1

The Flourishing, Economic Plunder and Destruction of the Dioszeg Jews during the Holocaust

Dr.Tomas Lang, PhD., Associated Professor, University of Jewish Studies, Budapest

Reviewed by Dr.Attila Simon, PhD., Associated Professor,

Dept. of History, Hans Sellye University, Komárno, Slovakia

As the development of economic and social life in today’s Sládkovičovo1 is linked to

the establishment and development of the sugar industry, it was similarly the case in the

settlement of Jews into the community. The establishment of the Jewish religious

neighbourhood and its institutions, according to Jewish tradition are inseparable parts. It

contained a separate, independent religious community, school, ritual bath and cemetery.

However, it was still closely linked to the foundation of the Diószeg sugar refinery and its

development. Its collapse and eventual extinction was not witnessed by the Jewish commu-

nity for they had been murdered and liquidated during three generations. The industry had

brought their ancestors to the town and to assist with its development of which the Jewish

community contributed to a very large extant. In this article we shall investigate the last pe-

riod of their existence and the circumstances that led to their gradual discrimination, social

marginalization, and deprivation of civil and political rights, property and ultimate genocide.

We are talking about what was then Hungary2. As a result of the 1st Vienna Accord3

the fate of Jews in the former Czechoslovakia South of the arbitration line, saw approxi-

1 The municipality name Dioszeg, which was re-named in 1948 to Sládkovičovo, we are using until 1948 in the form of

Dioszeg, although the name changed in the sequence of time. In 1773 the village was called Dioszegh, in 1786 Dioszeg and from 1873 Diószeg. After dividing the village from 1895 the names Magyar-Diószeg and Német-Diószeg (Hungarian Diószeg and German Diószeg) were used, from 1918 to 1920 Maďarský Dióseg and Nemecký Dióseg translated to Slovak language, from 1920 Diosek Veľký (Great Diószeg) and Diosek Malý (Small Diószeg) and from 1938 Magyar Diószeg and Német Diószeg again. In 1943 the two parts merged again under the name Diószeg and from 1945 Diosek, which in 1948 was renamed to Sládkovičovo. In: Sudová 2012, p.4; 2 Under this term here and now we mean the Hungarian Kingdom within its borders in 1944, i.e. including the territo-

ries returned due to the 1st

Vienna Award on 2nd

November 1939, which got under Hungarian jurisdiction by separation from the post-Munich Czechoslovakia, rest of Subcarpathian Ruthenia territories have been occupied by the Hungarian Kingdom on 15

th March 1939, North Transylvania seized by Kingdom of Hungary as a result of the 2

nd Vienna Award on

30th

August 1940 from Romania and territories in Bácska and Mura region was seized from Yugoslavia on 11th

April 1941 when the Nazis occupied the northern part of disintegrated Yugoslavia. 3 The First Vienna Accord was a treaty signed on November 2, 1938, as a result of the First Vienna Arbitration. The

Arbitration took place at Vienna´s Belvedere Palace. The Arbitration and Award were direct consequences of the Mu-nich Agreement the previous month and decided the partitioning of Czechoslovakia. Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy sought a non-violent way to enforce the territorial claims of the Kingdom of Hungary and to revise the Treaty of Trianon of 1920. The First Vienna Award separated largely Magyar-populated territories in southern Slovakia and southern

2 mately 40,000 Jews subordinated under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Hungary. The first

so called [anti]Jewish law No. XV/1938 comes into force immediatel4y.

The following map shows the territorial gains of Hungary in the years 1938-1941:

Fig. 15 : Territorial gains of the Hungarian Kingdom after revisions 1938-1941

State borders ran in the immediate vicinity of the discussed area. By the resolution of

the Government of the Hungarian Kingdom 6 the towns of Berehovo, Levice, Nové Zámky,

Lučenec and Rimavská Sobota became county administrative centres. The Bratislava - Ni-

tra county administrative resided in Nové Zámky was then divided into the districts of Nové

Subcarpathian Ruthenia from Czechoslovakia and awarded them to Hungary. Hungary thus regained some of the terri-tories in present-day Slovakia and Ukraine lost in the Treaty of Trianon in the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Em-pire after World War I. In mid-March 1939, Adolf Hitler gave Hungary permission to occupy the rest of Subcarpathian Ruthenia, taking territory further north up to the Polish border, thus creating a common Hungarian-Polish border, as had existed prior to the 18th-century Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After World War II, the 1947 Treaty of Paris declared the Vienna Award null and void.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Vienna_Award/ Downloaded April, 19, 2016; 4 The 1938 Act XV. on Effective Balance Sustainability of Social and Economic Life (first [anti-]Jewish law). According to

this act, small businesses as well as trade, financial and industrial enterprises - employing more than 10 white-collar

workers - are not allowed to hire more than 20% of Jews. This percentage was set to be achieved over the next five

years. According to these measures, there was an exception for those who received honors for bravery in battles of

World War I and also during counter-revolutionary events in 1919-1920 (downfall of the Hungarian Republic of Coun-

cils) and for widows and children of those who had fallen in these fights. Everyone who converted to Christianity before

August 1919 and their children were granted this exception as well, provided they did not convert back to Judaism.

Although the law defined a Jewish person on account of their religion, those who converted to Christianity after 1 Au-

gust 1919 were still considered Jewish.

5 Source: https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9csi_d%C3%B6nt%C3%A9sek , text adapted by the author;

6 By the resolution of the Hungarian Royal Government No. 6460/1939 of 23 June 1939 with effect from 15 July 1939

the town of Nové Zámky was declared as the seat of the temporarily united (Hung. Közigazgatásilag egyelőre egyesített) Bratislava-Nitra county. The resolution was communicated to the municipal council at its meeting on 8 July 1939 and was received with great applause. ŠOKA Nové Zámky, fund of Župné mesto, cart. 1 and 4;

Revisionist territorial gains of the Hungarian Kingdom 1938 – 1941:

I.First Vienna Award 11 927 sq.km Subcarpatian Ruthenia 12 208 sq.km

II.Second Vienna Award 43 615 sq.km

Bácska, Mura-region 11 402 sq.km

Trianon territory 1920 79 100 sq.km

After revisions and annexations 1938-1941 172 200 sq.km

3 Zámky, Galanta and Šaľa. The northern margin is the arbitration line that formed the state

border.

Fig.2 The Temporarily and Administrative United Pozsony – Nyitra County 1939 - 19457

It can be seen that North of the arbitration line - First in the autonomous Slovakia with-

in the 2nd Czecho-Slovak Republic from 2nd October 1938, which had its own autonomous

government headed by a catholic priest Msr. Jozef Tiso, and followed by the independent

Slovak state from 15 March 1939 remained approximately 75 to 80,000 Jews, and their fate

unfolded depending on the will of the anti-Jewish legislation of the Slovak State.

Unfortunately according to existing practice, under the term Holocaust in Slovakia only

the process of the gradual liquidation of Jews taking place in the years 1938 to 1945 exclu-

sively on the territory of the then Slovak Republic has been discussed. Till last decade Slo-

vak historiography has systematically failed to address the fate of Jews on the territory giv-

en to Hungary through 1th Vienna Award.

One of the key notions in the fate of the Jews in the then Slovakia, is the forced work8

camp and later the concentration camp in Sereď. In connection with today's topic, we must

7 Randolph L. Braham: A magyarországi holokauszt földrajzi encyklopédiája (Geographical Encyclopaedia of the Holo-

caust in Hungary), PARK Könyvkiadó Budapest 2007, ISBN 978-963-530-740-1, vol. 2, p. 120 and on; (henceforth Braham 2007); information concerning the transfer of Jews of “unknown number“ from Nové Zámky to Dunajská Streda, where they should have been joined to the second transport dispatched from there, is not confirmed by any other source; 8 The existence of the labour camp in Sereď as a form of protection against the deportation of Jews was also supported

by the Centre of Jews (Ústredňa Židov) with the efforts to show the usefulness of work realised there for the economy including various state contracts. Basically, forced labour really contributed to economic prosperity and to the Sered area itself. The stationmaster of the railway station in Sereď in his Annual report on the evaluation of the transportation

4 be aware that despite the geographical proximity of the two towns - Dioszeg and Sereď -

examining the Holocaust we are talking about two different, mutually varying processes in

terms of time and space. That is, the period of 1938-1945 of the state border in the King-

dom of Hungary and the Slovak State (since the adoption of the Constitution on July 21,

1939: Slovak Republic) was running between the two towns. In the vicinity, the state border

ran on the northern side of the villages of Veľká Mača, Hody, Nebojsa and Váhovce.

On both sides of the border the trajectory and dynamics of the Holocaust had their

respective specifics, time periods and sequence of measures. On both sides of the border

measures were implemented to remove Jews from their positions in political, economic and

cultural life. They were deprived of their civil and political rights, property, followed by pau-

perisation and finally deportation outside the territory of their home country with prompt ex-

tradition to foreign powers with the clear central purpose of genocide. The most visible dif-

ference is that deportations from Slovakia had already begun on 25 March 1942 with the

first transport of 1,000 girls from eastern Slovakia, who were deported from Poprad. The

first transports from Hungary were dispatched on May 14, 1944 from inner Hungary town of

Nyíregyháza and from occupied Mukachevo in Subcarpatian Ruthenia.

In both countries the deportations were carried out based on sovereign decisions by

the powers of their own state apparatus. Despite of that we have to highlight some major

political, circumstantial, and time differences in practices, as well as consequences.

In the case of Slovakia – during the so called first deportations wave – it was as deci-

sionmaker the Parliament and the government and Hlinka Guard as the executive body in

cooperation with all state and local components of the power apparatus. The second wave

of deportations from Slovakia took place in the fall of 1944. It was carried out by SS units,

which entered the territory of Slovak Republic upon its own request. Their task was to sup-

press the Slovak National Uprising. SS units and Einsatzgruppen arrived along with the

Wehrmacht units. Their objective was to carry out final stage of the “Final Solution” to the

Jewish question in Slovakia. Special units of Hlinka Guard were actively assisting them.

outputs of Sereď Station for 1943 writes: "A remarkable achievement in the industry we can observe in all fields in the "Jewish camp". Its management is done by the Hlinka Guard. Thus, for example, the camp performs production of build-ing, wooden, concrete and iron materials. The furnishing of 48 rooms in Sliač spa was realized by this business. This company supplies the Slovak Railways into its storehouse and warehouse in Vrútky. Clothing also has a remarkable place here. Manufacture of knitted and crocheted clothing, further production of men's suits and ladies’ costumes and hats etc. have a considerable importance, too.“ Cited and translated from: Archives of the Slovak Railways, Bratislava, fund of Memorial books of railway stations (Pamätné knihy železničných staníc) 1938-1944;

5

In the case of Hungary – two years later - it was both Houses of the Parliament, the

government, gendarmerie and local authorities. Altogether, a total of 285,000 people were

involved in erasing the Jews in Hungary, including Miklós Horthy9 through the mayors of

cities and towns up to the authorities of the smallest villages where even a Jew lived.

Adolf Eichmann during his trial in Jerusalem stated that in some cases the members

of his special unit were shocked by the inhumane methods of Hungarian authorities, gen-

darmerie and police. Randolph Braham thinks that the reason for this behavior naturally

emerged from the twenty years of systematic propaganda of anti-Semitism. After the Sup-

pression of the Hungarian Republic of Councils and the victory of the counter-revolution in

1920, anti-Semitism was growing in strength and penetrated all areas of social, economic

and political life. The adoption of the anti-Jewish laws caused a wide-spread anti-Semitism

among the majority of the nation and an earlier anti-Judaism was now connected with Nazi

racial ideology. When Eichmann took over, he was very pleased with the diligence, enthusi-

asm and swiftness of Sztójay’s administration which carried out the “Final Solution”. Eich-

mann said that it was “a pleasant surprise”. They were in a hurry, because they knew that

Soviets were approaching the foothills of Carpathian Mountains and from there the way to

Hungary was open. Deportations were managed by the official Hungarian government until

15 October 1944, and everything was carried out according to their regulations. Stealing of

Jewish property became a legal path towards enrichment and it motivated many people to

approve of legalization of deportations and the following consequences.10

9 Nicholas Horthy de Nagybanya, Hung. Nagybányai Horthy Miklós, 1868 - 1957, Hungarian admiral and regent. He

commanded the Austro-Hungarian fleet in World War I. After Béla Kun seized (1919) power in Hungary, the counter-revolutionary government put Horthy in command of its forces. When the Romanian forces that had defeated Kun evacuated Budapest (Nov., 1919), Horthy entered it and in 1920 was made regent and head of the state. He checked two attempts (March and Oct., 1921) of former Emperor Charles I to regain his throne in Hungary, once by persuasion and once by armed force. Charles was then formally barred from the throne and exiled, and Horthy found himself re-gent of a kingless kingdom. A nationalist who was distinctly inclined toward the right, he guided Hungary through the years between the two world wars. After the suicide (1941) of the premier, Paul Teleki, Hungary entered World War II as an ally of Germany. Despite Horthy's opposition, German troops invaded Hungary in Mar., 1944. When Russian troops entered Hungary, Horthy sent an armistice commission to Moscow and announced (Oct., 1944) the surrender of Hungary. The Germans immediately occupied Hungary and forced Horthy to countermand his order and resign. He was taken to Bavaria and later was freed by U.S. troops. After appearing as a witness at the Nuremberg war-crimes trial (1946), he settled (1949) in Portugal, where he died. His memoirs appeared in English in 1956. 10

Rényi Pál Dániel: Interviewing Randolph Braham; Magyar Narancs, OCT., 10, 2011; source: http://magyarnarancs.hu/belpol/egy-dicso-nemzetkep-erdekeben-77380?fb_action_ids=10151754204836831&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&acion_object_map=[10150499582184919]&action_type_map=[%22og.likes%22]&action_ref_map=[] ; downloaded May. 14, 2016;

6

POLITICAL ANTAGONISM AND RIVALRY OVER HITLER’S FAVOUR AND INFLUENCE ON THE FATE OF JEWS LIVING ON THE ARBITRATION TERRITORY

On the subject of borders it is necessary to add that the governments of both coun-

tries did not reveal to each other much sympathy. Hungary was not satisfied with the result

of the arbitration, as it did not receive either Bratislava or Nitra. Both governments closely

monitored the status of their minorities as neighbors, whereas the Slovak Constitution of

1939 enshrined an institution of reciprocity11 directed primarily against Hungary.

Hungary was not satisfied with the results of the arbitration, as it did not receive ei-

ther Bratislava or Nitra. The dissatisfaction with the arbitration and the resulting political ef-

fort to regain arbitration territories was a central theme of the Slovak State’s politics during

this period. After the initial unsuccessful attempts to change arbitration lines by trading

Šurany, Komjatice and several other villages between Nové Zámky and Nitra for territories

in western Slovakia, Slovak administration never gave up its effort to gain at least part of the

arbitration territory. This effort was always emphasized by their propaganda methods.

Rivalry over the favor of the Nazi Germany is a common feature of both govern-

ments. Their objective was to win Germany’s support for a proposal, which was their ulti-

mate political goal - dissatisfaction with the results of the arbitration and a desire to gain ar-

bitration territories in their favor. Both governments were carefully monitoring ways their mi-

norities were treated. Reciprocal relationship was placed into the Slovak Constitution in 21

July 1939 and it was aimed specifically against Hungary12.

The relatively strong Slovak minority was ensconced there. Despite the permanently

tense mutual political relationship the borders were relatively permeable and monitored on

both sides by patrols along the border line. A common feature of both governments is a ri-

valry for the favour of Nazi Germany.

Prominent Slovak historian, Ľubomír Lipták refered to this rivalry between the two

satellite states as “a pathetic tug-of-war over the title of the biggest political dwarf”. However

11

Principle of reciprocity was enshrined into the Slovak Constitution in the Article 95: “The fundamental rights, stated in the Constitution, of ethnic groups living in Slovak State are valid only if the same rights are applied to Slovak minorities living on a territory of the respective ethnic group”. 12

Member of the Hungarian Party Assembly, Count János Esterházy raised an objection during the discussion against the Article 95 and reminded the assembly that Hungarians, living in Slovakia, consider themselves equals and a state-building nation just like Slovaks are. Esterházy’s speech is quoted by Molnár 2010, p. 155; to learn more about bilateral agreements, see for example: István Janek, 2011;

7 these dwarves were fighting for survival - Slovak politicians were not sure whether Hitler

would let Hungarians occupy to whole Slovak territory - as a part of his political scheme - or

whether he himself would not take over the country and proclaim it his protectorate - similar-

ly to Czech Republic and Moravia.13

The Kingdom of Hungary in their revisionist objectives were willing to provide a

number of possibilities for the coming war. For example, the preparation of the trade

agreement between the two states as early as in 1937, when the minutes of 18 November

stated: "The purpose of a [trade] agreement is to promote the export of agricultural products

from Hungary to Germany for counter-deliveries of goods of clandestine nature." – see: mili-

tary supplies. The text expressly stated: "We must remember that recently Hungary has

purchased large amounts of armaments to which Germany willingly provided long-term

loans. 14

"What these armaments were good for, was explained by the head of the Cabinet of

the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, later foreign minister, Count Csáky during talks

with State Secretary of the Reich, Mr. Bohle, during his visit of 23 to 27 January 1938 in Bu-

dapest.“ “Both Germany and Hungary have legitimate territorial claims against Czechoslo-

vakia. ... According to [Csáky] an actual Hungarian attack would provide substantial relief for

Germany." This is of course a masterful diplomatic expression for the conviction of the stra-

tegic value of his country and a further expression of the expected gratitude and affection of

Germany in its ambitions towards the revision of Trianon.

The head of the Hungarian Royal Government Count Teleki confirms this idea in a

subsequent memorandum to the Reich Government emphasizing the strategic value of his

country at the achievement of the aggressive intentions of the Reich. He points out that "...

concurrent German-Hungarian action against Czechoslovakia would make it impossible for

the Russian air force to land on the territory of former Upper Hungary from the beginning."

We see here the unconcealed fawning over the interests of Nazi Germany and at the same

time seeking to create political conditions for the realization of their own revisionist objec-

tives. This was the first fiddle in Hungarian foreign policy throughout the interwar period.

The agile foreign policy of the Reich did not let these expectations remain unnoticed.

