DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle

Page 16

BUDAPEST

(Continued from Page 1)

partner after the disembarkment
of Czechoslovakia: Thousands of
store and inn keepers were ruined
through the forcible reduction of
Jewish licenses to less than six
per cent of the total. You had
to see these unfortunate people
beleaguer the Protective Com-
mittee of the Jewish Community
and asking for relief in order to
get a complete picture of the
situation,
Nevertheless Budapest was a
"paradise" for its quarter million
of Jews until the country was
virtually occupied by German
troops in the spring of 1944, and
the definitely pro-Nazi cabinet of
Lakatos assumed power. Prior to
that date Hungary's Jews were
at least not exposed to physical
torture. Under the Premiers
Bardossy and Kallay, successors
to Count Teleki who had vainly
tried to curb the country's Nazi-
fication, gradually the entire Nazi
legislation was adopted. But the
laws were never as strictly ob-
served as in the Third Reich, and
the population, especially in the
capital, did not indulge in anti-
Jewish excesses. It was a pecu-
liar situation, indeed. On the one
hand, the government drafted
Jewish men up to the age of 60
into labor battalions, chiefly to
build roads for the Axis armies,
and expelled alien Jews to Gal-
icia; on the other hand, Jewish
actors were acclaimed enthusias-
tically by the public when they
appeared on the stage, and cler-
ical and intellectual leaders pub-
licly defended their Jewish fel-
low-citizens against anti-Semitic
lies.
To a student of Hungarian his-
tory this discrepancy is not as-
tonishing. While there was no
Jewry more thoroughly assimil-
ated than the Hungarian Jews,
and they had many friends among
the Christians, some of the worst
anti-Semitic outbursts of modern
history prior to Nazidom occurred
in the Hungarian capital. Jews
are believed to have lived in the
country as far back as Roman
times. There existed a regularly
organized Jewish congregation in
12th century Buda—one of the
three cities that, more than 70
years ago, were amalgamated in-
to the city of Budapest. Many
Jewish communities developed un-
der Magyar, Turkish and Aus-
trian rule, but the number of
Jews increased considerably only
in the 19th century when quite
a few Galicians and Poles flocked
into this country.
In 1848 many Jews sided with
Lajos Kossuth, leader of the rev-
olution who desired Hungarian in-
dependence fr,tm the Austrian
yoke, and when the r evolution
was crushed by the troops of
Prince Windisch-Grao.tz, the hang-
man of Vienna, many Jewish pat-
riots followed their leader into
exilt. A contribution of a million
florins was demanded from Buda-
pest's 19,000 Jews, but the Em-
pero• later provided that the sum
be made into a cultural fund to
be used for the establishment of
a Rabbinical Seminary and other
education institutions.
Full civil rights were granted
the Jews in the Constitution of
1867 which stated: "The Israel-
, ' fish inhabitants of the country
are declared to possess equal
rights with the Christian inhabi-
tants in the exercise of all civic
and political functions. All laws,
usages, and ordinances contraven-
ing this principle are hereby re-
scinded."
Freed of all fetters, the Jews
of Hungary, and particularly the
ambitious and mentally alert
Jews of Budapest made use of
their talents for the benefit of
the country. Some of Hungary's
best writers and poets, like Joz-
sef Kiss, Jenoe Heltai, Ference
Molnar, Frigyes Karinthy, and
Ernoe Szep were Jews. A few
years ago two Budapest Jews,
Ferenc Koermendi, with his "Es-
cape to Life," and Jolan Foeldes,
with "The Street of the Fishing
Cat," attained world fame. Buda-
pest-born were Max Nordau and
Theett!or Herzl, The Orientalist
Ignaz Goldziher was the first Jew
to be appointed professor at the
University of Budapest (1894).
In 1913, Ferenc Heltai, a nephew
of Herzl, was mayor of Buda-
pest. Marton Zoeld, a graduate
of the capital's military academy,
distinguished himself as general
in the - first world war. Many
Jews sat with distinction in both
chambers of Parliament.
Unti 11919 anti-Semitism was
rare among the Magyar nation. A
certain Victor von Istoczy was
expelled from the Liberal Party,
after having delivered anti-Jew-
ish speeches in 1875. Seven years

