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Torkel Jansson, Jan Lindegren, and Maria Ågren & Uppsala University ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UPSALIENSIS Studia Historica Upsaliensia 231 Editores: Torkel Jansson, Jan Lindegren, and Maria Ågren & THE UPPSALA PROGRAMME FOR HOLOCAUST AND GENOCIDE STUDIES Uppsala University Holocaust and Genocide Studies Publications 1 Editors: Tomislav Duli, Paul A. Levine, and Ivana Maek Cover design: Göran Wallby Typesetting: Laura Palosuo Front cover illustration: The Weiszenberg sisters from Debrecen, Hungary, around 1932. All three were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau on June 29, 1944, together with their parents and their sister Erzsébet. Klára, in the middle, starved to death in Stutthof concentration camp despite the fact that Éva, on the left, tried to save her by smuggling extra food into the camp every day. Éva survived the Holocaust and died in 1989 of cancer. Judit (later Judy Cohen), on the right, survived Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, and slave labour at the Junkers Airplane factory in Aschersleben. She was liberated by American soldiers at the age of sixteen from a death march on May 5, 1945. Courtesy of Judy Cohen. YELLOW STARS AND TROUSER INSPECTIONS Jewish Testimonies from Hungary, 1920–1945 Laura Palosuo Department of History & The Uppsala Programme for Holocaust and Genocide Studies Uppsala 2008 Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Sal IX, Universitetshuset, Uppsala, Friday, March 28, 2008 at 10:15 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The examination will be conducted in English. ABSTRACT Palosuo, L. 2008. Yellow Stars and Trouser Inspections. Jewish Testimonies from Hungary, 1920–1945. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studia Historica Upsaliensia 231. The Uppsala Programme for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. UUHGS Publications 1. 284 pp. Uppsala. ISBN 978-91-554-7104-0. ISBN 978-91-977434-0-2. This study analyzes narratives of individual Jewish experiences of discrimination and genocidal violence in Hungary during the period of 1920–1945. The aim is to increase our knowledge and understanding of the events through an investigation of survivor testimonies concerning anti- Jewish laws and the Holocaust. The main focus is on how survivors perceived the treatment to which they and their fellow Jews were exposed, and how they responded to the persecution they faced. Perceptions and responses are analyzed through multiple factors such as gender, age, social class, and geographical place. The period under investigation stretches from 1920, when the law of Numerus Clausus (a quota system influencing admission to universities) was introduced, until the end of the Second World War in early 1945. Focus is placed on the war years, especially on 1944, the year of Ger- man occupation and the fascist Arrow Cross rule. Experiences from the labour service system, the Jewish houses in Budapest, and the ghettos, as well as of hiding and resistance, are some of the recurring themes which are examined here. Extensive interviews, along with eyewitness reports and memoirs, form the empirical basis of the study. The results demonstrate the complexity of individual experiences during times of upheaval, and the importance of the above factors is evident within the testimonies. The survivors’ experi- ences greatly depended on gender, age, social class, geographical place, civil status, religious orientation, as well as “race”. However, the importance of the different factors changed over time. For instance, in the beginning of this period, discrimination had a direct impact on adult males, while children, women, and the elderly were indirectly affected. Furthermore, persons belonging to the upper classes could circumvent the anti-Jewish laws in various ways. Ultimately, differences in treatment decreased, according to the testimonies. Women, children, and the elderly also became victims, as did individuals from all social classes. Keywords: Jewish history, Hungary, survivor testimonies, experiences, Holocaust, discrimination, antisemitism, anti-Jewish legislation, persecution, genocide, interwar period, Second World War, gender, age, social class, geographical location, intersectionality, oral history Laura Palosuo, The Uppsala Programme for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Uppsala University, Box 514, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden. © Laura Palosuo 2008 ISSN 0081-6531 ISBN 978-91-554-7104-0 ISSN 1654-8558 ISBN 978-91-977434-0-2 urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-8482 (http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-8482) Printed in Sweden by Edita Västra Aros, Västerås 2008 Distributor: Uppsala University Library, Box 510, SE-751 20 Uppsala www.uu.se, [email protected] CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..............................................................................................................ix PROLOGUE.................................................................................................................................xi PART ONE CONCEPTUALIZING THE TASK CHAPTER 1 Defining the Framework of the Study.....................................................3 Aims, questions, limitations, and definitions....................................................................3 Analyzing multiple factors ..................................................................................................9 Previous research................................................................................................................18 CHAPTER 2 Using Interviews as Sources of Information........................................29 The Raoul Wallenberg archive .........................................................................................29 Selection of source material and other methodological concerns ...............................31 The subjects of the study: survivors from Budapest.....................................................34 Oral History ........................................................................................................................38 PART TWO EXPERIENCES OF DISCRIMINATION BEFORE 1944 CHAPTER 3 A Short History of the Hungarian Jewry: From Emancipation to Antisemitism, 1867–1943................................................49 Emancipation and the Golden Era..................................................................................50 From inclusion to exclusion: the First World War as a watershed..............................54 Hungarian politics and anti-Jewish laws in the interwar years .....................................58 CHAPTER 4 Experiences of Anti-Jewish Legislation.................................................69 The Numerus Clausus .......................................................................................................70 The first and the second anti-Jewish laws.......................................................................76 The third anti-Jewish law ..................................................................................................84 Jewish reactions to the laws: discussing emigration.......................................................86 Concluding remarks...........................................................................................................91 CHAPTER 5 The Labour Service System 1939 – March 1944.................................97 Male experiences within the labour service ....................................................................98 Female responses and responsibilities...........................................................................109 The youth and the children.............................................................................................116 Concluding remarks.........................................................................................................118 PART THREE EXPERIENCES OF PERSECUTION AND GENOCIDE 1944–1945 CHAPTER 6 A Short History of the Holocaust in Hungary: March 19, 1944 – February 1945....................................................................................... 123 The German occupation ............................................................................................................ 123 The Arrow Cross takeover and its immediate consequences ........................................ 130 CHAPTER 7 Jewish Perceptions of the Events in 1944–1945.................................... 141 The provinces ...................................................................................................................142 Budapest .......................................................................................................................................... 145 Experiencing another wave of anti-Jewish regulations.............................................. 146 The Pest ghetto....................................................................................................................... 153 Living in the International ghetto..................................................................................... 156 Bombings .................................................................................................................................. 160 Violence..................................................................................................................................... 162 The effects of the labour service system in 1944......................................................... 170 The death marches................................................................................................................. 175 Concluding remarks..................................................................................................................... 180 CHAPTER 8 Jewish
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