The Secretary of State von Weitzsäcker on March 31, 1938 assured Sztójay, the Royal En-

voy:

13

Hajko 2009, p. 316; 14

Bolgár 1950, p.6;

8

"The Führer consistently holds the view that all the territories that once be-

longed to Hungary and are now held by Czechoslovakia, must be returned to Hun-

gary. He, the Führer, is not even interested in Bratislava." 15

This - at least partially - occured, Hitler did not fail to point out with special emphasis

on 16 January 1939 to Count Csáky, by then Minister of Foreign Affairs, that " ... achieving

the first revision of borders [of Hungary] was allowed by Germany "16

.

Mutual antagonism and rivalry between Hungary and Slovakia was very convenient

for Hitler and he kept it alive by increasing his demands, emphasizing that the failure to

meet these demands might cost them the loss of his favor. This situation reached its climax

in the summer of 1943, when Hitler repeatedly demanded Hungarians to participate in the

occupation of Serbia.

During the first visit of the new Hungarian Secretary of Defence Gen. Lajos Csatay17

to Berlin in August 1943 the German command presented him with a tirade about the excel-

lent prospects of warfare, despite the loss of the Italian allies, and also the demand that

Hungarian forces take over the occupation tasks in Serbia and the protection of German

troops in the Balkans against the partisans of Josip Broz Tito. To negotiate these details

they are expecting an urgent visit of the Chief of Staff Ferenc Szombathelyi18. Szombathe-

lyi interceded during the formal meeting of these German demands in exchange for the op-

portunity to withdraw the remnants of the defeated and dismantled Hungarian army from the

15

Bolgár 1950, p.44;

16 Bolgár 1950, p.8;

17 Vitéz Lajos Csatay, Lieutenant General (real name Tuczentaller, 1st August 1886, Arad, today Romania –

16th November 1944, Budapest), fought in WWI, in 1919 joined the Red Army of the Hungarian Soviet Re-public; from 1st February 1943 Lieutenant-General, from 12 June 1943 Defence Minister of the Hungarian Kingdom in the government of Miklós Kállay and consequently after the German invasion until 16 October 1944 also in the government of Döme Sztójay, when he was arrested by the Gestapo in connection with participation in organizing the failed breakaway of Hungary from the war. He and his wife committed sui-cide together.

18 Ferenc Szombathelyi , Colonel General (born as György Knausz, according to some sources Knauz on 17the

May 1887 in the family of a Swabian shoemaker in Győr, Szombathelyi was the maiden name of his mother); in the period of 1914-1948 served as a staff officer. In 1919 member of the intelligence and counterintelli-gence department of the army of the Hungarian Soviet Republic. From 1939 to 1941 commander of the VIII. Army Corps in Košice, after Hungary entered the war against the Soviet Union commander of the Carpathi-ans Army Goup, from September 1941 to March 1944 Chief of Staff of the Hungarian royal army; his views were similar to the views of the Prime Minister Miklós Kállay and helped find contacts with the Western Allies actively. After the coup of Ferenc Szálasi arrested and imprisoned in Sopronkőhida, later in Germany, from American captivity extradited to Hungary. Here he was in 1946 sentenced by the People's Court to 10 years in prison and then in connection with the bloody events in Novi Sad in 1941, along with other officers of the occupying army extradited to Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav tribunal sentenced him to death and on No-vember 4, 1946 in the Petrovaradin fortress (urban part of Novi Sad) executed by shoot. The Supreme Court of the Republic of Hungary on 16 March 1994 annuled the judgment of the People's Court from 1946 in its

entirety.

9 eastern front and to maintain them for the post-war period, when, "... the interests of Hun-

gary will be under threat from all sides ...". By these interests he meant retaining the territo-

rial gains as a result of the 1st and 2nd Vienna Arbitrate as well as the occupation of Ruthe-

nia in 1939 and Vojvodina in 1941. He held the view of the current efforts "... to apply wait-

ing tactics until the time till we make it into some acceptable form of peace."19

However, Hungary was not sure about maintaining the territories gained through Hit-

ler's favour, even during the war. The first version of Margarethe20 plan elaborated by the

OKW21 on 30 December 1943 envisaged the participation of the Slovak army in the occupa-

tion of the northern and north-eastern areas of Hungary, which in plans were defined as the

so called 3rd territory north and north-east of the Tisza River22. These incorporated the east-

ern part of the arbitration territory and also Ruthenia.

In case the Hungarian government would have been reluctant to meet German re-

quirements and would insist on the withdrawal of its occupying forces from the eastern front,

Reich Ambassador in Budapest Dietrich von Jagow23 suggested to the Foreign Ministry in

Berlin to pull out the Slovak - Hungarian card and use it for a draconian extortion in the fa-

vour of Germany. This proposal lied in the possibility of threatening Hungary with depriva-

tion of lands acquired after 1938 from the benefaction of the Reich, and to achieve a

change of position of the Hungarian government. In a telegram addressed to state secretary

Steengracht24 dated 17 September 1943 he recommended the Foreign Ministry notify the

Hungarian government that

"... the German leadership explains [the standpoint of Hungary] so that they

do not wish to continue the fight in the interests of Europe and thus are taking par-

tially the position of neutral countries. Such an opinion affects their relationship with

Germany in principle. Their withdrawal from the fights can be explained so that Hun-

gary thereby waives their territorial claims, which practically means the restoration of

the pre-war Trianon borders. From this we are deducing the appropriate conclusions

and we will occupy and subordinate the territories assigned to Hungary after 1938 as

19

Dombrády 1986, p. 327; 20

Code name of the operation of occupancy of Hungary by Wehrmacht troops; 21

OKW – Oberkommando der Wehrmacht – the supreme command of the Wehrmacht; 22

Dombrády 1986, 333. p. 23

Jagow, Dietrich von (Frankfurt a. M., 29. February 1892 – Merano, 26 April 1945), German diplomat, very soon he joins the Nazis, in 1933 SA-Obergruppenführer (General), consequently leader of the SA in Berlin, from 20 July 1941 to 19 March 1944 Reich ambassador in Budapest; 24

Gustav Adolf Steengracht von Moyland (*15 November 1902, castle of Moyland – 7 July 1969 Kranenburg, Lower Rhine), diplomat, the last Secretary of State in the Reich Ministry of Foreign Affairs;

10

a result of German decisions or as a result of military operations of German forces to

German administration25 for security reasons. "

Exploiting the political ambitions of both countries and keeping them in uncertainty

and dependence was part of the policy of Nazi Germany in the spirit of divide et impera -

divide and rule.

SLOVAK-HUNGARIAN BORDERS CLOSLY ALONG DIOSZEG

Since the spring of 1942, when Slovakia threatened deportations, about 5,000 Jews

passed illegally through the borders to Hungary, where they lived illegally covered mostly

with false personally documents till the spring of 1944. Their survival was helped by a very

well-organized Zionist movement that provided them with those false documents and semi-

legal employment. After the Nazi invasion of Hungary on March 19, 1944 conscious of their

life-threatening hazards they wanted to return to Slovakia on the same route, and the Slo-

vak authorities promptly doubled their patrols in order to prevent their own citizens from re-

turning. The majority became victims of the Holocaust in Hungary and of the Nyilas26 terror

that seized the government by the Nazi-supported coup on October 15, 1944.

In this aspect, one of the busiest sections of the borders was the space between

Sereď, Dioszeg27 and Galanta.

Let us now get acquainted with a testimony written by Gerta Vrbova28, a native of

Trnava. She describes her illegal escape through this section of the border from Slovakia to

Hungary, where her family had relatives, as follows:

25

Willhelmstrasse, doc. No. 554, telegram No. 1741 from 17 September 1943, p. 732; also cited by Dombrády 1986, p.330; highlight in the cite: author; 26

Members of the Arrow Cross Party – Nyilaskeresztes Párt; a far-right party led by Ferenc Szálasi, they declared a Hun-garian form of Nazism – called hungarism. Ideology of hungarism was developed by catholic bishop of Székesfehérvár Otokár Prohászka; with the direct help of Nazi Germany the party seized power through a coup on 15 October 1944. The party introduced a reign of terror and murder of Jews and political opponents. Only in Budapest they killed au to 6.000 Jews shooting them into the River Danube. It remained the ally of the Nazis until the last moment; 27

The second similarly busy place was the space between Ivanka pri Nitre and Branč; see in: Ladislav Zrubec – Milan Nemček: Šurany. Bratislava 1968, p.207; details see also: Ladislav Deák: Viedenská arbitráž 2.november 1938. Dokumenty I.-III., (Vienna award on Nov. 2, 1938. Documents), Published by Matica Slovenská 2005, ISBN 80-7090-795-9; 28

Gerta Vrbová, née Sidonová after the war married Rudolf Vrba, who with Alfred Wetzler in the spring of 1944 es-caped from the death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau and gave evidence of the there ongoing industrial murder of Jews;

11

"My mother was an extremely practical woman and always knew what to say or

do. Now out of her bag she took a blue notebook with addresses. "We have to get to

the house of auntie Mariska, who lives in Diószeg. Perhaps she will help us get on

the train to Budapest and also gives us some Hungarian money. But on the way to

her house nobody can see us, so that we do not put her in danger. ... During daytime

we cannot just walk down the street, we could arouse the suspicion of gendarmerie

or border guards. We need to get quickly to Mariska´s home. ... ". The railway station

and the train made me rather worried, because the train stations near the border

were closely guarded by the police."29

Talking about their back escape in 1944 she is writing as follows:

"Me and my mum had a still living memory of our transition from Slovakia to

Hungary two years ago and we remembered well the tricks used by our smuggler: for

example, quietly wait for the border guards to complete their tour of the place where

we wanted to cross the border. We believed that we would find the way even without

him. We waited until it got dark, and then, amid the dark spring night, like two years

before, when we were crossing the border into Hungary, we got back in our footsteps

back to Slovakia. We arrived in Sered before dawn.30

Rightly we must ask: What led to this unprecedented and incomparable mass murder

in human history the Holocaust, which only had one goal: to exterminate the Jewish people

in Europe in the name of a pseudoscientific racial theory?

As a starting point we shall get familiar with the attainable resources detailing the his-

tory of the Diószeg Jewish community. The discussed events took place at a time when the

town bore the name Diószeg, so we shall adhere to historical facts, on practical grounds yet

still dealing with the supporting opinion of Eva Sudova31. We will not deal with the personali-

ties of the founders of the sugar factory the Kuffner family. The personality and work of Bar-

29

Vrbová Gerta: Komu věřit, koho oklamat (Whom to trust, whom to deceive). Published by GplusG 2008. ISBN 978-80-87060-10-0, p. 47 and further; henceforth Vrbová 2008; 30

Vrbová 2008, p. 85; 31

Eva Sudová (edit.): Peter Buday – Monika Chalmovská – Petra Kalová – Naďa Kirinovičová – Alžbeta Rössnerová – Róbert Sekula – Eva Sudová – Lóránt Talamon – Jana Váňová: Kuffnerovský hospodársky complex (The Kuffner economic complex). Published by the town of Sládkovičovo 2012, ISBN 978-80-971211-5-0; p. 4; henceforth Sudová. 2012;

12 on Karl Kuffner de Diószegh32 and his family is the subject of a monograph written by histo-

rian Ľudovít Hallon and his team, edited by Eva Sudova33.

Even today the professional ethics of the sugar industry assesses the then methods of Karl

Kuffner34.

The history of the sugar refinery itself is portrayed by another monograph in the edi-

tion of Eva Sudova, written by a collective of authors called Kuffnerovský hospodársky

komplex35.

The ethnic composition of the population in the historic Bratislava and Nitra counties

within the Austrian Empire and after the Austro-Hungarian settlement, in the times of the

Austro-Hungarian Monarchy is characterized by its variety. This area, which is geograph-

ically close to today's Western Slovakia, was inhabited by two dominant ethnic groups: the

Slovaks, who were dominantly Roman Catholics and Hungarians, also mainly of

Roman Catholic religion, who, however, were influenced by the reformation more signifi-

cantly than the Slovaks. In addition, to these two ethnic groups a large Jewish community

lived amongst them, who were then strongly concentrated in urban settlements of both

counties.

The settlement of the first Jewish families in the region dates back to the first wave of

modern Jewish immigration in the regions of today's Western Slovakia in the third period of

32

Eva Sudová (edit.): Ľudovít Hallon – Juraj Pekarovič – Hildegarda Pokreis – Lóránt Talamon – Katalin Vadkerty – Ásgota Varga: Barón Karl Kuffner de Dioszegh a Dioszegský cukrovar (Baron Karl Kuffner de Dioszegh and the Dioszeg sugar factory). Published by the town of Sládkovičovo 2009, ISBN 978-80-970205-1-4; henceforth Sudová 2009; 33

Eva Sudová (edit.): Ľudovít Hallon – Juraj Pekarovič – Hildegarda Pokreis – Lóránt Talamon – Katalin Vadkerty – Ásgota Varga: Barón Karl Kuffner de Dioszegh a Dioszegský cukrovar (Baron Karl Kuffner de Dioszegh and the Dioszeg sugar factory). Published by the town of Sládkovičovo 2009, ISBN 978-80-970205-1-4; henceforth Sudová 2009; 34

Eva Sudová: Barón Karl Kuffner de Dioszegh a diószegský cukrovar ((Baron Karl Kuffner de Dioszegh and the Dioszeg sugar factory). Published in Listy cukrovarnické a řepařské, 126, No. 9-10, September-October 2010; henceforth Sudová 2010; 35

Sudová 2012, p.4;

13 the 17th century. This wave was substantially affected by the decree of Emperor Leopold I

in 1670, under the guise of concern for the possible collaboration of Jews with the expand-

ing Ottoman Empire. The Jews were expelled from Vienna and the eastern part of the so-

called hereditary possessions, i.e. Burgenland and Lower Austria.

A significant proportion of these exiled Jews took a course to the west, to the German

principalities and Prussia, and also east to the western regions of today's Slovakia and the

Trans-Danubian part of Hungary, where they were allowed to settle on feudal estates36.

One such settlement was at Dioszeg and Galanta37.

The second wave of modern Jewish immigration, especially after 1726 was generat-

ed by the proceedings of Emperor Charles III (father of Maria Theresa) called

Familiantengesetz38. According to this decree in every Jewish family living on the territory of

Bohemia and Moravia only one son was allowed to marry and establish a family. In case

there were more sons, they were deprived of the right of the home, which was the only man-

ifestation and wearer of then Civil Rights. This decision of a bigoted Catholic believer of the

House of Habsburg in an effort to limit the number of Jewish population was in content mo-

tivated by economic considerations and in its form traditional theological anti-Semitism. The

consequence was intense migration of Jews from Bohemia and Moravia to territories, that

is now western Slovakia, and saw scattering into the Hungarian inland. Known migratory

flows are the Kolín and Třebíč areas and other towns with old Jewish settlements to the riv-

er Váh valley, where as a result of forced migration Jewish communities were established or

significantly strengthened. They then settled exclusively on feudal properties39 or in free

royal towns such as Trnava, or Šurany lying a little more to the east. The significant Šurany

Rabbi, Filip Feigl Plaut was also a native of the Czech Kolín. In addition, to so called "legal"

reasons, significant causes of Jewish migration or rather escapes were the pogroms. The

anti-Habsburg invasion of resistance troops of Imre Thököly40 to Uherský Brod in 1680 cul-

36

Encyklopédia židovských náboženských obcí na Slovensku (Encyclopedia of Jewish Religious Communities in Slo-vakia), Published by SNM – Múzeum židovskej kultúry (Slovak National Museum - Museum of Jewish Culture) 2009, edition Judaica Slovaca. Bratislava, p.59; vol. 1, p.120 and on.; ISBN 978-80-8060-229-1, (henceforth only Encyklopédia); 37

Braham 2007, vol. 2, p. 120 and on.; 38

Family Code; 39

Such are e.g. Piešťany, Vrbové owned by the Count Erdődy family, Dunajská Streda owned by the Count Pállfy family, Galanta and surrounding owned by the Count Eszterházy and Pállfy families etc.; 40

Imre Thököly, *25 September 1657, Kežmarok, †13 September 1705, Izmir, Turkey, since 1906 buried in Kežmarok, leader of the anti –Habsburg uprising; In 1682 he became rival-ruler to the Habsburgs – king resp. prince (the Ottoman Empire titled him king, he called himself as prince) of Upper Hungary, vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, which origi-nally covered roughly today´s Eastern and Central Slovakia (up to the river Váh), later also Western Slovakia, but in the years 1683 to 1685 it was gradually conquered by the Habsburg troops.

14 minated in anti-Jewish pogroms and the extermination of a large part of the local communi-

ty. Survivors fled en masse to what is now western Slovakia. Most of them settled in nearby

Dunajská Streda41 or joined the Jewish communities in the towns of the southern river Váh

region.

Feudal lords, with profit-seeking economic reasoning supported the establishment of

not only individual families, but also of larger communities. In addition, to the contribution to

economic life they had to pay a specific, so called tolerance tax, determined by the lord.

Jewish communities that arose at that time with the consent of feudal privileges in the 18th

century, enjoyed a boom in Dubnik, in Galanta, in Jelka, Kolta, Šurany, Reca and Veča42.

Despite this forced migration the Jews settled on the feudal estates with significant

dispersion. In the individual villages there were only a few families. There were initially very

few communities that would consist of a hundred or more members. For example, Galanta,

Senec, Šaľa and exceptionally in Šurany, this was a free royal town. In Nové Zámky, which

was the property of the Roman Catholic Church, the Jews began settling down almost a

century later, after 185043. Religious life was concentrated in these larger centres where

Jews came from smaller settlements on Saturdays and religious holidays. Migration from

villages to urban settlements is more significantly noticeable in the last decades of the 19th

century in connection with the accelerating process of urbanization in the Millennium period

and especially during the two decades of duration of the first Czechoslovak Republic. Later

a substantial part of the Jewish population, particularly the young generation, moved to

towns and cities in search of better careers and safer life. An accompanying phenomenon is

the gradual release of internal links of life which until then was that of a socially relatively

closed community. Their previously purely economic ties and cooperation with the majority

population gradually grew into broader communication links in a wide range of social life. In

terms of Jewish life itself an accompanying feature is the weakening of respect for the strict

compliance with religious laws and limitations, an obvious pre-condition of assimilation re-

quired and expected by the majority population.

The emerging Jewish communities contributed to the development of economic and

social life significantly. In an area that is characterized by intensive agricultural production,

41

Braham 2007, p. 619 and on; 42

Today part of Šala nad Váhom on the left bank of the Váh River; 43

Lang T. – Strba S.: Holokaust na Južnom Slovensku na pozadí histórie novozámockých židov (Holocaust in South Slo-vakia on the background of the history of Nové Zámky Jews). Published by KALLIGRAM Bratislava 2006, 608 pages., ISBN 80-7149-898-X; (henceforth Lang-Strba 2006);

15 they became a significant link between agricultural primary production and consumption. In

one direction they ensured the sale of agricultural production, in the other one they supplied

the basic producers with all the goods and supplies that were necessary for agricultural pro-

duction. At a later stage of urbanization and industrial development they contributed signifi-

cantly to the improvement of agricultural production by processing on the ground and con-

sequently ensuring a significant increase – using today's terminology we would say – “Added

Value” of the sugar mill in Diószeg.