later the Jews of Tisza-Eszlar, a
small village on the Tisza River,
were accused of having murdered
a Christian girl for ritual pur-
poses, and though the defendants
were a c q u itte d, anti-Semitic
crackpots made most of the in-
eident. On the other hand, a lead-
ing statesman, Count Nicholas
Bethlen, defended the Jews
against the attacks of the Vien-
nese paper, "Vaterland," climax-
ing his article with the words:
"More Jews, more Light." Franz
Deak and Carl Eoetvoes were
likewise sincere friends of the
Jews.
In 1919 Hungary had a Com-
munist regime that lasted for 130
days. Since its head, Bela Kun,
and many of his collaborators
were Jews, the counterrevolution-
aries, under Admiral Horthy,
blamed the misdeeds of the Kun
regime on the entire Jewish pop-
ulation, and the "White Terror,"
raging for several months,
slaughtered many innocent Jew-
ish citizens. Istvan Bethlen's 10-
year regime (1921-1931) ushered
in a more peaceful period for the
Jews, and even his successor,
Goemboes, originally a militant
Jew-baiter, did not encourage
anti-Semitism, which was con-
fined to the civil service and the
universities. But under the Pre-
miers Daranyi and Imredy, Nazi
pressure became stronger and
stronger. By an irony offate,
the author of the first anti-Semi-
tic law, presented to the Hungar-
ian Parliament in December,
1938, turned out to have had
a Jewish ancestor. "Everyone has
the full right to be an anti-Sem-
ite," Imredy defended himself
furiously, "even if he has 25 to
50 per cent Jewish blood." But
it was of no avail—the Hungar-
ian Nazis made the good man
resign.
Hungary has been part and
parcel of the Third Reich for the
past nine months, even though,
nominally, she is governed by
her own Quislings, ready to exe-
cute the orders given by Berlin.
Budapest's 240,000 Jews were
herded in a ghetto in the suburb
of Ujpest, and thousands of Hun-
garian Jews were shipped to the
death-chambers in Poland. Cor-
dell Hull and Archbishop Spell-
man broadcast appeals to the
Hungarians urging them to resist
the anti-Semitic laws. The repre-
sentatives of neutral countries
joined in their protests. Though
obedient to Berlin, the Lakatos
regime, fearing the vengeance of
the United Nations, actually
stopped the deportations. It is to
be hoped that the Red Army, re-
lentlessly towards the heart of
the country, will restore freedom
and happiness to the Jews of the
unfortunate little country.

SCHOOL

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for a spanking," which is not
figurative speech at all with him,
but "Plain Talk." A token of
their courageous defiance of Al
Segal is the fact that there are
71 Catholic Parochial Schools in
Los Angeles, including 17 Paro-
chial High Schools, with an at-
tendance of over 60 per cent of
their children. The same propor-
tion prevails with Seven Day Ad-
ventists.
They wanted their children to
get a religious training which the
general public school system can-
not give them, so they built their
own schools under the control and
influence of their churches. Their
co-religionists did not criticize
them for this and call them
"Ghetto Builders."
What title would Al Segal at-
tach to the leaders of the 83
private elementary, grammar and
high schools in this city who have
not even the purpose of religion
in their minds? What are they?
Segregators? Separators? Or
worse?
I would like to take Al Segal
over my knees, and while spank-
ing. him, I would murmur, "You
segragator! You separator! Why
should all denominations, especial-
ly the minorities, have Parochial
Schools, and Jews not have any?"
If Parochial School is segrega-
tion. then what is the YMHA?
And what is the Jewish Welfare
Board? And what is the Federa-
tion of Jewish Welfare Organiza-
tions? And what is the Seven
Arts Feature Syndicate for whom
you write? Do these exemplify
segregation, or not?
Parochial Schools in all de-
nominations serve only one pur-
pose—religion! They have the
same language and the same lit-
erature—English, and it is only
for the 45 minutes of religious
study that they maintain these
separate schools. We Jews, in
addition to English, have two

languages to teach: Hebrew and
Yiddish, and consequently, two
literatures, including the Bible,
the Talmud, Jewish history and
Jewish ethics.
Does the writer of "Plain
Talk" really believe that Jewish
Sunday School is sufficient to
rear a Jewish generation out of
which a few will become the
genuine Jewish scholars without
whom our people in the diaspora
cannot exist? Even from one
hour daily instruction in our Tal-
mud Torahs, we cannot hope for
the development of scholarly stu-
dents in Jewish learning. Euro-
pean Jewry, the great reservoir
of Jewish study, is now gone.
We must make this up in some
way, amongst ourselves.
So, before making his wise and
wonderful simile of comparing
Jewish Parochial Schools to Hit-
lerisrn, Al Segal should have
learned a lesson from Hitlerism
—that stupidly over-dosed patriot-
ism has never helped Jews. Our
non-Jewish f r i ends understand
that as a minority with the dif-
ferent creed, and such an affluent
inheritance of learning we have
the same right to maintain Par-
ochial Schools as they do. To
those who subscribe to Hitler's
doctrines it will be immaterial
whether we segregate or congre-
gate.

ROMANIANS

(Continued from Page 1)

of Jassy Jews which started June
29, 1941, and lasted several
days. About 15,000 Jews were
murdered.

Arrest Iro n Guardists

Complying with the provision
in the Allied armistice terms call
ing for the dissolution of all fas-
cist organizations, the Romanian
Government this week arrested 2,-
000 members of the Iron Guard,
an anti-Semitic body which was
responsible for the killing of
thousands of Jews in wide-spread
pogroms since 1940. Approxi-
mately 800 of the Guardists have
already been sentenced to prison
terms. The others are awaiting
trial.

