Stages of discrimination
Between 1938 and 1944, Hungary enacted 21 anti-Jewish laws and several hundred decrees that gradually stripped Jews of their rights. These laws were modeled on the German Nuremberg Laws but were rooted in Hungarian nationalism.
The first anti-Jewish law of 1938 restricted Jewish participation in professional and economic life. The second anti-Jewish law, passed in 1939, introduced racial definitions and strict employment quotas. The third anti-Jewish law of 1941 prohibited mixed marriages, while the fourth, enacted in 1942, restricted land ownership, forcing Jews to transfer property in exchange for state compensation. The category of those considered Jewish gradually expanded, and fewer and fewer people were able to escape the reach of the discriminatory laws. After 19 March 1944, when Germany occupied Hungary, only one decree was issued, ordering the registration and confiscation of Jewish property. Within a few weeks, this led to ghettoization, deportation, and ultimately genocide.
“Our Christian faith, our patriotic convictions, our attachment to the European credibility of our country and our national independence, compel us never to waver from the principle of equal citizenship, which was fought for by the greatest minds of the European Hungarian nation in the most beautiful period of our history.”
Declaration by Hungarian Public Figures, Pesti Napló, May 5, 1938
Further Reading / Sources
Jogok nélkül. A zsidó lét Magyarországon 1920-1944
K. Farkas Claudia (2020). Budapest: Napvilág Kiadó
Zsidókérdés Magyarországon. Politikai eszmetörténet
Gyurgyák János (2001). Budapest: Osiris
A Horthy-rendszer és antiszemitizmusának mérlege. Diszkrimináció és társadalompolitika Magyarországon, 1919–1944
Ungváry Krisztián (2016). Budapest: Jelenkor
A gyűlölet vetése. A zsidótörvények és a magyar közvélemény
Pelle János (2001). Budapest: Európa Könyvkiadó