In terms of legal restrictions in force in the 18th century which later limited mobility

and the settling of the Jews in Dioszeg this was the domain of the town44 landlord who de-

cided on all issues.

From the 18th century it was owned by the family of Count Pálffy, during the reign of

Joseph II it belonged to the Hungarian royal chamber, from 1806 to the Esterházy family

and from the mid 19th century to the Count Ferenc Zichy. All these owners, especially the

Esterházy family tolerated and skilfully used the services of Jewish merchants and crafts-

men on their properties. Their motives were not of philanthropy, for they had this “tolerance”

paid by special taxes.

In social life conditions and in the mobility of Jews in Hungary there was a change

due to the adoption of Act XXIX of 1840. This did not otherwise bring general equality with

other citizens of the Kingdom, however it was an important step and a harbinger of signifi-

cant changes. It is this law that allowed the settling of Jews throughout the country, although

the restriction “... except mining towns and other towns mentioned in the paragraph of the

Act XXXVIII from 1791, from which the Jews are also currently excluded under the old hab-

its of miners and mining institutions" that remained in force. The law allowed Jews to enter

the business environment by providing that "...Jews can build factories, too, and can trade

and be active in crafts ... ", but only "...together with auxiliary workers and apprentices of

their own religion ..." 45. They could not receive Gentile apprentices, the law limited this

expressis verbis to only Jewish apprentices: "...they can tutor their offspring at this ...".

The exact date of the establishment of the Jewish religious community in Dioszeg is not

known, no written document has been preserved. The first written reference of residing

Jews comes from 1728, which, however is regarded as a transitional episode in the history

44

The rank of the town – oppidum – and the right to hold markets was given to Dioszeg by Emperor Rudolf II. in 1582; see: Encyklopedia, vol. 1., p. 120 and on; 45

Lang – Strba 2006, ps. 20 and on;

16 of the subsequent settlement. Among the Jews who immigrated to the town, in 1860 was

the family of David Wollner from Jelka (then Jóka), originally peasants. Opposite the sugar

mill in a rented house he set up a tavern. David Wollner was the founder and first chairman

of the Jewish religious community. After his death this position was followed by his son

Géza. The last chairman of the community till the deportations in 1944 was Armin

Wohlstein46. In terms of management of religious life the Jewish community was subordi-

nated to the rabbinate in Galanta and was managed strictly in the orthodox rite of Judaism.

Records show that after 1868 the Dioszeg community and its close surroundings, a total of

37 families, 19 of which lived in Dioszeg, continued to belong to the supervisory powers of

the rabbinate in Galanta. An independent rabbinate - still subordinated to Galanta – existed

in Diószeg from 1867. Its first rabbi in 1867 was Joel Margulius, followed by the rabbinical

assessor and Dayan47 Smaja Gutmann and from the late 19th century Benjamin Wolf

Kohn48. His successor was Hirsh Shalom Adler, author of the dictionary of the Ancient He-

brew language.

As we will see the dynamics of the number of Jews permanently settled in town has a

close connection with the development and prosperity of the sugar mill.

It reached the peak of its heyday in the years just before the First World War. At that

time the village had its synagogue49, a 5-classroom primary school, a ritual slaughter, socie-

ty of Chevra Kadisha focusing on charity, care for sick and care for funerals, a women's

charity and youth association Bikur Cholim which was quite active in Diószeg. In the inter-

war period a branch of the Zionist movement was established here in line with the trends of

the Jewish youth movement in Czechoslovakia.

Significant and lasting monuments of Jewish communities are cemeteries. In Slo-

vakia currently we can register about 750 Jewish cemeteries as memorials for the communi-

46

Armin Wohlstein and wife are listed under No. 94 and 95 of the name list of Dioszeg Jews transferred to the ghetto in Galanta; 47

Dajan – judge oft he rabbinical court; 48

Encyklopédia, p. 59-62; 49

Information on the fate of the synagogue in Dioszeg differ; according to the Encyklopédia, p.59, the town of Sládkovičovo had the building demolished in the first half of the 1970s.; by personal testimony interpreted to the author in a discussion after a lecture in Sládkovičovo on 13 November 2014 the building of the synagogue was severely dam-aged by bombing, the aim of which was the sugar mill and refinery, but the scattering effect hit several buildings in the residential part of Dioszeg; according to the testimony of the informer on the site of the synagogue already in 1947 a detached house was built, in which she lived her childhood; according to the source Pataky Iván – Rozsos László – Sárhidai Gyula: Légi háboró Magyarország felett (Air War over Hungary), II., Zrínyi Publisher Budapest 1988, ISBN 963-324-163-0, ps. 303-307 Dioszeg was bombed by Allied Air Force twice: on 6 December 1944 eight B-24 bombers dropped 17,6 t and on 15 January 1945 one B-24 dropped 2,2 t cluster bombs;

17 ties that perished during the Holocaust. From tombstones dating from the local Jewish cem-

etery we can conclude that the first Jews settled permanently in Diószeg in the mid-19th

century. The oldest stone50 is from the second half of the 19th century. The material and

shape of tombstones used do not suggest any general wealth in the Jewish community51.

According to some sources even during the greatest boom about 80% of the Jews were

employed in the sugar mill and refinery. Exceptions among the tombstones were the pre-

served monuments of the families of David Wollner and his descendants, as well as those

of Oscar Pfeffer52.

According to available census data, the development of the population was the following:

Great (Hungarian) Dioszeg and Small (German) Dioszeg

year number

of inhabitants from that

of Jewish religion proportion of Jewish in %

a 1 2 3 4

1728 6 6

1828 1 465

1880 2 235 147 147 6,6

1900 2 722 131

166 4,80 737 35

1910 2 997 220 220 7,34

1919 3 345 184

240 5,72 845 56

1921 3 279 182

245 5,91 866 63

1930 3 587 135

170 3,79 887 35

1938 3 760 113

152 3,16 1 048 39

1941 4 725 110 110 2,32

50

Bárkány Eugen –Dojč Ľudovít: Židovské náboženské obce na Slovensku (Jewish Religious Communities in Slovakia. Publ. VESNA Bratislava 1991, p.138; henceforth Bárkány-Dojč 1991; 51

Bárkány-Dojč 1991, p.39; 52

Oskar Pfeffer was from 1916 chairman of the board of sugar mill and refinery;

18

1948 4 782 24 24 0,50

Development of the population in Dioszeg, of Jewish religion:

0

1250

2500

3750

5000

6250

1728 1828 1880 1900 1910 1919 1921 1930 1938 1941 1948

0

75

150

225

300

1728 1828 1880 1900 1910 1919 1921 1930 1938 1941 1948

Number of inhabitants of Jewish religion in both parts of Dioszeg

all inhabitants

of them: Jews Židia

Jews according to nationality or religion

19

According to the census of 1930, there were 170 Jews in Dioszeg, and of them 76

people declared to be of Jewish nationality53, which is 44.4%, whereas in 1921 it was only

9.3%. This tendency and proportion correspond to the data of other communities of western

Slovakia at the time.

Data from various censuses carried out in different historical, social and geopolitical

conditions with differing methods of counting and evaluation are not consistent or compara-

ble particularly in their respective dynamics. In terms of the First Czechoslovak Republic,

declaring to be a member of this or that nationality depended solely on the free decision of

the citizens. The first census conducted in 1941 after the southern territories were seized by

Hungary, when anti-Jewish discriminatory laws were in force, saw that this declaration was

not possible. For every citizen who according to the racial definition contained in particular

in the second anti-Jewish law, was under their effectiveness and was obligatorily counted as

a Jew.

The second anti-Jewish law, which went into the law of the Hungarian Kingdom as a

legal article IV / 1939 defines a Jew on racial principles and limits their participation in law-

making, legislation, local councils, as well as in the performance of both active and passive

right to vote ("... a Jew may not be elected a member of the upper house of parliament ... "),

and moreover, deprives the Jews in general, of the possibility to apply for representation in

public administration ("...a Jewish can not enter the state services, public services and mu-

nicipalities ...").

We must be aware that in 1910 with minor exceptions Jews across what was then

Hungary, overwhelmingly reported to be of Hungarian nationality. The huge dissimilation

after 1918 consisted of three main reasons:

1. The Czechoslovak government, to reduce the proportion of Hungarians and Ger-mans in the census in 1921, lifted the Jews up to the level of equal nationality.

2. In Hungary, Numerus clausus, the first ever anti-Jewish discriminatory law in Eu-rope was introduced in 1920 against the Jews. On the contrary, the establishment of the first Czechoslovak Republic reflected a maximum level of understanding towards them.

53

The liberal minority policy of the 1st

Czechoslovak Republic allowed the Jews to avow themselves to the Jewish na-tionality. For cause we can assume, that providing this opportunity was motivated by political considerations, too. Be-cause a significant portion of Jews in Upper Hungary at the census in 1910 – immediately after the period of the peak of Magyarization – reported to be of Hungarian nationality, providing this option could also be an effort to reduce the number of citizens reporting to be of Hungarian nationality in a state where a third of the population claimed to be of minorities;

20

3. We can mention the fact that Jews making their living mostly as tradesmen had to face many persecutions over the centuries yet they were largely capable of adjusting to the expectations of the majority nation.54

The decrease in the number of Jews represented in 1941 compared to 1938 is due to

the fact that men aged 18-60 years were taken to forced labour units serving the needs of

the army.55.

The mass extermination of Jews in terms of forced labour units began with Hungary

entering the war alongside the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis. 17 to 18 thousand members of the

forced labour units were ordered to the Russian battlefields as troops of the 2nd Hungarian

army composed mostly of Jewish origin, which amounted to about 9 percent of the overall

state of the army (207 thousand). In the autumn of 1942, this number increased to 30 thou-

sand. Before the Soviet offensive of the river Don and their breakthrough at the bridgeheads

of Shchuchye and Uriv on 12 and 15 January 1943 the loss was relatively lower (2149), but

after the military collapse of the Hungarian 2nd Army under the massive attack of the Red

Army their losses significantly increased (to about 15 thousand). About 10 thousand mem-

bers of these forced labour units fell into Soviet captivity. After the destruction of the 2nd

Hungarian army and the exchange of command, the living conditions in terms of forced la-

bor units – especially thanks to the new defence minister Vilmos Nagybaczoni Nagy56 - tan-

54

Lajos Turzczel: Holota János és Érsekújvár. Emlékezés egy elfelejtett csehszlovákiai magyar politikusra. (János Holota and Nové Zámky. Remembering a forgotten Hungarian politician in Czechoslovakia), In: Irodalmi Szemle, Budapešť 1998, No.5/6/7, pp. 137-138 55

Forced labour was introduced by the Clause II of the Act II/1939 from 1939. The act was published on March 11, that is prior to the second Jewish law, so it did not constitute a disadvantage towards the Jewry, but paragraph 87 enabled the General Staff of the Hungarian army to commit persons aged 14 to 70 “…in the interest of home defence to work corresponding to their physical and mental abilities“, further par. 23 determined that people incompetent of military service – at one time for maximum 3 months – -"…may be committed to community service in labour camps." After the release of the second Jewish law, however, there was a long and stormy dispute within the army, whether Hungarian Jews should serve in the armed or the labour service. Finally, Defence Minister Károly Bartha adjusted this question in a regulation so that due to the second Jewish law Jewish conscripts cannot reach officer’s or non-commissioned officer’s rank, also, conscripts able to serve in arms should be proportionally distributed among the fighting components (with the exception of the Air Force and Armoured Corps), but in case of war can be exclusively assigned to frontline service, finally men unable to military service will be sent to labour units. (...) 56

Nagybaczoni Nagy Vilmos (Parajd, May 30, 1884 – June 21, 1975, a soldier by profession, minister of National Defence from 21 September 1942 to 8 June 1943. The only one in the line of military ministers of his time, who "remained hu-man even in times of inhumanity“. He resigned from the post of minister on pressure from the far-right Hungaristic movement, subsequently was sent to retirement. He tried to prevent inhuman treatment and versatile bullying of members of the Jewish labour battalions. After the fascist coup of the Arrow Cross Party on 16 November 1944 he was arrested and taken to jail in Sopronkőhida. Before the advancing Red Army he and the other detained personalities

21 gibly improved. For example, one of the regulations of the new minister of 9 March 1943

forbade harming, swearing and bullying and relieved the recruits of the grossest duties

against human dignity. This regulation however, applied only to the members serving within

the country's borders. Those who served in territories outside the country for example, Bu-

dapest and the Department of Defence fared quite badly. The loss also includes the 15 units

of forced labour, which at the request of the German organization TODT were transferred to

copper mines in the Serbian Bor. Inhuman conditions, the cruelty of guards and eventually

the death march in the autumn of 1944 cost the lives of the majority of these units - among

them the famous poet Miklós Radnóti. Many in the summer of 1944 before closing into the

ghetto and before deportation were called into forced labour battalions, thus avoiding depor-

tation, concentration and extermination camps.57.

Jews in forced labour battalions were deployed in the most dangerous army engi-

neering assignments without accessories or training, such as mine clearance in no man's

land between the positions of warring armies, building mountain roads, bridges and such

like. They performed services in their own clothes which they were wearing at the time of

recruitment. 58

Inhumane treatment was directly encoded in the instructions to the guards. E.g. the

commander of the recruitment centre in Nagykáta, col. Lipot Metz-Muray in his speech to

the front commander, when these units were leaving, said goodbye to guards with the fol-

lowing words:

were carried off to Bavaria, where he lived till the liberation. He returned to Hungary in 1946; in 1948 he was deprived of his pension, earned his living by manual labour in wood-industry. In December 1965 he was the first one in Hungary who was awarded the honors of The Righteous Among The Nations by Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem; 57

A strange turn in the history of Hungarian forced labour was that the Ministry of Defence (which was considered in the previous 4-5 years to be the main cause of the suffering of Jews) from the summer of 1944 became a government institution, whose individual components participated in saving Jewish lives. To explain the motive we do not have any documentation. It is possible that many government and military authorities – who had more or less clear ideas of the aims of deportations and the ghettoization program of the Nazis and their Hungarian vassals – acted with the intent to save people. For example on 4 and 5 June 1944 lieutenant general Béla Aggteleky gave a mobilization order for men aged 18 to 41 of Jewish origin to enlist in the 1st battalion of forced labour service in the town of Vác and in the XI bat-talion in Felsőhagony. In his report of 20 July László Endre, Undersecretary of Interior quantifies a number of 80-thousand Jewish men, who avoided deportation thanks to their enlisting. In: Szita Szabolcs: Halálerőd (Death Fortress), publ. Kossuth, Budapest 1989, p. 236. 58

On 16 April 1941 the Bárdossy government issued a regulation amending this question: these new regulations got rid of the Jews qualified under Jewish laws of the possibility to carry out armed military service and from then on they could only do auxiliary services, that is work service, that in its essence was slave labour for the army. Officers and non-commissioned officers of Jewish origin were deprived of their rank and distinctions, their military documents were withdrawn and identity cards were stamped with the letter "J". And soon the Jewish members of the units of forced labour – in a great extent due to German intervention – were deprived of their uniforms, later they were forced to wear a yellow ribbon on the shoulder.

22

"Please bear in mind that you will get back home or take a leave only when

they all snuff it there."

Not just one battalion commander (from 256 people) took it to heart literally and after

returning boasted that they "brought home" the entire unit in their briefcase 59.

Only old men, women and children remained at home.

The Nazi Invasion of Hungary and Its Consequences

Three days after the Nazi invasion on March 22, 1944 the government of Miklos

Kallay was dismissed; its chairman Miklos Kallay hid at the Turkish embassy escaping the

Gestapo. Nazi interests in Hungary were fully ensured by the personal representative of the

Führer and the Reich Edmund Veesenmayer, who demanded Regent Horthy appoint Béla

Imrédy as prime minister, a an utmost Germanophile politician, which Horthy refused to do.

The government was put together three days later by Döme Sztójay (Sztojakovics), until

then ambassador in Berlin, and eventually accepted by the Nazis.

For the subsequent tragic climax of the fate of Jews it was crucial that Andor Jaross60

became interior minister with the addition of state undersecretaries László Endre61 and

László Baky62.

59

Understand it so that all Jews had perished, in his briefcase he carried back only the written records. They are now stored in the Hadtörténeti Levéltár (Military-historical Archives) in Budapest. 60

Vitéz Andor Jaross, interior minister in the Sztójay government installed on German bayonets in March 1944. (*23 May 1896 Čechy, Nové Zámky District – 11 April 1946, Budapest). In World War I he served as a reserve lieutenant. in 1916 wounded, awarded five times. In 1921 in Czechoslovakia he entered the Magyar Kisgazda Párt (Hungarian Party of Small Farmers), where he was co-chairman from 1923 of the department of agriculture. From 1925 vice-chairman of the Magyar Nemzeti Párt (Hungarian National Party), created by the fusion of the Magyar Kisgazda Párt (Party of Small Farmers) and the Magyar Jog Pártja (Party of Hungarian Law). From 1926 chairman of its agricultural department. In 1929-1930 he attended the Conference of National Minorities in Geneva. From 1929 representative of the State Assem-bly of this party, from 1933 in Levice at the republic congress became executive chairman of the Magyar Nemzeti Párt (Hungarian National Party). From 1935 Member of Parliament of Czechoslovakia in Prague, from 1936 chairman of the Egyesült Magyar Párt (United Hungarian Party), founded in Nové Zámky by the merger of the Magyar Nemzeti Párt (Hungarian National Party) and the Keresztényszocialista Párt (Christian-Socialist Party). After the 1st Vienna Award from 15 November 1938 to 1 April 1940 member of the Imrédy and later of the Teleki cabinet as a minister without portfolio responsible for administrative integration of the newly re-connected territories. In 1939 as previously MP for the Hungarian National Party in the Prague Parliament, by cooptation becomes MP of the Lower House of the Hungari-an Parliament. In 1940 together with Béla Imrédy founds the ultra-right Magyar Megújulás Párt (Party of Hungarian Revival), remains member of the Lower House and in Nové Zámky has regular MP days. From 22 March to 7 August 1944 Minister of Interior in the Sztójay government. He resigned on 7 August 1944. After Szálasi’s fascist coup played a major role in the establishment of the fascist National Union of Legislators (Törvényhozók Nemzeti Szövetsége), which united the ultra-rightwing parliamentarians in order to impart a semblance of legitimacy for the takeover of the Arrow Cross Party of Ferenc Szálasi. From December 1944 to March 1945 serves as chairman of this Union with its evacuated seat in Sopron. During his political career he became an honorary citizen of the towns of Békés, Kiskunhalas, Bóri, Mukačevo, Levice, Komárno, Šahy, as well as the municipality of Dvory nad Žitavou in the Nové Zámky district. In 1944

23

The collaborationist government of Döme Sztójay began making arrangements for

the total deprivation of Jewish property in two ways. After the Prime Minister on the first,

inaugural meeting informed the government that

"66th (Government) acknowledges that his highness Regent Miklós Horthy in respect

of all anti-Jewish regulations provides the government a free hand in these matters

and does not want to interfere."63

;

It adopted fundamental measures for the preparation of Regulation No. 1600/1944.