Friday, October 27,

•
ident of the Federation of Jew-
ish Philanthropies and member of
the executive committee of the
American Jewish Committee; Dr.
Raphael Isaacs, director of haem-
atology at the Michael Reese
Hospital in Chicago, and Dr. Jos-
eph Hertz, Chief Rabbi of the
British Empire and himself a
graduate of the seminary in
1894.
Alan M. Stroock, a director
of the seminary, declared in the
commencement address that the
same ingenuity that man had
used to tear the world apart must
be used to build a new civiliza-
tion.
"The task," he said, "is one in
which the religious groups must
take the leadership, and not the
least should be the Jews."
Mr. Stroock paid tribute to
the seminary for having refused
to follow a "party line" among
all the "intellectual divisions and
subdivisions and credal dicho-
tomies and schisms which are to
be found among Jewry today."
Two of the rabbis who re-
ceived their degrees already have
been commissioned chaplains in
the Canadian Army. They are
Rabbis Louis Weintraub and
Frank Mandelcorn.
In the academic procession
were Chief Judge Irving Lehman
of the State Court of Appeals,
Borough President Edgar Nathan,
Federal Judge Simon H. Rifkind,
Samuel S. Schneierson, campaign
chairman of the Federation of
Jewish Philanthropies, and Harry
S. Hendricks, chairman of the
executive committee of the Sem-
inary's Board of Directors.

'7'44

MOWAT

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standpoint of one of the Domin-
ions of the British Empire,
Mr. Mowat will be introduced
by Judge Frank A. Picard, U.S.
District Judge, who is chairman
of the local American Palestine
Committee.
Mr. Mowat's address
be
followed by a forum of questions
and discussions. The public is in-
vited.

Monthly Meeting of Council
of Jewish Juniors Oct. 29

Miss Sylvia Collins, president
of National Council of Jewish
Juniors, announces that 1l Social
Legislation Group who is plan-
ning the program for this month's
general meeting, will present
Tucker Smith from the Michigan
Commonwealth Federation, who
will speak on tlie November elec-
tion. The meeting will be held
in the Adult Lounge at the Jew-
ish Community Center on Sun-
day, Oct. 29, at 3 p. m.

Jewish Refugee Scholar
Commits Suicide in Cairo

, CAIRO (WNS).. , -- Prof. Paul
Krause, occupant of the chair of
Semitics at the Cairo University,
committed suicide this week.
Prof. Krause was horn in
Prague 40 years ago. He was
considered one of Europe's out-
standing Orientalists and was
known for his many works in
Hebrew and Arabic, particularly
Practice the most perfect vir- for his critical studies of Semitic
tue.—Udana-varga.
poetry,

Urges Exchange

Dr. Ernest Marton, former
member of the Romanian Parlia-
ment, has submitted a' memoran-
dum to the Romanian Govern-
ment urging it to offer to ex-
change German nationals in the
presently Romania-hald part of
Transylvania for Transylvanian
Jews who were deported for slave
labor to the Reich.
Dr. Marton pointed out in the
memorandum that the Germans
had deported 140,000 Jews from
Transylvania to the Reich, of
which 45,000 are still believed
to be alive. He also urged the
establishment of a Commissariat
for Jewish affairs in Romania-
held Transylvania to deal with
the problem of restoring the
property which the Hungarian
Nazis had confiscated from the
Jews.
In a press interview Dr. Mar-
ton expressed the hope that the
suggestions contained in his mem-
orandum would be accepted by
the Romanian Government.

WEIZMANN

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of Hebrew Letters was Dr. Paul
Kahle, noted Bible student, Dr.
Kahle is now in London after
escaping from Germany.
Capt. Lewis L. Strauss, USNR,
special assistant to Secretary of
the Navy James V. Forrestal, was
awarded the Degree of Doctor
of Laws. Captain Strauss is pres-
ident of the Congregation Em-
manu-El and originator of the
idea of presenting the idea of
the Army-Navy E to companies
with outstanding war production
records. In conferring the degree
on Captain Strauss, Dr. Finkel-
stein said:
"Lewis Lichtenstein Strauss,
during the first World War, and
in the years following it, you
were associated with Herbert
Hoover in the notable efforts
then made by the American peo-
ple to relieve the suffering caused
by the ravages of conflict; in the
present war, you are, with noble
self-effacement, concentrating all
your energies on serving our Na-
tion, so, as• to hasten the day of
victory for the United Nations.
over the tyranny and aggression
of the Axis powers; devoted son
of Israel, who seek above all to
eradicate hatred and bitterness
among men."

Medalie Honored

Also honored were George Z.
Medalie, former United States
Attorney for the Southern Dis-
trict of New York and now pres-

Heed This Appeal

Let Your Heart Give
the Answer

This year the need for finances by
the Community War Chest is
greater than ever. Here at home, the
need for the good works of the
Community Fund has been greatly
increased because of the upheavals
of war. All over the world, our al-
lies face suffering and privation.
The Community War Chest through
its war-related agencies, brings them
clothing, food, medicines, and other
necessities of life. Helped, too, by
your dollars, are the U. S. 0., the
United Seamen's Service and the
War Prisoners Aid agencies.

Give your dollars generously

Fill the Community War Chest

HUDSON'S

I