Századok – 1996

Tanulmányok - Novák Attila: Cionisták; baloldaliak; államrezon. (Cionizmus és államhatalom a 30-as évek Magyarországán) VI/1341

1392 NÓVÁK ATTILA The Hashomer Hatzair was considered the most dangerous Jewish organization, since it was officially accused of being Communist. The Zionists, especially their left wing, actually entertained personal relations with the Communists. There were Communists who started their political career as Zionists, and the other way round. However, there was no relationship between them on the level of the organizations, since the Comintern had no Zionist faction, and Zionists had no Communist groups. What is more, the Zionists were brutally persecuted in the Soviet Union in those years. At the same time, the official Zionist organization was continually forced to excuse itself, since it was officially accused of being a Communist organization. It reported these attacks to the Zionist centres in Jerusalem and London. The attacks could be stopped only by liquidating the Hashomer Hatzair. Also the functions of the Palestine Office were temporarily taken over by the Zionist Leage. The leaders of Zionist organizations abroad, especially those of the Jewish Agency, followed the events in Hungary, the complaints of the left-wing Zionist groups, and the limitations of Zionist collections. Nachum Goldmann, the delegate of the Jewish Agency at the League of Nations in Genf, visited Budapest several times and negotiated with high-ranking officials. He even offered the support of the Agency to the Hungarian revisionist efforts in return for a larger scope of the Zionist movement in Hungary. Attempts were made also at economic talks. There were interesting differences between the Hungarian Ministry of the Interior that supported the official Jewish community of Hungary, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that was more susceptible to Zionist arguments. In 1938 the beginnings of anti-Jewish legislation in Hungary paradoxically coincided with the renewal of Zionist activities. The situation of the Zionists and the Jews in general became very similar both becoming outlawed in Hungary in the years to come.