The regulation after its publication on April 14, 1944 set the Jews the obligation of notifica-

tion of all their respective properties, assets and property rights, product inventories, insur-

ance policies and restricted their right to dispose of them. This document has become an

essential reference for all the follow-up measures to loot Jewish property. In parallel, the

Ministry of Interior began intensive preparations of ghettoization and subsequent deporta-

tions. This regulation was delivered to the authorities of gendarmerie, the police and the

leading dignitaries of state and local governments as strictly confidential and was published

with the launch of the first dispatch of transports on May 14, 1944.

We shall come back to both documents in a systematic manner.

Restricting civil rights, displacement of Jews from social and economic life, confisca-

tion of their property before and after March 19, 1944 was qualitatively different from the

state-organized robbery over the next few months. In the period from late 1938 till the spring

of 1944, reducing or displacing the Jews, their marginalization in all spheres was not asso-

he became chairman of the FTC (Ferencvárosi Torna Klub – Ferencváros Athletic Club, Budapest), a sports club, which was founded in the late 19

th century jointly by Hungarians, ethnic Germans living in Hungary and Jews. By People’s

Court sentenced to death by shoot, executed. 61

László Endre (Abony, 1 January 1895 – Budapest, 29 March 1946) a public official. From 1919 juridical judge in Gödöllő, from 1923 chief juridical judge. He was member of various racist, ultra-rightwing organizations (Ébredő Magyarok Egyesülete, Kettőskereszt Vérszövetség, etc.) In June 1937 founder of the Fajvédő Szocialista Párt (Racialist Social Party). At that time enters into a "contract for life" with Szálasi and they found the Hungarian National Socialist Party (Magyar Nemzetiszocialista Párt). From 8 April 1944 state undersecretary of the Interior Ministry, one of the main organizers of the deportations. During the Szálasi regime on the temporarily regained territories attempts to reorganize the public administration of the Arrow Cross Party. By People’s Court sentenced to death by rope, executed. 62

László Baky (Budapest, 13 Sept 1898 – Budapest, 29 March 1946) gendarmerie major, member of the Szeged Ring led by Miklós Horthy. From 1925 is an active member in the services of gendarmerie, in 1938 goes into retirement and joins the Hungaristic Movement (Hungarista Mozgalom) of the Hungarian National Socialist Party (Magyar Nemzetiszocialista Párt). From 1939 Member of Parliament for the Arrow Cross Party. Because he was an even greater proponent of de-pendence from Nazi Germany than Szálasi, he leaves the Arrow Cross Party. In the Sztójay government from 24 March 1944 is a State Secretary of the Interior Ministry, is the main and direct organizer of deportations. His authority covered the VI. Police, VIII. Criminal Police and XVIII. Administration of the Interior Ministry. After the coup of the Arrow Cross Party Szálasi posted him at the head of National Security Office, which was completely without competences. By Peo-ple’s Court sentenced to death by rope, executed. 63

The minutes of the cabinet meeting on 29 March 1944, point 66 of the program;

24 ciated with physical violence. In the real sense of the word “Robbing” started in 1941 and

greatly affected the Jews deployed in forced labour battalions. As a result of the emergence

of military components as active players in the fate of the Jewish population it often oc-

curred that in addition to appropriating buildings such as schools and other buildings they

forced the Jewish community to the payment of various amounts generated by contrived

motivations. After March 19, conditions changed dramatically

The systematic dispossession of their properties, ghettoisation and apart from the ac-

tual capital, Budapest deportation to the extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau com-

menced.

After March 19, 1944 a practically endless series of regulations restricting the rights

of Jews followed in all spheres of social life.

On the same day with a deadline of three days Jews were deprived of their tele-

phones64.

Two days later the prohibition on the employment of non-Jewish persons in house-

holds of Jews65 is published. On the same day employment of Jews in the public service is

abolished and their advocatory practices prohibited66.

In the issuing of regulations and restrictions a chaotic condition occurred when the

individual ministries are overtook one another in these activities. The Ministry of Defence

issued a ban on the wearing of military uniform by all persons covered by the obligation of

wearing the distinctive yellow star67, although the command itself for any Jew older than six

years to wear a distinctive hexagonal stars 10x10 cm of "canary yellow colour" on their

outer garment is issued by the government only four days later68. On the same day, how-

64

Regulation of the Hung. Royal Government No. 1.140/1944 of 29 March 1944; see in: Magyarországi zsidótörvények és rendeletek 1938-1945 (Anti-Jewish laws and regulations in Hungary 1938-1945), PolgArt Budapest, 2002, comp. by Robert Vértes, ISBN 963-9306-04-5, p.324; henceforth only “Laws 2002“; 65

Laws 2002, p. 325; Regulation No. 1.200/1944 M.E. of 31 March 1944, original in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collection of Regulations), vol. I., ps. 256-257; 66

Laws 2002, p. 325; Regulation No. 1.210/1944 M.E. of 31 March 1944, original in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collection of Regulations), vol. I., ps. 257-260; 67

Laws 2002, p. 330; Regulation No. 26666/1944 H.M. of 1 April 1944, original in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collection of Regulations), vol. I., p. 517; 68

Laws 2002, p. 325; Regulation No. 1.240/1944 M.E. of 5 April 1944, original in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collection of Regulations), vol. I., ps. 263-264;

25 ever, it issued an addendum to exclude from the force of regulation Jews active and retired

priests, monks, deacons and foreign citizens. 69

The government could not be satisfied with the speed or consistence of introducing

the distinguishing sign, so a week later they hardened and ordered the immediate intern-

ment of all who sinned against the regulation70.

On April 7, 1944 the interior minister issued a strictly confidential order on the deter-

mination of the place of residence of Jews: this euphemism covered the establishment of

the ghetto at each settlement, which has more than 10,000 residents. The regulation began

with the ominous formulation:

„The Hungarian royal government will cleanse the land from the Jews shortly. I

order the cleaning to be carried out gradually according to defined areas, the aim of

which is the removal of Jews, regardless of gender and age, to the specified collec-

tion camps. In towns and larger villages, part of the Jews will be placed in specific

buildings or ghettos. ... The concentration of Jews will be carried out by the police

and the Hungarian Royal Gendarmerie. ... The German security police71 will be pre-

sent on site as an adviser; particular emphasis should be given to undisturbed coop-

eration with them. ... Parallel to concentrating and transporting of Jews local authori-

ties appoint commissions, which, in cooperation with the police and the gendarmerie

forces lock Jewish homes and shops. They hand over the keys to the commandment

of the collection camp in a sealed envelope bearing the name and exact address of

the Jew. ... Perishables and live animals that do not serve productive purposes are

taken over by local municipal authorities. These need to be utilized primarily for the

needs of the army and organs of public order, secondly for public supply. ... Money

and valuables (gold, silver articles, shares etc.), accompanied by a short list, need to

be submitted to the branch of the National Bank within three days. ... Jews deter-

mined to be removed are only permitted to have clothes they are wearing, linen for

two exchanges, food for at least 14 days per person and a maximum of 50 kg of lug-

gage, money, jewellery, gold and other valuables excluded”.

This regulation was deliberately issued as strictly confidential and well in advance so

that the authority in chief of the town or village could prepare its swift and effective imple-

mentation at the declared date. This is also confirmed by its final formula:

69

Laws 2002, p. 330; Regulation No. 1.450/1944 M.E. of 5 April 1944, original in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collection of Regulations), vol. I., ps. 292-293; 70

Laws 2002, p. 331; Regulation No. 172.068. VII/and B.M. (Interior Ministry) from 12 April 1944; 71

SD, Sicherheitsdienst; armed forces of the NSDAP set up already in 1931 under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler. After the takeover in 1933 they gained practically unlimited competences, played a decisive role during the “Night of the Long Knives” on 29-30 June 1934 and during the Cristal Night on 9-10 November 1938. From June 1936 together with the SS they were liable to Reinhardt Heydrich, from 1942 to Ernst Kaltembrunner. The Nuremberg Tribunal tagged the SD as a criminal organization and allowed the prosecution of its members.

26

„This decree is strictly confidential. Heads of all organs and headquarters are

responsible that no one can know anything about it before starting the clean-up ac-

tion.“ 72

Two weeks later all involved authorities and offices were warned to prevent the Jews

to save their valuables in pawnshops or any other similar places. On the day of departure of

the first transports State Undersecretary of the Interior László Endre sent out detailed in-

structions for the receipt, recording and storage of property of Jews in the collection centres

and ghettos73. Of the several measures and guidelines listed, it is clear that their aim was

the total appropriation of private and corporate Jewish property74 with the cooperation of all

organs of the state and local governments and their enforcement units.

In order to be able to locate and concentrate Jews a general ban on travelling by

train, land and river public transport was issued75. An amendment to Regulation 6163/1944,

which saw the light of day on April 28, 1944, determined that a ghetto is to be set up only in

settlements with a total population of over 10,000. From the smaller ones the concentrated

Jews had to be transported to the ghetto in the nearest town76. In parallel, as a first step to

ban activities of Jews an inventory was carried out of all Jewish associations and organiza-

tions77.

The effort to control the movement of the population affected non-Jews as well. On

April 22, 1944 a call was published to report the residence of all refugees within three days,

who for any reason are staying in the town and their permanent address is elsewhere78.

Simultaneously, the authorisation of the gendarmerie to use weapons and other force was

significantly extended79.

72

Laws 2002, p. 325-327; Regulation No. 6163/1944 M.E. of 7 April 1944; MOL, M.K. 6/100. 73

Laws 2002, p. 335; Regulation No. 147.3797/1944 P. M. of 15 May 1944; 74

János Botos: „Ez a kifosztás lessz a végső!? Az 1938-1945 között elkobzott magyar zsidó vagyon értéke“, Attraktor Kft. Budapest 2011, ISBN 978-963-9857-83-4, p. 75; henceforth only Botos 2011; 75

Laws 2002, p. 331; Regulation No. 1.260/1944 M.E. of 7 April 1944, original in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collection of Regulations), vol. I., ps. 412-414; 76

Regulation 1.610/1944 B.M. of 28 April 1944, original in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collection of Regulations), vol. I, ps. 475-479; reprint also in: Lévai Jenő: Zsidósors Magyarországon, Magyar Téka Budapest 1948, ps. 97-99; 77

Laws 2002, p. 337; Regulation No. 174.289. VII/b B.M. of 25 April 1944; 78

Érsekújvár és Vidéke, volume 63., 22 April 1944, p.5; 79

Ibidem;

27

To ensure that Jews are cut off from information broadcast by foreign radio transmit-

ters, the Jews were forced to abolish their radio concessions within three days80 and within

the next 14 days they were ordered to hand them over to the army81 or the post office82. A

radio set in those days was not a requisite of all households, so the population showed

enormous interest in them and "good neighbours", not excluding good-natured offers, of-

fered to take over or keep them for their own use. There was also a risk that the state would

lose substantial revenue value in such a dispersement. Therefore, it was immediately or-

dered that anyone who in any way acquired a radio receiver from a Jew or a person treated

as a Jew by law, shall notify the authorities of this fact in writing83. The government attribut-

ed great importance to the operation of radio receivers especially as a means for quick in-

formation of the population, therefore it ordered distributing the receivers withdrawn from

Jews to “nationally reliable" candidates listening to broadcasts in their respective surround-

ings and should pay an amount of 50 to 300 Pengő depending on the quality of the device84.

It is characteristic of the chaotic state of competences in the ministries that the men-

tioned and objectively related regulations of the radio receivers were issued by various cen-

tral bodies of state administration for example, the Government Presidency, Ministry of De-

fence and Ministry of Commerce and Transport. This chaos of not only issuing the regula-

tions restricting Jews, in which the individual central authorities directly mutually competed,

is also supported by the fact that their publication in the Collection of Regulations or in the

Journals of the Ministries were published not in chronological order but also with significant

delays in the date of coming into force and effect. The administrative apparatus could not

keep pace with the executive!

Not only the issue of regulations was chaotic, their implementation was chaotic and

inconsistent as well. Even three months later, at the end of August 1944, when the deporta-

tion of rural Jews was completed at an unprecedented and dizzying pace - Adolf Eichmann

after his arrival in Budapest, following closely by the arrival of invading armies told Edmund

Veesenmayer that in the case of erasing Jews from Hungary he wanted to achieve a record

80

Laws 2002, p. 331; Regulation No. 1.300/1944 M.E. of 7 April 1944, original in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collection of Regulations), vol. I., ps. 402-403; 81

Laws 2002, p. 331; Regulation No. 33.000/1944 H.M. of 21 April 1944, original in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collection of Regulations), vol. I., ps. 547-548; 82

Laws 2002, p. 331; Regulation No. 217.300/1944 K.K.M. of 21 April 1944, original in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collection of Regulations), vol. I., ps. 602-603; 83

Laws 2002, p. 331; 1.490/1944 Government Presidency, of 21 April 1944, original in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collec-tion of Regulations), vol. I., ps. 459-461; 84

Laws 2002, p. 331; Regulation No. 39.089/1944 Ministry of Interior of 15 May 1944;

28 – in the case of radio receivers the Ministry of the Interior states the inefficiency of the regu-

lations and poor consistency in their implementation. The case highlights the competences

of the government commissioner for dealing with property rights issues of the Jews, and

furthermore orders these to the business of sale with the fact that the claims of private indi-

viduals will not be satisfied until all the requirements of public institutions have not been met

85.

As a result of calling up the vast majority of Jewish doctors to forced labour service

the country suffered from a fatal lack of doctors. Similarly, it was the case for pharmacists

as well. Nevertheless, the authorisation of pharmacists, who were covered by the so-called

2nd Jewish Law, was immediately withdrawn and the resumption of the authorisation

through any legal process, including inheritance, was ruled out.86

By the withdrawal of business licenses of Jewish merchants and craftsmen a new

way was opened to stealing their property and storage of commercial stocks was lucrative

and profitable. These were re-purchased by non-Jewish craftsmen and traders not for an

acquisition price, but for the price determined by expert assessment. The expert was ap-

pointed by the respective County Chamber of Commerce, which in many cases set the

price, which the Jew was obliged to accept and often it was a payment by installments. This

is confirmed by the authors’ archival research in the Nitra State Archive, branch of Nové

Zámky, where such cases are documented.

The implementation of ghettoization began on April 16, 1944 and throughout the

country87. The first ghettos were established in three towns of Subcarpathian Ruthenia88:

Uzhgorod, Mukachevo and Hust. It was necessary to take care of the movable mobile prop-

erty of Jews taken to ghettos and to make out a quadruplicate inventory of the movable

property left in abandoned apartments and for the State Treasury to ensure above all mon-

85

Laws 2002, p. 333; Regulation No. 192.500/1944 Ministry of Interior, of 25 August 1944; 86

Laws 2002, p. 333; Regulation No. 1.370/1944 Government Presidency of 14 April 1944, original in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collection of Regulations), vol. I., ps. 424-428; 87

Vádirat a nácizmus ellen – Dokumentumok a Magyarországi zsidóüldözés történetéhez (Indictment of Nazism – doc-uments on the persecution of Jews in Hungary), vol. II, MIOK Budapest 1960. Compiled by Ilona Benoschofszky and Elek Karsai; p.267, doc. 80/d; 88

Subcarpathian Ruthenia was occupied by Hungary arbitrarily on 15 March 1939 during the second government of Count Pál Teleki; 12% of the population were Magyars, so justification by the ethnic principle would not have held up in any case. The Prime Minister, who was a geographer by profession, a university professor and member of the Academy of Sciences, argued this decision by the need of bringing under control the rich water resources of the right riverbank catchment area of the Tisza River. According to Teleki potential “ruthless exploitation“ of Slovakia in the Carpathian forests would expose the East-Hungarian Lowlands to the threat of uncontrolled influx of water and would expose it to “mortal danger“;

29 ey, valuables and securities were documented. The Ministry of Finance sought to provide

this through a regulation with exceptionally strict wording and issued on the same day.89

Special interest in the regime in Jewish movable property was confirmed by the Min-

istry of Interior. It bound any provision of Jewish property to a special permit with the excep-

tion of the provision of apartments for non-Jewish citizens who lost their housing due to

bombing or were displaced from areas on which ghettos were created, and all this for a

fee90. These measures also concerned all Jewish craftsmen and traders - at that time al-

ready just in the west of the country, in Trans-Danubia, who by virtue of any exception had

not lost their privileges however they still were obliged to close their businesses, report their

inventories and hand over keys. That included Jewish individuals as well as companies or

business associations of any kind91, in which the absolute majority of shares was owned by

Jews.

Special attention was also paid to the confiscation and inventory of works of art92,

and also to the content of valuables stored in bank vaults and leased containers which have

been opened93.

Everyday life in the ghettos was marked by the deliberate short supply of food, lack of

drinking water, basic sanitation conditions and hygienic needs. The doctors collected in

ghettos were in case of any disease absolutely helpless. They were not entitled to drugs.

State power was aware that Jews had not a long future ahead, thus in terms of wartime ra-

tioning of food products their rations were significantly reduced. By the regulation of the Min-

istry of supply the determined monthly allocations were 10 dg of beef or horse meat (!), 30

dg sugar and 30 dg edible oil, and from case to case 5 dl milk to infants. Hardworking Jews

were deprived of an entitlement to food supplements. Jews could not continue to receive

ration cards, and eventually tickets already taken for May had to be returned to May 394.

