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Reported Hungarian Jews Will Be Used to Build German Fortifications in the Carpathians

The 24,000 Jews deported from the Hungarian-held Czech cities of Munkaoz (Mucacevo) and Ungvar (Uzhorod) will probably be conscripted for forced labor building German fortifications in the Carpathian Mountains and the ransylvanian Alps, it is reported here today. The ousted Jews, the report says, were given only 24 hours to vacate their homes and were […]

May 2, 1944
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The 24,000 Jews deported from the Hungarian-held Czech cities of Munkaoz (Mucacevo) and Ungvar (Uzhorod) will probably be conscripted for forced labor building German fortifications in the Carpathian Mountains and the ransylvanian Alps, it is reported here today.

The ousted Jews, the report says, were given only 24 hours to vacate their homes and were allowed to take along about 100 pounds of luggage and food for two weeks. At present they are being held in open enclosures, without any shelter or health and sanitary conveniences, awaiting deportation. Their homes are to be used to house Germans wounded on the eastern front.

The Budapest newspaper Pester Lloyd quotes Lazlo Endre, Commissar for Jewish affairs, as stating that because of the shortage of doctors, it will be impossible to bar Jewish physicians from practicing. Endre said that of the 13,000 doctors in Hungary, 4,000 are Jews. Although in principle, Jewish physicians will be restricted to treating Jewish patients, actually this regulation cannot be enforced, Endre added.

The Budapest radio announced last night a list of Jewish authors whose works cannot be sold any longer. Bookshops and public libraries were ordered to submit to the Ministry of Education a list of all such books in their possession. Among the authors affected are Sholem Asch, Ilya Ehrenburg, Lion Feutchwanger, Sigmund Freud, Emil Ludwig, Franz Werfel and Arnold and Stefan Zweig.

The German-controlled Hungarian Government today announced two new decrees aimed at purging the country’s economy of Jews. The Minister of Finance was authorized to appoint “trustees” for agricultural holdings farmed by Jews, and the Minister of Industry announced that all Jewish industrialists must file complete information concerning their enterprises, their employees and themselves within eight days. This last measure is apparently a preliminary to “Aryanization” of such firms, which was announced earlier.

In small towns throughout Hungary, meanwhile, local authorities were proceeding with the confiscation of Jewish property and the ousting of Jews from the professions. In Kaposvar, the mayor ordered all 172 Jewish shops in the town sealed. Their contents will probably be given to air-raid victims. In Zalaegerszeg, the local lawyers chamber expelled 47 Jewish members. Similar items from other cities are to be found in the Hungarian press.

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