Itt-Ott, 1974 (7. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)

1974 / 2. szám

The Rákosi regime abolished all anti-Jewish legislation, and condemned to death many of those responsible for the deportations under the Nazis. The Jewish community was granted official recognition, freedom of religion and state financial support for its institutions. But in the intra-party factional wars of the 1950s, Jews could be found among the purgers and the purged. Show trials and purges_in_ the Rákosi era rivaled the Slansky trial in Czechoslovakia /.and/ the Pauker trial in Rumania, but with a difference} the purged were not pointed to as Jews. However, the activities of the Joint Distribution Committee, which distributed $52 million on food, welfare services and Jewish education facilities in Hungary between 19^8 and 1952, were halted in 1953» Jewish schools were absorbed into the general school system, and leaders of a strong Zionist movement, which included a network of Hebrew schools and youth groups, were sent to jail and the activities of their organizations curtailed.

When the Kremlin abruptly replaced Rákosi's ruling Jewish quartet with Imre Nagy, Jews were a force on both sides of the struggle, as they were to be once more during the uprising in Octöber 1956. (The October revolt furnished 20,000 Jews the opportunity to leave the country without being branded as deserters, for many non-Jews — including many reactionary anti-Semites — also fled.)

Since the advent of Janos Kadar, who became Hungary's premier after Soviet tanks quelled the 1956 revolt, there have been fewer Jews in important positions} but there has also been little anti- Semitism. Everyone, including Kadar, fears Soviet domination; and everyone, including the Jews, has something to gain from his policy of reconciliation and liberalization. The Jewish community established links with Jews in other countries and Hungary has the only Jewish high school in Eastern Europe, the largest network of synagogues, served by more than 30 qualified rabbis, and a rabbinical seminary headed by a renowned scholar, Alexander Scheiber. On Passover in 1972, which fell on a work day, Budapest's huge synagogue was jammed to its 3»200 capacity, and the Mazkir service was conducted three times. At least another half dozen synagogues in the city offered similar celebrations.

Hungary, despite her diplomatic rupture with Israel after the Six-Day War, did not participate in the general East European vituperation of Israel and Zionism, and there has been no flood of anti- Semitic and anti-Zionist propaganda. At a Communist Youth Congress in June 1967, Premier Kadar declared explicitly that Israel had a right to exist, drew a clear distinction between Jews and Zionists, and rejected racial discrimination in his country. And though he warned that principle should rule over feeling in politics, he acknowledged that Jews with relatives in Israel might be emotionally stirred by her victory.

The 90,000 Jews living in Hungary today lead relatively normal lives. Political and economic liberalization has benefited them as well as other Hungarians, and it is doubtful whether great numbers would leave, even if emigration were permitted. But it would be unwise to forget the tradition of anti-Semitism in the country. A 1967 poll of attitudes toward Jews — the first heard *f in Eastern Europe -- showed that in areas where there were no Jews, anti-Semitism was a negligible issue} but responses in three villages revealed that 13 per cent of those questioned would not "willingly accept" a Jew as a neighbor, 16.3 per cent would not like to have a Jewish friend, and 36.3 per cent would not want to marry a Jew.

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