And according to the principle who does not eat, let him not work, came into effect from 25

89

Laws 2002, p. 335; Regulation No. 147.379/1944 P.M. of 15 May 1944; 90

Laws 2002, p. 335; Regulation No. 1.180/1944 Ministry of Interior, of 20 May 1944; 91

Laws 2002, p. 333; Regulation No. 58.000/1944 K.K.M. of 21 May 1944, original in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collection of Regulations), vol. II., ps. 946-945; 92

Laws 2002, p. 336; Regulation No. 1.830/1944 M.E. of 25 May 1944, original in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collection of Regulations), vol. II., ps. 797-800; 93

Laws 2002, p. 336; Regulation No. 1.1.290/1944 M.E. of 28 May 1944, original in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collection of Regulations), vol. II., ps. 1017-1019; 94

Laws 2002, p. 333; Regulation No. 108.500/1944 K.M. of 22 April 1944, original in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collection of Regulations), vol. I., ps. 679-682;

30 April 1944 with the employment of all Jews employed in any intellectual activity was can-

celled95.

The regime cared not only about living spiritual workers, but also about those, who

were beyond their physical reach. That is the Jewish writers, and in particular their work,

which in the future should not annoy the soul of the Hungarian man. The government pre-

sidium ordered the revision of the bookstock of all libraries and removed the works of Hun-

garian Jewish authors as well as third country Jews. The regulation nominally stated a list of

114 authors writing in the past or at the time in Hungary and 34 foreign authors whose

works had to be delivered to the stamp mill to be destroyed96. The regulation in this case

was issued by a government commissioner for the press Vitéz Dr. Mihály Kolozsváry-

Borcsa97.

This barbaric action destroyed the works of such authors as Béla Balázs (Bauer),

Béla Bernstein, Sándor Bródy, René Erdős (Ehrenthal), Jenő Fényes (Feuerwerker), Miksa

Fenyő (Fleischmann), Oszkár Jászi (Jakubovits) and many others, but also - for the Slovak

readers perhaps more popular Shalom Ash, Jean Bloch, Max Brod, Martin Buber, Ilya Eh-

renburg, Lion Feuchtwanger, Zigmund Freud, Egon Erwin Kisch, Ferdinand Lassalle, André

Mourois, Karl Marx, Max Nordau, Arthur Schnitzler, Franz Werfel, Otto and Stefan Zweig

and many others.

95

Laws 2002, p. 339; Regulation No. 1.540/1944 M.E. of 25 April 1944, original in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collection of Regulations), vol. I., ps. 466-471; 96

Laws 2002, p. 341; Regulation No. 10.800/1944 M.E. of 30th

April 1944, original in: Belügyi Közlöny 1944 (Journal of the Interior Ministry), No. 19, ps. 589-592; 97

Vitéz Dr. Mihály Kolozsváry-Borcsa (27 June 1896. Kolozsvár, now Cluj, Romania -6 December 1946 Budapest), jour-nalist, politician, 1938-1939 head of the press department of the government presidium from June 1939. President of the Chamber of Journalists April to August 1944. Government authorised representative for the press, radio, state news agency and book publishing, 31 October till 27 December 1944 representative of the coup government of Ferenc Szálasi. By people´s court sentenced to death by hanging, executed;

31

Two weeks after the start of deportations the revision of all exceptions was ordered to

be completed by April 30, 194498. All hope was now lost.

The trend of anti-Jewish regulations and measures continued. It is not the mission of

this dissertation to track it till the "victorious end", because the Dioszeg Jews were con-

cerned only by the horrific social and physical effects of ghettoisation. Therefore, let us turn

attention to them.

HOW THIS OCCURRED IN DIOSZEG

According to the above regulations all Dioszeg Jews in parallel with the establish-

ment of the ghetto in Galanta99 were initially collected in the building of the local synagogue

and subsequently they were transported to the Galanta ghetto on 5 May 1944.

A censored postcard has been preserved, written by Dezső Somogyi from the ghetto in

Galanta to his son, Tibor, who at that time was placed in a forced labour unit in Sashalom

municipality. The text reveals remarkable information that shows suspect relations between

Jews concentrated in the Dioszeg synagogue with despair and hopelessness that led to

suicide. The text of the card again reveals that

98

Laws 2002, p. 341; Regulation No. 1.530/1944 M.E. of 30th

April 1944, original in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collection of Regulations), vol. I., pp. 464-465; 99

In Galanta the ghetto was established in the Synagogue and the streets directly around the Synagogue;

Dr. Vitéz Mihály Kolozsváry-

Borcsa throws the works of

Jewish authors writing in Hun-

gary or abroad in a paper mill.

Theirworks were removed from

all scientific and public libraries

of the country. The amend-

ment of June indicated a fur-

ther 127 Jewish authors from

Hungary and 11 from abroad,

whose works were to be de-

stroyed.

32

„...the head of the [sugar refinery] office Braun and his wife the night before

moving [to Galanta gheto] committed suicide. They took poison and died.“

The given date May 16, 1944 by the sender indicates that at that time, the Jews of

Diószeg were staying in the Galanta ghetto.

The list of Jews moved from Diószeg to Galanta100 informs about this event quite dif-

ferently. Under the serial numbers 15 and 16 are listed Jozef Braun Jr, with his wife. At their

names there is a handwritten remark "... tried to commit suicide, the man died." The text

suggests that his wife survived and was transported to the ghetto in Galanta. The veracity of

this version appears to be more reliable, if we assume that the note in pencil written on the

list could have been written on on the spot and on the face of real-time approval of the reg-

ister of people transported from Diószeg to Galanta as it informs us upon the completed

suicide only of Joseph Braun Jr.

The Érsekújvár és Vidéke newspaper, issued in the seat of the county, informs on the

suicide of the Braun spouses with a three-week delay showing that "... while they were

transported to the local hospital, all attempts of the doctors proved ineffective. 101"

In a yet unidentified unit of forced labor Géza Büchler, MD, was also included, who sur-

vived102 and after the liberation returned to Sládkovičovo103.

100

Source: family archive of Ing. Pavol Polan; 101

Érsekújvár és Vidéke, volume 63, 27th

May 1944, p.1; 102

See footnote No. 41; 103

Géza Büchler,MD (23.1.1899 – 22.10.1949), graduated in Brno in 1925, from 1928 general practitioner in Sládkovičovo. After returning he was shortly chairman of the Jewish religious community;

33

Correspondence card by Dezső Somogyi dated May 16, 1944 to his son Tibor104.

Tibor Somogyi was placed in the forced labour battalion No. 102/14 stationed in the

municipality of Sashalom105.

The text side of the same card dated 16 May 1944.

THE ROBBERY OF JEWISH PROPERTY

Restrictions and prohibitions, deprivation of rights and seizing the property of Jews

systematically spread to all areas of their lives during this period.

The deprivation of all property was based on a government decree106 that assigned

the Jews the obligation of notification of all property, assets and property rights, product in-

ventory, insurance policies and restrictions and the right to dispose of them. This document

has become the essential reference and template for all the subsequent steps and

measures of confiscating all Jewish property.

104

Source: family archive of Mr. Pavol Polan. Published with his courtesy. 105

Then a separate municipality, nowadays North-Eastern city part of Budapest as part of its XVI. district. From the pri-vate archive of Mr. Pavol Polan by his courtesy. 106

Laws 2002 , ps.285-293; Regulation of the Hungarian Royal Government No. 1.600/1944 from 14th

April 1944; due to the special importance of this Regulation the entire text is cited in the source;

34

For example, one specific regulation deprives the Jews of the right to possess a radio

and orders their confiscation.107.

As it derived from the generally applicable laws and regulations, before leaving for

the collection places from where the journey continued into ghettos established in specified

towns, Every Jew had to draw up an inventory of their assets left in the flat and this, along

with the keys to the flat, had to be handed over to mayor’s office. These elaborated invento-

ries differed in terms of degree of detail and accuracy, and were restricted to movables and

furniture and in the vast majority did not include consumer goods such as clothing, food

supplies, cooking utensils and supplies.

More valuable items such as works of art were given by number of pieces and with

the indication "large" or "small", usually not mentioning the name of the author of the par-

ticular work of art. As long as the author is given, then only in the form of "... the image by

XY ...", in no case is the description or title of the work shown. Thus, even in the case of

works of famous masters these items can not be identified108.

After the departure of the owners the mayor's office had to gather the home inventory

and the values recorded in a protocol were handed over to the Chief Financial Officer, who

in case of Diószeg was János Király.

In fact, the inventory was carried out at length and with a considerable lapse of time

from leaving the flats. The delay was not due to passiveness, but the inability of financial

institutions to perform the inventory consistently. Therefore, the mayors engaged active and

retired municipal officials as well as teachers in this work. Quite often the authorized inven-

tory commissions found emptied apartments on the site. Furniture, bedding, housewares

and clothing had been largely taken away by neighbours109. The town notary from Hust in

Subcarpatian Ruthenia on June 21, 1944 in its report writes:

„...personal conditions of the financial authorities are insufficient, so the

inventory and emptying of flats will last for at least six more months, and in the

meantime a number of burglaries and thefts will happen. So far many flats

have been looted, which I am continuously reporting to gendarmerie, but they

do not have enough people.110“

107

Laws 2002, p. 331; Regulation No. 1.300/1944 M.E. of 7th

April 1944, Belügyi Közlöny (Bulletin of the Interior Minis-try), 49, No.17. Reprint also in: Benoschofszky Ilona – Karsai Elek: Vádirat a nácizmus ellen, I., Budapest 1958, ps. 170-181, doc. No. 83/a; 108

ŠOKA Nové Zámky (District Archive), fund of Župné mesto (County Town), carton 35; 109

Lévai 1948, p.102; cited by Kádár-Vági 2005, p.249; 110

Ibidem;

35

According to the personal testimony of the son of the then employee of the financial

office in Nové Zámky the authorities in the seat of the county had a total of five employees,

who for the whole Nové Zámky district carried out the activities of tax executors111, too. The

examined documents from Dioszeg are show that the local branch had two employees.

Before the property was brought into the custody of the financial office, at least half of

it was plundered by the population individually or during wild grabbing of abandoned flats.

The financial authorities had known about the danger of this from previous practices.

The Government Commissioner of Subcarpatian Ruthenia warned that the closure of Jew-

ish dwellings and their sealing was not a good solution. Based on experience with a similar

situation in 1941112 he feared that the population would plunder these homes. Finance Min-

ister Lajos Reményi-Schneller as early as on June 1, 1944 informed the government that

part of Jewish property left in the apartments' “… went to ruin113."

The described conditions were typical for the whole country. When the Town Hall in

Kecskemét learned that "... Jewish homes are being taken without permission ...", the

Mayor made a call on "...citizens acting arbitrarily to immediately cease this conduct and to

empty the flats." In the municipality of Felsőbudak in Northern Transylvania the gendarmerie

reports a case recorded when

„ From the flat of Rudolf Grünfeld a local resident took a bicycle provid-

ing that he would not need this any more, because the Jews will be collected

nevertheless and the bike will be forfeited by the State.114“

Chief financial inspector Sándor Madarász in Balassagyarmat made a report on 800

local residents who robbed Jewish homes. Looting in Berehove became the object of atten-

tion of the Nazis themselves. On 27 June 1944 Veesenmayer with reference to the sources

111

Personal information of Mikuláša S., son of then employee of the financial office in Nové Zámky, preserved by word of mouth of his father. Recorded on 4

th October 2015;

112 This was the very first deportation of 17,000 Jews mainly from the so-called Ruthenia with a so-called unexplained

right of domicile in 1941 to Kamenec-Podolsko; the Hungarian military authorities handed them over to the SS troops Einsatzgruppe D, who murdered them within 3 days; 113

Records from the government session on 1st

June 1944. With reference to Benoschofszky – Karsai E. 1960 cited by Kádár-Vági 2005, p. 249; 114

Report of gendarmerie Lieutenant colonel Ferenczy, 7th

May 1944. With reference to Karsai L. – Molnár 1994, 504 p. Cited by Kádár-Vági 2005, p. 249;.

36 of the Hungarian gendarmerie reports to Berlin that from the 800 Jewish buildings in the

town 800 – 100 flats were broken open and looted by the population115.

What remained, in the following period until the liberation of the town, was auctioned

at repeated public auctions, and partly used by the Hungarian army and the German Wehr-

macht, parts were made available to refugees from bombed homes of the military industry

centres or other places strategically important for future warfare in terms of the Allies, from

where they fled to smaller rural settlements. And as we tried to show in the paragraphs

above, looted and stolen without trace.

We will try to reconstruct this process using data from the documents of the local fi-

nancial administration, which concentrated, administered and disposed of the assets of the

deported and sent the financial proceeds to the Hungarian royal state treasury.

Through the analysis of available documents, archives and private sources, we can

conclude that the state and local administration mastered the task of confiscating the prop-

erty of Jewish population thoroughly, which in many cases had been the domain of several

generations. They did not manage, however, its redistribution and could not prevent its de-

terioration and rampant looting.

The studied documents come from the annexes of a handwritten letter dated April 1,

1945, received by the police station in Dioszeg, containing 84 documents of the sale of Jew-

ish property116. The text is as follows:

To the police station in Dioszeg!

Please, here we are sending you the following documents that have been writ-

ten on the sale of Jewish property, for you to examine.

Enclosures include 84 letters that were buried by the policeman Király117.

Dioszegia 1.IIII.1945 V. Komandant: Illegible signature in Cyrillic script.118

As we have pointed out, the government's concept was the consistent appropriation

of property of deported by the state. This should have been served by the inventories pre-

pared by the deported Jews themselves, or prepared in their presence and the evidenced

115

Report of Veesenmayer for Auswertiges Amt (Ministry of External Affaurs in Berlin) 27 June 1944. With reference to Braham1963, p. 615 cited by Kádár-Vági, ibid. 116

For the preservation, provision and consent for utilization and publication special thanks to Mr.Pavol Polan; 117

János Király was a leading official of this organ in Dioszeg in the position of Chief inspector of the financial admin-istration. This is testified by lots of signatures on documents together with his function given in typewriting; 118

Authentic transcript without modification;

37 handover of keys from the abandoned houses to the office of the municipal authorities or to

the Headquarters of the collection place before their detention in the ghetto. In most cases,

however, this was not the case. Acquiring Jewish property was a far too great and tempting

challenge for the majority, than to bow to the will of the ruling power and to wait for the en-

visaged organized redistribution allowed by official regulations. The same applies also to

immovable property. Immediately after leaving the flats and houses spontaneous occupa-

tion and requisition of apartments119 began, including their equipment and facilities. The re-

gional press called upon citizens

„...to patience and unconditional trust in the acting of authorities in this

case, which at the allocation of freed Jewish apartments will give priority to

families with many children, not individuals. It is necessary to prevent non-

transparent exchanges and moving houses for profit-seeking motives. We are

assessing that among the population an almost frenzied desire for obtaining

these apartments broke out, and candidates who have felt very well in their

previous apartments are also aspiring. We believe that competent authorities

at the allocation of housings will act only according to the actual needs of ap-

plicants and the needs of eligible applicants will be met as soon as possi-

ble.”120

The impatience of applicants driven by desire for unearned acquisition of property of

the “pests of the nation” is also evident from the fact that the given article inciting to patience

is published in the same issue of regional newspapers on 6 May 1944. It announces that

Jews should move to the ghetto till 6:00 in the evening of the following day. The cited re-

gional newspapers appeared weekly on each Thursday, when the public was already aware

of the expected possible demolishing at least for three days and it was necessary to temper

impatience already, at a time when the Jews determined for ghettoization were still packing

their belongings. In Nové Zámky it was about 400 apartments, redistribution of which "... will

satisfy all needs.“121 Till May 12, that is up to five days from the collection of Jews the Mag-

istrate of the county town received 280 applications for allocation of a flat by Jews. The

newspapers repeatedly asking for patience, preservation of the administration process and

for reporting all assets and valuables that anyone from any reason has taken from Jews122.

119

Érsekújvár és Magyar Vidék, 20th May 1944,p.4; 120

Érsekújvár és Vidéke, volume 63, 6th May 1944, p.2; 121

Érsekújvár és Vidéke,volume 63, 13th

May 1944, p.3; 122

Érsekújvár és Vidéke, volume 63., 20th

May 1944, p.2;

38

The cited regional newspapers, since they were based in the seat of the county, paid

attention not only to the county town but also other towns within the administration of the

temporarily united Bratislava and Nitra County. It was divided into three districts with seats

based in Nové Zámky, in Sala and Galanta. From the newspaper we learn that in the district

of Galanta 1561 Jews live in about 460 families, of which in Galanta itself comprised 953

Jews and the ghetto in Galanta. In the district of Šala there are 931 Jews living in 258 fami-

lies, of which in Šaľa itself had 431 with the ghetto directly in Šala. Part of the Galanta dis-

trict was also in the extended precinct ward office in Senec, in the precinct 553 Jews were

living in 165 families, of which in Senec itself 335 and the ghetto in Bodóházapuszta farm-

stead near Senec. In the Nové Zámky district they inform about 1,115 Jews in 316 families

who are concentrated in the ghetto in Surany, and in Nové Zámky itself about 2,300 Jews in

700 families. They are concentrated in the local ghetto, on the territory of which about 270

families lived well before and to which 430 families moved, who previously lived in dissipa-

tion in the whole town. The proportion of the Jewish population in the county is indicated at

the level of 3.5%.

This number 430 approximately corresponds with the total of 574 in the inventory lists

of movables left behind in abandoned flats or distributed for keeping and use to various nat-

ural persons, to the Hungarian or German army, to different guilds and institutions, including

the administrative machinery of the town itself. The fact that the property of one family in

many cases was taken by several applicants, and for each of them an individual list was

drawn up, establishes the justified assumption that 574 lists can cover about 430 families.

Inventories in the homes of families whose homes became part of the ghetto were not writ-

ten and after emptying the ghetto these became prey to looting. To the obligation of making

written lists of all movable goods - even the smallest ones, taken into custody by the popula-

tion from the Jews, the population was warned under threat of immediate police intern-

ment123 in case failure to comply with the reporting duty. Disclosure of the mentioned inven-

tory lists from the funds of the State Archives in Nitra, branch Nové Zámky is the result of

archival research of the author and their analysis will be the subject of a separate study.

The bodies of financial management proceeded to the determination of movable properties

left in abandoned apartments "with ingenuity and utmost determination in drafting this prop-

erty of the nation."“124

123

Érsekújvár és Vidéke, volume 63., 13th May 1944, p.3; 124

Érsekújvár és Vidéke, volume 63., 27th

May 1944, p.2;

39

Unfortunately, the inventory lists of individual apartments in Diószeg have not been

preserved. From other preserved documents we learn that the Hungarian Army and the

German Wehrmacht made preferential claims to Jewish movable property. Both had priority

in satisfying their needs and claims due to the accommodation of the deployed officer corps.

