treatment of Mr. Jacobson by the Hungarian police authorities, which has been reported in the press and confirmed by official reports to the Department, again demonstrates the notorious police state methods which are practiced in Hungary and it is further evidence of the Hungarian Government’s violation of elemental human rights.
“The experience suffered by Mr. Jacobson also confirms and gives added point to the doubts expressed by this government in its note of Dec. 20 to the Hungarian Government regarding the import of secretive proceedings of the Hungarian police in the Vogeler case and concerning the treatment which Mr. Vogeler may be receiving while under detention. (Robert Vogeler, an American citizen affiliated with the International Telephone and Telegraph Company, has been under arrest in Hungary for some time.)
“The Hungarian Government must bear full responsibility before world opinion as well as before the government and people of the U.S. for its injustice to Mr. Jacobson and Mr. Vogeler and it can in no way escape the opprobrium which attaches to its conduct in these and to other acts which it has committed in violation of basic human rights and decency.”
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