Antisemitic violence during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution
The mob on 26 October first assaulted Sándor Glücklich – a former policeman linked to efforts to recover stolen Jewish property – beating him and leavin him in the street. They then targeted Jenő Schlosser, who was accused of involvement in wartime deportations. Warned in before, he escaped, but his house was looted.
As the mob moved to the so-called “Jewish Street”, the former ghetto site, the unrest turned overtly antisemitic. The synagogue was attacked, and several Jews, including teacher Bernát Wiesel, his wife, and the sakter (ritual slaughterer) Hermann Jakabovits, were assaulted. The crowd also targeted communist officials, nearly hanging Dávid Stuhlberger, a former police officer blamed for wartime deportations, before agreeing to his detention by the police; he was released later that night.
These events have also been depicted in literature, in Dénes Krusovszky’s 2018 novel Akik már nem leszünk sosem (Those We Will Never Be).
“I saw the crowd enter the courtyard of the Jewish church and from there the Jewish teacher was pulled out of his apartment and beaten.”
Testimony of an eyewitness
Pelle János (2021) Forradalom Hajdúnánáson. Hitel, 2021. november, p. 54
Further Reading / Sources
Kisvárosi történet. Az 1956-os forradalom és a zsidóellenes megmozdulások Hajdúnánáson
Völgyesi Zoltán (2001). Budapest: Osiris
Akik már nem leszünk sosem
Krusovszky Dénes (2018). Budapest: Magvető
Malenkij robot és a zsidó bosszú legendája Hajdúnánáson
Völgyesi Zoltán (2015). Levéltári közlemények, 86: 194–212