Parts of Jewish property were handed out to cover the essential needs of refugees, the

church and other legal entities and associations took their share as well and some parts

was sold at public auctions. In two cases we learn about the additional value observed of

that part of the property that was selectively concentrated in the refinery stocks. Only in rare

cases, we learn about inventory indirectly, from a list of movables auctioned on February

19, 1945 from the flat of Dezső Blődy and his wife125.

Auctions were preceded by the concentration and registering of assets to a central

store, which was set up in the premises of the synagogue and in the storage facilities of the

sugar refinery. If during the inventory objects of greater value or cash were found, these

were taken directly by the representative of the financial administration. Acknowledgement

of such a case has been preserved from 25 September 1944 on the receipt of 5 pieces of

commemorative coins of 5, - Pengő with the motif of Saint Stephen, one with the worth of 5,

- Pengő with the motive of Miklós Horthy and 15, - Pengő in cash in the flat of Armin

Wohlstein. In parallel with the inventory of property left in the flats the offices investigated

valuables that the Jews left behind "in custody" for their friends before leaving. In such cas-

es, it is impossible to doubt the existence of a bona fide intention of the recipient and in any

case of the trust placed in them by the Jews. Of the case, which came to the attention of the

financial authority about deposited valuables at a resident of Dioszeg, wife of Adolf Schu-

bert, only the second page has been preserved of the list of 41 items of money and valua-

bles, which were confiscated by the financial authority with the assistance of Gendarmerie.

Thus the original owner of the deposited possessions remains unknown. Eighteen items of

the preserved second page of the list includes, among others:

cash 7,350 Pengő men’s ring with a stone 1 pc, 6,7 g

commemorative gold coin 1 pc 10,- Kor wedding ring 1 pc, 4,95 g

silver coin 5 P 4 pcs platinum ring for women 1 pc, 2,0 g

men’s ring with a red s tone

1 pc, 5,4 g pair of earrings with white stones

125

The Blödy spouses registered under No. 9 and 10 of the name list of Dioszeg J ews transported to the ghetto in Galanta;

40

platinum ring for women 2,0 g pair of platinum earrings with a white stone

pair of golden earrings 14 car 0,8 g gold necklace with a red stone 11,3 g

pocket watch with a chain and pendant 14 car

92,5 g clock hands 2 kusy

pocket watch ROSKOP 1 pc women’s pocket watch small

Gold scarf-pin 14 car 1 pc thread black and white 2+1 spools

From the inventory of movable assets and furnishings a summary statement of con-

centrated textiles has been preserved; it can be assumed that the lists were elaborated ac-

cording to individual commodities.

The factual list of clothes and personal needs, which have been collected from Jew-

ish flats, dates from 22 September 1944. It records 6804 items in 77 entries. The supple-

ment dated October 11, 1944 also includes textiles exclusively in further 101 entries, cover-

ing 1,679 pieces respectively. It provides an overview of the existence of 8483 pieces of

household textiles and clothing at the date of October 11, 1944, which came into the store

of the finance office and intended to be sold through public auctions.

We are listing from it selectively: 184 + 17 men's shirts, 46 + 24 pairs of men's

leather shoes, two pairs of leather and two pairs of men's rubber boots, 94 + 30 pairs of

women's leather shoes, 2 pairs of women's slippers with wooden soles and heels, 6 pairs of

children's shoes, 45 + 32 pairs of women's and men's shoes with rubber soles, 140 + 9 lin-

en bed sheets (with the note that 7 were used for packaging), 6 + 2 women's fur hats, 276 +

38 pairs of women's stockings (with the note "heavily worn") 135 + 36 pairs of men's stock-

ings (with the same note), 42 + 14 pairs of women's leather gloves, 330 towels, 224 wipes,

1 woolen scarf, 21 + 8 women’s handbags, 31 + 19 feather eiderdowns cases and 97 + 45

pillows with pillowcases, 21 + 8 quilts and their 47 cases, 13 small pillows, 3 mattresses,

326 + 22 curtains 288 + 5 tablecloths and blankets for table, 180 handmade objects, 75 +

28 men's hats, 6 ladies' straw hats and two bathing caps, 202 + 14 suits, 104 + 2 costumes

+ 248 3 handkerchiefs, 1 men's sweater, 6 women's blouses and 23+1 bed blankets.

Let's compare this list of everyday needs and facilities normally required for 45

households of about 140 to 150 people. The listed number of 201 shirts in moderate climatic

conditions can be considered sufficient for ten men, shirts for at least 40 men are missing.

In assessing the inventory status of 70 pairs of men's leather shoes with an estimated real

41 need for 50 men it could outfit 15 to 20 men, shoes for 30-35 men are missing. Even the

276 + 38 pairs of women's stockings probably do not satisfy the needs of the estimated 50

women, although this discrepancy is less striking due to smaller interest. A similar reasoning

with critical items of daily use knowing the hygienic needs and clothing habits of Jewish

middle-class civic population consisting of small craftsmen and traders leads us to a similar

conclusion: disparity between the inventoried state and the assumed moderate needs leads

to quantifying a deficit of 60-65%.

From the analytical evaluation of the inventory state and assumed real needs, without

exaggeration, we can express the assumption that until the stage of collection 60 to 65% or

two-thirds of the household equipment disappeared without any traces. The fact that be-

tween the expulsion of the community and the inventory control of the property of its mem-

bers, from May to October 1944 five months of inexplicable passivity of the financial institu-

tions have passed, only supports this assumption.

In the final section we make an attempt to reconstruct the total value of the looted

movable and mobile property of the Dioszeg Jewish community. For the assessment of the

property, which was liquidated in subsequent public auctions, we have fairly conclusive

source materials.

We have a statement from the finance office of the revenues of public auctions. The

subsidiary of the Hungarian royal financial administration operated in Diószeg, which was

subject to the County Financial Office in Nové Zámky. Financial inspector János Király was

its chief. He concluded and bound and affixed the final statement by his signature and seal

on March 29, 1945. It was the day when the Red Army came to Nové Zámky and five days

before passing through Diószeg it liberated Bratislava.

The final statement informs as follows:

Revenue from the auction

1. 23rd December 1944 1 982 Pengő 00 fill. 2. 26th December 1944 1 888 Pengő 10 fill. 3. 27th December 1944 4 300 Pengő 00 fill. 4. 28th December 1944 4 052 Pengő 00 fill. 5. 29th December 1944 3 449 Pengő 90 fill. 6. 30th December 1944 1 129 Pengő 50 fill. 7. 31st December 1944 3 467 Pengő 50 fill. 8. 2nd January 1945 2 904 Pengő 50 fill. 9. 5th January 1945 3 100 Pengő 00 fill. 10. 12th January 1945 5 206 Pengő 00 fill. 11. 16th January 1945 2 800 Pengő 00 fill. 12. 16th January 1945 1 500 Pengő 00 fill.

42

13. 19th January 1945 2 641 Pengő 90 fill. 14. 21st January 1945 6 234 Pengő 00 fill. 15. 23rd January 1945 2 639 Pengő 00 fill. 16. 23rd January 1945 3 761 Pengő 00 fill Total revenue till 23rd January 1945 51 055 Pengő 40 fill.

17. Income from the sale of firewood from abandoned

Jewish households 504 Pengő 45 fill.

18. Income from the sale of non-ripped feathers from Jew. Flats 15 Pengő 00 fill.

19. Income from auctions 1-25 March 1945 1 303 Pengő 00 fill.

Income from the auction on 28th March 1945 4 120 Pengő 00 fill.

==========================================================

TOTAL INCOME FROM THE AUCTIONS 56 997 Pengő 85 fill.

================

The average income of the State Treasury for the sale of movable property of one

Jewish family amounted to 1266,62 Pengő. But the variance is significant: according to the

preserved itemized list the highest income from the auction of items from the same family

ownership was of - Dezső Blődy - on January 29, 1945 totalling 2,641.90 Pengő.

As testified by authentic documents, and in time more than half a year and in the final

account ten months after the deprivation of Jews, the consistent Finance Administration in

Diószeg was trying not without success to make some financial benefit for the State Treas-

ury out of the seized assets of Diószeg Jews that had already been murdered.

From the auction of "surplus" and "forgotten" Jewish property held on 13 December

1944 and the next day, a comprehensive set of 15 acknowledgements of money receipts for

auctioned property has been preserved. On that day durable food supplies, preserves and

canned food were auctioned. The revenue from the given date is not included in the sum-

mary of the final report. This fact is not in compliance with the otherwise perfectly functional

administrative practices of the financial institutions, which presented much less essential

facts in detail on the individual documents. Each of them contains the name of the deported

Jew, assets of whom were auctioned and the auctioned amount:

Armin Wohlstein 12 Pengő 15 fill. Arnold Haas 23 Pengő 97 fill.

43

Kornel Beck 16 Pengő 35 fill. Mór Leucht 12 Pengő 14 fill. Armin Goldstein 7 Pengő 95 fill. József Kling 14 Pengő 59 fill. Dezső Blődi 17 Pengő 13 fill. Farkas Skolnik 33 Pengő 80 fill. Izidirné Marmorstein 8 Pengő 39 fill. Lajos Kelecsényi 31 Pengő 79 fill. Ignácz Wagner 26 Pengő 19 fill. Béla Reitenberg 52 Pengő 02 fill. János Robitsek 16 Pengő 35 fill. Lipót Bojnitzer 36 Pengő 14 fill. Rezső Tauber 22 Pengő 09 fill.

The description of sold items is not specified on the receipts, all of them appear to

have the character of forms prepared in advance, written by typewriter, where the details of

the original owner and the auctioned amount were inscribed on the spot. The description of

items auctioned is uniformly given in texts such as "... bottles for compote and tomato juice

accumulated by the Jew126.... '. On 13 December 1944 the head of the finance office in

Nové Zámky takes over 331 Pengő and one fillér to the State Treasury, in individual cases

not more than 52,05 Pengő for things from the flat of Béla Reitenberger and at least 8,39

Pengő revenues for things out of the flat of the widow of Izidor Marmorstein.

THE ARMY: HUNGARIAN ROYAL SOLDIERS AND THE WEHRMACHT

The military troops either Hungarian or German, primarily claimed fully furnished

apartments for themselves. The accommodated - mostly officers - considered valuables as

their own personal property and at the time of their departure, or rather fleeing in the last

days of March 1945 they took these objects with them.

The dislocated units, in accordance with government orders took precedence in the

seizure of Jewish property.

On December 1, 1944 the commandery of the 13th Training Regiment takes over

housing equipment and furnishings "... to the extent necessary ..." for Sergeant Lajos

Márton accommodated in the house under No. 689, for Lászlóné Zólyomi in the house un-

der No. 112 and for sergeant Lajos Magyari in the house No. 399. On 5 December for the

126

Authentic text in Hungarian:“ ...... volt diószegi zsidó lakos befőttes és paradicsomos üvegjeinek felhalmozott szabadkézből maximális áron történt eladása folytán befolyt összeget ...“ (amount accumulated from the maximum price free-hand purchase of the compote and tomato jar glasses of former Dioszeg Jewish inhabitant)

44 furnishing of the Commandery office commander Vitéz János Rókán takes over "...for tem-

porary use 14 items, a total of 19 pieces of furniture from Jewish movable inventory." On

18th December the commander of the 7th Section of the Railway Traffic Control, József

Gellei takes over in 35 items a total of 69 objects certainly necessary for the management of

railway operations such as kitchen ladle, sieve, funnel, roaster, kitchen scale, nuts grinder,

etc, for the furnishing of accommodation facilities of his unit.

The Wehrmacht unit located in Diószeg also set up their claim for a share of Jewish

property. For the working point No. 48063 on 7 November 1944 they take over 10 tables,

30 chairs and 4 wardrobes, on November 9 further furniture "... aus jüdischen Beständen ..."

– from Jewish objects, a week later, on 16 December Wehrmacht lieutenant Sperling takes

over also furniture, with great care, as he deemed necessary to itemise one padded chair in

the registration, which is, however, lacking a cushion. Among the received objects there is

also a sewing machine from the property of the family of the deported Farkas Skolnik127.

Kitchen equipment, comprised of a total of 20 objects of daily use in 12 entries is tak-

en away by army sergeant (the signature is illegible).

The document of the last borrowing128 of furniture from Jewish property for the supply

unit of the Wehrmacht "Blücher" is dated 27 January 1945.

REFUGEES AND BOMBED OUT CITIZENS, WHO SOUGHT SHELTER IN DIOSZEG

A special category of those who benefited from the stolen Jewish property was the

so-called refugees from other towns mostly from the eastern part of the country, fleeing

from the approaching front and the troops of the Red Army, or their houses or apartments

were destroyed by bombing. The Financial Administration allocated from the storehouse

over-garments and furniture, as well as furnishing items of daily use confiscated from Jews

"for temporary use".

For example, a refugee from Mukachevo Istvánné Tárczy accommodated in house

No. 343 receives on 8th November 1944 in 31 entries altogether 95 items of household fur-

nishing objects, among others, complete furniture for the kitchen and bedroom, kitchen

utensils and objects of everyday needs. Another 34 pieces of kitchen equipment in 23 en-

tries are taken away by her on 8th November.

127

Farkas Skolnik and his wife are listed under No. 85 and 86 of the list of names of Dioszeg Jews transferred to the ghetto in Galanta on 6

th May 1944;

128 Authentic text in German: „Von der Finanzbehoerde Dioszeg wurden lehweise übernommen: ...“;

45 Infinite cynicism radiates from a further document129 of 25 November 1944, when as the

origin of 9 pieces of different bedding items, again for Istvánné Tárczy the register indicates

as "mistakenly left bedding of the Blödi“130family". From a closer examination of the docu-

ments comes the doubt whether this applicant could have been a refugee from bombing or

the advancing front at all, because her husband István Tárczy on the payroll of Dioszeg Fi-

nance Office is kept as a financial inspector.

On the first day of December refugee Mihály Bazos, accommodated in house No.

536, is satisfied with one bed, and it is without a mattress. Another refugee who participates

in the assets of those who they had never known is Béla Gankay, who gets a single porce-

lain sink, two saucepans with lid, a plate and a glass for water.

On 6 December for temporary use Ferenc Tímár receives 21 items, a total of 34

pieces of furniture, as well as a mug for water, 4 forks, three knives, one iron for charcoal

etc. On December 21, Dr. Lajos Tóth takes over kitchen utensils, namely five glass jars,

three porcelain cups, a bone fork and spoon for salad, as well as a chamber pot and "fire-

clay stove in very good condition." Similar episodes are also well documented on 5 and 12

March, 1945.

Again, the army whose representatives were more or less aware of the real situation,

only a few days before the arrival of the Red Army scooped into the storage stocks of Jew-

ish property one last time. On 25 March 1944 major Győry takes away essential items for

solving the strategic situation such as a meat-grinder, washbasin, a 2-liter pot, wicker bas-

ket and a few other trifles for 60, - pengő. Warrant officer Gécey takes a couch, although

"substantially damaged", but it is worth 100, - Pengő for him, gentlemen Ránszky and

Putnoki 44 pieces of similar objects, exclusively cooking equipment for 98.- respectively 145

– Pengő, sergeant Jenei "a tiny table with seats" for 50 - P and the field hospital 21 pieces

of furniture for 840, - Pengő. János Király records a total income of 1293 - Pengő, The doc-

ument evidencing the transfer of the sum onto the account of the State Treasury has not

been preserved.

129

Authentic text in Hungarian: „...a tévedésből visszamaradt Blődi féle ágyneműekből ...“ (“from the bed linen of the Blődis left over by mistake”) 130

The Blödy spouses (in some handwritten non-official documents as Blödi) listed under No. 9 a 10 on the list of names of Dioszeg Jews transferred to the ghetto in Galanta;

46

THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH

To participate in looted Jewish property was not a problem for the local Roman Catholic par-

ish office. János Weichinger on December 29, 1944 takes over two ladies’ umbrellas from

the stock of the financial administration providing his signature, on the following day, De-

cember 30, he comes back for a white cabinet and one more umbrella. Probably it was an

extremely rainy in December 1944 in Diószeg…

THE BALANCE OF THE ROBBERY OF JEWISH PROPERTY

It is extremely difficult to provide a reliable reconstruction of the value of looted Jew-

ish property for few archival materials have been preserved from the given time.

The Hungarian governance, which on the one hand, on March 29, 1945 organized a public

auction for forgotten Jewish property, was prepared to escape from the Red Army at any

moment which already on the day of the ominous auction stood at the door!

Nové Zámky in the distance of 40 km was liberated the same day, Trnovec nad

Váhom the next day, March 30, Dioszeg, Šaľa and Galanta on March 31. In Diószeg for

three days you could hear shelling from the East, but this did not prevent jovial citizens at

the last minute to grab this or that. The Financial Administration was either packing or de-

stroying their record materials and covering up the tracks.

Nevertheless, some historians have tried with painstaking work and tremendous ef-

fort to achieve some aggregate numbers about the value of looted Jewish property.

The Hungarian historian Dr. János Botos devoted twenty years of research work from

1991 until 2011, when he published his not extensive, but very comprehensive work Ez a

kifosztás lessz a végső!?131. He used demographic and property data of the census in

Czechoslovakia in 1930, data from the Hungarian census in 1941 and the archival material

stored in the Hungarian National Archives in Budapest. These were found in the Presidium

of the Government and ministries that were involved in the process of “pauperization" and

the subsequent holocaust of the Jewish population in the years 1938 - 1945. The most im-

portant role was played by the Presidency of Government, the Ministry of Interior under the

direction of Andor Jaross, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Transport.

131

János Botos: „Ez a kifosztás lessz a végső!? Az 1938-1945 között elkobzott magyar zsidó vagyon értéke“ (“Will this be the final plunder!? The worth of the Jewish property confiscated between 1938-1945” , Attraktor Kft. Budapest 2011, ISBN 978-963-9857-83-4, 125 s. 1 17 s. facsimile of documents;

47 They were all central government authorities, without exception. The investigations of Botos

were as he states in the preface of his work many times interrupted either due to business

of other projects, or the difficult availability of archival sources. His results do not include the

value of Jewish property that was destroyed during military operations or assets which have

been repatriated/restituted by survivors or their descendants and how much of it was re-

nationalized after 1948. It does not address either Jewish property that was removed from

the survivors or their descendants again from title, where after 1945 they were considered

as citizens of Germany, and in Czechoslovakia as citizens of Hungarian nationality. This

affected those Jews whose ancestors in Czechoslovakia signed up to the German or Hun-

garian nationality at the census in 1930.

