The Arrow Cross - Persecution of the Jews
During the siege, government - approved crimes were committed against Hungarian citizens (deemed Jewish), unprecedented even in comparison to the international situation and circumstances in other European capitals under extremist governments. After a series of failures, in October of 1944, the Arrow Cross Party organized the �final solution� of the Jewish problem. By that time, Hungarian Jews were living only in Budapest and forced-labor camps; the Jews from the countryside had already been deported to Germany. For Sz�lasi and his leaders, the �final solution�, ridding Hungary of its entire Jewish population, was ideologically more important than winning the war. Only this could explain the irrational actions taken for solely one purpose: to humiliate and destroy those who were deemed Jewish. After the Arrow Cross took power, the situation in Budapest gradually became unbearable: daily mass executions were carried out, often on the street in broad daylight, in front of the eyes of ordinary bystanders. The first Jewish suicide was registered on October 15, the first mass execution occurred on November 23, on the Danube bank. Sometimes the Danube executions had several survivors, the darkness made it difficult to aim, and some victims jumped into the river before the shots were fired. Such survivors scrambled out of the icy water further down the river. After an appeal by the International Red Cross, the Swedish Embassy was the first to react to the situation by issuing letters of protection. Following this, Raoul Wallenberg, sent to Hungary by the Swedish government and the American Office for Refugees of War, took the initiative to produce protective passports. According to these documents, the bearers of the passports held special importance for the Swedish Red Cross or the Swedish government, thus the individual enjoyed the privilege of protection by the Swedish Monarchy. Such documents were later issued by the Swiss, Spanish and Portuguese Embassies. As early as November 18, 1944, a separated living area was being designated for the unprotected Jews in the VII. district of the city. G�bor Vajna, Minister of Domestic Affairs, officially ordered the establishment of a ghetto on November 29. On December 2, all Jews lacking protective letters were forced to move into the Ghetto. The area was completely closed off and it could only be entered through 4 designated gates. 60,000 people shared 4,513 apartments, often 14 people were crammed into one room. The officially designated calorie intake for each was 900, this was later suplemented by the Jewish Council and donations from the neutral governments� embassies. However, in practice, one ration contained not more than 790 calories. By January 16, the Soviet troops reached the Nagyk�r�t, and as a reaction to this, members of the Arrow Cross planned a pogrom to destroy the Ghetto. However, the plan fell through as it was blocked by the leadership of the very same Arrow Cross Party. In spite of this, the suffering of the Jews of Budapest was far from over. Members of the Arrow Cross committed various atrocities in Buda until the fall of the blockade. There were 38,000 citizens of Budapest who died during the siege, about 15,000 of those were Jewish.
|