Holocaust in Hungary

Holocaust

24/02/2011 07:13:00

destruction of jews, homosexuals and gypsies The holocausts in Hungary and Romania were carried out by the governments, not by Germans. was severe german pressure though the highest survival rates of any large country was in Hungary and Romania, highest was in Albania itself Budapest had the only surviving ghetto at the end of the war which wasnt liquidated liberated by soviet soldiers In Romania Jewish survival rates were at over 90% But the Hungarian government wiped out the entire rural population of jews, the survival rate outside of Budapest was less than 1% In Romania, territories occupied by Romanian armed forces continuously took military action against Jews, had the second largest attack after Germany there was a conviction from the Hungarian jews that Jews and Hungarians could coexist peacefully jews made up about 10% of the population o largely in the urban areas Hungarian prime minister Daranyi at the time recognised that there was a potential issue with extremist groups. put forward the idea that the jews would be dealt with in a topdown solution aimed at preserving the authority of the government it would be legal. o proposed a 20% cap (later a 6% cap) on Jewish presence in the economy eventually forbids Jews from the army, enforces the wearing of yellow star o introduced on a steady basis Anti Jewish legislation in Hungary was systematic, cautious and legal. o Jews are not arrested on the street, they are not allowed to be beaten on the street etc. There was no Kristalnacht comparison o there is also a very public debate concerning the roles of the jews

comparison with Italy, Czechoslovakia, Vichy France

and Germany there was little to no debate o Shows an inherent issue with Jewish presence, being passed through the parliament and not via force etc In 1944 Hungarian forces could not contend with Soviet forces, they put in a request to the German military to help the arrival of the german forces changed the atmosphere of the country increasing amount of military and political cooperation between the Hungarians and the germans it is recognised that if the Jews of hungary arent killed then, they wont be killed ever

Romania

24/02/2011 07:13:00

Prior to 1940 there was no anti-jewish legislation passed in parliament moreover governments had tended to play down the whole question of the jewish issue Romanian monarchy was unconcerned with the Jews, King Carol II had a Jewish lover, Lupescu o BUT the legionary movement continuously placed the Jewish issue at the forefront of politics Large amounts of corruption, Jews could purchase their way out of legislation if they could afford it The legionary movement was distinctly anti semitic but it too dichotomous to simply say there were anti-semitic and that other Romanians werent. Anti-semitism seeped into the upper classes of Romania even after the Iron Guard government of 1940 was removed by Germans it must be seen that the Iron Guard remained immensely popular wartime mentality meant that individual officers were basically given free reign to do as they wished standard processes of law no longer applied in the majority of Romania under marshal law there is also an economic motive for the harassing of the Jews as the military machine advances in the form of the Romanian army it expropriates resources from the population and the Jews presented an obvious target The Jews encountered across Besarabia are largely rural Jews, very few of them speak Romanian mainly orthodox Jews seen as an entirely alien people o there was a big difference between the assimilated Jews of Rump Romania and these rural Jews, they were culturally different o also an assumption that the Jews were associated with Communism, based on the Judeo Bolshevik myth The Romanian army came to view the Jews as an enemy and a direct threat Partisan resistnace and sabotage was assumed to be Jewish resistance Jews were sporadically killed in the first weeks of the occupation, by the Autumn they were being placed in Prison camps

In late 1941 100,000 Jews were shot in Odessa by Romanian forces All of this took place in an area where the media is not allowed to report freely

in 1944, with Soviet forces approaching Romania switched sides to support the Soviets, it was this that guaranteed the survival of the remaining Jews in rump Romania.

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