Hungary Speeds Ousting of Jews from Economic Life

The Hungarian authorities have introduced a so-called policy of “complete Sabbath for the entire week” for the Jews by depriving practically the entire Jewish population of the right to work and make a living.

Taking advantage of the world’s preoccupation with the war, which makes attention to the Jewish question in Hungary unlikely, the Government is pursuing its anti-Jewish policy ruthlessly and is pushing the Jews out of all economic positions and employment.

This correspondent found the Jewish situation in Budapest much worse than it was a few months ago when he visited here. The official anti-Semitism embodied in the so-called “Jewish law” is being carried out at a much faster tempo than was even foreseen in the law.

Despite the fact that under the “Jewish law,” Jews are supposed to be dismissed from commercial, industrial and other enterprises gradually, over a period of several years, there are already many enterprises which are “Judenrein” (free of Jews) because the authorities have indicated that no trade licenses will be issued for the year 1940 to firms which have Jews in their employment.

In view of this threat all restaurants, even those owned by Jews, are now dismissing all their Jewish waiters in order to secure the 1940 licenses. The same is true in other fields.

After Soviet Russia had become a direct neighbor of Hungary some expected that the Soviet policy of considering anti-Semitism a crime might perhaps influence the Hungarian attitude toward the Jews. This, however, has proved to be a false assumption as it is now asserted in Budapest that an agreement exists between the Soviet and Germany defining their respective spheres of influence, with Hungary assuredly given to understand that she fell into the German sphere.

This explains, perhaps, the strictness with which the anti-Jewish actions are now being carried out. There is no doubt that Hungary intends no relaxation in her anti-Jewish laws and it is obvious that harder days are yet to come for the Jews in Hungary.

At Budapest University this semester not a single Jew was admitted as a medical student, and throughout Hungary only three Jewish students were permitted to register for the medical faculty. This despite the fact that all provinces of Hungary suffer from an acute shortage of medical and sanitary facilities and the declaration made by a Cabinet member that there is only one doctor for every 40 villages, as a result of which each village can be visited by a physician only once every fortnight.

In the State railways all Jewish physicians and medical officers have been dismissed regardless of the length of their service. The few Jews who remained on the staffs of newspapers have all been given dismissal notice.

The ousting of Jews from commerce, industry and the professions is driving Hungarian Jewry to despair. The number of Jews compelled to seek charity from Jewish institutions is growing daily and has reached the point where the Budapest Jewish Community has been obliged to appeal to every Jew still earning something to tax himself voluntarily to help meet the growing needs of the unemployed and starving.

Hopeless and without future is the situation of Jewish youths, who have no access any longer to any kind of work and have no place to which they can emigrate.