Because we do not have reliable local data of the initial inventory and value of Jewish

property, in our attempt to quantify the Looted Jewish property, we were unable to include

some not insignificant categories.

IMMOVABLES

The Census of people, houses and flats real estates of both the Jewish and non-

Jewish population were counted. From this perspective of the assessment of Jewish house-

hold assets we can consider the data from 1941 as valid with sufficient precision as the

maximum in 1944, because at that time the existing discriminatory measures did not allow

Jews to acquire new real estates, neither freely manipulate with their existing property.

According to this inventory of the Bratislava-Nitra County seated in Nové Zámky they

registered 665 apartment buildings owned by Jews and 26 residential houses owned by

Jewish converts132. Flats inhabited by Jewish families were overwhelmingly rental apart-

ments, only a minority of families resided in their own homes. This finding of János Botos in

large numbers corresponds to Dioszeg as well, where from 46 families 16 lived in their own

home, and 30 families in rented accommodation. The average value of a family apartment

building in Budapest was 28,155 Pengő, in the eastern, poorer part of the country 15,804

Pengő (Ruthenia and counties of northern Tisza-river region)133, at the Danubian Lowland of

the Arbitration area we can consider the value of 18 to 20,000 Pengő.

132

Botos 2011, p. 86; 133

Botos 2011, p. 87;

48 From the preserved list of Diószeg Jews transported to the ghetto in Galanta the

names of homeowners is explicitly stated. The value of the 16 residential real estate build-

ings therefore between 288 to 320,000 Pengős.

The surviving returnees after 1945 were not restated fire loss of their belongings. The

procedure was lengthy and cumbersome, moreover the houses and flats as it will be show

were occupied by new users who felt to be rightful owners, since they have paid at the auc-

tions for the objects properly! They would not let in the ex-owners or their descendants, and

were not willing to hand over and return movable or immovable property. In many cases

there was not anybody who would be interested in restitution because entire families were

killed, of which no offspring survived. The real estates remained in the land register record-

ed mainly under the names of long-died original owners. In 1958 the Czechoslovak state

represented by the finance departments of the then District National Committees had exam-

ined in particular the whereabouts of property owners exclusively of Jewish origin. This was

due to the inquiry of the Central Register of Population administered in Banska Bystrica. In

case the owner indicated in the land register was not found, even if they did not live and

died in the Holocaust, the Financial Department of the District National Committee issued

an administrative decision under Decree No. 33/1945 by the President of the Republic

about the confiscation of the property of Germans, Hungarians, fascists and collaborators

under the pretext that the named person is staying outside the territory of Czechoslovakia

without the consent of state authorities.

After the political changes in 1989 with the creation of new self-governing bodies this

property passed from state property to municipal property134, and the municipalities starting

from 1993 sold135 them out as residential or non-residential premises to their momentary

users. This process has still not been finished.

The process of the irreversible transfer of the assets of the original Jewish owners

and victims of the Holocaust culminated.

AGRICULTURAL PROPERTY

The inventory of agricultural property or leases of farmland was stated by the regula-

tion of the Ministry of Agriculture No. 8360/1939. On the territory of the Trianon Hungary

134

Act No. 138/1991 of the Coll. 135

Act No. 182/1993 of the Coll.

49 itself 28,624 farms owned by Jews were registered with a total area of 460,261 cadastral

acres (k.j136.), i.e. 264,858 ha. On the territory of the Bratislava-Nitra county, seated in Nové

Zámky comprising the districts of Nové Zámky, Šaľa and Galanta it was 14,066 k.j., that is

8,405 ha. The clause of the law XV / 1942 in chapter IV. (the so-called fourth Jewish law

about agricultural property of the Jews) 137 ordered the owners to compulsory transfer to the

State, which then attributed them largely to the Vitéz order138 or to local co-operatives for

public welfare139. The owners forced to sell this property should have been compensated

through non-tradable bonds with a maturity of 30 years with an interest rate of 3.5%. Before

ghettoisation the Jews had to hand over these bonds, too.

By Regulation No.3840 / 1944140 of 3 November 1944

"All property of Jews as the nation's assets is transferred to the state.

These assets should be used for future warfare, to cover war damages and

cover the costs of implementing the statutory provisions and regulations con-

cerning the Jews.“

In addition to the completion of confiscation of all property, the cited regulation is an open

confession of the principle of self-financing Genocide 141.

136

1 k.j. = 1,600 square fathoms = 0,275464 ha or 1 ha = 1,7377 k.j.; 137

Its scope was extended by Regulation No. 3.230/1944. Of 10 September 1944; 138

Vitézi Rend (Order of Heroes) was established in 1920 by the Hungarian regent Miklós Horthy and then prime minis-ter Count Pál Teleki to honor soldiers who had served with Distinction during the WW I and during the oppression of a 133-day communist bolshevik regime led by Béla Kun. Each vitéz (acknowledged to be a member of the Order) at his nomination was to get inalienable land, i.e. ordinary soldiers 5 k.j. and officers 20 k.j. (see footnote no.120); because there was a lack of land even after the land reform in the beginning of the 20s, as a suitable source the land taken away from Jews was used; as a result of the land reform carried out by Law No. XXXVI./1920 an amount of 0,948 to 1,275 million k.j of agricultural land was allocated. 8,5% of the country´s fund of agricultural land was allocated to 411 thou-sand allocates, - lacklands, poor peasants, agrarian proletariat and to vitéz people. It is not surprising that a quarter of this land, about 312 thousand k.j., i.e. 179,550 ha, was the land of Jewish owners confiscated in the form of never paid forced sales under the Act XV/1942 (fourth Jewish law); the Jews were according the interwar anti-Semitic politics of the Kingdom of Hungary not good Hungarian and were not accepted to be a member of Vitézi Rend at all. Minister of War Gyula Gömbös by the occasion of the 10

th anniversary celebration of the Order of Heroes´ establishment, held in the

central Hungarian town of Kecskemét, where he defended and championed the order in the following way: “In recent days the ´Vitézi Rend´ had been attacked in the Pester Lloyd because we exclude soldiers of Jewish Confession from our ranks. I can only say, and at last permit me [to do so] , that we Hungarians do remain Hungarian in at least one of our institutions.“ Cited by Rebekah Klein-Pejšová: Mapping Jewish Loyalties in Interwar Slovakia. Indiana University Press, Bloomington 2015, ISBN 978-0-253-01554-9, p.115; source: SNA (Slovak National Archive, f. PR,Box 556, inv.n. 181); henceforth Klein-Pejšová 2015; Pester Lloyd was a German language daily liberal newspaper issued in Budapest from 1854 to 1945; until 1945 with the focus on “Hungary and Eastern Europe”; 139

Helyi Népjóléti Szövetkezet (Cooperative for Public Welfare); the cooperatives did not own the soil, they leased it to Gentile farmers exclusively; 140

Laws 2002, p. 356; Regulation No. 3.840/1944 M.E. of November 1944, orig. in: Belügyi Közlöny 1944, II. vol., ps. 1635-1642;

50 The regulation retained in the property of the Jews was for only items related to the practice

of religion, personal letters, school textbooks, one wedding ring, food for two weeks, to this

the necessary firewood, cash of 300 Pengő per family and another 100 Pengő for each

household member. Everything else was confiscated without any compensation or claim.

For the confiscated agricultural property the Jews never received any compensation. Its re-

connaissance and quantification would require further research in the archives of the former

land registers and in cadastral documentation.

CASH AND VALUABLES

During the transferring into ghettos of established in towns with over 10 thousand

inhabitants and during loading into wagons and transport to the extermination camps sys-

tematic and consistent robbing took place. It was a brutal general practice of the gendarme-

rie that affluent Jews and those of whom they assumed to have their valuables somewhere

hidden, were subjected to ruthless interrogation and torture. They tried to get information

from them about where they had hidden their valuables or whom they had handed them

over for safekeeping. They called this procedure "pénzverde", the meaning of which is mint,

but it is also a Hungarian pun of two words, difficult to translate: pénz - money and verés –

beating, verde - the place where the beating takes place. To obtain information no ruthless-

ness of brutality was left untried. In the Nové Zámky ghetto "... rich Jews were beaten so

much that they got to the hospital142“. The hearing gendarmes caused grievous bodily harm,

not excluding the elders and the sick. Many of them died as a result of these physical at-

tacks before they got onto the deportation train.

In this process the major role was played by state and local authorities, the police

and gendarmerie. Confiscated or "legally taken away property" was indeed in some cases

documented, however, only rarely evaluated. Botos, based on a very detailed analysis of

archival materials, reports that143 cash confiscated at collection centres and ghettos varied

from 3 Pengő ton 3000 Pengő. From the summarization according to counties with sufficient

reliability he establishes the amount taken away for 1000 Pengő per person. If we assume

that the parents did not risk to hide these valuables at their children, we can reasonably as-

141

The term "self-financing genocide" as first used by Raul Hilberg in his work The Destruction of the European Jews. Vol. 1-3, New York – London, Holmes and Meier 1985; 142

Archive MZSLM Budapest, fund DEGOB, protocol No.1695; 143

Botos 2011, ss. 77-80;

51 sume that Dioszeg Jews were robbed of cash not less than 100,000 Pengő and roughly

three times bigger value in jewellery and other material valuables.

MEN IN BATTALIONS OF FORCED LABOUR IN ARMY SERVICE

These poor individuals were the object of systematic and repeated looting. Botos in

this case came to the conclusion that during the lifetime of the system of forced labour

200,000 Jews passed through the battalions within the Hungarian Royal Army. Family

members sought to lessen the harsh life of their loved ones and lessen the inhumane treat-

ment by prison guards, they tried to send some cash in various ways. These consignments

were by guards and junior officers who were recruited mainly from among the less literate

peasant population of the country and systematically robbed. The same was the fate of

"their minimal pay," which the recruited received in the amount of 5 Pengő per month.

The robbery of personal checks was also a common occurrence. E.g. in the summer

of 1944 in the 106/303 working battalion, which was deployed in Debrecen, the recruits

were robbed of their money and valuables worth 10-60 thousand Pengő without any written

registration, in Mohács at the "inspection of possession of money and other valuables" in

the 104/243 battalion the Jews were robbed 35 641,70 Pengő cash, 10 – RM, 25 silver and

four gold coins, 1 gold and 9 silver watches, 16 cigarette cases, 5 gold and 5 silver rings, 4

gold and 24 silver chains and other small items144.

A special chapter was the extortionate practice of wardens who at their travels on

holiday or short-term leave of the battalion exacted so-called bonies from the enlisted. The-

se were letters or other brief written notices for the family with a request that its bearer

should be paid money "for fair treatment". The bearer was portrayed as a man who has an

important influence on their destiny. Mostly it was the amount of 100 to 200 Pengő. The

amount of 200 Pengő represented a decent monthly salary of an official of the state or mu-

nicipal administration. Botos comes to the conclusion with a justified assumption that each

enlisted of the employment services was robbed of 300 to 500 Pengő on the statistical av-

erage.

144

ÁBTL Budapest, V-5480, carton 60.421; cited by Botos 2011, p. 81;

52

BUSINESS INVENTORY, SUPPLIES, ARRANGEMENT OF FREE PROFES-

SIONS – DOCTORS, LAWYERS, PHARMACISTS

As mentioned above, due to the enlistment of most doctors in the units of forced la-

bour there was a dire shortage of doctors in the country. From 1943 on the government tried

to remedy the situation by sending doctors to designated places in the country, to provide

essential medical services there. At the same time they were strictly supervised and subject

to military jurisdiction.

The equipment of their clinics was written down, confiscated and reallocated. Botos

came to the conclusion that in 1942 there were 6,600 Jewish doctors and 455 veterinary

surgeons in the country. For the valuation of the ambulances he had the inventory from

1930 at his disposal, according to which the average value of the equipment ranged from

900 to 4,000 Pengő. Taking into account the devaluation of the Pengő between 1930-1944

he concludes the average value was 3,000 Pengő in 1944. In Diószeg the described

measures affected the family of MD. Géza Büchler.

The same reasoning applies to the value of the equipment of pharmacies. These

were confiscated145 from Jews on April 14, 1944. Only after two months the Interior Ministry

ordered the inventory of closed pharmacies and provided for the transfer of their stocks to

non-Jewish people146 In Diószeg these measures related to the family of pharmacist Ernő

Földes. His three-member family is shown in lines 104, 105 and 106 on the name list of de-

portees.

Action against lawyers was even more ruthless, their exclusion and robbery of their

legal practice caused less noticeable negative impacts on society than in the case of doc-

tors. Advocacy licenses of Jewish lawyers were deprived of on March 31, 1944147. In the

coming weeks the Official Journal published in continuation the list of 3,440 names of Jew-

ish lawyers and the names of liquidators in charge. Facilities of lawyer offices - with the ex-

ception of office equipment with extremely large clientele in Budapest- were not much dif-

145

Laws 2002, p. 333; Regulation No. 1.370/1944 M.E. from 14th

April 1944, original in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collec-tion of Regulations), vol. I., ps. 424-428; 146

Laws 2002, p. 333; Regulation No. 550/1944 B.M. of 3 June 1944, original in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collection of Regulations),vol. II., pages 1075-1076; 147

Laws 2002, p. 325; Regulation No. 1.210/1944 M.E. of 31 March 1944, orig. in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collection of Regulations), vol. I., ps. 257-260; the list consistently published Gavriel Bar Shaked, Julia Bock a Yosef Stern: Miscarriage of Justice, Tel Aviv 2006;

53 ferent from the usual office equipment. Their value did not exceed the amount of 1,000

Pengő. In Diószeg the listed measures related to lawyer Ferenc Schreiber. He and his wife

are listed in lines 79 and 80 of the name list of deportees.

Trade supplies and equipment were affected by a number of regulations. The first

was published already in 1939 in connection with the revision of business licenses and sub-

sequent forced divestiture of stocks. During the deportations on April 21 the regulation or-

dered the closure of all business inventories and shop equipment. For the stores, the reten-

tion of which was necessary for the reasons of public supply or the state's defensive capaci-

ty, administrators were appointed. However, salaries of shop employees had to be paid by

the original owner.

Of the value of commercial stocks and equipment, no preserved documents have

been appeared in the course of research so far148.

The vast proportion of valuables of greater worth confiscated from the Jews, through

the district and county financial administration authorities went to the State pawn, which was

an organizational part of the Hungarian Royal Postal Savings Bank. Here they were regis-

tered and their value assessed estimation. From the summarization of the accompanying

documentation, which was conducted separately for each area joined to the country by the

Arbitrations, the Financial Administration from 30 May to 16 August 1944 delivered to the

warehouse of the State pawn 3,145 suitcases, 657 cartridges, 4,112 cases, 1,319 boxes,

3,717paper packages, 1,487 envelopes, 411 baskets, 204 sacks, 483 paintings, 200 furs,

5,491 sewing machines, 27,988 carpets, and 491 other valuables149.

Starting from October 1944 until the last moments of the duration of the Szálasi re-

gime valuables were gradually taken away from the State pawn. The so-called Golden

Trains transported away to the West not only valuables looted from the Jews but also the

Hungarian crown jewels, monetary gold, and artwork looted from galleries and museums.

Their fate requires another specific chapter, which has its own rich history-graphical litera-

ture150.

148

Laws 2002, p. 334; Regulation No. 50.500/1944 K.K.M. of 21 April 1944, orig. in: Rendeletek Tára 1944 (Collection of Regulations), vol. I. ps. 603-604; 149

Botos 2011, p.99; 150

See e.g. the following works, for the interested e the rich bibliography listed in them may be helpful:

Kádár Gábor – Vági Zoltán: Hullarablás. A magyar zsidók gazdasági megsemmisítése. Jaffa Kiadó, Budapest 2005, ISBN 963-9604-16-X,

54

UNDERLINED AND COUNTED:

of a Jewish community comprised of no more than 140 souls in a small rural town,

through the planned and purposefully systematic efforts of state and local authorities, its

complete property was taken away in full, which - as we already mentioned - was the result

of the work of several generations.

With the help of the above methodology, which is based on twenty years´ research by

prominent Holocaust historian János Botos, from the data available for the time being we

have calculated the following values151:

1/ residential real estate MIN 288 000 MAX 320 000

2/ agricultural property at the level of contemporary knowledge incalculable

3/ furnishing of flats and homes 90 000 120 000

4/ cash 100 000 100 000

5/ bank deposits and securities at the level of contemporary knowledge incalculable

6/ jewellery and other valuables 300 000 300 000 7/ deprived of men in labour service 4 500 7 500

8/ doctors´ surgery equipment 3 000 3 000

9/ pharmacy equipment 3 000 3 000

10/ trade supplies at the level of contemporary knowledge incalculable

_________________________________________________________________

ALTOGETHER MIN 788 500 MAX 853 500

==========================================

The official rate of the Hungarian Pengő to the US dollar in 1944 was 5.1 P for US$ 1.

Ronald Zweig: Az aranyvonat. A 20.század legnagyobb rablásának története. Köpzőművészeti Kiadó, Budapest 2002, ISBN 963-336-968-10;

Stuart E.Eizenstadt: Nedokonalá spravedlnost. Uloupený majetek, nucené práce a nevyřízené účty druhé světo-vé války. (Imperfect Justice.Published by PublicAffairs, a member of Perseus Books L.I.C. 2003)Translated by Ed-uard Geissler; Vyd. PROSTOR, Praha 2005, ISBN 80-7260-148-2;

151 Quantifying in the whole text is in Pengő currency rate of 1944;

55

The value of looted assets at the then exchange rate corresponds with $154,600 to

$167,350 rate of 1944;

Each member of the Dioszeg Jewish community directly or indirectly paid the Hun-

garian State Treasury for their sufferings and 85% of them in death an amount of 5600-6100

Pengő.

The natural question here is: how do we interpret this value today?

Let us try to quantify this at today’s current value.

At the introduction of the Pengő as the legal means of payment, which replaced the

formerly used Austria-Hungarian Crown (Korona) its value was determined to be the equiva-

lent to 1,000 g of gold valued at 3,600 - Pengő.

The rate to the USD was 5.731 HUP / USD which strengthened to 5.10 HUP / USD in

1944.

At the conclusion of this manuscript the current value of gold is quoted by NYSE at

1,225 - USD per troy ounce (oz, i.e. 31.1034807 grams). Calculating the gold ratio we

achieve 1.00 Pengő = 10.94 EUR of present – day value.

After conversion to EUR using the exchange rate of the European Central Bank EUR

/ USD = 1.1264, which is valid on the date of 25 April 2016 we thus arrive at a worth of 1.00

Pengő = 9.922 Euros of today's value.

At today’s current value we can quantify this as a value within 55,560 - to 60,525 -

EUR152, at today's rate of 70,230, - to 76,500, - USD was contributed by the each member

of the Dioszeg Jewish community to finance the self-financing genocide.

152

Regarding the calculations of the value of looted assets through gold, such a procedure may be considered correct. The real value of the currency and courses, however, are relative, especially in historical perspective. Till the outbreak of WWII it significantly strengthened. Looking at real purchasing value of the currency related to the period prices in the country, we can state that from the early years of the war there was a sharp increase in currency in circulation. In the years 1941 – 1943 a 61% increase served to finance the Hungarian exports to Germany, i.e. the National Bank of Hunga-ry lent significantly more to Germany than to their own economy. Thus Germany managed to pass on a large part of the inflationary pressure on the German currency to their suppliers. The index of the cost of living developed in Hungary similarly. While compared to its value at the end of 1943 compared to its value in 1938 the HNB statistics show an in-crease to 264.5%, to 30 June 1944, however, there was only a further increase of 2.7%, while at an unchanged trend, it would be around 70, 0% (for details see: Botos 1999, p. 296); UNGVÁRY Krisztán: Nagy jelentőségű szociálpolitikai akció” – adalékok a zsidó vagyon begyűjtéséhez és elosztásához Magyarországon 1944-ben. (A socio-political action of great importance. Contributions to the evaluation of concentration and redistribution of Jewish property in Hungary in 1944). See at: http://www.rev.hu/ords/f?p=600:2:::::P2_PAGE_URI:kiadvanyok/evkonyv02/ungvary , actually on 1 March 2016. What was the proportion of the aryanised Jewish property in this significant ’’improvement“ in the nation-al economic trend, could be the subject of a separate research.

The official exchange rate of currencies during the war years was also relative, when the functioning of market and value relationships was largely deformed. After 1938, however, Germany introduced a fixed exchange rate with the satellites, naturally in their own favour, which did not correspond to reality. Consequently, the exchange rates between

56

The total worth of property looted from Dioszeg Jews was from 1,535.000 to

1,660.000 EUR of present – day value.

From all perspectives the above tables outline the horrors that the final calculation in

monetary terms of the self-financing Holocaust affected a small Jewish community.

THE ULTIMATE FATE OF THE DIOSZEG JEWS

Jews of Dioszeg from the Galanta ghetto were transported on the 2nd and 3rd of

June together with all other Jews to the deportation centre153 in Nové Zámky. From there on

June 11, 1944 they were taken by the first deportation train154 via the then border crossing

of Košice155 through the territory of the Slovak State to the camp Auschwitz II. Birkenau.

The mayors of towns with established deportation centres had been ordered, inter alia, to

provide each deported Jew 400 g of bread for the journey. To be in possession of any other

food was strictly forbidden. Next, they were required to provide for 70 people in a wagon

one bucket of drinking water and one empty bucket for hygienic needs.

The transport arrived at Birkenau on June 14, 1944. Of a total of 2,899 persons in the

transport 2,462 were selected at the ramp for immediate death in the gas chambers of

crematorium IV. and V. And, as employable people for slave labour only 208 men and 229

women were selected 156.

the individual satellites were also deformed. It was even more difficult with the exchange rate against the US dollar, especially after the USA entered the war and the trade relations were interrupted. The NYSE – New York Stock Exchange last quoted the Hungarian Pengő on 31 July 1941 at 3,456 HUP/USD – (Botos 2011, p.25). This was similar with the Slo-vak crown, where the official exchange rate against the Dollar considerably varied from the real value. For example, the Slovak National Bank bought the US dollar at a worth three times higher than the official rate was; Between the wars the Exchange rate was approximately 5 Kč : 1 Pengő.

For consultations on this part of the topic, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr.Ľudovít Hallon, DSc, histo-rian at the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava. 153

On the Arbitral territory deportation centres were set up in Dunajská Streda, Komárno, Nové Zámky, Levice and Košice, in the vast majority in brickyard buildings (in Komárno at the Star-Fortress on the right bank of the Danube), where there were railway sidings to furnish deportation trains out of the field of sight of the public; 154

The transport is registered at the Gaško-Vrančík list under No. 96. It was carrying 2,899 persons, who were concen-trated in Nové Zámky from the ghettos in Galanta and Senec, partly Jews from Nové Zámky. The transport went through Košice on 12th June 1944; 155

Lang Tomáš (edit): Mikuláš Gaško: Nad úkrytom (Spomienky košického advokáta) (The Trains of Death. Memories of a Kosice Lawyer Jur.Dr. Mikuláš Gaško). SAK, Bratislava 2014, p. 61; henceforth Lang 2014; 156

The Leo Glaser List, which is an essential source of comparison to verify the accuracy of the Gaško-Vrančíkov list. Leo Glaser was an officer in the Canada part of the camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau, also called as Kleiderkammer Birkenau. So was called the part of the camp, where they collected and sorted all the belongings left after the gas-murdered victims. These uppers - clothes, shoes, everyday objects were after careful sorting sent to the Reich as "aid" to the families of soldiers fighting at the front or the killed, were given out as Winterhilfe. Found drugs were handed over to the camp hospital called Revier. With typical German precision it was registered, how many people were out of a particular

57

THE RETURN OF THE SURVIVORS

After the liberation 29 Jews returned to Diószeg with 25 of them were still living in

1948. Their new beginning was marked by the same problems that affected Slovakia and in

neighbouring Hungary.

They found their homes occupied, the new “owners” refused to let them come back to

their former dwellings, arguing that they recieved such properly assigned and correctly

paid157 for the homes. In the clothing that the new owners had also duly purchased at public

auctions they could see the images of one-time neighbours, colleagues and classmates.

The main argument of resistance of these new “owners” of businesses, crafts and personal

property was that "more of you returned than had gone away." Survivors of the sufferings of

concentration and labour camps did not receive their property. The situation worsened,

across the country with hatred towards the returnees strengthened and in many cases re-

sulted in violence and anti-Jewish pogroms. The most famous case is from Topoľčany

where as early as in the autumn of 1945 a pogrom against the Jews broke out with heavy

causalities of bodily harm. It is less known that even before the pogrom in Topolcany anti-

Jewish violence took place in Bratislava and in the eastern Slovak village of Kolbasov where

the retreating men of Stepan Bandera killed 11 Jews.

From that time further tragic cases were known in the Polish town of Kielce, where an

anti-Semitic rabble caused the deaths of 42 Jews, and in Hungary the famous pogrom of

Miskolc, a mob lynched three Jews, and in Kunmadaras three Jews were beaten.

In Slovakia a wave of violence elevated before the mass occurrence of more cases in

1946 at the time of the 1st All-Slovakian Congress of Partisans in Bratislava. Congress was

marked by a strongly anti-Semitic spirit, and the participants returned home with a strong

conviction to make orders with the Jews. Violence occurred in Nové Zámky, Levice, Šurany,

Nitra, Zbehy, but also in central and western Slovakia. A total of 14 pogroms is recorded

and documented.

In Sládkovičovo (Dioszeg) the situation was unfortunately the same. The Jewish

Community Board under the authority and in the interest of its members - returnees appeals

transport on the ramp at Auschwitz-Birkenau to be selected as unable to work, who were immediately sent to the gas chambers. Leo Glaser submitted the register kept and rescued by him to the US military authorities in Linz, Austria in August 1945, to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem it was given in 1970 by American journalist I. F. Stone. In the archives of Yad Vashem, the author had the opportunity to get acquainted with it during his study trip in 2008 157

The author in 2005, attended a hearing of the Regional Court in Trenčín, where the opponent produced a counterfoil of the money order as evidence, by which his father paid 500, Slovak Crowns to the state for "surplus Jewish property"“;

58 to the State Prosecutor´s Office in Bratislava through a letter requested for a provision, so

that their movable property, the remains of which are still stored in the warehouse of the

sugar factory would be released and returned to them as soon as possible.

The text of the application:

"The prosecutor's office in Bratislava

The Jewish religious community in Diószeg authorised by its members, pro-

vides the following:

After the deportation of Jews in 1944, a large proportion of our movable

property, which we left in flats, was stored in the sugar refinery by the financial

administration. It happened against receipts without any financial compensa-

tion. By accident several such receipts we got to hands and are enclosing their

copies. Some returnees are making efforts in vain to get at least a few of their

pieces of furniture.

Therefore we request the State prosecutor to accomplish that these fur-

nishings, partially stored in the sugar refinery, but also partly in private apart-

ments of its employees were given to us.

Taking into account the chance that helped us get to the receipts, we

rightly assume that in the sugar factory there is much more furniture which is

our property. Therefore we ask the prosecutor to prevent further removal of

objects through his vigorous measures, because we learned that after having

raised our claim of from the refinery furniture has already been taken to

Brezovice.158“

We have no knowledge of any reply or measure to the Prosecutor's office in Bratisla-va.

As mentioned above, after the liberation 29 Jews returned to Diószeg. In 1949 most

of them emigrated to Israel or moved to larger cities. In 1949 the Jewish religious communi-

ty in Sládkovičovo was deleted from official records. After 220 years from the first reference

of Jews staying in Diószeg the community literally ceased to exist.

158

Handwriting in Hungarian, author’s translation;

59

Jews of Dioszeg in Galanta Gheto

No. Family Surname Given name property Family Mem-ber in Forced

Labour Note

1 2 a b c d e

1 1 Bauer Mór

2 Bauer Mórné

3 2 Bauer Kitty Mária

4 Braun Izidor family house

5 Braun Izidorné

6 3 Beck Kornél

7 Beck Kornélné

8 Garai Hilda

9 4 Blődy Dezső

10 Blődy Dezsőné

11 Sztranszky Oszkárné, widow

12 5 Bojnitzer Lipót

13 Bojnitzer Lipótné

14 Bojnitzer Imre child

15 6 Braun József, Jr. commited

suicide

16 Braunová rod.Gabriela Kolmann

Józsefné, Jr.

commited suicide

17 7 Fleischer Gyula

18 Fleischer Lina

19 8 Fleischmann Sándorné, widow.

20 9 Freibauer Ede

21 Freibauer Edéné

22 Freibauer Vera child

23 Freibauer János child

24 10 Glasz Dávidné, widow. family house

25 Glasz Jenőné Glasz Jenő

26 Glasz Richárd child

27 Glasz Tibor child

28 11 Halász Dezsőné

29 Halász Ervin child

30 12 Glasz József

31 13 Goldstein Ármin family house

32 Goldstein Árminné

33 Wohlstein Lipótné, özv.

34 14 Goldstein Sámuel family house Goldstein Jenő

35 Goldstein Sámuelné

36 Goldstein Aliz child

37 Goldstein Margit child

38 15 Gutfreund Lipót family house

39 Gutfreund Gyula Survived in

Budapest

40 Gutfreund Katalin

41 Mittler Árpád Official in

sugar-mill

42 Mittler Melinda

60

43 16 Grünblatt József

44 Grünblatt Józsefné

45 17 Haasz Arnold Haasz Imre

Haasz Feri

46 Haasz Arnoldné

47 18 Kelecsényi Lajos

48 Kelecsényi Lajosné

49 Kelecsényi Zoltán child

50 19 Kling József family house Kling Artur Kling László

51 Kling Józsefné

52 20 Kollman Sándorné

53 Kollman Lajos

54 21 Laufer Katalin

55 Laufer Malvin

56 22 Leicht Mór family house Leicht Simon Leicht Dezső Leicht Adolf

57 Leicht Mórné

58 23 Müller Herman family house

59 Müller Hermanné

60 Müller Izidor child

61 Müller József child

62 Müller Rózsi child

63 Kálmán Henrikné Elza

64 24 Reichenberg Béla

65 Reichenberg Béláné

66 Klein Aladár

67 Klein Aladárné

68 Klein Anna child

69 Klein János child

70 25 Robitsek János

71 Robitsek Jánosné

72 26 Salamon Lajosné Salamon Lajos

73 Salamon Veronika

74 27 Schragge Béláné, özv. family house

75 Schragge Lipót

76 Schragge György

77 28 Braun József, st. family house

78 Braun Józsefné, st.

79 29 Schreiber159 Ferenc, JUDr. Attorney-at-

law

80 Schreiber Emilné, özv.

81 30 Schwarz József

82 31 Schwitzer Nándorné, özv. family house

83 32 Schwitzer Sámuel

84 33 Seidner Miklós

85 34 Skolnik Farkas

86 Skolnik Farkasné

87 35 Somogyi Dezső Somogyi

Zoltán

159

JUDr. František Schreiber, born 12.5.1894, Břeclav; cited by Jozef Sulaček: Právnici práva zbavení, Vol.2., p..226; SNM - Múzeum židovskej kultúry (Museum of Jewish Culture), Bratislava 2015, ISBN 978-80-8060-327-4;

61

Somogyi Tibor

88 36 Tauber Rezső With special permission in hospital in Budapest

89 Tauber Janka

90 37 Weisz Béla

91 38 Weisz Gyula

92 Weisz Gyuláné

92 Weisz Edit

93 39 Weigl Ernő

94 40 Wohlstein Ármin family house

95 Wohlstein Árminné

95 Fischer Dezsőné, özv.

97 41 Wollner Gézáné, özv. family house Wollner Endre

98 Wollner Vilmos

99 42 Wollner Zsigmond family house

100 Wollner Zsigmondné

101 Wollner Gertrúd child

102 43 Márkus László

103 44 Marmorstein Izidorné, özv. family house Marmorstein Ede

104 45 Földes Ernő family house pharmacist

105 Földes Ernőné

106 Földes Vilmos child

no No. on the

list Wagner Ignác

Additionally recorded by handwriting 107 Wagner Ignácné

108 Wagner Jenő

109 persons 16 houses

46 appartments

15 men in forced labour

units

124 persons at the time of deportations, including 16 children under 15 years of age

62 Archív MZSLM Budapest, fond DEGOB, protokol č.1695;

Bárkány – Deutsch 1991: Bárkány Eugen –Dojč Ľudovít: Židovské náboženské obce na Slovensku. VESNA Publishing Bratislava 1991;

Benoschofszky – Karsai 1960: Vádirat a nácizmus ellen – Dokumentumok a Magyarországi zsidóüldözés történetéhez (Obžaloba nacizmu – dokumenty k prenasledovaniu Židov v Maďarsku), zv. II., MIOK Budapest 1960. Edited by Ilona Benoschofszky and Elek Karsai;

Botos 2011 Botos János: „Ez a kifosztás lessz a végső!? Az 1938-1945 között elkobzott magyar zsidó vagyon értéke“, Attraktor Kft. Budapest 2011, ISBN 978-963-9857-83-4, 125 s. 1 17 s. facsimile;

Braham 2007: Randolph L.Braham: A magyarországi holokauszt földrajzi encyklopédiája, PARK Könyvkiadó Publishing, Budapest 2007, ISBN 978-963-530-740-1;

Eizenstadt Stuart E.: Nedokonalá spravedlnost. Uloupený majetek, nucené práce a nevyřízené účty druhé světové války (Imperfect Justice, PublicAffairs Publish-ing 2003). Translated by Eduard Geissler; PROSTOR Publishing, Praha 2005, ISBN 80-7260-148-2;

Encyklopédia Encyklopédia židovských náboženských obcí na Slovensku, SNM – Múzeum židovskej kultúry 2009, Judaica Slovaca Edition. Bratislava, p. 59; vol. 1, pp. 120 and on; ISBN 978-80-8060-229-1;

Érsekújvár és Magyar Vidék, 20.mája 1944, s.4;

Érsekújvár és Vidéke, roč. 63., 6.mája 1944, s.2;

Érsekújvár és Vidéke, roč. 63., 13.mája 1944, s.3;

Érsekújvár és Vidéke, roč. 63., 20.mája 1944, s.2;

Érsekújvár és Vidéke, roč. 63., 13.mája 1944, s.3;

Érsekújvár és Vidéke, roč. 63., 27.mája 1944, s.2;

Kádár – Vági 2005 Kádár Gábor – Vági Zoltán: Hullarablás. A magyar zsidók gazdasági megsemmisítése. Jaffa Publishing, Budapest 2005, ISBN 963-9604-16-X;

Klein-Pejšová 2015: Rebekah Klein-Pejšová: Mapping Jewish Loyalties in Interwar Slovakia. Indiana University Press, Bloomington 2015, ISBN 978-0-253-01554-9;

Lang – Strba 2006 Lang Tomáš – Strba Sándor: Holokaust na Južnom Slovensku na pozadí histórie novozámockých židov. KALLIGRAM Bratislava 2006, 608 s., ISBN 80-7149-898-X;

Lang 2014 Lang Tomáš (edit): Mikuláš Gaško: Nad úkrytom (Spomienky košického advokáta). SAK (Published by Slovak Chamber of Attorneys ), Bratislava 2014;

Sudová 2009 Eva Sudová (edit.): Ľudovít Hallon – Juraj Pekarovič – Hildegarda Pokreis – Lóránt Talamon – Katalin Vadkerty – Ágota Varga: Barón Karl Kuffner de Dioszegh a Dioszegský cukrovar. Mesto Sládkovičovo 2009, ISBN 978-80-970205-1-4;

Sudová 2010 Eva Sudová: Barón Karl Kuffner de Dioszegh a diószegský cukrovar. Listy cukrovarnické a řepařské, 126, č. 9-10, září-říjen 2010;

Sudová 2012 Eva Sudová (edit.): Peter Buday – Monika Chalmovská – Petra Kalová – Naďa Kirinovičová – Alžbeta Rössnerová – Róbert Sekula – Eva Sudová –

63

Lóránt Talamon – Jana Váňová: Kuffnerovský hospodársky komplex. Mesto Sládkovičovo 2012, ISBN 978-80-971211-5-0;

Vrbová 2008 Vrbová, Gerta: Komu věřit, koho oklamat. GplusG Publishing, Praha 2008. ISBN 978-80-87060-10-0;

Zákony 2002 Magyarországi zsidótörvények és rendeletek 1938-1945 ([Proti]Židovské zákony a nariadenia v Maďarsku 1938-1945), PolgArt Buda-pest, 2002, zost. Robert Vértes, ISBN 963-9306-04-5;

Zweig 2002 Zweig, Ronald: Az aranyvonat. A 20.század legnagyobb rablásának története. Köpzőművészeti Kiadó, Budapest 2002, ISBN 963-336-968-10;

Nové Zámky, Oct.,10th 2015